US DEFENDS MISSLE SHIELDS

World Day of Prayer celebration Friday By Glenn Gehlke
Contra Costa Times Posted: 03/04/2009 05:34:58 PM PST
http://gdoplethbridge.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=31
http://www.worlddayofprayer.net/wdp09.html

The public is invited when the local chapter of Church Women United presents its World Day of Prayer event Friday in Pleasant Hill.World Day of Prayer is a worldwide ecumenical movement of women of many faiths who unite to observe a common day of prayer. Every year, the worship service focuses on a different country and a specific theme. This year's event is being prepared by the women of Papau New Guinea.Jean Ross, a Walnut Creek educator, will be the guest presenter at the local event. She and her husband served as Peace Corps volunteers in Papau New Guinea, where they taught high school English from 1993 to 1995. The free event takes place at Hillcrest Congregational Church, 404 Gregory Lane, in Pleasant Hill. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m., followed by the program at 10 a.m. Donations will be accepted to assist families who are victims of violence and poverty worldwide. For more information, call 925-279-4301.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

Earthquake shakes Australian city Fri Mar 6, 6:59 am ET

MELBOURNE (AFP) – Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, was shaken by an earthquake Friday, but police said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.Residents reported buildings shaking across the metropolitan area and other parts of southeastern Victoria state, recently ravaged by wildfires which killed 210 people.Being so close to the fire areas and having been on alert the last two to three weeks, our only thought was oh my God, what now? said Kate Bruce of Doreen.My kids thought that the roof was coming off, that's how loud it was here.The United States Geological Survey said the 4.7 magnitude quake struck about 96 kilometres (59 miles) southeast of Melbourne shortly before 9.00 pm (1000 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometres.We were just sitting down watching the TV and then the whole house absolutely shook, James Sandman of Drouin town told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.The foundations shook, the walls moved, they wobbled, and myself and my wife just looked at each other and we both then looked at the exits wondering do we need to get out? Seismologist Phil Cummins at Geoscience Australia, which monitors earthquake activity, told the national AAP news agency the quake is unlikely to have caused any damage, except possibly some minor damage near the epicentre.We are in Gippsland in Krowera, and the earth tremor sounded like an explosion here,another resident said.[It] felt like something very big had hit the house. Our power also went out for about eight to 10 minutes.Victorian State Emergency Service spokesman Allen Briggs said the service had been inundated with phone calls from the public but there had been no reports of any damage immediately after the tremor.It was certainly enough to rattle windows and we've had reports it was felt in metropolitan Melbourne and as far down as Warragul and Leongatha in Gippsland, Briggs said.Just three Australian earthquakes are known to have caused fatalities, the University of Western Australia says on its website, with the worst being in 1989 in Newcastle in New South Wales state, which killed 13 people.

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.

1 dead in avalanche at California ski resort Tue Mar 3, 10:23 pm ET

RENO, Nev. – A ski patrol member was killed Tuesday in an avalanche at a California ski resort near Lake Tahoe as a severe winter storm dumped several feet of snow on the region.Andrew Entin, 41, a longtime member of the ski patrol at Squaw Valley USA, was working on avalanche controls when he was caught in a slide and partially buried, Squaw Valley Fire Department spokesman Pete Bansen said.Another member of the ski patrol dug him out while emergency crews responded to the scene, but Entin later died at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Bansen said.Squaw Valley USA said in a statement that Entin suffered multiple fractures and trauma. The cause of death was under investigation. Entin's hometown was not immediately known.The Squaw Valley family unites in wishing Andrew Entin's wife and family our deepest sympathy. Our hearts go out to them at this difficult time. We will not forget Andrew, his camaraderie and his courage, said Nancy Cushing, the resort's chief executive officer.

The resort south of Truckee, Calif., and northwest of Lake Tahoe hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics.More than 4 feet of snow have fallen at upper elevations of the region over the past 24 hours.Nearly a 100-mile stretch of U.S. Interstate 80 was closed west of Reno. It was expected to remain closed at least late into the night, the California Highway Patrol said.

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.

GENESIS 1:5,14
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

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.

NASA telescope will hunt for Earth-like planets By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer – Thu Mar 5, 4:45 pm ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA will soon be on the lookout for possible Earths in one faraway corner of the galaxy. A planet-hunting spacecraft, named Kepler after the German 17th -century astrophysicist, is scheduled to rocket away from Cape Canaveral late Friday night. Excellent launch weather is forecast.The telescope will spend 3 1/2years staring at roughly 100,000 stars, measuring their brightness and any winks in the light that might signify orbiting planets.We certainly won't find E.T., but we might find E.T.'s home by looking at all of these stars, Bill Boruki, Kepler's principal scientist, said Thursday.Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for science, said Kepler is not just another science mission.It very possibly could tell us that Earths are very, very common, that we have lots of neighbors out there, or it could tell us that Earths are really, really, really rare,Weiler said at a press conference.Perhaps we're the only Earth. I think that would be a very bad answer because I, for one, don't want to live in an empty universe where we're the best there is. That's a scary thought to many of us.Kepler will be scouting for Earth-size planets circling stars in the so-called habitable or Goldilocks zone. That's where planets are neither too close nor too far from their star, and where conditions could be ripe for liquid water on the surface.Planets that are not too hot, not too cold, but just right,according to Boruki.Once launched, Kepler will trail the Earth in an orbit around the sun. It will peer continuously at a large patch of sky near the Cygnus and Lyra constellations, looking for any winks against the brightness of the stars that could indicate passing planets.The stars to be observed by Kepler are between 600 and 3,000 light years away.

Project manager Jim Fanson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said the level of precision needed to measure those winks is incredibly high.It's akin to measuring a flea as it creeps across the headlight of an automobile at night,Fanson said.Over the past decade and a half, more than 300 planets have been found to be orbiting stars outside our solar system. But these are largely gas giants like Jupiter. Kepler is designed to zero in on smaller, rocky, Earth-like planets.

