MUFTI-WATCH OUT FOR RELIGIOUS WAR

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Jerusalem Mufti: Watch Out for Religious War
by Hillel Fendel AUG 18,10

Is a Moslem cleric lighting one match too many? Jerusalem Mufti Muhammad Hussein says Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, Hevron could start a religious war.Muhammad Hussein, known as the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, calls on all Moslems to take action to save the holy places and to support the Palestinian intifada. In keeping with the recent Moslem line that Judaism is barely linked with the Holy Land, Hussein says that Israel is working subversively to take over Moslem holy sites, Arab affairs correspondent Dalit HaLevi reports.Speaking with the Arabic-language internet site Ilaf on Tuesday, Hussein said that Israel has invested great efforts to erase the Islamic characteristics of Jerusalem, Hevron and other cities, in order to falsely prove Judaism’s connection with these places.

Just a few decades ago, however, it was Jerusalem’s Supreme Moslem Council (Waqf) itself that debunked the Arab Moslem position that the Temple Mount is not Jewish. The Waqf published a Temple Mount guide in 1925 in which it stated clearly that the site’s identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the L-rd..., citing the source in Samuel II 24,25.The pamphlet also makes reference to the underground area in the south-east corner of the Mount, which is refers to as Solomon's Stables. Little is known for certain of the history of the chamber itself, the guide reads. It dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple. According to Josephus, it was in existence and was used as a place of refuge by the Jews at the time of the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 A.D.

Bethlehem and Hevron, Too
Muhammed Hussein also now denies that Hevron, where the Patriarch Abraham purchased what is now the Machpelah Cave and the area around it, and Bethlehem, where the Patriach Jacob buried his wife, the Matriarch Rachel, are Jewish sites. He said that the recent Israeli decision to includes them in the list of special Jewish legacy sites is an attempt to take over the religious places and create facts on the ground… We are now in a period of war – not one with tanks and rockets, but one of religion, faith, and distorting Islamic history and tradition… This proves that Israel has no cultural roots in this land.Hussein added that all Moslems must know that Israel is preparing to annex the Al-Aqsa Mosque [on the Temple Mount] in order to demolish it and build the fake Holy Temple in its place… This is taking place in the framework of the plan by the Zionist enemy to Judaize Jerusalem…

The Dangers of PA Incitement
Palestinian Media Watch, which monitors and publicizes anti-Israel incitement in the Palestinian Authority’s media and schools, explains, The Israeli and world media keep portraying reality as if the PA has peaceful intentions. However, the PA school books and media are full of incitement to hate and violence, glorification of terrorists, denial of Israel’s right to exist as well as demonization of Jews and Israelis… The only answer to these hate messages is to expose them - even if it is again and again - in whatever versions they appear, so that we do not become immune to them. Unless hate education and incitement is stopped, it will destroy any chance for peace.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

IAF Strikes Gaza Weapons Factory, Tunnels in Response to Terror
by Chana Ya'ar AUG 18,10

Israel Air Force fighter pilots destroyed a variety of carefully selected terrorist targets in Gaza overnight in retaliation for a spate of terror attacks on Jewish communities in the western Negev, including two mortars fired at Israel from the region earlier in the day, and two Kassam rockets fired Monday.Two IDF soldiers were wounded in Tuesday morning's mortar fire while troops carried out engineering tasks along the Gaza security fence. The Salah ad-Din Brigades military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) terrorist group subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack.The PRC is one of three groups whose operatives carried out the June 25, 2006 kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held captive by the ruling Hamas terrorist organization.In response to the attack, the IAF carried out air strikes on a weapons factory in central Gaza, two smuggler tunnels, and a terrorist tunnel in the southern part of the region.On Monday, Gaza terrorists launched a Kassam rocket barrage that struck Jewish communities in the Eshkol Regional Council district.The IDF remains committed to protecting the citizens of Israel and will continue to act against terror, said the IDF Spokesman in a statement. The IDF holds Hamas solely responsible for terror emanating from the Gaza Strip.

More than 115 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel from Gaza since January. Over 420 rockets were launched from the region at the Jewish State since the end of Israel's three-week counter-terrorist war, in the winter of 2008-2009, Operation Cast Lead.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

WORLD TERRORISM

2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men

LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Ramadan Clash with 9/11 Causes Concerns
by Elad Benari AUG 18,10

Islamic groups in the US have expressed concerns that the end of Ramadan overlapping this year with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, will lead to criticism that Muslims are celebrating the 2001 terrorist attacks, The Guardian reported Tuesday.

Since Islam follows a lunar calendar, the timing of Ramadan changes every year. This year Eid al-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of the month of fasting falls on or around September 11. This has caused concern within Muslim groups in the US that hostility will increase towards Muslims.Tensions are already running high in the US due to the plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero. On Friday night, President Barack Obama announced his strong support for planned mosque.As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country, said Obama. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.Sarah Palin and former House speaker Newt Gingrich have voiced their opposition to the plan. Gingrich compared the planned mosque to Nazis erecting a sign next to the Washington Holocaust museum. Retired Brigadier General Dov Shefi, who lost his son in the 9/11 attacks recently told Arutz7 that establishing a mosque on Ground Zero is like bringing a pig into the Holy Temple.

Now, having the final day of Ramadan fall on September 11, might raise tensions even more. The Guardian reported that Americans Against Hate have accused organizers of one Ramadan event of spitting in the face of Americans since they scheduled activities for September 12. At the same time, the Islamic Circle of North America decided against holding its Muslim family day on September 11 out of respect for victims and families. An ICNA spokesman, Naeem Baig, told The Guardian: We took the decision not to have it on September 11 because it is not a day to celebrate. We will be mourning the deaths of all those who perished. We wish it to be as close to Eid as possible. But we don't want it on 9/11. That would be insensitive, we had to think of that.Muslim groups have reportedly contacted police to alert them to the overlapping dates. Some groups are urging mosques to improve surveillance and security on their premises, especially during the final day of Ramadan.We always tell mosques to revise their security when Islamophobia is on the rise. We have a whole industry of people searching for any excuse to bash Islam and this is one of them,explained Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.Haroon Moghul, the director of an Islamic outreach body, wrote regarding Eid al-Fitr falling on September: Many of our congregations were hurt that day, either personally or through the loss of loved ones. Many good friends of mine rushed to ground zero to give aid and spent hours, even days, doing what they could for the victims and for the brave first responders who were badly wounded.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Brussels wants stricter oversight of banks operating in more than one country
LEIGH PHILLIPS 17.08.2010 @ 09:20 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has proposed to amend EU rules on the supervision of financial conglomerates to allow for stricter oversight in the wake of the financial crisis.Drawing lessons from the financial crisis, the commission proposes to equip national financial supervisors with new powers to better oversee the conglomerates' parent entities, such as holding companies, the EU executive said on Monday (16 August) in a statement.Defining such conglomerates as financial groups active in more than one country and covering both the banking and insurance industries, Brussels is not proposing a new law, but only amendments to existing rules dating back to 2002.The principal aim is to allow supervisors to apply banking supervision, insurance supervision and supplementary supervision at the same time.The commission believes that supplementary supervision of large, complex groups, operating in several countries, can only be effective if the same supervisory approach is applied consistently across all EU member states.The proposal comes as member states are stuck in a extended battle with the European Parliament over new laws that would see the creation of new EU-level financial supervisory bodies.Monday's proposal will now pass to the parliament and the member states for input.

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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) 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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS WED AUG 18,2010

09:30 AM -1.99
10:00 AM -45.75
10:30 AM -61.23
11:00 AM -42.53
11:30 AM -30.42
12:00 PM -4.95
12:30 PM -10.74
01:00 PM +25.36
01:30 PM +56.54
02:00 PM +66.30
02:30 PM +24.40
03:00 PM +20.88
03:30 PM +12.74
04:00 PM +9.69 10,415.54

S&P 500 1094.16 +1.62

NASDAQ 2215.70 +6.26

GOLD 1,231.90 +3.60

OIL 75.25 -0.52

TSE 300 11,781.10 +52.40

CDNX 1469.97 +6.37

S&P/TSX/60 686.68 +3.04

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -34 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -69 points at low today.
Dow +2 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,221.30.OIL opens at $74.50 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -69 points at low today so far.
Dow +74 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -69 points at low today.
Dow +74 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,260.90 (NOT AT CLOSE)

CRUDE OIL
GASOLINE
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES
REFINERY UTILIZATION

Brussels backs Kosovo bid to join international bank
ANDREW RETTMAN Today AUG 18,10 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has endorsed Kosovo's bid to join the international bank, the EBRD, as Pristina continues to strive for credibility on the world stage.Membership of the EBRD would be a very important step forward following Kosovo's accession last year to the IMF and the World Bank and therefore the European Commission is supportive of this objective," economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said after meeting Kosovo's finance minister, Ahmat Shala, in Brussels on Tuesday (17 August).Mr Shala, for his part, noted that Kosovo has entered a new era following an opinion by the International Court of Justice last month that its declaration of independence did not violate international law.We are very optimistic that Kosovo will reach the necessary votes to be part of this very important institution and hopefully the time for that, the circumstances for that [are positive] after the ICJ gave its approval and many countries sent positive signals on that,he said.Mr Rehn, in his previous five-year-long post as EU enlargement commissioner, was one of the architects of Kosovo's 2008 unilateral declaration of independence.

