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 urged to flee house-high wildfires
Tue Dec 29, 5:06 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian officials urged residents to evacuate a wheat farming district in the west of the country Tuesday as towering wildfires with flames higher than rooftops threatened homes.People in the Dandaragan area north of Perth were told to flee immediately as the fast-moving and out-of-control blaze, fanned by catastrophic conditions in Western Australia, showered embers.Homes will be impacted by fire. People in this area need to relocate now, the state's Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) warned in a statement.The bushfire is moving fast in a southeast direction. It is out of control. Embers are likely to be blown around your home. Flames are higher than rooftops, it added.Residents in nearby Toodyay were also evacuated as an intense fire broke out there, threatening at least seven homes in the town of about 400 people, FESA said.It is out of control, unpredictable and fast moving, it said.Spot fires are starting ahead of the fire. Flames are one to two metres high.The fire authority said evacuation offered the best option for survival, warning that relocating at the last minute is deadly. It was uncertain how many homes were in the evacuation zones, FESA said.It would mainly be farmhouses, a spokesman told AFP.Pretty sparse and mainly farming communities.Aircraft were water-bombing the two fires, while more than 100 firefighters were trying to control them from the ground.
Much of Western Australia had been declared at a catastrophic or code red fire danger, with authorities fearing the worst conditions in five years.Catastrophic conditions are considered on a par with those ahead of February's Black Saturday wildfires, which killed 173 people and razed more than 2,000 homes in Australia's worst natural disaster of modern times.Residents cannot be forced to evacuate but are strongly advised to leave their properties due to extreme risk of death or injury.Blazes have already destroyed more than a dozen homes in recent weeks. Officials are bracing for the worst fire season in four years with hot and windy conditions forecast amid a decade-long drought in parts of the country.
POISONED WATERS
REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
125 pilot whales die on NZ beaches, 43 saved
Mon Dec 28, 5:44 am ET
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after stranding on beaches over the weekend — but vacationers and conservation workers managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported well out to sea.Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.Some 63 pilot whales stranded ... but it looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones, Department of Conservation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod swam out to sea.Bolten said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbor and they couldn't find their way out again.Meanwhile on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died Saturday, conservation officials said Monday.Golden Bay biodiversity program manager Hans Stoffregen said they were discovered by a tourist plane pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived.They were in bad shape. By the time we got there two-thirds of them had already died. We had to euthanize the rest, he said.
The whales had been out of the water for a long time.It has been quite hot and they were very distressed. You could see the pain and suffering in their eyes, he was quoted telling the Southland Times newspaper.Because the site is part of a nature reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they stranded, Stoffregen said.Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.
Poles wary of switching to euro: survey
12 mins ago DEC 29,09
WARSAW (AFP) – Fifty-three percent of Poles believe adopting the euro would hit their pockets, according to a survey published Tuesday.The study by the TNS OBOP public opinion agency found that just 15 percent of respondents believed the euro would be a personal boon, 17 percent thought its introduction would make no difference to them, and 15 percent had no view.Ex-communist Poland, which joined the European Union in 2004, had been aiming to switch from it free-floating zloty to the euro by 2012.But in the face of a sharp economic slowdown and problems meeting EU-set eurozone entry criteria, the centre-right government put the plans on hold. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said the changeover may be possible by 2015.The TNS OBOP survey found that 36 percent of Poles thought the euro would have a positive impact on the country's economy overall, while 31 percent said it would be damaging.
Nine percent said a switch would have no impact, and 24 had no view on the issue.TNS OBOP polled a representative sample of 1,002 people aged over 15, from December 3 to 6.Sixteen of the EU's 27 member nations currently use the euro -- two of them, Slovenia and Slovakia, are ex-communist states.
Stocks mixed after housing, confidence data By Sara Lepro, Ap Business Writer – DEC 29,09
NEW YORK – Stocks fluctuated in a narrow range Tuesday after reports on home prices and consumer confidence came in largely as expected, showing a gradual improvement in the economy.The Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence rose to 52.9 in December from 49.5 in November. That was slightly better than the reading of 52 economists had forecast.The index is still a long way from what is considered healthy. A reading of 90 or more signals a solid economy. However, the index has risen significantly from a historic low of 25.3 in February.Earlier Tuesday, Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller said its home price index rose for a fifth straight month in October, edging up 0.4 percent. The index was off 7.3 percent from October last year, roughly in line with expectations.The index is now up 3.4 percent from its bottom in May, but still almost 30 percent below its peak in April 2006. Only 11 of the 20 cities tracked in the report showed gains.Stocks rose modestly in early trading, but turned mixed by late morning. Analysts said there were few surprises in the economic data to drive the market one way or the other.The reports we're seeing broadly reinforce the expectations we've had, said Jim Baird, partner and chief investment strategist for Plante Moran Financial Advisors in Kalamazoo, Mich. It's slow and steady; It's not explosive improvement.Trading was quiet, as it has been in recent days. Many investors were taking vacation between Christmas and New Year's Day.Even in light volume though, the market has managed to climb. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has posted gains for six straight days, rising 2.3 percent to reach a new high for the year.At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.12, or 0.1 percent, to 10,557.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.72, or 0.1 percent, to 1,127.06, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 3.24, or 0.1 percent, to 2,287.84.
EU on alert over Russian oil supplies-The row is fast becoming something of a New Year's tradition (Photo: Notat)RENATA GOLDIROVA Today DEC 29,09 @ 05:28 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – A fresh row between Russia and Ukraine over energy shipment fees - fast becoming something of a New Year's tradition - has caused alarm in the European Union, as Moscow warned of possible oil supply cuts to central Europe. On Monday (28 December), Slovakia - 97 percent dependent on Russian oil - held an emergency meeting of its security council, with Prime Minister Robert Fico saying the EU is at risk of disruptions in oil deliveries via the Druzhba oil pipeline from 1 January 2010. We first received information [about the Russian-Ukrainian dispute] during the Christmas holidays,Mr Fico told journalists. He added that the Ukrainian request for higher transit fees was the core of the matter. The European Commission later confirmed that Russian authorities had triggered an early warning mechanism - a system designed to ring alarm bells before taps are turned off - and gave notice of a possible disruption of crude oil supplies in the coming days. Several member states could be directly affected, notably Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, reads the commission internal note, seen by EUobserver. The EU's executive body has re-assured, however, that there is no current threat to supplies to households or to businesses as emergency oil stocks in the 27-nation bloc stand at comfortable level of 122 days of consumption. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic also report having sufficient reserves - 118, 94 and 101 days, respectively - figures well above the mandatory 90 days.
Speedy solution
Only hours after the announcement by the Slovak government, Moscow and Kiev played down any threat to EU customers by saying they had reached a preliminary deal on oil transit conditions. We expect the agreement to be co-ordinated and signed shortly, within one or two days, Irina Yesipova, the Russian energy ministry spokesperson, was cited as saying by RIA Novosti. She added: New Year's Eve will pass without disruption or unpleasant situations.Ukraine, for its part, re-iterated that a reasonable compromise on transit tariffs has been found, but put the blame on its powerful neighbour and called the Russian warning a political blackmail.within Ukraine there are no threats, no risks, a presidential aide, Bogdan Sokolovsky, said, according to media reports.One EU diplomat, involved in the matter and speaking to EUobserver, took a more cautious stance, however.It would be premature to say that all has been agreed,he said.
No threat to gas flows
It is not the first time that the EU's vulnerability to Russian-Ukrainian payment disputes has been exposed, underlying that significant energy reliance on one supplier is the bloc's Achilles heel. In January 2007, Russia turned off taps in the same Druzhba pipeline, the world's longest oil pipeline of some 4,000 kilometers, due to a row with Belarus. Last January, Russian gas stopped flowing through Ukraine for almost two weeks - an event that forced many companies to halt production and left hundreds of homes in the EU without central heating. Bulgaria and Slovakia were worst hit, with the damage to the Slovak economy amounting to some 0.5 percent of GDP. Referring to the current situation, the Slovak Prime Minister said there was no sign of a gas supply squeeze in January 2010, but indicated the situation could change in February or March due to half-empty coffers in Kiev. The International Monetary Fund recently turned down recession-strapped Ukraine's plea for a $2 billion emergency loan due to the country's failure to adopt a fiscally prudent budget. Never say never, Mr Fico said, referring to a possible gas crisis. He stressed, however, that Slovakia is better prepared for a possible worst-case scenario.
First Jesus-era house discovered in Nazareth By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 21, 10:48 pm ET
NAZARETH, Israel – Just in time for Christmas, archaeologists on Monday unveiled what may have been the home of one of Jesus' childhood neighbors. The humble dwelling is the first dating to the era of Jesus to be discovered in Nazareth, then a hamlet of around 50 impoverished Jewish families where Jesus spent his boyhood.
Archaeologists and present-day residents of Nazareth imagined Jesus as a youngster, playing with other children in the isolated village, not far from the spot where the Archangel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she would give birth to the boy.Today the ornate Basilica of the Annunciation marks that spot, and Nazareth is the largest Arab city in northern Israel, with about 65,000 residents. Muslims now outnumber Christians two to one in the noisy, crowded city.The archaeological find shows how different it was 2000 years ago: There were no Christians or Muslims, the Jewish Temple stood in Jerusalem and tiny Nazareth stood near a battleground between Roman rulers and Jewish guerrillas.The Jews of Nazareth dug camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority. But the hamlet was so far off the beaten path that the caves were apparently not needed, she said.Based on clay and chalk shards found at the site, the dwelling appeared to house a simple Jewish family, Alexandre added, as workers carefully chipped away at mud with small pickaxes to reveal stone walls.
This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with,Alexandre said. A young Jesus may have played around the house with his cousins and friends. It's a logical suggestion.The discovery so close to Christmas pleased local Christians.They say if the people do not speak, the stones will speak, said the Rev. Jack Karam of the nearby basilica.Archaeologist Stephen Pfann, president of the University of The Holy Land, noted: It's the only witness that we have from that area that shows us what the walls and floors were like inside Nazareth in the first century.Pfann was not involved in the dig.Alexandre said workers uncovered the first signs of the dwelling last summer, but it became clear only this month that it was a structure from the days of Jesus.Alexandre's team found remains of a wall, a hideout, a courtyard and a water system that appeared to collect water from the roof and supply it to the home. The discovery was made when builders dug up the courtyard of a former convent to make room for a new Christian center, just yards from the Basilica.
It is not clear how big the dwelling is. Alexandre's team has uncovered about 900 square feet of the house, but it may have been for an extended family and could be much larger, she said.Archaeologists also found a camouflaged entry way into a grotto, which Alexandre believes was used by Jews to hide from Roman soldiers who were battling Jewish rebels for control of the area.The grotto could have hidden around six people for a few hours, she said.However, Roman soldiers did not end up battling Nazareth's Jews because the hamlet had little strategic value. The Roman army was more interested in larger towns and strategic hilltop communities, she said.
Alexandre said similar camouflaged grottos were found in other ancient Jewish communities of the lower Galilee, such as the nearby biblical village of Cana, which did witness battles between Jews and Romans.Archaeologists also found clay and chalk vessels likely used by Galilean Jews of the time. The scientists concluded a Jewish family lived there because of the chalk, which Jews used to ensure the ritual purity of the food and water kept inside the vessels. The shards also date back to the time of Jesus, which includes the late Hellenic, early Roman period that ranges from around 100 B.C. to the first century, Alexandre said. The determination was made by comparing the findings to shards and remains typical of that period found in other parts of the Galilee, she said. The absence of any remains of glass vessels or imported products suggested the people who lived in the dwelling were simple, but Alexandre said the remains did not indicate whether they were traders or farmers. The only other artifacts from the time of Jesus found in the Nazareth area are ancient burial caves that provided a rough idea of the village's population at the time, Alexandre said.
Work is now taking place to clear newer ruins built above the dwelling, which will be preserved. The dwelling will become part of a new international Christian center being built close to the site and funded by a French Roman Catholic group, said Marc Hodara of the Chemin Neuf Community overseeing construction. Alexandre said limited space and population density makes it unlikely that archaeologists can carry out further excavations in the area, leaving this dwelling to tell the story of what Jesus' boyhood home may have looked like. The discovery at this time, this period, is very interesting, especially as a Christian,Karam said. For me it is a great gift.
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
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.
WHO chief: swine flu pandemic continues By ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writer – 46 mins ago-DEC 29,09
GENEVA – Many more people could become sick with swine flu this winter even though it has peaked in North America and some European countries, the head of the World Health Organization said Tuesday.The worst of the swine flu outbreak is over in the United States, Canada, Britain and some other countries in the northern hemisphere, said Dr. Margaret Chan.But there is still intensive flu activity in Egypt, India and elsewhere, she said.It is too premature and too early for us to say we have come to an end of the pandemic influenza worldwide, Chan told reporters. Health experts should monitor the pandemic for another six to 12 months, she said, adding that the virus could still mutate and become more dangerous.Over 11,500 people are known to have died from the disease since the outbreak began in April, according to WHO. Between 250,000 and 500,000 people die from regular flu each year.When the U.N. health agency declared swine flu to be a pandemic in June, it described it as moderate.While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people under 65 — people who are not usually at risk during regular flu seasons.But since flu viruses constantly evolve, experts have feared swine flu could mutate into a more dangerous form.One thing we need to guard against is the sense of complacency, Chan said, adding that flu viruses are highly unpredictable.
We will watch this virus with eagle's eyes,she said.Last month, WHO warned that with fresh bird flu cases reported in poultry in Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, the risk of bird flu and the H1N1 pandemic swine flu virus mixing was heightened.
Scientists fear that bird flu, which remains hard for people to catch but kills about 60 percent of those infected, could combine with the current swine flu virus, which spreads easily among people but kills a low percentage.Chan said although countries are now better prepared to cope with a global disease outbreak than a few years ago, the swine flu epidemic has shown that there remain numerous gaps in the health systems of many countries.She said she hopes the world can avoid a pandemic triggered by the avian flu virus, which she said was more toxic and deadly than swine flu.The world is not ready for a pandemic caused by H5N1, she said, referring to the scientific name of bird flu.
