TUESDAY SOARS - SPAIN HEADS MEDUNION

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

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

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

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

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

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

EU SPAIN #11

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

OH WOW THIS IS INCREDIBLE SPAIN IS HEADQUARTERING THE MEDITERRANEAN UNION.

Barcelona to host Mediterranean Union headquarters
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today NOV 4,08 @ 17:48 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The headquarters of the recently launched Union for the Mediterranean will be located in Barcelona, Spain, foreign ministers of the countries participating in the project decided on Tuesday (4 November).The secretariat will be presided over by a single secretary general – yet to be appointed – and five deputy secretaries from Greece, Italy, Malta, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner – whose country currently presides over the Union for the Mediterranean together with Egypt. The Royal Palace of Pedralbes in Barcelona, where the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean will be located. (Photo: Wikipedia/Pex Cornel)

Mr Kouchner, speaking to reporters following a meeting of EU and Mediterranean foreign ministers in Marseille, added that a sixth deputy secretary may yet be added to the list at the demand of Turkey.The secretariat will be tasked with implementing concrete projects in a number of different areas: maritime safety, economy, energy, transport, agriculture, urban development and environment.The French foreign minister hailed the results of the meeting as a great success and underlined that it was the first time that Israel would be present at such a level in an international institution alongside the Palestinian Authority.In exchange for a position as deputy secretary, Israel has accepted that the Arab League could be present at all Union meetings, at all levels, although without any voting rights.Prior to the decision, the Arab League had only been allowed to take part in Euro-Mediterranean meetings as part of the Egyptian delegation.

Barcelona beats Tunisia and Valetta

Valetta, the capital of EU member Malta, and Tunis, the capital of Tunisia had also been in the running to host the UM's headquarters, but Tunis withdrew its candidacy last Friday, while Valetta did not gather enough support for its candidacy, according to the Times of Malta.Barcelona had given the name to an earlier initiative aiming to boost EU co-operation with its southern neighbours that was set up in 1995 – the Barcelona Process.Spain had also increased diplomatic efforts in the past weeks in order to gather support for its candidacy, with its prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero meeting both EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner last week. EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana – himself a Spaniard, said he was very happy that the Union for the Mediterranean's headquarters would be located in Barcelona, in the 19th-century Palace of Pedralbes.It is a great joy for me, he told reporters in Marseille, where the meeting was taking place.After the decision that Barcelona would host the secretariat of the project, Spain demanded that its name also be changed from the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean to simply Union for the Mediterranean, Mr Kouchner pointed out.

Academics remain sceptical

The Union for the Mediterranean – the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy – was officially launched at a summit meeting in Paris in July.It is aimed at breathing a new life into the Barcelona Process, which has failed to achieve any significant results.But observers and academics remain sceptical as to what the new initiative's added value can be.Essentially, I don't think that much has changed at all, professor Ahmed Driss from the University of Tunis said at a conference organised on Monday (3 November) during the European Parliament's Arab Week.

Additionally, the balance of powers within the Union of the Mediterranean is not good, he said.If we really want to have a joint presidency, one has to believe it is a joint, common project. There is no such impression today. You have one side proposing something to the other side. There is no common preparation, no real dialogue between the two sides prior to this, he told the conference's audience.

Professor Annette Junemann, from the Helmut Schmidt University of the Armed Forces in Hamburg voiced a similar opinion.The Mediterranean countries were not involved in setting up the project, it was mainly made in France, she said.She added she saw a lot of hot air in the Union for the Mediterranean and very little substance.

Additionally, all participants in the conference deplored the de-politisation of the project, which they said did not contain enough provisions on human rights. NGOs regularly complain of serious breaches in a number of the countries that are members of the new Union. Conference participants also complained of a lack of civil society involvement.

EU asks US for greater role on world stage
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:27 CET

The EU has in a letter to the next US president appealed for a greater European role on the world stage, more engagement with a resurgent Russia and more emphasis on peacemaking in Afghanistan and the Middle East.The six-page text was agreed at an informal EU foreign ministers meeting in Marseilles on Monday (3 November) and will remain under wraps until after the US election on Tuesday. But its contents were outlined by French EU presidency officials on the margins of the Mediterranean Union gathering in the southern French city, Le Figaro reports.Based around four priorities, the text calls for a better interplay between security and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, with a view to making Afghan elections in late 2009 determinant for peace in the country.It says the US and EU should take note of Russia's economic revival and intensify diplomatic contacts to avoid the risk of confrontation. The EU as Russia's permanent neighbour should have a major role in future negotiations.The letter urges the new US administration to put the Middle East peace process at the top of its agenda and foresees a useful role for the EU as co-guarantors of a future Israeli-Palestinian accord.

It also stresses the importance of multilateralism in world governance and calls for reforms to the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the G8 format, to be expanded to a group of 14 leading industrialised nations.The time is past when people asked what Europe was for. What we want is for our initiatives to be understood and shared, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said in Marseilles. Europe has a telephone number, he explained, alluding to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger's quip that he didn't know which number to call when he wanted to speak to Europe. It's the number of the country chairing the EU at any given moment. Today, France, in two months, the Czech Republic.Russia is our neighbour. It's a huge country which has changed a lot. Never forgetting about human rights, we have to undertake a dialogue with Russia, the French foreign minister added.Mr Kouchner's remarks and the letter follow the historic rift in EU-US relations over President Bush's unilateral decision to invade Iraq in 2003, with much of the Republican president's second term devoted to resbuilding trans-Atlantic bonds.The current French leader, Nicolas Sarkozy, is markedly more pro-American than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, with Mr Sarkozy putting the EU centre stage in recent efforts to broker peace between Russia and Georgia and to find a way out of the global financial crisis.But the joint letter masks ongoing divisions between the US and EU and within the EU itself.

