EU-IMF AGREE 20 BILLION LOAN

Netanyahu pledges to pursue peace with Palestinians By Jeffrey Heller – Wed Mar 25, 5:51 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government would negotiate peace with the Palestinians, but made no mention of their U.S.-backed quest for statehood.In a speech a day after enlisting the center-left Labor Party into a broad-based administration that could help him avoid friction with Washington over peacemaking, Netanyahu focused on his plans to shore up the Palestinian economy.If we have a strong Palestinian economy, that's a strong foundation for peace, Netanyahu said in a speech to a business forum, pledging to remove some bureaucratic handicaps stunting growth.He told legislators from his right-wing Likud party, in separate remarks, that he planned to present his new government for parliamentary approval next week, a Netanyahu spokeswoman said.The vote, she said, would likely be held on Monday or Tuesday. Under a mandate from Israel's president, Netanyahu has until April 3 to form a government.On Wednesday evening Likud signed a coalition deal with the small, religious Jewish Home party, bringing the size of Netanyahu's coalition up to 69 out of the 120 members of parliament.That margin could decline, however, if any of 13 center-left Labor party lawmakers who opposed the partnership with Likud withhold their support of the government. The partnership was signed on Tuesday.There appeared to be little chance the ruling centrist Kadima party would agree at the last minute to join up. Kadima won 28 seats to Likud's 27 in the February 10 election that resulted in a strong rightist bloc in parliament.The Palestinian Authority and the United States have long urged Israel to ease restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military maintains a network of checkpoints.

I think that the Palestinians should understand that they have in our government a partner for peace, for security and for rapid economic development of the Palestinian economy,he said.This means that I will negotiate with the Palestinian Authority for peace, Netanyahu added, describing an economic track as a complement to political talks in an apparent bid to ease any international concerns he might not seek a peace deal.Asked about Netanyahu's comments, Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the incoming Israeli government must be committed in an explicit manner, without ambiguity, to the two-state solution.

TWO-STATE SOLUTION

Netanyahu has shied away from declaring support for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, alongside Israel, an objective U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed on Tuesday at a news conference in Washington.

But under the coalition deal with Labor, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Likud agreed to respect all of Israel's international agreements -- a formula that includes accords envisaging Palestinian statehood.Indirect acceptance of that goal and formation of a broad government that includes Labor, the moving force behind interim peace deals with the Palestinians in the 1990s, might keep Netanyahu off a possible collision course with Obama.Netanyahu is widely expected to finalize his government in the next few days and ask parliament to ratify it next week.On Monday, Netanyahu sealed an agreement with the Orthodox Jewish Shas party, a perennial member of coalitions of right and left down the years. He had already signed up the Yisrael Beitenu party led by ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman. But while enlisting those partners, Netanyahu made clear he preferred a broad-based coalition. A sharp turn to the right within Israel's government could raise international concern already heightened by Netanyahu's promise to appoint Lieberman as foreign minister.

Israel's New Government Won't Make Obama's Middle East Task Easier
By TONY KARON Tony Karon – Wed Mar 25, 7:20 pm ET

Unsustainable.That was President Barack Obama's blunt assessment on Tuesday night of the current state of affairs between Israel and the Palestinians. Acknowledging the obstacles in his path given the political changes on both sides, the President pledged to follow a philosophy of persistence in pursuit of a two-state solution, citing Northern Ireland's once unthinkable rapprochement as his inspiration. It may, however, take more than persistent cajoling to bridge a gulf that is widening rather than narrowing.Israel's leaders on Tuesday night concluded a political deal that will put the hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu in power, with the centrist Labor Party of Ehud Barak and the far-right Yisrael Beitenu Party of Avigdor Lieberman as his main partners. Barak narrowly won his party's endorsement to join a government whose leader is not committed to a two-state solution, and whose Foreign Minister–designate, Lieberman, expresses harshly anti-Arab views. The Labor leader insisted that the presence of his party would put a brake on the more belligerent instincts of some of the government's coalition partners. But even if that proves to be true, there is still a recipe for paralysis on the question of peace with the Palestinians. Barak may be able to talk Netanyahu out of certain actions in respect to expanding the settlements that are most likely to antagonize Washington, but Netanyahu is unlikely to be persuaded to move in any meaningful way to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank. So, Netanyahu's comment that a unity government will bring stability to Israel may mean that it will simply stabilize the deadlock. (See pictures of Israel's Gaza offensive.)

While anxious observers in Washington and elsewhere have decried Netanyahu's victory as a setback for the prospect of a two-state solution, it's worth remembering that progress on that front had been scant even under the outgoing centrist Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, who is now the leader of the Kadima opposition. And the Bush Administration, rather than press for the implementation of a peace deal, had confined itself to staging talks between Olmert's government and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in search of what was termed a shelf agreement - a detailed draft of a two-state peace plan that could serve as a kind of eyes-on-the-prize political horizon to be implemented at a more favorable moment. But even that proved elusive, as Olmert's government, certainly more centrist than the incoming one, could not agree with the moderate Abbas leadership on where to draw the borders between Israel and a Palestinian state, the fate of Jerusalem and that of Palestinian refugees, and other key questions. It's not only on the Israeli side that positions have hardened since then. Abbas' popularity has declined steadily to the point where few believe he could win a Palestinian election that must be held sometime within next year. Abbas is involved in talks to create a unity government with Hamas, which remains the ruling party in his legislature (it is unable to meet because of the number of lawmakers in Israeli detention). Abbas' influence is declining even within his own Fatah movement, many of whose members believe he achieved nothing for the Palestinians in his decade of patient negotiations under Washington's tutelage. His aides say he won't negotiate with Netanyahu unless the Likud leader embraces a two-state solution.

