JERUSALEM ALREADY DIVIDED-OUCH WW3 CLOSE

Countdown until Obama leaves Office
1362 DAYS,BUT I HOPE WAY QUICKER THE LIER GODLESS LEFTWING DEMOCRAT.

OBAMA DECEPTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw

EU SPAIN #11

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

SPAIN #11 TO JOIN THE EU WANTS GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNENANCE OR WORLD ECONOMIC CONTROL,WELL THATS RIGHT OUT OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL.

Spain to push for EU economic governance when at presidency helm
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today APR 29,09 @ 09:28 CET

Madrid intends to push for greater economic powers to be placed in the hands of the European Union during its time at the helm of the bloc's six-month rotating presidency next year.Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Tuesday (28 April) that the crisis had offered up firm evidence that economic governance was needed at the EU level, long a position of the French government as well.Mr Zapatero appeared unconcerned about his French counterpart's characterisation of his mental faculties (Photo: PSOE)I agreed with President Sarkozy that if the European Union really wants to be a political union, which works for its citizens, it has to have a much more solid economic government and with tools,the Spanish leader told reporters after receiving a two-day visit from his French counterpart.

I can't see a single market, a single currency, then not see an economic government with powers, with tools.Currently fiscal policy is set at member state level with a degree of co-ordination between finance and economy ministers.What greater degree of co-ordination or centralisation was not defined. The two leaders also committed to closer co-operation on a number of bilateral issues, particularly in combatting Basque separatist group ETA, whose operations straddle the French-Spanish border.

Mssrs Sarkozy and Zapatero agreed to found a strategic planning and coordination committee to battle terrorism and organised crime.We will not lower our guard against this curse. We will act against the hateful face of ETA or Al Qaeda, given that we have to protect our citizens and give justice to the victims and preserve the democracies we have the honour of representing,the French president said on Monday night.Mr Sarkozy also re-iterated his position that Spain should be represented at future G20 meetings.Mr Zapatero has yet to be invited to the next such summit, due to take place in New York in September.The French state visit came a week after it was revealed that Mr Sarkozy had made denigrating comments about a number of European and global allies while speaking to domestic parliamentary deputies. His description of the Spanish leader was particularly unflattering, categorising him as not very intelligent.

Mr Sarkozy laughed off the gaffe while meeting with the object of his scorn.There was a misunderstanding. Do you think I lack the experience that I could fall into a trap like that? he told reporters.I do not want to say that I do not consider Jose Luis very brilliant, and besides that, he is too young and he runs too fast, he added. The two had gone for a jog on Monday. Mr Zapatero, for his part, seemed to have thought nothing of the incident: President Sarkozy has shown himself to be the best friend Spain could have,he said.

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

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

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Israel already forfeited Temple Mount, divided Jerusalem,New book by WND Jerusalem bureau chief warns of The Late Great State of Israel Posted: April 28, 2009
12:01 am Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – With the aid of the U.S., sections of Jerusalem essentially have been forfeited on the ground to the Palestinian Authority, while the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – is quickly being consolidated by Islamic authorities who are erasing any vestiges of Jewish history and archaeology. These and other shocking revelations are revealed in a blockbuster new book – The Late Great State of Israel – that hits bookstores nationwide today. In the urgent work, author and WND Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein documents the unprecedented, mortal danger that Israel faces.The subtitle of the book – released as Israel celebrates its independence – reads,How enemies within and without threaten the Jewish nation's survival.Four years of my boots on the ground reporting has led me to my frightening conclusion, writes Klein.The book, which Hal Lindsey has called a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the Mideast, is a clarion call for all supporters of Israel. The great Mideast democracy is headed down a road that, if not altered, may result in catastrophe, warns Klein.The greatest threat, the one that magnifies all others exponentially, is that only a few in Israel or abroad are aware of the real extent of the dangers facing the Jewish country – both from within and without, writes Klein.

Klein pulls no punches, fingering the Israeli government as often being its own worst enemy. He also shows how policies from the Obama administration and international community harm Israel's interests and how Iran, Hamas, Palestinian terrorists and a host of other players are poised to end the Mideast democracy once and for all. If Israel falls, America will be next in line, argues Klein. Among the highlights of The Late Great State of Israel.How the Israeli government has turned a blind eye as Islamic authorities physically erase archaeological evidence on the Temple Mount, including actual Temple artifacts.How Jerusalem ALREADY has been divided. Is Obama poised to legitimize Hamas terrorists? Plus, how Obama's Mideast policies, including talks with Iran and Syria, threaten the Jewish state and, ultimately, America. How Iran is positioning its proxies to wreck havoc on Israel while Tehran inches toward nuclear weapons.How the U.N. fuels a fake refugee crisis that directly threatens Israel's existence.How and why Israel failed in its recent 22-day war in Gaza. How the U.S. funds and fuels Mideast terrorism.How the news media is covering for terrorists and playing a dangerous lying game about the Mideast and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In doing so, how they are emboldening the enemies of the U.S. and Israel.Israel's peace partner exposed; and much more.Unless these perils are countered soon,writes Klein,the only remnant of the Jewish country may soon be an epitaph: The Late, Great State of Israel.

Why Reviving Zionism is Crucial to the Survival of Israel
By Daniel Greenfield Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A nation’s integrity doesn’t rest in its military, or its economy or even its self-interest. These are all dependent on its core ideology or belief system. Without that, even the strongest and most secure of nations is nothing more than a paper tiger waiting for a breeze to blow it over.

A nation’s core ideology must answer three questions.

1. This is who we are
2. This is why we are here
3. This is what we plan to do in the future

Like virtually every Western country, Israel’s own core ideology, Zionism, has all but withered away.Virtually every major party in Israel is either post-Zionist, pre-Zionist or anti-Zionist. The major governing parties, Likud, Labor and Kadima, have become post-Zionist parties, occasionally dressing up in the flag and cloaking their agenda in the colors of Zionism. This leaves the pre-Zionist Haredi religious parties such as Shas and UTJ (which paradoxically would not exist were it not for Zionism), concerned only with sustaining their own particular communities from the treasury. And of course the left wing and Arab Anti-Zionist parties such as Meretz, Shinui or Balad.Israel’s crisis is not a military crisis or even a demographic crisis. Both are solvable problems, to which the solutions are fairly apparent. Israel’s crisis is a crisis of faith. A crisis of its core ideology, Zionism. The great struggle between the conservative Herut and the socialist movements, transmuted into the clash between Labor and Likud, has become irrelevant as Labor and Likud have lost any real ideology or principles. Sharon understood this reality and employed it to demolish both, creating Kadima out of the rubble, a party based purely on corruption and greed, devoid of any ideology or principles.

Labor’s principles were devoured by decades of its own corruption, while the Likud lost its principles by failing to pass them on to the next generation. The link between Herut and Likud exists now only as a fiction. The middle aged Likudniks might be able to tell you who Jabotinsky was, and might even know what he stood for. The younger generation is lucky if they can recognize his name. Labor meanwhile remains as the public face for a network of corruption carried through by the state’s socialist institutions, some now privatized. Both Likud and Labor now stand on the brink of irrelevance. They are not post-Zionist so much out of ideology, as out of a lack of ideology. Sharon’s creation of Kadima took into account that the bulk of Labor and Likud MK’s had come to represent nothing more than corruption and greed. So he created a party just for them. Kadima, the party of post-Zionism.

How have we fallen so low?

The answer lies in a dilution of the meaning of Zionism, from a plan to build a thriving Jewish state in Israel, to fighting for its survival within increasingly shrinking borders. Israel now approaches the 1967 borders. Once it reaches those borders, the next stage will be the dismantling of Israel, perhaps to the borders of the proposed UN compromise. Today what most people associate with Zionism is fighting for Israel’s right to live. But fighting to live is not an ideology, it’s a desperation strategy. If you must fight to live, then you’re already on your deathbed. When the Zionist dream turned into reality, like most realities it had plenty of warts and ugly spots. It was not a utopia and the day to day details often weren’t pretty at all. Idealism gave way to naked greed, to a culture of being constantly on the make, and laughing at the folly of idealists. The Knesset, this one and so many before it, represent that ugly side. They are post-Zionist because they are post-idealistic. They are a gathering of politicians without ideas, only agendas.

Today only religious zionism remains as the largest outpost of Zionism in Israel, but even within religious zionism the death of idealism has long since set in, and the truly committed are a minority within a minority. They remain the last source of Zionist parties in Israel, but they have circled the wagons around the settlements as the last stand of Zionism in Israel. And that too highlights the same problem, to fight for your right to exist is not enough. Reviving Zionism runs right into the vision problem again. Zionism cannot simply mean standing up to terrorists or refusing to give up land. Those are negatives. They are things that you are agaisnt. Not things you are for. To revive Zionism requires a positive vision, one that envisions Israel as it should be. The left beginning with Rabin and Peres succeeded in articulating a positive post-Zionist vision, which took its tack from the post-Western visions that fueled the New Britain or the America of Immigrants. The New Middle East in which Israel would be simply another nation, open borders and open trade, that appealed perfectly to a generation tired of war, and eager to enjoy the good life of their European counterparts. The post-Zionist vision has since crashed and burned, but the Likud has offered no opposing positive vision, only criticisms that it has gone too far. And that is why the left has managed to continue steering Israel from one concession to another, and from one disaster to another. When Rabin and Peres took office, they didn’t simply gain control of Israel, they gained control of the nation’s ideological belief system. The Arab wars wore down Israel from without, while the left stabbed the country in the back from within. The combination paved the way for every succeeding disaster between Oslo and Hamastan. To end this reign of error, requires reviving Zionism with a positive vision. A Zionist vision based on resisting terrorism is not enough. Instead the question must be answered, Where do you see Israel in 25 years and what do we have to do to get there?

Zionism gained currency once because it expressed a positive vision of collective national destiny. Because it linked the land of Israel to the Jews and the Jews to the land. Because it proclaimed that there was no solution to the Jewish problem except in Israel. Those things are still true, the problem is that too few people say these things anymore unless they’re old men or wearing knitted Kippahs. The challenge of reviving Zionism is to make it relevant again, not simply as an antidote to terrorism. What the left understood all too well, is that telling people that we must fight to hold onto the land, raises the inevitable question, why keep fighting just to hold onto the land. If Israel is nothing more than a plot of land we live in, then it has no more meaning than a plot of land in Europe or Africa. The dilution of Zionism removed that context and turned Israel into nothing more than land. Land without ideas is nothing more than dirt, and no one can be expected to die for dirt.

That means answering these three fundamental questions in a way that ties into the concerns, dreams and hopes of a new generation;

1. This is who we are

2. This is why we are here

3. This is what we plan to do in the future

The left’s post-Zionist answers were, that we are just another Middle Eastern people here to make money and have a good time. And that in the future we will drive from Tel Aviv to Cairo and then to Ramallah, eat, drink and hit all the nightclubs. Israel will be Hong Kong to the Middle East’s China. And there will be good times for everyone except the stuck up datim. Simple answers that appealed to people. Those answers stopped being relevant after the first suicide bombing, but that has not stopped the trend of post-Zionism from dominating Israel’s cultural landscape, because there was no renewed Zionism to displace it. If Israel is to survive however, like the four questions asked by the sons of the parents at Pesach, a new Zionism must answer those questions. It must answer those questions in a way that speaks to the experiences of a generation born and raised in a cynical political environment. It must answer them in positive terms, rather than negative ones. It must answer them in a cultural landscape fragmented by ethnic divisions. It must look toward the future and articulate a vision that is one part dream and one part reality. It has been done before and can be done again. Religious Zionism has part of the answer, but only a small part of it. Its vision is too narrow and difficult for the majority of Israelis to embrace any time soon. A religious vision based on a religious life is not enough. Israel must have a vision of Zionism that appeals as much to secular Jews as it does to religious Jews.It must begin from the premise that the land and the people are one. And it must go back to the roots and wellsprings of Jewish striving that broke forth in the 19th century, and build a new beginning for us all.

SATAN BOOTED OUT OF HEAVEN

ISAIAH 14:12-23
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, (SATAN) son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.

REVELATION 12:3-4
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon,(SATAN) having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,( 1/3 OF ANGELS FELL WITH SATAN AT THE FALL) and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman (MARY JESUS MOTHER) which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.(JESUS WAS JEWISH,THIS IS PERSECUSSION AGAINST ISRAEL).

