RUSSIA - VENEZUELA MILITARY TIES CLOSER

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.

Rain cuts off 20,000 China quake victims, eight die SEPT 25,08

BEIJING (Reuters) - Torrential rain isolated more than 20,000 people in an area of southwest China still recovering from a devastating earthquake in May, state media said on Thursday, with eight people dead and dozens missing. Heavy rain caused flash floods, cave-ins and landslides in mountainous Sichuan province near the epicenter of the quake, where survivors are still living in tents and pre-fabricated houses.

At least 80,000 people were killed in the May 12 earthquake.Thirty-eight people are missing and roads and telephone lines have been cut in the storms, Xinhua news agency said.The downpours began to pound Mianyang city and surrounding countryside in Sichuan province on Monday night, it said.Mianyang encompasses Beichuan and other areas that were the hardest-hit counties in the Sichuan earthquake.The rainstorms were separate to a typhoon which plowed into south China on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, closing schools, cancelling flights, uprooting trees and bringing down billboards in several cities. Many rivers burst their banks.Among the dead was the chief engineer of a British freighter tossed around in the storm off Guangdong, Xinhua said.Thousands of homes and large areas of forestry and farms were destroyed, the China Daily said.Typhoon Hagupit had since weakened as it moved into Vietnam, but Hanoi said the country was on high alert for flash floods and landslides.The army has sent a typhoon alert to more than 38,000 fishermen, while the national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, canceled a domestic northbound flight late on Wednesday.

Hagupit, which means lashing in Filipino, killed at least eight people in the Philippines earlier in the week.An earthquake measuring 5.7 struck western Nepal on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said. Xinhua said it also hit Zhongba county in southwest Tibet. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

(Reporting by Nick Macfie in Beijing and Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi; Editing by Paul Tait)

Forecasters: SE coast storm heads for NC landfall By ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 25, 7:50 AM ET

RALEIGH, N.C. - A low-pressure system off the Southeast coast chugged toward landfall Thursday, but forecasters said the storm wasn't expected to do more onshore than blow down some limbs and bring patchy rain. Forecasters said the storm still was about 170 miles southeast of Wilmington at about 6 a.m. and had pushed some wind gusts and rain ashore, but seemed to be a typical nor'easter. It was expected to bring high surf and dangerous rip currents to big chunks of the East Coast over the next couple of days.It really isn't anything to write home about, said forecaster Rick Neuherz at the National Weather Service bureau in Wilmington. It's possible that later today at high tide we could see a little bit of minor coastal flooding, a bit of trickling over the dunes.A hurricane hunter aircraft would be sent into the storm to check again for tropical characteristics, said Jim Merrell at the weather service bureau in Newport. The plane sent into the storm a day earlier didn't find any tropical characteristics.Merrell said flooding had closed NC Highway 12 on Hatteras Island, which isn't unusual, and that schools were closed in Dare and Carteret counties because of the winds. Gusts hit about 40 mph at Beaufort.The effects of it are being felt from the Southeast in Florida all the way to the Northeast, Neuherz said, but said the rain from the storm was less than an inch.

Gale warnings were posted for most of the Southeast coast from the Georgia coast to as far north as Massachusetts. Forecasters also said winds to 46 mph and seas as high as 22 feet were expected in the Atlantic.Strong winds from the wide-reaching storm were expected to whip well inland in some places, gusting to as high as 45 mph and threatening to spin off tornadoes across the eastern third of North Carolina on Thursday, the weather service said.But along the North and South Carolina coast, some seasoned residents said the storm was a typical blast that kicked up waves and kept most boats tied to their docks.Nobody's fishing. The ocean's too choppy. Solid whitecaps. The wind's ripping, said Ocracoke Island charter captain Dave Nagel. It's just a regular old nor'easter.A movie premier of Nights in Rodanthe went on as scheduled on the Outer Banks on Wednesday night for locals who were extras in the film, said tourism bureau chief Carolyn McCormick. People who couldn't get home from Kill Devil Hills were given cut rates at local motels.The house was full. People clapped through it, McCormick said, adding that only four people didn't make it and those were from Ocracoke Island.In Annapolis, Md., city officials were offering sandbags to prepare for the possibility of flooding in the low-lying City Dock area. They will likely be available through Friday.

Boulders on Tonga may have been dumped by tsunami Wed Sep 24, 6:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven monstrous chunks of coral lined up on the western shore of Tonga may be evidence of a powerful volcano-triggered tsunami, researchers said on Wednesday. The house-sized boulders, some as high as 30 feet high and weighing up to 3.5 million pounds (1.6 million kg), appear to have been carried ashore several thousand years ago by a wave rivaling the tsunami generated by Indonesia's Krakatoa volcano in 1883.These could be the largest boulders displaced by a tsunami, worldwide, Matthew Hornbach of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics said in a statement.Hornbach, whose team is preparing a report on the boulders for a meeting of the Geological Society of America in Houston next month, said they are so unusual that tales of their origins appear in Tongan folklore.According to one legend, the god Maui hurled the boulders ashore in an attempt to kill a giant human-eating fowl.We think studying erratic boulders is one way of getting better statistics on mega-tsunamis, Hornbach said. There are a lot of places that have similar underwater volcanoes and people haven't paid much attention to the threat.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox)

REVELATION 20:11-15
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

WELL THE LAKE OF FIRE JUDGEMENT FOR THE LOST OR SINNERS CAN NOT HAPPEN FOR AT LEAST 1007 YEARS. THE RAPTURE HAS TO OCCUR, THEN THE 7 YR TREATY HAS TO OCCUR, THEN THE EU WORLD DICTATOR (FALSE MESSIAH) AND THE FALSE PROPHET HAS TO BE THROWN ALIVE INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. AND THEN SATAN HAS TO BE BOUND IN THE ABISS FOR ABOUT 900 YEARS AT LEAST, AND FINALLY 1000 YRS LATER THEN THE FINAL JUDGEMENT OF THE LOST SINNERS FOREVER IN THE LAKE OF FIRE. ALL THE LOST FROM ADAM TILL THE END OF THE MILLENIUM ARE CURRENTLY IN TORMENT IN HELL, THEIR SOULS ARE BEING TORTURED. AT THE END OF JESUS' 1000 YEAR RULE, THE LOSTS BODY AND SOUL WILL BE REUNITED TOGETHER TO BE JUDGED BY JESUS AND THEN THEY ENTER THE LAKE OF FIRE FOREVER AS STATED IN THE VERSES ABOVE.

The Lake of Fire expected this year?! Enoch's 70 generations of 70 years set to expire September 24, 2008 8:57 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

The author of a unique best-selling book on the year 2012 and the return of biblical Nephilim claims mankind may be on the precipice of an earth-shaking event far beyond the imagination of most people. In Nephilim Stargates: The Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers, Thomas Horn quotes the prophet Enoch concerning the history of powerful angels who descended from heaven onto Mt. Hermon in the days of Jared and used women to produce giant offspring.But the history surrounding these demonic beings may not remain in the past. In fact, things may be about to get very scary, Horn claims.Enoch was the son of Jared, father of Methuselah and great-grandfather of Noah, whose writings provide the most detailed account of the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the infamous Nephilim (the bene Elohim Genesis 6:1-2).While the book of Enoch is no longer included in most versions of the Bible, Enoch's writings are quoted in the New Testament in at least two places, and he is mentioned by name in both the Old and New Testaments, including Jude 14-15 where one of his prophecies is cited.During the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, pre-Maccabean fragments of the Book of Enoch were found, illustrating that the ancients held these texts to be sacred. The finding at Qumran also helped scholars to verify the book's antiquity.In addition, many early Church Fathers considered the Book of Enoch to be inspired, including Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen and Clement of Alexandria.

Horn believes this is important, because if Enoch was truly a prophet, then the world may be in for one hell of a surprise, and soon. His concern stems from several specific parts of the book of Enoch.In the tenth chapter of the book of Enoch, it says the Watchers who were judged during the flood would be bound beneath the hills of the earth for seventy generations, until the day of their final judgment in which they will be released from those confines and thrown into an abyss of fire, to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever.But in the fifteenth chapter, Enoch writes about the deceased offspring of the Watchers, the giants or Nephilim, and says that they shall be concealed, and shall not rise up against the sons of men... until they come forth during the days of slaughter and destruction.

