CANADA PLEDGES 135 MILLION TO HAITI

CAIR fears exposure in teen convert case-Muslim group shaping Rifqa Bary story to protect Islam January 19, 2010 12:44 am Eastern By Art Moore 2010 WorldNetDaily

Attorney Angela M. Lloyd listens to Rifqa Bary at Dec. 22 hearing (Photo: Columbus Dispatch.Fearing harm to Islam's image in the U.S., the Council on American-Islamic Relations is assisting the Muslim parents of an Ohio teen who claims she had to flee for her life last summer because she converted to Christianity, portraying her as a victim of brainwashing while moving to bar any mention in court of the religion's mandate to kill apostates, according to an Ohio pastor who himself is a former Muslim. Jamal Jivanjee, director of the non-profit ministry Illuminate, told WND he met 17-year-old Rifqa Bary before the current controversy over her conversion – which friends say took place four years ago – and is absolutely convinced the Sri Lanka native is a genuine Christian. He affirms Bary's claim that her life is threatened by her father, due to his religious beliefs and the Columbus, Ohio, mosque that pressured him to punish her in accord with Islamic law. CAIR, the subject of a blockbuster expose by WND Books documenting its terror ties, was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest U.S. terror-finance case in history. The FBI responded by cutting off its once-close ties to CAIR. The Muslim group has sued the father and son who carried out an undercover investigation that obtained internal documents published in the book Muslim Mafia.

Get the book that exposed CAIR from the inside out – from WND's Superstore! Jivanjee says CAIR appointed a local lawyer, Omar Tarazi, to cast Bary as a victim of brainwashing by another Ohio pastor, Brian Williams, and the Florida pastors to whom she fled, Blake and Beverly Lorenz, while maneuvering to isolate and discourage her.
Law enforcement officials conducted two investigations in which they concluded Rifqa would face no harm if she returned home. A foster court, nevertheless, place her in foster care until the case could be resolved. An Ohio judge ruled Dec. 22 her family could engage in a discussion with her about their religious beliefs, though not necessarily in person, and rescheduled a trial for Jan. 28 to determine her dependency. A hearing is scheduled for today to consider various motions ahead of the trial, including a request to move Bary to a different foster home for her security, because the location of the current one has been compromised. Bary's legal advocates are employing a narrow strategy of persuading the court that she should become a dependant of the state simply because of conflict in the home, without mention of Islamic influences. In Ohio, achieving dependent status doesn't require proof of criminal intent, Jivanjee points out. Ohio Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Gill has barred the attorneys from talking about the case to reporters.

Rifqa Bary's lawyers have been criticized by many of her supporters for complying with Tarazi's desire to keep religious motivations out of the case. Observers with knowledge of Islam, such as author and Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer and blogger Pamela Geller, assert the case is inescapably about the religious beliefs of her parents and the local mosque that pressured them to abide by Islam's deadly intolerance for conversion. Tarazi also has asked the court to ban any witnesses from mentioning incidents between Rifqa and her parents that took place more than 24 hours before she ran away. CAIR's agenda is to paint a positive view of Islam and defend the image of Islam here in the West,Jivanjee told WND.That's why I think they're interested in the case.Jivanjee told WND, however, he expects to be called as a witness and insists it will be impossible to explain why Rifqa left home without discussing Islam. He says Tarazi's insistence on fighting Rifqa's attempt to become a dependant of the state makes it more likely a spotlight will be shone on Islamic doctrines and practices that sharply conflict with traditional American ideals. Geller, meanwhile, pointing to the judge's order and the reluctance of Rifqa's court-appointed attorney, is skeptical that any religious evidence will be entered in the case and believes the teen needs new legal counsel.

Cut off

Rifqa Bary says her father, Mohamed Bary, threatened her life after learning of her conversion. She says she became a Christian four years ago, long before she met Williams and the Lorenzes, but was baptized by Williams last year. When her parentsbegan preparing to move the family back to Sri Lanka, she sought refuge with the Lorenzes after connecting with them on the social networking site Facebook.com. The Barys reported their daughter missing to Columbus, Ohio, police July 19 then tracked her down to the Lorenz home in Orlando. At the December hearing, Tarazi withdrew a motion to block third parties from communicating with Rifqa, including the hundreds of Christmas cards, notes and messages she had received from supporters worldwide. But the parties came to an agreement that all communications must be screened by Rifqa's court-appointed guardian ad litem. As a result, according to Jivanjee, since the last hearing, Rifqa has been virtually cut off from the outside world. She has no official visitors list, he said, even though in Florida she was permitted supervised visits, and she has not been allowed to have phone contact with any of her friends. Jivanjee said when he inquired he was told foster children are not entitled to receive phone calls or visits from friends. But between the time she entered Ohio foster care and the Dec. 22 hearing she was allowed to talk on the phone with a few people under supervision, he pointed out.

Radical mosque

In motions submitted to the Ohio court, Tarazi denied connections to CAIR and to the Noor mosque, the Jawa Report blog reported. But when the case was still in Florida, the website said, attorney John Stemberger submitted a 35-page memorandum to the court documenting the mosque's extensive terror ties. Documents identified the mosque's founder and spiritual leader Hany Saqr in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial as one of the top North American leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Also, the mosque's former resident scholar Salah Soltan has appeared at events in the Middle East with designated terrorists. CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land trial in 2007. Tarazi has denied the Noor mosque is involved in funding the case. But a Facebook e-mail sent by Saqr announced Tarazi's appearance as a speaker at Eid morning prayers Nov. 27. The Jawa Report said three independent sources who attended Tarazi's talk said he gave an update on the case and a collection was taken afterward to help finance the case. The Jawa Report also presented photographic evidence of CAIR's management of media in the case. The blog noted in September that CAIR officials were present when Florida investigators interviewed Rifqa's parents.

