ETHNIC TENSIONS TEARING RUSSIA APART-PUTIN

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.

Israel to Give Obama 12 Hours Notice on Attacking Iran’-Israel told visiting US Gen. Dempsey that Obama would get no more than 12 hours notice before an attack on Iran, the London Times reports.By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu First Publish: 1/22/2012, 10:19 AM

Israeli officials told visiting USS Chief Joint of Staffs Martin Dempsey that it would give President Barack Obama no more than 12 hours notice if and when it attacks Iran, The London Times reported Sunday.The Netanyahu government also will not coordinate with the United States an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to the report, the latest in a number of suposed scenarios concerning cooperation or lack of it between Jerusalem and Washington.It is left to speculation whether the rumors are based on facts or are leaked by officials to mask the possibility of secret military coordination.The London Times said its sources explained that that Israel fears that President Obama would try to torpedo an Israel attack if more notice were given because he is concerned that Iran will respond by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a rise in the price of oil that could cripple Western economies. If the attack were to occur in the next 10 months, it would put President Obama in a tight spot on the eve of his bid for re-election.President Shimon Peres told Dempsey, I am sure that in this fight [against Iran] we will emerge victorious. It is a fight that does not belong exclusively to the United States or Israel, but a global struggle to create a safe world for all peoples.Dempsey, on his first official visit to Israel, was wined and dined by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gants, who went so far as to arrange an IDF orchestra rendition of song made famous by Frank Sinatra, one of Dempsey’s favorite singers.

Dempsey tried to play down the postponement of what was billed as the largest-ever joint military drill between the Israeli and American armies, involving thousands of U.S. Army soldiers.Published reasons for the delay have ranged from budgetary constraints, logistical problems to a signal from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he distrusts President Obama’s commitment to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.Dempsey maintained that the delay, which was announced by Israel, will give both countries more time to prepare and achieve a better outcome.The top American general left Israel on Friday, before the Sabbath began.

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 TUE JANUARY 24,2012

09:30 AM -2.43
10:00 AM -90.25
10:30 AM -56.08
11:00 AM -40.70
11:30 AM -29.52
12:00 PM -41.70
12:30 PM -43.14
01:00 PM -36.43
01:30 PM -57.37
02:00 PM -50.70
02:30 PM -43.52
03:00 PM -45.56
03:30 PM -38.90
04:00 PM -33.07 12,675.75

S&P 500314.63 -1.37

NASDAQ 2786.64 +2.47

GOLD 1,665.20 -12.10

OIL 99.10 -.048

TSE 300 12,395.24 -126.46

CDNX 1576.29 -12.62

S&P/TSX/60 708.09 -8.28

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -66 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -90 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,664.90.OIL opens at $98.52 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -90 points at low today so far.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -90 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)

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-10 WORLD REGIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

EU calls Iran's bluff on military threats
23.01.12 @ 18:41 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - EU foreign ministers have set the clock ticking on an Iran oil embargo in six months time despite fresh threats it will retaliate with naval action.Ministers in Brussels on Monday (23 January) agreed the Union will from 1 July no longer buy Iranian oil or petroleum products - worth about 20 percent of its exports - in order to stop an alleged nuclear weapons programme. It also blacklisted the Iranian central bank and banned trade in gold and diamonds.The time-lag is designed to help Greece, Italy and Spain sign new oil contracts with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In other softeners, the oil ban could be scrapped in a review in May and Iran's central bank will be allowed to facilitate trade in other areas, such as food and textiles.Two Iranian MPs the same day repeated the country's threats to block the Strait of Hormuz - a conduit for Saudi oil - in return, creating a major energy crisis. [It] would definitely be closed if the sale of Iranian oil is violated in any way,Mohammad Ismail Kowsari told the Associated Press.Iran has three attack submarines, a fleet of mine-laying mini-submarines and batteries of anti-ship missiles in the area.Nothing happened in the Arabian Gulf immediately after the EU announcement, however. Oil markets also stayed calm, with prices going up by just $1-or-so per barrel.The US and EU member states' navies have overwhelming force in the Bahrain-stationed Combined Maritime Forces fleet. Apart from two US aircraft carriers, the UK also has two frigates, a surveillance vessel, four anti-mine ships, three support ships and a nuclear-powered attack submarine.

