DAY 22 ISRAEL IN GAZA PROTECTING ISRAELIS

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Big chill: Blast of Arctic air stuns eastern US By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jan 17, 8:06 am ET

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama was colder than Alaska, water fountains froze into ice sculptures in South Carolina and Florida shivered through a brush of Arctic air blast that deadened car batteries in the Northeast and prompted scattered Midwest power outages.As Southerners awaited an expected weekend thaw, the Northeast persisted under the bitterly cold air from Canada that sent temperatures plunging in some places below minus 30 degrees and left even longtime residents reluctant to venture outdoors.Quentin Masters braved the chilly weather, making a trip to a Syracuse, N.Y., post office to mail his sister a gift for her birthday Monday.It was almost too cold to come down, he said, but he added, I don't want to be late.Single-digit temperatures and subzero wind chills were expected in western New York through the weekend, with more seasonable conditions moving in early next week.To Southerners, who rarely see temperatures so cold, the icebox-like weather was the most jarring. Construction worker Allen Johnson wore a gray beanie, flannel shirt, long johns and boots as he stopped for coffee in Montgomery, Ala., after an overnight low of 22 degrees Friday.No matter how bad it is, it could be worse — we could be in Anchorage, Alaska, Johnson said. Actually, the temperature was about 20 degrees warmer in Anchorage on Friday.Freezing temperatures threatened to kill picturesque Spanish moss hanging from Gulf Coast trees. In Spartanburg, S.C., a hard freeze coated a water fountain in shimmering icicles. And it was too cold to bet on dogs in West Virginia.In Tennessee, Heather Davis, of NashvillePAW Magazine, watched her photographer unsuccessfully try to coax their cover model, a white poodle named Cotton, to pose outdoors for the animal publication. Cotton, who is up for adoption, ran to the car and didn't want to leave.I don't think I realized how cold it was, Davis said, laughing.But gusting winds were no laughing matter in Ohio, where temperatures pushed to their lowest this winter and forced scattered power outages. Lows ranged from minus 6 degrees in Cincinnati to minus 14 degrees in Dayton and Toledo — just missing record lows for Friday's date.Thousands in Ohio and Illinois lost power for several hours while Charleston, W.Va.-based Appalachian Power, which delivers electricity to more than 1 million customers Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, had record electricity demand as businesses and homes cranked up the heat.In Columbus, Ohio, 45-year-old Brandon Champney beat the cold by visiting the orchid exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory — a deliciously climate-controlled 72 degrees.It's beautiful, warm, great, Champney said.

The cold claimed at least six lives and contributed to dozens of traffic accidents. One death involved a man in a wheelchair who was found in subzero temperatures stuck in the snow, a shovel in his hand, outside his home in Des Moines, Iowa.In central Pennsylvania, AAA fielded a spike in calls from motorists whose batteries went dead or door locks froze shut. Wind chills were as low as 25 degrees below zero in greater Pittsburgh.In Michigan, a winter storm watch was in effect for parts of the Lower Peninsula, where up to 8 inches of snow could fall by Sunday morning, the National Weather Service said.And in Illinois, where a low of 32 degrees below zero was recorded in a north-central area Friday, the weather service predicted only modest weekend relief — sort of. The mercury was expected to head Saturday into the 20s in northern Illinois and the 30s in southern Illinois. The heat wave begins, meteorologist Tim Halbach quipped. Associated Press writers William Kates in Syracuse, Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tenn., and David Mercer in Champaign, Ill., contributed to this report.

Power fully restored in Toronto, David Miller says
Updated: Fri Jan. 16 2009 10:18:37 PM ctvtoronto.ca

Toronto Mayor David Miller says that power has been fully restored to more than 20,000 customers left in the dark since Thursday night. The announcement came almost exactly 24 hours after a massive power outage left swaths of west-end Toronto without power on one of the winter's coldest nights. Miller was expected to make an announcement earlier in the night, but the announcement was held off by about two hours. Earlier in the day, the city's east-west subway line was fully reopened in time for the afternoon commute.The pipe broke around 10 p.m. Thursday and caused flooding at a hydro vault in the Dufferin transformer station, located at Dufferin and Bloor Streets. This triggered an alarm, causing hydro officials to shut off power to the station.However, Denise Attallah, spokesperson forToronto Hydro told CTV Toronto, We don't know exactly what happened.The outage initially affected all Toronto Hydro customers living south of St. Clair Avenue West and north of Queen Street West, and between Jane Street and Spadina Avenue. As a result of the power outage, both the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Toronto Catholic District School Board closed dozens of schools within the affected area and cancelled buses. The TDSB said all schools will reopen on Monday. The timing of the power restoration was up in the air throughout Friday as the utility said it was hoping to have power fully restored by evening but could not guarantee it.

Arctic front freezes US, Canada in record cold snap Fri Jan 16, 5:32 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A record cold snap gripped the American Midwest Friday as temperatures plummeted to lows of minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) and officials scrambled to protect the homeless and vulnerable.The cold was the result of an arctic blast that descended from Canada and settled across the upper Midwest, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Wilson.The wind patterns are like this during the winter, he said. Some winters it gets cold. Some winters it gets extreme. This is what we term extreme.The temperatures were the coldest since 1999 in Illinois and since 1994 in some parts of Ohio and Indiana.

Temperatures of minus 32 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 36 degrees Celsius) overnight were recorded in Rockford, Illinois, breaking a record set in 1983, Wilson said.The front was expected to move east in coming days and bring similar bone-chilling temperatures to the East Coast.Relief may be a long way off, however, as temperatures remained locked below zero (minus 17 Celsius) Friday and weren't expected to break above 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero Celsius) until later next week, according to the National Weather Service.In Canada the polar freeze was not any kinder as the extreme cold caused flooding in Montreal and left 100,000 people in Toronto without power or heating for over 12 hours, as temperatures stood frozen at zero degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 Celsius).The severe cold forced scores of school closures, prompted people to leave their homes for warming centers and saw cadres of volunteers and government officials take to the streets across affected states to ensure the homeless and vulnerable were not stuck in the deadly winter freeze.

Homeless shelters, jammed even beyond capacity because of surging home foreclosures that has produced a significant rise in the numbers of homeless people, looked for churches and other social service agencies to open their doors to make room.Eddy Bazile, executive director of the Fort Wayne, Indiana Rescue Mission reported his facility had seen a 100 percent increase in occupancy over the last few days.I believe there is a surge in need just about everywhere, Bazile said.In Cleveland, Ohio officials converted recreation centers into warming centers, and issued cold-weather alerts to roughly 100,000 elderly residents, according to the mayor's office spokeswoman Andrea Taylor.People are used to the cold here, but they're saying that it hasn't been this cold in years, Taylor said.Chicago is operating six warming centers, including one open 24 hours a day, and authorities are checking on at least 3,000 residents considered most at risk, said Anne Sheahan, spokeswoman for Chicago Department of Family and Support Services.We have some challenges with our homeless population as some people refuse to come in from the cold. That's probably the hardest thing for us to deal with. They're adults, so we can't make them.

Temperatures plummeted in Flint, Michigan, forcing all the city's schools to close, according to Police Chief David Forystek. At midday the temperature was seven degrees Fahrenheit (-14 Celsius) Friday, or 13 degrees below zero (-25 Celsius) factoring in the wind chill.Flint's local energy company had also postponed cutting power to residents who have fallen behind on their bills, added Forystek, That's a private industry thing, but it's a sign of how cold it really is, Forystek said. We are used to temperatures in the 20s (minus six to one degree Celsius) and 30s (one to four degrees Celsius), but it's not very often we see the temperature fall to 19 degrees below zero (minus 28 Celsius).

