EXODUS OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS

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.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

Israel says Iran warships to transit Suez for Syria
JERUSALEM | Wed Feb 16, 2011 11:29am EST

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Two Iranian warships planned to sail through the Suez canal en route to Syria on Wednesday, Israel's foreign minister said, calling the move the latest provocation by Tehran and hinting at an Israeli response.Israel sees a major threat in Iran's nuclear programme and calls for its elimination, but the countries' geographical distance has kept them from open confrontation. Syria is one of Israel's neighboring foes and an ally of Tehran.Tonight, two Iranian warships are meant to pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and reach Syria, something that has not happened in many years, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a Jerusalem speech distributed by his office.To my regret, the international community is not showing readiness to deal with the recurring Iranian provocations. The international community must understand that Israel cannot forever ignore these provocations.(Writing by Dan Williams; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

The Suez Canal Workers Stage Sit-in as U.S. Warships Dispatched
Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com February 15, 2011

Board members of Egypt’s Suez Canal Trade Union and a group of workers staged a sit-in at the canal’s authority headquarter in Ismailia on Tuesday, Xinhua reports. The state-run MENA agency reported that the protesting workers will continue a sit-in demonstration until the Suez Canal Authority chairman responds to their demands. The workers are demanding an increase in wages.The protesters promised that their sit-in will not affect the navigation process of the strategic waterway, MENA explained.In the wake of the fall of the dictator Hosni Mubarak’s regime, Egypt as been hit by a number of labor strikes. The military now in control of the government has vowed to not allow labor strikes to paralyze the world’s most populous Arab nation.Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces warned on Tuesday that further strikes across the country will be disastrous and called for an end to all strikes, according to Xinhua.

On February 11, Dava Castillo, writing for Allvoices, reported the USS Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group consisting of six warships is steaming toward the Suez Canal.The arrival of U.S. naval, marine and air forces in the Suez Canal’s Greater Bitter Lake could indicate that the crisis in Egypt is swerving out of control, writes Castillo.Allvoices reports that the information on the strike group was released by DEBKAfile, a Jerusalem-based English language Israeli open source military intelligence website. DEBKAfile is a known neocon propaganda operation.More than two million barrels of oil and petroleum products pass through the Suez Canal every day. Approximately 4.5 percent of the world’s oil supplies flow through the canal and accompanying pipelines.Castillo notes that the strategic waterway is also crucial to the war in Afghanistan. Ships carry cargo across the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, and over the Indian Ocean to Karachi, Pakistan.

HONORING THE DEFENDERS OF ISRAEL
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142344
EXPAND GREATER JERUSALEM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142357
OBAMA SAYS FREEDOM IN IRAN,BUT HE OPRESSES AMERICAN CITIZENS THE HYPOCRITE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142355

Saar: No More Lies, We're Keeping Hevron
by Maayana Miskin FEB 16,11

Israel must make it clear that Jews will remain in the city of Hevron, Education Minister Gidon Saar (Likud) said Tuesday. We must not mislead the Arabs into thinking that one day there will be no Jews living in Kiryat Arba and Hevron, he said during a tour of Judea.A Jewish presence in the Biblical city is crucial in order to maintain our ability to visit and pray in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, one of the most important places to the Jewish people, Saar explained.He said he would act to bring all Israeli students to visit Hevron, particularly the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Currently, all Israeli students are to visit Jerusalem at least once during their school career.During his visit to Efrat, Hevron and other Israeli towns in Judea, Saar faced tough questions over his party's policies.Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service asked Saar what he had to say to Jews in Judea who suffered under the Likud-led Judea and Samaria construction freeze. We are in a very difficult and complex situation, diplomatically speaking, Saar answered. I am convinced that we know how to deal with the problems that stand before us regarding Jewish settlement.

The first step Israel should take is to renew construction in majority-Jewish regions of Judea and Samaria, known as settlement blocs, Saar continued. It's absurd that there are no land sales in the cities of Efrat, Ariel, Maaleh Adumim, and Beitar Illit, at a time when building is taking place in Jewish villages in Judea and Samaria, he said.Efrat has been waiting eight years for government approval to market 1,000 housing units. The Housing Ministry prepared the groundwork for the housing, spending tens of millions of shekels in the process, yet the government now refuses to give the project final authorization.Saar was also asked to explain the difference between the Likud's platform and that of opposition party Kadima, whose party head, MK Tzipi Livni, visited Judea several weeks earlier. Livni also said during her visit that Israel should allow construction in settlement blocs.You would not want to be shown the difference between Likud and Kadima, Saar warned. Just the most recent documents revealed show that Kadima is willing to give up the very heart of Jerusalem.Recently published documents show that the Olmert administration had been prepared to give Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority, and to put the Old City and the Temple Mount under international control.(Israel NationalNews.com)

Gaddafi to Arab Refugees: March on Israel
by Maayana Miskin FEB 15,11

Libyan dictator Muammer Gaddafi has called for a mass Arab march on Israel, in an attempt to force Israel into accepting Arab demands. He directed his call to Palestinian Authority Arabs and to the millions of Arabs who define themselves as Palestinian refugees that seek to return to Israel.Fleets of boats should take Palestinians... and wait by the Palestinian shores until the problem is resolved, Gaddafi said on Libyan television. Now is the time for PA Arabs to capitalize on the wave of Middle East revolts, he added.The purpose of the mass march would not be to declare war, but rather to create a problem for the world, Gaddafi explained.

Hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled Israel during the War of Independence. Many Arab leaders demand that Israel accept those who fled and their millions of descendants as citizens.In some countries, among them Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, the descendants of Arabs who fled Israel have not been granted citizenship, and live in their own separate neighborhoods and cities.

The West is our Enemy
In the same speech, Gaddafi called on the Muslim world to unite against the non-Muslim world. The Western world, including the United States and Europe, has gone on the attack against the Islamic world, he said.Designating the U.S. and Europe white and the Muslim world green, Gaddafi said,The white color has decided to get rid of the green country... These countries should be united against the white color.While he called for Muslim unity in fighting the West, Gaddafi had criticism for several Muslim leaders – those who have some form of relations with Israel. All Arab states which have relations with Israel are cowardly regimes,he declared.(Israel National News.com)

China unlikely to be the next Egypt, EU officials say
ANDREW WILLIS 15.02.2011 @ 18:14 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU officials in Brussels say there is little chance of recent protests in northern Africa spreading to China, despite a range of common problems including unequal wealth distribution and grievances over working conditions. Beijing has monitored the ousting of authoritarian leaders in Tunisia and Egypt closely over the past month, with media coverage of the events heavily restricted in the Chinese press.A recent report by the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank cites the young and urban middle class protest in Egypt, the army's unwillingness to use force and US calls for change as a nightmare scenario for those Chinese leaders who have not forgotten Tiananmen. The images from Cairo might not have stirred memories in much of China's population (less than half the Chinese were adults in 1989), [but] they must worry the party itself, says the report by Francois Godement, published on Monday (14 February).Conscious of the global implications of their actions, one protestor in Tahrir square in Cairo earlier this month waved a banner in Chinese characters saying: Egyptian people ask President Mubarak to step down.Despite the widespread pro-democracy calls which have spread beyond the African continent, EU officials say they are not preparing their diplomatic armoury to confront a similar wave of upheaval in China, citing a number of key differences.In China, there is no visibly corrupt government that protestors can concentrate on, at least not at the national level,one senior official in the EU's external action service told this website on condition of anonymity.

Chinese media censorship has successfully prevented the Egyptian story from entering mass circulation, while the intelligentsia can easily get around this using software, preventing a buildup of frustration on their part, continued the official.
Perhaps most importantly, with growth still hitting double figures in the Middle Kingdom, a section of the Chinese population is enjoying a higher quality of life compared to previous decades, with China's economy taking the world's number two spot from Japan this week.European parliamentarians have also sounded a note of caution against drawing too many comparisons.The EU should look at each region and there is no need to make a link, said Bulgarian centre-right MEP Iliana Ivanova, a vice-chair of the parliament's China delegation.I'm not saying we are giving up on the problems in China, including human rights violations, but we need to solve them objectively.Analysts say one factor preventing Europe from using Egypt's popular uprising as a means to press for more rapid reform in China is the great unknown over Egypt's future and what shape incoming governments may take.Another is that the democracy movements in north Africa have not been something Europe has embraced with open arms. Several EU governments had excellent relations with Mubarak, noted Mr Godement.Nevertheless, one Chinese diplomat in Brussels said events in Egypt were likely to have a longer-term impact on China's political leaders.Egypt is fascinating, it has set a peaceful precedent unlike Iran. People in China know what has happened ... it is likely to affect the country's next generation of political leaders,the contact said.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

EU ministers to double lending power of bail-out fund-Homeless people in Madrid: the extra lending clout comes in the context of fears about Spanish solvency (Photo: AntarticoNorte)LEIGH PHILLIPS 15.02.2011 @ 09:25 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Eurozone finance ministers have backed a doubling of the full lending capacity of a future EU bail-out fund.As of 2013, the European Stability Mechanism, a permanent rescue mechanism to replace the bloc's current bail-out arrangement, will have an effective lending capacity of €500 billion, Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the chief of the group of EU member states that use the single currency, said late on Monday (14 February) night.

Speaking to reporters, he said he was convinced the sum should be substantial enough to soothe markets.I would think that this will be enough, he said.Currently, the temporary rescue arrangements have a headline figure of €440 billion attached to the pool, but in reality have what is called an effective lending capacity of around €250billion.This is because most of the money has to be kept back as collateral.Details of how the eurozone will be able to deliver such a level of effective lending capacity was kicked into the long grass however, to be decided upon in the coming weeks.EU leaders have set themselves a deadline of 25 March, the second day of the bloc's spring summit of premiers and presidents, to agree the details.Further meetings of eurozone finance chiefs are scheduled for 11 March and possibly 21 March.