These prophecies of Enoch mirror those of other apocryphal works, which indicate a specific future date in which the Watchers will rise for a judgment that will be for ever and ever (Enoch 10:12) and also when the giant offspring of the Watchers will return to wreak havoc upon earth.Of immediate concern, Horn warns, is the seventy generations that Enoch said would transpire from the time of the flood until the date of these events.

Why is this important?

Because according to modern research, the roughly estimated date for the biblical flood is between BC 4800 and 4900. When you consider that a prophetic generation is 70 years based on Psalm 90:10 (The days of our years are threescore years and ten), Enoch's 70 generations times 70 years equals exactly 4900 years forward from the flood, bringing us to the current hour.Is mankind therefore standing on the threshold of Watchers being thrown into an abyss of fire, and giants returning? Does Enoch's dating of the final judgment as occurring following 70 generations from the flood also indicate a looming time frame for the Judgment seat of Christ? In Nephilim Stargates: The Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers, Horn points to additional prophecies, which he believes could support this timing of Enoch's 70 generations and a catastrophic soon return of the Watcher's offspring, which would lead to men's hearts failing them for fear when seeing what is coming upon the earth. (see Luke 21:26)As an example, he points to the thirteenth chapter of the book of Isaiah, where it describes the destruction of Babylon (Iraq) at the end of time, something many Christians believe could be imminent given the U.S. military presence and uneasiness there. Yet as soon as the narrative begins, the Lord commands, Open the gates, ye ruler. I give command and I bring them: Giants are coming to fulfill my wrath (Isaiah 13:3) Septuagint.Horn says the word translated here as Giants is Gibborim, beings that, according to him, many scholars hold as having been the offspring of the Watchers and Nephilim.So perhaps, he concludes, the timing of the 70 generations of Enoch coming to an end, and the military buildup in ancient Babylon/Iraq is not coincidental. Perhaps both of these prophets saw the same thing happening at the same time. The ramifications of what this portends may be more than most people can handle, and the return of the Nephilim sooner than we think.

First Jewish holy man to address Catholic synod -- Vatican
Agence France-Presse 22:50:00 09/24/2008

VATICAN CITY—An Israeli rabbi will become the first Jewish holy man to address a Roman Catholic synod when it convenes next month to discuss the Bible, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Wednesday.It's the first time a rabbi has been invited to speak before the synod, Lombardi told Agence France-Presse, noting that Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Grand Rabbi of Haifa, Israel, would speak on the second day of the October 5-26 event gathering Catholic bishops from around the world.The second such gathering to be presided over by Pope Benedict XVI since his election in 2005 will have the theme The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.More than 200 bishops are expected to attend the synod, a consultative body created in 1965 to ease contacts between bishops and to help the pope set policies for running the Church.Cohen told the Washington-based Catholic News Service (CNS) in Jerusalem that the invitation was a signal of hope (bringing) a message of love, coexistence and peace for generations.He was due to speak on the Jewish interpretation of the Bible, whose first five books comprise the Torah, Judaism's most holy sacred writings.

Cohen told CNS he was able to recite almost the entire Torah by the time he was eight years old.Benedict has continued the conciliatory steps taken by his predecessor, Polish-born John Paul II, to improve inter-faith relations, but has sometimes stumbled.Most recently he allowed the reintroduction of a controversial Good Friday prayer calling for the conversion of Jews.However in April the German-born pontiff won some Jewish hearts and minds when he became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit a synagogue in the United States.

LIKE THE ANGEL TOLD DR DOCTORIAN THE UN WILL FOLD DUE TO THE MIDEAST CRISIS.

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER Bill would boot U.N. from U.S.Tancredo cites anti-American, anti-Jewish grandstanding.September 24, 2008 11:06 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – With the clock ticking on his final days in Congress, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a former presidential candidate, is introducing a flurry of controversial legislation – the latest, a bid to kick the United Nations out of the U.S.The U.N. has coddled brutal dictators, anti-Semites, state sponsors of terrorism, and nuclear proliferators – while excluding democratic countries from membership and turning a blind eye to humanitarian tragedies and gross violations of human rights around the globe, Tancredo said. The U.N.'s continued presence in the United States is an embarrassment to our nation, and the time has come for this ineffective organization to pack its bags and hit the road.This week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is back in New York to address the U.N. His speech has drawn thousands of protesters in New York City.Tancredo's bill, dubbed the U.N. Eviction Act, would direct Attorney General Michael Mukasey to initiate condemnation proceedings against all United Nations properties within the United States, and sell the property to the highest bidder on the open market. The proceeds will be given to the Treasury Department to pay down the national debt. The bill would also bar the future purchase of property in the United States or U.S. territories by the U.N. or any of its agencies, and revokes the diplomatic privileges and immunities that U.N. officials and representatives currently enjoy.

I refuse to sit idly by while Americans are forced to host Islamofascist dictators, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, so they can spew anti-American rhetoric just blocks from Ground Zero, Tancredo continued.Tancredo said the U.N. is an organization known for its bureaucracy and has become a showcase for anti-American dictators like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and, of course, Ahmadinejad. He said it has also become little more than a rubber stamp for Chinese and Russian foreign policy initiatives – blocking membership by the democratic nation of Taiwan in the world body, and failing to take any meaningful steps to halt the ongoing genocide in Sudan or the illicit nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran.If the U.N. is so keen to accommodate the foreign policy demands of rogue nations and dictatorships, perhaps the world body might be more comfortable relocating to one, concluded Tancredo. I'm sure Ban Ki-Moon will have no trouble securing a new location in downtown Pyongyang or Tehran.Last week, Tancredo made news by introducing legislation to prevent Islamic law from gaining a foothold in the U.S. legal system, as it has in other countries.HR 6975, the Jihad Prevention Act, would allow American authorities to prevent advocates of Islamic law, or Shariah, from entering the country, revoke the visa of any foreigners that champion it and revoke naturalization for citizens that seek to implement it in the U.S.

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).

YES ACTUALLY THIS BAILOUT WILL PROBABLY BE DONE WHICH WILL GIVE THE FED INCREDIBLE POWERS WHICH THEN THE EU WILL BECOME CLOSELY RELATED WITH AMERICA IN THIS VENTURE AND THE EU WILL PROBABLY BE ALLOWED TO HAVE MEMBERS OF THE EU IN THIS POWER ALSO. IN BEHIND THE SCENES THEN THE EU WILL BE LEADING THIS NEW POWER HUNGRY ELITE AND WHEN THE CRASH FINALLY COMES IN THE FUTURE, THE EU WILL THEN RUN THIS SYSTEM AND CONTROL THE WORLD THROUGH THE ECONOMY JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS MUST HAPPEN. THIS IS JUST MY THOUGHT BUT IT COULD EXPLAIN HOW THE EU WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLDS ECONOMIC SYSTEM.

EU chief urges next US president to work closely with Europe Wed Sep 24, 3:01 PM ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday urged the next US president to work with the EU to confront challenges like the financial crisis, ties with Russia and climate change. In these times of uncertainty, the EU needs the US and, yes, the US needs the EU more than ever, the head of the EU's executive arm said in a speech delivered at Harvard University, near Boston and distributed in Brussels.On the global financial crisis, Barroso said that the degree of interdependence of our economies requires careful coordination, not just in the coming weeks, but, crucially, in the longer term.We need clear and effective rules, maybe commonly agreed rules, where appropriate, to ensure transparency and confidence in the market, he said, in the speech: A letter from Brussels to the next President of the United States of America.With the conflict in Georgia weighing heavily on international relations with Russia, Barroso said that it is essential that we, on both sides of the Atlantic, continue to work together closely, that we stay the course.This is a time for cool heads, not Cold War, he said.

