I MADE MY VOTE COUNT FOR THE CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN MY AREA. TRUE CHRISTIANS IF YOU HAVE A CHRISTIAN PARTY IN YOUR AREA VOTE FOR IT, IF NOT VOTE THE CONSERVATIVES. CANADA WE NEED MORAL PEOPLE IN OFFICE. A GODLY MAN PROMOTES GOODNESS IN OFFICE AND A GODLESS MAN PROMOTES IMMORALITY IN OFFICE....CANADA YOU CHOOSE! BE LIKE ME VOTE FOR GODLY MORALS NOT GODLESS MORALS.
After 5-week campaign, voters have final say Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | 11:16 AM ET CBC News
Canadians went to the polls Tuesday to elect the next government after a five-week campaign that culminated Thanksgiving weekend with party leaders bounding across the country in an effort to sway undecided voters.Residents in Newfoundland and Labrador were the first to cast their ballots, beginning at 8:30 a.m. local time. Voting in the Maritime provinces began half an hour later, while voters in the key battlegrounds of Ontario and Quebec began casting their ballots at 9:30 a.m. local time.Voting also got underway in Manitoba at 8:30 a.m. local time, and in Saskatchewan at 7:30 a.m. local time.Albertan voters began casting their ballots an hour after their counterparts in Saskatchewan, with British Columbia being the last province to open its polling stations at 7 a.m. local time. Polling stations in each riding are open for 12 hours, with opening and closing times varying by region.
Voting results for the country's 40th general election will not be made public until after the polls close in British Columbia at 7 p.m. PT.Nearly 1.5 million Canadians made their selection during three days of advance polling. A substantial number were members of Jewish communities who celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, which begins on election day.Elections Canada said the number of voters casting their ballots in advance polls was slightly down from the Jan. 23, 2006, vote, but suggested it's unlikely a sign of voter apathy.The advance polls are not a great indicator of anything except for weather — and whether or not people believe it's going to be a good day on election day, said Election Canada spokesman Dana Doiron.There are a total of 1,601 candidates from 19 parties vying for the 308 House of Commons seats. None of the five major parties — Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc Québécois and Greens — are running a full slate of candidates.
Elections Canada reminds voters to bring ID
Tuesday marks the first general election in which voters must present identification at the polling stations. In terms of physical ID, voters have two choices:Government-issued photo ID with an address (but not a passport). Two pieces of ID without a photo, as long as one has your address. These can be bills, a health card or a library card. Voters can also register by taking an oath and having another registered voter in the same polling division vouch for them under oath.Elections Canada officials worry delays could turn some people off voting.It's not only an inconvenience but if it does happen on election day, it could actually — if they've left it till the last minute — mean the difference between voting and not voting," said Doiron.
5-week campaign
Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean to dissolve Parliament on Sept. 7, arguing that his Conservatives were unable to govern because they had reached an impasse with opposition parties.Harper's Conservatives had the longest uninterrupted minority government in Canada's history, with two years and nearly seven months in office.When the election was called, the Conservatives held 127 seats, the Liberals had 95, the Bloc Québécois held 48 and the NDP 30. Independents held three seats, while another four were vacant.Days before the election call, B.C. Liberal-turned-Independent MP Blair Wilson joined the Greens, giving them their first representative in the Commons.
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.
California battered by wind-whipped wildfires By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER, Associated Press Writer OCT 14,08
LOS ANGELES - Powerful winds stoked three major wildfires on Tuesday morning after destroying dozens of homes, forcing thousands to flee and killing two people. The fires have charred nearly 15 square miles in suburban Los Angeles and northern San Diego County in three days, with the fiercest blazes burning in the San Fernando Valley.More than 2,000 firefighters and a fleet of water- and retardant-dropping aircraft battled a 5,000 acre fire in canyons on the west end of the valley and another 5,300-acre fire at the northeast end. Both were burning brightly Tuesday morning, sending flames skyward.Santa Ana winds were gusting at 50 mph in parts of the valley Tuesday morning, county fire officials said.Another 3,000 acres were scorched by Tuesday morning in Camp Pendleton, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,400 homes at the huge San Diego County Marine base and in nearby Oceanside, according to the base's Web site. The fast-growing blaze had yet to burn any structures on the base.Firefighters had little to no containment of any of the fires early Tuesday.The fire wants to make its way to the coast, and we're going to do our level best to stop it, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. Two-thirds of our department is on the line.The California Highway Patrol expected snarled traffic Tuesday morning. In San Bernardino, Interstate 215 was closed in both directions as firefighters dealt with separate fires in the area.The 118 Ronald Reagan Freeway was closed again Tuesday as smoke and flames approached the roadway.
The freeway was the scene of a fatal wreck Monday when a tow truck rear-ended a car and killed the driver. California Highway Patrol Officer Leland Tang said traffic stalled because firefighters were going by as fire neared the route.A second fatality was discovered Monday in the rugged canyonlands below the mountainous Angeles National Forest. The victim was a man who appeared to be a transient living with a dog in a makeshift shelter, officials said. Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa said it would take some time to identify the victim.Authorities confirmed more than three dozen mobile homes burned in the west end of the valley and 19 structures — some of them homes — were destroyed at the northeast end. Commercial sites burned in both fires.Fire officials alerted other communities to the west in the Ventura County city of Simi Valley and south to Malibu, 20 miles away, as an ominous plume streamed over neighborhoods and far out to sea.A fire broke out near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County Tuesday morning and forced the evacuation of about 300 homes in the town of Campo, said Sheriff's Lt. Anthony Ray. It had burned about 150 acres on both side of Highway 94 but no structures have been burned and no one has been injured, Ray said.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and urged residents to be prepared for anything.Winds are causing fire conditions to change by the hour, which is why it is so important that residents in the areas surrounding these wildfires heed warnings from public safety officials to evacuate, Schwarzenegger said.Residents were not allowed to drive into one of Porter Ranch's gated communities, so they parked their cars, ran to their homes and carried out whatever they could carry in pillow cases, in their arms, sacks and suitcases. Some ran out clutching paintings.In nearby Twin Lakes, a neighborhood of narrow streets perched above the 118 Freeway, the fire raced through the community of about 95 homes, destroying at least four. Matthew Vitiello, 46, stuck it out with his two dogs as embers rained down around him and a nearby home burned. Asked why he decided not to evacuate, Vitiello pointed to a pine tree across the street. If that sucker goes, then it's time for me to go, he said. An estimated 1,200 people were evacuated. Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Savage said 37 or 38 mobile homes were destroyed and various industrial sites also burned. We could have had an army there and it would not have stopped it, Battalion Chief Mario Rueda said. Wind is king here, it's dictating everything we are doing.The dry and warm Santa Ana winds typically blow into Southern California between October and February, priming vegetation for fires by slashing moisture levels. Last October, fires fanned by Santa Anas destroyed 2,196 homes and burned a combined 800 square miles in Southern California. Associated Press writers Greg Risling, Thomas Watkins, Alicia Chang, Terence Chea, Christina Hoag, John Rogers and Chelsea Carter contributed to this report.
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.
New tropical depression, Omar form in Caribbean OCT 14,08
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new tropical storm and a tropical depression formed early Tuesday in the Caribbean Sea, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) report. Newly formed Tropical Storm Omar was located in the eastern Caribbean, moving east-southeast before an expected turn to the northeast later Tuesday.Omar's maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph, with gradual strengthening forecast over the next 48 hours.Computer models showed Omar eventually tracking northeast across the Caribbean and into the Atlantic.Meanwhile, Tropical Depression 16, located in the western Caribbean near the Nicaragua/Honduras border, was moving northwest at 7 mph with maximum sustained winds near 30 mph, but the system could become Tropical Storm Paloma on Wednesday, NHC said.Most computer forecast tracks showed Tropical Depression 16 moving in a westerly direction across Honduras on Thursday.Neither system was expected to threaten key oil and natural gas producing areas of the Gulf of Mexico.(Reporting by Joe Silha; editing by John Picinich)
Tropical Storm Omar forms in eastern Caribbean OCT 14,08
MIAMI - The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Omar has formed as the 15th named storm of the Atlantic season. Omar formed Tuesday in the eastern Caribbean to the south of Puerto Rico and is expected to gradually strengthen over the next 48 hours.A tropical storm watch was in effect for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the far eastern portion of the Dominican Republic.At 11 a.m. EDT, the storm had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph. Its center was about 355 miles southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and moving east-southeast near 2 mph. It is expected to turn gradually to the east and then northeast later Tuesday.
Tropical Storm Nana fades but new systems develop Mon Oct 13, 2:16 PM ET
MIAMI (Reuters) - The 14th tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season faded rapidly on Monday but two new tropical systems developed in the Caribbean, threatening Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and also Central America. Tropical Storm Nana, which developed on Sunday roughly midway between the Cape Verde Islands off Africa and the Caribbean, succumbed to adverse atmospheric conditions and weakened into a tropical depression on Monday morning.It was expected to dissipate within a day or so, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.The 15th tropical depression of the season, meanwhile, formed around 340 miles southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Miami-based hurricane center said.It was expected to drift northwestward for a while before strengthening into a tropical storm and getting the name Omar, and would then shoot off to the northeast near Puerto Rico and potentially grow into a hurricane over the open Atlantic.Neither the remains of Nana nor the new tropical depression were considered a threat to the United States or the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico.However, a third tropical weather system was developing in the western Caribbean off the coast of Nicaragua and could affect Central America, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the Cayman Islands or western Cuba, U.S. forecasters said.If that system strengthened into a tropical storm with winds of at least 39 miles per hour (63 km per hour), it would be called Paloma.The 2008 hurricane season has lived up to forecasts that it would be a busy one. An average season spawns 10 storms, of which six strengthen into hurricanes.The United States, in particular, and the oil fields off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, have been in the firing line this year. Hurricane Gustav slammed ashore near New Orleans, the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike hit Houston.It has also been a deadly season for Haiti, where more than 800 people were killed as the impoverished Caribbean nation was swamped by Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike, and a damaging season for Cuba, which was raked by Gustav and Ike.(Reporting by Michael Christie, Editing by Jim Loney and David Wiessler)
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Strong earthquake jolts eastern Greece
www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-14 15:02:53
ATHENS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A strong earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted northeastern Greece early Tuesday morning, with no immediate report of damage and injuries. The quake, recorded at 5:06 a.m. local time, struck in the sea region of the coastal town of Mantoudi, Evia Island. Two smaller earthquakes took place a few minutes later. People in the capital city of Athens felt the strong shocks. Seismologists predicted many more aftershocks would follow.Editor: Sun yunlong
CNN NEWS VIDEO
http://edition.cnn.com/video/
YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video
MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F
ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461
FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074
FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045
AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529
BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918
REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704
AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091
CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE OCT 14,2008
09:30 AM +74.63
10:00 AM +195.06
10:30 AM +118.12
11:00 AM +47.31
11:30 AM +54.00
12:00 PM +70.57
12:30 PM +58.22
01:00 PM +39.82
01:30 PM -10.36
02:00 PM -55.47
02:30 PM -134.32
03:00 PM -250.73
03:30 PM -134.25
04:00 PM -76.62 9310.99
S&P 500 998.01 -5.34
NAS 1779.01 -65.24
GOLD 839.2 -3.3
OIL 79.11 -2.08
TSE 300 +873.03 9,938.19
CDNX +78.89 1,054.70
S&P/TSX 60 +55.25 601.50
MARKETS AT THE CLOSE
-To far,to fast.
-Dow swings in 700 point range Up 407 at high, down 302 at low.
-Credit/macro backdrop obscured earnings:Now they matter.
-Is Intel fairly priced? Who Knows.
-Panic at the bottom.
-Investors pull $8.8BILLION from stock mutual funds on Friday.
-October outflows so far $55.8BILLION (RECORD).
TSE was up 1100 points in early trading in Canada today.
EU SUMMIT READ AND SAROZY IN FRENCH SPEECH
http://www.ue2008.fr/PFUE/lang/en/accueil/PFUE-10_2008/PFUE-12.10.2008/sommet_pays_zone_euro_declaration_plan_action_concertee
WELL PEOPLE THE WORLD IS GOING BY THE EU PLAN, GOD DOES NOT LIE. REPENT AND GIVE JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD THE PRAISE AND GLORY FOR TELLING US HISTORY IN ADVANCE SO WE KNOW WHAT WILL BE HAPPENING IN THE LAST DAYS.(OUR DAY)
Trichet: This is time for immediate action| 14 Oct 2008 | 01:36 PM ET
NEW YORK - The world's central banks are doing everything they can to pump cash into the global financial system and thaw frozen lending, Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, said Tuesday.This is time for immediate action to rescue financial markets, Trichet said in a speech to the Economic Club in New York .His remarks came after the U.S. announced a $250 billion plan to directly buy shares in the U.S.'s leading banks and stave off a financial crisis that threatened to push the global economy into recession.Trichet called for improved risk management and more transparency at private companies, saying repeatedly that the crisis could not be left to policymakers alone to solve.This is no time for complacency, he said, adding that while public authorities must be alert, decisive and effective, private institutions must behave wisely and prudently.He called the explosion in subprime mortgages the trigger for a crisis that came about because risk had been underpriced.We knew there would be a correction, he said. The way the correction operated was something that was very challenging for central bankers.
EU approves Britain's banking bailout Tue Oct 14, 6:52 AM ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission has approved a British half-trillion-pound bank rescue plan intended to stabilise financial markets. The EU's executive arm said in a statement overnight on Monday that it found the measures to be compatible with EU state aid rules, because they were an appropriate means to remedy a serious disturbance in the UK economy, while avoiding unnecessary distortions of competition.
The three-part package also makes available 200 billion pounds (349 billion dollars) in short-term loans and another 250 billion pounds to guarantee loans between banks.
The government also said it would make taxpayers' money available to buy shares in troubled banks, providing them with fresh capital in a bid to prevent a collapse of the banking system.On Monday, the British government pumped 37 billion pounds into three struggling banks, sending world stocks soaring.The government hopes the measures will overcome the reluctance of banks to lend to each other, which is at the root of the current crisis.The European Commission, having scrutinised the package under a new accelerated procedure over the weekend, said it would provide new capital to eligible banks and building societies, guarantee short and medium term debt to encourage inter-bank lending and offer liquidity to banks under strict conditions.
TSX soars more than 1,600 points at trading opening,Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | 10:43AM ET CBC News
Canada's main stock exchange jumped a breathtaking 1,600 points at the opening of trading Tuesday, mimicking the optimism showing one day earlier as the New York exchange posted its largest-ever one-day gain.The TSX hit 10,665.34 at the opening bell, a spike of more than 17 per cent. The Canadian market played catch-up to the stellar day posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Index on Monday.The Dow Jones popped more than 936 points on the week's first trading session, partially reflecting improved feelings about the economy as word leaked out that Washington wanted to invest directly in the country's distressed financial sector.The U.S. bellwether index continued its strong performance on Tuesday as it rose 233 points at the opening of the trading day.Canada's markets were closed on Monday because of Thanksgiving.U.S. President George W. Bush announced Tuesday that Washington will spend $250 billion US purchasing shares in American financial institutions as a way to restoring confidence in the beleaguered U.S. lending sector.The Bank of Canada said it strongly welcomes the decisive actions announced today by the U.S. authorities, and Canada's economy and financial system will benefit directly.
Equities enjoy gains
So far, Canadian investors have benefited from the news as equities enjoyed gains across the board. Shares in Bombardier reached $4.63, a rise of 32 per cent. The Royal Bank of Canada shares were up 12 per cent, reaching $45.93, and Talisman Energy shares gained a third, spiking to $13.19.Talisman and other energy issues also benefited from higher oil prices, which rose $3.37 a barrel for November delivery. Crude currently costs $84.56 a barrel.The Canadian loonie gained in response to the suddenly improved prospects for the American economy and higher oil prices.The dollar was up 1.28 cents compared to Monday's close, reaching 88.43 US. At its morning high point, the loonie was 3.74 cents above where the currency closed Friday.The Canadian currency fell back slightly as the morning progressed, and stood at 87.76, up 0.62 of a cent.
