HAMAS OPEN TO TRUCE - RIGHT

CHANUKAH DAY 3 TODAY

LEARN ABOUT CHANUKAH
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
CHANUKAH DAY 1-8 SCRIPTURES
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/hannuka-day-1-8-scriptures.html
MACCABEES STORY
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/7s-and-maccabees.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2007/12/maccabees-story.html

Obama sure is humble on his holiday in Hawaii.Hes staying in a $9 MILLION DOLLAR single story house with benefits. Interesting when so many millions of Americans are losing their homes. Obama sure is a CHANGE from other politicians. I wonder what ever happened to that normal Hotel room instead of a 9 MILLION home. And while hes in Hawaii,his so called birth place, I wonder could he get his Birth certificate as proof hes a legel American citizen and not a Kenyan born.

Israelis unearth Byzantine gold hoard DEC 22,08

JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists said they have unearthed more than 250 gold coins from the seventh century on the edge of Jerusalem's walled Old City. A British tourist volunteering at the dig discovered the trove on Sunday.Israel's Antiquities Authority said the Byzantine-period hoard was found in the ruins of a building where a striking 2,000-year-old gold earring from the Roman era was dug up last month.The site is located in a parking lot alongside the ancient city's southern wall.The coins bear the image of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who ruled between 610 and 641 A.D. He is depicted wearing military dress and holding a cross in his right hand.
A statement Monday said the coins had likely been hidden in a niche in one of the building's walls.

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 DEC 23,2008

09:30 AM +5.25
10:00 AM +52.41
10:30 AM +54.16
11:00 AM +35.20
11:30 AM -14.10
12:00 PM -42.45
12:30 PM -40.30
01:00 PM -46.36
01:30 PM -41.02
02:00 PM -45.24
02:30 PM -34.73
03:00 PM -107.21
03:30 PM -81.48
04:00 PM -100.28 8419.49

S&P 500 863.16 -8.47

NASDAQ 1521.54 -10.81

GOLD 840.30 -6.90

OIL 39.17 -0.34

TSE 300 8311.91 +62.38

CDNX 698.31 +6.29

S&P/TSX/60 503.13 +4.17

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow +66 points at 4 minutes of trading.
Dow -57 points at low.
Dow +66 points at high.

NYSE STATS
Advances 1825,Declined 1034,Unchanged 113,New highs 1,New Lows 16.
NASDAQ STATS
Advances 1357,Declines 1064,Unchanged 167.

OPEC PRESIDENT:Ministers may meet before March if Oil keeps falling.
OPEC Basket price for Oil -$4 since last meeting to under $37.00.
Brent Crude Prices - $11 in a week.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow -121 points at low today.
Dow +76 points at high today.

CREDIT METRICS
-Another 4 week bill auction with zero Yield.
-Huge bid to cover at 4.41.
-$28 BILLION auction of 5 year Notes.
UBS confirms $1.8 BILLION loan from Swiss Institutions.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow -121 points at low.
Dow +76 points at high.
Dow falls 1.2% today.
Dow 5th straight day drop.
Dow falls 5.6% over 5 days.
S&P down 1.0% today.
S&P falls 5.5% over 5 days.
S&P,Nasdaq has fallin in 4 of last 5 sessions.
Nasdaq down 0.7% today.
Nasdaq down 4.4% over 5 days.
Stocks heading for 4th straight monthly loss.

MARKETING GREEN BY GOING GREEN
$100 MILLION 4 years ago.
$1 BILLION comitted today.
40 Companies.
Diofuels,Vehicle Companies,Batteries.

SLOW TO PAYBACK(NOV SMALL BIZ SQUEEZE)
-Lag time in paying bills +42%.
-Lag time in collecting payment +60%.
-3 YR high:Accounts recievable and payable days.

Q3 - GDP - 0.5%,sharpest decline since 2001.
NOV existing home sales -8.6%.
Median salesprice down record 13.2%.
NOV new home sales -2.9%.
Median sales price -11.5%.
U OF MICHIGAN consumer sentiment Index 60.1(DEC)Vs 55.3(NOV).

2009 FORECAST(T.LYDON GLOBAL TRENDS INVESTMENTS)
-Holiday shopping season will prove to be the worst in decades.
-Corporate earnings for Q4 will be worse than expected.
-Lower Energy and commodity costs have had little possitive effect on appetite to spend or buy stocks.
-Recession will continue.
-Markets will retest NOV 2008 lows.
-All eyes on Obama 1st half of 2009.

