US-KOREA TRADE BARBES

REPORTS HAVE IT THIS WAS A MUSLIM HONOR KILLINGS DUE TO THE DAUGHTERS REBELLING AGAINST ISLAM.THEY WERE TRYING TO LIVE A LIFE OF FREEDOM NOT MUSLIM OPPRESSION.THIS HAS TO STOP,THE GIRLS AND WOMEN OF ISLAM PAY BIGTIME WITH THEIR PRECIOUS LIVES JUST BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE EQUAL WITH MEN IN ISLAM.THIS IS A TERRIBLE OUTRAGE AND WE MUST STAND UP SOME HOW FOR THE MUSLIM GIRLS AND WOMEN SO THEY WILL NOT BE MURDERED LIKE THIS NEEDLESSLY.

HONOR KILLINGS (WOMEN PAY BIGTIME)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0c0XVI1BpM&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_3VvZkwujI

An honour killing? Posted By ROB TRIPP RTRIPP@THEWHIG.COM
JULY 22,09

Kingston Police have arrested at least three people in connection with the mysterious deaths of four Montreal women found in a submerged car in Kingston Mills on June 30.

Police sources confirmed the dramatic development in the case yesterday, 22 days after a black Nissan Sentra was found in roughly three metres of water near one of the four locks. Three teenage sisters were found dead in the car, Zainab Shafi, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, along with a 50-year-old woman, Rona Amir Mohammed. La Presse newspaper in Montreal said three people who were heading to Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport were arrested yesterday morning. Initially, police said the case was suspicious but that they had not found evidence of foul play. It's not clear what charges are being laid, but the Whig-Standard learned that Kingston Police have been investigating, for at least two weeks, the allegation that the deaths were an honour killing. We are convinced that this is a crime of honour, Diba Masoomi told Kingston Police, in an e-mail sent to the police chief's office roughly two weeks ago.The newspaper obtained a copy of the e-mail from Masoomi, who lives in Niort, France. She claims she is the sister of Rona Amir Mohammed and she also offered the stunning allegation that the dead woman was the first wife of Mohammed Shafi, the father of the three dead girls. She provided photos that she claims show Shafi and Mohammed at their wedding in Afghanistan 30 years ago. The couple never divorced.

Masoomi said the marriage has been hidden since the family moved to Canada two years ago.In interviews after the deaths, Shafi and the woman he presented as his only wife, Tooba Mohammed Yhaya, said Rona Mohammed was a cousin.Ali Shafi, a 15-year-old brother of the dead girls, told the Whig-Standard in an interview July 8 that Rona Mohammed was his aunt. For some time, my sister, as well as the Shaficouple's oldest daughter, Zainab, had been receiving death threats for social, cultural and family reasons,Masoomi's e-mail to Kingston Police states. In an interview through translation, Masoomi, who does not speak English or French, explained that Rona Mohammed has stayed in regular contact with relatives in Europe, and has told them she feared for her life. She was really afraid, Masoomi told the Whig-Standard, through her daughter, Elaha Masoomi.There were death threats.Diba Masoomi said that Rona Mohammed married Shafiin Kabul, Afghanistan. When she could not have children, he took a second wife, a practice that is not uncommon in Afghani culture.

Shafiand his second wife had seven children.

Masoomi said her sister remained with the family and raised the children, even when they moved to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, 17 years ago. TheWhig-Standardreached another relative of Rona Mohammed, sister Homa Kahoush, who lives in Sweden. She also does not speak English or French. In an interview translated by her son, Naveed Mohammed, she also said that Rona Mohammed was Shafi's first wife, a fact that was hidden by the family in Canada. Kingston Police have refused to comment on any of the information.Nothing will be released until tomorrow, Const. Mike Menor said late last night.Police have scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. today. Police investigators are announcing a change in the status of this ongoing investigation, police said in a release yesterday.In interviews four days after the car was found underwater at Kingston Mills, Mohammed Shafiand Tooba Mohammed Yhaya surmised that the car ended up in the water as the result of a joyride.They said their eldest daughter, Zainab, had taken the car without permission in the past, even though she did not have a licence. She was trying to learn to drive. My big daughter, she sometimes wants to try to drive, Yhaya told theToronto Star. The family said they were returning to Montreal from a family trip to Niagara Falls on June 29 when they decided to stop in Kingston because they were fatigued. They had driven in two cars, a Lexus SUV and the Nissan.They stopped at a motel for the night at about 1 a. m., they said.The four women who were later found dead slept together in one of two motel rooms the family rented.Yhaya said some time later, Zainab came to her room and asked for the keys to the family's Nissan so she could get some clothes from the car. The next morning, when she awoke, the mother said the Nissan was missing along with her three daughters and Rona Mohammed. The family could not reach anyone by cellphone. They filed a missing-persons report with police and drove on to Montreal, believing the other group had left without them.

Ali Shafi, who was on the trip to Niagara Falls, told the newspaper he could not remember at which motel the family stayed.A longtime tenant at the Lord Nelson Motel on Hwy. 15, Bob Asselstine, told theWhig-Standard that he recalled seeing a large family, driving in two cars, silver and black, who arrived at the motel one evening a day or two before Canada Day.

He said he believed they arrived around 9 or 9:30 p.m.

The motel's guest receipts for that night did not show that anyone by the name Shafi stayed at the motel, which is roughly two kilometres from Kingston Mills. It is the first motel visible to a traveller on Hwy. 401 who turns south onto Hwy. 15. In the past weeks, Kingston Police have been collecting video surveillance footage from gas bars and other retail operations along the highway.A Kingston woman, Shirley Gibson-Langille, told the newspaper that she's certain she saw the four women who were later found in the car at Kingston Mills in the early evening of June 29, walking around the property.Kingston Police said previously that information was incorrect. Police were at the Shafi family home in Montreal on Tuesday evening for roughly three hours, according to a neighbour.Mario Carpanzano has been a neighbour since the Shafis moved into the multiplex directly across from his home on Rue Bonnivet.On Tuesday night, Montreal police officers parked in front of his house at about 6 p. m., accompanied by an unmarked car, he said. The police car came and parked in front of my gate. Then another car from Kingston arrived. It was people dressed in suits, Carpanzano, 65, told the Whig-Standard yesterday.It had an Ontario licence plate,he said when asked how he knew it was Kingston Police.All of the officers went into the Shafi home. He saw camera flashes through the windows. Three hours later, at about 9 or 9:30 p.m., the officers left.Carpanzano said the family remained at the house, including the father, mother and brother.I was on my neighbour's balcony talking,he said. They waved at us and we waved back.Later, he noticed members of the Shafifamily leave in a van. He went to bed, so he didn't know if or when they returned that evening. When he left his house at 5 a. m. Wednesday, he didn't notice anything suspicious. Rue Bonnivet is a tree-lined street in the middle of a predominantly Italian neighbourhood in the east-end Montreal suburb of St. Leonard. All of the houses in the district are four-plexes. The Shafifamily rented the middle and lower floors at 8644 Bonnivet. The homes all have balconies where residents closely watch their neighbours' comings and goings. Carpanzano said that over the past two years, many Moroccan and Algerian families and people of middle eastern origins have been moving into the area.Since the deaths, Carpanzano said, the father, Mohammed Shafi, always had his eyes red like a person who was crying.He said Rona Amir Mohammed was presented to us as a cousin of the man.Carpanzano said the family members seemed to be close, but he did notice that Rona was very often alone when she went for walks.

They were very private people. It seemed they didn't have a lot of friends or relatives in Canada or Montreal. They were so close to each other in the family, he said.We didn't notice anything different. The kids, they used to play with her.The only turmoil the family displayed, according to Carpanzano, occurred about a month before the deaths at Kingston Mills when the oldest brother told him that his sister, 19-year-old Zainab, had left home suddenly. The older brother said, We called the police because my sister, she ran away,recounted Carpanzano. From what we heard, it seemed she was going out with somebody the parents didn't want and she ran away, defying her parents' authority.He said the brother didn't mention anything about her possibly having married.The only thing I know is he said she was seeing a guy, but the family did not agree with that. The family didn't say why,said Carpanzano. Kingston Police have described the incident as perplexing from the start, noting that a car would have had to negotiate many obstacles to make it into the water at that spot in Kingston Mills.There was no damage to any of the lock equipment, tables or other objects around the edge where the car is presumed to have plunged into the water.The submerged car was first spotted by a lock worker who was preparing to move the first boats through the canal that day just after 8:30 a.m. The car was resting on its wheels, its front end up against the lock wall, as if the vehicle plunged in backwards.Police have never released any information about what was learned when autopsies were done on the victims.

TIMELINE FOR DEATH What allegedly happened, according to statements from family and police. June 30 1 a. m.: Shafifamily arrives at east-end motel driving a black 2004 Nissan Sentra and a silver Lexus SUV, they say. 1:30 a. m. or later: Zainab Shafi, 19, enters her parents' room and asks for keys to Nissan to get clothes out of car.

7:30 a. m.: Tooba Mohammed Yhaya and her husband, Mohammed Shafi, awake to find Nissan missing. They go into police headquarters that morning to file a missing person's report before heading back to Montreal. 8:30 a. m.: First boats head into locks at Kingston Mills. Parks Canada workers notice oil plume on water and then see a submerged car at the northeast corner of the upper lock gates. A police dive team is called in and the car and bodies are removed in the afternoon. July 2 Autopsies performed on the four women found in the car - Zainab, her sisters Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13 and their relative Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, described by family as their aunt. July 3 Police send two-man survey crew to plot the terrain around the lock station. There are very few hints of a car coming through the area and tire tracks don't appear to be conclusive. July 5 Shafifamily buries the four dead women at an Islamic cemetery in Laval, Que. Further services are held in the coming days. July 1 -10 Kingston Police visit area businesses along Hwy. 15 to check security video and hotel logs. July 22 Police arrest three people but remain mum about further details. An afternoon news release announces a 2 p. m. news conference today to announce a change in the status of this ongoing investigation.Article ID# 1668566

Honour killings' of girls and women on the rise in Canada: expert.By Shannon Proudfoot, Canwest News ServiceJuly 23, 2009

As many as 5,000 women and girls lose their lives - most at the hands of family members - in honour killings around the world each year, according to the United Nations.Up to a dozen have died for the same reason in Canada in the last decade, and it's happening more often, says Amin Muhammad, a psychiatrist who studies honour killings at Memorial University in Newfoundland.There are a number of organizations which don't accept the idea of honour killing; they say it's a Western-propagated myth by the media, but it's not true,he says. Honour killing is there, and we should acknowledge it, and Canada should take it seriously.Kingston, Ont., police are now investigating that as a motive in the deaths of three teenage sisters and an older female relative who were found in a car submerged in the Rideau Canal in Kingston on June 30. The girls' mother, father and brother were arrested on Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder.In our Canadian society, we value the cultural values of everyone that makes up this great country, and some of us have different core beliefs, different family values, different sets of rules,Kingston Police Chief Stephen Tanner said at a news conference on Thursday. Certainly, these individuals - in particular, the three teenagers - were Canadian teenagers who have all the freedom and rights of expression of all Canadians.He added that he'd received an e-mail from an extended family member of the girls, suggesting honour killing was to blame for their deaths.