More generally, he called on the eventual winner of the November presidential poll -- either Republican candidate John McCain or his Democratic rival Barack Obama -- to work with Europe toward a new multilateralism.We have the transatlantic marketplace, NATO, the Transatlantic Economic Council and other instruments, he said. But I think we should move beyond this and set an agenda of common action for a new multilateralism that can benefit the whole world.US President George W. Bush, who has been in power for nearly eight years, has been accused of bypassing the United Nations, and Barroso said we need a renewed politics of global engagement, particularly with international institutions.He also urged Washington and Brussels to show joint leadership in the fight against climate change.We have a moral obligation to offer real, deep cuts in emissions in the medium term, not least because we are responsible for the bulk of past emissions, he said.But we also need China and India to play their part in moving as quickly as possible to a low carbon economy, he said. So we must engage with India and China in a real dialogue on this.

A harsh winter is approaching -- will you help Russian Jews survive?
Dear Friend of The Fellowship, SEPT 25,08

If forced to choose, what would you buy – food or medicine? It’s a decision many elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union (FSU) must make every day. Struggling to exist on meager pensions that place them far below the poverty level, these desperate people can barely afford enough to eat, let alone buy medicine to treat life-threatening health conditions.Compounding their difficulties is the rapidly approaching winter season, which can be especially brutal in this part of the world. The need to purchase heating fuel adds a crushing financial burden to budgets already stretched far past their limits. Additionally, there are times during the dead of winter when some elderly and infirm people may not be able to leave the house for days or weeks at a time. For them, ensuring that their homes are stocked with food, heating fuel, and other necessities can mean the difference between life and death.

Struggling to survive through a bitter winter

I remember well the story of one woman, Irina, whom Fellowship representatives visited during a trip to the Ukraine. Irina lives in a very old, small hut with no running water or central heating. For years, she has used only wood and coal for warmth during the bitter Ukrainian winter. Irina is also in ill health, suffering from a very serious gastrointestinal ailment. But she cannot afford to treat it on her tiny pension. Many times, she must quite literally make the choice between heating, eating, or medicine.Thankfully for Irina, The Fellowship’s Isaiah 58 partners fund a nearby Hesed center. Through Hesed – the biblical word meaning “loving kindness” – Irina receives second-hand clothes and fresh food, as well as heating fuel and warm blankets during the winter. Because of this assistance, she no longer has to make the difficult choices she once did.

Be an angel of mercy to a suffering elderly Jew

Today, I ask you to help provide thousands of older Jews like Irina with food, heating fuel, medicine, warm clothes, and other daily necessities through a gift to our Isaiah 58 program. Please accept my thanks in advance for taking these elderly Jews in the FSU into your care. You are an angel of mercy to them—and a blessing to Israel and to me personally. God bless you my friend.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS

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.

Bush hails reconciliation efforts in Lebanon By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer SEPT 25,08

WASHINGTON - In separate meetings with Middle East leaders Thursday, President Bush applauded Lebanon's efforts to forge a national reconciliation and told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the administration has not given up hope on an agreement to create a Palestinian state. I appreciate your determination and your desire to have a Palestinian state, Bush told Abbas in front of reporters before an Oval Office meeting. I share that desire with you. It's not easy.Bush said the administration will continue to work with Palestinian authorities on security matters and on helping to coordinate international economic assistance.As you know, I've got four more months left in office and I'm hopeful that the vision that you and I have worked on can come to pass, he added.Abbas, seated beside Bush, told the president that he was thankful for U.S. support.Hope remains, Abbas said. We cannot live without hope.Mideast peace talks were relaunched at a U.S.-hosted summit last November, and with prodding from the U.S., Israel and the Palestinians set a year-end target for reaching a final peace accord that would end six decades of hostilities.Despite months of negotiations, there have been no apparent breakthroughs, and the sides remain at odds over key issues like the final borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state, the competing claims to Jerusalem and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees.Negotiations have been stalled by the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who stepped down amid a string of corruption allegations. Tzipi Livni, Israel's prime minister-designate, has signaled that she will keep peace negotiations going.

In an earlier meeting Thursday, Bush lauded efforts by Lebanon's new president to promote reconciliation in a country the United States considers key to combatting extremism in the Middle East.In remarks at the outset of the Oval Office meeting with President Michel Suleiman, Bush said he has watched carefully the public statements that Suleiman has made since taking office in May.Your statements impressed me and we're most impressed by the national dialogue that you're holding in an attempt to seek reconciliation, Bush said. The United States is proud to stand by your side. Our mission is your mission: a country that is strong and capable, a country where people can make a peace.Suleiman, seen as relatively friendly with Syria, was installed as president in a compromise after Hezbollah blocked pro-Western factions from electing a politician who took a harder-line stance against Syria. Suleiman's talks with Bush on Thursday also were expected to cover the expansion of the Lebanese army and peace talks between Syria and Israel.Under Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, the post of prime minister goes to a Sunni Muslim. The majority is headed by Sunnis while the opposition is led by Shiites. Clashes last May between Hezbollah's Shiite supporters and pro-government Sunni loyalists in Beirut and other areas left 81 people dead and more than 200 wounded.

Sitting beside Bush in the Oval Office, Suleiman said his country shares many U.S. values, including the promotion of liberty and the fight against terrorism. And he thanked Bush for his administration's support of the Lebanese government, particularly efforts to bolster the Lebanese army.There are so many things in common between the American people and the Lebanese people. We are here also to reaffirm our rights to have a prosperous Lebanon, a democratic Lebanon, Suleiman said. Mr. President, we are also here to affirm the need to liberate all Lebanese territories and also to make it clear that the future of Palestinian refugees is in their homeland, not in Lebanon.The U.S. financial crisis was taking center stage at the White House later Thursday, with the two presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, and congressional leaders scheduled to meet there to discuss a rescue plan for financial markets.Those meetings were last-minute additions to Bush's schedule. Already on the calendar were Bush's meetings with Abbas, Suleiman and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is in Washington to rally congressional support for a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Hamas will not honor peace agreement with Israel.Faltering Abbas meeting with Bush today regarding Palestinian state September 24, 2008 11:08 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

JAFFA, Israel – Hamas will not honor any agreement signed between Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, the recognized terror organization's officials confirmed.Hamas blasted a meeting slated for tomorrow between Abbas and President Bush in which the two are supposed to discuss U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at creating a Palestinian state before January.Abbas is an illegal and his negotiations with Israel will be also illegal. He cannot conclude anything. Hamas' movement doesn't recognize anything from what Abu Mazen concludes with the Israelis, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zwahiri.Zwahiri noted Abbas' term as PA president is set to expire on January 9. He said at that time, Hamas will remove all pictures of Abbas or references to him from official government institutions and material.Hamas maintains 74 seats in the 128 seat Palestinian Legislative Council, and trounced Fatah in 2006 elections. Legally, it should control the PA, but Abbas unilaterally dismantled the democratically elected Hamas government after the terror group violently seized complete control of the Gaza Strip last summer.Zwahiri's statements overshadow the U.S. and Israeli drive to create a Palestinian state, highlighting just how tenuous is Abbas' rule. Israel is widely expected to offer Abbas most of the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem amid claims by Hamas that it will attempt to take over any evacuated territories just as it seized control in Gaza.

Fatah in recent weeks has evidenced some fracture. Yesterday, a small breakaway faction of Fatah in Gaza announced it was starting a new Fatah leadership to compete with Abbas, whom the Fatah group blasted as corrupt. Also yesterday, there was a large demonstration in the West Bank city of Ramallah against Fatah's inability to stand up to Hamas in Gaza at a time a large number of Fatah members are jailed in Hamas prisons.Meanwhile, Hamas members are making clear they have their sites on the West Bank territory Israel may hand over to Abbas.Just last week, in an exclusive WND interview, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, the Hamas chief in Gaza, stated Hamas are the rightful representatives of the Palestinian people and should control the entire West Bank just as they rule the Gaza Strip.According to our rights, we are the elected majority, and a majority in a democracy should control all the Palestinian areas, whether in the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip. This is not an extraordinary issue, said Al-Zahar, who is considered the second most powerful Hamas leader following the group's overall chief, Khaled Meshaal, who resides in exile in Damascus.Do you respect democracy? If you respect democracy, the elections in January 06 indicated Hamas is the majority and it should run the administration in Gaza and the West Bank, said al-Zahar, speaking from Gaza.The Hamas chief's comments to WND came amid fears in the Israeli intelligence community Hamas eventually may attempt to take over the strategic West Bank just as it seized Gaza, particularly if Israel withdraws from the territory.In a dramatic statement last weekend, Olmert declared at a Knesset meeting that Greater Israel is over.Greater Israel is over. There is no such thing. Anyone who talks that way is deluding themselves, Olmert stated.Greater Israel is a reference to territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.Security officials in Jerusalem are warning if Israel withdraws, Abbas' forces may not be strong enough to contend with controlling the West Bank without the aid of the Israel Defense Forces.Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's Shin Bet Security Services, estimated during a Knesset meeting last November that if control of the West Bank were handed over to Abbas, Israel would suffer a significant threat to its security.Palestinian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted to WND they would have trouble controlling the West Bank without Israeli intervention.

