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.
Over 600,000 still without power in Midwest AccuWeather JAN 30,09
NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than 600,000 homes and businesses were still without power on Friday morning after snow and ice storms earlier this week left more than 1.5 million customers in the dark from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania, local utilities reported.The storms on January 27-28 hit Kentucky the hardest, leaving more than half a million customers without power.Officials at E.ON U.S., which owns Louisville Gas and Electric Co and Kentucky Utilities Co, said it could take up to two weeks to restore service to all 332,000 still without service.E.ON U.S., a subsidiary or German energy company E.ON AG, owns and operates about 8,000 megawatts of generating capacity and transmits and distributes electricity to more than 900,000 customers and natural gas to more than 325,000 customers in Kentucky.High temperatures in Louisville, the biggest city the Bluegrass State, will remain below normal in the 20s and 30s degrees Fahrenheit through Sunday, according to forecasts by AccuWeather.com.In Arkansas, another hard hit state, the electric cooperatives, which serve about 490,000 customers, said outages peaked at about 300,000. The co-ops still had about 178,000 homes and businesses in the dark Friday morning.After crashing across the Midwest, the storm dropped a lot of snow in the Northeast before moving off the East Coast into the Atlantic Ocean late Wednesday.Snow, however, does not disrupt power service like ice. Ice accumulates on trees and branches, snapping them onto power lines.(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Crews make some progress on ice storm outages By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writer JAN 30,09
KDKA Pittsburgh MURRAY, Ky. – Utility crews made some progress Friday in restoring power to the more than 1.3 million homes and businesses darkened by an ice storm that crippled states from Missouri to West Virginia, but thousands were still bunking in toasty shelters because their homes had no water or heat.At Murray University in southwestern Kentucky, brothers Jim McClung, 42, and Dale Earnest, 38, were among those resting in every corner of a university theater. Some sprawled in aisles, propped in chairs or curled up on the stage. hey, like many others, ran out of food and water at their frigid, powerless home.I had no idea the storm was going to last this long, McClung said.Utility companies struggled through ice-encrusted debris into Friday morning as they worked to restore power, but warned it may not return until Saturday at the earliest. It could take until mid-February for some to come back online in the hardest-hit areas of Kentucky and Arkansas.I know everybody, including myself, would like this to be over today, tomorrow or yesterday, said Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who toured some of the damage Thursday. It's going to take several days, if not weeks, to dig our way through all of this all across the state.For some, things were getting better. About 60,000 had power restored since Thursday, and with warmer temperatures predicted for the weekend, crews could make substantial progress in the next few days, said Public Service Commission spokesman Andrew Melnykovich. Still, some 547,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark —including about 172,000 in Louisville.Deputies trekked door-to-door in many communities to let people know where shelters were, forced to spread the word the old-fashioned way because cell phone and Internet service was spotty. In some towns, volunteers checked to make sure their elderly and disabled neighbors were all right.
Many Kentucky hotels offering discounted power outage rates reported being fully booked with people escaping frosty neighborhoods. Those who hunkered down in their homes face long lines to buy generators, firewood, groceries — even bottled water because power outages crippled local pumping stations.Truckloads of ready-to-eat meals, water and generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were expected to arrive Friday at a staging area in Fort Campbell, Ky., said Mary Hudak, a spokeswoman for FEMA's southeast region.In Paducah, Amber Fiers and her neighbor Miranda Brittan tried a half-dozen filling stations before finding one where they could buy kerosene. The two were in a line that swelled to 50 or more at the 13th Street Station, which began pumping kerosene after its owner set up a generator.
We got food, but I'm just worried about staying warm, said Brittan, who lives in Mayfield, adding she was frustrated by the search for supplies.By the time you hear about a place that's open they're out when you get there, she said.Roads were still littered with ice-caked power lines, downed trees and other debris. Help from around the country was arriving in convoys to assist the states with the worst outages.At a mall turned into a staging area in Barboursville, W.Va., crews in hard hats met Thursday alongside piles of poles, generators, wire and other supplies to find out where to go first.We're attacking it head on, said Appalachian Power spokesman Phil Moye. As long as the ice is still on the trees, the storm is still here.St. Louis-based AmerenUE said it had added 800 workers to power restoration efforts in southeast Missouri, and another 800 were expected Friday.In central Kentucky's Radcliff, John and Elsie Grimes lost power Monday night and needed police help to get out of their trailer and to a shelter Thursday morning set up by the local NAACP.
