DAY 20 ISRAEL IN GAZA PROTECTING ISRAELIS

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)

EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK)

REVELATION 18:10
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.

Atheists want God stricken from inaugural oath Wed Jan 14, 7:54 pm ET

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama wants to conclude his inaugural oath with the words so help me God, but a group of atheists is asking a federal judge to stop him.California atheist Michael Newdow sued Chief Justice John Roberts in federal court for an injunction barring the use of those words in the inaugural oath.Newdow and other atheists and agnostics also want to stop the use of prayers during the inaugural celebration.Newdow, who lost a Supreme Court battle to get the words under God taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance, has failed in similar challenges to the use of religious words and prayers at President George W. Bush's inaugurations.

Roberts' attorney Jeffrey P. Minear filed a document in Newdow's lawsuit saying that Obama wants the words so help me God included in his oath of office.The Justice Department and attorneys general from all 50 states have filed motions at the federal court asking for the lawsuit to be thrown out.The oath dictated by the Constitution is 35 words long and reads: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.The National Archives says that George Washington added the words so help me God when he took the oath at his 1789 inaugural, and most presidents have used it since. However, some have argued that the first eyewitness account of a president using those words came at President Chester Arthur's inauguration in 1881.Named in Newdow's lawsuit are Roberts; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and the two pastors invited to the event, the Rev. Rick Warren and the Rev. Joseph Lowery.U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton will hear arguments on Thursday.

REVELATION 20:11-15
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

THESE GODLESS DON'T THINK THEY HAVE TO GIVE ACCOUNT TO JESUS,WELL DO I HAVE NEWS FOR THEM AT THEIR DEATH,THEN AT THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST FOR SINNERS.

Atheist advertising campaign spreads to Spain JAN 14,09

Adverts denying the existence of God began appearing on buses in Spain on Monday as part of a campaign inspired by a similar initiative that got underway earlier this month in Britain.BARCELONA -The ads on buses that service two routes in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, read: There's probably no God. Stop worrying and enjoy your life in Catalan.They were paid for by the Catalan branch of Spain's Union for Atheists and Free Thinkers (UAL).The same message was plastered on roughly 800 buses and in London's subway system several weeks ago, angering believers in Britain.The Barcelona archbishop's office has already condemned the campaign, saying in a statement that for believers, faith in God was not an obstacle to enjoying life, but a solid foundation to live life with an attitude of solidarity, peace and a sense of transcendence.This campaign is not against believers, it is not even addressed to them. It is addressed to atheists, who are regularly threatened with punishments in a country with a strong Catholic tradition, the president of the Catalan branch of UAL, Albert Riba, told AFP.We want to tell non-believers: Relax, God probably does not exist, he added.The association wants to extend the campaign to the rest of the country, on buses in Madrid, Valencia on the Mediterranean coast, Bilbao in the northeast and Seville in the southwest.It has so far collected 15,500 euros (21,000 US dollars) through its web site to finance the ad campaign.In anticipation of the atheist advertising campaign, an evangelical pastor in Madrid has already paid for an opposing message to appear on a suburban bus route in Madrid that says: Yes, God exists. Make the most of life with Christ.[AFP/ Expatica]

PSALMS 20:1-9 PRAY THIS FOR ISRAEL EVERY DAY OF THIS WAR
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

HAMAS AT THERE WORST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptNr0v1p3E

WAR COVERAGE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Special/War/

Israel Sets Terms as Hamas Inches Closer to 10-Day Ceasefire
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu JAN 15,09

(IsraelNN.com) Hamas is inching closer towards accepting a 10-day ceasefire in Gaza, and Amos Gilad, head of the security-political bureau of the Defense Ministry, is to visit Cairo Thursday to hear details. Israel has set its conditions for a halt to the fighting, and it is not year clear what Hamas will accept and demand.Hamas sounded less militant, with terrorist spokesman Ghazi Hamad telling the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), I am optimistic now because I think there is no other choice for us.... This kind of agreement can be done now, and I think now there is good progress in Egypt. We hope that now Egypt will contact Israel and talk about all issues.However, warring factions in Hamas show a split in unity, which has been magnified by local leaders' being under pressure from outside control of Iran and Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.We do not agree with the initiative as it stands now, Beirut-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera television.

Israel has demanded ironclad guarantees from the United States and the international community that Hamas will not exploit a ceasefire to continue smuggling weapons into Gaza by land and sea. The government has not mentioned the return of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit nor has it spoken of the terrorist army and arsenal of rockets that Hamas would retain during a truce. The Egyptian ceasefire proposal includes a 10-day halt to the fighting until details are worked out for security at the border between Egypt and Gaza. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza, a condition that Hamas previously has rejected but now is considering, according to the Associated Press.

Israel continued to strike deep into Gaza overnight Wednesday, killing at least two suspected terrorists outside the home of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar. Fighting intensified in the Gaza City neighborhood el-Hawa as the Gaza death toll passed 1,000, mostly members and terrorists of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions.At least seven terrorists were killed late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

IDF HITS FROM,AIR,GROUND,SEA
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129432

Rockets in South, False Alarm in Jerusalem
by Maayana Miskin JAN 14,09

(IsraelNN.com) Gaza terrorists fired several rockets at southern Israel early on Wednesday afternoon. The attacks took place during the daily three-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, during which the IDF stops fighting to allow humanitarian supplies to reach civilians.Terrorists aimed rockets at Ashdod, Ashkelon, Yavne, Be'er Sheva, Sderot and small towns in the Gaza Belt area. Strikes were reported in open areas outside Be'er Sheva, Yavne and Ashdod. The rockets did not cause injury or damage. One rocket hit a small agricultural community in the Sdot HaNegev region, causing damage but no injury.

False Alarm in Jerusalem
At 1:00 p.m. a rocket alert siren sounded in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Maaleh Adumim. The siren caused mild panic, and hundreds of residents called MDA paramedics for instructions.Home Front Command officials said the alarm was caused by a technical malfunction. No actual attack took place, and no trial of the system had been scheduled.Some residents of Beit Shemesh reported hearing an explosion following the alarm. Defense officials conducted a brief investigation and determined that the noise did not result from an attack, but rather was related to ongoing work in the area.

Gaza Terrorists Fire Phosphorus Shell
by Maayana Miskin JAN 15,09

(IsraelNN.com) A phosphorus mortar shell was among the 16 rockets and shells fired at Israel by early Wednesday afternoon. Gaza terrorists fired the shell at the Eshkol region. The shell hit an open area and did not cause injury.Local officials expressed concern over the use of a new, more deadly weapon. The potential danger is enormous, one warned. The phosphorus shell is more dangerous than the usual rockets and mortar shells fired at the region, he explained.Eshkol Council head Chaim Yelin said the attack showed that Hamas is using illegal weapons.While expressing concern over the attack, Yelin said he was more concerned by the frequency of rocket attacks on the region. While the frequency of attacks on large cities has dropped, the Eshkol region is still hit by several rockets each day, he said. Israel must continue to fight until the region is quiet, he said, adding, We must not forget that we went to war in order to bring quiet to communities on the front line.

Earlier this week Hamas accused Israel of using phosphorus in Gaza. Several foreign officials working with Gaza humanitarian groups have echoed the claim while taking care to state that the allegations have not been proven. IDF officials have rejected the allegations.Phosphorus bombs and shells scatter burning phosphorus on impact. A phosphorus head makes a rocket more likely to cause a serious fire or to burn anyone in proximity of a strike.

10-day truce proposed in talks with Hamas, Israel By SALAH NASRAWI and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writers JAN 14,09

CAIRO, Egypt – Egypt and Hamas are close to a deal for a 10-day cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, where the death toll from the Israeli offensive exceeded 1,000, officials said Wednesday. Egyptian and Hamas officials expressed optimism that an agreement for a temporary halt in fighting could be sealed soon and presented to Israel.But even if all sides sign on, further talks will be needed to resolve contentious disputes over policing Gaza's borders and ensure a longer-term truce.We're working with Hamas and we're working with the Israeli side. We hope to reach an outcome soon, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told the British Broadcasting Corp.Nine Israeli human rights groups accused the army of endangering Gazan civilians and called for a war crimes investigation. The groups wrote to Israeli leaders that the Gaza campaign has left civilians with nowhere to flee. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel supports freedom of expression, even if an opinion is not based on any solid evidence and even if it is tainted with political bias.Guerrillas in Lebanon sent rockets crashing into northern Israel on Wednesday for the second time in a week, drawing an Israeli artillery barrage and threatening to drag the Jewish state into a second front.Egyptian and Hamas officials held intensive talks in Cairo. Late Wednesday, Salah al-Bardawil, a Gaza-based Hamas official, stopped short of saying Hamas had accepted the Egyptian proposal. He told reporters that we submitted our points of view on the proposed deal, adding, We hope that this Egyptian effort will succeed.Ghazi Hamad, another Gaza-based Hamas official, told the BBC, I am optimistic now because I think there is no other choice for us. ... This kind of agreement can be done now, and I think now there is good progress in Egypt. We hope that now Egypt will contact Israel and talk about all issues.But there were signs Hamas' leadership-in-exile had reservations. Osama Hamdan, a leading Hamas official in Beirut, said there were still points Hamas had not agreed to. We do not agree with the initiative as it stands now, he told Al-Jazeera TV.

The contradictory comments were the latest sign of cracks between Hamas leaders under fire in Gaza and the leadership-in-exile, which is largely based in Syria and is seen as more hard-line. Hamas officials, however, insist that the movement is unified, and it was not clear if Hamdan's tougher tone was a negotiating tactic or a sign of division.Israel launched its offensive Dec. 27 to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks. It has said it will press forward until Hamas halts the rocket fire and receives guarantees that Hamas will stop smuggling weapons into Gaza through the porous Egyptian border.The offensive has killed at least 1,025 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, including 300 children and teenagers, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry. The toll included 68 Palestinians who were killed or died of wounds Wednesday. More than 4,500 Palestinians have been wounded, medical officials said. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed, four by rocket fire from Gaza.Jakob Kellenberger, head of the international Red Cross, welcomed the three-hour daily lulls in the fighting set by Israelis to let groups send in aid and assist the wounded in Gaza, but he said more time was needed.You must have access at any time to people who are wounded, he said.Israel showed no signs of slowing its bruising offensive as fighting raged early Thursday north and south of Gaza City, where explosions and gunfire could be heard. Hospital officials said seven people were killed — four militants shortly after midnight in southern Gaza and three people an hour later in Gaza City.On Wednesday, Israel struck some 60 targets. One airstrike hit an overcrowded cemetery, spreading human remains over a wide area. The army said the airstrike targeted a weapons cache hidden near the graveyard. And two firefighters were killed in an airstrike as they extinguished a blaze started by a shell in a residential building, Palestinian medics said.Under the Egyptian proposal, Hamas would back off its demand that Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza and borders be opened immediately as part of any halt in fighting.Instead, Israeli forces would remain in place during a 10-day cease-fire until details on border security are worked out, Egyptian and Palestinian officials close to the talks told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the closed-door negotiations.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met late Wednesday with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss the cease-fire efforts. In a sign of progress, Israel's chief negotiator, Amos Gilad, planned to fly to Egypt on Thursday to present Israel's stance, a senior defense official said. Gilad had put off the trip in recent days, saying the time was not yet ripe. A senior Israeli official said it was far from certain that Israel would accept the deal. He said Israel welcomed many parts of the plan, but is concerned that Hamas will not respect a cease-fire as long as troops are in Gaza. The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. Israel has made clear that the Cairo talks are key to determining whether it widens its offensive.

Israeli leaders signaled that they have crippled Hamas to their satisfaction after 19days of heavy bombardment and ground fighting, but were holding out for international guarantees that weapons would no longer be smuggled into Gaza. The rocket fire from Lebanon caused no injuries, but sent residents scurrying to bomb shelters. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and speculation focused on small Palestinian groups. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrilla group that fought a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, denied involvement in last week's attack. In a Web audiotape Wednesday, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a holy war against Israel. Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious opinion, or fatwa, forbidding the purchase of any Israeli goods or trade with Israeli companies. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a visit to the Mideast on Wednesday, urging an immediate halt to the violence. It is intolerable that civilians bear the brunt of this conflict, he said after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Negotiations need to be intensified to provide arrangements and guarantees in order to sustain an endurable cease-fire and calm.Ban is scheduled to arrive Thursday in Israel. He will also visit Jordan, the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait. His itinerary does not include a stop in Gaza because of the ongoing conflict. In Paris, the French and German foreign ministers urged an immediate Gaza cease-fire, saying in a statement that such a measure would provide space to address the humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, both Venezuela and Bolivia broke diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza, a week after Venezuela expelled Israel's ambassador. Both Latin nations have cultivated ties to Iran, which supports Hamas.

If a cease-fire is reached, it would aim to give 10 days of quiet to work out the contentious issues of a longer truce, according to the framework outlined by the Egyptian and Palestinian officials close to the talks. During that time, Egyptian, Turkish and other international mediators would try to negotiate an arrangement for policing Gaza's borders — particularly those with Egypt — to prevent weapons smuggling into the territory, the officials said. This would likely entail some kind of international monitors on the Palestinian side of the border — but the two sides remain far apart on who would make up the force, where they would be deployed and their mission. Hamas has so far publicly resisted deploying international monitors and has demanded a role in policing the borders. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and has always rejected a policing role. Only after a deal on border security has been reached would the crossings be opened and Israel withdraw, the officials said. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit underlined that all elements must fall into place — the cease-fire, the security arrangements, and the eventual opening of border crossings and Israeli withdrawal. Otherwise, we will end up with a truce but without reconciliation or with a truce that will be broken, he said. Also, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah called for a meeting of Gulf countries on Gaza Thursday, while Qatar sought an emergency summit Friday of the Arab League. Arab countries have been struggling with how to address the crisis, with some pushing for a strong response against Israel and others willing to put more pressure on Hamas.

Maj. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said the army has destroyed 60 percent to 70 percent of the smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border. She also said Israel has reduced Hamas' rocket capabilities by 90 percent, from about 200a day before the offensive to 20 or 30 each day. Hamas militants fired a phosphorus shell into Israel for the first time, hitting a field near the border town of Sderot but causing no casualties, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Amy Teibel in Jerusalem and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.

Brussels freezes talks on closer EU-Israel relations
LEIGH PHILLIPS 14.01.2009 @ 23:36 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Brussels has paused negotiations with Tel Aviv over a planned upgrade to EU-Israel relations, as the Palestinian death toll passed the 1,000 mark on Wednesday (14 January).The priority at the moment is to achieve a ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and that is what we need to concentrate on now, not the upgrade, European Commission external relations spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann told EUobserver.No activities that could be considered related to the upgrade are taking place due to the situation on the ground, Czech EU presidency spokesman Jan Sliva said.The EU-Israel Association Council - a group headed by foreign ministers that conducts bilateral relations between Israel and the EU - announced last June that Brussels would upgrade relations with Tel Aviv.EU leaders in December launched accelerated negotiations on increased diplomatic co-operation, Israeli participation in European programmes and agencies and possible Israeli integration into the European single market.The European Commission was tasked with technical talks on participation in programmes and agencies while EU member states were to forge closer political links. The current pause in negotiations relates to the commission's technical talks.The EU's ambassador to Israel, Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal, also told reporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday that the two sides have imposed a mutually agreed time-out in the negotiations, Reuters reports.In a war situation, in a situation in which Israel is at war, using its war means in a very dramatic way, in a powerful way in Gaza, everybody realises that it is not the appropriate time to upgrade bilateral relations which normally take place in a more ...peaceful context, he said.An Israeli diplomat pointed out that the Czech EU presidency continues to place improved EU-Irsaeli relations at the top of its agenda.

