MUSLIMS UPSET OVER SCRIPTURES ON GUNS

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.

Tijuana floods leave 10 missing; at least 1 dead By MARIANA MARTINEZ, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 21, 8:37 pm ET

TIJUANA, Mexico – Rains have unleashed heavy flooding in parts of the Mexican border city of Tijuana, killing a 5-year-old girl and leaving at least 10 other people missing, officials said Thursday.Storms also caused a plane to skid off the runway Thursday in the Tijuana International Airport. Nobody was hurt.Four days of storms have swelled the Rio Tijuana, which reaches the United States, sending torrents of water into some neighborhoods of the city across the border from San Diego.A flash flood swept away a car with a pregnant woman and her three children inside in the hilly Canon de los Laureles neighborhood Wednesday night, the Baja California state prosecutors' office said in a statement. Police later found the car with the woman, unharmed, and her 5-year-old daughter dead. The two other children, 7 and 2, are missing.Tijuana fire chief Rafael Carroll said the children are among 10 people missing and feared swept away by floods.At the airport, an Aeromexico flight originating in the northeastern city of Monterrey struggled to land and then skidded off the runway, its left wing ending up buried in the mud, said Baja California State Gov. Jose Guadalupe Osuna.One passenger, Clara Martinez Gutierrez, said the plane circled the airport several times before trying to land. She said the plane jumped upon landing and passengers were told to get into emergency positions.The pilot controlled the plane well, but in the end the left wing ended up buried in the mud, she said.

Meanwhile, an American citizen drowned Thursday morning when a huge wave swept him out to sea as he fished by the shore in the Migrino area of the southern part of the Baja California Peninsula, said local fire chief Gabriel Garcia Tinoco. The Mexican navy found the body of the California man at sea.The area where the man drowned is known for rough seas, and his death appeared unrelated to the storms affecting the northern part of the peninsula.

California on flood, mudslide alert as storms hit
Thu Jan 21, 7:36 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Torrential rain and strong winds pummeled California for a fourth consecutive day Thursday as officials warned of tornados, flash floods and mudslides in areas ravaged by last year's wildfires.Around 800 homes in hilly suburbs surrounding the Los Angeles area have been issued evacuation orders as the fourth storm to hit the region this week arrived, causing power outages and transport chaos.The National Weather Service said the storm could produce from one to two inches of rain in coastal and valley areas and two to four inches in the foothills and mountains.Scattered thunderstorms will occur and may become severe this afternoon, possibly generating waterspouts, small tornadoes and 60-mile-per-hour winds, according to an NWS advisory.Later Thursday the NWS issued a tornado warning for parts of southern California and Arizona.Around 3,000 homes in Los Angeles were left without power after electricity was knocked out late Wednesday, the Department of Water and Power said.A flash flood warning would remain in effect until late Thursday, officials in Los Angeles County said.

Residents of some 800 homes near hillsides denuded of vegetation in massive wildfires last year had been told to evacuate although around 25 percent of those had refused to leave.The Los Angeles County Fire Department is anticipating that a significant mud flow and debris flow is likely today, Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Deputy John Tripp told a morning briefing.Meanwhile Southwest Airlines suspended flights in and out of Los Angeles Airports citing unfavorable wind conditions.On Wednesday two Southwest jets were hit by lightning as they arrived at Burbank Airport before touching down safely.The storm caused huge waves at Southern California beaches, where several piers were closed.San Diego's famous SeaWorld marine mammal park was closed because of torrential rain.

4th California storm stokes mudslide fears By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer – JAN 22,10

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. – Hours of heavy rain fell Thursday on saturated Southern California as the fourth Pacific storm in a week came ashore, triggering dire warnings by authorities that huge mud flows were likely in foothill communities and residents of endangered homes should obey evacuation orders.A teen was rescued from a rushing river, but a companion remained missing in Orange County. And a motorist was rescued after a tornado knocked power lines onto a highway in the state's remote southeast corner, trapping the man inside his vehicle.Travel snarls mounted as major highways were closed by snow and tornado damage, and strong winds grounded flights at several airports. Another tornado left a trail of damage in a community northwest of Los Angeles.The siege of storms has led to several deaths statewide and street flooding in urban areas, and has turned the region's often-dry river and creek channels into raging torrents.Muddy water gushed down hills but there were no immediate major incidents, and officials appeared concerned the lack of massive debris flows from wildfire burn areas was misleading for residents.

Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Deputy John Tripp bluntly warned at the outset of the storm that significant debris flows were likely and probably would block potential rescue attempts.For those people that are still in the homes and are in those areas of threat, it's very likely we will not be able to reach you, he said.
By nightfall, the storm's main rainfall was passing but forecasts warned of volatile conditions through the night. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city's evacuation orders remained in effect.While the worst of the last few storms is behind us, there still is a significant threat from thundershowers that are forming off the coast and have the potential to bring lightning, hail, waterspouts and small tornados, he said.In the upper reaches of suburban La Canada Flintridge, where mountainsides rise sharply from the backyards of homes, authorities put pink ribbons on the mailboxes of residents who stayed behind so they would know where to search in the event of a catastrophe.One person who stayed was Delos Tucker, a retired geologist who has lived in the community since the homes were built in 1962.I'm just gambling it's not going to happen,he said.Let's hope I'm right.

As an overnight lull gave way to more rain at midmorning, public works crews shoveled mud from yards, driveways and gutters along Ocean View Boulevard in suburban La Canada Flintridge. The neighborhood was otherwise all but deserted, with newspaper and mail deliveries cut off.The county's extensive flood-control system was working, but many of the basins designed to catch debris-laden runoff from fire-scarred mountains were full and evacuations remained necessary, said Gail Farber, the Los Angeles County Public Works director.The basins are located on streams and other water courses emerging from the mountains to intercept surges of mud, boulders and other debris while allowing water to flow into open channels and underground storm drains that empty into the ocean.The new storm system shut down Interstate 5 in the snowy Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles for the second day in a row. And the California Highway Patrol closed part of Interstate 80 in the Sierra Nevada after about a dozen cars and trucks crashed in a heavy snowstorm.In Orange County, firefighters pulled a 14-year-old boy from the swollen Santa Ana River, but an 11-mile search failed to find a companion the rescued boy said was also in the water. Orange Fire Department Capt. Ed Engler the search was called off by evening after efforts to spot the youth from bridges and helicopters.A tornado rampaging across desert highways near the Arizona state line toppled high-voltage power poles that trapped a motorist in a vehicle on State Route 78, said Terri Kasinga, spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation. Lauren Bartlett, a spokeswoman for Southern California Edison, said the motorist drove through the wires and his vehicle got tangled in the lines. Crews cut off the electricity to the wires, allowing firefighters to rescue the driver. It was unclear if he was injured. The tornado also toppled three big-rigs on Interstate 10 and more power lines on U.S. 95. The I-10 reopened late Thursday afternoon, but the other highways were likely to remain blocked for two days. A fierce wind struck two neighborhoods in Ventura, and witnesses described a tornado, police Sgt. Jack Richards said. Trees were toppled, cars were damaged and a shed was torn apart in a 1 1/2-mile span through two neighborhoods. No one was hurt.