More declines for oil on latest batch of bad news By CHRIS KAHN, AP Energy Writer DEC 23,08

Oil prices dipped below $38 a barrel Tuesday on fresh evidence of weakness in the U.S. housing market and a shrinking gross domestic product that suggests the recession may be worsening.A report by the Commerce Department showed that sales of new homes fell in November to the slowest pace in nearly 18 years, while new home prices dropped by the biggest amount in eight months.The energy markets are reacting first and foremost to bad economic news, and it seems like they're almost waiting for something bad to occur, said oil analyst Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanover.A steady outpouring of gloomy economic news has pushed to the background events that over the summer may have led to price spikes, like OPEC's announcement this month of unprecedented production cuts, Beutel said.Prices have fallen 73 percent since July, with massive job layoffs and weak consumer spending eating away at energy use.Boy, it really looks ugly for the start of 2009, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.It's really difficult to find something between now and inauguration time that says people are going to feel better, they're going to drive more, they're going to ship more packages, Kloza said.Light sweet crude for February delivery fell 93 cents to settle at $38.98 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after dipping to $37.79 earlier in the day.Oil traders have grown increasingly pessimistic about the global economy, and thus demand for energy.

Economists now believe a small decline in economic activity in the third quarter has worsened significantly.The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, declined at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the July-September quarter. Corporate profits fell 1.2 percent.Some economists believe the economy's decline in the October-December period could be as large as 6 percent. If so, that would be the worst quarterly drop since 1982.The pain appears to have spread through almost every level of the economy. On Tuesday, shares of card maker American Greetings Corp. sank to their lowest level in 21 years after the company reported it swung to a loss in its third quarter.With at least 2 million jobs lost since the beginning of the year and an economy that continues to deteriorate, Americans have drastically cut down on gasoline purchases.The Federal Highway Administration reported this month that Americans drove more than 100 billion fewer miles between November 2007 and October 2008, compared with the same period a year before.Retail gasoline prices dropped for the 23rd week, reaching a national average of $1.653 a gallon as of Monday, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.Gasoline futures on the Nymex tumbled as low as 82 cents a gallon Tuesday, the lowest levels in nearly five years.I've got no reason to buy in this market right now, analyst and trader Stephen Schork said. It all hinges on demand, and demand is rather lagging.Will consumers eventually see gas at $1 a gallon again? That seems remote, Schork said. You'd need to see crude below $20 (a barrel) before you could start talking about $1 a gallon at the pump.The wild swings in crude prices this year — from a record $147 a barrel to below $40 a barrel — has been especially hard on heating oil companies, small gas distributors and refiners that are selling fuel bought earlier this year when prices were high. They're getting whipsawed in the market, Schork said. They don't have the deep pockets to withstand the volatility.On Monday, Ogden, Utah-based oil company Flying J Inc. and two of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing a steep drop in oil prices and the lack of available financing due to the disruption in credit markets. Flying J operates 250 travel plazas and fuel stations in 41 states and six Canadian provinces.

They won't be the last marketer or refiner that may have to go the bankruptcy route in the next year or so, Kloza said. It's been pretty rugged out there.OPEC said last week it would slash production by 2.2 million barrels a day, its largest cutback ever, reducing the amount of oil produced each day by 4 million barrels in all when earlier cuts are included. It will take time for output cuts to flow through, but there's some doubt about whether there will be full compliance, said Toby Hassall, an analyst at investment firm Commodity Warrants Australia. I wouldn't be surprised if OPEC cut again in January or February. There's been quite a significant demand side deterioration.Meanwhile, Iraq's Oil Ministry announced it will open its second licensing round for developing its vast oil and gas fields. Iraq sits on more than 115 billion barrels of oil, but decades of war, U.N. sanctions, violence and sabotage have battered its oil industry. On the Nymex Tuesday, gasoline futures fell less than a penny to settle at 86.6 cents a gallon. Heating oil fell 1.45 cents to settle at $1.327 a gallon while natural gas for January delivery jumped 44.3 cents to settle at $5.737 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, February Brent crude fell $1.09 to settle at $40.36 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press writers Martin Crutsinger, George Jahn and Alex Kennedy contributed to this report.