It is only that technical work has been postponed, the contact said. So we don't see any obstacle to the upgrade at all.Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday that he was still committed to strengthening EU-Israel ties.
The current dramatic events in this region must not deter us. On the contrary, they emphasise the necessity of finding a peaceful solution, he said.The vast majority of MEPs at a European Parliament debate on Gaza called for an immediate ceasefire, voicing shock at the suffering of the civilian population and deploring strikes against civilian and UN targets.UK liberal deputy Chris Davies, who recently returned from a trip to the conflict zone, criticised the EU for not doing enough to bring a halt to the violence.Saying Israel had turned Gaza into Hell and calling the Jewish state's war on the occupied territory evil, he asked why Europe makes allowances for Israel that we wouldn't for any other states.His remarks came as Palestinian medical officials on Wednesday said 1,013 people have died so far, over 300 of whom are children and 76 are women, with a further 4,500 injured. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed since fighting broke out on 27 December.

Bin Laden urges jihad against Israel over Gaza
Updated Wed. Jan. 14 2009 1:05 PM ET The Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt -- Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state in a new message aimed at harnessing anger over Israel's Gaza military offensive. The al Qaeda chief spoke in an audiotape posted Wednesday on militant websites where the group usually issues its messages. It was his first tape since May and came nearly three weeks after Israel started its campaign. Bin Laden also vowed that the terror network would open new fronts against the United States and its allies beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. He said president-elect Barack Obama has received a heavy inheritance from George W. Bush -- two wars and the collapse of the economy, which he said will render the United States unable to sustain a long fight against the mujahedeen, or holy warriors. There is only one strong way to bring the return of Al-Aqsa and Palestine, and that is jihad in the path of God, bin Laden said in the 22-minute audiotape, referring to the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The duty is to urge people to jihad and to enlist the youth into jihad brigades.Islamic nation, you are capable of defeating the Zionist entity with your popular capabilities and your great hidden strength -- without the support of (Arab) leaders and despite the fact that most of (the leaders) stand in the barracks of the Crusader-Zionist alliance, bin Laden said. The authenticity of the tape could not be independently confirmed, but the voice resembled that of bin Laden in previous messages. The White House dismissed the tape, saying it reflected bin Laden's isolation and shows the al Qaeda leader is trying to remain relevant at a time when his ideology and mission are being questioned and challenged. The tape, entitled A Call for Jihad to Stop the Aggression on Gaza, was played over a still picture of bin Laden and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, one of Islam's holiest sites. But there were no English subtitles and flashy production graphics that usually accompany such messages.

That suggested the message had been hastily put together and issued to best exploit anger in the region over the Gaza offensive, which Palestinian medical officials say has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, half of them civilians. Israel said the offensive aims to halt rocket fire from Gaza against Israeli towns. Bin Laden accused Arab leaders of avoiding their responsibility to liberate Palestine. If you are not convinced to fight, then open the way to those who are convinced, he said.

Bin Laden and his lieutenants frequently use the Palestinian issue to try to rally support for al Qaeda and often call for holy war to free Jerusalem. But there has been little sign that the group has carried out attacks in Israel. Bin Laden made no direct reference to Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007. Al Qaeda leaders have frequently criticized the group for participating in elections and failing to seriously pursue jihad against Israel. The al Qaeda leader also said the world economic crisis was a sign that the United States' power was falling apart. The Islamic nation's jihad is one of the main causes of these destructive results for our enemies, he claimed. Pointing to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, bin Laden said al Qaeda was prepared to fight for seven more years, and seven more after that, then seven more.We are on the way to opening new fronts, he said, urging Muslims to join hands with the mujahedeen to continue the jihad against the enemy, to continue bleeding them on these two fronts and on the others that are open to you.The question is, can America continue the war against us for several more decades? The reports and signs show us otherwise, he said. He said Bush had left his successor with a heavy inheritance, forcing Obama to choose between withdrawing from the wars or continuing. If he withdraws from the war, it is a military defeat. If he continues, he drowns in economic crisis, bin Laden said. It was the first time bin Laden have spoken of Obama, though he did not mention him by name. Bin Laden's top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri has previously spoken against Obama, warning Muslims he will not bring major change in American policies.

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.

Harsh winter winds blow across Canada
Updated Wed. Jan. 14 2009 6:02 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Canadians in more than half a dozen provinces are being warned to bundle up for at least a few more days, with wind-chill and snowfall warnings in effect across the country, including the East Coast.The deep freeze that hit Western and Central Canada earlier -- taking temperatures to between -20 and -50 with wind chill -- could last until next week in some areas, warned Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson. As of Wednesday morning, Manitoba was experiencing particularly extreme wind chills and temperatures. Winnipeg residents were being warned of wind chills as low as -45.The statement this morning out of Manitoba was mentioning brief wind chills as cold as minus 50, Coulson told CTV's Canada AM. When we get to those kinds of wind chills we are talking about potential frostbite within a matter of minutes.Calgary residents, on the other hand, could actually find themselves enjoying a relatively- warm 10 degrees above freezing on Thursday, and with only a hint of sub-zero temperatures for the rest of the week.But the city still has to deal with snowfall tonight that could cause accumulation problems. Residents are already making a high volume of calls to city staff, according to the City of Calgary website.To the east, in Saskatoon, Sask., the winds had calmed down and temperatures plummeted to -32. Things were just as bad in Regina, where residents saw midday temperatures of -28 with a wind chill of -37. In Thunder Bay, Ont., on Wednesday, it was -24 with the wind chill taking the temperature to a frigid -36. Toronto was a little warmer, with temperatures at -16 with the winds standing still in the early afternoon. In Montreal the temperature was -22 with wind chill making it feel like a frigid -33.

Coulson said the duration of the deep freeze will vary depending on the province - with those in the east likely to feel the effects of the cold front longer than those in the west. It looks like Saskatchewan will begin to see some relief from the bitter cold by Friday, he told CTV's Canada AM. For Manitoba it's Friday and into Saturday. Northwestern Ontario should be seeing some relief on Saturday, Southern Ontario probably into Sunday before we see somewhat milder temperatures, and in Quebec it's probably going to be right into early next week before they see some relief.In the East Cost, parts of northern and northwestern New Brunswick were expected to see extreme wind chill values as well, with Environment Canada predicting wind chills below -35 on Wednesday night.Most of Prince Edward Island was also under a wind-chill warning, with the cold breeze expected to make temperatures feel like -40. Nova Scotia appeared to have escaped the cold, except for a few counties like Colchester and Cumberland.Coulson warned that frostbite and freezing can set in within minutes when temperatures reach such lows -- and people should avoid unnecessary risks. In this type of weather, really, if you don't have to be out there you shouldn't be out there, he said. If you have to be out there for any length of time -- and some folks it's their job, they have to be -- these people are well prepared, dressed in layers, making sure they've got all their extremities covered to try to keep as much as the body warmth in as they can.Even after next week, Canadians aren't necessarily in the clear. Coulson warned that it's possible we'll experience another cold snap before the winter is over. We're still in the middle of January,Coulson said. These types of cold outbreaks are still quite possible as we head through the rest of the month of January and right into February. Hopefully not of this scope and this depth of cold, but we still have a ways to go this winter.

Biting cold hits Northeast, keeps even skiers home By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer JAN 14,08

MONTPELIER, Vt. – The cold wave that stunned the nation's midsection expanded into the Northeast on Wednesday with subzero temperatures and biting wind that kept even some winter sports fans at home. The wind chill hit 33 below zero during the night at Massena, N.Y., and the National Weather Service predicted actual temperatures nearly that low in parts of the region by Thursday night. The weather service said Flint, Mich., set a record low early Wednesday at 19 degrees below zero.Forecasters also issued a lake effect snow warning Wednesday night for southwest Michigan, where a foot of snow or more could fall.Winter-hardened people across northern New England bundled up amid warnings about how fast exposed skin can freeze.Anyone who sends their kid out today is out of the running for parent of the year, said Eric Friedman, a spokesman for Mad River Glen ski area in Fayston, Vt. A frostbite caution sign was posted at the ticket office, but few skiers were there to see it because of the 5-below-zero cold, Friedman said.Schools from Iowa to North Carolina opened late so kids would not have to be out in the coldest part of the morning. Some schools closed altogether.Awful, said University of Dayton student Lauren Weining, who put on two pairs of pants and three sweaters under her coat for a 10-minute walk to her job on the Ohio school's campus. It's the longest 10 minutes I ever had this year.No deaths were reported in the Northeast, but snowy conditions caused a 14-car crash Wednesday on Interstate 75 in Ohio and a truck that slowed to avoid the wreckage slammed into a car, killing the car's 55-year-old driver, said Tipp City patrolman Greg Adkins.Also on Wednesday, two men died in a 20-vehicle pileup in near-blizzard conditions on the Indiana Toll Road.A day earlier, a Wisconsin man died of exposure after wandering from his home; relatives said he was prone to sleepwalking. Poor visibility in blowing snow was blamed for a 20-car pileup that killed two people Wednesday in Indiana.Snow also cut visibility in Chicago, where airlines canceled around 250 flights Wednesday afternoon at O'Hare International Airport.In New York, where light snow was forecast and overnight lows Thursday near Albany were expected to be around minus 10, the frigid conditions caused complications for highway managers because road salt doesn't melt ice in subzero temperatures.Once we get into minus 10, minus 20, in some cases we have to go to just straight sand, a light dusting of sand, on the highway to get some grit, provide some traction, said Mike Flick of the state Transportation Department in Pamelia.

Mercifully, no major precipitation was forecast for New England. Parts of the region are still recovering from a Dec. 11 ice storm that tore down trees and power lines, cutting electricity to about 1 million homes and businesses in the Northeast some for more than a week.This was just arctic cold, the kind that numbs the face, kills car batteries and freezes unguarded water pipes. Residents of Ironwood, Mich., were told to keep faucets running to prevent freeze-ups after a major break left the city without water, said Gogebic County emergency services coordinator Jim Loeper.It slows you down a little bit. Your body doesn't move as fast as it should, said Shane West, 35, a roofer working on a house in Montpelier in 2-below cold. Even for us, it can become a problem sometimes, he said, referring to Vermonters accustomed to cold weather.A temperature around zero didn't faze truck driver Gary Jacobs, 49, of Barre, Vt., bundled in five layers — T-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, hooded sweatshirt and coat, in addition to snowpants, boots and a knit cap.People in Arizona say It's a dry heat. This is a fresh cold, Jacobs said.But people who had a choice stayed inside — even skiers. Vermont's Bolton Valley ski resort, where it was 10 below Wednesday morning, canceled night skiing through Friday night for fear that skiers could freeze if they were marooned on a malfunctioning ski lift. A couple of ski areas in northern Minnesota closed for the day because of temperatures that reached 38 below zero at International Falls, with the wind chill during the night estimated at 50 below. Homeless shelters were busy. We don't want anyone out there, said Kathryn Paquette, homeless outreach specialist of Southern New Hampshire Services in Nashua, N.H., which found rooms at rooming houses, motels and shelters for dozens. Honda Motor Co. canceled two shifts at three Ohio plants so their roughly 5,000 workers wouldn't have to risk the cold and slippery roads, spokesman Ron Lietzke said. Maine residents braced for nighttime readings down to 40 below zero. And in the Midwest, Iowans were warned that temperatures could drop as far as 27 below zero during the night, matching a Jan. 15 record set in 1972. Temperatures on Thursday were expected to range from 10 below zero in the far north to the low teens in southern coastal areas. Farther south, morning temperatures were in the 20s from Texas to Georgia, and along the Gulf Coast the weather service reported a low of just 28 at Mobile, Ala. Even northern Georgia and Kentucky could see single-digit lows by Friday, with zero possible at Lexington, Ky., the weather service warned. Kentucky hasn't been that cold since December 2004. Farmworkers in Florida, where the service forecast Thursday night lows in the teens to lower 20s, plucked ripened berries early as a precaution. Strawberry growers near Tampa and blueberry growers around Gainesville checked irrigation pumps, ready to spray fruit with water to create a protective ice coating if needed. But as the Gulf Coast city of Pensacola, Fla., fell to 40 degrees, Brazilian tourist Vitor Rocha wore shorts and sandals for a stroll with a friend. We are not disappointed in the weather today, this is something unusual for us, he said. Associated Press writers David Tirell-Wysocki in Concord, N.H.; Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine; Roger Petterson in New York City; Jessica M. Pasko and Richard Richtmyer in Albany, N.Y.; Melissa Nelson in Pensacola Beach, Fla.; James Hannah in Dayton, Ohio; Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., and James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., also contributed to this report. On the Net:
Weather Service warnings: http://tinyurl.com/yfjlyf

Bitter cold worries farmers and ranchers By Carey Gillam Carey Gillam – Wed Jan 14, 2:46 pm

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – A blanket of frigid air moving across part of the United States Wednesday tied up transportation and sparked farmer fears of damage to crops and livestock.In northern Minnesota, temperatures dropped to 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, and record lows near that were recorded in North Dakota as single-digit and sub-zero temperatures spread through a broad swath of the country's northern and central tiers.As the bitter cold moved south and combined with snow and ice in some areas, the sudden plunge in temperature fueled farmer fears that vulnerable young wheat plants could suffer, and ranchers fretted over how to keep weight on cattle and hogs for market.Everything is harder when it is cold, said Kevin Gilbert, a hog producer in Ionia, Iowa, where single-digit temperatures were forecast to fall to 18 degrees Fahrenheit below zero on Thursday.It is the wind that gets you,he added.The cold has had cattle eating through feed supplies so quickly that ranchers have been selling off animals to make the feed last, said Darryl Howard, chief brand inspector for the North Dakota Stockmen's Association.

It has taken a considerable toll on feed supplies, said Howard. It has caused some herd reduction.The harsh conditions were complicating truck transportation of grain and livestock in some areas, but river and ground movement of commodities through the Plains and Midwest remained mostly unhindered.Subzero temperatures were forecast through Friday morning. North-central Kansas and south-central Nebraska, key hard red winter wheat-producing areas, were forecast to see lows ranging for zero to -10 degrees F,This is the coldest weather we've seen in a few years, said DTM Meteorlogix forecaster Mike Palmerino.Soft red winter wheat areas in the southern Midwest were also threatened, Palmerino said.Frigid temperatures, coupled with a lack of snowcover, can kill off parts of the wheat plant if the ground lacks adequate protective snow and soil moisture.Still, the bitter conditions were expected to be short-lived, with a warming trend forecast for this weekend.It's chilly and it's getting colder, said South Dakota Agriculture Department deputy director George Williams. But we're dealing with it. We're used to it.(Additional reporting by Bob Burgdorfer and Christine Stebbins in Chicago; Editing by John Picinich)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

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 THU JAN 15,2009

09:30 AM +1.04
10:00 AM -81.96
10:30 AM -172.99
11:00 AM -137.15
11:30 AM -111.62
12:00 PM -143.34
12:30 PM -180.32
01:00 PM -141.98
01:30 PM -139.70
02:00 PM -56.07
02:30 PM +9.64
03:00 PM +27.80
03:30 PM -13.06
04:00 PM +12.35 8212.49

S&P 500 843.74 +1.12

NASDAQ 1511.84 +22.20

GOLD 816.00 +7.20

OIL 34.70 -2.58

TSE 300 8850.29 +161.93

CDNX 844.30 -5.23

S&P/TSX/60 534.85 +10.57

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow -2 points at 4 minites of trading.
Dow +9 points at high today.
Dow -174 points at low today.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -6.57%
S&P -6.71%
Nasdaq -5.54%
TSX Advances 291,declines 857,unchanged 189,Volume 825,899,604.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 268,Declines 462,Unchanged 280,Volume 146,308,231.
Oil opens at $36.28 today and Gold opens at $809.50 today.
Natural Gas Inventories -94 BCP.
NYSE STATS 10:30AM
Advances 374,Declines 2498,Unchanged 67,New highs 3,New Lows 73.
NASDAQ STATA 10:30AM
Advances 514,Declines 1744,Unchanged 203.
TSX STATS 12:30PM
Advances 329,Declines 682,Unchanged 207.
VENTURE EXCHANGE 12:30PM
Advances 182,Declines 310,Unchanged 211.
RICHARD HAAS HEAD OF COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS IS OBAMAS NEW ADVISER.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow +9 at high today.
Dow -180 at low today.
Dow on a 7 session losing streak and lost 10% during this time.
Dow on pace for biggest weekly drop since week ending OCT 10,2008.
Dow toches lowest level since NOV 20,2008.
Dow,S&P,Nasdaq have biggest 2-day drops since DEC 1,2008.

