Well we see in Story 1 BC flooding and stories 2 and 3 quakes in Indonesia, Russia.
1 feared dead in flooding in southeastern B.C.; more rain forecast Mon May 22, 8:59 PM
ET NELSON, B.C. (CP) - Dozens of people have been forced from their homes as armies of volunteers in British Columbia's West Kootenay region filled a quarter of a million sandbags to stem rising rivers laden by heavy rains and melting snowpacks. Hundreds of other residents of the southeastern B.C. region remained on evacuation alert Monday as officials monitored swollen rivers and creeks in the Passmore and Grand Forks areas.
In Penticton, Joshua Richard Morgan, 21, was missing after being swept away in the raging waters of the city's Ellis Creek. Police say a person with Morgan was unable to help the man due to extremely strong currents and high water levels. Searches on Sunday turned up no sign of Morgan and continued high water levels hampered efforts Monday, said RCMP Const. Dan Moskaluk. In Grand Forks, 19-year-old Julien Faramin's family was one of 40 to be put on evacuation alert as the Kettle River recorded its third-highest flow rate since 1930.
They've cleaned out their basement, which had 10 centimetres of water in it late Sunday morning, and put chairs on tables in anticipation of the water rising. Everyone's (riverfront) backyard is flooding," Faramin said. "It kind of makes me feel on edge. You don't know what to expect. An evacuation alert was issued Friday in the Passmore and Slocan Park areas with 12 people voluntarily leaving their homes.On Saturday, people in 25 households were ordered to abandon their homes in the rural communities.That order was extended to another 28 residences on Sunday.
Regional District of Central Kootenay director Don Munro is among those who have been forced from their homes.About one-third of his property is covered by water from the Little Slocan River. I'm probably the closest house to the river and I've got two gullies going through the property and one of them is probably about one metre from the house,Munro said.The house is on concrete beams so the water could go underneath without going into the house but it could shift the ground if it did. On Monday, Minister of Public Safety John Les flew into the region where 98 homes remain on evacuation alert and 469 are being monitored for flood threat.
If it weren't for the forecasted rain, I think with the somewhat more seasonal temperatures we're experiencing now, there wouldn't be too much need for additional concern, Les told The Canadian Press. But tonight's rain will certainly need to be evaluated as the evening wears on.
The situation remains precarious with the forecast uncertain. If rainfall is at the low end of the forecast, the waters are going to rise a bit more," said B.C.'s chief river forecaster Allan Chapman. The rivers are going to stay high until at least Wednesday.
If rainfall is at the upper end of the forecast," he said, "there's good potential for the Slocan River to go up and possibly surpass the peak it hit over the weekend. We're very carefully monitoring that with all the information we can get.
The Ministry of the Environment issued a flood watch Thursday for much of B.C.'s southern Interior, covering the West Kootenay and East Kootenay, Boundary, Columbia, Okanagan and South Thompson regions. The Passmore fire hall has doubled as a reception centre for displaced families and as a command post where 200 volunteers gathered over the Victoria Day holiday weekend to fill sandbags. A number of local residents have given up a lot of their time over the long weekend to come to the Passmore Fire Hall to help fill sandbags and build dikes in flooded areas," said Regional District of Central Kootenay chairman Gary Wright. In Grand Forks, 27 residences have been sandbagged and 15,000 sandbags have been placed on the banks of the surging Kettle and Granby rivers. A further 1,500 bags were put out to protect the city's well pumps.
Regional District of Kootenay Boundary emergency operations centre spokesman Mike Lo Vecchio said the rivers crested early Monday. Now, he said, the community is looking to the skies as Environment Canada has predicted another 15-25 millimetres of rain. We've continued to sandbag all day, he said. In Fruitvale, 60 kilometres to the east, the community has moved to its back-up water system as an overflowing creek threatened to wash away a water treatment plant. The unprecedented water flow sent gigantic boulders tumbling down a mountainside starting Thursday, along with massive amounts of silt, rock, debris and tree branches.
When it came down it was shaking the (water treatment) building,said Coun. Al Grieve. In Greenwood, city officials have asked residents to conserve water as community wells were threatened by rising creek water. The wells were taken offline so they could be tested and chlorinated.
Strong Earthquake Strikes Indonesia Mon May 22, 10:28 PM ET JAKARTA, Indonesia
- A strong earthquake struck in eastern Indonesian waters early Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, meteorological officials said. The epicenter of the 6.0-magnitude quake was 6 miles beneath the Banda Sea, and around 115 miles southwest of Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Arief Akhir, an official at the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta, said that no damage or casualties were reported.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. A 9.1-magnitude earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004, off the coast of Sumatra Island triggered a tsunami that killed more than 131,000 people in nearby Aceh province, and more than 100,000 others in nearly a dozen other countries.
Strong quake hits northeastern Russia Mon May 22, 12:48 PM ET
HONG KONG (AFP) - A severe earthquake estimated to measure 6.7 on the Richter scale struck in the northeastern Pacific coastal area of Russia. The quake struck at 7:21 pm Hong Kong time (1121 GMT) and its epicentre was located some 870 kilometres (540 miles) east of the Siberian city of Magadan, the Hong Kong observatory said Monday.This would put it somewhere in the Bering Sea off Russia's far eastern Kamchatka peninsula.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. A series of violent earthquakes measuring up to 7.9 on the Richter scale shook the Kamchatka penisula's Koryakiya region earlier this month, affecting 12 villages with a total population of 12,000 people.Dozens of people received minor injuries, and hundreds were evacuated from the quake zone. The Kamchatka peninsula, which is about the size of Japan, has a population density of less than one person per square kilometre (0.4 square miles).
In 1952, the region was rocked by an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, the fourth-biggest since 1900, according to data from the US Geological Survey.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
2006 ACTIVE HURRICANE SEASON PREDICTED
Story 1 NORTHAMERICAN FREE TRADE BLOCK, Story 2 2006 active hurricane season, Story 3 - 2 quakes hit Zimbabwe.
In this Story if I take the Book of Daniel correctly, there will be a 10 division of the world trading blocks. Of course the EU is already the leader in this as the Bible says would happen. This is the second and around the world countries are tying each other to nations in Trading blocks.
Lets look at Daniel to see the verses that say the world will be put into REGIONS.
DANIEL 2:40-45
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
DANIEL 7:23
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
REVELATION 13:3,7,8,16
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
In Daniel 2 + 7 we see the EU will have world control and break it into pieces. This is were I get the World will be put into 10 world Trading blocks. Since the EU will control the Economy of the World it just makes sense that the world would be put into trading blocks, then a collapse occurs somehow and the EU controls the world economy since they have the leading trading block.
HERES THE 10 WORLD REGIONS THE CLUB OF ROME WANT THE WORLD INTO.
1 CANADA, U.S.A, MEXICO (what this stories about)
2 EUROPEAN UNION,WESTERN EUROPE
3 JAPAN
4 AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, S AFRICA, ISRAEL AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
5 EASTERN EUROPE
6 SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND LATIN AMERICAS
7 NORTH AFRICA, AND MIDEAST (MOSLEMS)
8 CENTRAL AFRICA
9 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
10 CENTRAL ASIA
THE CLUB OF ROME WANTS A WORLD CHARISMATIC DICTATOR (EITHER RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL) TO HEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. REV 13:3,7-8, DAN 7:23-24
WORLD POWERS IN THE END TIME
NORTH - RUSSIA EZEK 38:1-2, 39:1-2
SOUTH - EGYPT DAN 11:42
EAST - CHINA DAN 11:44,REV 16:12
WEST - EUROPEAN UNION DAN 7:23-24 (NOT THE U.S.A)
HOWS THIS FOR UP TO DATE PROPHESY IN THE BOOK OUR GLOBAL NEIGHBOURHOOD (THE REPORT ON GLOBAL GOVERNANCE) A 28 MEMBER THINKTANK WANTS TO REFORM THE UNITED NATIONS AND ONE THING THEY WANT TO CHANGE FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE U.N OR LEADER OF THE U.N IS TO GIVE THE HEAD A 7 YEAR CONTRACT PAGE 293 QUOTE THE APPOINTMENT SHOULD BE FOR A SINGLE TERM OF 7 YEARS.
INCREDIBLE WHEN IN THE FUTURE THIS WORLD POLITICIAN FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION SIGNS A 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL AND MANY NATIONS, YOU THINK THIS THINK TANK JUST DECIDED THIS BY CHANCE, NO WAY BECAUSE JESUS TOLD US WHAT WOULD BE HAPPENING IN THE LAST DAYS AND THINGS TO LOOK FOR.
The Plan to Replace the Dollar With the 'Amero', by Jerome R. Corsi
The idea to form the North American Union as a super-NAFTA knitting together Canada, the United States and Mexico into a super-regional political and economic entity was a key agreement resulting from the March 2005 meeting held at Baylor University in Waco, Tex., between President Bush, President Fox and Prime Minister Martin.A joint statement published by the three presidents following their Baylor University summit announced the formation of an initial entity called, “The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America” (SPP).
The joint statement termed the SPP a “trilateral partnership” that was aimed at producing a North American security plan as well as providing free market movement of people, capital, and trade across the borders between the three NAFTA partners: We will establish a common approach to security to protect North America from external threats, prevent and respond to threats within North America, and further streamline the secure and efficient movement of legitimate, low-risk traffic across our borders.
A working agenda was established:We will establish working parties led by our ministers and secretaries that will consult with stakeholders in our respective countries. These working parties will respond to the priorities of our people and our businesses, and will set specific, measurable, and achievable goals. The U.S. Department of Commerce has produced a SPP website, which documents how the U.S. has implemented the SPP directive into an extensive working agenda.
Following the March 2005 meeting in Waco, Tex., the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) published in May 2005 a task force report titled “Building a North American Community.” We have already documented that this CFR task force report calls for a plan to create by 2010 a redefinition of boundaries such that the primary immigration control will be around the three countries of the North American Union, not between the three countries. We have argued that a likely reason President Bush has not secured our border with Mexico is that the administration is pushing for the establishment of the North American Union.
The North American Union is envisioned to create a super-regional political authority that could override the sovereignty of the United States on immigration policy and trade issues. In his June 2005 testimony to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Pastor, the Director of the Center for North American Studies at American University, stated clearly the view that the North American Union would need a super-regional governance board to make sure the United States does not dominate the proposed North American Union once it is formed:
NAFTA has failed to create a partnership because North American governments have not changed the way they deal with one another.
Dual bilateralism, driven by U.S. power, continue to govern and irritate. Adding a third party to bilateral disputes vastly increases the chance that rules, not power, will resolve problems.This trilateral approach should be institutionalized in a new North American Advisory Council. Unlike the sprawling and intrusive European Commission, the Commission or Council should be lean,
independent, and advisory, composed of 15 distinguished individuals, 5 from each nation. Its principal purpose should be to prepare a North American agenda for leaders to consider at biannual summits and to monitor the implementation of the resulting agreements.Pastor was a vice chairman of the CFR task force that produced the report “Building a North American Union.
Pastor also proposed the creation of a Permanent Tribunal on Trade and Investment with the view that “a permanent court would permit the accumulation of precedent and lay the groundwork for North American business law.” The intent is for this North American Union Tribunal would have supremacy over the U.S. Supreme Court on issues affecting the North American Union, to prevent U.S. power from “irritating” and retarding the progress of uniting Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. into a new 21st century super-regional governing body.
Robert Pastor also advises the creation of a North American Parliamentary Group to make sure the U.S. Congress does not impede progress in the envisioned North American Union. He has also called for the creation of a North American Customs and Immigration Service which would have authority over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security.
Pastor’s 2001 book “Toward a North American Community” called for the creation of a North American Union that would perfect the defects Pastor believes limit the progress of the European Union. Much of Pastor’s thinking appears aimed at limiting the power and sovereignty of the United States as we enter this new super-regional entity. Pastor has also called for the creation of a new currency which he has coined the Amero, a currency that is proposed to replace the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar, and the Mexican peso.
If President Bush had run openly in 2004 on the proposition that a prime objective of his second term was to form the North American Union and to supplant the dollar with the “Amero,” we doubt very much that President Bush would have carried Ohio, let alone half of the Red State majority he needed to win re-election. Pursuing any plan that would legalize the conservatively estimated 12 million illegal aliens now in the United States could well spell election disaster for the Republican Party in 2006, especially for the House of Representative where every seat is up for grabs.
Mr. Corsi is the author of several books, including "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry" (along with John O'Neill), "Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil" (along with Craig R. Smith), and "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians." He is a frequent guest on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show. He will soon co-author a new book with Jim Gilchrist on the Minuteman Project. Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS.
Active Hurricane Season Predicted, But Not to 2005 LevelBy Willem Marx and Joel Havemann, Times Staff Writers10:51 AM PDT, May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The government today predicted another active hurricane season this year, but not as vigorous as the 2005 season, which spawned Hurricane Katrina and three other storms that achieved sustained winds of more than 155 miles an hour.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasted 13 to 16 named storms in the North Atlantic, eight to 10 of them growing into hurricanes.
On average, the North Atlantic generates 11 named storms, with six becoming hurricanes, during the six months beginning June 1. Last year there were a record 28 named storms, including 15 hurricanes.Seven of last year's hurricanes were "major"--sustained winds of more than 110 mph — and a record four struck the United States.Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, killed almost 1,600 people and caused more than $80 billion in damage. The previous costliest hurricane was Andrew, which was responsible for $26.5 billion in losses along the Gulf Coast in 1992 — $43.7 billion when adjusted for inflation.
A record four hurricanes also achieved Category 5 status — winds stronger than 155 mph. Until last year, only 1960 and 1961 saw more than one Category 5 hurricane.Three of these strongest of hurricanes — Rita and Wilma as well as Katrina — struck along the Gulf Coast.Although NOAA is not forecasting a repeat of last year's season, the potential for hurricanes striking the U.S. is high, said NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher.NOAA said warm tropical water was a major factor in its forecast of an above average hurricane season. Environmental groups said global warming, propelled by the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases" from manmade sources, was significantly to blame.Although sea surface temperatures are above normal this year, NOAA said, they are not as warm as prevailed at this time last year.
Kerry Emanuel, a climatologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said greenhouse gases were responsible for breeding the high surface temperatures over the Gulf of Mexico that provided the breeding ground for hurricanes.There is a rather spectacular correlation between sea surface temperatures and aggregate hurricane occurrences," he told a Washington press conference.NOAA said there was an 80% chance that the coming hurricane season would be more active than usual, with only a 5% chance of a below-normal season.The main uncertainty in this outlook is not whether the season will be above normal," NOAA said, "but how much above normal it will be.
Two earthquakes hit Zimbabwe May 22, 2006, 3 hours, 6 minutes and 3 seconds ago. By ANDnetwork .com
Two moderate earthquakes measuring about 4.0 on the Richter scale hit Zimbabwe's Mashonaland east province at around midnight on Sunday. Acting director of the meteorological department in the country, Hector Chikowore, said the epicenters of these earthquakes were in Wedza area, near Nyamudzi river. He said the first earthquake, measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale, occurred at 23:55 and the second one, measuring about 4.0, hit at 00:27.
Chikowore said tremors were felt in Harare, Shurugwi, Mutare and more reports were expected from other areas. No notable damage to property or loss of life was reported from the area. Reports from our office in Wedza show that there was no damage to property and no one died from the earthquake, said Chikowore, adding that investigations were still underway to establish the cause of the earthquake. Meanwhile, the public has expressed shock at the occurrence which comes barely three months after the country was affected by strong tremors, which measured between 7 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, emanating from an earthquake in Mozambique.
The tremours were also felt in neighbouring South Africa, Swaziland and Malawi. Source : UPI
In this Story if I take the Book of Daniel correctly, there will be a 10 division of the world trading blocks. Of course the EU is already the leader in this as the Bible says would happen. This is the second and around the world countries are tying each other to nations in Trading blocks.
Lets look at Daniel to see the verses that say the world will be put into REGIONS.
DANIEL 2:40-45
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
DANIEL 7:23
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
REVELATION 13:3,7,8,16
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
In Daniel 2 + 7 we see the EU will have world control and break it into pieces. This is were I get the World will be put into 10 world Trading blocks. Since the EU will control the Economy of the World it just makes sense that the world would be put into trading blocks, then a collapse occurs somehow and the EU controls the world economy since they have the leading trading block.
HERES THE 10 WORLD REGIONS THE CLUB OF ROME WANT THE WORLD INTO.
