Saturday, August 01, 2009

DOW BEST IN 20 YRS - LOOKOUT - KABOOM

AUDIT THE FED HAS 279 HOUSE MEMBERS SIGNED UP AND 20 SENATE SIGNED UP.

1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYrv8Q5Ji0Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWyygiyPbdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4rXx-xXeG8&feature=related
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/47662/stock_market_crash_of_1929_the_week.html

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Pfizer, Nigeria sign $75 mln settlement in drug suit: official Thu Jul 30, 4:15 pm ET

ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) – US drugmaker Pfizer reached a 75-million-dollar (53-million-euro) final settlement with a Nigerian state Thursday over 1996 drug trials that led to the deaths of 11 children, a joint statement said.We are pleased to announce that we have reached a final agreement to settle the Trovan litigation between Pfizer and Kano State government,the statement by the two parties said.The parties agreed that settlement is in the best interest of both parties as it avoids the cost and distraction of protracted litigation and enables both of us to focus on our core missions and business,it added.The settlement is on the basis of no admission of liability by Pfizer in connection with the 1996 Troval study,the statement said.The northern state of Kano filed civil and criminal suits against Pfizer demanding 2.75 billion dollars in compensation and the prosecution of staff for what it said was an illegal test of the meningitis drug Trovan on 200 children.The trials were carried out in the state capital Kano during a triple epidemic of measles, cholera and meningitis in which more than 12,000 people died.Eleven children died after taking Trovan, which is also alleged to have caused deformities including blindness, deafness, brain damage and paralysis in 189 others.But in a statement, Pfizer maintained that the results of its clinical study showed that Trovan helped save lives and was at least as effective as the best treatment available at Kano?s Infectious Disease Hospital during what it said was Nigeria's worst meningitis epidemic in history.Pfizer Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel Brad Lerman said: We have been a partner with the people and governments of Nigeria for more than 50 years.

He added: The company believes that a mutually agreeable resolution to the Trovan cases is the best way to continue that relationship and allow Pfizer and the Nigerian governments to focus on what matters - improving healthcare for all Nigerians.
However, a case between Nigeria's federal government and Pfizer over the same issue is still pending in court, a government lawyer in the case, Babatunde Irukera, told AFP.I believe they (the parties) will engage in discussion and resolve that one too as time goes on,he said.The joint statement by Kano State and Pfizer on Thursday said that one of the terms of the settlement was that there would be no admission of liability by Pfizer in connection with the 1996 Troval study.Under the terms of the deal Pfizer agreed to establish a healthcare/meningitis Trust Fund of up to 35 million dollars and underwrite several Kano State healthcare initiatives, totalling 30million dollars.Pfizer will also reimburse Kano for 10 million dollars in legal costs associated with the litigation, it also said.Finally, we are pleased that after several years of litigation, the settlement will bring to an end to all the court cases between Kano State and Pfizer,the statement said.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Police: Landslides kill 10 people in Bangladesh By FARID HOSSAIN, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jul 31, 5:44 am ET

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains killed 10 people in southeastern Bangladesh on Friday, authorities said.The pre-dawn deaths occurred in Bandarban district, a mountainous region 155 miles (248 kilometers) southeast of the capital, the area's police chief Quamrul Ahsan said.United News of Bangladesh news agency reported that huge chunks of earth buried a hillside hut killing five people from the same family in Lama village. Another five people from two families died in a landslide nearby.Landslides often caused by heavy rains are common in the mountainous region.Bangladesh is a low-lying delta nation of 150 million people. It is often buffeted by floods and cyclones

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

US financed illegal W. Bank building
Friday, 31 July 2009 09:19 News from Jerusalem


An Arab community center on the edge of the Shadma military base in Gush Etziyon was illegally built with US funds. Photo Tovah Lazaroff.The United States admitted this week for the first time that it accidentally helped fund the illegal construction of a Palestinian building in a park located on the edge of the former Shadma military base in the West Bank's Gush Etzion region.In 2007, the nearby Beit Sahour Municipality constructed the park with funding from abroad, in an area which Palestinians call Oush Ghrab (crow's nest).The park, which is used by Beit Sahour residents, hosts a building with a small kiosk for events, a stone terrace, a soccer field, a playground and the largest wooden rock climbing tower in the area.Some $281,000 was provided for the park by the United States Agency for International Development, an independent federal agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance world-wide.A large white sign stating that USAID contributed to the Peace Park hangs on the gate at the entryway to the complex.A spokesperson for the US Consulate in east Jerusalem told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that American funding was given to the project in two installments, the first in November 2007 and the second in August 2008.

The spokesperson did not know how much of the money went toward the stone building in the park, which was built illegally. When the funds were given, USAID believed that all the necessary permits had been obtained for the structure.It realized its error several months ago and has been working with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to see a solution.The issue was brought to the media's attention by MK Arye Eldad (National Union), who visited Shadma earlier this week in his capacity as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.It is impossible that the US government that protests and demands that Israel will stop what they call illegal building will be involved in funding illegal building,said Eldad.

He wrote a letter to the US ambassador to protest the funding.

Right wing MKs, activists and settlers have fought for the last three years to keep the Israeli government from ceding to a request from the Palestinian Authority to allow Beit Sahour to use the stone and dirt hilltop that overlooks the new Nokdim and Tekoa road. The Beit Sahour Municipality would like to construct a new hospital at the site.In advance of any resolution as to jurisdiction of the site, the Beit Sahour Municipality constructed the park on the back slope of the hill, away from the Nokdim and Tekoa Road.On Wednesday, as workers heated coals and dusted off a soda bar for a night time party for teens, Johnny Badra of the Beit Sahour Municipality, who runs the park told The Jerusalem Post that the former military base stood on land that had belonged to Beit Sahour before the Six-Day War.He pointed to the nearby apartment buildings: The only buildings you can see here belong to Beit Sahour. Badra admitted that construction had started on the structure without a permit, but when the civil order came and issued a stop work order, the municipality ceased building, he said.As a result, he said, the parking lot had yet to be paved, the open air theater was still unfinished and there was a section of the building right under the roof, where one could still see the construction beams because there was no wall.Among the organizations which use the facility is an American-based non-governmental group, Paidia International Development, which runs leadership training programs there for Palestinian teens.A spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories told the Post that some sections of the park were legal, while others still needed permits.The Beit Sahour Municipality, he said, was still in the process of obtaining the necessary permits for the park, including for the building.