Court lets Palestinians use major Israeli highway By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
JERUSALEM – Israel's Supreme Court ordered the military on Tuesday to allow Palestinians to travel on the part of a major highway that runs through the West Bank, handing Palestinians their biggest victory yet against Israel's practice of reserving some roads for Jews.The West Bank section of a road linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv was closed in 2002 to the Palestinians, after militants shot at Israeli vehicles on the highway and killed several motorists.About half of the 20-mile highway runs through the West Bank. Palestinians living in villages along the route petitioned to reopen it in 2007, as the Palestinian uprising against Israel wound down.The court said in a summary of its ruling that the military does not have the authority to impose a permanent and sweeping limitation on Palestinian travel along the West Bank section of the road because that in effect transforms the road into a route designed for internal Israeli traffic alone.It also said the closure of the road does not benefit the local population, from whom lands were appropriated to build it.The judges ruled that security considerations cannot take precedence.It's a huge victory, said Melanie Takefman, spokeswoman for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which represented the Palestinians in their petition before the court.The restrictions caused hardships for tens of thousands of Palestinians, who were forced to travel on dirt roads to other areas of the West Bank. That problem was eased last year with the opening of alternative paved routes for Palestinians.
Palestinian Hassan Mafarjeh, the mayor of Beit Liqya village near the highway, said the alternate road was not a solution. We reject the principle that our land is expropriated to build more roads, he said.He said the trip to the main city in the area, Ramallah, took an hour on the dirt roads and 30 minutes on the alternate road. Using the highway would cut that to just 15 minutes, he said.The court gave the military five months to implement the ruling.Under existing regulations, sections of the road that lie in Israeli territory will remain closed to Palestinian vehicles, as are all Israeli roads.It was the second time in months that the Supreme Court has ordered the military to open a West Bank road declared off-limits to Palestinians.
Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem draws EU rebuke
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today DEC 29,09 @ 14:58 CET
Israel has announced the construction of some 700 apartments in East Jerusalem just a month after the Jewish state proclaimed a freeze on the building of new settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, drawing moderate criticism from the European Union.On Monday (28 December), Israel's Construction and Housing Ministry opened tenders for the construction of 692 new flats in the neighbourhoods of Har Homa, Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov - Arab land absorbed by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War.Settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law, the Swedish EU presidency said in a statement.The Presidency of the European Union urges Israel to reconsider these plans as it prevents the creation of an atmosphere conducive to resuming negotiations on a two-state solution.In November, defence minister Ehud Barak issued a freeze order, aiming to jump-start peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, while at the same time permitting the construction of 28 new public buildings in the occupied territories. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently declared that settlement construction would resume at the end of a 10-month period.
Palestinian representatives also condemned Monday's move. Nabil Abu Rudainah, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement: Continuing the policy of settlements expansion is deliberate destruction of US and international efforts to achieve progress in the peace process.This policy affirms that the Israeli side is not serious in reaching a just and comprehensive permanent peace agreement based on the two-state solution.For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the opportunity to argue that now is the time to restart peace negotiations between the two sides.The time for excuses is over. Now is the time for action,he said ahead of a meeting in Egypt with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak scheduled for Friday.
Iran limits movements of an opposition leader By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
TEHRAN, Iran – The son of leading opposition figure Mahdi Karroubi says Iranian security forces are limiting his father's movements by refusing to protect him when he leaves his home.Taghi Karroubi told The Associated Press by telephone that guards assigned to his father by Iranian police are no longer providing security for him when he goes out, apparently under police orders.Taghi Karroubi says the measure means his father cannot go outside safely, calling it a quasi-house arrest.Karroubi and opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi were the two defeated reformist candidates in the disputed June 12 presidential election, which set off the worst unrest in Iran in the three decades since the Islamic Revolution.
Ahmadinejad blames US, Israel for Iran protests by Hiedeh Farmani – DEC 29,09
TEHRAN (AFP) – Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States and Israel on Tuesday of staging an anti-government protest in which at least eight people died, saying it was a nauseating play.His talk of a theatrical piece commissioned and sold out by the country's two arch-foes, came as Iran's conservative parliament called for opposition demonstrators to be given maximum punishment. Iranians have seen lots of these games, the president was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying.Americans and Zionists are the sole audience of a play they have commissioned and sold out. A nauseating play is performed.Meanwhile, speaker Ali Larijani said on television that parliament wants the judiciary and intelligence bodies to arrest those who insult religion and impose the maximum punishment on them without reservation.Parliament also condemned disgusting comments by Western governments about Sunday's unrest, after they unanimously denounced the deadly crackdown in the Islamic republic. Related article: Recent key events in Iran.
In that vein, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki lashed out at Britain on Tuesday,If they (the British) do not stop their absurd comments, they will be slapped in the mouth, Mottaki said according to ISNA news agency.The comment came as Tehran summoned British envoy Simon Gass over criticism and a pro-government website said a Briton was among those arrested at the demonstrations.The British ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry and the Islamic Republic's protest was submitted regarding this country's interference in our internal affairs, Fars news agency said.
On Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had hailed the great courage of Iranian opposition supporters.In London, the foreign office said Gass had responded robustly... and reiterated (Miliband's) comments that the Iranian government must respect the human rights of its own citizens.People had taken to the street on the holy day of Ashura, which commemorates the 7th century murder of Shiite Islam's holiest martyr, Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.Eight people were killed as security forces used teargas, batons and eventually live rounds to push back thousands who had taken to the streets.Hardliners have reacted angrily to what they see as desecration of Ashura by opposition supporters and have staged counter-demonstrations calling for tough action against protesters, state media reported.The opposition, meanwhile, has excoriated the authorities for resorting to violence on Ashura, a day when custom prohibits it.MPs accused the protesters of being counter-revolutionaries and anti-religion.
But they took a softer stance towards opposition leaders, who reject Ahmadinejad's June re-election as fraudulent, urging them to distance themselves from the protests. We expect these gentlemen who had complaints in the election to wake up and clearly separate their path from this wicked movement, not to come out and issue statements again and make the air dustier.In a defiant reaction, Iran's leading reformist party condemned violence against demonstrators and backed the protests. The Islamic Iran Participation Front, which is allied with opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, called on the government to reconcile with protesters and stop breaking the law, deception and tyranny.Leniency did not extend to the sister of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, who said intelligence agents had arrested her sister, medical professor Nooshin Ebadi, on Monday. She is not an activist and her arrest is in fact new pressure to stop my human rights work, Ebadi said in a statement carried by the Rahesabz opposition website. Iran rounded up scores of opposition figures and dissidents after Sunday's protests and on Tuesday several reformist journalists and activists were arrested, reports said. The Iranian judiciary confirmed that an Iran-based Syrian journalist for Dubai TV had been arrested on Sunday. US President Barack Obama demanded on Monday that Iran free those protesters it had detained and told the opposition that history was on its side. In other developments, police said it was terrorists who had killed the nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi on Sunday in an incident unrelated to the riots that day.On Monday the Iranian authorities said they were carrying out forensic tests on five of the eight people confirmed killed, preventing their swift burial in accordance with Islamic tradition.
Egypt encouraged during Israeli PM's visit By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
CAIRO – Israel's prime minister on Tuesday presented Egypt with ideas for restarting Mideast peace talks, impressing his hosts with proposals that go further than past Israeli positions, Egypt's top diplomat said.The sides also discussed the latest developments in efforts to broker a prisoner swap between Israel and the Hamas militant group. A top Hamas official in Damascus told The Associated Press that the group had rejected the latest proposal from Israel. He said Israel was refusing to release key prisoners and insisting on mass deportations of freed militants.Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit refused to divulge specifics on Tuesday's discussions, but said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears serious about trying to resume negotiations with the Palestinians.I can't talk about details, but the prime minister was discussing positions that surpass in our estimate what we've heard from them in a long time, Aboul Gheit told reporters. I can't say that he has come with changed positions, but he is moving forward.Netanyahu jetted in from neighboring Israel for nearly three hours of talks with President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian leaders. Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, frequently mediates between the Jewish state and the broader Arab world.Netanyahu came at a difficult time as the U.S. tries to prod Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. The Palestinians have said they will not reopen negotiations until Israel freezes all settlement activity on lands they claim for a future independent state. Israel has offered a partial freeze that the Palestinians say is insufficient.In the latest setback for peace efforts, Israel announced plans on Monday to build nearly 700 new homes in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city that the Palestinians want to make their capital.The Palestinians have also insisted that Netanyahu resume talks from the point they broke off under his more dovish predecessor, Ehud Olmert. Netanyahu has said he is not bound by Olmert's offers — which included proposals for shared control of the holy city of Jerusalem and a broad pullout from nearly all of the West Bank.Aboul Gheit said Netanyahu gave his hosts the impression that he genuinely wants to get diplomacy moving again, and told The Associated Press that everything is on the table. He would not elaborate.
Also on the agenda were the ongoing negotiations over a proposed prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas. The Islamic militant group is seeking hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier it has held for more than three years. Egypt and Germany have been mediating those talks.A delegation of Hamas leaders has left their Gaza Strip stronghold to discuss Israel's latest proposal with Hamas' exiled leadership in Syria. A top Hamas official in Damascus told The Associated Press that the group had rejected Israel's latest offer, and asked the German mediator to go back to Israel for another offer.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said that Israel is refusing to release 10 senior militants sought by Hamas. He said Israel also wants 200 freed militants to be deported. Hamas wants this number greatly reduced.Israeli officials had no comment.AP correspondent Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed reporting from Ramallah, West Bank.
Gay marriage in Argentina is 1st in Latin America By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – They had to travel to the ends of the Earth to do it, but two Argentine men succeeded in becoming Latin America's first same-sex married couple.After their first attempt to wed earlier this month in Buenos Aires was thwarted, gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre took their civil ceremony to the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, where a sympathetic governor backed their bid to make Latin American history.The couple exchanged rings Monday in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, closer to Antarctica than Buenos Aires. The informal ceremony was witnessed by state and federal officials.My knees didn't stop shaking, said Di Bello.We are the first gay couple in Latin America to marry.Di Bello, 41, an executive at the Argentine Red Cross, met Freyre, 39, executive director of the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, at an HIV awareness conference. Both are HIV-positive.At the indoor civil ceremony, the grooms wore sport coats without ties, and had large red ribbons draped around their necks in solidarity with other people living with HIV.Argentina's Constitution is silent on whether marriage must be between a man and a woman, effectively leaving the matter to provincial and city officials. The men tried to get married in Argentina's capital but city officials, who had earlier said the ceremony could proceed, refused to wed them citing conflicting judicial rulings.Di Bello said Ushuaia initially declined to authorize the marriage, but went ahead after the couple received backing from Tierra del Fuego province.
Gov. Fabiana Rios said in a statement that gay marriage is an important advance in human rights and social inclusion and we are very happy that this has happened in our state.An official representing the federal government's antidiscrimination agency, Claudio Morgado, attended the wedding and called the occasion historic.Many in Argentina and throughout Latin America remain opposed to gay marriage, particularly the Roman Catholic Church.The decision took me by surprise and I'm concerned, Bishop Juan Carlos, of the southern city of Rio Gallegos, told the Argentine news agency DyN. He called the marriage an attack against the survival of the human species.But same-sex civil unions have been legalized in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and some states in Mexico and Brazil. Marriage generally carries more exclusive rights such as adopting children, inheriting wealth and enabling a partner to gain citizenship.Legal analyst Andres Gil Dominguez said the Tierra del Fuego government appeared to base its authorization on a broad interpretation of the Argentine Constitution and obligations under international treaties.Rios said her province's approval was based on a ruling by a Buenos Aires judge who declared two provisions of the constitution discriminatory and gave the go-ahead for the Dec. 1 marriage, which was then blocked by another judge's ruling based on civil law.
Individual provinces may not have final say over same-sex marriages for long.A bill that would legalize gay marriage was introduced in Argentina's Congress in October but it has stalled without a vote.Argentina's Supreme Court currently is analyzing appeals by same-sex couples whose marriages were rejected. A Supreme Court justice said on Monday that the high court would likely rule on issues of same-sex marriage sometime in 2010, but could defer to Congress if legislation moves forward. Only seven countries in the world allow gay marriages: Canada, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. U.S. states that permit same-sex marriage are Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Earlier this month, lawmakers in Mexico City made it the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard was widely expected to sign the measure into law.
Canada bans most US-bound carry-on bags By Rob Gillies, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 29, 8:46 am ET
TORONTO – Canadian officials have banned most carry-on luggage for U.S.-bound passengers following a failed Christmas Day plot to blow up a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.Transport Canada said Monday that passengers may only carry medical devices, small purses, cameras, laptop computers, canes, walkers, diaper bags, musical instruments and bags containing life-sustaining items.Travelers headed for the United States have been allowed to carry on only one bag since Saturday, following 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's alleged attempted to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight as it prepared to land in Detroit on Friday.
Transport Canada said it is trying to alleviate backlogs at security checkpoints, after passengers complained of chaos and long lines at Pearson International Airport in Toronto over the weekend and Monday morning.Police are now helping with security at four of Canada's biggest airports after Transport Canada requested assistance. Police are performing a secondary search of passengers after they pass the main security check point at airports in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta. About 40 Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers are doing searches at Pearson.Transport Canada spokesman Patrick Charette said the measures are expected to remain in place for at least several days.We hope the restrictions on those carry-on baggage will help to assure the effectiveness and efficiency of security screening,Charette said.At the Toronto airport Monday morning, every U.S.-bound passenger was subjected to a pat-down and luggage was inspected by hand. Getting through the checks took about three hours, with some information boards citing the security measures for several delays and cancelations.Trish Krale of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority said Monday went somewhat more smoothly at Pearson after a very difficult weekend. More than 130 flights were canceled.Air Canada and its affiliate Jazz canceled several short-haul flights to the U.S. due to security delays. Air Canada consolidated flights and operated larger aircraft on some routes —particularly from Toronto to destinations in the Northeastern U.S.We appreciate the cooperation and understanding of our customers during this challenging time and ask them to assist us in getting them to their destination faster by bringing as little carry-on as possible, Duncan Dee, Air Canada's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said in a statement.Air Canada is doing everything it can to maintain its schedule, despite the delays caused by security screening issues outside its control. However, our number one priority remains the safety and security of our customers and staff.One woman said the lines are the worst she's seen during her family's annual Christmas trek to Canada.
This is probably five times the lines we've ever experienced,said Christin Grand, who was traveling home to Atlanta with her three children and husband.We come up every Christmas and never experienced lines like this. We usually show up an hour and fifteen minutes before our flight and we're two plus hours before and it's still crazy.Andre Belanger, a Montreal resident flying to Fort Lauderdale from Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, didn't mind that he was sent back to check in a carry-on bag.I'm not frustrated at all because I know that security commands things like that, so I will comply with the instructions, Belanger said. It's a question of lives, you know.
Canada airline shares fall as security beefed up
DEC 29,09
TORONTO (Reuters) – Shares of Canada's two biggest airlines fell on Tuesday after they warned U.S.-bound travelers to expect more flight delays and cancellations as security is beefed up in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. passenger plane.Shares of Air Canada, the country's No. 1 airline, were down 3.1 percent at C$1.25 on the Toronto Stock Exchange shortly after the market opened. Shares of WestJet Airlines Ltd fell 2.4 percent to C$12.16. The TSX was closed on Monday for the Boxing Day holiday.Over the weekend, which was one of the busiest of the year for air travel, the new security measures led to massive lineups and missed flights. At Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest, one in 10 U.S.-bound aircraft were canceled on Sunday.Air Canada said in a statement that passengers bound for the United States will now be subject to full searches both at airport screening points and before boarding at the aircraft gate area as a result of new rules enacted by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.Passengers flying to the United States are also being limited to one small piece of carry-on baggage. During the final hour in the air, they must remain seated and will not be allowed access to carry-on baggage, or to have personal belongings or other items on their laps.Passengers should also expect flight delays, cancellations and missed connections, the airline said.WestJet issued a similar statement on Tuesday, and said the new procedures are scheduled to be in effect until at least December 30.
The airline advised Canadians traveling abroad to be at the airport three hours before scheduled flight times.The moves follow an attempt by a Nigerian man on Friday to set off an explosive device on a Delta Air Lines flight from Europe as it approached Detroit. The man was overpowered by passengers and crew and the aircraft landed safely.A regional wing of al Qaeda in Yemen said it was behind the bombing attempt.(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Peter Galloway)
Yemen: US never warned us about airline bomber By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
SAN'A, Yemen – Yemen's government said Tuesday the U.S. should have shared its warnings about the Nigerian suspect in the botched Christmas Day airline attack, and said it was tightening restrictions on student visas like the one that allowed the young man to enter the country.Information Minister Hassan al-Lozy confirmed that Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab spent two extended periods in Yemen, as recently as this month, and that authorities were trying to determine what he did during that time. Investigators said he spent at least part of the time studying Arabic at a school in the capital of San'a, where students and administrators described him as friendly and outgoing with no overtly extremist views. As part of the investigation, the principal of a school where he studied was being questioned Tuesday.U.S. authorities have been trying to determine how Abdulmutallab, 23, managed to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with explosives even though he was flagged on a watchlist as a possible terrorist. U.S. officials have said he told investigators after his arrest that he received training in Yemen.Al-Lozy said that the U.S. never shared its suspicions about Abdulmutallab with Yemen, a largely lawless country that has turned into a key stronghold for al-Qaida.We didn't get any notice from the Americans to put this man on a list, al-Lozy said.America should have told Yemen about this man, as they have of others.Abdulmutallab lived in Yemen for two different periods of time, a year from 2004-2005 and from August-December this year, he said. He arrived in August after receiving a visa to study Arabic in the capital San'a.
Yemen's Foreign Ministry said Monday Abdulmutallab received a Yemeni visa after authorities were reassured that he had several visas from a number of friendly countries. It noted that Abdulmutallab had a valid visa to the United States, which he had visited in the past. The embassy has now been instructed not to issue any more visas to students who want to study in the country without Interior Ministry approval.The San'a Institute for the Arabic Language told The Associated Press that Abdulmutallab was an Arabic student at the school in August. That has raised questions about what he did the rest of his time in Yemen. Administrators at the school said Monday that the director of the school, Muhammad al-Anisi, has spent two days being questioned by Yemeni security officials. He remained in custody Tuesday.
Al-Lozy later told The Associated Press authorities are also looking into Abdulmutallab's frequent visits to a mosque in the old, historic part of the city and the people he was with during his stay in Yemen.Students and administrators at the institute said Abdulmutallab was gregarious, had many Yemeni friends and was not overtly extremist. They noted, however, he was open about his sympathies toward the Palestinians and his anger over Israel's actions in Gaza.The students and administrators spoke on condition of anonymity because Yemeni security authorities have ordered them not to talk to the media.Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attempted attack on the airliner and said it was retaliation for a U.S. operation against the group in Yemen. More than 60 militants were killed in airstrikes last week believed to have been carried out with U.S. assistance.
China and Britain clash over execution
By Maxim Duncan Maxim Duncan – DEC 29,09
URUMQI, China (Reuters) – China executed a Briton on Tuesday caught smuggling heroin, prompting a British outcry over what it said was the lack of any mental health assessment.Beijing called the British criticism groundless interference in its judicial sovereignty.Relatives of Akmal Shaikh, 53, and the British government had appealed for clemency, arguing the former businessman suffered from bipolar disorder, or manic depression. China's Supreme Court rejected the appeal, saying there was insufficient evidence of mental illness.Shaikh was the first European citizen executed in China since 1951, Western rights groups say.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the execution, carried out in Urumqi, capital of the far-west region of Xinjiang, saying he was appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted.I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken, he said in a statement.British Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis summoned China's ambassador in London, Fu Ying, to protest at the execution.I made clear that the execution of Mr Shaikh was totally unacceptable and that China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities in this case..., Lewis said in a statement after what he described as a difficult conversation.
China rejected the British criticism.Nobody has the right to speak ill of China's judicial sovereignty, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition over the groundless British accusations.Shaikh was executed by injection, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. His family said it was stunned and disappointed and criticized China's stance on his mental health.
INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM
The European Union and France both condemned the execution.The 27-nation EU's presidency said it deeply regretted that China had not heeded repeated calls from the EU and Britain for Shaikh to be spared the death penalty.Human rights group Amnesty International said Shaikh's execution highlights the injustice and inhumanity of the death penalty, particularly as it is implemented in China.Lewis told BBC radio the execution made him feel sick to the stomach, but said Britain must and will continue to engage with China.China executes more people than any other country, with about 1,718 executions in 2008, far surpassing Iran at 346 and the United States at 111, according to Amnesty International. China does not release an official count of its executions.The case could increase Chinese resentment over what Beijing often calls interference in its internal affairs, mindful of humiliating defeats by Britain during the Opium Wars of the 1800s. We hope that the British side can view this matter rationally, and not create new obstacles in bilateral relations, Jiang said. Britain is China's third-largest trade partner in Europe, with total trade of $45 billion in 2008. British economic ties with China have strengthened under Brown, although the two nations recently criticized one another over the troubled Copenhagen climate change negotiations. Heroin use is a major problem in Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia. The majority Muslim region was convulsed by ethnic violence and protests in July, with further protests in September after widespread panic over alleged syringe attacks. Shaikh's defenders, including British rights group Reprieve which lobbies against the death penalty, say he was duped into smuggling heroin by a gang who promised to make him a pop star.
Arrested in 2007, Shaikh, a Muslim, had had his last appeal rejected by a Chinese court on December 21. Reprieve posted on the Internet a recording Shaikh made of a song,Come Little Rabbit, which it said he believed would be an international hit and help bring about world peace. (Additional reporting by K.J. Kwon in Beijing; Tim Castle in London and Marcin Grajewski in Brussels; writing by Lucy Hornby, Chris Buckley and Adrian Croft; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Putin urges US to share missile defense data By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer – DEC 29,09
MOSCOW – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia will build new weapons to offset the planned U.S. missile defense and urged Washington to share detailed data about its missile shield under a new arms control deal.Putin's remarks posted on the Cabinet's Web site set a defiant tone and signaled new difficulties in talks between the two nations on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expired on Dec. 5. Moscow and Washington had hoped to strike a deal before the end of the year but problems persist.Putin's comments also showed that the former Russian president is continuing to shape Russian foreign policy, which under the constitution should be set by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.He said that the arms control talks were proceeding in a positive way and added that Medvedev and President Barack Obama will eventually decide whether to strike an arms deal.But Putin warned that a missile defense system would give the U.S. an edge and could erode the deterrent value of Russia's nuclear forces.The problem is that our American partners are developing missile defenses, and we are not, Putin said.But the issues of missile defense and offensive weapons are closely interconnected. ... There could be a danger that having created an umbrella against offensive strike systems, our partners may come to feel completely safe. After the balance is broken, they will do whatever they want and grow more aggressive.Obama removed a major irritant in relations earlier this year by scrapping the previous administration's plans to place interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic — deployments Russia treated as a threat.The Kremlin has praised Obama for the decision, but Russian officials have also said they want to know more about the sea- and land-based systems the U.S. plans to put in place instead.Putin said that Russia has no intention to build a missile shield of its own, but will have to develop new offensive weapons to offset a future U.S. missile defense.In order to preserve a balance while we aren't planning to build a missile defense of our own, as it's very expensive and its efficiency is not quite clear yet, we have to develop offensive strike systems, he said.Putin added that the U.S. must share information about their missile defense plans if they want Russia to provide data on its new weapons.They should give us all the information about the missile defense, and we will be ready then to provide some information about offensive weapons, Putin said.Russia had been pushing for an explicit link in the new treaty between offensive weapons and missile defense. A joint statement in July by Medvedev and Obama linked the two, but the U.S. will be unlikely to accept any missile defense restrictions.
Japan minister bemoans deadlock in Russia islands row
DEC 29,09
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan and Russia failed to make progress in resolving a territorial dispute in their latest talks, remaining sharply at odds on the issue, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Tuesday.There are huge differences between the positions of each country, Okada said after returning from talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.I told him that it is a problem that there has been no tangible progress in the territorial issue, Okada told reporters.
The neighbours have yet to sign a World War II peace treaty because they both lay claim to four islands off northern Japan seized in 1945 by Soviet troops, who expelled Japanese residents.The disputed territory is known as the South Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan.In Moscow, foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko called for a respectful and attentive approach on the issue.The creation of trust, which is necessary to finding a solution on mutual agreement to the problem of a peace accord, is a sensitive process that requires a respectful and attentive approach to the position of one's partner, he said in a televised briefing.
World War II was an especially sensitive issue for Russia due to the huge Soviet loss of life, he added.Lavrov said Monday that Russia was ready to explore original solutions to the dispute but did not elaborate. Okada said there was no new proposal by Moscow on how to tackle the issue.He ruled out cooperating with Russia in the economic development of the islands before the territorial row was resolved.Economy and politics are two wheels of one cart, but I told him (Lavrov) that without progress in politics, or the territorial issue, the cart won't roll properly,Okada said.Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Moscow's proposal to return two of the islands would be unacceptable to the Japanese people.
Broadcasters' woes could spell trouble for free TV By ANDREW VANACORE, AP Business Writer – DEC 29,09
NEW YORK – For more than 60 years, TV stations have broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free and made their money by showing commercials. That might not work much longer.The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks' programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming.That will play out in living rooms across the country. The changes could mean higher cable or satellite TV bills, as the networks and local stations squeeze more fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV for the right to show broadcast TV channels in their lineups. The networks might even ditch free broadcast signals in the next few years. Instead, they could operate as cable channels — a move that could spell the end of free TV as Americans have known it since the 1940s.Good programing is expensive, Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns Fox, told a shareholder meeting this fall.It can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues.Fox is pursuing its strategy in public, warning that its broadcasts — including college football bowl games — could go dark Friday for subscribers of Time Warner Cable, unless the pay-TV operator gives Fox higher fees. For its part, Time Warner Cable is asking customers whether it should roll over or get tough in negotiations.The future of free TV also could be altered as the biggest pay-TV provider, Comcast Corp., prepares to take control of NBC. Comcast has not signaled plans to end NBC's free broadcasts. But Jeff Zucker, who runs NBC and its sister cable channels such as CNBC and Bravo, told investors this month that the cable model is just superior to the broadcast model.The traditional broadcast model works like this: CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox distribute shows through a network of local stations. The networks own a few stations in big markets, but most are affiliates,owned by separate companies.
Traditionally the networks paid affiliates to broadcast their shows, though those fees have dwindled to near nothing as local stations have seen their audience shrink. What hasn't changed is where the money mainly comes from: advertising.Cable channels make most of their money by charging pay-TV providers a monthly fee per subscriber for their programing. On average, the pay-TV providers pay about 26 cents for each channel they carry, according to research firm SNL Kagan. A channel as highly rated as ESPN can get close to $4, while some, such as MTV2, go for just a few pennies.With both advertising and fees, ESPN has seen its revenue grow to $6.3 billion this year from $1.8 billion a decade ago, according to SNL Kagan estimates. It has been able to bid for premium events that networks had traditionally aired, such as football games. Cable channels also have been able to fund high-quality shows, such as AMC's Mad Men,rather than recycling movies and TV series.That, plus a growing number of channels, has given cable a bigger share of the ad pie. In 1998, cable channels drew roughly $9.1 billion, or 24 percent of total TV ad spending, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising. By 2008, they were getting $21.6 billion, or 39 percent.Having two revenue streams — advertising and fees from pay-TV providers — has insulated cable channels from the recession. In contrast, over-the-air stations have been forced to cut staff, and at least two broadcast groups sought bankruptcy protection this year.Fox illustrates the trend: Its broadcast operations reported a 54 percent drop in operating income for the quarter that ended in September. Its cable channels, which include Fox News and FX, grew their operating income 41 percent.Analyst Tom Love of ZenithOptimedia said he expects the big networks will end the year with a 9 percent drop in ad revenue, followed by an 8 percent drop in 2010 and zero growth in 2011.A small chunk of the ad revenue is being recouped online, where the networks sell episodes for a few dollars each or run ads alongside shows on sites such as Hulu. Media economist Jack Myers projects online video advertising will grow into a $2 billion business by 2012, from just $350 million to $400 million this year.But that is not significant enough to make up for the lost ad revenue on the airwaves. Advertisers spent $34 billion on broadcast commercials in 2008, down by $2.4 billion from two years earlier, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising.So rather than wait for the Internet to become a bigger source of income, the networks and local stations are mimicking what cable channels do: They're charging pay-TV companies a monthly fee per subscriber to carry their programming.Since 1994, the Federal Communications Commission has let networks and their affiliates seek payments for including their programming in the pay-TV lineup. Not everyone demanded payments at first. Instead they relied on the broader audience that cable and satellite gave them to increase what they could charge advertisers.The big networks also were content to let their broadcast stations essentially be subsidized by higher fees for the cable channels that fell under the same corporate umbrella. A pay-TV company negotiating with the Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, is likely paying more for the ABC Family channel than it otherwise would, with the extra assumed to help Disney cover its costs for the ABC network broadcasts.
But over time — such contracts generally run about three years — more networks began demanding payments for the stations they own. And affiliates already receiving the fees have bargained for more money. Some talks have been tense. In 2007, Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates 32 network-affiliated stations around the country, pulled its signals for nearly a month from Mediacom Communications Corp., which provides cable TV to about 1.3 million subscribers, mainly in small cities. The American Cable Association says its members — mainly small cable TV providers — have seen their costs for carrying local TV stations more than triple over the past three years. The group's head, Matt Polka, says those fees have gone straight to consumers' pocketbooks in the form of higher cable bills. Gannett Co., for instance, which operates 23 stations, has taken in $56 million in fees from pay-TV operators this year after negotiating a new batch of agreements, up from $18 million in 2008. Dave Lougee, president of Gannett's broadcast arm, defends the fees, saying broadcasters were late to the game in really starting to go after the fair market value of their signals.Analysts estimate CBS managed to get as much as 50 cents per subscriber in its most recent talks with pay-TV providers that carry CBS-owned stations. CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves said such fees should add hundreds of millions of dollars to revenues annually.That could be just the beginning. CBS and Fox are also asking for a portion of the fees that their affiliates get, arguing that the networks' shows are what give local stations the leverage to ask for fees.
Over time, the networks might be able to get even more money by abandoning the affiliate structure and undoing a key element of free TV. Here's why: Pay-TV providers are paying the networks only for the stations the networks own. That amounts to a little less than a third of the TV audience, which means local affiliates recoup two-thirds of the fees. If a network operated purely as a cable channel and cut the affiliates out, the network could get the fees for the entire pay-TV audience. If forced to go independent, affiliates would have to air their own programming, including local news and syndicated shows. Fitch Ratings analyst Jamie Rizzo predicts that at least one of the four broadcast networks could explore becoming a cable channel as early as 2011. Any shift would take years, as the networks untangle complicated affiliate contracts. At an analyst conference last year, CBS's Moonves called the idea an a very interesting proposition. But he added that it would really change the universe that we're in.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
STOCK RESULTS DEC 28,2009
HAPPY ONE DAY DELAYED BIRTHDAY TO NATHALIE T. OF MONTREAL CANADA ON DEC 27,09. PRAY CHRISTIANS THAT THIS DANCER WILL BE SAVED FROM DANCING TO BE PART OF KING JESUS' KINGDOM FOREVER.
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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON DEC 28,2009
09:30 AM +4.40
10:00 AM +17.98
10:30 AM +14.66
11:00 AM +8.61
11:30 AM +17.00
12:00 PM +16.20
12:30 PM +14.28
01:00 PM +12.54
01:30 PM +5.29
02:00 PM -0.76
02:30 PM -11.04
03:00 PM -3.93
03:30 PM -0.61
04:00 PM +26.98 10,547.08
S&P 500 1127.78 +1.30
NASDAQ 2291.08 +5.39
GOLD 1,107.40 +2.60
OIL 78.61 +0.66
TSE 300 11,754.61 HOLIDAY
CDNX 1469.58 HOLIDAY
S&P/TSX/60 693.19 HOLIDAY
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +20 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -11 points at low today.
Dow +34 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,108.80.OIL opens at $78.62 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -11 points at low today so far.
Dow +34 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -11 points at low today.
Dow +34 points at high today.
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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON DEC 28,2009
09:30 AM +4.40
10:00 AM +17.98
10:30 AM +14.66
11:00 AM +8.61
11:30 AM +17.00
12:00 PM +16.20
12:30 PM +14.28
01:00 PM +12.54
01:30 PM +5.29
02:00 PM -0.76
02:30 PM -11.04
03:00 PM -3.93
03:30 PM -0.61
04:00 PM +26.98 10,547.08
S&P 500 1127.78 +1.30
NASDAQ 2291.08 +5.39
GOLD 1,107.40 +2.60
OIL 78.61 +0.66
TSE 300 11,754.61 HOLIDAY
CDNX 1469.58 HOLIDAY
S&P/TSX/60 693.19 HOLIDAY
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +20 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -11 points at low today.
Dow +34 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,108.80.OIL opens at $78.62 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -11 points at low today so far.
Dow +34 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -11 points at low today.
Dow +34 points at high today.
ISRAEL BUILDS - ARABS COMPLAIN AS USUAL
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.
Winter weather leaves behind flooding concerns By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 27, 6:14 am ET
OMAHA, Neb. – Snow and rain storms that have battered much of the country for days have started subsiding, leaving behind concerns about flooding in some areas.Storms from Texas to the Upper Midwest dumped 23.9 inches of snow in Grand Forks, N.D., and 18 inches near Norfolk, Neb. In the East, higher temperatures and rains have started melting and washing away last week's record-setting snowfalls, threatening the region with flooding.The National Weather Service also issued flood warnings for parts of the South and Midwest, and winter weather advisories were in effect in sections of Nebraska, Illinois Indiana and Michigan through Sunday.A woman and her teenage daughter in Middletown, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, were rescued from a rain-swollen creek after their SUV went off the road Saturday. Rescue workers found the 14-year-old clinging to a log; her mother was trapped in the vehicle.Authorities in southeast Missouri were searching for a woman who washed away in a ditch on Christmas Eve as heavy rains showered the region. Witnesses saw her in the water west of Powe, Mo., and tried to assist her, said Sgt. Jody Laramore of the state Highway Patrol.
In Chicago, one of the nation's busiest travel hubs, snow and ice along with rain on the East Coast canceled or delayed more than 450 flights Saturday.Shannon Fullmer drove two hours from his home in Freeport, Ill., to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Saturday to pick up his 12-year-old son. But the flight from New Jersey was delayed more than three hours.The 38-year-old waited in a long line to get through security so that he could wait by the gate where his son's plane was expected to arrive about 7:30 p.m. CST.Fullmer said he would wait as long as I have to.It doesn't do any good to get angry, he said.A few dozen flights were delayed and a few canceled Saturday afternoon in southern Wisconsin. Three to five inches of snow was expected by Sunday morning.Flights also were delayed at the three major airports in the New York area, which was getting rain and patchy fog. Some travelers arriving at Newark Liberty International had delays of nearly 2 1/2 hours.Most New York area delays were weather-related but some were worsened by stricter security precautions after an airplane bombing attempt in Detroit, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area's airports.In South Dakota, state troopers assisted 182 people who were stranded in their vehicles or needed help getting through snowy roads, Col. Dan Mosteller said.In the East, rain and higher temperatures helped to melt snow in areas where as much as 2 feet fell last weekend. But freezing temperatures were expected overnight in parts of New England. A freezing rain advisory was extended through 6 a.m. Sunday for parts of western Massachusetts.In New Jersey, rain that began falling Christmas night was expected to continue through Sunday morning. Flood warnings were in effect for most of southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia area through the late afternoon.Winter weather has been blamed for more than 20 deaths across the country in the past week. One of the latest was an 81-year-old Iowa man whose body was found in a ditch Friday after his pickup truck got stuck in the snow and he tried to walk home.Associated Press writers Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee, Verena Dobnik in New York, M.L. Johnson and Karen Hawkins in Chicago, Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo., Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia, Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, N.J., and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this report. On the Net:
National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
EU air passengers face extra restrictions after US bomb attempt
ANDREW RETTMAN Today DEC 28,09 @ 09:26 CET
Europeans flying to US airports in the wake of the failed Christmas Day aeroplane bomb attempt are facing minor disruptions due to extra security measures. Travellers have reported delays of between one and two hours following the introduction of full body searches for all passengers and more stringent checks on hand-luggage, especially liquids, such as baby milk.Some airlines have prevented passengers from carrying any more than one bag on board, including duty-free purchases.Passengers have been prevented from using the toilet during the one hour before landing in the US and have been asked to stow all items, including pens, blankets and computers, during the pre-landing period.In-flight information has also been affected, with some carriers no longer indicating the geographical position of the aircraft while en route in case it could be useful to an attacker.The ad-hoc measures have affected only flights to the US in what has been a light-touch response so far by US and EU security authorities.These measures are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere, US Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano said in a statement on Friday (25 December).A British-educated Nigerian man tried to detonate a liquid and powder-based bomb on Friday on a flight bound from Amsterdam to Detroit.The spectre of trans-Atlantic attacks had receded since the last high-profile plot using liquid bombs in 2006.
The period of calm has seen a renewed emphasis on passengers' rights, with European protests over US calls for extra security data or delays to visa waiver programmes for former Communist EU states.The EU has also avoided the introduction of new body scanners because they invade people's privacy by showing them nude.The US and UK governments have said they will launch a more in-depth security review following the Christmas Day scare. But one pilots' union has warned against splashing out on new technology while ignoring the basics, such as staff training.Fundamentally we should talk about the technology and the processes per se, but initially we should also talk about staff training, Georg Fongern, the deputy head of the German pilots' trade body, IFALPA, told German news agency DPA. It's crucial to ask what we can we expect from somebody carrying out the checks on minimal wages.
Christmas Day bomber was on UK watch list
MON DEC 28,2009
LONDON (AFP) – The Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a US airliner had been placed on a UK watchlist and barred from entering Britain earlier this year, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said on Monday.Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Johnson confirmed 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been placed on a watch list in May after applying for a visa to study at a bogus college.
Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane over Detroit on Christmas Day, had previously been living in London between 2005-2008 on a student visa while reading mechanical engineering at University College London (UCL).He was a legitimate UK student on a legitimate student visa -- he hasn't been in this country for 14 months, he told the programme.In May, he made an application for a fresh student visa which was refused.As soon as that happened, he was on our watchlist. If someone's refused a visa, they automatically go on our UK watchlist, Johnson said.If you are on our watch list then you do not come into this country. You can come through this country if you are in transit to another country but you cannot come into this country.Police and MI5 officials were looking into a number of issues, including whether he had been radicalised while studying at UCL, Johnson said.What happened when he was in this country? Was he radicalised in this country, was there any association with whoever may have been behind this plot?
We don't know yet whether it was a single-handed plot or (if there were) other people behind it -- I suspect it's the latter rather than the former,he said.All information regarding people on the UK watchlist was routinely shared with the US authorities and Johnson said he would be very surprised if there had been any hiccup in procedures.Washington has said Abdulmutallab was added to a watchlist of some 550,000 names last month after his father warned US officials in Abuja about his son's increasing radicalism.But he was not added to the no-fly list, meaning he was able to secure a valid US visa with which he flew from Lagos to Amsterdam, then on to Detroit on Christmas Day.
ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
Israel to build 700 apartments in east Jerusalem By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer - DEC 28,09
JERUSALEM – Israel said Monday that it will build nearly 700 new apartments in east Jerusalem, drawing tough criticism from both the Palestinians and the United States, which denounced the plan as an obstacle to peacemaking.The dispute over east Jerusalem is the most intractable — and explosive — in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and consider Jewish neighborhoods there to be settlements. Israel claims all of the city as its eternal capital.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a slowdown in West Bank settlement construction several weeks ago in hopes of bringing the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. But the order did not include construction in east Jerusalem, home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites.We make a distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our capital and remains such, said government spokesman Mark Regev.The Housing Ministry said it had approved a total of 692 new apartments in three existing Jewish neighborhoods already inhabited by tens of thousands of people.Israel does not consider its east Jerusalem neighborhoods to be settlements. It captured the city's eastern sector in the 1967 Mideast war and immediately annexed the area. The international community does not recognize the annexation.We condemn this Israeli policy of continuing settlement activities, and we hope this will be an eye opener for the U.S. administration and other members of the international community, said Palestinian official Saeb Erekat.The Palestinians have refused to reopen peace talks, which broke down a year ago, until Netanyahu halts all settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. For months, the United States has been trying to bring the sides together.
An Israeli official said the government had informed the Obama administration about the latest planned construction. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.However, a U.S. official said the construction was another blow to peace efforts.We feel that unilateral actions make it harder for people to get back together at the table, and that's what our goals are, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal reaction from Washington.We also have mentioned in the past ... that we consider all the Israeli settlements to be beyond the pale of what we wish to see going on, and are not helpful, again, to getting the two sides back to the table, he said.
Netanyahu announced the settlement slowdown last month in a bid to rekindle peace talks with the Palestinians. But the Palestinians have rebuffed that overture because the order does not affect east Jerusalem and or block construction that is already under way on 3,000 settlement apartments.
Settlement construction became the key sticking point in resuming negotiations after U.S. President Barack Obama demanded a total cessation shortly after taking office. He has since softened his stance, but the Palestinians have not.On Monday, Netanyahu told a group of Israeli ambassadors that Israel wants peace.It's time to resume the diplomatic process and launch peace talks between us and the Palestinians, he said.
News of the east Jerusalem construction plans was disclosed as a former Israeli lawmaker reported that Netanyahu was hammering out an agreement with the Americans on a framework for relaunching peace talks. Retired lawmaker Yossi Beilin said the framework would include negotiations on borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. However, Netanyahu has not accepted the key Palestinian demand of basing a final settlement on the borders before the 1967 war.
The Palestinians have insisted on a clear framework as a condition for restarting negotiations. Beilin, an architect of Israeli-Palestinian peace accords in the 1990s, would not say where he got his information. But he remains in touch with government officials and weeks ago, he was the first to report Netanyahu's plans for a 10-month slowdown in West Bank settlement slowdown. Regev, the government spokesman, said that Beilin speaks for himself, definitely not for the prime minister.Washington's special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, is due back in the region on Jan. 7 to try to prod peacemaking ahead, a Palestinian official said. He spoke on customary condition of anonymity when discussing U.S. officials' timetables.
Palestinians condemn planned Jerusalem settler homes
Mon Dec 28, 3:55 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – The Western-backed Palestinian Authority on Monday condemned Israeli plans to build new homes for settlers in east Jerusalem and said they were incompatible with peace efforts.The Palestinian Authority strongly condemns the new decision to build in east Jerusalem and wonders whether there is a freeze of settlement activity or an intensification of it, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.The American administration needs to realise that the policies of the Israeli government embody settlements and not peace and that their choice is settlements and not peace, he added.Israel's Channel 10 television reported Sunday that Israel has invited tenders for the building of some 692 new homes in three settlements in mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians have demanded as the capital of their promised state.There are already some 200,000 Jewish settlers living alongside 270,000 Arab residents in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed later in a move not recognised by the international community.The Palestinians have refused to restart peace negotiations suspended a year ago during the Gaza war unless Israel halts all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.Israel has agreed to a 10-month moratorium on building starts in the West Bank excluding public buildings and projects already underway. The partial freeze does not include east Jerusalem.On November 16, Israel gave its approval for 900 new housing units in another east Jerusalem settlement in a move that drew a strong rebuke from its US ally, which has been pressing both sides to restart peace talks.
Israeli defense chief: Iran can build bomb by 2011
DEC 28,2009
JERUSALEM – Iran will possess the technology to build a nuclear bomb by early 2010 and be able to produce one the following year, Israeli media quoted Israel's defense minister as saying Monday.Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered his assessment before the Israeli parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee. It broadly matches assessments from other nations including the U.S., which estimates that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015.The Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the reports and a Barak spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment. The radio and newspaper Web site reports did not identify the source of their information, but participants in the committee meetings routinely brief reporters on the proceedings.Earlier this month, Israel's military intelligence chief said Iran was close to an unspecified technological breakthrough that would enable it to build nuclear weapons. He did not elaborate on the breakthrough or say when exactly he expected Iran to have weapons-making capability.
Israel, like the West, disputes Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not bombs. It has lobbied for tough sanctions against Iran and has not ruled out a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.The international community must act, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a separate gathering of Israeli diplomats.If sanctions aren't imposed now, if true pressure isn't applied now — then when will they do it? A U.N.-drafted proposal aims to ease concerns that Iran could build a nuclear weapon by reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium. Under the proposal, the uranium would be shipped to France and Russia in exchange for more highly enriched fuel rods that are not suitable for use in weapons.Iran has not formally responded to the U.N. proposal, but recently proposed Turkey as a possible venue for exchanging nuclear material with the West.
Israel: 16,200 Jewish immigrants arrived in 2009
Sun Dec 27, 1:37 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli authorities say 16,200 Jews moved to the country in 2009, the first yearly increase in a decade.The quasi-governmental Jewish Agency handles immigration to Israel. In a statement, it said in 2008, almost 14,000 Jews came to live in Israel.The statement said 7,120 immigrants came from the former Soviet Union this year, and 5,300 came from English-speaking countries. Both increased over 2008.
The overall number of new arrivals has been dropping since immigration from the former Soviet Union peaked in the 1990s. Sunday's statement said a total of 221,000 Jews immigrated over the past decade.Israel offers automatic citizenship to Jews who move there. About 80 percent of the nation's 7 million residents are Jewish. Most of the rest are Arabs.
Russia warns EU of oil cuts over Ukraine row By Gleb Bryanski And Martin Santa – 6 mins ago DEC 28,2009
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has warned the European Union of oil supply cuts because of a fresh row between Moscow and Kiev, the Slovak government said on Monday, hours after Russia played down worries about a new gas row with Ukraine.The Slovak Economy Ministry said Russia has warned the European Union that Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic could experience oil supply cuts. A European Union source said oil stocks in those countries were adequate to withstand cuts.Europe, which receives the lion's share of its oil and gas needs from Russia, closely tracks Russian disputes with its neighbors after EU gas supplies were cut in the dead of winter in 2006 and 2009 due to disputes between Moscow and Kiev.Another key transit state, Belarus, cut Russian oil flows to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline in January 2007, also due to a pricing row, which further undermined the image of Russia, the world's top oil and gas producer, as a reliable energy supplier.The earlier cuts occurred amid strained political relations between Moscow and its neighbors. Ukraine will hold a presidential election in January and analysts have said that if a relatively pro-Russian leader is elected, Moscow is likely to take a more accommodating stance in future energy negotiations.On Monday, the head of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Alexei Miller, said he expected Ukraine to pay its December gas bill in full and that he saw no repeat of gas rows -- backtracking from remarks made last week.
But he spoke only a few hours before the head of another Russian monopoly -- oil pipeline company Transneft -- accused Ukrainian politicians of setting new unacceptable terms for oil transit via the Black Sea port of Yuzhny.Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev told Reuters Ukraine had asked Russia to pay more for transit and raised additional conditions concerning minimal volume guarantees, adding that oil supplies would be cut if no deal was quickly reached.We cannot and are not accepting tough terms. The (negotiation) process is continuing and I hope we will solve it before the New Year. But if they insist on their terms, we will also review the prospects of supplies, he said.Asked about the cause of the dispute, Tokarev said:These are purely political issues there (in Ukraine).The demand for higher fees from Ukraine comes as the International Monetary Fund has rejected Kiev's request for a $2 billion loan to help the recession-strapped country meet financial obligations by year's end.A senior official of Ukraine's central bank said last week it had enough foreign currency reserves to manage its finances until the end of the year.
DRUZHBA PIPELINE IN FOCUS
Traders told Reuters on Friday Transneft had told them it would scrap the initial January program for Yuzhny consisting of 0.5 million tonnes, in a move that would effectively damage the Mediterranean oil market.Yuzhny remains the last Ukrainian port through which Russia sends transit crude to the West after it stopped exporting crude via another outlet, Odessa, earlier this year.Ukraine is also a major transit route for crude flowing to Eastern Europe via the Druzhba pipeline and Russia sent its warning to the European Union fearing a repeat of the January 2007 dispute with Belarus.From the EU point of view, the early warning systems have worked, said a EU source, referring to a recent deal under which Russia has to warn the continent about potential supply problems.U.S. crude oil rose to above $79 a barrel on Monday, the highest in more than a month, largely because of colder weather across the major energy market the United States. The tensions involving Russia provided additional support. The Druzhba pipeline supplies Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic via Ukraine with more than 300,000 barrels per day of crude while another spur goes via Belarus to Germany and Poland shipping some 800,000 bpd. The two latter states also have no guarantees of smooth supplies after the New Year as Moscow and Minsk struggle to agree on volumes of duty-free Russian oil for Belarus. Russia's top energy official Igor Sechin said on Monday he hoped the deal with Belarus would be signed on December 30-31. If no deal is reached then we will have to apply full fees from January 1,he told reporters. In 2007, Minsk suspended supplies along Druzhba after failing to clinch a deal on crude supplies for its domestic plants and agreeing on fees.(Additional reporting by Luke Baker; writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, editing by Anthony Barker)
Oil holds near $78 a barrel in Asia By Eileen Ng, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 28, 3:53 am ET
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Oil prices held near $78 a barrel Monday in Asia ahead of inventory figures later in the week that could send it through the $80 mark.
Benchmark crude for February delivery was flat at $78.05 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading was thin due to the holiday season.The contract rose $1.38 to settle at $78.05 on Thursday, the first time in more than a month that it closed above $78. Oil markets were closed on Friday for Christmas.Inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration later this week will determine if oil prices can end the year above $80 a barrel, said Clarence Chu, a trader with Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore.The government last week reported a crude stocks drawdown of five million barrels and if inventories continue to decline — suggesting improved demand — it will be a boost to crude prices.Improved employment figures in the U.S. last week also buoyed sentiment and raised expectations of stronger consumer spending.There is an upside bias and oil can close the year above $80 a barrel but fundamentals are still weak and don't support oil at this level, Chu said.He expects crude inventories to build up again in January, which could easily drag oil prices back down to $70.In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil rose 1.1 cents to $2.05 while gasoline rose 1.1 cents to $2. Natural gas added 13.9 cents to $5.78 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose 18 cents to $76.49 on the ICE Futures exchange.
Stocks edge higher following retail sales data By SARA LEPRO, AP Business Writer DEC 28,09
NEW YORK – Stocks edged higher in early trading Monday as investors returning from a long holiday weekend were heartened by good news on retail sales.Shares of major retailers rose after data showed shoppers opened their wallets more this holiday season, a good sign that consumers are feeling better about the economy.Figures from MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which track all forms of payment, show retail sales rose 3.6 percent from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, compared with a 2.3 percent drop a year ago. Adjusting for an extra shopping day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the number was closer to a 1 percent gain.Consumer spending is one of the biggest drivers of economic growth and is vital to a sustained recovery.Commodities prices rose as the dollar fell, giving a boost to energy and materials stocks. Bond prices fell ahead of an auction of two-year notes.
Keeping the market's gains in check, airline stocks fell after two security incidents on Northwest flights this weekend.Stocks are currently at their highest levels of the year, and in the absence of any bad news, analysts say the market is likely to drift higher during the final days of 2009. Trading volume has been extremely light due to the holidays, which can exaggerate price swings. Markets were closed on Friday for Christmas and will be closed again this Friday for New Year's Day.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.44, or 0.1 percent, to 10,529.54. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.48, or 0.04 percent, to 1,126.96, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.35, or 0.2 percent, to 2,290.04.Major stock indexes ended a holiday-shortened session Thursday at new 2009 highs following upbeat reports on unemployment and durable goods orders. This week, readings on home prices and consumer confidence are among the few economic reports expected.Stocks have managed to grind higher this month despite lingering concerns about the economic recovery. But the gains have been more subdued than in recent months as investors have held back on taking risks heading into the end of the year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 66.5 percent since hitting 12-year lows in March.Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher ahead of a fresh round of government auctions. The Treasury Department will issue $44 billion of two-year notes later Monday, followed by $42 billion of five-year notes on Tuesday and $32 billion of seven-year notes on Wednesday. Investors often sell bonds heading into auctions in an effort to command higher yields.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.85 percent from 3.80 percent Thursday.Commodities prices rose as the dollar fell. Commodities are priced in U.S. dollars, so when the greenback is weak they become more attractive to foreign buyers.The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar against other major currencies, slipped 0.2 percent. Oil prices gained 62 cents to $78.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices also rose.Among retail stocks, Macy's Inc. rose 45 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $18.02. JCPenney & Co. added 44 cents to $27.46.Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc., which owns Northwest, fell 27 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $11.50. A failed attack on a Northwest flight on Christmas Day and another incident on the same flight to Detroit from Amsterdam on Sunday raised security concerns over the weekend.About five stocks rose for every four that fell on the New York Stock Exchange where volume came to a low 137.6 million shares.In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 0.42, or 0.1 percent, to 633.65. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.3 percent to its highest close since late August, boosted by encouraging news on factory production. In afternoon trading, Germany's DAX index rose 0.7 percent, while France's CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was closed for a holiday.
PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS
JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME
PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).
WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Parents pray for missionary thought held in NKorea By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 28, 4:11 am ET
SAN MARCOS, Calif. – An American missionary believed to be detained when he stepped into North Korea on Christmas didn't inform his parents of his plans but they had a hunch he would visit the communist nation.We had a sense, Pyong Park, the missionary's father, told The Associated Press late Sunday.We told him to continue what you're doing in South Korea.About 100 people held candles Sunday night at Palomar Korean Church in San Marcos, a north San Diego suburb, to commend Park for going to North Korea.Robert is doing what God called on him to do, the Rev. Madison Shockley told the crowd.We call this speaking truth to power.Robert Park, 28, slipped across the frozen Tumen River into the North from China carrying a letter calling on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to shut down the country's political prison camps. There has been no word from him since.Park's parents last heard from their son Dec. 23 in an e-mail that predicted upheaval in North Korea.Know that I am the happiest in all my life, his e-mail read. Incredible miracles are happening in the liberation of North Koreans right now ... We are going to see a big and beautiful change in Korea and in the World this year! Park was born in Los Angeles to Pyong and Helen Park, Korean immigrants who met in the United States. He spent much of his childhood in Tucson, Ariz., where he stayed after his parents moved to the San Diego area about four years ago.
His parents say he has devoted himself to church work since 2000, making regular Saturday runs to the slums of Nogales, Mexico, where he distributed food and did missionary work.He planned to visit South Korea for about a month in June 2008 but ended up staying because he was deeply moved by the poverty of North Koreans, his mother said.He felt their pain so much, she said.Park was in China, near the North Korean border, for about two months last summer to provide food and shelter to refugees, his parents said. He gave that up because he knew China would deport any refugees who got caught, exposing them to harsh punishment back home.He helped a lot of people, said Manchul Cho, an uncle. Neither Cho nor his parents knew how many refugees Park helped.Back in Seoul, South Korea, Park worked with other organizations pressing for peaceful change in the communist nation. Pyong Park, 68, said his son wanted quicker results.
He wanted to do a bigger thing, he said.The Parks, who live in the north San Diego suburb of Encinitas, said they are in daily contact with the State Department. North Korea has not acknowledged Park is in the country.He was not afraid to die, Pyong Park said.What he wanted was the whole world to know of North Korea's situation.His only sibling, Paul, 38, also lives in the San Diego area.
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.
Winter weather leaves behind flooding concerns By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 27, 6:14 am ET
OMAHA, Neb. – Snow and rain storms that have battered much of the country for days have started subsiding, leaving behind concerns about flooding in some areas.Storms from Texas to the Upper Midwest dumped 23.9 inches of snow in Grand Forks, N.D., and 18 inches near Norfolk, Neb. In the East, higher temperatures and rains have started melting and washing away last week's record-setting snowfalls, threatening the region with flooding.The National Weather Service also issued flood warnings for parts of the South and Midwest, and winter weather advisories were in effect in sections of Nebraska, Illinois Indiana and Michigan through Sunday.A woman and her teenage daughter in Middletown, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, were rescued from a rain-swollen creek after their SUV went off the road Saturday. Rescue workers found the 14-year-old clinging to a log; her mother was trapped in the vehicle.Authorities in southeast Missouri were searching for a woman who washed away in a ditch on Christmas Eve as heavy rains showered the region. Witnesses saw her in the water west of Powe, Mo., and tried to assist her, said Sgt. Jody Laramore of the state Highway Patrol.
In Chicago, one of the nation's busiest travel hubs, snow and ice along with rain on the East Coast canceled or delayed more than 450 flights Saturday.Shannon Fullmer drove two hours from his home in Freeport, Ill., to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Saturday to pick up his 12-year-old son. But the flight from New Jersey was delayed more than three hours.The 38-year-old waited in a long line to get through security so that he could wait by the gate where his son's plane was expected to arrive about 7:30 p.m. CST.Fullmer said he would wait as long as I have to.It doesn't do any good to get angry, he said.A few dozen flights were delayed and a few canceled Saturday afternoon in southern Wisconsin. Three to five inches of snow was expected by Sunday morning.Flights also were delayed at the three major airports in the New York area, which was getting rain and patchy fog. Some travelers arriving at Newark Liberty International had delays of nearly 2 1/2 hours.Most New York area delays were weather-related but some were worsened by stricter security precautions after an airplane bombing attempt in Detroit, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area's airports.In South Dakota, state troopers assisted 182 people who were stranded in their vehicles or needed help getting through snowy roads, Col. Dan Mosteller said.In the East, rain and higher temperatures helped to melt snow in areas where as much as 2 feet fell last weekend. But freezing temperatures were expected overnight in parts of New England. A freezing rain advisory was extended through 6 a.m. Sunday for parts of western Massachusetts.In New Jersey, rain that began falling Christmas night was expected to continue through Sunday morning. Flood warnings were in effect for most of southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia area through the late afternoon.Winter weather has been blamed for more than 20 deaths across the country in the past week. One of the latest was an 81-year-old Iowa man whose body was found in a ditch Friday after his pickup truck got stuck in the snow and he tried to walk home.Associated Press writers Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee, Verena Dobnik in New York, M.L. Johnson and Karen Hawkins in Chicago, Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo., Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia, Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, N.J., and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this report. On the Net:
National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
EU air passengers face extra restrictions after US bomb attempt
ANDREW RETTMAN Today DEC 28,09 @ 09:26 CET
Europeans flying to US airports in the wake of the failed Christmas Day aeroplane bomb attempt are facing minor disruptions due to extra security measures. Travellers have reported delays of between one and two hours following the introduction of full body searches for all passengers and more stringent checks on hand-luggage, especially liquids, such as baby milk.Some airlines have prevented passengers from carrying any more than one bag on board, including duty-free purchases.Passengers have been prevented from using the toilet during the one hour before landing in the US and have been asked to stow all items, including pens, blankets and computers, during the pre-landing period.In-flight information has also been affected, with some carriers no longer indicating the geographical position of the aircraft while en route in case it could be useful to an attacker.The ad-hoc measures have affected only flights to the US in what has been a light-touch response so far by US and EU security authorities.These measures are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere, US Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano said in a statement on Friday (25 December).A British-educated Nigerian man tried to detonate a liquid and powder-based bomb on Friday on a flight bound from Amsterdam to Detroit.The spectre of trans-Atlantic attacks had receded since the last high-profile plot using liquid bombs in 2006.
The period of calm has seen a renewed emphasis on passengers' rights, with European protests over US calls for extra security data or delays to visa waiver programmes for former Communist EU states.The EU has also avoided the introduction of new body scanners because they invade people's privacy by showing them nude.The US and UK governments have said they will launch a more in-depth security review following the Christmas Day scare. But one pilots' union has warned against splashing out on new technology while ignoring the basics, such as staff training.Fundamentally we should talk about the technology and the processes per se, but initially we should also talk about staff training, Georg Fongern, the deputy head of the German pilots' trade body, IFALPA, told German news agency DPA. It's crucial to ask what we can we expect from somebody carrying out the checks on minimal wages.
Christmas Day bomber was on UK watch list
MON DEC 28,2009
LONDON (AFP) – The Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a US airliner had been placed on a UK watchlist and barred from entering Britain earlier this year, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said on Monday.Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Johnson confirmed 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been placed on a watch list in May after applying for a visa to study at a bogus college.
Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane over Detroit on Christmas Day, had previously been living in London between 2005-2008 on a student visa while reading mechanical engineering at University College London (UCL).He was a legitimate UK student on a legitimate student visa -- he hasn't been in this country for 14 months, he told the programme.In May, he made an application for a fresh student visa which was refused.As soon as that happened, he was on our watchlist. If someone's refused a visa, they automatically go on our UK watchlist, Johnson said.If you are on our watch list then you do not come into this country. You can come through this country if you are in transit to another country but you cannot come into this country.Police and MI5 officials were looking into a number of issues, including whether he had been radicalised while studying at UCL, Johnson said.What happened when he was in this country? Was he radicalised in this country, was there any association with whoever may have been behind this plot?
We don't know yet whether it was a single-handed plot or (if there were) other people behind it -- I suspect it's the latter rather than the former,he said.All information regarding people on the UK watchlist was routinely shared with the US authorities and Johnson said he would be very surprised if there had been any hiccup in procedures.Washington has said Abdulmutallab was added to a watchlist of some 550,000 names last month after his father warned US officials in Abuja about his son's increasing radicalism.But he was not added to the no-fly list, meaning he was able to secure a valid US visa with which he flew from Lagos to Amsterdam, then on to Detroit on Christmas Day.
ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
Israel to build 700 apartments in east Jerusalem By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer - DEC 28,09
JERUSALEM – Israel said Monday that it will build nearly 700 new apartments in east Jerusalem, drawing tough criticism from both the Palestinians and the United States, which denounced the plan as an obstacle to peacemaking.The dispute over east Jerusalem is the most intractable — and explosive — in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and consider Jewish neighborhoods there to be settlements. Israel claims all of the city as its eternal capital.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a slowdown in West Bank settlement construction several weeks ago in hopes of bringing the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. But the order did not include construction in east Jerusalem, home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites.We make a distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our capital and remains such, said government spokesman Mark Regev.The Housing Ministry said it had approved a total of 692 new apartments in three existing Jewish neighborhoods already inhabited by tens of thousands of people.Israel does not consider its east Jerusalem neighborhoods to be settlements. It captured the city's eastern sector in the 1967 Mideast war and immediately annexed the area. The international community does not recognize the annexation.We condemn this Israeli policy of continuing settlement activities, and we hope this will be an eye opener for the U.S. administration and other members of the international community, said Palestinian official Saeb Erekat.The Palestinians have refused to reopen peace talks, which broke down a year ago, until Netanyahu halts all settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. For months, the United States has been trying to bring the sides together.
An Israeli official said the government had informed the Obama administration about the latest planned construction. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.However, a U.S. official said the construction was another blow to peace efforts.We feel that unilateral actions make it harder for people to get back together at the table, and that's what our goals are, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal reaction from Washington.We also have mentioned in the past ... that we consider all the Israeli settlements to be beyond the pale of what we wish to see going on, and are not helpful, again, to getting the two sides back to the table, he said.
Netanyahu announced the settlement slowdown last month in a bid to rekindle peace talks with the Palestinians. But the Palestinians have rebuffed that overture because the order does not affect east Jerusalem and or block construction that is already under way on 3,000 settlement apartments.
Settlement construction became the key sticking point in resuming negotiations after U.S. President Barack Obama demanded a total cessation shortly after taking office. He has since softened his stance, but the Palestinians have not.On Monday, Netanyahu told a group of Israeli ambassadors that Israel wants peace.It's time to resume the diplomatic process and launch peace talks between us and the Palestinians, he said.
News of the east Jerusalem construction plans was disclosed as a former Israeli lawmaker reported that Netanyahu was hammering out an agreement with the Americans on a framework for relaunching peace talks. Retired lawmaker Yossi Beilin said the framework would include negotiations on borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. However, Netanyahu has not accepted the key Palestinian demand of basing a final settlement on the borders before the 1967 war.
The Palestinians have insisted on a clear framework as a condition for restarting negotiations. Beilin, an architect of Israeli-Palestinian peace accords in the 1990s, would not say where he got his information. But he remains in touch with government officials and weeks ago, he was the first to report Netanyahu's plans for a 10-month slowdown in West Bank settlement slowdown. Regev, the government spokesman, said that Beilin speaks for himself, definitely not for the prime minister.Washington's special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, is due back in the region on Jan. 7 to try to prod peacemaking ahead, a Palestinian official said. He spoke on customary condition of anonymity when discussing U.S. officials' timetables.
Palestinians condemn planned Jerusalem settler homes
Mon Dec 28, 3:55 am ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – The Western-backed Palestinian Authority on Monday condemned Israeli plans to build new homes for settlers in east Jerusalem and said they were incompatible with peace efforts.The Palestinian Authority strongly condemns the new decision to build in east Jerusalem and wonders whether there is a freeze of settlement activity or an intensification of it, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.The American administration needs to realise that the policies of the Israeli government embody settlements and not peace and that their choice is settlements and not peace, he added.Israel's Channel 10 television reported Sunday that Israel has invited tenders for the building of some 692 new homes in three settlements in mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians have demanded as the capital of their promised state.There are already some 200,000 Jewish settlers living alongside 270,000 Arab residents in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed later in a move not recognised by the international community.The Palestinians have refused to restart peace negotiations suspended a year ago during the Gaza war unless Israel halts all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.Israel has agreed to a 10-month moratorium on building starts in the West Bank excluding public buildings and projects already underway. The partial freeze does not include east Jerusalem.On November 16, Israel gave its approval for 900 new housing units in another east Jerusalem settlement in a move that drew a strong rebuke from its US ally, which has been pressing both sides to restart peace talks.
Israeli defense chief: Iran can build bomb by 2011
DEC 28,2009
JERUSALEM – Iran will possess the technology to build a nuclear bomb by early 2010 and be able to produce one the following year, Israeli media quoted Israel's defense minister as saying Monday.Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered his assessment before the Israeli parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee. It broadly matches assessments from other nations including the U.S., which estimates that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015.The Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the reports and a Barak spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment. The radio and newspaper Web site reports did not identify the source of their information, but participants in the committee meetings routinely brief reporters on the proceedings.Earlier this month, Israel's military intelligence chief said Iran was close to an unspecified technological breakthrough that would enable it to build nuclear weapons. He did not elaborate on the breakthrough or say when exactly he expected Iran to have weapons-making capability.
Israel, like the West, disputes Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not bombs. It has lobbied for tough sanctions against Iran and has not ruled out a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.The international community must act, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a separate gathering of Israeli diplomats.If sanctions aren't imposed now, if true pressure isn't applied now — then when will they do it? A U.N.-drafted proposal aims to ease concerns that Iran could build a nuclear weapon by reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium. Under the proposal, the uranium would be shipped to France and Russia in exchange for more highly enriched fuel rods that are not suitable for use in weapons.Iran has not formally responded to the U.N. proposal, but recently proposed Turkey as a possible venue for exchanging nuclear material with the West.
Israel: 16,200 Jewish immigrants arrived in 2009
Sun Dec 27, 1:37 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli authorities say 16,200 Jews moved to the country in 2009, the first yearly increase in a decade.The quasi-governmental Jewish Agency handles immigration to Israel. In a statement, it said in 2008, almost 14,000 Jews came to live in Israel.The statement said 7,120 immigrants came from the former Soviet Union this year, and 5,300 came from English-speaking countries. Both increased over 2008.
The overall number of new arrivals has been dropping since immigration from the former Soviet Union peaked in the 1990s. Sunday's statement said a total of 221,000 Jews immigrated over the past decade.Israel offers automatic citizenship to Jews who move there. About 80 percent of the nation's 7 million residents are Jewish. Most of the rest are Arabs.
Russia warns EU of oil cuts over Ukraine row By Gleb Bryanski And Martin Santa – 6 mins ago DEC 28,2009
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has warned the European Union of oil supply cuts because of a fresh row between Moscow and Kiev, the Slovak government said on Monday, hours after Russia played down worries about a new gas row with Ukraine.The Slovak Economy Ministry said Russia has warned the European Union that Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic could experience oil supply cuts. A European Union source said oil stocks in those countries were adequate to withstand cuts.Europe, which receives the lion's share of its oil and gas needs from Russia, closely tracks Russian disputes with its neighbors after EU gas supplies were cut in the dead of winter in 2006 and 2009 due to disputes between Moscow and Kiev.Another key transit state, Belarus, cut Russian oil flows to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline in January 2007, also due to a pricing row, which further undermined the image of Russia, the world's top oil and gas producer, as a reliable energy supplier.The earlier cuts occurred amid strained political relations between Moscow and its neighbors. Ukraine will hold a presidential election in January and analysts have said that if a relatively pro-Russian leader is elected, Moscow is likely to take a more accommodating stance in future energy negotiations.On Monday, the head of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Alexei Miller, said he expected Ukraine to pay its December gas bill in full and that he saw no repeat of gas rows -- backtracking from remarks made last week.
But he spoke only a few hours before the head of another Russian monopoly -- oil pipeline company Transneft -- accused Ukrainian politicians of setting new unacceptable terms for oil transit via the Black Sea port of Yuzhny.Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev told Reuters Ukraine had asked Russia to pay more for transit and raised additional conditions concerning minimal volume guarantees, adding that oil supplies would be cut if no deal was quickly reached.We cannot and are not accepting tough terms. The (negotiation) process is continuing and I hope we will solve it before the New Year. But if they insist on their terms, we will also review the prospects of supplies, he said.Asked about the cause of the dispute, Tokarev said:These are purely political issues there (in Ukraine).The demand for higher fees from Ukraine comes as the International Monetary Fund has rejected Kiev's request for a $2 billion loan to help the recession-strapped country meet financial obligations by year's end.A senior official of Ukraine's central bank said last week it had enough foreign currency reserves to manage its finances until the end of the year.
DRUZHBA PIPELINE IN FOCUS
Traders told Reuters on Friday Transneft had told them it would scrap the initial January program for Yuzhny consisting of 0.5 million tonnes, in a move that would effectively damage the Mediterranean oil market.Yuzhny remains the last Ukrainian port through which Russia sends transit crude to the West after it stopped exporting crude via another outlet, Odessa, earlier this year.Ukraine is also a major transit route for crude flowing to Eastern Europe via the Druzhba pipeline and Russia sent its warning to the European Union fearing a repeat of the January 2007 dispute with Belarus.From the EU point of view, the early warning systems have worked, said a EU source, referring to a recent deal under which Russia has to warn the continent about potential supply problems.U.S. crude oil rose to above $79 a barrel on Monday, the highest in more than a month, largely because of colder weather across the major energy market the United States. The tensions involving Russia provided additional support. The Druzhba pipeline supplies Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic via Ukraine with more than 300,000 barrels per day of crude while another spur goes via Belarus to Germany and Poland shipping some 800,000 bpd. The two latter states also have no guarantees of smooth supplies after the New Year as Moscow and Minsk struggle to agree on volumes of duty-free Russian oil for Belarus. Russia's top energy official Igor Sechin said on Monday he hoped the deal with Belarus would be signed on December 30-31. If no deal is reached then we will have to apply full fees from January 1,he told reporters. In 2007, Minsk suspended supplies along Druzhba after failing to clinch a deal on crude supplies for its domestic plants and agreeing on fees.(Additional reporting by Luke Baker; writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, editing by Anthony Barker)
Oil holds near $78 a barrel in Asia By Eileen Ng, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 28, 3:53 am ET
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Oil prices held near $78 a barrel Monday in Asia ahead of inventory figures later in the week that could send it through the $80 mark.
Benchmark crude for February delivery was flat at $78.05 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading was thin due to the holiday season.The contract rose $1.38 to settle at $78.05 on Thursday, the first time in more than a month that it closed above $78. Oil markets were closed on Friday for Christmas.Inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration later this week will determine if oil prices can end the year above $80 a barrel, said Clarence Chu, a trader with Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore.The government last week reported a crude stocks drawdown of five million barrels and if inventories continue to decline — suggesting improved demand — it will be a boost to crude prices.Improved employment figures in the U.S. last week also buoyed sentiment and raised expectations of stronger consumer spending.There is an upside bias and oil can close the year above $80 a barrel but fundamentals are still weak and don't support oil at this level, Chu said.He expects crude inventories to build up again in January, which could easily drag oil prices back down to $70.In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil rose 1.1 cents to $2.05 while gasoline rose 1.1 cents to $2. Natural gas added 13.9 cents to $5.78 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose 18 cents to $76.49 on the ICE Futures exchange.
Stocks edge higher following retail sales data By SARA LEPRO, AP Business Writer DEC 28,09
NEW YORK – Stocks edged higher in early trading Monday as investors returning from a long holiday weekend were heartened by good news on retail sales.Shares of major retailers rose after data showed shoppers opened their wallets more this holiday season, a good sign that consumers are feeling better about the economy.Figures from MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which track all forms of payment, show retail sales rose 3.6 percent from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, compared with a 2.3 percent drop a year ago. Adjusting for an extra shopping day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the number was closer to a 1 percent gain.Consumer spending is one of the biggest drivers of economic growth and is vital to a sustained recovery.Commodities prices rose as the dollar fell, giving a boost to energy and materials stocks. Bond prices fell ahead of an auction of two-year notes.
Keeping the market's gains in check, airline stocks fell after two security incidents on Northwest flights this weekend.Stocks are currently at their highest levels of the year, and in the absence of any bad news, analysts say the market is likely to drift higher during the final days of 2009. Trading volume has been extremely light due to the holidays, which can exaggerate price swings. Markets were closed on Friday for Christmas and will be closed again this Friday for New Year's Day.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.44, or 0.1 percent, to 10,529.54. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.48, or 0.04 percent, to 1,126.96, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.35, or 0.2 percent, to 2,290.04.Major stock indexes ended a holiday-shortened session Thursday at new 2009 highs following upbeat reports on unemployment and durable goods orders. This week, readings on home prices and consumer confidence are among the few economic reports expected.Stocks have managed to grind higher this month despite lingering concerns about the economic recovery. But the gains have been more subdued than in recent months as investors have held back on taking risks heading into the end of the year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 66.5 percent since hitting 12-year lows in March.Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher ahead of a fresh round of government auctions. The Treasury Department will issue $44 billion of two-year notes later Monday, followed by $42 billion of five-year notes on Tuesday and $32 billion of seven-year notes on Wednesday. Investors often sell bonds heading into auctions in an effort to command higher yields.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.85 percent from 3.80 percent Thursday.Commodities prices rose as the dollar fell. Commodities are priced in U.S. dollars, so when the greenback is weak they become more attractive to foreign buyers.The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar against other major currencies, slipped 0.2 percent. Oil prices gained 62 cents to $78.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices also rose.Among retail stocks, Macy's Inc. rose 45 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $18.02. JCPenney & Co. added 44 cents to $27.46.Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc., which owns Northwest, fell 27 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $11.50. A failed attack on a Northwest flight on Christmas Day and another incident on the same flight to Detroit from Amsterdam on Sunday raised security concerns over the weekend.About five stocks rose for every four that fell on the New York Stock Exchange where volume came to a low 137.6 million shares.In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 0.42, or 0.1 percent, to 633.65. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.3 percent to its highest close since late August, boosted by encouraging news on factory production. In afternoon trading, Germany's DAX index rose 0.7 percent, while France's CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was closed for a holiday.
PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS
JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME
PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).
WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Parents pray for missionary thought held in NKorea By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 28, 4:11 am ET
SAN MARCOS, Calif. – An American missionary believed to be detained when he stepped into North Korea on Christmas didn't inform his parents of his plans but they had a hunch he would visit the communist nation.We had a sense, Pyong Park, the missionary's father, told The Associated Press late Sunday.We told him to continue what you're doing in South Korea.About 100 people held candles Sunday night at Palomar Korean Church in San Marcos, a north San Diego suburb, to commend Park for going to North Korea.Robert is doing what God called on him to do, the Rev. Madison Shockley told the crowd.We call this speaking truth to power.Robert Park, 28, slipped across the frozen Tumen River into the North from China carrying a letter calling on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to shut down the country's political prison camps. There has been no word from him since.Park's parents last heard from their son Dec. 23 in an e-mail that predicted upheaval in North Korea.Know that I am the happiest in all my life, his e-mail read. Incredible miracles are happening in the liberation of North Koreans right now ... We are going to see a big and beautiful change in Korea and in the World this year! Park was born in Los Angeles to Pyong and Helen Park, Korean immigrants who met in the United States. He spent much of his childhood in Tucson, Ariz., where he stayed after his parents moved to the San Diego area about four years ago.
His parents say he has devoted himself to church work since 2000, making regular Saturday runs to the slums of Nogales, Mexico, where he distributed food and did missionary work.He planned to visit South Korea for about a month in June 2008 but ended up staying because he was deeply moved by the poverty of North Koreans, his mother said.He felt their pain so much, she said.Park was in China, near the North Korean border, for about two months last summer to provide food and shelter to refugees, his parents said. He gave that up because he knew China would deport any refugees who got caught, exposing them to harsh punishment back home.He helped a lot of people, said Manchul Cho, an uncle. Neither Cho nor his parents knew how many refugees Park helped.Back in Seoul, South Korea, Park worked with other organizations pressing for peaceful change in the communist nation. Pyong Park, 68, said his son wanted quicker results.
He wanted to do a bigger thing, he said.The Parks, who live in the north San Diego suburb of Encinitas, said they are in daily contact with the State Department. North Korea has not acknowledged Park is in the country.He was not afraid to die, Pyong Park said.What he wanted was the whole world to know of North Korea's situation.His only sibling, Paul, 38, also lives in the San Diego area.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
10TH OF TEVET FAST DAY IN ISRAEL TODAY
Tevet 10 Jerusalem Under Siege SUNDAY DEC 27,2009
The walls of Jerusalem at night
On the 10th of Tevet of the year 3336 from Creation (425 BCE), the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. Thirty months later -- on Tammuz 9, 3338 -- the city walls were breached, and on Av 9th of that year, the Holy Temple was destroyed. The Jewish people were exiled to Babylonia for 70 years.
Tevet 10 (this year December 27, 2009) is observed as a day of fasting, mourning and repentance. We refrain from food and drink from daybreak to nightfall, and add the Selichot and other special supplements to our prayers. More recently, Tevet 10 was chosen to also serve as a general kaddish day for the victims of the Holocaust, many of whom the day of their martyrdom is unknown.
An ancient Jewish custom, which was revived by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is to deliver words of inspiration and arousal to repentance on fast days. Presented here is our modest contribution to our duty as Jews to reflect on the significance of the tragic events of our history and come away motivated, encouraged, and -- yes -- even inspired:
The Destruction of the Temple
a historical background
The seige of Jerusalem that began on the tenth of Tevet is marked -- and observed each year as a public fast day -- as the event that began the downward spiral toward the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and the exile (galut) of the Jewish people from their homeland. The actual process, however, originated when the Jews began straying from G-d, long before the seige of Jerusalem.
The Children of Israel entered the Holy Land in the year 2488 from creation (1273 BCE) in the long-awaited culmination to their exodus from Egypt forty years earlier. Four hundred forty-seven years later, their settlement in the Land of Israel was consummated and a golden age was ushered in with the completion and dedication of the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) in Jerusalem, wherein the Divine Presence came to dwell and manifest itself through daily miracles. Three times a year -- on Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot -- every Jew made a piligrimage to the Temple, to see and be seen by the face of the L-rd G-d of Israel.
The Temple was supposed to last forever; this depended, however, on the Jews' adherence to the Torah and its mitzvot (Divine commandments). At first, the Jews kept the Torah and steadfastly retained their faith, enjoying peace, prosperity and a direct connection to G-d through the Temple. However, after 300 years the Jews began to stray from the Torah and leave the path of their fathers. G-d sent prophets repeatedly to admonish them, but the Jews refused to change their ways, choosing instead to deride these prophets as false messengers come to discourage them with predictions of destruction.
Following is a brief recounting of the final years before the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, excerpted from Our People, a book on Jewish history by Jacob Isaacs.
JEHOAHAZ AND JOIAKIM
JUDEA ON THE DOWNWARD PATH: Before his death, King Josiah designated his second son Jehoahaz as his successor to the throne, because he seemed to be more inclined than his older brother to follow in the footsteps of his father. Indeed the people proclaimed him king, but his reign was very brief. His reign lasted only three months, during which he did not live up to his father's expectations at all. His reign was terminated by Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, whose anger Jehoahaz had provoked. Necho advanced upon the land of Israel, attacked and captured Jehoahaz, and brought him in fetters to Egypt, where he died in captivity. Having exacted a heavy tribute from the people of Judah, Necho placed Jehoahaz's brother, Eliakim, on the throne, and changed his name to Joiakim.
The newly-appointed king Joiakim, Josiah's eldest son, was much worse than his brother. He disregarded the laws of the Torah which his father had so strictly enforced in the land, and he set a poor example for his people by following the ways of wickedness and idolatry. The people were easily led astray inasmuch as their plight under the burden of heavy taxes made them restive and rebellious. With pain in his heart, the prophet Jeremiah watched this growing depravity of the people and sternly admonished them.
"Roam about the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and notice, and search in its broad places, if you can find one man, if there be one that executes justice, that searches for truth: And I will pardon it. And though they say, As the Lord lives! surely they only swear to a falsehood. Oh, Lord, are not Your eyes directed to the truth? You did strike them, but they felt it not; You did make an end of them, yet they refused correction: they made their faces harder than a rock, they refused to return. Yet I myself thought, oh these are but poor; they are foolish; for they knew not the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their G-d. I had better go unto the great men and let me speak to them; for these surely know the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their G-d; but these altogether have broken the yoke, burst the bands. Therefore slays them the lion out of the forest; the wolf of the desert wastes them; the leopard lies in wait against their cities: Everyone that comes out thence shall be torn in pieces; because many are their transgressions, very numerous are their backslidings.
In vain did Jeremiah reprove the king, warning him of the imminent doom which would visit the land. In vain did he paint the gloom and despair that would prevail when G-d would punish the people for their faithlessness, immorality, and injustice. There were so many false prophets who misled the king and the people by their predictions of glorious days to come that Jeremiah's words were unheeded; nay, he became an object of public ridicule and derision. Every day that passed without any disturbance to the normal life of Jerusalem afforded another opportunity for the people to make Jeremiah appear ridiculous and insane. They challenged him and his Divine mission: Where is G-d's word? Why does it not come true? G-d is not, and misfortune will never reach us.
Jeremiah never ceased to admonish the people, and he was finally put in prison by the king.
Meanwhile Nebuchadnezzar, at the head of a large army, was advancing upon the land of Israel. The king and people were determined to oppose them, despite Jeremiah's pleas that opposition to the Babylonians would spell disaster.
JOIAKIM IS DETHRONED: For three years Joiakim remained obedient to the king of Babylon. Then he revolted and joined forces with Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar. To punish this rebellion, the king of Babylon again sent his armies into Judea. They put Joiakim in chains and led him into captivity. But while the Babylonian forces were on their way home, Joiakim died, and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin (or Jechoniah).
The new monarch had been on the throne for scarcely more than three months when Jerusalem came under the siege of the Babylonian hosts. To appease Nebuchadnezzar and save the city, Jehoiachin delivered himself up to the Babylonian conqueror, together with his motherand all his chief officers. After plundering the Temple and the royal palace, Nebuchadnezzar returned to his land, carrying away from Jerusalem ten thousand captives, including the king and his family, the nobility of the land, and the leaders of the army. Only the poorest of the population were left, and over them Zedekiah eventually became king.
ZEDEKIAH
ZEDEKIAH'S REBELLION: Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he ascended the toppling throne of Judea. The admonitions of Jeremiah and the other Divine prophets went unheeded. There was no sign of a general repentance and return to G-d, and the fate of Judea was sealed. Zedekiah had sworn allegiance to the king of Babylon, but he broke his vow, and secretly joined Egypt in the attempt to throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. Turning a deaf ear to Jeremiah's entreaties and warnings, Zedekiah entered into an alliance with Egypt. In the ninth year of his reign, Zedekiah openly declared his revolt against the Chaldeans. Again Nebuchadnezzar led a vast army to quell the revolt. Remaining at Riblah, he sent his troops southward under the leadership of Nebuzaradan, his chief general. On the tenth of Tevet, in the year 3336, Jerusalem came under siege.
JEREMIAH'S ADVICE IGNORED: Now Zedekiah sent word to Jeremiah asking him to pray to G-d for help. Jeremiah replied that the fate of Jerusalem was sealed, and that Zedekiah, his sons, servants, and all those who remained in the city would be mercilessly slain. Only those who submitted to the Babylonians would be spared. Zedekiah did not listen to Jeremiah's advice, and he refused to surrender.
JEREMIAH THROWN INTO PRISON: Meanwhile Nebuchadnezzar was forced to abandon the siege of Jerusalem temporarily, because the king of Egypt had led a large army against him. Jeremiah predicted, however, that the Chaldeans would return and again attack and destroy the city. Jeremiah, who had been tolerated thus far, was now accused of being in league with the enemy, and was consequently thrown into prison. The desperate king, however, recalled him from the dungeon and asked him for a message from G-d. But once again Jeremiah could reiterate only what he had told him before. The king's fate, like that of the city, was sealed; nothing could prevent their falling into the vengeful hands of the enemy. Then Jeremiah asked for a better prison than the dungeon in which he had been held. The king granted his request, and every day he was given a loaf of bread, until the time when the supply of bread in Jerusalem gave out.
JEREMIAH THROWN INTO MUDPIT: Jeremiah's repeated predictions of the fall of the city and his pleas for surrender roused the anger of the defenders of the city. The prophet was seized by his enemies and thrown into a pit where he almost drowned in mud. A servant of the name of Ebed M'elech of Kush heard of this and reported it to the king Zedekiah. The king ordered the servant to pull Jeremiah out of the pit. The man did so and saved the prophet's life in the nick of time. Again Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought before him and asked for the Divine message. Jeremiah asked whether he could talk freely, without fear of being killed. The king swore that no harm would befall him, regardless of what he would say, and added that he himself would protect Jeremiah from his enemies. Then Jeremiah told the king that if he would leave the city and surrender to the enemy, he would live and the city would be spared. But the king was afraid of the people's wrath and did not dare to act upon the prophet's advice. After that Jeremiah was put safely behind prison bars and remained there until after the capture of Jerusalem.
CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM: In the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, in the month of Tammuz, after a long (two-and-one-half years') siege, during which hunger and epidemics of disease raged all over the city, the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the enemy. The king fled through a subterranean passage, but he was captured in the plains of Jericho and brought before Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah. There the king's sons and many other Jewish princes were slain before his eyes; then his own eyes were put out, and he was led in chains to Babylon.
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY TEMPLE
NEBUCHADNEZZAR DESTROYS JERUSALEM: On the seventh day of Av the chief of Nebuchadnezzar's army, Nebuzaradan, began the destruction of Jerusalem. The walls of the city were torn down, and the royal palace, and other structures in the city were set on fire. On the ninth of Av, towards the evening, the Beit Hamikdosh was set on fire and was destroyed. Everything of gold and silver that still remained was carried off as loot by Babylonian soldiers. All the beautiful works of art with which King Solomon had once decorated and ornamented the holy edifice were destroyed or taken away. The holy vessels of the Temple that could be found were brought to Babylon. The high priest Seraiah and many other high officials and priests were executed. Many thousands of the people that had escaped the sword were taken prisoner and led into captivity in Babylon, where some of their best had already preceded them. Only the poorest of the residents of Jerusalem were permitted to stay on to plant the vineyards and work in the fields. Over these Nebuchadnezzar set a governor, Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, a great friend of Jeremiah.
Upon Nebuchadnezzar's orders Jeremiah was released from prison and saved from the cruel fate that befell the other leaders of the people. Nebuchadnezzar took off Jeremiah's chains, and allowed him to choose between remaining in his native land or going to Babylon, not as a captive but as an honored guest. Jeremiah preferred to stay and end his days on the holy soil of Judah.
IN EXILE
Thus ended the empire of David and Solomon; thus the magnificent city and holy Temple were destroyed. Thus G-d punished His people for deserting Him and His laws. All this had been predicted in the Torah, and it truly came to pass with all the horror of which Moses had warned. Yet G-d also preserved His covenant with the people of Israel, and another prophecy of Moses came true. This prophecy was remembered by the Jews in exile and lightened the burden of their suffering for it contained this promise: And yet, for all that, though they be in the land of their enemies, will I not cast them away, neither will I loath them to destroy them utterly, to break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord, their G-d. And I will remember for their sake the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, that I may be unto them G-d; I am the Lord.
The walls of Jerusalem at night
On the 10th of Tevet of the year 3336 from Creation (425 BCE), the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. Thirty months later -- on Tammuz 9, 3338 -- the city walls were breached, and on Av 9th of that year, the Holy Temple was destroyed. The Jewish people were exiled to Babylonia for 70 years.
Tevet 10 (this year December 27, 2009) is observed as a day of fasting, mourning and repentance. We refrain from food and drink from daybreak to nightfall, and add the Selichot and other special supplements to our prayers. More recently, Tevet 10 was chosen to also serve as a general kaddish day for the victims of the Holocaust, many of whom the day of their martyrdom is unknown.
An ancient Jewish custom, which was revived by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is to deliver words of inspiration and arousal to repentance on fast days. Presented here is our modest contribution to our duty as Jews to reflect on the significance of the tragic events of our history and come away motivated, encouraged, and -- yes -- even inspired:
The Destruction of the Temple
a historical background
The seige of Jerusalem that began on the tenth of Tevet is marked -- and observed each year as a public fast day -- as the event that began the downward spiral toward the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and the exile (galut) of the Jewish people from their homeland. The actual process, however, originated when the Jews began straying from G-d, long before the seige of Jerusalem.
The Children of Israel entered the Holy Land in the year 2488 from creation (1273 BCE) in the long-awaited culmination to their exodus from Egypt forty years earlier. Four hundred forty-seven years later, their settlement in the Land of Israel was consummated and a golden age was ushered in with the completion and dedication of the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) in Jerusalem, wherein the Divine Presence came to dwell and manifest itself through daily miracles. Three times a year -- on Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot -- every Jew made a piligrimage to the Temple, to see and be seen by the face of the L-rd G-d of Israel.
The Temple was supposed to last forever; this depended, however, on the Jews' adherence to the Torah and its mitzvot (Divine commandments). At first, the Jews kept the Torah and steadfastly retained their faith, enjoying peace, prosperity and a direct connection to G-d through the Temple. However, after 300 years the Jews began to stray from the Torah and leave the path of their fathers. G-d sent prophets repeatedly to admonish them, but the Jews refused to change their ways, choosing instead to deride these prophets as false messengers come to discourage them with predictions of destruction.
Following is a brief recounting of the final years before the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, excerpted from Our People, a book on Jewish history by Jacob Isaacs.
JEHOAHAZ AND JOIAKIM
JUDEA ON THE DOWNWARD PATH: Before his death, King Josiah designated his second son Jehoahaz as his successor to the throne, because he seemed to be more inclined than his older brother to follow in the footsteps of his father. Indeed the people proclaimed him king, but his reign was very brief. His reign lasted only three months, during which he did not live up to his father's expectations at all. His reign was terminated by Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, whose anger Jehoahaz had provoked. Necho advanced upon the land of Israel, attacked and captured Jehoahaz, and brought him in fetters to Egypt, where he died in captivity. Having exacted a heavy tribute from the people of Judah, Necho placed Jehoahaz's brother, Eliakim, on the throne, and changed his name to Joiakim.
The newly-appointed king Joiakim, Josiah's eldest son, was much worse than his brother. He disregarded the laws of the Torah which his father had so strictly enforced in the land, and he set a poor example for his people by following the ways of wickedness and idolatry. The people were easily led astray inasmuch as their plight under the burden of heavy taxes made them restive and rebellious. With pain in his heart, the prophet Jeremiah watched this growing depravity of the people and sternly admonished them.
"Roam about the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and notice, and search in its broad places, if you can find one man, if there be one that executes justice, that searches for truth: And I will pardon it. And though they say, As the Lord lives! surely they only swear to a falsehood. Oh, Lord, are not Your eyes directed to the truth? You did strike them, but they felt it not; You did make an end of them, yet they refused correction: they made their faces harder than a rock, they refused to return. Yet I myself thought, oh these are but poor; they are foolish; for they knew not the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their G-d. I had better go unto the great men and let me speak to them; for these surely know the way of the Lord, the ordinance of their G-d; but these altogether have broken the yoke, burst the bands. Therefore slays them the lion out of the forest; the wolf of the desert wastes them; the leopard lies in wait against their cities: Everyone that comes out thence shall be torn in pieces; because many are their transgressions, very numerous are their backslidings.
In vain did Jeremiah reprove the king, warning him of the imminent doom which would visit the land. In vain did he paint the gloom and despair that would prevail when G-d would punish the people for their faithlessness, immorality, and injustice. There were so many false prophets who misled the king and the people by their predictions of glorious days to come that Jeremiah's words were unheeded; nay, he became an object of public ridicule and derision. Every day that passed without any disturbance to the normal life of Jerusalem afforded another opportunity for the people to make Jeremiah appear ridiculous and insane. They challenged him and his Divine mission: Where is G-d's word? Why does it not come true? G-d is not, and misfortune will never reach us.
Jeremiah never ceased to admonish the people, and he was finally put in prison by the king.
Meanwhile Nebuchadnezzar, at the head of a large army, was advancing upon the land of Israel. The king and people were determined to oppose them, despite Jeremiah's pleas that opposition to the Babylonians would spell disaster.
JOIAKIM IS DETHRONED: For three years Joiakim remained obedient to the king of Babylon. Then he revolted and joined forces with Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar. To punish this rebellion, the king of Babylon again sent his armies into Judea. They put Joiakim in chains and led him into captivity. But while the Babylonian forces were on their way home, Joiakim died, and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin (or Jechoniah).
The new monarch had been on the throne for scarcely more than three months when Jerusalem came under the siege of the Babylonian hosts. To appease Nebuchadnezzar and save the city, Jehoiachin delivered himself up to the Babylonian conqueror, together with his motherand all his chief officers. After plundering the Temple and the royal palace, Nebuchadnezzar returned to his land, carrying away from Jerusalem ten thousand captives, including the king and his family, the nobility of the land, and the leaders of the army. Only the poorest of the population were left, and over them Zedekiah eventually became king.
ZEDEKIAH
ZEDEKIAH'S REBELLION: Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he ascended the toppling throne of Judea. The admonitions of Jeremiah and the other Divine prophets went unheeded. There was no sign of a general repentance and return to G-d, and the fate of Judea was sealed. Zedekiah had sworn allegiance to the king of Babylon, but he broke his vow, and secretly joined Egypt in the attempt to throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. Turning a deaf ear to Jeremiah's entreaties and warnings, Zedekiah entered into an alliance with Egypt. In the ninth year of his reign, Zedekiah openly declared his revolt against the Chaldeans. Again Nebuchadnezzar led a vast army to quell the revolt. Remaining at Riblah, he sent his troops southward under the leadership of Nebuzaradan, his chief general. On the tenth of Tevet, in the year 3336, Jerusalem came under siege.
JEREMIAH'S ADVICE IGNORED: Now Zedekiah sent word to Jeremiah asking him to pray to G-d for help. Jeremiah replied that the fate of Jerusalem was sealed, and that Zedekiah, his sons, servants, and all those who remained in the city would be mercilessly slain. Only those who submitted to the Babylonians would be spared. Zedekiah did not listen to Jeremiah's advice, and he refused to surrender.
JEREMIAH THROWN INTO PRISON: Meanwhile Nebuchadnezzar was forced to abandon the siege of Jerusalem temporarily, because the king of Egypt had led a large army against him. Jeremiah predicted, however, that the Chaldeans would return and again attack and destroy the city. Jeremiah, who had been tolerated thus far, was now accused of being in league with the enemy, and was consequently thrown into prison. The desperate king, however, recalled him from the dungeon and asked him for a message from G-d. But once again Jeremiah could reiterate only what he had told him before. The king's fate, like that of the city, was sealed; nothing could prevent their falling into the vengeful hands of the enemy. Then Jeremiah asked for a better prison than the dungeon in which he had been held. The king granted his request, and every day he was given a loaf of bread, until the time when the supply of bread in Jerusalem gave out.
JEREMIAH THROWN INTO MUDPIT: Jeremiah's repeated predictions of the fall of the city and his pleas for surrender roused the anger of the defenders of the city. The prophet was seized by his enemies and thrown into a pit where he almost drowned in mud. A servant of the name of Ebed M'elech of Kush heard of this and reported it to the king Zedekiah. The king ordered the servant to pull Jeremiah out of the pit. The man did so and saved the prophet's life in the nick of time. Again Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought before him and asked for the Divine message. Jeremiah asked whether he could talk freely, without fear of being killed. The king swore that no harm would befall him, regardless of what he would say, and added that he himself would protect Jeremiah from his enemies. Then Jeremiah told the king that if he would leave the city and surrender to the enemy, he would live and the city would be spared. But the king was afraid of the people's wrath and did not dare to act upon the prophet's advice. After that Jeremiah was put safely behind prison bars and remained there until after the capture of Jerusalem.
CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM: In the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, in the month of Tammuz, after a long (two-and-one-half years') siege, during which hunger and epidemics of disease raged all over the city, the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the enemy. The king fled through a subterranean passage, but he was captured in the plains of Jericho and brought before Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah. There the king's sons and many other Jewish princes were slain before his eyes; then his own eyes were put out, and he was led in chains to Babylon.
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY TEMPLE
NEBUCHADNEZZAR DESTROYS JERUSALEM: On the seventh day of Av the chief of Nebuchadnezzar's army, Nebuzaradan, began the destruction of Jerusalem. The walls of the city were torn down, and the royal palace, and other structures in the city were set on fire. On the ninth of Av, towards the evening, the Beit Hamikdosh was set on fire and was destroyed. Everything of gold and silver that still remained was carried off as loot by Babylonian soldiers. All the beautiful works of art with which King Solomon had once decorated and ornamented the holy edifice were destroyed or taken away. The holy vessels of the Temple that could be found were brought to Babylon. The high priest Seraiah and many other high officials and priests were executed. Many thousands of the people that had escaped the sword were taken prisoner and led into captivity in Babylon, where some of their best had already preceded them. Only the poorest of the residents of Jerusalem were permitted to stay on to plant the vineyards and work in the fields. Over these Nebuchadnezzar set a governor, Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, a great friend of Jeremiah.
Upon Nebuchadnezzar's orders Jeremiah was released from prison and saved from the cruel fate that befell the other leaders of the people. Nebuchadnezzar took off Jeremiah's chains, and allowed him to choose between remaining in his native land or going to Babylon, not as a captive but as an honored guest. Jeremiah preferred to stay and end his days on the holy soil of Judah.
IN EXILE
Thus ended the empire of David and Solomon; thus the magnificent city and holy Temple were destroyed. Thus G-d punished His people for deserting Him and His laws. All this had been predicted in the Torah, and it truly came to pass with all the horror of which Moses had warned. Yet G-d also preserved His covenant with the people of Israel, and another prophecy of Moses came true. This prophecy was remembered by the Jews in exile and lightened the burden of their suffering for it contained this promise: And yet, for all that, though they be in the land of their enemies, will I not cast them away, neither will I loath them to destroy them utterly, to break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord, their G-d. And I will remember for their sake the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, that I may be unto them G-d; I am the Lord.
TORAH PORTION FROM DEC 27 - JAN 2,2010
SINCE WHAT ISRAEL READS WILL BE FULFILLED IN THAT WEEK I WILL BE PUTTING THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION ON FOR ALL OF US TO KEEP TRACK OF ISRAEL HAPPENINGS.
TORAH PORTION FROM DEC 27 2009 6PM - JAN 02 6PM 2010
GENESIS 47:28 - 50:26
28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.
GENESIS 48:1-22
1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.
8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?
9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.
12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.
14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.
18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
GENESIS 49:1-33
1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.
19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.
31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.
32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.
33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
GENESIS 50:1-26
1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.
6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.
12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
PROPHETS PORTION
1 KINGS 2:1-12
1 Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,
2 I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man;
3 And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:
4 That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.
5 Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
6 Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.
7 But shew kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy brother.
8 And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.
9 Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.
10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
11 And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
12 Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.
NEW TESTAMENT PORTION
ACTS 7:9-16
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
HEBREWS 11:21-22
21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
1 PETER 1:3-9
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1 PETER 2:11-17
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
TORAH PORTION FROM DEC 27 2009 6PM - JAN 02 6PM 2010
GENESIS 47:28 - 50:26
28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.
GENESIS 48:1-22
1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.
8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?
9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.
12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.
14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.
18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
GENESIS 49:1-33
1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.
19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.
31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.
32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.
33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
GENESIS 50:1-26
1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.
6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.
12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
PROPHETS PORTION
1 KINGS 2:1-12
1 Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,
2 I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man;
3 And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:
4 That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.
5 Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
6 Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.
7 But shew kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy brother.
8 And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.
9 Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.
10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
11 And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
12 Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.
NEW TESTAMENT PORTION
ACTS 7:9-16
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
HEBREWS 11:21-22
21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
1 PETER 1:3-9
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1 PETER 2:11-17
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
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