WHAT IS THE FEDERAL RESERVE ENTITY

WORLD GOVERNMENT

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

WORLD GOVERNMENTS HELPS - RESEARCHES
http://www.govspot.com/categories/worldgovernment.htm

COALITION FOR DEMOCRATIC WORLD GOVERNMENT WEB SITE - RESEARCH FOR PEOPLE
http://www.cdwg.org/home.htm
OTHER WORLD GOVERNMENT LINKS FOR RESEARCH
http://www.cdwg.org/home.htm
ADMINET WORLD GOVERNMENT LINKS ETC
http://www.adminet.com/world/gov/

STOP THE NORTH AMERICAN UNION - STORY
http://www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com/TwoPeas.html

Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 1
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=r2qPZ9WqLy4
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 2
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=RlClt3Mzp0k&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 3
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=PITVCYQTIf0&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 4
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=m6kmXTzHqrk&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 5
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=AznmsfngQd0&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 6
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=0xOyEHrjlNg&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 7
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mye6LFrJ4Y4&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 8
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=g3oqYTJXYuU&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 9
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zyfhFHVIjr4&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 10
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1N_Zoo8fonQ&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 11
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCJ7Ior_1Y&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 12
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=FtHsjCvIGDs&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 13
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=wEnfsd2_bUo&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 14
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=jBAuMKbiDMQ&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 15
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=sHjPk6WiG5s&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 16
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=2rpfMdAi-aU&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 17
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=5ryjUvyCLMk&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 18
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhjm4BTCauk&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 19
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_gAfKQnQ1ag&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 20
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=DlDbXOndSag&feature=related
Hijacking Humanity Final Cut - Part 21
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_USXKtwNi2o&feature=related

THE BEGGINING OF THE EUROPEAN UNION - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw1F2sxt2kI&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

The Real Face of the European Union - VIDEO
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2699800300274168460&hl=en

2000 YEARS A HISTORY OF EUROPE - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kegXDSUi8c&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

POLTICAL BOARDERS OF EUROPE TO 2006 - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq0KNfS_M44&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

EMPIRES OF THE WORLD - VIDEO (THE EU TO BE THE 7TH AND FINAL WORLD EMPIRE BEFORE JESUS RULES FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tRnlUGEv2E&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

WORLD TRADE BLOCS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3077524.stm
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-02/2006-02-07-voa22.cfm
http://books.google.com/books?id=1GNwBYHpy3cC&dq=world+trading+blocs/video&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&sa=X&oi
=book_result&resnum=13&ct=result#PPP1,M1
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1462&categoryid=ADE8AF04-F27F-F0C6
-6CF6C41335F06527&fuseaction=topics.events_item_topics&event_id=73069
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10553544&pnum=0

Africa delays moves towards federal government By Daniel Wallis and Barry Moody – Sun Feb 1, 2:36 pm ET

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – African leaders on Sunday again delayed concrete moves toward creating a United States of Africa, despite a long campaign by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.Gaddafi and other supporters like Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, have been calling for years for an accelerated process toward a union government, saying it is the only way to meet the challenges of globalization, fighting poverty and resolving conflicts without Western interference.But they are opposed by other nations, headed by economic powerhouse South Africa, who see such an idea as a distant and impractical prospect.Gaddafi's proposal dominated a sometimes heated African Union (AU) summit in Ghana in 2007, but no deal was reached.

The previous AU summit in Egypt last July produced a skeleton agreement and the first day of the current meeting in Ethiopia was devoted to the union proposal.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete told a news conference on Sunday night the meeting had agreed only to change the name of the current AU Commission into an authority, rejecting a proposal by the body itself to transform it immediately into a union government.Kikwete, the current AU chairman, said this would infringe the sovereignty of the AU's 53 states.In principle, we said the ultimate is a United States of Africa, Kikwete added, insisting the authority would have a bigger mandate, bigger budget and bigger capacities than the existing commission.But he was vague on how its powers would expand.Gaddafi has previously berated African leaders for delaying on his unity proposal, but asked about the often fiery Libyan leader's reaction, Kikwete said: He was very supportive.The Tanzanian president said the Addis summit would agree by its close on Wednesday on the new authority's structures but it would not be launched until the next summit in July. He said this would move the continent closer to a union government.

NEW AUTHORITY

The new authority would have a president and vice president, and current AU commissioner positions would be transformed into the secretaries of areas of shared competence including poverty reduction, infrastructure, disease epidemics, peace and security and transnational crime and terrorism.AU Commission chairman Jean Ping said recently that views on the speed of integration varied from nine to 35 years, but the continent needed to speak with a united voice to be heard in international negotiations on trade and other issues including climate change.One east African delegate, who asked not to be named, said earlier that the summit felt obliged to discuss Gaddafi's pet project because of the large sums of money he has poured into parts of the continent.It is important to him, so they will discuss it. But the challenges of making it work, obviously, are vast, he said.The official theme of this week's summit at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa is boosting infrastructure, which experts say is essential if Africa is to weather the global financial crisis.

But conflict and crisis in Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are expected, as usual at AU summits, to overshadow the official agenda.
(Additional reporting by Barry Malone; Editing by Charles Dick)

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board Official Site
http://www.federalreserve.gov/

The Federal Open Market Committee
http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc.htm

The Beige Book
http://www.federalreserve.gov/fomc/BeigeBook/2005/

Federal Reserve Policy, Inflation, & Inflation Targeting A Report by the U.S. Congressional Joint Economic Committee
http://www.house.gov/jec/fed.htm

SECRETS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYZM58dulPE&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

THE FEDERAL RESERVE - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWKlz2Z4Nlo&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

OBAMA TRILATERAL COMMISSION END GAME
http://www.infowars.com/obama-trilateral-commission-endgame/

What is the Federal Reserve and what does it do? FEB 1,09

Periodically, I hear about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates or lowering interest rates. But what is the Federal Reserve? Is it a governmental body or a private one? Does it just set interest rates or does do other things? The Federal Reserve is considered an independent central bank. It is independent since its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or Congress. The Federal Reserve System was created by Congress in 1913 to provide for the establishment of Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes.

While the Federal Reserve is an independent institution, it is still accountable to Congress. The Constitution gives Congress the power to coin money and set its value. Congress delegated this power to the Federal Reserve in the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, but still maintains oversight authority. Under the Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978, the Federal Reserve must submit a report on the economy to Congress by February 20 and July 20 of each year. Alan Greenspan, the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, is called to testify on the report before Senate and House Committees. The Federal Reserve System is made up of a Board of Governors and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the country. There are seven members that sit on the Board of Governors. Each member must be nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. Members are appointed to serve 14-year nonrenewable terms. The President also nominates members of the Board to serve as Chair and Vice Chair for four-year renewable terms. These appointments must also be confirmed by the Senate. The most important policy making body of the Federal Reserve System is the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). It is composed of the seven Governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four other Reserve Bank presidents that serve on a rotating basis. The FOMC can effect monetary policy through the use of three tools: Open market operations--the buying and selling of U.S. government securities.
Altering reserve requirements--the amount of funds that commercial banks must hold in reserve against deposits.

Adjusting the discount rate--the interest rate charged to commercial banks.
These tools can be used to tighten or expand the money supply. For example, if the FOMC wanted to control inflation, it could restrict the nation's money supply by selling government securities and raising the amount of money that banks need to set aside for reserve requirements. Both of these actions would take money out of circulation. In theory, a smaller supply of money would lead to less spending which would lead to lower prices. The FOMC can also raise interest rates to help control inflation. By making money more expensive to borrow, consumers would be more likely to save money rather than spend it. This could also lead to lower prices. The FOMC meets eight times during the year to consider economic developments and to vote on policy. In the past 12 months, Federal Reserve officials have raised interest rates six times. During the FMC's last meeting on May 16, the committee voted to raise short-term interest rates by half of a percentage point to 6.5%, the highest level since 1991. This was done in an effort to slow the pace of the U.S. economy and keep inflation at a low, manageable level. Since the FOMC meeting in May, many observers have speculated about the Federal Reserve's likely actions when it next meets on June 27-28. One good indicator of the Fed's likely actions is the Beige Book it releases two weeks before each of its policy meetings. The Beige Book is a survey of economic conditions across the country and is used as a reference for Fed officials when considering monetary policies, such as interest rate hikes. The Federal Reserve is primarily concerned about inflation and many speculate that higher inflation may lead to another increase in interest rates.

The Fed's latest report was released June 14 and showed a leveling off of the Consumer Price Index (a broad measure of the prices of goods in the economy) for the month of May. However, the report also showed that long-term inflation, measured over a 12-month period, was up from last year. Furthermore, many expect that rising gasoline costs will contribute to a higher Consumer Price Index for the month of June. Most indications point to a boost in interest rates when the Fed convenes later this month. Contributing Author: Prof. Shad Satterthwaite, The University of Oklahoma.

The Federal Reserve is a Private Financial Institution
Text of court ruling and analysis Global Research, April 2, 2008
http://www.save-a-patriot.org/files/view/frcourt.html

Court Rules Federal Reserve is Privately Owned
Case Reveals Fed's Status as a Private Institution
------------------------------------------------------
Below are excerpts from a court case proving the Federal Reserve system's status. As you will see, the court ruled that the Federal Reserve Banks are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations, and there is not sufficient federal government control over detailed physical performance and day to day operation of the Federal Reserve Bank for it to be considered a federal agency:

Lewis v. United States, 680 F.2d 1239 (1982)John L. Lewis, Plaintiff/Appellant,v.
United States of America, Defendant/Appellee. No. 80-5905 United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.Submitted March 2, 1982.Decided April 19, 1982.As Amended June 24, 1982.

Plaintiff, who was injured by vehicle owned and operated by a federal reserve bank, brought action alleging jurisdiction under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The United States District Court for the Central District of California, David W. Williams, J., dismissed holding that federal reserve bank was not a federal agency within meaning of Act and that the court therefore lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Appeal was taken. The Court of Appeals, Poole, Circuit Judge, held that federal reserve banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the Act, but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations.

Affirmed.

1. United States
There are no sharp criteria for determining whether an entity is a federal agency within meaning of the Federal Tort Claims Act, but critical factor is existence of federal government control over detailed physical performance and day to day operation of an entity. . . .

2. United States
Federal reserve banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of a Federal Tort Claims Act, but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations in light of fact that direct supervision and control of each bank is exercised by board of directors, federal reserve banks, though heavily regulated, are locally controlled by their member banks, banks are listed neither as wholly owned government corporations nor as mixed ownership corporations; federal reserve banks receive no appropriated funds from Congress and the banks are empowered to sue and be sued in their own names. . . .

3. United States
Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, federal liability is narrowly based on traditional agency principles and does not necessarily lie when a tortfeasor simply works for an entity, like the Reserve Bank, which performs important activities for the government. . . .

4. Taxation
The Reserve Banks are deemed to be federal instrumentalities for purposes of immunity from state taxation.

5. States Taxation
Tests for determining whether an entity is federal instrumentality for purposes of protection from state or local action or taxation, is very broad: whether entity performs important governmental function.
--------------
Lafayette L. Blair, Compton, Cal., for plaintiff/appellant.

James R. Sullivan, Asst. U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., argued, for defendant/appellee; Andrea Sheridan Ordin, U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., on brief.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before Poole and Boochever, Circuit Judges, and Soloman, District Judge. (The Honorable Gus J. Solomon, Senior District Judge for the District of Oregon, sitting by designation)

Poole, Circuit Judge:

On July 27, 1979, appellant John Lewis was injured by a vehicle owned and operated by the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Lewis brought this action in district court alleging jurisdiction under the Federal Tort Clains Act (the Act), 28 U.S.C. Sect. 1346(b). The United States moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The district court dismissed, holding that the Federal Reserve Bank is not a federal agency within the meaning of the Act and that the court therefore lacked subject matter jurisdiction. We affirm.

