DOW DOWN 449 POINTS TODAY AGAIN

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.

Crews finish sweep of Galveston; thousands stay By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer SEPT 17,08

TEXAS CITY, Texas - Search crews pulled out of Galveston on Wednesday after completing their sweep of the island for survivors of Hurricane Ike. Thousands remained on the island despite authorities' urging them to leave, and thousands more choked an interstate leading in. A long convoy of rescue vehicles headed back to Houston past a miles-long line of cars trying to get back into coastal communities despite orders to stay out. The backlog of traffic frustrated transportation officials, who pointed out that among those idling in the choked interstate were emergency crews and trucks hauling resources badly needed on the island.It's not a good scenario, said Raquelle Lewis, a Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman.

Lewis would not estimate the number of cars caught in the backlog, which extended miles past the first checkpoint that is 19 miles north of Galveston. Lewis pleaded with displaced Galveston residents to not waste scarcely available fuel by trying to head home.Much of the confusion stemmed from Galveston officials' short-lived decision to allow people onto the island Tuesday to examine their property briefly and head back out. The city suspended the look and leave policy because within one hour of the announcement, three lanes of vehicles stretching along 15 miles tried to get onto the island.We could not accommodate that many people at one time, said city manager Steve LeBlanc. We were hoping to have more of a trickle of cars than a tidal wave.Many along the interstate were unaware that the policy had been suspended.

Carlos Azucena, 47, said he had tried three different times in the last 24 hours to get on the island. He said he waited in line for three hours before his final rejection Wednesday.I don't understand this. You see those other people, Azucena said, waving at utility workers and contractors being let on to the island. They don't even live here, I live in Galveston.Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff returned to Texas to check on recovery efforts amid growing criticism about the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response.In Houston, most people in the nation's fourth-largest city remained without power for a fifth day, making it tough to track the latest information on where to pick up supplies. For most, the electricity wasn't expected back on for at least another week.Searchers in boats used sonar to sweep for debris clogging navigation routes into one of the nation's busiest ports.The search and rescue teams of Texas Task Force 1 spent four days making door-to-door searches across the island for those who rode out the storm. Some of the people they found were evacuated while others chose to stay in their homes.The task force checked on almost 6,000 people who said that they did not need assistance getting out and performed a total of 3,540 rescues since Friday, said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.They've been working around the clock to make sure they get to each area, she said.There were some cases where searchers were told that a resident had stayed on the peninsula for the hurricane, but had not been seen since.In those instances, searchers checked the last place where the person was seen, then gave their names to local emergency managers for follow up, said Chuck Jones, a task force team leader. At times, information conflicted, with one neighbor saying a person had stayed for the storm and another saying they had evacuated before it hit.Galveston County Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik confirmed the first death in nearby Brazoria County and gave details on five deaths in Galveston County: Three had serious medical conditions prior to the storm but did not evacuate, one drowned in a truck and one was found in a hotel room.

Ike was blamed for at least 50 deaths in the U.S., most of them coming outside Texas. Dozens more died as the storm moved through the Caribbean. Authorities may never know if, or how many, people who tried to weather the storm were washed out to sea. Residents again waited in line for hours Wednesday at the roughly two dozen supply distribution centers set up in Houston to hand out food, water and ice. Mayor Bill White complained FEMA wasn't bringing in the supplies fast enough, and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett had personally taken over coordination of efforts to hand out relief supplies. FEMA officials in Houston said they were refining glitches in the relief effort and delivering millions of meals and water every 24 hours. Spokesman Marty Bahamonde said FEMA will begin paying for 30 days of hotel expenses for homeowners whose houses are uninhabitable. FEMA plans to reimburse the hotels directly. Associated Press writers Andre Coe, Paul J. Weber, Monica Rhor, April Castro and Deb Riechmann in Houston, Pauline Arrillaga in San Antonio, Allen G. Breed on Bolivar Peninsula, Jay Root in Austin, and Christopher Sherman and Juan A. Lozano in Galveston contributed to this report.On the Net: FEMA evacuee hotel info: http://www.femaevachotels.com

Ike leaves Midwest in the dark after rain, winds By KANTELE FRANKO, Associated Press Writer SEPT 17,08

CINCINNATI - Facing a third straight day without power, residents across the Midwest snapped up batteries, generators and coolers as they waited for crews to restore electricity knocked out by the remnants of Hurricane Ike. In other parts of the Midwest, residents warily eyed rising rivers while other waterlogged communities began cleaning up the wet, stinky mess left behind by floodwaters. Flood warnings remained in effect Wednesday across the region.As much as 10 inches of rain fell in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri after Ike hit Texas over the weekend. Hurricane-force wind blew in Ohio and Kentucky and a tornado in Arkansas damaged several buildings.

About 1.3 million homes and businesses in Ohio alone remained without electricity Tuesday, and long lines at supermarkets, hardware stores and gas stations were common.Home Depot stores were short on generators, tarps, gas cans and other emergency supplies because some stock had been sent south to help with hurricane relief in Texas and Louisiana, said Jen King, a spokeswoman for Home Depot Inc.I'm pretty well getting empty, said Fred Beckert, who owns Beckert Chain Saw Supply in Zanesville, Ohio, and was having trouble keeping up with the demand for chain saws and generators. He was expecting more shipments later in the week but said the generators coming in already had buyers.Elsewhere, truckloads of batteries, ice and coolers were selling as soon as they hit the shelves. Grocers and residents alike tried to preserve perishable food.Lines of people waited for bagged ice at a bigg's supermarket in Mason, Ohio, and Cincinnati-based Home City Ice Co. was operating 24 hours a day to help meet the heavy demand.We've brought in about 160 semi loads of ice from our facilities in neighboring states, and even our managers and computer and accounting people have been bagging and delivering ice, said Jay Stautberg, Home City Ice's chief financial officer.Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland toured wind-damaged sections of Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus on Tuesday, a day after declaring a state of emergency.

The governors of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania have also declared states of emergency. The storms brought Ike's death toll to at least 48 in 10 states from the Gulf Coast to the upper Ohio Valley.The deluge of rain left road crews in northern Indiana working for a third straight day to pump water from swamped lanes of interstates 80/94 and 65.Other parts of the state were dealing with power outages caused by Ike's high winds. As of Tuesday, more than 100,000 Indiana homes and businesses remained without power, but phone service had been restored.In Ohio, the state's utilities said they were trying to restore power in the shortest amount of time by prioritizing repairs for circuits that serve the largest numbers of people.

It's just a matter of which way the wires go and how they were laid out, said Chris Eck, a spokesman for FirstEnergy Corp. in Ohio.Across Kentucky, power outages still affected nearly 300,000 customers, the state said, down from as many as 600,000 customers at the peak — the state's biggest power outage on record. Louisville Gas & Electric predicted full power restoration in 10 to 14 days for their 182,000 affected customers.Downed lines also knocked out power in western Pennsylvania, where about 64,000 customers remained in the dark early Wednesday. Utilities said they hoped to restore service to a majority of customers by Friday. Butler County, north of Pittsburgh, was under a state of emergency.Across Illinois, officials said electricity had been restored to nearly all of the 49,000 left without power in the wake of the storm. Much of the Chicago area also was returning to normal Tuesday, as floodwaters began to recede. Ike had overwhelmed drainage and sewer systems in northern Illinois. Elsewhere, some Illinois residents were waiting to return home. In Morris, about 100 people still couldn't reach homes in low-lying areas along the Illinois River, which hit a record when it topped 24 feet, or 8 feet above flood stage, Assistant Fire Chief Robert Wills said Tuesday. In suburban Des Plaines, Ill., where more than 1,000 people were displaced by flooding, the Des Plaines River was expected to fall below flood stage Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

The recovery process is under way, said Will Soderberg, a city spokesman. And that should take the rest of the week.Associated Press writers Doug Whiteman in Columbus, Ohio; Jim Salter in St. Louis; David Mercer in Champaign, Ill.; Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky.; and Ramesh Santanam in Saxonburg, Pa., contributed to this report.