It's in the Quran

Despite news reports that she converted only last year, Jivanjee says there are as many as 50 people who can testify of her Christian conversion four years ago and her consistent statements of fear of reprisal from her parents since that time. When I started hearing these allegations that she was brainwashed, I couldn't believe it, he said.I thought,They can't be serious.While in Orlando, Rifqa explained her plight in an interview with local WFTV. If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive, she said.In 150 generations in family, no one has known Jesus. I am the first – imagine the honor in killing me.She explained there is great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do it. It's in the Quran.Some of the reporting on the case, such as a Christian Science Monitor report, has conflated the widespread practice of honor killing in Muslim communities – often for bringing shame to a family through immoral behavior – with the requirement under Islamic law to punish apostasy with death. Prominent Islamic scholars, including Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, have asserted the Islam's holy book, the Quran, teaches that rejection of Islam must be punished by death. A convert to Christianity in Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman, was jailed for apostasy in 2006 but released as mentally incompetent after the case drew international attention. All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence mandate death for the apostate, Jihad Watch's Spencer affirmed to WND.Some teach that the female apostate is to be imprisoned until she recants – this is the situation that Rifqa's clueless lawyers and the Ohio court have allowed themselves to be maneuvered into, such that Rifqa is now essentially cut off from the outside world.Jivanjee says he believes CAIR and the Muslim community want to silence Rifqa and hope that she is turned back over to her parents so they can take her back to Sri Lanka.

He points out her family is not in the country legally. A lot of people have said, the whole country is watching her and her family, so if she's sent home, they're not going to do anything to her,Jivanjee said.That may be true. But if she's returned, many believe they will be on the first plane back to Sri Lanka, and there will be no protection for her there. So that's the real danger of this whole thing.Jivanjee says Rifqa fled her home after discovering Mohamed Bary had shut down his longtime jewelry business and the family was making preparations to return to Sri Lanka.

There's just a look

Jivanjee said Rifqa contacted him about a year ago after hearing a recorded talk online in which he recalled his conversion from Islam to Christianity. I was intrigued when I first got the message from her, and I wanted to meet her. I have a daughter who is a little bit younger that her, and I wanted my daughter to meet her and my wife,he said. They set up a meeting, and he was immediately impressed with her faith. I try to communicate this the best I can – but I have never seen such strong faith in my life, he said. Jivanjee said he's had the opportunity to travel around the Middle East and meet with other Muslims who have become Christians. I've heard their stories of suffering for their faith, there's just a look – you can just tell when someone has suffered, he said.And when I meet with Rifqa, I saw the same thing. I saw somebody who went through tremendous suffering, yet she was filled with joy.Jivanjee calls her one of the most loving people I had ever met.In that first meeting I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was the most genuine believer I think I had ever met, he said. And it's hard for me to explain that, but I definitely believe it.Jivanjee said Rifqa came to faith in middle school through a girl in her class who had become a Christian through a youth camp and came back telling all the kids about her faith in Jesus.She started hearing about God in a way she had really never heard and began attending church services with her friend, he said.

You're daughter is an apostate

Jivanjee said Mohamed Bary is highly regarded at the Noor mosque, which began to put pressure on the family last spring after doing some investigative work that concluded Rifqa had become a Christian. They said, Your daughter is an apostate. You need to deal with your daughter, Jivanjee recounted.And that brought a lot of shame on their family. And her father took that very seriously, and they started to threaten to have her taken back to Sri Lanka, to have her dealt with.He said there also were plans to have her put into an institution with uncontrollable girls who convert from their faith. It's like a women's prison, where you're locked up, beaten, all kinds of things,he said.They also threatened to have her forcibly married and also he threatened to kill her.Mohamed Bary originally denied an incident in which Rifqa alleged he raised a laptop to beat her and yelled,If you have this Jesus in your heart you are dead to me and I will kill you.Mohamed Bary later admitted there was an altercation but insists he's never threatened or tried to harm his daughter.Jivanjee, however, says the father's actions are consistent how a pious Muslim father would respond to a daughter who had rejected Islam for Christianity.

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

THE CAYMAN ISLANDS HAS JUST HAD A 5.8 QUAKE.
36 GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SEEK PROOF OBAMA AN AMERICAN LEGEL CITIZEN
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122432
DEMS HAVE VOTING LEGISLATION IN WORKS
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122353
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB3j9fpTKkk&feature=player_embedded

1433 CANADIANS HAVE BEEN LOCATED IN HAITI.
1206 CANADIANS HAVE BEEN EVACUATED HOME FROM HAITI.
12 CANADIANS CONFIRMED DEAD IN THE QUAKE IN HAITI.
699 CANADIANS HAVE NOT BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR YET IN HAITI.
2000 CANADIAN TROOPS ARE IN HAITI.
293 TONS OF FOOD AND SUPPLIES ARE COMMITTED TO HAITI THROUGH THE U.N AND CANADIAN AID GROUPS.
$135 MILLION DOLLARS HAVE BEEN COMMITTED TO HAITI RELIEF BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT.

US troops land at Haiti presidential palace By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU and MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writers – JAN 19,2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – U.S. Navy helicopters touched down on the grounds of Haiti's damaged presidential palace on Tuesday bringing reinforcements in the struggle for security and earthquake disaster relief — several dozen U.S. troops.Haitians jammed the fence of the palace grounds to gawk, some cheering as the soldiers emerged.We are happy that they are coming, because we have so many problems, said Fede Felissaint, a hairdresser.Given the circumstances, he did not even mind the troops taking up positions at the presidential palace.If they want, they can stay longer than in 1915,he said, a reference to the start of a 19-year U.S. military presence in Haiti — something U.S. officials have repeatedly insisted they have no intention of repeating.A week after the magnitude-7.0 quake struck, killing an estimated 200,000 people, the U.N. Security Council also was expected to approve additional peacekeeping forces and some 2,000 U.S. Marines who arrived in the region a day earlier were parked offshore on ships.The port remains blocked. Distribution of food, water and supplies from the city's lone airport to the needy are increasing but still remained a work in progress, frustrating many survivors who sleep in the streets and outdoor camps of tens of thousands.Pockets of looting and violence in Haiti's devastated capital are hindering a slow improvement in much-needed aid delivery, and with local and foreign police still thin, some residents have banded together to protect the few possessions they have left.People in one hillside Port-au-Prince district blocked off access to their street with cars and asked local young men to patrol for looters.We never count on the government here, said Tatony Vieux, 29. Never.European Commission analysts estimate 250,000 were injured and 1.5 million were made homeless and many are exasperated by the delays in getting aid.