I've been sitting 'round for two days, eating cold hot dogs and bologna, said 70-year-old John Grimes, describing what he ate at home before coming to the shelter. he uses a wheelchair, is blind in one eye, and a diabetic. Since the storm began Monday, the weather has been blamed for at least 35 deaths, including six in Texas, nine in Arkansas, three in Virginia, six in Missouri, two in Oklahoma, two in Indiana, two in West Virginia, three in Kentucky and one in Ohio. Emergency officials feared that toll could rise if people stay in their homes without power for too long, because improper use of generators can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. Jimmy Eason was among those who decided to tough it out anyway in Velvet Ridge, Ark., gingerly stepping across his yard, watching for icicles falling from electrical wires. He was headed to his Ford F-150 pickup truck, which was warmer than his one-story house. I'm sleeping in a car, which is just fine, Eason, 74, said. There's nothing wrong with a car. Every couple of hours I turn it on, I let it run for 10 minutes and that keeps it pretty warm.Eason was trying to avoid boredom, and drove to Burger King to get a meal because he was tired of eating cold soup. It's kind of a chore to occupy your mind. I'm used to doing things and keeping busy, he said. You just have to endure a couple of days and it will be all right.
Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Dylan T. Lovan, Brett Barrouquere and Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky.; Daniel Shea in Velvet Ridge, Ark.; John Raby in Charleston, W.Va.; and Betsy Taylor in St. Louis, Mo.
OZONE DEPLETION
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Record-breaking heat scorches southern Australia By PAUL ALEXANDER, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jan 30, 9:24 am ET
MELBOURNE, Australia – Southern Australia suffered Friday from a record-breaking heat wave that has threatened rural towns with wildfires and sent ambulance crews after heat-stressed patients.Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city recorded its third consecutive day of temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius (109 F) for the first time since 1855, when record-keeping began, the Bureau of Meteorology said.The temperature in Melbourne topped 45.1 C (113 F) on Friday ahead of a cooler change that might even bring some thunder showers, the bureau said.Adelaide, the other major city on the south coast, is expected to match its longest heat wave in a century by Monday, with six consecutive days exceeding 40 C (104 F). The heat there buckled train and tram lines.The high temperatures have afflicted tennis players and spectators alike this week at the Australian Open in Melbourne, where men's No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic retired ill from a game Tuesday after heat-related complaints.
The retractable roofs on Rod Laver Arena have been closed at least parts of the last three days.There was controversy Wednesday when they closed the roof during the match between Serena Williams and Svetlana Kutzetsova. The Russian had won the first set, but the break gave Williams time to recover and she rallied to win.Players complained that it felt like their feet were burning right through their shoes. A bunch of moths that have annoyed the players were basically sizzling and dying within seconds of landing on the broiling court surface.Melbourne is the capital of Victoria state, where three rural towns were under threat from wildfires spreading quickly in the furnace-like conditions, Country Fire Authority deputy chief fire officer Geoff Conway said.Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Richard Carlyon said firefighters will have to wait for rain to dampen the tinder-dry conditions.State ambulance service chief Greg Sassella said more crews to help people affected by the heat were available on Friday, a day after 1,305 emergency cases were logged — more than double the normal load.Ambulance services in Adelaide and Melbourne said they were not aware of any deaths caused by the heat.Associated Press Writer Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
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)
The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
Peres: Outburst won't hurt Israel-Turkey ties By JOHN DANISZEWSKI, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jan 30, 6:29 am ET
DAVOS, Switzerland – Israeli President Shimon Peres said Friday his heated public exchange with Turkey's prime minister was not personal and ties between the two nations won't change.Peres defended his unusually passionate speech at a session of the World Economic Forum Thursday night as called for in response to the verbal assaults on Israel over its war in Gaza against Hamas.The remarks raised the emotions of Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who stalked off the stage after a moderator insisted on cutting off his attempt to respond.Peres said he spoke afterward with Erdogan who returned to Turkey early Friday to a rousing welcome.I called him up and said, Yes, I do not see the matter as personal ... and the relations can remain as they are, Peres said. My respect for him didn't change. We had an exchange of views — and the views are views.He explained his outburst as the result of hearing Israel repeatedly criticized for its Gaza operation, which Israel sees as the fault of Hamas for continuing to shoot rockets into Israel and causing its citizens to sleep in fear.They try to make the Israeli policy an ugly story, he said, still sounding frustrated. Israel is a democracy. It is fighting one of the most dangerous, terroristic, dictatorial groups. All of a sudden to be a humanitarian is to support dictators, to support terror, to support killing innocent people.Late Thursday, Erdogan stressed he left the stage not because of a dispute with Peres but because he was not given time to respond. Erdogan also complained that Peres had 25 minutes while he was only given 12 minutes.I did not target at all in any way the Israeli people, President Peres, or the Jewish people, Erdogan told a news conference afterward. I am a prime minister, a leader who has specifically expressly stated that anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity.