According to the officials, Fatah's intelligence apparatus routinely hands the IDF lists of Hamas militants that threaten Fatah rule, requesting that Israel make arrests, although Fatah has been stepping up direct arrests of Hamas gunmen in recent weeks.Perhaps foreshadowing coming tensions, Hamas' so-called military wing last week urged its gunmen in the West Bank to use force if security men loyal to Fatah try to arrest them.Israeli and Palestinian security officials in the meantime told WND they have specific information Hamas is quietly setting the stage for a possible West Bank takeover attempt. The officials said that among other things, Hamas has been acquiring weaponry in the West Bank and has set up a sophisticated system of communication between cells for a seizure attempt.In what is considered the most threatening Hamas move, according to the officials, the terror group is thought to have heavily infiltrated major Fatah forces in the West Bank and has been attempting to buy off Fatah militia members, many times successfully.The issue of Hamas infiltration of Fatah was thought to have been the Achilles heel that led to the terror group's takeover last summer of the entire Gaza Strip, including dozens of major, U.S.-backed Fatah security compounds there. Hamas' seizure is thought to be a partial consequence of Israel evacuating Gaza in 2005.Hamas' infiltration of Fatah was so extensive, according to top Palestinian intelligence sources speaking to WND, it included the chiefs of several prominent Fatah security forces, including Yussef Issa, director of the Preventative Security Services, the main Fatah police force. Issa regularly coordinated security with the U.S. and Israel.In a bid to strengthen Fatah, the U.S. has been providing the group's militias with weapons, financial aid and advanced training conducted an American-run bases in the West Bank and Jordan.But WND previously reported the U.S.-trained security forces have been failing at basic anti-terror missions.

Israel's Peres says Ahmadinejad taking world for a fool Thu Sep 25, 4:53 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres sharpened his attack on Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, accusing him of taking the world for a fool in his statements to the UN General Assembly. (Ahmadinejad) has committed a fatal error, and is taking the world for a fool. He thinks he is an absolute prophet, proclaiming that there is no more hope for the United States or Israel, Peres told Israeli public radio.It is shameful to Islam, to all religions, to the United States, and to democracy. His voice does not come from heaven but hell and one day it will pass away like a breeze, he said in the interview conducted in New York.Israel has long considered Iran its greatest threat, both because of Tehran's accelerating nuclear programme and repeated statements by its leaders predicting the demise of the Jewish state.In a blistering speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Peres said Iran was at the centre of violence and fanaticism and had built a danger to the entire world.Israel and the United States accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran has insisted its programme is entirely peaceful and vowed to proceed despite three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions.Israel is the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed state with an estimated arsenal of 200 warheads.Neither the United States nor Israel has ruled out a military response to the Iranian nuclear standoff, and on Thursday Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said all options remain on the table.Iran continues to exert every effort in its activities to achieve a nuclear weapons capability, he said in a statement.For now there is still time for addressing the issue diplomatically, but we believe we must not renounce any option and we do not think anyone else in the world should either, he added.In his own address to the assembly on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad lashed out at what he called international bullying and vowed to press ahead with Iran's nuclear drive.As for Israel, he said the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse and there is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters.

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

DOW HALF HOUR ACTION FOR SEPT 25,08

09:30 AM +33.14
10:00 AM +164.08
10:30 AM +217.28
11:00 AM +193.07
11:30 AM +243.49
12:00 PM +215.45
12:30 PM +235.52
01:00 PM +262.76
01:30 PM +252.74
02:00 PM +267.54
02:30 PM +205.97
03:00 PM +230.43
03:30 PM +273.44
04:00 PM +196.89 11022.06

S&P 500 1209.18 +23.31

NAS 2186.57 +30.89

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FANNIE MAE AND FREDDY MAC TO OBAMA WERE $136,000 AND TO MCCAIN WERE ONLY $31,000, BIG DIFFERENCES.

Tentative meltdown deal: Bush, McCain, Obama meet By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer SEPT 25,08

WASHINGTON - Confident but not yet celebrating, congressional leaders agreed Thursday on a multibillion-dollar bailout plan for Wall Street aimed at staving off a national economic catastrophe. President Bush brought the two men fighting to succeed him to a historic White House huddle on how to sell a deal to lawmakers who were still resisting. Private talks on Capitol Hill ended at midday with the announcement that an agreement in principle had been reached on a $700 billion financial rescue package that the Bush administration wants. Few details were immediately available.There were signs that the conservative-leaning House Republican Caucus was not on board. Both of Congress' Republican leaders, Rep. John Boehner and Sen. Mitch McConnell, issued statements saying there was not yet an agreement.But Banking Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Republican Sen. Bob Bennett, among others, said negotiators from Congress and the administration had arrived at a deal that could win approval. Other key lawmakers said that after days of bareknuckles negotiations there was little of note left to resolve.The early reaction from the White House was positive but cautious. It's a good sign that progress is being made, White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said.

Wall Street showed its pleasure, cautiously. The Dow Jones industrials were up about 200 points near the end of the trading day, though they had been up much more earlier in the day.Under the tentative plan, the government would buy the toxic, mortgage-based assets of shaky financial institutions in a bid to keep them from going under and setting off a cascade of ruinous events, including wiped-out retirement savings, rising home foreclosures, closed businesses, and lost jobs. Bush warned darkly in a prime-time address Wednesday night, Our entire economy is in danger.Debate has been fierce on such questions as whether to phase in the cost and whether to give taxpayers an equity stake in rescued companies. Housing Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told The Associated Press both would be included in the legislation.The Bush administration has made concessions almost daily to demands from the right and the left from its original three-page proposal, including agreeing to limit pay for executives of bailed-out financial institutions.

While lawmakers engaged in nitty-gritty dealmaking, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, who have each sought in their own ways to distance themselves from the unpopular Bush, prepared to sit down together with the sitting president at the White House for an hourlong afternoon session apparently without precedent. By also including Congress' Democratic and Republican leaders in the meeting, much of Washington's political power structure was to be gathered at one long table in a small West Wing room.The White House timed the session to fit the candidates' schedules — and after the stock markets closed for the day.It was somewhat upstaged nearly three hours before various motorcades deposited the meeting participants and their entourages inside the White House gates, when Capitol Hill leaders reported their deal. Despite the national prominence of Bush, McCain and Obama, none has been deeply involved in this week's scramble to hammer out a package.

The developments on the Hill lent fresh and urgent purpose to the session: providing encouragement — and political cover — for lawmakers of both parties to accept the plan in this highly charged election season.The bailout plan is expected to come up for votes in the House and Senate quickly, perhaps within days, so that lawmakers can adjourn to campaign for their own re-elections.The meeting's purpose is to provide for a discussion among the country's top political leadership where everyone can agree on the urgency of getting something done and on a path to bringing it to conclusion, said White House press secretary Dana Perino.The pitch by Bush, Obama and McCain was no easy sell.All lawmakers are returning to home districts packed with constituents angry that they are being asked to foot the bill to bail out Wall Street's rich guys when they and their neighbors are suffering the effects of ballooning mortgages and tightening credit. This means Obama and even the increasingly marginalized Bush could have sway with their joint resolve.McCain, in particular, was being leaned on by Democrats and fellow Republicans alike to deliver GOP votes, as some conservatives are in open revolt over the astonishing price tag of the proposal and the heavy hand of government that it would place on private markets. Placating them enough to bring them in line could be a tall order for the Republican presidential nominee who has a checkered relationship with the right wing of his party. A group of GOP lawmakers circulated a less government-focused alternative. Their proposal would have the government provide insurance to companies that agree to hold frozen assets, rather than have the government purchase the assets. Rep Eric Cantor, R-Va., said the idea would be to remove the burden of the bailout from taxpayers and place it, over time, on Wall Street instead. Layered over the White House meeting was a complicated web of potential political benefits and consequences for both Obama and McCain. McCain hoped voters would believe that he rose above politics to wade into successful, nitty-gritty dealmaking at a time of urgent crisis, but he risked being seen instead as either overly impulsive or politically craven, or both. Obama saw a chance to appear presidential and fit for duty, but was also caught off guard strategically by McCain's surprising gamble in saying he was suspending his campaigning and asking to delay Friday night's debate to focus on the crisis. Associated Press writer Julie Hirschfeld Davis contributed to this story.

