STORMS - ISRAEL STILL WINNING

I WONDER COULD THIS BE WHEN THE UN FOLDS DUE TO THE PEACE PROCESS AND USELESSNESS ON ITS PART.

EU sending two Middle East peace missions
PHILIPPA RUNNER 02.01.2009 @ 09:30 CET

The new Czech EU presidency and France will next week send two overlapping peace missions to the Middle East, amid sensitivities on Prague's capability to lead Europe.Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told national TV on Thursday (1 January) that an EU delegation will visit Egypt, Israel, Palestine's West Bank and Jordan early next week to try to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war. Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg will lead the team, comprising French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, EU top diplomat Javier Solana and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The trip comes at the same time as French President and outgoing EU chairman Nicolas Sarkozy's mission to Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, with the Schwarzenberg and Sarkozy delegations to hold a joint meeting with Palestine President Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank on Monday.Mr Sarkozy on Thursday - the first official day of the Czech EU presidency - also met Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni in Paris to push for an end to hostilities.It is up to the European Union to take over the initiative [on the Middle East], Mr Topolanek said on the Czech TV show. I spoke with [Mr Sarkozy] for a long time and we dealt with the problem [of the overlapping trips] in detail.

The Elysee Palace said the two leaders had agreed perfect co-ordination regarding their efforts on visits to the region during a phone call in which Mr Sarkozy also pledged French support for the Czech EU presidency.The niceties come after the French EU presidency in October annoyed Prague by suggesting Mr Sarkozy should stay on as a quasi-EU president in charge of co-ordinating eurozone member state policy.

EU and French officials in anonymous statements to press have questioned the Czech Republic's capability to lead the EU on big foreign policy issues, citing eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus as an example of the country's unruly political scene. Mr Klaus in a New Year statement on Thursday took a conciliatory tone on Europe. He urged people to vote in the European Parliament elections and said the Czech EU chairmanship is a chance to influence the EU and build a truly democratic space.

Gaza violence continues

Meanwhile, the Sarkozy-Livni meeting in Paris failed to see Israel move closer to EU calls for a ceasefire.Here [in Europe] there is an impression that Israel does not want a ceasefire. That is not the issue, Ms Livni said on French TV. Our ability to enter into a ceasefire is linked to a halt by Hamas of rocket attacks on our Israeli citizens.Fighting continued early on Friday morning. Four Hamas rockets hit the Israeli town of Ashkelon, wounding two people, while Israeli jets bombed 15 Hamas-linked houses, killing two and wounding 12.Palestine says 425 people have been killed over the past seven days, with over 2,000 wounded. Four people have died on the Israeli side.

Bush: Hamas attacks on Israel an act of terror By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer JAN 03,09

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush on Friday branded the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel an act of terror and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.Bush chose his weekly taped radio address to speak for the first time about one of the bloodiest Mideast clashes in decades. It began a week ago. Israeli warplanes have rained bombs on Gaza, targeting the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has traumatized southern Israel with intensifying rocket attacks.The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected, Bush said. Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice — there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end.The White House released Bush's radio address a day early. It airs on Saturday morning.

Despite Bush's account of a U.S. leadership role, with time running out on his presidency, the administration seemed increasingly ready Friday to let the crisis in Gaza shift to President-elect Barack Obama. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefed Bush on developments in Gaza, and she continued furious telephone diplomacy to arrange a truce. Yet, she said she had no plans to make an emergency visit to the region.More than 400 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed in the latest offensive. The U.N. estimated Friday that a quarter of the Palestinians killed were civilians. In their waning days in power, Bush and Rice have been working the phones with world allies.Bush offered no criticism of Israel, depicting the country's air assaults as a response to the attacks on its people. The White House will not comment on whether it views the Israeli response as proportionate or not to the scope of rockets attacks on Israel.This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas — a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction, Bush said.The president said Hamas ultimately ended the latest cease-fire on Dec. 19 and soon unleashed a barrage of rockets and mortars that deliberately targeted innocent Israelis — an act of terror that is opposed by the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people, President (Mahmoud) Abbas.Hamas-run Gaza has been largely isolated from the rest of the world since the Islamic militants won parliamentary elections in 2006. Then Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, expelling forces loyal to the moderate Abbas.Bush expressed deep concern about the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza. U.N. officials say Gaza's 1.5 million residents face an alarming situation under constant Israeli bombardment, with hospitals overcrowded and both fuel and food supplies growing scarce.By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people, Bush said. America has helped by providing tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, and this week we contributed an additional $85 million through the United Nations. We have consistently called on all in the region to ensure that assistance reaches those in need.The White House has cautiously said Israel must be mindful of the toll its military strikes will have on civilians. Here, too, Bush blamed Hamas for hiding within the civilian population. Regrettably, Palestinian civilians have been killed in recent days, he said.International calls for a cease-fire have been growing. Bush promised to stay engaged with U.S. partners in the Middle East and Europe and keep Obama updated. Obama is receiving the same intelligence reports on Gaza that Bush is.Rice has spoken to both Obama and his choice for secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, about the situation at least once in the last week. Obama and Clinton have remained mum out of deference to Bush, who still has 18 days in office.There have been growing calls for Rice to intervene with Israel in person amid rising international concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. Her decision to stay away will likely disappoint those calling for a more robust U.S. role, particularly as French President Nicolas Sarkozy intends visit the region next week.In recent days, U.S. officials had said that a Rice trip to the Middle East, as a first stop on a long-planned visit to China next week, was under consideration. But those officials said Friday that Rice would stay in Washington. They spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement is not expected before the weekend.Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Israeli assault on Gaza enters 2nd week with no end in sight by Adel Zaanoun
JAN 3,09