Five out of the 27 EU countries and 22 out of the 63 EBRD member countries do not recognise Kosovo. But if one of the 22 EBRD non-recognisers changed position, it would be enough for Pristina to secure the 75 percent vote needed to join the London-based body. UN membership is for the time being out of the question due to the hostility of Russia, a UN veto-wielding power, in a situation preventing Kosovo from joining other institutions, such as the International Olympic Committee, the football authority FIFA and the Internet top-line domain name authority, ICAAN.Kosovo in 2009 did join the IMF, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank however, in developments touted by its diplomats as proof of progress toward de jure statehood. Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci in a comment for EUobserver earlier this week said the ICJ ruling should open the way for more UN members to switch sides. The opinion affirmed Kosovo's place in the international community, something which 69 countries have already recognised. I call on those states that have not yet done so to recognise Kosovo now, he said.Meanwhile, some EU countries are pressing Serbia, Kosovo's former master, to fall in line if it wants to proceed on the path to EU membership.A small number of influential EU member states have decided to use our candidacy application as a means to impose pressure on Serbia ahead and during the debate on Kosovo at the United Nations General Assembly [in New York in September],Serbia's deputy prime minister, Bozidar Delic, said in Serbia's Politika magazine this week.

EU and US to hold summit in Lisbon ANDREW RETTMAN
17.08.2010 @ 16:16 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The White House has confirmed that US President Barack Obama will meet EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso in Lisbon on 20 November in the margins of a larger Nato event.The US has no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world. The US and the European Union are currently working together to advance a broad agenda based on a common history, shared values and enduring ties, it said in a communique on Tuesday (17 August).The summit agenda remains to be agreed, but the US statement indicates the talks will focus on the financial crisis, foreign policy and security.Our economic relationship is vital to global prosperity and we are committed to co-operating to promote strong and sustained growth in our economies, it added. We are united in our effort to protect our people and promote global security by combatting terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.The EU-Obama encounter comes after the White House embarrassed the then Spanish EU presidency earlier this year by canceling a summit in Madrid.It is not a reward for Portugal or the EU's new Portuguese-born ambassador to Washington, however. It's purely a matter of convenience as the Nato event was already being held there,an EU diplomatic source said.Under the Lisbon Treaty, the Belgian Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, will not take part in the meeting on behalf of the Belgian EU presidency, because EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy is the new face of the EU abroad.

Constance Stelzenmuller, a Berlin-based analyst with the German Marshall Fund think-tank, said the economic agenda should take in banking regulation, the balance between economic stimulus and austerity after the financial crisis and the stability of the eurozone.The US has a continuing interest in Europe's political stability and future integration. These are a function of its economic health and of the euro's health,she said.The International Crisis Group's Brussels-based expert, Alain Deletroz, urged the two sides to look at Kyrgyzstan alongside the top-line security concerns of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. What we are seeing is that Kyrgyzstan is destabilising the whole region and there is no political will from anybody to engage,he said. They [the US] are very frustrated with Europe because of its lack of will, lack of capabilities to position itself in the world. They don't want to be alone out there, but whenever something happens, the EU looks divided.The larger Nato event, bringing together 28 leaders and, potentially, Russia's Dmitry Medvedev, will take place over two days on 19 and 20 November and will focus on Nato's internal reform.The main item on the to-do list is the formal adoption of a new Strategic Concept - a 10-year plan for Nato development described by one Nato official as a sort of Bible and currently being drafted by the office of Nato secretary general Anders-Fogh Rasmussen.We haven't decided yet whether to invite Russia. But the approval of the Strategic Concept will be of interest to them. We have also pressed the reset button with Russia and there are many issues to discuss, the Nato contact said.

Nato members will also talk about cutbacks in the military alliance.The Nato command structure and agencies currently employ 15,500 people. The alliance costs €207.5 million a year to run, with a military budget of €1.2 billion for 2010 and an extra bill, this year, of €1.2 billion for a new headquarters in Brussels.All our members are looking at reducing their defence budgets after the financial crisis. This will have some repercussions on Nato,the source added.

Israel: #22 in the World, #1 in the Middle East
by Hillel Fendel AUG 18,10

Newsweek has deigned to rank the top 100 countries in the world – giving Israel the 22nd slot, and number one in the Middle East.The current issue of the international weekly ranks the countries according to five categories. Israel finished 7th in health, 15th in economic dynamism, and 25th in what Newsweek called quality of life. The Jewish state scored 27th in political environment, but only 41st in education.

Nevertheless, Israel’s education score was higher than all other Middle East countries; Jordan was number 44, and Syria - 46. An anomaly was found here, however, in that while Israel's literacy rate was found to be 97.1%, Jordan's is only 90%, and Syria's is under 80%. The United States, at 99%, scored 26th in education. Thus, 15 places separate the U.S. from Israel, even though their literacy rates are practically the same, while only 5 places separate Syria from Israel, though Israel's literacy rate is 25% higher. In terms of average years of schooling, the numbers for the U.S., Israel, Jordan and Syria were 15.8, 15.6, 12.8, and 10, respectively.

Among Arab countries, only one – Kazakhstan – scored ahead of Israel in education.

In terms of political environment – another term for democracy, apparently – Israel, at #27, far outranked Arab and Middle Eastern countries. Turkey topped the non-Jewish Middle Eastern states, scoring #64 on the world listing, while the four lowest places, 97-100, were taken by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Syria. Israel’s nearest Moslem competitor was Malaysia, number 54, and Egypt was 83.In all-around good to live in, Israel’s #22 listing was actually #1 in the Middle East. Kuwait was the top Arab country, at #40, and in terms of Middle Eastern non-Jewish countries, Turkey and Jordan led the pack, in the 52nd and 53rd places, respectively.

Historic Photo
In a non-related item, the same issue of Newsweek features an article on the possibility that demographic trends in Israel are significantly more Jewish-leaning than commonly thought. The article is graced by a large photograph of Jewish children on the backdrop of a synagogue, with the caption, Jewish children play in the Israeli town of Netzarim.In fact, however, Israel withdrew from Netzarim, and all of Gush Katif, five years ago; the children in the photo were expelled from their homes, and the subsequent destruction of the synagogue by Gazan Arabs has been widely photographed and documented.(Similarly, a Newsweek graphic of the top countries mistakenly depicts Israel in 23rd place.)(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Lebanese Upgrade of Palestinian Rights Follows Ayalon Op-ed
by Eli Stutz AUG 18,10

A senior advisor to Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon suggests that Lebanon's decision to upgrade its Palestinians' rights may be connected to Israeli PR efforts, including a recent op-ed by Ayalon in The Wall Street Journal.Yesterday, Lebanon's parliament decided to give greater rights of employment to its 400,000 Palestinians, overturning a rule that forbade them from most work opportunities for decades.

Parliament approved a law amendment lifting former restrictions on employment for Palestinian refugees, who will now have the right to work in any field open to foreigners with benefits including social security from their own special fund, a senior official told AFP.Ashley Perry, senior advisor to Deputy FM Ayalon, noted to Israel National News that it is a remarkable coincidence that the Lebanese decision came a mere two weeks after a high-profile WSJ op-ed piece by Ayalon that highlighted the issue. Mistreatment of Lebanese Palestinians has being going on since 1948, said Perry.In his op-ed on July 29th, entitled The Flotilla Farce, Ayalon highlighted the fact that Lebanon's mistreatment of its Palestinians has gone widely unnoticed, while all the world focuses on how Israel acts towards its Palestinians. This is hypocrisy, charged Ayalon.

Ayalon elaborated on Lebanon's mistreatment:Today, there are more than 400,000 Palestinians in Lebanon who are deprived of their most basic rights. The Lebanese government has a list of tens of professions that a Palestinian is forbidden from being engaged in, including professions such as medicine, law and engineering. Palestinians are forbidden from owning property and need a special permit to leave their towns. Unlike all other foreign nationals in Lebanon, they are denied access to the health-care system. According to Amnesty international, the Palestinians in Lebanon suffer from discrimination and marginalization and are treated like second class citizens and denied their full range of human rights.Ashley Perry noted that this article was unique in that it brought Lebanon's behavior to the fore in such an open way in the mainstream media. Perry said that, even if the article had a small impact on this policy, then it is very welcome.Perry said that Ayalon's article was part of a new Israeli PR effort to go on the offensive and expose hypocrisy against Israel.Palestinians in Lebanon are still far from attaining full rights. As other foreigners, they still won't be able to work as lawyers, doctors, soldiers, or in the police force - jobs that are reserved for Lebanese citizens. The Palestinians in Lebanon still live in poverty in refugee camps and do not have health care, right to citizenship and the right to property. But the upgrade is significant, since until now Palestinians could only work very limited fields such as construction and farming.We hope that this government decision is the first step towards the naturalization of the Palestinians in Lebanon, a senior Israeli government source told Israel National News.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

