JOBLESS RATE 7.2% - 16 YEAR LOW

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

EU commission considers major relocation in Brussels
VALENTINA POP Today JAN 9,09 @ 09:23 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The area surrounding the Atomium, an atom-shaped structure seen on every Brussels postcard, might become a location for some of the European Commission's buildings, according to a draft project developed by the city of Brussels and seen by EUobserver.The draft, entitled Application file for the Heysel plain to host a new European quarter, dates back to 15 September 2008.Placed right next to the Atomium, the Heysel area lies four kilometres north from the centre of the Belgian capital and the European quarter where the commission currently sits.

By establishing itself in Heysel, the EU would affirm its imprint on the capital city and would extend its zone of influence outside the Leopold quarter, the draft paper argues.The city of Brussels had decided to allocate this area to infrastructures dedicated to the international vocation of Brussels and planned to erect a convention centre of international dimensions with a capacity of 3,500 seats and an important commercial centre.The area is already dominated by fairs and exhibition centres on the grounds of the former 1958 World Fair, when the Atomium was built.The city of Brussels calls for a quick decision, since the EU institutions were not the only possible alternative for the proposed terrains.Commission spokeswoman Valerie Rampi confirmed that the EU executive was considering several proposals for a new location. The commission would not relocate its headquarters, but needed additional office space of at least 100,000 square metres from 2014 onwards, she said.

Nine proposals were received by 15 September, the Heysel project being one of them. The college of commissioners is expected to take a decision on the proposals in the first half of this year, she added.The European quarter would continue to remain the centre of the commission's activities, but the body was also looking for additional poles outside this central area, in order to exert a downward pressure on real estate prices, Siim Kallas, EU commissioner for administrative affairs told the Belgian weekly Brussels Deze Week in December.

MEP calls for more transparency

German MEP Ingeborg Grassle has criticised the secrecy surrounding the commission's decision-making process and called for transparency concerning the various offers and the final decision. I am opposed to the commission sweeping everything under the carpet. They can say anything. Of course the decision has not been taken yet, but the citizens deserve to know what is going on behind the scenes, Ms Grassle told the EUobserver.She was particularly concerned that one of Mr Kallas' special advisors, Richard Boomer is a Belgian real estate developer whose partner, Paul Delesenne, was one of the authors of the Heysel proposal.Ms Rampi underlined that this special advisor was not involved in any decision-making process and that commissioner Kallas had full confidence and trust in Mr Boomer. There was no conflict of interest concerning Mr Boomer's activities, the spokeswoman said.

Commission has 61 buildings in Brussels

The commission's current buildings policy is to restrain the number of locations under the principle of fewer and bigger, Ms Rampi said.Currently, the EU executive occupies 61 buildings in Brussels, or a total of 865,000 square metres. Some of the buildings are owned by the commission, while others are rented. The commission spent €207.49 million on buildings in 2007. According to the commission's building policy, which dates back to 2007, the accession of 10 new member states in 2004 and of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 meant that a total of 3,350 additional officials required home and office accommodation in Brussels, as well as nursery and childcare facilities. The additional office requirements between 2007 and 2010 were estimated to be 35,000 square metres. The main criteria for selecting a new location, according to the commission's policy, were good public transport connections with the European quarter, good architectural and technical qualities in the buildings, good integration in the urban environment, a retail presence and good value for money. According to the draft project, the Heysel area lies on a direct subway line connecting it to the European quarter and is to host a new branch of the European school, where EU officials educate their children in their native tongues.The existing parking facilities - the biggest in Belgium - were also presented as a plus, as well as the planned new residential area and the proximity of parks and leisure facilities.Correction: Mr Boomer and Mr Delesenne are no longer real estate partners. They have been in the past, before Mr Boomer became a special advisor to commissioner Siim Kallas.

Czechs begin work on legal guarantees for Ireland
HONOR MAHONY Today JAN 9,09 @ 08:47 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Czech EU presidency is to begin the complicated task of providing the legal guarantees for the political concessions that Ireland has received on the rejected Lisbon Treaty.Work will soon begin between Irish lawyers, the legal services of the Council (representing member states) and the European Commission, to firm up EU promises to that the treaty will not affect Irish neutrality, abortion or tax laws.Europe ministers meeting in Prague on Thursday (8 January) had a brief discussion on how to proceed with the pending EU charter, which Ireland rejected in a referendum last June.Irish Europe minister Dick Roche used the gathering to stress the importance of putting the concessions in legally watertight language. He also told counterparts that reflections about when to hold a referendum on the treaty - an issue of burning interest to other member states - were well advanced, an EU diplomat said.Sweden's Europe minister took the floor to note that her country will inherit the political hot potato in the second half of this year when it takes over the EU presidency.Dublin has not announced a firm date for its second Lisbon referendum, but it is expected to take place in autumn.Major discussions on Ireland's situation will take place during the EU leader's summer summit in June however, as European Parliament elections will have taken place and the commission will be nearing the end of its term.The Czech presidency is hoping to have the legal text ready in time for this summit. Deputy prime minister for European affairs Alexandr Vondra said on Thursday that the guarantees would have to be acceptable to both Ireland and the 26 other member states.

Defence opt-out

Meanwhile, Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin has said that opting out of EU defence integration could be an additional area where Ireland will seek special guarantees in order to try and secure a Yes vote by the Irish public.An opt-out has not been decided but it's on the table for discussion, said the foreign minister, according to the Irish Times newspaper.You could opt out of certain aspects of defence policy ... It has to be carefully evaluated, he explained. In our discussions with the Danes, they cautioned very strongly against opt-outs because they felt it [the Danish decision to opt-out from EU defence in 1992] was to their ultimate disadvantage.Mr Martin admitted that running a second referendum will be very challenging but noted that the worsening economic situation in Ireland due to the global financial crisis may make voters accept that it is far better for Ireland to be at the heart of the European Union ... rather than to marginalise itself.

PSALMS 20:1-9 PRAY THIS FOR ISRAEL EVERY DAY OF THIS WAR
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

WATCHOUT SYRIA NOW THAT LEBANON HAS FIRED 4 ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL AND HITTING A SENIOR CITIZEN HOME. REMEMBER SYRIA THIS PROPHECY HAS NOT YET BEEN FULFILLED AND MUST BE.

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

IRAN AND RUSSA ARE DEFINATELY WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE ARAB,MUSLIMS I CAN TELL. LOOKOUT RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS IF USE COME AGAINST ISRAEL,GOD WILL NOT STAND FOR IT,KING JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD WILL PROTECT ISRAEL AND KEEP EVERY PROMISE TO THEM.

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

HAMAS AT THERE WORST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptNr0v1p3E

Israel, Hamas defy UN call for cease-fire in Gaza By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers JAN 9,09

JERUSALEM – Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on at least two cities as both sides defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas officials said. Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and there were constant explosions after first light.By afternoon, 23 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to 777 in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed.The United Nations kept aid deliveries to Gaza on hold for a second day because of security concerns, but Palestinians who risked going to relief centers could still get food and medicine. Just over half the territory's population of 1.4 million rely on the U.N. for food.U.N. officials said later they planned to resume the aid operations as soon as practical, based on assurances from the Israeli military that aid workers would be better protected. The U.N. halted deliveries Thursday after Israeli tank fire killed an aid truck driver and the Red Cross restricted its activities after one of its drivers was injured in a similar incident.