REVELATION 20:2
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

REVELATION 9:14-16
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARY) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

GENESIS 6:1-7
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God (DEMONIC FALLIN ANGELS) came in unto the daughters of men,(INTERCOURSE WITH HUMAN WOMEN) and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

JUDE 6-16
6 And the (DEMONIC FALLIN) angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,(HAD SEX WITH HUMANS) he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.(THATS OUR DAY NOW)(THESE GET LOOSED AT THE EUPHRATES TO KILL A THIRD PART OF MEN IN WW3).US - IRAQ WAR IS THE UNLOOSING OF THESE DEMONIC DEMONS I BELIEVE.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.(JESUS)
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

SATAN COMES AGAINST ISRAEL

1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

FALLIN DEMONIC ANGELS (GIANTS)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IT WOULD NOT SURPRISE ME ONE BIT THAT THE DEMONIC FALLIN ANGELS THAT HAD SEX WITH HUMAN WOMAN ARE THE DEMONS THAT ARE SEDUCING THE SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUP INTO HAVING THEIR OWN RIGHTS AND TO HATE CHRISTIANS THESE DAYS,SINCE DEMONS ARE SPIRITS THAT LIVE FOREVER.ONLY JESUS CAN THROW THEM INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AT THE JUDGEMENT AFTER JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY.I EVEN THINK SATAN INSIDE THE SERPENT AT THE DECEPTION WHEN ADAM AND EVE FELL INTO SIN AND REBELLED AGAINST GOD WANTED TO TRY TO SEDUCE EVE INTO HAVING SEX WITH HIM.THATS WHAT ALOT OF ISRAELIS BELIEVE ALSO.IF SATAN WOULD HAVE SEDUCED EVE INTO HAVING SEX WITH HIM AT THE FALL BEING THE FIRST WOMAN EVERY PERSON BORN TO HER WOULD BE OF SATANS SEED AND ALL WOULD HAVE TO BE DESTROYED AGAIN LIKE AT THE FLOOD IN THE BEGGINING.SO SINCE SEX IS THE WAY SATAN AND HIS DEMONIC FALLIN ANGELS USES TO POLUTE THE HUMAN LINEAGE AND EVEN POLLUTE THE DNA OF ALL BORN TO THAT WOMEN.THATS WHY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD HAD TO DO A VIRGIN BIRTH WITH MARY AND BECAUSE SATAN TRYED TO KILL ALL THE BOYS UNDER 2 YEARS OLD WHEN JESUS WAS BORN.

FAITH UNDER FIRE Miss California told not to talk about your faith Carrie Prejean tells church she was pressured to apologize, keep quiet April 27, 2009 8:06 pm Eastern By Drew Zahn 2009 WorldNetDaily
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY-1cybT6p8&feature=player_embedded
AUDIO ALSO
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=96294

Carrie Prejean, at The Rock Church, San Diego

Miss California Carrie Prejean, who finished runner-up in the Miss USA pageant after affirming on air that marriage should be between a man and a woman,claims that her state sponsors urged her afterwards to apologize for the statement and keep quiet about her Christian faith.Prejean appeared yesterday at The Rock Church in San Diego, the Associated Press reports, and told the congregation what she remembers being told following the pageant. You need to apologize to the gay community. You need to not talk about your faith,Prejean recalled being instructed.This has everything to do with you representing California and saving the brand.Prejean, however, defended her statement by alluding to California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative, in which the state's voters added language to the California Constitution defining marriage as only between one man and one woman. I was representing California, Prejean declared yesterday.I was representing the majority of people in California.Keith Lewis, executive director of Miss California USA/Teen USA, also wrote a letter condemning Prejean that echoed what she says she was told following the pageant. As co-executive director of Miss CA USA and one of the leaders of the Miss CA family, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman,he wrote.Although I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit, I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone. Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss CA family.

Prejean nonetheless refused to apologize for the answer she gave. I don't take back what I said,Prejean told the church, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune report. No way I wasn't going to stand up for what I believe in.On NBC's Today last week, Prejean, a student at San Diego Christian College, explained what went through her mind when pageant judge Perez Hilton, an openly homosexual celebrity gossip blogger, asked her about same-sex marriage: I knew at that moment after I answered the question, I knew, I was not going to win because of my answer, because I had spoken from my heart, from my beliefs and for my God,she said.I wouldn't have answered it differently. The way I answered may have been offensive. With that question specifically, it's not about being politically correct. For me it was being biblically correct.At church yesterday, she added, I learned that God has a bigger crown than any man can give you.As WND reported, Hilton asked Prejean on live television during the Miss USA pageant whether or not every state should legalize same-sex marriage.Her answer, which has made her the sudden center of both praise and scorn, included the words,In my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be – between a man and a woman.Video of the question and Prejean's full answer can be seen here: Hilton, whose given name is Mario Armando Lavandeira, admitted later that he gave Prejean a zero score for her answer, likely costing her the pageant crown, which she had previously been considered a frontrunner to win. Following the contest, however, Hilton launched into a full-blown attack on Prejean – publicly calling her a b-tch and a c---, as well as defacing photos of her with sexually explicit drawings.

Hilton also echoed the pressure for Prejean to be quiet about her Christian faith.

During a appearance of his own on NBC's Today,Hilton explained that he demands a Miss USA winner be politically savvy,and that even though Prejean is a Christian, he doesn't want her talking about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, because that's offensive.An audio clip of Hilton's comments can be heard below:A legal analyst told Fox News Prejean may have grounds for a discrimination lawsuit. It's her religious beliefs which prompted her to say I don't believe in same-sex marriages, analyst Mercedes Colwin said.So she was espousing her beliefs,and has reason to sue for violation of Title VII, which prohibits discrimination based on religion. And while a handful of celebrities have joined Hilton in bashing the beauty queen, Prejean has also become a celebrity to many who support her beliefs – with thousands of fans encouraging her in over a dozen Facebook groups. I've gotten … hundreds of messages from people I don't know, saying how proud of me they are that I stood my ground,Prejean told Fox News last week.That made me the real winner of the night.Prejean is indeed getting positive feedback online from across the nation, with supporters posting comments like the following:

As a young Christian woman, also interested in beauty pageants I'm very proud of the answer you gave. You are a role model for others to follow. If they can stand proud and say they are gay, we should also stand proud and say we are Christians. … What you did was honorable. Now more people will be brave in standing for what they believe.Very proud to be a fellow Californian and Christian! What a great example for my daughter! Well done, thou good and faithful servant! You spoke the truth and spoke for me. I am so proud that you stood up for God and you are being mightily blessed. It gives me hope that our country still believes in Christian values and God has given you a way to share the Lord. Amazing! That a young lady has the guts to stand up to the gay mafia, and our spineless men in office don't! You are an inspiration to us all Thank you for what you did! I know it probably feels like the whole world is against you right now, but in the Christian community you are a hero and I am proud of you! You're my Miss USA. Carrie, the amount of people who support you far outnumbers the closed minded minority that doesn't. Dear Carrie Prejean, Miss California, Will you marry me? No really, I'm serious ... Will you? The crown you will have in heaven will be a million times better than the Miss USA crown. You are a daughter of the King and you will wear a golden crown! Thank you for encouraging me in my faith and in my walk with Christ! Concerned individuals may contact the Miss Universe Organization.

DISEASES

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

ADVERTISEMENTS HYPING SHOTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_qJ2tOY7ss&feature=player_embedded
RON PAUL ON SWINE FLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB5-Y08qbjo&feature=player_embedded

W.H.O THINKING SERIOUSLY OF RAISING THE ALERT TO PHASE 5.AS OF 12:15PM APR 29,2009

AMERICA IS OFFICIALLY IN DEPRESSION WITH 2 STRAIGHT LOSING QUARTERS,CHINA IS DUMPING AMERICAN DOLLARS,THERE IS A VOTE ON THE BUDGET THIS AFTERNOON.IS THIS SWINE FLU SCARE A DISTRACTION FROM THE TRUE ISSUES.ALSO OBAMA WANTS A GUN BAN AND A CARBON TAX TREATY ENFORCED.

DR LEN HOROWITZ SAYS ITS THE CDC WORKING WITH THE VACCINE COMPANIES TO KILL OFF PEOPLE WORLDWIDE FOR THEIR NEW WORLD ORDER ELIMINATION OF EARTHS POPULATION.DR JAMES ROBERTSON IS THE EUROPEAN LEADER TO BLAME FOR THIS SWINE FLU,1918 PART,BIRD PART,INSECT PARTS,SAY DR HOROWITZ.I AGREE WITH HIM THE EU WILL BE THE ONE THAT CONTROLS THE WORLDS ECONOMIES AND IMPLIMENTS THE GLOBAL IMPLANTED MICROCHIPS IN THE WORLDS POPULATION SO DR HOROWITZ IS RIGHT ON HERE.

STEVE QUAYLE ALSO IS WARNING THAT THERE WILL BE ANOTHER NEW YORK TERRORIST ATTACK THE GLOBALISTS ALWAYS WARN BEFORE THEY DO IT.THE OTHER DAY A PLANE PHOTO OPT WAS HELD IN NEW YORK CITY WHICH GAVE NEW YORKERS A SCARE.STEVE SAYS THIS WAS THE GLOBAL ELITES WARNING NEW YORK OF ANOTHER ATTACK IS COMING.

AT 4:15PM WED APR 29 THE W.H.O UPGRADED THE ALERT TO PHASE 5 WHICH MEANS IMMINANT INFECTION AND FORCED VACCINES ON PEOPLE.STEVE QUAYLE IS NOW WARNING AMERICA WHEN THE RIGHT TIME IS NEAR THE AIRIAL CONTROL MECHANISM WILL BE GIVEN AND MARTIAL LAW WILL BE ENACTED ON ALL AMERICA AND THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE WILLING TO KILL 200 MILLION IF THEY GET ANY HASSELS FROM THE PEOPLE.THE NEW WORLD ORDER CALL IT (DISPATCHING US)(OR KILLING)(OR TAKING OUT) 200 MILLION IF A REBELLION.

DR HOROWITZ VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBeKB7aKzOs&feature=player_embedded

Wed, April 29, 2009 World Health Organization raises pandemic flu alert level to Phase 5 Global outbreak of the disease is imminent By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GENEVA — The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert for swine flu to the second highest level, meaning that it believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent.WHO says the Phase 5 alert means there is sustained human-to-human spread in at least two countries.It also signals that efforts to produce a vaccine will be ramped up.WHO has confirmed human cases of swine flu in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Britain, Israel, New Zealand and Spain.Mexico and the United States have reported deaths.WHO Director-General Margaret Chan made the decision today to raise the alert level from Phase 4 — signifying transmission in only one country — after reviewing the latest scientific evidence on the outbreak.

Dr. Horowitz: Anglo-American Vaccine Industry Behind Swine Flu Outbreak
YouTube April 29, 2009

This unprecedented H1N1-H5N1 flu outbreak implicates the Ango-American Vaccine Pipeline, says world leading consumer health protector, Dr. Leonard Horowitz.Consider the skyrocketing stock values of Novavax, Inc., precipitated by dozens of alleged flu deaths in Mexico. Then investigate the leading Anglo-American network of genetic engineers manipulating, mutating, and distributing these viruses. The evidence compels you, for the benefit of public health and safety to seriously consider, even decree, a conspiracy to commit genocide, according to this Harvard trained expert in emerging diseases.Here, Dr. Horowitz urges an investigation of Dr. James S. Robertson, Englands leading bioengineer of flu viruses for the vaccine industry, and avid promoter of U.S. Government funding for lucrative biodefense contracts, along with collaborators at the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). These suspects helped Novavax, Inc., in Bethesda, Maryland, produce genetically-modified recombinants of the avian, swine, and Spanish flu viruses, H5N1 and H1N1, nearly identical to the unprecedented Mexican virus that is allegedly spreading to the United States at the time of this posting. The outbreak was precisely timed to promote the companys new research and huge vaccine stockpiling contracts.

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are implicated through collaborations and publications involving private contracts with Novavax, a company that obtains its biosimulars through CDC Influenza Branch director, Ruben O. Donis, and Dr. Rick Bright, previously working with Donis at the CDC, now Novavaxs Vice President of Global Influenza Programs.Descriptions of this virus is pathognomonic, or diagnostic, of a virus that came from Robertsons circle of friends, Dr. Horowitz charges. No other group in the world takes H5N1 Asian flu infected chickens, brings them to Europe, extracts their DNA, combines their proteins with H1N1 viruses from the 1918 Spanish flu isolate, additionally mixes in swine flu genes from pigs, then reverse engineers them to infect humans. The end product could only have ended up in Mexico via the United States from Britain in care of the CDC. The CDC had to have sent them to Novavax, where Rick Brights team is now implicated in a conspiracy to commit genocide—the mass killing of people for profit.

DO NOT DARE TAKE THIS FLU SHOT AT ALL ITS A MARTIAL LAW SETUP.

