780 BILLION STIMULUS POSSIBLY AGREED

TONIGHT AT 6PM ISRAEL CELEBRRATES THE SPRING NEW YEAR OF TREES.
VIDEO OF HOLIDAY,AUDIO
http://www.bangitout.com/videos/viewvideo.php?a=521
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/817021/jewish/
Tu-BShevat-Celebrating-the-Potential.htm

Tu B'Shevat Level: Basic FEB 8,09

When you come to the land and you plant any tree, you shall treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years it will be forbidden and not eaten. In the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be sanctified to praise the L-RD. In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit. -Leviticus 19:23-25

There are four new years... the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month. -Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1

Tu B'Shevat, the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat, is a holiday also known as the New Year for Trees. The word Tu is not really a word; it is the number 15 in Hebrew, as if you were to call the Fourth of July Iv July (IV being 4 in Roman numerals). See Hebrew Alphabet for more information about using letters as numbers and why the number 15 is written this way.

As I mentioned in Rosh Hashanah, Judaism has several different new years. This is not as strange a concept as it sounds at first blush; in America, we have the calendar year (January-December), the school year (September-June), and many businesses have fiscal years. It's basically the same idea with the various Jewish new years.

Tu B'Shevat is the new year for the purpose of calculating the age of trees for tithing. See Lev. 19:23-25, which states that fruit from trees may not be eaten during the first three years; the fourth year's fruit is for G-d, and after that, you can eat the fruit. Each tree is considered to have aged one year as of Tu B'Shevat, so if you planted a tree on Shevat 14, it begins its second year the next day, but if you plant a tree two days later, on Shevat 16, it does not reach its second year until the next Tu B'Shevat.

Tu B'Shevat is not mentioned in the Torah. I have found only one reference to it in the Mishnah, and the only thing said there is that it is the new year for trees, and there is a dispute as to the proper date for the holiday (Beit Shammai said the proper day was the first of Shevat; Beit Hillel said the proper day was the 15th of Shevat. As usual, we follow Beit Hillel. For more on Hillel and Shammai, see Sages and Scholars).

There are few customs or observances related to this holiday. One custom is to eat a new fruit on this day. Some people plant trees on this day. A lot of Jewish children go around collecting money for trees for Israel at this time of year. That's about all there is to it.

List of Dates
Tu B'Shevat will occur on the following days of the Gregorian calendar:

Jewish Year 5768: sunset January 21, 2008 - nightfall January 22, 2008
Jewish Year 5769: sunset February 8, 2009 - nightfall February 9, 2009
Jewish Year 5770: sunset January 29, 2010 - nightfall January 30, 2010
Jewish Year 5771: sunset January 19, 2011 - nightfall January 20, 2011
Jewish Year 5772: sunset February 7, 2012 - nightfall February 8, 2012

A look at top PM candidates in Israel's election By The Associated Press – Sat Feb 7, 11:48 am ET

A look at the leading candidates to be Israel's new prime minister:

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Hawkish former prime minister, tagged by opinion polls as front-runner, presents himself as a leader who will not be seduced by dreams of peace into letting down his guard against Israel's enemies.Netanyahu, 59, promises to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and says a peace accord with the Palestinians is impossible now. He argues Israel should instead try to boost the Palestinian economy while continuing its military occupation indefinitely.Still, he is not an unbending ideologue, unlike many in his Likud Party, and was seen by some to have displayed some pragmatism during his run as prime minister in 1996-99.Netanyahu, who lived in the U.S. as a child and speaks fluent, American-accented English, says he knows how to maintain Israel's vital strategic relationship with Washington. But his policies could put him on a collision course with President Barack Obama's new administration.

TZIPI LIVNI: Leader of the governing centrist Kadima Party, she is the foreign minister and has overseen a year of negotiations with the Palestinians that showed little visible progress on the ground.Livni, 50, has campaigned as the best hope for bringing peace while promising to take a tough line toward Palestinian militants. Although she lacks the battlefield credentials of her male rivals, she was one of the architects of Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.As a young woman she worked for the Mossad spy agency, and was a corporate lawyer before entering politics.Livni was elected to head Kadima in a closely fought primary in September, replacing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down to fight corruption charges. A victory would make her Israel's second female leader after Golda Meir, who served from 1969 to 1974.

EHUD BARAK: Defense minister in the outgoing government, the Labor Party chief hopes to reclaim the premiership he briefly held a decade ago, campaigning on an image burnished by last month's fighting in Gaza.Born on a communal farm in 1942 to Holocaust survivors, he spent 36 years in the army, becoming Israel's most-decorated soldier and the military chief of staff. He joined the government under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and in May 1999 he ousted Netanyahu as prime minister.Barak has boosted his image with the Gaza campaign, but he is considered a long shot to come out ahead in the race to be prime minister. Labor was long the dominant party in Israel, but its popularity has slumped since Barak's peace talks with the Palestinians collapsed into prolonged violence in 2000.

AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN: An immigrant from Moldova who was once a marginal political player, he has seen his support surge. In what could be a dramatic upset, pre-election polls show his Yisrael Beiteinu party ahead of Barak's venerable Labor.
Lieberman has centered his platform on attacking Israel's Arab citizens, demanding they sign an oath of loyalty or lose their right to vote or be elected. Perhaps his most polarizing policy is to redraw Israel's borders, pushing areas with heavy concentrations of Arabs outside the country and under Palestinian jurisdiction.
Lieberman appears to be capitalizing on a swell of hard-line sentiment among Israelis, fueled partially by the rocket fire from Gaza that sparked Israel's recent offensive there.

OK PROPHECY OF THE 3RD TEMPLE WILL BE REBUILT IF THE RIGHT OVERTAKE THE LEFT IN THESE ELECTIONS. THEN THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS WILL HAPPEN IN THE LAST DAYS BEFORE THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY IS SIGNED.

Israel turning rightward going into Tuesday ballot By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer – Sat Feb 7, 11:43 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israel seems to be moving rightward going into Tuesday's national election, with polls giving the edge to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a tough stance on Mideast peacemaking that could lead to a collision with the new U.S. administration.Israel's complex coalition system and a large number of undecided voters could still allow Netanyahu's moderate rival, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, to squeeze out a victory.But the war in Gaza, a looming recession and a pervasive belief that giving up land only draws more attacks have boosted Netanyahu and other hard-line candidates as Israelis prepare to choose a new 120-member parliament.How do I explain Israel's turn to the right? asks analyst Reuven Hazan. In three words: Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.The 23 days of fighting in the Gaza Strip last month appear to have nourished Israel's self image as a besieged nation surrounded by enemies — even though moderate candidates like Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak can claim political points for having helped wage the popular war. Both those candidates favor evacuating territory to make room for a Palestinian state.But of all the contenders for prime minister, Netanyahu seems to best channel the current mood. The polished, baritone-voiced politician with flawless English sees confronting threats as the No. 1 priority rather than chasing an elusive peace deal with the Palestinians.Last time I voted for Barak and we tried to be nice to the Arabs and you see what we got, 37-year-old Jerusalem resident Elan Benaroush said, referring to the rocket attacks and Hamas takeover of Gaza that followed Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the territory. We have to be strong. It's a security vote.Opinion polls indicate that right-leaning parties together may garner a majority of about 65 seats in the next parliament, the Knesset.But surveys also say the lead of Netanyahu's Likud Party over Livni's centrist Kadima Party has narrowed, with an edge of just two or three seats. If Kadima surpassed Likud on election day as the biggest party, President Shimon Peres would likely ask Livni to form the next government.

About a quarter of Israel's 5.3 million eligible voters were undecided in the campaign's final days, polls said.Even with a late victory, however, Livni would not be able to form a government without bringing hawks on board. That would put her in the same position she was in three months ago, when she failed to put together a coalition and triggered the current election by refusing to cave in to the right's demands after corruption charges forced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.

Specifically, it's unlikely Livni could put together a coalition without Avigdor Lieberman, a hawkish immigrant from the former Soviet Union who is emerging as the kingmaker in Tuesday's vote. His Yisrael Beitenu Party now appears to be vying with Barak's Labor to be Israel's third largest party.Lieberman has based his campaign on denying citizenship to Arabs he considers disloyal — a position that gave rise to one of the campaign's most colorful TV ads, courtesy of the dovish Meretz Party: If you liked Mussolini, if you were missing Stalin, you'll love Lieberman.A victorious Netanyahu also could find himself forced into a broader coalition with doves if moderate parties did well enough.But another possibility is that Netanyahu would team up with ultra-nationalists and Orthodox Jewish parties that oppose territorial concessions to the Palestinians — an outcome that would deal a big blow to U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace talks.Netanyahu was recently quoted as saying he would allow existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank to expand.He told a security conference Wednesday that any territory Israel relinquished to the Palestinians as part of a peace deal would be grabbed by extremists. He said peace efforts should focus on building the Palestinian economy rather than creating an independent state — a position sure to be rejected by the Palestinians and most of the international community.Those views are likely to put Netanyahu at odds with President Barack Obama, who has been reaching out to Muslims and promising fresh approaches to dealing with the Middle East, including moving forward vigorously with the vision of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It is unfortunate if there is a positive political atmosphere in the U.S. and a negative political path in Israel, said Mohammed Shtayyeh, the head of a Palestinian economic development council. The aftermath of the Gaza fighting could be another source of friction, especially if the Obama administration lends its support to an idea gaining currency in international circles of trying to pull the Islamic militants of Hamas out of Iran's orbit by offering incentives. Palestinian leaders are attempting to repair the internal rift caused when Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, leaving the Western-backed government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in charge of just the West Bank.

