300 DEAD IN CHILE QUAKE-7TH BIGGEST HISTORY QUAKE

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.

Chile quake in elite class like 2004 Asian quake By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer – FEB 28,10

LOS ANGELES – The huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile belongs to an elite class of mega earthquakes, experts said, and is similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean temblor that triggered deadly tsunami waves.The magnitude-8.8 quake was a type called a megathrust, considered the most powerful earthquake on the planet. Megathrusts occur when one tectonic plate dives beneath another. Saturday's tremor unleashed about 50 gigatons of energy and broke about 340 miles of the fault zone, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

The quake's epicenter was offshore and occurred about 140 miles north of the largest earthquake ever recorded — a magnitude-9.5 that killed about 1,600 people in Chile and scores of others in the Pacific in 1960.It's part of an elite class of giant earthquakes,said USGS geologist Brian Atwater.If the magnitude holds, it will tie with the 1906 offshore Ecuador quake as the fifth largest since 1900.We call them great earthquakes. Everybody else calls them horrible,said USGS geophysicist Ken Hudnut. There's only a few in this league.The Chile quake was smaller than the Sumatra quake of 2004, a magnitude-9.1 and was not expected to be anything nearly as destructive. That quake and ensuing tsunami killed 230,000 people. Another difference is that the Chile quake triggered tsunami warnings hours ahead of time in Hawaii and Pacific islands, allowing people time to flee to higher ground.In 2004, there was little measuring technology in place to warn Indian Ocean countries about incoming killer waves.More than 100 aftershocks measuring magnitude-5 or larger rattled Chile throughout the day. So far, the quake death toll has surpassed 300 — a number that will likely rise. Several more died when tsunami waves swamped an island off the country's coast.

Chile is no stranger to violent jolts. In fact, USGS geophysicist Ross Stein called the country an earthquake hatchery. Thirteen temblors of magnitude 7 or larger have hit Chile since 1973.The latest quake took place at a boundary where two plates of the Earth's crust grind and dive. While that type of action gave rise to the Andes mountains that form the backbone of South America, it's also the source of some of the largest quakes.The Chile temblor struck a day after a smaller earthquake shook the southern coast of Japan. Experts said the quakes appear to be unrelated.There's also no connection between this quake and the disaster in Haiti, said University of Miami geology professor Tim Dixon.A quake like the one that hit Haiti, a magnitude 7, happens somewhere in the world about every month, usually underwater. But the type that hit Chile is among the most powerful recorded in recent history.The faults in Haiti and Chile are distant enough that stress from one would not affect the other, Dixon said.AP writers Seth Borenstein in Washington and P. Solomon Banda in Denver contributed to this report.

Rescuers dig for Chile quake survivors; looting erupts By Mario Naranjo – FEB 28,10

CONCEPCION, Chile (Reuters) – Chilean rescuers used shovels and sledgehammers on Sunday to find survivors of a huge earthquake in Chile that unleashed a Pacific tsunami and triggered looting by desperate and hungry residents.Saturday's quake, one of the most powerful in a century, killed more than 300 people and devastated homes and highways, dealing a heavy blow to infrastructure in the world's No. 1 copper producer and one of Latin America's most stable economies.In the hard-hit city of Concepcion, about 100 people were feared trapped in a ruined apartment building and police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of looters carrying off food and electrical appliances from a supermarket.People have gone days without eating,Orlando Salazar said.The only option is to come here and get stuff for ourselves.Two million people in Chile were affected by the 8.8-magnitude temblor, said President Michelle Bachelet, who added that it would take officials several days to evaluate the enormous quantity of damage.Crushed cars, fallen power lines and rubble from wrecked buildings littered the streets of Concepcion, which has 670,000 inhabitants and lies 70 miles southwest of the quake's epicenter.A string of strong aftershocks have rocked the country and strong one shook buildings in the capital, Santiago, early on Sunday. Thousands of Concepcion residents camped out in tents or makeshift shelters, fearing fresh tremors.Firefighters used drills and shovels to search for signs of life in the rubble and battled to free dozens of people believed trapped in a collapsed apartment building.We spent the whole night working, smashing through walls to find survivors. The biggest problem is fuel, we need fuel for our machinery and water for our people,Commander Marcelo Plaza said.

DAUNTING TASK

The government faces the task of helping rebuild an estimated half a million homes that were severely damaged as well as hundreds of buckled roads and collapsed bridges.The quake has raised a daunting first challenge for billionaire Sebastian Pinera, who was elected Chile's president in January in a shift to the political right and who takes office in two weeks.We're preparing ourselves for an additional task, a task that wasn't part of our governing plan: assuming responsibility for rebuilding our country, Pinera said late on Saturday.It's going to be a very big task and we're going to need resources.The economic damage could be between $15 billion and $30 billion, risk assessor Eqecat said.Some economists predicted a deep impact on Chile's economy after the quake damaged its industrial and agricultural sectors in the worst-hit regions, possibly putting pressure on its currency.

Government officials said the copper industry had enough stocks to meet its commitments despite a production shutdown at two major mines due to the quake. Diesel imports were stepped up after damage forced the closure of two oil refineries.
Saturday's quake triggered tsunami waves that killed at least four people on Chile's Juan Fernandez islands and caused serious damage to the port town of Talcahuano, flooding streets and lifting fishing boats out of the sea. On the other side of the Pacific, Japan's northeastern coast registered waves of up to 4 feet, but officials later lowered the state of alert. Hundreds of thousands of people in Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines and Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula were told to evacuate for fear of a tsunami caused by the Chilean quake, but there were no immediate reports of damage.(Additional reporting by Simon Gardner and Alonso Soto in Santiago, and London Treasury; Writing by Stuart Grudgings and Helen Popper, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Tsunami warning lifted; Waves reach Japan, Russia By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

TOKYO – The tsunami from Chile's devastating earthquake hit Japan's main islands and the shores of Russia on Sunday, but the smaller-than-expected waves prompted the lifting of a Pacific-wide alert. Hawaii and other Pacific islands were also spared.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by Saturday's magnitude-8.8 earthquake. After the center lifted its warning, some countries kept their own watches in place as a precaution.In Japan, the biggest wave hit the northern island of Hokkaido. There were no immediate reports of damage from the four-foot (1.2-meter) wave, though some piers were briefly flooded.As it crossed the Pacific, the tsunami dealt populated areas — including the U.S. state of Hawaii — only a glancing blow.The tsunami raised fears Pacific nations could suffer from disastrous waves like those that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in December 2004, which happened with little-to-no warning and much confusion about the impending waves.Officials said the opposite occurred after the Chile quake: They overstated their predictions of the size of the waves and the threat.We expected the waves to be bigger in Hawaii, maybe about 50 percent bigger than they actually were,said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning center.We'll be looking at that.Japan, fearing the tsunami could gain force as it moved closer, put all of its eastern coastline on tsunami alert and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground as waves raced across the Pacific at hundreds of miles (kilometers) per hour.

