ISRAEL-IRAN EYEBALL AT NUKE CONFERENCE

WE AS CHRISTIANS SHOULD HAVE OUR OWN SINGLE CURRENCY ON OUR GOLD AND SILVER COINS.A PICTURE OF JESUS MEETING US IN THE CLOUDS AT THE RAPTURE.
(EU OBSERVER PICTURE)



WITH THE GODLESS WORLD CRYING FOR A SINGLE CURRENCY,WE CHRISTIANS SHOULD HAVE OUR OWN SALUTE TO KING JESUS CURRENCY.OUR GOLD AND SILVER COINS SHOULD BE A IMMANANT REMINDER OF THE RAPTURE.HAVING ON THEM A PICTURE OF KING JESUS MEETING US IN THE CLOUDS AND TAKING US TO HEAVEN FOR THE 7 YEARS OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD.UNTIL LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS GOLD AND SILVER WILL BE WORTHLESS WE AS CHRISTIANS MIGHT AS WELL HAVE OUR CHRISTIAN CURRENCY TO OUR GOD (KING JESUS)INSTEAD OF THE WORLD.I HAD A DREAM OF A GOLD COIN WITH JESUS ON IT THATS WHY I SUGGEST THIS TODAY.

EU states envisage new foreign policy giant-The paper envisages a final proposal on the shape of the diplomatic corps by April 2010 (Photo: ec.europa.eu)ANDREW RETTMAN Today OCT 23,09 @ 15:08 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's new foreign minister will have sweeping powers to conduct foreign policy, propose his own budget and name his own staff independently of other EU institutions, according to the latest EU presidency blueprint. The 10-page Swedish report - obtained by EUobserver - was submitted to EU ambassadors on Thursday (22 October) and represents a synthesis of Stockholm's consultations with the other 26 EU capitals in recent weeks.The post of EU foreign minister or high representative for foreign affairs and a new EU diplomatic corps or European External Action Service (EEAS) are to be created following the entry into life of the EU's Lisbon Treaty.The Swedish paper envisages a minister in charge of a unique sui generis institution with its own section in the EU budget alongside the European Commission, the EU parliament and the Council, the Brussels-based secretariat which prepares regular meetings of EU ministers.The foreign minister is to propose how much money he needs each year, authorise spending, appoint his own staff and take charge of the European Commission's existing delegations across the world. The new institution is to manage general foreign relations as well as EU security and defence projects, such as the police missions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Georgia and Afghanistan or any future peacekeeping operations in, for example, Africa. It is also set to take charge of the Situation Centre, the EU member states' intelligence-sharing hub in Brussels.The EU diplomatic corps will not be responsible for trade, development or enlargement policy, which are to stay European Commission domains. But it is to have internal cells dealing with developing countries and enlargement candidates which will "play a leading role in the strategic decision-making" on commission programmes such as the European Development Fund.

No free rein

The new foreign policy giant will be lashed down to earth by a series of little strings, however.The foreign minister is to prepare foreign policy initiatives. But decisions are to be made by EU member states at intergovernmental level, while the commission is to play an extensive role in the technical implementation of any projects. Member states' own embassies will continue to provide diplomatic and consular protection for EU citizens abroad.Any initiatives which intrude on the commission's trade, enlargement or development work are to be prepared jointly by the foreign minister and the commissioner in charge of the portfolio and adopted by the college of commissioners.

The European Parliament is also to play a modest role.

The High Representative should regularly consult the European Parliament on the main aspects and the basic choices of the CSFP/CSDP [EU foreign and security policy]. Close contacts with the European Parliament will take place at working level, the Swedish text says.

Balancing act

In terms of staffing, the diplomatic corps is to suck in people from the commission, member states' foreign ministries and the Council. One third of senior or AD level staff is to come from member states.People are to be hired keeping in mind the need to maintain geographic balance across the EU and gender balance. Staff will be rotated into the EEAS and then back out into their old jobs. And diplomats from EU states will temporarily become EU officials on equal pay and perks to colleagues from Brussels.The Swedish paper envisages the EU foreign minister making a final proposal on the shape of the EEAS by April 2010. The new institution should reach full cruising speed by 2012 and undergo a thorough review in 2014.

Klaus strikes positive note on EU treaty deal
HONOR MAHONY Today OCT 23,09 @ 13:15 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Czech President Vaclav Klaus has backed away from a major dispute with other EU leaders by indicating that he is satisfied with a proposal to modify the Lisbon Treaty following a last minute demand he made last week.Mr Klaus' surprise request - viewed with some exasperation in other EU capitals - concerned obtaining an opt-out from a rights charter contained in the treaty. The president argued the charter would expose the Czech Republic to property claims by ethnic Germans expelled from the country after World War II.It came on top of his long-standing refusal to sign off the Lisbon Treaty, an act that would complete ratification of the document in the Czech Republic and allow the new institutional rules to come into force across the 27 nation European Union.On Friday (23 October), just a week before the EU leaders will gather in Brussels for a summit they are hoping will concentrate on the immediate institutional implications of putting the treaty into force, Mr Klaus said he was satisfied with a proposal put forward by the Swedish EU presidency, in charge of negotiations.The president ...received the Swedish presidency's proposal which is a response to his request related to the Lisbon Treaty ratification in the Czech Republic, Mr Klaus's office said in a statement.This proposal corresponds to what the president has envisioned and it is possible to work with it further.

For its part, Stockholm said it welcomed the latest comments from Prague.The presidency will continue to work with this in view of next week's European Council, said Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.In order for ratification to proceed, the treaty must also be approved by the Czech constitutional court which is looking at its compatibility with national law. It is due to have a hearing on the challenge on Tuesday (27 October) with a ruling expected shortly afterwards. The judges are expected to come out in favour of the treaty having done so in a similar but narrower challenge last year, a move that would free the way for signature by Mr Klaus.The Czech president, a strong eurosceptic who loathes the Lisbon Treaty, has worried national capitals because of his unpredictability. The charter opt-out request, made earlier this month, took other member states by surprise.However, Mr Klaus appears to have finally decided that the Lisbon Treaty battle is lost, recently telling Czech Daily Lidovy Noviny that:The train carrying the treaty is going so fast and it's so far that it can't be stopped or returned ...No matter how much some of us would want that.

EU budget overhaul draft causes anger in regions
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 23,09 @ 07:01 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – A draft commission proposal on shifting the EU's main budgetary allocations from regional aid and common agricultural policy to jobs, climate change and foreign policy has caused a stir among the top beneficiaries of the current budget.The draft, dated 8 October and seen by EUobserver, is prefaced by the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and is meant to serve as basis for discussions on the next multi-annual budget from 2014 on.The document makes the case for three new axes establishing a direct link between Mr Barroso's outlined policy priorities – jobs, climate change and foreign policy – and EU expenditure. A more competitive approach to community funding is promoted, focusing only on projects which really have an impact on research and technology, on greening the economy or on creating jobs.Currently, regional and agricultural policy account for the two biggest slices of the community budget, amounting to some 78 percent of total expenditure.Without floating any figures or percentages, the draft makes the case for a further reduction of the agricultural budget and for scrapping the regional aid for wealthy regions.Under the current provisions, regions with above 75 percent of the EU's per capita gross domestic product qualify for the so-called competitiveness objective, meaning they still get regional funding, but for making their economies more attractive rather than investing in infrastructure and administrative capacity.In the current budget, some 80 percent of the regional envelope goes to poorer regions, 13 percent to the well-off ones and the rest to cross-border cooperation.

The considerable administrative costs of a set-up which channels funding from well-off member states to well-off regions, without generating appropriate levels of added value compared with national funding are generally ignored,the draft points out.One suggestion is to have a so-called sunset clause in place to reduce support for member states which have failed to progress and to limit the expectation of continuing support for those member states which have achieved a reasonable degree of prosperity.Another would be to link the regional aid to the length of EU membership, a move that would disqualify current top beneficiaries such as Greece or Spain. None of these ideas, however, are likely to fly once put forward to member states.The 'convergence' threshold is so sacred to some regions in the older member states, that they purposely keep their economies below or just around 75 percent of the GDP average in order to qualify for the EU funds, one Spanish official admitted in a conversation with this website.With regard to the reform of the agricultural policy, the commission says it should stimulate a further significant reduction in the overall share of the EU budget devoted to agriculture, freeing up spending for new EU priorities.One of these new priorities is a so-called European framework programme for climate and energy, which would beef up the allocation for environment and streamline other policies in regards to climate change adaptation. Regional and agricultural expenditures, for instance, should both be climate proofed and aligned to national emission targets. The draft also foresees substantial budgetary implications for the EU if the climate summit in Copenhagen reaches an ambitious agreement, for instance in allocating resources for developing countries in reaching their targets. Investments energy infrastructure are also high on the agenda of the commission, both inside the EU – connecting national grids and pipelines – but also in neighbouring countries.Another major change in the EU budget is likely to happen once the bloc's own diplomatic corps is set, after the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. Currently, external policy expenditure accounts for six percent of the total EU budget.

Regions losing confidence in commission-The draft proposal caused grave concern in the Assembly of European Regions (AER), a network of 270 regions from and outside the EU.We are at a loss to fathom why those that would be most affected by the draft communication's proposals – Europe's regions – appear to be the last stakeholders to have found out about them,Michele Sabban, president of AER wrote in an open letter to Mr Barroso.A re-think of the commission's regional policy is ironic, Ms Sabban says, as it comes only one year after starting to implement the 2007-2013 funding period – the first time when regional, not agricultural policy, is the largest EU expenditure.How can Europe's regions have confidence in a Commission that considers overhauling a policy in the first stages of implementation? she asks.The proposals also raised the eyebrow of the European parliament's budgetary committee chair, French Conservative MEP Alain Lamassoure, who asked the responsible commissioner for clarifications on this matter. A commission spokeswoman declined to comment on what she described work in progress and told this website the final proposals would be tabled by the end of the year to the European Parliament and EU ministers. The current budgetary framework ends in December 2013. Last time around, EU leaders repeatedly failed to reach an agreement over the next budget perspective. It was only at the very last moment, under British EU presidency and after intensive mediation work done by Angela Merkel, that the leaders finally agreed on a deal in December 2005.It was then in May 2006, just before summer recess, that an inter-institutional agreement between EU member states, commission and parliament was reached, so that the new framework could be adopted in time for coming into force on 1 January 2007.

ECB joins chorus attacking EU hedge fund plans
ANDREW WILLIS Today OCT 23,09 @ 09:12 CET

The European Central Bank has added its name to the extensive list of critics of EU plans to clamp down on the hedge fund sector, saying over-regulation could drive the industry out of Europe. The European Commission came forward with a draft directive before the summer to improve regulation of the hedge fund and private equity sectors, with the proposals currently being studied by the European Parliament and member states.Canary wharf, London: The city's mayor believes EU plans threaten the financial powerhouse (Photo: Malabarista Lunar)But in a statement published on its website, the ECB says that while it favours stepping up the rules for the lightly regulated sector, the new measures must be mirrored in other countries around the world or else firms in Europe will simply move.An internationally co-ordinated response is necessary given the highly international nature of the industry and the consequent risks of regulatory arbitrage and evasion,said the ECB. The ECB urges the commission to continue the dialogue with its international partners, in particular the United States, to ensure a globally coherent regulatory and supervisory framework,it added.The commission plans call for the registration and regulation of all alternative investment funds.The funds would be obliged to disclose information on the types of assets it invests in as well as provide details on their use of short selling, one of the tactics blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis.

Non-EU fund managers would also be obliged to comply with the rules if they wished to sell their products within the bloc. But consensus is growing amongst bankers and EU officials that the commission's one-size-fits-all approach for all types of funds is too simplistic and needs alteration. The Swedish EU presidency aims to have some level of agreement on the plans by the end of the year, but a full vote in the European Parliament is unlikely before the second half of 2010.Prominent Socialists such as MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen have attacked the commission proposals as being too weak, while the industry itself has been lobbying hard to have them watered down.
London's mayor, Boris Johnson, visited Brussels last month in an attempt to seek terms more favourable to the EU's financial capital.

CZAR WARS Sunstein urges: Abolish marriage Adviser compares institution to country club membership October 23, 2009 12:30 am Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily Cass Sunstein

The U.S. government should abolish its sanctioning of marriage, argued Cass Sunstein, President Obama's regulatory czar. Sunstein proposed that the concept of marriage should become privatized, with the state only granting civil union contracts to couples wishing to enter into an agreement.Sunstein explained marriage licensing is unnecessary, pointing out people stay committed to organizations like country clubs and homeowner associations without any government interference.Under our proposal, the word marriage would no longer appear in any laws, and marriage licenses would no longer be offered or recognized by any level of government,wrote Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler in their 2008 book, Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness.In the book – obtained and reviewed by WND – Sunstein explains his approach would ensure that the only legal status states would confer on couples would be a civil union, which would be a domestic partnership agreement between any two people.He proposed marriage not be recognized by the government. Marriages would instead be strictly private matters, performed by religious and other private organizations,he wrote. Governments would not be asked to endorse any particular relationships by conferring on them the term marriage, added Sunstein.Sunstein slammed current government recognition of marriage as an official license scheme.When the state grants marriage it gives both maternal and symbolic benefits to the couples it recognizes. But why combine the two functions? And what is added by the term marriage? he asked. Sunstein explained terminating the issuance of state marriage contracts would not affect the commitments of those in the partnership.People take their private commitments serious, Sunstein wrote. Members of religious organizations, homeowners' associations, and country clubs all feel bound, sometimes quite strongly, by the structures and rules of such organizations.

Take organs from helpless patients

Sunstein's proposal regarding marriage is hardly the only controversial section of his book. WND reported last week that in the same book, Sunstein defended the possibility of removing organs from terminally ill patients without their permission.He also strongly pushed for the removal of organs from deceased individuals who did not explicitly consent to becoming organ donors.Sunstein and Thaler discussed multiple legal scenarios regarding organ donation. One possibility presented in the book, termed by Sunstein as routine removal, posits that the state owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone's permission.Though it may sound grotesque, routine removal is not impossible to defend, wrote Sunstein. In theory, it would save lives, and it would do so without intruding on anyone who has any prospect for life.Sunstein continued: Although this approach is not used comprehensively by any state, many states do use the rule for corneas (which can be transplanted to give some blind patients sight). In some states, medical examiners performing autopsies are permitted to remove corneas without asking anyone's permission.Sunstein's example of medical examiners removing corneas, however, applies only to patients who are already declared deceased.

After defending the position, Sunstein conceded the routine removal approach violates a generally accepted principle, which is that within broad limits, individuals should be able to decide what is to be done with and to their bodies.Still, Sunstein did not add that the removal of organs from a living individual should be banned. Also in the same book, CNSNews.com previously noted Sunstein argued for removing organs from deceased patients who are not registered as organ donors, a policy not without precedent. Spain and some European Union countries have been debating accepting a law of implied consent.Writes Sunstein:A policy that can pass libertarian muster by our standards is called presumed consent.
Presumed consent preserves freedom of choice, but it is different from explicit consent because it shifts the default rule,he writes.Under this policy, all citizens would be presumed to be consenting donors, but they would have the opportunity to register their unwillingness to donate, and they could do so easily. We want to underline the word easily, because the harder it is to register your unwillingness to participate, the less libertarian the policy becomes.Sunstein continues: Although presumed consent is an extremely effective way to increase the supply of organs available for transplant, it may not be an easy sell politically. Some will object to the idea of presuming anything when it comes to such a sensitive matter. We are not sure that these objections are convincing, but this is surely a domain in which forced choosing, or what is referred to in this domain as mandated choice, has considerable appeal.Sunstein advocates making it mandatory for all citizens to register either as an organ donor or as unwilling to donate their organs. Mandated choice could be implemented through a simple addition to the driver's license registration scheme used in many states. With mandated choice, renewal of your driver's license would be accompanied by a requirement that you check a box stating your organ donation preferences. Your application would not be accepted unless you had checked one of the boxes. The options might include yes, willing to donate and no, unwilling to donate.

Government must fund abortion

Sunstein is not shy about his view concerning rights to life or abortion.WND reported that in his 1993 book The Partial Constitution Sunstein argued the government should be required to fund abortion in cases such as rape or incest. I have argued that the Constitution ... forbids government from refusing to pay the expenses of abortion in cases of rape or incest, at least if government pays for childbirth in such cases,Sunstein wrote.The Obama czar asserts that funding only childbirth but not abortion has the precise consequence of turning women into involuntary incubators.Sunstein argues that refusing to fund abortion would require poor women to be breeders,while co-opting women's bodies in the service of third parties– referring to fetuses.Sunstein wrote he has no problem with forcing taxpayers to fund abortions even if they morally object to their money being used for such a purpose.He wrote: There would be no tension with the establishment clause if people with religious or other objections were forced to pay for that procedure (abortion). Indeed, taxpayers are often forced to pay for things – national defense, welfare, certain forms of art, and others – to which they have powerful moral and even religious objections.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Erratic typhoon keeps Philippines on edge By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer – OCT 23,09

MANILA, Philippines – Living up to its name, Typhoon Lupit — meaning cruel in Filipino — zigzagged around the rain-soaked northern Philippines on Friday, keeping weary residents on edge and forecasters guessing about its next move.The third successive storm in a month has been hovering for several days near the coast and inland mountains, sending thousands to seek shelter following two back-to-back typhoons that killed nearly 1,000 people, most of them buried in dozens of mudslides.

