TIMING RIGHT FOR NEW NUKE TALKS

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.

Heavy rains leave 11 dead in Honduras By FREDDY CUEVAS, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 20, 11:03 am ET

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – A week of heavy rains in Honduras has caused landslides and flooding that have killed at least 11 people and left two others missing, officials said Monday.A landslide before dawn Monday buried a home in the capital, Tegucigalpa, killing two adults and three children, said the head of Honduras' firefighters, Carlos Cordero.Also killed were a man and child who drowned trying to cross a rain-swollen river in northern Honduras. Officials didn't give details on the other deaths.Flooding has forced evacuations, claimed crops and cut off communities across Honduras, and emergency officials say things could get worse as rains continue.Two large landslides have blocked the Coyol River in western Honduras, forming a lake 150 meters (nearly 500 feet) deep at some points and threatening towns downstream.Authorities are carefully removing the accidental dike so that the lake can slowly drain, but they warn that the process is slow-going.

U.S. soldiers stationed in Honduras have plucked dozens of people off the roofs of their homes in flooded communities. The flooding has also killed many pets and livestock.President Manuel Zelaya appeared on television and radio late Sunday and urged residents in areas at risk to immediately evacuate homes so that lives can be saved.

Winter to be mild in eastern U.S.: forecaster Mon Oct 20, 5:09 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Winter will be mostly mild in the big heating fuel market of the eastern United States, with the possible exception of a cold snap in December, private weather forecaster WSI Corp said on Monday.The outlook could pressure energy prices, already down sharply since midsummer due to an economic crisis that has dampened consumer demand.The ocean temperature signals in the Pacific Ocean are generally suggestive of a relatively warm period in most of the eastern United States during late fall and winter, with the exception of December, WSI forecaster Todd Crawford said in a press release.Further, neither ocean temperatures in the Atlantic nor the snow cover build up at Arctic latitudes are suggestive of sustained cold and snowy weather in the East this upcoming winter. We expect the best chances of sustained cold weather to occur prior to the New Year, with mild conditions prevailing after that, he said.The U.S. Northeast is the world's largest heating oil market, while Americans in the Midwest tend to favor natural gas as a heating fuel.

WSI's forecast for the north-central United States was mixed, with warmer-than-normal temperatures in November falling below normal in December and January.(Reporting by New York Energy Desk)

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

DANIEL 9:27
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.

REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)

ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.

NOW THIS IS AN INTERESTING STORY BECAUSE THE THIRD TEMPLE HAS TO BE REBUILT AND ISRAEL WILL NEED LOTS OF ANIMALS TO SACRIFICE. THIS IS THE RUNUP TO THE THIRD TEMPLE OVIOUSLY AS THE ARABS ARE SACRIFICING ANIMALS TO THEIR GOD FOR FORGIVENESS. JUST TELLS ME THE REBUILDING OF THE THIRD TEMPLE IS CLOSE.

Underground cattle trade thrives in Gaza tunnels By Nidal al-Mughrabi Nidal Al-mughrabi – Tue Oct 21, 7:36 am ET Reuters

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – When the calves were hauled out of the tunnel from Egypt on Tuesday, they could hardly stand up.After a terrifying, 1000 meter (yard) underground trip into the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, what the young cattle wanted most was a long drink of cool water.Underground livestock smuggling has increased dramatically ahead of Eid Al-Adha, the day of sacrifice due December 10, when Muslims the world over slaughter animals and feed the poor to seek God's forgiveness.

Even if we brought in animals every day we would not meet the demand for the Eid, said a tunnel operator who identified himself as Abu Luqaib.Hundreds of Gaza merchants throng around the border area of Rafah every day to pick up merchandise coming to Gaza from Egypt via subterranean passages that have created a flourishing trade zone.It's an industrial zone here, said the 23-year-old tunnel operator as his crew pulled a bawling calf up the deep shaft by a simple rope around its middle. No livestock harness was used.Gaza has suffered galloping unemployment since Israel tightened its blockade on the territory in 2007 to try to weaken its Palestinian rulers, Hamas, an Islamist group sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state.Goods are scarce in Gaza markets because of Israeli restrictions on what Gaza may and may not import. The tunnel network handles all sorts of readily portable merchandise including fuel, automobile parts, computers and clothes.

TRANQUIL RIDE

The number of tunnels has mushroomed in the past year to around 800, according to Abu Luqaib. They employ between 20,000 to 25,000 workers in a gray economy struggling for survival.A standard 500 meter tunnel costs $60,000 to $90,000 to build, he says. A 1,000 tunnel built with extra safety features can cost up to $150,000.The tunnels can be dangerous. Palestinian officials say at least 45 Gazans have died in cave-ins this year, some of which were blamed by Hamas on the security forces in Egypt, who are under pressure from Israel and the United States to clamp down.But such risks are clearly outweighed by potential profits.The calves that came through on Tuesday cost $350 each plus $250 for the transport, a total of $600 per head.Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, endorses the tunnels as a way of defying the blockade, and, according to some Gaza residents, imposes taxes on the tunnel trade.

It also keeps a close eye on what comes through.

No one can smuggle arms or drugs, on the orders of Hamas, said Abu Luqaib. Israel, however, says Hamas runs its own tunnel network to bring arms, explosives and ammunition.The tunnels also ferry people who cannot otherwise leave or enter Gaza unless they have Israeli or Egyptian permission. One Gaza woman, Umm Khaled, had been stuck in Egypt for several weeks while her husband fretted over telling her the unwelcome news that her only way home was via a dark tunnel. So friends slipped a sleeping draught into her glass of juice, wrapped her in a blanket and laid her in an underground trolley to be whisked through to the beleaguered Gaza Strip. She got the fastest, most tranquil, and safest trip home in the end, said tunnel operator Ahmed, who gave no second name. (Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Douglas Hamilton; editing by Sami Aboudi)

WND ON THE AIR This is what Obama presidency would to do America Audacity of Deceit author holding teleseminar on 2008 election October 20, 2008 10:31 pm Eastern
2008 WorldNetDaily

Being a novice U.S. senator virtually unknown outside of his own state not that long ago, Barack Obama has been the focus of lots of scrutiny – including a couple of best-selling books – detailing his past associations and influences. But a featured teleseminar scheduled for Thursday will fill you in on the future of what life under an Obama administration would really be like.Author Brad O'Leary will be discussing his book, The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values, in the free seminar moderated by WND Managing Editor David Kupelian.To sign up for the event, which will be simulcast by telephone and on the Internet, on Thursday at 6 p.m. EDT, click here now!The 45-minute teleseminar will include some key highlights of Obama's background, such as his relationship with onetime terrorist Bill Ayers, but will focus on what will actually happen in America should a President Obama implement his policies.WND previously reported when talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh quoted O'Leary extensively on Obama's stated plan to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans.The greatest find, the greatest discovery in the political world is a new voting bloc, and his book and his research here is targeted at proving that Obama's big voting bloc is the 30 percent-plus of Americans who pay no income taxes, Limbaugh said. These people get polled a lot, they are played to constantly, and they are all for ever higher taxes on everybody else cause it means more for them, in their own version of trickle down.Limbaugh said O'Leary's work is fascinating, and he read extensively from O'Leary's op-ed published in Investors Business Daily.

Quoting from O'Leary, Limbaugh said: When writing my latest book, The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values, I discovered a relatively unknown constituency: the 30 percent of American voters who do not pay federal income taxes. These Americans are exempt from paying income taxes either because their income level is below the threshold that would require them to pay, or their total deductions leave them with no income-tax liability.O'Leary continued, So I set out to determine exactly who these people are and what makes them tick. In conjunction with Zogby America, I conducted a series of carefully orchestrated polls. For more results than I can write about here, you'll have to buy my book or go to www.BarackObamaTest.com. First, I found that 60 percent of likely voters among non-taxpaying Americans favor Obama for president, whereas only 31 percent favor John McCain. In addition, a majority of the 30 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes agree with Obama's $65 billion plan to institute taxpayer-funded, universal health coverage. On the other side, a majority of the 70 percent of Americans who pay federal income taxes (i.e., the folks who would have to foot the bill for this boondoggle) are opposed to Obama's health care plan.Limbaugh said O'Leary was on point when he wrote, [I]f Barack Obama and his legions of non-taxpaying supporters are allowed to set America's economic policies and priorities, a wrench will be thrown into the gears of our remarkable economic machine. America will face a new war. Call it Obama's war on success. In this war, there will be no winners – only losers – taxpayers and non-taxpayers alike.O'Leary's work found that 70 percent of Americans shoulder the majority of the federal budgetary burden for all Americans now, so Obama's claim for a plan to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans is a logical impossibility.Is he going to give more money to nontaxpayers? O'Leary questioned. You can't give a tax cut to 95 percent of Americans if only 70 percent of them pay federal income taxes in the first place. Then again, math may not be Obama's strong suit.O'Leary, former president of the American Association of Political Consultants, is the author of 11 books, a former talk radio host with millions of listeners and the award-winning television producer of Ronald Reagan: An American President.As O'Leary's book proves, Obama's messianic vision for change is, in reality, radically different from what the great majority of Americans really want.