In enacting the Federal Tort Claims Act, Congress provided a limited waiver of the sovereign immunity of the United States for certain torts of federal employees. . . . Specifically, the Act creates liability for injuries caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of an employee of any federal agency acting within the scope of his office or employment. . . . Federal agency is defined as:
the executive departments, the military departments, independent establishments of the United States, and corporations acting primarily as instrumentalities of the United States, but does not include any contractors with the United States.

28 U.S.C. Sect. 2671. The liability of the United States for the negligence of a Federal Reserve Bank employee depends, therefore, on whether the Bank is a federal agency under Sect. 2671.

[1,2] There are no sharp criteria for determining whether an entity is a federal agency within the meaning of the Act, but the critical factor is the existence of federal government control over the detailed physical performance and day to day operation of that entity. . . . Other factors courts have considered include whether the entity is an independent corporation . . ., whether the government is involved in the entity's finances. . . ., and whether the mission of the entity furthers the policy of the United States, . . . Examining the organization and function of the Federal Reserve Banks, and applying the relevant factors, we conclude that the Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities for purpose of the FTCA, but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations.

Each Federal Reserve Bank is a separate corporation owned by commercial banks in its region. The stockholding commercial banks elect two thirds of each Bank's nine member board of directors. The remaining three directors are appointed by the Federal Reserve Board. The Federal Reserve Board regulates the Reserve Banks, but direct supervision and control of each Bank is exercised by its board of directors. 12 U.S.C. Sect. 301. The directors enact by-laws regulating the manner of conducting general Bank business, 12 U.S.C. Sect. 341, and appoint officers to implement and supervise daily Bank activities. These activites include collecting and clearing checks, making advances to private and commercial entities, holding reserves for member banks, discounting the notes of member banks, and buying and selling securities on the open market. See 12 U.S.C. Sub-Sect. 341-361. Each Bank is statutorily empowered to conduct these activites without day to day direction from the federal government. Thus, for example, the interest rates on advances to member banks, individuals, partnerships, and corporations are set by each Reserve Bank and their decisions regarding the purchase and sale of securities are likewise independently made. It is evident from the legislative history of the Federal Reserve Act that Congress did not intend to give the federal government direction over the daily operation of the Reserve Banks: It is proposed that the Government shall retain sufficient power over the reserve banks to enable it to exercise a direct authority when necessary to do so, but that it shall in no way attempt to carry on through its own mechanism the routine operations and banking which require detailed knowledge of local and individual credit and which determine the funds of the community in any given instance. In other words, the reserve-bank plan retains to the Government power over the exercise of the broader banking functions, while it leaves to individuals and privately owned institutions the actual direction of
routine.

H.R. Report No. 69 Cong. 1st Sess. 18-19 (1913).

The fact that the Federal Reserve Board regulates the Reserve Banks does not make them federal agencies under the Act. In United States v. Orleans, 425 U.S. 807, 96 S.Ct. 1971, 48 L.Ed.2d 390 (1976), the Supreme Court held that a community action agency was not a federal agency or instrumentality for purposes of the Act, even though the agency was organized under federal regulations and heavily funded by the federal government. Because the agency's day to day operation was not supervised by the federal government, but by local officials, the Court refused to extend federal tort liability for the negligence of the agency's employees. Similarly, the Federal Reserve Banks, though heavily regulated, are locally controlled by their member banks. Unlike typical federal agencies, each bank is empowered to hire and fire employees at will. Bank employees do not participate in the Civil Service Retirement System. They are covered by worker's compensation insurance, purchased by the Bank, rather than the Federal Employees Compensation Act. Employees travelling on Bank business are not subject to federal travel regulations and do not receive government employee discounts on lodging and services.

The Banks are listed neither as wholly owned government corporations under 31 U.S.C. Sect. 846 nor as mixed ownership corporations under 31 U.S.C. Sect. 856, a factor considered is Pearl v. United States, 230 F.2d 243 (10th Cir. 1956), which held that the Civil Air Patrol is not a federal agency under the Act. Closely resembling the status of the Federal Reserve Bank, the Civil Air Patrol is a non-profit, federally chartered corporation organized to serve the public welfare. But because Congress' control over the Civil Air Patrol is limited and the corporation is not designated as a wholly owned or mixed ownership government corporation under 31 U.S.C. Sub-Sect. 846 and 856, the court concluded that the corporation is a non-governmental, independent entity, not covered under the Act.

Additionally, Reserve Banks, as privately owned entities, receive no appropriated funds from Congress. . . .

Finally, the Banks are empowered to sue and be sued in their own name. 12 U.S.C. Sect. 341. They carry their own liability insurance and typically process and handle their own claims. In the past, the Banks have defended against tort claims directly, through private counsel, not government attorneys . . ., and they have never been required to settle tort claims under the administrative procedure of 28 U.S.C. Sect. 2672. The waiver of sovereign immunity contained in the Act would therefore appear to be inapposite to the Banks who have not historically claimed or received general immunity from judicial process.

[3] The Reserve Banks have properly been held to be federal instrumentalities for some purposes. In United States v. Hollingshead, 672 F.2d 751 (9th Cir. 1982), this court held that a Federal Reserve Bank employee who was responsible for recommending expenditure of federal funds was a public official under the Federal Bribery Statute. That statute broadly defines public official to include any person acting for or on behalf of the Government. . . . The test for determining status as a public official turns on whether there is substantial federal involvement in the defendant's activities. United States v. Hollingshead, 672 F.2d at 754. In contrast, under the FTCA, federal liability is narrowly based on traditional agency principles and does not necessarily lie when the tortfeasor simply works for an entity, like the Reserve Banks, which perform important activities for the government.

[4, 5] The Reserve Banks are deemed to be federal instrumentalities for purposes of immunity from state taxation. . . . The test for determining whether an entity is a federal instrumentality for purposes of protection from state or local action or taxation, however, is very broad: whether the entity performs an important governmental function. . . . The Reserve Banks, which further the nation's fiscal policy, clearly perform an important governmental function.

Performance of an important governmental function, however, is but a single factor and not determinative in tort claims actions. . . . State taxation has traditionally been viewed as a greater obstacle to an entity's ability to perform federal functions than exposure to judicial process; therefore tax immunity is liberally applied. . . . Federal tort liability, however, is based on traditional agency principles and thus depends upon the principal's ability to control the actions of his agent, and not simply upon whether the entity performs an important governmental function. . . .

Brinks Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 466 F.Supp. 116 (D.D.C.1979), held that a Federal Reserve Bank is a federal instrumentality for purposes of the Service Contract Act, 41 U.S.C. Sect. 351. Citing Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the court applied the important governmental function test and concluded that the term Federal Government in the Service Contract Act must be liberally construed to effectuate the Act's humanitarian purpose of providing minimum wage and fringe benefit protection to individuals performing contracts with the federal government. Id. 288 Mich. at 120, 284 N.W.2d 667.

Such a liberal construction of the term federal agency for purposes of the Act is unwarranted. Unlike in Brinks, plaintiffs are not without a forum in which to seek a remedy, for they may bring an appropriate state tort claim directly against the Bank; and if successful, their prospects of recovery are bright since the institutions are both highly solvent and amply insured. For these reasons we hold that the Reserve Banks are not federal agencies for purposes of the Federal Tort Claims Act and we affirm the judgement of the district court.

AFFIRMED.
----------------
It is clear from this that in some circumstances, the Federal Reserve Bank can be considered a government instrumentality, but cannot be considered a federal agency, because the term carries with it the assumption that the federal government has direct oversight over what the Fed does. Of course it does not, because most people who know about this subject know that the Fed is politically independent.The only area where one might disagree with the judge's decision is where he states that the Fed furthers the federal government's fiscal policy, and therefore performs an important governmental function. While we would like to think that the federal government and the Fed work cooperatively with each other, and they may on occasion, the Fed is by no means required to do so. One example is where Rep. Wright Patman, Chairman of the House Banking Committee, said in the Congressional Record back in the '60s, that depending on the temperament of the Fed's Chairman, sometimes the Fed worked with the government's fiscal policy, and other times either went in the complete opposite direction, or threatens to do so in order to influence policy.

The common claim that the Fed is accountable to the government, because it is required to report to Congress on its activities annually, is incorrect. The reports to Congress mean little unless what the Chairman reports can be verified by complete records. From its founding to this day, the Fed has never undergone a complete independent audit. Congress time after time has requested that the Fed voluntarily submit to a complete audit, and every time, it refuses. Those in the know about the Fed, realize that it does keep certain records secret. The soon-to-be-former Chairman of the House Banking Committee, Henry Gonzales, has spoken on record repeatedly about how the Fed at one point says it does not have certain requested records, and then it is found through investigation that it in fact does have those records, or at least used to. It would appear that the Fed Chairman can say anything he wants to to Congress, and they'll have to accept what he says, because verification of what he says is not always possible.

RON PAUL VIDEO - TALKS ABOUT THE FEDERAL RESERVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnsfZwwswZE&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

WORLD AFFAIRS We Need a Bank Of the World - The financial crisis is global, and only an international central bank can deal with it.By Jeffrey E. Garten | NEWSWEEK Published Oct 25, 2008 From the magazine issue dated Nov 3, 2008 From the Editors (2) Nobel Laureates on Fixing the Economy How Green Technology Can Spark Economic Growth

If George W. Bush's upcoming global summit on how to fix the world's broken financial system—an event proposed by several European presidents and prime ministers—is to be a serious effort, the leaders should begin laying the groundwork for establishing a global central bank.The idea of such an institution would have been a political nonstarter before the current debacle. The crises of the last several decades—the Latin American debt meltdown in the early 1980s, the stock-market crash in 1987, the savings and loan collapse of the early 1990s, the Asian financial blowup of the late.1990s, the Internet-stock collapse earlier in this decade—did not involve the extent of global linkages among financial institutions or the mind-boggling consequences of complex securities that we are seeing today. In none of these previous blowups did the global credit system shut down, as it did in recent weeks; in none did governments in both the industrialized and developing world intervene so massively, coming close to nationalizing the entire global banking system.And in none was it so clear that there is no effective governing authority at the center of global finance. There was a time when the U.S. Federal Reserve played this role, as the prime financial institution of the world's most powerful economy, overseeing the one global currency. But with the growth of capital markets, the rise of currencies like the euro and the emergence of powerful players such as China, the shift of wealth to Asia and the Persian Gulf and, of course, the deep-seated problems in the American economy itself, the Fed no longer has the capability to lead singlehandedly.

After World War II, the IMF was designed to be a central financial institution, too. But over the decades it has had less and less influence on the rich industrialized nations. Its credibility with Asia and Latin America has also waned. It is still involved in bailouts for countries such as Iceland and Pakistan, but its once central role in protecting global stability is clearly over. And most important, its political legitimacy is deeply flawed, because its management structure reflects the 1950s, with Belgium having more voting power than China.In the future, a global central bank is needed to oversee the rudderless global financial system. There are a number of critical functions it could perform.It could be the lead regulator of big global financial institutions, such as Citigroup or Deutsche Bank, whose activities spill across borders. It could monitor risks that are building in the global market and create an early-warning system that alerts banks and national regulators that trouble is coming, and pushes them to modify their policies.It could act as a bankruptcy court when big global banks that operate in multiple countries need to be restructured. It could oversee not just the big commercial banks, such as Mitsubishi UFJ, but also the alternative financial system that has developed in recent years, consisting of hedge funds, private-equity groups and sovereign wealth funds—all of which are now substantially unregulated.A new institution could have influence over key exchange rates, and might lead a new monetary conference to realign the dollar and the yuan, for example, for one of its first missions would be to deal with the great financial imbalances that hang like a sword over the world economy.