Stocks rise on bailout hopes; credit remains tight By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer SEPT 25,08

NEW YORK - Financial markets grew more upbeat Thursday as congressional leaders said they had struck an agreement in principle on the government's plan to revive the crippled financial system. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 200 points on optimism about the plan, and demand for short-term, safe-haven assets eased slightly as some investors bet that a deal would help unclog credit markets.

Stock market investors clearly were more upbeat after key lawmakers said they would present the $700 billion plan to the Bush administration and hoped for a vote by both houses of Congress within days. Still, some resistance remained from House Republicans.The statements out of Washington came after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged lawmakers Tuesday and Wednesday to quickly sign off on the plan, which they contend would help prop up the economy by removing billions of dollars in risky mortgage-related assets from financial firms' balance sheets. Distrust of the financial companies that hold these assets has led to a seizing up of the credit markets, which in turn threatens the overall economy by making it harder and more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow money.Bush highlighted what he sees as the urgency in a national address Wednesday night. Still, White House officials have yielded to a key demand by congressional leaders, agreeing to include widely supported limits on pay packages for executives whose companies benefit from any deal. Major elements are still being worked out, including how to phase in the mammoth cost of the package and whether the government will get an ownership stake in troubled companies.Alan Lancz, director at investment research group LanczGlobal, said stock market investors are encouraged that a financial rescue is looking more likely than it had earlier in the week. He said the move could help unclog credit markets by allowing banks and investors to place values on assets tied to mortgages.How do you establish a floor? Well, this is the bazooka. This is how you establish a floor, he said of the plan's goal of buying up the toxic debt.

Still, some investors had their doubts. Demand eased but remained high for the 3-month Treasury bill, considered the safest short-term investment. Its yield rose to 0.72 percent from 0.49 percent late Wednesday. That means investors are still willing to earn the slimmest of returns in exchange for a safe place to put their money. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.86 percent from 3.81 late Wednesday.In late afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 235.36, or 2.17 percent, to 11,060.53. The Dow fell 563 points, or 4.95 percent, in the first three sessions this week so Thursday's buying didn't come as a surprise.Broader stock indicators also rose Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 26.52, or 2.24 percent, to 1,212.39 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 36.04, or 1.67 percent, to 2,191.72.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a relatively light 851.3 million shares.The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $2.29 to $106.91 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.To help ease credit market strains, the Federal Reserve early Thursday issued more than $20 billion in collateral such as Treasury bills in exchange for dollars to help meet demand for safe assets.Meanwhile, disappointing readings on employment, housing and demand for big-ticket manufactured goods, as well as a sobering forecast from General Electric Co., underscored the difficulties facing the economy.The Labor Department said the number of people seeking unemployment benefits increased by 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 493,000 last week — the highest level in seven years and well above analysts' expectations of 445,000. Hurricanes Ike and Gustav added about 50,000 new claims in Louisiana and Texas, the department said.The Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell sharply in August to the slowest pace in 17 years. The average sales price also fell by the largest amount on record. New homes sales dropped by 11.5 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 460,000 units, the slowest sales pace since January 1991.The department also said orders for expensive manufactured goods sank in August by the largest amount in seven months as demand for both airplanes and cars sank. Durable goods orders fell by 4.5 percent last month, far worse than the 1.6 percent decline that economists expected and the biggest drop since a 4.7 percent fall in January.GE lowered its forecast for third-quarter and full-year earnings, citing unprecedented weakness and volatility in the financial services markets. The stock, which had declined in the early going, rose $1.50, or 6.1 percent, to $26.09 alongside the broader market. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 9.81, or 1.41 percent, to 707.58.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.90 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.99 percent, Germany's DAX index added 1.99 percent, and France's CAC-40 jumped 2.73 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Deal said to be near on big financial bailout plan By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer 11:30 AM

WASHINGTON - President Bush is bringing presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain into negotiations on a $700 billion rescue of Wall Street as Democrats and Republicans near agreement on a bailout plan with more protections for taxpayers and new help for distressed homeowners. Senior lawmakers and Bush administration officials have cleared away key obstacles to a deal on the unprecedented rescue, agreeing to include widely supported limits on pay packages for executives whose companies benefit.They're still wrangling over major elements, including how to phase in the eye-popping cost - a measure demanded by Democrats and some Republicans who want stronger congressional control over the bailout - without spooking markets. A plan to let the government take an ownership stake in troubled companies as part of the rescue, rather than just buying bad debt, also was under intense negotiation.

A bipartisan meeting was set for Thursday to begin drafting a compromise, which top Democrats said they hoped could pass within days.The core of the plan envisions the government buying up sour assets of shaky financial firms in a bid to keep them from going under and to stave off a potentially severe recession.Even as political figures haggled over the shape and price of the bailout, new economic indicators showed that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged in August by the largest amount in seven months and that new applications for unemployment benefits were at their highest level in seven years.And new home sales tumbled in August to the slowest pace in 17 years, while the average sales price fell by the largest amount on record. It served to further dramatize the problem that Washington is trying to solve.On Wall Street, stocks initially rose Thursday on optimism about the deal but a credit market squeeze remained as doubts about the proposed plan's effectiveness drove demand for short-term, safe-haven assets.Bush acknowledged in a prime-time television address Wednesday night that the bailout would be a tough vote for lawmakers.But he said failing to approve it would risk dire consequences for the economy and most Americans.Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic, and a distressing scenario would unfold, Bush said as he worked to resurrect the unpopular bailout package. Our entire economy is in danger.

Bush's warning came soon after he invited Obama and McCain, one of whom will inherit the economic mess in four months, as well as key congressional leaders to a White House meeting Thursday to work on a compromise.With the administration's original proposal considered dead in Congress, House leaders said they were making progress toward revised legislation that could be approved.Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who has led negotiations with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on the package, said that given the progress of the talks, the White House meeting was a distraction.We're going to have to interrupt a negotiating session tomorrow between the Democrats and Republicans on a bill where I think we are getting pretty close, and troop down to the White House for their photo op, said Frank, the House Financial Services Committee chairman. I wish they'd checked with us.Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have been crisscrossing Capitol Hill in recent days, shuttling between public hearings on the proposal and private meetings with lawmakers, to sell the proposal.Obama and McCain are calling for a bipartisan effort to deal with the crisis, little more than five weeks before national elections in which the economy has emerged as the dominant theme.The plan that has been submitted to Congress by the Bush administration is flawed, but the effort to protect the American economy must not fail, they said in a joint statement Wednesday night. This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country. We cannot risk an economic catastrophe.Presidential politics intruded, nonetheless, when McCain said earlier Wednesday he intended to return to Washington and was asking Obama to agree to delay their first debate, scheduled for Friday, to deal with the meltdown.

Obama said the debate should go ahead.

Lawmakers in both parties have objected strenuously to the rescue plan over the past two days, Republicans complaining about federal intervention in private business and Democrats pressing to tack on more conditions and help for beleaguered homeowners.

Former President Clinton said Thursday that one thing lawmakers must avoid is any bill that effectively rewards bad judgments and dangerous risk-taking among financiers. You have to be careful not to have unjust enrichment, he said on CBS's The Early Show.But many in both parties said they were open to legislation, although on different terms than the White House has proposed. Some partisan sticking points remain. Democrats are pushing to allow bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgages to ease the burden on consumers who are facing foreclosure - a nonstarter for Republicans. Democrats acknowledge privately that the provision will almost certainly be dropped in the interest of a bipartisan deal. Obama told reporters it's probably something that we shouldn't try to do in this piece of legislation.