The Obama team might well choose to accept a new Palestinian national unity government even if it included the militants, because Israeli-Palestinian peace would be all but impossible with Palestinians remaining divided. While all the top Israeli candidates promise to be tough with Hamas, Netanyahu takes the hardest line. There is no choice but to uproot the Iranian-backed regime in Gaza, he said Wednesday. As for Iran itself, Netanyahu is vowing not to allow it to develop nuclear weapons, though he stops short of saying how he would achieve that. Of the main candidates, Netanyahu seems the most likely to carry out a military strike on Iran, which Israel sees as its top threat. That, too, could put him at odds with Obama, who favors talking to Tehran. Still, Netanyahu showed a pragmatic side when he was prime minister from 1996 to 1999, meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and ceding part of the biblically significant West Bank city of Hebron to Palestinian control. Israeli hawks have carried out their nation's most important territorial concessions, most notably Menachem Begin's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 and Ariel Sharon's 2005 evacuation of Gaza. One thing Israeli voters have never liked is disharmony with the U.S., their main international patron. This helps explain Obama's starring role in the election campaign, with Netanyahu bragging of his personal rapport with the new president and Livni repeatedly warning that voting for the right will harm U.S.-Israeli relations. I have heard that there are people who are afraid of Obama. I'm not, Barak said this week. We can work very well together.The idea of Palestinian statehood has not played a big role in the campaign, even though it is a crucial issue for Israelis. With Arabs soon to outnumber Jews in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel will have a hard time remaining a Jewish state if it holds on to all the land it now controls. Livni began pressing this point aggressively in recent days. The dove is on the window sill, said the candidate who wants to become Israel's second female prime minister after Golda Meir. We can either slam the door or let it in. The choice is in your hands.Associated Press writers Dalia Nammari and Karen Zolka contributed to this report.

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.

More Mudslides, Floods Predicted in Wildfire-Ravaged Southern California
Saturday, February 07, 2009 AP

Feb. 7: Heavy equipment removes mudflow on Woodland Drive in Sierra Madre, Calif.
LOS ANGELES — Stormy weather is still threatening floods and mudslides in areas of Southern California that were burned bare by wildfires.The National Weather Service has issued flash flood watches through Saturday afternoon for burn areas as well as for valleys, foothills and coastal areas from Ventura to San Diego counties and the Inland Empire.Meteorologists say the second wave of a Pacific storm front could dump an inch of rain or more, with showers, isolated thunderstorms and possible lightning strikes.Jamie Meier, a weather service meteorologist in Oxnard, says some Los Angeles County foothills have received more than 4 inches of rain since the first wave of storms moved in Thursday.On Friday, a mudslide inundated streets in the Sierra Madre foothills northeast of downtown Los Angeles, closing some streets for several hours. Another slide left about 3 feet of mud on a road in the San Fernando Valley community of Sylmar.There's also a winter storm warning out through Saturday for Los Angeles and Ventura county mountain areas. The mountains could get an additional 2 feet of snow along with gusty winds that could reduce visibility and make mountain roads treacherous.Snow levels could fall to 4,500 feet.

KENTUCKY STILL POWERLESS
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4768369n

Obama declares disaster in Kentucky ice storm
By HALIMAH ABDULLAH McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Thursday declared a major disaster in Kentucky in the aftermath of a massive ice storm that struck the state last week.The major disaster declaration, which Gov. Steve Beshear requested earlier this week, will allow state and local governments to be reimbursed by the federal government for rescue and cleanup efforts. So far, cleanup from the storm has cost more than $61million, and that number is expected to climb, according to Beshear's office.

Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency said they are still reviewing Beshear's request to reimburse the state 100 percent of the cost of rescue efforts during the first seven days after the storm - including an appeal to the federal government to pay for the salaries of National Guard troops who spent hours delivering meals and hacking through ice and fallen trees to free trapped residents.

At this point, the federal government will pick up 75 percent of those costs, FEMA officials said.Obviously the president agrees that there was a need to assist Kentucky and we're certainly going to do everything we can to do that, said Kurt Pickering, a FEMA spokesman.The major disaster declaration came days after Beshear asked the Obama administration to bolster federal aid to help pay for emergency work to restore power, hand out food and water and clear debris. FEMA officials said Beshear's request for additional aid to the state's farmers who may have lost crops during the storm will be forwarded to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Federal funding to pay for debris removal and emergency protective measures is available to the state and local governments and some private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis in more than 90 counties, FEMA officials said. Damage surveys are continuing in other areas, and additional counties may be designated for assistance after the assessments are completed.In a statement, Beshear said he appreciated the quick approval of his request for more federal help.I will continue to pursue 100 percent reimbursement for the seven days following storm and I'm hopeful that we will receive approval for this as well, he said.At its peak, the storm knocked out power to 769,353 customers in Kentucky. At least 29 deaths have been blamed on the storm, according to the governor's office. Beshear has called the storm the worst natural disaster in the state's modern history.

As of late Wednesday, the number of Kentuckians still without power had dropped to 157,200, according to the state Public Service Commission. Meanwhile, utility crews continued to work to rebuild electric lines, especially in Western Kentucky. And National Guard troops continued to hand out water and meals, and check on residents without power.So far, 101 counties and 78 cities have declared emergencies because of the storm.John Heltzel, director of the state's Division of Emergency Management, said public utility companies estimate it will cost more than $60 million to restore power. Heltzel said the state and local governments have not yet tallied costs from the storm.A previous federal disaster declaration, signed by Obama just days after the storm struck, brought federal help to many areas hit by the storm, with equipment like generators to help run hospitals and water treatment plants.The ice storm has been viewed by some as the first test of FEMA's response under the Obama administration. The agency was widely criticized for its handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the Gulf Coast in August 2005.Beshear and other state officials generally have given FEMA good reviews for the agency's response, though officials in some Western Kentucky counties have said they could use even more help.The coordination of relief on the local, state, and federal levels has worked well in our district, and the National Guard has been invaluable, said Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky.Other members of the state's congressional delegation, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also applauded the president's swift action on the disaster declarations.The acting administrator of FEMA, Nancy Ward, was in Kentucky on Wednesday and toured areas that had been ravaged by the storm. Ward also attended Beshear's State of the Commonwealth Address, in which the governor talked about the damage from the storm and the challenge of recovering from it. Next week, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to visit the state.State Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, applauded Obama for acting quickly on the major disaster declaration. The money will be a big boost for cities, many of which are worse off financially than the state, Yonts said.This will mean additional moneys, hopefully not just for overtime but for straight time, he said, referring to salaries for local government employees.(Staff writer Beth Musgrave contributed to this report from Frankfort, Ky.)

One dead as US authorities rescue more than 100 from ice floe Sat Feb 7, 5:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – One man has died and more than 100 others had to be rescued Saturday when their fishing outings turned perilous as an ice floe drifted into Lake Erie, the US coast guard said.Petty Officer William Mitchell of the Ninth Coast Guard District -- which patrols the Great Lakes -- told AFP rescue services brought an estimated 145 fishing enthusiasts off Lake Erie on the Ohio shore in Ottawa county.The initial emergency call came at around 10:45 local time prompting a multi-agency rescue operation involving local police, fire brigades and the US and Canadian coast guards.Helicopters, a C130 Hercules cargo plane and a 240 foot (73-meter) ice breaker are still operating to find anyone still be stranded on the 8-mile (almost 13-km-wide) wide floe.Mitchell said that two people had been reported as fallen in the water. One of the two, a man between 50 and 60 years old, was recovered by the fire brigade and evacuated to a local hospital, where he was confirmed dead.Another man was recovered from the water after attempting to drive his all terrain vehicle off the ice floe. His condition is not thought to be serious.

According to Mitchell local temperatures have jumped from well bellow freezing to positive territory in recent days, which may have caused the floe to break off.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Matthew Schofield said the clement weather may also have attracted people on to the floe.A lot of people in the Lakes area, for recreation like to go ice fishing he explained, they pitch ice shanties -- which are like tents -- and fish.

Moroccan rains kill 24, force mass evacuations Sat Feb 7, 5:35 pm ET

RABAT (AFP) – Heavy rains in Morocco have claimed 24 lives and forced 2,000 people to be evacuated over the past week, interior ministry officials said Saturday.The victims, across northern and central Morocco, died as rivers rose or houses were swept away in landslides, causing over 2,000 homes to be lost.According to the authorities in Rabat, 2,252 houses have been lost and another 328 damaged, with 80,000 hectares (300 square miles) of agricultural land submerged.Hundreds among those evacuated are in temporary shelter, said officials who are distributing food aid along with bedding and medicine.Morocco's weather forecasters have warned that the rains -- unusually heavy going back to September -- are set to continue through Sunday.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

ALASKA VOLCANO
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/
http://eruptions.wordpress.com/2009/02/
VOLCANO ERUPTING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6JlDPOeudo&eurl=http://eruptions.wordpress.com/2009/02/&feature=player_embedded

Alaska volcano may be on verge of venting FEB 6,09
By Nathaniel Wilder, Reuters

Recent steam and tremors from Alaska's 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano, located about 100miles southwest of Anchorage, may mean a messy, rock-ash eruption is imminent. USA TODAY Brent Hibbert will replace the air filters in his 18 taxicabs every 50 to 100 miles if the volcano at Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupts and coats his hometown of Kenai with engine-choking ash.It gets into everything, Hibbert said.He and other residents are preparing for what geologists say could be imminent. Steam and tremors emanating from the 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano, located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, are more likely than not to result in an eruption.If that happens, the abrasive ash could blanket the state's most populous area, and threaten commercial air traffic in the region, said geologist Tina Neal of the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Volcano Observatory.The Redoubt Volcano produces thick, grayish lava that rises in a dome. The ash can spew up to40,000 feet, observatory volcanologist Dave Schneider said. This is rock fragments, mineral fragments and glass, Schneider said. It has the density of rock, not fluffy ash like when you burn wood.For the past few weeks, the gurgling mountain has prompted residents to make a run on dust masks and health officials to warn the old, young and people with respiratory problems to stay indoors if the volcano blows.George Sides, 52, a sales clerk at Andy's Ace Hardware and Radio Shack in Anchorage, said his store received a new shipment of dust masks after running out this week.Shoppers also were buying safety goggles and emergency radios, said Sides, who was in Anchorage in 1992 when another volcano, Mount Spurr, erupted.It was just dirty, Sides said. We had to sweep our roof. We had to wear dust masks for days.Sgt. Robb Quelland of the Soldotna Police Department, said public safety officials are prepared to be extra busy if Mount Redoubt erupts, especially if the wind continues to blow in the direction of his town of 4,000 residents. The last time Mount Redoubt erupted, in 1989, a Boeing 747 flew through the plume at 40,000 feet. It lost all four engines and dropped 30,000 feet before pilots were able to land safely. Neal said new technology and better communications developed since that incident make a repeat less likely.