Finance ministers already agreed that the size of the ESM would be up for review every two years, however.The fact that Germany, Europe's biggest lender, has given the nod to a hike in the fund's lending capacity, also suggests that support for its long-demanded quid pro quo, deeper liberal economic reforms, is gaining ground.Mr Juncker conceded as much on Monday, saying that additional discussions will be necessary to ensure robust oversight of member-state spending decisions.

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 16,2011

09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM +41.45
10:30 AM +64.29
11:00 AM +73.11
11:30 AM +60.74
12:00 PM +43.24
12:30 PM +32.17
01:00 PM +35.84
01:30 PM +44.73
02:00 PM +58.01
02:30 PM +52.68
03:00 PM +58.09
03:30 PM +56.80
04:00 PM +61.53 12,288.17

S&P 500 1336.32 +8.31

NASDAQ 2825.56 +21.21

GOLD 1,375.20 +1.10

OIL 84.97 +0.65

TSE 300 15,059.20 +129.80

CDNX 2399.42 +4.84

S&P/TSX/60 808.32 +9.38

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +26 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +1 points at low today.
Dow +74 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,372.20.OIL opens at $84.67 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow +1 points at low today so far.
Dow +84 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow +1 points at low today.
Dow +84 points at high today.

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

CRUDE OIL +860,000 BARRELS.
GASOLINE +205,000 BARRELS.
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES -3.1 MILLION BARRELS.
REFINERY UTILIZATION

Tunisia's Biblical exodus pits Rome against Brussels
VALENTINA POP 14.02.2011 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS -Italy refused EU help in dealing with Tunisian migrants and its criticism of Brussels is very surprising, EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Monday (14 February). Meanwhile, Tunis deemed unacceptable a suggestion that Italian troops be sent to stop people from crossing the Mediterranean.Ms Malmstrom was very surprised by the recent press statements of Italian officials, her spokesman, Michele Cercone said during a press conference in Brussels.Contrary to what Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni had suggested, that the EU commission is too slow and bureaucratic in helping out with the thousands of migrants arriving on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, Ms Malmstrom contacted Italian authorities on Saturday and asked if they needed help, said the official.

Their reply was clear: No thanks, we do not need the European Commission's assistance at this stage, Mr Cercone said, adding that despite this negative response, Ms Malmstrom proceeded in asking her own services, the EU border agency Frontex and the EU asylum support office to assess how the EU could support Italy.
Almost 5,000 people have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa by boat over the last five days, an exodus of biblical proportions in the words of Mr Maroni. To Italy, home of 60 million inhabitants, the exodus may seem relatively small. But to Lampedusa, where the local population is around 6,000, the recent migrant wave does pose problems. Rome has started to fly out people by helicopter and to ship them out to asylum centres in Sicily, but some 2,000 are still on the island, sleeping under an open sky.The European Commission is fully aware of the exceptional pressure on Italy and stands ready to support the Italian authorities and to show European solidarity, Mr Cercone added, without going into details as to what this support may be.

No troops, thank you

Meanwhile, a call by Italy's right-wing interior minister to send troops to Tunisia was deemed unacceptable by the north African country's new government.The foreign ministry said Tunisia is willing to co-operate with fraternal countries in order to identify solutions to this phenomenon, but added that it would not tolerate interference in its internal affairs.The issue is likely to put EU foreign policy chief Cahterine Ashton in a pickle, just as she kicks off her olive-branch-visit to the country one month after the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali during street protests which caused a domino effect throughout the region.A spokeswoman for Ms Ashton said she expects the issue to be raised in the talks with the new Tunisian prime minister and minister for international co-operation and trade.

Italy and France fret

Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, is also due to arrive in Tunis Monday night to hold bilateral talks on the immigration issue.Meanwhile, France, home to another conservative EU government keen to curb irregular migration, is warning Tunisian migrants to stay home.There can be no tolerance for illegal immigration, said industry minister Eric Besson - previously in charge of the immigration dossier. He added, however, that some individuals might have the right to claim asylum in France, including supporters of the ousted dictator.What is important to us is to make sure these people are treated properly. All have the right to seek asylum, Judith Sunderland, a Human Rights Watch expert based in Milan told this website.She warned against the dangers of labelling them all as terrorists and criminals, as the Italian interior minister has done.

EU looking to freeze assets of Egyptian regime
ANDREW WILLIS 15.02.2011 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU finance ministers are set to discuss the potential for a co-ordinated freeze of assets held by leading members of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's regime, following verbal requests to a number of EU member states from Egyptian authorities. Some confusion remains as to whether Mr Mubarak himself will be included on the list of names discussed by finance ministers in Brussels on Tuesday (15 February), despite the ex-president using his 30 years in power to amass a fortune in cash, gold bars and luxurious properties, both inside Egypt and abroad.