A global central bank would not eliminate the need for the Federal Reserve or other national central banks, which will still have frontline responsibility for sound regulatory policies and monetary stability in their respective countries. But it would have heavy influence over them when it comes to following policies that are compatible with global growth and financial stability. For example, it would work with key countries to better coordinate national stimulus programs when the world enters a recession, as is happening now, so that the cumulative impact of the various national efforts do not so dramatically overshoot that they plant the seeds for a crisis of global inflation. This is a big threat as government spending everywhere goes into overdrive.The IMF could continue to exist, but its board would have to be restructured, its bailout role for smaller nations carefully defined, and its directions—including the severity of the conditions it imposes on borrowers—would have to come from the new central bank.To give it legitimacy, a global central bank would have to be governed in light of political realities. That means that its board would include not only the top financial officials of the United States, the U.K., the euro zone and Japan, but also China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, South Africa and perhaps a few others.If a global central bank had existed before today's financial crisis, it could have sounded a shrill warning about irresponsible financial transactions much earlier; and if it had been set up with the enforcement teeth it deserves, it would have had the clout to demand, perhaps as early as 2005, that banks and other financial institutions start building reserves when times were booming, rather than allow them to maintain lower reserves precisely because profits were soaring. It would have seen that financial institutions were accumulating debt that was 30 times their capital and imposed—or caused national central banks to impose—more sober leverage ratios.A global central bank worth its salt would have reined in not just commercial banks but also loosely-regulated investment banks, because all such institutions would have been obligated to adhere to the global banks' regulatory standards or else be blacklisted in global markets. It would have intervened to deal with Lehman Brothers and AIG, both with truly global reach, and thereby put the burden not just on American taxpayers but also taxpayers of other countries who used these institutions' services.Had it existed, a global central bank would have acted without the air of panic that has been exhibited by national central banks and finance ministries in this meltdown. Ideally, it would have gathered its governing board well in advance of a financial blowup to execute a coordinated rescue and global-stimulus plan, part of what should be its ongoing role of preparing for crises.

It would be hard to overestimate the political pushback that any official proposal for a global central bank would draw from various constituencies, most especially within the United States. Among their many charges, critics will protest the establishment of world government. But we have a World Trade Organization with legally binding powers over trade disputes. We have a World Health Organization for communicable disease with the ability to quarantine entire countries. And a World Court functions today that has considerable legal and moral clout.No one should want too much globally centralized oversight. But the world's gathering misery shows that too little leadership from the center can be equally dangerous. The November summit itself won't solve anything, but if it gave instructions to finance ministers and central bankers to explore what a new central bank could do, with a deadline to come back with concrete ideas shortly after a new U.S. president is inaugurated, it will have made real progress on one of the great problems of our times.Garten is the Juan Trippe Professor of international trade and finance at the Yale School of Management.2008

WORLDS CENTRAL BANK - STORY
http://www.winterspeak.com/2008/10/worlds-central-bank.html

Enlightened Economics
http://enlightenedeconomics.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/out-of-the-ashes-a-global-central-bank/

Our financial overseers will create a world central bank in the next few years. Growing higher consciousness in the world will enable it to become a reality. This bank will have a mandate to monitor, regulate, and maintain global currency, credit, and debt issuance. It will ensure that growth of these activities roughly matches global economic output. It will come about as the chaos and inadequacies engendered in our present monetary system become evident to everyone and a world central bank seen as the best solution.Individuals and groups in financial markets everywhere, lacking inner fulfillment, have demonstrated inordinate greed resulting in reckless financial games and gambling – are bringing the financial system to its knees.Such mismanagement in the financial system, I believe, will require the new world central bank to disallow banks everywhere from continuing in unfettered debt creation and speculative excesses. In search of ever higher returns, banks created overly lax lending standards, highly leveraged loans, obscure financial entities bearing major financial risks unconsolidated in their financial statements, and generally ran down the quality of their assets and reserves to unsafe levels.

Shadow banking system larger than conventional banking
All the while an even bigger, massively leveraged, totally unregulated, thinly capitalized, shadow-banking system was allowed to balloon by bank regulators. And it is now in the process of imploding! Bill Gross, managing director of PIMCO, the world’s largest bond fund, said this recently about the shadow banking system: Our modern shadow banking system craftily dodges the reserve requirements of traditional institutions and promotes a chain letter, pyramid scheme of leverage, based in many cases on no reserve cushion whatsoever.Due to the enormous growth of irresponsible central bank and banking activities globally, plus the vast, mushrooming credit creation of the shadow banking system – the world’s money supply is expanding out-of-control.

Unprecedented money supply growth creates inflation as bad as 1970s
Globally we see that, China [is] registering an 18% plus growth in money, India 22.4% a year growth, Singapore 14%, Britain up by 12.3%, Western Europe 11.5%, Australia 16%, Canada 13%, and Saudi Arabia 22%! So says The Mogambo Guru, Richard Daughty. These are broad money supply figures. John Williams of www.shadowstats.com shows the US broad measure of money supply, as of early February 2008, increasing at annual rate of 16.8%. (The US Federal Reserve stopped publishing this measure in March 2006 claiming it costs too much to produce. Many economists suspect that they just wanted to hide the ramping-up of the US money supply.)Even Marketwatch’s chief economist, Irwin Kellner, is concerned about US money supply growth. He said recently, that, The rate of growth for highly liquid funds which the St. Louis Fed calls MZM [i.e. physical money, checking and money market accounts, etc.]… soared by an annual rate of 22.7% between December 24, 2007 and February 18 of this year. He adds, it has created a whole lot of inflation.The link between an expanding money supply and inflation is firmly established. As the Bank of England’s Governor, Mervyn King quoting a highly respected study, said, that Over the 30 year horizon 1968-98, the correlation coefficient between the growth rates of both narrow and broad money, on the one hand, and inflation, on the other, was 0.99. Thus in the words of Milton Friedman, the recently deceased Nobel Economics prize winner, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.

In the US, consumer price inflation using the politically biased, understated, consumer price index (CPI-U) is in January 2008 up 4.3% from a year earlier. But using the CPI methodology as of 1980, it is almost hyperinflationary at close to 12%! Inflation in China is now running at 8.7%, while in the EU and the UK, though more moderate at 3.4% and 3.1% respectively, it is picking-up significantly and well above their respective central bank targets.The foregoing suggests that the present global monetary and financial system is reaching a state of extraordinary instability. The danger is the possibility of rapidly growing, unstoppable inflation culminating in a hyperinflationary episode such as is now occurring in Zimbabwe. Or, a threat of a deflationary bust similar to the Great Depression.

Higher consciousness the only real answer
The only real answer to such economic threats is higher global consciousness. This, I am convinced, will gain traction. (See my post, The Missing Ingredient In Economics — Consciousness!). In future years, this higher consciousness will, amongst other things, first manifest itself by allowing our financial overseers to see the need for, and create, a world central bank. In ages past central banks utilized gold to help create monetary order. A new world central bank might well find a role for gold again, but in an updated, modern form. I will write about this in another post.

Obama: Trilateral Commission Endgame Patrick Wood January 29, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

Editor’s note: For clarity, members of the Trilateral Commission appear in bold type.

As previously noted in Pawns of the Global Elite,
http://www.augustreview.com/news_commentary/u.s._elections/obama_and
_mccain:_pawns_of_the_global_elite?_2008080597/
Barack Obama was groomed for the presidency by key members of the Trilateral Commission. Most notably, it was Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller in 1973, who was Obama’s principal foreign policy advisor.The Obama presidency is a disingenuous fraud. He was elected by promising to bring change, yet from the start change was never envisioned. He was carefully groomed and financed by the Trilateral Commission and their friends. The pre-election attention is reminiscent of Brzezinski’s tutoring of Jimmy Carter prior to Carter’s landslide election in 1976.For anyone who doubts the Commission’s continuing influence on Obama, consider that he has already appointed no less than nine members of the Commission to top-level and key positions in his Administration.

According to official Trilateral Commission membership lists, there are only 87 members from the United States (the other 337 members are from other regions). Thus, in less than two weeks since his inauguration, Obama’s appointments encompass more than 10% of Commission’s entire U.S. membership.Is this a mere coincidence or is it a continuation of dominance over the Executive Branch since 1976? (For important background, read The Trilateral Commission: Usurping Sovereignty.)
http://www.augustreview.com/issues/globalization/the_trilateral_
commission:_usurping_sovereignty_2007080373/

1- Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner
2- Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice
3- National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon
4- Chairman, Economic Recovery Committee, Paul Volker
5- Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis C. Blair 6- Assistant Secretary of State, Asia & Pacific, Kurt M. Campbell
7- Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg
8- State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Haass
9- State Department, Special Envoy, Dennis Ross
10- State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke

There are many other incidental links to the Trilateral 12- 12- Commission, for instance, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is married to Commission member William Jefferson Clinton. Geithner’s informal group of advisors include E. Gerald Corrigan, Paul Volker, Alan Greenspan and Peter G. Peterson, among others. His first job after college was with Henry Kissinger at Kissinger Associates. Brent Scowcroft has been an unofficial advisor to Obama and was mentor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Robert Zoelick is currently president of the World Bank

Laurence Summers, White House Economic Advisor, was mentored by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin during the Clinton administration.There are many other such links, but these are enough for you to get the idea of what’s going on here.

Analyze the positions

Notice that five of the Trilateral appointees involve the State Department, where foreign policy is created and implemented. Hillary Clinton is certainly in line with these policies because her husband, Bill Clinton, is also a member. What is more important than economic recovery? Paul Volker is the answer. What is more important than national intelligence? Thomas Donilon and Adm. Dennis Blair hold the two top positions.What is more important than the Treasury and the saving of our financial system? Timothy Geithner says he has the answers. This leaves Susan Rice, Ambassador to the United Nations. The U.N. is the chosen instrument for ultimate global governance. Rice will help to subvert the U.S. into the U.N. umbrella of vassal states.

Conflict of interest

Since 1973, the Commission has met regularly in plenary sessions to discuss policy position papers developed by its members. Policies are debated in order to achieve consensuses. Respective members return to their own countries to implement policies consistent with those consensuses.The original stated purpose of the Trilateral Commission was to create a New International Economic Order. Its current statement has morphed into fostering a closer cooperation among these core democratic industrialized areas of the world with shared leadership responsibilities in the wider international system. (See The Trilateral Commission web site)
http://www.trilateral.org/about.htm

U.S. Trilateral members implement policies determined by a majority of non-Americans that most often work against the best interests of the country.How, you say? Since the administration of Jimmy Carter, Trilaterals held these massively influential positions:

1. Six out of eight World Bank presidents, including the current appointee, Robert Zoelick
2. Eight out of ten U.S. Trade Representatives
3. President and/or Vice-President of every elected administration
4. Seven out of twelve Secretaries of State
5. Nine out of twelve Secretaries of Defense
6. Is this sinking in? Are you grasping the enormity of it?

Endgame is at hand

For the Trilateral crowd, the game is about over. The recent reemergence of original members Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft and Paul Volker serves to reinforce the conclusion that the New International Economic Order is near.The Trilateral Commission and its members have engineered the global economic, trade and financial system that is currently in a state of total chaos.

Does that mean that they have lost? Hardly.

As I recently wrote in Chorus call for New World Order, they are using the crisis to destroy what remains of national sovereignty, so that a New World Order can finally and permanently be put into place.
http://www.augustreview.com/news_commentary/trilateral_commission/
chorus_call_for_new_world_order_20090108109/

Conclusion

The Obama presidency is a disingenuous fraud. He was elected by promising to bring change, yet from the start change was never envisioned. He was carefully groomed and financed by the Trilateral Commission and their friends.In short, Obama is merely the continuation of disastrous, non-American policies that have brought economic ruin upon us and the rest of the world. The Obama experience rivals that of Jimmy Carter, whose campaign slogan was I will never lie to you.When the Democrat base finally realizes that it has been conned again (Bill Clinton and Al Gore were members), perhaps it will unleash a real political revolution that will oust Trilateral politicians, operatives and policies from the shores of our country.If the reader is a Democrat, be aware that many Republicans and conservatives are still licking their wounds after finally realizing that George Bush and Dick Cheney worked the same con on them for a disastrous eight years of the same policies!