SKorea downplays NKorea's vow to drop peace pact By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer JAN 30,09
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's vow to abandon all peace agreements with Seoul drew a mild response Friday from South Korea's president, who continued to express optimism that the rivals could hold negotiations soon.President Lee Myung-bak dismissed the North's claim that his government's tougher policies were pushing the divided peninsula toward armed conflict.I hope North Korea understands that (South Korea) has affection toward the North, and I think that the two Koreas can hold negotiations before long, Lee said, without elaborating. Still, he was skeptical about sending an envoy to North Korea to help break the deadlock.Lee's comments came hours after the North vowed to abandon a nonaggression pact and all other peace agreements with South Korea. The communist country also said it would not respect a disputed sea border with the South.Some analysts characterized the rhetoric as just the latest in a nearly yearlong campaign to pressure Seoul's conservative, pro-U.S. president — and also attract the attention of President Barack Obama's new administration.Others saw signs the North is gearing up for armed provocation, possibly a naval skirmish over the Koreas' disputed Yellow Sea boundary — the scene of deadly battles between the two navies in 1999 and 2002.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said North Korea's motivation was unclear, but that its rhetoric is distinctly not helpful.He said North Korea's threats would not deter the United States from pursuing international talks meant to persuade it to abandon its nuclear weapons.Time is of the essence in the disarmament efforts and the matter is a priority for the new administration, Wood told reporters.
Lee described the North's remarks as not unusual and indicated Seoul will wait until North Korea is ready for talks in good faith.South-North relations should be at a starting point where they can trust, respect and talk to each other, Lee said in a televised round-table meeting.However, Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the North's comments could presage military moves.
This signals that North Korea will stage a provocation — probably near the maritime border, Kim said.Any skirmish would probably be limited in scale and intensity because North Korea is aware that serious clashes would irreparably harm relations with Seoul — and with Obama's administration, he said.South Korea's Defense Ministry said its troops remain on alert along its land and sea borders, although there were no unusual moves by the North's military.The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty. The peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified border, with thousands of troops stationed on both sides.Relations had warmed considerably over the past decade, with previous liberal governments in Seoul adopting a sunshine policy in which aid was extended to the impoverished North as a way to facilitate reconciliation.But Lee has not pledged to observe accords signed by his predecessors — a stance North Korea says proves his hostility. The North cut off reconciliation talks soon after he took office nearly a year ago. On Friday, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea — a ruling communist party organ in charge of ties with Seoul — declared all past peacekeeping accords with the South dead, claiming Lee was escalating tensions. The group of traitors has already reduced all the agreements reached between the North and the South in the past to dead documents, the committee said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Both Koreas are watching to see how Obama's North Korea policy takes shape. After eight years of icy relations with the Bush administration, North Korea hopes to have improved ties with Obama, analysts say. Obama has said he would be willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il if it advances the effort to disarm the North of its nuclear capabilities. North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, signed a pact in 2007 with five other nations — the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Russia and China — in which it agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for aid. That process has been stalled since August, and talks in Beijing in December failed to get the process back on track. Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee and Jae-soon Chang contributed to this report.
FITNA ISLAM
VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7961200236915885171&ei=Unl3SYqPApPSjgKmzbilDw&q=fitna
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/
YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video
MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F
ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461
FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074
FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045
AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529
BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918
REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704
AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091
CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI JAN 30,2009
09:30 AM +3.34
10:00 AM -20.87
10:30 AM -54.72
11:00 AM -86.90
11:30 AM -122.50
12:00 PM -103.86
12:30 PM -87.93
01:00 PM -80.92
01:30 PM -115.97
02:00 PM -107.69
02:30 PM -86.74
03:00 PM -108.88
03:30 PM -150.78
04:00 PM -148.15 8000.86
S&P 500 825.88 -19.26
NASDAQ 1476.42 -31.42
GOLD 928.40 +23.30
OIL 41.58 +0.12
TSE 300 8694.90 -67.86
CDNX 882.63 +2.09
S&P/TSX/60 523.28 -5.54
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
Dow +18 points at 4 minutes of trading todat.