National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt visited the scene and confirmed it was a small tornado. Southwest Airlines canceled hundreds of flights in Southern California and Arizona due to strong winds and heavy rains. More than 30,000 Edison customers were without power, and repair crews were having trouble reaching equipment in desert and mountain areas because of snow. Another 4,100 outages were reported in Los Angeles. Acting Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco and Siskiyou counties because of the statewide storm impacts. By late afternoon the storm had added as much as 3.2 inches of rain to the 5 to 6 inches that fell earlier in the week across the fire-charred mountains of Los Angeles County.

Friday showers were expected to give way to a dry weekend.

The major area of concern has been foothill communities along the perimeter of the San Gabriel Mountains, where a summer wildfire denuded 250 square miles of steep slopes northeast of Los Angeles. The number of homes under evacuation orders has grown to more than 1,200 since the beginning of the week. Estimates of compliance have ranged up to 75 percent in some jurisdictions but down to 50 percent elsewhere.
Two people have been killed by falling trees, and police in Newman were searching for the body of a man who tried to drive across a flooded road. In San Jose, a man died after falling 30 feet from the side of a freeway after he got out of a car that spun out in the rain and then jumped out of the path of an out-of-control car. In San Diego, the Border Patrol said three people were rescued and treated for hypothermia after being swept away while trying to cross the storm-swollen Tijuana River from Mexico. California State University, Long Beach, remained closed after some buildings flooded Wednesday. The weather also forced cancellation of horse racing at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia and postponement of the second round of the Bob Hope Classic golf tournament near Palm Springs. Sea World in San Diego was also closed due to severe weather. The stormy weather also delayed last Saturday's planned departure of 16-year-old sailor Abby Sunderland from Marina del Rey on her attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe nonstop and without assistance. The Thousand Oaks girl now plans to leave Jan. 23. Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon in La Canada Flintridge, Gillian Flaccus in Orange and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

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.

Aftershocks again shake devastated Haiti capital
Thu Jan 21, 12:08 pm ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Two aftershocks has again rattled Haiti's capital, sending rescue teams scrambling off precarious piles of rubble and already traumatized residents fleeing into the streets yet again.There are no immediate reports of damage from either temblor. The U.S. Geological Survey has given a preliminary magnitude estimate of 4.9 for one that hit at 11:45 a.m. (1645 GMT) Thursday.Haiti has been hit by at least 50 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater since the Jan. 12quake that devastated the capital.None has caused significant damage, but they have hampered relief efforts and added to a sense of doom among the shellshocked populace.

Haiti to relocate 400,000 quake homeless By MICHELLE FAUL and TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writers – JAN 22,10

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Within days, the government will move 400,000 people made homeless by Haiti's epic earthquake from their squalid improvised camps throughout the shattered capital to new resettlement areas on the outskirts, a top Haitian official said Thursday.Authorities are worried about sanitation and disease outbreaks in makeshift settlements like the one on the city's central Champs de Mars plaza, said Fritz Longchamp, chief of staff to President Rene Preval.The Champ de Mars is no place for 1,000 or 10,000 people, Longchamp told The Associated Press.They are going to be going to places where they will have at least some adequate facilities.He said buses would start moving people within a week to 10 days, once new camps are ready. Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers were already leveling land in the suburb of Croix des Bouquets for a new tent city, the Geneva-based intergovernmental International Organization for Migration reported Thursday.The hundreds of thousands whose homes were destroyed in the Jan. 12 quake had settled in more than 200 open spaces around the city, the lucky ones securing tents for their families, but most living under the tropical sun on blankets, on plastic sheets or under tarpaulins strung between tree limbs.The announcement came as search-and-rescue teams packed their dogs and gear Thursday, with hopes almost gone of finding any more alive in the ruins. The focus shifted to keeping injured survivors alive, fending off epidemics and getting help to the hundreds of homeless still suffering.

We're so, so hungry,said Felicie Colin, 77, lying outside the ruins of her Port-au-Prince nursing home with dozens of other elderly residents who have hardly eaten since the earthquake hit on Jan. 12.A melee erupted at one food distribution point as people broke into the storehouse and fought each other over the bags.As aftershocks still shook the city, aid workers streamed into Haiti with water, food, drugs, latrines, clothing, trucks, construction equipment, telephones and tons of other supplies. The international Red Cross called it the greatest deployment of emergency responders in its 91-year history.But the built-in bottlenecks of this desperately poor, underdeveloped nation and the sheer scale of the catastrophe still left many of the hundreds of thousands of victims without help. The U.S. military reported a waiting list of 1,400 international relief flights seeking to land on Port-au-Prince's single runway, where 120 to 140 flights were arriving daily.They don't see any food and water coming to them, and they are frustrated, said Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.Four ships managed to dock at the capital's earthquake-damaged port, holding out the promise of a new avenue for getting aid to the city. But the going was slow since only one truck at a time could maneuver on the crack-riven pier.The picture was especially grim at emergency medical centers, where shortages of surgeons, nurses, their tools and supplies have backed up critical cases.A large number of those coming here are having to have amputations, since their wounds are so infected, said Brynjulf Ystgaard, a Norwegian surgeon at a Red Cross field hospital.Food was reaching tens of thousands, but the need was much greater. Perhaps no one was more desperate than the 80 or so residents of the damaged Municipal Nursing Home, in a slum near the shell of Port-au-Prince's devastated cathedral. The quake killed six of the elderly, three others have since died of hunger and exhaustion, and several more were barely clinging to life.Nobody cares,said Phileas Justin, 78. Maybe they do just want us to starve to death.

In the first eight days after the quake, they had eaten just a bit of pasta cooked in gutter water and a bowl of rice each. On Thursday, they had a small bowl of spaghetti and five bags of rice and beans, and cooking oil, were delivered.A dirty red sheet covered the body of Jean-Marc Luis, who died late Wednesday. He died of hunger, said security guard Nixon Plantin. On Thursday, four days after The Associated Press first reported on the patients' plight, workers from the British-based HelpAge International visited and said they would help. One by one, such deaths were adding to a Haitian government-estimated toll of 200,000 dead, as reported by the European Commission. It said 250,000 people were injured and 2 million homeless in the nation of 9 million. As U.S. troops began patrolling Port-au-Prince to boost security, sporadic looting and violence continued. At a building in the Carrefour neighborhood where the multi-faith Eagle Wings Foundation of West Palm Beach, Florida, was to distribute food, quake victims from a nearby tent camp suddenly stormed the stores and made off with what the charity's Rev. Robert Nelson said were 50 tons of rice, oil, dried beans and salt. Fights broke out as others stole food from the looters. At least 124 people were saved by search-and-rescue teams since the quake, the European Commission reported. As hopes faded, some of the 1,700 specialists, working in four dozen teams with 160 dogs, began demobilizing.

