CHINA DAILY PHOTO OF BRICK MEETING ON GLOBAL MONEY SYSTEM
Friday, April 15, 2011
YUAN - SDRS - GLOBAL CURRENCY TALK
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
Laying BRICS for new edifice By Dan Steinbock (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-13 07:55
On April 14, President Hu Jintao will meet with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma. The third formal meeting of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) includes South Africa for the first time. In the past, the advanced economies empowered the world economy. Today, large emerging economies drive global growth. In the emerging world, the future is a source of hope and optimism. In the advanced world, it is often a cause for ambivalence and resignation. In the long run, however, the rise of the large emerging economies is vital to global peace and prosperity. The concept of the BRIC was developed in the early 2000s by Jim O'Neill, then global economist of Goldman Sachs. At the time, these four economies were less than 15 percent of G6 (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy) in US dollar terms. Yet projections indicated that by the early 2040s the BRIC economies could be larger than G6. Of course, nothing is inevitable in history. As a group, however, BRIC has emerged from the global credit crisis better than the major economies. As a result, the BRIC economies could become as big as G7 by the early 2030s.
In the early 2000s, Goldman Sachs projected that China's total GDP would catch up with the US' by 2042. After the past decade and the global financial crisis, however, the pace of transition has accelerated. Now it appears that China's GDP may match that of the US by the early 2020s.The global crisis and the debt burden of the advanced economies will tax their growth for years to come, whereas the BRIC economies may grow twice as fast. And these large emerging economies are followed by mini-BRICs, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, Turkey, Vietnam and Nigeria.A strong BRIC growth does not require economic miracles. But it does presume macroeconomic stability, relatively high investment rates and trade openness, increasing technological capabilities, growing emphasis on human capital, and political stability.Now Africa has a representative in the BRIC alignment. In the future, some North African and Middle Eastern countries, too, may join the BRIC league. In the postwar era, Egypt, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, emerged as the leader of the Arab world. But the gains of globalization have largely bypassed Egypt and its 80 million people despite the great economic potential. In 1980, Egyptians on average were almost 65 percent more prosperous than Chinese. Last year, the Chinese were 15 percent more prosperous than the Egyptians, at purchasing power parity.One of the most remarkable aspects of the rise of the BRIC economies is the severed tie between total GDP and per capita GDP, that is, the economic power of nations and the average prosperity of their citizens. In the past, the two used to go hand in hand. In the future, that will no longer be the case.In the 19th century, Britain was the growth engine of the world, and Britons had a relatively high per capita GDP. In the postwar era, the US was the strongest nation, while Americans were the most prosperous people on average. As global growth will be driven by the BRIC economies, the most powerful countries will no longer be the most prosperous.
As long as growth can be sustained in the advanced and emerging economies, all nations can benefit. That is the win-win story. But for that, we need a globalization that is more inclusive in kind.Economically, the epicenter of the global crisis was the financial sector in the West. In the future, it should pay for excessive risk taking. In the absence of appropriate financial sector reforms, the great global recession would only be a prelude to the next one. Strategically, the postwar multilateral institutions - as forums of global cooperation - must reflect on the proportionate role of the BRIC economies, especially in the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Since 2005, the advanced economies have urged China to become a responsible stakeholder in the international community. But if the multilateral institutions do not reflect the proportionate economic share and political voice of the large emerging economies, they can hardly be considered responsible.Under unchanged policies, the IMF says the net debt-to-GDP ratio of G7 would exceed 440 percent by 2050. Does that reflect responsible leadership? In the West, the rise of the BRIC economies is occasionally said to be a threat to market economy. Yet the reality is the opposite. A decade ago, about 80 percent of Americans saw the free market as the best economic system for the future. After the global financial crisis, this support has plummeted to 59 percent, according to GlobeScan. In China and Brazil, the corresponding support is 67 percent. In India, it's about the same as in the US.In the coming years, the economic rise of BRICS (BRIC + South Africa) will gradually translate into increasing political power, which will not minimize the value of other multilateral forums. It will only highlight the importance of new forums.Until recently, the world was led by the multilateralism of the few in the West. In the future, it will be led by more inclusive multilateralism of the many - in the West and the East both.The author is research director of International Business at the India, China and America Institute, an independent think tank in the US, and visiting fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.(China Daily 04/13/2011 page9)
New reserve system priority for G20 By Zheng Xinli (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-15 07:33
Establishing a multi-currency international reserve system and monitoring mechanism should be a priority for the G20.From the second half of 2008, a financial storm that originated in the United States swept across the world. The root cause of this crisis was the US' long-term abuse of sovereign credit, the misuse of its status as a global major reserve currency issuing country and the promotion of twin deficits in its current account and the fiscal budget. The situation was further aggravated by the maintenance of US citizens' excessive consumption and the US government's over spending.Any chance of preventing a financial crisis was lost when US credit rating agencies covered up the sovereign credit risk, reversed the risk relationship between debtor countries and creditor countries, and attracted international capital to high-risk regions.Now that the origins of the financial crisis have been identified, we should develop a strategy to prevent such a crisis from happening again, and build a more efficient and safer global financial system. This is a key responsibility for the governments of the world.The priority is to establish a multi-currency international monetary system, an international reserve currency monitoring and early warning system, and an international financial risk relief mechanism.
Establishing a multi-currency international reserve currency system is a fundamental way to maintain the stability of the international financial system. Such a global multi-currency reserve system could include the US dollar, the euro, yuan, yen, pound sterling and other currencies.There are competition, checks and balances, and intermediation among currencies. A multi-currency system would encourage international reserve currency issuing countries' governments to adopt a prudent monetary policy to keep their currencies stable and maintain their sovereign credit.
Only by establishing such an international reserve currency system, can the international financial system overcome its over-reliance on a single sovereign currency and avoid excessive exposure to the risks of one currency.With the collapse of the Bretton Woods System in the 1970s, international currencies decoupled from gold. The US dollar, which was based on the US' sovereign credit, became the major reserve currency. This allowed the US to transfer debt to foreign countries through currency depreciation. From 1971 to 2010, the US dollar depreciated 97.2 percent against gold, causing huge losses to countries holding US dollars.Depreciation of the dollar slowly steals the wealth of owners with dollar-dominated assets, but the recent financial crisis made some dollar-denominated securities vanish instantly. It indicates that as the world's major reserve currency issuing country, the US' financial security is related to the vital interests of everyone. Therefore, an early warning and monitoring system for the supply and circulation of any major reserve currency is also essential.However, the creation of a more efficient and safer international financial system should be gradual, the position of the US dollar as the dominant international reserve currency is irreplaceable in the near future. Given the negative affects the implementation of the quantitative easing policy by the Federal Reserve Board had on the global economy and financial stability, we should study common approaches in order to maintain the fragile recovery of the world economy.With the increasingly close economic ties among countries, any financial problems for one country mean problems for others. In order to maintain international financial stability, all countries should unite and establish an international financial safety cooperation and risk relief mechanism. The Chiang Mai Initiative, which was created in the wake of the Asia financial crisis, is a good example of such a mechanism.In the short term the International Monetary Fund should expand the scale of its Special Drawing Rights (SDR), adjust the proportion of SDR for each country based on proportional changes in their economy and global trade, and include currencies of emerging economies in the SDR basket. If one country is hit by a financial crisis, the IMF could give timely and effective relief to prevent the crisis from spreading.
To facilitate the creation of a competitive international multi-currency reserve system a permanent G20 executive office should be created. This office should then be responsible for monitoring the system and where necessary restricting the large-scale flow of international capital aimed at short-term arbitrage.The large-scale short-term flow of international capital and its speculation are an important cause of international financial volatility. Each country should take united action to strengthen the restrictions on international hot money, such as regulations on the time limits of capital inflow and outflow, and the collection of capital gains tax, etc.Directing investment into the real economy and using the capital and technology of developed countries to realize the industrialization and urbanization of developing countries would not only ease global inflation pressures but also create employment in developed countries and promote common development in all countries. The executive office should be mandated to mediate the investment channels and attract excess liquid capital to the real economy. This should be done through the admission of qualified institutional investors and various funds, providing sound capital market functions, and expanding inter-government aid loans, in order to attract capital to nations and regions with high investment demands.It should also reconstruct the international credit rating system, strengthen the professional ethics for credit rating agencies, break the monopoly of a few agencies on international credit ratings, and promote the objectivity and fairness of credit ratings.The author is executive vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
IMF warning: Many European banks on shaky ground
Updated: 2011-04-14 09:14(Agencies)
BERLIN - The IMF singled out European banks as it insisted that more needs to be done to shore up the global financial system, saying Europe's weak banks are caught in a maelstrom and must beef up their financial buffers.The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday the weaker tier of Europe's banks are facing pressure on multiple fronts, from thin capital reserves - which help absorb losses in sudden downturns - and shaky investments still held on their balance sheets to unstable sources of financing.The warning comes as European Union officials struggle to shore up confidence in government finances and banks. Greece and Ireland have already needed bailout loans to avoid defaulting on their debts, and Portugal has also asked for help from the EU bailout fund.Incomplete policy actions and inadequate reforms of the banking sector have left segments of the global banking system vulnerable to further shocks, the IMF report said.Many institutions - particularly weaker European banks - are caught in a maelstrom of interlinked pressures that are intensifying risks for the system as a whole.The EU banking regulator is trying to boost confidence in the continent's banks by putting 90 of them - the bulk of Europe's banking system - through stress tests that measure what would happen to their finances if the economy took a sudden downturn. A similar exercise last year was deemed easy, and passed Irish banks that later failed.
The purpose of the tests is to push banks that flunk to ask investors to put up more capital and strengthen their finances, or else cut back risky loans and investment to levels that their capital buffer could handle. Results are expected in June.The IMF report outlined other problems facing the world's financial system, such as too much household debt in the United States, and emerging economies' problems in handling new inflows of investment without overheating.Policy makers globally have pushed banks to raise more capital and introduced new safeguards, the IMF said in its twice-yearly report on the stability of the global financial system, but said more needs to be done to guard against a new financial crisis.The Washington-based international organization especially underlined the interlocking financial problems afflicting the 17 nations that share the 12-year-old euro currency.Government and bank finances are closely related because European governments, especially Ireland, have incurred heavy expenses bailing out failed banks. In turn, questions about European governments' big deficits and ability to pay are undermining bank holdings of government bonds.Some banks - like Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo and Germany's Commerzbank - have already started strengthening their capital buffers ahead of the stress tests.But other banks - especially in Ireland and Greece - remain addicted to last-resort financing from the European Central Bank because they are unable to raise enough money by borrowing normally. The ECB has so far not come up with a comprehensive way of getting those banks off life support.
FEBRUARY 14, 2011, 4:51 A.M. ET.France's Lagarde In Favor Of Including Yuan In SDR - Report
PARIS (Dow Jones)--French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is in favor of including the Chinese yuan in the basket of currencies that make up the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights, Financial Times reports Monday. Lagarde said she would be in favor of the inclusion of the yuan even before it is fully convertible, the newspaper said. Once convertibility is well-advanced, it [the inclusion in the SDR] could be with a commitment towards full convertibility over time, she was quoted as saying by the Financial Times. Lagarde also said France will push for finance ministers of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations to be given direct authority over strategic decisions made by the IMF regarding the international monetary system.As France chairs the G-20, Lagarde also said her government would push for a tax on financial transactions even if there is no support from the U.S., but enough support from other countries.France will hold a G-20 summit in Paris later this week. Newspaper Web site: http://www.ft.com
-By Paris Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 33-1-4017 1740; inti.landauro@dowjones.com
FACTBOX-EU position on key topics for G20 finmins in Washington
BRUSSELS, | Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:08pm IST
BRUSSELS, April 11 (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers and central bankers agreed last week on common positions on key topics for the April 14-15 meetings of finance leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies in Washington.EU delegations, which make up five of the 20 members of the G20, are to stick to the following positions, spelled out in a terms of reference document, obtained by Reuters.
ON DETECTING IMBALANCES THAT COULD LEAD TO CRISES
The G20 are to agree in Washington on indicative guidelines for how to use a set of economic indicators agreed in February to detect imbalances that could trigger a crisis.The agreed indicators are: public debt and fiscal deficits, private savings rate and private debt, external imbalance composed of the trade balance and net investment income flows and transfers, taking due consideration of exchange rate, fiscal, monetary and other policies.
EU officials agreed that:- We favour a combination of both structural and statistical approaches. The euro area dimension needs to be fully taken into account when assessing external imbalances.- The Paris communique noted that the agreed indicators would take due consideration of exchange rate, fiscal, monetary and other polices. This could be done in a descriptive way in the first stage. Exchange rate factors will be key in the second, in-depth analysis stage.- Only G20 members facing the largest imbalances should move into the in-depth stage of the exercise. Given spillovers, there are merits in subjecting large countries to a more stringent screening criterion by applying a measure for systemic importance in the indicative guidelines.
ON MANAGEMENT OF CAPITAL FLOWS
- The EU supports the development of guidelines/a framework, covering both source and recipient countries, to provide countries with guidance by the International Monetary Fund on policies to deal with capital flows. Such guidelines should have a comprehensive scope and emphasise the importance of macroeconomic and prudential policies and structural measures as primary capital flow management tools.- The group will have to be careful not to signal to markets that the G20 endorses a general use of capital controls.
ON GLOBAL LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT
Part of the global monetary overhaul could entail the inclusion of the currency of the world's now second biggest economy, China, in the basket that makes up the Special Drawing Right (SDR) -- an international reserve asset of the IMF. Some economists say a bigger base for the SDR could help cut an overreliance on the dollar as the world's reserve currency.The basket is now made up of four currencies -- the dollar, euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen. Created in 1969, it does not reflect the rising economic importance of China.
The EU position is the following:- On the Special Drawing Right (SDR), the EU is ready to discuss the broadening of the SDR basket to better reflect economic realities. We take note of the strong interest expressed by China of having the renminbi in the SDR basket. A decision should follow clear and transparent criteria and entail adequate preconditions for the admission of the currencies concerned to ensure the stability of the basket.- The EU is open to discussing the role of the SDR and how it could possibly contribute to improving the system, although many technical, political and legal difficulties will need to be addressed.
ON FINANCIAL REGULATORY REFORM
- The key issues for the April meeting from an EU standpoint are:
1. ensuring the timely and consistent implementations of Basel II and Basel III measures by all G20 countries as well as other jurisdictions globally, with a particular focus on U.S. implementation
2. ensuring the development and international implementation of a consistent framework for all Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs)
3. a full and consistent implementation of the remuneration standards which were endorsed by all members of the G20, accompanied by a rigorous peer review process within the FSB, allowing for peer pressure aimed at fostering further implementation
4. further progress on identifying and listing non-cooperative jurisdictions
5. agreeing on the scope of the work on the shadow banking system including the identification of shadow banking activities and entities and the mapping exercise of data and regulation on this field.
ON COMMODITIES
The EU should stress:- the need to improve the quality and availability of data on physical and derivatives markets, including position reporting.- the need for an effective regime to identify and prevent market abuses- adequate and proportionate financial regulation, especially for participants that trade in financial derivatives
- to assess the power and tools for the respective supervisors to ensure more transparency of physical and derivatives markets while preserving market liquidity.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
No agreement to include yuan in SDR for now - BRICS official
BEIJING,| Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:40am IST
BEIJING, April 14 (Reuters) - There is no unanimous agreement for the yuan to be to be included in the currency basket that forms the Speacial Drawing Right, or SDR, an official from the BRICS group of emerging powers said on Thursday.The BRICS group, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is meeting in southern China to discuss trade and investment.There is a need for a broad-basing of the international monetary system. The SDR is an instrument to do that, but we still have no unanimity on the inclusion of the Chinese currency in the SDR as of now, the official said. India has said that the SDR is an accounting mechanism used by the IMF and countries such as Brazil have also said that this (the yuan) should be convertible first.(Reporting by Abhijit Neogy; Editing by Chris Lewis)
BRICS demand global monetary shake-up, greater influence By Abhijit Neogy and Alexei Anishchuk SANYA, China | Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:00pm IST
SANYA, China (Reuters) - The BRICS group of emerging-market powers kept up the pressure on Thursday for a revamped global monetary system that relies less on the dollar and for a louder voice in international financial institutions.The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also called for stronger regulation of commodity derivatives to dampen excessive volatility in food and energy prices, which they said posed new risks for the recovery of the world economy.Meeting on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, they said the recent financial crisis had exposed the inadequacies of the current monetary order, which has the dollar as its linchpin. What was needed, they said in a statement, was a broad-based international reserve currency system providing stability and certainty -- thinly veiled criticism of what the BRICS see as Washington's neglect of its global monetary responsibilities.The BRICS are worried that America's large trade and budget deficits will eventually debase the dollar. They also begrudge the financial and political privileges that come with being the leading reserve currency.The world economy is undergoing profound and complex changes, Chinese President Hu Jintao said.The era demands that the BRICS countries strengthen dialogue and cooperation.
In another dig at the dollar, the development banks of the five BRICS nations agreed to establish mutual credit lines denominated in their local currencies, not the U.S. currency.The head of China Development Bank (CDB), Chen Yuan, said he was prepared to lend up to 10 billion yuan to fellow BRICS, and his Russian counterpart said he was looking to borrow the yuan equivalent of at least $500 million via CDB.We think this will undoubtedly broaden the opportunities for Russian companies to diversify their loans, Vladimir Dmitriev, the chairman of VEB, Russia's state development bank, told reporters.
ALL DOWN TO THE BRICS
The call by the BRICS for a new monetary order are not new.But, coming hours before a meeting in Washington of finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations, the traditional power brokers of the world economy, Thursday's communique showed the growing confidence of emerging markets.Burdened by heavy debt, the United States, the euro zone and Japan are struggling to shake off the lingering effects of the 2008 global financial crisis. Rich countries will grow 2.4 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2012, the International Monetary fund forecast this week. By contrast, less well-off countries have emerged relatively unscathed. The IMF is forecasting that emerging and developing countries will grow 6.5 percent both this year and next.The quality and the durability of the global economic recovery process depends to a great measure on how the BRICS economies perform, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.The leaders reviewed the global role of the Special Drawing Right, the IMF's accounting unit and reserve asset, which some experts believe could grow into a partial substitute for the dollar.But they stepped around the issue of whether the yuan should join the SDR, saying only that they welcomed discussion of the composition of the SDR's basket of currencies.A member-country official said the group was split on whether China's currency, which cannot be freely exchanged except for trade and investment purposes, met the criteria for being part of the SDR.There is a need for a broad-basing of the international monetary system. The SDR is an instrument to do that, but we still have no unanimity on the inclusion of the Chinese currency in the SDR as of now, said the official, who declined to be identified.The SDR now comprises the dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.India has said that the SDR is an accounting mechanism used by the IMF, and countries such as Brazil have also said that this (the yuan) should be convertible first, he added.Though keen on a more diverse global monetary order, Beijing has given no indication that it is ready to make the yuan freely tradable or to dismantle capital controls as the price for the prestige of being part of the SDR.
BROAD-BRUSH TREATMENT
Emerging economies have already won more say in the way the IMF is run, but the BRICS leaders said they were still under-represented.We ... agreed on the need for the reform of international financial institutions in order to promote a just economic order, South African President Jacob Zuma said.On the hot topic of capital flows, the BRICS called for more attention to the risks posed by massive cross-border flows of money but went no further.The group said the world economy, of which its members make up nearly a fifth, still faced headwinds.The developments in west Asia and north Africa, and the aftermath of the huge tragedy that befell Japan, have introduced fresh uncertainties in the global recovery process, Singh said.Swings in commodity prices are also a prime area of concern for the BRICS. China is the world's biggest importer of many commodities; the other BRICS members are major exporters of natural resources.China hopes the group will be able to agree on a common stance on commodity price fluctuations at the G20 summit in the French city of Cannes in November.The main aim of the BRICS is to forge a common emerging-market negotiating stance on issues from climate change to world trade and to act as a counterweight to the West in settings such as the Group of 20 forum of advanced and developing economies.
The BRICS caucus is a work in progress. Thursday's brief meeting, held under tight security at a beach-front hotel, was only its third summit and the first to include South Africa.The group brings together five countries that, though frequently united in their disinclination to do the West's bidding, are a political and economic mosaic.Our economic potential, political influence and our development prospects as an alliance are exceptional, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Zhou Xin and Ray Colitt in Sanya and Chris Buckley in Beijing; Writing by Alan Wheatley; Editing by Ken Wills and Dean Yates)
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
Laying BRICS for new edifice By Dan Steinbock (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-13 07:55
On April 14, President Hu Jintao will meet with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma. The third formal meeting of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) includes South Africa for the first time. In the past, the advanced economies empowered the world economy. Today, large emerging economies drive global growth. In the emerging world, the future is a source of hope and optimism. In the advanced world, it is often a cause for ambivalence and resignation. In the long run, however, the rise of the large emerging economies is vital to global peace and prosperity. The concept of the BRIC was developed in the early 2000s by Jim O'Neill, then global economist of Goldman Sachs. At the time, these four economies were less than 15 percent of G6 (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy) in US dollar terms. Yet projections indicated that by the early 2040s the BRIC economies could be larger than G6. Of course, nothing is inevitable in history. As a group, however, BRIC has emerged from the global credit crisis better than the major economies. As a result, the BRIC economies could become as big as G7 by the early 2030s.