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli warplanes continued to pound Gaza on Saturday as the assault on Hamas entered its second week, with the Islamist group's leader warning of a black destiny if ground troops are sent in.Hamas's Syrian-based chief Khaled Meshaal told Israel that if you commit the stupidity of launching a ground offensive then a black destiny awaits you.You will soon find out that Gaza is the wrath of God, Meshaal said in pre-taped remarks as the death toll rose from bombing and concerns grew about the humanitarian situation in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.The United States gave Israel free rein on whether to invade the overcrowded enclave, insisting that the key to a ceasefire is Israel's demand for Hamas to permanently halt rocket fire.So I think any steps they are taking, whether it's from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation, said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.Those will be decisions made by the Israelis.President George W. Bush, meanwhile, urged all able parties to press Hamas to stop firing on Israel to facilitate a lasting ceasefire.

The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected, Bush said in his weekly Saturday radio address, the text of which was released late on Friday.I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace.Bush said Hamas was responsible for the latest violence and rejected a unilateral ceasefire that would allow Hamas to continue to fire on Israel.This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas -- a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction, Bush said.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with senior ministers as tanks and troops stood at the ready on the Gaza border.A missile fired by an Israeli jet slammed into a house in southern Gaza, killing three boys, aged from seven to 10. It was one of more than 58 fresh raids carried out on Friday.A 12-year-old girl died of her wounds after the bombing of a house near Gaza City belonging to a member of Islamic Jihad, and two gunmen from the armed wing of Hamas were killed in Jabaliya after firing rockets, medics said.On Saturday, an army spokesman said air attacks on Hamas infrastructure were continuing into the predawn hours.At the same time, the armed wing of Hamas said it had repelled a patrol of Israeli special forces attempting to cross the border into Gaza.

A spokesman said the army was not familiar with the incident, adding that no soldiers had crossed into Gaza since the beginning of the air campaign on December 27.Since then, at least 435 people have been killed, including 66 children, and 2,150 wounded, according to Gaza medics. The bombardment has demolished dozens of houses and heightened concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where most of the 1.5million residents depend on foreign aid. The protection of civilians, the fabric of life, the future of the peace talks and of the regional peace process has been trapped between the irresponsibility of the Hamas attacks and the excessiveness of the Israeli response, Robert Serry, the UN envoy for the Middle East, told reporters in Jerusalem. M ax Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said there is a critical emergency in the Gaza Strip right now ... By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more.Thousands of Hamas faithful attended the funeral of Nizar Rayan -- a firebrand hardliner who was killed with his four wives and 11 children on Thursday. Hamas vowed to avenge the death of the most senior Hamas leader killed by Israel since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004 and warned that it could resume suicide attacks against Israel for the first time since January 2005. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank after Hamas called for a day of wrath. Police fired tear gas at rock-throwing youths in annexed east Jerusalem. With a ground offensive widely expected and no ceasefire in sight, the Israeli army opened a border crossing to allow an estimated 400 people with foreign passports to leave Gaza. Hamas fired more than 30 rockets into Israel, but no casualties were reported. Militants have fired more than 360 rockets into Israel over seven days, killing four people and wounding dozens more. The offensive has sparked angry protests in the Muslim world and elsewhere across the globe and defied diplomatic efforts to broker a truce.

Israel lets Palestinians flee; UN warns of crisis By ARON HELLER and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers JAN 2,09

EREZ CROSSING, Israel – Israel allowed several hundred Palestinians with foreign passports to flee Gaza on Friday, even as its warplanes bombed a mosque it said was used to store weapons and destroyed homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives.The evacuees told of crippling shortages of water, electricity and medicine, echoing a U.N. warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip in the seven-day-old Israeli campaign. The U.N. estimates at least a quarter of the 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Hamas militants were civilians.Jawaher Hajji, a 14-year-old U.S. citizen who was allowed to cross into Israel, said her uncle was one of them — killed while trying to pick up some medicine for her cancer-stricken father. She said her father later died of his illness.They are supposed to destroy just the Hamas, but people in their homes are dying too, Hajji, who has relatives in Virginia, said at the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel.

