WHY ARE INTERNMENT CAMPS BEING BUILT

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

TAMAR TRYS TO TALK ABOUT 3RD TEMPLE WITH HER SIDE KICK.(PUT DOWN THE BIBLE EGOTISTIC SINGER)(WOW ARE SOME OF THE ISRAELIS DECIEVED LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS THEY ARE)ISAIAH 28:14-19
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/1287
GERALD CELENTE 2.5 MILLION JOBS LOST SINCE OBAMA CAME TO OFFICE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of_7ryonol8&feature=player_embedded
OBAMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dghkF4Y6elA&feature=player_embedded
OBAMA JOKER VIDEOS CONTESTANTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjOG9ZsgX4U&feature=player_embedded
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Congressman: Obama Could Use Pandemic To Declare Martial Law
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Thursday, August 13, 2009

Georgia Congressman Paul Broun warned attendees of a town hall event Tuesday that the Obama administration was planning to use a pandemic or a natural disaster to implement martial law in the United States.Speaking at the North Georgia Technical College auditorium, Broun said that the socialistic elite, as well as Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, were planning to exploit a crisis to create a favorable climate for their stalling political agenda.They’re trying to develop an environment where they can take over,he said. We’ve seen that historically.
Broun’s warning arrives on the back of a letter sent by The National Governors Association to the Pentagon last week, which condemns the military’s plans to usurp domestic control of National Guard and federal forces deployed in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.In December 2008 it was announced that at least 20,000 more active duty soldiers will be placed inside the United States under Northcom to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe.Domestic emergency deployment may be just the first example of a series of expansions in presidential and military authority,or even an increase in domestic surveillance, warned Anna Christensen of the ACLU’s National Security Project. And Cato Vice President Gene Healy warned of a creeping militarization of homeland security.The contention that the troops will merely help recovery efforts after a major catastrophe is contradicted by the fact that Northcom itself, in a September 8 Army Times article, said the first wave of the deployment, which was put in place on October 1st at Fort Stewart and at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, would be aimed at tackling civil unrest and crowd control.

Congressman Broun has been a thorn in the side of Obama’s agenda since day one, voting against the cap and trade bill and slamming the entire concept of man-made global warming as a hoax.He also spoke out against Obama’s plan to create a national civilian security force,warning that the program sounded like a 21st century Gestapo and that it was part of a move towards a Marxist dictatorship.That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did, Broun said. When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.Broun also cited the threat to the second amendment posed by the Obama administration and anti-gun Attorney General Eric Holder.We can’t be lulled into complacency,Broun said.You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential of going down that road.MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann voted Broun his worst person in the world on two separate occasions and attacked the Congressman as a racist and a bigot for expressing worries about the porous border with Mexico in relation to the swine flu outbreak. Olbermann claimed that Broun had exploited a dead baby to make his sick, xenophobic and utterly irrelevant case about immigration.In November 2008, Olbermann erroneously claimed that Obama had called for a civilian reserve corps and federally funded construction workers when he had actually announced a plan for a national security force, as this video shows. Olbermann attacked Broun for expressing concerns about the program.In July 2008 on the campaign trail, Obama called for a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded,as the U.S. military.

DO END OF LIFE BELONG IN HEALTH CARE BILL
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1214093463&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1213978803&play=1
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National Guard Takes Over School In Swine Flu Vaccine Riot Drill ,Troops to play the role of panic stricken citizens pleading for inoculations Steve Watson
Infowars.net Thursday, August 13, 2009

A High School in Maine is to be taken over by the National Guard today for the purposes of a drill that will see Guardsmen deal with unruly citizens begging for swine flu vaccines.Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris, ME, has been chosen as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine by state officials.Today’s drill will enact a riot scenario after Gov. John Baldacci and Gen. John Libby, adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, agreed that measures should be in place to deal with a possible public rush for inoculations against swine flu.On Thursday morning, four or five National Guard Humvees will travel from Augusta to Paris with vials of fake serum.reports the Maine Sun Journal.The National Guardsmen will take on the roles of panicked citizens and military police and practice what they would do, such as using tear gas, in the case of a riot.The article continues.Local police will also liaise with the National Guard on the school grounds. The school itself will remain open, according to the report.Center for Disease Control figures state that there are 323 confirmed cases of H1N1 in Maine. One man has died from the disease, though he was said to have underlying health conditions that were worsened by the flu.

This story dovetails with reports from late July indicating that the U.S. military is gearing up to get involved in the H1N1 swine flu outbreak promised to strike in the Fall.The U.S. military wants to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials, a proposal that is currently on the desk of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, according to a CNN report.The report indicates that the troops could be drawn from either active duty forces or the National Guard and Reserve forces, or both.As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called execution order that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.the report states.Gates’ overtures to usurp control of the Guard in a national emergency, and even to eventually merge the Guard and the Army Reserves into the Total Force of the U.S. military, under management of the DoD, has riled state authorities.Last week The National Governors Association wrote to the Pentagon condemning the military’s open plans to effectively seize domestic control of National Guard and federal forces deployed in the event of a disaster or terrorist attack.The NGA noted that the military’s agenda amounted to a dilution of governors’ constitutional responsibilities.In addition to these ongoing proposals, the Pentagon has announced that at least 20,000 more active duty soldiers will be placed inside the United States under Northcom to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe.According to Northcom itself, the move also encompasses civil unrest and crowd control.The ACLU has warned that the deployment represents an expansion in presidential and military authority and a militarization of homeland security.This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed on Capitol Hill either. Georgia Congressman Paul Broun warned attendees of a town hall event Tuesday that the Obama administration is planning to use a pandemic or a natural disaster to implement martial law in the United States, in the wake of increased political unrest and plunging approval ratings.

The use of the National Guard for law enforcement duties and confrontation of the American people is becoming increasingly commonplace throughout the US.National Guard troops were used to control the public during the Boston Marathon, the Kentucky Derby, and during New Year celebrations in Times Square last year.As we reported last week, the sheriff of Alabama’s most populous county has announced he will probably have to bring in National Guard troops to perform law enforcement duties due to budget cuts.Such a move has been replicated in other parts of the country, including in Schenectady New York, where budgetary constraints were not even cited as a reason for the changeover.Back in April of this year, The Maryland National Guard was put on alert under an anti-terrorism program in anticipation of nationwide Tea Party protests. A Force Protection advisory document stated that Guardsmen and Guard facilities might become targets of opportunity.One month earlier in March, the United States Army Reserve Command published a Force Protection Advisory recommending situational awareness and mitigation measures in response to End the Fed protests.

Other National Guard outfits have recently undergone training to engage in combat with militia groups, and held door to door gun confiscation drills.Meanwhile, the Army National Guard is advertising for qualified personnel to work as Corrections Officers and Internment/Resettlement Specialists.The use of military assets in civilian law enforcement is still illegal under Posse Comitatus, unless a clear state of emergency exists.

The Second American Revolution Has Begun Gerald Celente Infowars
August 13, 2009

KINGSTON, NY — The natives are restless. The third shot of the Second American Revolution has been fired. History is being made. But just as with the first two shots, the third shot is not being heard.The White House and the media have labeled protestors conservative fringe elements, or as players in staged events organized by Republican operatives that have been egged on by Fox news and right-wing radio show hosts.America is seething. Not since the Civil War has anything like this happened. But the protests are either being intentionally downplayed or ignorantly misinterpreted.The first shot was fired on April 15, 2009. Over 700 anti-tax rallies and Tea Parties erupted nationwide. Rather than acknowledge their significance, the general media either ignored or ridiculed both protests and protestors, playing on tea bagging for its sexual innuendo. Initially President Obama said he was unaware of the tea parties. The White House later warned they could mutate into something unhealthy.Shot #2 was fired on the Fourth of July, when throngs of citizens across the nation gathered to again protest taxation without representation.And as before, the demonstrations were branded right-wing mischief and dismissed.The third volley, fired in early August, was aimed point blank at Senators and House members pitching President Obama’s health care reform package to constituents. In fiery town hall meetings, enraged citizens shouted down their elected representatives. It took a strong police presence and/or burly bodyguards to preserve a safe physical space between the politicians and irate townspeople. The White House and the media have labeled protestors conservative fringe elements,or as players in staged events organized by Republican operatives that have been egged on by Fox news and right-wing radio show hosts.

In regard to this latest wave of outbursts, health industry interests opposed to any reform are also being blamed for inciting the public. But organized or spontaneous is not the issue. While most protestors exhibit little grasp of the complex 1000 page health care reform document (that nary a legislator has read either), their emotion is clearly real and un-staged.Rightly or wrongly, the legislation is regarded as yet another straw on the already overloaded camel’s back. A series of gigantic, unpopular government-imposed (but taxpayer-financed) bailouts, buyouts, rescue and stimulus packages have been stuffed down the gullet of Americans. With no public platform to voice their opposition, options for citizens have been limited to fruitless petitions, e-mails and phone calls to Congress all fielded by anonymous staff underlings.Now, with Congress in recess and elected representatives less than a stone’s throw away, the public is exploding. The devil is not in the details of the heath care reform, the devil is the government mandating health care. Regardless of how the plan is pitched or what is being promised, to the public the legislation is yet another instance of big government taking another piece out of their lives and making them pay for it; again telling them what they can or cannot do.Though in its early stages, the Second American Revolution is underway. Yet, what we forecast will become the most profound political trend of the century ­ the trend that will change the world ­ is still invisible to the same experts, authorities and pundits who didn’t see the financial crisis coming until the bottom fell out of the economy. Trend Forecast: Conditions will continue to deteriorate. The global economy is terminally ill. The recession is in a brief remission, not the early stages of recovery. Cheap money, easy credit and unrestrained borrowing brought on an economic crisis that cannot be cured by monetary and fiscal policies that promote more cheap money, easy credit and unrestrained borrowing.

Nevertheless, Washington will continue to intervene, tax and exert control. Protests will escalate and riots will follow.Fourth Shot of the Second American Revolution: While there are many wild cards that could light the fuse, The Trends Research Institute forecasts that if the threat of government-forced Swine Flu vaccinations is realized, it will be the fourth shot. Tens of millions will fight for their right to remain free and unvaccinated.Publisher’s Note: The power of the Internet and new technologies is inexorably fermenting the Second American Revolution. However widespread and emotionally charged, had the tax rallies, tea parties and healthcare reform protests occurred in years past, they might have been covered by the local media, but might not have made national headline news and thus would have died stillborn.Now, with the ubiquitous camera-equipped cell phone, universal access to YouTube, and millions of twitters and tweets, the uprisings cannot be ignored, contained, managed, spun or edited down. The revolutionary fervor will prove contagious.

Can anything stop it?