Scientists stress that Kepler — 15 feet high and 9 feet in diameter — will not be looking for life but rather potentially habitable planets. The mission costs $600 million, from start to finish.The launch comes on the heels of a failed flight of a NASA science satellite from California, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, just over a week ago. It used a different rocket than the one for Kepler; nonetheless, engineers pored over every single detail to find any similarities and delayed Kepler's launch by one day.On the Net:NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

EU parliament hosts battle on future of public broadcasting
LEIGH PHILLIPS 05.03.2009 @ 17:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - While the pendulum in the financial world may have swung toward the importance of government and regulation, in the realm of European broadcasting and online content, a free-market versus public-service dust-up is just getting going in Brussels.The players in the epic contest are, in one corner, public broadcasters such as the BBC or Germany's ZDF, and, in the other corner, commercial broadcasters tag-teaming with private print and online publishers. The field of battle is a consultation, launched last November, on a draft revision of the 2001 European Commission communication on state aid to public broadcasters. The communication is to set out how the commission will interpret state aid rules to public broadcasting. On Thursday (5 March), the two sides gathered in the European Parliament in Brussels to put their case to MEPs in the culture committee.Private broadcasters have long complained that their public counterparts are producing little more than imitations of commercial content, and are hoping that the communication will see public broadcasters reined in at the EU level back to production of what they claim is their raison d'etre - quality programming.The Association of Commercial Television in Europe, representing the private sector channels, says that the public broadcasting remit must insist on distinctive content and that to ensure this, long-established EU Treaty rules on state aid should be applied.There is a huge structural advantage of one party receiving guaranteed state financing on a multi-annual perspective,Ross Biggam, the director-general of the ACT, told the MEPs.There is a funding gap in favour of the publicly-funded sector,he added.

Under the current economic conditions ...it is disingenous for [public broadcasters] to argue ...that the private sector wishes to have the digital future all for itself at a time when the publicly-funded model is so much more secure than the commercial sector.Publishers meanwhile are horrified that with the advent of the internet, there has been an increasing tendency of public broadcasters to migrate to the internet.
With their news webpages and dozens of themed websites, the BBC and their colleagues are, according to the European Publishers' Council, becoming in many cases publicly funded online newspaper or magazine publishers in direct competition with our own web-based services.Raising the spectre of Pravda or Izvestia - organs of Soviet-era propaganda - they warn that governments have no mandate to produce newspapers or magazines, whether in print or online.Public broadcasters however rubbish the idea that something like BBC online is any more a mouthpiece for the UK government than its television or radio stations are, and say that the division between television, print and online is disappearing. To restrict their online activities is to leave them in an analogue ghetto as more and more citizens - particularly young people - are accessing their media via the internet.The new broadcasting communication should avoid any distinction between old and new media, said the European Broadcasting Union in a statement.Instead, it should apply the principle of technological neutrality.

Underscoring that public service broadcasting is needed to deliver quality journalism, original European fiction and ensure audiovisual access to major sporting events for all citizens, not just those that can afford to watch them, the public broadcasters say their mission should be defined in relation to the needs of society and not in relation to the market.The public defenders are not confident they will win this contest, however.It's not so much the private broadcasters, but the publishers that are the real enemy of public broadcasting, Marit Ingves, of the Nordic Public Broadcasters, told EUobserver. The private broadcasters don't have a problem with all online activities, they just want it restricted somewhat.But the publishers want to kill off entirely everything we do online,she said.And it looks like [information society commissioner] Reding has really come down on their side.

I'm not optimistic, but it is just shocking that they are still sticking to this free-market mantra after everything that's happened in the financial world these last few months,she said.Nevertheless, the member states have largely taken the side of the public broadcasters, who argue that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for every EU country, particularly smaller nations, where per capita funding of culture and information is much more expensive than in the larger countries.

Tongue-tied Clinton gets warm EU welcome By David Brunnstrom MAR 06,09

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state when she mispronounced her EU counterparts' names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe's.Clinton has set herself a gruelling pace on visits to Egypt, Israel and Brussels soon after touring the Far East, attending dozens of meetings and giving speech after speech, with little time worked into her schedule for sleep.Tiredness appeared to show on Friday when she answered questions in front of 500 young Europeans at the European Parliament, where she was the highest-ranking U.S. visitor since the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1985.A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:I have never understood multiparty democracy.

It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy.The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.One working lunch later with EU leaders, Clinton raised more eyebrows when she referred to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who stood beside her, as High Representative Solano.She also dubbed European Commission External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as Benito.Still, Clinton has been well received in Brussels, where the Obama administration has been viewed as a breath of fresh air after the unpopular leadership of George W. Bush. His secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, often drew protests on her travels.Fellow foreign ministers stood and applauded Clinton's presentation at a meeting with NATO counterparts on Thursday and extra space had to be set aside for a spillover audience of 800 at the European Parliament.Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering was effusive in his praise, saying that with the new administration, the United States and Europe once again share the same values.What you said mostly could have been said by a European, he told Clinton after she fielded questions ranging from climate change to energy security and aid to Africa and one on gay rights from a participant wearing an I love Hillary t-shirt.(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming, Sarah Luehrs and Darren,Ennis; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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/

SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI MAR 06,2009

09:30 AM +5.42
10:00 AM +83.87
10:30 AM +37.44
11:00 AM -37.35
11:30 AM -41.49
12:00 PM -19.75
12:30 PM -22.62
01:00 PM -44.51
01:30 PM -73.51
02:00 PM -70.41
02:30 PM -68.97
03:00 PM -111.59
03:30 PM -118.36
04:00 PM +32.50 6626.94

S&P 500 683.38 +0.83

NASDAQ 1293.85 -5.74

GOLD 939.10 +11.30

OIL 45.86 +2.25

TSE 300 7591.47 -37.70

CDNX 829.12 -0.57

S&P/TSX/60 459.01 -1.19

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -24.86%
S&P -24.43%
Nasdaq -17.59%
TSX Advances 474,declines 1,028,unchanged 258,Volume 2,592,151,939.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 300,Declines 435,Unchanged 340,Volume 150,843,543.

