ITS TIME TO ACT AGAINST THESE DICTATORS,THERE TAKING THE INTERNET FROM US,THEY CAN DESTROY OUR COMPUTERS AT WILL AND THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED BY THESE NEW WORLD ORDER,NEW AGE OCCULT NUTCASES OF ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT.IF THESES NUTCASES CONTROL THE INTERNET OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS GONE AND NO MORE WEBSITES OF TRUTH LIKE MINE.THEY FRYED ONE OF MY COMPUTERS ALREADY TO SHUT ME UP.THEY FRYED 3 OF MY COMPUTERS IN THE LAST 5 YEARS,BUT I WILL STILL TRY TO GET THE TRUTH OF GODS (KING JESUS)WORDS OUT TO WARN THESE NUTCASES WHAT TO EXPECT UPON THEMSELVES.
2ND ESDRAS 11:1-46 The Vision of the Eagle
1 On the second night I had a dream: I saw rising from the sea an eagle that had twelve feathered wings and three heads.
2 I saw it spread its wings overa the whole earth, and all the winds of heaven blew upon it, and the clouds were gathered around it.b
3 I saw that out of its wings there grew opposing wings; but they became little, puny wings.
4 But its heads were at rest; the middle head was larger than the other heads, but it too was at rest with them.
5 Then I saw that the eagle flew with its wings, and it reigned over the earth and over those who inhabit it.
6 And I saw how all things under heaven were subjected to it, and no one spoke against it--not a single creature that was on the earth.
7 Then I saw the eagle rise upon its talons, and it uttered a cry to its wings, saying,
8 Do not all watch at the same time; let each sleep in its own place, and watch in its turn;
9 but let the heads be reserved for the last.
10 I looked again and saw that the voice did not come from its heads, but from the middle of its body.
11 I counted its rival wings, and there were eight of them.
12 As I watched, one wing on the right side rose up, and it reigned over all the earth.
13 And after a time its reign came to an end, and it disappeared, so that even its place was no longer visible. Then the next wing rose up and reigned, and it continued to reign a long time.
14 While it was reigning its end came also, so that it disappeared like the first.
15 And a voice sounded, saying to it,
16 Listen to me, you who have ruled the earth all this time; I announce this to you before you disappear.
17 After you no one shall rule as long as you have ruled, not even half as long.
18 Then the third wing raised itself up, and held the rule as the earlier ones had done, and it also disappeared.
19 And so it went with all the wings; they wielded power one after another and then were never seen again.
20 I kept looking, and in due time the wings that followedc also rose up on the rightd side, in order to rule. There were some of them that ruled, yet disappeared suddenly;
21 and others of them rose up, but did not hold the rule.
22 And after this I looked and saw that the twelve wings and the two little wings had disappeared,
23 and nothing remained on the eagle's body except the three heads that were at rest and six little wings.
24 As I kept looking I saw that two little wings separated from the six and remained under the head that was on the right side; but four remained in their place.
25 Then I saw that these little wingse planned to set themselves up and hold the rule.
26 As I kept looking, one was set up, but suddenly disappeared;
27 a second also, and this disappeared more quickly than the first.
28 While I continued to look the two that remained were planning between themselves to reign together;
29 and while they were planning, one of the heads that were at rest (the one that was in the middle) suddenly awoke; it was greater than the other two heads.
30 And I saw how it allied the two heads with itself,
31 and how the head turned with those that were with it and devoured the two little wingsf that were planning to reign.
32 Moreover this head gained control of the whole earth, and with much oppression dominated its inhabitants; it had greater power over the world than all the wings that had gone before.
33 After this I looked again and saw the head in the middle suddenly disappear, just as the wings had done. 34But the two heads remained, which also in like manner ruled over the earth and its inhabitants. 35And while I looked, I saw the head on the right side devour the one on the left.
A Lion Roused from the Forest
36 Then I heard a voice saying to me, Look in front of you and consider what you see.37 When I looked, I saw what seemed to be a lion roused from the forest, roaring; and I heard how it uttered a human voice to the eagle, and spoke, saying,
38 Listen and I will speak to you. The Most High says to you,
39 Are you not the one that remains of the four beasts that I had made to reign in my world, so that the end of my times might come through them?
40 You, the fourth that has come, have conquered all the beasts that have gone before; and you have held sway over the world with great terror, and over all the earth with grievous oppression; and for so long you have lived on the earth with deceit.g
41 You have judged the earth, but not with truth,
42 for you have oppressed the meek and injured the peaceable; you have hated those who tell the truth, and have loved liars; you have destroyed the homes of those who brought forth fruit, and have laid low the walls of those who did you no harm.
43 Your insolence has come up before the Most High, and your pride to the Mighty One.
44 The Most High has looked at his times; now they have ended, and his ages have reached completion.
45 Therefore you, eagle, will surely disappear, you and your terrifying wings, your most evil little wings, your malicious heads, your most evil talons, and your whole worthless body,
46 so that the whole earth, freed from your violence, may be refreshed and relieved, and may hope for the judgment and mercy of him who made it.
a Arab 2 Arm: Lat Syr Ethiop in b Syr: Compare Ethiop Arab: Lat lacks the clouds and around it c Syr Arab 2 the little wings d Some Ethiop Mss read left e Syr: Lat underwings f Syr: Lat underwings g Syr Arab Arm: Lat Ethiop The fourth came, however, and conquered . . . and held sway . . . and for so long lived.
CONCENTRATION CAMPS CONFIRMED IN MONTANA...DICTATORSHIP AMERICA
http://www.infowars.com/exposed-american-police-force-is-a-blackwater-front-group/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJUEULWEP9c&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbTKVGT2tJ8&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFrl6xHPVFA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc5zvrheaxM&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy6BcwzqszA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9cr8BHBMK8&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0uZ4HbZBY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.infowars.com/paramilitary-force-to-boss-internment-camp-in-montana/
THIS MICHAEL HILTON IS A SECRET MUSLIM INFILTRATING AMERICAS ARMY TRAINING TO SEND AMERICANS UNDER MARTIAL LAW AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS.EUROPEAN UNION MUSLIMS WILL BE WORKING TO CONTROL MARTIAL LAW OVER AMERICANS,OUT OF COUNTRY TROOPS.
Hardin, Montana under siege! Michael Hollingsworth Infowars
September 30, 2009
Today started not unlike any other. Except that one of my friends emailed me a story about how a company called American Police Force has moved into a town south of me called Hardin, and how they were taking over that jail that was built and never opened. Now most Montanans are aware of this financial OOPS that was this modern jail. It was built, and never opened because it was not built to specs in accordance with prisoner housing requirements pursuant to Montana State Law.The new prison facility in Hardin, Montana.When I started reading the KULR 8 news stations reports on this American Police Force, it immediately made me suspicious as that is totally against the idea of police. Our police are hired and mandated by the local governments they are local to. They are required to go to what’s called POST, or Peace Officer’s Standards of Training. This school is mandatory by Montana Law prior to be appointed as a sworn peace officer.With these concerns in mind, I started making phone calls. I started with Becky Shay, who was the Billings Gazette reporter who initially broke the story. I spent an hour and a half with her and talked about all of the details. She and I had a positive talk where she assured me that she was thankful for the chance to be able to talk to people like me.I was appalled to hear that this company had no intention of revealing who their parent company is. Ms. Shay confided in me that she went from a reporter’s salary and conditions driving a 1999 Dodge Intrepid with a broken tie rod and bad front brakes, to a brand new black SUV that she doesn’t have to pay the gas bill for. My jaw was on the floor. Story breaker straight to the being the mouth of the beast…
Ms. Shay also told me that there are people in Hardin that are so grateful for APF’s presence, that they literally opened their homes to her if she needed a place to say. Now this SOUNDS great and all, but it also sounded very manufactured. This conversation went down as if Ms. Shay was trying to sell me something. I read some things about how APF arrived in Hardin, Montana with the words: Hardin Police on the door. This is IMPERSONATING A POLICE OFFICER. They had NO RIGHT to bear that title. They are NOT sworn as peace officers. They have NO AUTHORITY! It was shortly before I ended this call on a positive note, that Ms. Shay expressed a GREAT interest in talking to Alex. I told her that I would be contacting the AJ show. I was told by her that I was TOTALLY 100% OK’d to use ALL of the content in any further correspondence. I then called Mr. Al Pedersen who is the Executive Director of Two Rivers Authority, the financial entity that is in charge of attempting to rebuild Hardin’s infrastructure. I asked Mr. Pedersen to elaborate how a private military company could move into a town, take over a prison that did not meet Montana Code, and dare to emblazon Hardin Police on their doors…Mr. Pedersen cursed me out, and hung up on me. I called him back, got his voicemail, and left the message that since he could not see fit to talk to me civilly, that I would be calling all of my elected officials as well as CNN and CSPAN. No reply.I then proceeded to call KULR8 news in Billings, Montana. They expressed concern about how a near 20 year career reporter could simply sell out and go to work for the very company SHE ousted! The person I spoke to said, she got herself a bigger paycheck, can’t fault her for that!. This person also conceded that it was a sell out situation, and was sick. I than called the Office of the Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. The person who answered the phone assured me that Gov. Schweitzer was watching this situation and would see to it that there was NOTHING illegal or unconstitutional going on, and that his office would NOT allow these people to overstep any legal boundaries. They didn’t want to talk about how the APF showed up labelled as police. This conversation was abruptly ended by the intern.
I then called the Office of Max Baucus’ Billings location who denied any knowledge. Although Schweitzer, Baucus, and Mt Senator Jon Tester were sued by Two Rivers Authority to allow this prison to be used by a private entity…wherein a judge overturned Montana Law in order to allow this prison to be used privately without disclosing where the prisoners are coming from, or their nature. This company is known to be affiliated with Blackwater Security now known as XE, as well as other PMC’s.For more information or to post Montanna news tips please go to.
http://freedomvideousa.forumwise.com/
YUP AMERICA IS A DICTATORSHIP HIRING CRIMINALS TO RUN A CONCENTRATION CAMP FOR THEM.THE NEW HITLERISM IS HERE.....LOOKOUT FOLKS,WE GOTTA BE CLOSE TO THE REVEALLING OF THE FUTURE EU WORLD DICTATOR.
American Police Force Leader's Long Criminal Record Zachary Roth | October 1, 2009, 11:17AM
The American Police Force, that mysterious security company that just took over an empty jail in Hardin, Montana, is looking shadier than ever.Since yesterday, details have been emerging about the background of the man behind APF -- a California-based grifter, who has said he's a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Montenegro, and uses the name Michael Hilton.Over the years, Hilton has served jail time for fraud, and had a string of arrests and other run-ins with the law. Based on reports from the AP, the Billings Gazette, and Prison Legal News, here's a quick rundown:
-1988: Hilton arrested in Santa Ana, Calif. for writing bad checks.
-April 1990: Hilton is again arrested in Santa Ana for writing bad checks and for grand theft.
-1992: A civil judgment of $83,000 is entered against Hilton and Ilia Dokovich.
-March 1993: Hilton pleads guilty in Orange County court to 14 felonies, including 10 counts of grand theft. One charge involves a $20,000 real estate scam, in which Hilton persuaded an associate to give him a deed on property in Long Beach, Calif., saying it was to be used as collateral on a loan, then sold the property to someone else. According to the AP, he spends six years in prison in California.
-1999: A small claims judgment is entered against Hilton for $3,979.
-2000: the same plaintiff obtans another small claims judgment against Hilton in Los Angeles County, this one for $1,852.
-March 2000: Hilton is accused of fraud, larceny, and breach of contract, in connection to a venture in which Hilton and others recruited the plaintiff to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to create collectible Super Bowl commemorative coins. According to the complaint, Hilton and the others said the money would be used for the design and manufacture of the coins and for a license to produce them from the National Football League -- but the NFL never issued a license. Hilton is ultimately ordered to pay the plaintiff $200,000.
-Around the same period: Hilton also faces two similar fraud suits: In one, he's accused of posing as a fine arts dealer to deceive a Utah couple into giving him a $100,000 silver statue. In the other, he is said to have teamed with a doctor to recruit investors for a southern California assisted-living facility that was never built.
-November 2002: Hilton files for bankruptcy, in order to avoid eviction by his landlord.
-March 2003: Hilton is arrested for DUI in Huntington Beach.
-February 2004: Hilton files for bankruptcy once more, again to avoid eviction.
-January 2006: A $5,052 judgment lien is entered against Hilton in Orange County, CA.
Hardin jail operators detail plans for training facility, expansion By ZACH BENOIT Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Saturday, September 26, 2009 11:20 am |
APF's director of public relations, Becky Shay, held a press conference to provide details on APF's role in Hardin and plans for the Two Rivers detention facility.
HARDIN - Officials from American Police Force, a California security company working to lock down a contract with Two Rivers Authority to fill and operate Hardin's new but empty jail, provided more details Saturday of how the finished facility will look and operate.At a Saturday morning press conference, Becky Shay, APF's new public-relations director, said the company hopes to build a 30,000-square-foot military-style training facility northeast of the jail and a 75,000-square-foot dormitory for the trainees to the southeast, all on a 50-acre plot of land.She said the buildings would be paid for by APF's business activities,including security and training, weapons and equipment sales, surveillance and investigations, and are projected to cost $17 million to build and $6 million to equip. There is also room to expand the jail, if needed.The land is owned by TRA and the city of Hardin and will be leased to APF with a stipulation that the company develop the land.
Two Rivers is the city's economic development agency.
APF plans to focus on getting the jail operating and filled before building begins on a training facility and dorm.We've got a 114,000-square-foot building that has been absolutely inactive for two years,Shay said.Significant obstacles remain - including a lack of any prisoner contracts. The company's operating agreement for the facility has yet to be validated - two weeks after city leaders unveiled what they said was a signed agreement.Al Peterson, Two Rivers' vice president, said the contract with APF is being reviewed by lawyers to make sure it meets federal and state laws to maintain tax-exempt status for bonds used to pay for the original facility. The original 10-year contract was signed by Two Rivers and APF, but not the bank that has the bonds.
That's what the holdup is in finalizing the contract, Peterson said.Also addressed Saturday were a number of concerns residents have posed about APF. Officials from the company have been checking out Hardin, Shay said, but they weren't hiding out in the community or performing stealth operations during that time.They were doing market research that any good business does,Shay said.Shay and Capt. Michael Hilton, APF's owner, also declined to name APF's mysterious parent company and did not say if or when that information would be released.We are here as American Police Force and we will always work with you as American Police Force,Shay said.But the company's flashy arrival this week stirred new questions. APF officials rolled into Hardin with three Mercedes SUVs marked with a logo that said City of Hardin Police Department.Yet the city has not had a police force of its own for 30 years.Pretty looking police car, ain't it? Hardin resident Leroy Frickle, 67, said as he eyed one of the vehicles parked in front of a bed-and-breakfast where Hilton and other company representatives were staying.The things you hear about this American Police, I don't know what to think.Hilton said the vehicles would be handed over to the city if it forms a police force of its own. City law enforcement is now under the jurisdiction of the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office. The city and county are in discussions to deconsolidate.After meeting briefly with Hilton on Friday, Mayor Ron Adams said he wanted the police logos removed. The decals were gone from the vehicles by Friday.This helps, but it doesn't answer everything until the contract is signed,Adams said.Talk is cheap.