Democrats also want any potential proceeds the government reaps from the bailout to go to a fund designed to pay for housing for poor families. Many Republicans oppose the very existence of the fund, which they say is a backdoor means of funneling money to liberal political groups. Democratic demands that Congress be given greater authority over the bailout and that the government be required to help homeowners renegotiate their mortgages so they have lower monthly payments already have been accepted in principle. Under the bailout bill, which will let the government buy huge amounts of toxic mortgage-related assets, we're now the biggest mortgage holder in town, and we can do serious foreclosure avoidance, Frank said. On the Net:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov House Financial Services Committee: http://financialservices.house.gov

EU rules out US-style bailouts,The situation we face here in Europe is less acute than in the US, says the EU economy commissioner (Photo: EUobserver.com)ELITSA VUCHEVA Today SEPT 25,08 @ 09:25 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - There may be need for stricter financial monitoring worldwide, but in Europe in particular, US-style bank bailouts are not necessary at this stage, EU officials told MEPs on Wednesday (24 September).Recent events in the financial sector are hurting the economy, as they are "of a magnitude that exceeds anything we have seen in our lifetime," EU economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.

However, referring to the recent decision by the US to buy $700 billion (€476 billion) of bad debt from banks and other financial institutions, he stressed that the situation we face here in Europe is less acute and member states do not at this point consider that a US-style plan is needed.We are talking about a US plan, adapted for circumstances in the United States, where, it should be recalled, the crisis originated and where the financial sector has been most severely affected, the commissioner pointed out.Also speaking in the parliament, France's state secretary for European affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, whose country currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, offered up the same position, saying that the European financial system is still stable and doesn't need this kind of measure.

Both insisted however, that this does not mean more regulation is not needed, as banks' opaqueness is among the factors creating a dramatic fall in confidence in the markets.This laissez-faire attitude will not benefit anyone. It's too late for that. We now need to consider the extent of the risk, the power of the regulatory authorities and the type of intervention, Mr Jouyet said.For his part, Mr Almunia stressed that following the latest events in financial markets, the current model of regulation and supervision needs to be revamped.

Brussels expected to take measures

The debate in parliament came just a day after MEPs called on the European Commission to come up with legislative proposals to improve regulation of the financial sector, notably targeting hedge funds and private equity firms.EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy on Monday dismissed such calls, saying no additional regulation was needed for the funds.But on Wednesday, Mr Almunia said the EU executive would next month present new rules for the banking sector, in particular on how much banks are allowed to keep in reserves, and how regulators should act where there is a danger of a bank collapsing.It will issue a proposal on the monitoring of credit rating agencies, which have been criticised in the wake of the crisis for failing to alert investors about certain risks and for listing some risky debts as safe.He also said he would tackle the issue of executive pay: We need to think about the systems of remuneration of executive directors [and] CEOs, Mr Almunia said, adding that the topic will be discussed at the next meeting of EU finance ministers.Some MEPs remained sceptical and said Brussels' actions so far had not been convincing.It has been more than a year since the financial crisis started [and] there is still no regulation, French Socialist MEP Pervenche Beres said, citing the credit rating agencies as an example.There's a problem with governments not trusting each other when it comes to tightening financial regulation and with the commission not being up to the task, she later told reporters.For his part, Mr Jouyet stressed that the commission must be able to take swift action. We must restore confidence and re-insure people.We must have proposals on the table for the [EU summit] meeting of 15 October, he added.

Capitalism must be regulated, says Sarkozy
ELITSA VUCHEVA 24.09.2008 @ 09:16 CET

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, on Tuesday (23 September) called for an international summit to tackle the global finance crisis and its consequences, saying that capitalism should be more regulated and less opaque.Let us build a capitalism where ratings agencies will be subject to controls and punished when necessary, where transparency of transactions will replace opaqueness. The opaqueness is such today that we have difficulty understanding even what is happening, Mr Sarkozy said in a speech to the UN General Assembly, Reuters reports.I am told We don't know who is responsible. Oh yeah? Well let me tell you that when things were going well, we knew who got bonuses. What a strange system, he also told journalists, denouncing a crazy system which has been our system for years.Mr Sarkozy hopes to see an international meeting to discuss the crisis, the worst the world has seen, he said, since the Great Depression.I'm convinced that it's the duty of heads of state and government of the countries most directly concerned to meet before the end of the year to examine together the lessons of the most serious financial crisis the world has experienced since that of the 1930s, Mr Sarkozy said before the UN General Assembly, in his first public statements on the financial crisis.At a press conference later in the day, he said he was thinking of a G8-format summit in November, gathering the world's eight leading economic powers – namely the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia, but also open to emerging countries, such as China, India, and Brazil.Mr Sarkozy did not specify where the summit should take place, saying that it could be anywhere from Washington or New York, to London, Brussels and Paris.

More regulation

Additionally, the French president suggested a general overhaul of the financial system should be considered, where capitalism would be more regulated.Let us rebuild together a regulated capitalism in which whole swathes of financial activity are not left to the sole judgment of market operators, in which banks do their job, which is to finance economic development rather than engage in speculation, he was reported as saying by Deutsche Welle.His comments come just a day after MEPs also called on the European Commission to come up with legislation plans to regulate the activities of hedge funds and private equity funds.However, EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy told MEPs he did not believe it was necessary at this stage to tar hedge funds and private equity with the same brush as we use for the regulated sector. The issues relating to the current turmoil are different.One should analyse the impact of the existing EU provisions and of additional member states' rules in this field before one embarks on introducing any new legislation, said the commissioner.

EU-Russia economic space

Separately, the EU president-in-office also suggested establishing a common economic space that would unite Russia and Europe.What Europe is telling Russia is that we want links with Russia, that we want to build a shared future with Russia, we want to be Russia's partner, Mr Sarkozy said. According to him, the initiative for a common economic space would go beyond the strategic partnership as thought of until now, but would not aim to establish a common market either.However, the French president also referred to Russia's war with Georgia this summer and underlined that the EU cannot compromise on the principal of sovereignty and independence of states.

Bull market for books on economic disaster By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer SEPT 25,08

NEW YORK - As the government worked on a plan to prevent a financial disaster, readers are seeking out books about economic crises — past, present and future. When the world seems to be ending, people still turn to books for help, says Nancy Sheppard, vice president of marketing at Viking, publisher of Kevin Phillips' Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, one of several such works getting a boost in sales.According to Viking, Bad Money sold 5,000 copies in the two days following Phillips' appearance last week on the PBS television program, Bill Moyers Journal. As of Thursday morning, the book was No. 15 on Amazon.com's best-seller list; followed by Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, at No. 20; and, at No. 23, Snowball, Alice Schroeder's authorized biography of billionaire Warren Buffett, who announced this week he would invest at least $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group Inc.Other popular titles include Peter D. Schiff's Crash Proof, David M. Smick's The World Is Curved and a classic from decades ago, John Kenneth Galbraith's The Great Crash 1929.

Sales of books relating to the current financial crisis are on the increase, says Dave Hathaway, a buyer of business books for Barnes & Noble Inc. Our customers are struggling to understand both how this crisis came to be and how it will effect their personal finances and their jobs.On Wednesday, Penguin Press announced that financial writer Roger Lowenstein is working on Six Days That Shook the World, a probing look at the past week's events from the author of Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist and When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management.

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 RUSSIA-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.

Chavez to deepen military ties with Russia By Oleg Shchedrov SEPT 25,08

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez plans to deepen military ties with Russia during a visit that highlights the shared animosity toward the United States of the two energy-exporting nations. Chavez, a long-time foe of Washington, was beginning talks with Kremlin leaders on Thursday, just a week after Russian strategic nuclear bombers flew to Venezuela.The show of strength by Moscow marked the first time since the Cold War that Russian bombers had flown such a long-distance mission and coincided with the deterioration of relations between Moscow and Washington, to Chavez's delight.The United States and the European Union are both reliant on oil and gas imports from Venezuela and Russia.In a second military maneuver, Russian warships are sailing to the Caribbean for joint military exercises with Venezuela.Russia has made clear recent military exercises are a response to the United States, which last month sent warships to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia.

