STOCK RESULTS JAN 6,2012

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/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI JANUARY 06,2012

09:30 AM -2.43
10:00 AM -58.88
10:30 AM -53.55
11:00 AM -43.06
11:30 AM -18.66
12:00 PM -22.63
12:30 PM -28.05
01:00 PM -39.38
01:30 PM -50.25
02:00 PM -22.29
02:30 PM -34.21
03:00 PM -42.46
03:30 PM -51.43
04:00 PM -55.78 12,359.92

S&P 500 1277.81 -3.25

NASDAQ 2674.22 +4.36

GOLD 1,617.50 -2.50

OIL 101.64 -0.17

TSE 300 12,188.64 -48.76

CDNX 1525.73 +8.27

S&P/TSX/60 692.42 -4.17

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -23 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -58 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,626.60.OIL opens at $102.17 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -58 points at low today so far.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -58 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)

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

Ministers identify glitches in EU diplomatic service
Today JAN 6,12 @ 09:28 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - Twelve member states have said bureaucracy and mis-management are hampering the effectiveness of the EU's new diplomatic service one year after its launch.The foreign ministers of Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden put forward their ideas in an informal three-page paper dated 8 December and seen by EUobserver.While couched in polite language, the text strikes raw nerves in Brussels on issues including turf battles between the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton's handling of ministerial meetings and her purported neglect of security affairs.Under current arrangements, Ashton's service is responsible for framing EU foreign policy and managing joint relations with non-EU countries via 140 foreign delegations. But the European Commission is responsible for funding foreign programmes and for handling many day-to-day EEAS matters, such as making sure Ashton's people have working computers on their desks and get their expenses on time.The hybrid set-up has created problems such as forcing Ashton's foreign ambassadors to do book-keeping on commission spending over which they have no decision-making powers. It has also seen around 60 EEAS staff leave their posts amid frustration that they do not have the basic tools for their job.Does the EEAS have the right organisational structure to ensure effective co-operation with the commission on all external action aspects? ... An EU delegation can function effectively only if the head of delegation receives all necessary information in good time and can fully focus on political priorities, and if a delegation can manage its administrative expenditures efficiently,the ministers said.On a more personal note, they indicated Ashton has done a poor job of chairing their regular monthly meetings.

Brussels is awash with anecdotes about the EEAS sending out agendas at too short notice for ministers to prepare properly and about Ashton chafing with colleagues. In one eipsode in March last year she called ministers to the EU capital ahead of a snap summit on Libya then said mid-meeting she had to leave. Sweden's Carl Bildt at the time reportedly told her to stay until the talks ended, with Ashton falling into line.Ways to further optimise the identification of political priorities should be explored, the 12 ministers said, urging her to circulate a yearly agenda for the events and more regularly to produce preparatory policy and/or decision-making papers to be circulated sufficiently in advance.With Ashton's staff in the crisis and military planning departments frequently complaining she does not give them enough weight, the ministers noted the setting-up of a secure communications network should be a major priority and that the creation of defence and security attaches in EU delegations ... should be considered.

Not criticism

EEAS staff told this website they do not see the ministers' paper in any way as criticism of the EEAS but rather as a useful contribution on how to do things better.
Following their intervention, Ashton herself drafted a 14-page study - also seen by EUobserver - on how she sees the issues they raised.The EEAS chief said basic co-operation between the commission and her staff is satisfactory and that the set-up [has] not given rise to any systemic problems.She noted the commission should give her people more information on foreign spending so that heads of delegation can fully exercise their authority and that EEAS ambassadors should do less paperwork, however.She also agreed the EEAS needs to stand on its own feet in administrative terms. There has been a consistent problem in reflecting the specific needs of delegation staff in commission-wide IT systems ... the service is struggling to meet even minimum standards in terms of activity-based management and financial programming, personnel policy, security and IT,she said.Ashton pledged to do more on security issues. But she indicated that EU member states are not doing their bit to help her put new systems in place.Her paper identified as a future priority to ensure best standards in diplomatic security, in particular in EU delegations in high risk countries, and workable procedures for handling classified information. But it added that: Given the limited resources, support from the services of member states is key. The aim is to have a security framework in place by early 2012.In her own defence, she said the Arab Spring and the financial crisis are hardly the ideal backdrop for the launch of a new service for the external relations of the Union.

EEAS in numbers

But she identified her contacts with Arab countries on the Libya conflict, her efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks, to get Iran back to the negotiating table and to get Kosovo and Serbia to speak to each other as some of her strong points in the past 12 months.Her paper also gave an overview of the EEAS in numbers.
Ashton noted that between 1 January and 9 November last year her office published 504 statements on EU foreign policy and held 80 ministerial level talks with non-EU countries. It also handled 937 briefings with EU institutions in a similar period, inlcuding 243 by the EEAS chief personally.The service currently has 1,551 staff in Brussels and 2,060 in its foreign embassies. Twenty five out of 27 EU countries are represented at ambassador-level and 30 women have senior posts.

More power for EU commission in new draft of fiscal treaty Today JAN 6,12 @ 09:57 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - EU member states are on Friday (6 January) to discuss the latest draft of a new pact on the financial crisis, focusing on how the European Commission can sanction debt-sinners and how to merge the new treaty with EU law despite a UK veto.
According to the latest draft version of the new pact sent to national governments on Thursday, the commission may, on behalf of contracting parties bring a legal case before the European Court of Justice if the countries subscribing to the pact break the so-called golden rule of keeping balanced budgets which are to be enshrined in national constitutions.In a first version of the text drafted last month, only member states could take fellow countries to court for breaching the debt-brake rule.
But getting the commission - which represents all 27 member states and is bound by the EU treaties - involved in an intergovernmental arrangement at 26-level poses legal challenges which could be attacked in the EU court.The problem arises after the UK in December vetoed writing the new measures into the EU Treaty directly because it was unhappy over upcoming legislation which might affect the City of London.The legal trick to get around the issue could be mandating the commission to act on behalf of member states, one EU diplomat said.The contact noted that the cabinet of EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy has done little to explain how the change on the commission's role in the new draft came about. Member states will discuss it today and we'll see where we go from there,the source said.

Another contact said the new idea is likely to die an early death because it goes beyond the 9 December summit agreement to have the EU court rule only on whether a given country has properly enshrined the golden rule into national law or not.Less controversial - at least among the 26 countries who agreed to negotiate the new treaty - is the idea of merging the new document with existing EU treaties within five years.The proposal was put forward by the three EU parliament members who are included in the discussions, ostensibly as observers only. The time period may change to as soon as possible, one source said.For its part, the UK, whose veto is causing the legal disorganisation, may be less keen to do a u-turn on the subject even though it has also been invited to the intergovernmental meetings as an observer.A further change to the original draft tabled in December raises the threshold of countries necessary to ratify the treaty from nine to 15.The switch reflects Germany's desire to have all southern eurozone countries sign up to the golden rule of a balanced budget before committing further bail-out money.Further talks of the working group comprising state secretaries from EU countries' foreign and finance ministries, as well as ambassadors or special envoys of the prime ministers are scheduled for next week and the following week.EU leaders meeting in Brussels on 30 January will have a first look at a more complete draft with the aim of adopting it at a following summit starting 1 March.

EARTH WORSHIP

DEUTERONOMY 17:3-4
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

2 KINGS 23:5
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

Fidel Castro warns of climate change, nuclear threat
AFPAFP – JAN 6,12

Cuba's iconic revolutionary Fidel Castro warned that the world was on an inexorable march into the abyss this year because of climate change and the threat of nuclear war.In an article published Thursday -- Castro's first since November 2011 -- the 85-year-old retired leader also took aim at the United States and at gas shale fracking,a new source of fossil fuels condemned by environmentalists.He did not, however, address rumors of his death, which were denied by an official Cuban blogger after they surfaced on Twitter earlier this week.Many dangers threaten us, but two of them, nuclear war and climate change, are decisive and are drifting further away from a solution,he wrote in an article entitled The March Towards the Abyss.Since handing over power to his 80-year-old brother Raul in 2006 because of health concerns, the leader of the 1959 revolution has rarely appeared in public but has penned regular editorials on world events.In his latest article, Fidel blamed the inexorable decline in part on demagogic talk, statements and speeches from the tyranny imposed on the world by the United States and its powerful and unconditional allies.He also wrote about the risk of nuclear war, particularly in the Middle East, where he accused Israel -- the region's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state -- of having hundreds of nuclear weapons.