I simply don't understand what is taking the foreigners so long,said Raymond Saintfort, a pharmacist who brought two suitcases of aspirin and antiseptics to the ruins of a nursing home where dozens of residents suffered.The U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said not all 15 planned U.N. food distribution points were up and running yet. The U.N. World Food Program said it expected to boost operations to feeding 97,000 on Monday. But it needs 100 million prepared meals over the next 30 days, and it appealed for more government donations.The U.S. military says it can now get 100 flights a day through the airport, up from 60 last week, but still could use more. Troops parachuted pallets of supplies to a secured area outside the city on Monday rather than further clog the airport.Meanwhile, rescuers continued finding survivors.International rescue teams working together pulled two Haitian women from a collapsed university building, using machinery commonly nicknamed jaws of life to cut away debris and allow rescuers to pull them out on stretchers. A sister of one of the survivors shouted praises to God when the women emerged.In the city's Bourdon area, a large team of French, Dominican and Panamanian rescuers using high-tech detection equipment said they heard heartbeats underneath the rubble of a bank building and worked into the night to try and rescue a survivor. The husband of a missing woman watched from a crowd of onlookers,I'm going to be here until I find my wife, I'll keep it up until I find her, dead or alive,said Witchar Longfosse.

Elsewhere, overwhelmed surgeons appealed for anesthetics, scalpels, and saws for cutting off crushed limbs. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, visiting one hospital, reported its staff had to use vodka to sterilize equipment.It's astonishing what the Haitians have been able to accomplish,he said. Violence added to complications in places. Medical relief workers said they were treating gunshot wounds in addition to broken bones and other quake-related injuries. Nighttime was especially perilous and locals were forming night brigades and machete-armed mobs to fight bandits across the capital. It gets too dangerous, said Remi Rollin, an armed private security guard hired by a shopkeeper to ward off looters.After sunset, police shoot on sight.In the sprawling Cite Soleil slum, gangsters are reassuming control after escaping from the city's notorious main penitentiary and police urge citizens to take justice into their own hands. If you don't kill the criminals, they will all come back, a Haitian police officer shouted over a loudspeaker. Alain Le Roy, the U.N. peacekeeping chief, said there are often unruly crowds at points where food and water is being distributed and said Haitian police had returned to the streets in only limited numbers.A Security Council vote was expected to add 1,500 more U.N. police and 2,000 more peacekeepers to join the 9,000 or so U.N. security personnel in Haiti. Thousands are streaming out of Port-au-Prince, crowding aboard buses headed toward countryside villages. Charlemagne Ulrick planned to stay behind after putting his three children on a truck for an all-day journey to Haiti's northwestern peninsula. They have to go and save themselves, said Ulrick, a dentist.I don't know when they're coming back.U.S. and Haitian officials also warned any efforts of Haitians to reach the United States by boat would be thwarted. Haiti's ambassador in Washington, Raymond Joseph, recorded a message in Creole to his countrymen, urging them not to leave. If you think you will reach the U.S. and all the doors will be wide open to you, that's not at all the case,Joseph said, according to a transcript on America.gov, a State Department Web site.And they will intercept you right on the water and send you back home where you came from.
Associated Press writers contributing to this story included Tamara Lush, Jonathan M. Katz, Michelle Faul, Kevin Maurer in Port-au-Prince; Ramon Almanzar in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Raf Casert in Brussels; Larry Margasak and Pauline Jelinek in Washington.

I STILL CAN NOT BELIEVE THE U.N MADE THE DOCTORS LEAVE A MAKE SHIFT HOSPITAL THE OTHER DAY WHILE CNNS SANJAY GUPDA WAS LEFT TO CARE FOR 100 SICK AND HURT HAITIANS HIMSELF.THE U.N THE NEXT DAY DENIED THEY PULLED THE DOCTORS AND WORKERS.

UN defends aid work in Haiti, praises US efforts
JAN 19,2010

GENEVA – The United Nations says its earthquake relief coordination is working well in Haiti, dismissing criticism over how the U.S. controls the Port-au-Prince airport.

U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs defended U.S. efforts, saying the airport wouldn't be working without U.S. military help and crediting the U.S. with bringing great aid and expertise to the impoverished nation.Her comments come after an agreement Monday to ensure that the U.S. would give aid flights priority in landing in the Haitian capital. The U.S. had been criticized for giving military and rescue aircraft top landing rights.Byrs said the U.N. was in charge of coordinating aid. But she declined to say how its relationship with the U.S. worked, saying American missions didn't require U.N. authorization.

Haiti quake creates thousands of new orphans By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writer – JAN 19,2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The 5-month-old patient at the Israeli field hospital has a number rather than a name.No one even knows who dropped the barely conscious child at the makeshift medical center after he was pulled from the debris of a collapsed building four days after last week's catastrophic quake. Now recovering, doctors have a difficult decision ahead.What will we do with him when we are finished? said Dr. Assa Amit of the hospital's pediatric emergency department.No one knows who the boy's family is, or whether any of his relatives are alive.Tens of thousands of children have been orphaned by the earthquake, aid groups say — so many that officials won't venture a number. With so many buildings destroyed and growing chaos in the capital, it is conceivable that many children are alone.As yet they are still on the streets,said Elizabeth Rodgers, of the Britain-based international orphan group SOS Children.Without doubt, most of them are in the open.Even before Tuesday's deadly magnitude-7.0 earthquake, Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, was awash in orphans, with 380,000 children living in orphanages or group homes, the United Nations Children's Fund reported on its Web site.Some of the children lost their parents in previous disasters, including four tropical storms or hurricanes that killed about 800 people in 2008, deadly storms in 2005 and 2004, and massive floods almost every other year since 2000. Others were abandoned amid the Caribbean nation's long-running political strife, which has led thousands to seek asylum in the U.S. — without their children — or by parents who were simply too poor to care for them.

