STOCK RESULTS JAN 27,11

MICROSOFT OR GOOGLE IS TRYING TO STOP ME FROM PUBLIHING THESE STORIES AGAIN TODAY.WAS IT THE COMMENT ABOUT SPOOKY DUDE GEORGE SOROS THAT GOT THE NEW WORLD ORDER NUTCASES UPSET,I WONDER.MY COMPUTER IS RUNNING SO SLOW AGAIN.

WAYNE MADSEN ON GOOGLE-NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY CONNECTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7a4rC5FvwM

HERES ONE REASON WHY IM BEING HASELLED BY GOOGLE-MICROSOFT.BOTH ARE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCIES.AND YOUTUBE AND FACEBOOK THEN ARE CONNECTED THE THE SECURITY AGENCY ALSO.CAN YOU SAY POLICE STATE IS HERE.

Google Comes Under Fire for Secret Relationship with NSA
Grant Gross – Tue Jan 25, 9:48 am ET

Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group largely focused in recent years on Google's privacy practices, has called on a congressional investigation into the Internet giant's cozy relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration.In a letter sent Monday, Consumer Watchdog asked Representative Darrell Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to investigate the relationship between Google and several government agencies.The group asked Issa to investigate contracts at several U.S. agencies for Google technology and services, the secretive relationship between Google and the U.S. National Security Agency, and the company's use of a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration airfield in California.Federal agencies have also taken insufficient action in response to revelations last year that Google Street View cars were collecting data from open Wi-Fi connections they passed, Consumer Watchdog said in the letter.

We believe Google has inappropriately benefited from close ties to the administration, the letter said. Google is most consumers' gateway to the Internet. Nonetheless, it should not get special treatment and access because of a special relationship with the administration.Consumer Watchdog may have an ally in Issa, a California Republican. In July, he sent a letter to Google raising concerns that White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin, the former head of global public policy for Google, had inappropriate e-mail contact with company employees.A Google spokeswoman questioned Consumer Watchdog's objectivity. Some groups have questioned the group's relationship with Google rival Microsoft, and Consumer Watchdog's criticisms of online privacy efforts have also exclusively zeroed in on Google, with the group rarely mentioning Microsoft, Facebook and other Web-based companies in the past two years.This is just the latest in a long list of press stunts from an organization that admits to working closely with our competitors, said the Google spokeswoman.But Consumer Watchdog gets no funding from Microsoft or any other Google competitor, said John Simpson, consumer advocate with the group. We don't have any relationship with Microsoft at all, he said. We don't take any of their money.Consumer Watchdog has decided to focus on Google's privacy practices because the company's services serve as a gateway to the Internet for many people, Simpson said. If the group can push Google, without a doubt the dominant Internet company,to change its privacy practices, other companies will follow suit, he said.

Google's held itself to be the company that says its motto is, don't be evil,and they also advocate openness for everyone else, he said.We're trying to hold them to their own word.Consumer Watchdog, in January 2009, suggested that Google was preparing a lobbying campaign asking Congress to allow the sale of electronic health records. Google called the allegations 100 percent false and unfounded.In September, Consumer Watchdog bought space on a 540-square-foot video screen in New York's Times Square, with the video criticizing Google's privacy practices.In April, Consumer Watchdog officials called for the U.S. Department of Justice to break up Google. They appeared at a press conference with a representative of the Microsoft- and Amazon.com-funded Open Book Alliance.Consumer Watchdog's latest complaints about the relationship of Google and the Obama administration are outlined in a 32-page report.