Big Bang experiment inaugurated despite glitch By Jonathan Lynn Jonathan Lynn OCT 21,08

GENEVA (Reuters) – The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) officially inaugurated its experiment to probe the origins of the universe on Tuesday, even though a technical hitch last month shut it down within days of starting.Amid massive security, top scientists and ministers went to CERN's sprawling site on the French-Swiss border to mark the start of the biggest scientific experiment ever launched, which will investigate the building blocks of matter to understand what makes the universe tick.The greatest philosophers, the greatest mystics, the greatest poets have never ceased meditating on these mysteries -- the mystery of matter and the mystery of the creation of the universe, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said.These two intertwined questions have never stopped fascinating humanity, he told the inauguration ceremony.The ceremony was held to thank the governments of CERN's 20 European member states and six collaborating nations from Russia to the United States for funding the $9 billion machine.CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most complex machine ever built, will study the smallest building blocks of matter, sub-atomic particles.CERN scientists launched the experiment on September 10, firing beams of proton particles around the 27-km (17-mile) tunnel outside Geneva 100 meters (330 feet) underground.But nine days later they had to shut it down because of a helium leak caused by a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator's huge magnets.The experiment, which will run for 10-15 years, will not resume until spring 2009.When it works again, the collider will recreate conditions just after the Big Bang believed by most cosmologists to be at the origin of our expanding universe 13.7 billion years ago.

It will send beams of sub-atomic particles around the tunnel to smash into each other at close to the speed of light.These collisions will explode in a burst of intensely hot energy and of new and previously unseen particles.CERN, which invented the Worldwide Web nearly 20 years ago, has set up a high-power computer network linking 7,000 scientists in 33 countries to crunch the data flow, enough to create a tower of CDs more than twice as high as Mount Everest.(Editing by Stephanie Nebehay and Alison Williams)

CNN NEWS VIDEO
http://edition.cnn.com/video/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

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

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE OCT 21,2008

09:30 AM -55.27
10:00 AM -91.99
10:30 AM -22.38
11:00 AM -65.79
11:30 AM -90.96
12:00 PM -233.05
12:30 PM -200.55
01:00 PM -170.22
01:30 PM -150.33
02:00 PM -163.52
02:30 PM -37.91
03:00 PM -54.48
03:30 PM -150.77
04:00 PM -231.77 9033.66

S&P 500 955.05 -30.35

NAS 1696.68 -73.35

GOLD 773.0 -17.0

OIL 70.89 -3.36

TSE 300 -455.60 9,795.80

CDNX -15.55 969.39

S&P/TSX 60 -30.72 589.05

Dow drops 2.6% today.
Dow just above 9000 points.
Dow falls 17% this month.
S&P down 3.1% today.
S&P down 18% this month.
Nasdaq down 4.1% today.
Nasdaq down 19% this month.
Nasdaq nears 1700 points today.
Crude down 4% today.

MARKETS AT CLOSE

-Rapid moves,but swings not as wide as prior weeks.
-weakness in Techs and Commodities.
-CEOs take down 2009 earnings expectations.

NEW HELP FOR MONEY MARKETS (SPECIAL PURPOSE VEHICLES)

-JP Morgan to run 5 SPVs to buy money market assets.
-SPVs limited to buying commercial paper from 50 issuers.
-FED to lend up o 540 BILLION, money markets,assume first 10% loss.
1-SPVs for commercial paper.
2-Buy commercial outright.
3-Loan banks money to buy ABCP.
4-Guarentee deposits outright.

$2.4 TRILLION IN BAILOUTS SO FAR AND COULD BE ANOTHER POSSIBLE $600 BILLION,TOTAL COULD BE $3 TRILLION IN BAILOUTS ALREADY.

Sarkozy in fresh call for eurozone government
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today @ 18:06 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday (21 October) renewed calls he made last week for the creation of an economic government for countries using the euro, in order to react better to crisis situations such as the current global financial turmoil.It is not possible for the euro zone to continue without a clearly identified economic government. We cannot go on like this, Mr Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told MEPs gathered for a plenary session in Strasbourg.It is not possible for the eurozone to continue without a clearly identified economic government, says the French president.

It is a funny idea to think that we can have the same bank [ECB], the same currency, the same market and that speaking of a [common] economic policy is not good. Honestly, it is a curious idea, he said.The French president explained that the government in question should gather regularly at the level of heads of state and of government.He did not specify how often the meetings would take place, but stressed that we will not be able to go on for eight more years without gathering the eurogroup at the level of heads of state and of government. I think it is not reasonable.The first such meeting took place some two weeks ago in Paris as an ad hoc response to the financial crisis.European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso meanwhile told journalists after the parliamentary debate that he was in favour of strengthening all mechanisms of coordination of the economic policies of EU states.At the same time, one must not create the illusion - which in my opinion would be very dangerous - that this would mean giving instructions to the European Central Bank, putting into question its independence, he said.Mr Sarkozy also proposed a meeting of EU leaders to take place in order to prepare for a series of international summits to be held before the end of the year on the financial crisis, aiming to put in place a global financial overhaul.I will have the opportunity to propose to my fellow heads of states and government a meeting to prepare for these summits, he told MEPs.

Protecting EU manufacturers

The French president also renewed his calls for more aid to be granted to European industries, in particular to car manufacturers.Can we leave the European car industry in a situation of grave distortion of competition with our American competitors, said the president of France - a country where the car industry is strongly developed and which recently announced a plan to spend €400 million over the next four years to support the development of more eco-friendly vehicles.We should be able to manufacture ships, cars, aeroplanes in Europe because Europe needs a strong industry and on that policy the presidency will stand up and fight, he added.TJhe EU president-in-office did not stop there, proposing that European governments set up so-called sovereign wealth funds to buy stakes in EU companies to keep them safe from takeovers by foreign ones.Stock markets are at historic lows. I do not want European citizens to wake up a few months from now and discover that European companies belong to non-European capital which has bought at the lowest point of the stock exchange, Mr Sarkozy told MEPs.I would ask that all of us consider how interesting it would be to set up sovereign funds in each of our countries - and maybe these national sovereign funds could now and again coordinate to give an industrial response to the crisis, he added.

Mr Sarkozy - a typical socialist?

The French president's comments prompted the leader of the European socialists, German MEP Martin Schulz, to make fun of him for his interventionist ideas.Mr Sarkozy is talking like a good old-fashioned European socialist, said Mr Schulz, while adding that Mr Barroso, who several times backed the EU president-in-office, was also behaving like a true left-winger.Both the commission president and the French leader belong to the centre-right EPP-ED party.Despite his support for most of Mr Sarkozy's ideas, Mr Barroso called for caution against protectionist tendencies in the EU in the wake of the financial crisis.The European Commission is in principle in favour of all measures of support to industry, economy, employment, growth - if these measures are not discriminatory, if they do not put into question the EU's internal market, he said.One thing must be clear. There is no national road out of this crisis. Our economies are too intertwined - we will swim or sink together. We must not give in to siren calls for protection. We must not turn our backs on globalisation or put our single market at risk, he told EU parliamentarians.

Fed would grant up to $540B to money market funds By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer OCT 21,08

AP – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008, … WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it will provide up to $540 billion in financing to bolster the money market mutual fund industry, its latest effort to get credit flowing more freely again.The Fed's new program, called the Money Market Investor Funding Facility, will be used to support a private-sector initiative designed to provide liquidity, or cash, to money market investors. The Fed plans to back purchases of short-term debt including certificates of deposit and commercial paper that expire in three months or less from money market mutual funds.The funds are large buyers of commercial paper and CDs, which historically are considered safe investments. However, the credit crisis, which took a turn for the worse last month, has put money market mutual funds under pressure as skittish investors demand withdrawals.The short-term debt markets have been under considerable strain in recent weeks as money market mutual funds and other investors have had difficulty selling assets to satisfy redemption requests, the Fed explained.

