EVENTS IN TIME (BIBLE PROPHECY LITERALLY FULFILLED)(BY GOD)

I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

OBAMA WINS AMERICA LOSES GUARENTEED

Spain: Osama bin Laden's son seeks asylum 27-year-old landed at Madrid airport using a passport from Saudi Arabia Claude Stemmelin / AFP - Getty Images file
Omar bin Laden, the fourth son of Osama bin laden, during a dinner at his horse ranch, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, on Sept. 11, 2008.Nov. 5: Residents in Madrid, Spain, drive carefully as their neighborhood chicken crosses the road. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.updated 7:52 a.m. ET, Tues., Nov. 4, 2008

MADRID, Spain - A son of Osama bin Laden was in Spain and was seeking asylum, Spain's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.Omar Osama bin Laden requested asylum immediately after arriving at Madrid airport Monday on a flight from Cairo, Egypt, that had been going on to Casablanca, Morocco, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity in line with ministry rules.The official said Omar Osama bin Laden was traveling on a passport from Saudi Arabia. The official said he could not say on what grounds bin Laden was requesting asylum.The 27-year-old remained at the airport while the ministry was considering his petition. The ministry has 72 hours to make a decision, and the petitioner has a right of appeal.

Nov 4, 2008 0:17 | Updated Nov 4, 2008 12:34 Analysis: A Middle East message to the new American leader By BRENDA GAZZAR JPOST

Dear Mr. President, congratulations! Not only have you inherited a global economic crisis unmatched since the Great Depression but you have also inherited an increasingly tumultuous and more radicalized Middle East. Experts use words like unilateral and preemptive to describe America's foreign policy in the region in the last eight years. Some simply describe US President George W. Bush's approach as our way or the highway. Whether or not you choose a more multilateral foreign policy style, you will certainly have to contend with some pressing issues that have arisen or become exacerbated over the past eight years. Thorny issues like the war in Iraq, where more than 4,000 Americans have been killed with no clear end or resolution in sight. Issues such as Iran, which appears intent on pursuing a nuclear weapons program against the wishes of the majority of the world. And you will have to contend with them at a time that America's global and regional reputation has taken a blow as an honest, neutral and even-handed player in the Middle East. Indeed, many in the region today see the US as a country that only pursues its own interests at the expense of others.

Here are just a few of your challenges:

Iran: This is considered your top foreign policy issue. Your challenge is to figure out how to convince Iran in the next year or two that it shouldn't go forward with developing a nuclear weapon. Sanctions have not worked due to a lack of cooperation by nations like China and Russia. Bush has been very explicit about using force as an option in dealing with Iran. However, some argue that Bush has limited America's options by leading with the threat of military action rather than by using all available tools, such as negotiations or incentives. Ultimately, however, tough decisions would have to be made in case these tools fail.

Iraq: Your challenge in Iraq is to diminish the American presence while keeping the country and the region stable. You know that any sort of withdrawal will neither be quick or easy. Some experts, Some experts, such as Stephen Grand of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, argue that the key would
be to take a regional approach. In addition to finding a viable political settlement among the various factions inside Iraq, bringing other nations into the fold - countries affected by the conflict such as Syria, Iran and Turkey - is necessary for any long-term solution, he said. I think that's really what has been missing in the Bush approach; a truly regional perspective.

Israeli/Palestinian crisis: It appears that neither side can resolve the conflict on its own and some kind of international intervention - particularly American intervention - is needed to help bring peace to the region. But American mediation efforts have failed thus far and some say foreign policy here should be reassessed. The Arab peace initiative could well be part of any future peace deal. However, any peace broker must contend with new and rapidly changing realities here: including upcoming Israeli elections and the protracted Fatah-Hamas divide in the West Bank and Gaza.

Syria: Syria is looking to end years of difficult international isolation while maintaining regime stability. It is counting on a new US administration that will support its peace talks with Israel. But Syria also seems reluctant to sever its ties with Iran and militants in Lebanon and the PA. Your challenge will be to help Syria - perhaps through a mixture of sticks and carrots - to end its unsavory ties with extremists and to disassociate itself from radical Shi'ite elements in Lebanon and in Iran.

Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak turned 80 earlier this year, raising questions about his succession and whether or not there could be a political vacuum in this country of some 80 million. Egypt is one of America's strongest and most stable allies in the Middle East, but questions remain about what role, if any, Islamist groups would play in its next government.

ELECTION 2008 Will Supreme Court have say in presidency? Schedule includes campaign response to questions on Obama birthplace November 04, 2008 6:51 pm Eastern
2008 WorldNetDaily

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter has rejected an emergency appeal for the court to halt the tabulation of the 2008 presidential election results until Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama documents his eligibility to run for the office, according to an attorney who brought the action that challenges the Illinois senator's standing in the race.However, the issue isn't going away, at least for now, since Souter set a schedule for a response from Obama to the challenge from attorney Philip J. Berg.As WND reported, Berg brought his claims to the Supreme Court after a federal judge dismissed his lawsuit alleging Obama is ineligible to be president because he possibly was born in Kenya.The judge concluded Berg lacks standing to bring the action.

Philip J. Berg

The 34-page memorandum that accompanied the court order from Judge R. Barclay Surrick said ordinary citizens can't sue to ensure that a presidential candidate actually meets the constitutional requirements of the office.Instead, Surrick said Congress could determine that citizens, voters, or party members should police the Constitution's eligibility requirements for the Presidency, but that it would take new laws to grant individual citizens that ability.Until that time, Surrick says, voters do not have standing to bring the sort of challenge that Plaintiff attempts to bring.In a statement today, Berg said he was told by a clerk for Souter that his application for an injunction to stay the election was denied. But he also said the defendants are required to respond to the Writ of Certiorari by Dec. 1.Get the book that started it all – Jerome Corsi's The Obama Nation, personally autographed for only $4.95 – an amazing $23 discount! The questions over Obama's eligibility first got traction among Internet bloggers and later were heightened when several campaigns were launched to determine whether a certificate of live birth posted on the Internet by the Obama campaign was valid.The issue gained more attention when Berg told radio talk show host Michael Savage he had an admission from Obama's grandmather that she was at his birth – in Kenya.

This is a question of who has standing to stand up for our Constitution, Berg told Jeff Schreiber of America's Right blog. If I don't have standing, if you don't have standing, if your neighbor doesn't have standing to ask whether or not the likely next president of the United States – the most powerful man in the entire world – is eligible to be in that office in the first place, then who does? WND senior investigative reporter Jerome Corsi traveled both to Kenya and Hawaii to investigate issues surrounding Obama's birth.But his discoveries only raised more questions.The biggest question is why Obama, if a Hawaii birth certificate exists, simply hasn't ordered it made available to settle the rumors.The governor's office in Hawaii said he had a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin. Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii.

Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro, has named two different Hawaii hospitals where Obama could have been born.But a video posted on YouTube features Obama's Kenyan grandmother Sarah claiming to have witnessed Obama's birth in Kenya.As WND reported, Berg filed suit in U.S. District Court in August, alleging Obama is not a natural-born citizen and is thus ineligible to serve as president of the United States. Berg demanded that Obama provide documentation to the court to verify that the candidate was born in Hawaii, as Obama contends, and not in Kenya, as Berg believes.

CNN NEWS VIDEO
http://edition.cnn.com/video/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS WED NOV 05,2008

09:30 AM -53.04
10:00 AM -184.07
10:30 AM -101.15
11:00 AM -133.09
11:30 AM -150.06
12:00 PM -187.65
12:30 PM -253.44
01:00 PM -286.65
01:30 PM -290.56
02:00 PM -309.47
02:30 PM -328.71
03:00 PM -301.87
03:30 PM -390.11
04:00 PM -486.01 9139.27

S&P 500 952.77 -52.98

NASDAQ 1681.64 -98.48

GOLD 740.6 -16.70

OIL 65.30 -5.23

TSE 300 -229.38 9,887.20

CDNX -23.85 951.42

S&P/TSX/60 -13.57 597.06

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -27.44%
Dow Transports -10.9%
Dow Utilities -26.7%
Nasdaq -32.88%
S&P 500 -31.5%
Russell 2000 -28.73%
NY Composite -34.86%
Amex Composite -36.60%

Dow at low today was -202
Futures down after S&P rallies 19% over last 8 sessions.
Germany passes $64 BILLION Economic Stimulus Package.
Italy working on a plan,expect U.S to follow.
Solar stocks lower as ALT. energy measures fail in California.
Libor falls again,but Mortgage rates remain high.

END CLOSINGS

Biggest drop in 2 weeks.
Stocks close at days lows.
Dow fell over 5% today
Dow fell below 9200 points today.
All 30 Dow stocks lower today.
S&P below 1000 points today.
NASDAQ falls 5% today.

Memo to Traders:Global Economy in bad shape.
Conclusion:Tough to move Markets forward.
Fairly uniform selloff:Most stocks -3%-7%.
Initial decline lead by commodity Stocks.
Late-Day selloff led by Financials.

OBAMAS DECISIONS:WHAT WILL HE DO?
-tax increases-The right thing?
-Trade-revive Doha round?
-Expand health care-Casualty of deficit?

Europe awaits new deal from President Obama
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today @ 09:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Europe has welcomed the victory of the democratic candidate in the US presidential elections, with the French leader Nicolas Sarkozy praising the choice of change and optimism by the American voters, while Brussels urged for a new deal in a new world under the leadership of Barack Obama.This is a time for a renewed commitment between Europe and the United States of America, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement released early Wednesday (5 November), minutes before Senator Obama appeared to meet his supporters in his hometown of Chicago after his victory was confirmed.Mr Barroso assured the US President-elect of his support when both Brussels and Washington will face together the many challenges ahead of us.We need a new deal for a new world. I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to drive this new deal, he added, using the same term as the Democratic predecessor of Obama in the White House, Franklin D. Roosevelt.Back in 1930s, President Roosevelt presented his New Deal initiative as a way to boost jobs and public investment to revive the economy battered by the Great Depression, a global economic crisis often referred to in comparisons to the current financial turbulence.Mr Obama is due to attend the first global summit organised by the outgoing US president George W. Bush under the initiative of Europe, in Washington on 15 November which could see an opening of a series of high-profile debates about the reform of the international financial system.

Optimistic choice

But despite the grim economic circumstances across the globe, for supporters of Barack Obama, the first Afro-American to take up the top US job, the election night was full of joy and positive emotions.French President Nicolas Sarkozy whose country is currently chairing the EU congratulated him for the brilliant victory, noting By choosing you, the American nation has chosen change, openness and optimism.It would give an excellent message to the people of the EU if Barack Obama were to make a speech in the European Parliament during his first visit to Europe, the parliament's president, Hans Gert Poettering, said in his statement of congratulation.This way he could address the almost 500 million citizens of the European Union, he added.The triumph of Barack Obama, 47, in the historic elections - followed with great interest worldwide - became evident after he had captured the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and later also Florida, Virginia and Colorado - all of which voted Republican in 2004. In some states, like Indiana and and North Carolina, the votes seemed very tightly distributed between the two candidates but at 07.00 Brussels time the polls stood at 51.3 percent for the Democratic Senator from Illinois, against 47.4 percent for Arizona Senator Mr McCain, the BBC reported.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer, Mr Obama said to the crowds in Grand Park, Chicago.Senator McCain congratulated his rival, saying I deeply admire and commend Mr Obama and called on his supporters to rally behind their new leader.

Polish president gets prickly mandate for EU summit
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today NOV 5,08 @ 09:27 CET

The Polish government will let Polish President Lech Kaczynski go alone to Friday's (7 November) EU summit, to avoid another fiasco over chairs at the top table. But it will give him a hard to digest pro-euro and pro-Lisbon treaty mandate.Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Tuesday his decision to stay home, saying he did not want a repeat of the October summit, when a rogue Mr Kaczynski chartered his own plane and gatecrashed the EU meeting, causing protocol havoc and making Poland a figure of fun in European media.The government's negotiating mandate - which Mr Kaczynski is obliged to follow under the Polish constitution - will force the president to put forward Poland's plan to join the euro in 2012 and call on all EU states to ratify the Lisbon treaty, placing him in an awkward position.The eurosceptic Mr Kaczynski last week said quick euro entry will cause inflation and has himself refused to sign off on Lisbon in support of the Irish No vote in June.Mr Tusk said the mandate was not drafted out of spite, but because Polish euro entry and broader EU integration will help keep Poland safe amid the financial crisis.

