DAY 1 AT G-20 SUMMIT IN LONDON

THE NEXT G-20 MEETING WILL BE IN NEW YORK IN THE FALL.

LIVE FROM 2009 G-20 IN LONDON
http://www.londonsummit.gov.uk/en/

G-20 WEBSITE
http://www.g20.org/
http://www.g20.org/pub_communiques.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/hmtreasuryuk

GERALD CELENTE MORE RIOTS WORLDWIDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaSKJ75EMoc&feature=player_embedded

MAX KEISER FIRE THE BANKERS
http://www.infowars.com/max-keiser-go-after-the-bankers/
http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=ydkUqG6UqG

Bilderberg-chairman: Bilderberg helped create the Euro
Jurriaan Maessen Infowars April 2, 2009

Belgian viscount and current Bilderberg-chairman Étienne Davignon

According to Belgian viscount and current Bilderberg-chairman Étienne Davignon, the Euro was helped created by the Bilderberg Group in the 1990’s. He admitted this in an interview to the EUobserver online newspaper on March 16 2009. While talking about his expectations of the EU-summit on March 19 and the G20-meeting in London two weeks later, he comments: These two meeting are going to be important because of what (the media) will say- is it a lot of jaw-jaw and everything will get worse? Or maybe it’s the beginning of a realisation that the world will no longer be the same and we are going to do something about it.After this he brings the annual Bilderberg-meetings into the conversation, saying something that was considered a ‘conspiracy theory’ for the past couple of decades, but is now confirmed by none other than the current chairman of the secretive group. Here is the actual quote from the article: A meeting in June in Europe of the Bilderberg Group- an informal club of leading politicians, businessmen and thinkers chaired by Mr. Davignon- could also improve understanding’ on future action, in the same way it helped create the Euro in the 1990s, he said.’

The article concludes with Davignon’s assessment that: People understand confusedly that there is a change (in the air). (…). But no government will satisfy the reactions of the people. They have the greatest reticence and cynicism against everybody who holds responsibility.

SUMMIT-UPDATE 1-Russia proposes study on world currencies
Thu Apr 2, 2009 9:42am EDT

LONDON, April 2 (London) - Russia proposed on Thursday launching a IMF or G20 study on creating a new international reserve currency, but the idea was not discussed at the London economic crisis summit.Strengthened regional currencies would be a basis for the new unit, which could also be partially backed by gold, Russia said in a statement released on the sidelines of the summit.China and Russia in recent weeks have floated ideas about reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar as the world's primary unit of foreign exchange, possibly by developing the Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund.But the G20 Financial Summit has focused firstly on promoting economic growth and repairing the financial system -- not on the longer-term task of overhauling the foundations of the global monetary system.However, the idea is gaining some momentum since one underlying cause of the current crisis is viewed as heavy reliance on U.S.-dollar-based assets as the only highly liquid instrument to invest in.The new global reserve currency has not been discussed at the summit. We only discussed it at several bilateral meetings, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's chief economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich told a news briefing.

The Russian statement called developing the global currency system a very important issue for strategic, rather than tactical, solutions to the financial crisis.It said that we should return to this topic in the months immediately after the summit.The reasons for promoting discussion are that currency markets are extremely unstable, new regional currencies are strengthening and the euro's launch showed how it could promote fiscal discipline.At the same time, countries with major currencies do not bear sufficient responsibility for macroeconomic policies," the statement said. The dollar currently is the world's largest reserve currency, followed by the euro, sterling, yen, and Swiss franc.On this basis we conclude that it would be wise to support the creation of strong regional currencies and to use them as the basis for a new reserve currency. One could also consider partially backing this currency with gold,Russia said.It is not our goal to destroy existing institutions or to weaken the dollar, pound or euro. We are simply calling for a joint assessment of how the global currency system can most favourably be developed for the sake of the global economy.

Accordingly, Russia proposed that the IMF or a G20 working group prepare studies, for review by G20 finance ministers and central bankers, on:
- Widening the list of currencies used as reserve currencies - by taking coordinated measures to stimulate the development of major regional financial centres;
- The creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international financial institutions conduct.

G-20 to give $1 trillion to IMF, World Bank By JANE WARDELL, AP Business Writer APR 2,09

LONDON – Global leaders pledged an additional $1 trillion to restore credit, growth and jobs in the world economy on Thursday, exceeding expectations in their plan to deal with the financial crisis.The Group of 20 nations also agreed to renounce protectionism and pledged $250 billion in trade finance over the next two years — a key measure to help struggling developing countries, whom they promised to give a greater say in world economic affairs.The G-20 also outlined a raft of policies to rebuild trust in the financial system, including a crackdown on tax havens and hedge funds and new rules on linking executive pay to performance.While they did not agree to any new fiscal measures, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the $1 trillion deal to boost funds for the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other global institutions was unprecedented.Today the largest countries of the world have agreed on a global plan for economic recovery and reform,Brown said after hosting the emergency summit in London's Docklands district.For the first time we have a common approach to cleaning up banks around the world to restructuring of the world financial system. We have maintained our commitment to help the world's poorest, Brown said.This is a collective action of people around the world working at their best.The sweeping G-20 communique bridged a gap between the United States and European countries led by France and Germany over how far to push changes on regulation to curb the market excesses that led to the current crisis.

G20 leaders nearing deal on new-model IMF
ANDREW WILLIS Today APR 2,09 @ 14:47 CET

EUOBSERVER / LONDON - Leaders of the G20 industrial nations finished breakfast on Thursday (2 April) morning at London's Excel Centre and began the final phase of tough negotiations on how to reform the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and boost its resources.You need to appoint someone democratically at the IMF,said Irish campaigner and former pop singer Pop Geldof on the summit's sidelines. Mr Geldof, who for many years has put pressure on Western leaders to increase aid to developing countries, said the days of European and American domination of the world's multilateral lenders, such as the IMF and the World Bank, have to come to an end.He added that leaders must live up to aid commitments given at the 2005 G8 meeting held at Gleneagles in Scotland at which they promised to increase aid by $50 billion (€37 bilion) annually by 2010.G20 leaders are currently negotiating the exact amount of new funding to be handed to the IMF, following an agreement by G20 finance ministers on 14 March to make a substantial increase.Last month the US surprised the world by saying the fund's resources should be tripled to $700 billion (€524 billion).UK financial secretary to the treasury Stephen Timms told reporters on Thursday at the summit that he was confident G20 leaders would agree on a final figure for the summit's communique.We are certainly looking at a doubling,he said.We will have a figure by the end of the day.Douglas Alexander, the UK's secretary of state for international development, told reporters that the partial sale of the IMF's sizeable gold reserves was being considered as a means to supplement the fund's lending capacity.

beyond stigma

He added that past hang-ups associated with seeking a loan from the IMF were disappearing rapidly and he welcomed Mexico's announcement on Wednesday to apply for a $47 billion credit line. The new facility that Mexico is taking advantage of shows we have gone beyond the era of stigma,said Mr Timms. Mexico's move is significant, as it marks the first time a Latin American country has applied for a loan from the Washington-based multilateral lender since it fell out of favour with the region in the 1990s. Mr Timms also said that leaders were discussing ways to fight the growing threat of rising protectionism since the onset of the financial crisis, suggesting the final communique would contain measures to name and shame states implementing new trade barriers.He was confident that the Doha round of global trade negotiations could be completed this year saying he felt there was an imminent window of opportunity.

Tax-havens are also firmly on the agenda of Thursday's meeting.

Mr Timms indicated that leaders would agree on a system of sanctions for those states that refused to share banking information, adding that the list of states to receive such sanctions would be produced in due course.

G20 to bulk up IMF in response to crisis
Thu Apr 2, 2009 9:59am

LONDON (Reuters) - World leaders will triple the war chest of the IMF to fight the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and impose new curbs on financial markets, monetary sources at the G20 summit said.The communique drafted for the meeting, obtained by Reuters, said leaders would submit large hedge funds to supervision for the first time and enhance regulation through a new agency and a beefed-up International Monetary Fund.Stocks, battered by the crisis, rose on hopes a strong agreement would add to some signs that the downturn may bottom out. The index of top European shares was up 3.3 percent after Japan's Nikkei gained 4.4 percent.Monetary and developing country sources said the latest draft summit communique provided for a $500 billion boost to the IMF's resources, raising to $750 billion the funds it can make available to countries worst hit by the global crisis.I think we are going to have some pretty impressive figures,British foreign minister and G20 envoy Mark Malloch-Brown told BBC Radio.The IMF would also be able to borrow money on international markets if needed, the sources said. Another British minister said leaders would discuss possible sales of IMF gold reserves, which could raise yet more cash, although he did not expect an immediate decision on Thursday.The G20 were also close to agreeing a trade finance package worth $250 billion to support global trade flows, a source at the summit in London told Reuters. Brown had been targeting at least $100 billion to help reverse the decline in trade following the credit crunch.