As they wait, businesses and residents prepare.

At the end of each day, city workers cover their computers with plastic bags so the ash won't damage them, said Minta Montalbo, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services. Power companies are prepared to shut down turbines, which could lead to blackouts.Day care worker Anna Coleman, 41, has stocked her workplace with extra food and supplies in case parents can't pick up their children before the ash cloud arrives. We're all prepared,she said.

DISEASES

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

Zimbabwe cholera toll rises to 3,371: WHO Fri Feb 6, 10:51 am ET

GENEVA (AFP) – Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak has now killed 3,371 people and infected 67,945 since it began in August, data from the World Heath Organisation showed on Friday.The figures dated February 5, which were compiled with Zimbabwe's health ministry, compared with a previous toll from earlier this week of some 65,739 cases and 3,323 deaths.The UN's humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) reiterated that the outbreak was still not under control but added that there were signs of a decline in the overall death rate.This week however, we've seen that the case fatality ratio... remained high, but was slightly lower at 3.9 percent against 4.5 percent the previous week, WHO spokesman Paul Garwood told journalists.The death rate for people in medical care was about 1.4 percent, closer to the target of less than one percent.But in rural communities, where care is hard to come by, the case fatality rate has been up to three times higher, Garwood added.The WHO has estimated that about half of Zimbabwe's 12 million inhabitants are potentially at risk from cholera because of poor living conditions and sparse medical assistance.A senior WHO specialist last Friday called for drastic action to tackle the outbreak, after the number of cases soared past the agency's worst-case threshold of 60,000.

Nigeria: 84 children dead from teething formula By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 6, 1:50 pm ET

LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigerian health workers hunted down errant bottles of a poisonous teething formula Friday as the government reported that 84 infants and children have now died after swallowing a syrup laced with a chemical normally found in antifreeze.

The children were stricken with fever, convulsions, diarrhea and vomiting, and were unable to urinate after being given the My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture.The dead ranged from 2 months to 7 years old, the Health Ministry said, adding that at least 111 children in all have been sickened since the tainted batch hit store shelves in mid-November.The death of any Nigerian child is a great loss to the nation, Health Minister Babatunde Oshotimehin said in a statement. The federal ministry of health sincerely regrets this painful incidence and sympathizes with the nation and the families.Health officials said in early December that 34 children had died and stores were returning stocks of the formula meant to stop teething pain.But health workers were now pressing to collect already-purchased bottles of the sweet-tasting medicine, said Marshal Gundu, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health. He said parents of the affected children were being interviewed and an epidemiological survey was under way.Health officials said they don't know how many bottles of the bad formula were made or remain in circulation, so it was not clear if the death toll could rise further.

Nigeria is a vast, chaotic country of 140 million people, and bottles of the teething formula could easily go undiscovered by authorities. Nigeria also has a long history of poor enforcement of its own regulations, with corruption rampant among police and government officials.It was unclear if any of the teething formula had been shipped overseas, but most products made in Nigeria are designed for domestic sale in Africa's largest market.Many bottles of the paracetemol-based formula were found to have a high concentration of diethylene glycol, a chemical commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid and sometimes used illegally as a cheaper alternative to glycerin, which thickens toothpaste. Exposure can cause kidney and liver damage and may be fatal.An official with manufacturer Barewa Pharmaceuticals Ltd. apparently procured diethylene glycol from an unregistered chemical dealer in a sprawling slum near the main dump in Lagos, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control has said.Several officials of the Lagos-based pharmaceutical maker are under arrest, along with several other suspects accused of helping provide the poisonous ingredient. Gundu said no charges had been officially lodged against the suspects.A phone number listed for the company was not working Friday, and officials could not immediately be reached for comment.Health officials said earlier that Barewa Pharmaceuticals appears to have been told it was purchasing propylene glycol, a normal ingredient in the teething formula. They said the pharmaceutical company had always bought that ingredient through approved channels before, but had turned to a new source for the ingredient used in the tainted batch.

The food and drug agency said the first sickened child was taken for treatment on Nov. 19 in Nigeria's far northern region. Similar cases turned up in subsequent days in Nigeria's densely populated southwest, and investigators isolated the product as the culprit.Nigeria has been plagued by tainted, fake or untested drugs since it gained independence from Britain in 1960. About 200 babies died in 1990 under similar circumstances, also from diethylene glycol.The food and drug administration, however, has drawn plaudits from Nigerians in recent years for having cut down on counterfeit or dangerous medicines.Diethylene glycol has also been implicated in poisoning cases around the world, including in Panama, where at least 116 people died in 2006 after taking contaminated cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made at a government laboratory. The Nigerian teething formula is the only the latest poisoning case to kill the very young. In China, hundreds of thousands of children fell sick last year and six died after drinking milk tainted with melamine. A court handed down two death penalties and long prison terms for 19 other defendants in the scandal. Associated Press writer Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

Small company in salmonella scandal had wide reach By GREG BLUESTEIN and KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press Writers – Sat Feb 7, 2:31 pm ET

ATLANTA – From school lunches to nutrition bars and ice cream, the nationwide salmonella outbreak has reached deep into the American food supply — even though many people had never heard of the small company at the center of the investigation until a few weeks ago.The food manufacturer, Peanut Corp. of America, has just a few plants scattered across the South, but it may be responsible for one of the nation's largest food recalls in history.Federal investigators on Friday said the Lynchburg, Va.-based company knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products from its Blakely, Ga., plant after tests showed the products were contaminated. Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could make it harmful to consumers' health.So far, the salmonella outbreak has sickened about 575 people in 43 states and may have contributed to at least eight deaths. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation and more than 1,550 products have been recalled.

The company has denied any wrongdoing, but said it is investigating.Before the scandal, Peanut Corp. was a little-known but ambitious company that began in the 1970s as a family catering operation.We started this business working out of our house in Virginia with my mom doing all the accounting, company president Stewart Parnell had been quoted on the company's Web site.The peanut processing business grew over the years. The company bought a plant in Georgia in 2001, opened another in Texas four years later, and was also running a plant in Virginia.Friends and business associates said Parnell was dedicated.He certainly has gone out and done some things on his own — he didn't just lay around. He's been aggressive, said Eddie Marks, who runs a Virginia storage company and has known Parnell for 15 years.But even as the company expanded and began to process millions of pounds of peanuts per month, its headquarters was still a two-story building behind Parnell's house. He even had his own brand of peanut products: Parnell's Pride.Belying the ambition, there were problems.About nine months after Parnell bought the Georgia plant in 2001, potential insecticide contamination and dead insects were found near peanuts inspected by the Food and Drug Administration.More recently, state inspections in 2006 and 2007 found some sanitary problems. After another inspection in October, state officials discovered only relatively minor violations.But less than three months later, a federal investigation found roaches, mold and other unsanitary conditions.

The potential repercussions began to emerge. The Agriculture Department said it may have shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to free school lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007. The Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged that it distributed meals to disaster victims that may have included the potentially tainted peanut butter.And it was discovered that the company's Plainview, Texas, plant didn't register with state health officials there after opening in March 2005 and only recently was discovered and inspected.

However, the most serious issue surfaced in inspection records released Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. The reports showed that in 2007 the company shipped chopped peanuts on July 18 and 24 after salmonella was confirmed by private lab tests. FDA officials earlier had said Peanut Corp. waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanuts that initially tested positive for salmonella. But the agency amended its report, noting that the Georgia plant actually shipped some products before receiving the second test and sold others even after confirming salmonella. A Peanut Corp. lawyer said the company is investigating and had no comment on the latest FDA findings. The company previously said it categorically denies any allegations that it sought lab results that would put its products in a favorable light. Details of the privately held company have been slow to turn up, and what has come out hasn't been from Parnell. He has repeatedly declined to speak to reporters. Parnell's friends and business partners described him as a hardworking, soft-spoken man who had a good rapport with the dozens of contacts he made over the years. He had a good reputation, said Jeffrey Pope, a peanut farmer who has done business with Parnell's Virginia plant. People respected him. He's been in the industry for more than 30 years and he's been a mainstay.Southwest Georgia peanut industry officials say Parnell didn't spend much time in the state, instead leaving the day-to-day dealings to others. His reputation earned him a vaunted spot on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Peanut Standards Board, which is charged with helping the government establish quality and handling standards for the nation's peanuts. But several board members said they were unaware Parnell was on the panel, and some said the board rarely met. When they did, it was often by teleconference. Parnell was removed from the board Thursday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Peanut Corp. was suspended from participating in government contract programs for at least a year. The company has said in statements that it is deeply concerned. The product recalls issued by our company continue to expeditiously remove all potentially harmful products from the marketplace, in the best interest of the public's health and safety, a statement midweek said. Associated Press writers Brett J. Blackledge and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington and Sue Lindsey in Lynchburg, Va., contributed to this report. On the Net: Peanut Corp. of America, http://www.peanutcorp.com

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

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

35 dead in Australia's worst fires in decades By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer FEB 7,09

SYDNEY – Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia, razing scores of homes, forests and farmland in the country's worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century. At least 35 people died and the toll could rise further, police said Sunday.

Witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash as temperatures hit a record 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 C) on Saturday and combined with raging winds to create perfect conditions for uncontrollable blazes.Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters as he toured the fire zone.Police said they believed the deaths included groups of people whose charred bodies were found in cars, suggesting families or groups of friends were engulfed in flames as they tried to flee. One official said an entire town had been razed, save for one building, though no deaths were reported there.Police said Sunday they were still trying to confirm details of the deaths and were still trying to get investigative teams into the fire-scarred zone.But Sarah Campbell, a spokeswoman for police in Victoria state where the fires roared, said 35 people were confirmed dead at a dozen locations north and east of the state capital, Melbourne. At least 18 people were hospitalized with burns.Conditions in Victoria eased Sunday, but several major fires were still posing a threat and state Premier John Brumby said troops would be deployed to help thousands of exhausted volunteer firefighters battle on.The fires were so massive they were visible from space Saturday. NASA released satellite photographs showing a white cloud of smoke across southeastern Australia.Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said police suspected some of the fires were set deliberately, and predicted it would take days to get all the blazes under control.The largest of about a dozen big fires in Victoria ripped unchecked across at least 115 square miles (30,000 hectares) of forests, farmland and towns about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Melbourne.

The whole township is pretty much on fire, Peter Mitchell, a resident of the town of Kinglake, where at least six people died in the same car, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio during the inferno. There was no time to do anything. ... It came through in minutes.Marysville, a former goldrush town of about 800 people at the foot of the Dandenong Ranges north of Melbourne, 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Melbourne, was almost completely gone, a local lawmaker said. Media reports said residents fled to a football field to escape the flames.Marysville — I understand, there's only one building left in the town, said federal parliamentarian Fran Bailey.It's been, I think, the worst day in our history, said Brumby, whose parents' house was among those saved by firefighters Saturday.Forecasters said temperatures would only reach about 77 F (25 C) on Sunday around Melbourne, but along with cooler conditions came wind changes that could push fires in unpredictable directions.On Saturday, steel-gray smoke clogged the air and flames roared to two-story heights, while homes and businesses burned. At least one fire truck was charred, though the crew escaped injury and went on to rejoin the fight, officials said.In the town of Taralgon, resident Lindy McPhee watched in fear as a fire front edged closer to the town until rain began falling late Saturday.It's raining black soot, McPhee told Sky News television. In nearby Wittlesea, organizer Sally Tregae described feeling terror as the fire approached. I saw trees explode in front of me, she said. It's a horrible thing, and a horrible thing to see.

Rudd said he was absolutely horrified by the disaster and promised blankets for victims in the near term and money for them later. Victoria's Country Fire Authority deputy chief Greg Esnouf said Saturday's conditions were off the scale in terms of danger.In New South Wales state, police detained and questioned a man in connection with a blaze but released him without charge. Fires were also burning on Sunday north of Sydney in New South Wales and in South Australia. No properties were immediately being threatened. Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. Government research shows that about half of the 60,000 fires on average each year are deliberately lit or suspicious. Lightning strikes and human activity such as use of machinery near dry brush cause the others. Australia's deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and razed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia.

United Nations Population Fund Leader Says Family Breakdown is a Triumph for Human Rights By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MEXICO CITY, February 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A leader in the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has declared that the breakdown of traditional families, far from being a crisis, is actually a triumph for human rights.Speaking at a colloquium held last month at Colegio Mexico in Mexico City, UNFPA representative Arie Hoekman denounced the idea that high rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births represent a social crisis, claiming that they represent instead the triumph of human rights against patriarchy.In the eyes of conservative forces, these changes mean that the family is in crisis, he said. In crisis? More than a crisis, we are in the presence of a weakening of the patriarchal structure, as a result of the disappearance of the economic base that sustains it and because of the rise of new values centered in the recognition of fundamental human rights.Day after day, Mexico experiences a process of this diversity and there are those who understand it as a crisis, because they only recognize one type of family, one of the speakers on the panel also told the audience.

The comments followed close on the heels of the World Meeting of Families, which was held in Mexico City in January, and which strongly reaffirmed the importance of the traditional family and its indispensible role in transmitting values to the next generation. It was opened by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who observed that high rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births were contributing to the rise of violence and crime in Mexico.Leonardo Casco, a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family and a citizen of Honduras, told LifeSiteNews that he wasn't surprised that the UNFPA was denying the crisis in the family.They definitely have to deny that there is a crisis in the family, because they have created the crisis, he said.

Calling the UNFPA bureaucrats at the service of death, Casco observed that after 45 years of birth control, the pill, disrespect for marriage for the family, for children, etc, this is the result. Because of that we have violence, war, lack of respect of women, children.Through their promotion and distribution of contraceptives the UNFPA has become a birth control agency at the service of the most powerful countries said Casco.They have destroyed the family, values, this is undeniable, it's what everyone says ... but they always have to deny it.Regarding Hoekman’s comments about human rights, Casco responded that UNFPA bureaucrats have invented a series of new human rights, that did not exist when the concept was defined in 1948, with which they wish to justify all of their actions.

The UNFPA recently celebrated the restoration of US support after seven years, during which they were denied funding by the Bush administration. UNFPA has cooperated with and even helped to subsidize China's One Child Policy, which persecutes and performs forced abortions on women who have more than one child.In addition to its support for forced abortions, the UNFPA has helped to administer forced sterilizations in South America and is involved in the distribution and promotion of contraceptives and sterilization worldwide, with a focus on poorer countries.

Related Links:

UN Complicit in Forced Sterilizations
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1417

UNFPA: A Runaway Agency
http://www.pop.org/main.cfm?EID=427

Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:

United Nations Agency Involved in Forced Abortions in China Celebrates New Funding from Obama Administration
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012913.html

UNPFA Loses $235 Million Due to Pro-Life Group's Efforts
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08070206.html

UNFPA Population Awards Honor Abortion Advocates
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052910.html

UNFPA Pitches Abortion as a Means to Reduce Child Poverty
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05070404.html

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

FAMINE

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: 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.

West African nations team up to fight caterpillars Sat Feb 7, 9:09 am ET

MONROVIA (AFP) – Four West African nations have joined forces to do battle against a species of caterpillars laying waste to crops in the region, a statement said Saturday.The agriculture ministers from Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast have created a team to look into the threats posed by what are believed to be Achaea Catocaloides caterpillars.Crops in central Liberia and southern Guinea have already been ravaged by the caterpillars, and other countries in the region fear the damage will spread further.The five-man technical committee will begin work immediately, the ministers from the four countries forming the Mano River Union said in a statement after meeting in Monrovia on Friday.They will design plans of action that will be implemented by all member countries.An expert from Brazil already working with Liberia will assist the new committee.Liberia's agriculture minister said earlier this week that the caterpillars were not army worms as previously believed but the Achaea Catocaloides species, which could turn out to be even more destructive.Experts warned that the insects could attack more crops than army worms, including coffee and cocoa.Ivory Coast is the world's top cocoa producer and many of its plantations are in the west of the country in a region that borders Liberia.

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

VIDEO TO RELIGIOUS STORY
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88178

ON CAPITOL HILL-Stimulus to ban religious worship This isn't like a convenient oversight, this is intentional February 06, 2009 11:50 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh 2009 WorldNetDaily

President Obama's proposed economic stimulus plan makes a deliberate – and unconstitutional – attempt to censor religious speech and worship on school campuses across the nation, according to a lawyer who argued related cases before the U.S. Supreme Court 20 years ago and won them all. This isn't like a convenient oversight. This is intentional. This legislation pokes its finger in the eyes of people who hold religious beliefs, Jay Sekulow, chief of the American Center for Law and Justice, told WND today. His was the organization that decades ago argued on behalf of speech freedom on school campuses, winning repeatedly at the U.S. Supreme Court. Since then, the 2001 Good News Club v. Milford Central School District decision was added, clarifying that restricting religious speech within the context of public shared-use facilities is unconstitutional. The problem in the proposed stimulus bill comes from a provision that states: PROHIBITED USES OF FUNDS. - No funds awarded under this section may be used for - (C) modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities - (i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or (ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission.The wording that specifically targets religious speech already has been approved by the majority Democrats in the U.S. House – all GOP members opposed it. In the Senate, Jim DeMint, R-S.C., proposed an amendment to eliminate it, but again majority Democrats decided to keep the provision targeting religious instruction and activities.

Critics argued schools would accept any money offered, then impose a ban on religious events. DeMint warned organizations such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Campus Crusade for Christ, Catholic Student Ministries, Hillel and other religious groups would face new bans on access to public facilities that would not apply to other organizations. This is a direct attack on students of faith, and I'm outraged Democrats are using an economic stimulus bill to promote discrimination, DeMint said. Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for siding with the ACLU over millions of students of faith.These students simply want equal access to public facilities, which is their constitutional right. This hostility toward religion must end. Those who voted to for this discrimination are standing in the schoolhouse door to deny people of faith from entering any campus building renovated by this bill, said DeMint. The senator said the stimulus bill now becomes an ACLU stimulus that has the goal of triggering lawsuits designed to intimidate religious organizations across the nation.