Joe Downey, a fire battalion chief from an 80-member New York City police and firefighter unit, said this was the worst destruction his rescue team had ever seen.
Katrina was bad, he said of the 2005 hurricane.But this was a magnitude at least 100 times worse.On Thursday, 18 hospitals and emergency field hospitals were working in Port-au-Prince, but the burden was overwhelming. Doctors said patients were dying of sepsis from untreated wounds and they warned of potential outbreaks of diarrhea, respiratory-tract infections and other communicable diseases in the camps. A team of epidemiologists was on its way to assess that situation, the Pan American Health Organization said. On Thursday night, another aftershock sent some who were indoors back into the streets. Observers said it was briefer than others, including a magnitude-5.9 aftershock, that have hit Port-au-Prince since the earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey did not immediately have a measurement and geophysicist Susan Potter said that was understandable. She said people can feel aftershocks that register as little as magnitude-2.0, but detection equipment is not densely concentrated in Haiti and the service would not immediately detect anything weaker than a magnitude-4.5 there. Offshore, the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort was reinforcing its crew to 800 doctors, nurses and medical technicians, increasing its hospital beds to almost 1,000, and boosting its operating rooms from six to 11 in the next few days, the Navy said. Almost $1 billion in foreign aid has been pledged to help Haiti recover from the quake, and the White House said the U.S. share has climbed to about $170 million. The U.N. World Food Program said it has delivered at least 1 million rations to about 200,000 people, with each ration providing the equivalent of a daily three meals. In the coming days, it plans to deliver five-day rations to 100,000 people a day, it said. The U.S. military said it was resuming air drops of water and meals into zones secured by U.S. troops. More than 2,600 U.S. soldiers, Marines and airmen were on the ground, and more than 10,000 sailors and others were offshore. The U.N. was adding 2,000 peacekeepers to the 7,000 already in Haiti, and 1,500 more police to the 2,100-member international force. Associated Press writers contributing to this story included Alfred de Montesquiou, Mike Melia, Jonathan M. Katz and Kevin Maurer in Port-au-Prince; Charles J. Hanley and Martha Mendoza in Mexico City; Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, and Pauline Jelinek in Washington.

A look at foreign quake aid for Haiti By The Associated Press – JAN 22,10

Governments have pledged nearly $1 billion in aid to Haiti, according to an Associated Press estimate, including $575 million from the European Union's 27 nations. Those promises include:

AUSTRALIA: $13.8 million in aid pledged.

AUSTRIA: $1.9 million to United Nations and international aid organizations.

BRAZIL: $19 million in aid pledged. Eighteen flights have delivered 200 tons of aid including food, water, tents, medicine, a hospital and medical equipment. Forty six medical doctors and nurses have been sent, along with 50 firefighters who specialize in search and rescue using search dogs. Nearly 1,300 Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers are working in rescue operations.

BRITAIN: $33 million in aid. A 64-member search and rescue team is on the ground.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: $80,000 in aid.

CAMBODIA: $50,000 in aid from the government; $10,000 from Cambodian Red Cross.

CANADA: $130 million in aid pledged. So far, Canadians have privately contributed more than $39 million and Ottawa will match those funds. Some 2,000 military personnel, including two warships.

CHAD: $500,000 in aid.

CHILE: 15 tons of food and medicine, search and rescue team, 20 doctors.

CHINA: $4.2 million in aid pledged. Deployed a 60-member rescue team to the island, including search and rescue specialists with sniffer dogs and monitoring equipment, medics, and seismological experts.

COLOMBIA: $900,000 in aid pledged through Colombian Red Cross. $1 million in food, water, tents and medical supplies sent. Colombia's air force has flown in more than 200 rescue and medical workers and 18 sniffer dogs.

CONGO: $2.5 million in aid.

COSTA RICA: Engineers, health workers, disaster experts.

CROATIA: $137,000 from the government and a similar amount donated from citizens to the Red Cross.

CUBA: 30 doctors.

CYPRUS: $141,000 in aid.

CZECH REPUBLIC: $1.1 million in aid pledged.

DENMARK: $9.67 million in aid.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: $11.4 million in aid.

FRANCE: $28.6 million in aid pledged, plus more than 500 personnel, especially rescue workers, and 61 tons (55 metric tons) of supplies. Dispatched Francis Garnier, a ship that specializes in humanitarian missions, and three military transport planes.

GERMANY: $14.28 million in aid pledged by government. $25.56 million donated by private citizens.

GRENADA: $215,000 in aid.

GUATEMALA: Rescue team.

HUNGARY: $140,000 within an aid program coordinated by the EU, plus three medical teams and three search dogs.

ICELAND: Search and rescue team.

INDIA: $5 million in aid.

ISRAEL: Established field hospital, sent some 150 doctors and rescue workers and 10 tons (nine metric tons) of medical equipment.

ITALY: $8.14 million as part of $131.37 million in emergency aid from EU member states. Separately it is donating $2.57 million to international groups to help children in Haiti. A field hospital that can treat 150 patients a day has been airlifted in.

JAPAN: $5 million in aid, plus $330,000 in emergency supplies. One 24-member civilian medical team on the ground, sending 110-member military team of medical and other personnel via a Japanese C-130 transport plane.

LIBERIA: $50,000 in aid.

MEXICO: Rescue team.

NEW ZEALAND: $1.4 million in government funding for relief efforts plus $1.3 million collected by nongovernment groups.

NETHERLANDS: $2.86 million in aid from the Dutch government, which has pledged to double the amount raised by the public. So far the appeal has raised $9.28 million. A Dutch plane with search and rescue team and sniffer dogs has been sent.

NORWAY: $17.5 million in aid earmarked for the World Food Program, Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross and other aid organizations. The country's Red Cross and other aid organizations have raised at least $4.5 million for the country.

PERU: Two planes with 50 tons of aid, mainly food; two field hospitals.

PORTUGAL: Around $860,000 from private donations. The government has sent a military transport plane with more than 20 emergency rescue workers and sniffer dogs, as well as medical equipment and water.

RUSSIA: Has sent 138 emergency workers, a mobile air hospital, and doctors and five transport planes to deliver aid.

SENEGAL: $1 million in aid. President Abdoulaye Wade has said he would give a region of Senegal to Haitians wishing to move to Africa. He argued that because Haiti was settled by African slaves they are owed a right of return. The eccentric proposal was met with criticism by many who say the government is not even able to house its own people.

SIERRA LEONE: $100,000 in aid. The government has also offered to send police, soldiers and medical teams.

SLOVENIA: $70,000 in aid, and has sent tents worth $98,000.

SOUTH AFRICA: $135,000 in aid, and has sent a search-and-rescue team and plans to send forensic experts to help identify bodies.

SOUTH KOREA: $10 million in aid from government, aid agencies, religious groups and business companies, plus relief workers.

SPAIN: $8.56 million in emergency aid disbursed, sending 450 troops, 50 doctors, technicians and specialists.

SWEDEN: $25.6 million to organizations working in Haiti, including the U.N. and E.U.

TAIWAN: $5 million in aid. Dispatched a team of 23 rescue personnel and 33 medical staff.

THAILAND: $120,000 in aid; 20,000 tons (18,000 metric tons) of rice.

UNITED STATES: $130 million in aid, according to USAID. Has sent about 12,000 military personnel so far, 265 government medical personnel, 18 Navy and Coast Guard ships, 49 helicopters and seven cargo planes to assist in aid delivery, support and evacuations. Is managing operations at the Port-au-Prince airport.

VENEZUELA: 679 tons (616 metric tons) of food and 127 tons (116 metric tons) of equipment, including water purification systems, electrical generators and heavy equipment for moving rubble. 225,000 barrels of diesel fuel and gasoline is on its way, and the Venezuela-led Bolivarian Alternative trade bloc also sent two ships carrying 5,248 tons (4,761 metric tons) of food aid. Search and rescue team.

INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: $200 million pledged.

WORLD BANK: $100 million pledged.

WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: More than 250,000 ready-to-eat rations delivered. More than 10 million to arrive within the next week.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

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.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Australia, N.Zealand order review of 'bible' gunsights
JAN 22,10

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia Friday ordered its military to look at removing biblical references from weapons used by troops in Afghanistan, after New Zealand banned the completely inappropriate inscriptions.Australia's Defence Minister John Faulkner said the military had been unaware of the meaning of the letters and numbers etched into the US-made gunsights, which refer to passages in the New Testament.I have asked Defence to examine the options available to deal with this matter without compromising the safety of our troops and critically important capabilities, Faulkner said.Faulkner's comments came as neighbouring New Zealand condemned the inscriptions as potentially inflammatory.They cause the same problems as putting slogans on bombs. We should not be doing anything that might give opponents any propaganda leverage, New Zealand's Defence Minister Wayne Mapp told AFP.The markings are completely inappropriate and the Defence Force will be looking at ways to get rid of them, now and for future deliveries.

The rifle sights are inscribed with lettering such as JN8:12 -- an apparent reference to chapter eight, verse 12 in the Book of John which reads:Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.Australia and New Zealand both have forces operating in Afghanistan and there are fears that the references could endanger coalition troops fighting in Muslim-majority nations where the US military is already bitterly resented.The New Zealand Defence Force has 260 of the rifle sights, which come from the US company Trijicon, while Australia's military has some 1,050.Trijicon, which also supplies US and British forces, said it has inscribed references to the New Testament on the metal casings of its gunsights for more than two decades.But after angry reaction from Muslim and religious freedom groups to the news that it has multimillion-dollar contracts to supply hundreds of thousands of the gunsights to the US military, the firm said it would provide the US with kits to remove the references.

The Australian Defence Force, which has around 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, said it was unaware of the significance of the hard-to-spot references, which are in raised lettering immediately following the stock number on the metal casing of the gunsights, when it purchased the rifle sights.The sights were procured because they provide mature technology which is highly reliable, in wide use by our allies and best meet Defence requirements,a department spokeswoman said.The Department of Defence is very conscious of the sensitivities associated with this issue and is assessing how to address these as soon as practicable.

NZ army to remove Bible citations from armaments By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 21, 6:07 am ET

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Biblical citations inscribed on U.S.-manufactured weapon sights used by New Zealand's troops in Afghanistan will be removed because they are inappropriate and could stoke religious tensions, New Zealand said Thursday.The inscriptions on products from defense contractor Trijicon of Wixom, Michigan, came to light this week in the U.S. where Army officials said Tuesday they would investigate whether the gun sights — also used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq — violate U.S. procurement laws.Australia also said Thursday its military used the sights and was now assessing what to do.Trijicon said it has had such inscriptions on its products for three decades and has never received complaints about them before. The inscriptions, which don't include actual text from the Bible, refer numerically to passages from the book.New Zealand defense force spokesman Maj. Kristian Dunne said Trijicon would be instructed to remove the inscriptions from further orders of the gun sights for New Zealand and the letters would be removed from gun sights already in use by troops.The inscriptions ... put us in a difficult situation. We were unaware of it and we're unhappy that the manufacturer didn't give us any indication that these were on there, Dunne said.We deem them to be inappropriate.The Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight rifle sights used by New Zealand troops, which allow them to pinpoint targets day or night, carried references to Bible verses that appeared in raised lettering at the end of the sight stock number.

Markings included JN8:12, a reference to John 8:12: Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life, according to the King James version of the Bible.The Trijicon Reflex sight is stamped with 2COR4:6, a reference to part of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the King James version reads.

Dunne said New Zealand's defense force has about 260 of the company's gun sights, which were first bought in 2004, and will continue to use them once the inscriptions are removed because they are the best of their kind.New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the government was not aware of the inscriptions when the defense force bought the equipment.Now we are in discussions with the company in the United States who will ensure the inscriptions are removed, and we wouldn't want them on future sights, he told reporters.Earlier, Defense Minister Wayne Mapp said with New Zealand soldiers in Muslim countries, the Bible references could be misconstrued.We all know of the religious tensions around this issue and it's unwise to do anything that could be seen to raise tensions in an unnecessary way, he said.Trijicon said it has been long-standing company practice to put the Scripture citations on the equipment. Tom Munson, Trijicon's director of sales and marketing, said the company had never received complaints until now.We don't publicize this, Munson said in a recent interview. It's not something we make a big deal out of. But when asked, we say, Yes, it's there.Trijicon said biblical references were first put on the sites nearly 30 years ago by the company founder, Glyn Bindon, who was killed in a plane crash in 2003. His son Stephen, Trijicon's president, continued the practice.

The references have stoked concerns by critics in the U.S. about whether they break a government rule that bars proselytizing by American troops. But U.S. military officials said the citations don't violate the ban and they won't stop using the tens of thousands of telescoping sights that have already been bought. The Australian Defense Department, which with 1,550 troops in Afghanistan is the largest contributor to that campaign outside NATO, said Thursday that it also used the sights but had been unaware of the significance of the manufacturer's serial number.
The Department of Defense is very conscious of the sensitivities associated with this issue and is assessing how to address these as soon as practicable," the department said in a statement.

Muslim anger over military Jesus scopes
Thu Jan 21, 5:50 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Muslim groups reacted angrily Wednesday after it emerged that the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan were using rifle sights inscribed with coded Biblical references.The company producing the sights, which are also used to train Afghan and Iraqi soldiers under contracts with the US Army and the Marine Corps, said it has inscribed references to the New Testament on the metal casings for over two decades.The British Ministry of Defense meanwhile announced it had placed an order for 400 of the gunsights with Trijicon but added it had not been aware of the significance of the inscriptions, in a decision criticized by the opposition Liberal Democrat party.The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) called on US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to immediately withdraw from combat use equipment found to have inscriptions of Biblical references after it emerged that Trijicon has contracts to supply over 800,000 of the sights to the US military.The Pentagon sought to defuse the brewing controversy, saying it was disturbed by the reports.If determined to be true, this is clearly inappropriate and we are looking into possible remedies, Commander Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman, told AFP.The codes were used as part of our faith and our belief in service to our country, Trijicon said.As long as we have men and women in danger, we will continue to do everything we can to provide them with both state-of-the-art technology and the never-ending support and prayers of a grateful nation, a company spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The move appeared to be a direct violation of a US Central Command general order issued after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that strictly prohibits proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice.A whistleblower group that first alerted ABC News to the issue this week warned the practice was putting troops in harm's way by raising fears of Christian proselytizing in Muslim-majority nations home to militants resentful of US military presence.This is the worst type of emboldenment of the enemy that you can imagine, Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder and president Michael Mikey Weinstein said in an interview.Weinstein, a former White House legal counsel in Ronald Reagan's administration, said his group would submit a filing in US federal court in Kansas City, Missouri by February 4 in a related case.

Having Biblical references on military equipment violates the basic ideals and values our country was founded upon, MPAC Washington director Haris Tarin said in a statement.Worse still, it provides propaganda ammo to extremists who claim there is a Crusader war against Islam by the United States, he added.The shocking revelation raises fresh fears of Christian fundamentalism seeping through the US military's ranks.It's got to stop. It's wrong on a million levels, said Weinstein. This is massively endangering the lives and well-being of our members of the military.His foundation, he added, represents nearly 16,000 troops, the bulk of them Christians.