The Fed is tapping its Depression-era emergency powers to create the new program. It will provide financing to a series of five private-sector facilities — each run by JPMorgan Chase. They will buy commercial paper — issued by highly rated financial institutions — and CDs, bank notes and other eligible short-term debt from the funds. Commercial paper is a short-term financing mechanism used by companies for day-to-day operations.By doing so, the Fed hopes to take pressure off the funds and to improve credit conditions so banks and other financial institutions will be more inclined to lend to each other, and to consumers and businesses.Improved money market conditions will enhance the ability of banks and other financial intermediaries to accommodate the credit needs of businesses and households, the Fed said.The Fed is prepared to provide financing up to $540 billion under the new program, Federal Reserve officials said. Only time will tell how much demand there is. The Fed hopes the new program will give the funds confidence to return to buying commercial paper, CDs and other things.Money-market mutual funds invest in short-term corporate and government debt that typically carries low risks. The funds are popular places to park cash temporarily but still keep it accessible when needed. They typically earn higher interest than money-market accounts and savings deposits at banks, which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.Of the total $3.45 trillion held in money-market funds as of Friday, about $858 billion was in so-called "prime" money-market funds — the type that typically invest in commercial paper — according to fund-tracking firm iMoneyNet.Although a total of nearly $6 billion flowed out of prime funds on Thursday and Friday of last week, the decline was far milder than it had been last month. For example, during the four-week period ended Oct. 3, assets in prime funds dropped by more than $514 billion, or about 25 percent, as investors switched to funds offering more security, such as those investing in government debt.The Fed's announcement on Tuesday marked its latest effort to break through a credit clog that has hobbled lending and threatens to plunge the country into a deep and painful recession.For about a month, the Fed has been making billions of dollars worth of loans to money market mutual funds — via banks — to help relieve pressures on the funds. And, in a separate program that launches on Oct. 27, the Fed will buy vast amounts of commercial paper from an array of companies. The flight of money funds and others away from commercial paper has left companies finding it harder and more expensive to raise short-term cash.AP Business Writer Mark Jewell contributed to this report from Boston.

Russia, Iran, Qatar discuss OPEC-style gas cartel By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer OCT 21,08

TheStreet.com TEHRAN, Iran – Russia, Iran and Qatar took their first serious steps toward forming an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas on Tuesday, a prospect that has unnerved energy-importing nations in Europe and the United States.The three countries together account for 60 percent of the world's gas reserves, and Russia and Iran have both been accused of using their hold on energy supplies to bully neighboring countries. The European Union, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, criticized the proposal, saying energy supplies have to be sold in a free market.Russia, which most recently came into confrontation with the West over its five-day war with Georgia in August, has been accused of using its hold on energy supplies to exert influence on neighboring nations, particularly Ukraine. Its energy grip adds to its leverage in disputes over other issues, too, such as the United States' missile defense plans.For its part, Iran, in its standoff with world powers over its nuclear program, has threatened to choke off oil shipments through the Persian Gulf if it is attacked.A gas cartel to determine supply and influence prices could extend both countries' reach in energy and politics, particularly if oil prices bounce back to the highs seen earlier this year — prompting politicians, businesses and consumers to look toward cleaner burning natural gas and other alternative fuels.The gathering in Tehran, which included the chief excutive of Russia's state-controlled energy company Gazprom and the oil ministers of the other two nations, appeared to be the most significant step toward the formation of such a group since Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, first raised the idea in January 2007.Big decisions were made, said Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari. The three countries will seriously pursue the formation of an organization of gas-exporting countries, he added.Two more meetings, in Qatar's capital and in Moscow, are needed to reach a final deal, said his Qatari counterpart, Abdulla Bin Hamad al-Attiya, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry's Web site. No timeframe was given.We are consolidating the largest gas reserves in the world, the general strategic interests and, what is very important, the high potential for cooperation on three-party projects, said Alexei Miller, the Gazprom chief. What he called the big gas troika would meet three or four times a year.

In a separate statement on the Iranian Oil Ministry Web site, Miller was quoted as saying that the group would review the market and supply and demand and try to act in both the interest of all gas-exporting countries as well as consumers.The prospect of a gas cartel has raised concern in the United States and around the 27-nation European Union, which depends on Russia for nearly half of its natural gas imports. Moscow, which controls many of the European pipelines delivering gas from Russia and Central Asia, already has a tight hold on supplies.The European Union's executive office, the European Commission, said Tuesday that it would oppose the creation of a cartel.The European Commission feels that energy supplies have to be sold in a free market, said EU spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny.Experts say a natural gas cartel that resembles the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries group would not have the same influence on prices as OPEC has on oil.But it could still have benefits for gas-producing countries. Such a body would allow its members to potentially wield more influence on world prices, particularly in Europe and Asia, than they can individually.To try to maneuver the supply ... makes perfect sense, said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Florida-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com. Just because it doesn't have the clout of oil, it's still in their best interest to deliver natural gas where it needs to go and manage supply in order to help manage the price.Plans for a gas cartel are also anticipating a future in which global crude supplies will become even more scarce and expensive.Liquefied natural gas — a rapidly growing segment of the market — could be traded as a commodity similar to oil at some point in the future, and the move by Russia, Iran and Qatar for closer cooperation appears to anticipate that, said Konstantin Batunin, an analyst with Moscow's Alfa Bank. My take is that it is just a commitment to create something in the future, it's just a first step, he said. Associated Press writers Mike Eckel in Moscow, Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Constant Brand in Brussels, Belgium, contributed to this report.

Stocks up as U.S. and Europe eye stimulus By Patricia Zengerle Patricia Zengerle OCT 20,08

Reuters – A vendor naps on bags of pumpkins at a market in Tianjin municipality October 20, 2008. China's gross … WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Credit markets showed signs of thawing and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke backed more government spending on Monday, prompting renewed hope that the worst of the financial crisis may be over.

A critical measure of lending between banks, the three-month Libor rate, fell the most in a single day since January in a sign that banks were regaining some confidence in dealing with each other.Most major stock markets climbed, with U.S. stocks outpacing gains in Europe and Japan on signs that credit strains were easing and after Bernanke's comment that another wave of government spending may be needed as the economy limps through what could be an extended period of subpar growth.Led by energy, utilities and materials companies, and with some bargain hunting, the Dow closed up 4.7 percent and the broader S&P finished up 4.8 percent. It was the U.S. stock market's second jump in the past three sessions, and the U.S. dollar also rebounded.With the economy likely to be weak for several quarters, and with some risk of a protracted slowdown, consideration of a fiscal package by the Congress at this juncture seems appropriate, Bernanke told Congress in his first endorsement of a second U.S. stimulus package.The White House said it was open to a stimulus plan.

The U.S. Treasury began taking applications from U.S. banks interested in tapping into the remaining $125 billion in the government equity infusion program, and made it clear it wants new capital loaned out, not hoarded.This is an investment, not an expenditure, and there is no reason to expect this program will cost taxpayers anything, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.

INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS ABOUND

Other governments were drawing up their own plans.Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was set to announce measures this week to help domestic banks keep up with foreign competitors benefiting from government bailouts and guarantees.French President Nicolas Sarkozy might speed rail projects and help car manufacturers, France's Le Monde newspaper said. Sarkozy could also announce measures this week to fight rising unemployment.The Bundesbank said Germany's economy probably stagnated in the third quarter. Berlin is considering measures to stimulate investment in specific sectors, a government spokesman said.The Financial Times said Britain was planning to fast-track billions of pounds for building projects, and Iceland was due to receive a $6 billion IMF-led rescue package soon.ING grabbed a 10 billion euro ($13.5 billion) Dutch cash injection, and Sweden joined countries offering lifelines to banks.Global interbank rates fell sharply, including those of Libor, the benchmark rate at which banks lend to each other. Other measures of credit stress eased to levels not seen in more than a month. Libor for overnight dollars fell to a four-year low near the Fed's target rate of 1.5 percent.And for the first time since mid-February, the average U.S. retail gasoline price dropped to below $3 a gallon to its lowest level in almost a year. Falling gas prices act like a tax cut for consumers, shaving about $30 off the fill-up cost for the average large vehicle from the record $4.11 a gallon for gasoline in July.

A BREAK IN THE STORM

Monday's comparative optimism followed weeks of market-rattling news since Lehman Brothers collapsed in mid-September. The United Nations' International Labor Organization said on Monday 20 million jobs will disappear by the end of 2009 because of the financial crisis, the worst since the 1930s Great Depression.

Governments have promised $3.3 trillion, about equal to the economic output of Germany, to guarantee bank deposits and bank-to-bank lending, and in some cases have taken stakes in banks with toxic assets. The improvement was glacial last week and appears to be accelerating this week, said Charlie Smith, chief investment officer of Fort Pitt Capital Group in Greentree, Pennsylvania. When you are cranking that much money into the system, if you hadn't seen some improvement, the concerns would be gargantuan.The crisis has been felt in the U.S. presidential campaign, with Democrat Barack Obama expanding his national lead over Republican John McCain in the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll. Fear and anger about the economy may cost the Republicans on November 4, with the Democrats in a position to take a commanding 60-seat majority in the 100-member U.S. Senate for the first time 30 years. In Asia, South Korea announced a $130 billion rescue package, and China reported eased economic growth in the third quarter and forecast a further slowing in the fourth. In India, the central bank unexpectedly cut its key lending rate for the first time in more than four years. One indicator of how the crisis is affecting the real economy came as American Express, the fourth-largest U.S. credit-card issuer, reported a 23 percent decline in its third-quarter income from continuing operations as it set aside more money to cover credit losses. Investors had looked to AmEx for indications of whether wealthier people were cutting back on spending or falling behind on payments. The company said delinquencies on its cards had crept higher as the financial crisis weighed on some consumers' ability to pay their bills. (Additional reporting by Reuters bureaus worldwide; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Toni Reinhold.