This language is so vague, it's not clear if students can even pray in a dorm room renovated with this funding since that is a form of religious worship. If this provision remains in the bill, it will have a chilling effect on students of faith in America,he said. DeMint cited Obama's statement at the National Prayer Breakfast this week that faith can promote a greater good for all of us.This provision is an assault against both. It's un-American and it's unconstitutional. Intolerant and it's intolerable, DeMint said. The ban on religious organizations is linked to the $3.5 billion intended for renovation of public or private college and university facilities.The ACLJ, which focuses on constitutional law, said the provision has nothing to do with economic stimulus and everything to do with religious discrimination.The thing is I litigated these cases on these exact issues 20 years ago, Sekulow told WND. Not only did we win, two of the decisions were unanimous and the other was 8-1. We're seeing a rollback to the 1970s regarding church-state relations, he said. That's what is troubling. It is a complete rollback that now institutionalizes discrimination through targeting religion.Sekulow said he already is drafting a complaint that will challenge the constitutionality of the provision, to be used if it isn't removed. He said under current court precedents, it will be a open-and-shut victory. However, he also warned that the problem is the damage that can be done within the probable four years it would take to get the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court and what that court would look like at that point. Under Obama, he said, there will be an ideology shift. New appointments to the bench by Obama, he said, would be much more left of where Justices (Ruth Bader) Ginsburg and (Stephen) Breyer are.On an online forums page, readers were incensed. Here comes the assault against Christian churches … Looks like he's trying to see how much damage he can do in the briefest period of time.

Obama is the most dangerous man of our times, period. He will seek to overturn everything our nation was built upon, personal freedom, capitalism, even the rock of faith. And he will seek to do it from within, openly, overtly and boldly. Will Christians now respond to this dangerous man in a strong, unified way? Or will Obama succeed in destroying the fabric of the greatest nation in human history?. He's just following the Saul Alinsky rule (in his book, Rules for Radicals) to clothe everything you do in morality because this is what most effectively fools the middle class into agreeing with what you want to do.

OBAMA VIDEO ON STIMULUS
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog_post/compromise1/

Deal reached on $827bn US stimulus package By Edward Luce, Alan Beattie in Washington and Alan Rappeport in New York February 7 2009 13:46

US President Barack Obama on Saturday called on senators to complete passage of the $827bn stimulus package that was struck behind close doors late on Friday. US Senate Democrats agreed to cut their hopes for a larger economic stimulus package and support a compromise that would give Mr Obama an important but narrow victory.In his weekly radio and YouTube address to the nation, Mr Obama said he was pleased that the bipartisan compromise, which may only result in the switched votes of three Republican senators, out of a total of 41, ended a turbulent week on a positive note.

But he urged the upper chamber to accelerate its vote. It now seems likely that Congress will be unable to finalise a bill before the White House’s deadline of February 13. Americans across the country are struggling and they’re watching to see if we’re equal to the task before us, said the US president. Let’s do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.Democrats said a vote on passage of the measure – drafted by leaders of a group of moderate lawmakers from both parties – and closely watched overseas as a sign of US commitment to help revive the world economy, would be held on Tuesday.The tentative agreement followed news that the US economy lost a half-million jobs for the third month running in January, bringing the unemployment rate to the highest level since in 1992 and increasing the pressure for government action to stimulate the economy.Official figures released on Friday showed that non-farm payrolls dropped by 598,000 last month, while the unemployment rate – 4.4 per cent before the credit crisis – jumped to 7.6 per cent, its highest level since 1992.The figures were somewhat worse even than the dire outcome that the markets had expected. Economists had predicted a 525,000 fall in employment and a rise in the unemployment rate from 7.2 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

A revised Senate package will need to be reconciled with the House plan and then be reconfirmed by each house of Congress before being sent to the White House for signing. Mr Obama on Friday seized on the dire news about the American jobs news market to criticise foot-dragging in the Senate. It is inexcusable and irresponsible to get bogged down in distraction and delay while millions of Americans are being put out of work, he said.The US economy has now shed 3.6m jobs since the recession began in December 2007, out of a total of some 135m, with half the decline occurring during the past three months, according to the labour statistics office.Economists said the figures showed that the US economy was sinking at least as quickly as in the worst recessions since the second world war. Even allowing for the bigger population now, the decline is now as severe as the worst of the decline in the mid-1970s, said Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics.With initial jobless claims still edging higher, February could be even worse.The president spoke as he announced the staffing of an economic advisory panel, which will include top leaders from business and the labour movement as well as former top regulatory officials and financial experts.Mr Obama has been struggling to regain the political initiative on combating the economic downturn, amid rising concern in the White House that the Republicans have scored important victories in the public relations war over the stimulus bill.The bill that has emerged from Congress is not perfect, Mr Obama said. But it is the right size, it has the right scope and it has the right priorities, he said.With investors having anticipated a dire jobs report, financial markets reacted calmly to the payrolls data, and stocks rallied in expectation of the stimulus bill being agreed. The S&P 500 advanced 2.7 per cent, led by financial stocks such as Bank of America, which rose nearly 27 per cent.The Financial Times Limited 2009

Canada lost 129,000 jobs in January: StatsCan
Updated: Friday, February 6, 2009 | 7:29 AM ET CBC News

Canada's job losses in January surpassed anything seen during the previous economic downturns in the 1980s and 1990s, Statistics Canada said Friday.With the economy staggering in recession, Canada's unemployment rate shot up by 0.6 percentage points in January to 7.2 per cent as 129,000 jobs were lost. Almost all of the job losses were in full-time work.Since October, the battered Canadian economy has lost 213,000 jobs.Between January 2008 and January 2009, overall employment across the country was down by 88,600 jobs.

Unemployment by province
Province Dec. 2008 (%) Jan. 2009 (%) Employment change (Dec. 2008 to Jan. 2009)
N.L. 13.6 14.3 -1,300
P.E.I. 11.7 11.9 -900
N.S. 8.2 8.8 600
N.B. 8.6 8.7 -1,600
Que. 7.3 7.7 -25,800
Ont. 7.2 8.0 -71,000
Man. 4.3 4.6 -1,900
Sask. 4.2 4.1 1,600
Alta. 4.2 4.4 3,300
B.C. 5.3 6.1 -35,100
source: Statistics Canada

The job losses far exceeded the drop of 40,000 that economists had been projecting. Horrible and shockingly poor were some of the words they used in reaction to the January jobless figures.Everybody is prepared for a pretty weak first quarter, but these numbers are probably surprising the more bearish views, said Royal Bank chief economist Craig Wright. Unfortunately we will see more job losses, said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. This is the start of a wave of job losses that will likely extend through the first half of this year.BMO economists expect the Canadian unemployment rate to break through eight per cent by the end of this year. To combat the softening economy, the Bank of Canada is expected to announce another interest rate cut in March, BMO said.

Manufacturing meltdown
The manufacturing sector lost 101,000 jobs during January, the most on record for the industry. The bulk of January's losses in manufacturing were concentrated in Ontario, which lost 36,000 positions; Quebec, which lost 30,000; and British Columbia, which shed 18,000 manufacturing positions.Losses in manufacturing were most pronounced in motor vehicle manufacturing. Employment also fell in January in the production of furniture; computers and electronics; appliances and components; and clothing manufacturing.Employment also fell by 30,000 in transportation and warehousing, largely in truck transportation in Ontario, while employment in business, building and other support services declined by 22,000.The health-care and social assistance sector continued to see strong job gains, as it added 31,000 jobs during the month.

Ontario plunges
Ontario lost 71,000 jobs last month, the largest monthly drop in more than three decades, Statistics Canada said. The drop pushed the province's unemployment rate up by 0.8 percentage points to eight per cent — its highest level since November 1997.
British Columbia shed 35,000 jobs as its unemployment rate also increased by 0.8 percentage points to 6.1 per cent.Quebec's employment fell by 26,000 jobs, with all the losses coming in part-time work. The province's unemployment rate rose to 7.7 per cent. January saw large declines in public administration, following gains in December associated with hiring for the provincial election.

Legions facing layoffs turn to parties, Internet By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press Writer FEB 7,09

NEW YORK – The bar was crowded with well-dressed professionals enjoying drinks and conversation, a typical evening — except that many of them had no job.The event was a Wall Street Pink Slip Party, where the unemployed mix with recruiters and curious bystanders to network, look for work, and share their stories.With employers shedding 600,000 more jobs in January, the undercurrent at this party in a Manhattan bar was decidedly glum.Wall Street, directly or indirectly, has ruined the best 10 years of my life, said Susan Lange, speaking of colleagues and friends she lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and the sense now, after being laid off from her job as an AIG training manager, that her world has again turned on its head.I'm devastated, the 39-year-old woman said.Figures released Friday showed that the unemployment rate hit 7.6in January, a month with more layoffs than at any other time since 1974.Jobseekers are gathering in bars, delving into the business networking Web site LinkedIn, waiting in lines at city help centers, and even starting up hopeful conversations with prosperous-looking strangers on commuter trains — all in the hope of landing jobs in what seems to be a shrinking pool of opportunity.Places have hiring freezes. And they have cutbacks. And they have layoffs. There are a lot more people in the job market, said 32-year-old Ana Arrendell, who has been searching for work since August.

At first, she was looking only for a job in her field, graphic design. But as the months have gone by, Arrendell has lowered her expectations. Right now, I'll take anything, she said Friday as she left a New York City-run office that offers resume-writing assistance and interview training.Already having given up hope for a Wall Street job making $80,000 per year right out of college, recent graduate David Gunther is getting creative as he tries to expand his business network.The 23-year-old has begun hanging around commuter ferries and suburban trains, chatting up professional-looking types traveling to areas where executives live. Recently, at an electronica concert — a wildly different atmosphere than at the career services office at his university — he talked to some fans who introduced him to an entertainment-industry manager. Now he's preparing for a job interview with the man.

