DAY 21 ISRAEL IN GAZA PROTECTING ISRAELIS

EZEKIEL 39:15-22 (RUSSIAN,ARAB,MUSLIM ARMIES EATEN BY BIRDS)
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.(THE RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS BURIEL SITE).
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

I FIND THIS VERY VERY INTERESTING THAT MIGRATING BIRDS BROUGHT DOWN AND CRASHED THIS AIRBUS A320. MEANWHILE ISRAEL IS IN GAZA DESTROYING HAMAS WHO HATES THEM AND WANTS EVERY ISRAELI KILLED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH. EITHER THIS IS A WARNING TO THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS THAT ITS THEIR TIME TO GET EATIN BY THE MIGRATING BIRDS OR ITS GOD THROUGH THIS BIRD ACCIDENT SAYING MUSLIMS ITS NOT QUITE YOUR TIME YET,BUT I WILL DO AS MY WORD SAYS TO USE LATER ON. IF ITS LATER ON THERE WILL BE A CEASEFIRE IN GAZA I PREDICT,IF ITS TIME FOR 5/6TH OF THE RUSSIA,MUSLIMS TO BE KILLED AND EATIN BY THE BIRDS RUSSIA WILL BE GETTING INVOLVED AND LEAD THE MARCH TO ISRAEL.ONE MORE INTERESTING FACT IT HAPPENED IN NEW YORK WERE THE SECOND MOST ISRAELIS ARE LIVING NEXT TO ISRAEL.GIVE KING JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD ALL THE PRAISE AND GLORY THAT NOT ONE LIFE WAS LOST IN THAT BIRD PLANE ACCIDENT.

Plane crash lands in Hudson River, but all safe
Updated Thu. Jan. 15 2009 7:58 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that all passengers and crew are safe after a US Airways plane plunged into the Hudson River off midtown-Manhattan Thursday afternoon. The plane was carrying 150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots. An air traffic controllers union official said a pilot on the plane reported a double bird strike less than a minute after takeoff and immediately asked for an emergency landing. National Air Traffic Controllers Union spokesman Doug Church said the bird strikes were reported at 30 to 45 seconds into the flight. The pilot was instructed to divert to Teterboro, New Jersey, for an emergency landing, shortly before the plane went down. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure everybody got out. New York Gov. David Patterson called it a miracle on the Hudson.Paramedics treated at least 78 passengers and Bloomberg said New York police divers rescued several people who were underwater. Doug Parker, CEO of US Airways said his airline is trying to help those affected by the incident anyway we can.US Airways Flight 1549 had taken off at 3:26 p.m. ET from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, en route to Charlotte, N.C. Passenger Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn., told the Associated Press there was an explosion two or three minutes into the flight, and when he looked out the window he saw the left engine on fire.

The captain said, Brace for impact because we're going down, Kolodjay said. He said passengers put their head in their laps and many started saying prayers. The plane landed in the Hudson five minutes after the takeoff. Kolodjay said the plane hit the water hard but he was not hurt. It was intense. You've got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing, Kolodjay said. Initial video of the plane showed it submerged right up to the windows, as it progressively sank deeper in the Hudson River, near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan. Coast guard vessels and ferry boats arrived quickly, the plane's doors were opened and passengers wearing yellow life vests, scrambled to safety. Eyewitnesses in Manhattan said they saw at least one of the plane's two engines on fire as it went down in a controlled landing into the Hudson. Aviation experts are praising the plane's pilots' actions and skill, for managing to keep the plane in the air long enough to line up with the Hudson River and then landing in the river, keeping the fuselage intact. The plane has been tethered to a dock after being pulled in by tug boats. Television images show the nose and tail of the plane sticking out of the water, as it has rolled to about a 45 degree angle on its side. New York City firefighters, New York Police Department divers and the Coast Guard responded to the crash. Video footage of the incident shows passengers in yellow life vests, one waving to cameras and giving a thumbs-up sign, calmly walking onto a rescue vessel. Commuter boats in the area were also seen taking on passengers who were standing on both of the plane's wings. The water temperature in the river was reported to be 5 degrees Celsius. Government officials told the Associated Press they do not believe terrorism is behind the cause of the crash. There is no information at this time to indicate that this is a security-related incident, Homeland Security spokesperson Laura Keehner told AP.

PSALMS 20:1-9 PRAY THIS FOR ISRAEL EVERY DAY OF THIS WAR
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

HAMAS AT THERE WORST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptNr0v1p3E

WAR COVERAGE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Special/War/

IF NOBODY ELSE NUKES IRAN AHMADINEJAD AND HIS INVISIBLE WELL BOY MAUDI WILL BE WITH THE BIRD FEAST ON THE WRONG END OF IT. THE BEING EATEN END!!!

Iran president: Not feasible for Israel to live JAN 15,09
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt – A top Israeli envoy delivered his country's stance on a cease-fire agreement in Gaza to Egyptian mediators trying to seal a truce on Thursday. The Iranian president said the fighting showed Israel's continued existence in the region is not feasible.The development came as the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pressed Israel on a cease-fire, and Gulf leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia to discuss the conflict.Meanwhile, Israeli troops pushed deeper into densely populated Gaza City on the 20th day of the offensive to rout out Hamas militants. Israeli tanks shelled the crowded downtown, sending terrified residents fleeing for cover.

An Israeli airstrike Thursday evening killed prominent Hamas figure Said Siam, and witnesses and U.N. officials said Israeli shells struck the United Nations headquarters building that serves as a shelter for hundreds of people, setting it ablaze.The Israeli push ratcheted up pressure on Hamas to accept a proposed cease-fire. Egypt's proposal has centered on a temporary 10-day halt in fighting that would leave Israeli troops in place in Gaza while security arrangements are negotiated for border crossings to prevent weapons smuggling. Once that is done, Israeli troops would withdraw and the borders would be opened.In the past two days, some Hamas officials have said the Egyptian proposal could be sealed soon. But on Thursday, the movement's top political leader, Khaled Mashaal, insisted its conditions for a cease-fire remained the same — including a demand for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and opening of the crossings.These are our demands and we don't accept any political movement that does not accept them, Mashaal said in a televised address from his headquarters in the Syrian capital, Damascus.Now we are at the critical moments. There must be a cease-fire but it must meet our conditions, he said.The Israeli envoy, Amos Gilad, spent four hours in Cairo in talks with Egyptian officials, presenting Israel's parameters of the end game, said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. Gilad did not meet Hamas envoys who are also in town.After top-level consultations called by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when Gilad returned to Jerusalem, it was decided to send him back to Cairo on Friday for further talks, Olmert's office said.Israel wants a total end to Hamas' rocket launches into Israel and an arms embargo on Gaza's militant rulers, Regev said.

There is momentum in these discussions, Regev told AP Television News. We are hopeful that a deal will be based on a total cessation of Hamas fire into Israel and an arms embargo to prevent Hamas from rearming is close and attainable.Gaza-based Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said the deeper incursion reflected an attempt to pressure his group.Israel when it feels that there's a political solution it begins hitting harder, he said. Amos Gilad came to Cairo and knew there was an agreement between Egypt and Hamas, and it wasn't far from Israel's demands. But they want to increase their military attacks to try impose their conditions.Hamad said his group has offered amendments to Egypt's original peace proposal, and he expected the Egyptians will convey them to the Israelis. Consultations are continuing, he said.

Before Mashaal's comments, Salah Bardawil, a Hamas negotiator in Cairo, said his group demands Israeli troops withdraw within five days of the start of a cease-fire and seeks Turkish or European monitors to ensure that border crossings remain open.
The comments appeared to reflect signs of cracks within Hamas, between its Gaza-based officials like Bardawil and Hamad, and the Damascus-based leadership-in-exile.
In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the fighting in Gaza has been a great lesson for all, saying it shows the absolute defeat and desperation of this (Israeli) regime.He says that even for the supporters of the occupying regime and its leaders, it has become clear that the continuation of the Zionist regime's life in the region is not feasible.Israel says it launched the offensive Dec. 27 to stop rocket fire against southern Israeli towns by Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Meanwhile, an emergency summit of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, called by Saudi Arabia to discuss Gaza, was held in Riyadh on Thursday evening. Arab foreign ministers were to meet Friday in Kuwait and were expected to make aid pledges for Gaza. Associated Press Writers Patrick Quinn in Jerusalem and Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.

Hamas Offers Ceasefire, Threatens Revenge
by Maayana Miskin JAN 16,09

(IsraelNN.com) Hamas has offered to stop attacking Israel for one year if Israel will open its western Negev crossings to Gaza, Egyptian officials announced Thursday night. The group demands that Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza within one week and refrain from any and all operations in the area while the ceasefire lasts.Also on Thursday night, Hamas's Az a-Din el-Kuds Brigades, a branch of the Hamas armed forces, said they would take revenge for the death of Hamas minister Said Siyam. Siyam was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday evening along with his brother, another senior Hamas leader. His blood was not shed in vain. The response will be expressed in deeds, not words, Hamas terrorists threatened.Egyptian media sources reported earlier in the evening that Israel had in principle accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal. Israeli officials demanded certain changes to the plan, Egyptian diplomats said. Those demands will be presented to Hamas leaders in upcoming meetings.Senior Defense Ministry official Major-General Amos Gilad returned from Cairo on Thursday after meeting with Egyptian diplomats to discuss progress in ceasefire talks with Hamas. Gilad met with Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss the issue. The ministers are reportedly split on whether to seek a ceasefire at the current time.

Crossings Opened in exchange for Shalit?
According to Channel 10 news, Israel is willing to open Gaza crossings as part of the ceasefire deal. In exchange, Hamas would be required to reduce its demands regarding the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The group is currently demanding the release of over 1,000 terrorists, including senior terrorists who bear direct responsibility for multiple murders.If Hamas scales back its demands, a deal could be reached that would lead to Shalit's release, political analysts say. Barak met with Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, on Thursday, apparently to discuss developments in Gaza and the negotiations with Hamas.

Six Wounded in Be'er Sheva Attack
by Maayana Miskin JAN 15,09

(IsraelNN.com) A seven-year-old boy was seriously wounded Thursday evening when a Grad missile fired by Gaza terrorists struck the city of Be'er Sheva. Two Grad missiles hit the city at approximately 5:00 p.m. One slammed into a residential area adjacent to a main highway and hit a car.The vehicle had stopped on the highway when the rocket warning siren sounded, as directed by Home Front Command in its instructions to the public. The passengers, a mother and her son, managed to exit the vehicle and lie on their stomachs, per the instructions. The mother lay on top of her son to protect him, but was unable to cover him completely. A shard from the missile penetrated his skull. He was rushed to Soroka hospital in serious condition.

The child's aunt spoke to reporters from the hospital, saying, They waited for this child for 11 years. All we want is for G-d to give him back to us.Five others were wounded as well, one seriously. One person was moderately wounded and the others suffered light injuries. A number of other people suffered severe emotional trauma. All were evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in the city. Hospital officials set up an information hotline at: 12-55-177.The ground shook -- and one of them echoed -- so I knew it was in an urban area, somewhere close, Be'er Sheva resident Yocheved Miriam Russo told Israel National News. It had been relatively quiet -- there had not been anything since yesterday about this time, she commented.I'm just praying for NO ceasefire, Russo added. We can deal with this -- but not a phony ceasefire.

Shortly before the Be'er Sheva attack terrorists fired on the Eshkol region. The rockets hit open areas and no injuries were reported. Earlier on Thursday afternoon rocket strikes were reported in the Ofakim region. No injuries were reported.Gaza terrorists fired a total of approximately 25 rockets at Israeli cities since Thursday morning. Rockets hit several cities, including Gadera and Sderot. Strikes damaged a home in Sderot and several cars.Security officials in Be'er Sheva warned civilians not to approach the area. Anyone who hears a rocket alert siren while traveling by car should stop at the side of the road, exit the vehicle, lie down at a distance from the vehicle and wait for five minutes, after which they are instructed to get in the car and proceed directly to their destination without delay.



IAF Kills Hamas Interior Minister
by Hana Levi Julian JAN 15,09

(IsraelNN.com) IAF pilots killed Hamas Interior Minister Siad Siyam and his brother, Ayad, in an air strike on the latter's Gaza City home Thursday afternoon. IDF sources said the home was located in the Jabaliya neighborhood.At least 20 other terrorists were injured in the strike, according to Palestinian Authority sources.

The strike was carried out after the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) confirmed that Siyam was in the building and that there were no civilians nearby.Siyam, 50, was the official who led the Hamas seizure of Gaza in June 2007 and was responsible for the formation and development of the group's special executive force. He was also considered the political liaison with the group's military division, and with Damascus-based Hamas political chief Khaled Masha'al.He is the most senior Hamas terrorist assassinated by Israel since April 2004, when Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi was killed.Siyam's brother Ayad was the head of the Hamas terrorist organization's security division, along with Salah Abu Sharah, who was also killed in the strike.A day earlier, the IDF bombed the home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who authorized the takeover of Gaza. Wednesday night, IDF forces also struck a building near the southern Gaza home of senior Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al-Zahar. Five of his bodyguards were killed in the strike.IAF pilots killed one of the top five Hamas leaders in Gaza two weeks ago in a strike dropped a one-ton bomb on the home of Sheikh Nizar Rayyan, the successor to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin after the Hamas spiritual leader was assassinated in 2004.Rayyan organized and paid for the 2004 suicide bombing in Ashdod in which 10 people were murdered. Three years earlier, in October 2001 he had sent his own son to carry out a suicide bombing in the Gush Katif community of Elei Sinai. Two Jewish residents of Gaza were murdered in the attack.In addition to Rayyan, 18 others were killed in the strike, which was carried out in the first week of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

Spanish minister visits Lebanon to push Gaza truce JAN 15,09 Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon embarked Thursday on a surprise visit to Lebanon to meet the country's president and prime minister and push for peace in Gaza, her office said.

MADRID - The trip to support peace and security in the region would build on a three-day mission completed by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to help find an end to weeks of fighting in the Gaza Strip, her spokesman said.The aim is to help find a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas which has controlled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, the spokesman added.