Indian PM says wants trade pact with Japan this year OCT 20,08

TOKYO (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in an interview published Tuesday he hoped to wrap up an elusive free trade agreement with Japan by the end of the year.The two countries failed to meet a goal of reaching a trade deal by mid-2008or to achieve visible progress in time for a three-day visit by Singh to Japan starting Tuesday.But Singh, speaking to Japanese journalists in New Delhi on Monday, said that fast-growing India and Asia's largest economy would both benefit from a free trade agreement.We are very keen that before the year is out we should have an agreement on a comprehensive economic partnership, Singh said in the interview, as quoted by the Yomiuri Shimbun.There are great complementarities between the economies of the two countries, Singh said.Talks between the two countries have been bogged down over how much to reduce tariffs and whether Japan will ease its tight regulations to allow Indian generic drugs.Singh was due to meet Wednesday with Japan's new prime minister, Taro Aso, a conservative who has long advocated building relations with fellow democracy India.The two leaders are expected to sign a loan agreement for Japan to fund a 1,468-kilometre (912 miles) rail connection between New Delhi and Mumbai, aiming to improve India's creaky infrastructure.A Japanese press report Saturday said that the loan would total 450 billion yen (4.5 billion dollars), the biggest-ever amount Tokyo has provided for a project overseas.But Japan is unlikely to pursue a deal on nuclear energy with India, a foreign ministry official here said.Japan, the only nation to have suffered atomic attack, has been critical of India's refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.India earlier this month signed a landmark deal with the United States that gives New Delhi access to nuclear technology after being shut out for decades.Both Singh and Aso are expected to head Friday to China for an Asian-Europe meeting.

Toronto stock index soars on resource strength By Jennifer Kwan Jennifer Kwan – Mon Oct 20, 6:38 pm

TORONTO (Reuters) – The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index soared more than 7 percent in a broad-based rally on Monday as resource issues climbed on strength in underlying commodity prices.The rise added to the 3.16 percent gain logged on Friday as the resource-heavy benchmark got a big boost from the oil and gas sector, which soared 14.3 percent. Canadian Natural Resources finished ahead 15.9 percent at C$58.55, and EnCana Corp was up 14.4 percent at C$57.07.Oil jumped more than 3 percent to close at $74.25 a barrel, lifted by expectations that OPEC ministers will agree to cut production at an emergency meeting set for Friday.The materials group, which includes metals and fertilizer companies, jumped 10.8 percent as gold prices rose. Agnico Eagle climbed 9.7 percent to C$47.06, while Potash Corp of Saskatchewan rose 9.9 percent to C$97.45.Concerns over fallout from the credit crisis have eased as banks begin lending to each other again, said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.However, markets are now moving from financial risk to economic risk, he said, noting that investors are questioning: If we are in a recession, how deep is it and what is the impact of it on various sectors? The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 688.91 points, or 7.2 percent, at 10,251.40, with all but one of its 10 main groups higher.The gains build on the strong finish last week when the index snapped a three-week losing streak with a 5.5 percent weekly rise, its biggest such gain since October 2002.We're probably going to see the market recover a bit over the next few days but overall I think they're going to have to retest that bottom that we had a couple of days ago. That is probably going to come sooner rather than later, said Steve Ibel, institutional equities trader at Beacon Securities, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

You'll probably see some people selling into strength.The lone sector in the red was the information technology, group, which slipped 0.05 percent, pulled lower by Research In Motion.The BlackBerry maker was off 7.6 percent at C$64.88 after one brokerage warned of disappointing retail sales trends for its smartphones and another brokerage cut its revenue and earnings forecasts.Elsewhere, the overhaul for Canada's nonbank asset-backed commercial paper market has been delayed by a month but the restructuring should be complete by the end of November.Market volume was 474.6 million shares worth C$6.78 billion. Advancers outpaced decliners 1,174 to 374. The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index closed 43.57 points higher, or 7.56 percent, at 619.77.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 413.21 points, or 4.67 percent, at 9,265.43, while the Nasdaq composite index ended up 58.74 points, or 3.43 percent, at 1,770.03.($1=$1.19 Canadian)(Additional report by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Rob Wilson)

China's economy feels chill from global crisis By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer Mon Oct 20, 4:55 pm ET AP

SHANGHAI, China – The laid-off factory workers and slumping car sales indicated China's booming economy was not immune to the global meltdown. New figures confirm it: China's economy is still growing, but at the slowest pace in five years.The National Statistics Bureau said Monday the economy expanded by just 9 percent in the third quarter, the slowest rate since 2003, when growth plummeted during the SARS outbreak. By comparison, the economy grew 10.6 percent in the first quarter and 10.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008.China's State Council has begun drafting measures to counter the slowdown, including export tax rebates on labor-intensive products such as clothing, as well as on electronics and small appliances. They also promised more support for the ailing housing sector and money to rebuild areas devastated by the May earthquake, state-controlled media said Monday.After years of feeding a voracious global appetite for its exports, China is seeing demand dry up as consumers in the U.S. and Europe cut back on spending in the wake of the mortgage-debt meltdown. The shift is a serious challenge for Beijing leaders as they struggle to keep job-creating growth on an even keel.Protests by laid-off workers demanding their paychecks have already erupted as thousands of factories fold under the pressure of rising costs and slowing orders. Affluent city dwellers are feeling the pinch of sinking share prices and a weak housing market — sales of passenger cars fell 6.2 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.The growth rate of the world economy has slowed down noticeably. There are more uncertain and volatile factors in the international economic climate, National Statistics Bureau spokesman Li Xiaochao said in a nationally televised news conference.All these factors have started to release their negative impact on China's economy, Li said.Exports have just begun to slow — the trade surplus hit a monthly record $29.3 billion in September as costs for imports eased thanks to lower prices for crude oil and other commodities.A weaker China spells trouble for other Asian countries that have thrived on robust sales of raw materials and other manufacturing inputs to their giant neighbor.The problem is that China's economic growth is slowing down when it is most needed, said Huainan Zhao, a banking expert at Cass Business School in London.Growth for the first nine months of the year was 9.9 percent, compared to 11.9 percent for all of 2007. Economists have cut China's forecasts for 2008 to as low as 9 percent.Instead of bouncing back after a lull during the Beijing Olympics, China's industrial boom has slowed further, with output growing 11.4 percent year-on-year in September. That compares with 12.8 percent in August.China's manufacturing sector is not immune from the global economic downturn, said Sherman Chan, an analyst for Moody's Economy.com.

Share prices are still down nearly 70 percent from the peak they hit a year ago. On Monday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index drifted lower but then rebounded in the afternoon, gaining 2.3 percent to 1,974.01 as property developers and banks rallied in anticipation of favorable policy moves.As the golden rule goes, the time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, so prices rebounded on bargain hunting, said Zhai Peng, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai.Still, there are glimmers of good news.Inflation slowed in September, the bureau said, to a 15-month low of 4.6 percent.For Beijing, that means the effort spent on reining in bank lending and keeping inflation in check can now be refocused on keeping growth steady. The single important policy goal is growth, and the government will rapidly roll out fiscal, credit and trade policies to achieve this goal, investment bank Merrill Lynch said in a research report released Monday.

Russian ruble crisis costs the Kremlin billions By NATALIYA VASILYEVA and DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writers Mon Oct 20, 3:15 pm ET

MOSCOW – Only a few months ago, the Kremlin was talking about pricing its oil in rubles and making the ruble a regional reserve currency, giving it a status closer to that of the euro and the dollar.But that was before Russian tanks rolled into Georgia, the Russian stock market crashed and the price of oil fell by half.The ruble has declined steadily since the Aug. 7 start of the five-day war with Georgia, losing some 10 percent to 12 percent of its value against the dollar. Without intervention by the central bank, which began in early September, it might have fallen further, faster.Anton Struchenevsky, an economist at Troika Dialog investment bank, said Monday the Central Bank was spending $600 million a day to buy rubles and support the currency's exchange rate, for a total of $20 billion in less than two months. Other experts put the cost of defending the ruble as high as $50 billion.