On the subject of climate change, Castro expressed fears about hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- a process by which water, sand and chemicals are blasted into the ground to release oil and gas trapped in solid rock.The process has been hailed by oil companies and other backers as a key new source of fossil fuels, but critics have expressed fears about its impact on the environment, health and safety.Rumors of Castro's death have periodically surfaced since his retirement, most recently on the micro-blogging website Twitter earlier this week.But official Cuban blogger Yohandry Bloquera, who is usually well-informed and reliable regarding events in Cuba, denied the reports, saying Castro was reading them himself and laughing at them.The CIA tried to kill him more than 700 times and Twitter is going down that road,Bloquera wrote on Tuesday.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

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

Crews gaining ground on northwestern Montana fires
Associated PressAP – JAN 6,12

BROWNING, Mont. (AP) — A pair of rare winter wildfires fueled by 60 mph gusts burned buildings and forced hundreds from their homes overnight on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation, but better weather conditions on Thursday helped firefighters get a handle on the blazes.The grass fires started around sundown Wednesday and together grew to 16,000 acres by early Thursday, said tribal spokesman Wayne Smith. At least 300 people were evacuated from homes and a boarding school, though no injuries had been reported.It's probably the biggest grass fire in reservation history,Smith said.It was just a wall of fire heading east.Smith estimated between 10 and 15 buildings were damaged or destroyed on the northwestern Montana reservation east of Glacier National Park. Fire incident commander Robert LaPlant confirmed Thursday evening that one home had been destroyed but did not yet know the total number of structures damaged.J.R. Clark, a rancher who lives off Boarding School Road north of Browning, the site of the larger fire, said he and a hired hand ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed to fight the blaze.I said, You're going to have to throw me in jail because I'm not leaving,Clark said. I had to save my ranch.The two of them used a tractor with an attached plow to attack the fire as it approached the main house. After working from 6 p.m. until 3 a.m., the danger had passed. They were able to save Clark's house and another one across the highway, but a neighbor's house was destroyed, as was one of Clark's barns.It came up and jumped out of the river and down the hill and burned it down. There was nothing anybody could do to stop it,Clark said.

Residents of Browning, the reservation's largest city, said the fires illuminated the sky and created a chaotic scene as the city's streets were flooded with emergency vehicles and people unsure of what was happening.You could see flames all around on the east side of Browning, they were very clear and bright,said resident Gabe Renville. It was chaos. It was a danger to be out. There was traffic and flashing lights and I was afraid somebody was going to get run over.Gusting wind blew the fires east, away from Browning. Rain fell at 5 a.m., followed by a snow flurry around noon, helping crews gain the upper hand. The fires had not grown any larger and were 85 percent contained by Thursday afternoon, LaPlant said.At least 80 firefighters and volunteers from the tribe, neighboring counties and several federal agencies responded, fire manager Tyson Runningwolf said. They were assisted by farmers and ranchers like Clark whose land stood in the path of the fires.Most of the firefighters were going to be pulled off duty Thursday night and resume the mop-up the next morning, LaPlant said.Crews were helped by Thursday's weather conditions, as the wind died down to 15 mph and a cold front raised the relative humidity to 70 percent, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Ben Schott.One fire, called the Y-fire, started southeast of Browning, has scorched at least 12,000 acres, Smith said. Another blaze called the Boy Fire erupted north of Browning around the same time, burning at least 6,000 acres.The Boy Fire was likely caused by a power line that was downed by the wind, said Glacier Electric Cooperative Inc. communications manager Virginia Harman. Utility crews checked the site and the fire appears to have started where the line touched the ground, she said.The origin of the Y-fire, however, is nowhere near the utility's equipment, she said.

We don't believe that one was caused by us or our systems,Harman said.Fire officials were investigating the cause of the fires, but there has been no preliminary determination, Smith said.About 200 residents and students were evacuated from the Boarding School Road area, where there is a boarding school, while another 100 people from two Hutterite communities were evacuated to the Cut Bank Civic Center about 35 miles east of Browning.Renville said his 12-year-old daughter, who attends the school, sent him a text message at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday saying there was a fire near the school. Buses were sent and the school's staff used their personal vehicles to evacuate more than 60 students and bring them to the Blackfeet tribal offices in Browning, where their parents picked them up, Renville said.The Hutterites arrived in Cut Bank about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and remained until after 1 a.m., when U.S. Highway 2 reopened, said Jennifer Biegler, Cut Bank's parks and recreation director. Volunteers and local officials brought blankets, food, water and coffee for the evacuees.They were hungry and worried and nervous and anxious,Biegler said.Evacuation orders have been lifted for the Seville and Hidden Lake Hutterite colonies, KSEN-AM in Shelby reported. U.S. 2 was re-closed to through traffic between Cut Bank and Browning Thursday morning, the radio station reported.There have not been any further evacuations, Smith said.

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.

Iran plans more war games in strait as sanctions bite
ReutersBy Robin Pomeroy | Reuters – JAN 6,12

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran announced plans on Friday for new military exercises in the world's most important oil shipping lane, the latest in weeks of bellicose gestures towards the West as new sanctions threaten Tehran's oil exports.Real Admiral Ali Fadavi, naval commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, said exercises next month would focus directly on the Strait of Hormuz, which leads out of the Gulf and provides the outlet for most Mid-East oil.Iran held a 10-day drill which ended on Monday in neighboring seas.Today the Islamic Republic of Iran has full domination over the region and controls all movements within it, Fadavi said in remarks reported by the Fars news agency.Iranian officials have threatened in recent weeks to block the strait if new sanctions harm Tehran's oil exports, and this week said they would take action if the United States sails an aircraft carrier through it.

The United States, which has a massive naval fleet in the area that is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's sea forces, says it will ensure the international waters of the strait stay open. Britain said on Thursday that any attempt to close it would be illegal and unsuccessful.New financial sanctions signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve are aimed at making it difficult for most countries to buy Iranian oil. The European Union is expected to announce tough measures of its own at the end of the month.Most traders believe Iran will still be able to find buyers, at least in the short term, for its exports of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd). But it may have to offer steep discounts that reduce the hard currency revenue it needs to feed its 74 million people.The sanctions are already having an effect on Iran's streets, where prices have been rising and the rial currency is falling. Iranians have been queuing up at banks to convert their savings into dollars.The economic hardship comes less than two months before a parliamentary election, Iran's first since a 2009 presidential election that led to mass street protests across the country.Iran's rulers successfully put down those demonstrations two years ago with force, but since then the Arab Spring has shown the vulnerability of authoritarian governments in the region to public protest fueled by anger over economic hardship.

NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

Washington and its allies are imposing the measures to force Iran to abandon a nuclear program which they say is aimed at producing an atomic bomb. Iran says the program is peaceful.European Union officials say the EU, which collectively buys about 500,000 bpd of Iranian oil, rivaling China as the largest market, has agreed to impose an embargo halting all imports.EU diplomats said they are discussing how long they will give member countries to halt purchases, with France, Germany and others wanting the ban imposed within three months but Greece favoring a grace period of up to a year.China has also cut its imports by more than half in January and February while haggling with Tehran over the size of the discount it wants in return for doing business with it.Other big buyers, including Turkey and Japan, say they are seeking a waiver from the U.S. sanctions.The new American law allows Obama to give temporary waivers to allies to continue to buy Iranian oil to prevent a price shock, but to receive the permits, countries are meant to show they are reducing trade with Iran.Iran has put on a brave face over the sanctions. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday the country would weather the storm.Iran, with divine assistance, has always been ready to counter such hostile actions and we are not concerned at all about the sanctions, he told a news conference.But in a sign it is seeking to alleviate the pressure, Salehi said Tehran was interested in resuming negotiations over its nuclear program with Western powers.Turkey's visiting foreign minister brought an offer from Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief who negotiates on behalf of major powers.Talks over Iran's nuclear program collapsed a year ago. Iran has repeatedly offered to restart the talks since then, but has insisted it will not negotiate over its right to continue enriching uranium.
Western countries say talks are pointless unless a halt to enrichment is on the table. Enriched uranium can be used to fuel a reactor or build a bomb.

OIL PRICES IN SPOTLIGHT

After years of sanctions that had little impact, Western countries have adopted a far more direct approach in recent months, with sanctions that explicitly impact the oil industry that provides 60 percent of Iran's economy.The new U.S. measures would cut off any institution that deals with the Iranian central bank from the U.S. financial system. If implemented fully, it would make it impossible for most countries' refineries to buy Iranian crude.But Washington has to balance its determination to isolate Tehran with concern that driving its oil off markets will raise prices and hurt the fragile global economy. Brent crude futures hovered above $113 a barrel on Friday, up nearly $7 since Obama signed the new sanctions law.To ease the impact on markets, the new U.S. measures take effect over several months, and the leeway given to Obama to offer waivers allows countries time to find other suppliers. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and a foe of Iran, says it will make up for any supply shortfall.Traders and analysts believe it is unlikely Iran will actually carry out its threats to block the strait.We've seen this movie before, said Cliff Kupchan, an Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group. Neither side wants a war. A lot of this rhetoric is overstated.Even if it tried, Iran could not blockade the strait for long in a direct challenge to a U.S. fleet led by the giant supercarrier John C. Stennis, accompanied by a guided-missile cruiser and flotillas of destroyers and submarines.The Combined Maritime Force protecting Gulf shipping also includes other countries such Britain, France, Canada, Australia and the Gulf Arab states, under the command of a U.S. admiral.Still, Iran has many ways it could provoke a Western response, from missiles within range of U.S. targets in the region, to small boats that could attack a ship near shore, to allied militia in Palestine and Lebanon that can strike Israel.(Additional reporting Dmitry Zhdannikov and Simon Falush in London, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels and Hashem Kalantari in Tehran; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Syria says at least 10 killed in Damascus blast
Associated PressBy ALBERT AJI | AP – JAN 6,12

DAMASCUS (AP) — An explosion ripped through a police bus in the center of Syria's capital Friday, killing at least 10 people and possibly 25 in an attack authorities blamed on a suicide bomber, an official and state-run TV said.Syrian television showed residents and paramedics carrying human remains, holding them up for the camera. Other footage showed a bus with blood on its seats, and cars with blown-out windows and riddled with shrapnel.This is a criminal terrorist act, a man shouted.
State television said 10 people have been confirmed dead, and authorities believe another 15 also had died based on human remains from the scene.Television also said that 46 people were wounded. It did not specify the victims' identities, but a Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly to the media, said the target of the attack appeared to be a bus carrying policemen.The blast went off at an intersection in the central Damascus neighborhood of Midan on Friday, the start of the weekend in Syria and much of the Arab world.