International advocacy groups are trying to help, either by speeding up adoptions that were already in progress, or by sending in relief personnel who could potentially evacuate thousands of orphans to the U.S. and other countries.On Monday, the Dutch government sent a planeload of immigration officials to Haiti who will try to locate and evacuate 100 children who were already being adopted by Dutch parents.
Also Monday, Indiana-based Kids Alive International, which runs orphanages around the world, is expected to take 50 Haitian orphans to group homes in the Dominican Republic, the organization said in a news release.U.S. Homeland Security spokesman Sean Smith said Monday that orphans who have ties to the U.S. — such as a family member already living here — are among those who can get special permission to remain in the United States.Notwithstanding the U.S. policy, the Catholic Church in Miami is working on a proposal that would allow thousands of orphaned children to come permanently to America. A similar effort launched in 1960, known as Operation Pedro Pan, brought about 14,000 unaccompanied children from Cuba to the U.S.Under the new plan, dubbed Pierre Pan, Haitian orphans would first be placed in group homes and then paired with foster parents, said Mary Ross Agosta, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami.We have children who are homeless and possibly without parents and it is the moral and humane thing to do, Agosta said.Archdiocese officials said many details would have to be worked out and President Barack Obama's administration would have to grant orphans humanitarian parole to enter the U.S.

In the meantime, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said the United Nations is establishing a group whose mission on the ground in Haiti will be to protect children — orphans and non-orphans alike — against trafficking, kidnapping and sex abuse.And orphanages that were operating in Haiti before the earthquake are scrambling to keep their kids safe, sheltered and fed. Those with damaged buildings are pledging to rebuild and take in more children, if needed. Three of the four orphanages operated in Port-au-Prince by Planting Peace, a Melbourne, Fla., nonprofit, have been damaged, forcing staff to move everyone into one building. They are now trying to secure homes in Haiti for the kids, the group's founder, Aaron Jackson, told The Associated Press in an e-mail. Rainn Wilson, who appears in the TV show The Office, is raising money for the group, Jackson said. Jackson said all 37 of his orphans are physically fine and he would like to help more children. There needs to be some communication from the government level about what we need to do. Can we take these children? he said.We're ready. We've already raised a fair amount of money where we can go out and get an orphanage running soon.Sherrie Fausey had to evacuate 30 children from her Christian Light Foundation orphanage in the capital after her facility was badly damaged in the quake. Fausey, a former Florida elementary school teacher who came to Haiti 10 years ago, acknowledges that her job —daunting before the quake — has become even more challenging now. Wherever the Lord sends you, he'll make you content to be there, she said.Times can be hard, but I'd rather be here in all this rubble. It's where my kids are.At the Israeli field hospital, doctors are expecting to treat many more orphans in the coming days.

On one of the hospital's stretchers, Patient No. 236, a 6-month-old boy, lay on a hospital stretcher, crying in pain. Relatives brought him to the medical center shortly after the disaster, then left. They didn't tell anyone the boy's name. Doctors suspect the infant had meningitis long before the earthquake — and they also suspect that no one is coming back for him. We will wait to discharge him until there is a facility that can grant continuous care,Amit said. Associated Press Writers Curt Anderson and Matt Sedensky in Miami and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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.

REVELATION 12:12-16
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Storms in Mideast kill British tourist, 6 others By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jan 18, 6:17 pm ET

CAIRO – Rare torrential rains across the Middle East swept away homes, marooned resort towns and killed seven people Monday, including a British tourist, in what officials are calling the worst flooding in at least a decade.The flooding along Egypt's Red Sea coast, the border with Israel and in the south left six people dead. It also damaged the roads leading to the resorts in the Sinai desert and brought down telephone and power lines.Israel temporarily closed its southern border crossings with Egypt and Jordan, while Jordanians were warned off the streets after nearly a dozen accidents in one area.Rains of this magnitude, which began Sunday night, are rare in this largely arid region and where heavy precipitation can result in sudden and deadly flash floods.A British tourist sailing down the Nile near the southern Egyptian city of Aswan died when his sail boat capsized in the heavy winds and sudden rain. The victim's wife and two companions, a Canadian and an Indian, survived, according Maj. Gen. al-Shafei Hassan, chief of criminal investigation in the southern city of Aswan.The heavy rains also washed away a dozen mud brick homes in southern Egypt and killed two women there. Scores of families in Aboul-Rish village in Aswan slept overnight outdoors after their homes were destroyed.In the famed monument city of Luxor, just to the north, the bad weather caused power failures in several neighborhoods and disrupted Nile cruises, sailboat and ferry schedules.In neighboring Israel, a woman drowned when her car was caught in a flash flood in the south, where stormy weather also blocked the main road to the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

A bridge also collapsed near a cargo crossing between Egypt and Israel

Flooding wiped out large sections of a major road in Egypt's south Sinai and destroyed two dozen homes in Ras Sudr, according to Mohammed Fayez, the head of emergency services.The heavy rains also killed one woman, left 14 missing and damaged the roof of Sharm el-Sheik's old airport, he said. President Hosni Mubarak flew to Sharm el-Sheik and inspected the damage.Egypt's Middle East News agency reported that Mubarak ordered compensation be paid to the victims of the floods and he advised against the building of traditional mud brick homes.Witnesses in Taba, another tourist resort across the border from Israel, said the churning waters swept the sand on the beaches out to sea.In northern Sinai, officials at the provincial operation room dealing with the crisis said the flooding destroyed over 100 homes and many village huts.Mohammed al-Kiki, a local government official, said a flash flood overcame a dam and a man was killed near the border with Israel.Finally in the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada, a 24-year-old Egyptian woman drowned when flooding swept her off a main road, according to the state news agency.The agency also reported five Egyptian ports on the Red Sea were also shut because of stormy seas, and lack of visibility.Associated Press Writers Amy Teibel in Jerusalem and Ashraf Sweilam in North Sinai contributed to this report.