While Russia has more than half a trillion dollars in foreign exchange reserves, Struchenevsky said: This cannot last forever.Some analysts think the Central Bank is trying to engineer a soft landing for the ruble — letting exchange rates fall to strengthen Russian industry by raising the costs of competitors' imported goods. The aim would be to let the ruble slide gradually to avoid causing panic.Andrei Illarionov, a former Kremlin adviser and now a government critic, told reporters Monday that the Central Bank, to safeguard itself, made a decision to start a devaluation, a soft devaluation of the ruble.Allowing the ruble to fall too quickly would contradict the Kremlin's official line, which is that the Russian economy remains healthy, vibrant and largely insulated from the impact of any global recession. The currency's strength and stability had until recently been a proud symbol of the country's rise from the ashes of its 1998 economic crisis.Governments can either set an official exchange rate, sometimes based on another currency, or let their currencies float — let the international currency trading market set the rates.Russia's Central Bank pegs the ruble to a so-called basket of the dollar and the euro, allowing it to float only within a narrow range. The aim is to avoid the economic shock of sudden swings in the currency's value.A decision to abandon the peg and float the ruble would doom the banking sector, said Nataliya Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank. There is a nervous mood in the air, but if the ruble loses state support, there will be panic. People would be withdrawing rubles from their deposits and converting them into dollars.Yegor Gaidar, an economist and former prime minister, last week praised the government's efforts to support the ruble. This is a smart decision, he said. We absolutely do not need panic on the currency market.Until this summer, the ruble had been gaining for several years on the back of higher prices for Russian commodities, especially oil and gas. The ruble strengthened to 23.14 against the dollar in July, its highest level in 9 years.But the currency's fortunes have reversed dramatically in the past three months. It hit a 20-month low Friday, trading at 26.4 rubles to the dollar. On Monday, it ticked up a hair to 26.3.Meanwhile, some of Moscow's sidewalk currency exchanges over the weekend were selling dollars for more than 28 rubles — the result, apparently, of whispers that the Kremlin was about to let the ruble float against international currencies.The Central Bank reassured markets it would continue to support the Russian currency, and introduced measures Monday to limit traders who used currency swaps to profit from the ruble's decline.Oil prices also rose modestly Monday, further strengthening the ruble.Some analysts say Russia's economy remains relatively healthy and the currency should show more resilience, but many Russians remember the 1998 currency collapse. The ruble has been steadily growing in the past few years on capital inflows, but a large part of people and businesses still have no faith in the ruble, said Evgeny Nadorshin, chief economist at Trust Investment Bank. A rapid devaluation would not just undermine faith in the currency; it could cause political problems for the Kremlin as well. Many Russian regard the 1990s, a crippling period of poverty and turmoil, as a time of political and economic humiliation.

But Russia was in a much weaker economic position 10 years ago, and no one expects a replay. Even if the government decided to let the ruble float, Struchenevsky said, there would be no repeat of 1998, when the value of the ruble dropped fourfold and inflation surged to 80 percent. Besides helping domestic manufacturers, he added, it would allow the government to adopt more flexible economic policies. Associated Press writers Lynn Berry and Steve Gutterman contributed to this report.

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.(TR 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).

Weakened Czech leader pledges EU treaty ratification
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today OCT 21,08 @ 09:37 CET

Reeling from a huge political blow in last weekend's regional elections, Czech centre-right Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has said that his country - set to chair the EU as of January - will push forward the ratification of the bloc's new Lisbon treaty.It would be very complicated to talk with the Irish about their ratification process and conditions of the process if we ourselves did not ratify the Lisbon treaty, Mr Topolanek said during a visit by German leader Angela Merkel to Prgaue on Monday (20 October), suggesting he would try his best to deal with the document at national level by the end of this year, CTK agency reported.He referred to the EU's stalemate over the new reform treaty after Ireland's voters rejected it in a referendum in June, with all member states needed to ratify the document before it can take into effect.So far, 22 EU countries have finalised the ratification - apart from Ireland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland and Germany - with Prague waiting for the verdict by the Czech constitutional court on whether the treaty is in line with the country's own constitution before it can proceed with ratification in the two parliamentary chambers.According to Czech media, the judges could announce their opinion in late October or early November. But the decision would not in itself secure speedy ratification.While the social democrats (CSSD) - the main opposition party - are in favour of ratification, Mr Topolanek is facing critics of the treaty in his own Civic Democratic party (ODS), as well as in the presidential palace of ODS founder and former leader Vaclav Klaus.Aware of the potentially lengthy discussions in Prague, Mr Topolanek admitted it might be possible the Czech presidency could kick off without the country joining the list of the countries that have ratified the Lisbon text.It is evident that such a situation is possible and that we are capable of solving it, but it would be much better for us if we had this problem behind us, he said.

Regional blow

The main government ODS party suffered a strong defeat in regional elections held on Friday and Saturday (17 - 18 October). The centre-left CSSD party won in all 13 regions, ceasing the previous position of ODS as the strongest party in regional assemblies.In the first round of senate poll held at the same time, one CSSD candidate was elected and other CSSD candidates advanced to the second round in 25 constituencies. ODS deputies advanced to the second round in 20 constituencies.

Analysts say that the ruling coalition - ODS and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) - will not lose their joint majority in the upper house. However, the poor performance by ODS in the regional elections has sparked debates about a possible fall of the government.The parliament is due to hold a confidence vote on Mr Topolanek's cabinet on Wednesday (22 October).

New EU trade commissioner defends qualifications
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 21,08 @ 09:24 CET

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG – Baroness Catherine Ashton presented her negotiation skills and strong pro-European views as the main assets for taking over the EU trade commissioner job, during hearings in the European Parliament's international trade committee on Monday evening (20 October).I am someone who regards herself as strongly pro-European. My British and European identities have always pulled me in the same direction, rather than apart, Mrs Ashton said in front of the European Parliament's international trade committee, stressing her role in steering the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty through the House of Lords as proof of her negotiating and consensus building capacities.The committee will give its recommendation to the plenary session, which is to vote on Wednesday (22 October) on approving her nomination, as the last stage of approval before Mrs Ashton takes over the commission's trade portfolio. Seeming confident about getting the approval, Mrs Ashton said her first trip on Wednesday after a positive vote would be to the headquarters of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, in order to meet Pascal Lamy, the WTO secretary general and ensure him "that a successful Doha round remains absolutely central to EU trade policy. The Doha Round was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, with the aim of liberalising trade rules for the benefit of developing countries.Baroness Ashton rejected French proposals to reform the structure of the WTO through measures such as removing sensitive agricultural issues from the negotiations.It's not the moment to renegotiate the structure, she said. What we've got to do is make the structure that exists work to our advantage.

Need for a big hitter, not a novice

Yet some MEPs were critical of Mrs Ashton's qualifications for such a difficult job. UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who was approved by the European plenum to retake his seat on the trade committee on the same day when Mrs Ashton's hearing took place, asked her if she wouldn't have preferred a different portfolio, as she clearly lacks the necessary qualifications for this one.We are still in the middle of a ruinous credit crunch, there is a rapid contraction of global trade and as history is teaching us, we may have protectionism around the corner, he said, arguing that the EU trade commissioner is the most important figure in the world for global trade.Now it's not the time for a novice, we need a big hitter. Frankly, looking at your CV, you do not have any direct relevant experience to take on this job at what is a very very dangerous time, Mr Farage said.Mrs Ashton, a former economist, defended her record as a negotiator while stressing that she has hundreds of very experienced people working on the trade portfolio at her disposal.I am a negotiator, this is what I do. I may not have had the profile of the now newly ennobled Lord Mandelson, but that does not mean I have got no experience. Quite the contrary, she said.On job creation and market access for small and medium-sized enterprises, Ignasi Guardans Cambo, Spanish Liberal MEP and vice-president of the trade committee said that when he read Mrs Ashton's written answers, it looked as if we were at the start of the way, as if we were re-inventing the wheel.Asked by Mr Cambo if she was going to jump on the train which is already running and implement specific measures proposed by the European Parliament, the commissioner designate said she would do this, as far as "the carriage doesn't need any repair.

Questions about trade with Eastern neighbours

In regards to the perspective of creating a free trade zone with EU's eastern neighbours such as Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova without damaging their economies, Mrs Ashton only echoed the questions put by Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Polish conservative MEP and chairman of the foreign affairs committee also present at the hearings.These are some of the questions I've been reflecting on myself. I do think it's important to develop strategic relationships with our Eastern neighbours and I know we have started discussions with Ukraine and Georgia, with different stages of our deliberations, Mrs Ashton said, admitting that she doesn't have a deep answer to those questions yet.She also refused to answer Swedish conservative MEP Christofer Fjellner's question on whether it is appropriate to lift tariffs for Georgia as a sign of solidarity with this country in the aftermath of its conflict with Russia.