While Netanyahu will put on his friendliest face for Washington's benefit - I will negotiate with the PA for peace, he told an Israeli business conference on Wednesday -his idea of peace has largely focused on building up the Palestinian economy and institutions of self-government in the various enclaves of the West Bank that are controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu has stressed his belief that Israel's security needs are incompatible with sovereign independence for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. And he has made clear that he will not deal with a government that includes Hamas, and expects Washington to do the same. Indeed, his goal remains toppling the Hamas government in Gaza. But Abbas is seeking a unity agreement with that same group, which is likely to eclipse the Palestinian President at the polls the next time Palestinians are allowed to vote - that is, if Abbas remains Fatah's candidate. He could even lose a primary challenge to a more Hamas-friendly leader like the imprisoned Marwan Barghouti. Prospects for advancing by consensus to a two-state solution on the basis of the current political alignments are hard to see. Indeed, Netanyahu, in dealing with Washington, will emphasize reversing Iran's nuclear development, rather than making peace with the Palestinians, as his top concern. And in that position he has the unanimous backing of most of Israel's political spectrum.The problem is that the Palestinians are likely to make sure they're higher on Israel's - and Washington's - agenda. As things stand, there is no cease-fire agreement in Gaza, where Palestinians are chafing under an ongoing economic siege that prevents reconstruction. Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have failed to agree on a prisoner exchange to secure the release of captured Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit. There are growing signs that the population of the Fatah-controlled West Bank may be beginning to stir in renewed rebellion against Israel's security wall, checkpoints and expanding settlements. And Israel's moves to consolidate its grip on East Jerusalem, its planned settlement activity in the West Bank and this week's unrest in the Israeli-Arab town of Umm al-Fahm all suggest the region remains a tinder box. By this summer, the challenge facing Washington may be less about a long-term peace than on putting out the fires of an immediate upsurge in violence on any or all of those fronts. The status quo is, indeed, unsustainable, but you wouldn't want to bet against it getting worse.

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.

Ice-jammed floodwaters, blizzard swamp N. Dakota
by Lee Morris Lee Morris – MAR 25,09

FARGO, North Dakota9 (AFP) – A heavy blizzard dumped wet snow on volunteers as they rushed to build dikes against rising flood waters in North Dakota, as officials used explosives to try break up ice jams on swelling rivers.President Barack Obama issued a federal disaster declaration for 34 counties and two Indian reservations as the entire state remained under a major flood warning.The storm's blustering winds knocked out power to towns across the largely rural prairie state and made many roads impassable as it dumped snow and freezing rain, officials said.Several bridges and roads were already closed due to flooding as an unusually heavy snowpack began to melt on top of saturated land that has not yet fully thawed.The state has turned into a fishing pond and can't absorb any more snow or rain, said Patrick Slattery of the National Weather Service.More snow was forecast to fall on the Red River valley in the coming days and rain could worsen flood conditions by the weekend, the weather service predicted.Low-lying homes across the state were evacuated as rivers and creeks spilled over their banks, although damage was largely restricted to water in basements. No injuries were reported in a situation report issued at 7:30 pm (0130 GMT Thursday).About 20 people from homes south of Fargo were evacuated with airboats that sluiced through ice-covered floodwaters after sandbag dikes began to leak.

Frankly I do expect more (evacuations) over the next 24 hours, said Dave Rogness, the Cass County emergency manager.A farmer stranded on his tractor and several families whose rural homes were surrounded by floodwaters were also rescued across the state. Officials also evacuated 146 inmates from a jail in the state capital of Bismark, where the Missouri river was rising quickly as a result of a massive ice jam that stretched all the way to the border with South Dakota.The governor called in military specialists to try break up the ice jam with explosives after fragments of ice as big as four feet (1.2 meters) thick and other debris got stuck on a sandbar.Blackhawk helicopters were to be used to dump sand and salt down river of the ice jam to help get the water flowing again and reduce flood pressure on the city. Officials warned they may not know if the operation was successful until Thursday.Heavy snowfall prompted thousands of volunteers in Fargo to reinforce temporary dikes and levees after the projected crest of the mighty Red River was raised to a record 41 feet (12.5meters) by Saturday.It kind of scares you a little bit when they do that, Stephen Garrity said of the rising projections as he scrambled to add sandbags to dikes around his home.The river, which is normally only about 98 feet (30 meters) wide, was rising about an inch (2.5 centimeters) an hour, yawning to swallow trees along its banks -- it appeared to be some 2,952 feet (900 meters) wide.

A sandbag dike stretched for miles along the edge of the floodwaters.

