CNN - INAUGURATION TO HAJJ

Gazan doctor confirms Hamas exaggerated death toll for political gain JAN 24,09

What really is behind the numbers reported on the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip? Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported Thursday that a doctor working in Gaza's Shifa Hospital claimed that Hamas has intentionally inflated the number of casualties resulting from Israel's Operation Cast Lead. The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter, according to the newspaper article. The doctor wished to remain unidentified, out of fear for his life. A senior Palestinian Health Ministry official later denied the claims, and the Israel Defense Forces' estimate on the number of casualties in Gaza has also remained unchanged. Despite the claims, the IDF stood behind its estimate that between 1,100 to 1,200 people were killed in the Strip during the fighting, more than two-thirds of them Hamas members. The army initially believed that the number of civilian casualties was higher, as many Hamas men walked outside their houses dressed in civilian clothes, leaving their weapons at home.

Mostly armed teenagers

A Tal al-Hawa resident told the newspaper's reporter, Armed Hamas men sought out a good position for provoking the Israelis. There were mostly teenagers, aged 16 or 17, and armed. They couldn't do a thing against a tank or a jet. They knew they are much weaker, but they fired at our houses so that they could blame Israel for war crimes.The reporter for the Italian newspaper also quoted reporters in the Strip who told of Hamas' exaggerated figures, We have already said to Hamas commanders – why do you insist on inflating the number of victims? These same reporters mentioned that the truth that will come out is likely to be similar to what occurred in Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin. Then, there was first talk of 1,500 deaths. But then it turned out that there were only 54, 45 of which were armed men, the Palestinian reporters told the Italian newspaper. These new figures must be treated with caution especially in light of the fact that various official sources in the Gaza Strip, including United Nations and Red Cross officials, have reported that more than 1,300 people were killed and some 5,000 wounded during the three weeks of fighting in the coastal strip. Palestinian sources claim that three-quarters of the dead were unarmed civilians. Hamas, while boasting on having Israeli soldiers by the dozens, a number that has proven to be exaggerated, claimed that no more than 48 of its members were killed during the Israeli offensive. According to IDF figures, Hamas lost hundreds of fighters from its ranks.

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.

SNOWSQUALL WARNING: Barrie - Orillia - MidlandIssued at 10:17 AM EST SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2009 SNOWSQUALLS THIS EVENING.

THE SNOWSQUALLS HAVE WEAKENED NEAR THE GODERICH REGION THIS MORNING. THE AREA WILL STILL SEE FLURRIES AT TIMES HEAVY FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE MORNING BUT THEY WILL BE LESS INTENSE. THE LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL RE-ORGANIZED THIS EVENING WITH SNOWSQUALLS DEVELOPING IN WESTERLY FLOW OFF GEORGIAN BAY. SEVERAL SNOWSQUALLS ARE LIKELY TO AFFECT THE AREAS FROM MIDLAND TO PARRY SOUND AND INLAND TO HIGHWAY 11. THESE SQUALLS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN STATIONARY TONIGHT AND BEGIN TO WEAKEN SUNDAY MORNING. WIND CHILL..TEMPERATURES HAVE DROPPED TO NEAR MINUS 25 THIS MORNING OVER AREAS EAST OF GEORGIAN BAY THROUGH TO PETAWAWA. THESE COLD TEMPERATURES COMBINED WITH NORTH WINDS ARE GENERATING WIND CHILL VALUES OF MINUS 35 OVER EASTERN ONTARIO THIS MORNING. BRISK NORTH WINDS FLOWING OFF OF GEORGIAN BAY AND LAKE HURON ARE ALSO PRODUCING WIND CHILL VALUES OF MINUS 30 OVER COTTAGE COUNTRY SOUTH TO TORONTO THIS MORNING. THESE FRIGID WIND CHILLS WILL MODERATE AS THE MERCURY RISES THIS MORNING.

Report: Upgrading FEMA flood maps would save lives byFREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jan 23, 4:32 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Nearly four years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, researchers called on the federal government to upgrade its flood maps, arguing that the effort could save lives as well as stem losses to properties and businesses.The Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance rate maps are used to set flood insurance rates, regulate development in flood plains, and let people know about the risk they face.FEMA is wrapping up a five-year map modernization plan that had led to digital flood maps for 92 percent of the continental U.S. population, the National Research Council said. But even after $1 billion has been spent on the effort, only 21 percent of the population has maps which meet all of FEMA's data quality standards, said the study, which was requested by FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The report said that FEMA often produces maps from the U.S. Geological Survey National Elevation Dataset, but that more accurate maps are available using lidar, which measures elevation from lasers on aircraft.

Among its recommendations, the report calls on FEMA to increase its collaboration with federal, state and local agencies to acquire high-resolution, high-accuracy topographic data.FEMA has recently begun to support collection of lidar data along the Gulf Coast, but lidar data coverage over most inland areas is still sparse, the report says.Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on disaster recovery, called FEMA's upgrade of its flood maps welcome, but long overdue.However, even with a modernized plan, FEMA may continue to fail Gulf Coast residents if the agency does not seek input from local residents, she said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. An important part of the process is local participation to ensure the maps are accurate and represent the true topography of the land. Knowledge of the local terrain is an essential supplement to the science used to design new flood maps.In Louisiana, FEMA's new maps have triggered complaints from several parishes that the elevation data put too many towns in flood zones — guaranteeing they'll never rebuild and recover from the hurricanes of 2005 and 2008.

A FEMA spokesman, Butch Kinerney, said the report validates a lot of the things we're doing, and have done, and gives us good recommendations for going forward. We're changing the way we're looking at maps.In addition to upgrading the maps, the agency is also helping communities to write plans to prepare for all sorts of disasters, including floods, he said.Askedif he agreed that better maps could save lives and property, Kinerney said that a lot depends on how local communities choose to use the improved information.If a community adopts it, yeah, I think there are going to be dramatic effects, he said. If a community chooses not to adopt it, it could be for naught.The National Research Council is part of the National Academies, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.On the Net:National Research Council: http://www.nationalacademies.org/nrc

NOAA sets rules for Navy sonar training By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer – Fri Jan 23, 2:51 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Federal fisheries regulators announced rules Friday to protect marine mammals during Navy sonar training along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico.The rules authorize the Navy to conduct the training, while requiring it to take steps to avoid endangering mammals such as whales.Similar regulations were issued previously covering the West Coast and Hawaii by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The rules will be in effect for five years, but the Navy will have to provide annual reports and seek a new letter of authorization for its training each year, said Jim Lecky, director of the office of protective services at NOAA's Fisheries Service.The Natural Resources Defense Council charged that the rules "will expose millions of marine mammals to harm from naval training.NRDC attorney Joel Reynolds called on the new Barack Obama administration to reopen the rules for further review.Last fall the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Navy in a case in which environmental groups had sought to block sonar training off the coast of Southern California.The Fisheries Service said it does not expect the naval exercises to result in injury or death to marine mammals. However, in some cases exposure to sonar has been associated with animals becoming stranded on shore.

Because the sound generated by tactical active sonar may affect the behavior of some marine mammals, or cause a temporary loss of their hearing, the Navy had requested the authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The regulations require the Navy to:

Establish marine mammal safety zones around each vessel using sonar and to halt sonar operations if marine mammals are seen within these designated safety zones.

Set up a stranding response plan that includes a training shutdown if needed, and to assist NOAA's Fisheries Service if it has to come to the aid of stranded animals.

Limit helicopter dipping sonar and object detection exercises in the North Atlantic right whale critical habitat in the southeast Atlantic Ocean from December through March.

Minimize the impact from torpedo exercises conducted in the North Atlantic right whale critical habitat in the northeast Atlantic Ocean.

Use cautionary measures to reduce the likelihood of ship strikes of North Atlantic right whales.On the Net:NOAA Fisheries Service: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

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

Geithner breaks currency taboo
ANDREW WILLIS 23.01.2009 @ 17:30 CET

US treasury secretary nominee, Tim Geithner, said Thursday (22 January) that China was artificially manipulating its currency in order to provide a boost for Chinese exports. EU officials however refused to comment on whether this was also their opinion of the situation.Asked whether Europe shared these views, the European Commission's economic and monetary affairs spokesperson told this website on Friday: Commissioner Almunia's position, which is the same as the Eurogroup's long-standing position, is that exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals. That's all we wish to say.A spokesperson for the EU's trade department also refused to comment.

Such cagey responses highlight the extremely sensitive nature of international exchange rate policies and make Mr Geithner's comments all the more remarkable. In the European Parliament on Wednesday, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet also refused to comment on a question concerning currency fluctuations between the British pound and the euro. Former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson shared the concern of his replacement that US businesses were suffering from an artificially low yuan and repeatedly called for the currency to float freely against the dollar. However, he shied away from calling China a currency manipulator – a statement unlikely to go down well in Beijing. China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, responded by saying it had noted the comments.Mr Geithner made the statement in a written response to questions from senators the same day as the US upper chamber approved his nomination as treasury secretary. President Obama – backed by the conclusions of a broad range of economists – believes that China is manipulating its currency, he said. The statement continued that Mr Obama would use aggressively all the diplomatic avenues open to him to seek change in China's currency practices. Formally labeling China a currency manipulator would compel the US administration to address the current trade imbalance between the two countries under US law. Professor Jing Men, an expert in Chinese affairs at the College of Europe, pointed out that China had allowed its currency to slowly appreciate over the last three years and suggested the US was trying to lay part of the blame for the financial crisis on China's doorstep. So really its national interest which plays a role in Tim Geithner's speech, she told EUobserver.