Honour killings can be sparked by a woman talking to a man, having a boyfriend, wearing makeup or revealing clothing, or even seeking a divorce, says Diana Nammi, founder of the London-based International Campaign Against Honour Killings. Nammi, originally from Iran, says children of immigrants who grow up in western nations take those freedoms for granted, which can throw them into conflict with their parents' rigid standards.When people are moving to another country, they leave everything they have, all their possessions, behind. But what they can bring with them is what they believe, their culture, their traditions, their religion, she says. Unfortunately, they are choosing to show the worst part of that, and the worst and criminal part of that is controlling women.One of the earliest honour killings involving a Canadian occurred in 2000, when Maple Ridge, B.C., resident Jaswinder Sidhu was murdered in India in what police called a contract killing, after she married a man she met while travelling.In 2003, Amandeep Atwal, 17, died after her father stabbed her 17 times. The Kitimat, B.C., teen had been secretly seeing a boyfriend.Sixteen-year-old Aqsa Parvez's father and brother are currently awaiting trial for her strangulation death in 2007, and friends said the Brampton, Ont., teen had been clashing with her family over her refusal to wear the hijab.In May, an Ottawa man was sentenced to life in prison for killing his sister, Khatera Sadiqi, 20, and her fiance.We cannot say there's a huge number of cases, but now the cases are increasing, and very soon we'll have a problem in Canada,says Muhammad.Men occasionally die in honour killings, he says, but young women are almost always the victims in western countries.Honour killing is most prevalent in nations with large Muslim populations, but Aysan Sev'er, a professor of sociology at University of Toronto Scarborough and author of an upcoming book on the subject, says there's nothing in Islam that sanctions the practice. Some perpetrators use religion as a cloak,she says, but honour killing is about patriarchy, not religion.A few women are really sacrificed to terrorize all women, to push them into submission, where they are not in the position to defend themselves or even their daughters or sisters,Sev'er says.It's wrong-headed to blame particular cultures or further stereotype the Middle East, she emphasizes, but Canada cannot overlook the motivation for these heinous crimes.In Canada, we have been extremely culturally sensitive, and that's a good thing,she says. But in this particular case, we may have pushed the pendulum a little to the other side, in the sense that there are cultural components in these types of crimes which we cannot ignore.Canwest News Service

New service lets Jews tweet a prayer to God By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer - Thu Jul 23, 1:22 pm ET

JERUSALEM – For centuries, people have stuffed prayers written on scraps of paper into the ancient cracks in the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years they could fax or e-mail their prayers — and now they can tweet them, too.The Western Wall now has its own address on the social networking service, Twitter, allowing believers around the globe to have their prayers placed between its 2,000 year-old-stones without leaving their armchairs.The service's founder, Alon Nil, says petitioners can tweet their prayers, and they will be printed out and taken to the wall, where they will join the thousands of handwritten notes placed by visitors who believe their requests will find a shortcut to God by being deposited there.The 25-year-old economist started the Twitter page three weeks ago and has already received hundreds of prayers.It all started a while after the riots in Iran, and I realized the potential of Twitter, Nil said. There are an infinite number of uses for Twitter, and I thought What can I do that is new and creative and might benefit the people of Israel? When the Iran government shut down traditional media following the June elections and the ensuing violent demonstrations, Iranians used Twitter to share information and photos with the outside world.

Nil monitors Twitter as a hobby, but he hopes his small operation can help bring people around the world together.You name the country, I've gotten prayers from them, he said.I hope in some way that by tweeting their prayers, these people are helping themselves somehow. Once you figure out what you want, in 140 characters or less, you can start to take action.Most of the prayers are sent to Twitter in private messages, but Nil encourages his followers to make their tweets public. Only a few, like one identified only as Yonatan, have chosen to do so.Praise Hashem for everything he has done for me, may he bless all my endeavors and guide me to wisdom and truth, he tweeted on Wednesday, using a Hebrew synonym for God.The wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, is all that remains of the compound where the biblical temples stood. King Solomon's temple was destroyed by invading Babylonians in 586 B.C. and the second temple, built on the same site, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.No charge is made for placing a prayer at the wall. Visitors to Twitter's companion Web site, tweet Your Prayers, are invited to make donations by credit card. The site has sponsored links to an outdoor reception hall on the nearby Mount of Olives and a publisher of custom-made prayer books.Throughout the ages, Jews have prayed at the Western Wall, and many others have made courtesy calls.Recent VIP visitors include Pope Benedict XVI, Barack Obama when he was a U.S. presidential candidate and film star Leonardo DiCaprio, whose bodyguards were arrested for allegedly assaulting three photographers during a scuffle at the site.For several years, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation has operated a fax hot line and a Web site where people overseas can send their prayers and have them printed out and placed in the wall's crevices.

Twice a year, at Passover in the spring and the Jewish New year in the fall, the wall's rabbi clears out the accumulated notes, which are buried in accordance with Jewish custom, which forbids the destruction of writings that mention God, such as worn or damaged Torah scrolls, prayer books and other religious articles.Nil wasn't prepared for the overwhelming interest in his venture. On Thursday night, he had more than 1,000 unread messages.I'm swamped. I can't keep up with all the tweets, he said. It started as a hobby, and I can't keep maintaining it by myself. But I'm determined to not lose even one prayer.Nil said he hopes to find sponsorship to pay someone to help with the site or to pay for a programming service that will automatically print out the prayers.On the Net: http://twitter.com/theKotel
http://www.tweetyourprayers.info http://english.thekotel.org/default.asp
Associated Press Writer Jen Thomas contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

WORLD GOVERNMENT

EPHESIANS 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,(DEMONIC ANGELS IN HIGH PLACES) against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(SPIRTIUAL DEMONIC PERSONS)
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

LUKE 4:5-7(BECAUSE SATAN OFFERS WORLD POWER, WORLD ORDERERS HAVE ACCEPTED SATANS GIFT)
5 And the devil, taking him (JESUS) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
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.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

EU CALLS FOR WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7D21rPpBrk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Feuro%2Dmed%2Edk%2F%3Fp%3D1277&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFs99zBTRO0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTfv6uOHgqQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVeMBNB0cII&feature=related
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4291770489472554607&ei=iaRTSrzHAoqUqQL1gMGqDw&q=EU&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVeMBNB0cII&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVmtbLc4t6M&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Feuro%2Dmed%2Edk%2F%3Fp%3D1277&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv5cqh26CC0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Feuro%2Dmed%2Edk%2F%3Fp%3D1277&feature=player_embedded
EXCELLENT EU REVIEW - WORLD REGIONS,GLOBAL CURRENCY
http://exposureroom.com/members/cybersilence.aspx/assets/d37a8ebc60694cc98173b8f32cfe898d/

JOAN VEON ON TAMAR YONAH 2008 (WORLD GOVERNMENT)
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-are-already-under-global-government.html#links
UNDERSTANDING WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://www.womensgroup.org/
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=504526035342184251
BANK OF INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENT PRESS
http://www.bis.org/events/agm2009/pcvideo.htm
HISTORY OF WAR AND THE FEDERAL RESERVE
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1874212534444628577&hl=en

ROCKEFELLER AVOIDS CFR-BILDERBERG QUESTIONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JeFMwpjol4&feature=player_embedded

President European Commission Advocated World Government in 1992
Jurriaan Maessen Infowars July 24, 2009
http://www.infowars.com/president-european-commission-advocated-world-government-in-1992/

On September 7, 1992, two term President of the European Commission Jacques Delors gave a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs titled The European Community and the New World Order.Invoking the famous New World Order-speech of George Bush senior, Delors took it a step further, speaking of world government, transferring sovereignty and a worldwide single market.Two term President of the European Commission Jacques Delors.The speech is especially interesting when we take into account that Delors took part in the Bilderberg meeting just four months earlier, held in Evian-les-Bains, France: the same conference in which Henry Kissinger delivered his famous speech concerning people and their willingness to relinquish their individual rights for the guarantee of their wellbeing granted to them by their world government.Also present around this particular Bilderberg campfire was current chairman Etienne Davignon, who back in March of this year bragged to the EU Observer Bilderberg helped create the Euro in the 1990s.Starting off by saluting the audience which he addressed, Jacques Delors bowed and stated:I would not presume to offer such an illustrious audience as this the last word on the new world order of which President Bush spoke in September 1990 when the Gulf Crisis was building up.The interdependence of the world’s nations seems somehow inevitable, the European Commission chairman continued,though it must evolve in an orderly fashion; the reality is there, but we have not yet grasped it fully enough to devise the principles and rules of the new international game.

We can almost hear the Royal Institute members think speak for yourself, as the push for world government had long since been in the making and was moving steadily along (although not fast enough as far as the Royal Institute was concerned). But obviously Delors was on the same page as they were, as he laboured consistently in the service of the New World Order. One of Delors main accomplishments was the so-called Delors Report: a document in which he outlined how a European economic and monetary union could be established as quickly and effectively as possible.Submitted in 1989, the Delors Report envisions three stages along which the road to world government will be reached. It comes as no surprise that the most important factor within this process is the complete and total independence of the European central bank. The first stage would be accomplished with the completion of a single European market. The second stage would consist primarily of the merging of the different central banks into one giant European central bank like an octopus, spreading its tentacles across the continent. The third and final stage he proposes would see the establishment of a single European currency. The main thread of the report is: total monetary independence should be transferred from the elected politicians to the unelected network of central banks throughout the European continent, consolidating power with the help of a single currency. Of course, today we know that his report was anything but an idle document written by a transnational daydreamer. It was actually the policy blueprint for the elite, outlined in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. This was finally confirmed when 1955 Bilderberg documents leaked, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the plans to create a common European currency as well as bring the German people, together with the other peoples of Europe, into a common market were outlined long before Davignon admitted Bilderberg helped create the Euro or the Delors Report was first published, advocating a single currency and incremental build-up towards a world government. The Delors Report does clearly show that the implementation of the described stages was executed with staggering accuracy.

As the speech by Jacques Delors progressed, it appears he became increasingly bold in his statements to his audience, allowing himself to be swept away by his own eloquence:Today many economists speak of the transition to a new stage- a quantum leap to a worldwide single market. There is plenty of evidence of this; the international credit card in the consumer’s wallet is particularly symbolic., Delors notes in his speech for the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Using the excuse of promoting democracy, he advocates the destruction of national sovereignty of nation states as a remedy:International apathy about human rights violations will not be able to hide behind pretext of immutable, inviolable national sovereignty much longer.As it turns out, also in this respect Jacques Delors has proven himself a prophet- as the borders are eroding worldwide while the central banks consolidate power. After he elaborates further on the fact that globalisation is often counteracted by grassroots movements, attempting to preserve national sovereignty, Delors throws up his arms in feigned indignation: I would add- and I will not go into detail- that economic integration, unless it is backed by a strong political will, will not in itself produce stronger international institutions or help create world government. This is why, although the need for a new world order is self-evident, our era is one of trial and error or, as the harsher critics among us would have it, of impotence, inability to take on world challenges.Here again is a cunning example of the favourite straw man erected by the elite, namely the argument that the global institutions are not effective or strong enough, completely bypassing any moral of ethical objections and transforming the entire discussion into a practical problem that needs to be overcome. Once these practicalities are worked out, they usually argue, it’s smooth sailing the rest of the way.Speaking on the role of the European Commission in the creation of the new world order, Delors mentions the plans of the Anglo-American establishment for a North-American Union: Our trading partners are gradually being won over to the idea that regional integration has a dynamic impact on all, and the European model is an inspiration for others- witness the recent agreements concluded by the United States, Canada and Mexico.Indeed, the merger of the three nations into one North-American community ranked and ranks very high on Bilderberg’s list of objectives.I believe, the European Commissioner stated, it is not too presumptuous to claim that it (the European Community) still has something revolutionary about it, that it is something of a laboratory for the management of interdependence.However, he complains, (…) giving birth to institutions to which sovereignty is to be transferred and which are to be given power manage cooperation and settle disputes is a slow and arduous process.But Delors emphasizes: The contribution that the Community as such can make to the new world order can, to use an image of the plant world, be considered something of a hybrid, what is produced by crossing a world power with an international organisation.In closure, Delors expresses his ultimate belief and that of his fellow conspirators: The conclusion, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, is that the Community’s contribution to a new world order is, like the Community itself, something original: a method which will serve as a reference, a body whose presence will be felt.Sources:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/the_euro/road_to_emu9383_en.htm
http://www.ena.lu/?doc=10827&lang=02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/20/newsid_2516000/2516891.stm

Think Tank Report: Obama Will Press The Reset Button On North American Union Agenda PR campaign to re-brand Security and Prosperity Partnership in full swing
Steve Watson Infowars.net Thursday, July 23, 2009
http://www.prisonplanet.com/think-tank-report-obama-will-press-the-reset-button-on-north-american-union-agenda.html

A new report out of left leaning globalist think tank the Brookings Institute confirms an agenda to re-brand the long running effort to merge the US, Canada and Mexico into a Federal superstate akin to the European Union.The report was highlighted by author Jerome Corsi, who points out that the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America has become much maligned owing to it’s quasi secretive advancement of a North American integration agenda.Two top Washington think-tanks have now formally suggested in writing that the Obama administration should rename the SPP as a public relations ploy to advance the North American integration agenda without drawing so much flak from those of us interested in preserving U.S. sovereignty,Corsi writes in his Red Alert newsletter.In the Brookings Institute report, titled Toward a New Frontier: Improving the U.S.-Canadian Border, Christopher Sands, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he specializes on North American economic integration, suggests the Obama administration should continue the agenda of the SPP, but under a new name.Despite evidence that NAFTA has been beneficial on balance to American business, workers, and consumers the argument remains vilified by many as an unwarranted move to embrace globalization. Sands writes.President Obama recognized this on the campaign trail in 2008, when he called for the renegotiation of NAFTA’s provisions to correct flaws in the original agreement. As a result, the Obama administration will most likely rename the SPP. Sands concludes.The report also suggests focusing more on the integration of the US and Canada as a priority, before bringing Mexico into the equation.