Snowplows cleared streets for trucks delivering sandbags to neighborhoods along the river, where volunteers from as far away as Iowa and Montana mingled with high school and college students whose classes were cancelled.Hundreds of volunteers passed along sandbag after sandbag, some standing on pieces of wood to protect against the deep mud under the trampled snow. All the national media stories are,Oh, they need help. So here we are, said Rick Spohnholtz of Newark, Illinois, who arrived with his 13-year-old son Ricky on Wednesday morning.

EUS BROWN CALLS FOR GLOBAL RULE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyTRCZABaDI

Two-Faced Geithner Assures CFR Puppet Masters He’s Open To Global Currency
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Thursday, March 26, 2009

In a near complete reversal of his comments on Tuesday, when he told a Congressional hearing that there were no plans to move towards a global currency to supplant the dollar, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sought to please the elitist CFR by assuring them that he was open to the notion of a new global currency system.

Geithner’s two-faced reversal is another shining example of how much contempt Obama administration front men have for the American people - assuring them one day that the dollar will remain while the next pandering to their globalist puppet masters the CFR as the move towards a global monetary union accelerates.As we reported yesterday, Obama, Geithner and Bernanke on Tuesday publicly defended the dollar and denounced proposals by China and Russia to supplant the greenback with a new global currency, and yet the very policies of the Obama administration, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve are creating the perfect storm for the dollar’s death and its replacement with a new international reserve currency.Would you categorically renounce the United States moving away from the dollar and going to a global currency as suggested by China? a lawmaker asked Treasury Secretary Geithner on Tuesday.Geithner immediately responded, I would.However, just a day later, Geithner told the CFR in a speech that he was open to the Chinese proposal to replace the dollar with a new international reserve system.In response, The dollar fell 1.3 per cent against the euro as headlines saying Geithner open to SDR currency flashed across traders’ screens, reports the Financial Times.

I haven’t read the governor’s proposal. He’s a very thoughtful, very careful distinguished central banker. I generally find him sensible on every issue, said Geithner, before adding, We’re actually quite open to that suggestion – you should see it as rather evolutionary rather building on the current architecture rather than moving us to global monetary union.However, any move away from the dollar and towards an international reserve system, including the use of special drawing rights – a synthetic multinational currency maintained by the IMF, cannot be defined as anything other than a move towards a global monetary union.The continued use of the dollar as a reserve currency, he added, depends..on how effective we are in the United States…at getting our fiscal system back to the point where people judge it as sustainable over time.By that standard then, the dollar is a dead duck.The moderator of the CFR forum later gave Geithner a chance to reverse his comments, nervously sensing that he’d let the cat out of the bag.Geithner’s comments to the CFR are noteworthy because the CFR itself has constantly lobbied for the end of the dollar and its replacement with a new global currency as part of a wider agenda to establish global governance.

In May 2007, Benn Steil, the director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations wrote an article for the CFR’s influential Foreign Affairs magazine entitled The End of National Currency, in which he wrote that, the world needs to abandon unwanted currencies, replacing them with dollars, euros, and multinational currencies as yet unborn.Steil wrote that countries should abandon monetary nationalism and produce a new multinational currency over a comparably large and economically diversified area.In the article, he argues that unneeded currencies should first be replaced by the dollar or the euro, but that even these currencies were just a temporary solution for an ultimate goal of a world monetary union. World Net Daily featured Steil’s comments in a piece entitled Goodbye U.S. dollar, hello global currency.Paul Volcker, former Fed Chairman, has also called for a world monetary union, famously stating, A global economy requires a global currency.

Volcker’s replacement Alan Greenspan has also badmouthed the dollar’s position as the world reserve currency, arguing that it should be replaced by the euro and also encouraging Arab countries to abandon their dollar pegs, which would be disastrous for the greenback.Groups like the Single Global Currency Union have also received support from NGO’s and other influential policymakers in the pursuit of creating a global currency as part of a wider agenda to implement global governance.In addition, White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee refused to rule out the introduction of a global currency in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer earlier this week.Treasury Secretary Geithner has played a leading role in the wholesale looting of the greenback, announcing this week that the printing presses will be cranked to the tune of at least another $1 trillion to buy more toxic assets from the sagging balance sheets of failing institutions - again, all at the expense of the taxpayer who will pay for it with rampant tax hikes and runaway inflation on fuel and food later down the road.Geithner’s double-dealings are nothing less than traitorous. While publicly downplaying the demise of the dollar and the birth of a global currency, his every action is greasing the skids for that very scenario to unfold. In the meantime, he’s careful to assure the anti-American fifth column Council on Foreign Relations, who have vehemently lobbied for a global currency, that the agenda for a world monetary union, a key cog in the pursuit of world government, is right on track.

EU presidency: US stimulus is the road to hell By AOIFE WHITE, AP Business Writer – Wed Mar 25, 3:38 pm ET

BRUSSELS – The head of the European Union slammed President Barack Obama's plan to spend nearly $2 trillion to push the U.S. economy out of recession as the road to hell that EU governments must avoid.The blunt comments by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to the European Parliament on Wednesday highlighted simmering European differences with Washington ahead of a key summit next week on fixing the world economy.It was the strongest pushback yet from a European leader as the 27-nation bloc bristles from U.S. criticism that it is not spending enough to stimulate demand.

Shocked by the outburst, other European politicians went into damage control mode, with some reproaching the Czech leader for his language and others reaffirming their good diplomatic ties with the United States. The leaders of EU's major nations — France, Britain and Germany, among others — largely ignored Topolanek and his remarks.