Behind JP MORGANS 4Q NUMBERS.
-$4.1 BILLION add to loan loss reserves.
-$2.9 BILLION marks on levered loans,Mortgages.
-$1.1 BILLION gain from merger related Items.

BANK OF AMERICA AND TARP
What if B of A took more TARP money?
-Treasury gets:1-Preferred Stock.
2-Coupon of 9% or higher.
3-Common dividend:Cut from $0.32 to $0.01.
TOP OF THE TARP
-Citigroup $45 BILLION.
-AIG $40 BILLION.
-Wells Fargo $25 BILLION.
-JP Morgan $25 BILLION.
-BOFA/Merrill $25 BILLION.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow +82 at high today.
Dow -205 at low today.
Dow +0.15% today Volume 434,907,317.00
Nasdaq +1.49% today Volume 2,147,483,648.00
S&P 500 +0.13% today.
AIRBUS A320 HITS FLOCK OF BIRDS AND IS DOWNED IN THE NY HUSON RIVER.

Report cites need for eurozone central regulator
ANDREW WILLIS 14.01.2009 @ 17:43 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report published Wednesday (14 January) cites the need for centralisation of financial regulation in the euro area. In a televised interview, senior OECD economist and head of the EU desk, Nigel Pain, said one way to achieve this aim is to have an agency which oversees the work of the existing national supervisors.A second way would be to set up a central agency with responsibility for actually supervising the large [financial] institutions directly, Mr Pain continued, referring to the increased number of cross-border institutions that have sprung up in recent years. Financial regulation in the European Union is predominantly carried out at the national level at present but analysts point to the borderless nature of international finance as a reason for supranational regulation. The existing system relies heavily on close co-ordination and information sharing between different regulators. It also imposes a considerable burden on cross-border firms that have to report to an array of different authorities, says the OECD report.A more centralised and uniform system for supervising large complex financial institutions would also have advantages by pooling information, regulating in a consistent way, enhancing preparedness for a crisis and reducing regulatory costs, the report continues.

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet said last week the bank was examining the possibility of an increased role in this area.The existence of large member states such as Poland and the UK outside the eurozone may limit the ECB's options however. In the interview, Mr Pain also said short-term measures were necessary to prevent future financial crises, including increased transparency of financial accounts and a reassessment of the role played by credit rating agencies.
The European Parliament is currently looking at measures regarding credit rating agencies put forward by Internal Market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy.

Calls for further rate cut

The OECD report says growth will not move above trend rates until the second half of 2010, and is predicting that the fiscal deficit for the euro area in 2009 will increase by 0.8 per cent. Ageing and healthcare costs were cited as the major obstacles to long-term fiscal sustainability.Regarding interest rates, Mr Pain said: The ECB has to stand ready to ease monetary policy as inflation falls and we think they have plenty of scope to do so.Such calls are likely to increase pressure on the ECB board to cut interest rates when it meets Thursday (15 January). However, Mr Pain said the ECB should be ready to increase rates if inflationary risks increase.

Germany may change constitution over economic crisis
ANDREW WILLIS 14.01.2009 @ 09:25 CET

Germany is to take the radical step of changing its constitution in order to ensure excessive public borrowing is prevented, the country's chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced on Tuesday (13 January).The country is also to impose strict new rules to ensure that the extra debt created by its latest stimulus plan is paid off quickly.
Ms Merkel made the comments while unveiling a second stimulus plan worth €49.25 billion, to be spent over two years and made up of public investments and tax cuts.

The constitutional amendment would prevent German governments from raising the state's public deficit above 0.5 per cent of GDP in normal economic times, the Financial Times reports. This would have capped 2008 borrowing at €12 billion. The EU's Stability and Growth Pact, which limits Eurozone budget deficits to three per cent of GDP, was relaxed last year as the economic downturn escalated. In addition to Germany's proposed constitutional change, the finance ministry is to set up a redemption fund to ensure the government pays back the latest stimulus plan by a set date. The redemption fund could collect revenues from future government windfall taxes once economic growth reached a certain threshold.A similar fund was set up to pay back borrowing related to German unification.Both measures highlight German fears over the potential long-term damage to Europe's monetary union caused by excessive public borrowing, concerns shared by Belgium and the Netherlands. In a sign that investors are increasingly differentiating between Eurozone countries, yield margins between German and other Eurozone bonds have widened considerably in recent weeks.Yet even Germany failed to sell €6 billion worth of government bonds last week, a sign likely to worry other less prudent governments looking to raise money for spending projects.

Portugal receives credit warning

Separately on Tuesday, Portugal received a warning from credit rating agency Standard & Poor's, the fourth Eurozone state to do so in as many days. On Monday, Spain was warned by the same agency that its rating was in danger of being downgraded, as were those of Ireland and Greece last Friday. High ratings are vital to enable cheap borrowing on international money markets and any downgrades could prove costly at a time when national governments are looking to spend considerably more than tax returns allow.

Czech PM gives scant praise to Lisbon treaty
HONOR MAHONY 14.01.2009 @ 17:43 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has trampled on the EU's unspoken rule that presidency countries do not offer a controversial opinion on the sensitive topic of the moment.Speaking to MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday (14 January), Mr Topolanek, in charge of the EU for the first half of this year, offered only half-hearted support for the EU's new rulebook - seven years in the making and facing an uncertain future - and expressed doubts that Czech citizens would approve it in a referendum.It's an average treaty, a bit better than the [current] Nice treaty, he said and expressed annoyance about the pressure on member states to ratify the Lisbon treaty.Telling member states in advance that they have to ratify the treaty and ...that they do not have the right ...to decide whether to approve it or not is absurd, Mr Topolanek said, according to AFP news agency.He noted that if there was a referendum on Lisbon in his country then it would also not be accepted in a comment unlikely to be welcomed by the Irish government, which is gearing itself up for a second vote on the charter after Irish voters rejected it first time round last year. His words were quickly seized upon by the anti-treaty camp in Ireland. Mary-Lou McDonald, an MEP for Sinn Fein which campaigned against the document, welcomed Mr Topolanek's candour and said it illustrated the massive discrepancy between the political establishment of Europe and member state citizens.

The Czech Republic is the only country which has not yet expressed itself on the treaty. Prague's treaty debate has become embroiled in domestic issues. In addition, several MPs do not like the document which is due to be voted on in the lower house of parliament on 3 February. For his part, Mr Topolanek told euro-deputies that as he had negotiated and signed off the Lisbon treaty, he personally would vote for it.
With or without the Czech leader's controversial words, the Lisbon treaty is set to stay high on the political agenda over the coming months.One of the main tasks for Prague will be to negotiate a legal framework for the political promises made to Ireland by other member states about the text - on tax issues, neutrality and family law.Dublin has indicated that it will hold its second referendum later this year - it is expected to take place in the autumn.

Gas war costing EU hundreds of millions a day
PHILIPPA RUNNER 14.01.2009 @ 17:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The cost of the Russia-Ukraine gas war to the EU economy is spiralling into the billions, experts warn, with the European Commission encouraging EU companies to take legal action. European gas companies are not selling gas to the tune of about €150 million a day. Electricity producers are also losing hundreds of millions a day, International Energy Agency (IEA) analyst Ian Cronshaw told EUobserver on Wednesday (14 January).In Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic industry is being forced to slow down or shut down. This will spread as European [gas] stock volumes drop and the economic cost will go up exponentially at a time when Europe can least afford it.A meeting of the Gas Co-ordination Group - EU member states' energy ministry officials - in Brussels on 19 January is to pool data on the impact of the gas crisis so far. But European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has already indicated that Brussels will back any legal claims. If the agreement sponsored by the European Union is not honoured as a mater of urgency, I will advise European companies to take this matter to the courts, he told MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday.The Hungarian government has also pledged diplomatic support for law suits after Hungarian energy firm Emfesz this week filed a claim in Budapest courts for €23 million against Ukraine gas transit firm Naftogaz.Most EU energy firms have contracts with Russian state gas supplier Gazprom or intermediaries. But the Ukrainian side may bear the brunt of attacks due to Gazprom's powerful market position.They will not sue Gazprom because they have signed supply contracts until 2030 or 2035. And you don't want to get into trouble with your partner if you have that kind of contract, European Council on Foreign Relations' (ECFR) expert Pierre Noel told this website.

The EU, Russia and Ukraine agreed to resume supplies on Tuesday after Brussels sent in a team of monitors to oversee transit. But the deal broke down when Ukraine accused Russia of holding back technical gas - needed to push EU volumes through its pipelines - and of pumping gas down a route that would force it to stop supplies to its own people.The IEA estimates that EU-wide gas stocks have dropped from 95 percent full to around 60 percent over the past week. Individual countries, such as Bulgaria and Slovakia, say they have just a few days' worth left.Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday proposed holding a gas summit with affected EU states and Ukraine, indicating the energy dispute will not be resolved before next week.

Sympathy remains

Ukraine diplomats fear that a vigorous Russian media campaign will see Europeans blame political infighting and high-level corruption in Kiev for the gas mess, damaging bilateral relations.The crisis comes ahead of an EU-sponsored donors' conference on modernising Ukraine's gas transit system in March and an EU summit on deeper integration with Ukraine and other post-Soviet states in April.But sympathy remains for Kiev in the EU capital after the commission's gas monitors in Russia and Ukraine reported on Tuesday that Gazprom's choice of transit route to resume EU supplies was not the best possible. To turn off the gas to a country of 45 million people [Ukraine] in the middle of winter is energy blackmail and nothing else, one EU official said, with Ukrainian companies also forced to cut production as stocks dwindle.

Telecom giant Nortel granted bankruptcy protection
Updated Wed. Jan. 14 2009 4:59 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Nortel Networks Corp. has been granted protection by an Ontario Superior Court judge from its creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.A lawyer for Nortel said in court that the bankruptcy protection was necessary because the company was quickly burning through its cash reserves. Nortel has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, the company announced Wednesday. It is expected to file for protection in Europe in the near future. The move comes just one day before the telecom firm was due to repay a $107-million interest debt on bonds, which would have amounted to about 10 per cent of the company's North American cash reserves. But the company is vowing to stay alive as a smaller operation, by ridding itself of non-core businesses and restructuring itself to deal with the North American recession. The moves mean more jobs will likely be shed from its 30,000 global workforce. The filing also will affect the company's sponsorships, but Nortel says it remains committed to sponsoring the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Nortel is also a major sponsor for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Once Canada's most valuable company, Nortel stocks traded as high as $124.50 a share during the tech boom in 2000. On Wednesday, it had dropped 24.5 cents to close at 12 cents on the TSX, off from a 52-week high of $14. People who are close to the situation are saying to us that although there is a great deal of equity in the company the possibility of it staying together as the Nortel Networks we knew is fairly slim, BNN's Michael Kane reported Wednesday. We're likely going to see it sold off in bits and pieces.Ian Lee, director of the MBA program at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, told CTV Newsnet that he doesn't think investors are going to see a return from Nortel. I think you can them as wallpaper in your rec room, Lee said, referring to Nortel stock certificates. I don't mean to be flippant but I don't think the investors are going to see a return.While many on Bay St. are not confident for a Nortel revival, the company's CEO remains bullish on its prospects.

There are very significant changes happening in a very large industry, we refer to this as the world of hyper-connectivity, Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski said. I believe we are very well positioned to do very well to profit from those significant changes in the marketplace.In an earlier press release Zafirovski called the bankruptcy filing imperative for the company's survival. Nortel must be put on a sound financial footing once and for all, Zafirovski said in a press release. These actions are imperative so that Nortel can build on its core strengths and become the highly focused and financially sound leader in the communications industry that its people, technology and customer relationships show it ought to be.The company's board of directors reportedly met in Toronto Tuesday to discuss the decision. In Wednesday's press release, Nortel said day-to-day operations are expected to continue without interruption. The global financial crisis and recession have compounded Nortel's financial challenges and directly impacted its ability to complete this transformation, said the press release. Nortel is taking this action now, with a $2.4 billion cash position, to preserve its liquidity and fund operations during the restructuring process.

Political reaction

In Ottawa, Industry Minister Tony Clement said the federal government was willing to provide financing to assist during the company's restructuring phase. The government of Canada appreciates the importance of the telecommunications industry to our economy and will continue to work with Nortel during its restructuring through Export Development Canada, Clement said in a statement. EDC has agreed to provide up to $30 million in short-term financing through its existing bonding facility and is open to discussing with Nortel post-filing financing in conjunction with other financial institutions.Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the province has $2 billion available in various programs to help struggling companies. However, he said Nortel hasn't applied for any money yet. We'll see how things shake out in the end and what it means specifically for jobs in Ontario, McGuinty said Wednesday. I remain hopeful that Nortel will experience ultimately a renaissance of some kind and that will be of benefit to the Ontario economy and to Ontario workers.After the telecom bubble burst, the company failed to re-establish itself and was plagued by accounting scandals and weakening demand. It has been a changing landscape that Nortel has been unable to adjust to, Kane said. Still, Peter A. Chapman, of Bankruptcy Creditors' Service Inc. in Pennsylvania, said Nortel could survive despite Wednesday's move. There's every indication at this early juncture that Nortel will survive, confirm Chapter 11 and CCAA plans, and successfully emerge from its restructuring, he said in an email to The Canadian Press. The Chapter 11 and CCAA proceedings will provide Nortel with the ability to sell useless assets, walk away from every bad business deal, improve its operations and operating margins, and knock its $11 billion debt load down to a reasonable level.Nortel employs about 32,000 people around the world, including several thousand in Ottawa and Toronto.
Chapman said shareholders will likely lose whatever money they had invested in the company.With files from The Canadian Press.

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

EU to launch biometric passports by summer
ELITSA VUCHEVA 14.01.2009 @ 17:45 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – MEPs on Wednesday (14 January) backed new rules on the introduction of biometric passports throughout the EU later this year, while exempting children under 12 years from having fingerprints included in their passports.The rules were approved at a first reading by an overwhelming majority of MEPs – 594 against 51, while 37 abstained.The parliamentarians underlined the need to improve document security in the EU by introducing more reliable biometric data, namely fingerprints, and highlighted the different criteria member states currently apply when checking the passport applicants' identity.Many countries require that the citizen applying for a passport actually present him or herself in person, together with their documents and photographs, and in these cases the officials at the passport-issuing office can see if that person bears a resemblance to the photo presented, Polish Christian Democrat Urszula Gacek said during a plenary debate on the issue in Strasbourg on Tuesday.But in some states, in particular the UK, "applications by post are the norm, and the authenticity of the photo is only confirmed by a so-called professional person who has known the applicant for at least two years, she indicated.The new rules stipulate that all EU countries, as well as in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, should start issuing passports containing biometric elements - such as facial images and fingerprints - as of 29 June this year.States have until 2012 to fully implement the rules and current passports will remain valid for travelling for most countries until then.Meanwhile, some member states - such as Germany, France and the Netherlands - have started issuing the new passports before the June deadline.

