12 EU COUNTRIES IN ECONOMIC TROUBLE

OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN

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

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

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

THE EARTH (WORLD) NEVER ENDS

ECCLESIASTES 1:4
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

PSALMS 104:5
5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

MATTHEW 5:5
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

PSALMS 37:29
29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.

ISAIAH 45:17
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

EPHESIANS 3:21
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

What If Earth's Magnetic Poles Flip?
LiveScience.comLiveScience.com – FEB 15,12


The end of the world as we know it could come in any number of ways, depending on who you ask. Some people believe global cataclysm will occur when Earth's magnetic poles reverse. When north goes south, they say, the continents will lurch in one direction or the other, triggering massive earthquakes, rapid climate change and species extinctions.The geologic record shows that hundreds of pole reversals have occurred throughout Earth's history; they happen when patches of iron atoms in Earth's liquid outer core become reverse-aligned, like tiny magnets oriented in the opposite direction from those around them. When the reversed patches grow to the point that they dominate the rest of the core, Earth's overall magnetic field flips. The last reversal happened 780,000 years ago during the Stone Age, and indeed there's evidence to suggest the planet may be in the early stages of a pole reversal right now.But should we really fear this event? What will actually happen when north-pointing compasses make a 180-degree turn toward Antarctica? Will the continents tear themselves apart, or are we in store for much more mundane changes?

Weak field

The most dramatic changes that occur when the poles reverse is a very large decrease of the total field intensity, said Jean-Pierre Valet, who conducts research on geomagnetic reversals at the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris. [5 Ways the World Will Change Dramatically this Century]Earth's magnetic field takes between 1,000 and 10,000 years to reverse, and in the process, it greatly diminishes before it re-aligns. It's not a sudden flip, but a slow process, during which the field strength becomes weak, very probably the field becomes more complex and might show more than two poles for a while, and then builds up in strength and [aligns] in the opposite direction,said Monika Korte, the scientific director of the Niemegk Geomagnetic Observatory at GFZ Potsdam in Germany.The scientists say it's the weak in-between phase that would be roughest on Earthlings.According to John Tarduno, professor of geophysics at the University of Rochester, a strong magnetic field helps protect Earth from blasts of radiation from the sun. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occasionally occur on the Sun, and sometimes hurtle directly toward Earth, Tarduno said. Some of the particles associated with CMEs can be blocked by Earth's magnetic field. With a weak field, this shielding is less efficient.

The charged particles bombarding Earth's atmosphere during solar storms would punch holes in Earth's atmosphere, and this could hurt humans. Ozone holes, like that over Antarctica (which today are due to an entirely different cause related to man) could form as solar particles interact with the atmosphere in a cascade of chemical reactions. These holes would not be permanent, but might be present on one- to 10-year timescales — arguably important enough to be a concern in terms of skin cancer rates, Tarduno said. [Will Sunscreen Protect You from the Upcoming Solar Flares?]Valet agrees that a weak magnetic field could lead to the formation of ozone holes. He wrote a paper last year proposing a direct link between the demise of Neanderthals, our evolutionary cousins, and a significant decrease of the geomagnetic field intensity that occurred exactly at the same period. (That time, the lead-up to a geomagnetic reversal appears to have been aborted; the field weakened but didn't end up flipping.)Other scientists aren't convinced that there's a connection between pole reversals and species extinctions. Even if the field becomes very weak, at the Earth's surface we are shielded from radiation by the atmosphere. Similarly as we cannot see or feel the presence of the geomagnetic field now, we most likely would not notice any significant change from a reversal,Korte said.Our technology definitely would be in danger, however. Even now, solar storms can damage satellites, cause power outages and interrupt radio communications. These kinds of negative influences clearly will increase if the magnetic field and thus its shielding function became significantly weaker, e.g. during a reversal, and it will be important to find mitigation strategies,she told Life's Little Mysteries.
One additional worry is that a weakening and eventual reversal in the field would disorient all those species that rely on geomagnetism for navigation, including bees, salmon, turtles, whales, bacteria and pigeons. There is no scientific consensus on how those creatures would cope.

Continental shifts?