The World Food Program and UNICEF stressed they were still operating in the Palestinian territory, where 1 million people were without electricity and 750,000 didn't have without running water, according to the United Nations.Despite harsh criticism from international aid groups, Israel has said it is doing everything it can to facilitate humanitarian work, citing the three-hour pauses in fighting it agreed to during the last three days, including Friday. Humanitarian workers say the lulls are inadequate.A U.N. Security Council resolution approved Thursday night called urgently for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The U.S., Israel's closest ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, abstained.While the call is tantamount to a demand on the parties, Israel's troops won't be required to pull out of Gaza until there is a durable cease-fire. The resolution calls on U.N. member states to intensify efforts to provide guarantees in Gaza to sustain a lasting truce, including prevention of illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition.In Israel's first official response to the resolution, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the Hamas rockets fired at Israel Friday only prove that the U.N.'s decision is not practical and will not be kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations.A Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group is not interested in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did not meet its minimum demands.Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas kept up rocket attacks on southern Israel. More than 30 rockets hit Friday in and around two of the largest southern cities, Beersheba and Ashkelon. No casualties were reported.A day after two people suffered light injuries in northern Israel when at least three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said its soldiers had found 34 missiles in two caches near the border.

In Geneva, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an independent war crimes investigation in Gaza after reports that Israeli forces shelled a house full of Palestinian civilians, killing 30 people.Navi Pillay told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council that the harm to Israeli civilians caused by Hamas rockets was unacceptable, but did not excuse any abuses carried out by Israeli forces in response.Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich cited alleged inaccuracies in the U.N. report and said it had not been confirmed.We don't warn people to go to other buildings, this is not something we do, she said. We don't know this case, we don't know that we attacked it.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. fully supports the Security Council resolution but abstained to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a cease-fire. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the group is not interested in it because it does not meet the demands of the movement.Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the interests of the Palestinian people. This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over, he told the Al-Jazeera satellite television network. We call on the Palestinian fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests.Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel. Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was heading to the Middle East on Friday in support of international attempts to reach a lasting cease-fire in Gaza. Spain said its foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, also planned to visit the region beginning Monday. With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from inside populated neighborhoods. The military said its forces targeted weapons caches, rocket-launching pads and rocket squads Friday. Heavy clashes were reported in the late afternoon northeast of Gaza City as Israeli troops advanced under the cover of Apache helicopters firing machine guns. Fares Alwan, 49, said he was eating with his family when their house came under fire.

I took my kids and wife and started running away for cover, Alwan said. We saw wounded people in the street while we were running.Israeli gunboats also shelled Gaza City, and one shell landed in the city center. One person was killed and three were injured, Palestinian medical officials said. The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance, and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall victim to the fighting. One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her 2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City, he said. Israeli police said a Palestinian man armed with an ax chased after people in the central Israeli town of Rehovot on Friday, slightly injuring at least one person. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police officers subdued the man and were questioning him. The West Bank saw its biggest protests so far, as at least 2,000 people took to the streets following Friday prayers to express their anger at the Israeli offensive. But scuffles erupted between Hamas supporters and loyalists of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement is trying to assert control over the fractured Palestinian political scene. Hamas says Abbas' term officially ended Friday, but Fatah says he will remain president until new elections are held. Tens of thousands of people condemned Israel's offensive at protest rallies in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Qatar. Protesters also took to the streets outside the Middle East, in Algeria, Greece, Turkey, Kenya, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Bulgaria. The Libyan state news agency reported that President Moammar Gadhafi has called on Arabs to allow volunteers to fight the Israelis in Gaza. The one-sentence call was posted on Libya's JANA news agency.
Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

ISRAELS TROUBLE

JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.

DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)

Thousands of protesters rally against Israel By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer JAN 9,09

CAIRO, Egypt – An estimated 50,000 people protested in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria after Friday prayers, joining thousands of people in more than a dozen cities in the Middle East and elsewhere rallying against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.The protests coincided with a call from Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi for Arab countries to allow their citizens to fight the Israelis in Gaza — the strongest such push by an Arab leader since Israel began its operation against the militant Palestinian group Hamas two weeks ago.I call on the Arabs to open the gate for volunteers to fight with the Palestinians, Libya's official news agency JANA quoted Gadhafi as saying.The protesters who thronged the streets of Alexandria berated Egypt for not opening its border with Gaza, chanting Shame on Egypt. Egypt has allowed a trickle of wounded Palestinians to enter the country but has resisted demands to grant more of Gaza's 1.4 million citizens entry.The leader of Friday prayers in the Iranian capital of Tehran also criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for not opening the country's border with Gaza.Are you a servant of Israel? said Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati before thousands of Iranians took to the streets chanting Death to Israel and Death to America.The Alexandria protest — the largest such demonstration in Egypt — saw a gathering of 50,000, according to a Cairo police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.Record numbers of protesters also turned out in Algeria's capital, an indication of growing international resentment against the Gaza offensive, which Israel has said is designed to stop Hamas rocket fire into the country. More than 750Palestinians have died since the Israeli offensive began Dec. 27.Many of about 30,000 protesters in Algiers waved Palestinian or Algerian flags marching in what was one of the biggest protests in years there. The rally defied a standing government ban on protests after Muslim Friday prayers.

The demonstration was mostly peaceful in the downtown, but violence erupted in the upscale El Biar neighborhood, where most foreign embassies and the presidential palace are located. Hundreds of the protesters pelted riot police with stones and sticks, and several were arrested, said security officials.Police in Jordan's capital of Amman fired tear gas to disperse more than 2,000 people who took to the streets to show their support for the Palestinians and demand that the Israeli Embassy be closed. Many of the protesters held pictures of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, praising him for expelling the Israeli ambassador.Thousands of Palestinians also rallied in towns throughout the West Bank, though marches in at least one city dissolved into infighting between factions.Five thousand marchers took to the streets in the biblical city of Hebron in the largest protest since the Israeli campaign began. When protesters entered an Israeli controlled area, the army fired tear gas and rubber bullets, while protesters threw rocks and bottles.In Ramallah, scuffles broke out when supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement hit rival Hamas supporters with sticks. Relations between the two groups have collapsed since Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, leaving Abbas with control over only the West Bank.Protesters also took to the streets outside of the Middle East, in the capitals of Greece, Turkey, Kenya and Malaysia and in cities in Holland and Bulgaria.Some 3,000 people waved Palestinian flags and chanted anti-Israel slogans as they protested in front of the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur.We are urging the American government to demand that Israel withdraw from Gaza, said activist Adnan Mohamad Tahir.

