COULD BE A DOWN WEEK FOR STOCK MARKETS

Focus on Egypt, earnings, jobs By Caroline Valetkevitch – Sun Jan 30, 11:30 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks may struggle to return to firmer footing this week if anti-government riots in Egypt destabilize the Middle East, keeping investors on edge.Cautious trading could also come if earnings do not outperform and erode optimism about profits. The government's January jobs report on Friday will highlight the week's economic data.Worries that Egypt's unrest could spread to other countries in the Middle East, home to the world's top oil exporters, caused investors on Friday to pull out of stocks and into bonds and other safer assets. U.S. crude futures settled more than 4 percent higher on Friday.Market volatility skyrocketed on Friday as indexes tumbled and investors scrambled to hedge against further losses. The VIX index (.VIX), the market's fear gauge, rose 24 percent, its biggest daily percentage jump since May 20.By Sunday, more than 100 people had been killed in Egypt after five days of protesting the government of Hosni Mubarak. Protests in other nations has investors worried about destabilization in the region.

I don't like this. It is spreading and contagion risk is rising, said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in Sarasota, Florida.
Investors were also worried that an extended rise in oil prices could hurt global recovery. Analysts had been forecasting a pullback in the market for weeks, given the recent sharp gains, and said the Egypt news could be an excuse for some investors to sell.It could well turn out to be a short-lived correction, and it would be dangerous to try and time this thing, David Kelly, chief market strategist for JPMorgan Funds in New York, said, noting he has a long-term bullish outlook.The Standard & Poor's 500 index (.SPX) is still up 18 percent since the start of September, roughly when the current rally began.The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) snapped an eight-week streak of gains with Friday's close. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also ended with losses for the week.The Nasdaq fell more than 2 percent on Friday while the S&P and Dow both were down more than 1 percent.

SCOUTING BLUE CHIPS

Monday could see a bounce-back after Friday's losses, followed by more consolidation, said Matt McCormick, a portfolio manager at Cincinnati-based Bahl & Gaynor Inc, which has $3.2 billion in assets.My recommendation for clients is that if you have profits, especially in lower-quality names that have benefited from QE2 (quantitative easing), now is the time to take profits and look at blue chip names that haven't gained as much, he said.Marshall Gause, CEO and chief investment officer at asset management firm Geneva Funds Partners in Denver, said worry about Egypt could cause the S&P to drop between 0.5 percent and 0.75 percent at Monday's open, but he said there was a good possibility of closing positive on the day.

Among key support levels traders are eyeing are 1,271 and 1,263 on the S&P 500, according to Craig Peskin, co-head of technical analysis research at MF Global in New York.Optimism about fourth-quarter earnings helped lift stocks in recent weeks, but the latest batch of reports disappointed investors, including Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Amazon.com (AMZN.O).The majority of companies continue to beat expectations, though, and analysts will watch to see if that trend holds. Of the 207 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 71 percent have beaten analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data. Next week, 102 S&P 500 companies are expected to report, including Dow Chemical Company (DOW.N) and United Parcel Service (UPS.N).The earnings picture is still a good picture, Kelly said. There were some disappointments today, but I don't think that really changes that.He sees stronger earnings and an improving economy as the main factors benefiting stocks in the longer term. The high U.S. unemployment rate has been the biggest problem for the economy. The rate fell in December to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent the prior month, but economists see slow progress ahead for job gains.

Nevertheless, the U.S. economy is growing more rapidly. The Commerce Department reported Friday that gross domestic product rose at a solid 3.2 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2010.But the bigger driver for stocks is likely to be Egypt, analysts said, given the uncertainty created in the market.The perception is that risk is elevated. Who knows how this ultimately will play out, said Paul Herber, a portfolio manager at Forward Frontier in San Francisco.This is something that began in Tunisia and now spread to Egypt. There are other countries in a very similar position. So people are taking money off the table and going to safe areas, he said.(Additional reporting by Manuela Badawy, Ryan Vlastelica and Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Iran to showcase new rockets, satellites: report
– Sun Jan 30, 6:34 am ET

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran said on Sunday it will showcase what it called a new range of rockets and satellites during annual celebrations marking the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution.Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Safir 1-B and Kavoshgar 4 rockets and Rasad and Fajr satellites would be unveiled during the 10-day celebrations that start on Tuesday, according to state television website.Iran will mark on February 11 the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed shah. Every year Tehran uses the occasion to tout its scientific and technological achievments.The Safir (Ambassador) 1-B rocket can carry a satellite weighing 50 kilogrammes (110 pounds) into an elliptical orbit of 300 to 450 kilometres (185 to 280 miles), the website said.Iran sent into space in February 2009 the Safir 2 rocket carrying its first home-built satellite, called Omid (Hope).

The state television report said the other Kavoshgar (Explorer) 4 rocket has a range of 120 kilometres.In February 2010, Iran launched a capsule carrying live turtles, rats and worms aboard a Kavoshgar 3 rocket in what was its first experiment to send living creatures in space.In December, Vahidi said Iran would launch a Fajr (Dawn) reconnaissance satellite in the next few months, along with a Rasad (Observation) 1 satellite that was initially to have been launched in August 2010.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile on Sunday opened a new space research and training centre, media reports said.Iran's missile and space programmes have sparked concern abroad that such advanced technologies, combined with the nuclear know-how that the nation is acquiring, may enable Tehran to produce an atomic weapon.Iran denies its nuclear programme has military aims.