Research related articles:

2008 Trilateral Commission Attendee List
http://www.infowars.com/2008-trilateral-commission-attendee-list/

Odds-on: Who will Obama tap for Secretary of State?
http://www.infowars.com/gambling-house-placing-bets-on-obamas-secretary-of-state/

NORTH KOREA WARNS OF WAR WITH SOUTH

Church Organization Refuses To Divulge If Pastors Are On FEMA Payroll
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Monday, February 2, 2009

A large church organization has refused to divulge how many of its pastors are on the FEMA payroll, after a member expressed concerns about religious leaders being used to condition their congregation to accept the declaration of martial law.In a May 2006 story we first broke the shocking news that FEMA was training pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to obey the government in preparation for a declaration of martial law, property and firearm seizures, and forced relocation.Despite debunkers and urban myth websites claiming the story was a hoax, it was confirmed in triplicate by mainstream news outlets over a year later.A KSLA news report confirmed that Clergy Response Teams are being trained by the federal government to “quell dissent” and pacify citizens to obey the government in the event of a declaration of martial law.

Watch the clip below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRIDNQNsUss&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

Concerned about such developments, a member of the California-based Worldwide Church of God, an organization that boasts 64,000 members in 860 congregations in about 90 countries, asked if any of the church’s pastors were involved in the FEMA program.
The head office quickly replied hastily within an hour by telling me, Sorry, that is privileged information, the man states. The reply was in big bold script like I’ve never seen before in emails. I was also a bit put off by the word privileged.I responded to the stated email and reworded my request slightly by demanding, are there ANY of our pastors on the payroll of FEMA , YES or NO. Their first response came after about an hour. But, it has been almost 24 hours and I am still waiting for my church’s second response to my second request,he adds.It seems that church groups are reticent to let slip any information concerning the issue of pastors being trained to help manage a state of martial law following the controversy stirred up by the exposure of the program in 2006.Indeed, the pastors that took a risk by first divulging the information to us were later threatened by Homeland Security and told to keep their mouths shut.With new legislation in Congress pending that will mandate the set-up of a network of FEMA camp facilities to be used to house U.S. citizens in the event of a national emergency, along with the announcement that tens of thousands of active military personnel are to be placed inside the United States under Northcom, partly for purposes of dealing with civil unrest and crowd control, fears about a state of martial law being prepared are no longer the fantasies of paranoid conspiracy theorists, but an all too real possibility as we move towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

Volcano erupts near Tokyo raining ash down on city FEB 1,09

TOKYO – A volcano erupted near Tokyo early Monday, spewing a plume of smoke more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) high and raining ash down on parts of the city. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.Mount Asama, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Tokyo, erupted at 1:51 am (0451 GMT) Monday, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. Chunks of rock from the explosion were found about 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) away from the volcano.The agency said volcanic ash fell on nearby areas as well as parts of Tokyo. TV reports showed neighborhoods sprinkled with white flakes.An alert level of three, which urges nearby residents to take caution, was kept in place for a 2.5 mile (4 kilometer) radius. Alert level four advises residents to prepare for evacuation, while level five, the highest, orders evacuation, according to the agency.The last major eruption of Mount Asamo took place in September 2004, the agency said.With 108 active volcanos, Japan is among the most seismically busy countries in the world. The country lies in the Ring of Fire — a series of volcanoes and fault lines that outline the Pacific Ocean.

Geologist: No big energy bursts at Alaska volcano By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 5:47 pm ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Geologists monitoring Alaska's Mount Redoubt say the volcano is rumbling and emitting steam but has shown no dramatic burst of energy in the last 24 hours.Geologist Tina Neal at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said no flyovers were planned for Sunday unless activity increased significantly.Flyovers on Saturday found a quickly growing area of vigorous steaming at the 7,100-foot level on the north side of the mountain.The area is just below a dome that formed the last time Redoubt erupted in 1990.The activity adds to concerns that Redoubt is close to an eruption. An eruption in December 1989 sent an ash cloud 150 miles that flamed out the jet engines of a KLM flight carrying 231 passengers on its way to Anchorage.On the Net:Alaska Volcano Observatory: http://www.avo.alaska.edu Ash hazards: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards.

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.

Snow storms bring London and Paris to standstill
02/02 13:02 CETworld news
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/02/02/2009/snow-storms-bring-london-and-paris-to-standstill/

It has been predicted for more than a week but large parts of London and south-east England have been halted by an unusually heavy snowstorm. The capital has been covered by a thick blanket of snow following one of the largest flurries in almost two decades. It has caused travel chaos with several London Underground lines shut along with bus and train services. Flights to and from all airports are subject to delays or cancellations. Many schools and offices have also been forced to close for the day. The scene was the same in Paris this morning where transport teams were out early to clear and grit frozen roads before rush hour. But that did little to prevent dozens of accidents. Large parts of Belgium, Spain and Italy have also been hit and some forecasters say it may get worse with up to 20 centrimetres expected to fall in some areas of Europe later this week.

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).

No EU referendum in Iceland under new government
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today FEB 2,09 @ 09:53 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The new Icelandic government is to examine the question of joining the EU and the euro. But the junior partner in the new coalition, the Left Green Movement, says no EU referendum is likely any time soon. The caretaker government - a coalition between the centre-left Social Democratic Alliance and the hard-left Left Green Movement, backed by the centrist Progressive Party - took office on Sunday (1 February) after the previous administration stepped down.The changeover comes amid street protests caused by the economic crisis last month, with the European Commission saying Iceland could join the EU by 2011 if it wants to take shelter in the bloc. The new government has said it will establish a parliamentary committee to examine the question of joining the European Union and whether the euro should be adopted to replace the battered krona. The committee will report on its findings on 15 April ahead of snap general elections on 25 April.But the Left Green Movement has ruled out the possibility of an EU membership referendum in tandem with the April vote, despite such ideas being floated by the Social Democrats in coalition talks.

There won't be any referendum on joining the European Union during the lifetime of this government, Finnur Dellsen, assistant to Left Green Movement party leader Steingrimur Sigfusson, told this website.The 10-member cabinet of the caretaker government is split evenly between both parties, with two non-politicians also appointed to ministerial posts.But the radical Left Green Movement has spiked in popularity following the economic turmoil, while bankers and free-market advocates have become persona non grata.Current polls put the Left Greens at 32.6 percent, with the Independence Party on 22.1 percent and the Social Democrats 19.2 percent, according to Iceland's Frettabladid newspaper.Mr Dellsen said the Left Greens are open to two referendums after the April election - one to allow negotiations with Brussels to begin and a second to allow actual accession when the talks end.But his party would fight on the No side in any campaign, he added, saying there is a democratic deficit and lack of transparency at the heart of the EU, as well as listing worries about social provision. One major issue is workers' rights - we are very concerned about recent European Court of Justice decisions that could prevent unions from taking action to defend these rights, and on the general neo-liberal direction of policies, Mr Dellsen explained. Above all, the country is worried that it would have to surrender management of its unsubsidised but highly successful fisheries to Brussels.Our fisheries in particular have been maintained in a sustainable manner, unlike those of the EU, which has been unable to control overfishing, said Mr Dellsen.Meanwhile, Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdardottir - the country's new prime minister and the world's first openly gay national leader - said one of the government's first moves will be to replace the leadership of the central bank, the Sedlabanki.Despite its left-wing flavour, the government was clear that it would adhere to the programme agreed between the IMF and the outgoing administration, and base itself on a very prudent and responsible policy in economic and fiscal matters, adding however that it will, at the same time, prioritise social values, the principles of sustainable development, women's rights, equality and justice.

REVELATION 9:1-11(THE TRIBULATION CONTINUES)
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Common chemical causes locusts to swarm By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer – Thu Jan 29, 8:15 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A chemical that affects people's moods also can transform easygoing desert locusts into terrifying swarms that ravage the countryside, scientists report. Here we have a solitary and lonely creature, the desert locust. But just give them a little serotonin, and they go and join a gang, observed Malcolm Burrows of the University of Cambridge in England.The brain chemical serotonin has been linked to mood in people. It plays a role in sexual desire, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, too.Under certain conditions, locusts triple the amount of serotonin in their systems, changing the insects from loners to pack animals, Burrows and his co-authors report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.These packs can be devastating. They affect 20 percent of the Earth's land. Last year a swarm nearly four miles long plagued Australia. They also occur in Africa and Asia and have affected the western U.S.Serotonin profoundly influences how we humans behave and interact, said co-author Swidbert Ott of Cambridge, so to find that the same chemical in the brain is what causes a normally shy anti-social insect to gang up in huge groups is amazing.Now that they know what causes the swarming behavior, scientists can begin looking for ways to prevent it.It opens up a whole line of inquiry into what we could to break apart these swarms before they develop, said co-author Stephen M. Rogers, who is affiliated both with Cambridge and the University of Oxford in England.But, he added, you need to get it at an early stage. Once you have several million or billion locusts, there is a limit to what you can do.Calling the report a breakthrough, Paul Anthony Stevenson of Leipzig University in Germany said it harbors considerable potential for finding ways to block swarming. But that will require a lot more research, said Stevenson, who was not part of the research team.

Researchers led by Michael L. Anstey of Oxford were studying the changes in locust behavior and tested them for a variety of chemicals. The only change they found was that when the insects were swarming, they had about three times more serotonin in their systems than when they were living as solitary creatures.So the scientists took some solitary locusts and injected serotonin into them. Sure enough they changed in appearance and flocked together.The Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde transformation took only a few hours.It turns out that locusts produce more serotonin when circumstances force them together and they are stimulated by the sight, smell and touch of many other locusts. This can happen, for example, when drought reduces their food supply and causes locusts to gather at a few remaining sources of food.

Indeed, the scientists found that tickling the insects' back legs for a couple hours could induce the locusts to make more serotonin.Once researchers determined that serotonin causes the change, they gave locusts drugs that blocked serotonin and then exposed them to situations that normally cause swarming. But the change didn't occur.

To actually be able to stop it from happening, that was very exciting, Anstey said.
Now the question is how to target locusts without affecting humans or other animals.
Also part of the research team was Stephen J. Simpson of Oxford and the University of Sydney in Australia. The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of England, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, England's Royal Society and the Australian Research Council Federation. On the Net: Science: http://www.sciencemag.org (This version CORRECTS Web site to http://www.sciencemag.org, sted http://www.science.org.)

DISEASES

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

Farmer in central China sick with bird flu Sun Feb 1, 8:33 am ET

BEIJING – A 21-year-old woman in central China has been infected by the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the country's eighth reported case of the disease this year, the Health Ministry said.The woman, a farmer surnamed Shu in the central province of Hunan, fell ill Jan. 23 after handling poultry that died from virus, the ministry said on its Web site late Saturday without giving more details. She was in stable condition and recovering, it said.China has reported seven other cases of H5N1 since January, five of which were fatal.The virulent virus has killed 254 people worldwide since 2003, including 25 in China, according to the World Health Organization.While the disease remains hard for humans to catch, scientists have warned if outbreaks among poultry are not controlled, the virus may mutate into a form more easily passed between people, possibly triggering a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

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

Arsonists hunted as Australian wildfires raze homes Sun Feb 1, 3:25 am ET

SYDNEY, (AFP) – Australian police said Sunday they were hunting arsonists believed to have sparked a wildfire that destroyed at least 29 homes as a blistering heatwave claimed dozens of lives.The blaze is being treated as a suspicious fire and investigators believe it was deliberately lit, police in southeastern Victoria state said.The fire has destroyed homes, property and livestock in the Yinnar, Boolarra, Mirboo North and surrounding areas, the statement said.Firefighters were bringing the inferno under control Sunday after it swept for days through bushland as dry as tinder, but the worst heatwave in a century still posed a threat, officials said.