President George W. Bush on Friday branded the Hamas rocket attacks an act of terror, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Hamas' leaders of holding the people of Gaza hostage.The Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities, and has contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address, she said.International calls for a cease-fire have been growing, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected in the region next week.Bush said no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected, Bush said Friday in his weekly radio address, released a day early. Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice — there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end.Israel has targeted Hamas leaders in the past but halted the practice during a six-month truce that expired last month. Most of Hamas' leaders went into hiding at the start of the Israeli offensive on Dec. 27.Israeli troops in bases in southern Israel are awaiting orders to invade Gaza.Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, speaking in Syria, warned that any ground assault would lead Israel to a black destiny of dead and wounded.However, he said Hamas was ready to cooperate with any effort leading to an end to the Israeli offensive against Gaza, lifting the seige and opening all crossings.Israel appears to be open to the intense diplomatic efforts by Arab and European leaders, saying it would consider stopping its punishing aerial assaults if international monitors were brought in to track compliance with any truce with Hamas.

Israel began its campaign to try to halt weeks of intensifying Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza. The offensive has dealt a heavy blow to Hamas but has not stopped the rockets, which continue to strike deeper and deeper into Israel. Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have been killed in the rocket attacks.More than 30 rockets were fired into southern Israel on Friday, slightly injuring four. Sirens warning Israelis to take cover when military radar picks up an incoming rocket have helped reduce casualties in recent days.Israeli TV showed video of a table set for the traditional Sabbath meal covered with shrapnel and broken glass.After destroying Hamas' security compounds early in the operation, Israel has turned its attention to the group's leadership. Israeli warplanes on Friday hit about 20 houses believed to belong to Hamas militants and members of other armed groups, Palestinians said.

Israel also bombed a mosque it said was used to store weapons. The mosque was known as a Hamas stronghold and was identified with Nizar Rayan, the Hamas militant leader killed Thursday when Israel dropped a one-ton bomb on his home. Rayan, 49, ranked among Hamas' top five decision-makers. The explosion killed 20 people, including all four of Rayan's wives and 11 of his children. Israel's military said the bombing of Rayan's house triggered secondary explosions from the weapons stockpile there. Fear of Israeli attacks led to sparse turnout at Friday's communal prayers at mosques throughout Gaza. Still, thousands attended a memorial service for Rayan, with throngs praying over the rubble of his home and the nearby destroyed mosque. An imam delivered his sermon over a car loudspeaker as the bodies of Rayan and other family members were covered in green Hamas flags. Explosions from Israeli airstrikes and the sound of warplanes could be heard. Following the prayers, mourners marched with the bodies, with many people reaching out to touch and kiss them. The Palestinian resistance will not forget and will not forgive, said Hamas lawmaker Mushir Masri. The resistance's response will be very painful.Israel also destroyed homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives. Most appeared to be empty, but one man was killed in a strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. Fourteen other Palestinians died Friday — killed in airstrikes or dying of wounds from earlier violence, officials said. Among them were two teenagers as well as three children — two brothers and their cousin — who were playing in southern Gaza, according to Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain. Maxwell Gaylard, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinians Territories, said 2,000 people have been wounded in the past week and a significant number of the dead were women and children. There is a critical emergency right now in the Gaza Strip, he said. The U.N. World Food Program began distributing bread in Gaza to Palestinian families. It said there had been a drastic deterioration in living conditions, with shortages of food, cooking gas and fuel, as well as frequent power cuts. Israel denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and has increased its shipments of goods into Gaza. It says it has confined its attacks to militants while trying to prevent civilian casualties. The military has called some houses ahead of time to warn inhabitants of an impending attack. In some cases, aircraft also fired sound bombs to warn away civilians before flattening the homes with their missiles, Palestinians and Israeli defense officials said.

