IN PRAYER AROUND 11 OR NOON I SEEN THE WORD LOVENY.I LOOKED IT UP ON THE INTERNER AND TO MY SUPRISE I LOVE NY CAME UP.GOD AND I LOVE NY BECAUSE OF THE ISRAELIS IN THERE BUT ISRAELIS GOD WANTS USE IN ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM TO REBUILD THE 3RD TEMPLE AND ENJOY GODS COMPANY IN JERUSALEM FOREVER.KING JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD WILL BE RULING FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER.
700 CLUB NEWS ISRAELI SETTLEMENT
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/June/Jewish-Settlers-Speak-Out-/
ISRAELIS PRAY AT WALL
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131991
NY TIMES SQUARE LIVE CAM
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/
Tensions in Jerusalem: Gay March, Sabbath Parking Lot
by Hillel Fendel JUNE 22,09
(IsraelNN.com) Tensions in Jerusalem are steadily increasing, in expectation of the homosexual march and Sabbath car-park opening later this week. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said earlier this month that he would not open a controversial city car-park on the Sabbath for two weeks to enable an agreed-upon solution to be found. With the end of the deadline looming, and the parking lot expected to be open this coming Sabbath, it is feared that the situation will explode once again.The Sabbath quiet was destroyed in Jerusalem two weeks ago when the Safra Square parking lot was first opened on the Sabbath. An estimated 10,000 hareidi-religious men took part in a protest rally against the opening. Led by top rabbis, the protest began around 5 PM on Shivtei Yisrael (Tribes of Israel) St., between the ultra-hareidi Meah She’arim neighborhood and the Old City, and continued until midnight. The rally became violent; several policemen and demonstrators were injured.Police refrained from making arrests on the Sabbath itself, but arrested some demonstrators after the Sabbath ended, around 8:30 PM. The city says that the parking lot is necessary to contain the heavy Sabbath traffic, and that it is run by a non-Jew. The hareidi side claims that the car-park is city-owned and that its opening is a public desecration of the Sabbath, when motorized travel is not permitted. After the protest, Barkat announced a two-week period in which efforts would be made to solve the problem. During this period, Barkat was criticized by secular elements for caving in to the hareidim, following strong criticism by hareidim for having shattered the status quo by opening the parking lot in the first place. The two weeks conclude at the end of this week, no solution has yet been found, and it is likely that another violent protest will shatter the city’s holy serenity this coming Sabbath.
Second Battleground: Homosexual March
Another battleground will be opened this coming Thursday with the homosexual pride parade marching through the center of the city. This battle appears to have been nipped in the bud, however, as many leading hareidi elements – who took part in protests against gay marches in previous years – now wish to turn the other cheek. The official explanation is that since the fight against the parades is a lost cause, given the courts’ approval – and even encouragement – for them, it would be educationally unwise to fight against them publicly. Why expose our youth to this entire phenomenon? is their approach.Mina Fenton, until last year a Jerusalem city council member, was one of the leaders of the fight against the Jerusalem homosexual march in recent years. Three years ago, she told Israel National News,when we had a wall-to-wall coalition of hareidim, religious, secular Jews and others, we succeeded in closing off the homosexual event in a stadium; that was the best arrangement we could have hoped for. Two years ago, however, the hareidim changed their approach, and said the fight was harmful from an educational perspective. I don’t agree with this at all; I think we have a general weakness in our generation, and that their prior reasoning, that our silence means public acquiescence to this abomination, continues to hold true now as well.Ephraim Holtzberg of Jerusalem, who worked closely with Rabbi Yehuda Levin of New York in previous years to galvanize religious and other public opposition to the march, has given up this year. We have no soldiers, he said.I’m retired.
Gay Response: Hareidi Noise Did Us Good
At least one pro-gay activist agrees that the current hareidi approach is the correct one – from the hareidi standpoint. The gay community is now reaping now the fruits of the noise that the hareidim made over the past three years,he said, preferring to remain nameless.The hareidim gave [us] more publicity and awareness than ten marches could have brought. When the noise surrounding the marches stops for good, then we will know that they are no longer necessary.Itamar Ben-Gvir, a former anti-march leader who currently serves as parliamentary aide to MK Michael Ben-Ari, does not agree. The more you try to run away from a problem, the more it runs after you and hurts more, Ben-Gvir says.The gay march was once closed up in a stadium, and now it will be in downtown.While his boss, MK Ben-Ari, plans to march in Israeli-Arab cities as a sign of protest against the marches and against the police permits given them, Ben-Gvir himself is planning protest measures of a more direct nature. These include educational programs in schools explaining the dangers of homosexuality, protest vigils outside the Open House, and even distributing gloves to policemen protecting the march, to protect against contracting the condition.
RON PAUL TO CONGRESS STOP SPENDING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYp-C-zFyGY&feature=player_embedded
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Olmvo9nGxs (Ron Paul)
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNB7zqsIUhU
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cLHKgG8MZo
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9LjvWw7MzE
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3DPIuSAY7Y
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTuseqVfvcQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDKiNwur9XA&feature=player_embedded
RON PAUL AND PEOPLE ON THE FED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYp-C-zFyGY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=806NciYzvkc&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-ukpAwjkg&feature=player_embedded
RON PAUL HEALTH CARE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDWWI7A9f6U&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb7GjV2DgiY&feature=player_embedded
SENATORS OF CONGRESS
http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/112
http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.opencongress.org/committee/show/146
RON PAUL ON AUDIT THE FED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYiHE35kCQI&feature=player_embedded
AUDIT THE FED HAS 237 SIGNED UP AS OF MONDAY.
Ron Paul’s Bill To Audit The Federal Reserve Now Has 237 Co-Sponsors
By tmartin • June 22, 2009
Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207) now has 237 co-sponsors, and the numbers keep growing! This is history in the making, and victory is within reach. Imagine what will happen if HR 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, comes up for vote in Congress! With more than 50% of the House of Representatives already co-sponsoring this bill, it has real potential to pass — BUT only if we educate and rally the people to support it and get our Congresspeople to put it to vote and pass it.
Step 1: Your Representative
If your representative is not on the following list of HR 1207 co-sponsors, call their offices, write to them, email them, etc. Let them know they need to support HR 1207. If you live in their district, let them know. Go to their office.
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Step 2: Financial Services Committee
HR 1207 is now in the House Committee on Financial Services. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP in this legislation! If it doesn’t get out of committee it will not come to a vote! There are 71 members on this committee and they are all listed below.
We need to let all members of the House Committee on Financial Services know that we want them to allow full House consideration of HR 1207 so it can move forward; we need them to support this. Now is the time.Call their offices, write to them, email them, etc. Let them know they need to support HR 1207. If you live in their district, let them know. Go to their office.
Help with this all important public outreach. NOW REALLY IS THE TIME!
Here’s a sample letter you can use:
Dear Representative,
Please co-sponsor and/or support H.R.1207, an effort to audit the Federal Reserve.
Recently, it has come to light that there is little to no accountability to the people on the part of the Federal Reserve. While the citizens of this country are required by law to give an accounting of every penny they come in contact with, the Federal Reserve has never been held to the same standard. During this time of extreme economic crisis, the people deserve an accounting of where our money is going.
Currently there are 237 co-sponsors for this legislation, and it is enjoying bi-partisan support. Your efforts in supporting this important legislation would go a long way in proving to your constituents that you not only hold the Federal Reserve to the same standard as you do your constituents, but it would also show that you believe in transparency. Anything less than support for this resolution suggests that you are in favor of secrecy and a lack of accountability to the people who pay the bills. We pay the tab; we have a right to know where our money is going.Unlike recent bills that you voted in favor of that had hundreds of pages and just a few hours to read, this bill can be read in under 5 minutes. I encourage you to take the time to read it, and then move to support it.Thank you in advance for your attention on this important legislation. I have every expectation that you will do right by your constituents and support this measure.
Sincerely,
Step 3: The People
Tell everyone you know about HR 1207 and ask them to support it and to contact their representative as well. Link to this page and to CampaignForLiberty.com.This initiative is crucial and we need to redouble our efforts to get HR 1207 passed.
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.
Quake jolts Anchorage, Alaska, but damage minimal By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer JUNE 22,09
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A strong earthquake jolted a swath of southern Alaska on Monday, sending people diving under desks and huddling in doorways but causing little damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.4 magnitude tremor struck about 24 miles from the town of Willow at 11:28 a.m. The rumbling lasted several moments in Anchorage, 58 miles from the epicenter, and was felt as far south as Kenai and north to Fairbanks, a span of 300 miles.Things were swinging pretty good and shaking, like pictures on the wall, bottles rattling — and my blood pressure went up at least 20 points, said Pam Rannals, a bartender in Talkeetna, about 30 miles from the epicenter.We had bears in the parking lot last night and now the earthquake. Those are the talk of the town.
No damage other than fallen dishes has been reported anywhere, and Rannals said even the liquor bottles at her workplace stayed put.The quake was 26 miles deep, a reason for both the minimal damage and the vast area over which it was felt, according to Janet Herr, an employee fielding many of the calls residents were making to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. Southcentral Alaska is the most populated region of the vast state.The tsunami center reported the magnitude at a slightly weaker 5.3 and said no tsunami was generated. Aftershocks were shaking the area, with one around noon measuring 4.0.Alaska is seismically active, and has frequent earthquakes although most are too small or too remote to be felt. The last one that measured stronger was a 5.8 in southern Alaska on Jan. 24.Monday's earthquake and its aftershocks had nothing to do with Mount Redoubt, Alaska's most active volcano with a series of explosions earlier this year. Dave Schneider, a geophysist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, said the volcano's seismic instruments more than 100 miles from the epicenter picked up the temblors, which he enjoyed from his Anchorage office.I thought it was kind of fun, but I'm like that,he said.
Italy: Strong aftershock hits quake zone JUNE 22,09
ROME – A powerful aftershock hit the quake-struck areas of central Italy on Monday, rattling buildings as far away as Rome. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.The temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 4.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Italy's Civil Protection put its epicenter just north of L'Aquila, the Appennine city that was devastated by the April earthquake. L'Aquila is hosting the summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations early next month.Monday's quake struck just before 11 p.m. (2100GMT) and was felt in the Italian capital, some 75 miles (120 kilometers) away.The April 6 earthquake killed nearly 300 people, displaced some 50,000 and toppled entire blocks of buildings in L'Aquila and the surrounding Abruzzo region.Even though about half of the homes in the area have been declared safe, many survivors continue to live in makeshift tent camps set up after the quake in fear of the hundreds of aftershocks that have hit the area since.After the disaster, Italy moved the venue of the G-8 summit from the Sardinian island of La Maddalena to L'Aquila in a show of support for the stricken population.World leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, are expected to attend the July 8-10 summit, which will be held at a police school just outside the city.
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.
UPDATE 2-Storm menaces Mexico coast, may become hurricane
Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:15am
MEXICO CITY, June 22 (Reuters) - Powerful tropical storm Andres churned off Mexico's Pacific coast on Monday, threatening to brush past the popular beach resort of Zihuatanejo as it builds into a hurricane, forecasters said.Winds from Andres, the first named storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season, gathered pace and blew as fast as 60 mph (95 kph).Some further strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours and Andres could become a hurricane tomorrow, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a statement.Mexico's port of Lazaro Cardenas, a major container hub in the Pacific, and Zihuatanejo could be near the storm's path, the center said.Port authorities shut Zihuatanejo's port and advised fishermen to take precautions.At 1800 GMT the storm was about 240 miles (386 km) southeast of Manzanillo, another major port north of Lazaro Cardenas.Tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the storm's center, the NHC said. Andres could bring several inches of rain to west-central Mexico.In separate storms, heavy rains killed five people in the northern Mexican city of Chihuahua near Texas on Sunday, Mexican media said.There are no oil drilling operations off Mexico's Pacific coast. (Reporting by Catherine Bremer; editing by Paul Simao)
Tropical Storm Andres, season's first, eyed by surfers, anglers in Baja Sur
8:51 AM, June 22, 2009 Updated with swell information from Surfline
The first tropical storm of the season in the eastern Pacific might become a hurricane briefly Tuesday, with sustained winds of 73 mph or stronger, but later in the week, as it skirts Cabo San Lucas and tracks westward, it is expected to diminish and ultimately will dissipate in cooler water northwest of Baja California's tip.