Meanwhile, police in the overwhelmingly Muslim Mauritania — one of only three Arab League countries to have diplomatic ties with Israel — fired tear gas and used clubs to beat back hundreds of rock-throwing demonstrators trying to converge on Israel's embassy to protest the Gaza invasion. About 30 demonstrators were lightly injured, according to Mohamed Mahmoud, a doctor at one of the main hospitals in Nouakchott, the nation's capital. The scuffles took place while tens of thousands took to the city's sandy streets in a mostly calm protest. But the largest protests were within the Middle East. Some 15,000 people participated in a rally in the Qatari capital of Doha led by influential Sunni cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi. At Friday prayers before the rally, al-Qaradawi urged Arab and Muslim leaders to fear God and defend Palestine, or you will be swept away by history.

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 09,2009

09:30 AM -1.47
10:00 AM -116.36
10:30 AM -127.43
11:00 AM -115.41
11:30 AM -85.78
12:00 PM -98.28
12:30 PM -100.74
01:00 PM -107.68
01:30 PM -111.11
02:00 PM -113.57
02:30 PM -94.42
03:00 PM -71.20
03:30 PM -86.97
04:00 PM -143.28 8599.18

S&P 500 890.35 -19.38

NASDAQ 1571.59 -45.42

GOLD 853.40 -1.10

OIL 40.70 -1.00

TSE 300 9085.18 -136.40

CDNX 908.90 +9.43

S&P/TSX/60 548.80 -9.12

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow -10 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -123 points at low today.
Dow +26 points at high today.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -0.39%
Nasdaq +2.54%
S&P +0.72%
Oil down over 70% in the last 6 months.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow +26 points at high today.
Dow -144 points at low today.
JOB DETAILS
Goods-Producing -251,000
Construction -101,000
Manufacturing -149,000
Service-Providing -273,000
Retail Trade -67,000
DEC AVG work week -0.2 hours to 33.3
NOV Employment report was worst in decades.
DEC Unemployment rate was 7.2%
NOV payroll revised from -584,000 from -533,000
OCT non-farm Payrolls revised to -423,000 from -320,000
NOV wholesale Inventories -0.6%

DOW STOCKS THIS WEEK
Alcoa -10.8%
Wal-mart -9.1%
Intel -7.1%
Chevron -5.1%

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow +26 points at high.
Dow -160 points at low today.
LIGHT VOLUME AND TRADING SINCE DEC 20,2008.

MARKETS AT CLOSE
Job Report:Bad,but not worse case senario.
Narrow trading range,light Volume again.
Dow:worst week since NOVEMBER.

Stocks end day lower.
Dow -1.6% today
Dow drops for 3rd straight day.
Dow -2.0% in 2009.
Dow down 4.8% this week.
S&P -2.1% today.
S&P -1.4% in 2009.
S&P 4.5% this week.
S&P,Nasdaq has dropped in 2 of the last 3 sessions.
Nasdaq -2.8% today.
Nasdaq -0.3% in 2009.
Nasdaq down 3.7% this week.

Merkel and Sarkozy call for global 'economic security' council
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today JAN 9,09 @ 09:20 CET

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy have warned the US not to block attempts to build an international financial regulator, calling for a new economic body similar to the UN's Security Council.I've always in my political life been a supporter of a close alliance with the United States but let's be clear: in the 21st century, a single nation can no longer say what we must do or what we must think, said Mr Sarkozy at an international symposium in Paris on Thursday (8 January), shortly before US president-elect Barack Obama enters office.

The French leader had originally called the Paris meeting - New World, New Capitalism - a global summit, but limited his ambitions after few international leaders deigned to attend.We'll take our decisions on 2 April in London, he went on, referring to an upcoming meeting of the G20. Perhaps the United States will join us in this change.Ms Merkel, also in attendance at the conference, echoed the French president's warning to Washington.No country can act alone in this day and age, not even the United States, however powerful they may be, she said, Deutsche Welle reports.She said that hopes that out of the economic crisis, governments can construct a new architecture for managing global capitalism.Our response [to the economic crisis] must be more than a few rules, she said. The crisis is an opportunity to create an international architecture of institutions.

Global economic charter

The chancellor said the world needs an economic council in the United Nations as well as the existing body that deals with security matters.It is possible that alongside the [UN] Security Council, we could also have an economic council, she said, adding that alongside the UN Charter, an economic sustainability charter for a long-term reasonable economy should be drafted establishing rules for global financial governance.Our response must be more than a few rules, she added. The crisis is an opportunity to create an international architecture of institutions.The centre-right German leader also warned businesses there was no returning to laissez-faire approaches by governments once the crisis has passed.Once everything is going better, the financial markets will tell us: you politicians don't need to get involved because everything is working again, she said, according to the Guardian. I will stay firm, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past.Mr Sarkozy warned that capitalism could collapse if it is not restructured. Either we re-found capitalism or we destroy it, he said. Purely financial capitalism has perverted the logic of capitalism ...it is amoral. It is a system where the logic of the market excuses everything.Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, a co-sponsor of the symposium, echoed the European leaders: what is unavoidable in the longer term is a recasting of the system of international supervision.We have mid-20th-century international institutions governing a 21st century world, he added. The reform of the IMF, the World Bank, the financial regulatory system [is] long overdue.The meeting came as Germany announced it is to inject a further €10 billion into Commerzbank, in return for a 25 percent stake in the bank, while France offered another €10.5 billion for its six main banks.

Canadian economy sheds more jobs in December By Louise Egan Louise Egan – Fri Jan 9, 11:46 am ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's jobless rate jumped to a two-year high in December and the housing market began to crumble, reports showed on Friday, adding to growing evidence the economy slid into a recession late last year.Statistics Canada said employers cut a net 34,400 jobs in December, more than expected, and the unemployment rate jumped to 6.6 percent from 6.3 percent. The construction sector took the biggest hit.The news prompted a decline in the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar and cemented the market's view that the Bank of Canada will aggressively cut interest rates on January 20.Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warned that worse was still to come.We're in for a very difficult year. We regrettably are going to have to expect continuing job losses in Canada, Flaherty told reporters in Thornhill, Ontario.Flaherty said he would address growing unemployment in his budget on January 27, mentioning possible measures to encourage retraining and job-sharing.The downturn in construction -- and housing in particular -- was confirmed by another report showing housing starts fell 0.4 percent in December after plummeting to a seven-year low in November.November building permits -- an early indicator of construction activity -- signaled the growing cracks in the housing market. The overall value of permits fell 11.8 percent in the month to a 21-month low and residential permits sank 9 percent.

The Canadian housing correction is here, and will continue to weigh on construction activity, said Robert Kavcic, economist at BMO Capital Markets.Canada's housing market has been far more robust than that of the United States, shielded from the subprime mortgage crisis by more conservative lending practices.The latest numbers reflect an orderly unwind rather than a meltdown, according to Ian Pollick, economics strategist TD Securities. But Stewart Hall, markets strategist at HSBC Canada, says the lesson from the 1990 housing crash was that once the housing markets begin to slide, the slide is often steep.And there are grounds to suggest that just such a slide has begun, he said.The dismal fourth-quarter data may push the Bank of Canada to reduce its overnight lending rate, already at a 50-year low, by another half-point this month to 1 percent. Some analysts expect a milder quarter-point cut.It definitely puts the bank in the hot seat in terms of having to deliver another rate cut. I don't think there should be any debate about whether we're going to get a cut, said Andrew Pyle, wealth advisor at ScotiaMcLeod.In the jobs data, markets focused on the loss of 70,700 full-time workers in December, partially offset by a gain of 36,200 part-time positions.The construction sector was by far the worst performer with 44,000 taken off the payrolls.Given the weakening and the softening in the housing sector in Canada in December -- though nothing compared to the States -- builders are responding, said Pyle.In the first three quarters of 2008 Canada's labor market had appeared immune to the effects of the slowing economy, but economists expect the fourth-quarter hemorrhaging to continue through 2009. Employment growth last year was 0.6 percent compared with 2.2 percent in 2007.