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

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

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

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

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

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON JAN 31,2011

09:30 AM +2.25
10:00 AM -4.04
10:30 AM +18.05
11:00 AM +23.92
11:30 AM +23.77
12:00 PM +28.84
12:30 PM +38.20
01:00 PM +56.12
01:30 PM +43.64
02:00 PM +44.92
02:30 PM +26.72
03:00 PM +30.54
03:30 PM +37.73
04:00 PM +68.23 11,891.83

S&P 500 1286.12 +9.78

NASDAQ 2700.08 +13.19

GOLD 1,330.20 -11.50

OIL 92.16 +2.82

TSE 300 13,552.00 +114.40

CDNX 2274.55 +6.23

S&P/TSX/60 778.65 +8.15

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +26 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -7 points at low today.
Dow +51 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,330.10.OIL opens at $88.90 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -7 points at low today so far.
Dow +68 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -7 points at low today.
Dow +68 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,427.40 (NOT AT CLOSE)

Protests Spread To Saudi Arabia Zero Hedge
January 30, 2011

While the biggest threat to the Middle East region is the possibility that the population of Saudi Arabia may try to imitate what has been happening in the area, thereby bringing total chaos to the established regional geopolitical and more importantly, energy, structure, the first protests in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah are already in the books. The clip below shows the peaceful demonstrations that have taken place recently, which as Fedupmontrealer explains are taking place in front of the Municipality in protest of the severe lack of infrastructure, and corruption, that led the city to be inundated this week causing billions of dollars of damages for the second time in two years.That this is even occurring in a state where the average wealth is orders of magnitude greater than in Egypt is remarkable. On the other hand, we expect more news such as those from yeserday that Kuwait is paying its citizens $3,500 plus free food for a year to keep calm. Oddly, visions of money dropping helicopters, infinitely extendable unemployment insurance and tax breaks keep dancing in our head. Those who wish to follow the latest developments out of Jedda which appears could be the lightning rod for Saudi riots can do so by tracking #JeddahProtests on Twitter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8AJ2V210ag&feature=player_embedded

ElBaradei urges U.S. to abandon Mubarak By Phil Stewart And David Morgan – Sun Jan 30, 7:31 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei put pressure on the United States on Sunday to support calls for President Hosni Mubarak to step down, saying life support to the dictator must end.In a series of interviews with U.S. television networks from Cairo, ElBaradei also said he had a mandate to negotiate a national unity government and would soon reach out to the army, at the heart of power in Egypt for more than a half century.ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace laureate for his work with the U.N. nuclear agency, said it was only a matter of time before Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for three decades, stepped down. He urged President Barack Obama to take a stand.It is better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, It's time for you to go, he told CNN.ElBaradei, a possible candidate in Egypt's presidential election this year, dismissed U.S. calls for Mubarak to enact sweeping democratic and economic reforms in response to the protests.The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years would be the one to implement democracy. This is a farce, he told the CBS program Face the Nation.
This first thing which will calm the situation is for Mubarak to leave, and leave with some dignity. Otherwise I fear that things will get bloody. And you (the United States) have to stop the life support to the dictator and root for the people.
ElBaradei returned to Egypt on Thursday night in the midst of large-scale protests that have left Mubarak clinging to power with the army in the streets. ElBaradei addressed the protesters in Cairo on Sunday.

NATIONAL UNITY

I have been authorized -- mandated -- by the people who organized these demonstrations and many other parties to agree on a national unity government, ElBaradei told CNN.I hope that I should be in touch soon with the army and we need to work together. The army is part of Egypt.Obama is performing a delicate balancing act, trying to avoid outright abandoning Mubarak -- an important U.S. strategic ally of 30 years -- while supporting protesters who seek broader political rights and demand his ouster.The U.S. response to ElBaradei's return has so far been muted, perhaps signaling a reluctance to be seen as meddling in a country where Washington has long cast a shadow with annual aid of about $1.5 billion per year.ElBaradei is a well-known figure in Washington. He had an uneasy relationship with the administration of former President George W. Bush after he disputed the U.S. rationale for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Earlier on Sunday, a leading member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said Egyptian opposition forces had agreed to support ElBaradei to negotiate with the government.In his U.S. interviews, ElBaradei rejected concerns about extremism within the Muslim Brotherhood, which is popular among the underprivileged, partly because it offers social and economic services in deprived neighborhoods.They are no way extremists. They are no way using violence, he ABC's This Week program.