Many of the disaster scenarios associated with geomagnetic pole reversals in popular imagination are pure fantasy, the scientists said. There definitely won't be any break-up or shift of the continents.The first proof is the geologic record. When the last pole switch happened, no worldwide shifting of continents or other planet-wide disasters occurred, as geoscientists can testify to from fossil and other records, said Alan Thompson, head of geomagnetism at the British Geological Survey.The scientists explained that changes in the Earth's liquid core happen on a completely different distance and timescale than convection in the Earth's mantle (which causes Earth's tectonic plates to shift, moving the continents). The liquid core does indeed touch the bottom of the mantle, but it would take tens of millions of years for changes in the core to propagate up through the mantle and influence the motion of the tectonic plates. In short, there is no evidence from the geological past and in my opinion also no conceivable method that magnetic reversals couldtrigger Earthquakes, Korte said.

Sooner or later

The geomagnetic field is currently weakening, possibly because of a growing patch of reverse-alignment in the liquid core deep beneath Brazil and the South Atlantic. According to Tarduno, the strength of Earth's magnetic field has been decreasing for at least 160 years at an alarming rate, leading some to speculate that we are heading toward a reversal.The reversal might happen, or it might be aborted — Earth is too complex a system for scientists to know which outcome to expect. Either way, the process will drag on over the next few thousand years, giving us time to adjust to the changes. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS WED FEBRUARY 15,2012

09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM -17.79
10:30 AM -32.32
11:00 AM -36.86
11:30 AM -34.25
12:00 PM -20.09
12:30 PM -34.29
01:00 PM -79,70
01:30 PM -77.50
02:00 PM -80.25
02:30 PM -99.41
03:00 PM -119.25
03:30 PM -114.25
04:00 PM -97.33 12,780.95

S&P 500 1343.23 -7.27

NASDAQ 2915.83 -16.00

GOLD 1,730.70 +13.10

OIL 102.02 +1.28

TSE 300 12,362.03 +7.56

CDNX 1633.58 +3.55

S&P/TSX/60 702.44 +0.11

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +14 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -40 points at low today.
Dow +15 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,737.00.OIL opens at $101.67 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -119 points at low today so far.
Dow +15 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -119 points at low today.
Dow +15 points at high today.

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

CRUDE OIL -171,000 BARRELS
GASOLINE +400,000 BARRELS
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES -2.9 MILLION BARRELS

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.

Iran Uses Homemade Fuel Rods – PR Stunt or Step to N-Bomb? Iran announced Wednesday it placed its first homemade nuclear fuel rods in a reactor, but it may not be able convert them into fuel.By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu First Publish: 2/15/2012, 12:35 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152778#.TzvY5FG3hko

Iran announced Wednesday that it has placed its first homemade nuclear fuel rods in a reactor, but it may not be able convert them into fuel. The regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad often has made claims, such as the development of long-range missiles, that analysts say may be exaggerated if not untrue.Tehran issued a statement on its official Iranian Student News Agency to announce what it said is a giant step in its nuclear program.The research reactor is located in Tehran.We have started enriching uranium to 20 percent to build nuclear fuel rods since western countries are reluctant to provide us with assistance,Iranian Deputy Nuclear Negotiator Ali Bagheri said. His statement to the Russian Ria Novosti news agency, and reported by ISNA, indicates the close ties between Iran and Russia, which has a vested interest in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear development.The rods are the first ones produced by Iranian scientists and they will be placed into Tehran research reactor in presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday,he added.

He also reiterated that Fordo nuclear site working under the IAEA supervision has entered into operational phase.The use of homemade nuclear fuel rods, which Iran last month said were successfully tested, in a move to overcome international sanctions aimed at preventing or slowing down further development in its unsupervised nuclear program.Iran last year refused to agree to conditions for importing fuel rods from the West, but the use of the homemade nuclear rods does not necessarily mean that scientists will be able to convert the produced uranium into fuel for nuclear reactors.