Trend Forecast: Before the momentum of the “Second American Revolution” becomes unstoppable, it could be derailed through some false flag event designed to deceive the public, or a genuine event or crisis capable of rallying the entire nation behind the President. In a worst-case scenario, according to Trends Research Institute Director, Gerald Celente, Given the pattern of governments to parlay egregious failures into mega-failures, the classic trend they follow, when all else fails, is to take their nation to war.A false flag attempt, a genuine crisis, or a declaration of war, may slow the momentum of the Second American Revolution,but nothing will stop it.

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

Most US Jewish Obama backers oppose his Israel policies
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 12:25 News from Jerusalem

American Jewish Democrats are breaking with the Obama administration over its policies in Israel, according to the results of a survey designed by a former pollster for president Bill Clinton.The survey, initiated by pollster Dick Morris, found that the majority of respondents - some 58 percent - think President Obama is doing a good job promoting peace in the Middle East. But 55% said the president is naive in thinking that the Palestinians would make peace and that Palestinians will just use the new land as a base to attack Israel like they did in Gaza.Forty percent said they believe Obama is doing a good job in his effort to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.The survey, conducted by Global Marketing Research Services from July 22 to 24, is based on responses from 500 American Jews who voted for Obama.The poll was sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition, an evangelical Christian group with 43,000 members. The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.Among its findings: 92% of respondents have a favorable view of Israel, and 86% think it is important for Jews to have a country of their own.

Fifty-two percent of those surveyed endorsed the view that Arabs will never live in peace with Israel. Other findings show that 52% of respondents believe Israel should be allowed to build new homes in existing settlements.Democratic Jews in the United States strongly support Obama, but also strongly support Israel, Morris told The Jerusalem Post. But,Asked explicitly to choose between Obama's position and that of the Israeli government on issues such as construction in the settlements, or the two-state solution, they back the Israeli view by more than two to one.To me, he added, this indicates that the jury is still out and that a backlash may yet develop against Obama's policies.David A. Harris, president of the National Jewish Democratic Council, rejected the poll's findings, saying he was suspicious of its origins and its wording.Whenever anyone shows me a poll from any interested party, from one side or another, I have questions about the veracity of that poll,he said.Based on the phraseology of the questions, they are misrepresenting the position of the Israeli government and the Obama administration,he added.In particular, he cited a question asking respondents to choose which they preferred: the Obama administration's view that if Israel could settle its dispute with the Palestinian refugees and give them a nation of their own, the Arabs would live in peace with Israel, or the Israeli government's view that the Arabs will never live in peace with Israel and that giving them a nation of their own will just make them stronger.I don't agree with the supposition that that's either President Obama's view or Binyamin Netanyahu's view, Harris said.It's comically mischaracterizing both the Israeli government's perspective and President Obama's perspective.Asked to evaluate support for Obama among Jewish Democrats, Harris said there is strong support for the administration's Middle East efforts among Jewish leaders and rank-and-file Democrats.

We do not see any significant weakening of American Jewish support for this administration, Harris said.Morris said those who disagreed with his survey were entitled to their opinion. He said he was appalled at the lack of support for Israel and felt it was important to understand why it was happening.He raised $25,000 to fund the survey, which was sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition.The goal was to find out how Jewish Obama supporters feel about his proposals,Morris said.A spokesman for the Traditional Values Coalition, Jim Lafferty, said the coalition strongly supports Israel and wanted to gauge whether Jewish voters side with Mr. Obama or Mr. Netanyahu,according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.According to the poll, the majority of respondents affirmed their commitment to Israel.The majority disagreed that Israel has become a bully in the region, and 70% rejected the notion that Israel is intolerant of its neighbors. More than half, 55%, rejected the idea that the IDF and Mossad have committed human rights abuses.In broad strokes, the findings suggest that the majority of Jewish Democrats believe Arabs, not Israel, are to blame for the conflict. By a 60% to 20% margin, respondents agreed that if Arabs lay down their weapons, there would be no more war.By an 80% to 6% margin, they agreed that if Israel were to lay down its weapons, the Arabs would destroy it.In an op-ed published in the New York Post on August 7, Morris wrote: Does the president realize he's at risk of a break with an important part of his base?

Gary Ratner, the Zionist Organization of America's national executive director, said the results show the Obama administration is out of sync with the views of most American Jewish Democrats.It appears that the majority of American Democrats don't agree with Obama on specific issues as it relates to Israel, especially the pressure on Israel and the construction freeze, and also who's really more to blame for the conflict,he said.Despite support for Obama on domestic issues, including health care reform, his Israel policy is eroding the support for him on this particular issue.
jpost

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

ISRAELS TROUBLE

JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.

DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
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,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)

TUBE OF HATRED VIDEOS
http://www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com/israelnews/conflict/82-conflict/1651-tube-of-hatred.html

Tube of hatred Wednesday, 12 August 2009 06:03 News from Jerusalem

While Israeli youngsters spend summer days crowded around TV screens watching a variety of cartoons and other entertainment programs, in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, children will be getting quite a different message from some of their TV programming: a message of hatred. For many years both Fatah and Hamas have been actively using television for propaganda,says Itamar Marcus, director of the Palestinian Media Watch. From music videos to the dramatic death of cartoon-like characters, including a Mickey Mouse look-alike named Farfur, the message of martyrdom is being drummed into young minds. From the first months of the intifada, music videos were being turned out to get young Palestinians into the streets, he says. Starting in January 2001, says Marcus, there was one where a boy wrote a farewell letter and then went off hoping to be killed. You see the boy throwing stones, a singer sings his farewell letter, and when he falls dead on the ground, the words in the music video are sung: How sweet is shahada [martyrdom] - ahla shahada - when I am embraced by you, my land.And you see him falling down in slow motion. Death as a martyr was presented as sweet, as calm, and there were periods when this was being broadcast three times a day.Another music video featured Muhammad al-Dura, who Palestinians claimed was shot by the IDF but which was later disproved. It opens with al-Dura calling to children: I'm waving to you not to say goodbye, but to say: Follow me,says Marcus, whose group monitors the PA, Hamas and other Arab stations that offer such propaganda.Then you see a reenactment of the event in which he was killed, after which he is shown in child's paradise where he's playing with a kite in a grassy field, on the beach, and he's even walking towards a Ferris wheel. He's having a wonderful time in child's paradise, where there are amusement parks, and he's calling others to follow him. Both these clips ran almost daily on PA TV for years, sometimes many times a day.

Many videos, all of which can be viewed on the PMW Website (www.Palwatch.org) feature very young children. The farewell video starts as the boy is riding his bike; he's portrayed as just a little kid riding off on his bike, leaving his father. But he's also a hero, secretly going to join the popular struggle,says Marcus. One program that appeared on PA TV last year featured a child in a Palestinian school getting up and reading; I love the way of shahada, the land will drip my blood.CALLING THESE current programs booster shots to get the kids out there, when needed for rock-throwing or other violence, he says there are many music videos with continuous violence that depict throwing stones and firebombs as glorious. There was one that ran for a few years in which one child, maybe 10 years old, tells another who appears to be about six that: The stone in their hand will turn into a Kalashnikov.Hatred is also promoted in the videos, like one of a young woman sitting in the rubble of her house, and the boy says: I will avenge the humiliation of my mother. Then he goes out with other boys to throw stones, and one of the stones goes through a window with a Magen David on it.Another key message on both PA and Hamas children's TV is that there is no State of Israel, that there is a world without Israel, says Marcus.A special Ramadan program last year featured a geography quiz posing questions like: Name Palestinian ports. The answer? Haifa Port, Ashkelon, Jaffa, Eilat, Ashdod and Gaza.That the world should be viewed as a world without Israel is a very prominent message even today continuing on Palestinian TV, which is under the direct control of Mahmoud Abbas.IN THE space of a month, Hamas and Fatah ran identical items on TV. Each program showed young children dancing on television with big keys around their necks, each of which bore the name of an Israeli city. The Hamas keys were marked Beit She'an, Jerusalem, Haifa, Ramle and Acre and the Fatah ones read Haifa, Ramle, Acre, Jaffa and Beersheba. They keys carried the same message of symbolizing ownership of Israeli cities.

But it was Farfur, the Mickey Mouse character, who really made headlines. A featured performer on the popular Friday afternoon Al-Aksa TV (Hamas) program Tomorrow's Pioneers. In 2007, Farfur appeared for a few months before being killed on TV by an Israeli interrogator. He was replaced by Nahul, a bee, who also died on TV when Israel refused him medical treatment. As he died in bed, Saraa, the hostess, says: Congratulations to you. Today we don't mourn you as if you died, we say congratulations because it's your wedding. Congratulations. You are a shahid,notes Marcus. The bee was replaced by a bunny named Assud, which means lion,because he was a bunny on the outside but a lion inside,explains Marcus.Among other things he says that because he is a lion, he is going to kill the Jews and eat them. Another time he said that if the Danes ever did another cartoon of Muhammad, he would kill the Danes and eat them, as well.In his final video, Assud explains how he went to the headquarters of Al-Aksa TV because he heard Israeli forces might bomb it during Operation Cast Lead.Saraa sits with him as he's dying, and he says: Tell the children that Assud has died, died as a hero, died as a shahid....She tries unsuccessfully to revive him, and then the children all say: We will sacrifice ourselves for you, O Palestine.The message is that if Assud can be a shahid, all the children can be. Assud was replaced by a bear named Nassur, who declares war on the Zionists. He says to Saraa: You are ready, Saraa, we are all ready to sacrifice ourselves for the homeland.

CHILDREN ARE very attracted to these characters,notes Marcus,Kids fall in love with them, and then right in front of their eyes, these characters... become shahid, one after another, killed on television by Israel. It creates intense hatred. In fact, we've had children call in to the program and say:We hate the Jews because they killed Farfur.' The life-size dolls have been turned into the perfect tools to imprint hatred on young minds.They realize that if they can indoctrinate their children at a very young age that Israel and the Jews are the enemy, they won't have much trouble getting them to join the violence and terror against Israel as they grow older.Marcus, who has traveled the world lecturing on Palestinian society and education, recently told a group of Swedish MPs, who supply funding to the PA: When you fund the Palestinian Authority directly you are responsible for the continuation of of hate education, and for the wars we will fight in the next generation.Once Palestinian society has decided to teach children that death is better than life, a message we find in Palestinian schoolbooks, as well, they don't see any problem in brainwashing young children because they're convinced that they are brainwashing them to higher values,Marcus explains.They feel they are instilling what they see as the greatest Islamic value, and will use any tool to do it, including Mickey Mouse.
Exploiting the children of suicide bombers for propaganda purposes is not beyond the pale for Al-Aksa TV. Only recently, the two young children of woman suicide bomber Reem Riyashi, who killed four Israelis at the Erez crossing in 2004, were brought into the studio, where a reenactment video clip of their mother's suicide terror was shown in their presence. In the music video the girl playing Riyashi's daughter sees the actress playing her mother hiding the bomb she's preparing, and asks 'What are you holding in your hand? Is it a toy or a present for me? Later on the girl finds out her mother committed a suicide attack and says in the video:You held a bomb in your hands, now I know what is more precious than us.This program ended with Saraa telling her young audience:We will continue in the footsteps of the shahida fighter Reem Riyashi until we liberate our homeland from your oppressive hands,explains Marcus.