Before meeting Lebanese officials in Beirut, Chacon will stop in at a military base near the southern town of Marjayoun, where 1,000 Spanish soldiers are based as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).UNIFIL has some 13,000 troops from various countries stationed in southern Lebanon.The force, which was set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon, was considerably beefed up in the wake of the 2006 war between the militant group Hezbollah and Israel.After meeting the troops, Chacon will hold talks with Western-backed Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora before returning to Spain on Thursday evening.Senior Israeli defence official Amos Gilad arrived in Cairo on Thursday to hear Hamas's response to an Egyptian-mediated plan for an end to the fighting in the Islamist-controlled Gaza Strip.Since Israel unleashed its Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 1,065 people have been killed and another 5,000 wounded, according to Gaza medics.On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians have died as a result of combat or rocket fire.At the end of his three-day mission to Syria, Israel and Egypt late on Wednesday, Moratinos said an agreement on a Gaza ceasefire was very close.AFP/ Expatica.Spain has played an active diplomatic role for several days, in particular since Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas visited Madrid last week.

Report: Israel, Hamas agree on 2-week truce ,Palestinian sources tell Ynet fighting in Gaza to cease within 72 hours for period of two weeks, during which sides will discuss supervision of crossings, IDF withdrawal from Strip and removal of blockade Ali Waked Published: 01.15.09, 23:50 / Israel News

Palestinian sources told Ynet on Thursday evening that Israel and Hamas have agreed on all the general outlines of the Egyptian ceasefire initiative to end the fighting in Gaza. According to the report, the sides have agreed on the truce, on the supervision of the smuggling issue, on the crossings and on lifting of the blockade imposed on the Strip.

Preparations

According to the sources, the two sides are expected to agree on a ceasefire which will likely begin within 72 hours and last up to two weeks. During this period of time, the parties will discuss the Israel Defense Forces' withdrawal from Gaza and the withdrawal's timing. Palestinian sources estimated that the pullback into Israel would be swift. According to the sources, on the issue of the supervision mechanism it has been agreed that the international forces' presence would be on the Palestinian side of the Philadelphi route. On this issue the sides are expected to discuss the identity of the supervisors and the international force. Hamas is interested in Turkish forces, while Israel is expected to demand a reinforced Western presence. Simultaneously, Egypt will begin using the supervision equipment sent by the United States. This mechanism is aimed at reducing the smuggling of weapons through Hamas tunnels in the Rafah area to a minimum. Egyptian officers and supervisors who underwent training in Texas in the past few months will be in charge of operating the improved equipment, which is expected to begin functioning in the coming days. The operation of the crossings, particularly the Rafah crossings, will be based on an agreement from 2005 which includes the presence of European monitors, Israeli cameras and a force on behalf of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas will also be present at the crossings, but the location of its representatives has yet to be determined. Simultaneously, Israel is expected to demand that the Palestinian organizations stop manufacturing weapons inside the Gaza Strip.

Fear: Dispute will lead to renewed fighting

The question of how soon the crossings will open, as well as when the blockade will be lifted, depends on the response to the conditions expected to be raised by Israel – led by the Gilad Shalit issue. In addition, according to the Palestinian sources, Israel will demand that Hamas or the other Palestinian organizations will refrain from attempting to execute terror attacks in Israel from the West Bank in response to the Gaza operation. Ynet has learned that Israel demands that the number of people who will not be allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing will total 5,000. According to the sources, Egypt is extremely interested in reaching a deal, which will allow Cairo to open the crossing which has been used by elements in the Arab world to attack the country. According to estimates, the circumstances created on the ground at the start of the discussions will influence their outcomes. However, if agreements are not made on all issues, the military escalation may be resumed within a week or two. The inter-Palestinian dialogue is not expected to be discussed by Hamas and Egypt at this stage. The issue is expected to be postponed until an agreement is reached during the short ceasefire period. The sources said that the renewed lull will last at least a year, and is expected to last even longer. According to the sources, a weakened Hamas will agree to a longer lull in order to recover from the current conflict. If the agreement is executed, the agreement is expected to provide an answer to the Israeli demands in terms of the smuggling issue, the rocket fire and a serious discussion on the Shalit issue. Hamas will gain the reopening of the crossings, the removal of the blockade and an official role at the crossings. Abbas will receive renewed access to the Strip, only at the crossings at first, and Egypt will be able to open the Rafah crossing.

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.

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

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.

Much of Canada still locked under deep freeze
Updated Thu. Jan. 15 2009 11:43 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Canadians from the Prairies to Atlantic Canada are in the grip of an Arctic air mass that has brought frigid temperatures and harsh winds to a massive swath of the country. It's a cold one, said CTV weather specialist Jeff Hutcheson. It's even colder than yesterday and the cold has spread now into Atlantic Canada, including Newfoundland and Labrador, in terms of having wind-chill warnings there.In Saskatchewan, Manitoba, northern Ontario and much of Quebec, residents were warned by Environment Canada that wind-chill was dragging temperatures down to between -40 and -50 C. In Toronto, the temperature felt like -24 on Thursday morning. Even into Atlantic Canada, residents were bundling up as the mercury hovered between -20 and the mid minus thirties, with wind-chill factored in.

Temperatures drop in P.E.I.

Prince Edward Island, where temperatures were hovering around zero degrees as recently as Wednesday, saw a steep drop on Thursday. Environment Canada warned islanders that the wind chill would make temperatures feel as cold as -38 by the evening and into Friday morning. Here is a selection of Canadian cities, and their temperatures Thursday morning:
Regina, Sask.: -44
Winnipeg, Man.: -49
Thunder Bay, Ont.: -40
Ottawa, Ont.: --34
Toronto, Ont.: -25
Fredericton, N.B.: -38
Charlottetown, P.E.I.: -38
Sydney, N.S.: -26
Corner Brook, N.L.: -27

You've got again a situation where wind chills are exceptionally dangerous this morning and this afternoon, Hutcheson said.

Risk to exposed skin ,He warned that exposed skin can freeze in minutes under such deep-cold conditions. When temperatures are between -28 and -39, exposed skin can freeze between 10 and 30 minutes, Hutcheson said. When the mercury is between -40 and -47, it only takes five to 10 minutes. Between -48 and -54, it only takes two to five minutes for skin to freeze, he said. Calgary residents were enjoying a virtual tropical holiday, when compared with much of the rest of the country. Environment Canada's forecast for the city predicted a low of three degrees, and a high of 10 degrees, with similar temperatures lasting through the weekend. The anomaly also affected Vancouver, where temperatures were expected to reach six degrees, and Victoria, at nine degrees, and even Whitehorse, Yukon, where the temperature was four degrees.

Bitter cold is tough on financially strapped By JIM SALTER, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

ST. LOUIS – William Davis has lived on the streets since the recession cost him his job as a commercial painter. Over the last eight months, he's made it through heat waves, wind storms, rain, snow and ice.But the 51-year-old finally sought help at a homeless shelter Thursday after enduring a night shivering alongside a downtown wall in temperatures that bottomed out at zero — the coldest reading here in eight years.

People gave me blankets and food, Davis said. I had about 15 covers on me. I slept under this parking garage, where the wind came in only one direction. It was pretty rough. I can deal with it. But it's hard.The bone-numbing blast of arctic air that lingered over the Northeast and Midwest on Thursday was especially hard on Americans whose lives have been upended by the economic meltdown.Ray Redlich, assistant director of New Life Evangelistic Center in St. Louis, said the homeless population has changed as the financial crisis has grown worse. Now it includes more people like Davis who just months ago were working for a living.We found one young man in a sleeping bag under an overpass. He'd had his home foreclosed on, Redlich said.The bitter cold killed car batteries, idled ski lifts and sent millions of people scurrying indoors for warmth, and at least two deaths were initially attributed to Thursday's freezing temperatures.A 37-year-old central Illinois man was found face down in the snow — without a coat, hat or gloves — outside his condominium Thursday morning. Preliminary autopsy results indicated the 37-year-old Normal resident was intoxicated and froze to death.A 50-year-old man in southeastern Michigan appeared to have frozen to death early Thursday after being locked out of his duplex in Hamburg Township overnight.In Pollock, S.D., which dropped to a record-setting 47 below zero, Todd Moser, who works at a gas station, said it took about 10 minutes before the gas pumps started working.It just hurts to breathe out there, said Moser, adding that he could only stand it for about five minutes. After a while your face really just starts to hurt and you've just really got to get back in.The weather system descended from a large, dry air mass that had been lingering over Alaska and northern Canada for a couple of weeks before moving south. The cold stretched from Montana to Maine and as far south as Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Wind-chill advisories were issued in more than a dozen states.

Friday was expected to be even colder in the Northeast. In northern Maine, where one ski area closed and others posted frostbite warnings, communities prepared for the likelihood that the thermometer would stay below zero until Sunday.The effects of the cold snap, combined with the poor economy, were evident on frigid roads where numerous motorists became stranded.Matt Ivey, who was driving a AAA tow truck to jump start stalled cars, said many automobiles were in rough shape. Because of the economy, people don't really have enough money to repair their vehicles, he said.The economic conditions also meant that merchants such as Craig Caplan had to continue doing business, despite the discomfort of working outdoors.Caplan, owner of five pushcarts selling hats, scarves and gloves in Boston, said his credit card machine stopped printing because its ink froze.With the year we've had, you've got to come out. You can't let the weather be a deterrent, he said, referring to the rocky economy.Some other people actually benefited from the bitter cold. Kim Sherva delivered sandwiches in Minneapolis after wrapping herself in five layers, plus a hat, fuzzy earmuffs, gloves and snow boots. It's nice to do deliveries when it's really cold, because people tip you better, she said. Salt trucks in Ohio were combining calcium chloride with salt to help melt road ice. The chemical is used in mixtures when temperatures fall below 20 degrees. But when it's this cold, there's not much that works, said Mary Carran Webster, assistant public service director in Columbus. It's hard to melt anything when you have a wind chill of minus something.

Bicycle messenger Daniel Dominic was dressed in multiple layers as he delivered packages to downtown skyscrapers in Cleveland in single-digit temperatures. Still, he said: It takes your breath away. It really does.The nation's cold spots on Thursday were Garrison, N.D., and Pollock, S.D., both of which came in at 47 below zero. Records lows were recorded in Bismarck, N.D., where it was minus 44, and in Aberdeen, S.D., where it was minus 42. The deep freeze was also notable for the large geographic area affected, said Scott Stephens, a meteorologist with the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Other memorable cold snaps occurred in 2003 and 2004. The winter of 1994 had the most prolonged extreme cold of recent years, he said. When the air mass moved south, Alaska warmed up. Fairbanks topped out at 44 degrees Wednesday night after hitting 45 below zero last week. Right now as we speak, it's warmer in Fairbanks than in Nashville, said Bruce Terry, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Camp Springs, Md. That doesn't happen very often.At the bookstore at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, manager Lucy Beaulieu said she started her car a half-hour before leaving home and bundled up in a fur coat, gloves and hat. You go to work — and you go home. You don't make any unnecessary stops where you have to get out of your vehicle, she said. Her advice: You sit on the couch, read a good book, stay inside.Associated Press writers Cheryl Wittenauer in St. Louis; Carla K. Johnson in Chicago; David Sharp and Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine; Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland; Chris Williams in Minneapolis; and Kelsey Abbruzzese in Boston contributed to this report.

Weather Service offers tips on keeping warm Thu Jan 15, 11:00 am ET

Miami WASHINGTON – The unprecedented crowds expected to pack Washington on Tuesday for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama could face some of the coldest weather of the season, the National Weather Service says.The current outlook is for mostly cloudy skies with a chilly 34-degree high.Prime dangers for those standing around outdoors for long periods include frostbite and hypothermia.Hypothermia occurs when the body temperature drops below 95 degrees and it is potentially fatal. Warning signs include uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness and apparent exhaustion.Exposed body parts such as fingers, toes, ear lobes or the nose may develop frostbite. Warning signs include a loss of feeling and a white or pale appearance.In either case, prompt medical attention is needed.The Weather Service offers these safety tips:

• Dress in several layers of loose-fitting clothing to create pockets of insulating warm air.

• Wear wool or fleece fabrics, not cotton as it dries slowly.

• Wear warm socks with a thermal sock liner; comfortable, closed shoes; a scarf, hat and earmuffs to prevent loss of body heat.

• A water repellent, hooded outer garment adds extra protection.

• Mittens are better than gloves at keeping hands warm.

• Walk around or move in place to increase circulation and generate additional body heat.

• Drink warm beverages. Do not drink alcohol as it will cause a loss of body heat by dilating blood vessels.

• Seek shelter indoors periodically to warm up.

• Watch out for the elderly and very young as they are most at-risk.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

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 FRI JAN 16,2009

09:30 AM +3.18
10:00 AM +91.51
10:30 AM +94.86
11:00 AM +79.64
11:30 AM +71.20
12:00 PM -16.81
12:30 PM -91.76
01:00 PM -54.00
01:30 PM -37.23
02:00 PM -4.30
02:30 PM +19.43
03:00 PM +58.65
03:30 PM +90.24
04:00 PM +68.73 8281.22

S&P 500 850.12 +6.38

NASDAQ 1529.33 +17.49

GOLD 842.20 +34.90

OIL 35.91 +0.51

TSE 300 8920.40 +40.79

CDNX 865.65 +21.35

S&P/TSX/60 538.48 +1.79

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow +125 points at 4 minites of trading.
Dow +127 points at high today.
Dow +7 points at low today.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -6.43%
S&P -6.59%
Nasdaq -4.13%
TSX Advances 603,Declines 539,unchanged 212,Volume 942,722,182.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 270,Declines 363,Unchanged 296,Volume 94,863,529.
NYSE STATS
Advances 2,224,Declines 641,Unchanged 93,New Highs 3,New Lows 6
NASDAQ STATS
Advances 1,374,Declines 871,Unchanged 162.
10,590 HAMAS ROCKETS SHOT INTO ISRAEL SINCE 2001.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow -91 points at low today.
Dow +127 points at high today.
Circuit City will be fully liquidated as of 10am today.
35,000 people employed by Circuit City will be left without Jobs.
Intel's Q4 profit plunges 89%.
Intel's Q4 Revenue -23.2% to $8.2 BILLION.
Intel's Q4 Profit -89.7% to $234 MILLION.
CITI RESTRUCTURING
-Citi Bank now equals CITICORP - will be the profit center,made up of Global Banking Operations. Will account for 80% of profits.
-CITIHOLDINGS -Made up of non core Assets,Brokeridge,Asset management,Consumer Mortgages and all the $300+ BILLION in troubled assests earmarked for Cities law sharing program with the Government.