This is a positive step to jump start global trade flows. It is a significant contribution toward solving the problem,said Eoin O'Malley, senior adviser on international trade at BusinessEurope, Europe's top business group.But the key now is implementation. G20 governments must act quickly to provide this finance to companies that need it urgently,he told Reuters.

TAX HAVENS

The world economy will shrink this year for the first time since World War Two and tens of millions of people are expected to lose their jobs.G20 leaders agreed that blacklists of tax havens should be published in the near future, a European diplomat said.The G20 has agreed that it will be the OECD which will publish the tax haven list imminently,said the diplomat, who is attending the summit in London.But it was unclear whether the vague timing would satisfy France and Germany, which have led demands for a crackdown on tax havens they blame for allowing the wealthy to avoid paying their fair share at a time of growing economic hardship.Paris said on the eve of the summit it would refuse to sign any concluding document that failed to satisfy its demands.The draft communique included a pledge to deliver the scale of sustained effort necessary to restore growth," but without making any commitments beyond the trillions already being spent to stabilize banks, shore up demand and limit job losses.Analysts said Thursday's stock market gains would vanish if the summit does not deliver.A good rally is coming through, particularly from Asian markets overnight on hopes for a decent stimulus package from the G20 to lift confidence, especially with regards to emerging economies and a boost to the International Monetary Fund, said Henk Potts, strategist at Barclays Wealth.

CONFIDENCE BOOST

Keen to secure a confidence-boosting message as the world succumbs to recession, U.S. President Barack Obama has said there are no substantive differences with Europe, despite the hardball stance taken by France and Germany over regulation.The most important issue is that we agree ... on the principle that no financial market product, no financial market participant and no financial market can remain without regulation and without supervision,German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told Deutschlandfunk radio.The global economy is expected to contract in 2009 by between 0.5 and 1.0 percent, according to the IMF, whose head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is calling it a Great Recession.They are not yet moving quickly enough in doing the cleaning up of the financial system,the Financial Times quoted Strauss-Kahn as saying.

The draft communique contained a pledge by the G20 nations to allow candid, even-handed and independent surveillance of their economies and financial sectors by the IMF, which will take an increasingly central role in global oversight.It also unveiled a new Financial Stability Board to work with the IMF to identify economic and financial risks and measures needed to address them, revamping an existing body called the Financial Stability Forum.Some 400 protesters gathered outside the summit, but were kept well away by police.(Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Keith Weir, editing by Janet McBride)Thomson Reuters 2009.

STORY VIDEO
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=101370&newsChannel=G20
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=101378&newsChannel=G20
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=101205&newsChannel=G20

G20 to up IMF resources by $500 billion: sources
Thu Apr 2, 2009 10:05am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The latest draft of the G20 communique calls for an increase of International Monetary Fund resources by $500 billion, taking its total available for lending to $750 billion, G20 sources said on Thursday.A G20 source from a large emerging market country said in addition the leaders were discussing allocating between $100 billion to $250 billion worth of IMF Special Drawing Rights for its member countries, which would put IMF resources close to $1 trillion.That would effectively triple the amount of resources available for lending through the global financial institution, from the $250 billion the IMF is already able to tap to help shore up economies hit by the global financial crisis.Japan and the European Union have already said they will give $100 billion each, and the United States has indicated it will give at least that amount. Norway has also committed $4.56 billion to support the IMF.In addition, Canada announced on Thursday it will contribute C$10 billion to the IMF.One source said the communique opened the door to the IMF going to capital markets to borrow, if needed, to shore up its resources.The Fund considered borrowing on capital markets during the debt crisis of the early 1980s.The IMF is authorized to borrow under its articles of agreement to replenish its holdings of currencies that are needed for lending.It has also recently said it could issue bonds denominated in Special Drawing Rights, and China has indicated it would be interested in contributing to the IMF's war chest this way.Another source said there was a reference in the communique to IMF gold sales but the language had not been firmed up and it was unclear whether it would be separate from the 400 tons of gold the IMF committed to sell last year as part of a broader restructuring of its income.UK Treasury minister Stephen Timms said the talks referred to gold sales over and above existing plans although others said no concrete decision would be taken at Thursday's summit.What's referred to here is in addition to what has been previously,he told reporters at the summit.(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Axel Bugge. Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Rival press conferences mark summit eve ANDREW WILLIS Today APR 1,09 @ 07:33 CET

EUOBSERVER / LONDON – The eve of formal G20 discussions due to be held in London's Excel Centre in the east docklands area was marked by competing press conferences between old alliances, while a series of bilateral meetings across the city bore considerable results.United States president Barack Obama and British prime minister Gordon Brown both stressed the importance of co-ordinated stimulus spending to jump-start the global economy at a joint press conference on Wednesday (1 April) morning.

Don't short-change the future for fear of the present, said Mr Obama, in reference to his belief that countries needed to go further into the red to boost the struggling global economy. At the same time Mr Obama indicated that the world would have to grow accustomed to the US no longer being the voracious consumer market that many export-based economies had come to depend on. Later on Wednesday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel, not known for their close relationship, held a competing press conference in the afternoon where they stressed the need for improved regulation of the financial markets. In the results, we want the principle of new regulation to be a major objective ...This is not negotiable,said Mr Sarkozy.

Countries that do not stick to agreements must be named. The communiqué needs to set out very concrete steps. The summit must delineate the new architecture of financial markets,said Ms Merkel.At the same press conference Mr Sarkozy laughed off previous threats to walk out of the formal discussions on Thursday saying: It would be awkward for me to leave when I've only just arrived.

Bilaterals bear fruit

The day was also characterised by a hectic schedule of bilateral meetings before leaders sat down to a dinner cooked by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver at No.10 Downing Street that evening. Analysts claimed Mr Obama's meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev as a major breakthrough in improved relations with the announcement of a surprise meeting this summer.I have agreed to visit Moscow in July, which we both agreed was a better time than January to visit,said Mr Obama. The two sides expressed their intention to cut supplies of nuclear weapons and strengthen non-proliferations treaties. Meanwhile, China and France agreed to resume high-level contacts following a diplomatic spat last December when Mr Sarkozy met the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

What's on the table?

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso briefed press on the Eurostar on the way to London, saying the summit would name and shame tax haven countries, which will face meaningful consequences after the event. An IMF source told Reuters that the US will propose tripling the fund's resources to $750 billion (€570 billion) instead of the doubling to $500 billion previously mooted. Russian press says that IMF member countries may benefit from a new $370 billion credit line. UK daily The Telegraph reports that the summit communique will include a new curb on bankers' pay, with high risk-taking financiers in future to be paid in long term share options instead of year-end cash bonuses.Street protests in London on Wednesday night were largely peaceful. But pockets of violence, such as an attack on a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, led to 87 arrests. One protester collapsed with breathing difficulties and died.

WELL SINCE THE BIBLE SAYS THE EU WILL CONTROL THE WHOLE WORLDS ECONOMY THAT MEANS THE UN WILL BE FOLDING FOR HATRED AGAINST ISRAEL,GOD WILL MAKE SURE OF THAT.

UN chief says crisis could result in failed states
Apr 1 09:14 PM US/Eastern

UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Thursday that failing to act to halt the global economic crisis could lead to widespread social unrest and failed states, ahead of the G20 crisis summit here.What began as a financial crisis has become a global economic crisis,the UN secretary general wrote in an article in the Guardian newspaper. I fear worse to come -- a full-blown political crisis defined by growing social unrest, weakened governments and angry publics who have lost all faith in their leaders and their own future.He said the global economic downturn affected the poorest countries the most, and noted that in these countries things fall apart alarmingly fast. Unless we build a worldwide recovery we face a looming catastrophe in human development, Ban wrote.World leaders meet in London on Thursday to decide how to tackle the global financial crisis, but are divided on whether to boost the world economy with an injection of capital, or to focus on new rules to prevent another such crisis. Ban called for a truly global stimulus package, and argued that developing countries need one trillion dollars over 2009 and 2010.He added: There is a thin line between failing banks and failing countries, and we cross it at our peril.AFP 2008.

ISRAEL THINKING OF GETTING IRAN

NEXT G-20 MEETING IN THE FALL IN NEW YORK.

LIVE FROM 2009 G-20 IN LONDON
http://www.londonsummit.gov.uk/en/

G-20 WEBSITE
http://www.g20.org/
http://www.g20.org/pub_communiques.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/hmtreasuryuk

Alaska volcano spews 25,000 feet-high ash plume Wed Apr 1, 9:09 am ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Observatory officials say Alaska's Mount Redoubt has spewed steam and ash up to 25,000 feet high.Alaska Volcano Observatory geophysicist John Power says the volcano had been spewing ash about 15,000 feet into the air before it erupted Tuesday afternoon.A broad layer of haze that could contain ash has extended from the Matanuska-Susitna Valley north of Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula.The eruption prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel 18 flights in and out of Anchorage, which is roughly 100 miles northeast of the volcano.The volcano has been active since March 23. The last time it erupted was during a four-month period in 1989-90.