YIGAL CARMON, president and founder of MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), recalled a recent video which depicted a Palestinian boy who came to the White House to stab president George W. Bush, in which he turns the White House into a mosque. Viewed recently by me, it features two puppets, the Palestinian boy and Bush, the latter dressed in what look like battle fatigues. Broadcast on Al-Aksa TV on March 30, 2008, it features the boy saying, I place my trust in Allah. I need to kill you, after explaining how Bush and his minions have killed daddy in the Iraq war, how his mother was killed by you and the criminal Zionists in Lebanon and his younger and older siblings in the Gaza holocaust. I'm an orphan, you criminal... You took everything from me, Bush.After the White House is miraculously turned into a mosque, the boy takes the sword of Islam and stabs Bush several times, making stabbing sounds as he does so.The most serious thing is that they are recruiting children at a very young age - four, five, 10 - totally recruited to war which is against international law, which forbids this,says Carmon.When they recruit children for killing, for war, for jihad, show them using swords - that's illegitimate. They are recruiting young minds to war. They are inculcating violence in their little souls. They are stealing their childhood and are turning little children into weapons, not letting them have a childhood, not exposing them to any culture except the culture of violence,says Carmon, whose Web site (www.memritv.org) contains dozens of such videos, which can be viewed by the public and include translations. When you show a young kid stabbing Bush to death with several stab wounds, that's inculcating violence into their souls.
jpost

LUKEWARM CHURCHES

REVELATION 3:15-19
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue (VOMIT) thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

United Church of Canada jumping on the Boycott Israel bandwagon?
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 05:27

On Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, the United Church of Canada began its 40th General Council in Kelowna, British Columbia. In addition to struggling with declining attendance and financial difficulties facing their denomination, council delegates are also working to bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict by deliberating on four resolutions, two of which call for a boycott of Israeli goods.According to the Canadian Press (CP), the delegates will debate and vote on the resolutions on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. The council will end on Aug. 15.One of the resolutions is more balanced than the other three, but taken together, the resolutions offer a remarkably distorted view of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The background material accompanying one of the resolutions obliquely accuses Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) of taking bribes to work on behalf of Israel. It also accuses – without substantiation – unnamed Canadian MPs of being dual citizens with Israel and of having sensitive roles in the Canadian government.

The Boycott Resolutions

The first of the boycott resolutions is titled Seeking Peace through Justice: Institutional and Academic boycott of Israel.The resolution, submitted by the World Affairs Committee of the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada, calls on the denomination to advocate a comprehensive boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions at national and international levels, including suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions.This resolution also calls on the church to support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions.The background material accompanying this resolution condemns settlements in the West Bank, Israel's recent assault on the Gaza Strip and the construction of the security barrier. The supporting statement reads in part, as follows:Thirty eight years into Israel's occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel's entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact.In fact, Israel has been attacked numerous times from territory that it has withdrawn from in recent years. It withdrew from cities and towns in the West Bank under the Oslo Accords in the 1990s only to see these areas used as recruiting grounds for suicide attacks during the Second Intifada. It withdrew from a security buffer in Lebanon in 2000 and six years later it was attacked from this country by Hezbollah. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 only to see the rocket attacks increase from this territory. Despite all this, the resolution portrays Israeli aggression as the cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict.The fact that these subjects are left unmentioned should not come as a surprise because the underlying logic of this resolution is that Israeli concessions, withdrawals and peace offers will bring about an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

By portraying Israel's creation as a function of ethnic cleansing, this resolution ignores UN Resolution 181 which called for the creation of a Jewish and Arab state on land previously governed under the British Mandate, which itself called for the establishment of the Jewish national home.In sum, this resolution and its supporting statement repackages the narrative used to justify Arab violence against Israelis and Jews in the Middle East in an effort to justify a Canadian boycott of Israel, the Jewish state. The proposal's silence on Arab and Muslim misdeeds demonstrates that this resolution is not about promoting peace, but about demonizing Israel as a unique source and cause of suffering in the Middle East.The second of the boycott resolutions, titled Working for Peace in Israel/Palestine Using Methods Used for South African Apartheid, was submitted by the Bathurst Street United Church in Toronto. This resolution labels Israel as an apartheid state and calls on the denomination to.support the international campaign of boycott (not including academic boycott), divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's right to inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
This resolution ignores the failure of the Camp David negotiations in 2000 during which Israel offered the Palestinian Authority a state on all of the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat rejected this offer and refused to make a counter off of his own. A few months later, Israeli officials accepted the Clinton Parameters which would have given the Palestinians a state on even more territory than what was offered at Camp David. Again, Arafat said no despite a January 2001 warning from Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan:I hope you remember, sir, what I told you. If we lose this opportunity, it is not going to be a tragedy. This is going to be a crime.(The New Yorker, March 24, 2003. A link to the article can be found here.)

The Israelis have on numerous times acknowledged the Palestinian right to self-determination and have been met with violence and yet the resolution portrays Israel as refusing to recognize the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.For example, in 2008 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered the Palestinians a state on all of the Gaza Strip and 93 percent of the West Bank – which was rejected by the Palestinian Authority. And on June 14, 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated his vision for peace was of two peoples live freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect. Each will have its own flag, its own national anthem, its own government.The reference material accompanying this resolution includes a long list of companies that would be targeted under the boycott, and proposes a cultural boycott of Israeli film festivals, Israeli public venues, and Israeli institutions.Also mentioned is a proposal to end sporting collaboration with Apartheid Israel until it complies with international humanitarian law. The statement reports that “The boycott movement will aim to take action whenever Israeli teams play outside Israel and pressure sporting bodies to end those links.(This strategy has been taken by other activists as well. Protesters in Malmo, Sweden threw rocks at police officers and chanted anti-Semitic slogans to obstruct the participation of Israeli tennis players at the Davis Cup in May.)The accompanying material reports that the boycott is not directed at Jews but rather at those companies that are supporting the racist occupation of Palestine. We do not discriminate between the supporters of Israel – if a Muslim company is collaborating with Israel we will boycott it just as vigorously as any other company.

If the phrase collaborating with Israel did not have such ominous overtones, the passage quoted above would be a laughably transparent effort to change the subject. In a failed attempt to portray themselves as even-handed and willing to boycott anyone – even non-Jews – the proponents of this resolution fail to address the real issue: Why boycott Israel and not, for example, Sudan? Since the beginning of the Second Intifada, approximately 5,000 people have died as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict. While these deaths are a tragedy, this number pales in comparison to the number of deaths that have taken place in Sudan over the past three decades. The regime in Khartoum has engaged in two successive campaigns of genocide against its own citizens – the first in Southern Sudan, the second in Dafur, that in total, have resulted in the deaths of more than 2 million people since the 1980s.Nevertheless, the denomination has not chosen to boycott Sudan. Rev. Bruce Gregerson, the spokesperson for the church told the National Post that the denomination has also criticized such countries as Myanmar and the Sudan for human rights abuses but only the former apartheid regime of South Africa was ever subject to a church boycott.The question remains: Why boycott Israel, and not Sudan? And while the issue of boycotts is being raised, why not boycott oil from Saudi Arabia, which has allowed its oil revenues to be used to foment hostility toward Jews, women, and Westerners in Muslim countries throughout the world, most notably, in Pakistan? Are the victims of Arab expansionism in Sudan and Muslim extremism supported by Saudi Arabia not worthy of a boycott filed on their behalf? Are their lives any less valuable? Are their human rights any less worthy of defense? The fact that that self-proclaimed human rights activists in the United Church of Canada have chosen Israel – and no other nation – as a target for a boycott raises serious questions about what triggers their activism. Apparently, there is something more offensive about a small number of deaths at the hands of Israelis than huge numbers of deaths caused by Arabs and Muslims.

Why? What is the calculus here?

Non-Boycott Resolutions

Another resolution before the council (Implementation of Measures towards Peace in the Middle East) calls on Israel to withdraw its military forces to its pre-1967 borders and for an end to all forms of collective violence by the Israeli government and the Palestinian people.This resolution, submitted by the Montreal Presbytery of the Montreal and Ottawa Conference of the denomination, also calls on Palestinians to acknowledge Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state within safe and secure borders and to bring an end to the suicide bombings and other violent attacks toward Israeli civilians.While this resolution is markedly more balanced than the other resolutions, it still attempts to pre-determine the outcome of the negotiated settlement under UN Resolution 242. Still, it does make an explicit call for the Palestinians to acknowledge Israel's right to exist as Jewish state and calls for an end to suicide bombings and suicide attacks toward Israelis.The last resolution, put forth by the World Affairs Committee of the Toronto Conference, calls on the Canadian government to comply with its contractual legal obligations as a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention and denounce all policies of all governments that enforce discrimination based on race religion or ethnicity.This resolution, titled Pathway to Peace in Israel/Palestine,is accompanied by background material that makes it clear that it is targeted at Israeli – not Palestinian – policies.For example, the supporting material denounces Canadian support for Israel by citing questionable positions of Canadian Members of Parliament, stating that Members of Parliament have accepted sponsored trips to Israel, which might be called bribes, some members of Parliament are affiliated with the State of Israel; [and]Some Members of Parliament are dual-citizens with Israel and have sensitive roles in Canada.This passage drew criticism from the Ottawa Citizen, which stated the following in a powerful editorial:One document warns that some Members of Parliament are affiliated with the State of Israel and have sensitive roles in Canada.Is this a coded reference to Jewish MPs, in an attempt to raise the ancient accusation that Jews are duplicitous and have dual loyalties?