In the early 2000s, Goldman Sachs projected that China's total GDP would catch up with the US' by 2042. After the past decade and the global financial crisis, however, the pace of transition has accelerated. Now it appears that China's GDP may match that of the US by the early 2020s.The global crisis and the debt burden of the advanced economies will tax their growth for years to come, whereas the BRIC economies may grow twice as fast. And these large emerging economies are followed by mini-BRICs, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, Turkey, Vietnam and Nigeria.A strong BRIC growth does not require economic miracles. But it does presume macroeconomic stability, relatively high investment rates and trade openness, increasing technological capabilities, growing emphasis on human capital, and political stability.Now Africa has a representative in the BRIC alignment. In the future, some North African and Middle Eastern countries, too, may join the BRIC league. In the postwar era, Egypt, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, emerged as the leader of the Arab world. But the gains of globalization have largely bypassed Egypt and its 80 million people despite the great economic potential. In 1980, Egyptians on average were almost 65 percent more prosperous than Chinese. Last year, the Chinese were 15 percent more prosperous than the Egyptians, at purchasing power parity.One of the most remarkable aspects of the rise of the BRIC economies is the severed tie between total GDP and per capita GDP, that is, the economic power of nations and the average prosperity of their citizens. In the past, the two used to go hand in hand. In the future, that will no longer be the case.In the 19th century, Britain was the growth engine of the world, and Britons had a relatively high per capita GDP. In the postwar era, the US was the strongest nation, while Americans were the most prosperous people on average. As global growth will be driven by the BRIC economies, the most powerful countries will no longer be the most prosperous.
As long as growth can be sustained in the advanced and emerging economies, all nations can benefit. That is the win-win story. But for that, we need a globalization that is more inclusive in kind.Economically, the epicenter of the global crisis was the financial sector in the West. In the future, it should pay for excessive risk taking. In the absence of appropriate financial sector reforms, the great global recession would only be a prelude to the next one. Strategically, the postwar multilateral institutions - as forums of global cooperation - must reflect on the proportionate role of the BRIC economies, especially in the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Since 2005, the advanced economies have urged China to become a responsible stakeholder in the international community. But if the multilateral institutions do not reflect the proportionate economic share and political voice of the large emerging economies, they can hardly be considered responsible.Under unchanged policies, the IMF says the net debt-to-GDP ratio of G7 would exceed 440 percent by 2050. Does that reflect responsible leadership? In the West, the rise of the BRIC economies is occasionally said to be a threat to market economy. Yet the reality is the opposite. A decade ago, about 80 percent of Americans saw the free market as the best economic system for the future. After the global financial crisis, this support has plummeted to 59 percent, according to GlobeScan. In China and Brazil, the corresponding support is 67 percent. In India, it's about the same as in the US.In the coming years, the economic rise of BRICS (BRIC + South Africa) will gradually translate into increasing political power, which will not minimize the value of other multilateral forums. It will only highlight the importance of new forums.Until recently, the world was led by the multilateralism of the few in the West. In the future, it will be led by more inclusive multilateralism of the many - in the West and the East both.The author is research director of International Business at the India, China and America Institute, an independent think tank in the US, and visiting fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.(China Daily 04/13/2011 page9)
New reserve system priority for G20 By Zheng Xinli (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-15 07:33
Establishing a multi-currency international reserve system and monitoring mechanism should be a priority for the G20.From the second half of 2008, a financial storm that originated in the United States swept across the world. The root cause of this crisis was the US' long-term abuse of sovereign credit, the misuse of its status as a global major reserve currency issuing country and the promotion of twin deficits in its current account and the fiscal budget. The situation was further aggravated by the maintenance of US citizens' excessive consumption and the US government's over spending.Any chance of preventing a financial crisis was lost when US credit rating agencies covered up the sovereign credit risk, reversed the risk relationship between debtor countries and creditor countries, and attracted international capital to high-risk regions.Now that the origins of the financial crisis have been identified, we should develop a strategy to prevent such a crisis from happening again, and build a more efficient and safer global financial system. This is a key responsibility for the governments of the world.The priority is to establish a multi-currency international monetary system, an international reserve currency monitoring and early warning system, and an international financial risk relief mechanism.
Establishing a multi-currency international reserve currency system is a fundamental way to maintain the stability of the international financial system. Such a global multi-currency reserve system could include the US dollar, the euro, yuan, yen, pound sterling and other currencies.There are competition, checks and balances, and intermediation among currencies. A multi-currency system would encourage international reserve currency issuing countries' governments to adopt a prudent monetary policy to keep their currencies stable and maintain their sovereign credit.
Only by establishing such an international reserve currency system, can the international financial system overcome its over-reliance on a single sovereign currency and avoid excessive exposure to the risks of one currency.With the collapse of the Bretton Woods System in the 1970s, international currencies decoupled from gold. The US dollar, which was based on the US' sovereign credit, became the major reserve currency. This allowed the US to transfer debt to foreign countries through currency depreciation. From 1971 to 2010, the US dollar depreciated 97.2 percent against gold, causing huge losses to countries holding US dollars.Depreciation of the dollar slowly steals the wealth of owners with dollar-dominated assets, but the recent financial crisis made some dollar-denominated securities vanish instantly. It indicates that as the world's major reserve currency issuing country, the US' financial security is related to the vital interests of everyone. Therefore, an early warning and monitoring system for the supply and circulation of any major reserve currency is also essential.However, the creation of a more efficient and safer international financial system should be gradual, the position of the US dollar as the dominant international reserve currency is irreplaceable in the near future. Given the negative affects the implementation of the quantitative easing policy by the Federal Reserve Board had on the global economy and financial stability, we should study common approaches in order to maintain the fragile recovery of the world economy.With the increasingly close economic ties among countries, any financial problems for one country mean problems for others. In order to maintain international financial stability, all countries should unite and establish an international financial safety cooperation and risk relief mechanism. The Chiang Mai Initiative, which was created in the wake of the Asia financial crisis, is a good example of such a mechanism.In the short term the International Monetary Fund should expand the scale of its Special Drawing Rights (SDR), adjust the proportion of SDR for each country based on proportional changes in their economy and global trade, and include currencies of emerging economies in the SDR basket. If one country is hit by a financial crisis, the IMF could give timely and effective relief to prevent the crisis from spreading.
To facilitate the creation of a competitive international multi-currency reserve system a permanent G20 executive office should be created. This office should then be responsible for monitoring the system and where necessary restricting the large-scale flow of international capital aimed at short-term arbitrage.The large-scale short-term flow of international capital and its speculation are an important cause of international financial volatility. Each country should take united action to strengthen the restrictions on international hot money, such as regulations on the time limits of capital inflow and outflow, and the collection of capital gains tax, etc.Directing investment into the real economy and using the capital and technology of developed countries to realize the industrialization and urbanization of developing countries would not only ease global inflation pressures but also create employment in developed countries and promote common development in all countries. The executive office should be mandated to mediate the investment channels and attract excess liquid capital to the real economy. This should be done through the admission of qualified institutional investors and various funds, providing sound capital market functions, and expanding inter-government aid loans, in order to attract capital to nations and regions with high investment demands.It should also reconstruct the international credit rating system, strengthen the professional ethics for credit rating agencies, break the monopoly of a few agencies on international credit ratings, and promote the objectivity and fairness of credit ratings.The author is executive vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
IMF warning: Many European banks on shaky ground
Updated: 2011-04-14 09:14(Agencies)
BERLIN - The IMF singled out European banks as it insisted that more needs to be done to shore up the global financial system, saying Europe's weak banks are caught in a maelstrom and must beef up their financial buffers.The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday the weaker tier of Europe's banks are facing pressure on multiple fronts, from thin capital reserves - which help absorb losses in sudden downturns - and shaky investments still held on their balance sheets to unstable sources of financing.The warning comes as European Union officials struggle to shore up confidence in government finances and banks. Greece and Ireland have already needed bailout loans to avoid defaulting on their debts, and Portugal has also asked for help from the EU bailout fund.Incomplete policy actions and inadequate reforms of the banking sector have left segments of the global banking system vulnerable to further shocks, the IMF report said.Many institutions - particularly weaker European banks - are caught in a maelstrom of interlinked pressures that are intensifying risks for the system as a whole.The EU banking regulator is trying to boost confidence in the continent's banks by putting 90 of them - the bulk of Europe's banking system - through stress tests that measure what would happen to their finances if the economy took a sudden downturn. A similar exercise last year was deemed easy, and passed Irish banks that later failed.
The purpose of the tests is to push banks that flunk to ask investors to put up more capital and strengthen their finances, or else cut back risky loans and investment to levels that their capital buffer could handle. Results are expected in June.The IMF report outlined other problems facing the world's financial system, such as too much household debt in the United States, and emerging economies' problems in handling new inflows of investment without overheating.Policy makers globally have pushed banks to raise more capital and introduced new safeguards, the IMF said in its twice-yearly report on the stability of the global financial system, but said more needs to be done to guard against a new financial crisis.The Washington-based international organization especially underlined the interlocking financial problems afflicting the 17 nations that share the 12-year-old euro currency.Government and bank finances are closely related because European governments, especially Ireland, have incurred heavy expenses bailing out failed banks. In turn, questions about European governments' big deficits and ability to pay are undermining bank holdings of government bonds.Some banks - like Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo and Germany's Commerzbank - have already started strengthening their capital buffers ahead of the stress tests.But other banks - especially in Ireland and Greece - remain addicted to last-resort financing from the European Central Bank because they are unable to raise enough money by borrowing normally. The ECB has so far not come up with a comprehensive way of getting those banks off life support.
FEBRUARY 14, 2011, 4:51 A.M. ET.France's Lagarde In Favor Of Including Yuan In SDR - Report
PARIS (Dow Jones)--French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is in favor of including the Chinese yuan in the basket of currencies that make up the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights, Financial Times reports Monday. Lagarde said she would be in favor of the inclusion of the yuan even before it is fully convertible, the newspaper said. Once convertibility is well-advanced, it [the inclusion in the SDR] could be with a commitment towards full convertibility over time, she was quoted as saying by the Financial Times. Lagarde also said France will push for finance ministers of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations to be given direct authority over strategic decisions made by the IMF regarding the international monetary system.As France chairs the G-20, Lagarde also said her government would push for a tax on financial transactions even if there is no support from the U.S., but enough support from other countries.France will hold a G-20 summit in Paris later this week. Newspaper Web site: http://www.ft.com
-By Paris Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 33-1-4017 1740; inti.landauro@dowjones.com
FACTBOX-EU position on key topics for G20 finmins in Washington
BRUSSELS, | Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:08pm IST
BRUSSELS, April 11 (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers and central bankers agreed last week on common positions on key topics for the April 14-15 meetings of finance leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies in Washington.EU delegations, which make up five of the 20 members of the G20, are to stick to the following positions, spelled out in a terms of reference document, obtained by Reuters.
ON DETECTING IMBALANCES THAT COULD LEAD TO CRISES
The G20 are to agree in Washington on indicative guidelines for how to use a set of economic indicators agreed in February to detect imbalances that could trigger a crisis.The agreed indicators are: public debt and fiscal deficits, private savings rate and private debt, external imbalance composed of the trade balance and net investment income flows and transfers, taking due consideration of exchange rate, fiscal, monetary and other policies.
EU officials agreed that:- We favour a combination of both structural and statistical approaches. The euro area dimension needs to be fully taken into account when assessing external imbalances.- The Paris communique noted that the agreed indicators would take due consideration of exchange rate, fiscal, monetary and other polices. This could be done in a descriptive way in the first stage. Exchange rate factors will be key in the second, in-depth analysis stage.- Only G20 members facing the largest imbalances should move into the in-depth stage of the exercise. Given spillovers, there are merits in subjecting large countries to a more stringent screening criterion by applying a measure for systemic importance in the indicative guidelines.
ON MANAGEMENT OF CAPITAL FLOWS
- The EU supports the development of guidelines/a framework, covering both source and recipient countries, to provide countries with guidance by the International Monetary Fund on policies to deal with capital flows. Such guidelines should have a comprehensive scope and emphasise the importance of macroeconomic and prudential policies and structural measures as primary capital flow management tools.- The group will have to be careful not to signal to markets that the G20 endorses a general use of capital controls.
ON GLOBAL LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT
Part of the global monetary overhaul could entail the inclusion of the currency of the world's now second biggest economy, China, in the basket that makes up the Special Drawing Right (SDR) -- an international reserve asset of the IMF. Some economists say a bigger base for the SDR could help cut an overreliance on the dollar as the world's reserve currency.The basket is now made up of four currencies -- the dollar, euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen. Created in 1969, it does not reflect the rising economic importance of China.
The EU position is the following:- On the Special Drawing Right (SDR), the EU is ready to discuss the broadening of the SDR basket to better reflect economic realities. We take note of the strong interest expressed by China of having the renminbi in the SDR basket. A decision should follow clear and transparent criteria and entail adequate preconditions for the admission of the currencies concerned to ensure the stability of the basket.- The EU is open to discussing the role of the SDR and how it could possibly contribute to improving the system, although many technical, political and legal difficulties will need to be addressed.
ON FINANCIAL REGULATORY REFORM
- The key issues for the April meeting from an EU standpoint are:
1. ensuring the timely and consistent implementations of Basel II and Basel III measures by all G20 countries as well as other jurisdictions globally, with a particular focus on U.S. implementation
2. ensuring the development and international implementation of a consistent framework for all Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs)
3. a full and consistent implementation of the remuneration standards which were endorsed by all members of the G20, accompanied by a rigorous peer review process within the FSB, allowing for peer pressure aimed at fostering further implementation
4. further progress on identifying and listing non-cooperative jurisdictions
5. agreeing on the scope of the work on the shadow banking system including the identification of shadow banking activities and entities and the mapping exercise of data and regulation on this field.
ON COMMODITIES
The EU should stress:- the need to improve the quality and availability of data on physical and derivatives markets, including position reporting.- the need for an effective regime to identify and prevent market abuses- adequate and proportionate financial regulation, especially for participants that trade in financial derivatives
- to assess the power and tools for the respective supervisors to ensure more transparency of physical and derivatives markets while preserving market liquidity.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
No agreement to include yuan in SDR for now - BRICS official
BEIJING,| Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:40am IST
BEIJING, April 14 (Reuters) - There is no unanimous agreement for the yuan to be to be included in the currency basket that forms the Speacial Drawing Right, or SDR, an official from the BRICS group of emerging powers said on Thursday.The BRICS group, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is meeting in southern China to discuss trade and investment.There is a need for a broad-basing of the international monetary system. The SDR is an instrument to do that, but we still have no unanimity on the inclusion of the Chinese currency in the SDR as of now, the official said. India has said that the SDR is an accounting mechanism used by the IMF and countries such as Brazil have also said that this (the yuan) should be convertible first.(Reporting by Abhijit Neogy; Editing by Chris Lewis)
BRICS demand global monetary shake-up, greater influence By Abhijit Neogy and Alexei Anishchuk SANYA, China | Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:00pm IST
SANYA, China (Reuters) - The BRICS group of emerging-market powers kept up the pressure on Thursday for a revamped global monetary system that relies less on the dollar and for a louder voice in international financial institutions.The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also called for stronger regulation of commodity derivatives to dampen excessive volatility in food and energy prices, which they said posed new risks for the recovery of the world economy.Meeting on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, they said the recent financial crisis had exposed the inadequacies of the current monetary order, which has the dollar as its linchpin. What was needed, they said in a statement, was a broad-based international reserve currency system providing stability and certainty -- thinly veiled criticism of what the BRICS see as Washington's neglect of its global monetary responsibilities.The BRICS are worried that America's large trade and budget deficits will eventually debase the dollar. They also begrudge the financial and political privileges that come with being the leading reserve currency.The world economy is undergoing profound and complex changes, Chinese President Hu Jintao said.The era demands that the BRICS countries strengthen dialogue and cooperation.
In another dig at the dollar, the development banks of the five BRICS nations agreed to establish mutual credit lines denominated in their local currencies, not the U.S. currency.The head of China Development Bank (CDB), Chen Yuan, said he was prepared to lend up to 10 billion yuan to fellow BRICS, and his Russian counterpart said he was looking to borrow the yuan equivalent of at least $500 million via CDB.We think this will undoubtedly broaden the opportunities for Russian companies to diversify their loans, Vladimir Dmitriev, the chairman of VEB, Russia's state development bank, told reporters.
ALL DOWN TO THE BRICS
The call by the BRICS for a new monetary order are not new.But, coming hours before a meeting in Washington of finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations, the traditional power brokers of the world economy, Thursday's communique showed the growing confidence of emerging markets.Burdened by heavy debt, the United States, the euro zone and Japan are struggling to shake off the lingering effects of the 2008 global financial crisis. Rich countries will grow 2.4 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2012, the International Monetary fund forecast this week. By contrast, less well-off countries have emerged relatively unscathed. The IMF is forecasting that emerging and developing countries will grow 6.5 percent both this year and next.The quality and the durability of the global economic recovery process depends to a great measure on how the BRICS economies perform, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.The leaders reviewed the global role of the Special Drawing Right, the IMF's accounting unit and reserve asset, which some experts believe could grow into a partial substitute for the dollar.But they stepped around the issue of whether the yuan should join the SDR, saying only that they welcomed discussion of the composition of the SDR's basket of currencies.A member-country official said the group was split on whether China's currency, which cannot be freely exchanged except for trade and investment purposes, met the criteria for being part of the SDR.There is a need for a broad-basing of the international monetary system. The SDR is an instrument to do that, but we still have no unanimity on the inclusion of the Chinese currency in the SDR as of now, said the official, who declined to be identified.The SDR now comprises the dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.India has said that the SDR is an accounting mechanism used by the IMF, and countries such as Brazil have also said that this (the yuan) should be convertible first, he added.Though keen on a more diverse global monetary order, Beijing has given no indication that it is ready to make the yuan freely tradable or to dismantle capital controls as the price for the prestige of being part of the SDR.
BROAD-BRUSH TREATMENT
Emerging economies have already won more say in the way the IMF is run, but the BRICS leaders said they were still under-represented.We ... agreed on the need for the reform of international financial institutions in order to promote a just economic order, South African President Jacob Zuma said.On the hot topic of capital flows, the BRICS called for more attention to the risks posed by massive cross-border flows of money but went no further.The group said the world economy, of which its members make up nearly a fifth, still faced headwinds.The developments in west Asia and north Africa, and the aftermath of the huge tragedy that befell Japan, have introduced fresh uncertainties in the global recovery process, Singh said.Swings in commodity prices are also a prime area of concern for the BRICS. China is the world's biggest importer of many commodities; the other BRICS members are major exporters of natural resources.China hopes the group will be able to agree on a common stance on commodity price fluctuations at the G20 summit in the French city of Cannes in November.The main aim of the BRICS is to forge a common emerging-market negotiating stance on issues from climate change to world trade and to act as a counterweight to the West in settings such as the Group of 20 forum of advanced and developing economies.
The BRICS caucus is a work in progress. Thursday's brief meeting, held under tight security at a beach-front hotel, was only its third summit and the first to include South Africa.The group brings together five countries that, though frequently united in their disinclination to do the West's bidding, are a political and economic mosaic.Our economic potential, political influence and our development prospects as an alliance are exceptional, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Zhou Xin and Ray Colitt in Sanya and Chris Buckley in Beijing; Writing by Alan Wheatley; Editing by Ken Wills and Dean Yates)
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JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
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.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Palestinian PM: Brussels meeting is birth certificate for statehood
ANDREW RETTMAN 14.04.2011 @ 09:51 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Palestinian Authority has welcomed endorsement of a UN report on institution building as a birth certificate for statehood amid Israeli concern over a potential unilateral declaration of independence.The Ad-hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) on Palestine at a meeting in the EU capital on Wednesday (13 April) endorsed a UN report which says that in six key areas - rule of law, the economy, education, health, social protection and infrastructure - in the West Bank government functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of a state.The AHLC is an international body comprising the EU, US, Israel, Canada, Norway, Russia, four Arab countries, the UN, the World Bank and the IMF.The endorsement comes ahead of a UN meeting in September in which Israel fears the Palestinian side will unilaterally declare independence in territories under its control before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war due to a stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Speaking after the event in Brussels, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said: This very important meeting effectively recognised the reality of a state of Palestine being projected on the territory occupied in 1967, which amounts effectively to a birth certificate for the reality of Palestinian statehood.Asked by press if the move makes a unilateral declaration more likely, he said he would favour a final settlement recognised by Israel: We are not looking for yet another declaration, or for a virtual state.He went on to note that the AHLC-UN decision, plus related decisions to grant the Palestinian Authority observer status in the WTO and tariff-free exports to the EU, are reflective of growing support for independence, however.