Exemption for children under 12

However, under a compromise agreed by both the European Commission and the Parliament, children younger than 12, as well as people with certain disabilities making them unable to give finger prints, will benefit from an exemption from the rule.Although no exemptions were initially planned, pilot projects in some countries found the fingerprints of young children not to be sufficiently reliable, because they change as the child grows older.If an agreement had not been found [among the MEPs], everybody would have had to give their fingerprints, even the newborn, as long as they would travel abroad with a passport. So, I would really like to express the satisfaction of the commission about the compromise agreed, EU justice commissioner Jacques Barrot said during the debate.The new legislation also introduces the so-called one person, one passport principle, aiming particularly at combating the traffic of children by introducing passports for them. Up until now, parents' passports often covered their children as well.

Some concerns remain

Some MEPs expressed concerns about the biometric passports, however.Latvian Green MEP Tatjana Zdanok pointed to the dangers linked to the extensive use of biometrics.
We strongly oppose the extensive introduction of biometrics until its necessity is proven beyond reasonable doubt. We believe that it has crucial implications for personal data safety and for fundamental rights, she said.We strongly believe that biometrics in passports should only be used for verifying the authenticity of the document or the identity of the holder… We cannot agree that everyone holding a European passport should be thought of as a potential suspect, whose fingerprints are to be stored, she added.Cypriot MEP Adamos Adamou from the leftist GUE/NGL group echoed these concerns, saying: The political scope of this regulation clearly seeks to legalise the use of biometric data and puts us in a state of mind of constant surveillance and deprivation of privacy.More security measures and data collection only leads to abuses of authority and offences against political liberties, he added.

DAY 19 IN GAZA ISRAEL PROTECTING ISRAELIS

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.

Wind-chill warnings across Western, Central Canada
Updated Tue. Jan. 13 2009 5:36 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Frigid winds are blowing across the country as Canadians endure some of the coldest weeks of winter. Environment Canada has issued wind-chill warnings that stretch out from the Prairies, also hitting parts of Ontario and Quebec.In a section of the agency's website that shows weather conditions for Canada, every single province and territory was crimson red Tuesday, with the lone exception of the Yukon. Most of those warnings were for frigid winds.The area bearing the brunt of the cold was Manitoba, which had wind chill warnings across the entire province.Low temperatures combined with northwest winds of 20 km/h will produce wind chills of minus 40 to minus 45 over all southern and central Manitoba tonight and Wednesday, warned Weather Canada.Extreme caution is advised. Under these conditions exposed skin may freeze in as little 5 as minutes.In Fort Chiewyan, located in northeastern Alberta, extreme wind chills near -40 degrees Celsius were reported.In neighbouring Saskatchewan, a northerly breeze gusting at 15 kilometres per hour was bringing even colder wind chills at -45 degrees in the southeastern corner of the province.

Residents in northern Ontario and parts of Quebec were also warned about frigid winds, which were reported to be as cold as -50.Eastern Canada had only a small scattering of wind-chill warnings, but Nova Scotia was mostly expected to be hit by a mixture of heavy rain and snow. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island were also under various snowfall warnings.

Shocking cold wave drops temps to 40 below zero By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer JAN 13,09

MINNEAPOLIS – Temperatures crashed to Arctic levels Tuesday as a severe cold wave rolled across the upper Midwest on the heels of yet another snowstorm, closing schools and making most people think twice before going outside.Thermometers read single digits early in the day as far south as Kansas and Missouri, where some areas warmed only into the teens by midday.The ice and snow that glazed pavement was blamed for numerous traffic accidents from Minnesota to Indiana, where police said a truck overturned and spilled 43,000 pounds of cheese, closing a busy highway ramp during the night in the Gary area.The bitter cold snap was responsible for at least one death Tuesday.A 51-year-old man in northern Wisconsin died from exposure after wandering from his Hayward home early Tuesday, authorities said. His son reported him missing and said he was prone to sleepwalking, and deputies followed footprints in the snow to find the man about 190 yards from his house, Sawyer County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said.Some Minnesotans took it as just another winter day, even in the state's extreme northwest corner where thermometers bottomed out at 38 degrees below zero at the town of Hallock and the National Weather Service said the wind chill was a shocking 58 below.It's really not so bad, Robert Cameron, 75, said as he and several friends gathered for morning coffee at the Cenex service station in Hallock. We've got clothing that goes with the weather. ... We're ready and rolling, no matter what.It's so beautiful. There's not a cloud in the sky, said Keith Anderson, 66. But he said that's not stopping him from skipping town at the end of the week to spend a couple of months in Nevada and Arizona.

Outside, one of the station's gas pumps froze up at least once, and assistant manager Terrie Franks had to go out to apply deicer spray.You definitely have to have gloves on because touching the cold metal — your hands are frozen, Franks said by telephone.The weather service warned that exposed flesh can freeze in 10 minutes when the wind chill is 40 degrees below zero or colder.At about 8 a.m., temperatures were minus 40 in International Falls and minus 35 in Roseau. Farther south, Minneapolis hit 18 below zero with a wind chill of 32 below and black ice was blamed for numerous accidents.Two northern Minnesota ski areas, Spirit Mountain in Duluth and Giants Ridge near Biwabik, announced they would close for a second straight day Wednesday because of the dangerously low windchill.In neighboring North Dakota, Grand Forks dropped to a record low of 37 below zero Tuesday morning, lopping six degrees off the old record set in 1979, the National Weather Service said.Schools were closed because of the cold as far south as Iowa, and authorities in Grand Rapids, Mich., issued an extreme cold weather alert and went out urging the homeless to seek shelter.AAA Michigan responded to 1,450 motorists across the state Tuesday morning, mostly to assist with dead batteries, spinouts and minor accidents after an early snowfall, said spokeswoman Nancy Cain.The leading edge of the cold air was expected to strike the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and South late Tuesday and Wednesday. And meteorologists warned that a second wave could drop temperatures into the single digits Thursday and Friday in the mid-Atlantic region.

The storm that blew through the upper Midwest on Monday dropped 6 inches of snow on Minot, N.D., on top of about a foot that fell late last week, and Bismarck collected 4 inches. Bismarck, Fargo and Grand Forks all broke snow records for December, each with more than 30 inches. They were outdone by Madison, Wis., which accumulated a record 40 inches for the month, the weather service said Tuesday. Road departments have had little time to clear away the snow between storms, and North Dakota officials said snowplows would be pulled off the roads Tuesday night in the central and western parts of the state because of strong winds. Four-wheel drives are useless — people are just snowed in, said Rhonda Woodhams, office manager for Williams County, N.D. People are calling in saying they're out of milk and diapers for their kids, or they have doctor appointments they need to get to. We're doing our best. And we don't need no more snow.It's like a sea of whiteness; people can't see the road, said Rebecca Arndt, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation in Mankato. When the white fluffy stuff starts to blow, it is not pretty.What was left of that snowstorm was blowing eastward along the Great Lakes, and the weather service posted winter storm warnings Tuesday for parts of Michigan, northern Indiana and Ohio's northwest corner. Up to 11 inches of new snow was possible in Detroit. Winter weather advisories were in effect from North Dakota to Ohio and northeast into northern New England. Associated Press writers Roger Petterson in New York and James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report. On the Net:Weather Service warnings: http://tinyurl.com/yfjlyf

Fresh floods in Fiji as heavy rain falls again By PITA LIGAIULA, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jan 13, 12:17 am ET

SUVA, Fiji – Heavy rain sparked fresh flash floods Tuesday in Fiji, where thousands of people huddled in emergency shelters and scores of homes were inundated by a brown tide of rising water.Officials posted the second severe flood warning in five days after a spate of tropical storms killed at least eight people on this Pacific island nation.This is the worst flooding situation in the recent history of Fiji, Meteorological Service director Rajendra Prasad told The Associated Press. Two peak floods one after the other was unprecedented, he said, and heavy rain was forecast for the whole country for the next two days.Prasad said new widespread flooding would be accompanied by strong 55 mile (90 kilometer) an hour winds, and with rivers already spilling over their banks ... I don't expect the waters to recede for several days.Floods have swamped cities, towns, villages and farmland on the main island of Viti Levu since Thursday.Authorities said six people drowned and two were killed in a landslide, while more than 6,000 people forced into emergency government shelters have been warned to remain there over the next few days.Four days of torrential rains inundated the towns of Nadi, Ba, Sigatoka and Labasa on Viti Levu, the nation's disaster management office said. Sugar cane crops were washed out, roads severed, and bridges submerged.The government Monday declared a state of emergency in the hardest-hit western districts of Viti Levu, where dozens of international resorts are located. There have been no reports of tourists in trouble in that area, though thousands have had their travel plans disrupted.Disaster Management Office head Patiliai Dobui said initial damage estimates totaled $12 million, but that figure didn't include the agriculture sector.In towns like Ba on western Viti Levu, floodwaters 10 feet (3.2 meters) deep surged through the area, with many homes submerged up to their roofs, he said.In Nadi, this is the worst flooding in the lifetime of most of the local people living there, Dobui told the AP.

Mozambique floods kill 19; worse may lie ahead Mon Jan 12, 7:28 am ET

MAPUTO, Mozambique – Authorities in Mozambique say torrential rains have killed 19 people in the past few days and worse flooding may lie ahead.Jose Domingos, a disaster management official, says most of the victims died trying to cross a raging river in the central province of Manica. He says hundreds have been given shelter in emergency centers and roads in the area are impassable.Mozambican television showed pictures Monday of people trying to cross the Mweri river with their belongings and domestic animals.Four more people have been killed and 1,000 displaced in the coastal region of Inhambane in the past two weeks.Authorities fear that, as the rainy season in the southern African nation continues, the flooding will worsen.

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.

More quakes in Southern California 9:03 AM, January 10, 2009
Times staffer Jia-Rui Chong reports:LA TIMES

Do you think the ground feels a little shakier these days? It's not your imagination.
Last year saw a significant increase in the number of temblors of magnitude 3.0 or greater in Southern California and the northern portion of Baja California, according to data from Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey.The region recorded 267 shakers with magnitudes of 3.0 and above last year, compared with 125 in 2007. Seismologists said 2008 had the highest number of such quakes of any year since 1999.

What experts don't know is whether the quake cluster is a harbinger of bigger quakes to come. The 1990s was considered a seismically active decade in Southern California, producing the magnitude 7.3 Landers quake in 1992 and the destructive Northridge temblor in 1994. During the quake cluster of 1999, the region was hit by the magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine temblor in the desert and several sizable aftershocks. There were 828 quakes with magnitudes of 3.0 and above that year.Lucile Jones, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said that although experts can't predict future quake activity, it appears Southern California is waking up from a steep drop-off in seismic activity so far this decade. ...Check out Martin Beck's interactive quake map.

DANNY AYALON ON TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129013

RESERVISTS MOTIVATION HIGH
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129417

10,577 ROCKETS,MORTERS SENT INTO ISRAEL SINCE 2001.

Rocket Hits Ashkelon School as IDF Closes in on Gaza City
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu JAN 13,09

(IsraelNN.com) A Hamas terrorist rocket hit a school in Ashkelon Tuesday afternoon, the ninth time its missiles have hit educational facilities since the beginning of the war.The explosion caused light damage to an adjacent high school, where students were learning in a fortified room. They hid under their desks with their hands over their heads when the warning siren sounded, and no one was injured.Precautionary measures of closing most schools and assembling high school classes in bomb shelters have prevented several would-be disasters.Earlier this week, a rocket hit the courtyard of an empty Chabad school in Be'er Sheva, where another empty high school sustained a direct hit in the beginning of the war.The continuing offensive of the Cast Lead counterterrorist operation has brought Israeli tanks into Gaza City neighborhoods, and aerial attacks have wiped out more than 50 percent of its rocket arsenal.Hamas, whose de facto prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said Monday night is winning the war, is trying to inflict as many casualties as possible and win concessions toward a ceasefire.

Its remaining stockpile of thousands of rockets, possibly including missiles that can penetrate the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, is capable of inflicting a heavy blow against Israel. However, the number of rockets has decreased dramatically, from 80 on the third dayof the war to 20 on Monday. As of early Tuesday evening, 19 rockets exploded on southern Israel, including missiles fired during Israel's daily one-sided truce to enable humanitarian aider to flow into Gaza. Three mortars landed in open areas near Sderot.Almost all of the rockets landed in open areas and caused no injuries or damage.

Jews in Muslim Lands Feeling the Heat
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz JAN 13,09

(IsraelNN.com) Jews living in majority-Muslim countries are in a precarious situation as Israel fights the Islamist Hamas regime in Gaza. While pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic rallies and sporadic attacks are continuing worldwide, Jews in Muslim lands face an additional danger as a vulnerable minority.

Synagogue Shut by Force
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, that nation's only synagogue was forcibly shut down and sealed. Located in an ethnic Arab neighborhood of Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, the synagogue became the focus of a Muslim mob last Wednesday following a free speech forum held in the city. The small Indonesian synagogue, without benefit of a Torah scroll or rabbi, is in Rivka Sayers' home. She is one of only a handful of Jews living in the Muslim state, most of whom are of mixed European-Asian background. In addition to forcing the sealing of the Surabaya synagogue, protesters called for a boycott of US products. Anti-Israel and anti-American rallies continued this week, with some 20,000 Indonesian Muslims have gathering in the capital Jakarta on Sunday under the auspices of the the Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

We Will Kill You
In Turkey, synagogues in Izmir were also shut down, but this time out of serious security concerns, after someone scrawled We will kill you on the door of one of the biggest synagogues in the city. Synagogues in Turkey have been the target of Islamic fundamentalist and pan-Arab terrorist bombings and shootings in the past, including a double car bombing that killed 20 people in November 2003. In Istanbul, a shop owned by a local Jewish family was targeted, as well. A huge poster saying, Do not buy from here, since this shop is owned by a Jew, was plastered on the shop and other posters on the wall said, Jews and Armenians are not allowed, but dogs are.On Wednesday, all Turkish high schools and primary schools will pay homage to Gazans killed in Israel's Operation Cast Lead. Art teachers are instructed to dedicate their classes to the topic, Human Drama in Palestine, and to offer awards to outstanding compositions. A Turkish-Jewish source wishing to remain anonymous reported that Istanbul is filled with anti-Israel posters and billboards, as well as more explicit graffiti saying things like, Kill Jews, Kill Israel, and Israel should no longer exist in the Middle East.

We have previously faced some strong reaction regarding previous operations in Gaza and the West Bank, but this time is really different from former ones. I feel open anti-Semitism and hatred from all these people, the Turkish source commented. Openly anti-Semitic propaganda far exceeds anything happening in Europe, according to his observations. The situation, the source concluded, is becoming much more dangerous day by day.Approximately 26,000 Jews live in Turkey and the country has become a very popular destination for Israeli tourists.

Iranian Jews Protest Israel
Iranian Jews, most of whom regularly claim to be comfortable in the Islamic Republic, have taken part in anti-Israel rallies sponsored by the regime. Openly anti-Semitic propaganda far exceeds anything happening in Europe.On December 30, a protest of Tehran's Jews was held in front of the United Nations' office in the city. Speaking with an Iranian TV station, Rahmatullah Rafii, the chairman of a Tehran-based Jewish organization, said, Jews in the Islamic Republic of Iran condemn Israel's attack on the people of Gaza.However, due to the totalitarian nature of the Islamic regime, the true status and views of Iran's Jews - as well as Iran's other citizens - remain hidden from view. Increasing cases of discrimination, including the closing of Jewish day schools and the banning of Hebrew instruction, have been recorded in recent years. About 200 out of Iran's 28,000 Jews immigrated to Israel in 2007, many of them through clandestine means.

