EU PRESSURES ISRAEL ON PEACE PROCESS

Israel: Iranian naval vessels are provocation By Mark Lavie, Associated Press – FEB 22,11

JERUSALEM – Two Iranian warships sailed from the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean on Tuesday, the first such trip in at least three decades, eliciting Israeli charges that Tehran is seeking to dominate the Middle East.The vessels headed toward Syria, but were expected to remain in international waters as they passed the Israeli coast.

The voyage took the frigate Alvand and the supply Kharq close to NATO's southern flank and could further destabilize the Middle East, a region already reeling from an unprecedented wave of anti-government rebellions.In Tehran, the deputy commander of the Iranian navy said that Iran has suprised the Zionist regime with the journey to the Mediterranean.The world arrogance (U.S.) should know that the army of the Islamic Republic is fully prepared to defend the holy ideals of the Islamic Republic and this readiness grows day by day, Brigadier-General Abdolrahim Mousavi told the official Iranian news agency IRNA.In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley refused to say whether the transit in and of itself, or the Egyptian decision to allow it, were provocations.We will be watching carefully to see where these ships go and the implications of that, he said.Egypt is the gatekeeper of the strategic canal which links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.Egypt's new military rulers, who took power from ousted President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, appeared to have no choice but to allow the passage. An international convention regulating shipping says the canal must be open to every vessel of commerce or of war.

Iranian warships have not passed through the Suez Canal since 1979.In sending warships to the Mediterranean now, Iran was asserting itself as a regional power and testing whether Egypt's new rulers will stick to the pro-Western line of the Mubarak government. Some said the voyage also signals that Iran is ready to come to the aid of regional allies, including Syria and Iranian proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Iran late Tuesday, but he did not refer directly to the two warships.Iran seeks to exploit the earthquake now shaking the region, he said. It is seeking to bring down democratic reform. It is seeking to prevent it. It is seeking to shut down the lights and create another era of darkness like the one we have in Tehran.Vice Premier Silvan Shalom accused Iran of trying to dominate the entire region.The passage of the Iranian ships is part of the comprehensive struggle that Iran is conducting against the West for domination and control in the Middle East, he told an energy conference. The objective of the Iranian provocation is to signal to the leaders of the Arab world who the new leader is in the Middle East.Despite the strong language, Israel was seen as unlikely to take action against the vessels.Iran and Israel are bitter enemies. Israel considers Iran a threat because of its nuclear program, missile development and frequent references by its leader to Israel's destruction. Iran denies it has nuclear weapons ambitions, but it backs militant anti-Israel groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Israeli security officials said that as long as the ships remain in international waters, there is nothing Israel can legally do. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.The Iranian ships are headed for a training mission in Syria, an arch foe of Israel.In Damascus, officials at the Iranian Embassy said it would mark the first time in years that Iranian naval vessels dock in a Syrian port. The ships were heading for Latakia, about 350 miles (600 kilometers) from the canal, a voyage of about a day.The ships paid about $300,000 in fees for the canal passage, according to a maritime agent.Associated Press writers Salah Nasrawi and Maamoun Youssef contributed from Cairo.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Israel and EU clash over handling of Arab-Israeli conflict
VALENTINA POP 22.02.2011 @ 17:41 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman has said there is no link between the Arab uprisings and the Arab-Israeli conflict, even as the EU presidency called on him to re-engage in peace talks as a matter of urgency. I don't see any linkage between our dispute with the Palestinians and the unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya. The main reason is poverty, misery and inefficient governments, Mr Lieberman told journalists after an EU-Israeli meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (22 February).He went on to say that his country is a strong democracy ready to share its knowledge and techonology with any government that may come to power in neighbouring countries, so long as they respect peace treaties signed by their predecessors.Speaking moments later at the same press conference, Hungarian foreign minister Janos Martonyi, representing the rotating EU presidency, said the dramatic changes and regional instability make progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks more imperative and more urgent than ever before.Time is pressing, for both parties. The EU wants to help as much as it can with direct or indirect talks, and the parties can't avoid discussing the core issues, he added.A defiant Mr Lieberman threw the ball back in the EU court, however: We hope to see more activity from the EU, we need your assistance to bring the Palestinians to the table, he said.

When pressed by Brussels-based journalists on Israeli settlement-building on occupied Palestinian land, seen by the EU and the Palestinians as a major obstacle to talks, Mr Lieberman said this is a prejudiced view. Whenever Israel withdrew from occupied territories, as in southern Lebanon or the Gaza strip, Islamist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas took over and started firing rockets at Israel, he argued.I think Israel is the only country contributing to stability in the region,he added.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed just weeks after they restarted last September when Israel ended a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction.The EU in 2009 froze a proposed upgrade of its relations with Israel, in part due to its bloody attack on the densely-populated Gaza strip and in part due to settlements. Last week, all four EU members of the UN Security Council - France, Britain, Portugal and Germany - backed a Palestinian resolution denouncing the settlements as illegal. Washington vetoed the measure.Speaking to EUobserver in an interview last week, Syria's ambassador to the EU, Mohamad Ayman Soussan, took the opposite point of view to the Israeli minister.The sources of danger of a regional conflict [in the Middle East] do not reside in the stability of this or that Arab country, they reside in Israeli politics,he said.