Compared to many parts of the country which have been convulsed by the 10-month old uprising, Damascus has been relatively quiet under the tight control of ruthless security agencies loyal to President Bashar Assad.But violence in the capital has been on the rise over the last two months. On Dec. 23, according to the Syrian authorities, two car bombers blew themselves up outside the heavily guarded compounds of the country's intelligence agencies, killing at least 44 people and wounding 166.If the official account is correct, they would be the uprising's first suicide bombings. State-run TV said the al-Qaida terrorist network was possibly to blame.The government has long contended that the turmoil in Syria this year is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.The opposition however has questioned the government's allegations. It has hinted that the regime itself could have been behind the attack, noting it came during a visit by Arab League observers investigating Assad's bloody crackdown of the popular revolt.Midan is one of several Damascus neighborhoods that has seen frequent anti-Assad protests on Fridays.The uprising outside Damascus has also become increasingly violent in recent months as dissident soldiers break from the military to side with peaceful protesters, raising fears of civil war.Air force Col. Riad al-Asaad, leader of the main armed group fighting the regime, denied responsibility for Friday's bus bombing in an interview with pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV .He said his organization, the Free Syrian Army, doesn't have the experience to carry out such explosions. He spoke from Turkey, where the group is based.

Israel and US to stage major defense drill
Associated PressBy IAN DEITCH | AP – JAN 6,12

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military is gearing up together with U.S. forces for a major missile defense exercise, the Israeli military announced Thursday, as tension between Iran and the international community escalates.The drill is called Austere Challenge 12 and is designed to improve defense systems and cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli forces. It follows a 10-day Iranian naval exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.Israel's military said the drill with the U.S. was planned long ago and is not tied to recent events.Both Israeli and U.S. officials said the exercise would be the largest-ever joint drill by the two countries.The Iranian war games came as the West was adopting new sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, charging it is making weapons. Iran insists its program is peaceful.Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear and missile programs and support of violent groups in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as frequent references by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Israel's destruction.The Israeli military spokesman did not give a date for the drill Thursday, but a senior military official said it would be in the next few weeks. He said it would be the biggest missile defense drill ever held. He was speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The Israeli official said thousands of American and Israeli soldiers from different units would take part. He said the drill would test multiple Israeli and U.S. air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets. Israel has deployed the Arrow system, jointly developed and funded with the U.S., designed to intercept Iranian missiles in the stratosphere, far from Israel.The U.S. European Command and the Israel Defense Forces periodically conduct routine exercises in Israel, the Israeli military said in a statement. U.S. European Command routinely works with partner nations to ensure their capacity to provide for their own security and, in the case of Israel, their qualitative military edge, it said.Thousands of U.S. and Israeli troops held a similar exercise in 2009, code-named Juniper Cobra 10, designed to test missile defense technology.Martin Van Creveld, a military historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Thursday that the drill was intended not only to practice military maneuvers but also to pressure Iran.Defending against an attack is not something that you improvise from today to tomorrow. it's something you have to prepare, you have to rehearse, you have to prepare for, Van Creveld said.This, among other things, is an exercise to show Iran, the people in Tehran, that Israel and the United States are ready to counterattack,he said.U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta previewed the exercise in a speech last month, saying it would be an example of unprecedented levels of defense cooperation that the Obama administration has achieved to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel's security.Panetta said the drills will enhance the ability of the two military forces to operate together and test new ballistic missile and rocket defenses. Those new capabilities are themselves a product of this unprecedented defense cooperation.Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said in a November speech that the upcoming exercise will be by far the largest and the most significant exercise involving the two nations.Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report from Washington.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/questions-ww3-whats-coming.html (WW3 COMPLETE HAPPENINGS)

AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WARS AND RUMURS OF WARS.

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

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

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.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)

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.

Gulf states brace for unwanted US-Iran war
AFPBy Wissam Keyrouz | AFP – JAN 6,12

An F-15 warplane performs during the MAKS-2011 airshow on the outskirts of Moscow. …
The Arab states that lie just miles across the Gulf from Iran are nervously eyeing the prospects of a war between Tehran and the West that none of them want and all know could devastate their economies.This very real fear is prompting the oil-rich states to enhance their defences while hoping that diplomacy can rein in Tehran's regional ambitions and put an end to its worrying nuclear programme.No one in the Gulf States wants war but everyone is preparing for the possibility that it might happen, said military analyst Riad Kahwaji.Tension has escalated as the West continues to squeeze Tehran over its nuclear programme, with the EU threatening a total ban on Iranian oil imports.Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- which links the Gulf to the Arabian Sea and through which 20 percent of the world's sea-transported oil flows -- if its petroleum sales are blocked.The United States, whose navy's Fifth Fleet is based in the Gulf state of Bahrain and which has a military presence in a number of other countries -- has told Tehran bluntly that it will not tolerate any such move.

These staunch Washington allies would be sucked into war with Iran if Tehran targets them, said Kahwaji, who runs the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (Inegma).The clock is ticking, and we in the Gulf do not have control over it, said Kuwaiti political analyst Sami al-Faraj in reference to a potential American or Israeli strike against Iran.Many times in the past, Iran has warned that it would attack US military facilities in the Gulf Arab states in the event of war.In addition to the Fifth Fleet, Qatar hosts the US Central Command, there are around 23,000 US troops based in Kuwait and some 2,000 US military personnel in the United Arab Emirates.The Mashreq website, which is close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, has said targets in the Gulf have already been selected, according to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, whose country has tried in the past to bridge the gap between Tehran and Gulf nations, said the latter should contribute to resolving the crisis.

I think all of us have an interest in not having any conflicts in the Gulf, he said recently, saying the Gulf states are obviously worried by the rising US-Iranian tension.We have experienced military conflicts and we all know that there is no winner in such conflicts, especially for the countries around the Gulf,he said.In addition to external threats, Gulf states have to deal with the threat of so-called sleeper cells that Iran is suspected of deploying across the region.We hear of preventive measures in many countries in dealing with sleeper cells belonging to Iran,Kahwaji said.The desire to avoid war is accompanied by a wish to curb Iran's increasing regional influence.There are two schools now in the Gulf, said Faraj.One completely rejects resorting to war unless imposed.The second sees the need to counter Iranian interference in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Sudan, and its fanning of sectarian tension (in the Gulf), though not necessarily through armed conflict.The second school has become stronger recently, he added.Faraj told AFP: It is the Gulf countries that will suffer the most because we are within the range of Iranian rockets,noting, along with Kahwaji that they have strategic oil installations and financial and business centres on their coasts, in close range from Iran's shores.Saudi Arabia's major oil terminal of Ras Tanura, for instance, is only some 180 kilometres (111 miles) away from Iran's shores. Abu Dhabi, another major Arab oil producer is only 220 kilometres (136 miles) away.As they wait, Gulf States are stepping up their defence purchases.Last month, Saudi Arabia signed a deal worth $29.4 billion to buy 84 US F-15 fighter jets, and upgrade 70 other jets.
Shortly afterwards, a $3.48 billion UAE armament deal came to light, including the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (Thaad).Earlier in 2011, the United States and Saudi Arabia announced a $1.7 billion deal to strengthen Patriot missile batteries, while Kuwait bought 209 missiles for $900 million.

A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.

REVELATION 13:11-18
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
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.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

REVELATION 17:1-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
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.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
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.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
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.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
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.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Pope Benedict XVI names 22 new cardinals
Associated PressBy VICTOR L. SIMPSON | AP – JAN 6,12

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI named 22 new cardinals Friday, including prelates in such key posts as New York and Hong Kong and a large group of Italians holding major Vatican positions.Cardinals are the pope's top advisers, the elite group of churchmen who will eventually elect Benedict's successor. Of the 22, 18 are under the age of 80 — raising to 125 the number of cardinals eligible to vote in the next papal conclave. Cardinals over 80 are not allowed to vote on the next pope.Other new cardinals come from Berlin, Prague, Toronto and Florence, Italy.The Vatican officials include a Brazilian prelate who heads the office for Consecrated Life.The pope announced the names with great joy following an Epiphany Mass that ended the Vatican's main Christmas celebrations. He said they will be formally elevated at a Feb. 18 ceremony in Rome.The list includes two Americans: Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the former archbishop of Baltimore.The pope named 16 Europeans as cardinals, including seven Italians. He also named Joao Braz de Aviz, a Brazilian who heads the Vatican office for religious life; John Tong Hon, bishop of Hong Kong; and George Alencherry, archbishop of the Syro-Malabar church in India.