Haiti's storm emergency fades, but hunger remains By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jan 16, 2:44 pm ET

GONAIVES, Haiti – More than 150,000 people are surviving on donated food in the flood-battered city of Gonaives and the United Nations says more aid is urgently needed to stave off famine in parts of Haiti four months after ravaging storms.

Families are repairing mud-caked homes and markets have reopened, but the storms endangered a country already struggling with chronic malnutrition.What we are going to do now, from January onward, is to support the vulnerable people, to support the children so they keep growing healthy, U.N. World Food Program country director Myrta Kaulard said Thursday during a tour of affected areas.The WFP is asking countries to donate $100 million for Haiti, saying the organization's current funding will last only through February. It requested the same last year but received only $68 million.U.N. and U.S.-sponsored groups say half Gonaives' population can now feed themselves. To encourage local markets and tackle chronic hunger, they are scaling back public food pistributions that had sustained nearly the entire city of 300,000 for months.They are shifting instead to a more sustainable approach targeting those most at risk, such as children and pregnant women. Food is distributed through school lunch programs, neighborhood canteens and programs rewarding work on streets, sewers and anti-erosion projects.More than 2,000 residents are being paid with food and cash to dig flood-control trenches in the mountains above Gonaives. Engineers said that with current resources, it will take 15years to build enough to save the city from the next killer storm.This week, women with small children waited alongside an open sewer to enter a canteen run by the French food aid group Action Against Hunger. Only children shorter than 3-foot-7 (110centimeters) with registration cards could enter, get a check-up and receive a porridge-like mix of corn, soy, salt and sugar.The problem now is that the kids are being fed but the parents aren't eating, said Jean-Noel Mouna, 24, who was accompanying the child of a neighbor who had to work.The storms worsened Haiti's chronic hunger, and aid groups say isolated famines could result without continued help. Decades of political chaos and poverty have left one in four Haitian chronically malnourished. A doubling of food prices last year sparked riots that toppled the prime minister.

Even before the disaster it was already a disaster in terms of food security, said WFP Haiti program officer Raphael Chuinard.The WFP is scouting locations for a Gonaives food warehouse and coordinating with U.N. peacekeepers to keep temporary bridges and road-crossing equipment on hand, to prevent the kind of aid delays that proved so deadly in September.Meanwhile, finding any food at all remains a challenge for the extremely poor.Jesline Dumas, 22, grew up malnourished and this week held her quivering 8-month-old, Hilarie Fenelus — 23 inches (59 centimeters) and just 8 pounds (3.8 kilograms) after nine days of food treatment in a Gonaives hospital.Now it is more difficult than ever. Everything is too expensive, Dumas said.Four tropical storms and hurricanes battered the impoverished Caribbean nation during last year's harvest season, killing 793 people nationwide, decimating agriculture and causing $1 billion in damage to irrigation, bridges and roads.By October, food shortages around the isolated southeastern village of Baie d'Orange had contributed to 26 child deaths. On Thursday, mothers from surrounding villages walked for hours, carrying emaciated children with open sores from fungal infections, to reach a village clinic run by WFP and Save the Children.We could have a famine here in Baie d'Orange, nurse Peguy Duraisin said. There are children whose bodies are completely destroyed.

MUSLIM NATIONS

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

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

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

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

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

Report: Russia plans navy bases in Libya, Syria,Yemen In a sign of Moscow's growing foreign policy ambitions, military official says plan to be implemented within a few years without question Reuters 01.17.09, 09:21 / Israel News

Russia has decided to establish naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen within a few years, Itar-Tass news agency quoted military officials as saying on Friday, in a sign of Moscow's growing foreign policy ambitions.It is difficult to say how much time it will take to create the bases for our fleet in these countries, but within a few years this will be done without question, a military official was quoted as saying.The political decision on this question has been taken, the official said. A spokesman for the Russian navy could not immediately be reached for comment.A senior general said it was too early to name any foreign ports that could host Russian bases.There are negotiations conducted with foreign governments. Such publications (on bases) may have a negative effect on the way of these talks, Itar-Tass quoted the Russian army's deputy chief of staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, as saying.The Kremlin is seeking to play a more assertive role in world politics and has been using its military to project its new-found confidence beyond its borders.

Analysts have said that the Syrian port of Tartus could be revived as a Russian naval base. During the Cold War, the Soviet navy had a permanent presence in the Mediterranean, using Tartus as a supply point.Russian media reported that opening a naval base in the Libyan port of Benghazi was among the main issues discussed during Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's visit to Moscow in October last year.Nogovitsyn said it was unclear when Russian naval bases abroad could open. No one can forecast when this problem will be solved, he told Itar-Tass. We need permanent bases, and this is very costly. You have to thoroughly calculate it all.Russia had to vacate the Cam Ranh base in Vietnam in 2002 because its rent was becoming a burden for the state coffers.Now we have learnt to count our money, Nogovitsyn said.

Russia seeks Syrian, Iranian help on Gaza truce ,Egypt's initiative is optimal and we believe all efforts should be thrown into supporting it,FM Lavrov says 01.16.09, 12:38 / Israel News

Russia has asked Iran and Syria to help persuade the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to accept an Egyptian proposal on ending the fighting in Gaza, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

Egyptian Initiative

Egypt's initiative ... is, for us, optimal and we believe all efforts should be thrown into supporting it, Lavrov told a news conference. In connection with this we are sending corresponding signals to representatives of Hamas, and those states which have influence on Hamas, he said. First and foremost that is Iran and Syria. We have spoken to our colleagues. I hope that everyone will concentrate on this.The Egyptian peace plan includes securing the Egypt-Gaza border, across which Israel alleges weapons are smuggled, and ending the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Israel said its three-week offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians, could be in the final act on Friday after Hamas made a ceasefire offer. Russia maintains close ties to Tehran and Damascus and has official contacts with Hamas, which is shunned by Western powers for refusing to abandon its objective of destroying the Jewish state.

Gov't Discussing Unilateral Truce as Hamas Threatens Attacks
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu JAN 17,09

(IsraelNN.com) The Security Cabinet is meeting at this hour to discuss a proposal to declare a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza after Hamas has refused truce initiatives. This unilateral ceasefire does not foresee a withdrawal by the Israeli army, said Obama Hemdan, Hamas's Lebanon representative. As long as it remains in Gaza, resistance and confrontation will continue.The government is expected to approve the plan, which calls for the IDF to remain in Gaza but to halt attacks on the Hamas terror infrastructure. Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to lay the political groundwork for the unilateral truce Saturday during a visit to IDF paratroopers. After three weeks, we are very close to securing the objectives and complementing them with diplomatic agreements, the Defense Minister said.He added that the IDF must continue its operational activity and be ready for any possible development.