MKs Want to End Barak's Control of Judea, Samaria Housing
by Maayana Miskin FEB 22,11

For months, Jews in Judea and Samaria have found themselves in limbo. While a 10-month construction freeze officially ended several months ago, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has refused to approve new building projects, leading to an unofficial building freeze that adds fuel to the fire of soaring housing prices.In an attempt to change the situation, MKs Miri Regev and Zeev Elkin of Likud are planning an urgent measure to declare that Barak is no longer in charge of authorizing Judea and Samaria construction. The measure will be submitted Wednesday.Elkin and Regev's move follows a visit to the Gush Etzion region, south of Jerusalem, where they met with local officials. Oded Ravivi, head of the Efrat regional council, told the MKs that the building freeze has in effect continued.Efrat is suffering from a severe housing shortage, he told them. Despite Efrat's inclusion in the settlement blocs, the city has been frozen for more than eight years, during which there has not been a single new tender,he said.In recent years the government has invested 30 million shekels in developing Givat HaZayit [a neighborhood in Efrat – ed.], but despite the tremendous investment, has not put out even one bid for the hundreds of housing units that could be marketed and built, Ravivi continued. Because the Defense Ministry does not give its approval, the state cannot get back the major sums that it invested in the area.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Brussels reporter attempts citizens arrest of Israeli minister
LEIGH PHILLIPS 22.02.2011 @ 17:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Brussels reporter who made headlines around the world last year for attempting to place former UK prime minister Tony Blair under a citizen's arrest has done it again, this time with the foreign minister of Israel, the hard-right Avigdor Lieberman.David Cronin, a freelance reporter in the European capital since 1998, on Tuesday morning (22 February) called out to the minister as he entered the press room of the Justus Lipsius building, the headquarters of the European Council, for a briefing following an meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council: Mr Lieberman, this is a citizen's arrest. You are charged with the crime of apartheid. Please accompany me to the nearest police station.He was grabbed by a pair of security guards and shuffled out of the room.Free Palestine! he continued as he was led away.A spokesman for the Israeli mission to the EU told EUobserver: This was utterly uncivilised, in bad taste. But Israel, like the EU, is very supportive of free speech. It's just a shame that some people take advantage of that freedom sometimes.He is obviously obsesssed with Israel, judging by what he's written, a dedicated anti-Israel activist. Unfortunately this will now get an echo in the press, he added.We are not going to press for tighter security from the EU institutions though.It is the second time that Mr Cronin, who has written for the Economist Group's European Voice newspaper, the Inter Press Service news agency and the UK Guardian's Comment is Free website, has attempted a citizen's arrest of visiting dignitaries in the EU.

In March last year, he placed his arm on Tony Blair during a visit by the former UK prime minister to the European Parliament and said he was under arrest for war crimes relating to the invasion of Iraq.At the time, he was let off with a warning and his EU press card was restored to him. Speaking to this website after he was released by EU guards at the time, he said that the head of security had told him he would not get another chance.He told me: If you come into my house, you have to behave yourself, Mr Cronin recounted. It's a price I'm willing to pay though. Apartheid - the domination by one racial group over another - has been recognised as a crime by the UN since 1973. Israel is an apartheid state, both in the occupied territories and in Israel itself.Mr Cronin has recently published a book on EU-Israel relations and travelled to both Israel and the Palestinian territories for a book tour, visiting the Jimmy Carter Center, the Boycott from Within and Alternative Information Centre activist groups, as well as a series of bookshops in Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Jerusalem.Piero Soldati, the head of press accreditation for the European Commission, which issues press cards for all Brussels-based institutions except Nato, said that he will meet with representatives of the European Parliament, the EU Council and the International Press Association (API) on Monday next week to see what action to take on Mr Cronin.I cannot think that there will be any changes to security though. This sort of thing does not happen very often, he noted.Lorenzo Consoli, a member of the board of the API, said that Mr Cronin's card would most likely not be given back to him. It's not the sort of thing a journalist does, he said, and it's the second time.

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 WED FEB 23,2011

09:30 AM -2.25
10:00 AM -41.55
10:30 AM -17.40
11:00 AM -36.48
11:30 AM -35.15
12:00 PM -60.36
12:30 PM -94.91
01:00 PM -105.92
01:30 PM -117.08
02:00 PM -108.76
02:30 PM -102.13
03:00 PM -107.52
03:30 PM -73.79
04:00 PM -107.01 12,105.78

S&P 500 1307.40 -8.04

NASDAQ 2722.99 -33.43

GOLD 1,410.70 +9.60

OIL 98.75 +3.33

TSE 300 13,956.20 -7.50

CDNX 2367.04 +3.49

S&P/TSX/60 802.50 -0.56

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -27 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -117 points at low today.
Dow +10 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,404.53.OIL opens at $96.47 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -117 points at low today so far.
Dow +10 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -117 points at low today.
Dow +10 points at high today.

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

CRUDE OIL (BECAUSE OF HOLIDAY UPDATE THU 11AM)
GASOLINE
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES
REFINERY UTILIZATION

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.