On Saturday, Hilton said the logos were a sign of good faith to the community that the company is committed to helping Hardin establish a city police department. It would be operated by the local government, he said, like any other police department.
As for prisoners to fill the jail, the APF representatives remained optimistic the place would start filling up in early 2010. Shay declined to say where the inmates would come from but did say that APF is in contract negotiations with various agencies.This facility is built for, and this facility will hold, minimum- and medium-security inmates,Shay said.To staff the 464-bed facility, hundreds of workers will need to be hired, although the percentage of how many locals will be hired has not been finalized. A job fair will be held in the coming weeks for those interested in applying, although a date hasn't officially been set.Shay is APF's first local hire. A former Billings Gazette reporter, she started work for the company on Friday. She will be the company's spokeswoman for $60,000 a year.Hilton said he also had a job discussion with Kerri Smith, wife of Two Rivers Authority Executive Director Greg Smith, who helped craft the deal to bring American Police Force to Hardin. Greg Smith was placed on unpaid leave two weeks ago for reasons that have not been publicly explained.Kerri Smith is one of two finalists in the city's mayoral race. Hilton said he asked her to call him about possible employment if she did not win the race.Kerri Smith could not be reached immediately for comment. A message was left by The Associated Press at a theater owned by the Smith family. Her home number is unlisted.
Brussels welcomes US move toward global governance of internet
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today OCT 1,09 @ 09:04 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The body responsible for managing the development of the internet, Icann, has cut its umbilical cord to the US government, a move the European Union has been demanding for four years.The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees domain names - the .com, .eu, .org and so on at the end of a web address - as of 30 September will no longer be subject to review by the US Department of Commerce.Instead, independent review panels appointed by Icann Governmental Advisory Committee (Gac) and Icann itself with the involvement of governments around the world. will perform this task.Since 2005, the EU has been calling for reform of the governance of the internet, saying that the internet is a global resource and should not be tied to one national government - a position echoed by many other countries and a number of companies.In June of this year, the European Commission raised the volume on the issue, publishing a policy document that an independent judicial body be set up, which information society commissioner Viviane Reding described at the time as a G12 for internet governance, which would serve as a multilateral forum for governments to discuss general internet governance policy and security issues.Wednesday's move comes close to satisfying the EU demands, and Ms Reding welcomed the development.Internet users worldwide can now anticipate that Icann's decisions on domain names and addresses will be more independent and more accountable, taking into account everyone's interests, she said.If effectively and transparently implemented, this reform can find broad acceptance among civil society, businesses and governments alike.But the commissioner still argued that the new framework had room for improvement, notably in the realm of how to appeal against actions taken by Icann.I would also encourage all parties to actively explore the possibilities for stronger external appeal mechanisms in relation to decisions of the Icann board,she continued.
Independence and accountability for Icann now look much better on paper. Let's work together to ensure that they also work in practice.Under the new framework, the Gac, which is open to governments and public authorities from around the world, will advise the Icann board on public policy aspects of its activities. These review panels will periodically evaluate Icann's performance in relation to their public commitments.Brussels said it would play an active role in the new committee and in the further reform of the Gac.The move comes a few months ahead of a radical change in internet domain names. By the end of the year, it is expected that websurfers who use Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic Chinese, Japanese and Korean writing systems will be able to type in a web address in the alphabet they feel most comfortable instead of having to use Latin script.According to Icann, not all writing systems will be included, but the set of usable scripts is intended to broadly cover most regions of the world. The http://prefix will however stay in Latin, as it is automatically added by internet browsers.
Ban handguns? Supreme Court taking a new look By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer – SEPT 30,09
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court says it will take up a challenge to Chicago's ban on handguns, opening the way for a ruling that could set off a vigorous new campaign to roll back state and local gun controls across the nation.Victory for gun-rights proponents in the Chicago case is considered likely, even by supporters of gun control, in the latest battle in the nation's long and often bitter dispute over the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. A ruling against the city's outright ban could lead to legal challenges to less-restrictive laws across the country that limit who can own guns, whether firearms must be registered and how they should be stored.
The case is to be argued early next year.
Last year, the justices struck down a prohibition on handguns in the District of Columbia, a city with unique federal status, as a violation of the Second Amendment. Now the court will decide whether that ruling should apply to local and state laws as well.The court has previously said that most, but not all, rights laid out in the Constitution's Bill of Rights serve as checks on state as well as federal restrictions. Separately, 44 state constitutions already enshrine gun rights.Though faced with potential limits from the high court on their ability to enact laws and regulations in this area, 34 states weighed in on the gun- rights side before the justices agreed to take the case Wednesday, an indication of the enduring strength of the National Rifle Association and its allies.The gun case was among several the court added to its docket for the term that begins Monday. Others include:
-A challenge to part of a law that makes it a crime to provide financial and other aid to any group designated a terrorist organization.
-A dispute over when new, harsher penalties can be given to sex offenders who don't register with state sex offender databases.
-Whether to throw out a human rights lawsuit against a former prime minister of Somalia who is accused of overseeing killings and other atrocities. The issue is whether a federal law gives the former official, Mohamed Ali Samantar, immunity from lawsuits in U.S. courts.
In the gun case, outright handgun bans appear to be limited to Chicago and suburban Oak Park, Ill. But a ruling against those ordinances probably would open up all the gun regulations in the country to constitutional scrutiny, of which there are quite a few,said Mark Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor whose recent book Out of Range explores the often bitter national debate over guns.Already, Alan Gura, who led the legal challenge to the Washington law and represents the plaintiff in Chicago, is suing to overturn the District of Columbia's prohibition on carrying firearms outside a person's home. Illinois and Wisconsin have similar restrictions.
In voiding Washington's handgun ban last year, Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that gun rights, like the right to speech, are limited and that many gun control measures could remain in place.Ultimately, said Tushnet, the court will have to decide, possibly restriction by restriction, which limits are reasonable.It's very hard to know where this court would draw the line between reasonable and unreasonable, he said.NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said he hopes the court rules that core fundamental freedoms like speech, religion and, we believe, the right to keep and bear arms are intended to apply to every individual in the country.Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the court's decision to take up the new case was unsurprising in light of last year's ruling.These cases should take the extremes off the table, Helmke said, referring to bans on guns and unlimited gun rights.What's critical for us is how the court goes about fleshing out what the limits are.Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, which under state law requires handgun permits and a safety course, said he hopes the court brings clarity to gun laws.My hope is that they will decide that reasonable restrictions, which I think is the way most reasonable people in this country think, are appropriate, Bloomberg said.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago had upheld the gun bans as legitimate expressions of local and state rights. Judge Frank Easterbrook, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, wrote in the ruling that the Constitution establishes a federal republic where local differences are to be cherished as elements of liberty rather than extirpated in order to produce a single, nationally applicable rule.Federalism is an older and more deeply rooted tradition than is a right to carry any particular kind of weapon,Easterbrook wrote. Evaluating arguments over the extension of the Second Amendment is a job for the justices rather than a court of appeals,he said.Justice Sonia Sotomayor, then an appeals court judge, was part of a three-judge panel in New York that reached a similar conclusion in January.
The high court took the suggestion Wednesday.
Judges on both courts — Republican nominees in Chicago and Democratic nominees in New York — said only the Supreme Court could decide whether to extend last year's ruling throughout the country.The New York ruling also has been challenged, but the court did not act on it Wednesday. Sotomayor would have to sit out any case involving decisions she was part of on the appeals court. Although the issue is the same in the Chicago case, there is no ethical bar to her participation in its consideration by the Supreme Court.She replaced Justice David Souter, who dissented in the 5-4 Washington case, so the five-justice majority remains intact.Several Republican senators cited the Sotomayor gun ruling, as well as her reticence on the topic at her confirmation hearing, in explaining their decision to oppose her confirmation to the high court.The case is McDonald v. Chicago, 08-1521.Associated Press Writer Sara Kugler in New York contributed to this report.
EU reform treaty faces referendum test in Ireland By SHAWN POGATCHNIK Associated Press 2009-09-30 05:59 PM
Once again, Ireland's voters wield the power to raise or sink years of European Union diplomacy. But the government is pleading with its people that a second no to the EU's Lisbon Treaty would inflict more damage on Ireland itself.Ahead of Friday's referendum, Prime Minister Brian Cowen declared that the vote was just as important as Ireland's 1973 decision to join the EU and would determine the direction of this country not only over the coming months and years, but decades.Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said Ireland's struggle to recover from one of Europe's deepest recessions including a planned ⁈lion ($80 billion) bank bailout underwritten by the European Central Bank requires outside goodwill more than ever.The harsh fact is that a `no' vote would shatter international confidence in the country's ability to confront the financial crisis,he said.Analysts agree that Ireland's rapid descent over the past year into crippling debt and double-digit unemployment has dramatically changed voter sentiment since the cocksure days of June 2008, when 53.4 percent of voters shocked Brussels by rejecting the Lisbon Treaty.
This time, the politics of despair is in the air. Many who registered anti-EU votes last time say once-booming Ireland has been humbled and needs Europe again. Recent opinion polls measure the likely yes vote at around 55 percent still too close for the government's comfort.Our own government has made such a mess of everything, I don't think Europe could do any worse. We need all the friends we can get,said Gerry Power, 40, a Dublin butcher who voted against the treaty last year but expects to say yes this time.Even though I still haven't a clue what it's all about! Power said with a hearty laugh.The 2006 treaty has already been ratified by the parliaments of the other 26 nations, but the complex blueprint for strengthening EU institutions cannot become law unless Ireland the only member that requires all EU treaties to be approved in referendums also agrees.At stake for Europe is a treaty that would change voting rules and permit more policy decisions by majority rather than unanimous votes; create new posts of president and foreign minister to project the EU message more effectively on the world stage; and give the European Parliament and national parliaments more say in the decisions of the European Commission, the EU administration.Treaty negotiators say the reforms are needed to make the EU function more effectively in line with its rapid growth eastward since 2004.Last year, anti-treaty campaigners from the far left and right fringes of politics effectively raised fears that Ireland's neutrality and independence were under threat. The groups contended that the Brussels elite and the European Court of Justice would force Ireland to legalize abortion and euthanasia, abolish its policy of low corporate taxation that has attracted hundreds of U.S. companies, and conscript soldiers into an evolving European army.
The government and major opposition parties, all of which back the treaty, dismissed those anti-treaty claims as lunatic lies. But surveys showed all those issues helped to mobilize the no vote.Last time, pro-treaty forces also failed to overcome resistance among middle-ground voters on one key point: The treaty's original reform package would have meant that Ireland, like all of the smaller EU members, would lose their automatic right to hold a post on the bloated European Commission.After Ireland's no, its EU partners responded by dropping plans to trim the number of European Commission ministers. That means this time, a yes vote will reaffirm Ireland's right to keep a commissioner.The EU also approved side agreements with Ireland reaffirming Ireland's right to control its taxes, family law and military.
The pro-treaty camp has waged a stronger campaign, with business, sports and entertainment figures being marshaled this time to rally Ireland around a yes.
This week, Irish filmmakers pressed the flesh on Dublin's main shopping street alongside Pat Cox, Ireland's former president of the European Parliament.I think it was nuts to vote no. Yes is the only vote in town. Do we want to be on the edge of Europe? said director Jim Sheridan, an Oscar nominee for My Left Foot,In the Name of the Father and In America.Business leaders have been prominent on the campaign trail and warn that Ireland would lose its appeal if it's seen to be hostile to the European Union.Jim O'Hara, general manager of the Intel microchip giant's operations in Ireland, said U.S. companies picked Ireland because it offers low taxes, high education standards and a gateway into the EU.Intel is one of Ireland's largest employers with a work force exceeding 4,000 in Dublin's western suburbs.O'Hara said Intel was spending more than ⁈0 ($300,000) on pro-treaty posters, and regretted not making its voice heard in the 2008 campaign. Quite frankly, I and many others had the lazy thought that the yes vote would carry,he said.The American Chamber of Commerce published a survey saying 93 percent of chief executives of U.S. companies in Ireland consider a no vote likely to scare away future investment.
Ireland's most famously blunt-spoken businessman, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary, has joined the yes campaign, too, even though he's previously insulted EU ministers as morons.O'Leary said he didn't like either the Irish government or European Commission, but voting in favor of the treaty is just about the economy, stupid.It's time that Irish people wake up to the fact that we are bankrupt and that we need Europe more than Europe needs us,he said.Anti-treaty campaigners in turn accuse both Intel and Ryanair of seeking to pander to Brussels for their own selfish reasons. EU competition authorities this year slapped a record ⁈illion ($1.6 billion) antitrust fine on Intel and rejected Ryanair's bid to take over the other major Irish airline, Aer Lingus.Analysts say the wild card is whether voters will vote no simply to punish a government wallowing at record-low popularity.Many anti-treaty posters reflect that view. One depicts a hapless-looking Cowen, thumbs raised and mouth agape, above the motto: The only job Lisbon saves is his.
Genscher calls on Czechs to approve EU reform Lisbon Treaty
ČTK | 1 October 2009
Prague, Sept 30 (CTK) - The EU reform Lisbon treaty is necessary for the European Union's proper functioning and everyone in the Czech Republic should realise its importance, former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher said in Prague Wednesday.The year 2009 should be not only a year of remembrance of the fall of communism, but also a commitment for further steps, Genscher said in a lecture on the revolutionary events 20 years ago when the Iron Curtain fell.Czech President Vaclav Klaus is a staunch opponent of the Lisbon treaty which has been ratified by both houses of Czech parliament. Klaus's signature is necessary for the completion of the ratification process.A group of Civic Democrat (ODS) senators asked the Constitutional Court on Monday to assess whether the Lisbon treaty is compatible with the Czech legal order.Klaus said previously he would wait for the court's verdict before signing the document.It is very important not to forget that the year of the 20th anniversary of the revolution which brought freedom to Europe in 1989 should also become the year of commitment for further deeds, Genscher said.The Czech Republic is one of the three EU countries not to have ratified the Lisbon treaty yet. The other two countries are Ireland and Poland. The treaty will take force only if all 27 EU members approve it.