This is what the regime ... sold to the West and to the U.S.: It's either us, repression or al Qaeda-type Islamists.He also dismissed concerns that radical Islamists were behind the uprising, saying protesters absolutely have no ideology other than they want to see future hope, a respect for their dignity, and basic needs. Some analysts question whether the 68-year-old ElBaradei, whose prominent career was forged chiefly overseas, will have enough influence with Egypt's armed forces.ElBaradei said he did not believe the army would turn on the people, if ordered.I think the army is very much on the people's side,he said. (Additional reporting by Will Dunham and the Cairo newsroom; Editing by Will Dunham)

EU troubled by Egypt, but will keep paying aid
LEIGH PHILLIPS 28.01.2011 @ 22:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union has described repression of pro-democracy demonstrators in Egypt as deeply troubling and called on the regime to find a peaceful way to respond to the protests. Speaking of profound concern at reports of violence in the country, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Friday (28 January): The continued use of force against demonstrators by police and state security forces is deeply troubling.In order to avoid further deterioration of the situation in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt, and to avoid more casualties, I reiterate my call on all parties to exercise restraint and calm and I urge the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all peaceful demonstrators from detention.

Ms Ashton and the union's 27 foreign ministers will discuss the events at a meeting in Brussels on Monday.Ms Ashton's comments follow a day of escalating clashes between police and thousands of protesters across the country. Media on the ground describe the security response to be heavy-handed, with reports early on Friday evening of gunfire and use of helicopters against the crowds.Earlier in the day, military vehicles were deployed on the streets of Cairo, amid barrages of tear gas, water cannon and rubber-tipped steel bullets.Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former UN weapons inspector Mohammend ElBaradei joined the protests, but, according to some reports, has since been placed under house arrest. All internet access is down and a curfew originally announced for Cairo, Alexandria and Suez was late extended throughout the country.Protesters are ignoring the order, however.Following news of the curfew, demonstrators set fire to the headquarters of the ruling National Democracy Party in the capital, with branch offices of the party elsewhere set alight or attacked, according to Al Arabyia.Mixed reports indicate security forces in some areas sided with protesters and exchanged shirts, but that police clashed with the army in others.

Stability

UK foreign secretary William Hague urged authorities not to suppress people's right to freedom of expression and called on all sides to refrain from violence. I think it is important to recognise that the people involved have legitimate grievances - economic grievances and political grievances - and it is very important for the authorities to respond positively to that,he said.Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt placed the emphasis on stability in a tweet issued in the early evening: Tension very clearly increasing in Egypt. Dramatic pictures from Cairo. Hope there will be a political opening that brings stability.Meanwhile, Tony Blair, former UK prime minister and envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East - comprising the EU, the US, Russia and the United Nations - warned of the danger of extremists taking advantage of the situation. The danger is that when you open up a vacuum, anything can happen,he told the BBC.Liberals in the European Parliament however were unimpressed with the EU's stance. Llberal leader Guy Verhofstadt compared the events of Egypt and Tunisia in recent days to the overthrow of eastern European Communism in 1989, while Edward McMillan-Scott, a vice-president of the chamber said: The European Union must get off the fence and support the nascent shoots of freedom before they are snuffed out.

Across the Atlantic, US secretary of state Hilary Clinton appeared to signal a change in tack from the Washington's 30 years of support for Mr Mubarak.We are deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protesters, and we call on the Egyptian goverment to do everything in its power to restrain the security forces,she said.We support the universal human rights of the Egyptian people, including the right to freedom of speech, of association, and of assembly.Nevertheless, Ms Clinton made it clear that she hoped Mr Mubarak would move towards political reforms lest the regime be toppled by protesters in the way that the government of former Tunisian dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was last week.

No suspension of military aid

Earlier in the day however, assistant secretary of state for public affairs Philip J Crowley rejected using the US' massive $1.3 billion annual aid to the country as leverage to pressure the government to back off.You're casting this in zero-sum terms and I reject that. We respect what Egypt contributes to the region. It's a stabilising force. It has made it's peace with Israel, he told the Al Jazzera news agency.The EU is also a major donor to Egypt, with €449 million in the Egypt kitty for the next two years.EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic also rejected using aid to twist the arm of the regime. Suspension of aid is slightly too premature. We are studying what actions can be taken but we say what we have always said, which is that actions should not target the population, she told EUobserver.

Some of the weapons and vehicles such as helicopters, tanks and anti-riot trucks that may be used against the Egyptian people are sourced from the US and EU. US weapon sales to the country include Black Hawk helicopters, Abrams tanks and Humvees, while Egyptian anti-riot vans are supplied by Italy's Iveco SpA.According to EUobserver research based on bloc's most recent ledger of foreign weapons sales, 18 EU member states sold a total of €75.7 million worth of arms to Egypt in 2009.

Azzam Azzam: Mubarak Must Go
by Elad Benari JAN 31,2011

As the riots in Egypt and the loud calls for the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continue, Azzam Azzam who spent eight years in an Egyptian prison after being convicted of spying for Israel, believes that Mubarak will ultimately have to resign.Azzam had been sent to Egypt as an employee of an Israeli textile company and worked at a textile plant which was a joint business venture of Israeli management and Egyptian labor. In 1996 he was arrested in Cairo and was accused of industrial espionage, later being accused of using women's underwear soaked in invisible ink to pass information to the Mossad.In August 1997 Azzam was convicted of helping to send news about Egyptian industrial cities to Mossad and was sentenced to fifteen years jail with hard labor.After having spent eight years in the Egyptian prison, Azzam was freed in December 2004, in exchange for six Egyptian students who were suspected of planning to rob a bank, capture a tank and kidnap IDF soldiers. Both Azzam and the Israeli government have always denied that he was an Israeli spy.