Japan is particularly sensitive to the tsunami threat.In July 1993 a tsunami triggered by a major earthquake off Japan's northern coast killed more than 200 people on the small island of Okushiri. A stronger quake near Chile in 1960 created a tsunami that killed about 140 people in Japan.Towns along northern coasts issued evacuation orders to 400,000 residents, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said. NHK switched to emergency mode, broadcasting a map with the areas in most danger and repeatedly urging caution.As the wave crossed the ocean, Japan's Meteorological Agency said waves of up to 10 feet (three meters) could hit the northern prefectures of Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi, but the first waves were much smaller.People packed their families into cars, but there were no reports of panic or traffic jams. Fishermen secured their boats, and police patrolled beaches, using sirens and loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.In Kesennuma, northern Japan, seawater flooded streets near the coast for about four hours before receding but caused little impact to people.

But the tsunami passed gently by most locations.By the time the tsunami hit Hawaii — a full 16 hours after the quake — officials had already spent the morning blasting emergency sirens, blaring warnings from airplanes and ordering residents to higher ground.Picturesque beaches were desolate, million-dollar homes were evacuated, shops in Waikiki were closed and residents filled supermarkets and gas stations to stock up on supplies. But after the morning scare, the islands were back to paradise by the afternoon.Waves hit California, but barely registered amid stormy weather. A surfing contest outside San Diego went on as planned. In Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports of a wave up to 6.5 feet (two meters) high hitting a small northern island, deputy director Mali'u Takai said. There were no initial indications of damage.

Nine people died in Tonga last September when the Samoa tsunami slammed the small northern island of Niuatoputapu, wiping out half of the main settlement. In Samoa, where 183 people died in the tsunami five months ago, thousands remained Sunday morning in the hills above the coasts on the main island of Upolu, but police said there were no reports of waves or sea surges hitting the South Pacific nation. At least 20,000 people abandoned their homes in southeastern Philippine villages and took shelter in government buildings or fled to nearby mountains overnight. Provincial officials scrambled to alert villagers and prepare contingency plans, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Philippine navy and coast guard vessels, along with police, were ordered to stand by for possible evacuation but the alert was lifted late Sunday afternoon. Indonesia, which suffered the brunt of the 2004 disaster, had been included in the tsunami warning Saturday, but the country's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said Sunday there was no tsunami risk for the archipelago as it was too far from the quake's epicenter. On New Zealand's Chatham Islands earlier Sunday, officials reported a wave measured at 6.6 feet (two meters). Several hundred people in the North Island coastal cities of Gisborne and Napier were evacuated from their homes and from camp grounds, while residents in low-lying areas on South Island's Banks Peninsula were alerted to be ready to evacuate.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology canceled its tsunami warning Sunday evening. The main tsunami waves have now passed all Australian locations,the bureau said. No damage was reported in Australia from small waves that were recorded in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Norfolk Island, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) northeast of Sydney.New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management downgraded its tsunami warning to an advisory status, which it planned to keep in place overnight.Associated Press writers Mark Niesse and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Mari Yamaguchi and Malcolm Foster in Tokyo, Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Debby Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report.

Facing tsunami threat, Japan battens down hatches by Harumi Ozawa – FEB 28,10

SENDAI, Japan (AFP) – Flood gates slammed shut, neighbourhoods were evacuated and coastal rail lines shuddered to a halt as a tsunami from Chile's killer quake barrelled across the Pacific towards Japan on Sunday.When it comes to emergency preparedness, Japan -- one of the world's most disaster-prone nations, battered by scores of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and typhoons every year -- leaves little to chance.Long after other Pacific Rim nations from New Zealand to Russia had given the all-clear, emergency services in Japan still warned seaside residents to remain vigilant to the dangers of possible follow-up waves.Fishing town residents such as Matsuko Shiba, a 79-year-old huddling with her grandchildren in an evacuation shelter Sunday, remember why.

Related article: Chile quake kills over 300

Another Chilean quake back in 1960 sent a tsunami with waves of up to four metres hurtling across the Pacific. When they finally slammed into Japan 22 hours later, they wrought devastation and killed 142 people.Since then, Japan, Asia's most industrialised country, has come a long way in disaster preparedness -- but especially the elderly have held onto their deep respect for the fury of mother nature.At that time, the sea water disappeared and I saw fish jumping, said Shiba, describing a common phenomenon in tsunamis where seawater recedes before a huge surge comes crashing toward the coast.I am fed up with tsunamis, she said as she prepared to spend the night in the gym of a small school in the town of Minami Sanriku, in Miyagi prefecture.As the waves rumbled towards Japan, the nation jumped to high alert, ordering more than 320,000 residents like Shiba to seek higher, safer ground.For the first time in over 15 years, Japan issued a major tsunami alert, warning of waves of three metres (10 feet) or more following Chile's 8.8-magnitude quake, a level that was only downgraded at nightfall.Every television station in the country kept viewers updated on the alert with a map of Japan that highlighted the most at-risk areas in red.Speaking on public broadcaster NHK, which provided non-stop coverage, an expert warned that the tsunami might come in several waves and gradually build in height and intensity.People should seek shelter on the third floor or higher inside very solid buildings or go to areas higher than six metres, said Yoshinobu Tsuji, associate professor at the Earthquake Research Institute at Tokyo University.Tsunami sirens wailed across eastern seaside areas of the archipelago, where massive steel gates slammed shut across entrances to fishing ports.

Coastguard vessels fanned out and air force jets scrambled to search for stray ships still at sea, and fishermen in port secured their boats and rolled up their fishing nets to avoid damage by high waves.Communities long drilled for tsunamis in the country that invented the word packed blankets and clothes and headed for schools and town halls, where emergency services stacked water and supplies.In the small fishing town of Yamamoto-cho, in Miyagi prefecture, a popular annual clam festival was cancelled as worried locals instead switched on their television sets and radios. In Hahajima Island, some 1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo in the Pacific, hotel owner Yoko Hiraga said tourists joined islanders in heading for higher ground after ferry services were suspended. In the end Japan, like other Pacific countries, dodged the tsunami bullet. Seawater swells flooded some harbour areas as waves of 1.2metres hit the shore. But Japan began downgrading the tsunami alert from 1000 GMT and gradually started lifting warnings in coastal areas not facing the Pacific.

The national police said they had received no reports of injuries.

Tsuji, the Tokyo University expert, said the tsunami did not match the ferocity of the one that came from Chile half a century before, while new harbourfront designs, breakwaters and other measures had also helped.We saw the water level rise, but compared to 50 years ago, the force of the water was less,he said. We are not hearing about fishing boats being pulled away or nets being swept away, or people dying.

The world's strongest earthquakes By The Associated Press – Sat Feb 27, 6:38 pm ET

Here is a list of earthquakes that registered at least magnitude 8.6.

- May 22, 1960: A magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile and ensuing tsunami killed at least 1,716 people.

- March 27, 1964: A magnitude 9.2 quake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and ensuing tsunami killed 128 people.

- Dec. 26, 2004: A magnitude 9.1 quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 226,000 people in 12 countries, including 165,700 in Indonesia and 35,400 in Sri Lanka.

- Aug. 13, 1868: A magnitude 9.0 quake in Arica, Peru (now Chile) generated catastrophic tsunamis; more than 25,000 people were killed in South America.