Chinese premier tours Europe

Separately, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is due to visit Brussels next week in what the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday would be a journey of confidence.Mr Jiabao's seven-day trip will focus on trade and boosting economic co-operation between China and the EU. He is to visit a number of European capitals, including the Swiss town of Davos, which will be hosting the annual World Economic Forum meeting. Paris is conspicuously absent from the premier's agenda however. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated following a meeting last month between French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Tibet's Dalai Lama.The Chinese government postponed an EU-China summit as a result of the meeting.

Gordon Brown brings Britain to the edge of bankruptcy Iain Martin says the Prime Minister hasn't saved the world and now faces disgrace in the history books
By Iain Martin 8:41AM GMT 21 Jan 2009

They don't know what they're doing, do they? With every step taken by the Government as it tries frantically to prop up the British banking system, this central truth becomes ever more obvious.Yesterday marked a new low for all involved, even by the standards of this crisis. Britons woke to news of the enormity of the fresh horrors in store. Despite all the sophistry and outdated boom-era terminology from experts, I think a far greater number of people than is imagined grasp at root what is happening here. The country stands on the precipice. We are at risk of utter humiliation, of London becoming a Reykjavik on Thames and Britain going under. Thanks to the arrogance, hubristic strutting and serial incompetence of the Government and a group of bankers, the possibility of national bankruptcy is not unrealistic.The political impact will be seismic; anger will rage. The haunted looks on the faces of those in supporting roles, such as the Chancellor, suggest they have worked out that a tragedy is unfolding here. Gordon Brown is engaged no longer in a standard battle for re-election; instead he is fighting to avoid going down in history disgraced completely.This catastrophe happened on his watch, no matter how much he now opportunistically beats up on bankers. He turned on the fountain of cheap money and encouraged the country to swim in it. House prices rose, debt went through the roof and the illusion won elections. Throughout, Brown boasted of the beauty of his regulatory structure, when those in charge of it were failing to ask the most basic questions of financial institutions. The same bankers Brown now claims to be angry with, he once wooed, travelling to the City to give speeches praising their financial innovation.

Does the Prime Minister realise the likely implications when the country joins the dots? He has never been wild on shouldering blame, so I doubt it. But Brown is a historian. He should know that when a nation has put all its chips on red and the ball lands on black, the person who made the call is responsible. Neville Chamberlain discovered this in May 1940 with the German invasion of France.We're some way from a similar event. But do not underestimate the gravity of the emergency and potential for disgrace.The Government's bail-out of the banks in October with £37 billion of taxpayers' money was supposed to have saved the world, according to the PM, but now it is clear that it has not even saved the banks. Our money kept the show on the road for only three months.As the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman Vince Cable asks: where has the £37 billion gone? The answer, as Cable knows, is that it has disappeared down the plug hole.It is finally dawning on the Government that the liabilities of the British banks grew to be so vast in the boom years that they now eclipse the entire economy. Unfortunately, the Treasury is pledged to honour those liabilities because it has guaranteed not to let a British bank go down. RBS has liabilities of £1.8 trillion, three times annual UK government spending, against assets of £1.9 trillion. But after the events of the past year, I wager most taxpayers will believe the true picture is worse. Meanwhile, the assets are falling in value. This matters, because post-nationalisation these liabilities are now yours and mine.And they come piled on top of the rocketing national debt, charitably put at £630 billion, or 43 per cent of GDP. The true figure is much higher because the Government has used off-balance sheet accounting to hide commitments such as PFI projects.Add to that record consumer indebtedness and Britain becomes extremely vulnerable. The markets have worked this out ahead of the politicians, as usual, and are wondering what to do next. If they decide our nation is a basket case, they will make it so. The PM and the Chancellor , both looking a year older every day, tell us that for their next trick they will buy more bank shares, create a giant insurance scheme for bad debt, pledge to honour liabilities without limit, cross their fingers and hope it all works. The phrase bottomless pit springs to mind for a reason: that is what they have designed.In this gloom, the Prime Minister has but one slender hope: that somehow, by force of personality, the new President Obama engineers a rapid American recovery restoring global confidence, energising the markets and making us all forget this bad dream. Obama is talented but he is not a magician. Instead, Gordon Brown's nightmare, in which we are all trapped, is going to get much worse.

Roubini Predicts U.S. Losses May Reach $3.6 Trillion (Update1)
By Henry Meyer and Ayesha Daya

Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. financial losses from the credit crisis may reach $3.6 trillion, suggesting the banking system is effectively insolvent, said New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who predicted last year’s economic crisis. I’ve found that credit losses could peak at a level of $3.6 trillion for U.S. institutions, half of them by banks and broker dealers, Roubini said at a conference in Dubai today. If that’s true, it means the U.S. banking system is effectively insolvent because it starts with a capital of $1.4 trillion. This is a systemic banking crisis.Losses and writedowns at financial companies worldwide have risen to more than $1 trillion since the U.S. subprime mortgage market collapsed in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. President Barack Obama will have to use as much as $1 trillion of public funds to shore up the capitalization of the banking sector, following the $350 billion injection by the Bush administration, Roubini told Bloomberg News. Congress last year approved a $700 billion rescue fund, of which half remains to be disbursed. Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank by assets, posted a quarterly loss of $1.79 billion last week, its first since 1991, and received $138 billion in emergency government funds. Citigroup Inc. posted an $8.29 billion fourth-quarter loss, completing its worst year, and plans to split in two under Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit’s plan to rebuild a capital base eroded by the credit crisis.

Bankrupt System

The problems of Citi, Bank of America and others suggest the system is bankrupt, Roubini said. In Europe, it’s the same thing.Stocks in Europe, Canada and Brazil dropped yesterday on speculation government efforts to shore up the financial industry will fail to stem the deepening global recession. The U.K.’s Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said it expects to post a loss of as much as 28 billion pounds ($41 billion) for 2008 and the government got ready to raise its stake in the lender.

Oil prices will trade between $30 and $40 a barrel all year, Roubini predicted. I see commodities falling overall another 15-20 percent, Roubini said. This outlook for commodity prices is beneficial for oil importers, it’s going to imply that economic recovery might occur faster, but from the point of view of oil exporters, this will be very negative.Oil has tumbled 77 percent from its July high of $147.27 as the global economy sinks into recession, straining the budgets of crude exporters. Saudi Arabia, Oman and Dubai, the second- largest sheikdom in the United Arab Emirates, have said they will post budget deficits this year. Crude oil for February delivery fell to $32.70, down 10.4 percent from last week’s close and the lowest since Dec. 19, on the New York Mercantile Exchange today. The contract traded at $33.37 a barrel at 10:45 a.m. London time. To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Dubai at hmeyer4@bloomberg.netAyesha Daya in Dubai adaya1@bloomberg.net

Ottawa to create $1B fund for hard-hit workers
Updated Fri. Jan. 23 2009 6:26 PM ET TV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government intends to create a $1-billion assistance fund to help workers in struggling industries as part of its upcoming budget on Jan. 27. Government officials say the money will come out of a newly-created fund that will help retrain workers from across Canada - in struggling sectors like forestry, agriculture, and manufacturing -- who will benefit from acquiring new skills. It will be a stronger, more capable workforce -- and one that's prepared for the jobs of tomorrow, a government official told The Canadian Press. We're going to try to protect the jobs of today and prepare for the jobs of tomorrow.The leak of details is a part of the Tories' public-relations campaign leading up to Tuesday's budget. The officials say the retraining fund will be a good investment for the long-term because it will elevate the collective skills of the Canadian workforce. Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt gave limited details of how the fund will work when she spoke to an audience in Sydney, Nova Scotia. I expect we will see a flexible new community adjustment fund in the range of $1 billion, to help communities, like forestry communities, as they adjust to the changing economic climate, she said.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz pledged assistance for farmers in Edmonton. And Human Resources Minister Diane Finley and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced new economic-development agencies for southern Ontario and for the North. The Canadian Press says it is expected that other cabinet ministers will elaborate on details of the plan at events prior to Tuesday's budget. CP reports that included among the measures announced by the government on Friday to help struggling industries are:
$500 million to modernize farms and help provide better equipment.
$50 million to expand slaughterhouses.
$50 million to promote Canada's forestry sector abroad.
$100 million for better forestry technology.
Two new economic development agencies, one for struggling southern Ontario and another for Northern Canada.
Ignatieff speaks out about budget

The upcoming budget will be a deficit budget, with a senior government official telling The Canadian Press that it could be as high as $34 billion this year, with a $30 billion deficit to follow the year after that. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told a Toronto audience that the prime minister was not playing by the rules when he chose to leak parts of the budget at his convenience. I asked Mr. Harper not to play games like that, he said Friday. I told him: Put the facts and figures on the table. Don't let them slip out at his convenience. But the guy just can't help himself.