Austerity measures imposed on Latvia in return for emergency loans
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today @ 23:02 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Latvia is to receive €7.5 billion in loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to bolster its battered economy, hit hard by the ongoing global financial crisis.The EU will stump up €3.1 billion of the package to the country, the latest European country and second EU member state to be forced to go cap in hand to Brussels and international financial institutions in the wake of the crash.The IMF meanwhile will deliver €1.7 billion, with another €1.8 billion coming from Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Sweden and non-EU nation Norway.The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development together with the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Poland will also provide a total of €500 million.The monies, which will buttress the Latvian economy up to the first quarter of 2011, come in return for an agreed package of swingeing austerity measures, which the European Commission and the presidency of the council of economic and finance ministers described in a statement as the Latvian authorities' firm commitment to implement a major programme of economic adjustment.Wide-ranging structural reforms and wage reductions, particularly in the public sector have been approved by the country's parliament.As part of the loan agreement, public sector wages are to be slashed by 15percent in 2009 alongside deep cuts to government expenditures of 1 billion Latvian lats (€1.41 billion) alongside cuts to income tax and increases in VAT rates. The country aims to limit its budget deficit to five percent of GDP in 2009, falling still further to three percent in 2011.In total, the package of austerity measures equal seven percent of GDP, while the loan amounts are equivalent to around a third of GDP.

The financial assistance and the policy programme are designed to enable the economy to withstand short-term liquidity pressures while improving competitiveness and supporting an orderly correction of imbalances in the medium term, the commission and the ecofin council said.Latvia has opted for the cuts and a maintenance of its existing exchange rate peg, rather than let the lat slide in order to stay on track for eventual euro adoption.This will also help meet the conditions for the adoption of the euro, the EU statement continued.The specific conditions of the loans will be set in an upcoming Council decision and further spelled out in a memorandum of understanding to be concluded shortly with the Latvian authorities.

Superintendents

In effect, the commission and the ecofin council will become the superintendents of the Latvian economy, overseeing the implementation of the austerity package and ready to demand further cuts if necessary.The commission in collaboration with the economic and financial committee will monitor regularly and closely that the economic policy conditions attached to the financial assistance are fully implemented and may request additional measures when and if circumstances so require, the statement read.The proposed medium-term financial assistance to Latvia from the EU will consist of a European Community loan, which has yet to be approved by the commission. This is expected to happen early in January. The loan will then require approval by the EU finance ministers. The Nordic countries have participated in the scheme as a result of their heavy investment in the Balkans.The EU in November also agreed to similar loans to Hungary worth some €6.5 billion. Beyond the EU, Belarus, Iceland and Serbia have also applied to the IMF for financial assistance to deal with the crisis. The IMF board will meet before the end of the year to deliver its final approval to the deal.

Oil falls nearly 6 percent By Matthew Robinson Matthew Robinson DEC 22,08

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil dropped nearly 6 percent to below $40 a barrel on Monday on signs the global economic malaise was slowing fuel demand further.Apparent oil consumption in China fell by 3.2 percent in November from a year ago, according to Reuters calculations, while crude imports into the world's No. 2 energy consumer dropped to the lowest level this year.U.S. crude for February delivery settled down $2.45 at $39.91 a barrel. The January contract touched $32.40 on Friday before expiring, the lowest since February 2004, weighed down by rising stock levels at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange contract.

London Brent crude settled $2.55 lower at $41.45 a barrel.

Chinese crude oil imports in November fell to their lowest level this year, John Kilduff, senior vice president at MF Global, wrote in a report. Additionally, the Chinese central bank has made its fifth interest rate cut this year in an attempt to keep growth from faltering.China on Monday cut interest rates for a fifth time since September, and Japan warned it was sliding deeper into a recession encroaching steadily on the global economy, closing factories and throttling trade.Oil prices have fallen more than $100 since July as the global financial turmoil threatens to trigger the first contraction in world energy demand since 1983.U.S. stocks slid on Monday as the economic slowdown continued to eat into corporate profits and outlooks, while retailers tumbled on worries of lackluster Christmas sales.Surging demand from China and other emerging nations sent crude on a six-year rally to record highs over $147 a barrel stuck in July, before the economic crisis began to slow demand in top consumer the United States and big economies.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week agreed to reduce output by another 2.2 million barrels per day, adding to agreements to cut 2 million bpd from global supplies made since September to help balance the market and prop up prices.

Don't doubt the efforts of OPEC or its members to return the oil market to stability, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters over the weekend in Qatar.
A senior OPEC delegate said the group was ready to reduce supply further if needed after the latest round of cuts were agreed last week, but added that he believed it had done enough for now to balance the market.OPEC should not have to do anymore, but members are willing to do more if they have to. You can never tell with this economy in downturn, the delegate told Reuters.Asian refiners have yet to receive notice from OPEC's core Gulf members of any further reductions to oil supplies since the group announced fresh cuts last week.A Reuters poll of analysts ahead of weekly U.S. data due out on Wednesday forecast U.S. crude inventories rose by 300,000 barrels in the week to December 19, with distillate and gasoline stocks also expected to have gained.(Reporting by Matthew Robinson and Robert Gibbons in New York; Jane Merriman in London and Fayen Wong in Perth; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Toyota projects first loss in 70 years DEC 22,08 By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