Lupit's erratic direction baffled forecasters and frustrated the local media who kept predicting its landfall every day. The weather bureau said in a nationally televised briefing Thursday evening that Lupit would ram into northeastern Cagayan province early Friday.After crawling for the last two days, it barreled on course to hit shore then stalled again Friday, delaying landfall by another day — or two, or three, said chief forecaster Nathaniel Cruz.The reason is two high-pressure areas that sandwiched Lupit from the South China Sea in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east, each pulling the storm in its direction, Cruz said.Typhoons usually slice through the northern Philippines from the Pacific and exit through the South China Sea. The archipelago nation, known as the welcome mat for typhoons, gets about 20 a year during the rainy season from June to December.Lupit weakened overnight and was packing winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour and gusts of up to 93 mph (150 kph), Cruz said. It was still a dangerous system that could drench the north of the main island of Luzon on the heels of the worst flooding in the Philippines in 40 years.Tropical Storm Ketsana on Sept. 26 inundated much of the capital, Manila, and surrounding areas, including the country's largest Lake Laguna, killing 464 people. It was followed by Typhoon Parma, which unleashed mudslides along the Cordillera mountain range Oct. 3, leaving 465 dead.For the past week, army troops and disaster-relief officials have ferried tons of canned food and clothes and moved rubber boats and helicopters along the coast and the interior.At least 1,500 residents living along the Cagayan River and its tributaries were moved to high ground, said provincial Gov. Alvaro Antonio. Another 1,000 people left their homes in Appari township, including some 200 after a wave surge collapsed a 65-feet (20-meter) high sea wall in San Antonio village early this week.

Hurricane Neki treks across the central Pacific AccuWeather Thu Oct 22, 10:57 am ET

HONOLULU – Hurricane Neki continues its trudge across the central Pacific with little change in strength expected over the next day.Neki is a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph.The hurricane was centered Thursday morning about 525 miles west of Honolulu, moving to the north-northeast near 10 mph.
The storm isn't expected to threaten Hawaii, but a hurricane warning has been issued for part of a marine conservation area northwest of the islands.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Strong earthquake strikes Afghanistan and Pakistan Thu Oct 22, 5:00 pm ET

KABUL – A strong earthquake centered in the towering Hindu Kush mountains shook a wide area of eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan early Friday, swaying buildings in the Afghan and Pakistani capitals.There were no initial reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which struck about 12:21 a.m. Afghan time (1951 GMT, 3:51 p.m. EDT Thursday).However, the temblor was centered in a remote mountain area where communications are poor and reports of casualties take time to reach the capital.The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and was centered in the mountains about 167 miles (268 kilometers) northeast of Kabul and 140 miles (230 kilometers) west of Mingaora, Pakistan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Buildings shook in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and the capital Islamabad, and the quake was felt as far east as Lahore near the Indian border, Pakistani television stations reported.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said it had no immediate reports of deaths or damage.

Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said that even though the quake was centered in a remote area, casualties were still possible given the size of the temblor. Caruso said Friday's quake was felt as far away as New Delhi, the Indian capital.Caruso said the area is capable of producing large earthquakes because of the compression created when what is now India slammed against the Asian continent millions of years ago.He said the largest quake recorded in that area was 7.8 on March 14, 1965.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

CDC concedes vaccine production behind schedule Wed Oct 21, 1:56 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A top-ranking official of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says production of a vaccine for swine flu virus is behind schedule and people should take precautionary steps to prevent its spread.Dr. Anne Schuchat (SHU'-kit) said more vaccine is coming out every day but production isn't where it was expected to be at this juncture. Interviewed on CBS's The Early Show Wednesday, Schuchat said we wish we had more vaccine, but unfortunately the virus and the production of the vaccine aren't really cooperating.For people anxious about getting their vaccinations, she said officials expect widespread availability by mid-November. Schuchat heads the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

WHO: Nearly 1 in 5 babies still missed by vaccines Wed Oct 21, 9:04 am ET

WASHINGTON – A record 106 million infants were vaccinated last year against life-threatening diseases, but nearly 1 in 5 babies still aren't fully protected, global health authorities reported Wednesday.To get the full round of first-year vaccinations to children in the poorest countries will take another $1 billion a year, says the report from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and World Bank.Most of the unprotected babies are in Asia and Africa, particularly in rural or strife-torn areas that are difficult for aid workers to reach.It's a good investment, the report argued. Vaccination is preventing 2.5 million child deaths a year. But if 90 percent of the world's children under age 5 got the vaccinations that are routine in wealthy countries, another 2 million deaths a year could be prevented by 2015.We must overcome the divide that separates rich from poor, between those who get lifesaving vaccines and those who don't,said Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO.The report suggests that overcoming that gap may be a bigger challenge in coming years: In 2000, the world was spending, on average, $6 per live birth on vaccinations in developing countries. That's expected to be $18 by next year and could rise above $30 as newer, more expensive vaccines become available.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

FAMINE

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Ethiopia seeks urgent food aid for 6 million By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 22, 1:22 pm ET

NAIROBI, Kenya – Ethiopia said Thursday it needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, an appeal that comes 25 years after a devastating famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million and prompted one of the largest charity campaigns in history.The crisis stems from a prolonged drought that has hit much of the Horn of Africa, including Kenya and Somalia.Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land. Agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and most exports.

Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's state minister for agriculture and rural development, appealed to donors Thursday for more than $121 million. In January, he had said that 4.9 million of Ethiopia's 85 million people needed emergency food aid.Ethiopia has long struggled with cyclical droughts, which are compounded by the country's dependence on rain-fed agriculture and archaic farming practices.In 1984, Ethiopia's famine drew international attention as news reports showed emaciated children and adults with limbs as thin as sticks. The crisis launched one of the biggest global charity campaigns in history, including the concert Live Aid.This year's drought appears to be slightly less severe than the one last year, which was exacerbated by high food prices. A year ago, Mitiku appealed for aid to feed 6.4 million people affected by drought. Many humanitarian groups have said in recent years that they believe the number of people affected by hunger is higher than government estimates.

Because of Ethiopia's large size and poor infrastructure, independent observers have difficulty collecting data. The worst-affected areas in the country's east are the site of a fierce insurgency and are off-limits to journalists. Aid groups say their movements in these areas are limited by military restrictions.Nick Martlew, an official with the aid group Oxfam in Ethiopia, said the country's east should be green and healthy now, but that crops are wilting in the sun and won't produce a sufficient amount of food.Really until June next year there is going to be insufficient food around,he said.Where we are in eastern Ethiopia you can look out and it's completely barren as far as the eye can see.Drought and water shortages are also increasing in Ethiopia's south because of a changing climate, Martlew said. Oxfam is helping villages collect rain water for long-term use.In a report marking 25years since Ethiopia's famine, Oxfam said countries must focus on preparing communities to prevent and deal with drought and other disasters before they strike, rather than relying on importing aid.According to the U.N., nearly two-thirds of Africa's agricultural land has been degraded by erosion and misused pesticides. In Ethiopia, where bad farming practices have led to massive erosion, 85 percent of land is damaged.The current humanitarian situation underlines our belief that while food aid — much of it donated by foreign donors — is important and can save lives, we need greater funding for longer-term solutions, which can begin to tackle the underlying causes that make people so vulnerable to disasters,said Oxfam's Ethiopia country director, Waleed Rauf.In eastern Ethiopia's Hararge zone, the scene of some of the worst hunger and drought-related suffering last year, health official Aliye Youya said few infants had come in to the main feeding center for treatment. A new initiative by the Ethiopian government to put health workers in every neighborhood has helped, he said.But he said he was still concerned about the lack of rain in some areas.(A month ago) there was no rain, especially in the lowland areas, he said.But nowadays there is some rain. The drought is affecting the lowland areas.
Associated Press writer Anita Powell in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Largest US sting on drug cartel arrests 300-plus By ELLIOT SPAGAT and SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writers – OCT 23,09

OKLAHOMA CITY – In the largest single strike at Mexican drug operations in the U.S., authorities arrested more than 300 people in a sting that demonstrates an upstart cartel's vast reach north of the border.The tentacles of La Familia extend coast to coast and deep into America's heartland, with arrests announced Thursday in 38 cities from Boston to Seattle and from St. Paul, Minn., to Raleigh, N.C.Drug deals went down in Oklahoma parking lots, suppliers were advised to weld drugs into tire rims for transport, and in the Dallas and Seattle areas, dozens of children were removed from houses where authorities found drugs, guns or cash derived from drug sales.Perhaps more than any other cartel, La Familia projects a Robin Hood image. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the group is philosophically opposed to the sale of methamphetamine to Mexicans, and instead supports its export to the United States for consumption by Americans.Mexican police say the gang uses religion and family morals to recruit. The gang has hung banners in towns saying they do not tolerate drug use, or attacks on women or children.One of the gang's alleged recruiters, detained last spring, ran drug rehabilitation centers, helping addicts to recover and then forcing them to work for the drug gang or be killed, according to Mexico Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna.La Familia is rarely mentioned in the same breath as the handful of other Mexican gangs that control the flow of drugs into the United States, fueled by Colombian cocaine suppliers. The Sinaloa, Juarez, Gulf and Tijuana cartels have roots that go back many years, even decades.

But in its short history, La Familia is believed to have emerged as the biggest supplier of methamphetamine to the United States and, increasingly, a peddler of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs.Complaints that were unsealed across the country portray an organization that spread deep into Middle America, down to small-time sales.In Colorado, authorities seized 8 kilograms of cocaine, 3 pounds of methamphetamine and $313,785.A federal grand jury has indicted 11 members or associates of La Familia from the Western Slope in Colorado, and six of them have been arrested so far, prosecutors said.In Oklahoma, authorities seized about 20 pounds of methamphetamine, two pounds of cocaine, six weapons and several thousand dollars. They identified Ruben Garcia, 29, as a major supplier in the northeast part of the state.Agents spotted Garcia and his partners dealing drugs over several months at restaurants, grocery stores and Wal-Mart parking lots in the Tulsa area, according to court documents. In one tapped phone call Oct. 9, Garcia counseled a supplier in Mexico who helped arrange a shipment in McAllen, Texas, that the easiest way to smuggle drugs is welded inside tire rims of vehicles.

Court records do not list an attorney for Garcia.

In North Carolina, targeted cells operated from the Raleigh area to the eastern cities of Rocky Mount and Greenville, a region with a large Hispanic population to help the targets blend in and quick access to three interstate highways. They made four arrests Wednesday but totaled 49 arrests over the past year.In Nashville, after more than a year of surveillance, agents converged on a home when two people arrived in a Toyota Camry from Atlanta Aug. 14, according to a complaint. A search of the vehicle discovered hidden compartments that contained nine similarly wrapped packages, each of which were the size of a kilogram of cocaine.One package tested positive for cocaine.Inside the home, agents found drug ledgers, a money counter and a loaded pistol. At another home, they found about 50 pounds of marijuana, several loaded handguns and two bulletproof vests.Texas Child Protective Services removed 20 children from houses in the Dallas area when authorities executed 44 search warrants, said James Capra, the DEA's special agent in charge in Dallas. All the homes where children were found had drugs, guns or cash derived from drug sales. The sting reached into small towns hundreds of miles from Mexico.Nine arrests were made in Monroe, Wash., with a population of about 16,000 and home to the state's largest prison about 25 miles northeast of Seattle. None seemed to be doing any retail drug dealing, Monroe police Cmdr. Steve Clopp said.I would say that they were well-integrated members of the community,Clopp said.A lot of them keep up the everyday appearance of work and family.In the Inland Empire, a cluster of east Los Angeles suburbs where 25 people were arrested and 156 pounds of methamphetamine seized, most suspects are illegal immigrants from Mexico who came to the United States to work for La Familia, said Stephen Azzam, DEA assistant special agent in charge in Riverside, Calif.Methamphetamine was shipped from the Inland Empire, an area with three interstate highways, to cities including Atlanta and Chicago, Azzam said.

La Familia is known as unusually violent, even by Mexico's standards.After the arrest of one of its leaders in July in Mexico, the cartel launched an offensive against federal forces, killing 18 police officers and two soldiers over a weekend. In the worst attack, 12 federal agents were slain and their tortured bodies piled along a roadside as a warning for all to see.They are one of the most violent, if not the most violent, cartel in Mexico right now,said Michael Braun, who retired as the DEA's chief of operations last year.La Familia operates methamphetamine superlabs in Mexico that produce up to 100 pounds of the drug in eight hours, a sharp contrast to small-time labs in the United States that have supplied American addicts, said Braun.The organization was founded around 2004 and really took off in 2006, Braun said.The arrests in places such as Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles suggest that its U.S. distribution network is sophisticated, said Scott Stewart, an analyst at the Stratfor consultancy in Austin, Texas, who follows the Mexican drug trade.Those are beautiful interstate (highway) hubs,Stewart said.It's looking they have ramped up very quickly.Associated Press writers Mike Baker in Raleigh, N.C., Julie Watson in Mexico City, Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City, Travis Loller in Nashville, Tenn., Tim Klass in Seattle, Danny Robbins in Dallas and Gillian Flaccus in San Bernardino, Calif. contributed to this report. Spagat reported from San Diego.

ISRAEL-US WAR GAMES
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133997

Thousands of Israeli, American Soldiers begin Juniper Cobra by Maayana Miskin

(IsraelNN.com) More than 2,000 officers and soldiers from the Israeli and American armies began a joint military exercise on Thursday morning. The drill, titled Juniper Cobra,is being conducted for the fifth time since 2001, and will focus on defensive measures against ground-to-ground missiles. Air, land, and sea forces from both the Israeli and United States militaries are taking part in the exercise. IDF Brigadier-General Doron Gavish said the exercise would not include aggressive maneuvers. Gavish spoke at a joint press conference with U.S. Rear Admiral John Richardson.Both Gavish and Richardson denied that the exercise was connected to recent international events, including concerns of a missile threat facing Europe and talks between Western powers and Iran over the latter country's nuclear program. The drill is the fifth of its kind, and has been in the works for a year and a half. It is not in any way tied to current regional developments,Gavish said.While the exercise was not planned in response to recent threats, the lessons learned may be implemented in developing situations, Richardson said. This exercise is not directly related to recent announcement about ballistic missile defense in Europe, but the lessons and the insights that we gain from this exercise will certainly relate to developing that capability,he explained.

Most importantly,he said,we will advance the trust and the confidence in the relationship between our two forces.Richardson: Israel Can Defend Itself
In response to a question from the press, Richardson said he is confident that Israel is capable of defending its citizens. Calling the IDF a highly capable force, Richardson expressed confidence that the Israeli military can handle whatever challenges it faces without outside help.

Expert: Iran Buying Time with Shoddy Deal
by Gil Ronen OCT 22,09

(IsraelNN.com) Dr. Emily Landau, Head of Weapons Control Project at the Institute for National Security Studies, said in an interview with Arutz Sheva that the U.S., Russia and France's agreement to a deal with Iran in which 75 percent of its uranium will be enriched outside the country allows Iran to buy more time.If you take a look at the arrangement, which has not yet been ratified, then it is true that 75 percent of the uranium will be transferred to Russia and France, but Iran on its end has not committed to stop its enrichment activity at Natanz, so even if the delivery of enriched uranium outside Iran decreases the stockpile in its possession, it could replenish it in less than a year's time.

Iranian success
The fact that such an shoddy arrangement with Iran is being set up will prevent the West from conducting effective negotiations that could halt the nuclear project, she said. Iran has actually succeeded now in defle I do not see a possibility for Israel to act in the middle of a diplomatic move.acting the world's attention from the main problem for which the talks were started on October 1 2009, namely – Iran's continued enrichment of uranium and its possible achievement of military nuclear capability in the foreseeable future. Iran, meanwhile, continues to enrich additional uranium, and even if this is done in small quantities, in the end they will succeed in replenishing their stocks. There was no statement in this arrangement calling for them to stop the activity.Iran has received greater legitimacy now, Landau said. According to this arrangement, the Iranians are now only receiving a stamp of approval for the fact that they are enriching uranium. Beyond that it needs to be said that all of these small steps that talk of a certain level of cooperation with Iran will only lower the West's motivation to fight Iran. If in the past they were talking about sanctions agsint Iran, now they are not even talking about that. This arrangement only lowers the tension. US President Obama decided on a certain direction of diplomacy, and that is why he is now trying to show that he has accomplished something, but he is stepping into a trap because he is losing in the big picture.Israel has no choice now but to let the diplomatic process play itself out, Landau opined. We need to wait and see what the US will do now. Israel can express its opinion in talks with the Americans, but as far as military action, I do not see a possibility for Israel to act in the middle of a diplomatic move.

Iran, Israel eyeball at Mideast nuke conference By STEVE WEIZMAN and SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writers – Thu Oct 22, 3:48 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel and Iran took part in an international conference on nuclear disarmament last month in Egypt — a gathering that is now prompting media reports the two foes held direct discussions that included an awkward exchange on whether the Jewish state has atomic weapons.An Israeli official confirmed Thursday the two sides attended the conference but denied they talked face-to-face. Iran also denied any direct meetings, which would be unheard of between the arch enemies.However, Australia's The Age newspaper quoted participants as saying that the rivals had a very robust exchange during the two-day event in the Egyptian capital. Israel's Haaretz daily also reported Thursday the two sides met.The meeting was held by the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, set up by the governments of Australia and Japan to probe ideas on how to cut the world's nuclear arms stockpile ahead of a U.N. conference on the subject next year.According to Haaretz, Israeli delegate Meirav Zafary-Odiz, chief for policy and arms control for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, said at the Cairo gathering that Israel would only be prepared to discuss a Mideast nuclear freeze at some future date when the region is at peace.Iran's representative, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, meanwhile, asked Zafary-Odiz point-blank if Israel has nuclear weapons, the paper said. It quoted eyewitnesses as saying she smiled but did not respond.Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear arms, though it refuses to confirm or deny it. Iran denies international allegations it's secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons.Israel Atomic Energy Commission spokeswoman Yael Doron said on Thursday that both countries stated their positions on disarmament separately during the gathering in Egypt.The two sides did not meet or speak to one another directly,she said.

