ISRAEL ELECTION A STALEMATE

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

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

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

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

Analysis: Sarkozy pushes France into NATO embrace By ANGELA CHARLTON and SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writers FEB 13,09

PARIS – Defying critics, Nicolas Sarkozy is about to open a door Charles de Gaulle slammed shut four decades ago, wounding French-US relations for years.The current French president wants to plug this country back into NATO's military command, a body his iconic predecessor rejected four decades ago as too America-centric and a threat to France's independence.The move would fortify nuclear-armed France's clout in Europe and in Washington. It could help bury lingering US-French enmity over Iraq and the aftertaste of freedom fries.Yet it would change little within the alliance itself, at least in military terms.French troops have served in NATO forces in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and beyond — often taking lead roles. It already has officers at NATO's operational headquarters in Belgium. Diplomats there say the only real issue would be slotting a few hundred French military personnel into NATO's commands.The real shift under way is in France's geopolitical view of itself. It could be a seismic one, and explains the vigorous resistance to Sarkozy's plan even within his own party.France helped found the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. In 1966, President Charles de Gaulle pulled away, wanting to strike out on a path less dominated by the United States in the heat of the Cold War.He quit the joint military command, kicked the NATO headquarters out of Paris and booted American bases off French soil.

As then-French defense chief Gen. Charles Ailleret put it, France opted for a defense doctrine of all points of the compass, protecting itself from all sides, nurturing ties with countries outside the U.S. sphere of influence and deploying its strategic bombers and nuclear missiles as it pleased.Now, Sarkozy wants to bring France back into the full NATO fold, sometime before France and Germany host a 60th anniversary summit for the alliance in April.Until now, France has remained outside the alliance's nuclear group and its planning committee. Complete reintegration would allow its officers to help draft NATO contingency plans and see Paris contribute its full share of the common budget.U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says he would welcome the step. NATO's secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is eagerly awaiting Sarkozy's letter announcing France's return.But at home, many of Sarkozy's compatriots say he is wounding French pride and betraying history.France doesn't want to become Britain, part two, Jacques Myard, a Gaullist lawmaker in Sarkozy's conservative party, told NATO's chief Thursday. In France, NATO is often viewed as a club run by Americans and their loyal British brethren.NATO is not quite sure how to fold France back into its military command structure. Paris is negotiating for two important commands: one based in Norfolk, Virginia, that handles NATO reform issues and an operational command in Lisbon, Portugal.The move to regain full membership will also help Paris shore up the relationship with the new administration in Washington, said Peter Zeihan, a vice president at STRATFOR, a global intelligence company based in Austin, Texas. Zeihan said France could help NATO by boosting the alliance's intelligence capabilities.One thing that's certain to remain unchanged is the location of NATO's political and military headquarters in Brussels and Mons, both in Belgium. They were moved there from Paris in 1967, and there are no plans to return them to France.Angela Charlton is AP's Paris news editor. Slobodan Lekic, reporting from Brussels, has covered on NATO since 2006.

G-7 SIG WEBSITE
http://www.g7sig.org/

VIDEO NEWS ON G-7 PROPHECY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phQvKhVTcxI&eurl=http://video.aol.com/video-detail/g7-news-prophecy/288230388773532261/?icid=VIDURVNWS04&feature=player_embedded

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/g7-news-prophecy/288230388773532261/?icid=
VIDURVNWS04

MICROCHIP IMPLANTS VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IisdvUdTO5Q&feature=related

CNBC NEWS STIMULUS PASSES
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1032690716

RUSSIA UKRAINE GAS ROW VIDEO
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=986417926

THE WEEK THAT WAS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1032610591

ALEXANDER MEDVEDEV ON RUSSIAN GAS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1031644217

G7 ministers in Italy for talks FEB 13,09

G7 ministers will discuss how to restore confidence to the financial system
Global finance ministers are gathering in Rome to discuss ways of tackling the global economic crisis. The meeting of the G7 nations precedes a G20 summit in London on 2 April. It is the first G7 meeting since October 2008 and will be the first attended by the new US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner. Other countries will be waiting to see if he gives any details of the new measures planned by the Obama administration to deal with the crisis. The UK will be represented at the meeting by Chancellor Alistair Darling and Charles Bean, the deputy governor of the Bank of England. Mr Darling has said that getting lending going again is the most important thing we need to focus on and it will be the main subject on the agenda.

Italy plans to propose a legal standard - a new set of rules for all countries to follow covering all the main aspects of capitalism as it has degenerated in recent years. The G7 comprises the US, the UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada.

Protectionism

Arriving in Rome, ministers addressed the issue of protectionism. The US has been criticised for a Buy American clause in its $800bn (£567bn) economic recovery package. The clause seeks to ensure that only US iron, steel and manufactured goods are used in projects funded by the bill. Mr Darling said: We must avoid retreating into protectionism... to retreat into protectionism would be disastrous, just as it was in the 1930s.Mr Darling added that Treasury Secretary Geithner had spoken to the G7 earlier in the week and understood the risk of protectionism. We have to avoid any protectionist tendencies because this might be a very high risk for the world economy,said German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck.

HIGHLIGHTS-Key quotes from Rome G7 meeting
Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:08pm EST Market News

WORLD BANK PRESIDENT ROBERT ZOELLICK

I hope G7 leaders will make a clear commitment not only to shun protectionism in favor of reaching global and cooperative solutions, but will hold themselves accountable.

UK FINANCE MINISTER ALISTAIR DARLING

The fight against protectionism has never been more needed than today, the minister told Reuters.Asked if a buy American clause in a stimulus package the U.S. Congress was due to approve was therefore dead, he said: I think the United States is very aware of its obligations to the rest of the world.

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AFFAIRS COMMISSIONER JOAQUIN ALMUNIA

Asked about Q4 GDP data, the commissioner said: They are broadly in line with the forecasts we presented a few weeks ago. Q4 was very, very bad and this has triggered a deep recession.As always the G7 will discuss the exchange rate situation and I don't expect major changes in the reference of the G7.We see that volatility has increased ... but taking into account the present levels of the different currencies we are now closer to normal values of these currencies than we were a few months ago, he said, referring to the major G7 currencies, the dollar, sterling, euro and yen.Almunia also said the European Commission should and will get a seat on the Financial Stability Forum.

JAPANESE FINANCE MINISTER SHOICHI NAKAGAWA Asked whether he raised the issue of protectionism in bilateral talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the Japanese minister said: I said that we shouldn't resort to protectionism and that the U.S. shouldn't do so either. And the treasury secretary told me that he absolutely agreed

CANADIAN FINANCE MINISTER JIM FLAHERTY

I think we all agreed that protectionism would deepen the recession that we are experiencing. Asked if there would be an expression against protectionism in the final statement from the meeting, he said: I would hope so.

EUROGROUP CHAIRMAN JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER

We don't like excess volatility and I would like to think that we have to repeat that common-sense message. Asked if that would be the message of the final G7 statement, Juncker said: I don't know if we will have a new statement on the exchange rate. In the case that we would have a specific exchange-rate-related statement we would have to repeat what we have said in recent statements, that we don't like this excessive volatility. In recent months volatility was really excessive.The recent growth figures we have been given today are not really a surprise, but are underlining the seriousness of the situation we are confronted (with). We have entered a (period of) recession. We have a strong hope that in the last quarter of 2009, the growth will be back and in the course of 2010, the situation will gradually improve but we have to note that we have to live for a long period with the consequences of the crisis.

GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER PEER STEINBRUECK

We share the view (with U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner) that we have to avoid any protectionist tendencies because this might be a very high risk for the world economy.

U.S. TREASURY STATEMENT

This meeting takes place amid a severe global economic downtown and tremendous stress in the world's financial markets. The (Treasury) Secretary will encourage his counterparts to take strong actions to address macroeconomic and financial sector challenges and will underscore that these extraordinary times call for exceptional and complementary measures by all.

UK CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER ALISTAIR DARLING

To reporters, asked about sterling exchange rate, said: Any discussions that we have at the G7 tend to be in general terms. Britain has a policy of targeting inflation, not the exchange rate.We are seeing a substantial downturn in economies around the world, the euro area figures today demonstrate the scale of the problem we face, the problem is affecting countries in Europe, just as it is affecting us and the United States.I believe it is important that every country does what is right to support its own economy, the ... problem for each country is how we get lending going again.

We must avoid retreating into protectionism...to retreat into protectionism would be disastrous just as it was in the 1930s.Asked about Buy America he said Geithner spoke to the G7 earlier this week and understood the risk of protectionism.It is important we don't do anything that establishes any protectionist measures.Re widening scope of g7 he said: we can't continue to behave like the world has not changed in 60 years.He added it is important that countries like India and China etc are included in discussions about the world financial system.Re G7 in general, he said: It is right that we take action together, I do think it is important that countries take action together.On the Bank of England and interest rates, he said: There comes a point when you get to a particular level that it no longer has the same affect.

GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER PEER STEINBRUECK

It's in the region of what we say ourselves.The important themes at the summit are the preparation for the financial in early April, the theme of protectionism, and asking the question about any initial thoughts on exit strategies (for) when we have put the financial market crisis and recession behind us.

On hedge funds:
I had the same impression that we are of the same opinion as the French. What's even more important is that significant personalities in the U.S. administration like Geithner, Volker (of a key U.S. advisory panel) and Larry Summers have expressed themselves....(and) will have a very clear preference to regulate hedge funds.(Rome G7 newsroom)

G-7 Takes Back Seat as Crisis Pushes G-20 to Fore (Update2)
By Simon Kennedy FEB 13,09

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Group of Seven, whose finance chiefs convene this weekend in Rome, is ceding its traditional power to rebuild the world economy to a broader body of governments that now wield greater sway over global growth. As U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet join their G-7 counterparts, it’s the Group of 20 that occupies the vanguard responding to the financial crisis. The shift in influence to the group, whose membership ranges from the U.S. to China to Saudi Arabia, reflects the fact that industrial nations lack the resources to fix the world’s economic woes alone. That curbs the G-7’s scope to deliver new initiatives this week, say economists and former officials. The world has changed, said Paul Martin, Canada’s former prime and finance minister who attended G-7 meetings and helped establish the G-20 a decade ago. The G-20 reflects the realities of the global economy. Its finance ministers are becoming the dominant policy-making body.The G-7’s finance ministers and central bankers meet tonight and tomorrow before releasing a statement and talking to reporters at about 2:30 p.m. local time. On the agenda: How to thwart protectionism, overhaul financial oversight and end what the International Monetary Fund calls a depression in advanced economies.

Rebuilding World Economy

Limiting the G-7’s scope to act is the fact that policy makers have given the task of rebuilding the world economy to the G-20, which was created after a spate of currency devaluations in emerging markets in the 1990s. The G-20’s increasing influence reflects how the current slump is being led by the major economies, forcing them to look beyond their ranks for help in ending it. That’s a reversal from previous crises when the G-7 was in the driver’s seat of the recovery effort. The IMF predicts advanced economies will shrink 2 percent in 2009. Still, the expansion of developing nations will keep the global economy growing at a 0.5 percent pace, it estimated last month. The crisis has escalated the awareness of how irrelevant the G-7 is, said Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London. It’s in the back seat, and the focus on the G-20 is growing.

China Rising

China overtook Germany in 2007 to become the world’s third- largest economy, new data showed last month, and in September passed Japan as the biggest foreign investor in U.S. government debt. China, Russia, Brazil and India together hold about 41 percent of global foreign-exchange reserves. Together, the G-7 countries produce only slightly more oil a day than Saudi Arabia. The emergent power of the G-20 is a recognition of new realities, said Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, a former economic adviser to President Bill Clinton. It’s effectively recognition by the G-7 that they don’t have the money. The money is in Asia, the Middle East. Leaders from the bigger group met for the first time in November in Washington and released a string of directives on strengthening accounting standards and oversight of derivatives, hedge funds and debt-rating companies. It’s that manifesto rather than anything the G-7 has produced that is now garnering international attention. G-20 heads will meet in London April 2 to seek ways to implement it.

Bigger Than G-7

The world economy is bigger than the G-7, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Feb. 9. You cannot talk about the world economy and what you want to do without involving a whole range of countries.John Taylor, a former U.S. Treasury official and now at Stanford University in California, says even as the G-20 gains in importance, the G-7can still get things done better because it’s smaller, involves only major economies and is monitored closely by investors. Having this week pledged up to $2 trillion to spur new lending and address banks’ illiquid assets, Geithner will press his colleagues to take exceptional and complementary measures, the Treasury said in a statement. In turn, there is a desire to have more particulars of the U.S. plan outlined, said Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Geithner is also likely to be questioned about a Buy American provision in a U.S. stimulus package. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck mentioned the clause today in warning against pursuing protectionism as happened in the Great Depression. We will have to do everything to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself, he told the German parliament.

Emergency Meeting

The G-20’s role has grown as the current crisis festered. In November 2007, central bankers used its talks near Cape Town to hatch a plan to inject more dollars into markets. Last October, its finance ministers held an emergency meeting in Washington that President George W. Bush attended. Modern challenges also mean the G-7 is not the proper forum to set international policy, said Goldman’s O’Neill. Fighting protectionism, global imbalances, climate change, money laundering and terrorist financing as well as reforming agencies such as the IMF and World Bank all require the input of nations outside the group, he said. Even the G-20 may not be big enough. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants a body akin to the United Nations Security Council to oversee the world economy. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo says the G-20 must even go beyond its membership to include African nations.

Developing Countries

Developing countries’ economies are doing better than the developed countries and yet don’t have a say in how to restructure the world, said Arroyo. Alastair Newton, political analyst at Nomura International and a former U.K. trade official, says the G-7 and G-20 will both remain for now and that the bigger group must prove it can carry out its pledges. I wouldn’t suggest the G-7 has reached its sell-by date quite yet, says Newton. The G-20’s being pushed to the fore, which implies it’s becoming more important, but it has to deliver.

VIDEO OF PLANE ON FIRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPoqhEHKNQk&eurl=http://newsbizarre.com/2009/02/flight-3407-clarencebuffalo-plane-crash.html&feature=player_embedded

PLANE CRASH IN BUFFALO HAPPENED AT 10:20PM
Updated: 02/13/09 12:41 AM

49 killed as plane crashes into Clarence Center home

Forty-nine people reportedly died when an aircraft identified as a Continental Airlines flight crashed into a house in Clarence Center shortly after 10 p.m. last night, starting a huge fire which poured thick smoke throughout the hamlet.

Unconfirmed reports from a source at Buffalo Niagara International Airport said that the dead included 44 passengers, four crew members and a person on the ground.

County Executive Chris Collins said that there may have been as many as 50 people aboard the plane and crew members had reported mechanical problems as they approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Several injured people were taken from the scene to Erie County Medical Center for treatment.Television reports said the crash site was 6050 Long St., not far from the Clarence Center Fire Hall on Clarence Center Road. Police said that one man was in the residence at the time of the crash.Authorities say Continental Airlines Flight 3407 was operated by Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air. It was en route from Newark, N.J., to Buffalo.

ISRAEL ELECTION A STALEMATE
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/12/02/2009/israeli-election-results-confirm-stalemate/

Solana: Unity govt in Israel good for peace talks By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer FEB 13,09

WASHINGTON – The European Union's foreign policy chief says a new unity government of Israel's Kadima and Likud political parties would help Mideast peace talks.

Kadima (kuh-DEE-muh) is led by moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (TSIH-pee LIHV-nee). After final election results Thursday, the party had a slight lead over Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish Likud.EU official Javier Solana (hah-vee-EHR soh-LAHN-ah) says an Israeli government led by Netanyahu would be more difficult for the peace process.In the most likely scenario for a unity government, Netanyahu would be prime minister while Kadima would hold ministries such as finance, defense or foreign affairs.Solana also said Friday in Washington that there could be a deal within 48 hours between Israel and Hamas on a long-term cease-fire in Gaza. Egypt is mediating the talks.

Likud, Jewish Home Merger Idea Gathering Steam
by Gil Ronen FEB 13,09

(IsraelNN.com) Since election results were announced, the Likud has been considering a merger between it and the religious Jewish Home party. Such a merger would bring Likud, currently at 27 Knesset seats, to 30 seats versus Kadima’s 28.The idea was reported by Channel 2 television news earlier this week and Arutz-7 has learned that it received new impetus following a meeting in Jerusalem Friday between Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu and the Jewish Home leadership -- party chairman Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, MK Zevulun Orlev and MK-elect Uri Orbach. Likud sources, however, said that the idea is not currently being considered.The Jewish Home leaders said before meeting the Likud leader that they intend to recommend to President Shimon Peres that Netanyahu form the next government, as they told their voters that they would do.Netanyahu told them that he sees the Jewish Home as a partner in any government that he will establish. Prof. Hershkowitz said after the meeting: It was an excellent meeting. Honesty is part of our way, and therefore we will recommend Netanyahu. We will present our demands when the coalition negotiations begin.