Israeli planes also dropped leaflets east of Gaza giving a confidential phone number and e-mail address for people to report locations of rocket squads. Residents appeared to ignore the leaflets. In all, Israel allowed 270 Palestinians to cross the border from Gaza to flee the fighting. The evacuees all held foreign passports, and were expected to join their families in the U.S., Russia, Turkey, Norway, Belarus, Kazakhstan and elsewhere. Nashwa Hajji, Jawaher's 13-year-old younger sister, said her family left their home following Israeli warnings, but others refused. People said, We don't want to go. We will die where we are, she said. The Hajji family was notified Thursday by the U.S. consulate that it was being evacuated. After crossing Erez, they and others boarded buses taking them to Amman, Jordan. Hajji said she, her mother and five siblings would fly to Virginia from there. The State Department said it had assisted 27 U.S. citizens and members of their immediate families to leave Gaza on Friday and make their way to Jordan and stood ready to help others. Department officials said earlier this week they were aware of roughly 30 Americans in Gaza but that there could be others. Many of the evacuees were foreign-born women married to Palestinians and their children. Spouses who did not hold foreign citizenship were not allowed out. I feel happy and sad, said Caroline Katba, 15, A Russian citizen. Happy, because I am going to Russia, and sad, because my father is left behind.Heller reported from the Erez Crossing, Barzak from Gaza City.

Hamas warns it is ready to confront Gaza invasion Fri Jan 2, 8:27 PM
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas's top leader warned Israel its army would be defeated if it invaded the Gaza Strip, while the United States said it envisioned a ceasefire with international monitoring that would ensure the Islamist group could not rearm.

Israeli armored forces remained poised on the Gaza border for a possible ground operation, a week after Israel launched devastating air strikes with the declared aim of ending rocket attacks on its southern towns.Gaza medical officials put the Palestinian casualty toll at least 429 dead and 2,000 wounded.A United Nations agency said more than a quarter of those killed in the Gaza Strip were civilians. A leading Palestinian human rights group put the figure at 40 percent.Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets since Israel's offensive began, including longer-range weapons that have hit the port of Ashdod and the desert town of Beersheba, forcing schools to shut and residents to scurry for shelter.In Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal sounded a defiant note in a televised speech.We are ready for the challenge, this battle was imposed on us and we are confident we will achieve victory because we have made our preparations, Meshaal said.A Palestinian official has told Reuters that Egypt had begun exploratory talks with Hamas to stop the fighting.U.S. President George W. Bush, in his first public comments on the hostilities that erupted less than a month before he leaves office, said: Another one-way ceasefire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable.And promises from Hamas will not suffice -- there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end, he said in remarks prepared for his weekly Saturday radio address, which was released Friday.The United States has demanded Hamas, which Israel says has been smuggling weapons through tunnels under Gaza's border with Egypt, take the first step by halting rocket attacks on Israel.In the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, 1.5 million Palestinians are unable to escape the conflict. Residents face bombs, missiles and flickering electricity, and queue for bread along streets littered with broken glass and other debris.Ten Palestinians were killed Friday in more than 30 Israeli air strikes. Seven of them were civilians, including five children, local medics said.One missile killed three Palestinian children aged between eight and 12 as they played on a street near the town of Khan Yunis in the south of the strip. One was decapitated.Islamist fighters fired rockets at Israel's ancient port of Ashkelon, blowing out windows in an apartment building. Another house took a direct hit from a long-range missile later in the day, and cars were set ablaze.

DIPLOMACY

Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been engaged in telephone diplomacy during the past week, talking with leaders in the Middle East and Europe, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier Friday the White House said Israel must decide for itself whether to go into the Gaza Strip with ground forces but it cautioned any actions should avoid civilian casualties and ensure the flow of humanitarian goods.Hamas is believed to have 25,000 fighters. Its men have been maintaining a vigil along the Israeli frontier, observing army movements on the other side and broadcasting messages in Hebrew over field radios telling their enemy they are not afraid.In his remarks, Bush expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and said the United States had offered $85 million to relief efforts this week.Meshaal urged Arabs to step up aid and to send medical teams. He said European and Arab countries had contacted Hamas to discuss ending the fighting but he did not name them.Israel has been allowing about 90 truckloads of food and medicine to enter the Gaza Strip daily, saying its enemy was Hamas, not the Palestinian people. Israel tightened its blockade of the territory after Hamas seized the enclave in fighting against Abbas's Fatah group in 2007.We will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity, said Hamas leader Fathi Hammad at the funeral of Nizar Rayyan, a senior Hamas leader who was killed along with four wives and 11 children in an air strike Thursday.Bracing for protests and retaliatory violence, Israel sealed off the occupied West Bank to deny entry to most Palestinians and beefed up security at checkpoints.(Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Douglas Hamilton, Editing by Giles Elgood)

TSX gains 2 percent as oil leads the way Fri Jan 2, 3:06 PM

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index soared more than 2 percent on Friday afternoon as strength in the energy sector, supported by the rising price of crude, led the way higher.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 201.30 points, or 2.24 percent, at 9,189.00. Nine of the index's 10 main groups were higher, with consumer staples the lone group lower.(Reporting by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Rob Wilson)

EU calls crisis talks as Russian gas flow dwindles By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Sabina Zawadzki – Fri Jan 2, 5:03 pm ET