New arms deals will be the main focus of the discussions, a Kremlin source told Reuters, ahead of Chavez meetings with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday and President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday.In the past two years 12 arms contracts worth a total of $4.4 billion have been signed by Russia and Venezuela, the Kremlin source said.Russia has also decided to offer Venezuela a $1 billion credit to buy more arms, he said.Russian news agencies have said the oil-rich country showed interest in buying Russian submarines, anti-aircraft weapons and military planes.The Kremlin source said cooperation in energy and mining sectors would also be a major topic during the talks. Russian energy and mining majors such as Gazprom, Lukoil, TNK-BP and Rusal are already operating in Venezuela.Cooperation in the energy sector and mining remains the top priority in the economic cooperation, the source said.The mutual hostility toward the United States has become a key element binding relations between Caracas and Moscow.Washington headed international condemnation of Russia's military action in the Caucasus, launched to block Georgia's botched attempt to retake the separatist province of South Ossetia by force.But Chavez -- a frequent critic of the White House -- backed Russia's military action, though he stopped short of following Moscow in recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway region, Abkhazia.In a public display of their warm relations, Medvedev will host Chavez on Friday in the Urals city of Orenburg, where the Russian leader will oversee a major military exercise intended to show off Russian armed forces.It was not clear whether Chavez would attend the military exercise during his brief visit to the city.(Editing by Giles Elgood)

Czechs say Russian spies stir against U.S. base SEPT 25,08

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Russian spies are extremely active in the Czech Republic and are stirring public sentiment against a planned U.S. missile defense base, the Czech counter-intelligence agency said on Thursday. In a 2007 annual report, the Security Information Service (BIS) said Russian spies' wider aim may be to weaken the integrity of the NATO alliance and isolate the United States.The United States plans to build a radar station in the Czech Republic and place interceptor rockets in Poland as part of its global shield against ballistic missiles that it says could be fired by adversaries such as Iran.Russia, increasingly aggressive in foreign policy, fiercely opposes the plan, which will bring U.S. military hardware into countries that once belonged to the former Soviet empire.The intelligence services of the Russian Federation have attempted in the past year to contact, infiltrate and influence people and organizations that have influence on public opinion, the BIS report said.Russian espionage activities in the Czech Republic currently reach an exceptionally high intensity.

The plan to host the U.S. radar is highly unpopular in the central European NATO member, where the public is wary of any foreign military presence, largely due to the Soviet invasion of 1968.The BIS said the Russian spies had focused on non-government organizations, politicians and the media to drum up opposition to the missile defense base, but they may have a wider plan.The BIS believes the active Russian measures against the Czech Republic and its allies were possibly part of a wider and long-term Russian campaign whose aim is to impair the integrity of the EU and NATO, isolate the United States and renew control over the lost Soviet security perimeter in Europe, it said.Increasingly strained relations between Russia and the West hit a new post-Cold War low after Russia invaded Georgia last month and recognized the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Ukraine warns Russia not to encourage separatists By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press SEPT 25,08

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukrainian officials warned Russia on Thursday not to encourage separatist groups in Ukraine and insisted that Russian military ships will have to leave the Black Sea base of Sevastopol when Russia's lease expires. The comments revealed the deep tensions between Ukraine and its neighbor to the north following Russia's war with Georgia in August.Ukraine fears that Moscow may try to encourage a separatist movement on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which hosts Russia's Black Sea fleet.Russian and Ukrainian diplomats met in Kiev for the latest round of talks on the future of the Russian Black Sea fleet, stationed at Sevastopol on a lease agreement until 2017.Moscow has insisted it does not want to leave the strategic port and has offered to pay more to continue using it. But Defense Minister Yury Yekhanurov remained firm, saying the deal will not be extended after 2017.Come that year and Ukraine will be left without foreign bases on its territory, he told reporters Thursday.Meanwhile, Marina Ostapenko, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's Security Service, said the government will resist attempts by Russian extremists to recruit Ukrainians to their separatist cause.Russia's recognition of the Georgian rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states following a war last month has only stoked those fears. Crimea long belonged to the Russian empire and the majority of Crimeans are ethnic Russians, many of whom feel close to Moscow.

Ostapenko accused Russian special services of backing extremist groups in Georgia's breakaway regions and Moldova's separatist province of Trans-Dniester and vowed that Ukraine would not allow such activities.We will not allow for our citizens to be dragged into such things and their expansion in Ukraine, Ukraine's Security Service chief Valentyn Nalyvaychenko said at a news conference.Russian officials have denied claims that Moscow has plans to encroach on Ukraine's sovereignty.Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of staging a mass handout of passports in Crimea — just like it did to residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia prior to last month's war.Russia then justified its invasion of Georgia saying it needed to defend its citizens. Kiev fears Moscow may be preparing for the same scenario in Crimea.Russia has dismissed the allegations, saying it is granting citizenship to ethnic Russians who want to return to their homeland.

Azerbaijan diverts EU oil to Russia and Iran
VALENTINA POP Today SEPT 25,08 @ 10:05 CET

Azerbaijan is sticking to plans to reduce oil exports to the EU and increase shipments to Russia and Iran, as the South Caucasus country - home to another Russia-influenced frozen conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh - seeks to spread risk. In the immediate aftermath of the Georgian crisis Azerbaijan decided as a temporary move to reduce shipments through Europe's only direct import route from the energy-rich Caspian Sea – the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline - and to increase exports to Russia. But Elhar Nasirov, vice-president of Socar, the Azeri state oil company, told the Financial Times on Thursday (25 September) that Azerbaijan would continue exporting oil to Russia and Iran even though shipments through Georgia had resumed, because of the increased risks in the Caucasus.We don't want to insult anyone ... but it's not good to have all your eggs in one basket, especially when the basket is very fragile, he said. Separately, Elmar Mammedyarov, the foreign minister, told the FT: We are trying to be friends with everybody, at the same time as acting in accordance with our national interests.Unlike Russia-critical Ukraine, Azerbaijan has remained silent over Russia's invasion of Georgia despite disruptions caused to its oil business.With presidential elections coming up on 15 October, Azerbaijan's head of state, Ilham Aliev, is trying to strike a balance between a re-assertive Russia and the West, especially since his country also has a frozen conflict on its own territory.

The majority-Armenian populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh split from Azerbaijan in a civil war in 1991 and remains under Armenian occupation, with Russia and Armenia enjoying close ties.More than 20 Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers have been killed in Nagorno-Karabakh since July, an Azerbaijan government official said Thursday in claims denied by the Armenian side.An alleged Armenian-Russian link during the Georgian conflict was highlighted by the chairperson of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, who asked EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana in a public hearing on 10 September if Russian bases in Armenia were used to launch missiles at Georgia during the conflict. Mr Solana said he could not confirm the information.After talks held with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Moscow last week, Azerbaijani President Mr Aliev said his country sought predictability in the Caucasus, while his foreign minister said Azerbaijan's main task was to preserve its independence and sovereignty.During a visit in Baku last week, the United States' chief mediator in the region, Matthew Bryza, said it was more important than ever to resolve the dispute after the Russia-Georgia war.The recent events in Georgia underscore the importance of a timely resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he said, adding that the US strongly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Armenia-Turkey initiative

Meanwhile, in New York, a trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan was due to take place on Thursday (25 September), with Turkey recently opening a new chapter in Armenian diplomacy.Turkish President Abdullah Gul made a historic visit to Armenia on 6 September to watch a football match between the two nations which have had a closed border and no diplomatic ties since 1993, when Turkey backed Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenian media hope that Turkey's increasing distance from the US and closer ties to Russia could work in its favour over the frozen conflict, and could end-up rerouting future Caspian-EU energy links through its territory instead of Georgia.Turkey's pressure on Azerbaijan is also an option. The reason lies in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which became insecure after the Georgian war. Actually the BTC proved that no long-term political project can be profitable if it is realised on the pretensions of politicians and their unquenchable ambition to isolate the neighbouring country, which in this particular case is Armenia, analyst Karine Ter-Sahakian wrote for Pan-Armenian Network.