It gets worse. The church document accuses the Canadian Parliament of harbouring MPs who are actually citizens of Israel. This is a lie. So far as anyone knows, there are no MPs who hold Israeli citizenship. But what if there were? Parliament is a multicultural and diverse place, like Canadian society generally. It's conspicuous that the United Church is not witchhunting South Asian or Muslim MPs to out those who hold dual citizenship. Only Jews constitute an enemy within.While the resolution put forth by the Montreal Presbytery lacks the anti-Israel animus of evident in the other resolutions, the overall impression given by these documents, taken together, is that so-called peace activists within the United Church of Canada have an unseemly obsession with the misdeeds of the Jewish state and an unhealthy desire to draw attention to themselves by offending the sensibilities of the Jewish community in North America. They are also, for the most part, blind to the manifest sins of Israel's adversaries.If the proponents of the boycott resolutions were truly interested in promoting peace, they would acknowledge the role Palestinians have played in continuing the violence instead of focusing all of their attention on Israeli policies. Only one of the resolutions put forth on the council agenda makes any reference to the failings of Israel's adversaries but even this resolution falls short by failing to offer any direct reference to the Hamas or Hezb'allah, two violent mass movements that foment hostility toward Jews and call for Israel's destruction.It is a bit presumptuous of delegates to the United Church of Canada's General Council to pass judgment on the state of Israel, but if they must do so, the least they could do is include all the relevant evidence. For some reason, the peace activists within the denomination are not all that interested in putting this evidence into the docket.Camera

Why Are Internment Camps Being Built? Chuck Baldwin
Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Internet is abuzz with news about the construction of internment camps all across America. Of course, mainstream media outlets refuse to touch the subject; or if they do, they pooh-pooh the story; they do what Glenn Beck recently did: try to debunk the story as fallacious and impugn people who speak of it as conspiracy nuts.The fact that the Becks, Hannitys, Limbaughs, and O’Reillys of the media circus refuse to deal with the construction of large numbers of internment camps does not make them disappear, however.For starters, all anyone need do to begin a serious investigation of the subject of internment camps is Google the phrase FEMA Camps.There is more than enough evidence in that search engine alone to keep one busy with some in-depth private investigation of the subject for quite a while.
Another URL to check out is this one from the June 2009 Idaho Observer:
http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20090609.htm

As people read my columns all across America, I have had numerous readers contact me, saying that they have personally witnessed the transportation of construction materials used for internment camps, have actually worked in and around them, or have personally seen such camps. These eyewitness testimonies have come from very credible people, including law enforcement and military personnel, as well as airline pilots and construction workers.Just a few weeks ago, I was aboard a cross-country flight when the passenger I was sitting next to (a total stranger) asked me to take a look out the window. He asked,Do those look like internment camps to you? I was astonished that the man (1) would even know to notice such a potentiality, and (2) would be so bold as to ask such a question of a total stranger. I must say, I was extremely happy to make his acquaintance. And we had a very warm and invigorating discussion the rest of the trip.We were flying over Colorado, over extreme wilderness terrain, and, yes, right in the middle of nowhere, the buildings and surrounding features that I saw sure looked like internment camps to me. Of course, flying at over 30,000 feet in the sky makes it difficult for any kind of detailed analysis to take place; that is for sure.Then, a friend recently brought this URL to my attention:
http://www.nationalguard.com/careers/mos/description.php?mos_code=31E

This is an advertisement by the National Guard promoting the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) of Internment/Resettlement Specialist. Question: why does the National Guard need to recruit Internment/Resettlement Specialists? What do they know that we should know? Furthermore, I have had military personnel tell me that many of the US military bases that have been recently closed are also being prepared as large-scale holding areas.Obviously, the question that begs to be asked is, Who is the US government planning to intern and resettle? And another question is, How many people are they planning to intern that would require the massive number of camps that are apparently being constructed? Some suggest that these facilities are being prepared for large numbers of illegal immigrants. This seems extremely doubtful, however, considering the propensity of the federal government to (1) do next to nothing to seriously curtail the flood of illegal aliens into America, (2) do virtually nothing to apprehend illegals known to be in the US, and (3) do everything it can to facilitate the release of those illegals incarcerated by State and local authorities. To think that the federal government intends to place thousands of illegal aliens in internment camps borders on lunacy. If anything, the federal government (with either Democrats or Republicans in charge) has done everything it can to (1) entice illegals to come to America, and (2) provide every incentive for them to stay illegally in this country after having entered. I feel safe in saying that we can eliminate the possibility that these camps are being prepared for illegal aliens.

Others suggest that these internment camps are being constructed to accommodate enemy combatants from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Yet, the total number of these types of detainees is miniscule compared to the detention space being constructed. Can one really imagine the need to build facilities that could accommodate prisoners numbering in the tens of thousands to house a few hundred foreign troops? I don’t think so.Then, of course, there are those who continue to deny that these internment camps exist at all. But then, were there not thousands of Germans who denied the existence of concentration camps during World War II? These types of people would refuse to believe the sun came up in the east if the government spinmeisters told them it didn’t.That our federal government is building large numbers of holding areas or internment camps seems to be an established fact. The only questions that remain are Why? and For whom? At this point, the imagination can take us anywhere, but it is not a little disconcerting when the same federal government that is building these internment camps begins categorizing Christians, conservatives, people who support the Second Amendment, people who oppose abortion and homosexual marriage, people who oppose the North American Union and the New World Order, people who oppose the United Nations and illegal immigration, and people who voted for Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin as extremists,or potential dangerous militia members.Anyone knows that before a government can begin persecuting and imprisoning large groups of people, they must first marginalize them. As someone said, Just because you are paranoid does not mean they really aren’t trying to get you.In fact, an argument could be made that by today’s politically correct definition, America’s Founding Fathers would be categorized as paranoid,extremists,or potential dangerous militia members.I would even go so far as to question the patriotism of anyone today that is not a little paranoid. This federal government has certainly earned whatever paranoia citizens feel.Feelings of paranoia notwithstanding, why is the federal government constructing large numbers of internment camps, and who does the government plan on incarcerating in those camps? Those questions still need to be answered.

Exercising First Amendment Now Vandalism As Corporate Media Attacks Obama Joker Contest Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Wednesday, August 12, 2009

In an effort to chill freedom of speech and intimidate people from exercising their first amendment rights, the establishment media is claiming that posting flyers in public places represents vandalism and is a criminal offense, despite the fact that such practice has been commonplace in America for hundreds of years.A WFTV news report about the Infowars Obama Joker poster contest does its best to manufacture artificial outrage that President Obama, whose entire agenda is being ferociously opposed at town hall events across the country, and whose popular approval is sinking in polls, has been disrespected by the posters despite the fact that satirical lampooning of political figures is an integral part of American history.The two separate video reports put out by WFTV concentrate on one instance where the posters were placed in an inappropriate place, a post office mailbox, while ignoring the hundreds of other perfectly legal and legitimate locations where the posters have been put up, and indeed the tone of the entire piece suggests that it is illegal and an act of vandalism to put up flyers at all.In that case, the millions of flyers plastered up on light poles, telephone poles, trees and other public areas across the country each year must also represent an act of vandalism. Want your neighbors to help you find a lost cat by putting up a flyer? You’re a vandal. Want to advertise a garage sale? You’re a criminal, according to the definition of vandalism concocted by WFTV.The media only seized upon this story when they could flag up the fact that a few posters were placed on a mailbox, while ignoring the hundreds of other locations where they could be seen for the last week. This clearly represents agenda-driven bias and calculated editorial spin aimed at demonizing people who dare question Obama’s saintly image – which is a proven manufactured hoax because as all the polls show, his actual approval ratings are sinking even faster than those of Bush.Of course, this has nothing to do with concerns about vandalism and everything to do with the establishment trying to protect the fast diminishing God-like image of the anointed one – Barack Hussein Obama. This is about chilling free speech and intimidating people against exercising their first amendment right to simply put up a flyer espousing their political opinion.According to the definition implied by the establishment media, placing all of these signs is a criminal offense.

As our contest rules clearly state, Obama Joker posters should be posted in public commons where other fliers, public announcements, handbills, etc., are posted. Please do not post on federal or private property as this will be considered vandalism and will be counterproductive and diminish the message of the Obama Joker poster.Posting flyers on telephone and light poles is not a criminal offense, it’s called the first amendment.The corporate media has also attempted to claim that the posters are racist, despite the fact that Obama is being depicted as a fictional character from the Batman comic book, just as George W. Bush was characterized as the joker before him.There were no cries of racism when Bush was satirized as the Joker nor when he was characterized as a blood-sucking vampire and nor should there have been – this has nothing to do with racism, it’s about freedom of speech.When George W. Bush was depicted as a blood-sucking vampire and the Joker, there were no cries of racism.The establishment plays the race card over and over again to divide the people, distract them from government corruption and get us at each other’s throats. They are the real racists because they are promulgating racism and exploiting it for their own ends.

Residents of Clermont and WFTV may not realize it, but political satire and parody have a long history dating back well before the author Jonathan Swift wrote his A Modest Proposal in 1729. Political cartoons were instrumental in the American Revolutionary War. Scathing political cartoons appeared in Ben Franklin’s newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette and the Massachusetts Centinel. In the 1870s, cartoonist Thomas Nast published a series of illustrations lampooning the Tammany Ring, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics.The Obama as Joker meme fits in that esteemed tradition — and may be considered subvertisement of a popular Hollywood movie as well — but then history is lost on a dumbed-down public all too ready to fawn and grovel at the feet of political leaders who betray them at every turn.Indeed, the point is to deeply offend the sensibilities and get people to think about what Obama stands for and the people he represents.Our rulers were shrewd when they selected Obama to be president — they understood the politically correct mechanism at work in American society, an ethic inculcated over the last three decades. It will now be considered a racist crime to criticize and parody Barack Obama. How long before this criticism and disagreement becomes a punishable crime?

Are we on the brink of creating a computer with a human brain?
Michael Hanlon London Mail August 12, 2009

There are only a handful of scientific revolutions that would really change the world. An immortality pill would be one. A time machine would be another.Faster-than-light travel, allowing the stars to be explored in a human lifetime, would be on the shortlist, too.To my mind, however, the creation of an artificial mind would probably trump all of these – a development that would throw up an array of bewildering and complex moral and philosophical quandaries. Amazingly, it might also be within reach.

For while time machines, eternal life potions and Star Trek-style warp drives are as far away as ever, a team of scientists in Switzerland is claiming that a fully-functioning replica of a human brain could be built by 2020.Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1205677/Are-brink-creating-human-brain.html

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

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

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

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

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

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

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU AUG 13,2009

09:30 AM +7.40
10:00 AM -50.10
10:30 AM -13.75
11:00 AM +28.57
11:30 AM +11.31
12:00 PM +20.48
12:30 PM +15.27
01:00 PM +16.10
01:30 PM +15.27
02:00 PM -0.15
02:30 PM +1.81
03:00 PM -2.57
03:30 PM +16.70
04:00 PM +36.58 9398.19

S&P 500 1012.73 +6.92

NASDAQ 2009.35 +10.63

GOLD 956.40 +3.90

OIL 71.02 +0.86

TSE 300 10,841.34 +181.47

CDNX 1200.50 +14.48

S&P/TSX/60 652.58 +12.37

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +6.67%
S&P +11.35%
Nasdaq +26.74%
TSX Advances 949,declines 600,unchanged 253,Volume 1,651,372,973.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 390,Declines 427,Unchanged 372,Volume 275,900,481.