The 18 new cardinals under 80 are:Fernando Filoni, (Italian), Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Manuel Monteiro de Castro, (Portuguese), Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
Santos Abril y Castello, (Spanish), Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major
Antonio Maria Veglio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees
Giuseppe Bertello, (Italian), President of the Government of the Vatican City State
Francesco Coccopalmerio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
Joao Braz de Aviz, (Brazil), Prefect of the Congregation for Religious
Edwin O'Brien, (United States), Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Domenico Calcagno, (Italian), President of the Apostolic Patrimony of the Holy See
Giuseppe Versaldi, (Italian), President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
George Alencherry, (Indian), Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in India
Thomas Collins, (Canadian), Archbishop of Toronto
Dominik Duka, (Czech), Archbishop of Prague
Wim Eijk, (Dutch), Archbishop of Utrecht
Giuseppe Bettori, (Italian), Archbishop of Florence
Timothy Dolan, (United States) Archbishop of New York
Thomas Woelki, (German), Archbishop of Berlin
John Tong Hon, (Chinese), Bishop of Hong Kong
AP reporter Daniela Petroff contributed from Vatican City

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.

UN alarmed at jump in Saudi executions
AFPAFP – JAN 6,12

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday said it was alarmed at the almost threefold increase in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia last year.We are alarmed at the significant increase in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in 2011, said spokesman Rupert Colville at a regular press briefing.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences.What is even more worrying is that court proceedings often reportedly fall far short of international fair trial standards, and the use of torture as a means to obtain confessions appears to be rampant, he added.At least 76 death row inmates were executed in 2011, according to an AFP count, while Amnesty International believes that Saudi Arabia carried out at least 79 executions during this period.In 2010, 27 people were executed, according to the UN, citing a report by Human Rights Watch.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, which strictly applies sharia or Islamic law.So-called cross amputation of the right hand and left foot is applied in cases of highway robbery, according to the UN.We call on the authorities to halt the use of such cruel, inhuman, degrading punishment. As a party to the Convention against Torture, Saudi Arabia is bound by the absolute prohibition against the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,Colville said.

US jobs cheer cut short by euro crisis worries
Associated PressBy CARLO PIOVANO | AP – JAN 6,12

LONDON (AP) — A strong U.S. jobs report failed to boost world markets for long on Friday as nagging worries about Europe's debt crisis dragged stocks back down and sent the euro currency to a new 16-month low.The U.S. Labor Department said employers added 200,000 jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months. The job gains cap a six-month stretch in which the U.S. economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month — something that hasn't happened since April 2006.
An improvement in the U.S. labor market is crucial for global markets because American consumer spending accounts for a fifth of the world's economic activity. A recovery in the U.S. would also mitigate the impact of the sharp slowdown in Europe.
But longer-term concerns about the euro and the region's financial system pulled stock markets back down shortly after the Wall Street open. They also pushed the euro currency to a 16-month low of $1.2681, the weakest since early September 2010.

European market indexes, which had risen on the U.S. data, turned mostly lower. Germany's DAX fell 1.0 percent to 6,036.88 while France's CAC-40 shed 0.3 percent to 3,136.05. Elsewhere, Britain's FTSE 100 eked out a 0.4 percent gain to 5,644.86.
Wall Street, which was expected to gain on the open, soon turned lower. The Dow lost 0.4 percent to 12,363. 33 while the S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to 1,276.73. Asian market indexes had earlier closed lower.A stream of poor European data continued Friday, with a drop in retail sales and economic sentiment among consumers and businesses during the key spending month of December. Unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone also remained at a worrying 10.3 percent and could worsen as the region slides back toward recession.Even strong economies like Germany were being affected by the gloom generated by the debt crisis. Industrial orders in Germany dropped sharply in November as demand from abroad dropped, nearly erasing a strong gain from the previous month. Orders were down 4.8 percent compared to the previous month, the Economy Ministry reported Friday. In October, orders rose 5 percent.Italy's benchmark 10-year bond yield edged further above 7 percent, a borrowing rate that is considered unsustainable over the longer term.Italy, along with many other European governments, has to roll over huge amounts of debt in coming months. It is trying to restore investor confidence in its public finances to get those bond yields down and pay lower rates when it raises cash from capital markets.Traders were also watching for comments from Italian Premier Mario Monti, who was holding talks Friday in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.European banks, meanwhile, are hurting due to fears that they will take big losses on their holdings of government debt and will struggle to raise new cash to plug those holes.

Trading in UniCredit, Italy's largest bank, was halted for the second straight day Thursday after the stock lost a quarter of its value in two days. The bank says it would need to offer huge discounts to investors to raise money in a new share sale. The stock was down another 6.8 percent Friday in volatile trading.Outside the eurozone, Hungary slid deeper into its own financial crisis. The Fitch Ratings agency downgraded Hungary's credit grade by a notch to BB+ — junk status — citing the country's disagreements with the EU and IMF over conditions linked to rescue loans.Hungary had to pay a staggeringly high interest rate of 10 percent on its 12-month debt in an auction Thursday, an indication it is losing investors' trust.
In Asia, stocks ended mostly lower as they reacted to the previous day's European market jitters. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed 1.2 percent lower at 8,390.35. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.2 percent at 18,593.06 and South Korea's Kospi fell 1.1 percent to 1,843.14. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Indonesia also fell. India and Singapore rose.In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 2,163.39, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 817.78.Japanese stocks are hurt by the yen's rise against the dollar, which makes exports less competitive internationally. On Friday, the dollar was steady around 77.10 yen.Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 73 cents to $101.08 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $1.41 to end Thursday at $101.81 in New York.Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
http://homelandsecurityus.com/

STOCK RESULTS JAN 5,2012

IQ-AL RASSOOLI IS ON HAGMANN AND HAGMANN REPORT TONIGHT FROM 10PM TO 12AM EST.THIS WILL BE A DON'T MISS SHOW FOR SURE.
http://www.libertybroadcastingnetwork.com/believersunderground-2/
I-Q'S SITE
http://www.al-rassooli.com/

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/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU JANUARY 05,2012

09:30 AM -2.43
10:00 AM -97.59
10:30 AM -75.25
11:00 AM -103.80
11:30 AM -77.70
12:00 PM -44.07
12:30 PM -42.38
01:00 PM -15.59
01:30 PM -15.10
02:00 PM +12.60
02:30 PM +1.40
03:00 PM -10.48
03:30 PM +0.76
04:00 PM -2.72 12,415.70

S&P 500 1281.06 +3.76

NASDAQ 2669.86 +21.50

GOLD 1,623.60 +10.90

OIL 101.70 -1.51

TSE 300 12,237.40 +10.93

CDNX 1517.46 +1.57

S&P/TSX/60 696.59 +0.55

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -42 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -97 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,598.10.OIL opens at $102.48 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -103 points at low today so far.
Dow +12 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -103 points at low today.
Dow +12 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)

CRUDE OIL +
GASOLINE +
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES
NATURAL GAS-THU -76 BCF

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.

THE PROPHECY CHRISTIAN BASHING IN THE END OF THE WORLD ON THE AGENDA WITH STEVE PAIKIN IS JUST INCREDIBLE.NO WONDER PROPHECY TEACHERS LIKE MYSELF ARE PERSECUTED SO MUCH FOR SPEAKING TRUTH.

Apocalyptic Narratives
by Mary Taws Wednesday January 4, 2012
http://theagenda.tvo.org/blog/agenda-blogs/apocalyptic-narratives
http://theagenda.tvo.org/episode/141041/its-the-end-of-the-world

One of the many reasons I found Daniel Yergin's book, The Quest, to be refreshing was because it painted an optimistic picture of the future of energy. It was the first non-fiction book I've read in quite some time after which I felt a sense of elation.At the end of many articles I read, films I watch, or podcasts I listen to, I'm usually left with a sentiment of doom. Whether the piece is about the pressures of Discovery Communications LLCprogress, international relations, the quest for oil, climate change, etc., as a reader, I feel as though the underlying thought is, One more mistake for man, one giant leap toward the apocalypse for mankind.Centuries ago, when we thought the days of energy production were over, we eventually innovated and created new technologies. Daniel Yergin acknowledges the struggles ahead, but chooses to highlight the fact that we have innovated before, and we'll do so again in the future.We do live in complex times, and the complexity of our problems often results in this mass production of films, books, and articles that end with an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty about the future. And often the fear of the unknown collapses into a depiction of a bleak tomorrow.Take Shelter is a prime example of this phenomenon. The film premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and is about a man named Curtis, who lives with his family in Ohio and is plagued by apocalyptic visions. The audience is left wondering whether or not he suffers from mental illness or whether the world is, in fact, coming to an end. One scene I can't seem to stop thinking about is a panoramic shot of Curtis standing in the middle of his backyard, catching raindrops in his hands. He smudges his fingertips together and realizes the sky is raining droplets of thick, yellow oil. The feeling of impending doom in this scene, according to the director himself, Jeff Nichols, sought to capture a very specific type of anxiety that defines our times.

After I attended the screening of Take Shelter this past fall, I stayed behind to hear a Q&A session with actress Jessica Chastain and one of the film's creative directors. The film was shot a few years ago, before the 2010 BP oil spill and nuclear disaster last year in Fukushima, Japan. Chastain remarked how the themes of the film were almost prophetic, which I thought was an interesting comment; apocalyptic narratives are, after all, prophecy based on religion or popular culture. As Chastain said, the feeling of impending doom has only become more relevant.Although theories about the end are nothing new, the rise of apocalyptic narratives are more prevalent in times of extreme change or progress. The nuclear disaster last year in Japan, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the rapid change in the Arab world have all yielded much uncertainty about what's next. The Discovery Channel explored the popularity of subscribing to apocalyptic theories in their special, Apocalypse 2012, based on the theory that the world will end on the last date of the Mayan calendar -- Dec. 21, 2012. Although this theory has been disproved, the human response to the theory is still worth examining.As I was putting this program together, I asked the twittersphere why we connect to these doomsday scenarios: What is it that we find so appealing about imagining the destruction of everything we know? Some of their answers are collected below.

