2008 ALL OVER AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

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

AMERICA HAS LOST ITS CREDIT RATING.

U.S. loses AAA credit rating from S&P
Reuters By Walter Brandimarte | Reuters – AUG 5,11

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about growing budget deficits.U.S. Treasuries, once undisputedly seen as the safest investment in the world, are now rated lower than bonds issued by countries such as the UK, Germany, France or Canada.The outlook on the new U.S. credit rating is negative, S&P said in a statement, a sign that another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months.(Reporting by Walter Brandimarte; Editing by Jan Paschal)

http://news.yahoo.com/dow-falls-512-steepest-decline-since-08-crisis-210736924.html
Europe crisis revives '08 fears but risks are less AP By JONATHAN FAHEY - AP Business Writers,PAUL WISEMAN - AP Business Writers | AUG 5,11

Wild gyrations in the stock market. Big banks holding risky bonds. Fear that toxic assets will contaminate banks and freeze up credit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Wall Street is having a flashback to the panicky days of September and October 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and American International Group needed a bailout that became the biggest on Wall Street — $182 billion.This time investors are worried that Europe's debt crisis could slam an already weak U.S. economy. But few analysts think it will do as much damage as the collapse in home prices and mortgage-backed securities did in 2008, when they caused a credit squeeze and banks feared lending to each other.Compared with the fall of 2008, our larger banks are in pretty good shape, says Philip Swagel, a former Treasury official who is now an economist at the University of Maryland. They've rebuilt their capital positions. The institutions that are exposed (to European debt) are in much better shape.After months of worrying about the risk of default by Greece and Portugal, investors fear that two much bigger countries — Italy and Spain — might be unable to meet their debt payments. They also worry that Italian and Spanish banks have loaded up on their countries' government bonds and haven't valued them accurately.Analysts say a default by an economy as big as Italy's or Spain's would likely throw Europe into recession. That would further strain a fragile U.S. economy and weigh on the global financial system.If Italy or Spain defaulted, their banks would absorb big losses that could spread to other institutions. French banks have lent heavily to Italian banks, and U.S. banks have lent heavily to French banks.You have the potential for a domino effect, says Thomas Abruzzo, head of the North American financial institutions team at Fitch Ratings.But Abruzzo says he's confident that U.S. banks have hedged much of the risk they've taken in Europe to protect against steep losses. They've also built up their capital — the financial buffer that protects them against losses.

What's more, the Italian and Spanish government debts are better understood than the exotic mortgage securities at the heart of the 2008 crisis that began in the United States. Then, no one knew which banks were holding how much in mortgage securities or what those securities were worth.Banks stopped lending to each other. Credit froze up. Panic set in. Corporations that relied on short-term loans faced a debilitating cash crunch.These days, U.S. corporations are hoarding cash and don't require immediate access to financial markets. Banks also have changed the way they fund themselves. In 2007, they relied heavily on very short-term loans. They needed to be repaid, and replaced, quickly.When markets seized up, banks quickly ran out of money. Now they have diversified their funding streams with longer-term borrowings. They have more agility to avoid heavy losses.Companies now are not in a position where they can be quickly put into a liquidity crisis, said Thomas Tzitzouris, head of fixed income research at Strategas Partners.The scope of the current trouble, however, is much wider than it was in 2008. The institutions in trouble now are not a few banks or trading firms: They are entire countries.Italy is the third-largest borrower in the world, with more than $2 trillion in debt. That dwarfs the debt of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch, the companies on the brink in 2008.

Measured by the interest rates being charged on Italian debt compared with other countries' debt, investors are putting the odds of an Italian default at higher than 50 percent.The markets are saying Italy is on the chopping block,Tzitzouris says.An Italian default, he says, would bust huge holes in the balance sheets of banks and insurance companies, among others. Contagion would quickly spread, and you are looking at a severe worldwide recession.Though U.S. banks are better protected from a credit crisis this time, a deep recession in Europe would hurt a U.S. economy already struggling to grow. The economy expanded at an annual rate of only 0.8 percent in the first half of the year.July's 9.1 percent unemployment rate was down a tick from June's — but still stuck at recessionary levels. Consumers, pinched by high gasoline and food prices, are reluctant to spend. And businesses, worried about future sales, are reluctant to hire.A European default crisis would put a dent in U.S. exports, which have been one of the U.S. economy's few bright spots. The Standard & Poor's 500 companies get about 20 percent of their earnings in Europe.In this interconnected world, such a large default would have repercussions on banks and corporations around the world,says Uri Dadush, director of the international economics program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We know it's going to be big. But we don't want to find out how big.