Religious-Nationalist Camp Buoyed by Election Results
by Hillel Fendel FEB 13,09

(IsraelNN.com) In light of the election results giving the nationalist camp a 65-55 Knesset majority over the left-wing/Arab camp, the religious-Zionist press is replete with calls along the lines of Let’s not be afraid to rule.Emanuel Shilo, editor of the weekly B’Sheva, Israel’s largest religious-sector newspaper, writes: Kadima’s success in overtaking the Likud by one Knesset mandate should not confuse us: The clear meaning of the election results is a victory by the Jewish-nationalist camp over the liberal-left camp… The religious-nationalist camp now has a clear chance to form a stable coalition – if Lieberman remains true to his word…Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu appears to have no choice but to form a nationalist government of 65 MKs, Shilo writes: He wants a partnership with the left not only so that the Knesset will back him, but also so that the various power centers in our society and state will somehow agree to accept his regime. But Labor has been defeated and wants to remain in the opposition, and Kadima doesn’t want anything less than full partnership and rotation in the Prime Minister’s chair. Therefore, what Netanyahu did not want to do out of courageous choice, he will apparently be forced to do out of necessity.For instance, Shilo continues, Netanyahu will be forced to make the following changes: Instead of merely paying lip service to the open-skies policy for radio and TV licenses, he will be forced to move quickly to open the media market to free competition... He and his government will also have to continue [outgoing Justice Minister Daniel] Friedmann’s path and make reforms in the Supreme Court’s authorities, in the system of choosing judges, and in the law enforcement network – before it begins harassing them, as it did in the past… The academic and cultural establishments, too, will have to be shaken out of their monotonous leftwing unanimity, and it must be ensured that those who constantly malign Israel no longer be the top priority for those who distribute budgets and jobs. This task is not at all simple, and we can understand why Netanyahu wants to avoid it. But as it appears now, he will have no choice.TV personality Dudu Elharar: We can now head towards a Jewish-Zionist-democratic state -- in that order.

Dudu Elharar – musician, actor, producer and TV/radio personality – writes: The nationalist-Zionist camp has a clear majority to form a government and lead the country in an unambiguous manner: towards a Jewish-Zionist-democratic state, in that order. The order is important, because there are occasional clashes among these values, and this order emphasizes the country’s Jewishness, which precedes its Zionism, and all the more so its democracy.The nationalist camp does not need any other party [to form a government] that does not accept the State of Israel’s Jewishness as a primary fact of life. This is not a state of all its citizens… but rather the national home of the Jewish Nation. All its symbols will be Jewish, without having to apologize to anyone. Its character will be Jewish, its education and culture will be Jewish, its public expanses will be Jewish. It will be a state founded on Torah, on worship, and on acts of kindness. This is what the voters have decided, and those they elected are obligated to this decision.The Likud did not win these elections, Elharar writes. It simply heads the camp that won. Without this camp, the Likud has no right to tread in the corridors of governmental power… We must restore our national honor before the entire world. The time has come to stand upright, look straight at those who mock us, and rule.Boaz HaEtzni, a Likud candidate on behalf of Moshe Feiglin’s Jewish Leadership faction, writes that the Likud could have done much better in the polls had it concentrated on a nationalist message: The Likud failed to understand that the public wanted right-wing. The attempt to garner more votes from the left by blurring its geo-political message and by adding left-wing figures to its list of candidates was like trying to draw water from a dry river bed while ignoring a brook flowing right nearby.Proof of this is the fact that the Likud began to climb in the polls right after it finalized its clearly right-wing list of candidates… But in the end, the Likud abandoned the right-wing playing field and gave it as a gift to Lieberman, who presented the voters with a seemingly right-wing party with a clear message… In addition, the Likud should have showed off its line-up of candidates, in contrast with Kadima's hiding of its own line-up. The Likud should have compared the lists, candidate by candidate, and showed the public the great qualitative differences between them. Instead, it set Netanyahu against Livni.

Air Force Strikes Gaza Terror Cell, 1 Terrorist Dead
by Hana Levi Julian and Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu FEB 13,09

(IsraelNN.com) The Israel Air Force struck a terrorist cell near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on Friday afternoon, killing one terrorist and wounding at least two others as they were riding on a motorcycle. A second strike on Rafiah was reported shortly before the beginning of the Sabbath, and no details were available.

The attacks came in retaliation for three Kassam rockets that were fired at the nearby Israeli city of Sderot and the Eshkol region earlier in the day. The policy is one which the government has repeatedly told the ruling Hamas terrorist group would be carried out meticulously.According to the Reuters news agency, the targeted operatives in Khan Yunis were members of the Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization, one of three groups that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.However, an Israeli army spokesman said the terrorists were members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, and were preparing a bombing attack against Israel at the time of the strike.Army Clashes with Rock Throwing PA Arabs Near Hevron IDF troops clashed with rioting Palestinian Authority Arabs near the Abu Al-Rish checkpoint late Friday afternoon, where they are often delayed or prevented from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs.A massive gang of Arab teens and young adults began hurling rocks at the soldiers and at Jewish community members; Friday prayers, which are held on the Muslim Sabbath, are often a flashpoint for violent demonstrations by Arab worshippers and others whipped into a frenzy by nationalist clerics.Military sources said the teenage leader of the rock-throwing gang that started the clash was killed in the melee when soldiers shot at the lower part of his body.Arab officials accused IDF soldiers of shooting a 14-year-old teenager in the chest. The parents of the youth, Izz Ad-Din, condemned the IDF for the shooting, claiming their son had left the house to buy some dried goods at the corner store not far from the mosque.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Arabs in Israel guilty of spying for Syria
Arrested weeks before raid on North Korea-assisted nuke site February 12, 2009
1:57 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily

Syrian nuclear site targeted by Israel in 2007
JERUSALEM – Israel this month quietly sentenced to three years imprisonment two Syrians living in the Jewish state accused of spying for Damascus, the government disclosed for publication. The militants, Yusuf Salah Sham and Atta Farhat, were arrested July 29, 2007 – weeks before Israel's air raid on a suspected nascent Syrian nuclear reactor being constructed with aid from North Korea. A total Israeli media blackout was imposed on the spy case. In a court in Nazareth Sunday, the Syrians were found guilty of spying for an enemy country, including providing the Syrian military information on Israeli troop locations and military installations in the Golan Heights during the 2006 Lebanon war. The complete details of the case – fully known to WND – are being held back by Israel's military censor. Aside from passing to Syria military information, Sham and Farhat also carried out various other tasks for Damascus officials, fully aware their actions were illegal. Farhat and Sham were legal residents of Buqata, a largely Druze village in the Israeli Golan Heights. Farhat was arrested at his home during a nighttime police raid, according to the militant's family, who spoke to WND. The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria twice used the terrain to attack Israel. It has a population of about 35,000 – approximately 18,000 Jewish residents and 17,000 Arabs, mostly Druze. The Arab residents retain their Syrian citizenship, but under Israeli law they can also sue for Israeli citizenship.

In 2006, WND broke the story Syria was in the early stages of forming a guerrilla group threatening attacks against Israeli positions and Jewish communities in the Golan Heights, according to security sources. During a widely-circulated interview in August 2006 , a senior official from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party told WND the new guerrilla group, called the Syrian Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, would launch resistance operations if Israel didn't vacate the Golan.One month later, a man identified as the leader of the new Committees gave an interview to state-run Iranian television. Amos Yadlin, head of the Israel Defense Forces' intelligence branch, told the Knesset in October 2006 that Syria is indeed forming a Hezbollah-like group.Last February, the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan, whose senior leader met with WND in person, faxed a letter to Israeli news agencies claiming it was holding Guy Hever, an Israeli soldier who disappeared in the Golan in 1997. The Committees said it would release Hever in exchange for nine Syrians held in Israeli jails.

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.

Search for tornado victims ends in Oklahoma town By TIM TALLEY, Associated Press Writer FEB 12,09

LONE GROVE, Okla. – Emergency crews on Thursday finished rescue and recovery efforts in the wreckage of a devastating tornado, as residents gathered what belongings they could and began the massive job of cleaning up debris and rebuilding 100 homes damaged or destroyed in the storm.Eight people were killed in the tornado that ripped across Lone Grove on Tuesday night, said Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokesman Michelann Ooten. Most of the dead were in a mobile home park.

Fourteen more people were seriously injured. Carter County Sheriff Ken Grace had said one of those 14 had died, but said Thursday that he had been incorrect.Those killed included Vincent and Susan Gail Fambrough, whose bodies were found by their son-in-law after the twister pulled apart their mobile home.The last thing Gail Fambrough did was comfort her 13-year-old daughter, Kaylee, by taking her hand, said her eldest daughter, Danna McCord.She said she was just jerked out of her hands, McCord said. Kaylee emerged from the wreckage with minor injuries.Lone Grove City Manager Marianne Elfert said Thursday that 10 to 15 people remained unaccounted for, but were believed to have simply left the area. Federal Emergency Management Administration officials assessed damage Thursday as the state worked through the process of seeking federal assistance for uninsured losses.Most utility service was restored by Thursday to the southern Oklahoma town of 4,600 people about 100 miles south of Oklahoma City.I think people are very optimistic, Elfert said. We are a strong community.Lynn Self sifted through the debris of a mobile home where he said his friend's wife died. He said his friend is living with him temporarily and does not want his name released.He's still in shock, Self said.I tried to console him as best I could, he really is like a second dad to me. We'll pray a lot for him and be there when he needs us.