I think Canada has lost its job market resilience, said Derek Holt, economist at Scotia Capital. But the more disturbing thing is the hit to pay, which I think is worse than the body count, because this was all about lost full-time jobs as reduced hours drove part-time gains, Holt said. The average hourly wage of permanent employees grew 4.5 percent in December from a year earlier, down from 4.7 percent in November. (Additional reporting by Frank Pingue and Jennifer Kwan in Toronto; editing by Rob Wilson)

EU monitors to end Russia-Ukraine gas war
PHILIPPA RUNNER 08.01.2009 @ 17:42 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The shape of an EU-dominated monitoring team that is to end the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute became clearer on Thursday (8 January), while EU ministers agreed the problem has taken on a Europe-wide political dimension.We have an agreement with the EU that when the international observers are in place in Ukraine and have access to the transit stations, we will immediately restore gas supplies to Europe, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in Brussels, as the Russian and Ukrainian diplomatic machines hit the EU capital.The monitoring committee is to comprise European Commission officials, delegates from affected EU companies and staff from the Russian and Ukrainian energy ministries, with 10 EU firms having already confirmed they will take part, Mr Miller explained. The Gazprom chief said he had given a relevant document, a protocol on the mandate of the monitoring mission to EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs. Ukraine officials said they had signed a formal invitation for European Commission staff to enter the country.

Mr Miller and his Ukrainian counterpart, Naftogaz CEO Oleh Dubyna, also talked face-to-face in Brussels on Thursday. But the encounter - in a side room in the European Parliament - failed to see an immediate breakthrough, with the Gazprom chairman afterward attacking Naftogaz. Any companies who believe they have suffered as a result of this have the right to sue Ukraine, Mr Miller said. Eastern European EU states such as Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia have faced a second wintry day on zero gas deliveries, with Bulgarian schools closed and hospitals forced to turn away low-risk patients.If things keep going on like this, there is a risk someone may die, a Bulgarian diplomat said.Russia stopped pumping gas to the EU via Ukraine on Wednesday after accusing Naftogaz of stealing supplies, in a long-running price dispute. But Ukraine says the Russian gas simply stopped flowing, with the EU unable to verify who to blame.

No longer just a commercial dispute

EU foreign ministers and deputy foreign ministers meeting in Prague on Thursday framed a joint declaration also calling for independent monitoring of gas transit.

The ministers abandoned the previous European Commission and Czech EU presidency position that the gas crunch is a bilateral commercial problem for Russia and Ukraine.There was a general understanding that this is already a political problem for Ukraine, Russia and the EU, especially due to the suffering of EU citizens and the EU economy, a high-level source at the meeting told EUobserver.Bulgarian Socialist MEP Evgeni Kirilov at a snap meeting of the European Parliament foreign affairs committee indicated the level of political fallout the crisis will have.We are in a humanitarian emergency in our country and we are losing millions every day, he said. I insist an independent investigation find out who is the more irresponsible and that they face severe sanctions.

Gas war casualties

Ukraine deputy prime minister Hryhoriy Nemyria reminded MEPs that when Russia first cut off gas to Ukraine in 2006, 186 Ukrainian people died as a result.Ukraine MP and ex-foreign minister Boris Tarasyuk painted the gas war as a continuation of Russia's aggression against Georgia, in a campaign to secure power in the EU's post-Soviet neighbours.The attempt [by Gazprom] to raise gas prices from $179 [€130 per thousand cubic metres] to $450 is an attempt to destroy the Ukrainian economy and to show the EU who is boss in the shop, Mr Tarasyuk said.

Jobless rate jumps to 7.2 percent in December By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer JAN 9,09

WASHINGTON – The nation's unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs, capping one of the worst years in modern history for American workers.The Labor Department's report, released Friday, underscored the grim toll the deepening recession is having on workers and companies. And it highlights the difficulty President-elect Barack Obama faces in resuscitating the flat-lined economy. This year has gotten off to a rough start with a flurry of big corporate layoffs, pointing to another year of hefty job reductions.There is no end in sight in terms of layoffs, said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. January could be worse because some companies put layoffs on hold because of holiday sensitivities.Not only are employers slashing jobs; they also are cutting workers' hours and forcing some into part-time work. The average work week in December fell to 33.3 hours, the lowest level on records dating to 1964 — and a sign of more job reductions in the months ahead, economists said.Obama called the unemployment report a stark reminder of how urgently action is needed to revive the nation's staggering economy. And Hilda Solis, his pick for labor secretary, called the job losses a crisis situation and said one of her initiatives would promote green jobs that could reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. It was the first time payrolls had fallen for a full year since 2002 and was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost. Though the U.S. labor force has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still being painfully felt.With employers throttling back hiring, the nation's jobless rate averaged 5.8 percent last year. That was up sharply from 4.6 percent in 2007 and was the highest since 2003.

All told, 11.1 million people were unemployed in December. In addition, 8 million people were working part time — a category that includes those who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or those who were unable to find full-time work. That was up sharply from 7.3 million in November.While economists were forecasting even more payroll reductions in December — around 550,000 — job losses in both October and November turned out to be deeper than previously estimated. Revised figures showed employers slashed 584,000 positions in November and 423,000 in October.The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose from 6.8 percent in November, to 7.2 percent last month, the highest since January 1993. Economists were expecting the jobless rate to rise to 7 percent.During President George W. Bush's nearly eight years in office, 3 million jobs were created. In President Clinton's two terms, nearly 21 million jobs were generated.Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported Friday that wholesale inventories dropped 0.6 percent in November, the third straight month of business cutbacks, while sales were down a record 7.1 percent. On Wall Street, stocks slid. The Dow Jones industrials lost about 80 points in afternoon trading.Job losses were widespread in December. Construction companies slashed 101,000, and manufacturers axed a a whopping 149,000 jobs. Professional and business services got rid of 113,000 jobs. Retailers eliminated nearly 67,000 jobs, and leisure and hospitality reduced employment by 22,000. That more than swamped gains in education and health care, and the government.Employers are chopping costs as they try to cope with dwindling appetite from customers in the U.S. as well as in other countries, which are struggling with their own economic problems.Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains. Average hourly earnings rose to $18.36 in December, up 0.3 percent from the previous month. Economists were expecting a 0.2 percent increase.Over the year, wages have risen 3.7 percent, though high prices for energy and food earlier this year made people feel that their paychecks weren't stretching that far.