Egyptians Want to Ban Visits to Jewish Tomb
The tomb of Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira has become the focus of Egyptian anti-Israel efforts. The Moroccan-born rabbi, who died in 1880, is the grandfather of the late Israeli Kabbalist Yisrael Abuhatzeira, better known as the Baba Sali. The tomb of Rabbi Yaakov, located in the coastal village of Nekraha, has become a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of Jews in recent years. The largest group regularly comes from Israel in January and is given heavy protection by local security services.

This year, a coalition of Egyptian political opposition parties came together to prevent the pilgrimage of Israelis to the rabbi's tomb. The coalition has brought together unlikely allies, from the far-left Al-Tagamu party to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. An article in Al-Masri al-Yooum said that the coalition's leader, Gamal Mounib, stated that he holds the Egyptian government responsible for any pilgrims reaching the shrine this year. Only about 60 Jews currently live in Egypt, while the country's synagogues and the Israeli Embassy in Cairo are heavily guarded by Egyptian soldiers. Elsewhere in North Africa, the Al-Qaeda offshoot known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (North Africa) has issued explicit calls for Muslims to attack Jews wherever they are found. Jewish communities among Muslim populations constitute the most obvious and immediate targets for incited individuals as well as organized Jihadist cells.

IDF Officer, Soldiers Wounded in Booby-Trapped House
by Hana Levi Julian JAN 13,09

(IsraelNN.com) An IDF officer was critically wounded overnight, and two other soldiers injured as well, during operations in northern Gaza. All three were evacuated to hospital and their families were notified. An explosive device was detonated against the force in a booby-trapped house they were searching for terrorists, smuggling tunnels and weapons.Different weapons were found in the structure, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Office, including a machine gun and an equipment vest.Prayers are being requested for the soldier Aharon Yehoshua ben (son of) Chaya Shoshanna.IDF ground troops killed 30 armed terrorists during overnight operations in Gaza, while IAF fighter pilots attacked 60 separate targets.

The forces uncovered two booby-trapped tunnels and a large number of weapons, including four mortar launchers, a roadside bomb, bulletproof vests and a surveillance camera. In addition, IAF warplanes bombed 20 smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, a main thoroughfare for bringing in missiles and other weapons and ammunition. The tunnels link Egyptian Sinai with Gaza, allowing weapons to flow to Hamas from the rest of the Arab and Muslim world.

Israeli forces storm Gaza City neighborhood By IBRAHIM BARZAK and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writers JAN 13,09

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Terrified residents ran for cover Tuesday in a densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City as Israeli troops backed by tanks thrust deeper into the city and sought Hamas fighters in alleyways and cellars.On the diplomatic front, Egyptian mediators pushed Hamas to accept a truce proposal and, in a hopeful sign, Israel sent its lead negotiator to Cairo for decisive talks on a cease-fire. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also headed for the region to join diplomatic efforts.Israeli military officials say that depending on what happens with what they described as decisive talks in Cairo, Israel will move closer to a cease-fire or widen its offensive. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive policy matters.Asked if Israel's war aims had been achieved, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: Most of them, probably not all of them.

Israeli troops now have the coastal city of 400,000 virtually surrounded as part of an offensive launched Dec. 27 to end years of Palestinian rocket attacks on its southern towns.Early Wednesday an Israeli warplane fired a missile at the former Gaza city hall, used as a court building in recent years, witnesses said. The 1910 structure was destroyed and many stores in the market around it were badly damaged, they said.Palestinian medical officials reported at least 42 deaths from the conflict on Tuesday throughout Gaza.The Israeli military said three soldiers were wounded, including an officer who was searching a northern Gaza house when a bomb exploded.Palestinian hospital officials say more than 940 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed in the fighting. A total of 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers, have died.Palestinian rocket fire has dropped significantly since the offensive was launched. Some 15 rockets and mortar shells were fired toward Israel Tuesday, causing no injuries, the army said.Fireballs and smoke plumes from Israeli bombing have become a common sight in the territory of 1.4 million people, who are effectively trapped because of blockaded border crossings. Recent fighting has focused on Gaza City, where Israeli soldiers could be increasingly exposed to the treacherous conditions of urban warfare.The operation in Tel Hawwa neighborhood, one mile (1.5 kilometers) southeast of downtown, matched fast-paced forays into other areas designed to avoid Israeli casualties. Residents said troops entered overnight, reconnoitered the area, and then pulled back to more secure positions.

One Israeli military officer told The Associated Press that Hamas fighters often operate in small groups of up to four and have largely refrained from confronting Israeli troops at close range.Their strategy has mainly been to use lots of booby-traps, shooting guns and missiles from afar, the Israeli officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.Soldiers are taking lots of precautions, they are being more careful than the army has ever been before in any war, he said. Soldiers shoot at anything suspicious, use lots of firepower, and blast holes through walls to move around.Gabi Ashkenazi, chief of staff of the Israeli military, said Hamas militants also have put on Israeli military uniforms to try to approach troops and carry out suicide bombings.Ahead of the U.N. chief's arrival, Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev wrote him a letter charging that Hamas is deliberately endangering civilians in Gaza. She claimed that Hamas operates a command center under Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, and militants routinely fire from inside the houses of civilians who are held as hostages, prevented by Hamas from leaving.Hamas, which is backed by Iran, cannot hope to score a battlefield victory over the powerful Israeli military, but mere survival could earn it political capital in the Arab world as a symbol of resistance to the Jewish state. Lebanon's Hezbollah, another Iran-backed group, largely achieved that goal in its 2006 war with Israel. On Tuesday, a Gaza resident said he saw Hamas militants in civilian clothing firing rockets from the southeastern corner of the territory. He spoke by telephone and requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Israel says it will push forward with the offensive until Hamas ends all rocket fire on southern Israel, and there are guarantees the militant group will stop smuggling weapons into Gaza through the porous Egyptian border. Hamas has said it will only observe a cease-fire if Israel withdraws from Gaza. We will not allow our enemy to gain any political achievement from this war on Gaza, said Salah Bardawil, a Hamas envoy in Egypt. Much of the ongoing diplomacy focuses on an area of southern Gaza just across the Egyptian border that serves as a weapons smuggling route, making Egypt critical to both sides in any deal. Israel wants smuggling tunnels along the border sealed and monitored as part of any deal, and has bombed suspected tunnel sites throughout its campaign. One resident, Khader Mussa, said he fled his house while waving a white flag as Israeli forces advanced. He spent the night huddling in the basement of a relative with 25 other people, including his pregnant wife and his parents. Thank God we survived this time and got out alive from here. But we don't know how long we'll be safe in my brother's home, Mussa, 35, said by telephone. The Israeli military said it carried out dozens of airstrikes on squads of gunmen, rocket launching sites and smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border. The Gaza fighting has raised tensions around the region and galvanized anger toward Israel throughout the Arab world. On Tuesday, at least one gunman opened fire at an Israeli army patrol along the desert border between Israel and Jordan, the military said. There were no casualties, and Jordan said the claim was baseless.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli military said, a Palestinian was shot and injured after he tried to grab a gun from an Israeli soldier whose patrol stopped him for questioning. The man later died, according to an Associated Press reporter who saw his body. Humanitarian concerns have increased amid the onslaught although some aid is getting through to Gaza during daily three-hour lulls declared by Israel to allow delivery of supplies. In Brussels, the European Union's aid chief said Israel has not respected international humanitarian aid during the war. In Oslo, Norway, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Karen Abu Zayd, urged the Israeli army to do more to allow supplies into the besieged area. We are getting a lot of help from the Israeli Defense Forces on the one crossing that's open to get more and more trucks in, but it's just not enough, she said. Torchia reported from Jerusalem. AP correspondents Diaa Hadid and Ian Deitch contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

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

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

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

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

U.S. Provides Nuclear Umbrella for 30 Nations, More May Be Added
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090110134305tsop.nb/topstory.html

Professional Palestinian force means peace By J.D. Crouch II, Montgomery Meigs and Walter B. Slocombe • January 13, 2009

When the dust settles in Gaza, the Obama administration will take up the mantle of moving the two sides toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace. American efforts must focus on strengthening the capabilities of the Palestinian party upon whom hope for peace can rest, the Palestinian Authority, and ensuring the stability of the West Bank.Even before the breakdown of the Gaza cease-fire last month, Israelis and Palestinians were exhausted, bitter and skeptical that a genuine partner for peace existed.The trust that the Oslo process intended to build collapsed with the second intifada, the wave of suicide bombings in Israel, the Israeli military’s reoccupation of much of the West Bank and ongoing settlement construction. A major diplomatic initiative pressuring the parties to make concessions – or imposing the terms of an agreement – clearly will not work. Events in Gaza underscore the fact that progress toward peace will not occur without confidence that an agreement will produce lasting security. Unless it commands effective and loyal security forces, no Palestinian government – however well intentioned – will be able to uphold its part of an agreement.Fortunately, there is a path forward. American efforts can forge a basis for security between Israelis and Palestinians by developing a professional Palestinian security system that would help inhibit Hamas in the West Bank and eventually allow the PA to re-establish its authority in Gaza.

The United States already has a framework for supporting this process through the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC), headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton. Despite limited funding and support from Washington, Dayton’s mission has made considerable progress over the past year. It has overseen the training of more than 1,000 members of the Presidential Guard and the National Security Force – an armed national police. These units deployed to Jenin, and more recently to Hebron, where they began enforcing order in previously lawless cities. All sides acknowledge the achievements of this effort, yet fundamental security will emerge only when Palestinian security forces target terrorist cells and networks, not just car thieves and other ordinary criminals. And despite some recent progress, counterterrorism efforts by the Dayton-led units remain extremely limited.To develop a professional Palestinian security force capable of conducting counterterrorism operations, Washington must substantially expand and reorient Dayton’s effort as part of the broader institutional reform of the Palestinian Authority. The mission must have a regular budget and an augmented, qualified staff (only 16 Americans are assigned to the USSC, including just two speakers of Arabic). American forces must be given legal permission to directly supervise training and operations of foreign police. Authority for the mission should be transferred from the State Department to the Defense Department, allowing the military to allocate its own equipment, specialized funds and intelligence assets to the effort. Such a change would also improve the teams’ freedom of movement, as they currently must get permission and security protection from the American consulate in Jerusalem when traveling in the West Bank.An effective security force would not by itself guarantee that Palestinians have the will to act against terrorism. Nor would it solve the intra-Palestinian conflict between Hamas and its secular, nationalist rival, Fatah. But providing the PA with a professional and properly equipped security force — supported by Israelis and Palestinians — is a necessary condition for delivering security and an institutional requirement for statehood.Some argue that NATO should replace the Israeli Defense Forces in the West Bank and substitute for Palestinian security forces. There may be a role for international forces to monitor an eventual peace agreement, or even a possible border arrangement in Gaza as part of a cease-fire, but it would be impractical to make the international community responsible for delivering Israeli-Palestinian security before peace is achieved. For one thing, the Israelis would be unwilling to outsource their security to other nations, and Palestinians would be reluctant to accept what would amount to another, at least temporary, foreign occupation.In addition, NATO members and other potential participants in such a force would struggle to provide qualified combat, intelligence and civil affairs specialists for the mission. Many NATO militaries have never performed counterterrorism operations and have eschewed doing so in Afghanistan. Those nations that have sent forces to Afghanistan do not have much additional capability to contribute to another effort.

Peacekeeping forces would face sophisticated attacks by Hamas and groups such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad; in such an environment, a NATO force would need the capability and the will to proactively move to prevent terrorist operations, using deadly force when necessary. America’s European partners would be extremely reluctant to participate in such operations without caveats, leaving the United States to shoulder the burden.There are no shortcuts to peace that bypass security. Empowering Palestinians to assume security responsibility and continued measures to enhance the Palestinians’ ability to keep their side of an agreement should be America’s principal contribution to the peace process in the coming months.J.D. Crouch II was deputy national security adviser from 2005 to 2007. Retired Gen. Montgomery Meigs commanded NATO forces in Bosnia from 1998 to 1999. Walter B. Slocombe served as undersecretary of defense for policy in the Clinton administration. They co-wrote the study Security First: Priorities for U.S. Engagement in Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking, published last month by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Egypt to host decisive talks with Israel and Hamas
Updated Tue. Jan. 13 2009 4:05 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Israel says its top defence envoy will travel to Egypt this week for decisive ceasefire talks with Hamas, as Israeli troops closed in on Gaza City's crowded core Tuesday and clashed with Palestinian militants.Amid mounting civilian casualties and growing international concern, Israeli Defence negotiator Amos Gilad will go to Egypt on Thursday, renewing hopes for a diplomatic end to the 18-day-old offensive.

The diplomatic trip had been postponed for several days as Israeli Defence Forces pounded targets in the Gaza Strip and Hamas continued to fire a barrage of salvos into southern Israel.Still, Israel has said that the ground invasion and air assault on Gaza will continue until Hamas ceases all rocket fire and pledges to end weapons smuggling into the area. Meanwhile, Hamas has pledged to fight on until Israel pulls out of Gaza.The Israeli incursion into the Tel Hawwa area Tuesday, which is on the southeastern edge of Gaza City, marks the farthest point Israel has reached since the beginning of its 18-day offensive. According to The Associated Press, several high-rise buildings were on fire in Tel Hawwa, including a lumberyard. Khader Mussa, a resident in Tel Hawwa, said he fled his house waving a white flag. He spent the night in the basement of a relative's house, alongside his pregnant wife and parents. Thank God we survived this time and got out alive from here. But we don't know how long we'll be safe in my brother's home, Mussa, 35, told AP by telephone.

Haaretz, an Israeli daily, is reporting that some Hamas suicide bombers are dressing up as Israeli soldiers and trying to penetrate battle lines to blow themselves up next to Israeli troops.Overnight, Israel launched 60 air attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said its aerial assault targeted Hamas militants holed up in a hotel, a house and a mosque. Israel also fired on 15 squads of gunmen, rocket launching sites and 15 smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border. Meanwhile, about 15 rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israel by Palestinian militants, causing no injuries. So far, Palestinian hospital officials say more than 900 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed in fighting since the campaign began. Palestinian medical officials report at least 21 people were killed in fighting Tuesday, although Israel says the death toll could be much higher.

According to Michele Dunn, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20 means Israel will likely slow their offensive over the next week.The political calendar in Israel will also force a military slowdown, as the nation is set to hold parliamentary elections on February 10th, Dunn told CTV Newsnet.But Dunn added that Israel will likely keep a military presence in Gaza.I'm not sure that means Israeli troops will withdraw from Gaza, she said, noting that Israel's leaders will want an agreement in place that will prevent Hamas from rearming.

UN chief heads to region

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was headed to the region Tuesday to press for a ceasefire. Ki-moon will meet senior officials in Egypt and Jordan Wednesday, then head to Israel, the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait. To both sides, I say: Just stop, now, the UN chief said Monday. Too many people have died. There has been too much civilian suffering. Too many people, Israelis and Palestinians, live in daily fear of their lives.In a speech broadcast Monday, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh vowed to continue fighting but said his government was pursuing diplomacy to end the conflict. As we are in the middle of this crisis, we tell our people we, God willing, are closer to victory. All the blood that is being shed will not go to waste, Haniyeh said. With files from The Associated Press.

Clinton seeks a smart power Middle East strategy By ROBERT BURNS and ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writers JAN 13,09

WASHINGTON – Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that she intends to revitalize the mission of diplomacy in American foreign policy, calling for a smart power strategy in the Middle East and implicitly criticizing the Bush administration for having downgraded the role of arms control.At a daylong confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for secretary of state sailed smoothly through an array of non-contentious questions until two Republican committee members pressed her to take additional steps to ensure that former President Bill Clinton's global fundraising work does not pose even an appearance of conflict with her role as the chief U.S. diplomat. She balked, saying disclosure rules already in place were carefully crafted and adequate to avoid any conflict.Clinton appeared headed for easy confirmation. She encountered no challenges to her basic vision for foreign policy.Clinton, who will relinquish her seat in the Senate when confirmed, spoke confidently of Obama's intentions to renew American leadership in the world and to strengthen U.S. diplomacy.America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America, she said, her daughter Chelsea seated behind her in the audience. The best way to advance America's interest in reducing global threats and seizing global opportunities is to design and implement global solutions. This isn't a philosophical point. This is our reality.