Panetta: Israel Hasn't Decided Yet on Iran Strike-U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he doesn't think Israel has made a decision to launch a military strike on Iran.By Elad Benari First Publish: 2/15/2012, 5:44 AM

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Tuesday said he does not think Israel has made a decision to launch a military strike on Iran to thwart its nuclear ambitions, The Associated Press reported.Panetta made the comments while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he was pressed on the growing possibility that Israel would attack Iran.AP quoted Panetta as having said Iran was a great concern and the U.S. has a common cause with Israel and the international community to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. He said the U.S. and other nations have taken strong steps with sanctions and stressed the importance of keeping the international community together.Panetta then said that, as President Barack Obama has previously suggested, that the administration does not think Israel has made a decision on an attack in Iran.The media has been rampant with speculations in recent months that Israel is planning to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

A recent report on NBC revealed what an Israeli attack on Iran may look like. The report, which was based on conversations the American network held with current and former officials in Israel and the United States, suggested that an attack on Iran will combine air and ground faces but will not include naval forces.Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey also defended the Pentagon's slimmed-down, $614 billion budget for 2013, AP reported, telling lawmakers it's time to show Congress is serious about reducing the deficit.According to the report, Panetta warned lawmakers that budget cuts will hit all 50 states but said the reductions have been carefully planned and there is little room for changes.Reports on Monday said that as part of the slimmed-down budget, the Obama administration is seeking to cut the amount of money Israel receives for its missile defense systems in 2013 by $6.3 million relative to the 2012 budget proposal.

PA Double Talk: Song Wishes for a World Without Israel-The official TV of the moderate PA Chairman Abbas airs song which longs for Israeli cities such as Jaffa, Haifa and Akko.By Elad Benari First Publish: 2/15/2012, 6:16 AM

Twice in the past two weeks, official Palestinian Authority TV has broadcast a song which expresses longing for a world without Israel.The lyrics of the song express a desire for the Israeli cities of Haifa, Jaffa, Akko, Ramle and Nazareth to be part of my country,which is Palestine, where all cities would be accessible with no borders.The music video, which aired on January 30 and again on February 9, was translated by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research institute and presented on its website. The official PA TV is run by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, who has often been described as more moderate than the Hamas terror group, whose charter states that Israel must be destroyed.The following is the transcript of the song as translated by the PMW and which includes places such as Nazareth, the Galilee, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Akko, and Haifa, all of which are Israeli cities and places:
I wish I could enter my country with no borders...
I will go about in Bethlehem and in Al-Aqsa [Mosque], which is held captive
I will eat lunch in Nazareth and eat dinner in Beit Sahour...
I do not forget Jenin nor Nablus [Shechem], and the Galilee
I do not forget you, Jaffa, your long sea [shore]
I will never forget the olives of the Galilee
Even if our path has grown long, one day we will return:
To Jerusalem, to Gaza, to Acre, to Haifa, oh Lord.
To Jerusalem, to Ramle, to Acre, to Haifa, oh Lord...
I wish I could enter my country with no borders.

PMW often exposes such instances of double talk by the PA’s official media. These incidents occur despite Abbas often telling international media that he is in favor of peace with Israel.Recently, PMW exposed statements made by the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, against Jews.At an event marking the 47th anniversary of the Fatah movement, Hussein said that the killing of Jews by Muslims is a religious Islamic goal.He cited the Hadith (Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad) saying that the Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein later requested that a criminal investigation on suspicion of incitement to violence and racism be opened against the Mufti.The statements were condemned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as well as by President Shimon Peres. The Mufti denied that he called for genocide of Jews, saying that sentences were cut from my speech and added that Islam calls for respect of all human beings. I am amazed that these comments were attributed to me.

Israeli leader: Iranian aggression must be halted
Associated PressAssociated Press – FEB 15,12

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is destabilizing the world and its aggression must be stopped.At Israel's parliament on Wednesday, Netanyahu reiterated Israel's claims that Iran was behind explosions this week that targeted Israeli diplomats in India and the former Soviet republic of Georgia.Netanyahu said, If this aggression isn't halted, ultimately it will spread to many other countries.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.BANGKOK (AP) — The homemade sticky bombs discovered in a Bangkok house after an accidental blast were similar to devices used against Israeli Embassy targets in India and Georgia, Israel's ambassador said Wednesday, building on his country's claims the incidents are part of a covert terror campaign by Iran.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the allegations baseless, saying Israel was trying to damage its relations with Thailand and fuel conspiracy theories.Thailand's government was struggling to piece together what a trio of Iranian men were plotting when a cache of explosives detonated by mistake in their home in Bangkok's busy Sukhumvit Road area a day earlier. Bomb disposal teams searched the Iranians' house again Wednesday looking for more evidence, while security forces were searching for an Iranian woman they said had originally rented it.Two of the men were detained, and Thai immigration police chief Lt. Gen. Wiboon Bangthamai said a third suspect who fled the destroyed house escaped to Malaysia after boarding a flight bound for Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday night. He identified the man as Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, but had no other details.