Second in series of storms expected to hit Calif.
Tue Jan 19, 7:07 am ET

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. – Authorities and residents of Southern California are bracing for another day of rain as the second of three back-to-back storms expected to hit the state this week approaches the coast.Forecasters posted a flash flood watch early Tuesday for areas scarred by last summer's wildfires in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. High surf advisories, issued Monday, also were in effect into Tuesday, with wave heights of 15 to 18 feet reported along the Central Coast from Point Conception north to Cape San Martin.Thus far, LA appears to be doing well, but the passing of this storm simply closes one chapter in a never-ending story, Brian Humphrey, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said Monday.A rainstorm that pounded much of the state Monday moved on without causing major damage, but not before prompting evacuations, cutting power to thousands and forcing even Disneyland to close several hours early.Like Monday's storm, Tuesday's is expected to bring rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches along the coast and valleys and up to 6 inches in the mountains. The next system will be colder and could drop snow coverage from mountain peaks to elevations 5,000 feet off the ground, said Bill Hoffer, spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.Forecasters said storms lasting through Friday could drop a total of 20 inches of rain on Southern California.The weather could clear up by Sunday, but another Pacific storm could be in the offing for early next week, Hoffer said.On Monday, authorities ordered nearly 200 homes evacuated or put on alert in foothill communities just below areas devastated by the massive Station wildfire, which charred more than 250 square miles of the Angeles National Forest in August. By Monday night, authorities had invited all residents to return in after the storm had passed.More than 100 homes were evacuated or placed on alert in La Canada Flintridge through most of Monday afternoon. Authorities also evacuated 83 homes about seven miles away in Los Angeles' San Fernando Mountain foothills for several hours.

Another 300 homes were isolated in a remote canyon neighborhood in Altadena for part of the day after debris being carried downstream stacked up against a small bridge and caused flooding on an access road. Los Angeles County fire Inspector Steve Zermeno said crews had the debris clear by nightfall.About 63,000 customers in Southern California were without power for part of the day as flooding and high winds toppled power lines or sent drivers careening into electric poles.By late Monday, power utility officials said electricity had been restored to more than half of those customers, as crews fanned out across the region to complete repairs.The storm broke a 1993 rainfall record at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, where 1.55 inches of rain were recorded.In Northern California, a plane arriving from Dallas made an emergency landing at San Jose International Airport because of the storm, and a 21-year-old Kern County man was killed when a tree toppled on his house.In Orange County, the downpour forced Disneyland to close its gates three hours early and caused a roof to collapse on employees at a medical lab in Santa Ana. No one was injured.In San Bernardino County, authorities in Victorville rescued four teenagers who became trapped by a 6-foot wall of rising water in a storm drain. One of the teens called police to say the group was hanging from a ladder leading to a manhole cover, but didn't know their exact location, police spokeswomen Karen Hunt said in a statement.The teens — ages 19, 17, 16 and 15 — were rescued after a San Bernardino County sheriff who was looking for them heard their cries for help. Hunt did not know why the teens were in the drain, but said it was commonly used as a shortcut to a park.Associated Press Writers Gillian Flaccus and Jacob Adelman in Los Angeles and Louise Chu in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Three children die in Philippine flash flood
Sun Jan 17, 9:14 pm ET

DAVAO, Philippines (AFP) – Three girls, aged nine to 11, were drowned after their village in the southern Philippines was hit by flash floods caused by continued heavy rains, a local official said on Monday.The children were riding a raft down the Gibong river in San Francisco town in the island of Mindanao on Sunday when they were hit by rushing waters that capsized their raft, said village chairman Leopoldo Raya.The drowned bodies of the three were fished out of the river hours later, Raya said, declining to identify the girls.Five days of continuous rains in the south have resulted in floods that have covered five towns and forced several families to evacuate areas which might be vulnerable to landslides, the civil defence office said.

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).

Calif. meat company recalls 864,000 pounds of beef
JAN 19,10

MONTEBELLO, Calif. – A Southern California meat-packing firm has recalled some 864,000 pounds of ground-beef that might be contaminated with E. coli.The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Monday that no illnesses have been reported from the products sold by Montebello-based Huntington Meat Packing Inc. under the Huntington, Imperial Meat Co. and El Rancho brands.The affected beef was sold to distribution centers, restaurants and hotels in California between Feb. 19 and May 15, 2008, and between Jan 5. and Jan. 15, 2010.Huntington did not return a phone message.Officials say department personnel discovered the problem during a food safety assessment.

Gates: US seeks stability between India, Pakistan By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer – JAN 19,10

NEW DELHI – The United States would like to help India and Pakistan focus less on each other and more on the terrorism threat, but the two countries prefer to settle their differences themselves, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.We're always interested in that, Gates said as he flew to New Delhi for talks Tuesday and Wednesday with India's prime minister, defense chief and other officials.Regional stability is very important for everybody involved. I think it's clear that both sides prefer to deal with this bilaterally.Mutual suspicion drives heavy defense spending and large standing armies for both countries. But Gates said India and Pakistan have demonstrated admirable restraint since the three-day terror attack more than a year ago in Mumbai, India.India immediately blamed terror groups in Pakistan, and Pakistan has charged seven men. The siege of the financial center killed 166 people and set back efforts by India and Pakistan to resolve a deal over disputed Kashmir.India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over control of the Himalayan region since their partition, when British colonial rule ended in 1947. A dozen Kashmiri insurgent groups, which seek either independence or merger with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian rule since 1989.In December, Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony said India has withdrawn 30,000 soldiers from Kashmir as rebel attacks decreased over the past two years, but hundreds of thousands of soldiers are believed to remain. Rebel violence broke out anew this month.