Libya replete with EU arms as Gaddafi massacres protesters
ANDREW RETTMAN 22.02.2011 @ 16:01 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - As dead bodies pile up on the streets of Tripoli and blocked phone lines hamper the EU evacuation effort, the latest EU figures show that EU countries just two years ago granted over €160 million of export licences to Libya for small arms and electronic jamming kit.The Union's latest report on arms exports, out in January and covering 2009, says that EU countries granted €687.6 million worth of Libya licences just two years before the massacre. Figures for actual shipments are incomplete.Kalashnikov. David Cameron on his current Middle East tour opted to bring along Ian King, the CEO of top British arms firm BAe Systems, as part of his delegation, as well as executives from UK weapons firms Rolls Royce and Thales (Photo: reuvenim)With the UK's Associated Press agency reporting on Tuesday (22 February) that the streets of Tripoli are littered with the bodies of scores of protesters shot dead by security forces, the EU report notes that Malta in 2009 granted licences and actually shipped €79.7 million of small arms to the regime. Belgium granted €18 million of licences and Bulgaria €3.7 million.On electronic jamming, Germany led with €43.2 million of permits. The UK granted €20.7 million worth and Italy €1 million.EU officials on Monday told this website that Libyan jamming of mobile phone, internet and GPS services is hampering attempts to get the 5,000 or so EU citizens still in Libya to safety. The EU's ambassador in Tunis, who is also responsible for Libya, is trying to co-ordinate evacuations by calling EU embassies in Tripoli on landlines. But many of these are also down.Amid widespread reports that the Libyan airforce is bombing and shooting opposition activists, Italy led the sale of what the arms industry calls big ticket items.

Italy granted €107.7 million of licences for military aircraft, including assault craft, and associated equipment. France granted €17.5 million worth and Portugal €14.5 million. Portugal also granted €4.6 million of permits for drones.Other licences of note include: €4.4 million of Belgian permits for anti-personnel chemicals used to quell riots and €2.6 million of Italian licences for bomb fuses, including for improvised-type devices. Paul Holtom, an arms control expert with the Swedish NGO Sipri said that Russia is Libya's traditional arms supplier. The EU gold rush began after the UN lifted its arms embargo in 2003, with senior British, French and Italian officials jetting into Tripoli in delegations with arms and oil industry executives.You've seen a lot of major suppliers going for a chunk of the Libyan arms market due to its increase in resource [oil] revenues, he told EUobserver. [Libyan leader] Moammar Gaddafi has been playing the suppliers off each other and he hasn't really signed for big ticket items [from EU companies] yet.In the 2005 to 2009 period, the only big ticket EU deals were Italy's sale of six helicopters and a French contract to refurbish Libya's Mirage combat jets.Ottfried Nassauer from the German arms control NGO Bits, said: Nominal standards are quite high, but in reality business interests and economic interests as well as political interests override the ethical standards in many cases. He added that Libya supplies about 12 percent of German oil imports and can manipulate energy prices.EU governments are not always as cynical as the 2009 data implies.Belgium in 2009 in response to NGO complaints overturned a licence for FN Herstal to supply €11.5 million of small arms - including 367 rifles, 367 handguns, 50 luxury pistols and 22,000 grenades - for Gaddafi's elite army and police units.

The UK in 2008 blocked York Guns from shipping 130,000 Kalashnikovs to Libya because it feared they would be resold to warlords in Sudan.The same year Romania gave the green light to sell Gaddafi 100,000 of the guns however. And UK premier David Cameron on his current Middle East tour opted to bring along Ian King, the CEO of top British arms firm BAe Systems, as part of his delegation, as well as executives from UK weapons firms Rolls Royce and Thales.If what we are witnessing is a true revolution in Libya, then we shall soon be able - unless the Western embassy flunkies get there first for a spot of serious, desperate looting - to rifle through the Tripoli files ... and reveal some secrets which ... [the UK government] would rather we didn't know about,British journalist Robert Fisk wrote in the UK daily The Independent on Tuesday.Correction: the lead paragraph and headline of the story were changed at 8pm Brussels time on 22 February because the original lead implied the EU arms sales were more recent.

UN Condemns the Violence in Libya
by Elad Benari FEB 23,11

The UN Security Council condemned on Tuesday the violence used against the protesters in Libya. The condemnation came following an emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss the situation in Libya.All 15 members of the Security Council expressed grave concern at the situation in Libya and condemned the violence and use of force against civilians.The council called for an immediate end to the violence and for steps to be taken in order to address the legitimate demands of the Libyan people.They also called on the Libyan government to meet its responsibility to protect its population, to act with restraint, and to respect human rights and international humanitarian law.The members of the Security Council stressed the importance of accountability. They underscored the need to hold to account those responsible for attacks, including by forces under their control, on civilians,the statement said.

The council also expressed concern over the reports of shortages of medical supplies to treat the wounded and urged Libyan authorities to allow the safe passage into the country of medical and humanitarian supplies and workers.The UN statement came several hours after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi told his country in a televised speech on Tuesday that he is a warrior and that he will die as a martyr.I cannot leave the honorable soul of my country. I will die a martyr in the end, said Gaddafi in the speech. He added that Muammar Gaddafi is not a president, he is not a normal human being but instead is a revolutionary leader.Meanwhile, Libya's deputy UN ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that Tuesday’s statement by the Security Council was not strong enough but was a good step to stopping the bloodshed.Dabbashi added that he received information that Gaddafi's collaborators have started attacking people in all the cities in western Libya.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Algeria Lifts State of Emergency
by Maayana Miskin FEB 22,11

As protests continued to rage in Libya and Bahrain, the government of Algeria took steps Tuesday to appease the public, lifting a state of emergency imposed 19 years earlier. The order repealing the state of martial law will be published imminently, putting it into effect, government officials said.President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pledged to lift martial law three weeks ago as protesters filled the streets. Demonstrations were sparked by the successful ouster of long-time, repressive rulers in Tunisia and Egypt.The government declared a state of emergency in 1992 as Islamist militants waged war over the government's decision to ignore elections that gave a majority to a Muslim party.Opponents of Bouteflika's regime have called for democratic reforms. Algerians have also protested rising food prices.While the state of emergency will be lifted, government officials said demonstrations will remain illegal. Protests have been held despite the ban on rallies, leading to clashes between protesters and troops that left five people dead.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL

EZEKIEL 38:10-19
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.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

I PREDICT SAUDI-ARABIA WILL NOT BE OVERTHROWN BY PROTESTS.OR THE LEADERS WILL NOT BE THROWN OUT BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS SAUDI-ARABIA WILL BE WITH ISRAEL-WEST IN THE LAST DAYS.