Ignatieff said the release of budget information was irresponsible and costly to our economy.The Liberal leader also said he did not support having broad-based tax cuts included in the upcoming budget. Liberal finance critic John McCallum repeated Friday that his party will wait to study the entire content of Tuesday's budget before deciding how it will vote. McCallum says the economic stimulus was necessary, but blamed Tory mismanagement for turning a $13-billion surplus before the economic crisis began to a projected deficit of $68 billion. McCallum told CTV's On the Hill that Tories were spending like crazy when times were good, and brought Canada into a much larger deficit situation than it should be, had they spent responsibly and prudently before the economic crisis came to light. McCallum denies any suggestion that there are two groups of Liberals: one that wants to wait for the budget's release before deciding on how to vote, and a more hawkish one that would vote to defeat the budget regardless of what it contains. There's one group -- led by Michael Ignatieff - which says ....we do not decide how to vote on a budget before we read the budget, McCallum said. But the budget must protect the vulnerable, it must protect the jobs for today, and it must prepare for the jobs of tomorrow. And if the budget doesn't pass on those tests, and if the actions in the budget are not proportional to the problems this country faces, then we'll vote against the budget.
With files from The Canadian Press.

Plunging gas prices ease inflation rate in December
Updated Fri. Jan. 23 2009 6:49 PM ET CTV.caNews Staff

Canada's annual inflation rate sunk to 1.2 per cent last month, the lowest level in two years, driven mostly by plunging energy prices. Statistics Canada released the latest Consumer Price Index numbers on Friday. Just one month earlier in November 2008, the inflation rate was 2 per cent. StatsCan said the rise in prices in December 2008, compared to the same month in 2007, was the smallest since January 2007. Gas prices were largely to blame, the agency said. In December of last year, prices at the pump were 25.8 per cent lower than the same month a year earlier. The gas price drop was the largest, year by year, since the gas price index was created in 1949. In November 2008, the drop from the same month a year previous was 14.4 per cent. Excluding gasoline, the Consumer Price Index rose 2.6 per cent in the 12 months to December, down slightly from the 2.8 per cent increase in November, StatsCan said in a release. The 12-month change in the CPI was also tempered by on-going price declines for purchasing and leasing passenger vehicles, women's clothing and fuel oil and other fuels.Douglas Porter, a senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said at present inflation is first and foremost a gas story. But starting in the next few months, we'll see a shift where price drops become more broad-based, he added. Aron Gampel, deputy chief economist with Scotiabank, said inflation hasn't hit rock-bottom yet, and Canadians should prepare for further slowing. In the next month we're going to be talking about it going into negative territory on a more sustained basis, Gampel told CTV's Canada AM on Friday. It's mainly because the economy is weak and pricing power has been reduced. We cut prices to sell goods and of course energy prices have plummeted so much it's pulling the overall inflation rate down.

Porter said he thought it was unlikely, but not impossible, that Canada could eventually see deflation occur -- where a decrease in prices occurs for a prolonged period of time. Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney called the risk of deflation remote.StatsCan said food prices are now the biggest contributor to inflation in Canada. Prices rose 7.3 per cent last month, and 7.4 per cent in November. If food prices were excluded from the equation, inflation would have fallen to zero in December.With files from The Canadian Press.

Syria, Jordan Sign Minutes of Meetings of Land and Sea Transport Joint Companies JAN 24,09

23 January 2009
Amman - Syria and Jordan signed Friday minutes of the meetings of the General Assemblies of the two joint Syrian-Jordanian Land and Marine Transport Companies

Minister of Transport Ya'rob Badr, who signed the minutes along with his Jordanian counterpart Alaa al-Batayneh, said that the two sides agreed to re-estimate budgets of the two companies to overcome the difficulties this year, noting to the agreement on controlling expenditure in order to reduce the operational costs of the two companies to face the negative effects of the global financial crisis. It is scheduled for the General Assembly of the Syrian-Jordanian Company for marine transport to study, in its forthcoming meeting in Damascus next April, proposals of the entry of new naval equipment to take advantage of the new world prices to support the fleet of the company. By Ghossoun SANA (Syria Arab News Agency) 2009.

EU proposes mediation group for Croatia-Slovenia dispute
ELITSA VUCHEVA 23 012009 @ 17:36 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission has suggested forming a special group to help solve the lengthy Croatia–Slovenia border dispute and Finnish former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari could be the person chairing it.Commissioner Rehn has discussed with President Martti Ahtisaari and explored whether he would be available to chair a senior expert group in order to facilitate a solution on the border issue between Slovenia and Croatia, Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson for EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, told journalists on Friday (23 January).According to a Slovenian POP TV report on Thursday, the group would be composed of three people – Mr Ahtisaari; Robert Badinter – the French legal expert who headed the arbitration commission for the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s; and a third member who is reportedly a woman, a legal expert who is not widely known to the public.Mr Ahtisaari, 71, who last year won the Nobel Peace Prize for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts, but who also has a controversial image in the Balkans for having favoured Kosovar independence during his work as the UN's special envoy there from 2005 to 2007, is reportedly open to the proposal.But Ms Nagy declined to confirm the other members of the body, or its size, saying it was premature to do so before Croatia and Slovenia have accepted the commission's initiative.What is important now is not to put the cart before the horse. So, the first step to launch a possible European facilitation is that the two countries agree on the terms and conditions of such facilitation, she said.

Croatia positive, Slovenia cautious

Croatia on Thursday spoke out in favour of the move, with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader hailing the European Commission's proposal.Such an initiative to move away from a frozen position and blocked Croatian [EU] talks is certainly welcomed, he was quoted as saying by Croatian news agency HINA.Slovenia, however, has had a more cautious reaction.It is too early to say whether Ljubljana supports the proposal, the country's foreign minister Samuel Zbogar said, according to Slovenian news agency STA.Yesterday [Wednesday], we had the first meeting, the first presentation, this is still just an initiative, many details remain unclear, he added.Slovenia and Croatia have been fighting over their common land and sea border for over 17 years.

Particularly thorny is a patch of the Adriatic Sea close to the Slovenian city of Piran that would secure Slovenian ships direct access to international waters.The sea-access issue caused Slovenia to block accession talks with EU candidate Croatia in December, arguing that maps that Croatia had provided during its accession process could prejudge a solution to their long-running dispute.Earlier this week, Mr Rehn visited both Ljubljana and Zagreb for talks on the issue. After returning from his visits, he admitted that from initially being a bilateral issue, the border dispute had become a European problem.

IF I HEARD CORRECT YESTERDAY ,IN PRIVATE OBAMA SIGNED AN ABORTION BILL IN HIS OFFICE AND KEPT IT SECRET.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Officials with the incoming administration of Barack Obama have confirmed that he will indeed overturn a pro-life policy of President Bush on his first day in office. Despite campaigning on the rhetoric of wanting to reduce abortions, Obama will make one of his first actions promoting them globally.Meanwhile, some 77 members of Congress have signed onto a letter asking Obama to back down from doing so.President Bush used an executive order on his first day in office to reinstitute a pro-life policy that prevents forcing taxpayers to fund international groups that perform or promote abortions in other countries.

While U.S. law prohibits funding abortions directly, Bush's Mexico City Policy expands the law by also prohibiting the funding of pro-abortion groups that either do abortions overseas or lobby pro-life governments to sacrifice their abortion limits.During the presidential election, pro-life groups issued a clarion call to voters telling them their tax money would be used if Obama were elected and saying he would likely reverse the Mexico City Policy immediately after taking office.The capital publication Congressional Quarterly reports that top Washington officials tell it that the incoming president will reverse the pro-life measure on his first day as president, on Wednesday.When Obama overturns the limits on global abortions, he will do so over the objections of dozens of members of Congress.As a new administration begins, it is our hope you will work, as you have pledged, to create a new era of bi-partisan cooperation. We urge you to continue the Mexico City Policy, which separates abortion and family planning in America's foreign aid programs, the bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote Obama on Friday.They say the policy ensures that United States family planning funds are not co-opted by groups who promote abortion as a method of family planning. Such activities would send a wrong message overseas that the United States promotes abortion.

The members, led by Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado and Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, also say it is insulting to other nations to promote pro-abortion groups that lobby them to overturn long-standing pro-life laws based on their culture and heritage.We also have a responsibility to respect the laws of many developing countries who have laws prohibiting or restricting abortion. It is an insult to fund organizations that are intent on overturning those laws by promoting the Western ideology of abortion on demand, they said.Rep. Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat who sponsored legislation in Congress to reverse the provision, told CQ that somehow putting it in place endangers the health care people in third world nations receive.But Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of National Right to Life, tells LifeNews.com the Mexico City Policy and Obama's reversing it is all about abortion.Thus, it appears Obama's move will take money away from non-abortion groups that provide services to poor people in foreign nations.One effect of Obama's anticipated order will be to divert many millions of dollars away from groups that do not promote abortion, and into the hands of those organizations that are most militant in promoting abortion as a population-control method, Johnson explained.So, a president who not long ago told the American people that he wanted to reduce the number of abortions, is already effectively promoting the increased use of abortion as a means of population control, Johnson added.President Reagan first put the Mexico City Policy in place and it is named for a population conference that took place in the Mexican capital in 1984 when he introduced it.President George H.W. Bush continued the pro-life policy, President Clinton overturned it, and President George W. Bush kept it for eight years and threatened to veto any Congressional spending bill reversing it.
Under the Mexico City Policy, funding for family planning programs is not reduced.

