1 MILLION OPEC CUT NOT ENOUGH

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

Powerful quake rattles Tonga OCT 19,08

Reuters NUKU'ALOFA (AFP) – A powerful earthquake hit near the South Pacific archipelago of Tonga on Sunday, but there was no tsunami alert and no immediate report of injuries, Australian seismologists said.The 6.8-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) and hit east of the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa, Geoscience Australia said.An AFP correspondent said the Tongan capital shook steadily for about two minutes but no tsunami alert was issued for the island nation.Buildings in the business district and along the seafront appeared undamaged following the quake, which hit as many Tongans were at evening church services, the correspondent said.We've got it at a magnitude 6.8 and very shallow, seismologist Clive Collins told AFP. There's been some light shaking in Nuku'alofa.The US Geological Survey and the Hong Kong Observatory registered the magnitude at 7.1.

Collins said no tsunami alert has been issued for Australia, but added: We haven't had any other reports of anything from that quake.He said any tsunami generated by the quake would likely have occurred within about 15 minutes of the quake, which hit at about 0510 GMT.It's not that big an earthquake, he said. But I add to that it very much depends on local conditions.It's possible that there's some small islands that might have experienced something... but we probably won't know about it for a long time.If there was something very large in a large populated area, we probably would have heard of it.The quake occurred near fault lines in the Pacific Ring of Fire where continental plates in the earth's crust meet and earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.

Strong quake hits Indonesia's Sulawesi island Mon Oct 20, 4:22 am ET

JAKARTA (Reuters) – A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 hit Indonesia's Sulawesi island Monday but there were no immediate reports of any deaths or damage, an official at the national quake agency said.The epicenter of the quake lay at a depth of 33 km (21 miles) and about 96 km (60 miles) southwest of Tolitoli town in Central Sulawesi province, Anas Fauzi, an analyst at the agency in Jakarta, said.

He said no tsunami warning had been issued.

Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia which lies in an area of intense seismic activity where several tectonic plates collide.(Reporting by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Valerie Lee)

Strong earthquake off Guatemala-Mexico coast By Moises Arriola Moises Arriola – Thu Oct 16, 6:09 pm ET

TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) – A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific near the Mexico-Guatemala border on Thursday, but there was no tsunami alert and no initial reports of casualties.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was 25miles southwest of the Mexican city of Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala, with a depth of about 47 miles.Fortunately, no victims or damage has been reported in the city or the rural area, said civil protection official Herbert Schoeder in Tapachula, where people ran out on the streets in alarm as buildings began shaking.

A Reuters reporter in Guatemala City said he felt shaking for 30 seconds, but there appeared to be no major damage and no reports of casualties, according to the Guatemalan emergency services.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami.Earthquakes above magnitude 6 can cause widespread damage in populated areas. Thursday's quake was initially measured at magnitude 6.7.Heavy rain in recent weeks has left rural parts of Guatemala prone to mudslides.This kind of earthquake could result in damage. The edges of roads in mountainous areas are unstable, said Raul Mazariegos, a spokesman at Guatemala's natural disasters institute.Three years ago, mudslides killed hundreds of people in Guatemala, where many live in poor hillside villages that are hard for rescue workers to reach.(Additional reporting by Daniel LeClair and Sarah Grainger in Guatemala City and Cyntia Barrera in Mexico City; Editing by Peter Cooney)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

Typhoons Bury Carbon in Oceans Andrea Thompson Senior Writer
LiveScience.com andrea Thompson

livescience.com – Sun Oct 19, 5:55 pm ETThe torrential rains of a single typhoon can bury tons of carbon in the ocean, two new studies suggest.

It's Nature's way of healing itself.

The findings help determine how much carbon that big storms have historically taken from the atmosphere and buried for thousands of years beneath the sea. And more carbon could be buried by these storms if global warming increases their intensity and frequency, as some scientists have predicted. Scientists have been looking at ways to store carbon to lower the levels of carbon dioxide building up in Earth's atmosphere. Scientists have long suspected that hurricanes and typhoons (along with cyclones and tropical depressions, these are all versions of storm systems called tropical cyclones) can cleanse the environment of a lot of carbon, because their rains sweep soil and plant material into rivers and then out to sea. This effect is particularly significant for mountainous islands prone to frequent hits from tropical cyclones. Two different groups of researchers took samples of the sediment in rushing river waters on Taiwan during Typhoon Mindulle, which hit the island in July 2004. One group, whose findings are detailed in the Oct. 19 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, took sediment samples from the LiWu River, while the other group, whose work is detailed in the June 2008 issue of the journal Geology, sampled the Chosui River. The Nature Geoscience study, funded by The Cambridge Trusts and the UK National Environmental Research Council, found that 80 to 90 percent of the organic carbon (in the form of soil and plants) eroded by the storms around the LiWu were transported along the river to the ocean.

By dangling one-liter plastic bottles over the Chosui River during the typhoon, the researchers of the Geology study found that 61 million tons of sediment washed out to sea from the river. The amount of carbon contained in that sediment is about 95 percent as much as the river transports during normal rains over the entire year. That works out to more than 400 tons of carbon washing away during the storm for each square mile of the watershed, the researchers reported. Their work was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The carbon in the soil and plants came from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When the storm washes the sediment out to sea, it can sink down to the deep ocean, where it will eventually compact and form rocks that can store that carbon for millions of years. And if typhoons and hurricanes do become more intense or frequent, as some models have indicated, the burial of carbon in the ocean from storm runoff could counteract some part of the warming, by locking the carbon away in the deep ocean, the researchers of the Nature Geoscience study said. But typhoon runoff is not a cure-all for the carbon dioxide that's been building up in the Earth's atmosphere. Not enough carbon is washed down either as plant material and soil or by chemical weathering of rocks (where carbon dioxide and water disintegrate rock) to get rid of all the extra carbon dioxide that has built up in the atmosphere. You'd have to weather [and erode] all the volcanic rocks in the world to reduce the CO2 back to pre-industrial times, said Anne Carey of Ohio State University and a member of the Geology study team.

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HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

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

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

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

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

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

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON OCT 20,2008

09:30 AM +4.78
10:00 AM +216.56
10:30 AM +126.40
11:00 AM +140.10
11:30 AM +105.45
12:00 PM +176.10
12:30 PM +170.29
01:00 PM +162.00
01:30 PM +221.82
02:00 PM +203.82
02:30 PM +201.51
03:00 PM +246.43
03:30 PM +253.12
04:00 PM +413.21 9265.43

S&P 500 1770.03 +58.74

NAS 985.39 +44.84

GOLD 798.8 +11.1

OIL 74.55 +2.41

TSE 300 +608.98 10,171.47

CDNX +38.56 984.68

S&P/TSX 60 +38.26 614.46

Feds Bernanke:Supports 2nd stimulus to support the Economy. Any Stimulus Package should be structured carefully.
Whitehouse open to 2nd Stimulus,but depends on details.
IMF boss appologises for indecent relatioship with worker.
Dow at high Oct 2007 was 14000 points.
Dow down 5000 points from high.
Dow over 300 points at hight Today.
Dow has triple digits in 23 of last 26 sessions.
Dow,S&P 500 up for 3rd time in 6 sessions.
Dow,S&P 500 on pace for biggest monthly percentage drop since Oct 1987.

2ND BRETTON WOODS?

Sarkozy pushes Bush for Financial realignment.
Global regulator for U.S banks coming?
France and U.S to have meetings to put the banks globally through a single means,IMF or World Bank.

PROPONENTS SAY:
-Ad hoc solutions have not worked.
OPPONENTS SAY:
-National regulators were not effective,Why would global ones be? Why would Brussels better regulate than the U.S.A.
-Other extreme.Too much regulation.

I LIKE WHAT ROSE DELAURO ASKED BERNANKE AT THE CONGRESS HEARING TODAY. RD-BERNANKE ARE WE IN A RECESSION YES OR NO? BB-WE ARE IN A SERIOUS SLOWDOWN IN THE ECONOMY WHICH HAS VERY SIGNIFICANT CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PUBLIC. RD-WHAT SIZE SHOULD AN ECONOMIC PACKAGE BE? BB-CONGRESS,USE HAVE TO DECIDE. RD-INVESTING IN ROADS,SCHOOLS,BRIDGES,ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY,AS A WAY TO CREATE JOBS AND TO PUT DISPOSABLE INCOME IN THE HANDS OF THE CONSUMER? BB-YES. RD-HELPING STATES AND LOCALITIES TO PREVENT CUTS IN HEALTH-CARE,POLICE SERVICES,CONSTRUCTION JOBS,YES OR NO? BB-YES. RD-EXTENSION OF THE UI BENEFITS> BB-I THINK YOU HAVE DONE THAT ALREADY. RD-NO,ONLY THE HOUSE PASSED IT NOT THE SENATE. THE PRESIDENT SAID IF IT PASSED PEOPLE WOULD STOP LOOKING FOR JOBS. BB-I THOUGHT THERE WAS A TEMPORARY EXTENTION FROM 39 TO 52 WEEKS. RD-BECAUSE 800,000 PEOPLE ARE SOON GOING TO LOSE THEIR BENEFITS.

Bush backs EU plan on global financial reform
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today OCT 20,08 @ 09:28 CET

US President George W. Bush has backed the European idea of a series of global talks on reform of the world's financial system, with the first summit set to be held shortly after the US presidential elections in November.The outgoing American leader agreed there needs to be further co-ordinated effort to tackle the challenges facing the global economy after a three-hour meeting at Camp David on Saturday (18 October) with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently chairs the 27-strong EU, and with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.The three politicians said they would approach other world powers - both from the richest nations and the newly emerging economies such as China and India - and try to reach agreement on principles of reform needed to avoid a repetition and assure global prosperity in the future.Later summits will be designed to implement agreement on specific steps to be taken to meet those principles, the trio said in a joint statement.The top-level talks are due to tackle controversial elements of the current financial order which are seen by some as having contributed or failed to prevent the credit crunch, which originated in the US and spread across the globe.At the EU level, several such issues have been highlighted as the possible targets of stricter regulation - rating agencies, tax havens, hedge funds, executive pay but also the very role of key global institutions, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.We believe in the capacity and the ability of the American people to come up with the answers the world is waiting for, is expecting. Because this sort of capitalism is a betrayal of the capitalism we believe in, Mr Sarkozy said, newswires report. The meeting should be held rapidly, perhaps before the end of November. Since the crisis started in New York, maybe we can find the solution in New York, he added.