I can imagine a situation [in which the president ignores the mandate], but I wouldn't accept it, he warned, PAP reports. We can't apply any extraordinary disciplinary measures, because we don't have them. We can just count on [his] elementary sense of responsibility.Mr Kaczynski's aides called the proposals absurd, saying they do not fit in with Friday's summit agenda.What does the Lisbon treaty have to do with the financial crisis? It's a paradox. Every reasonable person knows this. I'm curious, who'll even want to talk about the treaty, when Europe is facing such serious tasks, in the context of the crisis, presidential minister Michal Kaminski said on Polish TV, calling Mr Tusk's position point scoring and a strange game.Presidential advisor Piotr Kownacki told Rzeczpospolita that if French President Nicolas Sarkozy asks Mr Kaczynski why he won't sign Lisbon, the Polish head can answer it's not us blocking the treaty, it's Ireland.The Polish president is also embroiled in another scrap over government policy, after on Monday signing a declaration together with Lithuanian President Valdus Adamkus calling on the EU not to restart negotiations on a new EU-Russia agreement. Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he learned of the move from his Lithuanian colleague at a meeting in the French city of Marseille. But the president's men say they consulted with the Polish embassy in Lithuania first.The head of the Lithuanian foreign office put the declaration on the table, Mr Sikorski said. It's not good for our negotiating position [in the EU] that the existence of this document and its contents were a surprise for me.

MEPs back penalties for hiring irregular migrants
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today NOV 5,08 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament civil liberties committee has backed the idea of introducing sanctions, administrative as well as criminal, against employers who hire undocumented immigrants from outside Europe. Italian Socialist Claudio Fava, in charge of the dossier in the parliament, described the vote as a step forward. Illegal immigrants help meet the needs of some unscrupulous employers who are willing to take advantage of workers prepared to undertake what are mostly low-skilled and low paid jobs, he said. Brussels estimates there are four to eight million immigrants working without proper documentation in the EU, with the number swelling by up to half a million each year. According to the approved piece of law, employers hiring irregular immigrants will have to, among other things, pay costs for the migrant's return, outstanding wages, taxes and social contributions.Criminal penalties could be triggered in circumstances such as extreme exploitation and human trafficking, while those exploited severely could be granted a temporary residency permit in order to participate in a trial trying to win what an employer owns to them. The directive does not exclude regularisation of clandestine workers, Mr Fava said. But the issue of criminal measures is very divisive among EU member states.

In July - when the draft legislation was debated by EU interior ministers - some countries, including Germany, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden, argued there were other ways to fight irregular employment.The European Commission proposal on sanctions against employers who hire undocumented non-EU immigrants dates back to May 2007. It is part of the union's efforts to curb such forms of migration, while boosting legally sanctioned ways of labourers entering its territory.

Bush promises smooth transition to Obama NOV 5,08

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President George W. Bush on Wednesday publicly congratulated Barack Obama on his historic victory and vowed complete cooperation as the first black US president moves into the White House.Last night, I had a warm conversation with president-elect Barack Obama. I congratulated him and Senator (Joe) Biden on their impressive victory, Bush said in his first public remarks on the election.I told the president-elect he can count on complete cooperation from my administration as he makes the transition to the White House, said the outgoing president, whose second four-year term ends January 20.Bush also said he and First Lady Laura Bush had invited Obama and wife Michelle Obama to come to the presidential mansion, and Laura and I are looking forward to welcoming them as soon as possible.Bush, whose vast unpopularity weighed down fellow Republican and chosen successor John McCain's campaign, said he had also spoken to the defeated Arizona senator.I congratulated him on a determined campaign that he and Governor Palin ran, he said, referring to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who would have been the first woman vice president.

The American people will always be grateful for the lifetime of service John McCain has devoted to this nation. And I know he'll continue to make tremendous contributions to our country, said Bush.He also left little doubt about the president-elect's say in charting the nation's course over the next 76 days, saying he would keep Obama fully informed on important decisions.But there's important work to do in the months ahead, and I will continue to conduct the people's business as long as this office remains in my trust, said Bush.Eight years after campaigning on a pledge to be a uniter not a divider, Bush was to leave a politically polarized country in which nine out of ten citizens worry the nation is on the wrong course but disagree what to do.No matter how they cast their ballots, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday, said the president, who underlined the historic nature of the choice made at the polls a day earlier.Many of our citizens thought they would never live to see that day. This moment is especially uplifting for a generation of Americans who witnessed the struggle for civil rights with their own eyes -- and four decades later see dream fulfilled, he said.A long campaign has now ended, and we move forward as one nation. We're embarking on a period of change in Washington, yet there are some things that will not change, he said.The United States government will stay vigilant in meeting its most important responsibility -- protecting the American people. And the world can be certain this commitment will remain steadfast under our next Commander-in-Chief, Bush said in his three-minute statement.And when the time comes on January the 20th, Laura and I will return home to Texas with treasured memories of our time here -- and with profound gratitude for the honor of serving this amazing country.

All-night parties cheer Obama in EU capital Over 2,000 people gathered at the Renaissance hotel in Brussels to watch the US election results (Photo: EUobserver)LEIGH PHILLIPS AND VALENTINA POP Today NOV 5,08 @ 09:57 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU officials, expats working for the European headquarters of multinational firms, Erasmus students and locals from every quarter of the Belgian capital partied on Tuesday night (4 November) in anticipation of a victory for Barack Obama in the US presidential vote.Over 2,000 US expats and other international workers crammed into the Brussels Renaissance hotel down the road from the European Parliament for a party organised by the American Chamber of Commerce Belgium and the local chapters of Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad. The crowd celebrated as results came in on the huge screens through the night, despite the time zone difference. The organisers set up a debate between representatives of the Republicans and Democrats. But the audience was clearly in favour of senator Barack Obama, who won 93 percent of the votes cast at a straw poll at the event, with only seven percent favouring his Republican rival, John McCain.To Matt Graves, a 37-year-old French-speaking Texan who has lived in Belgium for 14 years, the election of senator Obama was a dream come true. Proudly wearing his cowboy hat with the inscription Texans for Obama, Mr Graves told EUobserver that his home state is not all red, despite the Texas end result coming out in favour of senator McCain.These are historical elections, it's absolutely amazing, he said, convinced that the new president will greatly improve relations with the European Union.Belgian nationals were also present at the celebrations, such as Eric and Micheline Mathay, a couple who had also joined the election party for French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.

Mr Obama is the American Sarkozy, the 52-year-old accountant told this website, noting that Europeans have very high expectations from the newly elected US president in terms of a better dialogue on international affairs. But Mr Obama's popularity was likely to drop after the honeymoon ends, Mr Mathay argued, just as with the French president.

More responsibilities for the EU

An Obama presidency would mean not only more dialogue and involvement with the Europeans on the world stage, but also more responsibilities for the EU countries, argued Jamie Shea, the head of NATO's policy planning unit during the debate ahead of the first results.The cost of multilateralism, for the EU countries, would soon be felt when President Obama picks up the phone to Germany and France and tell them to commit more troops for the war in Afghanistan, he said. In terms of the consequences of the first truly global financial crisis, Mr Shea said that multi-lateralism would also mean that rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and China would soon feel entitled to more voting rights in the International Monetary Fund than, for example, Luxembourg or Belgium, if their contribution is required to stabilise the markets. This would also pose a challenge for the EU, especially in the context of a US president having to face pressure from a Democratic congress to keep his campaign promises in terms of social programmes and thus increase spending - in turn inflating the country's $33 trillion debt, Mr Shea argued.To Michael R. Kulbickas, chair of Republicans Abroad Belgium, an Obama presidency would mean lower military spending. There is a danger that a reduced defence budget means fewer security guarantees for EU countries, especially eastern European ones, he told EUobserver. In terms of dealing with Russia, Mr Obama would prefer appeasement at the expense of countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, the Republican argued.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town

Across the city from the European quarter, outside the cafe at the Maison du Peuple [the people's house] - bedecked in red-white-and-blue bunting and red-white-and-blue Obama posters - a raucous crowd was trying to get into an election party hosted by the Party of European Socialists.If there was a single McCain supporter amongst the gathered hipsters and immigrants in the student-heavy and working-class neighbourhood of St Gilles, he made himself well-disguised. The square stretching out from the cafe, built as a house of working class self-education for Belgian trade unionists in the last century, was more packed than could ever be likely for any domestic election. Zach Ellis, a young backpacker from New York happened across the event having not long got off the train in Brussels, and was dumbstruck that so many Belgians were paying attention to the election. It's awesome - the energy, the sympathy of the people in the street. They want somebody who's committed to ending our wars overseas - wars I don't want to fight in.His new European friend, Martti Kaartinen, a stagaire with the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, said he found out about the party via the internet, adding that the campuses of the francophone Universite Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel were covered in Obama posters.All of Europe is behind Obama. He's going to bring back some of the good things we think of about America, he said, while also preparing to be disappointed. People here see him as a kind of European, but he's an American really, and a politician. Democrats have started wars as well.Julio Diankenda, who moved to Belgium from the Congo when he was three, said he thought of Obama as a great symbol of hope for immigrants both in the US and in Europe. He tells people in Africa they can come from immigrant backgrounds and even be president. That's important for people to recognise here in Europe too.

European socialists roll out red carpet

Midway through the evening, it was time for the politicians to arrive, slicing their way through the crowds. Elio di Rupo, the president of the Walloon Socialists, was quick to say that Barack Obama was the choice of Belgium and of Europe.Obama is the sole candidate that is in accord with Europe. On the financial crisis, climate change - all the essential elements, his is a progressive programme, a humane discourse that is in accord with the grand ensemble of Europe.He admitted that there were differences between a European Socialist view of the world and that of a free-market American Democrat, however. We can't demand that he agree 100 percent with Europe. The reality is different in the United States.His colleague, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the president of the European Socialists, agreed that despite ideological differences, Mr Obama was the preferred candidate of the left in the European Parliament.The United States is not the same type of welfare state as we have here in Europe, but what is clear is that the overall vision is the same as Socialists, as Europeans, he said.[He believes] that the people come first and shouldn't pay for the mistakes of the better off whether in Wall Street or Frankfurt, that markets cannot do it all any longer on their own.

Obama sweeps to victory as first black president By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent – NOV 5,08

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation's first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. Change has come, he told a jubilant hometown Chicago crowd estimated at nearly a quarter-million people.The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Iowa and more. He captured Virginia, too, the first candidate of his party in 44 years to do so.On a night for Democrats to savor, they not only elected Obama the nation's 44th president but padded their majorities in the House and Senate, and in January will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since 1994.A survey of voters leaving polling places showed the economy was by far the top Election Day issue. Six in 10 voters said so, and none of the other top issues — energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care — was picked by more than one in 10.Obama's election capped a meteoric rise — from mere state senator to president-elect in four years.Spontaneous celebrations erupted from Atlanta to New York and Philadelphia as word of Obama's victory spread. A big crowd filled Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.

In his first speech as victor, to an enormous throng at Grant Park in Chicago, Obama catalogued the challenges ahead. The greatest of a lifetime, he said, two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.He added, There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face.McCain called his former rival to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly, McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.President Bush added his congratulations from the White House, where his tenure runs out on Jan. 20. May God bless whoever wins tonight, he had told dinner guests earlier.Obama, in his speech, invoked the words of Lincoln and seemed to echo John F. Kennedy.So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder, he said.He and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009. McCain remains in the Senate.Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, returns to Alaska as governor after a tumultuous debut on the national stage.He will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.The popular vote was close — 51.3 percent to 47.5 percent with 73 percent of all U.S. precincts tallied — but not the count in the Electoral College, where it mattered most.There, Obama's audacious decision to contest McCain in states that hadn't gone Democratic in years paid rich dividends.Shortly after midnight in the East, The Associated Press count showed Obama with 338 electoral votes, well over the 270 needed for victory. McCain had 141 after winning states that comprised the normal Republican base, including Texas and most of the South. Interviews with voters suggested that almost six in 10 women were backing Obama nationwide, while men leaned his way by a narrow margin. Just over half of whites supported McCain, giving him a slim advantage in a group that Bush carried overwhelmingly in 2004. The results of the AP survey were based on a preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day polls and in telephone interviews over the past week for early voters. Obama has said his first order of presidential business will be to tackle the economy. He has also pledged to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months. In Washington, the Democratic leaders of Congress celebrated.