Europe spends trillions in historic bank rescue
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today OCT 14,08 @ 09:52 CET
In a violent swerve away from the laissez-faire capitalism that has underpinned Western society for the past three decades, EU states on Monday (13 October) outlined the details of a historic state bail-out of Europe's financial sector. The total size of the rescue promise remains fuzzy, with newspapers across the continent totting up the the mind-boggling sums announced in slightly different ways. But Europe has so far announced the release of around €2 trillion to save banks from collapse in the biggest government intervention in markets since the creation of the post-war welfare state. On Monday afternoon, the governments of Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain unveiled bail-out packages that hovered near the annual public spending budgets of the countries involved.Germany promised its financial sector up to €500 billion. France, €360 billion. The Netherlands will spend €200 billion and Spain and Austria will each dole out €100 billion a piece. The sums come atop the €640 billion (£500bn) already announced in the UK.Meanwhile the 10 other members of the eurozone - along with Sweden and Poland - were preparing bail-out announcements to be made ahead of the start of the European summit on Wednesday. The bail-outs are to be modeled on the €640 billion UK scheme, which comprised three elements: a guarantee of bank debts, a flush of liquidity via short term loans and a partial-nationalisation of the banks through the purchase of equity in the institutions.The amounts apportioned to each element vary from country to country, tailored to the specifics of the crisis as it appears in each member state, although the bulk of the funds are earmarked for bank debt guarantees.In what could be described as a defibrillation of an economy in cardiac arrest, the plans hope to shock banks into lending to each other and other businesses again. Earlier, failed efforts focussed on deposit guarantees and central bank injections of liquidity.
United Europe has pledged more than the US, French President Sarkozy said, as he announced the €360 billion his country plans to put forward for approval by the French parliament later this week. Some €40 billion of the money will be spent on purchasing parts of weak banks.Nothing will be spared to prevent the crisis getting any worse, he told reporters.
Devil and detail
Germany is to spend most of its announced funds on guaranteeing medium-term lending between banks, with €70 billion set aside for bank recapitalisation, a figure that could be increased by a further €10 billion if needed.Some €85 billion in Austria will be used to guarantee interbank lending and the rest for bank recapitalisation, while Spain is to focus on guaranteeing bank debt. The banking sector in the Iberian country, as in France, is believed to be in a stronger state than the rest of Europe - despite the implosion of the Spanish housing market - with Madrid saying yesterday that no funds have to be spent on bank share purchases.Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced €200 billion in inter-bank loans. Italy has yet to announce the details of its package, although Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti said his country was ready to spend as much as necessary, while the Italian central bank will purchase up to €40 billion of banks' debt.Portugal has already announced a €20 billion loan-guarantee scheme. The Scandinavian countries are preparing their own bail-out packages, although they have said that bank recapitalisation will not be necessary there.Norway, which is not an EU member state, announced a €41 billion package on Sunday, while Sweden plans to announce bank deposit guarantee legislation shortly. Denmark has guaranteed all bank deposits and loans between banks.By the end of the day, the emergency manoeuvres seemed to be working, as European stock markets, which saw enormous declines last week, soared on Monday, while interbank lending rates eased significantly.
Government moves again to unclog credit lines By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer OCT 14,08
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday announced a $250 billion plan by the government to directly buy shares in the nation's leading banks, saying the drastic steps were not intended to take over the free market but to preserve it.Nine major banks will participate initially including all of the country's largest institutions, he announced, in a move that sent stocks soaring on Wall Street.Some of the nation's largest banks had to be pressured to participate by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who wanted healthy institutions that did not necessarily need capital from the government to go first as a way of removing any stigma that might be associated with banks getting bailouts.We regret having to take these actions, Paulson said. Today's actions are not what we ever wanted to do — but today's actions are what we must do to restore confidence to our financial system.It was the latest in a long series of moves taken by the administration and the Federal Reserve over the past several weeks to prop up a weakening financial industry. The economic picture in the United States had been darkening for months, but the slump took on new urgency — and had greater global repercussions — amid record-setting selloffs on Wall Street and enactment of a $700 billion bailout bill.Under the new multifaceted stabilization program described Tuesday, the government will initially buy stocks in nine major U.S. banks. When financial markets stabilize and recover, the banks are expected to buy the stock back from the government, Bush said in brief remarks from the White House Rose Garden.These efforts are designed to directly benefit the American people by stabilizing the financial system and helping the economy recover, he said.Paulson told a Treasury Department news conference that the aggressive government intervention was what we must do to restore confidence in our financial system.The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, announced that it will begin buying vast amounts of short-term debt on Oct. 27 — its latest effort to break through a credit clog. The Fed is invoking Depression-era emergency powers to buy commercial paper — a crucial short-term funding that many companies rely on to pay their workers and buy supplies. Last week the Fed said it intended to take the action but didn't specify when.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke welcomed all the new steps and said he believes they will help ease problems plaguing financial markets and threatening the economy. However, he also made clear that policymakers would continue to take actions as needed to battle the crisis.Our strategy will continue to evolve and be refined as we adapt to new developments and the inevitable set backs, he said. But we will not stand down until we have achieved our goals of repairing and reforming our financial system and thereby restoring prosperity to our economy.The needs of our economy require that our financial institutions not take this new capital to hoard it, but to deploy it, Paulson said, meaning that they will use the money to bolster lending to each other and to their customers.Government owning a stake in any private U.S. company is objectionable to most Americans — me included, he added. Yet the alternative of leaving businesses and consumers without access to financing is totally unacceptable.
Said Bernanke: We will not stand down until we have achieved our goals of repairing and reforming our financial system and thereby restoring prosperity to our economy.
The move, in effect a partial nationalization of the banking system, does put the United States in the awkward position of owning shares in institutions it also regulates. The shares purchased by the government are expected to be nonvoting ones.
The government's role will be limited and temporary, Bush pledged. These measures are not intended to take over the free market but to preserve it. He said these steps and other related actions echoed similar bold moves made overseas in an effort to prevent a global recession. Bush said that by restoring confidence in the system, the hope is to return our economy back to the road of growth and prosperity.He said that the efforts to rescue the nation's battered financial sector was a short-term move to help banks to be able to begin lending again.Executives of the country's biggest banks were summoned to a remarkable meeting at the Treasury Department on Monday to be briefed on the plan. Paulson basically told the bank CEOs that they had to accept the government stock purchases for the good of the U.S. economy. The administration plans to spend $250 billion this year on the stock purchases and the president certified Tuesday that another $100 billion would be needed in connection with covering bad assets. That would leave $350 billion of the $700 billion program, presumably to be spent by the next president. The action represents a remarkable turnaround for a rescue program that was already the largest bailout in U.S. history. As the plan sped through Congress, the administration said the money was needed to purchase bad mortgage-related assets that are weighing on the books of financial institutions, never mentioning direct stock purchases. However, as the financial crisis gained new intensity last week, sending U.S. stocks down by a record amount, the administration decided to shift focus and adopt a bolder program modeled more along the lines of bank rescue efforts being put together in Britain and other European countries. Tuesday morning's Wall Street advance took the Dow Jones industrials up more than 300 points and followed the Dow's historic 936-point jump Monday, when investors were buying in anticipation of the government's plan.
After the purchase of preferred stock in nine large banks, the new program is expected to be expanded to many others. Among the initial banks participating will be all of the country's largest institutions, including Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley, said one official, with each institution expected to receive billions of dollars in return for the sale to the government of preferred shares. The advantage to the taxpayer is that if the rescue plan works, then the shares can be sold for more than the government initially paid, providing a profit on the transaction. At a briefing, Treasury officials said that the first purchases of stock from the nine major banks will begin within days and will total $125 billion. The government expects to spend the entire $250 billion slated for the bank stock purchase program by the end of the year. In addition to the stock purchases, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will temporarily provide insurance for loans between banks, charging the banks a premium for doing so. This FDIC program would take the form of providing insurance for new "senior preferred" debt that one bank would lend to another. This debt would be insured by the FDIC for three years, helping to unlock bank-to-bank lending, which has fallen dramatically because of fears about repayment in the face of billions of dollars of bank losses because of bad loans, primarily in mortgages. The FDIC will also remove temporarily the current $250,000 limit on FDIC insurance on bank deposits for non-interest-bearing accounts. This primarily would benefit businesses who use non-interest-bearing accounts to run their companies. That money now would be insured, removing the need for companies to juggle funds among multiple bank accounts to stay under the $250,000 limit. Congress, as part of the bailout bill, temporarily boosted the deposit insurance cap from $100,000 to $250,000, an action that will not be affected by the new program. The $700 billion rescue program will continue to feature the purchase by the government of banks' bad assets, but the administration decided to place greater emphasis on the stock purchase program after doubts were raised about how long it might take to get the asset purchase program up and running. Treasury officials said Tuesday that they still plan to buy troubled assets and that this program would start as soon as possible. Democrats in Congress, while supportive of Paulson's desire to expand the program, complained Monday that not enough strings were being attached, such as restricting excessive compensation for Wall Street executives who raked in millions of dollars in bonuses by pursuing risky investment strategies that now have helped push the U.S. financial system to the brink. Paulson said companies which sell stock to the government will be required to accept restrictions on executive compensation including a ban on golden parachutes for the period in which Treasury holds the banks' stock. Worried about the slumping U.S. economy only three weeks from the elections, House Republicans and Democrats on Monday pushed for fresh action to prevent a serious downturn. Democrats scheduled hearings to consider a postelection stimulus package that could cost as much as $150 billion. Republicans called for more tax cuts and energy exploration.
In a campaign speech in Ohio, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama proposed a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures at some banks and a two-year tax break for businesses that create new jobs. His Republican opponent, John McCain, promised a change in direction from the Bush administration's economic policies.
Brussels tables bank crisis rules to avoid chaos
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today @ 09:28 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - As EU governments put aside hundreds of billions of euros in rescue plans to shore up their financial sector, the European Commission has tabled fresh guidelines so that the union's economy does not descend into chaos.According to the rulebook published on Monday (13 October), the commission recognises that member states may consider it necessary to adopt appropriate measures to safeguard the stability of the financial system. But such measures, it says, may not result in unnecessary distortions of competition between financial institutions operating in the market or negative spillover effects on other member states.A jungle is what we would get if we suspended or abandoned competition policy, EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said on Monday, according to Reuters. To prevent chaos, the EU's competition watchdog will thoroughly examine whether a given rescue plan is in line with principles such as non-discrimination - meaning that a support scheme cannot be based on nationality, but must cover all eligible institutions. In addition, measures must be limited in time and scope, while the private sector should also bear some responsibility and contribute to the cost of a guarantee scheme and the cost of assistance granted. Finally, member states must ensure that those enjoying state support do not abuse it by for example engaging in aggressive market strategies and that later, they will undertake necessary restructuring.
Irish and UK schemes win Brussels' approval
Ireland was the first country to prompt the European Commission to remind EU governments that state aid rules need to be respected even in time of crisis. The Irish government suggested blanket guarantees of deposits in all six Irish banks - a move that ruffled feathers in Brussels, Germany and the UK due to its discriminatory potential within the Irish market as well as its effect on other EU countries' banks. After intensive contacts, the commission gave the green light to the country's revised rescue plan, with Ms Kroes saying this case illustrates how we can work together with member states to design measures that help to solve the financial crisis while avoiding negative effects on other member states' banks.The EU executive body also gave its backing to an innovative and well-designed support scheme tabled by London. The scheme will contribute to the recovery of European financial markets, without creating undue distortions of competition, the commissioner said in a statement.
Group of 12 to reflect on future of Europe
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today OCT 14,08 @ 17:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU leaders are on Thursday (16 October) set to approve a 12-member group headed by former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and tasked with reflecting on how best to deal with Europe's future challenges.Besides Mr Gonzalez himself and his two vice-chairs - Latvia's former president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and Nokia chief Jorma Ollila from Finland - the wise group will include members from Italy, Poland, France, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Greece, diplomatic sources told the EUobserver.In a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently chairs the six-month rotating EU presidency, Mr Gonzalez has proposed former Polish president Lech Walesa, who led the Solidarity anti-Communist trade union movement in the 1980s; Nicole Notat, the former leader of one of France's biggest trade unions, the CFDT; former EU competition commissioner Mario Monti from Italy; and German conservative Wolfgang Schuster, who is the mayor of Stuttgart, to be among the group's members.
Additionally, Lykke Friis, a Danish academic from the University of Copenhagen will join the team of consigieri, along with Rainer Munz, an Austrian economist and head of research at the Erste Bank in Vienna; Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch architect and urbanist; and Kalypso Nicolaidis, a Greek professor of international relations who has taught at Harvard and Oxford Universities.The list will be completed by the UK's Richard Lambert – director general of the Confederation of British Industry and a former editor of the Financial Times.The reflection group – the brainchild of Mr Sarkozy – should start its work from January 2009, according to draft conclusions the 27-member bloc's leaders are to adopt on Thursday.The idea was first approved at the meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels last December, who then appointed Mr Gonzalez to chair the group, which shall present its report to the [EU leaders] meeting of June 2010.The former Spanish premier was then tasked to form a team to to identify the key issues and developments which the Union is likely to face and to analyse how these might be addressed … in order to help the Union anticipate and meet challenges more effectively in the longer term (horizon 2020 – 2030).Key challenges include strengthening and modernising the European model of economic success and social responsibility, enhancing the competitiveness of the EU, the rule of law, sustainable development as a fundamental objective of the European Union, global stability, migration, energy and climate protection, and the fight against global insecurity, international crime and terrorism.
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
Two-headed Poland in EU summit farce
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today OCT 14,08 @ 09:27 CET
An ugly row over who should represent Poland at Wednesday's (14 October) EU summit has ended with both Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Lech Kaczynski coming to Brussels, without a decision on who will lead the delegation or take part in top-level meetings.Mr Tusk, foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski and finance minister Jacek Rostwoski will fly to the EU capital on Tuesday evening on Poland's Air Force One - a Tupolev TU-154M - carrying official summit accreditation and Poland's negotiation mandate for the EU talks.With just three golden ID badges available for entry into the EU summit chamber and two chairs at the top table itself, the prime minister has said he wants his men beside him for the main discussions - on the financial crisis and CO2 emission cut plans.On this I will not compromise, because it's about bigger issues than a dispute between politicians, the prime minister said on TV, after last-ditch talks in Warsaw on Monday night in which the pair reportedly called each by the Polish polite form Mr - a sarcastic way of indicating dislike.
The Tupolev will then turn around and pick up Mr Kaczynski's team on Wednesday morning, with presidential aides saying their boss - from the opposition Law and Justice party - will advise the prime minister in the EU corridors and take over the chair in any talks on Georgia or the Lisbon treaty.The prime minister wants to decide when the president can fulfil his obligations and to become his superior, the president's top advisor, Piotr Kownacki, told the Dziennik newspaper. [We've] asked to be given the negotiating mandate, that is, which position the president should take in the talks.Another presidential aide, Andrzej Duda, on Monday published a legal note explaining that President Kaczynski is the head of the Polish delegation under the country's constitution and that Mr Tusk is breaking the law by trying to shut him out.Polish EU summit confusion began under the former government led by Lech Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, when the pair used to send Lech to Brussels while Jaroslaw negotiated with EU leaders by phone from Warsaw.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tusk's side is in despair over the president's apparent poor grasp of the summit agenda and the harm done to Poland's image.On the subject of the Lisbon treaty, we can expect a brief presentation from the Irish side, on why the referendum had a negative result. No debate is foreseen. I expect this can be wrapped up in seven-and-a-half to 15 minutes, Polish Europe minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told PAP.We are very far advanced in terms of conclusions on [Georgia] ... so I don't expect a leaders' discussion on this, he added, with the subject to be handled at an EU foreign ministers' dinner instead.Mr President, I kneel before you. Please let this go, please don't come [to Brussels] and don't weaken the negotiating position of our country, Polish foreign minister Mr Sikorski told national radio on Monday.I don't even want to imagine, the comments we'll get about this, he later told Polish TV.