Dow +20 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -57 points at low today.
Dow +33 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $958.50.OIL opens at $71.91 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -57 points at low today so far.
Dow +33 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,325,declines 1,285,unchanged 86,New Highs 70,New Lows 34.
Volume 3,003,999,970.
NASDAQ Advances 1,401,declines 1,162,unchanged 118,New highs 57,New Lows 10.
Volume 1,023,941,390.
TSX Advances 894,declines 479,unchanged 241,Volume 1,267,997,897.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 351,Declines 288,Unchanged 303,Volume 171,570,323.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -57 points at low today.
Dow +42 points at high today.
Dow +0.39% today Volume 145,601,482.
Nasdaq +0.53% today Volume 1,970,768,649.
S&P 500 +0.69% today Volume N/A

GET THAT FED AUDITED NOW 282 HOUSE MEMBERS AND 23 SENATE MEMBERS WANT IT DONE NOW.

GOOGLE OR MICROSOFT WERE SO PEEVED WITH ME YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AFTER MY STORIES THAT WHEN I TRYED TO PUBLISH STORIES AT 4:30PM FOR TODAY,THEY STOPPED THE AUTO SAVE 7 OR 8 TIMES,SO I GAVE UP UNTIL 9PM TO TRY TO GET STORIES.GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT ARE BOTH THE BEST OF BUDDIES WITH OBAMA AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ENVIROMENTAL,NEW AGE OCCULT NUTCASES,THATS WHY I'M HHAVING SO MUCH TROUBLE WITH MY COMPUTER THE LAST 6 OR SO MONTHS.THEY WANT TO GET RID OF ME AND MY BIBLE SCRIPTURES.I KNOW HOW ALEX JONES FEELS,HES GETTING HASSELED WAY MORE THEN ME,SO I ASK WERE IS THE FREE SPEECH NEW WORLD ORDER MURDERING (EUGENICIST) NUTCASES.

SETI INSTITUTE IS TO EXPLORE,UNDERSTAND,AND EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN,NATURE AND PREVALENCE OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE.(RIGHT FROM THERE SITE)
http://www.seti.org/Page.aspx?pid=1345

WOW AMAZING ITS 11:59PM AUG 12,09 AND GOD JUST REVEALED TO ME THROUGHT A PBS SHOW WHY THEY GOOGLE,MICROSOFT HATE MY SITE SO MUCH IT EXALTS JESUS AS GOD AND NOT THE UNIVERSE AS SETI THE MICROSOFT OWNED AND RUN COMPANY DOES.

S.E.T.I WAS STARTED IN MOUNTAINVIEW CALIFORNIA TILL 1993 WHEN THE GOVERNMENT STOPPED FUNDING TO IT.MICROSOFT THEN BOUGHT IT AND CURRENTLY OWNS AND RUNS THIS SPACE PROGRAM.HERES THE CONNECTION TO GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT,THEY BOTH ARE FROM MOUNTAINVIEW CALIFORNIA.LOOK ON MY COUNTER AND GOOGLE AND GOOGLEBOT ARE FROM MOUNTAINVIEW CALIFORNIA.NOW I KNOW WHY GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT HATE ME SO MUCH BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY CAN CONTROL THE UNIVERSE AND I SAY GOD (KING JESUS RULES THE UNIVERSE).THANKS KING JESUS FOR REVEALING THESE GODLESS,NEW AGE NUTCASE CONNECTIONS TO MICROSOFT AND GOOGLE.

Google Deal With Publishers Raises Privacy Concerns
by Martin Kaste August 12, 2009

Google has been working on a monumental project to scan millions of library books and put them online. Many of those books are not yet readable, because of a copyright lawsuit filed by authors and publishers. That lawsuit has been tentatively settled, and if a judge approves the deal this fall, millions more books will be available to browse through and read.It would be the world's greatest virtual library. But some authors have mixed emotions about its effect on the act of reading.Novelist Jonathan Lethem says Google should be congratulated for its effort. Lethem adds, This is the moment to take a look and say, Why isn't it as private as the world we're being asked to leave behind, the world of physical books? Lethem wonders whether future readers will have the same kind of relationship with books that he had. When I was on this very private, very eccentric, intense journey as a younger person, it was crucial that it be a solitary practice,he says. But if future readers have reason to think they're leaving a digital trail, he adds, it might deprive the reading experience of its intimacy.Lethem is one of several authors — including Michael Chabon and Cory Doctorow — who have signed on to a campaign to pressure Google Books to offer greater privacy guarantees for its readers. The effort was organized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

They know which books you search for,says Cindy Cohn, legal director for the foundation.They know which books you browse through; they know how long you spend on each page.It's the same kind of information that's produced by someone surfing the Web. But Cohn believes books should enjoy greater privacy. The EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California want Google to keep reader data for less time than normal Web searches. Ideally, they say, the data should be deleted after a month. Google says it shares their concern about readers' privacy. The regular Google privacy policy says that we do not disclose your personal information except in some narrow circumstances like emergencies and search warrants,says Daphne Keller, a company attorney.There may also be technical limits to how much anonymity the company can offer readers. Google's tentative settlement of the copyright dispute allows for readers to have free browsing rights to only 20 percent of a book. If Google is going to keep track of how much of a book a person has seen, it has to keep track of a person's reading. And of course, when someone buys access to the full book, that will necessitate some form of identification.Even here, Google says it's trying to find ways to offer anonymity to readers. Google plans to sell full access subscriptions to institutions — colleges or libraries — and it says it will not ask for the identity of the individual students or library patrons who use the service.

But privacy rights groups want more ironclad guarantees. EFF's Cohn says company privacy policies can change. She wants Google to make legally binding commitments to reader privacy; chief among them a pledge never to turn over readers' information unless presented with a warrant.The EFF and the ACLU of Northern California want Google to attach these privacy guarantees to the copyright settlement, to make it part of a legally binding contract. The settlement is currently under court review, and the judge has given third parties until Sept. 4 to comment. The privacy groups are planning to file amicus briefs with the court asking for privacy guarantees, unless Google agrees to their demands.Google's Keller says the settlement is not the place for privacy guarantees.It would be weird to put it in the agreement. She says it's not the kind of thing that would generally come up in the settlement of a copyright conflict.Nevertheless, she says Google and the advocacy groups are on the same page" on most privacy goals. However, she thinks these matters would be better handled after the settlement is approved, and once Google starts building the software for its expanded online library.But Cohn of the EFF says this is the best time to settle these issues — before Google Books becomes a huge repository of personal reading habits. Better to make legal commitments to privacy now, she says, because it will minimize the public relations consequences of saying no to law enforcement, down the road.They can say,The ACLU and the EFF really pushed us to make these agreements, so it's not us; get mad at them,Cohn says. That's fine — I'll take that heat! NPR.

Congressional Oversight Panel Versus Summers, Bernanke and Geithner
Washington’s Blog Thursday, August 13, 2009

Yesterday’s report by the Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts concludes that banks remain threatened by billions of dollars of bad loans on their balance sheets, and more could fail if the economy worsens, and that – if unemployment rises sharply or the commercial real estate market collapses – the banking system could again crash:The report will say: The financial system [still remains] vulnerable to the crisis conditions that [the bailout] was meant to fix…Financial stability remains at risk if the underlying problem of toxic assets remains unresolved.The head of the Oversight Panel, Elizabeth Warren, says:By and large, the toxic assets that brought us to this point are still on the books of the banks.

As Nouriel Roubini writes:

Legacy loan program participation is voluntary and many banks refuse to sell their loans because doing so would crystallize book losses. Even though the government was prepared to prop up prices by offering cheap financing to loan investors with leverage up to 6 times, the prices that banks were demanding have remained far higher than the prices that investors were willing to pay…Recent FASB fair value accounting changes allow banks not to mark their assets held for sale to market but to use more lenient hold-to-maturity prices…Moreover, recent government policies have further reduced the pressure on banks to sell. The Federal Reserve’s stress tests on the 19 biggest bank holding companies concluded that only one — GMAC, the former financing arm of General Motors — needed so much additional capital that it would have to turn to the government for a new cash bailout…The current rhetoric about the deleveraging process is based on fantasy rather than data. In reality, true deleveraging by households, corporate firms and financial institutions has not really even started as private losses and debts of households, financial institutions and even corporations are being socialized and put on the back of the balance sheet of governments. As a consequence, lending remains impaired while re-leveraging of the public sector leads to an even bigger solvency problem down the line for the sovereign…And as David Corn writes:This is all about those toxic assets–now euphemistically referred to by the US government as legacy assets–that were at the core of the economic meltdown. Though some economic news of late has been not so bad–economic contraction slowing, job losses leveling off, banks passing stress tests–these toxic assets still pollute the nation’s financial system and endanger it.On Tuesday, the Congressional Oversight Panel, which was set up to monitor the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (aka the Big Bank Bailout), put out another of its monthly reports, and this one notes that the Treasury Department has not used its TARP billions to purchase this junk–which includes both lousy commercial and residential mortgages and securities based on lousy mortgages–and that billions of dollars of toxic assets remain on the books, threatening the security of numerous financial institutions.In other words, whoops.

What’s happened is that accounting changes have made it easier for banks to contend with these assets. But this bad stuff hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s literally been papered over. And it still has the potential to wreak havoc…In a conference call with a few reporters (myself included) . . . recalling that toxic assets were once the raison d’etre of TARP, [Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard professor heading the Congressional Oversight Panel] added, Toxic assets posed a very real threat to our economy and have not yet been resolved.Yes, you’ve heard about various government efforts to deal with this mess. With much hype, Secretary Timothy Geithner in March unveiled a private-public plan to buy up this financial waste. But the program has hardly taken off, and it has ignored a big chunk of the problem (those whole loans)
The Congressional Oversight Panel warned that troubled assets remain a substantial danger and that this junk–which cannot be adequately valued–can again become the trigger for instability.Warren’s panel does propose several steps the Treasury Department can take to reduce the risks. But it’s frightening that Treasury needs to be prodded by Warren and her colleagues, who characterized troubled assets as the most serious risk to the American financial system.It’s also frightening that this fundamental issue barely registers a blip on our collective Attention-O-Meter. The panel’s report warranted merely a small article on the second page of The New York Times‘ business section. White House reporters didn’t ask press secretary Robert Gibbs about it… But Treasury not taking all necessary steps to avert another financial collapse? That’s a yawner. The Obama White House–and all of us–better hope that this panel is worrying needlessly.If the toxic assets are such a problem, why hasn’t the government done anything about them? Because, the government’s entire strategy in dealing with the economic crisis has been to try to artificially prop up the prices of the toxic assets. Everything Summers, Geithner and Bernanke have done is to try to pretend that the toxic assets aren’t really that toxic. See this.