1 CANADA, U.S.A, MEXICO (what this stories about)
2 EUROPEAN UNION,WESTERN EUROPE
3 JAPAN
4 AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, S AFRICA, ISRAEL AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
5 EASTERN EUROPE
6 SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND LATIN AMERICAS
7 NORTH AFRICA, AND MIDEAST (MOSLEMS)
8 CENTRAL AFRICA
9 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
10 CENTRAL ASIA
THE CLUB OF ROME WANTS A WORLD CHARISMATIC DICTATOR (EITHER RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL) TO HEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. REV 13:3,7-8, DAN 7:23-24
WORLD POWERS IN THE END TIME
NORTH - RUSSIA EZEK 38:1-2, 39:1-2
SOUTH - EGYPT DAN 11:42
EAST - CHINA DAN 11:44,REV 16:12
WEST - EUROPEAN UNION DAN 7:23-24 (NOT THE U.S.A)
HOWS THIS FOR UP TO DATE PROPHESY IN THE BOOK OUR GLOBAL NEIGHBOURHOOD (THE REPORT ON GLOBAL GOVERNANCE) A 28 MEMBER THINKTANK WANTS TO REFORM THE UNITED NATIONS AND ONE THING THEY WANT TO CHANGE FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE U.N OR LEADER OF THE U.N IS TO GIVE THE HEAD A 7 YEAR CONTRACT PAGE 293 QUOTE THE APPOINTMENT SHOULD BE FOR A SINGLE TERM OF 7 YEARS.
INCREDIBLE WHEN IN THE FUTURE THIS WORLD POLITICIAN FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION SIGNS A 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL AND MANY NATIONS, YOU THINK THIS THINK TANK JUST DECIDED THIS BY CHANCE, NO WAY BECAUSE JESUS TOLD US WHAT WOULD BE HAPPENING IN THE LAST DAYS AND THINGS TO LOOK FOR.
The Plan to Replace the Dollar With the 'Amero', by Jerome R. Corsi
The idea to form the North American Union as a super-NAFTA knitting together Canada, the United States and Mexico into a super-regional political and economic entity was a key agreement resulting from the March 2005 meeting held at Baylor University in Waco, Tex., between President Bush, President Fox and Prime Minister Martin.A joint statement published by the three presidents following their Baylor University summit announced the formation of an initial entity called, “The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America” (SPP).
The joint statement termed the SPP a “trilateral partnership” that was aimed at producing a North American security plan as well as providing free market movement of people, capital, and trade across the borders between the three NAFTA partners: We will establish a common approach to security to protect North America from external threats, prevent and respond to threats within North America, and further streamline the secure and efficient movement of legitimate, low-risk traffic across our borders.
A working agenda was established:We will establish working parties led by our ministers and secretaries that will consult with stakeholders in our respective countries. These working parties will respond to the priorities of our people and our businesses, and will set specific, measurable, and achievable goals. The U.S. Department of Commerce has produced a SPP website, which documents how the U.S. has implemented the SPP directive into an extensive working agenda.
Following the March 2005 meeting in Waco, Tex., the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) published in May 2005 a task force report titled “Building a North American Community.” We have already documented that this CFR task force report calls for a plan to create by 2010 a redefinition of boundaries such that the primary immigration control will be around the three countries of the North American Union, not between the three countries. We have argued that a likely reason President Bush has not secured our border with Mexico is that the administration is pushing for the establishment of the North American Union.
The North American Union is envisioned to create a super-regional political authority that could override the sovereignty of the United States on immigration policy and trade issues. In his June 2005 testimony to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Pastor, the Director of the Center for North American Studies at American University, stated clearly the view that the North American Union would need a super-regional governance board to make sure the United States does not dominate the proposed North American Union once it is formed:
NAFTA has failed to create a partnership because North American governments have not changed the way they deal with one another.
Dual bilateralism, driven by U.S. power, continue to govern and irritate. Adding a third party to bilateral disputes vastly increases the chance that rules, not power, will resolve problems.This trilateral approach should be institutionalized in a new North American Advisory Council. Unlike the sprawling and intrusive European Commission, the Commission or Council should be lean,
independent, and advisory, composed of 15 distinguished individuals, 5 from each nation. Its principal purpose should be to prepare a North American agenda for leaders to consider at biannual summits and to monitor the implementation of the resulting agreements.Pastor was a vice chairman of the CFR task force that produced the report “Building a North American Union.
Pastor also proposed the creation of a Permanent Tribunal on Trade and Investment with the view that “a permanent court would permit the accumulation of precedent and lay the groundwork for North American business law.” The intent is for this North American Union Tribunal would have supremacy over the U.S. Supreme Court on issues affecting the North American Union, to prevent U.S. power from “irritating” and retarding the progress of uniting Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. into a new 21st century super-regional governing body.
Robert Pastor also advises the creation of a North American Parliamentary Group to make sure the U.S. Congress does not impede progress in the envisioned North American Union. He has also called for the creation of a North American Customs and Immigration Service which would have authority over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security.
Pastor’s 2001 book “Toward a North American Community” called for the creation of a North American Union that would perfect the defects Pastor believes limit the progress of the European Union. Much of Pastor’s thinking appears aimed at limiting the power and sovereignty of the United States as we enter this new super-regional entity. Pastor has also called for the creation of a new currency which he has coined the Amero, a currency that is proposed to replace the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar, and the Mexican peso.
If President Bush had run openly in 2004 on the proposition that a prime objective of his second term was to form the North American Union and to supplant the dollar with the “Amero,” we doubt very much that President Bush would have carried Ohio, let alone half of the Red State majority he needed to win re-election. Pursuing any plan that would legalize the conservatively estimated 12 million illegal aliens now in the United States could well spell election disaster for the Republican Party in 2006, especially for the House of Representative where every seat is up for grabs.
Mr. Corsi is the author of several books, including "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry" (along with John O'Neill), "Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil" (along with Craig R. Smith), and "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians." He is a frequent guest on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show. He will soon co-author a new book with Jim Gilchrist on the Minuteman Project. Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS.
Active Hurricane Season Predicted, But Not to 2005 LevelBy Willem Marx and Joel Havemann, Times Staff Writers10:51 AM PDT, May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The government today predicted another active hurricane season this year, but not as vigorous as the 2005 season, which spawned Hurricane Katrina and three other storms that achieved sustained winds of more than 155 miles an hour.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasted 13 to 16 named storms in the North Atlantic, eight to 10 of them growing into hurricanes.
On average, the North Atlantic generates 11 named storms, with six becoming hurricanes, during the six months beginning June 1. Last year there were a record 28 named storms, including 15 hurricanes.Seven of last year's hurricanes were "major"--sustained winds of more than 110 mph — and a record four struck the United States.Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, killed almost 1,600 people and caused more than $80 billion in damage. The previous costliest hurricane was Andrew, which was responsible for $26.5 billion in losses along the Gulf Coast in 1992 — $43.7 billion when adjusted for inflation.
A record four hurricanes also achieved Category 5 status — winds stronger than 155 mph. Until last year, only 1960 and 1961 saw more than one Category 5 hurricane.Three of these strongest of hurricanes — Rita and Wilma as well as Katrina — struck along the Gulf Coast.Although NOAA is not forecasting a repeat of last year's season, the potential for hurricanes striking the U.S. is high, said NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher.NOAA said warm tropical water was a major factor in its forecast of an above average hurricane season. Environmental groups said global warming, propelled by the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases" from manmade sources, was significantly to blame.Although sea surface temperatures are above normal this year, NOAA said, they are not as warm as prevailed at this time last year.
Kerry Emanuel, a climatologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said greenhouse gases were responsible for breeding the high surface temperatures over the Gulf of Mexico that provided the breeding ground for hurricanes.There is a rather spectacular correlation between sea surface temperatures and aggregate hurricane occurrences," he told a Washington press conference.NOAA said there was an 80% chance that the coming hurricane season would be more active than usual, with only a 5% chance of a below-normal season.The main uncertainty in this outlook is not whether the season will be above normal," NOAA said, "but how much above normal it will be.
Two earthquakes hit Zimbabwe May 22, 2006, 3 hours, 6 minutes and 3 seconds ago. By ANDnetwork .com
Two moderate earthquakes measuring about 4.0 on the Richter scale hit Zimbabwe's Mashonaland east province at around midnight on Sunday. Acting director of the meteorological department in the country, Hector Chikowore, said the epicenters of these earthquakes were in Wedza area, near Nyamudzi river. He said the first earthquake, measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale, occurred at 23:55 and the second one, measuring about 4.0, hit at 00:27.
Chikowore said tremors were felt in Harare, Shurugwi, Mutare and more reports were expected from other areas. No notable damage to property or loss of life was reported from the area. Reports from our office in Wedza show that there was no damage to property and no one died from the earthquake, said Chikowore, adding that investigations were still underway to establish the cause of the earthquake. Meanwhile, the public has expressed shock at the occurrence which comes barely three months after the country was affected by strong tremors, which measured between 7 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, emanating from an earthquake in Mozambique.
The tremours were also felt in neighbouring South Africa, Swaziland and Malawi. Source : UPI
GOLD AND SILVER COINS
In Story 1 Dinars in Gold and Silver Dirham coins. Story 2 Another story on the Current Stock market Troubles.
Kelantan Plans To Use Gold Dinar As Currency
KOTA BAHARU, May 21 (Bernama) -- The Kelantan government will introduce the gold dinar and silver dirham as currencies in three months time and even plans to pay state public servants with the currency. State Public Administration, Economic Planning, Finance and Community Development Committee Chairman Datuk Husam Musa said the dinar and dirham currencies would first be implemented in the Islamic system of pawnbroking, the Ar-Rahnu.
If there is no problem with the Ar-Rahnu, there is a possibility that it can be implemented in other sectors ," he told reporters after opening a seminar on Financial Economy and Islamic Banking here Sunday. Husam said when implemented, the public could buy the dinar and then exchange it for cash at the Ar-Rahnu pawnshops. He said the public need not worry about using the dinar because it would be based on current gold price and could be kept as savings. He said the gold dinar would not be threatened by any currencies, including the American dollar, because gold is a commodity with a very stable price.
Husam also said that when everyone had fully understood the matter, the state government hoped to use the currency in paying the salaries of its staff. The state government employees can choose either to be paid in dinar or ringgit," he added. Earlier on his speech, Husam said it was the state government's aspiration to open its own bank based fully on Islamic banking system. Although it is going to take a long time, we are confident of opening this bank," he added.-- BERNAMA
The coming financial crises By Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar ,Online Journal Contributing Writer, May 22, 2006, 00:55
On Wednesday, 17 May, the Dow Jones plunged 214 points to 11,206 -- its worst point drop since March 2003. The downward trend started two weeks ago and is a warning sign of troubles ahead. This sudden drop has come as a complete surprise to the unfortunate small investors and speculators. The so-called “experts” point at the sudden threat of inflation as the main cause of the recent reversals in the markets. What is actually surprising is the surprise of the “experts."
A cursory look at the United States’ finances will reveal the amount of pressure that its economy is under. When Bush became president in 2001, the United States’ public debt was $5.8 trillion. Today the public debt stands at $8.3 trillion [1]. Of this over $2.2 trillion are held by foreigners [2]. The United States has a GDP of $12.4 trillion . This gives the U.S. a Debt/GDP ratio of 66 percent, placing it in 35th place (out of 113) on the ranking of the Debtor Nations [3]. The current account deficit of over 7 percent has long passed its danger levels of 4-5 percent. In 2005 the U.S. government paid $325 billion in interestpayments alone.
Then there are the future obligations such as Medicare, Social Security and government pensions. These obligations amount to $54 trillion. This huge problem worried the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. He told congress: “As a nation, we may have already made promises to coming generations of retirees that we will be unable to fulfill”
[4].One would think that this amount of debt would worry the president and the congress. But apparently it does not. The United States’ Congress recently (March 2006) voted to increase the federal debt limit to $9 trillion . Any other nation in similar circumstances would have had to approach IMF for help. IMF would then have forced that nation to cut spending and devalue its currency. But the U.S. does not need to do this. The U.S. can just print some more dollars. But how long can this continue before the world loses faith in the greenback, sending it crashing to unimaginable levels.
The Asian Lender
The Asian countries such as Japan, China and others that hold most of the U.S. debt have been happy to indulge the American deficit spending. This has been a two-way street: America has kept its market open to their products and they have financed the Americans’ spending.The value of the U.S. dollar, so far, has been kept artificially high by Japan, China and oil-exporting countries. These countries by buying US debt have kept interests rates relatively low in the United States and allowed Americans to keep spending even as their debts mount.
But there is only so much risk these lenders (Asian and oil-exporting countries) are willing to take. Any serious devaluation of the dollar will considerably reduce the value of their national reserves (mostly kept in dollars) and the value of their debt holdings (certificates, bonds, etc.). At the same time, the devaluation will affect their exports to the U.S. A weaker dollar makes their products more expensive in the U.S., thereby reducing their export earnings. Most Asian countries keep up to 70 percent of their reserves in dollars. China with reserves of over $800 billion has already begun to slowly reduce its dependency on dollars by converting part of its reserves to other currencies [5]. If other Asian countries -- with their vast dollar holdings- follow suit, then it will be disastrous for the value of the dollar. No one is interested in holding a weakening currency.
Petro-Dollar
Another threat against the dollar comes from countries such as Iran and Venezuela. Iran recently registered an oil bourse to compete with bourses in New York and London. The threat comes from the currency in which the oil is to be sold: euros. Iranians are going to make the euro the standard currency for oil transactions. Some sympathetic countries such as Venezuela and others may join in. If the Iranians succeed in this, the pressure on the dollar will be catastrophic. Nearly every country has to hold a certain amount of dollars in reserve for oil purchases. If the dollar continues to weaken in value, and there is the possibility of purchasing oil in euros, then these countries would unload their dollars for safer currencies such as the euro. What will then happen to the value of dollar?
Iraq and Iran
As though there is not enough pressure on the dollar, the U.S. government keeps spending money in an unwinnable war in Iraq and is considering starting another one in Iran. The total cost of the Iraq war, including the future payment to disabled soldiers, replacement of equipment, etc., is estimated to be between $1 to $2 trillion [6].Any attack on Iran will substantially increase this cost. Even if there is no attack, the tense situation in the region will keep the oil prices at uncomfortable levels, contributing to both a reduction in U.S. growth and an increase in its deficit.
Conclusion
The current American deficit and its long-term financial obligations, if they go unanswered, will sooner or later lead to either a marked increase in interest rates or a substantial devaluation of the dollar. On one hand, a substantial increase in interest rates will lead to a major recession in the USA that will be felt immediately around the world. On the other hand, a substantial devaluation will cause financial chaos in the world. What is needed is to seriously reconsider the international role of the dollar as the world currency. In other words we need a new Bretton Woods Agreement [7]. At the end of the WWII, 45 nations gathered at a United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to address the problems of reconstruction, monetary stability and exchange rates.
The delegates agreed to establish an international monetary system of convertible currencies, fixed exchange rates and free trade. To facilitate these objectives the delegates agreed to create two international institutes: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank). An initial loan of $250 million to France in 1947 was the World Bank’s first act. Since then there has already been considerable criticism of the roles of IMF and the World Bank.
The above mentioned problems and the ongoing trade imbalance in the world have to be addressed by a similar gathering. Sooner or later, both the United States and the rest of the world have to address the existing problems. These problems are not the United States' alone. We cannot ignore the largest economy on earth. It is said that if United States sneezes, the world catches cold. We have to either make sure that the United States doesn’t catch cold or vaccinate ourselves against it.
Kelantan Plans To Use Gold Dinar As Currency
KOTA BAHARU, May 21 (Bernama) -- The Kelantan government will introduce the gold dinar and silver dirham as currencies in three months time and even plans to pay state public servants with the currency. State Public Administration, Economic Planning, Finance and Community Development Committee Chairman Datuk Husam Musa said the dinar and dirham currencies would first be implemented in the Islamic system of pawnbroking, the Ar-Rahnu.
If there is no problem with the Ar-Rahnu, there is a possibility that it can be implemented in other sectors ," he told reporters after opening a seminar on Financial Economy and Islamic Banking here Sunday. Husam said when implemented, the public could buy the dinar and then exchange it for cash at the Ar-Rahnu pawnshops. He said the public need not worry about using the dinar because it would be based on current gold price and could be kept as savings. He said the gold dinar would not be threatened by any currencies, including the American dollar, because gold is a commodity with a very stable price.