The Web site of Iranian state TV quoted the spokesman of its atomic energy organization as calling reports of talks a sheer and baseless lie.The reports, Ali Shirzadian said, are a psychological war meant to affect Iran's successful diplomacy in international nuclear talks.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that Israeli and Iranian diplomats often attend international meetings, though it is rare for them to have any interaction, even indirect.We attend a big number of international meetings and conferences. At most of them, there are Iranian representatives,he said.Israel-based Iran analyst Meir Javedanfar said that Iran's Science Minister Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi met with the then Israeli science minister Raleb Majadele last year in Jordan.Also, Israel and Iran are both members of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.Delegates from Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, India, the United States, France and Britain were among the 24participants at the Cairo conference.Iran is currently considering an internationally backed plan to ship its uranium to Russia for enrichment in a move seen as possible first toward blocking Iran's ability to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, spoke skeptically of the potential agreement on Thursday. In the first official Israeli comment on the plan, Barak said that the understanding, if signed, will delay Iran's nuclear program by only a year and will not foil what he called the country's real plan to achieve nuclear capability.Barak spoke at a conference in Jerusalem on Thursday.Nasrawi reported from Cairo. Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi contributed to this report from Tehran, Iran.

Iranian lawmaker rejects nuke deal to ship uranium By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 22, 3:45 pm ET

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's deputy parliament speaker on Thursday dismissed an internationally backed draft plan to have Tehran ship its uranium abroad for enrichment, the official IRNA news agency reported.The remarks by Mohammad Reza Bahonar were the first reaction in Tehran on the proposal, presented Wednesday after three days of talks between Iran and world powers in the Austrian capital, Vienna.
The plan is seen by the international community as a way to curb Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran is expected to decide by Friday on whether to approve the plan that calls for shipping Iran's uranium to Russia for enrichment to a level that renders it suitable as nuclear fuel for energy production — not for nuclear weapons.The United States demanded Iran ship uranium abroad, in return for getting fuel back, Bahonar said, according to IRNA. But Iran does not accept this.Iran's parliament will not vote on the draft plan, and Bahonar does not speak for the government, which is to decide on the matter.But it's unclear if his comments could reflect high-level resistance to the deal or the opinions of some influential politicians in Iran.There has been no response so far to the offer from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, or President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The proposal may meet resistance by some Iranian leaders because it weakens Iran's control over its stockpiles of nuclear fuel and could be perceived as a concession to the United States, which took part in the Vienna talks with France and Russia.In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that although some in Iran may disagree with the proposal, the U.S. government was waiting to hear the government's final decision Friday.I'm sure there are a lot of voices in Tehran right now, but we're going to wait for that authoritative answer tomorrow,said Kelly, who has called the draft agreement a very positive step.In Jerusalem, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed skepticism of the agreement in the country's first official comments. He said the plan, if signed, would delay Iran's nuclear program by only a year and will not foil what he called the country's real plan to achieve nuclear capability.Under the Vienna-brokered draft, Iran is required to send 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium to Russia in one batch by the end of this year, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Thursday.After further enrichment in Russia, the uranium will be converted into fuel rods that would be returned to Iran for use in an aging reactor used for medical research. Valero said France would be the one making that conversion.

France is an active party to this accord,Valero said, stressing that Paris is still a player in the proposal despite Iranian criticism of any French role in the plan earlier this week.Valero, in an online briefing, also said the proposal drafted in Vienna allows Iran to pursue production of radioisotopes for medical purposes while constituting a useful gesture that could contribute to reducing tensions over the nuclear issue.Iran needs 20 percent-enriched uranium for its Tehran plant, which has been producing radioisotopes for medical purposes over the past decades.Iran is currently producing fuel at a 3.5 percent enrichment rate for a nuclear power plant built by Russia that is scheduled to begin operations before the end of the year. The head of Iran's atomic energy department, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in an interview with a local paper Tuesday that purchasing fuel for the older reactor makes more economic sense than further enriching its own uranium domestically. But Iranian officials have reiterated that the country will not give up its right to uranium enrichment, suggesting it plans to keep its enrichment facilities active, an assurance against fears that the fuel supply from abroad could be cut off. Associated Press Writer Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.

Biden says shorter-range missiles threaten Europe By ALINA WOLFE MURRAY, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 22, 1:33 pm ET

BUCHAREST, Romania – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that Europe was threatened by medium and short-range missiles and a new missile defense system would help protect it.Biden was presenting a revamped U.S. missile shield replacing a scrapped Bush-era project that would have placed 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic to intercept long-range missiles from Iran. His one-day visit to Bucharest was part of a swing through eastern Europe designed to reassure Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic — all staunch U.S. allies — that America's commitment to the region remains strong.The Obama plan would include SM-3 anti-ballistic missiles at a former air base in the Polish town of Redzikowo, the same site that was to host U.S. missile interceptors in underground silos under the Bush plan.Moscow perceives the new plan as less threatening because it would not initially involve interceptors capable of shooting down Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles, experts say.Biden denied that the new approach was to appease Russia at the expense of Central European countries. He said the U.S. would never make a deal involving central European states without consulting them. Biden traveled to the Czech Republic later Thursday.Biden also called on the countries of eastern Europe to use their experience to help former Soviet republics to build greater democracy, saying the U.S. would support their efforts.Speaking to an audience political leaders and students at Bucharest University, Biden paid tribute to the revolutions of 1989 that toppled communism in the former Soviet satellites.

The example you set...inspired the world,he said.You can help guide Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine...Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus... Your leadership must be bold and your voices loud.But he also warned about a new season of challenges facing the world today, naming the economic crisis, security threats, ethnic tensions, the uncertainties of energy and water supplies.Associated Press writer Alison Mutler in Bucharest contributed to this report.

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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI OCT 23,2009

09:30 AM +4.57
10:00 AM +11.79
10:30 AM -31.82
11:00 AM -76.25
11:30 AM -98.32
12:00 PM -77.09
12:30 PM -84.27
01:00 PM -84.27
01:30 PM -129.31
02:00 PM -115.40
02:30 PM -107.85
03:00 PM -124.70
03:30 PM -122.89
04:00 PM -109.13 9972.18

S&P 500 1079.60 -13.31

NASDAQ 2154.47 -10.82

GOLD 1,055.60 -3.00

OIL 79.65 -1.54

TSE 300 11,382.13 -151.24

CDNX 1333.91 -0.28

S&P/TSX/60 676.67 -10.06

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +14.87%
S&P +21.00%
Nasdaq +37.30%
TSX Advances 781,declines 755,unchanged 230,Volume 441,550,443.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 392,Declines 557,Unchanged 333,Volume 275,804,447.

Dow +11 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -128 points at low today.
Dow +11 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,066.50.OIL opens at $81.19 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -128 points at low today so far.
Dow +11 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,000,declines 2,593,unchanged 97,New Highs 216,New Lows 32.
Volume 2,260,405,453.
NASDAQ Advances 676,declines 1,858,unchanged 92,New highs 91,New Lows 12.
Volume 1,077,319,297.
TSX Advances 556,declines 741,unchanged 244,Volume 223,746,541.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 359,Declines 329,Unchanged 307,Volume 129,059,436.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -167 points at low today.
Dow +11 points at high today.
Dow -1.08% today Volume 305,672,768.
Nasdaq -0.50% today Volume 2,352,534,832.
S&P 500 -1.22% today Volume N/A

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +13.63%
S&P +19.52%
Nasdaq +36.62%
TSX Advances 635,declines 915,unchanged 241,Volume 444,468,988.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 500,Declines 443,Unchanged 374,Volume 270,505,503.

GERALD CELENTE ON JONES YESTERDAY AND JULY 23,09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feCcFZglUAM&feature=player_embedded
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US unveils broad effort to limit executive pay By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and STEVENSON JACOBS, AP Economics Writer – Thu Oct 22, 7:46 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The government zeroed in on corporate excess and recklessness Thursday with deep, unprecedented cuts in executive compensation at companies living on taxpayer money and a move to wield veto power over pay policy at thousands of banks to limit risk-taking.The Treasury Department ordered seven big companies that haven't repaid their government bailout money to cut their top executives' average total compensation — salary and bonuses — in half, starting in November. Under the plan, cash salaries for the top 25 highest-paid executives will be limited in most cases to $500,000 and, in most cases, perks will be capped at $25,000.The Federal Reserve came at the issue from another direction. It proposed to monitor pay packages at thousands of banks — even those that never received bailout money — to ensure they don't encourage reckless gambles.Neither plan, though, is expected to kill Wall Street's culture of lavish pay. The Fed proposal doesn't set specific limits on executive compensation, so it's unclear how it would actually affect pay. And the Treasury plan covers only 175 people, with the pay limits lasting only until the companies repay what they received from the $700 billion bailout fund.For the already struggling companies, it also introduces a new concern: brain drain. The executives targeted by pay czar Kenneth Feinberg are among the most talented and productive at their companies.These people are considered the brains of the machine, said Steven Hall, who runs an executive compensation firm bearing his name.They are who can pull you through the tough times. This will give them reason to leave.

The Treasury plan is limited to the seven bailed-out companies — Bank of America Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial. The Fed's proposal is much broader in scope, covering nearly 6,000 banks and a wider range of employees — from executives to traders to loan officers.Rather than set pay levels at specific banks, the Fed would review — and could veto — pay policies. The plan is subject to a 30-day public comment period.David Yermack, a finance professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, called Treasury's pay curbs a symbolic act.I think the government is trying to make examples of some banks and hoping others will follow, Yermack said.I think that's naive. Wall Street bankers and traders are motivated by money, and they're going to work for whoever pays them the most.He predicted the seven firms would find ways to bypass the curbs through implicit promises that aren't written in contracts.They could say to someone, I'll give you a really big bonus three or four years from now. Just be patient,Yermack said. There's an understanding that if you play the game, you'll be taken care of. That's been going on as long as there have been businesses, and Feinberg isn't going to be able to stop that.Feinberg restructured the pay packages for top executives to provide a base salary and a portion described as stock salary.The employees must hold the stock for two years. They can then sell only one-third of the stock payment each year for three years.Feinberg said his goal was to tie compensation more closely to the long-term performance of the company.

In one pay plan, the three highest earners at Citigroup will receive a base salary of $475,000. Each executive also will be paid between $5.6 million and $5.8 million in company stock to be redeemed beginning in 2011. The third category of long-term restricted stock will equal $3 million for each executive.The Feinberg plan provides an escape clause that might let some executives avoid the restrictions: It says the rules allow for exceptions where necessary to retain talent and protect taxpayer interests.According to Feinberg, base salaries above $1 million were approved for the new CEO of AIG, and for two employees of Chrysler Financial.Under a package approved by Feinberg over the summer, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche will get a pay package of about $10.5 million.Feinberg became pay czar earlier this year as Congress was responding to outrage about huge bonuses being paid to AIG. Lawmakers amended the bailout law to require that executive compensation at companies getting exceptional assistance be curbed. Feinberg has been reviewing compensation packages since August.President Barack Obama welcomed Treasury's decision and urged Congress to pass legislation to give shareholders a voice in executive pay packages.It does offend our values when executives of big financial firms that are struggling pay themselves huge bonuses even as they rely on extraordinary assistance to stay afloat,Obama said.In an interview with CNBC, Feinberg was asked if he thought the restrictions would influence pay at other Wall Street firms outside his authority.

I hope so, but that would be voluntary,he said.It's not the government's business.
Some observers said the changes could have a broader influence on pay beyond the seven companies.It's going to put them in a position of having to be more aggressive in defending their arrangements now that you've got an alternative out there that's been blessed by the government,said Mark Borges, a principal with Compensia, a Northern California compensation consulting firm.It's also possible the restrictions could help govern pay at the thousands of banks that would be affected by the Fed's plan, said Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance.It's highly probable that the Fed could use this as a model in their own guidelines, and yes, I think that would have a significant impact on pay,he said.Some analysts saw the potential for restrictions to backfire. Yermack said linking pay to long-term incentives like deferred stock can encourage more excessive risk-taking, not less.If you want people to take more risks, pay them more in stock,he said.It holds out the possibility of very big gains in a way that fixed contracts do not.Others said the restrictions reinforced what many financial observers see as a banking system divided between the haves and have-nots. They wondered whether pay caps could jeopardize taxpayer money by making it harder for bailed-out firms to retain and hire top talent.You have got the companies that are unencumbered and can offer anyone anything they want, and you've got the other companies that are stuck with what they have,said David Schmidt, a senior consultant on executive pay at James F. Reda & Associates.It creates a bit of a dilemma in banks' efforts to repay taxpayers.A Bank of America spokesman complained that the restrictions would hurt its competitiveness.Competitors not subject to the pay restrictions already are exploiting this situation by identifying our top performers and using pay concerns to recruit them away for fair market compensation,spokesman Scott Silvestri said.

GM said it will adopt the compensation changes outlined by Feinberg by shifting its pay packages toward non-cash compensation tied to company performance.CEO Fritz Henderson's base salary was cut 30 percent to about $1.3 million earlier this year when GM accepted government loans. Henderson received compensation valued at about $8.7 million in 2008, but much of that included stock and options that now are nearly worthless due to GM's bankruptcy filing.Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne and other Fiat executives who work for both Chrysler and Fiat were exempted from the pay cuts as part of the agreement with the U.S. government to take over management control of Chrysler.Executives who work solely for Chrysler could be affected, but many of the top earners under Chrysler's former owner have left the company.Under the Fed proposal, the 28 biggest banks would develop their own plans to make sure compensation doesn't spur undue risk-taking. If the Fed approves, the plan would be adopted and bank supervisors would monitor compliance.At smaller banks — where compensation is typically less — Fed supervisors will conduct reviews. Those banks don't have to submit plans.The Fed refused to identify the 28 banks that will have to submit plans. But Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. are usually included on such lists. Nearly 6,000 banks regulated by the Fed would be covered.Jacobs reported from New York. Associated Press Writers Daniel Wagner, Jeannine Aversa, Ken Thomas, Jim Kuhnhenn and Marcy Gordon in Washington, Ieva M. Augstums in Charlotte, N.C., and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.

Stocks rise as financial, consumer stocks gain By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer – Thu Oct 22, 6:02 pm ET

NEW YORK – Investors encouraged by a good batch of earnings reports and forecasts jumped back into stocks after a two-day slide.Stocks posted big gains Thursday as investors snapped up financial shares after several banks said they weren't seeing as many loans go bad. The market extended its advance in afternoon trading when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it expects sales to grow this year and increase at a faster pace next year.The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 132 points and logged the biggest gain of major indexes after Wal-Mart's forecast and as several companies included in the indicator reported earnings that beat expectations.The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index advanced the least among major indicators following a disappointing forecast from online retailer eBay Inc.Tech stocks could get a lift Friday following Amazon.com Inc.'s report that its third-quarter earnings jumped 62 percent. The online retailer brought in more revenue than expected and said it expects sales will continue to grow. The company's report arrived after markets closed, and its shares jumped 15 percent in late trading after ticking up only 3 cents during the day.Consumer stocks rose after Wal-Mart said it expects sales to increase 1 to 2 percent this year and 4 to 6 percent next year. The nation's largest retailer also said it would focus on emerging markets when opening stores. Meanwhile, clothing retailer J. Crew Group Inc. raised its earnings forecast because of stronger sales and profit margins.Financial stocks rose after PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp each said that bad loans weren't piling up as fast as they had been. Financials had pulled the market lower Wednesday after an analyst took issue with a profit report at Wells Fargo & Co.Dow components Travelers Cos., McDonald's Corp., 3M Co. and AT&T Inc. posted stronger results than analysts had forecast.

Adam Gould, senior portfolio manager at Direxion Funds in New York, said the market's bounce on the Wal-Mart forecast illustrates how difficult it is to keep stocks down and allow those who missed the seven-month run to buy shares at lower prices.People have wanted to see some type of correction but whenever any earnings come out and beat and whenever any economic news comes out that is decent, the market rallies,he said.The Dow rose 131.95, or 1.3 percent, to 10,081.31. The index is 11 points below its highest close of the year, which it reached on Monday.The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.51, or 1.1 percent, to 1,092.91. The Nasdaq rose 14.56, or 0.7 percent, to 2,165.29.Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.3 billion shares compared with 5.7 billion Wednesday.Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.42 percent from 3.39 percent late Wednesday.

Mixed economic and earnings reports signal that the economy remains in flux.

The Labor Department said workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time rose more than expected last week. New claims rose to 531,000 last week from 520,000 the previous week.Separately, a private forecast of economic activity rose for the sixth straight month in September. The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators rose 1 percent last month after a 0.4 percent gain in August.
Jeffrey Beamer, Portfolio Manager of Lacerte Capital in Dallas, said earnings reports showing improved profits but still-weak revenue raise questions about whether the market can hold its gains. Cost-cutting, he noted, can only help so much.You may look great this quarter but what are you going to do in the coming quarters,Beamer said.If the earnings aren't just really solid we could get a decent pullback here.The S&P 500 index is up 61.6 percent from a 12-year low in March. Wal-Mart slipped 15 cents to $50.48, while J. Crew jumped $5.75, or 15.2 percent, to $43.49.PNC Financial rose $5.69, or 12.7 percent, to $50.65 and Fifth Third rose 69 cents, or 6.8 percent, to $10.80.Travelers, the insurer, rose $3.68, or 7.7 percent, to $51.70, while McDonald's advanced $1.17, or 2 percent, to $59.50. Manufacturer 3M advanced $2.46, or 3.2 percent, to $78.79, while AT&T rose 16 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $26.10.Crude fell 18 cents to settle at $81.19 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold fell.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 8.27, or 1.4 percent, to 613.38.Overseas markets fell after Wednesday's slide in U.S. stocks. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1 percent, Germany's DAX index dropped 1.2 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.4 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.6 percent.