That's the forecast, anyway.
Regardless, Tropical Storm Andres will make its presence known in Baja California Sur. Surfers, however, are likely to benefit only farther up the Sea of Cortez, reports Sean Collins of Surfline.There might be some swell opportunities up inside the gulf farther away from the storm, but most of southernmost Baja, like Cabo and the East Cape, will likely have poor, stormy and onshore wind conditions,Collins said via email.As Andres tries to move farther west off Baja it will run into cooler water and will lose strength very quickly, so it’s very unlikely it will hold its strength to send any waves up along the Pacific coast of Baja or Southern California.Collins added: On the good side, Andres will help to push warmer water up closer to Baja, which will help future tropical storms to hold better strength within Baja and Southern California’s swell window. Right now we have a very cold wall of ocean water off the Pacific coast of Baja that will literally shut down any tropical storms or hurricanes from sending any swell father north. Once that water warms up over the next month or so storms will be able to maintain their strength within the swell windows to send swell farther north. Currently our only possibility for tropical swell is if the storms stay very far to the south about 500 miles south of Baja over warmer water, but most storms prefer to move farther north at this stage.Andres might also affect fishing opportunities by forcing the closure of Cabo San Lucas marina and other ports.Above is a National Hurricane Center graphic that plots the predicted path and development of Andres. Stay tuned for updates.Pete Thomas-Graphic courtesy of the National Hurricane Center.
Tropical Storm Andres strengthens off Mexico By NATALIA PARRA, Associated Press Writer JUNE 22,09
ACAPULCO, Mexico – A strengthening Tropical Storm Andres roared toward Mexico's Pacific coast Monday, prompting emergency preparations for a storm that forecasters predicted would become the season's first hurricane.Forecasters said Andres was likely to brush the coast at hurricane strength around the port city of Manzanillo by Tuesday. The forecast track showed its center later pushing up the coast near picturesque towns such as Barra de Navidad that are home to some American and Canadian expatriates.At Barra de Navidad, northwest of Manzanillo, Agapito Garcia Martinez, security manager at the Grand Bay Hotel-Isla Navidad Resort said hotel staff were preparing to carry out storm preparations like taking in beach furniture and protecting hotel windows, but had not yet been advised by authorities to so.
Weather was still sunny despite stronger-than-usual winds, Garcia Martinez said, noting that guests were still checking in normally to the hotel.But tomorrow, when Andres draws closer, might be a different story, he noted.Tomorrow, we expect to have a lot of water, Garcia Martinez said.Mexico issued a hurricane warning for the Pacific coast from Cabo Corrientes to Punto San Telmo. A hurricane warning was in effect further south, from San Telmo to the port of Lazaro Cardenas.Still further south on the coast, the Acapulco city government prepared 120 shelters and warned residents to stay indoors, especially some 15,000 people in 20 zones most at risk for flooding. Heavy rains late Sunday downed a few trees in the resort city.Late Sunday night, Andres became the first named storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season, which began May 15 and ends November 30 and is typically busiest between July and September.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Andres was centered about 225 miles (360 kilometers) south-southeast of Manzanillo at 5 p.m. PDT (8 p.m. EDT; 0000 GMT) Monday, and it had sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kph), with higher gusts.
It was moving toward the northwest near 6 mph (9 kph). But the storm's winds are expected to build to as much as 75 mph (120 kph) by late Tuesday or Wednesday. The forecast track showed it brushing the central Mexican coast on Tuesday before weakening and bending toward the west a little short of the Los Cabos resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula Thursday night or Friday.It has been 40 years since it took so long for a named storm to develop in the Eastern Pacific.Normally that season gets under way somewhat earlier,said Richard Pasch, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.But it's not necessarily an indication that it'll be a quiet year in that basin. We've seen some years starting late and become quite active. We're just going to have to wait and see on that.Federal forecasters have predicted a near-normal or below-normal season, with the possibility for 13 to 18 named storms, including six to 10 hurricanes.Rains unrelated to the tropical storm resulted in the death of six people and left four others missing in the northern border state of Chihuahua, after a van plunged into a rain-swollen river.The state civil defense office said Monday that the bodies of two men, two women and two children — all passengers in the van — were recovered, but four passengers remain missing.The accident occurred Sunday in the city of Cuauhtemoc.
Thousands Without Power Following Massive Midwest Stormposted 06/20/09 4:58 pm
A massive storm slammed into Iowa and Illinois, leaving behind major damage - and it's not over yet. The Northeast continues to be pounded by heavy rain. Flood watches and warnings extend across the Northeast, as a severe weather system dumps inches of rain, even hail in some places.The powerful storms have already toppled trees onto cars and ripped down power lines in parts of the Midwest.The hail was coming down in sheets; you couldn't even see anything visible. Then I heard the cracking and all the trees came down,said Rich Miceli, a Chicago resident.Flash floods also caused havoc in Wisconsin, as tens of thousands of homes in the region are still without power.
ComEd spokesman Peter Pedraza said 67,000 customers still had no power early Saturday as a result of the severe weather that struck on Friday. Consumers Energy in Michigan said about 33,600 of its customers statewide had no power Saturday and Duke Energy in Indiana reported about 13,000 customers blacked out. Indianapolis Power and Light reported nearly 8,000 outages. Iowa and Wisconsin also had scattered outages. In southern Illinois, a washout may have caused a train to derail and explode. One woman who was in a car waiting for the train to pass, died when the tank cars loaded with thousands of gallons of ethanol caught fire. Three other people were severely burnt.
The National Weather Service (web | news) said parts of northern Illinois may have gotten up to 4 inches of rain Friday and Racine, Wis., had a 24-hour total of nearly 7inches.Back on the East Coast, rain returned Saturday to the U.S. Open at the still soggy Bethpage Black golf course on Long Island. Pools of water soured play for many golf pros, even for the world's reigning champion.Two bad shots and a mud ball later .. here we go...you know I'm at four- over-par,Tiger Woods said. Meanwhile, parts of the south could use some rain. In Raleigh, North Carolina, volunteers with the Meals on Wheels program, which helps the elderly by providing door-to-door meal service, are coping with an extreme heat wave by delivering more than just food. If they don't have a fan, we can provide them with a fan it's important that because some of them are homebound,said Elizabeth Werner, Meals on Wheels volunteer.
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
FAMINE
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Storm fails to ease northern Taiwan drought conditions
Central News Agency 2009-06-22 08:58 PM
Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Tropical storm Linfa spread rainfall throughout Taiwan while sweeping up the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, but it apparently failed to alleviate drought conditions in the northern part of the island.Water Resources Agency Deputy Director Wu Yueh-hsi said the storm -- the first tropical storm to hit Taiwan this year -- significantly boosted central and southern Taiwan's water supply to ease the potential of a looming drought there.Two reservoirs in the southern county of Tainan -- the Wushantou and Nan Hua -- accumulated a combined 30 million cubic meters of rainwater from the storm, while the Tseng Wen Reservoir, which straddles Chiayi and Tainan counties, received about 16 million cubic meters of rainwater, Wu said.The northern part of Taiwan was not so lucky, Wu said, as precipitation in the region fell far short of expectations. The water storage rate of Shihmen Reservoir, located in between Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties, only increased to 44.84 percent.
Drought conditions still exist,Wu said. Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Food Agency under the Council of Agriculture said Monday that vegetable supplies around the island were normal and appeared not to have been affected by the tropical storm.That means post-storm vegetable prices should remain stable, the agency said.(By Elizabeth Hsu)
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
WHO: 51 more swine flu deaths as pandemic spreads Mon Jun 22, 1:18 pm ET
GENEVA – The World Health Organization says the global tally of deaths from swine flu has increased by 51 to 231.WHO says most of the latest deaths occurred in the United States.It says Colombia, Chile and Canada have also reported fatal cases.WHO says the number of reported cases reached 52,160 on Monday. This is an increase of 7,873 since Friday.The global body says Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Fiji and Slovenia reported their first cases over the weekend.Earlier this month, WHO declared swine flu a moderate pandemic that would likely continue for 1-2 years.On the Net:WHO update: http://tinyurl.com/nb2zqa
Vaccinate Canadians under 40 and natives first: experts By Sharon Kirkey, Canwest News ServiceJune 21, 2009
A nurse injects an experimental flu vaccine into the arm of a volunteer during a clinical trial. A warning to pharmaceutical companies is being drafted to ensure that quality is maintained in clinical trials in lower-income countries.Under Canada's official pandemic plan, the entire population would ultimately be immunized against the H1N1 swine flu.But the vaccine will become available in batches, meaning the entire population can't be vaccinated at once. It might take four or five months to get all the vaccine we're going to get, during which time a second wave of swine flu may well be underway.The Public Health Agency of Canada is working on a priority list, deciding where the first batches should go, and who should get the injections first. All provinces and territories would be expected to follow the national prioritization scheme.Unlike normal seasonal flu, the H1N1 virus appears to be disproportionately infecting older children and young adults. So far the largest number of confirmed cases have occurred in people between the ages of five and 24.It doesn't mean they're all getting sick and need to be hospitalized, but they're getting significant illness, said Dr. Noni MacDonald, a leader in pediatric infectious diseases and a professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
British researchers reported last week that targeting children first would protect not only them, but also unvaccinated adults.Even if you are concerned about the elderly, who are often mentioned as another risk group, their main connection to the big pool of infection is often their grandchildren,said Dr. Thomas House of the University of Warwick.But adults older than 64 don't appear to be at increased risk of H1N1-related complications so far in the outbreak. It's possible they have some antibodies against the virus.As well, children are known to be really important for transmitting flu, said Earl Brown, executive director of the Emerging Pathogens Research Centre at the University of Ottawa.They're important for the cycle of infection. They tend to be naive as far as not having flu antibodies in their system before. And really young kids, their immune systems aren't fully mature.Children tend to be hit, and they can be hit harder,Brown said. By immunizing children first,you get to try to block spread, and protect a vulnerable group.Gymnasiums would be used for mass school-based vaccination programs but experts say the harder to reach group will be the 18-to-30-year-olds.Some of them are in school, a lot of them are not, MacDonald said.They're very much living in the moment and don't necessarily see themselves as being at risk. We need some fast thinking about how to reach those people.She suggested booths could be set up outside bars for information and immunization.You've got to be creative about this and really think out of the box.
Canada's aboriginal communities also appear to be getting more serious infections. Crowded, poorly ventilated housing and poor access to high-quality running water and sanitization are some of the factors being blamed. Aboriginals also have higher rates of asthma, chronic lung disease, obesity and diabetes — the very diseases early data suggests puts people at higher risk of life-threatening complications from swine flu.
The H1N1 vaccine will be a separate vaccine from the regular, annual flu shot. People will require two jabs, and possibly three, depending on how effective the vaccine is in producing immunity. The Public Health Agency of Canada says that no decisions have yet been made about who would get priority first.One of the challenges will be getting people to agree to the shots. There will be limited information about any vaccine's safety before immunization campaigns are rolled out across the country.We usually do research in healthy adults before we do it in children, because this is a new vaccine, and you want to be sure that it's safe and effective before you give it to vulnerable populations, or populations who don't have full capacity to make an informed decision about getting it or not,said Dr. Joanne Langley, of Health Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization.There are pros and cons to putting (children) first.Babies under six months of age are not vaccinated against flu.
skirkey@canwest.com
DC transit train crashes into another, killing 6 By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press Writer JUNE 22,09
WASHINGTON – One Metro transit train smashed into the rear of another at the height of the capital city's Monday evening rush hour, killing at least six people and injuring scores of others as cars of the trailing train jackknifed violently into the air and fell atop the first.Cars of both trains were ripped open and smashed together, and District of Columbia fire spokesman Alan Etter said crews had to cut some people out of what he described as a mass casualty event. Rescue workers propped steel ladders up to the upper train cars to help survivors escape. Seats from the smashed cars had spilled out onto the track.D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said six were dead. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said rescue workers treated 70 people at the scene and sent some of them to local hospitals, two with life-threatening injuries. A Metro official said the dead included the female operator of the trailing train. Her name was not immediately released.The crash around 5 p.m. EDT took place on the system's red line, Metro's busiest, which runs below ground for much of its length but is at ground level at the accident site near the Maryland border in northeast Washington.