The EU may look at using a United Nations convention against corruption as grounds for freezing accounts and seizing assets, media reports suggest. Meanwhile, Egyptian state prosecutors have launched corruption investigations against three former government ministers and a member of parliament from Egypt's ruling National Democratic party.In similar chronology to the recent lockdown on the assets of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family, Switzerland moved earlier than the EU to freeze the assets of Mr Mubarak and his associates on 11 February, the same day the former Egyptian hardman was forced to step down and fled to a holiday home in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.On Monday, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker simply said yes when asked whether Mr Mubarak's assets should be included in the freeze, while French finance minister Christine Lagarde said the issue would be discussed at a European level.Together with France and Germany, Britain is one of the EU country's to have received an individual request from Egyptian authorities to prevent assets being quickly whisked out of the country.We will of course co-operate with this request, working with EU and international partners as we have done in the case of Tunisia, British foreign minister William Hague told the UK parliament. If there is any evidence of illegality or misuse of state assets we will take firm and prompt action.

Separately, Mr Hague also appealed to the Iranian regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to show restraint in dealing with internal demonstrations, inspired by the popular overthrow of the Mubarak regime.Reports said Iranian police used batons and tear gas during a crackdown on protestors on Monday, in scenes reminiscent of the anti-regime rallies in the wake of Mr Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June 2009.President Ahmadinejad last Friday told the Egyptian people that they had the right to express their own views about their country, said Mr Hague.I call on the Iranian authorities to allow their own people the same right and to ensure that the security authorities exercise restraint.In Egypt, widespread labour unrest appears to have continued beyond the downfall of Mr Mubarak, with hundreds of demonstrations, strikes and sit-ins at state companies and ministries taking place on Monday as employees cited grievances over low pay and poor working conditions.

The actions are in defiance of the new military junta, which banned meetings of trade unions on Sunday, in effect outlawing strikes, and ordered workers to return to their jobs.Talks between the country's new military rulers and youth activists on Sunday evening suggest senior army officials may be moving to sideline Mohamed El Baradei, the Nobel laureate seen by some as a potential presidential candidate. The military has promised to oversee a peaceful transition to democracy but Sahdi el-Ghazali Harb, an activist who attended Sunday's meeting, said there was clear rejection from military commanders to include Mr El Baradei in the transition, reports the Financial Times.Mr Ghazali Harb also expressed concern at the military's push for a rapid handover of power to an elected civilian authority, arguing that a longer transition is needed to allow new political parties to take shape and gather support.Formerly banned, the Muslim Brotherhood group is considered to be the largest and most organised opposition force in the country.

MEPs support vanguard group on EU patent
ANDREW WILLIS 15.02.2011 @ 17:42 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs have given their consent for a number of EU member states to push ahead with plans to create a single European patent, using a EU procedure known as enhanced co-operation.The decision by euro deputies sitting in Strasbourg on Tuesday (15 February) is a further step towards abolishing the current European system, under which businesses must secure intellectual property protection in individual member states separately.Last year Spain and Italy raised objections to European Commission plans to allow future EU patents to be printed in either English, French or German, the EU's three official languages, prompting 12 other member states in December to invoke a rarely-used EU mechanism to allow them to carry on regardless.Others are expected to join the list, with Europe's complex and costly patent system frequently cited as disadvantaging the region's businesses.

For far too long, EU inventors and innovative companies have faced a significant competitive disadvantage compared to their global rivals, Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour, chairman of the parliament's internal market committee, said after the vote.I hope that Spain and Italy will soften their opposition to this proposal so that all EU countries can eventually be involved, he added.Following the parliament's decision on Tuesday, EU industry ministers meeting in Brussels from 9-10March are expected to formally adopt the decision authorising enhanced co-operation among the less-than-full complement of EU states.The commission will then submit two separate legislative proposals, one establishing the single patent and another on the language regime, although a number of stumbling blocks still pepper the road towards a final agreement.A key ruling from the European Court of Justice is expected just days before the meeting of EU industry ministers next month, regarding the legality of a European Patent Court which would hear claims under a single European patent system.If judges follow the recommendation of the court's top advisor, which last year said the new tribunal could be out of step with EU legislation and jurisprudence, the whole process could be set back considerably.

Spain and Italy may also use the courts to prevent their European colleagues pushing ahead without them, sources suggest, potentially dragging the EU patent debate well beyond its already 30 old years of discussion.