ABOUT 75% OF BANK OF AMERICA'S $118 BILLION ASSETS ARE FROM MERRILL LYNCH.

KEYS TO BAC DEAL(BANK OF AMERICA)
-Treasury provides $20 BILLION capital to BAC.
-Government provides guarentees on $118 BILLION asset pool.
-BAC issues Government $24 BILLION of preferred shares.
-BAC agrees to cut dividend to 1 cent off per quarter for 3 years.
DETAILS OF BAC DEAL
-BAC takes first $10 BILLION loss on $118 BILLION assest pool.
-Treasury/FDIC share next $10 BILLION.
-FED to cover remaing losses,Split 90/10 with BAC.
-Total FED exposure:$87.3 BILLION.
-overall exposure:$20.7 BILLION BAC,$97.3 BILLION GOVERNMENT.

MERRILL'S LOSSES
-Credit valuation adjustments related to monoline financial guarantor exposures of $3.22 BILLION.
-Goodwill impairments of $2.31 BILLION.
-Leveraged loan writedowns of $1.92 BILLION.
-$1.16 BILLION in U.S bank investment securities Portfolio writedowns.
-Commercial real Estate writedowns of $1.13 BILLION.

TSX STATS 12:30PM
TSX Advances 549,Declines 436,unchanged 210,Volume 355,225,646.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 292,Declines 196,Unchanged 228,Volume 59,141,317.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow -102 points at low today.
Dow +128 points at high today.
Dow +0.84% today Volume 439,358,818.00
Dow -3.6% this week.
Dow erases 1.3% drop today.
S&P 500 +0.75% today Volume N/A
S&P -4.4% this week.
Nasdaq +1.15% today Volume 2,063,770,862.00
Nasdaq -2.7% this week.
Nasdaq erases 1.4% drop today.
Citigroup falls 8% today.
Stocks fall for 2nd straight week.
Stocks advance in the afternoon today.

BANK DRPS THIS WEEK
-Citigroup -48%
-Bank of America -45%
-JP Morgan -13%

THIS WEEK ANOTHER REALITY CHECK
FOR BANKS
-Losses will be higher than anticipated.
-Feds will likely continue to dilute shareholders.
FOR STIMULUS PACKAGE
-Will not come for months.
-Impact less than imagined.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Nasdaq -3.02%
Dow -5.64%
S&P 500 -5.88%

STIMULUS PACKAGE WINNERS
-Homebuilders.
-Mortgage Lenders.
-$7,500 homebuyer tax credit may no longer have to be repaid.
-Renewable Energy Producers.
-Able to forgo tax credits-Currently 2.1 cents per killowatt hour produced-and recieve a grant equivalent to their value.
STIMULUS PACKAGE LOSERS
-Banks.
-Automakers.
-Any sector recieving TARP money does not get a big tax credit.
-Credit Unions.
-These groups wanted a provision to increase their business lending limits.

TSX FRIDAY WRAPUP STATS
TSX Advances 712,Declines 447,unchanged 216,Volume 696,066,590.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 429,Declines 244,Unchanged 307,Volume 116,052,133.

Stocks regain ground as hopes grow for bailout By SARA LEPRO and TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer JAN 15,09

NEW YORK – Wall Street pulled off a big turnaround Thursday, rebounding from a steep early drop to finish modestly higher. Investors who began the day worrying about a revival of the banking crisis grew optimistic during the session that the government will again help the financial industry.The selloff, which followed news that Bank of America Corp. needed another government cash infusion, had the Dow Jones industrials heading for a seventh straight loss. But investors awaiting a Senate vote authorizing the second $350 billion from the government's financial bailout fund became more upbeat as the day wore on. They were hoping additional money from Washington will help stabilize banks; lawmakers approved the money after the market closed.Late Thursday, Bank of America and the Treasury Department were near an agreement that would provide $15 billion to $20 billion in new government support to the banking giant, a source close to the discussions said.The market's zigzag Thursday was reminiscent of the enormous volatility seen in September and October, when worries about mounting troubles at banks and the collapse of brokerage Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. pummeled Wall Street. Swings of hundreds of points in the Dow industrials were at times terrifying but began to feel almost commonplace. Wall Street has shown relative tranquility since late November but still remains in a bear market, which can produce sharp turns.

Some analysts attributed the comeback to the market's own dynamics.

Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC, said the recovery in stocks was overdue given a 10 percent slide in the market in about a week, and he said traders were looking for any reason to rally. Saluzzi said investors might ultimately be disappointed by the government's efforts to boost the economy but that headlines about broad spending were enough to prod the market.That's the spark on top of the timber. That gets it going, he said, referring to Washington's plans. I think, bottom line, it's an oversold bounce. We'll see if it lasts.Wall Street is nervous that the money already given to banks during the fall has done little to repair their balance sheets. Bank of America, which acquired Merrill Lynch on Jan. 1., late Thursday said it would report its quarterly results early Friday rather than on Tuesday as planned.Other media organizations have had similar reports of a potential aid package for the company.There are also expectations that Citigroup will be announcing further steps to slash costs and reduce its size because of its financial problems and that other banks could require more government help.People seem to be fearing the financials again, fearing that they are going to need more funding, said Uri Landesman, head of global growth strategies at ING Investment Management.The Dow rose 12.35, or 0.15 percent, to 8,212.49 after falling the past six days. The Dow was down as much as 205 during the session and briefly slipped below the 8,000 mark. That was the first move below that psychological benchmark since Nov. 21, a day after the blue chips closed at their lowest level in more than five years.Broader stock indicators advanced Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.12, or 0.13 percent, to 843.74 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 22.20, or 1.49 percent, to 1,511.84.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 9.45, or 2.09 percent, to 462.62.Tech and small-cap stocks are often among the first places investors start buying when they think a recovery is at hand.The Dow's bounce off the 8,000 level was a welcome move by traders hoping stocks can remain above their November lows. At their weakest point Thursday, the Dow and S&P 500 index were down more than 11 percent in seven sessions.The number of stocks rising on the New York Stock Exchange outpaced those declining by about 8 to 7. Earlier decliners led gains gainers by 10-to-1. Consolidated volume came to 6.84 billion shares, compared with 5.3 billion shares traded Wednesday.

Bonds made modest moves as stocks recovered. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged at 2.20 percent from late Wednesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was unchanged at 0.10 percent from late Wednesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose. Light, sweet crude fell $1.88to settle at $35.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Bank of America news more than offset any positives from a better-than-expected earnings report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. The banking company managed to avoid a loss, reporting earnings of $702 million in the October-December quarter. Analysts had predicted the company would break even. Bank stocks still declined as the rest of the market recovered. Bank of America fell $1.88, or 18 percent, to $8.32, while Citigroup slid 70 cents, or 15 percent, to $3.83. Morgan Stanley fell 93 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $16.26. JPMorgan fell $1.57, or 6.1 percent, to $24.34. Jerome Booth, head of research at Ashmore Investment Management Ltd. in London, said banks will need additional government money if they are to resume more normal levels of lending. He contends increased funding is more urgent than a fiscal stimulus plan under consideration in Washington to help boost the economy. He said the economy will continue to struggle for years because ridding excess debt in a process known as deleveraging is necessary but painful. Fiscal policy is very important but it's not really the main issue. The main issue is to get the banking system working again because at the minute we've got a deleveraging going on but we've also got massive cardiac arrest in the banking system.Investors were also waiting Thursday for Intel Corp. earnings. The world's largest maker of computer chips had already warned investors that its fourth-quarter revenue would fall short of its initial estimates. After the close, Intel said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 90 percent. But results were still in line with Wall Street's modest expectations. Intel ended regular trading up 21 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $13.29, and it rose another 22 cents in after-hours trading. Apple Inc. fell $1.95, or 2.3 percent, to $83.38 after announcing Wednesday that Chief Executive Steve Jobs would go on medical leave until the end of June. The announcement came a week after the Apple co-founder insisted he would stay with the company. Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.42 percent, Germany's DAX index declined 1.94 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.84 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average dropped 4.92 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Congress OKs release of final $350B of bailout By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent JAN 15,09

WASHINGTON – Congress laid the foundation for President-elect Barack Obama's economic recovery plan on Thursday with remarkable speed, clearing the way for a new infusion of bailout cash for the financial industry while majority Democrats proposed spending increases and tax cuts totaling a whopping $825 billion.Two days after Obama personally lobbied for release of $350 billion in bailout funds, the Senate narrowly turned aside a bid to block the money.Across the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. said, Immediate job creation and then continuing job creation were the twin goals of the separate stimulus legislation. It recommends tax cuts for businesses and individuals while pouring billions into areas such as health care, education, energy and highway construction.She and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have pledged to have the economic stimulus bill ready for Obama's signature by mid-February.Both houses debated Obama's call to release another $350 billion from the financial bailout package, but the Senate vote was the triumph he had sought. Despite bipartisan anger over the Bush administration's handling of the program to date, Democratic allies of the incoming president prevailed on a 52-42 roll call.The vote followed a commitment by Obama to use as much as $100 billion of the funds to help homeowners facing foreclosure proceedings.The money will be available in less than two weeks, at a time when there is fresh evidence of shakiness among banks.The 44th president-to-be was at his transition office across town from the Capitol — and President Bush relegated to the role of virtual onlooker — as events played out at the dawn of a new Democratic era in government.

Obama has called for swift and bold action to confront an economic debacle unrivaled since the Great Depression.The president-elect, who travels to hardhit Ohio on Friday to promote his economic program, also announced he would convene a fiscal responsibility summit in February to focus on long-term problems with the economy and the skyrocketing costs of benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare. We've kicked this can down the road and now we are at the end of the road, he said in a Washington Post interview posted on the newspaper's Web site.In remarks on the Senate floor, Reid called the vote a victory for Obama, whom he said exhibited courage by seeking release of the money. This was a test of leadership at a time when leadership is desperately needed, he said.Obama said in a statement he was gratified with the result, adding, I know this wasn't an easy vote because of the frustration so many of us share about how the first half of this plan was implemented.Earlier, he hailed the stimulus blueprint as a significant downpayment on our most urgent challenges.The outlines of the economic stimulus measure reflected a change in political priorities, with an emphasis on spending and tax breaks designed to encourage production of alternative energy sources, make federal buildings more energy- efficient and weatherize homes.At the same time, more traditional anti-recession spending was built in. There was more than $130 billion for health care, much of it to help states cope with the rising demand for Medicaid, the health care program for the low-income and a recession-era refuge for the newly laid-off.More than $100 billion was ticketed for education, in part to help local school districts avoid the impact of state budget cuts. Billions more would increase spending for food stamps and unemployment benefits and finance expanded worker retraining programs.A written summary showed $30 billion for highway construction, $10 billion for mass transit and rail, and $3 billion for airport improvements.

In all, the outline called for $550 billion in new spending and $275 billion in tax cuts. And the $825 billion total is virtually certain to grow as the legislation advances through Congress. Initial Republican reaction was negative — and played on Obama's popularity to make a point. At first glance, it appears that my Democratic colleagues think they can borrow and spend their way back to prosperity with a half-trillion dollars of new spending and less tax relief than President-elect Obama has been talking about, said Republican Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the party's leader in the House. Democrats hold expanded majorities in both houses as the result of last fall's elections, and enactment of the stimulus measure is scarcely in doubt. At the same time, lawmakers made clear they will not hesitate to substitute their own priorities for Obama's. The president-elect's call for a business tax credit for each new job created was jettisoned by Democrats who questioned its value and preferred to use the money elsewhere. They agreed to Obama's separate proposal for a tax cut of $500 per worker and $1,000 per working couple. The documents made public did not say whether the money would come in the form of a one-time check or an adjustment in paycheck withholding. The measure does not include money to help middle- to upper-income taxpayers ensnared in the alternative minimum tax, which was originally designed to prevent the extremely wealthy from avoiding payment of taxes but now threatens more than 20 million tax filers. Several officials said the Senate was likely to include that provision in its version of the bill, a step that could push the overall total close to $900 billion. Money for the financial bailout was a tougher sell by far. Several newly elected Democrats campaigned as opponents of the program, which was launched last fall with an initial $350 billion, and lawmakers in both parties have expressed unhappiness with the Bush administration's management of the effort. On the vote, 45 Democrats, six Republicans and one independent lined up behind Obama, while 33 Republicans, eight Democrats and one independent sought to block use of the funds. Among them was Sen. John McCain, who campaigned vigorously for creation of the original bailout program as Republican presidential candidate last fall. Obama lobbied Democrats in private earlier in the week not to stand in the way of release of the remaining $350 billion, and a top aide followed up with a written commitment to Reid. In it, Lawrence H. Summers, pledged that $50 billion to $100 billion would be dedicated to a sweeping foreclosure mitigation plan for responsible homeowners.In search of Republican support, Summers also said that apart from a commitment to help the Big 3 automakers survive, the new administration did not intend to intervene financially in individual industries outside the financial sector. While the Senate vote assured the money would be available, the House debated a measure to attach conditions on its use. A vote was delayed. EDITORS NOTE —Associated Press reporters Jim Kuhnhenn and Andrew Taylor contributed to this story.

Oil Settles Below $36 on Sagging Demand Outlook 15 Jan 2009 | 05:13 PM CNBC

U.S. light, sweet crude [US@CL.1 35.59 0.19 (+0.54%)] fell $1.88, or 5 percent, to settle at $35.40 a barrel.London Brent crude [GB@IB.1 47.68 --- UNCH (0)] also traded lower, maintaining an unusual premium to the U.S. benchmark.The losses came after U.S. data showing the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week and U.S. foreclosure activity jumped 81 percent in 2008, suggesting the recession is deepening.The gloomy global economic outlook prompted OPEC on Thursday to forecast a fall of 180,000 barrels per day in world oil demand this year, 30,000 bpd steeper than its previous forecast.Earlier in the week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast a world consumption drop of more than 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year.U.S. refiners, facing slumping demand from consumers and businesses, have been putting crude oil into storage instead of into processing units, pushing stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub—the delivery point for U.S. crude futures—to record highs.