However, US president Bush stressed that as we make the regulatory and institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism - the commitment to free markets, free enterprise and free trade.We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and held millions of people escape poverty around the world.

More European banks in the red

Meanwhile, Dutch ING and French Caisse d'Epargne have joined the list of banks affected by the financial crisis.The Dutch government agreed on Sunday (19 October) to pump €10 billion into financial group ING, with the bank's management agreeing to scrap executive bonuses and its year-end dividend to shareholders.The move followed a round of tense negotiations over the weekend sparked by recent share falls by over a 25 percent of value, Reuters reported.The financial injection by the Dutch government is part of €20 billion package the Hague had put aside for possible bank bail-outs, in a move agreed in principle by all other European member states last week in a bid to prevent a bankruptcy of any financial situation essential for a country's whole economy.In Germany, Bavaria's public sector bank BayernLB will be the first to use the German government's €500 billion rescue package. The bank's supervisory board is due to meet on Tuesday (21 October) to discuss the package, Bavarian state Finance Minister Erwin Huber said in an interview for Bild newspaper.

In France, the chairman of Groupe Caisse d'Epargne and two other top managers resigned on Sunday, following a €600 million trading scandal where a small team of traders had placed illicit bets on stock markets.The French government reacted by suggesting a special audit of all banks in the country.

Canada poised to backstop interbank lending: report OCT 20,08

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada's government may start guaranteeing loans the country's banks extend to other financial institutions in an attempt to keep the playing field level after a bevy of multibillion-dollar bailouts globally, the Globe and Mail newspaper said on Monday.The paper, citing people familiar with the situation, said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will meet with officials in Ottawa on Monday to discuss a series of measures his department has been working on to match programs countries such as the United States and France implemented last week to combat the credit crisis.The list includes a pledge, which could be unveiled by midweek, to back new issuance wholesale debt, the paper said, referring to medium-term loans banks make to fund retail lending and other day-to-day operations.While the guarantee may never have to be used, it might help keep the cost of loans down by ensuring Canada's banks have access to cash at the same rates as their global competitors.Governments in the United States and Europe have promised billions of dollars to backstop lending in a bid to restore confidence. Banks have been reluctant to lend to one another because they don't know whether other banks will be able to repay debts.While the strains on Canadian banks have been less severe, some observers worry that financial institutions will be more likely to lend to banks in countries with government guarantees, the paper said.(Reporting by John McCrank, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

European markets up ahead of Wall Street open By PAN PYLAS, AP Business Writer OCT 20,08

AP – Pedestrians cross an intersection with an electric stock board behind in Tokyo, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008. … LONDON – World stocks rose Monday ahead of expected gains on Wall Street as confidence appeared to be returning to money markets.Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading shares was up 88.49 points, or 2.2 percent, at 4,151.50, while Germany's DAX was 52.53 points, or 1.1 percent, higher at 4,833.86. The CAC-40 in France was 59.25 points, or 1.8 percent, stronger at 3,389.17.Those gains follow the 3.6 percent advance on Japan's Nikkei 225 to 9,005.59 and the 5.3 percent jump in the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong to 15,323.01.Wall Street was also headed for a higher open Monday ammid as investors cheered signs that global credit markets are thawing even as they awaited a batch of quarterly earnings to see how companies are weathering the financial crisis.Ahead of the market's open and the release of earnings reports, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 251, or 2.9 percent, to 9,022. On Friday, the Dow ended 127 points lower.Stock markets have been buoyed by the fall in interbank lending rates in light of the flurry of governments efforts to put money into banks over the last couple of weeks, and by coordinated interest rate reductions and massive liquidity boosts by central banks.It's crucial for the stability of financial system that money market rates, effectively the lifeblood for markets, are coming down, said Neil Mackinnon, chief economist at ECU Group.

We've moved away from outright meltdown on the back of the measures taken by governments and central banks and there is some semblance of stability returning to the markets, he added.Data earlier confirmed that money market rates are falling. The interbank lending rate for three-month dollar loans fell for the sixth day running Monday and by its biggest daily amount since January. It dropped 0.36 percent to 4.06 percent, while the three-month Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor, fell almost 0.05 percentage points to 5.00 percent.Overnight, the Hong Kong interbank offered rate, known as Hibor, for three-month loans tumbled to 3.66 percent from 4.19 as the territory's de facto central bank pumped more money into the financial system.Abnormally high interbank lending rates have been a sign of distress in credit markets and been the catalyst for the crisis in the financial markets over recent weeks. High interbank rates can choke off credit to businesses and individuals, hurting the economy.Even if Libor rates continue to decline, analysts say stock markets will not be out of the woods given the sharp economic slowdown likely to occur over the coming months, which will become more and more evident as companies report their latest earnings.Volatility in financial markets is unlikely to diminish while investors worry about the health of the financial system and the risk of a recession and leveraged investors scramble to close positions, said Tony Dolphin, director of economics and asset allocation at Henderson Global Investors.Big beneficiaries Monday were financial stocks, particularly on Britain's FTSE, with Lloyds TSB PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland PLC both 3 percent higher. The biggest gainer in Europe was Amsterdam-listed ING Groep NV after the Dutch government injected euro10 billion ($13.4 billion) into the financial company over the weekend. Its shares were up 23 percent, almost recouping most of last Friday's losses.Energy stocks, such as BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell, were also up as oil prices rose another $2.37 a barrel to over $74.22 on mounting talk that OPEC will cut production at the end of this week in an attempt to shore up prices that have fallen by 50 percent in three months.Earlier in Asia, South Korea's Kospi climbed about 2.3 percent after the government's announcement Sunday to provide up to $100 billion to secure banks' maturing foreign currency debt and another $30 billion for the banks. Financials led the way, with Hana Financial Group up 8.4 percent and KB Financial Group Inc., the holding company for top South Korean lender Kookmin Bank, adding 3.2 percent.Mainland China shares, meanwhile, recovered early losses to edge higher in spite of new government figures showing the country's economic growth eased to 9 percent in the third quarter of this year — its slowest in more than five years.The reading, while still robust, fed into anxiety that deteriorating financial and economic conditions around the world were damaging Asian growth. Investors, though, were relieved by lower third-quarter inflation data and pledges of fresh government intervention to support the economy. Shanghai's key index, down more 0.7 percent in the morning, ended 2.25 percent higher at 1,974.01. In Tokyo, shares moved higher amid hopes for better-than-expected corporate earnings. Panasonic Corp. jumped 8.87 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported over the weekend that, helped by strong TV sales, the electronics giant would beat its interim operating profit forecast by more than 20 billion yen ($197.3 million). The dollar was little changed at 101.76 yen, while the euro was steady at $1.3418. AP Business Writers Jeremiah Marquez in Hong Kong, Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai, Kelly Olsen in Seoul, Stephen Jacobs in New York and AP Writer Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Summits to attack finance crisis as South Korea shores up banks OCT 19,08

WASHINGTON (AFP) – World leaders lined up a series of summits on reforming global finance as South Korea on Sunday became the latest country to shore up troubled banks.The summits , announced following talks between US President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are the latest fruit of efforts to coordinate an international response to the crisis.But there were already signs of rival visions for the summits, with European leaders pushing for a radical overhaul of the global financial architecture while Bush said the foundations must be preserved.As we make the regulatory and institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, Bush told Sarkozy and EU commision chief Jose Manuel Barroso in the talks Saturday. It is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism -- the commitment to free markets, free enterprise and free trade.We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world.The tone of Bush's remarks after the talks at his Camp David retreat in Maryland was markedly different from those from Sarkozy who has been urging a broad overhaul of the so-called Bretton Woods system of international finance and commerce put in place during World War II.We must avoid at all costs that those who have led us to where we are today should be allowed to do so once again, said Sarkozy.Sarkozy, who has been a vocal advocate of fundamental financial reforms, stressed it was urgent to stabilize the marketplace as swiftly as possible by coming up with answers.Once calm has been restored, we must avoid at all costs that those who have led us to where we are today should be allowed to do so once again.Although no date has yet been set, the first of the summits will likely be held next month, after the presidential election on November 4, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.Critics say the institutions sketched out after the Great Depression -- the World Bank and International Monetary Fund -- are ill-equipped to deal with the globalised economy and the complexities of modern finance.The calls for fundamental reforms by Sarkozy, current head of the EU, received backing from Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.There has to be a stricter regulation and international supervision, at least at the level of the European Union, the Socialist leader was quoted as saying in the newspaper Publico.The crisis erupted over the collapse of the market in high-risk subprime US home loans last year. The loans, repackaged as derivatives, were resold to investors and banks around the world.Widespread defaults set off a chain reaction through the financial system, eventually leaving banks short of cash and hesistant to make the interbank loans essential to the system's smooth functioning.

Nations across the globe have taken emergency steps to rescue banks and restore confidence and South Korea on Sunday offered up to 100 billion dollars in guarantees for bank borrowing in foreign currencies and put a 30 billion dollar injection into the bank system.We have to do our best to tide over the financial crisis and stop an economic slump, Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo said.The crisis has been compounded by an economic slowdown and fears of recession -- broadly defined as when economies are in a decline for two consecutive quarters. With figures expected to show later this week that Britain is on the brink of recession, its finance minister said he planned to boost public spending. You will see us switching our spending priorities to areas which make a difference, Alistair Darling told the Sunday Telegraph. This is a time when you have to support the economy.While there was no trading in the major markets on Sunday, stock markets in the Gulf oil states ended mixed as investors appeared to be taking a wait and see approach. The Saudi stock market is the largest in the region and its Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) fell 3.8 percent.

Dutch government injects 13.4 billion dollars into ING OCT 19,08

AMSTERDAM (AFP) – The Dutch government announced Sunday that it would inject 10 billion euros (13.4 billion dollars) into ING, one of the world's 20 biggest banks.
It is a large sum that we are injecting into a healthy business, Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos told an evening press conference, adding that it allowed the government to face the future with confidence.The Dutch government realises that it is an unusual intervention into the banking system, he said, adding the government had said it would exclude no measures that would protect savers.The deal has no time limit and -- should dividends be distributed -- would reap the Dutch government 8.5 percent interest, rising to a maximum of 25 percent, Bos said.The accord between ING, the finance ministry and the Netherlands central bank came after ING on Friday announced that it expected a 500-million-euro net loss in the third quarter because of the finance crisis and asset depreciation.Its share price fell 27.5 percent amid market rumours about difficulties at the bank.The Dutch government has already put 16.8 billion euros into the joint rescue of Fortis bank with the Belgian and Luxembourg governments.Bos said on October 9 that his government would put 20 billion euros into the campaign against the financial crisis .ING says it has 85 million customers and 130,000 staff around the world, making one of the top 20 banks in the global rankings.It was a pioneer in direct banking -- the use of telephones and the Internet to control bank accounts.