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – European countries began to suffer from reduced gas supplies on Friday after Russia cut deliveries to Ukraine in a contract dispute.The Czech Presidency of the European Union said it would call a crisis meeting of envoys in Brussels on Monday and demanded that existing gas supply deals be honored.We feel that the situation has now escalated to a point that substantiates an extraordinary meeting, Czech presidency spokesman Radek Honzak said. Talks would also probably be called soon with Moscow, another spokesman said.Energy relations between the EU and its neighbors should be based on reliability and predictability, the presidency said in a statement.Existing commitments to supply and transit have to be honored under all circumstances.Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom accused Ukraine of stealing gas in transit. Gas importers in Romania, Hungary and Poland said pressure on their pipelines had dropped.Gas inflows from import fell by 30 to 40 percent ... This is because of Ukraine's dispute with Russia, Romania's state-controlled pipeline operator Transgaz director Ioan Rusu told Reuters by telephone.There were similar reports of less steep supply falls from Budapest and Warsaw.Pressure started to decline at 1500 GMT. Pressure is declining continuously. However, the drop has not yet reached a critical level, Edina Lakatos, a spokeswoman for the Hungarian energy company MOL's natural gas transmission subsidiary, said.Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz denied it was illegally siphoning off Russian gas.

Gazprom's accusation suggested Moscow was in no mood for compromise in a re-run of a 2006 argument that led to supply shortages across the EU.The Ukrainian side openly admits it is stealing gas and is not ashamed of this, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said, adding that Gazprom had increased exports to Europe via an alternative route -- Belarus.Poland said deliveries from Ukraine had dropped six percent but were being made up by deliveries through Belarus.The change in deliveries is not being felt by Polish natural gas consumers, said gas operator Gaz System and gas monopoly PGNiG in a joint statement.

NEW DOUBTS ABOUT RUSSIA

The European Union -- which receives a fifth of its gas via pipelines through Ukraine -- had initially said it considered the dispute between Moscow and Kiev to be a bilateral issue.The row could raise new doubts about Moscow's reliability as an energy supplier and fuel suspicions in the West -- already running high since Russia's war with Georgia last August -- that the Kremlin policy us to bully pro-Western neighbors.Russia denies politics are behind the dispute and says it is about prices and debts, but the two ex-Soviet neighbors have clashed over a drive by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to take his country into the NATO alliance.

Earlier on Friday, energy firms in Germany, Bulgaria and Turkey said their supplies were unaffected. Europe, where temperatures fell below freezing overnight, has enough gas stockpiled to manage without Russian supplies for several days but could face difficulties if any disruption stretched into weeks, analysts said. Talks between Naftogaz and Gazprom have not resumed since they collapsed two days ago. If they do restart, the negotiators will have to bridge huge differences. Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, said on Thursday he wanted Ukraine to pay $418 per 1,000 cubic meters (tcm) of gas, compared with the $179.50 Kiev paid in 2008. Ukraine says the most it can afford to pay is $235. Gazprom charges about $500/tcm to customers in the European Union, though that is likely to fall by up to half this year. Gas prices track oil and crude has plummeted in value. Gas markets in northwest Europe seemed unconcerned about the supply outlook over the next few days, with prices falling in Britain and Belgium on expectations of warmer weather. I guess everyone expects it (the Russia-Ukraine row) to be resolved fairly soon and if it's resolved over the next day or so then it shouldn't cause any problems, there is plenty of storage to cover things as well, one UK gas trader said.

Manufacturing index drops to 28-year low By ELLEN SIMON, AP Business Writer – Fri Jan 2, 4:53 pm ET

NEW YORK – Signs grew that the economy could turn even weaker in 2009, as an index of December manufacturing activity sank to its lowest point in 28 years. Every corner of the sector was down, from bakeries to cigarette-makers to aluminum smelters.The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Friday its manufacturing index fell to 32.4 in December, a greater-than-expected decline from November's reading of 36.2. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the reading to fall to 35.5.Components of the index hit historic lows. New orders fell to their lowest level on records going back to 1948. Prices fell as the number of respondents saying they had paid more in December than in November sank to its lowest monthly reading since 1949.A reading below 50 for the overall index indicates contraction. The index, based on a survey of the institute's members, has fallen steadily for the last five months as the economy deteriorated.December's reading is the lowest since June 1980, when the economy was near the end of a six-month recession.If December's rate of manufacturing activity were to persist for 2009, the nation's gross domestic product would show a 2.7 percent contraction, said Norbert Ore, chairman of the group's business survey committee. GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity, decreased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.An increasingly constrained consumer, deepening woes for the housing sector, and a desire to pare inventories will all continue to weigh heavily on domestic demand, said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., an economics consulting firm in New York. Overall U.S. manufacturing output, which has been shrinking since late 2007 and losing momentum at a more rapid rate recently, is likely to be even weaker in coming quarters.Only three recessions in the history of the index have showed weaker manufacturing readings, said John Ryding, of RDQ Economics. Those recessions were in 1948 to 1949, 1973 to 1975 and 1980.

