GOD WANTS ISRAELIS IN ISRAEL GO OBEY GODS COMMANDMENT ISRAELIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8XBhXLu-zQ&feature=player_embedded
RABBI ON TEMPLE MOUNT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw91yrKuQec&feature=player_embedded
VIDEOS TO THIS STORY BREZINZSKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5yVZi66PPo&feature=player_embedded
Samantha Power against ISRAEL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oFkmcZt4OQ&feature=player_embedded
Adar 27, 5769, 3/23/2009 Gog Gathering Steam? by Tamar Yonah
It's not so much a stretch of the imagination anymore to envision living in the time of the great battle of Gog and Magog. The battle of Gog and Magog is talked about in the book of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 and alludes to the nations of the world joining together to come against Jerusalem (Israel). I will admit here and now, that I was of the opinion that George Bush pushing his Road Map, and his desire to divide Jerusalem and Israel, fit the bill of being Gog. I won't venture now to toy with who might fill that role. It can be Russia as many Rabbis say, or can be from Edom/Rome/the West, as others suspect. Time will tell us who Gog is. However, the biblical description of the story of Gog states that he and his troops are lured down through the north of Israel to rampage our towns and take us over, but his plans are foiled and his forces are all killed by fiery hail storms and other supernatural means to show the world who REALLY reigns! In fact, the number of Gog's forces that will be killed, will be so many, that it will take over 7 months for the Jews in Israel to bury all the bodies. Gog too will die in Israel. Fast track to today, where the children of Israel have been brought back to the Land of Israel from the 4 corners of the earth. The stage is set, and the nations of the world converge on Jerusalem. (Ezekiel chapters 38-39).Everyone wants Jerusalem, it is the spiritual capital of the world.The nations of the world all blame Israel for the lack of world peace.They may advance in this coming battle in the guise of 'bringing, - excuse me, forcing their man-made peace on us.
The Bible says that these nations of the world will come against Israel and the Jewish people. But who are the nations of the world? And how many are we talking about? We look to the book of Genesis where this is mentioned, and find out that the nations of the world were made during the building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis, chapter 11).Mankind, EXACTLY like today, wanted to build a tower to reach the heavens, and there, de-throne G-d, and take His place. We, Mankind, wanted to become the Masters of our own destiny! We would make the laws and we would re-define what was moral, what was good and what was bad.The only difference today is, that instead of us building a tower like days of yore, we are instead building a One World Government. A New World Order. And this New Order today tries to de-throne G-d, and re-interpret what is moral. Today, in this new age, sodomy isn't an abomination, it is just an 'alternative life-style'.Today, promiscuity isn't evil, it's just sexual experimentation.Today, a woman dancing naked isn't called a stripper, instead she is called an exotic dancer.Today, tolerating evil and appeasing it, isn't weakness or cruelty, but it is dubbed strength and tolerance. Man has re-named evil and garbed it in cosmetic terms to make them acceptable, even hip.We have clothed evil in make-up and political correctness and slapped it with a government approved label.The European Union is one of the major blocks or stepping stones to a One World government/Tower of Babel. In fact, take a look at this picture of the Tower of Babel. Take a good look. It is used as a poster to promote the EU! Now, below, is a picture of the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. It is the Tower of Babel.
Just as in the Bible we read that G-d would not let Man continue with building their tower, and instead mixed up the speech of the people into 70 different languages giving rise to 70 diverse cultures/nations around the globe, we shall see G-d plunder Gog and his New World Order (NWO) as well.In the end of days, the nations of the world will come against Israel under Gog. Remember, all the nations of the world are 70. Know also that the Gematria or numerical value of the Hebrew letters of the words Gog and Magog = 70. Know also that 70 nations of the world met to support and fund, the establishment of a Palestinian State in the belly of Israel.A few months ago, just before the U.S. presidential elections,Dr Zbigniew Brzezinski gave a speech at Chatham House declaring what needed to be done immediately in the diplomatic and geo-political world after America elects a new president.Israel must be pushed to establish a Palestinian State inside it's own country and divide it's capital Jerusalem and give it away. He said this pressure on Israel must be enforced soon, as the window of opportunity for peace was closing, alluding to Jewish settlement which is making more and more demographic facts on the ground. Dr Brzezinski spoke at the Chatham House (thanks to David who sent me this from Germany) which is said to be another name for RIIA (the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a world-leading institute for the debate and analysis of international issues, which was established with the help of Cecil Rhodes in the late 1800's. It's American branch is the Council on Foreign Relations which was established in 1921. The Royal Institute of International affairs is akin to being the sister or mother organization of the CFR, the think tank that brought you the North American Union.
Below I am supplying a part of the speech that Dr Brzezinski, a top Obama advisor, gave at the Chatham House. In it below, at about 5min and 20 seconds in, he describes the nations of the world, all agreeing, to participate in the push to wrest Jerusalem from Israel. He states emphatically that all the nations of the world (6min 26 sec.) will back up this effort. At 8:22 in this video clip below, Brzezinski talks about the demand to divide up Jerusalem. He ends his talk with a joke, saying that if the West's plan of how to make peace is wrong, we'll be no worse off than we are now. It's not funny, because maybe HE won't be worse off, but Israel will have had it's limbs amputated, been downsized, broken up and carved out, and Israel could not survive having a PLO terror state inside of our borders, having the Arabs in rocket target fire distance of our major international airport, and being a country that at one point is only 9 miles wide and can be cut in half at the Mediterranean Sea.Add to this, the by-now famous video of Barak Hussein Obama's advisor and staff member Samantha Power, who alludes to an invasion of Israel by the USA and Western forces to enforce their idea of peace. And to put more gasoline on this fire, see this article which describes a new foreign policy for the USA regarding abandoning Israel. In another story, Israel's chief of Staff left the USA trip he was on early, because he was dissed there with no one of his level or who had any policy influence on Obama's staff could find the time to meet with him. He came to discuss Israeli intelligence on Iran's nuclear reactor and to discuss ways to stop Iran from possibly triggering a third world war.Instead, the U.S. president had other things to do like go and be a guest on Jay Leno's Tonight Show.I am not sure where his other upper staff was, maybe they were busy being contestants on Deal, or No Deal.But no one had time to meet with our chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi to set a plan of action on how to deal with Iran and it's nuclear threat, not just against Israel, but against America as well.Let's not forget that Iran is in bed with Hugo Chavez and has opened a base in Venezuela and Nicaragua, too close to comfort for Americans. Instead, the American administration is unfortunately gravitating towards wooing the Arabs, and are wanting to see a Palestinian State established.The nations are grumbling.The nations are getting antsy and impatient, the West, and the Arabs. History is speeding up. A possible planned invasion of troops by different nations of the world can converge on Israel, either from the East, or the West. Are we seeing the signs that this war shall soon materialize?
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.
North Dakota braces for record floods by Kim Winnegge Kim Winnegge – Tue Mar 24, 7:02 pm ET
FARGO, North Dakota (AFP) – Hundreds of volunteers built temporary dikes out of sandbags and clay amid a light drizzle of rain Tuesday as the flat prairie state of North Dakota braced for record spring flooding.Army trucks filled with sandbags drove down a normally quiet residential street lining the Red River in Fargo where fresh volunteers poured out of buses to join a line of people tossing bags onto an ever-increasing dike.People are starting to realize how serious this situation is, said Kyle Lunke, a student at North Dakota State University.Everybody counts in these times. We'd like to think they'd be there for us.The entire state was under a major flood warning as an unusually heavy snowpack began to melt on top of saturated land that has not yet fully thawed.Floodwaters have already shut down a number of roads and bridges across North Dakota, where the governor has called in the national guard to help with flood protection and rescue efforts.Several people caught in the rising waters were evacuated by air after roads became impassable and dozens more were forced to abandon their homes.A heavy blizzard expected to dump six to nine inches of snow was forecast to move eastward across the state on Tuesday, further complicating flood preparations.The neighboring state of Minnesota was also under threat as the mighty Red River, which borders the two midwestern states, began to overtop its banks as it flowed slowly northwards to Canada.The extreme flatness of the Red River Valley means the floods will go wide, move slowly and take days or even weeks to recede, said Pat Slattery of the National Weather Service.You will have an extremely wide river, said Slattery, who said a stretch of waterway that now measures 100 yards wide might turn into a mile to a mile-and-a-half.It's very hard to get this stuff to run off,he added.Your soil up there is totally saturated.
It usually takes about two weeks for a flood crest to flow the 393 miles (633 kilometers) from the southern end of North Dakota to the Canadian border because of the flatness of the land.Any rain or snowfall in the coming weeks will raise flood levels even further, warned Slattery.The region was the site of devastating flooding in 1997, which caused more than two billion dollars in damage and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes after about 2,200 square miles (3,540 square kilometers) of land were swamped.Since then, flood protections have been reinforced and officials say they are determined not to lose another home or business to the river.I don't think any homes are doomed to be lost,said Karena Lunday, the city of Fargo's communication manager.Volunteers have poured into the city of 100,000 people to help with sandbagging efforts, and had filled a million by Tuesday morning. A million more will be needed to protect the city from a flood forecast to crest at a near-record 40 feet on Friday, Lunday said.Several miles of dikes need to be built and reinforced to protect against the river that runs through the east side of town.
Everyone is so determined to get the job done, Lundy told AFP. With so many volunteers stepping up to help I think we'll make it.Jennifer Paulsrud fell asleep to the sound of trucks dropping off sandbags outside her Fargo home, which survived the 1997 flood thanks to a barrier built in the backyard. That plywood barrier has been elevated this time around with the help of sandbags dropped off by volunteers. I woke up in the morning and there were sandbags everywhere, said Paulsrud as she handed out sandwiches and pizza to volunteers.It's a deja vu kind of thing ... I didn't think it would happen again.Paulsrud has faith that the heavy flood wall will protect her green one-story home and says she has never considered leaving the lovely tree-lined street on the river's edge. This will always be our home,she said.
FOR LINKS TO STORY SENATE RUBBER STAMPS ENSLAVEMENT BILL
http://www.infowars.com/senate-rubber-stamps-national-enslavement-bill/
Senate Rubber Stamps National Enslavement Bill
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Senate last night rubber stamped a nightmare domestic draft bill that legislates mandatory national service and creates an army of at least 7 million civilian enforcers working at the the behest of the government, while also containing language that threatens to ban free speech and the right to protest.Last week, we reported on the House passage of the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, known as the GIVE Act, which was carried with a 321-105 margin vote.A passage contained in section 6104 of the original House version entitled Duties, in subsection B6, states that a commission will be set up to investigate, Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed.This language has been dropped from the version passed by the Senate.However, Section 120 of the bill discusses the Youth Engagement Zone Program and states that service learning will be a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.This part remains in the version passed by the Senate.Roles which will be staffed by members of the programs, labeled Required National Service Corps, include criminal
justice,environmental stewardship,and public safety.
Aside from the programs aimed at college students and young people, others will be specifically targeted towards, Retired and other former law enforcement, fire, rescue, and emergency personnel, and other individuals with backgrounds in disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery.The bill was rubber stamped by the Senate last night in a 74 to 14 vote, a move that creates An army dispersed to help with education, health services and the environment, (which) would vastly enlarge the notion of community organizing, and allow, as Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, said tonight, for about 7 million people to be engaged in such work,reports the New York Times.References to the program as the creation of a civilian army have dominated mainstream news coverage of the legislation.7 million members of this civilian army equates to about one member for every 50 Americans, a similar figure to the number of East Germans who collaborated with the Stasi and informed on their own citizens during the cold war.The GIVE Act is just one of many pieces of legislation that vastly expand service organizations in line with Obama’s agenda to create a national civilian security force.In January we also reported on the introduction by the Department of Defense of a civilian expeditionary workforce that will see American civilians trained and equipped to deploy overseas in support of worldwide military missions. The DoD report states, Management retains the authority to direct and assign civilian employees, either voluntarily, involuntarily, or on an unexpected basis to accomplish the DoD mission.Though the civilian expeditionary workforce program is restricted to DoD employees, similar programs have already been established for public sector workers.One such program has seen hundreds of police, firefighters, paramedics and utility workers recently trained and dispatched as Terrorism Liaison Officers in Colorado, Arizona and California to watch for suspicious activity which is later fed into a secret government database.Similar initiatives have been introduced in other western countries, including recently in the UK with the announcement that MI5 is currently training up to 60,000 UK citizens as part a civilian network of terrorist spotters, according to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and home secretary, Jacqui Smith.In addition, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, publicly stated his intention to help create universal civil defense training in 2006.
In an interview with Ben Smith of the New York Daily News, Emanuel outlined the agenda for military-style training, essentially a domestic draft, aimed at preparing Americans for a chemical or biological terrorist attack.Asked by Smith about the universal service plan and whether people would have to live in military barracks, Emanuel laughed before responding, We’re going to have universal civil defense training, somewhere between the ages of 18 to 25 you will do three months of training….but there can be nothing wrong with all Americans having a joint similar experience of what we call civil defense training or civil service in service of the country, in preparation, which will give people a sense of what it means to be an American.It will be a common experience and we will be prepared, God forbid, God forbid that there is a chemical hit, another terrorist act or natural disaster becoming more frequent - there’ll be a body of citizens who are ready and capable and trained - that’s all you have to think about,said Emanuel before smugly declaring, We’re all here for you OK? It’s a circle of love.Asked if the training would be military style, with people wearing uniforms, Emanuel stated,If you’re worried about are you going to have to do 50 jumping jacks the answer is yes,adding that the service could be done through state national guard.Shockingly, the GIVE legislation also contains language that could completely demolish the 1st amendment.The 12th amendment to the act states, Amendment to prohibit organizations from attempting to influence legislation; organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; and assist, promote, or deter union organizing.As Gary Wood writes, Those in support of this legislation will argue this amendment is limited in scope and is not meant to interfere with the rights of citizens to protest, petition, boycott, or strike in resistance to government proposed laws. However, the people associated through service under the GIVE Act are considered volunteers, still free citizens, yet it will be unlawful for them to take part in any protests against any legislation. This is as close to a sedition act, a violation of 1st Amendment rights, as has been proposed in recent history. A basic right as a part of our natural, inalienable rights, is to resist government. Our founders not only knew it was a right but it was a responsibility. This legislation begins to break that down significantly.Fears about Obama’s plans to create involuntary servitude and domestic spy squads were first stoked in July 2008, when Obama told a rally in Colorado Springs,We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.Despite denials that Obama plans to institute a mandatory program of national service, his original change.gov website stated that Americans would be required to complete 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. The text was only later changed to state that Americans would be encouraged to undertake such programs.