The paper questions a decision by NASA allowing Google executives to use its Moffett Federal Airfield near Google headquarters. Although H211, a company controlled by Google top executives, pays NASA rent, they enjoy access to the airfield that other companies or groups don't have, Simpson said.The paper also questions Google contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and other agencies, suggesting that, in some cases, Google contracts were fast-tracked. The paper also questions Google's relationship with the U.S. National Security Agency and calls for the company to be more open about what consumer information it shares with the spy agency.When asked if other companies, including broadband providers, should disclose what customer information they share with the NSA, Simpson said they should, too. I understand the NSA is a super-secret spook organization, he said. But given Google's very special situation where it possesses so much personal data about people, I think that there ought to be a little more openness about what precisely goes on between the two.Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

Concern over Possible Google-NSA Cooperation
by Avi Yellin MAR 08,2010

Following an attack on Google by Chinese hackers last December, the tech giant alarmed Internet privacy watchdogs by reportedly seeking help from America’s shadowy National Security Agency. The close and undefined connection between Google and the NSA, better known for tapping phones than patching security holes for private companies, has raised the ire of Internet privacy activists.In the past years Google has amassed an extensive amount of sensitive data about its users, and ties to the world’s top cyber-surveillance agency have made experts demand Google make public the details of its alliance with the NSA. Greg Nojeim, a senior counsel with the Center for Democracy and Technology, recently expressed his fears to Fox News, saying that his group is very concerned about what information Google is sharing with the NSA.In addition to Nojeim’s group and a number of other privacy advocates, the prominent American Civil Liberties Union has recently become involved in the issue. The ACLU has started a letter-writing campaign to Google CEO Eric Schmidt highlighting what it calls the frightening ramifications of shacking up with the NSA, a military agency with limited government oversight.

The ACLU further explained that the NSA’s primary function is spying and that in the last decade, it turned its surveillance efforts inward on the American people – in violation of the law and the Constitution.Despite the ACLU’s warning, little is known about the alleged NSA-Google arrangement. The Washington Post reported that the NSA would help Google shore up its defenses and coordinate aid from other United States security agencies. Citing unnamed sources, the Post said Google would not be sharing its users’ e-mails or search data.While acknowledging that they are in the dark regarding what the NSA-Google relationship actually entails, the ACLU and other groups worry that the NSA could intercept private e-mails and therefore are trying to keep the connection above-board. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about the NSA’s relationship with Google and is calling for both bodies to state the exact terms of any deal.Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the NSA has conducted warrantless wiretaps and e-mail intercepts on American citizens in order to track terrorists overseas. Google claimed in 2008 that it was not part of the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance Program,but privacy advocates and watchdogs cannot help but be alarmed by recent news of its connection to the intelligence agency.The question we’re asking is, under what circumstances will NSA be allowed to gather data on Americans? Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC, told Fox. And if NSA now has access to a lot of information that Google possesses about Americans, that becomes a real risk.Rotenberg added that he does not believe this to be the first such private arrangement between Google and the NSA and noted that Google is in a uniquely worrisome position, as it tracks and keeps long-lasting records of user search data and controls America’s third-largest e-mail system.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

NSA Helping Microsoft With Windows 7 Security
12:55 pm November 17, 2009by Kevin Whitelaw

A little help on security from the NSA.

The National Security Agency has been working with Microsoft Corp. to help improve security measures for its new Windows 7 operating system, a senior NSA official said on Tuesday.The confirmation of the NSA's role, which began during the development of the software, is a sign of the agency's deepening involvement with the private sector when it comes to building defenses against cyberattacks.Working in partnership with Microsoft and (the Department of Defense), NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user's ability to perform their everyday tasks, Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's Information Assurance Director, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a statement prepared for a hearing held this morning in Washington. All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later in the product cycle.

The partnership between the NSA and Microsoft is not new.In 2007, NSA officials acknowledged working with Microsoft during the development of Windows Vista to help boost its defenses against computer viruses, worms and other attacks. In fact, the cooperation dates back to at least 2005, when the NSA and other government agencies worked with Microsoft on its Windows XP system and other programs.The NSA, which is best known for its electronic eavesdropping operations, is charged with protecting the nation's national security computing infrastructure from online assaults.
As these systems become increasingly dependent on private-sector computing products, the NSA has reached out to a growing number of software companies.More and more, we find that protecting national security systems demands teaming with public and private institutions to raise the information assurance level of products and services more broadly, Schaeffer said.Schaeffer said that the NSA is also working to engage other companies, including Apple, Sun, and RedHat, on security standards for their products. The agency also works with computer security firms such as Symantec, McAfee, and Intel.A growing array of law enforcement authorities, intelligence officials, and private computer experts has been warning about the rising threat of cyberattacks.