Time Magazine Preps Americans for Mandatory Vaccines Apr 28, 2009 10:47 AM
Subject: Time Magazine Preps Americans For Mandatory Vaccinations
Body: http://www.prisonplanet.com/time-magazine-preps-americans-for...
Says public should trust government when it institutes draconian measures to deal with pandemic.Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Time Magazine’s coverage of the swine flu scare has a noticeable subplot - preparing Americans for draconian measures to combat a future pandemic as well as forcing them to accept the idea of mandatory vaccinations.In an article entitled How to Deal with Swine Flu: Heeding the Mistakes of 1976, the piece discusses how dozens died and hundreds were injured from vaccines as a result of the 1976 swine flu fiasco, when the Ford administration attempted to use the infection of soldiers at Fort Dix as a pretext for a mass vaccination of the entire country. Despite acknowledging that the 1976 farce was an example of how not to handle a flu outbreak, the article still introduces the notion that officials may soon have to consider whether to institute draconian measures to combat the disease.Later we discover exactly what this will entail, namely when to institute mass vaccination programs, according to Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and a historical consultant to the CDC on flu pandemics. Markel notes that the less politically combustible situation in America today compared to the post-Watergate era of Ford would make such draconian measures more achievable. Even so, he says, citizens still need to trust that the government is working for the greater good,adds the article.The American public has to be forgiving and patient and do [their] part too,according to Markel.

Americans would indeed have to be very trustworthy and ultimately forgiving in taking a vaccine by government decree manufactured by a company that was been caught red-handed contaminating their vaccines with far deadlier viruses than swine flu. As we reported yesterday, Baxter International confirmed over the weekend that it is working with the World Health Organization on a potential vaccine to curb the deadly swine flu virus that is blamed for scores of deaths in Mexico and has emerged as a threat in the U.S., reports the Chicago Tribune. As reported by multiple sources last month, including the Times of India, vaccines contaminated with deadly live H5N1 avian flu virus were distributed to 18 countries last December by a lab at an Austrian branch of Baxter. Since the probability of mixing a live virus biological weapon with vaccine material by accident is virtually impossible, this leaves no other explanation than that the contamination was a deliberate attempt to weaponize the H5N1 virus to its most potent extreme and distribute it via conventional flu vaccines to the population who would then infect others to a devastating degree as the disease went airborne. These are the people we are supposed to trust and forgive according to Time Magazine and Markel when the federal government breaks down our door, guns drawn and dripping needle in hand.

Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms
F. William Engdahl Global Research April 29, 2009

If we are to believe what our trusted international media report, the world is on the brink of a global pandemic outbreak of a new deadly strain of flu, H1N1 as it has been labelled, or more popularly, Swine Flu. As the story goes, the outbreak of the deadly flu was first discovered in Mexico. According to press reports, after several days, headlines reported as many as perhaps 150 deaths in Mexico were believed caused by this virulent people-killing pig virus that has spread to humans and now is allegedly being further spread from human to human. Cases were being reported hourly from Canada to Spain and beyond. The only thing wrong with this story is that it is largely based on lies, hype and coverup of possible real causes of Mexican deaths.

Pig Factory Farm Industrial Production is a classic breeder of disease and toxins but little attention is being paid to this source. One website, revealingly named Swine Flu Vaccine, reports the alarming news, One out of every five residents of Mexico’s most populous city wore masks to protect themselves against the virus as Mexico City seems to be the epicenter of the outbreak. As many as 103 deaths have been attributed to the swine flu so far with many more feared to be on the horizon. The health department of Mexico said an additional 1,614 reported cases have been documented.We are told that the H1N1 shares genetic material from human, avian and swine influenza viruses.1.Airports around the world have installed passenger temperature scans to identify anyone with above normal body temperature as possible suspect for swine flu. Travel to Mexico has collapsed. Sales of flu vaccines, above all Tamiflu from Roche Inc., have exploded in days. People have stopped buying pork fearing certain death. The World Health Organization has declared a a public health emergency of international concern,defined by them as an occurrence or imminent threat of illness or health conditions caused by bioterrorism, epidemic or pandemic disease, or highly fatal infectious agents or toxins that pose serious risk to a significant number of people.2

What are the symptoms of this purported Swine Flu? That’s not at all clear according to virologists and public health experts. They say Swine Flu symptoms are relatively general and nonspecific. So many different things can cause these symptoms. it is a dilemma, says one doctor interviewed by CNN.There is not a perfect test right now to let a doctor know that a person has the Swine Flu.It has been noted that most individuals with Swine Flu had an early on set of fever. Also it was common to see dizziness, body aches and vomiting in addition to the common sneezing, headache and other cold symptoms. These are symptoms so general as to say nothing. The US Government’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta states on its official website,Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.Nonetheless they add, CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it is not known how easily the virus spreads between people.3.How many media that have grabbed on the headline suspected case of Swine Flu’ in recent days bother to double check with the local health authorities to ask some basic questions? For example, the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 and their location? The number of deaths confirmed to have resulted from H1N1? Dates of both? Number of suspected cases and of suspected deaths related to the Swine Flu disease?

Some known facts

According to Biosurveillance, itself part of Veratect, a US Pentagon and Government-linked epidemic reporting center, on April 6, 2009 local health officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico. They reported, Sources characterized the event as a strange outbreak of acute respiratory infection, which led to bronchial pneumonia in some pediatric cases. According to a local resident, symptoms included fever, severe cough, and large amounts of phlegm. Health officials recorded 400 cases that sought medical treatment in the last week in La Gloria, which has a population of 3,000; officials indicated that 60% of the town’s population (approximately 1,800 cases) has been affected. No precise timeframe was provided, but sources reported that a local official had been seeking health assistance for the town since February.What they later say is strange is not the form of the illness but the time of year as most flu cases occur in Mexico in the period October to February.The report went on to note, Residents claimed that three pediatric cases, all under two years of age, died from the outbreak. However, health officials stated that there was no direct link between the pediatric deaths and the outbreak; they stated the three fatal cases were isolated and not related to each other.Then, most revealingly, the aspect of the story which has been largely ignored by major media, they reported,Residents believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to flu.However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms.4.Since the dawn of American agribusiness, a project initiated with funding by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1950’s to turn farming into a pure profit maximization business, US pig or hog production has been transformed into a highly efficient, mass production industrialized enterprise from birth to slaughter. Pigs are caged in what are called Factory Farms, industrial concentrations which are run with the efficiency of a Dachau or Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They are all conceived by artificial insemination and once born, are regularly injected with antibiotics, not because of illnesses which abound in the hyper-crowded growing pens, but in order to make them grow and add weight faster. Turn around time to slaughter is a profit factor of highest priority. The entire operation is vertically integrated from conception to slaughter to transport distribution to supermarket. Granjas Carroll de Mexico (GCM) happens to be such a Factory Farm concentration facility for hogs. In 2008 they produced almost one million factory hogs, 950,000 according to their own statistics. GCM is a joint venture operation owned 50% by the world’s largest pig producing industrial company, Smithfield Foods of Virginia.5 The pigs are grown in a tiny rural area of Mexico, a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and primarily trucked across the border to supermarkets in the USA, under the Smithfields’ family of labels. Most American consumers have no idea where the meat was raised.

Now the story becomes interesting.

Manure Lagoons and other playing fields

The Times of London interviewed the mother of 4-year-old Edgar Hernandez of La Gloria in Veracruz, the location of the giant Smithfield Foods hog production facility. Their local reporter notes,Edgar Hernández plays among the dogs and goats that roam through the streets, seemingly unaware that the swine flu he contracted a few weeks ago — the first known case — has almost brought his country to a standstill and put the rest of the world on alert. I feel great, the five-year-old boy said. But I had a headache and a sore throat and a fever for a while. I had to lay down in bed.The reporters add,It was confirmed on Monday (April 27 2009-w.e.) that Edgar was the first known sufferer of swine flu, a revelation that has put La Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms and manure lagoons at the centre of a global race to find how this new and deadly strain of swine flu emerged.6.That’s quite interesting. They speak of La Gloria and its surrounding factory pig farms and manure lagoons. Presumably the manure lagoons around the LaGloria factory pig farm of Smithfield Foods are the waste dumping place for the feces and urine waste from at least 950,000 pigs a year that pass through the facility. The Smithfield’s Mexico joint venture, Norson, states that alone they slaughter 2,300 pigs daily. That’s a lot. It gives an idea of the volumes of pig waste involved in the concentration facility at La Gloria.

Significantly, according to the Times reporters,residents of La Gloria have been complaining since March that the odour from Granjas Carroll’s pig waste was causing severe respiratory infections. They held a demonstration this month at which they carried signs of pigs crossed with an X and marked with the word peligro (danger).7 There have been calls to exhume the bodies of the children who died of pneumonia so that they could be tested. The state legislature of Veracruz has demanded that Smithfield’s Granjas Carroll release documents about its waste-handling practices. Smithfield Foods reportedly declined to comment on the request, saying that it would not respond to rumours.8.A research compilation by Ed Harris reported,According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to flu. However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms.9 That would imply that the entire Swine Flu scare might have originated from the PR spin doctors of the world’s largest industrial pig factory farm operation, Smithfield Foods.The Vera Cruz-based newspaper La Marcha blames Smithfield’s Granjos Carroll for the outbreak, highlighting inadequate treatment of massive quantities of animal waste from hog production.10.Understandably the company is perhaps more than a bit uncomfortable with the sudden attention. The company, which supplies the McDonald’s and Subway fast-food chains, was fined $12.3 million in the United States 1997 for violating the Clean Water Act. Perhaps they are in a remote tiny Mexican rural area enjoying a relatively lax regulatory climate where they need not worry about being cited for violations of any Clean Water Act.

Factory Farms as toxic concentrations

At the very least the driving force for giant industrial agribusiness outsourcing of facilities to third world sites such as Veracruz, Mexico has more to do with further cost reduction and lack of health and safety scrutiny than it does with improving the health and safety quality of the food end product. It has been widely documented and subject of US Congressional reports that large-scale indoor animal production facilities such as that of Granjos Carroll are notorious breeding grounds for toxic pathogens.A recent report by the US Pew Foundation in cooperation with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health notes, the method of producing food animals in the United States has changed from the extensive system of small and medium-sized farms owned by a single family to a system of large, intensive operations where the animals are housed in large numbers in enclosed structures that resemble industrial buildings more than they do a traditional barn. That change has happened primarily out of view of consumers but has come at a cost to the environment and a negative impact on public health, rural communities, and the health and well-being of the animals themselves. 11.The Pew study notes,The diversified, independent, family-owned farms of 40 years ago that produced a variety of crops and a few animals are disappearing as an economic entity, replaced by much larger, and often highly leveraged, farm factories. The animals that many of these farms produce are owned by the meat packing companies from the time they are born or hatched right through their arrival at the processing plant and from there to market.12.The study emphasizes that application of untreated animal waste on cropland can contribute to excessive nutrient loading, contaminate surface waters, and stimulate bacteria and algal growth and subsequent reductions in dissolved oxygen concentrations in surface waters.13.That is where the real investigation ought to begin, with the health and sanitary dangers of the industrial factory pig farms like the one at Perote in Veracruz. The media spread of panic-mongering reports of every person in the world who happens to contract symptoms which vaguely resemble flu or even Swine Flu and the statements to date of authorities such as WHO or CDC are far from conducive to a rational scientific investigation..

Tamiflu and Rummy

In October 2005 the Pentagon ordered vaccination of all US military personnel worldwide against what it called Avian Flu, H5N1. Scare stories filled world media. Then, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced he had budgeted more than $1 billion to stockpile the vaccine, Oseltamivir sold under the name, Tamiflu. President Bush called on Congress to appropriate another $2 billion for Tamiflu stocks.What Rumsfeld neglected to report at the time was a colossal conflict of interest. Prior to coming to Washington in January 2001, Rumsfeld had been chairman of a California pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences. Gilead Sciences held exclusive world patent rights to Tamiflu, a drug it had developed and whose world marketing rights were sold to the Swiss pharma giant, Roche. Rumsfeld was reportedly the largest stock holder in Gilead which got 10% of every Tamiflu dose Roche sold. 14 When it leaked out, the Pentagon issued a curt statement to the effect that Secretary Rumsfeld had decided not to sell but to retain his stock in Gilead, claiming that to sell would have indicated something to hide.That agonizing decision won him reported added millions as the Gilead share price soared more than 700% in weeks. Tamiflu is no mild candy to be taken lightly. It has heavy side effects. It contains matter that could have potentially deadly consequences for a person’s breathing and often reportedly leads to nausea, dizziness and other flu-like symptoms. Since the outbreak of Swine Flu Panic (not Swine Flu but Swine Flu Panic) sales of Tamiflu as well as any and every possible drug marketed as flu related have exploded. Wall Street firms have rushed to issue buy recommendations for the company.Gimme me a shot Doc, I don’t care what it is…I don wanna die.Panic and fear of death was used by the Bush Administration skilfully to promote the Avian Flu fraud. With ominous echoes of the current Swine Flu scare, Avian Flu was traced back to huge chicken factory farms in Thailand and other parts of Asia whose products were shipped across the world. Instead of a serious investigation into the sanitary conditions of those chicken factory farms, the Bush Administration and WHO blamed free-roaming chickens on small family farms, a move that had devastating economic consequences to the farmers whose chickens were being raised in the most sanitary natural conditions. Tyson Foods of Arkansas and CG Group of Thailand reportedly smiled all the way to the bank. Now it remains to be seen if the Obama Administration will use the scare around so-called Swine Flu to repeat the same scenario, this time with flying pigs instead of flying birds. Already Mexican authorities have reported that the number of deaths confirmed from so-called Swine Flu is 7 not the 150 or more bandied in the media and that most other suspected cases were ordinary flu or influenza.