Numerous other national service bills have been introduced which target everyone from schoolchildren to the elderly. They include the Service For All Ages Initiative, the Summer of Service Act, the Semester of Service Act, the Encore Service Act and the ACTION Act.Regarding the GIVE Act, The bill’s opponents — and there are only a few in Congress — say it could cram ideology down the throats of young volunteers, many of whom could be forced into service since the bill creates a Congressional Commission on Civic Service,reports Fox.We contribute our time and money under no government coercion on a scale the rest of the world doesn’t emulate and probably can’t imagine, said Luke Sheahan, contributing editor for the Family Security Foundation. The idea that government should order its people to perform acts of charity is contrary to the idea of charity and it removes the responsibility for charity from the people to the government, destroying private initiative.Lee Cary of the conservative American Thinker warns that Obama’s agenda is to, tap into the already active volunteerism of millions of Americans and recruit them to become cogs in a gigantic government machine grinding out his social re-engineering agenda.The passage of such shocking legislation with barely a whimper from political activist groups goes to show how well the corporate media has performed in camouflaging the legislation with flowery characterizations of helpful volunteerism, when in reality the bill creates the pretext for mandatory national service and the creation of a multi-million man domestic civil defense unit who will be tasked with spying on their fellow Americans under the justification of protecting the country from terrorism.
OBAMA CALLS FOR CIVILIAN ARMY FORCE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s&feature=player_embedded
H.R.1388 BILLS TO READ
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1388
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HZ49:
GIVE Mandatory Service Act Strips First Amendment of Volunteers
Kurt Nimmo Infowars March 24, 2009
On March 18, Rep. George Miller, a Democrat from California, tacked an amendment on H.R. 1388, entitled Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, or GIVE (to government), Obama’s plan to require mandatory service for all able young people. Miller’s amendment will prohibit organizations from attempting to influence legislation; organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; and assist, promote, or deter union organizing,according to GovTrack.us, a site that tracks Congress.Obama’s call for a Civilian Security Force during a campaign speech in Colorado Springs, Colorado.In other words, Obama’s volunteer corps act, passed by the House with a 321-105 margin and requiring the government to develop a plan for indentured servitude, would deny millions of people their right to oppose and organize against government legistation under the First Amendment. This is as close to a sedition act, a violation of 1st Amendment rights, as has been proposed in recent history. A basic right as a part of our natural, inalienable rights, is to resist government. Our founders not only knew it was a right but it was a responsibility. This legislation begins to break that down significantly,writes Gary Wood for the Examiner.GIVE (up your rights) will conscript millions of young people, put them in uniforms and send them packing to 4-year public service academies where they will be indoctrinated and trained to become public sector leaders.
GIVE was passed by the House on March 18 by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 321 to 105.At this moment of economic crisis, when so many people are in need of help and so much needs to be done, this could not be more urgent,said Obama.It is up to every one of us to do his or her small part to make the world a better place.Under section 6104 of the bill, entitled Duties,in subsection B6, the legislation states that a commission will be set up to investigate, Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.Section 120 of the bill addresses the Youth Engagement Zone Program and states that service learning will be a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.H.R. 1388 not only reauthorizes programs under the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, but also includes new programs and studies and is expected to be funded with an allocation of $6 billion over the next five years, explains Bob Unruh for WND.Many, however, are raising concerns that the program, which is intended to include 250,000 volunteers,is the beginning of what President Obama called his National Civilian Security Force in a a speech last year in which he urged creating an organization as big and well-funded as the U.S. military. He has declined since then to elaborate, Unruh adds.It appears Miller’s amendment is designed to strip members of this emerging National Civilian Security Force of their constitutional rights under the First Amendment.
The First Amendment reads as follows: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.According to GovTrack.us, the addition of the Miller amendment to GIVE was agreed to by voice vote.On March 23, a similar bill was passed by the Senate on a 74 to 14 vote. From President Kennedy’s days to the creation of Americorps by then President Bill Clinton, the notion of public service has become a rallying cry. Tonight’s vote, propelled by President Obama’s urging of an expansion, would mean a growth in such work from 75,000 community service jobs to 250,000,reported the New York Times.
RESEACH LINKS AT BOTTOM OF STORY
http://www.infowars.com/give-mandatory-service-act-strips-first-amendment-of-volunteers/
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 WED MAR 25,2009
09:30 AM +9.25
10:00 AM +156.51
10:30 AM +144.40
11:00 AM +156.51
11:30 AM +166.46
12:00 PM +154.92
12:30 PM +149.82
01:00 PM +132.06
01:30 PM +64.67
02:00 PM +39.19
02:30 PM -27.80
03:00 PM -84.30
03:30 PM -30.90
04:00 PM +89.84 7749.81
S&P 500 813.88 +7.63
NASDAQ 1528.95 +12.43
GOLD 933.50 +9.70
OIL 52.80 -1.18
TSE 300 8797.44 -51.95
CDNX 949.04 +24.75
S&P/TSX/60 533.48 -4.21
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -12.72
S&P -10.73%
Nasdaq -3.20%
TSX Advances 703,declines 819,unchanged 264,Volume 2,587,939,465.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 372,Declines 394,Unchanged 368,Volume 192,233,662.
Dow +71 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -3 points at low today.
Dow +179 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $923.00.OIL opens at $52.34 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -3 points at low today so far.
Dow +204 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,618,declines 1,064,unchanged 103,New Highs 16,New Lows 82.
Volume 474,686,508.
NASDAQ Advances 1,818,declines 829,unchanged 145,New highs 13,New Lows 21.
Volume 1,345,680,431.
TSX Advances 884,declines 529,unchanged 261,Volume 1,671,489,440.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 360,Declines 250,Unchanged 310,Volume 161,671,266.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -109 points at low today.
Dow +204 points at high today.
Dow +1.17%today Volume 454,092,176.
Nasdaq +0.82% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 +0.95% today Volume N/A
RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65
RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04
China weighs paper gold against dollar as reserve currency MAR 24,09
The world outgrew the gold standard decades ago. But a paper gold standard might be one way out of the global financial crisis. Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China’s central bank, has proposed shifting the world from its dependence on the US dollar to a new reserve currency managed by the International Monetary Fund. The idea is good – if only China meant it. By John Foley, breakingviews.com Last Updated: 2:56PM GMT 24 Mar 2009
The greenback has been the world’s dominant reserve currency – equivalent to a financial lingua franca – since the end of the Second World War. Countries hold it in spades to back their own currency. The IMF reckons that two-thirds of the $7 trillion of foreign currency holdings worldwide are in US dollars. The euro, the second most-held currency, makes up just a quarter. Were international trade switched instead to an IMF-managed currency – Zhou suggests a little-used device called a special drawing right or SDR – Uncle Sam would have a real headache. America’s borrowing and trading costs would spike. After all, the US saves by rarely needing to convert its own money – a perk known as seigniorage.
Will Uncle Sam let the dollar collapse?
Dollar crunch puts gold centre stageBut in the long term, the US would benefit. Being the currency of choice has made it unnaturally cheap for the US to borrow and fund its consumers’ profligate habits. Besides, as Zhou points out in a scholarly flourish, there’s the Triffin Paradox to consider. This says that so long as the US agrees to feed the world with dollars, it can’t successfully control its own currency. Having a central currency – let’s call it the Zhou-Triffin Doubloon (ZTD) – managed by a supra-national organisation would make it more difficult for any one country to get into too much debt to another. If the supply of ZTD in issue were controlled properly – say by expanding it in line with global GDP – it would serve as a steady store of value, with little risk of devaluation. Moreover, a credible ZTD would have many of the advantages of the now-defunct gold standard. It would be strictly limited in supply and ready acceptability everywhere. Indeed, it would be even better than the yellow metal, which is after all too cumbersome for a modern economy and too scarce to serve as a measure for international trade. In sum, the ZTD would add much needed ballast to international finance. And China would not be alone in promoting this single currency. Russian authorities have been thinking along similar lines.
So why not get cracking? There are many obstacles: most notably getting the IMF up to the task. Nor is China in any position to move quickly. A truly global reserve currency would have to be based on a basket of world currencies, which would include the renminbi. China would have to make its tightly controlled currency freely convertible – which it shows no desire to do. Indeed, China probably has other things in mind than financial stability, such as augmenting its global financial sway. Right now, the Middle Kingdom has only a 3pc vote in the IMF, no more than Belgium, because votes are linked to each country’s contribution to the fund. Were China able to claim credit for its prodigious foreign reserves, it could replace the US at the top of the table. At best, China’s proposal is self-serving. At worst, it could be merely another manifestation of growing hostility towards the US – to be filed alongside recent protectionism, naval skirmishes and Chinese criticism of US spending habits. That political undercurrent is a shame. Paper gold looks like one of the best ideas to come out of the financial crisis.
Sharia Banking Conquers Europe
From the desk of Thomas Landen on Tue, 2009-03-24 12:53
All over Europe Islamic banks are establishing branches, Western banks are offering Sharia-compliant financial services, and European governments are trying to outcompete each other in welcoming them. Proponents of banking along the lines of Sharia (Islamic law) claim that the Islamic banking system is more ethical than the West’s capitalist system. This is not true. Unfortunately, however, in our age of crashing financial markets, many Westerners – not just the traditional anti-capitalist European left – seem very eager to buy that argument.Early this month, even the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano voiced its approval of Sharia banking. The ethical principles on which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the true spirit which should mark every financial service,the paper said in a downright stupid and unethical article published on March, 4.The article, entitled Islamic finance proposals and ideas for the West in crisis [pdf] suggests that the basic rules of Islamic finance could relieve suffering markets and particularly international financial systems. It says that in the current atmosphere of crisis banks should take Muslims as an example and that the Islamic finance system may pave the way for the establishment of new rules in the Western world.Islamic or Sharia banks differ from regular banks in two major ways. As commanded in the Koran, the charging of interest is prohibited in all monetary transactions. The other defining feature of Islamic banks is that they are supervised by a board of Islamic scholars and clerics whose job it is to ensure that the banks’ activities comply with Sharia law.
Its proponents argue that Islamic banking is ethically superior to the capitalist principles of the materialistic West because, as Giovanni Maria Vian, the editor of Osservatore Romano says, Sharia banks take the human dimension of the economy into account.The two dirty secrets of Islamic banking, however, are that, like all banks, Sharia banks do charge interest – they just give it another name – and that the clerics supervising the banks have ties to extremist, even terrorist, groups which work towards the Islamization of Europe and world dominance.Helena Christofi, an expert on Sharia banking, explains that Islamic banks extend a type of Islamic credit, called murabaha, that shifts risk to the borrower in a manner similar to interest.An Islamic bank granting murabaha credit to a customer for an automobile, for example, would purchase the automobile for the customer for $15,000 and the customer would owe the bank $20,000 in a year’s time. Similarly, under the diminishing musharaka credit, the Islamic version of a mortgage, the bank and the customer purchase the property together. The customer must make monthly payments to the bank and pay a monthly rental fee, both based on the portion of the purchase price the bank still owns. Ironically, the interest this amounts to ranges between one and two percent higher than the interest on a conventional mortgage. Although the resale price of the vehicle and the rent paid on the house are akin to simple interest charges, the banks’ sharia boards legitimate the charges by renaming them commissions or profits.The Sharia boards supervising the Islamic banks and Sharia-compliant financial services offered by regular European banks are composed of members of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. This Council is headed by Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradawi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and instigator and financier of terrorism in Europe and the Middle East. Both Al-Qaradawi and the Council have expressed their hope that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror.
With ever larger Muslim populations there is a growing internal demand for an ethical alternative to conventional banking for Muslims. A 2006 poll by Lloyds Trustee Savings Bank in Britain found that over 75% of British Muslims want Sharia-compliant banking products, while in 2005 Mufti Abdul Barkatullah, Sharia adviser to Lloyds TSB and an imam at a North London mosque reported that 20% of inquiries into Islamic products at Lloyds TSB came from non-Muslims who have bought the argument that conventional capitalist banking is somehow unethical.Alun Williams, marketing director of the Islamic Bank of Britain, established in 2004 and one of the first Sharia banks in Europe, told The Guardian (April 2, 2005):Our biggest appeal outside the Muslim community will be to those who feel disenfranchised by, and bitter about, mainstream banks. […] Non-Muslims are fascinated by us, the more so because we intend offering […] an ethical dimension.That was four years ago. Meanwhile, Islamic banking has boomed all over Europe and interest from non-Muslims has grown in the wake of the financial crisis, which some, such as the Vatican paper, claim is due to the free-market model having grown too much and badly in the past two decades.Sharia principles, however, not only prohibit the collection and payment of interest and investing in companies involved in gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pornography and the production of pork, but also forbid women from opening bank accounts without their husband’s approval. How ethical the latter is for the non-Muslims fascinated by Sharia banking is unclear. However, Western banks offering Sharia-compliant services to non-Muslims do not seem to insist on barring women. According to Christofi,The justification for replacing capitalism with the Islamic model is based on an intentional corruption of Sharia law, but the banks’ clerics don’t seem to mind undermining their theological philosophy, since the ethical image their misrepresentation has created for Islamic banking has managed to spread Islamic ideology to non-Muslims in Britain. According to Al-Qaradawi, Islam’s ideological infiltration into the West will be the vehicle through which it will establish an Islamic government over the entire globe.Although Al-Qaradawi and other members of the European Council for Fatwa and Research are connected to Islamist circles, the British government continues to promote the UK as a hub for Islamic banking. Western governments welcome Sharia-compliant banking because of the huge sums this attracts from Muslim immigrants, ethically-driven non-Muslims, and investors from Muslim countries.
In December 2008, the French Senate looked at ways to eliminate legal hurdles for Islamic financial services and products in France. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announced France’s intention to make Paris the capital of Islamic finance and said several Islamic banks would open branches in the French capital in 2009. French sources estimate this area of the financial market is worth from 500 to 600 billion dollars and could grow by an average 11 percent a year.In July 2007, Wouter Bos, the Dutch Finance Minister (and leader of the Dutch Labour Party), said the Dutch government actively encourages Islamic banking, despite the risk that this acts as a Trojan horse in the Western banking system for groups linked to terrorists.In the first place because Islamic banking meets a demand from the Muslims living in the Netherlands. In the second place because we see an opportunity here for the Dutch financial sector. A third reason is that banning Islamic banking from the perspective of fighting terrorism will have a counter-productive effect. Denial of an actual need can lead to money-flows running via alternative channels out of the sight of the government.Switzerland, too, wants its share of Sharia banking. Years ago, Swiss banks already opened branches in the Middle East, offering worldwide Sharia-compliant financial products to wealthy Arabs.In October 2006, the Swiss authorities granted a banking license to the first Switzerland-based bank that operates according to Sharia principles. Others have followed. There are simply not enough financial products being created in the West for Muslim clients, says John Sandwick, managing director of Swiss asset management firm Encore Management. If no effort is made whatsoever, I am afraid the world will pass Switzerland by in the race to control the rich prize: which today is worth hundreds of billions, but in the future will be trillions of dollars of Islamic wealth. Michael Fouad Chahine of Credit Suisse says The development of Islamic banking has so far been limited to countries with a higher percentage of Muslims. But this is changing as more international regulators accept the importance of Sharia. It is now also accepted as socially responsible banking.