He added that the municipality was also in dialogue with his office over a permit for the hospital.Settlers and right wing activists have objected to any Palestinian development on the site for both security and historical reasons.Activists, including the group Women in Green, hold weekly protest activities at the site on Fridays.We will fight for every piece of land that belongs to us,said Nadia Matar of Women in Green.But this hilltop, which overlooks the road leading into Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood, had particular strategic significance, she said.In the past settlers have told the Post they feared that if a hospital were built on the site, terrorists would be able to shoot at passing cars.Matar added that Israel should have learned from the 2005 Gaza withdrawal about the dangers of giving away land.jpost.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL

AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

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

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

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

US to Israel: Leave the military option against Iran to us
Friday, 31 July 2009 11:51 News from Jerusalem


It behooves the United States as the leading world power to handle it.The weeklong US-Israel marathon in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv ending Thursday, July 30 was the platform for the Obama administration's first unveiling of a new US diplomatic-military program for Iran and its nuclear threat, DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources disclose. The three-staged program was presented by US defense secretary Robert Gates and national security adviser James Jones to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, defense minister Ehud Barak, chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazy, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and military intelligence head Amos Yadlin.The new approach consists of three steps for thwarting Iran's drive for a nuclear bomb:
1. Diplomatic engagement as far as it will go. The American officials assured Israel they were aware of the diminishing chances of this track succeeding in view of the Islamic regime's domestic troubles, but the US administration is still determined to give it a chance up until early September.
2. If diplomacy fails, Washington will embark on the phased introduction of increasingly harsh sanctions against Iran, such as an embargo on exporting refined oil products including gasoline to Iran and a blockade on its sea ports.
3. If Iran continues to forge ahead with its nuclear and missile development, the US will resort to its military options. DEBKAfile's military sources report that the American visitors shared with Israeli leaders their specific plans of actions with details of the resources they planned to wield.

Gates and Jones wound up their presentation by stating unambiguously: Iran is a big power issue and it behooves the United States as the leading world power to handle it. So leave it to us and act like an American ally and friendly government. The role they assigned Israel was to leave its military option on the table in order to keep Tehran under pressure.Our Jerusalem sources report that the Netanyahu government will study the new Obama administration's program and decide how to approach it. On the one hand, Israel's political and defense leaders were provided with the first detailed and coherent Washington has devised for dealing with the prospective Iranian nuclear menace.It meant that Israel is not alone in the field against the Islamic Republic and has been relieved by the American plan of action of the need to resort to unilateral military action.But on the other, the intelligence estimates the US and Israel traded in their talks this week differ on Iran's timeline for assembling nuclear warheads and devices. By asking Israel to leave the Iranian nuclear threat to the United States, Gates and Jones were also telling Israel to accept US intelligence's longer estimate of this timeline. This might in the long run turn out to be inimical to Israel's security interests.debka

Whither Jerusalem? Friday, 31 July 2009 05:23 News from Jerusalem
The Shepherd Hotel in Jerusalem


The stridency of the Obama administration’s attitude about Israeli settlements in the West Bank has stunned some observers, not the least of whom is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself.Even more troubling to the Israelis is the State Department’s recent scolding of Ambassador Michael Oren about a 20-unit apartment project financed by a wealthy American philanthropist who purchased the former Shepherd Hotel property in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, adjacent to a compound of Israeli government buildings. What is stunning about this latest U.S. policy is that the project in question is in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, in an Eastern Jerusalem neighborhood that, if the Palestinians have their way, ostensibly will be the capital of their putative state; more disturbing is the fact that U.S. diplomats have now decreed that Israeli construction in Jerusalem itself constitutes the forbidden settlement activity. Speaking to the Jerusalem Post in July, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly was clear that the U.S. considers building projects in East Jerusalem to be in violation of the settlement freeze that President Obama and Secretary Clinton have been calling for; Kelly said very pointedly that We're talking about all settlement activity, yes, in the area across the line,meaning that, henceforth, any territory beyond the 1949 Green Line is to be off limits to Jews. Mr. Netanyahu did not hesitate to immediately reject the U.S.’s suggestion to facilitate the redivision of the Jewish state’s sacred capital, tersely but directly asserting that Israel cannot accept such a ruling on East Jerusalem.In characterizing East Jerusalem—or any part of Jerusalem, for that matter—as territory that Israel occupies but over which it enjoys no sovereignty, the Obama administration is misreading, once again, the content and purpose of 1967’s U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 that suggested an Israeli withdrawal from territories it acquired in the Six Day War. Critics of Israeli policy who either willfully misread or deliberately obscure the resolution’s purpose say that the Jewish State is in violation of 242 by continuing to occupy the West Bank and Jerusalem, including what is mistakenly now referred to as Arab East Jerusalem. But the drafters of Resolution 242 were very precise in creating the statute’s language, and never considered Jerusalem to have been occupied by Israel after the Six Day War. Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Arthur Goldberg, one of the resolution’s authors, made this very clear when he wrote some years later that Resolution 242 in no way refers to Jerusalem, and this omission was deliberate . . . At no time in [my] many speeches [before the UN] did I refer to East Jerusalem as occupied territory.

Along with their unwavering and various demands, including a right of return of all refugees and sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the Palestinians now insist that Jerusalem must be divided to give them a capital in its eastern portion as the location of their new state. But these have always been points for future negotiations, at least before the State Department gave public expression to its new view that East Jerusalem—a patchwork community where some 200,000 Jews and 270,000 Arabs currently live―has already been assumed to be the Palestinian capital, and that Jews should no longer build or live there. That view is troubling, and not just because of the settlement issue, Israeli security concerns, and the fate of the Shepherd Hotel project; it is troubling because it reveals a pattern in which Arabs endow Jerusalem with intense significance to serve purposes of political expediency. In fact, observed scholar of Islam and Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes, An historical survey shows that the stature of the city, and the emotions surrounding it, inevitably rises for Muslims when Jerusalem has political significance.
Conversely, when the utility of Jerusalem expires, so does its status and the passions about it.When Jordan illegally annexed the West Bank and purged Jerusalem of its Jews from 1949 to 1967, for example, Jerusalem’s stature declined. But Israel’s recapture of the territory in 1967 changed the political landscape, including an Arab desire for Jerusalem, suggesting to Dr. Pipes that “the Muslim interest lies not so much in controlling Jerusalem as it does in denying control over the city to anyone else.Ever since the Camp David meetings in 2000 when Ehud Barak opened the door to a divided Jerusalem in his negotiations with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinians have been relentless in creating a false impression of how important Jerusalem is to them, while, at the same time, they have de-Judaized Jerusalem and tried to obscure the Jewish relationship with and continuing presence in the holy city, something Middle East scholar Martin Kramer has called their desire to effect a reversal of history.