Sands suggests the following three courses of action:

1.President Obama should borrow from the lexicon of the European Union and announce that the United States will proceed in negotiations with its two neighbors at two speeds,moving ahead more quickly where possible with its developed neighbor Canada, and allowing Mexico to proceed more slowly as necessary.
2.The Obama administration is likely to want to press the reset button on the SPP, an unpopular though valuable initiative that has improved policy coordination between the United States and its neighbors.
3.The SPP must be re-branded to win any kind of consensus support. The Obama administration recognizes this, and could take a few tactical steps to make the SPP (or its eventual successor) work better and win broader support.

Sands defines his vision of the re-branded SPP as an effort to build a truly new frontier on the northern border,adding that President Obama’s community organizing experience suits him well for the task ahead.Sands is deeply entrenched in the integration agenda, being a member of the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section of The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to consult with U.S. government officials in negotiations under the SPP.The NACC is essentially an elite advisory board comprised of 30 senior private sector representatives of North American corporations that were selected by the American, Canadian and Mexican governments at the June 2006 trilateral meeting in Cancun, Mexico.Last year, one month prior to the SPP summit in April, documents were uncovered relating how the NACC was formed as part of a public relations overhaul to counter critics of the SPP.The documents detailed how, through the NACC, corporate representatives were urged to humanize North American integration, promote NAFTA success stories to employees and unions and evolve the harmonization agenda without fueling protectionism.The move was seemingly a response to the continued exposition of the integration agenda, which led to representatives within Congress petitioning the government on the secretiveness of the SPP and multiple states introducing resolutions calling on their federal representatives to halt work on the so called North American Union.Earlier this week we revealed that president Obama is scheduled to attend this year’s SPP meeting in Mexico, slated as the North American Leader’s Summit.The key to understanding what is going on with the SPP under the Obama administration is the realization that globalists always proceed under a stealth agenda,Jerome Corsi comments.Globalists typically mask their real plans to produce regional governments out of trade agreements by changing names and designing different structures when initial attempts to destroy nation-states are exposed and stalled by citizens who are still patriotic enough to cherish what remains left of their national sovereignty.

The International Banking Cartel is the New World Order
Wake the Herd July 23, 2009

My belief in the existence of the New World Order centers around the activities, actions and writings of the members of the elite (mostly Anglo-American) inside the international banking cartel – which of course includes the Rockefeller and Rothschild families – over roughly the last century.What would Andrew Jackson do?

This cartel, through their financing of two World Wars; the revolutions of Lenin/Stalin and Hitler, among others; the creation of the IMF, World Bank and other private central banks like the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England; as well as their backing of international organizations like the United Nations, World Health Organization, World Trade Organization has sought to control not only the purse strings of the governments of the world, but also the policies, laws and programs that those governments and agencies implement.Through their financing of both sides of wars (WWI and II, Cold War, War on Drugs, War on Terror, etc); their manufacture of financial crisis (Great Depression, the coming Greater Depression) and financing of ideological movements (eugenics/population control, feminism, communism, fascism, global warming, etc) the banking cartel has sought to undercut the political, economic and social sovereignty of nations around the world. As a result, their IMF, World Bank and other central bank proxies have managed to put nation after nation in massive debt to them. And as a result, they can further manipulate and control the governments (and citizens) of those nations to further enact their goal of a global government and banking system run – by them and for them – at the expense of all of humanity.IMO, the New World Order is not a Jewish thing, it’s not a religious thing, it’s not even solely a money thing (although money is its greatest weapon). It instead is a control thing. They banking elite want to be able to control the globe and everyone in it.However, as many who attempt to debunk the New World Order exists have said, nationalism and traditional political and ethnic hostilities have hampered the cartel’s quest for a one world government. Because of this, Russia, China and renegade states like Iran and Venezuela remain largely on the fringes of the NWO’s inner circle. Russia and China are both too big (unlike Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama) and potentially valuable to the cause to ignore or wipe out. But while political and economic relations exist between the western powers and the two outsiders; the potential for conflict with Russia and China in Eurasia or Africa remain very real.

Throughout the last century, the countries and political leaders that refused to play ball with the banking cartel got their asses kicked. Unfortunately, in the post-WWII world, the United States (both covertly and overtly) has been doing most of the ass kicking for the cartel. And we are in debt up to our eyeballs and our Constitution is hanging by a thread because of it (more on that later). Of course, we see the lesser outsiders Iran and Venezuela cozy up to Russia and China and use it to their advantage to thwart the banking cartel’s attempts to have the U.S., or other pro-cartel, military force take them out.But, just as it was in the World Wars and the Cold War, the banking cartel benefits if any conflict (short of all-out thermonuclear war) takes place between major and even lesser powers. That’s because war – and the debt that follows it – makes them more money. And it also allows the cartel to step in and offer a solution for a peaceful future once hostilities are over, as they did with the United Nations and the Bretton Woods economic makeover after World War II.

Of course the United Nations, through the corporate media, has largely been painted ineffective to this point. But that ineffectiveness is only on the surface. When it comes to controlling the third world via their population control, medical and economic programs – which are full of systematic graft and corruption – the success of the UN has been tremendous because they control the third world by keeping it in the political and economic shitter while their resources are being stripped right out from under the very people the UN is supposed to be helping.But, as money is the NWO’s greatest weapon, and nationalism and traditional nation-state and religious strife is painted as a major threat to its goals (it’s not of course, because as Smedley Butler said War Is A Racket). The biggest threat to the New World Order and their aims is the belief of personal liberty and the political self-determination that comes with it; which has stemmed largely from the United States since we were still colonies under British control.That doctrine – which the whole of good humanity has aspired to and dreamed of for two centuries – and the future of what it entails is where We the People of the United States come in. What the banking cartel has been doing to other nations – engineered economic collapse via their economic hitmen and Wall Street jackals – is now being done to the United States. Our economy is being systematically destroyed through unprecedented debt via the private Federal Reserve. The goal – as it was in other countries who refuse to yield to global government – is to completely collapse the U.S. economy. Then – through the civil unrest and economic carnage that follows the collapse – install a centrally dominated, dictatorial government where, in the case of the United States, the Constitution and Bill of Rights no longer exist.You can see now through the corporate media how anyone who questions the government and their policies as being painted as a potential terrorist. Department of Homeland Security has labeled citizens on the left and right side of the political spectrum as threats. The Department of Defense has said that protest is terrorism. Opponents of the Federal Reserve system are labeled extremists or kooks. And the legislation aimed at exposing its agenda is being ignored, despite its overwhelming support on Capitol Hill and on Main Street. And once again, just as they did with the stimulus – the banking cartel is engaging in economic terrorism – promising total economic collapse if a full open audit of the Federal Reserve takes place.From the Patriot Act I and II, the Military Commissions Act, the John Warner Defense Authorization Act – to the current Hate Crimes, Cap and Trade and Cyber Security bills in Congress – the banking cartel and their political whores in Washington D.C. and elsewhere in our nation seek to destroy our founding doctrine and put us under the thumb of the most oppressive, controlled and tax heavy government in American history.

The longtime goal of the banking cartel and their agents in the U.S. government and corporate whore media is the total destruction of the American Republic. The cartel cannot complete their NWO agenda if We the People are running around touting our Constitution and Bill of Rights as a beacon of freedom for all of humanity to aspire to.The banking cartel hates the Constitution. They hate the fact that it says – in Article 1, Section 7, that only Congress has the power:To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures

The baking cartel hates the 1st Amendment:Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.They hate the 2nd Amendment:A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.They hate the 4th Amendment:The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.They hate the 9th Amendment:The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

They hate the 10th Amendment:The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.And they would really hate if we removed the 16th Amendment, which by the way is quite likely the only amendment they love:The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.They banking cartel hates the Constitution and those who believe in it, because we stand together in direct opposition to everything they seek in the United States and worldwide. And they hate that for the last 200-plus years, every human being seeking freedom and a better way of life for themselves, their family and their respective countries have looked to the American Republic and our founding doctrine and dream that one day they too can bring life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to their part of the world.As many of you know, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan recently said on national T.V. that the Federal Reserve is above the law and answerable to no one including Congress.He said it, on national TV, just like Second National Bank of the United States chairman, Nicholas Biddle, wrote it back in the 1830’s (The following pages come directly from Arthur Schlesinger’s Pulitzer Prize winning book,The Age of Jackson).The Federal Reserve isn’t above the law. No one in the United States is above the law. And it will be up to We the People to restore the rule of law to our land and punish Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and the rest of the banking cartel and political scum who have brought the United States to the brink of financial ruin.As trends forecaster Gerald Celente has stated:The fight that this country has been waging since its inception is for the central bankers not to take over the country.Thomas Jefferson warned of the central bank evils in 1791:If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.

IMO, the central bankers – both in the U.S. and abroad – are the New World Order. They began their third quest to take over our nation in 1913. And unless they are stopped and the private and criminal Federal Reserve is audited – so that we can expose in broad daylight where each and every dollar they have received since its inception has gone to – they will complete their takeover. If that happens, the United States and the world will collapse into the darkest period since the Great Depression/World War II, when the cartel crashed the world economy, bankrolled Adolf Hitler and led the world into the most deadly and, in their case, profitable war in world history.What would Andrew Jackson do?

Obama Administration Begins Opposition To States Claiming Sovereignty And Gun Rights Tom Remington Black Bear Blog July 24, 2009

The several states are lining up to reclaim their sovereignty and telling the federal government to butt out. This is being done in myriad ways but all are related in that most claim that the Tenth Amendment protects the states from federal tyranny. States are passing resolutions, memorials and two states have passed laws and they intend to apply those laws for their citizens. The two states are Montana and Tennessee.The approval of Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice is vitally important, especially due to the fact that she is anti Second Amendment and has shown little regard for the original intent of the Constitution.It was expected that at some point these laws would be challenged and it appears actions to do such has begun. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has published open letters to federal firearms license holders in Montana and Tennessee explaining that
federal law trumps state law when it comes to gun laws.As you may know, federal law requires a license to engage in the business of manufacturing firearms or ammunition, or to deal in firearms, even if the firearms or ammunition remain with the same state. All firearms manufactured by a licensee must be properly marked. Additionally, each licensee must record the type, model, caliber or gauge, and serial number of each firearm manufactured or otherwise acquired, and the date such manufacture or other acquisition was made. Firearms transaction records and NICS background checks must be conducted prior to disposition of firearms to unlicensed persons. These, as well as other Federal requirements and prohibitions, apply whether or not the firearms or ammunition have crossed state lines.In a report filed by CBS News, it seems to indicate that even though these states are claiming sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment, the Federal Government may have power over such gun laws as the Firearms Freedom Act, via the Commerce Clause.

Read literally, the Tenth Amendment seems to suggest that the federal government’s powers are limited only to what it has been delegated,and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1918 confirmed that the amendment carefully reserved some authority to the states. That view is echoed by statements made at the time the Constitution was adopted; New Hampshire explicitly said that states kept all powers not expressly and particularly delegated to the federal government.More recently, federal courts have interpreted the Tenth Amendment narrowly, in a way that justifies almost any law on grounds that it intends to regulate interstate commerce.World Net Daily points out in an article of their own that the Montana Firearms Freedom Act bill declares that Congress has not expressly pre-empted state regulation of intrastate commerce pertaining to the manufacture on an intrastate basis of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition.

I have been saying for some time that all of this will eventually wend its way through the courts ultimately landing at the feet of the United States Supreme Court. This is one reason the approval of Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice is vitally important, especially due to the fact that she is anti Second Amendment and has shown little regard for the original intent of the Constitution.Also at issue in this debate are pending lawsuits challenging gun laws in other states. Chicago’s gun ban is being challenged after the District of Columbia vs. Heller decision reaffirming an individual right to keep and bear arms. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that federal gun laws do not pertain to the states, a position taken by Sotomayor.This is an interesting ruling considering that prior to this the Ninth Circuit Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause incorporates the Second Amendment and therefore federal law, which now holds the ruling of the District of Columbia vs. Heller decision, applies to the states rendering them unable to create gun laws that supersede federal laws. This will end up at the Supreme Court.While we are discussing the Fourteenth Amendment, the Second Amendment and Ninth and Tenth, the BATFE is sending out public letters, assumed to be authorized by the Obama administration, to federal firearms dealers in Montana and Tennessee, stating that federal law supersedes state laws, at least as they pertain to firearms and ammunition.Where will this all end up? I believe the Supreme Court but I know not how long this may take. In the meantime, the Obama administration, made up of mostly anti-gun people, are grasping to gain control over your right to keep and bear arms. From the day Obama was elected, the people rushed to stores buying up guns and ammunition at unprecedented rates. With the combination of a new president and staff known to want to ban gun and gun sales and the District of Columbia vs. Heller ruling, it has helped spur more laws to relax gun restrictions. This, I am positive, angers the Obama administration.None of this comes as a surprise to Gary Marbut, President of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. Marbut was directly responsible for the Montana Firearms Freedom Act. In a letter sent to his members of MSSA, Marbut points out what he views as little concern over the letter and how it was expected.