Gunther isn't the only one looking for new ways to meet people. Among the groups using the networking service Meetup, the NYC Job Seekers & Career Strategy group has more than doubled in size to 454 people since September, with more than 95 joining since the first of the year. Worldwide, Meetup has seen a boom in career-related groups; more than 2,000 were started in January, compared to about 500 a month over the summer, said spokesman Andres Glusman.Chandlee Bryan, a resume writer and career coach who acts as facilitator for the New York group, says she has seen it transform. Initially, people attending the meetings were pondering a career switch out of a desire for something new. Now, participants in talks on online networking and interviewing techniques are more often being forced into the hunt, either because they've been laid off or because they believe they might be.Bryan says the meetings help people fight off the solitude that comes with being jobless.There's a great deal of isolation, she said. That complicates the process and makes it harder, given that the majority of people find their jobs through networking.That's the point of the Wall Street Pink Slip Party — modeled after similar events held following the dot-com bust. Since the reincarnation was launched in November, the intensity at the parties is increasing, says organizer Rachel Pine.The first event drew a mix of people, only a quarter of them laid off. By the Feb. 4 event, 85 to 90 percent of the 400 people were looking for work.The scene at the bustling Public House bar on Wednesday night was varied, as men and women in a mix of suits and corporate casual wear — and pink glow-in-the-dark wristbands that marked them as jobseekers — homed in on recruiters wearing green wristbands. Some were approaching their job search with equanimity, figuring they could rely on savings socked away during the flush years. Others seemed more desperate, counting their change after paying for the coat check. Some, drink in hand, sounded almost bitter about their personal economic downturn. Andrea Bouwman recounted watching the Super Bowl with a growing sense of ire, as she saw the millions of dollars that her former employer PepsiCo had spent on advertising instead of salaries. They kind of compromised people for the actual advertising, said the former marketing manager, adding that since she got her pink slip she's been drinking only Coca-Cola. Options are more limited back at the city employment center in Brooklyn, where 43-year-old Desmond Moulton, who held jobs as a retail salesman, recounts months of dashed hopes. Most recently he returned to the job placement center, only to see a once-enthusiastic counselor turn somber as she studied his prospects. She clearly wanted to help me. She clearly wanted to have some good news to give me, he said. But she had none.
On the Net: Pink Slip Party: http://wallstreetpinkslip.com/ Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/

Fed borrowing could reach $4 trillion,Welfare spending, unemployment balloon deficit February 06, 2009 11:50 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi 2009 WorldNetDaily

U.S. Treasury
NEW YORK – The federal government will have to issue record levels of debt in the next two years – up to $2.5 trillion in 2009 and as much as $4 trillion in 2010.

The record federal debt financing is required to fund the social welfare programs called for in the Obama administration's nearly $1 trillion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan and to overcome a likely shortfall due to falling tax revenues, according to BustedBudget.com, a website dedicated to tracking the government's shameful overspending one painful day at a time.BustedBudget.com noted that factors leading to the increased federal government borrowing needs include the cost of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, amounting to approximately $700 billion, plus the nearly $1 trillion in deficit-spending that will be required to fund the proposed stimulus package. Another contributing factor forcing the Treasury to plan for an unprecedented amount of federal borrowing this year is the unanticipated unemployment resulting from the economic downturn, with the resulting drop in employment tax revenues to the U.S. Treasury. A total of 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession officially started in December 2007, according to U.S. Labor Department reports cited in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The Wall Street Journal also reported the U.S. unemployment rate for January is expected to grow to 7.5 percent, the highest since 1993, as 525,000 jobs were lost last month, up from the 524,000 shed in December.

The possibility that the U.S. Treasury will be forced to raise as much as $4 trillion in debt in 2010 just to finance the federal budget deficit raises the question of how long the Obama administration can continue to increase social welfare spending unless millions of new jobs are created as a result. Given the Labor Department's estimates, the Obama administration will have to create over 3 million new jobs, just to replace the job losses that have occurred since December 2007. According to the minutes of the U.S. Treasury's Borrowing Advisory Committee, or TBAC, a key advisory committee to the Treasury Department, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets Karthik Ramanathan said estimates for Treasury borrowing needs range between $1.5 trillion and $2.5 trillion in the current fiscal year. The TBAC warned that federal borrowing in fiscal year 2010 could reach levels as high $4 trillion. The U.S. government defines fiscal year 2009 as Oct. 1, 2008 through Sept. 30, 2009. Whatever the deficit is this year, the Obama administration will be forced to have the U.S. Treasury sell Treasury bills and notes in that amount. The Treasury debt will be sold largely to foreigners, predominately in China and Japan, the two biggest foreign buyers of U.S. Treasury debt.

Brussels to push ahead with €5bn cash injection despite objections
HONOR MAHONY 06.02.2009 @ 17:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has said it will press ahead with plans to spend billions of euros of EU taxpayers' money on energy and broadband projects despite objections from some member states and the EU's legal services.Last week, the commission announced it would use €3.5 billion of as-yet-unspent EU money on the planned Nabucco gas pipeline, other new pipeliness, electricity networks and alternative energy projects, as well as on internet infrastructure across the bloc. A further €1 billion was earmarked for upgrading internet infrastructure particularly for less populated areas.The plan, unveiled by commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, is intended to give a boost to Europe's flagging economy while at the same time push forward with energy diversification and green projects.However, it has met with a lukewarm reception from several member states who are reluctant to see money that would normally be returned to government coffers be spent on common projects. In addition, Germany does not strong favour the 3,300 km Nabucco pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to Austria, preferring instead the Nord Stream pipeline, which would connect Germany to Russia via the Baltic Sea. Meanwhile, boosting the position of recalcitrant member states, the EU's own legal services have judged that most of the money may not be used in this way.The commission on Friday (6 February) said it was aware of this position but wanted to forge ahead anyway.We have been aware of this legal position for some time, said commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger.But he added: We don't agree with it. In our view, this is not primarily a legal question. It is a question of political will.Mr Laitenberger said the commission would continue to try and find a solution to the problem.EU leaders agreed in December that €5 billion from the EU's unspent budget could be used. The matter is set to be discussed by finance ministers on Tuesday (10 February) in Brussels.

Mini-incident marks EU-Russia meeting
PHILIPPA RUNNER 06.02.2009 @ 18:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - An EU-Russia meeting designed to improve post-gas crisis ties went wrong on Friday (6 January), when European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso clashed with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin over human rights.A visibly angry Mr Putin during a press conference in Moscow censured the commission chief for having discussed legal matters with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a bilateral meeting in his absence earlier the same day. We need to discuss the full range of problems - both in Russia and in Europe - in order to be able to solve them, Mr Putin said, accusing EU states of themselves mistreating Russian ethnic minorities, prisoners and migrants.In [EU] public opinion there is some concern regarding some recent events that happened in Russia. Namely, the murder of some journalists and some rights activists,Mr Barroso replied in bullish tones. Human rights and rule of law are much more important than diplomacy between two states.The unusual exchange comes after the recent slaying, in broad daylight in the Russian capital, of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and reporter Anastasiya Baburova, who investigated state killings and torture in North Caucasus. Mr Barroso had flown over with nine commissioners to meet with the Russian government in the first such high-profile event since 2005.

The diplomatic mission came in the wake of the January gas crisis, which also saw the commission chief use strong language, at one point saying Russian and Ukrainian leaders were less trustworthy than some African states.Russia's invasion and partition of EU ally Georgia last August had already complicated relations. But the then French EU presidency tried to restore business as usual amid fears that a rupture could hurt EU trade and geopolitical interests.Mr Putin on Friday also said that EU monitors overlooking Russian gas flows via Ukraine should stay in place until the end of the first quarter 2009.The team, made up mostly of delegates from EU energy firms, arrived in Russia on 10 January and was originally asked to leave by both Moscow and Kiev after gas flows restarted on 19 January.A lower-level EU delegation including external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also visited Kiev earlier this week, urging political stability and faster reforms.The timing of the visit proved unfortunate. The same day, a punch-up broke out in the country's parliament during a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, forcing the iron lady to scurry for shelter among her party's deputies.

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).

Sarkozy VAT remarks cause stir in London
ANDREW WILLIS 06.02.2009 @ 18:14 CET

A diplomatic row between Paris and London has erupted over comments made by French President Nicholas Sarkozy on national television on Thursday evening (5 February).
A week after 1-2 million French citizens protested on the streets over deteriorating living standards, Mr Sarkozy's appearance on three national television channels was an attempt to highlight his government's capable handling of the economic crisis.

However, comments made towards the end of the programme in which Mr Sarkozy criticised UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision last November to cut the UK value added tax (VAT) have angered government officials in London.When you see the situation in the US and the UK, you don't want to repeat it, said Mr Sarkozy. The English have opted for trying to boost consumer spending and it has made absolutely no difference.The dispute comes just weeks before the two leaders are scheduled to hold talks in London at the G20 meeting on 2 April.Gordon Brown released his emergency economic rescue package last November to help fight the recession. One of the major parts of this plan was a cut in VAT from 17.5 to 15 per cent, the legal EU minimum.It is anticipated that the cut, which came into effect on 1 December last year and is due to run for 13 months, will cost the British exchequer £2.5 billion every year. Tom Hoskin, a spokesman for Mr Brown hit back on Friday, saying: All along, we have said that other countries must decide which measures are appropriate for their own economic circumstances.