A French anti-submarine frigate, one of the US carriers and a British vessel sailed through the strait on Monday.A French defence ministry spokesman told EUobserver: There is nothing exceptional about the situation down there.A British defence ministry spokesman said: We do this sort of thing all the time.Speaking to press in Brussels, British foreign minister William Hague noted: Any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz would be illegal and I also believe it would be unsuccessful.An Israeli defence analyst was more blunt.They won't go that far because the US has enough force in the Gulf to dismantle the Iranian regime if it wants to ... The Iranians know that the US would not absorb a big increase in oil prices in an election year and that there would be a devastating response,Alon Ben-David, an expert for Israel's Channel 10 TV station told this website.He noted that Iran will still be able to sell oil, but that Chinese companies will use the EU embargo to haggle down prices.Amid world reactions to the EU move, Russia criticised the bloc for bypassing the UN.Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov's remarks were mild compared to his statement last week however, when he accused the US and the EU of trying to foment a revolution in Iran and to start a war with its main regional ally, Syria (also hit with new EU sanctions on Monday).For his part, French foreign minister Alain Juppe told reporters in Brussels the sanctions are an alternative to war.

They mean paralysing economic activity in the country and cutting off revenues from its natural resources. I know there are sceptics who say the sanctions are good for nothing [in terms of stopping uranium enrichment]. But they are better than waging war, he said.The leaders of France, Germany and the UK followed-up the EU decision with a joint statement: Our message is clear. We have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But ... we will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.

EU becoming less tolerant, NGO says
Today JAN 23,12 @ 10:52 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - Racist mobs in Greece and Hungary, mistreatment of Roma, Arab migrants and Muslim terrorist suspects and a feeble reaction by EU institutions point to a worrying right-wing shift inside the European Union, according to US-based NGO Human Rights Watch.The most shocking racist attack in Europe last year saw Norwegian Anders Breivik kill 77 people in what he called a campaign to stop the continent being taken over by Islam.In less-well documented incidents, a far-right mob in Greece in May stormed a Pakistani suburb hospitalising 25 people, some with stab wounds. In April in Hungary, the Red Cross evacuated 277 Roma because right-wing vigilantes held military-type drills beside their homes.The Human Rights Watch report pulls no punches in linking the extreme cases to bad leadership by EU governments.It said the Breivik attack [echoed] what has increasingly become mainstream debate in Europe and highlighted the dangers of unchecked intolerance in countries such as France, which banned the Muslim veil, and the Netherlands, whose courts gave far-right politician Geert Wilders special latitude to voice anti-Islamic ideas.The report named and shamed nine EU member states - France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK - as displaying a swing toward right-wing politics on issues ranging from asylum seekers to gay rights.France and Italy continued to expel Roma in a campaign of discriminatory targeting accompanied by racist and xenophobic political discourse.

Greece and Italy failed on several counts in their reaction to the sharp increase in mostly African and Arab migrants.Greece is still holding migrants and asylum seekers, including women and families with children ... in inhumane conditions and has done little to clear a backlog of 38,000 asylum appeals. Italy kicked out some 60 percent of the Tunisians who came to seek shelter from the Arab Spring. In once incident the Italian navy intercepted a boat carrying 100 people and put them back on a Tunisian vessel in what appeared to be an unlawful pushback.The NGO also raised the alarm over the culture of policing inside the Union.It noted reports of excessive and indiscriminate police violence in Greece and Spain's handling of anti-austerity protests and in Spain's dispersal of an anti-Vatican rally. It also highlighted the way France, Germany, Spain and the UK hold mostly Muslim terrorist suspects without trial, deny them normal access to lawyers and send or try to send them back to countries where they risk torture.It accused the EU institutions of not doing enough to stop the trend.The European Commission failed to pursue vigorously its duty to enforce fundamental rights, dropping proceedings against Hungary over its media law and France over Roma expulsions, and suspending proceedings against Greece on its dysfunctional asylum and migration system despite continuing problems, it said.Unless the commission finds more courage, the downward slide on rights inside the EU looks set to continue,the NGO's Benjamin Ward added in a statement.The net result of human rights developments in Europe causes great concern ... Without concerted government action, the next generation of Europeans may see human rights as an optional extra rather than a core value.