Now, as he follows the news from Egypt from his home in Israel, Azzam spoke to Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew website on Sunday and outlined what he believes will happen as a result of the uprising there.The era of the dictators is over, Azzam said. Mubarak needs to go. It started in Tunisia, moved to Egypt, and other countries will follow. For thirty years ago the people told Mubarak yes, and now it is time to tell him no.
During the interview Azzam expressed his support of the Egyptian people. I say to the Egyptian people: I’m holding out my hope for you. You have suffered enough. You should earn your bread with dignity.For thirty years the Egyptians were only allowed to open their mouths in the dentist’s chair, and today they have opened their mouths and told Mubarak: We are tired of you.Regarding the fact that the number of fatalities in Egypt is so small in relation to similar riots in other countries, Azam said: I think the death toll exceeded 1000. Never in my life have I believed the reports coming from Egypt. What is broadcast from Egypt is not true. The truth is being swept under the rug and no one can see it. It will be revealed about another month or two after Mubarak falls.He expressed his great anger towards Mubarak. I cannot look him in the eye and I want to see him in the same jail cell in which he put me, he said.Azzam ended the interview on an optimistic note: “I want peace to prevail among all nations. May all the regimes around us become democracies so that we can sleep peacefully.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Foreign Ministry Upgrades Warnings to Israelis: Leave Egypt
by Chana Ya'ar JAN 30,2011

Israel's Foreign Ministry sharpened its warnings to citizens Sunday evening, telling Israelis to cancel any plans to travel to Egypt. Those who are already in the country should leave, said the ministry.Israelis who continue to stay should monitor developments and comply with orders of the authorities. They should especially observe the curfew -- from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez -- and avoid being out in the open, the ministry said.At present, Cairo's airport is operating normally, according to the ministry. But the Israeli Embassy was closed on Sunday, and is not expected to reopen until the security situation in the capital stabilizes.Israeli diplomats have been instructed to stay in their homes, which are located in a relatively wealthy neighborhood in Cairo, guarded by the Egyptian army.

With the exception of looting by rioters, the weekend passed quietly, according to ministry sources.The U.S. Embassy in Cairo, meanwhile, informed its citizens in Egypt that the State Department was making arrangements for transportation to safehaven locations in Europe for those who wished to leave. The government, in fact, strongly advised U.S. citizens currently in Egypt to considering leaving as soon as they can safely do so.Despite calls by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Egyptian government to allow peaceful protests, the warning by the Warden was more practical, and more grim.While demonstrations have not been directed toward Westerners, U.S. citiens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to be vigilant regarding their personal security, warned the Bureau of Consular Affairs. The U.S. Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all demonstrations, as even peaceful ones can quickly become unruly and a foreigner could become a target of harassment or worse.U.S. citizens who wished to take advantage of the transportation were advised the flights to evacuation points would begin on Monday. Americans wanting to leave were told to contact the U.S. Department of State and Embassy Cairo by sending an email to EgyptEmergencyUSC@state.gov or by calling 1-202-501-4444.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Op-Ed: Pharaoh is Dead, Long Live Pharaoh!
by Prof. Phyllis Chesler JAN 30,2011

The historical ground trembles beneath our feet.
Tunisia has risen (or fallen); and now, Egypt, the historically stabilizing force in the Arab world is on fire, in chaos. Stealthily, almost invisibly, the Muslim Brotherhood is gathering its power in Suez, Alexandria, and Cairo. Wealthy Egyptians have already chartered private planes and flown to safety. President Mubarak has reportedly sent his wife and heir out to London many days ago.Some wealthy Egyptians refuse to leave. They are personally guarding their gated Cairo homes from looters. I heard such a man’s voice on television last night. It was hoarse with anguish and anger, trembling with fatigue. This land belongs to the Egyptian people not to Mubarak. This home belongs to me, I own it, I will not flee. I will guard it with my life.As I write, the Egyptian police are still fighting the protesters. Armed groups have freed prisoners and jailed Muslim militants. Looting is widespread.Will Al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran’s Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, Gaza’s Hamas, soon proclaim an Arab Caliphate and further launch World War Four, this time with their hands on the levers of power in five or six states? Will Mubarak actually manage to hold onto power?

At this precise and critical moment, our Presidential Speechifier has still not risen to the task. He is walking a careful line, and waiting to see what develops. Well, what else can he really do? Send in the troops? Nah—he campaigned on his opposition to the troops we already have in Iraq and Afghanistan—and, bogged down though we might be, even Obama was forced to understand that America’s other options might be even worse.Shamefully, Obama did not even stand rhetorically with the demonstrating and bloodied democrats on the streets of Tehran and he is now only tepidly standing with their counterparts on the streets of Cairo. Yes, America has always supported the Arab Strong Horse, the brutal dictator whose reign has been justified as a means of ensuring regional stability. Karzai is our man on the ground, as is Mubarak. Secretary of State Clinton has called for an orderly transition. She opposes violence. The Pentagon has called for restraint.