Italy offers reform for ECB support, stems market rout Reuters By Gavin Jones and Andreas Framke | Reuters – AUG 5,11

ROME/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Italy buckled to world pressure in a bid to halt a market rout endangering the global economy, pledging to speed up austerity measures and social reforms in return for European Central Bank help with funding.About $2.5 trillion has been wiped off world stocks this week on worries the euro zone debt crisis was spreading and the U.S. was slipping into recession. Better than expected U.S. jobs growth in July helped support Wall Street on Friday but stocks slipped back into the red in late trading.After a frantic round of telephone diplomacy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said his government would bring forward cuts to balance the budget in 2013, a year ahead of schedule, and rush through welfare and labor market reforms.We consider it appropriate to introduce an acceleration of the measures which we introduced recently in the fiscal planning law to give us the possibility of reaching our objective of balancing the budget early, by 2013 instead of 2014, Berlusconi told a news conference after a day of calls with world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.Sources close to the matter told Reuters the European Central Bank had demanded such measures in exchange for buying bonds to ease the pressure on Italy, which has come under market attack.Late in the day, the White House said President Barack Obama had spoken separately with Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy about the eurozone crisis but offered no details of their discussions.The ECB had no immediate reaction to Italy's announcement but a European Commission spokesman said the measures responded to assessments set out earlier in the day by EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn and go in the right direction.

Investors have been unimpressed by a 48 billion euro austerity package passed by Berlusconi's government, partly because most of the measures were delayed until after elections scheduled for 2013, for clear political reasons.The crisis was receiving attention at the highest levels as leaders of Germany, France and Spain conferred by telephone during the day.Discord among EU policymakers over how to stop a disastrous spread of the sovereign debt crisis to Italy and Spain, the euro zone's third and fourth biggest economies, has caused increasing frustration among investors.The European Central Bank disappointed markets by buying Irish and Portuguese bonds but not government paper in Italy and Spain where bond yields have blown out this week on fears that they may need bailing out.That now appears to have been a gambit to force Italy to act.In principle it is right to say that the ECB could start buying Spanish and Italian bonds if they made an extra effort with fiscal and structural reforms,a senior euro zone official told Reuters.Bank of Spain governor Jose Manuel Gonazalez-Paramo, a member of the ECB's governing council, said he expected Spain to announce further measures on August 19 to ensure it meets its budget austerity targets.Earlier in the day, China and Japan called for coordinated action to avert a new worldwide crisis sourced to Europe and the United States, as did European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn.International policy coordination through the G7 and G20 is of critical importance, he told a news conference, having broken off his vacation and returned to Brussels.Britain called for a concerted international effort to show governments would work together to avert a financial crisis and Brazil also urged unity, saying the world economy was in a situation of stress.

ECB RIFT

The ECB reactivated its dormant bond-buying program on Thursday in an attempt to address the euro zone's deepening sovereign debt crisis, but only bought Portuguese and Irish debt. Influential members of the ECB opposed even that.Central bank sources told Reuters that four out of 23 ECB governing council members, including powerful German Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, voted against the decision to resume any bond purchases.Traders said the central bank intervened for a second day on Friday, but was again only buying Portuguese and Irish paper. Pressure eased on Italian and other peripheral debt but Italy's 10-year-yields overtook those of Spain for the first time since May 2010 and both yields remained above 6 percent, confirming investors concerns about the lack of action.Berlusconi's declaration may have broken the impasse.This will help overcome opposition by these ... figures in the governing council and facilitate ECB intervention, which is the only thing that can stabilize the market now. I don't see how we can survive another week like this one,one source involved in the talks said.But more profound decisions will need to be taken, and soon.Investors said policy differences among European Union governments and central bankers were heightening anxiety about Europe's will to stem the debt crisis.To bail out Spain would test the fund's existing firepower to the limit while doing so for Italy would overwhelm it although Rehn insisted neither would require assistance.In the first analyst comment on Berlusconi's announcement, Chiara Corsa, vice-president of Unicredit Research, said: This is the response we were hoping to see and there are no doubts that the government pledged to deliver what has been called for, to say the least.However she noted that Berlusconi and Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti had omitted to respond to EU calls for more liberalization of the economy to boost growth, adding that whether they had done enough to calm market turmoil depends on whether the market believes it or not.