Markets punish Hungary for power grab on central bank
Today JAN 5,12 @ 09:26 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - The forint hit a record low against the euro on Wednesday (4 January) and Budapest's borrowing costs spiked as the Hungarian government remained defiant on EU and street protesters' calls to roll back controversial constitutional changes.The forint fell to 319.4 against the euro, a record low after a gradual depreciation of 20 percent in the last six months, while 10-year bond yields spiked to 10.5 percent, the highest since April 2009.Hungary, the EU's most indebted eastern member, already saw its credit rating downgraded to junk in December and initiated talks for a standby loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).But the centre-right government led by Viktor Orban has pursued controversial legal changes to some of the country's independent institutions, including the central bank and media bodies, prompting IMF negotiators to walk out of talks.The laws came into force on 1 January, prompting tens of thousands of people to take to the streets on Monday and repeated warnings from the EU commission that it may take Hungary to court.The College [of EU commissioners] will decide in the coming days or weeks when or if there is an infringement, and of course the commission will act in order to make sure that the Hungarian law is in line with EU treaties,commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said on Wednesday.He added that the EU is not engaged in any bail-out talks with Budapest.

Meanwhile, Hungarian officials indicated they are willing to consider meeting the necessary demands for an EU-IMF loan, ahead of informal talks scheduled next week in Washington.We'll see what is the best solution for both parties. There are a lot of uncertainties globally,Gyula Pleschinger, a state secretary in the ministry of economy, told the Wall Street Journal. She said a precautionary loan as envisaged by Budapest would be a safety net. It could calm down markets and help our financial strength.Roland Natran, another ministry official, told the same newspaper that the country has formulated a plan to finance ourselves in the event no deal is reached.
For his part, Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the Libeal group in the EU parliament, urged the Commission to take action to ensure freedom and democracy are upheld in Hungary.It is no longer a matter of exchange of letters between the commission and the Orban government ... The time has come to initiate legal and political sanctions by the EU institutions,he said.Infringement proceedings, which can include action before the European Court of Justice as well as fines, would take several months if initiated.The EU commission on Wednesday also indicated that it is watching Hungary on its new media laws.The country's constitutional court has told its parliament it must by 31 May roll back some recent measures so that journalists can adequately protect their sources and are not forced to seek permission from contacts before they publish their quotes.

EU bank breaks pro-German tradition with new appointment 04.01.12 @ 18:04 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi has appointed former Belgian national bank boss Peter Praet as his chief economist, a job coveted by both Paris and Berlin.The post will be filled by a non-German for the first time in the bank's 13 year-old-history. It was previously filled by Juergen Stark, who resigned in September due to his opposition to the ECB's bond purchasing programme, which helped Italy and Spain lower borrowing costs.Germany also failed to secure the apppointment of one of its nationals at the helm of the bank itself after its candidate, Bundesbank chief Axel Weber, stepped out of the race for similar reasons to Stark.Berlin had originally put forward 45-year-old Joerg Asmussen, an ECB board member and a German finance ministry official who has served under both Social Democrat and Christian Democrat ministers, for the ECB chief economist job. Meanwhile, Paris angled for its treasury man and ECB board member, Benoit Coeure, to get the appointment.Under the new division of labour, Asmussen and Coeure will stay on the board but will get bigger portfolios to the detriment of their Portuguese and Spanish colleagues.Asmussen will second Draghi at all eurozone summits and meetings of EU finance ministers - something no other ECB director ever did before - as well as represent the bank in relations with international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund or the G20. He will head the increasingly important legal department and he will take over supervision of the ECB's headquarters in Frankfurt.

Portugal's Vitor Constancio looked after the headquarters in the past. He will now deal with any remaining administrative chores and oversee payment systems.Coeure will from 1 March take over the markets division, giving him direct control of ECB bond purchases.The job was previously done by Spain's Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo, who will be left with statistics and research instead.For his part, Praet, the 62-year-old Belgian academic and former central banker who carried off the chief economist post, will oversee the economic forecasting on which the ECB bases its interest rate decisions.German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble told media in Berlin on Tuesday: The new division of tasks in the ECB board is a balanced decision. The ECB is well-equipped on the personnel front for the looming challenges.Asmussen said he was satisfied with the decision.One German observer criticised Coeure's appointment as head of the bond purchasing program, however.

France has a strong interest in this and Coeure does not come from a strong independent central bank, but directly from the French ministry of finance,German Green MEP Sven Giegold told this website.The ECB has purchased bonds of some member states, of some banks, but not others. Putting a former French official in charge of this program raises even more questions. The European Parliament has repeatedly asked for full transparency as there are suspicions that some countries may have profited more and now it's high time for the ECB to publish what it buys, from whom and at what price.Giegold added that it was a reasonable decision not to make Asmussen chief economist because he does not have a strong academic background, no publications - just because you are German doesn't make you a top level economist.
Praet has a PhD in economics, has served as chief economist in top financial institutions - so he is more able to address the academic community on economic issues. But Asmussen can be quite happy. His strength is that he was the key person representing Germany in international fora - G20, G8, EU - so he is well suited to continue to go to these fora and I praise Draghi for taking him for this position.

French minister stokes divisions on EU financial tax
Today JAN 5,12 @ 09:26 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - A junior minister in the French government has predicted there will be an EU financial transactions tax by the end of 2012 in remarks likely to annoy fellow EU countries on many levels.EU affairs minister Jean Leonetti spoke out on the subject on the French LCI news channel on Wednesday (4 December), saying: It's on the agenda of the next EU summit, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have decided it and it will be put in place before the end of 2012.He added: France and Germany have already agreed on it. And I believe the new Italian government, with which we have been in contact, is not opposed. Twenty six out of 27, in fact all the EU countries except Great Britain have no objections to the idea, and except Sweden, which had a bad experiment in this area.Leonetti's prediction is more hawkish than that of earlier pro-tax advocates.The French government previously said it would put forward a study on the subject on 23 January with a view to implementation in 2013.The European Commission last September put out detailed proposals on a tax designed to capture €57 billion a year from financial companies which do business in the EU and to enter into force on 1 January 2014.The junior minister's attempt to depict the UK as a lone or near-lone opponent of the measure rubs salt into the wound of the December EU summit in which London vetoed an EU Treaty change in an attempt to get an opt-out on the tax.

Despite his auto-correction on Sweden, he understated the extent of antipathy to the scheme.When EU finance ministers last discussed the idea in November, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Spain - none of which have large financial sectors - backed the idea.But Bulgaria and the Czech Republic also voiced concerns, while Polish finance minister Jacek Rostowski at the time said the Union is very, very divided on it.For his part, Swedish minister Anders Borg said it would reduce growth and increase borrowing costs in indebted EU countries, as well as making it harder for EU banks to build up rainy day capital.Sweden unilaterally introduced a tax in the 1980s but saw a sharp decline in trading of some financial products on its territory - a precedent which indicates what might happen to the City of London if the EU goes it alone without US or Asian support.Meanwhile, Leonetti's language - that French and German leaders Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have decided it - will do little to assuage fears in smaller EU countries that the pair have hijacked power in an EU system which is supposed to work on the basis of consensus among the 27 member states on sensitive issues such as taxation.

Greece warns of euro-exit as EU economies drift apart
04.01.12 @ 09:25 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - Greece may have to exit the eurozone if it fails to secure its second EU-IMF bail-out its government has warned, amid new protests against spending cuts.
The bailout agreement needs to be signed otherwise we will be out of the markets, out of the euro,government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told Skai TV on Tuesday (3 January).The day before, doctors and pharmacists went on strike in reaction to planned spending cuts, with hospitals taking emergency cases only until Thursday.The latest €130 billion bail-out for Greece was agreed in principle by EU leaders in October, provided Athens cuts deeper into public spending, privatises some services and state-owned companies and boosts revenues by clamping down on tax evasion.The scenario of a Greek euro exit - previously a political taboo - was first raised by German and French leaders in November after the former Greek premier said he would call a referendum on the bail-out deal.The Greek parliament has already adopted a series of austerity measures, including tax rises and spending cuts. But an evaluation by the EU, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) due later this month is likely to demand more.The government spokesman on Tuesday wondered how much more Greece can cut.

We will see what the shortfall is and it is very likely that measures will be required,Kapsis said. I also don't believe it is easy to impose new taxes, but what does cutting spending mean? To close down the public sector? There is no easy solution.In his New Year's Eve address, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos warned Greek citizens of more tough times ahead.A very difficult year lies ahead of us. We must continue our efforts with decisiveness, to stay in the euro, to make sure we do not waste the sacrifices and do not turn the crisis into an uncontrolled and disastrous bankruptcy,he said.Greece's problems are being aggravated by an overall slowdown in Europe's economy.Manufacturing and employment went down in the last three months. Only Germany has registered strong economic data, with record low unemployment figures (6.8 percent), while crisis-hit Spain now has almost five million jobless people - some 21.5 percent of its workforce.Madrid also had to announce a series of fresh austerity measures after it conceded that its budget deficit for 2011 will be higher than estimated, at 8 percent of GDP.Spain, together with Italy, saw their borrowing costs rise to 'bail-out territory' last fall before extraordinary intervention by the ECB lowered them. But yields on Italian bonds are again closing in on the seven-percent threshold while Spanish yields climbed to 5.26 percent after the government announced its new deficit figures.On top of the ECB intervention, the European Financial Stability Facility - the eurozone's ad-hoc bail-out fund - is planning to raise €3 billion by selling three-year bonds for the first time.The move could be carried out as soon as this week, Bloomberg reports.

