ISRAEL SELF DEFENCE UNDER THREAT

Gambling firm tips Blair for EU president job
ANDREW RETTMAN Today OCT 13,09 @ 09:11 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Irish gambling firm Paddy Power has tipped former UK premier Tony Blair to become the first EU president, with Dutch, Luxembourgish and Danish men also on good odds.Mr Blair on Tuesday (13 October) was the 4/6 favourite, followed by Dutch leader Jan Peter Balkenende (4/1), Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (11/2) and Danish Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen (6/1).And it's Blair coming in on the inside straight. EU wisdom has it that early front-runners never get the job (Photo: Paolo Camera)Corruption-tainted former Irish taoiseach Bertie Ahern (50/1) and 76-year old ex-French president Jacques Chirac (33/1) also made the running. But the company removed Italy's Silvio Berlusconi on Monday after his odds reached 100/1 amid prostitution and graft allegations. Tony Blair and our own Bertie Ahern have both been touted for the top post in Europe. Blair is the obvious favourite while Bertie might just pack his bags and head off to mainland Europe. Would anyone blame him? the company said on its website. With Brussels hungry for gossip on the appointment, a Paddy Power employee told EUobserver that the firm's research is limited to reading newspapers and using common sense. It'd be a matter of opinion. It's an educated guess,she said.Paddy Power also courted EU-minded customers over the Irish referendums on the Lisbon Treaty. It predicted the 2009 Yes vote correctly, but reportedly lost money by getting it wrong on Lisbon in 2008.The upcoming 29 October summit in Brussels was due to name the EU's new, Lisbon-mandated president and foreign minister, as well as the next team of EU commissioners.But Czech President Vaclav Klaus hijacked the agenda last week by forcing a debate on changes to the legal document instead. All the talk of who will get what has suddenly stopped because of the Czechs,one EU diplomat said.

Klaus keeps EU guessing on future of Lisbon Treaty Prague Castle - Mr Klaus' official residence overlooking Prague (Photo: Metal Chris)HONOR MAHONY
Today OCT 13,09 @ 17:37 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Czech constitutional court will hear a challenge to the EU's Lisbon Treaty at the end of October. But the relief in Brussels at having a clear timetable is being undermined by the continued unpredictability of Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who holds the fate of the treaty in his hands.The court on Tuesday (13 October) said it would examine whether the treaty is compatible with the Czech constitution at a hearing on 27 October. The dramatic timing will see the discussion held just two days before an EU summit in Brussels on the text.In the past, Czech court has usually given its verdict a few days after such a hearing. But this is not a hard and fast rule.If the judges reject the challenge, the treaty still has to be signed by Mr Klaus, a eurosceptic and arch opponent of the document.

Mr Klaus recently made those who believe he will not sign even after judicial approval more nervous by throwing out an eleventh-hour demand for Prague to get an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, a part of Lisbon. Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, in an embarassing political situation, on Tuesday flew to Brussels to reassure European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso of the Czech government's good intentions.But it was evident in the press conference afterwards that Mr Fischer was as unsure as everybody else on what Mr Klaus' next move will be.

He said he had asked Mr Klaus to provide a clear and explicit guarantee that the president will complete ratification in due course.Mr Klaus has kept silent on what the opt-out should look like.One solution is for EU leaders to make a political declaration on 29 October which could later be tacked on to the treaty in a protocol. But other solutions may require re-opening the ratification process by all 27 states - a horror scenario for the EU.Mr Fischer has said the Czech government does not believe it is possible to open the ratification process but Mr Klaus has not made a similar public statement.The Czech ratification saga is being viewed with some disbelief among EU officials, who point to the fact that both houses of the Czech parliament have already passed the treaty.The commission and the Swedish EU presidency have been upping the political pressure by making a show of unity along with the Czech prime minister.But there is a reluctance to issue any outright political threats to Mr Klaus for fear that it will strengthen his hand.Mr Barroso contented himself with pointing out that Mr Klaus himself signed the country's EU accession treaty and himself originally asked for the Czech Republic to be a member of the 27-nation club.Meanwhile, as Mr Klaus considers his next moves, a series of pressing EU institutional questions are waiting to be dealt with, all of which require clarity on when and whether the EU will move from its current treaty to the Lisbon text.

Netanyahu at Knesset: Our right to self defense is under assault Monday, 12 October 2009 15:48 News from Jerusalem .

Netanyahu speaks at opening of winter Knesset session-The right for a Jewish state and the right to self defense are two of the basic principles of our people. These two elements are interwoven: Without a state of our own we cannot defend ourselves and without the right to self defense, we cannot run our own country,Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the opening of the Knesset's winter session on Monday.The prime minister was referring to the recently published Goldstone Commission report on Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last winter.These basic rights are under continuous assault, gaining momentum since the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. We must repel this onslaught,Netanyahu said.The prime minister continued to address the report, saying that we never claimed the rules of war do not apply to us,at which point Balad MK Jamal Zahalka began heckling him. Zahalka only calmed down after he was threatened with expulsion from the plenum by Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin.Netanyahu defended his predecessor former prime minister Ehud Olmert, as well as opposition leader and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni over their decision to send IDF troops to the battlefield in Gaza.Israel will not allow its leaders to be prosecuted at The Hague. We reject this absurd state of affairs.

Netanyahu promised to work hard to achieve peace with the Palestinians, adding that he expected the same from them. He insisted that no peace could be attained while Israel was yet to be recognized as the Jewish state. The prime minister called on the Palestinian Authority to return to the negotiation table, insisting that he did not need preconditions to begin talks.The prime minister placed the Iranian nuclear threat at the top of his security agenda, saying that Iran's true face has been revealed over the last few months,one that supports terror, and builds hidden reactors to develop nuclear weapons.Speaking after Netanyahu, Opposition leader Tzipi Livni lashed out at him in a biting speech.I would like to congratulate Israel's prime minister for achieving this government's main goal: survival. Your second achievement - and unfortunately that's the way you see it - you succeeded in not doing anything at all,she said.Livni mockingly summed up Netanyahu's progress since being inaugurated:We defeated America, we humiliated the Palestinians and we isolated ourselves.When the prime minister thinks he wins, all of Israel loses,she said. She said Netanyahu should not misread the behavior of the Israeli public: This is not contentment, but apathy, indifference and desperation.She warned Netanyahu that if he remained complacent, a Palestinian nation will arise and it will not be the one you fear so much, but a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and it will rise by the simple power of the right to vote.Livni suggested to Netanyahu to establish a special cabinet which will be entrusted with fighting crime. She also called on the prime minister to change the system of government and reminded him that he was behind initiatives to change it when he was in the opposition.Likud MK Miri Regev was removed from the plenum after heckling Livni and being warned by Rivlin three times consecutively.President Shimon Peres, who spoke prior to Netanyahu, stressed the importance of attaining peace with the Palestinians, warning against an option of Israel turning into a de facto single state with two nations that would be alone, isolated, and solely responsible for all the territories.

Instead, Peres urged the state to try every option in order to put an end to more than 100 years of quarrel and bloodshed.Reaching an agreement with the Palestinians, said Peres, would open the door to further agreements with Syria and Lebanon. In doing so, Israel would remove the main pretext for the Iranian madness,he insisted, adding that he believed most of the population understood the necessity of a two-state solution.Peres addressed the Goldstone Commission's investigation, saying that a one-sided report that ignores the aggressors' crime of terror… will not determine our fate.The president said that the report failed to make a single suggestion that deals with how to fight terrorism.Peres praised the IDF for defending the state, calling it the only body that could protect the historic right of our nation. Sweden cannot not prevent the terror. The IDF can,Peres said, alluding to a story in a Swedish tabloid published in August that alleged IDF soldiers were harvesting organs from Palestinians killed in combat. The story was refuted in Israel as a modern blood libel.Finally, Peres reiterated the importance of education, saying that we have no capital except for human capital… Providing primary and secondary education, free, for all of Israel's youths, promises the best future for this country.jpost

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

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

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

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

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

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.

Peres tells Israeli govt to relaunch peace talks Mon Oct 12, 12:33 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – President Shimon Peres on Monday urged Israel's hawkish government to relaunch peace negotiations with the Palestinians or risk further international criticism and isolation.The cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces two choices, the Jewish state's elder statesman and Nobel peace laureate told the opening winter session of parliament, the Knesset.To be alone, isolated, and solely responsible for all the (occupied) territories while facing hostility from Palestinians and Arab states, as well as increasing criticism from many other countries. This risks a de facto single state with two nations.Or we can continue to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority until we find an acceptable solution,he said.I say to the government and Knesset, here and now, don't slow down the negotiations -- look for every break, try every option in order to put an end to more than 100 years of quarrel and bloodshed.Enough with the process, the time has come to reach final conclusions. We cannot miss this opportunity,he said.If we move forwards with peace and make peace with the Palestinians, and if we start negotiations with Syria and Lebanon, we will remove the main pretext for the Iranian madness -- against us and against the other residents of this region.Netanyahu, who addressed the Knesset session immediately after Peres, said he was willing to enter peace talks without preconditions.We expect the Palestinian leaders to be genuine partners for peace. We are prepared to work hard for peace,he said.

However, Netanyahu blamed the Palestinians for the failure of previous peace talks, saying they broke down because "the Palestinian leadership was not ready to declare an end to the conflict and their demands, and once-and-for-all recognise the Jewish State.The United States has been pushing the Israelis and Palestinians to agree to resume peace talks that were relaunched in November 2007 but suspended after Israel launched a 22-day war on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on December 27.

Moderate-Dahlan: Settlement activity comparable to bus bombings in Tel Aviv Monday, 12 October 2009 05:44 News from Jerusalem .Compared to Settlemnt building!!!

Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan on Sunday compared Palestinian suicide bombings to Israel's establishment of settlements on Palestinian land, Israel Radio reported.
What is the difference between blowing up a bus in Tel Aviv and taking over Palestinian land? Dahlan asked.Dahlan warned against a loss of control on the Palestinian street, in light of recent clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian rioters in Jerusalem, but added that the Palestinians were not interested in a protracted conflict with Israel.The Fatah man also warned that riots in Jerusalem will not subside as long as Israel's prime minister keeps sending settlers to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque.Meanwhile Sunday, Israel lifted the restrictions it had imposed on entry to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, following a period of heightened tensions at the holy site, which houses the Jewish Western Wall and the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Mohammed Dahlan
In light of sporadic clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police in the area, and calls by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque in recent days, Israel restricted the entry of Muslim men under the age of 50, and prohibited Jews from entering the mosque compound altogether.On Saturday, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that Israel had agreed to allow some 400 Muslims, who barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the recent riots, to leave the compound without being arrested.The compromise between Israel and the Palestinians was brokered by Jordan's ambassador to Israel, the news agency reported.

The Fatah official in the West Bank charged with Jerusalem affairs, Khatem Abed al-Kadr, said that Israeli authorities had provided guarantees that the Palestinians would not be arrested. However, the danger to the Al-Aqsa Mosque has not passed, he said, calling on Israel's Arabs and the residents of East Jerusalem to maintain a constant presence at the mosque.On Friday, stone-throwing Arab rioters wounded eleven Border Policemen in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ra'as al-Amud, as tensions in the capital flared yet again.Four of the policemen were taken to hospital for treatment and the others were treated at the scene. Officers arrested two Palestinians for hurling stones.On Thursday, Hamas declared a day of rage and called on its supporters to come out and demonstrate at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday.

Leading religious figures in the Muslim world, such as Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi, dubbed Friday protect Al-Aqsa day.Joining the call to protect the mosque were Palestinian politicians and religious figures, who have been trying to convince the lethargic public in Gaza to come out and demonstrate.haaretz

Obama using blood libel report to pressure Jewish state Monday, 12 October 2009 05:31 News from Jerusalem .Obama meeting with Abbas (archive)

Senior Palestinian Authority officials told WND the Obama administration offered their group guarantees that the U.S. would pressure Israel over a Palestinian state in exchange for the PA's withdrawal of support for immediate U.N. action over an investigation claiming Israel committed war crimes.The PA officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND the guarantees include pressing Israel to agree to a two-year timetable to negotiate a Palestinian state set along the pre-1967 lines – meaning a state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.The officials said the Obama administration hopes to set the timetable publicly before March. They said Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, presented the timetable to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in meetings here the past few days.The PA officials said Mitchell specifically told the Palestinians the Obama administration will push for a state including much of eastern Jerusalem.Mitchell told us not to be worried about what happened in Jabel Mukabar. It was just a ceremony and won't create any facts on the ground,one senior PA official told WND.The official was referring to a ceremony last week in which developers of a new, private, Jewish neighborhood in Jabel Mukabar, an eastern Jerusalem section, laid the cornerstone for their project, clearly ignoring Obama's demand to halt all Jewish construction in the area.PA President Mahmoud Abbas last week unexpectedly called for the U.N. to delay until March a vote on the report, authored by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, which claims both Hamas and Israel were guilty of war crimes during the Jewish state's defensive war in Gaza this past December and January.