1)The letters are addressed only to FFLs and purport to assert authority only over those licensees already under the federal thumb because of their licenses. We’ve always assumed that people with existing FFLs would not be players in the state-made guns exercise because they will not wish to risk thwarting the earned reputation the BATFE has for vindictiveness. The letters are not addressed to non-FFLs, those folks who are potential participants in the state-made guns business.

2)The BATFE letters may lack any official import because they are not signed by the official who appears in the signature block, but by some unknown other person. It’s difficult to place much credence in a missive upon which the purported issuing person is unwilling to put his signature, and for which the signer is unknown.

3)The essence of the letter is a declaration that the laws that the BATFE enforces supercede the U.S. Constitution and the Tenth Amendment. I understand that the BATFE hopes that is so, but that’s far from proven yet. (We still recommend that nobody make these state-made guns until we can litigate and vet the principles involved.)

4)The letters, if they are official even though unsigned by the issuer, will help us establish standing to get this issue squarely before the federal courts. The feds have thrown down the gauntlet.I like Montana’s approach to their action in the creation of their Firearms Freedom Act. They are proactively seeking to bring this issue to the courts for a ruling. They believe in their own state’s constitution and that they, according to their contract with the people and the United States Government, have the sovereignty and freedom under the U.S. Constitution, to make their own laws in matters such as this.This will be a long and drawn out affair but one that is ripe for a good battle. Let’s hope this battle arrives before Obama can stack the Supreme Court with more anti-gun empathetic justices.

This Is Where Each of Your 1.421 Trillion Dollars Is Going In 2010
Gizmodo Thursday, July 23, 2009
http://www.prisonplanet.com/this-is-where-each-of-your-1-421-trillion-dollars-is-going-in-2010.html

Want to know where your tax money is going next year? Here’s more than you can handle in the new 2010 edition of the Death and Taxes poster. Zoom in to see how much those F-35 fighters and lasers cost.The Death and Taxes poster shows every single expense according to the president’s 2010 budget request. The circles you see here are proportional in size to their actual weight in the total budget. Each of the figures include the percentage change compared to 2009.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU U.S. missile defense test a failure,Pentagon officials painting effort as partial success July 23, 2009 3:56 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily

Arrow 2 launch at Point Mugu, Calif., in 2004

JERUSALEM – A joint U.S.-Israeli upgraded Arrow missile defense test conducted off the coast of California resulted in failure today despite a Pentagon effort to paint the effort as a partial success, an informed Israeli defense official told WND. The technical conditions for the meaningful part of the test, actually launching the Arrow interceptor, were not met. Instead, engineers were only able to obtain and exchange data on the target missile but not launch an interceptor missile,the Israeli official said.In other words, it would be like Iran launching a missile at Israel and we were only able to trace the missile but not to stop it,the official said. The Arrow system, partly funded by the U.S., has been touted by Washington as appropriate defense for Israel against missile attacks from Syria and Iran. Just yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew heavy Israeli criticism when she implied the U.S. policy against Iran would be to provide Gulf nations with a U.S. defense umbrella.Speaking later at a press conference, Clinton suggested her remarks were misunderstood.I'm not suggesting a new policy. In fact we all believe that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and I've said that many times,she said.

I'm simply pointing out that Iran needs to understand that it's pursuit of nuclear weapons will not advance its security or achieve its goals of enhancing its power regionally and globally,she said. Still, Jerusalem officials expressed disappointment with her sentiments.Israeli Intelligence Services Minister Dan Meridor told reporters,I heard without enthusiasm the American declarations according to which the United States will defend their allies in the event that Iran uses nuclear weapons, as if they were already resigned to such a possibility.This is a mistake,Meridor said.We cannot act now by assuming that Iran will be able to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, but to prevent such a possibility.Israel's Arrow II missile defense system, developed jointly with the American military, was tested at a U.S. range off the California coast, but the Pentagon said problems prevented the launch of the system's interceptor.The test was called off after the enemy missile was launched in the air, due to communication problems between the control room located on the coast and the missile launcher, deployed hundreds of miles away on an island opposite Los Angeles.Still, the Arrow managed to track the target missile, dropped from a C-17 aircraft, the Pentagon said in a statement. The missile was meant to mimic an Iranian Shihab missile, but the interceptor was not launched due to a communications glitch.

The Israeli system today exchanged data on the target in real time with elements of the U.S. missile defense system, the Pentagon statement said.Not all test conditions to launch the Arrow Interceptor were met, and it was not launched,the Pentagon said.
Other objectives were achieved, and the results were being analyzed, the Pentagon said.Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported three tests in the U.S. of the missile defense system have been aborted over the past week. The tests were carried out in the U.S. because that would allow for greater distances than would be possible in Israel, Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said.Dror said tests of the same Arrow system in Israel earlier this year were very successful.

2 VIDEOS WITH STORY
http://www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com/israelnews/editorial/38-editors-choice/1550-arab-leaders-are-responsible-for-refugee-problem.html

Arab leaders are responsible for refugee problem Friday, 24 July 2009 05:42 News from Jerusalem Commander of Syrian army ivasion of Israel in 1948

The radio stations of the Arab regimes kept repeating to us: Get away from the battle lines. It's a matter of ten days or two weeks at the most, and we'll bring you back to Ein-Kerem [near Jerusalem].And we said to ourselves,That's a very long time. What is this? Two weeks? That's a lot! That's what we thought [then]. And now 50 years have gone by.[PATV, July 7, 2009]With these words an Arab resident of a refugee camp recounts the reason why his family left Israel in 1948, in an interview broadcast on PA TV this month.In recent years, Palestinian leaders, writers and refugees have spoken out in the Palestinian media, blaming the Arab leadership for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. According to these accounts, and contrary to the Palestinian myth that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were deported by Israel in 1948, the vast majority of the Arab exodus from Israel was voluntary, and the result of orders by the Arab leadership.Furthermore, the fact that this information has been openly discussed by public figures and refugees in the Palestinian Authority media itself suggests that awareness of this responsibility may be widespread - even though Palestinian leaders continue to blame Israel for the expulsion for propaganda purposes.The following statements in the PA media shed significant light on the events of 1948 and counter the attempts by the Palestinian Authority to hide this part of history.

1.Arab resident of refugee camp:This picture was taken a week before we left Ein-Kerem [near Jerusalem] in June 1948, in front of our house. The radio stations of the Arab regimes kept repeating to us: Get away from the battle lines. It's a matter of ten days or two weeks at the most, and we'll bring you back to Ein-Kerem.And we said to ourselves, That's a very long time. What is this? Two weeks? That's a lot!That's what we thought [then]. And now 50 years have gone by.[PATV, July 7, 2009]

2.Jawad Al-Bashiti, Palestinian journalist in Jordan:Remind me of one real cause from all the factors that have caused the Palestinian Catastrophe [the establishment of Israel and the creation of the refugee problem], and I will remind you that it still exists... The reasons for the Palestinian Catastrophe are the same reasons that have produced and are still producing our Catastrophes today.During the Little Catastrophe, meaning the Palestinian Catastrophe, the following happened: the first war between Arabs and Israel had started and the Arab Salvation Army came and told the Palestinians: We have come to you in order to liquidate the Zionists and their state. Leave your houses and villages, you will return to them in a few days safely. Leave them so we can fulfill our mission (destroy Israel) in the best way and so you won't be hurt.It became clear already then, when it was too late, that the support of the Arab states (against Israel) was a big illusion. The Arabs fought as if intending to cause the 'Palestinian Catastrophe.[Al-Ayyam, May 13, 2008]

3.Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Palestinian journalist in PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida:
The leaders and the elites promised us at the beginning of the Catastrophe in 1948 that the duration of the exile would not be long, and that it would not last more than a few days or months, and afterwards the refugees would return to their homes, which most of them did not leave only until they put their trust in those Orkubian promises made by the leaders and the political elites. Afterwards, days passed, months, years and decades, and the promises were lost with the strain of the succession of events...[The term Orkubian invokes Orkub, a figure from Arab tradition who was known for breaking his promises and for his lies.][Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 13, 2006]

4.Asmaa Jabir Balasimah, woman who fled Israel in 1948:We heard sounds of explosions and of gunfire at the beginning of the summer in the year of the Catastrophe [1948]. They [Arab leaders] told us: The Jews attacked our region and it is better to evacuate the village and return after the battle is over. And indeed there were among us [those who fled Israel] those who left a fire burning under the pot, those who left their flock [of sheep] and those who left their money and gold behind, based on the assumption that we would return after a few hours.(Al-Ayyam, May 16, 2006]

5.Ibrahim Sarsur, Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel:An Arab viewer called Palestinian Authority TV and quoted his father, saying that in 1948 the Arab District Officer ordered all Arabs to leave Palestine or be labeled traitors. In response, Ibrahim Sarsur, now Arab Member of Israeli Parliament Knesset, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, cursed those Arab leaders, thus acknowledging Israel's historical record.Viewer: Mr. Ibrahim [Sarsur]: I address you as a Muslim. My father and grandfather told me that during the Catastrophe[in 1948], our District Officer issued an order that whoever stays in Palestine and in Majdel [near Ashkelon - southern Israel] is a traitor, he is a traitor.Ibrahim Sarsur, now MK, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel:The one who gave the order forbidding them to stay there bears guilt for this, in this life and the Afterlife throughout history until Resurrection Day.[PA TV April 30, 1999]

6.Fuad Abu Hajla, senior Palestinian journalist:Fuad Abu Hajla, then a regular columnist in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote an article before an Arab Summit, criticizing Arab leaders. One of the failures he cited, in the name of a prisoner, was that an earlier generation of Arab leaders had forced them to leave Israel in 1948.I have received a letter from a prisoner in Acre prison, to the Arab summit:To the [Arab and Muslim] Kings and Presidents: Poverty is killing us, the symptoms are exhausting us and the souls are leaving our body, yet you are still searching for the way to provide aid, like one who is looking for a needle in a haystack or like the armies of your predecessors in the year of 1948, who forced us to leave [Israel], on the pretext of clearing the battlefields of civilians... So what will your summit do now?[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 19, 2001]by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik - PalWatch

Middle East atomic conflict would kill tens of millions: report
Thursday, 23 July 2009 17:11 News from Jerusalem

Most strategists agree there are three obvious targets that will have to be destroyed to damage Iran's nuclear program,It's the nightmare that haunts the modern Middle East - Iran succeeds in its quest for nuclear weapons and goes to war with Israel, causing massive human casualties and destruction on a demonic scale that in turn could trigger a worldwide economic collapse.Now, researchers at Washington's Center for Strategic & International Studies have tried to assess the extent to which civilian targets will be damaged in any Iran-Israel nuclear exchange.The initial fireball accompanying a 100-kiloton nuclear bomb exploding in the heart of Tel Aviv will instantly kill 8,966 people and injure 3,243 more, say Anthony Cordesman and Abdullah Toukan.But within three weeks, that death toll will soar to nearly 800,000 as a plume of radiation spreads across the country.Given its tiny size and 7.2 million population, a single nuclear blast could devastate Israel.It could wipe Israel off the map in a matter of seconds,Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, said recently. The Iranians could accomplish in a matter of seconds what they denied Hitler did, and kill six million Jews, literally.Any missile with a nuclear warhead landing in Tel Aviv, Israel, will affect the West Bank, causing a large number of fatalities and injuries to the Palestinian inhabitants, pollute and contaminate the agricultural land and resources that lie in the Jordan Valley and, over the longer term, fallout radiation would reach the outskirts of Amman, Jordan, which is some 108 kilometres from Tel Aviv,the study warns.Retaliatory Israeli nuclear strikes, with higher-yield bombs and accurate rocket delivery systems, would be far more destructive.A single 500-kiloton Israeli nuclear bomb dropped on Tehran would instantly kill 56,771 people and the death toll would soar to 1.47 million, with 5.1 million injured, within a week.A full-fledged Israeli nuclear response, using some, but not all, of its 200 nuclear weapons, would target most major Iranian cities and major military bases. It would kill 16 million to 28 million people within three weeks.

Metropolitan Tehran, with a population of 15 million, is a topographic basin with mountain reflector - nearly an ideal nuclear killing ground,the study said.With thousands of centrifuges spinning away to produce highly enriched uranium, Iran gets closer to owning nuclear weapons with each day that passes.I don't see a lot of space between where Iran is headed and the potential of where that development might lead, U. S. military chief Admiral Mike Mullen told a Washington think-tank recently. My concern is that the clock continues ticking. I believe that Iran is very much focused on getting that capability. This is a very narrow space we have.For now, the United States is committed to finding a diplomatic way to dissuade Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.Israel, on the other hand, is said to be seriously looking at military ways to destroy or substantially degrade Iran's nuclear facilities.Time is working in Iran's favour, and barring military action, Iran's possession of nuclear weapons is only a matter of time,the Israeli Institute for National Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv said in a report two years ago.Now, Israeli intelligence agencies predict Iran could have a nuclear weapon later this year or in 2010. The U. S. intelligencecommunity estimates it won't happen before 2013.So what would an Israeli strike against Iran look like, what are the targets and the chances for success?