EU could do more for peace, Ahtisaari says
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today APR 2,09 @ 09:16 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The EU should be more active in peace mediation and boost its expertise in that field, former Finnish president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari said on Wednesday (1 April), suggesting that setting up a European Institute for Peace could be one way to do this.I have been a bit surprised that the EU has been less pro-active than others in the field of international peace mediation, although it is a political machinery of negotiation and mediation,Mr Ahtisaari said at a debate in the European Parliament in Brussels.The EU's ability to broker deals is something it should in particular make full use of, according to the diplomat.Very often I face the argument that the EU is not impartial, but I have to argue against that notion, because of course we have our values, our policies, but I argue that the EU can be an honest broker – I think that to be its strength,he said.

In some areas of peace mediation, however, the EU still lacks the needed expertise, he added.We have to develop professional expertise in mediation and also in mediation support, like the other actors in this field are doing – like the UN at the moment. And of course we have to get our decision-making working faster than it does at the moment,he said.We need to act quickly and swiftly, we need to [also] have technical expertise, we have to have necessary logistical support and we have to use much more reflective practices rather than conferences,he added.Mr Ahtisaari, 71, was president of Finland from 1994 to 2000 and a UN diplomat and mediator both before and after his time as head of the Finnish state.He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts, contributing to a more peaceful world and to fraternity between nations.

Learn from past mistakes

According to Mr Ahtisaari, one way for the EU to boost its mediation capacities, would be to follow the US example and create an Institute for Peace.When I look at the US system, they have created the US Institute of Peace endeavours. And I sometimes wonder why we are not yet thinking about the setting up of a European Institute for Peace,the Finnish diplomat said.The US Institute of Peace was set up in 1984 as an independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress aiming to prevent and resolve international conflicts, as well as increase conflict management capabilities and promote post-conflict development.In addition to boosting its expertise, a European Institute for Peace could push the EU to finally start learning from its mistakes, according to Mr Ahtisaari.Actually to reflect on our lessons learnt – something the EU is not particularly good at at the moment, at least in the foreign policy domain – it is interesting to note that so far we could not come up with one single ‘lessons learned' paper in terms of mediation or specific peace purposes. A European Institute for Peace could do something like this, he argued.He explained that such an institute would be a welcome extension and a logistical development of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) – a Paris-based agency of the EU, working to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the common foreign and security policy, and to enrich Europe's strategic debate.The EUISS also works as a think-tank, researching security issues relevant to the EU.

Proud of Kosovo work

Mr Ahtisaari, whose many missions throughout the world also included trying to find a mutual agreement between Belgrade and Pristina to the issue of Kosovo's independence, said he was proud of his work in Kosovo.Did I open the Pandora's box? No. I am still very proud about my team's work on Kosovo. If we hadn't done what we did, I would hate to be a European,Mr Ahtisaari said.Mr Ahtisaari was appointed as the UN's special envoy to Kosovo in 2005. He favoured independence for the then breakaway Serbian province, but could not get the two sides to agree on his proposal, with Belgrade categorically opposing an independent Kosovo to this day.Kosovo eventually declared unilateral independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, with the plan put forward by Mr Ahtisaari in February 2007 largely seen as having opened the way for this to happen.On Wednesday, the diplomat again stressed that it was clear from the first moment when he started working on Kosovo that its return to Serbia was not a viable option.

Blair: Mideast peace process in jeopardy.By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 1, 9:23 am ET

BRUSSELS – Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Wednesday the peace process was in jeopardy and Israel must fully support the goal of living in peace next to an independent Palestinian state.He said a period of political inactivity caused by Israeli elections and the change of administration in Washington has harmed the peace process. The hiatus coincided with the launch of Israel's Gaza offensive in December to try to halt years of rocket fire at Israeli towns and cripple Hamas.We face a situation of very great jeopardy for the peace process in 2009, said Blair after talks at EU headquarters with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external relations commissioner.We need a combination of strong political negotiations toward a two-state solution and major change on the ground.The next six months actually will be completely critical in determining whether this process can move forward or whether it will slip back,he added.He spoke a day after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's new leader, promised to seek peace with Jerusalem's Arab neighbors but remained silent about a Palestinian state living next to Israel in peace — which has long been the goal of the international community on whose behalf Blair speaks.Netanyahu is observed with trepidation in European capitals. He favors pressing ahead with construction in West Bank settlements. His new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, is an ultranationalist and several of his cabinet members oppose territorial compromises with Palestinians.Now that we have a new administration in place in the United States, now that we have a new government in place in Israel this is the time when we have to make 2009 a year of progress,said Blair.

New Israeli FM criticizes peace efforts By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 1, 1:28 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel's new hard-line foreign minister delivered a scathing critique of Mideast peace efforts Wednesday, rejecting the past year of U.S.-led negotiations and telling a room crowded with cringing diplomats that concessions to the Palestinians only invite war.Avigdor Lieberman's first speech since taking office, along with accusations by the moderate Palestinian president that the new Israeli government opposes peace, signaled tough times ahead for the Obama administration's regional diplomacy.Whoever thinks that concessions ... will achieve something is wrong. He will bring pressures and more wars,Lieberman said.What we have to explain to the world is that the list of priorities must change.The appointment of Lieberman, head of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu, has raised international concerns because of his hard-line positions on peace and an election campaign that was widely seen as racist.Lieberman's campaign proposal to strip the citizenship of people who do not pledge loyalty to the state and slogan that only Lieberman understands Arabic were viewed as thinly veiled swipes at Israel's Arab minority.His speech at the Foreign Ministry only added to Palestinian trepidation over the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In his first term as prime minister a decade ago, Netanyahu took a tough line in peace talks and frequently clashed with his Palestinian counterparts.Netanyahu, who took office Wednesday, has tried to portray a softer image this time around, saying he will seek a final peace agreement with the Palestinians. But he has not outlined how that deal might look, and conspicuously refused to accept the Palestinian demand for an independent state on lands occupied by Israel.Middle East envoy Tony Blair on stressed Wednesday that Palestinian statehood remains the key to peace in the region and warned of the consequences if negotiations are not vigorously pursued.We face a situation of very great jeopardy for the peace process,he told reporters in Brussels.We need a combination of strong political negotiations toward a two-state solution and major change on the ground.

Establishment of a Palestinian state was endorsed by former President George W. Bush and is a cornerstone of the Obama administration's Mideast policy.U.S. officials did not comment directly on Lieberman's speech but the White House also emphasized the statehood issue.The President has said many times that we are committed to the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security,said Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking for the first time about the new Israeli government, urged the international community to put heavy pressure on Netanyahu.We want to tell the world that this man doesn't believe in peace and therefore we cannot deal with him,Abbas told an Arab summit in Qatar. His comments were reported by the official Palestinian news agency.As Israel's face to the outside world, the brash, Moldovan-born Lieberman, who still speaks with a Russian accent, could have a difficult time changing minds about the government's intentions.In his speech, Lieberman harshly criticized the U.S.-led peace talks launched by Bush in Annapolis, Maryland in 2007, saying the agreement has no bearing.Nobody ever authorized Annapolis,he said.Instead, Lieberman said he would reluctantly accept an earlier peace plan known as the road map.The road map promoted a phased approach to peacemaking and never got off the ground as Israel and the Palestinians accused each other of failing to meet their obligations. The Annapolis process tried to get over this hump by jumping directly to all final status issues surrounding Palestinian independence.We will never agree to ... go straight to the final cause, which is negotiations for a final agreement. No. These concessions bring nothing,Lieberman said.

Officials in Netanyahu's office did not return messages seeking comment.

Lieberman spoke at a handover ceremony attended by his predecessor, Tzipi Livni, who was Israel's chief negotiator in the Annapolis talks. Livni grimaced throughout his speech, and at one time spoke up to disagree with him. Diplomats in the room shifted uncomfortably as he spoke.He came here with a clear political program and he now exposed what it was. This is what it's going to be,said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.Lieberman has generated controversy for more than a decade in politics.