The tornado picked the couple's mobile home off its foundation and tossed the contents over a wide area.They actually found some of the belongings from this house down there,Self said pointing to a pile of debris 100 yards away. The couple's four dogs all survived and were found inside one of their demolished cars.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

Powerful earthquake hits Indonesia, 42 injured By NINIEK KARMINI, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 12, 10:55 am ET

AP JAKARTA, Indonesia – Strong aftershocks continued to follow a powerful earthquake off eastern Indonesia that briefly triggered a tsunami warning Thursday, causing a stampede of residents to higher ground. Hundreds of buildings were damaged and at least 42 people injured, some seriously.The U.S. Geological Survey said the shallow, 7.2-magnitude quake struck off Sulawesi island's coast at around 1:34 a.m. (1734 GMT; 2:34 p.m. Wednesday EST), shaking people from their sleep.Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval because it is located on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.Dozens of aftershocks as strong as magnitude 6.4 still shook the region late Thursday.The Talaud island chain, in waters just south of the Philippines, felt the earthquake most intensely, said Rustam Pakaya, a government crisis center official, adding that Melonguane and Kabaruan were the towns hardest hit.Nearly 500 buildings were damaged, including several schools, hospitals and churches, he said. Of the 42 people receiving medical care, 10 suffered serious injuries. Thousands of others were seeking refuge in shelters.The quake briefly triggered a tsunami warning — delivered over mobile loudspeakers and by radio and television. It was lifted about an hour later after the threat of killer waves had passed.We were so afraid, said Damian Geruh, a Melonguane resident who described women screaming as they fled their homes. We ran to a nearby hill. I saw others climbing trees.The USGS said the early-morning quake, and the aftershocks that followed, were centered 195 miles (320 kilometers) from Manado, the northernmost city on Sulawesi island, and 12 miles (20 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor.In December 2004, a massive earthquake off the country's western island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that battered much of the Indian Ocean coastline and killed more than 230,000 people — more than half of them in Indonesia's Aceh province alone. A tsunami off Java island in 2007 killed nearly 5,000.Associated Press Writer Irwan Firdaus contributed to this report from Jakarta.

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.

SPACE VIDEO
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/12/02/2009/experts-track-satellite-crash-space-debris/

Space Experts track satellite crash space debris
12/02 16:57 CETworld news

A cloud of debris has been sent spinning into space after a collision that destroyed two orbiting satellites. An American communications satellite was hit by a defunct Russian military satellite causing wreckage which could threaten the safety of the manned international space station. The risk is said to be small but experts fear the Hubble space telescope and Earth observing satellites are at greater risk of damage as they are at higher orbits and closer to the altitude at the point of impact.

Independent military analyst Alexander Golts said:
During half of the century of space exploration the near space has been filled with immense amounts of space debris. At the moment there are up to 18 or 20 thousand objects of various sorts there.

The collision happened 800 kilometres above Siberia.

The American Joint Operations Center is tracking the debris cloud. It is hoped most of it will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The EU, which has just initiated its own space surveillance programme, has released a statement calling on leading nations to accept a code of conduct for civil and military activities in space.

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).

TX officials order Peanut Corp. to recall products By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer FEB 12,09

DALLAS – Texas health officials ordered the recall Thursday of peanut products from a plant operated by the company at the center of a national salmonella outbreak, days after tests indicated the likely presence of the bacteria there.Peanut Corp. of America was ordered to recall all products ever shipped from its plant in Plainview after the Texas Department of State Health Services said it found dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in a crawl space above a production area on Wednesday.Health Department spokesman Doug McBride said it was up to Peanut Corp. to inform its clients around the country of the recall. It wasn't immediately clear if the company was complying: Phone messages seeking comment from the company weren't returned, and no information regarding the Texas action was posted on the company's site.However, even before the order, many customers of the Texas plant that mainly sold to manufacturers said they had begun holding products back, pulling them from shelves or running their own tests.The order regarding the plant, which operated unlicensed and uninspected for nearly four years, is the latest bad news for the company being investigated in connection with an outbreak that has sickened more than 600 people and may have caused at least nine deaths. More than 2,000 possibly contaminated consumer products have already been recalled in one of the largest product recalls ever.Federal investigators last month identified a Georgia peanut processing plant operated by Peanut Corp. as the source of the salmonella outbreak.

Texas inspectors also found that the air handling system was pulling debris from the infested crawl space into production areas at the Plainview plant that processed dry roasted peanuts, peanut meal and granulated peanuts. The plant, which voluntarily closed Monday, was also ordered by the state to stop producing and distributing food products.McBride said he did not know the volume of products that needed to be pulled back.Private lab tests returned Monday showed likely salmonella contamination at the plant that opened in March 2005, but officials said it didn't appear the potentially tainted products from the lots that were tested made it to consumers. Further testing was needed to confirm the results, but the health department said Thursday that their orders are not contingent on finding salmonella.The plant in Plainview, located in the Texas Panhandle, was run by a Peanut Corp. subsidiary, Plainview Peanut Co. It was not inspected by state health officials until after problems arose at the Georgia plant.Kenneth Kendrick, who worked as an assistant manager at the plant for several months in 2006, said Thursday he had sent several e-mails to the state health department while he worked there.He said his complaints included a leaking roof, which he knew could be a problem because of bird excrement.

Anything nasty you can think of comes from water off a roof,said Kendrick, who said he left the plant voluntarily.Kendrick said his initial complaints about the plant spurred no action. Last month, he complained again to state officials after his grandchildren became sick after eating peanut butter crackers.The federal government has opened a criminal investigation into the company, and its president, Stewart Parnell, repeatedly refused to answer questions Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, which is seeking ways to prevent another outbreak.A message left seeking comment from Parnell Thursday wasn't immediately returned.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which sent inspectors back to the plant after Monday's test result, said in an e-mail that its investigation there was continuing.Many companies hadn't waited for state or federal officials to take action. Robert Grauer, president of In a Nut Shell, a San Leandro, Calif., said his company decided to hold back about about 200 cases of peanuts from the Texas plant before the order was issued. We're not going to take a chance risking our customers —not over some peanuts, he said. A handful of Whole Foods Market supermarkets in northern California that received products containing peanuts from the Texas plant pulled from them from shelves two days before the Texas recall in an overabundance of caution,said Libba Letton, spokeswoman for the Austin, Texas-based company.
Associated Press writers Linda Stewart Ball and Danny Robbins in Dallas and Betsy Blaney in Lubbock contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI FEB 13,2009

09:30 AM -13.42
10:00 AM -23.41
10:30 AM -3.34
11:00 AM +28.12
11:30 AM -40.70
12:00 PM -59.33
12:30 PM -53.20
01:00 PM -87.69
01:30 PM -53.28
02:00 PM -3.34
02:30 PM -17.04
03:00 PM -26.36
03:30 PM -45.87
04:00 PM -82.35 7850.41

S&P 500 826.84 -8.35

NASDAQ 1534.36 -7.35

GOLD 942.80 -6.40

OIL 37.90 +3.92

TSE 300 8669.76 -109.02

CDNX 925.64 +9.77

S&P/TSX/60 520.61 -7.51

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -9.61%
S&P 500 -7.54%
Nasdaq -2.24%
TSX Advances 657,declines 826,unchanged 267,Volume 2,242,196,252.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 377,Declines 374,Unchanged 332,Volume 192,963,022.

GOLD at 7 month high.
Gold opens at $938.80 today.
Oil opens at $35.09 today
Barclays -7%,RBS -15%
Lloyds Bank -25% expects GDP to be 10 BILLION HBOS loss.
Traders eye G-7 meeting the long weekend.
Wyndham Worldwide +6%.
Abercrombie & Fitch provides no 2009 guidance.
FED:All FOMC meetings will be 2 days instead of 1 for the rest of the year.
Philly FDD forcasters say US economy will shrink at 5.2 rate this quarter,worst since 1982.

Dow +7 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -87 points at low today.
Dow +28 points at high today so far.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -73 points at low today so far.
Dow +37 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,492,declines 2,031,unchanged 121,New Highs 7,New Lows 63.
Volume 2,273,903,930.
NASDAQ Advances 1,275,declines 1,327,unchanged 147,New highs 8,New Lows 76.
Volume 942,951,227.
TSX Advances 593,declines 623,unchanged 286,Volume 903,820,805.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 251,Declines 269,Unchanged 263,Volume 85,433,946.