Dow +55 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -45 points at low today.
Dow +146 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $935.20.OIL opens at $44.49 today.
WORLD PRAYER DAY TODAY,PRAY THAT ALL WILL BE SAVED,ESPECIALLY ISRAELIS.
PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM.
Feb non Farm payrolls -651,000.
FEB unemployment rate at +8.1%.
THE TRUE JOBLESS RATE IS AROUND 18%,22% BY THE END OF 2009.
Futures move up after Inline FEB Jobs report.
Dollar weakness today helps stocks and commodities so far.
Major Indices minus 6%-7% this week,worst week since OCT 08.
Copper at another 3 month high.
H&R Block +10%,Earnings beat estimates.
Wells Fargo +10%,cuts dividend from 34c to 5c.
Chinas Central Bank Chief pledges to act decisively to restore confidence.
OPEC meets in Vienna on MAR 15,09.
20 of 30 Dow Components closed at new Muti-year lows yesterday.
SCOTT BLACK - Delphi Management:Have a Work Fare for people out of work.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1054400113&play=1

INTERESTING CONVERSATION:
Mark Haines,Joe Kernen,Dave Faber.
MARK:People are worried Obama will take their guns.JOE:I heard about tent cities,food riots.Celente is calling it,the greatest depression.DAVE:What happens when the paper currency is no longer worth anything? Back to the Gold standard.Then you talk about,I gotta buy a gun.What kind of a Gun? What kind of a safe do i have to buy.Can I really store Gold boullion? Reasnable people ask me these questions everyday.MARK:really,DAVE:yes.JOE:Chef boyardee Ravoli is better than Spam.DAVE:I love ravioli.MARK:nothing can replace spam.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1054421325&play=1

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -73 points at low today so far.
Dow +160 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,308,declines 2,306,unchanged 131,New Highs 5,New Lows 693.
Volume 3,220,057,576.
NASDAQ Advances 1,105,declines 1,444,unchanged 148,New highs 1,New Lows 437.
Volume 911,704,946.
TSX Advances 569,declines 649,unchanged 278,Volume 1,026,465,775.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 234,Declines 257,Unchanged 247,Volume 61,697,012.

General Motors shares drop to 76 year levels.(APRIL 1933)
Major averages have 4th consecutive losing week.
Natural gas at 6 year low,below $4.00.
Oil up $2.00,over $45.00
Gold up $11.00 on the day but down on the Week.
Stocks lose early gains.
Stocks fall to days lows after 3PM.
Dow under 6500 points today.
Chinas optimism overshadows jobs data lifting commodities.
Dow on Pace for lowest close since APR.14,1997.
S&P on pace for lowest close since SEP.12,1996.
Nas on pace for lowest close since MAR.11,2003.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -126 points at low today.
Dow +160 points at high today.
Dow today +0.49% Volume 425,166,780.
Nasdaq -0.44% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 +0.12% today Volume N/A

JOB LOSSES FEBRUARY (RECESSION)
DEC-JAN TOTAL-ADJUSTMENTS 161,000 Jobs lost.
-4.4 MILLION jobs lost since JAN 2007.The most ever since the Government started keeping records back in 1939.
-2.6 MILLION jobs lost in the last 4 months.
-Professional & Business services -180,000.
-Manufacturing -168,000.
-Construction -104,000.
GAINERS:
-Education & Health +26,000.
-Government +9,000.
-Unemployment rose 851,000 to 12.571 MILLION people,An all-time RECORD.
-People available to work but could not find any,2 MILLION,5 times what it was a year ago.
-700,000 people have given up looking for work altogether.

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

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE,WEEKENDER
Dow -24.49%
S&P -24.34%
Nasdaq -17.96%
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 575,Declines 959,Unchanged 264 Volume 2,400,107,614.
TSX Venture Advances 331,Declines 420,Unchanged 360 Volume 158,288,125.

SCOTT BLACK ON CNBC
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1054400113&play=1
STOCKS TO WATCH
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1054421325&play=1

Stocks turn lower after February jobs data By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer
MAR 06,09

NEW YORK – Wall Street gave up an early gain and edged lower Friday as the severity of U.S. job losses began to register with investors.While the February jobs report was worse than analysts' estimates, many market participants had braced for even grimmer data, giving stocks a temporary bounce in the morning which quickly faded.

My sense is we haven't discounted all the negatives out there as of yet, said Rob Lutts, president of Cabot Money Management.Investors have yet to fully account for all the gloomy news on the economy, Lutts said, and also for the depth of pessimism that still exists in the market. People are extremely emotional beings, he said.The Labor Department reported Friday that employers cut 651,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 percent. The government also revised its December and January job loss figures up to 681,000 and 655,000, respectively.The market has been plummeting this week through barrier after barrier — the Standard & Poor's 500 index tumbled more than 4 percent Thursday to its lowest close since September 1996.We just don't have very strong buying support,said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at DTN.In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 10.11, or 0.2 percent, to 6,584.33, after earlier rising as much as 161 points. The S&P 500 index fell 2.12, or 0.3 percent, to 680.43, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 14.65, or 1.1 percent, to 1,284.94.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 0.86, or 0.3 percent, to 348.59.The Dow and S&P were down nearly 25 percent year-to-date as of Thursday's close. The selloff on Thursday came as China shot down the market's hopes for additional economic stimulus spending, Citigroup Inc. stock dropped below $1 a share, and worries escalated about a possible bankruptcy by General Motors Corp.GM shares continued their freefall Friday as speculation about the automaker's future swirled. On Thursday members of the Obama administration's auto task force met with the company's stakeholders to weigh the company's options.GM's auditors have said they have doubts about whether the company can overcome its staggering losses. GM shares dropped 39 cents, or 21 percent, to $1.47.Banks continued to slash their dividends in anticipation of more loan losses this year.