This is not over yet, Victorian Premier John Brumby told reporters at a firefighters' staging area in the Gippsland town of Churchill.This is still going to be a tough period and we're still going to have to work together to get through it.
Another six fires broke out overnight Saturday and on Sunday and while lightning was believed to be the cause of four of them, arson was suspected in the other two, authorities reported.The government's Australian Institute of Criminology released a report Sunday which said half of the nation's 20,000 to 30,000 bushfires each year are deliberately lit.Milder weather conditions had helped firefighters contain the main fire, which scorched more than 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres), the Country Fire Authority said.Temperatures in Victoria topped 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) for a record-breaking third consecutive day on Friday, but dropped from their sizzling peaks to about 30 degrees Celsius on Sunday.Emergency crews had made good progress on containment lines around the main blaze but unstable winds were still posing a threat, said incident controller Ben Rankin.However, it's good conditions, the best we've had up to date, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.The fire authority confirmed that 29 homes in the Darlimurla and Boolarra areas had been destroyed by the fire since Friday and warned that the figure could rise.The worst heatwave in a century has also been blamed for deaths from heat-related stress in the Victorian state capital Melbourne and the capital of neighbouring South Australia, Adelaide.At least six people have died in Melbourne and more than 500,000 homes and businesses were left without power on Friday night after an electrical substation exploded in the heat.

Power had been restored Sunday.

In Adelaide, at least 35 suspected heat-related deaths were reported after the city sweltered under almost a week of temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, including a maximum of 45.7 degrees on Wednesday.While temperatures were forecast to remain below 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in days, officials urged residents to check on their elderly neighbours. We know older people suffer more in the heat, especially those who are already ill with chronic conditions like heart or kidney disease, said state health chief medical officer Paddy Phillips. Homeless people, and those who have homes without fans or air-conditioning, have been offered refuge in an air-conditioned city bus depot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Israeli Leaders Divided Over Emerging Gaza Deal SUN FEB 1,09

JERUSALEM (AFP)--Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday voiced conflicting views on an emerging Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.The two ministers, bitter rivals in the upcoming February 10 election, spoke at the weekly cabinet meeting where Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to strike after Gaza militants fired rockets into Israel two weeks after it ended its devastating offensive in Gaza.While Israel refuses to have any dealing with the Islamist group which rejects its right to exist, Barak said Cairo is playing a key role in securing calm in and around the impoverished Palestinian territory.Any thought that we can maintain a calm in the south and more effective action against arms smuggling (from Egypt into Gaza)... without the Egyptians is an illusion detached from reality, Barak said during the cabinet meeting.There isn't and there has never been any intention to reach a deal with Hamas, the defense ministry quoted the Labour party leader as saying.A senior defense official said that Israel was in contact with Egypt, which was brokering an indirect ceasefire deal with Hamas. He refused to give any details on the emerging agreement.We are holding talks on a deal with Egypt and Hamas are talking with the Egyptians separately, he told AFP, requesting anonymity.But Livni, who chairs the centrist Kadima party, rejected any agreement involving Hamas, which Israel and the United States consider a terrorist organization.A deal with Hamas would give it legitimacy and anyone working towards one with Egypt must understand that... I support agreements against Hamas and not with Hamas. We must not hold negotiations on a ceasefire, Livni's ministry quoted her as telling the cabinet.The Israeli discussions came as representatives of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups gathered in Cairo to discuss a Gaza ceasefire.

Egypt has been mediating a truce after Israel and Hamas halted hostilities on January 18, ending a devastating 22-day war that killed more than 1,330 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal on Sunday ruled out any permanent ceasefire until Israel ends a crippling blockade it imposed on Gaza after the Islamists seized power there in June 2007.But the senior Israeli official said that the Jewish state is not ready to adhere to any agreement that has a time limit. We want a deal that will be valid for as long as the sides respect it.Israel has linked the opening of the Gaza border crossings to the release of a captured soldier held by Hamas in the enclave since June 2006. (END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-01-091411ET.

Israel strikes Gaza after militant rocket fire By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 7:41 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel threatened harsh and disproportionate retaliation after Gaza militants fired at least 10 rockets and mortar shells across the border Sunday and warplanes later bombed the area where Hamas smuggles in weapons from Egypt through tunnels.The flare-up raised the risk of growing violence in the days leading up to Israel's parliamentary elections on Feb. 10.Since an unwritten truce ended Israel's offensive in Gaza two weeks ago, rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas has increased steadily. Israeli retaliation, including brief ground incursions and bombings of rocket launchers and smuggling tunnels, is also intensifying.If there is shooting at residents of the south, there will be an Israeli response that will be harsh and disproportionate by its nature, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet.Israel launched its three-week offensive with the aim of ending years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel. It left nearly 1,300 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to Gaza officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.A late afternoon mortar barrage on the southern Israeli village of Nahal Oz, next to the Gaza border fence, wounded two soldiers and a civilian, the military and rescue services said. Earlier, a rocket landed near a kindergarten, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.Late Sunday, Palestinians reported huge explosions as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the Egypt-Gaza border area, where Hamas operates tunnels to smuggle in weapons, food and other goods, Palestinians said.Israeli aircraft first flew over the area in southern Gaza setting off sonic booms. Residents said hundreds of people who work in the tunnels fled, then waited in the streets of the border city, Rafah, for the attacks to end so they could return.The Israeli military said warplanes attacked six tunnels and also an unspecified Hamas post in northern Gaza. No casualties were reported from any of the bombings.Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said Olmert's threat was an attempt by Israel to find false pretexts to increase its aggression against the people of Gaza.

Hamas has not taken responsibility for the new attacks, which have been claimed by smaller militant groups. But Israel says it holds Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since seizing power in June 2007, responsible for all attacks coming from there.Israeli defense officials said they had not yet formulated a response to the strikes, but said a return to the offensive — in which Israeli tanks and infantry units penetrated deep into Gaza — was unlikely. Instead, they said Israel would consider airstrikes, including attempts to kill Hamas leaders. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified security matters.Olmert is in the last weeks of his term. He resigned in September over a string of corruption investigations. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, his Kadima Party's chosen successor, failed to put together an alternative government, forcing the upcoming election.

Two candidates for premier — Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Livni — are in the government, competing for credit for last month's bruising Gaza offensive. The third, front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu of the hawkish Likud Party, is sniping from the side.All three candidates to replace Olmert leveled their own threats against Hamas.Livni told the Cabinet meeting that Israel hammered Gaza for three weeks to persuade Palestinian militants to stop their daily rocket barrages.At a certain point, we stopped to see if they had got the very clear message that Israel will not accept fire at its civilians, she said, according to participants who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.With the resumption of the rocket attacks, she said, the response must be harsh and immediate.Barak told the Cabinet that Israel would respond, but called for an end to running off at the mouth about the options, even in an election season, his office said in a statement.

Netanyahu told reporters that Israel must be tough in its response, and then work for removal of the Hamas regime in Gaza, and removal of the threat of rockets (falling) on the suburbs of Tel Aviv.Pre-election polls show Netanyahu with a lead over Livni, and Barak trailing far behind. Both Israel and Hamas have been talking to Egyptian mediators about a long-term truce. Israel wants an end to arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas wants Israel and Egypt to reopen Gaza's borders, which have been virtually sealed since Hamas seized power. Responding to Israel's concerns, U.S. Army engineers arrived at the Gaza-Egypt frontier on Sunday to set up ground-penetrating radar to detect smuggling tunnels, an Egyptian security official said. Inside the Rafah terminal — the gateway between Egypt and Gaza — four army trucks loaded with wooden crates and drills could be seen accompanied by four U.S. Army engineers. The Egyptian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. In Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters he will not hold reconciliation talks with Hamas unless it accepts his authority. The two sides have been divided ever since Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas' Fatah forces, which now rule the West Bank. Reconciliation between the factions could make it easier to reach a more lasting solution to the Gaza-Israel conflict.
Associated Press Writer Paul Schemm in Cairo contributed to this report.

FITNA ISLAM
VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7961200236915885171&ei=Unl3SYqPApPSjgKmzbilDw&q=fitna

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

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

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

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

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

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

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

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON FEB 02,2009

09:30 AM -18.87
10:00 AM -117.54
10:30 AM -55.51
11:00 AM -83.23
11:30 AM -94.14
12:00 PM -68.26
12:30 PM -52.01
01:00 PM -18.20
01:30 PM -69.21
02:00 PM -108.64
02:30 PM -115.73
03:00 PM -131.89
03:30 PM -74.31
04:00 PM -64.11 7936.75

S&P 500 825.43 -0.45

NASDAQ 1494.93 +18.01

GOLD 904.70 -23.70

OIL 40.37 -1.31

TSE 300 8606.90 -88.00

CDNX 872.36 -10.27

S&P/TSX/60 518.68 -4.60

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -8.84%
S&P -8.57%
Nasdaq -6.38%
TSX Advances 560,declines 593,unchanged 203,Volume 1,086,549,775.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 392,Declines 346,Unchanged 379,Volume 116,447,310.

Dow -90 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -74 points at high today.
Dow -118 points at low today.
Oil opens at $40.47 today,Gold opens at $917.70 today.
Dow poised to break below January lows (7,909 points).
Europe -2%-3%,drop lead by Financials.
Mattel -16%,reports earnings below expectations.
Mattel International sales -20%,Barbie sales -21%,Hot Wheels -22%.
Rockwell Automation -20%,Earnings below estimate.
Chip sales Sink.
Bankruptcies on the HORIZON.
DECEMBER-JANUARY were typically strong months,not last year though.
FEBRUARY 1 was down 7 of the last 10 years.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -120 points at low today so far.
Dow -33 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,445,declines 2,144,unchanged 96,New Highs 6,New Lows 171.
Volume 2,629,323,708
NASDAQ Advances 1,315,declines 1,303,unchanged 112,New highs 5,New Lows 133.
Volume 901,983,844
TSX Advances 348,declines 616,unchanged 206,Volume 407,344,325.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 198,Declines 268,Unchanged 252,Volume 55,743,955.

JANUARY RETAIL SALES
Macys -6.8%,Saks -17.5%,Kohls -15.6%,Nordstrom -14.1%,JC Penny -11.5%.
FED LOAN SURVEY
-Banks:
-55% tighten credit standards.
-40% reduce size of home equity loans.
-35% trim credit card limits.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -131 points at low today.
Dow -6 points at high today.
Dow -0.80% today Volume 293,324,723.
Dow falls as much 1.7%(131 points)before rebounding.
Dow drops to lowest since NOVEMBER 20,2008.
S&P 500 -0.05% today Volume N/A
Stocks mixed today.
Stocks slump again on Economic data.
Nasdaq +1.22% today Volume 1,881,582,537.

Australia swelters in deadly heatwave - VIDEO,STORY
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/01/02/2009/australia-swelters-in-deadly-heatwave/

World Economic Forum ends amid gloom - VIDEO,STORY
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/01/02/2009/world-economic-forum-ends-amid-gloom/

Op-Ed Contributor A Stimulus Package for the World By ROBERT B. ZOELLICK
Published: January 22, 2009 Washington

WITHIN his first 100 days, President Obama will attend his inaugural global summit meeting: an April gathering of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations in London. The president, with bipartisan backing in Congress, should send an audacious signal of hope. Starting with the United States, Mr. Obama should call for each developed country to pledge 0.7 percent of its stimulus package to a vulnerability fund for assisting developing countries that can’t afford bailouts and deficits.The United States could begin by pledging some $6 billion of its own $825 billion stimulus package — just 4 percent of what was provided to American International Group. With this modest step, the United States would speed up global recovery, help the world’s poor and bolster its foreign policy influence. There is no time to waste. The economic crisis has already pushed an estimated 100 million people back into poverty. Slumping exports have helped imperil the jobs of workers around the world. In many places foreign and domestic investment is frozen. So far we have avoided the currency collapses of 1997 and 1998, but 2009 will be a dangerous year.