Analysts: 1 million barrel OPEC cut not enough By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business OCT 19,08

CAIRO, Egypt – A crude oil production cut of even 1 million barrels per day at OPEC's upcoming emergency meeting is unlikely to reverse slumping prices in the short term, analysts said Sunday, amid mounting calls by several cartel members to take action to keep prices at the $80 per barrel level.A decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to hold an emergency meeting next Friday clearly signaled the group's concern that the recent pummeling of crude prices would erode revenues needed to sustain government spending and weather broader fallout from the global financial crisis.The meeting had initially been moved up to mid-November, about a month earlier than scheduled, but was pushed to Friday as the oil price dropped below $70 per barrel.Analysts said some key producers may be eying the meeting as the first step in reasserting control over the market — particularly as the cartel has argued that record rallies earlier this year were driven more by speculation than supply and demand.What they really want to do is position themselves now in a situation where they can manage markets ... a lot more comfortably next year, and potentially for the recovery in 2010, said Raja Kiwan, a Dubai-based analyst with the Washington-based oil consultancy, PFC Energy.

Kiwan and other analysts expect the 13 member group, which produces about 40 percent of the world's crude, to slash production by at least 1 million barrels per day. OPEC is looking to buoy a market in which the price of a barrel of benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude has fallen about 50 percent from record highs of $147 in July on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Over a three day period last week, the November-delivery contract on the Nymex dropped $11 per barrel, rebounding slightly on Friday only on the back of OPEC's announcement of the emergency meeting.But even that gain could be short lived, say some analysts, as the market factors in the anticipated cut ahead of the meeting.In the very short-term ... OPEC will likely prove unable to significantly alter the prevailing market sentiment, particularly as crude traders look to equities as a barometer of global economic health (and hence oil demand), said a recent PFC Energy report.That presents OPEC with a dilemma. If they announce too big a cut, they risk fueling the global financial crisis. But, cut too little, and $80 per barrel will be wishful thinking. Some OPEC officials have said prices closer to $100 per barrel are ideal.I don't think there's been this sense of urgency since the Asian financial crisis, said Kiwan, referring to the market collapse in Asia in the late 1990s. I think those memories are still seared into the minds of (OPEC) ministers.Independent Kuwaiti oil analyst Kamel A. Al-Harami agrees. He argues that given such a delicate balancing act, disagreements are likely at the meeting between dovish Saudi Arabia and traditional price hawks like Iran.Even if the members agree on a production cut, 1 million barrels will not be enough and there will be cheating on the quotas from day one, said Al-Harami, who served as former president of Q8, the retail arm of the Kuwait Petroleum Corp.

Al-Harami believes the group is being hasty in moving to cut production and believes they should hold off until at least the winter when demand for energy for heating picks up.But OPEC is making it clear that the time for waiting is over.Chakib Khelil, Algeria's oil minister and OPEC's current president, said Saturday that the cartel is going to take the decision that favors keeping market prices stable.There will be a reduction, and it is necessary that it's significant to establish balance between supply and demand, Khelil was quoted as saying by the country's APS news agency.The stakes are high — both for a meaningful production cut and for quota compliance, something on which OPEC has typically fared poorly. Over the past few weeks, the slide in prices has become more pronounced as the global financial crisis sapped demand for crude oil in the developed countries. The International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and, most recently, OPEC have all lowered their forecasts for energy demand heading into next year. Such revisions, in tandem with the price drops, are particularly worrisome for some top producers like Iran — the cartel's second largest crude exporter, which relies on oil revenue for about 80 percent of its government budget. Iranian officials have repeatedly said crude at $100 seems fair. Others, including Qatar's oil minister and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, have pushed for levels closer to $80-90. Iran and Venezuela, in particular, have reason for concern because their production is heavier and more sulfurous and, as a result, sells at steep discounts to lighter crudes like the U.S. benchmark WTI. The OPEC basket — the weighted average of prices for crudes produced by OPEC countries — stood at $63 per barrel on Friday, according to Kiwan.

The Saudis have so far stayed quiet.

But analysts said Riyadh is well aware that developing nations, in particular, will not be silent if presented with steep cuts that could undermine U.S. and European-led efforts to stave off a global recession and shore up financial markets. PFC Energy's Kiwan said while other cuts could follow the expected reduction of 1 million barrel per day, the immediate focus is on halting the price slide. One of the keys here is that OPEC is not judging its failure or success on the short-term, he said. What it's hoping to do is provide fundamental support for recovery in the long-term, a plan which requires them to keep supplies tight going into next year.
Ultimately, added Al-Harami, the biggest player is Saudi, and what Saudi decides, the others have to follow.

POISONED WATERS

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

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

Billions of fish, fish eggs die in power plants By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 18, 1:45 pm ET AP

BUCHANAN, N.Y. – For a newly hatched striped bass in the Hudson River, a clutch of trout eggs in Lake Michigan or a baby salmon in San Francisco Bay, drifting a little too close to a power plant can mean a quick and turbulent death.Sucked in with enormous volumes of water, battered against the sides of pipes and heated by steam, the small fry of the aquatic world are being sacrificed in large numbers each year to the cooling systems of power plants around the country.Environmentalists say the nation's power plants are needlessly killing fish and fish eggs with their cooling systems, but energy-industry officials say opponents of nuclear power are exaggerating the losses.The issue is affecting the debate over the future of a nuclear plant in the suburbs north of New York City, and the facilities and environmentalists are closely watching the outcome here to see how to proceed in other cities around the country. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this term in a lawsuit related to the matter.The issue's scope is tremendous. More than 1,000 power plants and factories around the country use water from rivers, lakes, oceans and creeks as a coolant. At Indian Point plant in New York, the two reactors can pull in 1.7 million gallons of water per minute. Nineteen plants on or near the California coast use 16.3 billion gallons of sea water every day.

Most of the casualties are just fish eggs, and for many species, it takes thousands of eggs to result in one adult fish. The U.S. Environmental Protection Administration, which counts only species that are valuable for commerce or recreation, uses various formulas and says the number of eggs and larvae killed each year at the nation's large power plants would have grown into 1.5 billion year-old fish.Environmentalists note that even fish that die before maturity contribute to the ecosystem as food for larger fish and birds, and as predators themselves on smaller organisms. But once they've gone through the power plant, they become decomposing detritus on the river bottom and have moved from the top to the bottom of the food chain, said Reed Super, an environmental lawyer specializing in the federal Clean Water Act.This is a really significant ongoing harm to our marine ecosystem, says Angela Haren, program director for the California Coastkeeper Alliance in San Francisco.Technology has long existed that might reduce the fish kill by 90 percent or more. Cooling towers allow a power plant to recycle the water rather than continuously pump it in. New power plants are required to use cooling towers, but most existing plants resist any push to convert, citing the huge cost and claiming that most fish eggs and larvae are doomed anyway.We're not killing grown fish, says Jerry Nappi, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, owner of Indian Point. If we were killing billions of grown fish you'd be able to walk across the Hudson on their backs.And Nappi says the fish population in the Hudson is stable, despite a recent study commissioned by Indian Point opponents that said 10 of 13 species were declining.He also says an insistence on cooling towers could lead to Indian Point's closing and a sudden power deficit in the New York metropolitan area.What you're really talking about is a $1.5 billion hit on the company, and then it becomes an economic decision whether they want to stay here, he says. He believes talk of cooling towers is a backdoor attempt by some to shut down Indian Point.A recent ruling dealt at least a small blow to Entergy's efforts. The state Department of Environmental Protection, which is pushing for cooling towers, said the simple fact that so many fish eggs are destroyed each year at Indian Point is proof of an environmental impact, and Entergy can no longer maintain that it's not adversely affecting the river.There's still months of argument ahead, but the ruling could be influential.We'll be very interested to see how that comes out, says Katie Nekola, an attorney for Clean Wisconsin, which failed to force cooling towers at the Oak Creek plant on Lake Michigan but won a $105 million settlement.State agencies in California also are working on new regulations that should limit the numbers of fish killed, in the Pacific Ocean and other bodies of water.According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, nuclear plants drink from other familiar bodies of water as the Mississippi River, Chesapeake Bay, Lake Michigan, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Oceans. Water used for cooling does not become radioactive. Most plants without cooling towers use a system in which water is continuously pumped in, used for cooling, and returned. Various types of barriers are used to keep adult fish out of the system; Indian Point uses screens with holes measuring a quarter-inch by a half-inch.

However, fish that are blocked by the screen can become caught on the screen by the force of the water intake. To rescue them, the screens rotate, and as they come out of the water a spray of water knocks the impinged fish into a trough, which is directed back to the river. A California state report says 9 million fish are caught on nets there every year. Even turtles, seals and sea lions are occasionally caught. Environmentalists believe many fish and other creatures are killed in this process, or are injured and die later. When you hit a deer in your car, just because it gets up and runs away doesn't mean it's not going to die, Haren said. But Ed Keating, environmental manager at the nuclear subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., said that probably only 1 percent of the fish caught get killed on the screens. Dara Gray, environmental supervisor at Indian Point, says there's no reason to believe that any fish are injured or killed by being caught on the screen. In the process known as closed-cycle cooling, used mostly in newer plants, the number of fish and eggs sucked in or impinged is sharply reduced because cooling towers use so much less water. Even if a power plant draws its cooling water from a river, it uses that water over and over again and rarely needs to replenish. Some plants with cooling towers don't have to worry about fish at all. PSEG Fossil has plants in New Jersey that now take treated wastewater from sewage plants.