Writing in al-Hayat al-Jadida, in March of 2009, for instance, Dr. Tayseer Al-Tamimi, PA Chief Justice of religious court and Chairman of Supreme Council of Islamic Law, absurdly claimed that Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of Palestine, meaning a Palestinian Palestine, and that the Jews have no rights to it. But the true danger of the Palestinian thinking about Jerusalem—and, indeed, about all of the Palestine that they covet, including Israel itself—was crystallized in Yasser Arafat’s own view that he expressed in a July 2000 edition of al-Hayat al-Jadida.I will not agree to any sovereign presence in Jerusalem, he wrote, referring to the thorny issue of who, Israel or the Palestinians, would have sovereignty of the Holy Basin, neither in the Armenian quarter, nor in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, neither in Via De La Rosa, nor in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They can occupy us by force, because we are weaker now, but in two years, ten years, or one hundred years, there will be someone who will liberate Jerusalem [from them].Liberating Jerusalem, of course, does not mean transforming it into a pluralistic, open city where members of three major faiths can live freely and practice their religions openly. Liberating Jerusalem for the Palestinians would be more in keeping with the type of liberation that Transjordan’s Arab League effected when they burned and looted the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem in 1948, expelled and killed its hapless Jewish population, destroyed some 58 synagogues, many hundreds of years old, unearthed gravestones from the history-laden Jewish cemetery on the Mount Olives and used them for latrine pavers, and barred any Jew from praying at the Western Wall or entering the Temple Mount. That same predilection to destroy religious property was on display again shortly after Camp David when a crazed Palestinian mob took sledgehammers to Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site, and completely obliterated it as Palestinian policemen stood idly by and watched.But false irredentist claims, Islamic supremacism which compels Jews and Christians to live in dhimmitude under Muslim control, and an evident cultural and theological disregard for other faiths— while troubling in the battle over sovereignty in Jerusalem—are not, according to Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, the most dangerous aspects of a diplomatic capitulation which would allow the Palestinians to claim a shared Jerusalem. In his engaging book, The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City, Gold points to a far more troubling aspect: in their desire to accede to Arab requests for a presence and religious sovereignty in Jerusalem, the State Department, EU, UN member states, and Islamic apologists in the Middle East and worldwide may actually ignite jihadist impulses they seek to dampen with their well-intentioned, but defective, diplomacy. Why? Because, as Gold explained,In the world of apocalyptic speculation, Jerusalem has many other associations—it is the place where the messianic Mahdi [the redeemer of Islam] is to establish his capital. For that reason, some argue that it also should become the seat of the new caliphate that most Islamic groups—from the Muslim Brotherhood to al-Qaeda—seek to establish.

When Arafat gave expression to the eventual liberation of Jerusalem as a sacred and unending ambition for the Palestinian cause, he defined it as a recapture of what had been, and should be, in his view, Muslim land, just as the eventual extirpation of Israel and the reclamation of all of Palestine would accomplish. The establishment of the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem is the first important step in the long-term strategy to rid the Levant of Jews and reestablish the House of Islam in Palestine. Jerusalem’s recapture is seen by some as one of the signs that the Hour and the end of times are about to occur,Gold suggested.And most importantly, because of these associations, it is the launching pad for a new global jihad powered by the conviction that this time the war will unfold according to a pre-planned religious script, and hence must succeed.So far from creating a political situation in which both parties—Israelis and the Palestinians—feel they have sought and received equal benefits, such negotiations and final agreements would have precisely the opposite effect: destabilizing the region and creating, not the oft-hoped for Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace, but a incendiary cauldron about to explode into an annihilatory, jihadist rage. Those in the West who are urging Israel to redivide Jerusalem by relinquishing its holy sites,Dore cautioned, may well believe that they are lowering the flames of radical Islamic rage, but in fact they will only be turning up those flames to heights that have not been seen before.If the State Department and other Western diplomats are intent on mollifying the Arab street by pressuring Israel to divide Jerusalem as a peace offering to the Palestinians, it may well be setting into motion the exact opposite result: a jihadist, apocalyptic movement invigorated by the misguided diplomacy of the West that, once more, asks Israel to sacrifice its security and nationhood so that Islamists can realize their own imperial ambitions at the Jewish state’s expense.Richard L. Cravatts, PhD, director of Boston University’s Program in Book and Magazine Publishing at the Center for Professional Education, writes frequently on higher education, politics, culture, law, marketing, and housing.frontpage

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

So-called economic recovery fragile: Harper Thu Jul 30, 2:42 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a warning on Thursday about how well nations are coping with the world crisis, saying the so-called economic recovery is extremely fragile.Harper's comments echoed those of his finance minister, who said on Tuesday it was too early to state that Canada had emerged from recession. Last week the Bank of Canada declared the recession to be virtually over.We're still in the middle of a global economic crisis ... I know there are some signs of optimism but the so-called recovery at this point is extremely fragile, Harper told a televised news conference in Adstock, Quebec.It's based on governments continuing with coordinated worldwide fiscal and monetary stimulus,he said.Harper also predicted that Canada's unemployment rate would continue to rise.(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway)