The U.S. weakness is part of a worldwide slowdown. China's manufacturing sector, which accounts for 43 percent of the economy, contracted for a fifth straight month in December. Singapore said its economy shrank in the fourth quarter, and South Korea said its exports fell 17.4 percent in December. With European manufacturing indexes also dropping, the case for a massive global fiscal stimulus continues to grow, Ryding said.Investors shrugged off the grim report on the new year's first day of trading, eager to start fresh after the losses of 2008. Stocks closed higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 258.30 to 9,034.69. Broader indexes were also higher.As the economy sputters through a recession that began in December 2007, no industry is proving resistant. No sector reported overall growth in December. Also, none reported growth in new orders, production, employment or prices, as businesses from tobacco to coal products to foodmakers saw declines.Declining prices, coming after the summer's soaring market for commodities, have sent manufacturers — especially in chemicals and metals — reeling.Century Aluminum last month cut production at a West Virginia plant and said that it might have to cease production at the plant entirely unless it cuts costs and prices stabilize. LyondellBasell Industries, the third-largest independent chemical company in the world, said Wednesday that while several lenders had allowed it to postpone $160 million in loan payments, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing might still be an option.

The summer's commodity bubble was devastating for many food processors. Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the nation's largest chicken producer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 1.With the overall unemployment rate at 6.7 percent in November, the highest in 15 years, manufacturing continues to be one of the hardest hit sectors. The sector lost 85,000 jobs between October and November, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More losses are expected in coming months as demand continues to be weak.The purchasing managers' employment index showed its lowest reading since 1982 as manufacturers across industries continue to cut jobs.Western Digital Corp., which makes computer hard drives, said in December it plans to cut 2,500 jobs. The drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said in December it would cut 800 jobs by the end of 2008.Automotive supplier Visteon Corp. said Friday it will shift more than 2,000 workers to a four-day week and cut their pay by 20 percent as auto sales continue to founder. General Motors Corp. on Wednesday received the first tranche of $9.4 billion in low-cost loans from the U.S. Treasury, part of a package designed to keep ailing automakers in business.

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

Sarkozy's Diplomatic Mission to the Middle East By BRUCE CRUMLEY / PARIS – Fri Jan 2, 8:30 pm ET

AP Although France relinquished the rotating presidency of the European Union with the New Year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is showing no signs of surrendering diplomatic center stage. As Israel's offensive on Gaza continues, Sarkozy announced on Thursday that he will visit both Israel and the Palestinian capital of Ramallah on Jan. 5 in an effort to broker a halt to the violence. So far, there are few indications that Sarkozy's signature take-charge moves will produce a quick result. But Sarkozy will be hoping that his controversial resumption of relations with Syria last year will translate into diplomatic leverage that can deliver Hamas cooperation in a new cease-fire. (Read about TIME Person of the Year runner-up Nicolas Sarkozy.)

There is no humanitarian crisis, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday after an ElysÉe meeting with Sarkozy, who had reiterated his appeal that fighting stop immediately. We affected most of the infrastructure of terrorism in Gaza Strip, and the question of whether it's enough or not will be according to our assessment on a daily basis. (See pictures of Israel's deadly assault on Gaza.) Israel's deaf ear to Sarkozy's plea has raised the diplomatic stakes involved. Although the French President's trip to Egypt, Syria and Lebanon had been set long ago, stops in Ramallah and Jerusalem have been added to discuss possible paths to peace with various leaders. ElysÉe officials say Sarkozy won't be advancing any plans for resolving longer-term conflicts but rather seeking to use his influence and rare good relations with major players in the area to get the fighting to stop. For now, all other questions are secondary to the issue of restoring peace, said Sarkozy spokesman Franck Louvrier. It's an objective everyone says they want, so the focus will be finding a way to make it attainable.Given the absence of the U.S.'s traditional lead role in the region until President-elect Barack Obama takes office, Sarkozy finds himself with a rare opportunity to wade into a Middle East crisis as the main diplomatic player. The ElysÉe hopes Sarkozy's visit to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas can help reverse Abbas' increasing marginalization and make him an active partner in hammering out a truce. But the main event of Sarkozy's peacemaking foray will more likely be in Damascus, where he will meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday. Sarkozy's recent rapprochement with Syria, the regional player with the most influence over Hamas, means that the French President may have more diplomatic leverage than many of his Western counterparts.