Israel has accused Iran of waging a campaign of state terror and has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has blamed the Jewish state for the recent killings of Iranian atomic scientists and has denied responsibility for all three plots this week.On Monday in New Delhi, an explosion tore through an Israeli diplomatic vehicle, wounding the driver and a diplomat's wife, according to Indian officials. On the same day in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, authorities say attackers planted an explosive device on the car of a driver for the Israeli Embassy, but it was discovered and defused before it went off.Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Itzhak Shoha told The Associated Press in an interview that after Tuesday's blasts Thai police found and defused two magnetic bombs that could be stuck on vehicles.They are similar to the ones used in Delhi and in Tbilisi, Shoham said. From that we can assume that there is the same network of terror.That and the arrest of the two Iranians in Thailand again leaves not too much room to assume who was behind it, Shoham said.Late Tuesday, Israel's Channel 10 TV quoted unidentified Thai authorities as saying the captured Iranians confessed to targeting Israeli interests.Thai police have named the Iranian pair in custody as Saeid Moradi, who lost at least one leg in a self-inflicted grenade blast as he tried to flee police, and Mohummad Hazaei, who was detained Tuesday as he tried to board a flight to Malaysia.Both men are now facing four criminal charges, including possession of explosives, attempted murder, attempted murder of a policeman and causing explosions that damaged property.

Top security agencies called a news conference in which authorities acknowledged to being caught by surprise and said they had little information about who the alleged attackers were or their possible targets.National Security Council chief Wichean Potephosree said the government had not yet determined if there was any link between the events in Bangkok, New Delhi and Tbilisi.We haven't found any links but we are still investigating, Wichean said.We admit there was magnetic component, aiming at individuals, but the origin of the magnets still has to be investigated.When police searched the house, the bomb squad found and defused two explosives, each made of three or four pounds of C-4 explosives inside a pair of radios.Wichean said that the type of explosives suggested they would have been used to target individuals.Based on the equipment and materials we found, they were aimed at individuals and the destruction capacity was not intended for large crowds or big buildings, Wichean said.Wichean also acknowledged his nation could be a weak link for international terrorism because we are open to foreigners.Thailand itself has rarely been a target for international terrorists, but its main airport is a major hub for Asian air travel and its government — heavily reliant on tourism — is known for tolerance but criticized for corruption and graft.Associated Press writers Ravi Nessman in New Delhi, Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok and Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran contributed to this report.

Iranian boats shadow USS aircraft carrier in Gulf
Associated PressBy ADAM SCHRECK | Associated Press – Tue, Feb 14, 2012

ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (AP) — The American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, shadowed by Iranian patrol boats.
But there were no incidents on Tuesday as the Lincoln's battle group crossed through the narrow strait, which Iran has threatened to close in retaliation for tighter Western sanctions.Several U.S. choppers flanked the carrier group throughout the voyage from the Gulf. Radar operators also picked up an Iranian drone and surveillance helicopter in Iran's airspace near the strait, which is jointly controlled by Iran and Oman.The Lincoln entered the Gulf last month amid heightened tensions with Iran. It is scheduled to begin providing aiding the NATO mission in Afghanistan starting Thursday.

SINCE IRAN WAS BEHIND THESE ISRAELI BOMBINGS GUESS WHO THE SCORE WILL BE SETTLED WITH.......IRAN LOOKOUT,ISRAELS 400 NUKES WILL BE COMING IN HANDY.

Israel to settle score with Bangkok attackers
Associated PressAssociated Press – Tue, Feb 14, 2012