The US remains critical of Germany's reluctance to commit troops to combat zones in southern Afghanistan, while the former-communist EU states are concerned by France's Russia-friendly tone.France's unilateral decision in St Petersburg last week to announce that EU-Russia partnership treaty talks can be restarted at the EU-Russia summit on 14 November caused a furore in Lithuania, with the Polish and Lithuanian presidents framing a joint letter of protest on Monday.We reiterate that under the continued occupation of Georgian territories it would be too early to resume talks on a new partnership agreement with Russia, Lech Kaczynski and Valdas Adamkus said.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

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

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

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

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

French EU defence plan is not anti-NATO, minister says
VALENTINA POP Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US is still critical of the EU's common security and defence policy, a pet project of the bloc's French presidency, but French interior minister Michelle Alliot-Marie defended the initiative on Monday as not being aimed against NATO. Challenged by the deputy chairman of the NATO military committee, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberrry to explain France's view on the transatlantic link in the enhanced EU security and defence policy, Ms Alliot-Marie said there are countries who don't have confidence in this [transatlantic] dialogue and believe a strong European security and defence policy is aimed at minimizing NATO, but I believe the opposite.She stressed that the EU is better adapted to deal with certain conflicts, while in others NATO power is needed.Both were addressing a 100-odd audience at the Security and Defence Days conference in Brussels on Monday evening. Mr Eikenberry made acidic remarks about the EU's ability to plan, deploy and conduct successful missions, stressing that out of the bloc's 20 missions so far, five were short-term operations in Congo. I'm not questioning the value of those missions, they were successful in the relief of pressing humanitarian problems, but what is the overarching strategic thinking in the EU with regard to the Congo?

He also criticized the EU's overwhelming preference for soft power and lack of deployable troops despite massive spending on defence. European security in this century depends on peace and stability abroad. This is a paradigm shift often stated but still not evident in terms of policies and strategic choices. The current European strategy does not articulate clear regional priorities or comprehensive integrated responses to trans-national threats, he said.The NATO deputy chairman nevertheless underlined that in the US there is openness towards a closer cooperation between his organisation and the European Union. President's Sarkozy's notion of bringing more Europe into NATO is pushing against a door that is already wide open, he argued.French defence minister Herve Morin told the Financial Times on Monday that the mood in Washington had changed, after president Sarkozy announced that France would become a full member of NATO.It took hours of conversation for the Americans to realise that France wasn't trying to set up a rival operation and that European defence could actually bolster the capabilities of the transatlantic alliance as a whole, Mr Morin had told FT.Mr Morin also criticised British opposition to establishing a headquarters in Brussels for the EU's common security and defence policy (ESDP). I appreciate British pragmatism but we have a situation where we have numerous headquarters - in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and now even Greece - and that costs us money, he said.

More ESDP even without Lisbon Treaty

Meanwhile, German conservative MEP Karl von Wogau, the chairman of the European Parliament's sub-committee on security and defence argued at a parliament hearing on Monday, that the failure of the Lisbon treaty, rejected in the Irish referendum, is no impediment for building up the ESDP.The treaty would have allowed more EU power in the field of security and defense, which still remains a core competence of national governments, the MEP said. But he referred to the creation in 2004 of the European Defence Agency (EDA), an EU body aimed at helping the bloc's governments to co-ordinate and prioritise defence spending, as an example of how the ESDP can proceed without Lisbon.Nick Witney, former EDA chief, argued the same line, while praising France's efforts to re-energize the ESDP. He also stressed the need for a common headquarters in Brussels, capable of strategic planning for the EU's different missions.

UK opposes Brussels headquarters

France's push for a common headquarter is being challenged by the UK argument that the EU can draw on NATO's planning capabilities and its 17,000-strong European headquarter in Mons, some 70 km south of Brussels.This is enshrined in the current EU treaty of Nice, which says that when a given crisis gives rise to an EU-led operation making use of NATO assets and capabilities, the EU and NATO will draw on the so-called Berlin Plus arrangements.These arrangements cover three main elements that are directly connected to operations and which can be combined: EU access to NATO planning, NATO European command options and use of NATO assets and capabilities.

CNN NEWS VIDEO
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YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
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MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
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ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
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AP NEWS VIDEO
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BBC NEWS VIDEO
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AFP NEWS VIDEO
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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 NOV 04,2008

09:30 AM +112.00
10:00 AM +161.45
10:30 AM +193.07
11:00 AM +276.46
11:30 AM +271.76
12:00 PM +301.07
12:30 PM +280.20
01:00 PM +252.56
01:30 PM +273.35
02:00 PM +269.61
02:30 PM +213.06
03:00 PM +171.16
03:30 PM +204.46
04:00 PM +305.45 9625.28

S&P 500 1005.75 +39.45

NASDAQ 1780.12 +53.79

GOLD 763.1 +36.3

OIL 70.11 +6.20

TSE 300 +395.32 10,116.58

CDNX +39.68 975.27

S&P/TSX/60 +23.70 610.63

ANOTHER AMAZING ACT SPAIN IS ALLOWED A SEAT AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC SUMMIT.