Husam also said that when everyone had fully understood the matter, the state government hoped to use the currency in paying the salaries of its staff. The state government employees can choose either to be paid in dinar or ringgit," he added. Earlier on his speech, Husam said it was the state government's aspiration to open its own bank based fully on Islamic banking system. Although it is going to take a long time, we are confident of opening this bank," he added.-- BERNAMA
The coming financial crises By Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar ,Online Journal Contributing Writer, May 22, 2006, 00:55
On Wednesday, 17 May, the Dow Jones plunged 214 points to 11,206 -- its worst point drop since March 2003. The downward trend started two weeks ago and is a warning sign of troubles ahead. This sudden drop has come as a complete surprise to the unfortunate small investors and speculators. The so-called “experts” point at the sudden threat of inflation as the main cause of the recent reversals in the markets. What is actually surprising is the surprise of the “experts."
A cursory look at the United States’ finances will reveal the amount of pressure that its economy is under. When Bush became president in 2001, the United States’ public debt was $5.8 trillion. Today the public debt stands at $8.3 trillion [1]. Of this over $2.2 trillion are held by foreigners [2]. The United States has a GDP of $12.4 trillion . This gives the U.S. a Debt/GDP ratio of 66 percent, placing it in 35th place (out of 113) on the ranking of the Debtor Nations [3]. The current account deficit of over 7 percent has long passed its danger levels of 4-5 percent. In 2005 the U.S. government paid $325 billion in interestpayments alone.
Then there are the future obligations such as Medicare, Social Security and government pensions. These obligations amount to $54 trillion. This huge problem worried the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. He told congress: “As a nation, we may have already made promises to coming generations of retirees that we will be unable to fulfill”
[4].One would think that this amount of debt would worry the president and the congress. But apparently it does not. The United States’ Congress recently (March 2006) voted to increase the federal debt limit to $9 trillion . Any other nation in similar circumstances would have had to approach IMF for help. IMF would then have forced that nation to cut spending and devalue its currency. But the U.S. does not need to do this. The U.S. can just print some more dollars. But how long can this continue before the world loses faith in the greenback, sending it crashing to unimaginable levels.
The Asian Lender
The Asian countries such as Japan, China and others that hold most of the U.S. debt have been happy to indulge the American deficit spending. This has been a two-way street: America has kept its market open to their products and they have financed the Americans’ spending.The value of the U.S. dollar, so far, has been kept artificially high by Japan, China and oil-exporting countries. These countries by buying US debt have kept interests rates relatively low in the United States and allowed Americans to keep spending even as their debts mount.
But there is only so much risk these lenders (Asian and oil-exporting countries) are willing to take. Any serious devaluation of the dollar will considerably reduce the value of their national reserves (mostly kept in dollars) and the value of their debt holdings (certificates, bonds, etc.). At the same time, the devaluation will affect their exports to the U.S. A weaker dollar makes their products more expensive in the U.S., thereby reducing their export earnings. Most Asian countries keep up to 70 percent of their reserves in dollars. China with reserves of over $800 billion has already begun to slowly reduce its dependency on dollars by converting part of its reserves to other currencies [5]. If other Asian countries -- with their vast dollar holdings- follow suit, then it will be disastrous for the value of the dollar. No one is interested in holding a weakening currency.
Petro-Dollar
Another threat against the dollar comes from countries such as Iran and Venezuela. Iran recently registered an oil bourse to compete with bourses in New York and London. The threat comes from the currency in which the oil is to be sold: euros. Iranians are going to make the euro the standard currency for oil transactions. Some sympathetic countries such as Venezuela and others may join in. If the Iranians succeed in this, the pressure on the dollar will be catastrophic. Nearly every country has to hold a certain amount of dollars in reserve for oil purchases. If the dollar continues to weaken in value, and there is the possibility of purchasing oil in euros, then these countries would unload their dollars for safer currencies such as the euro. What will then happen to the value of dollar?
Iraq and Iran
As though there is not enough pressure on the dollar, the U.S. government keeps spending money in an unwinnable war in Iraq and is considering starting another one in Iran. The total cost of the Iraq war, including the future payment to disabled soldiers, replacement of equipment, etc., is estimated to be between $1 to $2 trillion [6].Any attack on Iran will substantially increase this cost. Even if there is no attack, the tense situation in the region will keep the oil prices at uncomfortable levels, contributing to both a reduction in U.S. growth and an increase in its deficit.
Conclusion
The current American deficit and its long-term financial obligations, if they go unanswered, will sooner or later lead to either a marked increase in interest rates or a substantial devaluation of the dollar. On one hand, a substantial increase in interest rates will lead to a major recession in the USA that will be felt immediately around the world. On the other hand, a substantial devaluation will cause financial chaos in the world. What is needed is to seriously reconsider the international role of the dollar as the world currency. In other words we need a new Bretton Woods Agreement [7]. At the end of the WWII, 45 nations gathered at a United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to address the problems of reconstruction, monetary stability and exchange rates.
The delegates agreed to establish an international monetary system of convertible currencies, fixed exchange rates and free trade. To facilitate these objectives the delegates agreed to create two international institutes: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank). An initial loan of $250 million to France in 1947 was the World Bank’s first act. Since then there has already been considerable criticism of the roles of IMF and the World Bank.
The above mentioned problems and the ongoing trade imbalance in the world have to be addressed by a similar gathering. Sooner or later, both the United States and the rest of the world have to address the existing problems. These problems are not the United States' alone. We cannot ignore the largest economy on earth. It is said that if United States sneezes, the world catches cold. We have to either make sure that the United States doesn’t catch cold or vaccinate ourselves against it.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
LAST 2 WEEKS SHOOK MARKETS
OIL spill 1st in story 1, Global markets in story 2 And a hot spot in climate change in story 3.
May 20, 2006, 11:12PM2,000 Gallons of Oil Spilled Near Oahu, © 2006 The Associated Press
HONOLULU — An oil tanker spilled up to 2,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday morning, an official said.The Coast Guard and the state Health Department categorized it as a minimal spill, said Nathan Hokama, spokesman for Tesoro Corp., which owns the tanker. There were no immediate reports of harm to wildlife.The spill occurred about 1.5 miles off the coast of Oahu when a hose line pumping oil from the tanker to a floating buoy disconnected, Hokama said.
The only thing we know right now is that one of the couplings in the hose separated, which is what it's supposed to do whenever there's a strain on the hose," he said. Crews from the Clean Islands Council and the Marine Spill Response Corporation helped with cleanup. The light crude oil may have dissipated quickly because of strong sunshine and choppy waters, Hokama said. Any potential fines would be assessed based on the results of an investigation, he said.
STORY 2
WELL THE GLOBAL MARKETS NEVER COLLAPSED THIS TIME BUT THEY ARE ON EARTHAKE (SHAKY) GROUNDS. ONE OF THESE TIMES IT WILL BE THE COLLAPSE THE BIBLE SAYS WILL HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.
Ten days that shook the world's markets US interest rate fears sparked a torrid fortnight, with £45bn wiped off London share prices. What will happen next, asks Heather Stewart Sunday May 21, 2006 The Observer
From Stockholm to Tokyo, New York to Istanbul, market mayhem swept across the world last week, unleashing violent movements on stock markets and foreign exchanges everywhere, and hammering down the price of commodities such as copper and gold. In London, the FTSE 100 suffered its worst day for more than three years on Wednesday, before ending the week at 5,672, more than 4 per cent down in five days' trading. After a febrile fortnight, analysts are asking themselves if the turmoil is over - or whether the sell-off marked the end of the three-year bull market and the dawn of a much more volatile era.
Stephen Lewis, of bankers Insinger de Beaufort, says it's too early to write off the risk that the events of the past few days could be the trigger for a full-blown financial crisis. 'Volatility rises, to the extent that it has in equity and commodity markets in recent days, when emotions take over; when actions in the markets are forced; when survival is at stake. In such circumstances, there can be no reliable forecasts of how far markets will move,' he warned. The worldwide wobble started with the dollar. A warning from G7 finance ministers last month about imbalances in the global economy, and a hint from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that he might halt the rise in interest rates, brought the greenback bears out of hiding, and triggered a frenzy of selling.
But over the past few tumultuous days alarm has spread far beyond the currency markets. 'The equity markets were standing rather naively on the sidelines, and suddenly they've woken up,' says David Bloom, currency strategist at HSBC, who has long predicted a dollar shake-out. 'Markets have been looking very vulnerable,' said Julian Jessop, international economist at Capital Economics. 'There have been some bubbles developing, particularly in commodities. All investors are waking up to an alarming new world. After five years in which credit has been plentiful as central banks kept the cash taps on, the cost of borrowing has gradually begun to grind upwards. In the US, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates 16 times, to 5 per cent, from 1 per cent two years ago. The European Central Bank has also raised borrowing costs, and even Japan, the home of the zero interest rate for many years, has responded to a stronger economy by promising to start tightening monetary policy.
In this new climate, with money rapidly becoming more expensive, investors will be less keen to take enormous bets using borrowed cash. The unwinding of some of these risky positions was responsible for some of last week's upheaval. Everyone and his dog has leveraged up to the eyeballs buying everything they can get their hands on,' said Charles Dumas, of Lombard Street Research. 'Now liquidity's drying up because interest rates are high; bond yields are high; everyone's finding their funding drying up. One extreme example of this is what analysts call the 'yen carry trade': investors have been taking advantage of zero interest rates in Japan, borrowing the money to take bets in other markets. With rates in Japan on the way up, they have been hurriedly extricating themselves: and that has hit risky but high-yielding assets, such as emerging market bonds. Turkey took a pounding last week, for example, as nervous investors pulled their cash back home.
We think that there's been a very big shake-out in some of the asset classes where people had become very extended, especially emerging markets and commodities,' said Peter Oppenheimer, European head of portfolio strategy at Goldman Sachs. As if this 'liquidity drain,' as Lewis calls it, wasn't enough to spook the markets, it is happening at a time when the Federal Reserve, the world's most important central bank, is in the hands of a new boy - former Princeton academic Bernanke. He has to win the confidence of the markets at the same time as deciding on the right time to stop increasing US interest rates. If he pushes borrowing costs too high, the US economy could be plunged into recession; if he stops too soon, the markets will fear that inflation is about to get out of control.
He's between a rock and a hard place,' said Dresdner currency analyst Sonja Marten. 'It's a very tricky situation. There is going to be that risk of a hard landing, and that's what the markets are not sure about. Goldman Sachs analysts call this the 'Bernanke bind' and, at the margins, it could increase the anxiety in the markets over the months ahead. 'They're going to pressure Bernanke, which could be bad,' says Dumas. Through the fog of market panic last week, analysts said it was important not to forget the underlying economic causes of the upheaval. For several years now, economists have been watching with growing alarm as the US spent more than it earned, running up a record current account deficit with the rest of the world - worth almost 7 per cent of GDP last year.
Funding all that surplus spending has been easy, because foreign investors - notably governments in Asia and the Middle East - have been happy to gobble up American assets, including US Treasury bonds. But, just like an overdraft, the current account deficit can't go on growing indefinitely: something has to give. Most experts have believed for some time that a devaluation in the dollar would be the best way of helping to bring America's income and expenditure back into line. It should make US goods cheaper, helping American exporters while slowing down imports, which will become more expensive for Americans to buy. The weakening in the dollar over the past couple of weeks could be seen as the first step towards this 'rebalancing'.
All this might sound like the concern of academic number-crunchers. But the US current account deficit has a more homely analogue in the finances of the small-town American household. Buoyed by low interest rates and a property boom, consumers have, quite simply, been spending more than they earn. The savings ratio - the proportion of the average worker's take-home pay that is squirrelled away for a rainy day - has slipped below zero. With interest rates rising, and signs emerging that the frothy property market is on the turn, American homeowners may respond by acting to put their finances back in order. That could mean a downturn, or at worse a recession, in the US economy. If the housing market in the US slows sharply, then that will drag down the economy as a whole,' says Jessop. And when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold: European Union politicians have already started to sound the alarm about the impact of a stronger euro on exporters, for example, and China would be hit hard if US demand for its products plummeted.
For the UK, too, if the rise in sterling against the dollar is sustained, the economic consequences could be painful, particularly when combined with an American slowdown. At the beginning of last week, economists were betting on an early rise in interest rates; but the Bank could find the stronger pound does the same job. This economic story will play out over months, not at the breakneck speed of the financial markets, and it is hard to predict how its ramifications will ripple across the world. 'There's no new trend established yet,' said HSBC's Bloom. 'It's an unsettled time.' But Bernanke, whose hands are on the world's most important economic lever, will have to hope he isn't forced to win the confidence of the markets the way his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, did - by stepping in to stop the stock market crash of 1987 turning into a global financial crisis.
STORY 3
Natural ReactionHotspot for climate changeAnne Zammit
EXPERTS on tropical glaciers have been racing with climate change to reach one of the loneliest places on the planet before it melts. Seldom visited by local tribes, the highlands of New Guinea are shielded from watchful satellites by constant cloud cover. Critical information on how the climate works is locked inside these glaciers at the heart of the El Niño region where Pacific ocean temperatures are warmer than usual.
The glaciers around Mount Jaya have retreated 300 metres over the past three decades, displaying the highest rate of global warming for the region. New species, such as a tree kangaroo, which have only just been discovered on this vast Asian island, are under threat from the rise in temperature. Habitats in the higher altitudes are heating up more quickly than the lowlands.
Another shock surprise this year has been the dramatic slowing of vital Atlantic Ocean currents. If the trend is to continue, scientists fear that it might plunge Europe into winter. A climate change index has been developed to rank regions according to the severity of climate change expected by the end of this century. The Mediterranean can expect less rainfall overall but more variability in summer rain, making both droughts and flash floods more likely. Also high on the list of climate change extremes is north eastern Europe which looks set to see more snow.
Climate change is no longer perceived as predominantly an environmental issue, but is beginning to impact directly on people's lives. The carbon-based economy has been described as an "uncontrolled experiment" with the global climate, with serious risks for ecosystems, business and human health. It was noted at a UN climate meeting in New York held earlier this month that climate impacts will affect not only the environment but also social and economic systems. Agricultural production and food security, fisheries, coastal zone management and public health are all threatened.
We may not be preparing ourselves well enough for the risk of abrupt and runaway climate change. Damages from rising seas, extreme weather and ecosystem collapse are already becoming apparent. We can pay the price in terms of renewable energy, energy efficiency and emission reduction investments now... or we can pay later, perhaps with our lives.Rapid and more frequent climatic changes are now becoming increasingly apparent to most countries and the next five to 20 years are expected to show more examples of adverse impacts while current investments to mitigate the causes are negligible.
The EU has decided to meet its requirements to offset climate change under the Kyoto Protocol as a whole, rather than as individual signatories, with each member state given a different emissions target by the EU Commission. The targeted cut in greenhouse gas emissions by at least five per cent below 1990 levels must be met between 2008 and 2012. Emissions trading has been introduced to give some flexibility while keeping total emissions within the overall capped level. Individual installations may emit more than their allocation on condition that they can find another trader that has emitted less than allowed and is willing to sell their unused allowance. A draft of the National Allocation Plan for Malta for 2008-2012 is open for public comment on the MEPA Website until May 29.
Costing the changes
An estimate that it would take $325 billion for the United States to meet the Kyoto Protocol targets on cutting emissions led the Bush administration to claim that the benefits did not justify its costs. As The Washington Post of May 9 has pointed out, the cost of the Iraq war, now in excess of $300 billion, is close to what it would cost the US to implement the Kyoto Protocol. This amount is exactly what the World Bank estimates it would cost to meet the needs of people in developing countries through more efficient and cleaner sources of energy.
The European Environment Agency calculates that action to combat climate change will deliver considerable benefits. Europe would save €10 billion a year on air pollution control and see 20,000 fewer premature deaths with a drop in damage to ecosystems. The price for conventional energy sources has been increasing and will do so further, but the price for renewable energy will decrease due to the development of technologies and economies of scale.
Surprisingly, funding for EU research projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency have dropped. The inter-parliamentary European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources has urged that the research budget for renewables in the upcoming FP-7 research programme must be significantly increased.
It may be some time before renewable energy sources are able to deliver the large amounts of energy required for bulk energy for most countries. The National Commission for Sustainable Development which met earlier this month augured that appropriate policies and incentives combined with more resources for research and development could shorten this time.
May 20, 2006, 11:12PM2,000 Gallons of Oil Spilled Near Oahu, © 2006 The Associated Press
HONOLULU — An oil tanker spilled up to 2,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday morning, an official said.The Coast Guard and the state Health Department categorized it as a minimal spill, said Nathan Hokama, spokesman for Tesoro Corp., which owns the tanker. There were no immediate reports of harm to wildlife.The spill occurred about 1.5 miles off the coast of Oahu when a hose line pumping oil from the tanker to a floating buoy disconnected, Hokama said.