The brimming inventories at Cushing have upended U.S. crude's relationship with Brent, driving the higher-quality grade well below its European counterpart.The American Petroleum Institute Thursday said U.S. demand for crude oil and petroleum products slid 5.9 percent in December from a year earlier, with demand in 2008 dropping at the fastest rate in almost three decades due to high energy prices and the slumping economy.U.S. oil prices struck a peak of $147 a barrel in July but have tumbled since because of the economic crisis.The considerable uncertainty about the course of the recovery implies the potential for further deterioration in world oil demand growth this year,'' OPEC said in its Monthly Oil Market Report.This could build a case for the producer group to cut output again after already reducing supply by about 4 million bpd since September to try to halt the oil price slide.
2009 Reuters.

ECB cuts interest rate by 0.5 percent
ANDREW WILLIS 15.01.2009 @ 17:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After a two-day meeting, the governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided Thursday (15 January) to cut interest rates for the eurozone by 0.5 percent, bringing the current interest rate for the area to just 2 percent.This is the lowest interest rate level in the history of the monetary union, which recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. In an interview with this website, senior economist at ING Peter Vanden Houte said this latest cut was not a foregone conclusion following the central bank's record 0.75 percent cut only last month.But recent economic indicators have been worse than expected so doing nothing was not an option for the bank, Mr Vanden Houte said. So instead they went for a 50 basis point cut which was probably a wise thing.After the meeting, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said in a press conference that the decision was based on a reduction in inflationary pressures, largely driven by the global economic slowdown and the reduction in commodity prices. He pointed out that the decision was made unanimously by ECB board members and took into account a further slowdown in the eurozone economy predicted for the coming months. The European statistics office, Eurostat, released new inflationary figures Thursday which showed annual inflation for the euro area was 1.6 percent in December 2008, down from 2.1 percent in November. For the 27-member EU, annual inflation was 2.2 percent in December, down from 2.8 percent in November.

December inflation figures within the EU ranged from a low of 0.7 percent in Luxembourg to a high of 10.4 percent in Latvia. Mr Trichet said the ECB expected inflation to continue to decline to very, very low levels towards the middle point of 2009 after which it would start to rise again. Trichet says very, very low levels but inflation may actually be negative by mid year, Mr Vanden Houte predicted. The prospect of deflation and further economic bad news means further rate cuts may be on the way. We will probably see another interest rate cut by 50 basis points (0.5 percent) at the ECB's March meeting and that will not be the end, Mr Vanden Houte said. However Mr Trichet stressed at the press conference that the ECB would also strive to avoid a liquidity trap.Economists define a liquidity trap as a situation in which short-term interest rates are close to zero but fail to boost the economy.

The level of uncertainty remains exceptionally high, Mr Trichet said.

Referring to an OECD report Wednesday that called for a single regulator for financial institutions, Mr. Trichet said there were provisions in the current Treaties (Article 105.6) that could be invoked to enable the ECB to play a greater role in this area.

EU likely to face one more week without gas
ELITSA VUCHEVA 15.01.2009 @ 17:37 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU has welcomed the idea of a gas mini-summit in Moscow this weekend. But Russian supplies are unlikely to resume before the meeting, while experts say it will take several more days for gas to reach the EU even if there is an accord.The EU on Thursday (15 January) agreed to send energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Czech energy minister Martin Riman for a high-level meeting in Moscow on Saturday, if Russian and Ukrainian delegates are to be fully mandated to find a lasting solution.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday proposed holding the event, also inviting the leaders of any affected EU states. Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko swiftly agreed to the meeting. But late Thursday, the office of Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko said it should take place in Brussels or Prague -the capital of the current EU presidency.It is illogical ...to hold it in a capital of one of the parties to the gas conflict, his office said.Whether the event takes place here or there, the EU is worried Russian gas flows are unlikely to restart before the talks, with Brussels, London and Paris all urging Moscow and Kiev to open taps right away. The meeting should not be used as an excuse for further delays. All this has gone on for too long, European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who visited Kiev and Moscow on Wednesday to talk about the crisis, said he was pessimistic gas deliveries would be restored any time soon.That's practically impossible, he told reporters in Bratislava, AP reports.

If the Moscow talks see a breakthrough and normal flows are resumed on 18 January, it would still take well into the middle of next week before the EU sees the gas, experts say, scotching previous Ukrainian estimates of a`36-hour technical lag.
Operational challenges on the Russian and Ukrainian gas transportation system due to the cease of Russian gas deliveries on to Ukraine on 1 January ...are of an unprecedented magnitude, the head of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) secretariat, George Verberg, said on Thursday.The public should have a realistic view that the overall operation is likely to take several days.The ECT is a 1994 multilateral transit treaty designed to protect Western investors in post-Soviet countries.The gas deadlock persisted on Thursday, as Russia once again offered to send a small volume of gas to the EU using a Ukraine pipeline route that would force Kiev to cut off millions of domestic clients.A team of EU monitors in place in Russia and Ukraine since the weekend have voiced sympathy with Ukraine over the problematic Russian choice of transit route.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is to meet Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Berlin on Friday, on Thursday warned Russia risks damaging EU relations if the crisis drags out.I believe there is a danger that Russia will lose a chunk of its credibility if there is a long interruption of gas deliveries, she said.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: 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 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

EU states criticised for human rights violations
VALENTINA POP 15.01.2009 @ 09:28 CET

Human rights violations in counterterrorism measures, poor detention conditions and curbs on freedom of expression and the right to privacy are the among the key concerns in a new report on human rights issues in Europe.Migration and asylum policies remain focused on keeping irregular migrants, including children, out of the EU and removing those who are present rather than ensuring their rights are protected. Racist and xenophobic incidents and policies, particularly affecting the Roma and Sinti, Jewish, and Muslim populations, as well as migrants, were an issue in a number of EU states, the report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.Carried out in 90 countries and territories worldwide, the HRW report released on Wednesday (14 January) draws on events in 2008.Referring to the EU agreement on immigration adopted by member states in October, the report notes that it raises concerns about its potential impact on the right to family life and the prohibition on return to a risk of persecution or ill-treatment.The common standards and procedures adopted in June 2008 for returning illegally staying third-country nationals, which will come into effect in 2010, permits the detention of undocumented migrants and failed asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, for up to 18 months, the report warns. It points out that in October 2008 the UN high commissioner for human rights criticized the detention periods in the directive as excessive and an erosion of the right to liberty for migrants.

Racism and discrimination on the rise

Italy's policies against Roma populations are strongly criticised by the human rights watchdog, as well as Germany's racism-related incidents against Jewish, Muslim, Roma and Sinti communities, but also against German nationals of foreign origin and African asylum seekers.

Greek asylum and detention policies were also criticised.

HRW reports that Greek police systematically arrest migrants on Greek territory, including a large proportion of Iraqis, detain them for days without providing legally required registration, and in some cases beat or otherwise ill-treat them.

Migrants are regularly forcibly and secretly expelled to Turkey without consideration of their protection needs.The study also criticises both France and the United Kingdom for their counterterrorism policies, which often leave suspects in police arrest without access to a lawyer or information on their right to remain silent.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Kissinger affirms call for new world order Proposes globalism to solve current world economic crisis January 15, 2009 3:58 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi 2009 WorldNetDaily

Henry Kissinger
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger reaffirmed his call for the incoming Obama administration to use the current financial crisis to create a new world order, in a commentary piece for the International Herald Tribune. Kissinger's commentary makes clear globalists intend to utilize the current global financial meltdown to advance globalism. In developing his call for action, Kissinger also makes clear his view of globalism involves a lessening of American power and influence to elevate other less advantaged countries in the global economy. Read Hope of the Wicked, in which author Ted Flynn reveals the greatest deception in modern history – corporations, foundations and governments converging to bring about a New World Order.The economic world has been globalized, Kissinger proclaimed. Its institutions have a global reach and have operated by maxims that assumed a self-regulating global market.

Kissinger warns against individual countries taking action through national political institutions to cushion the shock of the current financial decline, with a view to ameliorating their domestic economies. Rather than focus on domestic politics, Kissinger says the solution involves more globalism. Every major country has attempted to solve its immediate problems essentially on its own and to defer common action to a later, less crisis-driven point, Kissinger wrote. So called rescue packages have emerged on a piecemeal national basis, generally by substituting unlimited governmental credit for the domestic credit that produced the debacle in the first place – so far without more than stemming incipient panic.

Kissinger strongly objects to nation-states action as such to protect their domestic economies. In the end, the political and economic systems can be harmonized in only one of two ways: by creating an international political regulatory system with the same reach as that of the economic world, he suggests, or by shrinking the economic units to a size manageable by existing political structures, which is likely to lead to a new mercantilism, perhaps of regional units.Kissinger clearly prefers creating global political institutions to manage the global economy. He positions his alternative, mercantilism, as a system reminiscent of a 14th century Venetian economic structure, as objectionable as the protectionism globalists typically rail against. Kissinger also chides America for being overbearing, suggesting that righteousness has characterized too many American attitudes, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union.He charges that American righteousness has resulted in a certain inherent unilateralism – the standard of European critics – or else an insistent kind of consultation by which nations were invited to prove their fitness to enter the international system by conforming to American prescriptions.Not since JFK has a president like Obama come on the scene, with such a reservoir of expectations,Kissinger argues. Kissinger believes the U.S. partnerships with the European Union and China are the keystones to developing his perception of the new world order. He acknowledges the global financial collapse has devastated Chinese exports, threatening to lower Chinese growth to below the 7.5 percent rate that Chinese experts have always defined as the line that challenges political stability.

Yet, he warns that if protectionism grows in America or if China comes to be seen as a long-term adversary, a self-fulfilling prophecy may blight the prospects of global order.Kissinger wants his vision of the new world order to be built upon a trans-Atlantic reality in which the U.S. combines economically and politically with the European Union, and a trans-Pacific reality in which the U.S. combines with China. An international order can be permanent only if its participants have a share not only in building but also securing it, he concludes. In this manner, America and its potential partners have a unique opportunity to transform a moment of crisis into a vision of hope.As WND previously reported, Kissinger, who has long proclaimed the need for a new world order, is now focusing his request on Obama, urging the incoming president to seize upon the current financial crisis as a pathway to creating globalist political structures as a solution. The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada, published in July 2007, predicted that an approaching collapse of the dollar would be followed by a global recession paving the way for a North American Union regional configuration in which U.S. sovereignty would fade. WND also has reported Kissinger is a leading participant in various global meetings, including those held by the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group and the Davos World Economic Forum.

The chance for a new world order By Henry A. Kissinger Published: January 12, 2009

As the new U.S. administration prepares to take office amid grave financial and international crises, it may seem counterintuitive to argue that the very unsettled nature of the international system generates a unique opportunity for creative diplomacy.That opportunity involves a seeming contradiction. On one level, the financial collapse represents a major blow to the standing of the United States. While American political judgments have often proved controversial, the American prescription for a world financial order has generally been unchallenged. Now disillusionment with the United States' management of it is widespread.At the same time, the magnitude of the debacle makes it impossible for the rest of the world to shelter any longer behind American predominance or American failings.Every country will have to reassess its own contribution to the prevailing crisis. Each will seek to make itself independent, to the greatest possible degree, of the conditions that produced the collapse; at the same time, each will be obliged to face the reality that its dilemmas can be mastered only by common action.Even the most affluent countries will confront shrinking resources. Each will have to redefine its national priorities. An international order will emerge if a system of compatible priorities comes into being. It will fragment disastrously if the various priorities cannot be reconciled.

The U.S. and China can't afford not to get along

Scrambling to find a phone number for Europe
The nadir of the existing international financial system coincides with simultaneous political crises around the globe. Never have so many transformations occurred at the same time in so many different parts of the world and been made globally accessible via instantaneous communication. The alternative to a new international order is chaos.The financial and political crises are, in fact, closely related partly because, during the period of economic exuberance, a gap had opened up between the economic and the political organization of the world.The economic world has been globalized. Its institutions have a global reach and have operated by maxims that assumed a self-regulating global market.The financial collapse exposed the mirage. It made evident the absence of global institutions to cushion the shock and to reverse the trend. Inevitably, when the affected publics turned to their national political institutions, these were driven principally by domestic politics, not considerations of world order.Every major country has attempted to solve its immediate problems essentially on its own and to defer common action to a later, less crisis-driven point. So-called rescue packages have emerged on a piecemeal national basis, generally by substituting seemingly unlimited governmental credit for the domestic credit that produced the debacle in the first place - so far without more than stemming incipient panic.International order will not come about either in the political or economic field until there emerge general rules toward which countries can orient themselves.In the end, the political and economic systems can be harmonized in only one of two ways: by creating an international political regulatory system with the same reach as that of the economic world; or by shrinking the economic units to a size manageable by existing political structures, which is likely to lead to a new mercantilism, perhaps of regional units.A new Bretton Woods-kind of global agreement is by far the preferable outcome. America's role in this enterprise will be decisive. Paradoxically, American influence will be great in proportion to the modesty in our conduct; we need to modify the righteousness that has characterized too many American attitudes, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

That seminal event and the subsequent period of nearly uninterrupted global growth induced too many to equate world order with the acceptance of American designs, including our domestic preferences.The result was a certain inherent unilateralism - the standard complaint of European critics - or else an insistent kind of consultation by which nations were invited to prove their fitness to enter the international system by conforming to American prescriptions.Not since the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy half a century ago has a new administration come into office with such a reservoir of expectations. It is unprecedented that all the principal actors on the world stage are avowing their desire to undertake the transformations imposed on them by the world crisis in collaboration with the United States.The extraordinary impact of the president-elect on the imagination of humanity is an important element in shaping a new world order. But it defines an opportunity, not a policy.The ultimate challenge is to shape the common concern of most countries and all major ones regarding the economic crisis, together with a common fear of jihadist terrorism, into a common strategy reinforced by the realization that the new issues like proliferation, energy and climate change permit no national or regional solution.The new administration could make no worse mistake than to rest on its initial popularity. The cooperative mood of the moment needs to be channeled into a grand strategy going beyond the controversies of the recent past.The charge of American unilateralism has some basis in fact; it also has become an alibi for a key European difference with America: that the United States still conducts itself as a national state capable of asking its people for sacrifices for the sake of the future, while Europe, suspended between abandoning its national framework and a yet-to-be-reached political substitute, finds it much harder to defer present benefits.Hence its concentration on soft power. Most Atlantic controversies have been substantive and only marginally procedural; there would have been conflict no matter how intense the consultation. The Atlantic partnership will depend much more on common policies than agreed procedures.The role of China in a new world order is equally crucial. A relationship that started on both sides as essentially a strategic design to constrain a common adversary has evolved over the decades into a pillar of the international system.China made possible the American consumption splurge by buying American debt; America helped the modernization and reform of the Chinese economy by opening its markets to Chinese goods.Both sides overestimated the durability of this arrangement. But while it lasted, it sustained unprecedented global growth. It mitigated as well the concerns over China's role once China emerged in full force as a fellow superpower. A consensus had developed according to which adversarial relations between these pillars of the international system would destroy much that had been achieved and benefit no one. That conviction needs to be preserved and reinforced.Each side of the Pacific needs the cooperation of the other in addressing the consequences of the financial crisis. Now that the global financial collapse has devastated Chinese export markets, China is emphasizing infrastructure development and domestic consumption.