Barroso backs Spanish seat at G20 summit
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:28 CET

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for Spain, the fifth largest economy in the European Union and the eighth largest in the world, to be invited to the upcoming emergency G20 meeting in Washington on 17 November on tackling the global financial crisis.Spain should be at the summit in Washington, he told reporters after meeting with the Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid.Spain's Mr Zapatero has furiously worked the phone lines trying to get an invitation to the party (Photo: Inma Mesa-PSOE)

For obvious reasons Spain should participate because it is the eighth largest economy in the world and it has an experience which is of great interest for the reform of the global financial system, he added.Spain has been engaged in a furious bout of lobbying of world leaders in the past week in attempt to be invited to sit at the grown-ups' table for once.Madrid argues that the size of its economy - the only economy in the world's top ten than is not represented in the G20 - and more importantly for the topic at hand, the health of its economy, demand that Spain be considered a peer amongst the world's leading nations at this time of crisis. As a result of stricter regulation and conservative lending practices amongst the country's banks, Spain's financial sector is not as highly leveraged as that of other countries. The Financial Times newspaper recently rated the Bank of Spain the best situated financial regulator to weather the current turbulence.Mr Zapatero's lobbying has met with some success amongst a number of leaders outside Washington. At the last European Summit, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would back Spain having a seat at any G20 meeting, and French President Nicholas Sarkozy has also said he backs the idea.

The European Parliament supports the Spanish position, and Austria's representative on the EU executive, foreign relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has written to Mr Zapatero expressing her wish to see Spain at the meeting.At the Latin American Summit in El Salvador last week, Mr Zapatero also chalked up additional backing from Mexico and Brazil, both invitees to the summit, and the latter the 2008 chair of the G20 group of nations.US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice however told Spanish foreign minister Angel Moratinos last week that Spain will not win a seat at the meeting not as a result of Mr Zapatero's withdrawl of troops from Iraq, as has been suggested by Spanish pundits as a reason why Madrid has not been invited. Instead, according to a report in Spain's ABC newspaper, she said, the US chose the G20 so that it could draw a line somewhere, inevitably offending some nations.

However, there has been some suggestion in Brussels that France, which has two seats at the summit - as a member of the G7 and as current chair of the EU six-month rotating presidency - may offer up one of them in Spain's favour.Inevitably, the moderate success Madrid has achieved has encouraged other nations to also try to win an invitation to the dance.El Pais is reporting that the Netherlands, with a GDP half the size of Spain's, has approached President Sarkozy requesting they be invited as well. Meanwhile, Poland, with an economy a third the size of Spain's, has spoken to the Bush Administration directly requesting they also attend.The French delegation to the summit has also now yielded a seat to the Czech finance minister, whose nation will take over the chairmanship of the EU from France in January.The Spanish centre-left daily reports that Mr Zapatero rejects such a formula, preferring instead a national seat, and not as part of someone else's delegation, in order to have the right to participate in debates.What doesn't sit well with me is to be standing up. I have to be in a seat, Mr Zapatero said yesterday, according to the paper.

Juncker rejects Sarkozy's economic government for eurozone
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:19 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Finance ministers from the 15-strong euro area have agreed to drop the goal of balancing the budgetary deficits by 2010, while concluding that the bloc does not need an extra package similar to the bank rescue plan but aimed instead at kick-starting the faltering economy. Meeting in Brussels on Monday (3 November) on the eve of a full EU ministerial session on finance, the ministers decided that their previous medium-term objective of zero deficits by the end of this decade - agreed in April 2007 - should be revised.Instead, the goal will be replaced by individual plans for member states on a case-by-case basis at dates that will pushed back, Eurozone chair, Luxembourg's premier and finance minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, told journalists.The debate took place just after the European Commission presented a grim economic forecast for 2008 and next two years, warning that in 2009, the EU's economy will reach a stand still.EU economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia pressed governments to approach the problem, which threatens to severely affect jobs across the continent, in a similar, co-ordinated way as they did when they moved to save the bloc's banking sector.Looking at the need to accelerate as much as possible the decisions that can promote a recovery based on a sound basis, this co-ordination, this European action, and in particular this euro area action is essential and I am very happy to see the positive reaction of the members of the Eurogroup to these ideas, he said after the meeting.However, Mr Juncker pointed out that this co-ordination should not come in form of a new package of measures similar to the bank rescue plans that involved emergency steps such as boosting deposit guarantees or pumping state capital into weakened financial institutions. We do not believe that in the euro area we need a general revival package, a sort of classical or traditional programme to stimulate the short-term economy, he said, adding that the existing rules are sufficient.It is simply a question of adopting targeted temporary and consistent measures designed to help us in the short-term, noted Luxembourg's leader.

Economic government

On Monday, eurozone chiefs of finance gathered for the first time after several remarks by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy - whose country currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-strong club - about the future governance of the monetary union.The French leader had suggested that there should be regular meetings of heads of state and government of members of the eurozone - similar to those that had been hosted by him under the extraordinary circumstances of the financial crisis that had pushed Europe's banking sector on the verge of total collapse.This new forum could serve as a form of eurozone economic government, Mr Sarkozy had said in his speech to the European Parliament last month.But his Luxembourg counterpart, Mr Juncker, told journalists on Monday that while the idea is not new and the French president had argued in favour of it on a number of occasions before, most member states did not agree with that idea.In my view, I do not think it is a good idea to institutionalise a meeting at such a high level, but it seems to me that whenever it is necessary, it is not a bad idea to be able to convene the heads of the Eurogroup, he said.As to who might chair, this is of secondary significance. Unlike the French president, I am both minister of finance and prime minister. So I have a particular advantage in the sense that I have all the skills to be able to fulfill both positions, he added.