The only thing we know right now is that one of the couplings in the hose separated, which is what it's supposed to do whenever there's a strain on the hose," he said. Crews from the Clean Islands Council and the Marine Spill Response Corporation helped with cleanup. The light crude oil may have dissipated quickly because of strong sunshine and choppy waters, Hokama said. Any potential fines would be assessed based on the results of an investigation, he said.
STORY 2
WELL THE GLOBAL MARKETS NEVER COLLAPSED THIS TIME BUT THEY ARE ON EARTHAKE (SHAKY) GROUNDS. ONE OF THESE TIMES IT WILL BE THE COLLAPSE THE BIBLE SAYS WILL HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.
Ten days that shook the world's markets US interest rate fears sparked a torrid fortnight, with £45bn wiped off London share prices. What will happen next, asks Heather Stewart Sunday May 21, 2006 The Observer
From Stockholm to Tokyo, New York to Istanbul, market mayhem swept across the world last week, unleashing violent movements on stock markets and foreign exchanges everywhere, and hammering down the price of commodities such as copper and gold. In London, the FTSE 100 suffered its worst day for more than three years on Wednesday, before ending the week at 5,672, more than 4 per cent down in five days' trading. After a febrile fortnight, analysts are asking themselves if the turmoil is over - or whether the sell-off marked the end of the three-year bull market and the dawn of a much more volatile era.
Stephen Lewis, of bankers Insinger de Beaufort, says it's too early to write off the risk that the events of the past few days could be the trigger for a full-blown financial crisis. 'Volatility rises, to the extent that it has in equity and commodity markets in recent days, when emotions take over; when actions in the markets are forced; when survival is at stake. In such circumstances, there can be no reliable forecasts of how far markets will move,' he warned. The worldwide wobble started with the dollar. A warning from G7 finance ministers last month about imbalances in the global economy, and a hint from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that he might halt the rise in interest rates, brought the greenback bears out of hiding, and triggered a frenzy of selling.
But over the past few tumultuous days alarm has spread far beyond the currency markets. 'The equity markets were standing rather naively on the sidelines, and suddenly they've woken up,' says David Bloom, currency strategist at HSBC, who has long predicted a dollar shake-out. 'Markets have been looking very vulnerable,' said Julian Jessop, international economist at Capital Economics. 'There have been some bubbles developing, particularly in commodities. All investors are waking up to an alarming new world. After five years in which credit has been plentiful as central banks kept the cash taps on, the cost of borrowing has gradually begun to grind upwards. In the US, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates 16 times, to 5 per cent, from 1 per cent two years ago. The European Central Bank has also raised borrowing costs, and even Japan, the home of the zero interest rate for many years, has responded to a stronger economy by promising to start tightening monetary policy.
In this new climate, with money rapidly becoming more expensive, investors will be less keen to take enormous bets using borrowed cash. The unwinding of some of these risky positions was responsible for some of last week's upheaval. Everyone and his dog has leveraged up to the eyeballs buying everything they can get their hands on,' said Charles Dumas, of Lombard Street Research. 'Now liquidity's drying up because interest rates are high; bond yields are high; everyone's finding their funding drying up. One extreme example of this is what analysts call the 'yen carry trade': investors have been taking advantage of zero interest rates in Japan, borrowing the money to take bets in other markets. With rates in Japan on the way up, they have been hurriedly extricating themselves: and that has hit risky but high-yielding assets, such as emerging market bonds. Turkey took a pounding last week, for example, as nervous investors pulled their cash back home.
We think that there's been a very big shake-out in some of the asset classes where people had become very extended, especially emerging markets and commodities,' said Peter Oppenheimer, European head of portfolio strategy at Goldman Sachs. As if this 'liquidity drain,' as Lewis calls it, wasn't enough to spook the markets, it is happening at a time when the Federal Reserve, the world's most important central bank, is in the hands of a new boy - former Princeton academic Bernanke. He has to win the confidence of the markets at the same time as deciding on the right time to stop increasing US interest rates. If he pushes borrowing costs too high, the US economy could be plunged into recession; if he stops too soon, the markets will fear that inflation is about to get out of control.
He's between a rock and a hard place,' said Dresdner currency analyst Sonja Marten. 'It's a very tricky situation. There is going to be that risk of a hard landing, and that's what the markets are not sure about. Goldman Sachs analysts call this the 'Bernanke bind' and, at the margins, it could increase the anxiety in the markets over the months ahead. 'They're going to pressure Bernanke, which could be bad,' says Dumas. Through the fog of market panic last week, analysts said it was important not to forget the underlying economic causes of the upheaval. For several years now, economists have been watching with growing alarm as the US spent more than it earned, running up a record current account deficit with the rest of the world - worth almost 7 per cent of GDP last year.
Funding all that surplus spending has been easy, because foreign investors - notably governments in Asia and the Middle East - have been happy to gobble up American assets, including US Treasury bonds. But, just like an overdraft, the current account deficit can't go on growing indefinitely: something has to give. Most experts have believed for some time that a devaluation in the dollar would be the best way of helping to bring America's income and expenditure back into line. It should make US goods cheaper, helping American exporters while slowing down imports, which will become more expensive for Americans to buy. The weakening in the dollar over the past couple of weeks could be seen as the first step towards this 'rebalancing'.
All this might sound like the concern of academic number-crunchers. But the US current account deficit has a more homely analogue in the finances of the small-town American household. Buoyed by low interest rates and a property boom, consumers have, quite simply, been spending more than they earn. The savings ratio - the proportion of the average worker's take-home pay that is squirrelled away for a rainy day - has slipped below zero. With interest rates rising, and signs emerging that the frothy property market is on the turn, American homeowners may respond by acting to put their finances back in order. That could mean a downturn, or at worse a recession, in the US economy. If the housing market in the US slows sharply, then that will drag down the economy as a whole,' says Jessop. And when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold: European Union politicians have already started to sound the alarm about the impact of a stronger euro on exporters, for example, and China would be hit hard if US demand for its products plummeted.
For the UK, too, if the rise in sterling against the dollar is sustained, the economic consequences could be painful, particularly when combined with an American slowdown. At the beginning of last week, economists were betting on an early rise in interest rates; but the Bank could find the stronger pound does the same job. This economic story will play out over months, not at the breakneck speed of the financial markets, and it is hard to predict how its ramifications will ripple across the world. 'There's no new trend established yet,' said HSBC's Bloom. 'It's an unsettled time.' But Bernanke, whose hands are on the world's most important economic lever, will have to hope he isn't forced to win the confidence of the markets the way his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, did - by stepping in to stop the stock market crash of 1987 turning into a global financial crisis.
STORY 3
Natural ReactionHotspot for climate changeAnne Zammit
EXPERTS on tropical glaciers have been racing with climate change to reach one of the loneliest places on the planet before it melts. Seldom visited by local tribes, the highlands of New Guinea are shielded from watchful satellites by constant cloud cover. Critical information on how the climate works is locked inside these glaciers at the heart of the El Niño region where Pacific ocean temperatures are warmer than usual.
The glaciers around Mount Jaya have retreated 300 metres over the past three decades, displaying the highest rate of global warming for the region. New species, such as a tree kangaroo, which have only just been discovered on this vast Asian island, are under threat from the rise in temperature. Habitats in the higher altitudes are heating up more quickly than the lowlands.
Another shock surprise this year has been the dramatic slowing of vital Atlantic Ocean currents. If the trend is to continue, scientists fear that it might plunge Europe into winter. A climate change index has been developed to rank regions according to the severity of climate change expected by the end of this century. The Mediterranean can expect less rainfall overall but more variability in summer rain, making both droughts and flash floods more likely. Also high on the list of climate change extremes is north eastern Europe which looks set to see more snow.
Climate change is no longer perceived as predominantly an environmental issue, but is beginning to impact directly on people's lives. The carbon-based economy has been described as an "uncontrolled experiment" with the global climate, with serious risks for ecosystems, business and human health. It was noted at a UN climate meeting in New York held earlier this month that climate impacts will affect not only the environment but also social and economic systems. Agricultural production and food security, fisheries, coastal zone management and public health are all threatened.
We may not be preparing ourselves well enough for the risk of abrupt and runaway climate change. Damages from rising seas, extreme weather and ecosystem collapse are already becoming apparent. We can pay the price in terms of renewable energy, energy efficiency and emission reduction investments now... or we can pay later, perhaps with our lives.Rapid and more frequent climatic changes are now becoming increasingly apparent to most countries and the next five to 20 years are expected to show more examples of adverse impacts while current investments to mitigate the causes are negligible.
The EU has decided to meet its requirements to offset climate change under the Kyoto Protocol as a whole, rather than as individual signatories, with each member state given a different emissions target by the EU Commission. The targeted cut in greenhouse gas emissions by at least five per cent below 1990 levels must be met between 2008 and 2012. Emissions trading has been introduced to give some flexibility while keeping total emissions within the overall capped level. Individual installations may emit more than their allocation on condition that they can find another trader that has emitted less than allowed and is willing to sell their unused allowance. A draft of the National Allocation Plan for Malta for 2008-2012 is open for public comment on the MEPA Website until May 29.
Costing the changes
An estimate that it would take $325 billion for the United States to meet the Kyoto Protocol targets on cutting emissions led the Bush administration to claim that the benefits did not justify its costs. As The Washington Post of May 9 has pointed out, the cost of the Iraq war, now in excess of $300 billion, is close to what it would cost the US to implement the Kyoto Protocol. This amount is exactly what the World Bank estimates it would cost to meet the needs of people in developing countries through more efficient and cleaner sources of energy.
The European Environment Agency calculates that action to combat climate change will deliver considerable benefits. Europe would save €10 billion a year on air pollution control and see 20,000 fewer premature deaths with a drop in damage to ecosystems. The price for conventional energy sources has been increasing and will do so further, but the price for renewable energy will decrease due to the development of technologies and economies of scale.
Surprisingly, funding for EU research projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency have dropped. The inter-parliamentary European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources has urged that the research budget for renewables in the upcoming FP-7 research programme must be significantly increased.
It may be some time before renewable energy sources are able to deliver the large amounts of energy required for bulk energy for most countries. The National Commission for Sustainable Development which met earlier this month augured that appropriate policies and incentives combined with more resources for research and development could shorten this time.
EU NAVY
THE EU WANTS ITS OWN NAVY FLEET, TO GO WITH THEIR RAPID REACTION FORCE. I'D SAY THE EU ARMY IS COMING TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!! WOULD YOU.!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Full steam ahead: Brussels draws up plan for 'EU navy'By Justin Stares in Brussels (Filed: 21/05/2006)
The European Commission has drawn up plans to set up a European coastguard, which critics fear is a back-door attempt by Brussels to create an EU navy with its own powers to stop and search shipping. Plans to upgrade the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) into a fully-fledged coastguard are buried in a document revising European Union (EU) transport policy that is due to be published next month.
Armed coastguard will be embryonic naval service. They come on the back of other "empire building" moves by Brussels, including a planned EU army, a common foreign policy and diplomatic service, and a European-wide policy on energy.
The commission says a European coastguard would help to enforce maritime legislation. It would have the authority to intercept shipping across all of Europe's traditional maritime borders, which could require that crews be armed - and raises questions of national sovereignty over coastal waters. Lloyd's List, the daily newspaper which covers the maritime industry, accused the commission of attempting to build up a navy by stealth in a leading article last week.
The concept of a European coastguard has a federalist charm about it that causes eyes to brighten instantly among gatherings of Europhiles, tired of endless discussions about fish or agriculture," the newspaper said. "In a way, it is a European navy, by the back door. Julian Brazier, the shadow shipping minister, said: "This is very worrying news. It seems the empire building ambitions of Brussels know no bounds. The drift towards an EU navy must be stopped. Mr Brazier has tabled a parliamentary question demanding to know the Government's position on the EU coastguard plans.The plan would be a betrayal of the maritime history of our country and the tens of thousands of men and women currently involved in our maritime sector," he said.
The commission document is written in French and entitled Préparer la Mobilité de Demain (Preparing Tomorrow's Mobility). In it, the commission says it believes the time has come to consider the "concept of a European coastguard". Such a body would improve passenger safety at sea and environmental protection legislation, it says.Its main role initially would be to avert maritime pollution disasters, such as the oil slick that devastated French and Spanish Atlantic coasts in 2002, when the aged Prestige tanker snapped in half. The coastguard would be easy to implement, the commission notes, because the EU can "from today call on the support of the safety agencies, including EMSA.
The Lisbon-based agency came to life two years ago as a technical body to help the commission to draw up maritime legislation. But its remit and staffing levels have increased rapidly since then. It controls a small fleet of ships and has a staff of around 120 - more than twice the number originally envisaged.
The European parliament has long supported forming an EU coastguard, claiming that the principle of the coastguard is already accepted by all EU governments, including Britain. The Council of Ministers, the institution that represents governments in Brussels, last year agreed to a feasibility study on its creation. Until now, however, it has not been official EU policy. Critics say a European coastguard would be more complicated to set up than a European army because national coastguards today have varying functions, both military and civil. Willem de Ruiter, the executive director of EMSA, says talk of the agency becoming a fully-fledged coastguard was far-fetched and unrealistic. He said: "Many people don't understand what they mean when they say 'coastguard'. Are they talking about military operations or civil operations, or both?
Full steam ahead: Brussels draws up plan for 'EU navy'By Justin Stares in Brussels (Filed: 21/05/2006)
The European Commission has drawn up plans to set up a European coastguard, which critics fear is a back-door attempt by Brussels to create an EU navy with its own powers to stop and search shipping. Plans to upgrade the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) into a fully-fledged coastguard are buried in a document revising European Union (EU) transport policy that is due to be published next month.
Armed coastguard will be embryonic naval service. They come on the back of other "empire building" moves by Brussels, including a planned EU army, a common foreign policy and diplomatic service, and a European-wide policy on energy.
The commission says a European coastguard would help to enforce maritime legislation. It would have the authority to intercept shipping across all of Europe's traditional maritime borders, which could require that crews be armed - and raises questions of national sovereignty over coastal waters. Lloyd's List, the daily newspaper which covers the maritime industry, accused the commission of attempting to build up a navy by stealth in a leading article last week.
The concept of a European coastguard has a federalist charm about it that causes eyes to brighten instantly among gatherings of Europhiles, tired of endless discussions about fish or agriculture," the newspaper said. "In a way, it is a European navy, by the back door. Julian Brazier, the shadow shipping minister, said: "This is very worrying news. It seems the empire building ambitions of Brussels know no bounds. The drift towards an EU navy must be stopped. Mr Brazier has tabled a parliamentary question demanding to know the Government's position on the EU coastguard plans.The plan would be a betrayal of the maritime history of our country and the tens of thousands of men and women currently involved in our maritime sector," he said.
The commission document is written in French and entitled Préparer la Mobilité de Demain (Preparing Tomorrow's Mobility). In it, the commission says it believes the time has come to consider the "concept of a European coastguard". Such a body would improve passenger safety at sea and environmental protection legislation, it says.Its main role initially would be to avert maritime pollution disasters, such as the oil slick that devastated French and Spanish Atlantic coasts in 2002, when the aged Prestige tanker snapped in half. The coastguard would be easy to implement, the commission notes, because the EU can "from today call on the support of the safety agencies, including EMSA.
The Lisbon-based agency came to life two years ago as a technical body to help the commission to draw up maritime legislation. But its remit and staffing levels have increased rapidly since then. It controls a small fleet of ships and has a staff of around 120 - more than twice the number originally envisaged.
The European parliament has long supported forming an EU coastguard, claiming that the principle of the coastguard is already accepted by all EU governments, including Britain. The Council of Ministers, the institution that represents governments in Brussels, last year agreed to a feasibility study on its creation. Until now, however, it has not been official EU policy. Critics say a European coastguard would be more complicated to set up than a European army because national coastguards today have varying functions, both military and civil. Willem de Ruiter, the executive director of EMSA, says talk of the agency becoming a fully-fledged coastguard was far-fetched and unrealistic. He said: "Many people don't understand what they mean when they say 'coastguard'. Are they talking about military operations or civil operations, or both?
FIRES IN ALBERTA RUSSIA
Stories on this day in history. FIRES IN ALBERTA , CHINA, GOLD PLUNGES IN DEHLI AND NEW ZEALAND FREE TRADE DEAL NEXT YEAR LIKELY.