How socially responsible and ethical is it to try to grab a share of the billions of dollars amassed by rich Arabs, while turning a blind eye to the fact that a substantial part of the money is used to promote terrorism and the establishment of an Islamic government over the entire globe? In one of his sermons, Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi, one of the supervisors of the Sharia-compliant financial services offered in Britain, speaks of the conquest of Rome. In view of the recent article of the Osservatore Romano, Al-Qaradhawi’s words sound rather ominous:The city of Hirqil [Constantinople] was conquered by the young 23-year-old Ottoman Muhammad bin Morad, known in history as Muhammad the Conqueror, in 1453. The other city, Romiyya [Rome], remains, and we hope and believe [that it too will be conquered]. This means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice […]. In one of my previous programs, I said that I think that this conquest [of Rome] would not be by the sword or armies, but by preaching and ideology. Europe will see that it suffers from materialistic culture, and will seek an alternative, it will seek a way out, it will seek a lifeboat. It will find no lifesaver but the message of Islam.Will the Vatican Bank be the next to go Sharia?
CA-CANADA Summary Energy shares lead TSX to lower close MAR 24,09
TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto's main stock index finished more than 100 points lower on Tuesday as a slide in oil prices shook out some of the big gains the market recorded in the previous session, when it closed at a six-week high. A day after the energy group helped power a rally of more than 5 percent, a drop in oil prices helped drag the TSX lower as upcoming data is expected to show an increase in crude stockpiles.
Canada finance minister to attend G20 summit
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will join Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a summit of G20 major and emerging economies next week in London, a spokesman for the minister said on Tuesday. Chisholm Pothier, spokesman for Flaherty, confirmed to Reuters that the finance minister would attend the meeting, which will discuss how to resolve the global financial crisis.
Petro-Canada, Suncor seek repeal of ownership limit
OTTAWA/CALGARY (Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc and Petro-Canada will ask the Canadian government to repeal a law that protected Petro-Canada from any unwanted takeovers but left its stock depressed, according to documents filed with regulators. Suncor agreed on Monday to buy Petro-Canada in an all-share deal, initially valued at $18.4 billion ($15 billion), to create Canada's largest oil company and the dominant player in the country's vast oil sands.
Scotiabank CEO sees signs of financial stability
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - There are indications the global financial system has begun to stabilize, which is needed for the rest of the economy to recover, Bank of Nova Scotia's chief executive said on Tuesday. My sense is that the financial system, and this includes globally, is beginning to stabilize. So economies will stabilize, I expect, near the end of the year,Richard Waugh told a business gathering in Vancouver.
Liberals gain support: poll
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Liberals have edged past the Conservatives in popularity, five months after suffering a sharp electoral defeat, according to a poll released on Saturday. A Nanos Research survey put the Liberals at 36 percent, up 3 percentage points from the previous poll last month and 10 points from the October election. After the party's poor electoral performance, it replaced leader Stephane Dion with Michael Ignatieff.
Fox News host targeted by Canadian military
TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - A Fox News talk show host on Monday apologized for ridiculing the Canadian military after a protest from the country's defense minister. Greg Gutfeld, host of Fox News' Red Eye show, had joked last week that the Canadian military may want to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants.
Gillett ponders sale of share in Canadiens
OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. businessman George Gillett is considering the sale of his sporting assets including Premier League club Liverpool and the Montreal Canadiens, a senior executive at the NHL team said on Monday. The Gillett family has retained the services of financial advisors in order to assess various strategic alternatives to optimize the value of its corporate assets,communications vice-president Donald Beauchamp told Reuters.
Activists say Canada's seal hunt target excessive
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadians armed with rifles and clubs ventured on to ice floes off the Atlantic coast on Monday to start the annual harp seal hunt, an event that opponents say is totally unjustified. Ottawa announced on Friday night that hunters will be allowed to kill 280,000 young harp seals out of a herd of 5.5 million, slightly more than the 275,000 limit set last year.
Gunmen kill Darfur aid worker
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Armed men have shot dead a Sudanese worker for a Canadian aid group in Darfur in the latest of a string of attacks on international organizations in Sudan's violent west, his employer said on Tuesday. The country director of Fellowship for African Relief said it appeared the attackers were trying to steal a satellite phone when the Sudanese site manager was killed at his house in the remote village of Kongo Haraza late on Monday night.
Canada finance minister says oil merger important
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Tuesday Suncor Energy's proposed takeover of Petro-Canada is an important deal for Canada and for the oil patch. Flaherty, speaking to CTV television, said it was a good thing that regulators were reviewing the deal to ensure fair competition in the oil industry, but added that, We believe in investment as well in this country. We want to grow this economy.
Japanese exports suffer record plunge by Daniel Rook MAR 24,09 11:56PM
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan announced Wednesday a record fall in exports, keeping its economy on course for the worst recession since World War II as the global downturn pummels demand for cars and high-tech goods.Exports roughly halved in February compared with a year earlier, making it likely the world's second-largest economy will log another sharp contraction in the current quarter.Japan's heavy dependence on foreign markets means its economy has been one of the worst affected by the global economic downturn, and analysts see little prospect of a quick turnaround.Japanese exports are unlikely to recover (soon), and it is difficult to foresee a rapid recovery unless the global financial crisis eases,said Commerzbank analyst Ryohei Muramatsu.He warned that Japan's economy looks unlikely to improve until demand from the United States and China picks up.As the US is expected to be the first one out of the crisis, other economies will recover six months later, including Japan, Muramatsu said.Japanese exports plunged 49.4 percent last month from a year earlier, surpassing January's slump of 45.7 percent, the finance ministry reported.Shipments to the United States and Europe more than halved while demand from the once-booming Chinese economy dropped almost 40 percent.Japan's trade surplus plunged 91.2 percent in February from a year earlier to 82.35 billion yen (840 million dollars), although that was better than a record deficit logged in January, the government said.The Japanese economy logged its worst performance in almost 35 years in the last quarter of 2008, contracting at an annualised pace of 12.1 percent.
The economy is likely to shrink at a slightly faster pace in the current quarter and it will remain weak for some time to come, said Hiroshi Shiraishi, an economist at BNP Paribas.The rate of contraction should ease fairly sharply from the second quarter onwards but the economy will remain weak for some time to come, he said.The economy is also bracing for another bout of deflation. The government may report on Friday the first year-on-year decline in core consumer prices since September 2007, analysts said.But Japan is not yet slipping into another deflationary spiral, central bank governor Masaaki Shirakawa said in parliament.The economy is facing a further downturn and prices will likely soon start falling. But right now, the country is not going through a vicious cycle where economic contraction and price falls reinforce each other, he said.The corporate sector was a key driver of Japan's economic recovery following the 1990s recession, as companies enjoyed strong profits and invested heavily to expand their production facilities.Now corporate giants such as Toyota and Sony are slashing thousands of jobs as they fall deep into the red.
Japanese growth was exclusively dependent on exports,said Professor Noriko Hama at Doshisha Business School in Kyoto.It was natural that Japan would be hit a lot more severely than other countries.Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this story.
Obama writes global editorial Jon Ward (Contact)Tuesday, March 24, 2009
As calls for the dollar to be replaced by a global currency grew louder, President Barack Obama on Tuesday published an editorial in 31 newspapers around the world, from Riyadh to Hong Kong to New Delhi to Chicago, attempting to stake out a strong leadership position at next month's global economic summit in London. The United States is ready to lead, and we call upon our partners to join us with a sense of urgency and common purpose,Mr. Obama wrote. Our leadership is grounded in a simple premise: We will act boldly to lift the American economy out of crisis and reform our regulatory structure, and these actions will be strengthened by complementary action abroad.The U.S. has come under intense criticism from around the world for causing the global crises, and there has even been scattered talk of an attempt to remove the dollar as the world's reserve currency, which would be a body blow to the U.S. That talk grew louder on Monday as China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, called for the dollar to be phased out and replaced by a currency issued by the International Monetary Fund. Russia staked out a similar position earlier this month.
Mr. Obama did not mention the dollar but acknowledged that America bears our share of responsibility for the mess that we all face.But I also know that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy,he wrote.That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people.
Mr. Obama called for other nations to continue stimulus spending that is robust and sustained until demand is restored,but he did not call directly on other nations to do more than they already have.Europeans have rejected the idea that the Group of 20 summit should be the occasion for a new round of concerted stimulus projects, which the Obama administration earlier this month had been advocating. The president, however, went into some detail on the issue that is of priority to Europe: comprehensive reforms of our regulatory and supervisory framework.All of our financial institutions -- on Wall Street and around the globe -- need strong oversight and common sense rules of the road,he wrote. All markets should have standards for stability and a mechanism for disclosure. A strong framework of capital requirements should protect against future crises. We must crack down on offshore tax havens and money laundering.The president's editorial did not run in mainland China, whose government holds nearly $2 trillion in U.S. treasuries. It was distributed by Tribune Media Services and appeared in several Gulf States newspapers, as well as the Arabic-language Asharq Al Awsat, in Pakistan, Japan, throughout Europe, including France's Le Monde and the International Herald Tribune, and in select South American countries such as Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It was published in three U.S. cities: Baltimore, Chicago and Los Angeles.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN Terror attack rated highly likely Intel agencies warn of danger during G20 meetings March 23, 2009 11:21 pm Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily
LONDON – Britain's MI5 and MI6 intelligence services have issued a joint warning that the threat of a terrorist attack on or during the G20 summit in London next week is now at the top end of severe, the third of four high-risk levels, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The only higher rating that intelligence services use is critical,indicating an attack is expected imminently.The warning comes on the eve of the publication of the government's new counter-terrorism strategy. The document includes advice on how to protect buildings from attack.
Security sources say the possibility of an attack by terrorists would most likely involve using automatic weapons for a Mumbai style attack on London's major hotels and shops like Harrods.Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.
Terrorists used grenades and assault rifles in the Mumbai attack last November, which killed 173 people. Two deluxe hotels were the focus of the attack.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Report: Iran has assembled network of lobbyists that has penetrated administration
WASHINGTON — The number of significant pro-Iran lobbyists has grown and key players have gained access to the new administration of President Barak Obama, a report said.
The Center for Security Policy said veteran Iranian lobbyists, several of them former government officials, have been granted access to the Obama administration. A complex network of individuals and organizations with ties to the clerical regime in Teheran is pressing forward in seeming synchrony to influence the new U.S. administration's policy towards the Islamic republic of Iran,the report, titled Rise of the Iran Lobby,said. Spearheaded by a de facto partnership between the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other organizations serving as mouthpieces for the mullahs' party line, the network includes well-known American diplomats, congressional representatives, figures from academia and the think tank world.The report, authored by Clare Lopez, said the lobbyists have been funneling money to key members of Congress as well as penetrating the Obama administration. The lobbyists were said to be supported by the highest level of the Iranian leadership.Of special concern is the growing penetration of the Obama administration by a number of individuals with such associations, the report said. Specifically, the de facto alliance between CAIR, one of the Muslim Brotherhood affiliates named by the U.S. Department of Justice as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 and 2008 Holy Land Foundation trials, and groups such as NIAC and its predecessor, the American-Iranian Council, which long have functioned openly as apologists for the Iranian regime, must arouse deep concern that U.S. national security policy is being successfully targeted by Jihadist entities hostile to American interests.
The report said the establishment of the Iranian lobby took about a decade as it has sought to recruit prominent American academics to support the Teheran regime. Today, the report said, key figures in such U.S. think tanks as the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Institute for Science and International Security and the Woodrow Wilson Center have become supporters of a diplomatic approach toward a nuclear Iran.Obama began talks with the Iranian lobby during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. The report, based on open sources, said Obama met a leading pro-Iranian lobbyist, Hassam Qazwini, head of the Islamic Center of America, in May 2008. Since then, Obama has been appointing or preparing to name such leading pro-Iranian speakers such as Richard Haas, Vali Nasr, Dennis Ross to senior positions in the administration. Ross has been selected to be Obama's special envoy to Iran.That so many respected Middle East and foreign policy experts seem to have bought into the Iranian regime's agenda is testament to the extraordinarily effective information operation that has been waged against U.S. national security interests by the Iran Lobby's network over the last several years, the report said.Charles Freeman, appointed chairman of the National Intelligence Council, was identified as a key member of the Iranian lobby. Others cited by the report were U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Susan Rice, a predecessor, Thomas Pickering, [Ret.] Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Thomas Pickering, former National Security Council official Gary Sick, former Rep. Robert Ney and Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat.
Ney, convicted of accepting bribes in 2006, was directed by his then-aide Trita Parsi, who later became a key pro-Iranian lobbyist and president of the National Iranian-American Council. The report identified Parsi, a Swedish-Iranian, as a leading organizer in winning support for a U.S. rapproachment with Iran from prominent Americans, many of whom with access to Obama.Under the leadership of Mr. Obama's prospective National Intelligence Council chairman, Chas Freeman, the Middle East Policy Council has closely aligned with Trita Parsi's NIAC in urging the U.S. to adopt an agenda of dialogue and rapprochement with Teheran,the report which was written before Freeman withdrew from the post said. It is inconceivable that a man as publicly and closely aligned with the views of Iran and its agents of influence in America will be able to exercise truly independent judgment about what the mullahs are up to, let alone offer objective intelligence analysis about how best to contend with them.U.S. oil majors have also backed a new American policy that supports the Teheran regime. The report cited the American-Iranian Council, founded more than a decade ago with support from Aramco, Chevron Texaco, and Conoco Phillips.At present, a major objective of the Iran lobby is to weaken U.S. support for Israel,the report said. The lobby advocates permitting the Iranian nuclear weapons program to push forward with no serious consequences, while urging an evenhanded policy that would ban all nuclear weapons from the Middle East region. An impressive array of prominent think tanks and Middle East experts has been lining up to echo this party line.If the Obama administration does not hear a persuasive alternative position, cogently presented, and soon, Iran's carefully-crafted clandestine intelligence operation to exercise effective control over America's Iran policy could succeed — to the profound detriment of U.S. national interests and those of our friends and allies in the Middle East region and around the world.
Monday, March 23, 2009
American Jewish Withdrawal Advocates Indicate No-Holds-Barred Attack On Israel
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:
No question about it, the American Jewish withdrawal advocacy group, J Street, declared war on the incoming Netanyahu administration in particular and the Jewish State in general with a poll that they released.[The group is a withdrawal advocacy group rather than a peace group because there is no discernable connection between the policies that they advocate - withdrawal - and true peace.]
For the complete poll:
www.jstreet.org/files/images/J_Street_Survey_March_2009_Final_Results.doc
Take a look at the ideas they use the format of poll questions to introduce:Would you support or oppose the United States playing an active role in helping the parties to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict if it meant the United States publicly stating its disagreements with Israel? Would you support or oppose the United States playing an active role in helping the parties to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict if it meant the United States exerting pressure on Israel to make the compromises necessary
to achieve peace? Middle East peace is a core American interest, and the United States should use assertive diplomacy to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.It does not bother me when American Jews disagree publicly with Israeli government policy.