I had when I was a justice minister the privilege of meeting a number of ministers from Georgia and talking with them. We need to consider very carefully our relationships with that country and with the region, she said.Baroness Ashton was put forward for the trade job after the surprise resignation of the UK's previous commissioner, Peter Mandelson, in order to re-join the British government.

IMF to rescue Iceland
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today OCT 21,08 @ 09:26 CET

Iceland, teetering on the verge of national bankrupcy due to global financial meltdown, is likely to receive a $6 billion (€4.5 billion) rescue package tailored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nordic countries and Japan. According to the Financial Times, the agreement could be announced as soon as on Tuesday (21 October), with the IMF alone expected to contribute over $1 billion. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Japan and possibly Russia will also step in. Following IMF - neighbours would be quite willing to sail in, Iceland's industry minister Oessur Skarphedinsson predicted (Photo: Johannes Jansson /norden.org)It's clear from our diplomatic contacts that if and when an agreement is made between the IMF and Iceland, then our neighbours would be quite willing to sail in their wake, Iceland's industry minister Oessur Skarphedinsson was cited as saying by the IHT. He referred to a possible deal as quite generous lending facilities.The Icelandic government recently took control of the country's three biggest banks - Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing. The krona declined more than 35 percent against the euro between January and September 2008. In exchange for the financial injection, the IMF will ask Reykjavik to restructure its banking sector, review banking legislation as well as to draw plans on fiscal consolidation to bring down debt levels, the FT reports.

Possible EU perspective

The severe financial crisis has recently prompted speculations about whether Iceland could be poised to join the 27-nation EU, with EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn saying the country is capable of achieving such goal if it chooses to do so. Iceland is clearly a democratic European country, Mr Rehn said on Monday, according to AFP, pointing to the fact that it has already negotiated perhaps two-thirds of the criteria needed to join the bloc.This means that were Iceland to pose its candidature, we could quickly complete the negotiations, he concluded.A fresh opinion poll published on Saturday (18 October) suggests that 70 percent of Icelanders want a referendum on EU membership. Some 49 percent said they were set to vote in favour, while 27 percent are against and 24 percent remain undecided.The Capacent-Gallup poll was conducted among 1,200 people prior to Iceland's financial meltdown, however.Speaking to RUV radio earlier this month, Icelandic fisheries minister Einar Kristinn Gudfinsson, a long-standing opponent of EU membership bid, fuelled speculations by saying Everyone knows that I am against EU membership [but] Today we should think about these questions in a new light.

Iceland could quickly join EU if requested: commissioner Mon Oct 20, 1:49 pm ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Iceland could quickly complete European Union membership negotiations should it want to do so, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Monday, as the island labours under a financial crisis.Iceland is clearly a democratic European country, which has already negotiated perhaps two-thirds of the criteria needed to join the current 27-nation bloc, he told AFP.This means that were Iceland to pose its candidature, we could quickly complete the negotiations, he said.However Rehn said that he still expected Croatia, which began accession negotiations three years ago, to become the 28th member of Europe's rich club.

Zagreb hopes to be able to join in 2010.

Iceland's fisheries minister Einar Gudfinnsson said last week that the time could be ripe for a rethink about his country's relationship with the European Union, seen as a relative haven during the financial storm.Everyone knows that I am against EU membership, he told RUV radio, but added: Today we should think about these questions in a new light.Iceland's once booming financial sector recently collapsed under the weight of the global financial crisis, with the government forced to take over the major banks for lack of liquidity and give up protecting the plunging krona.

In an attempt to reboot its comatose foreign trade, the island nation has been scrambling to get hold of foreign currency.An opinion poll published Saturday in Iceland's Frettabladid daily indicated that 70 percent of Icelanders want a referendum to be held on EU membership, with 49 percent saying they would vote in favour of joining the bloc.

The Capacent-Gallup poll, which questioned 1,200 people prior to Iceland's financial meltdown, put opposition to membership at 27 percent with 24 percent undecided.

The Icelandic government is a coalition of two parties, the Social Democrats and the Independence party. The Social Democrats are the only party that officially supports EU membership.

Brussels proposes EU anti-deforestation fund
LEIGH PHILLIPS 20.10.2008 @ 18:34 CET

The European Commission wants the EU to support international work to cut deforestation around the world by 50 percent by 2020 and ultimately eliminate forest destruction completely by 2030.To achieve this, environment commissioner Stavros Dimas has proposed in a communication that a percentage of the money raised from the sale of pollution permits under the EU emissions trading scheme, (ETS) be set aside to pay for forest preservation in the third world, where the bulk of deforestation occurs.Additionally, the commission suggests it work via international negotiations on climate change to achieve the creation of a Global Forest Carbon Mechanism, in which developing countries would be paid for work performed to reduce deforestation and forest degradation.Last year, Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, appealed to the international community to pay to protect a region in his country, one of the most biodiverse tropical rainforests and also sitting atop billions of dollars' worth of oil, rather than open it up to oil exploitation. He is hoping that he can raise $350 million per year for 10 years in this way.Mr Dimas suggests that a major part of funding for such efforts could come from EU ETS allowance proceeds, recommending that five percent of auction revenues - some €1.5 billion to €2.5 billion - be delivered to the Global Forest Carbon Mechanism, (GFCM).Under the GFCM, the commission also envisages the inclusion of deforestation credits - credits for avoided deforestation - within carbon markets, to increase EU government's ability to cut emissions by paying for other people to do the emissions cutting instead.

However, to green groups' relief, the commission has only proposed that deforestation credits be considered after 2020, following a pilot phase to test their inclusion in aiding emissions reduction targets. Emissions from deforestation are currently around three times higher than the amount of emissions regulated under the ETS, meaning that allowing forest credits into carbon markets could crash the price of carbon by almost 50 percent.The commission recognises that deforestation credits would flood the carbon market, while at the same time it still suggests that the option be explored.Owen Espley, a forests campaigner with Friends of the Earth in the UK welcomed the decision to avoid deforestation credits: The commission is right not to introduce forest credits into the Emissions Trading Scheme. Forest carbon credits would create a land grab for forests and would give industry an excuse for failing to reduce their climate-changing emissions.The Forests and the European Union Resource Network (FERN) and Global Witness, a human rights NGO, went further in response to the commission suggestions, saying they have real concerns about the ability of carbon markets to halt climate change, the addition of cheap forest carbon credits to the market can only make matters worse.Entrusting the future of the planet to the markets, in the light of recent financial turmoil, veers between irresponsible and mad, said Patrick Alley of Global Witness.Carbon trading and forest protection are not compatible. Government funding is the most appropriate source of finance to pay for combating deforestation, said Mr Alley.However, green campaigners would like to see the commission be more ambitious in its goals for funding anti-deforestation efforts, saying five percent of ETS auction revenues is not enough. By contrast, the European Parliament's environment committee recently proposed that 12.5 percent of auction revenues be allocated to saving forests.

Bachelet calls for Mideast balance on meeting Jordan king Mon Oct 20, 11:40 pm ET

SANTIAGO, (AFP) – Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said she and visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan agreed the Middle East should strive for balance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Bachelet said Chile and Jordan share a vision of balance between the right the state of Israel has to exist within safe borders and the right of the Palestinians to a free and sovereign state.Multilateralism must guide the foreign policy of every country, more so at the present time that makes us share both in the advantages and problems of globalization, Bachelet told a joint press conference Monday after meeting with the monarch.Abdullah said he looked forward to increasing trade between Chile and Jordan during his talks here, and invited Bachelet to visit his country next year.I hope we get the chance of building new bridges in the relations between our two nations, he said.Meanwhile, the king's Palestinian-born wife Queen Rania on Monday visited a Santiago nursery and the Interactive Mirador Museum.The royal couple was to be feted at a gala dinner at Chile's Palacio de la Moneda, Bachelet's presidential headquarters.On Tuesday, the king is expected to give a speech about the Islamic world, and also take part in a binational business roundtable gathering.Jordanian officials said Abdullah's itinerary in his first-ever tour of Latin America will also take him to Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras and Cuba.

POSSIBLE ROBOT OR CLONE

DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

REVELATION 13:13-15
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

REVELATION 14:9-11
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Genome fanatics to post own DNA sequences on Web By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 20, 10:21 pm ET

BOSTON – A group of scientists and researchers fascinated with the human genome said Monday they will post online their most private personal information — their medical records and DNA sequence of some of their own genes — all for the sake of research.

Led by Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church, nine people plan to post their records and the DNA sequence of about one-fifth of their genes on the Web.