Orthodox patriarch blesses Turkish EU entry
TERESA KÜCHLER 24.09.2008 @ 17:41 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Despite ongoing disputes over Christian and other religious minorities in Turkey, the world's leading Orthodox prelate, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, has endorsed Turkey's bid to join the European Union and appealed to Brussels not to make religious or cultural differences an obstacle to membership.We must not exclude from the European family somebody who simply has a different belief from us, the Istanbul-based cleric told MEP's in the European parliament on Wednesday (24 September). Europe should not see any religion that is tolerant of others as alien to itself. The great religions, like the European project, can be a force that transcends nationalism and can even transcend nihilism and fundamentalism by focusing their faithful on what unites us as human beings, and by fostering a dialogue about what divides us, the white-bearded clergyman told MEPs. What I and the majority of the people of Turkey wish is full integration, full membership of the European Union, on condition that the criteria and preconditions that apply to all candidates are abided by, he later told journalists in Brussels. Bartholomew I said, however, that Ankara needs to improve protection for religious minorities as part of wider human rights reforms. He called in particular for Turkish authorities to allow the reopening of a Greek Orthodox seminary and return church property, describing a dispute at the heart of legal action currently before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Turkey's population of almost 75 million includes 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 23,000 Jews and approximately 2,500 Greek Orthodox Christians.Ankara launched EU membership talks in October 2005 and has since opened six out of 35 negotiating chapters. Eight areas are blocked from further progress by member states due to Ankara's failure to meet its trading commitments to EU member Cyprus.The Orthodox cleric was invited to address MEPs in the context of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue programme aiming at creating closer links between European cultures, languages, ethnic groups and religions.

MEPs boycott religious visits

Several Green, Liberal and Socialist MEPs refrained from listening to the Orthodox leader's address in a protest of what they see as the inappropriate intertwining of political and religious matters. Belgian Socialist MEP Veronique De Keyser in a press release said they were sound[ing] the alarm for democracy and the separation of church and state.The Belgian deputy warned that under the mantle of the intercultural year religions have gone on the offensive - something that violates the principle of separation of church and state on which the European parliament is based.She also warned that if people were not careful in upholding the division between politics and religion "The extreme right might take advantage.

Still no women in sight

The real reason for these invitations of religious leaders is to, ultimately, bring the Pope to Brussels, Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie in 't Veld told EUobserver.That would, for many MEPs, be the ultimate achievement of their careers - as well as a photo opportunity never before seen, she explained, adding that she was getting tired of the whole thing.Ms in 't Veld earlier this year raised her voice against the fact that neither women nor non-religious groups, such as organised humanists, were represented in the list of invitees. Replying to the criticism, the parliament's president, Hans-Gert Poettering, then pointed out that the list of speakers was not final, and that with goodwill, the EP would be able to produce as balanced a list as possible.Only one woman speaker - Ms Asma Jahangir, a UN rapporteur on freedom of religion - has so far appeared in Brussels as part of the programme, despite the fact that various Christians around Europe are led in worship by female priests, pastors and bishops, and only after pressure from MEPs who demanded female representation.Curiously, on the day Ms Jahangir spoke, Mr Poettering had other things to do. It is a matter of courtesy, if she is invited to speak, he can at least show the courtesy of being present in plenary, Ms in 't Veld said.I am offended, as a politician and as a woman.

What's Behind North Korea's Nuclear Power Play By BILL POWELL SEPT 25,08

Negotiating styles can tell you a lot about the party you're sitting across from. Some people bang the table. Some get up and walk out. Some are passive-aggressive, staying at the table but never letting things move forward. Not the North Koreans. When they're angry, they let you know about it in a very big way - as they did this week by reneging on a deal struck with five other nations to rid it self of its nuclear weapons and the ability to make them. Make no mistake: Pyongyang is pissed. In return for doing the deal on its nuclear program, the U.S. and its other negotiating partners (South Korea, Japan, China and Russia), agreed to provide an array of diplomatic and economic benefits, including a proviso that North Korea be removed from the Washington's list of state sponsors of terror. In late June, after the North finally forked over a long-delayed inventory of its nuclear materiel and bomb-making equipment, the U.S. indicated it would reciprocate after a 45-day review. Those 45 days have come and gone, and still the North remains on the list.

The North is saying, in effect, what gives? And the fact is, they have a point, as even some U.S. State Department officials concede privately. U.S. President George W. Bush publicly held out the prospect of terror delisting as part of an action for action principle, the clear implication being that since Pyongyang turned over the declaration, delisting would follow. It hasn't, so yesterday, the North told inspectors for the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to remove its seals from the regime's reactor at Yongbyon - which provided the nuclear fuel with which the North has built its small arsenal of nukes. Inspectors have been barred from Yongbyon, and within a week, the regime told the IAEA, it would restart the reactor, rendering all the diplomatic progress made by the six-party talks moot. What they've done is trouble, Gregory L. Schulte, the U.S. representative to the IAEA, told reporters. Is it trouble that could have been avoided? Bush administration officials say they have not delisted Pyongyang because the regime has objected to Washington's proposed verification regime, the means and methods the outside world would use to make sure the North was abiding by the nuclear agreement. Washington wants the inspectors to have as much freedom as possible, going pretty much wherever they want whenever they want. In a secretive, paranoid regime like the North's, that's unacceptable. The question is whether the administration should have gone ahead removed Pyongyang from the list and then plunged into the verification stage. Why was getting taken off the list so important to the North? First, simply, it's a matter of face, of reducing its pariah state image - a tangible symbol that it was being welcomed back into the global community. Second, removal held out at least the prospect, down the road, of some economic benefits. A spot on Washington's terror list scares off the world's multilateral lending institutions - the IMF, World Bank and Asia Development Bank - from even considering aid programs given that the U.S. is their largest contributor.

Few diplomats doubt that negotiations over verification will be nettlesome. For months South Korea's envoys have been warning that this next step could be a deal killer. That's why the reaction to Pyongyang's latest temper tantrum has been measured. The nuclear program is the North's only real source of leverage with the outside world, and so they're using it again. Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for Bush's National Security Council, said the North's actions were very disappointing, and urged Pyongyang to reconsider these steps.The North's latest gambit came just weeks after reports that Dear Leader Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke, so it's unclear who is making decisions in Pyongyang. Diplomatic sources have told TIME that while Kim did appear to be ill, he was not completely incapacitated. Aides to South Korean legislators say that their bosses were told at a recent intelligence briefing to expect Kim to return to power. At any rate, there is little to no policy difference between the upper echelons of the regime and the North Korean military on the nuclear issue. In other words, whether Kim decided to restart Yongbyon or not, the decision itself was hardly out of character. This is what they do, said a South Korean official. And it's not a matter of getting used to it, he added wearily, because we are used to it. Time.com

Iran to launch satellite with own rocket to space By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 25, 8:55 AM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran plans to launch a satellite into space soon using an Iranian-made rocket, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. Iran has in the past launched satellites using rockets built by other nations, but this was the first announcement of such a launch with an all-Iranian made rocket.Ahmadinejad said the rocket will have 16 engines and will take a satellite some 430 miles into space, according to a state television report Thursday.The satellite will likely be a commercial one for communication or meteorological research purposes. Iran has never announced plans to launch military satellites.But the country has long pursued the goal of developing a space program, generating unease among world leaders already concerned about its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.The same technology used to put satellites into space can be used to deliver warheads, which will likely further raise concerns over Tehran's advances in rocketry, especially in Israel.Earlier this month, Tehran announced that a joint research satellite built by Iran, China and Thailand, was sent into orbit by a Chinese-made rocket. At the time, Iranian officials said the three countries suffer from natural disasters and that the satellite would transmit photos to help deal with such crises.Tehran sent its first commercial satellite into space on a Russian rocket in 2005. Last month, Iran tested a rocket which it hopes will one day carry an all-Iranian research satellite.The remarks by the Iranian president came during his meeting with a group of Iranian expatriates in New York, where Ahmadinejad is attending the U.N. General Assembly.There were no details about what type of satellite the rocket would carry, and Ahmadinejad gave no time frame for the plan.