Regulators shut banks in Fla., NJ, Ohio, Okla.By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer – Fri Jul 31, 7:26 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Oklahoma, boosting to 68 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year amid the pressures of the weak economy and mounting loan defaults.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the four banks.The agency shut down Integrity Bank of Jupiter, Fla., with $119 million in assets and $102 million in deposits, and First BankAmericano, based in Elizabeth, N.J., with $166 million in assets and $157 million in deposits.Also closed were Peoples Community Bank, West Chester, Ohio, with $705.8 million in assets and $598.2 million in deposits, and First State Bank of Altus, in Altus, Okla., with $103.4 million in assets and $98.2 million in deposits.First State Bank of Altus was closed Friday by the Oklahoma State Banking Department, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. Herring Bank, based in Amarillo, Texas, is assuming the deposits and about $64.4 million of the assets of First State Bank of Altus and the FDIC will retain the remaining assets for eventual sale. The failed bank's branches will reopen Saturday as offices of Herring Bank.The FDIC said that Stonegate Bank, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had agreed to assume all the deposits and about $52 million of the assets of Integrity Bank. The agency will retain the remaining assets for eventual sale. Integrity Bank's sole office in Jupiter will reopen Monday as a branch of Stonegate Bank.Crown Bank, based in Brick, N.J., has agreed to assume the assets and deposits of First BankAmericano. The failed bank's six branches will reopen Saturday as offices of Crown Bank.Peoples Community Bank was the largest of the four. First National Bank, based in Hamilton, Ohio, is buying the assets and deposits of the failed bank. In addition, the FDIC and First Financial Bank entered into a loss-sharing agreement covering $657.6 million of the assets of Peoples Community Bank. Its 19 branches will reopen Monday as offices of First Financial Bank.The 68 bank failures nationwide this year compare with 25 last year and three in 2007.The FDIC estimates that the cost to the deposit insurance fund from the failure of Integrity Bank will be around $46 million, that of First BankAmericano $15 million, Peoples Community Bank $129.5 million and First State Bank of Altus $25.2 million.

As the economy has soured — with unemployment rising, home prices tumbling and loan defaults soaring — bank failures have cascaded and sapped billions out of the deposit insurance fund. It now stands at its lowest level since 1993, $13 billion as of the first quarter.While losses on home mortgages may be leveling off, delinquencies on commercial real estate loans remain a hot spot of potential trouble, FDIC officials say. If the recession deepens, defaults on the high-risk loans could spike. Many regional banks hold large numbers of them.The number of banks on the FDIC's list of problem institutions leaped to 305 in the first quarter — the highest number since 1994 during the savings and loan crisis — from 252 in the fourth quarter. The FDIC expects U.S. bank failures to cost the insurance fund around $70 billion through 2013.

The May closing of struggling Florida thrift BankUnited FSB is expected to cost the insurance fund $4.9 billion, the second-largest hit since the financial crisis began. The costliest was the July 2008 seizure of big California lender IndyMac Bank, on which the insurance fund is estimated to have lost $10.7 billion.The largest U.S. bank failure ever also came last year: Seattle-based thrift Washington Mutual Inc. fell in September, with about $307 billion in assets. It was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion in a deal brokered by the FDIC.

Profit reports push Dow to best July in 20 years By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer - JULY 31,09

NEW YORK – New hope for the economy just gave the stock market its best July in 20 years.Investors placed big bets over the last month that the profit machine at U.S. companies will continue to rev higher and that the longest recession since World War II is finally easing its grip. If that turns out to be wrong, the huge gains of July mean there will be an even bigger price to pay if companies don't deliver.The Dow surged 725 points or 8.6 percent for the month, with most of the gains arriving in bursts in the final 15 days. The extraordinary run shaped July into the best month for the blue chips since October 2002 and the best July since 1989. The Dow has risen four of the past five months.The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index, a benchmark for many mutual funds, also ran at a strong pace and July was its best performance since 1997. Even with the gains, the S&P is still down 37 percent from its peak in October 2007.The companies that fared best in July were those that signaled they were patching up their businesses after a terrible winter and fall. Caterpillar Inc.'s earnings for the April-June quarter fell but the company raised its profit forecast for the year. Its stock surged 33.4 percent for the month.Earnings reports that fueled the rally often contained a few dark spots, and many companies have been increasing their bottom line by taking a knife to costs. Eventually they will have to bring in more revenue because trimming costs can't increase profits forever.Stu Schweitzer, global markets strategist at J.P. Morgan's Private Bank in New York, said the lower expenses means companies will be better positioned to reap big earnings when the economy does grow and revenue starts to tick higher.

Economic reports are starting to support traders' bets. The government reported Friday that the economy shrank at a pace of just 1 percent in the second quarter, better than analysts anticipated. In the first three months of the year, the economy shrank at a pace of 6.4 percent, the steepest slide in nearly 30 years.Despite the improving outlook, the economy still faces significant hurdles. Analysts worry that difficulty for consumers in borrowing, unemployment and a still-weak housing market will choke off growth. Key reports next week on manufacturing, housing, employment and the service industry could also reshape the market's view about where the economy is headed.I don't think this is a one-way staircase back up to where we came from. I fully expect potholes along the way, Schweitzer said.On Friday, the Dow rose a modest 17.15, or 0.2 percent, to 9,171.61. The S&P 500 index rose 0.73, or 0.1 percent, to 987.48, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 5.80, or 0.3 percent, to 1,978.50.For now, companies aren't hemorrhaging money like they were last fall and early this year. Traders began the latest rally July 13 when they rushed to buy stocks ahead of a strong profit report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The bank's profit turned out to be huge, and strong report cards since then from companies like AT&T Inc. and microchip producer Intel Corp. confirmed that a range of companies were finding their footing.

Three of four companies in the S&P 500 index have reported results that topped analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters. About 300 of the 500 companies have turned in their reports.That unexpected bounty has pushed major market indexes to their best levels of the year. On July 23, the Dow rose above 9,000 for the first time since January. The rally pushed the Dow back into the black for the year and it is now up 4.5 percent.The Nasdaq traded above 2,000 and the S&P 500 index neared the 1,000 mark, a level not seen since November.We're on the edge between recovery and speculation,said Rick Lake, portfolio manager of Aston/Lake Partners LASSO Alternatives Fund in Greenwich, Conn.Lake said the market's ability to bounce higher in July even after getting bad news signals that many investors are looking to jump on the rally.Major stock indexes surged off 12-year lows in early March to rally almost 40 percent by mid-June before stumbling until July's earnings reports restored hopes for a rebound in the economy.Investors have been putting money into areas that are expected to do well in a recovery. Materials companies in the S&P 500 index rose an average 12 percent for the month. Aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. jumped 13.8 percent.

By comparison, energy company stocks rose only 3.6 percent. Oil posted its first monthly drop since January as stockpiles remain high. Exxon Mobil Corp. edged up only 0.7 percent.Analysts credit some of the buying to short-covering, in which investors have to buy stock after having earlier sold borrowed shares in a bet they would fall. That can make doubts into short-term buyers and give an artificial lift to stocks.