I have no idea what they mean. Do you? Tyrannical as Mubarak has been, if he goes, the Muslim Brotherhood and possibly Al-Qaeda will zoom to power. And, believe it or not, they will be worse, ever so much worse, both to their own people and to the West.The barefoot Egyptian protesters, the suffering and impoverished people, are simply not organized ideologically, politically, economically, or militarily. They will have no way of holding their own against such dark and purposeful forces. They have not read Saul Alinsky’s guidebook and have no charismatic and well-connected leader. One wonders whether the Egyptians finally rose up because they saw Tunisians doing so—and successfully—on the internet, on Al-Jazeera.Is this an era of cellphone revolutions? Will all that bright technology only end up ushering in a new Dark Age?

I dare not mention Israel, or the West, whose fates are intimately entwined with this Cairo uprising. I dare not spell out the possible implications for Israel, the only democracy in the region, of an Islamist take over, not only in Iran and Gaza, but in Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. If Islamists win the day, what will happen to Israel’s cold peace with Egypt, and to Egypt’s American-financed military? Will Iran neatly step in? Will Saudi Arabia—the funder of Islamism, the fount of religious and gender apartheid—actually turn to Israel and America as allies--to do the heavy lifting for them against Iran? At this precise and critical moment, the New York Times Magazine has published a very long cover story which both exonerates and congratulates itself on how it handled the Wikileaks revelations. Executive Editor Bill Keller smoothly comes off as his own hero—sage, prudent, responsible, objective, as he depicts Julian Assange as the weirdo, geeky villain—manipulative, bullying, irresponsible, dangerous, certainly no journalist.The Times portrays itself as the soul of responsible journalism: objective, unbiased, (is he kidding?) virtuous—Hell, Keller’s crafted persona strikes one as God-like. He wants us to know that, unlike Assange, the Paper of Record carefully redacted names and identities so that the blood of pro-American Afghans or Iraqis will certainly not be on the Gray Lady’s hands; Keller also tells us that they checked with the White House (!) before publishing and that yes, they took some suggestions to heart.

They are the Good Guys.

The scary thing is that if I hadn’t personally, intellectually, seen incredibly high-handed, wildly biased, and highly distorted coverage in their pages, I would believe every word Keller writes. Most of his loyal readers will do just that. Maybe he’ll ever get a Pulitzer Prize for how nobly he handled the Assange material.One wonders why he feels the need to distance himself from Assange at this point. What else does he know that he’s not telling us? No need to worry: Assange will Tell All in his own book.http://www.newsrealblog.com/2011/01/30/pharoah-is-dead-long-live-pharoah/
(IsraelNationalNews.com)

WikiLeaks: US Secretly Backed Plans for Rebellion in Egypt
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu JAN 30,11

The United States in the past last three years supported democracy activists who planned to overthrow the Mubarak regime, according to leaked cables quoted by the London Telegraph.[Unidentified activist] expressed satisfaction with the December 3-5 Alliance of Youth Movements Summit in New York, noting that he was able to meet activists from other countries and outline his movement's goals for democratic change in Egypt, stated one cable by U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey. He told us that the other activists at the summit were very supportive, and that some even offered to hold public demonstrations in support of Egyptian democracy in their countries.The embassy helped keep the identity of the dissident secret from Egyptian police, the Telegraph said, but he has been arrested in the recent demonstrations.

The leaked documents reveal that Scobey sent a cable to the Secretary of State two years ago, in which she wrote, April 6 activist on his US visit and regime change in Egypt. She added that embassy sources said the plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy [was] so sensitive it cannot be written down.Scobey cautioned that she thought the plot was unrealistic, but contact was maintained with the activist, who was a principle source for information for Egyptian abuse of human rights.Reporters have frequently questioned the State Department about American aid to Egypt in light of constant reports, including those by the American government, that the country routinely suppresses human rights and violates freedom of expression.The leaked document, along with President Obama’s tepid criticism of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Saturday night have set off more criticism of his foreign policies.The harsh reality of events in the Middle East have all decisively proven that the assumptions that underpinned President Obama's Middle East policy initiatives were wrong, wrote Foreign Policy.com’s Peter Feaver Saturday.The foreign policy team seems to be quite uncertain how to proceed and with good reason: our ability to predict what will happen is probably even less than our ability to shape what will happen.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

EU - ISRAEL SPACE DEAL
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142031

Italy calls for EU crisis mission, as Egypt boils over
ANDREW RETTMAN 28.01.2011 @ 09:28 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Italy has said the EU should send a crisis mission to north Africa, as Egypt orders a security crackdown ahead of mass anti-Mubarak rallies on Friday (28 January).Speaking in the Italian senate on Thursday, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said the EU should send a high-level political support team to calm tensions in Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and other countries in the region hit by deadly civil unrest in recent days.The European mission ... [should] take contact with the highest levels, beginning with the authorities in Tunisia, with civil society, mayors, opposition parties, to collect information, not to give orders, he said, Italian newswires report.I do not think this can be dealt with by sporadic initiatives of this or that country in Europe, but only by a European initiative.