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli Cabinet minister says his country will settle the score with the perpetrators of a bombing attempt in Bangkok.An Iranian man carrying grenades blew his own legs off in the blast. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday the explosion, which wounded four civilians, was an attempted terrorist attack backed by Iran.Israel has also blamed Iran for a pair of attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India and Georgia on Monday.Speaking on Israel Radio, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch did not mention Iran explicitly, but strongly implied Israel would seek revenge.We know who carried out the terror attacks, we know who sent them, and Israel will settle the score with them, he said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.BANGKOK (AP) — An Iranian man carrying grenades blew off his own legs and wounded four civilians in Bangkok on Tuesday after an earlier blast shook his rented house, authorities said. Israel's defense minister accused Iran of being behind the violence.The blasts came a day after an Israeli diplomatic car was bombed in India — an attack Israel also blamed on Iran.Thai security forces found more explosives in the house where the Iranian man was staying in Bangkok, but the possible targets were not immediately known, Police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said.
Pansiri said a passport found at the scene of one of the blasts in Bangkok indicated the assailant was Saeid Moradi from Iran. Tehran did not immediately comment.Iran has denied responsibility for the India attack Monday, as well as a foiled bombing of an Israeli diplomatic car in Georgia, which appeared to mirror the recent sticky bomb killings of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran has blamed on Israel.Israeli police raised their state of alert throughout the country following the attacks Monday. Officials predicted those attacks were just the first in a wave of assaults on Israeli targets worldwide by Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.

The bombings have ratcheted already high tensions between Tehran and the Jewish state over Iran's nuclear program. Israel doesn't believe Iran's claims that it aims to produce electricity, not bombs, and its threats of a possible military strike have grown more ominous in recent weeks.In Thailand, Tuesday's bizarre sequence of explosions appear to have begun when a stash of explosives detonated by accident in a Bangkok house occupied by three Iranians. The explosion blew off part the roof, and two of the men quickly left the residence.A third man identified as Saeid Moradi was seriously wounded and left the residence shortly afterward, police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said.He tried to wave down a taxi, but he was covered in blood, and the driver refused to take him, Pansiri said. He then threw an explosive that hit the taxi and damaged it and began running.Police who had been called to the area after the first blast then tried to apprehend Moradi, who hurled a grenade at them to defend himself. "But somehow it bounced back" and blew off his legs, Pansiri said.

Photos of the wounded Moradi showed him covered in dark soot on a sidewalk strewn with broken glass. He lay in front of a Thai primary and secondary school, head raised as if he was attempting to sit up or look around.Police told reporters later said that security forces at Bangkok's international airport detained a second Iranian — identified him as Mohummad Hazaei — as he tried to board a flight for Malaysia. They said he was one of the three in the house where explosives first went off.They said a third Iranian — believed wounded in that initial explosion — was also on the run.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the violence in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies continue to perpetrate terror.He said that Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah are unrelenting terror elements endangering the stability of the region and endangering the stability of the world.

Barak spoke during an official visit in Singapore. A statement issued by the Israeli Defense Ministry noted Barak was in Bangkok on Sunday.In India, investigators were searching for what they called a well-trained motorcycle assailant who stuck a magnet bomb on an Israeli diplomatic car in New Delhi, wounding four people Monday.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called on people not to panic after Tuesday's explosions and said the situation was under control.Three Thai men and one Thai woman were brought to Kluaynamthai Hospital for treatment of injuries suffered in the explosions, said Suwinai Busarakamwong, a doctor there.Last month, a Lebanese-Swedish man with alleged links to pro-Iranian Hezbollah militants was detained by Thai police. He led authorities to a warehouse filled with more than 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms) of urea fertilizer and several gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate.

Israel and the United States at the time warned their citizens to be alert in the capital.Pansiri said that so far, we haven't found any links between these two cases.
Immigration police are trying to trace Moradi's movements, but initial reports indicated he flew into Thailand from Seoul, South Korea on Feb. 8, Pansiri said. He landed at the southern Thai resort town of Phuket, then stayed in a hotel in Chonburi, a couple hours drive southeast of Bangkok, for several nights.Pansiri said a bomb disposal unit checked a dark satchel near the spot where Moradi was wounded, and police found Iranian currency, US dollars and Thai money in the bag.Thailand has rarely been a target for foreign terrorists, although a domestic Muslim insurgency in the country's south has involved bombings of civilian targets.The Bangkok blasts — the day after bombs targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia — raised worry that a fast-escalating proxy war between Iran and Israel might spread.Iran has accused the Israelis of being behind a series of assassinations of nuclear scientists and other sabotage of its nuclear program. Israel, like the West, believes Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok and Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Iran Deploys Oil Weapon, Cuts off Six European Nations-Iran rolled out its oil weapon Wednesday and announced a cut in exports to six European countries, including France and Greece.By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu First Publish: 2/15/2012, 3:31 PM