The U.S. recession, which just entered its second year, is already the longest in a quarter-century and is likely to stretch well into this year. The fact that the country is battling a housing collapse, a lockup in lending and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s make the current downturn especially dangerous.Corporate layoffs continue to pile up. Airplane maker Boeing Co. on Friday said it plans to cut about 4,500 jobs this year due to the global economic slowdown, and G&K Services Inc., which provides uniforms and facility services, said it is eliminating 460 jobs as it aims to trim costs amid weak demand. Late Thursday, Intermec Inc., which makes electronic devices for tracking inventory, said it plans to cut 150 jobs, or 7 percent of its work force. Earlier this week, drugstore operator Walgreen Co., managed care provider Cigna Corp., aluminum producer Alcoa Inc., data-storage company EMC Corp. and computer products maker Logitech International all announced major layoffs to cope with the recession. All the problems have forced consumers and companies alike to retrench, feeding into a vicious cycle that Washington policymakers are finding difficult to break. Obama says a bold approach is needed to bust through this cycle and revive economy. I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible, he said Thursday. If nothing is done, this recession could linger, Obama warned. The unemployment rate could reach double digits.Obama, who takes over Jan. 20, is promoting a huge package of tax cuts and government spending that could total $775 billion over two years. With add-ons by lawmakers, the package could swell to $850 billion, his advisers say. Even with a new government stimulus and the Federal Reserve's decision to ratchet down a key interest rate to an all-time low, the unemployment rate is expected to keep rising. Some economists think it could hit 9 or 10 percent at the end of this year.

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK Is Feb. 10 financial doomsday for thousands? New law could force companies into ruin January 08, 2009 12:13 am Eastern By Chelsea Schilling 2009 WorldNetDaily

Jacobsen Books in Clinton, Wis.
A new government regulation scheduled to take effect next month has thousands of retailers, thrift stores and small businesses worried they will be forced to permanently close their doors – and destroy their merchandise. The law is expected to have such a devastating impact that Feb. 10 is now unofficially known as National Bankruptcy Day.Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, or HR 4040, a retroactive rule mandating that all items sold for use by children under 12 must be tested by an independent party for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. All untested items, regardless of lead content, are to be declared banned hazardous products. The CPSC has already determined the law applies to every children's item on shelves, not just to items made beginning Feb. 10. The regulations could force thousands of businesses – especially smaller ones that cannot afford the cost of lead testing – to throw away truckloads of children's clothing, books, toys, furniture and other children's items and even force them to close their doors. Will Obama bring the end of prosperity? Get the book that shows how higher taxes will doom the economy – if we let it happen.

Children's books

Valerie Jacobsen and her husband, Paul, support their family of 13 by selling literature at Jacobsen Books in Clinton, Wis. Her family has contracts with local libraries to buy and sell overstocked books – an arrangement that draws income for both parties. However, Jacobsen told WND that lead testing is estimated to cost $100 to $400 for each of her used children's books because she does not buy in bulk, and each batch of merchandise is required to be tested. There's a big difference between me and Wal-Mart or Toys R Us, she said. They'll have a batch of 50,000. Everything I have is a batch of one because I don't know its history. I'm looking at a testing cost of about $1.2 million. I would normally sell my full inventory of all children's products for probably $15,000. So, it's effectively a ban.

Valerie Jacobsen

The Consumer Product Safety Commission states that lead testing requirements apply to children's books, cassettes and CDs, printed game boards, posters and other printed goods used for children's education. While it does claim some printing inks will be exempt, paper, cardboard, bindings, glues, laminates and other inks are still subject to regulation and require testing. Jacobsen said that unless the new law is repealed or substantially modified, it could devastate her family business. I don't want to stop selling children's books on Feb. 9, she said. I need that income. We provide a lot of reading for a lot of little kids. I went into this business because I thought that books were good for children's mental development. That opinion hasn't changed. And the government's ruling is essentially saying they're hazardous for children's mental development because they might contain lead. We just have no evidence that they do.Jacobsen said she often shops at second-hand stores for her 11 children because she can buy quality clothing at low prices. Over the years I have always tried to make the most of our money, so we'll go to Goodwill, she said. To be honest, I'd rather go to Goodwill and get a brand-name item that's hardly been worn and pay $3.99 for it than to go to Wal-Mart and pay $13.99 for something that in six weeks from now is not going to worth anything.But now some thrift and consignment stores are in a panic over the new regulation because it extends to children's clothing, shoes and other items as well. Cindy Retmier owns a consignment store called Jordan's Closet in El Dorado Hills, Calif. She told KXTV News 10 that the law could close her business. [W]e've been passing kids clothing down for centuries, she said. Now all of sudden you can't do it because there might be too much lead in one item out of a thousand? I mean it's ridiculous they've taken it to the extent they've taken it right now.

Goodwill

She estimates testing for each of her clothing articles to run between $300 and $1,500. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it may consider exempting clothing and toys made from natural materials such as wool or wood, but paint and dyes on the products are still required to be tested. We only sell stuff for an average of $10 so, of course that doesn't make sense, Ritmier said. Even Goodwill Industries told the station it may be forced to stop selling clothing and other children's items if testing is too expensive. The move could affect consumers who donate items for tax write-offs if the stores are not able to sell them. A huge hit for us and a huge hit for consumers that are trying to save a dollar in this economy, Goodwill's Mark Klingler told KXTV. We'll have to analyze it. It may involve not selling if we can't realistically test everything.Likewise, Shauna Sloan, founder of the Salt Lake City-based Kid to Kid Franchise, which sells used children's clothing in 75 stores across the country, told the Los Angeles Times his business could end. We will have to lock our doors and file for bankruptcy, he said.

Small toy businesses

All children's toys and furniture also fall under strict requirements for independent lead and phthalate testing. Some small toy businesses say lead testing alone costs more than $4,000 per item – a price some say only large companies like Mattel and Fisher Price can afford to pay. The only people who can do that now are the ones who actually put this scare into effect and actually caused the problem, Amy Evan's, owner of Baby's Boutique in Chico, Calif., told CBS' KHSL.

Home-based and small businesses

Shelsie Hall told KXTV she makes hair bows and jewelry for children and sells them online to support her family. Now her small business is threatened by the measure because those products must be tested. [M]y items sell for $4 to $10 and I make a lot of different things. So I couldn't just test one; I would have to test every item, she said. One blogger who identifies herself as Tina has a home-based business making and selling cloth diapers online. She said a U.S. lab quoted a price of $75 to test each component of her diapers.I have at least two different fabrics, thread, snaps and elastic in a diaper, she wrote. $375 to test each different combination of fabrics/snaps/thread/size combinations? That is insane.She continued, I am but one of many micro-manufacturers who will be forced to give up the American dream of owning my own business because of this legislation.Tina said retailers purchase inventory with loans secured by the value of that inventory. What happens to these lenders and retailers when the value of that inventory goes to zero? she asked. It is conceivable, at least to me, that retailers will be the next group in front of Congress asking for a bailout.The act's broad wording could extend to children's items sold on eBay, Craig's List, Amazon. Critics also say landfills will be hit hard if stores, distributors and families simply throw their untested items away rather than face prosecution. And new clothing, toys, furniture and books at large retailers could become more expensive to cover third-party testing costs.