Oil prices surges above $70 in volatile week By JOHN PORRETTO, AP Energy Writer NOV 4,08

HOUSTON – Oil prices surged above $70 a barrel Tuesday in the final hours of a two-year U.S. presidential campaign, mirroring global stock markets that strengthened from Asia to Europe. A weaker dollar helped too.At home, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 300 points despite a new Commerce Department report that said factory orders fell 2.5 percent in September from August, much worse than analysts had predicted.As the pace of industry has slowed and businesses consume less crude, the price of oil has fallen $30 from just over a month ago. The price of retail gasoline dipped below $2.40 Tuesday for the first time since early in 2007.Crumbling home prices, a shaky job market and gasoline that spiked above $4 per gallon have dramatically changed how Americans use fuel. While plummeting gas prices have certainly been welcomed by consumers, much of that exuberance has been lost amid broader economic fears.The volatility and huge price swings we've seen this year are unmatched, said Ben Brockwell, director of data, pricing and information services for the Oil Price Information Service. These erratic changes are a 2008 phenomenon.

On Monday, U.S. manufacturers reported lethargic numbers for October, showing the worst reading in more than a quarter century, according to the Institute for Supply Management.The presidential election could be influencing the market, said analyst and trader Stephen Schork.There may be a lot of money moving from the sidelines that's waiting to see how this election is going to shake out, Schork said.Oil has not traded above $70 in nearly two weeks. Some industry experts, including Schork, also attributed Tuesday's spike to the weaker dollar.Commodities such as oil are used as a hedge against inflation and a weak dollar. Investors flood the crude futures market when the greenback falls. A weak dollar also makes oil less expensive to buyers dealing in other currencies.The euro rose nearly 4 cents Tuesday to $1.296. The dollar lost ground to the yen, the pound and other currencies as well.Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose $6.62 to settle at $70.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $71.77.Anytime oil rises more than $4 a barrel, it's usually myriad items at play, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. When the Dow is up, the world is good and nobody wants the dollar as a safe haven.The week has thus far been characterized by volatile trading.Crude prices fell $4.46 on Monday, but those losses were erased early Tuesday.

Oil industry analysts earlier this year believed that the booming economies of India and China would pick up any slackening of demand if Western nations went into recession. Few still hold onto that view, as the economic crisis in the United States has spread across the globe.Oil prices have fallen roughly $80 from their July peak around $147. In October alone, crude prices tumbled 32 percent, the largest decline in Nymex history.Gasoline futures rose 17 cents to settle at $1.53 a gallon, after a steep fall overnight on the Nymex. But gasoline has trended sharply lower in the last month. At a national retail average of $2.39 a gallon for regular gasoline, the price is $1.13 a gallon lower than a year ago, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. AAA fuel price analyst Geoff Sundstrom said a weak holiday travel season could push the national average to $2 a gallon by year's end, with a rally unlikely until spring at the earliest. A new report Tuesday shows Americans are buying more gasoline. In a weekly report, MasterCard's SpendingPulse survey found U.S. demand for gasoline rose 1.3 percent in the past week, though demand was still off 3.9 percent from a year ago. Compared with the 10 percent yearly decline in demand just a month ago, the new figure shows a marked recovery. We've been seeing a relatively steady recovery in demand, said Michael McNamara, a vice president at MasterCard SpendingPulse. If you go back about four or five weeks ago ... demand was really getting hit on two fronts. One, prices were still elevated. You were also seeing the beginning of the severe economic turbulence we've been dealing with.Now, McNamara said, it's largely the economy alone, not prices, that's affecting gasoline purchases. MasterCard's report is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check. In other Nymex trading, heating oil gained nearly 18 cents to settle at $2.16 a gallon while natural gas for December delivery rose 38 cents to settle at $7.22 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, December Brent crude rose $5.96 to settle at $66.44 on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press Writer George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and AP Business Writer Stephen Wright in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.

South Africa not immune from global financial crisis: central bank NOV 4,08

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – The economy of South Africa, Africa's economic powerhouse, cannot be immune from the effects of the global financial financial market crisis, the central bank's monetary policy review committee said Tuesday.The volatile and uncertain financial market environment will continue to complicate monetary policy decision-making for some time, the committee said in its bi-annual report.The bank will, however, continue to focus on medium-term inflation targetting despite the global financial market crisis, it said.The main risks to the inflation outlook emanate from the possibility of further electricity price increases, which will be announced next week, said the report.Petrol, food price increases and the volatile exchange rate are some of the factors contributing to the inflation uncertainty.

Since last year, South Africa's inflation of 12 percent has been hovering above the target range of between 3.0 to 6.0 percent.The inflation rate for the overall food price component of the CPIX increased from 15.4 percent in March to 19.2 percent in August, before slowing to 17.9 percent in September.Although South African markets have been fairly resilient to the current crisis, the heightened levels of uncertainty about the global economy are contributing to a challenging monetary policy-making environment, the bank said.The most recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) data show that world growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) was five percent in 2007 and will slow to an estimated 3.9 percent this year against the backdrop of increasing turmoil in global financial markets and stagnating growth in the advanced economies.The South African economy grew at an annualised rate of 4.9 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared to a much slower rate of 2.1 percent in the first quarter.