These are important developments and we see them as reflective. A lot of countries around the world stand ready to offer that recognition. Of course, exactly when they do so precisely is a time for their choosing.Israeli diplomat Irit Ben-Abba, underlined that the AHLC still sees the stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks as the way forward.I am very glad the consensus in the room is that the only way to solving the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is through a negotiated peace agreement. There's no other way to circumvent the direct negotiations between us and the Palestinians.The peace talks have stalled largely due to Israel's continuing expansion of settlements on occupied Palestinian land.The UN report noted that since September 2010 Israel has given the green light for 1,700 Jewish settlement units while continuing demolitions of Palestinian homes and evictions of Palestinian families especially in east Jerusalem.It noted that Israel maintains around 500 roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank and a partial blockade on movement of goods in and out of Gaza.It added that 10 Palestinians were killed and 545 injured in the West Bank in the reporting period, on top of 24 deaths and 114 injuries in Gaza. It also said Israel continues to hold around 6,000 Palestinians in jail including around 300 children and some persons held without charges.
A parallel Israeli report submitted to the AHCL instead underlined the barrage of missiles recently launched from Gaza, the murder of a Jewish settler family and the long-term captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.Israel's Ben-Abba said a decision last year to expand the list of products allowed into Gaza effectively opened the crossings for all goods.The new list was drawn up after international outrage when Israeli commandos killed nine people on a flotilla trying to break the Gaza siege. Ben-Abba noted that international NGOs are planning to send a new flotilla in late May.There's no necessity for flotillas … We call on all governments to put pressure on NGOs to stop all attempts to send flotillas to this region,she said.For his part, Tony Blair, a former British leader who currently works as an international envoy to the Middle East, appeared to give Israel a carte blanche for collateral damage in Gaza.Asked by press in Brussels on Wednesday what he thinks of a recent Arab League proposal for a Libya-type no-fly zone for Israeli jets over Gaza, he said: If the rockets keep coming, then there will be actions taken by the government of Israel and then we get into a situation where civilian lives will be lost.
Palestinian prime minister hails donor endorsement
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press – Thu Apr 14, 3:57 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – The Palestinian prime minister on Thursday hailed the international community's endorsement of his development efforts as a birth certificate for an independent state, but said outside intervention may be needed to make a future Palestine a reality.Salam Fayyad spoke a day after key donor states meeting in Brussels confirmed that the institutions developed by the Palestinian Authority are now above the threshold for a functioning state. The donors, who give the Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars in aid each year, cited reports prepared by the World Bank, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.
That for us is the birth certificate for our state, Fayyad told reporters.Fayyad, a U.S.-educated economist, alluded to the emerging Palestinian strategy — given the breakdown in peace negotiations with Israel — of asking the United Nations to recognize their independence at a vote in the annual General Assembly gathering in September.In September we will be in a better position to advance our cause until the international community intervenes and our state is born, he said.Fayyad gave no specifics on what the Palestinians had in mind, reflecting a growing realization among the Palestinians that a U.N. vote may change little on the ground, and could even bring about angry disappointment among his people.Israel has played down the U.N. gambit, noting that General Assembly resolutions do not have the force of law and cannot result in U.N. membership. That can only be bestowed by the Security Council, where Israel is counting on a United States veto of any such move.Israel's position — that a Palestinian state built on lands occupied by Israel can result only from negotiations — is supported not only by the United States but also Britain, Germany and others in Europe.Nonetheless, Israeli officials acknowledge a setback at the U.N. would deepen Israel's international isolation. The latest U.S. attempt to restart negotiations broke down in September, only weeks after being launched, over Israel's settlement building in the West Bank. The United States is continuing to urge a return to talks.Even if talks resume, Israel's hard-line government is unlikely to agree to Palestinian terms of a near-total pullout from the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas Israel occupied in 1967 and has since settled with more than a half million Jews.The U.S. remains committed to brokering an agreement by September, the target set by President Barack Obama, but the Palestinians appear to have given up on that.
Fayyad said the Palestinians would continue our struggle until the international community holds its responsibility (of) ending the occupation ... until the international community intervenes and has our state born.A U.N. resolution would not uproot the dozens of settlements that dot the West Bank or remove the Israeli troops in control there.Even so, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top Palestinian official, said General Assembly recognition could shake things up enough to give the Palestinians a new legal and political stage to struggle for ending the Israeli occupation and removing the Israeli settlements.Israel seems torn between ignoring the Palestinian unilateral statehood drive and trying to pre-empt it.One notion being considered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials say, is an interim arrangement in which the Palestinian autonomous zones set up in the 1990s might be enlarged and upgraded to full sovereignty.The Palestinians have always rejected any idea of an interim settlement, fearing it would become permanent, and the world would lose interest in their further claims.Another complicating factor is that the Gaza Strip, part of any future state, is controlled by Hamas, a rival Palestinian faction that the United States, EU and Israel consider a terrorist group. The Islamic militant Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are bitter rivals. Hamas overran Gaza in 2007. Abbas has been trying to organize a reconciliation with Hamas before September, so far in vain.Fayyad did not say what the Palestinians would do if they won a General Assembly vote in September.Privately, Palestinian officials have suggested they might start organizing peaceful protests outside Jewish settlements and try to ratchet up pressure on Israel by pushing for sanctions.Some have called for reducing or halting security cooperation with Israel, which Israelis agree has contributed to the dramatic reduction of violence in recent years.A test of the strategy may come next month, when Palestinian youth groups plan marches on settlements to mark the anniversary of Israel's May 15, 1948, creation, which Palestinians call the nakba, or catastrophe, because the refugee crisis that resulted.
Outlook uncertain, G20 to target imbalances
By Jan Strupczewski and Daniel Flynn - APR 15,11
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Faced with an uneven world recovery and uncertain outlook, finance leaders were hoping on Friday to flesh out a plan to build a global economy less prone to the booms and busts of recent decades.Forging consensus among central bankers and ministers from the Group of 20 advanced and developing economies won't be easy amid the current array of threats to stability, including high oil prices and debt levels, and unrest across the Middle East.But with officials eager to avoid a recurrence of the 2007-2009 crisis and the worst global recession since World War Two, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said addressing imbalances between export-rich and debt-burdened countries that have long plagued the global economy was a top G20 priority.Many economists say these imbalances contributed to the crisis, as emerging market countries reinvested their surpluses in Western markets and caused excessive risk-taking by banks.The G20 accounts for 85 percent of world output and is now the main forum for trying to reform the world's financial system. But it has become hard to agree on just how to do that now that the darkest days of the financial crisis have passed.An uncertain outlook complicates things further. Signs of recovery in some rich countries have led their central banks to raise interest rates. But high oil and food prices threaten to slow growth and worsen unrest in some developing countries.
Then, there's the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis, political infighting over the massive U.S. deficit and the damage from last month's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan, the world's third-largest economy.Officials on Friday were likely to push for a deal on how to apply guidelines to identify countries with excess trade deficits or surpluses.It is a matter of credibility for the G20 that we agree on the indicative guidelines this weekend, said Olli Rehn, the European Union's economic and monetary affairs commissioner.The International Monetary Fund, which holds its twice-yearly meetings this weekend, warned officials not to grow complacent about the recovery's prospects.The apex of the crisis is behind us, but it would be part of the complacency I am trying to avoid to believe we are in a post-crisis era, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.The G20 wasn't expected on Friday to name specific countries that spend or save too much, but if it did, the United States and China would almost certainly top the list.It would probably include others. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Thursday the biggest economies -- those representing 5 percent of total G20 output -- might get special scrutiny. That would also include France, Germany and Japan.Beyond that the G20 hopes to discuss how to apply guidelines. That might be done through computer modeling, with sources telling Reuters four different models for identifying imbalances were being discussed.Canada's Flaherty expected ministers to reach agreement, but added: there are still some bumps along the road.China has expressed suspicion that the effort may be aimed at pressuring it to reduce its hefty trade surpluses.At a February meeting in Paris, G20 ministers agreed on a list of indicators for monitoring imbalances, including public debt, private savings and borrowing. But China balked at any mention of the real effective exchange rate or foreign currency reserves.China's foreign exchange reserves -- a stockpile that reflects Beijing's exporting prowess -- soared to a record of more than $3 trillion by the end of March, a sum certain to raise eyebrows in Washington.
Reducing deficits is also crucial, and the IMF this week said the United States may have a hard time of meeting a G20 goal of halving its deficit by 2013. President Barack Obama presented a plan this week to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years, but his former economic adviser said the country should wait until after growth is strong enough to warrant higher interest rates.If the United States were to slash its deficit next year, the consequences for real economic activity would be most unfortunate,said ex-White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said Thursday.(Reporting by Reuters IMF/G20 team; Writing by Steven C. Johnson; editing by Leslie Adler)
G24 nations reject IMF plan on capital flows
– Thu Apr 14, 7:42 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Group of 24 emerging and developing economies on Thursday rejected an International Monetary Fund plan for managing capital flows, saying measures should be up to the individual country to decide.The finance ministers of the G24, which includes notably Brazil, India and Mexico, insisted on having the flexibility to deal with excessive capital inflows that can spur inflation and drive their currencies higher.Ministers did not agree with the proposed framework for staff advice to member countries on managing capital flows, they said on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington.
The IMF last week endorsed capital controls for the first time, but only under certain conditions and limitations, in a package of proposals for governments to manage volatile capital movements.But the G24 ministers said the IMF needed to maintain an open-minded and even-handed approach to the management of capital flows.
Policymakers of countries facing large and volatile capital flows must have the flexibility and discretion to adopt policies that they consider appropriate and effective to mitigate risks through macroeconomic policies, prudential measures and capital controls, they said in a statement.The also said IMF policies needed to take into consideration the policies of countries where the capital originates, especially systemically important financial centers, a veiled reference to the United States, where ultra-loose monetary policy has spurred capital flows in search of higher returns.The IMF proposal to permit capital controls marked a milestone for the 187-nation institution, which for decades has steadfastly pushed governments to permit the free movement of capital.The framework came in response to a call by France, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies this year, for capital flow guidelines.
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).
France rejects EU-wide VAT proposal
ANDREW WILLIS 14.04.2011 @ 17:10 CET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiNefzWMFNY&feature=player_embedded
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - France has rejected a European Commission proposal to create an EU-wide value added tax (VAT), but insists it is still open to the EU having some form of own resources.The subject was one of several issues discussed by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon during a working lunch with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Thursday (14 April).Member states are gearing up for a major debate on the EU's next multi-annual budget (post 2013), with the commission set to come forward with draft proposals this June.Heavy wrangling in previous years has convinced the commission and MEPs that the EU needs to have its own self-funding mechanism, but Fillon said the EU VAT idea was not one that Paris was willing to consider.I don't think there will be any question of having a European VAT, he told journalists inside the commission's Berlaymont building as Barroso looked on.But France is not closed on this idea of own resources for the European budget.Value added tax is a form of consumption tax, extracted at a national level each time companies or individual purchase goods. An EU-wide VAT was one of several self-funding ideas put forward by the commission in a paper published towards the end of last year.Other suggestions included a financial sector tax, an EU charge related to air transport, an EU energy tax and an EU corporate income tax.
The EU budget has produced some of the most heated battles in the Union's history, with former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher famously banging her handbag on the negotiating table and declaring I want my money back.Funding methods have steadily changed over the years, with national contributions representing 10 percent of the EU budget in 1988, while these days they amount to roughly 70 percent as takings from EU customs duties and farm levies have declined.The common agricultural policy (CAP) and funding for poorer regions currently eat up the vast majority of the EU's roughly €130 billion-a-year spending pot, with countries such as Britain traditionally keen to see more money spent on measures to promote industry and innovation.France on the other hand, with its vocal farming sector, is a strong advocate of a well-funded CAP.Food security is a major challenge for Europe and now is not the time we should be giving up on this,said Fillon.The CAP, contrary to other European policies, has been reformed continuously ... Agriculture should remain at the top of the agenda.The Frenchman, seen as a calm counterbalance to the more impulsive French President Nicolas Sarkozy, warned however that EU member states were feeling the pinch, and were unlikely to support a large increase in the EU's overall budget.Negotiations on this are going to take place within a very tight environment for national budgets. Those constraints have to be taken on board by Brussels,he said.
EU signs trade deals with Peru and Colombia
ANDREW WILLIS 14.04.2011 @ 09:30 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union has initialed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Peru and Colombia, opening up trade and investment and saving an estimated half a billion euros in duties.Wednesday's (13 April) signing in Brussels comes roughly one year after negotiations between the two South American states and the EU were concluded, talks which drew attention to violence in Colombia and saw Ecuador leave the negotiating table.EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht welcomed the milestone agreement, saying it created a foothold for European business in the area and an anchor for structural reforms in the countries concerned.Once fully implemented, the deal will eliminate tariffs in all industrial and fisheries products, increase market access for agricultural products and widen access to public procurement, services and investment markets, among other measures.EU member states and the European Parliament must now ratify the FTAs, with some MEPs previously expressing concern over the high number of trade union deaths in Colombia, roughly 60 percent of the world total.The commission has stressed that the protection of human rights and the rule of law, as well as commitments to effectively implement international conventions on labour rights and environmental protection, are part of the deal.Attending the signing in Brussels, Colombian trade minister Minister Sergio Diaz-Granados Guida said greater trade flows between the two sides would help Bogota stamp out violence and drug trafficking.This FTA will help us progress and leave behind those problems, he told journalists.Economic growth based on free trade helps the stability and development of our peoples.In Peru, recent first round presidential elections have set the scene for a second round face-off this June between left-wing Ollanta Humala and the conservative Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.
Some voices within the Peruvian business community have expressed concern that an eventual Humala victory could hurt the country's booming economy, but the EU's De Gucht said the election outcome would have little impact on the FTA.This is an agreement which is finished ... It's standard international practice that once a negotiation is completed you don't change it [just] because there is a change of government,he said.The EU also said the door was open for other countries in the region to strike similar trade agreements, after earlier dialogues with Bolivia and Ecuador hit the buffers.
EARTH WORSHIP
DEUTERONOMY 17:3-4
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
2 KINGS 23:5
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH(BECAUSE OF SIN AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
EU proposes greener energy tax
ANDREW WILLIS 13.04.2011 @ 18:10 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU taxes on motor and heating fuels will focus on carbon emissions and energy content in the future, under draft rules published by the European Commission. The proposed overhaul of the bloc's energy taxation directive is designed to promote energy efficiency and environmental friendly products, but will need the backing of all 27 EU countries if it is to be implemented, with reports suggesting the UK and Germany may veto the plans.The modernised energy taxation system comes at the right moment. Member states are now defining their strategies to exit from the crisis, EU taxation commissioner Algirdas Semeta said on Wednesday (13 April) in Brussels as he presented the document.This proposal sets a strong CO2-price signal for businesses and consumers, he added.The current version of the energy taxation directive outlines minimum tax thresholds for products such as petrol and diesel, calculated on a volume basis which the commission says is now outdated.Instead, the EU executive body wants to split energy taxes into two components based on CO2 emissions and a fuel's energy content. Together they would determine the overall rate at which a product is taxed, with firms covered by the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) set to gain an exemption from the CO2 component.
Minimum taxes on energy-rich diesel will rise under the EU plans, although the commission has stressed that this will not automatically result in a rise in diesel prices at the pump. It points to Germany and other member states where diesel taxes are already above the proposed new minimum threshold of €412 euros per 1,000 litres.
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) which represents 36 million motorists across its 100 member Motoring and Touring Clubs was critical of the fuel-tax plans. Diesel has been consistently encouraged over the past decade due to its better fuel efficiency. It makes no sense to now penalise those consumers who have chosen this technology,said Jacob Bangsgaard, director general FIA Region I.
Environmental groups were equivocal in their support.Raising minimum rates is good for high fuel-tax countries like the UK and Germany, said Jos Dings, director of the Transport & Environment (T&E) campaign group.They will lose far less revenue to fuel-tax havens like Luxembourg that profiteer from the current system by attracting truckers to fill up in huge numbers.But T&E were critical of the commission's decision not to end the ban on taxation of aviation and shipping fuels.
Biofuels controversy
One group that stands to gain if Wednesday's proposals are implemented are biofuel producers, whose fuels are currently subject to heavy taxation rates despite their relatively low energy content.Biofuels-industry group ePURE gave them a strong welcome. Finally, the paradox of clean renewable fuels being taxed at a higher rate than polluting fossil fuels would be solved, said ePure secretary general, Rob Vierhout.As part of its bid to cut carbon emissions, the EU wants to see biofuels account for 10 percent of all transport fuel by 2020, but the target has proved to be increasingly controversial as critics point to the negative effects biofuel production can have on biodiversity rates, global food prices and local communities, forced from their land.A report published on Wednesday by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent body in the UK, called biofuels 'unethical' and called for the EU target to be lifted temporarily until new safeguards are put in place. Another issue raised by environmental groups is the question of 'indirect land-use change' (ILUC), the removal of important carbon-sequesting plants to make way for biofuel crops, a process which some studies suggest makes the burning of fossil fuels more environmentally friendly.The commission will come up with a detailed assessment of the potential policy approaches for dealing with ILUC issue this summer, before potentially then coming forward with appropriate legislative amendments to the renewable energy directive which sets out the 10 percent target.
FALSE FLAGS (SET UP OR STAGED BY SOMEONE)
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=-6703838290529161821
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=8697248641166616573
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#
JESSE VENTURA POLICE STATE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aAxb8vzWiY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJWRrdqdAy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PuVjaMB5xM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DrEkyDzwA0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvQNNG5mgMw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feiBx7tJKOQ&feature=related
False flag-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and can be used in peace-time.(NOTICE EVERY TIME THERES A REAL TERRORIST ATTACK,THE GOVERNMENT ALWAYS IS DOING A FAKE DRILL WHICH MEANS THEY CAN SAY IT WAS ONLY A DRILL IF THE ATTACK DOES NOT GO OVER WITH THE PUBLIC OR IF THE GOVERNMENT MUFFED UP THEIR OWN FALSE FLAG CONTROL FREAK,GET MORE CONTROL OF PEOPLES RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS.)
Sweden warns Lukashenko against exploiting bomb blast
ANDREW RETTMAN 14.04.2011 @ 17:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has warned Belarusian strongman Aleksander Lukashenko not to exploit this week's bomb attack to further crack down on political opponents.Speaking to EUobserver from a Nato meeting in Berlin on Thursday (14 April), Bildt noted that Lukashenko's aggressive tone in a TV speech on Wednesday is a bad sign of things to come.He is very dismissive of the West, of human rights, of the opposition. He seems to be on a rampage against everybody. You get the impression that he is taking the attack as an excuse for further repression, Bildt said.There is a new level of fear [among opposition activists in Belarus], which is fairly natural if they see this rhetoric from Lukashenko. They are afraid that this might be part of his intention.These kinds of attack should be handled according to the rule of law. To have a climate of intimidation and fear is not a way to run your country, not even to handle a terrorist incident. He should be aware that we will be watching. If he uses this as an excuse to further intensify repression, this will certainly be noticed.The Belarusian KGB has already arrested five people over the blast at the Oktyabrskaya metro station on Tuesday, which killed 12 people and injured over 150.It said the explosion was caused by less than 1kg of a unique material. It also said the suspects are young Belarusians from the Minsk region, that some of them have confessed and that one of them is linked to a previous bomb attack in 2008. But it has not given a motive.
Noting that Lukashenko in the aftermath of December's election protests accused Germany and Poland of trying to stage a coup d'etat by giving cash to opposition, Bildt voiced concern that authorities will pin the bomb on Western sources for propaganda reasons.He says he has arrested these people and that he knows who they are, so one would expect him to pronounce himself on these issues shortly. But we can fear the worst, the minister said. Lukashenko's only bomb-related reference to the EU was to criticise foreign ministers for discussing whether or not to impose economic sanctions in future.The discussion was held behind closed doors in Luxembourg on Tuesday with no public statement. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton had planned in the post-ministerial press briefing to call for the release of Belarusian political prisoners.But she refrained out of deference to the shocking events.It has evolved into explicit blasphemy. The whole nation is in tragedy, people mourn over the victims, while our so-called European partners in Strasbourg [sic] talk about human rights … They could have waited till the mourning is over and till we bury those killed, at least,Lukashenko said in his TV speech.On the subject of opposition activists, he said he would turn the country inside out to find the bomb plotters. We are looking for accomplices and employers. These so-called politicians of the fifth column might point to employers [of the terrorists] … Everyone must be interrogated regardless of any democracy, whines and moans of foreign supporters.One anti-Lukashenko contact told this website that since the blast opposition activists fear to publish any government-critical material or to sleep at their home address in case they are taken in by the KGB.What will happen to the poor guys who confessed at 5am about all these terrorist acts? I don't think they can count on any kind of trial, the source said.They will arrest people in the street and justify everything with the fight against terrorism.