He went on to say that Mr Sarkozy's office had been in contact this morning to assure us that these remarks were not meant as a critique of UK policy, which was nice.In December, German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck also criticised Mr Brown's bank rescue plan by saying it marked a move away from decades of supply-side politics to crass Keynesianism.The debate on whether tax cuts are the best way to stimulate an economy is a point of much discussion amongst economists. Whereas some feel they have little effect when consumer confidence is low, others believe they are a viable method to boost consumption if used correctly.If you give an incentive for a short period of time – it can work, senior economist with ING, Carsten Brzeski, told this website.He argues that VAT cuts over a short period of time can be an effective mechanism to bring forward consumer purchases. This in turn can cause a short, sharp boost to the economy and may provide the necessary kickstart for longer-term growth. If you know VAT will be cut for a week – would you go out and buy something? Mr Brown's mistake was to increase other taxes at the same time as the VAT cut and thereby neutralise any positive effects it may have made, said Mr Brzeski.The British government announced in November that it would increase taxes on alcohol, tobacco and petrol to ensure those products did not benefit from the cut in VAT. It also signalled that it wanted to increase the top personal tax rate from 40 percent to 45 percent from 2011.

NATO chief, US urge Europeans to do more in Afghanistan by Lorne Cook Lorne Cook – Sat Feb 7, 2:55 pm ET

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) – The head of NATO and US Vice President Joe Biden joined forces Saturday to urge European allies to step up efforts in Afghanistan, as the United States prepares to send in thousands more troops.NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned the Europeans that they were undermining their leadership credentials and upsetting the balance within the world's biggest military alliance, as it battles a Taliban-led insurgency.I am frankly concerned when I hear the United States is planning a major commitment for Afghanistan, but other allies ruling out doing more, he said, at a major international security conference in Munich, southern Germany.That is not good for the political balance of this mission. That is not good for the balance inside the North Atlantic alliance, he said. Leadership and burdens -- they go together.Scheffer, who did not single out any nation, warned that the failure to step up makes calls for Europe's voice to be heard in Washington perhaps a bit more hollow than they should be.New US President Barack Obama has singled out Afghanistan as his main front in the war on terrorism and plans to deploy 30,000 more US troops there over the next 18 months.A deteriorating situation in the region poses a security threat to all of us, not just the United States, Biden said, as Washington reviews its policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.He said a comprehensive strategy was needed for which we all take responsibility, that brings together our civilian and military resources, that prevents a terrorist safe haven, and that helps Afghans develop the capacity to secure their own future.The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is embarked on its biggest and most-ambitious operation ever trying to spread the influence of the weak Afghan government and help foster reconstruction.But the Taliban and its backers, including Al-Qaeda, drug lords and criminal gangs, have been waging an increasingly tenacious insurgency, using neighbouring Pakistan as a rear base.Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States have troops on the frontline of that fight in southern Afghanistan, but other allies insist that reconstruction is as important as combat and refuse to redeploy.

Scheffer commended a newspaper editorial ahead of the conference penned jointly by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in which they called for a new transatlantic balance.They insisted in it that the United States and Europe share leadership and burdens more fairly.But both nations have ruled out sending more troops. France has some 2,800 personnel in Afghanistan, while Germany, in an election year, has set a ceiling of 4,500, most of whom are based in the relatively quiet north.Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra urged the European Union to look beyond its backyard when trying to secure peace in Europe.

The time is right to strengthen European defence and security by committing more financial resources, more military capacities and, most of all, more political will, he told the conference.Afghanistan will be a real test here, he added.On Wednesday, Britain also scolded its NATO allies for not stepping forward to share combat duties, warning that there could be no freeloaders in the fight against the insurgents. An alliance worth its name must be one that shares the burden of membership equally amongst its members, because there can be no freeloading when it comes to collective security, British Defence Secretary John Hutton said. The challenge facing NATO, the European Union, United Nations and other main world institutions is the focus of talks here on Sunday, which will include Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

EU concerned over Croatia war crimes co-operation
ELITSA VUCHEVA 06.02.2009 @ 18:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – While all eyes have recently been focused on Croatia's dispute with Slovenia over their common border and the blockage this has caused to Croatia's EU accession talks, a number of EU states are now also concerned about Zagreb's co-operation with the UN war crime tribunal in the Hague.A few EU member states feel particularly strongly about the issue, diplomatic sources told the EUobserver on Friday (6 February).The UK, the Netherlands, Germany and to a certain extent also even France ... have expressed their concern about Croatia's co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), one EU diplomat said.UN prosecutor Serge Brammertz presented a report in December in which Croatia's co-operation with the ICTY was not assessed as complete. His next report to the UN is due in the summer.In addition, Mr Brammertz this week also called on Croatia to deliver potentially incriminating documents for the case of General Ante Gotovina, who is accused of driving out ethnic Serbs at the end of the 1991-95 war in Croatia.General Gotovina had already caused trouble to his country's EU bid before, when Zagreb's failure to capture him in 2005 delayed the launch of EU accession talks.We have questioned Croatia's co-operation in relation to the Gotovina dossier, Mr Brammertz told the Financial Times on Wednesday. After a year and a half, a number of the documents we were looking for still have not been produced.For its part, Croatia has denied withholding any information from the court.

We have submitted the prosecutor absolutely everything we've found and we sent him a new report on that at the end of January, Croatia's deputy prime minister Jadranka Kosor said on Thursday following a meeting with Mr Brammertz in Zagreb.The government does not have any reason to hide anything, she added, insisting that any additional document that could be found would be turned over, French news agency AFP reported.EU member states are still having discussions over the issue of Croatia's co-operation with the ICTY and have not yet decided whether the justice chapter of the Balkan country's EU accession package would be opened during the next EU–Croatia accession conference in April.I wouldn't jump to conclusions at this stage, said one diplomat.But with another 11 chapters of the 35 contained in the country's EU accession package currently blocked (nine for opening and two for closing), notably due to its border dispute with Slovenia, the target date of 2011 for Croatia's EU membership seems increasingly difficult to reach.Every day increases the risk that the timetable [for Croatia's EU membership] will slip, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn warned on Thursday.

Biden outlines new era of US foreign policy 07/02 18:36 CETworld newshttp://www.euronews.net/en/article/07/02/2009/
biden-outlines-new-era-of-us-foreign-policy/

US Vice-president Joe Biden has said America is determined to establish a new tone in its relations with the rest of the world. Delivering the Obama administration’s first major foreign policy speech in Munich, Biden spoke about Washington’s relations with Europe, Russia and Iran as well as touching on subjects such as Climate change. I come to Europe on behalf of a new administration, an administration that’s determined to set a new tone, not only in Washington, but in America’s relations around the world. That new tone is rooted in strong bipartisanship to meet these common challenges. And we recognise that these challenges, to need to meet them is not an opportunity, not a luxury, but it’s is an absolute necessity,the US Vice-president said. Biden also said the US remained committed to missile defence, but claimed it was time to press the reset button in US Russian relations, which he admitted had deteriorated in recent years. In addition, he claimed the US would do more to build world security, adding it would expect more from its partners too. A hint perhaps, the US will ask Germany for bigger troop commitments in Afghanistan. In the centre of Munich, around 2000 anti-war demonstrators gathered calling for world leaders to do more to prevent armed conflicts.

Holocaust-denying bishop promises to review evidence
Saturday, February 7, 2009 | 11:55 AM ET CBC News

A Roman Catholic bishop, ordered by the Vatican to recant his denial of the Holocaust, says he will re-examine the research upon which he made his conclusion that no Jews were gassed by the Nazi regime, a German magazine reported Saturday.

Bishop Richard Williamson of the ultra-conservative Society of St. Pius X told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that based on research he did in the 1980s, he became convinced of his views about the Holocaust, which historians say resulted in the deaths of six million Jews.Williamson is quoted by Der Spiegel as saying he would re-examine everything again and look at the evidence. However, he said he won't be visiting the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp.Since I see that there are many honest and intelligent people who think differently, I must look again at the historical evidence,the British bishop was quoted as saying.It is about historical evidence, not about emotions, he added, according to the report. And if I find this evidence, I will correct myself. But that will take time.On Wednesday, the Vatican demanded that Williamson recant his denial before he can be admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church.The Roman Catholic Church said it used its most severe discipline — excommunication — on Williamson and three other bishops because they had been elevated to bishop's rank by a renegade, ultraconservative prelate, the late archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI didn't know about Williamson's views on the Holocaust when he agreed to lift the bishop's excommunication last month.While Williamson has apologized to Pope Benedict XVI for having stirred controversy, he has not repudiated his comments, in which he said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during the Second World War and that none died in Nazi gas chambers.Williamson made his views known in a Swedish TV interview broadcast last month, two days before the Pope announced he would lift the bishop's excommunication.Der Spiegel said the British bishop, who lives in Argentina, insisted on having questions faxed to him and sent his replies by e-mail. It said their authenticity was confirmed in a phone call by Williamson and a lawyer for the Society of St. Pius X.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

North Korea expresses openness to nuclear talks Sat Feb 7, 5:01 am ET

BEIJING – North Korean officials have expressed willingness to move forward with long-stalled denuclearization talks and have downplayed recent reports that the regime is preparing to test-fire a long-range missile, a former U.S. diplomat said Saturday after a private visit to Pyongyang.The message given to former envoy Stephen Bosworth was in contrast to North Korea's increasingly belligerent rhetoric recently. Over the past few weeks, Pyongyang has announced it would scrap peace agreements with South Korea, warned the divided peninsula was on the brink of war and appeared to be preparing to test a missile capable of reaching the western United States.Bosworth, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and now an academic, said the officials he met with kept an upbeat tone regarding the nuclear talks and a willingness to talk to President Barack Obama's administration.We can continue to work towards eventual denuclearization of Korean peninsula, Bosworth said after arriving at Beijing's international airport. They understand the Obama administration will need some time to sort itself through the policy review and they expressed patience, there is no sense of alarm or urgency.Bosworth, currently the dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, said the delegation of academics he was traveling with expressed concern about the alleged missile launch plans.We indicated there was concern that they might be preparing for a missile launch, they said that we should all wait and see, he said.