El Al Airlines Signs Deal with JetBlue
by Chana Ya'ar AUG 18,10

Passengers flying on El Al Airlines will be able to expand their horizons in the U.S., South America and the Caribbean, beginning October 1, due to a new deal the airline has signed with JetBlue Airways Corporation.The agreement, signed in New York this week, will enable passengers flying to and from Israel on El Al to connect with any JetBlue destination using one e-ticket.El Al passengers will receive boarding passes to their final destinations upon check-in on the day of travel, and luggage will be checked through for the entire journey. Luggage requirements will be consistent for both airlines, and will be based on the El Al allowances at no extra charge.We are indeed proud to be a partner with JetBlue, a successful and respected airline,said El Al President and CEO Eliezer Skedy at the signing ceremony. In international aviation circles, El Al has a reputation of being a uniquely qualified airline that is the leader between Israel and the outside world. JetBlue is also a leading airline out of JFK, for routes within the USA, Latin America and the Caribbean.JetBlue President and CEO David Barger said his airline was also looking forward to the new relationship. We celebrate our partnership with El Al, a leading international carrier at JFK. As New York's hometown airline and the largest domestic carrier at JFK, we at JetBlue look forward to providing seamless connections for El Al customers.Headquartered in Queens, New York City, the low-cost airline first began operations in February 2000, and was one of the few U.S. airlines to make a profit during the drop in airline travel that followed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization in 2001. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

Member states disagree on debt figures
MATEJ HRUSKA 17.08.2010 @ 17:42 CET

Nine member states have proposed that EU statistics on public debt should reflect which country has already reformed its pension system and therefore has a higher level of borrowing. Germany has warned against the move however, saying it will cause confusion. Maintaining the current approach to debt and deficit statistics would result in unequal treatment of member states and thus effectively punish reforming countries, the nine - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden - said in a letter last week addressed to the EU's special taskforce on economic governance.The text, seen by EUobserver, said the introduction of state-funded pension schemes was critical for enhancing the long-term stability of Europe's public finances.[But] the experience of member states that have introduced such reforms is that they have led to a significant deterioration in the ... statistics of their general government debt and deficit,it added, referring to fundamental unfairness and inefficiency in the current Stability and Growth Pact.The basis of the reforms in central European and Baltic countries lies in transformation of a single distributive pay-as-you-go pension system based on the principle of solidarity between generations to a pre-funded capital-based system.The German finance ministry on Tuesday (17 August) reacted by saying it is very sceptical about making a change which could make figures from the relevant countries more difficult to interpret at the EU level.It would also disadvantage governments that have chosen different ways of reforming their pension systems and share the costs of the reform differently, the German communique noted, Bloomberg reports.The European Commission, for its part, said the same day that it is mulling over its position on the issue.Of course the commission would like the criteria on public debt to be strengthened and to be taken more seriously so it is highly relevant that this matter be raised now, the body's spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told reporters.

The EU executive aims to react to the letter ahead of the next meeting of the taskforce on 6 September.The taskforce, led by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, is looking into new EU fiscal rules designed to prevent a repeat of the recent financial crisis.Felix Roth, a Brussels-based analyst from the Centre for European Policy Studies think-tank, came down on Germany's side in the debate. If you give in to nine member states you just water the Stability and Growth Pact down, which could be a huge problem, as we have seen now during the crisis, he told EUobserver.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

More than 60 missing in latest China mudslides
by Marianne Barriaux - AUG 18,10

BEIJING (AFP) – More than 60 people went missing after torrents of mud slammed into homes in southwest China Wednesday, blocking roads in the nation's latest disaster as it battles its worst flooding in a decade.Power lines and telecoms have been cut to Puladi township in Yunnan province, where the mudslides struck in the early hours of Wednesday as people were sleeping, a provincial government official said.

Rescuers have been sent to the affected area, in a remote and mountainous part of Yunnan on the border with Myanmar, to search for the 67 missing people, the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.The mudslides destroyed a bridge and more than 200 metres (660 feet) of road, the nation's civil affairs ministry said on its website.A large amount of debris was washed into the Nu River, where the water level rose by up to six metres, it added.The official Xinhua news agency reported that the disaster had also left 25 people injured -- nine of whom were seriously hurt. Most of the missing were villagers and employees at a mine.I suddenly heard rumbling late last night and then rushed to a safe place with fellow villagers -- I hadn't expected mudslides could come so quickly, Yu Zhizhong, a survivor, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.At least 10 trucks carrying iron ore and 21 houses were buried by the mudslides -- the second time they have hit Puladi in less than two months. A landslide in June killed 11 people at a construction site, the report said.The latest mudslides come 10 days after at least 1,287 people were killed in devastating mudslides in the northwestern province of Gansu, which virtually split the remote town of Zhouqu in two.Nearly 460 people are still missing in Zhouqu, where rescuers are battling to get much-needed aid supplies to residents and prevent an outbreak of water-borne disease.

An official at the rescue headquarters in Gannan prefecture, where Zhouqu is located, told AFP some main roads in the town that had previously been drenched with mud and water had now been cleaned up, easing the passage of supplies.Local weather authorities have warned that Zhouqu will experience heavy rain until at least Saturday, further complicating relief efforts and putting residents at risk.Elsewhere in Gansu, recent floods and landslides have killed at least 36 people in the city of Longnan, close to Zhouqu, Xinhua said. More than 122,000 residents in Longnan have been evacuated following heavy rain last week.Another 15 people have been killed in landslides in an area of the southwestern province of Sichuan that is only just recovering from a massive earthquake in 2008 which left nearly 87,000 dead or missing.The mudslides in Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan are the latest in a string of weather-related disasters across China in a summer of heavy rains that have triggered the country's worst flooding in a decade.More than 2,100 people have so far been left dead or missing and 12 million evacuated nationwide, not including the toll from the Zhouqu incident, according to government figures.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

Rare double quake caused deadly Samoa tsunami: scientists
Tue Aug 17, 6:17 pm ET

WELLINGTON (AFP) – The devastating tsunami which killed nearly 200 people in Samoa and Tonga last September was the result of a rare double earthquake and not one as previously believed, scientists said Wednesday.Simultaneous earthquakes, with one hiding the other, are unusual and almost certainly increased the size of the tsunami and its destructiveness on some Tongan islands, New Zealand's GNS Science said in a statement.Global earthquake readings initially indicated a single large normal faulting" quake of magnitude 8.0 had occurred, producing an extensional motion while the tsunami waves indicated a thrust event with compressional movement.The scientists said they were unable to reconcile the conflicting data until six weeks after the event when measurements from a small Tongan island showed there must have been two large earthquakes.Their findings appear this week as the cover story in the prestigious science publication Nature.This is a rare phenomenon, lead author John Beavan, a geophysicist at GNS Science, said Wednesday.

In the end, it was pure detective work that uncovered the two earthquakes. The files arrived from Tonga in early November 2009. When I processed the data and looked at the GPS results I was astonished to see that the island of Niuatoputapu had moved nearly 400 mm to the east.This was a bigger displacement than expected, and in a completely different direction.We worked hard for a couple of months to ensure there was no other explanation for the GPS and tsunami observations, which were telling us that two nearly simultaneous earthquakes had occurred.The scientists determined that the earthquakes occurred under the ocean floor about 70 kilometres apart with one at magnitude 8.0 and the other of magnitude 7.9.Parts of Samoa and Tonga were devastated by the September 29 earthquakes when the tsunami smashed into the Pacific islands.As a result nearly 150 people were killed in Samoa while another 32 were confirmed dead in neighbouring American Samoa and nine on Tonga's northern island of Niuatoputapu.Earthquakes are common on the Pacific Ring of Fire where continental plates in the Earth's crust meet.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Israel has 8 days to hit Iran nuclear site: Bolton
Tue Aug 17, 8:44 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israel has eight days to launch a military strike against Iran's Bushehr nuclear facility and stop Tehran from acquiring a functioning atomic plant, a former US envoy to the UN has said.Iran is to bring online its first nuclear power reactor, built with Russia's help, on August 21, when a shipment of nuclear fuel will be loaded into the plant's core.At that point, John Bolton warned Monday, it will be too late for Israel to launch a military strike against the facility because any attack would spread radiation and affect Iranian civilians.Once that uranium, once those fuel rods are very close to the reactor, certainly once they're in the reactor, attacking it means a release of radiation, no question about it, Bolton told Fox Business Network.So if Israel is going to do anything against Bushehr it has to move in the next eight days.Absent an Israeli strike, Bolton said, Iran will achieve something that no other opponent of Israel, no other enemy of the United States in the Middle East really has and that is a functioning nuclear reactor.But when asked whether he expected Israel to actually launch strikes against Iran within the next eight days, Bolton was skeptical.I don't think so, I'm afraid that they've lost this opportunity, he said.

The controversial former envoy to the United Nations criticized Russia's role in the development of the plant, saying the Russians are, as they often do, playing both sides against the middle.The idea of being able to stick a thumb in America's eye always figures prominently in Moscow, he added.Iran dismissed the possibilities of such an attack from its archfoes.Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that these threats of attacks had become repetitive and lost their meaning.