It is not a mandate for a party or ideology but a mandate for change, said Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Said Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California: Tonight the American people have called for a new direction. They have called for change in America.Democrats also acclaimed Senate successes by former Gov. Mark Warner in Virginia, Rep. Tom Udall in New Mexico and Rep. Mark Udall in Colorado. All won seats left open by Republican retirements. In New Hampshire, former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen defeated Republican Sen. John Sununu in a rematch of their 2002 race, and Sen. Elizabeth Dole fell to Democrat Kay Hagan in North Carolina. Biden won a new term in Delaware, a seat he will resign before he is sworn in as vice president.

The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, survived a scare in Kentucky, and in Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss hoped to avoid a December runoff. The Democrats piled up gains in the House, as well. They defeated seven Republican incumbents, including 22-year veteran Chris Shays in Connecticut, and picked up nine more seats where GOP lawmakers had retired. At least three Democrats lost their seats, including Florida Rep. Tim Mahoney, turned out of office after admitting to two extramarital affairs while serving his first term in Florida. In Louisiana, Democratic Rep. Don Cazayoux lost the seat he had won in a special election six months ago. The resurgent Democrats also elected a governor in one of the nation's traditional bellwether states when Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon won his race.

An estimated 187 million voters were registered, and in an indication of interest in the battle for the White House, 40 million or so had already voted as Election Day dawned. Obama sought election as one of the youngest presidents, and one of the least experienced in national political affairs. That wasn't what set the Illinois senator apart, though — neither from his rivals nor from the other men who had served as president since the nation's founding more than two centuries ago. A black man, he confronted a previously unbreakable barrier as he campaigned on twin themes of change and hope in uncertain times. McCain, a prisoner of war during Vietnam, a generation older than his rival at 72, was making his second try for the White House, following his defeat in the battle for the GOP nomination in 2000. A conservative, he stressed his maverick's streak. And although a Republican, he did what he could to separate himself from an unpopular president. For the most part, the two presidential candidates and their running mates, Biden and Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, spent weeks campaigning in states that went for Bush four years ago. McCain and Obama each won contested nominations — the Democrat outdistancing former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton — and promptly set out to claim the mantle of change. Obama won California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. McCain had Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. He also won at least 3 of Nebraska's five electoral votes, with the other two in doubt. (This version CORRECTS years since Democrat won Virginia to 44, not 40)

Nov 5, 2008 18:29 Israeli leaders congratulate Obama on presidential victory
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni congratulated US president-elect Barack Obama on his victory, saying that Israelis were impressed by his commitment to the peace and security of Israel during his recent visit. Barack Obama makes history becoming first African-American President-elect In a statement released Wednesday, Livni also thanked Sen. John McCain for his long-standing friendship with Israel, and congratulated him on an honorable campaign. Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu sent Obama a telegram congratulating him on his election. You and the American people have brought about a historic change, Netanyahu wrote. You've reminded the world of what the US symbolizes - the hope and promise of a better future. I am convinced that we will work together for peace, security and prosperity in our region and a better future for us all, he added. President Shimon Peres called the result an end to racism, going on to say that there is no longer any way that any white man can claim superiority, nor any black person feel discrimination.

Peres reiterated what he had said to Obama when he was in Israel; that the best thing he could do for Israel was to be a great president of the United States of America. A president, continued, should be on the side of peace.The president also sent Obama a short personal letter, which read, The world needs a great leader. It is in your making. It is in our prayers. God bless you.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also congratulated Obama on his historic and impressive victory.America proved once again that it is indeed the greatest democracy, which sets an example to all the democracies in the world, Olmert said in a statement. Obama proved to the entire world his skills and his leadership.Olmert added that Israel and the US have a special relationship based on shared values and interests. Israel and America have a joint will to continue and strengthen that relationship and advance peace and stability in the Middle East. I have no doubt that this special relationship between the two countries will continue and strengthen during the Obama administration.Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.

Transcript: Obama's acceptance speech Wed Nov 5, 3:25 am ET

AP – President-elect Barack Obama hugs his daughter, Malia, after his acceptance speech at his election night … Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama-as prepared for delivery Election Night Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 Chicago, Illinois

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference. It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America. It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done. But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there. There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand. What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too. And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old. She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can. At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can. When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can. A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can. America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Google pulls out of Yahoo advertising partnership By JOELLE TESSLER and MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writers NOV 5,08

WASHINGTON – Google Inc. has scrapped its Internet advertising partnership with struggling rival Yahoo Inc., abandoning attempts to overcome the objections of antitrust regulators and customers who believed the alliance would give Google too much power over online commerce.The retreat announced Wednesday represented another setback for Yahoo, which had been counting on the Google deal to boost its annual revenue by $800 million and placate shareholders still incensed by management's decision to reject a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp. six months ago.

To Yahoo's dismay, Google backed off to avoid a challenge from the U.S. Justice Department, which said it would sue to block the Yahoo deal to preserve competition in the Internet's rapidly growing advertising market.The arrangement likely would have denied consumers the benefits of competition — lower prices, better service and greater innovation, said Thomas Barnett, an assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department's antitrust division.Without Google's help, Yahoo now may feel more pressure to renew talks with Microsoft and ultimately sell itself for much less than the $33 per share that Microsoft offered in May. Yahoo shares traded Wednesday morning at just $13.87, gaining 4 percent in a move reflecting investor hopes that Microsoft might renew its pursuit.Surrendering the chance to sell ads on Yahoo's popular Web site won't be a significant financial blow for Google, which already runs the Internet's largest and most prosperous advertising network.But the capitulation marks a rare comedown for Google, which had been insisting for more than four months that the Internet would be a better place to do business if it were allowed to work with Yahoo.

We're of course disappointed that this deal won't be moving ahead, David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, wrote on a company blog. But we're not going to let the prospect of a lengthy legal battle distract us from our core mission. That would be like trying to drive down the road of innovation with the parking brake on.Yahoo said it wanted to fight the Justice Department in court, though it played down the impact Google's retreat would have on its turnaround efforts.This deal was incremental to Yahoo's product roadmap and does not change Yahoo's commitment to innovation and growth in search, the company said in a statement. The fundamental building blocks of a stronger Yahoo ... were put in place independent of the agreement.Google's management took a strategic risk by agreeing to the Yahoo partnership in June, knowing the move would increase the government's scrutiny of Google's market power. Even though it is now walking away empty-handed, Google figures to remain in regulators' sights as it tries to expand.For the first time, Google has run into real opposition to its marketplace goals, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a consumer advocacy group. Google is aware that its aggressive moves in the online advertising business are potentially contributing to damaging its brand. The perception of Google has changed.

The collapse of the Google-Yahoo alliance shapes up as a potential coup for Microsoft.Although it has publicly said it's no longer interested in buying Yahoo, Microsoft spent a lot of time and money trying to keep Google and Yahoo from coming together.The world's largest software maker provided evidence that helped persuade regulators the partnership would diminish competition. Microsoft also helped orchestrate the campaign that prompted major advertisers to lodge formal complaints against the proposed partnership.The Justice Department signaled it was considering a legal challenge to the deal in September when it hired veteran antitrust lawyer Sanford Litvack to review the case.The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Google and Yahoo had proposed restrictions on the deal — capping the amount of search ads Yahoo could outsource to Google — in a late bid to win favor.Now that Google is out of the picture, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang will have to come up with another way to accelerate his company's revenue growth and boost a stock price that has lost more than half its value since he became chief executive in June 2007.

If nothing else, Yang appears to have a bigger incentive to join forces with another tarnished Internet star, AOL. Yahoo has been discussing a possible acquisition with AOL's corporate parent, Time Warner Inc., for months. Google also owns a 5 percent stake in AOL. But many Yahoo shareholders, including new board member Carl Icahn, have indicated they think the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company should try to lure Microsoft back to the negotiating table. Most industry analysts still believe Microsoft will make another run at Yahoo, particularly now that the company can be bought at a fraction of the May offer. Instead of buying Yahoo in its entirety, Microsoft might want just Yahoo's search engine, which ranks a distant second in usage behind Google's. Microsoft attempted to buy Yahoo's search engine shortly before the Google partnership was reached. Under the terms of the proposed partnership, Yahoo would have drawn on Google's superior technology for some of the ads shown alongside the search results on its Web site. Yahoo would have pocketed most of the revenue generated from Google's ads. The concept didn't pan out because Google and Yahoo combined control more than 80 percent of the U.S. search advertising market. Microsoft and the Association of National Advertisers, among others, argued the arrangement would enable Google to gradually increase advertising prices and exert more control over the flow of e-commerce. Bob Liodice, head of the advertisers group, said Wednesday that with the agreement dead, the search advertising marketplace will evolve unencumbered with increasing transparency and greater productivity. The marketplace will win.Google and Yahoo said the advertisers' complaints were misguided because search ad rates are set through an auction-style system. What's more, the partnership was supposed to be non-exclusive, leaving an opening for Microsoft and others to vie to sell ads on Yahoo's Web site.

But helping out Yahoo — to keep it out of Microsoft's hands and to perhaps began to make less sense for Google as it became apparent how much the proposal was alienating the government and advertisers. Michael Liedtke reported from San Francisco.

California voters ban gay marriage ,Bans also pass in Fla., Ariz.; anti-abortion initiatives rejected in Colo., S.D.Opponents of Proposition 8, which would amend California's state constitution to ban gay marriage, urged San Francisco voters to reject the measure on Tuesday. NOV 5,08

California voters have passed a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage, AP reported Wednesday. NBC News has yet to confirm the passage of this amendment, which would overturn a court ruling that gave gay couples the right to wed just months ago. The passage of Proposition 8 represents a crushing political defeat for gay-rights activists, who had hoped public opinion on the contentious issue had shifted enough to help them defeat the measure. It also represents a personal loss for the thousands of couples from California and others states who got married in the brief window when they could. Legal experts said courts will have to resolve whether their unions still are valid. California joins Arizona and Florida, where voters also approved amendments banning gay marriage. Gay-rights forces also suffered a loss in Arkansas, where voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target. Meantime, Colorado and South Dakota rejected anti-abortion initiatives.

Marijuana decriminalized
In Washington state, voters decided to join Oregon as the only states offering terminally ill people the option of physician-assisted suicide. Michigan approved medical marijuana, and Massachusetts decriminalized the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. Those results were among the more than 150 measures voted on in 36 states. Some of the nation's most divisive social issues — gay marriage, abortion and affirmative action — went before voters. In California, the night had started out optimistically for many who believed that a large Democratic-voter turnout would help defeat the state's proposed ban on same-sex marriage. Similar bans had prevailed in 27 states before Tuesday's elections, but none were in California's situation — with about 18,000 gay couples married since a state Supreme Court ruling in May. Some in San Francisco vowed to continue fighting for the right to marry if the proposition passed. My view of America is different today, said Diallo Grant, a gay man with mixed-race parents. The culture wars will continue.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom preached patience to the same-sex couples who were unable to enjoy Barack Obama's victory while their personal lives hung in the balance. Newsom called the wait excruciating.You decided to live your life out loud, to fall in love, and to say I do, and now you have to wait for this verdict, he said. California voters rejected a proposition to require doctors to notify parents before performing an abortion on a minor. Similar to laws in 35 states, the initiative also would have required a two-day waiting period before minors could get abortions.Colorado voters rejected a personhood amendment to define human life as beginning at fertilization. Had it been approved, the amendment could have provided the foundation for a ban on abortion in the state.The National Right to Life Committee, Colorado’s Catholic bishops and some other anti-abortion groups declined to endorse the proposal, fearing it would run aground in legal challenges and even lead to judicial reaffirmation of abortion rights. Abortion-rights activists contended it would potentially have led to banning certain types of birth control.

South Dakota voters, two years after rejecting a nearly total ban on abortion, rejected another sweeping but less restrictive ballot measure to outlaw abortions except in cases of rape, incest and pregnancies that threaten a woman's health. Some voters said they wanted those exceptions when they rejected the tougher 2006 measure by 56 percent to 44 percent.Opponents said the new measure would have jeopardized the patient-doctor relationship because physicians could be criminally charged for exceeding its bounds. They also argued that its exceptions were too narrowly defined and that it would force some women to carry an unhealthy fetus.Source: NBC News, Associated Press, msnbc.com and National Conference of State Legislatures • On same-sex marriage and affirmative action, Obama and Republican John McCain rarely made proactive comments during their presidential campaigns. Abortion also had seemed like an uncomfortable topic for them at times, although Obama made clear he supports abortion rights and McCain said he would like to ban most abortions. But in a half-dozen states, those three issues were front and center. California's opposing sides together raised about $70 million, much of it from out of state, to wage their campaigns.