Spain: PM accepts invitation to visit Cuba By JORGE SAINZ, Associated Press Writer OCT 14,08
MADRID, Spain - The prime minister of Spain, which played a key role in persuading the European Union to lift diplomatic sanctions against Cuba, has accepted an invitation from President Raul Castro to visit next year, a Spanish official said Tuesday. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said details of the trip by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero still need to be worked out, but Moratinos believes it will go ahead. The minister made the announcement after meeting with his Cuban counterpart, Felipe Perez Roque.The sanctions were imposed in 2003 after Cuba jailed 75 dissidents. The measures were lifted in June. More than 200 dissidents are still serving jail terms in Cuba, although 20 have been released.In the talks here Tuesday, Spain also agreed to fund a two-year, euro24.5 million (US$34 million) program to help Cuba rebuild homes, schools and other structures destroyed by hurricanes Gustav and Ike this summer, Moratinos said.Spain has also agreed to restructure part of Cuba's euro1.5 billion (US$2.1 billion) debt with the Spanish government, and open up a new line of credit worth euro50 million (US$69 million) to euro100 million (US$138 million), Moratinos said.
Israel's Kadima, Labour reach coalition agreement: media by Catherine Dupeyron Mon Oct 13, 3:44 PM ET
JERUSALEM, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Israel's Kadima and Labour parties on Monday reached an agreement in principle that would pave the way for the formation of a new government headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, media reported. The agreement was signed by MPs from both sides following a marathon 19-hour negotiating session, and would bring Labour's 19-member parliamentary delegation into an alliance with Kadima's 29-member bloc.The alliance constitutes a major step towards forming a new governing coalition in the 120-member assembly but is not in itself sufficient to allow Livni to become the country's second female premier after Golda Meir.Israeli public radio reported that the two sides must still agree on which government posts will go to the centre-left Labour party.Kadima's chief negotiator, Tsahi Hanegbi, told Channel 2 television that hammering out the accord had been hard going.It was not easy reaching this agreement, Hanegbi said, adding that it was concluded with the idea that it would operate for the next two years.Following Tuesday's Sukkot holiday, Kadima negotiators will meet with leaders from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which has 12 MPs, the leftist Meretz party, which has five, and the Pensioners party, which has three.Hanegbi said that Kadima would have to thrash out a similar accord with Shas, otherwise there will be no government.Livni, 50, was formally asked by President Shimon Peres on September 22 to form a new government, after she took over as Kadima chairman from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who stepped down as police recommended he be indicted over graft allegations.She has since held negotiations with Labour and several smaller parties in a bid to gain the support she needs to form a new coalition government and avert snap elections that could bring the right-wing Likud party to power.
Bringing Defence Minister Ehud Barak's Labour party and its 19 MPs into the coalition would put Livni well on her way to forming a new government but she would need to recruit at least two smaller parties to do so.The ultra-Orthodox Shas, a crucial member of Olmert's coalition, has demanded increased child subsidies and a promise not to negotiate over Jerusalem with the Palestinians.Livni, who as Israel's top diplomat has led US-backed negotiations with the Palestinians relaunched last November, has vowed to continue the process, which is aimed at securing a full peace agreement by the end of 2008.The Palestinians have demanded mostly Arab east Jerusalem -- occupied and annexed by Israel in the 1967 war -- as the capital of their future state, while Israel considers the entire city its own eternal, undivided capital.Under the draft agreement Barak would gain greater influence over cabinet decisions and negotiations with the Palestinians and Syria, the Ynet News service reported.The summary draft, according to which cabinet decisions will not be made without the support and ratification of Barak, is dramatic, the news site quoted a Barak associate as saying.Channel 2 said the agreement, which runs to 38 paragraphs, envisages in particular a budgetary expansion for pensioners amounting to 850 million shekels (229 million dollars) over the three next years.Ehud Barak will be appointed deputy prime minister and be charged in particular with ongoing negotiations with Syria, it said. Barak, who served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001, was voted out of office in a landslide in the wake of the failed Camp David peace talks and the outbreak of the latest Palestinian intifada in September 2000.
UAE to host US-backed forum on Arab reform by Taieb Mahjoub OCT 14,08
DUBAI (AFP) - The United Arab Emirates will host a forum on political reform in the Arab world this weekend amid questions about whether the annual gathering launched by US President George W. Bush has made any difference. Since its launch in 2004, the Forum for the Future has not produced the anticipated results. The promised big democratic changes did not take place in the Middle East, said Ali Fakhro, a Bahraini activist and former minister.The Fifth Forum for the Future will be held in Abu Dhabi on Saturday and Sunday under the co-chairmanship of the UAE and Japan, which holds the rotating presidency of Group of Eight leading industrial countries.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be among around 40 G8 and Arab League ministers, including some 25 foreign ministers, attending the gathering, organisers say.More than 50 countries will be represented at the forum, which will be preceded by a three-day gathering of dozens of Arab civil society organisations in Dubai.
The forum will focus on the progress accomplished in the realm of political reforms, including the expansion of popular participation and the empowerment of women in the political, economic and social domains, according to the programme.It will also discuss cooperation between governments, civil society and the private sector.The forum was launched at a time when Washington was professing high aspirations for democratic reform in the Arab world following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.It aimed to promote political, social and economic reforms in the Middle East and North Africa and had the backing of the G8 nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.Morocco hosted the first edition, followed by Bahrain the year after and Jordan in 2006. The 2007 events took place in both Germany and Yemen.Civil society representatives, who will meet starting on Wednesday, will put forward recommendations to the ministerial conference.But persistent doubts that the forum can achieve concrete results have only intensified this year as the Bush administration prepares to exit with little progress made in introducing reform in the Arab world.The presence of non-governmental organisations is useless in the absence of a genuine debate with governments, Fakhro told AFP.Democratic change can only come from within Arab states. It is difficult to introduce change from the outside, irrespective of the good intentions of countries from outside the region seeking to encourage democratisation, said Fakhro, who was invited to the Dubai meeting but said he will not attend for personal reasons.The Forum, launched at the height of the US war on terror, is seen as having broken little ground as violence goes on in the Arab world, sectarian tensions rise and the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems no closer to a solution despite Bush's promise that the beginning of a settlement would be in place before year's end.The continuing intractability of the conflict was highlighted by the negative reactions to a recent proposal by Bahrain to set up a regional bloc grouping Arab states with Israel, Iran and Turkey.This suggestion cannot be executed, retorted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, whose country has imposed itself as a regional power.
Olmert, Abbas to meet on Friday Mon Oct 13, 10:16 AM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for a new round of peace talks this week, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Monday. (Abbas) will meet prime minister Olmert on October 17 within the framework of their regular meetings, Riyad Al-Malki said at a news conference in Ramallah, the political capital of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Olmert and Abbas have been meeting about twice a month since the peace process was relaunched at a US conference in November.Hounded by a series of corruption scandals, Olmert formally resigned on September 21 after the governing Kadima party elected Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as its new leader.Livni is trying to form a new coalition government so she can also take over as prime minister and avert early elections.Last month, Olmert said Israel must give up almost the entire occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem as the price for peace with the Palestinians.But he later said the comments, made in a newspaper interview, reflected his private view and were not binding for Livni.
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 have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
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.
Israel's Peres warns Iran against surprise attack Sun Oct 12, 11:12 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday warned Iran against considering a surprise attack, at a ceremony commemorating the 35th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The war began with Syria and Egypt launching a surprise invasion of Israel on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in which early battlefield successes destroyed the myth of Israel's military invincibility.But Peres said that although the initial invasion came as a complete surprise, Israel soon emerged victorious. What began as a terrible catastrophe was in 18 days transformed into an extraordinary victory.The IDF (Israeli army) stopped 101 kilometres (63 miles) from Cairo and 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Damascus, he said at a ceremony honouring Israeli soldiers killed in the war.Peres went on to warn that our new enemy, the arrogant Iranian leadership... should not rely too much on the element of surprise.
Israel considers Iran its main strategic threat because of Tehran's accelerating nuclear enrichment programme, which Israel and the West believe is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and has vowed to press ahead with it despite three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions.Israel is widely considered the sole nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, though it has never officially confirmed nor denied having such weapons.The 1973 war, known as the Yom Kippur War in Israel, claimed the lives of 2,689 Israelis.
Russia fires long range missiles by Christopher Boian
Mon Oct 13, 2:31 AM ET
MOSCOW, (AFP) - Russia fired three long-range missiles and pronounced its nuclear deterrent strong in an extraordinary show of force experts said had not been seen anywhere since the days of the Cold War. Two of the missiles were fired Sunday from nuclear submarines in the Asian and European extremes of the sprawling country while a third was watched by President Dmitry Medvedev on land in northwest Russia, news agencies reported.It was the second Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test in as many days and the latest in a series of high-profile military exercises of conventional land, sea and air forces as well as strategic nuclear units.This shows that our deterrent is in order, Medvedev was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying after Sunday's missile launches.We will of course be introducing new types of forces and means into the military, he added, without elaborating.Independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the exercises reflected Russia's determination to prepare for major military conflict.This was a dry run for a war with the United States, Felgenhauer said of the missile launches, part of major military manoeuvres billed Stability 2008 involving all military branches.These are the biggest strategic war games in more than 20 years. They are on a parellel with those held in the first half of the 1980s. Nothing of the sort has been seen either in Russia or the United States since then, he said.
Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo confirmed the near-simultaneous ICBM test-launches from submarines in the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan and the Barents Sea northeast of Norway, saying they had been planned well in advance.Speaking to AFP from northwest Russia, Dygalo admitted it was unusual for the navy to conduct three ICBM test launches in two days -- a submarine in the Barents Sea also fired a missile Saturday -- and called the tests successful.The missiles hit right on target, he said. News agencies said the missiles launched from the Barents Sea and the secret base at Plesetsk hit targets on the Kamchatka peninsula thousands of kilometres (miles) to the east.The missile fired from the Sea of Okhotsk hit on target near Kanin Nos, a finger of land jutting into the White Sea in extreme northwest Russia, the reports said.The Sineva missile launched Saturday -- an exercise also watched by Medvedev from aboard an aircraft carrier -- travelled more than 11,500 kilometres (7,145 miles) in what the Russian president claimed was an all-time distance record.The missile tests came a day after Russia announced that a small naval flotilla led by the nuclear battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great) had paid a call at the Libyan port of Tripoli.The ships, including a submarine destroyer and support vessels, were to conduct exercises at unspecified locations in the Mediterrannean Sea before heading toward Venezuela for joint exercises there in November, officials said.Two Russian Tupolev-160 strategic bombers -- each capable of carrying 12 cruise missiles armed with single 200-kiloton nuclear warheads -- carried out exercises in Venezuela last month.Last week, Japan scrambled a pair of US-made F-15 fighters to intercept and escort Russian bombers on patrol near, but not inside, Japanese territorial waters.The Kremlin, alarmed and angered over new US missile defence plans in eastern Europe and the expansion of the US-led NATO alliance into countries once allied with Moscow, has stressed for a year that it will respond in kind. Washington has shrugged off Russian moves over the past 18 months to resume strategic bomber patrols around the world and reactivate use of its navy to project power on the seas, questioning if the hardware was up to the task.
EU nations divided over resuming talks with Russia By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 13, 12:29 PM ET
LUXEMBOURG - EU nations were divided Monday over whether to resume talks on a political and economic pact with Russia that were frozen in protest over its war with Georgia. Germany and Italy led the campaign to resume discussions on trade, energy and political ties after Moscow withdrew its forces from parts of Georgia according to the terms of an EU-brokered cease-fire.But some EU foreign ministers, headed by Britain's David Miliband, said they wanted to see progress in talks on the future of the disputed Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before pressing ahead with closer ties.The debate will continue at a two-day EU summit starting Wednesday in Brussels, Belgium, officials said.EU leaders agreed last month to suspend the talks to show their opposition to Moscow's invasion, a move that irked Russian officials. The leaders of the 27-nation bloc also ordered a review of overall ties and alternative energy sources. Russia supplies a third of the EU's oil and 40 percent of its natural gas.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told an EU foreign ministers meeting Monday that Russian troops had left Georgian territory outside the separatist regions but had not withdrawn to positions held before the five-day war broke out Aug. 7.Beyond Ossetia and Abkhazia there are no more Russians, said Kouchner, whose country holds the EU presidency. Kouchner, who was in Georgia last week, said there were problems that remain.He said the presence of Russian troops in portions of the breakaway regions that had been under Georgian control before the war, including Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge, a broad swath of South Ossetia, and the town of Akhalgori were still of concern to EU nations.Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the EU should announce the restart of talks during an EU-Russia meeting next month, saying Russia's attitude was a constructive one.But Britain said the EU should wait on the outcome of a first round of talks between Georgia and Russia in Geneva this week before deciding on ending the freeze.
The Geneva talks, mediated by the EU, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are meant to try to solve the stand off between Russia and Georgia over the separatist regions. Russia claims they should be independent states and has troops stationed there.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
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)
FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN Alarms sounded over North Korean missiles,10 rockets put in position as U.S. drops axis of evil designation October 13, 2008
8:10 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily
Television image of North Korean missile launch
LONDON – Hours after North Korea was removed from the Bush administration's list of the axis of evil, agents for the British intelligence agency MI6 warned prime minister Gordon Brown that the Pyongyang regime had positioned 10 missile sites overlooking the Yellow Sea which can be fired at any time, either singly or as a salvo, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.The missiles were transported from the Yongbyon nuclear complex, the site from which the International Atomic Energy Agency has been banned. The agency wanted access to monitor North Korea to determine what stage its agreed decommissioning had reached.The decision to remove North Korea from its pariah-state rating as part of the axis of evil was conveyed to Gordon Brown by President Bush shortly before the announcement was made in Washington this past weekend.Meantime, there is renewed speculation within MI6 and European intelligence agencies about North Korea's real intentions of disarming –and also about Kim Jong II, the country's leader.Last weekend, Kim failed to show at the most politically important event in the nation's yearly calendar: the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the Worker's Party.While foreign diplomats reported that the weekend celebrations were more muted than in previous years – a sign of the global economic crisis that has left North Korea even closer to mass starvation – Kim's absence from the saluting podium for the anniversary parade fueled rumors among the watching crowd about their Beloved Leader.Were previous reports that he actually was dead after all true? Or is Kim close to death? Not one of North Korea's newspapers mentioned Kim's absence.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
WILL THE US FOLLOW EUROPES LEAD
OBAMA IS SURE A CHRISTIAN WHEN HE MOCKS THE BIBLE.
OBAMA MOCKS BIBLE VIDEO
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77629
ELECTION 2008 TV ad features Obama mocking Bible,Candidate's Fight the Smears' site tries to bury video documentation October 10, 2008 11:30 pm Eastern By Drew Zahn 2008 WorldNetDaily
Screen shot from Obama's Fight the Smears' website
A television commercial showing clips of Sen. Barack Obama mocking the Bible has prompted backlash from the candidate's Fight the Smears website, which falsely accuses the ad's creator of trying to scam Christians out of their money by promising to air a spot that will never be broadcast.Under the heading Scamming the faithful, Obama's official website says of the man who made the commercial, The trickster's claims about Barack's faith are every bit as false as his claims that this amateurish video is really a TV ad.WND has confirmed, however, that – true to his word – the ad's creator purchased air time for the commercial on television stations in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Sources at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh and a cable company servicing Erie told WND that the ad had been aired on several occasions.Nonetheless, in an Oct. 3 update to Scamming the Faithful, the Obama website maintains its attack of the commercial's creator, Stephen Marks of the organization pH for America.Nothing has changed here, reads the Oct. 3 update, The scammer is still untrustworthy. … Making scams seem plausible is what tricksters like him are known for. In the end, he's even less credible now than he was when he first started taking people's money.It is ironic indeed, responded Marks in a statement, that this so-called Fight the Smears' website (is) not fighting smears but creating them.Get The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values
Marks insists that every dollar he has raised through his website and the appeal for support at the end of the ad has gone to pay for the media buys and minimal production costs. Marks also claims that that pH for America purchased a television as a gift for the Obama campaign so they can watch the TV and see the ads airing for themselves.Made into both a one-minute and two-minute commercial format, the shorter of the two advertisements can be seen here:Marks told WND, If this ad is seen by all the swing voters in all the key swing states, it would not only anger anyone who reads the Bible, but will make anyone who sees the ad re-think the Jeremiah Wright fiasco as well as Obama's remarks in April that small town America is so bitter that they have to cling to their guns and religion.Most Americans have thus far given Obama a pass on those two issues, but after seeing our ad, it will make many, if not most folks think, Now I finally understand why Obama would belong to such a radical church, and Now I finally understand Obama's true contempt for people of faith regarding his cling to their guns and religion remark, Marks said.Get Jerome Corsi's The Obama Nation, personally autographed – for only $4.95, available today, but only from WND!