Bank of America,Citigroup,JPMorgan Chase,implement 3-week forclosure Moratoriums.

THE DODD TARP AMENDMENT

BONUS RESTIRCTIONS
-$25 MILLION:Highest compensated employee.
-$25-$250 MILLION:Top 5 employees.
-$250-500 MILLION:SR.Executives & next top 10.
-$500 MILLION:Senior Executives & at least next top 20.
FOR TARP RECIPIENTS:BANS
-Compensation incentive for Senior Executives to take unnecessary and excessive risks that threaten the Value of the Company.
-Golden Parachutes.
-Compensation that would encourage Earnings manipulation.
RECIPIENTS MUST:
-Institute Company-wide policy regarding excessive or luxury expenditures.
-Institute Say on Pay or an annual Shareholder vote on approval of executive compensation.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -93 points at low today.
Dow +37 points at high today.
Dow -1.04% today Volume 251,958,200.
Nasdaq -0.48% today Volume 1,865,859,402
S&P 500 -1.00% today Volume N/A
Dow Transports down 7.2% this week.
Dow -5.2% this week.
Dow -1.9% this month.
Russell 2000 down 4.4% this week.
S&P -4.2% this week.
S&P +0.6% this month.
Nasdaq -3.6% this week.
Nasdaq +3.9% this month.
STOCKS FALL SHARPLY JUST BEFORE CLOSING BELL.
OIL FUTURES REBOUND 10% TODAY,AFTER 5 SESSION SLUMP.
House passes $780 BILLION STIMULUS BILL 246-183,SENATE to VOTE on it later tonight.

YTD WEEKEND RESULTS
DOW -10.55%
S&P 500 -8.46%
NASDAQ -2.71%
CANADAS WEEK ENDING STATS
TSX Advances 757,Declines 727,Unchanged 286,Volume 1,845,108,648.
TSX Venture Advances 404,Declines 359,Unchanged 343,Volume 177,492,738.

MICROCHIP IMPLANTS IN PEOPLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IisdvUdTO5Q&feature=related

Geithner joins G-7 meeting as Europe economy tanks
By COLLEEN BARRY and ARIEL DAVID – FEB 13,09

ROME (AP) — The job of the Group of Seven finance ministers meeting on solutions to the financial crisis looked even more difficult on Friday as new economic data showed Europe's recession deepening.The German economy, Europe's engine, plunged by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter in the sharpest downturn since the country reunified in 1990, and fellow Group of Seven members Italy and France also reported sharp downturns of 1.8 percent and 1.2 percent.

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told reporters at a downtown Rome hotel where he was meeting with new U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the decline had been in line with his expectations.British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling was more blunt, calling the current troubles the severest downturn in generations.The meeting, which began with dinner Friday and was continuing with a daylong session on Saturday, marks Geithner's international debut.Officials from the leading industrial nations will discuss new financial markets rules, concerns about protectionist measures in stimulus plans, and the effect of the crisis on poorer countries. But a major breakthrough would be a surprise, with the meeting coming ahead of a broader, 20-country summit in April.Protectionism was emerging as a major worry amid fears that the crisis would lead countries to close off their borders to free trade, in a repeat of the 1930s. It's especially worrisome to Germany, a major exporter.If you are taking money from your taxpayer to bail out a car company, your taxpayer will say I want it spent at home. But the whole nature of this problem is that this will worsen it instead of addressing it, World Bank President Robert Zoellick told a meeting of Italy's bankers' association.The echo of the global slowdown could be felt on the streets of the Italian capital, with tens of thousands of workers and laid-off employees staging demonstrations against the government's handling of the crisis.The government has passed some measures, including aid for the ailing car industry in the form of consumer incentives and, just Thursday, an euro8 billion welfare package for laid-off workers.But unions and opposition politicians say those measures pale in front of the multibillion stimulus packages and bailouts passed in the United States, France and other European countries.

Geithner arrived Friday morning with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and spent the day in one-on-one meetings with his counterparts from Britain, Canada, Italy, Germany and Japan — saving a one-on-one with the French finance minister for her visit to Washington next week.Geithner was also met with Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who was joining the meeting.The absence of the rising global economic stars China and India, among others, have created a growing consensus that the G-7 isn't the right forum to tackle some of the tough questions facing the world. They will be present at the G-20 summit in April bringing together industrial and developing nations seeking to advance efforts to cope with the economic crisis and prevent a reoccurence. AP Economics Writer Marty Crutsinger contributed to this report.

Market Scan A G7 Heart-To-Heart In Rome Parmy Olson, 02.13.09, 05:55 AM EST
The Group of Seven will release its latest statement on Valentine's Day. Will anyone be listening?

It is probably fitting that the latest Group of Seven meeting will take place amidst the scattered remnants of ancient Rome: The group is increasingly becoming a relic of the past.There has been minimal interest in the meeting of finance ministers and central bankers on Friday and Saturday from the press and markets, largely because the upcoming G20 conference in April holds more weight, highlighting the growing prominence of developing nations on the world stage and the fact that the world's richest nations cannot solve the economic crisis alone.Nevertheless, the G7 will do its diplomatic duty to thrash out such weighty issues like the rising tide of protectionism, a much-needed overhaul of financial regulation and what to do about slowing economic growth in advanced economies. The IMF's recent forecast that the world's advanced economies will contract by 2.0% in 2009 is likely to overshadow previous G7 concerns about volatile currencies and the weak yuan. The group will release its concluding statement on Feb. 14, at around 2.30 p.m. local time.The group is apparently hoping for better relations with Washington and will be looking out for signs of a new multilateral approach from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The Bush administration tended to ignore international organizations, now things will have to be different, a European G7 official told Reuters.

Still, Japan's finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, wants to frankly exchange views on the status of the buy American clause of the U.S. economic stimulus package, according to the Japan Times.Do not expect much in the way of collective solutions from the group, which will include the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada, along with Russia and heads of the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. If anything, the member nations may instead seek to lay the groundwork for building an international approach to the financial crisis at the G20 meeting in April.

US energy chief floats idea of a carbon emissions tax Agence France-Presse
Published: Thursday February 12, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has floated the idea of a carbon emissions tax to fight global warming, in an interview with The New York Times Thursday.During the US presidential campaign, the notion was kept largely on the back burner as candidates were reluctant to promote the idea of costlier energy at a time when gasoline prices were soaring.But since President Barack Obama's administration took office in January, Congress has been working on setting up a system for swapping greenhouse gas emissions quotas similar to the one used in the European Union.And Chu said alternatives could emerge, including a tax on carbon emissions, the Times reported.Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics, long concerned about global warming, acknowledged it would be a tough sell to get a law passed in the United States that could lead to higher energy prices.But he said he supports putting a price on carbon emissions to begin to address climate change the daily said.Chu also stressed that the world was in real need of technological innovation to help address global warming, in areas such as solar energy, electric batteries and biofuels.

Flaherty backs IMF bank oversight role Thu Feb 12, 8:15 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Thursday that Ottawa favors using the Financial Stability Forum and International Monetary Fund to oversee international bank regulation rather than creating a new watchdog for that role.In the middle of an economic crisis, synchronized global recession, a crisis in some of the financial systems of the world, this is not the time to create new global entities, which would take months to get up and running, if not years, Flaherty told reporters.Flaherty, who will fly to Rome later on Thursday for a meeting of finance minister from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, repeated his call for so-called toxic assets to be cleared out of the world financial system.

Government is the only source now of going in and dealing with these bad assets in the banks and segregating them ... Every country has to get its own financial system in order and its institutions in order and then we have to have some sort of verification,he later told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.Our suggestion ... has been to use the IMF since they're already in that business and have experience, and we need that quickly, he said.Flaherty later told CTV television that the G7 meeting in Rome could start making some decisive steps that the G20 can follow from, but gave few details.Our G20 agreement was that all of us would create initiatives in our own jurisdictions, he told reporters, referring to November's G20 summit in Washington.The finance minister also said the Washington's planned stimulus package would benefit Canada as well as the United States. Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and is being badly hurt by the slowdown there.The American plan ... is a strong package and good for the United States, good for Canada. We know that stimulus builds on stimulus.Flaherty told CTV that he saw more trouble ahead for the country's largest trading partner.The United States economy certainly hasn't hit bottom yet. Their housing recession continues unabated, downward. So we're in difficult times. I'm optimistic about 2010, he said.