Feds designate polar bear habitat in Alaska By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer – OCT 22,09

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as critical habitat for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.Federal law prohibits agencies from taking actions that may adversely affect critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery.Assistant Interior Secretary Tom Strickland called the habitat designation a step in the right direction to help polar bears stave off extinction, while recognizing that the greatest threat to the bear is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change.As we move forward with a comprehensive energy and climate strategy, we will continue to work to protect the polar bear and its fragile environment, Strickland said at a news conference.The total area proposed for critical habitat designation would cover about 200,541 square miles — about half in the rugged Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. About 93 percent of the area proposed for the polar bear is sea ice, with the remaining 7 percent made up of barrier islands or land-based dens of snow and ice.Designation as critical habitat would not, in itself, bar oil or gas development, but would make consideration of the effect on polar bears and their habitat an explicit part of any government-approved activity.Thursday's announcement starts a 60-day public comment period, with a final rule expected next year. Interior faces a June 30 deadline for critical habitat designation under terms of a settlement agreement between the government and three environmental groups.The Bush administration last year declared polar bears threatened,or likely to become endangered. The May 2008 order by then-Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited the bear's need for sea ice, the dramatic loss of such ice in recent decades and computer models that suggest sea ice is likely to recede further in the future.

Environmental groups hailed the habitat announcement, but noted that it came in the same week that the Interior Department approved a plan by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell to drill exploratory wells on two leases in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast. The proposed drilling sites are within the area proposed for critical habitat designation.If polar bears are to survive in a rapidly melting Arctic, we need to protect their critical habitat, not turn it into a polluted industrial zone,said Brendan Cummings, a lawyer with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit in the polar bear case.Cummings called the Interior Department schizophrenic — on the one hand declaring its intent to protect polar bear habitat in the Arctic, yet at the same time sacrificing that habitat to feed our unsustainable addiction to oil.The announcement comes one day after the state of Alaska filed a new complaint in its effort to overturn the listing of the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.Former Gov. Sarah Palin filed suit last year, saying that Interior did not respond to the state's concerns in a timely manner before listing the polar bears as threatened. State officials say the listing could cripple offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, which provide prime habitat for the polar bears.Gov. Sean Parnell, who succeeded Palin upon her resignation last summer, said the Endangered Species Act was being used as a way to shut down resource development along Alaska's northern coast. Parnell said he does not intend to let that happen.

Environmental groups monitoring the Arctic have long complained that federal regulators routinely grant permits for petroleum exploration without adequately considering consequences for whales, polar bears, walrus and other marine mammals. They say boats, drilling platforms and aircraft will add to bears' stress by causing them to flee and expend more energy.Conservation groups also say oil companies have not demonstrated they can clean up an oil spill in broken ice. Cleanup off Alaska's coast could be slowed by extreme cold, moving ice, high wind and low visibility.
Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council said designation of critical habitat is a powerful tool to protect threatened species, but said more must be done to save the polar bear from extinction.On the Net: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: http://www.fws.gov/

Poll: US belief in global warming is cooling By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer – OCT 22,09

WASHINGTON – Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming.Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the U.S. and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change.In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Thursday, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down from 71 percent in April of last year and from 77 percent when Pew started asking the question in 2006. The number of people who see the situation as a serious problem also has declined.The steepest drop has occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change — from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.The poll was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. A federal government report Thursday found that global warming is upsetting the Arctic's thermostat.Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year's poll.The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things,suggested Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4.When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave.Andrew Weaver, a professor of climate analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said politics could be drowning out scientific awareness.It's a combination of poor communication by scientists, a lousy summer in the Eastern United States, people mixing up weather and climate and a full-court press by public relations firms and lobby groups trying to instill a sense of uncertainty and confusion in the public,he said.

Political breakdowns in the survey underscore how tough it could be to enact a law limiting pollution emissions blamed for warming. While three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious, far fewer conservative and moderate Democrats see the problem as grave. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say there is no solid evidence of global warming, up from 31 percent in early 2007.Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is occurring and that the primary cause is a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal.Jane Lubchenco, head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a business group meeting at the White House Thursday:The science is pretty clear that the climate challenge before us is very real. We're already seeing impacts of climate change in our own backyards.Despite misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices. And a majority — 56 percent — feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.But many of the supporters of reducing pollution have heard little to nothing about cap-and-trade, the main mechanism for reducing greenhouse gases favored by the White House and central to legislation passed by the House and a bill the Senate will take up next week.Under cap-and-trade, a price is put on each ton of pollution, and businesses can buy and sell permits to meet emissions limits.Perhaps the most interesting finding in this poll ... is that the more Americans learn about cap-and-trade, the more they oppose cap-and-trade,said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who opposes the Senate bill and has questioned global warming science.

Regional as well as political differences were detected in the polling.

People living in the Midwest and mountainous areas of the West are far less likely to view global warming as a serious problem and to support limits on greenhouse gases than those in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Both the House and Senate bills have been drafted by Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts and California.
One of those lawmakers, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, told reporters Thursday that she was happy with the results, given the interests and industry groups fighting the bill.Today, to get 57 percent saying that the climate is warming is good, because today everybody is grumpy about everything,Boxer said.Science will win the day in America. Science always wins the day.Earlier polls, from different organizations, have not detected a growing skepticism about the science behind global warming.Since 1997, the percentage of Americans that believe the Earth is heating up has remained constant — at around 80 percent — in polling done by Jon Krosnick of Stanford University. Krosnick, who has been conducting surveys on attitudes about global warming since 1993, was surprised by the Pew results.He described the decline in the Pew results as implausible,saying there is nothing that could have caused it.The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.On the Net:The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: http://www.people-press.org

India: Climate deal can't sacrifice poor nations By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 22, 10:10 am ET

NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday that the world's poor nations will not sacrifice their development in negotiations for a new climate change deal.The issue of how to share the burden of fighting global warming has divided the developing and industrialized worlds as they prepare to negotiate a replacement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol at a December summit in Copenhagen.Developing countries cannot and will not compromise on development,Singh told an international conference on technology and climate change.However, even poorer countries need to "do our bit to keep our emissions footprint within levels that are sustainable and equitable,he said.Developing countries argue that the industrial world produced most of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases and should bear the costs of fixing the problem. Wealthy nations say all countries — including growing polluters India and China — have to agree to broad cuts in emissions.India and China agreed Wednesday to stand together on climate change issues at the Copenhagen meeting. The two nations agreed to work on slowing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, but resisted making those limits binding and subject to international monitoring.Developing countries want financial aid for their climate change efforts, and Singh said wealthy nations have an obligation to ensure they get access to new, clean technology that will cut emissions and increase energy efficiency.We need technology solutions that are appropriate, affordable and effective,he said.U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said any agreement at Copenhagen would need to include ambitious emissions cuts for industrialized countries, limit the growth of emissions from developing nations and give significant financial support to help poor nations comply with the targets.

We have very little time remaining,he said.Scientists say warming weather will lead to widespread drought, floods, higher sea levels and worsening storms.Even a 3.6-degree-Fahrenheit (2-degree-Celsius) temperature rise could subject up to 2 billion people to water shortages by 2050, according to a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists. Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed warned Thursday that developing nations would bear the brunt of environmental catastrophes caused by global warming and insisted that a new deal was essential.On the issue of climate change, there is no room for compromise, no deals, no half measures. Radical change is what's required,Nasheed told the conference.Nasheed has become a leading voice on the issue of global warming, with his low-lying Indian Ocean island nation in danger of being swamped by rising sea levels.

Can the World Agree on a Stimulus Exit Plan? By Michael Schuman / Hong Kong – Thu Oct 22, 10:45 am ET

During the dark days of the global credit crunch one year ago, policymakers around the world had a generally easy time coordinating decisions. As asset prices tanked, lending dried up and growth shriveled, governments and central banks were all forced to take similar steps - pump up fiscal spending and slash interest rates to support growth and unfreeze financial markets. Now, as an economic recovery emerges, governments are hoping for another coordinated effort to exit from their massive stimulus plans, including near-zero interest rates. That intention was clearly laid out during the September G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. The leaders of the world's 20 most influential economies pledged to withdraw our extraordinary policy support in a cooperative and coordinated way.Yet what sounds so simple on paper will be far more complicated in the real world of economic policymaking. The problem is that the upturn isn't as synchronized as the downturn. Countries are emerging from recession at different speeds with each facing its own special mix of inflationary pressures and unemployment, each of which affects decisions made on monetary and fiscal policy.We won't get the kind of coordinated response that is the rhetoric of the G-20,says Paul De Grauwe, professor of economics at the University of Leuven in Belgium. Each country is going to look at its own interests.

That possibility is already becoming a reality, as signs appear that central bank policies are beginning to diverge. On Oct. 6, Australia became the first G-20 nation to raise interest rates, hiking its key rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25%. With inflation close to target and the risk of serious economic contraction in Australia now having passed,Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement, the central bank decided that it was now prudent to begin gradually lessening the stimulus provided by monetary policy.Meanwhile, in other industrialized nations still suffering from high unemployment and yawning excess capacity, policymakers are in no hurry to tighten. In the U.S., the Federal Reserve has indicated that it won't act aggressively anytime soon on its key interest rate, which remains in a zero to 0.25% range.It seems likely that the recovery will be less robust than desired,William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in an early October speech.This means that the economy has significant excess slack and implies that we face meaningful downside risks to inflation over the next year or two.The Fed's key interest rate target, he added, is likely to remain exceptionally low for an extended period.A haphazard exit from stimulus measures, with countries going their separate ways, could pose its own set of problems. In this era of globalization what one government does in one corner of the world can have a knock-off effect on economies in another corner. For example, countries that raise interest rates ahead of others could end up attracting money from foreign investors seeking a higher return, potentially draining funds away from economies still badly in need of investment. Or if too many governments turn off the stimulus tap too quickly, global demand could fall sharply.An unruly rush to the exits is no better in a global financial crisis than in a crowded theater,wrote Adam Posen, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, in the Financial Times in September.

Though governments are aware of the dangers of an uncoordinated exit, they also prefer to keep their options open since they must also address domestic political concerns. That means clearly defined timeframes or targets for any exit could prove hard to achieve. The financial crisis is affecting differently every country. Every country will have to define its exit strategy in its own time,Portugal's Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos reportedly said at a conference of European Union ministers earlier this month in Sweden. I don't think that we can have a precise, or a common schedule. In my perspective, we need a flexible approach,he said.Nowhere is the policy challenge bigger than in Asia. With the region's recovery gaining pace more quickly than elsewhere, it could be the first region to face inflation pressures. In China, growth is rapidly returning to pre-crisis levels. On Oct. 22, China reported that its gross domestic product grew by a healthy 8.9% in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier. Inflation in China will rise faster than in most other major economies and will therefore justify earlier and stronger-than-expected rate hikes,wrote Jun Ma, an economist at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, in a September note. Concerns are also mounting that continued loose monetary policy in Asia could fuel dangerous and unstable asset price bubbles, especially in property. There has been some speculation in financial markets that South Korea's central bank could raise interest rates in coming months to cool a roaring housing market. Frederic Neumann, an economist at HSBC in Hong Kong, argues that Asian central bankers might need to hike rates by four percentage points over the next year - much more than is expected from the Fed - in order to quash inflation and asset bubbles.This is the real test for Asia: The region's central banks have to hike earlier and far more aggressively than the Federal Reserve, Neumann believes.

However, Neumann and other economists question if Asia will take such action, even if it does prove necessary. By raising rates ahead of the rest of the world, Asia could attract capital flows and put pressure on its currencies to appreciate. Stronger currencies would make Asian exports more expensive - a consequence policymakers in the region's trade-dependent economies might wish to avoid.Unless you are really forced to do something independent of the Federal Reserve, you are probably not going to go that route,says Duncan Wooldridge, an economist at UBS in Hong Kong.In the end, some economists believe that a coordinated global exit strategy, especially in regard to monetary policy, will ultimately happen, but by default. The Federal Reserve holds so much influence in the world economy that other central banks might be wary of deviating too far from its policy.The nature of the coordination is not that bankers sit around a table and do things together,says University of Leuven's De Grauwe.The nature is that some of the big guys make a move and force everyone to move.In the global recovery, as in the downturn, everyone may sink or swim together.

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Poland wants mini-president at EU helm
ANDREW RETTMAN Today OCT 22,09 @ 17:25 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland has said it wants the new EU president to be a quiet consensus-builder who will not try to aggrandise the post, in what looks like another blow to British candidate Tony Blair.The President of the European Council, apart from chairing its sessions, should concentrate on ensuring the continuity of its works and on building consensus among representatives of member states. His/her right of authority should not be extended through non-treaty measures, it said in a position paper obtained by EUobserver.The two page document, entitled Implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon, is dated 19 October and comes on top of earlier Polish proposals about the EU's new diplomatic corps. The new post of President of the European Council is to be created when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force but it is not yet clear what form it should take.

The latest Polish paper envisages a primary role for the traditional EU presidency.

The rotating six-month chairmanship is to guide the works of the Council of the European Union, while the new EU chief is to have a secondary function to build on the achievements of the presidency.The rotating chairmanship is also to present special reports about its pre-summit achievements to EU leaders and to host any extraordinary EU summits in its home country. EU summit agendas and draft conclusions are to be tabled by the 27 EU foreign ministers.Meanwhile, the new EU president is to be tied up in regular meetings with the rotating chair, the EU commission president, the EU parliament president and the new EU foreign minister to make sure he co-ordinates his ideas with the other institutions. The Polish job description seems too small for a big international personality such as British ex-premier Tony Blair.It echoes feeling in the Benelux countries, which in a joint paper earlier this month said that "the rotating six-month presidency will ...play a primary role" in what was interpreted as a broadside against Mr Blair's candidacy.

Poland will be looking to the Spanish EU presidency in the first half of 2010 to see how the new power-sharing set-up works in practice.Warsaw will get its moment of EU fame in the second half of 2011 and has already begun making preparations. It plans to spend €103 million (Paris spent €151 million in 2008). It has published its list of political priorities and hired advisors from think-tanks such as the European Policy Centre and Bruegel.In autumn 2010 it will also cut the ribbon on a swanky new building to house its EU mission, just off the Schuman roundabout in the heart of the EU quarter. The new premises will house an extra 100 staff, doubling the Polish contingent to over 200 personnel, the equal of the largest permanent representations in the EU capital.

MEPs to call for EU diplomatic college - Members of the fledgling diplomatic service should think European (Photo: EUobserver)HONOR MAHONY Today OCT 22,09 @ 08:40CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament is later this morning set to call for the establishment of a European diplomatic college as the EU looks to firm up its presence on the international stage with a more coherent foreign policy.The proposal, contained in a parliament report on the current negotiations to establish a European diplomatic service, suggests such a college would provide appropriate training in consular procedures, diplomacy and international relations including knowledge and the history and workings of the European Union.European external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner called it a promising idea as members of the fledgling diplomatic service, at least a third of whom will be directly seconded from national ministries, should think European.We need to create a European diplomatic culture and an esprit de corps,said the commissioner, while debating the report with MEPs on Wednesday (21 October).There is also a call to let EU commission delegations, which will become union embassies under the Lisbon Treaty, provide consular services for EU citizens in third countries - something one EU analyst noted may become popular as member states scale back their consular services abroad due to costs.

The wider report by German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok anticipates the internal institutional problems of the EU that could be created by the diplomatic service, a part of the new Lisbon Treaty, and makes a series of demands including that the service be a part of the European commission and part of the EU budget, moves that would automatically grant MEPs greater scrutiny rights.While the Swedish EU presidency as well as commissioner Ferrero-Waldner were careful to point to the importance of democratic oversight and close cooperation with the parliament, they shied away from committing the new set-up to being part of the general EU budget.The idea is deeply unpopular with member states who fear that their exclusive powers in foreign policy will be eroded.For her part Swedish EU minister Cecilia Malmstrom said that Stockholm will be ready to present a series of very useful ideas on the service to a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next week. Giving a few details of the ongoing negotiations between member states about what the service should look like, she said the commission would maintain overall responsibility for trade, aid and enlargement issues.The Lisbon Treaty is unclear on the scope of the service and the foreign minister. This has prompted fears that the commission will be weakened as its experts leave to fill the ranks of the diplomatic service and it is stripped of its powers in key external policy areas such as trade.

The service, which member states are hoping to have set up by April next year, has prompted job fears among commission staff, 400 of whom attended a talk last week by the commission's secretary general on the issue.The career path in the commission is quite clear,an official in the external relations unit told EUobserver adding but no one is sure what a transfer to the service will mean.The setting up of the diplomatic service could imply a change to the staff regulations, the rules governing internal management of the EU institutions including the choosing of staff and the creation of new jobs. This would be something that would need to be decided with the European Parliament, opening a new point of leverage for deputies trying to shape the service.While the majority of deputies spoke out in favour of the report during Wednesday's debate, some deputies said the diplomatic service will mean foreign policy is gradually taken away from member states.

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DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

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http://www.prisonplanet.com/profit-driven-swine-flu-propaganda-pump-up-the-volume-part-1.html

National Law Journal: Employers Want To Mandate Swine Flu Vaccinations For Workers Lawyer advises offering free lunches, days off to those who take jab Steve Watson Infowars.net Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009

A report in the National Law Journal reveals that employers are asking lawyers if they can make it mandatory for their workers to take the H1N1 vaccination.The article (registration required) also reveals that some companies are seeking legal advice on whether they can take employees’ temperatures, a practice that is illegal under laws covering medical tests in the workplace.Lawyer Steve Biddle, who heads a San Francisco firm’s H1N1 practice group, tells the National Law Journal that he has taken a significant rise in calls regarding mandatory swine flu shots from employers in colder states.Biddle says that mandatory shots are a viable option during a pandemic, but he recommends companies try a softer approach, such as offering more paid leave or free lunches for those workers who agree to take the shot.Another lawyer, John Michels Jr, based in Chicago, backs up the notion that mandatory vaccination can be enforced in the workplace:In the private arena, Michels said, the law is pretty well established regarding an employer’s right to mandate vaccinations. If an employer can establish a legitimate business need or objective, he said, vaccinations against various illnesses can be a legitimate job qualification.Such a move would set a frightening precedent whereby employees would face the choice of getting vaccinated or losing their jobs. Further down the line, workers may be asked to agree to take vaccinations as part of their employment contracts.Michels added that because there is a gray area over whether the H1N1 vaccine has been properly licensed, and given that it may be experimental or not properly vetted, workers could mount a strong challenge to such mandates issued by their employers.A number of lawsuits against mandatory H1N1 vaccination have already been filed against the states of New York and Washington by nurses there, who have been told they must take the shot or be suspended and terminated from their jobs.
Healthcare workers across the country are standing up against intimidation to take the shot, pointing out that the vaccine has not been properly tested and contains mercury, squalene and other dangerous additives.