STORY AND VIDEO HAJJ
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86939

MEDIA MATTERSCNN likens inauguration to hajj,rowd cited, That is the initial definition of a pilgrimage, show up January 24, 200912:30 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh 2009 WorldNetDaily

A special CNN report has likened attendance at President Obama's inauguration to participation in the hajj, the pilgrimage to Islam's holy city Mecca that Muslims are required to make at least once. The report is on video and embedded here:
The CNN report was criticized by the FreedomsLighthouse.com blog. Just when you think you have heard everything from the liberal media, they best their own record for ludicrous reporting, said the website report about the CNN video. Here is a CNN report that actually compares the upcoming presidential inauguration to the Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca! I kid you not!The commentary continued: The report never mentions Obama by name, but we did not see any comparisons between President Bush's inauguration and the hajj to Mecca. For the mainstream media, who take such pride in helping to get Barack Obama elected with their incredibly biased reporting, perhaps the inauguration of Barack Obama is a religious event, as they put their faith in the Messianic Obama they helped to create.The report by CNN's Zain Verjee suggested an inauguration trip is similar to another grand event, in both size and preparations, the hajj, the most important religious pilgrimage in the Muslim world.

WND earlier reported on Obama's outreach to Muslims during the inauguration. In his inaugural speech, Obama echoed his previous declaration that the U.S. is no longer a Christian nation, declaring America is a nation of many faiths that includes Muslims and nonbelievers.For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and nonbelievers, Obama stated before a crowd estimated by security officials at more than a million. He continued: We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.Obama's statements about an inclusive country were strikingly similar to remarks he made twice in 2007 in which he went further and stated the U.S. is no longer Christian. At that time, some took issue with his pronouncement, fearing the declarations indicated his intention to reorient the U.S. away from its traditional Judeo-Christian values. The CNN report included Michael Wolfe, the author of 1001 roads to Mecca, who said attendance is significant for any religious pilgrimage.

They're not going to watch it on television. They are going to be there. That's the initial definition of a pilgrimage. Show up, he said. Verjee noted the millions of people at both a hajj and the inauguration. Crowds meeting in a specific city to express a common set of beliefs and to celebrate renewal, that's very much at the heart of pilgrimage, the report said. Commenters on the forum page at the Freedom's Lighthouse site were pointed in their assessment. Well, CNN has been Crescent News Network for a while, said one. WND's earlier report on Obama's outreach to Muslims followed his June 2007 speech available on Youtube in which he stated, Whatever we once were, we're no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.In that speech, Obama took aim at the Christian Right or hijacking religion and using it to divide the nation: Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked. Part of it's because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit what divides us, he said. Asked last year to clarify his remarks, Obama repeated them to the Christian Broadcast Network. I think that the right might worry a bit more about the dangers of sectarianism. Whatever we once were, we're no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers, Obama wrote in an e-mail to CBN News senior national correspondent David Brody. We should acknowledge this and realize that when we're formulating policies from the statehouse to the Senate floor to the White House, we've got to work to translate our reasoning into values that are accessible to every one of our citizens, not just members of our own faith community, wrote Obama.

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETINPartial war looming between China, India?
Military suggests border dispute is threat to Beijing January 23, 2009
12:25 am Eastern2009 WorldNetDaily

Arunachal Pradesh

A border dispute could become the spark that launches China and India into a military conflict, with Chinese strategists resurrecting the concept of a partial war to recover what they call Southern Tibet, the region India calls Arunachal Pradesh, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The area in northeast India has a 650-mile unfenced border with China, which lays claim to the region and refers to it as Southern Tibet. Some of the threats are emanating from Chinese publications that reflect the opinion of the Chinese leadership without making official comments.

For example, the China Institute of International Strategic Studies, or IISS, has said it visualizes two crises for the People's Liberation Army in the immediate future. One was the succession in the North Korean leadership should Kim Jong-Il die. The other was India's continued presence in territory China claims as its own.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND. India regards Arunachal Pradesh as the 24th state in the Indian Union. Yet China still claims much of it as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region and may be prepared to launch an action to regain it. Ironically, the veiled threat comes at a time when China looks upon its relationship with India as being in the best period of their joint history.

Called the land of the rising sun, Arunachal Pradesh means land of the dawn lit mountains, since it is in the Himalayas. The Burma Road, known to have helped supply China during World War II, passes through the region. Burma, or Myanmar, borders on the East. The 650-mile Chinese-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh is separated by the so-called McMahon Line, also known as the Line of Actual Control. The dispute dates back to the time India was ruled by Britain, whose officials in 1914 held a conference over the boundary. In 1962, China and India fought a serious border war, with Chinese troops advancing well into Arunachal Pradesh but later withdrawing. The region flared up again in 1986. Now, the region is becoming a focal point again. A Chinese military website that reflects official positions observed that the border issue may be symbolic of how India looks upon China as the greatest obstacle to its rise. The website suggested that the border dispute over Southern Tibet constitutes a security threat to China and that Beijing may need to adopt a strategy to weaken control of the Indian central government.

Israel's Barak heads to US over Gaza arms smuggling JAN 24,09

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is to travel to Washington next week to discuss the implementation of a bilateral agreement to halt arms smuggling into Gaza, a senior official said on Saturday.He will be the first top Israeli official to travel to Washington since the end of Israel's deadly 22-day offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on January 18 and since President Barack Obama took office.Barak, who will leave on Tuesday, was to meet Secretary of Defence Robert Gates to discuss the implementation of the Israeli-US memorandum of understanding aimed at halting arms smuggling between Egypt and Gaza, he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.The two would also discuss US arms sales to Israel, the official said, refusing to elaborate.Israel tied its unilateral halt of the Gaza offensive to agreements reached with the United States and Egypt on stemming the arms smuggling into the Islamist-ruled enclave, where medics say more than 1,300 people died during Operation Cast.

Syria congratulates Hamas on Gaza victory JAN 24,09

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on the Islamist movement's victory over Israel in Gaza at a meeting in Damascus on Saturday, official media said.Assad congratulated the Palestinian people on the victory scored by the resistance in the Gaza Strip, the official SANA news agency said.Israel's inability to achieve its objectives despite using the deadliest of weaponry is proof of the devotion of the Palestinian people to its territorial rights and its deep belief in victory against occupation and aggression, it quoted Assad as saying.Meshaal and his delegation responded by expressing their deep appreciation of Syria for its efforts at all levels to support the resistance of the Palestinian people in Gaza during and after the Israeli aggression.The Hamas delegation is to set off on a regional tour to thank certain countries which have supported the Palestinian people, SANA added.Syria provides a base in exile for Hamas's political leadership, including Meshaal.The Islamist group has controlled Gaza since June 2007 when it ousted forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Both Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires last Sunday in their 22-day conflict in Gaza.More than 1,330 Palestinians were killed in the war, nearly a third of them children, and vast swathes of Gaza left in ruins.

HORDS OF CATERPILLARS SWARM LIBERIA

PSALMS 20:1-9 PRAY THIS FOR ISRAEL EVERY DAY OF THIS WAR
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

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

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

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

HAMAS AT THERE WORST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptNr0v1p3E

WAR COVERAGE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Special/War/

Guns silent as Gaza edges back to normalcy By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer JAN 23,09

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gaza residents headed for Friday communal prayers and Israeli naval guns were largely silent as grief and shock began to mix with a palpable sense of relief in the coastal strip pounded by weeks of Israeli airstrikes and ground assaults.Gazans filled mosques without fear of Israeli strikes for the first time since cease-fires were declared by Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers Sunday. Residents had endured weeks of non-stop gunfire along Gaza's coast after Israel launched a devastating offensive in late December.Near two destroyed Gaza City mosques on Friday, men spread carpets on sandy ground to prepare for open-air prayers. In the main market of the Jebaliya refugee camp, large crowds shopped ahead of prayers and restaurants fired up huge vats with meat, cooking on wood fires because of a shortage of gas.Fruit merchants boasted shipments of apples and bananas from Israel. One owner said it was the first time in five months he'd been able to sell fresh apples.The three-week Israeli offensive killed 1,285 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Thirteen Israelis were also killed during the fighting, according to the government.Despite signs that life was beginning to return to normal in Gaza, the six-day-old truce remained fragile, and the sides' main demands for a durable cease-fire deal were unmet.Israel insists on guarantees that Hamas will stop smuggling weapons into Gaza and halt its rocket fire on southern Israel, while Hamas wants Gaza's borders open to ensure delivery of vital supplies.President Barack Obama addressed both stands on Thursday, saying his administration supported implementation of a credible system for stopping smuggling and calling for Gaza's borders to be opened for aid shipments, with appropriate monitoring.

Now, just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis is intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians, Obama said. I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days, and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza. Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care, and who have faced suffocating poverty for far too long.Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told The Associated Press during a visit to Jakarta, Indonesia on Friday that he was unimpressed by Obama's comments.It is a real pity what Obama has said, because his statements were a repeat of what the previous president, George W. Bush, has said, Abu Zuhri said.What has actually happened was a form of self defense against Israel's colonization. What Obama should have said was how he could pressure Israel to stop its colonization in Palestine. If he said that, we would really appreciate it.Abu Zuhri said Hamas would keep up its fight against Israel. As we are being colonized, it is our obligation to defend our motherland, he said. We want to free all Palestine, not just Gaza.Hamas' leaders, who claim they won the fight against Israel, appear firmly in control of Gaza and now insist the money needed to reconstruct the devastated territory must go through them. This puts the United Nations and donor countries in a difficult position since Hamas refuses to discuss peace with Israel and is listed as a terrorist organization by both the United States and Europe.Israel, for its part, is coming under fire internationally for what critics say was its use of disproportionate force during its Gaza offensive.