Wells Fargo & Co. on Friday cut its dividend to 5 cents a share from 35 cents, following last week's move by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to reduce its dividend to 5 cents as well. Citigroup and Bank of America Corp. had already slashed their quarterly dividends to a penny per share.Wells Fargo shares rose Friday, but other financial stocks slumped. Wells Fargo added 53 cents, or 6.5 percent, to $8.65. JPMorgan dropped $1.27, or 7.7 percent, to $15.33, while Bank of America slipped 1 cent to $3.16.Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.84 percent from 2.81 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill was unchanged at 0.20 percent.About two stocks fell for every one that advanced on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a light 610 million shares.Gold prices rose as the dollar traded mixed against other major currencies. Light, sweet crude rose $1.06 to $44.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.02 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.8 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.4 percent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 3.5 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.4 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

EU and US vow to use crisis for green new deal,The US and EU are on the same page about climate change, according to Ms Clinton (Photo: EU council)VALENTINA POP
Today MAR 06,09 @ 17:35 CET

EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – Secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Friday said the Obama administration was committed to take EU-US co-operation to a new level, particularly in regards to climate change and the current economic crisis, which had to be dealt with together.We are committed to a cap-and-trade system, but also to a number of other things. We are making major investments now in our stimulus package in alternative energy, in basic science research, in new forms of fueling transportation, as well as upgrading our grid. The European Union is taking a similarly broad approach,Ms Clinton told a press conference after meeting with EU representatives.Earlier that day, when addressing an audience of young Europeans in the EU parliament, she said that the US was learning from the EU how to design the climate change regulatory framework and that it would be a mistake if politicians chose to lay off green investments under the pretext of the current economic crisis.

I'm actually excited by this opportunity. I'm very well aware we're not yet through the economic crisis. The chief of staff of President Obama said never waste a good crisis.When it comes to the economic crisis, don't waste it, it can have a very good impact on climate change and energy security,she said.She said the appointment of a special envoy for climate change was a proof that the Obama administration was taking climate change very seriously. The key for a global agreement at the UN conference on climate change in December was to get China on board, who now had surpassed the unfortunate historic record of the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, until now a record the US had the dubious distinction of holding. During her trip to Asia last week, Ms Clinton had been accompanied by the special envoy for climate change, who had held talks with Chinese officials, she said.It is important that China at the beginning of this process is willing to participate. They understand they have to be part of a solution,she said.External relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that with the new administration in Washington, the EU and the US were now going totally in the same direction,which was not the case in the past.

US support for a single energy market

Similar to the EU commission, Ms Clinton saw energy security and climate change as part of the same problem.I pledged American support for EU initiatives to build a single energy market and to diversify gas supplies. EU leadership and unity were pivotal in resolving Russia's recent cutting off gas to Ukraine and Europe, and that leadership may be needed again in the future,she said.Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg, representing the rotating EU presidency, added that the Ukrainian government had paid its debt, so the flow of gas should not be endangered. On Thursday, however, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was concerned about Russia's warning that it could again halt gas deliveries to Ukraine over its unresolved payment dispute.

Canada regulator plans oversight of bank pay: report Fri Mar 6, 5:00 am ET(Reuters)

Canada's banking regulator plans to scrutinize bankers' pay packages in an effort to prevent the excessive risk taking they might make in search of big bonuses, the Globe and Mail website said on Friday.The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) plans to scrutinize compensation packages at different levels in the bank and seek changes if it finds any pay systems that promote too much risk taking without curbs, the national newspaper said.We're not interested in levels so much as we're really focused on the risks, OSFI superintendent Julie Dickson said in an interview with the Globe this week. "What kind of incentives do these compensation schemes create? The Financial Stability Forum, an international group of finance and regulatory official to which Dickson belongs, will make similar comments in its recommendations issued before the Group of 20 meets on April 2 in London, the paper said.The big issue here is that, if you look around globally, not many financial institutions designed their compensation schemes with risk in mind, Dickson said.
(Reporting by Ratul Ray Chaudhuri in Bangalore; editing by Karen Foster)

EU annoyed by General Motors tactics,Mr Verheugen said the collapse of a car company in Europe would not prove fatal to the EU economy, whereas a financial institution failure could (Photo: Frank Vincentz)ANDREW WILLIS Today MAR 06,09 @ 09:28CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is becoming increasingly frustrated with the American car company General Motors, the owner of a number of struggling car companies in Europe, accusing it of attempting to exploit a lack of EU co-ordination to secure greater financial support. At a meeting of EU industry ministers in Brussels on Thursday (5 March), Belgian minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said the EU must clearly tell GM that it can not play one country off against another in an attempt to raise the stakes.This view was shared by industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen. Speaking after the meeting, he said the American company's behaviour was not acceptable and called on GM to be more transparent in its dealings. He also said industry ministers from countries affected by the current GM restructuring programme should meet together to share information and come up with a common position. There is a clear need to exchange information because it is obvious that GM is discussing the situation of the company with individual governments, even at regional level,he said.

Belgian newspaper Le Soir reports that such a meeting could take place towards to the end of next week. GM currently employs around 55,000 workers in Europe and has production facilities in Germany, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Belgium and the UK. However, it is estimated that around 300,000 people working in supply companies across the EU27rely indirectly on GM brands in Europe such as Opel, Vauxhall and Saab.The GM management in Detroit is attempting to radically restructure the company as it faces plummeting demand and a massive cash shortage. The company has already asked Germany for €3.3 billion to help Opel, and is also in talks with the Spanish and UK governments to secure badly needed funding.