Metro chief John Catoe said the first train was stopped on the tracks, waiting for another to clear the station ahead, when the trailing train plowed into it from behind. Each train had six cars and was capable of holding as many as 1,200 people.
Officials had no explanation for the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board took charge of the investigation and sent a team to the site of the worst accident in the Metro system's 33-year history.More than 200 firefighters from D.C., Maryland and Virginia eventually converged on the scene. Sabrina Webber, a 45-year-old Real estate agent who lives in the neighborhood, said the first rescuers to arrive had to use the jaws of life to pry open a wire fence along rail line to get to the train.Webber raced to the scene after hearing a loud boom like a thunder crash and then sirens. She said there was no panic among the survivors.Passenger Jodie Wickett, a nurse, told CNN she was seated on one train, sending text messages on her phone, when she felt the impact. She said she sent a message to someone that it felt like the train had hit a bump.From that point on, it happened so fast, I flew out of the seat and hit my head.Wickett said she stayed at the scene and tried to help. She said people are just in very bad shape.The people that were hurt, the ones that could speak, were calling back as we called out to them,she said. Lots of people were upset and crying, but there were no screams.One man said he was riding a bicycle across a bridge over the Metro tracks when the sound of the collision got his attention.
I didn't see any panic,Barry Student said.The whole situation was so surreal.Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said less than two hours after the crash that federal authorities had no indication of any terrorism connection.I don't know the reason for this accident, Metro's Catoe said.I would still say the system is safe, but we've had an incident.The only other time in Metrorail's 33-year history that there were passenger fatalities was on Jan. 13, 1982, when three people died as a result of a derailment underneath downtown. That was a day of disaster in the capital — shortly before the subway crash, an Air Florida plane slammed into the 14th Street Bridge immediately after takeoff in a severe snowstorm from Washington National Airport across the Potomac River. The plane crash killed 78 people.
Associated Press Writers Eileen Sullivan, Richard Lardner and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
Canada says Iranian brute force unacceptable Mon Jun 22, 2:22 pm ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, adopting one of the toughest lines on Iran of any Western leader, condemned on Monday what he said was Tehran's totally unacceptable use of brute force and intimidation to deal with protests.Iranian state television said 10 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in demonstrations on Saturday in Tehran over a disputed June 12 presidential election.The regime has chosen to use brute force and intimidation in responding to peaceful opposition regarding legitimate and serious allegations of electoral fraud, Harper said in a statement.Canada calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately cease the use of violence against their own people, to release all political prisoners and journalists ... and to conduct a full and transparent investigation into allegations of fraud in the presidential election.Canada's relations with Iran have been strained since 2003, when Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi died in custody in Tehran after being arrested.In February, Harper said the Iranian regime had an ideology that is obviously evil.(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway
WASHINGTON'S BLOG The Four Reasons the Mainstream Media Is Worthless
There are four reasons that the mainstream media is worthless.1. Self-Censorship by Journalists.Initially, there is tremendous self-censorship by journalists.For example, several months after 9/11, famed news anchor Dan Rather told the BBC that American reporters were practicing a form of self-censorship:there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around peoples' necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions.... And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism.What we are talking about here - whether one wants to recognise it or not, or call it by its proper name or not - is a form of self-censorship.Keith Olbermann agreed that there is self-censorship in the American media, and that:You can rock the boat, but you can never say that the entire ocean is in trouble .... You cannot say: By the way, there's something wrong with our .... system.As former Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin wrote in 2006:Mainstream-media political journalism is in danger of becoming increasingly irrelevant, but not because of the Internet, or even Comedy Central. The threat comes from inside. It comes from journalists being afraid to do what journalists were put on this green earth to do.There’s the intense pressure to maintain access to insider sources, even as those sources become ridiculously unrevealing and oversensitive. There’s the fear of being labeled partisan if one’s bullshit-calling isn’t meted out in precisely equal increments along the political spectrum.If mainstream-media political journalists don’t start calling bullshit more often, then we do risk losing our primacy — if not to the comedians then to the bloggers.I still believe that no one is fundamentally more capable of first-rate bullshit-calling than a well-informed beat reporter - whatever their beat. We just need to get the editors, or the corporate culture, or the self-censorship – or whatever it is – out of the way.
And Air Force Colonel and key Pentagon official Karen Kwiatkowski wrote:I have been told by reporters that they will not report their own insights or contrary evaluations of the official 9/11 story, because to question the government story about 9/11 is to question the very foundations of our entire modern belief system regarding our government, our country, and our way of life. To be charged with questioning these foundations is far more serious than being labeled a disgruntled conspiracy nut or anti-government traitor, or even being sidelined or marginalized within an academic, government service, or literary career. To question the official 9/11 story is simply and fundamentally revolutionary. In this way, of course, questioning the official story is also simply and fundamentally American.
(page 26).
2. Censorship by Higher-Ups
If journalists do want to speak out about an issue, they also are subject to tremendous pressure by their editors or producers to kill the story.The Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who uncovered the Iraq prison torture scandal and the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam, Seymour Hersh, said:All of the institutions we thought would protect us -- particularly the press, but also the military, the bureaucracy, the Congress -- they have failed. The courts . . . the jury's not in yet on the courts. So all the things that we expect would normally carry us through didn't. The biggest failure, I would argue, is the press, because that's the most glaring....
Q: What can be done to fix the (media) situation?
[Long pause] You'd have to fire or execute ninety percent of the editors and executives. You'd actually have to start promoting people from the newsrooms to be editors who you didn't think you could control. And they're not going to do that.
In fact many journalists are warning that the true story is not being reported. See this announcement and this talk.And a series of interviews with award-winning journalists also documents censorship of certain stories by media editors and owners (and see these samples).There are many reasons for censorship by media higher-ups.
One is money.
The media has a strong monetary interest to avoid controversial topics in general. It has always been true that advertisers discourage stories which challenge corporate power. Indeed, a 2003 survey reveals that 35% of reporters and news executives themselves admitted that journalists avoid newsworthy stories if the story would be embarrassing or damaging to the financial interests of a news organization’s owners or parent company.In addition, the government has allowed tremendous consolidation in ownership of the airwaves during the past decade. The large media players stand to gain billions of dollars in profits if the Obama administration continues to allow monopoly ownership of the airwaves by a handful of players. The media giants know who butters their bread. So there is a spoken or tacit agreement: if the media cover the administration in a favorable light, the MSM will continue to be the receiver of the government's goodies.
3. Drumming Up Support for War
In addition, the owners of American media companies have long actively played a part in drumming up support for war.It is painfully obvious that the large news outlets studiously avoided any real criticism of the government's claims in the run up to the Iraq war. It is painfully obvious that the large American media companies acted as lapdogs and stenographers for the government's war agenda.Veteran reporter Bill Moyers criticized the corporate media for parroting the obviously false link between 9/11 and Iraq (and the false claims that Iraq possessed WMDs) which the administration made in the run up to the Iraq war, and concluded that the false information was not challenged because:the [mainstream] media had been cheerleaders for the White House from the beginning and were simply continuing to rally the public behind the President — no questions asked.And as NBC News David Gregory (later promoted to host Meet the Press) said:I think there are a lot of critics who think that . . . . if we did not stand up [in the run-up to the war] and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this,that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role.But this is nothing new. In fact, the large media companies have drummed up support for all previous wars.
For example, Hearst helped drum up support for the Spanish-American War.
And an official summary of America's overthrow of the democratically-elected president of Iran in the 1950's states, In cooperation with the Department of State, CIA had several articles planted in major American newspapers and magazines which, when reproduced in Iran, had the desired psychological effect in Iran and contributed to the war of nerves against Mossadeq.(page x)The mainstream media also may have played footsie with the U.S. government right before Pearl Harbor. Specifically, a highly-praised historian (Bob Stineet) argues that the Army’s Chief of Staff informed the Washington bureau chiefs of the major newspapers and magazines of the impending Pearl Harbor attack BEFORE IT OCCURRED, and swore them to an oath of secrecy, which the media honored (page 361) .And the military-media alliance has continued without a break (as a highly-respected journalist says, viewers may be taken aback to see the grotesque extent to which US presidents and American news media have jointly shouldered key propaganda chores for war launches during the last five decades.)
As the mainstream British paper, the Independent, writes:There is a concerted strategy to manipulate global perception. And the mass media are operating as its compliant assistants, failing both to resist it and to expose it. The sheer ease with which this machinery has been able to do its work reflects a creeping structural weakness which now afflicts the production of our news.The article in the Independent discusses the use of black propaganda by the U.S. government, which is then parroted by the media without analysis; for example, the government forged a letter from al Zarqawi to the inner circle of al-Qa'ida's leadership, urging them to accept that the best way to beat US forces in Iraq was effectively to start a civil war, which was then publicized without question by the media..So why has the American press has consistenly served the elites in disseminating their false justifications for war? One of of the reasons is because the large media companies are owned by those whosupport the militarist agenda or even directly profit from war and terror (for example, NBC is owned by General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors in the world -- which directly profits from war, terrorism and chaos).Another seems to be an unspoken rule that the media will not criticize the government's imperial war agenda.And the media support isn't just for war: it is also for various other shenanigans by the powerful. For example, a BBC documentarysdocuments:
There was a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by a group of right-wing American businessmen . . . . The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.Moreover, the tycoons told the general who they asked to carry out the coup that the American people would accept the new government because they controlled all the newspapers.See also this book.Have you ever heard of this scheme before? It was certainly a very large one. And if the conspirators controlled the newspapers then, how much worse is it today with media consolidation?
4. Censorship by the Government
Finally, as if the media's own interest in promoting war is not strong enough, the government has exerted tremendous pressure on the media to report things a certain way. Indeed, at times the government has thrown media owners and reporters in jail if they've been too critical. The media companies have felt great pressure from the government to kill any real questioning of the endless wars.For example, Dan Rather said, regarding American media, What you have is a miniature version of what you have in totalitarian states.Tom Brokaw said all wars are based on propaganda.
And the head of CNN said:there was almost a patriotism police after 9/11 and when the network showed [things critical of the administration's policies] it would get phone calls from advertisers and the administration and big people in corporations were calling up and saying, You're being anti-American here.Indeed, former military analyst and famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsbergsaid that the government has ordered the media not to cover 9/11:Ellsberg seemed hardly surprised that today's American mainstream broadcast media has so far failed to take [former FBI translator and 9/11 whistleblower Sibel] Edmonds up on her offer, despite the blockbuster nature of her allegations [which Ellsberg calls far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers].As Edmonds has also alluded, Ellsberg pointed to the New York Times, who sat on the NSA spying story for over a year when they could have put it out before the 2004 election, which might have changed the outcome.There will be phone calls going out to the media saying don't even think of touching it, you will be prosecuted for violating national security,he told us.I am confident that there is conversation inside the Government as to How do we deal with Sibel? contends Ellsberg.The first line of defense is to ensure that she doesn't get into the media. I think any outlet that thought of using her materials would go to to the government and they would be told don't touch this .Of course, if the stick approach doesn't work, the government can always just pay offreporters to spread disinformation. Indeed, an expert on propaganda testified under oath during trial that the CIA employs THOUSANDS of reporters and OWNS its own media organizations (the expert has an impressive background).
And famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein says the CIA has already bought and paid for many successful journalists. See also this New York Times piece, this essay by the Independent, this speech by one of the premier writers on journalism, and this and this roundup.Indeed, in the final analysis, the main reason today that the media giants will not cover the real stories or question the government's actions or policies in any meaningful way is thatwe live in a country that is not all that free (see point number 6). Mussolini said that fascism is the blending of the government and corporate interests, and the American government and mainstream media have in fact been blended together to an unprecedented degree.See this book and the following 5-part interview for further information on 9/11 and the media: (Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5
Can We Win the Battle Against Censorship?