Last October, he said that Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, could go to hell because of his refusal to visit Israel. But in Wednesday's speech, he said Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel, was an important ally. I would definitely like to visit Egypt and I would be happy for Egyptian leaders to visit here,he said.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

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

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

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

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

WORLD GOVERNMENT

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

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

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

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

LINKS TO STORY
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=62661
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/01/g20-summit-gordon-brown-china-recession
http://www.infowars.com/financial-times-editorial-admits-agenda-for-dictatorial-world-government/

World Bank President Admits Agenda For Global Government
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Wednesday, April 1, 2009

World Bank President and Bilderberg elitist Robert Zoellick openly admitted the plan to eliminate national sovereignty and impose a global government during a speech on the eve of the G20 summit.Speaking about the agenda to increase not just funding but power for international organizations on the back of the financial crisis, Zoellick stated, If leaders are serious about creating new global responsibilities or governance, let them start by modernising multilateralism to empower the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank Group to monitor national policies.In other words, give global institutions the power to regulate national policy as part of the creation of global government.What Zoellick is outlining is essentially the end of national sovereignty and the reclassification of national governments as mere subordinates to a global authority that is completely unaccountable to the voting public of any country.The more cynical amongst us would call this a global dictatorship. Zoellick couches the plan in flowery rhetoric of helping the poor and alleviating poverty, but as we have documented for years, the global elite’s goal of world government has little to do with saving the planet and everything to do with creating a global fascist state.Zoellick, former Executive Vice President of Fannie Mae and advisor to Goldman Sachs, is a top elitist who was intimately involved in the Enron scandal and the 2000 presidential election debacle. He was also a signatory to the Project For A New American century document that called for invading Iraq as part of implementing a brutal world empire in 1998. He was later a foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush.

As to be expected, Zoellick is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. He also attended the annual invitation-only conferences of the Bilderberg Group in 1991, 2003, 2006 and 2007.Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will use the G20 summit in London to extend an olive branch to China, offering them a central role in the construction of a new world order and a global government, according to reports.Brown will hold talks with Hu Jintao, China’s president, following discussions with Barack Obama, amid signs that developing countries see the G20 summit as a chance to impose a new world order and end the era of Anglo-European dominance,reports the Guardian.Under the proposal, China will vastly increase its IMF funding in return for more voting rights.A central focus of the G20 summit will be the proposal to supplant the dollar with a new global currency. Both the IMF and the United Nations threw their weight behind the implementation of a new global reserve currency system to replace the dollar, in the same week that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CFR globalists that he was open to the idea.China and Russia brought the issue to the forefront of this week’s G20 when they jointly called for a new global reserve currency a week ago.Brown has consistently called for global regulation of the financial system as a means towards global governance.In a speech at St Paul’s Cathedral in London yesterday he again called for a new global society.

G20: Gordon Brown woos China with offer of greater voting powersPatrick Wintour, political editor The Guardian, Wednesday 1 April 2009

Gordon Brown will enter talks with China today to see if it would be willing to commit extra funds to fighting a world recession in return for greater voting powers on multilateral institutions, including the IMF and World Bank.Brown will hold talks with Hu Jintao, China's president, following discussions with Barack Obama, amid signs that developing countries see the G20 summit as a chance to impose a new world order and end the era of Anglo-European dominance. Brown regards the remaking of global financial institutions as a key part of the summit and is optimistic that the Chinese will find extra money, even though Beijing believes western banking and morality have damaged the world economy. British diplomats see China's willingness to participate in the big international institutions as one of the few gains of the world recession. The Chinese have nearly $2trillion in foreign exchange reserves, and have become increasingly concerned at the security of their loans to the US.Brown has said he hopes to increase funding for the IMF to at least $500bn from $250bn. The EU has promised to lend an extra $75bn and Japan an extra $100bn. Obama, with whom Brown spoke on the phone yesterday on his plane trip to London, has offered an extra $100bn, so the Chinese, along with the Saudis, may make up the shortfall. The draft summit communique leaked at the beginning of the week was silent on how much extra funding should go to the IMF from bilateral borrowing, nor did it engage with how much extra money should go to multilateral development banks or how much extra money would be given over the next two years to support trade finance through export credit and investment agencies.In return for funding, the Chinese have been seeking more IMF voting rights, and the summit will agree to a review of these next year with the work completed by January 2011, earlier than previously planned. Similarly the World Bank will complete reforms to shareholding, voting and internal governance by next spring.

The US has also agreed that the financial stability forum, a group of largely western finance ministers and bank governors, should be expanded to include all G20 countries and give it a stronger mandate as the financial stability board. The new membership will include Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and China.Robert Zoellick, the World Bank's president, emphasised the need to give multilateral bodies new powers, rather than just extra financing. In a speech in London yesterday Zoellick said: If leaders are serious about creating new global responsibilities or governance, let them start by modernising multilateralism to empower the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank Group to monitor national policies.Bringing sunlight to national decision-making would contribute to transparency, accountability and consistency across national policies.

As a first step, the G20 should endorse a WTO monitoring system to advance trade and resist economic isolationism, while working to complete the Doha negotiations to open markets, cut subsidies, and resist backsliding.

Brown DOES do God as he calls for new world order in sermon at St Paul's
By James Chapman Last updated at 1:54 AM on 01st April 2009

Gordon Brown has made an overtly religious call for a new world order based on the deep moral sense shared by all faiths. Making the first speech by a serving Prime Minister at St Paul's Cathedral in London, he quoted scripture as he urged people to unite to forge a new global society. The Prime Minister argued that through all faiths, traditions and heritages runs a single powerful modern sense demanding responsibility from all and fairness to all. He quoted the Christian doctrine of do to others what you would have them do unto you and highlighted similar principles in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.They each and all reflect a sense that we share the pain of others, and a sense that we believe in something bigger than ourselves - that we cannot be truly content while others face despair, cannot be completely at ease while others live in fear, cannot be satisfied while others are in sorrow,he said.

We all feel, regardless of the source of our philosophy, the same deep moral sense that each of us is our brother and sisters' keeper . . . we cannot and will not pass by on the other side when people are suffering and when we have it within our power to help.He went on to suggest the world economy and society should be rebuilt around a Zulu word for hope - themba - which is also an acronym for there must be an alternative. The speech was an extraordinary break from his predecessor Tony Blair, whose spin doctor Alastair Campbell famously declared that we don't do God. At Westminster it was also seen as high risk for a Government mired in allegations of sleaze to put morality and faith at the centre of its political and economic message.
Mr Brown, with Australian PM Kevin Rudd in the historic cathedral, in the week that world leaders meet for the G20 summit Mr Brown, asked about his decision to discuss religion so openly, declared: I think politicians have got to be very careful that they don't turn out to try to be bishops.But what we do and what we say reflects the views that we have, the belief we hold, the faith we were brought up in and the faith we believe in.

Mr Brown, whose father was a minister in the Church of Scotland, is not a regular churchgoer, but aides said last night that he believed in God. The Prime Minister, on a platform with his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd and the Bishop of London Richard Chartres, admitted unsupervised financial markets had crossed moral boundaries.He said market forces should be replaced by those of the heart because it was now clear they could become the enemy of the good society. Brown: We cannot and will not pass by the side when people are suffering.We can now see that markets cannot self-regulate but they can self-destruct,he added. Critics said Mr Brown undermined his high moral tone by injecting some low politics into his address.
He claimed those that would do nothing and let the recession run its course - his traditional attack on the Tories - demean our humanity. The Prime Minister also raised eyebrows by claiming he had been arguing for some time that there are limits to markets. For more than a decade, Labour enthusiastically championed the light touch' regulation of the City, now blamed for letting bankers take massive risks.
Speaking to a congregation of 2,000 faith and City leaders, charity workers and schoolchildren, Mr Brown again dodged calls to apologise for his role in the financial crisis.I have always said I take full responsibility for my actions,he declared.But I also know that this crisis is global in source and global in scale. I believe that unsupervised globalisation of our financial markets did not only cross national boundaries - it crossed moral boundaries too.The Prime Minister said financial institutions and markets must in future operate around the enduring virtues' of everyday life.Our financial system must be founded on the very same values that are at the heart of our family lives,he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU APR 02,2009

09:30 AM +10.05
10:00 AM +193.78
10:30 AM +196.65
11:00 AM +224.61
11:30 AM +274.31
12:00 PM +252.72
12:30 PM +302.03
01:00 PM +286.26
01:30 PM +262.60
02:00 PM +246.87
02:30 PM +274.47
03:00 PM +279.01
03:30 PM +276.46
04:00 PM +216.48 7978.08

S&P 500 834.38 +23.30

NASDAQ 1602.63 +51.03

GOLD 905.00 -22.70

OIL 52.45 +4.06

TSE 300 9064.13 +122.31

CDNX 978.27 +8.18

S&P/TSX/60 550.49 +6.66

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -11.56%
S&P -10.20%
Nasdaq -1.61%
TSX Advances 982,declines 519,unchanged 248,Volume 2,403,583,800.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 372,Declines 341,Unchanged 324,Volume 176,198,726.
$12.8 TRILLION WASTED BY THE ROBBER BANKERS SO FAR,SO WHOS GETTING RICH FOLKS?
EQUALS $42,105 FOR EVERY MAN,WOMAN,CHILD IN THE USA.
NEARLY AS MUCH AS THE USA ENTIRE GDP:$14.2 TRILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dow +163 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +10 points at low today.
Dow +281 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $907.00.OIL opens at $51.94 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow +10 points at low today so far.
Dow +281 points at high today so far.
THIS IS THE BEST DAY FOR DOW TRANSPORTS SINCE 1939 OR CLOSE TO IT TODAY SO FAR.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 3,250,declines 408,unchanged 59,New Highs 11,New Lows 63.
Volume 3,548,420,679.
NASDAQ Advances 2,195,declines 424,unchanged 85,New highs 21,New Lows 16.
Volume 1,071,056,624.
TSX Advances 929,declines 395,unchanged 232,Volume 1,573,617,950.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 301,Declines 250,Unchanged 258,Volume 113,346,931.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow +10 points at low today.
Dow +312 points at high today.
Dow +2.79% today Volume 442,749,635.
Nasdaq +3.29% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 +2.87% today Volume N/A

RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65

RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04

U.S. sees G20 accord, Europeans demand tough rules By Lesley Wroughton and Caren Bohan – Wed Apr 1, 8:42 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – France and Germany joined forces on Wednesday to demand world leaders deliver on pledges of tough financial market regulation at a crisis summit, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy saying this is not negotiable.Keen to secure a confidence-boosting message for voters and frazzled financial markets as the world succumbs to the deepest downturn since the Great Depression, U.S. President Barack Obama said there were no substantive differences with Europe.Washington wanted tougher regulation too, he told a news conference with Britain's Gordon Brown, summit host.It was not clear whether the flashpoint, which appeared to focus primarily on Sarkozy's demands for blacklisting of tax havens, would be enough to sour the mood and compromise the outcome.Several hundred demonstrators clashed with riot police and smashed bank windows in London's finance center ahead of the summit.Police said one person died during the protest. More protests were planned for Thursday, the main day of a summit involving the world's biggest economies, developed and up-and-coming.

Global economic output will contract more in 2009 than any year since World War Two, says the International Monetary Fund, and IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn says the Great Recession could cause 50 million job losses worldwide.G20 leaders were preparing a major expansion in resources available through the IMF, possibly including a tripling of its war chest to $750 billion, G7 sources said.Egypt's finance minister issued a stark warning -- people will die in the world's poorest countries if rich nations push them aside in the scramble to escape the global economic crisis.Developed countries are borrowing heavily on international markets to fire up their economies, meaning poorer countries are increasingly unable to do so, said Youssef Boutros-Ghali, who heads the IMF's policy committee.

MOBILISING TRILLIONS

The G20 leaders hope around two trillion dollars governments are pumping into the economy in tax cuts, building projects and green investments will limit the depth and duration of recession and maybe create 20 million or so new jobs.They were also looking to drum up more than $500 billion and maybe substantially more in funding the IMF can use to bail out economies which head into balance of payments troubles.As the leaders dined with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, officials were hammering away at details of what they would announce the following day.Paris and Berlin fear the summit will fall short of the mark on regulation of tax havens, hedge funds and markets in general, and went in gunning for concrete announcements on that front.

Any regulations we don't agree here, won't be agreed for the next five years,Merkel told a joint news conference with her French counterpart.The summit is not about horsetrading between regulation and economic growth programs.In the results, we want the principle of new regulation to be a major objective ... This is not negotiable, Sarkozy added.Obama, making his first official visit to Europe, said G20 nations were not going to agree on every point but brushed aside suggestions the summit would falter because countries were split over the importance of regulation versus new stimulus packages.The core notion that government has to take some steps to deal with a contracting global market place and that we should be promoting growth -- that's not in dispute,Obama said.On the regulatory side, this notion that somehow there are those who are pushing for regulation and those who are resisting regulation is belied by the facts.The stakes are high, more so in the developing world.Mexico's central bank said it had asked to tap a $47 billion International Monetary Fund credit line, the latest Latin American country to seek help from the multilateral lender in an effort to navigate the global economic crisis.

World stock prices meanwhile built on a recent recovery, but worries over banks and growth continued to haunt markets in Europe and analysts said many investors remained on the sidelines, edgy over what message the summit would generate. French President Sarkozy earlier threatened to disassociate himself from any false compromises at the summit, the second such meeting of world leaders to try to tackle the problems created by the downturn and credit crunch, which in turn began when the U.S. housing market collapsed over two years ago. In a further sign of division, Japan criticized the German approach. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso was quoted as saying that Germany did not understand the importance of fiscal stimulus. Brown stuck to an upbeat note, though. We are within a few hours, I think, of agreeing a global plan for economic recovery and reform and I think the significance of this is that we are looking at every aspect,he said.(Writing by Brian Love and Keith Weir, editing by Mike Peacock)

G20 leaders craft crisis response By David Ljunggren and Lesley Wroughton APR 1,09

LONDON (Reuters) – World leaders are set to declare an end to unfettered capitalism at a G20 summit on Thursday after France and Germany demanded they act fast on promises to prevent a repeat of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.A communique drafted for release at a G20 summit in London, obtained by Reuters, signaled that leaders would submit large hedge funds to supervision for the first time and enhance regulation through a new agency and a beefed-up International Monetary Fund.It included a pledge to deliver the scale of sustained effort necessary to restore growth without making any commitments beyond the trillions being spent to stabilize banks, shore up demand and limit job losses.Keen to secure a confidence-boosting message for voters and frazzled financial markets as the world succumbs to recession, U.S. President Barack Obama said there were no substantive differences with Europe, despite the hardball stances taken by the French and German leaders.

Washington wanted tougher regulation too, he told a news conference on Wednesday with Britain's Gordon Brown, summit host, saying he was at the summit not just to lecture but to listen and to help lead the way out of trouble.It was not clear whether the flashpoint, which appeared to focus primarily on Sarkozy's demands for blacklisting of tax havens, would be enough to derail a message of unity from the meeting.The draft communique said tax havens would be identified and sanctions could be deployed.

The era of banking secrecy is over,it declared.

ONE DEAD AT PROTESTS

Several hundred demonstrators clashed with riot police and smashed bank windows in London's financial center ahead of the summit on Wednesday.Police said one person died during the protest. The man was found in a street near the central bank where he had fallen down and stopped breathing at around 7:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. EDT), they said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the man's death and a police source said he likely died from a medical condition, although that would not be confirmed until after a post-mortem.More protests were planned for Thursday, the main day of a summit involving the world's biggest economies, developed and up-and-coming, in all accounting for more than 80 percent of world trade and economic output.Global economic output is expected to contract more in 2009 than any year since World War Two, dropping between 0.5 and 1.0 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund, whose head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is calling it a Great Recession.The International Labour Organization says the crisis could cost 50 million jobs by the end of the year.G20 leaders were preparing a major expansion in resources available through the IMF, possibly including a tripling of its war chest to $750 billion, officials familiar with negotiation of the issue said.The draft communique contained a pledge by the G20 nations to allow candid, even-handed and independent surveillance of their economies and financial sectors by the IMF.It also unveiled a Financial Stability Board to work with the IMF to identify economic and financial risks and measures needed to address them, revamping an existing body called the Financial Stability Forum.

MOBILISING TRILLIONS

The G20 leaders hope around two trillion dollars governments are pumping into the economy in tax cuts, building projects and green investments, according to summit host Gordon Brown, will limit the depth and duration of recession and maybe create 20 million or so new jobs. Paris and Berlin, fearing the summit would fall short of the mark on regulation of tax havens, hedge funds and markets in general, went in gunning for concrete announcements. Any regulations we don't agree here, won't be agreed for the next five years, Merkel told a joint news conference with her French counterpart on Wednesday.The summit is not about horse-trading between regulation and economic growth programs.In the results, we want the principle of new regulation to be a major objective ... This is not negotiable, French President Nicolas Sarkozy added. Obama, making his first official visit to Europe, said G20 nations were not going to agree on every point but brushed aside suggestions the summit would falter because countries were split over the importance of regulation versus new stimulus packages.

The core notion that government has to take some steps to deal with a contracting global market place and that we should be promoting growth -- that's not in dispute, Obama said.On the regulatory side, this notion that somehow there are those who are pushing for regulation and those who are resisting regulation is belied by the facts.
Sarkozy earlier threatened to disassociate himself from any false compromises at the summit, the second such meeting of world leaders to try to tackle the problems created by the downturn and credit crunch, which in turn began when the U.S. housing market collapsed over two years ago.(Writing by Brian Love and Keith Weir, editing by Mike Peacock)

Obama, Brown say G-20 deal will fight recession By JANE WARDELL, AP Business Writer APR 1,09

LONDON – Doggedly optimistic in the face of doubts, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown predicted Thursday's emergency G-20 economic summit would produce a significant global deal to tackle the deepening worldwide recession. Others weren't so sure.France warned on Wednesday that neither it nor Germany would agree to false compromises that soft-pedal a need for tougher financial regulation to curb abuses that contributed to the spreading chaos. And outside the carefully scripted meetings, protesters smashed bank windows and pelted police with eggs and fruit.Thousands surged into London's financial district, blockading the Bank of England and breaking into a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Elsewhere, however, inside the meetings, Obama said differences among the presidents and prime ministers of the Group of 20 rich and emerging countries, were vastly overstated.