According to international law, installations which have real fuel cannot be attacked because of the humanitarian consequences, he told reporters at a news conference in Tehran.Iranian officials say Iran has stepped up defensive measures at the Bushehr plant to protect it from any attacks.Russia has been building the Bushehr plant since the mid-1990s but the project was marred by delays, and the issue is hugely sensitive amid Tehran's standoff with the West and Israel over its nuclear ambitions.The UN Security Council hit Tehran with a fourth set of sanctions on June 9 over its nuclear programme, and the United States and European Union followed up with tougher punitive measures targeting Iran's banking and energy sectors.The Bushehr project was first launched by the late shah in the 1970s using contractors from German firm Siemens. But it was shelved when he was deposed in the 1979 Islamic revolution.It was revived after the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, as Iran's new supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his first president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, backed the project. In 1995, Iran won the support of Russia which agreed to finish building the plant and fuel it.

Iranian fighter jet crashes near nuclear plant
Tue Aug 17, 7:35 am ET

TEHRAN, Iran – An Iranian fighter jet crashed Tuesday in southern Iran near the country's nuclear power plant that is to start up over the weekend, a semi-official news agency reported. The two pilots ejected safely.The Fars agency quoted local government official Gholam Reza Keshtkar as saying one of Iranian airforce's F-4 planes crashed about four miles (six kilometers) north of the city of Bushehr. The city is located 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of the capital, Tehran.Keshtkar said the pilot and co-pilot ejected safely from the plane before it crashed but were rushed to the hospital in Bushehr. He didn't provide other details.Another local official, Mohammad Hasan Shanbadi, said technical failure was the cause of the crash but did not elaborate. He said the plane crashed in the desert, close to an industrial center.The Bushehr nuclear power plant — Iran's first such facility — is expected to start fueling up this weekend.Iran purchased many U.S.-made planes, including scores of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and during the rule of the late pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

POISONED WATERS

REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Gulf surface cleaner, but questions lurk far below By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer – Tue Aug 17, 9:30 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Researchers are warning that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a bigger mess than the government claims and that a lot of crude is lurking deep below the surface, some of it settling perhaps in a critical undersea canyon off the Florida Panhandle.The evidence of microscopic amounts of oil mixing into the soil of the canyon was gathered by scientists at the University of South Florida, who also found poisoned plant plankton — the vital base of the ocean food web — which they blamed on a toxic brew of oil and dispersants.Their work is preliminary, hasn't been reviewed by other scientists, requires more tests to confirm it is BP's oil they found, and is based on a 10-day research cruise that ended late Monday night. Scientists who were not involved said they were uncomfortable drawing conclusions based on such a brief look.But those early findings follow a report on Monday from Georgia researchers that said as much as 80 percent of the oil from the spill remains in the Gulf. Both groups' findings have already been incorporated into lawsuits filed against BP.Both groups paint a darker scenario than that of federal officials, who two weeks ago announced that most of the oil had dissolved, dispersed or been removed, leaving just a bit more than a quarter of the amount that spewed from the well that exploded in April.At the White House on Aug. 4, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco said: At least 50 percent of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system, and most of the remainder is degrading rapidly or is being removed from the beaches.

That's not what the scientists from South Florida and Georgia found.The oil is not gone, that's for sure, University of South Florida's David Hollander said Tuesday. There is oil and we need to deal with it.University of Georgia's Samantha Joye said: It's a tremendous amount of oil that's in the system. ... It's very difficult for me to imagine that 50 percent of it has been degraded.Marine scientist Chuck Hopkinson, also with the University of Georgia, raised the obvious question: Where has all the oil gone? It hasn't gone anywhere. It still lurks in the deep.NOAA spokesman Justin Kenney defended his agency's calculations, saying they are based on direct measurements whenever possible and the best available scientific estimates where direct measurements were not possible. But the vast majority of it is based on educated scientific guesses, because unless the oil was being burned or skimmed, measurements weren't possible, NOAA response scientist Bill Lehr said earlier this month.What is happening in the Gulf is the outcome of a decision made early on in the fighting of the spill: to use dispersants to keep the surface and beaches as clean as possible, at the expense of keeping oil stuck below the surface, said Monty Graham, a researcher at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama who was not part of the latest work. Oil degrades far more slowly in cooler, deeper waters than it would at the surface.

At the surface and the top 100 feet or so, it is obvious why oil is harmful, fouling marshes and hampering sea turtles, fish, birds and other life. Deep down, the effects are subtler, less direct. Oil at that depth can chip away at the base of the food web — plant plankton — and that could cause animals to go hungry. Reduced oxygen levels from natural gas and oil could also starve creatures of oxygen.At depths of 900 to 3,300 feet, the University of South Florida researchers found problems with plant plankton. About two-fifths of the samples showed some degree of toxicity.We found general phytoplankton health to be poor, Hollander said. By comparison, in non-oiled southern parts of the Gulf, the plant plankton were healthy, researchers said.That makes sense because past research has shown that when oil when gets into the cell membranes of plankton, it causes all sorts of problems, said Paul Falkowski, a marine scientist at Rutgers University who was not part of the research. However, he said plant plankton don't live long anyway. They have about a week's lifespan, he said, and in a few months this insult to the base of the food web could be history.Still, the brew that is poisoning the plankton may linger and no one knows for how long, Hollander said.The Florida researchers used ultraviolet light to illuminate micro-droplets of oil deep underwater. When they did that, it looked like a constellation of stars, Hollander said. He also found the oil deposited in the sea bottom near the edges of the significant DeSoto Canyon, about 40 miles southwest of Panama City, Fla., suggesting oil may have settled into that canyon. The canyon is an important mixing area for cold, nutrient-laden water and warmer surface water. It is also key for currents and an important fisheries area.

Clearly the oil down in the abyss, there's nothing we can do about it, said Ed Overton of Louisiana State University. He said the environment at the surface or down to 100 feet or so is rapidly going back to normal, with shrimpers starting their harvest. But oil below 1,000 feet degrades much more slowly, he said. Joye has measured how fast natural gas, which also spewed from the BP well, can degrade in water, and it may take as much as 500 days for large pools to disappear at 3,000 feet below the sea. That natural gas starves oxygen from the water, she said. You're talking about a best-case situation of a year's turnover time, Joye said. AP legal affairs reporter Curt Anderson in Miami contributed to this report. Online:
University of Georgia's oil spill page: http://oilspill.uga.edu

GM to list on NYSE, TSX after IPO: source
AUG 18,10

NEW YORK (Reuters) – General Motors Co will list its shares on two global exchanges after an upcoming stock offering dubbed Project Dawn, intended to pay back a portion of its government bailout, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.The shares are expected to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange, the source said.GM is not expected to issue new common stock in the IPO but plans to sell preferred shares, the source said.GM's rebirth as a public company has been dubbed Project Dawn by those involved in the process, the source said.The source declined to be named because preparations for GM's initial public offering remain private.(Reporting by Clare Baldwin; editing by John Wallace)

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnq5cQMiAB8&feature=related
DICK MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind,(WORLD SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

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

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

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.


WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnq5cQMiAB8&feature=related
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-are-already-under-global-government.html#links
DICK MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.

EPHESIANS 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,(DEMONIC ANGELS IN HIGH PLACES) against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(SPIRTIUAL DEMONIC PERSONS)
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

LUKE 4:5-7(BECAUSE SATAN OFFERS WORLD POWER, WORLD ORDERERS HAVE ACCEPTED SATANS GIFT)
5 And the devil, taking him (JESUS) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

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

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

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

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

Mind-Controlling Parasites Date Back Millions of Years
LiveScience.com charles Q. Choi livescience Contributor
livescience.com – Tue Aug 17, 7:10 pm ET

Mind control by parasite sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but not only have scientists revealed that it is real across a range of animals - including perhaps humans - they now even have fossil evidence suggesting it has taken place for millions of years. An unnerving variety of parasites have evolved the ability to control the brains of victims to help the parasites spread. For instance, the protozoan known as Toxoplasma gondii makes rats love cat urine so that it can spread among its feline hosts - and it may influence human culture as well, making people more prone to certain forms of neuroticism. Another case of parasite mind control involves the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which essentially turns ants into zombies. It maneuvers the insects into biting down on the major veins of the undersides of leaves just before they die - the fungus then rapidly grows a stalk from their victims' heads, releasing spores to infect more ants. Now scientists have discovered what might be ancient evidence of such mind-control-induced death grips - scars on a roughly 48-million-year-old leaf.

I thought it was a very, very long shot to find such a fossil, but indeed, as luck would have it, two paleobotanists, Conrad Labandeira at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and Torsten Wappler at the Steinmann Institute in Bonn, were sitting around wondering how that particular damage type might be explained, said researcher David Hughes, a behavioral ecologist at Harvard University. The leaf fossil came from what once were subtropical forests around a lake in Germany. The leaf bears 29 dumbbell-shaped scars centered around its veins. These differ from the kinds of snips resulting when insects drink plant sap, and match telltale scars made nowadays by the death grips of carpenter ants (Camponotus leonardi) infected with the mind-controlling fungus O. unilateralis.We are now realizing that half of life on Earth is parasitic -- each free-living organism has at least one parasite, Hughes said. But very few manipulate behaviors and there is a reason for that -- it is likely very costly. The fossil now challenges us to think of what past environments acted as selective forces for such cool tricks to evolve.Hughes, Labandeira and Wappler detailed their findings online Aug. 18 in the journal Biology Letters.