We cannot just leave governance to our leaders, as The price of freedom is eternal vigilance (Jefferson). Similarly, we cannot leave news to the corporate media. We need to be the media ourselves.To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.Abraham Lincoln.Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Powerlessness and silence go together. We...should use our privileged positions not as a shelter from the world's reality, but as a platform from which to speak. A voice is a gift. It should be cherished and used.Margaret Atwood.There is no act too small, no act too bold. The history of social change is the history of millions of actions, small and large, coming together at points in history and creating a power that [nothing] cannot suppress.Howard Zinn (historian).All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent Thomas Jefferson.
IRELAND LISBON TREATY GUARENTEES
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/irishguarantees.pdf
The dust is settling after the bodged stitch-up that the leaders of the EU cobbled together last week in Brussels.It is all smoke and mirrors with the intent of promising absolutely nothing but hoodwinking the Irish electorate.The one thing that they are desperate is that no voter anywhere else in the EU must get a smell of a ballot paper! And national parliaments mustn’t get a look in either.There’s a mass of comment all over the Irish media and Open Europe has a brilliant 11-page briefing paper on: http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/irishguarantees.pdf
In intoducing its briefing note OE says:-Following the EU summit in Brussels last week, Open Europe has published a briefing on the guarantees offered to Ireland in exchange for holding a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Despite promises from the Irish government that they would not force people to vote on exactly the same text a second time around, the deal reached at the EU summit last week makes no change whatsoever to the text of the Treaty, meaning Irish voters will be voting on exactly the same text they rejected last year.Here are some press extracts. Both main papers are in favour of the Treaty but the Independent is more biassed in its approach! Christina Speight
1. IRISH TIMES 20.6.09 ANTI-LISBON CAMPAIGN:
IRISH ANTI-LISBON Treaty campaigners have dismissed the additional guarantees agreed at the EU summit yesterday and said they are confident a second referendum will be defeated.Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, newly elected Socialist MEP for Dublin Joe Higgins once again insisted the EU summit was an elaborate charade meant to distract attention from the key issues.The debate on the Lisbon Treaty has yet to be held because we’ve been dealing with side issues,he said.Mr Higgins was determined that the secured guarantees would not mean the treaty would be ratified.They [the Government] will try and terrify the people because of the catastrophic economic crisis, which is highly ironic given that the political party trying to do that is the very party which is responsible for the disastrous crash.Patricia McKenna, chairwoman of the People’s Movement, said the treaty about to be put before the public was the same one rejected by voters last July.The reasons why people voted No to the treaty have not been addressed or rectified, and for that reason, once that message gets across to people, I don’t think they are going to change their vote.The so-called legally binding guarantees which the Government claim they fought hard to secure do not change one single aspect of the Lisbon Treaty.All they do is reiterate the same assurances given by EU heads of state during the first referendum,she added.
Pádraig Mannion of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance said many of those who voted for the treaty had changed their mind.A lot of people who voted Yes last time out are affronted by the fact that we’re being treated like in Zimbabwe, that we get to continue voting until we get the right result. I think a lot of people who voted in favour of the treaty are upset that Irish democracy is being turned on its head.Sinn Féin said it was deeply disappointing that the Government had failed to address concerns on workers’ rights and public services.Today marks a missed opportunity by the Irish Government and EU leaders to tackle Europe’s new economic circumstances by producing a new treaty that can deliver real change,said Mary Lou McDonald.Libertas, which played a prominent role in persuading voters to reject the treaty last year, said it had no comment to make on the guarantees.
2. IRISH TIMES 22.6.09 Arts and sport stars join broad coalition for a Lisbon Yes vote
MOVE LIPS, move minds and make new meanings flare/Like ancient beacons signalling, peak to peak. . .Poet Seamus Heaney has lent his voice to the campaign of newly formed group Ireland for Europe, which is promoting a Yes vote on the Lisbon Treaty. The organisation was launched in Dublin yesterday.Other patrons listed by Ireland for Europe include U2 guitarist the Edge; U2 manager Paul McGuinness; Special Olympics promoter Mary Davis; Irish soccer captain Robbie Keane; film director Jim Sheridan; author and broadcaster Deirdre Purcell; Concern chief executive Tom Arnold; and trade unionists David Begg and Billy Attle [etc ad infinitum! They have mobilised great celebrity support -cs]
3. IRISH TIMES 22.6.09 Lisbon protocol a charade claims McKenna
THE LEGAL guarantees given by EU leaders to Taoiseach Brian Cowen on the Lisbon Treaty amount to nothing more than a ludicrous charade, former Green MEP Patricia McKenna has claimed.The impression had been given that Ireland fought long and hard in a difficult battle and then suddenly achieved something when EU heads of state agreed to a protocol enshrining the guarantees, Ms McKenna said yesterday.She claimed the public had been given the false impression of legal certainty when this didn’t exist. This was because the treaty had not changed one iota and would be interpreted by the European Court of Justice.It was ludicrous to think that a protocol rolling back elements of the treaty would be put in place a few years after the treaty itself. What we have is an illusion that we have achieved something, she told RTÉ Radio.The No side would find the going harder this time around, she predicted.
The People before Profit group called on the electorate to reject the guarantees given to the government.Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett said the people should not be fooled. This is exactly the same treaty that was rejected last year. Nothing has changed,he said.The likely date for the next Lisbon referendum is October 2nd, but with September 25th not totally ruled out, according to Government sources.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the date would be decided this week.
Fayyad Calls for PA State, Draws Fire from Hamas
by Maayana Miskin JUNE 22,09
(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad gave a speech Monday at the Al Quds University in Jerusalem. Fayyad's speech followed a policy speech given by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at Bar Ilan University.Fayyad called for the creation of a PA-led Arab state by the end of next year or within two years at most.In order to create a PA state, PA Arabs must unify, he said. He called on Arabs to create the institutions needed to run a state in order to win international support for their cause.While he promoted the creation of a PA state, Fayyad ruled out talks with Israel toward that goal. The PA should not negotiate with Israel until Israel freezes all construction in Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, he said.
Netanyahu has declined to freeze construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, insisting that Jewish life be allowed to continue as usual while Israel and the PA negotiate. Israeli leaders have called to keep major Jewish settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria under Israeli control whether or not a PA state is created.
Fayyad called on the international community to push Netanyahu to stop construction. In addition, the world should pressure Israel to allow goods to enter and exit Gaza freely, he said.
Hamas: Fayyad Most Dangerous
Hamas spokesman Fauzi Barhoum issued a response to Fayyad's speech on Monday night. Despite Fayyad's call to open borders with Gaza, he was harshly criticized by Hamas, which referred to him as the greatest threat facing the Palestinian people.
Fayyad has no right to speak of national unity, Barhoum said. Fayyad believes in cooperating with the Zionist enemy on security projects,he added.
RABBI IT ALL BEGINS WITH PRAYER
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132011
SETTLEMENTS ISRAELIS SPEAK OUT
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/June/Jewish-Settlers-Speak-Out-/
JUDEAN EVE - EVE HARROW
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/Author.aspx/1229
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/
http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/2033490
Netanyahu, in Rome, faces call for settlement moratorium
Agence France-Presse | 06/23/2009 9:08 PM
ROME - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Rome on Tuesday as Italy's foreign minister called on Israel to declare a moratorium on the expansion of its settlements in the West Bank.We would very much appreciate a gesture on the Israeli side announcing a moratorium on the expansion of existing settlements, Franco Frattini told reporters shortly before Netanyahu's plane touched down.While negotiations are under way, a moratorium would be very important, he said.Netanyahu, on his first trip to Europe since taking office in late March, was to meet with his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT).The hawkish Israeli leader is expected to press for tougher sanctions against arch-foe Iran over its nuclear drive when he visits Rome.In Paris, he will hold talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy as well as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.Above all, the prime minister is planning to bring up the Iranian dossier, a senior government official told AFP in Jerusalem.The scenes of violence and repression of the past days have lifted the mask of the bloody regime that doesn't hesitate to fire on unarmed protesters, said the official, requesting anonymity.
With what is happening now in Iran, words and condemnations are not enough, the world must decide to take much harder measures to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear arms, he said.Iran says at least 17 people have been killed in the unrest, in what has emerged as the largest outpouring of public anger since the 1979 Islamic revolution.Frattini said Rome would also seek clarity from Netanyahu on the growth of settlements.The Israeli side has told us it refers to development following natural demographic growth. If that means adding a floor to one's own house after the birth of a child, that is not a problem,Frattini said.If it means expanding settlements like wildfire, that is a problem.Frattini also called for the birth of a Palestinian state in the near future.He said negotiations should resume quickly" with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, adding: This is what both America and Europe are asking.Netanyahu will seek to put across his position on the stalled Middle East peace process in the aftermath of his speech on June 14.In that speech, he finally accepted the creation of a Palestinian state but imposed a raft of conditions slammed as unacceptable by the Palestinians.At the same time Netanyahu has refused to freeze settlements as demanded by the international community, which sees building in the West Bank as undermining prospects for a Palestinian state.Frattini added: We will tell Netanyahu that Italy's position has not changed towards Iran and that great clarity (is needed) on the 'no' to Iran's nuclear proliferation.Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Iran's nuclear programme constitutes the biggest threat to Israel since the Jewish state's founding in 1948.Israel and main ally Washington suspect Iran of trying to acquire atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear programme, a charge that Tehran has repeatedly denied.The Jewish state is widely considered to be the sole if undeclared nuclear power in the Middle East and views Iran as its arch-enemy because of regular calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Israel to be wiped off the map.Netanyahu is expected to ask Rome to reduce its commercial links with Iran, which have grown in recent years, according to Israel's mass-selling daily Yediot Aharonot.as of 06/23/2009 9:08 PM
Palestinian premier: State institutions in 2 years By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 22, 2:36 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Institutions for an independent Palestinian state should be up and running within two years, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Monday, for the first time setting such a target date.Little state-building was accomplished in the first decade after the Palestinian Authority was established in the mid-1990s, at a time when the late Yasser Arafat, known for his chaotic style of governing, was at the helm.In recent years, the international community has focused on institution building, including training the Palestinian security forces and modernizing government ministries.Well-run government institutions will make a strong case for ending Israeli occupation, said Fayyad, a respected economist.It is possible to build the institutions of the state in two years, and this will put before the entire world the political requirement of ending the occupation, said Fayyad, in presenting the two-year program of his government.However, Fayyad also pointed to one of the main obstacles to statehood — the internal Palestinian division.Since the Islamic militant Hamas overran Gaza two years ago, Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Fayyad government have only controlled the West Bank.Ending the occupation and building the state requires ending the split,Fayyad said.Also, Israeli control of the West Bank, where there are more than 120 Jewish settlements, is not likely to ease until there is a peace treaty with the Palestinians setting agreed borders. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. A year of peace talks under Israel's previous, more moderate government made no discernible progress. The current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has taken a tougher stance than his predecessor.
Despite the presentation of a two-year plan, Fayyad's term might not run that long. Egypt has been mediating on-again, off-again reconciliation talks between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement. If the talks succeed, Fayyad would probably be replaced as premier by a Hamas leader.Also Monday, a group that advocates for Arab human rights charged that Israel has been illegally selling houses belonging to Palestinian refugees.About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were evicted from their homes during the two-year war that followed Israel's creation in 1948. The group, Adalah, charged that Israel's own laws prevent selling their property, but in recent years 250 have been put up for sale.The Israel Lands Administration did not return repeated telephone requests for comment. Throughout its six decades of existence, Israel has made use of abandoned properties and houses, and it was unclear how these cases differed.
Palestinians demand the right of the refugees and their millions of descendants to return to their original homes or choose compensation. Israel rejects the principle of returning refugees, saying they should be resettled in a Palestinian state, but has offered compensation.Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
Israel PM on first official European tour by Jean-Luc Renaudie – Mon Jun 22, 4:18 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads for his first official trip to Europe on Tuesday, aiming to press Italy and France to harden sanctions against arch-foe Iran over its nuclear drive.The hawkish Netanyahu will meet his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi in Rome and the following day will head to Paris, where he will meet President Nicolas Sarkozy as well as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.Above all, the prime minister is planning to bring up the Iranian dossier,a senior government official told AFP.The scenes of violence and repression of the past days have lifted the mask of the bloody regime that doesn't hesitate to fire on unarmed protesters,said the official, requesting anonymity.With what is happening now in Iran, words and condemnations are not enough, the world must decide to take much harder measures to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear arms,he said.Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Iran's nuclear programme constitutes the biggest threat to Israel since the Jewish state's founding in 1948.