- Jan. 26, 1700: A magnitude 9.0 quake shakes Northern California, Oregon, Washington and British Colombia and triggers tsunami that damages villages in Japan.

- Nov. 4, 1952: A magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka causes damage but no reported deaths, despite setting off 30-foot (9.1-meter) waves in Hawaii.

- Jan. 31, 1906: A magnitude 8.8 quake off the coast of Ecuador and Colombia generated a tsunami that killed at least 500 people.

- Feb. 27, 2010: A magnitude 8.8 quake off the coast of Chile killed a still-undetermined number of people and sends a tsunami across the Pacific.

- Nov. 1, 1755: A magnitude 8.7 quake and ensuing tsunami in Lisbon, Portugal killed an estimated 60,000 people and destroyed much of Lisbon.

- July 8, 1730: A magnitude 8.7 quake in Valparasio, Chile, killed at least 3,000 people.

- Aug. 15, 1950: A magnitude 8.6 earthquake in Assam, Tibet, killed at least 780 people.

- March 28, 2005: A magnitude 8.6 quake in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, kills about 1,300 people.Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology and WHO's International Disaster Database.

Quake hits north Pakistan, Afghanistan; no damage
Sun Feb 28, 2:05 am ET

ISLAMABAD – A moderate earthquake has rattled northern Pakistan and Afghanistan but there are no reports of injuries or damage.Pakistani government meteorologist Qamar Zaman Chaudhry says the quake happened at 4:21 a.m. Pakistan time on Sunday (2321 GMT; 6:21 p.m. EDT on Saturday).It was felt in northern Pakistan and in Kabul, the capital of neighboring Afghanistan.The U.S. Geological Survey says it was magnitude 5.7, and was centered in the Hindu Kush mountains 110 miles (175 kilometers) northeast of Kabul.Earthquakes often rattle the region. A magnitude 7.6 quake on Oct. 8, 2005, killed about 80,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir and left more than 3 million homeless.

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.

8 killed in heavy rain in southwestern Haiti
Sat Feb 27, 9:26 pm ET

LES CAYES, Haiti – Haitian officials say eight people are dead and two missing after heavy rain pounded the southwest and caused widespread flooding.Rain fell around Les Cayes on the country's southern peninsula. The civil protection department says a prison flooded and more than 400 prisoners were evacuated.City delegate Josephe Mary Yves Aurbour says the dead from Saturday's storm include two adults and a child killed when water rushed into their home and swept them into a rain-swollen river.

It's still several weeks until Haiti's rainy season typically starts. It also has been raining, but not as hard, in parts of the capital, where hundreds of thousands of people are living outside after their homes were destroyed in the earthquake.

Violent storms kill at least 15 in France
FEB 28,10

PARIS (Reuters) – Violent storms swept through France over the weekend, killing at least 15 people, officials said.Local authorities said three people died on Saturday and another 12 on Sunday and warned the toll could rise. Some drowned while others were hit by falling trees and branches.South-west coastal regions of France, Vendee and Charente Maritime, were among those worst affected.The storm also cut off electricity to more than 1 million residents said ErDF, the distribution arm of French energy group EDF. The cuts centered on Brittany and central France.Weather forecasters said the storm, named Xynthia, had headed to France's north-east and would then hit Belgium and Luxembourg.Gusts of wind reaching 100 km (60 miles) per hour had already battered France's northern regions by 1207 GMT (7:07 a.m. EST), Meteo France said on its website.But it said the storms appeared less fierce than those that hit France in December 1999, in which 92 people were killed.French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde on Sunday reminded insurers that multi-risk residence insurance covered damage caused by strong winds and called for the speedy processing of storm-related claims.(Reporting by Claude Canellas, Guillaume Frouin and Astrid Wendlandt; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Fierce storms in France, Spain, Portugal kill 16 By DEBORAH SEWARD, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

PARIS – A violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds battered France, Spain and Portugal Sunday, leaving at least 16 people dead.Most of the 12 victims in France drowned, while others died when hit by parts of buildings or trees and branches that were ripped off by the wind.Nearly 900,000 people in France were without electricity. Rivers overflowed their banks in Brittany, and the threat of avalanches was high in the Pyrenees Mountains and the southern Alps due to wind and wet snow.In Paris, winds knocked over motorcycles and spewed garbage around the streets of the capital. Flights were delayed and some were canceled at the two main Paris airports. A number of trains in western France were delayed due to flooded tracks.Winds reached about 130 mph (200 kph) on the summits of the Pyrenees and about 90 mph (150 kph) along the Atlantic Coast.In neighboring Spain, the Interior Minister said three people were killed by hurricane-strength winds and heavy rainfall that lashed the country's northern regions over the weekend.Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the storm had been intense in certain regions and had caused the deaths of a woman in northwestern Ourense and of two people whose car was hit by a falling tree in Arlanzon just north of Madrid.

The national weather agency had warned that a violent cyclone depression had formed over the Atlantic Ocean and was to cross areas bordering the Bay of Biscay.Winds gusting up to 118 mph (190 kph) had blown over the Canary Islands overnight Friday causing a crane to collapse on a building, lampposts to fall onto parked cars and forcing flight cancellations.Portugal's home affairs minister Rui Pereira said a child had been killed Saturday by a falling tree in Paredes.The 10-year-old had been playing ball near a church while waiting to go to a prayer meeting when a falling branch crushed him, Pereira said.AP correspondent Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.

Thousands still lack power after Northeast storm By NORMA LOVE, Associated Press Writers – Sun Feb 28, 4:06 am ET

CONCORD, N.H. – Frustration turned to resignation Saturday for hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeast struggling to survive another day waiting for utility crews to restore electricity after powerful storms socked the region with heavy snow, rain and hurricane-force winds.The region was left to deal with the fallout of gusting winds that created near-blizzard conditions this week in what was the third strong storm this month for some areas. Parts of New York got more than 2 feet of snow while some areas of coastal New England were drenched with flooding rains.One man was killed by a falling snow-laden tree branch in Central Park in New York City, and two people in Candia, N.H., died in a house fire caused by improperly using a propane heater to stay warm, fire officials said.The highest wind reported from the storm was 91 mph off the coast of Portsmouth, N.H. — well above hurricane force of 74 mph. Gusts also hit 60 mph or more from the mountains of West Virginia to New York's Long Island and Massachusetts.Frustration was beginning to show on Charlotte Letteney's face Saturday at Concord High School, one of 24 shelters in New Hampshire. Letteney, 64, of Allenstown, arrived Friday night with her 66-year-old husband, who is a paraplegic, two granddaughters, her grandson-in-law and 6-month-old great-grandson.The family left their mobile home when the temperature dropped to 46 degrees and Letteney's hands had gone numb, leaving behind four parrots in covered cages and a couple of days' worth of food for their dog, Bosco. They have no car — a city van brought them to the shelter — and no way to get home to feed the animals or to let the dog out.He'll go out in the kitchen, and I'll have to sterilize my floor, Letteney said.