Alberta forest fires out of controlCanadian Press
WHITECOURT, Alta. — A wildfire almost twice as large as another one that had been threatening in west-central Alberta was burning out of control in the forests of the province's northwest. Officials said the fire near Whitecourt was believed to have chewed through 15 square kilometres. They had planned to fly over the site overnight Friday with infrared equipment to determine its size. Winds from the east were blowing the long and narrow fire towards the west where the province's Eagle Tower lookout was evacuated. The Virginia Hills Road near Highway 43 was also closed.
Meanwhile, weary firefighters finally managed to get a handle on what had previously been Alberta's largest forest fire.The status of the Burnstick Lake fire in west-central Alberta was changed from out of control to being held. Fire officials said they were confident the blaze would not spread any further.An evacuation notice issued to residents near Caroline, Rocky Mountain House and several campgrounds was lifted as a result. Flames swept through almost nine square kilometres of mature timber and clearcuts on Crown land in the five days the fire burned out of control.
At its height, crowns of trees were exploding in flames, and more than 100 firefighters were involved in battling the blaze.Fire officials feared the blaze would continue to grow over the May long weekend, but forecast winds never materialized.The fire is not expected to spread, based on the resources we have, and on the forecasted weather," said Rob Harris, provincial wildfire information officer.Sundre Forest Products will attempt to harvest salvageable scorched timber within the next month.There are 15 fires burning in Alberta's forest protection area. Crews have already been called to 529 fires this season.Open burning has been banned in a large area of southwestern Alberta.
More than 90 fires rage in eastern Russia
KHABAROVSK, Russia, May 20 (UPI) -- Raging fires in Russia's far east have destroyed almost 1.4 million acres of forest, particularly in the Amur region. More than 1,000 firefighters have mobilized to put out the fires. Thirty-two fires have been suppressed and 10 localized, but new fires have sprung up, Itar-Tass reported. The number of fires is almost four times worse than during the same time period last year. The Amur region alone has already lost close to a million acres. Forest experts have said the conflagrations are not putting towns or businesses at risk.
Gold prices plunge, back in four digits Press Trust Of India Posted Saturday , May 20, 2006 at 19:29Updated Saturday , May 20, 2006 at 19:38.
New Delhi: Gold prices tumbled on the bullion market on Saturday due to aggressive selling by stockists influenced by weakening overseas trend amid drying demand in local markets due to off marriage season.Gold was down by Rs 340 at Rs 9,910 per ten gram in the absence of buying by retail customers and jewellery fabricators, as stockists continued to sell on reports the metal in overseas markets revealed an over night heavy loss.Gold fell 7.8 percent in the week to 659.20 dollar an ounce in London, dropping from a 26-year high of 730.40 dollar on May 12 and silver rising a record level over 14.50 dollar.
A similar weak trend was noticed in silver on reduced offtake by industrial units and stockists, against reports of new stocks coming from neighbouring states.Marketmen said the ending marriage season at this time dampened trading sentiment, which was already passing through a rough patch.They said the activity in the market remained dull as most of the retail customers extended their decision to buy gold at prevailing high levels in the last few days.Standard gold and ornaments dropped by Rs 340 each at Rs 9910 and Rs 9760 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign dropped by Rs 200 at Rs 8000 per piece of eight gram.
Silver ready plunged by Rs 700 at Rs 19,100 per kilo and weekly-based delivery by Rs 2560 per kilo as speculators unwind their long positions in view of a fall in its prices in overseas markets last night.Silver coins were unchanged at Rs 23,000 for buying and Rs 23,200 for selling of 100 pieces.
GCC-New Zealand free trade deal likely next year By Mariam Al Hakeem,
Correspondent Riyadh: The GCC states and New Zealand are expected to sign a free trade agreement next year. A source in the New Zealand embassy in Riyadh told Gulf News that there is a strong chance of signing the trade agreement, especially after the recent visit of Trade Minister Phil Goff to the Gulf. According to a source, negotiators will start intensive, wide-ranging talks to work out details of a free trade accord this year.The vast Gulf market, and its exports of petro-leum products, especially petrochemical products from Saudi Arabia, will be the major basis for the agreement," the source said.
Major breakthrough
The volume of New Zealand's exports to the six GCC states reached $500 million last year and its imports from the GCC, mainly oil and petrochemical products, has exceeded $1 billion. Meanwhile, the forthcoming talks between the European Trade Commission and the GCC are expected to be a major breakthrough in overcoming the bottlenecks in the establishment of a much-awaited GCC-EU free trade zone, said a senior GCC official.Saudi Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Affairs Dr. Hamad Al Bazie, who is heading the Gulf team in the trade talks with the European Union, told reporters here yesterday that the date for the talks has yet to be fixed.
The recent meeting of the Ministerial Council of the GCC and the European Union, held in Brussels, stressed the need to accelerate the procedures to conclude the free trade agreement. The meeting also agreed to hold talks between the European Trade Commission and the relevant GCC ministers to solve the outstanding issues, mainly concerned with the services sector and government purchasing,he said. According to Al Bazie, the GCC states have completed the procedures in this respect and presented them to the concerned agencies with the hope of signing a final agreement with the Europeans.
Alberta forest fires out of controlCanadian Press
WHITECOURT, Alta. — A wildfire almost twice as large as another one that had been threatening in west-central Alberta was burning out of control in the forests of the province's northwest. Officials said the fire near Whitecourt was believed to have chewed through 15 square kilometres. They had planned to fly over the site overnight Friday with infrared equipment to determine its size. Winds from the east were blowing the long and narrow fire towards the west where the province's Eagle Tower lookout was evacuated. The Virginia Hills Road near Highway 43 was also closed.
Meanwhile, weary firefighters finally managed to get a handle on what had previously been Alberta's largest forest fire.The status of the Burnstick Lake fire in west-central Alberta was changed from out of control to being held. Fire officials said they were confident the blaze would not spread any further.An evacuation notice issued to residents near Caroline, Rocky Mountain House and several campgrounds was lifted as a result. Flames swept through almost nine square kilometres of mature timber and clearcuts on Crown land in the five days the fire burned out of control.
At its height, crowns of trees were exploding in flames, and more than 100 firefighters were involved in battling the blaze.Fire officials feared the blaze would continue to grow over the May long weekend, but forecast winds never materialized.The fire is not expected to spread, based on the resources we have, and on the forecasted weather," said Rob Harris, provincial wildfire information officer.Sundre Forest Products will attempt to harvest salvageable scorched timber within the next month.There are 15 fires burning in Alberta's forest protection area. Crews have already been called to 529 fires this season.Open burning has been banned in a large area of southwestern Alberta.
More than 90 fires rage in eastern Russia
KHABAROVSK, Russia, May 20 (UPI) -- Raging fires in Russia's far east have destroyed almost 1.4 million acres of forest, particularly in the Amur region. More than 1,000 firefighters have mobilized to put out the fires. Thirty-two fires have been suppressed and 10 localized, but new fires have sprung up, Itar-Tass reported. The number of fires is almost four times worse than during the same time period last year. The Amur region alone has already lost close to a million acres. Forest experts have said the conflagrations are not putting towns or businesses at risk.
Gold prices plunge, back in four digits Press Trust Of India Posted Saturday , May 20, 2006 at 19:29Updated Saturday , May 20, 2006 at 19:38.
New Delhi: Gold prices tumbled on the bullion market on Saturday due to aggressive selling by stockists influenced by weakening overseas trend amid drying demand in local markets due to off marriage season.Gold was down by Rs 340 at Rs 9,910 per ten gram in the absence of buying by retail customers and jewellery fabricators, as stockists continued to sell on reports the metal in overseas markets revealed an over night heavy loss.Gold fell 7.8 percent in the week to 659.20 dollar an ounce in London, dropping from a 26-year high of 730.40 dollar on May 12 and silver rising a record level over 14.50 dollar.
A similar weak trend was noticed in silver on reduced offtake by industrial units and stockists, against reports of new stocks coming from neighbouring states.Marketmen said the ending marriage season at this time dampened trading sentiment, which was already passing through a rough patch.They said the activity in the market remained dull as most of the retail customers extended their decision to buy gold at prevailing high levels in the last few days.Standard gold and ornaments dropped by Rs 340 each at Rs 9910 and Rs 9760 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign dropped by Rs 200 at Rs 8000 per piece of eight gram.
Silver ready plunged by Rs 700 at Rs 19,100 per kilo and weekly-based delivery by Rs 2560 per kilo as speculators unwind their long positions in view of a fall in its prices in overseas markets last night.Silver coins were unchanged at Rs 23,000 for buying and Rs 23,200 for selling of 100 pieces.
GCC-New Zealand free trade deal likely next year By Mariam Al Hakeem,
Correspondent Riyadh: The GCC states and New Zealand are expected to sign a free trade agreement next year. A source in the New Zealand embassy in Riyadh told Gulf News that there is a strong chance of signing the trade agreement, especially after the recent visit of Trade Minister Phil Goff to the Gulf. According to a source, negotiators will start intensive, wide-ranging talks to work out details of a free trade accord this year.The vast Gulf market, and its exports of petro-leum products, especially petrochemical products from Saudi Arabia, will be the major basis for the agreement," the source said.
Major breakthrough
The volume of New Zealand's exports to the six GCC states reached $500 million last year and its imports from the GCC, mainly oil and petrochemical products, has exceeded $1 billion. Meanwhile, the forthcoming talks between the European Trade Commission and the GCC are expected to be a major breakthrough in overcoming the bottlenecks in the establishment of a much-awaited GCC-EU free trade zone, said a senior GCC official.Saudi Deputy Finance Minister for Economic Affairs Dr. Hamad Al Bazie, who is heading the Gulf team in the trade talks with the European Union, told reporters here yesterday that the date for the talks has yet to be fixed.
The recent meeting of the Ministerial Council of the GCC and the European Union, held in Brussels, stressed the need to accelerate the procedures to conclude the free trade agreement. The meeting also agreed to hold talks between the European Trade Commission and the relevant GCC ministers to solve the outstanding issues, mainly concerned with the services sector and government purchasing,he said. According to Al Bazie, the GCC states have completed the procedures in this respect and presented them to the concerned agencies with the hope of signing a final agreement with the Europeans.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
QUEBEC FLOODING
QUEBEC gets flooding in story 1 and story 2 CHANCHU STILL KILLING PEOPLE.
Heavy rain in Quebec takes toll as one community evacuates 30 homes 58 minutes ago
COWANSVILLE, Que. (CP) - Nine straight days of rain forced a community east of Montreal to evacuate about 30 homes because of flooding. The banks of the Yamaska River began overflowing early Saturday morning, forcing about 100 people from their homes. Officials warned that more homes could be evacuated if the situation worsened, and asked residents to clear out their basements as a precaution. The Red Cross set up an emergency shelter for evacuees, and several pumps were working to keep the flooding from spreading.
Flooding was also reported in several nearby communities. A further 50 to 100 people were forced their homes in Bromont, Granby, St-Hilaire and Brigham. Environment Canada said more than 140 millimetres of rain had already fallen this month in southwestern Quebec. While that is still far from the record of 175 millimetres set in 1945, it says the nine consecutive days of rain in parts of the province have seen is unusual. Meteorologists blame the soggy conditions on a stationary weather pattern, known as an upper low system, hovering over the Great Lakes for the past several days. There are disturbances moving around the surface (which are) bringing rain, said Environment Canada's Rene Heroux on Saturday.
In the last 24 hours, the Cowansville area has received 75 millimetres of rain... and that's why there was some river flooding. Heroux said more regular weather patterns would return early in the week, bringing sunny skies with them. Cowansville is about an hour's drive east of Montreal.
Storm claims 90 lives, 200 missing,Saturday, May 20, 2006 Posted: 0718 GMT (1518 HKT)
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- The Asia-wide death toll from Tropical Storm Chanchu stands at nearly 90, with almost 200 Vietnamese fisherman still missing at sea, as the storm weakened Saturday off southern Japan.The missing fishermen were in two separate groups of boats in different parts of the South China Sea.
Authorities from Danang revised the number of sailors missing on Saturday, saying about 198 remained unaccounted for from both groups. Officials earlier said nearly 250 were lost. The death toll was also lowered from 28 to 24 bodies recovered. High waves in southern Japan killed one teenager and left another missing after they'd been swimming, said coast guard
spokesman Shoji Kawabata.
The storm brought rain to parts of southern and central Japan, said forecasting service Weather Underground. Earlier, Chanchu battered several areas around the South China sea after rising to typhoon strength and killed 37 in the Philippines a week ago. Eighty-seven people are confirmed to have died across the region. It was downgraded from a typhoon on Thursday as it hit China, but still caused landslides and flooding and forced the evacuation of more than 1 million people.
Landslides and collapsing buildings killed 15 people and left four missing in China's Fujian province, the provincial Water Resources Department said. Eight more people died in neighboring Guangdong province, it said.Two fishing boats from Vietnam's central city of Danang that survived the storm were returning to port with 20 corpses and four surviving sailors, said Ha Van Thong, a coast guard official from Danang. Thong said nearly 60 other survivors had been rescued from the water.
In total, 176 fishermen remained missing from the Danang group, he said. Vietnam contacted officials in China and Taiwan to assist with the rescue. Meanwhile, another 22 Vietnamese fishermen from central Quang Ngai province also remained missing after their boats were caught in the storm in a separate incident. Four bodies have been recovered from that group, said Nguyen Sau of the Quang Ngai border control. Flooding in southern Taiwan swept two women to their deaths. T.C. Lee, an official with the Hong Kong Observatory, said Chanchu was the most intense typhoon on record to strike in the South China Sea in May, an early month in the annual typhoon season.
Lee said the early arrival of the year's first typhoon did not necessarily portend an unusually active storm season, and said the observatory forecasted an average year of six to eight typhoons affecting the territory.But a Chinese meteorologist quoted by the Xinhua News Agency, Ding Yihui of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the storm appeared to be a sign of increasingly extreme weather events, a phenomena some scientists have linked to rising global temperatures.
Heavy rain in Quebec takes toll as one community evacuates 30 homes 58 minutes ago
COWANSVILLE, Que. (CP) - Nine straight days of rain forced a community east of Montreal to evacuate about 30 homes because of flooding. The banks of the Yamaska River began overflowing early Saturday morning, forcing about 100 people from their homes. Officials warned that more homes could be evacuated if the situation worsened, and asked residents to clear out their basements as a precaution. The Red Cross set up an emergency shelter for evacuees, and several pumps were working to keep the flooding from spreading.
Flooding was also reported in several nearby communities. A further 50 to 100 people were forced their homes in Bromont, Granby, St-Hilaire and Brigham. Environment Canada said more than 140 millimetres of rain had already fallen this month in southwestern Quebec. While that is still far from the record of 175 millimetres set in 1945, it says the nine consecutive days of rain in parts of the province have seen is unusual. Meteorologists blame the soggy conditions on a stationary weather pattern, known as an upper low system, hovering over the Great Lakes for the past several days. There are disturbances moving around the surface (which are) bringing rain, said Environment Canada's Rene Heroux on Saturday.
In the last 24 hours, the Cowansville area has received 75 millimetres of rain... and that's why there was some river flooding. Heroux said more regular weather patterns would return early in the week, bringing sunny skies with them. Cowansville is about an hour's drive east of Montreal.
Storm claims 90 lives, 200 missing,Saturday, May 20, 2006 Posted: 0718 GMT (1518 HKT)
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- The Asia-wide death toll from Tropical Storm Chanchu stands at nearly 90, with almost 200 Vietnamese fisherman still missing at sea, as the storm weakened Saturday off southern Japan.The missing fishermen were in two separate groups of boats in different parts of the South China Sea.
Authorities from Danang revised the number of sailors missing on Saturday, saying about 198 remained unaccounted for from both groups. Officials earlier said nearly 250 were lost. The death toll was also lowered from 28 to 24 bodies recovered. High waves in southern Japan killed one teenager and left another missing after they'd been swimming, said coast guard
spokesman Shoji Kawabata.
The storm brought rain to parts of southern and central Japan, said forecasting service Weather Underground. Earlier, Chanchu battered several areas around the South China sea after rising to typhoon strength and killed 37 in the Philippines a week ago. Eighty-seven people are confirmed to have died across the region. It was downgraded from a typhoon on Thursday as it hit China, but still caused landslides and flooding and forced the evacuation of more than 1 million people.
Landslides and collapsing buildings killed 15 people and left four missing in China's Fujian province, the provincial Water Resources Department said. Eight more people died in neighboring Guangdong province, it said.Two fishing boats from Vietnam's central city of Danang that survived the storm were returning to port with 20 corpses and four surviving sailors, said Ha Van Thong, a coast guard official from Danang. Thong said nearly 60 other survivors had been rescued from the water.