Big dam
The rival camps view the California vote in epic terms, with the outcome having enormous influence on prospects for same-sex marriage rights in other states.If we lose California, if they defeat the marriage amendment, I'm afraid that the culture war is over and Christians have lost, said Donald Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association. California is a big dam, holding back the flood — and if you take down the dam in California, it's going to flood 49 other states.Gay rights also was an issue in Arkansas, where voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples living together from being adoptive or foster parents. The measure's sponsors painted it as a battle against a gay agenda.Opponents argued it would make it harder for the state to find the foster parents it needs to take care of children. In South Dakota, voters defeated an initiative to ban abortion except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother. A tougher law without the rape and incest exceptions was defeated in 2006. Colorado voters defeated a personhood amendment that would have defined human life as beginning at fertilization. The ballot did not explicitly mention abortion, but activists on both sides in the campaign viewed it as a blunt challenge to abortion rights. Abortion-rights activists contended that, if approved, it would have potentially led to the banning of certain types of birth control.

Affirmative action
Nebraska voters approved a ban on race- and gender-based affirmative action, similar to measures previously approved in California, Michigan and Washington. A similar vote in Colorado had yet to be decided. The man spearheading the movement, California activist-businessman Ward Connerly, said the candidacies of Obama, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin prove blacks and women no longer need affirmative action.Anyone who raises $150 million in one month is being judged pretty much on the basis of their political abilities and not on the basis of race, Connerly said of Obama during a recent debate in Nebraska.The marijuana reform movement won two prized victories, with Massachusetts voters decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the drug and Michigan joining 12 other states in allowing use of pot for medical purposes. Henceforth, people caught in Massachusetts with an ounce or less of pot will no longer face criminal penalties. Instead, they'll forfeit the marijuana and pay a $100 civil fine. Barnstable District Attorney Michael O'Keefe, who led opposition to the measure, called it bad public policy.The Michigan measure will allow severely ill patients to register with the state and legally buy, grow and use small amounts of marijuana to relieve pain, nausea, appetite loss and other symptoms.

Prostitution
Among scores of local ballot questions, one of the most provocative was in San Francisco, where a measure to decriminalize prostitution was defeated. Proponents said the proposition would have freed up millions of dollars spent annually by police arresting prostitutes.Opponents — including the mayor and police department — said it would have emboldened pimps and hampered the fight against sex trafficking.

Other state issues

Gambling-related measures were voted on to allow Ohio's first casino (rejected), establish a state lottery in Arkansas (approved), and allow up to 15,000 slot machines in Maryland (approved).Election-reform proposals were voted on to create nonpartisan open primaries in Oregon (rejected) and eliminate legislative term limits in South Dakota (rejected).Measures inspired partly by unease over immigration would designate English as the official language of government proceedings in Missouri (approved), and limit teaching of students in languages other than English to no more than two years in Oregon (defeated).Another Oregon initiative would tie any merit pay for teachers to classroom performance (defeated).
A proposal in Missouri would require the state to produce 15 percent of its electricity from clean energy by 2021 (approved). A California initiative would require all utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2010, and 50 percent by 2025 (rejected).Another California measure would authorize the sale of $9.95 billion in bonds to help pay for a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It would be the most ambitious state rail project ever.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

MUSLIM NATIONS

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

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

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

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

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

Medvedev: Russia to deploy missiles near Poland By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW – Russia will deploy missiles near NATO member Poland in response to U.S. missile defense plans, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday in his first state of the nation speech.Medvedev also singled out the United States for criticism, casting Russia's war with Georgia in August and the global financial turmoil as consequences of aggressive, selfish U.S. policies.He said he hoped the next U.S. administration would act to improve relations. In a separate telegram, he congratulated Barack Obama on his election victory and said he was hoping for constructive dialogue with the incoming U.S. president.Medvedev also proposed increasing the Russian presidential term to six years from the current four, a major constitutional change that would further increase the power of the head of state and could deepen Western concern over democracy in Russia.The president said the Iskander missiles will be deployed to Russia's Kaliningrad region, which lies between Poland and the ex-Soviet republic of Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, but did not say how many would be used. Equipment to electronically hamper the operation of prospective U.S. missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic will be deployed, he said.He did not say whether the short-range Iskander missiles would be fitted with nuclear warheads and it was not clear exactly when the missiles would be deployed.Mechanisms must be created to block mistaken, egoistical and sometimes simply dangerous decisions of certain members of the international community, he said shortly after starting the 85-minute speech, making it clear he was referring to the United States.The president said Georgia sparked the August war on its territory with what he called barbaric aggression against Russian-backed South Ossetia. The conflict was, among other things, the result of the arrogant course of the American administration, which did not tolerate criticism and preferred unilateral decisions.Medvedev also painted Russia as a country threatened by growing Western military might.From what we have seen in recent years, the creation of a missile defense system, the encirclement of Russia with military bases, the relentless expansion of NATO, we have gotten the clear impression that they are testing our strength, Medvedev said.

He announced deployment of the short-range missiles as a military response to U.S. plans to deploy missile-defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic — former Soviet satellites that are now NATO members.Speaking just hours after Obama was declared the victor in the U.S. presidential election, Medvedev said he hoped the incoming administration will take steps to improve badly damaged U.S. ties with Russia. He suggested it is up to the U.S. — not the Kremlin — to seek to improve relations.I stress that we have no problem with the American people, no inborn anti-Americanism. And we hope that our partners, the U.S. administration, will make a choice in favor of full-fledged relations with Russia, Medvedev said.Tension in Russian-American relations has been driven to a post-Cold War high by Moscow's war with U.S. ally Georgia.On the financial crisis, Medvedev said overconfidence in American dominance after the collapse of the Soviet Union led the U.S. authorities to major mistakes in the economic sphere. The administration ignored warnings and harmed itself and others by blowing up a money bubble to stimulate its own growth, he said.Medvedev said the president's tenure should be lengthened to six years to enable the government to more effectively implement reforms. He said the term of the parliament also should be extended by a year to five years, and that parliament's power must be increased by requiring the Cabinet to report to lawmakers regularly.

The proposals were Medvedev's first major initiative to amend the constitution since he was elected in March to succeed his longtime mentor Vladimir Putin.Putin, who is now prime minister and has not ruled out a return to the Kremlin in the future, has favored increasing the presidential term. Associated Press Writers Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry contributed to this report.

Iraq confident Obama won't withdraw troops too quickly By Missy Ryan Missy Ryan – NOV 5,08

AFP BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The Iraqi government is confident that president-elect Barack Obama will not jeopardize Iraq's improving security by hastily withdrawing U.S. troops, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Wednesday.Obama has reassured us that he would not take any drastic or dramatic decisions, Zebari told BBC television.He will consult with the Iraqi government and the U.S. military in the field, but believes strongly that a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq will put more responsibility on the shoulders of the Iraqi government.Obama opposed the U.S. war in Iraq from the beginning, and his promise to pull combat troops out of the country by mid-2010 was a cornerstone of his campaign.The administration of President George W. Bush had long resisted deadlines for withdrawal, but is now working on a security pact that would set 2011 as an end date for the U.S. troop presence, a concession that moved U.S. policy closer to Obama's proposals.We are negotiating right now with the U.S. for a timeline of 2011 for U.S. forces to withdraw from the country ... Our position has become much closer to what Senator Obama during his election campaign called for, Zebari said.Washington and Baghdad are still negotiating how firm the deadline will be. The plan also envisions halting U.S. patrols of Iraqi streets by mid-2009.Violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq, but U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders say Iraqi forces are not yet ready to assume full control and a hasty pullout could jeopardize gains.In another interview Zebari said he believed Obama would take conditions on the ground into account before any withdrawal.When there is a reality check, I think any U.S. president has to look very hard at the facts on the ground, he told Al-Jazeera television. The gains that we have attained and won with hard struggle and a great deal of sacrifice need to be sustained.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

2008 PRESIDENTCIAL ELECTION RESULTS

POSSIBLE CLONE OR ROBOT

DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

REVELATION 13:13-15
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

REVELATION 14:9-11
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

JESSICA YELLIN CLONE OR HOLLOGRAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJKkMLKFHxo&feature=related

CNN USES HOLLOGRAM
http://www.migsmobile.net/2008/11/05/cnn-uses-hollogram/

OH MY I NEVER KNEW PROPHECY WOULD BE FULFILLED ON A CANDIDATE NIGHT. ON CNN THEY MADE A HOLLOGRAM OF JESSICA YELLIN (A IMAGE OR CLONE OF HER) AND MADE IT APPEAR IN FRONT OF WOLF BLITZER WHILE SHE WAS IN CHICAGO. THEY DONE IT WITH 13 CAMERAS AROUND JESSICA YELLIN IN CHICAGO AND SOME HOW MADE HER APPEAR BEFORE WOLF TO TALK WITH HIM. IT LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE STAR TRACK AS THEY APPEARED AND DISAPPEARED.

November 5, 2008 11:00 AM PST CNN's human hologram on election night Posted by Marguerite Reardon 28 CNN's Wolf Blitzer speaks with correspondent Jessica Yellin, who was beamed into the New York studio from Chicago.

(Credit: CNN.com)Update 11:00 a.m. PST: Several readers have pointed out that CNN's technology was not true holography, and the story has been updated to reflect this.

Holy holograms, was that Princess Leia on CNN during election night?

No, it was just Jessica Yellin, a CNN correspondent. CNN beamed her image from Chicago to the CNN press center in New York City, where Wolf Blitzer and the rest of the team were covering election returns.Yellin, who claimed she was the first person to be beamed in a hologram on live TV, explained for the audience how this was done. (See video below.) She said she was standing in a tent outside of the Obama headquarters in Chicago where the CNN crew had set up 35 high-definition cameras in a ring. She stood in the center of this ring and the cameras picked up her every movement and transmitted the image in 3D to the studio in New York. While CNN is touting its special effects from election night as a hologram, that may not be technically the case. CNN's hologram seems to have been done using overlay images and a green screen to virtually put the reporter in the same studio as Wolf Blitzer. But true holography uses a different technique to create a true 3D image of a person standing in the studio. According to Wikipedia, holography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that it appears as if the object is in the same position relative to the recording medium as it was when recorded. The image changes as the position and orientation of the viewing system changes in exactly the same way as if the object was still present, thus making the recorded image or hologram appear three-dimensional.

True holography technology has been demonstrated by many other companies. Telstra, the Australian phone company, used a hologram earlier this year to beam its chief technology officer from Melbourne to a business meeting about 460 miles away in Adelaide. Cisco Systems has also used holograms in demonstrations to talk about its telepresence products. Cisco's telepresence solution does not transmit hologram images, but it does use high-definition cameras and TV screens to make executives in different locations feel like they are having an in-person meeting. For the most part, holography is still too expensive for most companies to deploy commercially.

Whatever technique CNN used, there's no doubt that it looked it cool. And it conjured up some futuristic thoughts of Star Trek and Star Wars. But as a viewer watching the broadcast in my living room, I thought the whole thing was a bit silly and sort of annoying. At one point during his interview with Yellin, Blitzer commented that he felt bringing Yellin into the studio via hologram created a more intimate setting for their interview. He said he liked the fact that there weren't oodles of noisy people standing behind her. But I disagree with Blitzer. It seems to me the whole point of sending correspondents to events is so that viewers at home can get a taste of what's happening in those places. I actually wanted to see the throngs of people in Chicago, standing behind Yellin, shouting and cheering for Obama. It's that excitement and feeling like I am there with the reporter that makes me want to watch TV news instead of just reading a story in a newspaper or online.

I realize that CNN wanted to show off its fancy new technology. And I applaud the cable network for pushing the envelope in its use of technology. But I don't really mind the old-fashioned cutaways to correspondents in remote locations. CNN and other news stations have plenty of reporters and pundits sitting in its studios every night of the week. There isn't anything terribly interesting about that to me. For an event like this, when Blitzer is talking to someone who is actually at Obama's headquarters, I want to see what she is seeing. What about you? Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.