A Muslim-American soldier, who declined to be named due to fears of persecution, said he was ashamed and horrified by the writings on the gunsights of weapons he used during deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are many other soldiers who feel as I do. Many are Protestant and Catholic and they fear reprisal just as much as I do for trying to stand up to the Christian bullies in uniform who outrank us, he said in a letter dated January 14 and addressed to Weinstein and his foundation.
The Secular Coalition for America demanded the US military end its contracts with Trijicon. Trijicon knew that the scopes they were producing were for the use of the US military and their decision to keep these engravings shows a flagrant disregard by a private contractor of the laws that govern our land, said the group's director Sean Faircloth. According to photographs seen by AFP, the coded inscriptions include JN8:12, an apparent reference to John 8:12: Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.Trijicon, a defense contractor founded by devout Christian Glyn Bindon, vows on its website to follow biblical standards it says make America great.

Pope blesses lambs in annual ceremony
Thu Jan 21, 11:23 am ET

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has blessed two lambs whose wool will be shorn to make shawls for newly appointed archbishops to wear.The annual blessing takes place on the feast day of St. Agnes, a martyr of early Christianity often symbolized by a lamb.New archbishops receive the wool pallium on June 29. The pallium is a band of white wool decorated with six black silk crosses that is a sign of pastoral authority and a symbol of the archbishops' bond with the pope.

US envoy starts Mideast tour amid Obama pessimism By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 21, 5:44 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Washington's Middle East envoy launched a new effort Thursday aimed at restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, just as President Barack Obama expressed pessimism about the prospects.Already complicating envoy George Mitchell's mission was a new demand by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an Israeli military presence in the West Bank to stop weapons smuggling, even after formation of a Palestinian state.Mitchell met late Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office released a brief statement saying they discussed ways to move the peace process forward and that contacts would continue.As Mitchell began his mission, his boss, Obama, admitted he overreached in the Middle East.In an interview with Time Magazine published Thursday, Obama said internal conflicts made it hard for the Israelis and Palestinians to restart talks, and I think that we overestimated our ability to persuade them to do so when their politics ran contrary to that.He said Israel found it very hard to move with any bold gestures, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had Hamas looking over his shoulder.

Obama concluded, I think it is absolutely true that what we did this year didn't produce the kind of breakthrough that we wanted and if we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high.Before meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres Thursday, Mitchell pledged to soldier on. He said Obama's vision is a Palestinian state alongside Israel in peace.We will pursue (that) until we achieve that objective, Mitchell said.The envoy is set to meet with Palestinian officials in the West Bank on Friday.Mitchell has been laboring without success for a year to get both sides back to the negotiating table, and Netanyahu's new demand made his mission even tougher.Netanyahu said Israel must maintain a presence on the eastern side of a prospective Palestinian state to keep militants from using the territory to launch rockets at Israel's heartland.The eastern side of such a state would be the part of the Jordan Valley that lies in the West Bank.Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh rejected the demand.The Palestinian leadership will not accept a single Israeli soldier on Palestinian land after ending the Israeli occupation,he told The Associated Press.

The Palestinians have refused to sit down with Israel until it stops all construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, saying it is eating up lands they claim for their future state. Israel, which captured both areas in 1967, has slowed settlement construction in the West Bank, but has applied no restrictions in east Jerusalem, which Netanyahu hopes to retain.Israel also says negotiations should begin immediately with no conditions, but the Palestinians accuse Israel of heaping plenty of conditions of its own, including the demilitarization of a future Palestinian state, the retention of east Jerusalem and now, a military presence along Jordan's border.The Israeli leader heads a coalition largely opposed to the sweeping territorial concessions that would be necessary to clinch a peace deal with the Palestinians. He himself had long refused to endorse the concept of Palestinian statehood, doing so only in June under intense U.S. pressure.

British banks study Obama finance plan
JAN 22,10

LONDON (AFP) – Britain's banks have said they are studying proposals by US President Barack Obama to limit the size and scope of American banks and finance firms to work out whether they want to head the same way.We will be studying the proposals in detail to see where the US and international proposals align with what is already being discussed in terms of reforms in Britain, said the British Bankers' Association on Thursday.The country's banks are listening and they are changing, working with our regulators and the international authorities to restore confidence in the world's financial system, said the group in a statement.They added discussions were ongoing on whether further measures are necessary.Obama's announcement Thursday sought to roll back corporate excesses and limit dangerous risk-taking, blamed by many for sparking the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.It was also the latest attempt by the White House to harness popular fury at Wall Street bonuses and tight credit markets.The president struck a defiant tone at the White House, warning: If these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have.

WTO chief sees US-China trade friction rising By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 21, 2:49 pm ET

GENEVA – Trade friction between the United States and China over everything from cars to chemicals will increase in the coming years as the world's biggest importer and exporter buy and sell more of each other's goods, the World Trade Organization's director general said Thursday.Pascal Lamy said his institution was up to the task of ensuring that Washington and Beijing never get into an all-out trade war that could have devastating consequences for the global economy. The WTO will be challenged over the next two years as unemployment figures remain high and test the free trade credentials of world leaders, he predicted.There is no risk of slipping into a trade war, Lamy said in an interview with The Associated Press.Placing the U.S.-China relationship in a historical context, Lamy compared it with the tensions that existed between Washington and Tokyo in the 1980s and between the U.S. and Europe over different periods in recent decades.In these cases, disagreements increased as the value of their trade expanded, he said. But the international trade body with its negotiations and rules for settling legal disputes defused the tensions.The United States and China are engaged now in a series of trade spats over issues such as steel, poultry, patents and Hollywood films. Google's threat to pull out of China over concerns about censorship and security also could sour relations between the two countries.The question is not whether there is friction, the question is whether it is handled the right way, Lamy said.

The 62-year-old Frenchman, a former European Union trade commissioner, is now in his second term as director general of an organization that resolves international commercial disputes and negotiates new rules for export of farm produce, manufactured goods and services.In the 4 1/2 years since Lamy entered office, healthy economic growth has been replaced by a crippling global slowdown. Annual trade crashed by 10 percent after 16 years of uninterrupted growth. And the vision of a 150-nation deal to tear down trade barriers around the world has been partly replaced by the immediate challenge of preventing countries from erecting new obstacles to each other's goods.Lamy credited the WTO's close monitoring of countries last year for preventing a slide into global protectionism where countries break the rules to shield domestic jobs from foreign competition — pressure that was only natural, he said, as financial markets collapsed and whole economies teetered on the edge.We are certainly not out of the woods on protectionism, Lamy said.The fundamental reason there is a protectionist impulse has to do with the job market. We know that unemployment will remain high this year, maybe even next year.He didn't elaborate, but some trade observers believe the danger could be even greater in 2010 as governments shift their focus to job creation plans from last year's stimulus packages and financial bailouts.As governments try to make it easier on national companies to hire people, free-trade principles may be sacrificed along the way, with the ultimate risk being a worldwide descent into a trade war as happened during the Great Depression, the argument runs.Lamy has been pushing governments to complete what he says is the final lap of the Doha global trade round, which could add billions of dollars to the world economy.The negotiations launched in Qatar's capital in 2001 aim to reach a binding treaty that would slash subsidies and cut tariffs in agriculture and manufacturing, including for new economic powerhouses like China, India and Brazil.