Dow +45 points at high today so far.
Dow -125 points at low today so far.
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -7.15%
S&P -6.43%
Nasdaq -4.39%
TSX Advances 487,declines 645,unchanged 217,Volume 976,089,590.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 405,Declines 314,Unchanged 311,Volume 114,670,172.
Almost 100,000 jobs lost this week in America.
TECH JOB LOSSES-JAN:Microsoft 10,000,Intel 6,000,Motorola 4,000,Texas Instraments 3,400,AMD 1,100=24,500 total tech jobs gone in JANUARY.
Employment cost Index +0.5%(Q4)Vs +0.7%(Q3).
PCE Price Index -5.5%(Q4)Vs +5.0%(Q3).
Core PCE price Index +0.6%(Q4)Vs +2.4%(Q30.
GDP QUARTERS-Q4 -3.8% worst since 1982,Q3 -0.5%,Q2 +2.8%,Q1 +0.9%.
Economy woes bring caution back to wall street.
Oil opens at $42.91 today,Gold opens at $923.40 at open today.
US refinery strike looms.
NYSE STATS 11:00AM
Advances 1,073,declines 2,322,unchanged 118,New Highs 6,New Lows 88.
NASDAQ STATS 11:00AM
Advances 958,declines 1,463,unchanged 105,New highs 4,New lows 61.
TSX STATS 11:00AM
Advances 448,declines 450,unchanged 165,Volume 374,312,031.
TSX VENTURE STATS 11:00AM
Advances 216,declines 160,unchanged 223,Volume 40,260,366.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -125 points at low today.
Dow +45 points at high today.
WSJ:Coca-Cola to drop the word classic from name of siniture brand to make more appealing to younger customers.
Wilsey:Pepsico's sales are +14% year over year.
Whitehouse:New GDP DATA show housing,Financial crises having spread to all areas.
A TERRIBLE JANUARY
Dow Industrials -8.4%,Dow Transports -15.6%,S&P 500 -7.9%,Nasdaq Composite -5.6%,Russell 2000 -10.6%.Worst JANUARY EVER for everybody but Nasdaq Composite.
JANUARY TRENDS
Stock buybacks down 90%.
Mutual fund inflows up(1st monthly inflow in 8 months).
New Offerings:way down.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -188 points at low today.
Dow +46 points at high today.
Dow -1.82% today Volume 303,156,248.
Nasdaq -2.08% today Volume 1,976,286,147.
S&P 500 -2.28% today Volume N/A.
Dow down for 4th straight week.
S&P 500,Nasdaq still on pace to break 3 week losing streak.
Dow falls for 5th straight month,down 12 of last 15 months.
DOW SINCE 1897 JANUARY
+65.2% of the time.
-34.8% of the time.
FULL YEAR
+64.0% of the time.
-36.0% of the time.
S&P SINCE 1929 JANUARY
+65.0% of the time.
-35.0% of the time.
FULL YEAR
+63.8% of the time.
-37.2% of the time.
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -8.84%
Nasdaq -6.38%
S&P 500 -8.57%
NYSE STATS FINAL
Advances 986,declines 2,722,unchanged 120,New highs 8,New Lows 130
Volume 1,818,669,087.
NASDAQ STATS FINAL
Advances 917,declines 1,836,unchanged 141,New highs 4,New Lows 123
Volume 2,054,619,453.
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 558,Declines 594,Unchanged 206 Volume 1,085,856,403
TSX Venture Advances 395,Declines 340,Unchanged 349 Volume 116,673,463
PUTIN ANSWERS QUESTIONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMR1BZ9aYM8&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded
MORE EU NEWS VIDEOS
http://www.euro-reporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=394&Itemid=0
EU communications derided as biased propaganda
http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/eu-communications-derided-biased-propaganda/article-178942?Ref=RSS
MORE DISTURBING LAWS PASSED BY CONGRESS
http://www.prisonplanet.com/more-disturbing-legislation-emanating-from-congress.html
TSX down as commodities reverse course JAN 30,09
TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto's main stock index turned negative on Friday morning as an early rush into commodity issues unwound and economic worries took hold.
Government data showed worsening economic conditions in Canada and the United States. The Canadian economy shrank more than expected in November, while the U.S. economy shrank in the fourth quarter at its fastest pace in nearly 27 years.