Flood threatens West Texas border town By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 17, 5:02 AM ET

PRESIDIO, Texas - A levee holding back the swelling Rio Grande near this West Texas border town is in danger of bursting as the river continues to rise. Presidio Mayor Lorenzo Hernandez said Tuesday night that the river could top the levee designed for a 25-year flood at any time.The levee breaking is our biggest concern. What comes after that we'll have to see, said a tired looking Hernandez, who spent part of Tuesday night answering phone calls at City Hall and listening to news reports of flooding to the south, in neighboring Ojinaga, Mexico.Officials in Presidio, a dusty border town of about 5,000 people some 250 miles down river from El Paso, have been keeping a close eye on the Rio Grande for nearly two weeks. The river started swelling, first breaching its banks and then filling the wide channel between two earthen levees, after a series of storms soaked parts of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, which shares a border with parts of West Texas.The flood threat prompted officials in Presidio to go door-to-door urging people to leave. They made the same plea from a helicopter. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials also shut down the international bridge connecting Presidio to Ojinaga.Earlier this week, officials said the evacuation affected about 500 people in the Presidio area.About 80people were in a shelter Tuesday night at the town's elementary school.Presidio Police Chief Marco Baeza said a few older residents living in low-lying areas have opted to stay.One said I've been here 58 years and nothing's happened before and nothing's going to happen now, Baeza said.The recent rains and flooding is not related to Hurricane Ike, which hit hundreds of miles to the east.Since the heavy rains, Mexican officials have been forced to release water from the Luis Leon Reservoir into the Rio Conchos, which flows into the Rio Grande not far from Presidio.Hernandez said he's been told that in Ojinaga, across the rising Rio Grande from Presidio, as much as 10 feet of water has rushed into homes and other buildings nearest the Rio Grande and the Rio Conchos.Things are pretty rough right now, but I guess they could be worse, Hernandez said Tuesday night. The water is up to the roofs in Mexico.

ANOTHER ONE THAT SAYS THE END OF THE WORLD. LETS GET ONE THING STRAIGHT, THE WORLD NEVER ENDS AS JESUS RULES FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER, WORLD WITHOUT END AMEN AND AMEN.

End of the world in 2013? New book recalculates Newton's endtimes clock
September 16, 2008 10:27 am Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

The Hadron Particle Collider did not destroy the world last week, and scientists at CERN outside Geneva are sipping champagne and celebrating.But if the No. 1 best-selling author of a new book is correct, they might want to re-cork the bottle.

In Temple at the Center of Time: Newton's Bible Codex Deciphered and the Year 2012, by David Flynn, a book that has skyrocketed up the best-seller charts following its release this month, the author makes a correction to Isaac Newton's research, pointing to the year 2013 as the time of the end.In 2003, the Daily Telegraph in London published a front-page story declaring that, according to Isaac Newton, the world would end in 2060. This was the first time that this calculation of Newton became widely known. However, various biographers and researcher of Newton's theology had encountered it since 1991 when most of his manuscripts were released on microfilm at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem.According to Flynn, in the 1660s when Newton believed that the end of days was imminent, there seemed no reason to work out the approximate year in which it would occur. With the Great Plague, the fire of London and the apocalyptic fervor of the times, it seemed obvious to Newton that the end time had already arrived. But over the ensuing decades of his life, Newton became increasingly aware that his convictions had been premature. Near the year 1705, when Newton was in his sixties, his concern for preventing the repetition of the same error compelled him to invest his considerable knowledge to setting the matter of the time of the end to rest. The paper in which Newton recorded this calculation was the subject of the article in the London Daily Telegraph in 2003. Very few readers understood Newton's reasoning for the date, not being scholars of end time prophecy themselves. Newton wrote concerning it:

This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, & by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail. Christ comes as a thief in the night, & it is not for us to know the times & seasons which God hath put into his own breast.Newton arrived at the year 2060 in a straightforward manner. He believed that the last world empire at the coming of the Antichrist would be a revived Roman Empire, a concept wholly embraced by eschatologists in modern times as well. He also believed that this had actually occurred in A.D. 800 through the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III as ruler of the revived Roman Empire in the West.As described by the prophet Daniel, and John in Revelation, the revived Roman Empire will rule for one week, a period of seven times 360 days, or 2,520 days total. In the midst of this week, at 1,260 days, the Antichrist will desecrate the future temple in Jerusalem. Following the day/year guideline, Newton assigned 1,260 years of the Revived Roman empire before Antichrist's desecration of the temple. This he did realizing that the rebuilding of the temple and the judgments of Revelation did not follow the rebirth of the Roman Empire in A.D. 800. None of the prophecies of the End of Days followed the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the revived Roman Empire after 1,260, nor for that matter, any of the years up until Newton's day. Therefore, he established each day with a year from A.D. 800, arriving at the year A.D. 2060.In a manuscript number 7.3g, f. 13v. of the Yahuda collection, Newton was even more specific about the 2060 date.So then the time times & half a time are 42 months or 1260 days or three years & an half, reckoning twelve months to a year & 30 days to a month as was done in the Calendar of the primitive year. And the days of short lived Beasts being put for the years of lived [sic for long lived] kingdoms, the period of 1260 days, if dated from the complete conquest of the three kings A.C. 800, will end A.C. 2060.
But Newton's prediction of Charlemagne's revived Roman Empire starting in A.D. 800 and existing until the return of Christ was contradicted in 1806 when Napoleon forced the Empire's dissolution.

But, says Flynn, there remains a valid aspect of Newton's calculation. There is reason to believe he was correct in his assumption that there would be 1,260 years until the return of Christ at the rebirth of the Roman Empire, but that the year he chose was incorrect. There is actually a better date based on the founding of Rome and the methodology of Daniel's prophecy.Flynn explains: The Romans had fixed the birth of the city of Rome and the Empire in 753 B.C. It was believed that the patriarch of the city, Romulus, had marked out the boundaries for the wall of Rome in this year. Known as Ab Urbe Condita (literally, from the founding of the city) the Roman calendar began with 753 B.C. according to the dating of Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 B.C.) who lived at the time of the Empire itself.Because of how the prophet Daniel divided the prophetic week in half, Flynn believes the original founding date for the empire of the prophecy, Rome, would follow this pattern and be bisected. Therefore, correcting Newton's date, the year 753 B.C. designates the founding of the physical Rome while A.D. 753 establishes the rebirth of spiritual Rome. Counting 1,260 years forward from A.D. 753, one arrives at the year 2013.

Additional significance can be attached to this finding when considering that 2013 follows the end of the great cycle of the Maya calendar and the planetary cycle of the Aztec calendar, which concludes Dec. 21, 2012. This date has raised apocalyptic fears in corners around the world. According to The Bible Code, the world will end on this date due to a collision with a meteor, asteroid, or comet. Another theory – the Novelty Theory – claims time itself is a fractal wave, which will end abruptly in 2012. Even the popular television program X-Files speculated that colonization of the earth by aliens would occur in December 2012.The Maya themselves describe past visits of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, descending through a hole in the sky on a rope ladder. They believe at the end of 2012 the serpent rope will emerge again from the center of the Milky Way, and Quetzalcoatl will return, heralding a new era at the start of 2013. Another version of the story has Quetzalcoatl sailing down on a winged ship, causing some to speculate that a UFO armada or mother ship could descend and take up position over earth on that date.Besides this type of speculation, an unusual number of important events will occur beginning in 2012. NASA is predicting the next Solar Maximum will arrive in 2012 and will be the strongest in 50 years. At the same time, the sun will align with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in 26,000 years, on the exact date of the end of the Mayan calendar, Dec. 21, 2012. This will also be the year when the United States and the United Nations elect a new president and a new secretary general, considered by some to be the two most powerful thrones on earth, and the seat from which prophecy experts say the Antichrist will rule or receive power.On a YouTube video here, well-known preacher Jack Van Impe says that the year 2012 and the end of the Mayan Calendar could mark the return of Jesus Christ.Based on his research into the Jewish Feasts, Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries (as laid out in a series of two DVD teachings produced by WND Videos called The Feasts of the Lord) believes this time frame between 2012-2015 could be prophetic and may signal the return of Christ. He says for people who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, this would make the year 2008 very important. For those who believe in a mid-tribulation rapture, 2012 may mark their departure. And on his website, he adds if you're prewrath, then 2014 might be interesting [and] if you're a posttribber, 2015 is the date to watch for.Get Temple at the Center of Time: Newton's Bible Codex Deciphered and the Year 2012, by David Flynn.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU What? Israel to help Muslims carve Quranic verses on Temple Mount.Islamic writings all over holiest site for Judaism September 16, 2008 8:46 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

The Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM – After three years of waiting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert quietly has granted permission to the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount to repair and enhance Quranic verses plastered around Judaism's holiest site, WND has learned.The approval came as result of the petitioning of the Israeli government by Jordan, which has been solidifying control over the Temple Mount in recent years.There are more than 4,000 Quranic quotations written in Arabic calligraphy and carved into various Islamic buildings throughout the Temple Mount, including inside and outside the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.Six hundred of the carved verses are in poor condition, according to the Waqf, the Mount's Muslim custodians.The Waqf has been asking Israel for permission to repair the Quranic quotation carvings for years now. It even transported to the Israeli port city of Ashdod boxes of European tools and machinery especially made to repair the Temple Mount Quranic verses. The tools have been sitting in Ashdod for three years, according to informed sources.Following Jordanian intervention, Olmert last week gave the Waqf approval to begin fixing the Quranic quotes, the informed sources told WND.Jordan controlled areas of eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, from 1948 until Israel recaptured the site in the 1967 Six Day War.During the period of Jordanian control, Jews were barred from the Western Wall and Temple Mount, and hundreds of synagogues in eastern Jerusalem were destroyed. Jordan constructed a road that stretched across the Mount of Olives, adjacent to the Temple Mount, bulldozing hundreds of Jewish gravestones in the process.

Following the Six Day War, one of the first acts of Moshe Dayan, chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, was to ensure the Jordanian-allied Mufti of Jerusalem, Abd Al Hamid A Saih, the holy site would remain under Islamic custodianship.Dayan later also famously ordered an Israeli flag removed from the Dome of the Rock.Jordan continues to maintain a major influence over the Temple Mount. Sheik Azzam Khateeb, who was installed in February 2007 as the new manager of the Waqf, is known to be close to the Jordanian monarchy. The previous Waqf manager, Sheik Adnon Husseini, was loyal to Palestinian Authority although toward the end of his rein, he seemed to be warming to Jordan.In a gesture to Jordan, in January 2006, Israel granted Jordan permission to replace the main podium in the Al Aqsa Mosque from which Islamic preachers deliver their sermons. The podium, which was partially funded by Saudi Arabia, is considered one of the most important stands in the Muslim world. Muslims now believe it marks the exact spot Muhammad went up to heaven to receive revelations from Allah.The new stand bears the emblem of the Jordanian kingdom. It replaced a 1,000-year-old podium believed to have been shipped to Jerusalem by the Islamic conqueror Saladin.That stand was destroyed in 1969, when an Australian tourist set fire to the Al Aqsa Mosque.In recent years, Jordan quietly has been purchasing real estate surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in hopes of gaining more control over the area accessing the holy site, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials speaking to WND.The officials disclosed the Jordanian kingdom in 2006 and 2007 used shell companies to purchase several apartments and shops located at key peripheral sections of the Temple Mount. The shell companies at times presented themselves as acting on behalf of the Waqf custodians of the Temple Mount, according to information obtained.The officials said Jordan also set up a commission to use the shell companies to petition mostly Arab landowners adjacent to eastern sections of the Temple Mount to sell their properties. They said profits from sales at any purchased shops would be reinvested to buy more real estate near the Mount and in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods.The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. The First Jewish Temple was built there by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's shechina or presence dwelt. All Jewish holidays centered on worship at the Temple. The Jewish Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place for the Jewish people.According to the Talmud, the world was created from the foundation stone of the Temple Mount. The site is believed to be the Biblical Mount Moriah, the location where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac.Jewish tradition holds Mashiach, or the Jewish Messiah, will return and rebuild the third and final Temple on the Mount in Jerusalem.The Kotel, or Western Wall, is the one part of the Temple Mount that survived the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans and stands today in Jerusalem.Throughout all notorious Jewish exiles, thorough documentation shows the Jews never gave up their hope of returning to Jerusalem and re-establishing their Temple. To this day Jews worldwide pray facing the Western Wall, while Muslims turn their backs away from the Temple Mount and pray toward Mecca.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph.About 100 years ago, Al Aqsa in Jerusalem became associated with the place Muslims came to believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jerusalem, however, is not mentioned in the Quran.

Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from a sacred mosque – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to the farthest mosque, and from a rock there ascended to heaven to receive revelations from Allah that became part of the Quran.Palestinians today claim exclusivity over the Temple Mount and Palestinian leaders routinely deny Jewish historic connection to the site, but historically, Muslims did not claim the Al Aqsa Mosque as their third holiest site and admitted the Jewish Temples existed.According to research by Israeli author Shmuel Berkovits, Islam previously disregarded Jerusalem. He points out in his book How Dreadful Is this Place! that Muhammad was said to loathe Jerusalem and what it stood for. Berkovits wrote that Muhammad made a point of eliminating pagan sites of worship, and sanctifying only one place – the Kaaba in Mecca – to signify the unity of God.As late as the 14th century, Islamic scholar Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, whose writings influenced the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, ruled that sacred Islamic sites are to be found only in the Arabian Peninsula, and that in Jerusalem, there is not a place one calls sacred, and the same holds true for the tombs of Hebron.It wasn't until the late 19th century – incidentally when Jews started immigrating to Palestine – that some Muslim scholars began claiming Muhammad tied his horse to the Western Wall and associated Muhammad's purported night journey with the Temple Mount.

A guide to the Temple Mount by the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem published in 1925 listed the Mount as the site of Solomon's Temple. The Temple Institute acquired a copy of the official 1925 Guide Book to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which states on page 4, Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

NEXT STEPS AFTER KADIMA ELECTION
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080917/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_politics_glance;_ylt=AmKRhyE3T1kMwspmrDaNmS6BzdAF

KADIMA POLLS OPEN TILL 10:30
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1221489061154&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

CAN KADIMA LEAD CHANGE
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3598111,00.html

POLL LIVNI NEXT PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL.

FM wins vote to succeed Israel's Olmert: exit polls by Ron Bousso SEPT 17,08

TEL AVIV (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won a Kadima party leadership vote on Wednesday, putting her on track to succeed scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of the government, exit polls showed. The polls from three different television stations showed her taking between 47 and 49 percent of the vote, well above the 40 she needed to avoid going to a run-off election against Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz who trailed by at least 10 points.Livni , who has been leading US-backed negotiations with the Palestinians, would have 42 days to form a government if she hopes to avert snap elections that polls say would bring the right-wing Likud party to power.I believe Kadima has given Israel and its citizens what they really want, said Eli Aflalou, a minister without portfolio.

They want Tzipi because the struggle now is between Tzipi and Bibi, he told AFP, using the nickname of Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, a reputed hardliner on the peace process.Polling ahead of the election had showed Livni, already regarded as Israel's most powerful woman, as the front-runner, followed by Mofaz, a hawkish former general, and two other ministers who trailed far behind.The election, though decisive, looks unlikely to end the political turmoil brought on by graft accusations against Olmert , as it remains uncertain whether Livni will be able to form a government and take over the premiership.The political turbulence further dims chances of reaching a Middle East peace deal by the end of the year, a goal Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had set at a US conference that relaunched talks last November.Livni will continue with the peace process. The peace process is part of Livni's platform and is one of the main reasons she was elected, MP Yitzhak Ben Yisrael told AFP.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the vote was an internal Israeli affair but that he hoped the election would lead to a return of stability.We hope there will be comprehensive and serious negotiations and that the Israeli voter will choose the removal of the settlements and the wall and strong cooperation with a Palestinian partner, he told AFP.