Obama pays his first official visit to Europe next week, aiming to thrash out reforms to the global financial system with the Group of 20 nations and call on NATO allies to commit more troops to the U.S. war in Afghanistan.Europeans leaders hope the new U.S. administration will agree with them on tightening oversight over the global financial system — which they see as crucial to fixing the global economy.Instead, the United States is focusing its efforts on economic stimulus and plans to spend heavily to try and lift itself out of recession with a $787 billion plan of tax rebates, health and welfare benefits, as well as extra energy and infrastructure spending.To encourage banks to lend again, the U.S. government will also pump $1 trillion into the financial system by buying up treasury bonds and mortgage securities in an effort to clear some of the toxic assets — devalued and untradeable assets — from banks' balance sheets.Obama insisted Tuesday that his massive budget proposal will put the ailing U.S. economy back on its feet. This budget is inseparable from this recovery, he said, because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity.

But Topolanek took aim at Washington's deficit spending.

All of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the road to hell, Topolanek said. We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the (EU) is the refusal to go this way.Americans will need liquidity to finance all their measures and they will balance this with the sale of their bonds but this will undermine the liquidity of the global financial market, Topolanek said.

Topolanek spoke the day after he was ousted by his own parliament. The Czech Republic currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency but its leadership is in question, with Topolanek hanging on to a caretaker government at home after losing a no confidence Tuesday.In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said he did not expect the Czech poltical turmoil to affect Obama's upcoming trip to Prague because the president was traveling to attend an EU event.Analyst Nicolas Veron, a research fellow at the Bruegel think tank, said Topolanek's view is not widely shared by EU leaders.I don't think the damage can be as large as the very strong wording of this would lead one to think, he said. Many people have doubts about the U.S. plan but what he said is much stronger.Veron said European leaders worry that the U.S. plan may not work or could cost taxpayers heavily — but he did not doubt the U.S.fiscal robustness or that it still had extra room to maneuver to stoke economic growth.Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group in the European parliament, immediately chided Topolanek, saying his comments were not the level on which the EU ought to be operating with the United States.You have not understood what the task of the EU presidency is, he told the Czech premier. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also said it was not helpful ... to try to suggest that Americans and Europeans are coming with very different approaches to the crisis.On the contrary, what we are seeing is increased convergence, he told the parliament. But Europe's resistance to the U.S. call for new stimulus measures is starting to weaken despite Germany's fierce opposition to any new spending program this year.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he is prepared to support the economy with a new spending package. EU officials say they can't rule anything out — even an EU-wide stimulus that could help nations like Ireland and Spain, which can't afford any extra stimulus. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also supported U.S. calls to ramp up fiscal stimulus — government spending and tax cuts — although the Bank of England has warned that Britain's swelling public deficit may make it unable to afford new spending. Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Strasbourg, France, Jane Wardell in London and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU MAR 26,2009

09:30 AM +5.02
10:00 AM +41.92
10:30 AM +10.52
11:00 AM +47.15
11:30 AM +41.58
12:00 PM +68.40
12:30 PM +103.39
01:00 PM +102.35
01:30 PM +152.77
02:00 PM +142.89
02:30 PM +108.88
03:00 PM +72.16
03:30 PM +132.14
04:00 PM +174.75 7924.56

S&P 500 832.86 +18.98

NASDAQ 1587.00 +58.05

GOLD 934.30 -1.50

OIL 54.00 +1.23

TSE 300 8995.50 +198.06

CDNX 974.02 +24.98

S&P/TSX/60 546.60 +13.12

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -11.70%
S&P -9.89%
Nasdaq -3.05%
TSX Advances 819,declines 721,unchanged 284,Volume 2,950,808,710.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 428,Declines 327,Unchanged 324,Volume 253,747,460.

Dow +75 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +0.04 points at low today.
Dow +109 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $941.00.OIL opens at $54.24 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow +0.04 points at low today so far.
Dow +109 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,611,declines 944,unchanged 96,New Highs 12,New Lows 83.
Volume 3,273,118,315.
NASDAQ Advances 1,875,declines 688,unchanged 136,New highs 14,New Lows 16.
Volume 952,819,276.
TSX Advances 831,declines 480,unchanged 261,Volume 1,320,456,689.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 313,Declines 223,Unchanged 266,Volume 129,129,262.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow +0.04 points at low today.
Dow +179 points at high today.
Dow +2.25% today Volume 397,262,102.
Nasdaq +3.80% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 +2.23% today Volume N/A

Stocks funds JAN 09 3.4T,DEC 08 3.7T,DEC 07 6.5T.
Money Markets (taxable)funds JAN 09 3.4T,DEC 08 3.3T,DEC 07 2.6T.
Money markets (tax-free)Funds JAN 09 486B,DEC 08 491B,DEC 07 465B.
Dow,S&P,Nasdaq on pace for 3rd consecutive weekly gain.
Dow,S&P,Nasdaq touch fresgh 6 week highs.
Stocks extend gains after successful 7-yr note auction.
Major Indexes rise for 9th time in 13 sessions.
Nasdaq erases all losses for 2009.
Stocks rally into close.

RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65

RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04

EUS GORDON BROWN CALLS FOR GLOBAL RULE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyTRCZABaDI

EU rejects proposal for new reserve currency
ANDREW WILLIS 25.03.2009 @ 09:20 CET

The EU's economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia rejected a Chinese proposal for a new reserve currency on Tuesday (24 March), saying he felt the dollar would remain the world's reserve currency for the foreseeable future. Mr Almunia said he didn't envisage: major structural changes in the role the dollar plays today as a major reserve currency,following Monday's call by China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, to create a new reserve currency that is disconnected from individual currencies.Everybody agrees also that the [main] present world reserve currency, the dollar, is there and will continue to be there for a long period of time,said Mr Almunia after a meeting of commissioners in Strasbourg reports the Associated Press.

China's call for a new reserve currency reflects fears that its huge stockpile of dollar denominated US treasury notes, amounting to roughly half of its $2 trillion (€1.49trn) in foreign reserves, is in danger of being devalued. Last week the US Federal Reserve announced the surprise decision to expand its balance sheet and buy up to $300 billion (€223bn) worth of longer-term US treasury securities. Mr Zhou made the appeal for a reserve currency that is able to remain stable in the long run in an essay published on the People's Bank of China's website and included an English translation to ensure an international readership. In the essay, Mr Zhou proposes that an accounting unit used by the International Monetary Fund known as special drawing rights (SDRs) and which is currently based on a basket of four currencies - the US dollar, the yen, sterling and the euro - should become the new reserve currency.The proposal suggests expanding this basket of currencies to include all those from the world's major economies and a system whereby governments could store their reserve SDRs with the IMF. In time SDRs would replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency says Mr Zhou. The British economist John Maynard Keynes, whose theory of counter cyclical spending to lift economies out of recession is currently in vogue, proposed a similar scheme in the 1940s.The move highlights China's increased willingness to voice its economic opinions on the world stage and comes just ahead of a G20 meeting of the leaders of industrialised and developing nations on 2 April in London where reforming the IMF is firmly on the agenda. Russia has also mooted the idea of a new reserve currency based on SDRs and has suggested the upcoming G20 meeting is the place to get the ball rolling. On Tuesday Mr Almunia said that everybody agrees over the need to reform the IMF and give developing nations such as China a greater say in how it is run.

EU, IMF agree €20bn rescue loan for Romania
ANDREW WILLIS 25.03.2009 @ 17:45 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union and International Monetary Fund agreed the basis for a €20 billion rescue loan for Romania on Wednesday (25 March) as the government struggles with falling tax receipts and rising unemployment payments. The move brings to three the number of EU countries that have turned to IMF and EU aid as a result of the economic crisis, with Latvia and Hungary already securing financial support. Under this latest deal, the IMF will contribute €13 billion to the loan while the EU will contribute €5 billion. A further €1 billion will come from the World Bank, with the remaining €1 billion coming from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other multilateral lenders. The EU contribution will come from its balance of payments facility that EU leaders agreed to double last Friday from €25 to €50 billion. However the commission needs to prepare the necessary paperwork before it can raise the extra €25 billion by issuing bonds to investors, leaving the fund with €10 billion for the moment once Romania's loan, alongside those of Latvia and Hungary, are subtracted. I am pleased that it was possible to come to an agreement rapidly on a significant financial assistance package, said economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia on the Romanian deal, indicating that the loan was conditional on the government implementing a major programme of economic adjustment.

Mr Almunia was referring to an economy policy programme that the Romanian authorities must implement in order to receive the financial support necessary to recapitalise banks and withstand short-term liquidity pressures. A major component of the plan will see the Romanian government limit its budget deficit in 2009 to 5.1 per cent of GDP, eventually bring it below three per cent by 2011. The exact details of the loan conditionality will be spelt out in a memorandum of understanding that is still in negotiation between the lenders and the Romanian authorities.

Cut in public sector spending

Cuts in public sector spending appear inevitable however if the Romanian government is to meet the agreed targets, raising the spectre of social unrest. One of the conditions is likely to be the signing of an integrated salary law, Sorin Ionita of the Romanian Academic Society think-tank told EUobserver. Mr Ionita says the government is likely to target public sector bonuses rather than forced layoffs in big state enterprises, many of which have already been privatised in recent years.

However, last week, the Romanian transport ministry announced its intention to lay off 12,000 of the railway's 76,000 staff. The need for unpopular austerity measures is likely to further weaken the current centre-left coalition, which was elected last November and which has already suffered a string of setbacks, with two interior ministers resigning this year. People are slightly less hysterical towards the IMF [than in South America], but it is still not popular, said Mr Ionita, adding that the government would likely draw public attention to the EU side of the loan. Two EU governments have already fallen as a result of the financial crisis and economic downturn.The Belgium government was the first to go last December after former Prime Minister Yves Leterme offered his resignation over allegations his officials tried to stop judges blocking the proposed sale of Belgian assets in the multinational bank Fortis.In February of this year the Latvian government followed suit and on Monday the Hungarian prime minister offered to stand down if a replacement can be found, a move that would bring the total to three.

Geithner Remarks on IMF Roil Foreign-Exchange Market (Update2)
By Rebecca Christie

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent the dollar tumbling with comments about China’s ideas for overhauling the global monetary system, only to drive it back up by affirming that it should remain the world’s reserve currency.