7YR TREATY BY PROOF

GENESIS 2:2-3 GOD RESTED THE 7TH DAY
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

LEVITICUS 25:1-9 THE 7 YEAR SABBATICAL
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.

God has always dealt with Israel in 7's, it just makes sense the last dealing with Israel and the World will be a 7 yr treaty. God rested from creation on the 7TH DAY. Every 7TH YEAR Israel is suppose to rest the land. And the 7X7=49 YRS and the jubilee is the 50TH YEAR.

Now the scriptures that a week in Israel history is 7YEARS.

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

Isn"t this interesting it comes from the same Person whos name was changed to Israel,(JACOB) and Israel and Jerusalem is the places dealt with in Daniel 9:24-27.

GENESIS 32:27-28
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

1 CHRONICLES 17:6-14
6 Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?
7 Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:
8 And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
10 And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house.
11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.
13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.

MATTHEW 24:32-35
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(MAY 14,1948 ISRAEL BECOMES A NATION IN 1 DAY).
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

LUKE 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.(JERUSALEM IN JEWSH HANDS JUNE 6-10, 1967).

DANIEL 9:24-27
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people (ISRAEL) and upon thy holy city,(JERUSALEM) to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks,(7X7=49 YRS) and threescore and two weeks:(62X7=434 YRS) the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
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;(TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (69x7=483 YRS TO THIS POINT, THE FINAL 7 YR TREATY IS IN THE NEXT VERSE TO FULFILL THE 490 YEARS OF DANIELS PROPHECY.
9:27 And he (THE FUTURE ROMAN PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3RD TEMPLE DESECRATED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.(WW3)

Solana: Israel has to swap land for any centimeter beyond 1967 line Wednesday, 21 October 2009 17:20 News from Jerusalem Javier Solana with Abbas

EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana said the European Union's goal is to establish a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders.Speaking in Ramallah on Wednesday, Solana said the sooner this happens, the better.Solana met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday morning, and is scheduled to meet later with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.His visit to the Palestinian Authority is aimed at highlighting the EU's commitment to the region and supporting the PA leadership.Solana is slated to visit Israel on Thursday, and meet with Israeli officials.During his visit to Ramallah, Solana said there may be a need to exchange certain territories, but he said this should not disrupt the territory's continuity.He said EU's stance in the matter is similar to that of the Quartet on the Middle East, and expressed his support of Abbas' efforts to unite the Palestinian people in light of the current dispute between his Fatah party and Hamas.Solana's meeting with Abbas came before the latter's trip to Egypt. After the meeting, Solana said that Abbas took off to Cairo where reconciliation talks between the two Palestinian factions are ongoing, and stressed that Abbas is dedicated to closing a deal.Later Wednesday, Solana told the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem that the world must not accept an Iranian nuclear bomb. According to Solana,Tomorrow is today and we have no time to lose.As for the peace process in the Middle East, Solana called for limited negotiations.The time to do it is now. Nothing has been done in the world without taking risks.ynet

NETANYAHU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9BQab49pLY&feature=player_embedded

PM Netanyahu’s Speech at the 2009 President’s Conference - Making the Impossible Possible Wednesday, 21 October 2009 16:51 News from Jerusalem Binyamin Netanyahu at Presidents conference 2009

This Conference is an opportunity to think about how to make the impossible possible. How do we transform a dream into reality, a crisis into an opportunity? The truth is that there is no other person in the world who could have initiated and led such a Conference – making the impossible possible – than our respected and beloved President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres. As you have done your whole life, Mr. President, tonight you continue to dream, to lead and to make dreams reality.It is no secret that we meet frequently and that I consult with you often. You have experienced what few other people in the world can match. You are a learned man, a statesman, an intellectual, a prime minister and a president. You are an Israeli patriot, and at the same time, man of the world.But above all, this night is the expression of one other trait you enjoy – you are an entrepreneur. You take the initiative and look to the future.Shimon, you are a national treasure, and I am happy to be here tonight at your Conference. There really is no other person who could have established this Conference, and I also feel that there is no better place to hold it than in the State of Israel.

That is because for 62 years – day in and day out – we make the impossible possible. We gathered together a scattered and persecuted people who lost one-third of its sons and daughters. We restored the power of self-defense that we had lost; we stood tall once again; we revived an ancient language; we made the wilderness bloom, we absorbed new immigrants; and we established a magnificent country that is a world-leader in many fields, primarily those that are based on knowledge.We did one other thing that people thought was impossible: we paved the path to peace. First we made peace with Egypt and later with Jordan. We are tireless in our efforts to achieve peace with the Palestinians, and we will succeed with them as well.Currently many people believe that this is an impossible task. I do not share that view. I believe that peace with our Palestinian neighbors is possible. However, it demands leadership and courage from both sides.

That is why I call on Abu Mazen, President of the Palestinian Authority:
-Lead your people to peace!
-Tell your people that it is time to end this conflict once and for all!
-Tell your people that it is time for both our peoples to live side-by-side in peace and security.
I ask nothing of you that I have not demanded of myself.Several months ago, I gave a speech in which I told the Israeli people the truth about peace – the need for peace and the path to peace.Now it is time for you to tell your people the truth about peace – the need for peace and the true path to peace.I gave my speech at Bar Ilan University. You can give yours at any of your universities or any institution you choose. The important thing is to do so.We are ready to talk about peace between us as soon as possible, even tomorrow. But we cannot just talk about peace in private – the truth about peace must be shared with the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.

Ladies and Gentleman,

If there is any group that can understand that the impossible can be made possible it is this group right here.Among the participants are world leaders, scientists, intellectuals and academics, economists and businesspeople, people from the media, artists, security experts and environmentalists. Each and every one of you – in your own field, with your own dream, with your own contribution – make the impossible possible.Therefore, tonight I would like to talk to you about one of the more significant matters on the global agenda: eliminating the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, particularly oil.We all know the simple truth: dependence on oil endangers the world. It is a threat to our security, our economy and the environment.

Our security, because dependence on fossil fuels strengthens the dark regimes that encourage instability and fund terror with their petrodollars.Our economy, because if we don’t develop alternative energy sources, the demand for fossil fuels will increase and the supply will decrease. This will lead to an increase in prices, which in turn will adversely affect global economic development in countries that import fossil fuels – which is the majority of countries. This will cause serious economic harm.Environmentally, because the pollution from fossil fuels poisons the air that we breathe, the water that we drink and the food that we eat.Our dependence on oil harms us and the Earth every day, and has done so for decades.To counteract all this, we must set a goal: we must free ourselves from our dependence on oil. I know it seems impossible, but believe me – it is possible. Sometimes all it takes is one or two inventions to make a breakthrough and change the world.Look at salt during the 19th century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, salt was a luxury item used to preserve food. Caravans of camels carried salt through the Sahara Desert, and the salt was traded for gold. Entire empires became rich trading salt, because of the world’s dependence on salt.But two inventions were made. The first was the canning process and the second was refrigeration, and all at once the world’s huge dependence on salt was eliminated. As a result, the salt empires crashed almost overnight.Is Israel the country that will discover the breakthrough that will free the world of its dependence on fossil fuels?

I believe so because Israel has two significant resources that provide us with a good chance of doing so.
-We have the minds and the hearts.
-The capability, the will.
Israel is very advanced in the technological fields – agro-tech, hi-tech, nanotechnology, solar energy, battery technologies and renewable energies.Naturally, we are leading candidates to create a global revolution in the clean energy field because of this capacity.Here is the essence of what I’m saying. It’s possible to change the world. The greatest changes in man’s history occurred when there was not only a technological change, but a conceptual change.For many generations, hundreds of thousands of years, man was a hunter-gather. He went to seek out food. He had to go great distances, chase animals to get the protein he needed, or to look for berries or fruit to gather so he’d have the nutrients that were needed for life.
These nomadic hunter-gatherer patterns changed one day, because man realized that the food was right underneath his feet. And that was the day that agriculture was born.We are hunter-gatherers for energy. We go to the depths of the oceans. We seek energy from the bowels of the Earth and distant lands. But the energy is right under our noses. It’s all around us. It’s bountiful. It’s in the sun. It’s in the wind. It’s in the water. We just have to tap it.I think we have the capacity to develop this. Our Nobel Prize winners were mentioned – yes, we have per capita more Nobel Prize winners than any other country, than any other people. We have the second largest concentration of technological capacity; in terms of venture capital, the highest per capita by far. We have scientific publications and we have patents in abundance. So we have the capacity, including in these areas – the development of energy from hydrogen, from water, the development of solar energy and other energies. We have the brains, but we also have the will.

Because think what this will mean for our national security. Think of what it would mean for our future if the world ended its dependence on fossil fuels, and especially on oil. By changing this dependence, we can change the world.I don’t know which technology will triumph. Yesterday, Ray Kurzweil, who hasn’t changed a bit in 35 years – I remember you from MIT, Ray – you gave us a course on entrepreneurship and you proceeded to be an entrepreneur, like Shimon Peres, in your own great scientific capacities. Yesterday you said that the efficiency of solar energy doubles every two years. You said that we live in a very brief generation that will develop the energy of the proximate future. If that’s the case, then we’re in good shape. But I say let’s make it happen faster.If we have placed a man on the moon, surely we can harness the energy of the sun.What I propose to do today is to establish a nation commission of scientists, engineers, business and government people to set a goal that within ten years, we’ll have a practical, clean, efficient substitute for oil. I think it’s possible. I think we can make the impossible possible.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have never been accused of being a disciple of government intervention. However, sometimes the private market simply cannot create the critical mass of activities needed to make such a big change. Sometimes it needs a push and support from the government.Finding an alternative to oil is a critical matter for the State of Israel must deal with – with regard to geopolitics, security concerns, environmental concerns, to secure the future and to change the world’s order of priorities.
Therefore, I repeat my announcement that I am going to establish a national commission comprised of scientists, manufacturers, engineers, businesspeople and government officials, with the goal of formulating a practical plan for efficient development in technologies and engineering in order to replace fossil fuels within the decade. I ask the minds and talents who are here, and around the world, to help.

It is not in our interest alone. The resources need not be exclusively Israel’s. Most of the world shares this interest. But Israel has a strong and clear interest in achieving this.For out of Zion will come Torah”: We are commanded to bring a new light to the world. God willing, with your help and the help of many others around the world, we will make the impossible possible.Bibi Report

Meretz MKs Push Circumcision Bill Reported: 02:55 AM - Oct/22/09

(IsraelNN.com) Three Meretz MKs, filed a bill to establish a committee to determine criteria for certification for ritual circumcisers (mohelim).According to the bill, the committee that would define the Circumcision Law, would be jointly made up of officials from the Ministry of Health and the Chief Rabbinate. Violators of the law could face up to three years in prison.

Zionist Tzohar Rabbis want to Register Marriages, Too
by Gil Ronen OCT 21,09

(IsraelNN.com) The Tzohar Rabbis organization, which provides rabbinical services from Zionist rabbis, seeks to establish its own independent system for registration of marriages, along the same framework as the one maintained by the hareidi-religious Badatz courts [Badatz is the Hebrew acronym for Court of Justice – ed.].

Rabbi David Stav of the Tzohar Rabbis leadership told Arutz Sheva of the new initiative.Today, formally, it is the local rabbinates that are authorized to register marriages, in the marriage departments. However, you never actually see hareidi-religious Jews going there to register for marriage, because the hareidi Jews can register for marriage at the various Badatz courts, which have deals with local rabbinates that allow them to register marriages and later pass on the paperwork to the rabbinate.Many people prefer to register with the Badatz courts because the bureaucracy there is not as bad, he explained.Zionist-religious and even secular couples go to those Badatz courts because there is not a long line there, you don't need to go back several times to complete the paperwork, and you do not need to bring witnesses to testify that you are single. Also, there are many who want a specific rabbi to perform the ceremony although the rabbinate does not approve that rabbi, while the Badatz courts have no supervision and they let almost anyone marry couples.He called upon the Chief Rabbinate to allow Tzohar into the system as well.We ask the Rabbinate – just as you recognized the Badatz marriage registrants, we too are worthy of doing it. As of today there is no legal body known as the Tzohar Rabbis but on the ground, we are already carrying out marriages according to the rabbinate's criteria, and we already teach brides in preparation for their weddings. But we do not have the authority to complete the bureaucratic process.

OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL Meet White House adviser who supports Islamic law-Muslim leader says Dalia Mogahed shares the outlook of Islamists in Egypt, Pakistan October 21, 2009 9:50 pm Eastern By Art Moore 2009 WorldNetDaily

Dalia Mogahed-She describes her role in the Obama administration as a communicator to the president and other public officials of what it is Muslims want.But Muslims such as Steven Schwartz, a prominent American convert to Islam and ardent critic of Muslim fundamentalism, contend Dalia Mogahed, a scheduled speaker at the annual fundraiser Saturday in Washington for the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations', certainly doesn't speak for them.A senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Mogahed was appointed to President Obama's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.The Egyptian-born, hijab-clad adviser drew attention earlier this month when she defended Shariah, or Islamic law, on a British television show hosted by a member of an extremist Muslim group, insisting the majority of women around the world associate Shariah with gender justice.Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, states in a column for the Weekly Standard that according to Mogahed's view, Muslims are either fundamentalist or confused.Their attitudes toward Islamic law are divided, in her terms, only between supposedly wanting Shariah to be the sole source of governance and seeing it as one source of legislation among various canons,he writes.But for her, even this distinction is less important than proclaiming the satisfaction of Muslim women with Shariah.

Get Muslim Mafia,autographed, from WND's Superstore -As late as Oct. 15, CAIR's promotion of its 15th annual banquet listed Mogahed as a keynote speaker along with a controversial imam, Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing investigation who has been recorded calling for the violent replacement of the U.S. government with a Saudi-style Islamic system.But by Friday, days after the release of Muslim Mafia – a book citing internal documents obtained in an undercover operation that establish CAIR functions as a political front group for the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood – Mogahed's name was replaced with civil rights activist Jesse Jackson's. Mogahed's assistant says, however, he hasn't been informed of any changes.Schwartz says Mogahed shares the outlook of Islamists in Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries threatened by fundamentalist tyranny, in which religious governance is posed as the sole alternative to secular dictatorship.
Pointing to her views expressed to a church leader writing in Christian Century magazine, Schwartz says that while Muslims around the world are increasingly turning toward civil society, Dalia Mogahed offers the retrograde fantasy of Shariah as liberating, even as comparable with the principles of the Declaration of Independence.Schwartz says Mogahed's defense of Islamic law in the British TV interview as feminist was objectionable because Shariah is most often employed to oppress women, not to free them from the blandishments of the sinful West.

Dalia Mogahed-The Mogahed approach discounts the widespread, moderate Muslim view that Shariah, like other canons of religious law, should apply only to standards for diet, forms of prayer, and other strictly individual or personal options,contends Schwartz.Such an individual,he concludes,is inappropriate as an adviser to the president and can do great harm by providing an American seal of approval to extreme Shariah ideology.We should not be surprised to find that leftists are not the only people with an extreme ideology present in the Obama team,says Schwartz.Mogahed earned a master's in business at the University of Pittsburgh and worked for Procter & Gamble before teaming with prominent Georgetown professor John L. Esposito on a study called Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.Schwartz calls the subtitle of the study, based on Gallup polling, wildly overreaching.
Mogahed says she is simply a researcher capable of offering accurately, and in a representative way, the actual views of Muslims.In an interview with Islam Online in April, Mogahed said she didn't consider herself an adviser on Islam. Her role in the Obama administration, she explained, is to convey the facts about what Muslims think and feel.I see my role as offering the voices of the silenced majority of Muslims in America and around the world to the council so that our deliberations are informed by their ideas and wisdom,she said.I believe that I was chosen because the administration cares about what Muslims think and wants to listen.

Non-violent destruction-Her British TV interview earlier this month was for a London-based discussion program hosted by Ibtihal Bsis, a member of the extremist Hizb ut Tahrir party, the London Telegraph reported.