It will not be easy to shift gears rapidly, and the Chinese growth rate may fall temporarily below the 7.5 percent that Chinese experts have always defined as the line that challenges political stability. America needs Chinese cooperation to address its current account imbalance and to prevent its exploding deficits from sparking a devastating inflation.What kind of global economic order arises will depend importantly on how China and America deal with each other over the next few years. A frustrated China may take another look at an exclusive regional Asian structure, for which the nucleus already exists in the Asean-plus-three concept.At the same time, if protectionism grows in America or if China comes to be seen as a long-term adversary, a self-fulfilling prophecy may blight the prospects of global order.Such a return to mercantilism and 19th-century diplomacy would divide the world into competing regional units with dangerous long-term consequences.The Sino-American relationship needs to be taken to a new level. The current crisis can be overcome only by developing a sense of common purpose. Such issues as proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, energy and the environment demand strengthened political ties between China and the United States.This generation of leaders has the opportunity to shape trans-Pacific relations into a design for a common destiny, much as was done with trans-Atlantic relations in the immediate postwar period - except that the challenges now are more political and economic than military.Such a vision must embrace as well such countries as Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, whether as part of trans-Pacific structures or, in regional arrangements, dealing with special subjects as energy, proliferation and the environment.The complexity of the emerging world requires from America a more historical approach than the insistence that every problem has a final solution expressible in programs with specific time limits not infrequently geared to our political process.We must learn to operate within the attainable and be prepared to pursue ultimate ends by the accumulation of nuance.An international order can be permanent only if its participants have a share not only in building but also in securing it. In this manner, America and its potential partners have a unique opportunity to transform a moment of crisis into a vision of hope.Henry A. Kissinger served as national security adviser and as secretary of state in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Distributed by Tribune Media Services.

Speech's text: Bush thanks nation for its trust He praises the vitality of American democracy, gives best wishes to Obama JAN 15,2009 8PM-CNBC

updated 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
President George W. Bush's farewell address to the nation as prepared for deliver:

Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your President. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence - a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey we have traveled together and the future of our Nation.

Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose story reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole Nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls. Tonight I am filled with gratitude - to Vice President Cheney and members of the Administration; to Laura, who brought joy to this house and love to my life; to our wonderful daughters, Barbara and Jenna; to my parents, whose examples have provided strength for a lifetime. And above all, I thank the American people for the trust you have given me. I thank you for the prayers that have lifted my spirits. And I thank you for the countless acts of courage, generosity, and grace that I have witnessed these past eight years.

On Sept. 11,. 2001
This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house - September 11, 2001. That morning, terrorists took nearly 3,000 lives in the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor. I remember standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center three days later, surrounded by rescuers who had been working around the clock. I remember talking to brave souls who charged through smoke-filled corridors at the Pentagon and to husbands and wives whose loved ones became heroes aboard Flight 93. I remember Arlene Howard, who gave me her fallen son's police shield as a reminder of all that was lost. And I still carry his badge. As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before Nine-Eleven. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our Nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe. Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security has been created. The military, the intelligence community, and the FBI have been transformed. Our Nation is equipped with new tools to monitor the terrorists' movements, freeze their finances, and break up their plots. And with strong allies at our side, we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them. Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States. There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. This is a tribute to those who toil day and night to keep us safe - law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

Praise for military
Our Nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger. I have cherished meeting these selfless patriots and their families. America owes you a debt of gratitude. And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your Commander in Chief. The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God and that liberty and justice light the path to peace. This is the belief that gave birth to our Nation. And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism. So around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights, and human dignity. We are standing with dissidents and young democracies, providing AIDS medicine to bring dying patients back to life, and sparing mothers and babies from malaria. And this great republic born alone in liberty is leading the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations. For eight years, we have also strived to expand opportunity and hope here at home. Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools. A new Medicare prescription drug benefit is bringing peace of mind to seniors and the disabled. Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes. The addicted and suffering are finding new hope through faith-based programs. Vulnerable human life is better protected. Funding for our veterans has nearly doubled. America's air, water, and lands are measurably cleaner. And the Federal bench includes wise new members like Justice Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Tough times for families
When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy. These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted. All Americans are in this together. And together, with determination and hard work, we will restore our economy to the path of growth. We will show the world once again the resilience of America's free enterprise system. Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions. The decades ahead will bring more hard choices for our country, and there are some guiding principles that should shape our course. While our Nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack. Our enemies are patient and determined to strike again. America did nothing to seek or deserve this conflict. But we have been given solemn responsibilities, and we must meet them. We must resist complacency. We must keep our resolve. And we must never let down our guard. At the same time, we must continue to engage the world with confidence and clear purpose. In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger. In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad. If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led.

Maintain moral clarity
As we address these challenges - and others we cannot foresee tonight - America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This Nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace.

President Thomas Jefferson once wrote, I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. As I leave the house he occupied two centuries ago, I share that optimism. America is a young country, full of vitality, constantly growing and renewing itself. And even in the toughest times, we lift our eyes to the broad horizon ahead. I have confidence in the promise of America because I know the character of our people. This is a Nation that inspires immigrants to risk everything for the dream of freedom. This is a Nation where citizens show calm in times of danger and compassion in the face of suffering. We see examples of America's character all around us. And Laura and I have invited some of them to join us in the White House this evening. We see America's character in Dr. Tony Recasner, a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. We see it in Julio Medina, a former inmate who leads a faith-based program to help prisoners returning to society. We see it in Staff Sergeant Aubrey McDade, who charged into an ambush in Iraq and rescued three of his fellow Marines. We see America's character in Bill Krissoff, a surgeon from California. His son Nathan, a Marine, gave his life in Iraq. When I met Dr. Krissoff and his family, he delivered some surprising news: He told me he wanted to join the Navy Medical Corps in honor of his son. This good man was 60 years old - 18 years above the age limit. But his petition for a waiver was granted, and for the past year he has trained in battlefield medicine. Lieutenant Commander Krissoff could not be here tonight, because he will soon deploy to Iraq, where he will help save America's wounded warriors and uphold the legacy of his fallen son.

The best of our country
In citizens like these, we see the best of our country - resilient and hopeful, caring and strong. These virtues give me an unshakable faith in America. We have faced danger and trial, and there is more ahead. But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great Nation will never tire … never falter … and never fail. It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your President. There have been good days and tough days. But every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this Nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other: citizen of the United States of America.
And so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next President. And may God bless you and our wonderful country.

DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)

Science closing in on cloak of invisibility Thu Jan 15, 3:21 pm ET

WASHINGTON – They can't match Harry Potter yet, but scientists are moving closer to creating a real cloak of invisibility.Researchers at Duke University, who developed a material that can cloak an item from detection by microwaves, report that they have expanded the number of wavelengths they can block.In 2006 the team reported they had developed so-called metamaterials that could deflect microwaves around a three-dimensional object, essentially making it invisible to the waves.The system works like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.The researchers report in Thursday's edition of the journal Science that they have developed a series of mathematical commands to guide the development of more types of metamaterials to cloak objects from an increasing range of electromagnetic waves.The new device can cloak a much wider spectrum of waves — nearly limitless — and will scale far more easily to infrared and visible light. The approach we used should help us expand and improve our abilities to cloak different types of waves, senior researcher David R. Smith said in a statement.The new cloak is made up of more than 10,000 individual pieces of fiberglass arranged in parallel rows. The mathematical formulas are used to determine the shape and placement of each piece to deflect the electromagnetic waves.The research was supported by Raytheon Missile Systems, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, InnovateHan Technology, the National Science Foundation of China, the National Basic Research Program of China and National Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China.
On the Net:Science: http://www.sciencemag.org(This version CORRECTS last August to In 2006.)

DAY 20 ISRAEL IN GAZA PROTECTING ISRAELIS

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)

EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK)

REVELATION 18:10
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.

Atheists want God stricken from inaugural oath Wed Jan 14, 7:54 pm ET

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama wants to conclude his inaugural oath with the words so help me God, but a group of atheists is asking a federal judge to stop him.California atheist Michael Newdow sued Chief Justice John Roberts in federal court for an injunction barring the use of those words in the inaugural oath.Newdow and other atheists and agnostics also want to stop the use of prayers during the inaugural celebration.Newdow, who lost a Supreme Court battle to get the words under God taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance, has failed in similar challenges to the use of religious words and prayers at President George W. Bush's inaugurations.

Roberts' attorney Jeffrey P. Minear filed a document in Newdow's lawsuit saying that Obama wants the words so help me God included in his oath of office.The Justice Department and attorneys general from all 50 states have filed motions at the federal court asking for the lawsuit to be thrown out.The oath dictated by the Constitution is 35 words long and reads: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.The National Archives says that George Washington added the words so help me God when he took the oath at his 1789 inaugural, and most presidents have used it since. However, some have argued that the first eyewitness account of a president using those words came at President Chester Arthur's inauguration in 1881.Named in Newdow's lawsuit are Roberts; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and the two pastors invited to the event, the Rev. Rick Warren and the Rev. Joseph Lowery.U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton will hear arguments on Thursday.

REVELATION 20:11-15
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

THESE GODLESS DON'T THINK THEY HAVE TO GIVE ACCOUNT TO JESUS,WELL DO I HAVE NEWS FOR THEM AT THEIR DEATH,THEN AT THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST FOR SINNERS.

Atheist advertising campaign spreads to Spain JAN 14,09

Adverts denying the existence of God began appearing on buses in Spain on Monday as part of a campaign inspired by a similar initiative that got underway earlier this month in Britain.BARCELONA -The ads on buses that service two routes in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, read: There's probably no God. Stop worrying and enjoy your life in Catalan.They were paid for by the Catalan branch of Spain's Union for Atheists and Free Thinkers (UAL).The same message was plastered on roughly 800 buses and in London's subway system several weeks ago, angering believers in Britain.The Barcelona archbishop's office has already condemned the campaign, saying in a statement that for believers, faith in God was not an obstacle to enjoying life, but a solid foundation to live life with an attitude of solidarity, peace and a sense of transcendence.This campaign is not against believers, it is not even addressed to them. It is addressed to atheists, who are regularly threatened with punishments in a country with a strong Catholic tradition, the president of the Catalan branch of UAL, Albert Riba, told AFP.We want to tell non-believers: Relax, God probably does not exist, he added.The association wants to extend the campaign to the rest of the country, on buses in Madrid, Valencia on the Mediterranean coast, Bilbao in the northeast and Seville in the southwest.It has so far collected 15,500 euros (21,000 US dollars) through its web site to finance the ad campaign.In anticipation of the atheist advertising campaign, an evangelical pastor in Madrid has already paid for an opposing message to appear on a suburban bus route in Madrid that says: Yes, God exists. Make the most of life with Christ.[AFP/ Expatica]

PSALMS 20:1-9 PRAY THIS FOR ISRAEL EVERY DAY OF THIS WAR
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

HAMAS AT THERE WORST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptNr0v1p3E

WAR COVERAGE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Special/War/

Israel Sets Terms as Hamas Inches Closer to 10-Day Ceasefire
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu JAN 15,09

(IsraelNN.com) Hamas is inching closer towards accepting a 10-day ceasefire in Gaza, and Amos Gilad, head of the security-political bureau of the Defense Ministry, is to visit Cairo Thursday to hear details. Israel has set its conditions for a halt to the fighting, and it is not year clear what Hamas will accept and demand.Hamas sounded less militant, with terrorist spokesman Ghazi Hamad telling the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), I am optimistic now because I think there is no other choice for us.... This kind of agreement can be done now, and I think now there is good progress in Egypt. We hope that now Egypt will contact Israel and talk about all issues.However, warring factions in Hamas show a split in unity, which has been magnified by local leaders' being under pressure from outside control of Iran and Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.We do not agree with the initiative as it stands now, Beirut-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera television.

Israel has demanded ironclad guarantees from the United States and the international community that Hamas will not exploit a ceasefire to continue smuggling weapons into Gaza by land and sea. The government has not mentioned the return of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit nor has it spoken of the terrorist army and arsenal of rockets that Hamas would retain during a truce. The Egyptian ceasefire proposal includes a 10-day halt to the fighting until details are worked out for security at the border between Egypt and Gaza. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza, a condition that Hamas previously has rejected but now is considering, according to the Associated Press.

Israel continued to strike deep into Gaza overnight Wednesday, killing at least two suspected terrorists outside the home of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar. Fighting intensified in the Gaza City neighborhood el-Hawa as the Gaza death toll passed 1,000, mostly members and terrorists of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions.At least seven terrorists were killed late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

IDF HITS FROM,AIR,GROUND,SEA
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129432

Rockets in South, False Alarm in Jerusalem
by Maayana Miskin JAN 14,09

(IsraelNN.com) Gaza terrorists fired several rockets at southern Israel early on Wednesday afternoon. The attacks took place during the daily three-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, during which the IDF stops fighting to allow humanitarian supplies to reach civilians.Terrorists aimed rockets at Ashdod, Ashkelon, Yavne, Be'er Sheva, Sderot and small towns in the Gaza Belt area. Strikes were reported in open areas outside Be'er Sheva, Yavne and Ashdod. The rockets did not cause injury or damage. One rocket hit a small agricultural community in the Sdot HaNegev region, causing damage but no injury.

False Alarm in Jerusalem
At 1:00 p.m. a rocket alert siren sounded in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Maaleh Adumim. The siren caused mild panic, and hundreds of residents called MDA paramedics for instructions.Home Front Command officials said the alarm was caused by a technical malfunction. No actual attack took place, and no trial of the system had been scheduled.Some residents of Beit Shemesh reported hearing an explosion following the alarm. Defense officials conducted a brief investigation and determined that the noise did not result from an attack, but rather was related to ongoing work in the area.