Car industry bail-outs?

The decision whether to provide funding to Opel is a tough call for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Just months away from a general election, a financial lifeline could be seen as a protectionist measure by some EU governments, but may be the only means available to save thousands of jobs currently in peril at Opel plants around the country. Adding further difficulty to Ms Merkel's decision, Mr Verheugen insisted: There will be no sector specific rescue plans, repeating his position that governments must not prop-up failing industry sectors in need of structural reform.

He also sought to distinguish between the financial and manufacturing sectors. While the banking sector could not be allowed to fail because of its systemic importance to the economy as a whole, this was not the case for manufacturing, he said. There isn't a single company in the real economy of the EU whose collapse would bring down the economy, not a single one. Not Opel, not VW, not Skoda. It would be hard, it would be difficult, but the economy would continue to live.It is completely different with certain financial institutions, if they collapse the whole economy would fall with them, that's the difference,he said. It was vital that politicians transmit this message clearly Mr Verheugen said, otherwise EU citizens could start to question bank bail-outs in preference to other companies, ultimately leading to social unrest. The problem that we have is potentially explosive and there is a lot of political and social dynamite in it.

GM shares hit lowest point in 75 years MAR 06,09

NEW YORK – General Motors Corp. shares on Friday fell to their lowest point in more than 75 years, as investors fretted that despite government help the ailing automaker may still be forced to file for bankruptcy protection.GM shares hit a low of $1.27 in late morning trading Friday, before rebounding to $1.45 in midday trading.The low point matched a record set on May 4, 1933, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. The price is adjusted for splits and other changes.GM released a statement Friday saying that it had not changed it position on a possible bankruptcy protection filing, and that an out of court restructuring remains its best option.As a prudent business measure, the company has analyzed various bankruptcy scenarios,GM said in its statement.However, the company firmly believes an in-court restructuring would carry with it tremendous costs and risks, the most significant being a dramatic deterioration of revenue due to lost sales.Even if the automaker doesn't file for bankruptcy protection, analysts have said that a government bailout of the automaker will also dilute its shares to the point that they are nearly worthless.Friday's stock drop comes as members of the Obama administration's auto task force continue to meet with GM's stakeholders and weigh their options.

On Thursday, members of the task force met with representatives of General Motors' bondholders, along with the chief executive of Fiat Group SpA whose company wants to form an alliance with GM's fellow ailing automaker Chrysler LLC.The news came on the same day that Detroit-based GM released its annual report in which its auditors said they had doubts about whether GM can overcome its staggering losses and generate enough cash to stay in business.GM said in the report that it's on the edge of bankruptcy and won't be able to avoid it unless it gets more government money and successfully executes a huge restructuring plan.The automaker lost $30.9 billion last year, is living on $13.4 billion in U.S. government loans, and is seeking up to $30 billion as it tries to survive the worst auto sales climate in 27 years.GM is also hoping to get help from other countries. The automaker's Adam Opel AG subsidiary wants to secure at least $3.8 billion from the German government.

Rapid euro entry would help Baltic states, agency says
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today MAR 06,09 @ 09:25 CET

If the Baltic nations rapidly entered the eurozone, their current balance of payments crisis would end and credit ratings would go up, US-based rating agency Standard and Poor's said on Thursday (5 March).It's pretty clear that, with current debt burdens, if any of the three Baltics were in the euro, their ratings would be at least one notch higher,analyst Frank Gill said, according to Agence France Presse.If there were any indication from the European Commission or the European Central Bank of greater appetite for an acceleration of EMU [European Monetary Union] membership that would clearly have a positive impact on the sovereign ratings.Last week, Standard and Poor's downgraded Latvia's credit rating to junk status and said that the two other Baltic nations, Estonia and Lithuania, were also in danger of heading south in the coming months.Latvia's economy has degenerated at an alarming rate, moving from Europe's highest growth rate in 2007 to contracting by 10 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2008, with experts predicting a contraction of 12 percent in 2009. Unemployment has climbed sharply, up to 8.3 percent in January.European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet on Thursday ruled out any change to the rules to allow fast-track entry for eastern EU member states, however.I would say that at this stage our position is that it is extremely important that we don't change any framework, he said after a two-day meeting of the bank's governing council, where a cut in interest rates to 1.5 percent was announced.Sticking to the rules is very important for the stability of the European Union.Heading into an emergency European summit in Brussels last Sunday, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker - also chair of the eurozone group of states - said: I don't think that we can change the accession criteria overnight. This is not feasible.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende also said at the he was against any softening of the entry requirements.But EU powerhouses Germany and France seemed to open the door to the idea at the same summit.German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in the European capital that the EU could consider a speeding up of the entry process. French President Nicolas Sarkozy echoed Ms Merkel's comments, saying: The debate is open.At the moment, the rules require that countries remain in the euro waiting room for two years after meeting strict deficit and exchange rate criteria.

A number of eastern states, notably Hungary and Poland, have requested that the rules be adapted to allow a quicker entry to the safe haven of the single currency.With weaker export markets than western member states, joining the euro would do little harm to overseas sales, but would protect their economies from currency fluctuations.

The three Baltic states, along with Bulgaria, are scrambling to maintain their currency pegs to the euro. The peg has protected them in the same way that joining the euro would, but it is expensive, as they must hold on to sufficient foreign currency reserves to ensure that all holders of its notes and coins can convert them into euros.This in turn has stoked unrest, particularly in Latvia, as austerity measures, including sharp wage cuts, are imposed in order to maintain the peg measure.