Saudi king back home, orders $37 billion in handouts
By Ulf Laessing - FEB 23,11

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi King Abdullah returned home on Wednesday after a three-month medical absence and unveiled benefits for Saudis worth some $37 billion in an apparent bid to insulate the world's top oil exporter from an Arab protest wave.The king, who had been convalescing in Morocco after back surgery in New York in November, stood as he descended from the plane in a special lift. He then took to a wheelchair.Hundreds of men in white robes performed a traditional Bedouin sword dance on carpets laid out at Riyadh airport for the return of the monarch, thought to be 87.Abdullah left his ailing octogenarian half-brother, Crown Prince Sultan, in charge during his absence.Before Abdullah arrived, state media announced an action plan to help lower- and middle-income people among the 18 million Saudi nationals. It includes pay rises to offset inflation, unemployment benefits and affordable family housing.Saudi Arabia has so far escaped popular protests against poverty, corruption and oppression that have raged across the Arab world, toppling entrenched leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and even spreading to Bahrain, linked to the kingdom by a causeway.Significantly, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa was among the princes thronging the tarmac when Abdullah flew in.King Hamad freed about 250 political prisoners on Wednesday and has offered dialogue with protesters, mostly from Bahrain's Shi'ite majority, who demand more say in the Sunni-ruled island.Riyadh would be worried if unrest in Bahrain, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week, spread to its own disgruntled Shi'ite minority in the oil-rich east.

DAY OF RAGE

Hundreds of people have backed a Facebook call for a Saudi day of rage on March 11 to demand an elected ruler, greater freedom for women and the release of political prisoners.Saudi analysts said the king might soon reshuffle his cabinet to inject fresh blood and revive stalled reforms.Saudi stability is of global concern. A key U.S. ally, the top OPEC producer holds more than a fifth of world oil reserves.The king announced no political reforms such as municipal council polls demanded by opposition groups. Saudi Arabia has no elected parliament or parties and allows little public dissent.Jeddah-based Saudi analyst Turad al-Amri welcomed what he called a nice gesture from the king, saying the measures were not unprecedented or prompted by Arab protests elsewhere.But other Saudis were critical. We want rights, not gifts, said Fahad Aldhafeeri in one typical message on Twitter.They are under pressure. They have to do something. We know Saudi Arabia is surrounded by revolutions of various types, and not just in poor countries, but in some such as Libya which are rich," said Mai Yamani, at London's Chatham House think tank. Basically what the king is doing is good, but it's an old message of using oil money to buy the silence, subservience and submission of the people, she said.The new generation of revolution is surrounding them from everywhere.Mahmoud Sabbagh, 28, said he and 45 other young Saudi activists had sent the king a petition advocating more profound change, not just economic handouts. He listed the group's demands as national reform, constitutional reform, national dialogue, elections and female participation.Saudi Arabia holds more than $400 billion in net foreign assets, but faces social pressures such as housing shortages and high youth unemployment in a fast-growing population.

Housing and job creation for Saudis are two structural challenges this country is facing, said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, who put the total value of the king's measures at 140 billion riyals ($37 billion).He said some benefits were one-off and others were already budgeted.The inflationary impact will not be significant.G20 member Saudi Arabia has outlined spending of 580 billion riyals for 2011 in its third consecutive record budget.Investment bank EFG-Hermes put the king's benefit package at 100 billion riyals, saying it could rally a stock market that lost 4 percent in the past week on unrest in Bahrain and elsewhere. Ahmad al-Omran, who runs the popular Saudi Jeans blog, said on Twitter that the measures would benefit many people, but were equivalent to fighting the symptoms and ignoring the disease.People don't revolt because they are hungry. People revolt because they want their dignity, because they want to govern themselves. Money won't solve our issues. We need true political and social reform. We need freedom, justice and dignity.(Additional reporting by Asma al-Sharif in Jeddah, writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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.

New Zealand rescuers sift rubble, quake toll at 75
By Adrian Bathgate - FEB 22,11

CHRISTCHURCH (Reuters) – New Zealand rescuers pulled survivors out of rubble on Wednesday 24 hours after a devastating earthquake in Christchurch as the death toll climbed to 75, with many dozens still trapped inside collapsed buildings.Rescue teams had to perform amputations to free some of the 120 survivors so far pulled from the wreckage of Tuesday's strong tremor, which had hit the country's second-biggest city at lunchtime. The death toll is expected to rise further.We are getting texts (sms messages) and tapping sounds from the living and that's our focus at the moment, police shift commander Russell Gibson said on Radio New Zealand.Early in the afternoon a woman was rescued from a finance company's destroyed four-storey building, having spent a day trapped under a desk. Amid cheers and applause from rescuers the woman, wrapped in blankets, was put into an ambulance.Rescuers focused their greatest efforts on that building and were searching five others, but hopes faded of finding survivors in another collapsed building, home to a broadcaster and an English language school.An early report that a group of 15 people had been found there was denied, and among those still unaccounted for at the smoldering ruin site were 10 Japanese students at the school.They've told us there's no hope, a distraught woman told Reuters as the specialists left the scene where her brother-in-law was caught under the rubble. Around her, tearful relatives of other victims were in shock as they digested the news.