The FBI considers the cyber threat against our nation to be one of the greatest concerns of the 21st century, Steven Chabinksy, the deputy assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, told the same congressional committee.The Obama administration has been under pressure to name a cybersecurity chief to reinvigorate the government's efforts to protect its most sensitive computer networks. Some press reports suggest that appointment could come as early as next week.Update at 5:30 p.m. ET: The text of Schaeffer's testimony, as prepared for delivery, is now online here.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/11-17-09%20Schaeffer%20Testimony.pdf

Update at 2 p.m. ET: The NSA and other cybersecurity experts say that simple precautions (such as installing system updates regularly and running anti-virus software and firewalls) should protect against about 80% of the attacks out there. This means that if users took these steps, the NSA and others could focus on the more dangerous 20%, or so the theory goes. Put another way, of course, that means about 20% of attacks are sophisticated enough to theoretically defeat standard security measures.(Kevin Whitelaw is a reporter for NPR.org.)

Shocker: Citizen Spy Networks to be Given Immunity
Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com January 27, 2011

New York Republican Peter King has introduced a bill that would protect the army of citizen spies Homeland Security hopes to recruit under Janet Napolitano’s See Something, Say Something snoop campaign from lawsuits brought by innocent people wrongly accused of being terrorists or extremists.A top US lawmaker unveiled legislation on Wednesday to protect individuals who tip off authorities to potential extremist threats from lawsuits, in the event that they turn out to finger innocents, reports AFP.House Homeland Security Chairman King, who is pushing the See Something, Say Something Act, wants to shield good citizens who report suspicious activity from facing the consequences of misidentifying innocent behavior as extremism or terror.Of course, this will only encourage untrained people to report any behavior whatsoever, no matter how benign, as potential terrorism, creating an army of enthusiastic but hapless citizen spies.King said his bill would extend protections from individuals who report suspicious activity anywhere, adds the report, making reference to the DHS’ See Something, Say Something campaign, which characterizes paying for things with cash as a suspicious activity.

The program was launched with the aid of Orwellian telescreens at Wal-Mart checkouts that play a message from Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano encouraging Americans to report anything unusual to Wal-Mart managers. The program was subsequently expanded to include 9,000 federal buildings, as well as sports stadiums, businesses and communities in general.DHS will no longer be limited to the airport in the form of the TSA, but will become a ubiquitous entity policing everyone through a network of citizen spies and infrastructure security technology. The agency will also assume the mantle of regulating Americans’ every behavior and activity. DHS signs are already in place all over the country telling people where they can and can’t park their cars.As we have documented, every historical example of such informant programs illustrates that they never lead to a more secure society, but instead breed suspicion, distrust, fear and resentment amongst the population. The only benefit that such programs have ever achieved is allowing the state to more easily identify and persecute political dissidents, while discouraging the wider population from engaging in any criticism against the government.Since its official launch, the See Something, Say Something campaign has successfully wasted thousands of dollars of taxpayer money after people reported half-empty flasks of coffee and bags of clothes as deadly threats that required a response from bomb squads.Of course, as we have documented, the federal government is fully aware of the fact that Americans are just as likely to be killed by lightning strikes, peanut allergies or accident-causing deer than they are by terrorists.