Obama's website claims that Marks deliberately edited clips of the candidate to make Obama look bad and that the commercials don't reflect the nature of the speech from which they were taken.With such a deceptive person behind this video, it's not surprising that everything he says about Barack is deeply dishonest and wrong, too, says the Fight the Smears website. The video takes 5 sentences out of a 4,500-word speech Barack gave in 2006 completely out of context to stoke division and hatred.
The commercial features edited clips from a speech Sen. Obama made before a conference in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2006. The entire transcript of the speech can be seen here, but the immediate context is as follows:Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our Bibles. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles.The group pH for America is a 527 organization – so named for the IRS designation for such groups – created by Marks, a Republican political consultant who also created advertisements criticizing 2004 Democrat candidate John Kerry. The group's website boasts it is hoping to become the Swiftboat 527 organization of 2008, referencing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a 527 organization that created commercials widely credited with contributing to Kerry's defeat.Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of Campaign Media Analysis Group, told CNN the appeal for money at the end of the pH for America advertisement, rather than an indication of scamming or tricking people, is common for 527 organizations trying to impress donors.Even though an ad buy might be small now, remember, these groups are auditioning right now for late donations to take these ads to a larger scope, Tracey said. Remember, the Swift Boat original ad buy was less than $1 million and ran in only a handful of small media markets.Marks echoed that strategy in a release announcing the successful purchase of air time for his group's commercial.Unlike other 527 groups who are funded by millionaires, ours has been funded by grass-roots blue-collar voters offended by the side of Barack Obama they see in our ad, Marks said. We hope that as more folks see the ad, that we will eventually get help from more affluent contributors.
CNN NEWS VIDEO
http://edition.cnn.com/video/
YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video
MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F
ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461
FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074
FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045
AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529
BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918
REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704
AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091
CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON OCT 13,2008
09:30 AM +369.25
10:00 AM +350.21
10:30 AM +439.10
11:00 AM +465.78
11:30 AM +517.79
12:00 PM +536.19
12:30 PM +569.01
01:00 PM +571.08
01:30 PM +587.25
02:00 PM +541.90
02:30 PM +498.35
03:00 PM +616.24
03:30 PM +703.69
04:00 PM +936.42 9387.61
S&P 500 1003.35 +104.13
NAS 1844.25 +194.74
GOLD 833.8 -25.2
OIL 81.93 +4.23
TSE 300 CLOSED
CDNX -71.47 975.81
S&P/TSX 60 CLOSED
DOW HISTORIC CLOSE 936.42 5TH HIGHEST IN HISTORY.
S&P soares 11% today.
S&P'S biggest one day PERCENTAGE gain since 1932.
Market reversal
Dow:Biggest points gain in since 1987, and 5TH largest percentage gain in history.
Dow gains over 11%.
Dow back over 9300.
90% upside day. And the Volume on the upside.
Tomorrow the issue:will retail investors be buying as pros take profits.
PARADE OF IDEAS
1-CEO,Treasury,Fed officials meet on market stabilization initiative.
-Guarentee Interbank lending.
-Broader Deposit insurance.
-Capital infusions into Banks.
2-Congress is also considering a 2ND stimulus package.
THE EUROPEAN UNION EURO ZONE AS WELL AS BRITIAN WILL GUARENTEE LOANS BY BANKS.
Without a similar deal by the USA, funds could flow to Europe.
Few results came from the G-7 meeting over the weekend.
World Bank says govenments should still help developing nations out.
Up to 400 Billion dollars will be in line for this European Union plan.
$35 Billion plan to bailout U.KS 4 largest Banks expected today.
Head of Italy's Borsa stock exchange stresses need to protect companies from hostile bids.
Germany expected to set up a special fund to provide up to $100 Billion Euros in equity capital to its countries Banks.
Polands Finance Ministry and Central Bank leaders meet with CEOS of Countries top 10Banks Today.
Norways Government and Central introduces measures to boost Countries Banks liquidity.
Australia and New Zealand latest Countries to guarentee all Bank deposits.
IMF'S Dominique Strauss-Kahn hopes governments actions will bring an end to spreading creit crunch.
10 COUNTRIES WILL GUARENTEE DEPOSIT LIABILITIES.
Austalia
Iceland
Ireland
Germany
Greece
New Zealand
Saudi-Arabia
Spain
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom.
Unlimited funds will be available now. So Countries might buy in these Countries because the funds will be guarenteed.
WATCH FOR THE WORLD TO BE PUT IN REGIONAL ECONOMIC BLOCS SO IF ONE BLOC FAILS THE REST WILL BE ABLE TO BAIL THEM OUT. JUST MY THOUGHT BUT GOES WITH PROPHECY.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Europe puts $2.3 trillion on line for banks By ANGELA CHARLTON and EMMA VANDORE, Associated Press Writers OCT 13,08
PARIS - European governments overcame their differences to put $2.3 trillion on the line Monday in guarantees and other emergency measures to save the banking system in their most unified response yet to the global financial crisis. The pledges by six countries that use the euro and Britain helped soothe stock markets, along with a promise by top central banks to provide unlimited short term dollar credits.The amount — pledged by Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Austria — dwarfs the $700 billion rescue package put together by U.S. President Bush's administration, although not all the European money will necessarily be spent.
It represented Europe's most unified response yet to the financial crisis, after weeks where European governments often acted at cross purposes and sniped at each other — a piecemeal approach that failed to stop steep and frightening slides on financial markets.The time of each one for itself is fortunately over, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, following a Cabinet meeting that approved France's spending in the framework of the scheme.United Europe has pledged more than the United States, added the French leader, who has taken a lead in corralling European governments to act together.The money pledged by European governments will not go into a collective pot. Instead, governments were deciding individually how much to commit to supporting their own banks under broad guidelines agreed at a summit on Sunday. The sums are considered a maximum, and might not all be spent if the financial crisis eases.About 250 billion euros ($341 billion) of the European pledges was earmarked to be spent on recapitalizing banks by buying stakes.The money pledges put a price tag on the package agreed to Sunday by the 15 countries that use the euro currency. They agreed to individually guarantee bank refinancing until the end of next year, rescue important failing banks through emergency cash injections and take other swift measures to encourage banks to lend to each other again.Stocks markets rebounded Monday after the European decision and other weekend efforts to find solutions to the financial crisis, which has crushed major banks in both the U.S. and Europe and battered stock exchanges worldwide.Germany's DAX rose 518.14 points, or 11.4 percent, to close at 5,062.45, while France's CAC-40 was up 355.01 points, or 11.2 percent, at 3,531.50. Britain's FTSE 100 was 324.84 points, or 8.3 percent, higher at 4,256.90, despite some hefty falls in the banks that have accepted government help.
Also helping markets was a joint move by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank to provide unlimited short-term credit in U.S. dollars to financial institutions. The Bank of Japan said it was considering similar measures.Europe's biggest economy, Germany, put together a rescue package worth as much as 500 billion euros ($671 billion) to shore up the country's financial system. We are taking drastic action, no question about it ... so that what we have experienced is not repeated, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters.Sarkozy said the French government would provide up to 360 billion euros ($491 billion) to help banks, most of that in guarantees for bank refinancing. The Netherlands put up 200 billion euros ($273 billion) to guarantee interbank loans.
Austria's government offered up to 85 billion euros ($116 billion). Spain said it would guarantee up to 100 billion euros ($135 billion) in a bank bond issuance this year. Portugal guaranteed 20 billion euros ($27 billion) euros — nearly 12 percent of annual GDP — to encourage Portuguese banks to lend to each other.Italy did not earmark a specific amount but Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti told reporters the government would offer as much as necessary.The European moves are modeled on Britain's 50 billion-pound ($88 billion) plan to partly nationalize major banks. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also promised to guarantee a further 250 billion pounds ($438 billion) worth of interbank loans to restore confidence in the financial sector.The head of the International Monetary Fund welcomed the European decision despite the high price it is expected to impose on state budgets. We must recapitalize the banks ... otherwise everyone will suffer, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on France's Europe-1 radio Monday. And that costs money.The euro zone leaders who met Sunday have yet to sell their packages to voters at home, and analysts warned that governments and legislators could still balk. The overall cost will be heavy, especially on countries already in or on the brink of recession. Analysts from the banking sector generally saluted the euro zone measures. After a haphazard start, Europe is finally getting its act together, Bank of America said in a research note. The size and nature of the national plans suggest that they could finally make a difference.The rest of the 27-member EU will have a chance to sign up to the euro-zone measures when they meet Wednesday. Norway, outside both the euro zone and the EU, said it plans to offer new government bonds worth 350 billion kroner ($55.4 billion) to banks to help improve liquidity in the market. In Sweden, Finance Minister Anders Borg said the government plans to put forward a draft law Wednesday to guarantee new bank debt until the end of 2009 and support banks with added share capital. BusinessEurope — a group representing most European major companies — said EU governments' parallel moves to unfreeze bank lending would help reinforce confidence and contribute to a continued flow of credit to companies and households.Associated Press writers Melissa Eddy in Berlin and Malin Rising in Stockholm contributed to this report.
Euro area states harmonise bank rescue plans
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today OCT 13,08 @ 09:24 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - An unprecedented extraordinary meeting of eurozone leaders in Paris has given the green light to a set of synchronised moves by member states to boost confidence in the financial sector and save failing banks with public money. We cannot have a healthy economy and sustainable growth unless we have a solid financial sector, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy on late Sunday (12 October), after the hastily arranged summit of the 15-strong euro area.The crisis talks aiming to adapt the bloc's financial markets to better cope with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s led to an agreement on a plan similar to that of Britain's rescue scenario. I believe that there is common ground now about what needs to be done, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown told journalists in Paris after he explained the details of the British approach hours ahead of the eurozone session. The UK remains outside the eurozone.Under the agreed package, 15 countries plus Slovakia - set to join the euro in January - committed to provide capital for banks striving for funds because of frozen money markets and to help or directly subscribe to debt-raising by banks for up to five years.Governments are ready to guarantee interbank loans at market rates until the end of next year, while also providing previously announced deposit guarantees for savers. What we want is to give back banks the means to lend, to support the economy to enable households to borrow for mortgages or consumption and give companies the means necessary to invest for growth, Sarkozy said. This is not a gift to banks but will help them function, he added, stressing that the extraordinary measures needed to attack the immediate problem should be later followed by structural changes in the financial system in a bid to create a real capitalism, and not one of speculators.Believe me, in Europe, we will not allow the system continue working in such a way. Believe me, those responsible will need to assume their responsibility. There will be changes ... And those who put the world into this situation will have to pay back.
On the verge of financial meltdown
Ahead of the Paris euro meeting, finance ministers from the G7 club of the seven most industrialised nations - the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Italy - gathered in Washington on Friday (10 October) and agreed a five-point plan to free up the flow of capital, revive the mortgage market and boost efforts by banks to raise money.Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, endorsed the plan while suggesting that previous moves by rich nations had been insufficient.Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown, he said, according to BBC.US President George Bush argued that the key point is to prevent contradicting actions among the superpowers. In our interconnected world, no nation will gain by driving down the fortunes of another. We are in this together. We will come through it together, he said.
Striving to prevent another Black Monday
The busy agenda in several world capitals over the weekend attempts to stauch the bleeding in global stock markets , which crashed last week, with the American Standard & Poor 500 index tumbling more than 18 percent, while European stocks plunged 22 percent and Tokyo's Nikkei tumbled 24 percent.France, Germany, Italy, Austria and several other countries are each due to hold government meetings on Monday to announce details of their national bail-out schemes, and will reveal the precise sums of public money they are ready to inject to the banking sector.German media have reported that Berlin is to propose a package worth some €400 billion, of which around €100 billion can be used in direct interventions in banks.Analysts believe this sort of co-ordinated action could indeed do the trick for the bloc's financial sector.This announcement of concrete, decisive and well-targeted measures to be deployed simultaneously by individual governments should reassure markets, Marco Annunziata, chief economist with Unicredit Markets and Investment Banking in London, told Reuters.Initial reports on Monday showed a positive reaction by Asian markets, with shares in Australia, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Singapore and India all rising , although while Taiwan's stock market has lost ground, the BBC has reported.
Dow jumps 938 as governments pledge bank aid By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer OCT 13,08
NEW YORK - Wall Street has stormed back from last week's devastating losses, sending the Dow Jones industrials soaring a nearly inconceivable 938 points after major governments' plans to support the global banking system reassured distraught investors. The Dow by far outstripped its previous record for a one-day point gain, 499, reached during the waning days of the dot-com boom in 2000.The market was likely to have a rebound after eight days of precipitous losses that took the Dow down nearly 2,400 points, but no one expected this kind of advance. Still, back-and-forth trading is likely to continue as Wall Street still contends with a crippled financial system and a struggling economy. So some of Monday's big gains may disappear when trading resumes Tuesday.The Dow is up about 938 points at the 9,389 level. All the major indexes are up more than 11 percent.
IMF ready to bail out swooning Hungary
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today OCT 13,08 @ 17:58 CET
Hungary may be the first member of the European Union to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since Britain was forced to take out a €3 billion loan in 1976.Hungary's forint slid sharply last week to its lowest level against the euro in two years, while the Budapest Stock Exchange saw heavy losses and investors were taking money out of the country.The forint did however regain some ground on Monday, largely in reaction to the financial rescue plan announced by G7 finance ministers over the weekend, analysts believe.In an attempt to staunch the bleeding, last Friday, Budapest announced sharp spending cuts to government programmes, a bank deposit guarantee similar to that announced by other member states and delays to planned tax cuts.There is a significant and strong attack against the Hungarian money and capital markets, prime minister Ference Gyurcsany declared in announcing the emergency cut-backs. [Hungary] must not spend in these times, he said.On Monday, in response to the spreading financial contagion, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF - an international institution set up to maintain order in the international monetary system - said that the financial institution was ready to rapidly step in with loans to the beleaguered east European nation.We are in close dialogue with the Hungarian authorities and the EU to discuss further responses to the current challenges, including possible technical and financial support by the IMF, he said in a statement.I have informed the authorities that the IMF stands ready to assist their efforts, he added.We will provide technical assistance as needed and, in the context of a supportive policy setting, are ready to undertake discussions on possible financial assistance, responding rapidly.
All tools available
The EU said it welcomed Mr Strauss-Kahn's offer, adding that it was ready to back up IMF aid with its own support using all tools available, although representatives of the bloc did not mention any financial assistance.The Council and the Commission are monitoring the situation closely, and support Hungary' efforts in tackling current challenges, said the presidency of the council of EU economic and finance ministers [ECOFIN] in a statement on Monday.The ECOFIN welcomes the readiness of the IMF to consider providing technical and financial assistance as needed to Hungary, the statement continued.The council of ministers said that it is in close consultations with the Hungarian authorities and the IMF and will ensure that any conditions attached to IMF funds are consistent with EU policy advice.IMF bail-outs of countries have always come attendant with strict demands for sweeping austerity measures including reductions in social programmes and privatisation of public assets.In 1976, to deal with soaring inflation, the UK requested a €3 billion (£2.3bn) loan from the IMF. In return, the then Labour government was required to deliver deep cuts to public spending.