The United States should propose a detailed plan to resolve the Arab-Israeliconflict and assertively use our influence to lead the parties to implementthis American plan.
Jewish organizations that lobby Congress to support every Israeli government
policy are not helping Israel's security Using incentives such as economic aid, military assistance, and support in international institutions, the United States has the leverage to impose a peace agreement on the Israelis and Palestinians.I am concerned that other Americans will end up resenting American Jews because of America's perceived favoritism toward Israel under all circumstances.With Hamas launching rockets into southern Israel that killed many Israeli civilians and Israel launching air and ground strikes that killed many Palestinian civilians, neither side has a monopoly on who is right and who is wrong.With hundreds of Palestinian civilian deaths and a humanitarian crisis resulting from a month of no electricity and clean water throughout Gaza, Israel's response to Hamas' attacks was disproportionate
Israeli military actions that target terrorists, but kill Palestinian civilians create more terrorism instead of preventing terrorism.
Israel has the right to defend itself, but it must also take into account humanitarian considerations and avoid collective punishment of the entire Palestinian population by closing the borders and causing major civilian hardship Below is a list of actions the United States could take to try convincing the Palestinians and Israelis to accept this peace agreement today. For each action, please mark whether you approve or disapprove that action.- Publicly state which party is responsible for blocking the agreement from being reached - Reduce economic aid for any party that blocks the agreement from being reached - Reduce military aid for Israel if it blocks the agreement from being reached - Reduce American support for Israel in international institutions if it blocks the agreement from being reached And here is the question seriously distorting what Lieberman said: As you may know, Israel had an election earlier this month. The party receiving the third largest number of seats is led by Avigdor Lieberman who has previously called for the execution of Arab members of Israel's parliament who met with Hamas and whose main campaign message called for Arab citizens of Israel to sign a loyalty oath to the Jewish state in order to prevent their citizenship from being revoked. Do you support or oppose these positions?]
Third of American Jews: Lieberman weakens our bond with Israel Poll held among American Jews reveals that Yisrael Beiteinu chairman is not held in high esteem within community, some 60% of whom oppose views he expressed during elections. Some 75% support decreased financial aid to Israel should Jewish state be party to put skids under signing agreement with Palestinians.
Yitzhak Benhorrin YNET Published: 03.23.09, 19:42 / Israel News www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3691102,00.html
Washington- According to a poll conducted by liberal American lobby group J
Street, 32% of American Jews say that the appointment of Yisrael Beiteinu
Chairman Avigdor Lieberman as a cabinet minister will weaken their ties with Israel.
The poll's results, released on Monday, examined the position of American Jews regarding President Barack Obama's policies on the Middle East, the election results in Israel, the possibility for a right-wing coalition in Israel, and Lieberman's political positions.Jim Gerstein, who conducted the study on behalf of J Street, found it worrisome that the appointment of one person could cause such a high
percentage of people to distance themselves from Israel. He noted that amongst young people below the age of 30, that statistic rises to 40% because of the anti-democratic nature of Lieberman's statements.
Gerstein said statistics clearly showed that Lieberman is not very popular
amongst American Jews.The poll showed that 60% of respondents knew who Lieberman is, and 69% of them are opposed to the positions he took during the elections campaign.
Despite the fact that many said that Lieberman's appointment as a cabinet minister would put a damper on their connection with Israel, 58% said that it would not change their relationship with the country. Ten percent said that it would actually strengthen their connection with the Jewish state.In general, it seems as though the American Jewish community is not overly enthused by the concept of a hawkish right-wing Israeli government. The poll showed, however, that in a confrontation between Israel and the Obama administration, most American Jews would side with Obama. Gerstein noted that such support is exceptional, noting that the Jews of America support the American policy on the Middle East.
Decrease aid if Israel holds up peace
Some 76% of poll respondents believe that Obama supports Israel.Seventy-three percent said that he shares their values, and 72% support his management of the Israeli-Arab conflict. In accordance, 58% of respondents support American involvement in the peace process, even if it means America's public disagreement with Israel.Some 57% of those polled are for applying the necessary pressure on Israel to make compromises necessary for peace. A similar figure was published for those opposed to the settlements in the West Bank.The J Street poll showed that 77% of respondents believe that the United States should declare which side is holding up the peace process, and 75% believe that financial aid to Israel should be decreased should the Jewish state be the party responsible for putting the skids under the peace process. Some 49% even support decreasing military aid in such a case.
In regards to security, 75% of respondents supported Operation Cast Lead, 41% of whom believe the military operation improved Israel's security and 41% believe the opposite to be true.And why do the respondents support Israel? Thirty-five percent answered Because I'm Jewish and Israel is the Jewish state, 31% because Israel and
the United States are allies in the Middle East, and this serves the US's security interests, 19% because Israel is a democracy and this is in line with my values, and 6% because I have friends and family in Israel. Of those participating in the poll, only 3% responded that they do not support Israel.
I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
BROWN EU LEAD ECONOMIC HURRICANE
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.
ND univ cancels classes to help with sandbagging By DAVE KOLPACK, Associated Press Writer - Mon Mar 23, 1:37 pm ET
FARGO, N.D. – High school and college students were let out of class Monday to help with sandbagging as residents raced to hold off a threat of flooding from the rising Red River.City officials planned to fill more than 1 million sandbags, but with more rain forecast they increased the need to nearly 2 million sandbags — about 500,000 each day by the end of the week.We're confident that we can get the bags delivered, said Bruce Grubb, Fargo's enterprise director. Getting them made is a more daunting challenge.North Dakota State University canceled classes Monday and Fargo high schools also excused students to help.The students are eager to help. We're ready to go,Fargo school spokesman Dan Huffman said.Across the river outside Moorhead, Minn., Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School junior Luke Gable said he was given the option of studying or sandbagging, and decided school could wait.Everyone needs help right now, Gable We've got fresh legs and fresh arms.North of Moorhead in Oakport Township, where residents had to be evacuated by boat during the 1997 flood, homeowner Barb Groth helped volunteers fill sandbags near her house Monday.We're consider the dry side of the township, but we flooded anyway in 1997. This flood is supposed to be worse,Groth said.We're nervous.Fargo city administrator Pat Zavoral estimated the city of some 90,000 residents was about 40 percent protected as of Monday.
Flood stage at Fargo is 18 feet, and the National Weather Service said the Red River had reached 25.3 feet Monday morning. The weather service said the river is expected to crest in Fargo early Friday at around 40 feet — a record.Officials said the dike protecting downtown Fargo was being raised to about 43 feet and an emergency levee south of the city was being completed.Minnesota and North Dakota both were sending National Guard troops to help.Fargo is borrowing some expertise from Louisiana. The National Guard and the city plan to bring in seven miles of 4-feet high interlocking plastic containers that can be filled with sand to form temporary dikes, a system that was used during Hurricane Katrina.It's collapsible and easy to move, Zavoral said.Flooding had already forced people from their homes in small ranching and farming communities in south-central North Dakota.North Dakota National Guard members used boats Monday morning to ferry about five rural residents from farms in Emmons County, said county spokeswoman Marlys Ohlhause.Also in Emmons County, 50 to 75 homes were evacuated Sunday night in Linton, a town of about 1,300 south of Bismarck, said county emergency manager Shawna Paul. About 40 families had abandoned their homes in Beulah, said Mercer County emergency manager Richard Sorenson. Beulah is a coal country town of about 3,150 people, northwest of Bismarck. There are no injuries — just a lot of people stressed out and worried,Sorenson said. Associated Press writer James MacPherson in Bismarck contributed to this report.
Labor votes to join Netanyahu government MAR 24,09
JERUSALEM – Israel's Labor Party voted Tuesday to join the incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu, giving a centrist tone to the coalition that has looked hard-line up to now.Party secretary Eitan Cabel announced the results of the voting after a heated debate — 680 in favor and 507 against.Ofer Eini, head of the Histadrut labor union and a senior Labor Party operative, told Israel's Army Radio, I'm happy that party delegates have decided to enter the government.But others chanted slogans like Disgrace after the announcement.Netanyahu has signed coalition agreements with Yisrael Beitenu and Shas, two parties known for their tough policy lines toward the Palestinians, as is Netanyahu's own Likud Party. Labor, in contrast, has been in the forefront of Mideast peace efforts.Labor's 13 seats in the parliament would give Netanyahu a majority of 66 in the 120-seat house, but there is a possibility that the party could split as a result of the vote, and some members might choose to remain in the opposition.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — A Labor Party official says his party has voted to join the incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu, giving a centrist tone to the coalition that has looked hard-line up to now.Ofer Eini, head of the Histadrut labor union and a senior Labor Party operative, told Israel's Army Radio that the party's central committee agreed to Netanyahu's partnership offer.Eini said: I'm happy that party delegates have decided to enter the government.Army Radio said the vote was 680 in favor and 507against.Netanyahu has signed coalition agreements with Yisrael Beitenu and Shas, two parties known for their tough policy lines toward the Palestinians, as is Netanyahu's own Likud Party. Labor, in contrast, has been in the forefront of Mideast peace efforts.
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE MAR 24,2009
09:30 AM -2.39
10:00 AM -58.38
10:30 AM -98.45
11:00 AM -84.99
11:30 AM -52.17
12:00 PM -69.46
12:30 PM -42.37
01:00 PM -18.32
01:30 PM +13.22
02:00 PM -19.99
02:30 PM -39.46
03:00 PM -59.90
03:30 PM -62.21
04:00 PM -115.65 7660.21
S&P 500 806.38 -16.54
NASDAQ 1518.66 -37.11
GOLD 925.90 -26.60
OIL 53.55 -0.25
TSE 300 8849.39 -109.12
CDNX 924.29 +0.26
S&P/TSX/60 537.69 -8.95
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -11.40%
S&P -8.89%
Nasdaq -1.35%
TSX Advances 1,117,declines 449,unchanged 267,Volume 2,818,613,097.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 464,Declines 336,Unchanged 366,Volume 178,267,909.
Dow -73 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -109 points at low today.
Dow +23 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $923.40.OIL opens at $52.68 today.
Geithner,Bernanke to emphasize importance of new regulations to wind down nonbank institutions during capital hill testimony today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -109 points at low today so far.
Dow +23 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,262,declines 2,351,unchanged 124,New Highs 9,New Lows 78.
Volume 3,813,469,009.
NASDAQ Advances 866,declines 1,741,unchanged 125,New highs 9,New Lows 19.
Volume 981,875,154.
TSX Advances 571,declines 763,unchanged 265,Volume 1,418,330,363.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 257,Declines 306,Unchanged 302,Volume 92,950,278.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -109 points at low today.
Dow +23 points at high today.
Dow -1.49% today Volume 379,502,328.
Nasdaq -2.39% today Volume 1,888,065,606.
S&P 500 -2.01% today Volume N/A
Dow falls 1.5% today after gaining 6.8% yesterday.
Dow below 7700 points today.
Nasdaq down 2.5% today after gaining 6.8% yesterday.
S&P down 2.0% today after gaining 7.1% yesterday.
Stocks give back slice of yesterday's big gains.
Stocks sink under morning lows.
Stocks retreat from days highs after erasing early losses.
Selling accelerates in last minutes of trading.
RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65
RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04
BOHEMIAN GROVE OCCULT WORSHIP
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-82095917705734983
Brown calls on EU to lead the way out of financial hurricane
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today MAR 24,09 @ 18:56 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – In an unusually pro-European speech on Tuesday (24 March) UK prime minister Gordon Brown insisted that Britain was one of the EU's key players and that the 27-nation bloc was in a unique position to lead the way out of the global financial crisis by re-inserting a strong sense of values in the financial markets.I stand here today proud to be British and proud to be European,Mr Brown said (Photo: European Parliament - Audiovisual Unit)I stand here today proud to be British and proud to be European,Mr Brown told MEPs in Strasbourg.The UK has often been subject to criticism for not being sufficiently involved in EU affairs, notably due to its opt-outs from various EU areas such as justice and home affairs or the common European currency.But the British premier stressed that he was representing a country that does not see itself as an island adrift from Europe but as a country at the centre of Europe; not in Europe's slipstream but firmly in its mainstream.He also said the EU was uniquely placed to provide world leadership in finding a way out of the international hurricane that is sweeping the world.The bloc has a long history of cross-border co-operation and a strong sense of values it can bring to the markets, he added.
I propose that we in Europe take a central role in setting up a new principled economy for our times,Mr Brown said.The prime minister's speech in the European Parliament was the first stop in a quick world tour that will also see him landing in the US, Brazil and Chile, ahead of the G20 meeting he is is host next week (2 April) in London.At the G20 summit, the EU is going to push for additional financial regulation as well as for the beginning of the end for offshore tax havens and offshore centres,Mr Brown said.
Protectionism the politics of retreat and fear
The British premier also re-iterated his warnings against economic protectionism, which he called the politics of defeatism.I know that the temptation for some is to meet this new insecurity with retreat, to try to feel safe by attempting to pull up the drawbridge or turn the clock back,Mr Brown told MEPs.But I tell you if there's anything we know from history, it is that protectionism is the politics of defeatism, retreat and fear and in the end protects no one at all,he added.The debate on protectionism in Europe was sparked by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was accused of economic nationalism after unveiling a package in February to help the French car industry.But an EU summit on 1 March in Brussels ended with the assurance that no EU country intended to breach the bloc's single market rules by putting in place policies aimed at protecting their own industries.
EU – US co-operation
In its bid to exit the crisis and building a more moral financial system, Europe must also work for a strong co-operation with the new American administration, according to Mr Brown.Never in recent years have we had an American leadership so keen at all levels to co-operate with Europe on financial stability, climate change, security and development, and seldom has such co-operation been so obviously of benefit to us and to all the world,he said.For his part, US President Barack Obama also called for joint action ahead of the G20 summit.My message is clear: The United States is ready to lead, and we call upon our partners to join us with a sense of urgency and common purpose,Mr Obama wrote in an article published in 30 newspapers around the world on Tuesday.Only co-ordinated international action can prevent the irresponsible risk-taking that caused this crisis. That is why I am committed to seizing this opportunity to advance comprehensive reforms of our regulatory and supervisory framework,the American president wrote.He also re-iterated calls on world governments to stimulate growth.The US had previously defended the stance that countries should focus more on additional fiscal measures and spending, but most EU states – notably France and Germany – have been arguing that the bloc is already spending enough and that the emphasis should now be put on tighter regulation.I know that America bears our share of responsibility for the mess that we all face. But I also know that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people,Mr Obama wrote.