The explosion comes amid an economic slump in Belarus - the floor of the metro station was covered in torn bags of sugar as people returned home after hunting for the precious commodity because it is shooting up in price.In a PR move unusual by EU standards, Lukashenko visited the blast site with his six year old son Kolya shortly before the KGB announced its breakthrough arrests.The explosion is the fourth such incident in Lukashenko's 16-year-long rule.A blast in 2008 at a stadium did not claim any lives but injured 60 people and was widely linked to internal power struggles in the presidential administration. An explosion in late 1997 killed a local politician involved in the vodka business. A series of four earlier blasts in 1997 targeted Russian gas pipelines.
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 FRI APR 15,2011
09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM +9.00
10:30 AM +26.94
11:00 AM +28.15
11:30 AM +40.56
12:00 PM +22.39
12:30 PM +69.92
01:00 PM +78.44
01:30 PM +63.57
02:00 PM +67.20
02:30 PM +73.75
03:00 PM +67.77
03:30 PM +54.75
04:00 PM +56.68 12,341.83
S&P 500 1319.68 +5.16
NASDAQ 2764.65 +4.43
GOLD 1,488.00 +15.60
OIL 109.40 +1.30
TSE 300 13,799.10 -22.70
CDNX 2290.91 -10.13
S&P/TSX/60 788.73 -0.72
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +20 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -17 points at low today.
Dow +44 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,474.40.OIL opens at $107.70 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -17 points at low today so far.
Dow +80 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -17 points at low today.
Dow +80 points at high today.
GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,486.80 (NOT AT CLOSE)
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.
Court Rules: No Reason for Lack of Building Plans in Itamar
by Elad Benari APR 15,11
On Monday, one day after the ceremony marking 30 days since the murder of the Fogel family in Itamar, a discussion regarding the community’s building plans took place in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.The discussion was held following a lawsuit filed by five families from Itamar, who bought homes several years ago from a housing and development company that sold the houses on behalf of the Housing Ministry. Despite the fact that the State of Israel and the Housing Ministry, which are bodies that are responsible for keeping the building and planning laws in Israel, built the homes and populated them with residents, the homes were built without a building plan being in place and therefore without a permit.The plaintiffs, families from Itamar, argued in court that they lived in the homes and when they wanted to purchase them the bank requested that they present a building permit so that they are able to obtain a mortgage, and only then did they discover that there were no building permits in place. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Doron Nir Zvi, claimed that the purchase contract states that the house was built according to the planning and building laws in Judea and Samaria.
The housing and development company argued that it had not checked out the planning situation when it got the homes from the Housing Ministry, and that obtaining building plans today is a very complex issue because it is a political and diplomatic one, and is not under the authority of the housing and development company.In his decision, Judge Yair Dlugin ordered the housing and development company to contact the relevant state bodies in order to obtain a detailed and reasoned reply in writing as to why there are no building permits for the homes purchased by residents in Itamar.Since there is no dispute that the plaintiffs live there and have acquired the rights to live there through signed agreements with the defendant, it is inconceivable that they will continue to live there without building permits being issued, wrote Judge Dlugin.It does not seem to me that there is any justification for this, not even one grounded by politics.Several weeks ago, 45 Knesset members from all over the political spectrum (both left and right) approached Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, demanding that they act quickly and approve the master plan of the community of Itamar.The MKs noted that the community of Itamar was established under a government decision, but since there is no town plan, the residents are condemned to live a life full of shortages. The appeal came following the brutal massacre of Itamar residents Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their children. The fence around the town was not maintained by the IDF due to the undecided nature of its lands.
Our goal is to help the residents and enable them to live a normal life in Itamar like in Tel Aviv, regardless of the political debate, wrote the MKs, who demanded from the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense: Immediately approve the budget for all the security needs of the community, and put an end to this intolerable situation in which the bureaucracy repeatedly pays an unbearable price and residents are forced to bear the heavy security costs themselves. The responsibility for the security of residents must be transferred to the IDF. Immediately begin building permanent buildings both for the local school and hesder yeshiva headed by Rabbi Ronsky, and put an end to this shameful situation in which educational institutions operate in old mobile homes that are crumbling. Doing this is the way to perpetuate the memory of the Fogel family who was essentially a family of education and of Torah.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Almagor Letter: Stop Calling for Release of Terrorists
by Elad Benari APR 15,11
The Almagor Terror Victims Association published an open letter on Thursday to the six former high-ranking security officials who earlier this week urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to give in to Hamas’ demands for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. The six, which include former Shin Bet heads Ami Ayalon, Karmi Gilon and Yaakov Perry, former Mossad head Danny Yatom, retired police major-general Alik Ron and Yom Kippur War hero Brig.-Gen. (res.) Avigdor Kahalani, urged Netanyahu to include terrorist murderers in the deal.The six former security officials told reporters that a military operation to free Shalit is not possible and that Israel will be able to withstand the aftermath of a deal for Shalit.The response letter, which was written by Almagor board member Dr. Aryeh Bachrach, whose son and his friend were killed by terrorists while on a hike, reads as follows:On the 30th day since the slaughter in Itamar, I and my fellow active bereaved members of Almagor, who are acting against the release of terrorists, are calling on those senior government and security officials who called this week to release terrorists and make a deal with Hamas: Stop! In the past you were partners to gestures and deals in which terrorists were released. You did not pay the price for those deals, but rather our loved ones did. You won’t pay for the risk you called to take this week, but Israeli families like ours will.Stop with your repeated suggestions that not only bring up for us the memories of your past failures, but also encourage Hamas and frighten us about the future.
Here is the math: 183 Israelis have lost their lives since 2000 by terrorists who were released. Many others died in the years before that, including by terrorists released in the Jibril deal, which is the exact same deal as what you are offering now. There are many who were murdered and whose names we do not know, since their stories are hidden in the ISA interrogation files and have not been made public.A notable exception is the two released Fatah terrorists who murdered Zehava Ben Ovadia and Paul Appleby after being released as part of the Jibril deal. They will again be released if G-d forbid your recommendation is accepted.And we still have not talked about the 1,000 victims of the 2000 intifada who were murdered - though indirectly - in a very organized manner by former prisoners of Hamas and Fatah, among them Barghouti (Fatah) and Sheikh Yassin (Hamas).Yassin was also released on the recommendation of some of you, in exchange for two security men detained in Jordan, with an evaluation that he is a disabled man and is thus not dangerous.At that time you said, as you do now, that if he acts against us we will act against him, but until we were able to kill him, he initiated and commanded from his wheelchair a slew of mass terror attacks which killed and wounded hundreds of Israelis.Barghouti is in prison a third time - after previous arrests and releases – and again is a candidate for release in your eyes.We urge you to not only look at what’s popular, populistic and publicized, but rather at the whole picture, and the whole picture, if G-d forbid the Prime Minister answers your call, will be bleak.
On the 30th day since the murder of the Fogel family, we ask you to look into the future. What will happen if these terrorists, these predators, are released from their cages? All the deterrence that we created after the arrests and killings in recent years - after you left your posts – will be destroyed and what happened a month ago in Itamar may become a tsunami of terror. The images of the mass terror attacks will come back and chaos will rule our streets again.We who already paid the price, some of us during your time in office, call to you - stop! Let us beat Hamas rather than submit to it. We tried your methods and they brought us nothing but bereavement and grief. Now we hope to wage a struggle against terror and not to conduct dialogue with it.We hope that the soldiers and their commanders persist in this struggle and that we will not be subject to interference from within, as was the case last week.
Sincerely,Dr. Aryeh Bachrach and 100 bereaved families
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded earlier this week to the call by the former security officials and said that any deal for Gilad Shalit’s release must not endanger other Israelis.The actions to bring First Sgt. Gilad Shalit home safe and sound continue all the while, the PMO said.It has been more than a year since Israel presented Hamas with its latest offer in the negotiations, but Hamas has yet to respond to this offer. This shows that the other side has no intention of successfully concluding the negotiations.The PMO added that Beside the great commitment to bring Gilad back quickly, the Prime Minister is also responsible for the security and safety of all the citizens of Israel. Past experience teaches us that dozens of Israelis were murdered in terror attacks perpetrated by terrorists who were freed in previous deals, such as the Jibril deal and the Tenenbaum deal. The Prime Minister insists adamantly that any deal reached not endanger the citizens of Israel.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Congressmen Want Goldstone Report Withdrawn
by Gavriel Queenann APR 14,11
Following an opinion piece in the Washington Post earlier this month in which South African Judge Richard Goldstone recanted allegations Israel had deliberately targeted civilians during its 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, and admitted his eponymous 2009 report to United Nations Human Rights Council would have been different if he had written it today, Congressmen Anthony Weiner and 14 of his colleagues, have set a letter to US Ambassador Susan Rice calling on the U.N to formally withdraw the report.Weiner has been vocally opposed to the Goldstone Report and publically defended Israel against its allegations.The letter read-April 13, 2011
Ambassador Susan Rice-United States Mission to the United Nations-799 United Nations Plaza-New York, N.Y. 10017
Dear Ambassador Rice:The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict was mandated by UN Resolution S – 9/1 and created what came to be known as the Goldstone Report.The controversial conclusions that Israel purposely targeted civilians in an attempt to collectively punish the Palestinians were then entered into the UN record and referred to the UN Security Council and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.Now, the primary author of the report has essentially recanted the primary conclusions of the report.Since the publishing of the Goldstone Report, Justice Richard Goldstone has retracted his allegations of Israel’s intentionality in the killing of Palestinian civilians in an Aril 2, 2011 op-ed published in the Washington Post. His retractions clear Israel of the charge that it violated international law under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The US Mission, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a member of the Human Rights Council, should take immediate action and introduce a resolution expunging the Goldstone Report from the official record of the United Nations.Thank you for your time and consideration.
The following representatives were signatories to the letter:
•Anthony D. Weiner
•Howard L. Berman
•Dan L. Burton
•Steve J. Israel
•Joseph Crowley
•Eliot L. Engel
•Janice D. Schakowsky
•Shelley Berkley
•Heath Shuler
•Adam B. Schiff
•Jerrold L. Nadler
•Daniel W. Lipinski
•Theodore E. Deutch
•Alcee L. Hastings
Ambassador Rice already informed Congress she intends to push to have the UN jettison the report.The United States has been highly critical of the Goldstone report and described it as deeply flawed since its initial publication.(Israel NationalNews.com)
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.
Japan police find 10 bodies in nuclear zone
by Hiroshi Hiyama – Thu Apr 14, 10:16 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese police on Thursday found the bodies of 10 tsunami victims in the first search of a 10-kilometre (six-mile) zone around an atomic plant, as emergency crews battled to contain a nuclear crisis.Hundreds of police wearing white protective suits and face masks scoured rubble-strewn neighbourhoods near the plant for victims of the giant wave that smashed into Japan's northeast coast more than a month ago.Some of the remains were found inside cars and others were buried in debris, so that the sight of just a foot or other body part would lead to the discovery of a whole body, a Fukushima police spokesman told AFP.The 300-strong force was to continue their search on Friday in the no-man's land -- pushing closer towards the facility after they started a wider search on April 3 that covered the outer areas of the 20-km exclusion zone.Before the search began, police said it was difficult to estimate how many bodies were in the 10-kilometre danger zone around the plant, although the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper put the figure at around 1,000 tsunami victims. At the plant itself, emergency crews continued efforts to stop radioactive leaks into the Pacific, erecting a seabed silt fence to slow the spread of contaminants to sea and pumping highly toxic runoff water into tanks.Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said it was also analysing footage taken by an unmanned helicopter of the tsunami-hit plant and its explosion-charred reactor buildings to assess the damage.
A probe of the reactor four containment pool for more than 1,000 fuel rods -- exposed to the sky after a hydrogen blast ripped away the roof -- suggested that some of the rods had been damaged, but that most were intact.Plant workers kept pumping highly toxic runoff water from dousing operations into special tanks, so that they can safely resume the long-term work to restore the plant's original cooling systems and shut the plant down.Worries lingered over the impact of radioactive spills on marine life after the health ministry said caesium levels 25 times the legal limit had been detected in young sand lance caught off Fukushima prefecture.One sample of the tiny fish, whose sale has been halted since last week, had a caesium level of 12,500 becquerels per kilogram (5,680 per pound), far exceeding the 500 becquerel limit, Kyodo News reported. New figures showed the crisis has also hit tourism hard, with the number of foreign visitors to Japan suffering its biggest ever decline in March.Just 352,800 foreigners arrived in Japan, the government said -- half the figure for March 2010.Emperor Akihito meanwhile made his first trip to a disaster-hit area, visiting a shelter in Chiba prefecture for evacuees from the calamity that killed 13,498 people and left 14,734 missing by the latest count.Around 150,000 people are still living in shelters and the number is expected to swell after authorities this week declared new areas off-limits due to concerns over the effect of long-term exposure to radiation from the plant.A 102-year-old man from Iitate -- one of the areas added to the evacuation zone -- committed suicide, reportedly depressed at having to leave his home.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan told the first meeting of a reconstruction panel that he wanted to rejuvenate the disaster area to make it into one of the world's most desirable places to live. Kan is considering developing an environmentally friendly inland town with a population of 50,000-100,000, Kyodo News reported after the meeting of architects, academics, government and business leaders.But even as the panel looked at the future, with plans to create a plan by June, the political infighting of the pre-disaster past resurfaced, over a month after the massive quake struck.Opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki, the head of the conservative Liberal Democrats, suggested Kan think about resigning, while sniping also resumed from inside Kan's centre-left Democratic Party.To continue under the current leadership would be extremely unfortunate for the people,Tanigaki said, also hinting at launching no-confidence motions against Kan's cabinet in both houses of parliament.
Calls grow for Japan PM to quit in wake of quake
By Linda Sieg and Mayumi Negishi – Thu Apr 14, 8:45 pm ET
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's fragile post-disaster political truce unraveled on Thursday as the head of the main opposition party called on unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan to quit over his handling of the country's natural calamities and a nuclear crisis.At the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in the northeast of the country, engineers were struggling to find a new way to cool one of the six crippled reactors and Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it was now highly likely there was a hole in the suppression unit of the reactor.Kan, whose public support stands at about 30 percent, had sought a grand coalition to help the country recover from its worst ever natural disaster and enact bills to pay for the country's biggest reconstruction project since World War Two.Kan's Democratic Party controls parliament's lower house but needs opposition help to pass bills because it lacks a majority in the upper chamber, which can block legislation.But the head of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) -- who last week ruled out joining hands -- on Thursday pressured Kan to go.The time has come for (the prime minister) to decide whether he stays or goes, Kyodo news agency quoted Sadakazu Tanigaki as telling a news conference.Tanigaki's comment reflects the view of many in his conservative party that Kan must step down as a precondition for any coalition as well as a hope that criticism of Kan within his own Democratic Party will gather steam after party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa blasted the premier over his crisis management.
Upper House speaker Takeo Nishioka, a well-known Kan critic from the Democrats, also urged Kan to resign, Kyodo said.Kan, however, who took office as Japan's fifth leader since 2006 last June, is not likely to step down readily, while opposition parties could come under fire if they try to take disaster budgets hostage in a political battle, analysts said.Kan will probably ignore this, said Koichi Nakano, a Sophia University professor.If they thought of the national interests, would they (Kan's critics) do this now?
STILL NO CLOSER TO SOLVING NUCLEAR CRISIS
Five weeks ago a massive earthquake and tsunami left nearly 28,000 dead or missing, devastated a broad swathe of northeast Japan and damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant. There has been no sign of a resolution of the atomic crisis.The nuclear safety agency said a new plan for cooling one of six reactors at the plant, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, may be needed due to the large volume of highly radioactive water on site, and tests would be done to determine if damaged spent fuel rods were emitting radiation.It may be difficult to completely remove the contaminated water and so allow work to proceed (in restoring power to the cooling pumps). We may need to think of other options, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear Industry and Safety Authority.Nishiyama said there was 20,000 tones of contaminated water in the basement and a tunnel under reactor No. 2.What makes the No.2 unit decisively different from No.1 and No.3 units are that it is highly likely that there is a hole on the (No.2 unit's) suppression chamber after as an explosion was heard. It would be an accurate speculation that there is leakage.Engineers are also concerned that some spent fuel rods were damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and could be emitting high levels of radiation.Japan's nuclear crisis has been rated on par with the world's worst nuclear crisis at Chernobyl in 1986, although the total amount of radiation released is only a fraction of that when the nuclear plant in Ukraine exploded. Japan has expanded a 20-km (12-mile) evacuation zone around the plant because of high accumulated radiation. No radiation-linked deaths have been reported and only 21 plant workers have been affected by minor radiation sickness.
A series of strong aftershocks this week has rattled eastern Japan, slowing the recovery effort at the plant due to temporary evacuations of workers and power outages.The total cost of the damage has been estimated at $300 billion, making it the world's most costly natural disaster.Makoto Iokibe, head of a newly created government panel tasked to come up with a revival plan, floated the idea of setting up a special reconstruction tax in addition to bond sales and donations as ways to fund the bill.Given the potential scale of the cost, it might need to be shouldered by the entire Japanese people. That's why I mentioned (the special tax). But nothing concrete has been decided, Iokibe told a news conference after the panel's first meeting.Business confidence plunged to a record low in April, according to a Reuters survey, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the risk to the world's third largest economy is firmly on the downside.The IMF cut Japan's economic growth forecast to 1.4 percent this year from 1.6 percent, projected three months ago, and the Bank of Japan is expected to cut its January growth forecast of 1.6 percent when it issues its twice-yearly outlook on April 28. ($1 = 83.890 yen)(Additional reporting by Mayumi Negishi, Yoko Nishikawa, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kazunori Takada in Tokyo, Alexei Anischuk in Sanya, China and Leika Kihara in Washington; Writing by Linda Sieg and David Chance; Editing by Robert Birsel and Sanjeev Miglani)
BP feels fishermen's fury over Gulf oil spill
by Philippe Valat – Thu Apr 14, 8:01 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – BP faced protests from angry fishermen and disgruntled shareholders on Thursday at its first annual general meeting since the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The meeting took place almost a year since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and caused millions of gallons of oil to gush into the sea.Diane Wilson, a shrimp farmer from the Texas Gulf Coast smeared her face and hands with a dark syrup resembling oil as she protested outside the annual general meeting (AGM) venue in east London.My community is dead. We've worked five generations there and now we've got a dead community. I'm angry, I've been angry a long time.Wilson bought BP shares to gain entry to the meeting but police and security guards ejected her from the conference hall amid chaotic scenes.Around 100 protesters turned up to show their anger at BP's actions, ranging from Gulf fishermen to representatives of indigenous communities opposed to BP's involvement in tar sands extraction in northern Canada.BP has tried to move on from the disaster after agreeing to share responsibility with the owners of the stricken rig and is selling $30 billion (21 billion euros) of assets to pay the clean-up bill and compensate fisherman.
But Byron Encalade, president of the Louisiana Oystermen Association, said he had crossed the Atlantic to come to London to vent his fury at delays to compensation payments.We were the first to feel the impact of the oil spill. I'm here because the claims process has failed the fishing communities along the coast, he said.We'd just like to know where all this money went. We should have got it.He said he wanted a commitment from BP that the tens of thousands of delayed and unpaid claims would be investigated.Keith Jones, father of one of the dead oil rig workers, issued a statement which was read out at the meeting.You were rolling the dice with my son's life and you lost, it read.BP's fortunes were ravaged by the spill, widely acknowledged to be the worst environmental catastrophe in US history, and billions of dollars were knocked off the company's value.Oil spewed for 87 days before the well was capped, contaminating hundreds of miles of coastal wetlands and beaches, and forcing a third of the Gulf's rich US waters to close to fishing.Bob Dudley, the American who took over as chief executive from the beleaguered Tony Hayward in October, told shareholders that BP's actions were proof it had heard the concerns about its ability to prevent accidents.We are a different company from the one that held this event a year ago, he said, adding BP was now focused on realising value through safe and sustainable operations.BP reported its first annual loss in almost two decades as a result of the disaster and its share price remains 30 percent below its level before the spill.Although BP conducts the majority of its business abroad, it is crucial to the fortunes of millions of British investors because most British pension funds invest in the company.Several key shareholders, including the US pension fund Calpers, threatened to vote against the annual report to be submitted at the AGM, partly in protest at the high levels of pay for BP executives despite the disaster.Dudley also defended a huge planned deal to explore for oil in the Arctic in a joint venture with Russian giants Rosneft.Access to the Arctic is a substantial prize, he told the meeting.The issue has been put off until May after BP and Rosneft agreed Thursday to extend a deadline to complete a $16 billion share swap that is key to the deal -- which has also sparked environmental concerns.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Gadhafi defiant despite NATO airstrikes in Tripoli
By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press - APR 14,11
TRIPOLI, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi rolled defiantly through the streets of Tripoli, pumping his fists as he poked through the sun roof of an SUV on Thursday — the same day that NATO airstrikes shook the city. The alliance's foreign ministers, while united in their aim to pressure the Libyan leader to go, argued at a meeting over whether to step up military operations that have so far failed to rout him.Gadhafi gave no sign that he's willing to relent, despite two months of civil war and mounting international pressure for him to move aside. Instead, his loyalists pounded rebel positions in the besieged western city of Misrata with dozens of rockets for several hours, killing at least 13 people.The main target of the assault was Misrata's port, the only lifeline for rebels who have been trying to defend positions in the city, Libya's third-largest, against Gadhafi's forces.Early Friday, Gadhafi's daughter Aisha sent another defiant message from her father's Bab al-Aziziyah compound in the capital of Tripoli, badly damaged exactly 25 years ago, in an April 15, 1986 bombing by U.S. warplanes. That attack came in response to a bombing that had killed two U.S. servicemen at a German disco.Leave our skies with your bombs, Gadhafi's daughter told a cheering crowd, addressing the international community.We are a people that cannot be defeated.Wearing a green headscarf and a leather jacket, she waved to the crowd of several hundred and led them in chants from a second-floor balcony that in the past was used by her father to deliver speeches.On Thursday, several large explosions were heard in Tripoli and a column of black smoke rose from the southeastern part of the city, followed by the sound of anti-aircraft guns, a resident said.Libyan state television showed Gadhafi — dressed in a black Western blazer, black crew neck T-shirt, sunglasses and a hat — standing through the open sun roof of a sport utility vehicle on a fist-pumping, rapid ride through Tripoli with dozens of supporters chasing behind him. Libyan TV said the trip came on the same day that NATO airstrikes hit military and civilian areas in the capital.The TV report said there were civilian casualties from the attacks. The report could not be confirmed.