NAGOYA, Japan – Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it will report the first operating loss in 70 years, acknowledging that after a decade of rapid growth it can no longer escape the slowdown plaguing the global auto industry. The Japanese auto giant also lowered its global vehicle sales forecast for the second time this year and said it was putting ambitious expansion plans on hold, in large part because of a precipitous drop in demand in the key U.S. market.The tough times are hitting us far faster, wider and deeper than expected, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe told a gloomy news conference at the company's Nagoya headquarters. This is an unprecedented crisis requiring urgent action.Toyota had reported strong growth in recent years, boosted by heavy demand for its fuel-efficient models like the Camry sedan and Prius gas-electric hybrid.But Watanabe said a severe drop in demand, especially in the U.S., which accounts for one-third of vehicle sales, and profit erosion from a surging yen were too much for Japan's No. 1 automaker. Overall U.S. auto sales fell to their lowest level in 26 years last month.The change that has hit the world economy is of a critical scale that comes once in 100 years, Watanabe said.

Toyota said it expects an operating loss of 150 billion yen ($1.66 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March, compared with an operating profit of 2.27 trillion yen ($25.2 billion) a year earlier.Toyota said it would still post a small net profit of 50 billion yen ($555 million), thanks to outside dividend income, down from year-earlier earnings of 1.7 trillion yen ($18.89 billion). But operating income is seen as the best reflection of its core business.The outlook was a dramatic change of fortune for the iconic company, which in recent years had outlined ambitious expansion plans and weathered an industry slowdown much better than its U.S. rivals.

Toyota, which started in business as a loom maker, began making trucks and passenger cars in 1937. Its first and only operating loss came the following year, before it started reporting formal results in 1941.At the time, Toyota was still far behind the American automakers. With World War II, Toyota started a side business making aircraft engines, but that group company switched to making auto parts and sewing machines after the war.In its forecast, Toyota lowered the number of vehicles it expects to sell globally this calendar year to 8.96 million, down 4 percent from last year. Earlier this year, Toyota had projected worldwide sales of 9.5 million vehicles.Initially, it had an even more aggressive target of 9.85 million, and expectations had been growing that the tally would reach 10 million in coming years —allowing Toyota to dethrone General Motors Corp. as the world's top automaker.

Tsuyoshi Mochimaru, auto analyst for Barclays Capital in Tokyo, warned worse may be ahead.U.S. auto sales aren't expected to start recovering until late 2009, and the dollar — already at a 13-year low against the yen — could lag further, he said. A strong yen hurts results because overseas profits must be converted into the Japanese currency.The problem is next year, said Mochimaru. It's unmistakable that things are extremely tough for Toyota.Watanabe and other Toyota executives repeated a recent announcement that expansion plans will be on hold, including a new plant in Mississippi and projects in India.Toyota said there were no plans to lay off any full-time employees, though it plans to cut the number of temporary workers at its Japanese plants in half to about 3,000.Toyota is a relatively old-style Japanese company that offers lifetime employment, and only in recent years has hired and let go of temporary workers to adjust production. It said it was reviewing overseas jobs but had not reached a decision. Watanabe vowed Toyota would grow so lean it would realize profitability even if its worldwide sales fall as low as 7 million vehicles —what he called the basic bottom line for Toyota. We must change to become more slim, muscular and flexible, he said. The automaker will focus on hybrids and small cars, and invest in ecological technology to prepare for long-term growth, officials said.

While Japan's automakers are in far better financial shape than their cash-strapped American counterparts, the global slowdown is hitting them hard. Last week, Japan's No. automaker, Honda Motor Co., also lowered profit and sales forecasts and declined to give a vehicle sales goal for 2009. Monday marks the second time Toyota reduced its forecast. Initially, it had projected net profit of 1.25 trillion yen ($13.9 billion) for the fiscal year, but last month lowered that to 550 billion yen ($6.1 billion). Also Monday, it lowered its revenue forecast to 21.5 trillion yen ($239 billion), down about 18 percent from a year earlier. Toyota's U.S. vehicles sales plunged by a third on year in November, when overall sales fell to their lowest level in more than 26 years. And there is little hope for a quick fix as consumers hold back big purchases amid a credit crunch, rising unemployment and fears about the future. The company's stock fell 5 yen, or 0.17 percent, to 2,895 yen in Tokyo. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.5 percent.