The Letteneys are among more than 1 million customers across the Northeast who lost power because of the storm, and as of Saturday afternoon more than half of them were still without electricity. New Hampshire's electrical grid was the hardest hit, with more than a quarter-million customers still without power. New York had more than 160,000 outages and Maine about 67,000.Some residents were warned they'll be without electricity for up to a week, as uprooted trees and fallen utility poles hindered utility crews.Bow, N.H., Assistant Fire Chief Dick Pistey compared the situation two years ago during a powerful ice storm when ice quickly coated trees, bringing down tree limbs and power lines, leaving millions without power — some for two weeks.
It's deja vu all over again, Pistey said.In Londonderry, N.H., Irene Stanley, 68, was sitting in a rocking chair next to a wood stove to keep warm, her royal blue beta fish in its container nearby. Stanley, who managed without power for nearly two weeks during the ice storm two years ago, said her mission for the day was to buy batteries to keep her radio operating.In York, Maine, 70-year-old lobsterman Pat White, was able to use his generator to help cook a pancake breakfast Saturday to feed his neighbors who were without power — a father, his daughter and her baby. White and his wife, Enid, were planning what to serve them for dinner.We've got to use up some of the stuff in the refrigerator, he said.Nick Vermette, 49, a safety specialist for Central Maine Power, the state's largest utility, was supervising crews restoring power in Portland on Saturday. He said the 17-hour days are exhausting.By the time you drive home take a shower, try to get to sleep, get up and come back, you're averaging four to five hours sleep,he said.Associated Press Writer Kathy McCormack contributed to this report.

Debt-hit Greece must step up spending cuts: Juncker
FEB 28,10

ATHENS (AFP) – Debt-hit Greece must step up spending cuts as other European taxpayers are not inclined to correct the mismanagement of past Greek governments, the head of the eurozone finance ministers said on Sunday.Greece must step up its efforts to limit its public deficit, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurogroup of ministers that oversee the eurozone, said in a statement to Eleftherotypia daily.It must focus on further spending cuts and on ways to increase revenue.Greece must understand that taxpayers in Germany, Belgium or Luxembourg are not prepared to correct Greek fiscal policy mistakes, he said.The comments came a day before the European Union's economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn arrives in Athens to inspect progress on the Greek government's plans to slash state spending and boost tax revenue.Luxembourg has expressed readiness to help Greece if asked but we must first be persuaded that the (Greek) measures are serious, Juncker said.

Greece has come under market pressure as the weak link in the euro since it revealed late last year that its public deficit and debt were much worse than initially thought.The Greek deficit is over four times the allowed EU limit at 12.7 percent and the country is also saddled with a debt of nearly 300 billion euros (408 billion dollars).The Socialist government has pledged to cut the deficit by four percentage points of gross domestic product to 8.7 percent this year, but there are widespread doubts that the recession-hit country will meet this goal.If the programme proves insufficient, a meeting of EU finance ministers could demand even harsher corrective action at a meeting on March 16.On Thursday, the semi-state Athens News Agency reported that an EU and European Central Bank mission to Athens that prepared the ground for Rehn's visit had raised key objections to Greek income forecasts.If austerity measures failed to bear fruit then additional policies to raise 3.6 billion to 4.8 billion euros (4.0 billion to 6.5 billion dollars) would be necessary, the report cited mission members as saying.Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has said he will use the crisis to remedy chronic waste in public administration.

Head of IMF proposes new reserve currency By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer Harry Dunphy, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 26, 4:13 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, suggested Friday the organization might one day be called on to provide countries with a global reserve currency that would serve as an alternative to the U.S. dollar.

That day has not yet come, but I think it is intellectually healthy to explore these kinds of ideas now, he said in a speech on the future mandate of the 186-nation Washington-based lending organization.Strauss-Kahn said such an asset could be similar to but distinctly different from the IMF's special drawing rights, or SDRs, the accounting unit that countries use to hold funds within the IMF. It is based on a basket of major currencies.He said having other alternatives to the dollar would limit the extent to which the international monetary system as a whole depends on the policies and conditions of a single, albeit dominant, country.Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister of France, said that during the recent global financial crisis, the dollar played its role as a safe haven asset, and the current international monetary system demonstrated resilience.The challenge ahead is to find ways to limit the tension arising from the high demand for precautionary reserves on the one hand and the narrow supply of reserves on the other, he said.Several countries, including China and Russia, have called for an alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency and have suggested using the IMF's internal accounting unit.

Strauss-Kahn said the IMF also needs to do a better job of tracing how risk percolates through the global economy.Here it will be essential to improve our ability to monitor several dozen large complex financial institutions that make up the plumbing through which global capital flows, he said, while leaving national regulators the job of monitoring the solvency of individual institutions.

India wants to boost energy ties with Saudi Arabia - PM By Souhail Karam – Sun Feb 28, 6:45 am ET

RIYADH (Reuters) – India wants to strengthen energy ties with top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia, the country's biggest biggest supplier of oil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday.We believe that conditions are ripe for moving beyond a traditional buyer-seller relationship to a comprehensive energy partnership, Singh said in a prepared speech during a rare visit to the kingdom.Indian companies are well-equipped to participate in upstream and downstream oil and gas sector projects in Saudi Arabia, he told Saudi business leaders.Singh, who earlier met Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, proposed to establish new partnerships between the two countries in the area of renewable energy through sharing of clean technologies and joint collaborations.He gave no details.Singh is the first Indian prime minister to visit the Gulf Arab kingdom since Indira Gandhi in 1982.Saudi Arabia is India's largest supplier of crude and also a major source of remittances from Indian workers forming the backbone of 7 million expatriates in the kingdom.Indian investment in Saudi Arabia stands at more than $2 billion, covering 500 joint ventures, and India wants Saudi Arabia to invest in agriculture, energy, construction, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, Singh said.

Singh said bilateral trade reached almost $25 billion in 2008-09.The traditional relationship between Saudi Arabia and India is among the most strategic bilateral bonds for either country,Riyadh-based lender Banque Saudi Fransi said in a report.
India's geographic dependence on the Gulf is likely to become amplified in the coming years due to limited prospects for enhancing domestic energy production,it said.Singh reiterated India's economy should grow more than 7 percent in the fiscal year 2009/10 and return to a 9 percent annual growth rate in two years.We expect to get back to the growth level of about 9 percent per annum within two years,he said.
India's economy grew by 6 percent in the fourth quarter through December from a year earlier, the government said on Friday.India's economy grew 6.7 percent in 2008/09, slower than 9 percent or more in the previous three years.(Reporting by Souhail Karam, Writing by Ulf Laessing and Martin Dokoupil; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Tory MEP to launch anti-tax Tea Party group
LEIGH PHILLIPS 26.02.2010 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - British Conservative MEP Dan Hannan is jealous that Europe does not have its own anti-tax Tea Party movement, as in the US, and has decided to start one himself. On Saturday (27 February), the eurosceptic deputy is to launch the Brighton Tea Party, in reference to the Boston Tea Party that kicked off the American Revolution and, in recent times, has sponsored a series of anti-Obama demonstrations against stimulus spending, healthcare legislation and climate change bills. Mr Hannan is inspired by the anti-tax element of the protests, saying Europe is on the verge of constructing an EU-level tax system, and believes that under the surface, there is potential for as much grass-roots opposition to increased public spending on this side of the Atlantic as in the US.During the first mandate that I was here in Brussels, the main theme was the erection of a common justice and home affairs area; the second term, the big issue was the Lisbon Treaty and I am convinced that for this term, the EU is fixated on constructing fiscal independence from the member states,he told EUobserver.It was striking during the hearings for the new commission how many commissioners want the EU to have more of its own revenue streams, he said, highlighting EU Council President Herman van Rompuy's recent backing for European economic governance. Obviously, they had talked about this before.I don't think an EU income tax is on the cards yet, but certainly green taxes and taxes on financial transactions,Mr Hannan explained.