Israel and main ally Washington suspect Iran of trying to acquire atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear programme, a charge that Tehran has repeatedly denied.
The Jewish state is widely considered to be the sole if undeclared nuclear power in the Middle East and views Iran as its arch-enemy because of regular calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Israel to be wiped off the map.In Italy, Netanyahu will ask Rome to reduce its commercial links with Iran, which have grown in recent years, according to the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot.In both countries the prime minister will seek to put across his position on the stalled Middle East peace process in the aftermath of his speech on June 14 finally accepting the creation of a Palestinian state but imposing a slew of conditions slammed as unacceptable by the Palestinians.Netanyahu will stress that any final peace deal will have to have Palestinian recognition of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people -- something the Palestinians have long rejected.The prime minister will explain that his words can be translated into acts only if the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state, which they refuse for the moment,the official said.The issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank will also be on the agenda for the talks. The United States has repeatedly demanded a halt to all Israeli activity in the settlements, regarded by the international community as illegal.Netanyahu has refused to stop construction, saying it will carry on in order to accommodate population increases.The prime minister will again say that Israel will not create new settlements, will not confiscate new lands and will insist on the fact that residents of settlements must be allowed to lead normal lives,the official said.Netanyahu will also bring up the issue of improving relations between Israel and its main trading partner the European Union.EU nations agreed late last year to enhance ties with Israel but the process stalled when Israel launched a deadly 22-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip in December.
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 TUE JUNE 23,2009
09:30 AM -10.12
10:00 AM +20.93
10:30 AM -27.06
11:00 AM -32.88
11:30 AM -18.67
12:00 PM -2.27
12:30 PM -24.41
01:00 PM -14.97
01:30 PM -8.85
02:00 PM -26.30
02:30 PM -0.15
03:00 PM -18.14
03:30 PM -8.01
04:00 PM -16.10 8322.91
S&P 500 895.10 +2.06
NASDAQ 1764.92 -1.27
GOLD 926.70 +5.70
OIL 69.17 +1.67
TSE 300 9896.72 +62.54
CDNX 1074.18 -4.48
S&P/TSX/60 599.79 +4.50
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -4.98%
S&P -1.13%
Nasdaq +11.99%
TSX Advances 345,declines 1,254,unchanged 213,Volume 2,274,955,513.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 216,Declines 632,Unchanged 327,Volume 231,689,267.
Dow -5 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -54 points at low today.
Dow +30 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $923.60.OIL opens at $67.82 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -54 points at low today so far.
Dow +30 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,723,declines 1,843,unchanged 119,New Highs 5,New Lows 40.
Volume 3,473,079,252.
NASDAQ Advances 1,125,declines 1,462,unchanged 119,New highs 7,New Lows 18.
Volume 1,221,663,137.
TSX Advances 524,declines 891,unchanged 253,Volume 1,487,753,943.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 238,Declines 404,Unchanged 294,Volume 128,441,155.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -54 points at low today.
Dow +30 points at high today.
Dow -0.19% today Volume 237,117,340.
Nasdaq -0.07% today Volume 2,043,556,553.
S&P 500 +0.23% today Volume N/A
Erica Carle exposes the evil agenda behind Sociology-Talk show host Scott Jorgenson interviews NWV contributor Erica Carle on how public schools and sociology are destroying Christianity. A must listen to all who care about our children who are America's future.
http://www.kajo.com/features/talk_shows/programs/kajo090617.wma
http://www.kajo.com/features/talk_shows/programs/kajo090617.mp3
by KAJO Radio
Like Japan, New Zealand Moving Towards Cashless Society
New Zealand Herald Monday, June 22, 2009
Cash is no longer king in New Zealand, according to the Retirement Commission’s report.The report found electronic funds transfer (Eftpos) had displaced cash as the most common method used to pay for things such as groceries, power bills and mortgage. The number using Eftpos in the latest survey (83 per cent) is the same as in 2005, but the number using cash dropped from 84 per cent to 77 per cent. There have also been declines in all other methods of payment except internet banking, where users have increased from 34 per cent of adults in 2005 to 47 per cent.Those most likely to use internet banking are households earning over $100,000 (70 per cent), people aged 35 to 44 (63 per cent), people in paid employment or with tertiary education (both 57 per cent), Asians (54 per cent), males (51 per cent) and Europeans and urban residents (both 49 per cent). The least likely internet bankers are provincial residents (37 per cent), Maori (34 per cent) and those aged 65 and over (12per cent).
Japan Considering Taxing Cash; Nominal Rates of -4% Might be Closer to What is Required to Rescue the Economy from Another Deflationary Spiral June 21st, 2009
Japanese people will just buy more gold and park their speculative yen back in the carry trade pachinko parlor (this may already be happening). Why wouldn’t they? If holding cash means a guaranteed loss of 4% a year, that’s a pretty good incentive to gamble.Bonus points to the state for the totalitarian surveillance grid side benefit of this.Via: Times Online:With recovery elusive, a population doddering into old age and perhaps a decade of deflation in prospect, Japan may start mulling the most radical monetary policy of all — the abolition of cash.Unorthodox, untried and, said one Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist, in the realms of economic science fiction”, the recommendation has nevertheless begun floating around Tokyo’s corridors of power and economists have described Japan as particularly suitable as a testing ground.
The search for more outré economic policies continues, despite the recent surge in the Nikkei 225 index.The market may be reflecting soaring Chinese investment, rising consumer confidence and other cheerful data but economists see few long-term beacons of hope for Japan.Other extreme ideas mooted by the financial authorities include a tax on physical currency or introducing one to operate alongside the yen.All three ideas are based on a theory concerning interest rates and the concept that a nominal rate of zero — as Japan has now lived with for much of the past decade — may be too high. In Japan’s case, the theory would suggest that nominal rates of -4 per cent might be closer to what is required to rescue the economy from another deflationary spiral. Having agreed that this might be necessary, the next question is how it could be imposed.Several MPs in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party believe the abolition of cash, though politically radioactive, might be technically feasible. Richard Jerram, a senior economist with Macquarie bank, told investors that the proposal has become practical with the broad penetration of electronic money and credit cards in Japan.He said that all the proposals were radical but worth consideration for Japan. Without physical cash, a central bank can set rates exactly where it likes, runs the argument. Mr Jerram said: At the heart of the problem of achieving negative nominal interest rates is the idea that physical currency is an anonymous bearer bond with a nominal interest rate of zero.While a central bank can impose positive or negative rates on non-physical assets, transmitting those rates to physical currency is a huge challenge. By permanently removing cash from a system, he added, policymakers are robbed of the excuse that zero is the lowest that nominal rates can go as a deflation-fighting tool.
In theory, many Japanese could easily make the leap into a cashless world. The country has six main competing cashless payment systems, many of them embedded into mobile phones. Including Oyster-type cards issued by public transport companies, industry sources estimate that there are about 120 million cashless payment chips sitting in Japan’s wallets and handbags, waiting to be swiped.Nevertheless, the country remains a wholeheartedly cash-based consumer society. Currency in circulation is about 16 per cent of its GDP, compared with the levels of 2 to 3 per cent in most developed countries. Reducing that 16 per cent to zero would be a wrench but would come with considerable benefits, Mr Jerram said.But just as Japan’s cultural attachment to cash may prove hard to dislodge, some economists believe that the same may be true of deflation. The country’s growing population of elderly people mainly hold cash or cash equivalents and, compared with its US and European counterparts, the Bank of Japan has come under virtually no political pressure to be more belligerent in its war on deflation. It is unlikely, added Mr Jerram, to brook anything as radical as abolishing cash.
World Bank cuts 2009 global growth forecast By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer JUNE 22,09
BEIJING – The World Bank has cut its 2009 global growth forecast, saying the world economy will shrink by 2.9 percent and warning that a drop in investment in developing countries will increase poverty.The global recession has deepened, the Washington-based multilateral lender said in a report.Global trade is expected to plunge by 9.7 percent this year, while total gross domestic product for high-income countries contracts by 4.2 percent, the bank said. It said economic growth in developing countries should slow to 1.2 percent — but excluding relatively strong China and India, developing economies will contract by 1.6 percent.The bank's latest forecast is a sharp reduction from its March prediction of a 1.7 percent global contraction, which it said then would be the worst on record.Economic damage to developing countries has been much deeper and broader than previous crises,warned the report, issued Sunday in Washington.Unemployment is on the rise, and poverty is set to increase in developing economies,it said.The global economy should start to grow again in late 2009, but the expected recovery is projected to be much less vigorous than normal,the report said. It said banks' ability to finance investment and consumer spending would be hampered by the overhang of unpaid loans and devalued assets.To break the cycle and revive lending and growth, bold policy measures, along with substantial international coordination, are needed,the World Bank said.
Investment and other financial flows to developing countries plunged by an estimated 39 percent in 2008 to $707 billion, the World Bank said. It said foreign direct investment in developing countries is projected to drop by 30 percent this year to $385 billion.Eastern Europe and Central Asia have been hit hardest and the region's gross domestic product is expected to plunge by 4.7 percent this year, the bank said. It said growth should recover next year to 1.6 percent.GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean should shrink by 2.3 percent this year before rebounding to expand by 2 percent in 2010, the report said.In the Middle East and North Africa, growth is expected to fall by half this year to 3.1 percent, while that of sub-Saharan Africa will drop to 1 percent from an annual average of 5.7 percent over the past three years, the bank said.East Asia should post a 5 percent expansion, supported in part by China's stimulus-fueled growth, the bank said.
S&P turns negative for year in broad sell-off By Caroline Valetkevitch – Mon Jun 22, 5:29 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks suffered their worst one-day loss in two months, dropping the S&P 500 back into negative territory for the year on Monday in a broad-based sell-off, as investors reconsidered the health of the economy.Shares of economically sensitive sectors such as financials, energy and materials led the S&P 500's (.SPX) decline. A sharp drop in U.S. crude oil futures and other commodities hit shares of companies sensitive to those prices, including Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), which lost 3.1 percent to $68.84.Analysts said investors were keen to sell shares that led the market up in its rally since early March. Major averages have largely been trading sideways in recent weeks and many investors have speculated that more obstacles were in store for stocks.The recovery is likely to be anemic by post-war standards, said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors, in Albany, New York.The recovery in the economy and earnings is unlikely to be as strong as the rise in stock prices since early March has implied.Underscoring worries about the economy's outlook, the World Bank said prospects for the global economy remain unusually uncertain as it cut 2009 growth forecasts for most economies.The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 200.72 points, or 2.35 percent, to end at 8,339.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was down 28.19 points, or 3.06 percent, at 893.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was down 61.28 points, or 3.35 percent, at 1,766.19.European shares also slid, with the FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3) index of top European shares hitting its lowest closing level since mid-May.
WORST DAY SINCE LATE APRIL
It was the worst day for the three indexes since April 20 when results from Bank of America (BAC.N) reignited concerns about the banking industry.The S&P financial index (.GSPF) fell 6.2 percent, while the energy index (.GSPE) dropped 4.6 percent. The financial sector saw the biggest gains since the S&P 500 hit a 12-year closing low in early March, and the sector is still up more than 80 for that period. The S&P, meanwhile, is up 32 percent from its March closing low.Some people are skeptical of how the summer is going to play out and may be taking some profits, said John O'Brien, senior vice president at MKM Partners LLC in Cleveland.While lower crude oil prices tend to be a positive for the broader stock market, they often hurt shares of energy companies by giving investors a reason to unload some holdings in that sector.
