ISRAEL NOT HAPPY WITH CLINTON

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.

ELVIS MY WAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPEzsLWmgac

Winter storm brewing for Midwest Chris Dolce – Thu Feb 26, 6:06 am ET

AccuWeather Fresh cold air has pushed south into the Upper Midwest from Canada. A developing area of low pressure in the Central Plains will eject east through the day Thursday spreading snow and a wintry mix from the Dakotas to the northern Great Lakes. Tonight, snowfall will spread eastward from northeast Wyoming across northern South Dakota. The snow will then spread east into central and southern Minnesota, central Wisconsin and into Northern Michigan. In general, totals in the 4 to 8 inch range are expected with locally 10" or more possible. Increasing northerly winds will cause some blowing and drifting of the snow across the Midwest. Some locations in the heaviest swath of snow include Pierre, S.D., Aberdeen S.D., Minneapolis, Minn., Eau Claire, Wis., and Green Bay, Wis. So far this season this corridor has a wide range of snowfall departures. Minneapolis has a deficit of 6 inches. Eau Claire is near their average seasonal snowfall while Green Bay is 32 inches above average! To the south of the significant stripe of snow will be a transition area of wintry mix with some icing. This corridor includes areas from around the Minnesota/Iowa border to southern portions of Wisconsin. An ice storm warning has been issued for a few counties in southern Wisconsin from Wisconsin Dells east to Sheboygan. On the southern end of this storm will be rain and thunderstorms spreading from the mid-Mississippi Valley and southern Great Lakes to the Ohio Valley by Thursday night. Rain in these areas could be heavy at times including the Chicago, Ill. area. A few severe storms are expected to erupt over far eastern Kansas, Missouri and west-central Illinois. Hail and wind would be the main threats, but and isolated tornado is possible near the warm front. This storm will head for the Northeast with rain and gusty southerly winds on Friday. The southern end of the front will sag into the Southeast with rain and thunderstorms. Some of the thunderstorms may turn severe in northeast Texas, central and southern Arkansas, extreme southeast Oklahoma, northern Louisiana, Mississippi and northern/western Alabama.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Australians brace for worsening wildfire weather Thu Feb 26, 5:13 am ET

MELBOURNE, Australia – Emergency officials warned residents in southern Australia that high temperatures, strong winds and lightning forecast for Friday could spark dangerous new flare-ups in the region's still-burning wildfires.Victoria state Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin said residents of southern Victoria — where wildfires this month killed more than 200 — need to decide quickly whether to defend their homes from the flames or flee.Exhausted firefighters on Thursday were still working to contain four major blazes in Victoria.Officials were increasingly worried that Friday's predicted temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) combined with strong, erratic winds and lightning could send the flames out of control.Schools and child care centers across the state will be closed Friday in anticipation of the extreme conditions, officials said. Parks Victoria told visitors to avoid camping in the region's national parks on Friday, with some parks closed completely.The official death toll from the Feb. 7 blazes remains at 210, though officials expect it to climb higher as more remains are identified from the rubble. On Wednesday, police said it could take another two weeks to conclude the search for dozens still missing. The fires also destroyed 2,029 houses, leaving 7,500 homeless.

Meanwhile, Victoria police on Thursday arrested two 18-year-old men accused of stealing items from a fire-damaged home — the first arrests associated with suspected looting from the Feb. 7 blazes.

US envoy, Netanyahu have 1st meeting on peace By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 26, 1:35 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel's next leader sat face-to-face Thursday with a man whose vision of Israeli-Palestinian relations is radically different from his own: the Obama administration's new Mideast envoy.Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu thinks negotiations on Palestinian statehood are pointless. But envoy George Mitchell wants Israel to resume negotiations to establish a Palestinian state.This is Mitchell's second Mideast visit since President Barack Obama took office last month. Hillary Rodham Clinton will make her first trip to the region next week as the new U.S. secretary of state.The attention follows Obama's promise to make Mideast peace a priority.Thursday's meeting was positive and productive, Netanyahu said, and the two still have a lot to talk about. Mitchell made no statement. He promised a vigorous push for Israeli-Palestinian peace on his first visit but offered no public glimpse into how the administration planned to do it. Mitchell was not expected to do so this time, either, a U.S. official said.Mitchell's visit comes amid ongoing talks on the region's future — on a Gaza cease-fire, Gaza reconstruction and Palestinian reconciliation.

Egyptian officials have been trying to mediate a long-term truce between Israel and the Islamic militant Hamas group that rules Gaza, to replace a fragile cease-fire that ended Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza last month.The two rival Palestinian groups, Hamas and the Western-backed West Bank government, are meeting this week for Egyptian-mediated talks on reconciliation.And dozens of countries will meet Monday in Egypt for a donors' conference to raise money for rebuilding Gaza after the Israeli offensive.One of Mitchell's immediate goals is to shore up the Gaza cease-fire, which continues to be shaken by low-level violence.On Thursday, militants fired two rockets at southern Israel and Israel later sent aircraft to raid southern Gaza. Hamas said the aircraft targeted five smuggling tunnels. Palestinian medical officials said three people were wounded, one critically. No one was injured in the rocket attacks.Mitchell is also expected to focus on the need to rebuild Gaza. The Palestinians hope to raise $2.8 billion at Monday's donor conference, where the U.S. is expected to pledge $900 million.

Mitchell and Netanyahu seem at odds on key underlying issues.

Mitchell wants to press ahead with peace talks that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu avoids any talk of Palestinian statehood and says peace efforts should focus on building up the Palestinian economy. Mitchell has urged a freeze of Jewish West Bank settlements, while Netanyahu says existing settlements must be allowed to expand.On his arrival from Turkey, Mitchell headed straight into a meeting with moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.Livni has spurned Netanyahu's attempts to get her to join him in a broad coalition government. She said she and Mitchell discussed the donor's conference and how it could help the people of Gaza.

She said Israel's policy was to help when it comes to humanitarian needs but without strengthening Hamas as a terrorist organization that controls Gaza.Netanyahu and Livni also met Thursday with the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

The success of Gaza's reconstruction will depend largely on Israel reopening border crossings into Gaza. Israel and Egypt blockaded their borders with Gaza after Hamas militants overran the territory nearly two years ago. Israel has since let in limited humanitarian supplies. Truce talks recently deadlocked over Israel's insistence that Hamas release a captured Israeli soldier before border crossings are opened. A power-sharing deal between Hamas and the West Bank government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is also seen as key to reconstruction. Many in the international community shun the violently anti-Israel Hamas and won't send it money directly. In a report obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad asked donors to channel aid first and foremost through his West Bank government.

Feb 26, 2009 11:59 pm US/Eastern
Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism

Zuckerman, Lawmakers, Local Jews Say Secretary Of State Not The Hillary Clinton They Used To Know Hillary Pressuring Israel To Speed Up Aid To Gaza Reporting
Marcia Kramer NEW YORK (CBS) ― Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to members and guests of the Asia Society Feb. 13, 2009, in New York City. Secretary Clinton's speech was made ahead of her first official trip to the East Asian countries.

In a swift about face from her views as New York's senator, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now hammering Israel over its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.

As First Lady, Clinton raised eyebrows when she kissed Suha Arafat.Since she was then seeking a Senate seat the resulting brouhaha caused her to re-think her positions.I'm a very strong supporter of Israel, Clinton said back in February 2000.

On Thursday, as Secretary of State she had yet another about face in the form of angry messages demanding Israel speed up aid to Gaza. Jewish leaders are furious. I am very surprised, frankly, at this statement from the United States government and from the secretary of state, said Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and member of the NYC Jewish Community Relations Council.I liked her a lot more as a senator from New York, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, said. Now, I wonder as I used to wonder who the real Hillary Clinton is.Clinton's decision to hammer Israel comes as the Clintons and President Barack Obama are planning to give the Palestinians $900 million toward the rebuilding of Gaza in the wake of the Israeli offensive that was sparked by Hamas rocket fire. We are working across the government to see what our approach will be,Clinton said.

Is Hillary Taking Sides? Submit Your Comments Here.

I don't believe that we should be in a position at this point to do anything to strengthen Hamas,Zuckerman said.We surely know what Hamas stands for as I say they are the forward battalions of Iran.For some, Clinton's change of position is upsetting. I feel it's unfortunate that they don't continue the policy of the Bush administration, which was much more pro-Israel,said Akiva Homnick of Jerusalem. I happen to have a lot of family who live in Israel and I feel, personally, when you are dealing with people who are very strong against you, you have to stand up to them,said Tami Davudoff of Kew Gardens. Hillary had Mrs. Arafat here and she invited Mrs. Arafat for lunch when she was the first lady, added Babak Chafe of Great Neck. She is pro-Palestinian 100 percent, really. Of course, we always knew it.The easy way to make a peace agreement is to pressure Israel because you can't pressure the Arabs, said Solomon Loewi of Monsey, N.Y. All this could lead to a chilly reception when Mrs. Clinton arrives in the Middle East next week. The new U.S. envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, arrived in Israel on Thursday with a mission to inject new life into peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

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/

SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI FEB 27,2009

09:30 AM -19.91
10:00 AM -79.88
10:30 AM -60.77
11:00 AM -65.47
11:30 AM -64.76
12:00 PM -14.33
12:30 PM -23.57
01:00 PM -25.80
01:30 PM -27.48
02:00 PM -11.15
02:30 PM -53.12
03:00 PM -46.99
03:30 PM -82.11
04:00 PM -119.15 7062.93

S&P 500 735.09 -17.74

NASDAQ 1377.84 -13.62

GOLD 945.50 +2.90

OIL 44.29 -0.93

TSE 300 8123.02 -63.80

CDNX 861.66 -1.15

S&P/TSX/60 489.56 -4.30

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -18.17%
S&P -16.65%
Nasdaq -11.77%
TSX Advances 963,declines 576,unchanged 251,Volume 3,018,895,391.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 409,Declines 368,Unchanged 334,Volume 184,936,921.