Iran rolled out its oil weapon Wednesday and announced a cut in exports to six European countries, including France, Spain and Greece.The government-run PRESS TV announced, In response to the latest sanctions imposed by the EU (European Union) against Iran's energy and banking sectors, the Islamic Republic has cut oil exports to six European countries.It named them as the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal in response to a EU boycott of new oil contracts with the Islamic Republic.The move immediately sparked a one percent rise in the price of crude oil on world markets, sending a cost of barrel of crude to more than $101.
Iran has insisted the Western sanctions will backfire because it can make up for the lost sales by exporting to other countries. It also has warned that higher oil prices could wreak havoc with the fragile Western economies, where some countries in Europe already are in a recession.Under current circumstances, the prices of oil will increase due to cold weather and also the psychological impact of foreign sanctions imposed on Iran's oil exports,Iran’s OPEC official Mohammad Ali Khatibi told the semi-official Mehr news agency.Saudi Arabia, which shares Western fears of a nuclear Iran that threatens to dominate the Middle East, has vowed it will pump more oil to make up for any shortfall.

Iran sits on the world’s third largest oil reserves and second largest natural gas fields.Asian countries have not cooperated with the Western efforts for international sanctions. Most of Iran’s oil exports are to South Korea, China, India and Japan, which may benefit from the Western boycott if it forces Iran to offer discounts to its other customers as a temptation to resist pressure to join the move for sanctions.

Play a Media Game – and Help US Catch Terrorists-The US last month said a new app monitors social media accounts. Now it has developed a game for the public to help track terrorists.By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu First Publish: 2/14/2012, 5:47 PM

The United States last month said a new app monitors social media accounts. Now it has developed a game for the public to help track terrorists.Called Tag Challenge, the social media game will be played by people in Washington D.C., New York City, London, Stockholm, Sweden and Bratislava, Slovakia on March 31.The infamous Panther Five has pulled an audacious new heist: they’ve stolen the world’s 3rd most expensive jewel, the Adly Diamond, from the Overholt Showroom in Washington, D.C., the Tag Challenge website announces. “Now they’ve split up and fled – dispersed to five different cities. We’re offering a reward to help find them.Profiles and mug shots of five suspects in each city will be posted on Tag Challenge, and players will have one day to locate the suspects in their city.The suspects will be wearing a T-shirt with the Tag Challenge logo, and they are not real-life crime suspects.

A prize of $5,000 is being offered to the first player to upload photos of each of the five suspects to the Tag Challenge.The U.S. Department of State and its embassy in Prague are sponsoring the contest to test ways social media and open source data can be used to track terrorists and locate missing children.The State Department promises it is not associated with any law enforcement agency, and the contest is not part of any law enforcement effort.The game was organized by graduate students from six countries who participated in social media and security conferences and will offer government officials insight to whether and how social media can be used to accomplish a realistic, time-sensitive, international law enforcement goal,the Tag Challenge website says.Results, strategies, and any data derived from the event will be made public after its conclusion,it adds.

Eurozone ministers postpone Greek deal
Today FEB 15,12 @ 09:29 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - Eurozone countries have again postponed the new Greek bail-out despite the country's looming bankruptcy, with a meeting of finance ministers on Wednesday (15 February) downgraded to a conference call, pending more spending cuts by Athens and written pledges from Greek politicians.Despite the Greek parliament having approved a €3.2 billion austerity plan on Sunday, further technical work...is needed in a number of areas, including the closure of the fiscal gap of €325 million euro in 2012,Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the eurogroup meetings of finance ministers, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday evening.Coalition leaders in Athens also need to send Juncker the required political assurances that they will not undo the reform programme after general elections due in April.Against this background, I have decided to convene ministers to a conference call tomorrow in order to discuss the outstanding issues and prepare the ordinary meeting of the Eurogroup on Monday, 20 February 2012,Juncker explained.The fresh setback puts Athens in real jeopardy of not being able to repay €14.5 billion worth of bond yields on 20 March.