Earlier, before the market open, the price of gold had jumped to a three-month high, while the price of crude also firmed, suggesting a strong start for the TSX.Indeed, the index initially shot 1.5 percent higher on the strength in commodities, but gradually retreated into negative territory as the economic jitters took over.After a while, things settled down and we came back to reality, said Joe Ismail, technical analyst at Maison Placements Canada.At 10:50 a.m. EST, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 40.40 points, or 0.46 percent, at 8,722.36. Six of the TSX's 10 subindexes were lower, including the three most heavily weighted sectors -- the financials, energy and materials.Financials were down 1.1 percent, while the energy sector was 0.31 percent lower. The materials group slid 0.12 percent, though strength among gold producers, which benefited from investors' looking for safe havens, limited the losses.Among the key issues driving the index lower were Manulife Financial, down 2.1 percent at C$20.14, while fertilizer giant Potash Corp lost 1.8 percent to C$93.48.Advancers included Goldcorp, up 1.3 percent at C$36.58, while Canadian Oil Sands Trust rose 4.4 percent to C$19.31, up strongly for a second session. Often-volatile Research in Motion was the most influential, up 3.9 percent at C$69.70.($1=$1.24 Canadian)(Reporting by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Rob Wilson)
Brussels mulls social spending as EU protests spread
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today JAN 30,09 @ 17:24 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is studying ways to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis on workers, as unemployment in the eurozone grew spikes and over 1 million people hit the streets in France in one of the latest protests аcross Europe.Obviously, we are concerned about social movements across Europe. We are keeping a close eye on what is happening in France, the UK and elsewhere, commission spokeswoman Chantal Hughes told journalists in Brussels on Friday (30 January).The [EU social affairs] commissioner understands the frustrations that workers feel at the moment, the uncertainty they might be facing in terms of their unemployment prospects.Her statement comes after between 1 million (police estimates) and 2.5 million (organisers' own estimate) people took to the streets in France on Thursday for a one-day national strike, calling for an end to job cuts and voicing opposition against government reforms.French President Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledged that the protesters had legitimate concerns and promised to meet trade unions in February for talks.The French unrest comes after demonstrations in Baltic states Lithuania and Latvia, Greece and the UK, where protests spread on Friday over the hiring of foreigners at British petrol refineries.The International Monetary Fund predicted earlier this week that Britain would be one of the countries worst hit by the world recession.
More EU money to be made available?
EU social affairs commissioner Vladimir Spidla has already said a number of times that he will encourage and use all the levers that he has at his disposition to make it easier for workers to keep their jobs and to find new jobs if they lose their jobs, Ms Hughes said.In particular we can be looking at things like the European social fund and the European globalisation fund.The European globalisation fund was launched in 2007 with the aim to help workers who have lost their job as a result of changing global trade patterns to find another job as quickly as possible.It has at its disposition €500 million per year, but only €60 million were used in its first year of existence.This figure was probably reflecting a different economic environment, as the commission has already received a number of requests for aid in the wake of the economic crisis, Ms Hughes explained.Consequently, Brussels will if necessary reconsider how much money is available to the European globalisation fund.
Increasing unemployment
Meanwhile, EU figures published on Friday showed that unemployment in EU countries using the euro reached 8 percent in December - the highest rate in more than two years - up from 7.9 percent in November.Unemployment in the whole 27-member bloc also increased from 7.3 in November to 7.4 percent in December, according to EU statistics office Eurostat.Spain and Latvia recorded the highest numbers of jobless people with 14.4 and 10.4 percent, respectively. Spain and Estonia also noted the highest increase in unemployment rates.By contrast, the Netherlands and Austria scored best with 2.7 and 3.9 percent of unemployed respectively.
EU and China to fight financial crisis
ANDREW WILLIS Today JAN 30,09 @ 14:53 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao have pledged to co-operate on tackling online piracy, climate change and the financial crisis, with a new EU-China summit envisaged for April.It is a strategic priority of the Chinese government to develop relations with the EU and we are firm and steadfast in that commitment, said Mr Wen, following a meeting between the two sides in Brussels on Friday (30 January).The Chinese premier announced the two sides had agreed to hold high-level trade and economy talks in April and confirmed that a new summit date would be shortly agreed.
Beijing cancelled a summit scheduled between the two sides late last year in protest at France – then holding the EU presidency – receiving Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama.Friday's meeting resulted in the signing of nine co-operation agreements.