The report claims Israel deliberately targeted civilians during the Gaza conflict, which started after Hamas refused to extend a cease fire, instead launching a rocket offensive against Israeli population centers.The U.N. report has been slammed here as anti-Israel, with some officials calling it a blood libel. The report equates Israel, which worked to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, to Hamas, a terrorist organization that utilized civilians as human shields and fired rockets at Jewish cities from Palestinian hospitals and apartment buildings.During the Gaza war, Israel sent hundreds of thousands of text messages and placed tens of thousands of calls warning local Palestinians of incoming attacks against Hamas' military infrastructure in Gaza.Israeli officials warned Goldstone's standards can be used against U.S. and British anti-terror operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.Abbas' request that the U.N. Human Rights Council delay its vote on the Goldstone report shocked both Hamas and the Palestinian public. In Gaza, Hamas television broadcast scenes of Gazans throwing shoes at portraits of Abbas – a sign of disrespect in Arabic culture. Last week, Syria canceled a planned visit by Abbas to Damascus, while an Israeli-Arab political party urged him to step down.Already, PA officials are backtracking from their position of urging the U.N. to delay the vote. Abbas ordered an investigation into how his government made the decision, although PA officials tell WND Abbas led the decision.Last week, senior Abbas adviser Yasser Abed Rabbo called the move to delay the Gaza vote a mistake.While Abbas may be publicly backtracking, Israeli diplomatic sources told WND that during the Gaza conflict, the PA leader and other top Palestinian officials demanded that Israel pound rival Hamas' installations in Gaza.Indeed, during the conflict, WND quoted diplomatic sources in Jerusalem stating Abbas had petitioned Israel to launch a massive military raid against his Hamas rivals in Gaza.wnd

Netanyahu: No war crimes trials for Israelis By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer – OC 12,09

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed never to allow Israeli leaders or soldiers to stand trial on war crimes charges over their actions during last winter's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, furiously denouncing a U.N. report in a keynote address to parliament.Netanyahu's fiery rhetoric — and his decision to open the high-profile speech with remarks on the report — reflected the deep distress felt among Israeli leaders after a U.N. commission accused Israel of intentionally harming civilians when it launched a massive attack in Gaza to stop years of rocket fire.This distorted report, written by this distorted committee, undermines Israel's right to defend itself. This report encourages terrorism and threatens peace,Netanyahu said in his address at the opening of parliament's winter session.Israel will not take risks for peace if it can't defend itself.The U.N. report, compiled by a team led by former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. It specifically accused Israel of using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, and using people as human shields. It accused Hamas of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through its rocket attacks.Israeli officials across the board have condemned the report, saying their country had little choice but to take harsh action against militants who were terrorizing southern Israel. They also blame Hamas for civilian casualties, saying the Islamic militant group took cover in residential areas during the fighting. However, Goldstone's strong credentials as a respected South African jurist, his Jewish faith and past support for Israeli causes have made it hard for Israel to dismiss the claims.

Netanyahu angrily noted the report's portrayal of Israeli leaders as war criminals. The truth is exactly the opposite. Israel's leaders and its army are those who defended the citizens of Israel from war criminals,he said, before vowing to defend the country's wartime leaders.We will not allow Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak, who sent our sons to war, to arrive at the international court in the Hague, he said.While Netanyahu has repeatedly lashed out at the U.N. report, Monday's comments appeared to be a direct response to a new Palestinian push for a vote on the report in the U.N.'s Human Rights Council. If the vote takes place, the matter could be referred to higher U.N. bodies that could theoretically push for war-crimes prosecution.Earlier this month, Abbas' government had agreed to delay the vote for six months. That decision, which came under heavy U.S. pressure, sparked sharp criticism and protests across Palestinian society, particularly from the rival Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Monday that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke with Abbas on Sunday about the matter and said he would support Abbas' proposal to reopen discussion of the Goldstone report at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.In contrast to predecessors who have used parliamentary addresses to speak of bold visions of peace, Netanyahu spoke in far bleaker terms. He focused on past Jewish suffering and criticized the futility of previous peace efforts, blaming Arab adversaries for their failure.The right to a Jewish state and the right to self-defense are two of the existential rights of our people,he said.These basic rights of the Jewish people have been under greatly increasing attack. ... Our prime mission is to stave off this attack.President Barack Obama has been trying to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to restart peace talks, which broke down late last year. Even after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, he faces a daunting challenge in just getting the sides to talk, let alone in solving one of the world's longest lasting and most intractable conflicts.

The Palestinians say they will not resume negotiations until Israel freezes all construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — areas they claim as parts of a future independent state.Netanyahu says some settlement construction must continue to accommodate growth in the Jewish populations. He also says all of Jerusalem will remain in Israeli hands, although Israel's annexation of the eastern part of the city and its sensitive holy sites has never been internationally recognized.Netanyahu, for his part, has demanded the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state — a demand the Palestinians criticize as upping the ante from previous negotiations. The Palestinians say it would discriminate against Israel's Arab minority and deprive Palestinian refugees of their rights to lost properties in what is now Israel.For 62 years, the Palestinians have been saying No to the Jewish state. I am once again calling upon our Palestinian neighbors; say Yes to the Jewish state.he said.Without recognition of Israel as the state of the Jews we shall not be able to attain peace.(This version CORRECTS name to Human Rights Council).

CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3

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

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

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

Report: North Korea fires 5 short-range missiles By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer – OCT 12,09

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea reportedly test-launched five short-range missiles —and may fire more — in what analysts said is an attempt to improve its bargaining position ahead of possible talks with the United States.North Korea has recently reached out to the U.S. and South Korea following months of tension over its nuclear and missile tests earlier this year. Leader Kim Jong Il told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last week that his government might return to stalled six-nation negotiations on its nuclear program depending on the outcome of direct talks it seeks with the United States.Washington has said it is considering holding talks with North Korea as part of efforts to restart the six-party negotiations.Yonhap, citing a South Korean official it did not identify, said the KN-02 surface-to-surface missiles were fired from mobile launch pads and had a range of up to 75 miles (120 kilometers). It said North Korea launched two missiles in the morning and three more in the afternoon.South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday confirmed the missile launches, but declined to identify the number and types of missiles fired on Monday off North Korea's east coast — the first since July, when the North test-fired seven missiles.South Korea also has detected evidence that North Korea is preparing to fire short-range missiles off its west coast and has announced a no-sail zone there, Yonhap said, citing an unidentified government official.

South Korea's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Belfast on Monday that American efforts to resume the nuclear talks with North Korea will proceed despite the new tests.Our goal remains the same,she told reporters after a meeting with Northern Irish business leaders.Our consultations with our partners and our allies continues unabated. It is unaffected by the behavior of North Korea.Clinton was to fly later to Moscow to meet with Russian leaders on a variety of issues, including nuclear reduction concerns.South Korea's YTN television network carried a report similar to Yonhap's. It quoted an unidentified government source as saying North Korea had announced a no-sail zone in areas off the country's east and west coasts for Oct. 10-20 — an apparent indication the country could carry out more missile tests.The reported launches appeared to be aimed at displaying North Korea's missile capability to bolster its negotiating hand ahead of talks with the U.S. and other countries to wrest more concessions, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, agreed and added that North Korea was unlikely to take more drastic steps such as its April long-range rocket test or May nuclear test.Meanwhile, North Korea agreed to hold two sets of working-level talks with South Korea, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said Tuesday, a day after Seoul proposed the talks.

Officials from the two sides plan to meet Wednesday at a North Korean border city to discuss how to prevent Imjin River flooding from running through their heavily armed border, Lee said.She also said Red Cross societies of the two sides plan to hold talks Friday to discuss reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Ties between the two Koreas soured after conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office early last year with a pledge to get tough with the North's government. Tensions further heightened after North Korea conducted its long-range rocket and nuclear tests.The Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, which means that the two Koreas are still technically at war.Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang in Seoul and Matthew Lee in Belfast contributed to this report.

Security of Pakistan nuclear weapons questioned By CHRIS BRUMMITT and PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writers – OCT 12,09

ISLAMABAD – An audacious weekend assault by Islamic militants on Pakistan's army headquarters is again raising fears of an insurgent attack on the country's nuclear weapons installation. Pakistan has sought to protect its nuclear weapons from attack by the Taliban or other militants by storing the warheads, detonators and missiles separately in facilities patrolled by elite troops.Analysts are divided on how secure these weapons are. Some say the weapons are less secure than they were five years ago, and Saturday's attack would show a worrisome overconfidence by the Pakistanis.While complex security is in place, much depends on the Pakistani army and how vulnerable it is to infiltration by extremists, said a Western government official with access to intelligence on Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.Analysts say a more realistic scenario would involve militant sympathizers getting work as scientists at the facilities and passing information to extremists.It's not thought likely that the Taliban are suddenly going to storm in and gain control of the nuclear facilities,said Gareth Price, head of the Asia program at London think tank Chatham House.There are enough command-and-control mechanisms in place to prevent that.A U.S. counterproliferation official in Washington said strong safeguards are in place and there is no reason to believe the nuclear arsenal is in imminent jeopardy of seizure by militants.The official, who commented on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly, said there is a major difference between attacking a nuclear site and actually seizing and using the nuclear material stored inside.

Security at Pakistan's isolated nuclear installations is believed to be significantly higher than at the army headquarters, which was relatively relaxed by the standards of other nations. Thousands of people and vehicles enter the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi daily, and the 10 attackers, while able to take dozens of hostages Saturday and kill 14 people before a commando raid ended the siege, never penetrated to the heart of the complex.Pakistan is estimated to have between 70 and 90 warheads, according to Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists.Shaun Gregory, an expert on Pakistani security at the University of Bradford in Britain, said militants have struck near an air base in Sargodha, where nuclear missiles are believed to be stored, and the Wah cantonment, where missiles that could carry nuclear weapons are believed to be assembled. He added that the attacks did not appear to have targeted nuclear weapons.Pakistan uses armed forces personnel to guard nuclear weapons facilities, and it physically separates warhead cores from their detonation components, Gregory wrote in the July issue of The Sentinel, the monthly journal of the Combating Terrorism Center.The components are stored in protected underground sites. The warheads themselves are electronically locked to ensure that they cannot be detonated even if they fall in terrorists' hands, Gregory said.The Pakistan military carefully screens and monitors the officers vested with protecting the warheads, drawing them almost exclusively from Punjabi officers who are considered to have fewer links to religious extremists or with the Pashtun area of Pakistan, where the Taliban garners much of its support.No action or decision involving a nuclear weapon can be undertaken by fewer than two persons. But Gregory acknowledged the possibility of collusion between cleared officers and extremists.

The personnel assigned to sensitive nuclear posts go through regular background checks conducted by Pakistan's intelligence services, according to a 2007 article in the journal Arms Control, co-written by Naeem Salik, a former top official at Pakistan's National Command Authority, which oversees the nuclear arsenal.It is being acknowledged by the world powers that the system has no loopholes, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, said Monday. The system is foolproof, as good and bad as their own systems.The U.S. and the British governments agree there is little risk of a weapon falling into militants' hands.In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there is no evidence that has been shown publicly or privately of any threat to the Pakistani nuclear facilities, said. Gregory said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he did not share Miliband's assertion, adding that there is plenty of evidence of threat.Individuals in the Pakistan military have colluded with al-Qaida in providing safe houses for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and individuals in Pakistan's civil nuclear sector have met with al-Qaida figures, including Osama bin Laden himself, Gregory said.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton dismissed any suggestion militants could overthrow the government and gain control of the nuclear arsenal. We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military's control over nuclear weapons,she said.Kristensen said that while U.S. officials have said they have helped Pakistan increase security at its nuclear facilities, they have not been allowed to go to those sites, so it's something they've had to do remotely. Saturday's attack somehow seems to show that the Pakistani military is perhaps a little overly confident about some of its most important military facilities, he said.If a relatively small group of people is able to penetrate into their Pentagon, then it might show something about the overconfidence of the Pakistanis, and that is worrisome — it's surprising that they were able to go in there relatively simply," Kristensen said.

He noted that the military headquarters is different from a nuclear facility. One cannot compare insurgents going into an office building to them going into a nuclear facility for the nation's crown jewels,he added. While stringent security checks on personnel are meant to prevent militant sympathizers from working at the facilities, Pakistan's nuclear establishment has seen serious leaks of nuclear knowledge and materials by insiders. Top government scientist A.Q. Khan operated a global black market nuclear network for more than a decade until he was uncloaked by U.S. intelligence. And the CIA has confirmed a meeting between Khan associates and bin Laden before 9/11.Israel has not taken a formal position on the danger of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. However, in a parliamentary briefing last year, Defense Minister Ehud Barak mentioned such a scenario as a nightmare for the world, according to security officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the session was closed.Pakistan's weapons are less secure today than they were five years ago, and it seems they're even less secure than under the Musharraf government,said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political studies and conflict management at Bar Ilan University in Israel, referring to the previous administration of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.Steinberg said Israelis are becoming less confident of the U.S. ability to control events and put plans into action that would protect Pakistan's nuclear stockpile.Hess reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Ravi Nessman in Islamabad and George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.