2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 4, 2008

OBAMA ELECTED 2008 PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A
OBAMA/BIDEN 361 MCCAIN/PALIN 174

OVERALL VOTES
OBAMA 63,254,279 52%
MCCAIN 55,904,963 46%

ALABAMA-9 M-60% 0-39% TOT M-9 0-0
ALASKA-3 M-62% O-36% TOT M-12 0-0
ARIZONA-10 M-54% 0-45% TOT M-22 0-0
ARKANSAS-6 M-59% 0-39% TOT M-28 0-0
CALIFORNIA-55 0-61% M-37% TOT M-28 0-55
NORTH CAROLINA-15 0-50% M-50% TOT M-28 0-70
SOUTH CAROLINA-8 M-54% 0-45% TOT M-36 0-70
COLORADO-9 0-53% M-46% TOT M-36 0-79
CONNECTICUT-7 0-60% M-39% TOT M-36 0-86
N-DAKOTA-3 M-53% 0-45% TOT M-39 0-86
S-DAKOTA-3 M-53% 0-45% TOT M-42 0-86
DELAWARE-3 0-61% M-38% TOT M-42 0-89
FLORIDA-27 0-51% M-48% TOT M-42 0-116
GEORGIA-15 M-52% 0-47% TOT M-57 0-116
HAWAII-4 0-72% M-27% TOT M-57 0-120
IDAHO-4 M-62% 0-36% TOT M-61 0-120
ILLNOIS-21 0-62% M-37% TOT M-61 0-141
INDIANA-11 0-50% M-49% TOT M-61 0-152
IOWA-7 0-54% M-45% TOT M-61 0-159
KANSAS-6 M-57% 0-41% TOT M-67 0-159
KENTUCKY-8 M-57% 0-41% TOT M-75 0-159
LOUISIANA-9 M-59% 0-40% TOT M-84 0-159
MAINE-4 0-58% M-40% TOT M-84 0-163
MARYLAND-10 0-61% M-38% TOT M-84 0-173
MASSACHUSETTS-12 0-62% M-36% TOT M-84 0-185
MICHIGAN-17 0-57% M-41% TOT M-84 0-202
MINNESOTA-10 0-54% M-44% TOT M-84 0-212
MISSISSIPPI-6 M-56% 0-43% TOT M-90 0-212
MISSOURI-11 M-49% 0-49% TOT M-101 0-212
MONTANA-3 M-50% 0-47% TOT M-104 0-212
NEBRASKA-5 M-57% 0-41% TOT M-109 0-212
NEVEDA-5 0-55% M-43% TOT M-109 0-217
NEW HAMPSHIRE-4 0-55% M-44% TOT M-109 0-221
NEW JERSEY-15 0-57% M-42% TOT M-109 0-236
NEW MEXICO-5 0-57% M-42% TOT M-109 0-241
NEW YORK-31 0-62% M-37% TOT M-109 0-272
OHIO-20 0-51% M-47% TOT M-109 0-292
OKLAHOMA-7 M-66% 0-34% TOT M-116 0-292
OREGON-7 0-55% M-43% TOT M-116 0-299
PENNSYLVANIA-21 0-55% M-44% TOT M-116 0-320
RHODE ISLAND-4 0-63% M-35% TOT M-116 0-324
TENNESSEE-11 M-57% 0-42% TOT M-127 0-324
TEXAS-34 M-56% 0-44% TOT M-161 0-324
UTAH-5 M-63% 0-34% TOT M-166 0-324
VERMONT-3 0-67% M-31% TOT M-166 0-327
VIRGINIA-13 0-52% M-47% TOT M-166 0-340
WASHINGTON-11 0-57% M-41% TOT M-166 0-351
WEST VIRGINIA-5 M-56% 0-43% TOT M-171 0-351
WISCONSIN-10 0-56% M-43% TOT M-171 0-361
WYOMING-3 M-65% 0-33% TOT M-174 0-361

TUESDAY SOARS - SPAIN HEADS MEDUNION

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.

EU SPAIN #11

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

OH WOW THIS IS INCREDIBLE SPAIN IS HEADQUARTERING THE MEDITERRANEAN UNION.

Barcelona to host Mediterranean Union headquarters
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today NOV 4,08 @ 17:48 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The headquarters of the recently launched Union for the Mediterranean will be located in Barcelona, Spain, foreign ministers of the countries participating in the project decided on Tuesday (4 November).The secretariat will be presided over by a single secretary general – yet to be appointed – and five deputy secretaries from Greece, Italy, Malta, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner – whose country currently presides over the Union for the Mediterranean together with Egypt. The Royal Palace of Pedralbes in Barcelona, where the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean will be located. (Photo: Wikipedia/Pex Cornel)

Mr Kouchner, speaking to reporters following a meeting of EU and Mediterranean foreign ministers in Marseille, added that a sixth deputy secretary may yet be added to the list at the demand of Turkey.The secretariat will be tasked with implementing concrete projects in a number of different areas: maritime safety, economy, energy, transport, agriculture, urban development and environment.The French foreign minister hailed the results of the meeting as a great success and underlined that it was the first time that Israel would be present at such a level in an international institution alongside the Palestinian Authority.In exchange for a position as deputy secretary, Israel has accepted that the Arab League could be present at all Union meetings, at all levels, although without any voting rights.Prior to the decision, the Arab League had only been allowed to take part in Euro-Mediterranean meetings as part of the Egyptian delegation.

Barcelona beats Tunisia and Valetta

Valetta, the capital of EU member Malta, and Tunis, the capital of Tunisia had also been in the running to host the UM's headquarters, but Tunis withdrew its candidacy last Friday, while Valetta did not gather enough support for its candidacy, according to the Times of Malta.Barcelona had given the name to an earlier initiative aiming to boost EU co-operation with its southern neighbours that was set up in 1995 – the Barcelona Process.Spain had also increased diplomatic efforts in the past weeks in order to gather support for its candidacy, with its prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero meeting both EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner last week. EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana – himself a Spaniard, said he was very happy that the Union for the Mediterranean's headquarters would be located in Barcelona, in the 19th-century Palace of Pedralbes.It is a great joy for me, he told reporters in Marseille, where the meeting was taking place.After the decision that Barcelona would host the secretariat of the project, Spain demanded that its name also be changed from the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean to simply Union for the Mediterranean, Mr Kouchner pointed out.

Academics remain sceptical

The Union for the Mediterranean – the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy – was officially launched at a summit meeting in Paris in July.It is aimed at breathing a new life into the Barcelona Process, which has failed to achieve any significant results.But observers and academics remain sceptical as to what the new initiative's added value can be.Essentially, I don't think that much has changed at all, professor Ahmed Driss from the University of Tunis said at a conference organised on Monday (3 November) during the European Parliament's Arab Week.

Additionally, the balance of powers within the Union of the Mediterranean is not good, he said.If we really want to have a joint presidency, one has to believe it is a joint, common project. There is no such impression today. You have one side proposing something to the other side. There is no common preparation, no real dialogue between the two sides prior to this, he told the conference's audience.

Professor Annette Junemann, from the Helmut Schmidt University of the Armed Forces in Hamburg voiced a similar opinion.The Mediterranean countries were not involved in setting up the project, it was mainly made in France, she said.She added she saw a lot of hot air in the Union for the Mediterranean and very little substance.

Additionally, all participants in the conference deplored the de-politisation of the project, which they said did not contain enough provisions on human rights. NGOs regularly complain of serious breaches in a number of the countries that are members of the new Union. Conference participants also complained of a lack of civil society involvement.

EU asks US for greater role on world stage
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:27 CET

The EU has in a letter to the next US president appealed for a greater European role on the world stage, more engagement with a resurgent Russia and more emphasis on peacemaking in Afghanistan and the Middle East.The six-page text was agreed at an informal EU foreign ministers meeting in Marseilles on Monday (3 November) and will remain under wraps until after the US election on Tuesday. But its contents were outlined by French EU presidency officials on the margins of the Mediterranean Union gathering in the southern French city, Le Figaro reports.Based around four priorities, the text calls for a better interplay between security and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, with a view to making Afghan elections in late 2009 determinant for peace in the country.It says the US and EU should take note of Russia's economic revival and intensify diplomatic contacts to avoid the risk of confrontation. The EU as Russia's permanent neighbour should have a major role in future negotiations.The letter urges the new US administration to put the Middle East peace process at the top of its agenda and foresees a useful role for the EU as co-guarantors of a future Israeli-Palestinian accord.

It also stresses the importance of multilateralism in world governance and calls for reforms to the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the G8 format, to be expanded to a group of 14 leading industrialised nations.The time is past when people asked what Europe was for. What we want is for our initiatives to be understood and shared, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said in Marseilles. Europe has a telephone number, he explained, alluding to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger's quip that he didn't know which number to call when he wanted to speak to Europe. It's the number of the country chairing the EU at any given moment. Today, France, in two months, the Czech Republic.Russia is our neighbour. It's a huge country which has changed a lot. Never forgetting about human rights, we have to undertake a dialogue with Russia, the French foreign minister added.Mr Kouchner's remarks and the letter follow the historic rift in EU-US relations over President Bush's unilateral decision to invade Iraq in 2003, with much of the Republican president's second term devoted to resbuilding trans-Atlantic bonds.The current French leader, Nicolas Sarkozy, is markedly more pro-American than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, with Mr Sarkozy putting the EU centre stage in recent efforts to broker peace between Russia and Georgia and to find a way out of the global financial crisis.But the joint letter masks ongoing divisions between the US and EU and within the EU itself.

The US remains critical of Germany's reluctance to commit troops to combat zones in southern Afghanistan, while the former-communist EU states are concerned by France's Russia-friendly tone.France's unilateral decision in St Petersburg last week to announce that EU-Russia partnership treaty talks can be restarted at the EU-Russia summit on 14 November caused a furore in Lithuania, with the Polish and Lithuanian presidents framing a joint letter of protest on Monday.We reiterate that under the continued occupation of Georgian territories it would be too early to resume talks on a new partnership agreement with Russia, Lech Kaczynski and Valdas Adamkus said.

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)

French EU defence plan is not anti-NATO, minister says
VALENTINA POP Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US is still critical of the EU's common security and defence policy, a pet project of the bloc's French presidency, but French interior minister Michelle Alliot-Marie defended the initiative on Monday as not being aimed against NATO. Challenged by the deputy chairman of the NATO military committee, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberrry to explain France's view on the transatlantic link in the enhanced EU security and defence policy, Ms Alliot-Marie said there are countries who don't have confidence in this [transatlantic] dialogue and believe a strong European security and defence policy is aimed at minimizing NATO, but I believe the opposite.She stressed that the EU is better adapted to deal with certain conflicts, while in others NATO power is needed.Both were addressing a 100-odd audience at the Security and Defence Days conference in Brussels on Monday evening. Mr Eikenberry made acidic remarks about the EU's ability to plan, deploy and conduct successful missions, stressing that out of the bloc's 20 missions so far, five were short-term operations in Congo. I'm not questioning the value of those missions, they were successful in the relief of pressing humanitarian problems, but what is the overarching strategic thinking in the EU with regard to the Congo?

He also criticized the EU's overwhelming preference for soft power and lack of deployable troops despite massive spending on defence. European security in this century depends on peace and stability abroad. This is a paradigm shift often stated but still not evident in terms of policies and strategic choices. The current European strategy does not articulate clear regional priorities or comprehensive integrated responses to trans-national threats, he said.The NATO deputy chairman nevertheless underlined that in the US there is openness towards a closer cooperation between his organisation and the European Union. President's Sarkozy's notion of bringing more Europe into NATO is pushing against a door that is already wide open, he argued.French defence minister Herve Morin told the Financial Times on Monday that the mood in Washington had changed, after president Sarkozy announced that France would become a full member of NATO.It took hours of conversation for the Americans to realise that France wasn't trying to set up a rival operation and that European defence could actually bolster the capabilities of the transatlantic alliance as a whole, Mr Morin had told FT.Mr Morin also criticised British opposition to establishing a headquarters in Brussels for the EU's common security and defence policy (ESDP). I appreciate British pragmatism but we have a situation where we have numerous headquarters - in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and now even Greece - and that costs us money, he said.