This is not our problem,one EU diplomat told this website on Tuesday, reflecting a growing hostility in Brussels toward the Greek government and its track record of delays and broken promises.Until we have it all definitively on paper, with really solid guarantees from Greece as well, and legislation, we can’t make any decisions, Dutch finance minister Jan Kees de Jager told Dutch TV.Back in Athens, where the parliament defied public anger in passing more austerity cuts over the weekend, public order minister Christos Papoutsis said the government has made superhuman efforts to comply with the demands of eurozone countries.Greece has made all the efforts that it needed to do, and the people cannot take any more ... From now on, Europe has to take the responsibility,he told press after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.An official report published earlier the same day showed that the Greek economy shrunk faster than expected in the last three months of 2011, when it contracted by seven percent from five percent in the previous quarter.Meanwhile, a coalition of human rights associations on has warned that the new set of austerity measures imposed on Greece will create a dramatic and suicidal situation.This mad race of increasing austerity can only worsen the existing strong economic and social recession in a context of already extremely degraded living conditions of the Greeks,the European Association for the Defence of Human Rights said in a statement.

For his part, EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday said he can understand the pain and turmoil in Greece.But he insisted that the austerity plan is the lesser evil compared to an outright default, which would have a devastating impact on the Greek society and the wider eurozone through its contagion effect.
Unfortunately Greece lived systematically beyond its means in the past 10 years - that's why corrective action is needed so that the Greek economy is restored to a sustainable path,he said.

EU report: 12 countries at risk of new economic crises 14.02.12 @ 19:07 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - A first report by the EU commission looking at macro-economic data across the bloc up until 2010 warns that 12 countries, including Italy and Spain are at risk of new crises due to their public debt and lack of competitiveness.Part of legislation strengthening economic surveillance, the Alert Mechanism Report published on Tuesday (14 February) singles out Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK as in need for further in depth scrutiny of their macro-economic policies.If it turns out that imbalances exist and that they are harmful, this new tool is a meaningful step towards correcting the imbalances which built up over the years. Sound fiscal policies and early detection and correction of risky economic imbalances are necessary conditions to return to sustainable growth and jobs,EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said.Based on ten indicators such as housing prices, private loans, public deficit and export performance, the report initially singled out Italy, Spain, Hungary and Cyprus as pressing cases. But in the final version, all 12 countries were put in the same basket, even though housing bubbles and increased private debt in Denmark and Sweden are less of a problem than Rome's high public indebtedness.According to Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, a former EU commissioner, put pressure on the college of commissioners to water down the language of the report ahead of a treasury bonds sale in Rome on Friday.

When asked about the draft version, Rehn said he regretted the leak, but insisted he still stands behind the final version of the document.This is what I proposed to the college,he said.An EU official in Brussels told journalists under condition of anonymity that there were better ideas at some point than what the draft had proposed, and that is what ended up in the final version.Another official dealing with this dossier admitted that the data is relatively old - as it only goes up until 2010 - but insisted that this is just a first filter,with the in depth analysis to look at fresher data from last year. If member states fail to take these warnings into account, a so-called macro-economic imbalance procedure can be launched, which could lead to the suspension of EU funds from 2014 onwards.Apart from the old data, the report also does not deal with surpluses, as they are not seen as a potential problem in the bigger EU picture. Rehn explained that for this first exercise, his team focused on deficits and competitiveness laggards, rather than the surpluses and maintained that the German economy performed relatively well during the crisis. But structural factors driving surpluses will be analysed in upcoming reports, he promised.German Green MEP Sven Giegold however says the commission is turning a blind eye to the surplus countries. One of the main reasons for the continued difficulties in the eurozone are the imbalances between core and peripheral countries. You can't stabilise the eurozone unless deficit and surplus countries are moving towards each other,he wrote on his website.

Barroso to China: EU is not falling apart
14.02.12 @ 18:12 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has told the Chinese public that the EU will become a fully-fledged political union after the financial crisis.
Speaking to TV cameras after a meeting with Chinese leader Wen Jiabao in Bejing on Tuesday (14 February), he noted the EU has recently suffered mass strikes and protests, including violent clashes in Greece.It is true that in many of our member states there have been student protests and strikes. This is normal in our open societies where people have a right to protest, he said.He added that the crisis has prompted a new wave of integration, however, citing the fiscal treaty agreed last month by 25 EU countries.I want to make this very clear to Chinese public opinion. Because I understand when you see the news you may be putting some questions. Is the European Union really going to progress? I say: Yes. No doubt about it ... Precisely because of the problems in the euro area the conclusion has been to further integrate and to complete the monetary union with a fiscal union and, I believe, in the future toward a political union.Barroso and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy went to China to attract money for EU bail-out funds.For his part, Van Rompuy highlighted a clause in the joint summit communique which says the EU is willing to swiftly give China market economy status - a move that would help it sell more cheap goods to Europe. It's the first time we put this kind of agreement with this kind of langauge after an EU-China summit,he said.Wen declined to give a concrete promise despite the charm offensive.He said only that: China is ready to increase its participation in resolving the European debt problems. We are willing to conduct close communication and co-operation with the EU side.