US defends Polish and Czech missile base plans,Our task is to dissuade them [Iran], deter them, prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon,says Hillary Clinton (Photo: Nato)VALENTINA POP Today MAR 06,09 @ 09:28 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Thursday (5 March) strongly defended the planned US missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic as being directed against real threats from Iran, not Russia, with whom NATO foreign ministers agreed to resume talks.The Czech Republic and Poland in our view have been very visionary and looking over the horizon of what we have to be prepared for if we are not successful in preventing the acquisition and proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction,Ms Clinton said at a press conference after her first meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.She maintained, as the previous Bush administration did, that the shield was not aimed against Russia - as Moscow has claimed - but threats coming from Iran and potentially from terrorist networks. The shield would have see a radar installed in the Czech Republic and interceptors missiles in Poland. Our task is to dissuade them [Iran], deter them, prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon which given the range of the missiles they currently have access to threatens Europe and Arab neighbours in the Gulf, not the United States,Ms Clinton said.Russia has fiercely opposed these plans, with President Dmitri Medvedev even threatening to deploy ballistic missiles in the Russian EU exclave of Kaliningrad.We have long offered Russia the opportunity to work with us on missile defence, which is a very important tool in our defensive arsenal, in the future. Unfortunately there is a great deal of proliferation of weapons of all kinds. Just as we had a defensive posture against the old Soviet Union in the 20th century we must now have a defensive posture against the new threats of the 21 century,Ms Clinton argued.We see this in a broader perspective than is usually prescribed, she pointed out, alluding to the letter that was sent by President Obama to his Russian counterpart in which he said that the US might give up the missile defence shield in Europe if Russia helps to deter Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. We'll also raise with Russia their continuing discussions with Iran about selling longer range missiles, which we think are a threat to Russia, as well as to Europe and neighbours in region,she added.The issue of missile defence is likely to come up at talks between Ms Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, scheduled in Geneva later on Friday.

Russia too important to ignore

Discussions in Geneva are likely to be friendly, after Ms Clinton managed to secure the resumption of Russia-NATO relations, suspended after the Georgian war last August. Her endeavour was more complicated than expected, with Lithuanian foreign minister Vygaudas Usackas being very tenacious in opposing the move – as French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner put it.I think it is simply premature to open the formal dialogue. I think we have to use this time before the summit and encourage Russia to be more cooperative on these questions,Mr Usackas said ahead of the meeting. His objections were based on the fact that Moscow has not fully complied with the ceasefire agreements and has recognised the independence of Georgia's separatist regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia.In the end, ministers agreed to resume the NATO-Russia council, but only after the alliance's anniversary summit on 2 April.

Russia is an important player, a global player, and that means that not talking to them is not an option,NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference.Georgia and Ukraine's NATO bids were still strongly supported by Washington, Ms Clinton added – something set to rankle Russia.

Finnish support for Russia

Non-NATO member Finland was also invited to meet Ms Clinton at a transatlantic dinner on Wednesday night in Brussels. Finnish foreign minister Alexander Stubb told EUobserver in a phone interview on Thursday that his country supported stronger relations with Russia, because of the window of opportunity created by the financial crisis.The so-called Russian economic miracle which lasted from 2000-2008 and was very closely linked to the price of raw materials is now over and Russia will be probably hit by the crisis more than anyone in the EU or the US,he said.Mr Stubb identified a chance to alter relations with Russia due to a change in internal politics, with some moderate social unrests taking place in Russia at the moment. The choice is between the liberal and the authoritarian line,he said. The third change was in Russian foreign policy, where the tone was now also different.We must press the reset button and hope the Russians will press the reset button as well,he said.

However, he stressed that co-operation with Russia should always be conditional and no blank cheques should be given to Moscow. Spheres of influence are old school. History shows that interdependence has a tendency to tone down spheres of influence, Mr Stubb concluded.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

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

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) 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.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

YES SUDAN WILL BE WITH THE RUSSIA,MUSLIMS.

Iran, Hamas defend wanted Sudanese president By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer MAR 06,09

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Iran and the Palestinian militant group Hamas showed their support for Sudan's president Friday, sending top officials to the Sudanese capital and denouncing the international warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes in Darfur.Their visit came as the U.N. human rights group warned that Sudan's expulsion of 13 aid organizations from Darfur could also constitute a war crime. Sudan took the step in retaliation after the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court issued a warrant against President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday.The expulsion raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in the large, arid western region, where war has been raging for six years. Some 2.7 million people have been forced from their homes, and many rely on aid groups for food, water, shelter and medical care.The government also ordered the closure of SUDO, the largest Sudanese non-governmental aid organization operating in Darfur, said SUDO's head, Ibrahim Mudawi. He said the order came late Thursday, accusing the group of violations of the law, without providing specifics.SUDO, with about 300 staffers, distributes food and drills water wells in Darfur, as well as operates 13 clinic and provides psychological help, Mudawi said. We will take legal procedures against this decision, he said. We are worried (about our staff). We don't know what they are going to do with them.The ICC accuses al-Bashir of leading a counter-insurgency campaign against Darfur rebels that included atrocities against civilians. Al-Bashir denies the charges against him and his government refuses to cooperate with the ICC, calling it part of a colonial conspiracy to destabilize Sudan.