CHINA, JAPAN SEEK ACTION

In Japan, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said global policymakers needed to confront currency distortions, the debt crises and concerns about the U.S. economy.
Japan sold yen on Thursday to try to cap the currency's rise. It has become a popular safe-haven bet, as has the Swiss franc, as concerns about the United States and Europe grow.Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said U.S. debt risks were escalating and countries should step up cooperation on global economic risks.Yang, who is visiting Poland, called on the United States to adopt responsible monetary policies and protect the dollar investments of other nations.The U.S. Federal Reserve holds its next policy-setting meeting on Tuesday, and economists say there is little more it can do to try to spur growth.Analysts said they would look to see if European leaders are willing to expand its emergency financial stability fund to an amount that would put a floor under the market panic. Currently at 440 billion euros, it would need to be doubled or tripled to cover economies as big as Italy and Spain.Rehn said the EU should keep adapting its financial rescue fund and, in the longer term, consider common euro zone bonds.EU heavyweights Germany and France have so far opposed any common debt issuance, arguing that it would remove a key driver of fiscal discipline in individual member states and push up their own borrowing costs as AAA-rated sovereigns.In Washington, a similar sense of inertia to Europe has taken hold.Just days after a bitterly fought, last-minute deal to raise the country's debt ceiling and avoid default, realization has sunk in that many elements of the $2.1 trillion deficit reduction plan are not locked in place.Doubt has spread through markets that Congress will stick to implementing it in full after the November 2012 elections.(Additional reporting by Paul Taylor in Paris, Kathrin Jones and Sakari Suoninen in Frankfurt, Leika Kihara in Tokyo, William James, Jeremy Gaunt and Ana Nicolai da Costa in London, Pedro da Costa, Kristina Cooke, Walter Brandimarte and Lucia Mutikani in New York and Emily Kaiser in Singapore; writing by Paul Taylor, Barry Moody and Mike Peacock; editing by Janet McBride and Andrew Hay)

FALSE TEACHERS,PROPHETS,DECIEVERS

MARK 7:6
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

LUKE 16:15
15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

TITUS 1:16
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

MATTHEW 24:4-5,11,24-25
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.

1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

DEUTORONOMY 18:10-12
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

JUDE 10-13
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

MATTHEW 10:32-33
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me(JESUS) before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny me (JESUS) before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

NOTICE THE USELESS MEDIA WILL NOT SAY HES A MORMON CULTIST LEADER.

Polygamist leader convicted of child sex abuse
APBy WILL WEISSERT - Associated Press | AP – AUG 5,11

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — A jury convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs of child sexual assault, in a case stemming from two young followers he took as brides in what his church calls spiritual marriages.The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stood stone-faced Thursday as the verdict was read. Jeffs, who acted as his own attorney, stood mostly mute for his closing argument, staring at the floor, for all but a few seconds of the half hour he was allotted.At one point he mumbled, I am at peace, and said no more. The only noise in the courtroom was the creaking of wooden benches brimming with spectators.Jeffs, 55, had claimed his religious rights were being trampled on and that God would seek revenge if the trial continued. He now faces up to life in prison. The sentencing phase of the trial began after the verdict was announced, and Texas' attorney general said it could take three days.Prosecutors used DNA evidence to show Jeffs fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and played an audio recording of what they said was him sexually assaulting a 12-year-old. They also played audio recordings in which Jeffs was heard instructing young women on how to please him sexually.The FLDS, which has at least 10,000 members, is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism and believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. They see Jeffs as God's spokesman on earth.Police had raided the group's remote West Texas ranch in April 2008, finding women dressed in frontier-style dresses and hairdos from the 19th century as well as seeing underage girls who were clearly pregnant. The call to an abuse hotline that spurred the raid turned out to be a hoax, and more than 400 children who had been placed in protective custody were eventually returned to their families.But authorities brought charges against several men from the group, with Jeffs by far the highest-profile defendant.