Gaza Terrorists Fire Phosphorus Shell
by Maayana Miskin JAN 15,09

(IsraelNN.com) A phosphorus mortar shell was among the 16 rockets and shells fired at Israel by early Wednesday afternoon. Gaza terrorists fired the shell at the Eshkol region. The shell hit an open area and did not cause injury.Local officials expressed concern over the use of a new, more deadly weapon. The potential danger is enormous, one warned. The phosphorus shell is more dangerous than the usual rockets and mortar shells fired at the region, he explained.Eshkol Council head Chaim Yelin said the attack showed that Hamas is using illegal weapons.While expressing concern over the attack, Yelin said he was more concerned by the frequency of rocket attacks on the region. While the frequency of attacks on large cities has dropped, the Eshkol region is still hit by several rockets each day, he said. Israel must continue to fight until the region is quiet, he said, adding, We must not forget that we went to war in order to bring quiet to communities on the front line.

Earlier this week Hamas accused Israel of using phosphorus in Gaza. Several foreign officials working with Gaza humanitarian groups have echoed the claim while taking care to state that the allegations have not been proven. IDF officials have rejected the allegations.Phosphorus bombs and shells scatter burning phosphorus on impact. A phosphorus head makes a rocket more likely to cause a serious fire or to burn anyone in proximity of a strike.

10-day truce proposed in talks with Hamas, Israel By SALAH NASRAWI and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writers JAN 14,09

CAIRO, Egypt – Egypt and Hamas are close to a deal for a 10-day cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, where the death toll from the Israeli offensive exceeded 1,000, officials said Wednesday. Egyptian and Hamas officials expressed optimism that an agreement for a temporary halt in fighting could be sealed soon and presented to Israel.But even if all sides sign on, further talks will be needed to resolve contentious disputes over policing Gaza's borders and ensure a longer-term truce.We're working with Hamas and we're working with the Israeli side. We hope to reach an outcome soon, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told the British Broadcasting Corp.Nine Israeli human rights groups accused the army of endangering Gazan civilians and called for a war crimes investigation. The groups wrote to Israeli leaders that the Gaza campaign has left civilians with nowhere to flee. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel supports freedom of expression, even if an opinion is not based on any solid evidence and even if it is tainted with political bias.Guerrillas in Lebanon sent rockets crashing into northern Israel on Wednesday for the second time in a week, drawing an Israeli artillery barrage and threatening to drag the Jewish state into a second front.Egyptian and Hamas officials held intensive talks in Cairo. Late Wednesday, Salah al-Bardawil, a Gaza-based Hamas official, stopped short of saying Hamas had accepted the Egyptian proposal. He told reporters that we submitted our points of view on the proposed deal, adding, We hope that this Egyptian effort will succeed.Ghazi Hamad, another Gaza-based Hamas official, told the BBC, I am optimistic now because I think there is no other choice for us. ... This kind of agreement can be done now, and I think now there is good progress in Egypt. We hope that now Egypt will contact Israel and talk about all issues.But there were signs Hamas' leadership-in-exile had reservations. Osama Hamdan, a leading Hamas official in Beirut, said there were still points Hamas had not agreed to. We do not agree with the initiative as it stands now, he told Al-Jazeera TV.

The contradictory comments were the latest sign of cracks between Hamas leaders under fire in Gaza and the leadership-in-exile, which is largely based in Syria and is seen as more hard-line. Hamas officials, however, insist that the movement is unified, and it was not clear if Hamdan's tougher tone was a negotiating tactic or a sign of division.Israel launched its offensive Dec. 27 to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks. It has said it will press forward until Hamas halts the rocket fire and receives guarantees that Hamas will stop smuggling weapons into Gaza through the porous Egyptian border.The offensive has killed at least 1,025 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, including 300 children and teenagers, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry. The toll included 68 Palestinians who were killed or died of wounds Wednesday. More than 4,500 Palestinians have been wounded, medical officials said. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed, four by rocket fire from Gaza.Jakob Kellenberger, head of the international Red Cross, welcomed the three-hour daily lulls in the fighting set by Israelis to let groups send in aid and assist the wounded in Gaza, but he said more time was needed.You must have access at any time to people who are wounded, he said.Israel showed no signs of slowing its bruising offensive as fighting raged early Thursday north and south of Gaza City, where explosions and gunfire could be heard. Hospital officials said seven people were killed — four militants shortly after midnight in southern Gaza and three people an hour later in Gaza City.On Wednesday, Israel struck some 60 targets. One airstrike hit an overcrowded cemetery, spreading human remains over a wide area. The army said the airstrike targeted a weapons cache hidden near the graveyard. And two firefighters were killed in an airstrike as they extinguished a blaze started by a shell in a residential building, Palestinian medics said.Under the Egyptian proposal, Hamas would back off its demand that Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza and borders be opened immediately as part of any halt in fighting.Instead, Israeli forces would remain in place during a 10-day cease-fire until details on border security are worked out, Egyptian and Palestinian officials close to the talks told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the closed-door negotiations.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met late Wednesday with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss the cease-fire efforts. In a sign of progress, Israel's chief negotiator, Amos Gilad, planned to fly to Egypt on Thursday to present Israel's stance, a senior defense official said. Gilad had put off the trip in recent days, saying the time was not yet ripe. A senior Israeli official said it was far from certain that Israel would accept the deal. He said Israel welcomed many parts of the plan, but is concerned that Hamas will not respect a cease-fire as long as troops are in Gaza. The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. Israel has made clear that the Cairo talks are key to determining whether it widens its offensive.

Israeli leaders signaled that they have crippled Hamas to their satisfaction after 19days of heavy bombardment and ground fighting, but were holding out for international guarantees that weapons would no longer be smuggled into Gaza. The rocket fire from Lebanon caused no injuries, but sent residents scurrying to bomb shelters. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and speculation focused on small Palestinian groups. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrilla group that fought a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, denied involvement in last week's attack. In a Web audiotape Wednesday, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a holy war against Israel. Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious opinion, or fatwa, forbidding the purchase of any Israeli goods or trade with Israeli companies. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a visit to the Mideast on Wednesday, urging an immediate halt to the violence. It is intolerable that civilians bear the brunt of this conflict, he said after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Negotiations need to be intensified to provide arrangements and guarantees in order to sustain an endurable cease-fire and calm.Ban is scheduled to arrive Thursday in Israel. He will also visit Jordan, the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait. His itinerary does not include a stop in Gaza because of the ongoing conflict. In Paris, the French and German foreign ministers urged an immediate Gaza cease-fire, saying in a statement that such a measure would provide space to address the humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, both Venezuela and Bolivia broke diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza, a week after Venezuela expelled Israel's ambassador. Both Latin nations have cultivated ties to Iran, which supports Hamas.

If a cease-fire is reached, it would aim to give 10 days of quiet to work out the contentious issues of a longer truce, according to the framework outlined by the Egyptian and Palestinian officials close to the talks. During that time, Egyptian, Turkish and other international mediators would try to negotiate an arrangement for policing Gaza's borders — particularly those with Egypt — to prevent weapons smuggling into the territory, the officials said. This would likely entail some kind of international monitors on the Palestinian side of the border — but the two sides remain far apart on who would make up the force, where they would be deployed and their mission. Hamas has so far publicly resisted deploying international monitors and has demanded a role in policing the borders. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and has always rejected a policing role. Only after a deal on border security has been reached would the crossings be opened and Israel withdraw, the officials said. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit underlined that all elements must fall into place — the cease-fire, the security arrangements, and the eventual opening of border crossings and Israeli withdrawal. Otherwise, we will end up with a truce but without reconciliation or with a truce that will be broken, he said. Also, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah called for a meeting of Gulf countries on Gaza Thursday, while Qatar sought an emergency summit Friday of the Arab League. Arab countries have been struggling with how to address the crisis, with some pushing for a strong response against Israel and others willing to put more pressure on Hamas.

Maj. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said the army has destroyed 60 percent to 70 percent of the smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border. She also said Israel has reduced Hamas' rocket capabilities by 90 percent, from about 200a day before the offensive to 20 or 30 each day. Hamas militants fired a phosphorus shell into Israel for the first time, hitting a field near the border town of Sderot but causing no casualties, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Amy Teibel in Jerusalem and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.

Brussels freezes talks on closer EU-Israel relations
LEIGH PHILLIPS 14.01.2009 @ 23:36 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Brussels has paused negotiations with Tel Aviv over a planned upgrade to EU-Israel relations, as the Palestinian death toll passed the 1,000 mark on Wednesday (14 January).The priority at the moment is to achieve a ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and that is what we need to concentrate on now, not the upgrade, European Commission external relations spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann told EUobserver.No activities that could be considered related to the upgrade are taking place due to the situation on the ground, Czech EU presidency spokesman Jan Sliva said.The EU-Israel Association Council - a group headed by foreign ministers that conducts bilateral relations between Israel and the EU - announced last June that Brussels would upgrade relations with Tel Aviv.EU leaders in December launched accelerated negotiations on increased diplomatic co-operation, Israeli participation in European programmes and agencies and possible Israeli integration into the European single market.The European Commission was tasked with technical talks on participation in programmes and agencies while EU member states were to forge closer political links. The current pause in negotiations relates to the commission's technical talks.The EU's ambassador to Israel, Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal, also told reporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday that the two sides have imposed a mutually agreed time-out in the negotiations, Reuters reports.In a war situation, in a situation in which Israel is at war, using its war means in a very dramatic way, in a powerful way in Gaza, everybody realises that it is not the appropriate time to upgrade bilateral relations which normally take place in a more ...peaceful context, he said.An Israeli diplomat pointed out that the Czech EU presidency continues to place improved EU-Irsaeli relations at the top of its agenda.

It is only that technical work has been postponed, the contact said. So we don't see any obstacle to the upgrade at all.Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday that he was still committed to strengthening EU-Israel ties.
The current dramatic events in this region must not deter us. On the contrary, they emphasise the necessity of finding a peaceful solution, he said.The vast majority of MEPs at a European Parliament debate on Gaza called for an immediate ceasefire, voicing shock at the suffering of the civilian population and deploring strikes against civilian and UN targets.UK liberal deputy Chris Davies, who recently returned from a trip to the conflict zone, criticised the EU for not doing enough to bring a halt to the violence.Saying Israel had turned Gaza into Hell and calling the Jewish state's war on the occupied territory evil, he asked why Europe makes allowances for Israel that we wouldn't for any other states.His remarks came as Palestinian medical officials on Wednesday said 1,013 people have died so far, over 300 of whom are children and 76 are women, with a further 4,500 injured. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed since fighting broke out on 27 December.

Bin Laden urges jihad against Israel over Gaza
Updated Wed. Jan. 14 2009 1:05 PM ET The Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt -- Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state in a new message aimed at harnessing anger over Israel's Gaza military offensive. The al Qaeda chief spoke in an audiotape posted Wednesday on militant websites where the group usually issues its messages. It was his first tape since May and came nearly three weeks after Israel started its campaign. Bin Laden also vowed that the terror network would open new fronts against the United States and its allies beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. He said president-elect Barack Obama has received a heavy inheritance from George W. Bush -- two wars and the collapse of the economy, which he said will render the United States unable to sustain a long fight against the mujahedeen, or holy warriors. There is only one strong way to bring the return of Al-Aqsa and Palestine, and that is jihad in the path of God, bin Laden said in the 22-minute audiotape, referring to the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The duty is to urge people to jihad and to enlist the youth into jihad brigades.Islamic nation, you are capable of defeating the Zionist entity with your popular capabilities and your great hidden strength -- without the support of (Arab) leaders and despite the fact that most of (the leaders) stand in the barracks of the Crusader-Zionist alliance, bin Laden said. The authenticity of the tape could not be independently confirmed, but the voice resembled that of bin Laden in previous messages. The White House dismissed the tape, saying it reflected bin Laden's isolation and shows the al Qaeda leader is trying to remain relevant at a time when his ideology and mission are being questioned and challenged. The tape, entitled A Call for Jihad to Stop the Aggression on Gaza, was played over a still picture of bin Laden and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, one of Islam's holiest sites. But there were no English subtitles and flashy production graphics that usually accompany such messages.

That suggested the message had been hastily put together and issued to best exploit anger in the region over the Gaza offensive, which Palestinian medical officials say has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, half of them civilians. Israel said the offensive aims to halt rocket fire from Gaza against Israeli towns. Bin Laden accused Arab leaders of avoiding their responsibility to liberate Palestine. If you are not convinced to fight, then open the way to those who are convinced, he said.

Bin Laden and his lieutenants frequently use the Palestinian issue to try to rally support for al Qaeda and often call for holy war to free Jerusalem. But there has been little sign that the group has carried out attacks in Israel. Bin Laden made no direct reference to Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007. Al Qaeda leaders have frequently criticized the group for participating in elections and failing to seriously pursue jihad against Israel. The al Qaeda leader also said the world economic crisis was a sign that the United States' power was falling apart. The Islamic nation's jihad is one of the main causes of these destructive results for our enemies, he claimed. Pointing to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, bin Laden said al Qaeda was prepared to fight for seven more years, and seven more after that, then seven more.We are on the way to opening new fronts, he said, urging Muslims to join hands with the mujahedeen to continue the jihad against the enemy, to continue bleeding them on these two fronts and on the others that are open to you.The question is, can America continue the war against us for several more decades? The reports and signs show us otherwise, he said. He said Bush had left his successor with a heavy inheritance, forcing Obama to choose between withdrawing from the wars or continuing. If he withdraws from the war, it is a military defeat. If he continues, he drowns in economic crisis, bin Laden said. It was the first time bin Laden have spoken of Obama, though he did not mention him by name. Bin Laden's top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri has previously spoken against Obama, warning Muslims he will not bring major change in American policies.

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.