But the talks are mired in disagreement. The round is already six years behind schedule, and even a completed accord would have to win parliamentary approval in most countries and Senate ratification in the United States.With unemployment over 10 percent and President Barack Obama's Democratic Party showing weakness, it is unclear how committed the United States is to finishing the round.Lamy said he believed Washington was committed to a pledge it made with other countries last year to wrap up an agreement by the end of 2010. Whether the Americans would take on such a challenge in the current environment, he declined to answer. That's more a question for them, than a question for me, Lamy said.They tell me ... they want to conclude the Doha round by the end of this year.

Asia tracks US tumble after Obama bank proposal By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, AP Business Writer – JAN 22,10

HONG KONG – Asian stock markets tumbled Friday after President Barack Obama proposed a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street banks to avert future financial crises.Losses spread across most markets and sectors across the region, following an overnight retreat in the U.S.Commodity prices eased while the dollar lost ground against the yen and euro.Obama said he would seek to limit the size and complexity of large financial companies so their collapse wouldn't imperil the broader financial system and economy, leading to more bailouts at taxpayers' expense. The move comes amid growing public frustration with Wall Street and bank rescues.As in the U.S., bank stocks fell in Asia but other industries also suffered steep drops as investors scaled back their riskier bets amid uncertainty about the ultimate effects of the U.S. proposal.Japan helped lead Asia's declines, with the Nikkei 225 stock average diving 267.70 points, or 2.5 percent, to 10,600.70.Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 530.16 points, or 2.5 percent, to 20,332.51 and Korea's main market index lost 43.79 points, or 2.5 percent, to 1,678.22.

China's Shanghai benchmark fell 2.4 percent, India's market shed 1.5 percent and Australian stocks retreated 1.6 percent.U.S. futures were little changed, pointing to a flat open on Wall Street Friday.In the U.S. Thursday, Wall Street was yanked lower by heavy selling in bank stocks.The Dow fell 213.27, or 2 percent, to 10,389.88, its biggest point and percentage drop since Oct. 30.The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 21.56, or 1.9 percent, to 1,116.48. The Nasdaq composite index fell 25.55, or 1.1 percent, to 2,265.70.Oil prices fell in Asia, with benchmark crude for March delivery down 31 cents at $75.77 a barrel. The contract dropped $1.66 to settle at $76.08 overnight.The dollar weakened to 89.98 yen from 90.49 yen. The euro was higher at $1.4121 from $1.4082.

China, Europe put markets on edge
Thu Jan 21, 11:45 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – Stocks got some much-needed support Thursday from unexpectedly high earnings at US banking giant Goldman Sachs despite market jitters over China's economy and huge national debts in Europe.Investors are worried that the Chinese economy, which is now the key driver for global growth as Europe and the United States are only slowly emerging from the world economic crisis, may be beginning to overheat.China's economy expanded by 8.7 percent in 2009, new data out on Thursday showed, while the business consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) forecast that China could overtake the US as the world's top economy by 2020.But China's biggest rise in inflation in 13 months underlined the broader challenges of breakneck growth, and came as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund warned again that the country could face an economic bubble.China gets a touch of overheat -- markets across the rest of the world shudder! That is the way of things today in a global economy controlled as much in the East as it is in the West, said analyst Howard Wheeldon at BGC Brokers.The concern over China is playing out against a backdrop of investor nerves over the global economy, with the IMF and the United Nations this week both warning of a possible double-dip recession this year.Those worries have been heightened in Europe, where several governments are struggling to cope with rising debt levels. Debt troubles in countries like Greece and Portugal have also dragged down the euro against the dollar.

Capital Economics, an economic consultancy, said that there are still major uncertainties over the likely strength and sustainability of the upturn.Meanwhile, those euro-zone economies with a combination of fiscal strains and competitiveness problems face a painful period of adjustment.There was some good news for the stock markets, however, from the United States where Wall Street juggernaut Goldman Sachs on Thursday reported impressive fourth-quarter and full-year profit despite the downturn.European equities are getting a lift from the Goldman Sachs results this afternoon, said David Morrison, an analyst at financial spread-betting firm GFT, adding:Profits were very strong and well above the consensus estimate.But he warned: Gains may be tempered however until after investors have heard what the president has to say about investment bank regulation today, referring to a planned announcement by US President Barack Obama.Wall Street stocks suffered their biggest drop for the year on Wednesday following news that China was planning to rein in credit after explosive growth last year. In Europe, bourses in Paris and Frankfurt lost 2.0 percent in value.European markets were sluggish on Thursday but avoided the sharp falls of the previous day.London's benchmark FTSE 100 inched down 0.09 percent in afternoon trading, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.37 percent and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.67 percent.The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed up 1.22 percent on Thursday, shrugging off the negative lead from Wall Street as foreign investors bought heavyweight companies such as Toyota and Sony.Faster-than-expected Chinese growth has heightened fears that the People's Bank of China may hike interest rates this quarter, said analyst Jane Foley at online trading site Forex.com.This may not yet be a consensus view but the rise in tightening fears was sufficient to push most Asian stock indices lower, which led to a flurry of dollar buying.The euro fell amid worries about China and the fiscal crises in Europe.

The euro was changing hands at 1.4093 dollars in afternoon trading in London, compared to 1.4103 late in New York on Wednesday. The euro had hit a five-month low against the dollar on Wednesday. The IMF warned Portugal on Wednesday of the critical importance of getting its public finances amid existing concerns over Greece's own massive debt troubles. As soon as markets had digested the situation in Greece it's now Portugal's turn,said Commerzbank analyst Antje Praefcke, adding that the IMF report put additional pressure on the euro.

Oil prices slide below $76 in Asia on weak demand By EILEEN NG, Associated Press Writer – JAN 22,10

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Oil prices fell below $76 a barrel Friday in Asia, dampened by evidence of weak demand after government figures showed the United States continues to use less energy than last year.Benchmark crude for March delivery shed 21 cents to $75.87 a barrel at midday Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.On Thursday, the contract dropped to $75.66, the lowest price since Dec. 23, before settling at $76.08, down $1.66.The losses were also fueled by declines on Wall Street after President Barack Obama proposed tougher bank regulations, which may see less hot money flowing into commodities markets. Goldman Sachs and other major banks have helped funnel billions of dollars of speculative money into oil and natural gas contracts during the past several years.Market sentiment is bearish as fundamentals remain weak but prices could bounce back if it hits $75. There will be some support at this level, said Clarence Chu, a trader with Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore.Energy prices tumbled after the Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that demand for gasoline and jet fuel both weakened during the past few weeks.America is consuming less petroleum than the same time last year, and refineries, which have struggled to pass higher crude costs along to consumers, are now operating at the lowest levels since September 2008. Natural gas supplies dropped more than expected to 2.6 trillion cubic feet and are now slightly lower than the five-year average.