Chief amongst these from a European perspective is an agreement to strengthen protection of intellectual property rights, an issue of particular importance to EU businesses currently suffering high levels of piracy in China. Morning discussions were dominated by finding solutions to the current financial crisis. We have agreed to increase our dialogue on macroeconomic issues, said Mr Barroso, and he welcomed China's involvement in the G20 talks being held on 2 April in London. Asked what action he intended to take to help volatility in the foreign exchange markets, Mr Wen said China would continue to follow its currency strategy as laid out in its 2005reform. Our policy in this reform is to have a multi-based managed and floating exchange rate regime with reference to a basket of currencies, he said. Since the reform launched in 2005 the renminbi has appreciated 20 percent against the US dollar in actual terms. We believe maintaining the stability of the Chinese currency …will play a positive role in stabilizing international finance and economy, he continued. The two sides will also discuss climate change on Friday. Europe and China can work together to achieve success at the Copenhagen summit later this year, said Mr Barroso, referring to international talks in December on an environment agreement for post 2012. As protests took place outside the commission's main building in Brussels, Mr Barroso confirmed the two sides had discussed the issues of human rights and Tibet, saying they had held frank and open discussions based on mutual respect.With reform and opening up in the last three decades, China is open on many major issues, said Mr Wen. We always believe in mutual respect and complete equality and I believe on that basis anything can be discussed, he continued.
McCreevy sees need for pan-EU oversight of big banks
Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:51pm By Lisa Jucca
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - European Union Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said on Thursday the credit crisis has shown there is a need for pan-EU oversight of large banks that operate across borders.But member states are still opposing taking this step.There is a need for a better way for dealing with the 45 institutions or so that operate cross-border, McCreevy, Europe's top financial regulator told Reuters.I am very much for making big steps here, but I am afraid the political will has not been there until now.There are around 10,000 banks operating in Europe, but the top 45 account for around 80 percent of total assets and McCreevy said they need tighter supervision for the systemic risks they pose.Switzerland, not an EU member, has already gone down this route by proposing tougher capital rules for the country's two largest banks, UBS USBN.VX and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX).
McCreevy did not want to be drawn on whether the task of Europe's single banking supervisor should fall to the European Central Bank.I think we have to jump the Rubicon about supervision and then decide where supervision can be, he said.
I think the present system of supervision does not make sense and does not conform with advancing the idea of a single market in Europe, he added.But overregulation had to be avoided: We should all be very careful to avoid swinging the pendulum too far. The danger will be to produce, worldwide, a new system of regulation that will be too far in the opposite direction. And if that happens, it is going to prolong the economic downturn, he said.
NEW CAPITAL RULES
McCreevy, who is in his final year of office at the European Commission, said rules on how much capital banks put aside against risks need to be reviewed.I think there has to be a total look at the whole capital requirement area, he said.The whole issue ... has to be looked at with a very open mind. I think the crisis has shown there is a need to go back to more crude ways like leveraged ratio, total balance sheet growth. We must be honest, he added.McCreevy, who has already put forward proposals to regulate new segments of financial services, like ratings agencies, said he was prepared to draft legislation on credit-default swaps if the private sector failed to agree to suggested guidelines.I will go down the legislative route, but I would hope there is still time in the next few weeks for people to agree, he said.For full coverage, blogs and TV from Davos go to www.reuters.com/davos
(Editing by Erica Billingham)
Latin leaders hold alternative economic summit. 30/01 13:31 CETworld news
Billed as an alternative to the World Economic forum in Davos, South American leaders have held their own event. Addressing crowds in the Brazilian city of Belem at the World Social Forum, leaders blamed western powers for the global financial crisis. Ecuador President Rafael Correa declared: The guilty parties in the crisis try to give lessons on morality and good economic handling. The most powerful people on the planet have united to find a therapy for the dying. They’re getting together, the central bankers, the representatives of large financial firms, the people primarily responsible for the crisis.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also urged US president Barack Obama to return the Guantanamo bay military base back to Cuba, after applauding his decision to close the prison there. Afterwards, the leaders sang a tribute to former Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.