The fighting in Libya began in mid-February when large anti-government protests escalated into a civil war. Rebels hold much of eastern Libya, while Gadhafi controls the west, with the front line shifting back and forth in the middle. Three weeks of international airstrikes haven't routed Gadhafi's forces.Gadhafi's troops unleashed three hours of heavy shelling on the port city of Misrata, which is partly held by rebels. The port is Misrata's only lifeline, and government forces fired tank shells and dozens of Grad missiles, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.They want to flatten the area to deploy the troops on foot and invade the city, said one of the witnesses, a doctor whose first name was Ayman. He added that a ship sent by Doctors Without Borders to evacuate 165 critically injured people to Tunisia had been scheduled to arrive Thursday morning at Misrata's port, and he believed the government had shelled the port to interfere with the humanitarian aid.Another doctor in Misrata, who gave his name only as Khaled for fear of retribution, said some of those killed were inside their houses asleep at the time of the shelling. Among the dead were two men aged 75 and 80.Gadhafi forces have control of a highway on the outskirts of Misrata, Libya's third-largest city.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chaired a Cairo meeting of regional and international organizations on Libya and set three targets: reaching and implementing a cease-fire, delivering humanitarian aid and starting a dialogue on Libya's future.Shelling your own people is not acceptable, he said at a meeting at Arab League headquarters, referring to actions by Gadhafi's forces. This is a violation of human rights.At a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, the United States and its allies put up a united front on the goals of the alliance's stalemated military mission in Libya but failed to resolve behind-the-scenes squabbling over how to achieve them.NATO members agreed on paper with President Barack Obama that Gadhafi had to go to end the crisis, they also made clear that they would not be the ones to oust him. Although several NATO members want the alliance to commit more planes to expand the air campaign, the first day of meetings closed without any specific commitments for more aircraft. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed for unity, saying Gadhafi was taunting the alliance by continuing to strike cities held by rebels seeking his overthrow.As our mission continues, maintaining our resolve and unity only grows more important, Clinton said.Gadhafi is testing our determination.The United States is resisting suggestions that it resume a large combat role to break a deadlock between rebels and better-armed forces loyal to Gadhafi.Clinton and other top diplomats pointedly said their U.N. mandate for an air campaign does not extend to Gadhafi's exit by force.The allies again resolved to enforce a U.N. arms embargo, protect civilians acting to push Gadhafi forces out of cities they have entered, and get in humanitarian aid.But differences over the scope of the military operation persisted, with Britain and France insisting on more action, particularly from sophisticated U.S. surveillance and weapons systems, and U.S officials maintaining that the alliance already has the tools to get the job done.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris had wanted (NATO) to intensify its strikes, and we received the assurance that that would be the case.Clinton did not say if the U.S. would send more ground attack craft, but she said Washington would continue to support the NATO mission until its goals were met.Rebel spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said the opposition in Benghazi is encouraged by the diplomatic talks but worried that it won't translate in to concrete action fast enough to prevent more civilian deaths.
It will be interesting to see if there is any movement on the ground or just a lot of talk and no action, he said.Is there something else on the diplomatic ground that they know that we don't to put more pressure on Gadhafi? The guy is still shelling and killing, and it makes no difference to him.He mentioned specifically the shelling of Misrata and said the international community's actions will largely determine how long the conflict lasts.They wrote off Gadhafi's regime. The question is how fast their plan is going to take care of him. We know arming ourselves will lead to the eventual toppling of the regime. But are we willing to wait two years or three years or a year and a half? How many victims do we have to accept? Rebel leaders have said they would only consider a truce if it Gadhafi is removed from power first.At the Cairo meeting of top diplomats, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Gadhafi must leave immediately and that Libyans should be given a chance to choose a new leader.Arab League chief Amr Moussa told reporters after the meeting that the situation in Libya is very grave.Brief clashes erupted between pro- and anti-Gadhafi demonstrators outside the meeting. The two camps hurled rocks at each other, with at least one protester seen with blooded face after being hit in the head with a stone. The anti-Gadhafi protesters outnumbered the pro-Gadhafi demonstrators, chased them and forced them to flee.NATO said it had conducted 153 sorties in the last 24 hours, striking 13 bunkers, one tank and one armored personnel carrier in the Tripoli area and three multiple rocket launchers in the Brega area.
Journalists were taken to Tripoli's Fateh University where they were shown damage they were told was the result of an airstrike earlier in the day. The blast shattered windows of several buildings, including two student cafeterias, and glass shards were scattered across the floor. Tiles of false ceilings had been knocked out in several lecture halls.Government minders traveling with the journalists said the strike had hit a military target nearby and white smoke was seen rising from a group of trees several hundred yards from the campus. The minders would not elaborate or allow anyone to approach the targeted area. However, one journalist who had snatched a glimpse from a rooftop said she had seen an anti-aircraft battery at the site. Photographs taken later showed a large military truck in the area.A Tripoli resident said many people were fasting in preparation for mass anti-Gadhafi protests Friday, the 25th anniversary of the 1986 U.S. raid on Tripoli.Life in Libya is becoming harsh, with prices skyrocketing, gasoline scarce and long lines in front of bakeries, said the resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.Al-Sadek al-Ghariani, a top Muslim cleric in Libya, said in a video posted on Facebook that it was a religious duty to join Friday's protests. In February, he issued two fatwas calling for anti-Gadhafi protests and then went into hiding. Gadhafi forces apparently are trying to find him.At the western edge of Ajdabiya, the main gateway town into the opposition-held east, two wounded rebel fighters were brought through, and the rebel forces retaliated by firing rockets in the direction of Brega.In western Libya, rebels attacked a small military base about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Nalut and chased away 40 soldiers who had been trying to stop aid from Tunisia and harassing people trying to flee into that country. In apparent retaliation, Libyan government forces shelled the town of Tikut.Rebel chief of Staff Abdel-Fatah Younes said the opposition fighters have received new anti-tank weapons from Qatar and that experts from that country are training the forces to use them.Also Thursday, Libyan TV reported Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, mediated the release of Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera correspondent Amar al-Hamdan, who was en route to the Libya-Tunisian border.Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo, Sebastian Abbot in Ajdabiya, Libya; Hadeel al-Shalchi in Tunis, Tunisia; and Geir Moulson and Matthew Lee in Berlin contributed reporting.
Allies say Libya campaign on until Gaddafi goes
By Mussab al-Khairalla - Thu Apr 14, 8:28 pm ET
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Leaders of Britain, France and the United States vowed on Friday to keep up their military campaign in Libya until Muammar Gaddafi leaves power, and rebels said his forces pounded the city of Misrata with missiles.In a strongly worded, jointly written article published in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Barack Obama said leaving Gaddafi in power would be an unconscionable betrayal of the Libyan people.It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government, the leaders wrote.So long as Gaddafi is in power, NATO and its coalition partners must maintain their operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds, they said.Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an inclusive constitutional process can really begin, led by a new generation of leaders. For that transition to succeed, Colonel Gaddafi must go, and go for good.The reaction from the Gaddafi camp was swift in coming as the Libyan leader's daughter Aisha told a rally in Tripoli, at a family compound bombed by the Americans in 1986, that demanding her father's departure was an insult to the Libyan people.Talk about Gaddafi stepping down is an insult to all Libyans because Gaddafi is not in Libya, but in the hearts of all Libyans, she said in a speech broadcast live on Libyan television to mark the 25th anniversary of American strikes on the huge complex, which includes military barracks.The article by the Western allies appeared at a time when diplomatic efforts have failed to paper over divisions between NATO allies about how intensively they should prosecute the three-week-old air war, and the situation on the ground has shown signs of stalemate.
Washington, which led the campaign in its first week, has since turned over command to NATO and taken a back seat role. Britain and France complain that other NATO allies have not provided enough fire power to take out Gaddafi's armor and allow the rebels in control of the east to sweep him from power.Libyan rebels begged on Thursday for more air strikes and said they faced a massacre from government forces, who blasted the besieged city of Misrata with missiles.NATO planes bombed targets in the capital Tripoli, where state television showed footage of a defiant Gaddafi cruising through the streets in a green safari jacket and sunglasses, pumping his fists and waving from an open-top vehicle.
MEDIEVAL SIEGE
Rebels said a hail of rockets fired by besieging forces into a residential district of Misrata, Libya's third largest city, had killed 23 civilians, mostly women and children.Over 200 Grad missiles fell on the port area, including residential neighborhoods near the port. They shelled this area because the port is Misrata's only window to the outside world, a rebel spokesman using the name Ghassan said by telephone.The destruction there was huge. I was there and saw for myself, he said, adding that the port had been shut.In their article, the U.S., British and French leaders said Misrata was enduring a medieval siege as Gaddafi tries to strangle its population into submission.Aid organizations warn of a humanitarian disaster in the city, the lone major rebel bastion in western Libya, where hundreds of civilians are said to have died in a six-week siege.NATO foreign ministers in Berlin promised on Thursday in a joint declaration to provide all necessary resources and maximum operational flexibility for the air campaign to maintain a high operational tempo against legitimate targets.But several allies rebuffed calls from France and Britain to contribute more to the air attacks, conducted under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the Berlin meeting he was hopeful more countries would contribute to the strike force.It's not unreasonable to ask other nations...to make additional contributions,he said.
Spain said it had no plan to join the seven NATO states that have conducted ground strikes. Italy, Libya's former colonial power, expressed reluctance to launch attacks.(Writing by Peter Graff; editing by Michael Roddy)
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Iran Claims it Has Advanced Centrifuges in Operation
by Gavriel Queenann APR 15,11
Tehran marked nuclear technology day on earlier this week, stating it had improved its uranium enrichment processing capabilities, Reuters reports.The technology touted, advanced centrifuges, is key to producing weapons grade nuclear material and has been a poignant point of concern for Israeli and US officials, who are concerned Iran's nuclear program has military aims.Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and has dismissed international sanctions that were tightened last year as illegal and ineffective.Talks with global powers aimed at resolving the nuclear impasse stalled in January, with Tehran insisting it would not accept any curb on its nuclear enrichment activities.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his speech to underscore the symbolic importance of Iran having its own civil nuclear capacity, comparing the West's attempts to curb the program to the hostile British and US reaction to Iran's nationalisation of its oil industry in the 1950s.
If we should evaluate Iran's achievements in the nuclear field, Ahmadinejad said.It might exceed the nationalisation of the oil industry in importance. Back then, more important than the oil itself was the independence and the honour of the nation.
Fereidoun Abbasi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency told the conference that second and third generation centrifuges had been produced and tested, the official IRNA news agency reported.Abbasi also said the Natanz enrichment site in central Iran would be producing uranium enriched to 20 percent purity - much more potent than the level needed for nuclear fuel but still not pure enough for weapons material.Iran intends to activate the Bushehr plant in May.It's difficult to know what is propaganda and what is real, but what is clear is that they are making progress, Ephraim Kam, Deputy Head of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, and a former colonel in the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence, said of the announcement.There's no question that progress is being made,Kam said.The nucelar agenda of Iran is not on the world's agenda at all. For months, there have been no challenges from Europe or the US, and negotiations are stalled. There is no pressure on Iran.Kam's statements would seem to indicate Iran has managed to overcome the Stuxnet computer virus which seriously crippled Iran's nuclear program and forced them to shut down their enrichment program for an extended period.While Iran may find itself in a comofrtable position vis-a-vis the West, Iran's Arab neighbors across the Persian Gulf have expressed deep concerned about the Iranian nuclear program and the Islamic Republic's machinations in the region.On Teusday the Israeli open source defense and intelligence news site, Debka, reported Saudi and Kuwait officials told the United States, should Iran activate the Bushehr reactor in May the region would suffer a second Fukushima disaster.
The warning might stem from reports Russian engineer's in Bushehr found metal shards in the reactor intake, which could mean all is not as well as Iran would have the world believe at Bushehr.It also underscores discord between Saudi Arabia and the Obama Administration on how to confront Shiite Iran's aggressive geopolitical posture. For their part, the Saudis and their allies are seeking to forge a strategic bulwark against Iran.On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he would be speaking to members of the US Congress about dealing with the Iranian threat.In the past Saudi officials have expressed, behind closed doors, a willingness to allow Israel to use their airspace to strike Iran's nuclear program.The Bushehr site is on the Iranian coast, less than 100 kilometers from Saudi Arabia across the Persian Gulf.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Iran's Backing of Hamas Has Introduced Shi'ite Islam to Gaza
by Gavriel Queenann APR 15,11
Iran's backing Hamas has led to hundreds of conversions to Shi'a (the Shi'ite Islamic stream) in Sunni dominated Gaza.Al Arabya reports a large number of Arabs in Gaza have adopted Shi'ite doctrine within the past few years, although the enclave is controlled by the Sunni Islamist Hamas rulers.Agence-France Press characterized the conversions as a clear sign of an increase in the Iranian influence among the Gaza's Arabs.Arab states have accused Iran of inciting hatred and igniting sectarian tensions throughout the region. These same states have frozen Hamas out in favor of its arch-rival Fatah.As a result, Hamas leaders in Gaza find themselves forced to tread lightly with Shiite missionaries in order not to jeopardize their relationship with their closest ally, Tehran.This, depsite Hamas' stridently fundamentalist brand of Sunni Islam.Abdul Rahim Hamad, who lives in Jabalia, told the Associated Press he converted to the Shi'ite doctrine five years ago. Hamad attributed the growth of Shi'a in Gaza to the influence of Iran and Lebanon's Hizbullah in the region.We are now hundreds in Gaza, Hamad said.We will start our political activities soon. Palestinian Shi'ites will play an important role in controlling this region in the future.Ahmed Youssef, adviser of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, denied any increase in Shi'ite Islam in Gaza, but added Gaza's Arabs love Iran and Hizbullah.
A Message For Iran
Despite Haniyeh's lovey public rhetoric vis-a-vis Iran, Hamas is starting to show signs of displeasure with the ideological Trojan Horse Iranian aid represents in its bailiwick.Security sources in Gaza intimated police forces last Thursday shut down the premises of the Shi'ite al-Baqeyat al-Salehat society, located in northern Gaza.
We were surprised today by the shutdown of the society premises, Hisham Salem, the society chairman, told the Ma'an News Agency.Salem insisted al-Baqeyat al-Salehat was a charitable society that was given the municipal license four years ago.The society receives funds from several foreign states, including Iran, he said.Some observers have suggested the shutdown was a veiled message Hamas has little intention of allowing Gaza to become an Iranian satrapy.But Hamas, messages aside, is in a proverbial catch-22. If Hamas leaders wish to retain control of Gaza they must stanch the spread of Shi'a. But doing so may come at the cost of Tehran's patronage, which serves as a vital life-line for a largely isolated Hamas.
Israel Leaving Door Open For Iran
For their part, Israeli security officials have left the door open for Iran in Gaza.
In a batch of classified US Embassy Cables recently released by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin was quoted as having told US officials his agency possessed intelligence indicating Gaza Arabs were using the Rafah crossing to travel to and from Iran and Lebanon to increase Hamas' capabilities.Diskin told the Americans: If we want to approach this seriously, we need to start with the movements of people.Despite these comments, Diskin maintained that it was important to leave the Rafah crossing open.When US officials asked about Egypt’s ability to influence matters in Gaza, Diskin replied,The most important thing they can do is stop the smuggling which takes place between their borders with both Gaza and Israel.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
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.
Possible tornadoes, large hail forecast for Plains
– Thu Apr 14, 10:34 am ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are possible for the southern Plains Thursday afternoon, including southeast Kansas and eastern Oklahoma, according to forecasters.Pretty much the whole gamut of severe summer weather is what we're looking at here, said Pat Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.Other areas facing a moderate risk of heavy weather Thursday include parts of northeast Texas, southwest Missouri and western Arkansas.On Friday, areas at risk for tornadoes, damaging winds and hail include eastern Mississippi, south central Tennessee, western Alabama, Slattery said.He said the weather is not unusual for this time of year.This is pretty much our peak time of weather for this part of the country, Slattery said.In other regions, the northeast is expected to be dry, while snow is predicted in the western Dakotas, northwest Nebraska, Montana and the Rockies, according to weather.com. Snow may become heavy across central South Dakota and central Nebraska overnight, the site reported. Severe thunderstorms are expected to move across Missouri into southern Illinois and western Kentucky Thursday night.
Near-record flooding has developed along the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota as a result of the spring thaw.High fire danger conditions continue over the rest of Oklahoma and southwest Texas, and in New Mexico and southeast Colorado, the web site said. Texas and some neighboring states have been hit with damaging wildfires that have charred thousands of acres.(Writing by Mary Wisniewski, Editing by Greg McCune)
Grand Forks flood crest lowered; National Guard patrol
– Thu Apr 14, 1:16 pm ET
GRAND FORKS, North Dakota (Reuters) – Flood fighters patrolled strained levees on a Red River tributary and an old dam on a northwest North Dakota river on Thursday as forecasters reduced the projected crest in Grand Forks.About 100 North Dakota National Guard members watched the levees around Valley City, reinforcing weak spots in the levee system along the Sheyenne River that is expected to crest within inches of its 20.7 foot record there on Friday.There was one part of a levee that we had issues with last year too that started to slip, Shannon Bauer, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman, said Thursday.We put in a contingency dike behind it.Bauer said flood fighters also built a clay dike along Main Street in Valley City to reinforce a temporary barrier made of sand-filled barriers leaking under the strain of the water.Engineers have added twice to levees in the Valley City area in anticipation of the near-record crest. High flows on the Red River have also left the Sheyenne spreading out across communities near where it meets the Red River north of Fargo.In northwest North Dakota, the weather service has a flash flood watch in effect until Saturday for Burlington residents near a small dam that could fail on the flooded Des Lacs River. However, river levels were easing on Thursday.
In Grand Forks, the National Weather Service on Thursday trimmed a foot from its projections, but was still expecting the Red River to reach its third highest crest on record.The Red River is starting to flatten out now, we are still looking at a crest close to, maybe just under, 50 feet within the next 12 to 24 hours, Al Voelker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, said on Thursday.With permanent barriers built after the 1997 floods now protecting Grand Forks and neighboring East Grand Forks, Minnesota, the focus is more on smaller nearby communities.The Red River crested Saturday at Fargo earlier and lower than forecasted. However, smaller communities and farms north and west of Fargo have been hit hard by flooded tributaries.Once past Grand Forks, the Red River flattens and grows to eight miles wide or more during floods, making numerous roads impassable, isolating some farms in North Dakota and Minnesota and making the small city of Oslo an island for days.This year's expansive flooding was expected to have a major impact on the amount of land North Dakota farmers will be able to plant this spring.
The river ultimately flows through Manitoba, Canada, into Lake Winnipeg. Canadian towns have been preparing defenses for weeks and the provincial government is set to close the major link between North Dakota and Winnipeg, Highway 75.Winnipeg expects the second-highest crest on record as early as late April.(Writing by David Bailey; Additional reporting by Doug Barrett and Rod Nickel; Editing by Greg McCune)
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LAURIE ROTHS SITE
http://therothshow.com/
DOUG HAGMANNS SITES
http://homelandsecurityus.com/
https://hagmann-pi.com/Home.html
http://theneinblog.blogspot.com/
CANADA FREE PRESS-JUDI MCLEOD
http://www.canadafreepress.com/
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
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.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Palestinian PM: Brussels meeting is birth certificate for statehood
ANDREW RETTMAN 14.04.2011 @ 09:51 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Palestinian Authority has welcomed endorsement of a UN report on institution building as a birth certificate for statehood amid Israeli concern over a potential unilateral declaration of independence.The Ad-hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) on Palestine at a meeting in the EU capital on Wednesday (13 April) endorsed a UN report which says that in six key areas - rule of law, the economy, education, health, social protection and infrastructure - in the West Bank government functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of a state.The AHLC is an international body comprising the EU, US, Israel, Canada, Norway, Russia, four Arab countries, the UN, the World Bank and the IMF.The endorsement comes ahead of a UN meeting in September in which Israel fears the Palestinian side will unilaterally declare independence in territories under its control before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war due to a stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Speaking after the event in Brussels, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said: This very important meeting effectively recognised the reality of a state of Palestine being projected on the territory occupied in 1967, which amounts effectively to a birth certificate for the reality of Palestinian statehood.Asked by press if the move makes a unilateral declaration more likely, he said he would favour a final settlement recognised by Israel: We are not looking for yet another declaration, or for a virtual state.He went on to note that the AHLC-UN decision, plus related decisions to grant the Palestinian Authority observer status in the WTO and tariff-free exports to the EU, are reflective of growing support for independence, however.