Indian PM sets up panel to assess impact of global financial crisis NOV 4,08

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Indian Premier Manmohan Singh Tuesday set up a high-level panel to monitor the impact of the global financial crisis on domestic industry, a government statement said.The panel, headed by Singh, includes India's central Reserve Bank chief and finance and trade ministers who will advise the premier on steps needed to reassure Indian industry, the statement said.It was constituted after a meeting between Singh and key industry representatives in New Delhi on Monday.The group will meet regularly to coordinate and decide the government's response to the points raised by industry from time to time with regard to the current global financial crisis and its impact on India, the statement said.Singh told top business leaders on Monday the downturn was expected to be more severe and prolonged than previously thought, but stressed that India's banks are well regulated and also well capitalised.Our first priority was to protect the Indian financial system from possible loss of confidence or contagion effects, he said and added a warning against knee jerk reactions such as large scale lay-offs that could lead to a negative spiral.India's central bank has taken a series of measures in the past few weeks to pour billions of dollars into the financial system.At the weekend, it cut its short-term lending rate, the repo, by 50 basis points to 7.50 percent to ease a credit crunch. It had already reduced the rate by one percentage point to 8.0 percent late last month.It also cut the cash reserve ratio to 5.5 percent from 6.5 percent and decreased the statutory reserve ratio, or the amount banks must hold in government securities, from 25 percent to 24 percent.

Taiwan, China make economic history with new pact By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer NOV 4,08

TAIPEI, Taiwan – China and Taiwan made economic history Tuesday with a bold agreement that allows planes and ships to travel directly across the Taiwan Strait — the place where many have feared they would fight their next battle.Still the Asian rivals appear far from resolving the root causes of nearly six decades of hostilities and distrust. The pact was possible because negotiators set aside thorny political disputes and only focused on trade and economics.The new deal allows passenger flights directly across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait that separates Taiwan from mainland China. In the past, planes had to fly into Hong Kong airspace while traveling between the two sides. Cargo ships, which used to have to stop at the Japanese island of Okinawa northeast of Taiwan, will be allowed to sail directly to the other side and cut hundreds of miles out of each trip.The deal is significant for businesses and drew applause from three chambers of commerce representing Japan, the U.S. and Europe. The groups said in a joint statement the restrictions on flights and shipping have kept Taiwan from fully participating in the global and Asian economies.Taiwan can only benefit from having greater interaction with one of the world's fastest growing markets,it said.In the eyes of China's leaders, Taiwan is a Chinese province that must eventually unite with the mainland or be invaded by the mainland's massive military.A conflict could quickly draw in the U.S., which has long warned China's government it may defend Taiwan — a major buyer of American weapons. Even as they talk to China, the Taiwanese have been loading up on more U.S. arms, including Apache helicopters and Patriot missiles.

China-Taiwan relations are so awkward and strained that Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin, who signed the deal Tuesday, has yet to call Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou by his proper title: president. When they meet Thursday, Chen will likely just address him as Mr. Ma.Chen — the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan — is sticking to Beijing's policy of not formally recognizing the island's government.Taiwan's top official for China policy, Lai Shin-yuan, urged critics to embrace the deal and stop obsessing about sensitive political issues.This is something people should support, instead of making an issue of how I am addressed by the Chinese side, Lai told reporters. Our sovereignty has not been harmed during the meeting this time.Most Taiwanese are not ready to unify with China and do not want Beijing meddling in their political affairs. Many favor independence, and China's refusal to recognize their government infuriates them. About 200 protesters scuffled with police Tuesday night outside a hotel where the Chinese envoy attended a banquet.The Taiwanese president, who took office in May, has promised not to begin unification negotiations during his four-year term.Some fear that closer ties with China — even if they only involve trade and economics — will sacrifice Taiwan's sovereignty by making it overly dependent on the mainland.That's the view of Taiwan's previous president, Chen Shui-bian, who was vilified by Beijing because he favored independence. Chen on Tuesday accused the new government of being too friendly with China.We have strived to be the masters of Taiwan, he said. But now we are becoming slaves to China.But Alexander Huang, a political science professor at Taipei's Tamkang University, doubted the economic agreements will lead to Taiwan being absorbed by its massive neighbor.Taiwanese have enjoyed their democracy and don't want to have officials appointed by the mainland, said Huang, who also thought the pact would help decrease the threat of a war. Huang added the agreement shows China is eager to win the hearts and minds of Taiwanese. Beijing, which refused to talk to Chen's government for eight years, also doesn't want Taiwan to drift further toward permanent independence.

Canadian manufacturers seek help amid crisis Tue Nov 4, 9:49 am ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian manufacturers are asking the federal government for loan guarantees and lines of credit to help them combat the effects of the global financial crisis, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association said Tuesday.