Genscher today attended in Prague a press conference organised by the German embassy to mark the anniversary of the events of 1989 when thousands of East Germans fled through the German embassy in Prague to the West and when the first demonstrations against the former regime started in East Germany.Genscher then arrived in Prague on September 30, precisely 20 years ago, and in his speech from the embassy balcony he informed the crowd of almost 5,000 refugees that they can travel to then West Germany.The fall of the communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia was triggered by demonstrations that started in November, 1989.
Ireland can only gain by rejecting treaty - 30/09/2009 - 19:55:07
Ireland has nothing to lose and everything to gain by voting no to the Lisbon Treaty, Libertas leader Declan Ganley said today.The millionaire businessman said the EU reform package had not changed at all since the Irish people rejected it last year during the first ballot.Legal guarantees hammered out with the leaders of other member states earlier this year on neutrality, tax and family issues were meaningless, he added.They put a gun to our heads, the gun is empty, there’s nothing harmful that can come from a no vote, he declared during his final salvo in a second anti-Lisbon campaign, which he had said he wouldn’t get involved in.We cannot possibly get a worse deal than what is in the Lisbon Treaty. We can definitely get a better deal.Mr Ganley said if the EU deal is backed by the Irish electorate it would see the transfer of power in more than 60 key decision areas away from Dublin to Brussels.It would result in an unelected president of Europe and would do nothing to help job creation or help economic recovery in Ireland, he claimed.The controversial campaigner, who failed to get elected to the European parliament in June, also said the only way to keep an Irish EU commissioner is by voting no on Friday.Mr Ganley argued that only under the existing Nice Treaty can Ireland nominate its own commissioner.
Accusing the Government of refusing to accept the country’s sovereign decision last time around, he said voters could now choose whether they wanted three more years of Taoiseach Brian Cowen or three more days.They’ve tried to hoodwink us, they wouldn’t listen to us, they wouldn’t respect our democratic decision,he said.Millions of people across Europe have voted no to this same formula and have been ignored.
Democracy is at question here.
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.
Indonesia shaken by another powerful quake OCT 1,09
JAKARTA, Indonesia – The U.S. Geological Survey says another powerful earthquake has shaken western Indonesia.The 6.9 magnitude struck at 08:52 a.m. local time (0152GMT) Thursday on Sumatra island, about 180 miles (280 kilometers) from the epicenter of a more powerful quake on Wednesday.Rescue efforts are under way around the area worst hit by Wednesday's quake, the regional capital of Padang on West Sumatra. At least 200 people died there and thousands are said to be trapped under collapsed buildings throughout the province.There were no immediate reports of damage from Thursday's quake.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PADANG, Indonesia (AP) — A powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia triggered landslides and trapped thousands of people under collapsed buildings — including two hospitals, officials said. At least 200 bodies were found in one coastal city and the toll was expected to be far higher.The temblor Wednesday started fires, severed roads and cut off power and communications to Padang, a coastal city of 900,000 on Sumatra island. Thousands fled in panic, fearing a tsunami.Buildings swayed hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.In the sprawling low-lying city of Padang, the shaking was so intense that people crouched or sat on the street to avoid falling. Children screamed as an exodus of thousands tried to get away from the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.At least 500 buildings in Padang, the regional capital, collapsed or were badly damaged, said Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono, adding that 200 bodies had been pulled from the rubble there.The extent of damage in surrounding areas was still unclear due to poor communications, he said.
Padang's mayor appealed for assistance on Indonesian radio station el-Shinta.
We are overwhelmed with victims and ... lack of clean water, electricity and telecommunications,Mayor Fauzi Bahar said. We really need help. We call on people to come to Padang to evacuate bodies and help the injured.Hundreds of people were trapped under collapsed buildings in Padang alone, including a four-star hotel, he said.The magnitude 7.6 quake hit at 5:15 p.m. (1015 GMT, 6:15 a.m. EDT), just off the coast of Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It occurred a day after a killer tsunami hit islands in the South Pacific and was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.A tsunami warning was issued Wednesday for countries along the Indian Ocean, but was lifted after about an hour; there were no reports of giant waves.The shaking flattened buildings and felled trees in Padang, damaged mosques and hotels and crushed cars. A foot could be seen sticking out from one pile of rubble. At daybreak, residents used their bare hands to search for survivors, pulling at the wreckage and tossing it away piece by piece.People ran to high ground. Houses and buildings were badly damaged, said Kasmiati, who lives on the coast near the quake's epicenter.I was outside, so I am safe, but my children at home were injured,she said before her cell phone went dead. Like many Indonesians, she uses one name.
The loss of telephone service deepened the worries of those outside the stricken area.I want to know what happened to my sister and her husband,said Fitra Jaya, who owns a house in downtown Padang and was in Jakarta when the quake hit. I tried to call my family there, but I could not reach anyone at all.Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told MetroTV that two hospitals and a mall collapsed in Padang.
This is a high-scale disaster, Supari said.Hospitals struggled to treat the injured as their relatives hovered nearby.Indonesia's government announced $10 million in emergency response aid and medical teams and military planes were being dispatched to set up field hospitals and distribute tents, medicine and food rations. Members of the Cabinet were preparing for the possibility of thousands of deaths.Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis center, said Wednesday that thousands of people had been trapped under the collapsed houses.Many buildings are badly damaged, including hotels and mosques,said Wandono, an official at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta, citing reports from residents.Local television reported more than two dozen landslides. Some blocked roads, causing miles-long traffic jams of cars and trucks.On Tuesday, a powerful earthquake off the South Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga — thousands of miles (kilometers) from Indonesia — spawned tsunami that killed more than 100 people. Experts said the seismic events were not related.Associated Press writers Ali Kotarumalos and Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.
More than 1,000 feared dead in Indonesian quake by Aubrey Belford – SEPT 30,09
JAKARTA (AFP) – Rescue workers raced against time Thursday to assist victims of a huge earthquake in the flattened Indonesian city of Padang with upwards of 1,000 people feared dead and many more trapped in rubble.Wednesday afternoon's 7.6-magnitude quake caused buildings to crumble and fires to rage in Padang, home to nearly a million people on the coast of Sumatra island. Communications and power remained cut off overnight.The rescue personnel in the location estimated that so far at least 200 people have died,Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said in Jakarta.But that number was likely to soar, officials said, as the first outside rescue teams from the Indonesian army and health ministry reached the city to reinforce overwhelmed police on the ground.It's difficult to confirm the death toll as communications have been cut off,Kardono said.We need heavy machinery to lift the rubble... we expect that to arrive at the location soon,he added.Late Wednesday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said: People are trapped, hotels have collapsed, schools have collapsed, houses have collapsed and electricity has been cut off.
Health ministry crisis centre head Rustam Pakaya told AFP that a major city hospital was among the many buildings that had buckled.Houses and buildings have collapsed, causing thousands of people to be trapped inside in the rubble,Pakaya said.He said he expected the death toll to soar over 1,000, given the scale of destruction and the large numbers of people feared buried alive.President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, briefing reporters in Tokyo as he returned from the G20 summit in the United States, urged officials to flood the city with aid and medical relief.Three military transport planes were preparing to deliver aid including tents, blankets and medicine, Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said.The effects of the earthquake could be as big as the Yogyakarta quake,he said, referring to a 2006 quake that killed 6,000.British-based charity Oxfam said it had already earmarked 200,000 pounds (320,000 dollars) for relief efforts, including the distribution of emergency shelters, hygiene kits and clothing.We had aid ready because this area of Indonesia is susceptible to this type of tragedy,said Jane Cocking, the organisation's humanitarian director.Local media reported that panicked residents rushed from their homes after the quake struck off Sumatra's west coast at 5:16 pm (1016 GMT), 47 kilometres (29 miles) northwest of Padang. Dozens of aftershocks followed.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii initially put out a tsunami watch but later withdrew it.
The tremor came not long after a massive quake measuring 8.0 in magnitude spawned a deadly tsunami in the Samoan islands of the South Pacific.Like Indonesia, the islands sit on the volatile Ring of Fire, a massive zone of volcanic instability that encircles the Pacific. The Padang quake was felt in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, 940 kilometres (585 miles) away, and sent frightened office workers streaming out of buildings in nearby Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.The shaking was the worst I had ever felt,Yuliarni, a resident of Pariaman district outside Padang told TVOne news channel.Houses have collapsed, the lights and electricity were cut off... People were fleeing to higher ground and some were hurt,she said.The quake caused a landslide that destroyed houses at Lake Maninjau, inland from Padang, local resident Hafiz told the channel, while the city airport was slightly damaged but was expected to reopen early Thursday.Geologists said Padang, which lies near the colliding Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates, was vulnerable to more quakes and tsunamis.There are three big volcanoes in West Sumatra -- Merapi, Talang and Tandikat. We fear that this quake might cause volcanic eruptions there,Geological Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology Centre head Surono told AFP.Padang lies on the same tectonic faultline that cracked off Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra, in 2004 to trigger the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people.
Strong Indonesia quake kills 200, traps thousands By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer – SEPT 30,09
JAKARTA, Indonesia – A disaster management official says at least 200 people have been killed by the powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia. Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, says the deaths were counted in the coastal Sumatran city of Padang, following Wednesday's 7.6 magnitude quake.A higher death toll is expected once officials tally casualties in other areas of West Sumatra province where communications and roads have been severed.Kardono said Thursday that about 500 buildings collapsed in Padang — a sprawling regional capital of 900,000 people.A huge aid operation was under way.
Aid flows to tsunami-hit Samoas as deaths hit 119 By ROD McGUIRK and AUDREY McAVOY, Associated Press Writers – SEPT 30,09
APIA, Samoa – Police in green reflective vests searched a ghastly landscape of mud-strewn streets, pulverized homes and bodies scattered in a swamp Wednesday as dazed survivors emerged from the muck and mire of an earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 119 in the South Pacific.Military transports flew medical personnel, food, water and medicine to Samoa and American Samoa, both devastated by a tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake. A cargo plane from New Zealand brought in a temporary morgue and a body identification team.
Officials expect the death toll to rise as more areas are searched.
Survivors fled to higher ground on the islands after the magnitude 8.0 quake struck at 6:48 a.m. local time (1:48 p.m. EDT; 1748 GMT) Tuesday. The residents then were engulfed by four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet (4 to 6 meters) high that reached up to a mile (1.5 kilometers) inland.The waves splintered houses and left cars and boats — many battered and upside down — scattered about the coastline. Debris as small as a spoon and as large as a piece of masonry weighing several tons were strewn in the mud.
Survivors told harrowing tales of encountering the deadly tsunami.I was scared. I was shocked,said Didi Afuafi, 28, who was on a bus when the giant waves came ashore on American Samoa.All the people on the bus were screaming, crying and trying to call their homes. We couldn't get on cell phones. The phones just died on us. It was just crazy.With the water approaching fast, the bus driver sped to the top of a nearby mountain, where 300 to 500 people were gathered, including patients evacuated from the main hospital. Among them were newborns with IVs, crying children and frightened elderly people.A family atop the mountain provided food and water, while clergymen led prayers. Afuafi said people are still on edge and feared another quake.
This is going to be talked about for generations,said Afuafi, who lives just outside the village of Leone, one of the hardest hit areas.On Samoa, the two-hour drive from the Apia airport to the heavily damaged southeast coast initially showed no sign of damage before becoming little more than a link between one flattened village after another. Mattresses hung from trees, and utility poles were bent at awkward angles.
It was clear that tourists were among the casualties, but figures were impossible to ascertain immediately with officials saying they had no solid head count on the number of visitors in the area.Three of the key resorts on the coast are scenes of total devastation while a fourth "has a few units standing on higher ground,Nynette Sass of Samoa's National Disaster Management committee told New Zealand's National Radio on Thursday.Dr. Ben Makalavea from Apia's main hospital told the broadcaster that some couples can't find their children, and fear they may have been washed out to sea.One woman we saw was so confused that she doesn't even know where she comes from,he said.Makalavea added that the hospital needs nurses, doctors, surgeons and blood to treat the increasing numbers of casualties with broken bones and cuts.At Sale Ataga village, more than 50 police, some wearing masks to filter out some of the growing stench of decay in the steamy conditions, searched for bodies underneath uprooted trees and palms piled up at the foot of a mountain.Tony Fauena, a 29-year-old taro farmer, said the bodies of his 35-year-old niece and her 6-month-old son were found Tuesday but four other family members were still missing.We don't know if the rest are under there or released out to sea,he said.
Faletolu Senara Tiatia said nine family members including his sister had been confirmed dead and more than 20 others, including aunts and cousins, were missing from the Lalomanu village area — epicenter of the devastation on Samoa's Upolu Island south coast.I'm very sad, it's the worst nightmare of my life,Tiatia told the Christchurch Press newspaper Thursday as he packed to fly to Samoa for the funerals.
Suavai Ioane was rattled by the violent earthquake that shook Voutosi, a village of 600 people. But he didn't have much time to calm down. Ioane was carried by a wave about 80 yards (meters) inland. He knew he was lucky to be alive; eight bodies were found in a nearby swamp.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said it issued an alert, but the waves got to the islands so quickly that residents only had about 10 minutes to respond. Another system designed to alert aid agencies suffered a hardware malfunction that delayed notification, but that did not affect island residents.The quake was centered about 120 miles south of the islands of Samoa, which has about 220,000 people, and American Samoa, a U.S. territory of 65,000. Another strong underwater earthquake rocked western Indonesia Wednesday, briefly triggering a tsunami alert along the Indian Ocean. The 7.6-magnitude quake toppled buildings, cut power and triggered a landslide on Sumatra island, and at least 75 people were reported killed. Experts said the seismic events were not related.
Hampered by power and communications outages, officials in the South Pacific islands struggled to determine casualties and damage.Samoa National Disaster Management committee member Filomina Nelson told New Zealand's National Radio the number of dead in her country had reached 83 — mostly elderly and young children. At least 30 people were killed on American Samoa, Gov. Togiola Tulafono said.Authorities in Tonga, southwest of the Samoas, confirmed at least six dead and four missing, according to Tongan government spokesman Lopeti Senituli. He said the waves practically flattened two of the island's three villages. The government dispatched a boat with supplies to the island to help its more than 1,000 residents.In Pago Pago, the streets and fields were filled with debris, mud, overturned cars and boats. Several buildings in the city — just a few feet above sea level — were flattened. Power was expected to be out in some areas for up to a month and officials said some 2,200 people were in seven shelters across the island.The waves lifted a building housing a hardware store and carried it inland across a two-lane highway. Crews later found the two employees in the debris.To me it was like a monster — just black water coming to you. It wasn't a wave that breaks, it was a full force of water coming straight,said Luana Tavale, a territorial government employee.It was scary, like I'm going to get you.Reinforcements were on the way, including a Navy frigate and two huge Air Force cargo planes soon to leave from Hawaii.A Coast Guard C-130 plane loaded with aid and carrying Federal Emergency Management Agency officials flew from Hawaii to American Samoa's capital of Pago Pago, where debris had been cleared from runways so emergency planes could land. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster for American Samoa.