His immediate organising focus is in the UK ahead of this year's general election in opposition to Labour government tax hikes. The Saturday launch of the Brighton Tea Party will take place alongside the UK Conservative party's Spring Forum convention in the south-western city. But the MEP believes that an anti-tax movement would have enormous resonance across the EU.The paradox is that the US Tea Party movement is inspired by the slogan 'No taxation without representation' and they do actually elect their representatives. In the EU, there genuinely is taxation without representation,he said.In the US, the protests have been hailed by figures such as right-wing talk radio commentator Rush Limbaugh and ex-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Democrats and progressives have called them astroturf - a fake grassroots campaign that in reality is bankrolled by corporations and conservative think-tanks.The British version is backed by the Freedom Association, a libertarian pressure group of which Mr Hannan is a member.The anti-tax element is not the only aspect of the US movement which the Tory politician admires, being also a strong critic of publicly funded healthcare. Last year the MEP was branded an eccentric by his party leader, David Cameron, after he toured the US criticising Britain's National Health Service in a series of television appearances at the height of the summer's Tea Party protests.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

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

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

AP Enterprise: How nuclear equipment reached Iran By PETER ENAV and DEBBY WU, Associated Press Writers – FEB 28,10

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Early last year, a Chinese company placed an order with a Taiwanese agent for 108 nuclear-related pressure gauges. But something happened along the way. Paperwork was backdated. Plans were rerouted, orders reconfigured, shipping redirected.And the gauges ended up in a very different place: Iran.The story behind the gauges shows how Iran is finding its way around international sanctions meant to prevent it from getting equipment that can be used to make a nuclear bomb. At least half a dozen times in recent years, the Persian Gulf nation has tried to use third countries as transshipment points for obtaining controlled, nuclear-related equipment.In the case of the pressure gauges, it succeeded. In the process, the Swiss manufacturer and the Swiss government were duped, a Chinese company went around its own government's prohibition on moving nuclear-related equipment to Iran, and Taiwanese authorities showed themselves unwilling or unable to get into step with the international community.The deal was a huge victory for Tehran, which had been seeking the gauges for months, said nuclear proliferation expert David Albright, president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. It also reflected the uneven enforcement of international sanctions against Iran, at a time when the U.S. and other Western countries are pushing hard to expand them.The (Iranian) government looked everywhere — Russia, Europe, the U.S., and they were being thwarted by the international community, Albright said. It's really unfortunate they succeeded in using this Taiwan-China connection...This case is a wake up call of the importance of universal and timely application of sanctions on Iran.Iran says it wants to enrich uranium to generate nuclear power, but the West fears that it actually seeks weapons capabilities.

It's impossible to verify how Iran is using the gauges, also known as pressure transducers or capacitance diaphragm gauges, which have numerous commercial applications in machines that employ pneumatic or hydraulic pressure. But experts say the large size of the order suggests very strongly that they are for centrifuges to churn out enriched uranium.As of last November, Iran had 8,692 centrifuges, of which 3,936 were running, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Each centrifuge normally requires a transducer, though a single gauge can also serve up to 10 linked centrifuges.The gauges are extremely useful to them, said Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, a physicist at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at California's Monterey Institute of International Studies.It's a very big deal.At first, the transaction seemed above board.A Jan. 24, 2009, purchase order shows that Roc-Master Manufacture & Supply Company ordered the gauges for delivery to its Shanghai base. The order — in the amount of $112,303.72 — was placed with Heli-Ocean Technology Co. Ltd., the Taiwanese agent for Swiss manufacturer Inficon Holding AG. Inficon, together with MKS of Andover, Mass., produces most of the world's supply of this type of transducer.On Feb. 6, Heli-Ocean received an initial payment from Roc-Master and placed an order with Inficon for the transducers, documents show.

Then the situation changed.Roc-Master issued a revised purchase order, backdated to Jan. 24, instructing Heli-Ocean to ship the transducers not to Shanghai, but to the Tehran airport. The consignee is named as Moshever Sanat Moaser, an Iranian company described on its Web site as a provider of specialty alloys and industrial parts.The second purchase order also increased the amount to $145,800, almost $33,500 more than the original, without explanation.Apparently the change in destination and the nature of the shipment alarmed Heli-Ocean, because in a Feb. 18 e-mail seen by the AP, Roc-Master assured the Taiwanese company that the 108 transducers were not for Iran's nuclear industry. It also said that Chinese law barred the shipment of the transducers from China to Iran.None of this was revealed to the Swiss manufacturer and authorities. Inficon CEO Lukas Winkler told the AP that had his company known the end-user was Moshever Sanat Moaser, it would never have sold the transducers to Heli-Ocean. He said the gauges fall within Swiss sanctions on exports to Iran. The end-user certificate we got did not say Iran,he said.The deal was done via a Chinese company. And we have a certificate with the name of a Chinese end-user on it.Winkler said that before the goods were sent, Inficon reported the transaction to Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, because the number of transducers raised its suspicions. We always have the goods checked when it is a big order,he said.If someone wants one single device it's not delicate. But if someone wants 100 at once, that's very unusual for this type of product.In a statement, the Swiss secretariat said the transducers did not require an export license, because the exporter was not aware that those goods were destined for Iran.Otherwise an approval of the Swiss export control authorities would have been necessary, the statement continued.Switzerland would not grant any license for the export of such transducers to Iran.European governments have been stopping nine out of 10 Iranian attempts to get pressure transducers, according to European intelligence, Albright said. One European country witnessed 40 procurement attempts from Iran for pressure transducers from August 2008 to August 2009.

Taiwan, however, let the shipment go through.For more than 30 years, the island has been the orphan of the international community, denied membership in organizations like the United Nations because of China's insistence that it has no sovereign status of its own. The result has been a gaping lack of familiarity with push-button issues for the West — Iran among them — and a strong interest in building up the trade links that define its place in the world. Taiwan, unlike Switzerland and China, does not belong to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an alliance of 46 countries that seek to limit the spread of nuclear-related equipment. However, Taiwan says it enforces export control lists based on NSG protocols. The transducers arrived in Taiwan on March 9, 2009, three days after they were shipped from Switzerland, according to a Taiwanese freight forwarder's document obtained by the AP. They were reported to Taiwanese Customs on March 10, the document shows. A Taiwanese official with intimate knowledge of the deal told the AP they were shipped from Taipei airport to Iran sometime in March. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.The official said Heli-Ocean broke no laws. He said the transducers sent to Iran were not sensitive enough to be placed on the island's control list and, as such, did not need a special customs declaration.