World trade set for largest contraction since WWII
ANDREW WILLIS Today MAR 24,09 @ 09:19 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The volume of world trade is predicted to plunge by nine pecent this year, according to a World Trade Organisation annual report due out on Wednesday (25 March), in the largest contraction since World War II.WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said the new forecast highlighted the need to kick-start world trade, with the 9 percent dip to help cause a one to two percent contraction in the world economy overall this year - the first time since the 1930s. Trade can be a potent tool in lifting the world from these economic doldrums,he said. In London, G20 leaders will have a unique opportunity to unite in moving from pledges to action and refrain from any further protectionist measure that will render global recovery efforts less effective.Pressure is also increasing for a resumption of the Doha development round of trade talks that broke down last year.The trade contraction in developed countries such as Germany, the world's largest exporter by volume, will be severe says the report, with WTO economists forecasting a 10 percent fall in exports.
Developing countries will see a smaller fall in the range of two to three percent, but their heavy reliance on exports for growth make this figure no less alarming. Mr Lamy said the global credit shortage was exacerbating the problem as companies around the world struggle to finance deals. The depleted pool of funds available for trade finance has contributed to the significant decline in trade flows, in particular in developing countries,he said. As a consequence, many thousands of trade related jobs are being lost. Governments must avoid making this bad situation worse by reverting to protectionist measures that in reality protect no nation and threaten the loss of more jobs.EU leaders also repeated the need to reject protectionism last Friday at the bloc's spring summit in Brussels, while on the same day French carmaker Renault announced its intention to move a production plant employing 400 workers from Slovenia to a site just outside Paris. The move was supported by French President Nicholas Sarkozy. The promises of European leaders contrast sharply with the severity of the current situation, particularly in the automobile sector. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reports that passenger car registrations were down 18 percent in Europe in February 2009, compared to the previous year. The sector is a huge provider of jobs in Europe.The WTO's report highlights the need to unblock the banking sector as a crucial first step in tackling the problem.
Under normal recessionary conditions, consumer reticence to spend is transferred into a larger pool of savings that in turn can be lent out to businesses that are keen to invest in future production.However, current uncertainty over assets held by banks, means this process is not taking place.The annual report also emphasises the unprecedented global nature of the fall in consumer demand that has effected all regions of the world, but suggests that some initial signs of recovery may be visible in parts of Asia.
TSX pulls back after big rise; commodities weigh By Jennifer Kwan – Tue Mar 24, 10:26 am ET
TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto's main stock index pulled back on Tuesday after surging more than 5 percent in the previous session, led down by weakness in resource issues on slumping commodity prices.The biggest contributors to the index's slide included a mix of commodity issues and financials stocks, the main drivers of the market's recent rise.We've had, to state the obvious, quite a run over the past two weeks or so and I think you're having just a natural selling that you get inevitably in these sorts of situations,said Bob Gorman, chief portfolio strategist at TD Waterhouse.It's two steps forward, one step back. It's very seldom a V-shape.At 9:55 a.m. EDT, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 176.61 points, or 1.97 percent, at 8,781.90, with nine of its 10 main groups lower. The utilities sector eked out a 0.32 percent gain.
The index had its highest close in six weeks on Monday.
Materials, down 3.1 percent, led the resource-laden market lower as the price of bullion and base metals drooped. Goldcorp was down 4.6 percent at C$39.90, while Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc fell 0.8 percent to C$100.51.Oil and gas stocks sagged 3 percent as oil retreated to around $52.50 a barrel after a 3 percent surge in the previous session. Suncor Energy pulled back 4.6 percent to C$29.33.Financials sagged 1.4 percent with Royal Bank of Canada down 1.4 percent at C$37.41.Elsewhere, Canadian forest products company Tembec announced a temporary curtailment of operations in the Kapuskasing region in Ontario, affecting about 510 employees at its sawmill, newsprint and forestry operations. Tembec shares fell 18.6 percent to 70 Canadian cents.HudBay Minerals Inc rose 0.2 percent to C$5.81. Late on Monday the company said its board of directors resigned and will be replaced by a slate put forward by dissident shareholder SRM Global Master Fund.Issues gaining on Tuesday included Rogers Communications, which climbed 1.3 percent to C$30.73, and BCE, up 1.6 percent at C$23.71.(Reporting by Jennifer Kwan; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
Canada finance minister to attend G20 summit Tue Mar 24, 10:18 am ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will join Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a summit of G20 major and emerging economies next week in London, a spokesman for the minister said on Tuesday.Chisholm Pothier, spokesman for Flaherty, confirmed to Reuters that the finance minister would attend the meeting, which will discuss how to resolve the global financial crisis.(Reporting by Louise Egan; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
Canada finance minister says oil merger important Tue Mar 24, 8:16 am ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Tuesday Suncor Energy's proposed takeover of Petro-Canada is an important deal for Canada and for the oil patch.Flaherty, speaking to CTV television, said it was a good thing that regulators were reviewing the deal to ensure fair competition in the oil industry, but added that,We believe in investment as well in this country. We want to grow this economy.
Suncor has agreed to acquire Petro-Canada for C$18.43 billion ($14.9 billion) to create Canada's largest oil company.It has to be reviewed by the Competition Bureau and its quasi-judicial function will deal with that,Flaherty said.It's important for Canada overall and for development of the oil patch.Flaherty also has a role in approving the deal because his ministry is responsible for legislation affecting the formerly state-owned Petro-Canada that prohibited anyone from holding more than 20 percent of the company.Ron Brenneman, Petro-Canada's chief executive, said on Monday that because of the structure of the agreement, he expected the existing legislation will now apply to the new company, which will retain the Suncor name.Flaherty did not comment on that aspect of the deal.(Reporting by Louise Egan, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Geithner seeks new powers over financial companies By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer MAR 24,09
WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asked Congress on Tuesday for broad new powers to regulate nonbank financial companies like troubled insurer American International Group whose collapse could jeopardize the economy.AIG highlights broad failures of our financial system, Geithner told the House Financial Services Committee. We must ensure that our country never faces this situation again.At the same time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke revealed that he had considered filing suit to keep AIG from paying millions in executive bonuses but that his legal advisers counseled him against it.Geithner acknowledged that the current climate of anger, including the furor over those retention bonuses, will complicate any effort by the Obama administration to get more bailout money from Congress.We recognize it will be extraordinarily difficult,he said.The administration sought to use that rancor to build support for its financial overhaul proposals.Geithner joined Bernanke in calling for greater governmental authority over complicated and troubled financial companies — power they likened to the authority wielded over banks by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. That includes the power to seize control of institutions, take over their bad loans and other illiquid assets and sell good ones to competitors.AIG is a globally interconnected colossus, with 74 million customers worldwide and operations in more than 130 countries. The government decided it was simply too big to let fail.Its failure could have resulted in a 1930s-style global financial and economic meltdown, with catastrophic implications for production, income and jobs, Bernanke told the panel.Geithner, Bernanke and New York Fed President William C. Dudley testified in a rare joint appearance before the panel. Their testimony came a day after the Fed unveiled a new bank rescue plan under which the government would take responsibility for up to $1 trillion in sour mortgage securities with the help of private investors.
That delighted Wall Street and the Dow industrials shot up nearly 500 points. On Tuesday, Wall Street gave back some of its gains and the Dow was down just over 45 points in midday trading.Much of Tuesday's discussion centered on ways to help the government better deal with future AIG-like companies whose failure could devastate the financial system and the drag down the economy.As we have seen with AIG, distress at large, interconnected, non-depository financial institutions can pose systemic risks just as distress at banks can, Geithner said. The administration proposes legislation to give the U.S. government the same basic set of tools for addressing financial distress at non-banks as it has in the bank context.Geithner made it clear he believes the treasury secretary should be granted unprecedented power, after consultation with Federal Reserve Board officials, to take control of a major financial institution and run it. The treasury chief is an official of the administration, unlike the FDIC, which is an independent regulatory agency.The witnesses were asked if AIG would have been treated any differently, including the payment of $165 million in bonuses earlier this month, if such powers had existed last September, when the Fed began the government bailout of the insurer.Quite differently. It could have been taken into receivership or conservatorship. ...The bonus issue would not have arisen, Bernanke said.He said that contracts providing for the bonuses could have been adjusted and we could have taken haircuts against some of AIG's financial obligations to other companies.AIG has become a symbol of reckless risk-taking on Wall Street. The bonuses came even as AIG reported a stunning $62 billion loss, the biggest in U.S. corporate history.The government has bailed out AIG four times, to the tune of more than $180 billion altogether. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Monday that 15 employees who received some of the largest bonuses from AIG have agreed to return them in full, totaling about $50 million. The House last week voted overwhelmingly to slap 90 percent taxes on the largest bonuses. Similar but more limited legislation is before the Senate. Still, White House support for using the tax code in such a fashion has been tepid at best. And Democrats seem to be moving off the concept. If the money is returned, the legislation may no longer be necessary,said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. As to Geithner seeking more authority, Hoyer said he wanted to discuss with committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.,whether or not such delegation is appropriate or whether there should be greater oversight.Geithner has been sharply criticized for his role in the AIG bailout because he helped put the deal together last September as then-president of the New York Fed, yet said he did not learn of the big bonuses until two weeks ago.
In a sharp exchange, Geithner was asked by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., whether there were other financial companies besides AIG who took taxpayer bailouts and then paid big bonuses to their executives. You're right, this goes well beyond AIG, said Geithner.Sherman asked for a public list of those companies and an accounting of the bonuses they paid.Geither was noncommital. Sherman told him he was trying to hide the ball.I'm not going to hide the ball, Geithner said.I'll reflect on the suggestion you made.Bernanke said it was highly inappropriate to pay substantial bonuses to the employees. Bernanke said he asked that the payments be stopped but was told that they were mandated by contracts agreed to before the government seized control of AIG on September 16. I then asked that suit be filed to prevent the payments, he said. Bernanke said that his legal staff counseled against this action on the grounds that Connecticut law provided for substantial punitive damages in the event any such suit failed. AIG's financial products division has a base in Connecticut. The AIG bonuses created a public relations headache for President Barack Obama at a time when he was trying to gin up public and political support for his economic policies, bank-rescue plan and overhaul of the nation's regulatory structure. Government bailouts of AIG, Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and others have put billions of taxpayers' dollars at risk over the past year and have angered the American public. Associated Press writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.
Oil prices slip after a week of gains By DIRK LAMMERS, AP Energy Writer MAR 24,09
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A stronger dollar helped pull down oil prices Tuesday, halting a week of gains as markets brace for possible news of growing crude stockpiles.
Benchmark crude for May delivery fell 75 cents to $53.05 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract climbed as high as $54.05 on Monday before settling at $53.80, up $1.73.The dollar has taken a hit in recent weeks as the U.S. government plows billions into the economy and currency investors flee to commodities like oil.Over the last three weeks the U.S. dollar has dropped by around six-and-a-half percent, while NYMEX crude oil has jumped by more than one-fifth, trader and analyst Stephen Schork wrote in his Schork Report.Coincidence? Of course not.Oil prices rallied all last week and again on Monday as the Dow Jones industrials jumped nearly 500 points. Investors grew more optimistic because of a new plan to resolve the nation's banking crisis. Better-than-expected housing news helped too.Wall Street declined slightly Tuesday, as did oil prices ahead of a government report Wednesday about domestic crude inventories. Analysts expect a build up of 1.4 million barrels in commercial crude oil stocks, a Platts survey showed Monday.
Also on Tuesday, the dollar began to strengthen.After some of the euphoria wore off from the big rally in stocks yesterday, the market started to react to the stronger dollar,said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. The strong dollar obviously will ease some of the inflation fears that we've seen and that's bringing oil prices back down.The Obama administration's latest initiative to revive consumer and business lending, introduced Monday by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, seeks to combine government and private resources to purchase an initial half-trillion dollars of bad assets off the balance sheets of banks. Eventually, the plan could grow to $1 trillion.With summer just around the corner and refineries switching over to summer blends, the yearly rise in gasoline prices has begun.U.S. prices at the pump rose overnight to a new national average of $1.966 for a gallon of regular unleaded, up 1 cent from Monday, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Gasoline is about 5 cents a gallon higher than a month ago and about $1.30 a gallon cheaper than it was last year this time.China on Tuesday increased the benchmark retail price of gasoline and diesel fuel amid rising global prices for crude.The hikes, taking effect from midnight Tuesday, boost the prices that suppliers charge retailers for gasoline by 290 yuan ($42) per metric ton and diesel by 180 yuan ($26) per metric ton.Beijing had been using its system of government-set energy prices to shield its citizens from surging global crude prices, although the government has tried to make the system more flexible and responsive to international price shifts.Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Tuesday his country should not become complacent about the recent rise in oil and stock prices, calling the increase temporary.Russia's economy, which is heavily dependent on exports of oil and gas, was hit hard over the past year as prices for oil plummeted. Oil and gas prices have recently rallied — 30 percent this month alone — helping Russia's stock market rebound.In Venezuela, which relies on oil for 93 percent of its exports and nearly half its federal budget, President Hugo Chavez asked lawmakers to hike sales taxes and nearly triple domestic debt sales this year to boost state coffers amid plunging oil income.In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery dropped 1.3 cents to 1.475 per gallon, and heating oil was essentially flat at $1.47 a gallon. Natural gas gained 3 cents at $4.32 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent prices fell 50 cents to $52.97 on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press writers John Porretto in Houston, George Jahn in Vienna and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.
Debate unfolding on Larosiere financial proposals
ANDREW WILLIS Today MAR 24,09 @ 18:39 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Members of the high-level Larosiere group, whose recent report will form the basis of commission recommendations to member states on financial regulatory reform, defended their proposals on Tuesday (24 March) in a debate with financial experts. Particularly controversial is the group's proposal for a European System of Financial Supervision made up of banking, insurance and securities authorities that will oversee national supervisors. A number of major European banks have been nationalised due to their exposure to US sub-prime assets and other poorly regulated securities (Photo: Wikipedia)Discussion moderator Wolfgang Munchau of Eurointelligence asked why the group had not opted for a more centralised approach at the European level.A centralised body would operate in a vacuum,said Leszek Balcerowicz, a member of the Larosiere group, who added that the political will for this option was also lacking. Last Friday, the Larosiere report won the backing of EU leaders who said in the conclusions of their meeting in Brussels that the paper is the basis for action.The UK's national financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, also recently published a report on the subject named after its chairman, Lord Turner.The Larosiere report proposes two main structures to prevent a repeat of the current financial crisis.
The setting up of a European Systemic Risk Council (ESRC) under the auspices of the European Central Bank, which would focus on threats to the EU economy as a whole rather than to individual companies. This idea is largely uncontroversial. However, the report's proposal for a European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) to monitor individual companies is proving more contentious. Under the draft ESFS framework, national supervisors for each of the banking, insurance and securities sectors would remain the main watchdogs of financial companies such as large banks or insurance firms that operate under their jurisdiction.