I am absolutely confident that this meeting will reflect enormous consensus about the need to work in concert to deal with these problems,said Obama, who is under pressure to make a good showing in his first major international appearance.With economic chaos spreading, Brown, the host of the summit, predicted agreement on a coordinated strategy, including a possible $100 billion fund to finance global trade, tighter financial rules and action to support economic growth and job creation.G-20 leaders are also in general agreement on a plan to double the money available to the International Monetary Fund, to some $500 billion, to help emerging countries.

Consensus on further measures is by no means clear.

Brown initially trumpeted the gathering as a new Bretton Woods — a new financial architecture for the years ahead.But the meeting so far bears little similarity to the 1944 New Hampshire conference where the eventual winners of World War II gathered to set postwar global monetary and financial order.Washington has eased off on its push for other governments to pump more money into economic stimulus programs after heavy opposition from European countries, who contend their bigger social safety nets make more spending unnecessary.Germany and France have instead campaigned for tougher rules to restrain financial market excesses.That disagreement has lowered expectations for the London summit and weakened confidence in the world's ability to quickly pull out of the downturn.Global trade is plummeting, protectionism is beginning to make inroads and unemployment is rising.French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, who had earlier implied he might walk out if key demands on tighter regulation were not met, presented a more conciliatory stance at a joint London news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying he had confidence in Obama.He still warned, however, that France nor Germany would reject false compromises and considered concrete steps on tax havens, hedge funds and ratings agencies crucial.Paris and Berlin want definitive agreements on a crackdown on tax havens and action on other regulatory issues, rather than simple commitments to reform. The summit is also expected to consider lightly regulated hedge funds and how to clear bank balance sheets of shaky securities.

Sarkozy said that without new regulation there will be no confidence. it's a major non-negotiable objective.Merkel said both she and Sarkozy had come to London in a very constructive mood.But she said, We do not want results that have no impact in practice.Even free trade remains the subject of potentially bitter dispute. In their meeting in November, the G-20 members vowed to avoid protectionism that could stifle trade. But since then, 17 have acted to pass subsidies to protect their own industries or limit imports, according to the World Bank. On Wednesday, leaders met in a series of bilateral meetings behind closed doors to try close the gap on key issues. They assembled for a formal dinner Wednesday evening before business meetings on Thursday. Another growing concern for the conference is the plight of developing countries, amid growing fears that the heavy toll exacted by the global economic crisis on those nations could come with a heavy human and political toll. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has written to leaders to urge them to approve a $1 trillion stimulus plan for developing countries and urge the G-20 countries to back away from damaging anti-trade policies. It remains to be seen if the leaders will be able to avoid a repeat of the last time that London hosted a world economic summit — the 1933 World Economic Conference that tried to agree to plans to revive the global economy in the midst of the Great Depression. Many commentators blame the collapse of that gathering — torpedoed in part by the recalcitrance of new President Franklin D. Roosevelt to make agreements that would restrict his freedom to act on the U.S. economy — for the subsequent erection of international trade barriers, continued competitive currency devaluation and rising unemployment.

Analysis: Global leaders try not to rattle markets By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer – Wed Apr 1, 4:20 pm ET

LONDON – Global leaders are keeping a nervous eye on world markets as they try to fix their ailing economies. From New York to Tokyo, investors stand ready to instantly grade the summit of the world's 20 biggest economic powers.As leaders gathered, the U.S. recession that triggered the global crisis entered its 17th month on Wednesday, making it the longest downturn since the decade-long Great Depression. It has now surpassed two previous postwar U.S. recessions that each lasted 16 months, in 1973-75 and 1981-82.After the Dow Jones industrials' worst first quarter in 70 years, Wall Street finished higher in trading on Wednesday and major indexes closed higher in Europe. But markets could sink fast if world leaders fail to present a united front at their meeting on Thursday.Usually, leaders at international forums care little about what markets are doing and markets pay little attention to such forums. Their predictable and vaguely written communiques rarely move the numbers.And after all, who can predict market movements? Gauging how markets might react can be a futile exercise.But in this case, plunging stock markets around the world are not only a symptom of the larger problem, they are part of the problem.Trillions of dollars of wealth have disappeared from pensions, endowments, nest eggs and home values. The market slides have sapped consumer confidence and spending in developed countries and slammed developing ones that rely heavily on their exports.In the United States, nearly half of households own securities, either directly or indirectly through 401(k) and other retirement plans. That's more than ever before in a time of severe economic downturn. Stock ownership also is up in other industrialized nations.

Summit partners don't want to unnecessarily spook the markets. And that injects an additional degree of caution into their deliberations.Failure to reach some acceptable level of accord at Thursday's G-20 summit could obviously have a very negative effect on markets,sowing seeds of further protectionism that in turn would further impact shares of major corporations,said Joseph Lampel, a professor at Cass Business School at City University in London.A vicious circle could accelerate.

There's no way to tell what markets might view as acceptable accomplishments. And since much of the present global decline is caused by lack of confidence, markets are looking for signs of returning confidence.

And this is one of the places they're looking.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama both sought to show cautious confidence at their joint news conference on Wednesday.Obama urged Americans, and consumers across the globe, to show confidence in the ability of the global economy to recover. Don't short change the future because of fear in the present, that I think is the most important message we can send — not just in the United States, but around the world,Obama said.Said Brown: It will get worse if people do not act.But tensions simmered just beneath the surface.Hours before the leaders were to sit down for dinner, French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to keep fighting for stronger international financial regulation, especially of tax havens, saying in an interview with Europe 1 radio that he would not associate himself with false compromises.Later, Sarkozy was asked about tensions between Europe and the United states and threats that he might walk out of the meeting. I have confidence in Obama, he told reporters. I am sure that he will help us and that he will understand us.Few expect the gathering to endorse either the bold stimulus spending that the U.S. and Britain have advocated nor the tough new international financial regulation that France, Germany and some other European countries want. Instead, the gathering was expected to endorse a mix of measured steps, including increased coordination in regulation, more money for the International Monetary Fund and a modest amount of stimulus spending, much of it already announced. My sense is that it will be a credible and legitimate package of steps both on the restoring-growth side and on the regulatory-reform side. And how the market reacts to that remains to be seen,said Mike Froman, a White House international economics adviser.

Markets hate uncertainty.

When Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner first outlined the Obama administration's bank-rescue plan in early February, the Dow Jones industrials plunged 300 points, mainly over the plan's lack of details. When he later filled in the blanks with a detailed plan, it soared nearly 500 points. And Geithner briefly unsettled currency markets a week ago when he appeared willing to entertain a Chinese proposal that an international currency replace the U.S. dollar as the world's main reserve currency — a notion he quickly dispelled.

Recent reports suggest the world economy is weakening, not strengthening.

The world economy is in the midst of its deepest and most synchronized recession in our lifetimes,wrote Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, chief economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in a report this week predicting the world economy would shrink this year for the first time since World War II, by 2.75 percent. He also wrote that trade would further contract sharply. Of course, if markets hate uncertainty, there can also be the certainty of low expectations.

What if the summit is viewed as a flop?

I think flop is pretty well built into expectations,said David Wyss, chief economist of Standard and Poor's in New York. Nearly everybody involved in the process expects more international coordination and regulation,it's just a matter of how much,Wyss said.As to possible market reaction, Wyss said that while the G-20 summit won't accomplish much, it's a good first step. And it's better than canceling the meeting.
EDITOR'S NOTE — Tom Raum has covered Washington for The Associated Press since 1973, frequently reporting on the economy.

Bank of Canada softens tone on further stimulus By Scott Haggett – Wed Apr 1, 5:34 pm ET

YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada signaled on Wednesday there is no guarantee it will cut rates further or use unconventional policies to combat the recession, despite an economy that it said may be shrinking at the fastest pace in at least half a century.Governor Mark Carney said in a speech that Canada's recession could extend through the second half of this year, backing away from an earlier forecast that growth would return in the third quarter.The economy likely contracted in the first quarter at its sharpest rate since record-keeping began in 1961, Carney said.Even so, he signaled that investors should not assume the bank will use additional tools at its disposal -- including an interest rate cut or unorthodox measures -- to stimulate growth with the central bank's benchmark rate already near zero.It all depends what works best to achieve the bank's 2 percent inflation target, he said.Whatever type of stimulus, whether an additional reduction of interest rates or use of credit or quantitative easing, will solely be determined by achieving that target, Carney told reporters in a news conference after his speech to a business audience in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.He hinted that the bank could provide the stimulus the economy needs simply by holding down rates -- now at a historic low of 0.5 percent -- for an extended period of time, without cutting further.Duration matters. By keeping rates low for longer, additional stimulus can be provided,he said.Carney reiterated that he would outline a framework on April 23 for credit and quantitative easing, which analysts believe could involve printing money to buy securities outright in the market.The U.S. Federal Reserve last month unveiled bold measures to inject an additional $1 trillion into the U.S. economy, partly by buying government bonds for the first time since the 1960s. Central banks in Japan, Britain and Switzerland have taken similar moves.But Carney emphasized that that the Bank of Canada won't necessarily take this route.To be absolutely clear, outlining a framework does not necessarily imply that these policy options will be deployed,he said.