Mr Frattini is to put the proposal to a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.The situation could change drastically over the weekend, with Egypt - a country of 80 million people and a traditional leader of the wider Arab world - bracing itself for mass-scale protests against its octogenarian president, Hosni Mubarak, after prayer meetings on Friday.Reports indicate that Egyptian authorities have arrested eight senior members of the opposition Mulsim Brotherhood movement, deployed elite counter-terrorism units in strategic points in Cairo and shut down internet, twitter and SMS services ahead of the protests.Police shot dead a Bedouin protester in the Sinai region late on Thursday in events captured on camera and circulated on YouTube. In a crackdown recalling December events in Belarus, police have since Tuesday arrested some 1,000 people and charged 40 with treason. Reports indicate that between five and eight people have been killed.Mr Burak has not been seen on TV. But Safwat el-Sherif, the secretary general of his NDP party, said on Thursday: I hope that all preachers at Friday prayers tomorrow are calling on people to be peaceful in a clear, ritual way.The protesters on Thursday gained a high-level figurehead: former UN diplomat and Nobel laureate Mohammed el-Baradei. I will be there with the people, particularly with the young people who have led, organised, managed the peaceful demonstrations on the street, he said upon landing in Cairo airport. I would like to see a new Egypt.Meanwhile, financial markets have registered fears of grave political instability. The Egyptian stock exchange on Thursday plunged almost 11 percent and French bank BNP Paribas said the country's sovereign debt rating could be downgraded.

For his part, US President Barack Obama said in a YouTube-broadcast press conference that Mr Mubarak is a US ally on difficult issues, but added: I've always said to him that making sure that they are moving forward on reform - political reform, economic reform - is absolutely critical for the long-term well-being of Egypt.An unnamed Israeli cabinet official told the Washington Post: We do believe that the regime is strong enough to overcome it by means of its security apparatus ... They will have to exercise force, power in the streets.Arab League secretary general and former Mubarak foreign minister Amr Moussa said earlier on Wednesday: The Arab citizen is angry, is frustrated. That is the point ... So, the name of the game is reform.

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.

Bolivia flash flood sweeps away bus, truck; 30 die
JAN 30,2011

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Police in Bolivia say a raging river has swept at least 30 people to their deaths after swamping a bus and a truck that tried to cross.Chuquisaca police chief Iver Marquez says volunteer rescuers have recovered 30 bodies so far, and more people are feared missing. Thirteen people managed to reach safety on dry land.Marquez told state-run news agency ABI on Sunday that police and soldiers have joined locals in the remote southern area to look for more victims.Marquez said the vehicles became trapped in the muddy waters of the Molle Punku River on Friday night.

Intense hail hours earlier unleashed the flash flood in the river, which is dry much of the year. There is no bridge where the vehicles were trying to cross.

Storm weakens over Australia's flood-ravaged north
JAN 30,2011

BRISBANE, Australia – A tropical storm largely spared Australia's flood-ravaged northeast from more damage Monday, but a bigger storm was getting stronger in the South Pacific.Cyclone Anthony hit the Queensland state coast early Monday morning and quickly weakened from 80 mph (130 kph) winds to a tropical low, the Bureau of Meteorology said. The storm uprooted trees and knocked down power lines in some areas, but spared communities any major damage.We're certainly very happy that there was only minimal structural damage and no injuries or loss of life, Mike Brunker, mayor of the coastal Whitsunday region, said Monday.Heavy rains that began in November have caused massive flooding across Australia, killing 35 people and damaging or destroying 30,000 homes and businesses. Brisbane, the country's third-largest city and the capital of Queensland, was under water for days.

The federal government has estimated the cost of the damage is already at 5.6 billion Australian dollars ($5.6 billion) and likely to rise.Meanwhile, forecasters were watching another cyclone brewing in the South Pacific. Cyclone Yasi strengthened to 63 mph (102 kph) winds Monday, and was expected to hit Queensland on Thursday. It was expected to intensify further, reaching wind speeds of 98 mph (158 kph) within 24 hours.It is a much, much larger system, so it is going to affect a much larger area both with rainfall and with winds, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Gordon Banks told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said disaster management officials were on alert and evacuation centers were available if needed.

Major winter storm expected to hit Great Plains, eastern states
– Sun Jan 30, 12:28 pm ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A massive storm system bringing heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain could potentially impact 100 million people as it slams the Rockies, Plains, and Midwest regions early this week before traveling to the eastern seaboard Wednesday, according to forecasts on Sunday.Freezing rain is expected to develop Sunday night and continue through Monday, producing a light grazing of ice that could lead to dangerous travel conditions in the central states, the National Weather Service said, but the primary storm system will hit early Tuesday and continue through Tuesday night.The storm's stripe of snow will move eastward across the central plains and into the Ohio Valley and touch parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according to a mapped forecast of the storm's February 1 movements on Weather.com.This storm will produce significant impacts across a large portion of the central United States, the National Weather Service said, and some areas could experience snowfall of more than six inches, according to Weather.com

Then, after slamming the Plains and Midwest, the storm will move into the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and New England regions early Wednesday morning, Groundhog Day, with conditions improving early Thursday.The heaviest snow is expected across the interior northeast from Pennsylvania into upstate New York and New England, according to mid-week forecasts on Weather.com.As the storm builds on Monday, though, the band of heaviest snowfall is expected in parts of southwest and northeast Missouri, including central sections of the state, which will receive between six inches and a foot of snowfall and winds between 20 and 30 m.p.h., according to the National Weather service.(Reporting by Eric Johnson; Editing by Jerry Norton)

DISEASES

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

Cholera cases climb to 111 in Venezuela
– Fri Jan 28, 4:55 pm ET

CARACAS, Venezuela – The number of cholera cases has jumped to 111 in Venezuela as more people tested positive after attending a wedding with contaminated food in the Dominican Republic, the country's health minister said Friday.The patients were all receiving treatment, and 27 were hospitalized, Health Minister Eugenia Sader told the Caracas-based television network Telesur.The number of cases rose swiftly on Friday. Venezuelan authorities had said a day earlier that 37 people had the virus in the country and that 12 others were hospitalized in the Dominican Republic.