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.

EU countries preparing oil ban on Iran
04.01.12 @ 09:23 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - A Greek official has indicated that Athens would back an oil embargo on Iran, setting the stage for a positive decision by EU countries at the end of the month.The unnamed official told the Reuters and Bloomberg news wires on Tuesday (3 January) that Greece has dropped its previous opposition to the new measure.If the European Union decides to impose the sanctions, Greece will join them ... If the sanctions are imposed, we will seek other ways to ensure we continue receiving the needed supplies and that the oil market operates smoothly, he said.Greece - which buys around 35 percent of its oil from Iran - said No to the measures at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels in December. An EU diplomat at the time told EUobserver that several member states have reservations about the move because it would make oil more expensive for the EU but cheaper for Iran's Asian customers.

France has in recent weeks continued to build support for an EU embargo, however.
Its foreign minister, Alain Juppe, told France's I-Tele TV station on Tuesday there is no doubt that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons and that President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to see an oil ban as well as a freeze on Iran's central bank assets.
The US Congress voted in favour of this and the President of the United States has just approved the law. And we hope that the Europeans will take equivalent action by 30 January in order to clearly demonstrate our determination,he said, referring to the next regular meeting of foreign ministers.The EU has since 2010 already banned its companies from helping Iran to pump oil or gas, provide insurance for Iranian firms or sell weapons to the Islamic republic. It has also built up a blacklist of around 300 companies and people involved in the nuclear programme and in human rights abuses.In one sign that the sanctions are causing pain, 14 Iranian firms or groups of companies in 2011 launched law suits against the EU measures. One firm - Hanseatic Trade Trust & Shipping - won its case. Another one - Kala Naft - lost, while the rest are ongoing.The US state department in a press briefing also on Tuesday pointed out that the Iranian rial nosedived after Washington blacklisted Iran's central bank at the weekend.I ... take note of the fact that there seems to have been a significant drop in the Iranian currency, and that’s among the measures of how these sanctions are biting on the country,spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

For its part, Iran has threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz - a 34-km-wide sea passage between Oman and Iran used by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to get their oil to world markets - if its oil exports are blocked.Its military earlier this week test fired Nasr and Ghader anti-ship missiles in a show of force. Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is really easy ... or as Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water,its naval chief, Habibollah Sayyari, told the state-run Press TV on Tuesday.The sabre-rattling was matched by the US, which has a massive naval presence in the area.Nuland said in her briefing that no option is off the table including air strikes against Iranian nuclear targets. We believe in freedom of navigation through the straits and we believe in our right to move our vessels,she added.

Analysis: Iran could close Hormuz -- but not for long
ReutersBy Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent | Reuters – JAN 5,12

LONDON (Reuters) - Should Iran's rulers ever make good their threats to block the Straits of Hormuz, they could almost certainly achieve their aim within a matter of hours.But they could also find themselves sparking a punishing -- if perhaps short-lived -- regional conflict from which they could emerge the primary losers.In recent weeks, a growing number of senior Iranian military and civilian officials have warned that Tehran could use force to close the 54 km (25 mile) entrance to the Gulf if Western states impose sanctions that paralyze their oil exports.In 10 days of highly publicized military exercises, state television showed truck-mounted missiles blasting towards international waters, fast gunboats practicing attacks and helicopters deploying divers and naval commandos.Few believe Tehran could keep the straits closed for long -- perhaps no more than a handful of days -- but that alone would still temporarily block shipment of a fifth of all traded global oil, sending prices rocketing and severely denting hopes of global economic recovery.But such action would swiftly trigger retaliation from the United States and others that could leave the Islamic republic militarily and economically crippled.They can cause a great deal of mischief... but it depends how much pain they are willing to accept, says Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island.He said he believed Tehran would only take such action as a last resort: They are much more likely to threaten than to act.The true purpose of its recent saber-rattling, many analysts suspect, may be more a mixture of deterring foreign powers from new sanctions and distracting voters from rising domestic woes ahead of legislative elections in March.

With the United States signing new sanctions into law on New Year's Eve -- although they will not enter force until the middle of the year -- and the European Union considering similar steps, few expect the pressure on Tehran to let up.This is probably less a genuine military threat than a bid to put economic pressure back on the West and split Western powers over sanctions that threaten Iran's oil economy, says Henry Wilkinson, head of intelligence and analysis at London security consultants Janusian.Iran now does not have much to lose by making such a threat and a lot to gain.But many fear the more Iran is pushed into a corner, the greater the risk of miscalculation.Its ruling establishment is also widely seen as deeply divided, with some elements -- particularly the well-equipped and hardline Revolutionary Guard -- much keener on confrontation than others.

SEA MINES, MISSILES, SUBMARINES, SPEEDBOATS

I cannot see strategic sense in closing the straits, but then I do not understand the Iranian version of the rational actor, said one senior Western naval officer on condition of anonymity.(But) one can be pretty certain that they will misjudge the Western reaction... They clearly find us as hard to read as we find them.The capability to wreak at least temporary chaos, however, is unquestionably there.The U.S. Fifth Fleet always keeps one or two aircraft carrier battle groups either in the Gulf or within striking distance in the Indian Ocean.Keenly aware of conventional U.S. military dominance in the region, Iran has adopted what strategists describe as an asymmetric approach.Missiles mounted on civilian trucks can be concealed around the coastline, tiny civilian dhows and fishing vessels can be used to lay mines, and midget submarines can be hidden in the shallows to launch more sophisticated smart mines and homing torpedoes.Iran is also believed to have built up fleets of perhaps hundreds of small fast attack craft including tiny suicide speedboats, learning from the example of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels who used such methods in a war with the government.At worst, its forces could strike simultaneously at multiple ships passing out of the Gulf, leaving a string of burning tankers and perhaps also Western warships.But a more likely initial scenario, many experts believe, is that it would simply declare a blockade, perhaps fire warning shots at ships and announce it had laid a minefield.All the Iranians have to do is say they mined the straight and all tanker traffic would cease immediately,says Jon Rosamund, head of the maritime desk at specialist publishers and consultancy IHS Jane's.

RETALIATION, ESCALATION

U.S. and other military forces would find themselves swiftly pushed by shippers and consumers to force a route through with minesweepers and other warships -- effectively daring Tehran to fire or be revealed to have made an empty threat.During the so-called tanker war of the mid-1980s, Gulf waters were periodically mined as Iran and Iraq attacked each other's oil shipments.U.S., British and other foreign forces responded by escorting other nations' tankers -- as well as conducting limited strikes on Iranian maritime targets.This time, retaliation could go much further. In closing the straits, Tehran would have committed an act of war and that might prove simply too tempting an opportunity for its foes to pass up.We might well take the opportunity to take out their entire defense system, said veteran former U.S. intelligence official Anthony Cortesman, now Burke Chair of Strategy at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC.You'd almost certainly also see serious strikes on their nuclear facilities. Once the Iranians have initiated hostilities, there is no set level at which you have to stop escalation.Whilst in theory it would be possible to push heavily protected convoys through the straits even in the face of Iranian attack, few believe shippers or insurers would have the appetite for the level of casualties that could involve.

Instead, they would probably hold back until Tehran's military had been sufficiently degraded. That, Western military officers confidently say, would only be a matter of time.Anti-ship cruise missiles are mobile, yet can... be found and destroyed, said one U.S. naval officer with considerable experience in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity.Submarines are short-duration threats -- they eventually have to come to port for resupply and when they do they will be sitting ducks.

DANGEROUS GAME OF CHICKEN

Given the forces arrayed against them, many analysts believe Tehran will ultimately keep the straits open -- not least to allow their own oil exports to flow -- whilst finding other ways to needle its foes.If they did wish to disrupt shipping, they could briefly close off areas of the Gulf through declaring military exercise areas,accidentally release oil into the main channel or perhaps launch one-off and more deniable hit-and-run attacks.The rhetoric, however, looks almost certain to continue.This isn't the first time we have heard these types of threats, said Alan Fraser, Middle East analyst for London-based risk consultancy AKE.Closing of the Straits of Hormuz is the perfect issue to talk about because the stakes are potentially so high that nobody wants it to happen.Henry Smith, Middle East analyst at consultancy Control Risks, says he believes the only circumstances under which the Iranians would consider such action would be if the United States or Israel had already launched an overt military strike on nuclear facilities.Then, I think it would happen pretty much automatically, he said. The Iranians have been saying for a long time that is an option, and they would have little choice but to stick to that. But otherwise, I think it's very unlikely.For many long-term watchers of the region, the real risk remains that in playing largely to domestic audiences, policymakers in Washington, Tel Aviv and Tehran inadvertently spark something much worse than they ever intended.Both sides are talking tough, said Farhang Jahanpour, associate fellow at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University. Unfortunately it can very easily get out of hand and cause a conflagration. I blame hardliners on both sides. They are playing a very dangerous game of chicken.(Additional reporting by William Maclean)(Reporting By Peter Apps; Edited by Richard Meares)

Free Syrian Army urges Arabs to seek UN help
By Rita Daou | AFP – JAN 5,12

The Free Syrian Army on Thursday called on the Arab League to admit its observer mission to the country is a failure, urging the bloc to seek UN help to end almost 10 months of bloodshed.Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad issued the statement after the Arab League turned to the United Nations for help and admitted mistakes in the mission launched less than two weeks ago.We hope they will announce that their mission was a failure, Asaad, who is based in Turkey, said in the telephone interview with AFP in Beirut.We call on the Arab League to step aside and let the United Nations take over responsibility as it is more apt to find solutions, he added.Asaad initially said the monitors should be withdrawn. In a later conversation with AFP, he retracted that statement.Arab ministers are to discuss the mission at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday.We, and all the Syrian people, want the United Nations to step in because the Arabs are not capable of taking any real decisions when it comes to Syria. he said.