Tentative exemptions

While the Consumer Product Safety Commission administers the law, it may only be changed by Congress. Some exemptions approved Tuesday by the commission's two members, but not formally adopted, include the following: Items with lead parts that a child cannot access; Clothing, toys and other goods made of natural materials such as cotton and wood; and Electronics that are impossible to make without lead.
But the tentative exemptions do little to reassure most businesses and families who will be affected by the law. Final rules are not scheduled for approval until after Feb. 10, when the rules take effect.

Taking action

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Il., sponsored the measure along with 106 co-sponsors. In the House of Representatives, 424 members voted for the act, nine voted present and a single member voted against it – Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. In the Senate, the totals were 89 for, eight present and three against – Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. President George Bush signed it into law on Aug. 14, 2008. The measure raises the CPSC budget each year until 2015, at which time the agency's budget would be $156 million. It also allows state attorneys general to take civil action against those who violate the strict regulations. While some may continue to sell their children's products and disobey the law, Jacobsen told WND she's not taking any chances at her bookstore. Would I ever get caught? Probably not, she said. But they are talking about $100,000 fines and jail terms of up to five years. I'm not comfortable operating with that law on the books.Instead, she said she will fight the measure and raise public awareness. I'm planning to put a chain across our children's department and put up a sign that says, Banned hazardous material, she said.I'll ask my customers as they come in to please write their congressmen, call senators and get the word out there. I will tell them, I can let you in now, but four weeks from now, I won't be able to do that.

Jacobsen's plans don't stop there.

I am going to go to my legislator's office, and I'm going to take my children's books there, she said. I'm going to ask him, 'Do you want me to put these in the landfill? Do you want me to burn these?' What am I going to do with them? I can't just warehouse them until they come to their senses.

U.S. Capitol

She suggested the public begin writing and calling lawmakers and demanding exemptions to the law. I think the whole thing should be trashed, personally, she said. It was so short-sighted. People who were doing the importing of lead are going to be rewarded when little companies like mine go under. When you take everything on a retailer's shelf and tell them they cannot sell it, that's bankruptcy.

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.

Millions isolated as northwest US deluged by flooding Thu Jan 8, 5:18 pm ET

SEATTLE, Washington (AFP) – Heavy rain pounded the northwest US state of Washington Thursday, flooding roads, triggering mudslides and leaving millions of residents cut off from the rest of the country.Melting snow and ice combined with warm torrential rain have combined to leave rivers across the state close to bursting, and forcing 30,000 people to evacuate their homes.An estimated three million people living along Puget Sound, the coastal inlet where the state's main hub of Seattle is located, were isolated after road and rail links into the area were severed.The main highway between Seattle and Portland, Oregon, 175 miles to the south, was closed because of flooding 90 miles from Seattle at Chehalis, putting a stop to automobile, truck and bus traffic.The route is used by 55,000 drivers a day, including 10,000 trucks.The waters have also stopped all rail traffic, leaving air as the only connection between the cities, authorities said.Avalanche dangers that accompany the warm rains have closed the only three mountain routes that link Seattle to the eastern half of the state.State officials estimate the cost of the flooding to commerce at four million dollars a day.We have totally stopped commerce in the state, said Paula Hammond, Secretary of the Washington State Department of Transportation.The road closures have left the shelves of grocery stores in the eastern city of Spokane bare of essentials such as eggs and bread, officials said.Authorities have also reported several roof collapses in Spokane, which has been buried by two meters of snow since December.

South of Seattle, near the town of Orting, more than 30,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and are now living in Red Cross and other shelters, local emergency management officials said.Rivers in the usually rainy area are setting records. Nearly two dozen were expected to crest well above flood stage later Thursday or early Friday.While most of the damage and disruptions have occurred in suburban and rural areas, the city of Seattle was not spared.Thursday morning saw numerous landslides that blocked streets for morning commuters. Those taking the freeway found massive puddles of standing water slowing their commute.National Weather Service officials described the flooding as some of the most dramatic in the state's history.It's right up there with some of our most memorable flood events, National Weather Service forecaster Doug McDonnal said Thursday.The thing that's kind of amazing in the past few years is how many flood episodes we've had.Forecasters say the rain is expected to ease over the weekend.

La Nina conditions seen continuing: NOAA By Carole Vaporean – Thu Jan 8, 1:14 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Climate Prediction Center said Thursday that it sees the cool water conditions for the La Nina weather anomaly in the Pacific Ocean likely continuing into spring and possibly through the first half of 2009.During December 2008, negative equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies strengthened across the central and east-central Pacific Ocean, CPS said it its latest report.The climate center is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S.La Nina literally means little girl in Spanish. Its effect often results in cooler-than-normal waters in the Pacific Ocean that encourage hurricanes to form in the Atlantic by suppressing winds that break up storms as they form.CPC's monthly report said temperatures in the Pacific Ocean became increasingly negative in the latest week.Low-level easterly winds and upper-level westerly winds also strengthened across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Collectively, these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies reflect the development of La Nina, the report said.It added that nearly all recent predictions for the Nino region expect below-average sea surface temperatures through the first half of 2009. And, at least half of forecasters think waters will cool enough to foster La Nina conditions throughout the half.Despite the late start to this year's La Nina pattern, CPC said it expects it will lead to above-average precipitation over Indonesia with below-average rains over central and eastern equatorial Pacific through March.In the United States, the CPC said above-average rains were possible in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and below-average precipitation across the South during the same period.CPC will update its outlook for La Nina on February 5.

The more widely known El Nino anomaly turns waters in the Pacific abnormally warm, building wind shears in the Atlantic that tend to break up storms disruptive to oil and gas production, as well as crop production in the Gulf of Mexico.El Nino, or little boy, was named after the Christ child by Latin American anchovy fishermen in the 19th century when the pattern was first noticed.El Nino's most recent devastation hit in 1997/98 when its high temperatures caused drought in countries like Australia and Indonesia, while spawning floods in Peru and Ecuador.(Reporting by Carole Vaporean; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Freezing China warns of repeat of New Year gridlock Thu Jan 8, 4:25 am ET Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is preparing to tackle paralyzed roads and railways if icy weather seizes the south and center in a possible repeat of last year's gridlock just as millions head home for the Lunar New Year holiday.The prospect of millions of migrant workers stuck in Guangdong and other big manufacturing provinces is especially worrisome this year amid the global financial crisis.State media have warned the abrupt economic slowdown could leave crowds of jobless and angry rural migrants milling around cities. And a transport shutdown would intensify those worries.Freezing rains and snow over past days have blocked some roads in the south, and officials have been ordered to brace for spreading harsh weather.Fully prepare for responding to and handling freezing weather with icy rain and snow, the Ministry of Public Security ordered police, according to Xinhua news agency.Early last year, unusually icy weather hit stretches of the southern half, trapping millions of workers heading home for the Lunar New Year holiday and choking off power and transportation in regions that produce much of China's food and exports.Chaotic scenes of tens of thousands of frustrated workers stranded at railway stations and whole cities plunged into darkness from power cuts for days on end prompted criticism of the ruling Communist Party's disaster recovery and a rare public apology from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.Highways in Hunan and Hubei provinces have again been disrupted by snow and ice in past days, the China News Service reported. Many parts of Henan, Anhui and Guizhou provinces had also been hit.