More ESDP even without Lisbon Treaty

Meanwhile, German conservative MEP Karl von Wogau, the chairman of the European Parliament's sub-committee on security and defence argued at a parliament hearing on Monday, that the failure of the Lisbon treaty, rejected in the Irish referendum, is no impediment for building up the ESDP.The treaty would have allowed more EU power in the field of security and defense, which still remains a core competence of national governments, the MEP said. But he referred to the creation in 2004 of the European Defence Agency (EDA), an EU body aimed at helping the bloc's governments to co-ordinate and prioritise defence spending, as an example of how the ESDP can proceed without Lisbon.Nick Witney, former EDA chief, argued the same line, while praising France's efforts to re-energize the ESDP. He also stressed the need for a common headquarters in Brussels, capable of strategic planning for the EU's different missions.

UK opposes Brussels headquarters

France's push for a common headquarter is being challenged by the UK argument that the EU can draw on NATO's planning capabilities and its 17,000-strong European headquarter in Mons, some 70 km south of Brussels.This is enshrined in the current EU treaty of Nice, which says that when a given crisis gives rise to an EU-led operation making use of NATO assets and capabilities, the EU and NATO will draw on the so-called Berlin Plus arrangements.These arrangements cover three main elements that are directly connected to operations and which can be combined: EU access to NATO planning, NATO European command options and use of NATO assets and capabilities.

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HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE NOV 04,2008

09:30 AM +112.00
10:00 AM +161.45
10:30 AM +193.07
11:00 AM +276.46
11:30 AM +271.76
12:00 PM +301.07
12:30 PM +280.20
01:00 PM +252.56
01:30 PM +273.35
02:00 PM +269.61
02:30 PM +213.06
03:00 PM +171.16
03:30 PM +204.46
04:00 PM +305.45 9625.28

S&P 500 1005.75 +39.45

NASDAQ 1780.12 +53.79

GOLD 763.1 +36.3

OIL 70.11 +6.20

TSE 300 +395.32 10,116.58

CDNX +39.68 975.27

S&P/TSX/60 +23.70 610.63

ANOTHER AMAZING ACT SPAIN IS ALLOWED A SEAT AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC SUMMIT.

Barroso backs Spanish seat at G20 summit
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:28 CET

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for Spain, the fifth largest economy in the European Union and the eighth largest in the world, to be invited to the upcoming emergency G20 meeting in Washington on 17 November on tackling the global financial crisis.Spain should be at the summit in Washington, he told reporters after meeting with the Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid.Spain's Mr Zapatero has furiously worked the phone lines trying to get an invitation to the party (Photo: Inma Mesa-PSOE)

For obvious reasons Spain should participate because it is the eighth largest economy in the world and it has an experience which is of great interest for the reform of the global financial system, he added.Spain has been engaged in a furious bout of lobbying of world leaders in the past week in attempt to be invited to sit at the grown-ups' table for once.Madrid argues that the size of its economy - the only economy in the world's top ten than is not represented in the G20 - and more importantly for the topic at hand, the health of its economy, demand that Spain be considered a peer amongst the world's leading nations at this time of crisis. As a result of stricter regulation and conservative lending practices amongst the country's banks, Spain's financial sector is not as highly leveraged as that of other countries. The Financial Times newspaper recently rated the Bank of Spain the best situated financial regulator to weather the current turbulence.Mr Zapatero's lobbying has met with some success amongst a number of leaders outside Washington. At the last European Summit, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would back Spain having a seat at any G20 meeting, and French President Nicholas Sarkozy has also said he backs the idea.

The European Parliament supports the Spanish position, and Austria's representative on the EU executive, foreign relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has written to Mr Zapatero expressing her wish to see Spain at the meeting.At the Latin American Summit in El Salvador last week, Mr Zapatero also chalked up additional backing from Mexico and Brazil, both invitees to the summit, and the latter the 2008 chair of the G20 group of nations.US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice however told Spanish foreign minister Angel Moratinos last week that Spain will not win a seat at the meeting not as a result of Mr Zapatero's withdrawl of troops from Iraq, as has been suggested by Spanish pundits as a reason why Madrid has not been invited. Instead, according to a report in Spain's ABC newspaper, she said, the US chose the G20 so that it could draw a line somewhere, inevitably offending some nations.

However, there has been some suggestion in Brussels that France, which has two seats at the summit - as a member of the G7 and as current chair of the EU six-month rotating presidency - may offer up one of them in Spain's favour.Inevitably, the moderate success Madrid has achieved has encouraged other nations to also try to win an invitation to the dance.El Pais is reporting that the Netherlands, with a GDP half the size of Spain's, has approached President Sarkozy requesting they be invited as well. Meanwhile, Poland, with an economy a third the size of Spain's, has spoken to the Bush Administration directly requesting they also attend.The French delegation to the summit has also now yielded a seat to the Czech finance minister, whose nation will take over the chairmanship of the EU from France in January.The Spanish centre-left daily reports that Mr Zapatero rejects such a formula, preferring instead a national seat, and not as part of someone else's delegation, in order to have the right to participate in debates.What doesn't sit well with me is to be standing up. I have to be in a seat, Mr Zapatero said yesterday, according to the paper.

Juncker rejects Sarkozy's economic government for eurozone
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today NOV 4,08 @ 09:19 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Finance ministers from the 15-strong euro area have agreed to drop the goal of balancing the budgetary deficits by 2010, while concluding that the bloc does not need an extra package similar to the bank rescue plan but aimed instead at kick-starting the faltering economy. Meeting in Brussels on Monday (3 November) on the eve of a full EU ministerial session on finance, the ministers decided that their previous medium-term objective of zero deficits by the end of this decade - agreed in April 2007 - should be revised.Instead, the goal will be replaced by individual plans for member states on a case-by-case basis at dates that will pushed back, Eurozone chair, Luxembourg's premier and finance minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, told journalists.The debate took place just after the European Commission presented a grim economic forecast for 2008 and next two years, warning that in 2009, the EU's economy will reach a stand still.EU economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia pressed governments to approach the problem, which threatens to severely affect jobs across the continent, in a similar, co-ordinated way as they did when they moved to save the bloc's banking sector.Looking at the need to accelerate as much as possible the decisions that can promote a recovery based on a sound basis, this co-ordination, this European action, and in particular this euro area action is essential and I am very happy to see the positive reaction of the members of the Eurogroup to these ideas, he said after the meeting.However, Mr Juncker pointed out that this co-ordination should not come in form of a new package of measures similar to the bank rescue plans that involved emergency steps such as boosting deposit guarantees or pumping state capital into weakened financial institutions. We do not believe that in the euro area we need a general revival package, a sort of classical or traditional programme to stimulate the short-term economy, he said, adding that the existing rules are sufficient.It is simply a question of adopting targeted temporary and consistent measures designed to help us in the short-term, noted Luxembourg's leader.

Economic government

On Monday, eurozone chiefs of finance gathered for the first time after several remarks by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy - whose country currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-strong club - about the future governance of the monetary union.The French leader had suggested that there should be regular meetings of heads of state and government of members of the eurozone - similar to those that had been hosted by him under the extraordinary circumstances of the financial crisis that had pushed Europe's banking sector on the verge of total collapse.This new forum could serve as a form of eurozone economic government, Mr Sarkozy had said in his speech to the European Parliament last month.But his Luxembourg counterpart, Mr Juncker, told journalists on Monday that while the idea is not new and the French president had argued in favour of it on a number of occasions before, most member states did not agree with that idea.In my view, I do not think it is a good idea to institutionalise a meeting at such a high level, but it seems to me that whenever it is necessary, it is not a bad idea to be able to convene the heads of the Eurogroup, he said.As to who might chair, this is of secondary significance. Unlike the French president, I am both minister of finance and prime minister. So I have a particular advantage in the sense that I have all the skills to be able to fulfill both positions, he added.

Oil prices surges above $70 in volatile week By JOHN PORRETTO, AP Energy Writer NOV 4,08

HOUSTON – Oil prices surged above $70 a barrel Tuesday in the final hours of a two-year U.S. presidential campaign, mirroring global stock markets that strengthened from Asia to Europe. A weaker dollar helped too.At home, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 300 points despite a new Commerce Department report that said factory orders fell 2.5 percent in September from August, much worse than analysts had predicted.As the pace of industry has slowed and businesses consume less crude, the price of oil has fallen $30 from just over a month ago. The price of retail gasoline dipped below $2.40 Tuesday for the first time since early in 2007.Crumbling home prices, a shaky job market and gasoline that spiked above $4 per gallon have dramatically changed how Americans use fuel. While plummeting gas prices have certainly been welcomed by consumers, much of that exuberance has been lost amid broader economic fears.The volatility and huge price swings we've seen this year are unmatched, said Ben Brockwell, director of data, pricing and information services for the Oil Price Information Service. These erratic changes are a 2008 phenomenon.

On Monday, U.S. manufacturers reported lethargic numbers for October, showing the worst reading in more than a quarter century, according to the Institute for Supply Management.The presidential election could be influencing the market, said analyst and trader Stephen Schork.There may be a lot of money moving from the sidelines that's waiting to see how this election is going to shake out, Schork said.Oil has not traded above $70 in nearly two weeks. Some industry experts, including Schork, also attributed Tuesday's spike to the weaker dollar.Commodities such as oil are used as a hedge against inflation and a weak dollar. Investors flood the crude futures market when the greenback falls. A weak dollar also makes oil less expensive to buyers dealing in other currencies.The euro rose nearly 4 cents Tuesday to $1.296. The dollar lost ground to the yen, the pound and other currencies as well.Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose $6.62 to settle at $70.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $71.77.Anytime oil rises more than $4 a barrel, it's usually myriad items at play, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. When the Dow is up, the world is good and nobody wants the dollar as a safe haven.The week has thus far been characterized by volatile trading.Crude prices fell $4.46 on Monday, but those losses were erased early Tuesday.

Oil industry analysts earlier this year believed that the booming economies of India and China would pick up any slackening of demand if Western nations went into recession. Few still hold onto that view, as the economic crisis in the United States has spread across the globe.Oil prices have fallen roughly $80 from their July peak around $147. In October alone, crude prices tumbled 32 percent, the largest decline in Nymex history.Gasoline futures rose 17 cents to settle at $1.53 a gallon, after a steep fall overnight on the Nymex. But gasoline has trended sharply lower in the last month. At a national retail average of $2.39 a gallon for regular gasoline, the price is $1.13 a gallon lower than a year ago, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. AAA fuel price analyst Geoff Sundstrom said a weak holiday travel season could push the national average to $2 a gallon by year's end, with a rally unlikely until spring at the earliest. A new report Tuesday shows Americans are buying more gasoline. In a weekly report, MasterCard's SpendingPulse survey found U.S. demand for gasoline rose 1.3 percent in the past week, though demand was still off 3.9 percent from a year ago. Compared with the 10 percent yearly decline in demand just a month ago, the new figure shows a marked recovery. We've been seeing a relatively steady recovery in demand, said Michael McNamara, a vice president at MasterCard SpendingPulse. If you go back about four or five weeks ago ... demand was really getting hit on two fronts. One, prices were still elevated. You were also seeing the beginning of the severe economic turbulence we've been dealing with.Now, McNamara said, it's largely the economy alone, not prices, that's affecting gasoline purchases. MasterCard's report is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check. In other Nymex trading, heating oil gained nearly 18 cents to settle at $2.16 a gallon while natural gas for December delivery rose 38 cents to settle at $7.22 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, December Brent crude rose $5.96 to settle at $66.44 on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press Writer George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and AP Business Writer Stephen Wright in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.

South Africa not immune from global financial crisis: central bank NOV 4,08

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – The economy of South Africa, Africa's economic powerhouse, cannot be immune from the effects of the global financial financial market crisis, the central bank's monetary policy review committee said Tuesday.The volatile and uncertain financial market environment will continue to complicate monetary policy decision-making for some time, the committee said in its bi-annual report.The bank will, however, continue to focus on medium-term inflation targetting despite the global financial market crisis, it said.The main risks to the inflation outlook emanate from the possibility of further electricity price increases, which will be announced next week, said the report.Petrol, food price increases and the volatile exchange rate are some of the factors contributing to the inflation uncertainty.