In other Nymex trading in February contracts, heating oil eased 0.47 cent to $1.981 a gallon, while gasoline rose 0.15 cent to $1.984 a gallon. Natural gas futures gained 4.3 cents to $5.678 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude for March delivery lost 11 cents to $74.47 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

MEPs clear 25 out of 26 commission nominees
ANDREW RETTMAN 21.01.2010 @ 15:15 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The President of the EU parliament, Jerzy Buzek, has confirmed that 25 out of the 26 nominees for the next EU commission have been formally approved by MEPs.I have on the table 25 letters, all the commissioner designates have now been accepted by the committees of the European Parliament, with one commissioner and one hearing still missing, he said after a behind-closed-doors meeting of EU parliament heads in Strasbourg on Thursday (21 January).Joseph Daul, the head of the parliament's largest political faction, the centre-right EPP, told German press: I think his [EU commission President Jose Manuel Barroso] team is going to be approved with a very, very large majority.A spokesman for the second largest faction, the Socialists, said: We don't expect any hiccups.The MEPs' conclave also decided to hold a hearing for the outstanding commission candidate, Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva, on 3 February, and a plenary vote on the full commission team on 9 February.Mr Barroso is to meet Ms Georgieva for the first time in Brussels later on Thursday. Sofia put forward the nominee, a high flier in the World Bank, after its initial candidate, senior centre-right politician Rumiana Jeleva, was rejected on grounds of incompetence.Ms Jeleva has since stepped down as Bulgaria's foreign minister. I did not believe that an attack inspired by the Liberals, realised by the Greens to the benefit of the Socialists would go that far, she said on national radio on Wednesday.The 25 positive assessments will give a fair wind for Mr Barroso for the 9 February vote.Concerns had earlier emerged on whether the EPP would take revenge on the anti-Jeleva coalition by trying to topple a Socialist or Liberal candidate. The Netherlands' Neelie Kroes, Slovak Marios Sefcovic, Finland's Olli Rehn, Lithuanian Algirdas Semetas and Sweden's Cecilia Malmstrom were in the firing line following weak hearings with parliament committees over the past two weeks and, in the case of Mr Sefcovic, due to alleged anti-Roma remarks.

Spanner in the works

Thursday's meeting of MEP heads also discussed progress on a new inter-institutional pact currently under negotiation with the commission. MEPs are seeking new powers such as the right to vet senior EU diplomatic appointments and to help initiate EU laws. A spokeswoman for Mr Barroso said on Thursday that the negotiations are going very well ...we're very optimistic.But parliament is using its potential veto on the new commission team as leverage in the institutional talks.The German centre-right MEP in charge of the institutional negotiations, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, told the MEPs' conclave that: If there is no agreement, I will ask for a delay of the vote [on commission nominees], a parliamentary source said.The contact added that the scheduling of the 9 February session is designed to maximise pressure on Mr Barroso. MEPs will on the day first vote on the inter-institutional deal, then take a break for internal talks within the political factions, before coming back to vote on the commission team.

Member states set for tussle with parliament over 18 MEPs
HONOR MAHONY 21.01.2010 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU President Herman Van Rompuy has formally requested the European Parliament not to call a broad discussion on how to legally establish the 18extra MEPs foreseen under the Lisbon Treaty in the Brussels assembly.In a letter unveiled by EU parliament chief Jerzy Buzek on Wednesday (20 January), Mr Van Rompuy asked MEPs to let member states call an intergovernmental conference (IGC) to tweak the EU treaty, without prior discussion in a convention. Spain, currently heading the EU presidency, is pressing for a quick amendment to allow the new MEPs entry into the parliament for the 2009-2014 mandate. Madrid has made the issue a priority as it stands to gain the most, with four extra Spanish MEPs entitled to come to Brussels.Of the other 11 member states concerned, eight are entitled to one more MEP each and three countries to two more deputies.Parliament may yet dig in its heels on principle, however. The house was angered by France, which failed to make arrangements prior to last year's European elections allowing for the two extra French MEPs to take part in the vote. Instead, Paris has suggested it will handpick two deputies from its national assembly and parachute them into the EU legislature.

I think that this is sufficient breach of the democratic legitimacy of parliament that we should precede an intergovernmental conference to discuss this matter with a convention, UK Liberal MEP Andrew Duff told this website.A convention requires the involvement of representatives from the European Commission, European Parliament, national parliaments and member states - the last one was called in 2001 to draw up what eventually turned into the current Lisbon Treaty.

Pandora's box

Member states fear that calling a convention could lead to other issues being examined, perilously soon after they closed their last round of institutional talks, which lasted some eight years.MEPs, on the other hand, argue that the remit of both gatherings could be made very narrow and that the convention could be limited to just two or three days.It would be possible to draw the brief for the convention and the IGC extremely tightly - that the parameters of the things to be discussed could be specified, said Mr Duff.The issue will be discussed by representatives of the political groups in the parliament's constitutional affairs committee next week and is due for a wider discussion by the committee as a whole in February. Spain is hoping that the IGC will be called as soon as possible, said a spokesperson, and that if it falls during its presidency, running until the end of June, then all the better.The anomaly with the MEPs arises because the June elections took place under the Nice Treaty but the Lisbon Treaty, in place since 1 December, increases the number of deputies. Most of the member states affected by this change took account of this in the June elections by simply electing reserve MEPs.

French gambit

France's hope that the extra two deputies can be picked from its national parliament goes against treaty rules.Meanwhile, the overall number of MEPs is set to rise to 754 with the 18 extra names - three more than foreseen under the Lisbon Treaty - because Germany, which is to lose three deputies, will not reduce its number until the next legislature in four year's time. The two factors require temporary changes to be made to the Lisbon Treaty.The new MEPs will mean that the Swedish pirates party, amongst others, will get an extra deputy - set to be the youngest member of the parliament, Amelia Andersdotter. The Netherlands' anti-immigration PVV party will increase its seats from four to five, the same number as the Dutch Christian Democrats.Spain's IGC idea needs to be realised quickly if it is to make political sense. An amendment changing the number of MEPs would need to be agreed by all 27 national parliaments - a lengthy process occasionally taken hostage by other political issues. Any delay in ratification risks bringing the date by which the extra deputies are actually in parliament with full rights close to 2014 - the date of the next European elections, when the legal problem will cease to exist.

UN fudges Copenhagen Accord deadline
LEIGH PHILLIPS 21.01.2010 @ 10:23 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - As the European Union tussles over which carbon reduction figures to inscribe in the annexes of the controversial Copenhagen Accord produced in the dying hours of December's climate summit, the UN's climate change chief has warned that few countries, including the major emitters, have so far signed up with their own emission reduction plans.Whether the European bloc signs up with a commitment of 20 percent, 25 percent or 30 percent CO2 cut, it is likely become one of the few powers that respond to the accord in time.Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told reporters in Bonn on Wednesday (20 January) that just days away from a 31 January deadline, fewer than 20 countries out of 192 have submitted their targets for emissions reductions or, in the case of developing countries, the mitigation actions they intend to take.As a result, Mr de Boer announced that the deadline has been lifted, saying that the date is flexible.I see the accord as a living document that tracks actions that countries want to take, he said.It's a soft deadline. Countries are not being asked to sign the accord to take on legally binding targets, only to indicate their intention.In their attempts to sell the skeletal document, its authors had previously touted the end-of-January deadline as delivering the substantive element of the accord.Rich countries were originally supposed to have inscribed their CO2 reduction targets in an annex to the accord by the end of this month, while developing countries were not strictly bound by this date.