As the sentencing phase began, prosecutors told jurors they will present evidence that Jeffs had 78 wives, in addition to his legal spouse, and that 24 of them were under the age of 17. Lead prosecutor Eric Nichols also said he would show that Jeffs either witnessed or performed hundreds of polygamist marriages, including 67 church marriages involving underage girls.Jeffs stood up and made several incoherent objections to what was being said.I object to anything pertaining to a religious manner,he said at one point.A constitutional guarantee involving things sacred must be invoked.Prosecutors have relied heavily on information seized from the compound, which is in the town of Eldorado, 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of San Angelo, and features a four-story temple of white limestone. Much of the material was discovered in a vault at the end of a secret passageway in the temple and another vault in an annex building.You might have asked yourselves, Nichols told jurors during closing arguments, a lot of people may ask, why would someone record sex? ... This individual considers himself to be the prophet. Everything he did, hour after hour, he was required to keep a record of that.On one of the tapes played at the trial, Jeffs made a reference to drawing close or being close, which authorities testified is how church members refer to sex. Two female voices said OK.A good wife is trained for her husband and follows the spirit of peace,Jeffs was heard saying.Another audio tape included Jeffs and the younger girl from a recording made in August 2006 at the Texas compound, according to testimony from Nick Hanna, a Texas Ranger involved in the 2008 raid.Played in court, it was difficult to decipher, but Jeffs' and a female voice are heard. He says, I perform this service in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen, then mentions the alleged victim by name. When she says something, he responds, don't talk while praying.Several minutes of heavy breathing followed.Jeffs represented himself after firing seven attorneys in the six months leading to the trial. He broke his courtroom silence with an objection marked by a nearly hourlong speech defending polygamy, and twice threatened the judge and the court with warnings of punishment from God.

He refused to cross-examine the state's witnesses, and delayed giving an opening statement until he began presenting his own defense. In that statement, he evoked images of the civil rights movement and mentioned former Mormon leader Joseph Smith Jr. He also asked the jury to remember constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.The lone defense witness Jeffs called, church elder JD Roundy, spent about 10 minutes on the stand Thursday discussing FLDS history after 4½ hours of testimony the previous evening.One of Jeffs' many former defense attorneys, Deric Walpole, was asked if it was frustrating to watch him defend himself.It took me a while to get used to the idea, but it's about him, it's about what he wanted to do, Walpole said. It's about that man doing what he sees fit.Jeffs failed three times to remove state District Judge Barbara Walther from the case, the last rejection coming even without a hearing. He claimed Walther was biased because she issued the warrant for the original raid and was frequently updated as it progressed.Eleven other FLDS men were charged with crimes including sexual assault and bigamy. All seven of those who have been prosecuted were convicted, receiving prison sentences of between six and 75 years.

POISONED WATERS

REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Mysterious orange goo washes up in Alaska village
AP AUG 5,11

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Authorities say a mysterious orange-colored substance has washed up on the shores of a remote village in northwest Alaska.Tests have been conducted on the substance on the surface of the water in Kivalina (KIV'-uh-LEE'-nuh). City Administrator Janet Mitchell told The Associated Press that the substance has also shown up in some residents' rain buckets.Coast Guard Petty Officer David Mosely tells KTUU that it's not a petroleum substance and it's not man-made. Mitchell says the village is requesting that an algae expert from the University of Alaska Fairbanks investigate.Pictures taken by resident Mida Swan show an orange sheen across the harbor and on beaches in the village about 625 miles northwest of Anchorage.Swan says she didn't smell anything odd when she dipped her hand into the substance.

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.

Crisis in Somalia: Why is the famine so severe and aid so difficult? How can you help? By Laura Rozen | The Envoy – AUG 5,11

Somalia is experiencing the worst famine the world has witnessed in a generation, the result of the region's worst drought in 60 years. The UN estimates that a quarter of the Somali population is now displaced—some 1.5 million people—and more than 10 million are in immediate need of food assistance or face starvation.The demands are urgent, and getting adequate assistance to the region in time has been tough.The Lookout asked experts on the area and the crisis for answers—and how you can help today.

Q: How did such a severe famine evolve ?

A: Three factors have caused the Somalia famine to be so severe, aid experts say: severe drought, severe lack of governance and severe poverty.First, the Horn of Africa has experienced two seasons of unprecedented drought conditions. Second, there's been a total breakdown in governance in Somalia over the course of a civil war dating back more than 20 years. Third, people are already extremely impoverished. And the three circumstances are perilously interconnected.You have not had a government in Somalia for 22 years, Oxfam's Shannon Scribner told The Envoy. There's a civil war. People suffer from extreme poverty. When you add in the worst drought in 60 years, people don't have any assets to cope... They don't have food reserves. They don't have livestock. When the livestock dies, they don't have much left.

Q: How many people are affected by the famine?

A: The State Department estimates that 11.5 million people in the Horn of Africa are in need of emergency assistance or face starvation.In addition, more than 800,000 Somalis have already fled to refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. An estimated 1.5 million Somalis—a quarter of the population—are currently displaced from their homes, the aid coalition group Interaction says.Some 9,000 new Somali refugees are fleeing to Kenya every week, and another 3,000 Somali refugees per week are entering Ethiopia, Oxfam's Scribner said.U.S. officials warn refugee flows could rise. We have heard troubling reports from inside Somalia that the combined daily arrival rates of 3,200 new refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya could rise still more dramatically as the situation in Somalia grows increasingly desperate, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ruben Brigerty for Population, Refugees and Migration told journalists at a special State Department briefing on the crisis last week.