On Tuesday, the Pakistani military said Indian troops fired across the border running through Kashmir, killing one Pakistani soldier and wounding another. The Indian military said its troops fired in self-defense after coming under attack from Pakistani soldiers, the second such reported incident in as many days.India and Pakistan control parts of Kashmir and both claim the whole region. The two countries began talks in 2004 to find a solution to the dispute, but New Delhi suspended them after the Mumbai attacks.Still, Gates told reporters traveling with him, Even within the framework of that attack and the suspicions that it created, the two sides have managed to keep the tensions between them at a manageable level.In an opinion piece published Tuesday in the Times of India, Gates called terrorism perhaps the greatest common challenge India and the United States face.Gates said he will encourage the Indian officials to expand defense, information-sharing and logistical agreements with Washington. India is spending billions annually on U.S.-made hardware, although Gates said current agreements prevent India from being able to buy some U.S. weaponry or technology.Gates' visit is the first high-level contact between the United States and India since Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was honored with the Obama administration's first full state visit and dinner in November. The honor has been overshadowed in the United States by embarrassing lapses in presidential security that apparently allowed three people without invitations to attend the dinner. But in India, the state visit was generally seen as a mark of respect and a sign that President Barack Obama wants a better relationship with the world's largest democracy.The Obama overture built on efforts by the Bush administration to negotiate a hard-fought nuclear cooperation agreement. The 2008 nuclear accord permits U.S. businesses to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India and reversed a three-decade ban on atomic trade with the fast-growing, nuclear-armed power.The agreement was the result of three years of often frustrating political and diplomatic wrangling and marked a major shift in U.S. policy toward India after decades of mutual wariness. India had faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974 and has refused to sign nonproliferation accords.

Juncker wants more eurozone activism
ANDREW WILLIS Today JAN 19,10 @ 09:24 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Re-elected as president of the 16-member bloc of EU states that use the euro currency, Luxembourg's prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, spelled out his vision for the group at a meeting of finance ministers on Monday evening (18 January).Previously an informal configuration, the EU's new rulebook - the Lisbon Treaty - gives legal status to the group of euro area finance ministers, setting it the goal of ever closer co-ordination of economic policies within the euro area.The scope for its activities is much broader, Mr Juncker told journalists at a news conference after the meeting, adding that finance minister had approved his outline programme of our future work.Mandated to lead the group for another 2.5 years, the inveterate European politician said members should focus on co-ordinating spending, work to bring their economies closer together and push for a stronger voice internationally.It's not a question of adding bureaucratic layers, but of adding value to our economy, said Mr Juncker.As part of an enhanced co-ordination of member states' economic policy, efforts will be made to reduce the huge imbalances in economic productivity within the group, while perspective members will be subject to more rigorous testing to make sure their economies are up to scratch. Mr Juncker also said the European Commission was set to formally propose that the eurogroup become a member of the Group of 20 major economies and that a small secretariat of four to five civil servants would be set up in the Council of Ministers building in Brussels to prepare the currency club's monthly meetings. The Luxembourgish politician's ability to push the agenda forward will depend on member-state support however, with Franco-Spanish enthusiasm for greater economic co-ordination tempered by German concerns it could lead to an erosion of independence of the European Central Bank.

Greece

Greece was also very much on the agenda of the 16 finance ministers' meeting, after the country presented the commission with a new plan on Friday, outlining how it will cut its budget deficit from the 12.7 percent of GDP recorded in 2009 to under 3 percent by 2012. Particular criticism has been directed at the southeastern country's repeated tendency to provide the European statistics office - Eurostat - with inaccurate data. Also present at Monday's meeting, EU economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the European executive body would propose a plan in February to try to find solutions to the negative aspects and failures of the statistics system in Greece.The action plan, to be followed up with close monitoring, is a further significant step towards a direct EU say on the running of economic policy in a eurozone member state.

European commission delayed as Bulgarian nominee steps down
HONOR MAHONY Today JAN 19,10 @ 12:21 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Following days of questions over her financial interests and her competence to be the EU's aid commissioner, Bulgaria's Rumiana Jeleva on Tuesday (19 January) stepped aside as her country's nominee in a move that is to delay the installation of the new commission for several weeks.Ms Jeleva announced her resignation in a letter sent to commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and Joseph Daul, the leader of the centre-right EPP, her political family.The page long letter, bitter in tone, complains about a three month campaign seeking to fully discredit her, meaning she feared she would not be treated objectively when MEPs in the development committee were due to take their decision on her late on Wednesday.Mr Daul said he was very sorry to hear of her decision and called her the victim of a rather contemptible little squabble.Mr Barroso said he took note of Ms Jeleva's withdrawal and welcomed the swift reaction of the Bulgarian government to this situation.Sofia plans to send Kristalina Georgieva, currently a vice-president of the World Bank, as its replacement candidate.The Socialist group, which had originally gone after Ms Jeleva on financial interest questions and then on her suitability for the post, said her resignation was inevitable and predictable.Her decision to go is the best outcome for everyone, including herself, said the group's leader Martin Schulz.

The Jeleva machinations mean the parliamentary vote on the entire commission, due next week on 26 January, will be delayed. It is now to take place on 9 February, parliament chief Jerzy Buzek said.Next week we won't have a vote on the commission, said Mr Daul, adding that as all the other commission nominees had six weeks to prepare for their hearings,the new candidate should be given at least a couple of weeks.The new Bulgarian nominee is expected to be grilled by MEPs on 3 February.The conservative French politician noted that his group, the largest in the parliament and which counts Mr Barroso among its ranks,want [the vote] to happen as quickly as possible, however.Having come under attack for playing tit-for-tat politics when the EPP went after Slovak socialist nominee Maros Sefcovic in the wake of the Jeleva kerfuffle, Mr Daul said don't expect any blood on the carpet. We are a responsible group.He went on to berate Catherine Ashton, the socialist EU foreign policy chief, for not travelling to the devastated earthquake-struck Haiti over the weekend, however.Meanwhile, Jozsef Szajer, a Hungarian MEP overseeing the hearings process for the EPP group, highlighted Olli Rehn (a Liberal nominee), Neelie Kroes (a Liberal) and Maria Damanaki (a socialist) for being unimpressive in their cross-examinations.