Dow -116 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -132 points at low today.
Dow +8 points at high today so far.
Natural gas at 6 year low.
Oil under $43.00,economic slide stalls oil rally.Before todays selloff ,gained 15% in 4 sessions.
Nasdaq big caps bounce today.

PAT ROBERTSON:This is the beginning of the end of America.Our finances are going into the toilet.Our dollar is not going to hold up anymore against the foreign currencies.We are no longer going to be the Economic leader of the WORLD.We will be paying off these debts for generations.This will usher in Inflation,possibly hyper-Inflation,the dollar will sink dramatically.This is a shocking,shocking budget.8,570 earmarks totaling $7.7 BILLION in pork.

GOLD opens at $960.80.OIL opens at $42.97 today.
CITIGROUP DOWN NEARLY 40% FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEAL WITH GOVERNMENT.HEAVY VOLUME FOR CITI PRE-OPEN,NEARLY 250 MILLION SHARES HAVE ALREADY TRADED.DEAL WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY DILUTE THE EQUITY OF CURRENT COMMON SHAREHOLDERS.

Other Banks weak also today.
Bank of America -19%
Wells Fargo -13%
Suntrust -13%
KeyCorp -10%
DOWN VOLUME AT START OF TRADING 55 MILLION SHARES,UP VOLUME 3 MILLION SHARES,DOWN VOLUME 18-1,NEGETIVE TO POSITIVE.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -147 points at low today so far.
Dow +8 points at high today so far.
KOHLS -6%
GAP earnings fall 8% on lower sales and margins.
S&P at 12 year low.
S&P moves below NOV INTRADAY low of 740.61.

THE STRESS TEST AND GDP.
-Government expects US,GDP to be down 2% in 2009.
-Government expects US,GDP to grow 2.1% in 2010.
-worst case scenario:down 3.3% in 2009,up .5% in 2010.
-IS THIS REALISTIC?

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,554,declines 2,069,unchanged 103,New Highs 7,New Lows 416.
Volume 10,250,720.
NASDAQ Advances 1,323,declines 1,259,unchanged 153,New highs 1,New Lows 270.
Volume 991,563,352.
TSX Advances 539,declines 743,unchanged 276,Volume 1,224,645,497.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 266,Declines 282,Unchanged 288,Volume 95,542,177.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -147 points at low today.
Dow +15 points at high today.
Dow -1.66% today Volume 667,954,045.
Nasdaq -0.98% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 -2.36% today Volume N/A
S&P on track for worst ever February.
S&P worst month since OCTOBER.
S&P down 11% this month.
S&P closes at 12 year low.
Dow ends below FEB 23,09 closing low of 7114.78.
Dow fell to new bear market intraday low.
Dow closes at 11-year low.
Dow posts worst February decline since 1933.
Dow falls for 6th straight month.
Dow suffers biggest decline since last OCTOBER.
Dow down 11.7% in FEBRUARY.
Dow transports down 15% this month.
Russell 2000 down 12% this month.
Nasdaq falls 6.7% in FEBRUARY.
Stocks off days highs.
Stocks give back mid-day gains.
General electric to save $9 BILLION annually as a result of Dividend cut.

RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65

RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE,WEEKENDER
Dow -19.52%
S&P -18.62%
Nasdaq -12.63%
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 709,Declines 799,Unchanged 286 Volume 2,688,688,130.
TSX Venture Advances 412,Declines 388,Unchanged 357 Volume 187,759,107.

CNBC WORLD BANK,CURRENCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izibupjHQig&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/cnbc-analyst-global-bank-global-currency-within-15-years/&feature=player_embedded

http://www.infowars.com/cnbc-analyst-global-bank-global-currency-within-15-years/

CNBC Analyst: Global Bank, Global Currency Within 15 Years
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Friday, February 27, 2009

Head of market analysis for Schneider Foreign Exchange Stephen Gallo told CNBC yesterday that the financial crisis will lead to the creation of a global central bank and a global single currency within 15 years, echoing the call of top globalists who have exploited the problems they created to push for a new world financial order.Highlighting the significance of the introduction of the Euro, Gallo said that the single currency was where we are headed globally on a monetary basis over the course of the next 10 to 15 years.Stating that one of the things that caused the financial crisis was an over expansion of the money supply on a global basis, Gallo said, Over the course of the next couple of decades central banks are going to need to pay more attention to what’s going on with the global money supply rather than the money supply just in their own borders, a necessity that, might call into question the need for some kind of global central bank or a global central bank that’s united by central banks for bigger monetary areas underneath that global central bank.As we have highlighted before, the elite have exploited the problem that they created to push for increased centralization and regulation of the world economic system in the pursuit of a de-facto global financial dictatorship.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, EU heads such as Joaquin Almunia and establishment media outlets like the Wall Street Journal amongst many others have all used the economic crisis as an excuse to argue for greater financial power, a new world economic order in which control is concentrated into fewer hands - with the IMF and the World Bank enjoying the spoils.UK Business Secretary and top Bilderberg member Peter Mandelson has also pushed for a Bretton Woods for this century,to help build the machinery of global economic governance.Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy all made the same appeal at a conference in Paris on the future of capitalism last month.Merkel called for the creation of a new global economic body under the UN, similar to the Security Council, to judge government policy.Sarkozy called for a new world, new capitalism during his speech, as he commented In capitalism of the 21st century, there is room for the state.Meanwhile, Blair called for a new financial order which he said should be constructed upon values other than the maximum short-term profit.The globalists created the problem of wildly irresponsible fractional reserve banking, the debt bubble and the credit crunch by ceaselessly inflating the money supply and now they are offering their solution to the crisis by posing as the saviors and promising to fix the crisis, but only if complete control of the global financial system be signed over to them.As Ron Paul, Peter Schiff and their ilk have tirelessly argued, the only way to solve the financial crisis is to allow incompetent banks and companies to fail, not to reward their misdeeds by giving them billions in taxpayer money. The only way to re-capitalize the world is to provide incentives for people to work hard and save money, not by creating more credit out of thin air, which is what caused the problem in the first place.The globalists’ call for a centralized global economic order has nothing to do with providing solutions to the crisis but everything to do with providing themselves with more power and control over the world financial system.

Citigroup's Latest Bailout Gives US More Control By: CNBC.com With Reuters | 27 Feb 2009 | 01:14 PM

The US government agreed to boost its stake in Citigroup to as much as 36%, shoring up the bank's capital and taking on far more control of the ailing banking giant. The government will convert up to $25 billion in preferred shares to common stock in its third attempt to prop up Citigroup in the past five months.Existing shareholders will see their ownership of the bank fall as low as 26 percent. The government stake is now close to 8 percent.While the latest rescue does not inject more money into Citigroup, it gives the government more of a voting stake and far greater influence over the bank's operations, short of outright nationalization.Shares of Citigroup [C 1.55 -0.91 (-36.99%) ] fell to a new 18-year low on Friday. The government is the new boss, said Mike Holland, the founder of money manager Holland & Co in New York.Every major decision is something that is not going to come out of Park Avenue, but is going to come from Washington, D.C.Citigroup in October and November received $45 billion of taxpayer money, as well as a government backstop to cap losses on $301billion of toxic assets. The bank will shake up its board and install a majority of new, independent directors. Five of the board's 15 members are either not standing for reelection or will reach retirement age by Citigroup's annual meeting in April.

Investors want to see heads roll because they're so angry at the entire banking industry, said Marshall Front, chairman of Front Barnett Associates LLC in Chicago, which invests $500 million. But Citigroup management is as well qualified to deal with the problems the bank faces now as anyone, and would not have the learning curve that new people would face.Front said the drop in the stock was not steeper because the stock long ago discounted substantial dilution, which is now being formally recognized.Friday's agreement calls for Citigroup to offer to exchange common stock for up to $27.5 billion of its preferred shares at $3.25 per share. The government will match the exchange up to $25 billion, provided private investors do the same. Citigroup will halt dividends on preferred and common stock.The agreement may be a template for other lenders that have taken government money.It will boost Citigroup's tangible common equity ratio, a measure of capital, to between 5.4 percent and 8.1 percent from the fourth quarter's 3 percent. On a conference call, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said senior executives completely remain in charge of day-to-day operations. Shares of other lenders also fell, including Bank of America [BAC 4.47 -0.85 (-15.98%) ] and Wells Fargo [WFC 13.27 -1.13 (-7.85%) ].

In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Citigroup Chairman Dick Parsons said there was no time frame for naming new directors. He also said that management has its arms around the situation and that the Obama administration has the right perspective on the financial crisis.Separately, Citigroup said it has recorded more than $8.9 billion of charges to write down goodwill and its Nikko Asset Management unit in Japan. The charges boost its fourth-quarter loss to more than $17.2 billion, and Citigroup's full-year loss to $27.7 billion.Citigroup and other large U.S. banks will soon undergo stress tests to assess their ability to cope with a severe recession, and whether they might need more capital.Referring to the new rescue, Pandit said, This capital should take confidence issues off the table, even in a stressed environment.Asked about nationalization, he added, This announcement should put those concerns to rest.The Obama administration has said it prefers to keep banks in private hands, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week rejected 100 percent government control of lenders.The United States already has a nearly 80 percent stake in insurer American International Group [AIG 0.45 -0.07 (-14.02%) ], while the British government owns 70 percent of Royal Bank of Scotland Group.There is so much going on in terms of trying to manage the continuing and unfolding drama around the credit crisis, said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.At Citigroup, he said, the government didn't want to have to take any more than it had to.Pandit has split Citigroup into two: Citicorp, which has retail banking and other businesses that Citigroup wants to keep, and Citi Holdings, which includes troubled or underperforming assets it wants to sell or wind down.A higher government stake could complicate Citigroup's ability to operate in some of the more than 100 countries where it has businesses.Bank executives downplayed speculation that Citigroup might shed all or part of its ownership of Grupo Financiero Banamex, Mexico's second-largest bank.We're not open to the idea of offloading assets that we really want to keep, Edward Ned Kelly, head of global banking and Citi Alternative Investments, said in an interview.Banamex is a very important property to us, and we are intent on retaining it and maximizing its value. He also called the bank's Handlovy business in Poland an extraordinarily important franchise to us. Citigroup said the exchange could boost its share count as high as 21 billion from 5.5 billion now.It said investors including Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Singapore Investment Corp, Capital Research and Management and others have agreed to swap their preferred stock. The bank once had a market value about $270 billion. At its low on Friday, the value was below $9 billion.