In laying out a general outlook for American foreign policy under Obama, Clinton spoke in a clear, unhurried voice and looked at ease. She made it plain, citing policy themes that were familiar from Obama's presidential campaign — and in many cases her own — that the incoming Democratic administration wants to elevate the role of diplomacy. She and Obama contend that the Bush administration relied too heavily on the military to carry out foreign policy and that it leaned too much on ideology and too little on pragmatism.The Foreign Relations Committee planned to vote on Clinton's nomination on Thursday. If it approves her, she could gain full Senate confirmation as early as Inauguration Day.The Senate also held confirmation hearings for other Obama choices for Cabinet and top White House positions. Appearing were Peter Orszag, to head the Office of Management and Budget, and Robert Nabors II, for deputy director of OMB; New York housing official Shaun Donovan, to be secretary of housing and urban development; Steven Chu, to head the Energy Department; and Arne Duncan, as education secretary.Chu promised that if confirmed as energy secretary he will aggressively pursue policies aimed at addressing climate change and achieving greater energy independence by developing clean energy sources. At his hearing, Duncan said that the No Child Left Behind law should stop punishing schools where only a handful of kids are struggling.Obama's choice to run the Treasury Department and to lead the economic rescue effort disclosed to senators Tuesday that he failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004, a last-minute complication in an otherwise smooth path to confirmation. Timothy Geithner paid most of the past-due taxes days before Obama announced his nomination in November, an Obama transition official said. The unpaid taxes were discovered by Obama's transition team while investigating Geithner's background, the official said.The transition official requested anonymity because the source was not authorized to discuss Geithner's situation.The Foreign Relations committee's top Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar, praised Clinton, calling her the epitome of a big leaguer whose presence could open new opportunities for American diplomacy.But Lugar also raised questions about the issue of Bill Clinton's fundraising work and its relation to her wife's new post. Lugar said that the only way for Clinton to avoid a potential conflict of interest due to her husband's charity is to forswear any new foreign contributions. The Indiana senator said the situation poses a unique complication that requires great care and transparency.Before the hearing, Lugar made four suggestions to Hillary Clinton's staff on how to improve transparency in her husband's charitable fundraising, said the senator's spokesman, Andy Fisher.But in her testimony, Hillary Clinton made clear that the Obama administration would accept only one of the proposals — that the foundation provide a clear picture of its annual donations, Fisher said.

Lugar also wanted the foundation to immediately disclose donations of $50,000 or more; alert ethics officials when such sizable donations are pledged; and apply the same stringent requirements to foreign businesses. The current plan only subjects foreign governments to scrutiny by State Department ethics officials and would not require a review of contributions by foreign businesses — a loophole that could easily be exploited, Lugar warned.She also was pressed by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who said the Clinton fundraising posed real and perceived conflict issues for his wife.Few others on the committee pursued the conflict-of-interest issue and it did not appear to be a likely impediment to her confirmation. Clinton sat alone at a small, black-draped desk, with a retinue of advisers behind her. Her husband was not present. Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said the former president was watching the hearing elsewhere with his wife's mother. President Clinton wanted to make sure the attention was focused on Sen. Clinton, Vietor said. The Senate hearing room was packed with ambassadors, current and former diplomats, supporters and aides sitting cheek by jowl. Dozens of photographers ringed Clinton as she spoke. In discussing the problem of peacemaking in the Middle East, Clinton referred to her husband's extensive, though ultimately unsuccessful, efforts to strike a comprehensive peace deal. As intractable as the Middle East's problems may seem and many presidents, including my husband, have spent years trying to help work out a resolution, we cannot give up on peace, she said. We must also actively pursue a strategy of smart power in the Middle East that addresses the security needs of Israel and the legitimate political and economic aspirations of the Palestinians, she said. Clinton also said that during the Bush administration, Our foreign policy has gotten way out of balance, with the Pentagon taking too large a role at the expense of the State Department. She said she intends to rectify that, with the support of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whom she praised as a clear-thinking leader. Lugar, who has played a leading Senate role in arms control issues, applauded Obama's stated intention to engage Russia in more arms control talks and pursue efforts to improve international controls of nuclear materials that could fall into the hands of terrorists. He said that during the Bush administration the State Department had been a reluctant or almost nonexistent partner in that effort. Clinton said she intended to bring more arms control experts back into the State Department, where arms control functions had been significantly degraded under Bush. On Iraq, Clinton said ending the war is a priority. The first step will be moving troops out of cities by June, in line with an agreement already established between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government. The agreement calls for all U.S. troops to be gone by the end of 2011. Obama has said he believes the withdrawal can be accomplished more quickly. Associated Press writer Anne Gearan contributed to this report.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

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 WED JAN 14,2009

09:30 AM -36.95
10:00 AM -172.91
10:30 AM -239.32
11:00 AM -273.43
11:30 AM -261.64
12:00 PM -245.15
12:30 PM -258.45
01:00 PM -228.75
01:30 PM -257.58
02:00 PM -217.23
02:30 PM -234.21
03:00 PM -234.96
03:30 PM -270.50
04:00 PM -248.42 8200.14

S&P 500 842.62 -29.17

NASDAQ 1489.64 -56.82

GOLD 810.40 -10.30

OIL 37.47 -0.31

TSE 300 8702.96 -258.59

CDNX 849.53 -19.37

S&P/TSX/60 524.96 -15.82

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow -143 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -303 points at low so far today.
Dow -36 points at high so far today.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -3.74%
S&P -3.48%
Nasdaq -1.94%
TSX Advances 644,declines 506,unchanged 209,Volume 650,602,276.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 315,Declines 334,Unchanged 295,Volume 108,436,760.
2 MILLION EXPECTED TO OBAMAS SWEARING IN NEXT TUESDAY.
HAMAS has shot 10,577 rockets,Mortors into ISRAEL since 2001.

POOR INTERNALS THIS MORNING
10-1 Declining to Advancing stocks today.90% downside day.
Trin:Measurement of stocks on the upside and down side.
Trin:More selling pressure,more volume to stocks on downside today.
Volume moderate this morning.
Will we test the NOVEMBER lows on the Major Industries.
The November low 7450 or so its 8164 currently.700 points difference yet.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow -303 at low today.
Dow -36 at low today.

TSX STATS 2:30PM
Advances 263,Declines 844,Unchanged 176 (1,283).
VENTURE EXCHANGE
Advances 234,Declines 428,Unchanged 265 (927).

A BAD DAY WITH NO PANIC
-Madoff mania tops earnings worries.
-light Volume.
-Is this the future?

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow -36 high.
Dow -303 low today.
Dow -3.0% today Volume 354,207,321.00
All 30 Dow stocks down today.
Dow down for 6th sraight day.
Dow falls 9% in 6 days of trading.
S&P 500 -3.3% today Volume n/a.
S&P touches lowest level since SEPT 1,2008.
S&P's lowest close since DEC 1,2008.
Nasdaq -3.5% today Volume 1,809,288,987.00
Nasdaq touches lowest close level since DEC 4,2008.
Nasdaq worst day since DEC 11,2008.
Stocks sink on Bank Worries.
Financials,Energy worst performers today.
Judge keeps Madoff bail,revokes Government.
Madoff remains free on $10 MILLION bail but under house arrest.
3 More HAMAS ROCKETS in ISRAEL today,10,580 since 2001.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

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

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

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

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

IF I NEVER KNEW THE EU WOULD CONTROL THE WORLD IT WOULD BE THE UN,BUT I KNOW DIFFERENTLY.

INTRODUCTION UN WORLD GOVERNANCE
http://www.world-governance.org/spip.php?article418

HIGH EXPECTATIONS UN WORLD GOVERNANCE
http://www.world-governance.org/spip.php?article420

60 YRS OF THE UN
http://www.world-governance.org/spip.php?article421

THE SELECTIVE SECURITY PROBLEM
http://www.world-governance.org/spip.php?article426

A PROVISIONAL CONCLUSION
http://www.world-governance.org/spip.php?article430

MILITARY ETHICS FOR A BETTER WORLD
http://www.world-governance.org/spip.php?article378

Pre-eminence of the state Sovereignty A narrow view of security Geopolitics JAN 7,09Arnaud Blin, Gustavo Marin - 7 January 2009.

Pre-eminence of the state - When in the seventeenth century the imperial system that had dominated the Eurasian zone for centuries disappeared, the state, the modern state, became the key element of the international system. The state obtained a monopoly on organized violence, and from then on it was also to characterize all individuals with a nationality defining their rights, privileges, and status in the world. The almighty and legitimate (democratic) state alone is authorized to manage not only its own affairs but also those related to the regional, continental, and global community. The state is what stands against the anarchy of a system having no supranational government. To counter the natural state of the system, nation-states, through their representatives, sign peace treaties and define the rules of the international game. States are also those who are self-appointed to sign a social contract that binds them to other states through the UN Charter.

Since 1648, only states have been considered worthy to address the major problems of the world. Whether competent (for instance in 1648 for the Peace of Westphalia) or incompetent (in 1919, for the Treaty of Versailles), they have always been more or less capable of settling those problems. Now that the world dynamics have changed completely, states seem unfit to settle a whole range of problems that are beyond their jurisdiction or their willingness to do so, which is exactly where the contemporary world’s stumbling blocks lie. The environment, energy, health, water, finance, trade markets, fishing, and terrorism constitute the many complex problems, along with many others, that lie beyond the narrow framework of the state. In a word, due to their very nature—they are designed to defend national, not collective interests—states, even when bound by treaties, are incapable of addressing, and even of identifying today’s problems. States simply cannot handle the collective management of the planet. At best, they can jointly solve a few crises here and there, mood of the moment allowing. On no account do they seem able to get truly involved in a collective effort, where many of them believe they have something to lose. So although the UN exists as such thanks to the states that constitute it, today it is prisoner of its statejacket. Can it transcend its original status? There is no reason to think so. At best, it can define an agenda, as in fact it has done by identifying the major tasks for the twenty-first century. To take action, however, it would have to cross an uncrossable line, no matter what or how many reforms it imagines and implements. How can we move beyond this stage? How can we break out of this statejacket? What proposals can we make for a post-state world? These questions are at the core of world governance. First, it is high time and of the essence that other players come on stage—in fact, some have already done so. Then, the new players’ participation needs to be organized. In other words, it is also necessary to institute a control system for these players—the financial crisis is a cruel reminder in this area. However, the traditional regime of international relations is characterized of course by the absence of a true control system: the UN does not in any way constitute such a system and states obviously have absolutely no interest in setting norms that might limit their capacities to act.

Sovereignty

The principle of sovereignty is connected to the principle of the modern state. It dates back to same period, the seventeenth century. As a response to the wars of religion that had ravaged Europe, the principle of cujus regio, ejus religio was instituted: the prince’s religion is the nation’s religion. In order to avoid devastating conflicts, it was then decided (again, in the Treaty of Westphalia) that no country should interfere in the affairs of another state (for instance, to defend persons practicing the potentially interfering country’s religion). This principle has governed international relations ever since—with the exception of conquests outside Europe through to the twentieth century—and is set in the UN Charter. This Eurocentrist vision can legitimately be criticized, but Eurocentrism is definitely what guided the establishment of modern international norms at a time when Europe was at the peak of its power while the countries and civilizations that had dominated the geopolitical chessboard until the sixteenth/seventeenth century had suddenly, at the same time and for various reasons, moved into the background. Nonetheless, the influence of non-European civilizations on these norms was not negligible, as cross-cultural exchanges in this area were more important than it was generally believed.

In the past years, the incompetence of certain governments and their abuse of power, the weakness and the negligence of political machinery here and there, powers struggles, old resentments among populations have provoked major humanitarian disasters that could have been avoided if the international community had been able to weigh intelligently on the affairs of certain countries whose ruling classes have been incapable of managing extremely serious problems or, even worse, have themselves been directly responsible for disasters.

In view of the fact that today, as opposed to yesterday, sources of conflicts and instability come from within countries and that the humanitarian crises that ensue can take a toll of millions of victims, it is imperative that the international community be able to intervene, at least to save populations from death. What international community? Beyond international public opinion, this community actually exists only in people’s minds, which is why it does not react. For it to be able to do so, it is therefore necessary to strive to make it real. How? At least to start with, by identifying players likely to have an impact, by becoming aware that the problems at hand require concerted action among these players, and by organizing this action effectively. The UN has a role to play in this area, and so does civil society. For an international community to become reality, enduring and sustained efforts will be required in a battle far from being won: the rules of international politics so far have pushed selfishness to its paroxysm, and it will be difficult to let go of this selfishness.

Why not also institute systematic intervention conditions for civil wars, or even for when a state resorts to abuse of power in order to crush its populations (as in the case of Zimbabwe, for instance)? This is obviously a burning subject that is difficult to deal with, knowing how complicated the political situations are of the countries suffering from these difficulties. The duty-of-intervention idea that came forth these past years is no coincidence. Although in the seventeenth century absolute respect of national sovereignty constituted great progress in Human Rights, today the opposite is true. It is high time to put this principle on the floor—as certain people have, such as Bernard Kouchner when he was head of the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières—rather than to remain set in our ways, which today are feeding into a backward-looking, or even criminal attitude when we are dealing with man-made humanitarian cataclysms, or even those subsequent to natural disasters. In this area, UN action is ambiguous because on the one hand, it defends a principle written into its charter, and on the other hand, it parades as the first rampart against Human Rights abuses. To act, it will be necessary either to sidestep the UN or to challenge some of its principles, starting with that of absolute respect of national sovereignty. The members of the Security Council have a considerable role to play in this area. They will only move, however, under pressure from public opinion. Here, well-orchestrated campaigns could produce significant effects.

A narrow view of security

The UN has done a lot in the past few years to expand the concept of security to a concept of human security that involves not only physical security but also includes security against hunger and cold weather, disease and poverty. The UN was established, however, when the concept of security was understood in a narrow and restrictive way. Consequently, the UN’s structures, its charter and its mechanisms were built in terms of this view of security, that of 1945, which made perfect sense after two world wars. The gap between the rhetoric of UN leaders and practical reality is therefore, here too, considerable. In terms of implementation, the UN’s resources simply do not match its ambitions. The first reason for this is the member countries’ absence of will. Security in its traditional sense is easy to grasp and is related to the short run. Human security is a more complex concept, not very well known, which is mostly related to the long run. Politics, we know, is mainly concerned with the short run. This is a flaw in politics in general but mostly, we have to admit, in democracy. Here again, not much can be expected from states.

The UN as an institution (mainly the Secretariat), by promoting this new concept of security, shows that it is a pillar of thinking on new world governance. As a body at the service of its Member States, on the other hand, it often proves to be incapable of implementing its own ideas. There are therefore two solutions to consider: either the UN accepts its limits and refocuses its activities, for instance on the general field of thinking, ideas, and discussion, or it puts its money where its mouth is, which, as we have said, depends on the will of its Member States. By advocating actions it is incapable of carrying out, the UN loses on both counts: the potential impact of its recommendations is basically defeated by its inherent inability to implement them.