As many as 300 people are still missing a day after the quake, mayor Bob Parker said, but it was unclear how many of these could be explained by communication breakdowns between families, friends and authorities. Previously, Parker said up to around 100 people could be trapped.Authorities have identified 55 dead bodies and there are another 20 still to be identified. The toll seems certain to rise further as the frantic search effort focuses on survivors ahead of retrieving and identifying corpses.There are bodies littering the streets. They're trapped in cars, crushed under rubble, and where they are clearly deceased our focus unfortunately at this time has turned to the living, police commander Gibson said.Tuesday's 6.3 magnitude quake -- the second to hit the historic tourist city in five months -- struck when streets and shops were thronged with people, and offices were busy. It was New Zealand's most deadly natural disaster for 80 years.In central Christchurch, roads were buckled, buildings toppled and large pools of water had welled up from broken water pipes and sewers.There were fears that one of the city's tallest buildings, the 26-storey Hotel Grand Chancellor, which has sagged in one corner, could collapse and bring down adjoining structures.The building has been evacuated but rescue teams have been forced to pull back, disrupting nearby searches.In places, roads had collapsed into a milky, sand-colored lake beneath the surface, the result of Christchurch's sandy foundations mixing with subterranean water under the force of the quake. Officials call it liquefaction of the ground.

STATE OF EMERGENCY

A national state of emergency has been declared allowing for the control and coordination of rescue resources. Christchurch cit was being patrolled by soldiers with armored personnel carriers.It is the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in the North Island city of Napier which killed 256. Christchurch Hospital received an influx of injured residents, with broken limbs, crush injuries and lacerations. Some had to have their limbs amputated to get them out, and others have had amputation from the injury itself, said Mike Ardagh, head of Christchurch hospital's emergency department. Some have sadly died ... of those who had a chance, some haven't been able to make it.Christchurch, known as the Garden City, has been described as a little piece of England. It has an iconic cathedral, now largely destroyed, and a river called the Avon. It boasts several English-language schools and is a springboard for tours of the scenic South Island.Thousands of people were facing a second night in emergency shelters in local schools, community halls and at a racecourse. Fresh water supplies were railed into the city and were being distributed from schools and portable toilets set up around the city as services were disrupted.Rescue specialists from the United States, Britain, Taiwan and Japan were en route to New Zealand, while the first of 148 search and rescue specialists from neighboring Australia, aided by sniffer dogs, were already on the streets. U.S. President Barack Obama expressed condolences, saying a U.S. urban search and rescue team would be sent to New Zealand. We stand ready to provide more assistance as needed, he said.

TALK OF RATE CUT

The disaster has fueled talk that the central bank might cut interest rates in coming weeks to shore up confidence in the already-fragile national economy, but the bank did not mention monetary policy on Wednesday when it commented on the quake. The local dollar briefly firmed against the U.S. dollar after the central bank omitted any reference to rates. It had sunk to an eight-week low on Monday on the talk of a cut.The quake's timing was far worse than last year's tremor, which struck at night when streets were empty. Still, that first quake caused damage estimated at up to around $3.7 billion.New Zealand sits between the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates and records on average more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which about 20 would normally top magnitude 5.0.(Additional reporting by Mantik Kusjanto in Wellington; Writing by Gyles Beckford; Editing by Mark Bendeich, Ed Davies and Daniel Magnowski)

NZ earthquake toll at 75 dead, 300 missing
By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press - FEB 23,11

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – The siblings huddled Wednesday on sodden grass, staring at the smoldering remains of a building that collapsed with their mother inside.They hadn't heard from TV presenter Donna Manning since a powerful earthquake tore through one of New Zealand's largest cities, killing at least 75 people and leaving some 300 missing in the rubble. Still, there was hope.My mum is superwoman, she'd do anything, Manning's 18-year-old daughter Lizzy said, tears streaming down her face.

Just then, a police officer approached and knelt before Lizzy and her 15-year-old brother Kent in the rain. I have some horrible news...the officer began.The teens' faces crumpled, and their father wrapped them in an embrace. There was no hope left for anyone trapped inside the building, the officer said gently.It was one of the darkest moments of a desperate hunt for any signs of life in the twisted rubble in the city of Christchurch, as Prime Minister John Key declared the quake a national disaster and analysts estimated its cost at up to $12 billion.Hundreds of troops, police and emergency workers raced against time and aftershocks that threatened to collapse more buildings. They picked gingerly through the ruins, poking heat-seeking cameras into gaps between tumbles of bricks and sending sniffer dogs over concrete slabs.More teams rushed in from Australia, Asia, the United States and Britain, along with a military field hospital and teams to help repair power, water and phone lines that were damaged in all corners of the city of some 350,000 people.The news was grim at the Canterbury Television building, a seven-story concrete-and-glass structure that housed the regional TV network where Manning was a morning presenter and other businesses, including an English language school used by young visitors from Japan and South Korea.The heavy concrete floors lay piled atop one another Wednesday, its central stairwell tower still standing, but leaning precariously.