Investors still have plenty to worry about. The GDP report found that consumers cut spending by 1.2 percent in the second quarter, after a 0.6 percent increase in the first quarter.The unemployment rate stands at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, and the Federal Reserve predicts it will top 10 percent by the end of the year.Unemployment often recovers after the economy starts to but hesitant consumers could make it harder for the economy to grow. In downturns over the past 60 years, the S&P 500 index has hit bottom an average of four months before a recession ended and about nine months before unemployment hit its peak.In other trading Friday, bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.48 percent from 3.61 percent late Thursday.Crude rose $2.51 to settle at $69.45 a barrel.Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.5 billion shares compared with 6.1 billion Thursday.The Russell 2000 index slipped 1.09, or 0.2 percent, to 556.71. The Dow Jones industrial average closed the week up 78.37, or 0.9 percent, at 9,171.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.22, 0.8 percent, to 987.48. The Nasdaq composite index rose 12.54, or 0.6 percent, to 1,978.50.The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of small company stocks, rose 8.25, or 1.5 percent, for the week to 556.71.The Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index — which measures nearly all U.S.-based companies — ended at 10,147.02, up 85.47, or 0.9 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 12,946.89.

International deal agreed for Ukraine gas bills: EU Fri Jul 31, 3:51 pm ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Ukraine has reached a deal with international financial bodies and the EU for payment of Russian gas bills, the European Commission said Friday, allaying fears of another winter cut-off.The deal, which will allow Kiev to re-stock its reservoirs, involves the International Monetary Fund releasing a third tranche worth 3.3 billion dollars (2.3 billion euros) from a 16.4-billion-dollar credit line over two years.It also allows for an October influx of funding from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, totalling 570 million euros, a Commission spokesman said.I'm extremely pleased that political agreement has been reached with Ukraine on reform of its gas sector which opens the way for a financial assistance package to be provided by the international financial institutions to Ukraine,said Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.The agreement should provide the stability needed to significantly reduce the risk of a further gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia and therefore provide the security of supply that member states and our consumers expect.Ukraine has to pay a gas bill of around 640 million dollars on August 7, the national gas company Naftogaz said.One of the conditions for the loans is a recapitalisation of Naftogaz to the tune of two billion dollars, the Commission said.And a statement on the EBRD website made it clear that its funding was conditional on Ukraine modernising its energy sector, in particular Naftogaz.Our aim is to improve the sustainability, accountability and above all the transparency of the Ukrainian gas market, to the benefit of both Ukraine and of energy security in all of Europe,said EBRD President Thomas Mirow.Ukraine would also have to raise gas prices inside its own borders to bring them into line with international prices, said IMF deputy director John Lipsky.An IMF official said Ukraine would also have to increase its domestic gas prices to bring them into line with international prices.But the arrangement will allay fears in Europe of a repeat of last January's crisis when Russian gas supplies were cut off to much of Europe as part of a bitter dispute over payments and prices between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia provides about a quarter of the gas consumed in the EU -- and 80 percent of that is piped through Ukraine. January's dispute between Moscow and Kiev hit homes and businesses in eastern and western Europe.Price and pay disputes between Russia and Ukraine have led to serious disruptions to the natural gas supply in recent years across the European Union, which relies on Russia for around a quarter of its gas consumption.Russia has the world's largest gas reserves and is the biggest exporter.

Bulgaria Will Apply for EU’s Currency Peg in November (Update2)
By Elizabeth Konstantinova


July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Bulgaria will apply in November to join the exchange-rate mechanism, the European Union’s two-year currency stability test before the country can drop the lev and adopt the euro, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said. We have already started preparing the necessary documentation to apply to join ERM in November,Djankov said in an interview in Sofia yesterday.There is great uncertainty about what happens in the whole region in terms of the financial crisis. It doesn’t affect our application, but may affect the speed with which it is considered.Joining the exchange-rate mechanism would bring the Balkan country, the poorest in the EU, closer to the umbrella of the euro region and the protection of the European Central Bank. Bulgaria and the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, also EU members, have had to resist pressure to devalue their currencies as eastern Europe’s recession takes its toll. The lev is already linked to the euro in a currency board that keeps the Bulgarian currency at 1.9558 to the euro. Joining the exchange-rate mechanism may allow the lev to fluctuate by as much as 15 percent around a central band, though the central bank has said it will leave the lev tightly pegged to the euro through the duration of the two years.

Worse Than Expected

Djankov, 39, a former World Bank chief economist, took over the Finance Ministry and became deputy premier in Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s new Cabinet on July 27. During his first four days, he has lowered the country’s 2009 economic forecast to a contraction of 6.3 percent and found the state budget is in worse shape than described by the ousted administration.The new government of the Balkan country has promised to stem the deepening recession, fight corruption, raise living standards and push the economy closer to western Europe by taking the euro as soon as possible.

The central bank has said it will voluntarily keep its own tighter exchange rate system, similar to that adopted by Latvia when it joined the mechanism in 2005, until formal adoption.Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, had to abandon initial plans to join ERM-2 shortly after EU entry because of accelerating inflation and a record current-account deficit. Djankov forecast the inflation rate will fall to 2.8 percent at year-end after dropping for a 12th month in June to 3.7 percent.

Euro Outlooks

The EU’s eastern members, among the countries hardest hit by the global financial crisis, will see their euro-adoption plans complicated by the recession, Fitch Ratings said in an April 16 report. Its latest forecasts for euro adoption were 2015 for Bulgaria and Romania, 2014 for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Latvia and 2013 for Estonia, Lithuania and Poland.To adopt the euro, candidates need to keep their budget deficits to within 3 percent of gross domestic product, debts to 60 percent of GDP and 12-month average inflation rates to within 1.5 percentage points of the average inflation rate of the three EU nations with the slowest consumer-price growth.We are aiming for a balanced budget,Djankov said.To do that, we need about 2.5 billion lev ($1.7 billion) either in extra revenue or in spending cuts. It turned out the previous government has spent all the surplus in wasteful projects.The new government yesterday adjusted this year’s budget to correspond to the new GDP forecast, he said. The recession has led to a 16 percent slump in revenue for the state.