Reports: Russian general challenges US on missiles By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Oct 12, 2:17 pm ET

MOSCOW – A top Russian general aimed tough remarks at the U.S. on Monday before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit, reconfirming plans for multiple-warhead missiles and warning Washington that refitting rockets with conventional warheads would raise the risk of nuclear war.Lt. Gen. Andrei Shvaichenko's comments quoted by Russian news agencies come as Moscow and Washington seek to negotiate a replacement for a 1991 arms control treaty that expires at the end of the year. It is a major element in their efforts to mend relations that were badly strained during the Bush administration.Clinton meets Tuesday with President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Her visit will test Russia's willingness to cooperate on issues, including arms control and Iran's nuclear program, in the wake of President Barack Obama's recent decision to scrap a missile-defense plan that Moscow vehemently opposed.Shvaichenko's words appeared designed to remind the U.S. of Russia's nuclear might and press it to heed Moscow's concerns.Shvaichenko, commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, reiterated that Russia will begin deploying RS-24 missiles with multiple warheads in December, the same month that the START I treaty expires.The U.S. has said the missiles would violate a treaty provision against adding multiple warheads to existing single-warhead missiles, but Russia asserts it is a new missile.Putting RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles in service will strengthen (Russia's) combat capabilities,ITAR-Tass quoted Shvaichenko as saying at the force's headquarters outside Moscow. He said the first deployment of the missiles would be in the Ivanovo province, northeast of the capital.Reaching a deal to replace the treaty before it expires would be a strong sign of solidarity after years of acrimony.

But there are no guarantees. Pressing Russia's position on another prickly issue, Shvaichenko criticized plans aired during the Bush administration to fit some U.S. strategic missiles with conventional non-nuclear warheads, saying the launch of such missiles could provoke a mistaken nuclear strike in retaliation.A state that detected such a missile heading in its direction would determine the risk it faced according to a worst-case scenario,RIA Novosti quoted Shvaichenko as saying — meaning that it would likely respond with nuclear weapons. He said such a shift would seriously undermine ... international security as a whole.The U.S. State Department declined immediate comment on Shvaichenko's remarks.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Calif. wildfire-area communities prepare for rain By JOHN ANTCZAK, Associated Press Writer – OCT 12,09

LOS ANGELES – Southern California communities below wildfire-scorched mountains made preparations Monday for the possibility of fast-moving floods laden with mud and rocks as a Pacific storm headed for the West Coast.Sandbags and concrete barriers called K-rail were placed on streets in suburbs northeast of Los Angeles to try to direct any debris flows away from homes.There's really nothing else to do but wait and see what happens,said David Wacker, a 25-year resident of La Crescenta, one of a string of communities along the foot of the steep San Gabriel Mountains.The U.S. Geological Survey recently warned of potentially massive debris flows from the area burned by the late summer Station Fire. Two firefighters were killed and 89 homes were destroyed as it spread over more than 250 square miles of Angeles National Forest, becoming the biggest fire in Los Angeles County history.Unusually strong for October and packing gusty winds, the storm was expected to move into northern and central parts of the state Monday night and reach southern areas Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.Forecasters said the system was expected to pull in considerable moisture left over from Typhoon Melor, which made a damaging hit on Japan last week after drenching the Northern Mariana Islands.Rainfall across Southern California was expected to be heavy and widespread, bringing threats of flash flooding and debris flows in burn areas.All the ingredients necessary for a big rain event are in place,the NWS said.

Forecasters estimated that 3 inches to 6 inches of rain would fall in Santa Barbara County mountains, where an 8,700-acre fire destroyed 80 homes in May. Flash flood watches were issued there and in 10 other counties up and down the state.Estimates for Los Angeles County mountains and foothills ranged from 2 inches to 4 inches, with the heaviest period Tuesday night and Wednesday.Debris flows occur because the ground in recently burned areas has little ability to absorb rain, which instead instantly runs off, carrying ash, mud, boulders and vegetation.Preparations to prevent storm damage have included clearing debris from flood-control basins designed to catch material flowing out of mountain drainages.The emergency assessment of the Station Fire area by the USGS assumed scenarios with two common types of storms, one lasting three hours and another lasting 12 hours. It also looked at what might happen in various drainages if the catch basins are empty or if they have become filled.On the Net:Wildfires and Debris Flows: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3106/pdf/FS-3106.pdf

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

A 6.4-magnitude quake hits South Pacific Mon Oct 12, 10:39 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – A 6.4-magnitude quake hit the Santa Cruz islands in the South Pacific on Monday, US seismologists said, but there was no immediate warning of a tsunami.The quake struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) about 355 kilometres north of Luganville, part of the Vanuatu archipelago, at 8:37 pm (0937 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.But no tsunami warning was immediately issued as a result of the tremor, which followed a series of huge quakes last week that triggered a region-wide tsunami alert.The Pacific is still recovering from an 8.0 magnitude earthquake and huge tsunami that crashed into Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga on September 29, wiping out villages and resorts and killing 184.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

Tropical storm in Pacific strengthens off Mexico OCT 12,09

LOS CABOS, Mexico – Tropical Storm Patricia strengthened Monday as it inched closer to the tip of Baja California, prompting Mexico's government to issue a tropical storm watch for the resort-dotted southern part of the peninsula.Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Patricia's center was about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the southern tip of Baja California on Monday evening.

Patricia was moving north-northwest at about 6 mph (9 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. Some strengthening was expected over the next 24 hours, and the storm could be very near the peninsula by Tuesday afternoon, the center said.

Patricia became a named tropical storm late Sunday.

Tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 90 (150 kilometers) from the center. The Mexican government issued a tropical storm watch — meaning tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area — from La Paz to Santa Fe in Baja California Sur state.The port of Cabo San Lucas was closed to small craft. Mayor Rene Nunez said officials were evaluating whether to evacuate families in low-lying areas.

Tropical Storm Patricia heads to Baja California Mon Oct 12, 8:14 pm ET

MIAMI (AFP) – Tropical Storm Patricia formed in the Pacific and churned toward Mexico's Baja Peninsula, where local authorities announced plans to partially evacuate a beach resort as a precaution.The storm could lash the peninsula's southern end, and Mexican authorities have warned it could cause flooding and other damage, said the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).A tropical storm watch is in effect for the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula from La Paz to Santa Fe,the NHC said, adding that the storm would be very near the peninsula by Tuesday afternoon.All schools and port facilities in Los Cabos, a popular tourist venue, were closed down Monday by order of state authorities, and two low-lying neighborhoods were to be evacuated on Tuesday.Early tomorrow morning, we'll be evacuating families from the Zacatal and Santa Rosa neighborhoods... because they've been designated high-risk areas, Baja California Civil Protection chief Jose Gajon told a press conference.

He did not say how many people would be affected by the evacuation.

Port facilities in three other coastal towns were also shut down Monday and more could be closed up and down the coast on Tuesday, officials said.National Water Commission for Southern Baja California manager Celso Castro Sanchez said Patricia could barrel across the southern tip of Baja California by early Wednesday, although it's not been forecast to become a hurricane.At 2400 GMT, Patricia was 335 kilometers (210 miles) south of the southern tip of the peninsula churning in at nine kilometers (six miles) per hour.It packed maximum sustained winds of near 95 kilometers (60 miles) per hour, well under the 119 kilometer (74 mile) per hour threshold for a Category One hurricane.In September, Hurricane Jimena struck the peninsula, leaving one person dead, and causing widespread flooding and property damage.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

FAMINE

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

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

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

Philippines orders rice imports as typhoon costs mount By Rolando Ng – Mon Oct 12, 6:22 am ET

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines (Reuters) – The Philippines ordered imports of 250,000 tons of rice on Monday and lawmakers rushed to approve funding for immediate rebuilding of farms and roads badly damaged by two typhoons that killed over 650 people.The Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer, would hold a tender two months earlier than normal on October 30 for the shipment of the grain, which it wants delivered between January and April, the National Food Authority said.The typhoons hit the country's main rice-growing areas in the north of Luzon island, destroying 560,000 tons of yet-to-be harvested paddy, or 8.6 percent of the projected fourth quarter output of 6.5 million tons, the agriculture department said.Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the storms had damaged nearly 12 billion pesos ($257 million) worth of crops and fisheries but insisted there was no immediate shortage of rice, the national staple.Be assured that for 2009, our food security is intact, it (rice) is in place, it is already in the warehouses of the NFA, Yap said in a TV interview. For the coming year, we are preparing for the import arrival and schedule.Officials have previously said the Philippines was looking at importing around 2 million tons of the grain for its 2010 needs following hefty crop losses due to the storms.That volume is up nearly 13 percent from this year's imports of 1.775 million tons, the bulk of which was supplied by Vietnam via an intergovernment deal.Officials have said damage to roads and bridges from the storms could reach 4.77 billion pesos.

BUDGET DEBATE

Both chambers of Congress were scheduled on Monday to take up a proposal setting aside 10 billion pesos ($214.5 million) for relief work, and lawmakers said the measure could be approved this week.Under debate is whether the funds for rehabilitation need a separate budget or a mere re-allocation of the current 2009 budget, and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government was prepared for more foreign debt issues to fund possible extra spending this year.Officials are also considering a possible $1 billion rehabilitation plan for typhoon-hit areas to be funded mostly by foreign aid, Joey Salceda, economic adviser to the president said on Sunday.Typhoon Ketsana on Sept 26 inundated areas in and around Metro Manila, killed 337 people and forced nearly half a million people from their homes, the national disaster agency has said.Typhoon Parma, which battered the northern Philippines for over a week, flooded vast areas in the rice-growing provinces of northern Luzon and killed 314 people in landslides and drownings, rescue officials have said.(Additional reporting by Manny Mogato and Rosemarie Francisco)(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

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

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

THEM HIPPOCRITE CNN WAS AT IT AGAIN LAST NIGHT.THEY HAD DR GOPDA ON SINGING THE PRAISES OF GETTING THE VACCINE SHOTS,WHILE 2 MINUTES LATER ON LARRY KING COMPLAINING PEOPLE ARE DYING FROM ECOLI TAINTED HAMBURGERS.MEANWHILE THE VACCINES ARE KILLING MORE PEOPLE THEN THE H1N1 ITSELF........MEDA MANIPULATION TO PAY BIG PHARMA BIG BUCKS AND TO KILL US OFF.

IM TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF I HAD A SHOT AT SCHOOL WHEN I WAS 6 YEARS OLD AND THEN A FEW DAYS LATER I GOT RHUMATIC FEVER.IF MY LIFE WAS DESTROYED BY A SHOT AT SCHOOL ILL BE SOME HOPPING,BECAUSE I HAVE HAD ALL KINDS OF ILLNESSES EVER SINCE I WAS 6 AND GOT RHUMATIC FEVER.IF I CAN PROVE A SHOT CAUSED MY RHUMATIC FEVER YOU CAN BET I WILL GO AFTER THE SCHOOL WERE I GOT THE SHOT THEM 43 YEARS AGO.AS I RECALL I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL 2 MONTHS AND OVER CHRISTMAS SO IT WAS AROUND THE END OF SEPTEMBER BEGINING OF OCTOBER THE SHOT SEASON WHEN I WENT TO THE HOSPITAL WITH RHUMATIC FEVER BACK THEN.

Swine flu drug gaps expose need for EU vaccine-sharing rules
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today OCT 13,09 @ 09:14 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - While fears of a swine flu pandemic appear to have been over-blown, difficulties in the procuring and sharing of vaccines in parts of Europe have jolted health ministers into realising that something must be done to ensure no member state is left out should the continent ever be faced with the outbreak of a genuinely fearsome disease.At a meeting of European Union health chiefs in Luxembourg on Monday (12 October), member states decided that the bloc needs an agreed strategy on how to share stockpiles of vaccines against the A(H1INI) human variant of swine flu, as some countries are facing shortfalls in supplies.The ministers have requested the European Commission to suggest a plan and propose a mechanism whereby member states can make vaccines available to other member states that do not have sufficient quantities,according to a statement.The EU executive is also to continue to support procurement processes for the countries that do not have a current agreement with a manufacturer.In particular, the Baltic countries, Bulgaria and Malta have had trouble marshalling sufficient stocks of vaccines.The commission alongside the member states are also to come up with a common position on supporting countries with similar needs outside the EU, particularly developing countries, but under the framework of the United Nations.The health ministers also agreed that it remains up to the member states rather than Brussels to identify priority groups for vaccination. In the case of any major threat, authorities develop lists of who should be vaccinated first, such as health care workers, high-risk groups, government leaders and electrical and telecommunications workers, to minimise hospitalisations and deaths, and prevent social disintegration.

While both government and media expressed great concern at the advent of the novel strain of influenza, a total of 4,525 people have died from swine flu, according to a World Health Organisation analysis released on Friday.On average, the two normal flu seasons the world experience per year (one per hemisphere) infects between 3 million and 5 million people, killing as many as 500,000. The A(H1N1) virus hasn't hurt us as much as we thought, and I hope that people still want to have a vaccination,Swedish health minister Maria Larsson, whose country holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, told reporters.

German Soldiers Get Additive Free Swine Flu Shot
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, October 13, 2009

According to a report out of Germany, German soldiers have been given an additive-free swine flu shot that doesn’t contain mercury, squalene, or any of the other dangerous adjuvants associated with the vaccine, raising questions as to why this version of the shot has not been made available to the general population.An article that when translated is entitled, German soldiers gets non poisonous vaccine, explains how 250,000 German troops have been given a friendly vaccine made by Baxter that does not contain controversial mercury-containing additives or preservatives.It appears that there are two versions of the swine flu shot, one for those in the know and another for the general population who trust the government to shoot them up with dangerous toxins that have been linked to autism and other neurological disorders.Despite concerns about thimerosal and mercury, thimerosal is an ingredient of the swine flu vaccine which is currently being rolled out globally.Some of the vaccine will be stored in multi-dose vials containing thimerosal, an antibacterial additive that contains mercury,reported the Washington Post in an article about which groups will receive the swine flu vaccine first.