Notes

1 Health Advisory, accessed in http://www.swine-flu-vaccine.info/.
2 Ibid.
3 Centers for Disease Control, Swine Influenza and You, accessed in
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm.
4 Biosurveillance, Swine Flu in Mexico- Timeline of Events, April 24, 2009, accessed in
http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html.
5 Smithfield Foods website, accessed in
http://www.smithfieldfoods.com/our_company/our_family/Norson.aspx.
6 Ruth Maclean in La Gloria and Chris Ayres in Mexico City, I had a headache and fever’ says boy who survived, London Times, April 28, 2009.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ed Harris, Bloggers Examine Environmental Role in Mexico Swine Flu Outbreak, April 27, 2009, accessed in http://www.planetthoughts.org/?pg=pt/Whole&qid=2870.
10 Ibid.
11 The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, accessed in http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAPFin.pdf.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 F. William Engdahl, Is Avian Flu another Pentagon Hoax?, GlobalResearch, October 30, 2005.

1st swine flu death reported in U.S. as worldwide numbers rise
European cases also increasing, 13 confirmed in Canada

Last Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 11:12 AM ET 2CBC News A South Korean quarantine officer, left, checks the temperature of a Japanese passenger against possible infection with swine flu at Incheon International Airport in South Korea on Wednesday. (Yonhap, Lee Jung-hun/Associated Press)An infant who died from swine flu in Texas was Mexican and had travelled to the United States for medical treatment, Houston officials said Wednesday.Confirmation of what is believed to be the first death outside Mexico came as the number of suspected and confirmed cases of swine flu continued to grow around the world.The 23-month-old child fell ill on April 13 while visiting family in Brownsville in southern Texas, said David Persse, director of Houston EMS.The patient became quite ill rather rapidly and was transferred the next day to a hospital here in Houston, Persse said.The child received aggressive treatment but died on Monday, Persse said.Earlier in the day, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta confirmed that swine flu caused the death of the child.The child's family members and other people who were in contact have not fallen ill and are being attended to by medical staff, Persse said.Houston Mayor David White said it should not come as a surprise that a patient succumbed to swine flu in a city hospital.We have great medical facilities in this area and it's natural that ... this area will be a place where there are medical transports, White said.

The death doesn't change the landscape here in Houston, Persse said.We still know the virus is here in the United States. We know it is in Texas. We know we need to take our personal precautions.Dr. Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, also said the agency expected the U.S. would see more infections and deaths based on the spread of the virus in Mexico.American officials said Tuesday that 64 human cases had been confirmed in the United States.It's too soon to say if the death suggests the virus is spreading more aggressively in the U.S., Besser said.So far the virus appears to behaving like many flu viruses, Persse said. It appears to spread human-to-human and it appears to be spread just like the seasonal flu.Washing hands, covering mouths during coughing and sneezing and avoiding public places if ill are the best methods to prevent the virus from spreading, he said.

Utmost precautions
Meanwhile in Washington on Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said schools with confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus should strongly consider temporarily closing.Obama said the government is doing all it can to control the virus and will do whatever is necessary to control its spread.Obama asked Congress on Tuesday for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to help build drug stockpiles and monitor future cases, as well as help international efforts to avoid a pandemic.This is obviously a serious situation, Obama said,serious enough to take the utmost precautions.He said parents should also be making alternate arrangements for their children should temporary closures become mandatory.Dealing with the spread of the virus is a marathon, not a sprint, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a senate committee on Wednesday.We have been preparing as if we are facing a true pandemic, even though we don't know the ultimate scope of what will occur,Napolitano said.The U.S. has a stockpile of about 50 million courses of antivirals. About 25 per cent of the state portion of the antivirals have been released and is being transported to Arizona, California, Texas and Utah, she said. More antivirals are expected to be available by May 3.The nature of the virus does not yet warrant the U.S. closing its borders, she said.

More confirmed cases in Europe
Meanwhile, three cases have been confirmed in Germany, the country's disease control centre said Wednesday.The German cases include two women, ages 22 and 37, and a man in his 30s, said officials with the Robert Koch Institute said Wednesday. Two of the patients are from towns in Bavaria. The third is from Hamburg.Officials said all three patients recently returned from trips to Mexico, where the disease was first detected and has now been found in several other countries, including Canada, where the total number of human cases increased to 13 on Tuesday.There are five other suspected cases in Germany, and they're believed to be in Bavaria and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, according to officials.Austria's Health Ministry also said Wednesday that a 28-year-old woman who had recently returned from a trip to Guatemala via Mexico City had been confirmed as having the virus. She is recovering, officials said.In Britain, the confirmed human cases jumped to five on Wednesday, while the number of cases rose to four in Spain.Polish health officials reported Wednesday that they are also awaiting test results for two suspected cases.A 12-year-old girl from the southwest England town of Torbay Brown and two adults from London and Birmingham were the new British cases confirmed to have swine flu Wednesday.All three had visited Mexico, were receiving antiviral drugs and were responding well to treatment, said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a news conference on Wednesday.Brown said health officials were ordering extra medicine and a great deal more face masks to deal with the virus.We've decided to build stocks of antivirals, from 35 million to 50million, Brown said, adding that the government had set up enhanced airport checks and was preparing to mail swine flu information leaflets to every household in Britain.

Asia escapes illness so far
New Zealand confirmed more cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 14. Officials said all patients were responding well to treatment with antiviral drugs and were in voluntary quarantine at home.There are 44 other possible cases in New Zealand, said Dr. Julia Peters, a senior regional health official, and testing is underway.In Australia, more than 100 people with flu symptoms are being tested for possible swine flu, according to officials.On Tuesday in Canada, where 13 Canadians have been confirmed with mild cases of the illness, new cases were reported in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia.There have not yet been any confirmed cases in Asia, where governments have taken strict precautions at airports.Late Tuesday, authorities in Mexico said the number of suspected swine flu cases had risen to 2,498, with 159 suspected deaths and 26 confirmed deaths since mid-April.Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said Wednesday the swine flu outbreak appears to be stabilizing in the city, which is the epicentre of the epidemic.Mexico City has virtually shut down in the wake of the outbreak. Ebrard said he will consider easing the citywide closures of public events and places if the death toll continues to taper off.The World Health Organization said Wednesday that laboratory tests have confirmed 112 cases in seven countries. The figures do not yet include the cases announced in Germany.

WHO not calling for travel restrictions
Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director general, said Tuesday that agency officials have been struggling to keep up with media reports on new confirmed cases.

Fukuda said the WHO still cannot offer any explanation why cases of the infection in Mexico are more severe than in other countries. He also advised countries to take the opportunity to prepare for a pandemic.The UN health body is holding an emergency scientific review of the flu outbreak in Geneva on Wednesday to collect information about how the disease spreads and how it can be treated.Experts will take part via telephone from the United States, Mexico and other countries where people have been infected by swine flu.

A report is expected to be published shortly after the meeting.

The WHO has raised its alert level to 4 — out of a possible 6 — but has not called for travel restrictions or border closures. However, several cruise lines, tours and flights destined for Mexico have been cancelled, including several operated by Air Canada, WestJet and Transat.Medical experts are still trying to determine how dangerous the virus is, said Dr. Nikki Shindo, a WHO flu expert participating in the scientific review.Swine virus has been found occasionally in human beings, Shindo said.The one thing we don't really understand is why the cases in Mexico are so severe.

Hundreds of thousands could be infected
In the past, most swine flu patients have shown only mild symptoms, Shindo said. WHO is looking into whether the Mexican cases involve underlying medical conditions that have caused people to fare worse than patients elsewhere in the world, she said.
Shindo told The Associated Press that hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico could theoretically be infected.Health authorities are trying to keep the threat of the swine flu in context, reminding people that flu deaths are common around the world.

About 36,000 people in the U.S. die annually from flu-related causes, according to the CDC.In poor countries such as Madagascar and Congo, outbreaks of seasonal influenza have infected up to half the population, with mortality rates reaching one per cent of the entire nation, Shindo said.With files from The Associated Press.

1 DEAD IN SPAIN TO NOT CONNECTED TO MEXICO.

Second case of swine flu in Spain confirmed
April 29, 2009 by Spanish News

The Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez confirmed on Tuesday the second case of swine flu as well as another 32 people suspected of having the disease.The minister said that the patient is a young male from Valencia who had recently travelled to Mexico, as part of a study abroad program. The other patient is from Albacete and was also on a study abroad program in Mexico.Both patients are responding well to the treatment, according to Jimenez.

Container of swine virus explodes on Swiss train
Reuters April 28, 2009

A container of flu virus samples packed in dry ice exploded on a Swiss train, injuring one person but posing no other risks to humans, police said on Tuesday. Skip related content.The box held vials of swine flu virus, although a different strain than the H1N1 variety that has caused about 150 deaths in Mexico and infected people in the United States, Canada, Spain and Britain.A technician was transporting the container on Monday night to the Swiss national flu centre in Geneva, where scientists are developing a flu test for humans, police said.One woman was hurt when the box exploded in reaction to the dry ice used to keep the samples cold.After consulting virus specialists, the police decided to stop the St. Gallen to Geneva train before it entered the station in Lausanne.The virus specialists confirmed that the samples being transported posed no risks to humans, police said.

NOW WHY WOULD EGYPT KILL ALL THE PIGS WHEN THIS IS A SWINE,BIRD,HUMAN DISEASE CREATED IN A LAB,INTERESTING.

Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer - APR 29,09

CAIRO – Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said.The move immediately provoked resistance from pig farmers. At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, farmers refused to cooperate with Health Ministry workers who came to slaughter the animals and the workers left without carrying out the government order.It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses, Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not eat pork due to religious restrictions. But the animals are raised and consumed by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population.Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman estimated there were between 300,000-350,000 pigs in Egypt.Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told reporters that farmers would be allowed to sell the pork meat so there would be no need for compensation.In 2008, following fears over diseases spread by animals, Mubarak ordered all pig and chicken farms moved out of population areas. But the order was never implemented.Pigs can be found in many places around Muslim world, often raised by religious minorities who can eat pork. But they are banned entirely in some Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Libya.In Jordan, the government decided Wednesday to shut down the country's five pig farms, involving 800 animals, for violating public health safety regulations.

I AGREE WITH RON PAUL ON THIS ONE THE GOVERNMENT IS SETTING UP A SCARE TACTIC TO GET THEIR ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT BROUGHT TOGETHER AND TO MAKE EVERYONE ON EARTH TO USE A MICROCHIP CARD ID THE BEGGININGS OF THE EMBEDDED MICROCHIP IMPLANT FOR THE FUTURE.EVEN JACK VAN IMPE 23 YEARS AGO SAID THEY WOULD USE AN ECONOMIC COLLAPSE TO BRING ABOUT THE NEW WORLD ORDER OR ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT EXCEPT THEY ADDED THIS SWINE FLU SCARE INTO GETTING THE PROCESS GOING FASTER AND BRING IN MARTIAL LAW.

BUT IF THIS IS THE DISEASE JUDGEMENT PREDICTED BY THE BIBLE AND NOT BROUGHT ON BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER ELITES THEN THE WORLD IS IN TROUBLE AS BETWEEN 250 AND 500 MILLION WILL DIE FROM IT,NOT MY WORDS GODS WORDS.

Ron Paul Warns Swine Flu Scare Will Be Used As Precedent For More Big Government Repeat of 1976 fearmongering campaign in full swing Steve Watson Infowars.net April 29,2009

Step back and think for a minute before rushing and panicking is the message coming from Texas Congressman Ron Paul who has warned that the swine flu scare will once again be used as a precedent for big government intrusion.It makes me think back to 1976, the first year I served in the Congress, Paul has said in a video update.We had a vote on the swine flu. Back then there was panic, they said it was going to sweep the nation and they rapidly came up with some flu shots and the government was going to inoculate everybody and save the world from this disaster.It turned out that our instincts were correct.the Congressman, also a medical physician, commented. Not only did we think that the government should be involved in making medical decisions… but the flu came, the flu went and one person died, except for those individuals that died from getting the flu vaccine.Earlier this week we reported on the events of 1976, highlighting the fact that this last significant outbreak of swine flu in the U.S. originated at the army base at Fort Dix, New Jersey.President Gerald Ford and then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (a man who has long standing intimate ties with the big pharma companies that have and will reap millions in profits from these scares) instituted a mass nationwide vaccination program. More than 40 million people were vaccinated. However, the program was stopped short after over 500 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a severe paralyzing nerve disease, were reported. Officially 30 people died as a direct result of the vaccinations, though the real figure is generally thought to have been much higher.At the time Congressman Ron Paul was one of only two representatives to vote down the vaccination program. His comments were recorded in the book Swine Flu Expose, by Eleanora I. McBean, Ph.D., N.D.Paul described the move as a shocking misuse of funds …and an evil political maneuver, blatant advertising efforts to panic the people into taking Swine Flu shots will fail.Paul said.Some of the fearmongering advertisement campaigns from 1976 are featured in the following video:Here we are once again, swine flu coming up and everybody is panicking. Ron Paul says in his latest update.