However, three experts who examined the specifications of the transducers for the AP confirmed that they were on the NSG watchlist. Their movement to Iran should have been stopped, said researcher Stephanie Lieggi of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Monterey Institute's Martin Center.Any country adhering to the NSG lists would likely deny this export to Iran, she said in an e-mail to the AP. Taiwan may not be so quick to allow such transactions in the future. The Taiwanese official said the government has decided to require Heli-Ocean to declare any further sales to the Iranian company before they are carried out.Taiwan had contacts with a foreign intelligence agency after the transaction,the official said. The agency provided us with intelligence that it suspected an Iranian entity could be procuring pressure transducers from a company in a third country and using them for nuclear proliferation purposes.Taiwanese companies have been caught exporting sensitive items before. In January, a freight forwarder employee was indicted for helping Taipei-based Axiomtek Co. move industrial computers to Iran. In 2008 a court convicted Taipei-based Trans Merits Co. Ltd. of exporting proscribed computing equipment to North Korea. Albright said Heli-Ocean should never have gone through with the sale to Moshever Sanat Moaser. Because of Inficon's status as a major producer of pressure transducers, an Inficon agent like Heli-Ocean should have known about the problematic nature of their export to Iran, he said. Added Dalnoki-Veress: This deal is definitely a red flag. If (Heli-Ocean) gets an order for 100 units they have to check if it's legitimate.Steve Lin, the Heli-Ocean boss, declined to answer specific questions about the deal but insisted he had done nothing wrong. I don't support terrorists,he told the AP in January.I don't want to hurt people.Officials at Moshever Sanat Moaser in Tehran did not respond to several requests for comment. As for China, the incident will likely fuel suspicions about its commitment to nonproliferation. The oil-hungry nation is heavily invested in Iran's energy industry and has opposed tougher sanctions on Tehran. A blog on Roc-Master's Web site highlights its role in supplying equipment for a natural gas project on Iran's Kharg Island in March 2008. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said he was unaware of the pressure gauge deal. However, he wrote in a fax: I would be glad to reaffirm China stands firm and clear on the issue of preventing nuclear arms proliferation. We have already established comprehensive regulations for export control and an effective system to administer them. All illegal exports are forbidden.In Shanghai, Roc-Master official Liu Xiaofeng initially said he didn't recall the transaction. But when pressed, he replied,It's our company's secret information, so I don't think we need to tell the media anything about it.AP reporters Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai, Brian Murphy in Dubai, and Eliane Engeler in Geneva contributed to this story.

Iran: UN nuclear watchdog lacks independence
FEB 28,10

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader says the U.S. and its allies are influencing the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's stance on Tehran's nuclear program.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday in comments broadcast on state television that recent reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency show that this international agency lacks independence.He said the watchdog should not be influenced by the U.S. and other countries because that could undermine the agency's prestige and reputation.
Khamenei's comments come two weeks after the IAEA expressed concern Iran may be currently working on a nuclear warhead.The West accuses Iran of using its civilian nuclear program to mask efforts to build nuclear weapons. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes.

Iran: US behind IAEA charge the Iran making bomb By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Ali - FEB 28,10

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader charged Sunday that U.S. and its allies are behind the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's claim that Iran may be making nuclear bombs, despite its repeated denials.The comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, broadcast on state television Sunday, came 10 days after the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was concerned Iran may be working on nuclear weapons, echoing conclusions reached by the U.S. and several of its allies.Some IAEA reports and actions show that this international agency lacks independence, the television quoted Khamenei as saying.The IAEA should not be influenced by the U.S. and some (other) countries because unilateral acts erode trust in the agency and the United Nations. It is also very bad for the prestige and reputation of these international bodies.The language of the report — the first written by Yukiya Amano, who became IAEA head in December — appeared to be more directly critical of Iran's refusal to cooperate with the IAEA than most of those of his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei.The IAEA is set to meet later this week to discuss Iran's refusal to accept international demands to halt enrichment of uranium — a key step in the process toward nuclear weapons production, though enriched uranium also has peaceful uses.

According to the state TV, Khamenei again denied that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons and insisted that Tehran's nuclear program is geared toward generating electricity.Iran has declared from the very beginning that it is after obtaining scientific capability and technology in the nuclear field to meet its peaceful requirements, including energy, Khamenei said.Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, accused the U.S. and its allies of lying when they charge Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.Iran said last week that it plans to build two new uranium enrichment facilities deep inside mountains to protect them from possible attack.

The two plants are among 10 industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities approved in November, a dramatic expansion of the program in defiance of U.N. demands that Iran it halt enrichment.Iran's enrichment of uranium is the central concern of the United States and other nations negotiating with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. The technology can be used to generate fuel for power plants and isotopes for medical purposes, but it can also be used to make weapons-grade uranium for nuclear bombs.

THIS GUY IS RIGHT ON:IRAN AND THEIR LEADERRS ARE CULT,SEX FOR MURDER,MAUHDI WORSHIPPING FOOLS WHO ARE DECIEVED INTO BELIEVING SATANS LIES OF DEATH FOR SEX FOREVER IN PARADISE.LITTLE DO THEY KNOW MURDERERS BURN IN HELL IN TORMENT TILL THEY STAND IN FRONT OF JESUS AT THE FINAL GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT TO BE THROWN IN THE BURNING LAKE OF FIRE FOREVERR,NEVER ENDING.

Iran's Mousavi warns over system's legitimacy waning
Sat Feb 27, 9:31 am ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi warned the legitimacy of clerical rule was waning due to its repressive measures, his website said on Saturday.Despite a crackdown that largely quelled the protests following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June, Mousavi has remained defiant, calling the government a cult that has no respect for Iran's national interests.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most powerful figure in Iran's complex Islamic system, criticized opposition leaders on Thursday for refusing to bow before the law, saying they had lost the privilege of being part of the system.

Hardliners have accused reformist opposition leaders of inciting unrest and called them enemies of God, a crime punishable by death under Iran's Islamic law.But Mousavi said the security crackdown would backfire.Millions of Iranians face censorship, obstruction of their freedoms and repressive measures ... such measures will distance us from adopting logical solutions, Mousavi said on his Kalemeh website.If the issue is not resolved logically, the drop in the system's legitimacy will be accelerated.Mousavi said the government was incompetent to rule.The nation that faces an adventurous, war-mongering foreign policy and destructive economic policy ... wants changes, he said.Iran faces growing Western calls for targeted sanctions against it after Ahmadinejad ordered production of higher-grade uranium, stirring fears that Tehran aims to make nuclear bombs, not just fuel for civilian use as it says is the case.