Baltics, Ukraine
Hungary however is just the tip of the iceberg, warn experts. UK economist Barry Gills of Newcastle University told the EUobserver that the crisis is set to hit much of eastern Europe more profoundly than it has Old Europe.There is a looming problem in the east - Ukraine and the Baltics in particular - where the IMF might have to be called in with very large support loans, he said.In eastern Europe, growth is weakening and in some places going into reverse. They are experiencing some of the classic problems of developing countries in the past - structural imbalances such as insufficient reserves from exports to cover import bills; accruing debt to cover debts and balance of payments.This can lead to vulnerability of the currency, so they have to use reserves to protect the currency.Mr Gills worried that the European Union may not have the funds at its disposal to come to the aid of its newest members.Does the EU have the financial reserves apart from the IMF to solve some of these regional solutions? I'm not so sure that's clear at the moment.He also fretted about the significance of the IMF coming to the aid of member states. Does the EU want countries under IMF tutelage within its borders?
European leaders agree crisis rescue at summit by James Franey OCT 12,08
PARIS (AFP) - European Union leaders hammered out a plan Sunday to confront the financial crisis which will involve hundreds of billions of dollars of new initiatives to head off a feared meltdown.Two weeks after the Wall Street collapse of Lehman Brothers unleashed a worldwide crash on stock markets, US and European leaders signalled a growing commitment to take joint action to end the turmoil.After the Group of Seven leading democracies proposed an action plan at weekend meetings in Washington, a Paris summit of the 15 nations that use the euro currency agreed a bank rescue plan , French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.Sarkozy -- who oversees the French presidency of the European Union -- said governments would buy into banks to boost their finances and guarantee inter-bank lending.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the coming week was critical.
I believe that in the next few days confidence in the banking system will be restored.... The decisions we take over the next few days will affect us for the years ahead.My opinion is that it should produce positive results, added Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. We have a serious crisis and logically when there is a serious crisis it will be difficult to overcome, but we will overcome it.Europe's economic powerhouses all prepared new initiatives to underpin the banking system. No details were released, but Sarkozy said Britain, France, Germany and Italy and others would unveil packages on Monday.Officials have said they will cost several hundred billion dollars on top of the huge sums already spent rescuing banks and supporting money markets.In Washington, the EU action won swift praise from International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who recalled how the IMF has been calling for months for coordinated international action.Nearly all advanced countries are now covered and the... eurozone provisions may be extended eventually to all of Europe, he said.The eurozone plan is also comprehensive.... Altogether we are going in a good direction.Economists were eagerly awaiting the opening of Asia's stock markets Monday to gauge how their rescue plans are received by jittery investors hoping to stem the slide in the markets.In another development Sunday, news media in London reported that the British government would be taking controlling stakes Monday in two banks hit hard by the crisis -- Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.Britain has already set aside 250 billion pounds (315 billion euros) to guarantee loans, in addition to 200 billion pounds in short-term loans and 50 billion to buy stakes in major banks.Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said an announcement would come at the beginning of the week.Germany is meanwhile expected to guarantee interbank loans with 300 billion euros to 400 billion euros (405 to 540 billion dollars) as well as provide banks with fresh capital in exchange for shares.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said only the state could restore the necessary trust to the public and financial markets.
In Paris, the French government will Monday propose a state guarantee for endangered banks, a ruling party lawmaker said. The New York Times said the Bush administration was also heading toward taking direct stakes in threatened banks in the coming days, as the crisis dominates the run-up to the November 4 presidential election.
Elsewhere, Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and Portugal all moved to guarantee bank deposits, and Norway said it would issue up to 41 billion euros (54.5 billion dollars) in bonds to pay for measures to support banks. In Washington, Strauss-Kahn said the action plan adopted Friday by the Group of Seven was a breakthrough with the first global pledge to cooperate to stabilise the turmoil at the meetings. The G7 plan, though vague on details, commits countries to support the most important institutions, take measures to get credit flowing, assist banks in raising capital and reassure savers. World Bank president Robert Zoellick said the financial crisis, the worst since the 1929 market crash, underscored the need for coordinated action to modernize multilateralism for a new global economy.Zoellick announced that the International Finance Corp, the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank, was exploring the possibility of a fund to help recapitalize banks in the developing world. US President George W. Bush said the world's richest nations are united on a serious global response to the financial meltdown caused by massive loans to US lenders with bad credit histories. Coordination against the crisis is considered vital to prevent the actions of one country harming another and exacerbating the bank solvency and credit shortage problems. In the Great Depression, so-called beggar-thy-neighbour measures taken unilaterally by countries are considered to have deepened the economic pain.
THREAT OF MARTIAL LAW VIDEO
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77860
MONEYNETDAILY Bailout push included threat of martial law,Congressman says several colleagues got message before vote October 12, 2008 11:56 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.
WASHINGTON – During deliberations over the $700 billion federal bailout of banks and financial institutions, several members of Congress were threatened with the prospect of martial law if they did not act quickly and decisively to approve the measure, according to Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., an ardent opponent of the plan.
Many of us were told in private conversations, that if we didn't pass this bill on Monday, the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points, another couple thousand the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no, he said on the House floor Oct. 2.
Sherman's speech to colleagues was captured on C-Span. The video can be seen below:
The statement by Sherman added to fears raised by the announcement that the Army's 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, after service in Iraq for 35 of the last 60 months, would, for the next 12 months, serve in the U.S. under the service wing of the Northern Command as part of an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.
G20 pledges joint action to fight financial crisis By Vivianne Rodrigues and Walter Brandimarte Reuters - Sunday, October 12 12:40 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries called on Saturday for a joint response to the financial crisis that is snowballing into emerging markets.The G20 pledged to meet again in November and to reshape the institution to make it more agile in responding to the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.The problems we are facing today in the global economy must be solved by several countries, they can't be addressed by only one country or a single continent, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, who chairs the group, told a news conference after the meeting.The G20 includes the Group of Seven industrialized nations along with developing countries such as Brazil, China, India and South Korea.
In a statement issued by the group, the 20 finance ministers pledged to work together to improve the regulation, supervision and overall functioning of the world's financial markets. The group will meet again in Sao Paulo, Brazil.Mantega said the United States needed to help coordinate changes in international finance and that the Group of Seven industrialized nations should work with emerging markets.
Some G7 members support expanding that group to include some emerging countries, Mantega noted.For the first time, President George W. Bush briefly attended the G20 meeting. Mantega said it would be very important for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to attend the group's next meeting.
Capital outflows from emerging markets have accelerated as the financial crisis deepened in the past couple of weeks.The minister said the group was not considering measures to restrict capital flight because that would be counterproductive.Growth is expected to moderate globally, but Mantega stressed that emerging market economies should still grow more than developed ones in 2009, cushioning a global recession.(Editing by Peter Cooney)
Russia's Kudrin:G7, G20 moves defined risk areas
Reuters - Monday, October 13
WASHINGTON, Oct 12 - The decisions made by financial leaders of the Group of Seven and Group of 20 leaders over the weekend have set the stage for other moves, Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Sunday.The decisions may seem too general from first glance, but they strictly define areas of risk, and the scale of concrete decisions should be decided by individual governments for each economy, Kudrin said.Both the G7 group of rich countries on Friday and G20 countries on Saturday vowed to take action to stem a financial crisis that has roiled stock markets and hurt growth, but did not announce detailed plans.
Gov't eyes plan to take ownership stakes in banks By HARRY DUNPHY and TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writers OCT 12,08
WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told international leaders on Sunday that isolationism and protectionism could worsen the spreading financial crisis. With a new trading week dawning, U.S. lawmakers urged quick action by the Bush administration on measures to make direct purchases of bank stock to help unlock lending. Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said an administration proposal to inject federal money directly into certain banks, in effect partially nationalizing the banking system, is gaining steam.I am hopeful that tomorrow, the Treasury will announce that they're doing it. And they have to do it quickly ... markets are waiting, Schumer, D-N.Y., said.The administration has not indicated when it would announce its next steps.Democrats also are lining up behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to bring lawmakers back to Capitol Hill after the Nov. 4 election to work on a second economic relief plan. The idea is give the middle class and the average citizen the same kind of relief that we try to give the financial sector, said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.Top Democrats are suggesting a $150 billion measure that would extend jobless benefits, provide more money for food stamps and finance some construction projects, such as rebuilding bridges and roads. It would also include either a tax rebate or tax cut.Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the second-ranking House Republican, said he would help on a plan that makes sense but is not laden with huge public works projects or bailouts for states that overspent on social programs.In another step aimed at easing the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve on Sunday approved the $12.2 billion acquisition of troubled Wachovia Corp. by Wells Fargo & Co. Wachovia is the latest in a string of major banks and financial institutions that have been felled by the financial crisis. The Fed action was expected.
As the International Monetary Fund and World Bank held their annual meetings over the weekend, Paulson warned the bank's policy-setting committee of the dangers of inward-looking policies.Although we in the United States are taking many extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flow of goods, services or capital, as such measures would only intensify the risks of a prolonged crisis, Paulson said.Meanwhile, the World Bank pledged to protect poor and vulnerable countries and nations with rapidly developing economies. Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens, who heads the bank's policy-setting committee, said the bank and the IMF will draw on the full range of their resources to help these countries.Bank President Robert Zoellick told reporters the financial crisis has been a manmade catastrophe. The actions and responses to overcome it lie in our hands.Jittery investors awaited the reopening of stock markets — the Dow Jones industrial average just completed its worst week ever, plummeting more than 18 percent — and hoped for bold, coordinated international steps to address the crisis.
At a Paris meeting of European leaders Sunday, countries that use the euro agreed to temporarily guarantee bank refinancing to ease the credit crunch. French President Nicolas Sarkozy it would apply in 15 countries through the end of 2009 and was not a gift to banks.The United States has not yet gone that far. But President Bush met at the White House with top global financial leaders on Saturday in a display of unity and said afterward that they had agreed to general principles to combat the crisis. Bush, who had spoken about the crisis for 22 of the past 27 days, went biking at a state park in Maryland on Sunday morning and then kept to a private schedule the rest of the day.Paulson has indicated the administration will use part of the recent $700 billion bailout Bush signed Oct. 3 to have the government take ownership stakes in banks. The plan has wide support on Capitol Hill, although Democrats pressed for quicker action in spelling out specifics.Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sounded a cautionary note. That has to be very, very carefully done, he said. We are a capitalistic system and we don't want to move away with nationalizing the banking system. So that anything that's done has to be done on a temporary basis.This plan and other Paulson moves were supported by three former treasury secretaries. This is bigger than the private sector can fix by itself, said James A. Baker III, who served under President Reagan. Robert Rubin, treasury secretary under President Clinton and now an adviser to Barack Obama, said it was important to be highly, highly proactive.Lawrence Summers, also a Clinton treasury secretary, said, Any time you have a problem with trust, you've got to deal with it in a very aggressive way.
The lawmakers and ex-Cabinet officers made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows.
On the Net: White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/
Treasury Department: http://www.ustreas.gov/ World Bank : http://www.worldbank.org/
International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/
World Bank to protect poor from economic turmoil By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 12, 5:52 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The World Bank agreed Sunday to help developing countries strengthen their economies, bolster their financial systems and protect the poor against the financial turmoil in international markets. Robert Zoellick, the bank's president, said the contagion affecting the global economy has been a manmade catastrophe and responses to overcome it lie in all our hands.He spoke as the U.S. moved to shore up Wall Street and financial institutions and the 15 countries that use the euro agreed in Paris to temporarily guarantee bank refinancing to ease the credit squeeze.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Zoellick, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, endorsed the European move and said he expected markets to react favorably, although you never can be sure what will happen.Strauss-Kahn also called for quick implementation of the $700 billion U.S. rescue plan, which includes the government buying part-ownership in an array of banks.Zoellick said that as the current crisis has unfolded, people in the United States and Europe reacted first with confusion, then anger, then fear.Those natural reactions will spread around the world as the impact spreads, Zoellick said. We need to take them seriously.He said any prolonged tightening of credit or a sustained global slowdown could cause serious setbacks to developing countries' efforts to improve the lives of their populations. Such countries are already struggling with high prices for energy and food.We need concerted global action now not just to deal with this crisis, but to put in place new architecture, new norms, and new oversight to ensure that this crisis never happens again, he said.The poorest and must vulnerable groups risk the most serious — and in some cases, permanent — damage, Zoellick said. One hundred million people have already been driven into poverty this year and that number will grow.Zoellick said the financial crisis underscored the need for concerted global action now, not just to deal with the crisis but to put in place new architecture, new norms and new oversight to ensure that this crisis never happens again.
He said the bank and the IMF must ensure that as governments turn their attention to domestic matters, they do not step back from their commitment to provide billions in aid to poor countries.Aid flows must be maintained, Zoellick said. Today's meeting of ministers was unanimous in that regard.The head of the bank's policy-setting committee, Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens, said ministers were unanimous in their view that the World Bank had to protect the poor and vulnerable in the context of the global financial crisis. He said the Bank needs to be flexible to address the differing problems faced by poor countries and those with rapidly growing economies.In remarks to the committee, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said global unity was needed, not isolationism and protectionism, which do not offer a way to contain the spreading damage. He expressed concern about the fallout on poor countries.Although we in the United States are taking many extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flow of goods, services or capital, as such measures would only intensify the risks of a prolonged crisis, he said.U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, called for fast action — by the administration on a plan for the government to take direct stakes in certain banks, and by Congress on a new economic aid plan.Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said an administration proposal to inject federal money directly into certain banks, in effect partially nationalizing the banking system, is gaining steam.I am hopeful that tomorrow, the Treasury will announce that they're doing it. And they have to do it quickly ... markets are waiting, Schumer said. Schumer and other Democratic leaders also backed plans by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for a session after the Nov. 4 election to consider a $150 billion proposal to boost the economy. The measure would extend jobless benefits, provide more money for food stamps and finance public works projects, such as rebuilding bridges and roads. Yes, we are going to do a stimulus after the election, said Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The idea is give the middle class and the average citizen the same kind of relief that we try to give the financial sector, said Frank, D-Mass., who, like Schumer, appeared on the Sunday talk shows. President Bush says his administration is doing everything possible to halt the biggest market disruption since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Associated Press writers Chris Rugaber and Tom Raum contributed to this report. On the Net: White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/ Treasury Department: http://www.ustreas.gov/ World Bank : http://www.worldbank.org/ International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/
China looking inward as foreign economies slow By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 12, 11:20 AM ET
BEIJING - China's ruling Communist Party on Sunday said it would seek to expand its massive internal market to counter the global economic slowdown that has reduced international demand for Chinese goods. The party, led by President Hu Jintao, released a statement at the end of a four-day meeting of its Central Committee where it also approved a plan aimed at doubling rural incomes by 2020.We should step up efforts to boost domestic demand, particularly domestic consumption and keep the economy, the financial sector and the capital market stable, the party said in a statement released through the official Xinhua News Agency.The party also recognized inherent contradictions and problems with China's economy and said all members should prepare for greater challenges as the global financial crisis unfolds.China faces difficulties from high energy costs and inflation, but officials say the country has growth potential despite global uncertainties because of its large labor pool, vast domestic market and the increasing competitiveness of its companies.
Economists have cut China's growth forecasts to as low as 9 percent for the year, down from last year's 11.9 percent. That would be the highest rate for any major country, but Communist leaders want to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses, which could fuel political tensions.China lowered interest rates Wednesday in an effort to revive slowing economic growth and help struggling exporters.The party said it aims to double the income of the country's farmers — currently around $590 per person a year — over 12 years to ease the growing and politically explosive gulf between the urban elite who have benefited most from China's two-decade-old economic boom and its vast poor majority.The move also seeks to boost rural consumption levels by a big margin and eliminate poverty in the countryside by 2020, Xinhua said. China has an estimated 15 million people living in absolute poverty in the countryside.State media reports ahead of the meeting said the committee would review an amendment to give 750 million rural dwellers more freedom to lease or transfer their land, but the final statement did not mention the issue.Chinese economists hope the agricultural reforms will lead to larger, more efficient farms that are better able to meet the demands of the evolving economy while maintaining the country's self-sufficiency.