Canadians shiver and shovel as wintry blast felt coast to coast Thousands without power as powerful blizzard hits Atlantic Canada Monday, December 22, 2008 | 11:58 AM ET CBC News

A plow works to clear snow in Charlottetown on Monday. (CBC)Winter weather wreaked havoc in Canada's coastal regions Monday, while other parts of the country were still digging out after weekend snowstorms.Snow and freezing temperatures blew blizzard conditions into Atlantic Canada. And on the West Coast, Vancouver Island and Vancouver braced for more snow.Bad weather is affecting everyone across the country. Any storm systems beginning in the West are being directed by the jet stream in the East, said Johanna Wagstaffe of the CBC Weather Centre in Toronto. Nova Scotia Power was reporting about 89,000 customers without power in several parts of the province on Monday.Crews will gain ground as we move forward, Margaret Murphy, a spokeswoman for Nova Scotia Power, told CBC News. We will start to make progress in restoring power, she said. Winds gusting to more than 100 km/h had hampered some hydro restoration efforts, Murphy said. In some areas of the province, it is unsafe for crews to go up in their buckets to do repairs, she said.In P.E.I, the weather brought much of the island to a standstill.

More than 15,000 Maritime Electric customers were without power for much of Monday, but by late afternoon the utility reported the figure had dropped to only 700.We still have some scattered outages, but we're working very quickly to try to restore that power, Kim Griffin, a Maritime Electric spokeswoman told CBC News.In New Brunswick, meanwhile, NB Power was reporting more than 5,300 customers without power on Monday morning.Storm surge warnings were issued for coastal areas in northern Nova Scotia and P.E.I. Hurricane-force winds gusting to 120 km/h were also being reported in Yarmouth County, N.S.

Bridges, roads, ferries shut down
As a heavy snowstorm continued to pummel the south coast of British Columbia, police warned the public to stay home because of poor road conditions and extreme weather. (CBC)A blizzard warning remained in effect by Environment Canada for Newfoundland's west coast. Meanwhile, New Brunswick was seeing some respite from the stormy conditions.Blizzard conditions have been cancelled through the province but there is a warning about storm systems later in the day, the CBC's Catherine Harrop reported.

Things are starting to be open again. Some banks are still closed. It still pays to call ahead and if you don't have to go out, don't, Harrop said.The Confederation Bridge, which connects New Brunswick to P.E.I., was closed to all traffic for several hours because of high winds, but was eventually reopened for cars and vans only. Restrictions remain in place barring vehicles such as buses, trucks and trailers.Marine Atlantic has also tied up its ferries, which connect southern Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.Parts of the Trans-Canada Highway were closed to traffic in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick due to poor visibility.On the West Coast, snowfall warnings continued for Vancouver Island and coastal B.C. Vancouver was expected to receive two centimetres of snow on Monday.An Arctic high-pressure system has dominated British Columbia for the past few days and has brought the coldest temperatures in Vancouver since 1990, said Greg Pearce, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.The Vancouver Police Department and the Nanaimo RCMP were asking the public to stay off the roads during the extreme weather conditions.Numerous streets in the city were closed off and some drivers abandoned their cars at the side of roads rather than continuing to drive in the snow.The situation on the West Coast is going to translate into more bad weather for much of the rest of the country, Wagstaffe said.The storm that hit Vancouver and Victoria on Monday is going to hit Ontario and the Great Lakes late Tuesday afternoon, bringing snow and freezing rain, she said.The Maritimes will see that storm arrive on Wednesday with roughly the same intensity, dropping five to 10 centimetres of snow across the region.

Flight backlog
A plow tries to clean up on Monday after an overnight blizzard in Fredericton. (CBC)Several pre-schools, daycares, other community services and government offices were remained closed due to the severe weather in the Atlantic provinces.Halifax's Stanfield International Airport was reporting delays and cancellations. Officials at the airport said some of the delays were being caused due to airlines trying to catch up from the bad weather that hit central Canada late last week.More than 300 flights were cancelled at Pearson International Airport in Toronto after a snowstorm swept through the region on Friday. It caused significant delays and backlog across the country.Forecasters are predicting that Canada will have its first coast-to-coast white Christmas since 1971.Heavy snow, winds and freezing temperatures blanketed much of the country as winter made its official debut on Sunday.This year it's guaranteed that all the country will see a white Christmas. We have snow on the ground everywhere and it's going to stay into Christmas Day, Wagstaffe said.And cold temperatures are expected to hang around well into New Year's, Wagstaffe added.A woman makes her way along a street in Montreal after more than 20 centimetres of snow fell in the city over the weekend. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)Red warning labels stretched right across the government agency's weather map, showing snowfall warnings and Arctic outflow in B.C. and flesh-freezing wind chill warnings for the Prairies and northern Ontario.Alberta was the only province where Environment Canada did not issue a weather warning for Monday morning.Toronto has extended its declaration of an extreme cold weather alert with temperatures expected to drop to –12 C.Meanwhile in Montreal, residents were still digging out from 20 centimetres of snow that fell on the city over the weekend.The city is trying to step up its snow removal so people can travel safely during the holidays, said Marcel Tremblay, a city executive committee member.With files from the Canadian Press.