Haiti offered millions in EU emergency assistance-The Haitian government estimates that up to 200,000 people may have been killed (Photo: redcross.org)LEIGH PHILLIPS 18.01.2010 @ 17:39 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere is to receive some €118 million in fresh European Union cash for humanitarian aid, it was announced on Monday (18 January).Europe will also be sending a contingent of European gendarmes to support the re-imposition of civil order.EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose country currently chairs the EU's six-month rotating presidency, announced the funds following an emergency meeting of development ministers in the wake of the disaster which has claimed the lives of up to 200,000 people.Ms Ashton said that her office is co-ordinating the efforts on the ground by different EU member states to provide immediate medical, water sanitation, and logistical support while under the umbrella of the United Nations. We want to send out a signal voicing our solidarity and condolences to the Haitian people, Mr Moratinos told reporters.This is the first time the EU has had to respond to such a crisis under the Lisbon Treaty, he added, referring to the bloc's newly centralised foreign policy co-ordination as laid out in the Lisbon Treaty. The funds come from both the European Commission and the member states themselves.The European Commission announced €19 million in new funds to be dispersed immediately, and €8 million in redirected European Community Humanitarian aid Office (ECHO) funds, atop the already announced €3 million made available within 24 hours of the earthquake.EU member states separately announced €96 million of their own funds for emergency relief. Most member states committed funds.

The commission also announced that €107 million would be offered for short to mid-term rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts beyond just immediate emergency needs and a further €200 million for long-term reconstruction to be alloted once the worst of the crisis has past. The two figures however do not represent new money, but cash redirected from existing development funds a lot of which was already programmed for Haiti,said John Clancy, the commission's development spokesman. The total, including new and existing funds for Haiti will total €429 million.Ms Ashton said that all of the cash will be in the form of grants rather than loans, with no economic or political strings attached. The International Monetary Fund last Thursday announced $100 million in emergency cash, but in the form of loans via the organisation's extended credit facility, which will have to be paid back and with conditions that will include hiking electricity prices, public sector wage freezes and keeping a lid on inflation.

EU gendarmes to be deployed

Separately, the UN has requested the EU to deploy a contingent of the European Gendarmerie Force to Port-au-Prince. France proposed on Monday that 1,000 such EU gendarmes be sent to Haiti. Mr Moratinos for his part said the force would number from 140-150 men and women. The precise number of police and form the mission will take is to be discussed by diplomats on Monday afternoon.The EGF is an intramural collaboration of six EU member states to provide militarised police services overseas. Gendarmes, distinct from civilian police, are part of a country's armed forces and commonly used to re-establish law and order in conflict areas. The French gendarmerie is the organ charged with crowd and riot control.Development commissioner Karel de Gucht is to travel to Haiti on Wednesday while Ms Ashton is to meet with US secretary of state Hilary Clinton the same day before heading to New York to consult with the UN.An earlier version of this story reported that the UN had said Estonia had offered $1 million in emergency assistance to Haiti. The UN figure is incorrect. Estonia has offered $367,873, which makes the country the fourth largest EU contributor in terms of GDP, not the first.

FALSE TEACHERS,PROPHETS,DECIEVERS

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

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

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

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

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

Egypt announces find of ancient cat goddess temple By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer – JAN 19,10

CAIRO – Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,000-year-old temple that may have been dedicated to the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bastet, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said Tuesday.The ruins of the Ptolemaic-era temple were discovered by Egyptian archaeologists in the heart of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C.The city was the seat of the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled over Egypt for 300 years until the suicide of Queen Cleopatra.The statement said the temple was thought to belong to Queen Berenice, wife of King Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century B.C.

Mohammed Abdel-Maqsood, the Egyptian archaeologist who led the excavation team, said the discovery may be the first trace of the long-sought location of Alexandria's royal quarter.The large number of statues depicting Bastet found in the ruins, he said, suggested that this may be the first Ptolemaic-era temple dedicated to the cat goddess to be discovered in Alexandria.This would indicate that the worship of the ancient Egyptian cat-goddess continued during the later, Greek-influenced, Ptolemaic period, he said.Statues of other ancient Egyptian deities were also found in the ruins, he added.Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief archaeologist, said the temple may have been used in later times as a quarry as evidenced by the large number of missing stone blocks.Modern Alexandria was built squarely on top of the ruins of the classical-era city and many of its great temples, palaces and libraries remain undiscovered.The temple was found in the Kom el-Dekkah neighborhood near the city's main train station and home to a Roman-era amphitheater and well preserved mosaics.

Goel Ratzon: Israel's Messiah with More Than 30 Wives By Matthew Kalman – Tue Jan 19, 4:50 am ET

Goel Ratzon's Facebook profile shows the bespectacled Israeli with shoulder-length white hair and neatly trimmed beard and says he is currently dating and has 36 friends. His real status is somewhat more complicated. When Israeli police raided the self-styled healer's four homes in Tel Aviv last week they found two legal ex-wives, plus another 30 women as well as 89 children - all reputedly his. Ratzon was arrested on suspicion of enslavement, rape and sexual abuse and remanded in custody by a local magistrate. Police described the apartment block in the city's downscale Hatikvah neighborhood as a slum harem.The living conditions of the women were tragic, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told TIME. When I entered one of the houses, I was shocked by what I saw. The filth was horrible, and there was nowhere to walk without stumbling on something. It was a three-bedroom apartment, where 10 women and 17 children were living.Ratzon's unusual domestic arrangements first came to light in a documentary broadcast on Israel's Channel 10 in January 2009. It showed Ratzon's wives cooking, cleaning and shopping together, eagerly anticipating the arrival of Daddy and competing over whom he would choose to spend the night with. On the show, Ratzon explained the secret of his magnetic attraction was that he was perfect.I have everything a woman wants, all the qualities a woman wants. I give women the attention they want. It's made of many things, but fortunately, I have everything,he said. Because there was technically no multiple marriage (no ceremonies or documents were involved), authorities had no basis for charging Ratzon with polygamy.