Indeed, the swine flu vaccine contains no less than 25,000 per cent the amount of mercury considered safe.Mercury is classified by The Department of Defense as a hazardous material that could cause death if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and the EPA is now limiting mercury emissions from factories because the toxin can damage the brain and nervous system and is especially dangerous to fetuses and small children,but according to the CDC it’s perfectly safe to inject into your child’s bloodstream.As we previously highlighted, many people are choosing to take the nasal spray version of the vaccine in the false assumption that it is safer than the injectable version. In reality, the nasal spray contains live H1N1 virus, which has led many doctors and health professionals to express concerns that it could spread the swine flu virus amongst those with weakened immune systems.It has been documented that the live viruses from the vaccine can be shed (and potentially spread into the community) from recipient children for up to 21 days, and even longer from adults. Viral shedding also puts breastfeeding infants at risk if the mother has been given FluMist,writes Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, one of the most outspoken physicians in the country on the hazards of vaccines and vaccination.FluMist’s own package insert reads as follows, FluMist® recipients should avoid close contact with immunocompromised individuals for at least 21 days.The warning is specifically directed toward those living in the same household with an immunocompromised person, but the on-going release of live viruses throughout the community may be a significant risk to everyone who has a weak, or weakened, immune system,writes Tenpenny, pointing out that if one takes into account a plethora of health conditions that could be classified as contributing to immunodeficiency, as much as 60% of the entire population could be considered to be chemically immunosuppressed.
One of the pharmaceutical companies developing nasal spray vaccines is Baxter International, who were caught earlier this year releasing batches of vaccines from a lab in Austria that were contaminated live bird flu virus, otherwise known as H5N1.

Swine flu and kids: Heed warning signs, MDs say By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer – Mon Oct 12, 3:35 pm ET

CHICAGO – Max Gomez was a bright-eyed 5-year-old happy to have just started kindergarten when he developed sniffles and a fever. His mother figured it was only a cold. Three days later, the Antioch, Tenn., boy was dead, apparently from swine flu. At least 76 American children have died from the new virus, and doctors are urging parents to watch for warning signs that the flu has become life-threatening.

Ruth Gomez says Max developed dangerous symptoms — bluish fingers and extreme fatigue after seeming to get better — just one day before he died. She took him to the doctor, but it was too late.We were in shock, Gomez said softly, still trying to wrap her mind around her little boy's Aug. 31 death.There are so many unanswered questions. What happened? It's a question on other parents' minds, too: How can they protect their kids from swine flu until the vaccine is widely available? Swine flu has probably infected hundreds of thousands of youngsters nationwide, but deaths among children are rare. Health officials are keeping track of children's flu deaths, but they say it's impossible to count all flu cases. So they don't know what percentage of children's infections are fatal.Many experts say the H1N1 virus does not appear to be more dangerous than other flu strains, but kids have been catching it more easily than seasonal flu.Last week alone, there were 19 new reports of children who died, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the 76 swine flu fatalities since April compare with 68 pediatric deaths from seasonal flu since September 2008.Because kids seem so vulnerable to it, every medical epidemiologist in the country is tracking how it affects them, said Dr. Susan Gerber, an associate medical officer for the public health department in Cook County, Ill.Most children will recover, but it's still very concerning and needs to be watched very closely Gerber said.

Dr. Kenneth Alexander, the University of Chicago's pediatric infectious disease chief, said there are common signs to indicate when both kinds of flu turn dangerous.

Flu viruses can damage cilia, the hair-like fibers lining the respiratory tract that move bacteria and mucous where we can cough them out of the lungs, he explained.That can make people susceptible to pneumonia and other bacterial infections — a scenario blamed for many flu deaths in otherwise healthy children and adults, he said. In these cases, flu patients often appear to get better, but then fever and a cough return.Authorities urge parents to seek immediate help if emergency warning signs develop. In children, these are:
-Fast or troubled breathing.
-Bluish skin color.
-Lack of thirst.
-Failure to wake up easily or interact.
-Irritability so that the child does not want to be held.
-Improvement of symptoms, then a return to fever and worse cough.
-Fever with a rash.

Parents should also seek medical help if flu symptoms develop in children most vulnerable to flu complications: those younger than 5 or with high-risk conditions, including asthma and other lung problems; cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other neurological diseases; heart, kidney or liver problems; and diabetes. A recent report from the CDC found that one-third of pediatric deaths from the new H1N1 virus were in children like Max, with no known underlying condition that would put them at risk.In the past couple of weeks, news reports have tallied the deaths of children with no known health problems, including three in New Mexico, a second-grader in Dalton, Ga., and a Baltimore eighth-grader.People are pretty concerned, and I think they should be,said Harvin Bullock, coroner in Sumter County, S.C., where 11-year-old Ashlie Pipkin died three weeks ago, two days after developing symptoms.

Authorities are walking a fine line between making sure parents are vigilant without raising undue alarm. Commenting on the recent deaths in his state, New Mexico's health chief, Dr. Alfredo Vigil, told residents not to panic, but to take swine flu seriously.That means kids should get vaccinations for both ordinary flu and swine flu when the vaccine is available, and stay home from school if they are sick. Parents should stress hand-washing and covering coughs. Mild cases should be treated at home with rest and plenty of fluids, but parents should call their doctor if more serious symptoms develop.We definitely don't want to suggest to someone who has a very sick child that that child should be at home. But at the same time, we don't want lots of children with mild illness showing up in emergency rooms or doctors' offices, keeping doctors from treating sicker patients, said Dr. Michael Landen, New Mexico's deputy state epidemiologist.He said it's a tough message for health officials to explain, and is very challenging for parents to get this right.

Alexander, the Chicago doctor, said he always tells parents, Trust your instincts. Then, if it goes beyond the typical flu experience, seek help, he said.In rare cases, swine flu symptoms turn from bad to worse so quickly that by the time of medical attention, it was too late. That can occur with seasonal flu, too, Landen said.Ruth Gomez says that's what happened with her son. Test results are still pending, and swine flu has not been ruled the official cause of death, but Gomez, who once worked as a medical assistant, says doctors found nothing else.She plans to get swine flu shots for Max's two younger sisters, and she said other parents need to be aware of the risks. Our lives have been turned around,she said.Every day we miss him.Vanessa LaGrange of Albuquerque said she's gotten the message. The recent deaths in her state mean she hopes to get all flu shots, including H1N1 vaccinations, for herself and her two children. She has skipped flu shots in the past because her family is generally pretty healthy.LaGrange said she kept her 6-year-old daughter home from school one day last week with a cough and sore throat, and that even her little girl is concerned.She did ask me outright if she had the swine flu,LaGrange said. She said her daughter has improved and probably did not have the flu.In Atlanta, Kristen Chase sent her daughter off to kindergarten this year and is trying to avoid worrying, but it's hard not to.Even though swine flu hasn't hit her school yet, Chase puts sanitized hand wipes in her little girl's lunch box every day and tells her, Wipe your hands off before you eat your lunch.If any of her three kids show signs of flu, Chase said she plans to "err on the side of caution and call the doctor. On the Net:CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

Sickest swine flu cases in Canada, Mexico detailed By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer – Mon Oct 12, 11:33 am ET

CHICAGO – Rapidly worsening breathing problems in the sickest swine flu patients in Mexico and Canada present a scary worst-case scenario and could foreshadow what U.S. doctors face as winter flu season sets in, new reports suggest.In the global outbreak's first wave, many critically ill patients in both countries were obese, although their death rates weren't higher than others. Many in both countries also were younger than those typically hard hit by seasonal flu, as has been found in the United States.Patients studied worsened quickly after being admitted to hospitals. Most survived after intensive, lengthy treatment, although the death rate in Mexican patients studied — 41 percent — was much higher.The reports were published online Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.They aren't a true snapshot on prevalence. But a JAMA editorial says they provide clues on what hospitals elsewhere may see in coming months.A report on U.S. cases published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine provided similar guidance. It found that one-quarter of Americans sick enough to be hospitalized with swine flu last spring needed intensive care and 7 percent died.In the Mexican report on six hospitals between March and June, critical illness developed quickly in 58 of almost 900 patients with confirmed or suspected swine flu patients — a rate of just under 7 percent. But 24 of these sickest patients died within two months, said the study led by Dr. Guillermo Dominguez-Cherit of the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubiran in Mexico City.The Canadian study, led by Dr. Anand Kumar of the Health Sciences Center and St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, involved 168 critically ill patients treated at 38 hospitals between April and August. The 90-day death rate was 17 percent.The JAMA editorial noted that while treatment including antibiotics, antiviral drugs and mechanical breathing machines has advanced since the deadly 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic, many U.S. hospitals may lack adequate staffing levels to provide timely treatment if critical swine flu cases surge.Deaths that result from inadequate planning will be especially tragic,the editorial said.
On the Net:JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org/

S.Africa battles to curb TB spread Mon Oct 12, 12:07 pm ET

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Tuberculosis control in South Africa is among the worst in the world with infections tripling in the last decade, the country's deputy health minister said on Monday.TB prevalence has increased almost threefold in the last 10 years. South Africa is amongst the 10 worst performing countries on TB control, the SAPA news agency quoted deputy minister Molefi Sefularo as saying.

This has left us anxious and concerned.South Africa's performance in fighting TB was worse than that of its neighbour Mozambique, despite having far better resources, Sefularo told a meeting of AIDS and TB specialists in Cape Town.The World Health Organisation estimates almost one percent or 461,000 South Africans develop TB annually, with government figures showing that the disease was the country's leading natural cause of death in 2006.Sefularo said South Africa's current cure rate of about 65 percent was significantly better than the 51 percent it had in 2004, but was far below the WHO's recommended cure rate of 85 percent.We are in danger of not meeting our Millennium Development Goals as a result of these poor outcomes, he said.
The presence of multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug resistant (XDR-TB) strains combined with HIV posed major challenges, he said.

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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE OCT 13,2009

09:30 AM -4.49
10:00 AM -53.51
10:30 AM -43.76
11:00 AM -31.90
11:30 AM -28.19
12:00 PM +4.91
12:30 PM -11.11
01:00 PM -11.87
01:30 PM -13.61
02:00 PM -13.23
02:30 PM -22.00
03:00 PM -20.79
03:30 PM -1.44
04:00 PM -14.74 9871.06

S&P 500 1073.19 -3.00

NASDAQ 2139.89 +0.75

GOLD 1,063.90 +6.40

OIL 74.16 +0.89

TSE 300 11,420.60 -16.32

CDNX 1322.28 +14.93

S&P/TSX/60 679.02 -1.19

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +12.64%
S&P +19.15%
Nasdaq +35.64%
TSX Advances ,declines ,unchanged ,Volume .(HOLIDAY YESTERDAY)
TSX Venture Exchange Advances ,Declines ,Unchanged ,Volume .(HOLIDAY)

Dow -24 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -68 points at low today.
Dow +12 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,058.90.OIL opens at $73.60 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -68 points at low today so far.
Dow +12 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,516,declines 2,043,unchanged 114,New Highs 140,New Lows 31.
Volume 2,193,618,402.
NASDAQ Advances 1,115,declines 1,388,unchanged 137,New highs 80,New Lows 10.
Volume 860,286,869.
TSX Advances 609,declines 698,unchanged 232,Volume 238,627,565.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 403,Declines 351,Unchanged 313,Volume 134,009,250.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -68 points at low today.
Dow +12 points at high today.
Dow -0.15% today Volume 211,100,624.
Nasdaq +0.04% today Volume 1,979,154,347.
S&P 500 -0.28% today Volume N/A

AUDIT THAT FED HAS 301 HOUSE AND 30 SENATE MEMBERS SIGNED UP SO FAR.

Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Banks Shift Reserves (Update3)
By Ye Xie and Anchalee Worrachate

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two- quarter rout in almost two decades. Policy makers boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at least 2003, to $7.3 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nations reporting currency breakdowns put 63 percent of the new cash into euros and yen in April, May and June, the latest Barclays Capital data show. That’s the highest percentage in any quarter with more than an $80 billion increase.World leaders are acting on threats to dump the dollar while the Obama administration shows a willingness to tolerate a weaker currency in an effort to boost exports and the economy as long as it doesn’t drive away the nation’s creditors. The diversification signals that the currency won’t rebound anytime soon after losing 10.3 percent on a trade-weighted basis the past six months, the biggest drop since 1991.Global central banks are getting more serious about diversification, whereas in the past they used to just talk about it, said Steven Englander, a former Federal Reserve researcher who is now the chief U.S. currency strategist at Barclays in New York.It looks like they are really backing away from the dollar.

Sliding Share

The dollar’s 37 percent share of new reserves fell from about a 63 percent average since 1999. Englander concluded in a report that the trend accelerated in the third quarter. He said in an interview that for the next couple of months, the forces are still in place for continued diversification.America’s currency has been under siege as the Treasury sells a record amount of debt to finance a budget deficit that totaled $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2009 ended Sept. 30.Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s Dollar Index, which tracks the currency’s performance against the euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Swedish krona, fell to 75.77 last week, the lowest level since August 2008 and down from the high this year of 89.624 on March 4. The index, at 76.104 today, is within six points of its record low reached in March 2008.Foreign companies and officials are starting to say their economies are getting hurt because of the dollar’s weakness.