Toothless committees
At present, the actions of these national watchdogs are monitored by pan-European bodies known as level-three committees that have the aim of promoting convergence in European supervisory standards. They are relatively toothless however, and the Larosiere report suggests the committees be renamed authorities and given the power to instruct national supervisors to take action when they feel the activities of a particular company pose a serious risk to the stability of the financial system. The new powers would also enable the three sectoral authorities to mediate more efficiently between national supervisors.The system of authorities is ambitious, said David Wright, the deputy director-general of the European Commission's internal market and services department and rapporteur for the Larosiere group. New powers mean they can tell national supervisors to act and if they do not act, they must explain why not.To ensure national supervisors are forced to act on recommendations from the authorities, the Larosiere report suggests that the ESFS be linked to governments in some way so that political pressure from other member states can be applied.Added to this, the negative publicity and market pressure will ensure national supervisors are forced to act, argued Mr Wright, even if it means dealing with a national banking champions.
Industry doubts
Nevertheless, it is evident that many working within the financial sector harbour doubts over the efficient functioning of the ESFS, although their reasons differ.
Nicolas Veron, a researcher with Bruegel, a Brussels centrist think-tank, feels the Larosiere proposals still contain many gaps when it comes to the supervision of individual companies.Without the detail, we could end up with a system that is worse than what we have at the moment,he says. Following Tuesday's debate by industry experts, EU finance ministers will discuss the topic when they informally meet in Prague on 4 April.The commission is set to publish its first list of legislative proposals in May in time for approval by EU leaders when they meet in June.
Europe needs social package fit for 21st century
HONOR MAHONY Today MAR 24,09 @ 17:38 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union's social, education and business systems need a complete shakedown if the bloc is to be a meaningful player in the 21st century, the head of a group looking at future challenges of Europe has said.Felipe Gonzalez, a former Spanish prime minister, on Tuesday (24 March) condemned what he called the current sclerosis on taking necessary structural measures in Europe and called for a new social package for the 21st century.He noted that Europe's much vaunted social model was built for another era - a post-World War II Europe of industrial nations, with a population that was much less grey than it is today.He said the "one advantage of the current global downturn, which is expected to push EU unemployment into double figures and has already caused social unrest in several member states, is that there will be a clear before and after for Europe, representing a chance for change.But Mr Gonzalez questioned whether EU leaders and policy-makers are yet taking the economic crisis seriously enough, noting that the issue has completely dominated the first meetings of his 12-strong wise group, due to make its recommendations for a Europe from 2020 to 2030 some time in the middle of next year.Is there enough awareness of the gravity of the crisis? he asked his audience at the Brussels-based Lisbon Council think-tank.
Sweet decadence
Pre-crisis Europe saw an EU that was fading in global significance and had entered a period of sweet decadence, said Mr Gonzalez. He said that Europe was well known for being a paymaster but not a real player, taking as an example Sarajevo airport – paid for by Europeans but unveiled by Americans.We have to revisit the foundations of our social pact,he said, highlighting the well-documented European problems of an ageing population and its strains on the welfare system.We cannot continue to talk about how good the social model is without looking at the economy as a whole and ... research and development spending,he said.The centre-left Spanish politician urged EU leaders to approach Europe's many challenges differently, with a rethink needed of social and industrial relations as well as of education systems.Amongst other things, retirement should be a right not an obligation; work should be judged on productiveness per hour and not on the length of the day, there should be less corporate rigidity and people should finish the education system with a clear idea of what they can bring to the jobs market.According to Mr Gonzalez, EU society does not allow for upward mobility in the business world. He noted that the US has no category of small and medium-sized enterprises, only start-ups that eventually get bigger.
He called the bloc's Lisbon Strategy, its tattered goal to make the EU the most competitive economy in the world by 2010, a failure but said that if leaders use the crisis, it can help Europe on the way.The European reflection group began its work in December and is due to deliver its report in June 2010, with other members of the committee including Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Italian former EU commissioner Mario Monti and Lykke Friis, vice-chancellor of Copenhagen university.
North Korea warns against UN action on rocket
ReutersMarch 24, 2009 9:01 AM
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (R) waves to soldiers during a meeting with front-line soldiers at a military gathering in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this picture released by North Korean news agency KCNA March 21, 2009.Photograph by: Handout, Reuters/KCNASEOUL - North Korea said on Tuesday any attempt by the UN Security Council to punish it for trying to put a satellite in space would mean the collapse of international disarmament talks aimed at ending its nuclear programme.North Korea has said it would launch a satellite between April 4 and 8. Regional powers see the launch as a disguised test of its longest-range missile and a violation of UN sanctions forbidding the reclusive state from firing ballistic missiles.It is perversity to say satellite launch technology cannot be distinguished from a long-range missile technology and so must be dealt with by the UN Security Council, which is like saying a kitchen knife is no different from a bayonet,state media quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.The unidentified spokesman said such an act of hostility would be in defiance of the Sept. 19 joint statement, a disarmament-for-aid deal the impoverished North reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.If the Sept. 19 joint statement is nullified, there will be neither the foundation nor the meaning for the existence of the six-party talks,the spokesman said.
North Korea has given international agencies notice of the rocket’s planned trajectory that would take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west.Analysts said the notice was given to help the North argue the rocket launch does not violate UN sanctions put in place after it test-launched a series of missiles in 2006.South Korea, Japan and the United States have all said they want to press sanctions against the North for a launch and see no difference between a satellite launch and a missile launch because they use the same rocket — called the Taepodong-2.
ACT OF WAR
Japan may deploy two Aegis-equipped destroyers, capable of shooting down missiles, to waters between North Korea and Japan, Japanese media have said. The United States also has naval ships deployed in Asia that can intercept missiles.North Korea has said shooting down the rocket would be an act of war.Japan’s foreign minister said it would be difficult to intercept debris falling from the rocket.Our country has not done this before. We don’t know how or where it will fly, Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters.The first and only time the North test-launched the Taepodong-2 in 2006, it fizzled shortly into flight and blew apart after about 40 seconds.China, which hosts the often-stalled nuclear disarmament talks, urged restraint.The most recent snags in the talks are the North’s complaints that aid is not being delivered as promised, with the other five parties objecting to Pyongyang’s refusal to accept a nuclear inspection system.North Korea has been working hard over past weeks to prepare its launch tower to launch the rocket, Jane’s Intelligence Review said after reviewing satellite images.Other experts have said it would take about a week to 10 days to prepare the rocket for launch once it is set vertically and placed on the launch pad.
Diplomats from Japan, South Korea and the United States will meet on Friday in Washington to discuss the planned rocket launch, Kyodo news agency said.
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.
ND univ cancels classes to help with sandbagging By DAVE KOLPACK, Associated Press Writer - Mon Mar 23, 1:37 pm ET
FARGO, N.D. – High school and college students were let out of class Monday to help with sandbagging as residents raced to hold off a threat of flooding from the rising Red River.City officials planned to fill more than 1 million sandbags, but with more rain forecast they increased the need to nearly 2 million sandbags — about 500,000 each day by the end of the week.We're confident that we can get the bags delivered, said Bruce Grubb, Fargo's enterprise director. Getting them made is a more daunting challenge.North Dakota State University canceled classes Monday and Fargo high schools also excused students to help.The students are eager to help. We're ready to go,Fargo school spokesman Dan Huffman said.Across the river outside Moorhead, Minn., Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School junior Luke Gable said he was given the option of studying or sandbagging, and decided school could wait.Everyone needs help right now, Gable We've got fresh legs and fresh arms.North of Moorhead in Oakport Township, where residents had to be evacuated by boat during the 1997 flood, homeowner Barb Groth helped volunteers fill sandbags near her house Monday.We're consider the dry side of the township, but we flooded anyway in 1997. This flood is supposed to be worse,Groth said.We're nervous.Fargo city administrator Pat Zavoral estimated the city of some 90,000 residents was about 40 percent protected as of Monday.
Flood stage at Fargo is 18 feet, and the National Weather Service said the Red River had reached 25.3 feet Monday morning. The weather service said the river is expected to crest in Fargo early Friday at around 40 feet — a record.Officials said the dike protecting downtown Fargo was being raised to about 43 feet and an emergency levee south of the city was being completed.Minnesota and North Dakota both were sending National Guard troops to help.Fargo is borrowing some expertise from Louisiana. The National Guard and the city plan to bring in seven miles of 4-feet high interlocking plastic containers that can be filled with sand to form temporary dikes, a system that was used during Hurricane Katrina.It's collapsible and easy to move, Zavoral said.Flooding had already forced people from their homes in small ranching and farming communities in south-central North Dakota.North Dakota National Guard members used boats Monday morning to ferry about five rural residents from farms in Emmons County, said county spokeswoman Marlys Ohlhause.Also in Emmons County, 50 to 75 homes were evacuated Sunday night in Linton, a town of about 1,300 south of Bismarck, said county emergency manager Shawna Paul. About 40 families had abandoned their homes in Beulah, said Mercer County emergency manager Richard Sorenson. Beulah is a coal country town of about 3,150 people, northwest of Bismarck. There are no injuries — just a lot of people stressed out and worried,Sorenson said. Associated Press writer James MacPherson in Bismarck contributed to this report.
Labor votes to join Netanyahu government MAR 24,09
JERUSALEM – Israel's Labor Party voted Tuesday to join the incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu, giving a centrist tone to the coalition that has looked hard-line up to now.Party secretary Eitan Cabel announced the results of the voting after a heated debate — 680 in favor and 507 against.Ofer Eini, head of the Histadrut labor union and a senior Labor Party operative, told Israel's Army Radio, I'm happy that party delegates have decided to enter the government.But others chanted slogans like Disgrace after the announcement.Netanyahu has signed coalition agreements with Yisrael Beitenu and Shas, two parties known for their tough policy lines toward the Palestinians, as is Netanyahu's own Likud Party. Labor, in contrast, has been in the forefront of Mideast peace efforts.Labor's 13 seats in the parliament would give Netanyahu a majority of 66 in the 120-seat house, but there is a possibility that the party could split as a result of the vote, and some members might choose to remain in the opposition.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — A Labor Party official says his party has voted to join the incoming government of Benjamin Netanyahu, giving a centrist tone to the coalition that has looked hard-line up to now.Ofer Eini, head of the Histadrut labor union and a senior Labor Party operative, told Israel's Army Radio that the party's central committee agreed to Netanyahu's partnership offer.Eini said: I'm happy that party delegates have decided to enter the government.Army Radio said the vote was 680 in favor and 507against.Netanyahu has signed coalition agreements with Yisrael Beitenu and Shas, two parties known for their tough policy lines toward the Palestinians, as is Netanyahu's own Likud Party. Labor, in contrast, has been in the forefront of Mideast peace efforts.
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE MAR 24,2009
09:30 AM -2.39
10:00 AM -58.38
10:30 AM -98.45
11:00 AM -84.99
11:30 AM -52.17
12:00 PM -69.46
12:30 PM -42.37
01:00 PM -18.32
01:30 PM +13.22
02:00 PM -19.99
02:30 PM -39.46
03:00 PM -59.90
03:30 PM -62.21
04:00 PM -115.65 7660.21
S&P 500 806.38 -16.54
NASDAQ 1518.66 -37.11
GOLD 925.90 -26.60
OIL 53.55 -0.25
TSE 300 8849.39 -109.12
CDNX 924.29 +0.26
S&P/TSX/60 537.69 -8.95
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -11.40%
S&P -8.89%
Nasdaq -1.35%
TSX Advances 1,117,declines 449,unchanged 267,Volume 2,818,613,097.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 464,Declines 336,Unchanged 366,Volume 178,267,909.
Dow -73 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -109 points at low today.
Dow +23 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $923.40.OIL opens at $52.68 today.
Geithner,Bernanke to emphasize importance of new regulations to wind down nonbank institutions during capital hill testimony today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -109 points at low today so far.
Dow +23 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,262,declines 2,351,unchanged 124,New Highs 9,New Lows 78.
Volume 3,813,469,009.
NASDAQ Advances 866,declines 1,741,unchanged 125,New highs 9,New Lows 19.
Volume 981,875,154.
TSX Advances 571,declines 763,unchanged 265,Volume 1,418,330,363.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 257,Declines 306,Unchanged 302,Volume 92,950,278.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -109 points at low today.
Dow +23 points at high today.
Dow -1.49% today Volume 379,502,328.
Nasdaq -2.39% today Volume 1,888,065,606.
S&P 500 -2.01% today Volume N/A
Dow falls 1.5% today after gaining 6.8% yesterday.
Dow below 7700 points today.
Nasdaq down 2.5% today after gaining 6.8% yesterday.
S&P down 2.0% today after gaining 7.1% yesterday.
Stocks give back slice of yesterday's big gains.
Stocks sink under morning lows.
Stocks retreat from days highs after erasing early losses.
Selling accelerates in last minutes of trading.
RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65
RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04
BOHEMIAN GROVE OCCULT WORSHIP
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-82095917705734983
Brown calls on EU to lead the way out of financial hurricane
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today MAR 24,09 @ 18:56 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – In an unusually pro-European speech on Tuesday (24 March) UK prime minister Gordon Brown insisted that Britain was one of the EU's key players and that the 27-nation bloc was in a unique position to lead the way out of the global financial crisis by re-inserting a strong sense of values in the financial markets.I stand here today proud to be British and proud to be European,Mr Brown said (Photo: European Parliament - Audiovisual Unit)I stand here today proud to be British and proud to be European,Mr Brown told MEPs in Strasbourg.The UK has often been subject to criticism for not being sufficiently involved in EU affairs, notably due to its opt-outs from various EU areas such as justice and home affairs or the common European currency.But the British premier stressed that he was representing a country that does not see itself as an island adrift from Europe but as a country at the centre of Europe; not in Europe's slipstream but firmly in its mainstream.He also said the EU was uniquely placed to provide world leadership in finding a way out of the international hurricane that is sweeping the world.The bloc has a long history of cross-border co-operation and a strong sense of values it can bring to the markets, he added.
I propose that we in Europe take a central role in setting up a new principled economy for our times,Mr Brown said.The prime minister's speech in the European Parliament was the first stop in a quick world tour that will also see him landing in the US, Brazil and Chile, ahead of the G20 meeting he is is host next week (2 April) in London.At the G20 summit, the EU is going to push for additional financial regulation as well as for the beginning of the end for offshore tax havens and offshore centres,Mr Brown said.
Protectionism the politics of retreat and fear
The British premier also re-iterated his warnings against economic protectionism, which he called the politics of defeatism.I know that the temptation for some is to meet this new insecurity with retreat, to try to feel safe by attempting to pull up the drawbridge or turn the clock back,Mr Brown told MEPs.But I tell you if there's anything we know from history, it is that protectionism is the politics of defeatism, retreat and fear and in the end protects no one at all,he added.The debate on protectionism in Europe was sparked by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was accused of economic nationalism after unveiling a package in February to help the French car industry.But an EU summit on 1 March in Brussels ended with the assurance that no EU country intended to breach the bloc's single market rules by putting in place policies aimed at protecting their own industries.