English said the temporary morgue and the body identification team were sent to Samoa after local officials expressed concern about the growing death toll. Australian officials say they will send an air force plane carrying 20 tons of humanitarian aid, as well as aid officials and medical personnel to Samoa. Hundreds of people bombarded American Samoa's radio stations with requests to announce the names of their missing loved ones. Broadcasters urged listeners to contact their families immediately.In Carson, Calif., High Chief Loa Pele Faletogo, president of the Samoan Federation of America, comforted Samoans in the U.S. who came to him seeking news of their relatives. The chief said he learned the body of one of his cousins, in her 60s, was found floating along the shore.65 employees at the National Park of American Samoa were accounted for, said Holly Bundock, spokeswoman for the National Park Service's Pacific West Region in Oakland, Calif. The park service has 13 permanent workers and between 30 and 50 volunteers, depending on the time of year.The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said three Australians were among the dead. The British Foreign Office said one Briton was missing and presumed dead.
While the earthquake and tsunami were big, they were not on the same scale of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 230,000 in a dozen countries across Asia.McGuirk reported from Apia, McAvoy from Pago Pago, American Samoa. Also contributing were Associated Press writers Fili Sagapolutele reported in Pago Pago, Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand; Tanalee Smith in Sydney; Jaymes Song, Mark Niesse, Herbert A. Sample in Honolulu, Cara Anna in Bangkok, Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, Calif., and Seth Borenstein and Michele Salcedo in Washington.
EU: David Cameron hints Tories would not hold referendum on ratified Lisbon Treaty David Cameron has hinted that a Conservative Government would not hold a referendum on the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty if it is ratified by all EU members.By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Published: 11:58AM BST 30 Sep 2009
Mr Cameron is in a political quandary over his pledge to hold a British vote on the treaty.Photo: PAThe Tory leader’s aides insisted his policy has not changed, but Mr Cameron's language could antagonise eurosceptic Tories who want a popular vote on the document whether or not it has taken legal force.Mr Cameron spoke as Irish voters prepare for their referendum on the Treaty on Friday, with polls pointing to a Yes.Mr Cameron is in a political quandary over his pledge to hold a British vote on the treaty.
It has now been ratified by 23 of the 27 EU states, including the UK.
Ireland, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic have not endorsed it yet, but are likely to do so before the British general election next year.In that case, a new Tory government would have to decide whether to hold a British referendum on a ratified treaty, something that other EU leaders say would effectively be an in-or-out choice on Britain’s entire EU membership.Mr Cameron has repeatedly refused to say what he will do if he comes to power with the treaty ratified, saying only that he will not let matters rest.In an LBC radio interview, the Tory leader said that if the treaty is ratified, new circumstances will apply, suggesting a new Tory policy will be needed.If this treaty is still alive, if it is still being discussed and debated anywhere in Europe, then we will give you that referendum, we will name the date during the election campaign, we'll hold that referendum straight away and I will lead the campaign for a No,he said.Now, if those circumstances change, if the Germans ratify, if the Poles ratify, if the Czechs ratify, if the Irish vote Yes to the treaty, then a new set of circumstances [apply], and I will address those at the time.He went on to signal that he would not consider a move that could lead to Britain leaving the EU.He said: I want us to be in the European Union. We are a trading nation, we should be co-operating with our allies and friends in Europe over things like the environment and crime, of course we should.A spokeswoman for Mr Cameron insisted that he had not been signalling any change of plan.She said: Our policy has not changed at all. We have said that if the treaty is ratified we will not let matters rest there, and that remains our policy.
Angela Merkel win ends Turkey's EU hopes-Turkish hopes of joining the EU appeared to be all but over after Germany gave warning it was ready to join France and Italy in outright opposition to the country's membership.By Damien McElroy in Berlin Published: 6:18PM BST 29 Sep 2009
Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Free Democrats (FDP) are both hostile to the accession of the overwhelmingly Muslim country of 71 million.The CDU is against the Turks joining for cultural reasons while the FDP leader, and probable new foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle has said the country's economy is too far below European standards to integrate comfortably with other members. With almost three million ethnic Turks living in Germany, many as citizens, Germany also fears there would be a flood of immigrants after Turkish accession.Merkel to establish conservative coalitionChancellor Angela Merkell has warned her Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call that Germany foreign policy was under review. An EU meeting to review the Turkish role in the unification of Cyprus in December will represent the first test of the policy.The Turkish reaction to the German election result has been open dismay. The country's liberal broadsheet Milliyet summed up the mood in Ankara's political circles. It said: Turkey is the loser.The mass-market Aksam told Turks to be braced for a change in approach from Europe's biggest country. It said: We should expect Merkel to sharpen her opposition to Turkey's membership.The German chancellor shifted the country's stance at the outset of her first government in 2005 to a more sceptical position and has said she would prefer if Turkey was offered a privileged position not membership. But the Social Democrats, her previous coalition partners, blocked any move to join the other big continental powers in rejecting Turkey.
Turkey applied to join the forerunner of the EU as early as 1958 but bureaucratic hurdles have always kept it out.Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, has already moved to torpedo Turkish accession to the bloc by stopping ratification efforts in five key areas.Brussels has imposed penalties on Turkey over its ban on flights and ships originating in the Greek-controlled part of Cyprus. Turkey's military still has up to 40,000 personnel in Cyprus, more than 30 years after it sent an expeditionary force to protect the Turkish population of the island. Cyprus became an EU member at the end of 2007 just after a reunification agreement collapsed and Brussels has since been embroiled in torturous negotiations to resolve the divide.
Huseyin Ozgurgan, the foreign minister of northern Cyprus, has complained that the EU is a negative player in the reunification negotiations.
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.
Asia typhoon toll 350, floods in Vietnam, Cambodia Elliot Abrams AccuWeather .SEPT 30,09
HOI AN, Vietnam (Reuters) – Floods and landslides were expected to hit Vietnam and nearby nations on Thursday after a typhoon cut a destructive path through South East Asia, killing nearly 350 people.State media in Vietnam said 85 people had died and 12were missing after typhoon Ketsana swept through the country late on Tuesday. The government initially estimated damages in five of 12 affected provinces at more than $120 million.Eleven people died in Cambodia and the Philippines where the typhoon first struck last weekend, with 246 reported deaths. Thailand was sending troops to provide humanitarian assistance in anticipation of floods.River waters in Vietnam's eight coastal and central highland provinces were receding on Thursday, but the national weather bureau warned of more flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas and high waters in low-lying areas.Military rescue teams rushed medicine, food and blankets to flood victims and in several areas people were airlifted from marooned houses, a Reuters witness said.Floodwaters submerged many old houses in Hoi An city, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Transport was restricted to boats.The region hit by Ketsana lies far north of Vietnam's Mekong Delta rice basket. Farmers in Vietnam, the world's largest robusta coffee producer, struggled to dry beans after heavy rains battered the country's growing area, raising quality concern.Ketsana damaged 740 hectares of rubber and coffee in Daklak, Vietnam's top coffee-growing province where 180,000 hectares of coffee has been planted, a government report said.
(Reporting by Nguyen Van Vinh in Hoi An and Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi, Editing by Ron Popeski)
Flood-devastated Philippines braced for typhoon by Jason Gutierrez – Wed Sep 30, 9:51 am ET
MANILA (AFP) – Terrified Philippine flood survivors were told to pray on Wednesday as a typhoon threatened to bring more devastation following a killer storm that affected over 2.2 million people.Four days after once-in-a-lifetime floods submerged most of Manila and neighbouring areas, claiming nearly 250 lives, Typhoon Parma lurked to the east of the Philippines and was on course to bring more storms this week.What we need now is to be prepared and alert,chief government forecaster Prisco Nilo told national radio in the deeply religious Roman Catholic country.Asked if the typhoon could be as devastating as tropical storm Ketsana, which caught everyone in the Philippines by surprise with its ferocity on Saturday, Nilo said it was possible.
At the moment it is over the sea. We should prepare and pray now just in case.
Authorities pleaded with people in low-lying areas throughout Manila, a sprawling city of 12 million people, and surrounding areas to find higher ground before the storm hit, and many were heeding the warnings.In Landayan village in Laguna province, south of Manila, hundreds of residents scrambled to flee their homes that were already covered in neck-deep water from Saturday's record deluge.We heard that another storm is coming,they shouted at a group of news photographers who reached the devastated area.The residents tied plastic drums together into makeshift rafts where they loaded furniture, refrigerators, beds and chairs, among other things.
They pushed the rafts to shallow areas where the cargo could be unloaded and carried to evacuation camps. Related article: Flooded hospital.However, in the flood-ravaged Manila suburb of Marikina, Lito Sone, 50, was leading his wife and son away from an evacuation centre in search of a safer place to ride out the typhoon.We are going to look for our relatives and stay with them. It's been three days in the evacuation centre but with the storm coming we are not taking any chances,said Lito, who was carrying a television.In its latest report on Wednesday evening, the government weather forecasters said Typhoon Parma may veer north of the Philippines, but even if it did heavy rains could fall on Manila from Thursday.The looming typhoon came at the worst possible time for Philippine authorities, who have repeatedly admitted to being overwhelmed by the scale of the relief effort facing them following the weekend disaster. Related article: Impact on the economy.Saturday's flooding killed at least 246 people and affected 2.25 million others, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in its latest report.Of those affected, 390,000 people were crammed into hundreds of schools, gymnasiums and other makeshift evacuation shelters, while almost the same number were sheltering with relatives or friends, the council said.With a dire shortage of relief supplies, anger among flood survivors continued to build, with some frustrated people blocking or pelting food convoys, apparently because they were missing out on the aid.We understand many are hungry. All of us are working to feed you, and help those in need,Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on national radio, but he warned anyone caught blocking convoys would be arrested.
We will not allow this thing to happen, even in a crisis.International aid has started to trickle in after the Philippines issued an appeal for aid, but the amount of work has simply been too much for relief workers, Philippine Red Cross secretary general Gwendolyn Pang said.Rehabilitation and relief has been slow,Pang added.We have been overwhelmed, caught by surprise.There was some good news on Wednesday when the United States announced it would send soldiers and heavy equipment to help in the relief effort. Related article: Arroyo opens palace .US Ambassador Kristie Kenney said part of a planned joint military exercise between US and Philippine forces planned for October would instead be transformed into a flood aid operation.
Kenney gave no numbers on how many US soldiers would be deployed, but about 900 US troops usually participate in such exercises.
EU-China relations meeting hijacked by MEP promoting Naples hometown
ANDREW WILLIS 30.09.2009 @ 17:36 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Journalists attending a press conference on EU-China relations in the European Parliament on Tuesday (29 September) were surprised when much of the event was turned over to the promotion of the Italian city of Naples.
Expecting to hear solely from Italian centre-right MEP Crescenzio Rivellini, listeners were also treated to an eight-minute presentation by the director-general of a research institute in Naples known as the City of Science.As chair of the parliament's delegation to China for the next five years, Mr Rivellini used the press conference as an opportunity to propose Naples as a host city for the annual visit to Europe of China's parliamentary delegation. We would like to host the Chinese delegation in the second half of 2010 in our city, the city of science,he told the audience that included several journalists from Mr Rivellini's electoral constituency of southern Italy.Current parliamentary rules stipulate that delegations should alternate visits between the external country and one of the seats of the European Parliament, either Brussels or Strasbourg.These rules can be changed. We mustn't be closed to any form of improvement,said Mr Rivellini when questioned on the matter.
Southern man
Mr Rivellini comes from an entrepreneurial background and served as a local politician in the southern Italian region of Campania before his election to the European parliament in 2009.He caused a stir and problems for the interpreters when he chose to speak at this month's plenary session in Strasbourg in his local language of Neapolitan, a bid to draw greater attention to the needs of southern Italy.His election as head of the delegation to China, a position initially sought by Liberal MEP Graham Watson, reflects the large number of Italian delegates within the European Peoples Party.Mr Rivellini, a member of the parliament's Napoli football club supporters group, also said it was important to increase the cultural understanding between the two sides, referring to the two great empires of Rome and China.We could take to China our extraordinary heritage of the remains of Pompeii and we could show these on the Great Wall of China,he said.Asked by EUobserver whether they found this level of self-promotion usual, an Italian expatriate attending the press conference said: This is Italy. We're used to it.
20 female prisoners to be freed for proof Schalit is alive Wednesday, 30 September 2009 14:59 News from Jerusalem .Captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit
The Schalit family on Wednesday welcomed the news about the deal struck between Israel and Hamas by which Israel would release 20 female Palestinian prisoners in return for a video proving the captured IDF soldier was alive and well.The Schalit family wishes to congratulate the current negotiating team, led by Hagai Hadas, together with the Egyptian and German teams, on their significant achievement and is yearning to receive a first authentic proof of live from Gilad,a family statement read.We wish to stress that although this is a first step in the right direction, the family will not rest until Gilad is freed after almost 1,200 days in which he has been held in a Hamas prison. Both sides must continue the determined process that has recently begun until the final result is quickly achieved,the statement concluded.Earlier Wednesday, President Shimon Peres said that the newest development was a small but important step.The recent understanding reached with Hamas is a positive step in the negotiation, the president said, but the road for his liberation is still a long and complicated one,he said, stressing that we don't want to create illusions.Peres added that he was very proud of the way in which the family of Gilad Schalit has maintained its strength in the face of such prolonged and indescribable suffering.The president also expressed appreciation to the Egyptian and German mediators for all their efforts in attempting to secure Schalit's release from Hamas captivity. Early in the morning, Peres, who is in frequent contact with the Schalit family, held a working meeting with Hagai Hadas, Israel's special liaison on matters related to the captive soldier.
Later, Peres conveyed a personal message via new French Ambassador Christophe Bigot to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, expressing appreciation for the manner in which France has stood in solidarity with the Schalit family.Bigot told Peres that the French government will continue to support the Schalit family, and will not relinquish its efforts until Gilad is released.The new envoy added that the first thing he did upon arriving in Israel was to visit Noam and Aviva Schalit, which, he said, was an extremely moving event.Jonah Mandel contributed to this report.jpost.