Toyota’s Pain

Yukitoshi Funo, executive vice president of Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp., the nation’s biggest automaker, called the yen’s strength painful.Fabrice Bregier, chief operating officer of Toulouse, France-based Airbus SAS, the world’s largest commercial planemaker, said on Oct. 8 the euro’s 11 percent rise since April was challenging.The economies of both Japan and Europe depend on exports that get more expensive whenever the greenback slumps. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said in Venice on Oct. 8 that U.S. policy makers’ preference for a strong dollar is extremely important in the present circumstances.Major reserve-currency issuing countries should take into account and balance the implications of their monetary policies for both their own economies and the world economy with a view to upholding stability of international financial markets,China President Hu Jintao told the Group of 20 leaders in Pittsburgh on Sept. 25, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks. China is America’s largest creditor.

Dollar’s Weighting

Developing countries have likely sold about $30 billion for euros, yen and other currencies each month since March, according to strategists at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.That helped reduce the dollar’s weight at central banks that report currency holdings to 62.8 percent as of June 30, the lowest on record, the latest International Monetary Fund data show. The quarter’s 2.2 percentage point decline was the biggest since falling 2.5 percentage points to 69.1 percent in the period ended June 30, 2002.The diversification out of the dollar will accelerate,said Fabrizio Fiorini, a money manager who helps oversee $12 billion at Aletti Gestielle SGR SpA in Milan.People are buying the euro not because they want that currency, but because they want to get rid of the dollar. In the long run, the U.S. will not be the same powerful country that it once was.Central banks’ moves away from the dollar are a temporary trend that will reverse once the Fed starts raising interest rates from near zero, according to Christoph Kind, who helps manage $20 billion as head of asset allocation at Frankfurt Trust in Germany.

Flush With Dollars

The world is currently flush with the U.S. dollar, which is available at no cost, Kind said.If there’s a turnaround in U.S. monetary policy, there will be a change of perception about the dollar as a reserve currency. The diversification has more to do with reduction of concentration risks rather than a dim view of the U.S. or its currency.The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 54 economists is for the Fed to lift its target rate for overnight loans between banks to 1.25 percent by the end of 2010. The European Central Bank will boost its benchmark a half percentage point to 1.5 percent, a separate poll shows.America’s economy will grow 2.4 percent in 2010, compared with 0.95 percent in the euro-zone, and 1 percent in Japan, median predictions show. Japan is seen keeping its rate at 0.1 percent through 2010. Central bank diversification is helping push the relative worth of the euro and the yen above what differences in interest rates, cost of living and other data indicate they should be. The euro is 16 percent more expensive than its fair value of $1.22, according to economic models used by Credit Suisse Group AG. Morgan Stanley says the yen is 10 percent overvalued.

Reminders of 1995

Sentiment toward the dollar reminds John Taylor, chairman of New York-based FX Concepts Inc., the world’s largest currency hedge fund, of the mid-1990s. That’s when the greenback tumbled to a post-World War II low of 79.75 against the yen on April 19, 1995, on concern that the Fed wasn’t raising rates fast enough to contain inflation. Like now, speculation about central bank diversification and the demise of the dollar’s primacy rose.The currency then gained 26 percent versus the yen and 25 percent against the deutsche mark in the following two years as technology innovation increased U.S. productivity and attracted foreign capital.People didn’t like the dollar in 1995,said Taylor, whose firm has $9 billion under management. That was very stupid and turned out to be wrong. Now, we are getting to the point that people’s attitude toward the dollar becomes ridiculously negative.

Dollar Forecasts

The median estimate of more than 40 economists and strategists is for the dollar to end the year little changed at $1.47 per euro, and appreciate to 92 yen, from 89.97 today.Englander at London-based Barclays, the world’s third- largest foreign-exchange trader, predicts the U.S. currency will weaken 3.3 percent against the euro to $1.52 in three months. He advised in March, when the dollar peaked this year, to sell the currency. Standard Chartered, the most accurate dollar-euro forecaster in Bloomberg surveys for the six quarters that ended June 30, sees the greenback declining to $1.55 by year-end.The dollar’s reduced share of new reserves is also a reflection of U.S. assets’ lagging performance as the country struggles to recover from the worst recession since World War II.

Lagging Behind

Since Jan. 1, 61 of 82 country equity indexes tracked by Bloomberg have outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of U.S. stocks, which has gained 18.6 percent. That compares with 70.6 percent for Brazil’s Bovespa Stock Index and 49.4 percent for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index.Treasuries have lost 2.4 percent, after reinvested interest, versus a return of 27.4 percent in emerging economies’ dollar- denominated bonds, Merrill Lynch & Co. indexes show.The growth of global reserves is accelerating, with Taiwan’s and South Korea’s, the fifth- and sixth-largest in the world, rising 2.1 percent to $332.2 billion and 3.6 percent to $254.3 billion in September, the fastest since May. The four biggest pools of reserves are held by China, Japan, Russia and India.China, which controlled $2.1 trillion in foreign reserves as of June 30 and owns $800 billion of U.S. debt, is among the countries that don’t report allocations.Unless you think China does things significantly differently from others,the anti-dollar trend is unmistakable, Englander said.

Follow the Money

Englander’s conclusions are based on IMF data from central banks that report their currency allocations, which account for 63 percent of total global reserves. Barclays adjusted the IMF data for changes in exchange rates after the reserves were amassed to get an accurate snapshot of allocations at the time they were acquired.
Investors can make money by following central banks’ moves, according to Barclays, which created a trading model that flashes signals to buy or sell the dollar based on global reserve shifts and other variables. Each trade triggered by the system has average returns of more than 1 percent.Bill Gross, who runs the $186 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund, said in June that dollar investors should diversify before central banks do the same on concern that the U.S.’s budget deficit will deepen.The world is changing, and the dollar is losing its status, said Aletti Gestielle’s Fiorini.If you have a 5- year or 10-year view about the dollar, it should be for a weaker currency.To contact the reporters on this story: Ye Xie in New York at yxie6@bloomberg.net; Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net

ON THE EDGE STEVE KEEN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoqaMzBK4pc&feature=player_embedded

The REAL Battle Over America’s Banking System
Washington’s Blog October 12, 2009

The battle to reform the American banking system needs to include reimposing the barrier between investment banking and depository banking (Glass-Steagall), pay incentives based on what is best for Americans and not just the top executives, the end of too big to fail, and other changes which are frequently discussed by financial writers. These are vital issues.But there is more to the battle for reform than you might know.

New York Versus the Rest of the Country

If you are happy with the banking system, and don’t think it needs to be reformed, then you probably work for one of the banks headquartered in New York.Indeed, the banks outside of New York have acted much more conservatively, used more conservative capital ratios and less leverage and gotten less involved in credit derivatives and other speculative investments.Buy a banker in the Midwest a drink, and he will probably rail against the giant New York banks for causing the financial crisis, costing the smaller, better run banks a lot of money and huge fees, and driving many smaller banks out of business.And even within the Federal Reserve, what the New York Fed and Bernanke are saying is wholly different from what the heads of the regional Fed banks are saying. The Fed banks in Philadelphia and Kansas City and Dallas and elsewhere disagree with what the New York Fed and Fed’s Open Market Committee are doing. See this and this.So the battle isn’t between bankers versus outsiders. It is between the giant New York money-centered banks and the rest of the country.

Reserve Requirements-Congresswoman Kaptur said last week:We used to have capital ratios. We need to get back to them. Ten to one. For every dollar in your bank, you can lend ten. You know what J.P. Morgan did? A hundred to one. And then with derivatives, who knows how much? Remember, Milton Friedman – the monetary economist worshipped as the guy with all of the answers in the latter part of the 20th century – advocated for 100% reserves.Forget 100 to 1 or even 10 to 1. Friedman said the capital ratio should be 1 to 1, where banks only lend out the amount they actually have as deposits on hand.Friedman has been deified as the economist to follow. But his views on reserve requirements have been completely ignored.Goldman Using Taxpayer Dollars to Buy Stock in China? As everyone knows, Goldman became a bank holding company in September, to be able to access funds from the Fed at essentially zero percent interest.But in a new interview with Bill Moyers, Simon Johnson noted that in August of 2009, Goldman switched again – to a financial holding company.

What’s the difference?

Johnson says that being a financial holding company means that Goldman can borrow money from the Fed at essentially no cost, and then invest it in any thing it wants. For example, Johnson says that Goldman has bought a large share of the stock of a Chinese automaker. Johnson says that if the investment succeeds, Goldman will reap the profits; but if it fails, the taxpayers are on the hook.

Banks Have the Power to Create Money-Congresswoman Kaptur also said last week:Banks have the power to create money. And decide how much that is worth. What is Kaptur talking about? Here Comes the Judge.Well, in First National Bank v. Daly (often referred to as the Credit River case) the court found that the bank created money without having the reserves:[The president of the First National Bank of Montgomery] admitted that all of the money or credit which was used as a consideration [for the mortgage loan given to the defendant] was created upon their books, that this was standard banking practice exercised by their bank in combination with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneaopolis, another private bank, further that he knew of no United States statute or law that gave the Plaintiff [bank] the authority to do this.

The court also held:The money and credit first came into existence when they [the bank] created it.(Here’s the case file).Nobel Economists, Congressmen, the Fed and Treasury Agree,Still confused? Well, let’s hear from some top economists.As PhD economist Steve Keen pointed out recently, 2 Nobel-prize winning economists have shown that the assumption that reserves are created from excess deposits is not true:

The model of money creation that Obama’s economic advisers have sold him was shown to be empirically false over three decades ago. The first economist to establish this was the American Post Keynesian economist Basil Moore, but similar results were found by two of the staunchest neoclassical economists, Nobel Prize winners Kydland and Prescott in a 1990 paper Real Facts and a Monetary Myth.Looking at the timing of economic variables, they found that credit money was created about 4 periods before government money. However, the money multiplier model argues that government money is created first to bolster bank reserves, and then credit money is created afterwards by the process of banks lending out their increased reserves.Kydland and Prescott observed at the end of their paper that:Introducing money and credit into growth theory in a way that accounts for the cyclical behavior of monetary as well as real aggregates is an important open problem in economics.In other words, if the conventional view that excess reserves (stemming either from customer deposits or government infusions of money) lead to increased lending were correct, then Kydland and Prescott would have found that credit is extended by the banks (i.e. loaned out to customers) after the banks received infusions of money from the government. Instead, they found that the extension of credit preceded the receipt of government monies.Keen explained in an interview Friday that 25 years of research shows that creation of debt by banks precedes creation of government money, and that debt money is created first and precedes creation of credit money.As Mish has previously noted:

Conventional wisdom regarding the money multiplier is wrong. Australian economist Steve Keen notes that in a debt based society, expansion of credit comes first and reserves come later.This angle of the banking system has actually been discussed for many years by leading experts:[Banks] do not really pay out loans from the money they receive as deposits. If they did this, no additional money would be created. What they do when they make loans is to accept promissory notes in exchange for credits to the borrowers’ transaction accounts.– 1960s Chicago Federal Reserve Bank booklet entitled Modern Money Mechanics.The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.– Economist John Kenneth Galbraith

[W]hen a bank makes a loan, it simply adds to the borrower’s deposit account in the bank by the amount of the loan. The money is not taken from anyone else’s deposit; it was not previously paid in to the bank by anyone. It’s new money, created by the bank for the use of the borrower.– Robert B. Anderson, Secretary of the Treasury under Eisenhower, in an interview reported in the August 31, 1959 issue of U.S. News and World Report.Do private banks issue money today? Yes. Although banks no longer have the right to issue bank notes, they can create money in the form of bank deposits when they lend money to businesses, or buy securities. . . . The important thing to remember is that when banks lend money they don’t necessarily take it from anyone else to lend. Thus they create it.-Congressman Wright Patman, Money Facts (House Committee on Banking and Currency, 1964)The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented.– Sir Josiah Stamp, president of the Bank of England and the second richest man in Britain in the 1920s.Banks create money. That is what they are for. . . . The manufacturing process to make money consists of making an entry in a book. That is all. . . . Each and every time a Bank makes a loan . . . new Bank credit is created — brand new money.– Graham Towers, Governor of the Bank of Canada from 1935 to 1955

Monetary reformers argue that the government should take the power of money creation back from the private banks and the Federal Reserve system.Indeed, PhD economist and candidate for Florida governor Farid Khavari wants to create a Bank of the State of Florida, to create credit without burdening the state and its citizens with high interest charges by private banks.The state of North Dakota already has such a bank.
The bottom line is that monetary reformers argue that letting banks create credit and money and then charge high interest rates creates massive levels of debt for states and taxpayers. They argue that the power to create money should be reclaimed by the government and taken away from the private banks.Personally, I agree with the monetary reformers. But even for those who think this is too radical a proposition, the question is whether a system where debt has to constantly and continually expand to keep the economy afloat is sustainable.

The Ever-Expanding Bubble-In a hearing held on September 30, 1941 in the House Committee on Banking and Currency, then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Mariner S. Eccles) said: That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn’t be any money.Indeed, Robert H. Hemphill, Credit Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said:If all the bank loans were paid, no one could have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial Banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the Banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon.America’s banking system needs to be fundamentally reformed.