No consensus on sanctions under fiscal pact, says Denmark 23.01.12 @ 18:42 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - Two issues are to extend discussions on the new fiscal treaty beyond the finance ministers' meeting on Monday (23 January): financial sanctions and the participation of non-euro members in eurozone summits, the Danish economy minister told this website.We support the participation of non-euro countries in the eurozone summits. It is one of the questions that will be worked on in the last week before the meeting of heads of state on 30 January,said Margrethe Vestager, who chairs the meeting of 27 finance ministers on behalf of the Danish EU presidency.The issue has become a make-or-break deal for Poland, whose prime minister has threatened not to sign up to the new inter-governmental treaty on fiscal discipline unless the so-called outs are allowed to attend the eurozone summits. In the latest text, a concession has been made allowing leaders from these countries to be invited in order to discuss specific issues concerning the implementation of this treaty,when appropriate and at least once a year.But Vestager remains sceptical this wording will be enough. It is a sensitive question, if countries that are now outside the euro but may become part of the eurozone in the years to come, it's in their obvious interest to participate in meetings where these issues will be discussed,she said.

Poland is not the only country to make this claim, she noted, just the most vocal ambassador.We have stated the same in the negotiations, Vestager said, even though her country, unlike the other eight 'outs' that have signed up to the fiscal treaty, is under no legal obligation to join the euro.The other thorny issue likely to remain unsettled before the EU leaders' meeting next Monday is the controversial idea of having the European Court of Justice impose fines of up to 0.1 percent of a country's gross domestic product if it doesn't properly apply the so-called balanced budget rule into national law, prohibiting a structural deficit of more than 0.5 percent of GDP.In the latest draft, this fine would be transferred directly to the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone's permanent bail-out fund to be created this summer.This is a proposal on which there is no consensus yet. From a strictly Danish point of view, it's hard to see your fines going to the ESM, which is a eurozone fine-box. In that respect, there is a special Danish issue, but I think this will be debated in the days to come, not only tonight,Vestager said.To the Danish Liberal, the mere fact that leaders from 26 EU countries - except Britain - have agreed to enshrine the balanced budget rule in their binding national legislation is enough of a token of appreciation that they are committed to this new approach in public finances.

The fiscally disciplined Scandinavian country supports this new treaty - essentially a German pre-condition for future eurozone bail-outs - as a measure to boost market confidence in the soundness of state budgets.We need not only the markets, but also businesses and citizens to trust our fiscal policies. That is our most important thing. It's one of the Danish EU presidency's high priorities to make sure that the implementation of the economic reform is going well and remains very focused,she said.

Commission tells EU institutions to cut costs
23.01.12 @ 19:09 By Nikolaj Nielsen

BRUSSELS - Without signalling out any one EU institution in particular, the European Commission has requested they all refrain from bloating 2013 expenditure budgets as a response to the austerity measures netted out upon the rest of Europe.Commission asks EU institutions to refrain from increasing expenditure budgets (Photo: Domiriel)

The EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski sent a letter to all respective EU chiefs stating that they should make all possible efforts towards limiting expenditure in preparing their own estimates for the draft budget 2013.Among the letter's recipients was EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton of the European External Action Service (EEAS). When it was launched in December 2010, the diplomatic service quickly buckled under considerable budgetary constraints.The original budget of the EEAS in year one was insufficient to meet the running costs, EEAS spokesperson Michael Mann wrote this website in an email. The EEAS had to increase its budget by €26.9 million for 2012 to help pay staff and run its daily operational activities.For its part, the commission intends to reduce its staff by 1 percent in 2013 with an estimated saving of around €20 million.It is of the utmost importance to continue to demonstrate that the EU institutions are acting responsibly in the current climate of austerity,the commissioner told reporters on Monday (23 January). Lewandowski had made a similar statement in February last year urging the EU institutions to cut IT, publication and travel among other costs.