Geopolitics

The UN was founded in a context that favored geopolitics, in short, the exclusively political relations that countries could maintain among themselves in the traditional fields of international relations. Geoeconomic and geoenvironmental aspects were either minimized or completely dismissed. Today it is evident that all these dimensions are important in themselves, and also that they are interrelated. The UN was however mostly constructed as a geopolitical building. The various economic, environmental, and other crises that have begun to shake the planet demonstrate that the UN, in these fields, is very poorly equipped to intervene in any way whatsoever to settle crises, not to mention prevent them. Here again, the UN structure is built in such a way that it is difficult to transform it in depth: possible reforms can only be minimal, and in any case insufficient for the United Nations to truly weigh upon these domains. So what can be done? Be content with minimal reforms, which is admittedly better than nothing at all? If the house is flawed and cannot be completely refurbished, it might however be better to build another one (or several others), even if that means keeping the first one but assigning it fewer ambitions.

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THE NEW WORLD DISORDER Globalists salivating over collapse of U.S. Warning issued over drive for Constitution Convention January 13, 2009 10:21 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh 2009 WorldNetDaily

Chuck Baldwin

Globalists are salivating over the possibility of a Constitutional Convention at which issues such as the 2nd Amendment could handily be dismissed, according to a leader who warns Virginia likely is the next target for the drive. There is no question in my mind that, should a new Constitutional Convention be called, it would be the end of the United States of America as we know it, and our current Constitution and Bill of Rights would be forever altered beyond recognition, Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin wrote in his latest commentary. The globalists who currently control Washington, D.C., and Wall Street are, no doubt, salivating over the opportunity to officially dismantle America's independence and national sovereignty, and establish a globalist North American Union – in much the same way that globalists created the European Union. A new Constitutional Convention is exactly the tool they need to cement their sinister scheme into law.WND reported when the American Policy Center issued an alert that the plan was under consideration in the Ohio legislature. The proposal was put aside, at least temporarily, because of publicity generated by the organization run by Tom DeWeese. WND later reported some Wyoming lawmakers, alarmed by the prospects, announced they were working to ensure that if a convention is held, it would convene in the face of their opposition. Wyoming previously called for a Constitutional Convention but rescinded the votes in 1999. However, it is unclear whether even a formal vote to withdraw a request for a convention would have an impact or whether any limits could be imposed, according to constitutional expert John Eidsmoe, author of the book, Christianity & the Constitution.

Read how today's America already has rejected the Constitution, and what you can do about it. Baldwin, the founder of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., and a radio talk show host, now is urging citizens to contact their state representatives on the issue, especially residents of Virginia. As I noted in this column a few weeks ago, proponents of assembling a new Constitutional Convention are a scant two states away from achieving that monstrous reality, he wrote. At that time, the state of Ohio was in the crosshairs. Fortunately, enough people from that good state inundated their state representatives with objections, and the matter was tabled (for how long, no one knows). Now it appears that the Commonwealth of Virginia is going to be the next battleground state, he wrote. In all likelihood, the Virginia legislature will be the next state government to take up the Con Con issue. It is imperative, therefore, that the citizens of Virginia begin contacting their various representatives, demanding that they not authorize the call for a new Constitutional Convention.WND's earlier report noted 32 states already have approved demands for the convention, and only two more states are needed to complete the list. If called, a modern Constitutional Convention could declare the U.S. Constitution to be null and void, and could completely rewrite the document. For example, former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger once declared, There is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention. The Convention could make its own rules and set its own agenda, Baldwin wrote. He said in Virginia, lawmakers previously had asked for the convention but rescinded the call in 2004, so this year's debate apparently will be over the rescission. Baldwin said residents of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin have not yet voted for a new convention.

Since WND's earlier report, two columnists for the news site have renewed statements opposing such a convention. Judge Roy Moore wrote that James Madison himself, the acknowledged Father of the Constitution, once warned, Having witnessed the difficulties and dangers experienced by the first Convention which assembled under every propitious circumstance, I should tremble for the result of a second.Moore wrote: A new convention raises all sorts of frightening possibilities. Would valuable rights like the right to keep and bear arms or the right to worship God be kept intact? … What would stop powerful special-interest groups from influencing the outcome?

Likewise, Phyllis Schlafly, was worried.

It is not credible that politically active groups would pass up the chance to force a Con Con to vote for their special interests. It's not believable that the powerful forces working to take away our right to own guns would overlook a golden opportunity to rescind the Second Amendment, she wrote. Further, she wrote, There is no public support across America for a Constitutional Convention. A flurry of pro-Con Con activity during the Jimmy Carter administration died out. No state has passed a Con Con resolution in the last 25 years. During the 1980s, five states voted down a call for a Con Con, and three states repealed their earlier Con Con resolutions.The warning comes at a time when Barack Obama, who will be inaugurated as the next president Jan. 20, has expressed his belief the U.S. Constitution needs to be interpreted through the lens of current events.Melody Barnes, a senior domestic policy adviser to the Obama campaign, has told Fox News, Obama's view is that our society isn't static and the law isn't static as well. That the Constitution is a living and breathing document and that the law and the justices who interpret it have to understand that.WND also reported Obama believes the Constitution is flawed, because it fails to address wealth redistribution, and he says the Supreme Court should have intervened years ago to accomplish that. Obama told Chicago's public station WBEZ-FM that redistributive change is needed, pointing to what he regarded as a failure of the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren in its rulings on civil rights issues in the 1960s.The Warren court, he said, failed to break free from the essential constraints in the U.S. Constitution and launch a major redistribution of wealth. But Obama, then an Illinois state lawmaker, said the legislative branch of government, rather than the courts, probably was the ideal avenue for accomplishing that goal.

In the 2001 interview, Obama said:

If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed people, so that now I would have the right to vote. I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order and as long as I could pay for it I’d be OK But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical. It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted, and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can't do to you. Says what the federal government can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.And that hasn't shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court-focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that.

WND also has reported an associate at a Chicago law firm whose partner served on a finance committee for Obama has advocated simply abandoning the U.S. Constitution's requirement that a president be a natural born citizen. The paper was written in 2006 by Sarah Herlihy, just two years after Obama won a landslide election in Illinois to the U.S. Senate. Herlihy is listed as an associate at the Chicago firm of Kirkland & Ellis. A partner in the same firm, Bruce I. Ettelson, cites his membership on the finance committees for both Obama and Sen. Richard Durbin on the corporate website. The article by Herlihy is available online under law review articles from Kent University. The issue of Obama's own eligibility under the U.S. Constitution's requirements that presidents be natural born citizens is the subject of nearly two dozen court cases, including several that have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court. Herlihy's published paper reveals that the requirement likely was considered in a negative light by organizations linked to Obama in the months before he announced in 2007 his candidacy for the presidency. The natural born citizen requirement in Article II of the United States Constitution has been called the stupidest provision in the Constitution, undecidedly un-American, blatantly discriminatory, and the Constitution's worst provision, Herlihy begins in her introduction to the paper titled, Amending the Natural Born Citizen Requirement: Globalization as the Impetus and the Obstacle.

Stocks end mixed on anxiety over earnings By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer – Tue Jan 13, 7:16 pm ET

NEW YORK – Stock prices shot up 24 percent from late November to January, fell 7 percent in less than a week — and then stood still.Welcome to the bear market.Wall Street has lost some of the enthusiasm that powered its late 2008 rally. The Dow Jones industrials have taken the biggest hit, falling for five straight days as investors questioned whether they got ahead of themselves when they bet in December that the economy and corporate profits were about to recover.The wind has sort of been taken out of the sails, said Carl Beck, partner at Harris Financial Group. The optimism that we saw at the beginning of the year has sort of been put on hold as people await earnings reports over the next couple of weeks.With companies issuing warnings about their revenue and profit over the past week, the safe play on Wall Street has become to throw out analysts' already lowered expectations and expect results will fall well short.Alcoa Inc. started the reality check. The aluminum producer warned last week results would be bad and that it was slashing production. Then, late Monday, the company said it lost $1.19 billion during the fourth quarter as demand for aluminum plunged. The stock slumped 5.1 percent Tuesday.Investors saw Alcoa's numbers as a troubling sign of the severity of the recession. Alcoa's report marks the unofficial start to the three-week rush when most companies report their results from the October-December quarter.Alcoa is a harbinger of things to come, said Jeff Buetow, senior portfolio manager at Portfolio Management Consultants. It was a horrible report.Investors are worried that economy is punishing even conglomerates like General Electric Co., which has an array of businesses to offset weakness in one area. An analyst warned Tuesday that GE could disappoint investors when it releases results next week.Market veterans aren't surprised by the return of volatility and somewhat heavier selling to the Street after the relative tranquility of December. When the market hit its lows on Nov. 20, analysts uniformly warned that the market's recovery would be uneven, rocky and unpredictable — the hallmark of a bear market.The Standard & Poor's 500 index has given up 3.5 percent this year as investors shift into wait-and-see mode over the health of companies' results. Questions about earnings — in particular companies' expectations for business this year — are likely to dominate trading in the coming weeks. Computer chip maker Intel Corp. and drug company Genentech Inc. are scheduled to report results this week.

The market will get an earlier-than-expected reading on the financial sector when JPMorgan Chase & Co. reports earnings on Thursday — nearly a week ahead of schedule. Investors are fearful of seeing another year of multibillion dollar losses from financial companies, as analysts forecast mounting problems in credit card and commercial real estate portfolios.Since financials led the market lower last year, the fear is that financials are going to have a crummy quarter, said David Katz, chief investment officer of Matrix Asset Advisors. That is going to be bad for the market.Bank of America Corp. tumbled Tuesday after a Sandler O'Neill & Partners analyst became the latest to revise his expectations for the company's fourth-quarter results and predicted a loss. The stock fell 6.8 percent.Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley announced a deal after the closing bell Tuesday to combine their brokerage operations as Citi struggles to raise additional cash.

Worries about earnings sent the Dow down 25.41, or 0.30 percent, to 8,448.56 on Tuesday. Alcoa, GE, Bank of America and Citigroup are all Dow components.Broader indexes advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.53, or 0.18 percent, to 871.79, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 7.67, or 0.50 percent, to 1,546.46. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.99, or 1.06 percent, to 473.79.The number of stocks that rose on the New York Stock Exchange outnumbered those that fell by about 8 to 7. After rising on the first trading day of the New Year, stocks last week had their worst weekly performance since November as profit warnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Intel, Alcoa and media company Time Warner Inc. set off investors' fears about companies' suffering under the economy. You've got the lingering shroud of doubt in people's minds, Is it going to be worse than already lowered expectations? Beck said. Some economists say investors have been too quick to predict that the economy will hit bottom sometime this year and begin to show signs of recovery even in late 2009. This recession is nothing like a lot of people have seen, said Robert B. MacIntosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Investment Managers. Even with the government trying to lift the economy, a recovery will be difficult.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday the stimulus package being crafted by President-elect Barack Obama and Congress could provide a significant boost to the sinking economy. During a speech in London, he also said more capital injections and guarantees may become necessary to stabilize financial markets and spur more lending. Obama is pushing for an economic stimulus that includes big tax cuts and has an estimated price tag of about $800 billion. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

IMF: Global Meltdown Worse Than Expected
By Stefan Bos Budapest 14 January 2009

International Monetary Fund's Managing Director, Dominique Straus-Kahn in Budapest, 13 Jan 2009 .The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warns that the world economy will further decline this year. Straus-Kahn says Germany's biggest stimulus package since World War II offers some hope, although he cautions that Europe lags behind the United States in enacting measures to stem the economic crisis. He spoke after meeting officials in Hungary, which has received a multi-billion dollar rescue package. The International Monetary Fund's Managing Director, Dominique Straus-Kahn, offered reporters a grim outlook for the global economy this year.He said the world economy is slowing more than the IMF had predicted and he warned that this will have a severe impact on Central and Eastern European economies.All of us are worried and concerned about the future, said Dominique Straus-Kahn. The reason for that is that the forecasts, the global forecasts, on a global level for 2009 are rather bad forecasts. The IMF is going to release its own, new set of forecasts in a couple of days. I already know that it will show a sharp decrease in the estimates we have for global growth. And a decrease for global growth means a decrease [for] everybody - including in Central Europe and in Hungary.In November, the International Monetary Fund lowered its projections for world economic growth to a little more than two percent, and said industrialized economies were headed for the first full-year of economic decline since World War II.

But the IMF says Germany's economic stimulus package should help not only Germany, but also much of Western and Eastern Europe.The $67-billion rescue plan, unveiled by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, includes investment in schools and infrastructure, simpler rules for creating temporary jobs and up to roughly $130 billion in loan guarantees for struggling firms.But the IMF's Dominique Strauss-Kahn made clear that Europe's response to the economic crisis lags behind U.S. efforts, as President-elect Barack Obama seeks approval to disburse the second half of a 700-billion dollar economic rescue package.As you know, the U.S is planning, the new administration is planning, a huge stimulus plan, he said. And, answering your question, what has been decided on at a European level, is in line, but probably a little behind the curve. Of course, the new German plan, which comes on top of the rest, makes us more comfortable. So I have to see a little more what there is in this 50 billion euro [$67-billion plan]. But obviously, it is a strong effort made by the German government and it would be very much helpful.Strauss-Khan spoke after talks with the struggling Hungarian government about its troubled economy. Hungary has received an IMF-led $25-billion rescue package, but Straus-Kahn said other former Communist countries, including Ukraine, will also need help.He praised Hungary's efforts to jump start its economy, but said Budapest and other regional capitals will need to implement structural reforms.Just outside Hungary's parliament building where Strauss-Kahn spoke, people have mixed feelings about the IMF's role in their country.Banker Bela Viszontaly say he does not expect people's lives will improve soon.I think it doesn't depend on the IMF, said Bela Viszontaly. The life was difficult, and is difficult. This year, we await unemployment of about 10 percent.Attorney Roberta Pal says she believes Hungary's economy can improve only if the billions of dollars in loans from the IMF are spent wisely.I don't know, said Roberta Pal. It depends on the political leadership. But if we don't change our approach on deciding on what we spend, then these amounts, it's just a waste of money and a waste of time.For now, experts say governments across the globe will likely ask for more cash from the IMF to help rescue their struggling economies.

Euro marks 10th birthday amid financial crisis
ELITSA VUCHEVA 13.01.2009 @ 17:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The financial crisis that started in the US, but progressively spread well beyond its borders, is going to present the eurozone economy with new challenges in the months to come, EU monetary chiefs warned on Tuesday (13 January) at a European Parliament event marking the 10th anniversary of the common currency.It is no time for complacency. Current challenges are pressing, and new challenges will arise, European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet told MEPs in Strasbourg. The crisis has revealed fundamental weaknesses in the global financial system. We are playing an active part in the global efforts to address these weaknesses and redesign the regulatory and institutional framework. A lot of work remains to be done, he added.For his part, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister and the acting president of the group of countries using the euro, stressed that the current year would be particularly difficult for the eurozone, as well as a test for its cohesion.The real test for the cohesion of the eurozone is still facing us ...2009 is going to be an extremely difficult year for the eurozone and its citizens, and there will both internal and external challenges to face, the eurogroup chairman said.Internally, EU governments will have to increase their co-operation to limit the effects of the crisis and build a bridge to the after-crisis.

Externally, we will have to learn the political lessons of the international political and economic crisis and work on an in-depth reform of the financial system, he added.The eurozone was launched on 1 January 1999 and initially covered 11countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Greece met the convergence criteria in 2000 and joined in January 2001.After Slovenia entered the euro club in 2007 and Malta and Cyprus followed suit a year later, Slovakia on 1 January became the 16th state - and the first one from central Europe - to adopt the euro.Some 330 million Europeans are today using the common currency.