But all talk of deadlines has now been abandoned.

The Copenhagen Accord, drafted by Brazil, China, India, South Africa and the United States, is not legally binding, and does not commit countries to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. It contains very little in the way of detail, although it does contain a goal of limiting average global temperature increase to no more than two degrees Celsius and proposes a $100 billion a year mix of private and public monies to be delivered to developing countries to pay for adaptation to climate change and to cover the costs of moving toward a low-carbon growth path. The UN process only took note of the document, with even South Africa, one of the negotiators of the text, at the time describing it as being not acceptable.The EU for its part remains divided over whether to inscribe in the annex its existing commitment to a 20 percent cut in CO2 on 1990 levels by 2020 or move up unilaterally to a 30 percent cut. The EU has so far said it will move to a 30 percent cut if other powers make comparable offers. As it stands, the US is currently on track to offer a cut of 17 percent on 2005 levels, equivalent to a three to four percent cut on 1990 levels.The UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Spain, currently holding the EU's six-month rotating presidency, all back a jump to 30 percent, while Italy and Poland remain dead set against such a move.Italy and Poland fear the costs for domestic industry and households will be raised sharply without similar commitments by other powers.
As a compromise position, Belgium has suggested a move to a reduction pledge of 25 percent.

EU commission embassies granted new powers-The commission's unit in China is among the list of 54 (Photo: ec.europa.eu)ANDREW RETTMAN 21.01.2010 @ 09:15 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU has converted 54 out of the European Commission's 136 foreign delegations into embassy-type missions authorised to speak for the entire union.The move follows the coming into force last year of the Lisbon Treaty, which has the creation of a new EU diplomatic corps as one of its main provisions. All 136 commission delegations were renamed EU delegations on 1 January. But only the 54 placements were at the same time quietly given fresh powers in line with their new names.The super-delegations have taken on the role previously carried out by the national embassies of the member state holding the six-month EU presidency at any given time.As such, they now co-ordinate the work of the member states' bilateral missions to the countries in question. The heads of the 54 delegations are also empowered to speak on behalf of the EU as a whole. But their statements have to be pre-approved by the 27 EU countries during meetings in Brussels.They are going to be a bit more political. They will provide the same function that was provided by the given [EU presidency] member state before,an EU official said. Eight of the new-model units are in Europe: Armenia, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine.

Twelve are in Asia and the Pacific Ocean: Afghanistan, Australia, China, East Timor, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam. The rest is in Africa: Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the delegation to the African Union in Addis Ababa.

Some of the far-flung outposts concentrate on distributing aid and also do ad-hoc projects, such as promoting European film in Fiji.The 54 missions were selected by EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton following discussions with EU states. There is no deadline for the conversion of the rest.The choice is designed not to undermine the prestige of the Spanish EU presidency: None of the new placements are in former Spanish colonies in Latin America or in countries due to hold EU summits on Spain's watch, such as the US and Russia. China is the only exception, with a summit due on 15 March.

The choice was also guided by technical issues.

Most of the commission's delegations to international bodies, such as the UN in New York or the OSCE in Vienna, were not included because the EU is still working out how to handle its membership in multilateral forums under Lisbon.Some commission delegations did not have enough staff or were not yet plugged into the EU system for circulating classified information, known as Coreu.

MEPs call for delay on US bank data deal
ANDREW WILLIS 21.01.2010 @ 17:37 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek is planning to send a letter to the Council of Ministers, the EU institution representing member states, calling for a suspension of a recent agreement that was to enable the continued transfer of EU citizens' banking data to US investigators. The decision to call for a delay to the interim deal, scheduled to enter into force on 1 February, was made by leaders of the parliament's different political groups during a meeting in Strasbourg on Thursday (21 January).MEPs were infuriated when the Council agreed the interim deal with the US on 30 November last year, just a day before the EU's new rulebook, the Lisbon Treaty, came into force, which handed the euro-deputies a greater say over data protection issues.The controversial deal was negotiated to help the US out of a legal hole, following the relocation of the US database of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) to the Netherlands on 1 January. The EU Council has no right to allow the Swift agreement to take effect without the agreement of the European Parliament, said Green co-president Rebecca Harms and Green MEP Jan-Philipp Albrecht, a member of Parliament's civil liberties committee, in a statement. Parliament must not be bypassed by the [European] Commission and Council, which would be a breach of the Lisbon Treaty. Citizens' rights must be safeguarded, they added.

Ongoing controversy

The Swift issue has been an ongoing controversy for several years, with news that the US Department of the Treasury was secretly surveilling banking transactions data, including information on EU citizens, first hitting the headlines in 2006.
Names, addresses and national identification numbers are among the sensitive data screened under the procedure designed to fight terrorism. However, the agreement makes no provision for European investigators to access similar data on US transactions.In a bid to end the debate, the EU in 2008 appointed a special expert to assess how American authorities were dealing with the data. French judge, Louis Bruguiere, subsequently concluded that the US was not abusing the information and that the programme had significant security benefits for the EU itself.But in a strongly worded letter last week to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, whose country currently holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, Mr Buzek already urged the Socialist politician to allow the parliament to vote on the sensitive text. He added that it would be unwise for the Council to force through such an inherently controversial agreement without first securing the parliament's assent.

Greece and China cause slump in value of the euro
ANDREW WILLIS 21.01.2010 @ 09:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Concerns over Greece and indications that China could take steps to cool its economy this year are weighing heavily on the value of the euro, with the common currency reaching a five-month low against the dollar in some markets on Thursday (21 January). In Strasbourg the day before, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told the European Parliament that Europe's economy is at a delicate moment.The euro has fallen steadily this week as investors keep a close eye on Greece's ongoing budgetary difficulties. A change of government last autumn resulted in a dramatic upward revision of the country's deficit forecasts, prompting credit rating cuts and raising the possibility of a possible Greek default and spillover effects to other euro area economies. This Greece news is a huge piece of news, Gregory Salvaggio, vice president of capital markets at the currency- trading firm Tempus Consulting Inc. in Washington, told Bloomberg.If we see sovereign debt default, it could lead to a fracturing of the euro zone, and the euro's shine as a reserve currency is certainly going to diminish, he added.

Sentiment that Europe's economy will perform less strongly than the US this year also contributed to Thursday's slide in Asian markets, with the euro hitting $1.4067, the lowest point since 18 August last year.The euro is now being targeted ...as one of the assets likely to underperform in 2010 based on headwinds, Omer Esiner, senior market analyst at Travelex Global Business Payments in Washington, told Dow Jones.

Chinese data

Fresh data pointing to strong economic growth in China also contributed to the euro's slump, as speculation mounted that Beijing may take further steps to cool its economy. On Wednesday China's banking regulator said it would rein in new lending this year. Figures showed China's gross domestic product expanded 8.7 percent in 2009, beating market expectations for 8.5 percent growth.The China data were strong, so people are now even more anxious over when the authorities might again try to apply the brakes on the economy, said Yasuo Nakayama, manager at Shinkin Central Bank, reports Dow Jones.With many economies around the world, including Europe, still struggling as a result of the financial crisis, speculation about Chinese tightening has raised worries about the potential impact on the world economy as a whole.