The government has, in essence, changed the accounting rules to allow the giant banks to call toxic sludge organic health food, has itself overpaid for a variety of toxic assets to try to artificially drive up the demand for them and to re-start the securitizated asset market, and has done everything else it can think of to put lipstick on the pig and call it a fashion model.Unfortunately, none of that will restore trust in the financial system.Because Summers, Geithner and Bernanke cannot force consumers to trust a corrupt system, and because of problems in the commercial real estate market and long-term changes in consumer spending habits, their efforts will ultimately fail. Yesterday’s report by the Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts concludes that banks remain threatened by billions of dollars of bad loans on their balance sheets, and more could fail if the economy worsens, and that – if unemployment rises sharply or the commercial real estate market collapses – the banking system could again crash:The report will say: The financial system [still remains] vulnerable to the crisis conditions that [the bailout] was meant to fix…

Financial stability remains at risk if the underlying problem of toxic assets remains unresolved.The head of the Oversight Panel, Elizabeth Warren, says:By and large, the toxic assets that brought us to this point are still on the books of the banks.

As Nouriel Roubini writes:

Legacy loan program participation is voluntary and many banks refuse to sell their loans because doing so would crystallize book losses. Even though the government was prepared to prop up prices by offering cheap financing to loan investors with leverage up to 6 times, the prices that banks were demanding have remained far higher than the prices that investors were willing to pay…Recent FASB fair value accounting changes allow banks not to mark their assets held for sale to market but to use more lenient hold-to-maturity prices…Moreover, recent government policies have further reduced the pressure on banks to sell. The Federal Reserve’s stress tests on the 19 biggest bank holding companies concluded that only one — GMAC, the former financing arm of General Motors — needed so much additional capital that it would have to turn to the government for a new cash bailout…The current rhetoric about the deleveraging process is based on fantasy rather than data. In reality, true deleveraging by households, corporate firms and financial institutions has not really even started as private losses and debts of households, financial institutions and even corporations are being socialized and put on the back of the balance sheet of governments. As a consequence, lending remains impaired while re-leveraging of the public sector leads to an even bigger solvency problem down the line for the sovereign…

And as David Corn writes:

This is all about those toxic assets–now euphemistically referred to by the US government as legacy assets–that were at the core of the economic meltdown. Though some economic news of late has been not so bad–economic contraction slowing, job losses leveling off, banks passing stress tests–these toxic assets still pollute the nation’s financial system and endanger it.On Tuesday, the Congressional Oversight Panel, which was set up to monitor the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (aka the Big Bank Bailout), put out another of its monthly reports, and this one notes that the Treasury Department has not used its TARP billions to purchase this junk–which includes both lousy commercial and residential mortgages and securities based on lousy mortgages–and that billions of dollars of toxic assets remain on the books, threatening the security of numerous financial institutions.

In other words, whoops.

What’s happened is that accounting changes have made it easier for banks to contend with these assets. But this bad stuff hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s literally been papered over. And it still has the potential to wreak havoc…In a conference call with a few reporters (myself included) . . . recalling that toxic assets were once the raison d’etre of TARP, [Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard professor heading the Congressional Oversight Panel] added, Toxic assets posed a very real threat to our economy and have not yet been resolved.Yes, you’ve heard about various government efforts to deal with this mess. With much hype, Secretary Timothy Geithner in March unveiled a private-public plan to buy up this financial waste. But the program has hardly taken off, and it has ignored a big chunk of the problem (those whole loans)
The Congressional Oversight Panel warned that troubled assets remain a substantial danger and that this junk–which cannot be adequately valued–can again become the trigger for instability.Warren’s panel does propose several steps the Treasury Department can take to reduce the risks. But it’s frightening that Treasury needs to be prodded by Warren and her colleagues, who characterized troubled assets as the most serious risk to the American financial system.It’s also frightening that this fundamental issue barely registers a blip on our collective Attention-O-Meter. The panel’s report warranted merely a small article on the second page of The New York Times‘ business section. White House reporters didn’t ask press secretary Robert Gibbs about it… But Treasury not taking all necessary steps to avert another financial collapse? That’s a yawner. The Obama White House–and all of us–better hope that this panel is worrying needlessly.If the toxic assets are such a problem, why hasn’t the government done anything about them? Because, the government’s entire strategy in dealing with the economic crisis has been to try to artificially prop up the prices of the toxic assets. Everything Summers, Geithner and Bernanke have done is to try to pretend that the toxic assets aren’t really that toxic. See this.The government has, in essence, changed the accounting rules to allow the giant banks to call toxic sludge organic health food, has itself overpaid for a variety of toxic assets to try to artificially drive up the “demand” for them and to re-start the securitizated asset market, and has done everything else it can think of to put lipstick on the pig and call it a fashion model.Unfortunately, none of that will restore trust in the financial system.Because Summers, Geithner and Bernanke cannot force consumers to trust a corrupt system, and because of problems in the commercial real estate market and long-term changes in consumer spending habits, their efforts will ultimately fail.

Fed May Recognize Faster Growth, Maintain Low Rates (Update1)
By Steve Matthews and Vivien Lou Chen

Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve policy makers may today acknowledge economic growth will be faster than they anticipated, while committing to keep the benchmark interest- rate target near the lowest level on record. Central bankers gather in Washington as analysts project 2 percent growth or faster in the second half of 2009 -- twice the pace the Fed forecast in June. At stake in today’s statement: delivering a message that the Fed will ensure the recovery is sustained, without stoking inflation expectations. The need to reinforce the recovery means policy makers will reiterate rates will be kept exceptionally low for an extended period, analysts said. At the same time, Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues will likely consider ending their $300 billion Treasuries-purchase program, an emergency step taken in March to help pull down borrowing costs. It’s a delicate period for the Fed,said Marvin Goodfriend, a former research director at the Richmond Fed and now a professor at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh. The Fed needs to balance the signals it’s sending in this meeting between concern for inflation risk and premature confidence that the recovery has begun.The Federal Open Market Committee, which resumed discussions this morning, is scheduled to issue a statement at around 2:15 p.m. after the end of its two-day meeting. Former Fed officials differed on whether the FOMC will announce today an intention to let the program to buy long-term Treasuries expire as scheduled in September.

Announcement Predicted

Laurence Meyer, vice chairman of St. Louis-based Macroeconomic Advisers LLC and a central bank governor from 1996 until 2002, and Lyle Gramley, senior economic adviser at New York-based Soleil Securities Corp. and also a former governor, predicted an announcement that the program will end. Lee Hoskins, president of the Cleveland Fed from 1987 until 1991, and former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economics professor, said policy makers will probably retain flexibility by delaying a publicly announced decision. My feeling is they want to keep all options open and don’t want to close that door yet,Hoskins said. The Bank of England surprised traders on Aug. 6 by expanding purchases of U.K. gilts by 40 percent to 175 billion pounds ($288 billion). The Fed announced its plan to buy Treasuries just days after the Bank of England succeeded through its purchases in reducing long-term rates.Fed policy makers, by announcing they’ll allow the program to expire, would help ease concerns they’re willing to finance the expanding federal budget deficit, Gramley said.

Market Fear

The main reason for not extending the program to buy longer-term Treasuries is market fear that the Fed is going to monetize the debt, Gramley said. The Fed program hasn’t averted a surge in yields on the 10- year benchmark notes. Ten-year yields have climbed to 3.66 percent from 2.53 percent, when the central bank announced its Treasuries-purchase plan on March 18. The average rate for a 30- year mortgage rose last week to 5.22 percent from a record low of 4.78 percent soon after the announcement, according to Freddie Mac.Policy makers may also discuss whether to extend beyond this year programs to buy as much as $1.25 trillion of mortgage- backed securities and $200 billion of federal agency debt, while reiterating their June statement that they stand ready to deploy all available tools to promote a recovery, Meyer said.

Jolt Markets

San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen and other central bank officials have expressed concern in recent months that falling commercial real estate prices may jolt credit markets and delay a recovery. The deteriorating commercial property market is one of the economy’s more difficult areas, Bernanke said in congressional testimony last month. Tumbling property values have made it difficult for owners of commercial real estate to refinance $165 billion in mortages this year. In June the Fed expanded the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility to cover commercial mortgage-backed securities. The TALF, scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, is also aimed at reviving the market for securities backed by auto, credit-card and education loans.Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and 40 other House lawmakers urged Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a letter last month to extend the TALF one year.Bernanke said in July 22 testimony to the Senate Banking Committee that policy makers will prolong the program if they judge financial markets are still some distance from normal operation.

Bottom of Cycle

While sustaining its emergency credit programs, the FOMC will probably say economic conditions have improved since the last meeting and that we’re approaching the bottom of the economic cycle, said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University-Channel Islands in Camarillo, California. The economy will grow at an annual rate of about 1 percent during the second half of 2009, Bernanke said in a town-hall- style meeting on July 26 organized by PBS television. In one of the clearest signs the worst recession since the 1930s may be ending, the pace of job losses slowed more than forecast last month and the unemployment rate fell for the first time in more than a year. To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Matthews in Atlanta at smatthews@bloomberg.net; Vivien Lou Chen in San Francisco at vchen1@bloomberg.net

EU state aid to banks is one third of GDP
LUCIA KUBOSOVA 11.08.2009 @ 09:28 CET

The EU's main regulator has approved state aid to banks worth almost a third of the 27-member bloc's GDP - twice as much as predicted earlier, with the highest rescue funds in Ireland and with none paid out in several states of central and eastern Europe.According to a review published by the European Commission on Monday (10 August), between last October and mid-July 2009, the EU's executive approved guarantee measures designed to boost lenders' confidence worth €2.9 trillion and capital injections for struggling banks which amounted to €313 billion.The reaction, seen in Europe and beyond, came last autumn as the world got to grips with the worst financial and economic crisis since the 1930s.According to the principles agreed by EU leaders, the state aid was to restore financial stability and resume credit flows in economy but without unbalancing state budgets or damaging the functioning of the bloc's internal market.Based on these principles, Brussels filed a set of rules which the commission followed when approving national state aid schemes.In its June report, Brussels predicted that public aid to the banking sector would cost Europe up to 16.5 percent of GDP while the current figures suggest that several member states might have undermined future public finances in their attempt to save the banks. This implies increasing explicit future public debt levels or implicit future debt levels. However, it is too early to judge whether thus far the response of governments to the crisis has been disproportionate,the study said.For most banks in individual countries, a six month period, initially set as the duration of the aid schemes has ended and it is up to the commission to decide which schemes are eligible for extensions for reasons of financial stability.

There are deep differences among the member states and the level of their state intervention.

Ireland, one of the EU countries most hit by the financial clampdown, received a green light from Brussels for aid representing 231.8 percent of its GDP and banks have taken up almost the whole package.In contrast, nine states - Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia - have not applied for permission to use public funds for such purposes.