Meanwhile, negotiations continue in Egypt concerning security along the border between Egypt and Gaza and conditions for the re-opening of the border in the divided city of Rafiah.In Washington, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed with visiting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni guarantees for stopping smuggling along the border.However, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, who questioned what is different from previous commitments that have not stopped smuggling, Well… we are not responsible for, you know, smuggling happening or not. We are able to participate in robust ways to assist others as well in making sure that smuggling, resupply of Hamas, does not take place. There are a lot of different moving parts to this problem. And we have been engaged on this problem for a while. I think all of you understand that we sent a team to Egypt – Army Corps of Engineers – to look specifically at tunnels. There are other aspects to this: the air aspect, the sea aspect to this. But we think we have the beginnings of that.The U.S. signed a memo of understanding with Israel on Friday that the American government will work cooperatively…in the international community to prevent the supply of arms and related materiel to terrorist organizations that threaten either party, with a particular focus on the supply of arms, related materiel and explosives into Gaza to Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Israel bombards Hamas hours before cease-fire vote By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writers JAN 17,09

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel bombarded dozens of Hamas targets Saturday hours before a government vote on an Egyptian brokered cease-fire, prompting Egypt to demand an immediate halt to the 3-week-old Gaza offensive.The proposal calls for a unilateral Israeli cease-fire in its initial stage, but Gaza's Hamas rulers have sent mixed signals on whether the group would reciprocate.Hamas' exiled leadership vowed to continue the fight against Israel. Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official based in Lebanon, said the group would not halt its attacks until Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza and ends its blockade of the seaside strip.If any vision does not achieve these things, then we will continue in the battle on the ground, he said.

But after weeks of heavy losses, leaders inside Gaza have signaled they are ready for a deal. A Hamas delegation was in Cairo for more truce negotiations.Palestinian medics say the fighting has killed at least 1,140 Palestinians — roughly half of them civilians — and Israel's bombing campaign caused massive destruction in the Gaza Strip. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, according to the government.Israeli leaders were expected to approve the Egyptian proposal at a Security Cabinet meeting Saturday night. Fighting would stop immediately for 10 days. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza during that time and the territory's border crossing with Israel and Egypt would remain closed until security arrangements are made to prevent Hamas arms smuggling.Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated Israel's readiness for a cease-fire, saying the country was very close to achieving its goals and securing them through diplomatic agreements. He spoke during a trip to southern Israel, which has been the target of Hamas rocket fire.If the cease-fire is approved, it was not clear how Israel would respond to violations of a cease-fire.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni indicated that Israel would renew its offensive if Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel after Israel declared a truce.This campaign is not a one-time event, she said in an interview with the Israeli YNet news Web site. The test will be the day after. That is the test of deterrence.Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to try to halt near-daily Hamas rocket attacks against southern Israel. Its key demand is for guarantees that Hamas halt the smuggling of rockets, explosives and other weapons through the porous Egyptian border.Under the deal, Egypt would shut down weapons smuggling routes with international help and discussions on opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings — Hamas' key demand — would take place at a later date.Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, who will attend Saturday night's Security Cabinet meeting, said any deal would also require a mechanism for negotiating the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit who was captured by Hamas more than two years ago.

The Israeli vote was set after Israel and the U.S. signed on Friday a memorandum of understanding in Washington that calls for expanded intelligence cooperation to prevent Hamas from rearming.The agreement outlines a framework under which the United States commits detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations to be used in monitoring Gaza's land and sea borders.Livni, who signed the deal, called it a vital complement for a cessation of hostility.The vote comes just days ahead of Barack Obama's inauguration as president on Tuesday. Egypt has been a key interlocutor in weeks of negotiations to end the assault on Gaza sparked by years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel.

I demand Israel today stop its military operations immediately, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said. I demand from its leaders an immediate and unconditional cease-fire and I demand from them a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit dismissed the U.S.-Israel agreement Saturday, saying his country would not be bound by its terms. The U.S. and Israel can do what they wish with regard to the sea or any other country in Africa, but when it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the safety and national security of the Egyptian people and Egypt's ability to protect its borders, Aboul Gheit told reporters. The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. They could also be intended to tell the domestic audience that Egypt's role will not be dictated by outside powers. Egypt's cooperation will be critical to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas. The comments by Egyptian officials could indicate frustration over Israeli and American efforts to broker their own deal to stem smuggling into Gaza after weeks of Egyptian mediation for an agreement. Egypt's cooperation will be critical in efforts to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas. Israel Radio reported that a truce summit could be held in Egypt as early as Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli leaders in attendance.

Speaking to Lebanon's parliament Saturday, Ban said Hamas must stop rocket attacks on Israel and the Jewish state must immediately end its offensive and withdraw its troops from Gaza. We cannot wait for all the details, the mechanisms, to be conclusively negotiated and agreed, while civilians continue to be traumatized, injured or killed, he said. We have no more time to lose. We demand an immediate cease-fire, said Ban. In the meantime, there was no slowdown in the offensive. A total of 13 Palestinians were killed in battles throughout Gaza Saturday, Palestinian medics said. Israeli warplanes dropped bombs during the night on suspected smuggling tunnels in the southern border town of Rafah. The bombs could be heard whistling through the air, shook the ground upon impact and left a dusty haze in the air. In the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Israeli shells struck a U.N. school where 1,600 people had sought shelter to flee the fighting. One shell scored a direct hit on the top floor of the three-story building, killing two boys, U.N. officials said. An adjacent room was turned into a blackened mess of charred concrete and twisted metal bed frames. John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, condemned the attack — the latest in a series of Israeli shellings that have struck U.N. installations. The question that has to be asked is for all those children and all those innocent people who have been killed in this conflict. Were they war crimes? Were they war crimes that resulted in the deaths of the innocents during this conflict? That question has to be answered, he said. The Israeli army said it was launching a high-level investigation into the shelling, as well as four other attacks that hit civilian targets, including the U.N. headquarters in Gaza. The army investigation also includes the shelling of a hospital, a media center and the home of a well-known doctor.

An Israeli military spokesman said the investigations would be handled at the command level. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement. Previously, Israel has accused Hamas of using schools, mosques, hospitals and residential areas to stage attacks. The military said its planes struck 50 Hamas locations overnight, including rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels, weapons storehouses, bunkers and minefields. Some five rockets were fired into Israel, causing minor damage but no injuries, the army said. Israeli troops entered a small central Gaza town and nearby housing project, taking over houses and positioning on rooftops. Hamas militants fired assault rifles, mortars and rockets at the Israeli forces in tanks and military vehicles, the sound of clashes audible from Gaza City. Warplanes fired missiles at buildings and nearby farms, witnesses said. A shell landed in my bedroom and we are now sitting in the kitchen. We are 17 people here, Jihan Sarsawi, a resident of the housing project, said by telephone. She said residents were trapped in their homes. Josef Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporter Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip.

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

In a flourish, Sarkozy stresses global reform
By Katrin Bennhold Published: January 16, 2009

PARIS: Four days before Barack Obama is inaugurated and the world turns its attention to the new occupant of the White House, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France had a moment to himself with foreign diplomats Friday in Paris, weighing in on a range of global challenges, from war to the financial crisis.In a characteristically animated 45-minute speech, Sarkozy hardened his tone on Israel's offensive in Gaza, proposed a speedy interim reform of the United Nations Security Council and suggested fixing oil prices at an acceptable level.He also warned that Iran risked a serious confrontation with the West this year if it did not negotiate a deal on its nuclear program.But amid this catalogue of ideas, there was also a thinly veiled message to his soon-to-be counterpart in the United States: France and Europe, Sarkozy signaled, are counting on America to help solve the world's considerable problems as a team.A global crisis requires global responses, he said in the Élysée Palace's ornate 18th-century reception hall during the traditional New Year's reception.