Gold at $1,500? Don't hold your breath-Is gold a commodity or a currency? It certainly fits the definition of a commodity: A substance of value, with a uniform quality produced by many different producers. By Garry White Published: 6:13PM BST 11Oct 2009

Gold prices will reach news highs not before retrenching However, unlike other commodities it has relatively few uses other than as an ornament. Copper is used in wiring, iron is used to manufacture steel but gold's main uses are – and always have been – as a store of value and as a way to demonstrate personal wealth. Even if solid gold bathroom taps are not to your taste, they certainly make a point. This means that gold really should be considered as a currency – and nothing else. This brings us on to the subject of fiat money.

Team GB cyclist Chris Hoy, man of substance and athlete of wonder - Beijing OlympicsFiat currencies are not backed by gold. When most currencies were on the gold standard, a unit of currency could be exchanged by central banks for a fixed weight of gold. That way, paper money could be used instead of using gold or silver coins.Today's currencies are all fiat money. The £5 note is no longer backed by anything. It is legal tender and has a value because the government declares it as legal tender and will accept taxation payments on this particular bill of exchange. But, when push comes to shove, a £5 note is just a piece of paper with no intrinsic value at all. It certainly isn't worth £5.Britain suspended the gold standard in 1914 to fund the Great War before returning to it in 1925. It was finally abandoned in September 1931 and no currency in the world is now backed by gold. The reason? Not having your currency backed by something with real value meant that governments can print cash at will.Speak to any American libertarian about gold and they will talk at length about the evils of fiat money. They will tell you about how the Roman denarius, a silver coin, was diluted from 100pc silver to 84pc, then 43pc and finally to 0.05pc until nobody would take the coin as a means of exchange because it had no value.They will utter eyebrow-raising polemics about China's flying money and how Kublai Khan printed a currency that cost him nothing at all - becoming the father of all the fiat money in the world today.You may then be treated to the story of how Scottish economist John Law became the most hated man in France. He had to flee to Italy after introducing a fiat currency that almost brought the country to its knees. History shows that fiat money loves failure.This is the main argument that gold bugs use to talk up the gold price. Because all currencies are fiat, the world's major currencies will ultimately devalue against precious metals like gold and silver, the currencies of old.

With the dollar in what some call a death spiral is the gold price likely to hit the $1,500 an ounce level in short shrift as some suggest? Is last week's three consecutive all-time highs a taste of things to come - or is a classic bubble building in gold? Ultimately what happens to the gold price will depend on the fate of the US dollar, the world's reserve currency.Things are certainly in place for the dollar to be devalued. The US is massively in debt to the rest of the world and the government is increasing the money supply through quantitative easing. Last week's record highs were prompted by a fall in the dollar and in particular by concern that the oil-producing nations would stop pricing crude in dollars. Ultimately this will probably happen – but not for a very long time.Most central banks hold vast quantities of dollars as their currency reserves. If they act to devalue the dollar by agreeing to oil sales in other currencies, they will devalue their own investments.According to the latest data from the US Treasury Department, China is the world's largest holder of treasury securities, with $800.5bn of the instruments. Japan is at number two with $724.5bn and the UK is in third place, holding $220bn of American debt securities.Despite the strong case for a devaluing dollar, it will probably be a painfully slow process. The dollar is probably not imminently doomed. However, the currency will almost certainly devalue over time and this is a long-term positive for the gold price.Of course, we are now in uncharted territory as far as the gold price goes but last week's gains could represent a top for now. It is likely that the dollar was oversold last week.On Friday, Ben Bernanke hinted that the Fed may raise rates sooner than expected and the dollar pared some of its losses.Investors wishing to buy into gold should wait for it to retrench – as it inevitably will. The main reason to own gold is as a store of value but the price will fluctuate.Gold at $1,500 is inevitable at some point in the future but it's probably not going to happen any time soon. Don't chase the price just now.

Gold Prices Rise Above $1,050 On Weaker Dollar, Higher Oil
10/12/2009 3:47 PM ET TOP MARKET NEWS

(RTTNews) - Gold rallied above $1,050 per ounce on Monday, boosted by a weaker dollar and rising crude oil prices. With the gain, gold challenged last week's record highs.December gold settled at $1,056.70 per ounce, up $8.90 on the session. Prices touched as high as $1,060.50.The dollar fell against the euro and moved toward the recently-seen yearly low as higher global stocks boosted risk appeal. The greenback also continued to weaken versus the Canadian loonie, which often moves with crude oil.Last week, gold hit record intraday high of $1,062.70 and record closing high at $1,055.40. When adjusted for inflation, however, gold moved near $2,000 in 1980. The metal rose $41.30 last week.According to a survey by the National Association of Business Economists, 81% of forecasters think an economic recovery has begun. However, economists also feel that recovery will be slow due to weak household spending and a struggling job market.On Tuesday, traders will keep an eye on the NABE meeting in St. Louis, which will include speeches from Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer and Federal Reserve Vice Chair Donald Kohn.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley will talk to the Institute of International Bankers at 1:15 p.m. ET.by RTT Staff Writer

Dollar Loses Its Luster As Reserve Currency
by John Ydstie October 9, 2009

October 9, 2009 The U.S. dollar, which has been trending down this year, managed to rebound a bit Friday, and the price of gold fell after setting new highs three days in a row. But the greenback remains weak and gold is still very pricey, with the overnight movements doing nothing to reverse the trend of the past few weeks. Gold's rise is the mirror image of the dollar's decline as investors look for a hedge against the inflation and dollar depreciation they fear will come from big U.S. deficits. In March 2008, before the financial crisis, the dollar was at historic lows against a basket of currencies. Then, when the financial storm struck, the dollar strengthened as investors rushed to the safety of U.S. Treasury securities.

Now that the worst of the crisis appears to have passed, the dollar is under pressure again. It's down more than 12 percent from its recent peak. Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute for International Economics says sentiment about the dollar has now turned negative.Some private investors worry that the dollar may weaken systematically over time because of the big budget and trade deficits, so there's a search for alternatives to the dollar,he says.

A Search For Alternatives

For some investors the alternative is gold. For others, like some central banks around the world, the alternative is keeping more of their reserves in euros and yen. In fact there's been renewed talk in some quarters of finding an alternative for the dollar as the world's major reserve currency — and, also, pricing oil in something other than dollars.

The Dollar's Ups and Downs

Notes
The Federal Reserve's major currencies index is a weighted average of the foreign exchange values of the U.S. dollar against a subset of currencies that circulate widely outside the country of issue.Source: Federal Reserve

Credit: Alyson Hurt / NPR
Those ideas, while not unthinkable in the long term, aren't likely to happen anytime soon. Bergsten says to counter the loss of confidence in the dollar, the Obama administration needs to take policy actions to shrink the huge U.S. budget deficits, which are projected to be over $1 trillion a year for the next decade.Social Security reform would be a perfect example, where you could decide to change the benefit formula, increase the retirement age, Bergsten says.All of that would phase in over a period of time. It would be sizable and credible, but it would not dampen the recovery from the recession.Bergsten also says the U.S. economy will bounce back from the recession more quickly than expected, which could strengthen the dollar.

Talking Up The Dollar?

But former Treasury official David Malpass, who now heads the financial firm Encima Global, disagrees. He predicts the U.S. currency will continue to slide unless the Obama administration shifts the way the U.S. government talks about the dollar.You'd get quite a bit of change, upward movement, and more prosperity for Americans, more capital flowing into the United States if the president would say he'd like the dollar to be stronger.Malpass says the current formulation, which is a strong dollar is in the national interest of the United States,has lost its meaning. He says while that's been the U.S. mantra for the past 15 years, the dollar has steadily weakened for almost eight years. He says some past U.S. administrations have been comfortable with a cheaper dollar because they think it makes the U.S. more competitive in world markets. Malpass argues that's not true.The currency keeps getting weaker; jobs keep moving overseas because that's where the capital is. Money wants to go to where it can get a steady return in real money, not in funny money. And in many ways the dollar is becoming the funny money currency for the world and that's not good for our competitiveness.Malpass says the change in rhetoric about the dollar could have a positive effect immediately, even if it weren't backed up by big changes in U.S. policy.There wouldn't need to much backing. It would come as a shock; the markets would then fall into line and start strengthening the dollar.Malpass argues that eventually the shift in rhetoric by the president would lead to changes in government policy that would support the goal. But, it's safe to say the consensus is that rhetoric won't be enough, and that credible efforts to reduce deficits will be needed to restore confidence in the dollar.

Zimbabwe finance minister issues currency ultimatum Mon Oct 12, 8:55 am ET

HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe's finance minister Tendai Biti vowed on Monday that he would quit if he is asked to return the local dollar which was abandoned as the country fought a losing battle with hyperinflation.If someone is to ask me bring back the Zimbabwe dollar, then there will be a vacancy on the sixth floor of the government complex and I will go back to my law firm,Biti was quoted as saying by the state-owned Herald newspaper.The Zimbabwe dollar has been an instrument of arbitrage and rent-seeking behaviour. It had become an instrument of theft so we can't allow that.

He said debate on the possible return of the Zimbabwe dollar should only start in November next year.Biti, a lawyer, was appointed finance minister in February in a power-sharing government of the country's three major political parties - long-ruling President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a breakaway faction of the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara.The compromise government sought to ease political tensions in the wake of a contentious presidential run-off election and to mend the country's economy which was on its knees after taking years of battering.When it took office the new government abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar and adopted multiple foreign currencies as a measure to curb galloping inflation which forced thrice-daily price increases in some cases, rendering the local currency unusable.The move saw shops which resembled empty sheds restocking although the foreign currency was hard to come by for the average citizen.Mugabe hinted that he would ask Biti to bring back the Zimbabwe dollar saying the majority of the people had no access to foreign currency.Biti said be was reluctant to join the inclusive government.I took this job because Mr Tsvangirai asked me to do it,the Herald quoted him as saying.As you know, I didn't want to be part of this government but after the (MDC) party's national council resolved that we should go in, I had no option.

EU innovation summit calls for a return to science
ANDREW WILLIS Today OCT 13,09 @ 17:43 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – If one message shone through the myriad of ideas expressed on day one of Europe's first ever Innovation Summit, it was a call for a greater numbers of students in the field of science. The two-day event (13-14 October) being held in the European Parliament is an attempt to jumpstart Europe's flagging innovation and will see hundreds of students descend on the Brussels-based institution to hob-nob with policymakers.Addressing the younger audience in a morning session on Tuesday, the parliament's vice-president, centre-right MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras, said the crisis had shown that now was the time to be studying science again.Forget about derivatives, equities and liquidity traps,said the former radiation scientist.Instead of running after money, try to derive wisdom. The money will come to you.Another speaker, Matthias Bichsel of Royal Dutch Shell, said Europe was currently facing a dangerous talent shortage and urged EU politicians to act.

Likening the process to an energy pipeline, Mr Bichsel said an inflow of education investments were needed now if an outflow of new talent was to emerge in 15 years time.Money is not the bottleneck, we think brainpower is the limiting factor [for European innovation],he said.

EU lagging

Europe has struggled to keep up with the US in the innovation stakes, with the steady decline in the number of its citizens winning Nobel science prizes over the last century comparing poorly to the rise in winners seen in the US.While this was only one means to measure innovation said Professor Gerard‘t Hooft, himself a Nobel prize winner in the field of physics, it was an indication of the different innovation climates in the two regions.However the Dutchman - who describes himself as more a scientist than a European - says Europe does have a number of top-quality projects currently underway.Included in the list is the CERN nuclear research station based in Switzerland, currently in the news following the arrest of one of its scientists on suspicion of links with the terrorist organisation al-Qaida. CERN is the home of the Large Hadron Collider, a 27-km circular tunnel buried 100 meters under the ground in the vicinity of Geneva airport, in which particle collision experiments will be conducted.A pact signed by EU leaders 10 years ago in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon was partially intended to produce a greater number of such projects and help transform the region into: the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world.But with the strategy due to expire next year, MEPs bemoaned the lost opportunity and urged EU governments to get moving.The Lisbon Strategy was written on paper and unfortunately, a lot of its goals will remain in the document and not in the real world,said Mr Vidal-Quadras.

EU action

Funding for EU innovation projects is currently available under the bloc's Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (2007-13) which has a budget of €51 billion.As well as this, the EU's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007-13) with a budget of €3.6 billion aims to encourage the competitiveness of European enterprises.While MEPs discussed these and other EU measures, Swedish masters student Olof Karlsson spent the morning outside the parliament's canteen beside the Aurora car he helped to design. With a body built out of hemp fiber stuck together with soya bean glue, and a hybrid engine powered by an electric battery and a small combustion engine, the car's greater efficiency and environmental credentials could make it a prototype of things to come.I'd like to design advanced machinery,said Mr Karlsson when asked about his future ambitions, a message likely to resonate well with many in the building.

Romanian government falls in no-confidence vote
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 13,09 @ 17:46 CET

EUOBSERVER / BUCHAREST – Romania's centre-right minority government lost a confidence vote on Tuesday, raising concerns about the country's ability to meet the strict fiscal and economic conditions for the EU-IMF bail-out it has agreed to. The political gridlock is likely to last until the presidential elections due 22 November.The no-confidence bill was filed by the liberal and centre-left opposition and won 254 votes in the 471-seat chamber, while the government was backed by only got 176 lawmakers. It is for the first time parliament has dismissed a government since the fall of Communism in 1989.The issue at stake were cuts to wages and pensions aimed at scrapping some of the imbalances in the system and requested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which together with the EU granted Romania a €20 billion aid package earlier this year. The new EU member state, which joined 2007, has been severely hit by the economic crisis. Once from the bloc's fastest growing economy, Romania is undergoing a contraction of eight percent of its gross domestic product and has been hit with an unemployment rate of about seven percent, up from four percent a year ago.