This is not to downplay the seriousness of it. Some people have died, some people might die, yet we’ve had no deaths in this country, there’s seven or eight cases up in New York, but none have even been hospitalised and yet it’s practically like we’ve been attacked by nuclear weapons.The Congressman put the current panic in perspective by pointing out that last year alone there were 13,000 cases of tuberculosis with the number of annual deaths last recorded in the hundreds.Paul then opined on how the scare will once again be pounced upon to bolster and further empower big government. He referred to Janet Napolitano’s announcement Sunday that the Department of Homeland Security had started passive surveillance protocols to screen people coming into the country.How did the Department of Homeland Security get into the medical business? It’s just totally out of control, Paul said, describing the situation as an open door invitation to allow the federal government to deal with medical problems.The big question is Does a bigger government always solve these problems? No, they usually make things much worse.

FDA Approves Emergency Measures For Mass Dosing Of U.S. Citizens
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com April 29, 2009

The FDA has approved emergency measures to carry out mass dosings of U.S. citizens with antiviral drugs in the event of a widespread swine flu pandemic.An Associated Press report states that the new powers would allow the drugs to be distributed to a broader range of the population than present measures allow.The drugs, primarily Tamiflu and Relenza, would be “distributed to larger segments of the population without complying with the approved label requirements,according to the report.The announcement follows a similar directive issued last night, which would allow Tamiflu to be used to treat children under the age of 1 and to provide doses higher than originally approved for children over the age of 1.As we reported this morning, a Time Magazine article prepares Americans to accept mandatory enforced vaccination and says that citizens should trust the government and “forgive” them if the vaccination itself results in deaths and injuries, as happened during the 1796 swine flu fiasco, when the U.S. government attempted to mass vaccinate the entire population.

Mexico death toll stabilizes as epidemic spreads By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writers APR 29,2009

MEXICO CITY – The toll from the swine flu epidemic appears to be stabilizing in Mexico, the health secretary said late Tuesday, with only seven more suspected deaths. But an outbreak of the virus at a New York school showed it is capable of repeated jumps between humans — meaning it can keep spreading around the world.The new virus is suspected in 159 deaths and 2,498 illnesses across Mexico, said Health Secretary Jose Cordova, who called the death toll more or less stable even as hospitals are swamped with people who think they have swine flu. And he said only 1,311 suspected swine flu patients remain hospitalized, a sign that treatment works for people who get medical care quickly.The positive news came even as the first two countries announced travel bans on flights from Mexico, the center of the epidemic, and as confirmed cases were reported for the first time as far away as New Zealand and Israel, joining the United States, Canada, Britain and Spain.The United States stepped up surveillance at its borders and swarned Americans to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico. Canada, Israel and France issued similar travel advisories. And Cuba became the first country to impose an outright ban on travel to the epicenter of the epidemic.Argentina soon followed with its own ban, and ordered 60,000 visitors who arrrived from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. in the past 20 days to contact the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, Mexico was eliminating reasons for tourists to visit. On Tuesday, the pyramids and all other archaeological sites were put off limits nationwide and restaurants in the capital were closed for all but take-out food in an aggressive bid to stop gatherings where the virus can spread.Experts on epidemics said these kinds of government interventions are ineffective, since this flu — a never-before-seen blend of genetic material from pigs, birds and humans to which people have no natural immunity — is already showing up in too many places for containment efforts to make a difference.Outside Mexico, confirmed cases were reported for the first time as far away as New Zealand and Israel, joining the United States, Canada, Britain and Spain. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the U.S. has 66 confirmed cases in five states, with 45 in New York, one in Ohio, one in Indiana, two in Kansas, six in Texas and 11 in California.Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work, said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl, recalling the SARS epidemic earlier in the decade that killed 774 people, mostly in Asia, and slowed the global economy.Instead, they say, governments should do more to provide medical help to people with swine flu symptoms, since the virus is proving to be treatable if diagnosed early.U.S. officials stressed there is no need for panic, noting that flu outbreaks are quite common every year. The CDC estimates about 36,000 people in the U.S. alone died of flu-related causes each year, on average, in the 1990s.Cordova said many of the people crowding hospital waiting rooms complaining of swine flu symptoms actually suffered from other ailments — and many of those suspected of having the virus were treated and sent home.You can see the total of new cases, Cordova said, pointing to bar charts that showed a rise and fall.In the last days there has been a drop.

Cordova said that with U.S. help, new testing facilities in Mexico will soon have the capacity to test 150 samples a day for the new strain of swine flu. Currently, it must send samples to the CDC or Canadian labs, which is the main reason why only 26 of the 159 deaths have been definitively confirmed to be swine flu.Meanwhile, Cordova said health workers have begun using a less specific quick test, and will immediately administer anti-viral medicine to anyone with the general class of flu that includes the new strain.Another focus is preventing people from gathering in groups where mass contagion could result. Mexico City's mayor ordered restaurants to limit service to takeouts and deliveries, and closed gyms and swimming pools and restricted access to many government buildings.The economic toll also spread. Even before the restaurant closings, the capital has lost 777 million pesos ($56 million) a day since the outbreak began, said Arturo Mendicuti, president of the city's Chamber of Trade, Services and Tourism.Of course we don't like these measures, he said.We hope they don't last.In the U.S., President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight the illness. I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection,said Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC. In New York, there were growing signs that the virus was moving beyond St. Francis Preparatory school, where sick students started lining up at the nurse's office days after some students returned from Cancun. At the 2,700-student school, the largest Roman Catholic high school in the nation, many hundreds of students were ill with symptoms that are most likely swine flu, said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. A teacher was one of 28 confirmed cases. And a nearby school with siblings at St. Francis was shut down as well after more than 80 students called in sick.

It is here and it is spreading,Frieden said.

Rachel Mele, a 16-year-old at the school, saw her fever break Tuesday for the first time in five days. It had been hovering around 101 since the terrifying night when her parents rushed her to the hospital. I could barely even catch my breath. I've never felt a pain like that before, Mele said. My throat, it was burning, like, it was the worst burning sensation I ever got before. I couldn't even swallow. I couldn't even let up air. I could barely breathe through my mouth.It is significant that some of confirmed New York cases passed swine flu to others who had not traveled — this suggests the virus can jump from human to human to human, spreading through other countries, said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.There is definitely the possibility that this virus can establish that kind of community-wide outbreak capacity in multiple countries, and it's something we're looking for very closely,Fukuda said. So-called community transmissions are a key test for gauging whether the spread of the virus has reached pandemic proportions. Scientists hope to have a key ingredient for a vaccine ready in early May, but it still will take months before any shots are available for the first required safety testing. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. We're about a third of the way to that goal, said Dr. Ruben Donis of the CDC.

U.S. officials said they may abandon the term swine flu since the virus blends genetic material from three species, and because many people mistakenly fear they can get it from meat. The outbreak has been a public relations nightmare for the pork industry, and China, Russia and Ukraine are among the countries who have banned imports from Mexico and parts of the U.S. It's killing our markets,said Francis Gilmore, 72, who runs a 600-hog operation in Perry, Iowa, outside Des Moines, and worries his small business could be ruined by the crisis. Where they got the name, I just don't know.Associated Press Writers Sara Kugler, Cristian Salazar, Marcus Franklin and Samantha Gross in New York; Istra Pacheco, Peter Orsi, Julie Watson and E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City; Mike Stobbe in Atlanta; Mary Clare Jalonick, David Espo, Philip Elliott and Matthew Lee in Washington; Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva, Maria Cheng in London and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Swine flu outbreak widening in Europe
ANDREW RETTMAN Today APR 29,09 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Germany on Wednesday (29 April) became the third EU country, after the UK and Spain, to confirm a mild case of swine flu. But EU institution face uncertainty on stocks of anti-viral medication and cannot agree whether travellers should avoid going to Mexico.The Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) on Tuesday had said 12 other EU countries are looking at suspected cases, without naming the places involved. The European Commission named Denmark, Sweden, Greece, the Czech Republic and Italy. News reports indicate France and Poland are in the same boat. Suspected cases in Belgium and Ireland have proved negative. Mild cases of the A/H1N1 bug have also been confirmed as far afield as the US, Canada, New Zealand and Israel. Mexico, where the outbreak began, has seen the only fatalities, with up to 159 deaths attributable to the disease.The World Health Organisation has put its pandemic alert level on four out of six. But health experts are playing down popular fears that the current crisis resembles the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed 50million people around the world.

One shouldn't be looking at Mexico and saying that's the pattern that we will necessarily see [here],the ECDC's Angus Nicoll said. Instead we are looking at where there has been the best epidemiology done so far, the US and Canada, and then we expect it will be done in Europe. What we've seen in the US and Canada has been a series of infections, a little bit of person-to-person transmission, but then no extended transmission so far.Mr Nicoll also warned against false hopes, however. Sometimes you get a second or third wave which is more vicious than the first ...we may get a lull over the summer and then something coming back.EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has called a meeting with pharmaceutical companies on Wednesday to discuss production of anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza and the possibility of creating an A/H1N1 vaccine in the months to come. Some member states built up stocks of anti-virals during the bird flu scare in 2005. But Ms Vassiliou said EU health ministers meeting on Thursday are unlikely to share sensitive information on who has what.Member states like to keep that information for themselves,she explained. The commissioner indicated that any EU solidarity measures may also be limited, after countries at a meeting in Angers, France last September declined to pool resources.Member states did not want stock-piling at EU level, Ms Vassiliou said. The EU health ministers are on Thursday to give formal advice on travel to affected regions. But EU citizens are facing contradictory opinions for now.What we are recommending is that EU citizens should only travel to Mexico if it is unavoidable and absolutely necessary,the ECDC's Zsuzsanna Jakab said on Tuesday.

At this juncture I don't see any point in restricting travelling,the EU commissioner said the same day. The caution comes amid potential losses for travel companies, which are already suffering due to the financial downturn. Shares in British Airways and Intercontinental Hotels began to slide on Monday after the first flu reports.The European Commission is also trying to debunk the common name swine flu in favour of the appellation novel flu in order to protect the pork industry. A/H1N1 contains viral strains found in pigs, birds and humans but cooked pork is safe to eat, the EU executive said.We are trying to avoid negative connotations for the consumption of pork,Ms Vassiliou explained.

EU health ministers scramble as swine flu hits Europe
ELITSA VUCHEVA 27.04.2009 @ 15:02 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The Czech EU presidency has called an emergency meeting of the bloc's health ministers to take place in all probability on Thursday afternoon (30April), as Spain on Monday confirmed the first case of swine flu in Europe.The news came after Mexican health secretary Jose Angel Cordova said on Sunday that the number of suspected cases of people with the flu strain in his country had reached 1,614, with more than 100 suspected and 20 confirmed fatalities so far.The United States declared a state of emergency over the weekend with at least 20 people identified with the virus. Cases were also reported in Canada.The Presidency has been following the situation very closely, is aware of the seriousness of the outbreak on the American continent, and is determined to minimise the risk of impact on the European Union,the Czech EU presidency said in a statement.In order to evaluate the potential danger and all possible steps forward,it has called on Monday afternoon an urgent meeting of EU states' diplomats responsible for public health to prepare for the extraordinary ministerial.The issue will also be discussed during an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.The announcement of the extraordinary health ministers gathering came almost at the same time as Spain's confirmation of the first flu case in Europe.Spanish health minister Trinidad Jimenez said the case concerned a 23-year-old man in south-east Spain who had recently been to Mexico. Another 17 people are suspected to have the disease, the BBC reports.Ms Jimenez added that the man has been responding well to treatment and his condition is not serious.

The situation is under control,she stressed.

Experts in other member states - including Germany and the UK - have warned it is only a matter of time before the virus spreads in Europe.People suspected to be infected are currently under observation in several European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland.Experts from the World Health Organisation will be meeting on Tuesday and decide whether to raise the level of the WHO pandemic crisis alert system from three to six. A six would mean that a pandemic is under way.

Raising of the alert or not will depend on the evaluation of human to human transfer in the past days.Eat pork, but don't go to Mexico or the US.Meanwhile, EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou on Monday advised European citizens not to travel to the areas affected by the flu.Personally, I would try to avoid non-essential travel to the areas which are reported to be in the centre of the cluster, she said in a video statement released in Brussels.On arriving in Luxembourg later on, where she was to brief EU foreign ministers on the issue, Ms Vassiliou stressed that people should avoid traveling to Mexico or the United States of America unless it is very urgent for them.For his part, Robert Madelin, Director General for Health and Consumer Protection in the European Commission, underlined that this completely novel flu virus – a mixture of swine, bird and human viruses – had nothing to do with the food chain.This is a human flu virus ...Not only is this not a pig virus, but it is not affecting pigs, there is no human to pig transition.Similarly therefore, pigs are not carriers. Neither pigs, nor porcine embryos, nor pig meat. And I had a very nice filet de porc yesterday and I recommend you to go on eating pork,Mr Madelin told journalists during a press briefing in Brussels.