He also voiced appreciation for renewed support in Parliament from the Liberal Party for the minority Conservative government's budget measures. Flaherty told the CBC he hoped the budget would receive final approval in early March.Flaherty told CTV that Canada's banking system was stable and that the country had been helped by a decade of running budget surpluses.We have lots of room to maneuver at a time of crisis ... so we don't have to create permanent deficits, he said.The Americans, the British have a lot of trouble because they've been running deficits and when you hit rough waters like this and you start really spending a lot of money it's going to be hard for them to come out of it, he said.On a separate issue, Flaherty said it was important that the IMF have enough resources, and he expected to discuss the issue with G7 ministers and with IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.The demands on the IMF are substantial now, particularly by some of the economies in Central and Eastern Europe, and some of the emerging economies, which are experiencing a flight of financial institutions, of foreign banks and so on.(Reporting by Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren)

U.S. House Passes Obama’s $787 Billion Stimulus Plan (Update2)
By Brian Faler FEB 13,09

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House passed President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan designed to help repair the economy through tax cuts for businesses and families and a half-trillion dollars in federal spending. The chamber voted 246 to 183 for the measure with no Republicans in favor. The Senate plans to approve the package later today, which will send it to Obama for signing and give him the first major legislative victory of his administration. After all the debate, this legislation can be summed up in one word: Jobs,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. The American people need action and they need action now. The package is designed to create or save 3.5 million jobs, Obama and Democrats in Congress have said. The stimulus plan’s centerpiece is a $400 payroll tax cut for individuals and $800 for couples. Retirees, disabled veterans and others who don’t pay payroll taxes would get a $250 payment. Businesses won several tax breaks, including faster write- offs for equipment purchased in 2009 and incentives for companies that produce and invest in renewable resources such as solar and wind power. A business tax break pushed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would ease near-term tax burdens on companies and buyout firms that restructure debt without entering bankruptcy. Because of paperwork that needs to be done, the legislation will reach the president’s desk no earlier than Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Republican Opposition

Republicans opposed the measure, saying it included too much spending and not enough tax cuts and that it wouldn’t do enough to boost the economy. This stimulus package does more to permanently grow the federal government than it does to create jobs or stimulate our economy, said Representative Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said his chamber will debate the measure until 5 p.m. Washington time. He didn’t give a specific time for tonight’s vote, though late yesterday he said it would be held open to give Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio time to return from his home state following the death of his mother. The 1,400-page stimulus plan would provide a half-trillion dollars for jobless benefits, renewable energy projects, highway construction, food stamps, broadband, Pell college tuition grants, high-speed rail projects and scores of other programs. It would raise the nation’s debt limit to about $12 trillion.

TARP Program

The package would restrict executive compensation at all companies receiving assistance from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, not just those receiving exceptional aid as the Obama administration announced last week. The legislation limits bonuses and other incentive pay at those companies on a sliding scale according to how much federal aid they take. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus package would cost $787 billion rather than $789 billion as lawmakers estimated. The plan would pump $185 billion into the economy this year and $399 billion next year, the agency said. Democrats released the text of the plan late last night, prompting complaints from Republicans they didn’t have enough time to review the legislation before voting on it. Not one member has read this, said House Minority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net.

Bank of America Splits Corporate Bank Between Global, Americas
By David Mildenberg FEB 13,09

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank, will divide its corporate and investment bank into Americas and international units, according to a person familiar with the matter. Former Merrill Lynch & Co. executive Andrea Orcel is leading international corporate and investment banking, said the person, who declined to be identified because the split hasn’t been publicly announced. Jonathan Moulds, the head of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, will retain broad market leadership responsibilities, the person said. He’ll report to Brian Moynihan, who leads investment banking and wealth management units at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company. To contact the reporter on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at dmildenberg@bloomberg.net

Power outage hits towers in Canada financial center Thu Feb 12, 3:32 pm ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – An electrical equipment failure knocked out power in a handful of skyscrapers in Canada's financial center on Thursday, leaving as many as 100,000 without electricity.Crews are currently on scene at all of the outages restoring power, a Toronto Hydro spokeswoman said, adding full restoration is expected later this afternoon.The downtown Toronto buildings affected included the tower that houses the offices of the Toronto Stock Exchange as well as First Canadian Place and the RBC Center, she said.Carolyn Quick, a spokeswoman for TMX Group Inc, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange and the junior Venture market, said trading was uninterrupted.The Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange continued to operate during the power outage as they are on separate power systems, as well as there is fully redundant system in place.(Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski and Scott Anderson; editing by Frank McGurty)

Fitch downgrades Ukraine ratings over crisis FEB 13,09

KIEV (AFP) – Ratings agency Fitch downgraded Ukraine's main debt on Friday, citing fears of a full banking and currency crisis and adding to the strains in a country at risk of losing the second slice of an IMF loan.The downgrading came as economic strains in the country rose, and a day after Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk resigned saying he had become a hostage to politics.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also warned a few issues required clearing up before it can issue a second slice worth 1.9 billion dollars (1.47 billion euros) of a 16.4-billion-dollar loan to see Ukraine through the economic crisis.Fitch Ratings has today downgraded Ukraine's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings to B from B+, the ratings agency said in a statement.This reflects increased risk of a banking and currency crisis in Ukraine, due to intensified stress on the financial system and greater risks to successful implementation of Ukraine's IMF-supported programme.The authorities have admitted they could miss out on the second tranche of the IMF loan because predictions of a budget deficit of three percent of GDP in 2008 do not satisfy the fund.IMF spokesman David Hawley said on Thursday that discussions between the IMF and Ukrainian authorities on a second portion of a crisis loan were continuing and a few issues remain outstanding before the IMF would release the money.The uncertainty over the loan could not come at a worse time for Ukraine.

A downgrading of sovereign debt is a signal that the underlying economic performance of a country, and its capacity to honour payments due on its sovereign debt bonds, are considered to be weakening.The risk of holding the bonds is therefore perceived to be increased, with the result that the cost to the country of financing its overspending rises.There can also be a knock-on effect on interest rates throughout the economy.Ukraine's currency the hryvnia has halved in value against the dollar over the last six months, inflation is running at more than 22 percent year-on-year and industrial production is in freefall.Meanwhile, decision-making remains paralysed in a conflict between the pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.Most economists expect a severe contraction in economic growth in 2008.A full banking and currency crisis would damage the real economy and the sovereign's financing options, directly impairing sovereign creditworthiness, said Fitch.The ratings agency noted that Ukraine faced a 0.5 billion dollar eurobond maturity in August 2009 plus a possible additional 768 million Swiss Francs (665 US dollars) in September if holders choose to exercise put options.It predicted that the economy would contract by 4.5 percent in 2009, making fiscal tightening more difficult to implement.Tymoshenko on Friday said she was convinced that the IMF would issue the loan tranche to Ukraine as it was cooperating with the fund.

Pynzenyk said in his resignation statement that the professional position of finance minister has become a hostage to politics, in an apparent reference to the perennial row between the prime minister and president. He added he was unprepared to sacrifice professionalism and the goal of a balanced budget with minimum deficit.

Stocks wobble as world's finance ministers meet By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer FEB 13,09

NEW YORK – Stocks wavered Friday, with investors anxious about the economy but hopeful more details will emerge about government efforts to revive it.Wall Street is waiting to see if finance leaders from the United States, Canada, Japan and other major industrialized nations will come up with some clear, specific ways to repair the global financial system. Officials from the Group of Seven are gathering in Rome Friday to discuss new rules for financial markets, as well as concerns about protectionist measures in stimulus plans.Earlier this week, Wall Street took a tumble after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner revealed plans to assess financial institutions' health and remove their toxic assets with the help of private investors — but gave few details about how the process would work.Hopefully, we might have a little more insight into Geithner's plan, which will probably be discussed in great length at the meeting, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners Inc.The market is showing signs of wanting to rally, Cardillo added, pointing to the Dow Jones industrial average's late-day comeback Thursday after nearing its November 2008 lows. But it needs ... insight into Geithner's rescue package plan.In midmorning trading, the Dow rose 14.58, or 0.18 percent, to 7,947.34, after dipping earlier in the session.Broader stock indicators also turned higher after an initial decline. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.64, or 0.20 percent, to 836.83, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.80, or 0.25 percent, to 1,545.51.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.64, or 0.81 percent, to 454.06.The Dow reversed big losses Thursday afternoon on news that the U.S. administration is stepping up efforts to help distressed homeowners. Two people briefed on the plan told The Associated Press the administration is considering lowering mortgage rates for borrowers on the verge of foreclosure. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the details were not yet complete.Meanwhile, the Obama administration's $790 billion economic stimulus plan will likely be voted on by the House Friday. It will then go to the Senate for a vote.