These are important developments and we see them as reflective. A lot of countries around the world stand ready to offer that recognition. Of course, exactly when they do so precisely is a time for their choosing.Israeli diplomat Irit Ben-Abba, underlined that the AHLC still sees the stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks as the way forward.I am very glad the consensus in the room is that the only way to solving the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is through a negotiated peace agreement. There's no other way to circumvent the direct negotiations between us and the Palestinians.The peace talks have stalled largely due to Israel's continuing expansion of settlements on occupied Palestinian land.The UN report noted that since September 2010 Israel has given the green light for 1,700 Jewish settlement units while continuing demolitions of Palestinian homes and evictions of Palestinian families especially in east Jerusalem.It noted that Israel maintains around 500 roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank and a partial blockade on movement of goods in and out of Gaza.It added that 10 Palestinians were killed and 545 injured in the West Bank in the reporting period, on top of 24 deaths and 114 injuries in Gaza. It also said Israel continues to hold around 6,000 Palestinians in jail including around 300 children and some persons held without charges.
A parallel Israeli report submitted to the AHCL instead underlined the barrage of missiles recently launched from Gaza, the murder of a Jewish settler family and the long-term captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.Israel's Ben-Abba said a decision last year to expand the list of products allowed into Gaza effectively opened the crossings for all goods.The new list was drawn up after international outrage when Israeli commandos killed nine people on a flotilla trying to break the Gaza siege. Ben-Abba noted that international NGOs are planning to send a new flotilla in late May.There's no necessity for flotillas … We call on all governments to put pressure on NGOs to stop all attempts to send flotillas to this region,she said.For his part, Tony Blair, a former British leader who currently works as an international envoy to the Middle East, appeared to give Israel a carte blanche for collateral damage in Gaza.Asked by press in Brussels on Wednesday what he thinks of a recent Arab League proposal for a Libya-type no-fly zone for Israeli jets over Gaza, he said: If the rockets keep coming, then there will be actions taken by the government of Israel and then we get into a situation where civilian lives will be lost.
Palestinian prime minister hails donor endorsement
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press – Thu Apr 14, 3:57 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – The Palestinian prime minister on Thursday hailed the international community's endorsement of his development efforts as a birth certificate for an independent state, but said outside intervention may be needed to make a future Palestine a reality.Salam Fayyad spoke a day after key donor states meeting in Brussels confirmed that the institutions developed by the Palestinian Authority are now above the threshold for a functioning state. The donors, who give the Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars in aid each year, cited reports prepared by the World Bank, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.
That for us is the birth certificate for our state, Fayyad told reporters.Fayyad, a U.S.-educated economist, alluded to the emerging Palestinian strategy — given the breakdown in peace negotiations with Israel — of asking the United Nations to recognize their independence at a vote in the annual General Assembly gathering in September.In September we will be in a better position to advance our cause until the international community intervenes and our state is born, he said.Fayyad gave no specifics on what the Palestinians had in mind, reflecting a growing realization among the Palestinians that a U.N. vote may change little on the ground, and could even bring about angry disappointment among his people.Israel has played down the U.N. gambit, noting that General Assembly resolutions do not have the force of law and cannot result in U.N. membership. That can only be bestowed by the Security Council, where Israel is counting on a United States veto of any such move.Israel's position — that a Palestinian state built on lands occupied by Israel can result only from negotiations — is supported not only by the United States but also Britain, Germany and others in Europe.Nonetheless, Israeli officials acknowledge a setback at the U.N. would deepen Israel's international isolation. The latest U.S. attempt to restart negotiations broke down in September, only weeks after being launched, over Israel's settlement building in the West Bank. The United States is continuing to urge a return to talks.Even if talks resume, Israel's hard-line government is unlikely to agree to Palestinian terms of a near-total pullout from the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas Israel occupied in 1967 and has since settled with more than a half million Jews.The U.S. remains committed to brokering an agreement by September, the target set by President Barack Obama, but the Palestinians appear to have given up on that.
Fayyad said the Palestinians would continue our struggle until the international community holds its responsibility (of) ending the occupation ... until the international community intervenes and has our state born.A U.N. resolution would not uproot the dozens of settlements that dot the West Bank or remove the Israeli troops in control there.Even so, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top Palestinian official, said General Assembly recognition could shake things up enough to give the Palestinians a new legal and political stage to struggle for ending the Israeli occupation and removing the Israeli settlements.Israel seems torn between ignoring the Palestinian unilateral statehood drive and trying to pre-empt it.One notion being considered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials say, is an interim arrangement in which the Palestinian autonomous zones set up in the 1990s might be enlarged and upgraded to full sovereignty.The Palestinians have always rejected any idea of an interim settlement, fearing it would become permanent, and the world would lose interest in their further claims.Another complicating factor is that the Gaza Strip, part of any future state, is controlled by Hamas, a rival Palestinian faction that the United States, EU and Israel consider a terrorist group. The Islamic militant Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are bitter rivals. Hamas overran Gaza in 2007. Abbas has been trying to organize a reconciliation with Hamas before September, so far in vain.Fayyad did not say what the Palestinians would do if they won a General Assembly vote in September.Privately, Palestinian officials have suggested they might start organizing peaceful protests outside Jewish settlements and try to ratchet up pressure on Israel by pushing for sanctions.Some have called for reducing or halting security cooperation with Israel, which Israelis agree has contributed to the dramatic reduction of violence in recent years.A test of the strategy may come next month, when Palestinian youth groups plan marches on settlements to mark the anniversary of Israel's May 15, 1948, creation, which Palestinians call the nakba, or catastrophe, because the refugee crisis that resulted.
Outlook uncertain, G20 to target imbalances
By Jan Strupczewski and Daniel Flynn - APR 15,11
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Faced with an uneven world recovery and uncertain outlook, finance leaders were hoping on Friday to flesh out a plan to build a global economy less prone to the booms and busts of recent decades.Forging consensus among central bankers and ministers from the Group of 20 advanced and developing economies won't be easy amid the current array of threats to stability, including high oil prices and debt levels, and unrest across the Middle East.But with officials eager to avoid a recurrence of the 2007-2009 crisis and the worst global recession since World War Two, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said addressing imbalances between export-rich and debt-burdened countries that have long plagued the global economy was a top G20 priority.Many economists say these imbalances contributed to the crisis, as emerging market countries reinvested their surpluses in Western markets and caused excessive risk-taking by banks.The G20 accounts for 85 percent of world output and is now the main forum for trying to reform the world's financial system. But it has become hard to agree on just how to do that now that the darkest days of the financial crisis have passed.An uncertain outlook complicates things further. Signs of recovery in some rich countries have led their central banks to raise interest rates. But high oil and food prices threaten to slow growth and worsen unrest in some developing countries.
Then, there's the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis, political infighting over the massive U.S. deficit and the damage from last month's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan, the world's third-largest economy.Officials on Friday were likely to push for a deal on how to apply guidelines to identify countries with excess trade deficits or surpluses.It is a matter of credibility for the G20 that we agree on the indicative guidelines this weekend, said Olli Rehn, the European Union's economic and monetary affairs commissioner.The International Monetary Fund, which holds its twice-yearly meetings this weekend, warned officials not to grow complacent about the recovery's prospects.The apex of the crisis is behind us, but it would be part of the complacency I am trying to avoid to believe we are in a post-crisis era, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.The G20 wasn't expected on Friday to name specific countries that spend or save too much, but if it did, the United States and China would almost certainly top the list.It would probably include others. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Thursday the biggest economies -- those representing 5 percent of total G20 output -- might get special scrutiny. That would also include France, Germany and Japan.Beyond that the G20 hopes to discuss how to apply guidelines. That might be done through computer modeling, with sources telling Reuters four different models for identifying imbalances were being discussed.Canada's Flaherty expected ministers to reach agreement, but added: there are still some bumps along the road.China has expressed suspicion that the effort may be aimed at pressuring it to reduce its hefty trade surpluses.At a February meeting in Paris, G20 ministers agreed on a list of indicators for monitoring imbalances, including public debt, private savings and borrowing. But China balked at any mention of the real effective exchange rate or foreign currency reserves.China's foreign exchange reserves -- a stockpile that reflects Beijing's exporting prowess -- soared to a record of more than $3 trillion by the end of March, a sum certain to raise eyebrows in Washington.
Reducing deficits is also crucial, and the IMF this week said the United States may have a hard time of meeting a G20 goal of halving its deficit by 2013. President Barack Obama presented a plan this week to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years, but his former economic adviser said the country should wait until after growth is strong enough to warrant higher interest rates.If the United States were to slash its deficit next year, the consequences for real economic activity would be most unfortunate,said ex-White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said Thursday.(Reporting by Reuters IMF/G20 team; Writing by Steven C. Johnson; editing by Leslie Adler)
G24 nations reject IMF plan on capital flows
– Thu Apr 14, 7:42 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Group of 24 emerging and developing economies on Thursday rejected an International Monetary Fund plan for managing capital flows, saying measures should be up to the individual country to decide.The finance ministers of the G24, which includes notably Brazil, India and Mexico, insisted on having the flexibility to deal with excessive capital inflows that can spur inflation and drive their currencies higher.Ministers did not agree with the proposed framework for staff advice to member countries on managing capital flows, they said on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington.
The IMF last week endorsed capital controls for the first time, but only under certain conditions and limitations, in a package of proposals for governments to manage volatile capital movements.But the G24 ministers said the IMF needed to maintain an open-minded and even-handed approach to the management of capital flows.
Policymakers of countries facing large and volatile capital flows must have the flexibility and discretion to adopt policies that they consider appropriate and effective to mitigate risks through macroeconomic policies, prudential measures and capital controls, they said in a statement.The also said IMF policies needed to take into consideration the policies of countries where the capital originates, especially systemically important financial centers, a veiled reference to the United States, where ultra-loose monetary policy has spurred capital flows in search of higher returns.The IMF proposal to permit capital controls marked a milestone for the 187-nation institution, which for decades has steadfastly pushed governments to permit the free movement of capital.The framework came in response to a call by France, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies this year, for capital flow guidelines.
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).
France rejects EU-wide VAT proposal
ANDREW WILLIS 14.04.2011 @ 17:10 CET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiNefzWMFNY&feature=player_embedded
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - France has rejected a European Commission proposal to create an EU-wide value added tax (VAT), but insists it is still open to the EU having some form of own resources.The subject was one of several issues discussed by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon during a working lunch with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Thursday (14 April).Member states are gearing up for a major debate on the EU's next multi-annual budget (post 2013), with the commission set to come forward with draft proposals this June.Heavy wrangling in previous years has convinced the commission and MEPs that the EU needs to have its own self-funding mechanism, but Fillon said the EU VAT idea was not one that Paris was willing to consider.I don't think there will be any question of having a European VAT, he told journalists inside the commission's Berlaymont building as Barroso looked on.But France is not closed on this idea of own resources for the European budget.Value added tax is a form of consumption tax, extracted at a national level each time companies or individual purchase goods. An EU-wide VAT was one of several self-funding ideas put forward by the commission in a paper published towards the end of last year.Other suggestions included a financial sector tax, an EU charge related to air transport, an EU energy tax and an EU corporate income tax.
The EU budget has produced some of the most heated battles in the Union's history, with former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher famously banging her handbag on the negotiating table and declaring I want my money back.Funding methods have steadily changed over the years, with national contributions representing 10 percent of the EU budget in 1988, while these days they amount to roughly 70 percent as takings from EU customs duties and farm levies have declined.The common agricultural policy (CAP) and funding for poorer regions currently eat up the vast majority of the EU's roughly €130 billion-a-year spending pot, with countries such as Britain traditionally keen to see more money spent on measures to promote industry and innovation.France on the other hand, with its vocal farming sector, is a strong advocate of a well-funded CAP.Food security is a major challenge for Europe and now is not the time we should be giving up on this,said Fillon.The CAP, contrary to other European policies, has been reformed continuously ... Agriculture should remain at the top of the agenda.The Frenchman, seen as a calm counterbalance to the more impulsive French President Nicolas Sarkozy, warned however that EU member states were feeling the pinch, and were unlikely to support a large increase in the EU's overall budget.Negotiations on this are going to take place within a very tight environment for national budgets. Those constraints have to be taken on board by Brussels,he said.
EU signs trade deals with Peru and Colombia
ANDREW WILLIS 14.04.2011 @ 09:30 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union has initialed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Peru and Colombia, opening up trade and investment and saving an estimated half a billion euros in duties.Wednesday's (13 April) signing in Brussels comes roughly one year after negotiations between the two South American states and the EU were concluded, talks which drew attention to violence in Colombia and saw Ecuador leave the negotiating table.EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht welcomed the milestone agreement, saying it created a foothold for European business in the area and an anchor for structural reforms in the countries concerned.Once fully implemented, the deal will eliminate tariffs in all industrial and fisheries products, increase market access for agricultural products and widen access to public procurement, services and investment markets, among other measures.EU member states and the European Parliament must now ratify the FTAs, with some MEPs previously expressing concern over the high number of trade union deaths in Colombia, roughly 60 percent of the world total.The commission has stressed that the protection of human rights and the rule of law, as well as commitments to effectively implement international conventions on labour rights and environmental protection, are part of the deal.Attending the signing in Brussels, Colombian trade minister Minister Sergio Diaz-Granados Guida said greater trade flows between the two sides would help Bogota stamp out violence and drug trafficking.This FTA will help us progress and leave behind those problems, he told journalists.Economic growth based on free trade helps the stability and development of our peoples.In Peru, recent first round presidential elections have set the scene for a second round face-off this June between left-wing Ollanta Humala and the conservative Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.
Some voices within the Peruvian business community have expressed concern that an eventual Humala victory could hurt the country's booming economy, but the EU's De Gucht said the election outcome would have little impact on the FTA.This is an agreement which is finished ... It's standard international practice that once a negotiation is completed you don't change it [just] because there is a change of government,he said.The EU also said the door was open for other countries in the region to strike similar trade agreements, after earlier dialogues with Bolivia and Ecuador hit the buffers.
EARTH WORSHIP
DEUTERONOMY 17:3-4
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
2 KINGS 23:5
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH(BECAUSE OF SIN AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
EU proposes greener energy tax
ANDREW WILLIS 13.04.2011 @ 18:10 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU taxes on motor and heating fuels will focus on carbon emissions and energy content in the future, under draft rules published by the European Commission. The proposed overhaul of the bloc's energy taxation directive is designed to promote energy efficiency and environmental friendly products, but will need the backing of all 27 EU countries if it is to be implemented, with reports suggesting the UK and Germany may veto the plans.The modernised energy taxation system comes at the right moment. Member states are now defining their strategies to exit from the crisis, EU taxation commissioner Algirdas Semeta said on Wednesday (13 April) in Brussels as he presented the document.This proposal sets a strong CO2-price signal for businesses and consumers, he added.The current version of the energy taxation directive outlines minimum tax thresholds for products such as petrol and diesel, calculated on a volume basis which the commission says is now outdated.Instead, the EU executive body wants to split energy taxes into two components based on CO2 emissions and a fuel's energy content. Together they would determine the overall rate at which a product is taxed, with firms covered by the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) set to gain an exemption from the CO2 component.
Minimum taxes on energy-rich diesel will rise under the EU plans, although the commission has stressed that this will not automatically result in a rise in diesel prices at the pump. It points to Germany and other member states where diesel taxes are already above the proposed new minimum threshold of €412 euros per 1,000 litres.
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) which represents 36 million motorists across its 100 member Motoring and Touring Clubs was critical of the fuel-tax plans. Diesel has been consistently encouraged over the past decade due to its better fuel efficiency. It makes no sense to now penalise those consumers who have chosen this technology,said Jacob Bangsgaard, director general FIA Region I.
Environmental groups were equivocal in their support.Raising minimum rates is good for high fuel-tax countries like the UK and Germany, said Jos Dings, director of the Transport & Environment (T&E) campaign group.They will lose far less revenue to fuel-tax havens like Luxembourg that profiteer from the current system by attracting truckers to fill up in huge numbers.But T&E were critical of the commission's decision not to end the ban on taxation of aviation and shipping fuels.
Biofuels controversy
One group that stands to gain if Wednesday's proposals are implemented are biofuel producers, whose fuels are currently subject to heavy taxation rates despite their relatively low energy content.Biofuels-industry group ePURE gave them a strong welcome. Finally, the paradox of clean renewable fuels being taxed at a higher rate than polluting fossil fuels would be solved, said ePure secretary general, Rob Vierhout.As part of its bid to cut carbon emissions, the EU wants to see biofuels account for 10 percent of all transport fuel by 2020, but the target has proved to be increasingly controversial as critics point to the negative effects biofuel production can have on biodiversity rates, global food prices and local communities, forced from their land.A report published on Wednesday by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent body in the UK, called biofuels 'unethical' and called for the EU target to be lifted temporarily until new safeguards are put in place. Another issue raised by environmental groups is the question of 'indirect land-use change' (ILUC), the removal of important carbon-sequesting plants to make way for biofuel crops, a process which some studies suggest makes the burning of fossil fuels more environmentally friendly.The commission will come up with a detailed assessment of the potential policy approaches for dealing with ILUC issue this summer, before potentially then coming forward with appropriate legislative amendments to the renewable energy directive which sets out the 10 percent target.
FALSE FLAGS (SET UP OR STAGED BY SOMEONE)
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=-6703838290529161821
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=8697248641166616573
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#
JESSE VENTURA POLICE STATE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aAxb8vzWiY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJWRrdqdAy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PuVjaMB5xM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DrEkyDzwA0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvQNNG5mgMw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feiBx7tJKOQ&feature=related
False flag-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and can be used in peace-time.(NOTICE EVERY TIME THERES A REAL TERRORIST ATTACK,THE GOVERNMENT ALWAYS IS DOING A FAKE DRILL WHICH MEANS THEY CAN SAY IT WAS ONLY A DRILL IF THE ATTACK DOES NOT GO OVER WITH THE PUBLIC OR IF THE GOVERNMENT MUFFED UP THEIR OWN FALSE FLAG CONTROL FREAK,GET MORE CONTROL OF PEOPLES RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS.)
Sweden warns Lukashenko against exploiting bomb blast
ANDREW RETTMAN 14.04.2011 @ 17:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has warned Belarusian strongman Aleksander Lukashenko not to exploit this week's bomb attack to further crack down on political opponents.Speaking to EUobserver from a Nato meeting in Berlin on Thursday (14 April), Bildt noted that Lukashenko's aggressive tone in a TV speech on Wednesday is a bad sign of things to come.He is very dismissive of the West, of human rights, of the opposition. He seems to be on a rampage against everybody. You get the impression that he is taking the attack as an excuse for further repression, Bildt said.There is a new level of fear [among opposition activists in Belarus], which is fairly natural if they see this rhetoric from Lukashenko. They are afraid that this might be part of his intention.These kinds of attack should be handled according to the rule of law. To have a climate of intimidation and fear is not a way to run your country, not even to handle a terrorist incident. He should be aware that we will be watching. If he uses this as an excuse to further intensify repression, this will certainly be noticed.The Belarusian KGB has already arrested five people over the blast at the Oktyabrskaya metro station on Tuesday, which killed 12 people and injured over 150.It said the explosion was caused by less than 1kg of a unique material. It also said the suspects are young Belarusians from the Minsk region, that some of them have confessed and that one of them is linked to a previous bomb attack in 2008. But it has not given a motive.
Noting that Lukashenko in the aftermath of December's election protests accused Germany and Poland of trying to stage a coup d'etat by giving cash to opposition, Bildt voiced concern that authorities will pin the bomb on Western sources for propaganda reasons.He says he has arrested these people and that he knows who they are, so one would expect him to pronounce himself on these issues shortly. But we can fear the worst, the minister said. Lukashenko's only bomb-related reference to the EU was to criticise foreign ministers for discussing whether or not to impose economic sanctions in future.The discussion was held behind closed doors in Luxembourg on Tuesday with no public statement. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton had planned in the post-ministerial press briefing to call for the release of Belarusian political prisoners.But she refrained out of deference to the shocking events.It has evolved into explicit blasphemy. The whole nation is in tragedy, people mourn over the victims, while our so-called European partners in Strasbourg [sic] talk about human rights … They could have waited till the mourning is over and till we bury those killed, at least,Lukashenko said in his TV speech.On the subject of opposition activists, he said he would turn the country inside out to find the bomb plotters. We are looking for accomplices and employers. These so-called politicians of the fifth column might point to employers [of the terrorists] … Everyone must be interrogated regardless of any democracy, whines and moans of foreign supporters.One anti-Lukashenko contact told this website that since the blast opposition activists fear to publish any government-critical material or to sleep at their home address in case they are taken in by the KGB.What will happen to the poor guys who confessed at 5am about all these terrorist acts? I don't think they can count on any kind of trial, the source said.They will arrest people in the street and justify everything with the fight against terrorism.