Dozens of al-Bashir supporters marched in downtown Khartoum after Friday prayers in support of the president. They are waving banners and shouting: With our blood and soul, we defend you, al-Bashir. The small rally came after al-Bashir joined thousands of supporters demonstrating in the capital on Thursday, denouncing the warrant.Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, arrived in Khartoum along with Moussa Abu Marzouk, the No. 2 figure in Hamas' Damascus-based leadership. Larijani told reporters at the airport that the ICC's arrest warrant is an insult. Also in their delegation were Syrian Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash and representatives from other Palestinian militant factions.Iran and Hamas have been long time allies of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, whose government is dominated by Muslim fundamentalists and military officers.A spokesman for the U.N. human rights office said Friday that the expulsion of the groups may be a war crime and said officials at the agency were looking into the issue.To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive is a deplorable act, Rupert Colville said in Geneva. Humanitarian assistance has nothing to do with the ICC proceedings. To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government's duty to protect its own people.This decision by the government could threaten the lives of thousands of civilians,living in camps in Darfur and elsewhere, he added.Asked about the comments, a senior Sudanese Foreign Ministry official, Mutrif Siddique, said only, Their campaign against us continues.Siddique said the Sudanese humanitarian affairs ministry, which is responsible for the work of aid agencies, is aware the expulsion of the organizations will have an impact on people in Sudan.This ministry and authorities have made arrangements to avoid a food shortage or a medical crisis, he said. There will be a partial effect and they (authorities) will work to avoid any shortage.Siddique claimed that major U.N. aid agencies were not affected by this expulsion decision and stressed that hundreds of Sudanese NGO workers remain and work in Darfur.The U.S. State Department condemned the decision to expel the aid groups and called on the Sudanese government to allow the groups to continue operating.These organizations provide critical humanitarian assistance to millions of Sudanese, and the forced departure of these organizations immediately and seriously threatens the lives and well-being of displaced populations, said spokesman Gordon Duguid.

The World Food Program questioned whether the remaining aid groups would be able to fill the gap. We simply don't have the capacity to carry out the life saving work of the NGOs,said the agency's spokeswoman in Geneva, Emilia Casella. Under the Geneva Conventions it is illegal to intentionally starve people to death by blocking their access to food. The rule applies to international conflicts, but efforts have been made to incorporate it in customary international humanitarian law, which would carry weight in courts. Other U.N. agencies also expressed concern about the consequences of losing their aid partners. The World Health Organization said it would tear a hole in the body's disease monitoring efforts that could lead to outbreaks of infectious diseases going unchecked. If they are not helping us do this very vital work, we may see the emergence of infectious diseases,said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib. Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Geneva, Switzerland, and Foster Klug in Washington contributed to this report.

US: Dialogue with Syria not a threat to Lebanon By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer – Fri Mar 6, 8:13 am ET

BEIRUT – The United States sought Friday to reassure Lebanon that its efforts to repair relations with that country's long-dominant neighbor, Syria, do not pose a threat.President Barack Obama is sending a senior U.S. diplomat and a White House official to Syria to evaluate the chances of opening a dialogue with the country, which former President George W. Bush had sought to isolate.That makes some politicians in Lebanon wary. In recent years, the country has succeeded in breaking away from nearly three decades of political and military domination by Syria, a break driven in large part by suspicions that Syria was behind the assassination of a former prime minister in Beirut in 2005. Syria denies any role in the killing.The two U.S. officials stopped in Beirut Friday to stress that the Obama administration stood beside Lebanon, whose pro-Western parliamentary majority has looked to America for support in its standoff with political rivals allied with Syria.The State Department's top envoy on the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman, told a news conference that the visit was to tell Lebanese officials, to tell the Lebanese people on behalf of President Obama's new administration in Washington that U.S. support for Lebanon will continue, that the U.S. strongly backs Lebanon's independence and sovereignty.

Feltman, a former ambassador to Lebanon, and White House official Daniel Shapiro were to travel to Syria's capital, Damascus, as early as Saturday.By engaging Syria, Washington wants to try to persuade it to end its support for Hamas and Hezbollah militants and to pull it away from its alliance with Iran. It also wants Syria to stop what Washington calls its interference in Lebanese affairs.For its part, Syria is looking for U.S. help in starting up direct peace talks with Israel aimed at winning the return of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.Relations between the U.S. and Syria reached a low point after the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a truck bombing that was widely blamed on Syria.The U.S. withdrew its ambassador from Damascus, and anti-Syrian protests in Beirut as well as pressure from the U.S. and other nations forced Damascus to withdraw its army from Lebanon. That effectively ended Syria's 29-year dominance of its smaller Arab neighbor.The Bush administration regularly accused Syria of seeking to destabilize Lebanon and sought to isolate it. The Obama administration is seeking a different approach through dialogue.Feltman said his visit to Damascus was an opportunity to start using engagement as a tool to promote our objectives in the region.

Palestinian driver goes on rampage in Jerusalem By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Thu Mar 5, 2:50 pm ET

JERUSALEM – A Palestinian man commandeered a construction vehicle Thursday on a major road and swung a police car into the air, smashing it against a bus before bystanders opened fire on him and police shot him dead.The incident, the third of its kind in the past year, came a day after the latest U.S. visit to push Israel's hawkish future leaders into another try at Mideast peacemaking.The two officers inside the police car escaped with slight injuries, police said. The bus, which was parked at an intersection, was empty.Video footage from a traffic surveillance camera showed a front-end loader scoop up the car with its shovel, hurl it into the air and slam it against the bus. Police and bystanders opened fire at the driver, and the vehicle crashed to a stop against an electricity pole.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld identified the driver as Mar'i al-Rdaidah, a 26-year-old from east Jerusalem. It wasn't clear whether the man was affiliated with a militant group, Rosenfeld said.

It is without a doubt a terror attack, Jerusalem's deputy police chief, Nisso Shachar, told reporters.Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev called the rampage a "senseless act of violence against innocent civilians.Shachar said an open copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, was found inside the front-end loader. The book's presence could indicate the attacker was influenced by Islamic radicals, though many Muslims routinely carry the Quran.Al-Rdaidah's mother told Channel 10 TV her son was a respectable and devout person.He went to the mosque all the time and left home only to work, she said. Her name was not given.The rampage came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ended her first Mideast visit in the job, and days before Israel celebrates Purim, a holiday in which schools are closed, children dress up in costumes and families visit parties and public events.Barkat said the attack would not stop next week's celebrations, and he urged the government to demolish al-Rdaidah's home. Israel suspended such demolitions years ago, after it drew international criticism.We need to make sure that deterrence is as strong as possible,Barkat said.