No long-term inflation risk in Canada: Harper Thu Feb 26, 2:29 pm ET

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – The stimulus measures being taken by governments around the world could trigger higher inflation, although there are no long-term risks of inflation in Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday.Harper told a news conference that despite the risks posed by stimulus measures, it is essential that governments spend more money to protect their economies.When governments and central banks are aggressively lowering interest rates and spending large amounts of additional money and doing large amounts of borrowing, there are risks as the economy improves that you would have inflation, that you would have crowding out of private investment, he said.We are worried about the short term and we've got to get things right now. I don't think in Canada we have long-term risks of inflation or crowding out because we've had better monetary policies (and) a stronger balance sheet and fiscal position.Last month Canada's minority Conservative government presented a budget that it said would rack up C$64 billion ($51 billion) of deficits over the next two years.Harper needs the support of one opposition party to pass the budget and warned against too many delays.Let's be very clear on this. These are confidence measures. We are not going to mess around with this, he said.Those votes are before Parliament so that this money gets flowing quickly. If the opposition doesn't like that they will find themselves in an election. So I tell them, Get it done, get it passed, and we'll get on with stimulating this economy, he said.(Reporting by Allan Dowd, writing by David Ljunggren and Randall Palmer; Editing by Peter Galloway)

Obama budget: Mammoth deficits but headed lower By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer FEB 26,09

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama charted a dramatic new course for the nation Thursday with a bold but contentious budget proposing higher taxes for the wealthy and the first steps toward guaranteed health care for all — accompanied by an astonishing $1.75 trillion federal deficit that would be nearly four times the highest in history.Denouncing what he called the dishonest accounting of recent federal budgets, Obama unveiled his own $3.6 trillion blueprint for next year, a bold proposal that would transfer wealth from rich taxpayers to the middle class and the poor.Congressional approval without major change is anything but sure. The plan is filled with political land mines including an initiative to combat global warming that would hit consumers with considerably higher utility bills. Other proposals would take on entrenched interests such as big farming, insurance companies and drug makers.Obama blamed the expected federal deficit explosion on a deep and destructive recession and recent efforts to battle it including the Wall Street bailout and the just-passed $787 billion stimulus plan. The $1.75 trillion deficit estimate for this year is $250 billion more than projected just days ago because of proposed new spending for a fresh bailout for banks and other financial institutions.As the nation digs out of the most serious economic crisis in decades, Obama said, We will, each and every one of us, have to compromise on certain things we care about but which we simply cannot afford right now.Signaling budget battles to come, Republicans were skeptical Obama was doing without much at all.We can't tax and spend our way to prosperity, said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. The era of big government is back, and Democrats are asking you to pay for it.

Obama plans to move aggressively toward rebalancing the tax system, extending a $400 tax credit for most workers — $800 for couples — while letting expire President George W. Bush's tax cuts for couples making more than $250,000 a year. That would raise the top income tax bracket from 35 percent to 39.6 percent for those taxpayers and raise their capital gains rate from 15 to 20 percent as well.Thursday's 134-page budget submission, a nonbinding recommendation to Congress, says the plan would close the deficit to a a more reasonable — but still eye-popping — $533 billion after five years. That would still be higher than last year's record $455 billion deficit.And the national debt would more than double by the end of the upcoming decade, raising worries that so much federal borrowing could drive up interest rates and erode the value of the dollar.Also, to narrow the budget gap, Obama relies on rosier predictions of economic growth — including a 3.2 percent boost in the economy next year — than most private sector economists foresee.There is already resistance from Democrats who are upset with the budget's plan to curb the ability of wealthier people to reduce their tax bills through deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes.That tax hike would raise $318 billion over the upcoming decade toward a down payment on Obama's high-priority universal health care plan. Cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid federal health programs would supply an additional $316 billion, but that still wouldn't provide enough money to guarantee coverage for all, and Obama wants Congress to come up with hundreds of billions of dollars in additional hard-to-raise revenues to pay for the rest.Then there is the proposed clampdown on the Pentagon budget, which would get a 4 percent boost, to $534 billion next year, but would then get increases of 2 percent or less over the next several years. Domestic programs favored by Democrats would, on average, receive a 7 percent boost over regularly appropriated levels — even as many agencies are already swimming in cash from the just-enacted economic stimulus plan.Taken together, Obama's plan contains so many difficult-to-digest ideas that it's virtually certain to be significantly redrafted during debates later this year.

It's going to be a tough row to hoe, but he has large Democratic majorities and a lot of popular support and we're in times of crisis, said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute. So his prospects of him getting much of what he is seeking, while not good, are higher than ... we've seen in the past.Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., predicted Congress would pass much of Obama's plan, though with significant revisions. For instance, he's unimpressed with a proposal to reduce payments to farming operations with sales above $500,000 per year and says the plan to curb tax deductions for the wealthy faces uncertain prospects because of opposition from lawmakers from high tax states and universities whose endowments have shrunk.A plan to devote up to $250 billion to support as much as $750 billion in increased spending under the government's rescue program for banks and other financial institutions landed with a thud. Republicans scoffed at the idea that Obama's plan calls for much sacrifice on the spending front, citing the big increases for many agencies. they also pointed to tax increases and hundreds of billions in revenues from a contentious proposal to auction off permits for carbon emissions in a bid to address global warming. Obama and top aides emphasized that they didn't make the financial mess. Said the president: We cannot lose sight of the long-run challenges that our country faces and that threaten our economic health — specifically, the trillions of dollars of debt that we inherited, the rising costs of health care and the growing obligations of Social Security.For too long, our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent, he said. Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that kind of dishonest accounting is not how you run your family budgets at home. It's not how your government should run its budgets either.Among the many programs that would receive generous boosts are education and cancer research. The size of education Pell Grants would automatically increase every year by inflation plus 1 percent, while Obama promises to double cancer research over several years. He also wants to put the United States on a path to double foreign aid. Obama's budget contains almost $1 trillion in tax hikes over 10 years on individuals making more than $200,000 and couples earning over $250,000. About $350 billion more would be raised through a variety of other hikes, including raising taxes on hedge-fund managers by taxing their compensation as income rather than at the 15 percent capital gains rate. Obama would also increase taxes on corporate income earned abroad. Some $526 billion in revenue from carbon pollution permits would be used to extend the Making Work Pay tax credit of $400 for individuals and $800 for couples beyond 2010 as provided in the just-passed economic stimulus bill.

The budget would make permanent the expanded $2,500 tax credit for college expenses that was provided for two years in the just-passed economic stimulus bill. It also would renew most of the Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, and would permanently update the alternative minimum tax so that it would hit fewer middle- to upper-income taxpayers. Obama's $634 billion head start on expanding health care could easily double as lawmakers flesh out details in coming months on how to provide medical coverage to all of the 48 million Americans now uninsured while also trying to slow increases in costs. Health care costs now total $2.4 trillion a year and keep rising even as the economy is shrinking. Thursday's submission was an overview of a more comprehensive plan that will be submitted in April. Associated Press writers Martin Crutsinger, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.

Financial crisis threatens east-west divide in EU
PHILIPPA RUNNER 26.02.2009 @ 09:24 CET

Eastern European member states' fears that they will be left behind by richer EU members in the economic crisis are growing ahead of the informal EU summit on Sunday (1 March).Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania and Bulgaria are hoping to pull Germany, the Netherlands and Nordic states into a coalition opposing the creation of eurobonds, Polish officials told daily Gazeta Wyborcza.We want to block the potential eurobond project. To do everything to prevent a two-speed Europe. The introduction of eurobonds for the eurozone only would mean precisely this, Polish deputy prime minister Grzegorz Schetyna said on Wednesday.A eurobond is a government I.O.U. guaranteed by all 16 members of the single currency group. The creation of eurobonds would help poorer eurozone members, such as Greece, borrow money more cheaply. But it could make the cost of borrowing go up for the 11, mostly eastern European states, outside the club.The eurobond idea was floated by Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti at the Davos economic forum in January and has since been publicly backed by the International Monetary Fund.

Italy has the highest public debt in the eurozone, prompting a rise in the cost for borrowing money on the bond market as investors fear a default.German finance minister Peer Steinbruck and Carl Heinz Daube, the head of the German debt-issuing agency, the Bundesrepublik Deutschland Finanzagentur, are eurobond sceptics, however. Leaders from the group of nine eastern EU states will hold a pre-summit meeting together with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso at the Polish diplomatic mission in Brussels on Sunday morning.Polish prime minister donald Tusk will also meet German chancellor Angela Merkel in Hamburg on Friday.French, Italian and Spanish plans to pump billions into national car industries have also raised worries that western EU states will try to spend their way out of the crisis, no matter what the damage to single market principles.The fears strike at the heart of the post-2004 enlargement EU project, with former-Communist countries seeing the union as a chance to catch up economically after 60 years of unjust isolation.The Brussels summit must show that, while the crisis is hitting individual countries in various ways, the union speaks with one voice. That there is no division into better or worse [EU states],Polish Europe minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told the Polish daily.The crisis cannot be an excuse for dismantling the single market.

GMO maize strains move closer to approval
ANDREW WILLIS 26.02.2009 @ 17:53 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU scientists failed on Wednesday (26 February) to approve or reject a commission proposal to grant biotech companies a licence to produce two strains of genetically modified maize. The two strains being considered by a European Commission scientific standing committee, Bt-11 maize produced by Swiss company Syngenta and 1507 maize produced jointly by Pioneer Hi-Bred International and Dow AgroScience, however have both already been approved by the European Food Safety Authority. This decision only adds to our frustration with the lengthy and unscientific process to get our safe Bt11 maize product approved in Europe, Syngenta said in a statement. However, European environmental groups who oppose the maize strains on ecological grounds fear EU voting systems will result in the licences being eventually granted anyway. This is despite the fact that a majority of EU states currently oppose the cultivation of genetically modified crops. The commission is pushing forward with its completely pro-GMO agenda, Greenpeace activist Marta Vetier told EUobserver. At Wednesday's expert meeting, six member states (with 91 votes) voted in favour of the proposal whereas 12 (with 127 votes) voted against it. Scientists from seven member states abstained, while those from Germany and Malta were not present for the vote. The 127 votes against the proposal does not represent the qualified majority (255 votes) necessary to end the licence application so the decision will now go to the Council of Ministers - representing member-state governments - for a decision.