In total, 176 fishermen remained missing from the Danang group, he said. Vietnam contacted officials in China and Taiwan to assist with the rescue. Meanwhile, another 22 Vietnamese fishermen from central Quang Ngai province also remained missing after their boats were caught in the storm in a separate incident. Four bodies have been recovered from that group, said Nguyen Sau of the Quang Ngai border control. Flooding in southern Taiwan swept two women to their deaths. T.C. Lee, an official with the Hong Kong Observatory, said Chanchu was the most intense typhoon on record to strike in the South China Sea in May, an early month in the annual typhoon season.
Lee said the early arrival of the year's first typhoon did not necessarily portend an unusually active storm season, and said the observatory forecasted an average year of six to eight typhoons affecting the territory.But a Chinese meteorologist quoted by the Xinhua News Agency, Ding Yihui of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the storm appeared to be a sign of increasingly extreme weather events, a phenomena some scientists have linked to rising global temperatures.
ELECTION OF UN SECRETARY GENERAL
HOW IS THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UN ELECTED?
Kofi Annan is leaving office this year and the race to succeed him has begun in the corridors of the UN and key capitals around the World. But how do you get to be Secretary General? Can you apply? Who decides who gets the job?
Its a big job being Secretary General of the United Nations. Your the worlds chief diplomat, a figure of tremendous moral authority. You"d think choosing Kofis succesor would involve a job description, a formal job interview, but no the decision is taken in secret inside the Security council chambers. The rest of the UN will be expected to rubber stamp the decision.
But its really the 5 permanent members of the security council who have the most power. And it could come down to just 2 countries and who they want.
If the USA and CHINA can do a deal early on then it might be over quite quickly. Many of the less powerful countries complain its unfair that the Secretary General should be chosin this way. Theres been 7 Secretary Generals of the United nations. The covention is that each region of the world gets to provide the candidates in rotation. So this time the Asians are saying its their turn.
The Asians are saying they have may qualified as well as representative candidates. The 3 candidates from Asia are Ban Ki-Moon, the South Korean foreign minister. Burakiart Sathirathai, Thailands deputy prime minister and Jayantha Dhanapala who oversaw peace talks. Their not household names, I never heard of any of them myself.
Insiders say its far to early to say who will get the top job. The insider says its very likely that who ever eventually emerges is not yet an official candidate. Whoever gets the job as UN Secretary General will be a Global figure in an uncertain world.
THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR COMES TO POWER THE SAME WAY.
This future EU politician is voted into power by the leading nations of the European Union. He will not be elected by the population at large either just like the UN does through the Security council as Revelation tells us.
DANIEL 7:23-24 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
REVELATION 17:3,9,10,12,18 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
REVELTION 6:1-2 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
REVELATION 13:1-10,16-18 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: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.
We see in Daniel that the 4TH WORLD EMPIRE SINCE BABYLON OR THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE in history or REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE IS EU. This EUROPEAN EMPIRE WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL. After it gets to 10 kings or nations in the EU another emerges #11 SPAIN and boots 3 countries from the EU.
The Leader who boots the 3 countries out becomes the world dictator of Revelation 6,13 and 17. In Revelation 17 it says the EU would be blasphemous, that happened already with the Danish muslim uproar. And the EU does not want GOD in their constitution just like REV 13 and 17 says. Then in 17:12-13 we see the Future Dictator coming to power by a system like the UN does, he is givin rulership by the 10 nations of the EU and becomes the EU PRESIDENT. Notice in 13 they all agree with the decision. They give him the political power of the EU block.
REVELATION 6 & 13 tells us what he will be like in power.
1-A LEADER OF PEACE as he SIGNS the 7 YR PEACE contract with ISRAELIS / ARABS,MANY of DANIEL 9:27.
2-A MILITARY LEADER, HE CONQUERS.
3-A BLASPHEMOUS LEADER.
4-A OCCULT LEADER-SATAN GIVES HIM HIS POWER AND STRENGTH.
5-A WORLD LEADER-GIVEN WORLD CONTROL IN VERSES 3,7,8.
6-A DECEPTIVE LEADER-HE PROSPERS THROUGH LIES AND DECEPTION.
7-A MURDEROUS LEADER-HAS PEOPLE BEHEADED FOR NOT WORSHIPPING HIM AS GOD.
8-A DICTATOR-MAKE EVERYONE RECIEVE A MICROCHIP IN THEIR HANDS OR FOREHEAD.
THE ROLE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
Equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO, the Secretary-General is a symbol of United Nations ideals and a spokesman for the interests of the world's peoples, in particular the poor and vulnerable among them. The current Secretary-General, and the seventh occupant of the post, is Mr. Kofi A. Annan of Ghana, who took office on 1 January 1997.
The Charter describes the Secretary-General as "chief administrative officer" of the Organization, who shall act in that capacity and perform "such other functions as are entrusted" to him or her by the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and other United Nations organs. The Charter also empowers the Secretary-General to "bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security". These guidelines both define the powers of the office and grant it considerable scope for action. The Secretary-General would fail if he did not take careful account of the concerns of Member States, but he must also uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations, and speak and act for peace, even at the risk, from time to time, of challenging or disagreeing with those same Member States.
That creative tension accompanies the Secretary-General through day-to-day work that includes attendance at sessions of United Nations bodies; consultations with world leaders, government officials, and others; and worldwide travel intended to keep him in touch with the peoples of the Organization's Member States and informed about the vast array of issues of international concern that are on the Organization's agenda. Each year, the Secretary-General issues a report on the work of the United Nations that appraises its activities and outlines future priorities. The Secretary-General is also Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which brings together the Executive Heads of all UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies twice a year in order to further coordination and cooperation in the entire range of substantive and management issues facing the United Nations System.
One of the most vital roles played by the Secretary-General is the use of his "good offices" -- steps taken publicly and in private, drawing upon his independence, impartiality and integrity, to prevent international disputes from arising, escalating or spreading. Since becoming Secretary-General, Mr. Annan has made use of his good offices in a range of situations, including Cyprus, East Timor, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Western Sahara.
Each Secretary-General also defines his role within the context of his particular time in office.
Previous Secretaries-General
Under the Charter, the Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Mr. Annan's predecessors as Secretary-General were: Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt), who held office from January 1992 to December 1996; Javier PÈrez de CuÈllar (Peru), who served from January 1982 to December 1991; Kurt Waldheim (Austria), who held office from January 1972 to December 1981; U Thant (Burma, now Myanmar), who served from November 1961, when he was appointed acting Secretary-General (he was formally appointed Secretary-General in November 1962) to December 1971; Dag Hammarskjˆld (Sweden), who served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in Africa in September 1961; and Trygve Lie (Norway), who held office from February 1946 to his resignation in November 1952.
Kofi Annan is leaving office this year and the race to succeed him has begun in the corridors of the UN and key capitals around the World. But how do you get to be Secretary General? Can you apply? Who decides who gets the job?
Its a big job being Secretary General of the United Nations. Your the worlds chief diplomat, a figure of tremendous moral authority. You"d think choosing Kofis succesor would involve a job description, a formal job interview, but no the decision is taken in secret inside the Security council chambers. The rest of the UN will be expected to rubber stamp the decision.
But its really the 5 permanent members of the security council who have the most power. And it could come down to just 2 countries and who they want.
If the USA and CHINA can do a deal early on then it might be over quite quickly. Many of the less powerful countries complain its unfair that the Secretary General should be chosin this way. Theres been 7 Secretary Generals of the United nations. The covention is that each region of the world gets to provide the candidates in rotation. So this time the Asians are saying its their turn.
The Asians are saying they have may qualified as well as representative candidates. The 3 candidates from Asia are Ban Ki-Moon, the South Korean foreign minister. Burakiart Sathirathai, Thailands deputy prime minister and Jayantha Dhanapala who oversaw peace talks. Their not household names, I never heard of any of them myself.
Insiders say its far to early to say who will get the top job. The insider says its very likely that who ever eventually emerges is not yet an official candidate. Whoever gets the job as UN Secretary General will be a Global figure in an uncertain world.
THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR COMES TO POWER THE SAME WAY.
This future EU politician is voted into power by the leading nations of the European Union. He will not be elected by the population at large either just like the UN does through the Security council as Revelation tells us.
DANIEL 7:23-24 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
REVELATION 17:3,9,10,12,18 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
REVELTION 6:1-2 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
REVELATION 13:1-10,16-18 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: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.
We see in Daniel that the 4TH WORLD EMPIRE SINCE BABYLON OR THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE in history or REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE IS EU. This EUROPEAN EMPIRE WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL. After it gets to 10 kings or nations in the EU another emerges #11 SPAIN and boots 3 countries from the EU.
The Leader who boots the 3 countries out becomes the world dictator of Revelation 6,13 and 17. In Revelation 17 it says the EU would be blasphemous, that happened already with the Danish muslim uproar. And the EU does not want GOD in their constitution just like REV 13 and 17 says. Then in 17:12-13 we see the Future Dictator coming to power by a system like the UN does, he is givin rulership by the 10 nations of the EU and becomes the EU PRESIDENT. Notice in 13 they all agree with the decision. They give him the political power of the EU block.
REVELATION 6 & 13 tells us what he will be like in power.
1-A LEADER OF PEACE as he SIGNS the 7 YR PEACE contract with ISRAELIS / ARABS,MANY of DANIEL 9:27.
2-A MILITARY LEADER, HE CONQUERS.
3-A BLASPHEMOUS LEADER.
4-A OCCULT LEADER-SATAN GIVES HIM HIS POWER AND STRENGTH.
5-A WORLD LEADER-GIVEN WORLD CONTROL IN VERSES 3,7,8.
6-A DECEPTIVE LEADER-HE PROSPERS THROUGH LIES AND DECEPTION.
7-A MURDEROUS LEADER-HAS PEOPLE BEHEADED FOR NOT WORSHIPPING HIM AS GOD.
8-A DICTATOR-MAKE EVERYONE RECIEVE A MICROCHIP IN THEIR HANDS OR FOREHEAD.
THE ROLE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
Equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO, the Secretary-General is a symbol of United Nations ideals and a spokesman for the interests of the world's peoples, in particular the poor and vulnerable among them. The current Secretary-General, and the seventh occupant of the post, is Mr. Kofi A. Annan of Ghana, who took office on 1 January 1997.
The Charter describes the Secretary-General as "chief administrative officer" of the Organization, who shall act in that capacity and perform "such other functions as are entrusted" to him or her by the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and other United Nations organs. The Charter also empowers the Secretary-General to "bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security". These guidelines both define the powers of the office and grant it considerable scope for action. The Secretary-General would fail if he did not take careful account of the concerns of Member States, but he must also uphold the values and moral authority of the United Nations, and speak and act for peace, even at the risk, from time to time, of challenging or disagreeing with those same Member States.
That creative tension accompanies the Secretary-General through day-to-day work that includes attendance at sessions of United Nations bodies; consultations with world leaders, government officials, and others; and worldwide travel intended to keep him in touch with the peoples of the Organization's Member States and informed about the vast array of issues of international concern that are on the Organization's agenda. Each year, the Secretary-General issues a report on the work of the United Nations that appraises its activities and outlines future priorities. The Secretary-General is also Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which brings together the Executive Heads of all UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies twice a year in order to further coordination and cooperation in the entire range of substantive and management issues facing the United Nations System.
One of the most vital roles played by the Secretary-General is the use of his "good offices" -- steps taken publicly and in private, drawing upon his independence, impartiality and integrity, to prevent international disputes from arising, escalating or spreading. Since becoming Secretary-General, Mr. Annan has made use of his good offices in a range of situations, including Cyprus, East Timor, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Western Sahara.
Each Secretary-General also defines his role within the context of his particular time in office.
Previous Secretaries-General
Under the Charter, the Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Mr. Annan's predecessors as Secretary-General were: Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt), who held office from January 1992 to December 1996; Javier PÈrez de CuÈllar (Peru), who served from January 1982 to December 1991; Kurt Waldheim (Austria), who held office from January 1972 to December 1981; U Thant (Burma, now Myanmar), who served from November 1961, when he was appointed acting Secretary-General (he was formally appointed Secretary-General in November 1962) to December 1971; Dag Hammarskjˆld (Sweden), who served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in Africa in September 1961; and Trygve Lie (Norway), who held office from February 1946 to his resignation in November 1952.
Friday, May 19, 2006
VATICAN WCC CONVERSION PARTNERSHIP
Well Folks the World Council of Churches, the Vatican and other religions met to do a study of how to convert people. Interesting when in REVELATION 17 we see a WORLD CHURCH combined from all the Religions of the WORLD, team up with the European Union to Persecute true believers in Christ and have them beheaded for their faith.
So when it says in this story that freedom of Religion is a non-negotiable right, well they are wrong, this bunch headed by the Vatican in the future will take the freedom of Religion from true Christians and will behead them in the future.
And oviously since beheadings are big during the tribulation, the Muslims will infiltrate the Vatican and control it some how. Or I can not see why beheadings would become common place. The only way the false world church could do beheadings is to go by Sharia Muslim law, and Muslim practices by the new age movement.
World Council of Churches & Vatican Partner in New Conversion Study
A new study partnership initiative between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican has begun this week. A new study partnership initiative between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican has begun this week. Immediately upon its commencement an affirmation was made that the freedom of religion was a “non-negotiable” human right that should be valid for every single member of society across the world.Rev. Canon Dr Andrew Wingate from the UK (left) with Prof. Anantanand Rambachan from India (right).
(WCC/Jacques Matthey) Freedom of religion is a fundamental, inviolable and non-negotiable right of every human being in every country in the world, states the report of the 12-16 May meeting in Lariano/Velletri, near Rome, that launched the cooperative study.It was also
emphasised that the “obsession of converting others” needed to be cured in the religious world.The report said, “Freedom of religion connotes the freedom, without any obstruction, to practise one's own faith, freedom to propagate the teachings of one's faith to people of one's own and other faiths, and also the freedom to embrace another faith out of one's own free choice.
However, this right entailed the “equally non-negotiable responsibility to respect faiths other than our own, and never to denigrate, vilify or misrepresent them for the purpose of affirming superiority of our faith. Also, the “right to invite others to an understanding" of one's own faith "should not be exercised by violating other's rights and religious sensibilities. Also contained
in the report was the bold recommendation that, “All should heal themselves from the obsession of converting others.
Acknowledging that "errors have been perpetrated and injustice committed by the adherents of every faith," it suggests that "it is incumbent on every community to conduct honest self-critical examination" of its historical record as well as its doctrines. As a result of “self-criticism and repentance," some reforms should take place in order to ensure a healthier approach to the
issue of conversion.
Among the various suggestions made included: Discouraging and rejecting "unethical means", avoiding taking advantage of "vulnerable" people like children and disabled persons, and doing humanitarian work "without any ulterior motives. The report, which was issued by 27 participants from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Yoruba religious backgrounds, recognised that "many differences and disagreements" remained among them, but nonetheless a "convergent understanding of the several aspects of the issue of religious conversion" developed.
The participants also warmly greeted the useful and vitally needed idea of a collectively developed "code of conduct" on conversion, and it was suggested that "inter-religious dialogues on the issue of conversion should continue at various levels.
Daniel Blakemailto:Blakedaniel@christiantoday.com
Strong earthquake hits off Indonesian island 4 minutes ago HONG KONG
(AFP) - A strong earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale hit off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, observatories in Hong Kong and the United States said. The quake struck at 1444 GMT at a depth of 61 kilometers (38 miles) some 195 kilometers south of Manado, the main city on the northeastern tip of the island, the US Geological Survey said. It was located 310 kilometers west-southwest of Ternate in the Moluccas and 930 kilometers north of Dili, East Timor, the USGS statement said.
The Hong Kong observatory said the quake struck at 10:50 pm Hong Kong time (1450 GMT) and was initially determined to be centred in the Molucca Sea, about 200 kilometres south of Manado. There were no reports of damage or casualties.Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
So when it says in this story that freedom of Religion is a non-negotiable right, well they are wrong, this bunch headed by the Vatican in the future will take the freedom of Religion from true Christians and will behead them in the future.
And oviously since beheadings are big during the tribulation, the Muslims will infiltrate the Vatican and control it some how. Or I can not see why beheadings would become common place. The only way the false world church could do beheadings is to go by Sharia Muslim law, and Muslim practices by the new age movement.
World Council of Churches & Vatican Partner in New Conversion Study
A new study partnership initiative between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican has begun this week. A new study partnership initiative between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican has begun this week. Immediately upon its commencement an affirmation was made that the freedom of religion was a “non-negotiable” human right that should be valid for every single member of society across the world.Rev. Canon Dr Andrew Wingate from the UK (left) with Prof. Anantanand Rambachan from India (right).