The participants also include Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker and Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer at Harvard Medical School. A tenth participant, Misha Angrist, science editor at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, said he plans to make his medical records public, but is still deciding on whether to make his sequencing information public.Harvard said this is the first phase of a major initiative to make personal genome sequencing more affordable and accessible.The release is part of the Personal Genome Project, which is designed to serve as a resource for researchers investigating the genetic basis of diseases and other traits.Members of the group received the protein-coding regions of their genomes Monday. After reviewing the information with a doctor, they were given the option of sharing it with the research community and general public by posting it on the project's Web site.Participants discussed their decisions at a news conference at Harvard on Monday afternoon.Halamka said his results showed he could be at an increased risk for several diseases, including prostate cancer and a neurological disorder that causes weakness and numbness in the legs. He said knowing he has an increased risk could help him when he has a physical examination.I think as a family we will now approach our care a little differently, he said.Participants said they decided to make their information public to help medical research.I believe that there's a great advantage to each of us knowing our sequences, but it is also to me inconceivable that absolute genetic privacy will be maintained, said Stanley Lapidus, chairman and CEO of Helicos BioSciences Corp.Earlier this year, Church's project won approval from Harvard's ethical review board to sequence and post the genes and records of 100,000 willing participants. Church later asked nine people to participate in the first stage of the project.On Tuesday, the Personal Genome Project's Web site will post the DNA sequences, cell lines, and medical and non-medical traits of participants who agreed to disclose their information. Anyone with access to the Internet can view the information.

Concerns about genetic privacy prompted Congress to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits insurers or employers from discriminating against people based on their genetic information. The act was signed into law in May.So far, the project has sequenced about 20 percent of the genome regions of participants, but it will eventually scan all their genes.Last year, DNA pioneers J. Craig Venter, president of a genetics research institute, and James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA's molecular structure, made their genomes public on scientific Web sites.On the Web: (http://www.personalgenomes.org/

INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.

2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; 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.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Australia says timing right for new nuclear talks Mon Oct 20, 2:00 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia hosted the first meeting of a new international nuclear non-proliferation body Monday, with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith saying he was hopeful of progress on disarmament.Members of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, first proposed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in June, met for the first time in Sydney for two days of talks early Monday.

The commission, chaired by former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans and Japan's former top diplomat Yoriko Kawaguchi, is tasked with reinvigorating the global debate on the spread of nuclear weapons and disarmament.We think the timing might just be right for some success in this area, Smith told reporters in Canberra. It's a very strong commission.Smith said the Australian government would give 3.8 million dollars (2.66 million US) to the body, which was proposed by Rudd following a visit to the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the site of the world's first atomic attack.The commission will focus on the success of a 2010 conference on the 40-year-old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and promote discussion on the need for disarmament and to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.Smith said he and Rudd had met with the body's commissioners, who include former US secretary of defence William Perry and Norway's former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, in Sydney on Sunday.We made the point to them... we see this as a genuine second track, or non-government dialogue which will encourage a sharp focus by the international community on short-term good results from the NPT conference but also to start moving forward again on nuclear disarmament, Smith said.Asked whether any nuclear-armed nations would abandon their nuclear weapons, Smith said: We certainly hope so.

I don't use the phrase forseeable future, but it's the Australian government's long-term objective that the manufacture, the possession of nuclear weapons, cease, he said.Other commissioners include former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, Alexei Arbatov from Russia, Jehangir Karamat from Pakistan, François Heisbourg from France, Klaus Naumann from Germany, Ernesto Zedillo from Mexico and Wang Yingfan from China.Four members were unable to make the Sydney meeting -- Turki Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia, South Africa's Frene Noshir Ginwala, India's Brajesh Mishra and Shirley Williams from the UK.

Kadhafi to visit Russia, arms on the agenda: report Mon Oct 20, 2:10 am ET

Russian President Dmitry … MOSCOW, (AFP) – Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi is due to visit Moscow October 31 for talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on arms purchases and other deals, the business daily Vedomosti reported Monday.The Libyan leader last visited Russia in 1985 in the days of the Soviet Union. Ties between Tripoli and Moscow have again warmed since Vladimir Putin visited Libya last April shortly after he left the Kremlin.Topics for the visit will include possible delivery of Russian Su-30 fighter planes and advanced T-90 battle tanks, the report said, quoting an unnamed foreign ministry source and another source in the state technology agency.Russia could also sell Libya Tor-M2E air missile defence systems and spare parts for Russian-made weapons it already possesses, it said.Recent contacts between Libya and Russia have centred on Tripoli's 4.6 billion dollar (3.4 billion-euro) debt to Moscow which could be settled through a variety of business contracts, the report said.In addition to possible weapons sales, the largest of the contracts under consideration is the construction by Russia's rail monopoly of a 554-kilometre (344-mile) rail line between the Libyan cities of Surt and Banghazi.That project was valued at around 2.2 billion euros (2.9 billion dollars), the paper said.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has also signed a provisional agreement with Libya on establishment of a joint venture that would develop projects in Libya and other countries in Africa, Vedomosti said.

India, Russia to sign civilian nuclear deal in December Posted : Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:00:32 GMT Author : DPA

New Delhi - Russia and India Monday laid the groundwork for a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, paving the way for the signing of the pact during Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's visit to New Delhi in December, officials and news reports said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held discussions with his counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, in the Indian capital, which focussed on the nuclear agreement, officials in the Indian foreign ministry said. Under the bilateral nuclear cooperation pact, Russia would build four atomic reactors in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the IANS news agency reported, quoting Indian diplomatic sources. The pact was agreed upon during a visit of former Russian president Vladimir Putin last year and follows similar agreements New Delhi has signed with the United States and France. It would be the third bilateral nuclear pact India would ink after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) in early September lifted its embargo of nuclear commerce with New Delhi. We discussed prospects for future bilateral cooperation in the [civilian nuclear] field, Mukherjee told reporters at a joint press conference with Lavrov. According to Indian officials, Medvedev would make his first official visit to India starting December 3. Mukherjee conveyed India's appreciation of Russia's support in the NSG. India has an impeccable record on non-proliferation, Lavrov said. That is why we supported India in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in the NSG, he added, referring to the UN's international nuclear watchdog.

India is a very responsible player in the international arena, Lavrov said while reiterating Moscow's support for New Delhi's candidacy for the UN Security Council. India is very powerful in economic terms and has political clout.Lavrov, who made a daylong visit, held talks with Mukherjee on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues, including UN reforms, and bilateral and multilateral efforts to tackle the global financial crisis and terrorism. Lavrov also met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Russian minister flew back to Moscow Monday evening.

Russia's future in Ukranian port is uncertain The Associated PressPublished: October 20, 2008

LONDON: Russia will leave the strategic Black Sea port of Sevastopol if its lease is not renewed by the Ukrainian government, the Russian deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, said in an interview due to be broadcast Monday.Asked by the BBC whether he could envision the Russian fleet ever leaving the port, Ivanov said it was possible.

Yes, I can imagine that easily after 2017, he said. Why not, if the Ukrainian government then in power decides not to prolong the lease? Sevastopol, on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, has a majority ethnic Russian population and is the site of a Russian naval base. Russia has held the port since the 18th century and it hosts Russia's Black Sea fleet. Thousands of Russians live and work on the peninsula.

However, the lease agreement between Russia and Ukraine for the use of the base is due to expire in 2017, and Ukrainian officials have indicated they do not want to extend it.Boom times in Britain are over and not everybody minds Russia's military campaign against Georgia in August stoked fears that the Kremlin could launch a similar action against Ukraine, which like Georgia has also sought to loosen ties with Russia.The war with Georgia culminated in Russia's recognition of Georgia's pro-Russian rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - raising fears that Moscow could repeat the exercise in Crimea.Asked what would happen if the Ukrainian government kicked out the fleet, over expected local opposition from ethnic Russians, Ivanov suggested Russia would not intervene.I love Crimea and even have relatives there, but that is Ukraine's problem, not Russia's, he said.

U.S. Says Russia Hasn't Met Cease-Fire Obligations in Georgia By Helena Bedwell

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said Russia has failed to meet its obligations under a European Union-brokered cease-fire that ended a five-day war with Georgia in August. The cease-fire accord negotiated by Sarkozy requires Russian armed forces to withdraw to their positions before the outbreak of hostilities, Fried told reporters today in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The Russians haven't done so. They're in compliance with some of it, he said, referring to the cease-fire. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, brokered the cease-fire that ended Russia's five-day war with Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia. Russia later recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, from Georgia, a move condemned by the U.S. and many European countries. Fried echoed comments made by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner during a trip to Georgia on Oct. 10. President Dmitry Medvedev said the same day that Russia had done everything required of it. We have met all the obligations we accepted in the first document, the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan, and the second document, which was agreed on not long ago in Moscow, he said. The original cease-fire required Russian forces to return to their pre-conflict positions. Russia sent about 10,000 soldiers into Georgia during the fighting, according to state- run news service RIA Novosti.