OZONE DEPLETION

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

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

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

Arctic autumn temperature hits record high Fri Oct 17, 5:12 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Autumn temperatures in the Arctic region are a record 5.0 degree Celsius (9.0 Fahrenheit) higher than normal due the melting of the ice cap, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report said Friday.Changes in the Arctic show a domino effect from multiple causes more clearly than in other regions, said NOAA oceanographer James Overland, lead author of the report titled The Arctic Report Card 2008 published on NOAA's website.It's a sensitive system and often reflects changes in relatively fast and dramatic ways, the scientist said.As the ice cap over the Arctic melts due to global warming, more ocean water is exposed and heated by the sun's rays, the report said.The warmer air and ocean water affect animal and plant life in the region and melt the permanent ice shelf, which in recent years has shrunk by some 38 cubic kilometers (9.1 cubic miles) and is the leading cause of the global rise of sea levels.2007 was the warmest year on record in the Arctic region, followed closely by 2008. This continues a general Arctic-wide warming trend that began in the mid-1960s.The Arctic Report Card is a NOAA initiative begun in 2006 to monitor evolving conditions in the Arctic region, including the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean water, animal and plant life, Greenland, and the general land mass.In the 2008 report, atmosphere, sea ice and Greenland are coded red, indicating that the changes are strongly attributed to warming. Three other areas -- biology, ocean and land mass are coded yellow, indicating mixed signals.In the 2007 report two areas were coded red -- atmosphere and sea ice, and the remaining four yellow.This year, for the first time a scientific expedition was able to navigate the fabled Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans along Arctic waters bordering Russia and North America because they were free of ice, the German institute Alfred Wegener announced Friday.The scientific research vessel Polarstern returned this morning from the Arctic to Bremerhaven (northern Germany). It was the first ship to have crossed the Northwest and Northeast passages without having to break any ice, an institute spokesman told AFP.The Arctic ice cap, which in August saw its largest seasonal melting since satellite observations began 30 years ago, completely disappeared in the Northwest and Northeast passages in September, the European Space Agency confirmed on October 7.

Climate change outracing EU targets, WWF warns
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today OCT 20,08 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Climate change is happening faster and its extent is wider than the world's leading scientists had predicted, according to a new report by pro-green group the WWF released on Monday (20 October), urging the EU to take ambitious action.It is clear that climate change is already having a greater impact than most scientists had anticipated, so it's vital that international mitigation and adaptation responses become swifter and more ambitious, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele - a professor of climatology at the Louvain university in Belgium and newly elected vice chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - said, unveiling the study.The WWF report says that global warming is accelerating beyond last year's IPCC forecasts, with the Arctic Ocean losing sea ice up to 30 years ahead of IPCC predictions, and the sea level rise expected to "reach more than double the IPCC's maximum estimate of 0.59 metres by the end of the century, putting vast coastal areas at risk.This could endanger summer sea ice, which could completely disappear between 2013 and 2040 - something which the WWF insists has not happened in more than a million years" - and has already led to a significant reduction in food crops.

Additionally, strong winds, storms, rainfalls, as well as heat waves, are likely to increase in the next decades all over Europe.Under global warming, summer ozone levels are projected to be similar to those found during the summer of 2003 [when some 35,000 extra deaths occurred across Europe as a result of heat stress], with the largest increase projected to occur over England, Belgium, Germany and France, reads the research paper.Flood risk and its associated economic damages are projected to increase … Over 2 million people in nine countries, including residents of Vienna and Liege, would be affected, it goes on.Marine ecosystems are to change as well, with the North and Baltic Sea warming up, and the Mediterranean experiencing an increase in the frequency of long-term droughts.The climate change is also to have an impact on human health, food, agriculture and fisheries, the WWF warns.

EU urged to act

The WWF report was issued to coincide with a meeting of EU environment ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, who are to discuss new proposals aimed at tackling climate change.It also comes days after EU leaders said they would by December reach an agreement on Europe's climate change package, based on goals to cut CO2 emissions by 20 percent and boost renewables and energy efficiency by 20 percent, all by 2020, with some EU states such as Italy and Poland already rejecting proposals for higher emissions cuts.The WWF judges the 20 percent figure to be insufficient and urges the EU to commit to an emission reduction target of at least 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, as well as to assist developing countries to cut their own emissions.

If the European Union wants to be seen as leader at UN talks in Copenhagen next year, and to help secure a strong global deal to tackle climate change after 2012, then it must stop shirking its responsibilities and commit to real emissions cuts within Europe, according to Dr. Tina Tin, a climate scientist and the author of the WWF report.Copenhagen will in 2009 host talks of the 170 countries taking part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) 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.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Taliban gunmen kill Christian aid worker in Kabul By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press OCT 20,08

FOX News KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban gunmen killed a Christian aid worker in Kabul as she was walking to work on Monday, and the militant group said it targeted the woman because she was spreading her religion.The dual South African-British national, who worked with handicapped Afghans, was shot to death by gunmen who drove by on a motorbike in western Kabul, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary.

The Taliban claimed responsibility.

This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan, militant spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press. Our (leaders) issued a decree to kill this woman. This morning our people killed her in Kabul.The aid group SERVE — Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises — identified the woman as 34-year-old Gayle Williams. A spokeswoman for the group in Kabul denied that its workers were proselytizing, which is prohibited by law in Afghanistan.It's not the case that they preach, not at all, said the spokeswoman, Rina Vamberende.In a statement on its Web site, SERVE described Williams as a person who always loved the Afghans and was dedicated to serving those who are disabled.The group describes itself as a Christian charity registered in Britain. The Web site says it has been working with Afghan refugees since 1980 in Pakistan.SERVE Afghanistan's purpose is to express God's love and bring hope by serving the people of Afghanistan, especially the needy, as we seek to address personal, social and environmental needs, the site says.Last year a group of 23 South Korean aid workers from a church group were taken hostage in southern Afghanistan. Two were killed and the rest were released.In 2001, eight international aid workers, including two Americans, were imprisoned and charged with preaching Christianity. The eight were freed by Afghan mujahedeen fighters attacking the Taliban after the U.S.-led invasion.Monday's attack adds to a growing sense of insecurity in Kabul. The capital city is now blanketed with police checkpoints. Embassies, military bases and the U.N. are erecting cement barriers to guard against suicide bombings.

Kidnappings targeting wealthy Afghans have long been a problem in Kabul, but attacks against Westerners in the city and surrounding provinces have also increased recently. In mid-August, Taliban militants killed three women working for the U.S. aid group International Rescue Committee while they were driving in Logar, one province south of Kabul.To the west of Kabul, assault helicopters dropped NATO troops into Jalrez district in Wardak province on Thursday, sparking a two-day battle involving airstrikes, the military alliance said in a statement Monday.

More than 20 militants were killed.Wardak province, just 40 miles west of Kabul, has become an insurgent stronghold.Militants have expanded their traditional bases in the country's south and east — along the border with Pakistan — and have gained territory in the provinces surrounding Kabul, a worrying development for Afghan and NATO troops.Those advances are part of the reason that top U.S. military officials have warned that the international mission to defeat the Taliban is in peril, and why NATO generals have called for a sharp increase in the number of troops here.

Some 65,000 international troops now operate in Afghanistan, including about 32,000 Americans. In northern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed two German soldiers and five children in Kunduz province, said Mohammad Omar, the provincial governor. NATO confirmed that some of its soldiers were killed and wounded in the attack. Omar said the soldiers were patrolling on foot when the bomber riding a bicycle hit them. Northern Afghanistan has been spared much of the violence afflicting Afghanistan's eastern and southern provinces. In the south, an operation Sunday evening by international and Afghan forces killed 34 Taliban fighters south of the Helmand provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, said Daud Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman.

Ahmadi says the authorities recovered a number of weapons, ammunition, motorbikes and other vehicles used by the Taliban. Two policemen were wounded. Last week Taliban fighters launched several barrages of rocket and mortar fire into Lashkar Gah. In Faryab province, militants killed five policemen, including a district police chief on Monday, said deputy governor Abdul Satar. Associated Press reporter Noor Khan contributed to this report from Kandahar. On the Net: SERVE Afghanistan: http://www.serveafghanistan.org

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Israel's Livni wants extension for coalition talks By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer OCT 20,08

AP JERUSALEM – Israel's president on Monday extended the deadline for Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni to form a parliamentary coalition, giving her two more weeks to establish a government or face the prospect of a new election.The move by President Shimon Peres was largely a formality. But it highlighted the difficulties faced by Livni as she tries to create a stable government capable of realizing a far-reaching peace agreement with the Palestinians.Livni was elected leader of the ruling Kadima party last month, giving her 28 days to put together a government. Unsuccessful after weeks of negotiations, she asked Peres for the two-week extension Monday.I believe that the responsibility I have undertaken, obligates me first and foremost, to attempt to form a government, she said, seated next to Peres at his official residence. She said she hoped the process would end as soon as possible.

Under Israeli law, if Livni does not muster a parliamentary majority in the next two weeks, the country will likely face early elections, more than a year ahead of schedule.An early election could prevent Livni from becoming Israel's first female prime minister in more than 30 years and dash her primary objective of pursuing peace with Syria and the Palestinians. Opinion polls have indicated that the hawkish Likud party would sweep to power if new elections were held.Kadima held its leadership race to choose a successor to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is leaving office to battle corruption charges.

Livni is trying to keep Olmert's previous coalition intact.

She already has secured the backing of the left-of-center Labor party, after promising its leader, Ehud Barak, would serve as her top deputy. Barak has been angling for a more dominant role in peace talks with Syria and the Palestinians. She also is likely to keep the Pensioners party in the government.Her main obstacle, however, remains securing the support of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.Shas wants more money for child allowance payments to serve its impoverished voter base. It also wants Livni to promise not to negotiate the future of the disputed city of Jerusalem — a condition that would make a final peace deal with the Palestinians impossible.Livni could alternatively turn to smaller, dovish opposition parties. But that would alienate hawkish members of her own party.With Shas there will be a wide government. Without Shas there will not be a government and we might have to go to elections, said Kadima lawmaker Otniel Schneller.Political commentator Hanan Crystal predicted Livni would ultimately manage to form a coalition, but the demands of the partners would limit the moves she could make as premier.She can't make a deal (with the Palestinians) with Shas in the government, and she can't make a deal without them, he said.If successful, Livni, 50, a former lawyer and one-time agent in the Mossad spy agency, would become Israel's second female prime minister after Golda Meir, who served from 1969-1974.As foreign minister over the past two years, she has formed a strong bond U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and served as Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians. She also is popular in Israel because she is seen as clean and honest.If Livni fails to build a coalition by Nov. 3, Peres could ask other politicians to try to form a government before elections are forced. However, as leader of the largest party in parliament, Livni is the only candidate with a realistic chance of forming a government at this time.