(WCC/Jacques Matthey) Freedom of religion is a fundamental, inviolable and non-negotiable right of every human being in every country in the world, states the report of the 12-16 May meeting in Lariano/Velletri, near Rome, that launched the cooperative study.It was also
emphasised that the “obsession of converting others” needed to be cured in the religious world.The report said, “Freedom of religion connotes the freedom, without any obstruction, to practise one's own faith, freedom to propagate the teachings of one's faith to people of one's own and other faiths, and also the freedom to embrace another faith out of one's own free choice.
However, this right entailed the “equally non-negotiable responsibility to respect faiths other than our own, and never to denigrate, vilify or misrepresent them for the purpose of affirming superiority of our faith. Also, the “right to invite others to an understanding" of one's own faith "should not be exercised by violating other's rights and religious sensibilities. Also contained
in the report was the bold recommendation that, “All should heal themselves from the obsession of converting others.
Acknowledging that "errors have been perpetrated and injustice committed by the adherents of every faith," it suggests that "it is incumbent on every community to conduct honest self-critical examination" of its historical record as well as its doctrines. As a result of “self-criticism and repentance," some reforms should take place in order to ensure a healthier approach to the
issue of conversion.
Among the various suggestions made included: Discouraging and rejecting "unethical means", avoiding taking advantage of "vulnerable" people like children and disabled persons, and doing humanitarian work "without any ulterior motives. The report, which was issued by 27 participants from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Yoruba religious backgrounds, recognised that "many differences and disagreements" remained among them, but nonetheless a "convergent understanding of the several aspects of the issue of religious conversion" developed.
The participants also warmly greeted the useful and vitally needed idea of a collectively developed "code of conduct" on conversion, and it was suggested that "inter-religious dialogues on the issue of conversion should continue at various levels.
Daniel Blakemailto:Blakedaniel@christiantoday.com
Strong earthquake hits off Indonesian island 4 minutes ago HONG KONG
(AFP) - A strong earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale hit off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, observatories in Hong Kong and the United States said. The quake struck at 1444 GMT at a depth of 61 kilometers (38 miles) some 195 kilometers south of Manado, the main city on the northeastern tip of the island, the US Geological Survey said. It was located 310 kilometers west-southwest of Ternate in the Moluccas and 930 kilometers north of Dili, East Timor, the USGS statement said.
The Hong Kong observatory said the quake struck at 10:50 pm Hong Kong time (1450 GMT) and was initially determined to be centred in the Molucca Sea, about 200 kilometres south of Manado. There were no reports of damage or casualties.Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
DAVINCI CODE LIES OPENS TODAY
DA VINCI CODE LIES AND DECEPTION MAY 19,2006
As we all know the Da Vinci code movie is coming out today. This movie is filled with lies about Jesus having a wife and child. Every true Christian sould not go to see this movie filled with lies and doctrines of demons.
Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins, not to marry Mary Magdeline and have a child who went to France.
Dan Brown is trying to take GOD out of Jesus and make him a mere human being. No Christian should spend their money on this trash that puts down our GOD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. The reviews from the world are even bad about this movie.The Bible clearly says people will turn from the truth in the last days to lies, fables and myths, decieving and being decieved. And false teachers and prophets will arise in these last days also.
2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
2 TIMOTHY 4:1-4
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
MATTHEW 24:5,24
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; inso much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
C$ losing global edge, still strong vs greenback Thursday, May 18, 2006 3:50:10 PM ET.By Cameron French
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar is losing its edge against most world currencies as North American interest rates stop rising and oil and metals prices ease, but it could still extend its climb beyond recent 28-year highs versus the greenback. The currency, known as the loonie for the picture of the loon on the one-dollar coin, was the top performer of Group of Seven currencies in 2005, helped by strong commodity prices and steadily rising domestic interest rates.It rose further against the U.S. dollar this year, charging above 90 U.S. cents for the first time since 1978 to touch a high of C$1.0975, or 91.12 U.S. cents on May 9. Some spoke seriously about the prospect of parity between the two currencies.
But with the outlook for commodity prices uncertain and the Bank of Canada poised to stop raising rates, any further gains will likely reflect U.S. economic troubles and their impact on the U.S. dollar, while the loonie will keep falling against currencies like the euro and the yen. We've moved to a period of time where Canada's moving out of the spotlight. It's like the action is
done, said David Powell, currency analyst at IDEAglobal. Powell expects the Canadian dollar to rise further against the greenback this year. But he says that will reflect pressure on the U.S. dollar from a yawning current account deficit and expectations that U.S. interest rates have peaked.
DIFFERENT PICTURES
The picture looks different elsewhere in the world, where the euro zone has already started raising interest rates and Japan looks set to abandon its zero-interest-rate policy.The Canadian dollar has already pulled back against the euro, the pound and the yen after strong gains last year, and George Davis, chief technical strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said technical and
fundamental indicators suggest the retreat should only deepen. I think from a medium to longer term perspective, valuations for the Canadian dollar are extremely overbought," he said.You've almost got a reversal of the scenario where last year we saw the Bank of Canada start to progress through its tightening cycle, while all the other global central banks apart from the Fed
basically stood pat.
Investors racing to take advantage of the Canadian dollar's positive exposure to energy and metals prices may also have gotten ahead of themselves, as metals start what could become a long correction.The Canadian dollar was around C$1.1202 to the U.S. dollar, or 89.28 U.S. cents, on Thursday after a tame April inflation report suggested the Bank of Canada will raise
rates at most once more.The currency was at C$1.4360 to the euro, while it was C$2.1183 against the pound and at 98.85 yen. At the start of last year the Canadian dollar was at C$1.6306 to the euro, C$2.3075 to the pound and at 85.10 yen.
The loonie's recent gains have also prompted speculators to bet on its one-way movement, and as fundamentals shift, they could unwind those bets quickly.While the Canadian dollar needs to be firm and robust, the acceleration that we've seen has got to dissipate, said Amarjit Sahota, head of global research at HIFX in San Francisco.That's really apparent when you look at the IMM (currency futures) data, on how long the speculative community is on Canadian dollars, and we'd expect that to (come off)."
As we all know the Da Vinci code movie is coming out today. This movie is filled with lies about Jesus having a wife and child. Every true Christian sould not go to see this movie filled with lies and doctrines of demons.
Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins, not to marry Mary Magdeline and have a child who went to France.
Dan Brown is trying to take GOD out of Jesus and make him a mere human being. No Christian should spend their money on this trash that puts down our GOD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. The reviews from the world are even bad about this movie.The Bible clearly says people will turn from the truth in the last days to lies, fables and myths, decieving and being decieved. And false teachers and prophets will arise in these last days also.
2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
2 TIMOTHY 4:1-4
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
MATTHEW 24:5,24
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; inso much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
C$ losing global edge, still strong vs greenback Thursday, May 18, 2006 3:50:10 PM ET.By Cameron French
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar is losing its edge against most world currencies as North American interest rates stop rising and oil and metals prices ease, but it could still extend its climb beyond recent 28-year highs versus the greenback. The currency, known as the loonie for the picture of the loon on the one-dollar coin, was the top performer of Group of Seven currencies in 2005, helped by strong commodity prices and steadily rising domestic interest rates.It rose further against the U.S. dollar this year, charging above 90 U.S. cents for the first time since 1978 to touch a high of C$1.0975, or 91.12 U.S. cents on May 9. Some spoke seriously about the prospect of parity between the two currencies.
But with the outlook for commodity prices uncertain and the Bank of Canada poised to stop raising rates, any further gains will likely reflect U.S. economic troubles and their impact on the U.S. dollar, while the loonie will keep falling against currencies like the euro and the yen. We've moved to a period of time where Canada's moving out of the spotlight. It's like the action is
done, said David Powell, currency analyst at IDEAglobal. Powell expects the Canadian dollar to rise further against the greenback this year. But he says that will reflect pressure on the U.S. dollar from a yawning current account deficit and expectations that U.S. interest rates have peaked.
DIFFERENT PICTURES
The picture looks different elsewhere in the world, where the euro zone has already started raising interest rates and Japan looks set to abandon its zero-interest-rate policy.The Canadian dollar has already pulled back against the euro, the pound and the yen after strong gains last year, and George Davis, chief technical strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said technical and
fundamental indicators suggest the retreat should only deepen. I think from a medium to longer term perspective, valuations for the Canadian dollar are extremely overbought," he said.You've almost got a reversal of the scenario where last year we saw the Bank of Canada start to progress through its tightening cycle, while all the other global central banks apart from the Fed
basically stood pat.
Investors racing to take advantage of the Canadian dollar's positive exposure to energy and metals prices may also have gotten ahead of themselves, as metals start what could become a long correction.The Canadian dollar was around C$1.1202 to the U.S. dollar, or 89.28 U.S. cents, on Thursday after a tame April inflation report suggested the Bank of Canada will raise
rates at most once more.The currency was at C$1.4360 to the euro, while it was C$2.1183 against the pound and at 98.85 yen. At the start of last year the Canadian dollar was at C$1.6306 to the euro, C$2.3075 to the pound and at 85.10 yen.
The loonie's recent gains have also prompted speculators to bet on its one-way movement, and as fundamentals shift, they could unwind those bets quickly.While the Canadian dollar needs to be firm and robust, the acceleration that we've seen has got to dissipate, said Amarjit Sahota, head of global research at HIFX in San Francisco.That's really apparent when you look at the IMM (currency futures) data, on how long the speculative community is on Canadian dollars, and we'd expect that to (come off)."
Thursday, May 18, 2006
RAGING SEAS SURVEY OF SCARYIST
Is the Bible up to date or what. This survey proves Bible prophecy correct as Hurricanes top the list of of scarry happenings.
What Does Luke 21:25-26 say, Nations in distress and fear of the raging seas (Storms, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Tsunamis). And world terrorism in Genesis 6:11-13.
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; the sea and the waves roaring;
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.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (dangerous) times shall come.
Weather scarier than terroristsBy Jennifer Harper THE WASHINGTON TIMES May 18, 06
Howling winds and lashing rain seem more dangerous to Americans than dirty bombs and al Qaeda, according to a Harris poll released Tuesday that examines public sentiment of natural or man-made disasters. Although personal confidence in handling calamities seems intact, trust in the federal government is downright shaky. What tops the danger meter? Hurricanes were ranked the most destructive disaster by 72 percent of respondents, followed by earthquakes and tornadoes, each cited by 53 percent, and terrorism, cited by 43 percent. Floods (37 percent), wildfires (19 percent) and drought (16 percent) followed.
But Americans don't seem particularly concerned by sloppy soil and blizzards. Mudslides were cited as destructive by only 5 percent, and ice or snowstorms by 3 percent. The danger factor varies by region. Folks in the Midwest most often cited terrorism as the most destructive act, while those in the South find it the least harmful. Southerners were more likely than respondents from other regions to say hurricanes and tornadoes are more destructive. Oddly, more Easterners than Westerners say earthquakes are the most destructive. Some disasters are taken more personally than others. When asked which calamity most directly affected them, Midwestern and Southern respondents named tornadoes. It was snow and ice for Easterners and earthquakes out West.
Bad memories of slow government response after Hurricane Katrina may linger. When asked whether the federal government was prepared to deal with the nine types of disasters, almost half -- 47 percent -- said agencies would not be able to cope with any of them. Only a quarter said the government could cope with a terrorist attack, while 20 percent said it could respond to a wildfire. The numbers go downhill from there: Only 2 percent said the government could deal with a mudslide. As June approaches and we await Hurricane Alberto or Tropical Storm Beryl, it will be interesting to see if people are right about the federal government's ability to handle these disasters," the poll's analysts said.
It may start with better outreach. A Temple University study conducted after the destructive hurricanes last year found that poor communications" generated chaos, distress and alarm. The university is drafting an emergency response guide for officials. Americans are reasonably ready to handle disasters on their own. The poll found that 81 percent said they were prepared to
handle a snowstorm, while less than half said they could deal with a tornado or drought. About 42 percent were prepared for a flood, 38 percent for a wildfire, 35 percent for a hurricane and 29 percent for an earthquake. Just 28 percent were ready for a terrorist attack and 21 percent for a mudslide.
The poll of 3,979 adults was conducted online April 12 to 20 and had a margin of error of two percentage points.
Typhoon Chanchu Kills 50 People in Asia By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 8 minutes ago SHANGHAI, China - A powerful typhoon pummeled southern China on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and leaving 27 Vietnamese fishermen missing after their boats sank in Chinese waters. Typhoon Chanchu has killed at least 50 people in Asia, including 37 last weekend in the Philippines, where it destroyed thousands of homes. There were fears the death toll could rise dramatically.
The storm hit the coast of China early Thursday, flooding scores of homes and forcing the evacuation of more than 1 million people before weakening to a severe tropical storm.The official Xinhua News Agency said eight people died and four were missing when mudslides buried two homes in coastal Fujian province. Three others — including two children — were killed when the storm made landfall near Shantou in the northern tip of China's Guangdong province, knocking over houses.
The missing Vietnamese fishermen were on three boats that sank in Chinese waters,Vietnamese officials said Thursday. Six other boats with 67 fishermen were able to reach an island and report the sinking of the other vessels. Vietnam asked Chinese authorities to help search for the missing.
Taiwan reported the deaths of two women swept away by floods in the southern region of Pingtung on Wednesday. In southern Japan, high waves swept away three 17-year-old male students swimming off Hateruma island in the Okinawa chain, leaving one dead and another missing, coast guard spokesman Shoji Kawabata said. The third was rescued. China said it had moved more than 1 million people to safety in Guangdong and Fujian provinces. The storm bypassed the financial center of Hong Kong on the Guangdong coast.
Thousands of people evacuated from fishing boats and low-lying areas were staying with relatives, in tents, or in schools and government warehouses, said an official of the Chaozhou city government in Guangdong, who like many Chinese bureaucrats would only give his surname, Zhang. Nearly 100,000 ships were ordered to return to harbor, Xinhua said. Television news showed violent waves pounding sea walls along China's coast. Reports said winds and rain damaged dikes, uprooted trees and brought down buildings along the Guangdong coast. By 8 p.m. Thursday, Chanchu, which means "pearl" in Cantonese, was centered about 186 miles south of Shanghai and picking up speed as it headed along the coast and out to sea at about 28 mph, the Hong Kong Observatory said.The storm was expected to enter the East China Sea later Thursday or early Friday.
An official with the Fujian Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, who gave only his surname, Huang, said winds at the storm's center had weakened when it crossed over the land and were blowing at about 56 mph.Taiwan ordered schools on the outlying island of Kinmen closed because of the storm. Chanchu earlier drove an oil tanker to run aground near
Taiwan's southern port of Kaohsiung. Rescuers in helicopters airlifted 13 crew members off the ship, which was later freed with no leakage of oil. T.C. Lee, an official with the Hong Kong Observatory, said Chanchu was the "most intense" typhoon to strike in the South China Sea in May, an early month in the annual cyclone season.
However, the early arrival of the year's first typhoon does not necessarily portend an unusually active storm season, Lee said by telephone. (Associated Press reporter Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report).
What Does Luke 21:25-26 say, Nations in distress and fear of the raging seas (Storms, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Tsunamis). And world terrorism in Genesis 6:11-13.
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; the sea and the waves roaring;
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.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (dangerous) times shall come.
Weather scarier than terroristsBy Jennifer Harper THE WASHINGTON TIMES May 18, 06
Howling winds and lashing rain seem more dangerous to Americans than dirty bombs and al Qaeda, according to a Harris poll released Tuesday that examines public sentiment of natural or man-made disasters. Although personal confidence in handling calamities seems intact, trust in the federal government is downright shaky. What tops the danger meter? Hurricanes were ranked the most destructive disaster by 72 percent of respondents, followed by earthquakes and tornadoes, each cited by 53 percent, and terrorism, cited by 43 percent. Floods (37 percent), wildfires (19 percent) and drought (16 percent) followed.
But Americans don't seem particularly concerned by sloppy soil and blizzards. Mudslides were cited as destructive by only 5 percent, and ice or snowstorms by 3 percent. The danger factor varies by region. Folks in the Midwest most often cited terrorism as the most destructive act, while those in the South find it the least harmful. Southerners were more likely than respondents from other regions to say hurricanes and tornadoes are more destructive. Oddly, more Easterners than Westerners say earthquakes are the most destructive. Some disasters are taken more personally than others. When asked which calamity most directly affected them, Midwestern and Southern respondents named tornadoes. It was snow and ice for Easterners and earthquakes out West.