The observers have been in Syria since December 26 trying to assess the implementation by President Bashar al-Assad's regime of a peace accord aimed at ending a fierce crackdown on protests that erupted in March.The mission has come in for scathing criticism from Syrian democracy activists, who denounced it as unprofessional.Colonel Asaad said the monitors were being misled by the regime, which was using all means to circumvent the protocol it signed with the Arab League.
Authorities, for example, transferred prison inmates to army barracks where the observers are not allowed according to the protocol, said Asaad.Military vehicles are painted blue and identified as 'anti-terrorist police' to make believe that it's the police that is battling armed gangs, he said, adding soldiers were also being given police IDs.Meanwhile, Jeffrey Feltman, the US assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs, was holding talks in Cairo with the Arab League about the crisis.

Assad's regime, which accuses the United States of gross interference in Arab affairs, said it freed 552 people detained for involvement in unrest and who have no blood on their hands.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who heads an Arab League task force on Syria, discussed the deadly crackdown with UN leader Ban Ki-moon in New York on Wednesday, Kuwait's KUNA news agency reported.We are coming here for technical help and to see the experience the UN has, because this is the first time the Arab League is involved in sending monitors, and there are some mistakes, said Sheikh Hamad, according to KUNA.A UN spokesman only said Ban and the sheikh discussed practical measures by which the United Nations could support the observer mission of the Arab League in Syria.The sheikh would not say what mistakes had been made.Syrian opposition groups say the monitors have been kept under too tight a rein and that hundreds of people have been killed despite the presence of the observers.This is the first experience for us. I said we have to evaluate what sorts of mistakes have been made, said the Qatari prime minister.

There is no doubt for me. I can see there are mistakes, but we went there not to stop the killing but to monitor.The sheikh said it was Assad's job to stop the killings, which mounted on Thursday with security forces reportedly killing at least five more civilians.We need the experience from the UN and we need to see how we can evaluate if they go back, how they will work, he said, adding that Arab ministers would reassess the crisis at Sunday's meeting.France also called on the League to strengthen its mission with UN backing.We encourage the Arab League to use all means possible to strengthen this mission so that observers can move independently throughout Syrian territory and have all necessary contact with Syrian civil society, said a spokesman.The Local Coordination Committees, which organise protests, have labelled the mission as unprofessional and said Assad's regime was finding it easy to deceive its monitors.Soldiers wear police uniforms, drive repainted military vehicles and change the names of places, but this does not mean the army withdrew from cities and streets, or that the regime is applying the provisions of the Arab protocol, they said.The LCC estimate at least 390 people have been killed since the observers began their mission.The White House has said it is past time for the UN Security Council to act, but Syria denounced the US for gross interference in Arab affairs and an unjustified attempt to internationalise the issue.And, in a bid to show it is implementing the Arab roadmap, Syria announced Thursday the release of 552 prisoners, taking to almost 4,000 the number freed since the start of November.Damascus says the violence has been instigated by "armed terrorist gangs" aided from abroad, but its opponents insist their uprising began with peaceful protests inspired by the Arab Spring.However, the brutality of the crackdown has seen a growing number of defections from the military, leading to the formation of Colonel Asaad's Free Syrian Army.

A video uploaded Wednesday to YouTube shows a group of FSA fighters apparently meeting in the flashpoint city of Homs with Arab observers dressed in white caps and fluorescent orange vests.The United Nations last month estimated more than 5,000 have been killed in the crackdown since March.In a statement, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces shot dead a civilian in the Khalidiyeh neighbourhood of Homs city on Thursday and another four were gunned down in the eastern protest hub of Deir Ezzor.

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

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).

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 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

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

JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

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

Israelis, Palestinians downbeat about peace prospects
AFPAFP – JAN 5,12

Israelis and Palestinians were downbeat about peace prospects on Wednesday, a day after the two sides held their first face-to-face talks since September 2010 at a meeting in Amman.It's difficult to be optimistic because (Palestinian president Mahmud) Abbas continues to insist that Israel must commit to the 1967 lines and a settlement freeze, failing which he threatens tough measures, Israeli lawmaker Benny Begin told public radio.Abu Mazen must say clearly that he is ready for concessions and arrangements, said Begin, using Abbas's nom-de-guerre.It is very difficult to be optimistic when you know that he insists he will not recognise Israel as a Jewish state,added Begin, a minister without portfolio.Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti said in a letter from his prison cell that the peace process has failed; it's finished. It's not worth desperately trying to resuscitate a corpse.Consider 2012 as the year of massive peaceful popular resistance against colonialism, aggression, the Judaisation of Jerusalem, the blockade and roadblocks,Barghuti, who is serving several life terms for anti-Israeli attacks, was quoted by the Palestinian press as saying.Mahmud al-Aloul, a leader of Abbas's Fatah movement, delivered the same message at a rally in Ramallah.

The Israelis have dashed our hopes and those of the Jordanians by coming with empty hands, without new ideas and unready for a solution,he said.Tuesday's talks were the first direct discussions between the two sides for more than 15 months, and were hailed as positive,though no breakthrough emerged.They come as the Middle East peace Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- try to kick start negotiations that ground to a halt shortly after they began in September 2010 over the issue of settlement construction.Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement on Wednesday that more meetings were expected to follow Tuesday's talks during January.But he reiterated the Palestinian position that negotiations could not resume without a freeze on settlement construction and a framework for talks based on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War.He urged the Israeli government to announce a settlement freeze, including in east Jerusalem, and accept the principle of a two-state solution on the 1967 borders, to give Jordan's efforts to resume negotiations the chance they deserve.Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli minister and one of the initiators of the Oslo peace accords, told Israeli public radio that he was pessimistic.The discussions being embarked upon are in vain and doomed to failure,he said.The two parties may indeed continue to meet, but they don't have the slightest chance of reaching even a minimum agreement,he added.The Quartet must change direction and propose an interim agreement on the borders.None of Israel's Hebrew-language papers even reported the talks on their front pages.The Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and the Quartet all expressed such low expectations that they were able to conclude that it was a good and useful meeting,the left-leaning Haaretz said in a sardonic editorial.The militant Palestinian Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, slammed Abbas's negotiators for not submitting their policies to movements outside Fatah.They represent only their authors and in no way the Palestinian people,it said.

Jerusalem may outsource areas behind the wall
By Jonah Mandel | AFP – JAN 5,12

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat has voiced support for a scheme that could see responsibility for areas in the city's eastern Arab sector transferred to the Israeli body which runs civil affairs in the West Bank.The scheme, one of a number of options being considered, would affect areas of the city that are on the other side of Israel's controversial security barrier, but which technically remain within the municipal boundaries of the Holy City.The mayor is examining different alternatives for dealing with the difficulties emanating from the lack of compatibility between the security barrier and the municipal borders of Jerusalem in regard to services provided to residents, said a municipality statement sent to AFP earlier this week.The barrier does not follow the municipal boundaries of the city and the city council says it creates a logistical problem in service provision.But the Palestinians and an Israeli rights group have hit out at the scheme as a ploy to ensure the city's demographic balance stays firmly in Israel's favour by pushing out east Jerusalem residents.Israel refers to all of Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital, even the Arab eastern sector which it occupied during the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed, and any talk of re-dividing the city is completely taboo.But the city says the scheme does not include changing the borders or the municipal territory of Jerusalem and that the rationale behind the plan is a technical swap of responsibility between the city and the Civil Administration in order to provide services to residents on both sides of the barrier.The Civil Administration is the Israeli body which carries out all practical bureaucratic functions relating to the Palestinians in the West Bank.Barkat has consistently vowed he would never divide the city, so his support for such a scheme would indicate a softening of his position in light of the de facto limits defined by the barrier.Barkat first raised the issue of outsourcing the areas beyond the barrier in a speech last month. We must relinquish areas of the municipality that are located outside of the fence, the English-language Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying.