The move comes one week after Ottawa balked at a similar request from the auto-parts manufacturing industry, hard hit by slumping U.S. auto sales and a liquidity crunch that is drying up regular funding.An official at the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association said the group had sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper seeking federal assistance for Canadian manufacturers in the form of loan guarantees and credit lines, but would not immediately comment further.Kory Teneycke, spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said the government receives literally hundreds of pre-budget requests. We acknowledge receipt and we'll respond in due course, he said.Teneycke pointed out that the government had already increased the borrowing capacity of the federal agency Export Development Canada and that the government's Business Development Bank was also taking steps to improve liquidity.The request is the latest sign of pain in Canada's once booming industrial sector and comes one day after Canada's Finance Department announced Ontario -- where much of the country's manufacturing industry is located -- would be given its first-ever payment under the equalization program designed for the nation's poorer provinces.(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis and Randall Palmer; Editing by Peter Galloway)

US voters decide historic Obama-McCain clash NOV 4,08

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Millions of US voters flooded polling stations Tuesday, looking to elect front-running Democrat Barack Obama the first black US president or hand Republican John McCain an upset win in their historic clash.Obama enjoyed a solid lead in recent national polls and held the edge in a string of battleground states that could still swing the election either way, as both candidates hunted the 270 electoral college votes needed to win.Well before sun-up, long queues snaked outside polling places as voters braved hours-long waits, rain, or shivering cold amid unanimous predictions of vast turnout at the climax of the longest and costliest White House race.Results were due to start pouring in after the first polls closed at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT), though it was not clear when it would be known who will succeed US President George W. Bush when his second term ends at midday on January 20.In the eye of the worst financial storm since the 1930s and with US troops embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both Obama and McCain have vowed to restore the frayed self-confidence of the world's lone superpower.After an epic campaign , a political realignment in Washington was also possible, with Democrats targeting big gains in the Senate and House of Representatives in a rout fueled by Bush's record unpopularity.

I feel great, Obama, a Hawaiian-born US senator from Illinois, told reporters as he voted in Chicago alongside his wife Michelle and their young daughters Sasha and Malia.McCain kept silent after voting in his home state of Arizona, while his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, cast her ballot in her hometown of Wasilla and said she was hopeful of becoming the first woman US vice president.We have an optimistic and confident view of what is going to happen today, she said with husband Todd at her side. I recognize that this is an historical event, no matter which ticket prevails.Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Obama's running mate, voted in his home state with his 91-year-old mother and wife Jill.More than 100 million people were expected to trek to the polls, while 30 million advance ballots have been cast in the state-by-state electoral battle, as Democrats hoped new and younger voters would sweep them to victory.The last eight years has been a horror story, said Michael Smith, a 54-year-old salesman, standing among hundreds stretching around the block at a polling station in Manhattan. He said he would vote for Obama.

The country itself is slipping in the (popularity) polls, he said. In the end that's what people are going to vote for today -- a new direction.In Christianburg, Virginia , Norma Jean Lundis said she voted for McCain because he stands for what I believe in -- less government, lets me control my money, the right to bear arms, life begins at conception, marriage between man and woman.Obama and McCain, one of whom will become the first sitting senator elected president since John F. Kennedy in 1960, hit the finish line on Monday with competing cross-country campaign blitzes.

McCain, leveraging his heroism as a Vietnam war prisoner and decades of experience in Washington, would be the oldest president -- at 72 -- inaugurated for a first term if elected.In a cruel twist of fate Monday, Obama , 47, learned that Madelyn Dunham, his maternal grandmother who helped bring him up, had died in his native Hawaii from cancer, aged 86.Obama was to await the voters' verdict in Chicago. McCain huddled with top aides at a posh hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. Bush stayed out of sight at the White House.The two candidates waged a bitter and often hotly personal feud for months, culminating in rival 11th-hour get-out-the-vote blitzes on Monday in many states that Bush won easily in 2004.Obama promised supporters they were close to changing the United States of America, but McCain was defiant, vowing to confound pollsters and pundits and overcome a treacherous political map that has him barely holding Republican bastions and worried just one big loss could spell defeat.The Mac is back! he roared, promising a stunning act of political escapology that would confound almost every major opinion poll .Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, would become the first African American president after a stunning rise to the pinnacle of US politics.He promises to alleviate the economic pinch for the middle class and repair ties with US allies, weigh opening talks with foes such as Iran and Cuba, bring troops home from Iraq and refocus on the Afghan war.McCain, who has fought to distance himself from Bush, has lambasted Obama for socialist tax policies , and argues his rival is unprepared for an age of global turmoil while accusing him of wanting to retreat in defeat from Iraq.

World hopes for a less arrogant America By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer NOV 4,08

AP BERLIN – Around the world, throngs packed outdoor plazas and pubs to await U.S. elections results Tuesday, many inspired by Barack Obama's promise of change amid a sense of relief that — no matter who wins — the White House is changing hands.As millions of voters decided between Obama or John McCain, the world was abuzz with the sense of bearing witness to a moment of history that would reverberate well beyond American borders.America is electing a new president, but for the Germans, for Europeans, it is electing the next world leader, said Alexander Rahr, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations.In Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, the atmosphere was electric with pride and excitement as people flocked to all-night parties to watch election results roll in.Tonight we are not going to sleep, said Valentine Wambi, 23, a student at the University of Nairobi who planned to join hundreds of other students in the Kenyan capital for an election party. It will be celebrations throughout.The Irish village of Moneygall was also trying to claim Obama as a favorite son — based on research that concluded the candidate's great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Kearney, lived there before emigrating to the United States.The entertainment at Moneygall's Hayes Bar, where an American flag fluttered outside window Tuesday, included a local band called Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys that has been winning air time with its rousing folk song There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama.We're not going to go mad with the drink, said Ollie Hayes, who runs the pub. We just want to show Barack that we appreciate he's from here, to have some finger food and watch the early results come in with the media.