Athens in EU-IMF dispute over privatisation
LEIGH PHILLIPS 14.02.2011 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Representatives of the EU-IMF 'troika' and Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou have tried to draw a line under a public scuffle between Athens and European lenders over a demand that the government immediately sell off €50 billion in state assets to prevent insolvency.On Sunday (13 February), the minister said that the government remained committed to its privatisation schedule as the move was in the public interest. The statement of reassurance came after a statement from the EU, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank insisting that the government is still abiding by troika recommendations and that the lenders have faith that Athens is still carrying out the programme agreed between the two sides in May last year.We recognise the difficult challenges facing the Greek economy and we have the deepest respect for the tremendous efforts being made by the Greek people, they said in a statement late on Saturday.Our three institutions have full respect for the prerogatives and initiatives of the government in all areas of economic decision-making, and our role is to advise and support the government.It is regrettable if a different impression was perceived at any time.The pair of statements came after an assessment team from the troika held a press conference in which they said Greece's austerity programme was broadly on track with what the lenders have demanded but that a €50 billion in privatisation of government property had yet to be implemented, some €15 billion of which should be enacted within the next two years.It is well known that there is huge potential for privatisation, European Commission representative Servaas Deroose had told reporters.

A comprehensive plan through 2015 will be finalised ... aiming at proceeds of €50 billion euros between 2011 and 2015, he said.A government spokesman on Saturday then lashed out at the troika, saying they had behaved unacceptably.We asked them for help ... not to meddle in our internal affairs, he said.Despite the mollifying noises from the finance minister, Mr Papaconstaniou still insisted that any privatisation would only cover government services and not land.We will commercially exploit public property but we will not sell off state land, he told reporters on Sunday.The decisions about how this will be done will be taken by the Greek government and nobody else, he continued.In related news, the EU's revamped, permanent eurozone bail-out mechanism is to total some €500 billion in funds from 2013, German news weekly Der Spiegel is reporting, based on information from unacknowledged sources.The schedule of Greece's €110 billion bail-out is set to be discussed by finance ministers from the eurozone's 17 member states on Monday evening.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Northeast gets cold wind, Midwest warms
– Tue Feb 15, 8:11 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Temperatures in the Northeast plummeted on Tuesday as high winds swept through the region, with the mercury ranging from the teens to the low 30s.Warmer weather this week in the Plains hard red winter wheat region will melt the protective snowcover, leaving the crop vulnerable to harm from winterkill.The melting snow will help boost soil moisture but more rain or snow is needed in the driest areas.Strong winds but little precipitation is expected in the Midwest soft red winter wheat region this week. The extended outlook indicates a better chance for significant precipitation.

METEORS HIT THE EARTH

REVELATION 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

REVELATION 8:12-13
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels,which are yet to sound!

Comet Crash Scene Investigated by NASA Flyby
Space.com denise Chow, Space.com Staff Writer FEB 15,11

NASA's recycled Stardust spacecraft flew past comet Tempel 1 late last night (Feb. 14), snapping photos of the site where a different probe crashed into the icy surface nearly six years ago.Before Stardust encountered Tempel 1, the comet was visited once before, in July 2005, when NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft plunged a small probe into the icy surface to determine the comet's composition.The new images from yesterday's Stardust flyby identify the Deep Impact crash site, giving scientists the unique ability to identify changes on the surface of Tempel 1 in the years between the two missions.

Crater revealed

We do have a comparison of the Deep Impact area in 2005 and 2011, and it does show an impact crater, Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., said in a news briefing today (Feb. 15). Erosion on the scale of 20 to 30 meters of material has occurred in the five or six years since we took the first picture. We are seeing a change, but we have to spend time quantifying the changes and understanding what they mean.The crater is about 150 meters (492 feet) across, and from the images, the scientists can see where ejecta from the impact came up and fell back to the surface.One of the bottom-line messages is that the surface of the comet where we hit is very weak — it's fragile, said Pete Schultz, Stardust-NExT co-investigator at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

Stardust's rendezvous with comet Tempel 1 brought the probe to within 110 miles (178 kilometers) of the icy body at its closest approach, which occurred at 11:40 p.m. EST yesterday (0440 GMT today). As the Stardust spacecraft trekked past, it snapped 72 high-resolution photos of the icy comet.Comet Tempel 1 is 3.7 miles (6 km) wide, and makes one orbit around the sun every 5 1/2 years. Yesterday's flyby, part of the Stardust-NExT mission, will allow scientists to examine how much the comet has changed since the Deep Impact encounter.This is exciting for us, it's the first time we've ever had the opportunity to visit a comet twice, said Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Minor glitch

The first images released from the flyby showed comet Tempel 1 from a distance of about 1,600 miles (2,575 km). These pictures were the first ones taken by the spacecraft as it approached the comet. Mission scientists had hoped that the initial set of photos beamed back to Earth would be five images from Stardust's closest approach, but a minor glitch caused the probe to send the images in chronological order instead.It did not jeopardize data onboard, Larson said. Everything was safely stored in memory and was ready to be sent down. We just had to wait a little longer.