Democrat Frank says abolish Freddie and Fannie: report
By JoAnne Allen - AUG 18,10

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be abolished rather than reformed as part of the Obama administration's planned overhaul of the government's role in housing finance, Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee, said on Tuesday.They should be abolished, Frank said in an interview on Fox Business, when asked whether the mortgage giants should be elements in housing market reform. They only question is what do you put in their place, Frank said.

The Federal Housing Administration should be fully self-financing and Freddie and Fannie should be replaced with a new mechanism to help subsidize housing, Frank said in the interview.There is no more hybrid private-public, the Massachusetts Democrat suggested.If we want to subsidize housing then we could do it upfront and let the budget be clear about that.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were government-sponsored enterprises, privately owned companies supported by the government, until the Bush administration took control of the companies in 2008 to save them from collapse.

Frank said that he does believe the federal government should have a role in building affordable rental housing but thinks money should go toward projects by private developers.On the question of whether the government should still provide some guarantees in the mortgage market, Frank said: If we have it (guarantees), it has to be self-financed by the people who are benefiting.Frank commented after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner convened a Washington conference of housing industry leaders to hear ideas about reforms for the $10.7 trillion mortgage market.

The firms' pursuit of growth and profits helped precipitate the financial crisis of 2007-2009, but their vast resources also helped minimize its impact.Together, Fannie and Freddie and the Federal Housing Administration now back 90 percent of new U.S. home mortgages.Fannie and Freddie have received $150 billion in taxpayer bailout money.In the Fox Business interview, Frank also was critical of public policy that promoted homeownership at any cost. He also said the federal government should not be a backstop in guaranteeing mortgages.There were people in this society who for economic and, frankly, social reasons can't and shouldn't be homeowners, Frank said. I think we should, particularly, stop this assumption that you put everybody into homeownership.Public policy has been too much to try to push people into homeownership.(Reporting by Joanne Allen; editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid and Carol Bishopric)

Israeli military confronts new foe: the Internet By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 17, 5:09 pm ET

JERUSALEM – The security obsessed Israeli military is confronting a new adversary — trying to control what its own soldiers post to the Internet.Facebook, along with YouTube and other popular sites, is turning into a formidable nuisance for the army, as young recruits in this tech-crazy country post embarrassing and potentially sensitive information online, circumventing tight military controls.The issue exploded onto the national agenda this week when a young ex-soldier posted pictures of herself in uniform, posing in front of handcuffed, blindfolded Palestinian prisoners on her Facebook page under the heading Army — The Best Time of My Life.

The controversial posting, along with a series of other recent gaffes, highlights the challenges facing Israel's high-tech military — known, among other things, for its shadowy electronic-warfare units — as it struggles to keep up with the ever-shifting sands of the Internet.Last month, a video of Israeli soldiers dancing to the drunken party anthem TiK ToK during a patrol in the West Bank emerged on YouTube, earning them a reprimand.Around the same time, a secret intelligence unit launched a Facebook group for its members that divulged details of the secret base where they served. The site was removed several days later after the army found out.

And, in perhaps the most serious breach, a military raid in the West Bank had to be called off earlier this year after a soldier posted details about the upcoming operation on Facebook.Such incidents illustrate how difficult it is for the military to operate, stick to policy, and keep people in line in light of the new communication realities,said Sheizaf Rafaeli, director of the Sagy Center for Internet Research and the Study of the Information Society at the University of Haifa.That's in stark contrast to the traditional media, over which Israel's military censor has long maintained tight control.Both Israeli and international news outlets are required to submit reports with potentially sensitive material for review, and the censor's office often returns them with words or even entire sections blacked out. Access is severely limited to military personnel, from field soldiers to the army's top echelons, and it can take weeks to line up an interview with key commanders. Once approved, there are tight restrictions — quotes often must be run through the army spokesman's office and soldiers frequently can't be named or photographed.The emergence of the latest pictures dominated Israeli news shows Tuesday, drawing tough criticism from the army and receiving heavy coverage in the Arab media.Palestinians, along with Israeli human rights groups, denounced the photos as a cruel symbol of Israel's four-decade occupation, and the Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera interspersed its coverage with pictures of Abu Ghraib, the notorious U.S. prison in Iraq where American soldiers tortured inmates.

The former Israeli officer, Eden Aberjil, struck a defensive tone in interviews with Israeli media, insisting she did nothing wrong and saying she was surprised she had offended anyone.I have nothing to say sorry about. I treated them really well, I didn't abuse them, I didn't curse them, I didn't humiliate them. I merely took a picture near them, Aberjil told Channel 2 TV.She said the men were civilians from the Gaza Strip who had been caught trying to enter Israel, apparently in search of work, and she posed for the pictures because she had never met anyone from Gaza.

Aberjil, who the army said is in her mid-20s, denounced any comparisons to Abu Ghraib as delusional, saying she was astonished by the attention she had received and accusing the army of abandoning her. She claimed similar things take place in the army every day.She did, however, say she was sorry if the pictures, taken in 2008, had hurt anyone's feelings. She said she removed them after learning that others felt they were inappropriate.Asked whether the posting violated Facebook's code of conduct, the company said it appears that the girl in question removed the photos from her account on her own — and we were not involved in the removal of these photos in any way. It declined further comment. The army said it permits soldiers to utilize social-networking sites, but only to upload unclassified material. It said all soldiers are taught about the guidelines. One officer, speaking on condition of anonymity under military guidelines, said the censorship office has ways to monitor the Internet and make sure sensitive information does not appear online. However, in cases deemed embarrassing but not a threat to security, such as the Aberjil pictures, there is nothing anyone can do, he said.

Capt. Barak Raz, an army spokesman, said the issue was about morals, not security.

I'm not concerned with the fact that photos were uploaded. As the military, we're concerned that such photos were taken to begin with, which are a gross violation of our ethical code, he said.This isn't who we are as a military.Because Aberjil is no longer in the army, it's unclear whether she can be punished. Rafaeli said that while the military would like to curb the use of social media for the purposes of secrecy, PR and internal control, it is probably up against an insurmountable challenge.Before, soldiers would have words censored out of letters that were sent home, but because of the Internet and social media, this is no longer feasible, he said. Social networks are a part of everyday life for today's generation of American military service members as well. Many keep in touch with friends and family using Facebook, and they are savvy users of YouTube, Twitter and Flickr. A YouTube video featuring Afghanistan-stationed soldiers re-enacting Lady Gaga's Telephone music video, for example, gained viral popularity earlier this year. Recognizing the reach of these services, the Pentagon announced earlier this year that everyone from troops in the field to the highest brass and civilian leaders will be allowed to use social networking sites on the military's non-classified computer network. The policy followed a seven-month review in which the Defense Department weighed the threats and benefits of allowing the wide use of Internet capabilities. It permits commanders to cut off access — on a temporary basis — to safeguard a mission or reserve bandwidth for official use.With the decision, the army unblocked YouTube, MySpace and more than a dozen sites that had been closed in May 2007.Associated Press writers Aisha Mohammed and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Battle over cross reveals culture divide in Poland By VANESSA GERA, Associated Press Writer - AUG 18,10

WARSAW, Poland – It's a plain wooden cross almost austere in its simplicity.But it is stirring passions in heavily Roman Catholic Poland that expose bitter divisions which make it seem like two separate nations sharing the same land and language.The pale wood cross about four meters (13 feet) high was erected in front of the presidential palace by Boy and Girl Scouts days after the April plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 94 others.It quickly became a spot for mourners to light candles, place flowers and pray.Now, with a new president installed and the country returning to normal, the question of whether the cross should stay or go has set off wider disputes that underscore the deep divisions between traditional and modern Poles, conservatives and liberals, and even rich and poor.The cross is a catalyst that has mobilized people who are fed up with the clericalization of Polish public life, said Jacek Kucharczyk, president of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Warsaw think tank.On one side are deeply nationalistic and religious supporters of the late president who want the cross to stay until a fitting memorial is built to the victims, among whom were top military brass and church leaders. Some of them cling to a conspiracy theory suggesting that Kaczynski's domestic political rivals and Russians conspired to kill him.

On the other is an increasingly self-confident secular society that dismisses the conspiracy theory as lunacy and believes the religious symbol does not belong in front of such an important public building. This group argues that despite the country's Catholic influence, the constitution guarantees a separation of church and state, and that the cross should move to a church.The defenders of the cross — as they are commonly called — are in the minority, with just dozens of them turning out at the cross most days. Yet they have shown a tenacity that sparked a much larger counter-protest last week of thousands of mostly young Poles mobilized by a Facebook appeal.The event took on the atmosphere of a street party, with the demonstrators playing with a plastic beach ball and even mocking their religious compatriots. One appeared at a balcony over the large crowd dressed in a pope costume — an act of irreverence rare in Poland, the native land of the much venerated late pontiff John Paul II.We just want the cross moved. It doesn't belong in this place, said Michal Buczynski, a 28-year-old economist at that rally. I want to support a secular society. There is a vocal minority (defending the cross) and we want to push it back.
They also returned over the following days in smaller numbers. On Sunday evening a small group of young Poles blared music from a boombox that drowned out the praying cross defenders and danced around them in a conga line. One held up a sign with an ironic appeal: Let's tear down the palace. It's overshadowing the cross.