Disputed Town

Under a subsequent deal reached by Medvedev and Sarkozy, Russia agreed to withdraw its forces from Georgian territory outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Sarkozy said on Sept. 8. He said the agreement was the maximum we could get.Fried visited the central Georgian city of Gori, though he wasn't allowed to enter the disputed town of Akhalgori, located inside South Ossetia. The situation in this area is ``far from satisfactory, he said. Georgia insists that Russian troops must relinquish control of the town. I have to be honest, this is not a situation that will be resolved easily or very soon, Fried said after talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and opposition leaders. He said the U.S. hopes Russia will respond constructively to efforts by the U.S. and EU to find a solution. Medvedev said on Sept. 8 that his decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia was final and irrevocable. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the following day that Russia had agreed to deploy about 3,800 soldiers in each region. A first round of talks on security and refugees in Georgia was suspended in Geneva on Oct. 15. EU special envoy Pierre Morel said talks will resume on Nov. 18. To contact the reporter on this story: Helena Bedwell in Tbilisi at hbedwell@bloomberg.net

Russia Is Striving to Modernize Its Military By THOM SHANKER Published: October 19, 2008

WASHINGTON — As they tracked Russian military maneuvers in recent days, the American government’s career Kremlin-watchers might have been forgiven for wondering if they were seeing recycled newsreels from the worst of the bad old days.Joseph Sywenkyj for The New York Times.Russian soldiers going on patrol in Georgia in August. A reduction in troop strength is planned. A huge exercise, called Stability 2008, spread tens of thousands of troops, thousands of vehicles and scores of combat aircraft across nearly all 11 time zones of Russian territory in the largest war game since the collapse of the Soviet Union. There was no specified enemy, but the Russian forces appeared to be enacting a nationwide effort to quell unrest along Russia’s southern border — and to repulse an American-led attack by NATO forces, according to experts in Moscow and here.In a grim finale, commanders launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles, the type that can carry multiple nuclear warheads. It was a clear signal of the drastic endgame the Kremlin might consider should its conventional forces not hold. One of the missiles flew more than 7,100 miles, allowing Russian officials to claim they had set a distance record.If these images of Russian power projection appeared drawn from the dark decades of Dr. Strangelove, the response from Washington was anything but.When asked to assess what seemed to be a Russian resurgence, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have provided the same sanguine response, echoed down through the ranks of government analysts who have spent years reading obscure Russian military journals and scrutinizing classified satellite photographs.

The Russian military fell to third world standards from neglect and budget cuts in the turbulent years when Boris N. Yeltsin was president, they say. The new Kremlin leadership is working to create a force that can actually defend the nation’s interests. The military has embarked on a program to buy modern weapons, improve training and health care for troops, trim a bloated officer corps and create the first professional class of sergeant-level, small-unit leaders since World War II.

Which is not to say that the United States will stop judging Russian behavior in light of what it considers a clumsy, ill-advised and unnecessary invasion of the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Yet policymakers also say the Kremlin’s efforts at military modernization should not prevent cooperation on mutual concerns, including countering terrorism and halting nuclear proliferation. Even a high-profile speech three weeks ago by President Dmitri A. Medvedev, ordering a military modernization program and the largest increases in defense spending since the death of the old Soviet Union, was viewed here as short on substance and designed more for a domestic political agenda.Mr. Medvedev declared that by 2020, Russia would construct new types of warships and an unspecified air and space defense system. Military spending, he said, will leap by 26 percent next year, bringing it to 1.3 trillion rubles (about $50 billion), its highest level since the collapse of the Soviet Union — but still a small fraction of American military spending. Mr. Medvedev pledged that Russia would shore up its nuclear deterrence and upgrade its conventional forces to a state of permanent combat-readiness.American experts were unimpressed. “Russia is prone to make fairly grandiose announcements about its military, said a Defense Department official who discussed government analyses on condition of anonymity. These programs have long been in the works. They are not new plans. They are not new programs.Even so, veteran analysts of Russian military affairs acknowledge that a military renaissance would allow the Moscow leadership to increase political pressure on former Soviet republics, now independent, as well as former Warsaw Pact allies that embraced NATO after the collapse of communism.What the Russian leadership has discovered is proof of an old maxim: that a foreign policy without a credible military is no foreign policy, said Dale R. Herspring, a scholar on Russian military affairs at Kansas State University.Eugene B. Rumer, of the National Defense University here, said events of recent weeks were not a sign, really, of the Russian military being reborn, but more of a Russia being able to flex what relatively little muscle it has on the global scale, and to show that it actually matters.One example is how Russia’s navy is seeking to display global reach. A flotilla of warships, including the nuclear battle cruiser Peter the Great, is under sail for exercises next month with Venezuela. Russia has also announced more than $1 billion in new arms deals with the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez.

This Venezuela adventure is basically Russia’s payback for what they consider the humiliation of American ships’ operating in the Black Sea during the war in Georgia, said Mikhail Tsypkin, of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. This is to annoy the United States.Some of the steps undertaken to wrench the Russian military out of mediocrity resemble changes in the American military over several decades. Russia plans for its ground forces to move to a system designed for the deployment of brigades, rather than bulkier division or corps headquarters — nearly copying the United States Army’s approach.The Russian military also plans to offer pay and housing incentives to attract noncommissioned officers — the valuable class of sergeants — to make a long-term career of military service. While not as drastic as the move by the post-Vietnam American military to switch from the draft to an all-volunteer force, the plan would shift Russia further from reliance on one-year conscripts, who are not in uniform long enough to master even basic skills. Just last week, the Russian military leadership announced it would further reduce the number of people in uniform, to about 1 million from the current 1.1 million, far below the 4 million-strong military at the end of the cold war.Most significant, according to American government officials, is a four-year plan to reduce to 150,000 a Russian officer corps that now numbers 400,000, a shrinking that is certain to produce significant opposition within the senior ranks. The Russian General Staff will be trimmed, and the number of generals is planned to fall to 900 from the current 1,100. But in an acknowledgment that the general officer corps can slow the pace of change throughout the military, most of those reductions will occur through retirement.The Kremlin knows that its military bureaucracy is riddled with corruption, Pentagon officials say. Experts here say that audits ordered after Vladimir V. Putin took over from Mr. Yeltsin in 2000 found that 40 percent of the budget for some weapons programs and salaries was lost to theft and waste.The new defense minister, Anatoly E. Serdyukov, was a surprise choice, given that he had no military background but was an expert in finance and taxes. As he moved to clean house across the military-industrial complex, the reason for his selection became clear.

Analysts of Kremlin affairs note that a central risk to Russian military reform might not be foreign armies, but the current economic collapse, which has sent oil prices plummeting, robbing Russia of profits earmarked for upgrading the armed forces.An irony is emerging. One central cause of the Soviet Union’s collapse was that its centrally planned, calcified economy simply could not support the Kremlin’s superpower military ambitions. If oil prices continue to drop, Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin may be faced with the same economic limits on their military plans.

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN Bin Laden's plan for global fireball,Intel agents uncover plot for worldwide disaster October 20, 2008 9:50 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

Forest fire

LONDON -- Documents recovered from a remote area along the Pakistan border have revealed that Osama bin Laden wants al-Qaida to launch a global fireball by lighting forest fires in Europe, the United States, Australia and South America, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.The documents, uncovered during an operation led by the British intelligence service MI6, have been described by experts in that agency as the most worrying [plot] that the world is facing.The catastrophic wildfires would not only produce an environmental disaster but would stretch emergency services often beyond their limit and leave insurance companies facing multi-billion-dollar claims for damages that could effectively destroy the already shattered economies of a number of countries.Australia, gripped by years of drought that has left tinderbox conditions as summer now approaches, regards the threat as terrifying.The country's attorney general, Robert McClelland, warned there is a most urgent need for renewed vigilance against a very real and present danger.

The FBI has issued a high priority warning that such a terrorist plan could devastate states like California.Spain, France and Germany -- all with vast forests -- are vulnerable, MI6 warned the intelligence services of those countries. The Amazon Basin, and other forests which supply the world with wood, is another prime target, the warning added.Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND. For the complete report and full immediate access to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, subscribe now. The instructions for a global fireball were among documents recovered in the Pakistan border raid on an al-Qaida safe house.The author was Abu Musab al-Suri, who wrote the terrorist textbook, The Global Islamic Resistance Call.The 50-year-old Syrian-born terrorist was seized by U.S. Special Forces in Quetta, Pakistan, in 2005.

There are reports that he was flown to Egypt for interrogation by CIA officers and remains in one of Egypt's secret prisons.But other reports suggest that, in a deal with Syria, al-Suri has been released and is now in Baghdad planning attacks against Israel.