EU lawmaker to propose credit derivatives clearing
Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:58pm By Huw Jones
BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A top European Union lawmaker will propose that off-exchange traded credit derivatives must be centrally cleared to cut risk and increase transparency.The European Parliament and EU states are set to adopt a reform of the bloc's bank capital requirements rules by April to apply lessons from the financial crisis.Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee will discuss the measure on Monday and its French socialist chair, Pervenche Beres, will propose a new article mandating clearing, a parliamentary source directly involved in the negotiations said.She has already had talks about this with the rapporteur (sponsor of the bill) and he seems to be open to discussion and then we will see how it can be drafted, the source said.The article will say there should be a central counterparty for credit derivatives, the source added. Others party to the talks said the new article could say that banks clearing trades centrally would not have to set aside as much capital.It's a carrot but some banks don't see it that way, a financial industry source said.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy drafted the reform and has separately been trying to get the derivatives industry to commit to clearing their off exchange trades in the EU as part of wider efforts to improve market transparency.A tentative commitment by industry to clear trades by mid-2009 collapsed as some U.S. dealers want to clear trades in one clearing house in the United States to save on costs. McCreevy wants European trades cleared on EU soil so that collateral set aside to cover trades stays local. Also central counterparties for credit derivatives are being set up in the United States by ICE (ICE.N) and CME CME.N and Europe does not want all the volume to end up there.Beres had already tabled an amendment calling on McCreevy to propose legislation in a sector with a notional value of about $40 trillion and at the heart of the credit crunch.But support from other parties has prompted Beres to go one step further next Monday and use the bank capital reform itself as a vehicle to mandate clearing, a step McCreevy welcomes.It goes in the direction we want, a Commission official said.European exchanges have lobbied Beres to push for mandatory clearing as they would benefit. Deutsche Boerse's (DB1Gn.DE) Eurex Clearing and NYSE Euronext's (NYX.N) B-Clear are keen to attract new customers.Support from EU governments, who have joint say on the bank capital reform, would also be needed.Member states have had an initial discussion on this with Britain and the Czech Republic against, but they are isolated. European politicians are waking up to the fact they should have collateral in Europe, an exchange official said.McCreevy will propose legislation himself to mandate clearing barring a last minute change of heart by the industry.The International Swaps and Derivatives Association said a commitment made by a number of firms to regulators in the United States and the EU to clear trades still stands but no further meetings with McCreevy were planned.There are a number of ways to approach central clearing, not just what McCreevy is proposing, industry officials said.(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
Nikkei slides as yen advances, economic gloom grows
Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:55am GMT
TOKYO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average fell 3.9 percent on Friday as Toshiba Corp (6502.T) plunged on news it may merge some chip operations with NEC (6701.T), while the yen's advance and growing global economic gloom weighed on exporters. Dismal news hit a slew of other companies.Nintendo Co (7974.OS) tumbled after it cut its Wii game console sales target and profit forecasts, while Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) fell after a source said its annual operating loss is likely to be bigger than the automaker's latest forecast. [ID:nT139304] [ID:nTKF104269]
Worries about a deepening recession were fed by economic data released in both the United States and Japan, including Japanese industrial production falling a record 9.6 percent in December and unemployment hitting a three-year high.The industrial production data was abysmal, and looking through the data in detail was quite a shock, said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.There's so much inventory built up in a way we haven't really seen before, he added, noting that chip firms were likely to be hit especially hard.U.S. data showed the amount of people filing for unemployment benefits hit a record in mid-January, while orders for long-lasting goods fell for the fifth straight month in December and new home sales slid to a record low. [.N]The benchmark Nikkei .N225 shed 315.05 points to 7,936.19, while the broader Topix lost 3.7 percent to 788.40.Toshiba, which tumbled 20.3 percent to 307 yen, warned on Thursday that it would post its biggest loss ever this business year and said it may spin off some of its chip operations, a move that would make it easier to merge those businesses with another firm. On Friday, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Toshiba was in talks to merge part of its chip operations with the semiconductor unit of NEC as the two firms struggle with slumping demand and prices.Market players had different views of the potential tie-up.It shows they can't survive on their own. Despite some cost cut impact, it's doubtful if they can beat their international rivals even as a team. The domestic chip industry appears on the brink of death, said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, a manager at SMBC Friend Securities.
But others said the tie-up might be a good idea, noting that memory chip firm Elpida Memory (6665.T) is in consolidation talks with Taiwanese chipmakers.Nintendo slipped 12.5 percent to 23,050 yen after the videogame maker cut its operating profit forecast for the year ending March 31 by 16 percent to 530 billion yen due to a firmer yen.The yen advanced against the dollar, which had fallen to 89.34 yen by midafternoon after starting the day above 90 yen
France survives Black Thursday strikes 29/01 18:05 CETworld news
France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy has faced a new popular challenge to his rule, as thousands of workers downed tools across the country. Organised by the left, and enthusiastically supported by public sector unions, the President was told to listen to the voice of the streets.The unions want the government to do more to help workers and families survive this economic crisis. France has not been hit as badly as some of its neighbours but unemployment is rising and people are worried. French railways managed to keep some trains running but many commuters faced a struggle to get to work. Many metro services in the big cities were idle. Frustrated commuters, packed trains, grounded flights; the strike made its mark but there was less disruption than had been expected. President Sarkozy said last summer that no-one really notices strikes any more. He may be right.