This year may not see a full repeat of last year's sweeping freeze. But Chinese transport officials Thursday sought to reassure travelers that authorities had learnt hard lessons from the previous year.We gained a lot of experience from last year's freezing weather disaster, Xu Yahua, deputy director of road transport within China's Transport Ministry, told an online broadcast on the central government website (www.gov.cn).In normal circumstances, we cannot blithely close roads, as they will become iced up, which is bad for road safety... If the snow and ice is especially severe, however, we will stop some road trips, as this will affect travelers' transport safety, Xu said.(Reporting by Chris Buckley and Ian Ransom; Editing by Ken Wills)

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Death toll rises to 9 from Costa Rica quake By MARIANELA JIMENEZ, Associated Press Writer JAN 9,09

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Helicopters plucked tourists from destroyed, mountaintop resorts as the death toll from Costa Rica's magnitude-6.1 earthquake rose to at least 9 victims, the Red Cross said Friday.Dozens more remained missing as survivors reported seeing people buried by landslides.I watched as the earth took my aunt and my cousins ... I watched them be buried, Miguel Angel Marin told Channel 7 news.

The quake shook the Central American nation Thursday afternoon, collapsing homes, unleashing massive landslides, and trapping hundreds of people in damaged mountain towns.Red Cross spokeswoman Fiorella Vilca said the dead include 7- and 11-year-old sisters buried in a landslide, a 12-year-old girl whose home was crushed by falling earth, two men found dead in San Pedro de Poas, and three bodies found in a battered truck near the Angel waterfall popular with tourists. Another victim died of a heart attack in the capital, San Jose.On Friday, rescue officials reached nearly 500 people trapped in the hardest hit zone — a mountainous area with few access roads, most of which were blocked by landslides.We are trying to evacuate these areas as soon as possible, Red Cross spokesman Freddy Roman said.Many residents of the area are small farmers who raise livestock or grow strawberries and ornamental plants. The region has also seen increased tourism in recent years.Allan Flores, head of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, told Channel 7 that about 200 Costa Rican and foreign tourists were trapped at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens hotel, a luxury eco-resort in Vara Blanca.He said no tourists at the hotel appeared to be injured. Those who could hike out were being led to rescue vehicles, while the rest were being airlifted back to the capital.

Local media reported that the resort suffered severe damage in the quake and visitors had to sleep outside.When a helicopter from Channel 7 flew over the hotel early Friday, before the rescue effort began, a woman shouted in English: We want to get out of this place! Phone calls to the resort went unanswered.At least three of the deaths were at the waterfalls near the resort.A Belgian tourist told Channel 7 that she was on a lookout platform near the falls with her husband and his two young children when the quake suddenly collapsed the structure and they fell 20 yards (20 meters).They survived with only minor injures.There were also reports of cars being buried by landslides and widespread destruction in the remote town of Cinchona.

Resident Manuel Cambronero told Channel 7 by phone that Cinchona was destroyed.

The only thing left is the field where we plant strawberries, he said. It gives me chills just remembering it, because the mountains moved and all the homes collapsed on the ground.The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor was centered 22 miles (35 kilometers) northwest of San Jose, near the Poas Volcano National Park.

2 small quakes rumble on Calif.-Mexico border Fri Jan 9, 9:43 am ET

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Two small earthquakes rumbled along California's border with Mexico, just hours after a larger quake rattled much of the southern part of the state.The U.S. Geological Survey issued preliminary measurements of the 3.3- and a 3.0-magnitude quakes striking a little before 5 a.m. Friday. The quakes were in northern Baja California, near Mexicali, about 125 miles east of San Diego.The USGS measured a 4.5-magnitude quake at 7:49 p.m. Thursday just south of San Bernardino, about 55 miles east of Los Angeles.That temblor could be felt from Los Angeles to the border.Some shops reported stock falling from shelves but there was no major damage or injuries.

Moderate earthquake jolts southern California Fri Jan 9, 12:30 am ET

LOS ANGELES, (AFP) – A moderate 4.5-magnitude earthquake rattled southern California Thursday but there were no reports of casualties or damage, officials said.The quake, initially measured at 5.0, was centered near the town of San Bernadino, some 55 miles (88 kilometers) east of Los Angeles at a depth of 8.6 miles, the United States Geological Survey said.The quake was felt across the region, shuddering buildings across Los Angeles, witnesses said.Callers to the KCAL9 local television network reported a loud rumbling noise shortly before the quake which knocked objects from shelves and lasted for several seconds.We've had earthquakes before but I've never seen my TV roll across the room, one shaken resident, Marlene Rocha, told KCAL9.Another caller to the station described a noise like a loud explosion before everything started shaking.Michael Elias, a grocery store clerk in the town of Rancho Cucamonga, west of San Bernardino, told an AFP reporter he had felt a small jolt followed by a big one.I ran outside, when I figured out it was an earthquake, Elias said. All the liquor bottles started shaking but none fell of the shelves.

The temblor came roughly six months after a 5.4 earthquake jolted Los Angeles in July, the most powerful seismic shock to rock the city in 14 years.Geologists say an earthquake capable of causing widespread destruction is 99 percent certain of hitting California within the next 30 years.A study published last year said a 7.8 magnitude quake could kill 1,800 people, injure 50,000 more and damage 300,000 buildings.A 6.7 earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994 left at least 60 people dead and caused an estimated 10 billion dollars in damage, while a 6.9 quake in San Francisco in 1989 claimed 67 lives.

Quakes shake loose fears about Yellowstone volcano By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press Writer JAN 9,09

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Run for your lives ... Yellowstone's going to explode! Hundreds of small earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park in recent weeks have been an unsettling reminder for some people that underneath the park's famous geysers and majestic scenery lurks one of the world's biggest volcanoes.In the ancient past, the volcano has erupted 1,000 times more powerfully than the 1980 blast at Mount St. Helens, hurling ash as far away as Louisiana. No eruption that big has occurred while humans have walked the earth, however, and geologists say even a minor lava flow is extremely unlikely any time soon.Some observers are nonetheless warning of imminent catastrophe.To those of us who have been following these events, we know that something is brewing, especially considering that Yellowstone is over 40,000 years overdue for a major eruption, warned a posting on the online disaster forum Armageddononline.org.Another Web site contained a page entitled Yellowstone Warning that encouraged everyone to leave Yellowstone National Park for 100 miles around the volcano caldera because of the danger in poisonous gasses that can escape from the hundreds of recent earthquakes.That site, which carried the U.S. Geological Survey logo, has since been taken down.A casual observer would be led to believe that was an official source, Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said, pointing out that the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, which monitors the park for seismic activity, hasn't changed the volcano's alert level from normal.

Working with the Geological Survey, Nash issued a news release Thursday, saying no evacuation had been ordered.Jessica Robertson, a Geological Survey spokeswoman in Reston, Va., said the Web page violated the USGS trademark and that the agency's attorneys were investigating whether a federal offense was committed.Phone and e-mail messages left with the contact named on the Web site weren't returned Thursday.