Also Saturday, North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the country's scientists and engineers are actively pushing for a project to make a peaceful use of space.Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the North may insist it was preparing to launch a satellite, not a missile as reported in the media.In 1998, the North test-fired a Taepodong ballistic missile, which flew over Japan's main island and into the Pacific, but claimed it put a satellite into orbit with the missile launch.Bosworth did not give the names of the officials he met with during the five day visit, but said they were from foreign affairs, defense and the economy. His group was on a private visit and not representing the U.S. government.Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to name a special representative for North Korea, but the timing is uncertain.She has praised the Bush administration's use of six-nation disarmament talks, which are now stalled over North Korea's refusal to agree to a nuclear verification process, but has said little else.Clinton's first trip to Asia since taking her new post will come later this month, with visits to Japan, South Korea and China — three nations that, along with the United States and Russia, are pressing the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

First US warship docks in Mozambique in EAfrica visit Sat Feb 7, 2:11 pm ET

MAPUTO (AFP) – An American warship has docked in Maputo for the first time as part of a maritime security training partnership along the east African coast, where piracy has lent new urgency to the venture, the US navy said Saturday.We have commenced the first visit of the east coast of Africa with the visit of the USS (Robert G) Bradley, said Rear Admiral William Loeffler about the warship's mission under the African Partnership Station (APS) initiative.The USS Bradley will travel to Tanzania, Kenya and Djibouti after Mozambique, where it docked Friday for a nine-day visit.The 4,100-tonne vessel is the first US warship to tie up pier side in Mozambique, said Loeffler, who is also the first American naval admiral to visit Maputo in recent history.Our efforts are to improve maritime safety and security for Mozambique as it occupies a strategic place on the southeast coast of Africa, he told a media briefing.Two Mozambican junior officers and five enlisted sailors will also travel with the USS Bradley up the east African coast separate from the training exercises, Loeffler said.Piracy along the Somali coast was added reason for international maritime co-operation, he said.Somalia is a multifaceted challenge that the international community is doing its best to deal with. What has happened in Somalia is indicative of what can happen where there is a lack of governance, he said.

By all accounts they are being successful in reducing the number of piracy acts but this is also a reason why it is important for navies and governments to work together.While American warships have visited east African ports for years, the USS Bradley is the first under the APS programme which aims to build maritime safety and security in Africa with local navies.The USS Nashville is currently stationed in the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa under the initiative, with staff from various European and African countries.The Mozambican navy is battling illegal fishing, estimated at an annual loss of 38 million dollars (29 million euros), and human trafficking, among other challenges.The USS Forrest Sherman previously anchored off-shore in 2007 for training with the Mozambican navy.

Georgia: 27 Russian jets sent to Abkhazia Fri Feb 6, 2:08 pm ET

TBILISI, Georgia – Georgia's foreign minister accused Russia on Friday of sending more than two dozen fighter jets to a base in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.An Abkhaz defense official denied the claim, but indicated Russia jets could be based there in the future.Moscow recognized Abkhazia as an independent nation following the war between Georgia and Russia in August.Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said 27 jets are now at the former Soviet airfield at Gudauta, which he said was a flagrant violation of a 1999 treaty on conventional forces in Europe. Speaking to journalists in parliament, he said the deployment was clearly aimed against Georgia.But Garry Kupalba, deputy defense minister of Abkhazia, said there were no Russian jets at the Gudauta air base. He said the base has not been used since 1993.The Abkhaz leadership was in discussions with Moscow about military cooperation, he said. If a decision is made to establish an air base, we will announce it officially, Kupalba said in Sukhumi, the Abkhaz capital.Russian officials could not be reached for comment Friday evening. A Russian news agency quoted air force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying the Georgian comments were irresponsible.No Russian military airplanes have been stationed either on the territory of Abkhazia or the territory of South Ossetia, he was quoted by Interfax as saying.Russia announced in 2007 it was suspending observance of the conventional forces treaty in protest of some NATO countries' policies toward the new version.Russia has announced plans to start building a naval base in Abkhazia on the Black Sea — a plan that prompted alarm in Europe and the United States.Associated Press writer Ruslan Khashig in Sukhumi, Georgia, contributed to this report.

Iran-bound cargo seized in Greece, official says By DEREK GATOPOULOS, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 6, 12:43 pm ET

ATHENS, Greece – The cargo of a ship bound for Iran was seized near Athens because it violated an international embargo, a Greek government official said Friday, and a Greek newspaper reported that the vessel was carrying steel that can be used to make missile components.On Monday, Iran launched an Omid satellite, a move that touched off concerns among experts in Europe, the United States and Israel about the potential of links between its satellite program and its work with missiles and nuclear technology.The ship, the Susanna, was traveling from Slovenia to Iran when it was stopped in December carrying four containers loaded with cargo banned under international law, and they were removed during a customs inspection at Elefsis, west of Athens, the official said on condition of anonymity because his department was not directly involved in the search.The official did not identify the cargo or the ship's owner. He also did not say why the seizure — which was reported by Israeli media on Friday — has not been publicly announced by the Greek government.

On Sunday, Greece's Elfetherotypia newspaper said the cargo taken by inspectors was steel that can be used to make missile components, but the government official refused to comment on the report.Greece's Fraud agency conducted the search and seized the cargo, but its officials were not available for comment Friday.

Russia to build nuclear plant in Belarus Fri Feb 6, 11:31 am ET

MINSK, Belarus – Russia's ambassador to Belarus says Moscow will finance Belarus' first nuclear power plant and construction will begin this year.Alexander Surikov says the $5 billion project will be on maximally beneficial credit terms for Belarus and will be built by the Russian state monopoly, Atomstroiexport.Critics say the plant will increase Minsk's dependence on Moscow.Environmentalists are angry that it's being built near the border of Lithuania on a nature reserve that is a popular vacation spot.The plant is expected to be fully operational by 2020, when it should supply a third of the energy needs for the country's 10 million people.Belarus is heavily dependent on Russia for cheap oil and gas supplies.

Saudi suspects seeking to revive al-Qaida By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer – Sat Feb 7, 12:55 pm ET

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – One of the men on the Saudi Arabia's new most-wanted list is married to Osama bin Laden's daughter while another was involved in a plot to kill the U.S. ambassador in Yemen. A third smuggled militants into Iraq from Syria.

Documents profiling the 85 wanted men — 83 Saudis and two Yemenis — reveal that many of them either took part in planning attacks targeting oil, security and other installations in the kingdom or provided al-Qaida members with weapons, safe haven, false documents and money.The documents illuminate the extent of Saudi participation in the shadowy extremist networks struggling to rebuild in the Arabian peninsula after a series of harsh crackdowns in past years. All the men on the list are hiding abroad, many in neighboring Yemen.Saudi officials say Yemen's lawless hinterland gives these militants a place to hide, while keeping them close to the kingdom and their source of recruits.Yemen, meanwhile, has announced plans for a major operation against an entrenched al-Qaida presence around the city of Marib, east of the capital. Tribal leaders have been called on to hand over any militants.The men on the list were all ages and came from throughout the kingdom, according to documents provided to The Associated Press on Saturday by a Saudi official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.The youngest, 16-year-old Abdul-Ilah al-Shihri, was only nine around the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. He was smuggled into Yemen to join al-Qaida there by his uncle, according to the documents.

The official said the men are active members of al-Qaida or local offshoots and planned to re-establish the terror network in Saudi Arabia following the kingdom's aggressive campaign, which had netted hundreds of members and sympathizers.Al-Qaida has not carried out a major attack since February 2006, when suicide bombers tried but failed to attack an oil facility at the Abqaiq oil complex, the world's largest oil processing facility, in eastern Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia issued the list on Monday and sought Interpol's help in arresting the men. They include 11 who have been released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay and have attended the kingdom's touted extremist rehabilitation program. Among them were two Saudis who have emerged as the new leaders of Yemen's branch of al-Qaida.Documents were available for six of those men, all of whom left Saudi Arabia in 2000 before eventually making their way to Afghanistan where they were captured and then taken Guantanamo. After being released to the Saudis and going through rehabilitation, the men slipped across the border into Yemen.Another man on the list, Mohammed Aboul-Kheir, 34, is married to the daughter of al-Qaida leader bin Laden and worked as his bodyguard. He had links to Ramzi Binalshibh, one of five co-defendants facing murder and war crimes charges for alleged roles in the Sept. 11 attacks.The documents put his whereabouts in either Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran.Another wanted Saudi, Saleh al-Qaraawi, has been dubbed by the local media as one of the most dangerous men on the list. The documents say that al-Qaraawi, 27, provided money and recruits for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in June 2006.He received intensive training in Iran in the use of electronics in explosions, said the documents.He also attempted to establish a new terror cell in the kingdom, the documents added.They said al-Qaraawi left for the United Arab Emirates in 2007 on a forged passport.Qassem al-Reemi, 30, meanwhile, one of the few Yemenis on the list, has links to a plot targeting the U.S. ambassador in San'a, the capital of Yemen.

He rented the house in which the plot for that operation was hatched, according to the documents. He also monitored the U.S. Embassy.No such attack has taken place, but in September gunmen did assault the embassy gates, leaving 19 people dead, including six militants. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility. The Saudi campaign against al-Qaida began in earnest in 2003, when militants first struck inside the kingdom, which is bin Laden's birthplace and home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers. The network's attacks have targeted expatriate residential compounds, oil installations and government buildings. (This version CORRECTS age of youngest suspect at time of 9/11 to around 9.)