The commission froze its expenditure increases in 2011 and aims to do same for the 2012, while other institutions either increased or even dropped their own expenditure budgets.Indeed, the European Council went from €563 million in 2011 to €538 million for this year. The European Parliament, on the other hand, increased its budget expenditure from €1.68 billion to €1.72 billion due in part to translation costs and the addition of Croatia as a new member state.The EEAS, however, represents a tiny fraction of the overall EU budget but is mandated to set EU foreign policy through joint-missions with non-EU states and its 136 over-sea delegations.Understaffed and widely criticized for failing to achieve EU foreign policy coherence, the service even struggled to fill vacant positions amid reports that around 60 had quit only months into their contracts.I would not want to be dragged into extrapolating on the possible consequences of what possible measures some institutions might take. It is for each of them to decide how best to show the message to the EU taxpayers that the EU institutions do not act in a business as usual way, that they voluntarily show savings as is the case in many member states, responded Lewandowski’s spokesperson in an email when asked if the announcement was a veiled slight at the increased expenditure budgets of the European Parliament and the EEAS.In 2011, the EEAS pocketed €464 million and divided the budget between its headquarters in Brussels and its numerous delegations. The EEAS also managed € 253 million on behalf of the commission for administrative expenses linked to commission staff in delegations.We are aiming to make the EEAS as cost-efficient as possible. We have made efficiency gains from the merging of the services, and are currently doing a review of mission expenditure for our delegations,wrote the EEAS spokesperson adding that the service is making every effort to maximise efficiency.

Around six percent of the EU’s total €129 billion is spent on EU institutional administrative matters. The council, the commission, and the European parliament eat up the greatest share of the expenditure budgets.The remaining 94 percent of the EU total budget is spent on EU citizens, farmers, businesses, regions and cities.

Deal sought on delayed EU derivatives law
Today JAN 23,12 @ 09:24 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - Finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (24 January) may agree on a compromise deal put forward by the Danish EU presidency on a delayed EU bill regulating trading in derivatives, the sticking point being how much power to give to the responsible new EU authority.The draft law was initially tabled by the European Commission in 2010, two years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the bail-out of AIG - financial institutions which had been at the forefront of derivatives trading, essentially guaranteeing bets on mortgages and loans that went bust once the housing bubble in the US burst.Once agreed by member states and the European Parliament, the law would make direct trading in derivatives more transparent and traceable, as it would require databases registering every such transaction to be set up in clearing houses that ensure their validity.MEPs are pushing for the newly appointed EU body, the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma), to have a key role in the process.London, home to 75 percent of the European derivatives market, has so far opposed Esma being given too many powers, especially when it comes to authorising or rejecting the establishment of clearing houses in a member state - something currently being approved by national authorities.At a meeting in October, British finance minister George Osborne obtained a concession virtually making it impossible for other countries or Esma to block the establishment of clearing houses in a member state - by requiring unanimity among all except the host country.

Germany, where most of the second type of derivatives - traded through the stock exchange - are taking place, had initially teamed up with Britain but has meanwhile changed course and is pushing for Esma to get a bigger mediation role.According to a Danish compromise text, seen by EUobserver, the unanimity minus one rule has been kept, but a second option is foreseen so that when a three-quarters majority of states have a negative opinion, they can refer the matter to Esma.That decision shall state in writing the full and detailed reasons why the concerned members of the college consider that the requirements of this Regulation or other parts of EU law are not met. In that case the competent authority of the member state where the CCP is established shall defer its decision on the authorisation and await any decision that Esma may take,the text reads.A meeting scheduled Monday with MEPs dealing with this file has been postponed until the following Monday, pending an agreement among finance ministers.As for clearing houses themselves, no common position has agreed either. Those acting primarily at a national level - British, German or Italian - prefer the supervision of national authorities whom they know well, says one market source.But national authorities can also be politically biased. A Greek authority may reject the application of a Turkish clearing house, whereas Esma would be more neutral,the source said.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

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

Strong storms hit Alabama, kill two
ReutersBy Verna Gates and Peggy Gargis | Reuters – JAN 23,12

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Search and rescue team combed through debris in Alabama after powerful thunderstorms pummeled the state early on Monday, killing at least two people and leaving heavy damage just hours after tornadoes struck portions of Arkansas.Alabama Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency after the predawn storms hit the Birmingham area, with the towns of Center Point and Trussville just to the northeast of the city hit particularly hard.Two people were confirmed dead, according to Pat Curry, Jefferson County's chief deputy coroner; one in Clay, a city of roughly 10,000 people, and another in the western part of the county.Earlier, an emergency management official had reported three deaths.We have major, major damage, said Bob Ammons, a Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) official, referring to Center Point, Trussville and some unincorporated areas of the county.About 100 people were treated for injuries, said Jefferson County EMA spokesman Mark Kelly.Last April, massive tornadoes tore through Alabama killing more than 240 people, including 64 in the Jefferson and Tuscaloosa areas.On Monday, in St. Clair County, Alabama, spokeswoman Katie Reese said a local fire department estimated some 36 homes had been damaged, and some of them destroyed.The possibility for sporadic thunderstorms in the region lingered, according to AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Henry Margusity, but overall the severe weather was calming down.

THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER

Clean-up and recovery efforts were under way across Alabama on Monday afternoon.
Food safety inspectors had been dispatched to assess damage and power outages at retail food establishments, state officials said, adding that any compromised products would be taken off shelves.Search and rescue efforts were ongoing, according to Matt Angelo of the Center Point fire department. The injury count in that area northeast of Birmingham remained at about 12, he said.At nearby Parkway Veterinary Clinic animals were being transported to a safe location after the structure sustained a direct hit during the storm, a spokeswoman said.Earlier, rescue crews were dispatched to investigate reports of an overturned mobile home with people trapped inside, said Debbie Orange, city clerk for the city of Clanton, about midway between Birmingham and Montgomery. No injuries could be confirmed.A preliminary report from the weather service's storm prediction center indicated a radio station in Clanton, Alabama was destroyed and a 302-foot (92-meter) transmission tower toppled due to the severe weather.A tornado is suspected, but not yet confirmed, in the radio station destruction, according to the National Weather Service.In Tennessee, the worst storm damage was in the middle of the state, with downed trees and power lines. In western Tennessee, structural damage resulted from winds whipping up to 65 mph, meteorologists said.

These were the latest in a series of powerful January storms to have torn through the Southeast.On Sunday, twisters downed trees and powerlines in Arkansas leaving thousands without power.A tornado ripped into an area outside of Fordyce, some 70 miles south of state capital Little Rock, damaging houses and felling trees and power lines as it moved, according to Accuweather.com.

The National Weather Service in Little Rock rated the Fordyce area tornado as an EF2, on a scale that ranges from EF0 to EF5, the most severe. The town of just under 5,000 people was one of the hardest hit areas in a series of storms that struck Arkansas on Sunday night.Significant damage occurred to houses northwest of the small town, the city's country club and a set of transmission towers, it said in a statement.The weather service has reported as many as eight possible tornadoes may have touched down on Sunday night in Arkansas, which was pelted by soft-ball sized hailstones and buffeted by winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour.By Monday, almost 8,000 customers across Arkansas were still without power, according to utility provider Entergy Arkansas, Inc.(Additional reporting by Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Suzi Parker in Little Rock and Kelli Dugan in Mobile, Alabama; Writing by Dan Burns and Lauren Keiper; Editing by Greg McCune and Sandra Maler)

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.

Putin warns ethnic tensions risk tearing Russia apart
ReutersBy Alissa de Carbonnel and Gleb Bryanski | Reuters – JAN 23,12

MOSCOW/KISLOVODSK, Russia (Reuters) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, warning ethnic tensions could tear Russia apart, said on Monday he would toughen migration rules and keep a tight rein on Russia's regions to prevent it following the Soviet Union into oblivion.In a newspaper article and an address in southern Russia, Putin used the danger of ethnic discord to call for limits on electoral reforms.With the collapse of the country (the Soviet Union), we were on the edge -- and in some regions over the edge -- of civil war, Putin wrote in Nezavisimaya Gazeta.With great effort, with great sacrifice we were able to douse these fires. But that doesn't mean that the problem is gone,he wrote in the second of a series of articles promoting his leadership goals ahead of a March 4 presidential election.Putin, in power since 2000 and favored to win a six-year presidential term in March, described a Soviet-style vision of a country in which the rights of ethnic minorities would be respected but Russian language and culture would dominate.The Russian people, the Russian culture is the glue holding together the unique fabric of this civilization, Putin wrote.