Researchers are also hoping to use Stardust-NExT to map the surface of Tempel 1. The spacecraft took pictures of many of the same areas previously seen by the Deep Impact probe, but Stardust was also able to image new terrain, and will continue to do so as it travels away from the comet.As Stardust flew by the comet, the spacecraft also encountered the comet's veil of gas and dust. Stardust is equipped with sensors that can detect when the spacecraft is hit by dust particles from Tempel 1.Stardust went through this cloud of gas and dust through the comet and had a dozen impacts on the front leading edge of the spacecraft, said Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator from the University of Washington in Seattle.Scientists found that the material spewed from comets is not done so in a uniform way, but instead comes in intermittent bursts and puffs. Analysis of this data could help scientists understand more about how comets form, and how these primordial objects send gas and dust into space.

1,000 percent successful

Overall, the Stardust mission managers declared the flyby an overwhelming success.
We're tremendously happy, Veverka said. If you ask me, was this mission 100 percent successful in terms of science? No, it was 1,000 percent successful.The comet-chasing Stardust spacecraft has spent 12 years in space and has traveled more than 3.5 billion miles (5.7 billion km) during that time. In 2004, the probe visited comet Wild 2 and collected samples in a small container that was later returned to Earth. After Stardust's rendezvous with comet Wild 2, NASA repurposed the spacecraft to visit Tempel 1, and renamed the mission Stardust-NExT, for New Exploration of Tempel.Yesterday's encounter, however, will likely be the final mission for Stardust, since the spacecraft used up most of its remaining fuel to catch up to comet Tempel 1, researchers said.You can follow SPACE.com Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

FAMINE

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: 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.

Food prices hit dangerous levels: World Bank chief
By Lesley Wroughton – Tue Feb 15, 4:43 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – World Bank chief Robert Zoellick on Tuesday said global food prices have reached dangerous levels, and warned that their impact could complicate fragile political and social conditions in the Middle East and Central Asia.World Bank data released on Tuesday showed higher food prices -- mainly for wheat, maize, sugars and edible oils - have pushed 44 million more people in developing countries into extreme poverty since June 2010.There is no room for complacency, Zoellick told a conference call. Global food prices are now at dangerous levels and it is also clear that recent food price rises are causing pain and suffering for poor people around the globe.Zoellick said although higher food prices were not the main cause leading to recent protests in Egypt and Tunisia, it was an aggravating factor and could become worse.He warned that a sharp rise in food prices across Central Asia could also have social and political implications for that region.The World Bank report comes days before a meeting of the Group of 20 major economies in France where higher food prices and the reasons for those upward spikes will be discussed.

Zoellick also said he was concerned that as countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan address causes of their social upheaval, higher food prices may add to the fragility that is always there any time you have revolutions and transitions.The World Bank chief said the international community needed to be aware of such risks and should not exacerbate problems by imposing policies, such as export bans or price fixing, that would push global food prices even higher.There is no silver bullet to resolving the potent combination of rising and volatile food prices, Zoellick said, but food security is now a global security issue.Catastrophic storms and droughts have hurt the world's leading agriculture-producing countries, including flooding and a massive cyclone in Australia, major winter storms in the United States, and fires last year in Russia.Zoellick said a World Bank team was currently in Tunisia taking a closer look at the country's transition and assessing possible financing needs, including for food assistance.He suggested that Egypt may not need World Bank funds because its financing situation is one that should be able to be managed over the short term.

NOT THE SAME EVERYWHERE

The Washington-based poverty-fighting institution said its food price index increased by 15 percent between October 2010 and January 2011 and is just 3 percent below its 2008 peak during the last food price crisis. This translates into a 29 percent rise in food prices over the course of a year.But unlike during the 2007-08 food crisis, higher prices have not yet affected all regions of the world.Across Asia and in some parts of Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, costlier food is pushing up inflationary pressures.Central Asia is a region where these good prices have increased substantially and given the poverty levels ... there is a real stress point that could have social and political implications, Zoellick said.

Meanwhile, good harvests in Sub-Saharan Africa have so far spared that region from rising prices. But he said it was disturbing to see maize prices soar about 73 percent over six months, while prices for sugar for fats and oils have risen 20 percent and 22 percent, respectively, in the past quarter alone.The World Bank cautioned that rice prices needed monitoring given measures by some countries to significantly import more rice to boost domestic stocks.He said there was less margin for error in Africa because of high poverty rates across the region, although he noted problems in Burundi and Cameroon where bean prices, an important food source, have risen by more than 40 percent.Surveys show that the poor spend more than 80 percent of their total disposable income on basic foods, and if prices rise, poor families have few -- if any -- alternative but to eat less.The bank said rich donor countries needed to focus food aid on countries such as Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, which face acute food price spikes.The bank said the international community should take steps to calm jittery commodity markets and urged poor nations to scale up social programs to protect the poor.It said countries that are large net commodity importers with low international foreign exchange reserves and limited space in their budgets may need funding help.