Geithner was asked at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York about People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan’s call for a new international reserve currency. He said while he had not read Zhou’s proposal, he understood it as a plan designed to increase the use of the IMF’s special drawing rights. And we’re actually quite open to that.The dollar slid as much as 1.3 percent against the euro within 10 minutes of news accounts of Geithner’s remarks. It recouped much of the loss about 15 minutes later, when Geithner then predicted no change in the U.S. currency’s role. The dollar was down 0.9 percent at $1.3591 per euro as of 3:39 p.m. in New York.

Today’s episode highlights investors’ sensitivity to any weakening role for the dollar as power shifts toward a wider group of developed and emerging nations, said James McCormick, Citigroup Inc.’s global head of foreign-exchange and local- markets strategy. It was important that China’s proposal came in the run-up to a Group of 20 summit next week, he added.

Share of Reserves

The G-20 is gaining relative power versus the G-7 and we will feel that and see that for some time to come, London- based McCormick said. One key focus for markets will be any change in sentiment toward the dollar, which makes up about two- thirds of world central banks’ foreign-exchange reserves, he said. Geithner will attend the summit of the G-20, which groups the largest developing and emerging countries, April 2 in London along with President Barack Obama. The smaller Group of Seven had since the 1970s been the main forum for leaders of nations with the biggest economies.

After the dollar slumped in the aftermath of Geithner’s first remarks, Roger Altman, who worked with Geithner as deputy Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, asked him whether he wanted to clarify his comments. I’d like to ask one final question, in effect on behalf of the market, said Altman, founder of Evercore Partners Inc. Let me ask the question this way. Do you see any change over the foreseeable future in the basic role of the dollar as the world’s key reserve currency?

Strong Dollar

Geithner responded: I think the dollar remains the world’s dominant reserve currency. In an interview with CNBC broadcast after the event, the Treasury chief said that a strong dollar is in America’s interest.In his earlier answer, Geithner said increased use of SDRs should be rather evolutionary, building on the current architecture, rather than moving us to global monetary union. SDRs are a unit of account at the IMF used for member countries’ reserves with the fund. Geithner’s remarks don’t indicate Geithner favors moving to a system with the SDR as a reserve currency, strategist Lee Hardman at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. wrote in a note. That was the big concern amongst the confusion, London- based Hardman said. A move to an SDR-linked system away from the dollar would naturally lead to a reduction in the dollar’s share of global reserves.

Confidence in U.S.

Geithner, a former Treasury undersecretary for international affairs and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which carries out U.S. interventions in currency markets, also said that we will do what’s necessary to make sure we’re sustaining confidence in our financial markets.Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke both told lawmakers yesterday that they expected the dollar to remain the most important global currency. Obama said at a news conference late yesterday that the dollar is extraordinarily strong” because investors are confident in the ability of the U.S. to lead a worldwide recovery, and also rejected calls for a new global currency. China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, and Premier Wen Jiabao earlier this month expressed concern about the value of its investment. Central bank governor Zhou this week advocated a super-sovereign reserve currency that’s disconnected from any individual nation. Zhou said, in an essay posted on the PBOC’s Web site, that the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights offer light in the tunnel for the reform of the international monetary system. He said the SDR has yet to be put into full play due to limitations on its allocation and the scope of its uses.McCormick at Citigroup said it was a concern that Geithner said he hadn’t read Zhou’s comments.If I’m running the Treasury I would want to have been briefed on that.Geithner has been the only confirmed senior official at the Treasury since he took office in January. The White House yesterday nominated former Clinton official Lael Brainard as Treasury undersecretary for international affairs after at least one other candidate for the job removed herself from contention. To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Christie in Washington at Rchristie4@bloomberg.net

Sources: Extensive regulatory overhaul planned By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer – MAR 26,09

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is proposing an extensive overhaul of financial regulations to increase oversight of such exotic instruments as credit default swaps that have been blamed for contributing to the worst financial crisis to hit the country in seven decades.Officials said Wednesday that the administration will seek to regulate the market for credit default swaps and other types of derivatives and require hedge funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was scheduled to outline the administration's proposals in testimony Thursday before the House Financial Services Committee. Administration officials provided details of the plan ahead of the testimony only on condition of anonymity.The program the administration was presenting to Congress will also include a recommendation for creation of a systemic risk regulator, possibly at the Federal Reserve, to monitor risks to the entire system.The plan also includes a measure that Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke discussed before the committee on Tuesday to give the administration expanded powers to take over major nonbank financial institutions such as insurance companies and hedge funds that were teetering on the brink of collapse.The administration, pushing Congress to act quickly on its reform agenda, sent Congress a 61-page bill dealing with the expanded powers to seize control of nonbank institutions late Wednesday and the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Barney Frank, has indicated it could move on the measure as early as next week.However, it was unclear how fast the rest of the financial reform agenda might move through Congress. Geithner was providing only a broad outline of the other proposals, with many thorny details remaining to be worked out.