Memories of a father help fight prejudices
We all know that 2009 will be a year of great difficulties, perhaps the most difficult in decades, he added.Sarkozy urged the United States to join Europe in committing to an ambitious climate deal and to help hammer out a global system of financial regulation.But he skipped any direct mention of Obama in the context of the Middle East - even though the written draft of his speech called for a strong signal from the incoming U.S. administration on the Middle East peace process - before expressing some impatience with Israel for not having agreed to a cease-fire yet.In comments that could herald a difference with U.S. policy, Sarkozy called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel to take risks for peace.The crisis in Gaza is a tragedy. It's a bloody humanitarian and useless tragedy, said Sarkozy, who returned recently from a diplomatic whirlwind tour of the region and has been pushing for an Egyptian-led cease-fire plan ever since.This intervention does not reinforce the security of Israel. It's the task of a sincere friend to say honestly what one thinks, he said, stressing that France is a friend of Israel's as well as a supporter of the Palestinian struggle for statehood.Sarkozy also said that at the UN General Assembly next month, France and Britain would jointly push for a trial restructuring of the Security Council that would expand it from the current five permanent members - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China - to include at least an African nation, a Latin American country, India and perhaps Germany or Japan.With the United Kingdom, France will plead for an interim solution, which in my view is the way of unblocking this issue, which is not only not moving forward but is moving backward, he said.It does not seem very reasonable to me, either, that there is not a single Arab country that is a permanent member of this body, Sarkozy said.

He also proposed that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil-producing nations negotiate guaranteed oil prices with their main customers in the developed world, suggesting that the recent decline in the price of crude may make such negotiations attractive to both sides.We, the developed countries, are ready to talk with producing nations on how to guarantee an acceptable average level for oil prices, Sarkozy said. We have more chances to be heard when taking this initiative when prices are low rather than high.It is in everyone's interest to regulate the prices of raw materials, not just oil, not just gas, but all raw materials, he said.Twenty months into his presidency and less than a month after his country handed the rotating presidency of the European Union to the Czech Republic, France's high-energy president has made no secret of his ambition to remain visible on the international stage.I am beginning the year 2009 with resolve, with the determination to do everything, to implement everything, Sarkozy said, announcing a long list of goals, from global financial regulation to a climate accord to peace in the Middle East.No doubt you will find me too ambitious, he said, smiling broadly at his audience.Dubbed a firefighter by pundits at home, Sarkozy was broadly applauded for his role in forging a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia in their brief war in August, and bringing together first Europe and then the Group of 20 most powerful developed and developing nations for an unprecedented summit meeting on the financial crisis in November.As one senior diplomat from a neighboring European country put it at the reception Friday, Sarkozy loves crisis, and he is good in times of crisis.

Russia and Ukraine face EU sanctions threat,The EU has raised the threat of sanctions, but it is unclear what it can do or who to blame (Photo: gazdefrance.com)PHILIPPA RUNNER 16.01.2009 @ 17:22 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Friday (16 January) threatened to take unspecified sanctions against Russia and Ukraine unless gas flows to the EU resume after the weekend.It's a situation the seriousness [of which] goes beyond the specific issue of gas, commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said. As of next week, if the gas does not flow again, we will have to look point by point at our relations with Russia and with Ukraine and assess in each case whether we can do business as usual.The meetings in the coming days offer the best and last chance for Russia and Ukraine to demonstrate they are serious about resolving the dispute.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has invited Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko and EU leaders from the 18 countries affected by the dispute to hold a crisis summit in Moscow on Saturday.It was uncertain on Friday if the Medvedev event would take place after Mr Yushchenko opted to meet senior politicians from Poland, Slovakia and Moldova in Kiev instead, while arguing that any summit should be held on neutral ground in Brussels or Prague.The EU has offered to send energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Czech EU presidency industry minister Martin Riman, if Ukraine attends. But EU leaders from the affected states declined the invitation, prompting a rebuke from Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.If someone's not interested, we won't force them to come to Moscow, he said at a press conference in Russia. This is a case when the EU should show their famous solidarity and explain to their Ukrainian colleagues the inadmissibility of not fulfilling a contract.Hopes for a resolution also hang on two bilateral meetings between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday and Mr Putin's talks with Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Moscow on Saturday.The complete stoppage of Russian gas to the EU via Ukraine - one fifth of the EU's daily consumption - continued for a 10th day on Friday. The dispute, which began with Russia-Ukraine gas price haggling, is ostensibly stuck on who should pay for technical gas (needed to restart Ukraine's transit system) and which Ukrainian pipes Russia should use to resume EU supplies.

Conspiracy theories

But some EU officials suspect high-stakes politics and corruption lie behind the row. Theories doing the rounds in Brussels include the belief Russia is trying to destabilise EU-Ukraine relations; that Gazprom is trying to seize control of Ukrainian pipelines; that Ms Tymoshenko is trying to undermine Mr Yushchenko ahead of presidential elections; and even that the fight is over who in Moscow and Kiev gets to siphon hundreds of millions of euros in gas payments into private bank accounts. It is shrouded in secrecy and we probably will never know [who is to blame],Czech minister Mr Riman said earlier this week.It is equally unclear what punitive measures the EU might take if the weekend talks fall through, beyond long-term plans to increase nuclear and renewable energy, buy more liquid gas from Qatar or build new pipelines to the Caspian Sea basin.The fact remains that for the foreseeable future, the EU will remain dependent on Russian gas and the vast majority of that gas will continue to come through Ukraine's pipeline system, one EU official said.

Ukraine more vulnerable

Ukraine, which hopes to inch toward EU accession under the Eastern Partnership scheme launched last year is in theory easier to punish. But any interruption to the European Commission's €120-million-a-year aid payments would have little impact, with most of the cash contracted to EU firms in any case. The limitations of EU leverage against Russia became clear during the Georgia war last August. EU states took the minimalist step of pausing talks on a new bilateral treaty, even as Russian tanks parked less than 40 km from Tbilisi in a bloody campaign.France, the European Commission and the office of EU diplomatic chief Javier Solana pushed to restart business as usual in November despite Russia's non-compliance with peace deals, saying the EU cannot afford poor Kremlin relations in trade and geopolitical terms.By Spring this crisis will be forgotten and the EU will be calling Russia a strategic partner once again,an EU diplomat said.

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

EU security database upgrade could be scrapped
VALENTINA POP 16.01.2009 @ 09:17 CET

The Czech EU presidency has set a deadline of the end of June to either go ahead or scrap a multi-million-euro security database upgrade to the bloc's border-free area due to technical difficulties and delays.The Schengen Information System II (SIS II) was supposed to be up and running by 2007 and interconnect comprehensive passport and police databases from all 25 members of the Schengen border-free area. Named after a town in Luxembourg where the initial border-free agreement was signed in 1985, the Schengen area now includes all EU member states except for UK and Ireland, while Romania and Bulgaria are set to join 2011. Cyprus' entry date to the area is expected before Romania and Bulgaria, but is not set yet. Non-EU members Switzerland, Norway and Iceland also belong to the zone.The result will be: We dismantle all the problems, the SIS II works, and there is a fixed date when it's over, said Czech interior minister Ivan Langer, who hosted a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Prague on Thursday.Or, at the end of our presidency, the result will be that the problems are so serious that we have to follow the contingency plan, he told reporters at a press conference.That plan is to be drawn up by May by experts from member nations.I hope that three or four months is enough to be able to find a solution, Mr Langer said.Some €28 million have been already spent on the project since 2002 and further €40 million have been earmarked for the system. It is unacceptable to put money into developing this if the future of the project is not clear, Austrian interior minister Maria Fekter told reporters on the sidelines of the talks.However, France urged caution due to the importance of the security system.We have to be very cautious, to only move forward in a way that is technically certain and we have to be careful not to leave any other member behind, said French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie.Mr Langer, chairing his first EU ministerial meeting under the Czech presidency, described it as a very tough debate, there were very critical views expressed.Some wanted to bring (the project) to an end, he added.