Olmert, who announced on July 30 that he would step down once his Kadima party has picked a new leader, has faced public uproar over a string of corruption investigations that could lead to criminal charges against him.But he is likely to wait until after the Jewish New Year celebrations and formally resign early next month, according to Israeli media.The next Kadima leader will have to assemble a majority in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament, during which time Olmert may head an interim government.The next step will be to form a coalition government similar to the current coalition. I believe she will be able to form one, said Ben Yisrael, one of Livni's top electoral aides.After that she will invite all other parties to take part in a wall-to-wall coalition, he said, suggesting Livni would also reach out to Likud.Kadima said about 50 percent of its 74,000 members turned out to vote. But the election drew little excitement among Israelis, with editorialists generally unenthusiastic about the candidates.It is not an easy choice. Choosing between Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz is like choosing between two shades of grey, the top-selling Yediot Aharonot said ahead of the vote. Like Olmert both candidates had left Likud to join Kadima under the leadership of the party's founder Ariel Sharon in late 2005, but they ran on sharply contrasting platforms. Livni, 50, advocates withdrawing from most of the occupied West Bank in order to reach a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Mofaz , 59, a former army chief of staff and defence minister, opposes making gestures to boost the secular Palestinian president as long as the Islamist Hamas movement controls the Gaza Strip.

Israeli ruling party choosing new leader By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer SEPT 17,08 3 PM UPDATE.

JERUSALEM - Israel's ruling Kadima Party voted for a new leader Wednesday, choosing between Tzipi Livni, a popular foreign minister who would be the nation's first female prime minister in more than 30 years, and Shaul Mofaz, a gruff ex-general who favors a tough line against Iran, Syria and the Palestinians. The winner will likely be Israel's next prime minister, replacing Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down over corruption charges.The biggest issue at stake was the future of Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians, with Livni seen as far more amenable to a final deal than Mofaz. Livni, 50, is Israel's lead negotiator in those talks.Either candidate would make history by becoming prime minister. Livni would be the first female premier since Golda Meir. Mofaz, who was born in Iran, would be the first Israeli of Middle Eastern, or Sephardic, descent to lead the Jewish state.Mofaz is seen as having a better chance at cobbling together a ruling coalition if he wins. But polls show Livni to be a far stronger candidate in a general election against Israel's other political star, Benjamin Netanyahu of the hard-line Likud Party.Kadima extended voting hours by half an hour, apparently to give voters returning from work more time to cast ballots at crowded polling stations. Analysts predicted a high turnout would favor Livni, who has a wide advantage in opinion polls but who is seen not to have rallied party activists as efficiently as Mofaz.The fact that only 74,000 party members, in a country of 7 million people, were eligible to vote added to the uncertainty of the outcome. Israeli media reported that two hours before the new closing time of 10:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. EDT), some 40 percent of the eligible Kadima voters had cast ballots. However, voting often picks up in the evening after working hours in Israel.

Mofaz, a former chief of staff and defense minister, insisted that opinion polls that showed him trailing Livni were inaccurate.It remained unclear if either would be able to break the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff, which, if required, would be held next week. Two other candidates, Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit and former Shin Bet security service director Avi Dichter, lagged far behind in the polls.The winner of the primary will have 42 days to put together a ruling coalition. Failure to do so would mean a new general election in early 2009, a year and a half ahead of schedule. Olmert will remain as a caretaker leader until a new coalition is approved by parliament.Foreign minister since 2006, Livni is a rare female power figure in a nation dominated by macho military men and a religious establishment with strict views on the role of women. A former lawyer and one-time agent in the Mossad spy agency, Livni favors diplomacy over confrontation, even though she said last week that she has no problem pulling the trigger when necessary.

Joyce Amiel, a Kadima supporter in Tel Aviv, said she was voting for Livni mainly because she is a woman, even though her positions are not clear. We think she would do the best job. We want her to win.Casting her vote in Tel Aviv, the usually reserved Livni bubbled with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. She said she was pleased with the turnout at her polling station and urged people to vote.You can determine today what the character of Kadima will be, Livni said. You can determine today if you really have had enough of old-time politics. Come and vote, bring your children, and show them how you are changing the country.Mofaz takes a tougher line, demanding the Palestinians fulfill a series of conditions before a final deal can be reached. He also is more willing to order military action in times of crisis. He spooked global oil markets in June when he said Israel would have no choice but to attack Iran if sanctions fail to curb its nuclear program. He has since backed away from those comments.The state of Israel stands before major challenges in the coming years and needs a strong leader who has the courage to decide and the ability to act, he told Army Radio.The primary is Kadima's first since it was founded by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005. Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in early 2006, and Olmert subsequently led the party to victory in elections.Olmert, who is under police investigation over his finances, has said he will resign as soon as Kadima has a new leader. He has been carrying out intensive peace talks with the moderate Palestinian leadership in charge of the West Bank, although both he and his Palestinian counterparts say they are unlikely to reach the U.S.-set target date of year's end for a final peace deal. Israeli political science professor Gadi Wolfsfeld predicted Livni could use such a deal to win a national election. If she comes to a tentative agreement with the Palestinians, why not run on that platform, which would be very good for her, he said.

Who Will Follow Olmert as Israeli Prime Minister? By TIM MCGIRK / JERUSALEM
Wed Sep 17, 6:10 AM ET

Israel's new season of political turmoil kicks off on Wednesday when the ruling Kadima party stages a primary to choose a leader to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The beleaguered Olmert is resigning as party chairman after being mired in a quicksand of corruption allegations, but Wednesday's primaries are expected to begin a protracted period of political jockeying in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, as the new Kadima leader seeks to build a governing coalition. Olmert's replacement as Kadima chief can take over from him as prime minister only with the endorsement of Kadima's coalition partners - who range from the more dovish Labor Party to a party dedicated to pensioners and another representing the ultra-Orthodox. Without their backing, the Kadima-led government will tumble, and Israel could face new elections by early 2009. The frontrunner in Kadima, according to the latest Haaretz-Channel 10 polls, is Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with 47% of the party vote. Her nearest rival, the more hawkish Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz has only 28% according to the poll. (To win the party leadership in the first-round primary, the top candidate must win at least 40% of the vote.) The contrast between the two leading candidates seems to offer the voters a clear choice: Livni, 50, is an elegant but often humorless lawyer who did a brief stint in Europe as a Mossad agent. She is committed to seeking peace with the Palestinians, based on a two-state solution, and she is admired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, among others, for her level-headedness and tenacity. A mother of three who lives in a modest Tel Aviv apartment, Livni's image as Mrs. Clean resonates with Israelis tired of the sleaze associated with Olmert, the target of long police investigations into suspected fraud and bribery.

The Iranian-born Mofaz, 60, is selling himself to Kadima voters as a longtime soldier ever-vigilant against Israel's enemies in the region. Mofaz distinguished himself through battlefield bravery as a corporal and then rose through the ranks to become army chief of staff and, later, Defense Minister. Officers who served with Mofaz praise his diligence, but say he lacks vision and flexibility. Each candidate is likely to seek different allies in order to forge a coalition. Mofaz would be expected to try to form a coalition with parties to the right. But that would not include the Likud party of Benyamin Netanyahu, the hawkish ex-premier who wants to hasten Kadima's demise because he thinks - and polls agree - that he would win a general election. Livni, by contrast, would tilt Kadima leftward, scooping up the far-left party Meretz and possibly an ultra-orthodox party, to gain a slim majority in the 120-seat Knesset. If the new Kadima leader fails to form a viable coalition, Olmert will run a caretaker government until a general election is held, most likely in January. In recent days, Olmert has stunned Israelis by speaking forcefully about the urgent need to withdraw Jewish settlements from the Palestinian territories. Political advisers say he may try to demolish a few outposts as a way to speed along the peace process before he departs in disgrace. The fact that Kadima must choose between two leaders who would take the party in substantially different directions is a product of the party's origins: Like Jewish mythology's Golem, a living creature of clay who carries out its master's bidding, the party was molded as a personal political vehicle by Ariel Sharon. But when, in January 2006, Sharon lapsed into a coma from which he has not recovered, the party lost its identity. Sharon's deputy and successor, Olmert, drove the party into the ground with scandals and a disastrous military campaign in Lebanon in 2006. It remains to be seen whether Kadima's next leader, be it Livni or Mofaz, can keep the vision of a centrist party of pragmatic peace alive in a country so polarized between right and left, secular and religious, Jew and Arab. - With reporting by Aaron J. Klein/Tel Aviv

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).