Binyamin Council Head: Jews, Arabs Should Have Separate Roads
by Gil Ronen SEPT 30,09
(IsraelNN.com) The way to prevent terror acts like the shooting ambush Tuesday is to prevent Jews and Arabs from using the same roads, Binyamin Regional Council Head Avi Roeh said Wednesday.Speaking with Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service, Roeh said that the residents of Judea and Samaria cannot continue to live on miracles.Miraculously, the terror attack ended as it did, but this is already the fourth attack this year,he said.The most serious attack was about a year ago, when Moshe Avitan of Shvut Rachel was seriously wounded when terrorists fired from a moving car at the car in which he sat with his wife near the community of Kochav HaShachar in Binyamin. It's unacceptable that the Jews in the Land of Israel are unable to drive safely on our roads.Roeh noted that all of this year's shooting attacks occurred in one area: The three other terror events were in the area of Gush Shilo, on the Allon Road and on Highway 60 between Ofra and Givat Assaf, so that all of the recent attacks were in the northern part of eastern Binyamin,he said.
Reverse the policy
Roeh's solution to the situation is to reverse the government's policy of concessions to the Arabs.The only answer is to build and build, as much as possible, he explained.The more we deepen our hold, the more we will increase our security. At the same time we will demand that the Defense Minister bring back the roadblocks. According to Roeh, the removal of roadblocks has made it possible for Arab cars to use previously sealed-off dirt roads to burst into the larger roads, or use them for escape after an attack.He would like to see a separation between Jews and Arabs on the roads.My hope is that there will be separation, at least on Highway 60 (the main artery which runs from north to south through Judea and Samaria) and certainly on the roads next to the communities. We cannot accept a situation in which the Palestinians use our roads yet we cannot use theirs. For instance, the Adam-Atarot road in eastern Binyamin, which Jews cannot drive in, as well as other roads in western Binyamin. It is time to have justice so that the terrorists' motivation to carry out attacks is blocked.
Activist: Police Complicit in Temple Mount Discrimination
by Maayana Miskin SEPT 30,09
(IsraelNN.com) Temple Institute director Yehuda Glick has filed charges over an incident Sunday in which a police officer cursed Jewish worshippers following Muslim riots on the Temple Mount. The incident shows that many police officers hold the unspoken belief that Jews are to blame for trouble on the Temple Mount, he said.
Glick also accused police of playing into the hands of Muslim worshippers who attempt to drive Jews off of the mount. Muslims instigate violence, and police respond by barring Jews from visiting the site in order to avoid violence, he said.
They learned that if they throw rocks, the Jews will not enter the Temple Mount. After this incident, the Temple Mount was closed to Jews and Arabs were allowed to enter freely,he said.Glick filed charges against the officers in charge of entrance to the Temple Mount, claiming religious discrimination. While non-Jewish tourists and Jews who are not religiously observant are allowed to enter the Temple Mount compound with relative freedom, religious Jews are detained and searched, he said.
The officers should be charged with contempt of court and giving false testimony for telling the courts that there is no discrimination at the entrance to the Temple Mount,he said.Glick also filed charges against the individual officer who cursed Jewish worshippers, Fadhi Beider. Beider is accused of punching and cursing a Jew after hearing him blame Arabs for the Sunday riot.An officer like that does not belong in the Israel police force,Glick said.
FATAH,HAMAS AGREE KIDNAP ISRRAELI SOLDIERS
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133638
Netanyahu: Goldstone Will Make UN Irrelevant
by Gil Ronen SEPT 30,09
(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday continued the Israeli full frontal assault against the United Nations report compiled by retired South African Judge Richard Goldstone. The report accused the Jewish State of committing war crimes in its counter-terror operation in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.
The United Nations' conference in Geneva could be a disaster for peace and a disaster for the fight against terror,Netanyahu said, in a meeting with ambassadors from the Asia-Pacific region. He was referring to the conference of the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, where Goldstone presented his final report on Operation Cast Lead.
The basic principle of the legitimate right of a democratic country to retaliate against terror is being crushed by a body belonging to the U.N. and this is a terrible blow to the organization,Netanyahu said.There is, once again, a danger that the U.N. will return to the dark days in which it compared Zionism to racism,the Prime Minister – and former U.N. ambassador – told his guests, adding that the Goldstone Report will make the U.N. irrelevant.
Barak Opposes External Inquiry
Also on Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak denied a report in the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Yediot Acharonot, which claimed he had suggested that Israel establish a committee of inquiry to probe the allegations of the Goldstone Report.The Defense Minister's bureau stated that the minister trusts the IDF's investigations into the operation and is opposed to any external inquiry.Barak's bureau added that the Goldstone Report is false, tendentious and manipulative and that it creates a false equivalence between bloodthirsty terrorists and their victims, who utilize the right to self-defense.
Fatah to Abbas: no talks without settlement freeze By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 30, 11:56 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been told by his Fatah movement that he must not resume peace talks unless Israel freezes its settlement construction, a senior Fatah member said Wednesday.Fatah's position could help Abbas stand up to U.S. pressure to return to talks with Israel.Last week, President Barack Obama told Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that negotiations must resume as quickly as possible, without preconditions. Obama admonished both leaders to stop wasting time.Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are holding separate followup meetings in Washington this week with Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, who hopes to bring the sides back to the negotiating table.Abbas has repeatedly said he would not return to talks without a freeze in Israeli settlements, which is mandated by a U.S.-backed peace plan. Israel refuses to comply, offering at best to slow construction for a limited period.The Obama administration was initially adamant about a halt to construction, but appears to have softened its stance after failing to make headway with the Israeli government on the issue.Fatah's Central Committee, the movement's key decision-making body, met late Tuesday with Abbas to discuss his options following last week's trilateral meeting with Obama and Netanyahu.
Mohammed Dahlan, a committee member, said the panel told Abbas he must not budge.
Settlements and negotiations are two parallel lines that will never meet,Dahlan told The Associated Press.The settlements are being built in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. Nearly half a million Israelis have moved to these areas over the past four decades.Palestinians argue that the continued construction is a major show of bad faith by Israel since the settlements gobble up more and more land. The settler population has increased by tens of thousands since the start of peace talks in 1993. Netanyahu says some construction must be allowed to accommodate what he calls natural growth in the settler population.Dahlan said the 23-member committee was also unanimous in its demand that the agenda of the negotiations be defined ahead of time.Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, held a series of talks with Abbas last year and agreed to tackle all so-called core issues, including a possible partition of Jerusalem. Netanyahu says Jerusalem is off-limits and says he is not bound by any promises made by Olmert.Dahlan said he believes the Obama administration is putting pressure on the Palestinians since they are the weakest party in the process.There is systematic backtracking by President Obama,Dahlan said.There is a changing of the foundations and reference points of the negotiations, and therefore I don't expect a quick return to negotiations.
China, U.S. risk rifts in Middle East: former Chinese envoy By Chris Buckley – Wed Sep 30, 1:41 am ET
BEIJING (Reuters) – China and the United States risk deepening rifts over influence and oil in the Middle East, Beijing's former envoy to the region has said, urging his nation to bolster ties with Iran and other energy-exporting powers.Sun Bigan was China's special envoy on the Middle East until March, and in a new essay he said U.S. President Barack Obama's effort to improve ties with Islamic states in the Middle East was a tactical shift that had not removed the potential for friction between Washington and Beijing in the region.China faced growing risks to energy security as it increasingly relied on imported oil, especially from the volatile Middle East, where Beijing's sway had been limited, Sun said.The U.S. has always sought to control the faucet of global oil supplies. There is cooperation between China and the U.S., but there is also struggle, and the U.S. has always seen us as a potential foe,he wrote in the September issue of Asia & Africa Review,which reached subscribers this week.Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable. We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security,Sun wrote in the Chinese-language journal, which is published by the State Council Development Research Center, a prominent state think tank.Sun's essay was written before the latest flare-up over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which has renewed Western pressure on Beijing to distance itself from Iran and back sanctions.
China's Foreign Ministry has urged restraint on all sides ahead of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, as well as Germany, in Geneva on Thursday. The permanent Council members are the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China.Sun, who now works for a government-run association promoting ties with Asia and Africa, was not directly involved in nuclear negotiations with Iran, but he served as China's ambassador there, as well as in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.He could not be contacted at the association on Wednesday.
BLUNT WARNING
The unusually blunt warning from a former senior diplomat, nonetheless underscores some of the anxieties over oil, influence and security that are likely to shape China's response to the West's confrontation with Iran.Both now and in the future, the Middle East should be our first choice in importing oil and developing oil cooperation,Sun wrote. China should focus on strengthening trade with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Oman, he added.Washington would strive to ensure Iraqi oil remained under U.S. control, he said, but Iran has bountiful energy resources and its oil gas reserves are the second biggest in the world, and all are basically under its own control.
Oil gas is the natural gas found in oil fields.In the first eight months of this year, Iran was China's third biggest foreign source of crude oil, with shipments of 17.2 million tonnes, a rise of 14.7 percent compared to the same period last year. Angola and Saudi Arabia were the first- and second-ranked suppliers.Chinese imports of Iranian oil and gas have been held back by U.S. sanctions, Iranian commercial demands and Chinese jitters, Sun said. But China could find access to Iranian supplies drastically curtailed if political power in Tehran passed to forces more sympathetic to Washington, he suggested.Obama's new Middle East policy is merely a tactical adjustment, and the United States will not and cannot alter its global goals and dominance,Sun wrote.(Editing by Dean Yates)
BOLTON WARNS ARABS ABOUT IRANIAN NUKES
http://live.radioamerica.org/loudwater/player.pl?name=wnd&url=http://feeds.radioamerica.org/podcast/DWP/audio/000007_013148.mp3
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Saudis deny letting Israel attack Iran-But Arab nations threatened by Tehran's growing influence September 30, 2009 2:23 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily
King Abdullah-JERUSALEM – Saudi Arabia today denied it offered the Israel Air Force permission to fly over its territory to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.The Arab country was responding to a report earlier this week in London's Sunday Express claiming the Saudis had agreed to turn a blind eye and not interfere should Israel and the U.S. attack Iranian nuclear facilities through Saudi air space. The Saudi government called the Express report baseless.WND earlier this month quoted an Egyptian intelligence official stating Saudi Arabia is cooperating with Israel on the Iranian nuclear issue.The official said Saudi Arabia is passing intelligence information to Israel related to Iran. He affirmed a report from the Arab media, strongly denied by the Israeli government, that Saudi Arabia has granted Israel overflight permission during any attack against Iran's nuclear facilities. The official previously told WND that Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, has been involved in an intense, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort urging the U.S. and other Western countries to do everything necessary to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. Such weapons would threaten Saudi Arabia's position of influence in the Middle East.
The Egyptian official said his country believes it is not likely Obama will grant Israel permission to attack Iran.He spoke in the past about other Arab countries' efforts to oppose an Iranian nuclear umbrella but did not comment on Egypt's own position on the matter.Egypt recently granted Israel permission to conduct naval exercises off Egyptian coastal waters. The military drills clearly were aimed at Iran.Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as other Arab countries such as Jordan, are influenced by Sunni Islam. Those Arab countries are threatened by the growing influence of Iran, dominated by Shiite Islam.
West goes to Iran talks — and readies sanctions By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 30, 6:41 pm ET
GENEVA – The U.S. and five other world powers go to the table with Iran on Thursday to demand a freeze of its nuclear activities, and a senior U.S. official said Washington may seek rare face-to-face talks with Iranian diplomats.Even as they prepared for Thursday's talks, the U.S. and its allies were contemplating new and tighter sanctions on Tehran, in a clear signal of expectations that the negotiations may again end in failure.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested all six — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany — were of one mind on the need for Iran to meet international concerns on its refusal to stop uranium enrichment and heed other U.N. Security Council demands.We support what the international community has said with a unified voice,she told reporters at the United Nations.Iran's choice, she said, is to agree to measures that would guarantee that what they're doing is solely for peaceful purposes — and the alternative track, which is greater isolation and international pressure.With the stakes raised by Tehran's revelation last week of a secret uranium enrichment site, a move by the U.S. to break precedent and meet directly with Iran would reflect the Obama administration's determination to get results at Thursday's gathering.Briefing reporters in Geneva, a senior U.S. official raised the possibility of a meeting between the Americans, represented by William Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, and Iran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalili. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the talks.Such one-on-one negotiations would offer an opportunity to reinforce the main concerns that we'll be emphasizing in the meeting,the official said.
Also Wednesday, Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, made an unusual visit to Washington after being granted a visa with striking speed by the State Department. The U.S. and Iran have not had formal diplomatic relations since the 1980Iranian revolution.State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley played down the significance of the U.S. move, saying Mottaki visited a Pakistani government office that represents Iranian interests in Washington and had no meetings with U.S. officials.With Russia and China resisting previous calls for additional U.N. sanctions on Iran, the potential loomed for new East-West disagreement if Thursday's negotiations ended without progress. U.N. sanctions must be approved by all five of the permanent Security Council members.Repeating Clinton's message, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer suggested the focus was on diplomacy — at least for now.Right now we're focused on trying to make diplomacy work and we'll see if the Iranians are prepared to start a process that could lead to them being reintegrated into the international community, or whether they choose a path of isolation,he told AP Television News.Staking out positions ahead of Thursday's meeting, the State Department stressed its hope that the session would open the door to more in-depth dialogue.If Iran is willing to address the nuclear issues, then there likely will be subsequent meetings, Crowley said, noting that President Barack Obama has said he plans to take a few months to assess Iran's position and consult with U.S. negotiating partners before deciding what steps to take next.We're not going to make a snap judgment on Thursday,he told reporters in Washington.Asked about Iran's view of the talks, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who has repeatedly said uranium enrichment is not up for negotiation — said he saw them as a test of the six powers' respect of Iran's rights.
Since Iran's secret enrichment program was revealed seven years ago, the Tehran government has shrugged off three sets of Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions meant to punish it for continuing to enrich. It has set up more than 8,000 centrifuges at its cavernous underground facility at Natanz, with the majority of them churning out enriched uranium. The centrifuges are producing low-enriched uranium, which Tehran insists it needs for a planned network of nuclear reactors. But the U.S., Israel and others fear it could reconfigure the Natanz plant to produce weapons-grade uranium for warheads — or start making it at a secret facility.Iran's Sept. 21 disclosure to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it has covertly built a second enrichment plant has strengthened such concerns.If Thursday's talks fail, the U.S. and its Western allies will renew their push for a fourth set of U.N. Security Council sanctions, officials from two of the delegations said.The initial set of sanctions in 2006 focused on banning trade with Iran in materials, equipment, goods and technology that could contribute to Iran's uranium enrichment program.They were expanded in March 2007 to include a ban on arms exports from Iran and a freeze on the financial assets of 28 individuals and entities. Sanctions were again extended in March 2008, restricting the import of dual-use technologies that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.All three resolutions were watered down following resistance from Moscow and Beijing, which did not want to jeopardize their economic and strategic ties with Tehran.Russia has spoken more harshly about Iran's nuclear defiance since Obama canceled plans two weeks ago to set up a missile system in Eastern Europe that the Kremlin viewed as a threat.But Russian officials have been careful to avoid the word sanctions ahead of the talks. China, which appears most opposed to new U.N. sanctions on Tehran, is sending a relatively low-level representative to the talks.