Investors believe the economy will eventually rebound, but they are unsure how much further it will slide, and which companies will come out victorious. Over the past couple weeks, economic data and corporate profit reports, for the most part, have been horrific. On Friday, the University of Michigan reported that consumer sentiment dropped sharply in February.With stock prices so low, you're certainly rewarded for risk-taking. Unfortunately, it's not a great environment to take a lot of risk, said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. It's a game of chicken, and most of us are chickens.Bond prices were mostly lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.84 percent from 2.79 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.29 percent from 0.28 percent.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose 64 cents to $34.62 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling to its lowest price this year on Thursday.In earnings news, PepsiCo said its fourth-quarter profit fell, but the soft drink maker's adjusted results met analysts' expectations. Pepsi shares rose 45 cents to $52.45.Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said its fourth-quarter profit slid 68 percent due to hefty asset impairment and tax costs and dropping sales. But the results, after stripping out one-time items, beat estimates. Shares rose $1.66, or 8 percent, to $22.36.Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.96 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.25 percent, Germany's DAX index slipped 0.09 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.94 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

WTO Panel Warned of Protectionism Threat Lamy Calls for Information Sharing
By Edward J. Cody Washington Post Foreign Service February 10, 2009; Page D07

PARIS, Feb. 10 -- The director-general of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, called Monday for a freer flow of trade information to help guard against protectionism as governments struggle to overcome the global economic crisis. Lamy, addressing the WTO's new Trade Policy Review Body in Geneva, gave voice to rising fears, particularly among poor nations, that governments might succumb to pressure to restrict imports or subsidize home industries in the face of financial instability and economic troubles that have spread around the world since the Wall Street banking turmoil erupted last September. Lamy said protectionist steps have been noted by the review body, but added that the situation is, broadly speaking, under control. He singled out President Obama and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for resisting what he described as protectionist pressures from industry and legislators. Lamy did not specify what pressures Obama had resisted. But the WTO and U.S. trading partners previously have cautioned against the Buy American measure that was included in the administration's economic stimulus bill under consideration in Congress. In a report last month, Lamy noted the tariff increases, bank bailouts and industrial support packages that have raised the specter of protectionism by distorting the competitive relationship among trading countries. Ujay Sing Bhatia, the Indian ambassador to the WTO, told Reuters that such measures announced by a number of governments since the fall amounted to as much as $3 trillion.

Ambassadors of several developing nations warned the review body that trade distortions were building because of economic recovery and bank rescue plans in rich nations. Bhatia, for instance, said clarifications are necessary on how such plans could affect competitiveness, Agence France-Presse reported. Lamy said WTO experts have had trouble tracking measures taken or under consideration among the WTO's 153-member governments because of a lack of official information. He called on governments to be more forthcoming so the review body could get an accurate picture and publish timely alarms if necessary. One of the problems dealing with services is the information deficit that we have about what governments are doing, what regulators are doing, what measures are being taken, a Lamy lieutenant, Hamid Mamdouh, told reporters at a WTO briefing Friday. Neither Bhatia nor Lamy named the countries that have accumulated the anti-crisis measures they were referring to. But coincidentally, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Monday an $8.3 billion support package for his country's sagging automobile industry. The step comes on top of a $33 billion economic stimulus plan and billions more loaned to teetering French banks in November. Sarkozy depicted the aid as encouragement for development of environmentally friendly cars, which he said would give French carmakers a competitive edge after an economic recovery. But at the same time, he said, the money should encourage Renault, Peugeot and Citroen, the main French producers, to keep their factories in France and staunch the loss of jobs. Other European countries have taken similar steps since the fall that earlier would have been considered violations of the European Union's free trade and deficit rules. The commission has not yet ruled on Sarkozy's rescue plan for the auto industry. But it has responded to the crisis by declaring what amounts to a softening of the financial and trade discipline that was one of its main missions. Lamy said the WTO's export-dependent poor nations run the risk of seeing trade barriers erected by richer nations as unemployment grows and economic growth stagnates in the months ahead. In the end, he added, this would hurt not only the poorer nations but, in the era of globalized trade, the wealthier countries as well. In any case, the World Bank has predicted global trade will sink by more than 2 percent in 2009.

Congress readies final vote on $790B stimulus bill By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer FEB 13,09

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid predicted Friday that Congress will finish its work on a massive, $790 billion economic stimulus plan, possibly by day's end, giving President Barack Obama a big victory.Speaking as debate resumed on Capitol Hill, the Nevada Democrat said the Senate would likely vote on the package of spending and tax cuts later in the day and that the finished product could be sent to Obama's desk soon thereafter.We expect to be in a position to vote on adoption of the conference report, Reid said at the start of the Senate day.Obama, addressing a White House group, noted that lawmakers had a spirited debate and said the legislation is only the beginning of what he considers necessary to turn our economy around.The president did not get all he wanted out of the bill.The 1,071 page measure — eight inches thick — was posted on an overburdened congressional Web site late Thursday, giving lawmakers just a few overnight hours to read it before debate resumed in both the House and Senate Friday morning. Just on Tuesday, the House voted unanimously to recommend that lawmakers and the public have at least 48 hours to read the legislation before a vote.The $790 billion plan combines $286 billion in tax cuts with $311 billion in programs funded by the appropriations committees and about $193 billion in spending for benefit programs such as unemployment assistance, $250 payments or millions of people receiving Social Security benefits, and extra money for states to help with the Medicaid health program for the poor and disabled.Obama's Making Work Pay tax cut would be scaled back from $500 for most workers to $400, with couples getting $800 instead of $1,000.

Obama said Friday that passing this bill is a critical step. He plans to announce a new housing initiative soon, perhaps as early as next week.We have a once in a generation chance to act boldly, turn adversity into opportunity, and use this crisis as a chance to transform our economy for the 21st century, the president said.

The plan is the signature initiative of the fledgling Obama administration, which is betting that combining tax cuts of just a few dollars a week for most workers with an infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars of government spending over the next few years will arrest the economy's fall.But the inclusion of a $70 billion tax break to make sure middle- to upper-income taxpayers won't get hit by the alternative minimum tax forced a reduction of Obama's signature tax break for 95 percent of workers.Republicans pointed out a bevy of questionable spending items that made the final cut in House-Senate negotiations, including money to replace computers at federal agencies, inspect canals, and issue coupons for convertor boxes to help people watch TV when the changeover to digital signals occurs this summer.

This measure is not bipartisan. It contains much that is not stimulative, said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Obama's rival for the White House. And is nothing short — nothing short — of generational theft since it burdens future generations with so much debt, he added.Obama economics adviser Larry Summers cautioned against raising expectations too high.I think this is a key part of what's going to be a multipart strategy to contain this decline, he said. But Summers added that the problems weren't made in a week, a month, a year. It's going to take time to fix. He said it should not be considered a silver bullet,or panacea for deeply rooted business woes.

Much of the spending won't be delivered this year or even next, and Republicans pointed to studies by the Congressional Budget Office that say that adding so much to the national debt would cost the economy by the end of the decade.Republicans, lined up to vote against the bill, piled on the scorn.This is not the smart approach, said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. The taxpayers of today and tomorrow will be left to clean up the mess.It was clear that the measure was the result of old-fashioned sausage-making. Pet provisions were coming to light that had not been included in the original bills that passed the House or Senate — or that differed markedly from earlier versions. Some appeared to brush up against claims of the bill's supporters that no pet projects known as earmarks were included.

Romania, Bulgaria risk more EU aid cuts
VALENTINA POP 12.02.2009 @ 17:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Romania has gone backwards in the fight against corruption in the past six months, while Bulgaria registered some progress after seeing its pre-accession funds frozen in July, the European Commission has said.It is important that the Romanian authorities regain momentum on judicial reform and fight against corruption so as to reverse certain backward movements of recent months, commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger told a press conference on Thursday (12 February) when presenting the two reports.The Romanian parliament was the main reason for the poor marks from Brussels. It blocked high-level corruption cases that needed the legislature's formal approval in order to go to court. The parliament also attempted to destabilise the anti-corruption prosecutor's unit and to introduce amendments to the penal procedure code which would have severely restricted the rights of the prosecution, the report shows.On the positive side, the anti-corruption agency has continued to deliver high-level cases. Between 30 November 2009 and 21 January 2009, it indicted a former prime minister, a former vice prime minister, a former minister of labour and three members of parliament.A full report, which might look into the EU funds management issue as well, is expected in the summer of 2009.

It will be crucial for Romania to achieve significant, irreversible progress by then [summer 2009]. Romania must demonstrate the existence of an autonomously functioning, stable judiciary which is able to detect and sanction corruption and preserve the rule of law, the report concludes.On Bulgaria, the commission acknowledges the efforts made by the authorities since July, especially the setting up of joint investigation teams composed of prosecutors, intelligence officers and policemen to fight organised crime groups. But it says it wants convincing and tangible results.