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.
Fire burns 750 acres, 2 homes northeast of LA OCT 12,08
LOS ANGELES - Firefighters backed by water-dumping helicopters and planes gained ground Sunday on a wildfire that destroyed two homes and forced the evacuation of about 1,200 people in a rugged area 20 miles north of downtown. The blaze charred up to 750 acres and also burned a garage, several sheds and three motor homes, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Ron Haralson. No one was seriously injured, but a firefighter and one resident reported minor breathing problems.Haralson said firefighters are getting a really good handle on the blaze, which started early Sunday. But powerful Santa Ana winds were expected to arrive in the evening, and gusts could spread embers igniting brush, grass and chaparral in the area.About 450 homes were evacuated early Sunday when the blaze moved southeast toward city limits, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea.It burned right down to a couple of neighborhoods, Florea said.The fire was 20 percent contained and as it burned south of the Wildlife Waystation, an animal sanctuary and rehabilitation facility set on 160 acres. The nonprofit agency houses more than 400 animals, including lions, bears and deer. Officials were loading up the animals in case the fire switched direction.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Elsewhere in California, firefighters halted the spread of a wildfire that burned about 300 acres of heavy brush, destroyed a home and threatened several wineries in Napa Valley.More than 1,500 firefighters were called in to work the blaze, which state fire officials said was fully contained by Sunday morning.Investigators said Saturday a rock struck by a car ignited the wildfire Friday afternoon. Strong winds in the hills near the wine country town of St. Helena caused the fire to spread quickly.The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said all evacuation orders had been lifted, allowing 100 people to return home after the flames forced them to flee.
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 have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
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.
Russia's Medvedev test fires long-range missile By Oleg Shchedrov
Sun Oct 12, 6:29 AM ET
PLESETSK COSMODROME, Russia (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev oversaw the test firing of an intercontinental Topol missile on Sunday and vowed to commission new generation weapons for Russia's armed forces. A Reuters reporter said the truck-mounted Topol was fired at 3:23 a.m. EDT in drizzling rain from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, which is nestled among the taiga forests of Russia's north.Half an hour later it hit the Kura testing site, 6000 km (3700 miles) away on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Pacific.I have just been told that the dummy warhead has landed in Kura, Medvedev said from the Topol launch pad where acrid smoke from the missile still hung thick in the air.We will continue to commission new types of weapons but we will also continue testing the ones we have now, said Medvedev. Their effectiveness has been proved by time. Our shield is fine.Russian nuclear submarines also successfully test fired two ballistic missiles from the Pacific Ocean and Barents Sea on Sunday to targets inside Russia, the navy said.Medvedev, who was sworn in as president in May, has moved to beef up Russia's armed forces after a five-day conflict in Georgia this August which sparked a row with the United States and European Union.Dressed in the army's new-style leather jacket -- with a badge saying commander-in-chief -- Medvedev inspected the 21.5 meter Topol rocket before the launch.
The rocket is designed to pierce anti-missile defense systems such as those that the United States wants to build in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin has opposed Washington's plans.Medvedev's predecessor, Vladimir Putin, raised defense spending during his eight-year presidency to revive Russia's armed forces, which had been drained in the 1990s by corruption, low pay and a lack of funding.Russia's strategic bombers have restarted regular patrols over the Atlantic Ocean, irking NATO, and a group of the Northern Fleet ships is on its way to the Caribbean to take part in joint exercises with U.S. foe Venezuela.Two Russian warships and their support vessels docked in Tripoli ahead of making the transatlantic trip. Russia on Saturday test-launched a strategic missile to the equatorial part of the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
NEW WEAPONS
The RS-12M Topol, called the SS-25 Sickle by NATO, has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles).This missile and others which will be commissioned in the next few years are capable of effectively providing the nuclear deterrent and ensuring the security of Russia and its allies, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, Commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, told Medvedev.The Topol, a highly mobile missile designed in Soviet times, is a key part of Russia's nuclear deterrent.But Russia has extended their use way past the 10-year guaranteed operational life set by the manufacturer and the launch on Sunday was aimed partly at testing how the rockets would fire after having their operational life extended so far.An extension of the operational life of the Topol rocket complexes ... will allow the systematic replacement of rockets being taken out of use with new generation rockets without any peak load on the military budget, Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Vovk, an adviser to the head of Russia's strategic forces, as saying. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Angus MacSwan)
Russian warships call in Libya: report Sat Oct 11, 1:31 PM ET
TRIPOLI (AFP) - Russian warships bound for Venezuela, including the nuclear-powered cruiser Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great), put in Saturday at the Libyan port of Tripoli for refuelling. Only one ship was able to enter the port, which is not deep enough to allow the other vessels to dock, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Two other warships of the Russian northern fleet could be seen in the distance, the correspondent reported.Earlier, Russian naval spokesman Igor Dygalo said the warships also included the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and support vessels, Interfax news agency reported.The frigate Neustrashimiy (Intrepid), which left Russia two weeks ago bound for Somalia where it was to join in fighting piracy in the region, was also among the vessels that put into Tripoli on Saturday, Interfax said.Dygalo said the port call was scheduled to be completed on Monday.The ships would then resume manoeuvres at unspecified locations in the Mediterranean Sea before heading to Venezuela for joint naval exercises next month, he said.Russia and Venezuela announced their joint military exercises last month amid high tensions between Moscow and Washington and Russian irritation at the presence of US warships near Russian waters in the Black Sea.The planned Russian naval presence in what the United States has long regarded as its backyard would be unprecedented since the Cold War, but Washington has mocked the move as nothing more than symbolic muscle-flexing.Russia-US tensions spiked in August during the conflict in Georgia. Russia has repeatedly criticised the United States for using navy ships for what Washington has said was delivery of humanitarian aid to ally Georgia.The Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises were scheduled to take place near the end of November.
Russia insists breakaway regions represented at Georgia talks Sat Oct 11, 6:32 PM ET
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia indicated Saturday it would only participate in international talks on Georgia if representatives from the breakaway regions at the centre of the August hostilities were allowed to attend. The talks on security in the region will not have any results without the full participation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies.As for Russia, we will take part in meetings where these republics are represented as equals with all the rest, he said.Talks on the Georgia conflict are to be held in Geneva on Wednesday under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.According to a diplomat in Brussels close to the issue, the representatives from South Ossetia and Abkazia would participate in talks at the level of two working groups, but not at the plenary sessions.Russia recognised the two separatist regions as independent states following a five-day war in August with Georgia. The Russian army entered South Ossetia after Georgian troops tried to regain control of the region from Moscow-backed separatists.Following a ceasefire brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union, Russia has been withdrawing its forces from Georgia proper but not from the rebel regions where 7,600 troops are to remain.
Lavrov told Russian news agencies Saturday that Russian troops did not have to withdraw from the disputed district of Akhalgori, as the Georgians claim.Akhalgori, northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, was part of South Ossetia during the Soviet era but was under Georgian control up until the August conflict with Russia.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday the status of the disputed region would form part of next week's discussions in Geneva.
OBAMA MOCKS BIBLE VIDEO
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77629
ELECTION 2008 TV ad features Obama mocking Bible,Candidate's Fight the Smears' site tries to bury video documentation October 10, 2008 11:30 pm Eastern By Drew Zahn 2008 WorldNetDaily
Screen shot from Obama's Fight the Smears' website
A television commercial showing clips of Sen. Barack Obama mocking the Bible has prompted backlash from the candidate's Fight the Smears website, which falsely accuses the ad's creator of trying to scam Christians out of their money by promising to air a spot that will never be broadcast.Under the heading Scamming the faithful, Obama's official website says of the man who made the commercial, The trickster's claims about Barack's faith are every bit as false as his claims that this amateurish video is really a TV ad.WND has confirmed, however, that – true to his word – the ad's creator purchased air time for the commercial on television stations in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Sources at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh and a cable company servicing Erie told WND that the ad had been aired on several occasions.Nonetheless, in an Oct. 3 update to Scamming the Faithful, the Obama website maintains its attack of the commercial's creator, Stephen Marks of the organization pH for America.Nothing has changed here, reads the Oct. 3 update, The scammer is still untrustworthy. … Making scams seem plausible is what tricksters like him are known for. In the end, he's even less credible now than he was when he first started taking people's money.It is ironic indeed, responded Marks in a statement, that this so-called Fight the Smears' website (is) not fighting smears but creating them.Get The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values
Marks insists that every dollar he has raised through his website and the appeal for support at the end of the ad has gone to pay for the media buys and minimal production costs. Marks also claims that that pH for America purchased a television as a gift for the Obama campaign so they can watch the TV and see the ads airing for themselves.Made into both a one-minute and two-minute commercial format, the shorter of the two advertisements can be seen here:Marks told WND, If this ad is seen by all the swing voters in all the key swing states, it would not only anger anyone who reads the Bible, but will make anyone who sees the ad re-think the Jeremiah Wright fiasco as well as Obama's remarks in April that small town America is so bitter that they have to cling to their guns and religion.Most Americans have thus far given Obama a pass on those two issues, but after seeing our ad, it will make many, if not most folks think, Now I finally understand why Obama would belong to such a radical church, and Now I finally understand Obama's true contempt for people of faith regarding his cling to their guns and religion remark, Marks said.Get Jerome Corsi's The Obama Nation, personally autographed – for only $4.95, available today, but only from WND!
Obama's website claims that Marks deliberately edited clips of the candidate to make Obama look bad and that the commercials don't reflect the nature of the speech from which they were taken.With such a deceptive person behind this video, it's not surprising that everything he says about Barack is deeply dishonest and wrong, too, says the Fight the Smears website. The video takes 5 sentences out of a 4,500-word speech Barack gave in 2006 completely out of context to stoke division and hatred.
The commercial features edited clips from a speech Sen. Obama made before a conference in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2006. The entire transcript of the speech can be seen here, but the immediate context is as follows:Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our Bibles. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles.The group pH for America is a 527 organization – so named for the IRS designation for such groups – created by Marks, a Republican political consultant who also created advertisements criticizing 2004 Democrat candidate John Kerry. The group's website boasts it is hoping to become the Swiftboat 527 organization of 2008, referencing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a 527 organization that created commercials widely credited with contributing to Kerry's defeat.Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of Campaign Media Analysis Group, told CNN the appeal for money at the end of the pH for America advertisement, rather than an indication of scamming or tricking people, is common for 527 organizations trying to impress donors.Even though an ad buy might be small now, remember, these groups are auditioning right now for late donations to take these ads to a larger scope, Tracey said. Remember, the Swift Boat original ad buy was less than $1 million and ran in only a handful of small media markets.Marks echoed that strategy in a release announcing the successful purchase of air time for his group's commercial.Unlike other 527 groups who are funded by millionaires, ours has been funded by grass-roots blue-collar voters offended by the side of Barack Obama they see in our ad, Marks said. We hope that as more folks see the ad, that we will eventually get help from more affluent contributors.
CNN NEWS VIDEO
http://edition.cnn.com/video/
YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video
MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F
ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461
FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074
FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045
AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529
BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918
REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704
AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091
CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON OCT 13,2008
09:30 AM +369.25
10:00 AM +350.21
10:30 AM +439.10
11:00 AM +465.78
11:30 AM +517.79
12:00 PM +536.19
12:30 PM +569.01
01:00 PM +571.08
01:30 PM +587.25
02:00 PM +541.90
02:30 PM +498.35
03:00 PM +616.24
03:30 PM +703.69
04:00 PM +936.42 9387.61
S&P 500 1003.35 +104.13
NAS 1844.25 +194.74
GOLD 833.8 -25.2
OIL 81.93 +4.23
TSE 300 CLOSED
CDNX -71.47 975.81
S&P/TSX 60 CLOSED
DOW HISTORIC CLOSE 936.42 5TH HIGHEST IN HISTORY.
S&P soares 11% today.
S&P'S biggest one day PERCENTAGE gain since 1932.
Market reversal
Dow:Biggest points gain in since 1987, and 5TH largest percentage gain in history.
Dow gains over 11%.
Dow back over 9300.
90% upside day. And the Volume on the upside.
Tomorrow the issue:will retail investors be buying as pros take profits.
PARADE OF IDEAS
1-CEO,Treasury,Fed officials meet on market stabilization initiative.
-Guarentee Interbank lending.
-Broader Deposit insurance.
-Capital infusions into Banks.
2-Congress is also considering a 2ND stimulus package.
THE EUROPEAN UNION EURO ZONE AS WELL AS BRITIAN WILL GUARENTEE LOANS BY BANKS.
Without a similar deal by the USA, funds could flow to Europe.
Few results came from the G-7 meeting over the weekend.
World Bank says govenments should still help developing nations out.
Up to 400 Billion dollars will be in line for this European Union plan.
$35 Billion plan to bailout U.KS 4 largest Banks expected today.
Head of Italy's Borsa stock exchange stresses need to protect companies from hostile bids.
Germany expected to set up a special fund to provide up to $100 Billion Euros in equity capital to its countries Banks.
Polands Finance Ministry and Central Bank leaders meet with CEOS of Countries top 10Banks Today.
Norways Government and Central introduces measures to boost Countries Banks liquidity.
Australia and New Zealand latest Countries to guarentee all Bank deposits.
IMF'S Dominique Strauss-Kahn hopes governments actions will bring an end to spreading creit crunch.
10 COUNTRIES WILL GUARENTEE DEPOSIT LIABILITIES.
Austalia
Iceland
Ireland
Germany
Greece
New Zealand
Saudi-Arabia
Spain
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom.
Unlimited funds will be available now. So Countries might buy in these Countries because the funds will be guarenteed.
WATCH FOR THE WORLD TO BE PUT IN REGIONAL ECONOMIC BLOCS SO IF ONE BLOC FAILS THE REST WILL BE ABLE TO BAIL THEM OUT. JUST MY THOUGHT BUT GOES WITH PROPHECY.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Europe puts $2.3 trillion on line for banks By ANGELA CHARLTON and EMMA VANDORE, Associated Press Writers OCT 13,08
PARIS - European governments overcame their differences to put $2.3 trillion on the line Monday in guarantees and other emergency measures to save the banking system in their most unified response yet to the global financial crisis. The pledges by six countries that use the euro and Britain helped soothe stock markets, along with a promise by top central banks to provide unlimited short term dollar credits.The amount — pledged by Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Austria — dwarfs the $700 billion rescue package put together by U.S. President Bush's administration, although not all the European money will necessarily be spent.
It represented Europe's most unified response yet to the financial crisis, after weeks where European governments often acted at cross purposes and sniped at each other — a piecemeal approach that failed to stop steep and frightening slides on financial markets.The time of each one for itself is fortunately over, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, following a Cabinet meeting that approved France's spending in the framework of the scheme.United Europe has pledged more than the United States, added the French leader, who has taken a lead in corralling European governments to act together.The money pledged by European governments will not go into a collective pot. Instead, governments were deciding individually how much to commit to supporting their own banks under broad guidelines agreed at a summit on Sunday. The sums are considered a maximum, and might not all be spent if the financial crisis eases.About 250 billion euros ($341 billion) of the European pledges was earmarked to be spent on recapitalizing banks by buying stakes.The money pledges put a price tag on the package agreed to Sunday by the 15 countries that use the euro currency. They agreed to individually guarantee bank refinancing until the end of next year, rescue important failing banks through emergency cash injections and take other swift measures to encourage banks to lend to each other again.Stocks markets rebounded Monday after the European decision and other weekend efforts to find solutions to the financial crisis, which has crushed major banks in both the U.S. and Europe and battered stock exchanges worldwide.Germany's DAX rose 518.14 points, or 11.4 percent, to close at 5,062.45, while France's CAC-40 was up 355.01 points, or 11.2 percent, at 3,531.50. Britain's FTSE 100 was 324.84 points, or 8.3 percent, higher at 4,256.90, despite some hefty falls in the banks that have accepted government help.