Putin is steering a fine line between Orthodox Christian ethnic Russians, some of whom fear labor migration and higher birth rates among Russia's Muslims, and ethnic tensions which could challenge his vision of a centralized, united, Russia.Thousands of nationalists have protested in Moscow over migration and state subsidies to the mostly Muslim North Caucasus, where an Islamist insurgency rooted in the Chechen wars persists.Comparing nationalism to a disease, Putin took aim at ethnic Russian nationalists, who have been among the 59-year-old prime minister's most vociferous critics.If a multiethnic society is infected by nationalism, it loses its strength and durability, Putin wrote.We need to understand what far-reaching effects can be caused by attempts to inflame national enmity and hatred.He said minorities must live under the umbrella of Russian culture, and migrants must pass exams in Russian language and history. Authorities should be given more power to vet migrants' professional skills and students should read some 100 national classics.But he also said the best way to stem migration was by creating favorable conditions for citizens to work in their native regions.Without naming names, he took aim at the idea of cutting federal subsidies for the North Caucasus, promoted by anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny.The goals of such activists are clear and they have nothing in common with the real attempts to solve ethnic problems, with Russia's development and interests of its citizens,Putin told the conference of Peoples of Russia's South in Kislovodsk.In the article, he plugged his plan for a Eurasian Union linking Russia with other ex-Soviet republics including those in Central Asia -- the source of millions of labor migrants in Russia -- saying closer ties would help curb migration by helping to develop their economies.

Yet in a sign he will not reverse a consolidation of power in Moscow, Putin said he could not allow regional political parties because some could be created on ethnic lines, calling it a direct path to separatism.What is omitted is even more important than what is included (in the article), said Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center, told Reuters.There is no mention of federalism here and the idea here is that a centralized state should be stronger in order to prevent disintegration, he said.President Dmitry Medvedev submitted a bill this month that would restore popular elections for Russia's regional governors. But Putin suggested on Monday that potential governors may need presidential approval to run.We need to tune this mechanism properly, he said.(Additional reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Russia: We Can Do No More for Syria-Moscow has reached its limit and says it can do no more to help Syria's President Bashar al-Assad remain in power.By Chana Ya'ar First Publish: 1/24/2012, 12:15 AM

Moscow has reached its limit and says it can do no more to help Syria's President Bashar al-Assad remain in power.Senior Russian lawmaker Mikhail Margelov said Moscow's veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Assad's savage crackdown on dissidents, together with China, with the last instrument possible to keep Assad in office.This veto has exhausted our arsenal of such resources, Margelov was quoted as saying Monday by Russia's Itar-Tass news agency. However, Russia signed an arms deal with Damascus the same day, agreeing to supply 36 fighter jets to the Assad regime.Apparently also rapidly reaching its limit, the Arab League on Sunday called on the Syrian president to step down and form a unity government in the face of ongoing protests by thousands of demonstrators. The Cairo-based entity recommended that Assad transfer power to a deputy until elections could be scheduled.But a Syrian official told the state-run SANA news agency in response, Syria rejects the decisions of the Arab League ministerial council... and considers them a violation of its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in its internal affairs.Tens of thousands of protesters turned out Monday in the Damascus suburb of Duma alone, protected by the opposition Free Syrian Army, to express their grief after 11 more civilians were murdered by government troops, activists said.Nevertheless, with the exception of a one-month extension of the Arab League observer mission, no direct intervention has been approved by any Arab nation, nor has the United Nations made any decision as to what it will do, if anything, to stop the slaughter of Syrian civilians by the Assad regime.

Between five and six thousand Syrians have been killed by government forces in the past ten months, and thousands more have been injured in detention, and many tortured, after being arbitrarily arrested, including many women and children. Some have disappeared.The Assad regime claims that approximately 2,000 security troops have also died in clashes with terrorists and armed gangs as a result of the anti-government uprising ignited by last year's Arab Spring.

Iran slams EU oil embargo, warns could hit U.S.
ReutersBy Hossein Jaseb and Justyna Pawlak | Reuters – JAN23,12

TEHRAN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran accused Europeans on Monday of waging psychological warfare after the EU banned imports of Iranian oil, and President Barack Obama said Washington would impose more sanctions to address the serious threat presented by Iran's nuclear program.The Islamic Republic, which denies trying to build a nuclear bomb, scoffed at efforts to choke its oil exports, as Asia lines up to buy what Europe scorns.Some Iranians also renewed threats to stop Arab oil from leaving the Gulf and warned they might strike U.S. targets worldwide if Washington used force to break any Iranian blockade of a strategically vital shipping route.Yet in three decades of confrontation between Tehran and the West, bellicose rhetoric and the undependable armory of sanctions have become so familiar that the benchmark Brent crude oil price edged only 0.8 percent higher, and some of that was due to unrelated currency factors.If any disruption happens regarding the sale of Iranian oil, the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be closed,Mohammad Kossari, deputy head of parliament's foreign affairs and national security committee, told Fars news agency a day after U.S., French and British warships sailed back into the Gulf.