We don't believe this site is now survivable, police operations commander Inspector Dave Lawry told reporters, announcing that rescuers were shifting to sites that were less dangerous and where there was more hope for survivors.Canterbury TV chairman Nick Smith said 15 of his employees were still missing and assumed inside the collapsed building. Ten Japanese language students were still missing from a group of at least 23 students and teachers who were believed in the building, said Teppei Asano, an Japanese official monitoring the situation.Not far away, cheers erupted Wednesday as rescuers pulled a woman from another crumpled office tower. Ann Bodkin was reunited with her husband after a painstaking rescue from the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Pyne Gould Guinness building. Coincidentally, giant sunbeams burst through the city's gray, drizzly weather as she emerged.They got Ann out of the building, and God turned on the lights, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said.Many sections of the city of 350,000 people lay in ruins, and police announced a nighttime curfew in a cordoned-off area of downtown to keep people away from dangerous buildings and to prevent opportunistic crime.Six people had been arrested since the quake for burglary and theft, said police Superintendent Dave Cliff, announcing that anyone on the streets after 6:30 p.m. without a valid reason could be arrested.One of the city's tallest buildings, the 27-floor Hotel Grand Chancellor, was showing signs of buckling and was in imminent danger of collapsing, Fire Service commander Mike Hall said. Authorities emptied the building and evacuated a two-block radius.

Parker said 120 people were rescued overnight Tuesday, while more bodies were also recovered. About 300 people were still unaccounted for, but this did not mean they were all still trapped, he said. Key, the prime minister, said early Wednesday that the death toll stood at 75 and was expected to rise. The figure had not been updated by nightfall.The true toll in life and treasure was still unknown, but the earthquake already was shaping as one of the country's worst disasters.JP Morgan analyst Michael Huttner conservatively estimated the insurance losses at US$12 billion. That would be the most from a natural disaster since Hurricane Ike in 2008 at $19 billion, according to the Insurance Information Institute.Rescuers who rushed into buildings immediately after the quake found horrific scenes.A construction manager described using sledgehammers and chain saws to cut into the Pyne Gould Guinness building from the roof, hacking downward through layers of sandwiched offices and finding bodies crushed and pulverized under concrete slabs.One severely trapped man passed away after talking awhile with rescuers, Fred Haering said.

Another had a leg pinned under concrete, and a doctor administered medicine to deaden the pain. A firefighter asked Haering for a hacksaw. Haering handed it over and averted his eyes as the man's leg was sawed off, saving him from certain death.
It's a necessity of the game,Haering said Wednesday. How are you gonna get out? The quake struck just before 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday, when the city was bustling with commerce and tourism. It was less powerful than a 7.1 temblor that struck before dawn on Sept. 4 that damaged buildings but killed no one. Experts said Tuesday's quake was deadlier because it was closer to the city and because more people were about.Christchurch's airport reopened Wednesday, and military planes were brought in to fly tourists to other cities.Officials told people to avoid showering or even flushing toilets, saying the damaged sewer system was at risk of failing. School classes in the city were suspended, and residents advised to stay home.Christchurch's main hospital was inundated with people suffering head and chest injuries, said spokeswoman Amy Milne. But officials said the health system was coping, with some patients moved to other cities.Tanker trucks were stationed at 14 spots throughout the city where residents could come to fill buckets and bottles, civil defense officials said, and people asked to catch and save rainwater. Associated Press writers Steve McMorran and Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand, and Kelly Doherty in Sydney contributed to this report.

TMX chief warns Canada of risk in blocking LSE deal By Jonathan Spicer and Claire Sibonney – Tue Feb 22, 5:52 pm ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – The head of TMX Group Inc warned that Canada would risk damaging its free-trade credentials if it blocked the Toronto exchange's proposed merger with the London Stock Exchange, as Canadian political opposition picked up steam.Ontario, Canada's most powerful province and home to its financial center in Toronto, said on Tuesday it will launch a review of the planned deal. Politicians have questioned whether it would benefit the province and the country.Growing resistance has thrown into question whether the deal -- one of three big exchange mergers under scrutiny globally -- will survive what could be a year-long review process.TMX Chief Executive Thomas Kloet told Reuters in an interview he is taking political opposition to a deal very seriously.Even so, he said Canada was putting its reputation on free trade and competition on the line as it considers a proposal to create a transatlantic operator worth $7 billion in market capitalization and the world's fifth-largest exchange ranked by trading volume.One of the things Canada has to make sure to consider as it goes through this is what if it says no, Kloet said.

What does that mean for its capital markets -- are they less competitive? Canada seems to want to seek a free trade agreement with the EU. If it says no to this transaction, does it send the right signal for that? Kloet said.I'm not qualified to answer some of these questions, but I'm sure those are some of the questions that will have to be answered.Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, one of the most vocal critics of the proposal, said he opposed any takeover that could potentially lead to Canada losing control over its main capital markets.If it's an investment, great. If it's a takeover, and operations move to London, that's not what we're interested in, Duncan told reporters.They should quit calling it a merger, he said.
Kloet in the interview called the deal a merger of equals because the company would have co-headquarters in London and Toronto, and some key operations will remain in Canada.