See Something, Say Something has little to do with combating terrorism, and everything to do with implanting the notion that Americans are constantly under surveillance from each other and may be reported to the authorities for any minor example of aberrant behavior no matter how benign.In addition, since the Department of Homeland Security has characterized political activism which targets the state as extremist and terrorist activity, Americans are being trained that exercising their constitutional rights could get them in hot water with the law should their behavior be deemed suspicious by ignorant wannabe citizen spies who see themselves as terrorist hunters.In an ironic twist, Rep. King, who is now trying to protect snoops who identify innocent behavior as extremism from lawsuits, was one of the primary co-sponsors of a 2009 House resolution that attempted to get answers as to why Homeland Security equated veterans, gun owners, Ron Paul supporters, and people who fly the U.S. flag, with violent terrorists, following the release of the agency’s infamous MIAC report.

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 THU JAN 27,2011

09:30 AM -2.25
10:00 AM +18.47
10:30 AM +23.80
11:00 AM +27.93
11:30 AM -9.80
12:00 PM +1.97
12:30 PM +8.13
01:00 PM +17.10
01:30 PM +9.88
02:00 PM +8.02
02:30 PM -3.03
03:00 PM +13.09
03:30 PM +14.80
04:00 PM +4.39 11,989.83

S&P 500 1299.54 +2.91

NASDAQ 2755.28 +15.78

GOLD 1,311.30 -21.70

OIL 85.43 -1.88

TSE 300 13,410.20 -55.50

CDNX 2233.97 -18.53

S&P/TSX/60 789.62 -3.01

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +3 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -10 points at low today.
Dow +28 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,335.20.OIL opens at $87.22 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -10 points at low today so far.
Dow +28 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -14 points at low today.
Dow +34 points at high today.

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

Turkey to EU: No visa-free, no clampdown on migrants
VALENTINA POP Today JAN 27,11 @ 13:25 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Turkey is happy to sign a migrant readmission deal with the EU, but expects the Union to start talks on visa-free travel if it wants to see a clampdown on people sneaking into Greece, a senior diplomat has said.Noting that the EU has lifted visa requirements for remote countries, such as Paraguay and Uruguay, and started visa-free talks with Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, but not Turkey, Ankara's chief negotiator on EU accession, Egemen Bagis, said: It's time to put an end to this nonsense.Speaking at a gathering of EU officials and diplomats at the European Policy Centre think-tank in Brussels on Thursday morning (27 January), Mr Bagis lambasted the EU for calling on Ankara to stem irregular migration from Africa and Asia while giving it nothing on visas. We're willing to help the EU, but it's also a matter of taxation, he said, referring Turkish tax income used to fund the anti-migrant operations. When our citizens are insulted on a daily basis in the consulates of EU states [when they apply for visas], one may ask the question as to why we should help the EU with their problems, when we are treated this way. Turkey is not an emirate, public opinion does matter. We need to see some good will from the side of the EU.Mr Bagis questioned the value of a Greek plan to build a 12km-long anti-migrant wall on its massive sea and land border with Turkey. Greece can do whatever it wants on its territory, but there's also a whole Aegean Sea to take care of, he said.

He added that the EU is focusing too much on border security instead of tackling the top cause of irregular migration in source countries: poverty. When people are desperate and hopeless in their own country, they will do anything to get out. If we stop them, they will go to Ukraine and Belarus. In the end, they will find a way to get into the EU, he said.Mr Bagis noted that 70,000 people were detained in 2010 trying to get into the Union. The EU and Turkey on Thursday agreed a common text on readmission of irregular migrants - a pre-condition for starting visa-free talks in future. We'll sign the readmission agreement without having free travel into the EU first, but at least the European Commission should be given a mandate to start visa-free regime talks with Turkey,he noted.The Turkish diplomat described his country as a hub of peace, a hub of energy, a hub of power.When France was busy deporting Roma, we were organising a big conference and our Prime Minister publicly apologised for having ignored their problems for so long. We now have housing and education programs being put in place for them,he said.He added that objections by some EU countries to Turkey's influence-building in the Middle East and Russia are hypocritical: We're increasing trade relations with Iran, but France is increasing them even more. We do businesss with Russia, but so does Italy.He also repeated Turkey's mantra that France, Germany, Greece and Cyprus are unfairly blocking EU accession talks.With Turkish soldiers occupying the northern part of the divided island of Cyprus in a decades-long stand-off, Mr Bagis accused Cypriots of ill-will, citing the example of a Turkish basketball team which was bullied by Greek Cypriot supporters after a game in Cyprus. This is not the mentality to reach a solution with, he said.