With emotions high, each day brings a new, often disturbing development.On Wednesday, police arrested a 60-year-old man for threatening the cross supporters with an unarmed grenade. The day before, a 71-year-old man was arrested for using feces to defile a commemorative plaque to the plane victims near the cross. The plaque was unveiled last week in an unsuccessful attempt to appease the cross defenders.The events reveal a deep cultural shift: 20 years ago, Poland threw off communism with the help of courageous priests who challenged a regime that tried to repress religious life by promoting atheism and keeping clergy under secret police surveillance. Crosses were then reinstated in many public places in what felt like an act of liberation to many.But today a younger generation of Poles that had no role in that struggle increasingly views the church as too powerful. John Paul's death in 2005 was a watershed event in this shift as it deprived the country of its guiding moral authority. The late pope also put a progressive stamp on the Polish church, and with him gone the Polish church has taken a more conservative turn, alienating the young further.An attempt by authorities on Aug. 3 to move the cross nearly sparked a riot by the cross defenders, with one woman tying herself to the cross, so authorities backed down and left it. But the scuffle raised the stakes and since then the cross defenders have camped out in front of the palace.Over the weekend, police and other security officials removed the defenders from the cross in the middle of the night, but left the cross in place. It now stands in its spot but is barricaded behind metal barriers and police guard. It's not clear what will happen next, but its defenders continue to gather across the street, praying and holding up small crosses and rosaries in defiance. Our weapon is the rosary, said Barbara Grzegorzewska, a 50-year-old caretaker of preschool children who has joined the vigil at the cross off and on. Poland is a Christian country and we are defending the right to have the cross in public.

She and others, however, list many grievances when asked why they are there; from meager salaries or pensions, to fears that EU will erode the Catholic identity of their nation — making it clear that the cross has also proven a way for socially marginalized Poles to vent their frustration. Some accuse the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk — a rival of Kaczynski — of selling out the country to foreigners by privatizing state industries, a project undertaken to raise money and lower a ballooning deficit. They voice frustration that Russia is leading the investigation into the crash that killed Kaczynski — and express doubts into preliminary findings that the crash was caused by heavy fog and pilot error.There is suspicion among us that this was an assassination, Grzegorzewska said. And the people who turn out to protest the cross? They are drug addicts and Satan worshippers — we don't take them seriously, she said. The complex dispute over the cross is on one level also a political battle between Tusk's Civic Platform, also the party of the newly elected President Bronislaw Komorowski, and its main rival, Law and Justice, the pro-church party led by Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw.

Kaczynski ran hoping to replace his brother, but lost to Komorowski in a runoff vote on July 4. He has encouraged the cross defenders by placing a wreath at the cross on the four-month anniversary of plane crash and by accusing Tusk and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of bearing moral and political responsibility for the crash.
Kaczynski died en route to a memorial ceremony for the victims of a World War II massacre of Poles by Soviet secret police. A couple of days earlier Tusk and Putin had attended a similar ceremony but Kaczynski was not invited. Jaroslaw Kaczynski said last week that Tusk's rivalry with Lech Kacyznski and the president's exclusion from the main ceremonies with Putin put his brother in danger and increased the likelihood of disaster. He did not explain further but one of his supporters, Antoni Macierewicz, said Monday that Kaczynski's delegation did not receive the same high security standards provided to Tusk.

SINS OF PEOPLE

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 TIMOTHY 1:9
9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

DECIEVERS WAXING WORSE AND WORSE.

2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

MORE SIN SIGNS

EPHESIANS 5:5-8
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

1 Killed, 17 Detained at Brazil Pride By Advocate.com Editors – Sun Aug 15, 12:06 pm ET

Los Angeles – Police say a teenager has been shot to death in a fight between rival gangs at a gay pride festival in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, the Associated Press reports.

The teenager was reportedly shot as gangs got into a fight at the beginning of the parade, which was attended by nearly 70,000 people.The 17 people detained include the suspect in the shooting, police report.

Pelosi Wants Ground Zero Mosque Opponents Investigated
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLPtHEuSAm8&feature=player_embedded

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for opponents of the proposed Ground Zero mosque to be investigated in order to establish who is funding their activities, in a throwback to how Pelosi also claimed that the Tea Party was a phony astroturf movement being orchestrated by the Republican hierarchy.There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded, Pelosi told San Francisco’s KCBS radio.How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we’ve been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we go forward to an election about the future of our country and two of the first three questions are about a zoning issue in New York City,she added.No matter where you stand on the proposed mosque, which is set to be built within a community center a couple of blocks from where the twin towers once stood, Pelosi’s implication that opposition to its construction is being bankrolled by the Republican party is simply not true.

A Rasmussen poll conducted nearly a month ago, before the mosque story had received widespread media coverage, found that a mere 20 per cent of Americans supported the construction of the mosque. People were not swayed to oppose the mosque because of an engineered PR campaign to gin up the controversy as Pelosi claims, they were opposed to it from the very start.Pelosi’s comments bear resemblance to similar rhetoric that we heard earlier this year, when she claimed the Tea Party movement was not grass roots because it was being orchestrated by the Republican establishment.The Republican Party directs a lot of what the Tea Party does, but not everybody in the Tea Party takes direction from the Republican Party. And so there was a lot of, shall we say, Astroturf, as opposed to grassroots, she stated at the time.Pelosi is so arrogant and out of touch with the American people that she truly believes that any significant opposition to Barack Obama, who on Friday committed political suicide by publicly backing the mosque, and his policies is not the genuine backlash of millions of Americans sick to the back teeth with big government and must be artificially engineered.When she is heckled and booed, as routinely happens when she makes any kind of public appearance, Pelosi resorts to blaming insurance companies and other mythical creatures of her imagination.In reality, Obama’s poll numbers continue to plunge to record lows as more Americans reject his policies and Pelosi’s own approval rating according to a CBS poll stands at a pathetic 11 per cent, making her even more unpopular than George W. Bush ever was.

This is a woman who, along with Harry Reid who has even worse approval ratings, has come to represent the Obama administration’s big government policies. She is despised by the vast majority of Americans and yet has the temerity to pretend that this resentment and opposition is an artificial construct of the Republican party.
Pelosi, who is fond of public displays of smiling and cackling as she sinks a dagger into the heart of America with the passage of Obamacare, is living in a self-perpetuated fantasy world where the vast majority of Americans vehemently support her activities, when in reality she is reviled and detested by around 90 per cent of the entire country.

OIL OPS UNAFFECTED BY STORM

ISRAELIS AND CONSPIRACY THEORY TRUTHS (FACTS) P-1
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/2441
ISRAELIS AND CONSPIRACY THEORY TRUTHS P-2 (FACTS)INFILTRATION
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/2457

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded

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

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

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

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

France proposes EU reaction force for natural disasters
MATEJ HRUSKA 16.08.2010 @ 09:29 CET

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the EU to set up a joint rapid reaction force to handle natural disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires and floods.

In a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso published on Sunday (15 August), Mr Sarkozy addressed the issue of the EU's ability to react under its own name in connection to the recent floods in Pakistan.Pakistan flood refugees: France wants the EU to create a common reaction force to help out during natural disasters (Photo: IOM Pakistan Flood Response)It seems essential, for obvious political and humanitarian reasons, that Europe shows its solidarity with the Pakistani people visibly. The interest of Europe is also to ensure the development and stability of this country, he wrote.Following the earthquake in Haiti and wildfires in Russia, says the letter, the EU must take the necessary measures and build a real EU reaction force ... that draws on the resources of the member states.

France is to draw up proposals for the force in the near future, it adds.Last week French junior minister for EU affairs, Pierre Lellouche, said the EU should create a European emergency force representing the real means of mutual aid in case of emergency.Paris announced Sunday that a plane with 60 tonnes of humanitarian aid will be sent to Pakistan, with Mr Sarkozy saying France is prepared to use its Nato military forces to help transport the aid.France has already allocated €1 million to Pakistan since the start of the floods, which are estimated to have affected 20 million people. Last Wednesday (11 August), the commission said it would provide Pakistan with €10 million in immediate emergency aid, in addition to €30 million allocated in July. EU foreign ministers are to also discuss a long term aid plan for Pakistan at an informal meeting in September.With wildfire smog returning to Moscow over the weekend, Russia itself indicated it would be interested in joining a multilateral crisis response force.The United States and the EU have now come to the same conclusion. I think we will come to this, and such capabilities will have to be established,he told the Ria Novosti news agency.