In another study by the Center for Strategic&International Studies this year, Mr. Cordesman and Mr. Toukan concluded, A military strike by Israel against Iranian facilities is possible...[ but] would be complex and high risk and would lack any assurances that the overall mission will have a high success rate.The main problem facing Israeli military planners is a lack of clear intelligence on Iran's complete nuclear program.Most strategists agree there are three obvious targets that will have to be destroyed to damage Iran's nuclear program - the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, where 50,000 centrifuges are being installed, a uranium conversion facility near Isfahan and a heavy-water reactor at Arak.But, if Iran has a parallel secret uranium enrichment program, destroying the three obvious targets will do little to stop it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.As it is, the three prime targets are heavily defended, partially buried underground and protected with a thick sheath of steel-reinforced concrete.That means Israel might have to rely on nuclear-tipped bunker-busting bombs.Any attack force will also have to negotiate a dense air-defence system that includes surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft guns and combat planes.It's also possible Iran has already bought and deployed a mobile anti-missile defence system from Russia.An Israeli air strike would have to use 80 to 90 F-15 and F-16 aircraft (almost 20% of its fighters) as well as all nine of its aerial tankers to refuel the fighters.Possible attack routes would see the Israelis fly north over the Mediterranean and refuel from airborne tankers before flying east over Turkey or Syria into Iran. A shorter route would run through Jordan and Iraq and directly into Iran, while a third possibility would be to fly southeast and then east along the Saudi-Iraq border to the Persian Gulf, attacking from the south.Israel is believed to favour the northern route over Turkey. Last summer, it held a major military exercise over Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, with more than 100 F-16 and F-15 fighters and refuelling tankers.About the same time, an Iraqi news agency cited Iraqi Defence Ministry sources as saying Israeli warplanes were flying in Jordanian airspace and landing in Iraq to practise raids on Iranian nuclear sites.The report said the Israeli planes flew at night and landed at U. S. air bases near Haditha in western Iraq and Nasiriyah in the south.An alternative to conventional air raids could see Israel attack the three key Iranian sites with ballistic missiles. Strategists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studied the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran two years ago concluded after years of modernization, Israel now possesses the capability to destroy even well-hardened targets in Iran with some degree of confidence.The operation appears to be no more risky than the attack in June 1981 on the Osirak reactor in Iraq, which was destroyed by Israel to prevent Saddam Hussein getting nuclear weapons.A similar attack on Iran provides at least as much benefit in terms of delaying Iranian development of nuclear weapons,said researchers Whitney Raas and Austin Long.National Post

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 FRI JULY 24,2009

09:30 AM -2.87
10:00 AM -52.07
10:30 AM -21.01
11:00 AM -52.91
11:30 AM -24.79
12:00 PM -14.67
12:30 PM -19.12
01:00 PM -25.09
01:30 PM +8.16
02:00 PM +15.56
02:30 PM +1.89
03:00 PM -2.57
03:30 PM +2.87
04:00 PM +23.95 9093.24

S&P 500 979.26 +2.97

NASDAQ 1965.96 -7.64

GOLD 951.70 -3.10

OIL 67.98 +0.83

TSE 300 10,687.90 +12.22

CDNX 1143.42 +5.63

S&P/TSX/60 648.95 +0.59

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +3.34%
S&P +8.09%
Nasdaq +25.15%
TSX Advances 1,045,declines 499,unchanged 273,Volume 2,282,915,393.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 436,Declines 370,Unchanged 340,Volume 292,423,145.

Dow -19 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -59 points at low today.
Dow +3 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $952.20.OIL opens at $67.29 today.
OIL ABOVE 67 DOLLARS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193985551&play=1

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -59 points at low today so far.
Dow +3 points at high today so far.

REGULATION REVOLUTION
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193833381&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193903727&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193971556&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194117004&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194115454&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194092235&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193999984&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194033361&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194165142&play=1
GEITHER - FINANCIAL REGULATOR
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193936861&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193937029&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193960377&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194016590&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194027786&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194048794&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194090770&play=1
BERNANKE Q&A FINANCIAL REGULATOR
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194062812&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194141289&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194158048&play=1

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,493,declines 2,040,unchanged 130,New Highs 47,New Lows 42.
Volume 2,186,608,744.
NASDAQ Advances 1,040,declines 1,470,unchanged 116,New highs 47,New Lows 15.
Volume 1,040,611,864.
TSX Advances 607,declines 629,unchanged 283,Volume 804,851,299.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 243,Declines 275,Unchanged 290,Volume 94,801,703.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -59 points at low today.
Dow +34 points at high today.
Dow +0.26% today Volume 214,306,666.
Nasdaq -0.39% today Volume 2,136,483,213.
S&P 500 +0.30% today Volume N/A

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +3.61%
S&P +8.42%
Nasdaq +24.66%
TSX Advances 879,declines 621,unchanged 289,Volume 1,710,008,704.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 415,Declines 373,Unchanged 361,Volume 205,029,179.

RON PAUL ON FOXBUSINESS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDMri8qS7LU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE_Zu2yk4hY&feature=player_embedded
DOW 9000 WHAT COULD KILL THE MARKETS(A-NEW WORLD ORDER NUTCASES)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193335738&play=1
OBAMA MIDDLE MANAGER
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1192925628&play=1
OBAMA HEALTHCARE Q&A
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1193042701&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1192933210&play=1
H1N1 FLU COMEBACK
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1192796495&play=1
OBAMA ON GATES ISSUE
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1194182280&play=1

AUDIT THE FED HAS 276 HOUSE AND 17 SENATE MEMBERS SIGNED UP AS OF JULY 23,2009.

Brussels lays out restructuring agenda for banks,Banks that receive state aid will have to undergo stress tests (Photo: wikipedia)ANDREW WILLIS Today JULY 24,09 @ 09:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission laid out new guidelines for banks receiving government support on Thursday (23 July) in order to avoid distortions of competition within the sector. Since the fall of Lehman Brothers last September, roughly 30 banks within the EU have received state aid to keep them afloat on condition that a restructuring plan be submitted within six months.But banks will have five years to implement their plans, an indication that the commission still considers the current climate extremely difficult. Philip Lowe, the commission's director-general for competition, said the guidelines were "the ultimate stage in restoring health to the banking sector …which is done by returning individual institutions to viability without state aid.He cautioned that state aid could not be provided so that banks could continue with a failed business model.Instead, the restructuring plans must take account of the present state of and future prospects of financial markets, reflecting best-case and worst-case assumptions, say the guidelines, which will remain in place until 31 December 2010.Amongst the clarifications for member state governments and banking executives contained within the document, the commission states that individual banks and their owners must carry their fair share of the restructuring costs. It negates the purpose of the aid if it is used to pay bondholders, said Mr Lowe.Once the impression is given that governments will step in to help banks to socialise loses but profits are privatised you have a problem of moral hazard.Banks that receive state aid will also face behavioural restrictions, so that state aid is not used to compete with other banks when offering financial products such as cheaper mortgages.

Stress tests

Thursday's guidelines indicate that stress testing of individual banks will be a vital component in helping them devise strategies for long-term sustainability. Stress test results are likely to show that a bank should close down a particular area of its activity or even look to be absorbed by a viable competitor. The specificity of the banking sector is the tolerance of bank failure,said Mr Lowe, pointing to government reluctance to let banks fail. But he added that in a healthy market with good competition between banks, it was only natural that some banks should exit the market. Unlike in the US, the commission does not envisage the results of stress tests being made available to the public in order to avoid an unpredictable market reaction.The communication, which indicates that all state aid must eventually be paid back to governments, is the latest commission response to the financial crisis.In October the EU executive produced an overall communication on bank guarantees. In December it put out guidelines on the recaptialisation of banks and in February it published guidelines on how to deal with toxic assets.

Canadian Banks now using urine and hair samples to obtain mortgage?
Marc Andre The Northwest Herald July 23, 2009

It has become a first for Canadians and the implications can be astronomical, a massively large insurance firm; The CUMIS Group Limited Insurance whohave beenpartnered along with thousands of banks across North America for insurance requirements, has now accepted a policy of pre-screening drug tests & hair samples for the right to obtain home loan insurance, a necessity, if you’re going to purchase a home in Canada.We first learned of this policy from a source who prefers to remain anonymous. The bank in question is called AFFINITY CREDIT UNION in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; they are partnered with CUMIS insurance to offer home loan insurance.This precedent setting policy from CUMIS & AFFINITY CREDIT UNION in Canada has now mandated that hair samples, urine drug testing, as well as a documented question and answer portion, (which our sources have indicated to be highly sensitive personal inquiries), will now be the norm for those apparently high-risk individuals.

We first learned of this story from a young man in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Our source was instructed to undergo a rigorous pre-screening procedure in order to obtain insurance for his new home.Our source stated that; the bank (Affinity credit union) said that I should use the insurance company they provide to make things smoother, I never thought anything of it.I don’t really care if I get tested; it’s just a hassle with my work schedule said our source. Additional information gathered showed that our sources’ home value was approximately $300,000 when he applied for the loan – slightly above the average cost of a home in Canada, sitting at $287,000.

University of Saskatchewan, Professor William Buschert from the Department of Philosophy and Political Studies, says he is surprised it is happening in Canada,he also noted from an ethical standpoint, it’s disturbing. The United States Government, got rid of this mandate in 2008, precisely because of the legal, moral, and privacy implications it presents… not to mention the selective way of insuring one group of people and not the other. However, from the stance of the insurance companies, this ensures that they don’t get the wrong type of people.Professor Buschert also mentioned, playing devil’s advocate at times, that having this practice banned may create an unfair burden on the insurance companies and will ultimately create higher premium rates for the clients they serve.When asked about the attitude of the general public regarding this issue of insurance companies gaining biometric samples for home loans, when some would say what’s the harm, I have nothing to hide, Professor Buschert responded with the following, regardless of whether someone may have a nothing to hide, so what’s the harm attitude, it is obvious that this is an encroachment of individual freedoms, not to mention the privacy issues herein.We also contacted Saskatchewan Government Insurance Canada for comments, (they are a government agency who provides various types of insurance for western & central Canada; it is to be noted that SGI Canada is entirely separate from CUMIS) SGI Canada stated that; we do not have a policy for drug testing for home insurance purposes.We also reached the bank in question, AFFINITY CREDIT UNION in Saskatoon, sk, Canada. They commented that High Risk individuals may include those who purchase a home above 300,000 dollars.When asked if AFFINITY CREDIT UNION were aware of their partner CUMIS, performing drug screening, hair samples, and a multitude of highly personal information for high risk individuals seeking home insurance, they responded with the following, CUMIS does conduct the necessary screening procedure for homes above 300,000 dollars.And does that include hair samples and urine samples? yes.

When reached for comment a CUMIS representative stated that; it is our policy to conduct drug screening for homes loans above 300,000 dollars, so we can protect that money somehow they also stated that even if you answer no to any questions on the health questionnaire you will still have to provide a urine sample. Interviewer: Are you aware of an executive order from Bush in 2008, disallowed CUMIS INS from gathering hair and urine samples, in the USA? They responded by saying. well, were not in the states are we. Indeed we are not, but the question remains, is it still ethically responsible, regardless of the location? Upon further investigation, we have concluded that this issue has raised more questions than answers.How long has this been going on? Are other insurance companies practicing this policy? Is this being documented? What is done with the biometric samples? Legal issues? Are the samples allowed to be sold to other insurance companies? Why is this not being reported in the mainstream media? Is the government going to do anything about it?What makes this case interesting is that this was not an abnormally large mortgage value, and there were no indications that this individual was singled out for any reason. We are led to believe that this will be the norm from now on, until the public makes a fuss, we will all be forced to give up our freedoms for the greed of major corporations like Cumis Group Limited.