EU – US co-operation
In its bid to exit the crisis and building a more moral financial system, Europe must also work for a strong co-operation with the new American administration, according to Mr Brown.Never in recent years have we had an American leadership so keen at all levels to co-operate with Europe on financial stability, climate change, security and development, and seldom has such co-operation been so obviously of benefit to us and to all the world,he said.For his part, US President Barack Obama also called for joint action ahead of the G20 summit.My message is clear: The United States is ready to lead, and we call upon our partners to join us with a sense of urgency and common purpose,Mr Obama wrote in an article published in 30 newspapers around the world on Tuesday.Only co-ordinated international action can prevent the irresponsible risk-taking that caused this crisis. That is why I am committed to seizing this opportunity to advance comprehensive reforms of our regulatory and supervisory framework,the American president wrote.He also re-iterated calls on world governments to stimulate growth.The US had previously defended the stance that countries should focus more on additional fiscal measures and spending, but most EU states – notably France and Germany – have been arguing that the bloc is already spending enough and that the emphasis should now be put on tighter regulation.I know that America bears our share of responsibility for the mess that we all face. But I also know that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people,Mr Obama wrote.
World trade set for largest contraction since WWII
ANDREW WILLIS Today MAR 24,09 @ 09:19 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The volume of world trade is predicted to plunge by nine pecent this year, according to a World Trade Organisation annual report due out on Wednesday (25 March), in the largest contraction since World War II.WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said the new forecast highlighted the need to kick-start world trade, with the 9 percent dip to help cause a one to two percent contraction in the world economy overall this year - the first time since the 1930s. Trade can be a potent tool in lifting the world from these economic doldrums,he said. In London, G20 leaders will have a unique opportunity to unite in moving from pledges to action and refrain from any further protectionist measure that will render global recovery efforts less effective.Pressure is also increasing for a resumption of the Doha development round of trade talks that broke down last year.The trade contraction in developed countries such as Germany, the world's largest exporter by volume, will be severe says the report, with WTO economists forecasting a 10 percent fall in exports.
Developing countries will see a smaller fall in the range of two to three percent, but their heavy reliance on exports for growth make this figure no less alarming. Mr Lamy said the global credit shortage was exacerbating the problem as companies around the world struggle to finance deals. The depleted pool of funds available for trade finance has contributed to the significant decline in trade flows, in particular in developing countries,he said. As a consequence, many thousands of trade related jobs are being lost. Governments must avoid making this bad situation worse by reverting to protectionist measures that in reality protect no nation and threaten the loss of more jobs.EU leaders also repeated the need to reject protectionism last Friday at the bloc's spring summit in Brussels, while on the same day French carmaker Renault announced its intention to move a production plant employing 400 workers from Slovenia to a site just outside Paris. The move was supported by French President Nicholas Sarkozy. The promises of European leaders contrast sharply with the severity of the current situation, particularly in the automobile sector. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reports that passenger car registrations were down 18 percent in Europe in February 2009, compared to the previous year. The sector is a huge provider of jobs in Europe.The WTO's report highlights the need to unblock the banking sector as a crucial first step in tackling the problem.
Under normal recessionary conditions, consumer reticence to spend is transferred into a larger pool of savings that in turn can be lent out to businesses that are keen to invest in future production.However, current uncertainty over assets held by banks, means this process is not taking place.The annual report also emphasises the unprecedented global nature of the fall in consumer demand that has effected all regions of the world, but suggests that some initial signs of recovery may be visible in parts of Asia.
TSX pulls back after big rise; commodities weigh By Jennifer Kwan – Tue Mar 24, 10:26 am ET
TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto's main stock index pulled back on Tuesday after surging more than 5 percent in the previous session, led down by weakness in resource issues on slumping commodity prices.The biggest contributors to the index's slide included a mix of commodity issues and financials stocks, the main drivers of the market's recent rise.We've had, to state the obvious, quite a run over the past two weeks or so and I think you're having just a natural selling that you get inevitably in these sorts of situations,said Bob Gorman, chief portfolio strategist at TD Waterhouse.It's two steps forward, one step back. It's very seldom a V-shape.At 9:55 a.m. EDT, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 176.61 points, or 1.97 percent, at 8,781.90, with nine of its 10 main groups lower. The utilities sector eked out a 0.32 percent gain.
The index had its highest close in six weeks on Monday.
Materials, down 3.1 percent, led the resource-laden market lower as the price of bullion and base metals drooped. Goldcorp was down 4.6 percent at C$39.90, while Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc fell 0.8 percent to C$100.51.Oil and gas stocks sagged 3 percent as oil retreated to around $52.50 a barrel after a 3 percent surge in the previous session. Suncor Energy pulled back 4.6 percent to C$29.33.Financials sagged 1.4 percent with Royal Bank of Canada down 1.4 percent at C$37.41.Elsewhere, Canadian forest products company Tembec announced a temporary curtailment of operations in the Kapuskasing region in Ontario, affecting about 510 employees at its sawmill, newsprint and forestry operations. Tembec shares fell 18.6 percent to 70 Canadian cents.HudBay Minerals Inc rose 0.2 percent to C$5.81. Late on Monday the company said its board of directors resigned and will be replaced by a slate put forward by dissident shareholder SRM Global Master Fund.Issues gaining on Tuesday included Rogers Communications, which climbed 1.3 percent to C$30.73, and BCE, up 1.6 percent at C$23.71.(Reporting by Jennifer Kwan; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
Canada finance minister to attend G20 summit Tue Mar 24, 10:18 am ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will join Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a summit of G20 major and emerging economies next week in London, a spokesman for the minister said on Tuesday.Chisholm Pothier, spokesman for Flaherty, confirmed to Reuters that the finance minister would attend the meeting, which will discuss how to resolve the global financial crisis.(Reporting by Louise Egan; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
Canada finance minister says oil merger important Tue Mar 24, 8:16 am ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Tuesday Suncor Energy's proposed takeover of Petro-Canada is an important deal for Canada and for the oil patch.Flaherty, speaking to CTV television, said it was a good thing that regulators were reviewing the deal to ensure fair competition in the oil industry, but added that,We believe in investment as well in this country. We want to grow this economy.
Suncor has agreed to acquire Petro-Canada for C$18.43 billion ($14.9 billion) to create Canada's largest oil company.It has to be reviewed by the Competition Bureau and its quasi-judicial function will deal with that,Flaherty said.It's important for Canada overall and for development of the oil patch.Flaherty also has a role in approving the deal because his ministry is responsible for legislation affecting the formerly state-owned Petro-Canada that prohibited anyone from holding more than 20 percent of the company.Ron Brenneman, Petro-Canada's chief executive, said on Monday that because of the structure of the agreement, he expected the existing legislation will now apply to the new company, which will retain the Suncor name.Flaherty did not comment on that aspect of the deal.(Reporting by Louise Egan, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Geithner seeks new powers over financial companies By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer MAR 24,09
WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asked Congress on Tuesday for broad new powers to regulate nonbank financial companies like troubled insurer American International Group whose collapse could jeopardize the economy.AIG highlights broad failures of our financial system, Geithner told the House Financial Services Committee. We must ensure that our country never faces this situation again.At the same time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke revealed that he had considered filing suit to keep AIG from paying millions in executive bonuses but that his legal advisers counseled him against it.Geithner acknowledged that the current climate of anger, including the furor over those retention bonuses, will complicate any effort by the Obama administration to get more bailout money from Congress.We recognize it will be extraordinarily difficult,he said.The administration sought to use that rancor to build support for its financial overhaul proposals.Geithner joined Bernanke in calling for greater governmental authority over complicated and troubled financial companies — power they likened to the authority wielded over banks by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. That includes the power to seize control of institutions, take over their bad loans and other illiquid assets and sell good ones to competitors.AIG is a globally interconnected colossus, with 74 million customers worldwide and operations in more than 130 countries. The government decided it was simply too big to let fail.Its failure could have resulted in a 1930s-style global financial and economic meltdown, with catastrophic implications for production, income and jobs, Bernanke told the panel.Geithner, Bernanke and New York Fed President William C. Dudley testified in a rare joint appearance before the panel. Their testimony came a day after the Fed unveiled a new bank rescue plan under which the government would take responsibility for up to $1 trillion in sour mortgage securities with the help of private investors.
That delighted Wall Street and the Dow industrials shot up nearly 500 points. On Tuesday, Wall Street gave back some of its gains and the Dow was down just over 45 points in midday trading.Much of Tuesday's discussion centered on ways to help the government better deal with future AIG-like companies whose failure could devastate the financial system and the drag down the economy.As we have seen with AIG, distress at large, interconnected, non-depository financial institutions can pose systemic risks just as distress at banks can, Geithner said. The administration proposes legislation to give the U.S. government the same basic set of tools for addressing financial distress at non-banks as it has in the bank context.Geithner made it clear he believes the treasury secretary should be granted unprecedented power, after consultation with Federal Reserve Board officials, to take control of a major financial institution and run it. The treasury chief is an official of the administration, unlike the FDIC, which is an independent regulatory agency.The witnesses were asked if AIG would have been treated any differently, including the payment of $165 million in bonuses earlier this month, if such powers had existed last September, when the Fed began the government bailout of the insurer.Quite differently. It could have been taken into receivership or conservatorship. ...The bonus issue would not have arisen, Bernanke said.He said that contracts providing for the bonuses could have been adjusted and we could have taken haircuts against some of AIG's financial obligations to other companies.AIG has become a symbol of reckless risk-taking on Wall Street. The bonuses came even as AIG reported a stunning $62 billion loss, the biggest in U.S. corporate history.The government has bailed out AIG four times, to the tune of more than $180 billion altogether. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Monday that 15 employees who received some of the largest bonuses from AIG have agreed to return them in full, totaling about $50 million. The House last week voted overwhelmingly to slap 90 percent taxes on the largest bonuses. Similar but more limited legislation is before the Senate. Still, White House support for using the tax code in such a fashion has been tepid at best. And Democrats seem to be moving off the concept. If the money is returned, the legislation may no longer be necessary,said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. As to Geithner seeking more authority, Hoyer said he wanted to discuss with committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.,whether or not such delegation is appropriate or whether there should be greater oversight.Geithner has been sharply criticized for his role in the AIG bailout because he helped put the deal together last September as then-president of the New York Fed, yet said he did not learn of the big bonuses until two weeks ago.
In a sharp exchange, Geithner was asked by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., whether there were other financial companies besides AIG who took taxpayer bailouts and then paid big bonuses to their executives. You're right, this goes well beyond AIG, said Geithner.Sherman asked for a public list of those companies and an accounting of the bonuses they paid.Geither was noncommital. Sherman told him he was trying to hide the ball.I'm not going to hide the ball, Geithner said.I'll reflect on the suggestion you made.Bernanke said it was highly inappropriate to pay substantial bonuses to the employees. Bernanke said he asked that the payments be stopped but was told that they were mandated by contracts agreed to before the government seized control of AIG on September 16. I then asked that suit be filed to prevent the payments, he said. Bernanke said that his legal staff counseled against this action on the grounds that Connecticut law provided for substantial punitive damages in the event any such suit failed. AIG's financial products division has a base in Connecticut. The AIG bonuses created a public relations headache for President Barack Obama at a time when he was trying to gin up public and political support for his economic policies, bank-rescue plan and overhaul of the nation's regulatory structure. Government bailouts of AIG, Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and others have put billions of taxpayers' dollars at risk over the past year and have angered the American public. Associated Press writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.
Oil prices slip after a week of gains By DIRK LAMMERS, AP Energy Writer MAR 24,09
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A stronger dollar helped pull down oil prices Tuesday, halting a week of gains as markets brace for possible news of growing crude stockpiles.
Benchmark crude for May delivery fell 75 cents to $53.05 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract climbed as high as $54.05 on Monday before settling at $53.80, up $1.73.The dollar has taken a hit in recent weeks as the U.S. government plows billions into the economy and currency investors flee to commodities like oil.Over the last three weeks the U.S. dollar has dropped by around six-and-a-half percent, while NYMEX crude oil has jumped by more than one-fifth, trader and analyst Stephen Schork wrote in his Schork Report.Coincidence? Of course not.Oil prices rallied all last week and again on Monday as the Dow Jones industrials jumped nearly 500 points. Investors grew more optimistic because of a new plan to resolve the nation's banking crisis. Better-than-expected housing news helped too.Wall Street declined slightly Tuesday, as did oil prices ahead of a government report Wednesday about domestic crude inventories. Analysts expect a build up of 1.4 million barrels in commercial crude oil stocks, a Platts survey showed Monday.
Also on Tuesday, the dollar began to strengthen.After some of the euphoria wore off from the big rally in stocks yesterday, the market started to react to the stronger dollar,said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. The strong dollar obviously will ease some of the inflation fears that we've seen and that's bringing oil prices back down.The Obama administration's latest initiative to revive consumer and business lending, introduced Monday by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, seeks to combine government and private resources to purchase an initial half-trillion dollars of bad assets off the balance sheets of banks. Eventually, the plan could grow to $1 trillion.With summer just around the corner and refineries switching over to summer blends, the yearly rise in gasoline prices has begun.U.S. prices at the pump rose overnight to a new national average of $1.966 for a gallon of regular unleaded, up 1 cent from Monday, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Gasoline is about 5 cents a gallon higher than a month ago and about $1.30 a gallon cheaper than it was last year this time.China on Tuesday increased the benchmark retail price of gasoline and diesel fuel amid rising global prices for crude.The hikes, taking effect from midnight Tuesday, boost the prices that suppliers charge retailers for gasoline by 290 yuan ($42) per metric ton and diesel by 180 yuan ($26) per metric ton.Beijing had been using its system of government-set energy prices to shield its citizens from surging global crude prices, although the government has tried to make the system more flexible and responsive to international price shifts.Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Tuesday his country should not become complacent about the recent rise in oil and stock prices, calling the increase temporary.Russia's economy, which is heavily dependent on exports of oil and gas, was hit hard over the past year as prices for oil plummeted. Oil and gas prices have recently rallied — 30 percent this month alone — helping Russia's stock market rebound.In Venezuela, which relies on oil for 93 percent of its exports and nearly half its federal budget, President Hugo Chavez asked lawmakers to hike sales taxes and nearly triple domestic debt sales this year to boost state coffers amid plunging oil income.In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery dropped 1.3 cents to 1.475 per gallon, and heating oil was essentially flat at $1.47 a gallon. Natural gas gained 3 cents at $4.32 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent prices fell 50 cents to $52.97 on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press writers John Porretto in Houston, George Jahn in Vienna and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.