Bad memories of slow government response after Hurricane Katrina may linger. When asked whether the federal government was prepared to deal with the nine types of disasters, almost half -- 47 percent -- said agencies would not be able to cope with any of them. Only a quarter said the government could cope with a terrorist attack, while 20 percent said it could respond to a wildfire. The numbers go downhill from there: Only 2 percent said the government could deal with a mudslide. As June approaches and we await Hurricane Alberto or Tropical Storm Beryl, it will be interesting to see if people are right about the federal government's ability to handle these disasters," the poll's analysts said.
It may start with better outreach. A Temple University study conducted after the destructive hurricanes last year found that poor communications" generated chaos, distress and alarm. The university is drafting an emergency response guide for officials. Americans are reasonably ready to handle disasters on their own. The poll found that 81 percent said they were prepared to
handle a snowstorm, while less than half said they could deal with a tornado or drought. About 42 percent were prepared for a flood, 38 percent for a wildfire, 35 percent for a hurricane and 29 percent for an earthquake. Just 28 percent were ready for a terrorist attack and 21 percent for a mudslide.
The poll of 3,979 adults was conducted online April 12 to 20 and had a margin of error of two percentage points.
Typhoon Chanchu Kills 50 People in Asia By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 8 minutes ago SHANGHAI, China - A powerful typhoon pummeled southern China on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and leaving 27 Vietnamese fishermen missing after their boats sank in Chinese waters. Typhoon Chanchu has killed at least 50 people in Asia, including 37 last weekend in the Philippines, where it destroyed thousands of homes. There were fears the death toll could rise dramatically.
The storm hit the coast of China early Thursday, flooding scores of homes and forcing the evacuation of more than 1 million people before weakening to a severe tropical storm.The official Xinhua News Agency said eight people died and four were missing when mudslides buried two homes in coastal Fujian province. Three others — including two children — were killed when the storm made landfall near Shantou in the northern tip of China's Guangdong province, knocking over houses.
The missing Vietnamese fishermen were on three boats that sank in Chinese waters,Vietnamese officials said Thursday. Six other boats with 67 fishermen were able to reach an island and report the sinking of the other vessels. Vietnam asked Chinese authorities to help search for the missing.
Taiwan reported the deaths of two women swept away by floods in the southern region of Pingtung on Wednesday. In southern Japan, high waves swept away three 17-year-old male students swimming off Hateruma island in the Okinawa chain, leaving one dead and another missing, coast guard spokesman Shoji Kawabata said. The third was rescued. China said it had moved more than 1 million people to safety in Guangdong and Fujian provinces. The storm bypassed the financial center of Hong Kong on the Guangdong coast.
Thousands of people evacuated from fishing boats and low-lying areas were staying with relatives, in tents, or in schools and government warehouses, said an official of the Chaozhou city government in Guangdong, who like many Chinese bureaucrats would only give his surname, Zhang. Nearly 100,000 ships were ordered to return to harbor, Xinhua said. Television news showed violent waves pounding sea walls along China's coast. Reports said winds and rain damaged dikes, uprooted trees and brought down buildings along the Guangdong coast. By 8 p.m. Thursday, Chanchu, which means "pearl" in Cantonese, was centered about 186 miles south of Shanghai and picking up speed as it headed along the coast and out to sea at about 28 mph, the Hong Kong Observatory said.The storm was expected to enter the East China Sea later Thursday or early Friday.
An official with the Fujian Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, who gave only his surname, Huang, said winds at the storm's center had weakened when it crossed over the land and were blowing at about 56 mph.Taiwan ordered schools on the outlying island of Kinmen closed because of the storm. Chanchu earlier drove an oil tanker to run aground near
Taiwan's southern port of Kaohsiung. Rescuers in helicopters airlifted 13 crew members off the ship, which was later freed with no leakage of oil. T.C. Lee, an official with the Hong Kong Observatory, said Chanchu was the "most intense" typhoon to strike in the South China Sea in May, an early month in the annual cyclone season.
However, the early arrival of the year's first typhoon does not necessarily portend an unusually active storm season, Lee said by telephone. (Associated Press reporter Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report).
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
DOLLAR STOCKS STILL IN TROUBLE
In Story 1 the Dollar and stocks are still in trouble. Story 2 Chavez and the Euro and story 3 Storm could damage Asia.
Big rise in core inflation spooks Wall Street By Tim Ahmann Wed May 17, 4:40 PM
ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A big jump in energy costs pushed U.S. consumer prices up sharply last month, while rising rents led to a surprisingly steep gain in core prices, according to a government report on Wednesday that spooked financial markets. The Labor Department said the consumer price index rose 0.6 percent in April, while the closely watched core index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3 percent for a second consecutive month. Both figures were above expectations on Wall Street, where economists had looked for overall prices to rise 0.5 percent, with core prices up just 0.2 percent.
The data sent stock markets reeling. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) closed down 214 points, its biggest one-day drop since March 2003, while the tech-laden Nasdaq composite (^IXIC - news) wiped out its gains for the year. Prices for U.S. government bonds also took a dive as traders saw the strong inflation data as boosting odds of further interest-rate hikes from the U.S. central bank. It's time to get worried," said Brandeis University professor Stephen Cecchetti.
The Labor Department said half of the increase in the core inflation index was due to a 0.3 percent gain in shelter costs, with increases in the cost of apparel, medical care, and education and communication also contributing. The rise in shelter costs reflected the second straight monthly 0.4 percent increase in the department's rents-based measure of owner-occupied housing costs, a sign the rental market may be tightening as Americans give up trying to buy. Over the past 12 months, the core consumer price index has risen 2.3 percent, a pickup from the 2.1 percent gain registered in the period through March and the biggest 12-month advance in more than a year.
ENERGY COSTS HURT
Headline inflation has moved up even quicker because of big gains in energy costs, with overall consumer prices up 3.5 percent in the past 12 months. Energy prices climbed 3.9 percent in April, building on a 1.3 percent March gain. Gasoline prices rose 8.8 percent in April and fuel oil costs increased 5.2 percent. Natural gas prices, however, slid 5.2 percent.The big jump in energy prices over the last year has largely eroded whatever pay gains U.S. workers have managed to win. Over the past year, inflation-adjusted hourly earnings are up just 0.1 percent -- the first gain since last June. Fed officials have been concerned that tightening labor markets and diminishing excess capacity at industrial firms, coupled with persistent pressure from lofty oil prices, could generate a broad-based pickup in inflation.
After raising the benchmark overnight lending rate last week for the 16th consecutive time, the Fed warned borrowing costs may have to move higher still given inflation risks. Bets in futures markets for a 17th straight rate hike at the central bank's upcoming meeting in late June jumped as high as 58 percent on Wednesday, a 20 percentage point gain. While the CPI data will raise eyebrows at the Fed, policy-makers focus more heavily on a separate inflation measure that does not put so much weight on rental costs.
Economists said the Fed could still pause in June to try to gauge whether the economy is downshifting to cooler growth. Buttressing forecasts of a slowdown, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday that U.S. housing starts fell last month to their lowest annual pace since November 2004. While economists saw that as a sign higher mortgage rates were slowing activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity last week increased 4.6 percent. For details, see .
(Additional reporting by Julie Haviv in New York)
Chavez may price oil exports in euros (associated press)
MAY. 16 7:09 P.M. ET Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that he would consider pricing his country's oil in euros instead of dollars in line with a similar declaration made by Iran. Earlier this month Iran's state television reported the country's Oil Ministry granted a license for its first euro-denominated market. That is an interesting proposal made by the president of Iran," Chavez told Britain's Channel 4 news. "We are free to choose too between the dollar and the euro.If the market were to succeed -- or if Iran simply demanded payment for its oil in euros -- commodities experts said it could lead central bankers around the world to convert some dollar reserves into euros, possibly causing a decline in the dollar's value.Oil is currently denominated in dollars around the globe, whether through direct sales between producers and consumers or in trades made on markets in New York and London, but Chavez said that he would be willing to seek an alternative.
So what the president of Iran says is recognizing the power of Europe. They have succeeded in integrating and have a single currency competing with the dollar, and Venezuela might also consider that," said Chavez, president of the world's fifth largest oil exporter. Iranian legislators earlier this year urged the government to set up the market to reduce the United States influence over the Islamic republic's economy. First floated in 2004 when reformist president Mohammad Khatami was in power, the idea of a euros-traded oil bourse gained new life after the stridently nationalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president last summer.
Typhoon Chanchu threatens Taiwan, southern China; Hong Kong spared 52 minutes
ago SHANGHAI, China (AP) - A powerful typhoon roared toward China's southern coast, forcing the evacuation of more than a half-million people and the cancellation of dozens of flights, the Chinese government said Thursday. Typhoon Chanchu's eye was picking up speed and was expected to hit Guangdong province, one of China's biggest manufacturing centres, later in the day, China's Xinhua News Agency said.
Some 327,000 coastal Guangdong residents had already been moved inland Wednesday and more than 51,000 ships were ordered to return to harbour, Xinhua said. In Fujian province, just north of Guangdong, more than 307,000 people were evacuated and 42,000 ships were docked, it said. Some 26 - mainly domestic - flights out of Fujian also were cancelled and Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines cancelled 38 flights headed for Hong Kong the nearby mainland city Shenzhen, it said.
After slamming into Guangdong, Chanchu was expected to churn up the coast to Fujian province, just across from Taiwan, said the Hong Kong Observatory's forecast and tracking map. The storm was picking up speed as it moved at 24 kilometres an hour with winds of 158 km/h near its centre. As the storm churned through the South China Sea, it caused an oil tanker to run aground near Taiwan's southern port Kaohsiung, officials said. Rescuers in helicopters lifted 13 crew members off the ship.
The typhoon, the strongest ever reported in the South China Sea in May, was heading toward Hong Kong earlier this week, but it changed course overnight, swirling about 225 kilometres east of the city Wednesday afternoon. The storm kicked up high waves and spawned showers but caused no major damage.
In southern Japan, high waves swept three 17-year-old male students from near a beach Wednesday afternoon, leaving one dead and another missing, officials said. They were in the water off Hateruma island in the southern island chain Okinawa when high waves swept them out to sea, said coast guard spokesman Shoji Kawabata. One was found floating near the island and later pronounced dead at a hospital, Kawabata said. Another was rescued by a local diving boat, while the third remained missing.
Chanchu swept over the Philippines last weekend, killing 37 people and destroying thousands of homes.
Big rise in core inflation spooks Wall Street By Tim Ahmann Wed May 17, 4:40 PM
ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A big jump in energy costs pushed U.S. consumer prices up sharply last month, while rising rents led to a surprisingly steep gain in core prices, according to a government report on Wednesday that spooked financial markets. The Labor Department said the consumer price index rose 0.6 percent in April, while the closely watched core index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3 percent for a second consecutive month. Both figures were above expectations on Wall Street, where economists had looked for overall prices to rise 0.5 percent, with core prices up just 0.2 percent.
The data sent stock markets reeling. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) closed down 214 points, its biggest one-day drop since March 2003, while the tech-laden Nasdaq composite (^IXIC - news) wiped out its gains for the year. Prices for U.S. government bonds also took a dive as traders saw the strong inflation data as boosting odds of further interest-rate hikes from the U.S. central bank. It's time to get worried," said Brandeis University professor Stephen Cecchetti.
The Labor Department said half of the increase in the core inflation index was due to a 0.3 percent gain in shelter costs, with increases in the cost of apparel, medical care, and education and communication also contributing. The rise in shelter costs reflected the second straight monthly 0.4 percent increase in the department's rents-based measure of owner-occupied housing costs, a sign the rental market may be tightening as Americans give up trying to buy. Over the past 12 months, the core consumer price index has risen 2.3 percent, a pickup from the 2.1 percent gain registered in the period through March and the biggest 12-month advance in more than a year.
ENERGY COSTS HURT
Headline inflation has moved up even quicker because of big gains in energy costs, with overall consumer prices up 3.5 percent in the past 12 months. Energy prices climbed 3.9 percent in April, building on a 1.3 percent March gain. Gasoline prices rose 8.8 percent in April and fuel oil costs increased 5.2 percent. Natural gas prices, however, slid 5.2 percent.The big jump in energy prices over the last year has largely eroded whatever pay gains U.S. workers have managed to win. Over the past year, inflation-adjusted hourly earnings are up just 0.1 percent -- the first gain since last June. Fed officials have been concerned that tightening labor markets and diminishing excess capacity at industrial firms, coupled with persistent pressure from lofty oil prices, could generate a broad-based pickup in inflation.
After raising the benchmark overnight lending rate last week for the 16th consecutive time, the Fed warned borrowing costs may have to move higher still given inflation risks. Bets in futures markets for a 17th straight rate hike at the central bank's upcoming meeting in late June jumped as high as 58 percent on Wednesday, a 20 percentage point gain. While the CPI data will raise eyebrows at the Fed, policy-makers focus more heavily on a separate inflation measure that does not put so much weight on rental costs.
Economists said the Fed could still pause in June to try to gauge whether the economy is downshifting to cooler growth. Buttressing forecasts of a slowdown, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday that U.S. housing starts fell last month to their lowest annual pace since November 2004. While economists saw that as a sign higher mortgage rates were slowing activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity last week increased 4.6 percent. For details, see .
(Additional reporting by Julie Haviv in New York)
Chavez may price oil exports in euros (associated press)
MAY. 16 7:09 P.M. ET Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that he would consider pricing his country's oil in euros instead of dollars in line with a similar declaration made by Iran. Earlier this month Iran's state television reported the country's Oil Ministry granted a license for its first euro-denominated market. That is an interesting proposal made by the president of Iran," Chavez told Britain's Channel 4 news. "We are free to choose too between the dollar and the euro.If the market were to succeed -- or if Iran simply demanded payment for its oil in euros -- commodities experts said it could lead central bankers around the world to convert some dollar reserves into euros, possibly causing a decline in the dollar's value.Oil is currently denominated in dollars around the globe, whether through direct sales between producers and consumers or in trades made on markets in New York and London, but Chavez said that he would be willing to seek an alternative.
So what the president of Iran says is recognizing the power of Europe. They have succeeded in integrating and have a single currency competing with the dollar, and Venezuela might also consider that," said Chavez, president of the world's fifth largest oil exporter. Iranian legislators earlier this year urged the government to set up the market to reduce the United States influence over the Islamic republic's economy. First floated in 2004 when reformist president Mohammad Khatami was in power, the idea of a euros-traded oil bourse gained new life after the stridently nationalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president last summer.
Typhoon Chanchu threatens Taiwan, southern China; Hong Kong spared 52 minutes
ago SHANGHAI, China (AP) - A powerful typhoon roared toward China's southern coast, forcing the evacuation of more than a half-million people and the cancellation of dozens of flights, the Chinese government said Thursday. Typhoon Chanchu's eye was picking up speed and was expected to hit Guangdong province, one of China's biggest manufacturing centres, later in the day, China's Xinhua News Agency said.
Some 327,000 coastal Guangdong residents had already been moved inland Wednesday and more than 51,000 ships were ordered to return to harbour, Xinhua said. In Fujian province, just north of Guangdong, more than 307,000 people were evacuated and 42,000 ships were docked, it said. Some 26 - mainly domestic - flights out of Fujian also were cancelled and Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines cancelled 38 flights headed for Hong Kong the nearby mainland city Shenzhen, it said.
After slamming into Guangdong, Chanchu was expected to churn up the coast to Fujian province, just across from Taiwan, said the Hong Kong Observatory's forecast and tracking map. The storm was picking up speed as it moved at 24 kilometres an hour with winds of 158 km/h near its centre. As the storm churned through the South China Sea, it caused an oil tanker to run aground near Taiwan's southern port Kaohsiung, officials said. Rescuers in helicopters lifted 13 crew members off the ship.
The typhoon, the strongest ever reported in the South China Sea in May, was heading toward Hong Kong earlier this week, but it changed course overnight, swirling about 225 kilometres east of the city Wednesday afternoon. The storm kicked up high waves and spawned showers but caused no major damage.
In southern Japan, high waves swept three 17-year-old male students from near a beach Wednesday afternoon, leaving one dead and another missing, officials said. They were in the water off Hateruma island in the southern island chain Okinawa when high waves swept them out to sea, said coast guard spokesman Shoji Kawabata. One was found floating near the island and later pronounced dead at a hospital, Kawabata said. Another was rescued by a local diving boat, while the third remained missing.
Chanchu swept over the Philippines last weekend, killing 37 people and destroying thousands of homes.
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