Barak: Israel considering Saudi peace plan By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer OCT 19,08

JERUSALEM – Israeli leaders are seriously considering a dormant Saudi plan offering a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arab world in exchange for lands captured during the 1967 war, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday.Barak said it may be time to pursue an overall peace deal for the region since individual negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians have made little progress.Barak said he has discussed the Saudi plan with Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni, who is in the process of forming a new Israeli government, and that Israel is considering a response.Saudi Arabia first proposed the peace initiative in 2002, offering pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in 1967 — the West Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.The 22-member Arab League endorsed the plan last year.Israel has said the plan is a good basis for discussion, but expressed some reservations.There is definitely room to introduce a comprehensive Israeli plan to counter the Saudi plan that would be the basis for a discussion on overall regional peace, Barak told Israel's Army Radio.

He noted the deep, joint interest with moderate Arab leaders in containing Iran's nuclear ambitions and limiting the influence of the radical Islamic Hezbollah movement in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.Analyst Ghassan Khatib, a former minister in the Palestinian Cabinet, said interest in the plan was a little bit late but welcome.

I strongly believe that the Arab initiative is the best approach to peace between the Arabs and the Israelis, he said. It fulfills all the legitimate objectives of Israel and those of the Palestinians and at the same time it has this regional dimension and it reflects one of the rare issues on which Arabs have consensus.While Israel's outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has welcomed the Saudi plan, he and other leaders want to keep small parts of the territories captured in 1967. Israel also objects to language that appears to endorse a large-scale return of Palestinian refugees to lands inside Israel. Israel says a massive influx of Palestinians would destroy the country's Jewish character.Yuval Steinitz, an Israeli lawmaker from the conservative opposition Likud Party and a member of parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that for Israel the Saudi plan is a nonstarter and called Barak's remarks an empty political gesture.It doesn't recognize Israel's right to defensible borders...(and) demands Palestinian refugees settle in the Jewish state as well as the Palestinian state, which is totally unacceptable, he said.Israel's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, proposed putting Israel's various peace talks on one track last month at the United Nations, calling on Saudi King Abdullah to further his initiative. He has since been pushing the idea in meetings with Israeli, Arab and Western officials, his office said.

While Peres has no formal role in Israeli foreign policy, he is a Nobel peace laureate and well respected in the international community.In Sunday's interview, Barak said he was in full agreement with Peres.I had the impression that there is indeed an openness to explore any path, including this one, he said of his talks with Livni.Barak, who leads the Labor Party, is expected to play a senior role in the next administration. Livni's office refused to comment on her talks with Barak.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat noted that pursuing the Saudi peace initiative did not necessarily undermine the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians and he encouraged Israel to pursue this track. I think Israel should have done this since 2002. It is the most strategic initiative that came from the Arab world since 1948, he said. I urge them to revisit this initiative and to go with it because it will shorten the way to peace.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Tainted feed kills 1,500 Chinese dogs bred for fur By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer OCT 20,08

BEIJING – Some 1,500 dogs bred for their raccoon-like fur have died after eating feed tainted with the same chemical that contaminated dairy products and sickened tens of thousands of babies nationwide, a veterinarian said Monday.The raccoon dogs — a breed native to east Asia whose fur is used to make trim on coats and other clothing — were fed a product that contained the chemical melamine and developed kidney stones, said Zhang Wenkui, a veterinary professor at Shenyang Agriculture University. All of the dogs died on farms in just one village.Zhang determined that the animals died of kidney failure after performing a necropsy — an animal autopsy — on about a dozen dogs. He declined to say when the deaths occurred but a report Monday in the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper said they had occurred over the past two months.First, we found melamine in the dogs' feed, and second, I found that 25 percent of the stones in the dogs' kidneys were made up of melamine, Zhang told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.The Southern Metropolis Daily also blamed the deaths of several hundred dogs on melamine, but it was not immediately clear how the chemical would have entered the raccoon dog feed. In the ongoing milk scandal, melamine was said to be added to watered-down milk to artificially boost nitrogen levels, making products seem higher in protein when tested.The animal deaths raise questions about the extent of the chemical's presence in the country's food chain.

Melamine has been found in a wide range of Chinese-made dairy products and foods with milk ingredients over the past few months. The government is still trying to win back consumer confidence after those tainted products turned up on store shelves around the world.Four Chinese babies' deaths have been blamed on infant formula that was laced with melamine. Some 54,000 other children were sickened.Last year, melamine-tainted wheat gluten, a pet food ingredient made in China, was blamed for the deaths of dozens of dogs and cats in North America.When ingested by humans, the industrial chemical — used in plastics and fertilizers — can cause kidney stones as the body tries to eliminate it and, in extreme cases, can lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly susceptible.Zhang said the company that produces the animal feed is in talks with breeders in Xishan, the village in Liaoning province where the dogs died, about providing compensation and has pressured them not to talk to the media.Zhang did not give the company's name but the newspaper report said the feed was produced by Harbin Hualong Feed Co. The company refused to comment Monday, saying officials were unavailable because they were in a meeting.An official surnamed Liu at the Liaoning provincial animal feed and medicine inspection center said the facility tested one sample of animal feed from Xishan and found that it contained about 500 parts per million of melamine. China's Health Ministry recently capped the amount of melamine permissible in milk, milk powder and food products that contain more than 15 percent dairy to 2.5 parts per million.He said that the center was assisting the Ministry of Agriculture in a nationwide inspection of animal feed for similar contamination but would not give any other details.The ministry did not respond to a list of faxed questions. Telephone calls to the agricultural department of the Ciyutuo county government, which oversees Xishan, rang unanswered.China's products have been under intense scrutiny after high levels of industrial toxins were found last year in exports ranging from toothpaste to toys.

The milk scandal has resulted in recalls and the blocking of Chinese imports in numerous countries.On Monday, Australia said it had ordered a recall of a milk drink and cake brand after tests showed they were contaminated with melamine. Lydia Buchtmann, a spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia New Zealand, said Orion brand Tiramisu Italian Cake with Cheese Cream and Dali Yuan brand First Milk vanilla-flavored drink have been taken off store shelves. Associated Press researcher Xi Yue contributed to this report.

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.

GENESIS 1:5,14
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)

FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN

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


NASA launches probe to study edge of solar system OCT 19,08

WASHINGTON (AFP) – NASA on Sunday launched a probe into space on a two-year mission to study the distant edge of the solar system.The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) was launched at 1745 GMT, according to images broadcast live by the US space agency.The 462-kilogram (1,016-pound) probe was powered by a Pegasus rocket which dropped from the bay doors of a Lockheed L-1011 jet flying at 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) over the southern Pacific Ocean near the Marshall Islands.The count went really smooth... and everything appears to be going well, NASA assistant launch manager Omar Baez said shortly after the launch.The IBEX is equipped with instruments that will allow it to take images and for the first time chart a remote region known as the interstellar boundary, where the solar system meets interstellar space. The area is a vast expanse of turbulent gas and twisting magnetic fields.

The interstellar boundary regions are critical because they shield us from the vast majority of dangerous galactic cosmic rays, which otherwise would penetrate into Earth's orbit and make human spaceflight much more dangerous, David McComas, IBEX principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas, said recently.The only information that scientists have of this distant region are from the twin Voyager 1 and 2 probes, launched in 1977 and still in service today.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ELECTION 2008 Mideast leader: Obama a Muslim who studied in Islamic schools Says Arab world campaign contributions 'may enable him to win U.S. presidency' October 17, 2008 9:00 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim of Kenyan origins who studied in Islamic schools and whose campaign may have been financed by people in the Islamic and African worlds, Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi said during a recent televised national rally.There are elections in America now. Along came a black citizen of Kenyan African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia. His name is Obama, said Gadhafi in little-noticed remarks he made at a rally marking the anniversary of the 1986 U.S. air raid on his country.The remarks, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, MEMRI, were aired on Al Jazeera in June.

The video also has been posted on YouTube and can be seen here:
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78309

All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man, continued Gadhafi. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency.We are hoping that this black man will take pride in his African and Islamic identity, and in his faith, and that [he will know] that he has rights in America, and that he will change America from evil to good, and that America will establish relations that will serve it well with other peoples, especially the Arabs, Gadhafi said.Gadhafi went on to lament statements Obama made at a June 4 address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in which the presidential candidate stated if he is elected president, Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.But it seems Gadhafi was not aware that the next day, during a CNN appearance, Obama explained he meant Jerusalem shouldn't be physically divided with a partition and was not referring to the city remaining in exclusively Jewish hands.Stated Gadhafi: But we were taken by surprise when our African Kenyan brother [Obama], who is an American national, made statements (about Jerusalem) that shocked all his supporters in the Arab world, in Africa, and in the Islamic world.We hope that this is merely an elections clearance sale, as they say in Egypt - in other words, merely an elections lie. As you know, this is the farce of elections - a person lies and lies to people, just so that they will vote for him, and afterwards, when they say to him, You promised this and that,' he says: No, this was just elections propaganda.' This is the farce of democracy for you. He says: This was propaganda, and you thought I was being serious. I was fooling you to get your votes.Allah willing, it will turn out that this was merely elections propaganda. Obama said he would turn Jerusalem into the eternal capital of the Israelis. This indicates that our brother Obama is ignorant of international politics, and is not familiar with the Middle East conflict, Gadhafi said.Gadhafi went on to express his hope if elected Obama will implement a one state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, meaning Israel would be flooded with millions of Palestinian Arabs who would terminate the country's Jewish nationality.Get the book that started it all – Jerome Corsi's The Obama Nation, personally autographed – for only $4.95, available today, but only from WND!

He said he was worried Obama may have a black inferiority complex whereby he may enact white men policies to prove he is no different from white America.The thing we fear most is that the black man suffers from an inferiority complex. This is dangerous. If our brother Obama feels that because he is black he doesn't have the right to rule America, this would be a disaster, because such a feeling would make him act whiter than the white, and go to an extreme in his persecution and degradation of the blacks.We say to him: Brother, the whites and blacks in America are equal. They are all immigrants. America belongs neither to the whites nor to the blacks. America belongs to its original inhabitants, the Indians. Both the whites and the blacks immigrated to America, and so they are equal, and Obama has the right to hold his head high, and say: I am a partner in America. This is my land as much as it is yours. If it is not my land, it is not yours either. It is the land of the Indians. You are immigrants, and so are we.