Washington, London, Paris and Berlin are keen to maintain at least outward unity with Moscow and Beijing on dealing with Iran. But the officials — who discussed confidential Iran strategy only on condition of anonymity — said the four Western countries are ready to go ahead without Russia and China if they again block new U.N. sanctions out of economic or political considerations.They said discussions have already begun on tightening existing U.N. and European Union sanctions and enacting new ones.Our approach will be that if we cannot get something in the Security Council, we will not wait but will be certainly actively looking for other measures,a senior official from one of the six powers said.Associated Press writers Alexander G. Higgins and Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Russia ready for restoration of ties with NATO Wed Sep 30, 3:12 pm ET
MOSCOW – Russia is ready to fully restore cooperation with NATO which was suspended in the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war, the Kremlin said Wednesday.A planned trip to Moscow by NATO's secretary-general should demonstrate that the alliance is also ready for developing ties, said Nataliya Timakova, a spokeswoman for President Dmitry Medvedev.Of course, we would like to restore our cooperation in full,Timakova said at a briefing.Earlier this month, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for closer ties between the alliance and Russia. He said, in particular, that NATO, Russia and the U.S. should explore the possibility of linking missile defense systems.Relations between NATO and Russia were frozen after the August 2008 war, when NATO accused Russia of using excessive force and occupying Georgian territory.
Timakova said that an EU-commissioned report released Wednesday showed that NATO had made some of its decision in a hurry. The report said that Georgia's attack on its breakaway province of South Ossetia marked the start of the war, but it also concluded that Russia retaliated with excessive force.
Canada set to avoid early election again By Randall Palmer – Wed Sep 30, 4:52 pm ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada seemed set to avoid an early election for a second time this month after the small New Democratic Party (NDP) said on Wednesday it would keep the minority Conservative government in power.The left-leaning NDP said it would ensure the government does not fall in a confidence vote in Parliament on Thursday so that legislation providing C$1 billion ($930 million) in added jobless benefits can pass.The non-confidence motion is being put forward by the Liberals, the biggest opposition party. If it were to pass, an election would be held later this autumn, the fourth since 2004.We're certainly not going to allow a motion from the Liberal Party to put a stop to a billion dollars that people across the country who are out of work are counting on us to deliver to them,NDP leader Jack Layton said after a caucus meeting.
The House of Commons will vote on the Liberal motion on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. EDT.
The Conservatives have only a minority of the 308 seats in the House of Commons and must rely on the support of at least one opposition party to remain in power. NDP support also helped the government through a confidence test on September 18.Some Liberals may actually be breathing a sigh of relief that the NDP is preventing a quick election as their party has taken a sudden dive in opinion polls. The Conservatives, on the other hand, may now prefer to have a quick election to try to capitalize on their polling lead and shoot for a majority.Since the Liberals decided a month ago to stop propping up the government, they have moved from a rough tie with the Conservatives in the polls to about 7 percentage points behind.Things can change rapidly in a campaign, but as of now, polls show another minority Conservative government would be the most likely result of an election.The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, came to power in 2006 and won a strengthened minority in the October 2008 general election.Early this month, the Liberals decided they needed to stop supporting the government to avoid the embarrassment of lambasting the Conservatives in debate but then voting for them in Parliament.The NDP, the smallest of the three opposition parties, now faces that same delicate dance. Layton would not say what tactic his party would employ to keep the government in power.An aide said the NDP's options were to vote against the Liberal motion; to have some members vote for it but not enough to have it pass; to have members be absent from the House of Commons; or to be present but abstain. Each option prevents an election.
Further confidence tests will continue to appear. The government introduced a budget bill on Wednesday implementing a popular home renovation tax credit and a first-time home buyers' credit. The NDP and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, backed the government on those measures in the September 18 vote and are expected to again, leaving the Conservatives in power for now.The government also said on Wednesday it intended to introduce another financial motion to collect lumber export taxes to comply with a trade decision involving a dispute with the United States. But it said that would not become a confidence issue because it would not proceed without opposition support.(Editing by Peter Galloway and Rob Wilson)
Palin's book already a best-seller before release By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer – SEPT 30,09
NEW YORK – Move over, Dan Brown. Sarah Palin is on top of the charts.Just two days after HarperCollins announced that Palin's Going Rogue had been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, preorders Wednesday night for the former Alaska governor's memoir made it No. 1 on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.Among the books Going Rogue is outselling: Sen. Ted Kennedy's True Compass, Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith and Brown's The Lost Symbol,his first novel since The Da Vinci Code and, perhaps until now, the year's most anticipated release.Palin, in collaboration with author Lynn Vincent, completed her 400-page book just four months after agreeing to terms with HarperCollins, which plans a first printing of 1.5 million copies. It's the first book by Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor until suddenly resigning last summer.She is regarded as a possible 2012 contender for the presidency. Past candidates, notably Barack Obama, have been helped by writing best-selling books, invaluable platforms for politicians to tell their story.
The response at Alaska bookstores was mixed.
A woman taking a call at Waldenbooks in Wasilla, Palin's hometown, said she was pre-ordering a copy at that moment and there had been lots of interest.She would not give her name but referred a reporter to her boss, Borders district manager Grant Larsen, who said interest had been strong both in Wasilla and Anchorage.We're very excited about it and already have several signed up,he said.We're expecting that to be massive.A lot of people are coming into the store and asking to reserve a copy, Larsen said. Borders booksellers also are asking customers if they want to reserve one. The more people reserve copies, he said, the more copies the stores will get.
Julie Drake, co-owner of Anchorage's largest independent bookstore, Title Wave, stopped to quiz her booksellers about Palin's book.Nobody has said a word. Not a single customer has asked about it. I don't know what that means. Maybe we're all going rogue, going all mavericky,she said.Associated Press writer Dan Joling in Anchorage contributed to this story.
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 THU OCT 01,2009
09:30 AM -5.25
10:00 AM -70.74
10:30 AM -105.78
11:00 AM -109.51
11:30 AM -155.61
12:00 PM -148.33
12:30 PM -127.12
01:00 PM -140.42
01:30 PM -173.83
02:00 PM -154.62
02:30 PM -142.76
03:00 PM -140.95
03:30 PM -144.80
04:00 PM -203.00 9509.28
S&P 500 1029.85 -27.23
NASDAQ 2057.48 -64.94
GOLD 1,000.30 -9.00
OIL 70.55 -0.06
TSE 300 11,072.70 -322.26
CDNX 1248.76 -28.45
S&P/TSX/60 661.58 -19.17
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +10.66%
S&P +17.03%
Nasdaq +34.58%
TSX Advances 859,declines 694,unchanged 232,Volume 551,714,240.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 485,Declines 458,Unchanged 361,Volume 248,029,762.
Dow -42 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -159 points at low today.
Dow +0.07 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,008.00.OIL opens at $70.84 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -159 points at low today so far.
Dow +0.07 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 681,declines 2,930,unchanged 69,New Highs 123,New Lows 29.
Volume 2,770,501,409.
NASDAQ Advances 544,declines 2,024,unchanged 88,New highs 36,New Lows 11.
Volume 1,136,936,778.
TSX Advances 350,declines 933,unchanged 212,Volume 223,640,972.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 239,Declines 414,Unchanged 270,Volume 112,985,397.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -211 points at low today.
Dow +0.07 points at high today.
Dow -2.09% today Volume 266,902,453.
Nasdaq -3.06% today Volume 2,539,682,038.
S&P 500 -2.58% today Volume N/A
BERNANKE ON THE MARKETS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281878099&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281817970&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281823573&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281817994&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281799790&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281768324&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281743896&play=1
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281718894&play=1
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ECONOMIC ROUND TABLE
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1281762762&play=1
HELICOPTER BENS AT IT AGAIN,THE PROPELLER OF CASH IS $23.7 TRILLION GIVEN FOR THE FIRST 8 MONTHS OF 2009,IT MUST TOP $28 TRILLION AS HELICOPTER BEN AND TWINKLE TOES (MAGIC MONEY)GEITHNER KEEP THE BANKS AND EU VERY HAPPY.
AUDIT THAT FED HAS 292 HOUSE AND 27 SENATE MEMBERS SIGNED UP SO FAR.
Bernanke asks Congress to empower regulators By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer – SEPT 30,09
WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says federal regulators should be responsible for ensuring that the financial institutions they oversee don't become so big and unwieldy that their failure could bring down the economy.In testimony prepared for a House hearing on Thursday, obtained in advance by The Associated Press, Bernanke said Congress should establish a council of regulators to monitor large, influential firms like insurance giant AIG.Individual regulators should be able to act on their own to ensure these firms don't become so highly leveraged in the first place, Bernanke said.President Barack Obama has said the Fed should ultimately be in charge of deciding when a firm has become so big and dangerous that it should be dismantled.To further encourage a more comprehensive and holistic approach to financial oversight, all federal financial supervisors and regulators — not just the Federal Reserve — should be directed and empowered to take account of risks to the broader financial system as part of their normal oversight responsibilities,Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee in his prepared remarks.
Obama's proposal to task the Fed with preventing the next economic collapse hasn't fared well on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have little power over the central bank. While the Fed frequently reports to Congress, it maintains an independent status aimed at keeping politics out of the nation's monetary policy.Lawmakers, who are planning to take up the financial reform bill this fall, say it is likely that they would put a council of regulators in charge of so-called systemic risk instead of consolidating that power primarily within the Federal Reserve, as Obama wants.
In his testimony, Bernanke voiced support for other aspects of Obama's plan, including:-Empowering regulators to monitor nonbank financial institutions;
-Giving the government the ability to wind down any institution whose disorderly collapse would pose substantial risks to the financial system and the broader economy;
-Enforcing tougher laws to protect consumers; and
-Regulating any financial activity that is critical to the broader economy.
Pipelines alone won't reduce EU dependancy on Russia, says US
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 1,09 @ 09:17 CET
EUOBSERVER / BUCHAREST – Washington continues to support the EU-backed Nabucco gas pipeline, but this project is only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to reducing Europe's reliance on Russian gas, US special envoy for Eurasian energy Richard Morningstar has said.We support Nabucco. We support the Southern Corridor. It's an important part of the puzzle, but it's only one piece,Mr Morningstar told EUobserver on Wednesday (30 September) in an interview on the margins of a Black Sea energy forum organised in Bucharest by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.
Alternative technologies and energy efficiency were also important in Europe's bid to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, he said.More interconnections between the countries in Europe, more storage facilities, terminals for liquified natural gas (LNG) - all will help reduce dependence on a sole supplier.But at the same time, Russia will be a major player over the coming years. That's a reality,he noted, while making clear that the US energy policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia was not anti-Russia.We want to engage with Russia and we're hoping there will be ways to co-operate, that we don't look at things as a zero-sum game. Zero-sum games are expensive and [unappealing] in today's financial world.
In the Obama administration's view, there is no contradiction at all in backing Europe's energy diversification while also engaging with Moscow as broadly as possible on the energy front.A bi-national commission chaired by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is in the making, with energy being dealt with in a special working group of that body. Its task is to look at ways American and European companies can develop projects in Russia for instance to bring the Soviet-era infrastructure back into shape. But these investments have to be carried out in a predictable and transparent business environment,Mr Morningstar said, in reference to a long history of Western companies being forced to sell their assets to Russian state firms.Asked if the US was pressing Moscow to ratify the Energy Charter, a legally binding document protecting foreign investments in Russia, the US diplomat said his country was itself not a member of this agreement, but it certainly certainly supports all of the principles which the Energy Charter represents.
Former Soviet states not abandoned
As to ways of alleviating fears in former Soviet republics such as Georgia over their own energy security if the US was developing a Russia-friendly policy, the diplomat said that Washington was not abandoning them.We talk with President Saakashvili and Georgian officials all the time. They know that we strongly support Georgia's energy security and its independence. And Georgia will be a transit country for routes coming from the Caucasus and central Asia. So again, there's nothing contradictory about this at all,he said.The EU's own involvement in the Caucasus and central Asia was critically important in order to show these countries that the bloc is really serious about buying up their gas, he added.Just looking back three to four years ago, the involvement on energy issues in the Caucasus and central Asia by the EU was close to non-existent. That has changed tremendously over the the past years and it's been a very positive thing which I think will lead to more resources going west towards Europe.As to promoting human rights and democracy in energy-rich countries the US and EU is doing business with, Mr Morningstar said that by just talking to those governments makes things incrementally better.I don't think anybody will be able to convince me that by not engaging in energy, democracy and human rights issues will be better in any of those countries.Energy-rich Caspian states commonly dubbed as the 'Stans' have a consistently bad record in human rights violations, corruption and organised crime.
Potential energy resources in the Black Sea
With a potential for energy resources to be exploited in the Black Sea, the US considers it to be very important for all the bordering states – Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria – as well as central and eastern European countries work together to develop these resources and diversify their energy supplies.It's really important for the countries of this region – both the Black Sea and the central and eastern European countries to work together and develop these resources,Mr Morningstar said.Asked about the Russian-Italian South Stream project that would run along the seabed of the Black Sea and bring gas to countries such as Bulgaria and Hungary, already dependant to a large extent on Russian gas, the diplomat said the US was not opposed to it.We don't consider South Stream and the potential for South Stream to be a detriment to Nabucco. There are countries involved in South Stream, but it's still very unclear whether South Stream will happen,he said, citing high construction costs and uncertainties about where the gas would come from.Nabucco, the 3,300-kilometre pipeline set to run from Turkey to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria also needs firm gas commitments from supplying countries in Central Asia and possibly Iraq.But Mr Morningstar was confident that the project will eventually be completed, after a breakthrough in July when the five countries agreed on transit and legal issues.There are still a lot of steps that need to be taken to get from here to there, but I think it's going to happen. The key is that there be the political will to do it,the diplomat concluded.