After several cases in the past in which lawsuits were filed abroad against Israeli officers, Israel's government is taking steps to protect military officials from legal action stemming from the Gaza operation.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed a government team to make legal preparations for such action. The team will begin work next week, said Shiri Crispin, a spokeswoman for Israel's Justice Ministry. She would not give more specific details.For the same reason, Israel's military censor issued new orders this week forbidding media from publishing the names or photographs of officers between the rank of company commander and battalion commander. The officers can only be identified by the first letter of their name and their unit. In an interview published Friday in the Israeli daily Maariv, Olmert defended the Gaza operation. He said he cried when he heard about the death of the three daughters of Palestinian physician Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, an incident that was widely covered in Israel because the doctor trained in Israel and has many Israeli acquaintances. cried when I saw this. Who didn't? How could you not? Olmert said.

But Olmert criticized accusations about Israel's cruelty, saying Israel did what it needed to do to stop incessant rocket fire at its civilians and protect its troops.
When you win, you automatically hurt more than you've been hurt. And we didn't want to lose this campaign. What did you want, for hundreds of our soldiers to die? That, after all, was the alternative, he said. Associated Press writers Karin Laub and Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.

Obama lays out vision for Middle East peace byJo Biddle Jo Biddle – Thu Jan 22, 4:58 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama vowed Thursday to aggressively pursue Middle East peace as for the first time since taking office he laid out his vision for ending the age-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.In a sign of his determination to act quickly, Obama and new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named veteran negotiator George Mitchell as a high-profile special envoy to the region.Mitchell, who helped forge a peace deal in Northern Ireland, will travel to the Middle East as soon as possible armed with a commitment to seeking to secure two states living side by side in peace, the new president said.It will be the policy of my administration to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Obama added on his first visit to the State Department since his inauguration on Tuesday.In his most comprehensive comments since Israel launched its deadliest ever assault on the Gaza Strip on December 27, Obama mourned the situation of the Palestinians caught in the recent conflict in the impoverished territory.I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days, and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza.Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water and basic medical care, and who have faced suffocating poverty for far too long.Just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis, is intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians.

But he also warned Hamas militants, who seized control of Gaza in 2007, that they must halt rocket fire on southern Israel and that Washington would continue to support Israel's right to defend itself.For years Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at innocent Israeli citizens. No democracy can tolerate such danger to its people, Obama said.To be a genuine party to peace ... Hamas must meet clear conditions, recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and abide by past agreements.Obama had signaled his intention to put the Middle East conflict high on his agenda when he phoned Arab and Israeli leaders on his first full day in office on Wednesday.And earlier Thursday Clinton also worked the phones and called Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, promising to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East, Palestinian officials said.Obama pledged Mitchell would be leaving as soon as possible for the region to help shore up the fragile Gaza ceasefire. He would also work to secure a wider peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.The new president urged Israel to open up the border crossings into Gaza to allow aid and commerce to start flowing and for relief efforts must be able to reach innocent Palestinians who depend on them.Obama added he would support an international donors conference set to meet in Egypt next month to raise funds to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip.Palestinian officials have estimated the damage from Israel's 22-day offensive against Hamas militants at some two billion dollars.Medics said 1,330 people died and 5,450 were wounded. According to the Palestinian Authority some 4,000homes were razed and 17,000 damaged. Obama also vowed that the United States would support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot rearm.Mitchell, renowned for his negotiating skills honed in Northern Ireland and the Arab-Israeli conflict, immediately pledged my full effort in the search for peace and stability in the Middle East.The president and Clinton believe, as I do, that the pursuit of peace is so important, that it demands our maximum effort, no matter the difficulties, no matter the setbacks.Mitchell, 75, acknowledged there were many reasons to be skeptical about the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But the president and the secretary of state don't believe that. The key is the mutual commitment of the parties, and the active participation of the United States government, he said.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

Freezing weather strikes Florida's citrus groves JAN 23,09

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The National Weather Service said a freeze struck the top citrus state of Florida on Friday, the second straight day of frigid weather in the Sunshine State.The Service issued an alert that a hard freeze warning was in effect for Florida from 2:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. EST (0700 to 1400 GMT).Many locations in the warned area will see three or more hours of temperatures ranging from 20 to 27 degrees Fahrenheit, the government bulletin explained.The citrus crop will suffer damage if temperatures stay at 28 degrees or below for four hours or longer.The Weather Service's alert can be found on: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=tbw&wwa=all

The benchmark March FCOJ contract shed 0.40 cent to 75.40 cents per lb at 8:10 a.m., dealing from 74.50 to 76 cents.Traders said the impact of the cold Florida weather has been limited by bumper supplies and soft demand for juice products.(Reporting by Rene Pastor, Editing by John Picinich)

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Pressure on Prague won't help ratify Lisbon, minister says
ELITSA VUCHEVA 22.01.2009 @ 17:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the Czech Republic is a domestic democratic process, and external pressure aimed at speeding up the process is not helping, Czech deputy prime minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra has said.Mr Vondra - whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency - said he expected the Czech parliamentary committees to finish their work on the treaty in the month of February and then [the treaty] will be passed to the vote of the house and also of the Senate.He stressed that Prague should not be pressured to speed up the process, as the quality of the decision is the most important, rather than the timing.We are a responsible country, but I think you should be aware that this is our domestic democratic process, Mr Vondra told MEPs in the constitutional affairs committee on Thursday (22 January).And any kind of pressure coming from outside is not helpful, I think. Give us a chance to go through that process, he added.

The Czech parliament was expected to ratify the Lisbon Treaty at the beginning of February, but this timetable has slipped.The parliament's foreign committee on Wednesday interrupted its debate on the document without taking a position, adjourning until 15 February, Czech news agency CTK reports.The committee's chairman, Jan Hamacek, said the February plenary vote on the Lisbon Treaty could be postponed too, according to CTK.The Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany and Poland are the four remaining EU states yet to finalise ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

The Czechs' different type of mentality

Meanwhile MEPs also cornered Mr Vondra about comments made by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek in the Strasbourg plenary last week on the Lisbon Treaty.At the time, Mr Topolanek said: The Lisbon Treaty is in fact an average one. It is a little bit worse than [the Treaty of] Nice and little bit better than the future treaty.But the premier was in fact referring to a traditional Czech joke in which one is asked: How do you like this year? and the reply is: Worse than the previous but better than the next one, Mr Vondra explained.The Czech mentality is a bit of a different type of mentality if you compare to former imperial powers such as Spain or the UK, he added, encouraging MEPs to look into Czech history to better understand his country.

EU conservatives accuse left of agit-prop over economy
VALENTINA POP Today JAN 23,09 @ 09:20 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) is likely to keep its majority in the European Parliament in the June elections, as Europeans pick a safe pair of hands in the economic crisis over socialist agit-prop, EPP secretary-general Antonio Lopez-Isturiz told the EUobserver.The general feeling is that we can maintain a good score ahead of the Socialists. Not an absolute majority, but a majority like we have now, more or less, Mr Lopez-Isturiz said.He admitted the EPP would lose some of its seats because in many countries we are in government, and that will have a negative impact.But the Spanish MEP felt confident voters would go for those options that give them security, rejecting as prejudices the ideas that the current economic crisis would damage the centre-right, market economy-oriented parties.We defend the social market economy, because who is going to produce the money for the social services, the working places - is it the state or private enterprise? he asked.

The left-oriented marketing and agit-prop is saying we are responsible for everything. But who were in European governments during the last 20 years? It was the Socialists who had the majority of governments in Europe.The EPP, together with the British Conservative Party-dominated European Democrats, holds 288 seats in the current 785-seat legislature, while the second-largest group, the Party of European Socialists, has 213.Mr Lopez-Isturiz' group is to adopt a party manifesto at its 29 to 30 April congress in Warsaw - the last major EU political group to do so after the Greens, Liberals and Socialists last year.The EPP is also conducting opinion polls ahead of the vote, with the Spanish MEP pointing to German regional elections in Hessen - where Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union won last week ahead of general elections in autumn - as a positive sign.Ms Merkel - one the most prominent EPP leaders - kept calm and is now taking appropriate and reasonable measures to combat the economic downturn while the Spanish socialist government wasted all the money in the first months of the crisis, Mr Lopez-Isturiz said.He pleaded for more powers for the European political parties and described his vision of a future with common EU lists, where European figures such as Angela Merkel, Tony Blair or Nicolas Sarkozy would run against each other. We are producing a common programme, but in the end, it's about national campaigns. [All] we can do, is to be a service provider for national campaigns with European ideas, Mr Lopez-Isturiz explained.

If in the future, a voter from Romania and one from Spain could vote for a common candidate in Europe, that will change things. If Nicolas Sarkozy was head of the EPP list against Tony Blair for the Socialists. Can you imagine those elections? That would be a real European debate! Asked about the democratic credentials of the EPP-Socialist deal on the European Parliament President - where each group appoints its man for two-and-a-half years - the Spanish MEP said in the past it was needed to ensure continuity in the parliament's struggle for democratic scrutiny of EU institutions. But if the Lisbon treaty comes into force, granting the parliament more powers, the arrangement could be scrapped.