REGULATORY AND POLITICAL GAUNTLET

The LSE-TMX deal will face intense scrutiny. Ontario's Liberal government said an all-party committee of the provincial legislature will conduct at least four public hearings and make a decision by April 7. The province's opposition Progressive Conservative and New Democratic parties have echoed Duncan's skepticism about the proposal's value.That adds to the maze of political and regulatory hurdles that lies ahead, including a federal government review of whether the exchange combination will carry a net benefit to Canada.A spokeswoman for Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement said speculation on the outcome of the federal process is premature. Even so, she said, provincial economic policies are one of the factors to be considered.
Lawyers consulted about the proposal said it was still unclear how provincial securities regulators would make decisions on whether to approve or reject the deal.
The LSE's friendly takeover of TMX, announced February 9, would create a global exchange player strong in resource listings. LSE shareholders would hold 55 percent of the combined entity, and LSE would nominate eight of the 15 directors.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER

Kloet, who would serve as president of the combined company, said LSE-TMX would become an offensive player as exchanges further consolidate in the years ahead. We don't have to do it. We want to do it, Kloet, an American who took the TMX reins in 2008, said of the LSE deal.The consolidation bug has resurfaced in the exchange industry after a few quiet years, with Germany's Deutsche Boerse bidding for Big Board parent NYSE Euronext and Singapore Exchange planning to acquire Australia's ASX.But the plans face many political and regulatory hurdles.Kloet said the LSE tie-up would strongly position the Canadian markets that TMX operates as global competition intensifies. But Duncan said he worries about a trend toward fewer stock markets globally, which could harm smaller Canadian companies.You'll have essentially an oligopoly which means pricing of listings in my view will be going up, the minister said.Ontario, Canada's most populous province, is home to hundreds of thousands of financial services jobs. The province's Liberal government is not likely to jeopardize any of them, especially with an election scheduled to be held in less than eight months.Spirited opposition by a provincial government led to the federal government's rejection of the last big foreign bid for a Canadian company. In November, Ottawa blocked BHP Billiton's $39 billion offer for fertilizer producer Potash Corp when the company's home province of Saskatchewan strongly opposed it.
(Additional reporting by Solarina Ho; editing by Peter Galloway and Frank McGurty)

Nasdaq weighs competing NYSE bid: source
By Paritosh Bansal - FEB 22,11

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nasdaq OMX Group Inc (NDAQ.O), left out of a global merger frenzy among exchanges, is exploring options that include teaming up with a partner on a rival bid for NYSE Euronext (NYX.PA) (NYX.N), a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.The alternatives include the possibility of tying up with IntercontinentalExchange Inc (ICE.N) or CME Group Inc (CME.O) to wrest NYSE Euronext out of its deal with Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE), the person said.Nasdaq may also consider selling itself or buying another competitor if it is unable to compete with Deutsche Boerse on the NYSE deal, the Wall Street Journal said.A Nasdaq spokesman was not immediately available to comment. The person familiar with the situation asked to remain anonymous because the talks are private.Nasdaq has found itself to be the odd-man out in a series of exchange-operator deals in recent months.Pressure is mounting on global bourses to seek partnerships to counter the threat from bigger rivals and alternative trading platforms, and to cut costs.

In recent weeks, Deutsche Boerse agreed to buy NYSE, the London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L) announced a deal to take over Canadian stock market operator TMX Group Inc (X.TO), and BATS Global Markets said it will buy peer Chi-X Europe.Last October, Singapore Exchange agreed to buy Australia's ASX.It is not clear where Nasdaq's efforts will lead, the person familiar said.Indeed, officials at both ICE and CME have been cautious about potential deals.Earlier this month ICE Chief Financial Officer Scott Hill said his exchange, which trades energy futures as well as over-the-counter swaps, sees a lot of opportunity in the changes that are going on.But he said ICE is proceeding cautiously on the M&A side, because what we don't want to do is we don't want to acquire to build scale.Officials at CME, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, have said they are not planning any large acquisitions and have promised to return excess cash to investors in the form of dividends or share buybacks.The New York Times' Dealbook last week said Nasdaq and IntercontinentalExchange were in talks to team up on a possible bid for NYSE Euronext.(Additional reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Gary Hill and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Short shelf life for NYSE's Deutsche Boerse carrots By Edward Taylor and Michelle Martin – Mon Feb 21, 1:08 pm ET

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Some of the sweeteners offered to Germany to secure a politically acceptable deal between Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext could be watered down as soon as 2016.Firstly, the chairman's powers will be crimped after Deutsche Boerse boss Reto Francioni's term of office in his new role as head of the combined group ends after 2016, a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission says.After an initial term, the chairman will become a non-executive director, ending the responsibilities and authorities that go with the position, the filing says.This could undermine the insistence by both companies that the deal, announced last week, is a merger of equals. A key element of this is that the Deutsche Boerse chief executive will assume the role of chairman in the new company.

Meanwhile, Francioni's NYSE counterpart Duncan Niederauer, who is set to become chief executive of the new group, also has a term that will end in 2016. But the shelf-life of the chief financial officer and the head of derivatives may be shorter, the filings show.Deutsche Boerse's market value is about 50 percent higher than NYSE Euronext's and the German group's shareholders are set to control 60 percent of the new company.That means to begin with it will nominate 10 of 17 board seats and under a so-called dual headquarter concept, Frankfurt will have responsibility for derivatives, market data and analytics while New York will host cash trading and listings.For six years the group chairman and chief executive will not work from the same location, Deutsche Boerse said in a written statement.But among other longer-term plans, the number of directors -- excluding the CEO and chairman -- will be cut from 15 to 10 after the initial board term; and a ratio whereby Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext effectively have a quota will go.But the link between the chairman's office and Frankfurt -- an extremely sensitive point for politicians in the region of Hesse which awards the license for the exchange -- has not been set in stone.And New York has ensured that other key areas of responsibility will be located in the United States, with corporate development, M&A, human resources, public relations and branding all based there.