Q: Was the Somalia famine preventable? How did it develop such severity and why wasn't the world better prepared for it?

A: In short, we should have been able to pre-empt this famine, or at least head off its severity, aid experts say.In the 21st century we shouldn't be experiencing famines on earth. These are preventable, said Sam Worthington, president of Interaction, a coalition of humanitarian aid and nonprofit groups based in Washington, D.C.The U.S. and UN had good early warning information about the conditions on the ground related to food security and climate, aid experts said. For instance, it knew that there had been a fall drought and that a spring drought, if it occurred, would put millions of people at risk. Now, says Worthington, As this famine unfolds, literally hundreds of thousands of lives and children's lives are at risk, and tens of thousands have already died.But problematic relationships with governments in the region—from Somalia to Ethiopia—contributed to the lack of sufficient preparation for a response.The militant Islamist group al-Shebaab, which controls parts of Somalia, kicked out aid groups in 2009 for being un-Islamic. Recently, U.S. officials have indicated that al-Shebaab, however, is not a monolithic organization, and that some of its local leaders are eager for aid groups to return.What you're looking at is a perfect storm: a humanitarian disaster compounded by political complexities, conflict and insecurity throughout the region, said Sarah Margon, a former Senate staffer who specializes in Africa, currently at the Center for American Progress. International aid groups that don't have viable partners in Eritrea, Somalia and parts of Ethiopia are under serious risk, and the Ethiopian regime is becoming increasingly [autocratic]. The combination of all these sectors make a natural disaster response doubly difficult.

Q: What is the U.S. policy toward humanitarian aid going to parts of Somalia under the control of al-Shebaab?

A: The Obama administration announced last week that it is easing restrictions on humanitarian aid groups working to deliver aid to parts of Somalia under the control of al-Shebaab.The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development are authorized to provide grants and contracts to fund non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance in Somalia, including in areas under the de facto control of al-Shabaab, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told journalists. NGOs would now be covered under the license from the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in the event their operations may accidentally benefit al-Shabaab,Toner said.Our number-one goal is to save lives, a USAID official told journalists last week. What we are mainly concerned about is creating the flexibility in all possible ways so that assistance can be provided.

Q: How can private citizens help?

A: Individual cash donations offer far greater flexibility and speed than governmental assistance—which comes with restrictions—to aid groups operating on the ground.In the fluid environment of where we are trying to help and help rapidly, the quickest and most effective way to provide a doctor to provide supplementary feeding or a blanket, are private donations,said Worthington.Resources from governments, including our own, while needed, tend to be more directed.Funds raised from the public, he said, allow aid groups on the ground to go, Hey, this is not a medical case, but let's provide nutritional feeding here,or This camp here needs to be moved.It removes all of the layers of constraint.

Q: How responsive has the public been so far to the Somali famine?

A: There's been something of a lag in public response, aid groups say, perhaps in part because the media have not had much of a presence in Somalia.We are not seeing the level of public response that we would like to see, according to Worthington. The response clearly picks up as the images get out there. But it's not a place where the cameras are rolling. Where stories of how a family lost four of children get on the nightly news. Because of this—because of the difficulty of access, it's a little bit removed still. We hope that will eventually change with time and that the deep compassion we see in the American people, that is part of us, will be triggered to provide the resources.

Q: How can you help? A: Interaction has a list of its members providing relief assistance in the Horn of Africa here:http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/interaction-members-respond-drought-crisis-horn-africa

OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

No relief in sight for Texas heat and drought
Reuters By Wendell Marsh | Reuters – AUG 5,11

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's triple digit heat wave -- which hit its 34th day on Friday -- could last until the end of August, while extensive drought in and around Texas may last into October, forecasters said.The deadly heat event that has broken numerous records has left the southern plains and Mississippi Valley struggling to meet demand for power and water and has cost billions in impact on crops and livestock.Many more days of triple-digit heat are on deck as iron-clad high pressure at most levels of the atmosphere continues to squat over the south-central U.S., Accuweather.com's senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.The severe heat is just one part of a compounded climatic problem, an expert from the National Weather Service said.Last year's La Nina, the weather event that left equatorial sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific two to four degrees Fahrenheit cooler, triggered this year's exceptional drought.Normally, La Nina causes a 10 percent drop in precipitation.Since January, the state of Texas, where the drought is anchored, has only had 40 percent of normal rain fall, NWS climate specialist Victor Murphy said.Heavy rains fell in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday afternoon, with flash floods wreaking several hours of havoc and prompting fire department rescues of people trapped in their homes and cars.Captain Rob Brisley said the city's fire department responded to more than 80 weather-related calls in three hours, including reports of lightning strikes, downed power lines and flooding emergencies.At least 10 people were taken out their homes by boat as rising waters threatened a neighborhood northwest of downtown, and homes west of downtown also were evacuated, Brisley said.