STEADFAST

The June election and its aftermath have plunged the Islamic Republic into the most serious internal crisis in its 30-year history and created a rift within the ruling establishment.Mousavi said the country was in crisis.Can the government see a solution in intimidating the nation? he asked. Guaranteeing free, competitive and healthy votes, are the key points in resolving the issue.Mousavi said the reform movement was still alive despite pressure from the hardline rulers.Opposition supporters have defied government warnings against staging illegal rallies and have sought to hijack official demonstrations to hold anti-government protests.We will use all legal ways, including legitimate and peaceful street rallies, Mousavi said. We are steadfast in our demands.Since June, thousands of protesters and reformers have been arrested. Most have since been freed, though dozens, including former senior officials, have been jailed for up to 16 years. In January, Iran hanged two people sentenced to death in post-vote trials. At least nine others are appealing death sentences. But authorities have so far not dared to directly touch Mousavi, despite his continued defiance. Mousavi challenged Khamenei, calling a February 11 rally to mark anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution engineered.Khamenei thanked the Iranian people for turning out in tens of millions, calling the rally a slap on the face of enemies. There is no pride in holding such an engineered rally. It is exactly like the despotic methods used by shah before the revolution,Mousavi said.
You cannot ... bus people to the rally and then be happy and say everything is under control and over.(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Clashes erupt at Al-Aqsa mosque after stone attack by Ahmad Gharabli – FEB 28,10

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Sixteen people including two Israeli policemen were wounded in clashes at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, after police entered to arrest Palestinians who had hurled rocks at visitors they believed were Jewish extremists.Dozens of Palestinians pelted stones at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, Palestinian sources said.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that seven people had been arrested, and that two of his men were hurt while Palestinian sources said at least 14 people were injured in the confrontations.Security forces entered the compound as a preventive measure, after Muslim worshippers threw rocks at the group of unidentified visitors, Rosenfeld said.Police had stopped people over 50 from entering the compound as 20 people were holed up inside the mosque, Rosenfeld added.All of the Old City is calm, and thousands of tourists were allowed to visit the compound (mosque), Rosenfeld said, as the violence subsided by early afternoon.Sporadic clashes were reported in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood of Ras el-Amoud in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967.Earlier, dozens of police wearing riot gear were deployed throughout the narrow streets of the Old City as loudspeakers on minarets called on Muslims to save Jerusalem.

An official from Jerusalem's Islamic Supreme Committee said the Palestinians had hurled stones at people they believed to be Jewish extremists intending to pray at the site and upset the delicate status quo.They threw rocks because (Israeli) settlers have been surrounding the compound for two or three days and had said they intended to enter on Sunday or Monday to pray at Al-Aqsa,Adnan Husseini told AFP.

Jews, who observe the Purim holiday on Sunday and Monday, are allowed into the compound, but authorities prevent them from praying there.The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is Islam's third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina. Muslims refer to it as Al-Haram Al-Sharif and believe it to be the place where Prophet Mohammed made a night journey to heaven on horseback.It is the holiest site in the world for Jews, who believe it was the location of the Second Temple, torched by the Romans in 70 AD, and refer to it as the Temple Mount.The site has been bitterly contested for decades, and the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, erupted there in September 2000 after a visit by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become Israeli prime minister.Violence erupted on several occasions starting last September after Muslim worshippers hurled stones at people they believed to be Jews seeking to pray at the site during major holidays.Israeli authorities insisted then that the visitors were French tourists.The latest disturbance came after days of clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron over an Israeli plan to renovate the Tomb of the Patriarchs there, another ancient site revered by Jews and Muslims.Around 100 Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops in Hebron on Thursday over the Israeli national heritage plan. The plan has infuriated Palestinians and been criticised by the United States as a provocative act that could further complicate efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks suspended during the Gaza war more than a year ago.

The decision continues to makes waves in Israel. The popular Ynet news website quoted President Shimon Peres calling for prudence and reserve,and Labour Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer has said the plan was an error.The Palestinian Authority of president Mahmoud Abbas denounced it as a very dangerous escalation while the militant Hamas urged the international community to assume its responsibilities to put an end to the dangerous aggression by Israel.The government of the United Arab Emirates meanwhile denounced the savage attacks by settlers and occupying forces on the mosque compound, saying it showed Israel's intention to Judaise the Holy city.

Israel police storm holy site to quell protest By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

JERUSALEM – Israeli police forces stormed the most contentious holy site in Jerusalem on Sunday to disperse masked Palestinian protesters hurling objects at visiting foreign tourists.The incident was over quickly, but the area remained tense afterward. In the past, violence at the site — known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary — has erupted into deadly battles.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police dispersed some 20 masked protesters who had holed up overnight in Al-Aqsa mosque building inside the hilltop compound. The protesters pelted tourists with objects early Sunday, and threw rocks at the police when they responded to the incident, he said.Calm was quickly restored, he said, and about a thousand tourists have since visited the area.However, small groups of masked Palestinians continued to clash with police elsewhere in Jerusalem's Old City and in a nearby neighborhood just outside the walled area.Rosenfeld said police dispersed the protesters without having to use force, but two officers were lightly wounded and seven Palestinian rioters were arrested. By midday, the clashes had ended, but about 15 Palestinians remained holed up inside the complex.Tensions have been high in recent days following the Israeli government's announcement that two West Bank shrines would be added to Israel's list of national heritage sites. Palestinians denounced the move as a provocation, and President Mahmoud Abbas has warned the incident could spark a religious war.Rosenfeld said it was unclear what sparked Sunday's violence, but said the decision on the West Bank shrines was clearly in the "background." The protesters, however, said they were under the impression the site was under attack by Jewish extremists.

Conflicting claims to the hilltop site of Sunday's violence lie at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Jews revere it as the site of the two biblical Temples, while Muslims regard the Al-Aqsa compound, home to the gold-capped Dome of the Rock, as Islam's third-holiest site, where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.The compound has been a frequent flashpoint for conflicts before. A visit to the site in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli opposition leader and later prime minister, helped ignite deadly clashes that escalated into violence that engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories for several years.Israel has controlled the compound since capturing east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and insists it will retain it forever, though it has left day-to-day administration to a Muslim clerical body.That body, the Waqf, said young men rushed to the compound after hearing a rumor that hardline religious Jews intended to storm the area.The police were provoking people. Maybe the youths threw shoes, but they were not hurling rocks, said Abdul Azim Samhadana, the head of the council.

He said he was not aware of Palestinian youths harming tourists.Palestinians see east Jerusalem, including the Old City where the sacred complex lies, as the capital of a future state.Hamas' minister of religious affairs, Taleb Abu Shaar, called on Palestinians to rise up violently against Israel and protect our Islamic holy places from the risk of Judaization.He called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel because of its crimes.Associated Press Writers Diaa Hadid and Dalia Nammari contributed to this report.

FALLIN DEMONIC ANGELS (GIANTS)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UK's UFO unit says it will shred ex-X files
FEB 28,10

LONDON – Britain's defense ministry says it will shred records of UFO sightings after a huge rise in the number of reports submitted by the public.The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that new reports will be thrown out after 30 days, rather than kept on file.It means details of the sightings will be exempt from freedom of information laws that have allowed campaigners to force Britain's government to disclose details of apparent UFO encounters.The ministry had 634 reports of UFO sightings in 2009, the highest total since 1978 when the public submitted 750.In December, Britain scrapped a phone line and e-mail account for the public to report details of UFO activity.Britain's government said the service was a waste of defense resources.