In Germany, where more than 200,000 people flocked to see Obama this summer as he moved to burnish his foreign policy credentials during a trip to the Middle East and Europe, the election dominated television ticker crawls, newspaper headlines and Web sites.In Paris, among the more irreverent festivities planned was a Goodbye George party to bid farewell to Bush.Like many French people, I would like Obama to win because it would really be a sign of change, said Vanessa Doubine, shopping Tuesday on the Champs-Elysees. I deeply hope for America's image that it will be Obama.The election has also yielded the occasional prank. When 37-year-old Patrick Lindqvist woke up Tuesday in the southern city of Malmo, Sweden, he found six mock campaign posters for McCain planted just outside his house.It's obviously a prank, but I have no idea who did it, said Lindqvist, who is not involved in U.S. politics in any way. If I had been able to vote in the American election I would doubtless have chosen a young black man instead of an old white man.Obama-mania was evident not only across Europe but also in much of the Islamic world, where Muslims expressed hope that the Democrat would seek compromise rather than confrontation.The Bush administration alienated Muslims by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.I hope Obama wins (because) of the need of the world to see the U.S. represent a more cosmopolitan or universal political attitude, said Rais Yatim, the foreign minister of mostly Muslim Malaysia.Yet McCain enjoyed a strong current of support in countries such as Israel, where he is perceived as tougher on Iran and most Israelis are believed to favor McCain on the grounds he would do more to protect the country's security.Israeli leaders, who consider the U.S. their closest and most important ally, have not openly declared a preference. But privately, they have expressed concern about Obama, who has alarmed some by saying he would be ready to hold a dialogue with Tehran.

Taking a cigarette break on a Jerusalem street corner, bank employee Leah Nizri, 53, said Obama represented potentially frightening change. I think he'll be pleasant to Israel, but he will make changes, she said. He's too young. I think that especially in a situation of a world recession, where things are so unclear in the world, McCain would be better than Obama.Even in Europe, McCain got some grudging respect: Germany's mass-circulation daily Bild lionized the Republican as the War Hero and running mate Sarah Palin as the Beautiful Unknown.In Berlin, Republicans Abroad organized a November Surprise Election Party to watch live how the Republican ticket McCain/Palin comes from behind and leaves the liberal elite media in Europe and the United States puzzled.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown clung to convention by refusing to say which candidate he wants to see win. Regardless of the outcome, he told Al-Arabiya television while on a tour of the Gulf, history has been made in this campaign.London Mayor Boris Johnson — a Conservative — felt less constrained about rooting for the liberal Obama. For those who have become disenchanted with America — including many Americans — (Obama) offers the hope of re-igniting the love affair, he said. And other Europeans made much of Obama's ethnicity. It's a sort of pardon of America for its slave past, said Alain Barret, a bank teller in Paris. It lets America turn an important page in its history.It would be fantastic to have a non-white president, added Letisha Brown, a Londoner. Kenyans believe an Obama victory wouldn't change their lives much, but that hasn't stopped them from splashing his picture on minibuses and selling T-shirts with his name and likeness. Kenyans were planning to gather around radios and TV sets starting Tuesday night as the results come in. In the sleepy Japanese coastal town of Obama — which translates as little beach — images of him adorned banners along a main shopping street, and preparations for an election day victory party were in full swing. Election fever also ran high in Vietnam, where McCain was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years after being shot down in Hanoi during a 1967 bombing run. He's patriotic, said Le Lan Anh, a Vietnamese novelist and real estate tycoon. As a soldier, he came here to destroy my country, but I admire his dignity.AP correspondents worldwide contributed.

Castro praises Obama but doesn't endorse him Tue Nov 4, 10:53 am

ETHAVANA – Fidel Castro praised Barack Obama Tuesday as smarter and less warlike than John McCain, but stopped short of endorsing either U.S. presidential candidate.

Cuba's former president said he delayed weighing in until the U.S. election day so that no one would have time to say I wrote something that could be utilized by the candidates in their campaigns.Without a doubt, Obama is more intelligent, cultured and levelheaded than his Republican adversary, Castro wrote in state-controlled newspapers. McCain is old, bellicose, uncultured, of little intelligence and not healthy.Castro, 82, has struggled with his own health problems. He has not been seen in public since July 2006. His younger brother Raul formally succeeded him as president in February.The elder Castro also expressed skepticism about both candidates.Worries about the overwhelming problems of the world will not really occupy an important place in the mind of Obama and much less in that of a candidate who, as a fighter pilot, dropped dozens of tons of bombs on the city of Hanoi, he wrote, alluding to McCain's military service.Castro also wrote that if the Republicans win due to U.S. racism, the danger of war will increase and the opportunities for peoples to move forward will be reduced.

EU plans shake up of public broadcasting rules
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today NOV 4,08 @ 17:42 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Public broadcasters across Europe, such as the BBC, Magyar Televizio in Hungary or PBS in Malta, worry that a European Commission review of the laws governing them pays too much attention to free market concerns and not enough to the delivery of quality content in the interest of citizens.The commission on Tuesday (4 November) issued a draft communication on a revision of public service broadcasting (PSB) rules.On the one hand, the new rules proposed within the communication would allow public broadcasters more leeway in holding onto some revenues for a rainy day and in rare cases to charge for services, but they also would require member states to more strictly control the money given to them by governments and prevent them from funding so-called commercial activities. In recent years, the presence of more free-market-oriented governments across the bloc has emboldened private broadcasters and commercial providers of online content to increase their attacks on their public service counterparts. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an alliance of public broadcasters - and also coincidentally the producer of the Eurovision Song Contest - says that depending on the free market instead of quality broadcasting that is not beholden to the profit motive is a mistake now more than ever in the wake of the ongoing financial crisis.