Administration officials promised that the remaining issues would be hammered out in consultation with Congress with the goal of getting legislation approved as quickly as possible.The administration is proposing that hedge funds and other private pools of capital, including private equity funds and venture capital funds, be required to register with the SEC if their assets exceeded a certain size. The threshold amount has yet to be determined, officials said.The proposal on credit default swaps and other derivatives would require the markets on which they are traded to be regulated for the first time and for the buying and selling of these instruments to be conducted in a way that will foster greater oversight.Credit default swaps, which trade in a $60 trillion global market without government oversight, are contracts to insure against the default of financial instruments like bonds and corporate debt. They played a prominent role in the credit crisis that brought the downfall of investment banking giant Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. last fall and pushed insurance giant American International Group Inc. to the brink of collapse, forcing the government to provide more than $180 billion in support.Hedge funds, vast pools of capital holding an estimated $1.5 trillion in assets, operate mostly outside of government supervision. As the market crisis deepened last fall, hedge fund selling was widely cited as one of the reasons for increased volatility that pounded stocks and bonds. Hedge funds also suffered huge losses last year, notably from investments in securities tied to subprime mortgages.The outline of the regulatory reform was being unveiled a week before President Barack Obama was scheduled to meet for discussions among the Group of 20 major industrialized and developing countries in London to assess what needs to be done to deal with the global financial crisis.

The administration is pushing other nations to follow the U.S. lead in putting together sizable economic stimulus programs to jump-start global growth. However, many in Europe are resisting those calls and arguing that the United States needs to do more to toughen financial regulations because they believe the current troubles can be traced to lax regulation in the United States in such key areas as hedge funds and credit default swaps.The Bush administration resisted calls for tighter regulations in these areas but the Obama administration has signaled its willingness to do more and is hoping that the flaws in current regulations that were exposed by the financial crisis will spur Congress to act.AP Business Writer Marcy Gordon contributed to this report.

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).

Czech government defeat raises major Lisbon concerns
ELITSA VUCHEVA 25.03.2009 @ 17:32 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The presidents of both the European Commission and the European Parliament on Wednesday (25 March) urged the Czech Republic to proceed with the ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty despite the fall of the Czech government the day before, while Czech deputy premier Alexandr Vondra admitted the ratification would now become more difficult.I would like to urge all political leaders not to use this political crisis in a way to make the Lisbon Treaty hostage to domestic problems. That would not be fair to the other countries of Europe, Mr Barroso said at a press conference in Strasbourg.His comments came just a few hours after the centre-right Czech government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek lost a no-confidence motion by a single vote on Wednesday night.The most likely scenario however is that the current government will remain in place until the end of the Czech EU presidency in June.I really hope these political domestic developments are not used as a way to put into question the treaty, which was negotiated and signed by this enlarged Europe, by all the 27 member states,Mr Barroso stressed.Governments change, that is normal in democracy. Sometimes it happens that one government signs a treaty and another one ratifies [it] ... But it is important to say that there is a responsibility of the state as such, he added.The Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany and Poland comprise the four countries that have yet to complete the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. In February, the lower house of the Czech parliament gave the green light to the document, but it must still pass the Senate and has then to be signed by the country's eurosceptic president, Vaclav Klaus, for ratification to be completed.

A lot more difficult

The defeat of the centre-right Civic Democrats (ODS) of Mr Topolanek, the majority party in the Czech Senate, has raised fears that the upper house might reject the Lisbon Treaty.The February vote in the lower house passed precisely thanks to the votes of a minority of ODS deputies.Of course the current developments do complicate the situation ... It is not going to be easy, Czech deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra (ODS) said at the joint press conference with Mr Barroso and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering.Obviously, it will be a lot more difficult now to convince people to vote in favour, he added.For his part, Mr Poettering highlighted what he saw as Prague's special responsibility in the ratification process.From the European Parliament's perspective, it would be a tragedy for Europe if the Lisbon Treaty were to fall in one country, in a country that belonged previously to the Warsaw Pact, he said, referring to the organisation of Communist states in central and eastern Europe that existed from 1955 to 1991.I cannot imagine that the Czech people, these 10 million people ... are going at the end of the day to stand against the 490 other million citizens of the European Union ... We have a historic responsibility to see this through, he added.

No lame-duck EU presidency

Speaking in the parliament's plenary earlier this morning, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said that the fall of his government should not be considered a reflection on Prague's performance at the EU helm. Don't be concerned: The situation will have no impact on the [Czech EU] presidency,he told MEPs.Mr Vondra subsequently echoed this statement.Let's not call this a lame-duck presidency. We are now in day one of a new situation, and we hope that in the second half [of our presidency] our balance will be as successful as today, he said, stressing that his country would remain EU president until July, regardless of the political crisis at home.The European commission president also backed the Czech stewards of the union.A political crisis is normal for democracy,Mr Barroso said, insisting he had full confidence that the Czech presidency will be a successful one.

Road to Hell or road to somewhere else?

On Wednesday, Mr Topolanek also re-iterated criticism he had made earlier regarding the US economic recovery plans, saying that pumping ever-larger sums into the economy was the wrong approach and that US President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bail-out would eventually undermine the liquidity of the global financial market.All of these steps, these combinations and [their] permanency is the road to hell, he told MEPs.Later on, Mr Vondra insisted that the prime minister's comments – made just a week ahead of a G20 summit in London – had not been translated correctly from the Czech.I was there and listened to the speech in Czech and he never mentioned the word hell,Mr Vondra said.