Also helping markets was a joint move by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank to provide unlimited short-term credit in U.S. dollars to financial institutions. The Bank of Japan said it was considering similar measures.Europe's biggest economy, Germany, put together a rescue package worth as much as 500 billion euros ($671 billion) to shore up the country's financial system. We are taking drastic action, no question about it ... so that what we have experienced is not repeated, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters.Sarkozy said the French government would provide up to 360 billion euros ($491 billion) to help banks, most of that in guarantees for bank refinancing. The Netherlands put up 200 billion euros ($273 billion) to guarantee interbank loans.
Austria's government offered up to 85 billion euros ($116 billion). Spain said it would guarantee up to 100 billion euros ($135 billion) in a bank bond issuance this year. Portugal guaranteed 20 billion euros ($27 billion) euros — nearly 12 percent of annual GDP — to encourage Portuguese banks to lend to each other.Italy did not earmark a specific amount but Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti told reporters the government would offer as much as necessary.The European moves are modeled on Britain's 50 billion-pound ($88 billion) plan to partly nationalize major banks. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also promised to guarantee a further 250 billion pounds ($438 billion) worth of interbank loans to restore confidence in the financial sector.The head of the International Monetary Fund welcomed the European decision despite the high price it is expected to impose on state budgets. We must recapitalize the banks ... otherwise everyone will suffer, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on France's Europe-1 radio Monday. And that costs money.The euro zone leaders who met Sunday have yet to sell their packages to voters at home, and analysts warned that governments and legislators could still balk. The overall cost will be heavy, especially on countries already in or on the brink of recession. Analysts from the banking sector generally saluted the euro zone measures. After a haphazard start, Europe is finally getting its act together, Bank of America said in a research note. The size and nature of the national plans suggest that they could finally make a difference.The rest of the 27-member EU will have a chance to sign up to the euro-zone measures when they meet Wednesday. Norway, outside both the euro zone and the EU, said it plans to offer new government bonds worth 350 billion kroner ($55.4 billion) to banks to help improve liquidity in the market. In Sweden, Finance Minister Anders Borg said the government plans to put forward a draft law Wednesday to guarantee new bank debt until the end of 2009 and support banks with added share capital. BusinessEurope — a group representing most European major companies — said EU governments' parallel moves to unfreeze bank lending would help reinforce confidence and contribute to a continued flow of credit to companies and households.Associated Press writers Melissa Eddy in Berlin and Malin Rising in Stockholm contributed to this report.
Euro area states harmonise bank rescue plans
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today OCT 13,08 @ 09:24 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - An unprecedented extraordinary meeting of eurozone leaders in Paris has given the green light to a set of synchronised moves by member states to boost confidence in the financial sector and save failing banks with public money. We cannot have a healthy economy and sustainable growth unless we have a solid financial sector, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy on late Sunday (12 October), after the hastily arranged summit of the 15-strong euro area.The crisis talks aiming to adapt the bloc's financial markets to better cope with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s led to an agreement on a plan similar to that of Britain's rescue scenario. I believe that there is common ground now about what needs to be done, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown told journalists in Paris after he explained the details of the British approach hours ahead of the eurozone session. The UK remains outside the eurozone.Under the agreed package, 15 countries plus Slovakia - set to join the euro in January - committed to provide capital for banks striving for funds because of frozen money markets and to help or directly subscribe to debt-raising by banks for up to five years.Governments are ready to guarantee interbank loans at market rates until the end of next year, while also providing previously announced deposit guarantees for savers. What we want is to give back banks the means to lend, to support the economy to enable households to borrow for mortgages or consumption and give companies the means necessary to invest for growth, Sarkozy said. This is not a gift to banks but will help them function, he added, stressing that the extraordinary measures needed to attack the immediate problem should be later followed by structural changes in the financial system in a bid to create a real capitalism, and not one of speculators.Believe me, in Europe, we will not allow the system continue working in such a way. Believe me, those responsible will need to assume their responsibility. There will be changes ... And those who put the world into this situation will have to pay back.
On the verge of financial meltdown
Ahead of the Paris euro meeting, finance ministers from the G7 club of the seven most industrialised nations - the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Italy - gathered in Washington on Friday (10 October) and agreed a five-point plan to free up the flow of capital, revive the mortgage market and boost efforts by banks to raise money.Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, endorsed the plan while suggesting that previous moves by rich nations had been insufficient.Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown, he said, according to BBC.US President George Bush argued that the key point is to prevent contradicting actions among the superpowers. In our interconnected world, no nation will gain by driving down the fortunes of another. We are in this together. We will come through it together, he said.
Striving to prevent another Black Monday
The busy agenda in several world capitals over the weekend attempts to stauch the bleeding in global stock markets , which crashed last week, with the American Standard & Poor 500 index tumbling more than 18 percent, while European stocks plunged 22 percent and Tokyo's Nikkei tumbled 24 percent.France, Germany, Italy, Austria and several other countries are each due to hold government meetings on Monday to announce details of their national bail-out schemes, and will reveal the precise sums of public money they are ready to inject to the banking sector.German media have reported that Berlin is to propose a package worth some €400 billion, of which around €100 billion can be used in direct interventions in banks.Analysts believe this sort of co-ordinated action could indeed do the trick for the bloc's financial sector.This announcement of concrete, decisive and well-targeted measures to be deployed simultaneously by individual governments should reassure markets, Marco Annunziata, chief economist with Unicredit Markets and Investment Banking in London, told Reuters.Initial reports on Monday showed a positive reaction by Asian markets, with shares in Australia, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Singapore and India all rising , although while Taiwan's stock market has lost ground, the BBC has reported.
Dow jumps 938 as governments pledge bank aid By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer OCT 13,08
NEW YORK - Wall Street has stormed back from last week's devastating losses, sending the Dow Jones industrials soaring a nearly inconceivable 938 points after major governments' plans to support the global banking system reassured distraught investors. The Dow by far outstripped its previous record for a one-day point gain, 499, reached during the waning days of the dot-com boom in 2000.The market was likely to have a rebound after eight days of precipitous losses that took the Dow down nearly 2,400 points, but no one expected this kind of advance. Still, back-and-forth trading is likely to continue as Wall Street still contends with a crippled financial system and a struggling economy. So some of Monday's big gains may disappear when trading resumes Tuesday.The Dow is up about 938 points at the 9,389 level. All the major indexes are up more than 11 percent.
IMF ready to bail out swooning Hungary
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today OCT 13,08 @ 17:58 CET
Hungary may be the first member of the European Union to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since Britain was forced to take out a €3 billion loan in 1976.Hungary's forint slid sharply last week to its lowest level against the euro in two years, while the Budapest Stock Exchange saw heavy losses and investors were taking money out of the country.The forint did however regain some ground on Monday, largely in reaction to the financial rescue plan announced by G7 finance ministers over the weekend, analysts believe.In an attempt to staunch the bleeding, last Friday, Budapest announced sharp spending cuts to government programmes, a bank deposit guarantee similar to that announced by other member states and delays to planned tax cuts.There is a significant and strong attack against the Hungarian money and capital markets, prime minister Ference Gyurcsany declared in announcing the emergency cut-backs. [Hungary] must not spend in these times, he said.On Monday, in response to the spreading financial contagion, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF - an international institution set up to maintain order in the international monetary system - said that the financial institution was ready to rapidly step in with loans to the beleaguered east European nation.We are in close dialogue with the Hungarian authorities and the EU to discuss further responses to the current challenges, including possible technical and financial support by the IMF, he said in a statement.I have informed the authorities that the IMF stands ready to assist their efforts, he added.We will provide technical assistance as needed and, in the context of a supportive policy setting, are ready to undertake discussions on possible financial assistance, responding rapidly.
All tools available
The EU said it welcomed Mr Strauss-Kahn's offer, adding that it was ready to back up IMF aid with its own support using all tools available, although representatives of the bloc did not mention any financial assistance.The Council and the Commission are monitoring the situation closely, and support Hungary' efforts in tackling current challenges, said the presidency of the council of EU economic and finance ministers [ECOFIN] in a statement on Monday.The ECOFIN welcomes the readiness of the IMF to consider providing technical and financial assistance as needed to Hungary, the statement continued.The council of ministers said that it is in close consultations with the Hungarian authorities and the IMF and will ensure that any conditions attached to IMF funds are consistent with EU policy advice.IMF bail-outs of countries have always come attendant with strict demands for sweeping austerity measures including reductions in social programmes and privatisation of public assets.In 1976, to deal with soaring inflation, the UK requested a €3 billion (£2.3bn) loan from the IMF. In return, the then Labour government was required to deliver deep cuts to public spending.
Baltics, Ukraine
Hungary however is just the tip of the iceberg, warn experts. UK economist Barry Gills of Newcastle University told the EUobserver that the crisis is set to hit much of eastern Europe more profoundly than it has Old Europe.There is a looming problem in the east - Ukraine and the Baltics in particular - where the IMF might have to be called in with very large support loans, he said.In eastern Europe, growth is weakening and in some places going into reverse. They are experiencing some of the classic problems of developing countries in the past - structural imbalances such as insufficient reserves from exports to cover import bills; accruing debt to cover debts and balance of payments.This can lead to vulnerability of the currency, so they have to use reserves to protect the currency.Mr Gills worried that the European Union may not have the funds at its disposal to come to the aid of its newest members.Does the EU have the financial reserves apart from the IMF to solve some of these regional solutions? I'm not so sure that's clear at the moment.He also fretted about the significance of the IMF coming to the aid of member states. Does the EU want countries under IMF tutelage within its borders?
European leaders agree crisis rescue at summit by James Franey OCT 12,08
PARIS (AFP) - European Union leaders hammered out a plan Sunday to confront the financial crisis which will involve hundreds of billions of dollars of new initiatives to head off a feared meltdown.Two weeks after the Wall Street collapse of Lehman Brothers unleashed a worldwide crash on stock markets, US and European leaders signalled a growing commitment to take joint action to end the turmoil.After the Group of Seven leading democracies proposed an action plan at weekend meetings in Washington, a Paris summit of the 15 nations that use the euro currency agreed a bank rescue plan , French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.Sarkozy -- who oversees the French presidency of the European Union -- said governments would buy into banks to boost their finances and guarantee inter-bank lending.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the coming week was critical.
I believe that in the next few days confidence in the banking system will be restored.... The decisions we take over the next few days will affect us for the years ahead.My opinion is that it should produce positive results, added Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. We have a serious crisis and logically when there is a serious crisis it will be difficult to overcome, but we will overcome it.Europe's economic powerhouses all prepared new initiatives to underpin the banking system. No details were released, but Sarkozy said Britain, France, Germany and Italy and others would unveil packages on Monday.Officials have said they will cost several hundred billion dollars on top of the huge sums already spent rescuing banks and supporting money markets.In Washington, the EU action won swift praise from International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who recalled how the IMF has been calling for months for coordinated international action.Nearly all advanced countries are now covered and the... eurozone provisions may be extended eventually to all of Europe, he said.The eurozone plan is also comprehensive.... Altogether we are going in a good direction.Economists were eagerly awaiting the opening of Asia's stock markets Monday to gauge how their rescue plans are received by jittery investors hoping to stem the slide in the markets.In another development Sunday, news media in London reported that the British government would be taking controlling stakes Monday in two banks hit hard by the crisis -- Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.Britain has already set aside 250 billion pounds (315 billion euros) to guarantee loans, in addition to 200 billion pounds in short-term loans and 50 billion to buy stakes in major banks.Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said an announcement would come at the beginning of the week.Germany is meanwhile expected to guarantee interbank loans with 300 billion euros to 400 billion euros (405 to 540 billion dollars) as well as provide banks with fresh capital in exchange for shares.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said only the state could restore the necessary trust to the public and financial markets.
In Paris, the French government will Monday propose a state guarantee for endangered banks, a ruling party lawmaker said. The New York Times said the Bush administration was also heading toward taking direct stakes in threatened banks in the coming days, as the crisis dominates the run-up to the November 4 presidential election.
Elsewhere, Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and Portugal all moved to guarantee bank deposits, and Norway said it would issue up to 41 billion euros (54.5 billion dollars) in bonds to pay for measures to support banks. In Washington, Strauss-Kahn said the action plan adopted Friday by the Group of Seven was a breakthrough with the first global pledge to cooperate to stabilise the turmoil at the meetings. The G7 plan, though vague on details, commits countries to support the most important institutions, take measures to get credit flowing, assist banks in raising capital and reassure savers. World Bank president Robert Zoellick said the financial crisis, the worst since the 1929 market crash, underscored the need for coordinated action to modernize multilateralism for a new global economy.Zoellick announced that the International Finance Corp, the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank, was exploring the possibility of a fund to help recapitalize banks in the developing world. US President George W. Bush said the world's richest nations are united on a serious global response to the financial meltdown caused by massive loans to US lenders with bad credit histories. Coordination against the crisis is considered vital to prevent the actions of one country harming another and exacerbating the bank solvency and credit shortage problems. In the Great Depression, so-called beggar-thy-neighbour measures taken unilaterally by countries are considered to have deepened the economic pain.
THREAT OF MARTIAL LAW VIDEO
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77860
MONEYNETDAILY Bailout push included threat of martial law,Congressman says several colleagues got message before vote October 12, 2008 11:56 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.
WASHINGTON – During deliberations over the $700 billion federal bailout of banks and financial institutions, several members of Congress were threatened with the prospect of martial law if they did not act quickly and decisively to approve the measure, according to Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., an ardent opponent of the plan.
Many of us were told in private conversations, that if we didn't pass this bill on Monday, the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points, another couple thousand the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no, he said on the House floor Oct. 2.
Sherman's speech to colleagues was captured on C-Span. The video can be seen below:
The statement by Sherman added to fears raised by the announcement that the Army's 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, after service in Iraq for 35 of the last 60 months, would, for the next 12 months, serve in the U.S. under the service wing of the Northern Command as part of an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.
G20 pledges joint action to fight financial crisis By Vivianne Rodrigues and Walter Brandimarte Reuters - Sunday, October 12 12:40 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries called on Saturday for a joint response to the financial crisis that is snowballing into emerging markets.The G20 pledged to meet again in November and to reshape the institution to make it more agile in responding to the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.The problems we are facing today in the global economy must be solved by several countries, they can't be addressed by only one country or a single continent, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, who chairs the group, told a news conference after the meeting.The G20 includes the Group of Seven industrialized nations along with developing countries such as Brazil, China, India and South Korea.
In a statement issued by the group, the 20 finance ministers pledged to work together to improve the regulation, supervision and overall functioning of the world's financial markets. The group will meet again in Sao Paulo, Brazil.Mantega said the United States needed to help coordinate changes in international finance and that the Group of Seven industrialized nations should work with emerging markets.
Some G7 members support expanding that group to include some emerging countries, Mantega noted.For the first time, President George W. Bush briefly attended the G20 meeting. Mantega said it would be very important for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to attend the group's next meeting.
Capital outflows from emerging markets have accelerated as the financial crisis deepened in the past couple of weeks.The minister said the group was not considering measures to restrict capital flight because that would be counterproductive.Growth is expected to moderate globally, but Mantega stressed that emerging market economies should still grow more than developed ones in 2009, cushioning a global recession.(Editing by Peter Cooney)
Russia's Kudrin:G7, G20 moves defined risk areas
Reuters - Monday, October 13
WASHINGTON, Oct 12 - The decisions made by financial leaders of the Group of Seven and Group of 20 leaders over the weekend have set the stage for other moves, Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Sunday.The decisions may seem too general from first glance, but they strictly define areas of risk, and the scale of concrete decisions should be decided by individual governments for each economy, Kudrin said.Both the G7 group of rich countries on Friday and G20 countries on Saturday vowed to take action to stem a financial crisis that has roiled stock markets and hurt growth, but did not announce detailed plans.