The explosion comes amid an economic slump in Belarus - the floor of the metro station was covered in torn bags of sugar as people returned home after hunting for the precious commodity because it is shooting up in price.In a PR move unusual by EU standards, Lukashenko visited the blast site with his six year old son Kolya shortly before the KGB announced its breakthrough arrests.The explosion is the fourth such incident in Lukashenko's 16-year-long rule.A blast in 2008 at a stadium did not claim any lives but injured 60 people and was widely linked to internal power struggles in the presidential administration. An explosion in late 1997 killed a local politician involved in the vodka business. A series of four earlier blasts in 1997 targeted Russian gas pipelines.
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 FRI APR 15,2011
09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM +9.00
10:30 AM +26.94
11:00 AM +28.15
11:30 AM +40.56
12:00 PM +22.39
12:30 PM +69.92
01:00 PM +78.44
01:30 PM +63.57
02:00 PM +67.20
02:30 PM +73.75
03:00 PM +67.77
03:30 PM +54.75
04:00 PM +56.68 12,341.83
S&P 500 1319.68 +5.16
NASDAQ 2764.65 +4.43
GOLD 1,488.00 +15.60
OIL 109.40 +1.30
TSE 300 13,799.10 -22.70
CDNX 2290.91 -10.13
S&P/TSX/60 788.73 -0.72
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +20 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -17 points at low today.
Dow +44 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,474.40.OIL opens at $107.70 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -17 points at low today so far.
Dow +80 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -17 points at low today.
Dow +80 points at high today.
GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,486.80 (NOT AT CLOSE)
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.
Court Rules: No Reason for Lack of Building Plans in Itamar
by Elad Benari APR 15,11
On Monday, one day after the ceremony marking 30 days since the murder of the Fogel family in Itamar, a discussion regarding the community’s building plans took place in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.The discussion was held following a lawsuit filed by five families from Itamar, who bought homes several years ago from a housing and development company that sold the houses on behalf of the Housing Ministry. Despite the fact that the State of Israel and the Housing Ministry, which are bodies that are responsible for keeping the building and planning laws in Israel, built the homes and populated them with residents, the homes were built without a building plan being in place and therefore without a permit.The plaintiffs, families from Itamar, argued in court that they lived in the homes and when they wanted to purchase them the bank requested that they present a building permit so that they are able to obtain a mortgage, and only then did they discover that there were no building permits in place. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Doron Nir Zvi, claimed that the purchase contract states that the house was built according to the planning and building laws in Judea and Samaria.
The housing and development company argued that it had not checked out the planning situation when it got the homes from the Housing Ministry, and that obtaining building plans today is a very complex issue because it is a political and diplomatic one, and is not under the authority of the housing and development company.In his decision, Judge Yair Dlugin ordered the housing and development company to contact the relevant state bodies in order to obtain a detailed and reasoned reply in writing as to why there are no building permits for the homes purchased by residents in Itamar.Since there is no dispute that the plaintiffs live there and have acquired the rights to live there through signed agreements with the defendant, it is inconceivable that they will continue to live there without building permits being issued, wrote Judge Dlugin.It does not seem to me that there is any justification for this, not even one grounded by politics.Several weeks ago, 45 Knesset members from all over the political spectrum (both left and right) approached Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, demanding that they act quickly and approve the master plan of the community of Itamar.The MKs noted that the community of Itamar was established under a government decision, but since there is no town plan, the residents are condemned to live a life full of shortages. The appeal came following the brutal massacre of Itamar residents Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their children. The fence around the town was not maintained by the IDF due to the undecided nature of its lands.
Our goal is to help the residents and enable them to live a normal life in Itamar like in Tel Aviv, regardless of the political debate, wrote the MKs, who demanded from the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense: Immediately approve the budget for all the security needs of the community, and put an end to this intolerable situation in which the bureaucracy repeatedly pays an unbearable price and residents are forced to bear the heavy security costs themselves. The responsibility for the security of residents must be transferred to the IDF. Immediately begin building permanent buildings both for the local school and hesder yeshiva headed by Rabbi Ronsky, and put an end to this shameful situation in which educational institutions operate in old mobile homes that are crumbling. Doing this is the way to perpetuate the memory of the Fogel family who was essentially a family of education and of Torah.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Almagor Letter: Stop Calling for Release of Terrorists
by Elad Benari APR 15,11
The Almagor Terror Victims Association published an open letter on Thursday to the six former high-ranking security officials who earlier this week urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to give in to Hamas’ demands for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. The six, which include former Shin Bet heads Ami Ayalon, Karmi Gilon and Yaakov Perry, former Mossad head Danny Yatom, retired police major-general Alik Ron and Yom Kippur War hero Brig.-Gen. (res.) Avigdor Kahalani, urged Netanyahu to include terrorist murderers in the deal.The six former security officials told reporters that a military operation to free Shalit is not possible and that Israel will be able to withstand the aftermath of a deal for Shalit.The response letter, which was written by Almagor board member Dr. Aryeh Bachrach, whose son and his friend were killed by terrorists while on a hike, reads as follows:On the 30th day since the slaughter in Itamar, I and my fellow active bereaved members of Almagor, who are acting against the release of terrorists, are calling on those senior government and security officials who called this week to release terrorists and make a deal with Hamas: Stop! In the past you were partners to gestures and deals in which terrorists were released. You did not pay the price for those deals, but rather our loved ones did. You won’t pay for the risk you called to take this week, but Israeli families like ours will.Stop with your repeated suggestions that not only bring up for us the memories of your past failures, but also encourage Hamas and frighten us about the future.
Here is the math: 183 Israelis have lost their lives since 2000 by terrorists who were released. Many others died in the years before that, including by terrorists released in the Jibril deal, which is the exact same deal as what you are offering now. There are many who were murdered and whose names we do not know, since their stories are hidden in the ISA interrogation files and have not been made public.A notable exception is the two released Fatah terrorists who murdered Zehava Ben Ovadia and Paul Appleby after being released as part of the Jibril deal. They will again be released if G-d forbid your recommendation is accepted.And we still have not talked about the 1,000 victims of the 2000 intifada who were murdered - though indirectly - in a very organized manner by former prisoners of Hamas and Fatah, among them Barghouti (Fatah) and Sheikh Yassin (Hamas).Yassin was also released on the recommendation of some of you, in exchange for two security men detained in Jordan, with an evaluation that he is a disabled man and is thus not dangerous.At that time you said, as you do now, that if he acts against us we will act against him, but until we were able to kill him, he initiated and commanded from his wheelchair a slew of mass terror attacks which killed and wounded hundreds of Israelis.Barghouti is in prison a third time - after previous arrests and releases – and again is a candidate for release in your eyes.We urge you to not only look at what’s popular, populistic and publicized, but rather at the whole picture, and the whole picture, if G-d forbid the Prime Minister answers your call, will be bleak.
On the 30th day since the murder of the Fogel family, we ask you to look into the future. What will happen if these terrorists, these predators, are released from their cages? All the deterrence that we created after the arrests and killings in recent years - after you left your posts – will be destroyed and what happened a month ago in Itamar may become a tsunami of terror. The images of the mass terror attacks will come back and chaos will rule our streets again.We who already paid the price, some of us during your time in office, call to you - stop! Let us beat Hamas rather than submit to it. We tried your methods and they brought us nothing but bereavement and grief. Now we hope to wage a struggle against terror and not to conduct dialogue with it.We hope that the soldiers and their commanders persist in this struggle and that we will not be subject to interference from within, as was the case last week.
Sincerely,Dr. Aryeh Bachrach and 100 bereaved families
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded earlier this week to the call by the former security officials and said that any deal for Gilad Shalit’s release must not endanger other Israelis.The actions to bring First Sgt. Gilad Shalit home safe and sound continue all the while, the PMO said.It has been more than a year since Israel presented Hamas with its latest offer in the negotiations, but Hamas has yet to respond to this offer. This shows that the other side has no intention of successfully concluding the negotiations.The PMO added that Beside the great commitment to bring Gilad back quickly, the Prime Minister is also responsible for the security and safety of all the citizens of Israel. Past experience teaches us that dozens of Israelis were murdered in terror attacks perpetrated by terrorists who were freed in previous deals, such as the Jibril deal and the Tenenbaum deal. The Prime Minister insists adamantly that any deal reached not endanger the citizens of Israel.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Congressmen Want Goldstone Report Withdrawn
by Gavriel Queenann APR 14,11
Following an opinion piece in the Washington Post earlier this month in which South African Judge Richard Goldstone recanted allegations Israel had deliberately targeted civilians during its 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, and admitted his eponymous 2009 report to United Nations Human Rights Council would have been different if he had written it today, Congressmen Anthony Weiner and 14 of his colleagues, have set a letter to US Ambassador Susan Rice calling on the U.N to formally withdraw the report.Weiner has been vocally opposed to the Goldstone Report and publically defended Israel against its allegations.The letter read-April 13, 2011
Ambassador Susan Rice-United States Mission to the United Nations-799 United Nations Plaza-New York, N.Y. 10017
Dear Ambassador Rice:The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict was mandated by UN Resolution S – 9/1 and created what came to be known as the Goldstone Report.The controversial conclusions that Israel purposely targeted civilians in an attempt to collectively punish the Palestinians were then entered into the UN record and referred to the UN Security Council and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.Now, the primary author of the report has essentially recanted the primary conclusions of the report.Since the publishing of the Goldstone Report, Justice Richard Goldstone has retracted his allegations of Israel’s intentionality in the killing of Palestinian civilians in an Aril 2, 2011 op-ed published in the Washington Post. His retractions clear Israel of the charge that it violated international law under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The US Mission, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a member of the Human Rights Council, should take immediate action and introduce a resolution expunging the Goldstone Report from the official record of the United Nations.Thank you for your time and consideration.
The following representatives were signatories to the letter:
•Anthony D. Weiner
•Howard L. Berman
•Dan L. Burton
•Steve J. Israel
•Joseph Crowley
•Eliot L. Engel
•Janice D. Schakowsky
•Shelley Berkley
•Heath Shuler
•Adam B. Schiff
•Jerrold L. Nadler
•Daniel W. Lipinski
•Theodore E. Deutch
•Alcee L. Hastings
Ambassador Rice already informed Congress she intends to push to have the UN jettison the report.The United States has been highly critical of the Goldstone report and described it as deeply flawed since its initial publication.(Israel NationalNews.com)
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.
Japan police find 10 bodies in nuclear zone
by Hiroshi Hiyama – Thu Apr 14, 10:16 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese police on Thursday found the bodies of 10 tsunami victims in the first search of a 10-kilometre (six-mile) zone around an atomic plant, as emergency crews battled to contain a nuclear crisis.Hundreds of police wearing white protective suits and face masks scoured rubble-strewn neighbourhoods near the plant for victims of the giant wave that smashed into Japan's northeast coast more than a month ago.Some of the remains were found inside cars and others were buried in debris, so that the sight of just a foot or other body part would lead to the discovery of a whole body, a Fukushima police spokesman told AFP.The 300-strong force was to continue their search on Friday in the no-man's land -- pushing closer towards the facility after they started a wider search on April 3 that covered the outer areas of the 20-km exclusion zone.Before the search began, police said it was difficult to estimate how many bodies were in the 10-kilometre danger zone around the plant, although the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper put the figure at around 1,000 tsunami victims. At the plant itself, emergency crews continued efforts to stop radioactive leaks into the Pacific, erecting a seabed silt fence to slow the spread of contaminants to sea and pumping highly toxic runoff water into tanks.Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said it was also analysing footage taken by an unmanned helicopter of the tsunami-hit plant and its explosion-charred reactor buildings to assess the damage.
A probe of the reactor four containment pool for more than 1,000 fuel rods -- exposed to the sky after a hydrogen blast ripped away the roof -- suggested that some of the rods had been damaged, but that most were intact.Plant workers kept pumping highly toxic runoff water from dousing operations into special tanks, so that they can safely resume the long-term work to restore the plant's original cooling systems and shut the plant down.Worries lingered over the impact of radioactive spills on marine life after the health ministry said caesium levels 25 times the legal limit had been detected in young sand lance caught off Fukushima prefecture.One sample of the tiny fish, whose sale has been halted since last week, had a caesium level of 12,500 becquerels per kilogram (5,680 per pound), far exceeding the 500 becquerel limit, Kyodo News reported. New figures showed the crisis has also hit tourism hard, with the number of foreign visitors to Japan suffering its biggest ever decline in March.Just 352,800 foreigners arrived in Japan, the government said -- half the figure for March 2010.Emperor Akihito meanwhile made his first trip to a disaster-hit area, visiting a shelter in Chiba prefecture for evacuees from the calamity that killed 13,498 people and left 14,734 missing by the latest count.Around 150,000 people are still living in shelters and the number is expected to swell after authorities this week declared new areas off-limits due to concerns over the effect of long-term exposure to radiation from the plant.A 102-year-old man from Iitate -- one of the areas added to the evacuation zone -- committed suicide, reportedly depressed at having to leave his home.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan told the first meeting of a reconstruction panel that he wanted to rejuvenate the disaster area to make it into one of the world's most desirable places to live. Kan is considering developing an environmentally friendly inland town with a population of 50,000-100,000, Kyodo News reported after the meeting of architects, academics, government and business leaders.But even as the panel looked at the future, with plans to create a plan by June, the political infighting of the pre-disaster past resurfaced, over a month after the massive quake struck.Opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki, the head of the conservative Liberal Democrats, suggested Kan think about resigning, while sniping also resumed from inside Kan's centre-left Democratic Party.To continue under the current leadership would be extremely unfortunate for the people,Tanigaki said, also hinting at launching no-confidence motions against Kan's cabinet in both houses of parliament.
Calls grow for Japan PM to quit in wake of quake
By Linda Sieg and Mayumi Negishi – Thu Apr 14, 8:45 pm ET
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's fragile post-disaster political truce unraveled on Thursday as the head of the main opposition party called on unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan to quit over his handling of the country's natural calamities and a nuclear crisis.At the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in the northeast of the country, engineers were struggling to find a new way to cool one of the six crippled reactors and Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it was now highly likely there was a hole in the suppression unit of the reactor.Kan, whose public support stands at about 30 percent, had sought a grand coalition to help the country recover from its worst ever natural disaster and enact bills to pay for the country's biggest reconstruction project since World War Two.Kan's Democratic Party controls parliament's lower house but needs opposition help to pass bills because it lacks a majority in the upper chamber, which can block legislation.But the head of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) -- who last week ruled out joining hands -- on Thursday pressured Kan to go.The time has come for (the prime minister) to decide whether he stays or goes, Kyodo news agency quoted Sadakazu Tanigaki as telling a news conference.Tanigaki's comment reflects the view of many in his conservative party that Kan must step down as a precondition for any coalition as well as a hope that criticism of Kan within his own Democratic Party will gather steam after party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa blasted the premier over his crisis management.
Upper House speaker Takeo Nishioka, a well-known Kan critic from the Democrats, also urged Kan to resign, Kyodo said.Kan, however, who took office as Japan's fifth leader since 2006 last June, is not likely to step down readily, while opposition parties could come under fire if they try to take disaster budgets hostage in a political battle, analysts said.Kan will probably ignore this, said Koichi Nakano, a Sophia University professor.If they thought of the national interests, would they (Kan's critics) do this now?
STILL NO CLOSER TO SOLVING NUCLEAR CRISIS
Five weeks ago a massive earthquake and tsunami left nearly 28,000 dead or missing, devastated a broad swathe of northeast Japan and damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant. There has been no sign of a resolution of the atomic crisis.The nuclear safety agency said a new plan for cooling one of six reactors at the plant, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, may be needed due to the large volume of highly radioactive water on site, and tests would be done to determine if damaged spent fuel rods were emitting radiation.It may be difficult to completely remove the contaminated water and so allow work to proceed (in restoring power to the cooling pumps). We may need to think of other options, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear Industry and Safety Authority.Nishiyama said there was 20,000 tones of contaminated water in the basement and a tunnel under reactor No. 2.What makes the No.2 unit decisively different from No.1 and No.3 units are that it is highly likely that there is a hole on the (No.2 unit's) suppression chamber after as an explosion was heard. It would be an accurate speculation that there is leakage.Engineers are also concerned that some spent fuel rods were damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and could be emitting high levels of radiation.Japan's nuclear crisis has been rated on par with the world's worst nuclear crisis at Chernobyl in 1986, although the total amount of radiation released is only a fraction of that when the nuclear plant in Ukraine exploded. Japan has expanded a 20-km (12-mile) evacuation zone around the plant because of high accumulated radiation. No radiation-linked deaths have been reported and only 21 plant workers have been affected by minor radiation sickness.
A series of strong aftershocks this week has rattled eastern Japan, slowing the recovery effort at the plant due to temporary evacuations of workers and power outages.The total cost of the damage has been estimated at $300 billion, making it the world's most costly natural disaster.Makoto Iokibe, head of a newly created government panel tasked to come up with a revival plan, floated the idea of setting up a special reconstruction tax in addition to bond sales and donations as ways to fund the bill.Given the potential scale of the cost, it might need to be shouldered by the entire Japanese people. That's why I mentioned (the special tax). But nothing concrete has been decided, Iokibe told a news conference after the panel's first meeting.Business confidence plunged to a record low in April, according to a Reuters survey, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the risk to the world's third largest economy is firmly on the downside.The IMF cut Japan's economic growth forecast to 1.4 percent this year from 1.6 percent, projected three months ago, and the Bank of Japan is expected to cut its January growth forecast of 1.6 percent when it issues its twice-yearly outlook on April 28. ($1 = 83.890 yen)(Additional reporting by Mayumi Negishi, Yoko Nishikawa, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kazunori Takada in Tokyo, Alexei Anischuk in Sanya, China and Leika Kihara in Washington; Writing by Linda Sieg and David Chance; Editing by Robert Birsel and Sanjeev Miglani)
BP feels fishermen's fury over Gulf oil spill
by Philippe Valat – Thu Apr 14, 8:01 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – BP faced protests from angry fishermen and disgruntled shareholders on Thursday at its first annual general meeting since the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The meeting took place almost a year since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and caused millions of gallons of oil to gush into the sea.Diane Wilson, a shrimp farmer from the Texas Gulf Coast smeared her face and hands with a dark syrup resembling oil as she protested outside the annual general meeting (AGM) venue in east London.My community is dead. We've worked five generations there and now we've got a dead community. I'm angry, I've been angry a long time.Wilson bought BP shares to gain entry to the meeting but police and security guards ejected her from the conference hall amid chaotic scenes.Around 100 protesters turned up to show their anger at BP's actions, ranging from Gulf fishermen to representatives of indigenous communities opposed to BP's involvement in tar sands extraction in northern Canada.BP has tried to move on from the disaster after agreeing to share responsibility with the owners of the stricken rig and is selling $30 billion (21 billion euros) of assets to pay the clean-up bill and compensate fisherman.