China toxic milk powder kills 3, thousands sick By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday a third infant had died after drinking contaminated milk and the number sick had leapt to many thousands, while an official said the health threat was concealed for at least a month.The number of children ill after drinking powdered milk laced with the compound melamine had risen nearly five-fold to 6,244, and those with acute kidney failure had reached 158, Health Minister Chen Zhu told a news conference.The escalating scandal triggered a recall of exports, sacking of officials and detention of a sacked company executive.China's dairy industry has been pushed to the brink of outright crisis, said Li Zhiqi, a Beijing-based consultant who works with dairy companies.A government probe announced on Tuesday showed a fifth of 109 dairy producers checked made batches of products adulterated with melamine, which is banned from use in foods.Earlier this week, officials said 1,253 children were ill and two had died after the country's biggest baby milk powder maker, the Sanlu Group, last week revealed its products contained melamine, which can be used to bamboozle milk quality checks.Melamine is rich in nitrogen, used to measure protein, and so can be used to disguise diluted milk. It can cause kidney stones and other organ problems. Four suppliers have so far been arrested for selling melamine-laced milk to Sanlu.

The scare has rippled beyond the nation's borders with China's quality watchdog saying two producers were recalling milk powder exported to Yemen, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Gabon and Burundi. Officials did not say whether those exports were contaminated.Taiwan, the self-governed island claimed by China, issued a ban on all dairy products from 22 mainland companies.China's products have suffered repeated scandals involving toxins and flaws in recent years, and this is not the first involving melamine, usually used to make plastics, fertilizers and cleaning products. In 2007, the U.S. government found pet food ingredients from China tainted with melamine.The new scare, with claims of an official cover-up, has again shaken investor and consumer confidence. Sanlu was among seven dairy companies counted so safe it was excused from normal government quality checks.Facing widespread public alarm, minister Chen urged hospitals to prevent further deaths.As far as possible, minimize the harm to infants' health from the contaminated milk powder, he said.

China is the world's second-biggest market for baby milk powder, and Sanlu has long dominated it. Based in Shijiazhuang, capital of the north Chinese province of Hebei, it is 43 percent owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITY

Sanlu last week halted production and announced a big recall. But officials acted only after the New Zealand government pressed Beijing, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday.Yang Chongyong, a vice governor of Hebei, said on Wednesday that Shijiazhuang officials had delayed reporting the poisonings throughout August -- when Beijing was hosting the Olympic Games.It should be said that the Shijiazhuang government did not announce to society in a timely way this major food safety incident, Yang told reporters. ...they have a major responsibility.
Sanlu kept quiet even longer, Yang said.We know that before they reported the problem to the Shijiazhuang government on August 2 they had already covered up many of the facts, he said.Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier defended his company from criticism that it should have gone public sooner.They (Chinese officials) were clear about how they wanted to proceed on this recall, he said. Sanlu's tests for threats did not include melamine, he added.You do the best you can and sometimes something like this (happens) whether you like it or not. If somebody breaks the law and puts poison chemical in the product, we're all vulnerable to that.On Chinese trading websites, the substance can be found selling for around 10,000 yuan ($1,460) a tonne.The other offending companies include Beijing Olympics sponsor Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and Hong Kong-listed Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd. Mengniu Dairy's stock was suspended on Wednesday, and the company said it plans to recall unfit products.Shares in Yili fell close to their daily limit of 10 percent on Wednesday. In contrast, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 1.7 percent and Shanghai's composite index slid 3.1 percent.As in past product safety scandals, the government has responded by sacking junior officials. Police announced they detained the just-fired chairwoman of Sanlu, Tian Wenhua.Li, the Beijing-based consultant, said more was needed to clean up the dairy sector.The government has food safety measures and rules. But they're often too broad, he said. This shows we need regulation fitted to particular industries.(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Ian Ransom in Beijing, Alison Leung in Hong Kong and Gyles Beckford in Wellington; Editing by Nick Macfie and Jerry Norton)

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Juncker rules out Lisbon treaty before 2010
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today SEPT 17,08 @ 14:06 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Union's Lisbon Treaty will not enter into force before the European Parliament elections in June 2009, as was initially hoped, and is unlikely to do so before 1 January 2010 either, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said in Brussels on Wednesday (17 September).Juncker: If I was the Irish Prime Minister, I wouldn't go for a second referendum in the next few months (Photo: Council of the European Union)I don't think that the treaty will be in place in June [2009], when the next European elections will take place, Mr Juncker, who is also the president of the eurogroup - gathering the finance ministers of the eurozone - said at a conference organised by the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC).In order for the document to be in place by June 2009, it would have to be ratified by all 27 EU member states by February - something which according to Luxembourg's premier is not realistic.It's not possible to have this treaty enter into force before the year 2010, he stressed.Mr Juncker is the first high-level politician to publicly state the Lisbon treaty may be impossible to adopt next year.

Originally, the document - aimed to replace the failed European Constitution and to provide for a better and more efficient functioning of the EU - was planned to enter into force in January 2009.But Irish citizens voted No in a referendum on the treaty in June, casting a doubt over the possibility to reach the goal.EU leaders will be expecting to hear from Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen on the issue at a summit meeting in October, with the EU insisting ratification of the document should continue in other member states, and a second referendum in Ireland seen by some as a possibility to bypass the June No vote.Mr Juncker, however, said that a possible revote in Ireland should not take place in the immediate future.Given the economic crisis we're living in, given the confidence that's lacking, given that governments are increasingly unpopular all over Europe, organising a referendum around a European treaty is a dangerous road to take, he said.If I was the Irish Prime Minister, I wouldn't go for a referendum in the next few months.If the Lisbon treaty does not come into force in 2009, that will affect the composition of both the European Parliament and the European Commission next year.Both would have to be conducted under the EU's current set of rules, the Nice treaty, which would mean that there would be 785 instead of 751 seats, as foreseen in the Lisbon treaty, in the parliament.But it would also reduce the number of commissioners in the next commission - to be nominated by November 2009 - as under Nice, the number should be less than the number of member states.

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 WANTS BASKET OF CURRENCY
http://www.spartacuslives.org/node/20609

RUSSIA CLOSES MARKETS DUE TO STOCK CRASH
http://www.mygtv.net/?p=10269

ANOTHER WILD RIDE ON THE MARKETS AS THE DOW ENDED DOWN 449.36 POINTS ON THE DAY. GOLD WAS UP AN ALL TME DAY HIGH RECORD OF $88.80 TO $869.30 OR 11% AND SILVER WAS UP 15% TO 12.105 UP 1.588 ON THE DAY.

Stocks tumble after government bailout of AIG By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer SEPT 17,08

NEW YORK - Wall Street plunged again in a crisis of confidence Wednesday as anxieties about the financial system still ran high after the government's bailout of insurer American International Group Inc. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped about 450 points, and investors seeking the safety of hard assets and government debt sent gold, oil and short-term Treasurys soaring. The market was more unnerved than comforted by news that the Federal Reserve is giving a two-year, $85 billion loan to AIG in exchange for a nearly 80 percent stake in the company, which lost billions in the risky business of insuring against bond defaults. Wall Street had feared that the conglomerate, which has its tentacles in various financial services industries around the world, would follow the investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy. The ramifications of the world's largest insurer going under likely would have far surpassed the demise of Lehman.But the moves left the market worried about problems that might worsen at other financial companies.The two independent Wall Street investment banks left standing — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley — remain under scrutiny, as does Washington Mutual Inc., the country's largest thrift bank. Morgan Stanley revealed its quarterly earnings early late Tuesday, posting a better-than-expected 7 percent slide in fiscal third-quarter profit. It insisted that it is surviving the credit crisis that has ravaged many of its peers.Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, and by late Tuesday had sold its North American investment banking and trading operations to Barclays, Britain's third-largest bank, for the bargain price of $250 million. Over the weekend, Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's largest brokerage, sold itself in a last-ditch effort to avoid failure to Bank of America Corp.People are scared to death, said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC Wealth Management. Who would have imagined that AIG would have gotten into this position?