All of the evidence before member states provides a firm basis for authorisation, said Syngenta. We hope that the council will seize the opportunity provided by the next vote to give EU farmers a choice to use a technology capable of making a significant contribution to sustainable agriculture.Again here, a qualified majority is needed amongst ministers to either approve or reject the commission proposal to grant the 10-year licences to the two companies.In the event that this qualified majority is not achieved, the commission may decide to go ahead and issue licences. Precedent suggests that it will. To date only one GMO product, a maize strain produced by Monsanto, has been licensed for production in the EU and that was as far back as 1998 when rules governing such crops were different.In recent years however, there has been an increase in the amount of GMO crops imported into the EU for both human and animal consumption.

Debate on GMO crops

Supporters of GMOs argue that they are a legitimate food source, with the potential to bring down food prices and greatly reduce world hunger. They point to countries such as Argentina and the US where such crops are grown successfully. There is also extensive debate as to whether the EU's almost total ban on GMO production is in breech of WTO rules.Additionally, advocates argue that genetic engineering of crops so that they resist common pests results in reduced levels of chemical spraying, something environmentalists should welcome, they say. Environmental groups, however, point to a series of ecological concerns. The Bt-11 maize currently up for debate contains a gene normally found in the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that causes the host species to produce a pest-killing toxin. They point to US studies identifying extensive detrimental effects on insects that come into contact with such plants, whether they are considered pests or not. There are also fears in the scientific community that bacteria can transfer such toxin-producing genes from one plant to another, thus transferring the pest immunity to other plant species that may not be considered beneficial to humans. Likewise, new pests will frequently replace those avoided by genetic engineering of plants says Ms Vetier, so the argument for reduced spraying has little validity, she argues.

Estonian sentenced for NATO and EU secrets to Russia
VALENTINA POP 26.02.2009 @ 09:26 CET

Herman Simm, a former Estonian defence official, was sentenced on Wednesday (25 February) to 12 and a half years of prison and €1.288 million damages for passing NATO and EU classified information to Russian intelligence services.Yes, I did work for foreign intelligence services. Yes, I did know the people whom I was sending the information were members of the Russian services, Mr Simm conceded on a video tape shown by prosecutors after the trial, which was held behind closed doors, AFP reports.When you did such a thing, you have to live with the consequences, he added.

He pleaded guilty, that is why the trial was brief, Kristina Ots, the court's spokeswoman explained. This was Estonia's first treason case since it regained independence from the Soviet Union, in 1991.The 61-year-old Mr Simm was accused of treason for having passed on to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) over 2,000 pages of secret documents on Estonia's defence policies and its external military relations.A graduate of a Soviet-era police academy in Moscow, Mr Simm started working for the Estonian defence ministry in 1995, as head of the information analysis office, and in 2001 was appointed head of the newly formed state secret protection department, responsible with issuing access to classified information and for handling NATO and EU data.We think that he started working for Russian intelligence in 1995, Gerrit Maeselu, a spokesperson for the Estonian prosecutor office told the New York Times, adding that Mr Simm was in a position to hand over intelligence on NATO starting in 2001, when Estonia began accession talks with the alliance, which it joined three years later.The Harju county court also ordered Mr Simm to pay €1.288 million to cover damage done to security systems and data systems, which must now be overhauled.

EU secrets compromised

The EU's internal security procedures were also compromised, as Mr Simm had total access to NATO and EU stuff and was handing everything he could find to his Russian handlers,one EU diplomat told the Financial Times.Prosecutors say Mr Simm delivered intelligence to two handlers from Russia's SVR, whom they identified as Valery Zentsov and Sergei Yakovlev. The Kremlin has denied working with Mr Simm.The former Estonian official had contacts in about 15 European countries, where he travelled for business or leisure, Mr Maesalu added. According to Estonian media, Mr Simm claimed to be a victim of Russian blackmail due to his former collaboration with the Soviet secret services, the KGB.Unlike other Eastern European countries, the KGB archives in Estonia were transferred to Moscow or destroyed before the country gained independence, after having been illegally annexed by the USSR. Former collaborators of the KGB were asked in the early 1990s to make themselves known. Approximately 1,000 people answered to this request after having been assured that they would not be prosecuted for the admission.Talking to EUobserver in November last year, after Mr Simm had been formally charged for treason, Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam said the case was rather grotesque,but probably not one-of-a-kind.Russia is interested in expanding its influence to all member states of the EU. It's part of their strategy to regain control over the former Soviet areas and to weaken the EU, Mr Kelam said, adding that the method used was a typically Soviet one.

Italy and Vatican threaten EU unity in drugs talks
LEIGH PHILLIPS 26.02.2009 @ 09:24 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Italy is threatening to undermine EU unity in high-stakes UN talks on drug abuse, with Rome appearing to take the lead from the Vatican in a recent u-turn on issues such as needle-exchange.Heading into a UN conference on 11 March whose outcome will set the international anti-drugs policy agenda for the next 10 years, the European Union, negotiating as one bloc, has so far backed greater emphasis on harm reduction.Harm reduction covers programmes such as drug replacement therapy, needle exchanges to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids and keeping non-violent offenders out of prison. The EU-backed approach stands in contrast to the US, Japan and Russia's prohibitionist line of a War on Drugs, which in some cases stretches to the use of military force in Colombia or Afghanistan. Until February, Sweden was the only EU member which questioned harm reduction. Health minister Maria Larsson explained to EUobserver that Stockholm believes some aspects of the policy are not in accordance with the UN Convention on Drugs and Narcotics.

Sweden did not block an EU common position on the issue, despite its views.

But Italy has now come out against the common position on harm reduction, in a surprise move that could undermine EU effectiveness in the UN talks, Italian opposition MPs Marco Perduca and Donatella Poretti told this website.The move, made on the insistence of national anti-drugs czar Carlo Giovanardi, comes just days after the Holy See on 12 February issued a communique condemning harm reduction as anti life.So-called harm reduction leads to liberalisation of the use of drugs, to an increase in the number of addicted people and to blurring of consciences, leading also to the loss of one's free will, the statement said. The conservative parties in Italy, when it comes to these moral issues, regularly take their opinions from the position of the Holy See,Mr Perduca said. Mr Perduca's libertarian Radical Party is currently part of a broader centre-left opposition in Italy. The country's last centre-left administration supported methadone and needle exchange projects, but drew the line at medical use of heroin and marijuana.It's puzzling why Italy continues with some harm reduction measures domestically, while it seems now [to be] opposing them at the international level, Open Society Institute global drugs programme director, Kassia Malinowska, said. It looks like they have capitulated to a public health policy dictated to them by the Church.

US will seek to end Iran's nuclear ambition By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 26, 9:07 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – President Barack Obama's administration will seek to end Iran's nuclear ambition and its support for terrorism, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday — drawing an immediate rebuke from Iran's envoy.Ambassador Mohammad Khazee said the statement contained the same tired, unwarranted and groundless allegations that used to be unjustifiably and futiley repeated by the previous U.S. administration of President George W. Bush.Iran has never and will never try to acquire nuclear weapons, Khazee said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council immediately after U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice spoke. He also dismissed the charge that Iran engages in terrorism as baseless and absurd.Iran insists it is enriching uranium to produce nuclear energy for civilian purposes, but the U.S. and many European countries accuse Tehran of secretly seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Rice brought up Iran at an open meeting of the Security Council on Iraq, saying the long-term U.S. commitment to Iraq and the reduction of the U.S. military presence there had to be understood in a larger, regional context that included Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iran.The United States will seek an end to Iran's ambition to acquire an illicit nuclear capacity and its support for terrorism, Rice said, adding that the U.S. will aim to encourage both Iran and Syria to become constructive regional actors.The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said Rice had no comment on Khazee's letter.Rice's comments came as the Obama administration is conducting what she has called an urgent and early review of U.S. policy toward Iran.Obama has signaled a willingness for dialogue with Iran, particularly over its nuclear program. At his inauguration last month, the president said his administration would reach out to rival states, declaring we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded by saying Iran would welcome talks with the United States — but only if there was mutual respect. Iranian officials have said that means the United States would need to stop making baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic.On Wednesday, Iranian state radio said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's choice of Dennis Ross as her special adviser on the Persian Gulf signaled no change in the U.S. stance toward Iran. Ross strongly backs stepping up sanctions against Iran ... (and) supports profound U.S.-Israeli cooperation to confront Iran's nuclear activities,the broadcast said.(AP)Iran's deputy foreign minister for the Americas, Ali Reza Salari, said Thursday he believes there is room for advancement in the nuclear dispute with the United States, but said Iran is getting mixed signals from the Obama administration.I think somehow in that domain we are witnessing more rationality in the present U.S. administration. They are not talking with the same tone that existed before, Salari told reporters during a visit to Mexico City. But still, the signal that is reaching Iran from the United States is not a very clear and proper one. It's a mixed signal.The latest International Atomic Energy Agency report says Iran now possesses 1,010 kilograms — 2,222 pounds — of low-enriched uranium, raising concern that it now has sufficient uranium and the means to enrich it further to produce both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of nuclear warheads.In an interview last Friday on National Public Radio, Rice said the IAEA report confirms what we all had feared and anticipated, which is that Iran remains in pursuit of its nuclear program.Associated Press Writer Alexandra Olson contributed to this report from Mexico City.