Stocks slip but still have best quarter since 1998 By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer – Wed Sep 30, 7:06 pm ET
NEW YORK – The stock market had a fitting end to a stellar but erratic third quarter as investors still ambivalent about the economy shuttled between bouts of buying and selling.Wall Street's major indexes ended the July-September period with big gains Wednesday as investors placed more bets that the recovery will keep gathering momentum. The Dow Jones industrials and Standard & Poor's 500 index both ended the quarter with gains of more than 15 percent, even as they pulled back modestly on the quarter's last day.The gains didn't always come easily during the quarter, and the Dow's performance is proof. The average, which had its best three-month showing in nearly 11 years, came within 82 points of reclaiming 10,000, only to fall back as investors' optimism was chilled by news that housing and manufacturing weren't as strong as many had thought.On the quarter's last day, stocks got an early lift from an improvement in the government's report on the second-quarter gross domestic product, then tumbled on news of a surprise drop in the September Chicago Purchasing Managers index, which measures Midwestern manufacturing.Analysts who are generally upbeat about the market's prospects for the fourth quarter say the pattern is likely to hold: Bad news will hit the market, reminding investors of the economy's fragility, and stocks will slide. But within a few days, or even the same day, they'll recover as investors grab hold of the fact that no one expects the recovery, or stocks, to have an unbroken path upward.Any legitimate decline in the market is just seen as a buying opportunity,said David Waddell, senior investment strategist and CEO of Waddell & Assoc.That pattern has continued now ever since the rally began.
The rally began in March, with the first signs that the economy might be recovering. The market's stats show how huge the rally has been:
-The Dow is up 15 percent for the quarter, its best gain since the fourth quarter of 1998. It's up 48.4 percent from its 12-year low of 6,547.05 in March. From a year ago, when the financial crisis worsened, the index is down 10.2 percent. The Dow is still down 21.4 percent from its peak of 14,164.53 in October 2007, but that's quite an improvement considering it fell 53.8 percent from that record.
-The S&P 500 index is up 15 percent for the quarter and 56.3 percent from March. It is down 9.1 percent from a year ago and 32.5 percent from its high of 1,565.15 in October 2007.
-The Nasdaq composite index, which has a big concentration of technology stocks, was the best performer. It rose 15.7 percent in the quarter and is up 67.3 percent from March.On Wednesday, the Dow ended down 29.92, or 0.3 percent, at 9,712.28 after falling nearly 134 points. The S&P 500 index fell 3.53, or 0.3 percent, to 1,057.08. The Nasdaq fell 1.62, or 0.1 percent, to 2,122.42.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.17, or 1 percent, to 604.28.Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.4 billion shares compared with 5 billion shares traded Tuesday.The next test for the market comes at the very start of the fourth quarter, with the release of the Institute for Supply Management report on manufacturing during September, and the government's jobs report for the month on Friday.The market could have trouble continuing its advance if economic reports don't boost optimism.
Steve Hagenbuckle, managing principal for TerraCap Partners in New York, expects that corporate earnings will likely exceed expectations again for the third quarter and help boost the market.The corporate numbers will continue to be met or exceeded so I think we'll continue to run up,he said.But many investors have doubts. A recent survey by the American Association of Individual Investors found that bearishness among investors stood at 44.5 percent, above the long-term average of 30 percent. As a result, many investors are still paddling to safer investments. In August, investors funneled $42.9 billion into bond funds and only $3.9 billion into stock funds, according to the Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund trade group.
Some of the hardest-hit stocks in the market's slide that intensified a year ago posted spectacular gains in the third quarter. Financial stocks led the 10 industry groups that make up the S&P 500 index with a gain of 25 percent. Industrials rose about 21 percent, as did materials companies like chemical producers and paper makers.Some stocks logged enormous advances for the quarter. Newspaper publisher Gannett Inc. surged 250 percent, while Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. jumped 123 percent. There were exceptions. Commercial lender CIT Group Inc. tumbled 43.7 percent as investors worried about its stability. Sprint Nextel Corp. slid 17.9 percent.The month of September wound up being far better for the market than many people anticipated.Stocks had tumbled on Sept. 1 as traders worried about what might happen during that month, which has historically been the worst of the year for stocks. But the slide many had feared never materialized.The S&P 500 index finished this September with a gain of 3.6 percent, far better than the average loss of 1.2 percent it posted in Septembers going back to 1929. It wasn't hard to beat the dismal performance of September last year, when it skidded 9.1 percent as credit markets froze following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.October tends to be a better month on average for the market, but it still strikes fear in many trading rooms since it's home to the crashes of 1929 and 1987. Last year, it also saw the Dow plunge 1,874.19 points, or 18.2 percent, in just one week.
Crude settles above $70 on supply data By Chris Kahn, Ap Energy Writer – Wed Sep 30, 3:33 pm ET
NEW YORK – Oil prices climbed more than 5 percent, surpassing $70 a barrel Wednesday after a government report said the nation's gasoline supply dropped unexpectedly and demand increased from last year.Benchmark crude for November delivery added $3.90 to settle at $70.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude rose $3.58to settle at $69.07 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.The Energy Information Administration put U.S. gasoline stockpiles at 211.5 million barrels last week, a drop of 0.8 percent from the prior week. It also said demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Sept. 25 was 5.4 percent higher than last year.
The price of oil, which is used to make gasoline, rose as investors placed some final bets on the last day of the quarter. Crude prices have waffled between $59 and $75 during the past three months, but equities markets surged during the quarter as investors became increasingly confident that the economy was healing.Despite the drop last week, gasoline supplies are still considered to be well above normal. They're nearly 11 percent higher than they were last year, and much of last week's drop came as many U.S. refiners cut back on their operations.Petroleum supplies have been growing most of the year as trucking companies shipped fewer goods, and a growing number of unemployed workers kept their cars out of the morning commute.
There's nothing inspiring about oil demand right now,said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.Crude supplies grew more than expected last week, according to the government report, and they've now swelled to 11.4 percent above what they were last year.It's unclear when Americans will regain their appetite for petroleum.Though Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession is very likely over,the unemployment rate is still expected to top 10 percent this year, forcing the economy to recover at a sluggish pace.The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the economy shrank in the spring at a pace of 0.7 percent, which was not as bad as analysts had expected. But the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index showed that the Midwestern manufacturing sector was weaker than expected.At the pump, retail gas prices fell by less than a penny overnight to a new national average of $2.479 a gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular gas is 13.1 cents cheaper than last month and $1.154 less than in the same period last year.In other Nymex trading, gasoline for October delivery rose 9.78 cents to settle at $1.7259 a gallon, and heating oil advanced 9.54 cents to settle at $1.796 a gallon. Natural gas gave up 3.4 cents to settle at $4.841 per 1,000 cubic feet.Associated Press writers Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
Fed may boost rates while economy still weak: Kohn By Mark Felsenthal – Wed Sep 30, 3:52 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve may need to begin to pull back its extensive support for the weak U.S. economy before it has healed enough to substantially lower the jobless rate and get factories working again, Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said on Wednesday.Tightening (monetary policy) while there's still slack in the economy is something that we have to do every time,he told a monetary policy conference at the Cato Institute.Kohn said the Fed -- the U.S. central bank -- would base its actions on its forecast for the path of the economy, and would not wait for clear evidence the recovery has taken hold:It's incumbent upon us to ... be forward-looking in our story. Yes, there's slack, but it's going away. Yes, people are still unemployed, but people are being put back to work. And the alternative of not tightening and not beginning this process is to create a destabilizing round of inflation. ... If we can't tell that story we shouldn't be tightening.
EXIT BEFORE WARNING SIGNS
The Fed has begun to move gradually toward removing its extensive support for the economy during a devastating financial crisis. At its latest policy-setting meeting, it said it would phase out by March a program to buy mortgage-backed securities that had been aimed at bolstering housing markets.Most analysts do not expect the Fed to begin to raise benchmark interbank lending rates from near zero until the middle of next year but analysts are watching what it plans to do shrink a balance sheet that has ballooned to over $2.3 trillion as a result of aggressive actions to stem the crisis.Kohn said that while the recovery will likely be sluggish, the Fed would act before warning lights flash on spending or inflation.We must begin to withdraw (monetary policy) accommodation well before aggregate spending threatens to press against potential supply, and well before inflation as well as inflation expectations rise above levels consistent with price stability,he said.
Kohn and another senior Fed official cautioned that the recovery remains fragile.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said he wants to see more evidence that the private sector can thrive without government support before kicking away the crutches.I do not think that time has yet come, and ... I think it may well be some time before a comprehensive exit need be under way,Lockhart told the University of South Alabama's economic forum in Mobile, Alabama.
PACE OF EXIT
A European central banker echoed Lockhart's caution on removing support too soon and signaled he would be more patient than Kohn in removing programs or raising rates.
Now is not the appropriate time to exit, but the process would begin when there are clear signs that markets are functioning properly, the economic recovery is firmly under way, and therefore upside pressures on inflation appear,said Athanasios Orphanides, governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and a member of the European Central Bank's governing council, also at the Cato Institute.Kohn said he could not predict how fast the Fed would raise rates or withdraw its massive supply of money to the financial system and that the Fed would monitor how its extraordinary efforts to support the economy are affecting spending decisions and inflation expectations in timing its exit strategy.The Fed has the necessary tools to pull back its help for the economy, he said.(Additional reporting and writing by Emily Kaiser and Ros Krasny in Mobile, Alabama; Editing by James Dalgleish)
EPA moves to regulate smokestack greenhouse gases By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer – SEPT 30,09
WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency took steps Wednesday to control the emissions blamed for global warming from power plants, factories and refineries for the first time.The EPA proposal would require polluters to reduce six greenhouse gases by installing the best available technology and improving energy efficiency whenever a facility is significantly changed or built. The rule applies to any industrial plant that emits at least 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year.These large sources are responsible for 70 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions — mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels — that are released in the U.S., the EPA said.By using the power and authority of the Clean Air Act, we can begin reducing emissions from the nation's largest greenhouse gas emitting facilities without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the vast majority of our economy," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said. We know the corner coffee shop is no place to look for meaningful carbon reductions.Earlier this year, the Obama administration announced that it would start developing the first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks. Those regulations, which would take effect in 2010, compel the EPA to control greenhouse gases from large smokestacks as well, the agency said.Industry groups immediately questioned the agency's argument. They charged that the EPA was skirting the law, since the Clean Air Act typically covers any facility releasing more than 250 tons a year of a recognized pollutant. That threshold would require more facilities to fall under the new regulations.
This proposal incorrectly assumes that one industry's greenhouse gas emissions are worse than another's,said Charles T. Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.Jeff Holmstead, a former top EPA air pollution official who is now a lobbyist for the energy industry, said the agency was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.Normally, it takes an act of Congress to change the words of a statute enacted by Congress, and many of us are very curious to see EPA's legal justification for today's proposal,Holmstead said.Jackson, speaking at a news conference at a climate change summit being hosted by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the rule was legally defensible.The EPA would not propose a rule that we didn't believe ... made good legal sense,she said.EPA would not propose a rule that did not make legal sense,she said.The EPA's announcement came hours after Senate Democrats unveiled legislation that would set limits on the amount of greenhouse gases from large industrial sources. The Senate bill, unlike the House-passed version, preserves the EPA's authority to regulate under the Clean Air Act.
Environmentalists said Wednesday the two efforts go hand-in-hand.
You can't have one without the other if we're going to be successful in moving America to clean energy,said Emily Figdor, director of the global warming program at Environment America, an advocacy group.The move will likely increase pressure on Congress to pass a bill to avoid less-flexible, and what Republicans said would be more costly, regulations. Supporters of the legislation have already used pending EPA rules as leverage to get Congress to act.Senate Republicans have already attempted to block the EPA from issuing regulations to buy more time for Congress to work on a bill. At least one Republican leader, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, said Wednesday that Congress would try to stop the EPA again.On the Net: Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov
EU nations to hammer out financial oversight By AOIFE WHITE, AP Business Writer SEPT 30,09 2:30PM
GOTEBORG, Sweden – European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet warned EU governments Wednesday that the public will be unforgiving if authorities don't provide a stronger financial system.Trichet's comments came a day before the 27-nation bloc hammers out major new reforms.Finance ministers from each country will hold talks Thursday and Friday about a new financial oversight framework for Europe, moving forward from a pledge that the world's G-20 rich and developing nations made last week to not allow a return to banking as usual.Our own people will not forgive us if we don't deliver a much more resilient financial system,Trichet said.The EU ministers will also discuss how they should withdraw economy stimulus programs that are stoking feeble economic growth and adding to huge public debt they built up by rescuing banks and spending far more on welfare during the downturn.Trichet said the next few years are crucial for building a strong, competitive and less leveraged financial system which will be subjected to proper regulation and supervision.The EU's top economy official, Joaquin Almunia, also warned that regulators could not allow some financial sectors to set their own rules because they have demonstrated that they are not able to.Putting that into practice means adding a new EU layer to a patchwork of financial supervision across the bloc, with the EU executive suggesting that new EU authorities should oversee — and possible overrule — national supervisors for banking, insurance and financial markets.Governments are likely to want to limit the circumstances under which the EU authorities could overrule them. The European Commission describes it only as a last resort to resolve a dispute between different national supervisors or to order a nation to bring technical financial standards in line with others.EU governments were also being asked to approve the creation of a new economy watchdog, the European Systemic Risk Board, which would be tasked with monitoring emerging risks to the economy such as highly leveraged banks, swelling asset bubbles and worrying trends on markets.
The board would issue recommendations and warnings to national governments and could ask them to comply or justify why they weren't doing something. It would not be able to force them to act.The ECB, which sets borrowing costs for the 16 nations that use the euro, will help run the new board and its president will likely lead it. This has triggered concern among EU countries outside the euro zone that this will give the ECB a say over countries that don't use the euro.EU nations will also try to lay out a coordinated plan for how they all should end stimulus spending that aims at speeding up economic growth this year and next year to end the worst recession since the 1930s.It's absolutely necessary that we start to design and communicate exit strategies,said Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg, who will lead the talks because Sweden holds the EU presidency.This could lead to empty words as some governments prepare to borrow more and spend heavily.France said its debt would soar in coming years to 91 percent of economic output in 2013. Its yearly budget gap is set to swell to a record 8.2 percent of gross domestic product this year and 8.5 percent in 2010, it said, up from 3.4 percent last year.It also plans to borrow heavily to finance infrastructure work, which will likely increase the debt even further.This will see the second-largest euro nation flaunt EU budget rules designed to keep the euro currency stable that require the 16 countries to keep deficits below 3 percent of GDP and debt under 65 percent of GDP. It could also set it on a collision course with Germany, which has repeatedly called on European nations and others to start repaying debt as soon as possible.Associated Press writer Louise Nordstrom contributed to this report.
World Bank injects $74 mln into Zimbabwe's agriculture Wed Sep 30, 4:17 pm ET
HARARE (AFP) – The World Bank on Wednesday announced a 74-million-dollar grant to revive Zimbabwe's agriculture sector.The money is 74 million dollars up from 25 million last year,David Rohrbach, a senior agricultural economist at the World Bank, told reporters on the sidelines of an agriculture conference in the capital Harare.