He said the fear gripping the markets reflects investors' concerns that AIG wasn't able to find a lifeline in the private sector and that Wall Street is now fretting about what other institutions could falter. Over the past year, companies including Lehman and AIG have sought to reassure investors that they weren't in trouble, and now the market isn't sure who can and can't be trusted.No one's going to be believing anybody now because AIG said they were OK along with everybody else, Stone said.According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 449.36, or 4.06 percent, to 10,609.66, finishing not far off its lows of the session. After a nosedive Monday, the index is down more than 7 percent on the week, and has fallen more than 25 percent since reaching a record close of 14,164.53 on Oct. 9 last year.Broader stock indicators also fell sharply. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 57.21, or 4.71 percent, to 1,156.39, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 109.05, or 4.94 percent, to 2,098.85.About 200 stocks rose on the New York Stock Exchange, while nearly 3,000 fell.

Russian market suspended after shares dive
By Moscow Correspondent Scott Bevan Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:00am AEST

Russia is holding its breath to see what ride awaits its stock market later today after a steep dive led to a suspension in trade late on Tuesday.The Russian Government has pumped billions of dollars into the financial market to quell fears of its liquidity.After a rollercoaster ride through Tuesday Russia's main stock index, the RTS, had fallen more than 11.4 per cent by late afternoon, halving the market's value of just four months ago.Another index, the Micex, had dived 16.6 per cent.The stock exchange suspended trading for an hour. Banking and energy stocks had taken a battering, which is keenly felt in an economy that has been driven by the oil and gas markets.After close of trade, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced tens of billions of dollars had been placed on the Russian financial market, and that the Finance Ministry planned another major injection for today.

Stocks sink in early trading after AIG bailout By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer SEPT 17,08

NEW YORK - Stocks skidded again Wednesday, with anxieties about the financial system still running high even after the government bailed out the insurer American International Group Inc. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped about 200 points.

The Federal Reserve is giving a two-year, $85 billion loan to AIG in exchange for a nearly 80 percent stake in the company. Wall Street had feared that the insurer, which has lost billions in the risky business of insuring against bond defaults, would follow the investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy.

Lehman, after filing for bankruptcy protection on Monday, sold its North American investment banking and trading operations to Barclays, Britain's third-largest bank, on Tuesday for the bargain price of $250 million.The moves by the Fed and Barclays lift some of the uncertainty surrounding two of the most precarious pillars of the U.S. financial system, but investors' worries are far from erased.The two independent Wall Street investment banks left standing — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley — remain under scrutiny. Morgan Stanley revealed its quarterly earnings early late Tuesday, posting a better-than-expected 7 percent slide in fiscal third-quarter profit and insisting that it is surviving the credit crisis that has ravaged many of its peers.Over the weekend, Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage, sold itself in a last-ditch effort to avoid failure to Bank of America Corp.Furthermore, the troubles in the financial sector could exacerbate the problems facing the weak U.S. economy. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new home construction fell by 6.2 percent in August to 895,000 units, the slowest building pace since January 1991.Slumping demand for houses, sinking home prices and mortgage defaults have been the catalysts behind Wall Street's turmoil — and the risky mortgage-backed assets held by the nation's banks are not apt to regain in value until the housing market turns around.A day after Wall Street regained some of Monday's nosedive, the Dow fell 200.54, or 1.81 percent, to 10,858.48 in early trading.Broader stock indicators also tumbled. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 21.38, or 1.76 percent, to 1,192.22. The Nasdaq composite index fell 44.21, or 1.76 percent, to 1,192.22.On the Net:New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Government steps in again, bails out AIG with $85B By JEANNINE AVERSA, IEVA M. AUGSTUMS and STEPHEN BERNARD, AP Business Writers SEPT 17,08

WASHINGTON - Another day, but not just another bailout. This one's a stunning government takeover. In the most far-reaching intervention into the private sector ever for the Federal Reserve, the government stepped in Tuesday to rescue American International Group Inc. with an $85 billion injection of taxpayer money. Under the deal, the government will get a 79.9 percent stake in one of the world's largest insurers and the right to remove senior management.AIG's chief executive, Robert Willumstad, is expected to be replaced by Edward Liddy, the former head of insurer Allstate Corp., according to The Wall Street Journal, citing a person it did not name. Willumstad had been at the helm of AIG since June.A call to AIG to confirm the executive change was not immediately returned.It was the second time this month the feds put taxpayer money on the hook to rescue a private financial company, saying its failure would further disrupt markets and threaten the already fragile economy.

AIG said it will repay the money in full with proceeds from the sales of some of its assets. It will be up to the company to decide which assets to sell and the timing. The government does, however, have veto power.Under the deal, the Federal Reserve will provide a two-year $85 billion emergency loan at an interest rate of about 11.5 percent to AIG, which teetered on the edge of failure because of stresses caused by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the credit crunch that ensued. In return, the government will get a 79.9 percent stake in AIG and the right to remove senior management.AIG shares sank $1.34, or 36 percent, to $2.41 in morning trading Wednesday. They traded as high as $70.13 in the past year.The government's move was similar to its bailout of Sept. 7 of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, where the Treasury Department said it was prepared to put up as much as $100 billion over time in each of the companies if needed to keep them from going broke.The Fed said it determined that a disorderly failure of AIG could hurt the already delicate financial markets and the economy.It also could lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance, the Fed said in a statement.The decision to help AIG marked a reversal for the government from the weekend, when it refused to use taxpayer money to bail out Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Lehman, which filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, collapsed under the weight of mounting losses related to its real estate holdings.The White House said it backed the Fed's decision Tuesday.These steps are taken in the interest of promoting stability in financial markets and limiting damage to the broader economy, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

After meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in a late-night briefing on Capitol Hill, Congressional leaders said they understood the need for the bailout.The administration is approaching an unprecedented step, but unfortunately we are living in unprecedented times. Hearing of these plans, you have to stop to catch your breath. But upon reflection, the alternatives are much worse, said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.In a statement late Tuesday, AIG's board of directors said the loan will protect all AIG policy holders, address concerns of rating agencies and buy the company time to sell off assets.We expect that the proceeds of these sales will be sufficient to repay the loan in full and enable AIG's businesses to continue as substantial participants in their respective markets, the statement said. In return for providing this essential support, American taxpayers will receive a substantial majority ownership interest in AIG.

New York officials said the deal helps stave off a fiscal crisis for the state. AIG is based in New York. Policy holders will be protected, jobs will be saved, New York Gov. David Paterson said Tuesday night. In an interview on ABC's Good Morning America program Wednesday, former longtime AIG CEO Maurice Hank Greenberg was asked whether critics are being fair who say the situation at AIG and the financial markets generally happened because of greed, bad business practices and corruption.

No, I think it's an unfair appraisal, said Greenberg, who was replaced as CEO three years ago as part of an accounting probe. You know, there are many things that contributed to this unfortunate episode. after I left the company, all the risk management procedures that we had in place were obviously dismantled. I can't explain that. There's a new board of directors. One should be asking that board of directors what they did and why.Greenberg said he has lost my entire net worth. Literally, my entire net worth.Worked 40 years building the greatest insurance company in history, one that everyone in the world envied who was in this industry. I'll get by, but my heart goes out for the thousands and thousands of employees and their families who shareholders and not only in the united states but worldwide. That is a tragedy, he said. The Fed's move was part of a concerted push to help calm jittery markets and investors around the world. On Tuesday, the Fed decided to keep its key interest rate steady at 2 percent, but acknowledged stresses in financial markets have grown and hinted it stood ready to lower rates if needed. The central bank also pumped $70 billion into the nation's financial system to help ease credit stresses. In emergency sessions over the weekend, the Fed expanded its loan programs to Wall Street firms, part of an ongoing effort to get credit flowing more freely.

The stock market, which Monday posted its largest point loss session since the Sept. 11 attacks, recovered Tuesday after the Fed's decision on interest rates. The Dow Jones industrials rose 141 points after losing 500 points on Monday. AIG's shares swung violently, though, as rumors of potential deals involving the government or private parties emerged and were dashed. By late Tuesday, its shares had closed down 20 percent — and another 45 percent after hours. The problems at AIG stemmed from its insurance of mortgage-backed securities and other risky debt against default. If AIG couldn't make good on its promise to pay back soured debt, investors feared the consequences would pose a greater threat to the U.S. financial system than this week's collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers. The worries were heightened Monday after Moody's Investor Service, Standard and Poor's and Fitch Ratings lowered AIG's credit ratings, forcing AIG to seek more money for collateral against its insurance contracts. Without that money, AIG would have defaulted on its obligations and the buyers of its insurance — such as banks and other financial companies — would have found themselves without protection against losses on the debt they hold.