But Byron Encalade, president of the Louisiana Oystermen Association, said he had crossed the Atlantic to come to London to vent his fury at delays to compensation payments.We were the first to feel the impact of the oil spill. I'm here because the claims process has failed the fishing communities along the coast, he said.We'd just like to know where all this money went. We should have got it.He said he wanted a commitment from BP that the tens of thousands of delayed and unpaid claims would be investigated.Keith Jones, father of one of the dead oil rig workers, issued a statement which was read out at the meeting.You were rolling the dice with my son's life and you lost, it read.BP's fortunes were ravaged by the spill, widely acknowledged to be the worst environmental catastrophe in US history, and billions of dollars were knocked off the company's value.Oil spewed for 87 days before the well was capped, contaminating hundreds of miles of coastal wetlands and beaches, and forcing a third of the Gulf's rich US waters to close to fishing.Bob Dudley, the American who took over as chief executive from the beleaguered Tony Hayward in October, told shareholders that BP's actions were proof it had heard the concerns about its ability to prevent accidents.We are a different company from the one that held this event a year ago, he said, adding BP was now focused on realising value through safe and sustainable operations.BP reported its first annual loss in almost two decades as a result of the disaster and its share price remains 30 percent below its level before the spill.Although BP conducts the majority of its business abroad, it is crucial to the fortunes of millions of British investors because most British pension funds invest in the company.Several key shareholders, including the US pension fund Calpers, threatened to vote against the annual report to be submitted at the AGM, partly in protest at the high levels of pay for BP executives despite the disaster.Dudley also defended a huge planned deal to explore for oil in the Arctic in a joint venture with Russian giants Rosneft.Access to the Arctic is a substantial prize, he told the meeting.The issue has been put off until May after BP and Rosneft agreed Thursday to extend a deadline to complete a $16 billion share swap that is key to the deal -- which has also sparked environmental concerns.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Gadhafi defiant despite NATO airstrikes in Tripoli
By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press - APR 14,11
TRIPOLI, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi rolled defiantly through the streets of Tripoli, pumping his fists as he poked through the sun roof of an SUV on Thursday — the same day that NATO airstrikes shook the city. The alliance's foreign ministers, while united in their aim to pressure the Libyan leader to go, argued at a meeting over whether to step up military operations that have so far failed to rout him.Gadhafi gave no sign that he's willing to relent, despite two months of civil war and mounting international pressure for him to move aside. Instead, his loyalists pounded rebel positions in the besieged western city of Misrata with dozens of rockets for several hours, killing at least 13 people.The main target of the assault was Misrata's port, the only lifeline for rebels who have been trying to defend positions in the city, Libya's third-largest, against Gadhafi's forces.Early Friday, Gadhafi's daughter Aisha sent another defiant message from her father's Bab al-Aziziyah compound in the capital of Tripoli, badly damaged exactly 25 years ago, in an April 15, 1986 bombing by U.S. warplanes. That attack came in response to a bombing that had killed two U.S. servicemen at a German disco.Leave our skies with your bombs, Gadhafi's daughter told a cheering crowd, addressing the international community.We are a people that cannot be defeated.Wearing a green headscarf and a leather jacket, she waved to the crowd of several hundred and led them in chants from a second-floor balcony that in the past was used by her father to deliver speeches.On Thursday, several large explosions were heard in Tripoli and a column of black smoke rose from the southeastern part of the city, followed by the sound of anti-aircraft guns, a resident said.Libyan state television showed Gadhafi — dressed in a black Western blazer, black crew neck T-shirt, sunglasses and a hat — standing through the open sun roof of a sport utility vehicle on a fist-pumping, rapid ride through Tripoli with dozens of supporters chasing behind him. Libyan TV said the trip came on the same day that NATO airstrikes hit military and civilian areas in the capital.The TV report said there were civilian casualties from the attacks. The report could not be confirmed.
The fighting in Libya began in mid-February when large anti-government protests escalated into a civil war. Rebels hold much of eastern Libya, while Gadhafi controls the west, with the front line shifting back and forth in the middle. Three weeks of international airstrikes haven't routed Gadhafi's forces.Gadhafi's troops unleashed three hours of heavy shelling on the port city of Misrata, which is partly held by rebels. The port is Misrata's only lifeline, and government forces fired tank shells and dozens of Grad missiles, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.They want to flatten the area to deploy the troops on foot and invade the city, said one of the witnesses, a doctor whose first name was Ayman. He added that a ship sent by Doctors Without Borders to evacuate 165 critically injured people to Tunisia had been scheduled to arrive Thursday morning at Misrata's port, and he believed the government had shelled the port to interfere with the humanitarian aid.Another doctor in Misrata, who gave his name only as Khaled for fear of retribution, said some of those killed were inside their houses asleep at the time of the shelling. Among the dead were two men aged 75 and 80.Gadhafi forces have control of a highway on the outskirts of Misrata, Libya's third-largest city.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chaired a Cairo meeting of regional and international organizations on Libya and set three targets: reaching and implementing a cease-fire, delivering humanitarian aid and starting a dialogue on Libya's future.Shelling your own people is not acceptable, he said at a meeting at Arab League headquarters, referring to actions by Gadhafi's forces. This is a violation of human rights.At a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, the United States and its allies put up a united front on the goals of the alliance's stalemated military mission in Libya but failed to resolve behind-the-scenes squabbling over how to achieve them.NATO members agreed on paper with President Barack Obama that Gadhafi had to go to end the crisis, they also made clear that they would not be the ones to oust him. Although several NATO members want the alliance to commit more planes to expand the air campaign, the first day of meetings closed without any specific commitments for more aircraft. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed for unity, saying Gadhafi was taunting the alliance by continuing to strike cities held by rebels seeking his overthrow.As our mission continues, maintaining our resolve and unity only grows more important, Clinton said.Gadhafi is testing our determination.The United States is resisting suggestions that it resume a large combat role to break a deadlock between rebels and better-armed forces loyal to Gadhafi.Clinton and other top diplomats pointedly said their U.N. mandate for an air campaign does not extend to Gadhafi's exit by force.The allies again resolved to enforce a U.N. arms embargo, protect civilians acting to push Gadhafi forces out of cities they have entered, and get in humanitarian aid.But differences over the scope of the military operation persisted, with Britain and France insisting on more action, particularly from sophisticated U.S. surveillance and weapons systems, and U.S officials maintaining that the alliance already has the tools to get the job done.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris had wanted (NATO) to intensify its strikes, and we received the assurance that that would be the case.Clinton did not say if the U.S. would send more ground attack craft, but she said Washington would continue to support the NATO mission until its goals were met.Rebel spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said the opposition in Benghazi is encouraged by the diplomatic talks but worried that it won't translate in to concrete action fast enough to prevent more civilian deaths.
It will be interesting to see if there is any movement on the ground or just a lot of talk and no action, he said.Is there something else on the diplomatic ground that they know that we don't to put more pressure on Gadhafi? The guy is still shelling and killing, and it makes no difference to him.He mentioned specifically the shelling of Misrata and said the international community's actions will largely determine how long the conflict lasts.They wrote off Gadhafi's regime. The question is how fast their plan is going to take care of him. We know arming ourselves will lead to the eventual toppling of the regime. But are we willing to wait two years or three years or a year and a half? How many victims do we have to accept? Rebel leaders have said they would only consider a truce if it Gadhafi is removed from power first.At the Cairo meeting of top diplomats, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Gadhafi must leave immediately and that Libyans should be given a chance to choose a new leader.Arab League chief Amr Moussa told reporters after the meeting that the situation in Libya is very grave.Brief clashes erupted between pro- and anti-Gadhafi demonstrators outside the meeting. The two camps hurled rocks at each other, with at least one protester seen with blooded face after being hit in the head with a stone. The anti-Gadhafi protesters outnumbered the pro-Gadhafi demonstrators, chased them and forced them to flee.NATO said it had conducted 153 sorties in the last 24 hours, striking 13 bunkers, one tank and one armored personnel carrier in the Tripoli area and three multiple rocket launchers in the Brega area.
Journalists were taken to Tripoli's Fateh University where they were shown damage they were told was the result of an airstrike earlier in the day. The blast shattered windows of several buildings, including two student cafeterias, and glass shards were scattered across the floor. Tiles of false ceilings had been knocked out in several lecture halls.Government minders traveling with the journalists said the strike had hit a military target nearby and white smoke was seen rising from a group of trees several hundred yards from the campus. The minders would not elaborate or allow anyone to approach the targeted area. However, one journalist who had snatched a glimpse from a rooftop said she had seen an anti-aircraft battery at the site. Photographs taken later showed a large military truck in the area.A Tripoli resident said many people were fasting in preparation for mass anti-Gadhafi protests Friday, the 25th anniversary of the 1986 U.S. raid on Tripoli.Life in Libya is becoming harsh, with prices skyrocketing, gasoline scarce and long lines in front of bakeries, said the resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.Al-Sadek al-Ghariani, a top Muslim cleric in Libya, said in a video posted on Facebook that it was a religious duty to join Friday's protests. In February, he issued two fatwas calling for anti-Gadhafi protests and then went into hiding. Gadhafi forces apparently are trying to find him.At the western edge of Ajdabiya, the main gateway town into the opposition-held east, two wounded rebel fighters were brought through, and the rebel forces retaliated by firing rockets in the direction of Brega.In western Libya, rebels attacked a small military base about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Nalut and chased away 40 soldiers who had been trying to stop aid from Tunisia and harassing people trying to flee into that country. In apparent retaliation, Libyan government forces shelled the town of Tikut.Rebel chief of Staff Abdel-Fatah Younes said the opposition fighters have received new anti-tank weapons from Qatar and that experts from that country are training the forces to use them.Also Thursday, Libyan TV reported Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, mediated the release of Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera correspondent Amar al-Hamdan, who was en route to the Libya-Tunisian border.Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo, Sebastian Abbot in Ajdabiya, Libya; Hadeel al-Shalchi in Tunis, Tunisia; and Geir Moulson and Matthew Lee in Berlin contributed reporting.
Allies say Libya campaign on until Gaddafi goes
By Mussab al-Khairalla - Thu Apr 14, 8:28 pm ET
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Leaders of Britain, France and the United States vowed on Friday to keep up their military campaign in Libya until Muammar Gaddafi leaves power, and rebels said his forces pounded the city of Misrata with missiles.In a strongly worded, jointly written article published in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Barack Obama said leaving Gaddafi in power would be an unconscionable betrayal of the Libyan people.It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government, the leaders wrote.So long as Gaddafi is in power, NATO and its coalition partners must maintain their operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds, they said.Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an inclusive constitutional process can really begin, led by a new generation of leaders. For that transition to succeed, Colonel Gaddafi must go, and go for good.The reaction from the Gaddafi camp was swift in coming as the Libyan leader's daughter Aisha told a rally in Tripoli, at a family compound bombed by the Americans in 1986, that demanding her father's departure was an insult to the Libyan people.Talk about Gaddafi stepping down is an insult to all Libyans because Gaddafi is not in Libya, but in the hearts of all Libyans, she said in a speech broadcast live on Libyan television to mark the 25th anniversary of American strikes on the huge complex, which includes military barracks.The article by the Western allies appeared at a time when diplomatic efforts have failed to paper over divisions between NATO allies about how intensively they should prosecute the three-week-old air war, and the situation on the ground has shown signs of stalemate.
Washington, which led the campaign in its first week, has since turned over command to NATO and taken a back seat role. Britain and France complain that other NATO allies have not provided enough fire power to take out Gaddafi's armor and allow the rebels in control of the east to sweep him from power.Libyan rebels begged on Thursday for more air strikes and said they faced a massacre from government forces, who blasted the besieged city of Misrata with missiles.NATO planes bombed targets in the capital Tripoli, where state television showed footage of a defiant Gaddafi cruising through the streets in a green safari jacket and sunglasses, pumping his fists and waving from an open-top vehicle.
MEDIEVAL SIEGE
Rebels said a hail of rockets fired by besieging forces into a residential district of Misrata, Libya's third largest city, had killed 23 civilians, mostly women and children.Over 200 Grad missiles fell on the port area, including residential neighborhoods near the port. They shelled this area because the port is Misrata's only window to the outside world, a rebel spokesman using the name Ghassan said by telephone.The destruction there was huge. I was there and saw for myself, he said, adding that the port had been shut.In their article, the U.S., British and French leaders said Misrata was enduring a medieval siege as Gaddafi tries to strangle its population into submission.Aid organizations warn of a humanitarian disaster in the city, the lone major rebel bastion in western Libya, where hundreds of civilians are said to have died in a six-week siege.NATO foreign ministers in Berlin promised on Thursday in a joint declaration to provide all necessary resources and maximum operational flexibility for the air campaign to maintain a high operational tempo against legitimate targets.But several allies rebuffed calls from France and Britain to contribute more to the air attacks, conducted under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the Berlin meeting he was hopeful more countries would contribute to the strike force.It's not unreasonable to ask other nations...to make additional contributions,he said.
Spain said it had no plan to join the seven NATO states that have conducted ground strikes. Italy, Libya's former colonial power, expressed reluctance to launch attacks.(Writing by Peter Graff; editing by Michael Roddy)
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Iran Claims it Has Advanced Centrifuges in Operation
by Gavriel Queenann APR 15,11
Tehran marked nuclear technology day on earlier this week, stating it had improved its uranium enrichment processing capabilities, Reuters reports.The technology touted, advanced centrifuges, is key to producing weapons grade nuclear material and has been a poignant point of concern for Israeli and US officials, who are concerned Iran's nuclear program has military aims.Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and has dismissed international sanctions that were tightened last year as illegal and ineffective.Talks with global powers aimed at resolving the nuclear impasse stalled in January, with Tehran insisting it would not accept any curb on its nuclear enrichment activities.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his speech to underscore the symbolic importance of Iran having its own civil nuclear capacity, comparing the West's attempts to curb the program to the hostile British and US reaction to Iran's nationalisation of its oil industry in the 1950s.
If we should evaluate Iran's achievements in the nuclear field, Ahmadinejad said.It might exceed the nationalisation of the oil industry in importance. Back then, more important than the oil itself was the independence and the honour of the nation.
Fereidoun Abbasi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency told the conference that second and third generation centrifuges had been produced and tested, the official IRNA news agency reported.Abbasi also said the Natanz enrichment site in central Iran would be producing uranium enriched to 20 percent purity - much more potent than the level needed for nuclear fuel but still not pure enough for weapons material.Iran intends to activate the Bushehr plant in May.It's difficult to know what is propaganda and what is real, but what is clear is that they are making progress, Ephraim Kam, Deputy Head of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, and a former colonel in the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence, said of the announcement.There's no question that progress is being made,Kam said.The nucelar agenda of Iran is not on the world's agenda at all. For months, there have been no challenges from Europe or the US, and negotiations are stalled. There is no pressure on Iran.Kam's statements would seem to indicate Iran has managed to overcome the Stuxnet computer virus which seriously crippled Iran's nuclear program and forced them to shut down their enrichment program for an extended period.While Iran may find itself in a comofrtable position vis-a-vis the West, Iran's Arab neighbors across the Persian Gulf have expressed deep concerned about the Iranian nuclear program and the Islamic Republic's machinations in the region.On Teusday the Israeli open source defense and intelligence news site, Debka, reported Saudi and Kuwait officials told the United States, should Iran activate the Bushehr reactor in May the region would suffer a second Fukushima disaster.
The warning might stem from reports Russian engineer's in Bushehr found metal shards in the reactor intake, which could mean all is not as well as Iran would have the world believe at Bushehr.It also underscores discord between Saudi Arabia and the Obama Administration on how to confront Shiite Iran's aggressive geopolitical posture. For their part, the Saudis and their allies are seeking to forge a strategic bulwark against Iran.On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he would be speaking to members of the US Congress about dealing with the Iranian threat.In the past Saudi officials have expressed, behind closed doors, a willingness to allow Israel to use their airspace to strike Iran's nuclear program.The Bushehr site is on the Iranian coast, less than 100 kilometers from Saudi Arabia across the Persian Gulf.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Iran's Backing of Hamas Has Introduced Shi'ite Islam to Gaza
by Gavriel Queenann APR 15,11
Iran's backing Hamas has led to hundreds of conversions to Shi'a (the Shi'ite Islamic stream) in Sunni dominated Gaza.Al Arabya reports a large number of Arabs in Gaza have adopted Shi'ite doctrine within the past few years, although the enclave is controlled by the Sunni Islamist Hamas rulers.Agence-France Press characterized the conversions as a clear sign of an increase in the Iranian influence among the Gaza's Arabs.Arab states have accused Iran of inciting hatred and igniting sectarian tensions throughout the region. These same states have frozen Hamas out in favor of its arch-rival Fatah.As a result, Hamas leaders in Gaza find themselves forced to tread lightly with Shiite missionaries in order not to jeopardize their relationship with their closest ally, Tehran.This, depsite Hamas' stridently fundamentalist brand of Sunni Islam.Abdul Rahim Hamad, who lives in Jabalia, told the Associated Press he converted to the Shi'ite doctrine five years ago. Hamad attributed the growth of Shi'a in Gaza to the influence of Iran and Lebanon's Hizbullah in the region.We are now hundreds in Gaza, Hamad said.We will start our political activities soon. Palestinian Shi'ites will play an important role in controlling this region in the future.Ahmed Youssef, adviser of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, denied any increase in Shi'ite Islam in Gaza, but added Gaza's Arabs love Iran and Hizbullah.
A Message For Iran
Despite Haniyeh's lovey public rhetoric vis-a-vis Iran, Hamas is starting to show signs of displeasure with the ideological Trojan Horse Iranian aid represents in its bailiwick.Security sources in Gaza intimated police forces last Thursday shut down the premises of the Shi'ite al-Baqeyat al-Salehat society, located in northern Gaza.
We were surprised today by the shutdown of the society premises, Hisham Salem, the society chairman, told the Ma'an News Agency.Salem insisted al-Baqeyat al-Salehat was a charitable society that was given the municipal license four years ago.The society receives funds from several foreign states, including Iran, he said.Some observers have suggested the shutdown was a veiled message Hamas has little intention of allowing Gaza to become an Iranian satrapy.But Hamas, messages aside, is in a proverbial catch-22. If Hamas leaders wish to retain control of Gaza they must stanch the spread of Shi'a. But doing so may come at the cost of Tehran's patronage, which serves as a vital life-line for a largely isolated Hamas.
Israel Leaving Door Open For Iran
For their part, Israeli security officials have left the door open for Iran in Gaza.
In a batch of classified US Embassy Cables recently released by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin was quoted as having told US officials his agency possessed intelligence indicating Gaza Arabs were using the Rafah crossing to travel to and from Iran and Lebanon to increase Hamas' capabilities.Diskin told the Americans: If we want to approach this seriously, we need to start with the movements of people.Despite these comments, Diskin maintained that it was important to leave the Rafah crossing open.When US officials asked about Egypt’s ability to influence matters in Gaza, Diskin replied,The most important thing they can do is stop the smuggling which takes place between their borders with both Gaza and Israel.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
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.
Possible tornadoes, large hail forecast for Plains
– Thu Apr 14, 10:34 am ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are possible for the southern Plains Thursday afternoon, including southeast Kansas and eastern Oklahoma, according to forecasters.Pretty much the whole gamut of severe summer weather is what we're looking at here, said Pat Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.Other areas facing a moderate risk of heavy weather Thursday include parts of northeast Texas, southwest Missouri and western Arkansas.On Friday, areas at risk for tornadoes, damaging winds and hail include eastern Mississippi, south central Tennessee, western Alabama, Slattery said.He said the weather is not unusual for this time of year.This is pretty much our peak time of weather for this part of the country, Slattery said.In other regions, the northeast is expected to be dry, while snow is predicted in the western Dakotas, northwest Nebraska, Montana and the Rockies, according to weather.com. Snow may become heavy across central South Dakota and central Nebraska overnight, the site reported. Severe thunderstorms are expected to move across Missouri into southern Illinois and western Kentucky Thursday night.
Near-record flooding has developed along the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota as a result of the spring thaw.High fire danger conditions continue over the rest of Oklahoma and southwest Texas, and in New Mexico and southeast Colorado, the web site said. Texas and some neighboring states have been hit with damaging wildfires that have charred thousands of acres.(Writing by Mary Wisniewski, Editing by Greg McCune)
Grand Forks flood crest lowered; National Guard patrol
– Thu Apr 14, 1:16 pm ET
GRAND FORKS, North Dakota (Reuters) – Flood fighters patrolled strained levees on a Red River tributary and an old dam on a northwest North Dakota river on Thursday as forecasters reduced the projected crest in Grand Forks.About 100 North Dakota National Guard members watched the levees around Valley City, reinforcing weak spots in the levee system along the Sheyenne River that is expected to crest within inches of its 20.7 foot record there on Friday.There was one part of a levee that we had issues with last year too that started to slip, Shannon Bauer, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman, said Thursday.We put in a contingency dike behind it.Bauer said flood fighters also built a clay dike along Main Street in Valley City to reinforce a temporary barrier made of sand-filled barriers leaking under the strain of the water.Engineers have added twice to levees in the Valley City area in anticipation of the near-record crest. High flows on the Red River have also left the Sheyenne spreading out across communities near where it meets the Red River north of Fargo.In northwest North Dakota, the weather service has a flash flood watch in effect until Saturday for Burlington residents near a small dam that could fail on the flooded Des Lacs River. However, river levels were easing on Thursday.
In Grand Forks, the National Weather Service on Thursday trimmed a foot from its projections, but was still expecting the Red River to reach its third highest crest on record.The Red River is starting to flatten out now, we are still looking at a crest close to, maybe just under, 50 feet within the next 12 to 24 hours, Al Voelker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, said on Thursday.With permanent barriers built after the 1997 floods now protecting Grand Forks and neighboring East Grand Forks, Minnesota, the focus is more on smaller nearby communities.The Red River crested Saturday at Fargo earlier and lower than forecasted. However, smaller communities and farms north and west of Fargo have been hit hard by flooded tributaries.Once past Grand Forks, the Red River flattens and grows to eight miles wide or more during floods, making numerous roads impassable, isolating some farms in North Dakota and Minnesota and making the small city of Oslo an island for days.This year's expansive flooding was expected to have a major impact on the amount of land North Dakota farmers will be able to plant this spring.
The river ultimately flows through Manitoba, Canada, into Lake Winnipeg. Canadian towns have been preparing defenses for weeks and the provincial government is set to close the major link between North Dakota and Winnipeg, Highway 75.Winnipeg expects the second-highest crest on record as early as late April.(Writing by David Bailey; Additional reporting by Doug Barrett and Rod Nickel; Editing by Greg McCune)
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