More pay cuts possible

Although the current reports make no reference to EU funds, the conclusions suggest that Bulgaria made more efforts after having its pre-accession funds frozen, while Romania, which in July 2008 got away without sanctions, did not.When presenting the July 2008 report, the Commission made a link only for Bulgaria between that document and the decision to suspend EU funds worth over €500 million due to fraud and corruption. In Romania's case, although a similar decision to suspend agricultural payments worth €142 million was taken in June, no such political linkage was made.

Several member states are said to support the political linkage between the upcoming justice report in the summer of 2009 and a potential funds freeze, if no progress takes place. Supporters of this idea, along with the commission, are Germany, France, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Austria.The new Romanian government, which was in place only since January this year after the parliamentary elections end of November, is committed to fighting high level corruption, Mihnea Motoc, Romania's ambassador to the EU told EUobserver. He rejected any connection at this stage between the justice monitoring and EU funds.

The fact remains that EU funds are reimbursed under regulations and procedures that are very well defined and that have their own means for insuring their proper implementation, including sanctions and corrections. I don't see any linkage in the content of the report and a threat on the use of EU funds by Romania, he said.But German MEP Ingeborg Grassle, member of the parliament's budgetary control committee, told this website that she was going to make a formal request to the commission for a special report on the use of EU funds in Romania. She said she was not at all surprised by the critical tone of the report on Romania. The current economic crisis and the need for big EU donors like Germany to save money was also going to lead to more questions on how European funds were spent, she added.

Sarkozy defends French car plan
ANDREW WILLIS 12.02.2009 @ 09:15 CET

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has defended his country's support plan for the automobile sector despite growing criticism from a number of EU states. Speaking from Kuwait City on Wednesday (11 February), where he is currently on a tour of Gulf States, Mr Sarkozy said the plan had nothing to do with protectionism. He continued that other EU states were welcome to put funds into French plants in their markets but that it was his responsibility to keep jobs in France.If approved by the European commission, the French plan announced on Monday would provide PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault €6 billion in loans. For their part, recipient companies must promise not to close factories or cut jobs in France. The automobile sector currently employs one-in-ten workers in France. However competition spokesman Jonathan Todd said on Tuesday that the commission had certain concerns regarding the deal, adding: the commission is going to look very closely at the French plan.If there is an additional condition such as keeping a production plant in France, that would make the aid illegal,he warned.In a bid to secure approval for the deal, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon will fly to Brussels on Thursday to speak with commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. However a number of EU states appear to have strong reservations over the French bail-out of its automobile sector, fearing that it could have negative impacts on their own economies. These are issues that affect us all ... and we must make sure that there is a level playing field where EU competition law applies, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said on Wednesday.

Mr Sarkozy has already endured a barrage of criticism over the plans from the Czech Republic, which is currently chairing the EU.The Czechs were outraged by suggestions made by Mr Sarkozy last week that French car companies should relocate foreign production plants to France. PSA Peugeot Citroen currently operates a large production outfit outside Prague.

Gun drama at European Parliament in Brussels
HONOR MAHONY 12.02.2009 @ 17:38 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A lone robber attacked a bank located inside the European Parliament building in Brussels on Thursday (12 February) afternoon, causing major disruption.The attack occurred at around 4pm local time at a branch of the ING bank inside the parliament's Paul Henri Spaak (PHS) building in the heart of the European quarter.The man showed a gun, or something that like looked like a gun, the staff were afraid so they gave him the cash in the drawer and he escaped, European Parliament head spokesman Jaume Duch told this website.

Nobody was hurt, he added.

The bag used in the robbery was quickly recovered, another official said. But as of early evening, it was unclear whether the robber - reportedly wearing a wig and make up - remained on the loose inside the parliament or its vicinity. We are looking through the camera system now to see, said Mr Duch.Several EU staff working in the large PHS office block, which contains the parliament's plenary chamber, were unaware of the drama. Others closer to the scene of the crime were alarmed by the heavy police presence, including helicopters.The PHS building often plays host to VIPs, including heads of state, with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attending an international water conference only two floors above at the time of the assault.But the European Parliament has a low profile security presence compared to the European Commission and European Council complexes.It is not known whether the gun involved was real or fake, said the parliament spokesman. Of course if it was a fake, it would be very difficult to prevent this sort of thing.We can never guarantee 100 percent security, he explained. But this is the European Parliament and as such must remain a public building open and accessible to European citizens.
With additional reporting by Leigh Phillips.

Lost U.S. Weapons May Be Going to Taliban, GAO Says By Joby Warrick and R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, February 12, 2009; Page A12

Tens of thousands of assault rifles and other firearms in Afghanistan are at risk of being stolen because U.S. officials have lost track of them, according to a congressionally ordered audit that warns that some weapons may already be in Taliban hands. The audit by the Government Accountability Office found that inventory controls were lacking for more than a third of the 242,000 light weapons donated to Afghan forces by the United States -- a stockpile that includes thousands of AK-47 assault rifles as well as mortars, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. There were no reliable records showing what ultimately happened to an additional 135,000 weapons donated by other NATO countries, the report said. Many of the weapons, supplied between 2004 and 2008, were left in the care of Afghan-run military depots with a history of desertion, theft and sub-par security systems that sometimes consist of a wooden door and a padlock, the report said. The lax controls extended even to such sensitive equipment as night-vision goggles, which have long given U.S. troops a critical edge in fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's rugged terrain, the GAO found. Basic accounting procedures such as recording serial numbers were routinely skipped, placing millions of dollars of weapons at serious risk of theft or loss, said the GAO report, which is expected to be presented today to a House oversight panel. A copy of the report was obtained by The Washington Post. Lawmakers have begun pressing the Pentagon for explanations in advance of the report's official release. Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.) said the failures could lead to American soldiers being killed by insurgents using a weapon purchased by U.S. taxpayers.That's what we risk if we were to have tens of thousands of weapons we provided washing around Afghanistan, off the books,Tierney said in a written statement.A Defense Department spokesman had no immediate response to the report yesterday.The problems found in Afghanistan mirror those discovered during a similar audit two years ago in Iraq. There, at least 190,000 AK-47s and pistols imported into the country by the United States could not be accounted for, the GAO said in July 2007. That figure represented roughly 30 percent of all the small arms imported into Iraq for use by local forces in 2004 and 2005.

In that country as well, the U.S. military failed to set and follow appropriate accountability standards, the GAO said. Some of the arms, such as Glock automatic pistols, subsequently fell into the hands of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, based partly in the country's north, which Turkey, the United States and the European Union have labeled a terrorist group. Turkey complained to the Pentagon in 2006 and 2007 that arms diverted from Iraq were being used in crimes and assassinations inside its borders. For the Afghanistan report, a GAO team toured the country last August and attempted to track various lots of weapons delivered to the war-torn country over a period of four years. The auditors found that inventory controls routinely used to track U.S. weapons were not applied in Afghanistan, in part because of manpower shortages and a lack of direction from the Pentagon, the report said. As a result, U.S. officials cannot be certain that weapons intended for [Afghanistan's army] have reached those forces,it said. U.S. military teams began attempting to correct the problems last June, shortly before the auditors arrived, the GAO noted. A separate report by the Pentagon in October provides much of the explanation for the vulnerability of Afghanistan's donated weapons stocks: It said U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan had basically ignored their mandate to ensure the accountability, control and physical security of the arms given to Afghan forces under the $11.7 billion aid program, and in particular had neglected to record the weapons' serial numbers so that they could be monitored. The inspector general's report, commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen, blamed the U.S. Central Command for failing to set appropriate standards and procedures for handling weapons imported into Afghanistan.

The report also criticized commanders of the U.S.-led unit charged with training Afghan police and military forces for failing to issue appropriate directives to training teams and mentors. It said further that the local U.S. office charged with overseeing the $7.4 billion foreign military sales program to Afghanistan is too small and that its personnel lack sufficient rank, skills and experience to monitor whether associated arms are being diverted. Just nine people, led by an Army major, were assigned to oversee a program that disbursed more than $1.7 billion in 2007, in contrast to a team of 77 led by a major general that oversaw a similar program in Saudi Arabia that disbursed 60 percent less money. None of the nine officers in Afghanistan had prior foreign military sales experience, a circumstance the report called improper given the strategic importance to the United States military effort of cultivating adequately armed Afghan forces. The lack of adequate U.S. oversight left a gaping hole because Afghan security forces lack the capability to monitor the flow of military equipment, the Pentagon's inspectors found during their visits in October 2007 and April 2008. The head of the Afghan army's logistics unit told them he had no idea what arms units had already received, when supplies were arriving or who was sending them. In an official response to the Pentagon report, Ellen E. McCarthy, a senior security official in the office of the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, acknowledged that the theft, sabotage, exploitation or misuse of arms and explosives in Afghanistan would gravely jeopardize the safety and security of personnel and installations worldwide. She also agreed that the U.S. Central Command needed to attach a higher priority to the problem. Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.