The old system (SIS), which has been in place since 1995, only provides basic information such as passport numbers, on travellers entering their territory from outside the Schengen zone.When the EU expanded in 2004, Schengen members decided to create a new SIS that would both accommodate the new members and allow them to exchange not just passport numbers, but fingerprints and photos.But SIS II experienced huge technical problems, with computers in the member states unable to communicate with the EU's centralised database. The problems lasted so long that the EU invited the new member states into the Schengen zone under the old technical system in December 2007 - re-naming it SISone4ALL.Officials on Thursday insisted that it was still not too late to bring SIS II into effect.It's true that there is a bit of a delay, but we'll fix a schedule and we'll stick to it, EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot said.

Bulgaria and Romania can join without SIS II

Asked whether the problems with SIS II could mean a delay for Bulgaria and Romania's entering the border-free zone, Barrot said: It is not essential to have SIS II in place to carry out further enlargements of the Schengen area.On 13 January, Bulgarian and Romanian officals told a joint news conference that there was no reason to delay their countries' joining Schengen beyond March 2011. Romania already had started issuing biometric passports required for SIS II, while Bulgaria was currently selecting the company to produce them.

Biometric passports to become mandatory By Jim Brunsden
15.01.2009 / 11:45 CET

Age limit for the collection of children's fingerprints proves key point of contention in debate over pan-EU rules. Biometric data and digital facial scans will soon become standard features in passports issued by EU countries, following a vote in the European Parliament on 14 January. The legislation, which secured a 506-vote majority in the 785-member assembly, means that, after 29 June, all passports issued by EU states to people aged 12 or above will carry fingerprints and photographic data. However, member states that already take fingerprints from children younger than 12 will be allowed to continue to do so. Those that collect young children's fingerprints include France, Portugal and Estonia. They will not, however, be allowed to take the fingerprints of children younger than six.The age limit of 12 was a compromise between the European Parliament and EU member states, which had wanted a lower limit. Sarah Ludford, a Liberal MEP from the UK who campaigned for the age limit to be set at 12, argued that there are serious concerns relating to the reliability of fingerprints taken from 6 to 12-year-olds, as fingerprints still grow rapidly between these ages.Concern expressed about what other uses member states might make of fingerprints Member states that do choose to apply a lower limit will be free, if they wish, to store the information in national databases, prompting Ludford to express concern about what other uses member states can make of fingerprints once captured.Generalised police access to fingerprints of innocent people would, in my view, violate human rights, she said on 14 January.

One person, one passport
The legislation will end the practice of children being able to travel with their parents without needing a separate passport. This has traditionally been standard practice in many EU countries. MEPs backed the proposal that young children should have their own passports as this will, they believe, help the fight against human trafficking. They also argued that, in the absence of EU-wide legislation, member states would be left free to collect the biometric details of children of any age.

The new rules apply to all EU member states except the UK and Ireland, because they are not members of the Schengen area, within which internal borders have been dismantled. Both countries have a standard policy, however, of upgrading their travel documents in line with legislation adopted for the Schengen area.Separate legislation that is currently the subject of discussion between the European Parliament and member states would standardise the collection of biometric data for visas. An informal deal has been reached on an age limit of 12 years. Formal approval is expected during the Czech Republic's presidency of the EU, which ends in June.

Scorecard for the major stock market indexes By The Associated Press – Fri Jan 16, 6:36 pm ET

Stocks closed moderately higher Friday after an erratic session that had investors tussling with concerns about the ongoing problems in the banking industry in response to more billion-dollar losses at Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. Yet investors were also heartened by plans for both banks to restore themselves to profitability, and they were also willing to place bets on a range of consumer and industrial stocks.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 68.73, or 0.84 percent, to 8,281.22.The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.38, or 0.76 percent, to 850.12.The Nasdaq composite index rose 17.49, or 1.16 percent, to 1,529.33.
For the week:The Dow is down 317.96, or 3.70 percent.The S&P is down 40.23, or 4.50 percent.The Nasdaq is down 42.26, or 2.70 percent.For the year:The Dow is down 495.17, or 5.60 percent.The S&P is down 53.13, or 5.90 percent.The Nasdaq is down 47.70, or 3.00 percent.

Significant deficits in Canada's future, PM warns
Updated Fri. Jan. 16 2009 5:33 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Stephen Harper emerged from a day-long meeting with the first ministers and said Canadians can expect to see very significant deficits in the short-term in federal and provincial budgets. Harper said there is a broad consensus from the provincial premiers in the need for an extensive economic stimulus package from the government in its Jan. 27 budget. I think all of the premiers understand that we are in a very dangerous time for the world economy -- one that requires unprecedented collaboration., Harper said. It is up to government to come forward and make significant investments and sustain economic confidence.Harper did not announce any specific funding plans coming from the meeting. He said one premier in particular wants tax cuts but did not say if that was in the works for the federal budget. Officials have hinted that the federal budget will run a $40 billion deficit, much of it in the form of economic stimulus measures. It is expected a large deal of the stimulus package will be aimed at infrastructure. B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell told CTV Newsnet's On the Hill the tone of the meeting was very constructive.But Harper wasn't being praised by all premiers. Quebec Premier Jean Charest challenged Harper for changes to the equalization formula that will restrict increases for have-not provinces to the rate of inflation. I see this as Mr. Harper breaking a promise he had made on the fiscal imbalance, Charest said.

Earlier, Infrastructure Minister John Baird said the Tories are committed to boosting infrastructure spending and to cutting through red tape to ensure money flows quickly. Infrastructure is badly needed in Canada and we believe it can be an important shot-in-the-arm to the Canadian economy, Baird told CTV Newsnet Friday afternoon in Ottawa. Baird said money will be allocated in the budget for such projects as public transit, water treatment, roads, bridges, highways, and a convention centre in Ottawa. He said the building won't just create jobs during its construction, but will be a real boost to tourism and economic development when it's completed.

Shovel-ready to go

The federal government has earmarked $33 billion over six years for infrastructure projects. But because some of these projects need approval from all three levels of government, it can take a long time for that money to actually be spent, reported CTV parliamentary correspondent Roger Smith in Ottawa. So one of the key things here is not just the commitment to spend money on infrastructure projects --from social housing to new roads and new sewers -- but how to get that money going quickly, Smith told CTV Newsnet. The cliché of this week is shovel-ready projects. The premiers and the big-city mayors want the money quickly so they can get shovels in the ground this spring, and put people to work right away, added Smith.

Canadians are anxious: McGuinty

On Friday morning, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called the all-day meeting a real opportunity for us to lend shape to the upcoming federal budget.I think we're all here to represent some of the sentiment being felt in households across the country, McGuinty said. Canadians are anxious, they're concerned about job losses, they're concerned about floundering businesses, there's a lot of anxiety and there's a lot of uncertainty.He pointed to infrastructure projects as the best means of creating jobs in the short term while enhancing productivity in the long term. One of the most important things you need to do in this time is come together through your government and kick-start your economy by creating jobs and the kinds of projects people can see that do actually get shovels in the ground, McGuinty told Canada AM.
Those are the kind of things that have actually proven historically to be very, very helpful when it comes to kick-starting the economy at times of slow economic growth.
Harper has promised to double infrastructure spending from $3 to $6 billion in 2009.