What Brussels thinks

EU officials privately see the Bagis rhetoric as a negotiating tactic. Whenever you negotiate with the Turks, you get the feeling that they are trying to get one over on you, one commission contact said.For her part, EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom favours a swift visa-free deal.Earlier this month, she wrote in her blog: The road to visa liberalisation is tough and filled with clear requirements and criterias, but other countries have succeeded and I see no reason why Turkey shouldn't be able to. It would also give us an important push forward in our co-operation.She called visa-free a priority issue.In her official reaction to Thursday's readmission agreement, she said its upcoming signature, expected in February, will open up new perspective for visa-free talks.The agreement will apply not only to Turkish citizens who are in the EU illegally, but also to other nationals who entered the Union via Turkey.

Migrants battle to get into fortress EU
ANDREW RETTMAN 26.01.2011 @ 09:21 CET

EUOBSERVER / CHISINAU - With Moldova inching toward EU visa-free travel while increasingly becoming a transit point for EU-bound irregular migrants, Moldovan officials have listed some of the ways people use to enter fortress Europe.Option one: buy a real visa. The Rolls Royce way to get into the EU illegally is to bribe an EU consular official in Moldova into issuing a real visa.Veaceslav Cirlig, the head of the migration policy department in Moldova's interior ministry, told this website that the size of the bribe is up to €5,000. If you pull it off, it is a watertight way of getting into the EU's passport-free Schengen zone, where people can outstay the duration of the visa and disappear into society.EU consular officials are quite hard to corrupt. But in some cases, as with the Netherlands, EU countries keep an embassy in neighbouring Ukraine and hire Ukrainians or Moldovans to issue visas in Moldova. The foreign staff are said to be more amenable to bribe-taking.Option two: buy a forged Polish or Romanian passport or visa. The cost here is between €300 and €800, but the risk is greater. Roman Revenco, the director of Moldova's Border Guards Service, said he has up-to-date document scanners that easily detect fakes. Guards on Monday (24 January) caught a Moldovan citizen with a fake Polish visa bought for €800.Option three: hide on a train or in a truck. Moldova is angling for EU money to buy 12 modern vehicle scanners costing €300,000 each but does not have them yet. Mr Revenco said guards recently found nine Turks, including two children aged 12 and 14, concealed in a truck. The migrants had been facilitated by German citizens. He however added that such cases are rare.

Option four: get on a boat or swim. The physical border between Moldova and EU member Romania is the river Prut. Mr Revenco said people try both ways to get over the water, but noted that the river is dangerous because of its strong current.
Option five: walk. Some migrants come to Moldova and then go to Ukraine, which has a long land border with EU member Poland. This option is also dangerous. In 2007 three girls aged six, 10 and 13 died in the Bieszczady mountains while trying to walk into Poland with their mother. If caught, migrants face harsh conditions in Ukrainian detention camps.Last October, Moldova restarted a daily train service between Chisinau and Odessa in Ukraine. The train stops in Tiraspol, the main city in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, an unrecognised entity which broke away from Moldova 20 years ago and is ruled by a Russian factory manager.Tiraspol is a threat to EU border security. It has facilities for producing illegal documents and is home to a massive Soviet-era arms cache, but the 350,000 people who live there go in and out of Moldova proper with no checks by Moldovan border guards. Evidence indicates that its main smuggling activity is counterfeit cigarettes, however.Most irregular migrants in Moldova come from former Soviet Union territories. People from Africa, Asia and the Middle East instead try to use the Greek-Turkish land border, which is considerably busier.Meanwhile, Moldovans are returning home from the EU due to the economic crisis in the Union. And people from the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic are going to Turkey to try to make a living. The EU commissioner responsible for visas, Sweden's Cecilia Malmstrom, in Chisinau on Monday at a conference on EU migration gave Moldova an Action Plan on what it must do to clinch the visa-free deal.She declined to give a target date and told Moldovan media that people should not abuse future freedoms. Visa liberalisation is not something that will get jobs in Europe. It's about visiting, getting to know each other, making contact, she said.