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 APR 29,2009

09:30 AM +3.03
10:00 AM +107.21
10:30 AM +137.16
11:00 AM +145.60
11:30 AM +169.17
12:00 PM +149.74
12:30 PM +148.07
01:00 PM +150.30
01:30 PM +194.56
02:00 PM +177.30
02:30 PM +184.70
03:00 PM +198.64
03:30 PM +174.11
04:00 PM +168.78 8185.73

S&P 500 873.64 +18.48

NASDAQ 1711.94 +38.13

GOLD 899.60 +6.00

OIL 50.95 +1.04

TSE 300 9422.60 +74.57

CDNX 1013.97 +20.87

S&P/TSX/60 571.21 +4.67

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -8.65%
S&P -5.32%
Nasdaq +6.14%
TSX Advances 619,declines 860,unchanged 278,Volume 2,095,346,621.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 336,Declines 416,Unchanged 355,Volume 193,627,423.

Dow +67 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +3 points at low today.
Dow +110 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $897.50.OIL opens at $50.49 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -o.4 points at low today so far.
Dow +239 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 3,016,declines 554,unchanged 83,New Highs 16,New Lows 53.
Volume 4,149,179,966.
NASDAQ Advances 2,035,declines 576,unchanged 69,New highs 25,New Lows 16.
Volume 1,036,073,291.
TSX Advances 878,declines 435,unchanged 245,Volume 1,016,958,641.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 336,Declines 228,Unchanged 303,Volume 178,602,338.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.4 points at low today.
Dow +239 points at high today.
Dow +2.11% today Volume 300,335,193.
Nasdaq +2.28% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 +2.16% 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

CAP & TRADE IS A TAX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_VqTQiQsp4&feature=player_embedded

Cap-and-Trade is a Tax, Dingell Says
By Matthew Vadum Sunday, April 26, 2009

As my colleague Eric Heidenreich says, cap-and-trade is a tax.

Yes, one can’t say enough that it is a tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rep. John Dingell (D-Michigan) agrees. From the Americans for Prosperity website,

Remember what MoveOn said last week: If Republicans convince voters that clean energy legislation amounts to a new tax, Obama’s plan is toast.Looks like Republicans have some help from a heavy-weight Democrat, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Emeritus John Dingell (D-Mich.), who said today: Nobody, nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax and it’s a great big one. I want to get a bill that works. How do we choose the best course, cap-and-trade, carbon tax? At times, my dear friend, Albert, you have been an advocate of a carbon tax as the better way to go. How do we address this problem?(U.S. House of Representatives Energy And Commerce Committee, Hearing, 4/24/09)

Economy shrinks at worse-than-expected pace By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer APR 29,09

WASHINGTON – The economy shrank at a worse-than-expected 6.1 percent pace at the start of this year as sharp cutbacks by businesses and the biggest drop in U.S. exports in 40 years overwhelmed a rebound in consumer spending.The Commerce Department's report, released Wednesday, dashed hopes that the recession's grip on the country loosened in the first quarter. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a 5 percent annualized decline.Instead, the economy ended up performing nearly as bad as it had in the final three months of last year when it logged the worst slide in a quarter-century, contracting at a 6.3 percent pace. Nervous consumers played a prominent role in that dismal showing as they ratcheted back spending in the face of rising unemployment, falling home values and shrinking nest eggs.In the January-March quarter consumers came back to life, boosting their spending after two straight quarters of reductions. The 2.2 percent growth rate was the strongest in two years.Much stronger demand for big-ticket durable goods, including cars, furniture and household appliances led the increase. That spending rose at a 9.4 pace, the most in a year. Consumers also boosted spending on clothing, shoes, recreation services, medical care, gasoline and other energy products. But not on food, where spending dipped slightly.Still, the consumer rebound was swamped by heavy spending cuts in virtually every other area.Businesses cut spending on home building, commercial construction, equipment and software, and inventories of goods. Sales of U.S. goods to foreign buyers plunged as they retrenched in the face of economic troubles in their own countries. Even the government trimmed spending. It was the first time that happened since the end of 2005.All told, the economy logged its worst six-month performance since the late 1950s.

The sharp cuts underscore the toll the housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — are having on the country. The recession, which began in December 2007, has taken a big bite out of national economic activity and snatched 5.1million jobs.To cushion the impact of the downturn, the Federal Reserve has slashed a key bank lending rate to a record low near zero and rolled out a string of radical programs to spur lending. The Fed at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday is expected to keep its key rate near zero and probably hold it there well into next year.Wall Street shook off the weak gross domestic product reading as it awaited the Fed's assessment of the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average added more than 155 points in midday trading and broader indices also rose.President Barack Obama is counting on his $787 billion stimulus of tax cuts and increased government spending on big public works projects to help bolster economic activity later this year. The administration also has put forward programs to rescue banks and curb home foreclosures — big negative forces weighing on the economy.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the first-quarter's showing a pretty severe contraction, but added that some more up-to-date signals on the economy have been more encouraging. We continue to get, as the president said, some glimmers of hope, he said.Even in the face of Wednesday's weaker-than-expected report, some analysts stuck to predictions that the economy would shrink less in the current April-June period — at a pace of 1 to 2.5 percent — as Obama's stimulus begins to take hold. Those analysts also continue to hope the economy would start to grow again in the final quarter of this year.The recession was bad in the first quarter but won't be as bad going forward, said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia. I don't think this lessens the expected pattern that the economy will be entering a recovery by the end of this year.
However, the recent outbreak of the swine flu, which started out in Mexico and has spread to the United States and elsewhere, poses a new potential danger. If the flu stifles trade and forces consumers to cut back further, those negative forces would worsen the recession.Before the flu outbreak, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession could end this year if the government succeeds in stabilizing the shaky financial system and getting banks to lend again.In recent weeks, Bernanke and his colleagues had cited tentative signs of the recession easing in some consumer spending, home building and other reports. Finance officials from the U.S. and other top economic powers meeting here last week also saw some hopeful signs for the global economy.

Fresh glimmers of hope emerged in the U.S. Tuesday. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose far more than expected in April, jumping more than 12 points to 39.2, the highest level since November. And a housing index showed that home prices dropped sharply in February, but for the first time in 25 months the decline was not a record. However, in the first quarter there was much weakness in those areas and others. Spending on home building fell at a 38 percent annualized rate, the most since the second quarter of 1980. Businesses cut spending on equipment and software at a 33.8 percent pace, the most since the first quarter of 1958. Inventory reductions shaved 2.79 percentage points off overall first-quarter economic activity. But with stockpiles slashed, any pickup in business sales would help increase production and bolster the economy in the current quarter. Still, U.S. exports plunged at a rate of 30 percent, the biggest drop since the first quarter of 1969, reflecting the crimped appetite of struggling foreign buyers. The government also cut spending 3.9 percent, the most since the end of 1995. Even if the recession were to end this year, the economy will remain feeble and unemployment will keep climbing, government officials and analysts say. The Labor Department on Wednesday said that all 372 metropolitan areas tracked saw their jobless rates rise in March from a year earlier. The rate in Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen region soared to 18.8 percent, up 13 percentage points, which was the biggest gain in the country. The national jobless rate is now at a quarter-century high of 8.5 percent and is expected to hit 10 percent by the end of this year. It will probably rise a bit higher in early 2010 before starting to slowly drift downward. Still, the Fed predicts unemployment will stay elevated into 2011, and economists don't think it will return to normal — around a 5 percent jobless rate — until 2013.

More layoffs were announced this week. Textron Inc. said it will expand layoffs, eliminating 8,300 jobs, or 20 percent, of its global work force as the recession weakens demand for corporate planes. The maker of Cessna planes, Bell helicopters and turf-maintenance equipment earlier this year said it would reduce its work force by 6,200 jobs, or 15 percent, mostly at Wichita, Kansas-based Cessna. General Motors Corp. laid out a massive restructuring plan that includes cutting 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year. Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest owner of U.S. radio stations, said it's cutting 590 jobs in its second round of mass layoffs this year amid pressure from the recession and evaporating advertising budgets. And bearings and specialty steels maker Timken Co. indicated it will cut about 4,000 more jobs by the end of this year after earlier suggesting about 3,000 jobs already had been targeted.

Mexico Peso Falls on Concern Swine Flu to Deepen Economic Slump Global Research, April 27, 2009 Bloomberg

Mexico Peso Falls on Concern Swine Flu to Deepen Economic Slump By Valerie Rota
April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s peso sank to the lowest level in almost three weeks against the dollar on concern an outbreak of the deadly swine flu will deepen the country’s recession. The peso depreciated as much as 3.5 percent, the steepest intraday slide since Nov. 5, and was 2.6 percent lower at 13.6978 per dollar at 8:18 a.m. in New York. The decline was the biggest among 176 currencies tracked by Bloomberg worldwide. The flu outbreak may reduce demand for pesos from tourists and curb consumer spending at restaurants, theaters and other venues where crowds gather, said Gerardo Margolis, a vice president for emerging markets at TD Securities Inc. in Toronto. The virus may have claimed more than 100 lives so far in Mexico, Health Minister Jose Cordova said. The spread of the swine flu has an immediate economic impact and investors will be cautious,Margolis said. There will be a drop in consumption and tourism and that affects the currency.Tourism attracted $13.3 billion into the economy last year, making it Mexico’s third-largest source of foreign currency behind oil exports and remittances from Mexicans living abroad. Private consumption accounts for about 50 percent of total demand for goods and services in Latin America’s second-biggest economy. The peso earlier touched 13.8250, the weakest since April 7. The currency depreciated 1.6 percent last week after the government first disclosed deaths tied to the virus and as faster inflation fueled speculation the central bank will slow the pace of interest-rate cuts.

IMF Credit Line

The epidemic trimmed the peso’s second straight monthly advance. It has climbed 3.3 percent this month following a 7.6 percent advance in March, gains that were sparked in part by the government’s decision to seek a $47 billion credit line with the International Monetary Fund and tap a $30 billion swap line with the Federal Reserve.

The currency had tumbled 32 percent in the six months ended Feb. 27 as the global financial crisis sparked an exodus from emerging-market assets. Stocks declined around the world today, while the yen, dollar and Treasuries gained as the swine flu outbreak spread. Spain reported its first case today, while six people in Canada contracted the virus and more cases are likely, government officials said. New Zealand said as many as 13 students who recently visited Mexico may have swine flu.

Mexico’s Bolsa stock index has risen 0.9 percent this year while the yield on the government’s benchmark peso bonds due in 2024 dropped 28 basis points, or 0.28 percentage point, to 7.98 percent.

Yield Spreads

The extra yield investors demand to own Mexican bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries rose by 6 basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 3.26 percentage points today, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI+ Index. Mexico’s Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said there’s no doubt the outbreak will reduce economic output and that the virus has a high potential for disruption.The government doesn’t yet know the extent of the impact, he said at the IMF’s spring meetings in Washington. The government earlier this month forecast the economy will shrink 2.8 percent this year, the first contraction since 2001, as the U.S. recession curbs demand for Mexican exports and slows dollar flows from remittances, foreign direct investment and tourism. The outbreak comes at a very bad time, said Benito Berber, an economist at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets in Greenwich, Connecticut. He predicted the peso will drop to 14 per dollar over the next two weeks.

Bars, Theaters Closed

UBS AG downgraded Mexican stocks to underweight from top pick on concern the country’s economic outlook may worsen because of the swine flu. Workers at Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. have been told not to travel to Mexico, officials at the companies said. Japan, Malaysia and Singapore are screening passengers at checkpoints for fever. Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon declared a swine-flu emergency on April 25, giving him powers to order quarantines and suspend public events in the nation, where more than 1,300 patients have been hospitalized with flu-like symptoms. The government has requested the closure of bars, movie theaters and churches in the capital to fight the outbreak while stopping short of ordering workplaces shut to ease the swine flu’s impact on the economy. It has closed schools in Mexico City and the states of Mexico and San Luis Potosi until May 6 and has canceled government activities that draw crowds.

Lot of Jitters

The number of deaths from Mexico’s flu outbreak has risen to 103, Health Minister Cordova said. Not all deaths have been confirmed to be caused by swine flu, he said.

In the U.S., 20 people have confirmed cases of swine flu linked to the Mexican virus, and the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said officials expect more severe infections to begin showing up. The World Health Organization called the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.We don’t know what the magnitude of the flu outbreak will be, said Mario Copca, a currency strategist at Metanalisis SA in Mexico City. This is going to fuel a lot of jitters.