Europe throws cash at nervous markets
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today SEPT 17,08 @ 10:15 CET

For the second day in a row, the European Central Bank (ECB) flooded the financial system with cash in an attempt to stabilise markets and restore confidence in Europe's financial institutions.Meanwhile, finance ministers across the EU attempted to persuade both markets and ordinary people that European banks were not in any danger.On Tuesday (16 September), the ECB offered money markets €70 billion in a one-day tender following similar action on Monday, when the Frankfurt-based institution lent €30 billion to boost liquidity.ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said the crisis is an ongoing process and we have to remain extraordinarily alert.In the UK, the Bank of England moved to shore up its financial sector, providing an additional £20 billion (€25.2 billion) in a two-day tender to lenders on top of the £5 billion allocated on Monday.The Swiss National Bank also manned the pumps, offering 8 billion francs in a one-day tender. The US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan have also made billions of dollars available to head off a worldwide financial collapse.

However bids for the cash in Europe quickly exceeded what had been offered, suggesting credit remains tight.European stock markets also plunged sharply, with London declining 3.34 percent in afternoon trading. Frankfurt and Paris dropped more than three percent. Russian share prices fell to their lowest levels since 2005, with both of Russia's main exchanges suspending trading for an hour.European banks not in danger.

Europe's finance ministers are trying to put a brave face on the crisis.

The chair of the Eurogroup of member states - those employing the euro as their currency - Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday morning: The financial crisis that is still raging, that has not yet reached even a temporary end is causing us the biggest headache.[But] I don't see Europe being affected by the financial crisis to the same extent as seems to be the case in the United States, he added, according to Reuters, quoting German Radio. The financial-market crisis is very grave, very far-reaching and is of course affecting Germany, too. But any consequences ... will remain small, Germany's finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, told parliament on Tuesday, the FT reports. The UK's finance minister, Alastair Darling, was equally reassuring: This is clearly a difficult time but I'm confident we'll get through it.

France's finance minister Christine Lagarde said that French banks were lightly affected by the credit crunch. They have a direct Lehman at-risk exposure that is weak when compared to that of other countries.Austria's central bank chief, Ewald Nowotny, speaking to national radio also attempted to reassure markets that his country's banks were in sound standing and that his compatriots need not worry about their savings.But in Belgium, Fortis bank lost 20 percent of its value in the past 48hours due to nervous share speculation.

Capitalism's Chernobyl

Euro-deputies also weighed in on the crisis, with British Green MEP Caroline Lucas telling the UK's Guardian daily This is a defining moment; the end of the kind of unbridled, deregulated capitalism of the past few decades.We are going to have to return finance to its role as servant rather than master of the global economy.Her colleague, Franco-German MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit told the same newspaper: This financial crisis is for capitalist neo-liberals what Chernobyl was for the nuclear lobby.

US bank crisis smashes hole in European markets ,Canary Wharf in London, where humbled Lehman Brothers staff packed up on Monday (Photo: wikipedia)PHILIPPA RUNNER 16.09.2008 @ 09:28 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US banking crisis wiped billions off the value of European stock markets on Monday (15 September), with the European Central Bank and EU institutions trying to calm nerves as traders fear more bad news.Among Europe's largest trading floors, the FTSE exchange in London and Euronext 100 in Paris lost around €81 billion each in value while the DAX trading floor in Frankfurt lost €27 billion.Shares in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Poland, Romania, the Czech republic, Slovenia and Lithuania also fell by 3.5 percent or more, with only Sweden, Finland and Estonia emerging relatively unscathed.Individual European companies took severe hits with the British HBOS banking group losing half its value, Barclays bank losing 10 percent and Sweden's SEB bank losing over 8 percent.

The reaction came in response to news that two of the biggest US investment banks, Lehman Brothers and Merril Lynch, are to vanish following huge losses in the current financial downturn.Lehman Brothers confirmed it was filing for bankruptcy at 06.31 Brussels time on Monday morning. The Bank of America said it would buy the ailing Merril Lynch just six minutes later. Within a few hours of the announcements, the 4,000 or so Lehman Brothers staff at the company's building in London's Canary Wharf began carrying out their personal possessions in cardboard boxes.The European Central Bank (ECB) tried to reassure investors by lending €30 billion at a fixed rate, while the Bank of England lent £5 billion (€6 billion).European banks had asked for €90 billion in loans, however, with the ECB indicating more funds may be mobilised soon. [The ECB] is ready to contribute to orderly conditions in the euro money market its statement said. A European Commission spokesman said Brussels remains confident of good co-ordination, as well as a solution, among central banks, regulators and the private sector.The situation saw finance ministers in France and Denmark reach out to ordinary bank customers, with Copenhagen saying it would guarantee personal savings of up to €50,000 in the event of a bank's collapse.

No panic

All the monetary, banking and treasury authorities have been consulting for several days [as the US crisis unfolded], French finance minister Christine Lagarde said on Europe 1 radio. We worked again last night and the mechanisms are in place, the central banks are on alert, there is no panic.Over the weekend, EU finance ministers meeting in France worked out a modest plan to help stave off a US-type scenario in Europe by agreeing to harmonise the way banks report their financial results by 2012.

But EU states were divided on how to tackle international banking supervision, with Finland, Spain and the Benelux countries keen for banks' host countries to play a greater role but with the UK, Germany and France opposed, Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reports.Things are going to get worse before they get better, Marc Ostwald, a strategist at UK-based broker Monument Securities told The Daily Telegraph, echoing widespread sentiment in the private sector.

EU facing slow motion crisis in UN PHILIPPA RUNNER Today SEPT 17,08 @ 09:23 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is losing its ability to push through human rights projects at the UN, with Islamic, African and Latin American states increasingly alienated from Europe while Russia and China play a more assertive role, a new study says.EU human rights positions gained over 70 percent support in the UN general assembly in the 1990s but just 48 to 55 percent in 2007 and 2008, while Russia and China have gone from less than 50 percent to over 80 percent in the same time, the report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) shows.In what it calls the EU's slow motion crisis, the ECFR highlights EU defeats on recent Iran, Burma and Belarus votes, where just 80 out of a potential other 165 UN member countries joined the EU position. Russia and China's doctrine of non-interference in sovereign states has also attracted support in the UN security council, leading to EU setbacks on Sudan, Burma and Zimbabwe in the past year.If Europe can no longer win support at the UN for international action on human rights and justice, overriding national sovereignty in extreme cases, it will have been defeated over one of its deepest convictions about international politics as a whole, the study says.At the UN level, the ECFR links the problem to confrontations between Europe and the Bush-era US as well as growing EU introversion, with European diplomats in New York holding over 1,000 internal meetings a year instead of focusing on outward diplomacy.Looking beyond the UN, the think-tank points to EU foreign and immigration policies as bigger stumbling blocks, with Afghanistan, Bosnia and Turkey the only Muslim-majority states which still vote with the EU.

This reflects not only disputes over the Middle East, but a fundamental clash over cultural and religious values, the ECFR says. The EU needs an engagement strategy to win back the support of the African and Latin American countries that it has lost, and win over more moderate members of the Islamic bloc.The report suggests a mixed bag of initiatives, including transparency-building measures such as an annual European Commission report on EU voting and coalition-building at the UN.It also pushes for the appointment of two or three new EU officials to co-ordinate UN diplomacy with third countries, backed up by a panel of senior Europeans to draft and review strategies.The EU's Cotonou Agreement - a long-standing development accord with African and Caribbean countries - should be used to expand coalitions on the model of old French and UK colonial ties, while moderate Islamic states such as Jordan and Senegal could help build new relationships in the Muslim bloc.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

French EU presidency wants EU closer to NATO
VALENTINA POP 16.09.2008 @ 10:29 CET

EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS - The French EU presidency is to put forward a security package at the December summit aimed at relaunching the European security and defence policy (ESDP) with strong links to NATO, many measures of which were outlined at a Brussels conference on defence on Monday (15 September). From logistical shortcomings such as aircraft interoperability to stalled national investments for defence and the political gulf between NATO and the EU, the current ESDP has a number of areas that are not satisfactory, Lieutenant General Patrick de Rousiers, France's military representative to the EU, said during the conference organised by Security and Defence Agenda, a Brussels based think-tank. The meeting was laying out the security and defence priorities for Europe during the France's chairmanship of the six-month rotating EU presidency.At the December EU summit, France will present a series of concrete measures in order to address these shortcomings, including the launch of joint military European training courses modelled on the Erasmus Programme - the civilian university student exchange system. The EU presidency also hopes to win approval for the establishment of a European Security and Defence College, as well as greater levels of interoperability between the European aircraft producers and the development of a joint UK-French initiative to improve helicopter capabilities. The latter proposal comes in response to difficulties experienced by the EU's mission in Chad in getting enough helicopters on the ground, Mr de Rousiers said.