Brussels nannies

Oxford University migration expert Franck Duvell told the 19 EU delegations at the conference that people who enter the union on a fully legal visa but outstay their exit date and work in menial jobs such as cleaning far outnumber people who enter illegally. If such people were regularised in some way, a good proportion of illegal migration' would be eradicated, he said.On the subject of household workers in the EU capital, Ms Malmstrom admitted it is common knowledge that many EU officials hire irregular migrants as cleaners and nannies. If it's against Belgian law, it's illegal and they shouldn't do it, she said. As to whether they are being exploited, I'm sure some of them are treated very well. But if it's against the law, they shouldn't do it.For his part, Martijn Pluim from the International Centre for Migration Policy Development in Vienna, told this website he knows of cases in which European diplomats have abused their household staff.

Mediterranean Union chief resigns as Egypt unrest continues
ANDREW WILLIS Today JAN 27,11 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean has announced his resignation, highlighting the institution's shaky foundations and apparent inability to tackle key issues in the region, including the ongoing political tension in northern Africa.Jordanian diplomat Ahmad Khalef Masadeh's decision to step down on Wednesday (26 January) co-incided with a second day of Tunisia-inspired protests in Egypt, leaving at least four dead as police tried to disperse the thousands of activists who flooded the streets of Cairo, demanding an end to the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.Citing difficult circumstances and a change to the general conditions of his work, the resignation of Jordan's former EU ambassador will be seen as a major blow to the Mediterranean Union, a pet project of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.Made up of the EU's 27 member states and 16 Mediterranean countries from north Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans, the union was launched in 2008 with the purpose of promoting stability and prosperity in the Mediterranean region.The organisation and its Barcelona-based secretariat have been dogged by difficulties since the beginning, with a summit last year being cancelled due to disagreements between Israel and Arab countries.

Questions over financing, rather than internal disagreements, prompted Mr Masadeh to step down however, reports indicate. The Spanish news agency EFE said he had requested a budget of €14.5 million for his secretariat, but had not even received half that sum, with some northern EU states reluctant to commit funds to the southern-focused project.With the fight against pollution in the Mediterranean and securing renewable energies among the main tasks on the organisation's agenda, its unwillingness or inability to tackle regional tensions has been noticeable.The union's silence over the dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt recently have prompted further existential questions over its role.Protests continued for a second day on Wednesday in Cairo and other Egyptian cities after the ousting of Tunisia's former autocratic ruler, Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali, inspired calls for regime change in other north African countries and as far afield as Yemen.The Egyptian government has said the protests are illegal, launching a crackdown and arresting some 700 people. Police beat protesters with batons and fired tear gas, reports say. In the eastern city of Suez protesters set fire to parts of a government building and attacked the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party.Witnesses say the protests are unlikely to fade away, with more expected to join the crowds once the working week finishes on Thursday. We've started and we won't stop, one demonstrator told AFP.The unrest in the Maghreb has put a question mark over the EU's policy toward the area, with regimes such as Mr Ben Ali's in Tunisia having enjoyed the support of many southern EU states over the past decade.Fears over a rise in Islamic extremism and desires to halt the inflow of African immigrants into Europe have led Spain, Italy and France to adopt a policy of co-operation with the region's autocrats, say NGOs.

On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy admitted that his government misjudged the situation in Tunisia after originally offering to send forces to help Mr Ben Ali.
Behind the emancipation of women, the drive for education and training, the economic dynamism, the emergence of a middle class – there was despair, a suffering, a sense of suffocation, Mr Sarkozy said.We have to recognise that we underestimated this.