The good news is that if Mr. Obama sends the right signal, many countries are likely to contribute to a vulnerability fund. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed interest in the idea. Last year President Nicolas Sarkozy of France called for an increase in aid, and has taken a particular interest in Africa. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany wants to help finance construction projects in poor countries.Japan has already pledged to help the World Bank recapitalize banks in poor countries. Australia and Russia have supported a food vulnerability fund that we created last year. Canada has been increasing its aid; the European Commission has been debating over contributing more assistance. Last year, Saudi Arabia gave an emergency $500 million grant to the World Food Program.Italy, as the host of the Group of 8 industrialized nations finance ministers’ meeting next month, should pave the way for the Group of 20 meeting by making the drive for a vulnerability fund a priority. The World Bank, with the United Nations and regional development banks, could then manage the fund to facilitate fast and flexible aid delivery, backed by safeguards to ensure that the money is well spent.There are three priorities for vulnerability fund investments. First, we need safety net programs that are aligned with the developing country’s ability to put them to good use. Over the past year as food and fuel prices soared, the World Bank worked with United Nations agencies to increase food-for-work programs, seed and fertilizer projects, maternal and child nutrition programs and other assistance. We have committed nearly $1.2 billion for projects like a school meals program for more than 30,000 children in Haiti, a cash-for-work program in Sierra Leone for road work and drainage, and grants for farmers in Rwanda to buy fertilizer. These investments in health, education and nutrition are more than just temporary poverty relief. They are investments in human capital. The vulnerability fund would help expand these modest shock absorbers for the poor.

Second, investments in infrastructure can yield huge benefits. Just look at China, which demonstrated 10 years ago that wisely chosen infrastructure projects can create jobs while building a foundation for productivity and growth. The World Bank is increasing support for such projects to $15 billion a year over the next three years. This includes financing for low-carbon technology projects as well as public-private partnerships that will create jobs while improving the delivery of basic services. Third, the vulnerability fund would help support small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance institutions. Small businesses are the most dynamic and flexible employers, and the best safety net is a job. Small businesses operate where Wall Street, and even Main Street, give way to villages with no streets. The credit contraction squeezes out small businesses and their lenders, while state-owned enterprises and big companies get bailed out. The World Bank has already responded to the global crisis with plans to recapitalize small banks in developing countries, as well as by providing credit lines for microfinance institutions that serve the poorest people. The vulnerability fund would continue these initiatives.

The conventional wisdom is that Congress can’t be bothered with foreign assistance. In reality, prodded by churches, schools and community groups, both Democrats and Republicans have generously backed well-run programs to improve nutrition and fight hunger, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Congress has supported microfinance and small business development worldwide. There is an additional incentive for America to help: building projects abroad are likely to increase demand for American-made equipment.Poor people in Africa should not pay the price for a crisis that originated in America. The total aid from developed countries is about $100 billion a year, a modest sum in light of developing countries’ needs. The United Nations target for aid is 0.7 percent of an economy. The United States contribution is about 0.2 percent, although polls consistently show the American public is willing to contribute much more. Support for a vulnerability fund can help limit the depth and length of the international downturn, prevent the contagion of social unrest and help save a generation from a new poverty trap. For less than 1 percent of America’s stimulus package, President Obama can lead the G-20 in London and reintroduce America to the world. Robert B. Zoellick is the president of the World Bank.

Owen Hembry: Free trade best hope of getting through
4:00AM Monday Jan 26, 2009 By Owen Hembry

John Armstrong: Treasury too busy rearranging deckchairs to judge size of the iceberg .International trade could be key to dragging the global economy out of recession.Boosting trade could help companies make more profit and so encourage them to invest.Employers could start thinking about hiring staff rather than letting them go, consumers would feel more secure about their jobs and start spending money, more tax would be collected and so Governments could fund infrastructure and national projects.

Manufacturers and the high street did not create the economic crisis gripping the world, all roads lead to the failure of the financial system.So on a very simplistic level fix the finance and the world can get back to growing.A successful financial system is an essential tool for companies to invest and grow using access to good quality debt.And so Governments and central banks around the world are desperately trying to get liquidity into the crippled system, pumping in hundreds of billions of dollars, bailing out struggling industries, partly nationalising banks and here in New Zealand giving banks guarantees for retail deposits and wholesale funding.Apart from pumping vast sums of money into the system Governments and central banks are encouraging financial institutions to start lending again, to get the money moving and working rather than seeing all their hard effort simply pool inside risk-averse balance sheets.Global trade could give the institutions some tempting opportunities to open their wallets.The importance of trade was not lost on the leaders of the G20 rich and emerging economies when they met in Washington in November and agreed not to introduce any new protectionism for a year and to try to complete the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks aimed at liberalising international trade by the end of 2008.The trade talks had stalled in July and the pledge to try to get a deal done in only a few weeks was immense considering they started in Doha, Qatar back in 2001 - at which time they were supposed to take three years to complete.

So what happened? Nothing it seems.

In fact just days after the G20 promise Russia raised tariffs on cars and India did the same on steel.Trade Minister Tim Groser, a former World Trade Organisation chairman of agricultural negotiations, says Trade Ministers spectacularly under-achieved.They didn't even turn up in Geneva to try, he says.In fact as far as I know I may have been the only Trade Minister that did.Finance Ministers have done their bit but Groser questions whether Trade Ministers are stepping up to the mark.In fact actions by the European Union last week suggest trade is heading in the opposite direction to freedom.The EU reintroduced export refunds for butter, cheese, whole and skimmed milk powder that had been suspended in June 2007.EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel says the export subsidies, with other measures, will go a long way to stabilising the dairy market. Theirs perhaps, not ours.

Meanwhile, American farmers are lobbying for more support from their Government, with subsidised export scheme available but as yet unused.In times of crisis it's only natural to want to protect your own industries but protectionism can bring short-term benefit at the expense of long-term misery.Trade negotiations require countries to show a willingness to give up something in one area to gain somewhere else.It can't be all win win, but in theory overall everyone is better off.

Unfortunately, it's easier to give something up and pat yourself on the back for the good deed when times are good. When times are bad instinct says raise the drawbridge.
Countries tried to protect their own economies in the 1930s and inadvertently helped turn recession into depression.But we are better informed today, surely that couldn't happen now? A year ago the idea that the world's financial structures could be so precarious would have seemed ludicrous.Protectionism only helps until the next country goes one step further and if that next country was a target export market then you are arguably worse off than if you had done nothing in the first place.

For large trading blocs such as the European Union and the US, with their wealth and vast populations, internal demand can mitigate the external effects of protectionism, at least in the short term.But most countries are relying on the powerful trading blocs to show leadership that will help the wider world and smaller countries, whether wealthy or poor.In this instance Europe has failed the leadership test but the other big economic powers are not far behind.Attention will turn to President Barack Obama for inspiration and fresh leadership but the US economy is under pressure and Republicans are generally more free-trade oriented than Democrats.
It will be interesting to see the US approach.

Riot police clash with protesting Greek farmers
02/02 14:36 CETworld news
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/02/02/2009/riot-police-clash-with-protesting-greek-farmers/

Farmers in Greece have taken to the streets in protest again – this time demanding more financial help from the government over low prices. The standoff in the port of Piraeus, outside Athens, is the latest flashpoint in nearly two weeks of demonstrations by Greek farmers who’ve previously used their tractors to block border crossings and highways for days. Clashes broke out when riot police tried to prevent the farmers from driving their vehicles to the Agriculture Ministry in the capital. At least three people were hurt in the scuffle. The government last month promised 500 million euros in aid for agriculture but many farmers say the amount is far too small.

ECB drawing up bad bank guidelines
ANDREW WILLIS Today FEB 2,09 @ 09:30 CET

The European Central Bank is drawing up guidelines regarding 'bad banks' - financial vehicles that would ring-fence risky assets held by European banks.The concept, currently being considered by a number of EU governments, would allow banks to offload their risky assets into a separate company.It is hoped this would enable banks to start operating normally again and in particular restart lending.The central bank is also working on guidelines for governments such as the UK who have opted for an alternative asset insurance scheme. This latest ECB initiative for a more co-ordinated EU response to the financial crisis is designed to prevent bank support schemes in one member state from creating negative effects in other member states. Last year, a unilateral move by the Irish government to guarantee deposit accounts in Irish banks caused many British savers to move their savings across the Irish Sea. There have also been calls for the ECB to take on a larger supervisory role of the financial sector by those who feel national regulators are ill equipped to deal with today's cross-border financial transactions. The German government is currently fleshing out proposals under which German banks would set up their own individual 'bad banks' to carry assets such as loans to struggling investors. The measure, which appears to have support from both the conservative and social democrat parties in the governing coalition, would prevent the government from being saddled with this further debt.The maintenance of solid public finances is of great concern to many politicians in Germany, already alarmed by the increased debt caused by the €50bn stimulus plan announced by Chancellor Angela Merkel last month.

A European bond?

Italy, meanwhile, currently has a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 100 per cent. Concern over a possible Italian default has pushed money-lenders to demand higher returns on Italian bonds, thus increasing the cost of government borrowing for stimulus projects. Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti has responded by saying he is in favour of a European bond.Now my feeling - I am speaking of a political issue not an economic issue - is ... now we need a union bond, Tremonti said at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos.However, a number of eurozone member states, in particular Germany, are not in favour of the idea, insisting that member states should adhere to the Stability and Growth Pact rules that underpin the eurozone.Personal responsibility for financial policy and the commitment to solid public finances of every member state are a constituent element of the European currency union, German Bundesbank president Axel Weber told the Handelsblatt newspaper on Sunday (1 February).This has always been a German concern and one of the prerequisites for the acceptance of the common currency over here, he said.

Canada sees manufacturers OK with C$ level: report Sat Jan 31, 2:33 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian manufacturers are happier with the current lower level of the Canadian dollar, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in remarks released on Saturday.They are much more comfortable now with our currency where it is, Flaherty said Saturday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Davos, Switzerland.The Canadian dollar had traded around parity with the U.S. dollar in mid-2008 but now stands at C$1.2294 to the dollar, making the U.S. currency worth 81.34 U.S. cents.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer)

No answer at Davos forum to global meltdown By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 7:24 am ET

DAVOS, Switzerland – Mired in indecision and uncertainty, the world's foremost gathering of the best and brightest in government and business failed to come up with any new plan to stem, much less reverse, the global financial meltdown.The five-day World Economic Forum in this Swiss alpine resort wrapped up Sunday in the same atmosphere of doom and gloom that it began, with a realization that the depth of the crisis is still unknown and the solution remains elusive.Everybody's lost in Davos, said Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.No one seems to have a clear understanding of how big this crisis is and what we need to do to get out of it. he told AP. My own view is that you really need to do a fundamental reexamination of the whole global system to see what went wrong, and nobody here is yet ready to ask these kinds of fundamental questions in Davos.

There was widespread agreement that there's plenty left to do, starting at the April meeting of leaders of the 20 largest economies in London.Now the hard work begins, the forum's founder, Klaus Schwab, said, calling for a redesign of the global systems of banking, financial regulation and corporate governance.Cautioning that the G20 wouldn't be able to solve all the issues, Schwab announced that in a few weeks the forum would start a Global Redesign Initiative which he said was supported by almost every world leader who attended this year's forum, from China's Premier Wen Jiabao to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.Previous celebrity guests such as Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone and Bono were not invited to this year's forum and the spotlight fell instead, on world leaders like Wen, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the few bankers who showed up.The most talked-about world leader — President Barack Obama — didn't come to Davos, but many here had advice on what he should do on issues ranging from the financial crisis to promoting Mideast peace and dealing with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.Tensions over the recent war in Gaza flared, with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stalking off the stage after a moderator insisted on cutting off his attempt to respond to Israeli President Shimon Peres' impassioned defense of Israel's air and ground attack.Business and government leaders blamed the United States for starting the financial crisis that is turning into a global recession.Davos just sort of encapsulates the broader global debate, said Stephen Roach, chairman of investment bank Morgan Stanley in Asia and one of the few to warn last year of the global ramifications of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage problem. We're now moving into the ugliest phase of every crisis, the blame game.