Crude oil prices fell $2.62, or almost 4 percent, to settle at $66.93 a barrel. Chevron Corp (CVX.N) sank 3.4 percent to $65.76.Metal prices also slid, dragging down shares of resource companies. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N) dropped 11.3 percent to $45.18.On the Nasdaq, big-cap technology stocks led the decline.Apple's stock fell 1.5 percent to $137.37 even as it said it had sold more than 1 million of its newest iPhone in the first three days of its launch, beating expectations.Adding to a glum economic outlook, Walgreen Co (WAG.N) posted weak quarterly results as U.S. shoppers focused on buying only necessities. The drugstore chain's stock fell 5.7 percent to $29.64.Trading volume was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange, where about 1.40 billion shares changed hands, slightly below last year's estimated daily average of 1.49 billion. On the Nasdaq, about 2.35 billion shares traded, above last year's daily average of 2.28 billion. Decliners far outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 2,703 to 345, while on the Nasdaq, there were 2,264 declining shares and only 415 stocks that rose.(Additional reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
EU and Australia push for resumption of Doha talks
ANDREW WILLIS Today JUNE 23,09 @ 17:42 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Trade representatives from the European Union and Australia say they will push for further progress on the Doha round of multilateral trade talks at a meeting in Paris this week. I'm going to Paris with the very strong conviction that we now need to move forward speedily and we need to set a timetable [for the talks],said European trade commissioner Catherine Ashton following a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (23 June) with Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean. Trade ministers from around the World will meet on the sidelines of an annual ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris later this week (24-25 June) to assess the political willingness to officially resume the Doha talks that stalled in July 2008. Several non-OECD members have also been invited to the meeting including India, Brazil, Chile, China, Indonesia, Russia, and South Africa, whose agreement will prove vital to securing a multilateral deal. Mr Crean, who will chair the sideline talks, said he is keen to build on a re-engagement decision taken by the Cairns group – an eclectic bloc of 19 agricultural exporting countries - at a recent meeting in Bali at which China, Japan, India and the US also participated. We sense a political desire to want to move to the end-game. We have to capitalise on it,he said.Recent US and Indian elections have slowed attempts to restart the talks, with the Democrat-dominated US Congress a potential stumbling block for the future. Ms Ashton and Mr Crean also signed a mutual recognition agreement for product certification procedures on Tuesday, a move that will help to reduce business costs.
Agricultural subsidies
The two sides have traditionally clashed over the EU's farm subsidies, with Australia saying they amount to a major distortion of free trade. While acknowledging the EU's progress in this area, partially brought about by various reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy, Mr Crean said further work needs to be done.The Australian dairy industry has never looked back since it undertook structural reforms because it is producing for a world market competitively and that's what trade should be about,he said.The EU recently re-introduced dairy exports subsidies to help European farmers struggling with the fall in world milk prices, but has committed to ditching all agricultural export subsidies by 2013, along with other members of the World Trade Organisation.
Europe must change after economic crisis, says Sarkozy
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today JUNE 23,09 @ 09:25 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – In a historic speech before a joint session of the French parliament on Monday (22 June), President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the global economic crisis meant that nothing will be the same any more and pleaded for change in both France and Europe as a whole.The crisis is not over. We don't know when it will end," Mr Sarkozy told the 920 parliamentarians and senators gathered together as the French Congress at the Palace of Versailles, once the home of Louis XIV.Thinking of the crisis as brackets that will soon be closed ... would be a fatal mistake. Nothing will be the same ever again. A crisis of this magnitude always calls for profound questioning. We cannot witness such a catastrophe without questioning the ideas, the values, the decisions that led to such a result,the president went on.The French leader, who was the first president to speak before parliament since Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in 1848, talked about the country's need to modernise its labour market, schools, universities and pension system.There would be nothing worse in the current situation, as everything in the world is changing, than to commit a sin by lacking ambition, boldness, imagination,he said.And while France is changing, Europe needs a boost as well, the president pointed out.Europe must change too. It will not be able to function after the crisis as it did before ... Europe must give itself the means to participate in the transformation of the world,he said.Mr Sarkozy did not enter into details however, simply saying that now was not the right time to speak about France's European project.
The French model
The president also said he would not take austerity measures or use tax hikes as a way to fight the effects of the financial crisis.I will not conduct an austerity policy because austerity policy has always failed,he said.Mr Sarkozy's comments came just a day after France's budget minister Eric Woerth said the country's budget deficit will exceed seven percent of its GDP in both 2009 and 2010. They also come as both the European Central Bank (ECB) and Germany have been calling for fiscal restraint.Instead, the French government will take out a new loan from the financial markets or the general public, the president said.He added that the crisis had highlighted the merits and virtues of the French model of the welfare state.The recession has brought the French model back into fashion ... The French model has its chance once more,he said.
Burka not welcome in France
Mr Sarkozy also used the opportunity to speak strongly against the burka – the garment that some Muslim women wear, covering them from head to toe – but said it was up to the parliament to decide whether to ban it.The issue of the burka is not a religious issue, it is a question of freedom and of women's dignity. The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of the subjugation, of the submission of women," he said. I want to say solemnly that the burka will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic. We cannot accept in our country women prisoners behind a netting, cut off from any form of social life, deprived of any identity.The issue is a hot topic in France at the moment, with some parliamentarians already calling for a special enquiry into whether the burka should be banned.France, home to some five million Muslims and known for its secularism, already banned the Islamic headscarf and other religious symbols from public schools in 2004. The move triggered widespread discussion in the country at the time.
A lot of noise over nothing
Altogether, Mr Sarkozy's highly anticipated 45-minute speech, while solemn and historic in its essence – it was made possible by a constitutional reform last year that gave the French president the right to appear before parliament for the first time in more than a century – remained general and disappointed those who had expected specific proposals or decisions to be announced.We heard principles that were sometimes right, statements that were often general, but in the end there was nothing concrete,former socialist leader Francois Hollande said on LCI television.
It was a lot of noise over nothing,he added.
Meanwhile, several opposition MPs have pointed out that while Mr Sarkozy spoke about the effects of the economic crisis, the cost of organising the Congress in the Versailles Palace is expected to be between €400,000 and €600,000.[Paying] €500,000 to hear what we just heard, I think that is very expensive, said Socialist MP Jerome Cahuzac.Some 50 Green and Communist parliamentarians boycotted the speech, while the Socialists attended but boycotted the debate that folllowed.
EU takes China to WTO over raw materials
ANDREW WILLIS Today JUNE 23,09 @ 17:34 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Union and the United States launched a joint action against China at the World Trade Organisation on Tuesday (23 June) over the Asian giant's use of export restrictions on raw materials. The Chinese restrictions on raw materials distort competition and increase global prices, making things even more difficult for our companies in this economic downturn, said European trade commissioner Catherine Ashton.I hope that we can find an amicable solution to this issue through the consultation process,she added. The EU argues that China's export restrictions, which include the use of quotas, export duties and minimum export prices, result in Chinese companies gaining access to key raw materials below market prices. The materials concerned include yellow phosphorous, bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon metal, silicon carbide and zinc, some of which are only readily available in China. Chinese companies producing and using certain chemicals and metals are the main beneficiaries of the export restrictions, says the EU, breaching both general WTO rules and also specific commitments in China's WTO accession protocol. Other governments around the world including Argentina, India and Russia have also used exports tariffs as a way of keeping raw materials for domestic use.
Buy China provision
The EU is also currently investigating the provision of a ‘Buy China' policy linked to the country's €420 billion stimulus programme.Under the provision, stimulus funded projects must seek permission from Beijing before purchasing foreign goods or services.Only Chinese products and services may be used for government procurement, except when certain products or services are not available within the country or could not bought on reasonable commercial terms,reads the Chinese policy.The EU successfully forced a limited backdown by the US earlier this year over a ‘Buy America' clause related to its stimulus package that would have restricted foreign steel imports.However, an EU official working on the China investigation said the commission was hesitant about putting the Chinese provision into the same pot as the Buy America clause.China has not signed up to the WTO's government procurement agreement, something that limits the EU's list of possible responses.
No Big Bang for EU foreign service, says Solana
VALENTINA POP Today JUNE 23,09 @ 17:24 CET
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – The EU's planned foreign service should be established gradually and not in a Big Bang, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified after a second Irish referendum, the bloc's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said on Monday.With only a few months left to go on the job, Mr Solana held a speech outlining his foreign policy vision for the European Union, including the perspective of creating a common foreign service should the Lisbon Treaty come into force after Ireland holds a second referendum and Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic complete the ratification process.The foreign service is contemplated in the treaty as an effort of the member states to create a global common diplomacy. I like to think that in time we will be one of the most important diplomacies in the world, along with US, China and other big players in the world, he said.Mr Solana, who has been the Union's first high representative for foreign and security policy for the past ten years, said the bloc's foreign service would consist of national and EU diplomats.I would recommend that it won't be a Big Bang – it has to be well done, member states need to prepare the people, and it probably would be better if this takes some time.Asked how national diplomats would be selected, Mr Solana said the diplomatic teams would be mixed and selected by a board, so that no capital would become the property of a specific member state.Since 1999, we have already had a policy unit in the house representing different countries with diplomats from different levels, which have been appointed to create the embryo of common thinking of the EU on foreign and crisis management policy,he added.The so-called External European Action Service (EEAS) would be a separate legal entity, and thus have its own budget.A former Belgian ambassador present in the room however highlighted the problems of this future external service, noting there is no fully fledged common policy on all the international issues. Member states are also unlikely to abandon their bilateral agendas, he pointed out.Mr Solana admitted that it would take some time for member states who traditionally have special relations with a given country, such as Belgium with its former colony, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I can imagine very well to have a common policy vis-Ã -vis the Congo in which your country feels represented and comfortable. Maybe your country at a given moment can give advice and help that will not break the unity of the collective,he said.But for the foreign policy chief, the main problem is not so much the special ties with a given country, as ideological and conceptual issues.One recent example of divergent EU foreign policy messages occurre in April when Czech leader Mirek Topolanek, then chairing the presidency of the EU, clashed with external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner over EU-Israel relations.Ms Waldner had said that an upgrade to relations between the two sides would remain frozen until Israel takes steps to repair the peace process with Palestinians – a statement lambasted by Mr Topolanek as really hasty and not to be attributed more weight than just a statement by a commissioner.
The upgrade still remains frozen, however.
Without referring to any specific EU presidency, Mr Solana said that the current six-month rotating system adds some element of difficulty and believed it would be easier for foreign partners once the Lisbon Treaty comes into force and establishes a permanent EU president for two and a half years.Two names have been floated so far to become the EU's first president – former British prime minister Tony Blair and former Spanish premier Felipe Gonzales. Mr Solana, himself a Spaniard, rejected claims of an Iberian overload at the helm of the EU in 2010 if Mr Gonzales gets picked. The president of the European Commission will likely to continue to be Jose Manuel Barroso, a Portuguese politician, while Spain will chair the ministers meetings in the first six months of the year.If the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, Mr Solana's successor would have a more prominent role, merging his current task with those of the external relations commissioner. The post would still not be called EU foreign minister, thought to be too provocative for many countries, but High Representative of the Union for foreign affairs and security policy.Some names are already been spoken of for the job, including the foreign ministers of Sweden and Italy, Carl Bildt and Franco Frattini, as well as enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, who hails from from Finland.
Human rights campaigners have high hopes for Swedish EU presidency
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today JUNE 23,09 @ 17:37 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Sweden's history of progressive positions within the European Union on human rights has campaigners optimistic about the upcoming Swedish presidency of the EU.Officials with Amnesty International, the human rights NGO, said in Brussels on Tuesday that while they are not in the business of ranking EU member states in terms of their commitments to human rights, with Sweden in charge of the EU for the next six months, the group is very hopeful.Sweden made a considerable impact on the EU's broader human rights agenda during its last presidency in 2001, said Lise Bergh, secretary-general of Amnesty International Sweden, speaking to reporters ahead of the presentation of a serious of recommendations for Stockholm's turn at the helm of the bloc.Amnesty is in particular hoping the Swedes will turn around the EU's track record on torture in recent years, ensure that a robust anti-discrimination directive is agreed to under its watch, and begin to arrest the growing anti-immigrant flavour of security policies across the bloc.It wants the Swedish presidency in particular to focus on redress for European collaboration with American extraordinary rendition practices in the war on terror - popularly known as torture flights - in which individuals suspected of links to terrorist activities were kidnapped and tortured either by Americans or at the hands of nationals whose states were known to employ such coercive techniques.Member states have assisted or turned a blind eye to CIA rendition flights over their territories, shared information that has led to people being forcefully captured and tortured, failed to protect EU citizens or residents from torture and allowed the CIA to operate secret prisons in Europe,Mr Beger continued.