No foreign government has banned travel to Mexico, Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz said on April 25. Hong Kong officials advised citizens against unnecessary travel to Mexico. Russia suspended imports of all meat from Mexico, the Philippines ordered a ban on imports of pork and hogs from the Latin American country, while South Korea is boosting quarantines on pig and pork imported from Mexico. We may start seeing an impact on exports,said Margolis at TD Securities.That could also hurt the currency.
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A Copper Standard for the world's currency system? Hard money enthusiasts have long watched for signs that China is switching its foreign reserves from US Treasury bonds into gold bullion. They may have been eyeing the wrong metal. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 2:41PM BST 16 Apr 2009

China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB) has instead been buying copper and other industrial metals over recent months on a scale that appears to go beyond the usual rebuilding of stocks for commercial reasons. Nobu Su, head of Taiwan's TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can. China's growth more Occident than design China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years.The next industrial revolution is going to be led by hybrid cars, and that needs copper. You can see the subtle way that China is moving into 30 or 40 countries with resources,he said. The SRB has also been accumulating aluminium, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals such as titanium, indium (thin-film technology), rhodium (catalytic converters) and praseodymium (glass). While it makes sense for China to take advantage of last year's commodity crash to restock cheaply, there is clearly more behind the move.They are definitely buying metals to diversify out of US Treasuries and dollar holdings, said Jim Lennon, head of commodities at Macquarie Bank.

John Reade, metals chief at UBS, said Beijing may have a made strategic decision to stockpile metal as an alternative to foreign bonds. We're very surprised by Chinese demand. They are buying much more copper than they will need this year. If this is strategic, there may be no effective limit on the purchases as China's pockets are deep.Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank governor, piqued the interest of metal buffs last month by calling for a world currency modelled on the Bancor, floated by John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods in 1944. The Bancor was to be anchored on 30 commodities - a broader base than the Gold Standard, which had caused so much grief in the 1930s. Mr Zhou said such a currency would prevent the sort of credit-based excess that has brought the global finance to its knees. If his thoughts reflect Communist Party thinking, it would explain the bizarre moves in commodity markets over recent weeks. Copper prices have surged 49pc this year to $4,925 a tonne despite estimates by the CRU copper group that world demand will fall 15pc to 20pc this year as construction wilts. Analysts say short covering by funds betting on price falls has played a role. But the jump is largely due to Chinese imports, which reached a record 329,000 tonnes in February, and a further 375,000 tonnes in March. Chinese industrial demand cannot explain this. China has been badly hit by global recession. Its exports - almost half GDP - fell 17pc in March. While Beijing's fiscal stimulus package and credit expansion has helped lift demand, China faces a property downturn of its own. One government adviser warned this week that house prices could fall 50pc.

One thing is clear: Beijing suspects that the US Federal Reserve is engineering a covert default on America's debt by printing money. Premier Wen Jiabao issued a blunt warning last month that China was tiring of US bonds. We have lent a huge amount of money to the US, so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets, he said.This is slightly disingenuous. China has the world's largest reserves - $1.95 trillion, mostly in dollars - because it has been holding down the yuan to boost exports. This mercantilist strategy has reached its limits. The beauty of recycling China's surplus into metals instead of US bonds is that it kills so many birds with one stone: it stops the yuan rising, without provoking complaints of currency manipulation by Washington; metals are easily stored in warehouses, unlike oil; the holdings are likely to rise in value over time since the earth's crust is gradually depleting its accessible ores. Above all, such a policy safeguards China's industrial revolution, while the West may one day face a supply crisis. Beijing may yet buy gold as well, although it has not done so yet. The gold share of reserves has fallen to 1pc, far below the historic norm in Asia. But if a metal-based currency ever emerges to end the reign of fiat paper, it is just as likely to be a Copper Standard as a Gold Standard.

The Great U.S. Housing Market Depression, America Stop Thinking about Homes as Investments Housing-Market / US Housing Apr 28, 2009 - 07:21 AM By: Uncommon_Wisdom

Sean Brodrick There’s something you need to do for your own mental health: Stop thinking about homes as investments.You know those guys who are trying to reinflate the housing bubble — Tim Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers — President Obama’s posse of the ethically challenged? They’re not your friends. They’re taking billions of dollars of your national wealth and transferring the loot to their Wall Street friends on the promise they can make things all better — the way they used to be.

America, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. The glory days of the housing bubble aren’t returning. You can wear a faded rose and pine for days gone by all you want, but your life will be much easier and stress-free if you can get the real estate monkey off your back. The world has changed, and the days of flipping houses like rows of hamburgers are probably not coming back for a decade … maybe longer.The good news is there are great places to put your money to work — and I’ll get to those. First, let’s deal with how we got here.

Time to Abandon False Hopes

The first two years after the bursting of the housing bubble saw home prices fall about 30 percent from their peak. And nothing goes down forever, right? That’s what you’re telling yourself, right, America? Gosh darn it, prices are sure to rebound this year or next.As your friend, I have to tell you I think that outlook is pretty optimistic. Sure, maybe we’ll see home prices bottom sometime … in 2011 or 2012. But I’m not expecting a rubber-band bounce. And neither should you.Let’s look at some of housing’s SHORT-term problems …

Reason #1: A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

Robert Schiller, an expert on housing prices and the author of Irrational Exuberance published a chart of how house prices behaved for the last 120 years (adjusted for inflation).The house price line is on top. Prices are indexed against the 1890 price (left scale), and the chart is updated through the end of the fourth quarter of 2008. At that time, Schiller’s analysis suggested that home prices had to fall about 10 percent to 20 percent just to get back to fair value.Never mind the price spike — THAT was the housing bubble. On a more historical (realistic) basis, home prices have risen annually in line with the Consumer Price Index. By 2009, the median value of a home, based on historical precedent, should have risen to $150,000. But at the end of 2008, the median value of a home was $180,000.Sure, modern homes are bigger and more modern than they were in 1969. But you know what? They were bigger and more modern in 1969 than they were 40 years earlier. The only way home prices could rise in real dollars is if incomes were going up as well — and they’re not.In short, while we could see temporary rallies, the easiest path for home prices is still down. And since there is usually overshoot to the downside after a bubble bursts, it could be much further down.

Reason #2: The Mortgage Default Tsunami

More than 2.3 million homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings in 2008, up more than 80 percent from 2007. A huge wave of ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) resets started this year and will continue through mid-2012.Source: Credit Suisse.This tsunami of mortgage resets is one of the reasons why President Obama created a $75 billion plan he says will prevent 7 million to 9 million foreclosures. We aren’t going to discuss the morals of bailing out people who bought too much house — not enough time for that today. I will point out that of homes that were delinquent last year, and then were refinanced, more than half went back into foreclosure. Also, 40 percent of the homes sold at the peak of the bubble were second homes or investment properties. They won’t be helped by Obama’s mortgage initiative.Obama’s plan may ease some of the pain of the housing crisis, but won’t make it go away. And it will probably weigh on the economy for years to come.There is some good news for the housing market. A subset of mortgages called Option Arms were supposed to reset this Spring, but that day of reckoning has been put off for thousands of homeowners by as much as one year, according to Credit Suisse. The reason is that falling interest rates have delayed the loan balances hitting specified principal caps that would trigger a reset of the loan — typically 110 percent to 125 percent of the original principal.The bad news: The big tsunami of unsecuritized ARMs, subprime loans, Alt-A, prime and agency loans will continue. What’s more, the pain for Options ARMs is only being delayed. Credit Suisse estimates that the resets will begin to accelerate next spring, rising from about $4 billion resetting in March 2010 to a peak of $14 billion in September 2011. The current level is about $1 billion. About $500 billion of option ARM loans are outstanding, according to the bank.These two forces should weigh on home prices going forward, even if the economy recovers during that time. A lackluster economic recovery, naturally, will also throw cold water on the housing market.But even AFTER those two problems are worked out, there are five other longer-term reasons why the housing bubble — or any bubble — won’t be reflating any time soon.

Reason #3: Deflation Hammers Home Prices

Deflation is here and is grinding prices lower. In the U.S., consumer prices dropped 0.4 percent in March compared to a year earlier — the first year-on-year drop since August 1955. That’s on the heels of February’s drop in personal income — down $29.1 billion. Wages should come under increasing pressure as employment declines — we recently saw employment drop by the largest amount since current data series began in 1949. In March the unemployment rate stood at 8.5 percent, up from a cyclical low of 4.4 percent. This is the highest level since the early 1980s.Deflation is terrible for home prices — as wages fall, rents follow, and home prices tag along.

Reason #4: Inflation Won’t Help

Our current bout of deflation is probably going to end in inflation. In the past year, the Fed’s balance sheet, as measured by the monetary base, has nearly doubled from $826 billion last March to $1.64 trillion, with much larger increases coming down the pike. This is inflationary — and if the economy bottoms, we could see inflation ignite.That means even if your home value goes up, it’s struggling to keep pace in real terms. And if your home price doesn’t go up, that will be even worse.

Here’s an example why: The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 1,000 in 1966. It didn’t get there again for 7 years — 1973. The inflation from 1966 to 1973 was 37 percent. So investors may have made the same paper gains, but in real dollars, they were losing money.

Reason #5: The Next Bubble WON’T Be a Housing Bubble

The implosion of the Tulip Mania in Holland and the South Seas bubble were not followed by reinflation of tulip prices or shares of the South Seas Company stock.

Likewise, after the Dot-com bubble burst, the Nasdaq didn’t reflate. There are stocks from the dot-com daze that are far from their old highs … and will likely never see them again. And some — Pets.com comes to mind — disappear forever.

Reason #6: The Fraudulent Good-Time Charlie Gravy Train Ain’t Comin’ Back

Low interest rates were only one factor in the housing bubble; the other was loose lending standards. Heck, they weren’t just loose, there was wholesale fraud going on.

Now, with regulators and Congress breathing down their necks, mortgage lenders are likely to button up their standards tighter than a nun’s pajamas.That’s a bit like closing the barn door after the horse is out, but it means the ingredients for a housing bubble just aren’t there anymore. Speaking of that.

Reason #7: America is Getting Older

A great wall of baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are approaching retirement age. The oldest baby boomers turn 63 in 2009, and when the trend peaks in 2030, the number of people over age 65 will zoom to 71.5 million — one in every five Americans.

Old people don’t need huge homes. You know — the kind of McMansions we’ve been building for the past 20 years.And while the inventory of U.S. single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums decreased to a 9.7 month supply in February — down from 11.3 months in April last year — that’s STILL a lot of unsold inventory on the market.

How Long Could Home Prices Stay Depressed?

MAYBE we’ll see home prices recover in 2012. Or maybe it will take a LOT longer. Studies show that of the last three up waves in housing prices, 1942-1956, 1975-1979 and 1985-1989, it took the run-up time plus 30 percent before housing prices started to move up again.Since this last housing bull market went from (roughly) 1997-2007, the housing prices won’t start a significant run-up until 2020.And what will inflation do to the value of your home by then?

Fed takes fresh stock of economy By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer – Wed Apr 29, 9:15 am ET

WASHINGTON – Taking fresh stock of economic and financial conditions, Federal Reserve policymakers are considering whether they need to take additional measures to ease the recession.Most economists are betting there won't be any major announcements Wednesday at the end of a two-day meeting given the Fed's bold $1.2 trillion move just last month to revive the economy.But that was before the Commerce Department reported that the economy shrank at a 6.1 percent pace at the start of this year. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a 5 percent annualized decline in the first quarter. The weak economic performance nearly matched the 6.3 percent contraction in the final three months of last year, which was the worst pace in a quarter-century.And analysts aren't ruling anything out from the Fed as credit and financial stresses persist and a new potential danger has arisen to the economy in the form of the swine flu outbreak.Never say never with these guys. But I don't think they have a real reason to increase support at this time, said Michael Feroli, economist at JPMorgan Economics.Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are all but certain to leave the targeted range for its key bank lending rate between zero and 0.25 percent.Economists predict the Fed will hold its key rate at that record-low level well into next year, although some would like to see the Fed provide a more explicit commitment on the front. The Fed has been pledging to hold the rate at super-low levels for an extended period.With the Fed's key rate near rock bottom, policymakers will examine the effectiveness of existing programs to help the economy. They also will weigh whether those initiatives need to be changed or expanded, while keeping options open for new relief measures.

The Fed hopes its various efforts will get banks to lend again, lower interest rates and increase Americans' appetites to spend, which would help lift the country out of a recession that began in December 2007.Some analysts said it's possible — but not likely — the Fed would decide to boost its purchases of government debt beyond the $300 billion announced last month. Others said the Fed might make changes to a consumer lending program that's gotten off to a rocky start in order to make it attractive to investors.Much hope is riding on the program called the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF. It's been hobbled by rule changes, investor worries about financial privacy and fears that participants might become ensnared in an anti-bailout backlash from the public and Congress. Just $1.7 billion in loans was requested for the second round of funding in April — down from $4.7 billion in March.