Wall Street made mistakes. Regulators made mistakes. Rating agencies made mistakes. Central banks made mistakes. Politicians made mistakes — we all did it, Roach told The Associated Press. So let's be careful that we don't let this blame game get out of hand.Last year at Davos, there was a widespread belief that the major emerging economic powers — China, India, Russia and Brazil — could survive a slowdown or recession in the United States because of their growth potential. But that has proved to be wrong, many said.John Chipman, head of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told the AP that no session in Davos examined the links between the global economic downturn and financial difficulties, and the prospects for geopolitical conflict and conflict resolution.Intuitively, one would think that with the current economic situation, there would be countries whose social stability would be a threat unless they were able to maintain growth levels, he said, citing China as one example.China's Wen forecast 8 percent economic growth this year, and India's trade minister, Kamal Nath, forecast a 7 to 7.5 percent growth rate, but some economic experts here were skeptical that either would be reached.Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the father of microcredit, saw a silver lining in the financial crisis. It's not just disappointment and frustrations, he told AP. This is the greatest moment we have because things need to be changed, it's as simple as that. We don't want to go back to the same normalcy that we're coming from. We will create a new normalcy which will stay and keep on moving and change the world.

Merkel to call EU G-20 meeting in Berlin Sun Feb 1, 12:57 pm ET

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will call a meeting of the European members of the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Berlin later this month to discuss a joint strategy before the April summit in London.Merkel is seeking to improve controls over global financial markets as part of efforts to prevent a future economic crisis. The chancellor has long championed measures to ensure increased transparency and more strict regulations for global finance.Merkel announced plans in her weekend video address to meet Thursday with international economic organizations and call a meeting of the European G-20 members later in February. She did not announce an exact date.The European representatives include Britain, France, Italy, Turkey and the European Union.

France and Germany call summits on financial crisis
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today FEB 2,09 @ 09:27 CET

As the effects of the financial are being increasingly felt in Europe, the leaders of the EU's two biggest nations – German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy – are both to organise extraordinary meetings aiming to deal with the crisis, according to press reports.Ms Merkel will call a meeting of the European members – Britain, France, German, Italy, and the European Union (represented by the EU presidency country and the European Central Bank) – of the Group of 20 industrialised nations in Berlin later this month to discuss common action, before the G20 meeting takes place on 2 April in London, the Associated Press writes.More financial transparency and stricter supervision are among the elements Ms Merkel would like to see.Earlier, during a gathering of the world's business and political leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday, she called for the setting up of an international economic body with powers that would allow it to prevent rather than react to crises.New economic principles should be enshrined in a new charter for a global economic order, the German chancellor said.This may even lead to a UN Economic Council, just as the [UN] Security Council was created after the Second World War, she added.

An extra euro zone meeting?

Meanwhile, Mr Sarkozy is to take an initiative on his own and call for an extraordinary meeting of eurozone countries, according to a report by leading French daily Le Monde in its Sunday edition (1 February).Mr Sarkozy – who chaired the EU until 31 December, when the bloc's rotating presidency was taken over by the Czech Republic – judges that the EU has become invisible.The Czech EU presidency is judged to be too passive, just like the European Commission, which could be a little bit more imaginative, writes Le Monde.The meeting, which would aim at establishing a minimum of budget rigour, could take place in the margin of Ms Merkel's mini-G20 summit in Berlin some time around 22 February.The timing is a bid to reassure partners – notably Germany - that Mr Sarkozy is not using the crisis to promote his own ambitions, according to the paper.The issue is likely to come up during a TV address by Mr Sarkozy on Thursday, and discussed in detail when he meets Ms Merkel in Munich on Saturday (7 February).However, a French presidency spokesman has denied Le Monde's report and told Reuters that an emergency eurozone meeting is not on the agenda of the president.

Street braces for rush of corporate, economic data By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer – Sun Feb 1, 5:55 pm ET

NEW YORK – Wall Street is bracing for yet more reminders this week that the economy is in rotten shape. Companies from networking-gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. to media giant Time Warner Inc. are set to report quarterly results, while a steady stream of economic readings is also due. The most recent numbers from companies and the government haven't been roundly awful, but most have. That is stirring fears the economy's slide isn't slowing.On Friday, Wall Street learned that the economy posted its steepest slowdown in a quarter-century during the final three months of 2008. The 3.8 percent decline in the nation's gross domestic product wasn't as bad as Wall Street had forecast but investors grew worried that the numbers will only worsen.

The stock market is coming off its weakest January on record. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 8.57 percent for the month. The previous record was a 7.04 percent drop in January 1970. The tumble has investors nervous because January often sets the tone for the year.About 75 percent of the time when the S&P ends lower for January it does for the year as well. Some Wall Street veterans say, however, that the market's past behavior is less relevant because the S&P plunged 38.5 percent last year. A drop of that size makes it more likely the market will end 2009 higher, they argue.With January behind them, investors will remain eager this week for any insights companies can offer on the economy. Many companies are now wary of committing to specific forecasts, however. That can leave investors with little to go on.Dow Chemical Co., Marathon Oil Corp., insurer MetLife Inc., Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods Inc. and Walt Disney Co. are expected to report quarterly results this week. Another rush of reports is expected next week before the flow begins to ebb.

Investors are also likely to remain uneasy ahead of the government's January employment report, which is due Friday. Other readings are scheduled throughout the week on home sales, manufacturing, factory orders, and the services sector.The jobs numbers is often the most-anticipated report of the month. Investors forecast the Labor Department data will show a big drop in payrolls.Hopefully it won't be significantly worse than expected, said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at Channel Capital Research. He said even if the numbers aren't as bad as some investors fear, it might not ultimately instill much confidence in the market. Investors have become so pessimistic they often view any number that's better than expected with skepticism.Companies have been slashing workers. Last week alone, companies announced thousands of new layoffs. The cuts and the scary headlines that follow are prompting consumers to cut their spending. That's a worrisome prospect on Wall Street because consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.Investors are looking for any respite from the bad news. Wall Street remains eager to see what steps Washington will take to try to shift the economy's course. President Barack Obama said Saturday he would lower mortgage costs, offer loans to small businesses for creating jobs and restore the flow of credit. Wall Street remains eager to see how he will proceed.The administration is also determining how to use the second half of the $700 billion financial bailout fund.And the Senate's version of the stimulus bill backed by the White House and congressional Democrats is headed to the floor for debate this week. The Senate's bill is nearly $900 billion, while the House bill totaled about $819 billion.

This year I wouldn't expect much from the economy, said Ronald Schwartz, portfolio manager of the RidgeWorth Investment Grade Tax-Exempt Bond Fund. If we can stabilize this year I think that would be a very good accomplishment. And with the stimulus, what the administration is putting in, that's the hope for it.But Roberts said Wall Street is waiting for the government to introduce a more comprehensive approach to fixing the economy's ills. He said Washington will have to help banks deal with the bad assets crippling their balance sheets before lending can resume more normal levels and the economy can improve.It's a difference between triage and long-term care, he said. What people are now looking for is what are we going to do to cure the problem?

Conflicts overshadow talks on African Union's future by Griffin Shea – Sun Feb 1, 3:38 pm ET

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – The African Union opened a summit Sunday officially devoted to developing transport and energy systems, but dominated by conflicts across the region and division over the bloc's future.Only about 20 leaders from the group's 53 members attended the first day-long session, held entirely behind closed doors for a debate about whether the African Union should evolve into an EU-style system for regional governance.Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi led the calls for the AU to create a union government that he believes would boost Africa's international standing, but failed to win many converts among fellow leaders reluctant to relinquish any sovereignty.In a compromise, the summit agreed to transform the African Union Commission, which currently oversees the body, into an AU Authority that would have a broader mandate, the commission's chairman Jean Ping told reporters.In principle, we said the ultimate is the United States of Africa. How we proceed to that ultimate, there are building blocks, Ping told a press conference.We are creating an institution with a bigger mandate, with bigger capacities, which moves us toward the goal of the union government, Ping added, although details of the change are still under discussion.While the main agenda focused on the future of the bloc, the talks were overshadowed by political strife in Somalia and Madagascar, and the fallout from coups in Guinea and Mauritania.Among the most noted leaders present at the summit in the Ethiopian capital was Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was elected the new president of Somalia on Friday.In his inauguration speech in Djibouti, Sheikh Sharif vowed to build an inclusive government, extend a hand to hardline armed groups still opposed to peace talks and bring Somalia back into the regional fold.

The African Union, which has around 3,500 peacekeepers in Somalia, has been pleading with member states and the international community for the support needed to expand the mission to its planned size of 8,000 men.Other conflicts also demanded the summit's attention. With Madagascar's political crisis worsening by the day, Ping warned on the eve of the summit that any unconstitutional change of power will be condemned.Hours after Ping spoke, opposition leader Andry Rajoelina proclaimed himself in charge of the island's affairs, in a shock move escalating his battle against the president's regime.

Madagascar is supposed to host the next AU summit in July.

Adding to its woeful list of long-running conflicts, a military coup in Mauritania in August 2008, another one in Guinea four months later and a thwarted attempt in Guinea Bissau further hindered the continent's political growth.Both Mauritania and Guinea were suspended from the bloc last year.In pre-summit talks on Guinea, the African Union urged the ruling junta to follow through on proposals to hold elections by the end of the year.But on Mauritania, AU talks with the European Union and other partners were delayed by two weeks, barring any immediate hopes for progress.Late Saturday, the continental bloc also called on western powers to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle, after Zimbabwe's opposition agreed to join a unity government later this month. I think that everybody today should help Zimbabwe to rebuild its economy, Ping said ahead of the summit. The global economic crisis also cast a shadow over the summit, with officials expressing concern over how a recession in rich nations will affect poor ones. Ping argued Friday that the financial crisis would divert the international community's attention from funding development to rescuing banking and financial institutions.

New Iceland government promises to fight crisis By Patrick Lannin and Omar R Valdirmarsson – Sun Feb 1, 5:18 pm ET

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – Iceland named an interim center-left government on Sunday which promised to rebuild its shattered economy while cushioning its people from the worst of the crisis.Johanna Sigurdardottir of the Social Democratic Alliance will become Iceland's new prime minister after center-right Geir Haarde stepped down last week following months of protests, the first leader to become a casualty of the global economic crisis.The government asked a parliamentary committee to consider if Iceland should join the European Union, but said coalition parties would not allow the fiercely independent island nation to do so without a referendum.This government's primary objective will be responsible fiscal control, said Sigurdardottir, Iceland's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay leader.First and foremost, we will focus on urgent matters regarding the businesses and homes of this country, Sigurdardottir, 66, told a news conference.

Analysts said the government -- in office only until an election due on April 25 -- would have little room for maneuver in tackling the crisis which hit Iceland when its banks and currency collapsed in the credit crunch.They start with good wishes from everyone, but they do not get any honeymoon because the time is so short and the problems are so big, said Olafur Isleifsson, assistant professor of economics at the University of Reykjavik.But it might help assuage public anger from people facing real hardship after the collapse, which forced Iceland to take a $10 billion International Monetary Fund-led rescue package.The major change is maybe that now you have a government that the Icelandic people will be inclined to trust, said Birgir Gudmundsson, a professor at the University of Akureyri.The coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Party said it would stick to the program agreed with the IMF but concentrate on finding ways to rapidly cut interest rates currently at 18 percent. It will have to negotiate the pace of monetary easing with the IMF.With Left-Green leader Steingrimur Sigfusson as the new finance minister, the government said in a statement it would set up a monetary policy commission to take decisions on interest rates, bank reserves and cash requirements.