Palestinian Hamas, Fatah to continue talking By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 26, 5:10 pm ET

CAIRO – Palestinian talks on finding a way for the rival Hamas and Fatah movements to form an interim unity government wrapped up after two days Thursday with a pledge to continue negotiations and to work toward elections for a new government.Although little substance emerged from the discussions in Egypt's capital, the pledge itself marked a modicum of progress toward ending bitter disputes dividing Palestinian factions.Fatah's envoy, Ahmed Qurei, said the parties agreed to set up five committees with representatives of all factions. They will deal with the issues of an interim government, presidential and legislative elections, restructuring security services, merging Hamas into the Fatah-run Palestine Liberation Organization and other matters.We have named the members of each of these committees and we have agreed on their general goals, Qurei told reporters.The committees will being work March 10, when the factions are to meet again in Cairo, with the understanding that their work will be completed by the end of March, Qurei added.

The groups would not speculate on what a unified government would look like or when elections could be held.The shape of the government, the members of the government and such matters will be discussed within the committees, said Mousa Abu Marzouk, Hamas' Syria-based deputy leader.Qurei and Abu Marzouk talked to reporters seated at a long table with representatives of 12 other Palestinian factions, all taking turns in answering questions in a bid to show a united front.This is a historical day, Qurei said. We pray to ensure that the train which has set in motion today will continue on the right path until it reaches the destination everyone is awaiting.

For host Egypt, which is mediating, the talks were a success, if only because a previous effort fell apart in November, when Hamas pulled out at the last minute in a dispute with Fatah over releasing Hamas prisoners.On Wednesday, Fatah and Hamas each agreed to release members of the other group that they have detained, but gave no specific numbers or other details.Gen. Omar Sulieman, Egypt's intelligence head and chief mediator, urged the Palestinians to work on ending their internal chasm. Your people are looking forward to seeing the beginning of your unity, he said on state TV.A senior Egyptian official said Egypt hopes a national unity government will be formed by April. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.Distrust between the Palestinians runs deep after a power struggle that included Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza in 2007, leaving Fatah in charge of only the West Bank.Tensions escalated after Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza last month, designed to stop Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel.Hamas claimed the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ran a Gaza spy ring that fed Israel information about Hamas targets during the fighting. Abbas' Fatah accused Hamas of killing and wounding dozens of Fatah activists under the cover of the war.In a separate effort, Egypt is trying to mediate a more permanent truce between Israel and Hamas to replace the shaky cease-fire that ended the offensive.The Palestinians say they need $2.8 billion to rebuild from the war, and Egypt is hosting a donors conference Monday at which the U.S. is expected to pledge $900 million. A power-sharing deal between Hamas and Fatah is seen as key to moving ahead because the international community shuns the violently anti-Israel Hamas and won't send money directly to it.Associated Press writer Hadeel Al-Shalchi contributed to this report.

Russia slams State Department report Thu Feb 26, 2:17 pm ET

MOSCOW – The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday criticized a new U.S. State Department report on human rights as biased.The annual human rights report, released Wednesday, accused Russia of worsening human rights problems and criticized the Kremlin's efforts to consolidate power by fashioning a compliant legislature through unfair elections.We hope Washington will correct its approaches in compiling such reports, the Ministry said in a statement.It said the report's conclusions about the war last summer between Russia and Georgia were odious and could not stand any criticism.The Ministry accused the U.S. of using double standards depending on the loyalty of a certain state to Washington's foreign policy course, the statement said. Georgia is pro-Western.The report cited numerous rights abuses, especially in the North Caucasus region, where disaffected social groups and insurgencies were active. It also decried the deaths, mostly unexplained, of five journalists.

BANKS SHIFT BANKRUPTCY TACTICS

MUSLIM NATIONS

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

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

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

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

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

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

VIDEO MUSLIM PROFESSOR ANTHRAX AMERICA 330,000 WOULD BE DEAD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCCgS9enyw&eurl=http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=90019&feature=player_embedded

Iranians in test run of first nuclear power plant By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 25, 2:22 pm ET

BUSHEHR, Iran – Iranian and Russian engineers carried out a test-run of Iran's first nuclear power plant Wednesday, a major step toward starting up a facility that the U.S. once hoped to prevent because of fears over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Washington worried Iran would turn spent fuel from the plant's reactor into plutonium, which could then be used to build a nuclear warhead, and U.S. officials pressured Moscow for years to stop helping Iran build the electricity-generating facility.American opposition to the plant eased when Iran agreed in 2005 to return spent fuel to Russia to ensure it can't be reprocessed into plutonium. Russia is providing enriched uranium fuel for the plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

But the U.S. and its allies say there are deep questions about whether Iran intends to use other parts of its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons. Tehran denies that.The United States said Wednesday that the fuel deal with Russia shows Tehran does not need the most controversial part of its nuclear program — facilities to produce its own enriched uranium.The arrangement with Russia is an appropriate mechanism for Iran to see the benefits of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said in Washington. It also demonstrates that Iran does not need to develop any kind of indigenous uranium enrichment capacity.The U.N. Security Council, the U.S. and other countries have demanded that Iran suspend enrichment because the process not only can produce fuel for a reactor, but can be used to develop highly enriched uranium needed to make nuclear bombs.Iran denies it is seeking to build atomic weapons, and says it has a right to produce its own fuel for several nuclear power plants it plans to build. It says relying on imported fuel for its entire reactor program would leave it vulnerable to cutoffs as political pressure.Iranian officials on Wednesday claimed further progress in expanding the uranium enrichment program, saying the number of centrifuges operating at its enrichment plant has increased to 6,000, up from 5,000 in November.In Israel, which has been one of the most vocal nations accusing Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the tests at Bushehr should be understood as very bad news for the whole of the international community because it shows Iran's nuclear program is progressing.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that time is slipping through our fingers in preventing Iran from developing a weapon. He called for harsh sanctions and a willingness to consider other options if sanctions don't succeed — a reference to military action.We do not take any option off the table regarding to Iran's nuclear program, he said.Iran has warned of strong retaliation — including stopping oil shipments through the Persian Gulf or hitting U.S. bases there — if Israel or the United States carries out military strikes on its nuclear facilities.The tests at Bushehr brought the power station closer to full operation. But Iran and Russia's top nuclear officials, touring the facility Wednesday, would not say when exactly electricity production would begin.The opening of the 1,000-megawatt, light-water reactor, under construction for 14 years, has repeatedly been delayed by construction and supply glitches. Russian began shipping fuel for the plant in 2007. Iran has said it aims to operate the reactor by the end of the year.The tests could take between four and seven months, Iran's nuclear chief, Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, told reporters.We are approaching full exploitation of this plant.Russian nuclear head Sergei Kiriyenko said that Bushehr had remarkable progress in recent months and that technicians were approaching the final stage.Scientists at the plant are carrying out a computer run of the equipment to ensure there are no malfunctions when it begins real operations. No electricity is produced during the testing. In the first stage of the test, technicians began 10 days ago loading virtual fuel into the reactor. The test fuel consists of lead, which imitates the density of enriched uranium. Once the fuel is loaded, the equipment will be tested. Aghazadeh said the test was going well and engineers told him they expected no problems. The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of financial sanctions on Iran over the enrichment dispute, but Tehran has refused to suspend that work. In the enrichment process, uranium gas is pumped through a series of centrifuges and spun at supersonic speeds to remove impurities. A low level of enrichment produces reactor fuel, but more highly enriched uranium can be used for the core a warhead.

Aghazadeh said 6,000 centrifuges are now operating at Iran's enrichment facility in the town of Natanz. He said Iran hopes to install over 50,000 centrifuges there over the next five years. Iran says it intends to use the enriched uranium in its first domestically built nuclear power plant, which is scheduled to start operating in 2016in the town of Darkhovin. Aghazadeh said delaying enrichment would mean a delay in opening that reactor. We are doing what we need to do in Natanz on the basis of a specific time schedule,he said at a news conference. In a report last week, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran had about 4,000 centrifuges actively enriching and 1,600 more under vacuum, which means they are operating but not yet being fed uranium gas to spin. An IAEA official said the Iranian numbers appeared to roughly tally with the agency's count, including machines under vacuum. The official, who insisted on anonymity in return for discussing an IAEA member nation, declined to comment on the Bushehr testing. The Bushehr project dates backs to 1974, when Iran's U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi contracted with the German company Siemens to build the reactor. The company withdrew from the project after the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the shah. In 1992, Iran signed an agreement with Russia to complete the project and work began in 1995.Associated Press writers Matti Friedman in Jerusalem and George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Stores looted, cars burned on island of Martinique By RODOLPHE LAMY, Associated Press Writer FEB 25,09

-DE-FRANCE, Martinique – French police officers patroled Martinique's capital late Wednesday after vandals burned cars and looted stores overnight as protests over high prices, low pay and alleged neglect by officials in Paris spread to a second Caribbean island.Nearly 30 people were detained following the outburst in Fort-de-France, the French island's chief city, according to police headquarters.Dozens of protesters gathered at city hall Tuesday night to demand results from slow-moving negotiations there over demands for pay increases. Around midnight, some began hurling rocks and bottles at police guarding the building, and officers responded by firing tear gas.Protesters burned at least five cars, several garbage bins and a small grocery store. Several stores also were looted, but no one was injured, according to a police statement.On Wednesday evening, a phalanx of French police officers were helping patrol the capital to enforce order.Martinique has not seen the same degree of violence as that on the nearby French island of Guadeloupe, where weeks of strikes degenerated into rioting last week in which one labor activist was shot dead. Business on both islands has been largely frozen.In Guadeloupe's biggest city of Pointe-a-Pitre, strikers assembled Wednesday night outside a seaside building where bargaining talks are taking place cheered apparent improvements in negotiations aimed at ending the more than month-long general strike.Government representatives have offered to add a euro80 ($102) monthly raise to islanders making euro900 ($1,130) a month in order to end the unrest in the French Caribbean island, according to Nicolas Desforges, Guadeloupe's top Paris-appointed official.