He also stonewalled on Iran and Syria.Van Rompuy voiced serious concern about Iran's nuclear programme and violence in Syria. The EU last month imposed an oil embargo on Iran only to hear that Chinese firms are moving in to buy the oil at lower prices. It is also keen to send UN peacekeepers to Syria, but China recently vetoed UN action on the crisis.Wen said nothing on Iran and indicated that China does not want outside interference in Syria.The future of Syria is for the Syrian people to decide,he said.Meanwhile, the summit communique was weak on human rights.It mentioned that: Both sides looked forward to the strengthening of the EU-China dialogue and co-operation on human rights based on equality and mutual respect.The dialogue - a behind-closed-doors meeting of mid-level EU and Chinese diplomats which takes place a few days before each summit - is seen as a pointless exercise by NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch, in terms of putting pressure on China to stop abuses.

Neither the communique nor the EU envoys publicly mentioned Tibet, even though another Buddhist monk set himself on fire on Monday in protest against repression.
Back in Brussels, a spokesman for EU digital affairs commissioner Neelie Kroes emailed journalists to promote a minor summit initiative - the launch of an EU-China Cyber Taskforce, which he called good progress.Asked by EUobserver if China - a country notorious for Internet censorship - is an appropriate partner for the EU on managing the Internet, the spokesman, Ryan Heath, said: It's not a partnership. It's a taskforce to see how we can deal with these issues co-operatively.

Moody's cuts Italy and Spain, warns France and UK
14.02.12 @ 09:28 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - US-based ratings agency Moody's has downgraded six eurozone countries, including Spain and Italy. It also warned that Britain and France may lose their triple-A rating, citing doubts over the bloc's capacity to cope with the debt crisis.Its statement downgraded Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia and Slovenia by one notch. It also put its outlook on Austria, France and the UK - all triple-A countries - on negative to reflect their susceptibility to the growing financial and macroeconomic risks emanating from the euro area crisis.The announcement is the first time since the financial crisis began that the UK and the Bank of England's triple-A grade is put in doubt.British finance minister George Osborne called it a reality check for his country to reduce its budget deficit. This is proof that, in the current global situation, Britain cannot waver from dealing with its debts, he said.The French government also said it will press ahead with budget-slashing measures.The government is determined to press ahead with its actions to boost growth and competitiveness, notably the reform of the financing of welfare, of employment and the reduction of public deficits, finance minister Francois Baroin said in a statement.Moody's warning comes one month after another US-based agency, Standard & Poor's cut France's triple-A rating.EU leaders recently pulled forward the creation of a permanent eurozone bail-out fund, the European Stability Mechanism, and agreed a new treaty on fiscal discipline. But Moody's said there is still uncertainty over the euro area's prospects for institutional reform of its fiscal and economic framework and the resources that will be made available to deal with the crisis.It added that: Europe's increasingly weak macroeconomic prospects ... threaten the implementation of domestic austerity programmes and the structural reforms that are needed to promote competitiveness.

The situation leaves a high potential for further shocks to funding conditions for stressed sovereigns and banks across Europe.At the same time, Moody's confirmed the triple-A rating of Germany, Finland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as well as non-eurozone countries Denmark and Sweden. It also said Estonia, Belgium, Ireland and the eurozone's temporary bail-out fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, should keep their current ratings for now.Spain got more bad news on Monday when Standard & Poor's and another high-profile agency, Fitch dropped the rating on several of the country's banks, including its four largest lenders.
Santander, the biggest eurozone bank by market capitalisation, saw its grade cut by two notches to A. BBVA, Bankia and CaixaBank were downgraded by one notch.The downgrade of Spain indicates a weakening of its ability to support its largest banks,Fitch said in a statement.According to the Bank of Spain, the country's banking sector is struggling with €176 billion worth of problematic loans, mainly due to a real estate bubble which burst in 2008, coinciding with the start of the financial crisis.Standard & Poor's said it expects the Spanish banking system's profitability to remain below its historical average over the medium term as banks continue to operate in an unfavourable economic and financial environment.