Since last year, South Africa's inflation of 12 percent has been hovering above the target range of between 3.0 to 6.0 percent.The inflation rate for the overall food price component of the CPIX increased from 15.4 percent in March to 19.2 percent in August, before slowing to 17.9 percent in September.Although South African markets have been fairly resilient to the current crisis, the heightened levels of uncertainty about the global economy are contributing to a challenging monetary policy-making environment, the bank said.The most recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) data show that world growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) was five percent in 2007 and will slow to an estimated 3.9 percent this year against the backdrop of increasing turmoil in global financial markets and stagnating growth in the advanced economies.The South African economy grew at an annualised rate of 4.9 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared to a much slower rate of 2.1 percent in the first quarter.

Indian PM sets up panel to assess impact of global financial crisis NOV 4,08

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Indian Premier Manmohan Singh Tuesday set up a high-level panel to monitor the impact of the global financial crisis on domestic industry, a government statement said.The panel, headed by Singh, includes India's central Reserve Bank chief and finance and trade ministers who will advise the premier on steps needed to reassure Indian industry, the statement said.It was constituted after a meeting between Singh and key industry representatives in New Delhi on Monday.The group will meet regularly to coordinate and decide the government's response to the points raised by industry from time to time with regard to the current global financial crisis and its impact on India, the statement said.Singh told top business leaders on Monday the downturn was expected to be more severe and prolonged than previously thought, but stressed that India's banks are well regulated and also well capitalised.Our first priority was to protect the Indian financial system from possible loss of confidence or contagion effects, he said and added a warning against knee jerk reactions such as large scale lay-offs that could lead to a negative spiral.India's central bank has taken a series of measures in the past few weeks to pour billions of dollars into the financial system.At the weekend, it cut its short-term lending rate, the repo, by 50 basis points to 7.50 percent to ease a credit crunch. It had already reduced the rate by one percentage point to 8.0 percent late last month.It also cut the cash reserve ratio to 5.5 percent from 6.5 percent and decreased the statutory reserve ratio, or the amount banks must hold in government securities, from 25 percent to 24 percent.

Taiwan, China make economic history with new pact By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer NOV 4,08

TAIPEI, Taiwan – China and Taiwan made economic history Tuesday with a bold agreement that allows planes and ships to travel directly across the Taiwan Strait — the place where many have feared they would fight their next battle.Still the Asian rivals appear far from resolving the root causes of nearly six decades of hostilities and distrust. The pact was possible because negotiators set aside thorny political disputes and only focused on trade and economics.The new deal allows passenger flights directly across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait that separates Taiwan from mainland China. In the past, planes had to fly into Hong Kong airspace while traveling between the two sides. Cargo ships, which used to have to stop at the Japanese island of Okinawa northeast of Taiwan, will be allowed to sail directly to the other side and cut hundreds of miles out of each trip.The deal is significant for businesses and drew applause from three chambers of commerce representing Japan, the U.S. and Europe. The groups said in a joint statement the restrictions on flights and shipping have kept Taiwan from fully participating in the global and Asian economies.Taiwan can only benefit from having greater interaction with one of the world's fastest growing markets,it said.In the eyes of China's leaders, Taiwan is a Chinese province that must eventually unite with the mainland or be invaded by the mainland's massive military.A conflict could quickly draw in the U.S., which has long warned China's government it may defend Taiwan — a major buyer of American weapons. Even as they talk to China, the Taiwanese have been loading up on more U.S. arms, including Apache helicopters and Patriot missiles.

China-Taiwan relations are so awkward and strained that Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin, who signed the deal Tuesday, has yet to call Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou by his proper title: president. When they meet Thursday, Chen will likely just address him as Mr. Ma.Chen — the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan — is sticking to Beijing's policy of not formally recognizing the island's government.Taiwan's top official for China policy, Lai Shin-yuan, urged critics to embrace the deal and stop obsessing about sensitive political issues.This is something people should support, instead of making an issue of how I am addressed by the Chinese side, Lai told reporters. Our sovereignty has not been harmed during the meeting this time.Most Taiwanese are not ready to unify with China and do not want Beijing meddling in their political affairs. Many favor independence, and China's refusal to recognize their government infuriates them. About 200 protesters scuffled with police Tuesday night outside a hotel where the Chinese envoy attended a banquet.The Taiwanese president, who took office in May, has promised not to begin unification negotiations during his four-year term.Some fear that closer ties with China — even if they only involve trade and economics — will sacrifice Taiwan's sovereignty by making it overly dependent on the mainland.That's the view of Taiwan's previous president, Chen Shui-bian, who was vilified by Beijing because he favored independence. Chen on Tuesday accused the new government of being too friendly with China.We have strived to be the masters of Taiwan, he said. But now we are becoming slaves to China.But Alexander Huang, a political science professor at Taipei's Tamkang University, doubted the economic agreements will lead to Taiwan being absorbed by its massive neighbor.Taiwanese have enjoyed their democracy and don't want to have officials appointed by the mainland, said Huang, who also thought the pact would help decrease the threat of a war. Huang added the agreement shows China is eager to win the hearts and minds of Taiwanese. Beijing, which refused to talk to Chen's government for eight years, also doesn't want Taiwan to drift further toward permanent independence.

Canadian manufacturers seek help amid crisis Tue Nov 4, 9:49 am ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian manufacturers are asking the federal government for loan guarantees and lines of credit to help them combat the effects of the global financial crisis, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association said Tuesday.

The move comes one week after Ottawa balked at a similar request from the auto-parts manufacturing industry, hard hit by slumping U.S. auto sales and a liquidity crunch that is drying up regular funding.An official at the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association said the group had sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper seeking federal assistance for Canadian manufacturers in the form of loan guarantees and credit lines, but would not immediately comment further.Kory Teneycke, spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said the government receives literally hundreds of pre-budget requests. We acknowledge receipt and we'll respond in due course, he said.Teneycke pointed out that the government had already increased the borrowing capacity of the federal agency Export Development Canada and that the government's Business Development Bank was also taking steps to improve liquidity.The request is the latest sign of pain in Canada's once booming industrial sector and comes one day after Canada's Finance Department announced Ontario -- where much of the country's manufacturing industry is located -- would be given its first-ever payment under the equalization program designed for the nation's poorer provinces.(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis and Randall Palmer; Editing by Peter Galloway)

US voters decide historic Obama-McCain clash NOV 4,08

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Millions of US voters flooded polling stations Tuesday, looking to elect front-running Democrat Barack Obama the first black US president or hand Republican John McCain an upset win in their historic clash.Obama enjoyed a solid lead in recent national polls and held the edge in a string of battleground states that could still swing the election either way, as both candidates hunted the 270 electoral college votes needed to win.Well before sun-up, long queues snaked outside polling places as voters braved hours-long waits, rain, or shivering cold amid unanimous predictions of vast turnout at the climax of the longest and costliest White House race.Results were due to start pouring in after the first polls closed at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT), though it was not clear when it would be known who will succeed US President George W. Bush when his second term ends at midday on January 20.In the eye of the worst financial storm since the 1930s and with US troops embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both Obama and McCain have vowed to restore the frayed self-confidence of the world's lone superpower.After an epic campaign , a political realignment in Washington was also possible, with Democrats targeting big gains in the Senate and House of Representatives in a rout fueled by Bush's record unpopularity.

I feel great, Obama, a Hawaiian-born US senator from Illinois, told reporters as he voted in Chicago alongside his wife Michelle and their young daughters Sasha and Malia.McCain kept silent after voting in his home state of Arizona, while his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, cast her ballot in her hometown of Wasilla and said she was hopeful of becoming the first woman US vice president.We have an optimistic and confident view of what is going to happen today, she said with husband Todd at her side. I recognize that this is an historical event, no matter which ticket prevails.Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Obama's running mate, voted in his home state with his 91-year-old mother and wife Jill.More than 100 million people were expected to trek to the polls, while 30 million advance ballots have been cast in the state-by-state electoral battle, as Democrats hoped new and younger voters would sweep them to victory.The last eight years has been a horror story, said Michael Smith, a 54-year-old salesman, standing among hundreds stretching around the block at a polling station in Manhattan. He said he would vote for Obama.

The country itself is slipping in the (popularity) polls, he said. In the end that's what people are going to vote for today -- a new direction.In Christianburg, Virginia , Norma Jean Lundis said she voted for McCain because he stands for what I believe in -- less government, lets me control my money, the right to bear arms, life begins at conception, marriage between man and woman.Obama and McCain, one of whom will become the first sitting senator elected president since John F. Kennedy in 1960, hit the finish line on Monday with competing cross-country campaign blitzes.

McCain, leveraging his heroism as a Vietnam war prisoner and decades of experience in Washington, would be the oldest president -- at 72 -- inaugurated for a first term if elected.In a cruel twist of fate Monday, Obama , 47, learned that Madelyn Dunham, his maternal grandmother who helped bring him up, had died in his native Hawaii from cancer, aged 86.Obama was to await the voters' verdict in Chicago. McCain huddled with top aides at a posh hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. Bush stayed out of sight at the White House.The two candidates waged a bitter and often hotly personal feud for months, culminating in rival 11th-hour get-out-the-vote blitzes on Monday in many states that Bush won easily in 2004.Obama promised supporters they were close to changing the United States of America, but McCain was defiant, vowing to confound pollsters and pundits and overcome a treacherous political map that has him barely holding Republican bastions and worried just one big loss could spell defeat.The Mac is back! he roared, promising a stunning act of political escapology that would confound almost every major opinion poll .Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, would become the first African American president after a stunning rise to the pinnacle of US politics.He promises to alleviate the economic pinch for the middle class and repair ties with US allies, weigh opening talks with foes such as Iran and Cuba, bring troops home from Iraq and refocus on the Afghan war.McCain, who has fought to distance himself from Bush, has lambasted Obama for socialist tax policies , and argues his rival is unprepared for an age of global turmoil while accusing him of wanting to retreat in defeat from Iraq.

World hopes for a less arrogant America By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer NOV 4,08

AP BERLIN – Around the world, throngs packed outdoor plazas and pubs to await U.S. elections results Tuesday, many inspired by Barack Obama's promise of change amid a sense of relief that — no matter who wins — the White House is changing hands.As millions of voters decided between Obama or John McCain, the world was abuzz with the sense of bearing witness to a moment of history that would reverberate well beyond American borders.America is electing a new president, but for the Germans, for Europeans, it is electing the next world leader, said Alexander Rahr, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations.In Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, the atmosphere was electric with pride and excitement as people flocked to all-night parties to watch election results roll in.Tonight we are not going to sleep, said Valentine Wambi, 23, a student at the University of Nairobi who planned to join hundreds of other students in the Kenyan capital for an election party. It will be celebrations throughout.The Irish village of Moneygall was also trying to claim Obama as a favorite son — based on research that concluded the candidate's great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Kearney, lived there before emigrating to the United States.The entertainment at Moneygall's Hayes Bar, where an American flag fluttered outside window Tuesday, included a local band called Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys that has been winning air time with its rousing folk song There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama.We're not going to go mad with the drink, said Ollie Hayes, who runs the pub. We just want to show Barack that we appreciate he's from here, to have some finger food and watch the early results come in with the media.

In Germany, where more than 200,000 people flocked to see Obama this summer as he moved to burnish his foreign policy credentials during a trip to the Middle East and Europe, the election dominated television ticker crawls, newspaper headlines and Web sites.In Paris, among the more irreverent festivities planned was a Goodbye George party to bid farewell to Bush.Like many French people, I would like Obama to win because it would really be a sign of change, said Vanessa Doubine, shopping Tuesday on the Champs-Elysees. I deeply hope for America's image that it will be Obama.The election has also yielded the occasional prank. When 37-year-old Patrick Lindqvist woke up Tuesday in the southern city of Malmo, Sweden, he found six mock campaign posters for McCain planted just outside his house.It's obviously a prank, but I have no idea who did it, said Lindqvist, who is not involved in U.S. politics in any way. If I had been able to vote in the American election I would doubtless have chosen a young black man instead of an old white man.Obama-mania was evident not only across Europe but also in much of the Islamic world, where Muslims expressed hope that the Democrat would seek compromise rather than confrontation.The Bush administration alienated Muslims by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.I hope Obama wins (because) of the need of the world to see the U.S. represent a more cosmopolitan or universal political attitude, said Rais Yatim, the foreign minister of mostly Muslim Malaysia.Yet McCain enjoyed a strong current of support in countries such as Israel, where he is perceived as tougher on Iran and most Israelis are believed to favor McCain on the grounds he would do more to protect the country's security.Israeli leaders, who consider the U.S. their closest and most important ally, have not openly declared a preference. But privately, they have expressed concern about Obama, who has alarmed some by saying he would be ready to hold a dialogue with Tehran.