Harsh winter winds blow across Canada
Updated Wed. Jan. 14 2009 6:02 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Canadians in more than half a dozen provinces are being warned to bundle up for at least a few more days, with wind-chill and snowfall warnings in effect across the country, including the East Coast.The deep freeze that hit Western and Central Canada earlier -- taking temperatures to between -20 and -50 with wind chill -- could last until next week in some areas, warned Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson. As of Wednesday morning, Manitoba was experiencing particularly extreme wind chills and temperatures. Winnipeg residents were being warned of wind chills as low as -45.The statement this morning out of Manitoba was mentioning brief wind chills as cold as minus 50, Coulson told CTV's Canada AM. When we get to those kinds of wind chills we are talking about potential frostbite within a matter of minutes.Calgary residents, on the other hand, could actually find themselves enjoying a relatively- warm 10 degrees above freezing on Thursday, and with only a hint of sub-zero temperatures for the rest of the week.But the city still has to deal with snowfall tonight that could cause accumulation problems. Residents are already making a high volume of calls to city staff, according to the City of Calgary website.To the east, in Saskatoon, Sask., the winds had calmed down and temperatures plummeted to -32. Things were just as bad in Regina, where residents saw midday temperatures of -28 with a wind chill of -37. In Thunder Bay, Ont., on Wednesday, it was -24 with the wind chill taking the temperature to a frigid -36. Toronto was a little warmer, with temperatures at -16 with the winds standing still in the early afternoon. In Montreal the temperature was -22 with wind chill making it feel like a frigid -33.

Coulson said the duration of the deep freeze will vary depending on the province - with those in the east likely to feel the effects of the cold front longer than those in the west. It looks like Saskatchewan will begin to see some relief from the bitter cold by Friday, he told CTV's Canada AM. For Manitoba it's Friday and into Saturday. Northwestern Ontario should be seeing some relief on Saturday, Southern Ontario probably into Sunday before we see somewhat milder temperatures, and in Quebec it's probably going to be right into early next week before they see some relief.In the East Cost, parts of northern and northwestern New Brunswick were expected to see extreme wind chill values as well, with Environment Canada predicting wind chills below -35 on Wednesday night.Most of Prince Edward Island was also under a wind-chill warning, with the cold breeze expected to make temperatures feel like -40. Nova Scotia appeared to have escaped the cold, except for a few counties like Colchester and Cumberland.Coulson warned that frostbite and freezing can set in within minutes when temperatures reach such lows -- and people should avoid unnecessary risks. In this type of weather, really, if you don't have to be out there you shouldn't be out there, he said. If you have to be out there for any length of time -- and some folks it's their job, they have to be -- these people are well prepared, dressed in layers, making sure they've got all their extremities covered to try to keep as much as the body warmth in as they can.Even after next week, Canadians aren't necessarily in the clear. Coulson warned that it's possible we'll experience another cold snap before the winter is over. We're still in the middle of January,Coulson said. These types of cold outbreaks are still quite possible as we head through the rest of the month of January and right into February. Hopefully not of this scope and this depth of cold, but we still have a ways to go this winter.

Biting cold hits Northeast, keeps even skiers home By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer JAN 14,08

MONTPELIER, Vt. – The cold wave that stunned the nation's midsection expanded into the Northeast on Wednesday with subzero temperatures and biting wind that kept even some winter sports fans at home. The wind chill hit 33 below zero during the night at Massena, N.Y., and the National Weather Service predicted actual temperatures nearly that low in parts of the region by Thursday night. The weather service said Flint, Mich., set a record low early Wednesday at 19 degrees below zero.Forecasters also issued a lake effect snow warning Wednesday night for southwest Michigan, where a foot of snow or more could fall.Winter-hardened people across northern New England bundled up amid warnings about how fast exposed skin can freeze.Anyone who sends their kid out today is out of the running for parent of the year, said Eric Friedman, a spokesman for Mad River Glen ski area in Fayston, Vt. A frostbite caution sign was posted at the ticket office, but few skiers were there to see it because of the 5-below-zero cold, Friedman said.Schools from Iowa to North Carolina opened late so kids would not have to be out in the coldest part of the morning. Some schools closed altogether.Awful, said University of Dayton student Lauren Weining, who put on two pairs of pants and three sweaters under her coat for a 10-minute walk to her job on the Ohio school's campus. It's the longest 10 minutes I ever had this year.No deaths were reported in the Northeast, but snowy conditions caused a 14-car crash Wednesday on Interstate 75 in Ohio and a truck that slowed to avoid the wreckage slammed into a car, killing the car's 55-year-old driver, said Tipp City patrolman Greg Adkins.Also on Wednesday, two men died in a 20-vehicle pileup in near-blizzard conditions on the Indiana Toll Road.A day earlier, a Wisconsin man died of exposure after wandering from his home; relatives said he was prone to sleepwalking. Poor visibility in blowing snow was blamed for a 20-car pileup that killed two people Wednesday in Indiana.Snow also cut visibility in Chicago, where airlines canceled around 250 flights Wednesday afternoon at O'Hare International Airport.In New York, where light snow was forecast and overnight lows Thursday near Albany were expected to be around minus 10, the frigid conditions caused complications for highway managers because road salt doesn't melt ice in subzero temperatures.Once we get into minus 10, minus 20, in some cases we have to go to just straight sand, a light dusting of sand, on the highway to get some grit, provide some traction, said Mike Flick of the state Transportation Department in Pamelia.

Mercifully, no major precipitation was forecast for New England. Parts of the region are still recovering from a Dec. 11 ice storm that tore down trees and power lines, cutting electricity to about 1 million homes and businesses in the Northeast some for more than a week.This was just arctic cold, the kind that numbs the face, kills car batteries and freezes unguarded water pipes. Residents of Ironwood, Mich., were told to keep faucets running to prevent freeze-ups after a major break left the city without water, said Gogebic County emergency services coordinator Jim Loeper.It slows you down a little bit. Your body doesn't move as fast as it should, said Shane West, 35, a roofer working on a house in Montpelier in 2-below cold. Even for us, it can become a problem sometimes, he said, referring to Vermonters accustomed to cold weather.A temperature around zero didn't faze truck driver Gary Jacobs, 49, of Barre, Vt., bundled in five layers — T-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, hooded sweatshirt and coat, in addition to snowpants, boots and a knit cap.People in Arizona say It's a dry heat. This is a fresh cold, Jacobs said.But people who had a choice stayed inside — even skiers. Vermont's Bolton Valley ski resort, where it was 10 below Wednesday morning, canceled night skiing through Friday night for fear that skiers could freeze if they were marooned on a malfunctioning ski lift. A couple of ski areas in northern Minnesota closed for the day because of temperatures that reached 38 below zero at International Falls, with the wind chill during the night estimated at 50 below. Homeless shelters were busy. We don't want anyone out there, said Kathryn Paquette, homeless outreach specialist of Southern New Hampshire Services in Nashua, N.H., which found rooms at rooming houses, motels and shelters for dozens. Honda Motor Co. canceled two shifts at three Ohio plants so their roughly 5,000 workers wouldn't have to risk the cold and slippery roads, spokesman Ron Lietzke said. Maine residents braced for nighttime readings down to 40 below zero. And in the Midwest, Iowans were warned that temperatures could drop as far as 27 below zero during the night, matching a Jan. 15 record set in 1972. Temperatures on Thursday were expected to range from 10 below zero in the far north to the low teens in southern coastal areas. Farther south, morning temperatures were in the 20s from Texas to Georgia, and along the Gulf Coast the weather service reported a low of just 28 at Mobile, Ala. Even northern Georgia and Kentucky could see single-digit lows by Friday, with zero possible at Lexington, Ky., the weather service warned. Kentucky hasn't been that cold since December 2004. Farmworkers in Florida, where the service forecast Thursday night lows in the teens to lower 20s, plucked ripened berries early as a precaution. Strawberry growers near Tampa and blueberry growers around Gainesville checked irrigation pumps, ready to spray fruit with water to create a protective ice coating if needed. But as the Gulf Coast city of Pensacola, Fla., fell to 40 degrees, Brazilian tourist Vitor Rocha wore shorts and sandals for a stroll with a friend. We are not disappointed in the weather today, this is something unusual for us, he said. Associated Press writers David Tirell-Wysocki in Concord, N.H.; Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine; Roger Petterson in New York City; Jessica M. Pasko and Richard Richtmyer in Albany, N.Y.; Melissa Nelson in Pensacola Beach, Fla.; James Hannah in Dayton, Ohio; Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., and James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., also contributed to this report. On the Net:
Weather Service warnings: http://tinyurl.com/yfjlyf

Bitter cold worries farmers and ranchers By Carey Gillam Carey Gillam – Wed Jan 14, 2:46 pm

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – A blanket of frigid air moving across part of the United States Wednesday tied up transportation and sparked farmer fears of damage to crops and livestock.In northern Minnesota, temperatures dropped to 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, and record lows near that were recorded in North Dakota as single-digit and sub-zero temperatures spread through a broad swath of the country's northern and central tiers.As the bitter cold moved south and combined with snow and ice in some areas, the sudden plunge in temperature fueled farmer fears that vulnerable young wheat plants could suffer, and ranchers fretted over how to keep weight on cattle and hogs for market.Everything is harder when it is cold, said Kevin Gilbert, a hog producer in Ionia, Iowa, where single-digit temperatures were forecast to fall to 18 degrees Fahrenheit below zero on Thursday.It is the wind that gets you,he added.The cold has had cattle eating through feed supplies so quickly that ranchers have been selling off animals to make the feed last, said Darryl Howard, chief brand inspector for the North Dakota Stockmen's Association.

It has taken a considerable toll on feed supplies, said Howard. It has caused some herd reduction.The harsh conditions were complicating truck transportation of grain and livestock in some areas, but river and ground movement of commodities through the Plains and Midwest remained mostly unhindered.Subzero temperatures were forecast through Friday morning. North-central Kansas and south-central Nebraska, key hard red winter wheat-producing areas, were forecast to see lows ranging for zero to -10 degrees F,This is the coldest weather we've seen in a few years, said DTM Meteorlogix forecaster Mike Palmerino.Soft red winter wheat areas in the southern Midwest were also threatened, Palmerino said.Frigid temperatures, coupled with a lack of snowcover, can kill off parts of the wheat plant if the ground lacks adequate protective snow and soil moisture.Still, the bitter conditions were expected to be short-lived, with a warming trend forecast for this weekend.It's chilly and it's getting colder, said South Dakota Agriculture Department deputy director George Williams. But we're dealing with it. We're used to it.(Additional reporting by Bob Burgdorfer and Christine Stebbins in Chicago; Editing by John Picinich)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

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 THU JAN 15,2009

09:30 AM +1.04
10:00 AM -81.96
10:30 AM -172.99
11:00 AM -137.15
11:30 AM -111.62
12:00 PM -143.34
12:30 PM -180.32
01:00 PM -141.98
01:30 PM -139.70
02:00 PM -56.07
02:30 PM +9.64
03:00 PM +27.80
03:30 PM -13.06
04:00 PM +12.35 8212.49

S&P 500 843.74 +1.12

NASDAQ 1511.84 +22.20

GOLD 816.00 +7.20

OIL 34.70 -2.58

TSE 300 8850.29 +161.93

CDNX 844.30 -5.23

S&P/TSX/60 534.85 +10.57

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow -2 points at 4 minites of trading.
Dow +9 points at high today.
Dow -174 points at low today.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -6.57%
S&P -6.71%
Nasdaq -5.54%
TSX Advances 291,declines 857,unchanged 189,Volume 825,899,604.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 268,Declines 462,Unchanged 280,Volume 146,308,231.
Oil opens at $36.28 today and Gold opens at $809.50 today.
Natural Gas Inventories -94 BCP.
NYSE STATS 10:30AM
Advances 374,Declines 2498,Unchanged 67,New highs 3,New Lows 73.
NASDAQ STATA 10:30AM
Advances 514,Declines 1744,Unchanged 203.
TSX STATS 12:30PM
Advances 329,Declines 682,Unchanged 207.
VENTURE EXCHANGE 12:30PM
Advances 182,Declines 310,Unchanged 211.
RICHARD HAAS HEAD OF COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS IS OBAMAS NEW ADVISER.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow +9 at high today.
Dow -180 at low today.
Dow on a 7 session losing streak and lost 10% during this time.
Dow on pace for biggest weekly drop since week ending OCT 10,2008.
Dow toches lowest level since NOV 20,2008.
Dow,S&P,Nasdaq have biggest 2-day drops since DEC 1,2008.

Behind JP MORGANS 4Q NUMBERS.
-$4.1 BILLION add to loan loss reserves.
-$2.9 BILLION marks on levered loans,Mortgages.
-$1.1 BILLION gain from merger related Items.

BANK OF AMERICA AND TARP
What if B of A took more TARP money?
-Treasury gets:1-Preferred Stock.
2-Coupon of 9% or higher.
3-Common dividend:Cut from $0.32 to $0.01.
TOP OF THE TARP
-Citigroup $45 BILLION.
-AIG $40 BILLION.
-Wells Fargo $25 BILLION.
-JP Morgan $25 BILLION.
-BOFA/Merrill $25 BILLION.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow +82 at high today.
Dow -205 at low today.
Dow +0.15% today Volume 434,907,317.00
Nasdaq +1.49% today Volume 2,147,483,648.00
S&P 500 +0.13% today.
AIRBUS A320 HITS FLOCK OF BIRDS AND IS DOWNED IN THE NY HUSON RIVER.

Report cites need for eurozone central regulator
ANDREW WILLIS 14.01.2009 @ 17:43 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report published Wednesday (14 January) cites the need for centralisation of financial regulation in the euro area. In a televised interview, senior OECD economist and head of the EU desk, Nigel Pain, said one way to achieve this aim is to have an agency which oversees the work of the existing national supervisors.A second way would be to set up a central agency with responsibility for actually supervising the large [financial] institutions directly, Mr Pain continued, referring to the increased number of cross-border institutions that have sprung up in recent years. Financial regulation in the European Union is predominantly carried out at the national level at present but analysts point to the borderless nature of international finance as a reason for supranational regulation. The existing system relies heavily on close co-ordination and information sharing between different regulators. It also imposes a considerable burden on cross-border firms that have to report to an array of different authorities, says the OECD report.A more centralised and uniform system for supervising large complex financial institutions would also have advantages by pooling information, regulating in a consistent way, enhancing preparedness for a crisis and reducing regulatory costs, the report continues.

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet said last week the bank was examining the possibility of an increased role in this area.The existence of large member states such as Poland and the UK outside the eurozone may limit the ECB's options however. In the interview, Mr Pain also said short-term measures were necessary to prevent future financial crises, including increased transparency of financial accounts and a reassessment of the role played by credit rating agencies.
The European Parliament is currently looking at measures regarding credit rating agencies put forward by Internal Market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy.