Dominican officials said wedding guests became infected when they ate tainted lobster at a wedding Jan. 22. Health Minister Bautista Rojas said lobsters for the lavish celebration were bought in Pedernales, a town bordering Haiti, where more than 3,000 people have died from a cholera epidemic.Many of the 452 guests were Venezuelans, and health officials hope to provide treatment to all of them to keep the illness from spreading, Sader said. She has said several who returned to Madrid, Mexico and Boston also have cholera.The Massachusetts health department said Friday that six state residents tested positive after attending the wedding, but all were released from local hospitals and officials were not concerned the disease could spread.Jose Rodriguez, a vice minister in the Dominican Health Department, said the wedding menu consisted of 25 dishes, so not everyone ate the lobster.Clemente Terrero, an infectious disease specialist and member of the Dominican Medical Association, questioned the reliability of government statistics on cholera.It is not possible that so many people became infected with cholera at one party, and that only 300 cases have been reported in the Dominican Republic in three months, he said.

Cholera fears have led to mass deportations of Haitian migrants since the beginning of the year. One death has been reported in the Dominican Republic.Cholera, which causes severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration and death, is spread through fecal-contaminated water and food. It had been rare in the Americas recently, until the outbreak in Haiti.A large outbreak centered in Peru in 1991 spread to other countries and a total of 396,536 cases were reported throughout the Americas that year, according to the Pan American Health Organization. However a massive public health program subsequently helped all but eliminate the disease in the region, with just 13 known cases in 2006.Before this month, Venezuela had not reported any cholera cases since 2000.

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.

Risk of new Chile quake seen after 2010 disaster
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent – Sun Jan 30, 1:03 pm ET

OSLO (Reuters) – The risk of a new earthquake may have increased in an area of Chile's Pacific coast that suffered a massive quake and tsunamis last year that killed more than 500 people, a team of scientists said on Sunday.They said the 8.8 magnitude February 27 quake had only partly broken stresses, deep in the Earth's crust in an area south of Santiago, that have been building up since an 1835 quake witnessed by British naturalist Charles Darwin.We conclude that increased stress on the unbroken patch may in turn have increased the probability of another major to great earthquake there in the near future, they wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience.A major earthquake is between magnitude 7 and 8, causing serious damage over large areas, and a great earthquake above 8. Chile's quake was the most powerful since the 2004 quake that caused a devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

It's impossible to predict exactly when a new quake might happen, Stefano Lorito, of Italy's Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, told Reuters. He led a team of experts in the United States, Northern Ireland and Italy.The scientists examined data from tsunamis, satellites and other sources to judge the risks in an area they called the Darwin gap on the coast around the city of Concepcion.Darwin, on a five-year voyage that helped him unlock understanding of evolution, documented the 1835 earthquake that battered an area of the coast around Concepcion.They found that a continental plate beneath the Pacific Ocean was sliding under the South American mainland at a rate of about 6.8 cms (2.7 inches) a year, so that a total of almost 12 meters (39 ft 4.4 in) of streses had built up since 1835.When pressures build up enough, they snap and cause a quake. Some areas, deep below ground to the north of Concepcion, slipped almost 20 metres in the 2010 earthquake but the area of the Darwin gap barely moved.Darwin made detailed observations, from the destruction of Concepcion cathedral to rotting mussel beds found on rocks raised by the jolt to 10 feet above the high tide mark. Other quakes have hit the region in 1928, 1939, 1960 and 1985.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) 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.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Tunisian Islamists show strength at chief's return
By Lin Noueihed and Tom Perry – Sun Jan 30, 11:36 am ET

TUNIS (Reuters) – Thousands of Tunisians turned out on Sunday to welcome home an Islamist leader whose return from 22 years of exile indicated that his party would emerge as a major force in Tunisia after the ousting of its president.The reception for Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party, at Tunis airport was the biggest showing by the Islamists in two decades, during which thousands of them were jailed or exiled by president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.Ghannouchi was exiled in 1989 by Ben Ali, who was toppled on January 14 by popular protests that have sent tremors through an Arab world where similarly autocratic leaders have long sought to suppress Islamist groups.Protesters in Egypt demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule have been inspired by the example of Tunisia. Egypt's main opposition group is also Islamist, but played no part in organizing the protests there.Ennahda is expected to contest future legislative but not presidential elections, dates for which have yet to be set.The Islamists were Tunisia's strongest opposition force at the time Ben Ali cracked down on them in 1989 but are thought not to have played a leading role in the popular revolt.