Quite simply, the bank will only venture into using these new policies if economic developments persuade it more stimulus is needed, he said.That would be the trigger to moving to the next set of tools.The suite of tools used would depend on the severity of the market conditions and the Bank of Canada is in virtually daily contact with other central banks on this subject.We have to look on the credit easing side in terms of where are there challenges ... dislocations in markets and is there something we can do in an efficient way to impact those,he said.

CURRENCY LITTLE CHANGED

The speech may have disappointed a significant minority of the market that thought Carney would offer further detail on quantitative easing and move the idea forward, said Mark Chandler, fixed-income strategist at RBC Capital Markets.It doesn't appear that the comprehensive plan that will come out on the 23rd will be an action plan that would soon be implemented.The Canadian dollar was little changed following the speech, trading around C$1.26, or 79.37 U.S. cents. Bond prices were generally firmer.Carney was basically downplaying expectations left, right and center for further easing, as well as the prospect of a near-term economic recovery, said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist BMO Capital Markets. The bank has cut its overnight rate by 4 percentage points since December 2007 and that, combined with the government's stimulus package, will begin to gain traction in the second half and help Canada recover faster than most other major economies, Carney said. In January, the bank projected a return to growth in the third quarter of this year, followed by 3.8 percent growth in 2010.But Carney now sees the recession lingering longer. The Canadian economy could continue to contract into the second half of this year,he said.Canada's economy shrank 0.7 percent in January, following a 3.4 percent contraction, annualized, in the fourth quarter of last year.(Reporting by Scott Haggett; writing by Louise Egan; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)

Canada sees U.S. rejecting global regulator at G20 Wed Apr 1, 10:12 am ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada believes that the U.S. and some emerging markets will not accept a global financial regulator, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Sky News in an interview on Wednesday ahead of a G20 summit in London.I don't think the Americans and some of the emerging markets will accept a global regulator. These are, after all, sovereign countries, so I think we've got a system that's workable and respects sovereignty,he said.Harper said a compromise solution for G20 leaders who appear to be split over the issue of financial regulation would be for strengthened systems of domestic regulation complemented by international peer reviews of those regulations.

This is the only realistic approach,he said.France and Germany issued warnings against weak compromises from G20 leaders at their meeting on Thursday as they seek an accord to haul the world out of recession and tighten regulations.But Harper downplayed the potential for discord between the U.S. on the one hand, and some of the European leaders calling for stricter regulations.Based on the conversations I've had, I think there's more convergence than has been let on in the media,he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Harper called on the G20 leaders to overact and take dramatic action.I think there would be a risk of underacting. Let's assume that we need dramatic action, let's do it,he said.(Reporting by Louise Egan in Ottawa and David Ljunggren in London; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

Brussels could recommend visa-free travel for Balkan countries
ELITSA VUCHEVA 31.03.2009 @ 17:40 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission could in the first half of this year recommend lifting visa requirements for the Balkan countries that have carried out sufficient reforms, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said on Tuesday (31 March).

Maybe this year we will be able to get concrete results as regards visa-free travel, Mr Rehn said at a conference organised by the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC) think-tank.We analyse the reports for the moment and we will consider recommendations still before the end of the Czech EU presidency [in July] so that the Council [the EU member states] could in the course of this year…take a decision on visa-free travel for the most advanced countries of the western Balkans in terms of meeting the requirements and conditions,he added.Visa requirements were imposed on the western Balkan countries in the aftermath of the 1990s Yugoslav war, with the EU promising as far back as 2003 to start talks with the countries' governments to lift these obligations.Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro are currently the most advanced in that respect, according to Brussels' assessment reports from November last year, while Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the least prepared.If the commission recommends scrapping the heavy visa obligations, a qualified majority of EU member states would have to back the measure for it to go through. Visa liberalisation is clearly our priority this year,Mr Rehn told MEPs from the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee later on Tuesday.The commissioner also urged the EU not to use the global financial crisis as an excuse to slow down the enlargement process.

Let's not make enlargement the scapegoat of economic recession, since it has not deserved this and it is not responsible for our social ills in the EU,Mr Rehn said.
Our economic troubles are not the fault of a Serbian worker or a Croatian civil servant, rather they stem from the systemic errors of financial capitalism and originate from Wall Street, not from main street in Zagreb or Belgrade.

Slovenia and Croatia should avoid blame games

Commenting on the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, which has seen Ljubljana block Zagreb's EU talks since December, Mr Rehn urged the two countries to adopt a constructive approach in order to solve the issue, rather than blame each other for the stalemate.I am quite worried about the media and the media climate in both countries …Let's stop nationalistic rhetoric,he said.The commissioner has proposed setting up a mediation group chaired by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari to help solve the border dispute.Mr Rehn declined to confirm whether he had received a reply to his proposal from the two countries, or whether Mr Ahtisaari would participate in a meeting between himself and Croatia's and Slovenia's foreign ministers on Wednesday in a bid to break the deadlock.He reaffirmed however that Zagreb was still on track to conclude EU accession talks by the end of this year, despite the current stalemate.Croatia opened EU accession talks in 2005 and wants to become the bloc's 28th member state in 2011.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU New Israeli leader hints at Iran attack,Netanyahu takes office, warns of possible confrontation with Tehran April 01, 2009 1:50 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily

Benjamin Netanyahu
JERUSALEM – Incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially took office in a Jerusalem ceremony today, stressing upon his installation the need to confront Iran on that country's suspected nuclear weapons development program. We will have to roll up our sleeves and start working straightaway, as soon as we step out of this office, Netanyahu said at the ceremony. In an interview with the Atlantic magazine just before his swearing in ceremony, Netanyahu hinted the Jewish state may need to attack Iran.You don't want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs, Netanyahu said, referring to Iran. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.He then told the Atlantic that in the past, Israeli preemptive strikes were necessary against regimes threatening the Jewish state's existence. He was referring to Israel's 1981 attack against Iraq's nuclear reactor and a 2007 bombing raid against a suspected Syrian nuclear site purportedly being constructed with aid from North Korea. Speaking from the White House at about the same time Netanyahu's remarks were made, President Obama affirmed Iran has the right to a civilian nuclear program. While we recognize that under the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) Iran has the right to a civilian nuclear program, Iran needs to restore confidence in its exclusively peaceful nature,Obama announced in a joint statement with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of their first sit-down.

Back in Jerusalem, Netanyahu praised outgoing leader Ehud Olmert, calling him one of Israel's most talented prime ministers,while wishing him success on future endeavors.

Olmert announced his resignation last year amid multiple criminal corruption and bribery investigations described by police officials as serious. His legacy is mired by Israel's perceived failure to defeat the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon in 2006, as well as the Jewish state's recent 22-day confrontation with Hamas in Gaza that left the terrorist organization largely in tact and much less isolated internationally.

Netanyahu to evacuate West Bank?