Hizb ut Tahrir logo-Hizb ut Tahrir has declared it wants to help foster the non-violent destruction of Western democracy and the creation of a global Islamic state under Shariah.Mogahed, appearing alongside Hizb ut Tahrir's national women's officer, Nazreen Nawaz, watched as two members of the radical group made repeated attacks on secular man-made law and the West's lethal cocktail of liberty and capitalism,the Telegraph reported.The Hizb ut Tahrir members called for Shariah to be the source of legislation and said women should not be permitted to hold a position of leadership in government.Schwartz noted Mogahed didn't object to anything the Hizb ut Tahrir members said.While television debate between sharply-opposed individuals has become a dominant form of public communication all over the world, Dalia Mogahed made no effort, in her encounter with an extremist advocate, to establish any distance between their views,he writes in his Weekly Standard column.
Mogahed's assistant, Jason Bough, told WND that as far as he knew, Mogahed was still scheduled to speak at the CAIR banquet Saturday. He said he had no idea why her name had been replaced with Jackson's in CAIR's promotion of the event.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj-CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper did not reply to WND's request for clarification and comment.As WND reported, a nonprofit activist group that alerts Americans about the threat of radical Islam launched a campaign earlier this week to urge the Marriott Crystal Gateway hotel in Arlington, Va., to cancel its hosting of the CAIR banquet.Former Republican Rep. Paul Findley of Illinois, a supporter of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also will speak, according to CAIR. In the wake of 9/11, Findley blamed the attacks on America's support for Israel. He released a book shortly before 9/11, Silent No More,that sought to improve the image of Islam in the U.S. He charged President Bush overreacted to the 9/11 attacks, and he claimed Americans had been misled by the American media, which is controlled by the Jewish lobby.If you're a member of the media and would like to interview Paul Sperry, Dave Gaubatz or Chris Gaubatz, e-mail WND's marketing department or call Anita Jenkins at (703) 398-1137.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Mideast leaders believe they can blackmail, cheat U.S. May harden positions following Obama's overtures to foes October 21, 200911:55 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily

President Obama-TEL AVIV – Amid recent White House overtures to Syria and Iran, some Mideast leaders are considering hardening their positions against the U.S., believing they may extract more concessions from a conciliatory Obama administration.Instead of being pro-American and receiving little, maybe we should change our model to blackmailing and cheating you. This way we will bring more American support,a Palestinian Authority official told WND yesterday.The official was offering his analysis of the current U.S. position in the Middle East. He spoke on condition his name be withheld. The official claimed some in the PA were considering adopting a stronger position so we can have what Syria received without offering much in return.The official was referring to a partnership deal announced earlier this month that will see billions of dollars in trade flow between the European Union and Syria. Egyptian and Palestinian diplomatic sources told WND the Obama administration was instrumental in facilitating the deal, which is worth an estimated $7 billion a year for the Syrian economy.U.S. opposition was a main factor in the deal being delayed since it was drawn up as a draft pact in 2004. The Bush administration was particularly opposed to Syria's interference in Lebanese affairs and Damascus' military alliance with Iran.According to the Egyptian and Palestinian diplomatic sources, the Obama administration dropped American opposition to the deal without first extracting a concession from Syria to end its alliance with Iran.

The sources told WND the White House received pledges from Syria to collaborate with the West in Lebanon and Iraq and to play a more constructive role in the Middle East.The Obama administration also recently announced it would send an ambassador to Syria. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador from Damascus four years ago in protest against the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, an attack widely blamed on Damascus.A top official from Syria's Ministry of Information previously told WND the Obama administration did not extract any concessions from Syria in exchange for the new U.S. ambassador.The PA official, speaking to WND yesterday, confirmed: All the Syrians did was blackmail the Americans. They didn't give the U.S. anything besides some improvement on the Syrian-Iraqi borders. In all the other cases, they didn't change their policy. They are interfering in Lebanon and shipping weapons to Hezbollah. They are partners in the region with Iran. Syria didn't change its equation with Hamas.The PA official also noted U.S. willingness to engage with Iran despite the idea of major compromise being rejected by the Iranians.
Separately, an Egyptian intelligence official told WND yesterday his country is also considering changing some of its attitudes in light of the U.S.'s new Syrian policies.He said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was contemplating a visit to Syria in the next few months.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Dep. Min.Warns of Earthquake by Gil Ronen OCT 21,09

(IsraelNN.com) Deputy Minister of Defense Matan Vilnai participated Wednesday morning in a readiness exercise for an earthquake scenario in Akko (Acre).I want to remind you of the earthquake we experienced in October 1973 – a man-made earthquake, he said – referring to the Yom Kippur War. Just as we were surprised then, in a real earthquake that comes from nature we will be more surprised,he warned.We will not be able to depend on the fighting spirit of people on the ground, Vilnai added. Rather, we will have to be prepared and trained for tough situations in which the local authorities will have to function independently for many days.Yesterday I visited Tzfat [Safed] and Tveryah [Tiberias] and I was glad to see a much better state of preparedness than in the Second Lebanon war,he said.We need to be ready for every possible scenario, not just military but also natural disasters like earthquakes.In mid-2008, increased seismic activity in Israel's north led the government to begin preparing for the possibility of a major earthquake. At the time, Geophysical Institute of Israel director Rami Hopsteter advised Israelis to do what they could to ensure that their surroundings were safe in case of earthquake.In September 2009, Israel conducted the first successful test on a system designed to protect schoolchildren in case of an earthquake. If the earthquake cage device passes future tests, it may be installed in schools throughout the country.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Tropical storm hits Mexican resort, topples trees By GUILLERMO ARIAS, Associated Press Writer - OCT 21, 11:30PM

MAZATLAN, Mexico – Tropical Storm Rick hit Mexico's Pacific coast just north of the resort of Mazatlan on Wednesday, toppling trees and signs after sparing Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula a direct blow. There were no reports of significant damage or injuries.The center of the storm made landfall around 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) with winds of about 55 mph (90 kph), kicking up high waves that drew residents of Mazatlan to the city's seaside boulevard to watch the spectacle.After moving over land, the storm dissipated by the afternoon, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

A steady rain began pelting the city late Tuesday as the storm approached. Rick's winds toppled several trees, and electricity was knocked out in parts of the city, Sinaloa Gov. Jesus Aguilar told local media.Authorities canceled classes in the southern part of Sinaloa state, where Mazatlan is located, and urged residents to evacuate some low-lying neighborhoods.Tourists in Los Cabos, meanwhile, awoke to a blue, cloud-streaked sky Wednesday morning. There were no reports of flooding overnight, according to Los Cabos civil defense director Francisco Cota.Forecasters said the remnants of Rick could dump about one inch of rain in parts of northern Mexico, creating the risk of flash floods and mudslides.Over the weekend, Rick's winds were clocked at 180 mph (290 kph) — making it the strongest hurricane in the eastern North Pacific region since 1997 — and it kicked up high waves hundreds of miles (kilometers) away that killed at least two people.

But the storm spent its force far out at sea and weakened over cooler waters.Far out in the Pacific Ocean, meanwhile, Hurricane Neki strengthened to a Category 3 storm with top winds near 120 mph (190 kph).Wednesday afternoon, Neki was centered about 600 miles (965 kilometers) west-southwest of Honolulu and about 360 miles (580 kilometers) south of French Frigate Shoals.The storm was not expected to threaten Hawaii, but a hurricane warning was issued for part of the Papahanaumokuakea National Monument, a marine conservation area northwest of the islands.Also Wednesday, a river overflowed its banks in the Central American nation of Honduras, flooding hamlets and cutting off transport routes to several towns on the country's Caribbean coast.Juan Cesar Cruz, the head of Honduras' civil defense agency, said a dozen roads had been cut by the flooding. The flooding was caused by heavy rains that started Sunday.

Tropical storm Rick threatens flash floods in Mexico Wed Oct 21, 12:59 pm ET

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Tropical storm Rick made landfall Wednesday in northwestern Mexico having lost its punch as a former top-strength hurricane, but still threatened the region with heavy rain and flash floods, US forecasters said.Rick's eye hit Mexico's northwestern Pacific coast at 7:00 am (1400 GMT), some 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of the port of Mazatlan, said the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center.The storm, which was downgraded early Tuesday from hurricane status, was packing winds of 50 miles (85 kilometers) an hour.With possible rainfall of 10 inches (25 centimeters) over Sinaloa and the central state of Durango in the next day, the NHC warned the rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.The storm system had become a shadow of the category-five monster it was over the weekend.Giant waves whipped up by Rick caused one death on Sunday and forced the evacuation of some of Los Cabos' famous tourist beaches.Baja California also was battered in early September by Hurricane Jimena, which caused floods that killed at least one person.

Canada: Revive Refugee Committee
by Gil Ronen OCT 21,09

(IsraelNN.com) Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon held a working meeting with President Shimon Peres Wednesday. After the meeting Cannon said that his country wants to make a meaningful contribution to the peace process between Israel and its neighbors. Cannon said that he intends to present the Canadian Prime Minister with a plan to revive the multilateral refugee committee headed by Canada that was established in the Madrid Conference in 1991. The committee, he aid, should be recreated with the consent of all parties and it could have a decisive effect on solving the refugee problem.Peres told Cannon that Israel attaches great importance to strengthening its strategic ties with Canada and that it thanks your country for supporting us over many years.The President went on to blast the Goldstone Report and said that it is unthinkable that the UN bodies give a green light to the writing of a report whose conclusions were determined even before it was written and it is full of manipulations, ignores facts and above all, gives a prize to terror.Cannon said: Canada stands besides you and with you, especially in the struggle against the terror threats and expressions that oppose the existence of the Jewish state or the Jewish nation. These things are foreign to Canada's values and to Canada itself.

I GIVE EVERY MONTH TO HELP ISRAELIS THROUGHT INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS AND JACK VAN IMPE ALSO.

Rabbi Elyashiv: Refuse Money from IFCJ
by Gil Ronen OCT 21,09

(IsraelNN.com) Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, one of the top Torah authorities in the hareidi-religious world, has issued a ruling that says that the public may not take money from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (Keren HaYedidut) headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.Groups that take money from the fund are flouting the Torah's prohibition of idolatry, Rabbi Elyashiv said, and they even aid future missionary activities and grant them legitimacy.We regret to say that we have learned that several institutions, organizations and charity groups have made mistakes of this nature,he added.Taking money from this fund is an unclean act, the elderly rabbi said. Other rabbis who made similar decisions include R. Samuel Auerbach, R Nissim Kerlitz, R. Ovadia Yosef, R. Mordechai Eliyahu and others.The IFCJ was founded in Chicago in 1983 by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. The fact that it takes money from Christian groups causes much suspicion in some religious Jewish circles. However, other religious circles have no problem with the group.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133946
Chabad Opens Revamped Multiple Sclerosis Center by Gil Ronen OCT 20,09(IsraelNN.com)

A new building in the enlarged and improved Grabski Multiple Sclerosis Center in Migdal HaEmek was inaugurated this week in a ceremony attended by Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog. The center is Israel's first and only dedicated residential and outpatient center devoted exclusively to patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, a degenerative disease that ultimately leads to complete incapacitation.The Grabski MS Center serves patients and families from Beit Shean, Afula, Hadera, Nazareth and the Galilee region. A second location is currently being planned for Beitar Illit to serve patients in the Jerusalem area. The Multiple Sclerosis Center is designed to provide a full home environment for 32 live-in patients, including four apartments for married couples. In addition, the Center serves 35 daily outpatients. Its construction was made possible by the generosity of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (Keren HaYedidut).The inauguration: A new building, and patients with Rabbi Ze'ev Crombie. (Israel news photos: Chabad)Currently, ten additional private rooms are being constructed in order to increase the inpatient population to 42 – each with the comfort and dignity of their own private room. In addition, government approval has been granted to create a day care center for those who are seriously handicapped physically but are not victims of MS.These clients prefer to live in their own homes but can benefit from a day program that offers round-trip transportation, two meals per day, and a full range of activities and therapies to maximize their quality of life. Life at the Center is designed to keep patients busy all day long with a full set of programs including outings, classes, psychotherapy, physiotherapy, holiday celebrations, horticultural therapy, art/ceramics, and three meals daily.While government subsidies only allow for manual wheelchairs, patients at the center all receive the most advanced electronic wheelchairs. As a patient's condition deteriorates to the point where he or she can no longer get out of bed unassisted, they are not moved to a ward. Rather, an electronic hoist is installed that allows them to remain in their own room for as long as they live.In addition to its dedicated staff of physicians, nurses and therapists, the Center is staffed by young women who are carrying out their National Service (in lieu of military service).

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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU OCT 22,2009

09:30 AM +8.48
10:00 AM -2.95
10:30 AM +30.15
11:00 AM +52.07
11:30 AM +52.82
12:00 PM +45.42
12:30 PM +45.79
01:00 PM +75.57
01:30 PM +73.53
02:00 PM +99.99
02:30 PM +119.18
03:00 PM +124.32
03:30 PM +150.01
04:00 PM +131.95 10,081.31

S&P 500 1092.88 +11.48

NASDAQ 2165.29 +14.56

GOLD 1,059.60 -5.00

OIL 81.11 -0.28

TSE 300 11,529.46 +87.44

CDNX 1334.19 -8.40

S&P/TSX/60 686.68 +5.57

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +13.37%
S&P +19.72%
Nasdaq +36.38%
TSX Advances 683,declines 834,unchanged 277,Volume 488,090,491.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 481,Declines 485,Unchanged 336,Volume 293,052,484.

Dow -3 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -30 points at low today.
Dow +70 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,055.60.OIL opens at $80.79 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -30 points at low today so far.
Dow +70 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,546,declines 1,991,unchanged 124,New Highs 106,New Lows 23.
Volume 2,243,163,706.
NASDAQ Advances 953,declines 1,514,unchanged 144,New highs 27,New Lows 13.
Volume 828,399,913.
TSX Advances 502,declines 710,unchanged 226,Volume 183,347,925.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 242,Declines 391,Unchanged 261,Volume 106,340,440.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -30 points at low today.
Dow +159 points at high today.
Dow +1.33% today Volume 231,765,492.
Nasdaq +0.68% today Volume 2,181,547,081.
S&P 500 +1.06% today Volume N/A

SAVING THE DOLLAR
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1303322657&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1303178477&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1303118150&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1302995945&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1302855327&play=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ht9eXX2JWI&feature=player_embedded
STICK TO GOLD
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1303389786&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1302859429&play=1
BANKING ON INTEGRITY
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1303242800&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1302833717&play=1
PELOSI ON CNBC
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1303140642&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1303168168&play=1

PAUL ON AUDIT FED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obNhUNn2hX0&feature=player_embedded

AUDIT THE FED HAS 304 HOUSE AND 30 SENATE MEMBERS SIGNED UP SO FAR.

Press Release: Federal Reserve Accountability Act An Unacceptable Compromise
Gary Howard Campaign For Liberty Wednesday, Oct 21st, 2009

Today, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced the Federal Reserve Accountability Act, an attempted compromise on the issue of transparency for America’s secretive central bank. The bill would permit an audit of the Fed’s actions in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and similar high profile bailouts, but would not allow Congress to review the Fed’s inflation of the money supply or the its agreements with foreign central banks.Legislation that would bring a full audit of the Fed, Congressman Ron Paul’s H.R. 1207 and its Senate companion S. 604, has gained strong grassroots support and built tremendous pressure on banking special interests.Opponents of Fed Transparency argue that a full audit of the Federal Reserve would damage the central bank’s independence and allow Congress to dictate monetary policy.Claims that transparency at the Federal Reserve would leave Congress in charge of monetary policy are simply bogus,said Jesse Benton, Senior Vice President of Campaign for Liberty.There is absolutely no reason why The American People should not be able to review the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee after a reasonable amount of time has passed.

The Federal Reserve Accountability Act does not audit the monetary policy functions which have been responsible for our deteriorating dollar and so many of our current economic problems, and it is not an acceptable piece of legislation. Campaign for Liberty will continue to push for a full audit of the Fed.The announcement of the new legislation comes after the number of cosponsors in the House of Representatives for H.R. 1207 recently climbed to 303, and S. 604 gained 30 senate cosponsors. Campaign for Liberty has been leading the grassroots effort on H.R .1207, getting it to its current point with 75% of Americans showing support for a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER Is alternative to dollar in works? Plan for Special Drawing Rights creates competition for reserve currency October 20, 2009 9:38 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi 2009 WorldNetDaily

The administration of President Barack Obama, without congressional authorization, is advancing a plan that could end the use of the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency by setting up International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights to compete. The move comes as the dollar heads toward a 14-month low of $1.50/euro and as some top fund managers, including some of President Obama's top financial supporters, worry the decline will continue as long as Obama depends on China to fund trillion dollar budget deficits.It is Obama's promise to participate in a G20 nations agreement by giving $250 billion to the IMF to set up the alternative reserve currency that now has been documented in the final communiqué of the London meeting, according to the G20 website.At G20.org, a report under The London Summit 2009 reveals the LondonSummit.gov.uk/en/ site where Point 5 of the final communiqué says the G20 agreed to allocate that amount to Special Drawing Rights in a move calculated to provide the liquidity needed to position SDRs as a dollar alternative in international trade.

Plans for the dollar alternative are coming into play just as a former science adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher says the real purpose of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18 is to use global warming hype as a pretext to lay the foundation for a one-world government.At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in] Copenhagen this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed,Lord Christopher Monckton told a Minnesota Free Market Institute audience recently at Bethel University in St. Paul.Your president will sign it. Most of the Third World countries will sign it, because they think they're going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regimes from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won't sign it,he said.I think the dollar is now under question,billionaire investor George Soros told CNBC during the G20 summit in London, noting that Obama agreed with the G20 to utilize the IMF to fund a one-world currency dollar alternative for international trade.Soros, one of presidential candidate Obama's leading financial backers, also has launched a new attack against the dollar by calling on China to stop pegging Chinese currency to the dollar, a move that would cause the dollar to fall in value.The Soros-run hedge firm Soros Fund Management continues to bet against the dollar in keeping with the hedge firm's reputation for betting against currencies Soros sees as weak.International investment managers take warnings by Soros seriously, remembering that Soros earned his first $1 billion in 1992 by betting against the British pound.Legendary hedge fund manager Julian Robertson Jr. joined Soros in warning that the United States' increasing reliance on China to fund trillion dollar Obama administration budget deficits will prolong the painful effects of the current economic recession.I think that if the Chinese stop buying our debt, it is virtually the end of the financial world as we know it,Robinson told the Financial Times in London last week.The conventional thinking is that they will continue buying. But I don't think it's logical to assume somebody will continue to buy paper that declines in value. Our dollar is declining in value, and it's been pretty shocking over the last four or five months,he said.At its height in the late 1990s, Robertson's Tiger Management Fund had a reported $22 billion in assets under management.

Robert Mundell: The Fathers of the One World Currency

WND previously reported that strong support for the idea of a one-world currency has come from Canadian economist and Nobel-prize winner Professor Robert Mundell, an influential Columbia University professor who is considered the father of the euro.
Robert Mundell-Mundell, currently an adviser to China, was the originator of the suggestion that the IMF should utilize SDRs to replace the dollar as a new world standard for holding foreign exchange reserves in international trade transactions.