Support for workers

McGuinty also said the federal and provincial governments need to look at ways of helping those who have already lost their jobs. In Ontario alone, he said, 100,000 families have been affected by recent job loss. We want to see what we can do in terms of better support through training, and also to provide them with better employment insurance benefits.Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, who has often been at odds with the prime minister, said he expects partisanship to be set aside as all the leaders work together to save the economy. I think the prime minister and the finance minister are here to get our advice and hear what we have to say, he said, noting that Newfoundland's fishery, oil industry and forestry industry have all been hurt by the recession.

Deficit warning

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach warned that taking on a large deficit could have long-term implications. We have to be careful these deficits are short-term because the fallout may be inflation and higher interest rates three or four years from now if all governments around the world go to huge deficits and stay in high deficit mode, Stelmach told Canada AM. Even oil-rich Alberta isn't immune to the effects of the slowing economy, he said. Low oil prices have drastically reduced the province's revenue, as well as its contribution to federal coffers. Are we better prepared? Yes, we've set some money aside, a cash account we can dip into...but we do have to be prudent in our budgeting and make sure we do create the incentives for further infrastructure spending.

TARP: The Sequel By David Bogoslaw David Bogoslaw – Fri Jan 16, 8:08 am

There was great dissension among economists and public policy experts over the use of the first $350 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program last fall after numerous false starts and even after the Treasury Dept. settled on its primary TARP strategy: pumping money into a handful of financial service companies in hopes of preventing a repeat of the failure of Lehman Brothers.With the success of that initial effort still in doubt, how the second tranche of the financial rescue funds should be applied (once the Obama Administration is in place) will be no less contentious.This week, senior officials at the Federal Reserve cited the need for further cash infusions into the weaker financial institutions, even as one of the original TARP recipients, Citigroup (NYSE:C - News), announced the sale of a controlling stake in its retail brokerage unit, Smith Barney, to Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - News) to bolster its capital position. Citi has already gotten $45 billion in cash and a government guarantee for up to $300 billion in losses on its balance sheet. So the bank's need for more cash doesn't inspire much confidence that the TARP funds have been well spent.

Senate Go-Ahead

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the gulf between the preferential treatment of the financial sector and other ailing industries, such as auto manufacturers, but said it appears unavoidable in view of the U.S. economy's reliance on the credit the financial industry provides. On Jan. 15, the U.S. Senate voted 52-48 to approve the release of the second tranche of TARP funds to the Treasury Dept.With so much riding on the recovery of the U.S. financial system, BusinessWeek asked banking and economic experts to weigh in on the best use of the remaining funds.David Beim, a professor in the finance and banking department at the Columbia Business School, says he doesn't support giving more money to the banks, especially if they themselves don't know whether they're solvent or not, as they can't be sure of the value of their own assets. And asset values remain in doubt because we don't know how deep the recession is going to be, and because the securitized mortgage bonds (both commercial and home) are still too complex for investors to analyze, he wrote in an e-mail.

Bring in Distressed Debt Players

Once the condition of the banks becomes clear, those that are undercapitalized should be required to raise more capital or sell assets, while those that are insolvent should be closed, just as the FDIC closed several thousand banks and thrifts between 1986 and 1992, he said.Beim recommended that the remaining TARP money be directed toward complex and illiquid assets, but in a more creative way than Treasury first proposed. Rather than buying assets, Treasury would do better to lend the money to private entities, such as institutional investors willing to put their own capital at risk to buy them, he said. This is the time to encourage vulture funds and others to come out of the woods and go to work. That would stimulate the private sector to discover the right price level and jump-start a market for toxic assets, he added.Others argue that TARP has failed because it hasn't cut to the root of the credit crisis: the rise in foreclosures on poorly vetted home loans, which has turned a vast assortment of securitized products into a toxic brew. H.R. 384, the bill proposed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) under the working title of the TARP Reform & Accountability Act of 2009, suggests setting aside a portion of the rescue funds -- up to $100 billion but in no case less than $40 billion -- to prevent and reduce residential foreclosures. President-elect Obama has promised to use as much as $100 billion of the TARP money in this way.

Repeat Defaulters

In testimony before Congress on Jan. 13, John Taylor, president and chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), proposed using the doctrine of Eminent Domain as the legal basis for the government to buy 3 million to 5 million home loans at a 30% to 35% discount from homeowners who still have jobs and are good credit risks. That would allow the principal on these mortgages to be reduced so that families can afford to stay in their homes. A number of congressmen balked at the idea, wary of trumping states' rights, says Taylor.Given that the continuing decline in home values and mounting foreclosures pose the biggest threat to the value of securitized assets on financial institutions' balance sheets, it seems logical to modify home loans in order to forestall additional foreclosures and minimize further writedowns of bank assets. Opponents of that solution, however, cite a recent report by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency showing that more than half the borrowers who received loan modifications in the first six months of 2008 have defaulted on their new loans as well.The prospect of modifying mortgages is further complicated by the political pushback that's likely to result from giving more irresponsible homeowners a break at the expense of taxpayers who didn't overreach their means and have kept up with their monthly payments, says Bert Ely, a principal at Ely & Co., an Alexandria (Va.) consulting firm for financial institutions.

Echoes of the S&L Crisis

Professor Cornelius Hurley, director of the Graduate Program in Banking and Financial Law at the Boston University School of Law, likes the idea of setting up a separate entity for all the bad assets the government could take off the banks' balance sheets -- the so-called good bank/bad bank solution used to resolve the savings and loan crisis in the early 1990s. Although in one respect it's only cosmetic, such a measure would probably succeed because it puts the focus on getting rid of bad assets and allows the core bank that is generating operating earnings to be identified as such, he says.Allowing the government to take an ownership stake in the banks in the form of preferred shares would also lower the risk of over- or underpricing the assets being acquired, which scuttled the original intended use of TARP funds. If the Treasury pays too much for an asset, it has essentially paid itself, because now it would be a shareholder in the institution it bought from, says Hurley. But before the government resorts to a good bank/bad bank solution, you've got to know what assets are in these institutions, since splitting off the bad assets can result in such a capital hole -- filled by new investors in the good bank -- that the original shareholders could be wiped out, says Henry Owsley, a partner at the Gordian Group, a financial advisory firm that provides services to companies in distress. How the TARP money is used is ultimately much less important than reinvigorating regulators' will to get a handle on the actual condition of bank balance sheets, he believes.

Where's the Due Diligence?

Owsley says he's appalled at the government's readiness to invest in these banks simply by throwing money blindly and recklessly at problems it doesn't understand, without any due diligence with respect to the value of their assets or demanding more transparency on the balance sheets. None of these things would happen in the private sector, he says. Regulators were far more proactive in dealing with the S&L crisis, he says. The Office of Thrift Supervision made institutions mark their capital down, and when there was a problem, it made institutions merge with healthier institutions, he says. Small and midsize banks should be allowed to fail, but that can't be an option for the handful of truly large banks that have such extensive interaction with the U.S. and global economies, says Richard Marston, finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Hence, he sees injecting cash to strengthen the capital at these larger banks as the most important use of the remainder of the TARP funds. Some are so large that even if we knew that their asset positions had to be marked down, we should still inject equity into them, he says. There's no doubt there's some very rotten assets on the balance sheets of these big banks, even JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM - News). The federal authorities in doing due diligence recognize that.