European men and youth worst hit by economic crisis
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today JULY 24,09 @ 09:30 CET

Europe's men are affected more than women by the impact of the economic crisis on employment, and young people are among the most vulnerable, a fresh report by the EU's statistics office says.After three years of steadily declining unemployment, the economic crisis has hit the labour markets throughout Europe,says the Eurostat publication, published on Thursday (23 July).It points out that since the record low unemployment figures last March, the number of persons unemployed across the 27 member states rose by 5.4 million to reach 21.5 million in May, with the highest increase recorded in January 2009, at around 800,000 in a single month.Across the population, men have been more affected than women by the economic downturn, as they prevail in the most damaged sectors such as the car industry and financial services, the very sector that sparked the global credit crunch last autumn.As a result, the unemployment gap between men and women, which existed between the end of 2002 and early 2007 at around 1.3 percentage points in favour of men, has almost disappeared as both rates have converged. This trend is clearest in Latvia, Ireland, Lithuania and Estonia where the joblessness rate for males exceeds the female rate by more than 2 percentage points. In 14 member states – particularly Greece, Italy, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – there are more women unemployed than men.Europe's youth are also the most vulnerable in the current economic decline, with the unemployment rate among 15 to 24-year olds rising at a much faster pace compared to other adults – by almost 4percent between early 2008 and 2009, reaching 18.3 percent.Altogether, 4.9 million youngsters across the EU were unemployed in the first quarter of this year, up by 900,000 since the same period last year, with the highest rates in Spain (33.6%), Latvia (28.2%), Italy (24.9%), and the lowest in the Netherlands (6%), Denmark (8.9%) and Austria (9%).

Member states are seeking new ways to tackle the problem.

In Slovakia, for instance, where youth unemployment is at 22 percent, the education ministry has requested the country's universities to accept more students than previously planned for the new school term as they would otherwise face difficulties in finding work.

Recession ends in Canada, says upbeat central bank (ENDS RIGGGGGHHHHT)By Louise Egan Louise Egan – Thu Jul 23, 7:48 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada declared Canada's recession to be virtually over on Thursday and raced ahead of a cautious central banker pack with a mostly upbeat view on the world economy.The worst-case scenario of global financial disaster has been taken off the table, Governor Mark Carney said after the central bank released a surprisingly rosy quarterly outlook.Carney predicted a turnaround in Canada's economy this quarter, an earlier-than-expected recovery from the worst recession since the 1990s.But he warned of a long, drawn-out healing process with continued job losses. The bank stands ready to take further action to stimulate the economy, especially if a stronger dollar threatens to choke growth, he said.We're on track for the recovery, both in Canada and globally ... But it's early days. I mean, it's a long road,Carney told reporters.To keep the momentum going, Carney said the bank must stick to its conditional pledge to keep its benchmark interest rate at a floor of 0.25 percent through June 2010 provided inflation does not threaten to flare out of control.We need to be resolute in the implementation of policy. We need to keep policy, in our judgment, stimulative for a period of time,he insisted.The Bank of Canada has been reluctant to resort to unconventional policies, like printing money.

But Carney said it was too soon to rule that out, and he would not be afraid to use those unorthodox tools if the Canadian dollar appreciates sharply. Bank policy allows it to intervene in the currency market if extreme volatility threatens long-term growth.We have not changed our policy frameworks ... but we have to recognize the current situation. The dollar is an important brake on the pace of growth right now, Carney said.Further strength, volatility in the currency is an important risk to the outlook. And within our policy frameworks and within the context of achieving the 2 percent inflation target, the bank retains considerable flexibility and we will use that flexibility if its necessary.The dollar rose as high as 1.0841 to the U.S. dollar, or 92.24 U.S. cents, after the report, up from around 1.0940 to the U.S. dollar, or 91.41 U.S. cents, and above the central bank's projected average rate of 87U.S. cents.Analysts believed Carney was trying to talk down the currency but could not predict what else he might do.I don't think we can rule anything out ... If I were a currency speculator I would be a little cautious these days,said Carlos Leitao, chief economist at Laurentian Bank of Canada.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

The bank now sees less chance of a worst-case scenario in global markets that would delay a bounceback in Canada.Finance Minister Jim Flaherty also chimed in with an upbeat view of the economy, where output has declined for three straight quarters. The indicators are that the economy has stabilized and that we're moving into a period of modest economic growth, he said in Toronto.Other central banks, while noting improvements in their economies, have been less upbeat than Carney. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed worries on Tuesday that high unemployment could undercut the U.S. recovery. The Bank of England may decide next month to pause its asset purchase program and shift to a watching stance if it feels it has done enough to support the economy. In April the Bank of Canada had projected a turnaround in the fourth quarter of this year. It now sees annualized third-quarter growth of 1.3 percent, rather than the 1 percent decline it forecast earlier. That third-quarter outlook is sharply higher than the median forecast of 0.5 percent growth by analysts in a Reuters poll. The bank's fourth-quarter expectation of 3 percent is nearly twice that of analysts.The bank also projects stronger-than-expected quarterly growth through the first half of 2010, but weaker-than-expected growth through 2011, when its current forecasts end.Overall inflation and core inflation, which excludes volatile items, will return to the 2 percent target in the second quarter of 2011.Other indicators also point toward recovery. The Conference Board of Canada's consumer confidence index rose for a fifth straight month in July to 13 points above where it was at the start of this year. And there was also an unexpected jump in May retail sales, which rose 1.2 percent in May from April.
(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer in Ottawa and Frank Pingue and Ka Yan Ng in Toronto; editing by Janet Guttsman)

UPDATE 1-IMF members divided on Chinese currency - official
Thu Jul 23, 2009 10:38am

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - IMF member countries agree a stronger Chinese currency would boost domestic consumption but are split over how much it would contribute to rebalancing growth in China, a senior IMF official said on Thursday.

Mission chief for China Nigel Chalk said IMF staff believed a stronger CNY=CFXS yuan would help China's economy rebalance and viewed the currency as substantially undervalued.Given the global economic climate, they did not say exactly how much they thought it was undervalued, he told reporters.But we do see a stronger renminbi as an important part of the broader policy package,Chalk said on a conference call.The IMF assessment on China's economy was delayed for three years as Beijing pushed back on changes to IMF rules on currency surveillance, which it saw as a U.S. ploy to enlist IMF support in its campaign for a stronger yuan.In a move widely seen as trying to mend ties with China, the IMF reversed guidelines on currency assessments, saying it would no longer label currencies fundamentally misaligned.Chalk said the changes in guidelines for staff had made it easier to conduct open discussions with countries like China.He also said the loosening of monetary policy in China since late last year was appropriate and well calibrated but there were risks that it could further spur credit growth.As a result, going forward once we see evidence that the recovery is more firmly established we would favor a phasing out of monetary policy stimulus prior to fiscal policy stimulus,Chalk said.Chalk said there was some scope for reorienting some of China's fiscal stimulus away from infrastructure spending toward measures that would help stimulate private consumption. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Hungary to receive EUR 845 m from IMF general SDR allocation
Thursday, 23, July 2009 12:00:00 PM

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is preparing a general allocation of USD 250 billion worth of SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) in August. Hungary is to receive about USD 1.2 bn (cc. EUR 844 m) of this that would boost the country's international reserves. The National Bank of Hungary (NBH) welcomes the IMF proposal. Faced with a global crisis of exceptional magnitude, the membership of the IMF has called for ambitious steps to strengthen the global financial safety net. These include, alongside efforts to strengthen the Fund's lending capacity, an allocation of SDRs equivalent to USD 250 billion to become effective well before the 2009 Annual Meetings.The SDR allocation is a key part of the Fund's response to the global crisis, offering significant support to its members in these difficult times,IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.The allocation is a prime example of a cooperative monetary response to the global financial crisis,he added.

Special Drawing Right (SDR)
The Special Drawing Right (SDR) is an interest-bearing international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement other reserve assets of member countries.The SDR is based on a basket of international currencies comprising the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, euro and pound sterling. Since 2006 these currencies have the following weight in the basket: USD - 44%, EUR - 34%, JPY - 11%, GBP - 11%. SDR is not a currency, nor a claim on the IMF, but is potentially a claim on freely usable currencies of IMF members. The value of the SDR is not determined by supply and demand in the market, but is set daily by the IMF on the basis of market exchange rates between the currencies included in the SDR basket.The SDR interest rate is determined weekly on each Friday and is based on a weighted average of representative interest rates on 3-month debt in the money markets of the four SDR basket currencies.

It can be held and used by member countries, the IMF, and certain designated official entities called prescribed holders—but it can not be held, for example, by private entities or individuals. Its status as a reserve asset derives from the commitments of members to hold and accept and to honour various obligations denominated in SDR. The SDR also serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations.An SDR allocation is a low cost way of adding to members international reserves, allowing members to reduce their reliance on more expensive domestic or external debt for building reserves.

Proposal pending approval

If approved by the Board of Governors with an 85% majority of the total voting power in a vote scheduled to close on August 7, the SDR allocation will be effected on August 28.The SDR allocation will be made to IMF members that are participants in the Special Drawing Rights Department (currently all members) in proportion to their existing quotas in the Fund, which are based broadly on their relative size in the global economy.The operation will increase each country's allocation of SDRs by approximately 74% of its quota, and Fund members' total allocation to an amount equivalent to about USD 283 bn, from about USD 33 bn (SDR 21.4 bn).Teh final approval procedure seems to be only a formality, considering that none of the Fund members have objected to the planned allocation and the IMF has already published a country breakdown of the proposed SDR allocation. Hungary is to receive 769.8 million SDRs, close to USD 1.2 billion.The equivalent of nearly USD 100 billion of the new allocation will go to emerging markets and developing countries, of which low-income countries will receive over USD 18 billion.The SDR allocation will most likely take place, the IMF will distribute USD 250 bn SDRs among its member states,the press department of Hungary's central bank (NBH) has told Portfolio.hu on Thursday. The Bank welcomes this solution; the fund received will boost our international reserves,they added.To our question whether the general SDR allocation will affect Hungary's drawing on the IMF-granted credit facility, the NBH said the Bank, the Finance Ministry and the Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) will contemplate any possible changes in the planned drawing schedule in scope of the reviews of the stand-by arrangement in view of current forecasts.

What may SDRs be used for? SDRs allocated to members will count toward their reserve assets;act as a low cost liquidity buffer for low-income countries and emerging markets; and reduce the need for excessive self-insurance.Some members may choose to sell part or all of their allocation to other members in exchange for hard currency - for example, to meet balance of payments needs - while other members may choose to buy more SDRs as a means of reallocating their reserves, the IMF said.

G20 have already addressed the issue

The SDR allocation was requested as part of a USD 1.1 trillion plan agreed at the Group of Twenty (G-20) summit of industrialized and emerging market countries in London in April and endorsed by the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) to tackle the global financial and economic crisis by restoring credit, growth, and jobs in the world economy.

Outlook remains gloomy

The global economy is beginning to pull out of a recession unprecedented in the post-World War II era, but stabilization is uneven and the recovery is expected to be sluggish,the IMF said.Financial conditions have improved more than expected, owing mainly to public intervention, and recent data suggest that the rate of decline in economic activity is moderating, although to varying degrees among regions. Economic growth during 2009-10 is now projected to be 0.5 percentage points higher than projected in the April 2009 World Economic Outlook (WEO), reaching 2.5% in 2010 (up 0.6 ppt from the April fcast). The IMF's projection for 2009 world economic growth is -1.5%.But despite some positive signs, the global recession is not over, and the recovery is still expected to be slow, as financial systems remain impaired, support from public policies will gradually diminish, and households in countries that suffered asset price busts will rebuild savings.

IMF actions

To combat the crisis, the IMF has stepped up lending and is raising additional money. Alongside the SDR allocation, the IMF is in the process of raising new resources for its lending activities in response to an associated G-20 request to treble the Fund's resources to USD 750 billion to underpin its lending activities. The IMF has signed new borrowing arrangements with Japan, Canada, and Norway, enabling it to mobilize more than USD 100 bn and has created a new framework for issuing notes to interested members, which would allow it to raise further resources as required. These and other additional commitments from members, already totalling more than USD 400 bn, are intended to be rolled into the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB),putting the Fund in a stronger position than ever to support members in the present crisis and in future times of need.

Obama health plan delayed — trouble ahead? By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer – JULY 23,09

WASHINGTON – Slow down, Senate Democrats told President Barack Obama on Thursday, dashing hopes of rushing his sweeping health care overhaul to a summertime vote and adding to the troubles the plan could face as the year wears on. That's OK, the president replied gamely. Just keep working.No one is suggesting that delay equals defeat. In fact, the Senate's top Democrat promised a bipartisan bill in the next two weeks. But Obama has been pushing hard for quick passage of legislation he can sign to expand coverage to all Americans and control ruinous medical costs. And he's counting on fast action while his first-year popularity holds.Republican foes have stepped up their attacks in hopes of weakening if not killing the historic changes in the way America provides and pays for health care. But they're not the source of the immediate problem. Divisions within the ranks of Obama's fellow Democrats have stalled the legislation.While confirming there will be no Senate vote before Congress goes home in early August, the chamber's Democratic leaders spoke optimistically of wrapping up a bipartisan bill in the next two weeks.That offered no reassurance to Democrats in the House, many of whom are reluctant to vote on a $540-billion tax increase to help pay for the overhaul unless senators also stick their necks out before an election year. Exiting a contentious leadership meeting, Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking House Democrat, called for canceling the August recess if a bill isn't passed.On a trip to Ohio, Obama shrugged off the delay. I want to get it right. but I also want to get it done promptly,Obama said.The president compared the health overhaul to NASA's Apollo program that landed astronauts on the moon 40 years ago this week. We can do this,he insisted.But many are questioning the engineering of House and Senate committee bills that emerged in recent weeks. Doubts revolve around costs to taxpayers and the reach of government. In the House, moderate and conservative Democrats bucked against legislation written with a liberal tilt by party elders. In the Senate, moderate Democrats are insisting on trying to work out a deal with a handful of Republicans who are willing to talk.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., suggested that slowing things down may be the wise course for now.