Industrial output figures cast doubt on EU recovery
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today AUG 13,09 @ 09:29 CET

Europe's industrial production fell in June after a mild improvement in May, making economists wonder if the long-awaited recovery is actually that close. The clearest drop has been recorded in the 16 states of the euro area. Back in May, factory output rose by 0.6 percent while in June it fell by 0.6 percent, according to estimates by the EU's statistical office Eurostat published on Wednesday (12 August).In the 27-strong bloc as a whole, production remained steady in May and fell in June by 0.2 percent. Across the member states, factory output rose in 10 countries, most notably in Ireland (+9.3%) and in the Netherlands (+2.1%). It dropped in seven states, mainly in Denmark (-2,7%) and Italy (-1,1%). Germany as the biggest EU economy stayed stable in June after a record rise of 4.8 percent in May.Compared to June last year, EU industrial output was almost 16 percent lower this year, with the deepest slump in the durable consumer goods sector, as the demand for such products falls due lower incomes and higher unemployment.Some economists say that the unexpected June slump may have been caused by companies trying to run down stocks, with more orders for manufacturing goods to come later this summer.Going forward, the eurozone manufacturing sector should be increasingly helped by the major de-stocking that has occurred while orders now appear to be stabilising after plunging in late-2008 and early-2009,Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight said, according to AFP.

He added that for a significant and sustainable manufacturing recovery to develop, there needs to be extended growth in orders in both domestic and foreign markets and this currently remains far from certain.Industrial output is a crucial component of Europe's overall economic output figures, with the early GDP estimates for the second quarter due to be published by Eurostat on Thursday (13 August).

EU flu panel says schools should stay open,Children are vulnerable to A(H1N1), but the benefits of mass closures are uncertain,the EU said (Photo: foreversouls)
ANDREW RETTMAN Today AUG 13,09 @ 14:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU experts have said there is no need to stop children going back to school in September to prevent the spread of swine flu. There is presently no need to enact pre-emptive mass school closures,the EU's Health Security Committee said in a statement on Thursday (13 August). It added that schools or classes should be shut down on a case-by-case basis following the detection of an outbreak, however.

The approach to locally close schools reactively upon infection being found among students, may be beneficial to delay the transmission of the virus,the statement said.The special committee - made up of European Commission and EU member state health officials - was formed in 2001 to combat the threat of biological terrorism following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US.The EU advice cited scientific evidence from the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) saying that the benefits of mass school closures would be very uncertain.The EU is partly concered about the economic impact of keeping millions of parents out of work to look after children. Any [health] benefits, however substantial, must be weighed against the potential high economic and social costs of proactively closing schools,the ECDC said.The EU advice is an attempt to co-ordinate policy in an area where member states have exclusive national authority.

Concerned parents have received mixed messages in recent weeks.

French health minister Luc Chatel on Wednesday told Le Figaro that the country would close all of the schools in France if there is a severe outbreak. French authorities plan to broadcast lessons on TV and on the internet in the worst case scenario.The UK on 31 July advised EU colleagues to delay the start of the school year until the end of September. The [economic] disadvantages would be outweighed by the children's lives saved,it said in a position paper obtained by AFP.It has since shifted focus to putting in place by October a mass innoculation scheme for schoolchildren.Sweden and Greece have begun vaccinating their entire populations. Belgian municipal authorities have asked cemeteries to dig extra graves. But Denmark is taking a hands off approach, with Danish doctors saying swine flu is not much different to normal flu.

Stay home and wear masks

The EU's Health Security Committee also issued fresh advice to travellers showing flu-like symptoms.People are advised to delay their trips and stay at home or in their hotel room. They should go outside only to seek medical assistance and should wear protective face masks.EU citizens are permitted to travel no matter how sick they look under article 18 of the EU treaty on freedom of movement however, which overrides any national measures.The A(H1N1) virus has to date killed 55 people in the EU, 40 of whom in the UK and 10 in Spain. People have also died in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and Hungary.The outbreak - classified as a pandemic by the UN - has killed 1,462 people worldwide.

Greenpeace dumps boulders in anti-trawling move
LISBETH KIRK 11.08.2009 @ 09:29 CET

Greenpeace boats sailed on Monday (10 August) into Swedish waters and began dumping 180 two-three tonne granite rocks on the seabed to prevent fishermen from using bottom trawling in areas under European Union protection.The area in Kattegat, between Denmark and Sweden, is mainly used by Danish fishermen but is listed under the EU's Habitat Directive because of its unique and rich sea life.Local authorities in Sweden would like to stop bottom trawling in the area, but the decision falls with EU authorities, which have allowed the practice despite the habitat register.Today it is nearly impossible for the responsible authorities in EU member states - in Sweden, the County Administrative Boards - to regulate fisheries which take place in areas designated as marine protected areas,said Greenpeace in Sweden in a briefing.Local fishermen tried on Monday to block the port of Varberg, where a large cargo ship loaded with tonnes of Greenpeace' granite blocks headed out to sea. The head of regional fishermen's association Hallandsfiskarna, Viking Bengtsson, declared at an earlier hearing that the placement of stones was unnecessary, but agreed that reformed fisheries management is needed in the region.The Danish minister responsible for fisheries, Eva Kjer Hansen, said the NGO's action was unacceptable vigilantism and called on her Swedish colleague to stop Greenpeace.It is for the authorities to decide where it is authorised to fish and were it is not authorised. The Greenpeace move is pure vigilantism, imposing losses of fishing opportunities on law-abiding Danish fishermen,Mrs Kjer Hansen said in a statement.She contacted her Swedish colleague Eskil Erlandsson and pointed out that it makes no sense to strike bilateral Danish-Swedish agreements about closing fisheries in certain areas to protect threatened species, if organisations take the law into their own hands and simply close areas to fishing.

Sweden's fisheries minister Eskil Erlandsson has not stopped the dumping, however.

He said in a comment published by Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that fish do not recognise any borders and added that problems had to be solved between countries and through internal bodies.The demand from Greenpeace of a unilateral ban in the area concerned is without effect as the areas are covered by the EU's common fisheries policy. It means all countries in the EU hold rights to fish in the area. A ban on just Swedish fishermen would not work, he said.So far only Ireland has managed to introduce local restrictions on fisheries to protect marine environment, while Germany has launched a process to have more areas protected.

David CornColumnist An Economic Time-Bomb Being Mishandled by the Obama Administration? 08/12/09Filed Under:Economy, Obama Administration.

Is there a ticking time-bomb for the US economy? And is the Obama administration, Congress, and the media not paying it sufficient attention? That seems to be the message of a government report released this week that drew not as much notice as it deserves.This is all about those toxic assets--now euphemistically referred to by the US government as legacy assets--that were at the core of the economic meltdown. Though some economic news of late has been not so bad--economic contraction slowing, job losses leveling off, banks passing stress tests--these toxic assets still pollute the nation's financial system and endanger it. On Tuesday, the Congressional Oversight Panel, which was set up to monitor the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (aka the Big Bank Bailout), put out another of its monthly reports, and this one notes that the Treasury Department has not used its TARP billions to purchase this junk--which includes both lousy commercial and residential mortgages and securities based on lousy mortgages--and that billions of dollars of toxic assets remain on the books, threatening the security of numerous financial institutions.

In other words, whoops.

What's happened is that accounting changes have made it easier for banks to contend with these assets. But this bad stuff hasn't gone anywhere. It's literally been papered over. And it still has the potential to wreak havoc. As the report puts it:If the economy worsens, especially if unemployment remains elevated or if the commercial real estate market collapses, then defaults will rise and the troubled assets will continue to deteriorate in value. Banks will incur further losses on their troubled assets. The financial system will remain vulnerable to the crisis conditions that TARP was meant to fix.So all those hundreds of billions spent by TARP were for naught? Treasury officials will tell you that they used the money to pump capital into banks--rather than buy their garbage--and this stabilized the financial system. Perhaps that worked. But, as the report makes clear, the original sin still stands.

In a conference call with a few reporters (myself included), Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard professor heading the Congressional Oversight Panel, noted that the biggest toxic assets threat to the economy could come not from the behemoth banks but from the just below big banks. These institutions have not been the focus of Treasury efforts because their troubled assets are generally whole loans (that is, regular loans), not mortgage securities, and these less-than-big banks have been stuck with a lot of the commercial real estate loans likely to default in the next year or two. Given that the smaller institutions are disproportionately responsible for providing credit to small businesses, Warren said, if they are at risk, that has implications for the stability of the entire banking system and for economic recovery.Recalling that toxic assets were once the raison d'etre of TARP, she added,Toxic assets posed a very real threat to our economy and have not yet been resolved.Yes, you've heard about various government efforts to deal with this mess. With much hype, Secretary Timothy Geithner in March unveiled a private-public plan to buy up this financial waste. But the program has hardly taken off, and it has ignored a big chunk of the problem (those whole loans). As the WhyYouCare.com website, which tracks news at the intersection of politics and finance, points out,The regulators have started to move to make financial institutions address these troubled assets, but their efforts have been tenative.The Congressional Oversight Panel warned that troubled assets remain a substantial danger and that this junk--which cannot be adequately valued--can again become the trigger for instability.Warren's panel does propose several steps the Treasury Department can take to reduce the risks. But it's frightening that Treasury needs to be prodded by Warren and her colleagues, who characterized troubled assets as the most serious risk to the American financial system.It's also frightening that this fundamental issue barely registers a blip on our collective Attention-O-Meter. The panel's report warranted merely a small article on the second page of The New York Times' business section. White House reporters didn't ask press secretary Robert Gibbs about it. Sarah Palin's stupid comments about health care reform certainly light up the blogosphere. But Treasury not taking all necessary steps to avert another financial collapse? That's a yawner. The Obama White House--and all of us--better hope that this panel is worrying needlessly.Shane Bauer, the journalist/hiker who has been detained in Iran, wrote an excellent piece for my home base, Mother Jones, long before he was detained. But it just came out, and you can read it here. And his family and the families of his two detained companions have put out a statement that can be read here.

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.

Abbas: We won't agree to temporary state
Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:02 News from Jerusalem

PA President Mahmoud Abbas - Palestinian president says Fatah's demands to end occupation, establish state with east Jerusalem as its capital nonnegotiable.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that Fatah would oppose any plan to form a Palestinian state with temporary borders.In a press conference held in the West Bank city of Ramallah following the end of the Fatah Congress in Bethlehem, Abbas said that the movement will adhere to former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's legacy.Let me emphasize: Fatah categorically rejects the attempt to form a transient Palestinian state,he told reporters. Abbas added that in order of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to reignite, both sides must honor their commitment to the Road Map.The first step, he said, was a halt of all settlement expansion by Israel. Releasing all of the Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, he added,Is a test to the earnestness of the peace process.Abbas then reiterated his Bethlehem congress' statement saying that the Palestinians reserve the right to mount the legitimate resistance, guaranteed by the international law to a people fighting occupation and striving for independents.We will not alter our demand to end the occupation in full and to establish a Palestinian, with east Jerusalem as its capital, on all of our national land.The Palestinian president further stressed that the Palestinian Authority will not entertain any other solution or alternative.ynet

Russia building new star wars missiles: air force.The S-500 system will be an upgraded version of the S-400 SA-20 Triumf.by Staff Writers Moscow (AFP) Aug 11, 2009

Russia is developing new missiles to counter space-based missile systems that could soon be deployed by the United States, Russia's air force commander was quoted as saying on Tuesday.We are building new missiles that will be capable of defending not only against air-defence systems but space-based systems,General Alexander Zelin said, quoted by Russian news agencies.The United States and other countries will have deployed such satellite-based missile systems capable of striking any target in Russia by 2030, he said.Foreign air forces, above of all the United States, will acquire the capability to deal time-synchronized precision strikes on a global scale at virtually any target on Russia territory,Zelin said.The threat is not virtual, but real,he added.To counter such potential, Russia has begun work on the S-500 surface-to-air missile system that would have ballistic missile tracking capabilities and aim at a range of up to 3,500 kilometers, according to defence reports.The S-500 system is capable of defeating all manner of ballistic missiles and supersonic air devices Zelin said.Moscow vehemently opposes US plans to site a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe and has reacted warily to plans under the previous US administration it claimed had accelerated the militarisation of outer space.