Rain also slightly cooled the Tennessee River, allowing the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Decatur, Alabama to begin ramping up production.The heat had raised the river's temperature to higher than 90 degrees and forced a severe cutback in the energy supplied by the plant, which uses the river water to cool the reactors.On Wednesday, we had three units operating at 50 percent power. Today we have one unit at 75 percent, two at 70 percent,TVA spokesman Ray Golden said.

WIDESPREAD DROUGHT

Drought now affects over a million square miles of the lower 48 states, or 32 percent, according to the Weather Channel. The most extreme cases of "exceptional" drought stretch from Arizona to Louisiana and parts of Georgia, covering almost 11 percent of the lower 48 states.The resulting lack of ground moisture prevents clouds from developing in the low level atmosphere, making daytime showers near impossible.
That problem combined with a persistent dome of high pressure, the climatic conditions are not likely to change.It's a feedback process which just keeps on going, feeding on itself, Murphy told Reuters by phone.Drought begets heat, heat begets drought. That's how we've been since May, he said.The NWS drought outlook released on Thursday reported that in Texas, Oklahoma and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, and New Mexico, the drought will persist or intensify until the end of October.The region has felt the impact of the several months of severe weather acutely. Wildfires in April and May burned over 3 million acres and the agriculture and livestock industries have seen a preliminary impact of $6 to $8 billion, Murphy said.Water scarcity will likely be this next pressing issue. Images of cracking lakebeds and water turn blood-red from bacterial growth have filled weather reports in recent days.Barring a tropical cyclone, we are forecasted to stay the same as we are,Murphy said.The hurricane season is likely to bring relief to Southeastern states such as Georgia, Alabama, Florida and the Carolinas.The Climate Predication Center, a division of NWS, said on Thursday that the hurricane season would be more likely to be an above average one, notching up their outlook for tropical storms to 14-19 from 12-18 and the number of hurricanes to 7-10 from 6-10.

Despite the heat, high school football practices continue as coaches keep a weary eye on players.Pre-season practices, which are often seen as a rite of passage in the South, may have already claimed the lives of two Georgia players as well as a coach in Texas who had a heart condition.A 14-year-old football player who collapsed after practice in South Carolina last week died of complications stemming from sickle cell anemia, a coroner ruled on Friday.Heat is suspected of playing a major role in the deaths of a 79-year-old mother and her 60-year-old son, whose bodies were found Thursday in their home that lacked air-conditioning, Nashville police said on Friday.The mother and son had heart issues and had been dead two weeks, police said.(Additional reporting by Tim Ghianni, Harriet McLeod and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Forecasters: Drought may persist for another year
AP By PAUL J. WEBER - Associated Press | AP AUG 5,11

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The drought that has turned Texas and parts of the Plains into a parched moonscape of cracked earth could persist into next year, prolonging the misery of farmers and ranchers who have endured a dry spell that is now expected to be the state's worst since the 1950s.Even the state's feral hogs are hiding from the heat, postponing a new reality TV show about Texans gunning them down from helicopters.Texas saw less than an inch of rain statewide in July, and more than 90 percent of the state is already in the two most extreme stages of drought.Anything below 2 to 3 inches of rainfall would be a fly-on-the-windshield type thing as far as improvement, said Victor Murphy, a climate expert with the National Weather Service.It wouldn't reverse this continued death spiral we're on.Also Thursday, the state climatologist declared this the most severe one-year drought on record in Texas. Officials expected to declare soon that it has become the worst drought since the 1950s.A newly updated weather map showed the drought holding firm — if not intensifying — through at least October.In Dallas, county officials say at least 13 people have died from the heat this summer. The high temperature Thursday was expected to hit 109 degrees, which would be a record for the date.Statewide demand for power was expected to approach the maximum Thursday for a fourth straight day. Some large industrial plants were forced off the overburdened electric grid, requiring them to shut down or rely on their own power reserves.And for the first time this summer, utilities warned residential customers of the potential for rolling outages.Beleaguered farms and dead pastures have been hurt the most. The agriculture industry, which accounts for nearly 9 percent of the Texas economy, may be headed for the biggest single-year losses ever — potentially as high as $8 billion, according to the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