IMF Loan

Securing a loan from the International Monetary Fund, following Latvia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine among others, to support the currency peg to the euro, is not an immediate priority,Djankov said. We plan to get the IMF involved in the analysis of the budget both for the remaining part of 2009 and especially in the preparation of the 2010 budget,Djankov said.The IMF analysis can quickly be used for a possible loan in 2010, if it becomes obvious that the 2010 budget cannot be done just with the cuts.
Bulgaria faces a budget deficit for the first time in eight years. The IMF forecast a shortfall of 1 percent of GDP this year and urged the previous government to cut spending 20 percent.If the markets calm down, Bulgaria might issue Eurobonds in nine months,Djankov said. The size of the IMF loan and the Eurobond issue will depend on the budget deficit.Government debt amounts to 13 percent of GDP and the Cabinet aims to keep its public debt burden below 60 percent of GDP.The Cabinet plans to cut 15 percent of all administrative costs starting next week to help save 1.2 billion lev this year, Djankov said. Plugging loopholes in excise tax collection and curbing contraband would help cover part of the remaining 1.5 billion-lev gap, he said.

More Budget Cuts

If the economic situation worsens further than we expect, we may have to do more budget cuts and do formal revision of this year budget asking parliament’s approval in October - November,Djankov said. To speed up the effect of the current budget cuts, they will be enforced as a government decision, as parliamentary approval would delay them by a month, he said.Credit-default swaps linked to Bulgarian five-year bonds dropped to 271.1 basis points from this year’s high of 698.1 basis points on March 9 and rose by 1.5 basis points from this year’s low of 269.75 on July 28, Bloomberg data show. The contracts are rising as perceptions of credit quality deteriorate.The government is also prepared to sell its 44 percent stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange if we find a good investor,Djankov said. Other anti-crisis measures include transferring 250 million lev to the state-run Bulgarian Development Bank to increase lending to private industries, Djankov said, and speeding up reimbursements of value-added taxes held up by the previous government for more than three months.Setting up a holding company which will hold the remaining government stake in utilities, State Railways, companies including Bulgartabak, airports and seaports, will eliminate an existing conflict of interest in the ministries that are in charge of the government stakes, he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Konstantinova in Sofia at ekonstantino@bloomberg.net

Russia signs oil pact, offers $150M credit to Cuba Wed Jul 29, 11:54 pm ET

HAVANA – Russia and Cuba signed agreements to search for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and Moscow extended the island $150 million in credit for construction materials and farm machinery, state media said Wednesday.The credit will give Cuba more time to pay for Russian equipment shipped to areas most affected by three hurricanes that caused more than $10 billion in damage last summer.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin signed the agreement, according to the Cuban government's AIN news agency. Russian media reported that Sechin met with Cuban President Raul Castro, but Cuba's press did not mention a meeting.The four accords with oil monopoly Cubapetroleo will let Russian concern Zarubezhneft explore for crude in deep waters off Cuba's coast, though details were sparse.Zarubezhneft and other Russian companies signed a memorandum of understanding in Moscow in January pledging to help Cubapetroleo with prospecting, production, refining and other oil activities.Cuba's domestic production is exclusively heavy oil with a high sulfur content. Its offshore Gulf waters could contain large quantities of lighter, sweet crude — although a test well in 2004 turned up only modest discoveries.The government has said it will team with foreign partners to begin exploration soon in deeper waters, although it has not announced a date.Cuba began offering 59 blocks in the Gulf to private interests for exploration in 1999.The Soviet Union provided billions of dollars in trade and annual subsidies to communist ally Cuba before its 1991 collapse, and the Kremlin has moved to rebuild old ties recently.

China requests EU talks in fastener trade dispute Fri Jul 31, 10:47 am ET

GENEVA (AFP) – China on Friday asked the European Union for talks under the first stage of a World Trade Organization disputes procedure over EU measures on imports of Chinese-made screws and bolts.A source close to the WTO confirmed that the global trade watchdog had been notified of the request.The move marked an escalation in the dispute following a final European Commission decision in January to go ahead with hefty anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made fasteners.If the direct talks fail to resolve the spat within 60 days, under world trade rules China can ask an independent WTO dispute settlement panel to examine and rule on the case.The Chinese mission to the WTO said in a statement that it had been instructed to send an official letter to the EC Delegation to the WTO, making a formal request for consultation under the WTO dispute settlement procedure concerning the anti-dumping measures taken by the EC against the import of fasteners originating from China.The Chinese side believes that the EC authorities concerned in the foregoing investigations failed to comply with the relevant WTO rules in the process,it added.In one of the biggest anti-dumping cases against China, the EU decided after an investigation to impose levies on imports of some Chinese fasteners, ranging from 26.5 percent to as high as 85 percent.

China retaliated by launching its own anti-dumping probe into imports of screws and bolts made in the European Union.China is the world's biggest producers of screws, bolts and washers and the European Union is its biggest market, taking 575 million euros (762 million dollars) worth of fasteners in 2007, according to the Jiaxing Association of Chinese Fastener Producers.In Brussels, a European Commission trade affairs spokesman said the EU had taken note of China's request, but that Brussels stood by the anti-dumping move.Anti-dumping measures are not about protectionism, they are about fighting unfair trade,said spokesman Lutz Guellner.The decision to impose measures was taken on the basis of clear evidence that unfair dumping of Chinese products has taken place with state distortion of raw material prices.This is harming the otherwise competitive EU industry, with potentially dire long term effects,he said.If the direct talks fail to resolve the spat within 60 days, China can ask an independent WTO dispute settlement panel to examine and rule on the case.

Fatah, West's hope for peace, faces critical test By KARIN LAUB and MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writers – Fri Jul 31, 6:19 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Fatah, the divided and demoralized movement of the late Yasser Arafat and the West's best hope for delivering a Mideast peace deal, is trying to stage a comeback.On Tuesday, Fatah is supposed to open its first convention in 20 years, hoping to clean up its corruption-tainted image and transform itself into a vibrant alternative to the Islamic militants of Hamas.The international community, including U.S. diplomats, is watching anxiously, since Fatah is the only mainstream Palestinian champion of compromise with Israel.Yet there are signs that the movement, paralyzed by infighting and generational power struggles, is incapable of reform. And because of a bitter standoff with Hamas, it's not even certain the three-day convention in the West Bank city of Bethlehem will open on schedule.Failure or cancellation could further weaken the already poor standing of Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and hurt the Obama administration's peace push.

Any blow to Fatah at this convention will be a blow to the international vision of solving the conflict,said Khaled Hroub, a Palestinian analyst.In the 20 years since the last convention, Mideast peace hopes have seesawed wildly. Arafat launched an internationally acclaimed peace effort with Israel in 1993, unleashed a violent uprising in 2000 and died in 2004. Hamas emerged as a major spoiler, seizing control of the Gaza Strip, and this year a relatively moderate Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was replaced by a hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu.Fatah seems wholly preoccupied with its internal pre-convention maneuvers and little attention is being focused on the new party program, a thorough rewrite of the document adopted 20 years ago.The 1989 convention called for armed action against Israel. The new one firmly commits the Palestinians to peace talks, although it still mentions armed struggle as a theoretical right, said its author, veteran Fatah leader Nabil Shaath.

He said the Fatah program is setting 20 rules for its peace negotiators.

For example, it states that negotiations cannot be held as long as Israel expands Jewish settlements. Abbas has said he will not resume talks without such a freeze, and such a clause could strengthen him should he come under international pressure to bend on the issue.Shaath would not elaborate further on the program, but the Palestinians' chief demand has remained constant — a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. We are dedicated to the peace process, we are dedicated to negotiations, provided we are not taken for a ride,Shaath said.One thing going for Fatah is a nascent economic recovery in the West Bank, helped by a relaxation of Israeli security measures under Netanyahu.But on the larger issues, the Israeli leader has been less forthcoming. He has said no to a settlement freeze, no to a redivision of Jerusalem, and only a qualified yes to statehood.It seems unlikely the convention — and adoption of a revised program — will do much to sway Israeli public opinion. A majority in Israel support an eventual peace deal, but are reluctant to give up land now because of fears it will be used by the Palestinians to launch attacks.Still, Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher says Israelis should root for Fatah as the only viable force for a peace settlement.All those Israelis who find fault with it have to ask themselves what the alternatives are,he said.They don't look very good.
Abbas' job as party leader is not on the line, but support by his party can help shore up his political legitimacy. His term as president expired in January, and he has simply stayed on, saying the rift with Hamas left him no other option. Potential successors are not challenging Abbas now, but their relative strengths will be measured when the more than 1,500 delegates from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the diaspora elect new party committees.Marwan Barghouti, who led the last Palestinian uprising, is running for the 21-member Central Committee from the Israeli prison where he is serving five life terms for his role in shooting attacks. A strong win could help a future bid for the presidency, once Abbas steps down.A Barghouti rival for a committee seat, Mohammed Dahlan, has had Western support but is a polarizing figure who lost influence after Hamas seized his native Gaza Strip from Fatah rule in 2007.In contrast to secretive and disciplined Hamas, Fatah is a chaotic big-tent movement that draws activists ranging from academics and entrepreneurs to scruffy militants.The convention pits old against young, West Bankers against Gazans, Palestinians from those territories against representatives of the diaspora. Since its founding, it has been the standard-bearer of the Palestinian cause, but once Arafat achieved limited autonomy for the West Bank and Gaza, the Fatah leadership came to be seen as using its power for self-enrichment.

While Hamas earned popular support with its network of clinics, schools and welfare services, some Fatah leaders drove big cars and built ostentatious villas. Fatah activists say Hamas beat Fatah in the 2006 election largely because of its clean-cut image rather than its refusal to recognize Israel.Nabil Amr, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, frankly acknowledged Fatah's tarnished reputation during a recent campaign stop in the northern West Bank town of Qalqiliya.Fatah is full of thieves, spies and corrupt people, enough to destroy any country, said Amr, 61, who is seeking a committee seat.But Fatah survived because it is close to the people.But in Gaza, Fatah is barely hanging on. In the past two years, Hamas has systematically dismantled the party's organization there, closing offices and arresting scores of activists.Meanwhile, the two territories that would become the Palestinian state are heavily at odds, especially since Hamas seized control of Gaza.New presidential and parliamentary elections won't be held unless Fatah and Hamas reconcile, and months of talks have gone nowhere. Now Hamas is saying it won't let Gaza's Fatah delegates travel to the convention unless 900 of its followers are freed from West Bank prisons.Syria and Egypt are mediating, but its not clear if the conference can proceed without the Gazans.

MUSLIM NATIONS

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

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

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

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

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

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Iran president: No rift with supreme leader By NASSER KARIMI and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writers – Fri Jul 31, 3:43 pm ET

TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begins his second term next week undermined by a deepening feud with his fellow hard-liners and under assault from a pro-reform opposition movement that has shown it can bring out thousands of protesters despite a fierce seven-week-old crackdown.Ahmadinejad on Friday sought shelter with his top supporter, declaring that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is like a father to him. Ahmadinejad accused his hard-line rivals of trying to drive a wedge between him and the man who sits at the top of Iran's clerical leadership and who has final say in all state matters.On Monday, Khamenei leads a ceremony formally approving Ahmadinejad's second term, and two days later Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in before parliament, despite opposition claims that he won the June 12presidential election by fraud and that his government is illegitimate.In a sign of the growing challenge the president also faces from some in the religious establishment, an influential clerical group at the seminary in the holy city of Qom called Friday for the opposition to continue its campaign against the election results.A statement on the Web site of the Association of Teachers and Researchers also criticized arrests of protesters and abuses in prisons.Reports of inhuman torture are heard every day. They don't allow funeral and memorial ceremonies for victims, and unfortunately all this is done under the name of Islam,the group said.

The supreme leader has stuck by Ahmadinejad — in part because doing otherwise would be a blow to Khamenei's prestige after he strongly declared the election clean. Still, some hard-liners have warned they'll judge the president's administration by his loyalty to Khamenei, and that if he falls short he doesn't deserve to lead.

Sensing fragility in the president, rivals within Ahmadinejad's own camp seem to be seeking a greater say in his next administration.During Friday prayer services in Tehran, a senior ultraconservative cleric bluntly told Ahmadinejad to listen to hard-line lawmakers in the makeup of his new Cabinet.Before naming individuals for ministries, the government and parliament must coordinate,Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said.He criticized Ahmadinejad's attempt this month to appoint a vice president opposed by hard-liners and his firing this week of his intelligence minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi.I say to my dear brother (Ahmadinejad) in a friendly manner so no one gets upset, the appointments and dismissals indeed caused an outcry from the people,Jannati said.The sudden dismissal of a veteran ... and competent minister is not correct. It is not possible to defend this sort of activity.Ahmadinejad has frequently feuded with his own conservative camp, where some complain he keeps power among a tight circle of associates. His attempt to appoint Esfandiar Rahim Mashai this month as his top vice president angered hard-liners because of past comments by Mashai seen as too pro-Israeli. The supreme leader ordered Mashai's dismissal, but Ahmadinejad stalled, trying to retain him. The president finally obeyed the dismissal order but then named Mashai as his chief of staff.The debacle outraged hard-liners, who accused Ahmadinejad of insufficient loyalty to Khamenei.In a speech Friday in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said his rivals were trying to create a rift between him and Khamenei.What they don't understand is that the relationship between us and the supreme leader goes beyond politics and administration. It is based on kindness, on ideology, it is like that of a father and son,he said in the speech, parts of which were aired on state TV.He said the attempts by ill-wishers would fail and this path with be shut in the face of devils.The speech suggested Ahmadinejad will not yield easily to conservatives' meddling. But his rivals seem to see him as vulnerable, since the protest movement that erupted with Ahmadinejad's re-election shows no sign of flagging.Thousands of protesters held a memorial Thursday at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on Tehran's outskirts to commemorate those killed in the crackdown since the disputed election. Police fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons, but the march continued, with protesters chanting the name of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who they say is the vote's real victor.

Protesters then streamed back into central Tehran — some chanting on the subway, Traitor Mahmoud, we want you to become homeless — and again clashed with security forces. Police arrested 50 people in the marches, Tehran police commander Azizollah Rajabzadeh said Friday, according to news agencies. A top Mousavi ally, former President Mohammad Khatami, vowed protests would continue. Our people ... won't let go of their demands,he said. Our nation wants freedom, independence and the advancement of Iran, and it seriously wants democracy and rule of the people with all its advantages.Activists on the Web have called for protests during Ahmadinejad's inauguration Wednesday, though Mousavi has not backed the calls. Mousavi has said upcoming religious holidays are a chance to take to the street — particularly next Friday's birthday of the Imam Mahdi, a messianic figure in Shia Islam. The government and Khamenei's clerical leadership have also come under fire over alleged abuses of detained protesters. Authorities say 30 people were killed in the seven-week-old crackdown, but human rights groups say the number is far higher. In recent days, several young protesters arrested in the sweeps turned up dead, apparently from abuse in prison.Even government allies joined the criticism. On Friday, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, seen as a conservative among the top clerics, said detainees should be released by the Imam Mahdi holiday.Khamenei closed down one prison this week, and at least 140 detainees were freed. Also, several prominent pro-reform politicians were allowed to talk to their families for the first time in weeks. One senior reformist, Saeed Hajjarian, who uses a wheelchair after a 2000 assassination attempt, was moved from Evin prison to a detention center with better medical facilities in a nod to worries over his health, according to pro-opposition Web sites.Still, authorities are pressing ahead with trials of around 20 protesters on Saturday, and later plan to prosecute the jailed opposition politicians on charges of fomenting the unrest.Karimi reported from Tehran. Keath reported from Cairo.

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

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

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

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

N.Korea says South Korean boat seized for intrusion JULY 31,09

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean authorities seized a South Korean fishing boat this week because the vessel illegally intruded into the North's territorial waters, Pyongyang's state media said on Saturday.The report came two days after a South Korean military official said the North had towed the fishing boat to one of its ports.The incident comes at a time of chilling ties between the two Koreas and while analysts say Pyongyang is in the midst of a sensitive process of resolving the leadership succession in Asia's only communist dynasty.A patrol ship of the Navy of the Korean People's Army captured one ship of South Korea on July 30 when it illegally intruded deep into the DPRK territorial waters in the East Sea of Korea, the North's official KCNA news agency said.A relevant institution is conducting a concrete investigation into it at present, it added.

The South has asked its neighbor to allow the vessel and its crew of four to return.

Fishing and other light vessels from both sides have strayed into the waters of the other in recent years where crews have been returned. But hundreds of other fishermen are thought to be held by the North after being abducted off the coast.In the latest case, the boat appears to have strayed across the border on the east coast of the peninsula where it was intercepted by a North Korean patrol boat, the South Korean military official said on Thursday.North Korea, already a pariah state, has become even more isolated by the international community in recent months after a series of missile launches and its second nuclear test which resulted in tighter U.N. sanctions.
(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Dean Yates)

Madonna shares spiritual awakening in Israel paper By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jul 31, 4:57 am ET

JERUSALEM – After a long career as a singer, dancer, new-age seeker and megacelebrity, Madonna added a new item to her resume Friday — Israeli newspaper correspondent.An article in Friday's edition of Israel's biggest daily, Yediot Ahronot, bears the Material Girl's byline. It describes her spiritual awakening upon discovering Jewish mysticism, called Kabbalah, after which, she writes, all the puzzle pieces started falling into place.Madonna is bringing her Sticky & Sweet tour to Israel in September, which no doubt explains the timing of her journalism debut here. But she also has ties to Israel and Judaism through her involvement with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center, whose new-age version of Judaism's ancient mystic tradition has become popular among members of Hollywood's A-list.The 50-year-old pop icon has taken the Hebrew name Esther and came to Israel on private pilgrimages in 2004 and 2007 along with other Kabbalah devotees.In the article, Madonna, who was raised Roman Catholic, describes hearing about Kabbalah for the first time at a dinner party in Los Angeles while pregnant with her daughter Lourdes, who is now 12. She had recently completed a star turn in the movie Evita, she writes, but still felt like something was missing in my life.She went to her first class, taught by a teacher named Eitan, after years of practicing yoga and reading about Buddhism, Taoism and early Christianity.I heard what he had to say and I knew at this moment my life would never be the same, she writes in the article, which the paper published both in Hebrew and in the original — and apparently unedited — English.Life no longer seemed like a series of Random events, she writes. I also began to see that being Rich and Famous wasn't going to bring me lasting fulfillment and that it was not the end of the journey.The Kabbalah Center's devotees have included other celebrities such as Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears. Many mainstream Jewish scholars see the Center's self-help teachings, its sale of Kabbalah-themed merchandise and its embrace by non-Jewish pop stars as a perversion of Judaism's ancient and secretive mystic tradition.Some rabbis were particularly incensed by Madonna's song, Isaac, about the revered 16th-century Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, which featured on her 2005 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor.Jewish tradition has long held that Kabbalah is so complicated and so easily misunderstood that students may only begin to approach it with a strong background in Jewish law and only after age 40. The discipline's elements include the study of mystical texts, prayer and meditation in an attempt to draw closer to the divine.The criticism appears to have had no effect on Madonna's popularity among Israelis. Originally scheduled to give one concert in Tel Aviv, Madonna added a second after the first show quickly sold out.
Madonna's last concert in Israel was in 1993, during her Girlie Show tour.

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