Washington insists its shield plan is not directed against Russia but threats from rogue states such as Iran.Last year, when the US military was planning to shoot down a rogue US spy satellite, Russia's defence ministry said the plans looked like a veiled weapons test and an attempt to move the arms race into space.Both Russia and China have proposed a new treaty banning the use of weapons in space, but the idea was rejected by the White House.

US-Russia stand-off looms as Moscow announces expansion of military basesRussian plans to construct a Black Sea naval base in Georgian breakaway republic of Abkhazia threaten heightened tension Tom Parfitt in Moscow guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 12 August 2009 16.25 BST

The prospect of a US-Russian naval stand-off in the Black Sea loomed today after Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would spend nearly half a billion dollars next year beefing up military bases in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia.Much of the money is expected to fund construction of a new naval base in the Abkhaz town of Ochamchira, within striking distance of Georgia's Poti and Batumi ports, which have been regularly visited by US warships since the war in Georgia last summer. An existing Russian airbase further north in Gudauta is also likely to be enlarged.We will allot a very large amount of money — 15-16bn roubles (£300,000) — for the development of our military base and strengthening of Abkhazia's state border, next year,the Russian prime minister told reporters at his summer residence in Sochi, ahead of a surprise visit to the Moscow-backed republic today.This is an additional and serious guarantee of the security of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,he added.Nato is increasingly nervous at Russia expanding its military reach beyond its borders and expressed concern earlier this year over reports that Russia planned to increase its military footprint in Abkhazia. Only Russia and Nicaragua have recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent and under international law the construction of bases on what is officially Georgian territory will be illegal. Tbilisi has said it will protest against the plans at every international level.However, both breakaway republics have been de facto independent for more than 15 years and the Kremlin has made it clear it will sign bilateral agreements with them as partner states, as it sees fit. A deal on military and economic co-operation was signed with both regions, in November last year.

In a recent analysis of the situation, Ariel Cohen, an analyst with the US Heritage Foundation, wrote: With additional warships, fighter aircraft, and military personnel near the Black Sea coast of Georgia, Russia is challenging the position of the United States, which has recently signed a strategic partnership charter with Tbilisi.He added: In the summer of 2008, American warships were still able to enter Georgian waters to deliver humanitarian aid for the war victims. The question is: What will happen in the future? Could there be a US-Russian naval stand-off in the Black Sea some day? About 1,000 Russian troops are currently based in Abkhazia. It was unclear whether Putin's announcement envisaged a significant troop build-up. Last year, Moscow said it would increase the number to 3,700 but later scaled that down.It is thought that Russia may envisage Ochamchira as a future home for its Black Sea fleet, which is currently based on Ukrainian territory. Ukraine says it will not renew the lease after it ends in 2017.

Russian navy joins hunt for missing ship
LISBETH KIRK Today AUG 13,09 @ 09:21 CET

Pirates have long troubled shipping off the coasts of Somalia, but a missing Maltese-flagged ship has raised concerns that piracy may have spread to EU waters.The saga of M/S Arctic Sea already involves a number of EU countries from Finland in the north to Portugal in the west and Malta in the south, with Russia now also joining the club. The ship was allegedly hijacked in Swedish waters on 24 July and later disappeared from radars in one of the world's busiest waterways with no alarm being raised.The 98-metre-long cargo ship set off from Jakobstad in Finland on 23 July, carrying timber, and was due to arrive at the Algerian port of Bejaia on 4 August. The vessel is registered in Malta, under the name of a Russian-owned company called Arctic Sea. Its operations are handled by the Russian company Solchart, which has an address in Arkhangelsk, Russia.Apparently fearful about contacting the Swedish police, the 15-man strong mainly Russian crew had contacted the ships' security manager, saying the ship had been hijacked while going through Swedish waters between Oland and Gotland.

This is how it ended up being the Russian embassy in Stockholm informing Swedish police on 28 July, five days after the alleged hijacking.A rubber boat with the word Polis painted on the side had approached the Arctic Sea at about 3am local time on 24 July, the Swedish authorities were told.Some 10 masked men boarded the ship, clubbed and tied up the night watchman and an engineer who were on night shift. The hijackers claimed to be drug police and spoke English with an accent. They damaged the ship's communications equipment, beat up the crew members and collected their mobile phones before searching the ship. After 12 hours, they left.Normally a ship with a broken radio system would head for a nearby harbour for repair but the Arctic Sea instead continued on its journey towards Africa where it was to deliver a cargo of 6,700 cubic metres of sawn timber from the Finnish company Stora Enso.It was last recorded on the AIS live ship tracking system off the coast of Brest, northern France, just before 1.30am on 30 July.When the Dover coastguard was informed by Interpol on 3 August that the crew had been hijacked in the Baltic Sea and told to be on alert when it passed through the Channel, it was already too late. The Arctic Sea had already completed its voyage through the Strait of Dover.Questions are currently being asked whether the wood was the real target of the hijacking, or some other cargo was on board. A month before the hijacking, on 24 June, the ship was repaired at the Pregol shipyard in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave located between Poland and Lithuania, and known for smuggling.

Another question is why it took Interpol over a week to raise the alert.

It is alarming that, in the 21st century, a ship can apparently be commandeered by hijackers and sail through the world's busiest waterway with no alarm being raised and no naval vessel going to intercept it, said Mark Dickinson, general secretary of maritime consultancy firm Nautilus International, told The Telegraph.On Wednesday (12 August) it was announced that Russia is also getting involved in the affair. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev ordered naval ships and two nuclear submarines to help locate the ship in the Atlantic.The order came after the owner of the lost vessel requested Russian assistance to trace the ship. The relatives of the missing crew have also called on Russian authorities to help search for their loved ones.

China warns against missile defence systems(AFP) – AUG 12,09

GENEVA — China's foreign minister warned on Wednesday that there was a looming danger of an arms race in outer space, as he urged countries not to deploy missile defence systems that could undermine global security.The practice of seeking absolute strategic advantage should be abandoned,Yang Jiechi told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.Countries should neither develop missile defence systems that undermine global strategic security nor deploy weapons in outer space,he added.US President Barack Obama has been reviewing a planned missile defence shield championed by his predecessor, which remains a major source of tension with Russia.The Obama administration has not backed down from the shield, which would partly be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, but insists that is not directed against Russia.

Russia's air force commander said on Monday that Moscow was developing new missiles to counter space-based systems that could soon be deployed by the United States.Outer space is now facing the looming danger of weaponisation,said Yang.Credible and effective multilateral measures must be taken to forestall the weaponisation and arms race in outer space,he added, calling such steps of high strategic significance.Both Russia and China have proposed a new treaty banning the use of weapons in space, but the idea has been rejected by the United States.Nonetheless, the issue is one of those up for international discussion under the Conference on Disarmament's recent landmark decision to revive talks after more than a decade of deadlock.In a speech reaffirming China's commitment to international nuclear weapons safeguards and disarmament, Yang backed attempts to strengthen the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.The international security situation is undergoing the most profound change since the end of the Cold War,Yang acknowledged.Unprecedented opportunities now exist in international disarmament.Yang reiterated China's insistance on a peaceful resolution of the nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran, and called on the IAEA to play a greater role in promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy.That should include the possibility of establishing a multilateral nuclear fuel supply mechanism,he added. Western countries have been sceptical of the idea proposed by Russia.The Chinese foreign minister stopped short of signalling Beijing's swifter ratification of a ban on nuclear tests.The Chinese government is dedicated to promoting early ratification of the treaty and will continue to make active efforts toward this end, Yang said, pledging to work with the international community for early entry into force.Although China was amongst the first to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it is one of nine nations that are preventing its entry into force because they have either not ratified or signed it.

The only other traditional nuclear power not to have ratified is the United States.

However, Obama announced in April that he wanted to press ahead with US ratification, reversing the stance of George W. Bush's administration.The other outstanding ratifications are Egypt, Indonesia, Iran and Israel.India, Pakistan, and North Korea have not signed the test ban treaty, which is regarded as a cornerstone of efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and promote disarmament.

EU speaks out on Chechnya murders
ANDREW RETTMAN Today AUG 13,09 @ 09:15 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Swedish EU presidency has urged Russia to protect its NGO community following a series of killings of human rights activists in Chechnya. The EU statement comes after the bodies of Alik Dzhabrailov and his wife Zarema Sadulayeva, who worked for the children's charity Save the Generation, were found dumped in the Chechen capital Grozny on Tuesday. Mr Dzhabrailov may have been targeted because of alleged links with separatists. But his wife asked kidnappers to take her as well when the couple were snatched on Monday night, family members reported.It is important that an investigation into these latest murders is conducted promptly, transparently and thoroughly. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, the Swedish presidency said on Wednesday (12 August).The EU urges the Russian authorities to do everything in their power to ensure the protection of human rights defenders.The Save the Generation deaths follow the shooting in July of prominent civil rights activist Nataliya Estemirova and the earlier slayings in Moscow of Chechnya human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anna Politkovskaya. A spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel told DPA that she will raise the topic at a meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi on Friday.

Mr Medvedev himself has condemned the Grozny killings as vile.Previous statements by both Moscow and Brussels have done little to bring people to account, however.The string of murders has been widely linked to the regime of Ramzan Kadyrov, the 32-year old president of the semi-autonomous Chechen republic, who dresses in Armani sportswear and lives in a mansion with caged lions.Mr Kadyrov has blamed militants trying to destabilise his rule.Two of Russia's leading human rights organisations, the Memorial NGO and the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, have pulled out of Chechnya in recent days due to safety concerns.The light of public scrutiny is gradually being turned off in Chechnya. First, international organisations and journalists were banned from the region, and now, local civil society is being eliminated,Amnesty International said.The situation in Chechnya is part of growing instability in Russia's North Caucasus region.In neighbouring Ingushetia, gunmen on Wednesday murdered the local construction minister while he was sitting at his office desk. A bomb in June almost took the life of Ingushetia president Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.