A commission spokesman declined to comment on the collapse of the government.

Prime Minister Emil Boc said that the ousting of his government due to reforms demanded by the IMF could endanger Romania's agreements with the international lenders. The IMF is due to visit Bucharest for its next review in November.His pension and wage reform, which would have put state employees on unpaid leave for ten days over the next three months, prompted three quarters of the more than 1 million state workers to protest and threaten an open-ended strike in November to boycott elections if demands for higher pay are not met.Mr Boc's Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) will stay on as caretaker government with limited powers until President Traian Basescu, who is seeking a second mandate on 22 November, appoints a new cabinet.The opposition, counting now the centre-left Social Democratic Party (PSD), which left the governing coalition two weeks ago, would like to see a government formed of non-party technocrats.They have even put forward the name of Klaus Johannis, the mayor of Sibiu, a town in the northern part of country where there used to be a large German-speaking minority. Himself of German ethnicity, Mr Johannis has become somewhat of a legend for good governance and apolitical success in a poor and mismanaged country where party affiliation si still the rule for jobs and contracts on a local and regional level.The mayor himself said he was "interested" in the job. But Mr Basescu is not obliged to name a different premier, the law allowing him to re-appoint Mr Boc and let the cabinet try to gather the approval of parliament. He may also postpone the appointment until the presidential elections.The caretaker government's limited powers could however worsen the country's economic woes, as it would not be able to initiate legislation or issue emergency laws. The cabinet will not be able to put forward the draft budget for 2010 or push through the cuts demanded by the IMF.

We have to see what will be the implications of a political instability in a year that is pretty difficult. ... We should not neglect the indirect impact of political instability just for the sake of political games,the country's finance minister Gheorghe Pogea said.Cezar Preda, deputy chairman of PDL said the vote was a simple political feud against Mr Basescu before the presidential election.But the same argument was made by the opposition, blaming the president for hijacking all policies in favour of his re-election.What's more important, the president's re-election bid and the political battle or millions of people who lost jobs and a crumbling fragile economy? The answer is clear,Liberal politician Eugen Nicolaescu told the legislature ahead of the vote.

Anti-fraud body not eager to cut loose from EU commission
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 13,09 @ 09:24 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Leading politicians and civil servants on Monday expressed serious reservations at making EU's anti-fraud body fully independent from the European Commission, an idea floated by its newly reappointed chief Jose Manuel Barroso.Ten years since its creation, the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf, to use its French acronym) is still fighting some childhood diseases, its head, Franz Hermann Bruner, told an anniversary conference on Monday (12 October) in Brussels. He admitted that there were still gaps, that the statute of its staff was somewhat unclear, but rejected the idea of cutting the institution completely off from the European Commission.The question of independence is exaggerated,he said, stressing that in member states, judicial or financial control bodies are also under the umbrella of a minister.Set up during the corruption scandal that lead to the fall of the European Commission led by Jacques Santer in 1999, Olaf is still under the umbrella of the EU executive, although it is granted full operational independence in carrying out on-the-spot checks and opening investigations where the financial interests of the bloc are at stake.In his policy outlook for the next five-year mandate, Mr Barroso said he wanted to see further steps and that Olaf should be given full independence outside the Commission.One of Mr Barroso's deputies, Alexander Italianer, defended the idea of separating Olaf completely and said it was not a singular case, as other internal services of the commission could also be externalised.Mr Italianer, a Dutch economist, is in the frame to be the next director general of the commission's powerful anti-trust department, with some circles in the EU commission pondering whether to give this unit more independence in dealing with national giants in competition cases.The status of Olaf is also likely to change once EU's new legal framework, the Lisbon Treaty, comes into force. The document provides the possibility of setting up a new EU public prosecutor's office, and Olaf could be part of that.

Mr Bruner said although he supported the creation of this entity, it had to be done gradually, after carefully assessing the needs.Can the public prosecutor's office do anything to ensure that trials and procedures don't last for ten years? he asked, naming Belgium as a country where appeals can be filed at every single stage of the process.It's not just a question of constructive mergers – to put Olaf, Europol (EU's police co-operation body) and Eurojust (EU's judicial co-operation body) in one building in the Hague and think it's done. That would be a waste of public money,he argued.His remarks were echoed by one of the fathers of the institution, former Socialist MEP from Austria Herbert Bosch, the author of the report that led to the creation of the institution.Mr Barroso picked up an old idea, which was actually floated even by commission President Santer – to make Olaf fully independent. But I argue now just as I did then that it is a false idea,he said. As long as there was no EU public prosecutor and judicial follow-up was still up to member states, de-coupling the institution from the commission would just weaken its powers, he said.Currently, Olaf has instant access to the commission's databases when a suspicion of fraud is raised. But if it was a completely separate body, for instance as with the Court of Auditors, it would rely on inter-institutional co-operation which is lengthy and cumbersome, Mr Bosch argued.However, Mr Bosch, as well as other former and current MEPs, admitted that the institution needed reforms and more clarity in regards to its internal structure and staff statute, since it also had responsiblity for checking the commission's employees' wrong-doings.

Low follow-up rate

German conservative MEP Ingeborg Grassle, responsible for drafting the parliament's report on the reform of Olaf, said she was confident changes would occur only gradually.But it is possible to have a weakened Olaf after the Lisbon Treaty comes into force,she warned.Ms Grassle also bashed the national authorities for their weak co-operation and follow-up of Olaf cases. In 93 percent of cases sent to national judiciaries by Olaf between 2000-2007, there was no follow-up, she said. And only 15 percent of EU money was recovered in that period.Meanwhile, out of the cases which were actually followed up, the majority ended with convictions.So Olaf does provide good evidence, it's just scandalous that the national judiciaries don't wake up to this,she said.

Oil eases from 7-week high above $73 By Jennifer Tan – OCT 12,09

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil edged below $73 a barrel on Tuesday, after rising for three straight sessions to settle at a seven-week high the previous day, buoyed by a weak dollar and optimism over the pace of global economic recovery.With earnings from a number of major U.S. firms this week, the market is likely to take trading cues from Wall Street, which some investors expect to continue a winning streak.A monthly report by producer group OPEC, due later in the day, could also offer clues on the outlook for global oil demand.U.S. crude for November delivery fell 36 cents to $72.91 by 0210 GMT (10:10 p.m. EDT), after settling 2.1 percent higher at $73.27 on Monday. London Brent crude lost 21 cents to $71.15.We're revising our forecast range for oil up to $70 to $80 for the remainder of the year, from $65 to $75. Sentiment is moderately positive, and while fundamentals do not necessarily justify higher prices, the trend of a weaker dollar has been a big boost, said Sumisho Sano, General Manager of Research at SCM Securities in Tokyo.Cold temperatures in the U.S. have also been very price supportive.The National Weather Service said total U.S. heating demand will be higher than normal this week as the first seasonal wave of cold weather hits the Northeast and Midwest.

Further support came from a fall in the U.S. dollar as investors positioned ahead of U.S. corporate earnings later this week on expectations that strong results will drive risk tolerance higher.Some of the biggest U.S. corporate names are scheduled to report results this week, a reality check for whether the seven-month rally in stocks this year has further to run.The S&P 500 managed a sixth consecutive day of gains on Monday to end at its closing high for the year, but the Dow and Nasdaq ended little changed as investors opted to lock in profits before the earnings season began in earnest. (.N)Traders have been looking for signs of an economic turnaround that could support fuel demand, which has been hard hit by the recession.
U.S. weekly oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) will be delayed until Wednesday due to the Columbus Day holiday, while the Energy Information Administration (EIA) report will be released on Thursday.A Reuters poll of analysts forecast the data will show a 700,000-barrel build in crude stocks last week, after a surprise drawdown last week. Distillate stocks were seen falling by 100,000 barrels while gasoline inventories were forecast to have risen by 700,000 barrels.(Editing by Michael Urquhart)

Stocks pare gains; Higher crude boosts energy By Sara Lepro, Ap Business Writer – Mon Oct 12, 5:40 pm ET

NEW YORK – Investors waiting for earnings reports to flow in traded cautiously Monday, giving up early gains and leaving the market narrowly mixed. The Dow Jones industrials reached a new 2009 trading high, edging closer to 10,000.Volume was light because of the Columbus Day holiday. Bond markets were closed and there were no economic reports.A weaker dollar and a spike in oil prices above $73 drove energy and materials prices higher, but weakness in technology and industrial shares held the market back. Stocks got an early boost from a better-than-expected profit report from Dutch company Royal Philips Electronics. That sent Britain's leading stock indicator to its highest level in a year.Investors looked ahead to the flurry of earnings due this week from key companies including Intel Corp., Johnson & Johnson, IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. Top U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. will issue reports as well.The Dow traded as high as 9,931, just 69 points away from 10,000, a level not seen in a year. The index rose for the third day in a row and has gained in five out of the last six sessions.The Dow closed up 20.86, or 0.2 percent, at 9,885.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.70, or 0.4 percent, to 1,076.19. Both indexes had their highest close in a year.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.14, or 0.01 percent, to 2,139.14.

Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was very low at 3.76 billion shares versus 3.85 billion on Friday.Analysts said traders are generally optimistic about the upcoming third-quarter earnings reports, especially after aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. — the first of the 30 companies that make up the Dow to report earnings — said last week that it turned a profit for the first time in nine months.There is some key stuff coming and the market has anticipated that it's going to be good,said John Wilson, chief technical strategist at Morgan Keegan.The dollar mostly fell against other major currencies, helping to drive commodity prices higher. A weak dollar makes commodities more attractive to foreign investors. Gold rose $8.90 to $1,057.50 an ounce, while oil prices rose $1.50 to settle at $73.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.The dollar has fallen steadily over the past few months as investors, more upbeat on the economy take money out of traditional safe-haven assets and put it to work in stocks. The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which tracks the dollar against other major currencies, is down about 14 percent since early March. The S&P 500 index is up 59 percent since then.Better-than-expected first-quarter results from banks set off the stock market's rally seven months ago, and even stronger second-quarter results helped fortify the rally in July.Analysts say companies' earnings reports will determine where the market heads next. If results exceed expectations and show companies are making money through sales and not just cost cutting, stocks could continue their push higher.There's still room here for equities to move up on the back of better-than-expected results, said Craig Peckham, an analyst at Jefferies & Co.I don't think that positive surprises are fully priced in.Banks were among the big gainers Monday as investors awaited their earnings. Wells Fargo & Co. rose $1.07, or 3.7 percent, to $30.28, while Citigroup Inc. was up 14 cents, or 3 percent, at $4.77.In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.11 to 613.81.Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.9 percent, Germany's DAX index jumped 1.3 percent, and France's CAC-40 gained 1.2 percent. In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished down 0.9 percent. Japan's market was closed for a holiday.

Australian attitudes cool towards China: poll OCT 12,09

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian attitudes to China are cooling, with 50 percent believing there is too much Chinese investment in Australia and almost half the population in favor of limiting China's influence, a poll suggested on Tuesday.

Relations between China and Australia have been strained in recent months by political opposition to China's efforts to buy key stakes in Australian commodities and resources firms and the arrest of an Australian mining executive in China.The fifth annual Australia and the World poll by Sydney-based Lowy Institute for International Policy found half of Australians believed the government had allowed too much Chinese investment, while 42 percent said it was about right.When Australians were asked to rank their feelings toward China they registered a lukewarm 53 degrees, compared with 61 degrees in 2006, said the Lowy poll.This compared with Australian feelings toward neighboring New Zealand at 83 degrees and toward the United States at 67.The poll also found that 40 percent of Australians viewed the development of China as a world power as a critical threat to Australia's vital interests, up 15 points since 2006.And while a majority of 57 percent said it was unlikely that China would become a military threat to Australia in the next 20 years, a sizeable 41 percent minority said it was likely.Australia was one of the first countries to formally recognize China in 1972. China is now Australia's second-largest trading partner, with two-way trade last year worth $53 billion. But relations have been tense after Chinese state-owned metals firm Chinalco failed in a $19.5 billion bid for a stake in Rio and the arrest of four employees of Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto on suspicion of corporate espionage.A decision by Australia's government in July to grant a visa for an exiled Uighur separatist further soured ties.Some 91 percent of Australians said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government should undertake friendly cooperation and engagement with China, but 46 percent said the Australian government should actively work to limit China's power.

Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat, has said bilateral ties will remain strong despite strains.(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Nick Macfie)

FROM JEROME CORSI'S RED ALERT WorldNetDaily Exclusive Saudis: Now we really want your money Country demands hefty bailout if climate pact calls for oil cutbacks
October 12, 2009 9:29 am Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily

Saudi Arabia is demanding that oil-producing nations receive financial assistance if a new climate pact designed to replace the Kyoto Protocol calls for substantial reductions in the use of oil and natural gas, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports. The country is waging a quiet war against climate alarmists who want to use the upcoming global summit in Copenhagen to impose further restrictions on the use of hydrocarbon fuels. The Saudis estimate they stand to lose $19 billion a year under a new Copenhagen climate pact.They're trying to refute a report issued by the International Energy Agency that argued OPEC revenues would still increase $23 trillion between 2008 and 2030, a fourfold increase compared to the period between 1985 and 2007, under a new climate pact.Many politicians in the Western world think these climate change negotiations and the new agreement will provide them with a golden opportunity to reduce their dependence on imported oil,Saudi oil delegate Mohammad Al Sabban told the Associated Press.