Earthquakes are hardly unusual in Yellowstone. Hundreds occur in the park every year. Earthquake swarms like the recent activity also aren't uncommon, although the 900 or so quakes that began Dec. 26 and significantly tapered off about a week later appear to have been the most energetic swarm in more than 20 years.The most powerful temblor was magnitude 3.9, just short of being able to cause moderate damage. The vast majority of quakes were too weak to be felt by people.Scientists knowledgeable about Yellowstone's geology aren't publicly speculating about what caused the swarm before they can analyze data. That will take months.I could come up with 100 different theories without any evidence for them and they would all be equally likely, said Jake Lowenstern, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based scientist in charge of Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Unless you have some reason to say that's what's going on, then you're not going to get a whole lot of people convinced by your speculation.Park geologist Hank Heasler said the odds of a cataclysmic eruption at Yellowstone any time soon are astonishingly remote — about the same as a large meteorite hitting the Earth. The last such eruption occurred 640,000 years ago. The last eruption of any kind at Yellowstone was a much smaller lava flow about 70,000 years ago.Statistically, it would be surprising to see an eruption the next hundred years, Lowenstern said.Much more likely, he said, would be a hydrothermal explosion in which underground water encounters a hot spot and blasts through the surface. Small hydrothermal explosions producing craters a few feet wide occur in Yellowstone perhaps once or twice a year. Large hydrothermal explosions leaving craters the size of a football field occur every 200 years or so, according to a 2007 paper co-authored by Heasler, Lowenstern and others. Lowenstern said new equipment installed deep within bore holes in the park over the past two summers eventually should provide a clear picture of what's causing the earthquake swarm. That data could help scientists make better predictions about Yellowstone's geology. On the Net:
U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov/ Yellowstone Volcano Observatory: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/ (This version CORRECTS attribution in 8th paragrah to Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash, not geologist Hank Heasler.)

PESTILENCES (CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS)

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(CHEMICAL,BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

POISONED WATERS

REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

TVA waste pond ruptures in Ala.; spill contained By BILL POOVEY, Associated Press Writer JAN 9,09

STEVENSON, Ala. – A waste pond at a coal-burning power plant in northeast Alabama ruptured Friday, but the spill was quickly contained, utility officials said. It was the second breach at a Tennessee Valley Authority facility in less than a month.The leak was discovered at about 6 a.m. Friday at the plant near Stevenson, said TVA spokesman John Moulton. Most of the material from the leak flowed into a settling pond at the plant site, but some spilled into nearby Widows Creek, he said.The leak had stopped by late morning and TVA was conducting temporary repairs on the pond, Moulton said. State emergency management officials are trying to determine if any drinking water systems might be affected by the spill into the creek, which flows into the Tennessee River, said Scott Hughes, a spokesman for Alabama Department of Environmental Management.The spill, about 30 miles southwest of Chattanooga, Tenn., comes just after a dike burst at a plant near Kingston, Tenn. on Dec. 22, releasing more than 1 billion gallons of toxic-laden ash into a neighborhood. The spill has renewed a debate about whether states or federal regulators should oversee the materials, and whether stricter regulations are needed to govern them.The federal utility said the pond that leaked Friday contained gypsum, a material that is captured in air pollution control devices at the plant and is different than the type of sludge that spilled in Tennessee. Gypsum is a naturally occurring mineral that contains calcium sulfate, which is used to make wall board, cement and fertilizer.

TVA didn't immediately have an estimate on how much material spilled and the cause of the failure is under investigation. In 2005, the utility reported depositing 445,200 tons of gypsum in ponds at the Widows Creek plant.Two plants remained in operation and two smokestacks that tower over the plant were still putting out a plume of emissions in the hours after the accident.Victor Manning, the emergency management agency director in Jackson County, where the plant is located, said he didn't learn about the leak until several hours later. He said there are no homes nearby that might be endangered by the spill.TVA inspected all its retaining ponds, including the ones at the Widows Creek Fossil Plant, after the rupture in Tennessee. Moulton said on Dec. 31 that the ponds were all in good shape.TVA initially speculated that bitterly cold temperatures and flooding could have been a factor in the Tennessee failure. But the cause of the Tennessee accident is still under investigation, and TVA officials said this week the flood may have destroyed much of the evidence that could help determine why the dike broke.

More species invasions feared for Great Lakes By JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 8, 4:34 am ET

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Dozens of foreign species could spread across the Great Lakes in coming years despite policies designed to keep them out, causing significant environmental and economic damage, a federal report says.The National Center for Environmental Assessment issued the warning in a study released this week. It identified 30 nonnative species that pose a medium or high risk of reaching the lakes and 28 others that already have a foothold and could disperse widely.Among the fish that scientists fear could cause ecological and environmental damage are the monkey goby, the blueback herring and the tench, also known as the doctor fish.

The report described some of the region's busiest ports as strong potential targets for invaders, including Toledo, Ohio; Gary, Ind.; Duluth, Minn.; Superior, Wis.; Chicago and Milwaukee.These findings support the need for detection and monitoring efforts at those ports believed to be at greatest risk, the report said.Exotic species are one of the biggest ecological threats to the nation's largest surface freshwater system. At least 185 are known to have a presence in the Great Lakes, although the report says just 13 have done extensive harm to the aquatic environment and the regional economy.Perhaps the most notorious are the fish-killing sea lamprey and the zebra mussel, which has clogged intake pipes of power plants, industrial facilities and public water systems, forcing them to spend hundreds of millions on cleanup and repairs.Roughly two-thirds of the new arrivals since 1960 are believed to have hitched a ride to the lakes inside ballast tanks of cargo ships from overseas ports.For nearly two decades, U.S. and Canadian agencies have required oceangoing freighters to exchange their fresh ballast water with salty ocean water before entering the Great Lakes system. Both nations also recently have ordered them to rinse empty tanks with seawater in hopes of killing organisms lurking in residual pools on the bottom.Despite such measures, it is likely that nonindigenous species will continue to arrive in the Great Lakes, said the report by the national center, which is part of the Environmental Protection Agency.Some saltwater-tolerant species may survive ballast water exchange and tank flushing, it said. And aquatic invaders could find other pathways to the lakes — perhaps escaping from fish farms or being released from aquariums.The report does not predict which species might get through. Instead, it urges government resource managers to monitor waters under their jurisdiction in hopes of spotting attacks in time to choke them off.Early detection is crucial, said Vic Serveiss, a scientist with the National Center for Environmental Assessment and the report's primary writer.Hugh MacIsaac, a University of Windsor biologist and director of the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network, said he expected very few invaders to reach the Great Lakes in ballast water now that both nations are requiring tank flushing at sea. Flushing and ballast water exchange should kill 99 percent of organisms, he said.

I would be very surprised if their prediction comes true, he said, referring to the EPA report's suggestion that numerous invaders could reach the lakes despite the new ballast rules.The report reinforces the need for further measures to keep foreign species out, including requiring onboard technology to sterilize ballast tanks, said Jennifer Nalbone, invasive species director for the advocacy group Great Lakes United.We are only beginning to invest the tremendous amount of resources needed, Nalbone said. We're being hammered by invasive species and are still woefully behind.
On the Net: National Center for Environmental Assessment: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea