711 DEAD PLUS IN CHILE QUAKE-TSUNAMI

JACK VAN IMPE EVEN SAYS OBAMA WITH HIS 32 CZARS WILL FORCE AMERICA TO BECOME A SOCIALIST,MARXIST,COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP.AND BEING HE IS A MUSLIM AND NOT EVEN A LEGEL AMERICAN CITZEN,BARRY SORTORO AKA BARACK OBAMA WILL TOTALLY AND IS TOTALLY DESTROYING AMERICA WITH HIS MUSLIM SYMPATHIZERS.

OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL-White House to push ACORN pet project Critics warn plan will 'sneak socialism' into U.S., cause major economic loss February 28, 2010
10:19 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2010 WorldNetDaily

President Obama-The White House is considering a new policy that would give an advantage in bids for billions in government contracts to companies that pay workers living wages and offer generous benefits. WND has learned the living wage campaign has long been pushed by the radical Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, and was largely initiated on a local level in the 1990s with the help of a socialist party of which evidence suggests Barack Obama was a member.

Critics warn a living wage advantage for more than $500 billion in government contracts could harm small companies, with case studies showing cities that enacted similar policies in the 1990s faced major financial losses. Business groups who oppose the plan say also it would increase government procurement costs. The Associated Press obtained documents outlining the White House plan. The documents reportedly show the government would examine the wages and benefits – such as health insurance, retirement benefits and paid leave – a firm pays its employees as a factor in the process of awarding government contracts. Another factor would be whether a contract bidder is a repeat violator of labor and employment laws. A Labor Department compliance office would compile a score on contract bidders based on the criteria and then determine which companies would get government contracts. Writing about a similar policy that was being considered in Chicago in 2003, Steven Malanga of the City Journal stated the movement sneaks socialism into cities.Malanga notes the living wage movement got its start in mid-1990s Baltimore, when a coalition of left-leaning church leaders, unionists and community activists largely led by ACORN began to push for a social compact that included a hike in the minimum wage to $6.10 – 43 percent above the federal minimum wage at the time – for service workers in hotels and other businesses in the city's redeveloped Inner Harbor, a prime tourist area. Baltimore's then-mayor Kurt Schmoke eventually signed a compromise bill that guaranteed the new $6.10 minimum for workers at any companies contracting with the city. Supporters hailed the increase as a costless victory for low-income workers.

But Baltimore's economy soon crashed, with 58,000 jobs disappearing, even as the rest of Maryland added 120,000 jobs and other cities across the country prospered. The living wage bill was just one expression of a fiercely anti-business climate that helped precipitate Baltimore's economic collapse, wrote Malanga. Another locale that enacted a living wage bill soon to see its economy burn was Milwaukee County in Wisconsin, which passed a law increasing the minimum wage only for city-contracted janitors and security guards to $6.25 an hour. That law was urged on by ACORN and the socialist New Party, which was also instrumental in lobby efforts in Baltimore. The living wage campaign was a main platform of the New Party. The New Party sought to elect members to public office with the aim of moving the Democratic Party far leftward to ultimately form a new political party with a socialist agenda. The New Party, established in 1992, took advantage of what was known as electoral fusion, which enabled candidates to run on two tickets simultaneously, attracting voters from both parties. But the New Party went defunct in 1998, one year after fusion was halted by the Supreme Court. The New Party worked closely with ACORN to promote its candidates. ACORN, convicted in massive, nationwide voter fraud cases, was a point of controversy for Obama during his campaign for president. In August, a former top member of the New Party recounted in a WND e-mail interview Obama's participation with his organization. A subcommittee met with (Obama) to interview him to see if his stand on the living wage and similar reforms was the same as ours, recalled Marxist activist Carl Davidson. We determined that our views on these overlapped, and we could endorse his campaign in the Democratic Party, Davidson said. Davidson was a Chicago member and activist within the New Party. He told WND he handled some of the New Party member databases and attending most of the party's meetings.

Davidson is also a notorious far-left activist and former radical national leader in the anti-Vietnam War movement. He served as national secretary for the infamous Students of a Democratic Society anti-war group, from which the Weather Underground domestic terrorist organization later splintered. Davidson remembers Obama attending a New Party meeting to thank attendees for voting for him. Davidson said that to his knowledge Obama was not a member of the New Party in any practical way – using qualifying language. Becoming a New Party member requires some effort on behalf of the politician. Candidates must be approved by the party's political committee and, once approved, must sign a contract mandating they will have a visible and active relationship with the party. Asked whether Obama signed the New Party contract, Davidson replied there was no need for him to do so.At the end of our session with him, we simply affirmed there was no need to do so, because on all the key points, the stand of his campaign and the New Party reform planks were practically the same, Davidson told WND. Davidson denied the New Party was specifically a socialist party, claiming,The vast majority of active members were low- and middle-income blacks in the inner city fighting for their immediate demands.But the socialist-oriented goals of the New Party were enumerated on its old website. Among the New Party's stated objectives were full employment, a shorter work week and a guaranteed minimum income for all adults; a universal social wage to include such basic benefits as health care, child care, vacation time and lifelong access to education and training; a systematic phase-in of comparable worth and like programs to ensure gender equity.The New Party stated it also sought the democratization of our banking and financial system – including popular election of those charged with public stewardship of our banking system, worker-owner control over their pension assets [and] community-controlled alternative financial institutions.Many of the New Party's founding members were Democratic Socialists of America leaders and members of Committees of Correspondence, a breakaway of the Communist Party USA. Obama attended several DSA events and meetings, including a DSA-sponsored town hall meeting Feb. 25, 1996, entitled Employment and Survival in Urban America. He sought and received an endorsement from the DSA. Asked by WND whether he thinks Obama has socialist leanings, Davidson stated,The truth is that Obama was and is a liberal Democrat and an Alinskyist community organizer – which if you know much about Alinsky, is just militant liberalism.Obama was never a man of the left, either in his views or in being a member of an actual socialist organization,added Davidson.

While running for the Illinois state Senate in 1996 as a Democrat, Obama actively sought and received the endorsement of the New Party, according to confirmed reports during the 2008 presidential campaign. Among New Party members was linguist and radical activist Noam Chomsky.

Obama listed as socialist party member

Obama's campaign in 2008 denied the then–presidential candidate was ever an actual member of the New Party.But the New Zeal blog dug up print copies of the New Party News, the party's official newspaper, which show Obama posing with New Party leaders, listing him as a New Party member and printing quotes from him as a member.
The Party's spring 1996 newspaper boasted: New Party members won three other primaries this Spring in Chicago: Barack Obama (State Senate), Michael Chandler (Democratic Party Committee) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).The paper quoted Obama saying,These victories prove that small 'd' democracy can work.The newspaper lists other politicians it endorsed who were not members but specifies Obama as a New Party member. New Ground, the newsletter of Chicago's Democratic Socialists of America, reported in its July/August 1996 edition that Obama attended a New Party membership meeting April 11, 1996, in which he expressed his gratitude for the group's support and encouraged NPers (New Party members) to join in his task forces on voter education and voter registration.With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott.

COMMENTS ON BARRY SOTORO OR AKA BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.MYSELF I THINK THE NEW WORLD ORDER IS BLACKMAILING OBAMA WITH THIS LEGEL CITIZENSHIP AND BIRTH CERTIFICATE ISSUE TO BRING DOWN AMERICAN AND FORCE THEM INTO THE EUROPEAN UNION LEAD ONE WORLD IMF,BANKER LEAD GOVERNMENT OF TOTAL DICTATORSHIP.TO PUT IT BLUNTLY OBAMA-SOTORO IS JUST A PUPPET OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER.I MIGHT ADD SOTORO-OBAMA IS 50% WHITE,44% ARAB & 6% BLACK.

Resolved Question Who is Barry Sortero?
Barack Obama ,Barry Soetoro ,Barry Obama ,Barack Hussein Obama Jr/2nd
How many names does he have and why? by Starligh... Member since:

-Barry Sotoro is not an American born, he was born in Kenya he is an Indonesian citizen, by adoption!

-Sortero is his step-fathers name, who adopted BO and they lived as a family in Indonesia. He, BO, had to be adopted for only Indonesian citizens are allowed to attend school and he did attend school. He used that name until his trip to Kenya to get to know who his father was.

-He has one name: Barack Obama. Like 50% of Americans, his parents divorced and his mother remarried Mr. Sortero. This isn't rocket science, dear.

-Half of America(50% OF THE LEGITIMATE CITIZENS) would like to know why. The other half seems to be content on just believing his comforting lies.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(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.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

Chilean troops patrol quake-stricken towns By Mario Naranjo – MAR 1,10

CONCEPCION, Chile (Reuters) – Chile's government scrambled on Monday to provide aid to thousands of homeless people in coastal towns devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunamis, as 10,000 troops patrolled to quell looting.The 8.8 magnitude quake on Saturday killed 711 people and the death toll was expected to rise further as harrowing scenes of destruction emerged in isolated towns swamped by giant waves triggered by one of the strongest quakes in a century.Many people were still missing in some communities in the worst-hit central region of Chile, which remained largely cut off by mangled highways and fallen telephone lines.Surging waves ruined houses and smashed cars in fishing villages on the country's long Pacific coast. In the town of Constitucion alone, 350 people were reported to have died and a public gym was turned into a makeshift morgue.The tsunami destroyed almost everything on the seafront (and) the center of the town was completely destroyed. This means lots of people still haven't been accounted for, Constitucion Mayor Hugo Tilleria told state television, surrounded by the twisted wreckage of flattened homes.A curfew went into effect overnight in the Maule region and the heavily damaged town of Concepcion, where hundreds of looters ransacked stores for food and other goods. Looting also broke out in parts of the capital, Santiago.We don't have water or anything. No one has appeared with help and we need more police to keep order. There are many people here who are robbing, said a 78-year-old woman who identified herself as Ana in the badly hit city of Talca, 155 miles south of Santiago.In Concepcion, angry survivors camping along roads took out their frustration on firefighters who were distributing drinking water in thermoses and tea kettles, damaging their vehicles. Police arrested scores of people for looting and violating the curfew.

MARKET IMPACT

Copper prices surged to a five-week high in early trading due to supply worries, jumping 5.6 percent to $7,600 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange before easing to $7,385. Mining stocks rallied on copper's gains.The markets may help clarify the extent of the economic impact on Latin America's most developed country and the world's biggest copper exporter.Damage from the quake could cost up to $30 billion, equivalent to about 15 percent of Chile's gross domestic product, said Eqecat, a firm that helps insurers model catastrophe risks.Chile's biggest copper mines affected by the quake slowly resumed operations, but analysts said limited power supplies could curtail exports and further lift copper prices. Two oil refineries remained closed, buoying the gas oil market.The nation's fourth-largest copper mine, El Teniente, which accounts for more than 7 percent of national output, resumed operations on Sunday. The nearby Andina mine was also due to resume operations, but analysts feared power outages could still affect output.Anglo-American said three of its Chilean mines had resumed operations and Antofagasta's Pelambres mines also resumed production.Chile's peso currency tumbled more than 1 percent in opening trade on concerns over the extent of the impact on what is considered Latin America's best-run economy.Some economists predicted a deep impact on Chile's economy after the quake damaged industrial and agricultural sectors in the worst-hit regions, but said the country's solid fiscal position would help reconstruction efforts.Chile has ample resources abroad to help finance the cost of its rebuilding efforts, a Credit Suisse briefing note said. Alternatively, it should be in a comfortable position to tap external and/or local debt markets.Japan said it was providing an emergency grant of $3 million, as well as sending tents, generators, water cleaners and other emergency gear, while China pledged $1 million. (Additional reporting by Simon Gardner and Alonso Soto in Santiago; Writing by Stuart Grudgings and Helen Popper; Editing by Paul Simao)

Chile troops, police attack post-quake looting By MICHAEL WARREN and EVA VERGARA, Associated Press Writers – MAR 1,10

CONCEPCION, Chile – Security forces said Monday they arrested dozens of people for violating curfew after looters sacked virtually every market in this hard-hit city and Chile's earthquake toll surpassed 700. President Michelle Bachelet promised imminent deliveries of food, water and shelter for thousands living on the streets.
We are confronting an emergency without parallel in Chile's history, Bachelet declared Sunday, a day after the magnitude-8.8 quake — one of the biggest in centuries — killed at least 708 people and destroyed or badly damaged 500,000 homes. Bachelet said a growing number of people were recorded as missing.The governor of the Concepcion region, Jaime Toha, said troops and police arrested 55 people overnight for violating a curfew imposed to halt looting.Some coastal towns just to the north of Concepcion were almost obliterated, first shaken by the quake, then slammed by a tsunami that lifted whole houses and carried them inland and that reduced others to piles of sticks.In Concepcion itself, firefighters were seeking survivors in a toppled apartment building, a day after they had to pause because of tear gas fired at looters who wheeled away everything from microwave ovens to canned milk at a damaged supermarket across the street.Ingenious looters used long tubes of bamboo and plastic to siphon gasoline from underground tanks at a closed gasoline station.Eduardo Aundez, a Spanish professor, watched with disgust as a soldier patiently waited for looters to rummage through a downtown store, then lobbed two tear gas canisters into the rubble to get them out.I feel abandoned by authorities, he said.We believe the government didn't take the necessary measures in time, and now supplies of food and water are going to be much more complicated.Looters even carted off pieces of a copper statue of South American independence fighter Bernardo O'Higgins next to a justice building.Efforts to determine the full scope of destruction were undermined by an endless string of terrifying aftershocks that turned more buildings into rubble — and forced thousands to set up tents in parks and grassy highway medians.If you're inside your house, the furniture moves, said Monica Aviles, pulling a shawl around her shoulders to ward off the cold as she sat next to a fire across the street from her apartment building.

As if to punctuate her fear, an aftershock set off shuddering and groaning sounds for blocks around.That's why we're here, she said.In another part of the city, eight Peruvian families shared a four-story building — the bravest living inside the cracked building, the others in tents out front.We've received help from the neighbors, from passing taxis and from other people who have offered us a coat or something to eat, said Samantha Fernandez, who offered space to boyfriend Jose Luis Jacinto after he fled his room during after the quake.Bachelet signed a decree giving the military control over security in the provinces of Concepcion and Maule and announced a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew for all non-emergency workers.She ordered troops to help deliver food, water and blankets and clear rubble from roads, and she urged power companies to restore service first to hospitals, health clinics and shelters. Field hospitals were planned for hard-hit Concepcion, Talca and Curico.
Bachelet also ordered authorities to quickly identify the dead and return them to their families to ensure the dignified burials that they deserve.Bachelet, who leaves office March 11, said Chile needs field hospitals and temporary bridges, water purification plants and damage assessment experts — as well as rescuers to help relieve exhausted workers. Defense Minister Francisco Vidal acknowledged the navy made a mistake by not immediately activating a tsunami warning after the quake hit before dawn Saturday. Port captains in several coastal towns did, saving what Vidal called hundreds of lives. Thirty minutes passed between the quake and a wave that inundated coastal towns. The quake damaged houses, bridges and highways in Santiago, the capital, though a few flights managed to land at the airport and subway service resumed. Concepcion's airport remained closed to commercial traffic.

Rescuers searched for an estimated 60 people trapped inside a new, 15-story apartment building that toppled onto its side in Concepcion. Firefighters were lowering a rescuer deep into the rubble when tear gas fired at looters across the street forced them to pause their efforts. Police officer Jorge Guerra took names of the missing from tearful relatives and friends. There are people alive. There are several people who are going to be rescued,he said — though the next people pulled from the wreckage were dead. The sound of chain saws, power drills and sledgehammers mixed with the whoosh of a water cannon fired at looters and the shouts of crowds that found new ways into a four-story supermarket each time police retreated. Some looters threw rocks at armored police vehicles outside the Lider market, which is majority-owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Across the Bio Bio River in the city of San Pedro, looters cleared out a shopping mall. A video store was set ablaze, two automatic teller machines were broken open, a bank was robbed and a supermarket emptied, its floor littered with mashed plums, scattered dog food and smashed liquor bottles.They looted everything, said police Sgt. Rene Gutierrez, 46. Now we're only here to protect the building — what's left of the building.The quake generated waves that lashed coastal settlements, leaving behind sticks, scraps of metal and masonry houses ripped in two. A beachside carnival in the village of Lloca was swamped in the tsunami. A carousel was twisted on its side and a Ferris wheel rose above the muddy wreckage. Adobe buildings in Talca's town center were flattened. State television showed scenes of devastation in coastal towns and on Robinson Crusoe Island, where it said the tsunami drove almost 2 miles (3 kilometers) into the town of San Juan Bautista. Officials said at least five people were killed there and more were missing.

Bus terminals overflowed with vacationers in Chile's provinces trying to check on their homes. Chile's summer vacation period ends Monday. In Washington, the State Department urged Americans to avoid tourist and other nonessential travel to Chile. U.S. citizens in Chile were asked to contact family and friends in the United States, whether by telephone, Internet or cell-phone text messaging. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton planned to briefly visit Santiago on Tuesday as part of a five-nation Latin America trip. Associated Press writers Carlos Cisternas and Eduardo Gallardo in Santiago contributed to this report.

Japan apologises for major tsunami alert by Kyoko Hasegawa – Mon Mar 1, 4:56 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese authorities admitted Monday they may have been over-zealous in issuing their first major tsunami alert in more than 15 years for a wave that ended up causing almost no damage.The agency's tsunami forecasts turned out to be a bit too big. I'd like to apologise for the prolonged alerts, Yasuo Sekita, the Meteorological Agency official in charge of earthquakes and tsunamis, told a news conference.Authorities on Sunday ordered more than half a million people to evacuate seaside areas and predicted that the tsunami sparked by Chile's massive earthquake might top three metres (10 feet) by the time it reached Japan.When other Pacific-Rim nations had sounded the all-clear, Japanese officials were still issuing warnings, as television stations provided non-stop live coverage with their cameras focused on the calm ocean.When the tsunami arrived early on Sunday afternoon, it was just 30 centimetres (one foot) high. Waves up to 1.2 metres high later inundated some port areas, but caused no injuries or major property damage.One disaster prevention expert, Hirotada Hirose, said he feared that warnings by the disaster prevention authorities are losing credibility among the people.Cautious to the end, Japan's Meteorological Agency maintained its last regional tsunami alerts until 10:15 am (0115 GMT) on Monday, after tens of thousands of people had spent the night in evacuation shelters.But many Japanese would say authorities are right to err on the side of caution. Japan is a world leader in disaster preparedness, for good reason.

The island-nation of 128 million people, located at the intersection of several tectonic plates and dotted with active volcanoes, is hit by about 20 percent of the world's most powerful earthquakes.In the last major quake, in Kobe in 1995, about 6,400 people died.Greater Tokyo, with 35 million people, is waiting for The Big One, a monster quake of the scale of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that killed more than 140,000 people, many of whom were burnt to death in wooden houses.When news came Sunday of the tsunami from Chile it revived bad memories: in 1960 a 9.5-magnitude earthquake in Chile, the largest on record, sent a tsunami across the Pacific that killed more than 140 people in Japan.Experts were divided on the response to the latest quake, with some stressing that in the tsunami half a century ago the initial seawater surges were deceptively small but followed by far more deadly four-metre waves.Rather than focusing on the height of tsunamis, it's important to realise that tsunamis can be lethal even if they are 50 centimetres high. Most people could not keep their balance if a 50 centimetre tsunami hit, said Satoko Oki, assistant professor at Tokyo University's Earthquake Research Institute.

Ichiro Kawasaki, professor at Koyoto University's Research Centre for Earthquake Prediction, said it is common to issue warnings of double the size of waves predicted, given that a disaster is a matter of life and death.But Hirose, a psychologist and expert on disaster prevention at Tokyo Woman's Christian University, noted that Japan issued its highest-level tsunami warning for the first time since 1993 and kept it live long after a regional alert was lifted by the US-run Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii.The challenge for disaster prevention authorities is to convince people their warnings are serious and to nudge them to evacuate, he said, pointing out that people were fishing and skateboarding along Kobe Bay Sunday.Issuing excessive tsunami warnings is seen as the behaviour of authorities who want to avoid criticism later if any damage occurs.

Some scientists defend tsunami warnings By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 1, 1:03 am ET

HONOLULU – The warning was ominous, its predictions dire: Oceanographers issued a bulletin telling Hawaii and other Pacific islands that a killer wave was heading their way with terrifying force and that urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property.But the devastating tidal surge predicted after Chile's magnitude 8.8-earthquake for areas far from the epicenter never materialized. And by Sunday, authorities had lifted the warning after waves half the predicted size tickled the shores of Hawaii and tourists once again jammed beaches and restaurants.Scientists acknowledged they overstated the threat but many defended their actions, saying they took the proper steps and learned the lessons of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami that killed thousands of people who didn't get enough warning.It's a key point to remember that we cannot under-warn. Failure to warn is not an option for us, said Dai Lin Wang, an oceanographer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. We cannot have a situation that we thought was no problem and then it's devastating. That just cannot happen.Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground Saturday in a panic that circled the Pacific Rim after scientists warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by the massive Chilean quake.It was the largest-scale evacuation in Hawaii in years, if not decades. Emergency sirens blared throughout the day, the Navy moved ships out of Pearl Harbor, and residents hoarded gasoline, food and water in anticipation of a major disaster. Some supermarkets even placed limits on items like Spam because of the panic buying.At least five people were killed by the tsunami on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile's coast and huge waves devastated the port city of Talcahuano, near hard-hit Concepcion on Chile's mainland.But the threat of monster waves that left Hawaii's sun-drenched beaches empty for hours never appeared — a stark contrast to the tidal surge that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in 2004 and flattened entire communities.This time, waves of more than 5 feet were reported in Kahului Bay in Maui and in Hilo, on the eastern coast of Hawaii's Big Island, but did little damage. Predictions of wave height in some areas were off by as much as 50 percent.

In Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports of a wave up to 6.5 feet hitting a small northern island, with no indications of damage.And in Japan, where authorities ordered 400,000 people out of coastal communities, the biggest wave was a 4-foot surge that hit the northern island of Hokkaido, flooding some piers.A Japanese official offered an apology to those affected after the government had warned that waves of up to 10 feet (three meters) could hit some northern regions.The tsunami estimates of the Meteorological Agency were too large, and so I'd like to apologize to individuals that were evacuated or inconvenienced,Sekita Yasuo, an official at the agency, told reporters Monday.He said the agency compared its estimates to those from abroad and chose the larger of the two, leading to the overzealous forecasts, and that he wanted to improve accuracy in the future.After the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its warning, some countries kept their own watches in place as a precaution. Early Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency warned of a possible tsunami about a foot and a half in size along its entire Pacific coast and told people to stay away from the waterfront. That warning was cleared later Monday morning.But scientists offered no apologies for the warnings and defended their work, all while worrying that the false alarm could lead to complacency among coastal residents — a disastrous possibility in the earthquake-prone Pacific Rim.A similar quake in Chile in 1960 created a tsunami that killed about 140 people in Japan. The same surge hit Hawaii and devastated downtown Hilo, on the Big Island, killing 61 residents and wiping out more than 500 homes and businesses.If you give too many warnings and none of them materialize, then you lose your credibility, Wang said.That's something that we have to deal with and we have to improve.Despite some of the panic in Hawaii, public officials called the evacuation perfect and said it was a good test case that proved the system worked.Chaos was at a minimum as people heeded evacuation orders and roads were free of the gridlock that can paralyze a region before a disaster. The smooth response occurred largely because the state had so long to prepare; Hawaii is nearly 7,000 miles from where the quake hit, and it took 15 hours for the tsunami to arrive.I hope everyone learned from this for next time, and there will be a next time,said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning center.

The science of predicting tsunamis is difficult, given the vast size of the ocean and the volatile forces at work miles below the surface. Scientists use an earthquake's magnitude and location as the basis for their predictions and then refine it constantly with data from more than 30 deep-water sensors stationed across the Pacific as the shock wave sweeps across the ocean floor. The sensors, located at 15,000 to 20,000 feet beneath the surface, measure the weight of the water and beam it to buoys floating on the surface. Scientists then use the data to calculate the tsunami's wave height in the open ocean as it progresses toward shallower waters.
Coastal inundation models based on topographic mapping add another layer of analysis, helping scientists make assumptions about how the surge will behave in shallower waters and how it might affect shoreline communities. There are all sorts of assumptions that we make in trying to figure out how big the waves are going to be. If we can avoid some of those assumptions, maybe we can do a better job, said Fryer.If this event happened tomorrow, even with this knowledge, we would be forced to do the exact same thing.Those models could be more accurate if scientists had more deep-water sensors and could build coastal inundation models for vast parts of the Pacific Rim where the topography hasn't yet been well-surveyed, Wang said.

Because complete data doesn't exist for every coastal area, scientists must play it safe in their wave predictions, he said. Even for Hawaii, we only have a forecast for less than 10 locations, we don't have inundation models for every coastal point in Hawaii and it's the same story for the U.S. mainland, Wang said.We've got to be a little conservative. One point doesn't tell you that's going to be the maximum everywhere else.In areas where inundation models exist, scientists' predictions were close to accurate, Wang said. Residents and tourists alike in Hawaii said they weren't bothered by the evacuation and supported the scientists' actions — even though the waves never showed up. Eugene Okamoto, 33, said he came to Honolulu from Hilo to visit some tourist attractions with his father and was disappointed the two had to cancel their plans because of the evacuation orders. But Okamoto said his family understands the tsunami threat better than most because some of his relatives lived through the tidal surge in 1960. They remember how the water was sucked down the beach moments before the wave hit. My uncle was on the top floor when all the water washed away and all the kids ran out to grab the fish and before they could get back, the wave came. He was way up top, he saw all his friends get washed away and none of them were found, ever,Okamoto said, as he sat with his father in a hotel lobby. They did the right thing.Associated Press Writer Jaymes Song contributed to this report.

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.

Nearly 200K without power after Northeast storm By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press Writer – 8:15AM MAR 1,10

PORTLAND, Maine – Nearly 200,000 homes and businesses were still without power Monday as restoration efforts continued days after a slow-moving storm battered the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and high winds.More than 83,000 utility customers still lacked electricity early Monday in New Hampshire, the hardest-hit state. New York had about 87,000 outages, and Maine had about 16,000.At the peak of the storm, more than a million utility customers throughout the region had lost power.Hundreds of utility crews from as far away as Michigan and Maryland continued removing trees that knocked down power lines and replacing utility poles that snapped during last week's storm.Dozens of shelters provided warmth and food at fire departments, schools and other places.Even after spending three nights at a shelter in New Paltz, N.Y., 28-year-old Keith Crum of Marlboro, N.Y., said he was understanding of the ongoing power outage. He recently moved back to the area from South Carolina, where he worked cutting trees away from power lines.They're trying to do the best they can with the power, he said.You got to take into account there are a lot of lines down.

Bryan Bush lost electricity Thursday, but he used a power generator he owns to turn the lights back on in his home in Kittery, Maine. Neighbors without that option have been stopping in for showers, warmth and cups of coffee.But with three utility poles still down in front of his house and wires crossing his driveway, he wasn't too confident about getting power back anytime soon.I wouldn't expect much before the middle or the end of the week, he said.Deep snow in New York has made it hard for people to get around.A lot of people cannot honestly get out of their house and get to the shelters, said John-Anthony Bruno, executive director of the Ulster County, N.Y., chapter of the American Red Cross.A lot of people are resourceful, she added. If their neighbor has power, they go down the street rather than shelter with us.In southern New York, the weather was linked to a death in Warwick, where a 60-year-old man was found dead after he went outside to shovel snow on Friday, said Walter Koury, the Orange County emergency services commissioner.Governors in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts visited storm-struck areas Sunday to meet with emergency responders and view storm damage. Officials said it could be several days before power is fully restored in New Hampshire, while Maine's largest utility hoped to restore power to all of its customers by the end of Monday.In New Hampshire, Gov. John Lynch activated 50 National Guard members who went door-to-door in Allenstown on Sunday to check on residents without power.This continues to be a difficult situation for many New Hampshire families and I continue to urge people to put their safety first, Lynch said.The storm dumped more than 2 feet of snow in New York, dropped 8 inches of rain in southern Maine and brought wind gusts of up to 92 mph off the New Hampshire coast. Another storm, this one from the east, was expected to bring more snow and rain into parts of New England on Sunday night into Monday.
Maine stood to get the brunt of the latest front with 3 to 6 inches of snow expected in much of the state, and lesser amounts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, said Michael Cempa, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Gray, Maine. Associated Press writers Cristian Salazar in New York City; Stephen Singer in Hartford, Conn.; and Glenn Adams in Augusta, Maine, contributed to this report.

Europe storm death toll at 59; France hardest hit By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer – MAR 1,10

PARIS – Thousands of firefighters and other rescue workers searched house by house Monday along France's devastated Atlantic coast, trying to help those still stranded by a storm that smashed sea walls and killed at least 59 people across western Europe.The storm, called Xynthia, blew into France early Sunday with hurricane-force winds, flooding ports, destroying homes and leaving 1 million households without electricity. It also battered Belgium, Portugal, Spain and parts of Germany and snarled train and air travel throughout the continent.French President Nicolas Sarkozy toured the worst-hit areas Monday, the coastal regions of Vendee and Charente-Maritime, and pledged euro3 million ($4 million) in emergency aid.The French death toll from the storm rose to 48 on Monday, and Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told France-Info radio it would doubtless increase. The spokesman for France's emergency services, Lt. Col. Patrick Vailli, said nine people were still missing and scores more were wounded.The storm also caused six deaths in Germany — including a 2-year-old boy who drowned after he was blown into a river. Three people were dead in Spain, and Belgium and Portugal had one fatality each.France's railways had major delays and cancellations continued Monday at Frankfurt airport — one of Europe's most important hubs.

Sarkozy flew over flooded areas and met with locals in the coastal town of L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer, where sea walls collapsed, allowing ocean waters to surge to the roofs of some homes. The French president promised to declare a natural disaster area and quickly channel the recovery funds.Local officials say the extensive damage underscores the urgent need to upgrade France's aging sea walls and more strictly enforce coastal building codes.The sea wall that broke dated from (the era) of Napoleon, Philippe de Villiers, a far-right politician who heads the regional government in Vendee, told France-Info. Either we build (new) sea walls, in which case they need to be taller and taller ... or we have to build further inland.In Portugal's Azores islands, a flash flood swept a school bus off a road. The driver and one child are missing on Sao Miguel, one of the archipelago's nine islands.The Azores islands lie 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) west of mainland Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean.

Dozens dead in storm-battered Europe by Christian Gauvry – Mon Mar 1, 5:16 am ET

L'AIGUILLON-SUR-MER, France (AFP) – Rescue teams were out in force on Monday after the fiercest winter storm in years left at least 56 dead in western Europe, with France by far the worst hit.France's Atlantic seaboard was pummelled by the storm dubbed Xynthia, which unleashed gale force winds and torrential rains on Sunday, prompting the government to declare a national emergency.The toll in France rose to 47 dead and at least 30 missing on Monday and more than half a million homes were without power in the deadliest storm to have battered France since 1999, officials said.At least four people died in neighbouring Germany, three in Spain, one in Portugal and one in Belgium.More than 9,000 French firefighters and emergency workers backed by helicopters were deployed on Monday to try to reach stranded residents, mostly in the Vendee and Charente regions of western France.Rescue teams took to boats to reach flooded houses whose residents were reported missing in the town of L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer. Hundreds of families slept overnight in shelters set up in schools and dance halls.

About 30 people were admitted to hospital, regional officials said.President Nicolas Sarkozy was on Monday to visit the storm-battered coast, where eight-metre (26-foot) waves sent residents scurrying onto rooftops and the wind reached speeds of 150 kilometres per hour (93 mph).Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said the storm was particularly deadly because it hit at night.It's obvious that if this had happened during the day, the death toll would not have been disastrous, because people were taken by surprise during their sleep, Hortefeux said on France Info radio.Resident Fabrice Petit du Bosquet said: I managed with my girlfriend to climb on the roof, through the window because the water was rising fast. It was five o'clock in the morning.We tried to move our stuff up to to the mezzanine but then I decided that we should go on the roof. We had been waiting on the roof for one hour when we spotted our landlord in a boat and he helped us get out.The European Union said it was ready to offer support for the countries affected by the storm and France said it would seek help to pay for recovery operations.French farms and fisheries were hard hit and Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Marie promised compensation from a national disaster relief fund.Some 500,000 homes were still without electricity on Monday morning after the storm caused a black-out in one million households, the ERDF electricity supplier said.Commerce minister Herve Novelli said small businesses would receive 10,000 euros (14,000 dollars) in aid to help them cover the costs of repairs in storm-hit areas.

Air traffic began returning to normal at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Sunday evening, a spokesman said, after around a quarter of flights were cancelled during the day.Winds of 175 kilometres per hour were recorded at the tip of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but Xynthia fell short of the record 200-kph levels of a deadly 1999 storm system which killed 92 people. Shortly after 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) Sunday, state forecaster Meteo France said the storm had passed into Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands, and there were reports of high winds in the Swiss Alps. In Germany police said four people had been killed, most of them by falling trees. In Spain authorities said Sunday that two men died when their car was hit by a falling tree while an 82-year-old woman was killed Saturday when a wall collapsed. Portugal said Saturday that a 10-year-old boy was killed by a falling branch and flood waters continued to rise on Sunday. Its northern cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia issued flood warnings as the Douro river threatened to break its banks.A man in his sixties was killed by a falling tree in Belgium, and emergency services were called out repeatedly to deal with fallen power lines.

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

Germany attacks UK over EU diplomatic service
ANDREW RETTMAN Today MON MAR 1,10 @ 09:22 CET

Germany has in a leaked diplomatic note attacked what it sees as the UK's attempt to dominate the EU's emerging External Action Service. The confidential foreign ministry document,Excessive GB participation is evident,the note says. Over-proportionate GB influence on the establishment and staffing is to be avoided.The External Action Service (EAS) is to be headed by the EU's new foreign policy chief, British official Catherine Ashton, in a deal struck by member states last November.Ms Ashton is currently drafting a proposal on the shape of the diplomatic corps with the help of a high-level steering group. The paper is due in April with no decisions made yet on top appointments. But the steering group itself has three British officials on its 13-strong team, compared to just one German.Ms Ashton's private office, or cabinet in Brussels terms, is led by a former UK diplomat, James Morrison.

Meanwhile, another series of Brits is waiting in the wings to take over key elements of the EAS architecture: the EU commission's existing head of foreign delegations, Patrick Child; the chief of the EU Council's military committee, David Leakey; and the head of its intelligence-sharing bureau, William Shapcott.The British roll-call was offset on Friday (26 February) by Ms Ashton's appointment of Denmark's ambassador to the EU, Poul Skytte Christoffersen, as a special advisor on the EAS.
But her relative inexperience and her regular trips to the UK, where she has her family home, have aggravated fears that she is open to manipulation by London.While the over-arching proposal on the diplomatic corps has yet to be submitted to member states, Ms Ashton's team last week began circulating vision papers for the service.
One of the documents, seen by EUobserver, says the EAS will help to make the EU common foreign and security policy a reality on the ground.We need to organise to be heard: if we are able to act in a unified way on the world stage, we can safeguard our interests. If not, others will make decisions for us,it adds.The paper envisages having desks for all countries and regions (regional organisations) in the world, as well as specialised units for human rights, democracy and security and defence.The EAS is also to field its own security service and a strong and substantive media operation including internet-based communications on Twitter and Facebook.

US diplomat soothes EU nerves after summit debacle ANDREW RETTMAN
Today MAR 1,10 @ 09:13 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US ambassador to the EU has brushed aside speculation that the ascendance of China or confusion arising from the Lisbon Treaty have undermined the special relationship between the two sides.Focusing on the EU's importance in the areas of security and crisis-relief, the ambassador, William E. Kennard, told EUobserver in an interview: Anytime anything dramatic happens in the world ...the world looks to what the US and the EU are going to do.We have with the EU and its member states a shared history and a shared sense of values that we don't have with any other large bloc of people,he said.The US and the EU collectively represent 800 million democratically-elected people, and so when issues arise, whether it's of human rights violations or the need to bring stability to troubled parts of the world, whether it's Afghanistan or Pakistan or the Middle East, the EU is our logical partner.The diplomat underlined President Barack Obama's belief in multilateralism and progress in ties with China and Russia. But he indicated that the level of trust between the EU and US exceeds what it has with the emerging powers. We don't share the same culture, history or values with Russia, he said. It's a different category altogether.Mr Kennard arrived in Brussels in January at an awkward moment. The US at the Copenhagen climate summit in December clinched a last-minute deal on emissions with Brazil, South Africa, India and China, leaving the EU out of the room.In February, the Spanish EU presidency learned via the media that President Obama planned to skip an upcoming summit. A US spokesman at the time said Washington did not know who was in charge in Europe following passage of the Lisbon Treaty. The European Parliament subsequently compounded unease by voting down a transatlantic pact on counter-terrorism, the so-called swift agreement.

The US ambassador laid part of the responsibility for the summit debacle on Spain: We had never committed to a summit and we had never told the Spanish government that we were coming to Madrid in May. I think there may have been an assumption that we were,he said. He also hinted that the meeting was a diplomatic nicety rather than a venue for pressing decisions.All of our political leaders have incredible demands on their time, we have to be careful in deploying their time to make sure there are defined outcomes, Mr Kennard said.

Lisbon needs patience

The ambassador gave robust support to the Lisbon Treaty, however.Zooming in on Lisbon's plan to marry the European Commission's work on development with the bloc's new diplomatic corps and for closer co-operation between commission delegations and member states' embassies, he said: We think it represents an ability for the EU to project itself more effectively on the world stage and that's good for the US.He also backed the idea of greater EU military integration, such as building up rapid-response units: We recognise that our resources are not unlimited and to the extent that the EU has a capability that is complementary to Nato, that is certainly in our interests.The ambassador urged critics of Lisbon to give the transition more time.
One of the hardest things that government institutions are called upon to do is give up power. And Lisbon is fundamentally about shifting the power dynamics within the EU institutions ...It's going to take some patience, he said.I think that it [Swift] was an issue of the parliament on the one hand and the commission and Council on the other trying to establish what the institutional prerogatives will be post-Lisbon, he added.

Neuroses misplaced

In the context of EU angst on whether its new foreign relations chief, Catherine Ashton, or its US envoy, Joao Vale de Almeida, were good choices, Mr Kennard said Washington is no stranger to squabbles over appointments.But he said he was surprised by the Brussels culture of self-deprecation in the context of the EU's achievement on a historical scale.I've been struck since I've been here, how often I hear a lot of self-criticism in the EU, of the EU institutions,the ambassador told this website.The EU is one of the most remarkable institutions in the world when you think what has been created here out of the ashes of World War II, and in such a short space of time: A common market, a common currency and increasingly a common defence capability. It's absolutely remarkable.

More details anticipated on Greek bail-out
ANDREW WILLIS Today MAR 1,10 @ 09:31 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn is to travel to Greece on Monday (1 March), fueling expectations that further Greek austerity measures in exchange for eurozone financial support could be announced as soon as this week. EU finance ministers are set to take a decision on the need for further Greek action on 16 March, although officials caution the date is too distant.A recent EU mission to Athens concluded the administration's current programme of spending cuts and revenue raising measures were not enough to reassure financial markets. Mr Rehn is set to meet a line-up of senior Greek officials during his visit, including finance minister George Papaconstantinou, economy minister Louka Katseli and labour minister Andreas Loverdos.If more measures are to be taken, they will be announced soon, Mr Katseli told state television over the weekend. Greek news reports suggested a two-percent hike in sales tax, additional benefit cuts for civil servants and possible limits on Christmas and Easter allowances, known in Greece as the 13th wage, roughly amounting to €4 billion, were in the offing. The head of the eurozone finance ministers, Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, continued the tough rhetoric on Sunday, saying: Greece must step up its efforts to limit its public deficit.Greece won EU backing for its austerity package last month, but since then, officials and analysts have questioned whether the measures will successful knock four percent off the country's current budget deficit of 12.7 percent by the end of 2010, as agreed.

Bail-out preparations

Anticipation of additional Greek austerity measures has also added to speculation that EU governments could shortly announce details of a financial aid package for Greece.Greek media reports on Saturday suggested Berlin was planning to support future Greek bond issues through its state lender, KfW, with further assistance from France's Caisse des Depots. Cited bail-out figures have ranged from €20-30 billion.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde confirmed that discussions over rescue options were taking place and could involve either private partners, or public partners - or both.I have no doubt that Greece will succeed in refinancing itself through ways that we are exploring at the moment, she told national radio on Sunday.
The timing of any agreement is still under intense negotiation however, with a meeting in Berlin this Friday between Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and German Chancellor Angela Merkel being one possible date.

EU welcomes pragmatic Ukrainian president
ANDREW RETTMAN Today MON MAR 1,10 @ 13:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU has urged Ukraine's new leader, Viktor Yanukovych, to sort out the country's political and financial mess, while putting talk of EU accession on the back-burner.European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Monday (1 March) said he was delighted that Mr Yanukovych chose to make the EU capital his first post-election foreign trip, ahead of a visit to Moscow at the end of the week.You are among friends of Ukraine,the commission chief said.He gave a nod to Ukraine's stated ambition to one day join the union: I welcome this pragmatism and realism [as voiced by Mr Yanukovych in their meeting], but it is not realism and pragmatism without some European aspirations,he said. He gave away nothing new in terms of a formal recognition of Ukraine's EU accession perspective or a timetable for a visa-free travel deal, however. The EU's drive to sign an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and free trade deal in the next year is the union's most far-reaching offer,Mr Barroso said.Regarding the prospects of accession, we have always stated that instead of discussing possible dates ...it is much more important now to focus on reforms that are needed to bring Ukraine closer to Europe and de facto integrated in our economic system.The two sides agreed that if Ukraine meets International Monetary Fund criteria on economic reform, the commission will "unlock" an extra €500 million in financial aid.

For his part, the Ukrainian President said he would press ahead with the EU free trade deal and would respect a March 2009 international agreement to modernise the country's gas sector. Post-election remarks by Mr Yanukovych's aides had indicated that he may take Ukraine into a customs union with Russia and invite Russia's Gazprom to take control of gas pipelines, scuppering the EU trade and gas pacts.But in contrast to his Russia-hostile predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, who urged the EU to make promises on accession at almost every high-level meeting, Mr Yanukovych instead pledged to rebuild relations with Moscow and sounded lukewarm on enlargement. When the time comes [to talk about accession], we will see. Today we cannot stress the time frame. We can only say that we are ready to solve certain pilot projects, projects in specific areas of our relations, he said.Mr Yanukovych's election victory last month signaled a symbolic reversal of the country's 2004 Orange Revolution, which ousted him from power amid allegations of election fraud. The taciturn former lorry driver, who has served time in prison for crimes including sexual assault, is keen to dispel his reputation as a Kremlin stooge or as a puppet in the hands of Ukraine's oligarchs, such as fellow political party member and the country's richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.His business backers are equally keen for the new leader to press ahead with practical EU-oriented reforms, while leaving talk of geopolitical allegiance to one side, however.Asked by EUobserver on Monday what EU officials should be urging Mr Yanukovych to do to help put the country back on its feet, Yuriy Ryzenkhov, the chief operating officer of Akhemtov energy firm Dtek, said: To bring about political stability, to make reforms - business will do the rest.

EU parliament closes tender for body scanners
VALENTINA POP Today MAR 1,10 @ 07:33 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Parliament on Monday afternoon will close the bidding procedure for its six body scanners, with the winning tender set to be announced on 12 March. The machines, which were acquired in 2005 and never used, are put up for sale at a minimum price of €65,000, roughly half the price they were bought for. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the EU legislature's administration quietly decided to acquire these scanners for €725,730, at the recommendation of an external consultant. Last year, the machines became a bit of an embarrassment for the parliament, when MEPs found out about the purchase. Only a few months earlier, they had opposed a bill allowing an EU-wide roll out of body scanners airports, arguing that they offer a virtual strip search. But they were unaware of the existence of those same devices in their own basement. The scanners were subsequently put up for sale at the end of January.
A public viewing mid-February failed to attract scores of potential clients, especially since even for professionals, the devices are outdated technology, Jean-Pascal Rihoux from the Parliament's security service told this website.Now they are using more modern models. This same type is used in Afghanistan for military purposes, and in Pakistan as well, Mr Rihoux said.The closet-like metal boxes use soft x-rays to portray the exact shape and features of one's body, displaying any weapons, metal or plastic items which could be used as explosives.You don't see the details, but you see if it's a man or a woman – and of course there is some very personal data,the official admitted, while adding that there was no way a scanner could be created without showing specific body parts.As for the impact on one's health, Mr Rihoux said the Rapiscan Secure 1000 were using the same x-ray technology deployed for normal medical scans. But those are much stronger, you see through the body. These rays are some 1000 times lower than the medical x-rays. Of course, x-rays are still x-rays, they still have an impact on your body,he explained.On the EU's official tender website, the device is advertised as being the only commercially available system for identifying metal, plastic and ceramic weapons on someone's body. The next step, security officials fear, could be explosive implants underneath the skin which elude the scanners' scrutiny.

Rules for scanners

A second attempt to establish EU-wide rules for the use of such scanners in airports may pass this year in the European Parliament, foiling the foiled attempt to blow up a plane on a transatlantic plane departing from Amsterdam.But privacy-concerned MEPs point to the fact that despite increasingly intrusive security measures, terrorist attempts are made possible by the failure to connect the dots on the side of law enforcement authorities, not by the lack of extra safety precautions.The parliament's scanners, as well as the ones rolled out in British and Dutch airports, are capable of storing and transmitting images, although authorities have given repeated assurances that the images are deleted immediately.The capability for these scanners to store and export data is unnecessary... even if a possible suspect is detected, there is still no argument for picture storage, since the purpose is to identify those to be stopped and manually searched, not to provide evidence, British Liberal MEP Sarah Ludford wrote in an op-ed last month. The senior MEP urged British and EU parliaments to ensure that authorised scanners are physically not capable of storage and transmission of images. This seems the only way to guarantee that the state will not try to further invade our privacy in future, and that images of celebrities, children or others will not find their way onto the internet and TV, she argued.Such concerns were already highlighted last month by reports that the naked image of the Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan was printed and circulated by scanner operators at Heathrow airport. Mr Khan even stated he had autographed some of those prints, claims airport officials fiercely denied.

300 DEAD IN CHILE QUAKE-7TH BIGGEST HISTORY QUAKE

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(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.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

Chile quake in elite class like 2004 Asian quake By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer – FEB 28,10

LOS ANGELES – The huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile belongs to an elite class of mega earthquakes, experts said, and is similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean temblor that triggered deadly tsunami waves.The magnitude-8.8 quake was a type called a megathrust, considered the most powerful earthquake on the planet. Megathrusts occur when one tectonic plate dives beneath another. Saturday's tremor unleashed about 50 gigatons of energy and broke about 340 miles of the fault zone, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

The quake's epicenter was offshore and occurred about 140 miles north of the largest earthquake ever recorded — a magnitude-9.5 that killed about 1,600 people in Chile and scores of others in the Pacific in 1960.It's part of an elite class of giant earthquakes,said USGS geologist Brian Atwater.If the magnitude holds, it will tie with the 1906 offshore Ecuador quake as the fifth largest since 1900.We call them great earthquakes. Everybody else calls them horrible,said USGS geophysicist Ken Hudnut. There's only a few in this league.The Chile quake was smaller than the Sumatra quake of 2004, a magnitude-9.1 and was not expected to be anything nearly as destructive. That quake and ensuing tsunami killed 230,000 people. Another difference is that the Chile quake triggered tsunami warnings hours ahead of time in Hawaii and Pacific islands, allowing people time to flee to higher ground.In 2004, there was little measuring technology in place to warn Indian Ocean countries about incoming killer waves.More than 100 aftershocks measuring magnitude-5 or larger rattled Chile throughout the day. So far, the quake death toll has surpassed 300 — a number that will likely rise. Several more died when tsunami waves swamped an island off the country's coast.

Chile is no stranger to violent jolts. In fact, USGS geophysicist Ross Stein called the country an earthquake hatchery. Thirteen temblors of magnitude 7 or larger have hit Chile since 1973.The latest quake took place at a boundary where two plates of the Earth's crust grind and dive. While that type of action gave rise to the Andes mountains that form the backbone of South America, it's also the source of some of the largest quakes.The Chile temblor struck a day after a smaller earthquake shook the southern coast of Japan. Experts said the quakes appear to be unrelated.There's also no connection between this quake and the disaster in Haiti, said University of Miami geology professor Tim Dixon.A quake like the one that hit Haiti, a magnitude 7, happens somewhere in the world about every month, usually underwater. But the type that hit Chile is among the most powerful recorded in recent history.The faults in Haiti and Chile are distant enough that stress from one would not affect the other, Dixon said.AP writers Seth Borenstein in Washington and P. Solomon Banda in Denver contributed to this report.

Rescuers dig for Chile quake survivors; looting erupts By Mario Naranjo – FEB 28,10

CONCEPCION, Chile (Reuters) – Chilean rescuers used shovels and sledgehammers on Sunday to find survivors of a huge earthquake in Chile that unleashed a Pacific tsunami and triggered looting by desperate and hungry residents.Saturday's quake, one of the most powerful in a century, killed more than 300 people and devastated homes and highways, dealing a heavy blow to infrastructure in the world's No. 1 copper producer and one of Latin America's most stable economies.In the hard-hit city of Concepcion, about 100 people were feared trapped in a ruined apartment building and police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of looters carrying off food and electrical appliances from a supermarket.People have gone days without eating,Orlando Salazar said.The only option is to come here and get stuff for ourselves.Two million people in Chile were affected by the 8.8-magnitude temblor, said President Michelle Bachelet, who added that it would take officials several days to evaluate the enormous quantity of damage.Crushed cars, fallen power lines and rubble from wrecked buildings littered the streets of Concepcion, which has 670,000 inhabitants and lies 70 miles southwest of the quake's epicenter.A string of strong aftershocks have rocked the country and strong one shook buildings in the capital, Santiago, early on Sunday. Thousands of Concepcion residents camped out in tents or makeshift shelters, fearing fresh tremors.Firefighters used drills and shovels to search for signs of life in the rubble and battled to free dozens of people believed trapped in a collapsed apartment building.We spent the whole night working, smashing through walls to find survivors. The biggest problem is fuel, we need fuel for our machinery and water for our people,Commander Marcelo Plaza said.

DAUNTING TASK

The government faces the task of helping rebuild an estimated half a million homes that were severely damaged as well as hundreds of buckled roads and collapsed bridges.The quake has raised a daunting first challenge for billionaire Sebastian Pinera, who was elected Chile's president in January in a shift to the political right and who takes office in two weeks.We're preparing ourselves for an additional task, a task that wasn't part of our governing plan: assuming responsibility for rebuilding our country, Pinera said late on Saturday.It's going to be a very big task and we're going to need resources.The economic damage could be between $15 billion and $30 billion, risk assessor Eqecat said.Some economists predicted a deep impact on Chile's economy after the quake damaged its industrial and agricultural sectors in the worst-hit regions, possibly putting pressure on its currency.

Government officials said the copper industry had enough stocks to meet its commitments despite a production shutdown at two major mines due to the quake. Diesel imports were stepped up after damage forced the closure of two oil refineries.
Saturday's quake triggered tsunami waves that killed at least four people on Chile's Juan Fernandez islands and caused serious damage to the port town of Talcahuano, flooding streets and lifting fishing boats out of the sea. On the other side of the Pacific, Japan's northeastern coast registered waves of up to 4 feet, but officials later lowered the state of alert. Hundreds of thousands of people in Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines and Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula were told to evacuate for fear of a tsunami caused by the Chilean quake, but there were no immediate reports of damage.(Additional reporting by Simon Gardner and Alonso Soto in Santiago, and London Treasury; Writing by Stuart Grudgings and Helen Popper, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Tsunami warning lifted; Waves reach Japan, Russia By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

TOKYO – The tsunami from Chile's devastating earthquake hit Japan's main islands and the shores of Russia on Sunday, but the smaller-than-expected waves prompted the lifting of a Pacific-wide alert. Hawaii and other Pacific islands were also spared.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by Saturday's magnitude-8.8 earthquake. After the center lifted its warning, some countries kept their own watches in place as a precaution.In Japan, the biggest wave hit the northern island of Hokkaido. There were no immediate reports of damage from the four-foot (1.2-meter) wave, though some piers were briefly flooded.As it crossed the Pacific, the tsunami dealt populated areas — including the U.S. state of Hawaii — only a glancing blow.The tsunami raised fears Pacific nations could suffer from disastrous waves like those that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in December 2004, which happened with little-to-no warning and much confusion about the impending waves.Officials said the opposite occurred after the Chile quake: They overstated their predictions of the size of the waves and the threat.We expected the waves to be bigger in Hawaii, maybe about 50 percent bigger than they actually were,said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning center.We'll be looking at that.Japan, fearing the tsunami could gain force as it moved closer, put all of its eastern coastline on tsunami alert and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground as waves raced across the Pacific at hundreds of miles (kilometers) per hour.

Japan is particularly sensitive to the tsunami threat.In July 1993 a tsunami triggered by a major earthquake off Japan's northern coast killed more than 200 people on the small island of Okushiri. A stronger quake near Chile in 1960 created a tsunami that killed about 140 people in Japan.Towns along northern coasts issued evacuation orders to 400,000 residents, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said. NHK switched to emergency mode, broadcasting a map with the areas in most danger and repeatedly urging caution.As the wave crossed the ocean, Japan's Meteorological Agency said waves of up to 10 feet (three meters) could hit the northern prefectures of Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi, but the first waves were much smaller.People packed their families into cars, but there were no reports of panic or traffic jams. Fishermen secured their boats, and police patrolled beaches, using sirens and loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.In Kesennuma, northern Japan, seawater flooded streets near the coast for about four hours before receding but caused little impact to people.

But the tsunami passed gently by most locations.By the time the tsunami hit Hawaii — a full 16 hours after the quake — officials had already spent the morning blasting emergency sirens, blaring warnings from airplanes and ordering residents to higher ground.Picturesque beaches were desolate, million-dollar homes were evacuated, shops in Waikiki were closed and residents filled supermarkets and gas stations to stock up on supplies. But after the morning scare, the islands were back to paradise by the afternoon.Waves hit California, but barely registered amid stormy weather. A surfing contest outside San Diego went on as planned. In Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports of a wave up to 6.5 feet (two meters) high hitting a small northern island, deputy director Mali'u Takai said. There were no initial indications of damage.

Nine people died in Tonga last September when the Samoa tsunami slammed the small northern island of Niuatoputapu, wiping out half of the main settlement. In Samoa, where 183 people died in the tsunami five months ago, thousands remained Sunday morning in the hills above the coasts on the main island of Upolu, but police said there were no reports of waves or sea surges hitting the South Pacific nation. At least 20,000 people abandoned their homes in southeastern Philippine villages and took shelter in government buildings or fled to nearby mountains overnight. Provincial officials scrambled to alert villagers and prepare contingency plans, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Philippine navy and coast guard vessels, along with police, were ordered to stand by for possible evacuation but the alert was lifted late Sunday afternoon. Indonesia, which suffered the brunt of the 2004 disaster, had been included in the tsunami warning Saturday, but the country's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said Sunday there was no tsunami risk for the archipelago as it was too far from the quake's epicenter. On New Zealand's Chatham Islands earlier Sunday, officials reported a wave measured at 6.6 feet (two meters). Several hundred people in the North Island coastal cities of Gisborne and Napier were evacuated from their homes and from camp grounds, while residents in low-lying areas on South Island's Banks Peninsula were alerted to be ready to evacuate.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology canceled its tsunami warning Sunday evening. The main tsunami waves have now passed all Australian locations,the bureau said. No damage was reported in Australia from small waves that were recorded in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Norfolk Island, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) northeast of Sydney.New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management downgraded its tsunami warning to an advisory status, which it planned to keep in place overnight.Associated Press writers Mark Niesse and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Mari Yamaguchi and Malcolm Foster in Tokyo, Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Debby Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report.

Facing tsunami threat, Japan battens down hatches by Harumi Ozawa – FEB 28,10

SENDAI, Japan (AFP) – Flood gates slammed shut, neighbourhoods were evacuated and coastal rail lines shuddered to a halt as a tsunami from Chile's killer quake barrelled across the Pacific towards Japan on Sunday.When it comes to emergency preparedness, Japan -- one of the world's most disaster-prone nations, battered by scores of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and typhoons every year -- leaves little to chance.Long after other Pacific Rim nations from New Zealand to Russia had given the all-clear, emergency services in Japan still warned seaside residents to remain vigilant to the dangers of possible follow-up waves.Fishing town residents such as Matsuko Shiba, a 79-year-old huddling with her grandchildren in an evacuation shelter Sunday, remember why.

Related article: Chile quake kills over 300

Another Chilean quake back in 1960 sent a tsunami with waves of up to four metres hurtling across the Pacific. When they finally slammed into Japan 22 hours later, they wrought devastation and killed 142 people.Since then, Japan, Asia's most industrialised country, has come a long way in disaster preparedness -- but especially the elderly have held onto their deep respect for the fury of mother nature.At that time, the sea water disappeared and I saw fish jumping, said Shiba, describing a common phenomenon in tsunamis where seawater recedes before a huge surge comes crashing toward the coast.I am fed up with tsunamis, she said as she prepared to spend the night in the gym of a small school in the town of Minami Sanriku, in Miyagi prefecture.As the waves rumbled towards Japan, the nation jumped to high alert, ordering more than 320,000 residents like Shiba to seek higher, safer ground.For the first time in over 15 years, Japan issued a major tsunami alert, warning of waves of three metres (10 feet) or more following Chile's 8.8-magnitude quake, a level that was only downgraded at nightfall.Every television station in the country kept viewers updated on the alert with a map of Japan that highlighted the most at-risk areas in red.Speaking on public broadcaster NHK, which provided non-stop coverage, an expert warned that the tsunami might come in several waves and gradually build in height and intensity.People should seek shelter on the third floor or higher inside very solid buildings or go to areas higher than six metres, said Yoshinobu Tsuji, associate professor at the Earthquake Research Institute at Tokyo University.Tsunami sirens wailed across eastern seaside areas of the archipelago, where massive steel gates slammed shut across entrances to fishing ports.

Coastguard vessels fanned out and air force jets scrambled to search for stray ships still at sea, and fishermen in port secured their boats and rolled up their fishing nets to avoid damage by high waves.Communities long drilled for tsunamis in the country that invented the word packed blankets and clothes and headed for schools and town halls, where emergency services stacked water and supplies.In the small fishing town of Yamamoto-cho, in Miyagi prefecture, a popular annual clam festival was cancelled as worried locals instead switched on their television sets and radios. In Hahajima Island, some 1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo in the Pacific, hotel owner Yoko Hiraga said tourists joined islanders in heading for higher ground after ferry services were suspended. In the end Japan, like other Pacific countries, dodged the tsunami bullet. Seawater swells flooded some harbour areas as waves of 1.2metres hit the shore. But Japan began downgrading the tsunami alert from 1000 GMT and gradually started lifting warnings in coastal areas not facing the Pacific.

The national police said they had received no reports of injuries.

Tsuji, the Tokyo University expert, said the tsunami did not match the ferocity of the one that came from Chile half a century before, while new harbourfront designs, breakwaters and other measures had also helped.We saw the water level rise, but compared to 50 years ago, the force of the water was less,he said. We are not hearing about fishing boats being pulled away or nets being swept away, or people dying.

The world's strongest earthquakes By The Associated Press – Sat Feb 27, 6:38 pm ET

Here is a list of earthquakes that registered at least magnitude 8.6.

- May 22, 1960: A magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile and ensuing tsunami killed at least 1,716 people.

- March 27, 1964: A magnitude 9.2 quake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and ensuing tsunami killed 128 people.

- Dec. 26, 2004: A magnitude 9.1 quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 226,000 people in 12 countries, including 165,700 in Indonesia and 35,400 in Sri Lanka.

- Aug. 13, 1868: A magnitude 9.0 quake in Arica, Peru (now Chile) generated catastrophic tsunamis; more than 25,000 people were killed in South America.

- Jan. 26, 1700: A magnitude 9.0 quake shakes Northern California, Oregon, Washington and British Colombia and triggers tsunami that damages villages in Japan.

- Nov. 4, 1952: A magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka causes damage but no reported deaths, despite setting off 30-foot (9.1-meter) waves in Hawaii.

- Jan. 31, 1906: A magnitude 8.8 quake off the coast of Ecuador and Colombia generated a tsunami that killed at least 500 people.

- Feb. 27, 2010: A magnitude 8.8 quake off the coast of Chile killed a still-undetermined number of people and sends a tsunami across the Pacific.

- Nov. 1, 1755: A magnitude 8.7 quake and ensuing tsunami in Lisbon, Portugal killed an estimated 60,000 people and destroyed much of Lisbon.

- July 8, 1730: A magnitude 8.7 quake in Valparasio, Chile, killed at least 3,000 people.

- Aug. 15, 1950: A magnitude 8.6 earthquake in Assam, Tibet, killed at least 780 people.

- March 28, 2005: A magnitude 8.6 quake in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, kills about 1,300 people.Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology and WHO's International Disaster Database.

Quake hits north Pakistan, Afghanistan; no damage
Sun Feb 28, 2:05 am ET

ISLAMABAD – A moderate earthquake has rattled northern Pakistan and Afghanistan but there are no reports of injuries or damage.Pakistani government meteorologist Qamar Zaman Chaudhry says the quake happened at 4:21 a.m. Pakistan time on Sunday (2321 GMT; 6:21 p.m. EDT on Saturday).It was felt in northern Pakistan and in Kabul, the capital of neighboring Afghanistan.The U.S. Geological Survey says it was magnitude 5.7, and was centered in the Hindu Kush mountains 110 miles (175 kilometers) northeast of Kabul.Earthquakes often rattle the region. A magnitude 7.6 quake on Oct. 8, 2005, killed about 80,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir and left more than 3 million homeless.

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.

8 killed in heavy rain in southwestern Haiti
Sat Feb 27, 9:26 pm ET

LES CAYES, Haiti – Haitian officials say eight people are dead and two missing after heavy rain pounded the southwest and caused widespread flooding.Rain fell around Les Cayes on the country's southern peninsula. The civil protection department says a prison flooded and more than 400 prisoners were evacuated.City delegate Josephe Mary Yves Aurbour says the dead from Saturday's storm include two adults and a child killed when water rushed into their home and swept them into a rain-swollen river.

It's still several weeks until Haiti's rainy season typically starts. It also has been raining, but not as hard, in parts of the capital, where hundreds of thousands of people are living outside after their homes were destroyed in the earthquake.

Violent storms kill at least 15 in France
FEB 28,10

PARIS (Reuters) – Violent storms swept through France over the weekend, killing at least 15 people, officials said.Local authorities said three people died on Saturday and another 12 on Sunday and warned the toll could rise. Some drowned while others were hit by falling trees and branches.South-west coastal regions of France, Vendee and Charente Maritime, were among those worst affected.The storm also cut off electricity to more than 1 million residents said ErDF, the distribution arm of French energy group EDF. The cuts centered on Brittany and central France.Weather forecasters said the storm, named Xynthia, had headed to France's north-east and would then hit Belgium and Luxembourg.Gusts of wind reaching 100 km (60 miles) per hour had already battered France's northern regions by 1207 GMT (7:07 a.m. EST), Meteo France said on its website.But it said the storms appeared less fierce than those that hit France in December 1999, in which 92 people were killed.French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde on Sunday reminded insurers that multi-risk residence insurance covered damage caused by strong winds and called for the speedy processing of storm-related claims.(Reporting by Claude Canellas, Guillaume Frouin and Astrid Wendlandt; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Fierce storms in France, Spain, Portugal kill 16 By DEBORAH SEWARD, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

PARIS – A violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds battered France, Spain and Portugal Sunday, leaving at least 16 people dead.Most of the 12 victims in France drowned, while others died when hit by parts of buildings or trees and branches that were ripped off by the wind.Nearly 900,000 people in France were without electricity. Rivers overflowed their banks in Brittany, and the threat of avalanches was high in the Pyrenees Mountains and the southern Alps due to wind and wet snow.In Paris, winds knocked over motorcycles and spewed garbage around the streets of the capital. Flights were delayed and some were canceled at the two main Paris airports. A number of trains in western France were delayed due to flooded tracks.Winds reached about 130 mph (200 kph) on the summits of the Pyrenees and about 90 mph (150 kph) along the Atlantic Coast.In neighboring Spain, the Interior Minister said three people were killed by hurricane-strength winds and heavy rainfall that lashed the country's northern regions over the weekend.Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the storm had been intense in certain regions and had caused the deaths of a woman in northwestern Ourense and of two people whose car was hit by a falling tree in Arlanzon just north of Madrid.

The national weather agency had warned that a violent cyclone depression had formed over the Atlantic Ocean and was to cross areas bordering the Bay of Biscay.Winds gusting up to 118 mph (190 kph) had blown over the Canary Islands overnight Friday causing a crane to collapse on a building, lampposts to fall onto parked cars and forcing flight cancellations.Portugal's home affairs minister Rui Pereira said a child had been killed Saturday by a falling tree in Paredes.The 10-year-old had been playing ball near a church while waiting to go to a prayer meeting when a falling branch crushed him, Pereira said.AP correspondent Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.

Thousands still lack power after Northeast storm By NORMA LOVE, Associated Press Writers – Sun Feb 28, 4:06 am ET

CONCORD, N.H. – Frustration turned to resignation Saturday for hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeast struggling to survive another day waiting for utility crews to restore electricity after powerful storms socked the region with heavy snow, rain and hurricane-force winds.The region was left to deal with the fallout of gusting winds that created near-blizzard conditions this week in what was the third strong storm this month for some areas. Parts of New York got more than 2 feet of snow while some areas of coastal New England were drenched with flooding rains.One man was killed by a falling snow-laden tree branch in Central Park in New York City, and two people in Candia, N.H., died in a house fire caused by improperly using a propane heater to stay warm, fire officials said.The highest wind reported from the storm was 91 mph off the coast of Portsmouth, N.H. — well above hurricane force of 74 mph. Gusts also hit 60 mph or more from the mountains of West Virginia to New York's Long Island and Massachusetts.Frustration was beginning to show on Charlotte Letteney's face Saturday at Concord High School, one of 24 shelters in New Hampshire. Letteney, 64, of Allenstown, arrived Friday night with her 66-year-old husband, who is a paraplegic, two granddaughters, her grandson-in-law and 6-month-old great-grandson.The family left their mobile home when the temperature dropped to 46 degrees and Letteney's hands had gone numb, leaving behind four parrots in covered cages and a couple of days' worth of food for their dog, Bosco. They have no car — a city van brought them to the shelter — and no way to get home to feed the animals or to let the dog out.He'll go out in the kitchen, and I'll have to sterilize my floor, Letteney said.

The Letteneys are among more than 1 million customers across the Northeast who lost power because of the storm, and as of Saturday afternoon more than half of them were still without electricity. New Hampshire's electrical grid was the hardest hit, with more than a quarter-million customers still without power. New York had more than 160,000 outages and Maine about 67,000.Some residents were warned they'll be without electricity for up to a week, as uprooted trees and fallen utility poles hindered utility crews.Bow, N.H., Assistant Fire Chief Dick Pistey compared the situation two years ago during a powerful ice storm when ice quickly coated trees, bringing down tree limbs and power lines, leaving millions without power — some for two weeks.
It's deja vu all over again, Pistey said.In Londonderry, N.H., Irene Stanley, 68, was sitting in a rocking chair next to a wood stove to keep warm, her royal blue beta fish in its container nearby. Stanley, who managed without power for nearly two weeks during the ice storm two years ago, said her mission for the day was to buy batteries to keep her radio operating.In York, Maine, 70-year-old lobsterman Pat White, was able to use his generator to help cook a pancake breakfast Saturday to feed his neighbors who were without power — a father, his daughter and her baby. White and his wife, Enid, were planning what to serve them for dinner.We've got to use up some of the stuff in the refrigerator, he said.Nick Vermette, 49, a safety specialist for Central Maine Power, the state's largest utility, was supervising crews restoring power in Portland on Saturday. He said the 17-hour days are exhausting.By the time you drive home take a shower, try to get to sleep, get up and come back, you're averaging four to five hours sleep,he said.Associated Press Writer Kathy McCormack contributed to this report.

Debt-hit Greece must step up spending cuts: Juncker
FEB 28,10

ATHENS (AFP) – Debt-hit Greece must step up spending cuts as other European taxpayers are not inclined to correct the mismanagement of past Greek governments, the head of the eurozone finance ministers said on Sunday.Greece must step up its efforts to limit its public deficit, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurogroup of ministers that oversee the eurozone, said in a statement to Eleftherotypia daily.It must focus on further spending cuts and on ways to increase revenue.Greece must understand that taxpayers in Germany, Belgium or Luxembourg are not prepared to correct Greek fiscal policy mistakes, he said.The comments came a day before the European Union's economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn arrives in Athens to inspect progress on the Greek government's plans to slash state spending and boost tax revenue.Luxembourg has expressed readiness to help Greece if asked but we must first be persuaded that the (Greek) measures are serious, Juncker said.

Greece has come under market pressure as the weak link in the euro since it revealed late last year that its public deficit and debt were much worse than initially thought.The Greek deficit is over four times the allowed EU limit at 12.7 percent and the country is also saddled with a debt of nearly 300 billion euros (408 billion dollars).The Socialist government has pledged to cut the deficit by four percentage points of gross domestic product to 8.7 percent this year, but there are widespread doubts that the recession-hit country will meet this goal.If the programme proves insufficient, a meeting of EU finance ministers could demand even harsher corrective action at a meeting on March 16.On Thursday, the semi-state Athens News Agency reported that an EU and European Central Bank mission to Athens that prepared the ground for Rehn's visit had raised key objections to Greek income forecasts.If austerity measures failed to bear fruit then additional policies to raise 3.6 billion to 4.8 billion euros (4.0 billion to 6.5 billion dollars) would be necessary, the report cited mission members as saying.Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has said he will use the crisis to remedy chronic waste in public administration.

Head of IMF proposes new reserve currency By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer Harry Dunphy, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 26, 4:13 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, suggested Friday the organization might one day be called on to provide countries with a global reserve currency that would serve as an alternative to the U.S. dollar.

That day has not yet come, but I think it is intellectually healthy to explore these kinds of ideas now, he said in a speech on the future mandate of the 186-nation Washington-based lending organization.Strauss-Kahn said such an asset could be similar to but distinctly different from the IMF's special drawing rights, or SDRs, the accounting unit that countries use to hold funds within the IMF. It is based on a basket of major currencies.He said having other alternatives to the dollar would limit the extent to which the international monetary system as a whole depends on the policies and conditions of a single, albeit dominant, country.Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister of France, said that during the recent global financial crisis, the dollar played its role as a safe haven asset, and the current international monetary system demonstrated resilience.The challenge ahead is to find ways to limit the tension arising from the high demand for precautionary reserves on the one hand and the narrow supply of reserves on the other, he said.Several countries, including China and Russia, have called for an alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency and have suggested using the IMF's internal accounting unit.

Strauss-Kahn said the IMF also needs to do a better job of tracing how risk percolates through the global economy.Here it will be essential to improve our ability to monitor several dozen large complex financial institutions that make up the plumbing through which global capital flows, he said, while leaving national regulators the job of monitoring the solvency of individual institutions.

India wants to boost energy ties with Saudi Arabia - PM By Souhail Karam – Sun Feb 28, 6:45 am ET

RIYADH (Reuters) – India wants to strengthen energy ties with top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia, the country's biggest biggest supplier of oil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday.We believe that conditions are ripe for moving beyond a traditional buyer-seller relationship to a comprehensive energy partnership, Singh said in a prepared speech during a rare visit to the kingdom.Indian companies are well-equipped to participate in upstream and downstream oil and gas sector projects in Saudi Arabia, he told Saudi business leaders.Singh, who earlier met Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, proposed to establish new partnerships between the two countries in the area of renewable energy through sharing of clean technologies and joint collaborations.He gave no details.Singh is the first Indian prime minister to visit the Gulf Arab kingdom since Indira Gandhi in 1982.Saudi Arabia is India's largest supplier of crude and also a major source of remittances from Indian workers forming the backbone of 7 million expatriates in the kingdom.Indian investment in Saudi Arabia stands at more than $2 billion, covering 500 joint ventures, and India wants Saudi Arabia to invest in agriculture, energy, construction, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, Singh said.

Singh said bilateral trade reached almost $25 billion in 2008-09.The traditional relationship between Saudi Arabia and India is among the most strategic bilateral bonds for either country,Riyadh-based lender Banque Saudi Fransi said in a report.
India's geographic dependence on the Gulf is likely to become amplified in the coming years due to limited prospects for enhancing domestic energy production,it said.Singh reiterated India's economy should grow more than 7 percent in the fiscal year 2009/10 and return to a 9 percent annual growth rate in two years.We expect to get back to the growth level of about 9 percent per annum within two years,he said.
India's economy grew by 6 percent in the fourth quarter through December from a year earlier, the government said on Friday.India's economy grew 6.7 percent in 2008/09, slower than 9 percent or more in the previous three years.(Reporting by Souhail Karam, Writing by Ulf Laessing and Martin Dokoupil; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Tory MEP to launch anti-tax Tea Party group
LEIGH PHILLIPS 26.02.2010 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - British Conservative MEP Dan Hannan is jealous that Europe does not have its own anti-tax Tea Party movement, as in the US, and has decided to start one himself. On Saturday (27 February), the eurosceptic deputy is to launch the Brighton Tea Party, in reference to the Boston Tea Party that kicked off the American Revolution and, in recent times, has sponsored a series of anti-Obama demonstrations against stimulus spending, healthcare legislation and climate change bills. Mr Hannan is inspired by the anti-tax element of the protests, saying Europe is on the verge of constructing an EU-level tax system, and believes that under the surface, there is potential for as much grass-roots opposition to increased public spending on this side of the Atlantic as in the US.During the first mandate that I was here in Brussels, the main theme was the erection of a common justice and home affairs area; the second term, the big issue was the Lisbon Treaty and I am convinced that for this term, the EU is fixated on constructing fiscal independence from the member states,he told EUobserver.It was striking during the hearings for the new commission how many commissioners want the EU to have more of its own revenue streams, he said, highlighting EU Council President Herman van Rompuy's recent backing for European economic governance. Obviously, they had talked about this before.I don't think an EU income tax is on the cards yet, but certainly green taxes and taxes on financial transactions,Mr Hannan explained.

His immediate organising focus is in the UK ahead of this year's general election in opposition to Labour government tax hikes. The Saturday launch of the Brighton Tea Party will take place alongside the UK Conservative party's Spring Forum convention in the south-western city. But the MEP believes that an anti-tax movement would have enormous resonance across the EU.The paradox is that the US Tea Party movement is inspired by the slogan 'No taxation without representation' and they do actually elect their representatives. In the EU, there genuinely is taxation without representation,he said.In the US, the protests have been hailed by figures such as right-wing talk radio commentator Rush Limbaugh and ex-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Democrats and progressives have called them astroturf - a fake grassroots campaign that in reality is bankrolled by corporations and conservative think-tanks.The British version is backed by the Freedom Association, a libertarian pressure group of which Mr Hannan is a member.The anti-tax element is not the only aspect of the US movement which the Tory politician admires, being also a strong critic of publicly funded healthcare. Last year the MEP was branded an eccentric by his party leader, David Cameron, after he toured the US criticising Britain's National Health Service in a series of television appearances at the height of the summer's Tea Party protests.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

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.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

AP Enterprise: How nuclear equipment reached Iran By PETER ENAV and DEBBY WU, Associated Press Writers – FEB 28,10

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Early last year, a Chinese company placed an order with a Taiwanese agent for 108 nuclear-related pressure gauges. But something happened along the way. Paperwork was backdated. Plans were rerouted, orders reconfigured, shipping redirected.And the gauges ended up in a very different place: Iran.The story behind the gauges shows how Iran is finding its way around international sanctions meant to prevent it from getting equipment that can be used to make a nuclear bomb. At least half a dozen times in recent years, the Persian Gulf nation has tried to use third countries as transshipment points for obtaining controlled, nuclear-related equipment.In the case of the pressure gauges, it succeeded. In the process, the Swiss manufacturer and the Swiss government were duped, a Chinese company went around its own government's prohibition on moving nuclear-related equipment to Iran, and Taiwanese authorities showed themselves unwilling or unable to get into step with the international community.The deal was a huge victory for Tehran, which had been seeking the gauges for months, said nuclear proliferation expert David Albright, president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. It also reflected the uneven enforcement of international sanctions against Iran, at a time when the U.S. and other Western countries are pushing hard to expand them.The (Iranian) government looked everywhere — Russia, Europe, the U.S., and they were being thwarted by the international community, Albright said. It's really unfortunate they succeeded in using this Taiwan-China connection...This case is a wake up call of the importance of universal and timely application of sanctions on Iran.Iran says it wants to enrich uranium to generate nuclear power, but the West fears that it actually seeks weapons capabilities.

It's impossible to verify how Iran is using the gauges, also known as pressure transducers or capacitance diaphragm gauges, which have numerous commercial applications in machines that employ pneumatic or hydraulic pressure. But experts say the large size of the order suggests very strongly that they are for centrifuges to churn out enriched uranium.As of last November, Iran had 8,692 centrifuges, of which 3,936 were running, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Each centrifuge normally requires a transducer, though a single gauge can also serve up to 10 linked centrifuges.The gauges are extremely useful to them, said Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, a physicist at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at California's Monterey Institute of International Studies.It's a very big deal.At first, the transaction seemed above board.A Jan. 24, 2009, purchase order shows that Roc-Master Manufacture & Supply Company ordered the gauges for delivery to its Shanghai base. The order — in the amount of $112,303.72 — was placed with Heli-Ocean Technology Co. Ltd., the Taiwanese agent for Swiss manufacturer Inficon Holding AG. Inficon, together with MKS of Andover, Mass., produces most of the world's supply of this type of transducer.On Feb. 6, Heli-Ocean received an initial payment from Roc-Master and placed an order with Inficon for the transducers, documents show.

Then the situation changed.Roc-Master issued a revised purchase order, backdated to Jan. 24, instructing Heli-Ocean to ship the transducers not to Shanghai, but to the Tehran airport. The consignee is named as Moshever Sanat Moaser, an Iranian company described on its Web site as a provider of specialty alloys and industrial parts.The second purchase order also increased the amount to $145,800, almost $33,500 more than the original, without explanation.Apparently the change in destination and the nature of the shipment alarmed Heli-Ocean, because in a Feb. 18 e-mail seen by the AP, Roc-Master assured the Taiwanese company that the 108 transducers were not for Iran's nuclear industry. It also said that Chinese law barred the shipment of the transducers from China to Iran.None of this was revealed to the Swiss manufacturer and authorities. Inficon CEO Lukas Winkler told the AP that had his company known the end-user was Moshever Sanat Moaser, it would never have sold the transducers to Heli-Ocean. He said the gauges fall within Swiss sanctions on exports to Iran. The end-user certificate we got did not say Iran,he said.The deal was done via a Chinese company. And we have a certificate with the name of a Chinese end-user on it.Winkler said that before the goods were sent, Inficon reported the transaction to Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, because the number of transducers raised its suspicions. We always have the goods checked when it is a big order,he said.If someone wants one single device it's not delicate. But if someone wants 100 at once, that's very unusual for this type of product.In a statement, the Swiss secretariat said the transducers did not require an export license, because the exporter was not aware that those goods were destined for Iran.Otherwise an approval of the Swiss export control authorities would have been necessary, the statement continued.Switzerland would not grant any license for the export of such transducers to Iran.European governments have been stopping nine out of 10 Iranian attempts to get pressure transducers, according to European intelligence, Albright said. One European country witnessed 40 procurement attempts from Iran for pressure transducers from August 2008 to August 2009.

Taiwan, however, let the shipment go through.For more than 30 years, the island has been the orphan of the international community, denied membership in organizations like the United Nations because of China's insistence that it has no sovereign status of its own. The result has been a gaping lack of familiarity with push-button issues for the West — Iran among them — and a strong interest in building up the trade links that define its place in the world. Taiwan, unlike Switzerland and China, does not belong to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an alliance of 46 countries that seek to limit the spread of nuclear-related equipment. However, Taiwan says it enforces export control lists based on NSG protocols. The transducers arrived in Taiwan on March 9, 2009, three days after they were shipped from Switzerland, according to a Taiwanese freight forwarder's document obtained by the AP. They were reported to Taiwanese Customs on March 10, the document shows. A Taiwanese official with intimate knowledge of the deal told the AP they were shipped from Taipei airport to Iran sometime in March. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.The official said Heli-Ocean broke no laws. He said the transducers sent to Iran were not sensitive enough to be placed on the island's control list and, as such, did not need a special customs declaration.

However, three experts who examined the specifications of the transducers for the AP confirmed that they were on the NSG watchlist. Their movement to Iran should have been stopped, said researcher Stephanie Lieggi of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Monterey Institute's Martin Center.Any country adhering to the NSG lists would likely deny this export to Iran, she said in an e-mail to the AP. Taiwan may not be so quick to allow such transactions in the future. The Taiwanese official said the government has decided to require Heli-Ocean to declare any further sales to the Iranian company before they are carried out.Taiwan had contacts with a foreign intelligence agency after the transaction,the official said. The agency provided us with intelligence that it suspected an Iranian entity could be procuring pressure transducers from a company in a third country and using them for nuclear proliferation purposes.Taiwanese companies have been caught exporting sensitive items before. In January, a freight forwarder employee was indicted for helping Taipei-based Axiomtek Co. move industrial computers to Iran. In 2008 a court convicted Taipei-based Trans Merits Co. Ltd. of exporting proscribed computing equipment to North Korea. Albright said Heli-Ocean should never have gone through with the sale to Moshever Sanat Moaser. Because of Inficon's status as a major producer of pressure transducers, an Inficon agent like Heli-Ocean should have known about the problematic nature of their export to Iran, he said. Added Dalnoki-Veress: This deal is definitely a red flag. If (Heli-Ocean) gets an order for 100 units they have to check if it's legitimate.Steve Lin, the Heli-Ocean boss, declined to answer specific questions about the deal but insisted he had done nothing wrong. I don't support terrorists,he told the AP in January.I don't want to hurt people.Officials at Moshever Sanat Moaser in Tehran did not respond to several requests for comment. As for China, the incident will likely fuel suspicions about its commitment to nonproliferation. The oil-hungry nation is heavily invested in Iran's energy industry and has opposed tougher sanctions on Tehran. A blog on Roc-Master's Web site highlights its role in supplying equipment for a natural gas project on Iran's Kharg Island in March 2008. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said he was unaware of the pressure gauge deal. However, he wrote in a fax: I would be glad to reaffirm China stands firm and clear on the issue of preventing nuclear arms proliferation. We have already established comprehensive regulations for export control and an effective system to administer them. All illegal exports are forbidden.In Shanghai, Roc-Master official Liu Xiaofeng initially said he didn't recall the transaction. But when pressed, he replied,It's our company's secret information, so I don't think we need to tell the media anything about it.AP reporters Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai, Brian Murphy in Dubai, and Eliane Engeler in Geneva contributed to this story.

Iran: UN nuclear watchdog lacks independence
FEB 28,10

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader says the U.S. and its allies are influencing the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's stance on Tehran's nuclear program.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday in comments broadcast on state television that recent reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency show that this international agency lacks independence.He said the watchdog should not be influenced by the U.S. and other countries because that could undermine the agency's prestige and reputation.
Khamenei's comments come two weeks after the IAEA expressed concern Iran may be currently working on a nuclear warhead.The West accuses Iran of using its civilian nuclear program to mask efforts to build nuclear weapons. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes.

Iran: US behind IAEA charge the Iran making bomb By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Ali - FEB 28,10

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader charged Sunday that U.S. and its allies are behind the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's claim that Iran may be making nuclear bombs, despite its repeated denials.The comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, broadcast on state television Sunday, came 10 days after the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was concerned Iran may be working on nuclear weapons, echoing conclusions reached by the U.S. and several of its allies.Some IAEA reports and actions show that this international agency lacks independence, the television quoted Khamenei as saying.The IAEA should not be influenced by the U.S. and some (other) countries because unilateral acts erode trust in the agency and the United Nations. It is also very bad for the prestige and reputation of these international bodies.The language of the report — the first written by Yukiya Amano, who became IAEA head in December — appeared to be more directly critical of Iran's refusal to cooperate with the IAEA than most of those of his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei.The IAEA is set to meet later this week to discuss Iran's refusal to accept international demands to halt enrichment of uranium — a key step in the process toward nuclear weapons production, though enriched uranium also has peaceful uses.

According to the state TV, Khamenei again denied that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons and insisted that Tehran's nuclear program is geared toward generating electricity.Iran has declared from the very beginning that it is after obtaining scientific capability and technology in the nuclear field to meet its peaceful requirements, including energy, Khamenei said.Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, accused the U.S. and its allies of lying when they charge Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.Iran said last week that it plans to build two new uranium enrichment facilities deep inside mountains to protect them from possible attack.

The two plants are among 10 industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities approved in November, a dramatic expansion of the program in defiance of U.N. demands that Iran it halt enrichment.Iran's enrichment of uranium is the central concern of the United States and other nations negotiating with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. The technology can be used to generate fuel for power plants and isotopes for medical purposes, but it can also be used to make weapons-grade uranium for nuclear bombs.

THIS GUY IS RIGHT ON:IRAN AND THEIR LEADERRS ARE CULT,SEX FOR MURDER,MAUHDI WORSHIPPING FOOLS WHO ARE DECIEVED INTO BELIEVING SATANS LIES OF DEATH FOR SEX FOREVER IN PARADISE.LITTLE DO THEY KNOW MURDERERS BURN IN HELL IN TORMENT TILL THEY STAND IN FRONT OF JESUS AT THE FINAL GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT TO BE THROWN IN THE BURNING LAKE OF FIRE FOREVERR,NEVER ENDING.

Iran's Mousavi warns over system's legitimacy waning
Sat Feb 27, 9:31 am ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi warned the legitimacy of clerical rule was waning due to its repressive measures, his website said on Saturday.Despite a crackdown that largely quelled the protests following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June, Mousavi has remained defiant, calling the government a cult that has no respect for Iran's national interests.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most powerful figure in Iran's complex Islamic system, criticized opposition leaders on Thursday for refusing to bow before the law, saying they had lost the privilege of being part of the system.

Hardliners have accused reformist opposition leaders of inciting unrest and called them enemies of God, a crime punishable by death under Iran's Islamic law.But Mousavi said the security crackdown would backfire.Millions of Iranians face censorship, obstruction of their freedoms and repressive measures ... such measures will distance us from adopting logical solutions, Mousavi said on his Kalemeh website.If the issue is not resolved logically, the drop in the system's legitimacy will be accelerated.Mousavi said the government was incompetent to rule.The nation that faces an adventurous, war-mongering foreign policy and destructive economic policy ... wants changes, he said.Iran faces growing Western calls for targeted sanctions against it after Ahmadinejad ordered production of higher-grade uranium, stirring fears that Tehran aims to make nuclear bombs, not just fuel for civilian use as it says is the case.

STEADFAST

The June election and its aftermath have plunged the Islamic Republic into the most serious internal crisis in its 30-year history and created a rift within the ruling establishment.Mousavi said the country was in crisis.Can the government see a solution in intimidating the nation? he asked. Guaranteeing free, competitive and healthy votes, are the key points in resolving the issue.Mousavi said the reform movement was still alive despite pressure from the hardline rulers.Opposition supporters have defied government warnings against staging illegal rallies and have sought to hijack official demonstrations to hold anti-government protests.We will use all legal ways, including legitimate and peaceful street rallies, Mousavi said. We are steadfast in our demands.Since June, thousands of protesters and reformers have been arrested. Most have since been freed, though dozens, including former senior officials, have been jailed for up to 16 years. In January, Iran hanged two people sentenced to death in post-vote trials. At least nine others are appealing death sentences. But authorities have so far not dared to directly touch Mousavi, despite his continued defiance. Mousavi challenged Khamenei, calling a February 11 rally to mark anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution engineered.Khamenei thanked the Iranian people for turning out in tens of millions, calling the rally a slap on the face of enemies. There is no pride in holding such an engineered rally. It is exactly like the despotic methods used by shah before the revolution,Mousavi said.
You cannot ... bus people to the rally and then be happy and say everything is under control and over.(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Clashes erupt at Al-Aqsa mosque after stone attack by Ahmad Gharabli – FEB 28,10

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Sixteen people including two Israeli policemen were wounded in clashes at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, after police entered to arrest Palestinians who had hurled rocks at visitors they believed were Jewish extremists.Dozens of Palestinians pelted stones at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, Palestinian sources said.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that seven people had been arrested, and that two of his men were hurt while Palestinian sources said at least 14 people were injured in the confrontations.Security forces entered the compound as a preventive measure, after Muslim worshippers threw rocks at the group of unidentified visitors, Rosenfeld said.Police had stopped people over 50 from entering the compound as 20 people were holed up inside the mosque, Rosenfeld added.All of the Old City is calm, and thousands of tourists were allowed to visit the compound (mosque), Rosenfeld said, as the violence subsided by early afternoon.Sporadic clashes were reported in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood of Ras el-Amoud in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967.Earlier, dozens of police wearing riot gear were deployed throughout the narrow streets of the Old City as loudspeakers on minarets called on Muslims to save Jerusalem.

An official from Jerusalem's Islamic Supreme Committee said the Palestinians had hurled stones at people they believed to be Jewish extremists intending to pray at the site and upset the delicate status quo.They threw rocks because (Israeli) settlers have been surrounding the compound for two or three days and had said they intended to enter on Sunday or Monday to pray at Al-Aqsa,Adnan Husseini told AFP.

Jews, who observe the Purim holiday on Sunday and Monday, are allowed into the compound, but authorities prevent them from praying there.The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is Islam's third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina. Muslims refer to it as Al-Haram Al-Sharif and believe it to be the place where Prophet Mohammed made a night journey to heaven on horseback.It is the holiest site in the world for Jews, who believe it was the location of the Second Temple, torched by the Romans in 70 AD, and refer to it as the Temple Mount.The site has been bitterly contested for decades, and the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, erupted there in September 2000 after a visit by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing politician who went on to become Israeli prime minister.Violence erupted on several occasions starting last September after Muslim worshippers hurled stones at people they believed to be Jews seeking to pray at the site during major holidays.Israeli authorities insisted then that the visitors were French tourists.The latest disturbance came after days of clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron over an Israeli plan to renovate the Tomb of the Patriarchs there, another ancient site revered by Jews and Muslims.Around 100 Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops in Hebron on Thursday over the Israeli national heritage plan. The plan has infuriated Palestinians and been criticised by the United States as a provocative act that could further complicate efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks suspended during the Gaza war more than a year ago.

The decision continues to makes waves in Israel. The popular Ynet news website quoted President Shimon Peres calling for prudence and reserve,and Labour Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer has said the plan was an error.The Palestinian Authority of president Mahmoud Abbas denounced it as a very dangerous escalation while the militant Hamas urged the international community to assume its responsibilities to put an end to the dangerous aggression by Israel.The government of the United Arab Emirates meanwhile denounced the savage attacks by settlers and occupying forces on the mosque compound, saying it showed Israel's intention to Judaise the Holy city.

Israel police storm holy site to quell protest By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

JERUSALEM – Israeli police forces stormed the most contentious holy site in Jerusalem on Sunday to disperse masked Palestinian protesters hurling objects at visiting foreign tourists.The incident was over quickly, but the area remained tense afterward. In the past, violence at the site — known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary — has erupted into deadly battles.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police dispersed some 20 masked protesters who had holed up overnight in Al-Aqsa mosque building inside the hilltop compound. The protesters pelted tourists with objects early Sunday, and threw rocks at the police when they responded to the incident, he said.Calm was quickly restored, he said, and about a thousand tourists have since visited the area.However, small groups of masked Palestinians continued to clash with police elsewhere in Jerusalem's Old City and in a nearby neighborhood just outside the walled area.Rosenfeld said police dispersed the protesters without having to use force, but two officers were lightly wounded and seven Palestinian rioters were arrested. By midday, the clashes had ended, but about 15 Palestinians remained holed up inside the complex.Tensions have been high in recent days following the Israeli government's announcement that two West Bank shrines would be added to Israel's list of national heritage sites. Palestinians denounced the move as a provocation, and President Mahmoud Abbas has warned the incident could spark a religious war.Rosenfeld said it was unclear what sparked Sunday's violence, but said the decision on the West Bank shrines was clearly in the "background." The protesters, however, said they were under the impression the site was under attack by Jewish extremists.

Conflicting claims to the hilltop site of Sunday's violence lie at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Jews revere it as the site of the two biblical Temples, while Muslims regard the Al-Aqsa compound, home to the gold-capped Dome of the Rock, as Islam's third-holiest site, where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.The compound has been a frequent flashpoint for conflicts before. A visit to the site in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli opposition leader and later prime minister, helped ignite deadly clashes that escalated into violence that engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories for several years.Israel has controlled the compound since capturing east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and insists it will retain it forever, though it has left day-to-day administration to a Muslim clerical body.That body, the Waqf, said young men rushed to the compound after hearing a rumor that hardline religious Jews intended to storm the area.The police were provoking people. Maybe the youths threw shoes, but they were not hurling rocks, said Abdul Azim Samhadana, the head of the council.

He said he was not aware of Palestinian youths harming tourists.Palestinians see east Jerusalem, including the Old City where the sacred complex lies, as the capital of a future state.Hamas' minister of religious affairs, Taleb Abu Shaar, called on Palestinians to rise up violently against Israel and protect our Islamic holy places from the risk of Judaization.He called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel because of its crimes.Associated Press Writers Diaa Hadid and Dalia Nammari contributed to this report.

FALLIN DEMONIC ANGELS (GIANTS)

GENESIS 6:4-5
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

NUMBERS 13:32-33
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

DEUTERONOMY 2:10-11,20-21
10 The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
11 Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
20 (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
21 A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:

DEUTORONOMY 3:11,13
11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
13 And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.

JOSHUA 12:4
4 And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,

JOSHUA 13:12
12 All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out.

JOSHUA 15:8,13-14
8 And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward:
13 And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.
14 And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.

JOSHUA 17:15-17
15 And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.
17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only:

JOSHUA 18:16
16 And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to Enrogel,

2 SAMUEL 21:15-22
15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.
16 And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.
18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.
19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.
22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

1 CHRONICLES 20:4-8
4 And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.
5 And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.
6 And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant.
7 But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.
8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

JUDE 5-6,14-16
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

UK's UFO unit says it will shred ex-X files
FEB 28,10

LONDON – Britain's defense ministry says it will shred records of UFO sightings after a huge rise in the number of reports submitted by the public.The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that new reports will be thrown out after 30 days, rather than kept on file.It means details of the sightings will be exempt from freedom of information laws that have allowed campaigners to force Britain's government to disclose details of apparent UFO encounters.The ministry had 634 reports of UFO sightings in 2009, the highest total since 1978 when the public submitted 750.In December, Britain scrapped a phone line and e-mail account for the public to report details of UFO activity.Britain's government said the service was a waste of defense resources.

Massive head of pharaoh unearthed in Egypt
FEB 28,10

CAIRO – Archaeologists have unearthed the massive head of one Egypt's most famous pharoahs who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday.The head of Amenhotep III, which alone is about the height of a person, was found in the ruins of the pharaoh's mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor.The Egyptian-European expedition under the guidance of German-Armenian archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian has been excavating the temple near the famous seated colossi of Memnon for the last several years.The head is part of a larger statue found several years ago and Sourouzian believes its ceremonial beard is still buried somewhere nearby.Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamun, ruled from 1387-1348 B.C. at the height of Egypt's New Kingdom and presided over a vast empire stretching from Nubia in the south to Syria in the north.His massive mortuary temple, however, was largely destroyed, possible by floods, and little remains of its walls.The expedition, however, has unearthed a wealth of artifacts and statuary in the buried ruins, including two statues of Amenhotep made of black granite found in March.

Al-Qaida bomber calls for attacks on Jordan spies By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer – FEB 28,10

CAIRO – An al-Qaida double agent that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a posthumous video message posted on extremist Web sites Sunday.Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi also described Sunday in the 43-minute video his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them after they sent him to Afghanistan to spy on al-Qaida.The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al-Qaida No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.Al-Balawi said he only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall.We planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah, who brought us, through His accompaniment, a valuable prey: Americans, and from the CIA. That's when I became certain that the best way to teach Jordanian intelligence and the CIA a lesson is with the martyrdom belt, he said in the video.The secretive eastern Afghan CIA base was reportedly used as a key outpost in the effort to identify and target terror leaders, many of whom were taken out by the drone-fired missile strikes.It was one of the worst losses for the CIA ever and revealed the cooperation between the American and Jordanian intelligence services.Al-Balawi, who appeared in a military fatigues cradling an assault rifle and what appears to be C4 explosives, described the successes of Jordanian intelligence against extremists over the years and their close working relationship with the CIA.

He said Jordan had provided information for the killing of Al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 as well as that of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who died in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008.The Jordanian intelligence apparatus has a record which emboldens them to such behavior, but with Allah's permission, after this operation, they will never stand on their feet again, he said.
Al-Balawi, a doctor, hailed from the same hometown of Zarqa as al-Zarqawi and was a prolific contributor to extremist Web sites, but was never able to realize his dream of joining the jihad until he was arrested by Jordanian security.In the video he described how they plied him with money and material goods and bragged about their past successes before sending him to Afghanistan to spy on al-Qaida there — finally giving him the chance he had long sought to join the insurgency.I cut ties for four months, then came back to them with some videos taken with leaders of the Mujahideen, so that they would think that I was leaking videos and betraying the Mujahideen,he said.In light of Jordan's strong support for the United States, al-Balawi called for attacks on members of its intelligence agency and the need to overthrow its government.There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilizing to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations,he said.The Arabic-language video came with an English transcript and a second version dubbed into English, part of the extremist group's continued outreach to non-Arabic speaking jihadists, such as in Pakistan.

WELL FOLKS CANADA WILL END THE OLYMPICS WITH THE MOST GOLD.THANKS FOR THE COMPETITION WORLD,BUT CANADA PROVES THE BEST AGAIN AND NOT JUST IN HOCKEY.NOW IF CANADA COULD BE NUMBER 1 IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT,NEW WORLD ORDER NUTCASE BANKERS AND NEW AGE,ENVIROMENTAL CULTISTS.

Canadian gold rush puts hosts on top of world By Julian Linden – Sat Feb 27, 10:36 pm ET

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Canada bagged another three golds on the penultimate day of the Winter Olympics on Saturday to ensure they will finish top of the medal standings, triggering wild celebrations across the country.It is the first time Canada has topped the medal standings at the Winter or Summer Olympics and followed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes.Just a week ago, the hosts were languishing on four golds and facing public demands for a full investigation into their failure to win more, but they have piled up nine in six days to soar past their rivals as the national party gathers pace.Snowboarder Jasey Jay Anderson won the men's parallel giant slalom and Canada's men won the speedskating team pursuit and curling finals to take their gold tally to a record-equaling 13 with just two events left on Sunday before the closing ceremony.Germany won the women's speedskating team pursuit final to remain second in the medals table with 10 golds and the United States won their ninth, in bobsleigh, to be assured of finishing the Games with the most overall.

Italy and Poland both won their first golds.Giuliano Razzoli, who grew up admiring Italy's skiing great Alberto Tomba, prevailed in the slalom on a tricky course where poor weather in the first leg tripped up nearly half the racers including Olympic comeback kid Bode Miller.The 25-year-old Razzoli, who had clocked the fastest time in the first leg through fog and sleet, became the first Italian man to win the title since Tomba, 22 years ago to the day in Calgary.I told him, have your eyes open and be fast and ferocious. He handled it the way he had to, said Tomba, who was at Whistler mountain to watch the race.

CLOSE FINISH

Poland also won their first gold in the women's 30km cross country race as Justyna Kowalczyk sprinted to the finish to deny Norway's Marit Bjoergen her fourth gold by less than a ski's length.Bjoergen's consolation silver gave her a fifth medal from five events, the most by any athlete at these Games.It's going to take a while to understand what I have done during these Olympics, she said.I dreamed of taking one gold and now I have five medals, three golds.The German women won their speedskating pursuit final following a bizarre semi-final in which Anna Friesinger-Postma belly-flopped on the ice in the final straight and paddled across the line in the nick of time.The Germans replaced Friesinger-Postma for the final, where they beat Japan for the gold. The bronze medal went to Poland.I thought I had messed it up,Friesinger-Postma said. But, you see, impossible things can happen.Saturday's outdoor events were plagued by inclement weather with the snowboarders and Alpine skiers barely able to see their courses because of the heavy fog, not that the winners were complaining.Pretty hard to beat, eh? Olympic gold at home, said Anderson, who won gold at Cypress Mountain by beating Austria's Benjamin Karl in the final. At the final Alpine event on Whistler mountain, the completion rate in the first slalom leg was just over 50 percent. Croatia's Ivica Kostelic finished second behind Razzoli to collect his second silver of the Games and Sweden's Andre Myhrer took the bronze.

NIGHT TRAIN

The Americans won gold when their so-called Night Train,the four-man bobsleigh team led by Steve Holcomb, earned the U.S. their first triumph in the event since 1948. Germany were second and Canada third. No more 62 years, Holcomb said.We'll start the clock over. Now it's going to be four years.Canada beat the U.S. in a tight race to win the men's speedskating pursuit final with the bronze going to the Netherlands.
The host nation then defeated Norway in the men's curling final, the last gold medal decided on Saturday, with Switzerland claiming the bronze. Canada's total of 13 golds equalled the record for the most for any country at a Winter Olympics after the Soviet Union won 13 at Innsbruck in 1976 and Norway matched the mark at Salt Lake City in 2002. Canada would set a new mark by winning either of the two golds on offer on Sunday, the men's 50km cross-country skiing and a mouth-watering men's ice hockey final against the United States at a Games in which they have lived up to their promise to Own The Podium.(Editing by Ed Osmond)