Obama wages war on oil while China buys

The question remains whether the United States under President Obama will embrace a Copenhagen climate pact in direct contrast to President George W. Bush's adamant refusal to accept the Kyoto Protocol,Corsi wrote.Red Alert has reported that while the Obama administration appears ready to wage a war on energy by removing tax subsidies from oil and natural gas, China is quietly using its financial muscle to buy up oil and natural gas rights around the world.Over the last few years, China has invested heavily in Iran's oil and natural gas infrastructure, forming an alliance with the Islamic republic that is unlikely to be upset by any United States push for increased sanctions designed to curb Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions. Iran, the world's fourth-largest crude oil exporter, currently supplies China with 15 percent of China's oil imports, according to CNN, while state-run Chinese oil companies have deals worth more than $100 billion with Iran.Meanwhile, China is flush with more than $2 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves, the most any nation has held in the history of international trade, obtained largely as a result of the United States' large and continuing negative balance of trade incurred as a result of buying cheap Chinese-manufactured goods in the U.S. retail market.Armed with these resources, China has made a series of investments in oil and natural gas worldwide:Chinese state-owned oil companies are in talks with Nigeria to buy large stakes in some of the world's richest oil blocks, aiming to acquire 6 billion barrels of oil, equivalent to one in every six barrels of proven reserves in Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's largest crude oil producer and a major supplier to the United States, according to the Financial Times.

China Investment Corp announced that it invested nearly $1 billion in Kazakhstan's second-largest oil producer, following an agreement by China National Petroleum Corporation in April to take over a major Kazakhstan natural gas producer in a deal which involved a $5 billion loan, according to Dow Jones Market Watch.
At the end of August, state-controlled PetroChina bought a 60 percent stake in two Canadian oil sands projects in a deal valued at $1.7 billion, according to Petroleum Economist.At the same time, the Obama administration's ban on the offshore drilling approved at the end of the Bush administration expired on Sept. 21, without any action taken by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.Red Alert's author, whose books The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command have topped the New York Times best-sellers list, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in political science in 1972. For nearly 25 years, beginning in 1981, he worked with banks throughout the U.S. and around the world to develop financial services marketing companies to assist banks in establishing broker/dealers and insurance subsidiaries to provide financial planning products and services to their retail customers. In this career, Corsi developed three different third-party financial services marketing firms that reached gross sales levels of $1 billion in annuities and equal volume in mutual funds. In 1999, he began developing Internet-based financial marketing firms, also adapted to work in conjunction with banks.

Fancy lobby receptions don't work, say Brussels politicians
LEIGH PHILLIPS 12.10.2009 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - If you are a lobbyist in Brussels and you want to win over a public official to your client's point of view on a new law, whatever you do, do not invite the politician to a fancy evening reception.It just won't work.Such is the counter-intuitive and startling conclusion of a survey of European political elites on what sort of lobbying works and what does not.Just two percent of decision-makers in the European institutions think that going to an after-work gathering with smoked-salmon triangles and tepid chardonnay is in any way useful in providing information on laws they are working on, says the report.In what will come as a goodly shock to the European capital's powerful croissant, rubber chicken and light-nibbles industry, breakfast, lunch and dinner briefings are also all considered something of a waste of time in comparison to plain old one-on-one meetings and written reports, according to the Guide to effective lobbying, published on Monday (12 October) by Burson-Marsteller, one of the largest lobbying, public relations and crisis management firms in the world.Which suggests, given how popular such refreshments-and-comestibles-oriented events are, that the politicians who turn up are just there to forage for free grub.In the report, which surveyed the attitudes of policy-makers - both elected representatives and civil servants across 15 European countries and in Brussels - towards lobbying, some 40 percent of respondents felt that it was face-to-face meetings that were useful, and some 37 percent found written briefing materials of value.But evening receptions were welcomed by just two percent; dinner and lunch receptions by eight percent and breakfast briefings, somewhat more popular, by 13 percent.Exhibitions and DVDs were also seen as being fairly futile, on four percent each.There was one exception to the finding. A solid 30 percent of French decision-makers still like their evening galas, while 37 percent are up for breakfast-time policy promotion and 27 percent are happy to make room for a side-dish of public relations alongside their lunch or dinner.

Transparency, financial disclosure

On a more serious level, the poll found that across Europe almost half of elites (48%) feel that lobbying makes a positive contribution to the democratic process.The sharing of expertise was also widely thought of as one of the sector's most useful roles.However, this high regard is not maintained right across the continent. In Poland in particular, lobbyists are held in very low regard, with just three percent of those surveyed viewing lobbying as a constructive part of the democratic method.
Transparency is the single most important factor in making up an official's mind to speak to an interest group. At the same time though, politicians and bureaucrats are not particularly worried whether a lobbyist is listed on a public register, such as the European Commission's Register of Public Interest Representatives, also known as the lobby register.Burson Marsteller however is one of the few lobbying companies that publicly backs a mandatory lobby register, something the European Commission has long resisted. James Galbraith, the CEO of the firm for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, said that the disinterest of public officials as to whether lobbyists had signed up to a registry showed that such listings, notably in Brussels, should be made obligatory.We have always preferred a mandatory scheme so as to ensure a level playing field,he said, criticising the one third of his competing public relations outfits in the European Public Affairs Consultancies Association (EPACA) - the trade body for the sector in Brussels - who he said had not signed up to the commission's registry.He also took a swipe at law firms and think-tanks, who are boycotting the commission's scheme.I don't see a problem with more strict financial disclosure,he added, calling the current EU executive's rules about reporting who has spent what on behalf of whom impossibly wide and vague.We'll support as much financial disclosure as you would like to see,he said.The problem is that while some firms have opted to embrace the registry, seeing the battle against transparency as a losing one, many of their rivals have yet to come in from the cold, which companies such as Burson Marsteller say is not equitable. Anti-fraud commissioner Siim Kallas, responsible for the lobby register, was also in attendance at the launch of the survey, having written its foreword. He sided with the consultancies that remain opposed to mandatory disclosure, and maintained the Brussels line that the registry was working fine as it was, although a bit of polishing of the details was necessary.
If we had taken a mandatory approach from the beginning, we would not have any register today,he said, although he conceded that this option has not been abandoned.

Stricter, but how strict?

Lobbying transparency campaigners gave Burson Marsteller's call for more stricter financial disclosure a guarded welcome.This is good news if Burson-Marsteller are genuinely breaking ranks with the rest of EPACA, Olivier Hoederman, of Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels-based lobbying watchdog, told EUobserver.But only if they are willing to disclose the size of their contracts and precisely what they are lobbying for on behalf of a client. Under the current rules, we don't know what they are doing for clients, whether it's a multi-million euro contract or a tiny consulting job that takes a couple of weeks.

FALLIN DEMONIC ANGELS (GIANTS)

GENESIS 6:4-5
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

NUMBERS 13:32-33
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

DEUTERONOMY 2:10-11,20-21
10 The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
11 Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
20 (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
21 A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:

DEUTORONOMY 3:11,13
11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
13 And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.

JOSHUA 12:4
4 And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,

JOSHUA 13:12
12 All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out.

JOSHUA 15:8,13-14
8 And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward:
13 And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.
14 And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.

JOSHUA 17:15-17
15 And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.
17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only:

JOSHUA 18:16
16 And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to Enrogel,

2 SAMUEL 21:15-22
15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.
16 And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.
18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.
19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.
22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

1 CHRONICLES 20:4-8
4 And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.
5 And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.
6 And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant.
7 But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.
8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

JUDE 5-6,14-16
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

FALSE TEACHERS,PROPHETS,DECIEVERS

MATTHEW 24:4-5,11,24-25
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.

1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

DEUTORONOMY 18:10-12
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

Rev. Moon turning over Unification Church to sons By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer – Mon Oct 12, 5:30 pm ET

SEOUL, South Korea – The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, now approaching 90 and still one of the world's most controversial religious figures, is handing over day-to-day control of his Unification Church to three U.S.-educated sons.There are some changes afoot in fundraising and boosting membership, the sons say. But Moon — who will preside over another series of his trademark mass weddings on Wednesday — remains in charge as the church's self-proclaimed Messiah.Still, the sons are quietly assuming more responsibility in managing a church that has steadily expanded its business and charitable activities while trying to avoid the criticism that dogged it during the 1970s and 80s.The youngest, 30-year-old Rev. Moon Hyung-jin, was tapped last year to take over as the church's religious leader. Moon Kook-jin, 39, is in charge of business ventures in South Korea, while 40-year-old Moon Hyun-jin oversees international operations. The church said all the brothers have Harvard degrees.

Since founding the church in Seoul in 1954, the elder Moon has built a business empire with hundreds of ventures in more than a half-dozen countries, from hospitals and universities to newspapers and even a professional soccer team and ballet troupe.

These include the Washington Times newspaper and the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, as well as an ad agency and ski resort in South Korea, and a seafood distribution firm that supplies sushi to Japanese restaurants across the U.S.There are also ventures in North Korea, where Moon's ties are strong enough that for his last birthday, the communist country's leader Kim Jong Il sent roses, lilies and prized wild ginseng. The church's interests include fledgling automaker Pyeonghwa Motors and the only foreign-owned luxury hotel in Pyongyang.Among the most controversial of Moon's legacies are the mass weddings he calls blessing ceremonies — arranged marriages often pairing followers from different countries that he says are aimed at building a multicultural religious world.Critics maintain the weddings, involving people who usually don't meet until shortly before the ceremony, are evidence the Unification Church brainwashes its followers.Since the first weddings took place in Seoul in 1960 and 1961, mass weddings have been held at New York's Madison Square Garden and at Seoul's Olympic Stadium, where 42,000 people were married in 1999.On Wednesday, Moon will wed or reaffirm the marriages of more than 40,000 people: 20,000in South Korea and the rest in countries around the world, including the U.S., where church officials say ceremonies are planned in nearly every state, including at the church-owned New Yorker Hotel.Moon Hyung-jin, the Rev. Moon's hand-picked successor as religious director, was just 17 when he took a bride chosen by his father; the couple now have five children. In addition, three of the Rev. Moon's grandchildren were set up with followers from Japan, the colonial ruler of Korea.

The younger Moon says he sees the unions as an opportunity for diplomacy.

If people from Korea and Japan marry with this broad mindset, their children won't see their parents' countries as enemies and instead will come to love both countries,he told The Associated Press in an interview at his Seoul office.Baby-faced and soft-spoken, Moon Hyung-jin was born and raised in New York, where he was known as Sean. He admits he's still growing into his new job.When my father asked me to take on this role, I told him this responsibility was a bit much for me,he said. He told me not to worry, that many people would help me.Since then, the younger Moon says he has carved out some areas of change, including making the church's fundraising activities more transparent. The church has been accused of duping followers into handing over their life savings.Membership is also a key concern. Though the church claims millions of members worldwide, experts say the figure is far lower — no more than 100,000. In South Korea, Unification Church members are far outnumbered by Catholics, Presbyterians and Buddhists. We've been weak on membership and on figuring out the church's direction. We've been trying to resolve those issues,Moon Hyung-jin said. But the church is getting stronger, and church members are happier.Asked if his membership drive would include any 120-city world tours like the one his father undertook at age 85, Moon laughed and said he shouldn't be seen as a successor to his father. I can't be compared to my father,he said. If people put so much importance in their titles, they become arrogant.The younger Moon's anointment came despite a lapse of faith during his Harvard years, when he said he turned to Buddhism after a brother, Young-jin, died in Reno, Nevada, in 1999, in what authorities called a suicide. He said his father ordered church members not to criticize him for donning Buddhist robes and shaving his head on campus.I was hugely moved,he said.I had thought my father would kick me out of the church, but he protected me.While Moon Hyung-jin preaches in both Korean and fluent English, his style is distinctly American. At a service last month in Seoul broadcast on his Web site, there was more rock than gospel. Give it up! Let's give it up for True Parents!he proclaimed, using the church terms for the elder Rev. Moon and his wife.

Moon Kook-jin, who has headed the church's South Korean business operations since 2005, praised his youngest brother.I think he's doing a good job,he told the AP. A Seoul businessman and owner of the New York-based gun manufacturer Kahr Arms, Moon Kook-jin says he sees no contradiction in owning a weapons factory. To build a peaceful country, we need the police and an army,he said, a black Kahr Arms baseball cap perched on his head.Critics maintain the Rev. Moon is little more than a charismatic cult leader who brainwashes followers.What Rev. Moon says is the law, said Lee Young-sun, a follower who left the church in 2001 after 31 years. Her family so revered Moon, she said, they hung his portrait on the wall and thanked him in their mealtime prayers. The church's brainwashing is exactly what North Korea does,she said.Still, some analysts say that by anointing a new generation, Moon may ensure the church endures after his death Some people say the Unification Church may perish after Moon's death but I don't think so, said Tark Ji-il, a religion professor at Busan Presbyterian University. It's more accurate to view them now as a corporate organization uniting people with similar religious beliefs.On the Net:
http://www.unification.org http://www.reverendsunmyungmoon.org/ http://hyungjinmoon.iunificationist.org/