The women, too, appeared to be content, if not happy. They wore modest clothing that neighbors likened to those of religious Muslims, and they had Ratzon's image tattooed on their bodies. The children's names all included a version of Ratzon's own. One wife had Ratzon's portrait tattooed on her upper left arm, his head surrounded by snakes with the legend Goel Ratzon, my love forever. A similar tattoo on her upper right arm portrayed him with a cobra crowning his head and the legend My Goel, my love. Her neck was inscribed twice: To Goel, with love.No one has love like we have here. I went through a lot before I arrived here and he is the ultimate for me, she explained on television. One of the other women defended Ratzon's little kingdom, saying, People think we are in a place where we are imprisoned and forced to become some kind of poor Cinderella. They don't understand that there is humanity, respect. He has something special and good. Said one of her companions: He's the Messiah that everyone talks about. The day he decides to reveal himself, this country will see it.Ratzon had built a reputation for spiritual redemption (which is what goel means in Hebrew) by way of a center in Tel Aviv that combined teachings on the Kabbalah with healing. In 2000, he told a reporter that he had had a vision of a soul appearing to him and telling him that the secrets of the Torah would be revealed to him, allowing him to no longer work hard in his life. He became known as a healer for young women, some of whom fell in love with him. One of his wives said she was smitten after he cured her of a mysterious disease that had left her bald at age 10. Some of the women in the household severed all contact with their own families, insisting no one forced them to stay. On the TV documentary, some accompanied Ratzon to a Tel Aviv mall to trawl for more wives.

Still, Ratzon, 59, ruled his clan like a kingdom - or a police state. According to a book of domestic bylaws that he laid out for his huge household, the women faced fines from $50 to $500 for such infractions as sitting idle when there was housework to be done or talking to repairmen. To an extent, the situation was state-subsidized: some women claimed state benefits as stay-at-home, single parents. Others, however, worked outside, earning money for the family kitty. But not everyone was happy. Days before his arrest, Ratzon reportedly took one of his wives to the hospital because she was suffering from an overdose of antidepressants.
Because there was no evidence of a crime, just a weird lifestyle, no charges have been brought against Ratzon.The welfare department [had] been in touch with some of the women and children for the past couple of years, Sharon Melamed, a social worker in the Tel Aviv Municipality Welfare Department tells TIME. There was never a reason to suspect any criminal behavior. The children were clean and well dressed. They showed up to school regularly. There were no signs in their behavior that could indicate neglect or anything like sexual exploitation.But there was much suspicion that many of the women in the alleged harem, still in their 20s, had been troubled teenagers who originally went to Ratzon for therapy. In June of 2009, a 24-year-old woman, the daughter of one of Ratzon's wives, filed a complaint against him with the Tel Aviv police. The mother, who was arrested along with Ratzon, is suspected of introducing her biological daughter, then 14, to the healer for purposes of sex; she is now facing charges of encouraging and failing to report underage sex. Using Clause 375a of a new Israeli law against human-trafficking that makes it a crime to hold a person in conditions of slavery, police then tapped Ratzon's phones and began surveillance. Parallel to the police investigation, parents of some of the young women hired private detectives to launch an undercover inquiry.

If formally charged, Ratzon faces a maximum 16-year prison term for each of the slavery and rape charges. Through his lawyer, Ratzon denied the allegations. After so many years of inaction, the police seem confident they can prove his guilt.We have managed to gather a great deal of evidence relating to the offenses of holding people under conditions of enslavement and rape,deputy commander Shlomi Michael, head of the Tel Aviv police's Central Unit, told reporters.- With reporting by Yonit Farago / Tel Aviv.

Dubai's debt could be as much as $170 bln: report
JAN 19,10

DUBAI (AFP) – The total debt of cash-strapped Dubai could be as much as 170 billion dollars, much higher than earlier reported, according to a report by EFG-Hermes regional investment bank.The total debt held by Dubai Inc could well be in the range of 130-170 billion dollars, the bank said in its 2010 UAE Yearbook, a copy of which was received by AFP on Tuesday.Dubai Inc is a term used to refer to the Dubai government and its government-related entities.Dubai shook world markets in November when it said it wanted to request a freeze on debt repayments by its largest and most-indebted conglomerate, Dubai World.At the time, Dubai's total debt, including that of its state firms, was reportedly 80 billion dollars, with Dubai World owing 59billion dollars.EFG Hermes said it estimated Dubai Inc's capital market debt, including bonds and syndicated loans, to have risen to 96.6 billion dollars in 2009, including funds raised by the government to meet debt obligations.But it pointed to upside risks, which could take the total debt to 170 billion dollars, highlighting a lack of data on bilateral loans between Dubai Inc and banks.Bilateral lending ... is a bigger concern to us since the scale of lending could be very large and data are practically non-existent, the bank said.It estimated that the local Emirates NBD bank alone has roughly 24 billion dollars in bilateral loans to Dubai Inc.

It also warned that there could be some capital market debt that is unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, EFG-Hermes said voluntary restructurings of Dubai Inc's debt are likely, as around 75 percent of Dubai Inc's debt, which falls due in 2010-2011, is from syndicated loans.The creditors involved are a limited number of banks, which will most likely take a relationship-based, long-term view of these liabilities. Therefore, we expect a high degree of voluntary restructuring, it said.Last month, international fears loomed over Dubai's ability to repay maturing Islamic bonds worth 4.1 billion dollar owed by Dubai World's property arm, Nakheel, when they were due on December 14.But the payment was made thanks to last-minute financial aid extended by oil-rich Abu Dhabi.Dubai World has already started negotiations with its creditors to restructure the debt of its troubled subsidiaries, amounting to 22 billion dollars.Abu Dhabi has so far pledged 10 billion dollars to help fellow emirate Dubai sort out the debt problems of its firms, in addition to 10 billion dollars made available by the Abu Dhabi-based central bank of the United Arab Emirates.