Third-Party Buyers

One government program that makes sense to Gordian's Owsley, and that he hopes will succeed, is the term asset-backed securities loan facility, or TALF, which the Fed announced right before Thanksgiving. Under the $200 billion program, which takes effect in February, the government will provide a major part of one-year financing to investors willing to buy new triple-A securitizations of credit card, student, auto, and small business loans. If it works, it could be expanded to include mortgage loans and other distressed assets, says Owsley, though others disagree. Owsley likes the fact that TALF requires third-party purchasers to step in and put at least some money down on assets, which would amount to a pretty fair test of value.Changing the bankruptcy laws to allow homeowners to renegotiate the terms of their mortgages with servicers so that they have an alternative to continuing to make payments they can't afford or to getting out of their homes is another good idea, says Owsley. The current laws make loan servicers unwilling to consider anything outside the confines of the original servicing agreement for fear of getting sued, he says. Intelligent restructuring of mortgages would help avoid the social costs of putting families on the street and would preserve more value for the lenders than foreclosure sales, he adds. There is no lack of ideas surrounding the potential uses of TARP Part II. However the remaining $350 billion ends up being used, though, the result is certain to be political contention and will likely mirror a truth the film industry discovered long ago: The sequel is usually less well-received than the original.

JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY LIKE HE LEFT

ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Joel 3:2
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Whose Promised Land? Psalm 78:54-55 (ISRAELS)
54 And He brought them to His holy border, This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55 He also drove out the nations before them,Allotted them an inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY TO RULE AND REIGN FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER AND WE COME BACK WITH HIM ON WHITE HORSES.

ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

ZECHARIAH 14:4
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

REVELATION 19:11-16
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

JUDE 14-16
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

33% of Christians say JESUS sinned....their sick. JESUS WAS SINLESS.
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86312

JESUS WAS BORN A JEW AND IS RETURNING AS KING OF THE JEWS AND KING OF THE WHOLE EARTH ,JESUS WAS NO MUSLIM.

TESTING THE FAITH CAIR campaign: Jesus was Muslim,Claims Islam is way of life of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad January 16, 2009 11:50 pm Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily

A billboard in Florida in a similar Islam-promoting campaign

A new $60,000 advertising campaign by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations that claims on Florida buses that Jesus was a Muslim is drawing protests. Apparently they will say anything to try to get people to convert to Islam. What ever happened to honesty? asked a blogger on IslamInAction. According to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, dozens of people turned out today for a rally to publicize their opposition to having transit buses in the region carry the message, funded by CAIR, that says: ISLAM: The Way of Life of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.We're hoping the counties of Broward and Miami-Dade will remove the signage from the buses, rally organizer Joe Kaufman told the newspaper. The campaign comes on the heels of a similar campaign in New York City subways several months earlier, as well as a billboard campaign in Florida. According to JihadWatch,org, signs with catchy phrases and images also have gone up in Tampa Bay, Orlando, Portland, Ore., and San Antonio, Texas. Altaf Ali, of CAIR's south Florida chapter, told the newspaper the bus campaign statement is simple and correct. He said anyone who submits their will to God is Muslim. By that definition, he said, Abraham and all the prophets are Muslim.

Several dozen of the regional fleet of nearly 300 buses have been carrying the message for several weeks. We owe it to our fellow Americans to let them know that Islam stands for peace, Ali told the newspaper. Muslims are here and Muslims are part and parcel of the United States.Kaufman, who runs an organization called Americans Against Hate, however, said the message is offensive for Jews and Christians. IslamInAction said the campaign by CAIR simply has gone way overboard, but there's a reason for it. Their goal is to try and put a positive spin on Islam as more and more non-Muslims are slowly waking up to the true threat of Islam, the commentary said. Phyllis Berry, of the Broward County Transit system, told the newspaper the CAIR promotion didn't violate guidelines banning ads that demean religions. Several participants in the Sun-Sentinel forum page were less than enthused about the religious promotion by CAIR. The phony islam religion never even showed up til that crackpot muhamad (sic) dreamed it up 550 years later, wrote one.

Never have so many people been brainwashed by such a death cult, added a second. They worship a fake moon god that commands them even to murder their own daughters in honor killings.It just never ceases to amaze me the things CAIR gets away with! wrote a third. Just a few months earlier, the Islamic Circle of North America posted promotions for Islam in the subway system in New York City, drawing concerns over their message. WND previously has reported on a number of disputes involving CAIR, including when leaders were served with a legal notice of a lawsuit on behalf of Muslims who claim the group victimized them in a fraud scheme involving a lawyer who is unqualified to practice. Another report confirmed how CAIR members are busy installing Islam-promoting materials in libraries across the nation. The organization also previously was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a plot to fund the terrorist group Hamas. CAIR is a spinoff of the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine, launched by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and former university professor Sami al-Arian, who pleaded guilty several years ago to conspiracy to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Several CAIR staffers have been convicted on terrorism-related charges, and CAIR founder Omar Ahmad allegedly told a group of Muslims they are in America not to assimilate but to help assert Islam's rule over the country.

PEOPLE REJECT THE TRUE KING JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL BUT WORSHIP A LEADER LIKE OBAMA,HE IS DEFINATELY A FORUNNER TO THE FALSE FUTURE EU WORLD DICTATOR KING.

OBAMA IS A DICTATOR LIKE PUTIN HE WANTS TO CHANGE THE YEARS A PERSON CAN LEAD AMERICA ALSO,TROUBLE AMERICA. OBAMA AND THE NEW WORLD ORDERERS GOT THE POWER THEY NEED NOW,BUT THE TRUE POWER IS THE EU WHICH WILL CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH SO THESE NEW WORLD ORDERERS AND OBAMA ARE NOTHING BUT EUROPEAN UNION PUPPETS.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD Hail King Obama: President for life,Move underway to repeal Constitution's term limits January 16, 2009 11:40 pm Eastern By Drew Zahn
2009 WorldNetDaily

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y.

As Inauguration Day approaches and Barack Obama prepares to assume his first term as president, some in Congress are hoping to make it possible for the Democrat to not only seek a second term in office, but a third and fourth as well. The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary is considering a bill that would repeal the Constitution's 22nd Amendment prohibiting a president from being elected to more than two terms in office. Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., earlier this month introduced the bill, H. J. Res. 5, which, according to the bill's language, proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.In the past, some presidents have been critical of the 22nd Amendment, including Eisenhower, Clinton and Reagan. In 1807 Thomas Jefferson, however, warned that presidents not bound by term limits could use their popularity and power to become kings. If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution or supplied in practice, Jefferson wrote to the Legislature of Vermont, his office, nominally for years, will in fact become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.

Presidential term limits, however, were not fixed by the Constitution until ratification of the 22nd Amendment. Congress passed the Amendment on March 21, 1947, shortly after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the first and only president to be elected to more than two terms – in Roosevelt's case, four. The Amendment was ratified by the required number of states on Feb. 26, 1951. The 22nd Amendment states, No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.The Amendment limits presidents to a maximum of eight years in office – or, under unusual circumstances, such as succession following the death of a president, a maximum of ten years in office. Should Rep. Serrano succeed in repealing the Amendment, Obama would be cleared to run for an unlimited number of terms, restricted only by the vote of the electorate. In order to achieve repeal of the 22nd Amendment, Serrano's proposal must be approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and ratified by three-quarters of the states' legislatures. H. J. Res. 5 is not the first attempt by Serrano to repeal the 22nd Amendment. In 2003, Serrano introduced H. J. Res. 11 to the 108th Congress to accomplish the same purpose. A similar resolution, H.J. Res. 25, was also proposed the same year and received co-sponsorship from a bipartisan group of six other representatives. In 1987, during Reagan's term of office, Earl Michener, R-Mich., also proposed a repeal of the 22nd Amendment. At the current time, H.J. Res. 5 has not tallied any cosponsors and has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. Prior to Franklin Roosevelt, presidents honored the precedent established by George Washington, who – though widely popular – refused to run for a third term of office.