This is a big contribution by the French government to get out of this crisis, Desforges told reporters.Added with the pledged contributions of island business owners, strikers now have a euro180 ($230) raise offer on the table — just euro20 ($25) less than the euro200 ($250) monthly increase they have been seeking.But Guadeloupe protest leader Elie Domota said Wednesday evening that it was too early to say whether the new offer would be acceptable. This is a proposal on the table we are going to review,he told reporters.Government negotiators in Point-a-Pitre had left the bargaining table Monday night, saying they were not prepared to agree to a euro200 ($250) monthly raise for those making euro900 ($1,130) a month.French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week announced a euro580 million ($730 million) financial package to help development in the Caribbean regions of his country. But strikers complained that proposals were vague and did not directly address their demand for higher pay.Associated Press writers Pierre-Yves Roger in Paris and Jonathan M. Katz in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe contributed to this report.

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Massive drug sweep nets 750 arrests: US Wed Feb 25, 4:58 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US and Mexican authorities have arrested 750 people over 21 months in an anti-drug sweep, including 52 members of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel who were detained Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said.The cartel members were arrested as part of an international narcotics trafficking and money-laundering investigation called Operation Accelerator, Holder told a press conference.The operation -- which investigated crimes in the United States, Mexico and Canada -- netted some 59 million dollars in cash, 12,000 kilos (12 tonnes) of cocaine, 544 kilos (1,200 pounds) of methamphetamine and 1.3 million Ecstasy pills.An operation of that scope and magnitude can only be effective with combined forces against the enemy,Holder said, praising cooperation between agencies and governments in the investigation.Asked by a reporter whether he was worried violence from the world of Mexican drug runners could spill over to US cities and towns, Holder admitted he was concerned.The problems that Mexico faces are also problems that we face, stressed the attorney general.We would be naive to think that we can restrict the concerns that the Mexicans have to only Mexico, that the violence will only be there.The bloody war between rival cartels, fighting for control of drug trafficking into the United States, the world's biggest consumer of cocaine, has produced internal chaos in Mexico.Unrest related to the drug trade has caused the violent deaths of some 5,300 people throughout the country last year alone, according to official figures, despite a government crackdown that saw the deployment of nearly 36,000 troops.The US Drug Enforcement Administration's Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, speaking alongside Holder, said the investigation unveiled the scope of the cartel's international network, including a super meth lab that is so sophisticated we've seen none like it anywhere.The raids uncovered drug factory machines able to produce 12,000 ecstasy tablets an hour, Leonhart added.The operation not only took out cartel operatives in larger US cities such as New York and Los Angeles, but in smaller towns like Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Brockton, Massachusetts.Over the course of a few years, Leonhart said, the northeastern Ohio town of Stow, a relatively sleepy urban region of 35,000 residents, became a hotspot for international drug runners.Just underneath the surface of this peaceful city, the Sinaloa cartel had been sending cocaine through this community's local airport, she revealed.The traffickers regularly ferried dozens of kilos (pounds) of cocaine from California to Stow, she said.This cocaine ended up not just on the streets of larger cities like Cleveland and Columbus but also in surrounding small towns and onto the campuses of the schools in the region.

The operation, however, effectively shut down drug cartel networks throughout North America, Leonhart added.The DEA will continue attacking the international drug trade with every tool at our disposal, fighting to defeat those who put deadly drugs on our streets and engage in violence in our communities,she vowed. At the end of last year, the DEA said their operations to clamp down on production and supply routes over the preceding 21 months substantially impacted drug quality and cost within the United States. The price of a gram of cocaine in the United States from January 2007 to September 2008 soared 89 percent, from 96.61 dollars to 182.73 dollars, the anti-drug agency said. An analysis of 24,000 drug busts across the country, found that cocaine purity dropped during the same period, from 67 percent to 46 percent, the DEA said.

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/

SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU FEB 26,2009

09:30 AM +14.66
10:00 AM +60.61
10:30 AM +98.84
11:00 AM +118.60
11:30 AM +88.89
12:00 PM +63.00
12:30 PM +19.67
01:00 PM +33.93
01:30 PM +19.13
02:00 PM +32.97
02:30 PM +27.96
03:00 PM -44.28
03:30 PM -69.37
04:00 PM -88.81 7182.08

S&P 500 752.83 -12.07

NASDAQ 1391.47 -33.96

GOLD 946.50 -19.70

OIL 44.46 +1.96

TSE 300 8186.82 +254.52

CDNX 862.81 +7.84

S&P/TSX/60 493.86 +16.01

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -17.15%
S&P -15.32%
Nasdaq -9.61%
TSX Advances 744,declines 743,unchanged 287,Volume 2,521,908,187.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 344,Declines 349,Unchanged 370,Volume 198,119,255.

Dow +64 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +14 points at low today.
Dow +118 points at high today so far.
Gold opens at $943.00 today,OIL opens at $43.95 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -1 points at low today so far.
Dow +133 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,280,declines 1,372,unchanged 86,New Highs 2,New Lows 126.
Volume 3,578,282,800.
NASDAQ Advances 1,487,declines 1,048,unchanged 138,New highs 1,New Lows 123.
Volume 1,005,097,821.
TSX Advances 831,declines 482,unchanged 254,Volume 1,576,284,806.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 270,Declines 274,Unchanged 283,Volume 102,608,822.

WHITEHOUSE WANTS - SPENDS
-requests 75.5 BILLION suplemental war costs for 2009.
-sees unemployment peaking at 8.1% 2009.
-more action (money)to boost financial system likely.
-sees 10 yr treasury note averaging 2.8% in 2009.
OBAMA BUDGET
-creates national infrastructure Bank.
-increases defence spending 4% to %533.7 BILLION,extra war spending.
-higher taxes on hedge funds/pe firms for carried interest.
-lists additional $750 BILLION for more financial help.
-Obama proposes $3.6 TRILLION budget for fiscal year 2010.
-sees GDP at 1.2% in 2009,up 3.2% in 2010.

BEST WEEK EVER FOR BANKS(FUEGO FINANCIALS)
-Fifth third +138%
-Sun trust +87%
-Marshall & Isley +60%
-Bank of America +51%
-Huntington Banc +46%

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -96 points at low today.
Dow +133 points at high today.
Dow today Volume
Nasdaq today Volume
S&P 500 today Volume

FEBRUARY 25, 2009, 3:42 P.M. ET Officials Unveil Details of Stress Tests By MEENA THIRUVENGADAM and MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials unveiled details Wednesday of how they plan to convert preferred shares the U.S. Treasury holds in hundreds of financial institutions into common stock that would help banks survive an even worse-than-projected economic downturn.Bernanke: Officials Have Necessary ToolsBernanke Eases Nationalization FearsBanking, Economic Crises Feed the SpiralUnder the plan, which includes stress tests aimed at measuring how the banks would hold up under both baseline and extreme economic situations, institutions would have six months to raise private capital before getting a government-issued capital buffer.Supervisors will work with institutions to estimate the range of possible future losses and the resources to absorb such losses over a two-year period, banking regulators said in a joint statement. The adverse situation tests would assume a 2010 unemployment rate of 10.3%, Case-Shiller home price declines of 22% in 2009 and 7% in 2010 and gross domestic product contractions of 3.3% in 2009 and 0.5 in 2010.

Regulators expect to complete the tests by the end of April.

Any capital provided to the institutions under the new program, known as the Capital Assistance Program, would be preferred securities convertible into common equity at a 10% discount to the prevailing price as of Feb. 9. The securities will come with a 9% dividend and would be convertible at the issuers' request once supervisory approval has been received, the U.S. Treasury said Wednesday.

Participants in Government Investment Plan
See a list of participating companies in the bank-share purchase program.If not converted or redeemed within seven years, the securities would automatically be converted into common stock.Banks that have already issued preferred shares to the U.S. government under the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Capital Purchase Program would be able to convert those shares to the new convertible instruments. The government has so far invested more than $196 billion in more than 400 institutions through that program.The new government investments require banks to submit plans for their use of government capital. Any bank participating in the program also will be subject to restrictions on dividend payments, share repurchases and acquisitions.

Banking regulators in their joint release said, Currently, the major U.S. banking institutions have capital in excess of the amounts required to be considered well capitalized.The U.S. is requiring banks with assets of more than $100 billion to participate in the stress tests. Those banks will be given immediate access to government capital if needed.Write to Meena Thiruvengadam at meena.thiruvengadam@dowjones.com and Michael R. Crittenden at michael.crittenden@dowjones.com

High-level finance group calls for EU risk council
ANDREW WILLIS 25.02.2009 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A high-level group of financial experts headed by former IMF managing director Jacques de Larosiere has called for a new European agency to gather information on the risks faced by the EU financial system.The new body, to be called the European Systemic Risk Council (ESRC), would provide early risk warnings and operate under the auspices of the European Central Bank (ECB), says the group's report published on Wednesday (25 February).Canary Wharf, London, Europe's largest financial centre. (Photo: wikipedia)The ESRC should pool and analyse all information relevant for financial stability, the document suggests in one of its 30 recommendations.

If adopted by finance ministers, the new body will be chaired by the ECB president and contain one representative from the European commission. Mr Larosiere attacked warnings issued by a number of organizations prior to the financial crisis as very frequently lacking anything concrete.Regarding the regulation of individual banks, the report suggests increasing the powers of the existing supervisory committees rather than creating a single EU body that many had called for. Before calling for such ambitious projects you have to think things through, said Mr Larosiere. We are not opting for super-structures which I think would have had little prospect of being accepted.Instead the existing banking regulatory bodies, known as level three committees, would gain new legal powers to ensure better coordination between national regulators and the adoption of supervisory standards.They would also gain powers to issue licences to credit-rating agencies, licences that can be revoked following poor performance by the agency. The failure of credit rating agencies to accurately assess the risk attached to certain financial products, such as securitized sub-prime mortgages, has been criticised as an important contributor to the current crisis. Dutch socialist MEP Ieke van den Burg, a member of the influential Economic and Monetary Affairs committee in the European Parliament, broadly welcomed the document. It is very similar to what we did in the parliament so I am very proud that we have come to the same conclusions, she told EUobserver.

She was also impressed that the group of financial experts from diverse backgrounds managed to agree unanimously on the final text. It is a good example for the council [representing member states] to get their act together and support this report, she said.I hope the summit of EU leaders [on 1 March] will give a clear signal about this and not leave it only to finance ministers.

Guidelines on impaired assets

The commission also presented a list of guidelines for member states regarding impaired assets on Wednesday. Impaired assets, also know as toxic assets, have been blamed for undermining confidence in the financial system, as they create uncertainty about the stability of individual banks holding them. The commission guidelines are designed to allay fears that member states' schemes to deal with such assets could have negative effects on other EU countries' economies or constitute a form of financial protectionism. Under the guidelines, assets would be valued by independent experts and valued at their real economic value rather than current market prices. Likewise, the cost of member state schemes should be shared between all stakeholders and not just shouldered by the taxpayer. If finance ministers are not pleased with these guidelines, then I really don't know what they are asking for,said competition commissioner Neelie Kroes. Finance ministers will next meet in Brussels on 10 March.

THE INFLUENCE GAME: Banks shift bankruptcy tactics By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 25, 6:34 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Big banks, scrambling to prevent the government from forcing them to rewrite mortgages for struggling homeowners, are using their lobbying clout to press the Obama administration and Congress to scale back a key measure to rescue borrowers from foreclosures.The legislation, expected to pass the House on Thursday, would let bankruptcy judges reduce the principal and interest rate on a home loan. That essentially would require mortgage companies to let debt-strapped homeowners reduce their monthly payments rather than lose their main residences.Obama called for it last week as part of his housing rescue plan. Democrats and consumer advocates regard it as crucial to slowing the rapid rate of foreclosures.But the mortgage industry contends the measure will impose steep and unpredictable costs on its companies, which will be forced to pass them along to borrowers in the form of higher fees and interest rates. The industry spent millions last year on a successful lobbying effort to kill the bill, which almost all Republicans oppose. Opponents call it the cram-down.This year, with Obama in the White House and Democrats enjoying a broader majority, a rift has emerged in the industry. One major player, Citigroup Inc., has bowed to the new political reality and moved to grab a seat at the negotiating table.It cut a deal last month with Democrats to back the plan, as long as it applied only to existing loans made before enactment and was limited to homeowners who try working with their lender to adjust their loans before seeking relief in bankruptcy.Other banks have changed their strategy, but not their position. They are continuing efforts to squash the legislation, but also have stepped up their bid to gut key provisions. Among their goals: restrict the measure to certain kinds or sizes of home loans, certain borrowers, or situations where the mortgage holder — known as the loan servicer — agrees to the changes.

I don't see a scenario where we can ever support this, but we're trying to make it the least-worst way to do the wrong thing, said Scott Talbott, a lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, a trade group representing large banks. The group spent $7.8 million last year lobbying on this and other issues. There are efforts being made to change the bill right now, Talbott said Wednesday, as Democratic leaders were putting the last touches on the measure to be voted on Thursday.That legislation, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the Judiciary Committee chairman, is part of a broader housing plan. It includes a boost in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's borrowing authority and other steps to prevent foreclosures. In the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, has teamed with the Banking Committee chairman, Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., on the bankruptcy measure. A vote could come in a few weeks.The change in tactics has paid off for the banks, now actively bargaining with top Democrats on the details of the legislation.We continue to be opposed to the bill and that hasn't changed, but we do live in the real world, and we do understand that this is very likely to happen, and we owe it to our members to recognize that reality and to limit the damage as much as possible, said Francis Creighton, a lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, which spent $4.2 million on lobbying last year. We're encouraged by the fact that the bill is moving to limit the damage of cram-down rather than make it worse.Aside from Citigroup, two other large banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., have been in discussions with top Democrats. Neither has signed onto the bill, however.Industry players are pushing to limit the measure to home loans originated in the last several years and to strengthen the requirement that borrowers prove they tried other ways of modifying their mortgages before resorting to bankruptcy.The bank opposition has had a profound impact on the bill as it stands today. They're very powerful special interests. They're a force in Washington, said Michael Calhoun of the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer group.Look at the concessions they extracted from the bill and are still extracting.

Lobbyists and congressional aides close to the negotiations say the banking industry has recognized that some sort of action on the bankruptcy measure is virtually certain, and is actively seeking a deal on the issue that will limit its cost.In an internal research report last month, Credit Suisse said it expected the legislation to be enacted and projected it could lead to a 20 percent reduction in foreclosures.

Citigroup had an interest in showing a willingness to cooperate with the new administration in getting the foreclosure crisis under control. It has taken $45 billion from the government's financial bailout program already and is in discussions about getting even more federal assistance. The government is guaranteeing billions in risky Citigroup assets, meaning taxpayers are essentially on the hook for losses it could incur through the bankruptcy change.

Stocks end down as week's back-and-forth continues By MADLEN READ and SARA LEPRO, AP Business Writers – Wed Feb 25, 6:04 pm ET

NEW YORK – Wall Street showed a little resilience as investors got answers to some of their questions about banks.The major indexes closed down about 1 percent Wednesday but recovered from much steeper losses early in the day, continuing the volatile trading that has buffeted the market this week.Stocks initially fell on growing pessimism about the banking industry and a home sales report that came in weaker than the market expected. But as the day wore on, some of the uncertainty about the troubled banking system lifted when the Treasury Department said it's beginning to stress test the banks. The test will use two economic scenarios to measure banks' health, and the process is expected to be done by the end of April.

The government also gave the market some reassurance by confirming that it will buy preferred shares from banks that can be converted into common shares. And investors found solace when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke rejected for the second straight day the notion that banks could be nationalized.Still, Wall Street remains worried about the recession deepening, dividends disappearing and how the government will get toxic assets off banks' books.We're seeing a lot of nervousness, and that's breeding volatility, said Anthony Conroy, managing director and head trader for BNY ConvergEx Group. We're definitely in a bottoming process of the market, but it's not coming as quickly as some people would like.Investors appeared disappointed that a late-afternoon speech by President Barack Obama after he met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner revealed few additional details about their plan for dealing with the toxic assets that have hobbled many of the nation's biggest banks.And the bad news about the housing market left some traders nervous about hanging onto stocks snapped up a day earlier. The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes fell 5.3 percent to an annual rate of 4.49 million last month — the worst showing since July 1997. Wall Street had expected sales would rise.The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 80.05, or 1.1 percent, at 7,270.89 after rising 236 points on Tuesday and falling 251 on Monday. The average tumbled by as many as 194 points in early trading Wednesday and later was up 54 before retreating again.

Broader stock indicators also recovered from earlier lows but finished down. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 8.24, or 1.1 percent, to 764.90, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 16.40, or 1.1 percent, to 1,425.43.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 11.04, or 2.7 percent, to 401.44.Losing issues narrowly outnumbered gainers on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 7.29 billion shares, up from Tuesday's 7.09 billion.The S&P 500 index's ability to hold above its November lows despite the market's severe volatility this week shows the potential for a stock recovery, said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. We really just need more clarity.On the whole, investors were neither disappointed nor galvanized by Obama's Tuesday night speech that touched on the need to create jobs and stabilize the credit system. He told a joint session of Congress that specifics on these and other goals would follow but that billions more may be needed to stabilize the banking system.

Until it is apparent how potential ownership structure of major U.S. banks will look after the government completes stress tests and determines specific plans to help the struggling sector, investors are likely to remain wary about buying financial shares, said Brett D'Arcy, chief investment officer, CBIZ Financial Solutions.A handful of bank shares rebounded in afternoon trading, including those Bank of America Corp. — a company that has gotten a double-dose of government funding, and that investors fear might need more. Bank of America rose 53 cents, or 11 percent, to $5.26, after the CEO made optimistic remarks about the company's stability in a television interview.Other industries are being dragged down unfairly by the gloom surrounding the market, such as health care and technology, D'Arcy said. Eventually, he said, these sectors will begin to rebound as investors recognize the value in them — but it's uncertain when that might occur.Among tech stocks, IBM Corp. fell 50 cents to $85.90. Microsoft Corp. shed 21 cents to $16.96, and Yahoo Inc. fell 27 cents, or 2 percent, to $12.48.Government bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.93 percent from 2.80 percent late Tuesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was unchanged at 0.29 percent. The dollar rose against other major currencies, and gold prices fell. Light, sweet crude rose $2.54 to settle at $42.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.85 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.27 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.41 percent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 2.65 percent.On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Germany business confidence hits all-time low
ANDREW WILLIS 25.02.2009 @ 09:27 CET

German business confidence has hit a record low according to a survey published Tuesday (24 February) by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.The institute says its business climate index for February fell from 83 to 82.6, worse than the previous record low of 82.7 recorded in December of last year.

The worsening of the business situation that has been going on for months has continued in February, Hans-Werner Sinn, President of the Ifo Institute, said in a statement.On the whole the survey results do not signal a cyclical turning point.

Despite the perception of a more difficult business environment however, the 7,000 executives questioned in the study were less pessimistic regarding the business outlook for the coming six months.This may be partially due to the German stimulus plan, currently the largest in the EU. Last week German lawmakers decided to double the government's stimulus package to €80 billion in order to boost the shrinking economy, which the IMF predicts will contract by 2.5 percent this year. Until relatively recently, hopes remained that the German economy would avoid the worst of the downturn seen in other EU states.Those hopes disappeared earlier this month when figures showing a huge decline in industrial orders in December were published.

Germany is the world's largest exporter and is heavily reliant on a buoyant global economy. Export business will continue to contract in their [survey participants'] estimation. Personnel plans continue to point to staff reductions, said Mr Sinn in the statement.New figures released by the European statistics office, Eurostat, on Tuesday (24 February) showed December industrial orders for the EU27 down 6.4 percent on the month before.