Bastion of stability

The EU monetary chiefs called the euro one of the greatest success stories of European integration saying that it had allowed the countries using it to react effectively to the global crisis. Mr Juncker called the euro an anchor of stability and an unquestionable success, while Mr Trichet told EU parliamentarians: If we had not had a common currency, then we would not have been able to act as quickly and as effectively.We can be proud of the prompt response of Europe [to the crisis], he added.Joaquin Almunia, the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, also underlined the European currency's merits and highlighted its deserved reputation for strength and stability.However, Mr Juncker reiterated his complaint about eurozone countries lacking common international representation and always looking to their national interests first.Despite significant progress, the international representation of the euro is still often too fragmentary and national interests too often take precedence over the common interest that we have, he said.The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is an economic project, but a political project as well. Consequently, we will need to [efficiently] use the second decade of the euro to perfect the EMU by strengthening it politically, he concluded.

Russia Quickens Ruble Defense as Oil Drops, MDM Says (Update2)
By Emma O’Brien

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s central bank sold about $7 billion to stem the ruble’s decline against the dollar and the euro yesterday, the most since it started devaluing the currency in November, according to Moscow’s MDM Bank. Bank Rossii, which controls the ruble against a basket of dollars and euros to limit swings that hurt exporters, sold $6 billion and 700 million euros ($929 million) in the market yesterday, said Mikhail Galkin, head of MDM’s fixed-income research, citing the bank’s traders. It was the most sold since the central bank started letting the ruble fall on Nov. 11, he said. Policy makers devalued the ruble twice in the past two days, in the first official trading this year, extending the currency’s slump to 18 percent against the basket since mid-November as the price of oil, Russia’s chief export earner, retreated. Citigroup Inc., Troika Dialog and Renaissance Capital expect the ruble to drop at least 11 percent this quarter as Urals crude trades at $41.45 a barrel, below the $70 average needed to balance the 2009 budget. The oil price is edging lower and the speed of weakening is going up, so the trades against the ruble are becoming more profitable, Galkin said. The more than 70 percent drop in Urals crude from a July record has deepened concern that the country’s current account will slip into deficit. It was $98.9 billion in surplus last year, the central bank said today. Investors and citizens have taken more than $200 billion out of Russia since the start of August, according to BNP Paribas SA, deterred by the nation’s worst financial crisis since it defaulted on $40 billion of debt in 1998. Capital outflows were $130.5 billion in the fourth quarter, according to Bank Rossii.

Pent-Up Demand

The currency has lost 14 percent against the dollar since the central bank began devaluing the currency in mid-November, and fell to as low as 31.3725 today, the weakest since March 2003. Russia’s foreign-currency reserves have been reduced by 27 percent, or $160 billion, since August as Bank Rossii uses the funds to support the currency, according to central bank data as of Dec. 26. The ruble has fallen 20 percent versus the euro in the past two months. It rose 0.5 percent to 41.3599 per euro today. Pressure on the ruble was exacerbated yesterday by pent-up demand for foreign currency, said Evgeny Nadorshin, senior economist at Trust Investment Bank in Moscow. Companies and investors were unable to convert rubles from Jan. 1 to 10 because official trading on the Micex stock exchange was closed for the Russian Christmas holidays, he added.

Investors Deterred

Everyone’s been expecting the ruble to depreciate so there was excessive currency built up at the end of last year that they needed to exchange once markets opened, said Nadorshin, who also put yesterday’s currency sales at about $7 billion. It was a case of postponed demand.Russia, which is aiming to free float the ruble by 2011, has managed the currency against the dollar-euro basket since 2005. After surging to a record 29.2843 against the mechanism on Aug. 4, the currency has been allowed to weaken 22 percent as the crisis in global credit markets and Russia’s war with neighboring Georgia deterred investors. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pledged to avoid a “sharp” decline in the currency last month and both he and President Dmitry Medvedev have urged citizens to keep their savings in local currency. Continually declining oil prices will ensure more depreciation of the ruble is required, Arkady Dvorkovich, Medvedev’s economic adviser, said in an interview Dec. 19.

Russian Gas

Russians withdrew 6 percent of ruble-denominated deposits in October, the most since Bank Rossii started collating the data two years ago. Deposits held in dollars had an average return of 12 percent in 2008, while the profitability on ruble accounts fell 5.2 percent, Moscow-based auditing and consulting company BDO Unicon said in an e-mailed report yesterday. Russia resumed pumping gas into pipes through Ukraine today, after a six-day supply halt that disrupted flows to at least 20 European nations. OAO Gazprom, the Russian natural-gas exporter that provides a quarter of Europe’s gas, suspended shipments through Ukraine Jan. 7 amid disputes over pricing and allegations the former Soviet republic was siphoning gas. The resolution “should improve market sentiment somewhat and relieve some pressure on the ruble,” BNP Paribas emerging- market currency analysts Shahin Vallee and Elisabeth Gruie wrote in a note to clients today. BNP advises placing so-called short positions on the ruble against the basket. A short is a bet that an asset or security it is going to decline.

Blocking Supplies

Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, was little changed at 8.80 per dollar today, according to traders at Galt & Taggart Holdings Ltd. in Kiev. Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko said there was a delay in full resumption of gas supplies today because of “technical difficulties. Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev said Ukraine is blocking supplies and that it may declare force majeure. Bank Rossii widened the range it allows the ruble to trade against the basket in the previous two days, an official unable to be identified on bank policy said. The currency can now fall about 17 percent from a target basket rate, from 2.6 percent on Nov. 10. The central bank has devalued the currency 14 times in the past two months. The Russian currency was little changed at 35.8007 against the basket by 5 p.m. in Moscow, after weakening 1.5 percent yesterday and 1.7 percent on Jan. 11. The basket is made up of about 55 percent dollars and the rest euros.

Step-By-Step Devaluation

The central bank probably refrained from devaluation today to maintain a sense of unpredictability and wrong-foot speculators betting on the ruble’s decline, said Nadorshin. They’ve always said this will not be a quick devaluation and that they’re committed to doing this step by step.Non-deliverable forwards put the ruble 8.6 percent lower against the dollar at 35.21 in three months time. The decline expected over 12 months is 20 percent. NDFs are contracts used to fix a currency at a particular level at a future date and companies use them to protect against foreign-exchange fluctuations. Bank Rossii sold $3.4 billion on Jan. 11, according to MDM estimates. Trust Investment puts the amount sold in December at about $75 billion, with $20 billion alone between Dec. 26 to 30, Nadorshin said. The depletion of Russia’s reserves, the world’s third largest, prompted Standard & Poor’s to lower the credit rating of Russian debt last month. Dvorkovich said last month a recession may be possible in Russia this year, after industrial output sank the most for 10 years in November and unemployment rose to 6.6 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Emma O’Brien in Moscow at eobrien6@bloomberg.net

EU not getting one drop of Russian gas
ANDREW WILLIS 13.01.2009 @ 17:32 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Zero Russian gas had reached the EU via Ukraine as of 17:00 pm Brussels time on Tuesday (13 January), as a Russian-Ukrainian transit deal began to unravel amid allegations of blackmail and cynicism.Nothing, not one drop has reached the EU, a European Commission spokesman told EUobserver. High level [diplomatic] contact has resumed and the situation is changing every minute. But there is no gas so far.Russia says it restarted EU supplies at 8:30 am Brussels time on Tuesday morning, with a 22-man team of EU monitors in Moscow, Kiev and remote pumping stations reporting a slight increase in pressure in the morning followed by decline.The latest problem is linked to technical gas - the residual gas in Ukrainian pipelines required to enable transportation of Russian gas to the EU.

Under an agreement between Kiev and Moscow, Ukrainian state-owned gas company Naftogaz is obliged to provide the technical gas but has not done so.[Naftogaz] declares that these volumes and directions [Russia's renewed EU-bound gas shipments] have not been timely agreed between two operators of the neighbouring gas transport systems, the company said in a statement, calling for a fresh exchange of documents to resolve the problem.The latest glitch threatens to unmake a transit deal signed by Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission on Monday.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of cynically re-directing Tuesday's gas to Ukrainian consumers. The Russian argument is blackmail, Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko said. European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek resumed telephone contact with Moscow and Kiev. The leaders of the worst-hit EU countries - Bulgaria and Slovakia - have announced visits to Moscow.The issue of technical gas is no excuse for the lack of full flow to the European Union a commission spokesman said, adding that Brussels has not been approached to pay for the technical gas. The EU has so far lived without Russia's Ukraine-shipped gas - about one fifth of EU daily consumption - since last Wednesday, in the worst gas crisis since Ukraine broke from Russian influence in the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Brussels blasts Slovak nuclear move

Mr Barroso has also sent a letter to Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic saying Bratislava's decision to turn on a defunct nuclear reactor at the Jaslovske Bohunice power plant is contrary to the country's 2004 accession treaty. President Barroso also asked for more information surrounding the decision, with Brussels holding legal fire for now.The commission has not received an official request from Bulgaria to re-open its Kozloduy nuclear plant, which was also closed as part of its 2006 accession deal.Article 36 of the Bulgarian accession treaty allows it to restart the unit under exceptional circumstances. A similar clause for Slovakia has already expired.

Future lessons

The gas crisis has reignited the debate on future EU energy policy.Of the 18 member states currently affected, Bulgaria and Slovakia have suffered the most due to lack of interconnecting infrastructure enabling neighbouring EU states to pump stocks.
Greece is also heavily reliant on Russian gas, but unlike Bulgaria and Slovakia it has gas reserves to last until the end of the month, with the EU expected to re-examine the question of mandatory gas stocks in the coming months.The crisis is also likely to provide fresh impetus to the Nabucco gas pipeline project, bypassing Russia and Ukraine, with a high-level meeting on Nabucco planned in Budapest at the end of the month.

Falling energy prices shrink trade balance to $1.3B
Updated Tue. Jan. 13 2009 10:05 AM ET The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- Canada's trade surplus with the world fell to $1.3 billion in November from a revised $2.3 billion in October. Statistics Canada reports both exports and imports declined in November. The agency says more than two-thirds of the drop in exports and almost all the decrease in imports were due to energy products, as crude petroleum prices continued to fall. Exports slid for the fourth straight month, dropping 6.8 per cent to $39.2 billion, the result of falling prices and lower volumes, while the volume of exports fell 2.3 per cent. Similarly, a combination of price and volume reductions pushed Canada's imports down 4.8 per cent to $38 billion, while the volume of imports fell 2.3 per cent. Excluding energy products, exports declined 2.7 per cent while imports increased 0.6 per cent in November.

The trade deficit, excluding energy, expanded to $3.5 billion in November from $2.4 billion in October. Exports to the United States fell 7.4 per cent to $28.9 billion, largely the result of a decline in energy products. The decrease in exports outpaced a 3.7 per cent drop in imports, putting Canada's trade surplus with the United States at $4.5 billion. Imports from countries other than the United States declined 6.6 per cent, the result of falling imports of crude petroleum, while exports decreased five per cent. As a result, Canada's trade deficit with this group of countries narrowed for the second straight month to $3.2 billion.

HOMOSEXUALS.

GENESIS 19:5
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

ROMANS 1:18-32
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:(HOMOSEXUALITY,AND ALL SEX SINS)
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:(LESBIENS)
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly,(SODOMITES) and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.(AIDS ETC)
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

SEX SINS

1 CORINTHIANS 6:9,14-18
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

GALATIONS 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

U.S. rates of sexually spread diseases up
Updated Tue. Jan. 13 2009 1:36 PM ET The Associated Press

ATLANTA -- Sexually spread diseases -- for years on the decline -- are on the rise in the United States, with reported chlamydia cases setting a record, government health officials said Tuesday. The increase in chlamydia, a sometimes symptomless infection that can lead to infertility in women, is likely because of better screening, experts said. In 2007, there were 1.1 million cases, the most ever reported, said officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thousands of women become infertile each year because of untreated chlamydia and gonorrhea infections, said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention. Syphilis cases, which number only in the thousands, also rose modestly, while the number of gonorrhea cases remained roughly the same. Syphilis can kill, if left untreated, but chlamydia and gonorrhea are not life-threatening.

Chlamydia can infect men as well as women, but rates are nearly three times higher for women. That's at least partly due to 1993 federal recommendations that emphasize testing for sexually active women age 25 and under. That emphasized screening in recent years is no doubt driving the record numbers, said Dr. Jonathan Zenilman, a professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The issue with chlamydia is the more test, the more you'll find, Zenilman said. The latest numbers translate to a rate of 370 cases per 100,000 people in 2007, up 7.5 per cent from 2006. The reported cases are just part of the picture. Health officials believe as many as 2.8 million Americans may have chlamydia. Many men and women have no symptoms from it. Some women experience pain in their lower abdomen or notice a burning sensation or a pus-like discharge when they urinate. Some men may also feel a burning during urination or have a discharge. Gonorrhea cases appear to have plateaued and are currently at about 356,000 cases. Syphilis was on the verge of being eliminated in the United States about 10 years ago, but lately has been inching up. More than 11,000 new cases of the most contagious form of the disease were reported in 2007. Syphilis is relatively rare but has become a growing threat, particularly for gay and bisexual men, who accounted for about 65 per cent of the 2007 cases.

Obama wants Europe to close Iran loopholes
VALENTINA POP 13.01.2009 @ 17:26 CET

EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – The incoming Obama administration will step up its calls on Europe to close legal loopholes allowing Iran to pursue its nuclear activities, outgoing US ambassador to Brussels Kristen Silverberg said on Tuesday (13 January).
Iran is still taking advantage of their economic ties here in Europe, Ms Silverberg said at a conference organised by the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think-tank.The Obama administration is expected to raise the problem of Europe's loopholes in its sanctions regime, including transport companies involved in supporting proliferation sensitive activities, stopping export credits to Iran and all financial assistance, she said.Ms Silverberg, a political appointee of the outgoing Bush administration, has been in office for less than six months and will leave her posting next Monday, a day before the inauguration of incoming president Barack Obama.She stressed that the president-elect had endorsed a bill in the Senate providing for very tough sanctions against Iran and that he called on Americans to pressure companies to cut their financial ties with Iran.Europe is really the key to that. What we see around the world is that the financial sector is looking to Europe to see how to apply its sanctions. This will be the high watermark for the international response. I think the new administration will look to Brussels in particular to focus that effort.Ms Silverberg did not see Mr Obama's promise to engage in direct diplomacy with Tehran as a change of policy, but rather as a different tactic, part of the same carrots and sticks diplomacy approach pursued by the outgoing administration.

The broad parameters of US policy remain constant – from the Clinton to this administration and the next. It's not the fundamental policy that's shifting, but tactics and sometimes the tone and the style, she explained.A representative of the Iranian embassy to Brussels, Seyed Alaeddin Vahid Gharavi, was also present at the debate and asked the ambassador why the US was supporting India's nuclear programme, despite the country not being part of the non-proliferation treaty.Ms Silverberg said that India did not try to deceive the international community and was not sponsoring organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Obama ready for Gaza crisis

The Middle East peace process, especially after the current war on Gaza, was top of the list of the incoming Obama administration, Ms Silverberg said.She pointed to the fact that president-elect Obama appointed General James L. Jones his national security advisor after having served in the Bush administration as a special envoy on Middle East issues.The two state-solution adopted by the outgoing administration would definitely be the basis of the Obama adminstration's efforts, engaging with international and regional partners, she predicted.The US will continue to reiterate Israel's right to defend itself against terrorist attacks – something about which the president-elect has made comments during the transition about the Gaza crisis, Ms Silverberg said.She stressed that the only acceptable ceasefire was a real one, not one that allowed Hamas to acquire more weapons and resume attacks.

Climate change deal

An area where the US diplomat saw no disagreements between Brussels and Washington was climate change. The challenge this time was not for the EU and US to agree, but to get a real global agreement in December at the UN conference in Copenhagen by convincing Brazil, India and China to adopt the climate goals.She rejected criticism that the US did not ratify the Kyoto protocol, arguing that the bill could not have passed the US Congress. Washington was not disrespectful of international treaties, she said, on the contrary, it did not want to adopt something it could not live up to.