REVELATION 18:11-17
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
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,

Clothing prices to rise 10 pct starting in spring
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer – Mon Feb 14, 5:15 pm ET

NEW YORK – Shoppers looking to update their wardrobes may find their money won't stretch as far.As the world economy recovers and demand for goods rises, a surge in raw material and labor costs is squeezing retailers and manufacturers who have run out of ways to pare expenses.Clothing prices had dropped for a decade as tame inflation and cheap overseas labor helped hold down manufacturers' costs. During the recession, retailers and clothing makers cut frills and experimented with fabric blends to keep prices in check.But cotton has more than doubled in price over the past year, hitting all-time highs. The price of synthetic fabrics has jumped roughly 50 percent as demand for alternatives has risen.Clothing prices are expected to rise about 10 percent in coming months, with the biggest increases in the second half of the year, said Burt Flickinger III president of Strategic Resource Group.Brooks Brothers' wrinkle-free men's dress shirts now cost $88, up from $79.50. Levi Strauss & Co., Wrangler jeans maker VF Corp., J.C. Penney Co., Nike and designer shoe seller Steve Madden also plan increases.More specifics on price increases are expected when clothing retailers such as J.C. Penney Co. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. report financial results this month.All of our brands, every single brand, will take some price increases, said Eric Wiseman, chairman and CEO of VF Corp., which makes clothes for The North Face, Nautica, Wrangler and Lee brands. Cotton accounts for half the production cost of jeans, which make up about one-third of VF's sales, Wiseman told investors in November.

Higher costs also will affect how clothes are made. Clothing makers are using more synthetics like rayon and designing jeans with fewer beads and other embellishments. Shoppers also will have fewer color choices.Retailers are trying to figure out whether the consumer demand that gave them strong holiday sales will last. The fear is higher prices will nip it in the bud. Stores that cater to low- and middle-income shoppers will have the hardest time passing along price increases.We have been so used to deflation for years and years, said David Bassuk, managing director in the retail practice of AlixPartners. Customers are going to be surprised.Janice Mignanelli of Washington Township, N.J., doesn't want any surprises.I'm not going to spend any more than $50 for a pair of jeans, said Mignanelli, a stay-at-home mom shopping at The Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., last week. I'll just have to cut back on the extras.Even affluent shoppers, whose spending has rebounded, may bristle.It does give me some pause, said Jimmy Franco, a 47-year-old publicity executive and fan of Brooks Brothers' shirts. Instead of buying two, I may just get one and a pair of socks. There's a certain amount of money that I'm prepared to spend.

Cotton has jumped to a 150-year-high, hitting $1.90 per pound on Friday. That's more than double the price a year ago and just ahead of the $1.89 record during the Civil War, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee. But the Civil War-era price isn't adjusted for inflation, and the cotton group says it doesn't have an adjusted figure available. The government inflation calculator only goes back to 1913, but at that point $1.89 had the same general power buying power as $41.63 does today.Cotton prices began soaring in August of 2010 after bad weather cut harvests in major producing countries including China, the U.S., Pakistan and Australia.
Restrictions on exports from India, the world's second-largest cotton exporter behind China, have also produced cotton shortages. On top of that, worldwide demand for cotton has risen as the global economy improves. Raw materials account for 25 percent to 50 percent of the cost of producing a garment. Labor ranges from 20 percent to 40 percent, depending on how complicated it is to make, Bassuk said. On the production side, many Chinese factories that shut down temporarily in the depths of the recession still haven't returned to capacity. As they ramp up, they're finding they have to pay workers more because of labor shortages, said John Long, retail strategist at consulting firm Kurt Salmon.Until now, retailers have been shifting production to lower-cost regions like Vietnam, turning to new materials and absorbing cost increases.But they're reaching the limit, according to Kevin Burke, president and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association.Mom-and-pop stores are most vulnerable because they don't have as much power to negotiate better prices with suppliers as, say, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. But even the world's largest retailer is feeling the pressure.

There's no doubt there may be some price increases that come up, but we don't want to ever let that be the first answer ... that just because cotton prices are up, that we're automatically going to pass that on to consumers, said Mike Duke, Wal-Mart's CEO and president in a recent interview.Mary Hutchens, owner of Full of Beans, a 25-year-old children's clothing store in Chevy Chase, Md., worries that price increases could be a death blow. She said she has to discount heavily to stay in business and isn't sure she'll be able to pass along the costs.Everybody has changed their habits since the recession,she said.I'm just trying to hold on.

Egyptian army says it hopes for elections in 6 months
By Tom Perry – Tue Feb 15, 6:08 pm ET

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's military has outlined a timetable to hand power to an elected government, insisting it does not want political power in a country where it propped up an authoritarian state for six decades.The army, praised for overseeing a mostly peaceful revolution, is running into a storm of wage and subsidy demands overtaking pressure for democracy and piling more burdens on an already teetering economy.Pro-democracy marches have subsided but thousands of workers in banks, textile and food factories, oil facilities and government offices went on strike this week, emboldened by the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.The Higher Military Council expressed its hope to hand over power within six months to a civilian authority and a president elected in a peaceful and free manner that expresses the views of the people, an armed forces statement said on Tuesday.