Investors use the money to buy newly issued securities backed by auto and student loans, credit cards and other debt. The program will be expanded to include commercial real-estate loans.On the economic front, the Fed is expected to strike a somewhat less dour note than it did at its mid-March meeting. Policymakers are likely to note some tentative signs that the recession is easing.Some more hopeful signals emerged Tuesday. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose far more than expected in April, jumping over 12 points to 39.2, the highest level since November. And a housing index showed that home prices dropped sharply in February, but for the first time in 25 months the decline was not a record.Bernanke has said the recession probably would end this year if the government is successful in repairing broken banking and credit systems.Before the swine flu outbreak, many analysts were predicting the recession would ease further, with the economy shrinking at a rate of 1to 2.5 percent in the current quarter.However, analysts warn that any severe outbreak of the swine flu would not only clobber tourism, food and transportation industries, but crimp spending on other things if consumers get spooked. For now, analysts are hopeful that any economic fallout will be limited and short-lived. But much hinges on the scope of the flu infections and how they affect consumer behavior.Even if the recession ends this year, the jobless rate — now at a quarter-century high of 8.5 percent — is expected to keep rising and top 10 percent early next year.

End in sight for EU banking secrecy
ANDREW WILLIS 28.04.2009 @ 18:02 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The days of banking secrecy within the European Union appear to be numbered despite resistance from Luxembourg and Austria to the automatic sharing of banking information with other member state tax authorities. The two states, along with Belgium, currently operate a temporary opt-out scheme from EU rules in the area that require the automatic sharing of data, applying instead a special withholding tax on the savings accounts of non-residents. But it is a transitional arrangement and the deadline is the day when the five other European countries which are not members of the European Union – namely Switzerland, Leichtenstein, San Marino, Monaco and Andorra – agree on the exchange of information on request,explained EU taxation commissioner Laszlo Kovacs on Tuesday (28 April).

This deadline is outlined in the Savings Taxation Directive and it appears to be approaching rapidly. On 5 May Mr Kovacs will ask a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels for a mandate to start talks with the five countries.He also feels certain that the finance ministers will give him the authority he needs to start the negotiations. We will request this mandate and I am 100 percent sure that the council [of finance ministers] will give me this mandate,he said.Belgium has already agreed to implement the automatic provision of non-resident bank accounts to other member state tax authorities from 1 Jan 2010.At the same meeting, Mr Kovacs will also present a new commission communication on taxation that calls for increased transparency and exchange of tax information, both within the EU and with third countries.The document – published on Tuesday - is the commission's response to calls by G20 leaders on 2 April to take action against non-cooperative jurisdiction, including tax havens.

OECD list a moving feast

Stricter enforcement of automatic sharing of banking information within the EU is part of a greater global crackdown on tax dodging as recession-time governments feel the pinch from lower tax returns. Tax secrecy cannot be used as a pretext against giving information on request which can be used for protecting tax fraudsters, tax evasion or even money laundering,said Mr Kovacs on Tuesday. Earlier this month, while G20 leaders discussed the financial crisis in London, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development published a progress report for states on implementation of internationally agreed taxation standards. To their dismay, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg were placed in the list's grey section, signifying they have committed to, but not yet implemented, the internationally agreed taxation standards. I think that the treatment given to some countries is a bit incomprehensible, Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker told journalists as he arrived to chair a meeting of euro area finance ministers in Prague the next day. But Mr Kovacs pointed out that the list is not the final state of play, adding that the commission and the OECD will be monitoring the implementation of taxation standards over the coming months before the list is revisited later this year.

New report adds to cohesion policy debate
ANDREW WILLIS 28.04.2009 @ 06:22 CET

Debate on the future of the EU's cohesion policy post-2013 received a major contribution on Monday (27 April) with the publication of an independent report by Dr Fabrizio Barca, director general of the Italian finance ministry. The report broadly backs the EU's current cohesion policy that aims to boost development in underperforming regions, but also outlines the need for a number of important reforms to improve the policy's future efficiency. Dr Barca conducted a series of meetings over the course of 2008 with an extensive list of academics and policymakers to assess the current appetite for change in the area. What he discovered is that very conflicting views exist, he says.The risk whenever there are very conflicting views is that wrong changes are made, or more likely, that no changes are made at all,he told journalists in Brussels on Monday. One of the report's chief conclusions is the need to tackle the persistent underutilisation of economic potential in certain European regions and the ongoing social exclusion that local and national politicians are failing to diminish.Marking a break with the past, Dr Barca says EU cohesion policy should end its dogmatic pursuit of regional convergence in terms of GDP per capita, as this can be achieved despite a deterioration of circumstances in the regions concerned.

Potential opposition

Ex-commission president Jacques Delors was a principle architect behind the EU's cohesion policy, including its legal basis in the 1986 Single European Act as a means to offset the potentially negative effects of the creation of a single market on poorer regions.Since then a number of countries such as Ireland have benefited greatly from the policy which primarily funds development projects in EU regions where GDP per capita is less than 75 percent of the EU average. Cohesion policy for the spending period 2007-2013 will benefit from 35.7 percent of the total EU budget or €347.41 billion, primarily spent through the European Social Fund, European Regional Development Fund and European Cohesion Fund. However, member states are unlikely to be overly receptive to the report's calls for a toughing up the current spending contracts, known as operational programmes, between the commission and national governments, with greater emphasis on meeting targets.Likewise, Dr Barca says future cohesion policy should strengthen the principle of additionality under which member states are required to match commission funds on spending projects, instead of merely using EU funds to replace national ones. The creation of a Council for Cohesion Policy – another of the report's recommendations – would also increase the check and balances on member state spending and give the European parliament a greater role in this area. Regional policy commissioner Danuta Hubner welcomed the report, saying it was rich in argumentation, something that would help the commission justify its policy decisions in the future.

Parliament wants tighter nano regulation
LEIGH PHILLIPS 27.04.2009 @ 18:14 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament has called for the European Commission to tighten up how it deals with nanomaterials - materials less than a tenth of a micrometre in dimension, saying that while this cutting edge technology of the extremely small may promise great advances, there are also risks involved that European regulators must begin to consider.Nanotubes in production: The European Parliament feels the sector needs stronger regulation (Photo: wikipedia)On Friday (24 April), MEPs strongly backed a resolution 391 votes in favour, 3 against and 4 abstentions requesting that the EU executive evaluate the bloc's chemicals legislation - (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances or ‘Reach') be reviewed to consider simplified registration for nanomaterials manufactured or imported below one tonne,The Reach legislation currently only applies to amounts above one tonne. But Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter, the author of the resolution, argues that given the minute scale of nanomaterials, a volume threshold of one tonne becomes meaningless.The resolution also called on the commission to consider all nanomaterials as new substances and produce chemical safety reports with exposure assessments for them.The deputies also want the commission to evaluate whether worker protection legislation needs to cover exposure of employees to nanomaterials.Meanwhile, the nanotech and chemicals industries warned against possible legislative duplication and hinted that legislation or resolutions such as that of Mr Schlyter was not scientifically rigorous.

Reach for Life, a Brussels-based organisation formed last year by chemical manufacturers Albemarle, Chemtura, and ICL-IP to counter legislation it categorises as less based on sound science than on unsubstantiated scaremongering, said in response to the resolution that it cautions against improper and conflicting legislation that could result in stunting a vital and burgeoning area for research in Europe.Foundation Nanonet, which promotes the industry, echoed the message in a statement: Science is crucial in protecting consumers and the environment which is sufficient reason to ensure that it is given proper consideration in the legislative process concerning nanotechnologies.Mr Schlyter, who himself studied chemical engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm before becoming an MEP, told EUobserver that such a reaction was to be expected from industry-founded groups. Far from not looking at the science of nanotechnology, it is the very lack of a strong body of scientific investigation into this very new realm that requires close scrutiny.The European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC) however welcomed the MEPs' vote but went further and said that nanomaterials needed their own specific law covering the rapidly developing new field.

Greek Cypriots can claim back land, EU court says
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today APR 29,09 @ 09:16 CET

The EU's top court on Tuesday (28 April) ruled in favour of a Greek Cypriot reclaiming his land in the Turkish-controlled northern part of Cyprus – a move that could open the way for more Greek Cypriots to follow the example - and potentially harden divisions on the island.Meletis Apostolides, who fled his land when Turkish troops invaded the northern part of Cyprus in 1974 following a Greek-inspired coup, is entitled to reclaim it back, the European Court of Justice ruled.Linda and David Orams, a British couple who had meanwhile purchased the land and built a villa there, should demolish it and leave, the ECJ said, backing the verdict of a Cypriot court from 2004.The ECJ also stressed that the UK had to accept the judgments of the Cypriot court, although application of EU law in Northern Cyprus was suspended for the purposes of Cyprus' EU accession.The recognition and enforcement of the judgements of the Cypriot court cannot be refused in the United Kingdom, it stressed.

The fact that the land concerned is situated in an area over which the government does not exercise effective control ... does not preclude the recognition and enforcement of those judgements in another member state, it added.Mr Apostolides said he was very pleased with the ruling and that it was what we expected.This is a difficult issue that has to be decided by the courts, he was quoted by the BBC as saying.

A negative impact

Cyprus – an EU member state that joined the bloc in 2004 – has been independent since 1960 and divided since 1974. Currently Northern Cyprus is only recognised by Turkey.

After the Turkish invasion in 1974, some 170,000 Greek Cypriots fled to the south of the island, abandoning their properties, which were then distributed among Turkish Cypriots.Many properties were subsequently sold on to foreigners, mainly from the UK, with the island becoming an increasingly attractive destination in recent years.The ECJ's judgment is likely to incite more Greek Cypriot to claim back their land, which is in turn likely to trigger strong opposition among Turkish Cypriots.Disputes related to Greek and Turkish Cypriots forced to leave their properties as a result of the partition have been among the main obstacles to the reunification of the divided island.A spokesman for Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said the ruling would "negatively impact" talks between Mr Talat and the island's Greek Cypriot president, Dimitris Christofias, when it comes to future property arrangements.The ECJ ruling "certainly does sour the atmosphere, Emine Erk, a northern Cypriot lawyer who had been following the case closely, told the Financial Times.The verdict will be perceived by Turkish Cypriots as an offence, she added.Meanwhile, the Greek Cypriot-run government welcomed the judgement.The court has defended the property right of the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, as EU citizens, irrespective of whether the property is located in the free or in the occupied areas,spokesman Stefanos Stefanou was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

NKorea threatens nuclear, missile tests By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer APR 29,09

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened Wednesday to conduct nuclear and missile tests unless the U.N. apologizes for criticizing its April 5 rocket launch, dramatically raising its stake in the worsening standoff over its atomic programs.

Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said in a statement the country will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures unless the U.N. Security Council apologizes immediately.The measures will include nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles.The North's ministry also said the country would build a light-water nuclear reactor and start developing technologies to produce nuclear fuel, a threat that experts said indicated the country would start enriching uranium — which can be used in the production of a nuclear bomb.The current nuclear standoff flared in late 2002 after Washington raised allegations that Pyongyang had a clandestine nuclear program based on enriched uranium in addition to a separate one based on plutonium. The North has strongly denied the allegations.North Korea is known for brinksmanship and harsh rhetoric, but it is unusual for it to threaten a nuclear test.Pyongyang conducted its first-ever atomic test blast in 2006 and is thought to have enough plutonium to make at least half a dozen nuclear bombs. But experts have said the country is not believed to have mastered the technology to make a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a missile.The U.N. Council adopted a statement this month denouncing the North's April 5 rocket launch and calling for tightening sanctions. Pyongyang has claimed the rebuke is unfair because the liftoff was a peaceful satellite launch. But the U.S. and others believe it was a test of long-range missile technology.Wednesday's threat came days after the North said it had begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex — a move aimed at harvesting weapons-grade plutonium. That announcement came hours after the U.N. blacklisted three North Korean companies.

The Security Council should apologize for infringing on the North's sovereignty withdraw all its unreasonable and discriminative resolutions and decisions against the North, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.Later Wednesday, South Korea's Foreign Ministry expressed serious concerns over the North's threat, accusing the country of directly challenging the international community.We make it clear that the international responsibility for worsening the situation will be entirely on North Korea,the ministry said in a statement.Professor Kim Yong-hyun at Seoul's Dongguk University said the North's threat appears to be rhetoric for now.The North is trying to maximize the stakes as the United States keeps ignoring it,he said. But the expert also said the communist could gradually put the threat into action depending on reaction from Washington.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the North appears to have already begun preparations to conduct nuclear and missile tests, given it is demanding an unrealistic, unprecedented demand — a U.N. apology. He said the threat to build a light-water reactor of course meant Pyongyang would start a uranium enrichment program.Yang, however, said the North would eventually withdraw its nuclear and missile threats, both targeting the U.S., if it achieves its main goal of wresting direct talks with Washington.Under a 2007 six-nation deal, North Korea agreed to disable its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon north of Pyongyang in return for 1 million tons of fuel oil and other concessions. In June 2008, North Korea blew up the cooling tower there in a dramatic show of its commitment to denuclearization.But disablement came to halt a month later as Pyongyang wrangled with Washington over how to verify its past atomic activities. The latest round of talks, in December, failed to push the process forward.The negotiations involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.