Al-Rdaidah charged at the police car at an intersection off Begin Highway, a main artery traversing the city from north to south.We stopped at a red light and saw in the opposing lane on the left a tractor ramming into a police car with two officers inside and overturning it, another officer, Eldad Ben Nun, told Channel 2 TV. We stopped the car, I ran over to the tractor and pulled out my gun, fired a few bullets at him (the driver) until he slumped over.The driver sat up again, and another officer shot him three more time with an M-16 assault rifle and the incident was over,he said.Two taxi drivers also said they opened fire.It was the third time in months that a Palestinian man from east Jerusalem has turned a construction vehicle into a weapon on Jerusalem's streets. Palestinians in east Jerusalem are not Israeli citizens but carry Israeli ID cards that allow them freedom of movement throughout the country. In early July, three people were killed and dozens were wounded when an attacker plowed into cars and a bus. Three weeks later, another attacker rammed a bus, overturned a car and wounded five people.In September, a third driver plowed his car into a crowd of Israeli soldiers, wounding 19.

All of the attackers were shot dead by bystanders.

In the Gaza Strip, the ruling Hamas militant group praised the latest attack. We bless this operation today in Jerusalem,said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. The Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves, and we emphasize we will defend our homeland.New fighting also surged Thursday in Gaza, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem. Two Islamic Jihad militants were killed and a third was wounded in an Israeli airstrike. Militants then fired 10 rockets and mortar shells at Israel, and Israeli aircraft struck five times against suspected weapons-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza. Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said two bodies were removed from a tunnel in the area, but it was not clear whether that tunnel was targeted Thursday.There has been sporadic violence since Israel ended a fierce three-week offensive in Gaza on Jan. 18. Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term truce.

Egypt: 2 statues of ancient pharaoh found Thu Mar 5, 12:36 pm ET

CAIRO – A team of Egyptian and European archaeologists has discovered two large statues of an ancient pharaoh who ruled Egypt some 3,400 years ago, the country's archaeology chief said Thursday.The two statues of Amenhotep III were found while the excavation team was clearing out a temple dedicated to him on the west bank of the Nile in the southern city of Luxor, according to a statement by Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.Hawass said one statue is made of black granite and shows Amenhotep wearing a traditional pharaonic headcover, while the second one depicts him in the shape of sphinx — the mythological creature with a human head and the body of a lion.The statues were said to be large but no other details were provided.Amenhotep was the ninth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, in what is known as the New Kingdom. He ruled for around 40 years during the 14th century B.C. He was the father of pharaoh Akhenaten who tried to make ancient Egyptians worship a single god, the sun god Ra, making him one of the first known proponents of monotheism.Luxor is one of the most popular tourist sites in Egypt, famous for its Valley of the Kings and other ruins from pharaonic times.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL

DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

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

The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.

2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL

REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

Airlines stay clear of North Korea after threat By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer MAR 06,09

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean and foreign airlines rerouted their flights away from North Korean airspace Friday after the North threatened passenger planes amid heightened tensions on the divided peninsula, officials said.The move — which will cost carriers thousands of dollars for each flight — comes after North Korea warned in its state-run media that it cannot guarantee security for South Korean civilian airplanes flying near its airspace and accused the U.S. and South Korea of attempting to provoke a nuclear war with upcoming joint military drills.It did not say what kind of danger South Korean planes would face or whether the threat meant the North would shoot down aircraft.

South Korea urged the North to retract the threat.

The military threat against civil airplanes' normal flights is a violation of international norms and an inhumane act that cannot be justified under any circumstances, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told reporters.Kim hinted that the warning may be intended to clear the airspace before a possible missile test by North Korea, but declined to elaborate.North Korea announced last week that it is preparing to send a communications satellite into space. Regional powers suspect it is actually planning to launch a long-range missile that is capable of reaching Alaska.In Tokyo, the U.S. special envoy on North Korea, Stephen W. Bosworth, called the threat against South Korean planes unacceptable. He also urged North Korea to refrain from the provocation of firing a missile.He was to head to South Korea on Saturday.The United Nations Command, the U.S.-led body overseeing the 1953 armistice that ended the three-year Korean War, called the North's threat entirely inappropriate.During a meeting Friday with North Korean generals, members of the command urged the North to retract the threat.North Korea rejected the demand, saying it made the decision to ban South Korean planes from flying near its airspace as a self-defense measure to fend off U.S. military threats, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.The North's chief delegate to the talks warned of "strong countermeasures" unless the United States calls off the joint military exercises with South Korea due to start Monday, KCNA said, without elaborating.South Korea's two major airlines — Asiana Airlines and Korean Air, the world's largest international cargo carrier — said they would avoid North Korean airspace.

We plan to make our flights detour through Japanese airspace until the crisis is resolved, said Park Hyun-soo, deputy general manager of Asiana Airlines' operations control center. He said rerouting planes would add about 40 minutes to flight times and cost about 4 million won ($2,500) per flight.Air Canada and Singapore Airlines also rerouted flights to Seoul on Friday, an official at South Korea's Civil Aviation Safety Authority said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.South Koreans still vividly remember a North Korean bomb that exploded on a Korean Air flight in 1987, killing all 115 people on board, and a Korean Air plane that strayed into Soviet airspace in 1983 and was shot down by Soviet fighter jets, killing all 269 people aboard.In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters Friday that North Korea's belligerent rhetoric is unwarranted and counterproductive.It's particularly unacceptable that they pose a threat to international civil aviation and global commerce with their most recent statements,he said. The U.S. military said it would go ahead with the joint military drills involving 26,000 U.S. troops, an unspecified number of South Korean soldiers and a U.S. aircraft carrier. Both Washington and Seoul insist the annual exercises are purely defensive. Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang in Seoul, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Foster Klug in Washington contributed to this report.