The commission gives too much power to the market, which makes little sense when you see the failures of the markets in the last few weeks, EBU spokesman Jacques Bricmont told EUobserver.Their particular worry is that the path the commission wishes to go down will lead to all member states adopting the increasingly deregulatory environment that exists in the UK, in which British public service broadcasters must perform a public value test every time they wish to deliver new services.This takes six to ten months for the BBC, he said, a very expensive and time-consuming process, especially for public broadcasters in the smaller member states.This delays the ability of public broadcasters to develop services that involve some of the new technologies. As technology develops so rapidly these days, this puts a real break on flexibility to deliver the services citizens want.The broadcasters are also worried that having to undergo a market test for new services means that commercial broadcasters will begin to have a say over the remit of their public counterparts.EBU director-general Jean Reveillon said in a statement that if this extremely detailed version of the Broadcasting Communication were adopted, it could seriously reduce the scope for member states to grant public service broadcasters a significant role in the information society.Member states are also not happy with the direction of the review. In September, the Dutch culture minister, Ronald Plasterk, wrote to competition commissioner Neelie Kroes on behalf of 19 EU countries, saying that the existing communication, which dates back to 2001, was largely sufficient and did not need to be substantially altered.Meanwhile, the Association of Commercial Television in Europe, has rubbished the public broadcasters' concerns as fear mongering.Ross Biggam, the director-general of ACT, told this website: Nobody is saying that public broadcasters need to refrain from certain activities - online or elsewhere, it's just that there has been an enormous amount of changes in the media landscape since 2001 and the issues that confront us. This is a reform, not a revolution.

Media companies are no longer just calling themselves broadcasters. They're in the business of delivering content and across all sorts of platforms - online video, mobile, etc. We all grew up in an era where there was a public broadcaster and next to that there were private broadcasters, but the landscape has changed and now public broadcasters are venturing into areas well beyond where they were historically engaged.Some are even taking on newspapers and there is no tradition of a public service remit there - in fact quite the opposite, he said.The European Treaty is quite clear that state aid and competition rules need to be respected in all sectors and that includes broadcasting, he added.Member states and sector stakeholders, including both public and private broadcasters are invited to comment on the draft communication until 15 January.

Catholics, Muslims open landmark talks at Vatican By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor – Tue Nov 4, 12:27 pm ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Senior Vatican and Islamic scholars launched their first Catholic-Muslim Forum on Tuesday to improve relations between the world's two largest faiths by discussing what unites and divides them.The three-day meeting comes two years after Pope Benedict angered the Muslim world with a speech implying Islam was violent and irrational. In response, 138 Muslim scholars invited Christian churches to a new dialogue to foster mutual respect through a better understanding of each other's beliefs.In their manifesto, A Common Word, the Muslims argued that both faiths shared the core principles of love of God and neighbor. The talks focus on what this means for the religions and how it can foster harmony between them.

The meeting, including an audience with Pope Benedict, is the group's third conference with Christians after talks with United States Protestants in July and Anglicans last month.Delegation leaders Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric opened the session with a moment of silence so delegations, each comprising 28 members and advisers, could say their own prayers for its success.It was a very cordial atmosphere, one delegate said.Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, told the French Catholic daily La Croix on Monday that the Forum represents a new chapter in a long history of often strained relations.He said discussing theology was difficult because of different understandings of God. The closed meeting started with a Catholic official spelling out the Christian teaching that humans can only approach God through Jesus Christ.

Muslim theologian Seyyed Hossein Nasr responded that such a view excluded non-Christians from salvation and suggested ways to see Islamic parallels to Christian views of God's love.Delegates said the discussion that followed was friendly and respectful, not a clash of opinions. We need to speak openly so we get to know each other, said one Muslim delegate.

NEW URGENCY

Christianity is the world's largest religion with 2 billion followers, just over half of them Catholic. Islam is next with 1.3 billion believers.Saudi King Abdullah visits the United Nations next week to promote a parallel interfaith dialogue he launched last summer.These and other meetings reflect a new urgency among Muslims since the September 11 attacks, the clash of civilizations theory and Pope Benedict's Regensburg speech showed a widening gap between the two faiths.The Vatican was at first cool to the Common Word initiative, arguing that talks among theologians had little meaning if they did not lead to greater respect for religious liberty in Muslim countries, where some Christian minorities face oppression.We can only have a real dialogue if all believers have equal rights everywhere, which is not the case in some Muslim countries, said one Catholic delegate who requested anonymity.The agenda reflects the different views. Tuesday's talks centered on theological issues proposed by the Muslims, Wednesday's meeting will focus on religious freedom issues the Vatican wants to raise.The Vatican delegation includes bishops from minority Christian communities in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. Among the Muslims are Sunnis and Shi'ites from around the world and converts from the United States, Canada and Britain. There are three Catholic and two Muslim women participating. The delegations will have an audience with Pope Benedict on Thursday and hold a public discussion that afternoon, the only session open to the media.

The Forum is due to meet every two years, alternately in Rome and in a Muslim country.(Editing by Tim Pearce)