Obama was quite religious in Islam

Obama repeatedly has denied he is a Muslim. His campaign site states: Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, and is a committed Christian.
But as WND has reported, public records in Indonesia listed Obama as a Muslim during his early years, and a number of childhood friends claimed to the media Obama was once a mosque-attending Muslim.Obama's campaign several times has wavered in response to reporters queries regarding the senator's childhood faith.Commenting on a recent Los Angeles Times report quoting a childhood friend stating Obama prayed in a mosque "something the presidential candidate said he never did, Obama's campaign released a statement explaining the senator has never been a practicing Muslim.

Widely distributed reports have noted that in January 1968, Obama was registered as a Muslim at Jakarta's Roman Catholic Franciscus Assisi Primary School under the name Barry Soetoro. He was listed as an Indonesian citizen whose stepfather, listed on school documents as L Soetoro Ma, worked for the topography department of the Indonesian Army.Catholic schools in Indonesia routinely accept non-Catholic students but exempt them from studying religion. Obama's school documents, though, wrongly list him as being Indonesian.After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama was enrolled also as a Muslim, according to documents in the Besuki Primary School, a public school in Jakarta.Laotze blog, run by an American expatriate in Southeast Asia who visited the Besuki school, noted: All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school, and a young Barry Soetoro, being a Muslim, would have been required to study Islam daily in school. He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam.Indeed, in Obama's autobiography, Dreams From My Father, he acknowledged studying the Quran and describes the public school as a Muslim school.

In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Quranic studies, wrote Obama.The Indonesian media have been flooded with accounts of Obama's childhood Islamic studies, some describing him as a religious Muslim.Speaking to the country's Kaltim Post, Tine Hahiyary, who was principal of Obama's school while he was enrolled there, said she recalls he studied the Quran in Arabic.At that time, I was not Barry's teacher, but he is still in my memory claimed Tine, who is 80 years old.The Kaltim Post said Obama's teacher, named Hendri, died.I remember that he studied 'mengaji (recitation of the Quran), Tine said, according to an English translation by Loatze.Mengaji, or the act of reading the Quran with its correct Arabic punctuation, is usually taught to more religious pupils and is not known as a secular study.Also, Loatze documented the Indonesian daily Banjarmasin Post interviewed Rony Amir, an Obama classmate and Muslim, who described Obama as previously quite religious in Islam.We previously often asked him to the prayer room close to the house. If he was wearing a sarong (waist fabric worn for religious or casual occasions) he looked funny, Amir said.The Los Angeles Times, which sent a reporter to Jakarta, quoted Zulfin Adi, who identified himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends, stating the presidential candidate prayed in a mosque, something Obama's campaign claimed he never did.We prayed, but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played, said Adi.

Friday prayers

Aside from a new website to fight purported smears, Obama's official campaign site has a page titled Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian. The page states, Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ.But the campaign changed its tune when it issued a practicing Muslim clarification to the Los Angeles Times.An article in March by the Chicago Tribune apparently disputes Adi's statements to the L.A. paper. The Tribune caught up with Obama's declared childhood friend, who now describes himself as only knowing Obama for a few months in 1970 when his family moved to the neighborhood. Adi said he was unsure about his recollections of Obama.But the Tribune found Obama did attend mosque.Interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia, states the Tribune article.It quotes the presidential candidate's former neighbors and third-grade teacher recalling Obama occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers.Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, notes the Tribune article cited by liberal blogs as refuting claims Obama is Muslim actually implies Obama was an irregularly practicing Muslim and twice confirms Obama attended mosque services.In a free-ranging interview with the New York Times, Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.The Times' Nicholos Kristof wrote Obama recited, with a first-class [Arabic] accent, the opening lines of the Muslim call to prayer.

The first few lines of the call to prayer state:

Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet ...
Some attention also has been paid to Obama's paternal side of the family, including his father and his brother, Roy.

Writing in a chapter of his book describing his 1992 wedding, the presidential candidate stated: The person who made me proudest of all was Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol.

Still, Obama says he was raised by his Christian mother and repeatedly has labeled as smears several reports attempting to paint him as a Muslim.Let's make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance [to the American flag] and lead the Pledge of Allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I'm presiding, he told the Times of London earlier this year.

Japan paper says North Korea message could come Monday Sun Oct 19, 5:10 am ET

North Korea TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea could issue an important message on Monday, a Japanese newspaper reported on Sunday, although South Korea said no significant military moves have been detected in their communist neighbor.On Saturday, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that multiple unidentified sources had said North Korean diplomats had been told to stay close to their embassies and await an important message.It said the message could deal with relations between the two Koreas or the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.A second Japanese newspaper reported on Sunday that the message could come on Monday.

The daily Sankei Shimbun newspaper quoted an unidentified defense ministry source on Sunday as saying information had been obtained that an announcement of important information will be made on October 20.It also said that Japan's foreign ministry would neither confirm nor deny the original report.South Korea said earlier on Sunday that no significant moves had been detected in North Korea.We haven't spotted anything unusual in North Korea and there's nothing to confirm regarding the newspaper report, said a spokesman for South Korea's unification ministry.Tensions between the two Koreas have mounted recently.On Thursday, North Korea threatened to end all relations with South Korea, a major source of aid and cash, in anger at the hardline policies of Seoul's conservative president.Kim's health has also been the subject of speculation after U.S. and South Korean officials said he may have suffered a stroke in August.A sharp increase in tension between the two Koreas could cause problems for the South by increasing its perceived political risk and making it more expensive for its companies to raise funds internationally at a time when the economy is already wobbling from the impact of global financial turmoil.Its threat to cut ties came days after it pledged to resume taking apart a nuclear plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium.Its decision to return to a disarmament deal followed Washington's move to take the reclusive state off its terrorism blacklist, removing some trade sanctions.

Analysts speculate that the North may expel South Koreans working at a joint factory park or a mountain resort located just north of their heavily armed border.Pyongyang sent back some South Koreans in August as tensions escalated after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier in July.Questions have been raised over how decisions are now made in the North after the reports Kim may have suffered a stroke.(Reporting by Miyoung Kim in SEOUL and Leika Kihara in TOKYO; Editing by Paul Tait)

TORAH PORTION FROM OCT 19 - 25, 2008

SINCE WHAT ISRAEL READS WILL BE FULFILLED IN THAT WEEK I WILL BE PUTTING THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION ON FOR ALL OF US TO KEEP TRACK OF ISRAEL HAPPENINGS.

TORAH PORTION FROM OCT 19, 2008 6PM TO OCT 25,2008

DEUTERONOMY 33:1-34:12
1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
7 And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies.
8 And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
9 Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.
10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.
11 Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
12 And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.
13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,
16 And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.
19 They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.
20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.
21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.
22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.
23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south.
24 And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12
1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,
2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea,
3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.
4 And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.
10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
11 In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
12 And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.

PROPHET SCRIPTURES

JOSHUA 1:1-18
1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.
12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,
13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.
14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;
15 Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD'S servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising.
16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.
17 According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.
18 Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.

NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES

MATTHEW 17:1-9
1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
7 And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

MARK 9:2-10
2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.
7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.
9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.
10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.

LUKE 9:28-36
28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.
33 And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.
34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
36 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.

JUDE 3-4,8-10
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

CANADA - EU TRADE DEAL

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

BRIEF VIDEO CLIP OF DEAL.
http://news.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/World/ContentPosting?newsitemid=quebec-city&feedname=CBC-WORLD-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=False&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=False

EUROPES ROLE - EASING THE FINANCIAL CRISIS - AUDIO STORY
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95862812&ft=1&f=1017

NOTICE IT SAYS THE EU WILL CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH AND BREAK IT IN PIECES. MY TAKE IS THAT THE WORLD WILL BE PUT INTO ECONOMIC TRADE BLOCS HEADED WORLDWIDE BY THE EUROPEAN UNION.

YOU THINK THIS IS JUST AN ACCIDENT THAT THE EU MAKES A PEOPLE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH CANADA NOT JUST GOODS AND SERVICES. THE EU WANTS A IMFORMATION AND IMMIGRATION AGREEMENT WITH CANADA. MY BIBLE SAYS THE EU WILL CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH, ECONOMICAL,POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUSLY IN THE FUTURE. NOTICE HOW CLOSE THE IMF, WORLD BANK, G-7,G-20,AND ALL COUNTRIES HAVE COME TOGETHER TO TRY TO SOLVE THE ECONOMIC CRISIS,AND WHOS LEAD DID THE WORLD TAKE IN THIS CRISIS, THE EU'S JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS WOULD HAPPEN.

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

5169-CANADA SUMMIT MOD-DATE: 10/17/08 22:21:14 AMERICA-OCT17-5169-CANADA SUMMIT AMERICA: STORY 5169 5169-CANADA SUMMIT QUEBEC CITY, CANDADA
OCTOBER 17, 2008 NATURAL WITH ENGLISH AND FRENCH SPEECH DURATION:01:43 SOURCE:POOL
INTRO: HEADLINE: Canada, France seek overhaul of financial system.

TV AND WEB RESTRICTIONS~NONE~

Capitalism must be better regulated to prevent future financial crises,
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says after meeting French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
1. CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT
JOSE MANUEL BARROSO AND FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY ENTERING ROOM
2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER, STEPHEN HARPER
SAYING:

Without question these times call for closer economic cooperation among key players in the global economy. Among other things this means rejecting the frequent tendency in difficult times to turn inward and erect barriers between our economies and our citizens. Indeed we must stand against protectionism and work to lower and eliminate barriers. I am therefore pleased that today we have decided to gather to take our economic cooperation to an entirely new level. The European Union and Canada have just completed a comprehensive economic study and have now agreed to define together the formal mandates for negotiating an ambitious, deeper, comprehensive and truly
historic economic partnership agreement.

3. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY SAYING:
We need to hear Canada's voice, a strong voice to defend entrepreneurial capitalism, not speculators' capitalism, to demand regulations, which are not the opposite of freedom -- there is no freedom without a minimum of regulation and supervision.

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT JOSE MANUEL BARROSO
SAYING:This is why at this summit we also discussed deepening our economic partnership, an effort we intend to pursue with an important involvement of European Union on one side and Canada on the other. We are interested in an ambitious agreement and we are open with regard to its final form.