The group wants Sweden to push for an EU position supporting reparation for victims and accountability for individuals responsible.Amnesty is also placing a lot of emphasis on the new anti-discrimination directive presented by the European Commission last July. The bill extends protection against discrimination on the grounds of age, disability and sexual orientation in a range of goods and services - including healthcare and housing - not currently covered by existing EU anti-discrimination laws. Currently in the middle of its legislative journey, the directive must win the unanimous support of the member states - a job that will take a skilful EU skipper to complete.The group also wants to see the Swedes take an active role in the growing preference of some member states to address the issue of irregular migration from a criminal law perspective.People residing or entering the territory of member states should not be treated as criminals and EU member states should never use criminal sanctions against irregular migrants for the sole reason of their irregular entry or residence,the report reads.Engagement with countries beyond the EU on this issue has as a sole objective the prevention of undesired migration, warns the document, instead of the human rights of the migrants concerned.
Italy under fire
The decision of the Italian government in May to return individuals rescued at sea to Libya without entering into a proper assessment of their potential protection needs as set a dangerous precedent.As a result, Amnesty is calling on the Swedish presidency to include in the next five-year plan for the EU in the area of freedom, security and justice - also known as the Stockholm Programme - mechanisms for the monitoring of human rights in EU migration policies.Italy also came in for sharp criticism for its recently passed Security Package, which criminalises irregular immigration, legalises vigilante patrols and sentences landlords to up to three years of prison if they rent to undocumented migrants.[Sweden] has to argue against Italy's role ... How this is done is obviously up to them, but it must be done in a clear manner. They must speak out against the Security Package full stop. It has to be said.
They worry that while there are EU guidelines for human rights, no channel exists for human rights protection within the 27 member states.It's actually quite amazing that while there is anti-discrimination legislation and the like, there is no mechanism for monitoring, no commitment in terms of peer review.The campaigners said that the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency can issue reports, but no one in the Council has to read or respond to them.
The EU has no way of talking to itself about this issue.
The Amnesty recommendations were released a day after Sweden's conservative Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and the country's Europe minister, the liberal Cecilia Malmstrom presented their country's plans for their time as EU chair.We want to focus more on the individual as a victim and to have clear and transparent rules on migration,Ms Malmstrom told journalists on Monday.Ms Malmstrom is also a supporter of Stiftelsen Expo, a research foundation founded to combat racism and the growth of the far right.
Sweden to stay out of EU candidates' bilateral spats
ANDREW WILLIS Today JUNE 23,09 @ 09:04 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – With just over a week to go before Sweden takes over the helm of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, the country's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, has made it clear he does not intend to waste time attempting to unblock the many bilateral disputes that currently pepper the EU's diplomatic landscape. Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt (r) and Minister for European Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom (l) present their presidency programme (Photo: Council)I would like to emphasise that responsibility for solving bilateral issues lies primarily with the countries concerned. You can't expect the world to solve your bilateral issues. You'll have to solve them yourselves,said Mr Bildt on Monday (22 June) speaking to reporters in Brussels while presenting plans for Sweden's presidency.In the Balkans, Croatian accession talks are currently blocked by Slovenia due to a border dispute, with Sweden's foreign minister saying it is now time for a period of reflection in both countries.Meanwhile, Greece has put the brakes on Macedonia's application as a result of the country's choice of name. The western Balkans is always something that can keep you fairly busy if you have nothing else to do,said Mr Bildt in recognition of the many disputes in the region. The divided country of Cyprus is another area where Mr Bildt has expressed a desire to see progress, but here again he says the EU has limited influence.Ukraine is currently facing difficulties in paying its Russian gas bills, with the Kremlin suggesting the EU should step in and pick up the tab to avoid another gas crisis similar to that witnessed in January.But Mr Bildt insisted the EU does not have the budget for this and that the two countries must solve the problem themselves.
Iceland
One area where he appears to be more optimistic for a quick solution is the future status of Iceland which – depending on an upcoming parliamentary debate – may submit an application in the coming months to join the EU.Iceland's parliamentary tradition that stretches back over 1000 years, its membership of the European Economic Area since the early 1990s and resultant adoption of the vast majority of the EU's rules clearly distinguishes it from would-be members in south-eastern Europe, said Mr Bildt.He also pointed out that Icelandic membership would give the EU a far greater say in the ever increasing number of issues related to the Arctic area, including marine transportation, energy resources and the melting icecap.
Climate change and the economy
Sweden's European affairs minister and former MEP, Cecilia Malmstrom, speaking alongside her colleague, said she is under no illusion the next six months are going to be easy and that the presidency's main priorities will be to deal with negotiations in the lead up to the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December and the economic crisis. We will do our utmost to do whatever we can to reach a conclusion in Copenhagen, a global deal, a post-Kyoto deal to reduce CO2 emissions,she said, referring to the key meeting where leaders from 181 states will attempt to thrash out a global plan to reduce carbon emissions.Crucial to securing a deal will be the willingness of the world's richer countries to provide financing for less developed countries, but Ms Malmstr̦m said it would be silly for the EU to show its hand on this issue too soon. On the economic side, the incoming presidency will need to tackle rising unemployment and member-state budget deficits and also secure member state approval for commission legislative proposals on financial supervision due out this autumn.Securing a common EU position leading into the next G20 leaders meeting in the US this September will also be vital to a successful outcome, while intense discussions on a successor to the Lisbon Strategy Рthe EU's long-term growth plan Рare needed if the new agenda is to be agreed next year.
Institutional uncertainty
Not likely to help the Swedes however, is the significant institutional change that is expected under their watch, with a new European Parliament due to sit for the first time next month and the current commission scheduled to end this October. Adding to this confusion is the current drawn-out changeover between the Nice and Lisbon Treaties, with four countries – Ireland, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic - yet to ratify the EU's new set of rules. The Lisbon Treaty is of course something that will lie over our whole presidency,said Ms Malmstrom.A second referendum will be held on the reform treaty this autumn in Ireland, following an EU leaders' agreement last Friday to provide the country's prime minister, Brain Cowen, with legal guarantees in the areas of social policy, taxation and neutrality that he was seeking and that he hopes will enable him to win a second referendum on the document. Until the Lisbon Treaty is fully ratified, it is unclear under which rules the new commission should be appointed, with members of the European Parliament insisting the old Nice rules – under which they have less say – should not be used.
The outgoing Czech and incoming Swedish presidencies are currently exploring the level of support among the parliament's political parties for Jose Manuel Barroso to stand for a second term as commission president, with both keen to secure quick approval for the former Portuguese politician. Obviously we would prefer if the parliament could decide in July [on the new commission president], as there are so many difficult issues, and we need a commission that can help us on this,said Ms Malmstrom.
Analysis casts doubts on Ahmadinejad's victory By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 22, 3:29 pm ET
CAIRO – An analysis by a British think tank highlights profound differences between voting patterns in Iran's recent election and hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first victory in 2005, casting doubt on whether they could have occurred without manipulation.The analysis by the London-based Chatham House could provide ammunition for supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the pro-reform candidate who claims he was the true winner in the June 12 election.The dispute has sparked more than a week of unrest in Iran that has killed at least 17 people and presented the regime with its greatest challenge since the 1979 Islamic revolution.Iran's highest electoral authority acknowledged irregularities in the election for the first time Monday but insisted they did not affect the outcome.The official results showed that Ahmadinejad received 13 million more votes than he and other conservatives got in the 2005 election, according to the Chatham House report, which was released Sunday.The results would have required him to receive support in a third of the provinces from all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, all new voters and almost half of all former reformist voters — an unlikely scenario, said the study.Discontent with Ahmadinejad was running high among reformists and even some conservatives unhappy with his handling of the economy and his antagonistic stance toward the international community.The final tally was 62.6 percent of the vote for Ahmadinejad and 33.75 percent for Mousavi — a landslide victory in a race that was perceived to be much closer.Such a huge margin went against the expectation that a high turnout — a record 85 percent of Iran's 46.2 million eligible voters — would boost Mousavi, whose campaign energized young people to vote. About a third of the eligible voters were under 30.
Ahmadinejad has called the June 12 election real and free.
The Chatham House report cast doubt on the idea that large numbers of conservative voters who had not voted in previous election might have come out this time to support Ahmadinejad.While the official results indicate Ahmadinejad increased the conservative vote by 113 percent compared with the 2005 election, there is little correlation at the provincial level between the increase in turnout and the swing to the president.This challenges the notion that Ahmadinejad's victory was due to the massive participation of a previously silent conservative majority,said the study.
The research found that turnout in two provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, was more than 100 percent. The practice of using identity documents of dead people to cast additional ballots is a common and widespread problem in Iran, said the report.The Guardian Council, which certifies election results, acknowledged Monday that more votes were cast in 50 districts than there were registered voters.But this has no effect on the result of the elections, council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei was quoted as saying on the state TV Web site.International monitors are barred from observing Iranian elections, and Mousavi has charged that representatives of his campaign were expelled from polling centers even though each candidate was allowed one observer at each location.The Guardian Council, which is closely allied with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has agreed to recount a sampling of 10 percent of the ballot boxes nationwide. But Mousavi has said he does not believe the council is neutral and has demanded a new election. Many commentators have pointed to Ahmadinejad's support in rural areas as the reason for his political success. But the study said conservative candidates, particularly Ahmadinejad, were markedly unpopular in rural areas in past presidential elections. Ahmadinejad has campaigned in all of the provinces, but the think tank cast doubt on the 2009 results that showed a sudden shift to the president in rural areas.This increase in support for Ahmadinejad amongst rural and ethnic minority voters is out of step with previous trends, extremely large in scale, and central to the question of why (or indeed whether) he won in June 2009,said the study.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU WorldNetDaily Exclusive Iran preparing for bloodbath crackdown,Israeli security sources say regime has unleashed only fraction of capabilities June 22, 2009 4:35 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily
Screen grab from private video posted on YouTube that shows attempts to save the life of 26-year-old Neda Soltan, who now is hailed as a martyr after her apparent murder during a protest in Tehran .JERUSALEM – Iran is preparing for a massive bloodbath crackdown on protesters in the near future if the demonstrations continue to escalate in the coming days, Israeli security sources estimated. What we have seen so far is a fraction of Iran's capabilities in suppressing the uprising, said one security source.The Islamist regime cannot afford for the protests to be successful. They know the world is watching, but they are still preparing for a bloodbath of proportions that we have yet to witness if it comes to that,the source said. A second security source added President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters in the Islamic theocracy could come out stronger and more authoritarian than ever if they successfully violently quell the protests and afterward still engage with the international community over issues of Iran's nuclear program. Thus far, ordinary police as well as the Basij, a plainclothes militia under the command of Iran's notorious Revolutionary Guard, have been used to attempt to hold back the streets protests that erupted after the presidential election results were announced. If Revolutionary Guard soldiers are called in, stronger measures are expected.
In a statement today, the Guards warned on its official website it would not hesitate to confront illegal protests organized by defeated presidential candidates. The statement also urged the West to stop backing rioters.We will not wait to confront rioters in illegal rallies that were called by some candidates. ... The corps warns bullying powers ... to avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and back rioters,the Guard website reported. Yesterday, acting joint chief of the armed forces Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid issued a thinly veiled warning to opposition leader Mir Mousavi, saying his group is determined to confront plots by enemies aimed at creating a rift in the nation. In the protests so far, police reportedly have been firing tear gas, water cannons and guns at the crowds. Multiple reports claim live ammunition has been fired at the protesters.Iran says at least 17 protesters have been killed, while other reports said to be using hospital data put the actual death toll as of yesterday at 150.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Hamas denies claims of aiding Iranian forces
Group accused of violently cracking down on protesters in Tehran June 22, 2009
3:35 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – Hamas, whose gunmen have openly admitted in the past to being trained by Iran, today strongly denied claims it is involved in cracking down on protesters in Tehran.These accusations are completely untrue,Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told WND. Mushir-al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman and parliamentarian, told WND, This is nonsense and doesn't deserve any response.Other Hamas members contacted by WND, including the group's chief political adviser in Gaza, Ahmed Yousef, denied the accusations as well.A top Hamas member, speaking to WND on condition his name be withheld, stated, The Iranian Revolutionary Guards are the best in the world at cracking down on protests. Why would they need help from the movement (Hamas)? It's a ridiculous claim.Multiple reports quoted witnesses in Iran claiming Hamas was behind attacks on protesters there. The Jerusalem Post today quoted two Iranian protesters stating Palestinian Hamas members were helping the Iranian authorities crush street protests. Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper carried a similar report. Other reports in Voice of America and Germany's Der Spiegel claimed as many as 5,000 members of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group were in Iran, where they were being used to control the protesters. The Hezbollah members are often easily identified by their screams in Arabic, claimed Der Spiegel.