In 1999, Mundell won a Nobel Prize for arguing that nation states like the United States were not optimum currency areas for one-country currencies like the dollar, whereas regional markets, such as the European Union, were optimum currency areas that would justify creating regional currencies such as the euro.WND also has reported Benn Steil, a senior fellow and director of International Economics at the Council of Foreign Relations, wrote in the May/June 2007 issue of the Council of Foreign Relations' Foreign Affairs magazine an article entitled,The End of National Currency,in which his major conclusion was that countries should abandon monetary nationalism.

What are IMF Special Drawing Rights?

SDRs are international reserve assets that are calculated by the IMF in a basket of major currencies allocated to the 185 member nation-states of the IMF in relation to the capital, largely in gold or widely accepted foreign currencies, that the IMF member nation-states have on deposit with the IMF.As Red Alert previously reported, the proposal originally advanced by China and Russia would issue SDRs to central banks of IMF member states far in excess of any gold or currency reserves the member states have on deposit with the IMF.The idea is to utilize the little-understood and largely-ignored SDRs in a new capacity as a sort of an international overdraft facility made available to bankrupt or financially failing IMF member nation-states.

The IMF created SDRs in 1969 to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system.The international supply of two key reserve assets – gold and the U.S. dollar – proved inadequate for supporting the expansion of world trade and financial development that was taking place,a document on the IMF website explains. Therefore, the international community decided to create a new international reserve asset under the auspices of the IMF.When the Bretton Woods fixed rate system collapsed, major world currencies, including the dollar, shifted to a floating exchange rate system where the price of the dollar and other major world currencies was created by trading on international currency exchanges.Until the current global economic crisis, SDRs issued by the IMF have been used by IMF member nation states primarily as a reserve account to support international trade transactions, not as an alternative international currency available to settle international debt transactions in danger of default.

Is a Weak Dollar a Strong Sign? Not So Fast! William Anderson
Campaign For Liberty Wednesday, Oct 21st, 2009

Readers of George Orwell’s 1984 might recall Big Brother’s claims that war is peace or freedom is slavery. Orwell was writing a novel, but some of the commentary these days makes me think that elite economists have taken residence in Oceania’s Ministry of Truth.Today, the champion—the uncontested champion of Orwell’s truth—is Paul Krugman, the 2008 Nobel laureate, Princeton professor, and New York Times columnist. For those who read his twice-weekly column or glance at his blogs and commentary elsewhere, it is like reading the latest pronouncements from the Ministry of Truth, and, like in Oceania, it seems that the masses believe the nonsense.Had I not read Krugman’s column, I never would have known that Jimmy Carter, who began the modern deregulation movement, was a right-wing Republican, or that the solution to almost all our economic ills is for the government to raise taxes, borrow, and print more money. However, his latest missive has managed even to outdo the Ministry of Truth itself. Big Brother would have been ecstatic.There is not enough byte space in the universe to refute Krugman’s latest pronouncement completely, but a couple of the most glaring holes can be discussed here.As most readers know, the U.S. Dollar has been falling fast against other currencies and members of OPEC are balking at continuing to price crude oil exclusively in dollars. Instead, they have suggested a basket of currencies, as they realize that our government’s policies are likely to turn the USD into something like the Zimbabwean Dollar.

Enter Professor Krugman, who writes:The truth is that the falling dollar is good news. For one thing, it’s mainly the result of rising confidence: the dollar rose at the height of the financial crisis as panicked investors sought safe haven in America, and it’s falling again now that the fear is subsiding. And a lower dollar is good for U.S. exporters, helping us make the transition away from huge trade deficits to a more sustainable international position.Not so fast. The USD is falling because the rest of the world understands that the USA no longer is a “safe haven” and investors looking elsewhere. When super investors like Jim Rogers tell us to get out of this country altogether, people need to listen. Rogers does not have a Nobel to his credit, but he is no crackpot and he fully understands (unlike some American Ph.D.s) that the U.S. Government does not create wealth with the printing press.While it is true that a falling dollar does make U.S. exports cheaper, the question is what can we export other than commodities. The government’s environmental policies alone continue to raise the cost of manufacturing and we are being forced by the political classes to divert productive resources into failed enterprises like General Motors and the zombie financial institutions on Wall Street.

Alas, Krugman does not stop there. No, he claims that what our economy desperately needs is—get this—more easy credit.That is right; the very thing that gave us massive malinvestments and brought the U.S. economy to near-ruin is what we desperately need. As I have written elsewhere, this is like claiming that the best way to deal with alcohol addiction is to imbibe even more.For all the talk that the government’s policies of bailouts, printing money, and borrowing at record rates have prevented a second Great Depression, the truth is that all the government has done is to give the illusion of recovery while setting us up for an even worse Day of Reckoning. By keeping the zombie entities afloat, the government continues to force even more malinvestments at a time when liquidation is the order of the day.

The Keynesian propositions of printing money and borrowing might be popular to the political and intellectual elites of this country, but they are utterly destructive in the real world. Unfortunately, we are being fed Orwellian truths at a time when what we need to hear is the unadulterated truth.

Treasury to order bailed-out firms to slash pay By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer – OCT 22,09

WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department is expected in the next few days to order companies that received huge government bailouts last year to slash the base salaries of their top executives by an average of 90 percent and cut their total compensation in half, according to a person familiar with the matter.The cuts apply to the 25 highest paid executives at the seven companies that received the most assistance, the person said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been announced. Smaller companies and those that have repaid the bailout money, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are not affected.Kenneth Feinberg, the special master at Treasury appointed to handle compensation issues as part of the government's $700 billion financial bailout package, is making the pay decisions.The seven companies are Bank of America Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.It was unclear exactly how much the executives would be allowed to make, or how that would be determined. Each case is being handled individually, and no details were available on how the calculations were being made.

Tom Wilkinson, a GM spokesman, said Wednesday that the auto company was currently in discussions with Mr. Feinberg's office regarding executive compensation. We will have further information once those discussions have concluded.Gina Proia, a spokeswoman for GMAC, said the finance company has been working on a proposal that aims at embodying the principles set forth for compensation along with balancing the need to retain critical talent necessary to execute our turnaround. Until we receive notification about that plan, we have no further comment.

Chrysler Group issued a similar statement.

Representatives for Chrysler Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup and AIG declined to comment.But company officials and lobbyists earlier this month said Bank of America, Citigroup, GMAC Financial Services and others were reworking their pay plans to ensure compensation reflects executive performance. They're giving executives more of their compensation in stock and stock options, and spreading pay over a longer period. They are also adopting plans to recapture some pay when bets go bad.The changes are not limited to those on Feinberg's list. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also are compensating senior employees with more stock and less cash.In the AIG trading division, the arm of the company whose risky trades caused its downfall, no top executive will receive more than $200,000 in total compensation, the person familiar with Feinberg's plan said. The giant insurance company has received taxpayer assistance valued at more than $180 billion.In an August filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AIG disclosed that new CEO Robert Benmosche would be paid $7 million a year, with the potential to make millions more in performance-based incentives. According to reports from the time, the package included $3 million initially with $4 million in stock to be held for five years as well as performance bonuses.As CEO, Benmosche's pay would be considered outside of the $200,000 average compensation for AIG's trading unit. But, according to reports at the time, Feinberg saw splitting the salary and future stock bonuses as a model because it tied compensation to the company's long-range performance.The administration will warn AIG that it must significantly reduce the $198 million in bonuses promised to employees in its financial services division, the person familiar with Feinberg's decisions said.The pay restrictions for all seven companies will require any executive seeking more than $25,000 in special benefits — things such as country club memberships, private planes and company cars —to get permission for those perks from the government.

Until now, these companies were only required to provide guidelines for the use of such luxuries. The inspector general at Treasury who oversees the bailout program found a range of standards. GM, for instance, generally prohibits employees from flying in private jets for business travel. Bank of America, on the other hand, encourages senior management to use corporate aircraft for safety and efficiency purposes.Feinberg's decisions come days after administration officials voiced sharp criticism of plans by some firms, particularly those on Wall Street, to pay huge bonuses even as the country continues to struggle with rising unemployment and the effects of the recession.Goldman Sachs, which has paid back its bailout money, has said it earmarked $16.7 billion for compensation so far this year, more than $500,000per employee. Citigroup is paying $5.3 billion in bonuses to its employees and Bank of America $3.3 billion.Elsewhere, Freddie Mac is giving its chief financial officer compensation worth as much as $5.5 million, including a $2 million signing bonus. The government-controlled mortgage finance company doesn't have to follow the executive compensation rules because it is being paid outside the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.Congress passed legislation in February requiring Treasury to oversee pay at companies that took bailout money. Treasury created the pay czar's office in June as one means of implementing that law.Treasury's rules require the special master to review pay for the 25 top earners at companies that received exceptional assistance,examining overall pay structures and recapturing payouts that go against taxpayers' interests.Feinberg on Tuesday told a Washington audience that negotiating with the companies was a study in contradictions.Perfect metrics, competitive pay, no excessive risk, loyalty to the company,he said.What I have to do under the law — and everyone's waiting is to create compensation packages reflecting those often conflicting principals.

Feinberg has until Oct. 30 to design pay packages for top earners.Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a Republican member of the congressional panel that oversees the $700 billion fund, said the only way taxpayers end up subsidizing offensive executive salaries is when the government bails out the executives and the companies they run in the first place.Hensarling called again Wednesday for terminating the bailout program at the end of this year.Associated Press Writers Ken Thomas, Jim Kuhnhenn and Marcy Gordon contributed to this report.

Twitter becomes mutual friend of Google, Microsoft By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer - Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:22AM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO - Twitter Inc. is selling the rights to mine its communications hotbed to both Internet search leader Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in dueling deals that underscore the growing importance of being able to show what's on people's minds at any given moment.The announcements made Wednesday within a three-hour span also represent the latest bit of gamesmanship between two of technology's fiercest — and most powerful — rivals.Microsoft seemed to have seized the upper hand in the information arms race when its top Internet executive, Qi Lu, took the stage at a technology conference in San Francisco.Lu used the platform to declare Microsoft's search engine, Bing, would become the best way outside of Twitter's own Web site to find out what people are saying in their Twitter messages, or tweets.The messages, consisting of no more than 140 characters, can be posted from Internet-connected computers or mobile devices, enabling people to share mundane details about their lives or intriguing news and commentary from all over the world.It's real-time information that it didn't look like Google's search engine would be able to provide — the kind of competitive advantage that Microsoft has been seeking while investing billions of dollars in what so far has been a fruitless effort to narrow Google's huge lead in Internet search.Refusing to be upstaged, Google revealed on its blog that its search engine has secured the tweeting rights, too.Neither Microsoft nor Google would disclose how much it is paying for the rights to index the millions of public updates distributed by Twitter each day. The data is considered to be among Twitter's most valuable assets, raising the possibility that the Google and Microsoft deals will result in the first meaningful revenue for the San Francisco-based startup since its 2006 inception.

There is a revenue component ... but we've yet to see how significant that will be, Twitter Chief Executive Evan Williams wrote in a Wednesday e-mail to The Associated Press.Microsoft has a head start in blending Twitter's feed into Bing's search results. A test version of Bing's Twitter feature debuted Wednesday shortly after the announcement.Google still isn't indexing and displaying all the tweets, although that will happen soon, said Marissa Mayer, a Google executive in charge of search products and user experience. She left little doubt that Google's search engine would become less useful without the Twitter access, especially when people are trying to get updates about an event that just happened.You have to have the answers in order to return them to your users,Mayer said.That's why a deal like this is so important. It allows us to find answers we couldn't previously have found.Microsoft will offer another way to probe into the collective mindset by indexing a portion of the personal updates posted on Facebook — an online hangout with more than 300 million active users around the world. That's about six times the size of Twitter's global audience, but more Facebook users restrict who can see their updates than Twitter users do.Facebook is only giving Bing access to the updates that its users choose to share with everyone, according to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer. It's unclear when the Facebook updates will begin showing up in Bing's search results.Palo Alto-based Facebook already has a business relationship with Microsoft, which provides Facebook's search results. Microsoft spent $240 million two years ago to acquire a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook.Google, on the other hand, has a prickly relationship with Facebook, which has lured away many of its employees, including Sandberg.Meanwhile, Twitter's growing popularity has emerged as a potential problem for Facebook. Their rivalry has intensified since Twitter rejected Facebook's attempt to buy the service last year.While Facebook expects bring in more than $500 million from selling ads and other services this year, Twitter hasn't been trying to generate revenue until now. Twitter is possibly under more pressure to start making money because a group of investors just poured $100 million into the company and will be looking for returns. The deal valued Twitter at about $1 billion.In internal company documents leaked on the Internet earlier this summer, Twitter projected it would have $140 million in revenue next year.

Oil slips below $81, retreating from 2009 high By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer – OCT 22,09

SINGAPORE – Oil prices slipped below $81 a barrel Thursday, retreating from a 2009 high, as a wobbly U.S. dollar steadied in Asian trading.Benchmark crude for December delivery fell 49 cents to $80.88 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.The contract rose $2.25 to settle at $81.37 on Wednesday as the dollar fell to its lowest since August 2008. Crude is traded using dollars, so it gets cheaper when the U.S. currency falls.The euro was steady at $1.4991 on Thursday and the dollar was little changed at 91.19 yen.

Traders also eyed a smaller than expected rise in U.S. crude supply data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. Inventories rose 1.3 million barrels while analysts had expected a rise of 2.2 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.The two-week surge in the oil price has raised the specter that a jump in energy costs would fuel inflation and lead policymakers to ease stimulus spending and raise interest rates, undermining a nascent global economic recovery.It's definitely a potential threat, said David Cohen, director of Asian economic forecasting for consultancy Action Economics. Everybody gets a little nervous when the oil price starts bouncing higher.Energy Secretary Steven Chu said earlier this week that crude prices at $80 per barrel are worrisome.Stock markets, which have soared since March, could see gains reversed if oil and other commodities continue to rally, Cohen said.The recovery is not so fragile that it can't tolerate another dollar or two in the oil price,Cohen said. But when people start getting worried about inflation, that could be a drag on markets.In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 1.01 cents to $2.10 a gallon. Gasoline for November delivery dropped 1.06 cents to $2.04 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery was steady at $5.09 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude for December delivery fell 38 cents to $79.31 on the ICE Futures exchange.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gates: N.Korea still threat to international peace By LARA JAKES and HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writers – OCT 22,09

SEOUL, South Korea – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that North Korea continues to pose a grave threat to international peace and pledged to maintain a nuclear deterrent in the region.Gates and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Tae-young, said their two nations would never accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state. They accused the regime of undermining global security with atomic and missile threats, and said recent overtures from Pyongyang do not diminish the serious atomic threat.Ballistic missile and nuclear weapons tests conducted in April and May clearly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions and international disarmament agreements, they said in a joint statement following their talks.The violations undermine the global nonproliferation regime and constitute direct and grave threats to peace and stability not only for South Korea and the region but also for the broader international community, they said.

Earlier, Gates reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defending ally South Korea.I want to reaffirm the unwavering commitment of the United States to the alliance and to the defense of the Republic of Korea,he said before going into talks with Kim.The United States will continue to provide extended deterrence, using the full range of military capabilities, including the nuclear umbrella to ensure South Korea's security.North Korea sees Washington's nuclear deterrent as a key threat to its survival and long has maintained that it needs its own atomic program to defend itself against the U.S. nuclear umbrella.Gates and Kim said they agreed to cooperate closely on implementing two U.N. Security Council resolutions that seek to stop North Korea from engaging in ballistic missile activity and in working toward bringing North Korea back to disarmament talks that involve Russia, Japan, China, the U.S. and the two Koreas.The strong stance from the top defense officials comes amid some signs of possible softening by North Korea after months of tension over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said earlier this month that his country could rejoin six-party nuclear talks, depending on the status of direct talks with the U.S.North Korea's No. 2 nuclear negotiator, Ri Gun, was on his way to the U.S., where he is scheduled to attend a security forum next week in California and a seminar in New York. Ri also reportedly is expected to meet with the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, Sung Kim, to set up bilateral talks.

Iran envoy backs uranium deal, but will Tehran? By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer – Wed Oct 21, 5:31 pm ET

VIENNA – A top Iranian negotiator praised a plan Wednesday that would ship most of his country's uranium abroad for enrichment and limit its ability to build a nuclear weapon. There was no guarantee, however, that Tehran's leaders would accept the idea.

In seven years of back-and-forth diplomatic wrangling, Iran has appeared to accept previous proposals meant to ease fears it might be seeking weapons capability — only to later reject those same proposals. The West says that has given the country time to build its civilian nuclear program and its capacity to generate fissile warhead material.At the end of three days of talks, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said representatives of Iran and its three interlocutors — the U.S., Russia and France — had accepted his draft agreement for forwarding to their capitals.ElBaradei said he hoped for approval from all four countries by Friday, adding: I cross my fingers.Iran's refusal to curb its enrichment program has led to three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions, and it was unclear whether the leaders of the Islamic Republic were ready to deal away their strategic leverage and compromise on their quest for nuclear independence.Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment to create fuel for a nuclear reactor network to generate power, and it dismisses suspicions that it could use the technology to make weapons-grade material for missile payloads.Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate, praised the draft, saying it was on the right track, while emphasizing that senior Iranian officials in Tehran still had to sign off on it.We have to thoroughly study this text and also (need) further elaboration in capitals, Soltanieh said.In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the draft agreement was a very positive step.It was acceptable to our team out there, but we want to give it ... a chance to be seen by a broader range of people in the interagency here. But I expect we'll be able to approve it,he said.Kelly also praised ElBaradei. We welcome this effort and we very much support everything that he's doing,he said.