Massive head of pharaoh unearthed in Egypt
FEB 28,10

CAIRO – Archaeologists have unearthed the massive head of one Egypt's most famous pharoahs who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday.The head of Amenhotep III, which alone is about the height of a person, was found in the ruins of the pharaoh's mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor.The Egyptian-European expedition under the guidance of German-Armenian archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian has been excavating the temple near the famous seated colossi of Memnon for the last several years.The head is part of a larger statue found several years ago and Sourouzian believes its ceremonial beard is still buried somewhere nearby.Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamun, ruled from 1387-1348 B.C. at the height of Egypt's New Kingdom and presided over a vast empire stretching from Nubia in the south to Syria in the north.His massive mortuary temple, however, was largely destroyed, possible by floods, and little remains of its walls.The expedition, however, has unearthed a wealth of artifacts and statuary in the buried ruins, including two statues of Amenhotep made of black granite found in March.

Al-Qaida bomber calls for attacks on Jordan spies By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

CAIRO – An al-Qaida double agent that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a posthumous video message posted on extremist Web sites Sunday.Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi also described Sunday in the 43-minute video his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them after they sent him to Afghanistan to spy on al-Qaida.The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al-Qaida No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.Al-Balawi said he only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall.We planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah, who brought us, through His accompaniment, a valuable prey: Americans, and from the CIA. That's when I became certain that the best way to teach Jordanian intelligence and the CIA a lesson is with the martyrdom belt, he said in the video.The secretive eastern Afghan CIA base was reportedly used as a key outpost in the effort to identify and target terror leaders, many of whom were taken out by the drone-fired missile strikes.It was one of the worst losses for the CIA ever and revealed the cooperation between the American and Jordanian intelligence services.Al-Balawi, who appeared in a military fatigues cradling an assault rifle and what appears to be C4 explosives, described the successes of Jordanian intelligence against extremists over the years and their close working relationship with the CIA.

He said Jordan had provided information for the killing of Al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 as well as that of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who died in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008.The Jordanian intelligence apparatus has a record which emboldens them to such behavior, but with Allah's permission, after this operation, they will never stand on their feet again, he said.
Al-Balawi, a doctor, hailed from the same hometown of Zarqa as al-Zarqawi and was a prolific contributor to extremist Web sites, but was never able to realize his dream of joining the jihad until he was arrested by Jordanian security.In the video he described how they plied him with money and material goods and bragged about their past successes before sending him to Afghanistan to spy on al-Qaida there — finally giving him the chance he had long sought to join the insurgency.I cut ties for four months, then came back to them with some videos taken with leaders of the Mujahideen, so that they would think that I was leaking videos and betraying the Mujahideen,he said.In light of Jordan's strong support for the United States, al-Balawi called for attacks on members of its intelligence agency and the need to overthrow its government.There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilizing to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations,he said.The Arabic-language video came with an English transcript and a second version dubbed into English, part of the extremist group's continued outreach to non-Arabic speaking jihadists, such as in Pakistan.

WELL FOLKS CANADA WILL END THE OLYMPICS WITH THE MOST GOLD.THANKS FOR THE COMPETITION WORLD,BUT CANADA PROVES THE BEST AGAIN AND NOT JUST IN HOCKEY.NOW IF CANADA COULD BE NUMBER 1 IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT,NEW WORLD ORDER NUTCASE BANKERS AND NEW AGE,ENVIROMENTAL CULTISTS.

Canadian gold rush puts hosts on top of world By Julian Linden – Sat Feb 27, 10:36 pm ET

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Canada bagged another three golds on the penultimate day of the Winter Olympics on Saturday to ensure they will finish top of the medal standings, triggering wild celebrations across the country.It is the first time Canada has topped the medal standings at the Winter or Summer Olympics and followed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes.Just a week ago, the hosts were languishing on four golds and facing public demands for a full investigation into their failure to win more, but they have piled up nine in six days to soar past their rivals as the national party gathers pace.Snowboarder Jasey Jay Anderson won the men's parallel giant slalom and Canada's men won the speedskating team pursuit and curling finals to take their gold tally to a record-equaling 13 with just two events left on Sunday before the closing ceremony.Germany won the women's speedskating team pursuit final to remain second in the medals table with 10 golds and the United States won their ninth, in bobsleigh, to be assured of finishing the Games with the most overall.

Italy and Poland both won their first golds.Giuliano Razzoli, who grew up admiring Italy's skiing great Alberto Tomba, prevailed in the slalom on a tricky course where poor weather in the first leg tripped up nearly half the racers including Olympic comeback kid Bode Miller.The 25-year-old Razzoli, who had clocked the fastest time in the first leg through fog and sleet, became the first Italian man to win the title since Tomba, 22 years ago to the day in Calgary.I told him, have your eyes open and be fast and ferocious. He handled it the way he had to, said Tomba, who was at Whistler mountain to watch the race.

CLOSE FINISH

Poland also won their first gold in the women's 30km cross country race as Justyna Kowalczyk sprinted to the finish to deny Norway's Marit Bjoergen her fourth gold by less than a ski's length.Bjoergen's consolation silver gave her a fifth medal from five events, the most by any athlete at these Games.It's going to take a while to understand what I have done during these Olympics, she said.I dreamed of taking one gold and now I have five medals, three golds.The German women won their speedskating pursuit final following a bizarre semi-final in which Anna Friesinger-Postma belly-flopped on the ice in the final straight and paddled across the line in the nick of time.The Germans replaced Friesinger-Postma for the final, where they beat Japan for the gold. The bronze medal went to Poland.I thought I had messed it up,Friesinger-Postma said. But, you see, impossible things can happen.Saturday's outdoor events were plagued by inclement weather with the snowboarders and Alpine skiers barely able to see their courses because of the heavy fog, not that the winners were complaining.Pretty hard to beat, eh? Olympic gold at home, said Anderson, who won gold at Cypress Mountain by beating Austria's Benjamin Karl in the final. At the final Alpine event on Whistler mountain, the completion rate in the first slalom leg was just over 50 percent. Croatia's Ivica Kostelic finished second behind Razzoli to collect his second silver of the Games and Sweden's Andre Myhrer took the bronze.

NIGHT TRAIN

The Americans won gold when their so-called Night Train,the four-man bobsleigh team led by Steve Holcomb, earned the U.S. their first triumph in the event since 1948. Germany were second and Canada third. No more 62 years, Holcomb said.We'll start the clock over. Now it's going to be four years.Canada beat the U.S. in a tight race to win the men's speedskating pursuit final with the bronze going to the Netherlands.
The host nation then defeated Norway in the men's curling final, the last gold medal decided on Saturday, with Switzerland claiming the bronze. Canada's total of 13 golds equalled the record for the most for any country at a Winter Olympics after the Soviet Union won 13 at Innsbruck in 1976 and Norway matched the mark at Salt Lake City in 2002. Canada would set a new mark by winning either of the two golds on offer on Sunday, the men's 50km cross-country skiing and a mouth-watering men's ice hockey final against the United States at a Games in which they have lived up to their promise to Own The Podium.(Editing by Ed Osmond)