Debate unfolding on Larosiere financial proposals
ANDREW WILLIS Today MAR 24,09 @ 18:39 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Members of the high-level Larosiere group, whose recent report will form the basis of commission recommendations to member states on financial regulatory reform, defended their proposals on Tuesday (24 March) in a debate with financial experts. Particularly controversial is the group's proposal for a European System of Financial Supervision made up of banking, insurance and securities authorities that will oversee national supervisors. A number of major European banks have been nationalised due to their exposure to US sub-prime assets and other poorly regulated securities (Photo: Wikipedia)Discussion moderator Wolfgang Munchau of Eurointelligence asked why the group had not opted for a more centralised approach at the European level.A centralised body would operate in a vacuum,said Leszek Balcerowicz, a member of the Larosiere group, who added that the political will for this option was also lacking. Last Friday, the Larosiere report won the backing of EU leaders who said in the conclusions of their meeting in Brussels that the paper is the basis for action.The UK's national financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, also recently published a report on the subject named after its chairman, Lord Turner.The Larosiere report proposes two main structures to prevent a repeat of the current financial crisis.
The setting up of a European Systemic Risk Council (ESRC) under the auspices of the European Central Bank, which would focus on threats to the EU economy as a whole rather than to individual companies. This idea is largely uncontroversial. However, the report's proposal for a European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) to monitor individual companies is proving more contentious. Under the draft ESFS framework, national supervisors for each of the banking, insurance and securities sectors would remain the main watchdogs of financial companies such as large banks or insurance firms that operate under their jurisdiction.
Toothless committees
At present, the actions of these national watchdogs are monitored by pan-European bodies known as level-three committees that have the aim of promoting convergence in European supervisory standards. They are relatively toothless however, and the Larosiere report suggests the committees be renamed authorities and given the power to instruct national supervisors to take action when they feel the activities of a particular company pose a serious risk to the stability of the financial system. The new powers would also enable the three sectoral authorities to mediate more efficiently between national supervisors.The system of authorities is ambitious, said David Wright, the deputy director-general of the European Commission's internal market and services department and rapporteur for the Larosiere group. New powers mean they can tell national supervisors to act and if they do not act, they must explain why not.To ensure national supervisors are forced to act on recommendations from the authorities, the Larosiere report suggests that the ESFS be linked to governments in some way so that political pressure from other member states can be applied.Added to this, the negative publicity and market pressure will ensure national supervisors are forced to act, argued Mr Wright, even if it means dealing with a national banking champions.
Industry doubts
Nevertheless, it is evident that many working within the financial sector harbour doubts over the efficient functioning of the ESFS, although their reasons differ.
Nicolas Veron, a researcher with Bruegel, a Brussels centrist think-tank, feels the Larosiere proposals still contain many gaps when it comes to the supervision of individual companies.Without the detail, we could end up with a system that is worse than what we have at the moment,he says. Following Tuesday's debate by industry experts, EU finance ministers will discuss the topic when they informally meet in Prague on 4 April.The commission is set to publish its first list of legislative proposals in May in time for approval by EU leaders when they meet in June.
Europe needs social package fit for 21st century
HONOR MAHONY Today MAR 24,09 @ 17:38 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union's social, education and business systems need a complete shakedown if the bloc is to be a meaningful player in the 21st century, the head of a group looking at future challenges of Europe has said.Felipe Gonzalez, a former Spanish prime minister, on Tuesday (24 March) condemned what he called the current sclerosis on taking necessary structural measures in Europe and called for a new social package for the 21st century.He noted that Europe's much vaunted social model was built for another era - a post-World War II Europe of industrial nations, with a population that was much less grey than it is today.He said the "one advantage of the current global downturn, which is expected to push EU unemployment into double figures and has already caused social unrest in several member states, is that there will be a clear before and after for Europe, representing a chance for change.But Mr Gonzalez questioned whether EU leaders and policy-makers are yet taking the economic crisis seriously enough, noting that the issue has completely dominated the first meetings of his 12-strong wise group, due to make its recommendations for a Europe from 2020 to 2030 some time in the middle of next year.Is there enough awareness of the gravity of the crisis? he asked his audience at the Brussels-based Lisbon Council think-tank.
Sweet decadence
Pre-crisis Europe saw an EU that was fading in global significance and had entered a period of sweet decadence, said Mr Gonzalez. He said that Europe was well known for being a paymaster but not a real player, taking as an example Sarajevo airport – paid for by Europeans but unveiled by Americans.We have to revisit the foundations of our social pact,he said, highlighting the well-documented European problems of an ageing population and its strains on the welfare system.We cannot continue to talk about how good the social model is without looking at the economy as a whole and ... research and development spending,he said.The centre-left Spanish politician urged EU leaders to approach Europe's many challenges differently, with a rethink needed of social and industrial relations as well as of education systems.Amongst other things, retirement should be a right not an obligation; work should be judged on productiveness per hour and not on the length of the day, there should be less corporate rigidity and people should finish the education system with a clear idea of what they can bring to the jobs market.According to Mr Gonzalez, EU society does not allow for upward mobility in the business world. He noted that the US has no category of small and medium-sized enterprises, only start-ups that eventually get bigger.
He called the bloc's Lisbon Strategy, its tattered goal to make the EU the most competitive economy in the world by 2010, a failure but said that if leaders use the crisis, it can help Europe on the way.The European reflection group began its work in December and is due to deliver its report in June 2010, with other members of the committee including Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Italian former EU commissioner Mario Monti and Lykke Friis, vice-chancellor of Copenhagen university.
North Korea warns against UN action on rocket
ReutersMarch 24, 2009 9:01 AM
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (R) waves to soldiers during a meeting with front-line soldiers at a military gathering in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this picture released by North Korean news agency KCNA March 21, 2009.Photograph by: Handout, Reuters/KCNASEOUL - North Korea said on Tuesday any attempt by the UN Security Council to punish it for trying to put a satellite in space would mean the collapse of international disarmament talks aimed at ending its nuclear programme.North Korea has said it would launch a satellite between April 4 and 8. Regional powers see the launch as a disguised test of its longest-range missile and a violation of UN sanctions forbidding the reclusive state from firing ballistic missiles.It is perversity to say satellite launch technology cannot be distinguished from a long-range missile technology and so must be dealt with by the UN Security Council, which is like saying a kitchen knife is no different from a bayonet,state media quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.The unidentified spokesman said such an act of hostility would be in defiance of the Sept. 19 joint statement, a disarmament-for-aid deal the impoverished North reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.If the Sept. 19 joint statement is nullified, there will be neither the foundation nor the meaning for the existence of the six-party talks,the spokesman said.
North Korea has given international agencies notice of the rocket’s planned trajectory that would take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west.Analysts said the notice was given to help the North argue the rocket launch does not violate UN sanctions put in place after it test-launched a series of missiles in 2006.South Korea, Japan and the United States have all said they want to press sanctions against the North for a launch and see no difference between a satellite launch and a missile launch because they use the same rocket — called the Taepodong-2.
ACT OF WAR
Japan may deploy two Aegis-equipped destroyers, capable of shooting down missiles, to waters between North Korea and Japan, Japanese media have said. The United States also has naval ships deployed in Asia that can intercept missiles.North Korea has said shooting down the rocket would be an act of war.Japan’s foreign minister said it would be difficult to intercept debris falling from the rocket.Our country has not done this before. We don’t know how or where it will fly, Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters.The first and only time the North test-launched the Taepodong-2 in 2006, it fizzled shortly into flight and blew apart after about 40 seconds.China, which hosts the often-stalled nuclear disarmament talks, urged restraint.The most recent snags in the talks are the North’s complaints that aid is not being delivered as promised, with the other five parties objecting to Pyongyang’s refusal to accept a nuclear inspection system.North Korea has been working hard over past weeks to prepare its launch tower to launch the rocket, Jane’s Intelligence Review said after reviewing satellite images.Other experts have said it would take about a week to 10 days to prepare the rocket for launch once it is set vertically and placed on the launch pad.
Diplomats from Japan, South Korea and the United States will meet on Friday in Washington to discuss the planned rocket launch, Kyodo news agency said.
MIKE EVANS BOOK CARTER LIBERAL CHAOS
VIDEO TO STORY
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/563727.aspx
BUY NOW Jimmy Carter the Liberal Left and World Chaos: A Carter/Obama Plan That Will Not Work (Hardback)Evans, Mike (Author)
http://shop.cbn.com/cbn/item.Jimmy-Carter-the-Liberal-Left-and-World-Chaos-A-Carter-Obama.9780935199338.htm
Mike Evans on new book by Stan Bowman Jr Mar 23,09 11:30 AM
Mike Evans has a new book out called Jimmy Carter the Liberal left and world chaos. On Pat Robertson this morning Mike says ISRAEL is going to bomb IRANS NUKE SITES this year for sure.
Benjamin Netanyahu's going to be great.Moshe Yolan will become ISRAELS MINISTER OF DEFENCE. There going to have to take out IRANS NUCLEAR REACTORS,they will do it this year. Its 1,100 TARGETS. They will take out RETALITORY TARGETS ALSO. Its going to be a 5 to 7 day operation says Mike. Its going to be easier to do then the SYRIAN ATTACK as IRAN has no air force.
Its going to be an I.C.B.Missle operation perdominantly in high altitude bombs,their going to do it. All the Sunni Muslims are gonna cheer because they don't wanna go NUCLEAR. 200 mile gulf with a SHIA-PERSIAN NUCLEAR,they are all in deep trouble if it happens.
Carter gave $50 MILLION to the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD which OSAMA BIN LADEN ended up on the payroll.
MIKE also says Jimmy Carter was possibly the worst US president in History and should be charged with treason but he won't. On 4 different occasions in a 4 month period,Carter gave Khomeini of IRAN $165 MILLION. $660 MILLION in 4 visits to fund a Khomeini terrorist radical ISLAMIC REVOLUTION. Carter funded terrorism plain and simple. Carter has a world view that ISLAMIC states would be ok.
Obama in his plea to IRAN video FRIDAY thought the same thing,so lookout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yft9ZCe3VCw&feature=player_embedded
Obama gives into IRAN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7hc_CI3f1A&feature=player_embedded
This OBAMA administration is doing the same thing ,tolerance for TERROR. America is sending signals to radical ISLAM that they fear them. If you do that ISLAM will come to AMERICA and hit it,like they do ISRAEL. A Semetrical suicide BOMBERS. But the fear right now is centrifuge material deadline.
A BACKPACK 625 WITH CENTRIFUGE MATERIAL COULD KILL 100,000 PEOPLE IN A POPULATED AREA.
Why is the Left aligning itself with radical ISLAM?
In the 1960s when the idiological revolution was birthed in America they said GOD is DEAD and their trying to bury him. Those idiots of the 60s are in the state Department,the MEDIA,the UNIVERSITIES and they are also running the OBAMA WHITE HOUSE ADMINISTRATION.
Author: Carter Godfather of World Chaos By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter March 20, 2009
CBNNews.com - Some have said that George W. Bush was the worst president in modern American history.A best-selling author says that that title goes to Jimmy Carter. He warns that Carter's blueprint for peace in the Middle East could cause havoc.In the new book, Jimmy Carter - The Liberal Left and World Chaos: A Carter/Obama Plan That Will Not Work, author Mike Evans makes the case that Carter's potential influence in the current debate over Middle East policy could have catastrophic results for the United States and the world.
Dialoguing with the Enemy
Evans calls Carter the godfather of world chaos, because he says Carter created the firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the Shah of Iran, in favor of the Ayatollah Khomeini.Evans traces Iraq and the War on Terror back to the policies of Carter. And he warns that if the Obama administration follows in Carter's footsteps, there will not be peace, and Israel will be sacrificed.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/563727.aspx
BUY NOW Jimmy Carter the Liberal Left and World Chaos: A Carter/Obama Plan That Will Not Work (Hardback)Evans, Mike (Author)
http://shop.cbn.com/cbn/item.Jimmy-Carter-the-Liberal-Left-and-World-Chaos-A-Carter-Obama.9780935199338.htm
Mike Evans on new book by Stan Bowman Jr Mar 23,09 11:30 AM
Mike Evans has a new book out called Jimmy Carter the Liberal left and world chaos. On Pat Robertson this morning Mike says ISRAEL is going to bomb IRANS NUKE SITES this year for sure.
Benjamin Netanyahu's going to be great.Moshe Yolan will become ISRAELS MINISTER OF DEFENCE. There going to have to take out IRANS NUCLEAR REACTORS,they will do it this year. Its 1,100 TARGETS. They will take out RETALITORY TARGETS ALSO. Its going to be a 5 to 7 day operation says Mike. Its going to be easier to do then the SYRIAN ATTACK as IRAN has no air force.
Its going to be an I.C.B.Missle operation perdominantly in high altitude bombs,their going to do it. All the Sunni Muslims are gonna cheer because they don't wanna go NUCLEAR. 200 mile gulf with a SHIA-PERSIAN NUCLEAR,they are all in deep trouble if it happens.
Carter gave $50 MILLION to the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD which OSAMA BIN LADEN ended up on the payroll.
MIKE also says Jimmy Carter was possibly the worst US president in History and should be charged with treason but he won't. On 4 different occasions in a 4 month period,Carter gave Khomeini of IRAN $165 MILLION. $660 MILLION in 4 visits to fund a Khomeini terrorist radical ISLAMIC REVOLUTION. Carter funded terrorism plain and simple. Carter has a world view that ISLAMIC states would be ok.
Obama in his plea to IRAN video FRIDAY thought the same thing,so lookout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yft9ZCe3VCw&feature=player_embedded
Obama gives into IRAN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7hc_CI3f1A&feature=player_embedded
This OBAMA administration is doing the same thing ,tolerance for TERROR. America is sending signals to radical ISLAM that they fear them. If you do that ISLAM will come to AMERICA and hit it,like they do ISRAEL. A Semetrical suicide BOMBERS. But the fear right now is centrifuge material deadline.
A BACKPACK 625 WITH CENTRIFUGE MATERIAL COULD KILL 100,000 PEOPLE IN A POPULATED AREA.
Why is the Left aligning itself with radical ISLAM?
In the 1960s when the idiological revolution was birthed in America they said GOD is DEAD and their trying to bury him. Those idiots of the 60s are in the state Department,the MEDIA,the UNIVERSITIES and they are also running the OBAMA WHITE HOUSE ADMINISTRATION.
Author: Carter Godfather of World Chaos By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter March 20, 2009
CBNNews.com - Some have said that George W. Bush was the worst president in modern American history.A best-selling author says that that title goes to Jimmy Carter. He warns that Carter's blueprint for peace in the Middle East could cause havoc.In the new book, Jimmy Carter - The Liberal Left and World Chaos: A Carter/Obama Plan That Will Not Work, author Mike Evans makes the case that Carter's potential influence in the current debate over Middle East policy could have catastrophic results for the United States and the world.
Dialoguing with the Enemy
Evans calls Carter the godfather of world chaos, because he says Carter created the firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the Shah of Iran, in favor of the Ayatollah Khomeini.Evans traces Iraq and the War on Terror back to the policies of Carter. And he warns that if the Obama administration follows in Carter's footsteps, there will not be peace, and Israel will be sacrificed.
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