Libertas no threat

Mr Lopez-Isturiz said the newly-founded Libertas movement - stemming from the No campaign in Ireland - is not a threat to the centre-right parties because it is not a national option outside Ireland and maybe Great Britain.People tend to vote on 'national options' and national views about Europe. They don't vote for the European People's Party or the European Socialists in these elections, but for their national parties, he argued.This is the irony. Libertas is a eurosceptic movement, but a real [pan-] European one. Yet in Spain nobody is going to vote for Libertas, because it's not a national option, the MEP explained.He said Libertas would be a very strong option in the future, because it's very well financed, however, echoing previous calls in parliament for the group to disclose the sources of its funding.
Meanwhile, the Socialists believe the economic crisis will give them control of the house. This article is part of a series of articles by EUobserver on the forthcoming European parliament elections.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

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

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

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

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

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

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

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI JAN 23,2009

09:30 AM -138.90
10:00 AM -155.47
10:30 AM -129.42
11:00 AM -108.48
11:30 AM -89.12
12:00 PM -140.50
12:30 PM -90.72
01:00 PM -104.49
01:30 PM -48.50
02:00 PM +8.92
02:30 PM -17.34
03:00 PM -90.56
03:30 PM -79.80
04:00 PM -45.24 8077.56

S&P 500 831.95 +4.45

NASDAQ 1477.29 +11.80

GOLD 898.40 +40.10

OIL 46.47 +2.80

TSE 300 8612.50 +125.94

CDNX 859.69 +9.48

S&P/TSX/60 517.77 +8.97

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow -175 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -129 points at high today.
Dow -210 points at low today so far.
Nasdaq on Pace for biggest weekly loss since week ending NOVEMBER 21,2008.
EUROPEAN & US BANKS TRADING DOWN 4%-7%.
Capital one:Credit card spending -11% year over year.
General Electric Q4 Revenue $46.2 BILLION Vs $50.49 BILLION est.
Harley Davidson -18% as worldwide sales fall 13%.
29 of 30 dow stocks are down at start of trading today.
OPEC cuts still can't stop Oil price slide.
Oil opens at $41.54,Gold opens at $880.10.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -7.45%
S&P -8.39%
Nasdaq -7.07%
TSX Advances 405,declines 712,unchanged 240,Volume 673,765,127.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 291,Declines 344,Unchanged 379,Volume 87,866,005.

NYSE STATS 10:30AM
Advances 686,Declines 2,134,Unchanged 89,New Highs 1,New Lows 108.
NASDAQ STATS
Advances 733,Declines 1,494,Unchanged 199.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow -210 points at low today.
Dow -81 points at low today.
NYSE TEMPORARY CHANGE
-Lowers listing requirements from $25 MILLION for 30 trading days to $15 MILLION for 30 consecutive trading days but only till APRIL 22,2009.

STATS AT 1:30PM
Dow -35 points Volume 205,304,124.
S&P +4 points Volume N/A
Nasdaq +19 points Volume 1,211,156,267.
TSX Advances 557,declines 518,unchanged 228,Volume 551,644,111.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 309,Declines 283,Unchanged 301,Volume 63,060,980.

Dow,S&P,Nasdaq have 3rd straight week of losses.
Pfizer ans Wyeth in Talks.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow +29 points at high today.
Dow -213 points at low today.
Dow -0.6% today Volume 370,096,565, -2.5% this week, -7.96% year to date.
Dow year to year range 7449.38-13136.69
S&P 500 +0.5% today Volume N/A, -2.1% this week, -7.89 year to date.
S&P 500 year to year range 741.02-1440.24
Nasdaq +0.8% today Volume 1,995,681,694, -3.4% this week, -6.32% year to date.
Nasdaq year to year range 1295.48-2551.47
Dow Transports -5.8% this week
Russell 2000 -4.7% this week.
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 604,Declines 563,Unchanged 227 Volume 856,957,969.
TSX Venture Advances 370,Declines 344,Unchanged 342 Volume 108,281,323.

China denies manipulating their currency to support exports.

http://www.richardsyrett.com/about.htm
CFRB 1010 IN TORONTO FIRES RICHARD SYRETT AS OF JAN 20,SOME PEOPLE ARE PICKETING THE FIRING IN TORONTO DUE TO HIS RIGHTS TO SPEAK TRUTH (HES BEING SHUT UP BY HIGHER UPS OR SO PEOPLE SAY).

EU states monitor spread of civil unrest
LEIGH PHILLIPS 22.01.2009 @ 20:17 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU member states are intensively monitoring the risk of spreading civil unrest in Europe, as riots over the economic crisis erupt in Iceland following street clashes in Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Greece.The worst street disturbances for 50 years struck Reykjavik on Thursday (22 January), as police streamed a hardcore of a few hundred anti-government protesters in the early morning with pepper spray and then tear gas after an earlier crowd of around 2,000 gathered outside the Althingi, the country's parliament, to demand the government resign. The crowds surrounded the building while banging pots and pans and shooting off fireworks. The demonstrators also lobbed paving stones, rolls of toilet paper and shoes. It was the second day of protests after on Wednesday protesters jostled Minister Geir Haarde's limousine, pummelling it with cans of soft drinks and eggs.

The regular demonstrations have strained the government coalition, with the ruling Independence Party on Thursday saying it realises that there will be elections this year.Iceland is not an EU member, but the protests could result in it being the first European country to see its government brought down by the economic crisis.It's a democracy that has its problems like many other states as a result of the economic crisis, European Commission external relations spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann said.The events in Iceland come hot on the heels of anti-government clashes in Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria in recent days, where economic discontent mixed with local issues erupted in violence.Trade unions in Greece meanwhile warn that further strikes are still likely, after protracted street fighting by students and young workers in December that caused billions in damage.Concern about the spreading unrest is high on the EU agenda, as governments find it increasingly more expensive to borrow money, putting pressure on social programmes.There are concerns. The EU shares them. It is one of the major challenges for the Spring European Council, said a senior EU official, referring to the quarterly gathering of EU leaders.EU ambassadors in Brussels are discussing the issue and receiving regular updates, according to another official, although he added that more intelligence on the situation is needed to see whether the riots are part of a social trend or manipulation by opposition elements.

Lithuania's interior minister visited Latvia to discuss public security problems related to the economic crisis even before the Vilnius and Riga riots last week.
Lithuania is currently collecting all available information about similar events in other member states and sharing it with concerned countries Estonia, France, Germany and Latvia, a Lithuanian diplomat told the EUobserver.Intensive share of information is also taking place between the Baltic states and Poland, he added.Following the ructions in Vilnius, 11 further peaceful demonstrations were organised around the country by trade-unions. Due to the declining economic [situation] and problems raised by it, a possibility of similar meetings still remains, but we hope that riots will not be repeated, he said.

More to come

In a Wednesday interview with the BBC, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, predicted that the economic downturn will cause more unrest.

[It could happen] almost everywhere, in Europe certainly, and also in emerging countries, he said. You've had some strikes that look like normal, usual strikes, but it may worsen in the coming months.Asked which countries were most at risk, Mr Strauss-Kahn mentioned Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia and Belarus. It can be my own country [France], the UK, it can be eastern Europe, he said.The situation is really, really serious, he added.

Ottawa sees $64 billion in deficits over two years By Randall Palmer – Fri Jan 23, 2:11 am ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will post $64 billion in deficits over the next two fiscal years to stimulate a flagging economy but it will return to surplus in five years, a senior government official said on Thursday.The deficits will mark an end to more than a decade of surpluses for Canada, which had been the only member of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations still in the black.The official, an aide to Prime Minster Stephen Harper, said the deficit would be $34 billion in the fiscal year starting April 1 and C$30 billion the following year, and deficits would dwindle thereafter.The world economy has been thrown into a crisis that we can address but whose effects we cannot escape, said the aide, briefing reporters ahead of the minority Conservative government's annual budget, which it will deliver on Tuesday.We did not start the economic crisis but we will take steps to protect the jobs of today while running our economy to create the jobs of tomorrow.The last time Canada ran a deficit was in 1996-97. Next year's will be the largest figure since the $37.5 billion shortfall in 1994-95.Most of the stimulus spending will be short-term so as to prevent a permanent deficit from emerging, he said.In the campaign ahead of the October 14 election, Harper had said a deficit could be avoided, but as the global economy worsened he agreed at a summit in Washington the next month to join in concerted international stimulus efforts.The figure of $34 billion represents roughly 2 percent of the value of the Canadian economy.