The La Nina watch issued by the Climate Prediction Center warned that the phenomenon marked by a cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean could soon redevelop. La Nina typically results in less rain for southern states, and it's blamed for drought conditions in Oklahoma and New Mexico, too.A La Nina watch means conditions are favorable for La Nina to return within the next six months. But Texas will probably know as early as October or November, said Mike Halpert, a deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center.By that time, the driest places could be out of water.In the town of Robert Lee, a rural farming community of about 1,000 in the middle of West Texas, people are worried that Lake E.V. Spence could dry up by winter and leave the town without any water.Some residents wonder if the National Guard can haul in water. Making matters worse, a pipe that was probably busted by the dry, shifting ground began gushing water the town cannot spare. City workers scrambled Thursday to fix it.Closer to Austin, the Llano River trickled at a rate about 95 percent slower than normal. The city of Llano already has contacted bottled water distributors about supplying residents with bottles for cooking and drinking if the river flow stops entirely, which could happen in a matter of weeks.It's amazing we're still getting what water we are, City Manager Finley deGraffenried said. We're running 107 degrees yesterday and the day before. It's unbearable.Texas received no significant rain in April or May, which are typically the state's wettest months. Lake levels are so low that earlier this week, a massive chunk of the space shuttle Columbia that broke apart over Texas in 2003 was found poking out of the receded waters of Lake Nacogdoches.

About 70 percent of Texas rangeland and pastures are classified as being in very poor condition, which means there has been complete or near-complete crop failure or there's no food for grazing livestock.One of the most memorable droughts occurred in the 1950s, when a decade of below-average rainfall and long dry spells actually changed the state's demographics, with many families fleeing parched farms for cities. Experts say the current drought is nowhere near so severe, but if it continues, the scarcity of water will be painful.In the mid-1950s, Texas had a population of 7 million.We got a state with 25 million now. You can see the impact would be significantly greater if we had a drought that the 1950s had,said Travis Miller, a member of the state's Drought Preparedness Council and AgriLife Extension Service leader.One upside is that second La Ninas are historically weaker than the first, Halpert said.The formation of La Nina also doesn't guarantee there won't be significant rain. The pattern often makes for a more active hurricane season, which could lash Texas with a soaking storm. Forecasters said Thursday they still see a busy hurricane season ahead, calling for 14 to 19 tropical storms.If I was in Texas, this is not great news, Halpert said.But it's not the end of the world.Associated Press Writer Linda Stewart Ball in Dallas contributed to this report.

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.

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

Tropical Storm drenches Haiti, Dominican Republic
APBy TRENTON DANIEL - Associated Press | AP – Thu, Aug 4, 2011

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Tropical Storm Emily hovered off the south coast of Haiti on Thursday, causing flooding, damaging hundreds of homes and threatening greater misery for multitudes living in tent camps or the flood-prone countryside.
The storm's heavy rains prompted the government of the neighboring Dominican Republic to move at least 1,600 people because of the threat of flooding and mudslides.Emily dropped more than 5 inches (140 millimeters) around the southwestern Dominican city of Barahona and an equal amount was still expected in the area, said Miguel Campusano, a forecaster with the Dominican meteorology office.In Haiti, about 600,000 people are still in flimsy tents and shanties because of the January 2010 earthquake, strong winds whipped through palm trees in the capital while heavier rains fell further north, damaging homes as well as a cholera treatment center, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the country's civil defense director. But there were no reports of deaths.

In the capital, which has most of those left homeless by the earthquake, the rain was relatively light so far, but the government evacuated a few families from a camp for quake victims to a school that is being used as a storm shelter, said Jean-Joseph Edgard, an administrator in Haiti's Civil Protection Department.The storm seemed to pause Thursday morning, then resumed a slow march to the west-northwest off the coast of the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, and forecasters said they expected it to hit Haiti later in the day. Emily had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph).Forecasters said the storm was likely to cross eastern Cuba on Friday and might touch Florida on Saturday, though the projected track would keep its center offshore.John Cangialosi, a hurricane specialist with the hurricane center, said up to 20 inches of rain was possible in isolated high-elevation areas. That is enough to cause serious problems in a country prone to catastrophic flooding.There was reason for concern. A slow-moving storm in June triggered mudslides and floods in Haiti and killed at least 28 people. Widespread poverty makes it difficult for people to take even the most basic precautions.Joceline Alcide stashed her two children' birth certificates and school papers in little plastic bags that aid groups handed out. It was her only means to protect herself.There really isn't much more we can do. We just got these bags, the 39-year-old Alcide said, standing outside her teepee-like tarp shelter.The National Hurricane Center said the storm was moving to the west-northwest at about 5 mph (7 kph) and it was centered about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of Port-au-Prince.
Associated Press writers Ben Fox in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ezequiel Lopez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, contributed to this report.