The council affirmed that it does not seek power, that the current situation was imposed on the armed forces and that they have the confidence of the people.The Islamist Brotherhood, which did not play a leading role in the revolution but has been Egypt's best-organized opposition group for many years, said it wanted the military to carry out further steps immediately.We, together with the entire nation ... are in need of a bridge of confidence between the army and the people, Essam al-Erian, a senior Brotherhood member, told Reuters, referring to lifting emergency law and releasing political prisoners.Egypt's central bank said banks would remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday after being closed on Monday by strikes.Some secular leaders fret that racing into presidential and parliamentary elections in a nation where Mubarak suppressed most opposition activity for 30 years may hand an edge to the Brotherhood.A committee headed by an independent judge that met on Tuesday has been given 10 days to draft amendments to the constitution. The plan is to then put these to a referendum.When the popular demand for the freedom to form parties is realized, the group will found a political party, the Brotherhood said in a new statement.

VICTORY MARCH

Pro-democracy leaders plan a big Victory March on Friday to celebrate the revolution -- and perhaps also to remind the military of the power of the street.In Tahrir Square, scene of clashes between protesters and police during the revolt, traffic flowed freely on Tuesday. Army tanks and armored vehicles around the square and other Cairo locations have now been sandbagged into position.Rumors swirled about Mubarak's health. Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said it was deteriorating and the deposed president had refused to go abroad for treatment.A military source said Mubarak, 82, believed to be in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, was breathing. Another Egyptian source with links to the family said he was unwell.But a source who said he spoke to Mubarak on Tuesday described him as "fine" and receiving telephone calls.U.S. President Barack Obama condemned Iran's crackdown on unrest inspired by Egypt's uprising, and urged Middle Eastern states to take heed of their peoples' aspirations for democracy. I find it ironic that you've got the Iranian regime pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt, when in fact they have acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people who were trying to express themselves peacefully, he said. In Bahrain, Shi'ite protesters camped out in a central square to press demands for change after a day of unrest inspired by the revolts in Egypt and, weeks earlier, in Tunisia.

Analysts say large-scale unrest in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and a regional offshore banking center, could embolden marginalized Shi'ites in nearby Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.(Reporting by Marwa Awad, Edmund Blair, Alexander Dziadosz, Shaimaa Fayed, Andrew Hammond, Alistair Lyon, Sherine El Madany, Tom Perry, Yasmine Saleh, Patrick Werr, Jonathan Wright and Dina Zayed; writing by Andrew Roche)

Bahrain protesters camp overnight to demand change
– Tue Feb 15, 6:54 pm ET

MANAMA (Reuters) – Shi'ite protesters camped out in Bahrain's capital to press their demands for political change after a day of unrest inspired by popular revolts that toppled rulers in Tunisia and Egypt.A funeral is planned on Wednesday morning for a man shot dead when police and mourners clashed on Tuesday at a funeral procession for Ali Mushaima, a 22-year-old killed the day before in clashes between demonstrators and security forces.As evening fell on Tuesday, the number of protesters in the encampment at Bahrain's Pearl Roundabout dwindled to around 1,000 from an earlier 2,000, according to witnesses.It remained to be seen whether the number would rise or fall during Wednesday. Some people will have to return to work, after a public holiday on Tuesday to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.

The demonstrators from Bahrain's Shi'ite majority say the ruling Sunni minority shuts them out of housing, healthcare and government jobs.The main Shi'ite opposition bloc Wefaq, which boycotted parliament to protest the clampdown by Sunni security forces, said it would hold talks with the government on Wednesday.Protesters said their main demand was the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who has governed the Gulf Arab state since its independence in 1971.An uncle of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, he is thought to own much land and is seen as a symbol of the wealth of the ruling family.

DEMOGRAPHIC BALANCE

Activists say they also want the release of political prisoners, which the government has promised, and the creation of a new constitution.Poverty, high unemployment and alleged attempts by the state to grant citizenship to Sunni foreigners to change the demographic balance have intensified discontent among Bahrain's Shi'ites.Around half of the tiny island kingdom's 1.3 million people are Bahraini, the rest being foreign workers.Analysts say large-scale unrest in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and a regional offshore banking center, could embolden marginalized Shi'ites in nearby Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.King Hamad expressed his condolences for the deaths of two of our dear sons in a televised speech and said a committee would investigate the killings.Bahrain, in a move appeared aimed at preventing Shi'ite discontent from boiling over, had offered cash payouts of around 1,000 dinars ($2,650) per family in the run-up to this week's protests.(Reporting by Frederik Richter; writing by Reed Stevenson; editing by Andrew Roche)