It's better to have a product based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than try to jam something through,Reid said, delivering the official announcement of the delay. His words were a near-echo of moderate Republicans who support sweeping changes but criticize Obama's rush to act.AARP issued a statement expressing disappointment with the Senate's failure to act. An August of waiting will not lower costs, increase access or improve quality,said Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president of the seniors' lobby, which has been in the forefront pushing for an overhaul.But Reid said the Senate Finance Committee will act on its portion of the bill before lawmakers' monthlong break after the first week of August. He then will oversee how that bill is merged with separate legislation passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee earlier this month.The process will be difficult since Finance, led by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, is seeking a bipartisan deal while the health committee bill was pushed through by Democrats on a party-line vote.For example, while the health committee bill calls for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, the Finance negotiators are looking at nonprofit insurance co-ops that wouldn't be run by the government. Finance is also considering a tax on insurers who sell high-cost plans valued at $25,000 or more, while Obama and House Democrats prefer raising taxes on upper-income Americans.Obama will meet Friday with Reid and Baucus in the Oval Office, the White House announced.Reid said the decision to delay was made Wednesday night in the hopes of getting a final bill that can win at least 60 votes in the Senate. He said he listened to requests from senior Republicans working with Baucus to allow more time for a compromise to emerge.

Liberals seethed with frustration over the delays — and the compromises moderates are making.The Finance Committee keeps dragging their feet and dragging their feet and dragging their feet. It's time for them to fish or cut bait, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said in a conference call with Iowa reporters.The people of America voted for Barack Obama last year to lead this country and make changes.

It's not that simple, Finance members say.

We have the tough job, said Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., who's on the committee.We have to figure out how to pay for this stuff. Nine freshman Senate Democrats, largely from swing states, sent a letter to Baucus urging him to keep working toward a bipartisan solution. In the House, Democratic leaders struggled to win over rebellious moderates and conservative rank-and-file party members who are demanding changes. The dispute has forced Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to postpone work on the legislation for three straight days while he negotiates with seven Democrats who are members of a group of fiscal conservatives called the Blue Dogs.Waxman's committee is the last of three House panels trying to finish the $1.5 trillion, 10-year legislation that would create a government-run plan to compete with private insurance, increase taxes on the wealthy and require employers and individuals to get health insurance. While the taxes would be levied starting in 2011, the expansion of coverage wouldn't come until 2013 — after the next presidential election.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., didn't rule out keeping lawmakers at work in August to get the bill done but said it might not be necessary.

I'm not afraid of August. It's a month,Pelosi said.What I am interested in is the sooner the better to pass health care for the American people.We will take the bill to the floor when it is ready and when it is ready we will have the votes to pass it,Pelosi declared.Hours of talks that included administration officials produced no resolution. House leaders could go around the committee and its reluctant conservative Democrats and take the bill directly to the floor, but leaders said they didn't want to take such a drastic step.I don't want to do that,Pelosi said. Underscoring the deep divisions among Democrats, members of the Congressional Black Caucus said that Obama and the leadership were making too many concessions to conservative Democrats. They requested a meeting with Obama.Associated Press writers Erica Werner, Ben Evans, Ken Thomas and Ann Sanner contributed to this report.

Nigeria's Q1 oil revenue cut by half: official Thu Jul 23, 3:07 pm ET

ABUJA (AFP) – Nigeria's oil revenue was slashed by half in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the previous quarter, official statistics released Thursday show, as the industry suffered the impact of militant attacks.The huge slump in oil income dragged down total external trade by 29 percent over the same period last year.Sales in the first quarter of 2009 fetched the country 735.4 billion naira (4.9 billion dollars/3.4billion euros), sharply down on the previous quarter, when oil returned 9.86 billion dollars, the National Bureau of Statistics said in its July publication.Crude oil export stood at 735.4 billion naira (4.9 billion dollars/3.4 billion euros), a sharp decrease of 734.2 billion naira or 99.8 percent over that of fourth quarter 2008, the Bureau said.Total trade figure for the first quarter of 2009 was 1,974.6 billion naira, thus indicating a drop of 572.5 billion naira or 29 percent over that of the fourth quarter of 2008,it said.This sharp drop in the value of exports may be attributed to the activities of militants that reduce the quantity of crude exports.

The country's main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has in recent months intensified an armed campaign against the oil majors and government installations in the Niger Delta.MEND, which says it is fighting for a greater share of the Delta's oil wealth for local communities, declared a 60-day truce on July 15 in response to a government amnesty deal.The militant group late Tuesday released six foreign hostages in what it said was a dividend of the truce.Nigeria, a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel, and the world's eight largest producer, derives more than 90 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from crude oil exports.Petroleum Minister Rilwanu Lukman said Wednesday that the nation's oil production has been cut to about 1.5 million barrels per day, less than half of its capacity, by rebel attacks in the main producing region as well as the global economic crisis.

Hague border ruling raises peace hopes in Sudan By Aaron Gray-Block – Wed Jul 22, 2:47 pm ET

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – A court on Wednesday redrew the boundaries of Sudan's disputed oil-producing Abyei region, ceding key oilfields to north Sudan in a decision hailed as a resolution to a long-standing territorial conflict.Leaders from north and south Sudan pledged to respect the ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague as more than 1,000 people danced through the streets of Abyei to celebrate the decision.But some analysts said there was still a risk of a return to conflict over the central district, as the implications of the complex Hague ruling sank in among northern and southern supporters and communities who live in the area.Both north and south Sudan have claimed Abyei, a central area straddling the country's north-south border, for decades.The definition of its borders was so sensitive it was left undecided in a 2005 peace accord that ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan's mostly Christian south and its Muslim north.The north's dominant National Congress Party (NCP) rejected one boundary drawn up by a panel of experts later in 2005.Tensions mounted until northern and southern troops clashed in Abyei town in May last year, killing up to 100 people and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee.Both sides agreed to refer the issue to the Hague court which on Wednesday decided to adjust boundaries drawn up by the 2005 panel, pulling in its borders to the north, east and west.Maps of the new boundary published in The Hague leave the area's key Heglig and Bamboo oilfields outside Abyei, placing them in the north Sudan district of Southern Kordofan.We think about a minimum of 10,000 square kilometers have been returned to the north. Most importantly this territory includes the disputed oilfields,said Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed, representing the NCP at The Hague.

The Abyei dispute also has ramifications for Darfur, with analysts warning if violence returned to Abyei, peace and stability in Sudan, including Darfur, would be increasingly difficult to achieve.I think one of the problems, especially with the government in Khartoum, has been a history of making commitments and then not fulfilling them and not being held to account. And Abyei is an important test in that regard,said Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition.

REFERENDUM

The borders of Abyei are particularly important to southerners because Abyei residents have been promised a referendum on whether to join southern Sudan in January 2011, under the terms of the peace deal.On the same day, south Sudan as a whole is also due to vote on whether to split off as a separate country.Wednesday's ruling gave Abyei the bulk of the region that was defined in 2005, including Abyei town, huge areas of fertile land and one significant oilfield.Leaders from both sides accepted the ruling calling it a compromise, although south Sudan President Salva Kiir said some might be disappointed at parts of the decision, a probable reference to Abyei losing the oil fields.But we have given our word (to accept the judgment) and by our word we will stand,he told reporters in the south's capital Juba. We want peace. We think this decision is going to consolidate the peace,south Sudan's Vice-President Riek Machar told reporters at The Hague.We came to see justice and it's a decision we will respect.Abyei residents said they were satisfied with the ruling. The important thing is we know where our territory is now,said tea stall owner Nyan Abok.Land is more important than oil,added aid worker Kuol Deng Alak. The U.S. special envoy to Sudan said he was convinced the ruling would be fully implemented.

The commitments that these folks have made in words, I am convinced that they will be carried out in deed, and that this arbitration decision will be fully implemented, envoy Scott Gration told journalists gathered in the U.N. compound in Abyei. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed the court's decision. It remains to be seen how the decision will be greeted by northern Arab Misseriya nomads, who may see the establishment of a fixed Abyei border as a challenge to their rights to cross with animals, although access is guaranteed by the Hague ruling. The crucial thing will be whether both sides accept this ruling,Alex Vines, Africa specialist at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, told Reuters.Tensions have risen in the last few days and the next few months will be absolutely crucial.(Additional reporting Jose Vieira in Juba, Andrew Heavens in Abyei, and Tara Cleary and Patrick Worsnip in New York)

Iceland formally applies to join European Union By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 23, 6:24 am ET

STOCKHOLM – Iceland's foreign minister on Thursday handed over the country's application to join the European Union, a move Icelanders hope will bring economic stability.The small North Atlantic island, with only 320,000 residents, is expected to meet many of the membership criteria, but faces difficult negotiations over its fisheries sector, a key part of the Icelandic economy.The independent-minded Icelanders are concerned that EU rules would give European fishing fleets access to Iceland's waters.To be frank with you, if we would get a rotten deal on fisheries, the Icelandic people would be quite angry, Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said after presenting the EU application to his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt. Sweden currently holds the EU presidency.This is not only an issue of economics. It is also an emotional issue. It is also and issue related to sovereignty, said Skarphedinsson, a former fisherman.He said he was confident the two sides would find a solution that will be acceptable for both the existing framework of Europe and to our special needs as a nation.In 2007, fishing employed 4 percent of Iceland's work force, just over 7,000 people. But seafood accounted for almost half of Iceland's exports and 10 percent of gross domestic product.Iceland's parliament last week voted to seek EU membership as a way to stabilize the country's economy, which was one of the first causalities of the global recession after years of strong growth.The EU has to approve the accession and Iceland will also hold a referendum on the issue.

Financial deregulation, a stock market boom and a surging krona helped Icelandic entrepreneurs go on a global buying spree, snapping up businesses from Britain's Hamleys toy store to the Karen Millen clothing chain. Iceland's banks drew depositors from around the world with too-good-to-be-true savings rates.The over-stretched banks collapsed under the weight of debt amassed during the years of light regulation and retailers went bankrupt. The country's currency, the krona, has plummeted, while unemployment and inflation have spiraled.Iceland is already part of the European Economic Area, a trading block that gives Icelanders the right to live and work in the EU while allowing the country to run its own agricultural, fishing and monetary policies.Associated Press Writer Malin Rising contributed to this report.

China set to overtake Germany as world's largest exporter
ANDREW WILLIS 23.07.2009 @ 17:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A World Trade Organisation report published on Wednesday (22 July) repeats an earlier forecast of a 10 percent fall in world trade levels this year.At the same time, the quicker economic recovery expected in Asia is likely to see China overtake Germany as the world's largest exporter.Discussing the new report in Singapore, the organisation's chief economist, Patrick Low, told journalists the two countries were likely to switch their positions at the top of the global trade league table as early as this year. China has been gaining ground on Germany, with the Asian giant's merchandise exports valued at €1,004 billion in 2008, just behind those of Germany on €1032 billion.Selen Guerin, head of trade policy with Brussels-based think-tank the Centre for European Policy Studies, told EUobserver that German exporters had been badly hit by a shortage of trade finance while demand for Chinese exports had largely held up.The origin of the economic downturn is a financial crisis, so it hit developed countries more than developing countries. Banks stopped all forms of credit, including trade finance,she said. European and Asian growth figures have also show signs of divergence.The EU's economy as a whole is set to contract by 4 percent of GDP this year according to data from the EU's statistics office, with Germany set to suffer a larger 5.4 percent contraction.China, on the other hand, turned in positive year-on year growth of 8 percent in the second quarter of this year and appears well placed to benefit from a global upturn.

WTO trade report

Presenting the new trade report in Singapore, the WTO's director-general Pascal Lamy said Asia was likely to lead the world's trade recovery out of its current decline.
The 10 percent fall predicted for this year is the worst since World War II.The report focuses on trade measures used by different countries around the globe to protect vital economic sectors, warning that although these can be politically useful in the short-term, they need to be rolled back to avoid long-term harm. Protecting trade can be tempting until everybody understands that protectionism does not protect,said Mr Lamy.Faced with economic difficulty, WTO agreements allow governments to implement a range of measures such as antidumping and tariff increases up to permitted levels.