Speaking of Hamas' alleged involvement in crushing the protests, one rioter in Tehran was quoted by Der Spiegel stating, My brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people's money is not enough – they are thirsty for our blood too.When asked if Hamas could have been mistaken for Hezbollah, the rioter was quoted responding: Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. [Palestinian extremists] are out beating Iranians in the streets. ... The more we gave this arrogant race, the more they want. ... We will not let them push us around in our own country.
Protests continue despite warnings
Earlier today, protests continued despite strong warning by Iran's security forces against any more rioting. Security forces reportedly attacked hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally in central Tehran. Witnesses there told news agencies police were not allowing anyone to stand still, asking civilians to keep on walking and separating people who were walking together in attempts to quell the protests. There is a massive, massive, massive police presence, a witness reportedly told the Associated Press by telephone. Their presence was really intimidating.Iran says at least 17 protesters have been killed in a week of unrest so far after the electoral council declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winner of elections 10 days ago. His main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, charged the election was a fraud, with his followers staging near-daily rallies.CNN reported at least 19 people were killed as of Saturday based on eyewitness accounts of medical officials in Teheran's hospitals. CNN also quoted unconfirmed reports that put the actual death toll as of yesterday at 150. Today Britain said it was evacuating the families of diplomats and other officials based in Iran, the first country to do so as Iran's worst internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution escalated. Iran accused Britain of fomenting the protests.
Huckabee urges stronger Iran response from US JUNE 22,09
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says the U.S. should respond more strongly in support of political protesters in Iran.
Huckabee told a gathering of Southern Baptist pastors in Louisville, Ky., that the U.S. should push for an investigation of the disputed election in Iran and push to allow media outlets into Iran to report on the unrest.The ordained Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor says God is hearing the protesters' voices. He said, God help us if we do not hear their voices and stand with them.After his speech, Huckabee grabbed a guitar and performed a hymn with a band on stage.The pastors are gathering ahead of a Baptist convention that begins Tuesday.
Sarkozy says burqas are not welcome in France By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 22, 5:32 pm ET
PARIS – President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Monday that the Islamic burqa is not welcome in France, branding the face-covering, body-length gown as a symbol of subservience that suppresses women's identities and turns them into prisoners behind a screen.But there was a mixed message in the tough words: an admission that the country's long-held principle of ethnic assimilation — which insists that newcomers shed their traditions and adapt to French culture — is failing because it doesn't give immigrants and their French-born children a fair chance.In a high-profile speech to lawmakers in the historic chateau at Versailles, Sarkozy said the head-to-toe Muslim body coverings were in disaccord with French values — some of the strongest language against burqas from a European leader at a time when some Western officials have been seeking to ease tensions with the Muslim world.In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity, Sarkozy said to extended applause of the lawmakers gathered where French kings once held court.The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement — I want to say it solemnly, he said.It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.Some Muslim leaders interpret the Quran to require that women wear a headscarf, niqab or burqa in the presence of a man who is not their husband or close relative.France is home to Western Europe's largest population of Muslims, estimated at about 5 million. A small but growing group of French women wear burqas and niqabs, which either cloak the entire body or cover everything but the eyes.Critics fear the issue of full-body coverings, which only involves a tiny minority of French Muslims, could increase discrimination against all Muslims who display their faith in any way.Dalil Boubakeur, director of the largest Paris mosque, said Sarkozy's push to keep out the burqa is typical of French culture, but worried that he might inflame tensions with Muslims.The president wanted to show that the rules of life in France — and that you can just bring in unjustified traditions,Boubakeur said.But you have to hope — inshallah (God willing) — that there won't be any ill-feeling, controversies or incidents in this confrontation between an Eastern idea and Western life,Boubakeur told the AP in a telephone interview.Or then eastern Muslims will have to return to the Orient ... completely unable to assimilate and uncomfortable in a Western system.
But Sarkozy also said immigrants face economic challenges in France, and the government needs to do more to help them.Who doesn't see that our integration model isn't working any more? Sarkozy said.Instead of producing equality, it produces inequality. Instead of producing cohesion, it creates resentment.The unemployment rate for immigrants and their French-born children is higher than the national average. Many children of immigrants complain of discrimination, saying they get passed over for jobs because they have foreign-sounding names. Frustration of many children of north African and black immigrants boiled over in France's three-week wave of riots in 2005.The burqa comments made up only a few lines of Sarkozy's speech, which focused on the global economic crisis and a Cabinet shake-up expected to be announced Wednesday. The address was the first by a French president to parliament in 136 years; the last was in 1873 — before lawmakers banned the practice to protect the separation of powers and keep the president in check. That ban was scrapped last year.In France, the terms burqa and niqab often are used interchangeably. A burqa is a full-body covering worn largely in Afghanistan — with only a mesh screen over the eyes. A niqab is a full-body veil, often black, with slits for the eyes.Muslim groups and government officials say it's hard to know how many women wear burqas and niqabs in France — though estimated to be at least in the hundreds. They are far less prevalent than simpler Muslim head scarves.A 2004 law banned wearing the Muslim head scarf at public schools, along with Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses. That law sparked fierce debate both at home and abroad.
In a visit to Normandy earlier this month, President Barack Obama addressed France's headscarf ban, saying countries handle such issues with their national sensitivities and histories in mind, before adding: I will tell you that in the United States our basic attitude is, is that we're not going to tell people what to wear.The French government has been divided on a burqa ban. Immigration Minister Eric Besson said a ban would only create tensions, while junior minister for human rights Rama Yade said she was open to a ban if it was aimed at protecting women forced to wear the burqa.
The burqa has come under criticism in some parts of Europe. In 2003, Sweden's National Agency for Education gave schools the right to ban pupils from wearing burqas if it interferes with the teaching or safety regulations. The Dutch government last year described the burqa and other clothing that covers the face, as undesirable,but the ruling coalition stopped short of attempting a ban amid concerns of possible religious discrimination. But the government did say it would work toward banning burqas in schools and among public servants, saying that they stand in the way of good communication.Later Monday, Sarkozy hosted a state dinner with Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani of Qatar — a Persian Gulf state where women often wear niqabs. The emir was joined by one of his wives, Sheika Mozah, whose head was covered in an elegant turban.
Official: N. Korean ship carries weapons to Myanmar By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer JUNE 22,09
SEOUL, South Korea – A North Korean-flagged ship under close watch in Asian waters is believed to be heading toward Myanmar carrying small arms cargo banned under a new U.N. resolution, a South Korean intelligence official said Monday.Still, analysts say a high seas interception — something North Korea has said it would consider an act of war — is unlikely.The Kang Nam, accused of engaging in illicit trade in the past, is the first vessel monitored under the new sanctions designed to punish the North for its defiant nuclear test last month. The U.S. military began tracking the ship after it left a North Korean port on Wednesday on suspicion it was carrying illicit weapons.
A South Korean intelligence official said Monday that his agency believes the North Korean ship is carrying small weapons and is sailing toward the Myanmar city of Yangon.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing the sensitive nature of the information, said he could provide no further details.Myanmar's military government, which faces an arms embargo from the U.S. and the European Union, reportedly has bought weapons from North Korea in the past.The Irrawaddy, an online magazine operated by independent exiled journalists from Myanmar, reported Monday that the North Korean ship would dock at the Thilawa port, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Yangon, in the next few days.The magazine cited an unidentified port official as saying that North Korean ships have docked there in the past. The magazine's in-depth coverage of Myanmar has been generally reliable in the past.
South Korean television network YTN reported Sunday that the ship was streaming toward Myanmar but said the vessel appeared to be carrying missiles and related parts. The report cited an unidentified intelligence source in South Korea.Kim Jin-moo, an analyst at Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the North is believed to have sold guns, artillery and other small weapons to Myanmar but not missiles, which it has been accused of exporting to Iran and Syria.The U.N. sanctions, which toughen an earlier arms embargo against North Korea, ban the country from exporting all weapons and weapons-related material, meaning any weapons shipment to Myanmar would violate the resolution.The Security Council resolution calls on all 192 U.N. member states to inspect North Korean vessels on the high seas if they have information that provides reasonable grounds to believe that the cargo contains banned weapons or material to make them. But that requires approval from the North.If the North refuses to give approval, it must direct the vessel to an appropriate and convenient port for the required inspection by the local authorities.North Korea, however, is unlikely to allow any inspection of its cargo, making an interception unlikely, said Hong Hyun-ik, an analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul.A senior U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday that a Navy ship, the USS John S. McCain, is relatively close to the North Korean vessel but had no orders to intercept it. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Any chance for an armed skirmish between the two ships is low, analysts say, though the North Korean crew is possibly armed with rifles.It's still a cargo ship. A cargo ship can't confront a warship, said Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.Tension on the Korean peninsula has been running high since the North's May 25 nuclear test, with Pyongyang and Washington exchanging near-daily accusations against each other. President Barack Obama assured Americans in an interview broadcast Monday that the U.S. is prepared for any move North Korea might make amid media reports that Pyongyang is planning a long-range missile test in early July. This administration — and our military — is fully prepared for any contingencies, Obama said during an interview with CBS News' The Early Show.Still, ever defiant, North Korea declared itself a proud nuclear power and warned Monday that it would strike if provoked.As long as our country has become a proud nuclear power, the U.S. should take a correct look at whom it is dealing with,the country's main Rodong Sinmun said in commentary.It would be a grave mistake for the U.S. to think it can remain unhurt if it ignites the fuse of war on the Korean peninsula.Associated Press writer Grant Peck in Bangkok and Jae-soon Chang in Seoul contributed to this report.
AU supports Somalia plea for foreign troops by SAMSON HAILEYESUS, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 22, 9:35 am ET
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The African Union said Monday it supports Somalia's plea for neighboring countries to send troops to help fight Islamist insurgents, but there was no indication the reinforcements would be forthcoming.AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping said in a statement that the Somali government has the right to seek support from AU member states and the larger international community.Somali lawmakers pleaded this weekend for immediate international military intervention from countries including Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti to help quash the insurgency.But Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Monday the country would not send troops, choosing instead to help Somalia in other ways.He did not elaborate.There was no immediate word on whether other countries would answer the call. There is already an AU force in Mogadishu, but its mandate is restricted to guarding government officials and installations.A surge in violence in recent weeks, which diplomats said is a major push by the insurgents to force the government out of its Mogadishu strongholds, has killed nearly 200 civilians.Nearly 126,000 people have fled their homes since May 7, according to the U.N. refugee agency. The United Nations says an estimated 3.2 million Somalis — almost half the country's population — need food and other humanitarian aid.Somalia's defense minister was supposed to be in Paris to meet with French government ministers Monday but returned to Somalia instead because of the degradation of the situation on the ground,according to the French Foreign Ministry.
Two years ago, Ethiopia deployed troops to support Somalia's fragile, Western-backed government, but they were widely unpopular and were finally withdrawn in January after the election of the new president. Last month Ethiopia sent in troops to the border regions of Somalia.Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti are members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional group that has led past peace talks on Somalia and last month imposed a sea and air blockade to stop supplies reaching the Islamic insurgents in Somalia. It is not clear whether the blockade is effective.Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 when the overthrow of a dictatorship plunged the country into chaos.AP Writer Tom Odula contributed to this report from Nairobi, Kenya.
I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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