Miracle rescue: Woman buried in snow for 3 days found alive Search dog named Ace discovers her Monday, December 22, 2008 | 5:10 PM ET CBC News

A missing Ontario woman was found alive Friday afternoon, after spending three days buried under deep snow in an isolated field near the airport in Hamilton.Hamilton police, who spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday searching for the 55-year-old Ancaster secretary, said it is nothing short of a miracle that she survived in what police describe as horrific weather conditions.The word miracle was used several times, given the circumstances, Insp. Bob Buck told CBC News on Monday.[By Monday], we thought we were in search and recovery mode. We were still optimistic, but we were quite surprised to find her.Buck said the woman, a mother of one who works for the local Catholic school board, left her home on Friday to go for a walk, as she often does. She usually drives to a quiet location, parks her SUV, and explores the area on foot.When she didn't come home Friday afternoon, her husband called police. By that time, weather conditions were horrific Buck said, with heavy winds, blowing snow and cold temperatures.On Saturday afternoon, officers found the woman's SUV off Fiddler's Green Road and launched a full-scale search. About 20 police officers and trained volunteers searched the area with the help of all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles and police search dogs.

Search dog paws at snow
The search team covered several square kilometres, but it wasn't until 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday that a police dog named Ace started pawing at the snow near a pond. The dog and his handler, Ray Lau, dug through the snow and pulled out the woman.She was covered in snow, you wouldn't even be able to see her because of blowing and drifting snow.The woman was able to speak, but suffering from hypothermia. She is now recovering in hospital, although police do not have an update on her condition.
Police didn't release her name, but she's been identified in media reports as Donna Molnar.

Snow, rain and ice blankets much of US Mon Dec 22, 7:28 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A massive winter storm blanketed the US West Coast with snow, sleet and ice early Monday while blizzards and snow squalls struck the Northeast and Midwest, killing at least four people and making travel dangerous.The storm snarled holiday air traffic across the country, with delays at major airports in San Francisco; Houston, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; New Jersey and New York, officials said.The fierce weather was blamed for the death of two people in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate Highway 80 east of Des Moines, Iowa.Another weather-related fatality was reported in northwest Iowa when a farm tractor being used for snow removal slipped off the driveway and overturned, killing the driver, the Des Moines Register newspaper reported.Drivers blinded by blizzard conditions created a 30-vehicle pile-up on Interstate 94 in western Michigan Sunday. Dozens of the vehicles were also involved in a series of other wrecks nearby, including one that killed a 31-year-old Illinois man, CNN television reported.Travel was also treacherous in the northwestern states of Oregon and Washington, with heavy rain, sleet and snow expected until 10:00 am (1800 GMT) Monday, the National Weather Service said in its winter storm warning for the region.This is probably one of the worst storms since 1990, weather service meteorologist Dana Felton told AFP by phone from Seattle, adding that the last big storm on this scale was on Christmas day 1996.This is definitely a once-in-a-decade type of storm.

Total snow accumulations were forecast from five to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) Monday morning across the northwest, with more than a foot (30 centimeters) in local mountains, it said.Overnight snow, ice and freezing temperatures led to treacherous conditions, road closures and downed powerlines throughout the state, the Oregonian newspaper reported.Washington state saw highway closures and major problems at its Seattle-Tacoma airport, with thousands of stranded passengers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said.In the northeast, which is more accustomed to wintry weather, blizzard conditions and strong winds caused frequent whiteouts, with the weather service warning that travel will be extremely hazardous through Monday due to a snowstorm sweeping Lake Michigan to the Atlantic Coast.Bitterly cold temperatures ranged from the single digits (from negative 17 to negative 12 Celsius) in the Midwest's northern plains and northern Rocky Mountains, to 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit (negative seven to one degree below zero Celsius) in the northwestern and northeastern parts of the country.In Chicago, temperatures plunged to two degrees below zero Fahrenheit (negative 19 Celsius) while blowing snow and strong winds have resulted in thousands of power outages throughout the metropolitan area.