World facing lowest growth since WWII, says IMF report
ANDREW WILLIS 29.01.2009 @ 09:24 CET
World growth is to slow to its lowest level in 60 years according to an International Monetary Fund report released Wednesday (28 January). In an update to its World Economic Outlook series, the fund predicts world growth will fall to just 0.5 per cent in 2009, before rebounding to 3 per cent in 2010. We now expect the global economy to come to a virtual halt, said IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard in prepared remarks for a press briefing.IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said a restructuring of the banking sector to allow credit to start flowing again was an essential first step if growth figures are to improve. The report says advanced economies will be hit hardest, with the US forecast to contract by 1.6 per cent, the euro area by 2 per cent and Japan by 2.6 percent. Developing nations fair slightly better but forecasts are still severely down on the IMF's November update.
The current report predicts Chinese growth will fall to 6.75 in 2009. Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday however, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said the Chinese economy would grow by 8 per cent in 2009.Increased uncertainty and difficulties attaining credit have resulted in reduced consumer demand says the report. This in turn resulted in a fall in global output and trade in the last few months of 2008. So far the IMF has lent $47.9bn to countries whose finances have been jeopardized by the current crisis. These include EU member states Hungary and Latvia as well as Belarus, Iceland, Pakistan, Serbia and Ukraine. The fund also announced a loan for El Salvador this month and is in negotiations with Turkey.
Criticism of EU farm subsidies
Against this economic backdrop, the European commission this month re-introduced export subsidies for milk, butter and cheese as short-term measures to support the EU dairy sector where milk prices have fallen dramatically. On Wednesday the Cairns group of developing nations demanded that Brussels reverse this step, calling it protectionist.The group of 19 countries that includes Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil, said export subsidies would likely drive world market prices down further and prolong the economic downturn. Increasing trade distorting measures and protectionism in a time of a crisis carries a very high price, they said in a joint statement issued to the World Trade Organisation in Geneva.
Analysis The case for a gas transit consortium Published: Thursday 29 January 2009 Elena Gnedina and Michael Emerson, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Gas supply interruptions from Russia to the EU via Ukraine show that the current status quo is defective and unsustainable as a policy, argue Elena Gnedina and Michael Emerson, research fellows at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in a January policy brief.Indeed, the researchers claim that there has been little attempt on either side to reach a pragmatic solution that would once and for all free the gas trade of political tensions and mischievous trade practices. To resolve the stand-off, Gnedina and Emerson propose an international gas consortium that would bring the Ukraine, EU and Russia to jointly manage the Ukrainian trunk gas pipeline. The CEPs paper outlines three types of arrangement under which such a consortium could take shape: First, the Ukrainian government could sell a stake in Ukraine’s gas transit system (GTS) to a consortium, the researchers suggest. Alternatively, the pipeline could be subject to a concession granted to a consortium for a long period. If neither of these possibilities work out, Ukraine could transfer the management of the GTS to a consortium for a fee, but remain under obligation to rehabilitate the system itself, they argue.
The consortium would be accompanied by a binding treaty establishing the ground rules, signed and ratified by the EU, and Russian and Ukrainian governments, the authors assert. A treaty would protect it from political instability and specify how the trunk pipeline of the consortium would be legally and managerially separate from the domestic Ukrainian gas distribution network, they argue. Whilst Gnedina and Emerson admit that their consortium proposition does not offer an overarching solution to the problem of security of energy supplies for the EU, they maintain that it could serve the needs of all the parties involved and mend the existing cracks in EU-Ukraine-Russia cooperation. Whether they like it or not, all three parties are highly dependent on each other, the CEPS paper declare. Gnedina and Emerson insist that the EU, the Ukraine and Russia need to exploit every opportunity to re-launch their energy cooperation. Establishing an international consortium between the three blocs would represent a key step towards the resolution of this appallingly disorderly gas transit affair, the researchers conclude. Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS): The Case for a Gas Transit Consortium in Ukraine: A Cost-Benefit Analysis (January 2009).