Thomas Jefferson, who became the second vice president of the U.S. after Washington declined to run for a third term and who then later became the third president, not only affirmed following the Washington's example, but also foresaw the eventual passage of the 22nd Amendment. General Washington set the example of voluntary retirement after eight years, Jefferson wrote in an 1805 letter to John Taylor. I shall follow it, and a few more precedents will oppose the obstacle of habit to anyone after a while who shall endeavor to extend his term. Perhaps it may beget a disposition to establish it by an amendment of the Constitution.In the same letter to the Legislature of Vermont where he warned of a presidential monarchy, Jefferson further explained why he refused to run for a third term. Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, Jefferson wrote, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.WND attempted to contact Rep. Serrano about his reasons and argument for repeal of the 22nd Amendment, but phone calls to his communications director were not returned.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Kellogg's recalls more peanut butter products By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer JAN 17,09

WASHINGTON – First it was bulk peanut butter shipped to nursing homes and institutional cafeterias. Now the salmonella case has touched the Kellogg Co., which has recalled 16 products as federal officials confirm contamination at a Georgia facility that sent peanut products to 85 food companies.Kellogg had asked stores this week to pull some of its Keebler crackers from shelves as a precaution. But in a statement late Friday, the Battle Creek, Mich., company said voluntarily was recalling the crackers and other products.The nationwide outbreak has sickened hundreds of people in 43 states and killed at least six.The actions we are taking today are in keeping with our more than 100-year commitment to providing consumers with safe, high-quality products, said David Mackay, Kellogg's president and chief executive.The recall includes Austin and Keebler branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, in addition to some snack-size packs of Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies.Sandra Williams, a compliance officer with the Food and Drug Administration in Detroit, advised consumers not to eat the products and to contact a doctor if they have any symptoms.This is a very active investigation, but we don't yet have the data to provide consumers with specifics about what brands or products they should avoid, said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's food safety center. Although salmonella bacteria has been found at the Georgia plant, for example, more tests are needed to see if it matches the strain that has made people sick.

The investigation includes not just peanut butter, but baked goods and other products that contain peanuts and are sold directly to consumers. Health officials say as many as one-third of the people who got sick did not recall eating peanut butter.Officials said they are focusing on peanut paste, as well as peanut butter, produced at a Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America. Under scrutiny are 32 of the 85 companies that Peanut Corp. supplies, because of when they received shipments of peanut butter or paste. The companies are being urged to test their products, or pull them from the shelves as Kellogg did.The processing plant passed its last inspection this summer.Peanut Corp. initially recalled 21 lots of peanut butter made at the plant since July 1 because of possible salmonella contamination. But late Friday the company expanded its voluntary recall to include all peanut butter produced at the Georgia plant since Aug. 8 and all peanut paste produced since Sept. 26. The company, which suspended peanut butter processing at the facility, said none of its peanut butter is sold directly to consumers but is distributed to institutions, food service industries and private label food companies.The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday wrote the company requesting inspection and internal records dating back four years.Health officials in Minnesota and Virginia have linked two deaths each to the outbreak and Idaho has reported one. Four of those five were elderly people, and all had salmonella when they died, although their exact causes of death have not been determined. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the salmonella may have contributed.

An elderly North Carolina man died in November from the same strain of salmonella that's causing the outbreak, officials in that state said Friday.The CDC said the bacteria behind the outbreak — typhimurium — is common and not an unusually dangerous strain but that the elderly or those with weakened immune systems are more at risk. Salmonella is the nation's leading cause of food poisoning; common symptoms include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.On the Net:FDA: http://tinyurl.com/8srctw Kellogg's: http://www.kelloggcompany.com Associated Press writers Kate Brumback and Mike Stobbe in Atlanta and Lauran Neergaard and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington also contributed to this report.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Researcher: North Korea has weaponized plutonium By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer JAN 17,09

BEIJING – North Korea has hardened its stance on disarmament, saying it has weaponized plutonium into warheads, but hopes for better ties with President-elect Barack Obama, a U.S. researcher who visited the North said Saturday.Officials say the weapons cannot be inspected and Pyongyang might keep them even if it normalizes relations with Washington, said Selig Harrison, director of the Washington-based Center for International Policy's Asia program.Harrison, who has visited the North 11times since 1972, said he met this week with the North's nuclear envoy, Ri Gun, and other officials.The officials said North Korea is now a nuclear weapons state and will not commit itself now on when it will give it up as a result of denuclearization negotiations, Harrison told reporters in Beijing. We are not in a position to say when we will abandon nuclear weapons, he quoted Ri as saying.

Harrison said the North's much, much harder line might be due to the rise of military hard-liners after leader Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke. North Korea has denied reports that Kim had been seriously ill, but Harrison said that based on information from his own sources in Pyongyang he believed Kim suffered a stroke.He has recovered and he is now making what is described to me as key decisions but is not dealing on a day-to-day basis with detailed issues as he had done before, Harrison said.Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and others said the North wants better relations with Obama's government, according to Harrison. He said they want Obama to make sure the North receives promised energy aid and to provide help to revive North Korean agriculture. He said the North wants its symphony orchestra invited to perform in the United States following a Pyongyang concert last March by the New York Philharmonic.Pyongyang has made normalizing ties with Washington a priority but the United States says it must disarm first. The two governments have never had formal relations.The latest round of six-nation talks aimed at stripping the North of nuclear capability broke down in December. The participants are the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. The North agreed earlier to disarm in exchange for aid, but that deal became deadlocked over how to verify North Korea's past nuclear activities.All of those I met said the North has already weaponized the 30.8 kilograms (67.8 pounds) of plutonium listed in its formal declaration and that the weapons cannot be inspected, Harrison said. When he asked what weaponized meant, the answer I got was,It means warheads.

He said that much plutonium would produce four to five warheads, depending on the grade of plutonium, the specific weapons design and the desired explosive yield.
North Korea has tested ballistic missiles, fueling fears it might be trying to develop one that can carry a nuclear warhead.Also Saturday, North Korea's military called South Korea's president a traitor and accused him of preparing for a military provocation. In the rare statement, which was carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the military warned that Seoul's hard-line stance compelled Pyongyang to take an all-out confrontational posture.South Korean presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said he had no immediate comment.South Korea has repeatedly called for dialogue with the North.Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the comments could be a negotiating tactic aimed at Seoul and Washington ahead of Obama's inauguration Tuesday.In a separate statement Saturday carried by the KCNA, the North Korean foreign ministry said the country can live without normalizing the relations with the U.S., but not without nuclear deterrent.Harrison also said the officials threatened to suspend work on disabling the North's Yongbyon reactor if it does not receive 200,000 tons of fuel oil promised by Japan. The oil was part of the disarmament deal but Tokyo withheld its share due to a dispute over the North's abduction of Japanese nationals.