Sarkozy ended Assad's long stint of international isolation by making Syria a founding member of the newly formed Mediterranean Union. Although Sarkozy faced heated criticism in July for embracing Assad - who is denounced by human rights activists and widely accused of orchestrating the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - the French President has defended the move as realpolitik designed to turn an enemy into an ally. That argument will now be put to the test. Sarkozy is expected to press Assad to help find an end to the Gaza bloodshed - notably by pressuring Hamas to fulfill Israeli demands that it stop firing rockets. Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshal seems willing to accept that condition in exchange for Israel's reopening border crossings that have economically asphyxiated Gaza - an issue that could eventually force a change in Egypt's closure of its frontier. Sarkozy may have a short window for making progress. Nicolas Sarkozy uses his energy and good faith to change the world - and that has had its chance as an alternative to the universally rejected Bush doctrine, wrote editorialist Yves ThrÉard in the French daily Le Figaro on Friday. But Obama taking command will alter that equation, and risks crowding [Sarkozy] out.

Three EU states open up to Bulgarian, Romanian workers
ELITSA VUCHEVA 02.01.2009 @ 09:28 CET

The New Year has brought with it the lifting of restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers in Greece, Spain and Denmark, but a number of EU states will be keeping barriers to their labour markets for three more years.Greece on Wednesday (31December) became the latest old EU member to lift restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers, following Spain and Denmark which set the example earlier in December.The Greek government has reached this decision after assessing all parameters. With this move, illegal work will diminish. The reasons [to work illegally] will be very much reduced, as workers from Bulgaria and Romania now become just as competitive as the Greek ones, if not more, the secretary general of the Greek labour ministry was quoted as saying by Bulgarian news agency Bgnes.For its part, Spain has issued a declaration saying that the moratorium [on Bulgarian and Romanian workers] has been unfair and fruitless, according to a statement published on the Bulgarian foreign ministry's website.Madrid also believes that the two countries' growing economies would encourage their workers to stay home rather than look for a job abroad.By contrast, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Belgium have announced in the last weeks that they would keep their labour markets closed to Bulgarians and Romanians for a second period of three years, citing the economic downturn as the main reason.Since Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU on 1 January 2007, other EU member states have been able to restrict access to their labour markets for the new workers for a set period of a maximum of seven years, after which all of them must fully open up.

For the first two years of their membership, Bulgarians and Romanians have faced such restrictions in most states, except for Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.In countries where barriers have remained, workers from the two newcomers need a work permit accompanied by lengthy and heavy administrative procedures - simplified for certain professions in some of member states - to be legally employed.In November, the European Commission encouraged all EU countries to lift remaining barriers, arguing that the new workers had not caused serious disturbances on labour markets, nor had they flooded them, as some had feared.Additionally, it stressed that those workers had contributed to the economic growth by bringing more manpower where it was most needed, and had had little or no negative impact on wages and unemployment levels.

French warship thwarts Somali pirate attack Fri Jan 2, 5:36 am ET

BBC PARIS – A French warship has thwarted an attack by Somali pirates on a cargo ship in the dangerous Gulf of Aden on a day when several cargo ships were attacked, the French president's office said.The warship was patrolling the area Thursday as part of a multinational operation to protect commercial vessels passing through one of the world's most important sea routes.The crew of the French PM L Her dispatch boat intercepted two speedboats carrying eight Somali pirates as they were preparing to board a Panamanian cargo ship, said a statement that President Nicolas Sarkozy's office released late Thursday. The French navy will hand over the men to Somali authorities.The French crew seized weapons and munitions from the speedboats, the statement said.Also on Thursday, Somali pirates seized an Egyptian cargo ship and its 28 crew members, but a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked.More than a dozen warships are now patrolling the vast waterway between the shores of Yemen and Somalia. Countries as diverse as Britain, India, Iran, the United States, China, France and Germany have naval forces in the waters.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked 111 times in the Gulf of Aden in 2008, successfully hijacking 42 ships.

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.

Maritime blizzard cuts power to thousands Charlottetown Airport records 49 cm of snow Saturday, January 3, 2009 | 12:26 AM AT CBC News

Snow piles up against a home in New Glasgow, N.S. (Kevin Harvey/CBC) A blizzard that cancelled New Year's Day travel plans and cut power to parts of the Maritimes is expected to move out of the region Friday.About 4,000 customers in Nova Scotia were without electricity Friday afternoon, despite the fact that Nova Scotia Power had said it hoped to restore service to most people by noon. At one point late Thursday, more than 11,000 people were without power.The weather has to be quite adverse before it can stop us, said Glennie Langille, a spokeswoman for the utility.High winds are probably the biggest problem for us in trying to respond. We either have whiteouts or, if we have gusts about 90 km/h, it's unsafe to put the bucket trucks up in the air.The Canso Causeway, which connects Cape Breton to mainland N.S., has reopened to traffic, officials said Friday. Blowing snow and rocks had forced its closure a day earlier.Blizzard warnings remain in effect for the Cape Breton Highlands. Parts of Cape Breton were forecast to receive up to 60 centimetres of snow.It's a great start to 2009. Makes people feel alive, said Halifax resident Gary Merrick. They don't have to worry about their stocks. They're all out shovelling snow today.