It was unclear what Netanyahu's policies would be toward the Palestinians or Syria.
New Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman today announced Israel is committed to every aspect of the Road Map, but is not obligated by the Annapolis process. The Road Map calls for the Palestinians to defeat terrorism before moving on to negotiations to create a Palestinian state, while the Annapolis process stressed immediate talks to form a state.According to sources close to Netanyahu speaking to WND, the prime minister is planning to continue negotiations with the Palestinians toward an Israeli withdrawal from the majority of the West Bank. With regard to Syria, Netanyahu has stated he will talk to Damascus. As a candidate, however, he visited the strategic Golan Heights and vowed never to relinquish the territory, which looks down on Israeli population centers and twice was used by Damascus to mount ground invasions into Israel.Sources close to Netanyahu said the new leader already sent messages to Syria expressing his willingness to conduct negotiations toward an accommodation on the Golan. The sources did not say if Netanyahu was willing to go as far as any Israeli withdrawal from that territory.News media accounts routinely billed the Golan as undisputed Syrian territory until Israel captured the region in 1967. In actuality, the Golan has been out of Damascus' control for far longer than the 19 years it was within its rule, from 1948 to 1967. Even when Syria shortly held the Golan, some of it was stolen from Jews. Tens of thousands of acres of farmland on the Golan were purchased by Jews as far back as the late 19th century. The Turks of the Ottoman Empire kicked out some Jews around the turn of the century. But some of the Golan was still farmed by Jews until 1947 when Syria first became an independent state. Just before that, the territory was transferred back and forth between France, Britain and even Turkey, before it became a part of the French Mandate of Syria. When the French Mandate ended in 1944, the Golan Heights became part of the newly independent state of Syria, which quickly seized land that was being worked by the Palestine Colonization Association and the Jewish Colonization Association. A year later, in 1948, Syria, along with other Arab countries, used the Golan to attack Israel in a war to destroy the newly formed Jewish state.The Golan, steeped in Jewish history, is connected to the Torah and to the periods of the First and Second Jewish Temples. The Golan Heights was referred to in the Torah as Bashan; the word Golan apparently derived from the biblical city of Golan in Bashan.The book of Joshua relates how the Golan was assigned to the tribe of Menasheh. Later, during the time of the First Temple, King Solomon appointed three ministers in the region, and the area became contested between the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and the Aramean kingdom based in Damascus. The book of Kings relates how King Ahab of Israel defeated Ben-Hadad I of Damascus near the present-day site of Kibbutz Afik in the southern Golan, and the prophet Elisha foretold that King Jehoash of Israel would defeat Ben-Hadad III of Damascus, also near Kibbutz Afik. The online Jewish Virtual Library has an account of how in the late 6th and 5th centuries B.C., the Golan was settled by Jewish exiles returning from Babylonia, modern day Iraq. In the mid-2nd century B.C., Judah Maccabee's grandnephew, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannai, added the Golan Heights to his kingdom.The Golan hosted some of the most important houses of Torah study in the years following the Second Temple's destruction and subsequent Jewish exile; some of Judaism's most revered ancient rabbis are buried in the territory. The remains of some 25 synagogues from the period between the Jewish revolt and the Islamic conquest in 636 have been excavated. The Golan is dotted with ancient Jewish villages.

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN Saudi aid to Taliban killing U.S. soldiers?
Kingdom could be source of mischief in Pakistan March 31, 2009 8:49 pm Eastern
2009 WorldNetDaily

While the United States places great hope and expectation in Saudi Arabia to help with the Middle East, the oil-rich kingdom may be working at odds with the U.S. in backing and financing the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. This development comes even though the U.S. has asked Saudi Arabia to work with the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan to split with al-Qaida and deny it safe haven in both countries. A report developed by the private global intelligence firm Stratfor suggests that if the kingdom were to persuade the Taliban to split from al-Qaida, then the U.S. would consider that the U.S. war with transnational jihadists would end.The report cites a visit by Taliban officials to Saudi Arabia and the visit by Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdel-Aziz to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.The report adds, however, that if the Saudis were to help the U.S. and Pakistan against the jihadists, its interests also may be attacked. The interests include the Saudi Embassy and Saudi airline facilities in Pakistan.But the Saudis may have other motives apart from aiding the U.S. in its dilemma of how to get out of its war with jihadists.

Being Sunni, Saudi Arabia may in fact want to work with the Taliban and continue to pay extortion money to al-Qaida to prevent it from launching further attacks inside the kingdom. Both the Taliban and al-Qaida are Sunni. After all, the Saudis helped support the creation of al-Qaidain the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s. The Saudis will want to continue providing financial help to the Taliban to offset any potential Shiite Iranian influence into Afghanistan. And that influence is growing.For that, the Saudis will need to continue secretly nurturing the Taliban as well as al-Qaida, even though its continued support helps them kill American soldiers.

SKorea seeks united front against NKorea launch By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer APR 1,09

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's president sought Wednesday to galvanize support from world leaders to pursue U.N. Security Council punishment for North Korea if it proceeds with a rocket launch that is suspected to be a cover for a missile test.In one-on-one meetings in London on the eve of the G-20 summit, President Lee Myung-bak stressed the need for a united response among world leaders after Pyongyang carries out what it has said will be a satellite launch some time from Saturday to following Wednesday.As world leaders prepared a response to the launch, CNN television reported that the North's own preparations were continuing. The network said on its Web site that Pyongyang has begun fueling the rocket, citing an unidentified senior U.S. military official. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was aware of the report but declined to comment.The U.S., South Korea and Japan believe the reclusive country is really testing its long-range missile technology, and they warn Pyongyang would face sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution that bans the country from any ballistic activity.North Korea has refused to back down and issued warnings of its own, telling the U.S. it will shoot down any spy planes that intrude into its territory and threatening Japan that any effort to intervene in the launch would be considered an act of war.If the brigandish U.S. imperialists dare to infiltrate spy planes into our airspace to interfere with our peaceful satellite launch preparations, our revolutionary armed forces will mercilessly shoot them down,South Korea's Unification Ministry quoted North Korean radio as saying.It is unclear what capability the North Korea has to shoot down high-flying Boeing RC-135s, which can reach altitudes of nearly 10 miles (15 kilometers).U.S. military officials in Seoul declined to comment on the spying allegations or the North's threat.Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, meanwhile, reaffirmed their intention to take North Korea to the Security Council after the launch.

A launch by North Korea would be a clear violation of a U.N. resolution,Aso told Lee on Wednesday, according to Osamu Sakashita, Aso's deputy Cabinet secretary for public relations. On this issue, Japan, Korea and the United States need to work closely together,Aso said.Lee assured Aso that South Korea supports Tokyo's right to take action to defend itself, Sakashita said. He said Japan has every right to take measures to protect its citizens. Korea recognizes this,he said.Japan has deployed battleships with antimissile systems off its northern coast and stationed Patriot missile interceptors around Tokyo to shoot down any wayward rocket debris that North Korea has said might litter the area.The North has warned it would consider any interception the start of Japan's war of re-invasion.Japan says it is only protecting its territory and has no intention of trying to shoot down the rocket itself.In Washington, 16 Republican lawmakers urged President Barack Obama to shoot down the rocket if it endangers the United States or its allies.Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a TV interview aired Sunday that the U.S. had no plans to intercept the North Korean rocket but might consider it if an aberrant missile were headed to Hawaii or something like that.Obama is expected to join the push for a joint response when he meets with the South Korean leader Thursday. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd have already sided with Lee, saying the North's launch would violate the U.N. resolution. But it will be harder to convince President Hu Jintao of China, the North's only major ally, on Friday.Beijing and Moscow — veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council — could object to an attempt to seek U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang, citing legal uncertainty over the wording of the resolution because it makes no mention of launches relating to peaceful outer space activities,the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report.

China and Russia might argue with at least equal plausibility that the resolution relates only to military missile launches and programs, the group said. U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have stressed that missile and satellite launches use the same technology and differ only in payload, so a successful liftoff means the North has a way to launch nuclear warheads. North Korea's weapons of mass destruction combined with its ability to deliver something at a long range is a problem, regardless of what is mounted at the top of the rocket, Wi Sung-lac, Seoul's top nuclear envoy, said after returning from talks in Washington with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts. Amid the tensions over the rocket launch, North Korea has said it will indict and try two American journalists — Laura Ling and Euna Lee of former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture — for allegedly crossing the border illegally from China on March 17 and engaging in hostile acts.In Seoul, meanwhile, North and South Korea faced off again in another arena: the soccer pitch. South Korea beat North Korea 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier Wednesday that drew frenzied cheers from hometown fans waving the South Korean flag. I hope we (South and North Korea) can step closer toward peace with this soccer game,said Kwon Jin-won, 21. Associated Press writer Jae Hee Suh contributed to this report.

EU anti-discrimination bill gets the green light
HONOR MAHONY Today APR 2,09 @ 14:50 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament on Thursday (2 April) passed a bill banning discrimination against people on the basis of age, disability, sexual orientation, belief or religion in the areas of education, social security, health care and goods and services.The draft law was passed on Thursday (2 April) by 363 votes in favour and 226 against after the left wing and liberal MEPs clubbed together to back the legislation. Many centre-right MEPs were against the proposal saying it would lead to too much red tape.Despite the obvious benefits of greater equality in all areas of society, it has taken months of hard work to win support for the new legislation in the European Parliament,said the author of the report, Dutch green MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg.Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in ´t Veld said: Today the European Parliament will emphasize that it does not matter if you are black or white, gay or heterosexual, religious, disabled, young or old. Europe will protect your freedom and will make sure that you will get all the possibilities you deserve to make something of your life.Expressing doubts about the legislation in the run-up to the vote, German conservative MEP Manfred Weber said the parliament's centre-right faction fears the additional red-tape which would be generated by this new directive. Many of its regulations are not favourable to all parties involved, including disabled people,he added.The bill covers areas such as banking, transport and health but transactions between private individuals that are not commercial or professional are excluded.The European Union has since 2000 prohibited these forms of discrimination at work, but legal protection in the realms of public services, buying products or making use of commercial services was not covered. The bill is expected to come before member states in the second half of this year, with the forthcoming Swedish EU presidency recently saying it plans to prioritise the issue.It needs the approval of all 27 governments if it is to come into force in the EU.