Palestinian Authority ready for peace talks, Ashton says
LEIGH PHILLIPS 13.08.2010 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Palestinian Authority is ready for direct talks with Israel, with Ramallah likely to give a definitive go-ahead perhaps as early as Sunday (15 August), according to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.The EU high representative made the comments in a letter to European foreign ministers ahead of their informal meeting after the summer break.President Abbas is very close to accepting direct talks, but has requested a few more days for final consultations, she wrote to the bloc's 27 foreign policy chiefs, who are to meet from 10 to 11 September in Brussels, in a letter seen by EUobserver.In principle, President Abbas should be in a position to give a definitive answer by Sunday or early next week.The two sides have engaged in indirect talks since the spring.Once Mr Abbas has signed off on talks, direct negotiations would then begin later in August,according to the Ashton text. He will only agree to talks so long as Israel for its part endorses a 19 March statement by the Quartet, the international body promoting the Middle East Peace Process, she writes. The statement lays out that Israel stop settlement construction in the West Bank, leading to a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians within 24 months. Such a peace deal would see the creation of a Palestinian state based on the borders that existed prior to the 1967 Six-Day War.

It has long been understood that while the 1967 borders would form the basis of a deal, some adjustments and land swaps will be necessary.The signal from Ms Ashton comes as Israel's partial 10-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank is coming to a close on 26 September.Mr Abbas has throughout the process insisted on a clear framework of discussion topics based on Quartet demands, so that if terms offered by Israel do not match up with those required by the EU, US, UN and Russia, the Palestinian Authority will not appear to be rejecting a peace deal.Any new talks are to exclude the militant group Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist entity by the EU and which has in the past fought bloody battles with the Abbas camp, but which controls the Gaza Strip.

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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) 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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE AUG 17,2010

09:30 AM +2.29
10:00 AM +59.79
10:30 AM +44.96
11:00 AM +87.80
11:30 AM +128.67
12:00 PM +140.81
12:30 PM +132.90
01:00 PM +134.95
01:30 PM +177.33
02:00 PM +164.33
02:30 PM +171.69
03:00 PM +154.85
03:30 PM +157.59
04:00 PM +103.84 10,405.85

S&P 500 1092.54 +13.16

NASDAQ 2209.44 +27.57

GOLD 1,227.90 +1.60

OIL 75.71 +0.48

TSE 300 11,728.60 +175.90

CDNX 1463.60 +6.44

S&P/TSX/60 683.64 +11.78

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +65 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -0.16 points at low today.
Dow +153 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,226.40.OIL opens at $76.10 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.16 points at low today so far.
Dow +177 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.16 points at low today.
Dow +177 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,260.90 (NOT AT CLOSE)

IDF: Killed Terrorist Was Involved in Previous Fatal Attack
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Elad Benari AUG 16,10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BFyO0hd2-s&feature=player_embedded

Terror returned to the Gaza Belt area Monday night as two Kassam rockets were fired at the western Negev, and Israeli soldiers killed two terrorists when a cell tried to plant bombs at the Gaza security fence. One soldier was lightly wounded.The rockets exploded in fields next to a kibbutz, and no damage or injuries were reported.The Islamic Jihad terror organization said the dead terrorists belonged to its organization. The IDF later confirmed that one of the two dead terrorists was identified as Bassem Dragma. Dragma, a senior Islamic Jihad operative, took part in a clash in late March near Kibbutz Kissufim on the Gaza border, during which Major Eliraz Peretz and Staff Sergeant Ilan Sviatkovsky were killed. A gunfight broke out when the IDF spotted the terrorist cell, and the wounded soldier is being treated at Soroka Medical Center in nearby Be’er Sheva.Previous rocket attacks have been followed by an almost immediate Israeli retaliation, usually the bombing of rocket manufacturing and warehouses as well as smuggling tunnels. Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza have escalated activity the past two weeks as pressure grows on the Palestinian Authority, headed by the rival Fatah faction, to agree to direct talks with Israel on the creation of a new Arab country within Israel’s borders.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Obama Denies Turkey Warning Report
by Elad Benari AUG 17,10

The White House has denied a report that the US has threatened Turkey that arms sales would be in danger due to Turkey’s tougher stance towards Israel and its vote against Iran sanctions.Earlier on Monday, the Financial Times reported that President Barack Obama had warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that if his country wants to purchase United States weapons, it must change its foreign affairs policy regarding both Israel and Iran.An anonymous senior official told the paper: The president has said to Erdogan that some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised... about whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally.The official added that doubts over Turkey's loyalties will make Congress less likely to approve weapons requests.However, Obama has emphatically denied the story in the Financial Times, according to a report by White House pool reporter Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal.White House spokesman Bill Burton told the press: The president and Erdogan did speak about 10 days ago, and they talked about Iran and the flotilla and other issues related to that. We obviously have an ongoing dialogue with them. But no such [arms] ultimatum was issued. There’s no ultimatum.Turkish diplomatic sources confirmed that there has never been any such ultimatum by the US. The sources admitted, however, that Turkey’s standing in Congress has been hurt as a result of Turkish-Israeli diplomatic tensions.

Tensions between Israel and Turkey escalated in late May, when members of the Turkish pro-terror group IHH were killed in a clash with IDF soldiers during the raid on the Gaza aid flotilla. Two weeks ago, Israel agreed to take part in a United Nations inquiry into the events of the flotilla. Headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, the investigating committee includes representatives from Israel, Turkey and the United States.Turkey hopes to buy U.S. weapons including the missile-bearing Reaper drone. The weapons are to be used to fight Kurdish separatists in the country's north. Turkish leaders are concerned that fighting will become more intense as the U.S. withdraws from Iraq.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Netanyahu, Greece Agree on Security and Tourism Cooperation
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu AUG 16,10

Greece and Israel deepened ties in the fields of tourism and security Tuesday with the first visit to Athens by an Israeli Prime Minister despite left-wing anti-Israeli protests.In addition to issues of economic cooperation and prosperity for the two countries, like tourism, we also discussed issues of defense cooperation and security,said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. We need a peaceful region--a peaceful Middle East region with direct talks with the Palestinian authority--the agenda on that is not fixed. We also hope that this trip will be a first step to keep improving bilateral relations with Greece.His host, Prime Minister George Papandreou who visit Israel last month, told Prime Minister Netanyahu, We can deepen and broaden our relations with Israel in commercial relations, large investments and tourism as well as security. We are in the same neighborhood and Greece has a vital interest in a two-party solution for Israel and the Palestinians, and we want to contribute to the economy and safety of the region.He pointed out that Greece is not substituting Turkey as an ally of Israel. Good relations between Greece and Israel should be complementary and not competitive with relations between Turkey and Israel,Prime Minister Papandreou stated.Turkey’s long-standing friendship with Israel soured quickly since the Operation Cast Lead war against the terrorist infrastructure in Hamas-run Gaza and the growing dominance of Iran in Middle East politics.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

GROUND ZERO MOSQUE COMPLIANCE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/2453

Hamas Backs Ground Zero Mosque
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu AUG 16,10

Muslims must build a mosque near Ground Zero because we have to build everywhere, Hamas senior leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told WorldNet Daily’s Aaron Klein in an interview on WABC radio in New York.We have to build the mosque, as you are allowed to build the church and Israelis are building their holy places, he said. In every area we have, [as Muslims] we have to pray, and this mosque is the only site of prayer, especially for the people when they are looking [to be] in the group, not an individual, he said.Al-Zahar claimed that Hamas, designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, is representing the vast majority of the Arabic and Islamic world, especially the Islamic side and that American Muslims, like all others, are united in a common cause.Hamas’ support for the mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center came 24 hours after U.S. President Barack Obama’s widely regarded gaffe in supporting the mosque and then doubling back on his comments. Speaking Friday night to Muslim guests, President Obama stated, Let me be clear: As a citizen and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right... to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.

After his remarks caused an uproar coast-co-coast in the United States, he said the following morning, I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there.He explained that Muslims have the right build a mosque near Ground Zero but that he was not interfering with what he called a local decision.The plan for a mosque has torn apart American feelings, some claiming that freedom of religion allows for a mosque to be built and others arguing that it would be totally insensitive to the feelings of those who were wounded and to relatives of the dead. Several planners of the mosque also have been linked to groups supporting Muslim terror.President Obama’s backtracking echoed a similar clarification during his presidential campaign, when he told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pro-Israel group, Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided. Shortly afterwards, he explained, Well, obviously it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations… As a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute [a policy of the capital remaining undivided.]Later, he further explained that he actually meant that a barbed wire fence should not divide the city, as it did when Jordan occupied eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem. Jordan did not allow Christians or Jews to visit their holy sites under its control, including the Western Wall, except for visiting dignitaries.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

Iran Plans Third Nuclear Plant
by Maayana Miskin AUG 16,10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded

Iran will begin building a third nuclear enrichment site within a year, the head of Iran's atomic program Ali Akbar Saleh announced Monday. He did not name the location of the planned facility, but said it will be built somewhere that cannot be targeted in an air strike.Iran has one operational nuclear enrichment plant in the city of Natanz, and a second is being built at a mountain site in Fordo.Iranian officials say their country's nuclear program is meant to provide energy for civilian use. However, they have refused to grant international inspectors access to nuclear facilities. In addition, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe Israel off the map, and Iran is openly supportive of terrorist groups that target Israel and Western nationals, including Hamas and Hizbullah. These are moves that add to Western suspicion that Iran's nuclear program is not peaceful in nature.