Investor relations and controlling/budget will have their primary location in New York, although the Chief Financial Officer is officially being appointed by Frankfurt.For Francioni initial term as chairman he will however have the power will call board meetings, set the agenda and be responsible for initiating and developing overall group strategy. Other powers include chairing the nomination, governance, corporate responsibility and the strategy committees, the filings, dated February 15, show.

DIVIDING THE SPOILS

While Francioni has no formal powers to prevent radical changes to the global executive committee, he needs to be consulted, the business combination agreement shows.Power to appoint members of the global executive committee officially resides with the group chief executive.The four existing trading platforms will be cut from four to two.One of those platforms will be a platform currently used by NYSE Euronext, and the other will be a platform currently used by Deutsche Boerse, the Business Combination Agreement says.Eventually cash and derivatives businesses could run on one single platform.The filing also revealed the holding company of the combined group could become a Societas Europaea (SE), a corporate structure that curbs the power of employee representatives.The influence of labor representatives would suffer, Johannes Witt, who represents employees on the Deutsche Boerse supervisory board said on Monday.

If it ends up an SE, that could erode the German tradition of employee co-determination, which hands half of the seats on the board of directors to labor representatives.But a final decision has not been taken, and it could remain a German corporation.Many German companies like Allianz and BASF have recently become SEs because it is European, international, modern and sounds cosmopolitan, Frank Scholderer, a partner at Clifford Chance in Frankfurt, told Reuters.But many large companies have also done it because one of the advantages of becoming an SE is that you can reduce the size of the supervisory board.(Editing by Alexander Smith)

U.S. oil at 2-1/2 year high on Libyan contagion worries
By Francis Kan - FEB 23,11

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – U.S. crude futures climbed to a 2-1/2-year peak on Wednesday on concern that unrest in Libya could spread to other top oil producers in the region and cut more output.Violent clashes in Libya have resulted in at last three oil companies halting output in Africa's third-largest producer, which pumps 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), or nearly 2 percent of global supply.The disruptions mark the first reduction in oil supply stemming from a wave of protests that have swept through the oil-producing Middle East and North Africa. Investors fear for the potential impact on the flow of oil from top exporter Saudi Arabia if it suffers similar unrest.U.S. crude rose as high as $96.08 a barrel, the highest level since October 2008. By 11:59 a.m. ET, the April contract had trimmed gains to trade at $95.48, up 6 cents on the day.Brent crude rose 58 cents to $106.36 a barrel, after rising as high as $106.58 earlier. On Monday, Brent hit a 2-1/2-year high of $108.70.

Even if Libya completely shuts down, there isn't a supply issue. But the (U.S. crude) could go to $100, given the potential for this contagion to spread to Saudi Arabia, said Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.To date, protests in Saudi have been low key. But majority Shi'ites in neighboring Bahrain are protesting against the Sunni-led government and there is concern this could spill over to the Shi'ite minority living in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing eastern province.A pipeline pumping Libyan gas to Italy was also closed, and operations at Libya's export terminal operations disrupted. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has refused to step aside despite the growing revolt and threatened tougher action against protesters in a defiant speech on Tuesday.Most European product prices extended gains on Tuesday, with traders reporting Libya had declared force majeure on fuel shipments from some ports, while others said cargoes were loading as normal.International Energy Agency (IEA) chief economist Fatih Birol said on Tuesday that oil prices were in the danger zone and could rise further if turmoil continues in the Middle East.

The global economy is more fragile now than it was in 2008. Growth has been driven by stimulus packages and austerity measures. I don't see it being able to absorb a rise to $140 like it did two years ago, Barratt said.Brent crude has risen more than 13 percent so far this year. U.S. crude is up over 2 percent on the year, but is over $50 below its 2008 high of $147.27.Given the speed at which events are unfolding, we do not rule out a further spike of $20/bbl or beyond in the coming weeks if the unrest disrupts output, ANZ commodities analysts, Serene Lim and Mark Pervan, wrote in report.Brent oil could revisit its Monday's high of $108.70 a barrel while he sees U.S. crude head to $97.33 a barrel in the next 24 hours, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

NO MORE CRUDE FROM SAUDI

Top exporter Saudi Arabia on Tuesday stopped short of pouring more oil on to markets, telling visiting consumer nations prices were driven by fear.The kingdom could ramp up its oil production enough within one month to replace all of Libya's crude exports if growing strife in the African nation cuts off its oil shipments, a senior U.S. government energy official said on Tuesday.Saudi Arabia supplies around 10 percent of the world's oil, but also holds most of the world's spare capacity. It is the only producer able to respond quickly with large volumes of oil to compensate for a serious supply outage. IEA member states would consider releasing oil from their emergency stocks if supplies were disrupted as a result of continuing turmoil in the Middle East, Birol said.The IEA is adviser to 28 industrialized nations on energy policy.A rise in Japanese crude oil stocks and an expected increase in U.S. inventories could also ease supply concerns, analysts said.Asian stocks were flat to slightly lower on Wednesday, following Wall Street's worst performance since August on concerns over the turmoil in Libya.(Editing by Ed Lane)