Latvia downgraded

The good health of its neighbouring economies is important for a German upturn. But on Tuesday, ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) cut the Latvian economy's rating to BB+ or junk status. Latvia is now the second EU state to receive junk status along with Romania. S&P also put neighbouring Lithuania and Estonia on negative credit watch. Last month saw Greece, Spain and Portugal have their credit ratings cut as market concerns over spiralling budget deficits increased.The latest S&P move reflects market fears that Latvia may not be able to implement deficit-cutting procedures stipulated under the country's €7.5 billion IMF-led rescue deal. The move will further heighten anxieties of western banks that have invested heavily in the area. Austrian banks alone are estimated to have invested sums in central and eastern Europe equivalent to 70 percent of Austrian GDP. However, it is Swedish banks that are particularly exposed to downturns in the Baltic states. Many western banks poured money into Latvia's booming economy in recent years. However, that funding has now dried up as governments put pressure on their national banks to lend at home rather than abroad. The downgrade by S&P comes just days after the Latvian prime minister handed in his resignation over the financial crisis and current recession.

Sarkozy calls on EU to protect own industry
ELITSA VUCHEVA 25.02.2009 @ 09:27 CET

French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday (24 February) called on the EU to protect its industry in the face of US protectionism, and said France and Italy would insist on this during a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Sunday.There must be competition, but competition to build big European groups, not to make the totalities of our industries delocalise. France and Italy will as soon as Sunday [at an emergency EU summit] speak with one voice to ask Europe to take decisions, strong decisions, Mr Sarkozy told the press following a meeting with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome.You know how much I cherish the friendship with the United States, but if the United States defends its farmers as it does, maybe we can do the same in Europe. If the United States defends its industry, as it does - and they are right - maybe in Europe we can do the same,he added.The French president's comments come as the US earlier this month adopted a $787 billion (€617 billion) package to boost its economy. The bill contains Buy American provisions prohibiting foreign steel companies bidding for US infrastructure contracts financed by the plan. The European Commission has already raised concerns about the clause.France itself has been accused of protectionism after earlier this month unblocking €6.5 billion for its car industry, and Mr Sarkozy speaking out against delocalistion of French factories, notably to eastern Europe.

Later on, Spain and Italy also adopted state aid schemes for their ailing car industries, with Germany also considering a bailout of car maker Opel.The French president defended the moves, arguing that member states were forced to take such measures because of the lack of a common EU policy.An industrial policy is not a swear word, he said.I would have very much preferred if there had been a co-ordinated European policy to support the automobile industry. If we didn't do it, if we had to act bilaterally, it is precisely because that was not being done at a multilateral European level,he added.

Franco-Italian nuclear deal

The Franco-Italian meeting also marked Italy's return to nuclear energy after a 21-year ban, as it signed an agreement with France to build new atomic plants.The countries' energy firms ENEL (Italy) and EDF (France) are to build at least four European pressurised water nuclear reactors (EPRs), with the first of them to be operational by 2020, the BBC reports.We have to wake up, and adapt to a future of renewable energy and nuclear power, Mr Berlusconi said at the joint press conference.

France is making available its know-how and that will allow us to save several years and start the construction of nuclear plants in a limited amount of time, he added.
For his part, Ms Sarkozy called the deal historic and said his country was providing an unlimited partnership with Italy in the development of clean energy.Both Paris and Rome want nuclear power to become a European issue, because it represents the key for development, he added.In November 1987, a year after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Italians voted in a referendum to close the nuclear power stations in the country.The unfreeze comes amidst a general tendency in Europe to return to nuclear, with Sweden also lifting a ban on atomic plants earlier this month, and the UK government agreeing in January to build a new generation of nuclear plants in Britain.By 2020, nuclear plants will have to be massively developed, nobody can in any way veto that,the French president said.

Oklahoma House passes sovereignty bill,Path set for other states seeking to reassert constitutional rights February 24, 2009 10:48 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi
2009 WorldNetDaily

Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon

NEW YORK – Oklahoma's House of Representatives is the first legislative body to pass a state sovereignty resolution this year under the terms of the Tenth Amendment.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed House Joint Resolution 1003 Feb. 18 by a wide margin, 83 to 13, resolving, That the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.The language of HJR 1003 further serves notice to the federal government to cease and desist, effectively immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.The sponsor of the resolution, state Rep. Charles Key, told WND the measure was a big step toward addressing the biggest problem we have in this country – the federal government violating the supreme law of the land.The Constitution either means what it says, or it doesn't mean anything at all, Key said. The federal government must honor and obey the Constitution, just like the states and this citizens of this country are obligated to do, or our system of government begins to fall apart.The Ninth Amendment reads, The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. The Tenth Amendment specifically provides, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.As WND reported, eight states have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution: Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington. Analysts expect 12 additional states may see similar measures introduced this year, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania. Key argued that whenever we allow the federal government, or any other government entity, to violate the Constitution, we destroy the Constitution one piece at a time.

We have gone so far down that path that the Constitution is hanging by a thread right now, he said. Last year, the same resolution introduced by Key passed the Oklahoma House, but the floor leader in the Senate, Democrat Sen. Charles Lassiter, used his authority to block consideration of the measure on the Senate floor. But state Sen. Randy Brogdon has sponsored comparable legislation, and he told WND the "chances are excellent it will be passed in the Senate this session.Brogdon said his bill, SJR 10, has made it out of committee and will be heard on the Senate floor in the next couple of weeks. The lawmaker said he will double-track HJR 1003 to increase the chances one of the sovereignty resolutions gets to the Senate floor. We going to work Rep. Charles Key's bill through the committee, Brogdon said, and our goal in the Senate is to use HCR 1003 as the final bill.Brogdon told WND he feels confident Democrats in the Oklahoma Senate will not be able to block the sovereignty measure this year. Last year, the Democrats in the Senate were able to veto consideration of Rep. Key's bill, he said, but this year the Republicans are in control of the Oklahoma House and the Oklahoma Senate, for the first time in Oklahoma's history.Oklahoma was the only state in the 2008 election in which every county voted for the Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. The Democratic leadership in the state legislature has been outside the mainstream of the Democratic Party for decades in Oklahoma, Brogdon said. We finally turned the corner in 2008, with Republican majorities in both House and Senate. We still have a Democratic governor in Oklahoma, Brogdon said, but we hope to change that in 2010.

Brogdon is widely being mentioned as a Republican candidate for governor in 2010. Key crafted his resolution so it takes effect once the Oklahoma Senate passes the measure, even without the governor's signature. Asked whether Oklahoma's Democratic Gov. Brad Henry would sign a sovereignty resolution, Brogdon said he was confident the governor would do so. I believe the governor will have to sign the sovereignty resolution the state legislature passes, he said. How do you turn down states rights? If you are the governor, how are you going to stand before the people of Oklahoma and say, I don't want to support your state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment? Henry's office did not immediately respond to WND's request for comment.

Brogdon was not equally sure Henry would instruct Oklahoma's attorney general to enforce the sovereignty resolution, in what might be interpreted as an act of defiance against the Obama administration. Phase Two will be to get a Republican governor in the state capital that understands the Constitution and respects the rule of law, Brogdon said. We need an attorney general in Oklahoma that will enforce this sovereignty resolution once it is passed.Brogdon explained that Oklahoma is on track to receive about $900 million from the $787 billion economic stimulus deficit-spending bill Obama signed into law last week. Governor Henry has his hand out for the Obama stimulus money, Brogdon said.But there are a lot of us in the Oklahoma legislature that do not want the federal stimulus money because we fear the strings that are certainly going to be attached to the $900 million. We might end up in subsequent years with a $900 million entitlement program hole in our budget for years to come, just because we took the Obama economic stimulus money this time around.

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)

Ministers set to appoint new head of Europol
VALENTINA POP 25.02.2009 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Home affairs ministers meeting on Thursday (25 February) are set to discuss the appointment of a new head for the EU's police co-operation unit, with candidates from UK, Hungary and Spain shortlisted for the job. The British candidate, Bob Wainwright, head of the national agency dealing with organised crime and Europol's contact bureau in the UK, was supported by a majority of member states and had the endorsement of Europol's management board, diplomatic sources from several countries told EUobserver.Europol, based in the Hague, awaits a new director in April (Photo: © European Community, 2005)However, the decision needs unanimity among member states. If no deal is reached on Thursday, EU ministers could agree at their next meeting scheduled for 6-7 April, a week before the mandate of the current director, German police official Max-Peter Ratzel, runs out.French and British diplomats said there was a broad consensus to come up with a decision before mid-April, in order to avoid a situation like the one in 2004, when France, Germany and Italy could not agree on whom to appoint. One of the candidates now shortlisted, Europol's deputy director from Spain, Mariano Carrion, served as interim director between June 2004 and April 2005, until Mr Ratzel could finally take up his office.

Ferenc Banfi from Hungary, currently heading EU's border assistance mission to Moldova and Ukraine, including the non-recognised separatist region of Transnistria, is also in the running.Founded in 1999 to improve cooperation between national police forces, Europol has no executive powers. It handles criminal intelligence and offers support and expertise to member states, especially in cross-border organised crime investigations. Last year, member states, the EU commission and parliament decided to transform the Hague-based Europol into an EU agency starting in 2010, and to submit it to parliamentary control. Currently, Europol only reports to the 27 EU ministers for home affairs.But the efficiency of Europol is open to question. British MPs in November 2008 drew up a report stating that police intelligence across the EU was not shared properly due to lack of trust.Only five countries currently automatically load data on to the European information system and in the UK, for instance, they cannot currently take part in it because the British IT data systems are not compatible with Europol's, British MP Michael Jopling told the BBC.

There is a good deal of lack of trust between the national police forces and Europol because a number of national police forces are not happy that information they may give on a confidential basis will not leak out.

Delays in visa and Schengen systems

Home affairs ministers are also due to discuss different options regarding the upgrade of the Schengen Information System - with Germany and Austria pushing for a decision. They can either repair the new system, which has technical difficulties but which member states already invested in, or they can start from scratch and upgrade the old system which cannot store biometric data and was initially designed for only 20-30 member states. The calendar delays with the Schengen system are likely to be repeated with the so-called Visa Information System (VIS), which should have come into force mid-2009 and is now set to be rescheduled for December 2009.

The system provides interconnects the national visa databases of all member states.

Illegal immigration in the Mediterranean and the proposed establishment of an EU asylum support office are also on the agenda of home affairs ministers but no concrete decisions are expected to be taken.