If America seeks adventures after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will make the world unsafe for Americans in the shortest possible time, Kossari added, referring to an earlier U.S. pledge to use its fleet to keep the passage open.In Washington, Obama said in a statement that the EU sanctions underlined the strength of the international community's commitment to addressing the serious threat presented by Iran's nuclear program.The United States will continue to impose new sanctions to increase the pressure on Iran,Obama said.The United States imposed its own sanctions against Iran's oil trade and central bank on December 31. On Monday it imposed sanctions on the country's third-largest bank, state-owned Bank Tejarat and a Belarus-based affiliate, for allegedly helping Tehran develop its nuclear program.

The EU sanctions were also welcomed by Israel, which has warned it might attack Iran if sanctions do not deflect Tehran from a course that some analysts say could potentially give Iran a nuclear bomb next year.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: This new, concerted pressure will sharpen the choice for Iran's leaders and increase their cost of defiance of basic international obligations.U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, reiterated Washington's commitment to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. I think that Iran has undoubtedly heard that message and would be well advised to heed it,she said at a meeting of the board of governors of the American Jewish Committee in New York.

CALLS FOR TALKS

Germany, France and Britain used the EU sanctions as a cue for a joint call to Tehran to renew long-suspended negotiations on its nuclear program. Russia, like China a powerful critic of the Western approach, said talks might soon be on the cards.Iran, however, said new sanctions made that less likely. It is a view shared by some in the West who caution that such tactics risk hardening Iranian support for a nuclear program that also seems to be subject to a covert war of sabotage and assassinations widely blamed on Israeli and Western agents.The European Union embargo will not take full effect until July 1 because the foreign ministers who agreed the anticipated ban on imports of Iranian crude at a meeting in Brussels were anxious not to penalize the ailing economies of Greece, Italy and others to whom Iran is a major oil supplier. The strategy will be reviewed in May to see if it should go ahead.Curbing Iran's oil exports is a double-edged sword, as Tehran's own response to the embargo clearly showed.Loss of revenue is painful for a clerical establishment that faces an awkward electoral test at a time of galloping inflation which is hurting ordinary people. But since Iran's Western-allied Arab neighbors are struggling to raise their own output to compensate, the curbs on Tehran's exports have driven up oil prices and raised costs for recession-hit Western industries.

A member of Iran's influential Assembly of Experts, former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, said Tehran should respond to the delayed-action EU sanctions by stopping sales to the bloc immediately, denying the Europeans time to arrange alternative supplies and damaging their economies with higher oil prices.The best way is to stop exporting oil ourselves before the end of this six months and before the implementation of the plan,the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE

European Union sanctions on Iranian oil is psychological warfare, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. Imposing economic sanctions is illogical and unfair but will not stop our nation from obtaining its rights.Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the official IRNA news agency that the more sanctions were imposed on Tehran the more obstacles there will be to solve the issue.Iran's Oil Ministry issued a statement saying the sanctions did not come as a shock. The oil ministry has from long ago thought about it and has come up with measures to deal with any challenges,it said, according to IRNA.Mehmanparast said:The European countries and those who are under American pressure, should think about their own interests. Any country that deprives itself from Iran's energy market, will soon see that it has been replaced by others.China, Iran's biggest customer, has resisted U.S. pressure to cut back its oil imports, as have other Asian economies to varying degrees. India's oil minister said on Monday sanctions were forcing Iran to sell more cheaply and that India planned to take full advantage of that to buy as much as it could.The EU measures include an immediate ban on all new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude and petroleum products. However, EU countries with existing contracts can honor them up to July 1.EU officials said they also agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank and ban trade in gold and other precious metals with the bank and state bodies.EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: I want the pressure of these sanctions to result in negotiations.I want to see Iran come back to the table and either pick up all the ideas that we left on the table ... last year ... or to come forward with its own ideas.Iran has said it is willing to hold talks with Western powers, though there have been mixed signals on whether conditions imposed by both sides make new negotiations likely.