Neither Soltanieh nor Elbaradei gave details of what was in the package. But diplomats told The Associated Press that it was essentially the original proposal drawn up by the IAEA that would commit Tehran to shipping 75 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile to Russia for further enrichment within the next two months. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings were confidential.
Sending such a large amount of enriched uranium outside Iran would temporarily get rid of most of the material it needs to make a bomb.After that material is turned into metal fuel rods, it would then be shipped back to Iran to power its small research reactor in Tehran, according to the draft.Beyond postponing Iran's ability to turn the material into the fissile core of atomic warheads, agreement by Tehran would contribute to building trust between the West and Tehran over the country's nuclear ambitions and help pave the way for a new round of talks on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.After the first meeting between Iran and six world powers in more than a year earlier this month, the U.S. and its Western allies said Iran had agreed in principle to ship out most of its enriched stockpile.Iranian officials subsequently denied that — and a statement on Iran's official IRNA news agency just hours after Wednesday's closing session in Vienna suggested the leadership was far from rubber-stamping the latest proposal.Reports that the Iranian delegation had expressed support for the draft are aimed at imposing psychological pressure on Iran,said the IRNA commentary.But Iran won't heed such pressure and will only decide on the basis of its national interests.Soltanieh suggested that Iran, which held at least one one-on-one meeting with the U.S. delegation during the three-day talks, had wrested concessions from Washington in exchange for any agreement.One of the aspects in addition to the fuel is the control instrumentation and safety equipment of the reactor,he said.We have been informed about the readiness of the United States in a technical project with the IAEA to cooperate in this respect.

Soltanieh did not indicate if the equipment he was describing fell under a U.N. embargo on shipping sensitive nuclear-related material to Iran, which is under Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment.A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said any such help would be indirect because it would be channeled through the IAEA and would come only after Tehran fulfilled its end of the bargain.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged prompt action on the part of Iran, warning that the U.S. commitment to engaging the Islamic Republic diplomatically cannot be open-ended.
We are not prepared to talk just for the sake of talking,she said in a speech to the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington.French Foreign Ministry official Jacques Audibert told France 24 TV that acceptance by Iran would calm down the atmosphere and appease tensions over Tehran's nuclear agenda.A senior diplomat from one of the countries at the Geneva talks told the AP that Tehran's decision not to send a senior official from Iran to the talks had already dampened hopes that the Iranian delegation would be able to make a binding decision on the proposal.Iran originally had said that Ali Salehi, an Iranian vice president and head of the national nuclear agency, would lead its delegation. Instead it was Soltanieh, the chief delegate to the IAEA.An official from one of the six big powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — said that while the West was hoping that Iran would accept, it was unlikely the Tehran leadership was ready to take the strategic decision of giving away most of their enrichment stockpile.They lose their leverage in terms of being able to create a nuclear weapon at least temporarily, he said, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment.

While essentially technical, any deal would have significant ramifications.It would commit Iran to turn over more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium. That would significantly ease fears about Iran's nuclear program, since 2,205 pounds (1,000 kilograms) is the commonly accepted amount of low-enriched uranium needed to produce weapons-grade uranium.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appeared to outline the contours of the deal, insisting his country would not compromise on demanding that Tehran ship out 2,600 pounds of its enriched material, adding: On that we won't back down.Based on the present Iranian stockpile, the U.S. has estimated that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015, an assessment that broadly matches those from Israel and other nations. David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, which has tracked Iran for signs of covert proliferation, said any deal would buy only a limited amount of time. He said Tehran could replace 2,600 pounds of low-enriched uranium in little over a year.Associated Press writers Jenny Barchfield in Paris, Matthew Lee in Washington and Jason Keyser in Cairo contributed to this report.

EU decision on Uzbekistan appalls human rights groups
ANDREW RETTMAN Today OCT 22,09 @ 08:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU member states have opted to drop an arms embargo against Uzbekistan in a move seen as dishonest and depressing by human rights campaigners.
EU diplomats meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (20 October) adopted the decision which is to be rubber-stamped without discussion by foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.With a view to encouraging the Uzbek authorities to take further substantive steps to improve the rule of law and human rights situation on the ground and taking into consideration their commitments, the Council decides not to renew the remaining restrictive measures set out in the Council Common Position [of 2008], the ministers' draft statement says.The statement is to welcome certain positive steps taken over the past year by way of justification, listing among other points Uzbekistan's participation in EU dialogues on human rights and rule of law, releases of selected human rights defenders, introduction of habeas corpus and ratification of anti-child labour conventions.Under EU procedure, the arms embargo was due to expire in November unless renewed by a consensus of all 27 states. But Germany signaled early on in discussions that it would not agree to a renewal, saying the sanctions have done their job over the past four years by motivating Uzbekistan to open talks on reform.The arms embargo was imposed in 2005 in response to a massacre which saw jeep-mounted Uzbek soldiers fire high-calibre machine guns into a crowd of civilians in the market town of Andijan, killing at least 187 people.Uzbekistan has rejected EU demands to hold an independent enquiry into the events and Uzbek-EU human rights talks have been described as hollow and perfunctory by EU diplomats who took part.

Human rights campaigners say repression has worsened over the past year. Twelve high-profile political prisoners remain behind bars. There has been at least one death in custody and numerous reports of torture. Children are still forced to pick cotton which is bought by European firms.These isolated 'positive steps' can be little more than public relations designed to alleviate a sanctions regime which has irked the Uzbek government more than it would like to admit,Jacqueline Hale from the Open Society Institute said.That they [EU countries] aren't even willing to give an honest assessment of the human rights situation is scandalous,Human Rights Watch's Veronika Szente Goldston added.I feel depressed.Germany is bearing the brunt of criticism for putting national interest ahead of EU values.With one of the largest embassies in Tashkent, an air base in Termez in the south of the country which supplies German troops in Afghanistan and around 50 German companies active in the country, Germany has taken the lead in framing EU policy on Uzbekistan in recent years.The vice-president of think-tank the International Crisis Group, Alain Deletroz, highlighted the ironies of Berlin's approach in a comment for German magazine Die Zeit on 20 October.Although the Germans operate a so-called peace mission in Afghanistan, they supply their troops from a country where people can be arrested, tortured and killed for their political convictions. While the Germans build schools and invest in education in Afghanistan, on the Uzbek side over 2 million school children from the age of nine upwards are forced to work on cotton plantations every autumn,he said.

Eurostat experience highlights doubts over Greek data
ANDREW WILLIS Today OCT 22,09 @ 17:37 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – New figures released by the EU's statistics office – Eurostat – on Thursday (22 October), provide fresh information on EU government debt levels for 2008, but also point towards Greek political manipulation of the country's economic data. According to the new figures, average EU27 budget levels for 2008 were –2.3 percent of GDP, a rise from –0.8 percent in 2007.But the figures come with the following caveat: Eurostat has expressed a reservation on the data reported by Greece due to significant uncertainties over the figures notified by the Greek statistical authorities.Eurostat officials in Brussels on Thursday (21 October) explained how, just a day earlier, they had received a new notification from the Greek authorities consisting of several pages of tables of revised data.With insufficient time to fully examine the new figures, Eurostat officials were forced to include the caveat.

Manipulation?

Based on data supplied by the Greek statistics office, Eurostat in April put the Greek budget deficit for 2008 at 5 percent of GDP. Now, based on the fresh data, they put it at 7.7 percent, a jump that exceeds any other member state.The new figures also makes Greece the holder of the largest annual deficit relative to GDP for 2008.Observers says the revision is a clear attempt by the new Greek Socialist government, ushered in after a snap election on 4 October, to offload some of this year's anticipated national debt into last year's figures associated with the former centre-right administration.The problem is that Brussels has seen the Greek figure-fiddling game all before and is thoroughly fed up with it. A change of Greek government in 2004, that time from the Socialist PASOK party to the centre-right New Democracy party, brought about a similar scenario.At a meeting of EU finance ministers earlier this week, several senior financial figures expressed their frustration at the returning story of Greek data manipulation, a phenomenon more associated with South America than the European Union.We want to know what has happened and why it has happened,said the EU's economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia in reaction to revised deficit figures provided by the Greek central bank, this time for 2009.Member states have an obligation to provide accurate data to Eurostat twice a year, with exasperated agency officials explaining that it is not their job to check every local government account book in the different member states.

Funding shortage

Another problem for the newly elected Greek government is how to appease both the financial markets and the country's citizens.With Greek coffers running low, the government is expected to turn to the market before the end of the year with a new bond issuance of several billion euros.But investors will demand a high premium if the government is not seen to introduce deficit cutting measures, with spreads between Greek and German bonds hitting record highs this year before receding again.

Already this month, two ratings agencies have warned the new government that it must cut public spending and push through long-delayed structural reforms if it is to avoid a downgrade. Spending cuts and tax increases however are unlikely to be popular with Greek citizens as their country enters recession while other countries appear to be returning to growth.The election campaign saw the socialists promise a new €3 billion stimulus package, to be funded by money clawed back from tax evasion. But money saved from tax evasion is unlikely to be enough.

EU and US fail to break Bosnia deadlock
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 22,09 @ 09:16 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – A joint EU-US mediation effort aimed at ending years of political deadlock in Bosnia-Herzegovina ended on Wednesday (21 October) with no agreement on giving the central government a stronger role over the semi-independent Serbian and Muslim-Croat entities.The talks were spearheaded by Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, who used to be the first international high representative in Bosnia after the 1992-1995 war and is now chairing the EU presidency.Together with the US deputy secretary of state Jim Steinberg and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, Mr Bildt tried to convince Bosnian leaders to approve a constitutional reform making the state more functional and preparing it for eventual EU and Nato membership.But representatives of the three main ethnic groups – Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats - rejected the proposals.Although some limited progress has been made further discussions will be required... and some of the parties will need to demonstrate greater determination and flexibility,Mr Bildt and Mr Steinberg said in a joint statement after the inconclusive talks.Experts from both the EU and US will return to Bosnia next week to continue negotiations. When announcing the initiative at the beginning of this month, the EU and US expressed serious concern" about the political gridlock and warned that Bosnia risked falling behind the rest of the region.One of the sticking points is the office of the international high representative who still has executive powers in the country. Both the EU and the US would like to see the Bosnian leaders take over more responsibility and use less nationalistic rhetoric in order for the office to be transformed in a normal diplomatic office of the EU, preparing and monitoring the country for membership.

But fourteen years after the end of a war which caused over 100,000 deaths and became infamous for the Srebrenica massacre, Bosnia seems to be still a long way from self-governance.For Milorad Dodik, the Prime Minister of the Serb entity - Republika Srpska, the office's executive powers are non-transparent and in violation of human rights, as he writes in a recent letter sent to Mr Bildt. The office of the high representative can remove from power any officials, elected or appointed, without any hearings or right for appeal, and did so with over 200 persons since 1997, as Mr Dodik complains.Despite wanting to see the office's powers downgraded, Mr Dodik strongly rejected the legislative package put forward by the EU-US mediators, saying it risked diluting the power of Republika Srpska. In the past years, he had repeatedly called for a referendum on separating from the Bosnian federation.As for the Bosniaks and Croats, they rejected the proposals for not going far enough in strengthening the state institutions.Under the 1995 Dayton peace accords, two separate entities were created - the Bosnian-Croat federation and Republika Srpska - linked by a common parliament, a three-member presidency and a council of ministers. However, the division of powers remains unclear, especially with the office of the international representative in place, and each side interprets it the way it suits best its own interests.

Europe's online shoppers stumble on national hurdles
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 22,09 @ 17:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Some 60 percent of online orders are rejected when they are placed in another EU country than the one where the retailer is located. Shoppers from Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Belgium face particularly high rejection rates, data released by the European Commission shows.Better deals and greater product choice for consumers on our vast European market could be just a click of a mouse away. But in reality online shoppers are still largely confined within national borders,EU commissioner for consumer rights Meglena Kuneva said Thursday (22 October).The EU executive commissioned a study based on 11,000 test orders across the EU from a list of 100 popular items such as cameras, CDs, books and clothes. The results revealed that, on average, 61 percent of EU cross-border transactions failed, either because the retailer had no shipping possibility to that particular country or because payments were not accepted from that member state.Online shoppers from Romania have the most difficulties in placing their order abroad, with a 76 percent rejection rate, followed by Bulgarians (75 percent), Latvians and Belgians (both 70 percent). Malta, Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Greece and Hungary were also above the EU average in their rejection rate.Only online shoppers from Spain and Austria had less than half of their orders rejected.

Meanwhile, in most member states, at least half of the products were 10 percent cheaper if ordered from another country, shipping costs included. Also, some 50 percent of the products searched could not be found on the national websites and were only offered by online retailers from other countries.Language does not seem to be a barrier, with 60 percent of European retailers saying they are ready to carry out a transaction in another language and a third of EU consumers willing to buy from a website in another language.But issues of trust in respect to the security and reliability of banking services, consumer rights, and proper redress mechanisms hold back traders from selling their goods in other EU states.With 27 national regulations and fragmented EU rules on consumer rights, there was also an urgent need to simplify the legal maze preventing online retailers from cross-border trading, Ms Kuneva said.The outgoing commissioner urged the European Parliament and EU leaders to adopt as soon as possible a so-called Consumer Rights Directive aimed at simplifying and unifying EU rules in this field, including for online consumers.

Ms Kuneva also made reference to the political guidelines put forward by the commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso, for his second term, where he promised to work for an active consumer policy.But we don't want consumers to trust the market and venture outside their borders only to be rebuffed by traders who find it to difficult or burdensome to serve them, she pointed out.Her calls were echoed by information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding - likely to stay on as commissioner - who said that achieving a digital single market is a top priority for Europe.We won't have a real Digital Economy until we remove all barriers to online transactions, also for end-consumers. This must be on top of the list of all policy initiatives to re-launch the single market project,Ms Reding said in a statement.

DigitalEurope, a lobby group for over 100 national associations and online companies in Europe welcomed the report and said that the current system of reporting, paying and refunding levies is an impediment to cross-border e-commerce.With the national-based levy system in place today, cross-border traders may end up paying and reporting copyright levies in several countries for the same goods, Bridget Cosgrave, director general of DigitalEurope said in a statement.The European e-commerce market was estimated to be worth €106 billion in 2006 and is the fastest growing retail channel. In 2008, 51 percent of EU retailers sold online.

Brussels blames member states for red tape delays-Businesses complain they are often overwhelmed by form-filling and accounting procedures (Photo: Flickr.com)
HONOR MAHONY Today OCT 22,09 @ 17:30 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Thursday (22 October) put the blame squarely on member states and MEPs for the slow pace in reducing the administrative costs faced by companies trying to follow EU rules.Compliance with EU laws often means regular provision of statistics, lengthy book-keeping procedures and reams of forms that need to be filled out - long a source of frustration to companies operating in the 27 nation Union.In 2007, the European Commission announced it would reduce running costs for businesses by 25 percent by 2012. The move was seen as representing an internal ideological shift for the commission, which had not previously questioned the need for laws or really looked at their shape and effectiveness.With just over two years to achieve its goal, the pace has been slow however. One set of measures has been adopted that will reduce the burden to businesses by €7.6 billion annually.But a second set of measures - accounting for a €30.7 billion yearly cost reduction - is stuck in the legislative pipelines, while the commission has yet to propose a third set which would reduce costs by €2.1 billion a year.The Commission has done everything in its power to achieve the 25 percent target by 2012. I invite the European Parliament and Member States to adopt all of our remaining proposals to make them fully effective for the European economy as soon as possible,said industry commissioner Guenter Verheugen.It does not cost anything but would mean a boost of around €30.7 billion for our enterprises, and especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises,he added.If all measures go through, it would mean a saving of around 33 percent - eight points higher than the commission's target. The measures apply to 72 EU texts thought to account for 80 percent of EU-level costs for businesses.

The commissioner said he shared scepticism about the tendency to rabid legislation something compounded, he noted, by member states adding to the laws when it came to implementation, a practice known as gold-plating.Gold-plating alone is thought to account for 32 percent of the administrative burden arising from EU laws.Business groups also criticised member states for moving too slowly but said the commission needed to do more.More must be done for businesses to see real effects in their day-to-day operations. There are policy areas where not many reductions have been achieved, such as health and safety and the environment,said BusinessEurope.

EU prize highlights Russia murders of rights workers
ANDREW RETTMAN Today OCT 22,09 @ 12:12 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Moscow-based NGO Memorial has walked away with the EU's 2009 Sakharov prize for freedom of thought after a bloody year for human rights activists in Russia.We hope to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation,European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said while announcing the decision on Thursday (22 October). A makeshift tribute to Ms Estemirova following her death in July (Photo: tigreclaws)
The Pole and former anti-Communist campaigner added that he felt personal satisfaction over the award as a man who comes from Solidarity and who saw Poland fighting for truth and freedom, which it finally won in the 1980s.Three Memorial staff, Oleg Orlov, Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, will be invited to collect the prize, which comes with a €50,000 cheque, at the EU parliament on 16 December.

Placards and posters highlighting the NGO will also be hung around EU buildings in Brussels over the coming year to remind officials of the significance of its work.
Memorial was founded in the 1980s by the eponymous Andrei Sakharov in order to document Stalinist-era crimes in Russia. But it has since grown into a broader movement of human rights defenders across Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Moldova and Ukraine.One of the NGO's board members, Natalya Estemirova, who worked in Chechnya, was on the morning of 15 July dragged screaming into a car and later found dead with bullet wounds to the chest and head in nearby woodland.Her murder caused international outrage on a par with the slaying of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006. But it was just one of several this year.In January, human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was shot dead in broad daylight on a Moscow street a few hundred metres from the Kremlin. In August, children's charity workers Alik Dzhabrailov and his wife Zarema Sadulayeva were abducted and killed in the Chechen capital Grozny. None of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.

The 2009 shortlist was not without other heroic figures.

Runner-up Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian doctor and peace campaigner who lost three daughters when an Israeli shell hit his appartment in Gaza in January. The second runner-up, Dawit Isaak, is an Eritrean-origin Swedish reporter who has been in jail without trial in Eritrea since 2001.