Since the barrier went up, the Arab neighbourhoods which found themselves on the eastern side have been increasingly cut off from basic services such as rubbish collection, health services, policing and even veterinary services.The lack of municipal services there is very grave, said Aryeh Dayan, a research for the NGO Ir Amim, which works for an equitable sharing of Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians.Our impression is that the municipality has lost completely its interest in these areas: almost no collection of rubbish, no repair of roads, no street lighting, very poor educational services and almost no health services, he said.The city says the problem stems from a security problem in providing services to residents and that its officials cannot go there without police or army protection.The biggest neighbourhoods which are affected are Kufr Aqeb, Samiramis and Shuafat refugee camp as well as several other districts which are home to at least 70,000 Jerusalem residents, Ir Amim says.Transferring responsibility to the Civil Administration was unlikely to mean that residents would automatically lose their blue Jerusalem ID cards, Dayan said, but he warned that such a scheme would be a huge step in that direction.Knowing that Israeli policy is aimed at maintaining the demographic balance in the city, we are afraid the decision could be a huge step towards a further decision to abolish the residency rights of tens of thousands of Palestinian Jerusalemites, he said.

Khalil Tufakji, a prominent Palestinian cartographer and expert on Israel's settlement policies, said the plan falls within an Israeli policy to get rid of east Jerusalem citizens.The wall in east Jerusalem is not for security reasons but for demographic reasons, he said, pointing to an Israeli law which states that anyone who wishes to keep their residency must prove their centre of life is in Jerusalem.
Those people have two choices: either to get back into Jerusalem -- and this is a problem because there is no room -- or stay in the West Bank and lose their ID. This is the Israeli goal.A municipal spokesman refused to be drawn on whether the scheme would involve the residents losing their blue Jerusalem residency ID.There are some 270,000 Palestinians living in east Jerusalem, who make up around 35 percent of the entire population of the city which stands at more than 780,000.

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.

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

German Volcano Could Devastate Europe-Yahoo! Contributor Network By Charles Simmins | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Jan 3, 2012

The Daily Mail stirs up some Euro anxiety with a headline today Is a super-volcano just 390 miles from London about to erupt? The story talks about the little known Laacher See volcano in northwestern Germany. It last erupted about 12,000 years ago and the Daily Mail believes it is due to erupt again.It is not considered extinct, merely inactive. An eruption of the Laacher See volcano would destroy much of Europe as we know it. London is 390 miles away. The German capital of Bonn is about 25 miles away.The potential eruption of the Laacher See volcano is not the only geologic threat to the industrialized nations.

Tokai Earthquake -- Japan

The Japanese have been preparing for the big one, a massive earthquake, for years. The earthquake and tsunami that resulted in the Fukushima nuclear accident was not it. Southwest of Tokyo, offshore, lies a fault that ruptures every 100 to 150 years, the Tokai. The last major earthquake on the fault was in 1854. It's due. It is expected to be a greater magnitude than the Fukushima event, and to generate a massive tsunami. Damage to Japan would be far greater than in 2011 which was primarily confined to the rural north of Honshu Island.

New Madrid Earthquake -- United States

In 1811-1812, the Mississippi Valley was rocked by a series of earthquakes. Based on accounts from the era, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the area with severe shaking was 10 times greater than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Much of the region was sparsely inhabited but buildings collapsed in cities such as Cincinnati and St. Louis. Memphis, Tenn., with its metro population of more than 1 million people, is at greatest risk from the next New Madrid earthquake. The historic record suggests millions of other Americans in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys are also at risk.

Yellowstone Volcano -- United States

In the last 2.1 million years, the Yellowstone region of Wyoming has produced three large volcanic eruptions. The last was 640,000 years ago. Lava has been produced by the volcano as late as 70,000 years ago. The largest eruption of the Yellowstone volcano produced an ash deposit that covered all or parts of sixteen western states. From Dallas to Denver to Los Angeles to Minneapolis, a new eruption of this size would bury both major cities and much of the cropland of the United States.

San Andreas Fault -- United States

The most famous earthquake fault in the U.S. is California's San Andreas. It consists of a large fault and a network of smaller faults that underlay California from San Francisco south. Since the first recorded earthquake in the state in 1759, California has become famous for its shaking. Still, the big one has yet to hit along the San Andreas. The USGS predicts an 82 percent chance of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Los Angeles by 2038. It predicts an earthquake of at least magnitude 7.5 has a 46 percent chance of happening, in Southern California, in that same time frame. Los Angeles County has 9.8 million residents as of the 2010 Census. The potential effects of a major earthquake along the San Andreas are mind boggling.

Landslide kills 25 in Philippine mining area
ReutersReuters – JAN 5,12

MANILA (Reuters) - A landslide buried shanty houses in a mining area on a southern Philippine island, killing at least 25 people and leaving dozens missing, local disaster and security officials said on Thursday.The incident, the second one in Pantukan town in almost nine months, took place near the Kingking area on the southern island of Mindanao, said to be one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits.Government officials said there had been cracks in the mountains, caused by earlier landslides, and rain over the past weeks could have loosened soil. Last month, Typhoon Washi and the flash floods it caused on Mindanao island killed more than 1,200 people.The latest landslide hit before dawn, burying people under loosened soil and boulder, said Lieutenant-Colonel Leopoldo Galon, an army spokesman. He added that 16 people were also pulled out from under rubble and rushed to a nearby hospital.Still, about 100 people remained unaccounted for, security and local officials said.

There was no rain but we were awakened by rocks falling into the roofs of our house, Saul Pinggoy, a small-scale miner, told radio station dzMM.It was dark but we decided to move to safer grounds. Hours later, we saw tons of soil burying dozens of houses, he said, adding that residents were using shovels and their bare hands to look for missing relatives and friends under debris.The government's mines bureau has listed the copper-gold and gold mining operations in Kingking as one of its priority investment projects.But the Philippines last year banned small-scale mining in the area due to safety hazards.Pinggoy said they had been warned by the government to relocate to safer areas, but many people had ignored the warnings and continued small-scale mining operations, often illegal and unregulated.Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster agency, said soldiers were sent to help the rescue and recovery operations while army helicopters were dispatched to airlift injured miners to hospitals.The landslides hit three clusters of shanty towns in Barangay Napnapan, destroying dozens of houses around 3-4 a.m. local time on Thursday.In April 2011, about 20 people were killed in the same town of Pantukan in rain-induced mudslides.
The Philippines sits on an estimated $1 trillion (640 billion pounds) untapped mineral deposits, but has only targeted to attract $1 billion in mining investment last year.(Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/questions-ww3-whats-coming.html (WW3 COMPLETE HAPPENINGS)

AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

South Korea says ready for talk with hostile North
ReutersBy Jeremy Laurence and Christine Kim | Reuters – JAN 5,12

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea reached out to rival North Korea on Thursday, nearly three weeks after the death of the North's iron-fisted ruler Kim Jong-il, saying it wanted to reopen dialogue despite the North's vitriolic outbursts.We are open to dialogue with North Korea, Foreign Minister.Kim Sung-Hwan told a news briefing in the South Korean capital, Seoul. The ball is now in North Korea's court.He said it appeared North Korea had not yet decided on its postures in dealing with the outside world.We are not in a position to tell what is happening in North Korea, he added, saying Kim's youngest son and chosen great successor, Kim Jong-un, appeared intent, for now, on exerting his influence over the military.The outside world knows little about the North, and both the United States and its ally South Korea appeared to be caught off guard when state media announced Kim Jong-il's death last month.The North has closed its borders since Kim's death, completely cutting it off from the outside world, although South Korean officials say they are unaware of any troubles in the hermit state.So far, its seems there are no big problems (with the succession process),South Korean Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik told a separate news conference in Seoul. The ministry handles relations with the North.

CHINA URGED TO ACT

Since Kim's state funeral last week, the North has returned to using bellicose language against its neighbor, assailing conservative President Lee Myung-bak and his government for lacking the decency to mourn the death of a compatriot leader.
The North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on Thursday it was impossible to improve inter-Korean relations as long as the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors stays in office.Lee angered North Korea by cutting off aid when he took office in 2008, and demanding nuclear disarmament and economic reform as conditions for food aid and political engagement.The top U.S. diplomat for East Asian affairs, Kurt Campbell, told reporters in Seoul that an essential component of any U.S.-North Korean talks was an improvement of inter-Korean relations.Campbell, on his first visit to North Asia since Kim's death, also called on the North's main benefactor China to make clear the importance of restraint by the new North Korean leadership.Analysts say Kim Jong-un could take action, such as a military attack or more nuclear or missile tests, to burnish his credentials as a militaristic leader in the same mould as his father and grandfather.

SOLIDIFYING SUCCESSION

Over the last few months, officials from North and South Korea and the United States have met for a series of bilateral talks aimed at restarting stalled aid-for-disarmament talks.The talks contributed to an easing of tension on the peninsula after 50 South Koreans were killed in two separate attacks a year earlier.Washington appeared to be on the verge of resuming sending food aid to the impoverished North, and there were high hopes Pyongyang was prepared to halt its nuclear programs and allow the return of international nuclear inspectors.Such moves by North Korea, which has twice tested nuclear devices, were preconditions set by South Korea and the United States for resuming the six-party talks, which offer the North aid and diplomatic contacts in return for disabling its nuclear weapons program.The six party talks, involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, have been stalled since 2008 when the North walked away from the deal.Unification Minister Yu said that the impoverished North stood to gain massive aid if it makes a wise choice and determination to engage in dialogue.The South's Foreign Ministry said in its annual report issued on Thursday that its main goal this year was to maintain stability on the peninsula as the North sought to solidify the succession process.To that end, the government will strengthen cooperation with involved nations, including the United States, China, Russia and Japan,the ministry said.
(Editing by Robert Birsel)