The bank hopes the money will help 700,000 farmers, said Rohrbach.We are dealing directly with NGOs. We are following suit with what other donors have done to help Zimbabwe. We are not yet at a stage to deal with government directly but we consult them,he said.The announcement came as a new report -- prepared for the conference by donors and the government -- said compensation had been paid for about three percent of the 6,500 white-owned farms seized under Mugabe's land reforms.The study said land reforms had drastically reduced the area of land under cultivation by 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) and lands under irrigation also declined more than nine percent to 139,500 hectares.Mugabe launched the land reforms in 2000, with at least 4,000 white farmers forcibly removed from their properties. He has defended the programme as meant to correct colonial-era imbalances.Black farmers resettled on the land have received little government support, while banks have been unwilling to offer them loans without legal guarantees on ownership of the land.Production of both food and cash crops like tobacco have plunged, leaving millions of people dependent on international food aid.Secretary for agriculture Ngoni Masoka told a media briefing at the predicted a jump in crop production this year.This year the preparations are much more advanced compared to last year,he said.Even in terms of funding, this year we are better prepared.Mugabe in February joined former rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, in a unity government tasked with returning Zimbabwe to stability after years of economic ruin.
China unlikely to get 6 billion barrels of Nigerian oil : minister Wed Sep 30, 1:04 pm ET
ABUJA (AFP) – A Nigerian oil minister on Wednesday ruled out granting a Chinese state-owned oil firm the six billion barrels of oil it is after.Junior minister for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia confirmed that the Chinese made a proposal for six billion barrels of oil from Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter.It?s true that the Chinese have made a proposal which we are considering,told AFP.They are asking for six billion barrels of oil from our reserves, but I can tell you that we are not going to give them all of that,said Ajumugobia.The six billion barrels of oil China's largest listed offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC is seeking to buy, is equivalent to one in every six barrels of the proven reserves in Nigeria -- one of Africa's two top oil producers.Earlier Nigeria's oil minister and ex-secretary general of the oil cartel OPEC, Rilwan Lukman, confirmed discussions for oil deals were under way with China, but no final decision has been taken yet.We are still talking with them and (the Nigerian) government has not finalised its position, Lukman told AFP in an interview.
Neither of the two ministers would give further details of the discussions.
It is really too premature to talk about these things now. Whatever I say now may jeopardize the talks in some ways, said Lukman.The bids could pitch China into competition with western oil giants including Shell, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobil which partially or wholly control and operate the 23 blocks under discussion.
Sixteen licences are up for renewal.The Chinese are not the only ones looking for oil and gas access in Nigeria. We are in continuous negotiation with various groups and stakeholders,said Lukman.The overall value of the Chinese offer has not been disclosed, although some details suggest a figure of about 30 billion dollars (20 billion euros).China's government-backed oil companies are seizing on the economic crisis to make landmark overseas acquisitions, in a bid to feed the country's growing economy.
Nigerian senate seeks briefing on banking shake-up Wed Sep 30, 5:15 am ET
LAGOS (AFP) – The Nigerian senate has summoned the central bank governor and two others to brief it on a recent shake-up that saw the removal of top management of five ailing banks, an official said Wednesday.The senate resumed from a two-month recess yesterday (Tuesday) and decided to summon the three officials to appear before it on October 6 on the recent developments in the banking industry, a parliamentary aide told AFP.Those summoned are the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri and Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa, he said.Sanusi sacked the heads of the five troubled banks on August 14 for mismanagement and running the institutions into insolvency.He said the total loan portfolio of the five banks -- Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank -- stood at 2.8 trillion naira (17.8 billion dollars, 12.6 billion euros).He appointed new management for the ailing banks while a 420-billion-naira bailout was also approved for them.Many former directors of the troubled banks have been charged with fraud and having granted huge loans without collaterals.
Bank Reform: Cash Becomes More User-Friendly
by Hillel Fendel SEPT 30,09
(IsraelNN.com) A new reform has been implemented in Israel's banking system: the Bank of Israel will no longer be responsible for our daily cash flow; instead, commercial banks will take care of it themselves.Until now, the various banks had to deposit their left-over daily cash at the Bank of Israel, and withdraw cash the next day for the day’s business dealings. As of this week, however, a new cash-flow reform will be instituted, under which the banks will be responsible for much of the public's cash.The various banks, including the Postal Bank, will establish new cash centers,to be used to regulate the flow of cash among themselves and between them and their customers. The banks will thus assume the task of counting and sorting cash, which until now had been carried out by the Bank of Israel. For this purpose, the banks will have to use high-quality sorting and counting machines, to reduce the chances that low-quality or unacceptable bills will be passed to the public.Any bill that is torn, pasted together, written on and the like must be deposited with Bank of Israel, which will destroy it and replace it with a new one.
Bank of Israel Will Continue to Issue Money
The Bank of Israel will continue to fulfill its function of issuing new money, as well as destroying and replacing worn-out, unusable and counterfeit bills. It will also monitor the cash centers, ensuring that they operate according to its guidelines.Bank of Israel safes will be placed in the various cash centers for depositing and withdrawing money. Other safes are to be placed there in the future, holding money to be used only in an emergency.
Brussels' commitment to Latin American integration questioned
LEIGH PHILLIPS 30.09.2009 @ 17:34 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is hoping to boost EU-Latin American relations with the creation of a joint forum that will bring together the two sides on a permanent basis and launch of a new investment fund. But civil society organisations and some Latin American officials believe Europe is steadily abandoning its support for regional integration on the EU model on the continent.On the surface, relations are cordial between the EU and Latin America, but the shift to the left in many countries is creating tensions all the same (Photo: alittlefishy)
The proposal, for an EU-Latin America and Caribbean Foundation, was made on Tuesday (29 September) within Brussels' strategy document on relations between the two regions.The foundation, which the commission aims to launch in spring next year following the next EU-Latin American summit, to be held in Spain, would exist as a kind of secretariat that would prepare summits and maintain the dialogue between meetings.The commission presented its renewed policy for the region, assessing the state of play of the bi-regional relationship and outlining the targets and objectives for the coming years.The EU, which is the leading donor of development assistance to Latin America, also hopes to set up a new financial instrument to leverage millions of euros to bank-roll energy infrastructure, environmental projects and combat poverty.The Latin America Investment Facility, (LAIF), modelled on a similar instrument for Europe's neighbouring states to the east and south, would mobilise resources from financial institutions to support projects in energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and renewable energy, transport, the environment and social cohesion.While no figures were announced, the Neighbourhood Investment Facility has used €71 million in grants as leverage for projects worth €2.7 billion. The commission hopes the LAIF would be able to encourage similar sums for development in Latin America.By working together better, we directly contribute to peace and stability in the region and to its further development by increasing social cohesion, improving democratic governance and deepening regional integration, said external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
The document was published on the occasion of the ten-year anniversary of the launch of the EU's strategic partnership - the bloc's mechanism of formalising relations with foreign countries - with the region.Biennially, the two regions hold summits to develop the relationship, and since 1999, the commission has launched negotiations on association agreements, including trade accords, with the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and Central America.But beneath the friendly discourse of Ms Ferrero-Walder, relations are not infrequently choppy.After months of talks between Brussels and the CAN, negotiations were ultimately suspended, with Ecuador and Bolivia feeling that the EU was pressing for concessions that would undermine domestic industries. Talks were also frozen with Central America as a result of the coup d'etat in Honduras.Negotiations over an association agreement with Mercosur, the continent's third regional customs union, have been on hold since 2004.
Regional integration no longer a goal?
Ecuador's former economy minister Pedro Paez Pérez, who is also a member of the UN's high-level task force on the global financial crisis, told EUobserver that he feels Brussels places too much emphasis on trade agreements that are more advantageous for European businesses than Latin American citizens.Europe could have a much more decisive role in building another kind of relationship, a more positive one than we have traditionally had with other powers,he said in Brussels.Mr Perez is on a tour of Europe in an attempt to drum up investment support for the Banco del Sur - the South American alternative to the International Monetary Fund - and the Sucre, the proposed common currency for the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, the regional co-operation organisation of nine Latin American and Carribbean nations.But instead, in the case of the EU-CAN negotiations, you have increasing pressures for free trade agreements that exacerbate the already existing differences between Andean countries with very negative contributions to peace in this zone.Last year, Brussels entered into a new round of negotiations with just two of the countries in the CAN: Peru and Colombia, who both have more conservative leadership and are much more amenable to the EU's negotiating position.Latin America watchers worry that the decision to split the talks will reverse the Andean regional integration process, a process the EU says in its document it holds as a key goal.
Gustavo Hernandez, of the EU-CAN Alliance, a network of Andean civil society organisations, told this website that the commission document seems to leave aside the sub-regional integration process in Latin America - Central America, Andean Community and Mercosur.Mr Hernandez is worried that the announcement of the LAIF investment facility will be used as a way to de-emphasise regional integration. Is it simply a shift from the traditional support of the European Commission for the regional integration process to a more pragmatic approach through the Investment Facility?he asked.Camilo Tovar, of the Latin American Association of Promotion Organisations (Alop) also feared that the LAIF had the potential to undermine environmental protection.Although the commission document underlines Europe continuing to support developing sustainable infrastructure,Mr Tovar said that there is no suggestion of any changes to existing practices even though current European investment flows are not backing genuine sustainability.Of particular importance is the Initiative for Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) and a series of mega-projects such as Rio Madera: a multi-billion dollar hydroelectric complex which threatens one of the Amazon Basin's main southern tributaries,he said.He added that the Santa Cruz-Puerto Suarez "bio-oceanic transportation corridor" in Bolivia, also threatens the global weather regulatory capacity of the Amazon basin. Construction was launched in 2002 with €57 million in funds from the European Investment Bank.
Enormous delay
Ms Ferrero-Waldner conceded that regional integration was not proceeding as she would like.I don't think we can talk about failure of regional integration, although certainly, I will grant you there's been an enormous delay,she told reporters in Brussels.We are trying to help various regions to come together and to follow the model of the EU. We've done what we can, but the ball is in their court.
SUKKOT IN PICTURES 1 DAY AWAY
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133643
For the First Time, Most Jewish Americans Support Iran Attack
by Gil Ronen SEPT 30,09
(IsraelNN.com) A new American Jewish Committee (AJC) survey of American Jews shows that for the first time, a majority of them would support a U.S military strike against Iran, and an even larger majority would support such a move by Israel.The AJC survey showed that 56 percent of American Jews would support, and 36 percent would oppose, United States military action against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. This is a real shift from 2008, when the AJC survey found that 42 percent would support the U.S. taking military action against Iran, while 47 percent were opposed.66 percent would support, and 28 percent would oppose, Israel taking military action against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.On the Obama Administration’s general handling of the Iran nuclear issue, 49 percent of American Jews approve and 35 percent disapprove.
Mounting concern
Clearly concerns are mounting over the international community’s apparent inability to deploy tough and resolute sanctions to confront a belligerent Iran determined to build nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them,said AJC Executive Director David Harris.94 percent of American Jews agree that the Palestinians should be required to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in a final peace agreement.Distrust of the Arabs is high but slightly lower than it was in 2007: 75 percent agree, and 19 percent disagree, with the statement,The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel.In the 2007 survey, 82 percent agreed and 12 percent disagreed.Nonetheless, regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state, 49 percent favor that outcome, and 41 percent are opposed. In AJC’s 2007 survey, 46 percent were in favor and 43 percent opposed.
A united, Jewish Jerusalem
When asked whether Israel, in the framework of a permanent peace with the Palestinians, should be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem as a united city under Israeli jurisdiction, 37 percent are in favor, and 58 percent opposed. These numbers are almost unchanged from 2007.Fifty-four percent of U.S. Jews approve, and 32 percent disapprove, of the Obama Administration’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations. Meanwhile, 59 percent approve, and 23 percent disapprove, of the Netanyahu government’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations.Denominational affiliation appears to be a key factor in determining attitudes. While majorities of Conservative (54 percent) and Reform Jews (59 percent) approve, only 14 percent of Orthodox Jews approve of the Obama Administration’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations.The pollsters said that the survey's 800 respondents are representative of the United States adult Jewish population on a variety of measures.The margin of error from the sample as a whole is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Tanks rumble as China set for National Day show by Dan Martin – SEPT 30,09
BEIJING (AFP) – Tanks rumbled through Beijing early Thursday as China geared up to mark 60 years of communist rule with a choreographed show of mass patriotism glorifying the nation's revival as a global power.Dozens of tanks thundered down locked-down avenues toward positions near Tiananmen Square ahead of a massive military parade and spectacular pageant depicting how the Communist Party has led China from chaos to prosperity.President Hu Jintao was to kick off the festivities at about 10:00 am (0200 GMT) with a speech at the historic square to an invitation-only audience of spectators and foreign dignitaries, with security air-tight across the city. Chronology: China's communist history.China typically holds grand celebrations every 10 years to commemorate revolutionary leader Mao Zedong's proclamation of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Related article: How Mao rewrote Chinese history.But this year's festivities promise to top those staged in the past, with at least 100,000 people taking part in an extravaganza that officials say will outdo even last year's lavish opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics.The authorities want to send a clear message: that China has re-emerged as an undeniable force in the world. Facts about China Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun told journalists this week that the event would showcase a China which has strong confidence in its future.Underlining this confidence, Premier Wen Jiabao predicted further Chinese greatness in a speech to a 60th anniversary reception on the eve of the gala.In another 40 years, the 100th anniversary of our nation's founding will come. At that time, a prosperous, powerful, democratic, civilised, harmonious and advanced socialist nation will tower over the East,he said Wednesday.China will add teeth to those projections with a parade expected to feature nuclear missiles and other high-tech, Chinese-developed weaponry meant to convey the message that a nation once bullied by foreign powers is a pushover no more.But the apparent insecurity of the ruling Communists has been just as clearly on display -- authorities have imposed draconian security in a seeming bid to prevent an array of perceived threats from spoiling the party. Related article: Internet, dissidents under watch.These include seething tensions in ethnic minority regions like Xinjiang and Tibet, and widespread social discontent over a widening wealth gap, official corruption and horrific environmental degradation.As a result, Beijing's 17 million citizens will be relegated to watching the festivities in their hometown on television like the rest of the nation.
Police have for weeks been checking traffic entering the capital, residents along the parade route were ordered not to open their windows during the event, and even the city's airport will shut for the parade's three-hour duration.Beggars and the homeless have been cleared out and knife sales temporarily banned in some stores after two recent stabbings near Tiananmen Square, while even the flying of pigeons and kites has been ruled out.The Mao-led 1949 communist takeover ended years of foreign domination and war, while three decades of economic reforms initiated by late leader Deng Xiaoping enriched China and propelled it back into the ranks of world powers.China's state-controlled media has for months unleashed a continuous barrage of content extolling the nation's Communist Party-led re-emergence that will culminate with Thursday's patriotic gala.
I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM.
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Thursday, October 01, 2009
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