Ahmadinejad announced last year that his country would build ten new nuclear enrichment plants once appropriate sites were found. According to Saleh, the search for new sites has ended successfully.In July, Saleh announced that Iran will open a nuclear power plant in September in the city of Bushehr. At the time he downplayed concerns over international sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's unsupervised nuclear program, saying such sanctions could slow down the job but will not stop activities.

Both the United States and the European Union voted this summer to impose tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The new sanctions seem to be having an effect on the Revolutionary Guards, whose industrial wing has been forced to halt development projects that were heretofore funded by international companies that have now pulled out.(IsraelNationalNews.com)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Mexican butterflies threatened by severe storms
Mon Aug 16, 5:55 pm ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Fabled monarch butterflies are facing a new threat from severe storms that have devastated some sanctuary forests in Mexico, conservation groups said on Monday.The Nature Conservancy said in a news conference that storm damage in Mexico's 13,000-hectare (32,124 acre) monarch reserve is yet another blow to the fragile butterflies, which arrived in Mexico in record low numbers last season after a 2,000-mile journey from spots as far north as Canada.Illegal logging has long threatened the butterflies in western Mexico, where clouds of orange and black butterflies are a common sight during the winter.But the 117 hectares (289 acres) damaged this winter were due instead to torrential rains and heavy winds, said Omar Vidal, head of World Wildlife Fund Mexico.We can say that extreme climate events will be more frequent and more intense, Juan Bezaury, Mexico representative for The Nature Conservancy, told reporters.February is typically one of the driest months in Mexico, but days of heavy rain, hail and sleet this year knocked countless butterflies from their perches.Many scientists blame recent extreme weather events on climate change caused by greenhouse gasses including industrial carbon.Mexico, host of the next round of United Nations climate talks that begin in late November, has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 50 million tonnes in 2012.It says sustainable forestry and reforestation will be a key part of its strategy for curbing carbon emissions.(Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; editing by Missy Ryan and Todd Eastham)

Russia beats back fires as weather changes by Stuart Williams – Mon Aug 16, 12:18 pm ET

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia on Monday said it was beating back the country's worst ever wildfires, including one close to a secret nuclear site, as thunderstorms and torrential rain drenched parts of the parched country.The peat and forest fires in the countryside of central Russia have killed more than 50 people and raised concerns about the security of potentially dangerous strategic sites located in the vicinity of the blazes.A huge worry has been fires in a nature reserve close to Russia's main nuclear research centre in Sarov -- a town closed to foreigners as in Soviet times -- but the authorities said they had taken a major step to resolving the crisis.The situation is stable and controllable. There are no fires on the territory of Sarov, said the head of the emergencies ministry's branch for the Volga region, Igor Panshin.If the positive dynamic continues then a withdrawal of the contingent in Sarov will begin in the coming week.The emergencies ministry said that the fire, in the district of the village of Popovka, 17 kilometres (10 miles) southeast of Sarov, which had extended to 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) at the weekend, had been localised and ringed-in.Nationwide the area affected by wildfires had been reduced by another 8,000 hectares to 45,800 hectares, the ministry said. At the peak of the crisis, an area of almost 200,000 hectares was in flames.Officials also said the situation around Moscow was under control but Russia's tough-talking Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took issue with that line of thought.The problem is that such control does not suit anyone, the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying at a meeting in the town of Kolomna outside Moscow.Such a situation is unacceptable, he said.

Earlier officials showed Putin a technique for flooding peat bogs that have dried out over the years polluting the air, the government said, adding the works to fill up the peat bogs had started a week ago.Officials over the past days sought to downplay the true scale of the disaster and the federal government has yet to confirm that daily mortality rates in Moscow doubled as a result of the heatwave and smog.Temperatures in Moscow were 29 degrees Celsius (84 degress Fahrenheit), well down on the highs of almost 40 degrees seen over the last days, with little sign of the smog from the wildfires that had blanketed the city for days.Moscow was braced for torrential rain and high winds later after tens of thousands in northwest Russia were left without electricity overnight when a storm ripped through the region.The emergencies ministry in the Leningrad region around Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg said almost 100,000 people in 1,500 towns and villages in northwest Russia were left without electricity.The storm, which was also felt in Saint Petersburg, saw high winds and driving rain and felled several trees and even a crane. Train traffic was also affected.But as the fires eased, a new controversy blazed as allegations emerged that Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu had personally ordered the blocking of an official website which warned of radioactive dangers from the wildfires.The Roslesozashchita state forest watchdog had warned that hundreds of hectares of land had burned in the Bryansk region of western Russia, an area still contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Deputy director of the watchdog, Alexei Bobrinksy, told AFP the website has not been working since Friday afternoon.The Kommersant daily said the company hosting the site, Multikhost, had been telephoned at the weekend by the authorities and ordered to block the website. However the company insisted it had not blocked the site.

The paper said that Shoigu had personally ordered that the site was sorted out as it had published false information about the fires in the Bryansk region.The fires and heatwave have triggered a major crisis in Russia affecting nearly all areas of life, in particular the agriculture industry which has seen one quarter of Russian crops destroyed. Russia at the weekend implemented a ban on the export of grain which has proved highly controversial and forced up world wheat prices to two-year highs.

Gulf of Mexico oil ops unaffected by storm threat
Mon Aug 16, 10:36 am ET

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Oil and natural gas producers have not cut back production in the northern Gulf of Mexico because of a brewing tropical storm threat, the companies said on Monday morning.Leading U.S. Gull oil producer BP Plc said offshore operations managers were watching the remnants of Tropical Depression 5, which re-entered the Gulf overnight.BP production at its Mississippi Canyon platforms, southeast of New Orleans, were continuing as planned, but crews were beginning preparations for a possible storm.The system has a 60 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The system is expected to come ashore near New Orleans late Tuesday or early Wednesday.BP's Mississippi Canyon platforms are Horn Mountain, Pompano, Merlin, Na Kika and Thunder Horse, which has production in excess of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil.Energy major Chevron Corp said there was no impact to operations or production, but it was closely monitoring the weather system.The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port LLC also reported normal operations. Tropical Depression 5 is expected to move ashore well east of the LOOP's offshore loading platform in the Gulf.Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Marathon Oil Corp and LyondellBasell's Houston refinery said operations were continuing as planned.We're watching developments closely, as always, but operating normally,said Marathon spokesman John Poretto.

U.S.-regulated areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico provide 30 percent of the nation's oil production and 11 percent of natural gas output. More than 40 percent of the nation's refining capacity stretches along the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Pascagoula, Mississippi.(Reporting by Erwin Seba, Janet McGurty and Rebekah Kebede; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Pakistan flood survivors protest slow aid By ASHRAF KHAN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 16, 10:08 am ET

SUKKUR, Pakistan – Angry flood survivors in Pakistan blocked a highway to protest slow delivery of aid and heavy rain lashed makeshift housing Monday as a forecast of more flooding increased the urgency of the massive international relief effort.

Pakistan's worst floods in recorded history began more than two weeks ago in the mountainous northwest and have spread throughout the country. Some 20 million people and 62,000 square miles (160,000 square kilometers) of land — about one-fifth of the country — have been affected.The scale of the disaster has raised concerns it could destabilize the country, which is pivotal to U.S. hopes of defeating al-Qaida and the Taliban.Hundreds of victims blocked a major highway with stones and garbage near the hard-hit Sukkur area, complaining they were being treated like animals. Protester Kalu Mangiani said government officials only came to hand out food when media were present.They are throwing packets of food to us like we are dogs. They are making people fight for these packets, he said.The U.N. children's agency warned 3.5 million children were at high risk of deadly waterborne disease such as diarrhea and cholera. It said it did not have enough funds to distribute clean water to victims, or give them medical care.The Sindh irrigation minister, Jam Saifullah Dharejo, said the dam in Sukkur faced a major test of its strength as floodwaters coursed down the Indus River into Pakistan's highly populated agricultural heartland.

The coming four to five days are still crucial,he said.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew over the flood-hit area Sunday and said he had never seen a disaster on such a scale. He urged the international community to speed up assistance.The world body has appealed for an initial $460 million to provide relief, of which about 60 percent has been given.Britain's deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg accused some nations of failing to offer sufficient support.The response from some sections of the international community has been lamentable, Clegg said, without naming the countries he believed had failed to offer appropriate help.Britain's government has so far provided 16.8 million pounds (US$26 million) in emergency aid in response to the floods, making it one of the largest foreign donors.The European Union also announced it was considering forming a task force to better coordinate emergency aid in the future after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the EU's euro 40 million ($51 million) in humanitarian aid was insufficient.The latest flooding over the weekend hit a poor region on the border between Sindh and Baluchistan provinces.Sher Khan Bazai, the top government official in Nasirabad district, said 25,000 families had been made homeless by waters 8 feet (2.5 meters) high in some places. About 4,000small villages had been either cut off or washed out.

Water is everywhere, he said.Once the floods recede, billions more dollars will be needed for reconstruction and getting people back to work in the already-poor nation of 170 million people. The International Monetary Fund has warned the floods could dent economic growth and fuel inflation. While local charities and international agencies have helped hundreds of thousands of people with food, water, shelter and medical treatment, the scale of the disaster has meant many millions have received little or no assistance.Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta contributed to this report.