STORY: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso agreed on Friday (October 17) on the need to hold an international summit before the end of the year to restore confidence and the normal functioning of the financial system. These times call for closer economic cooperation, Harper said at a joint news conference in Quebec City.
They met a day ahead of talks that Sarkozy and Barroso will hold with U.S. President George W. Bush at Camp David in Maryland. Clearly in the world of globalization, our institutions and our capacity to act have not kept up with other developments, and we're seeing some of the consequences of that, and we have to have new infrastructure, Harper said.

Among other things this means rejecting the frequent tendency in difficult times to turn inward and erect barriers between our economies and our citizens. Indeed we must stand against protectionism and work to lower and eliminate barriers, Harper added. Sarkozy said a summit is needed to launch an overhaul or refoundation of capitalism to become a capitalism of entrepreneurs, not speculators. The French president rejected the idea that regulation somehow clashed with freedom. There is no freedom without a minimum of regulation and supervision, the conservative leader said, adding the world must ensure the same causes do not produce the same effects.
Sarkozy said he aimed for progress in Quebec and in his Saturday's (October 18) meeting with Bush on the date, agenda and attendees of a financial crisis summit.
Harper said a summit date must be set as soon as possible, and Sarkozy said he preferred it take place before the end of November. Sarkozy said it should include more than the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized nations.

In the prepared text of a later speech to the province of Quebec's legislature, Sarkozy said the world must be done with a financial capitalism obsessed with the frenzied search for short-term profit and reintroduce social and moral responsibility. For the crisis in which the world finds itself, unprecedented
since the 1930s, is not a technical crisis. It's a moral crisis, he
said. Harper said in such times it was important to work against protectionism, which exacerbated the Great Depression, and to that end the EU and Canada agreed to launch negotiations on an economic partnership as soon as possible in 2009. They also decided to conclude a comprehensive air transport agreement by Nov. 30.

EU-Canada Summit confirms close ties Reference: IP/08/1540 Date: 17/10/2008 IP/08/1540 Brussels, 17 October 2008

EU-Canada Summit confirms close ties
The annual EU-Canada Summit will take place in Quebec City this Friday, 17 October. The European Commission will be represented by its President, José Manuel Barroso, who will participate alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his role as President of the Council. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will represent Canada. The agenda will focus on the financial crisis and the global economy, and on boosting EU-Canada economic relations. The Summit will also look at regional issues, such as Afghanistan, where the EU and Canada are co-operating closely together to promote good governance, sound development and the rule of law.

President Barroso commented: At the end of a week in which we have been reminded of the global nature of the financial crisis and the EU has taken decisive action to restore financial stability and protect depositors, it is all the more timely that we should meet with our long-standing strategic ally and G8 partner Canada. It is important for us to remind ourselves that EU-Canada trade and investment relations are the bedrock of our relationship. That is why I am glad to see that the joint study we have now concluded predicts economic gains for both sides from a closer economic partnership. I will be looking to this week’s Summit to launch the process towards a new and ambitious economic agreement. It is important that we get off on the right footing by carrying out a thorough scoping of this to ensure that any future agreement addresses the interests of both sides in a balanced way.

Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner remarked that: EU-Canada co-operation on regional issues around the world is better than ever. Not only is Canada a regular participant in the EU's ESDP missions, but we also enjoy a healthy co-operative relationship in the field of election observation. Canada was a valued participant, for instance, in this year's EU Election Observation Mission to Pakistan. With regard to Afghanistan, we also work very well together in crucial areas such as security sector reform and border management.

EU-Canada relations have gone through a particularly intensive phase over the past year, notably with regard to the collaborative work, now completed, on a joint study assessing the benefits and costs of a closer economic partnership. In parallel, negotiators have made substantial progress on an ambitious EU-Canada air transport agreement, designed to produce significant economic growth and create new jobs by opening up fresh investment opportunities in the sector and reinforcing regulatory co-operation.

Further information: EU's relations with Canada:
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/canada/index_en.htm
EU-Canada Summit, 17 October 2008

Harper hails agreement to work toward Canada-EU economic partnership OCT 17,08

QUEBEC - Canada and the European Union are committed to fighting protectionism and to achieving a comprehensive economic partnership, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.Governor General Michaelle Jean, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and French President Nicolas Sarkozy chat prior to a meeting Friday, in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson .Tough economic times make it crucial for closer co-operation, Harper said after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jose Manuel Barroso, the head of the European Commission. Among other things, this means rejecting the frequent tendency in difficult times to turn inward and erect barriers between our economies and our citizens, Harper said. Indeed, we must stand against protectionism and work to lower and eliminate barriers.Harper said Canada and the European Union are taking their economic co-operation to an entirely new level.(We) have just completed a comprehensive economic study and have now agreed to define together the formal mandates for negotiating an ambitious, deeper and comprehensive and truly historic economic partnership agreement. This will commence as early as possible in the new year.The prime minister was speaking after a private meeting with Sarkozy and Barroso to discuss the current international economic crisis. The three men were in Quebec City for the summit of la Francophonie, which was to begin Friday night and continue through Sunday.

Posted on Fri, Oct. 17, 2008 Harper: Canada, EU committed to major trade pact
AMY LUFT The Associated Press

QUEBEC CITY - Canada and the European Union are committed to creating a comprehensive trade agreement despite the uncertainty caused by the global credit crisis, Canada's prime minister said Friday after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.Canada's drift toward stronger economic ties with Europe comes as the U.S. economy slows and years after the two neighbors signed a free trade pact. The U.S. receives about 80 percent of Canada's exports.Tough economic times make it crucial for closer co-operation, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said after talks with Sarkozy and Jose Manuel Barroso, the head of the European Commission.Canada and the EU will prepare formal mandates with a view to launching negotiations on an economic partnership as soon as possible in 2009, Harper said.We must stand against protectionism and work to lower and eliminate barriers, he said.Harper said Canada and the European Union are taking their economic co-operation to an entirely new level.Officials say a possible Canada-EU trade agreement would allow for Canadian and European workers to work in each other's regions and allow for EU and Canadian companies to bid on government procurements.The possibility of a broad agreement follows a Canada-EU joint study launched in Berlin last year and released Thursday that recommends a more comprehensive economic plan for both parties.Harper and Sarkozy are also in Quebec City for the Francophonie summit of French-speaking nations, which was to begin Friday night and continue through Sunday.Sarkozy is cutting his Quebec visit short on Saturday to meet with President Bush at Camp David. That meeting is intended to lay the groundwork for a global summit to overhaul the financial system.Sarkozy repeated Friday his call to overhaul the financial system so that it can it better supervised in the wake of the crisis.

Together we need to rebuild a capitalism that is more respectful to man, more respectful to the planet, more respectful to future generations and be finished with a capitalism obsessed by the frantic search for short-term profit, Sarkozy said.

Canada, EU working towards 'historic' agreement: PM
Updated Fri. Oct. 17 2008 9:27 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Canada is working towards a comprehensive and truly historic economic partnership with the European Union. Harper made the comments at a press conference Friday, after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. Harper said that Canada and the European Union had agreed to define the formal mandates for an ambitious, deeper and comprehensive and truly historic economic partnership agreement.Without question, these times call for closer economic co-operation among key players in the global economy, Harper added.

No details were given on the plan.

Harper, Sarkozy and Barroso were greeted by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean ahead of tonight's summit of La Francophonie, an organization of 55 French-speaking nations.

Harper has vowed to make sure Canadian banks are not negatively impacted by ongoing rescue efforts in Europe and the U.S., where governments are providing aid to financial institutions. Sarkozy delivered an address to the National Assembly Friday afternoon. The president of France gave a very heartfelt speech . . . Mr. Sarkozy said while Canada is our friend, Quebec is our family, CTV's Rosemary Thompson told Mike Duffy Live Friday from Quebec City. Premier Jean Charest and Sarkozy signed an agreement Friday that will allow a number French professionals and tradespersons to work in Quebec. The same applies for Quebec citizens who want to work in France in those same professions. About a dozen professions and two-dozen trades are included in the deal. That will climb to about 100 by 2010. For instance, if you were a doctor in France you could come and work in Quebec as a doctor and there wouldn't be a hassle over credentials, Thompson told CTV Newsnet from Quebec City. Transportation Minister Lawrence Cannon told Mike Duffy Live that Canada has to seek out new markets in these times of economic uncertainty. Cannon said they are working on an open-skies agreement with the EU. In the evening, Sarkozy will attend the official opening of the summit of La Francophonie. However, the French leader has cut short his visit and will not attend the closing ceremonies of the summit -- a first for any French president. Instead, Sarkozy will travel to Camp David in Maryland on Saturday for meetings with U.S. President George Bush. It's a bit disappointing, Christine St-Pierre, Quebec's minister responsible for the provincial language law, said Thursday. Quebec Premier Jean Charest said the shortened visit was understandable given the extraordinary circumstances. Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, will not be travelling with her husband. With files from The Canadian Press

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, right, and Quebec Premier Jean Charest hug after they spoke to members of Quebec's National Assembly Friday Oct. 17 in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Pool - Jacques Nadeau

Sarkozy says Quebec-France ties should not divide Canada

QUEBEC - Quebec's deep ties with France should never become the wedge that divides a united Canada, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.After emerging from a meeting in Quebec City with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Sarkozy was asked about his position on the three-way relationship between France, Canada and Quebec. I don't see why a proof of fraternal, familial love for Quebec has to feed us proof of defiance toward Canada, Sarkozy told a news conference behind the fortified walls of the Citadel. Sarkozy was speaking after he, Harper and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso had met privately at the Governor General's residence to discuss plans for a comprehensive economic agreement between Canada and the European Union.

Sarkozy said unity is more important than ever during this period of financial uncertainty. Frankly, if there's someone who would tell me that the world today needs another division, then we don't have the same read of the world, Sarkozy said as he and other leaders gathered for the summit of la Francophonie, the French-speaking equivalent of the Commonwealth. Harper, meanwhile, said France and Canada remain tight allies and friends. It's hard to imagine why we would want to have tension between France and Canada, when we have huge challenges in the world to solve together, the prime minister said. Harper said anglophone Canadians understand the special nature of the France-Quebec relationship. France and Quebec are more than friends, they are from the same family, Harper said. Sarkozy also said many Quebecers are part of the French family. I know perfectly well that in Quebec there are francophones who are part of our family, he said. Francophones in my family don't ask me not to consider Canada ... as a friend.Sarkozy reiterated his message in a speech later to the Quebec legislature, paying tribute to the great Canadian people while addressing his brothers in Quebec. I love Quebec and I love Canada, he told the members of the provincial assembly and invited guests which included several former premiers. He said Canadian unity is a key foundation upon which capitalism will be rebuilt after the resolution of the international financial crisis. He said a global governance of the 21st century capitalist system is needed.