Storm moving to Labrador
Ferry service between N.S. and Newfoundland and Labrador was interrupted Thursday with one vessel delayed by high winds.Many flights in and out of Halifax's Stanfield International Airport are operating Friday, but some connections in and out of Prince Edward Island are delayed.A snowy scene at Halifax's Hemock Ravine park. (Submitted by John Sparling) The blizzard essentially shut down the Island Thursday, as officials pulled snowplows off the roads and warned people to stay at home. Wind gusts of more than 100 km/h and near-zero visibility made driving treacherous.Most of the Island's popular meet-and-greet New Year's Day levees were also cancelled.

Scattered power outages were reported throughout P.E.I., which recorded 49 centimetres of snow at the Charlottetown Airport.Parts of southeastern New Brunswick were also hit by the blizzard, with about 14 centimetres of snow dumped on the Moncton area.As you went further inland around Fredericton, they just got a light dusting of snow, said Kathleen Young, an Environment Canada meteorologist. It wasn't too bad.The storm system is headed northeastward to Labrador, bringing strong winds and up to 25 centimetres of snow.With files from the Canadian Press

Floods kill five in central Vietnam JAN 2,09

HANOI (Reuters) – Unseasonable floods brought by rains this week have killed at least five people in central Vietnam while 10 others remained missing, the government and state-run media said Saturday.Waters were now receding in main rivers in the region but three including a woman drowned in Quang Nam province and another 44-year-old man died in floods in the neighboring province of Quang Ngai, the government said in a disaster report.A 22-year-old man died in Binh Dinh province while nine fishermen were among the missing after their boats sank, Saturday's Thanh Nien newspaper quoted provincial disaster reports as saying.Floods and storms often strike central Vietnam between August and November but heavy rains since Monday caused by a cold spell hit the region widely exposed to the sea and raised river waters.The government said more than 5,000 homes were submerged and floods also inundated a combined 74,400 hectares of rice in five provinces. The affected area is not the key growing region for rice and coffee, Vietnam's main agro-products for exports.(Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Floods, mounting snow ruin buildings in Northwest Fri Jan 2, 9:12 pm ET

PORTLAND, Ore. – A mud slide destroyed a home Friday, briefly trapping its occupants, and flooding, mud and deep snow blocked roads as the latest winter storm pummeled the Northwest.Residents of a home in suburban Lake Oswego called 911 early Friday saying they were trapped after mud flowed into their home, filling the first floor. They escaped out a window and were taken to a hospital, said deputy Fire Marshall Gert Zoutendijk. He said their lives were not in danger.Authorities said 21 nearby homes were evacuated.Outside Portland in Clackamas County, about 30 families were evacuated from a mobile home park because of flooding and about 60 roads were closed. County officials declared a state of emergency.Also in Clackamas County, floods crept into the Estacada library, ruining thousands of books before the water receded. A layer of silt remained.The storm dropped just over 3 inches of rain east of Portland before the sky cleared during the morning, and 3.9 inches fell in Aurora, south of the city.In eastern Washington and northern Idaho, at least two roofs collapsed under the weight of mounting snow Friday.Jeff Roma had been up clearing snow off the roof of his Spokane business, Buck's Tire and Automotive, on Friday morning when the roof started to collapse.I heard it start to go and I had to get off, Roma told The Spokesman-Review.

He was not injured.

In nearby Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a business owner and his dog narrowly escaped from a jewelry store before the roof caved in.The risk of roof collapse caused a Spokane-area Costco to close Friday and hire a contractor to shovel its roof. In addition, three Wal-Mart stores were closed in the region while snow was cleared from their roofs, The Spokesman-Review reported.About 4 to 5 inches of snow fell in Spokane on Friday, bringing the season's total to 69 inches. More snow was expected over the weekend.

More small quakes rattle Yellowstone National Park Fri Jan 2, 5:34 pm ET

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – More earthquakes are rattling Yellowstone National Park.The small quakes include three more Friday that measured stronger than magnitude 3.0. The University of Utah Seismic Stations say the strongest was 3.5.
Several hundred quakes centered under the northern end of Yellowstone Lake have now occurred since Dec. 26. No damage has been reported.Earthquake swarms happen fairly often in Yellowstone. But scientists say it's unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days.Yellowstone lies mostly in northwestern Wyoming and is the caldera of a volcano that last erupted 70,000 years ago. Scientists have not concluded what is causing the earthquakes.