IAEA INSPECTORS VISIT

The Islamic Republic says it is enriching uranium only for producing electricity and other civilian uses. The start this month of a potentially bomb-proof - and once secret - enrichment plant has deepened skepticism abroad, however.The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed plans for a visit next week by senior inspectors to try to clear up questions raised about the purpose of Iran's nuclear activities. Tehran is banned by international treaty from developing nuclear weaponry.The Agency team is going to Iran in a constructive spirit, and we trust that Iran will work with us in that same spirit,IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said in a statement announcing the January 29-31 visit.Iran, whose regional policies face a setback from the difficulties of its Arab ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has powerful defenders in the form of Russia, which has built Iran a reactor, and China. Both permanent U.N. Security Council members argue that Western sanctions are counter-productive.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, classifying the EU embargo among aggravating factors, said Moscow believed there was a good chance that talks between six global powers and Iran could resume soon and that Russia would try to steer both Iran and the West away from further confrontation.His ministry issued an official statement expressing regret and alarm: What is happening here is open pressure and diktat, an attempt to punish Iran for its intractable behavior.This is a deeply mistaken approach, as we have told our European partners more than once. Under such pressure Iran will not agree to any concessions or any changes in its policy.But that argument cuts no ice with the U.S. administration, for which Iran - and Israel's stated willingness to consider unilateral military action against it - is a major challenge as Obama campaigns for re-election against Republican opponents who say he has been too soft on Tehran.
(Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy and Mitra Amiri in Tehran, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Adrian Croft in London, John Irish in Paris, Alexei Anishchuk in Sochi, Ari Rabinovitch and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Rachelle Younglai and Andrew Quinn in Washington, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna and Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations; writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Robert Woodward and Mohammad Zargham)

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Earthquake shakes northern Dominican Republic
Associated PressAssociated Press – JAN 23,12

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A moderate earthquake struck Monday in the northern Dominican Republic but there were no reports of damage or injuries.The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.1. The epicenter was in the coastal town of Rio San Juan, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of the capital and 22 miles (35 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco de Macoris.A seismology institute at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo said its equipment recorded a magnitude of 5.4.Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the country's Emergency Operations Center, said emergency workers had fanned out in communities along the northern coast to check for damage or injuries but had so far found none.Tremors were felt as far away as Cap Haitien in northern Haiti and along the west coast of Puerto Rico.

Intifada is Back, Says Guard Who was Stabbed-Security man says events like Sunday's attempted stabbing at Kalandiya are becoming more frequent By Gil Ronen First Publish: 1/22/2012, 7:39 PM

A security guard who works at the Shuafat checkpoint told Arutz Sheva Sunday that attacks like the one thwarted earlier in the day at Kalandiya are becoming more and more frequent. The Intifada is back, he said.The guard – who requested anonymity, and will be referred to by the pseudonym Yisrael – was witness to a similar attack 20 days ago at the Shuafat checkpoint in northern Jerusalem. In that event, an Arab woman with Israeli citizenship brazenly refused the guards' instructions to proceed through the pedestrian lane. She got close to the guards and said, in Hebrew, that she refuses to pass through that lane.A guard walked up to her and she then tried to pull out a knife and stab him. He saw that she was about to attack him and was able to overpower her.A Border Policeman was stabbed in the neck at the same checkpoint on Saturday and suffered light injuries.Yisrael said that the events at the checkpoints are all connected, and that Israeli forces are not equipped to handle the new wave of violence. The danger is always present, he said, and one never knows where the next attack will come from. An Arab worker who is upset about something that happened to him during the day can take out his frustration in an attack on soldiers, he said: We trust them daily, and one day they can stab us in the back.The guards have the authority to arrest suspects, added Yisrael, but this authority is only partial and requires the presence of a police officer. In addition – the guards are not equipped with nonlethal weapons like electric shockers, pepper spray and the like. Poor conditions also make the guards less alert: not enough food, a shortage of personnel and lack of air conditioning are all problems that could lead to a tragedy, he explained.