TVA dike bursts in Tenn., damaging a dozen homes By DUNCAN MANSFIELD, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 22, 2:24 pm ET

HARRIMAN, Tenn. – An earthen dam holding back a retention pond broke early Monday at a power plant run by the nation's largest public utility, releasing a frigid mix of water, ash and mud that damaged 12 homes and put hundreds of acres of rural land under water.The 40-acre pond was used by the Tennessee Valley Authority to hold a slurry of ash generated by the coal-burning Kingston Steam Plant in Harriman, about 50 miles west of Knoxville, said TVA spokesman Gil Francis. The dam gave way just before 1 a.m, burying a road and railroad tracks leading to the plant under several feet of dark gray mud.Authorities said no one was seriously injured or hospitalized.

Investigators were trying to determine exactly what caused the breach, but the TVA spokesman said heavy rains and freezing temperatures may be to blame. Forecasters said the overnight temperature dropped to 14 degrees in Harriman and Francis said there had been 4.9 inches of rain this month so far compared to 2.8 inches in a typical December.I am still in shock, said Crystell Flinn, 49, whose ranch-style house was pushed off its foundations and driven more than 30 feet onto a road. I don't think it really has hit me yet.Flinn was traveling back from Knoxville when a friend called her cell phone to say she had heard that the flood hit Flinn's house and that her 53-year-old husband James Schean was trapped inside.Schean escaped cold and shaken but not injured. Flinn told his story while he slept at a temporary shelter at a community college.Schean, a boilermaker at the TVA plant, was in bed when he heard a loud clap like thunder, she said. Pieces of the ceiling began falling, wood was popping, glass breaking and furniture falling. And then the house started to move.He didn't know what was going on, his wife said. He couldn't see anything. He had to tear one door off the hinges to get out of the bedroom, and he couldn't get out the front door so he had to kick out a window.

Flinn cried as she looked at aerial photographs of the home, which she and Schean had spent the past 3 1/2 years remodeling and recently filled with Christmas presents.I seriously doubt they will let us (rebuild), Flinn said. After losing another house on the same property to fire 20 years ago, I am not sure we want to, she said. The next time we might not make it out.Emergency workers rescued people from two partially collapsed homes and used four-wheel drive vehicles to help others who couldn't get out of their driveways, said Roane County Rescue Squad spokesman Brian Grief.Officials originally said 15 homes were flooded, but Francis later said 12 homes had been damaged to some degree. Flinn's house was the worst hit.Only Flinn's family came to the emergency shelter, which closed later Monday. TVA offered them and others needing help motel rooms.Francis said 30 pieces of heavy equipment and nearly 100 people were involved in the cleanup effort. He said water flow through a dam on the Clinch River — which flows into the Tennessee River — has been reduced to prevent pollution from runoff from the flood.Howie Rose, the director of the Roane County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, said a train carrying coal to the plant reached the point on the tracks that was covered in mud and couldn't go forward or back up. He said authorities were trying to assist the train.The broken dike left about 4 to 5 feet of water and mud over 250 to 400 acres, Francis said. The Environmental Protection Agency was notified.The pond is used for dumping a slurry of waste from burning coal at the steam plant, Francis said. TVA will check for signs of problems at its 10 other coal-fired plants, most of which were built in the 1950s. They're going to look at that for sure, but we have not had one of these (breaks) like this anywhere, Francis said. Knoxville-based TVA supplies electricity to 8.8 million consumers in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

Hamas says open to new truce in Gaza DEC 22,08 By Nidal Mughrabi Nidal Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinians in Gaza observed a 24-hour halt to rocket fire against Israel at the request of Egyptian mediators who made efforts to restore a longer truce.Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for talks in Cairo, Livni's office said, after Hamas Islamists said they may consider a new ceasefire if Israel eased a blockade and armed raids on the territory.

Livni's talks with Mubarak would take place on Thursday, and cover security issues along the Gaza border, a statement from her office said, adding she would hold additional meetings in Egypt, but gave no further details.Hamas also enlisted Turkish assistance to help restore a ceasefire, brokered by Egypt last June, as Israeli leaders headed to a February 10 election threatened to escalate military steps to halt rocket fire from Gaza.On Friday, Hamas had declared the truce to have expired, accusing Israel of reneging on understandings by conducting armed raids and shutting border crossings, disrupting a lifeline for food and fuel supplies to 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.Israel blamed security threats for the closures, and many Israelis criticized the truce's failure to advance negotiations for the return of an Israeli soldier held in Gaza since 2006.Senior Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters on Monday Hamas had agreed with other factions to hold rocket fire for a day to give a chance to the Egyptian mediation and to show that the problem was always on the Israeli side.Taha said Hamas might consider a long truce if Israel were to lift an embargo on the impoverished territory.If a new (truce) offer were made which met our demands, then we would be willing to study it, Taha said.