Calls for further rate cut

The OECD report says growth will not move above trend rates until the second half of 2010, and is predicting that the fiscal deficit for the euro area in 2009 will increase by 0.8 per cent. Ageing and healthcare costs were cited as the major obstacles to long-term fiscal sustainability.Regarding interest rates, Mr Pain said: The ECB has to stand ready to ease monetary policy as inflation falls and we think they have plenty of scope to do so.Such calls are likely to increase pressure on the ECB board to cut interest rates when it meets Thursday (15 January). However, Mr Pain said the ECB should be ready to increase rates if inflationary risks increase.

Germany may change constitution over economic crisis
ANDREW WILLIS 14.01.2009 @ 09:25 CET

Germany is to take the radical step of changing its constitution in order to ensure excessive public borrowing is prevented, the country's chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced on Tuesday (13 January).The country is also to impose strict new rules to ensure that the extra debt created by its latest stimulus plan is paid off quickly.
Ms Merkel made the comments while unveiling a second stimulus plan worth €49.25 billion, to be spent over two years and made up of public investments and tax cuts.

The constitutional amendment would prevent German governments from raising the state's public deficit above 0.5 per cent of GDP in normal economic times, the Financial Times reports. This would have capped 2008 borrowing at €12 billion. The EU's Stability and Growth Pact, which limits Eurozone budget deficits to three per cent of GDP, was relaxed last year as the economic downturn escalated. In addition to Germany's proposed constitutional change, the finance ministry is to set up a redemption fund to ensure the government pays back the latest stimulus plan by a set date. The redemption fund could collect revenues from future government windfall taxes once economic growth reached a certain threshold.A similar fund was set up to pay back borrowing related to German unification.Both measures highlight German fears over the potential long-term damage to Europe's monetary union caused by excessive public borrowing, concerns shared by Belgium and the Netherlands. In a sign that investors are increasingly differentiating between Eurozone countries, yield margins between German and other Eurozone bonds have widened considerably in recent weeks.Yet even Germany failed to sell €6 billion worth of government bonds last week, a sign likely to worry other less prudent governments looking to raise money for spending projects.

Portugal receives credit warning

Separately on Tuesday, Portugal received a warning from credit rating agency Standard & Poor's, the fourth Eurozone state to do so in as many days. On Monday, Spain was warned by the same agency that its rating was in danger of being downgraded, as were those of Ireland and Greece last Friday. High ratings are vital to enable cheap borrowing on international money markets and any downgrades could prove costly at a time when national governments are looking to spend considerably more than tax returns allow.

Czech PM gives scant praise to Lisbon treaty
HONOR MAHONY 14.01.2009 @ 17:43 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has trampled on the EU's unspoken rule that presidency countries do not offer a controversial opinion on the sensitive topic of the moment.Speaking to MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday (14 January), Mr Topolanek, in charge of the EU for the first half of this year, offered only half-hearted support for the EU's new rulebook - seven years in the making and facing an uncertain future - and expressed doubts that Czech citizens would approve it in a referendum.It's an average treaty, a bit better than the [current] Nice treaty, he said and expressed annoyance about the pressure on member states to ratify the Lisbon treaty.Telling member states in advance that they have to ratify the treaty and ...that they do not have the right ...to decide whether to approve it or not is absurd, Mr Topolanek said, according to AFP news agency.He noted that if there was a referendum on Lisbon in his country then it would also not be accepted in a comment unlikely to be welcomed by the Irish government, which is gearing itself up for a second vote on the charter after Irish voters rejected it first time round last year. His words were quickly seized upon by the anti-treaty camp in Ireland. Mary-Lou McDonald, an MEP for Sinn Fein which campaigned against the document, welcomed Mr Topolanek's candour and said it illustrated the massive discrepancy between the political establishment of Europe and member state citizens.

The Czech Republic is the only country which has not yet expressed itself on the treaty. Prague's treaty debate has become embroiled in domestic issues. In addition, several MPs do not like the document which is due to be voted on in the lower house of parliament on 3 February. For his part, Mr Topolanek told euro-deputies that as he had negotiated and signed off the Lisbon treaty, he personally would vote for it.
With or without the Czech leader's controversial words, the Lisbon treaty is set to stay high on the political agenda over the coming months.One of the main tasks for Prague will be to negotiate a legal framework for the political promises made to Ireland by other member states about the text - on tax issues, neutrality and family law.Dublin has indicated that it will hold its second referendum later this year - it is expected to take place in the autumn.

Gas war costing EU hundreds of millions a day
PHILIPPA RUNNER 14.01.2009 @ 17:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The cost of the Russia-Ukraine gas war to the EU economy is spiralling into the billions, experts warn, with the European Commission encouraging EU companies to take legal action. European gas companies are not selling gas to the tune of about €150 million a day. Electricity producers are also losing hundreds of millions a day, International Energy Agency (IEA) analyst Ian Cronshaw told EUobserver on Wednesday (14 January).In Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic industry is being forced to slow down or shut down. This will spread as European [gas] stock volumes drop and the economic cost will go up exponentially at a time when Europe can least afford it.A meeting of the Gas Co-ordination Group - EU member states' energy ministry officials - in Brussels on 19 January is to pool data on the impact of the gas crisis so far. But European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has already indicated that Brussels will back any legal claims. If the agreement sponsored by the European Union is not honoured as a mater of urgency, I will advise European companies to take this matter to the courts, he told MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday.The Hungarian government has also pledged diplomatic support for law suits after Hungarian energy firm Emfesz this week filed a claim in Budapest courts for €23 million against Ukraine gas transit firm Naftogaz.Most EU energy firms have contracts with Russian state gas supplier Gazprom or intermediaries. But the Ukrainian side may bear the brunt of attacks due to Gazprom's powerful market position.They will not sue Gazprom because they have signed supply contracts until 2030 or 2035. And you don't want to get into trouble with your partner if you have that kind of contract, European Council on Foreign Relations' (ECFR) expert Pierre Noel told this website.

The EU, Russia and Ukraine agreed to resume supplies on Tuesday after Brussels sent in a team of monitors to oversee transit. But the deal broke down when Ukraine accused Russia of holding back technical gas - needed to push EU volumes through its pipelines - and of pumping gas down a route that would force it to stop supplies to its own people.The IEA estimates that EU-wide gas stocks have dropped from 95 percent full to around 60 percent over the past week. Individual countries, such as Bulgaria and Slovakia, say they have just a few days' worth left.Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday proposed holding a gas summit with affected EU states and Ukraine, indicating the energy dispute will not be resolved before next week.

Sympathy remains

Ukraine diplomats fear that a vigorous Russian media campaign will see Europeans blame political infighting and high-level corruption in Kiev for the gas mess, damaging bilateral relations.The crisis comes ahead of an EU-sponsored donors' conference on modernising Ukraine's gas transit system in March and an EU summit on deeper integration with Ukraine and other post-Soviet states in April.But sympathy remains for Kiev in the EU capital after the commission's gas monitors in Russia and Ukraine reported on Tuesday that Gazprom's choice of transit route to resume EU supplies was not the best possible. To turn off the gas to a country of 45 million people [Ukraine] in the middle of winter is energy blackmail and nothing else, one EU official said, with Ukrainian companies also forced to cut production as stocks dwindle.

Telecom giant Nortel granted bankruptcy protection
Updated Wed. Jan. 14 2009 4:59 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Nortel Networks Corp. has been granted protection by an Ontario Superior Court judge from its creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.A lawyer for Nortel said in court that the bankruptcy protection was necessary because the company was quickly burning through its cash reserves. Nortel has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, the company announced Wednesday. It is expected to file for protection in Europe in the near future. The move comes just one day before the telecom firm was due to repay a $107-million interest debt on bonds, which would have amounted to about 10 per cent of the company's North American cash reserves. But the company is vowing to stay alive as a smaller operation, by ridding itself of non-core businesses and restructuring itself to deal with the North American recession. The moves mean more jobs will likely be shed from its 30,000 global workforce. The filing also will affect the company's sponsorships, but Nortel says it remains committed to sponsoring the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Nortel is also a major sponsor for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Once Canada's most valuable company, Nortel stocks traded as high as $124.50 a share during the tech boom in 2000. On Wednesday, it had dropped 24.5 cents to close at 12 cents on the TSX, off from a 52-week high of $14. People who are close to the situation are saying to us that although there is a great deal of equity in the company the possibility of it staying together as the Nortel Networks we knew is fairly slim, BNN's Michael Kane reported Wednesday. We're likely going to see it sold off in bits and pieces.Ian Lee, director of the MBA program at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, told CTV Newsnet that he doesn't think investors are going to see a return from Nortel. I think you can them as wallpaper in your rec room, Lee said, referring to Nortel stock certificates. I don't mean to be flippant but I don't think the investors are going to see a return.While many on Bay St. are not confident for a Nortel revival, the company's CEO remains bullish on its prospects.

There are very significant changes happening in a very large industry, we refer to this as the world of hyper-connectivity, Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski said. I believe we are very well positioned to do very well to profit from those significant changes in the marketplace.In an earlier press release Zafirovski called the bankruptcy filing imperative for the company's survival. Nortel must be put on a sound financial footing once and for all, Zafirovski said in a press release. These actions are imperative so that Nortel can build on its core strengths and become the highly focused and financially sound leader in the communications industry that its people, technology and customer relationships show it ought to be.The company's board of directors reportedly met in Toronto Tuesday to discuss the decision. In Wednesday's press release, Nortel said day-to-day operations are expected to continue without interruption. The global financial crisis and recession have compounded Nortel's financial challenges and directly impacted its ability to complete this transformation, said the press release. Nortel is taking this action now, with a $2.4 billion cash position, to preserve its liquidity and fund operations during the restructuring process.

Political reaction

In Ottawa, Industry Minister Tony Clement said the federal government was willing to provide financing to assist during the company's restructuring phase. The government of Canada appreciates the importance of the telecommunications industry to our economy and will continue to work with Nortel during its restructuring through Export Development Canada, Clement said in a statement. EDC has agreed to provide up to $30 million in short-term financing through its existing bonding facility and is open to discussing with Nortel post-filing financing in conjunction with other financial institutions.Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the province has $2 billion available in various programs to help struggling companies. However, he said Nortel hasn't applied for any money yet. We'll see how things shake out in the end and what it means specifically for jobs in Ontario, McGuinty said Wednesday. I remain hopeful that Nortel will experience ultimately a renaissance of some kind and that will be of benefit to the Ontario economy and to Ontario workers.After the telecom bubble burst, the company failed to re-establish itself and was plagued by accounting scandals and weakening demand. It has been a changing landscape that Nortel has been unable to adjust to, Kane said. Still, Peter A. Chapman, of Bankruptcy Creditors' Service Inc. in Pennsylvania, said Nortel could survive despite Wednesday's move. There's every indication at this early juncture that Nortel will survive, confirm Chapter 11 and CCAA plans, and successfully emerge from its restructuring, he said in an email to The Canadian Press. The Chapter 11 and CCAA proceedings will provide Nortel with the ability to sell useless assets, walk away from every bad business deal, improve its operations and operating margins, and knock its $11 billion debt load down to a reasonable level.Nortel employs about 32,000 people around the world, including several thousand in Ottawa and Toronto.
Chapman said shareholders will likely lose whatever money they had invested in the company.With files from The Canadian Press.

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

EU to launch biometric passports by summer
ELITSA VUCHEVA 14.01.2009 @ 17:45 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – MEPs on Wednesday (14 January) backed new rules on the introduction of biometric passports throughout the EU later this year, while exempting children under 12 years from having fingerprints included in their passports.The rules were approved at a first reading by an overwhelming majority of MEPs – 594 against 51, while 37 abstained.The parliamentarians underlined the need to improve document security in the EU by introducing more reliable biometric data, namely fingerprints, and highlighted the different criteria member states currently apply when checking the passport applicants' identity.Many countries require that the citizen applying for a passport actually present him or herself in person, together with their documents and photographs, and in these cases the officials at the passport-issuing office can see if that person bears a resemblance to the photo presented, Polish Christian Democrat Urszula Gacek said during a plenary debate on the issue in Strasbourg on Tuesday.But in some states, in particular the UK, "applications by post are the norm, and the authenticity of the photo is only confirmed by a so-called professional person who has known the applicant for at least two years, she indicated.The new rules stipulate that all EU countries, as well as in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, should start issuing passports containing biometric elements - such as facial images and fingerprints - as of 29 June this year.States have until 2012 to fully implement the rules and current passports will remain valid for travelling for most countries until then.Meanwhile, some member states - such as Germany, France and the Netherlands - have started issuing the new passports before the June deadline.

Exemption for children under 12

However, under a compromise agreed by both the European Commission and the Parliament, children younger than 12, as well as people with certain disabilities making them unable to give finger prints, will benefit from an exemption from the rule.Although no exemptions were initially planned, pilot projects in some countries found the fingerprints of young children not to be sufficiently reliable, because they change as the child grows older.If an agreement had not been found [among the MEPs], everybody would have had to give their fingerprints, even the newborn, as long as they would travel abroad with a passport. So, I would really like to express the satisfaction of the commission about the compromise agreed, EU justice commissioner Jacques Barrot said during the debate.The new legislation also introduces the so-called one person, one passport principle, aiming particularly at combating the traffic of children by introducing passports for them. Up until now, parents' passports often covered their children as well.

Some concerns remain

Some MEPs expressed concerns about the biometric passports, however.Latvian Green MEP Tatjana Zdanok pointed to the dangers linked to the extensive use of biometrics.
We strongly oppose the extensive introduction of biometrics until its necessity is proven beyond reasonable doubt. We believe that it has crucial implications for personal data safety and for fundamental rights, she said.We strongly believe that biometrics in passports should only be used for verifying the authenticity of the document or the identity of the holder… We cannot agree that everyone holding a European passport should be thought of as a potential suspect, whose fingerprints are to be stored, she added.Cypriot MEP Adamos Adamou from the leftist GUE/NGL group echoed these concerns, saying: The political scope of this regulation clearly seeks to legalise the use of biometric data and puts us in a state of mind of constant surveillance and deprivation of privacy.More security measures and data collection only leads to abuses of authority and offences against political liberties, he added.