Some economists have recently projected that, even without stimulus efforts, Canada would run a deficit of $10 billion to $15 billion. Opposition parties have said they accept the need for short-term deficits but have criticized the government for earlier tax cuts that had eliminated surpluses.The aide said most of the expected deficits stemmed from measures in the stimulus package.BMO Nesbitt Burns economist Doug Porter said he saw an underlying deficit of $10 billion and stimulus of more than $20 billion or about 1.5 percent of GDP for the coming year.This is very close to what I thought would be a reasonable amount of net new stimulus on top of what would've been a fairly sizable underlying budget deficit in any event, so I don't think there's a big shock here, he said.Porter said it would not be enough on its own to pull Canada out of recession, saying the biggest need will be for the U.S. and global economies to stabilize and improve.Also, the economy is going to get a big helping hand from the interest rate cuts. Also, consumers get a hand from lower gasoline prices. All those things together should eventually lead to a recovery, Porter said.The Harper aide said Ottawa's revenues -- including corporate and personal taxes -- have been declining with the economic slowdown but as far as he knew the budget for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, would remain in surplus.(Additional reporting by Jennifer Kwan in Toronto; editing by Rob Wilson)

GE 4Q profit falls 46 pct, hurt by finance unit By STEPHEN MANNING, AP Business Writer JAN 23,09

WASHINGTON – General Electric Co.' fourth-quarter net income fell 46 percent, weighed down by its ailing financial business and capping a difficult year for the industrial giant.The iconic American company that makes everything from refrigerators to jet engines, owns a television network, and runs a huge loan and lease business, has struggled with tumbling profits at its finance arm, a dropping stock price and loss of investor confidence.Shares fell 94 cents, or 7 percent, to $12.54 in morning trading Friday after the earnings report.Investors worry GE will cut its dividend or lose its prized 'AAA' credit rating on account of a brutal recession that has crimped lending at GE Capital and stung its industrial and entertainment businesses.But the company on Friday reaffirmed plans to both pay the $1.24 dividend and defend the rating.We run the company to have a Triple-A credit rating, and we have significantly strengthened our liquidity position, said Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt. We believe the GE dividend provides our investors with a solid return in this uncertain time.GE reported earnings of $3.65 billion, or 35 cents per share, after paying preferred dividends. That was down from $6.7 billion, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier.Results included $1.5 billion in charges related to the restructuring of GE Capital and increased reserves. The company also recorded $1.38 billion in tax benefits during the quarter.The Fairfield, Conn.-based company embarked on a restructuring program last year, cutting the size of GE Capital and slashing jobs at the lending unit and on GE's industrial side. Its industrial units include health care, energy, transportation and consumer products. GE also owns NBC Universal, the parent company of the NBC network.Amid diminished Wall Street expectations, GE's earnings from continuing operations before preferred dividends matched the consensus of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for 37 cents a share.

Quarterly revenue slipped 5 percent to $46.2 billion.

In GE's industrial division, sales in the aviation unit that makes jet engines rose 2percent to $5.1 billion. The transportation unit, which makes equipment like locomotive engines, saw sales rise 20 percent to $1.4 billion. Sales of energy infrastructure equipment, which includes turbines for power plants, rose 21 percent to $11 billion. The medical equipment making health care unit posted a 3 percent decline in sales to $4.8 billion.But GE Capital, which makes consumer and commercial loans, was hit by the crisis that left many banks and financial institutions short of cash and stuck with bad debts. Earnings at GE Capital fell to $1.03 billion from $3.16 billion a year earlier. GE Capital has joined federal programs designed to help lenders raise cash and the company expects its credit losses from bad loans to rise to $9 billion this year.GE company says it expects to have the cash available to make its dividend payments. But analysts point out it plans to raise that money from its industrial businesses that could be hit hard by the global slowdown that could further spending by consumers on GE appliances and big investors on items like GE energy turbines.The company's top credit rating will also likely face close scrutiny from ratings agencies like Standard & Poor's, which warned last month that there is a one-in-three chance GE will lose AAA rating in the next two years, largely due to GE Capital's woes.For all of 2008, GE earned $17.3 billion, or $1.72 per share, down 22 percent from a year earlier. Company revenues grew 6 percent during 2008 to $182 billion.

Obama says stimulus bill should pass by Feb. 16 By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer JAN 23,09

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says it appears Congress is on target to approve a massive new stimulus package by Feb. 16.He spoke Friday after meeting in the White House's Roosevelt Room with top Democratic and Republican leaders from Capitol Hill. Obama says he realizes the package is a heavy lift for many lawmakers, but that the urgent economic crisis demands action.Obama also says that any legislation governing the use of an additional $350 billion in financial industry bailout money must include new measures to ensure accountability and transparency.

REVELATION 9:1-6
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Hordes of caterpillars swarm Liberia, Guinea By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH, Associated Press Writer JAN 23,09

SHANKPALA, Liberia – Liberia's worst caterpillar plague in three decades has spread to neighboring Guinea after swarms of the crop-eating insects devastated more than 45towns in the West African nation, officials said Friday.Thousands of farmers have been unable to venture onto their farms. The 1-inch-long (2-3 centimeters) caterpillars were advancing in the tens of millions, devouring food crops and clogging wells and waterways with excrement, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said.Agriculture experts from Liberia urged that the pests be attacked with aerial spraying quickly before they destroyed even more areas.The outbreak, which began in central Liberia, has been blamed on last year's unusually long rainy season. The invasion already has affected two of the leading food-growing provinces in Liberia, which is still recovering from years of civil war.On Friday, officials said the pests also had invaded Lofa County on Liberia's northern border with Guinea.

The FAO's emergency coordinator in Liberia, Tim Vaessen, confirmed that the caterpillars had entered neighboring Guinea and said the infestation could be a regional problem if it is not attacked soon.Liberian Agriculture Minister Chris Toe said aerial spraying was needed in the central town of Shankpala, 120 miles (200 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Monrovia. The coffee- and cocoa-producing area has been hard-hit by the dark, hairy pests.Bendu Jabateh, whose mud-plastered hut is located close to an infested coffee farm, said she no longer felt safe leaving her two children outdoors.This is becoming a no-go area for us. We cannot go to our farms and we can't have our children play around the town any longer, said Jabateh, cradling her toddler son. They crawl and come into the house.Toe said specimens have been sent to Ghana and the United States to confirm suspicions that the pests are army worms.

About 30 pest control workers were already using manual ground sprayers to try to contain the outbreak in central Liberia. But eradication is a problem — the pests dwell on the leaves of giant forest trees that can rise more than 26 feet (8 meters) and aerial spraying risks further contaminating water sources.In Shankpala, an ill-equipped spraying team has not made any serious impact. Residents instead have lit fires to keep the swarms at pay.When we set fire to certain places around the town, the caterpillars will bypass and attack in different locations so we are ... tired of using fire now, said rice farmer Johnson Kolleh. We need modern methods to fight the spread.In Pelelei, a creek used for drinking water was polluted by the pests' feces.Coffee farmer James Kolleh, 22, explained that some spraying had been done in the town but we were terrified when the chickens that eat the dead pests all died. These caterpillars must be very poisonous.The last time Liberia experienced such pest invasion was 30 years ago, but officials then were able to prevent its spread.

Liberia was ravaged by alternating civil war and coups between 1989 and 2003. The drawn-out conflict left about 200,000 people dead and displaced half the country's population of 3 million.The country — created to settle freed American slaves in 1847 — is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of U.N. peacekeepers.

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

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

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

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

Japan launches rocket with greenhouse-gas probe By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer JAN 23,09

TOKYO – The first satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide emissions was launched into space Friday from a center in Japan, where officials hope to gather information on climate change — and help the country compete in the lucrative satellite-launching business.The satellite — named Ibuki, which means breath — was sent into orbit along with seven other piggyback probes on a Japanese H2A rocket. Japan's space agency, JAXA, said the launch was a success, but officials there said they were monitoring the satellites to make sure that they entered orbit properly.

Ibuki, which will circle the globe every 100 minutes, will store information on greenhouse gas levels around the globe for the next five years. The data will be shared with NASA in the United States and other space and scientific organizations.

Meanwhile, the U.S. space agency will launch a similar satellite in one month that will map the global distribution of carbon dioxide.Officials said the Ibuki satellite mission was the first of its kind. It is equipped with optical sensors that measure reflected light from the Earth and check the density of carbon dioxide and methane, two gases that are considered to be the main contributors to global warming.Global warming is one of the most pressing issues facing the international community, and Japan is fully committed to reducing CO2, said Yasushi Tadami, an official working on the project for Japan's Environment Ministry. The advantage of Ibuki is that it can monitor the density of CO2 and methane gas anywhere in the world.There are currently 282 land-based sites to monitor carbon dioxide, and Ibuki's capabilities will boost that substantially, especially in developing nations where monitoring is difficult.So far, the number of ground-based carbon dioxide observation points has been limited, and they have been distributed unequally throughout the world, JAXA said on its Web site. Ibuki will enable the precise monitoring of the density of carbon dioxide by combining global observation data sent from space with data obtained on land, and with simulation models.Ibuki, which will orbit at an altitude of about 415 miles (670 kilometers), will monitor the levels of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations. It was launched from a site in Tanegashima, a remote island about 600 miles (970 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo.

Along with its scientific mission, the launch of the piggyback satellites was seen as crucial to Japan, which is trying to demonstrate its domestically developed H2A rocket can compete in the global commercial launching business.Japan has long been one of the world's leading space-faring nations and launched its first satellite in 1970.But it has been struggling to get out from under China's shadow in recent years and gain a hold in the global rocket-launching industry, which is dominated by Russia, the U.S. and Europe's Arianespace.JAXA says the latest launch itself cost about 8.5 billion yen ($96 million), the lowest ever. The standard for a competitive launch — set by Russia's Proton rocket — used to be around 7 billion yen, but has now risen to around 9 billion.JAXA officials said the agency has already selected four other piggybacks for a launch in 2011.Earlier this month, Japan got its first commercial order to launch a satellite on an H2A. The agreement — which plans to liftoff after April 2011 — is with South Korea.Associated Press writer Shino Yuasa contributed to this report.