CENTRAL BANK BOSSES TO BE REMOVED

It also pledged to take quick action to remove central bank bosses, after the bank and its Governor David Oddsson, a former long-ruling prime minister for Haarde's Independence Party, became a focus of anger for protesters.The nation's banks would come under pressure from the coalition to restart lending, while homeowners left struggling with foreign currency loans made more expensive by the collapse of the Icelandic currency would be given support.In a bid to boost employment and business, the coalition said it would also plan a series of public works.The minority government will have the support of the centrist Progressive Party in the 63-seat parliament.While this government will not decide if Iceland should begin EU entry-talks, the coalition said it would start changing the law to allow it to hold referendums on the issue in future.A parliament committee would deliver a report by April 15 looking at all questions related to the EU including whether or not to seek to join the euro. The parties forming the government agree that membership of the European Union will never be decided upon without a national referendum, the government statement said.

EU membership is expected to be debated in the election. I would think that before the election, every party has to answer the question of how they are going to build Iceland again: is the EU the way or not? said University of Iceland political science research assistant Einar Mar Thorvarsson. Sigurdardottir acted as welfare minister in the previous government. While she will rank as Iceland's first female prime minister, the country has had a woman president.

Barclays’ credit rating downgraded By Francesco Guerrera in New York
Published: February 2 2009 01:26 | Last updated: February 2 2009 01:26

Moody’s on Sunday night downgraded Barclays’ credit ratings, saying it expected the UK bank to record significant further losses on credit-related writedowns.The credit rating agency downgraded Barclays’ long-term debt from Aa1 to Aa3 after reviewing the bank’s prospects in the credit crisis.The credit rating agency added that the potential for further losses outweighed Barclays’ strong franchise and strong deposit base. The downgrade comes a week after Barclays reassured investors that they would make annual profits of £5.3bn. The letter from Marcus Agius, its chairman, and John Varley, chief executive, confirmed the bank would not have to raise fresh capital in spite of taking hefty writedowns in its investment banking operations. The bank’s update helped counter concerns that losses from the credit market turmoil would trigger another round of government capital injections into the sector, and sparked a recovery in UK financial services shares.Shares in Barclays more than doubled last week to close at 106p and Lloyds Banking Group, the newly enlarged UK lender partly owned by the government, rose 80 per cent to 90.7p. The share price of Royal Bank of Scotland more than doubled last week to 22.3p.

Separately, Sandy Weill, Citigroup’s chairman emeritus, said he would stop using the troubled bank’s corporate jet.The move comes days after Citi was forced by the US government to scrap the planned purchase of a corporate jet.Mr Weill, a former chief executive of Citi and still one of the biggest individual shareholders, said he had decided to stop using the jet because he cared about Citi.The Financial Times Limited 2009.

GOP leaders doubt stimulus bill will pass Senate By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer FEB 1,09

WASHINGTON – Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday the massive stimulus bill backed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats could go down to defeat if it's not stripped of unnecessary spending and focused more on housing issues and tax cut.The Senate version of the bill, which topped out at nearly $900 billion, is headed to the floor for debate. The House bill totaled about $819 billion and earned no Republican votes, even though it easily passed the Democratic-controlled House. At some point lawmakers will need to compromise on the competing versions.McConnell and other Republicans suggested that the bill needed an overhaul because it doesn't pump enough into the private sector through tax cuts and allows Democrats to go on a spending spree unlikely to jolt the economy. The Republican leader also complained that Democrats had not been as bipartisan in writing the bill as Obama had said he wanted.I think it may be time ... for the president to kind of get a hold of these Democrats in the Senate and the House, who have rather significant majorities, and shake them a little bit and say, Look, let's do this the right way, McConnell said. I can't believe that the president isn't embarrassed about the products that have been produced so far.For his part, Obama said he is confident Republicans will come around to support the final version of the legislation. He and Vice President Joe Biden will meet with congressional leaders at the White House on Monday afternoon.The president repeated what his top aides and officials have been telling reporters in recent days, that the final package would be close to its objectives — to save or create 3 to 4 million jobs — and Republicans would be able to back it.I am confident that by the time we have the final package on the floor that we are going to see substantial support, and people are going to see this is a serious effort. It has no earmarks. We are going to be trimming out things that are not relevant to putting people back to work right now, Obama said.However, he declined to predict how many Senate Republicans might switch parties. Biden, a former senior member of the Senate before his election, similarly declined to offer predictions last week in an interview despite his personal phone calls for former colleagues.

Look, the important thing is getting the thing passed, Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer during a live pre-Super Bowl interview. And I've done extraordinary outreach, I think, to Republicans because they have some good ideas and I want to make sure those ideas are incorporated.Obama also that his administration would announce plans to spend the second $350 billion of a bank bailout after Congress deals with the separate economic recovery plan.Under Obama's plan, strained state budgets would receive a cash infusion, projects for roads and other infrastructure would be funded, and green jobs in the energy sector would be created. In its centerpiece tax cut, single workers would gain $500 and couples $1,000, even if they don't earn enough to owe federal income taxes.Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said he was seeing an erosion of support for the bill and suggested that lawmakers should consider beginning anew.When I say start from scratch, what I mean is that the basic approach of this bill, we believe, is wrong, Kyl said.Among the major changes Kyl said would be needed to gain Republican support in the Senate was the tax rebate for individuals and couples, which he criticized as going to too many people who didn't pay the tax to start with. He also criticized the bill for seeking to create nearly three dozen government programs and giving states far more money than they need.Sen. Dick Durbin, D.-Ill., argued that $1 out of every $3 in the bill goes to tax cuts and defended it as aimed at helping working families. While he contended that Democrats were very open to Republican proposals, he cited only what he said were calls for more money in job-creating public works projects, typically a Democratic priority.Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., characterized the proposal as a spending plan. It's not a stimulus plan. It's temporary, and it's wasteful.Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the bill was designed to help people who have been damaged in the economic meltdown as well as stimulate the economy.I never saw a tax cut fix a bridge. I never saw a tax cut give us more public transportation. The fact is, we need a mix, Frank said.
Durbin and Kyl appeared on Fox News Sunday, DeMint and Frank were on ABC's This Week, and McConnell was on CBS Face the Nation.Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

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

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

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

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

Magnetar observed during outburst thanks to rapid response of INTEGRAL
27 Jan 2009

The quick turn-around time of the INTEGRAL operation teams has enabled rare high-energy observations of a magnetar. The observations, which were performed as a Target of Opportunity, followed indications late last week that this magnetar, the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar, 1E 1547.0-5408, had entered outburst mode. 1E1547.0-5408 is one of only 9 confirmed Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXP) - isolated, young neutron stars with unusually strong magnetic fields (1014G -1015G). Together with Soft Gamma Repeaters they make up a class of celestial object known as magnetars.

1E 1547.0-5408 was first detected by the Einstein X-ray observatory. Subsequent observations by a series of X-ray observatories (ASCA, Chandra, XMM-Newton and Swift) have shown it to display the typical characteristics of an AXP. It has exhibited a small number of outbursts over the past few years but at weaker levels than those observed in the past few days.Magnetar active state triggers alerts on several satellites, including INTEGRAL.The first sign that this magnetar had entered a new active burst state came early on Thursday 22 January when the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (GCN 8833) and the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GCN 8835) recorded a number of hard X-ray triggers which were identified as originating from the direction of 1E 1547.0-5408. 15 of the 200 outburst detected by the INTEGRAL ACS on 22 January 2009. Credit: ESA.Volker Beckmann and the team at the INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC), monitoring the real-time data from the almost omni-directional SPI anti-coincidence system (ACS), which operates as a burst trigger on INTEGRAL, also noticed a significant increase in triggers: almost 200 on 22 January compared to a typical rate of a few per day. The bursts were among the brightest ever recorded by the ACS in the 6 years since INTEGRAL was launched and varied in length from 50ms to 8 seconds. The ACS has a lower energy threshold of 50-150 keV (depending on the individual detector) and an upper threshold of about 100 MeV. Although the ACS cannot localise the position of a burst source the temporal coincidence of some of the bursts with those identified by Swift and Fermi confirmed the source of the burst emission to be 1E 1547.0-5408 (GCN 8837).

Exceptional activity results in public Target of Opportunity

Recognising that this was a rare opportunity to observe close to, and possibly during, an outburst state, Beckmann and other scientists submitted Target of Opportunity requests for immediate observations of this object to the INTEGRAL Science Operations Team. These were received on 22 and 23 January. After careful consideration the ToO was granted by the INTEGRAL Project Scientist, Christoph Winkler, and a 100,000 second observation planned and executed. This ToO began at 15:30:59 on 24 January and continued until the end of the visibility window at 22:14:36 on 25 January. Given the interest expressed by the scientific community in these observations the Project Scientist declared the ToO to be public and all scientific data recorded during this ToO has now been made publicly available from the INTEGRAL Science Data Centre at Geneva. (See the link to ToO data for 1E 1547.0-5408 on the right-hand menu.) Early results: magnetar still active, spectrum measured

A preliminary examination of the data indicates that the magnetar was still in an active phase during the ToO and that it was detected by all X-ray instruments on-board the satellite. Apart from bursts, which occurred during the observation and were again seen by several satellites, it was also possible to determine the X-ray spectrum of this AXP. The spectrum extends up to energies of at least 150 keV and has the signature of processes usually associated with emission of a jet or other non-thermal processes, rather than showing a hot spot on the neutron star’s surface (ATEL 1908). Ring-like halos are seen in Swift images. Credit: ISDC/V. Beckmann. A simultaneous observation of lower energy X-rays by the Swift satellite indicates that the X-ray emission is travelling towards us through dusty regions of our Galaxy causing ring-like halos in the X-ray images (GCN 8848). This allows scientists now not only to study the neutron star itself, but also the interstellar medium of the Milky Way. Further observations of 1E 1547.0-5408 with INTEGRAL are planned for later this week as part of an additional dedicated observation. Contacts: Volker Beckmann, Operations Coordinator, INTEGRAL Science Data Centre Volker.Beckmannunige.ch Christoph Winkler, ESA Integral Project Scientist
christoph.winkleresa.int.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL

DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

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)

The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.

2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL

REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

WARS AND RUMURS OF WARS.

MATTHEW 24:6
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

MARK 13:7
7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.

North Korea warns of possible war with South Korea By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 7:52 pm ET

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea warned Sunday that South Korea's confrontational policies may trigger a war on the divided peninsula, a message coming two days after the communist country vowed to abandon all peace agreements with its southern neighbor.Relations between the two Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office nearly a year ago in Seoul, pledging to take a harder line on the North. Tension heightened Friday when the North said it was ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace accords with South Korea.The tension may lead to an unavoidable military conflict and a war, North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Sunday by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.The policy of confrontation by the South Korean government is the very source of military conflicts and war between the Koreas, it said.The North has accused Lee's government of preparing to stage a war, which South Korea denies. Earlier this month, the North's military declared it adopted an all-out confrontational posture to defeat any southern aggression.In its Friday statement, the North said it would no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South on the west of the peninsula, raising the prospect for a new armed clash in the area — already the scene of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.President Lee sought to downplay the statement and called it not unusual. He indicated his government will wait until the North is ready for talks in good faith.A South Korean Defense Ministry official said Sunday that the country's navy remains on alert along the western sea border. The official — speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy — said the ministry has not detected any unusual movements of the North Korean military.The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty. The peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified border, with tens of thousands of troops stationed on both sides.