Gov't eyes plan to take ownership stakes in banks By HARRY DUNPHY and TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writers OCT 12,08
WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told international leaders on Sunday that isolationism and protectionism could worsen the spreading financial crisis. With a new trading week dawning, U.S. lawmakers urged quick action by the Bush administration on measures to make direct purchases of bank stock to help unlock lending. Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said an administration proposal to inject federal money directly into certain banks, in effect partially nationalizing the banking system, is gaining steam.I am hopeful that tomorrow, the Treasury will announce that they're doing it. And they have to do it quickly ... markets are waiting, Schumer, D-N.Y., said.The administration has not indicated when it would announce its next steps.Democrats also are lining up behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to bring lawmakers back to Capitol Hill after the Nov. 4 election to work on a second economic relief plan. The idea is give the middle class and the average citizen the same kind of relief that we try to give the financial sector, said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.Top Democrats are suggesting a $150 billion measure that would extend jobless benefits, provide more money for food stamps and finance some construction projects, such as rebuilding bridges and roads. It would also include either a tax rebate or tax cut.Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the second-ranking House Republican, said he would help on a plan that makes sense but is not laden with huge public works projects or bailouts for states that overspent on social programs.In another step aimed at easing the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve on Sunday approved the $12.2 billion acquisition of troubled Wachovia Corp. by Wells Fargo & Co. Wachovia is the latest in a string of major banks and financial institutions that have been felled by the financial crisis. The Fed action was expected.
As the International Monetary Fund and World Bank held their annual meetings over the weekend, Paulson warned the bank's policy-setting committee of the dangers of inward-looking policies.Although we in the United States are taking many extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flow of goods, services or capital, as such measures would only intensify the risks of a prolonged crisis, Paulson said.Meanwhile, the World Bank pledged to protect poor and vulnerable countries and nations with rapidly developing economies. Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens, who heads the bank's policy-setting committee, said the bank and the IMF will draw on the full range of their resources to help these countries.Bank President Robert Zoellick told reporters the financial crisis has been a manmade catastrophe. The actions and responses to overcome it lie in our hands.Jittery investors awaited the reopening of stock markets — the Dow Jones industrial average just completed its worst week ever, plummeting more than 18 percent — and hoped for bold, coordinated international steps to address the crisis.
At a Paris meeting of European leaders Sunday, countries that use the euro agreed to temporarily guarantee bank refinancing to ease the credit crunch. French President Nicolas Sarkozy it would apply in 15 countries through the end of 2009 and was not a gift to banks.The United States has not yet gone that far. But President Bush met at the White House with top global financial leaders on Saturday in a display of unity and said afterward that they had agreed to general principles to combat the crisis. Bush, who had spoken about the crisis for 22 of the past 27 days, went biking at a state park in Maryland on Sunday morning and then kept to a private schedule the rest of the day.Paulson has indicated the administration will use part of the recent $700 billion bailout Bush signed Oct. 3 to have the government take ownership stakes in banks. The plan has wide support on Capitol Hill, although Democrats pressed for quicker action in spelling out specifics.Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sounded a cautionary note. That has to be very, very carefully done, he said. We are a capitalistic system and we don't want to move away with nationalizing the banking system. So that anything that's done has to be done on a temporary basis.This plan and other Paulson moves were supported by three former treasury secretaries. This is bigger than the private sector can fix by itself, said James A. Baker III, who served under President Reagan. Robert Rubin, treasury secretary under President Clinton and now an adviser to Barack Obama, said it was important to be highly, highly proactive.Lawrence Summers, also a Clinton treasury secretary, said, Any time you have a problem with trust, you've got to deal with it in a very aggressive way.
The lawmakers and ex-Cabinet officers made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows.
On the Net: White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/
Treasury Department: http://www.ustreas.gov/ World Bank : http://www.worldbank.org/
International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/
World Bank to protect poor from economic turmoil By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 12, 5:52 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The World Bank agreed Sunday to help developing countries strengthen their economies, bolster their financial systems and protect the poor against the financial turmoil in international markets. Robert Zoellick, the bank's president, said the contagion affecting the global economy has been a manmade catastrophe and responses to overcome it lie in all our hands.He spoke as the U.S. moved to shore up Wall Street and financial institutions and the 15 countries that use the euro agreed in Paris to temporarily guarantee bank refinancing to ease the credit squeeze.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Zoellick, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, endorsed the European move and said he expected markets to react favorably, although you never can be sure what will happen.Strauss-Kahn also called for quick implementation of the $700 billion U.S. rescue plan, which includes the government buying part-ownership in an array of banks.Zoellick said that as the current crisis has unfolded, people in the United States and Europe reacted first with confusion, then anger, then fear.Those natural reactions will spread around the world as the impact spreads, Zoellick said. We need to take them seriously.He said any prolonged tightening of credit or a sustained global slowdown could cause serious setbacks to developing countries' efforts to improve the lives of their populations. Such countries are already struggling with high prices for energy and food.We need concerted global action now not just to deal with this crisis, but to put in place new architecture, new norms, and new oversight to ensure that this crisis never happens again, he said.The poorest and must vulnerable groups risk the most serious — and in some cases, permanent — damage, Zoellick said. One hundred million people have already been driven into poverty this year and that number will grow.Zoellick said the financial crisis underscored the need for concerted global action now, not just to deal with the crisis but to put in place new architecture, new norms and new oversight to ensure that this crisis never happens again.
He said the bank and the IMF must ensure that as governments turn their attention to domestic matters, they do not step back from their commitment to provide billions in aid to poor countries.Aid flows must be maintained, Zoellick said. Today's meeting of ministers was unanimous in that regard.The head of the bank's policy-setting committee, Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens, said ministers were unanimous in their view that the World Bank had to protect the poor and vulnerable in the context of the global financial crisis. He said the Bank needs to be flexible to address the differing problems faced by poor countries and those with rapidly growing economies.In remarks to the committee, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said global unity was needed, not isolationism and protectionism, which do not offer a way to contain the spreading damage. He expressed concern about the fallout on poor countries.Although we in the United States are taking many extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flow of goods, services or capital, as such measures would only intensify the risks of a prolonged crisis, he said.U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, called for fast action — by the administration on a plan for the government to take direct stakes in certain banks, and by Congress on a new economic aid plan.Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said an administration proposal to inject federal money directly into certain banks, in effect partially nationalizing the banking system, is gaining steam.I am hopeful that tomorrow, the Treasury will announce that they're doing it. And they have to do it quickly ... markets are waiting, Schumer said. Schumer and other Democratic leaders also backed plans by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for a session after the Nov. 4 election to consider a $150 billion proposal to boost the economy. The measure would extend jobless benefits, provide more money for food stamps and finance public works projects, such as rebuilding bridges and roads. Yes, we are going to do a stimulus after the election, said Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The idea is give the middle class and the average citizen the same kind of relief that we try to give the financial sector, said Frank, D-Mass., who, like Schumer, appeared on the Sunday talk shows. President Bush says his administration is doing everything possible to halt the biggest market disruption since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Associated Press writers Chris Rugaber and Tom Raum contributed to this report. On the Net: White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/ Treasury Department: http://www.ustreas.gov/ World Bank : http://www.worldbank.org/ International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/
China looking inward as foreign economies slow By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 12, 11:20 AM ET
BEIJING - China's ruling Communist Party on Sunday said it would seek to expand its massive internal market to counter the global economic slowdown that has reduced international demand for Chinese goods. The party, led by President Hu Jintao, released a statement at the end of a four-day meeting of its Central Committee where it also approved a plan aimed at doubling rural incomes by 2020.We should step up efforts to boost domestic demand, particularly domestic consumption and keep the economy, the financial sector and the capital market stable, the party said in a statement released through the official Xinhua News Agency.The party also recognized inherent contradictions and problems with China's economy and said all members should prepare for greater challenges as the global financial crisis unfolds.China faces difficulties from high energy costs and inflation, but officials say the country has growth potential despite global uncertainties because of its large labor pool, vast domestic market and the increasing competitiveness of its companies.
Economists have cut China's growth forecasts to as low as 9 percent for the year, down from last year's 11.9 percent. That would be the highest rate for any major country, but Communist leaders want to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses, which could fuel political tensions.China lowered interest rates Wednesday in an effort to revive slowing economic growth and help struggling exporters.The party said it aims to double the income of the country's farmers — currently around $590 per person a year — over 12 years to ease the growing and politically explosive gulf between the urban elite who have benefited most from China's two-decade-old economic boom and its vast poor majority.The move also seeks to boost rural consumption levels by a big margin and eliminate poverty in the countryside by 2020, Xinhua said. China has an estimated 15 million people living in absolute poverty in the countryside.State media reports ahead of the meeting said the committee would review an amendment to give 750 million rural dwellers more freedom to lease or transfer their land, but the final statement did not mention the issue.Chinese economists hope the agricultural reforms will lead to larger, more efficient farms that are better able to meet the demands of the evolving economy while maintaining the country's self-sufficiency.
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.
Fire burns 750 acres, 2 homes northeast of LA OCT 12,08
LOS ANGELES - Firefighters backed by water-dumping helicopters and planes gained ground Sunday on a wildfire that destroyed two homes and forced the evacuation of about 1,200 people in a rugged area 20 miles north of downtown. The blaze charred up to 750 acres and also burned a garage, several sheds and three motor homes, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Ron Haralson. No one was seriously injured, but a firefighter and one resident reported minor breathing problems.Haralson said firefighters are getting a really good handle on the blaze, which started early Sunday. But powerful Santa Ana winds were expected to arrive in the evening, and gusts could spread embers igniting brush, grass and chaparral in the area.About 450 homes were evacuated early Sunday when the blaze moved southeast toward city limits, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea.It burned right down to a couple of neighborhoods, Florea said.The fire was 20 percent contained and as it burned south of the Wildlife Waystation, an animal sanctuary and rehabilitation facility set on 160 acres. The nonprofit agency houses more than 400 animals, including lions, bears and deer. Officials were loading up the animals in case the fire switched direction.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Elsewhere in California, firefighters halted the spread of a wildfire that burned about 300 acres of heavy brush, destroyed a home and threatened several wineries in Napa Valley.More than 1,500 firefighters were called in to work the blaze, which state fire officials said was fully contained by Sunday morning.Investigators said Saturday a rock struck by a car ignited the wildfire Friday afternoon. Strong winds in the hills near the wine country town of St. Helena caused the fire to spread quickly.The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said all evacuation orders had been lifted, allowing 100 people to return home after the flames forced them to flee.
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 have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
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.
Russia's Medvedev test fires long-range missile By Oleg Shchedrov
Sun Oct 12, 6:29 AM ET
PLESETSK COSMODROME, Russia (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev oversaw the test firing of an intercontinental Topol missile on Sunday and vowed to commission new generation weapons for Russia's armed forces. A Reuters reporter said the truck-mounted Topol was fired at 3:23 a.m. EDT in drizzling rain from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, which is nestled among the taiga forests of Russia's north.Half an hour later it hit the Kura testing site, 6000 km (3700 miles) away on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Pacific.I have just been told that the dummy warhead has landed in Kura, Medvedev said from the Topol launch pad where acrid smoke from the missile still hung thick in the air.We will continue to commission new types of weapons but we will also continue testing the ones we have now, said Medvedev. Their effectiveness has been proved by time. Our shield is fine.Russian nuclear submarines also successfully test fired two ballistic missiles from the Pacific Ocean and Barents Sea on Sunday to targets inside Russia, the navy said.Medvedev, who was sworn in as president in May, has moved to beef up Russia's armed forces after a five-day conflict in Georgia this August which sparked a row with the United States and European Union.Dressed in the army's new-style leather jacket -- with a badge saying commander-in-chief -- Medvedev inspected the 21.5 meter Topol rocket before the launch.
The rocket is designed to pierce anti-missile defense systems such as those that the United States wants to build in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin has opposed Washington's plans.Medvedev's predecessor, Vladimir Putin, raised defense spending during his eight-year presidency to revive Russia's armed forces, which had been drained in the 1990s by corruption, low pay and a lack of funding.Russia's strategic bombers have restarted regular patrols over the Atlantic Ocean, irking NATO, and a group of the Northern Fleet ships is on its way to the Caribbean to take part in joint exercises with U.S. foe Venezuela.Two Russian warships and their support vessels docked in Tripoli ahead of making the transatlantic trip. Russia on Saturday test-launched a strategic missile to the equatorial part of the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
NEW WEAPONS
The RS-12M Topol, called the SS-25 Sickle by NATO, has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles).This missile and others which will be commissioned in the next few years are capable of effectively providing the nuclear deterrent and ensuring the security of Russia and its allies, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, Commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, told Medvedev.The Topol, a highly mobile missile designed in Soviet times, is a key part of Russia's nuclear deterrent.But Russia has extended their use way past the 10-year guaranteed operational life set by the manufacturer and the launch on Sunday was aimed partly at testing how the rockets would fire after having their operational life extended so far.An extension of the operational life of the Topol rocket complexes ... will allow the systematic replacement of rockets being taken out of use with new generation rockets without any peak load on the military budget, Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Vovk, an adviser to the head of Russia's strategic forces, as saying. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Angus MacSwan)
Russian warships call in Libya: report Sat Oct 11, 1:31 PM ET
TRIPOLI (AFP) - Russian warships bound for Venezuela, including the nuclear-powered cruiser Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great), put in Saturday at the Libyan port of Tripoli for refuelling. Only one ship was able to enter the port, which is not deep enough to allow the other vessels to dock, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Two other warships of the Russian northern fleet could be seen in the distance, the correspondent reported.Earlier, Russian naval spokesman Igor Dygalo said the warships also included the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and support vessels, Interfax news agency reported.The frigate Neustrashimiy (Intrepid), which left Russia two weeks ago bound for Somalia where it was to join in fighting piracy in the region, was also among the vessels that put into Tripoli on Saturday, Interfax said.Dygalo said the port call was scheduled to be completed on Monday.The ships would then resume manoeuvres at unspecified locations in the Mediterranean Sea before heading to Venezuela for joint naval exercises next month, he said.Russia and Venezuela announced their joint military exercises last month amid high tensions between Moscow and Washington and Russian irritation at the presence of US warships near Russian waters in the Black Sea.The planned Russian naval presence in what the United States has long regarded as its backyard would be unprecedented since the Cold War, but Washington has mocked the move as nothing more than symbolic muscle-flexing.Russia-US tensions spiked in August during the conflict in Georgia. Russia has repeatedly criticised the United States for using navy ships for what Washington has said was delivery of humanitarian aid to ally Georgia.The Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises were scheduled to take place near the end of November.
Russia insists breakaway regions represented at Georgia talks Sat Oct 11, 6:32 PM ET
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia indicated Saturday it would only participate in international talks on Georgia if representatives from the breakaway regions at the centre of the August hostilities were allowed to attend. The talks on security in the region will not have any results without the full participation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies.As for Russia, we will take part in meetings where these republics are represented as equals with all the rest, he said.Talks on the Georgia conflict are to be held in Geneva on Wednesday under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.According to a diplomat in Brussels close to the issue, the representatives from South Ossetia and Abkazia would participate in talks at the level of two working groups, but not at the plenary sessions.Russia recognised the two separatist regions as independent states following a five-day war in August with Georgia. The Russian army entered South Ossetia after Georgian troops tried to regain control of the region from Moscow-backed separatists.Following a ceasefire brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union, Russia has been withdrawing its forces from Georgia proper but not from the rebel regions where 7,600 troops are to remain.
Lavrov told Russian news agencies Saturday that Russian troops did not have to withdraw from the disputed district of Akhalgori, as the Georgians claim.Akhalgori, northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, was part of South Ossetia during the Soviet era but was under Georgian control up until the August conflict with Russia.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday the status of the disputed region would form part of next week's discussions in Geneva.
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