At the conference, Air Commodore Bob Tizard, the UK's deputy military representative to the EU, highlighted the need for member states to participate equally in burden sharing, complaining that currently almost 40 percent of the deployable forces for EU missions are put forward by the UK and France alone. These two countries are also the only ones to over two per cent of their gross domestic product on defence, with other EU countries averaging one percent or less. This is not burden sharing, said Mr Tizard, adding that he wondered whether the events in Georgia will change defence spending in some countries.

Turkey not in favour of EU-NATO high-level group

France would also like to see the establishment of a high-level group between the EU and NATO, an idea that prompted criticism from a Turkish Foreign Ministry official present at the debate, Tomur Bayer. Coming from a non-EU country, we are a bit unable to understand the merit of this proposal. As we know, the two secretaries general do meet regularly and they are accompanied by their close advisers. So what is the essence of this proposal? Do we want to underline that the secretary generals meet? They meet already. That they should be accompanied by their aides? They already are, Mr Bayer said.France's military representative replied: The more we meet, the better it is, and maintained that the move is a needed step for the two bodies to work more closely.A similar position was outlined by the UK's deputy permanent representative to NATO, Paul Flaherty, who said: One of the main weaknesses of ESDP throughout the international community is the connection between the S and the D – security and defence.We have a situation in which very rarely do we have security and defence policies mapped out and pushing in the same direction. We need to do better in terms of NATO interlinked to the EU and the UN, he added.

Veronique Roger-Lacan, of the French Ministry of Defence, also said that this link between security and defence is very much an aim of the French presidency, while conceding that in terms of what can be delivered, We are in the hands of member states who need to reach consensus in order to adopt the French proposals.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

MEPs call on EU states to list Hezbollah as terrorist group
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today SEPT 17,08 @ 09:31 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A group of MEPs from across the political spectrum have launched a campaign calling on EU governments to list Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shia militant group, as a terrorist organisation.Hezbollah - or Party of God - emerged as a militia in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Its leaders were inspired by Iranian supreme spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini, while its forces were trained and organised by a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Currently, it plays a significant role in Lebanon's politics, controlling 11 out of 30 seats in the government and wielding veto power in the parliament.

According to Portuguese Socialist Paulo Casaca, it is Hezbollah's political influence that makes it a dangerous organisation. If it was only a number of lunatics, it would not be as dangerous, the MEP told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday (16 September) unveiling an initiative to have the Lebanese group proscribed. German Liberal Alexander Alvaro also argued in favour of Hezbollah being included on the EU's list of terrorist groups, which involves a freeze on any Europe-held financial assets as well as political stigma. He said 900 Hezbollah sleepers are stationed within Germany and that the situation is probably not very different elsewhere, underlining that a terrorist group label would enable the drying out of its activities in Europe.Currently, only four countries consider Hezbollah a terrorist organisation - Israel, the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. Australia and the UK list only its military wing as a terrorist group. We have to gather enough political critical mass in order to put pressure on all EU governments that are reluctant to change their position towards the Lebanese Shia group, Czech conservative Jana Hybaskova said. So far, 44 MEPs have signed a written declaration on the issue. We hope to get as many [signatures] as possible and we would like this to be a policy of the European Parliament, Mr Casaca said. He also expressed dismay over the fact that his own political group, the Socialists, do not support his tough line against Hezbollah.

Question marks remain over EU's Georgia mission
RENATA GOLDIROVA 15.09.2008 @ 23:22 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union has given its green light to a civilian mission to Georgia. But a question mark remains over whether some 200 EU observers will dare to operate in the entire country, including its breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, now under Russia's protection. The council [representing EU states] has decided to send an independent civilian observer mission to Georgia, under the European security and defence policy, which will be deployed by 1 October, reads the text adopted by 27 EU foreign ministers on Monday (15 September). France (76 people), Germany (40), Poland (30), Italy (30), Sweden (27), the Czech republic (10) and Spain (10) have pledged the largest contingents, with 24 out of 27 EU states set to take part to some extent, newswires report.The so-called EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) will have headquarters in Tbilisi as well as a number of field offices and will deploy for an initial period of 12 months on a budget of €31 million.The formal go-ahead is expected to secure that Russian troops will completely withdraw within 10 days from the buffer zones attached to South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the lines held prior to the outbreak of hostilities.

EU observers will be able to be present and they should be able to get this withdrawal going, just by the fact that they are there, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said after the ministerial meeting. The EU's mission will be working in Georgia together with monitors operational under the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nation. The OSCE itself is seeking to beef up its presence by additional 80 personnel. However, the EU seems hesitant to irritate Russia by sending its observers to the entire Georgian territory, including its breakway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow considers the rebel regions as independent states and intends to keep 7,600 troops on their soil.

According to Slovak foreign minister Jan Kubis, the EU deployment will be done in several stages, in areas where Russians are withdrawing from to begin with. All further steps will depend on political talks with Russia in Geneva next month, German deputy foreign minister Guenter Gloser said, Bloomberg reports. Earlier, some EU states voiced concerns over a limited role of EU observers on the ground, saying it might wrongly imply that the union was protecting unrecognized borders. According to one EU diplomat, the EU has decided to play a safe card based on the French EU presidency argument that all is still very fragile. We will be moving a milimeter by milimeter, he said. Mr Kouchner himself dismissed the worries by saying: Let's not just see the obstacles in our path, otherwise we would never do anything...We are not recognizing anything in our text.Apart from the EU mission, the foreign ministers appointed Pierre Morel, a French diplomat, to become the union's special representative for the crisis in Georgia. The 27-nation bloc is also set to hold next month a donor's conference to help with the recontruction and recovery of the Georgian economy and resettle refugees. The European Commission meanwhile pledged to put aside €500 million for the period 2008-2010.

Sharia courts operating in Britain .Sharia courts have been operating in Britain to rule on disputes between Muslims for more than a year, it has emerged. By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent 10:55AM BST 16 Sep 2008

Five sharia courts have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The government has quietly sanctioned that their rulings are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court. Previously, the rulings were not binding and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims. Lawyers have issued grave warnings about the dangers of a dual legal system and the disclosure drew criticism from Opposition leaders.Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so.Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, added: I think it's appalling. I don't think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state.Muslim tribunal courts started passing sharia judgments in August 2007. They have dealt with more than 100 cases that range from Muslim divorce and inheritance to nuisance neighbours. It has also emerged that tribunal courts have settled six cases of domestic violence between married couples, working in tandem with the police investigations.Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said that sharia courts are classified as arbitration tribunals under a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996. The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case. The disclosures come after Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, sparked a national debate and calls for his resignation for saying that the establishment of sharia in the future seems unavoidable in Britain.

In July, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice agreed that Muslims in Britain should be able to live according to Islamic law to decide financial and marital disputes.Mr Siddiqi said he expected the courts to handle a greater number of smaller criminal cases in coming years as more Muslim clients approach them. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh. All we are doing is regulating community affairs in these cases, said Mr Siddiqi, chairman of the governing council of the tribunal. There are concerns for women suffering under the Islamic laws, which favours men. Mr Siddiqi said that in a recent inheritance dispute handled by the court in Nuneaton, the estate of a Midlands man was divided between three daughters and two sons. The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with sharia. Had the family gone to a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts. In the six cases of domestic violence, Mr Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment. In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations. Mr Siddiqi said that in the domestic violence cases, the advantage was that marriages were saved and couples given a second chance.