Czech government falls, putting EU presidency at risk
VALENTINA POP 24.03.2009 @ 20:13 CET

EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – The Czech parliament on Tuesday (24 March) by a razor-thin majority voted down the government led by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who currently holds the EU presidency.The vote of non-confidence gathered the necessary 101 votes out of 200 to topple the administration, with four votes from the governing party going with the opposition.The government will have to resign, but the constitution does not provide a deadline by which new elections need to take place, with EU officials expecting some sort of deal with the opposition so that the current cabinet can stay on until the end of the Czech EU presidency, on 30 June.The centre-right ODS party led by Mr Topolanek along with the opposition Social Democrats are expected to meet President Vaclav Klaus in the coming days to negotiate a solution.

According to the Czech constitution, the president is obliged to accept the resignation of the government and consider two possible solutions: early elections or a new government under political consensus of the parliamentary majority.The current government, formed by the ODS, the Christian-Democrats and the Greens only retained 96 of the 200 deputies in the lower chamber, depending on the good will of independent MPs. Two former ODS members, Vlastimil Tlusty and Jan Schwippel, as well as two other MPs recently expelled from the Green party, Vera Jakubkova and Olga Zubova, voted with the opposition, AFP reports.In its motivation for the non-confidence vote, Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek said the Czech government was a disgrace for the EU because it has no clear position on the union and is unable to ratify the Lisbon treaty in the Czech Republic.Mr Paroubek said the Topolanek government is sticking to its EU presidency as the only possibility to justify its existence and is closing its eyes to the impact of the global economic crisis. Commenting on the vote, Mr Topolanek admitted the collapse of his government could undermine the EU presidency.

I believe it can complicate our negotiating power ...partners in Europe have grown used to us negotiating hard. In this sense it can happen that our position will be weakened,he told reporters after the vote.He re-iterated that he would be in favour of early elections this summer if no new government is formed.The EU commission on Tuesday said it maintained full trust that the Czech law would allow the country to continue conducting its EU presidency as effectively as it has done until now.It is for the Czech Republic's democratic process under the constitution to resolve the domestic political issues. The commission is confident that this is done in a way which ensures the full functioning of the Council presidency,a commission statement reads.This is not the first time that a country in charge of the rotating EU presidency has a change of government during its mandate. In 1996, Italy faced a similar situation when a centre-left coalition headed by Romano Prodi won parliamentary elections, ousting the centre-right government led by Lamerto Dini.In 1993, Denmark also faced a change of government while it was chairing the EU, with the government led by Poul Schluter falling and Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen coming to power.

Clinton: NKorea plan to fire missile provocative By MATTHEW LEE and PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writers MAR 25,09

MEXICO CITY – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday warned North Korea that firing a missile for any purpose would be a provocative act that would have consequences.North Korea is loading a rocket on a launch pad in anticipation of the launch of a communications satellite between April 4 and 8, U.S. counterproliferation and intelligence officials said. North Korea announced its intention to launch the satellite in February, but regional powers worry the claim is a cover for the launch of a long-range missile capable of reaching Alaska.Clinton told reporters during a visit to Mexico City that the U.S. believes the North Korean plan to fire a missile for any purpose would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution barring the country from ballistic activity. She linked a missile launch to the future of talks between the U.S., North Korea and four other nations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.We have made it very clear that the North Koreans pursue this pathway at a cost and with consequences to the six-party talks, which we would like to see revived, Clinton said.We intend to raise this violation of the Security Council resolution, if it goes forward, in the U.N., she said.This provocative action in violation of the U.N. mandate will not go unnoticed and there will be consequences.National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said earlier this month that all indications suggest North Korea will in fact launch a satellite. However, North Korea faked a satellite launch in 1998 to cloak a missile development test.In 2006, North Korea launched a Taepodong-2 that blew up less than a minute into flight.Both the satellite launch rocket and long-range missile use similar technology, and arms control experts fear even a satellite launch would be a test toward eventually launching a long-range missile.

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have urged North Korea to refrain from launching a satellite or missile, calling it a violation of the Security Council resolution. North Korea insists it has the right to develop its space program and on Tuesday warned the U.S., Japan and its allies not to interfere with the launch.In Seoul, the Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service said Thursday that they cannot confirm whether the North has loaded the rocket on the launch pad.South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lac, said Wednesday after returning from talks with his Beijing counterparts that a launch would trigger a response.If North Korea launches rocket, certain countermeasures are unavoidable, he said. He refused to elaborate, saying the measures, including any sanctions, would be discussed among U.N. Security Council member nations.It probably won't be clear if the latest launch is a satellite or a missile test until footage can be analyzed after the event; the trajectory of a missile is markedly different from that of a satellite.Analysts have been watching for signs of a satellite or missile on the launch pad in Musudan-ni, the northeast coastal launch site. Satellite imagery from March 16 showed progress toward mounting a rocket, with a crane hovering over the launch pad, said Christian LeMiere, an editor at Jane's Intelligence Review in London.LeMiere said that once the rocket is mounted, scientists would need at least a week to fuel and carry out tests before any launch. Images from earlier this month did not indicate the rocket or missile had been mounted, he said.Associated Press writer Pamela Hess reported from Washington. Jean H. Lee in Seoul also contributed to this report.