Taking a cigarette break on a Jerusalem street corner, bank employee Leah Nizri, 53, said Obama represented potentially frightening change. I think he'll be pleasant to Israel, but he will make changes, she said. He's too young. I think that especially in a situation of a world recession, where things are so unclear in the world, McCain would be better than Obama.Even in Europe, McCain got some grudging respect: Germany's mass-circulation daily Bild lionized the Republican as the War Hero and running mate Sarah Palin as the Beautiful Unknown.In Berlin, Republicans Abroad organized a November Surprise Election Party to watch live how the Republican ticket McCain/Palin comes from behind and leaves the liberal elite media in Europe and the United States puzzled.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown clung to convention by refusing to say which candidate he wants to see win. Regardless of the outcome, he told Al-Arabiya television while on a tour of the Gulf, history has been made in this campaign.London Mayor Boris Johnson — a Conservative — felt less constrained about rooting for the liberal Obama. For those who have become disenchanted with America — including many Americans — (Obama) offers the hope of re-igniting the love affair, he said. And other Europeans made much of Obama's ethnicity. It's a sort of pardon of America for its slave past, said Alain Barret, a bank teller in Paris. It lets America turn an important page in its history.It would be fantastic to have a non-white president, added Letisha Brown, a Londoner. Kenyans believe an Obama victory wouldn't change their lives much, but that hasn't stopped them from splashing his picture on minibuses and selling T-shirts with his name and likeness. Kenyans were planning to gather around radios and TV sets starting Tuesday night as the results come in. In the sleepy Japanese coastal town of Obama — which translates as little beach — images of him adorned banners along a main shopping street, and preparations for an election day victory party were in full swing. Election fever also ran high in Vietnam, where McCain was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years after being shot down in Hanoi during a 1967 bombing run. He's patriotic, said Le Lan Anh, a Vietnamese novelist and real estate tycoon. As a soldier, he came here to destroy my country, but I admire his dignity.AP correspondents worldwide contributed.

Castro praises Obama but doesn't endorse him Tue Nov 4, 10:53 am

ETHAVANA – Fidel Castro praised Barack Obama Tuesday as smarter and less warlike than John McCain, but stopped short of endorsing either U.S. presidential candidate.

Cuba's former president said he delayed weighing in until the U.S. election day so that no one would have time to say I wrote something that could be utilized by the candidates in their campaigns.Without a doubt, Obama is more intelligent, cultured and levelheaded than his Republican adversary, Castro wrote in state-controlled newspapers. McCain is old, bellicose, uncultured, of little intelligence and not healthy.Castro, 82, has struggled with his own health problems. He has not been seen in public since July 2006. His younger brother Raul formally succeeded him as president in February.The elder Castro also expressed skepticism about both candidates.Worries about the overwhelming problems of the world will not really occupy an important place in the mind of Obama and much less in that of a candidate who, as a fighter pilot, dropped dozens of tons of bombs on the city of Hanoi, he wrote, alluding to McCain's military service.Castro also wrote that if the Republicans win due to U.S. racism, the danger of war will increase and the opportunities for peoples to move forward will be reduced.

EU plans shake up of public broadcasting rules
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today NOV 4,08 @ 17:42 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Public broadcasters across Europe, such as the BBC, Magyar Televizio in Hungary or PBS in Malta, worry that a European Commission review of the laws governing them pays too much attention to free market concerns and not enough to the delivery of quality content in the interest of citizens.The commission on Tuesday (4 November) issued a draft communication on a revision of public service broadcasting (PSB) rules.On the one hand, the new rules proposed within the communication would allow public broadcasters more leeway in holding onto some revenues for a rainy day and in rare cases to charge for services, but they also would require member states to more strictly control the money given to them by governments and prevent them from funding so-called commercial activities. In recent years, the presence of more free-market-oriented governments across the bloc has emboldened private broadcasters and commercial providers of online content to increase their attacks on their public service counterparts. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an alliance of public broadcasters - and also coincidentally the producer of the Eurovision Song Contest - says that depending on the free market instead of quality broadcasting that is not beholden to the profit motive is a mistake now more than ever in the wake of the ongoing financial crisis.

The commission gives too much power to the market, which makes little sense when you see the failures of the markets in the last few weeks, EBU spokesman Jacques Bricmont told EUobserver.Their particular worry is that the path the commission wishes to go down will lead to all member states adopting the increasingly deregulatory environment that exists in the UK, in which British public service broadcasters must perform a public value test every time they wish to deliver new services.This takes six to ten months for the BBC, he said, a very expensive and time-consuming process, especially for public broadcasters in the smaller member states.This delays the ability of public broadcasters to develop services that involve some of the new technologies. As technology develops so rapidly these days, this puts a real break on flexibility to deliver the services citizens want.The broadcasters are also worried that having to undergo a market test for new services means that commercial broadcasters will begin to have a say over the remit of their public counterparts.EBU director-general Jean Reveillon said in a statement that if this extremely detailed version of the Broadcasting Communication were adopted, it could seriously reduce the scope for member states to grant public service broadcasters a significant role in the information society.Member states are also not happy with the direction of the review. In September, the Dutch culture minister, Ronald Plasterk, wrote to competition commissioner Neelie Kroes on behalf of 19 EU countries, saying that the existing communication, which dates back to 2001, was largely sufficient and did not need to be substantially altered.Meanwhile, the Association of Commercial Television in Europe, has rubbished the public broadcasters' concerns as fear mongering.Ross Biggam, the director-general of ACT, told this website: Nobody is saying that public broadcasters need to refrain from certain activities - online or elsewhere, it's just that there has been an enormous amount of changes in the media landscape since 2001 and the issues that confront us. This is a reform, not a revolution.

Media companies are no longer just calling themselves broadcasters. They're in the business of delivering content and across all sorts of platforms - online video, mobile, etc. We all grew up in an era where there was a public broadcaster and next to that there were private broadcasters, but the landscape has changed and now public broadcasters are venturing into areas well beyond where they were historically engaged.Some are even taking on newspapers and there is no tradition of a public service remit there - in fact quite the opposite, he said.The European Treaty is quite clear that state aid and competition rules need to be respected in all sectors and that includes broadcasting, he added.Member states and sector stakeholders, including both public and private broadcasters are invited to comment on the draft communication until 15 January.

Catholics, Muslims open landmark talks at Vatican By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor – Tue Nov 4, 12:27 pm ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Senior Vatican and Islamic scholars launched their first Catholic-Muslim Forum on Tuesday to improve relations between the world's two largest faiths by discussing what unites and divides them.The three-day meeting comes two years after Pope Benedict angered the Muslim world with a speech implying Islam was violent and irrational. In response, 138 Muslim scholars invited Christian churches to a new dialogue to foster mutual respect through a better understanding of each other's beliefs.In their manifesto, A Common Word, the Muslims argued that both faiths shared the core principles of love of God and neighbor. The talks focus on what this means for the religions and how it can foster harmony between them.

The meeting, including an audience with Pope Benedict, is the group's third conference with Christians after talks with United States Protestants in July and Anglicans last month.Delegation leaders Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric opened the session with a moment of silence so delegations, each comprising 28 members and advisers, could say their own prayers for its success.It was a very cordial atmosphere, one delegate said.Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, told the French Catholic daily La Croix on Monday that the Forum represents a new chapter in a long history of often strained relations.He said discussing theology was difficult because of different understandings of God. The closed meeting started with a Catholic official spelling out the Christian teaching that humans can only approach God through Jesus Christ.

Muslim theologian Seyyed Hossein Nasr responded that such a view excluded non-Christians from salvation and suggested ways to see Islamic parallels to Christian views of God's love.Delegates said the discussion that followed was friendly and respectful, not a clash of opinions. We need to speak openly so we get to know each other, said one Muslim delegate.

NEW URGENCY

Christianity is the world's largest religion with 2 billion followers, just over half of them Catholic. Islam is next with 1.3 billion believers.Saudi King Abdullah visits the United Nations next week to promote a parallel interfaith dialogue he launched last summer.These and other meetings reflect a new urgency among Muslims since the September 11 attacks, the clash of civilizations theory and Pope Benedict's Regensburg speech showed a widening gap between the two faiths.The Vatican was at first cool to the Common Word initiative, arguing that talks among theologians had little meaning if they did not lead to greater respect for religious liberty in Muslim countries, where some Christian minorities face oppression.We can only have a real dialogue if all believers have equal rights everywhere, which is not the case in some Muslim countries, said one Catholic delegate who requested anonymity.The agenda reflects the different views. Tuesday's talks centered on theological issues proposed by the Muslims, Wednesday's meeting will focus on religious freedom issues the Vatican wants to raise.The Vatican delegation includes bishops from minority Christian communities in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. Among the Muslims are Sunnis and Shi'ites from around the world and converts from the United States, Canada and Britain. There are three Catholic and two Muslim women participating. The delegations will have an audience with Pope Benedict on Thursday and hold a public discussion that afternoon, the only session open to the media.

The Forum is due to meet every two years, alternately in Rome and in a Muslim country.(Editing by Tim Pearce)

Monday, November 03, 2008

OBAMA NEWS BEFORE ELECTIONS

DISDAIN FOR THE PEOPLE - LISTEN
http://www.digitalpodcast.com/detail-Tamar_Yonah_Show-15344.html

Cheshvan 5, 5769, 11/3/2008 U.S. President Hussein Obama. Congratulations America! by Tamar Yonah

Folks, I was going to let this drop. I am tired of the Obama topic. The guy is probably going to win the elections in the USA, but I just wanted you all to be aware of who you are choosing as your next leader and what kind of change you may be getting.

I had on my show Dr. Jerome Corsi who talked about Mr. Hussein Obama, and his ties with Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga. Now, before you fall asleep from more political talk, please read a bit further. You really should know that your next president, is at least oblivious, or at worst, in bed with, Muslim radical extremists who want Sharia law, a safety net for Muslim terrorists, and a ban on public Christian worship. Lest you forget, the Moslem extremist regimes are at war with the United States.

I just can’t fathom people who would not only tolerate, but actually vote for a man who won't present his birth certificate to the American people when being asked, and then sued (what contempt he must have for the people, and this is before he even becomes president!) and associates with people like Reverend Wright who says G-d d-mn America, William Ayers who bombed America, and Rashid Khalidi who probably supports the bombing of Israel. With a background like that, as one talk-backer stated, Obama wouldn't pass security to obtain the job of being his own bodyguard, yet he will hold the most powerful and sensitive office in the world.

In the videos below, you will see with your own eyes, Hussein Obama's support of Muslim Kenyan Raila Odinga, a man who once went to prison for his involvement in trying to overthrow the Kenyan government back in the 1980's. Hmmm, come to think of it, kind of like another William Ayers? Interesting company Obama keeps. But this is not company this is family. Odinga just happens to be Obama's (first?) cousin. In an interview, Odinga told BBC's The World Today that Senator Obama's father was his maternal uncle. Hear it here.

Obama is reported to have raised money – up to a million dollars, for Odinga's campaign, to oust the religiously tolerant Kibaki government of Kenya. Odinga lost the presidential election in the end, but the anger of that loss resulted in a backlash of deadly violence in Kenya from his supporters, which left an estimated 1,000 members of the nation's Kikuyu tribe dead and up to 500,000 displaced from their homes.

According to reports on World Net Daily.com, Odinga's supporters damaged or destroyed up to 800 churches in Kenya, including perpetrating a horrific scene of herding several Kenyan Christians into a church and setting it on fire with the Christians inside, copying what the Nazis often did to the Jews during the Holocaust.

But Hussein Obama, the probable next U.S. president, backed his Muslim side of the family, his cousin, who will work to bring in sharia law in Kenya, make a safe haven for terrorists, and forbid Kenyan Christians from displaying their Christian worshipping and practices in public. See the 'Islamification' Pact that Odinga signed Aug. 29th, 2007, with some of Kenya's radical Muslims. It seems to me, that that goes against American values of tolerance and religious freedom. Truly unbelievable the issues here, and one wonders why the mainstream media does not let you know this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44GW6MpObcs

OBAMA - MUSLIMS ADMIT COUSINS ISLAMIFICATION PACT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pZ5EP0l63E&eurl=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrGJWjLG9DY

OBAMA MOCKS THE BIBLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrGJWjLG9DY