But at Tunis airport on Sunday, they were out in force.

Up to 10,000 young men and veiled women packed the arrival hall and car park. Some climbed trees and electricity pylons to catch a glimpse of the 69-year-old Ghannouchi, who says he has no ambition to run for state office.Oh great people who called for this blessed revolution, continue your revolution, preserve it and translate it into democracy, justice and equality, Ghannouchi told the crowd, to chants of Allahu Akbar.Ennahda supporters embraced each other in joy. A group of men performed prayers on a grass verge, a scene unthinkable in Tunisia just a few weeks ago.Ennahda likens its ideology to that of Turkey's ruling AK Party, saying it is committed to democracy. Experts on political Islam say its ideas are some of the most moderate among Islamist groups.

SECULAR ORDER IMPOSED

Tunisia has imposed a secular order since independence from France in 1956. Habib Bourguiba, the independence leader and long-time president, considered Islam a threat to the state. Ben Ali eased restrictions on the Islamists when he seized power in 1987, before cracking down on them two years later.The protests which dislodged Ben Ali and electrified the Arab world have largely dried up in the last few days following the announcement on Thursday of a new interim government purged of most of the remnants of Ben Ali's regime.The security forces have tried to restore order to the capital, where confrontations between shopkeepers and protesters have indicated dwindling support for demonstrators on the part of Tunisians who want life to return to normal.U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, said the United Nations would be pleased to help the people of Tunisia freely choose their leaders through timely and credible elections.Ghannouchi told the crowd the path to democracy was still long.Unite and consolidate, democracy cannot happen without national consensus and development can only happen with justice and democracy, he said.Ennahda activists wearing white baseball caps tried to marshal the crowds. Asked how they had managed to organize so quickly, one activist said: Our activities were stopped, but you can't disperse an ideology.

Some Ennahda activists were among the political prisoners released under an amnesty granted by the interim government.A handful of secularists turned up at the airport to demonstrate against the party, holding up a placard reading: No Islamism, no theocracy, no Sharia and no stupidity! Ennahda and its supporters say they do not seek an Islamic state and want only the right to participate in politics.We want a democratic state, said Mohammed Habasi, an Ennahda supporter who said he had been jailed four times since 1991 for belonging to a banned group.We suffered the most from a lack of democracy,he said.Abdel Bassat al-Riyaahi, another Ennahda activist who returned from exile, said: We were banned for 21 years ... but we came back with our heads held high.Thank God for the great Tunisian people.(Additional reporting by Hamuda Hassan, Abdelaziz Boumzar, Musab Kheirallah in Tunis and Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Tim Pearce)

World leaders call on Egypt to implement reforms By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press – Sun Jan 30, 7:13 pm ET

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several other heads of state urged the Egyptian government on Sunday to implement democratic reforms and to stop any further violence against protesters.Merkel told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a phone call that she expects him and his newly nominated government to grant freedom of information and the right to assemble to the people of Egypt, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.She urged Mubarak in a lengthy conversation to open dialogue with the country's citizens, and focus in particular on the concerns of Egypt's youth. She also told him that security forces have to stop exercising further violence against protesters.French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking at the African Union's regular summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said that It is with friendship and respect that France will be on the side of Tunisians and Egyptians in such a crucial period.Our conscience needs to be pricked by the cries of innocent victims and move us toward finding a workable solution to prevent further suffering, he added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the Egyptian crisis Sunday evening, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said.The prime minister and the president agreed that the Egyptian government must respond peacefully to the ongoing protests, a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. They condemned the violence of recent days ... The prime minister made clear that restrictions on the media and Internet were unacceptable and should be lifted immediately.Cameron and Obama were united in their view that Egypt now needed a comprehensive process of political reform, with an orderly, Egyptian-led transition leading to a government that responded to the grievances of the Egyptian people, the spokeswoman said.The British Foreign Office confirmed that a conversation between Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Egyptian counterpart had also taken place, but did not release any further details.

European Union officials said the unrest in Egypt will top the agenda at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday in Brussels, as European countries advised their nationals to leave the region.The EU has traditionally had close relations with Egypt as part of its partnerships with countries on the eastern and southern rims of the Mediterranean.Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini demanded an end to violence and looting on Sunday, particularly of Egypt's cultural heritage, after would-be looters broke into Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum and ripped the heads off two mummies and damaged some artifacts.Italy helped fund the restoration of Baghdad's museum after looters carted off thousands of artifacts following the downfall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.In Washington, Obama told foreign leaders this weekend to spread word of the U.S. administration's desire for restraint and an orderly transition to a more responsive government in Egypt.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the U.S. wants to see real democracy emerge in Egypt, not a democracy for six months or a year and then evolving into essentially a military dictatorship.The White House said that Obama had sought input from European and Middle Eastern officials, and has told them that the U.S. is focused on opposing violence and supporting broad democratic rights, including the right to peaceful assembly and speech.It said that Obama had also spoken with leaders from Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia.U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, also speaking Sunday at the African Union's summit in Addis Ababa, called on the Egyptian government to respect fundamental freedoms and human rights.AP reporters from around the world contributed to this story.