And we need leaders like Canada, he said. Last spring, Sarkozy made a moving declaration about his love for Canada. His words surprised many Quebec separatists who saw it as stark shift from France's longtime position to remain neutral when it comes to Canadian unity. Sarkozy dropped his predecessors' ambiguity, saying the French no longer wanted to see their love for Quebec and Canada torn apart and adding that the future of Canada and France was one of two countries.He also spoke passionately of the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers who died on French soil in the Second World War. He really does need to understand how deeply touched all Canadians were by that declaration, Harper said. In 1967, then-French president Charles de Gaulle stirred the growing separatist legions during a visit to Montreal with his Vive le Quebec libre call. But Sarkozy has indicated he would do things differently. He sent French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to Quebec City in July for the city's 400th-birthday celebrations. Fillon referred to de Gaulle's words in an address, but later said he had no intention of creating a diplomatic incident and was simply recalling an historic event.

European leaders press for new economic order Associated Press Writer John Leicester, Fri Oct 17, 2:19 pm ET

PARIS – The idea is ambitious: World leaders joined by aides to the new U.S. president-elect would gather before the year's end in New York and attempt to forge a new vision for the global economy.French President Nicolas Sarkozy has teamed up with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to press for such a summit, and the French leader travels to Camp David this weekend to lobby President Bush to sign on.Brown, buoyed by the praise he won for engineering a British bank bailout that inspired U.S. and European rescues, is proposing radical changes to the global capitalist system, including a cross-border mechanism to monitor the world's 30 biggest financial institutions. Sarkozy has floated the idea of reforming rating agencies and even exploring the future of currency systems.Details remain vague and the obstacles are many.But the political pendulum, at least in Europe, is swinging decisively in the direction of tighter control and supervision, away from the laissez-faire economics that fueled a colossal global boom and appear to have enabled an equally dramatic bust.In Brown's view, what's needed is nothing less than a new version of the 1944 Bretton Woods conference that brought together Allied leaders and established a post-World War II global monetary and financial order, laying foundations for the International Monetary Fund and a currency exchange regime that lasted for three decades.This is a defining moment for the world economy, Brown wrote in Friday's Washington Post. The old postwar international financial institutions are out of date. They have to be rebuilt for a wholly new era.

Behind the lofty rhetoric, Brown and Sarkozy are backed by a degree of clout.

They have proved instrumental in the past two weeks in corralling European governments to dig deep into taxpayers' pockets to shore up banks, unfreeze credit, and soothe markets.But experts wonder whether leaders at the proposed summit will truly be able to set aside national interests and clashing legal and business cultures to agree on a common vision. In exchange for global financial stability, nations could be forced to sacrifice autonomy and economic growth under tighter regulatory shackles.The gathering aims to bring together the Group of Eight industrial powers as well as emerging players like China and India — and countries at different stages of economic maturity will bring different needs to the table, as climate change talks have made abundantly clear.Officials in the waning Bush administration are also politely dismissing global regulation and some observers are skeptical Europeans can sell the idea to any U.S. president.I'm very dubious that much can be done, said Charles Wyplosz, an international economics professor in Switzerland.The White House is playing down the likelihood Bush will agree to a time and place for a summit when he meets this weekend with Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.For Brown, the banking bailouts are only phase 1 in getting finance working again. Phase 2, he argues, will require global action as sweeping as that which gave birth to the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF in the 1940s.At a European summit this week, Sarkozy and Brown started to flesh out their proposals, backed by Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The most eye-catching proposal from Brown — albeit one based on a proposed European system — envisions a cross-border monitoring program for the 30 biggest giants of global finance, such as America's Citigroup Inc. or Britain's HSBC PLC.He also called for the 185-nation IMF to be turned into an early warning system for the world economy, with international monitoring powers. Such reform would mark a revival for the IMF, which has receded to the sidelines of the global economy in recent years. Sarkozy cast his net even wider. The conservative — who has in recent weeks sounded increasingly like a leftist — wants discussion on tax havens, hedge and sovereign wealth funds, the folly of big pay bonuses for risk-taking executives and even how many major currencies the world needs. Some of his harshest words were for ratings agencies, hinting that he wouldn't be sorry to see them disappear altogether in the financial architecture that he and Brown say they want built.

Do we keep them? he asked. What do we replace them with? Should they only be American? he added, in a statement bound to get attention from U.S.-based Moody's and Standard & Poors. As always, Sarkozy is in a hurry. Waiting three months until John McCain or Barack Obama is sworn in runs the risk of the crisis getting worse or getting better, which could frustrate the drive for fundamental reform, the French leader warned. He suggested instead that the winner of the November election send economic aides with Bush to the summit. Sarkozy is pushing for a November or December meeting in New York, where everything started.Europe wants it, Europe is asking for it, Europe will get it, he said. If we wait for the new president that means, in the best case scenario, we would get together in the spring ... It's much too late and not acceptable.

But obstacles abound.

Brown's talk of very large and very radical changes could prove highly problematic in a capitalist system that has grown increasingly complex and intertwined since the end of the Cold War. Experts say experience shows that getting nations to agree on specific rules that could crimp their economic strengths can be a long, frustrating and sometimes fruitless process. And politicians now howling that capitalism needs curing turned a deaf ear to warnings of flaws in the banking system when economic times were good, they point out. Wyplosz predicted that leaders will find, once they get down to the nitty gritty, that reforming the World Bank and IMF is going to be difficult. And he was pessimistic about the prospects for effective cross-border policing of banks, saying countries have a habit of wanting to protect their own banking champions from outside meddling. There will be a lot of talk but the discussions will go nowhere and two or three years from now the urge to change things will be gone, he said. On closer inspection, Brown's still ill-defined proposal to better supervise big financial groups may also not live up to the billing of radical reform. A British Treasury spokesman, who could not be identified under government policy, said Brown was referring to creation of committees that would meet regularly to swap information on big banks' behavior. Each committee would be made up of regulators from an array of countries, likely including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Britain and the United States, the spokesman said. He added: It's not a regulatory thing, it's about information sharing and keeping each other informed.Julian Jessop, chief international economist at London-based Capital Economics, said this could be just another set of ghastly committees with a bunch of countries on them.Some experts are also concerned that a summit with such an ambitious yet vague agenda could distract leaders from far more concrete and pressing steps, not least forcing banks to squirrel away more money so they can better ride out tough times. The French are always good at launching very conceptual discussions, said Harald Benink, a professor of banking and finance in the Netherlands. That doesn't address the fundamental problems that have become all too obvious.AP Business Writers Aoife White in Brussels and Emily Vencat and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

A glance at the Bretton Woods conference

The Associated Press – Fri Oct 17, 2:25 pm ETEuropean leaders are calling for a second version of the Bretton Woods conference on ordering the global economy. Here's a brief look at Bretton Woods, held in July 1944.

WHAT IT WAS: Bretton Woods, a town in New Hampshire, was the site where 44 leaders of the Allied nations that won World War II gathered to establish a postwar global monetary and financial order. It was aimed at preventing a repeat of the economic dislocations of the 1930s.

WHAT IT DID: The agreement from the conference led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, one of the World Bank's forebears. The Soviet Union was at the conference but refused to join the IMF.

WHAT IT LED TO: An exchange-rate system where currencies could only move within a 1 percent band around a fixed gold value, which was quoted in terms of the U.S. dollar. The system collapsed in 1973 following several shocks, heralding the era of floating currencies.

Europe lobbies Bush for global market reforms OCT 18,08 Deb Riechmann, Associated Press Writer.

Reuters CAMP DAVID, Md. – European leaders are lobbying President Bush at the Camp David presidential retreat on Saturday to support a summit by year's end that would craft ways to reform the world financial system.French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso are trying to convince Bush that now is a good opportunity to tighten and better coordinate control of the financial markets, in response to the economic crisis that has shaken markets around the globe.

The president has backed the steps European nations have taken to stem the economic crisis, and is in favor of a meeting in the near future of the Group of Eight industrialized powers and other emerging economies like China and India. But the U.S. hasn't signed on to the more ambitious, broad-stroke revisions that some European leaders like Sarkozy have in mind for the world financial system.Sarkozy and Barroso are stopping at Camp David to meet with Bush on their way home from a summit in Canada.On Friday, Sarkozy repeated his call to overhaul the global financial system so that it can be better supervised in the wake of the crisis.

Together we need to rebuild a capitalism that is more respectful to man, more respectful to the planet, more respectful to future generations and be finished with a capitalism obsessed by the frantic search for short-term profit, Sarkozy said

Sarkozy and other European leaders want Bush and representatives of presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, to meet before the end of the year in New York and to forge a new vision for the global economy. Sarkozy has floated the idea of reforming rating agencies and even exploring the future of currency systems.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who engineered a British bank bailout that inspired U.S. and European rescues, is proposing radical changes to the global capitalist system, including a cross-border mechanism to monitor the world's 30 biggest financial institutions.White House press secretary Dana Perino said the Camp David meeting was not expected to produce any new policy decisions or the date or place for a planned meeting of leaders of major economic powers, the so-called G8. Instead, she said it would focus on efforts, extending as far back as April, on coordination for financial stability through measures such as bank disclosures, accounting rules at credit rating agencies, capital standards and asset valuation.

In his weekly radio address, Bush on Saturday sought to reassure Americans about the cost and scope of the nation's financial bailout plan and said that in the long run our economy will bounce back. He acknowledged that people are concerned about their finances and, while he offered assurances about an eventual recovery, he did not say when that would happen.Since Oct. 9, 2007, when the Dow topped 14,000, investors have lost $8.3 trillion from pension funds, college savings plans, 401(k)s and other investments. Congress gave Bush a $700 billion plan to buy bad assets from banks and other institutions to shore up the financial industry.The federal government has responded to this crisis with systematic and aggressive measures to protect the financial security of the American people, Bush said in the radio broadcast. These actions will take more time to have their full impact. But they are big enough and bold enough to work.