Pending EU deal to take Iran group off terror list By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer JAN 23,09

BRUSSELS, Belgium – European Union diplomats have reached tentative agreement to remove an Iranian opposition group from the 27-nation bloc's list of terrorist organizations, officials said Friday.A final decision on the status of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran is up to the EU foreign ministers, who meet Monday, said a diplomat who asked not to be named in line with standing practice.Another official dealing with the matter confirmed that the panel of EU ambassadors had agreed to recommend that the group be removed despite protests by Iran, where the Mujahedeen are an illegal opposition group.The move could further complicate EU relations with Tehran at a time when the two sides are negotiating on that nation's nuclear program, which the European Union and the United States fear is being used to build atomic weapons.The Mujahedeen have been on the U.S. State Department's terror list since the mid-1990s.They were placed on the EU list in 2002. If the foreign ministers agree to remove the Paris-based group, it will be the first time an organization has been de-listed by the EU.The European Court of Justice has repeatedly ruled that EU governments have failed to prove the group is a terrorist outfit.

The People's Mujahedeen, known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, is the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is based in Paris. The council said it is dedicated to a democratic secular government in Iran.It was founded in Iran in the 1960s and helped followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrow U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979.But the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq fell out with Khomeini, and thousands of its followers were killed, imprisoned or forced into exile.The group insists that its terrorist designation is unfair, saying it renounced violence in 2001 and hasn't kept any arms since 2003.The group had established a camp for about 3,500 members in Iraq, which its forces used to launch cross-border attacks into Iran. After U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, American troops removed the group's weapons and confined its fighters to the camp.Although the U.S. has branded the group a terrorist organization, Washington does not want its members deported to Iran. However, the Iraqis have been unable to find a third country to take them in.Iraq has controlled the camp since Jan. 1, but U.S. troops are still there watching over the camp.

DISEASES

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

More than 50,000 Zimbabweans with cholera: WHO Fri Jan 23, 7:22 am ET

GENEVA (AFP) – More than 50,000 people are now infected with cholera in Zimbabwe's epidemic, which has so far killed 2,773 people, the latest figures from the World Health Organisation said on Friday.Most alarming is a mortality rate of 5.7 percent, said a statement from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) -- a fact which indicates the outbreak is still far from under control.Overall, this signifies a 20 percent increase in cholera deaths over the past week and rings alarm bells about the need to push back this epidemic and better fund the humanitarian effort on the ground, said the statement.Tony Maryon, head of the IFRC team in Zimbabwe, said: Because of the severity of this outbreak, we fear that it will take many more weeks to get it under control.Aid agencies have for several weeks been preparing for a worst-case scenario in which the rainy season spreads the infection to 60,000 people.But although the IFCR launched a Zimbabwe Cholera Emergency Appeal on December 23 for 9.2 million dollars (6.6 million euros), it is currently 60 percent underfunded.We are active in all of the affected areas, said Emma Kundishora, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Red Cross.Our volunteers and staff are on the ground, producing clean water, establishing and supporting sanitation and treatment facilities and passing on life-saving health awareness messages.But the battle against the epidemic has been hampered by the strike over pay by Zimbabwe's doctors.

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

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

ISRAELS TROUBLE

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

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

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

THE BIBLE SAYS ISRAEL WILL BE HATED IN THE LAST DAYS BECAUSE OF GODS NAME (JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD).

Germans buy up Nazi news reprints By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 22, 4:13 pm ET

BERLIN – A headline proclaiming Huge Fire in the Reichstag greeted Germans at newsstands Thursday — and although the story is more than 70 years old, customers are snapping it up.Dieter Grosse, who runs a newsstand at Berlin's busy Friedrichstrasse station, said he has sold about 600 copies of Zeitungszeugen — a new publication that reprints Nazi-era newspapers — since it first edition went on sale Jan. 8.But the project has drawn criticism from Jewish organizations and officials in the German state of Bavaria, who fear the reproductions could be misused by neo-Nazis.Stephan Kramer, general secretary of Germany's Central Council of Jews, argues the project is dangerous because the historical context printed along with the original newspaper pages is not strong enough to prevent abuse by extremists.These copies are nothing more than examples for the neo-Nazis ... and I do not think they should be allowed to be sold in German newsstands, Kramer said.

Zeitungszeugen, a word play on the German words for newspaper and witness, focuses on newspapers from the years the Nazis were in power — from 1933 to 1945.Thursday's second edition features a reproduction of the March 1, 1933 front page of the Nazis' Voelkischer Beobachter newspaper, which includes a column by chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels blaming Communists for setting the national parliament, the Reichstag, alight. Adolf Hitler seized on the event to consolidate his power.

Zeitungszeugen includes a spectrum of publications from far left to far right, and prints commentary and analysis by historians to explain their significance.Kesslin Nowak, who is studying to become a history teacher, said she thought the publication could be a useful teaching tool.I think that it is helpful to be able to show students with this paper what the originals really looked like, Nowak said after purchasing the second edition.The London-based publisher Albertas Limited says the paper is meant to provide a historical overview of the events leading up to and throughout World War II.It says the project was targeted to coincide with this year's 60th anniversary of the founding of Western Germany and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which paved the way for German reunification.But officials in Bavaria have vowed to take legal action to block further editions from appearing on newsstands, saying it violates copyright and post-World War II German laws stating it is illegal to display or reproduce symbols used by the Nazis, unless for scientific or educational purposes.Bavaria inherited rights to most of Nazi publications, including Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, after the war.Editor-in-chief Sandra Paweronschitz insists the paper is fully legal and argues it provides insight into the social setting of the time.What I find so interesting about this project is ... that newspapers offer such a wide view in the attitudes about and atmosphere of daily life, Paweronschitz said. It is very amusing sometimes, very informative and enlightening to read.

A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.

REVELATION 13:11-18
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
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

THE FUTURE FALSE POPE WILL BE A POPE LIKE THIS THAT SECRETLY HATES ISRAEL.

Jews outraged by Holocaust denying bishop JAN 23,09

VATICAN CITY – Rome's chief rabbi has asked the Vatican to halt reported plans by Pope Benedict XVI to rehabilitate an ultraconservative bishop who denies the Holocaust.Richard Williamson says in a Swedish state TV interview that historical evidence is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed.Rabbi Ricardo Di Segni says it is inconceivable the pope didn't know Williamson's views.

Two newspapers reported Thursday that Benedict will lift the excommunications of Williamson and three other bishops consecrated by the late French ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.Lefebvre had rebelled against modernizing church reforms of the 1960s. Those who followed him were expelled.The Vatican declined comment.

Vatican launches Pope YouTube channel By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer JAN 23,09

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI joined U.S. President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II on Friday by launching his own YouTube channel, the latest Vatican effort to reach out to the digital generation.The Vatican said it was launching the channel to broaden Benedict's audience while also giving the Holy See better control over the papal image online.In his inaugural foray, Benedict welcomed viewers to this great family that knows no borders and said he hoped they would feel involved in this great dialogue of truth.The site, http://www.youtube.com/vaticanit, was launched the same day the pontiff praised as a gift to humanity the benefits of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace in forging friendships and understanding.But Benedict also warned that virtual socializing had its risks, saying obsessive online networking could isolate people from real social interaction and broaden the digital divide by further marginalizing people.

And in his message for the World Day of Communications, he urged producers of new media to ensure that the content respected human dignity and the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality.The 81-year-old pope has been extremely wary of new media and their effect on society, warning about what he has called the tendency of entertainment media, in particular, to trivialize sex and promote violence.But Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, who heads the Vatican's social communications office, said the pope fully approved of the Vatican YouTube channel, saying Benedict was a man of dialogue who wanted to engage with people wherever they were.It's true that not all of humanity is found on YouTube, but millions of people meet on YouTube, Celli told reporters.Benedict is joining the White House, which launched its own YouTube channel after Obama's inauguration day, as well as Queen Elizabeth II, who went online with her royal YouTube channel in December 2007.Celli likened the Vatican channel to the pontiff's pilgrimages around the world, in which he meets with millions of the faithful. The Internet and YouTube, Celli said, allowed for a more intimate interaction during which the user enters in a personal dialogue with the pope.Celli said the Vatican was launching the channel in part to have some control over the pontiff's image, which he said already was being used on sites respectful of the papacy and not.It's undeniable that certain images are already circulating, Celli said. While there is little the Vatican can do legally to shut down blasphemous or pornographic sites that use the papal or other Church images, he said it can at least control the content of what it puts up on its own channel.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Vatican hoped that YouTube owner Google, Inc., would help the Holy See determine where Vatican images are being used so that it can better protect its own images.He said no money exchanged hands to launch the channel and that the Vatican wouldn't earn anything with publicity. We didn't pay a cent to Google, he said, adding that the channel was the Vatican's offer to the world.The Vatican plans to update the YouTube site daily with the most important papal news items that are produced by the Vatican's television station, CTV. The messages are available in Italian, German, English and Spanish.Google's managing director for media solutions, Henrique de Castro, said Google was working out details to ensure the site was available in China, where authorities occasionally block foreign news sites. The Vatican and China have no diplomatic relations, and Church authorities have accused Beijing in the past of blocking the faithful's access to the pontiff's messages.Celli said the YouTube channel was the next logical step after the Vatican entered the digital age on Christmas Day in 1995, launching its Web site, http://www.vatican.va, with Pope John Paul II's traditional Urbi et Orbi message. The site has been expanded over the years and now includes virtual tours of the Vatican Museums, audio feeds from Vatican Radio, as well as the Vatican's daily news bulletin and key Church documents.