TWO ROCKETS FIRED

The hold on firing seemed to be observed, with only two rockets and a mortar reported to have been fired on Monday from Gaza, and a rocket and four mortars shot on Sunday night.Shortly before that respite was set to expire, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh telephoned Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to ask that he urge Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza and to halt its military operations in the coastal strip.Taher al-Nono, a spokesman for Haniyeh, said Erdogan had assured Haniyeh he would raise these issues in his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Ankara on Monday.The ending of the truce on Friday has raised fears that tensions along the Israeli-Gaza frontier could spark wider conflict, as Israeli and Palestinian officials stepped up war-like rhetoric.Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, said on Monday after rocket strikes in which an Israeli was injured and many panicked, following an Israeli air strike that killed a Gaza militant, that Israel has no intention of accepting the continuation of fire from Gaza.Barak also said he had ordered the army to prepare for possible action. But another cabinet minister, Isaac Herzog, said Israel was ready to consider continuing the calm, on terms that are comfortable for Israel.Hamas's 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state but in the past the faction has offered to suspend hostilities as part of a long-term accord.(Additional reporting by Aziz el-Kaissouni in Cairo, Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Dan Williams and Adam Entous in Jerusalem)

Cyprus should be re-united in 2009, Rehn says
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today DEC 22,08 @ 20:23 CET

Next year could see Turkey make a crucial step forward on its path to EU membership and at the same time towards settlement of the long-standing division of Cyprus, Europe's enlargement commissioner Ollie Rehn has said.After one or two years of domestic difficulties, we would expect Turkey now to move up a gear and seriously start to pursue reforms again, Mr Rehn said in an interview with Reuters.Ankara launched its accession negotiations in 2005, but has been moving very slowly in opening and provisionally closing the 35 negotiating chapters that are based on EU law, which must be transcribed into domestic Turkish legislation. On Friday (19 December), the 27-country bloc gave the green light to opening talks on two chapters. The development brings to ten the total number of chapters Ankara has managed to open.The slow progress has partly been due to the turbulent domestic political situation in the predominantly Muslim country of 70 million. There is too much energy used up by internal tensions which could be used on pursuing legal and economic reforms that are required for EU membership, commented Mr Rehn.Among the concrete tasks ahead of Turkey's centre-right government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the commissioner mentioned as particularly essential the reformation of its constitution and an expansion of freedom of expression, as well as an improvement in religious and linguistic rights. Transforming trade law to be in line with EU standards has also hit the buffers as both trade unions and business federations have blocked moves in this direction.The Finnish commissioner urged Ankara to resume work on each of these thorny issues at the start of the new year. The sooner the better, but at the latest after the March elections, Turkey should totally resume reforms again, he said.

Ending the Cypriot dispute

Turkey's membership talks are also indirectly connected to Cyprus. In 2006, the EU decided to block eight negotiating areas from further discussion due to Ankara's failure to meet its commitments regarding Cyprus, notably its refusal to allow Cypriot ships and planes into Turkish ports and airspace.For its part, Turkey maintains that Europe has also not fulfilled its own promises regarding expanded links with the de facto independent republic of Northern Cyprus, after Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of the UN peace plan for re-unification of the island in 2004, just before Cyprus was to join the EU.Greek Cypriots living on the southern part of the island voted down the proposal, which resulted in the island entering the union divided, with the northern part, which is recognised only by Turkey, left behind and outside the EU.Leaders of the two communities - having lived separately since a Greek Cypriot coup attempting to annex the island for Greece triggered an invasion by Turkey in 1974 - resumed talks in September. The EU has strongly supported the renewed peace process.We are not in the business of pressure. We are in the business of facilitation, Mr Rehn said in the Reuters interview. He argued that it is essential to reunify the island so that Cyprus could be like a normal EU member state, in peace, united.Mr Rehn said that in 2009 the island should see a settlement of the dispute.

US warns Russia against selling missiles to Iran By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer DEC 22,08

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials say they want answers from Russia on whether it is selling advanced surface-to-air missiles to Iran. The U.S. insists such a move could threaten American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.A senior military intelligence official said Monday the U.S. believes the sale of Russian long-range S-300 missiles is taking place. However, the official said it appears that no equipment has yet been delivered to Iran. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.Russia's state arms export agency said Monday it is supplying Iran with defensive weapons, including surface-to-air missiles.State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. is seeking clarification from Russia.