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.

EU profoundly disappointed by new Israeli settlement plan AFP– AUG 5,11

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Friday roundly disapproved Israel's go-ahead to the building of 900 new homes in east Jerusalem, saying new settlements damaged the prospects for peace.I am profoundly disappointed by Thursday's approval of a project that has triggered fierce criticism from the Palestinians and the international community, Ashton said.The new homes will expand a neighbourhood in Jerusalem's southwest that is defined as being within municipal boundaries despite lying directly next to the Palestinian West Bank town of Bethlehem.The European Union has repeatedly urged the government of Israel to immediately end all settlement activities in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem. All settlement activities are illegal under international law, she added in a statement.Israel's decision to further expand settlements was particularly regrettable at a time when the international community was working to restore talks leading to a solution of the conflict, Ashton said.Continued settlement undermines trust between the parties and efforts to resume negotiations. This is especially true with regard to Jerusalem.

I believe there can be no sustainable peace in the Middle East without a two-state solution with the state of Israel and a viable and contiguous Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security.Settlement activity damages this prospect, she concluded.Israel's settlement construction has snarled peace talks that restarted in September 2010, but ground to a halt weeks later when a partial Israeli ban on settlement building expired.Israel declined to renew the freeze, which covered the West Bank but not east Jerusalem, and the Palestinians say they will not negotiate while Israel builds on land they want for their future state.

Palestinian money crisis looms ahead of UN bid
AFP By Hossam Ezzedine | AFP – AUG 5,11

Hit by delays in payments from donor countries and by Israeli restrictions, the Palestinian Authority is suffering a financial crisis, even as it aspires to become a state.On Tuesday it paid its approximately 170,000 employees in full only after they threatened to go on strike after receiving half-pay the month before.But it warned that doing so would seriously hamper the government's ability to function as it struggles with the funding shortfall.In light of the continued financial difficulties, the payment in full of salaries will significantly reduce the capacity of the government to meet other needs over the next month, and everyone understands that,prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Sunday.For months, Fayyad has warned of financial woes due to a chronic shortfall in financial support pledged by donors, especially Arab countries.On July 26, he even attended a special session of the Arab League, requested by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, in a bid to push member states to honour their aid commitments.He said the Palestinian Authority had received only $79 million (55.6 million euros) so far in 2011 out of $330 million pledged by Arab nations for a six-month period.Saudi Arabia subsequently transferred a supplementary donation of $30 million, but the hole in the Palestinian budget remains large.The European Union said Tuesday it had paid 22.5 million euros to enable the Authority to pay July salaries and pensions of nearly 83,000 employees and retirees.

To cushion the impact of the crisis, the economy ministry this month capped prices for basic food items in the run-up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Monday.The maximum price of a kilo of bread is now set at 3.50 shekels ($0.70, 0.49 euros), that of a 10 kilo bag of rice is 57 shekels and that of 10 kilos of sugar is 44 shekels.Beyond the current crisis, national economy minister Hassan Abu Libdeh says the Palestinian economy faces structural impediments that are the result of Israel's occupation.There are many United Nations member states, unable to pay their employees, who borrow, he said. The financial crisis facing the Palestinian Authority is now mainly due to the fact that it cannot take full advantage of its economy.If Israel were to lift only 10 percent of its restrictions on the Palestinian economy, it would represent an income higher than our monthly needs,he said.If Israel lifted its restrictions on agriculture, the contribution of agriculture to national income would be multiplied by eight.The current financial crisis comes as the Palestinians prepare to head to the United Nations to seek membership for a state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War.But Libdeh said he was convinced that a state unencumbered by Israeli occupation would be economically viable and stable.We're not worried about the ability of the Palestinian state to attain a minimum level of economic prosperity, he said, noting that international institutions have given Fayyad's management high marks.Robert Serry, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process told the world body last week that the Palestinians are ready to assume the responsibility of a state in the near future.His conclusions echo those issued in recent months by both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with both institutions lauding the nascent state's progress towards a viable economy.But the World Bank warned that the Palestinian economy was still lacking a vibrant private sector, something it said could not be altered while Israeli restrictions on access to natural resources and markets remain in place.