Iceland unwilling to share fishing resources in EU
HONOR MAHONY 23.07.2009 @ 17:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Iceland is hoping to become a member of the EU within three years but will not give up its fishing resources as part of a deal, its foreign minister Ossur Skarpheoinsson said Thursday (23 July) after handing in the country's formal membership application.Mr Skarpheoinsson, himself a former fisherman, said that fisheries would be the toughest area of negotiation with Brussels as the sparsely populated island has its sustenance mainly from fisheries.He pointed out that Iceland could teach the EU how to manage fishing resources noting that of the two cods stocks in the world that are on the increase, one is in Iceland.The EU's 26 year old Common Fisheries Policy, maligned by environmentalists for being unsustainable, sees EU waters as a shared resources open to any member state and managed by quotas.But the policy has decimated resources and each year results in millions of tonnes of fish thrown back into the sea on quota grounds - failures acknowledged in a damning paper by the EU fisheries commissioner earlier this year ahead of a planned 2012 overhaul of the policy.Mr Skarpheoinsson said that Icelanders, for whom the issue is emotional and not just about economics, would be quite angry if they got a rotten deal on fish.The minister noted that while there is an increasing tendency to think that sovereignty can only be protected if it is shared that does not mean that (...) I am willing to share my fishing resources with anyone else.But he said he trusted the ingenuity of the EU to adapt existing rules without making lasting exemptions noting that Iceland was particularly in favour of devolving decisions on fishing to the local level.In marked contrast to more diffident applicant countries such as those from the Western Balkans, Iceland is keen to point out what its membership can bring to the EU, such as experience and knowledge in managing natural resources and using renewable energy.Some 80 percent of the country's energy needs are met by renewable resources.

Membership in 2012

As a member of the EU's borderless Schengen area and the European Economic Area, Iceland has already taken on around 75 percent of the bloc's body of law, with Reykjavík hoping to wrap negotiations up by 2012.I very much hope that within three years, Iceland will be a new member of the European Union,said Mr Skarpheoinsson.

Aside from the contentious issues of fisheries and agriculture, Iceland also has to bring its laws into line with EU law on budgetary, institutional, research and education and foreign and security issues amongst other areas.Welcoming the application, Carl Bildt, foreign minister of Sweden, currently in charge of the EU, said the mood in the bloc towards Iceland's application is positive. But he stressed that the bloc's new institutional rules, the Lisbon Treaty, have to be approved first.

EU foreign ministers, meeting Monday (27 July) are set to formally accept the application and send it for review by the European Commission, which will assess the steps needed for it to become an EU member. On the basis of the commission's study, member states then decide when to open formal membership negotiations with Reykjavík.
However, final say on membership will rest with Icelanders themselves who will vote on the issue at the end of the process in a referendum. Fishermen and farmers are among the biggest opponents to EU membership, with parliament only narrowly agreeing last week to start the process with Brussels.

Clinton, North Korea exchange barbs on nukes Denis D. Gray, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 23, 4:02 pm ET

PHUKET, Thailand – Hillary Rodham Clinton and North Korea exchanged pointed barbs Thursday, with Clinton declaring North Korea has no friends left and the communist regime calling the U.S. secretary of state a schoolgirl.The sharp words came as North Korea announced it had refused to re-enter talks to terminate its nuclear weapons program.Clinton said the world has made it clear to Pyongyang that it has no place to go,citing near unanimity among Asian nations, including China, on fully enforcing the latest U.N. sanctions against North Korea for its repeated nuclear and missile tests.

Warning the North's nuclear ambitions could spark an arms race in the region, Clinton said the U.S. would continue to vigorously enforce tough U.N. sanctions and insist that the north irreversibly denuclearize.But she held out the prospect of restoring U.S. diplomatic ties and other incentives — actions the Obama administration would be willing to consider if the North Koreans dismantle their nuclear program.We urge North Korea to return to the six-party talks, look beyond the past and join others in finding the way forward,said Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, who hosted the ASEAN Regional Forum, a security conference among 27 countries and organizations that ended Thursday.Clinton, who trumpeted Washington's renewed involvement in Asia during the conference, departed the resort island for Washington, wrapping up a weeklong trip to India and Thailand.North Korea's continued pursuit of its nuclear ambitions is sure to elevate tensions on the Korean peninsula and could provoke an arms race in the region,Clinton told a news conference before her departure.Just moments before she spoke, a spokesman for the North Korean delegation said his government would not return to talks with the U.S., Japan, South Korea, China and Russia, citing the deep-rooted anti-North Korean policy of the United States.The six-party talks are over, Ri Hung Sik said, calling any proposed U.S. incentives nonsense.North Korea's Foreign Ministry, reacting to an earlier Clinton comment likening the regime to small children demanding attention, described her Thursday as a funny lady who sometimes looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping.

Clinton offered a somewhat more optimistic message about another trouble spot on the U.S. foreign policy agenda: Myanmar, the military-run southeast Asian nation also known as Burma.She praised Myanmar's government for committing to enforce the U.N. sanctions against North Korea, calling it important in light of Myanmar's suspected secret military links to North Korea. There is a positive direction that we see with Burma,she said.Clinton suggested Myanmar may have played a role this month in persuading a North Korean cargo ship suspected of carrying weaponry in violation of the sanctions to return home instead of continuing to its destination, which U.S. officials said was probably Myanmar.Clinton also called on Myanmar to unconditionally release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest and faces a five-year prison term.On North Korea, Clinton stressed a point she has made repeatedly — that a fully nuclear North Korea might compel other countries in Asia to follow suit. She mentioned no names, but Japan and South Korea are thought to be among those that might go nuclear if they felt threatened by the North and less than fully confident of protection under a U.S. nuclear umbrella.

North Korea's leaders, Clinton said,have no friends left that will protect them from the international community's efforts to move toward denuclearization.Clinton also said she wanted to make very clear that the United States does not seek any kind of offensive action against North Korea.Citing complaints from a North Korean delegate that Pyongyang has been subjected to U.S. nuclear threats, Clinton said this showed a disconnect with reality, given that U.S. nuclear weapons were removed from South Korea nearly 20 years ago. Clinton said she was disappointed when the North Korean delegate refused to recognize that North Korea has been on the wrong course in his address to the conference.The bottom line is this: If North Korea intends to engage in international commerce its vessels must conform to terms of the U.N. sanctions, or find no port,she said.Our goal in enforcing these sanctions and others proposed earlier is not to create suffering or destabilize North Korea. Our quarrel is not with the North Korean people.South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said the North's negotiating partners agreed in Phuket to open the door for a dialogue with Pyongyang while enforcing the U.N. sanctions.Clinton said the Obama administration would soon send Philip Goldberg, its coordinator for implementing the U.N. sanctions, back to Asia for a new round of consultations on a joint enforcement strategy. AP National Security Writer Robert Burns and Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Mike Casey contributed to this report.

Israeli: Iran nuke program could set off arms race JULY 23,09

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – If Iran develops nuclear capabilities it will start an arms race in the Middle East that would threaten the world, Israel's foreign minister said Thursday.Avigdor Lieberman said at the start of his four-day trip to Argentina that Iran is the biggest sponsor of world terror organizations such as Hamas, (Islamic) Jihad and Hezbollah.If Iran would achieve nuclear capacity, we'll see a crazy nuclear-armed race in our region that will be a threat not only to Israel but to the rest of the world,he told reporters.Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israel and the U.S. reject that.Argentina is the second stage of a 10-day tour of four South American nations aimed at staunching Iran's growing influence in the region.Lieberman also met with Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana to discuss preparations for Israeli President Shimon Peres' visit in November, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America. Argentine prosecutors say Iran and Hezbollah were behind the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in the city that killed 85. Iran has denied involvement.There was also another bomb attack in 1992 against the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people. None of the attacks have been solved.

During a Wednesday meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lieberman asked Latin America's biggest nation to use its influence to help halt Iran's nuclear program. Lieberman noted that Brazil has good ties both with Muslim countries and with Israel.The Iranian representative in Bolivia, Masoud Edrisi, accused Israel of using Lieberman's trip to try to undermine Iran's relations with Latin American nations.Its objective is propaganda against the good relations that exist between Iran and Latin America,Edrisi told The Associated Press.Israel sees Iran as a major strategic threat, fearing it is developing a nuclear weapon and noting its development of long-range ballistic missiles. Concerns have been sharpened by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated references to the destruction of the Jewish state.Israeli officials also have expressed concern over Iran's growing ties with leftist-led nations in Latin America. Iranian companies are building apartments, cars, tractors and bicycles in Venezuela and the two countries' leaders have exchanged visits. Iran has also opened new embassies in Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Israel concerned over US umbrella on Iran By Mark Lavie, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 23, 3:14 pm ET

JERUSALEM – A series of failed tests of a joint U.S.-Israel anti-missile system raised new questions Thursday about the U.S. goal of providing an umbrella to defend its allies against an Iranian nuclear attack.The technological setbacks also drew renewed attention to Israel's concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran and the possibility that it might lean further in the direction of a go-it alone strike against the country's atomic facilities.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's offer this week of a defense umbrella over its Gulf Arab allies to prevent Tehran from dominating the region once they have a nuclear weapon was widely seen in Israel as an acceptance of a nuclear-armed Iran. She later tried to dispel that view, but her comments sparked criticism by Israeli officials.Israel considers Iran its most dangerous enemy because of its nuclear program, long-range missile development and repeated references by its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Israel's destruction. Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israel and the U.S. reject that.Adding to the urgency was word Wednesday from the head of the Russian nuclear agency that Iran's new atomic power plant will be switched on later this year.For a decade, Israel has been presenting its Arrow anti-missile system, developed and jointly funded with the U.S., as an answer to medium-range Iranian missiles that might carry nuclear warheads. Tested repeatedly, the Arrow system has often succeeded in intercepting dummy incoming missiles, to great fanfare.But just as Clinton worried Israelis by speaking of an umbrella over U.S. allies threatened by Iran, word came of three test failures in the Arrow system over the past week. The latest was in California, where a test was aborted before the Arrow missile could be launched because of a communications failure, according to Israeli defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the tests.Experts played down the importance of the failures. Arrow has had a pretty successful test program,said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org.I wouldn't be overly concerned about a problem like this.Uzi Rubin, former director of the Arrow project, agreed. It's really not a very serious glitch in the system that would require going back to the drawing board,he said.

But the failures underlined the complexity of the whole anti-missile concept, which has been compared to throwing a rock in the air and trying to hit it with another rock. Israeli media personalities wondered if any system could protect Israel if multiple rockets were fired together.If Clinton's umbrella offer, made in a television interview in Thailand, was meant to reassure nervous Israelis, it had the opposite effect.Dan Meridor, Israel's minister of intelligence and atomic energy, was critical of Clinton's implications.He said it appeared as if they have already come to terms with a nuclear Iran. I think that's a mistake.He told Army Radio,I think that at this time it is correct not to deal with the assumption that Iran will obtain nuclear capability, but to prevent that from happening.Ever since President Barack Obama took office with a pledge to explore diplomatic contacts with Iran, Israeli officials have voiced concerns that talks would give Iran more time to develop nuclear weapons. Israelis have also suspected that the Obama administration was planning for a future Mideast that included a nuclear-armed Iran — something Israel would consider a threat to its existence.Hours after Meridor spoke, Clinton clarified her remarks, saying she was not suggesting any new policy on Iran and continued to believe that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable.U.S. officials have not defined what Clinton meant by her original umbrella comment.Analysts offered two contrasting explanations: a threat of retaliation for any Iranian nuclear strike, or supplying U.S. allies with defense systems aimed at preventing such an attack.The umbrella formulation did not appear to include Israel, though about 150 American soldiers have been training with Israeli soldiers in the southern Negev desert for several months on advanced radar installations that could be used in missile defense, according to Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the project. Israel has pointedly not taken the option of a military strike off the table, recalling Israel's lightning 1981 airstrike that destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor.Experts doubt Israel has the capability of wiping out all of Iran's nuclear facilities, which are said to be scattered around the country, some of them hidden. But hitting well chosen targets could set back Iran's nuclear ambitions for years.

Political analyst Gerald Steinberg, a professor at Israel's Bar Ilan University, said a perception that the U.S. was backing away from preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons could add to Israeli decision makers' concerns that the U.S. isn't going to take action, and so Israel should.But Israel has not broadcast an urge to attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long urged concerted international action, including tougher sanctions, and hard-line Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said that Israel would not attack Iran just to do the work of others. Lieberman is visiting South America, and the Foreign Ministry spokesman in Jerusalem refused to comment on the issue of the umbrella.Associated Press writers Ian Deitch and Jen Thomas contributed to this report.