WORST STORM IN AMERICAN HISTORY

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.

IRAN TO ENRICH AUDIO
http://live.radioamerica.org/loudwater/player.pl?upload=1710&name=wnd

East Coast digs out from storm for record books By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press Writer – FEB 11,10

PHILADELPHIA – Crews in Maryland worked to rescue dozens of motorists stranded on highways in snow drifts up to 8 feet and utility workers scrambled to restore power to more than 100,000 customers a day after a powerful storm disrupted the lives of some 50 million people from the southern plains up through the East Coast.Snowbound airports resumed limited operations but many flights were still canceled or delayed. School systems in the path of the storm remained closed for a second day, including in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., although New York City school children headed back to class after only their third snow day in six years.In Washington, the federal government was closed for a fourth straight day. The nation's capital joined Philadelphia and Baltimore in logging their snowiest winters in history.Paul Kocin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., said the storm compares to some of the greatest ever largely because of its timing. He estimated 50 million people were affected.The big difference is that it occurred within a week and a half of three other storms, Kocin said. The combination of storms is almost unprecedented — the amount of snow, the amount of impact.The latest storm dumped over 19 inches in Baltimore, 10 inches in Washington, D.C. and 16 inches in Philadelphia. About 20 inches fell in central New Jersey and totals ranged from 10 to 16 inches around New York City.About 50 people spent the night in their vehicles on Maryland sections of U.S. 340 and U.S. 15 in snow that drifted 6 to 8 feet, authorities said Thursday.We have had staff working overnight, monitoring cell phone contact with folks, checking on their welfare, Tom Owens, director of Frederick County Emergency Services. He said emergency workers reached some vehicles on foot during the night, but most of those stranded, including a family with children, chose to stay in their vehicles rather than take shelter at nearby fire stations.

The cars got stuck Wednesday afternoon during the peak of a 23-inch snowfall, Owens said.Rescue workers, including the National Guard, broke through drifts as high as 12 feet as they tried to bring in tow trucks to remove jackknifed tractor-trailers that caused the blockages about 60 miles west of Baltimore, Owens said.Yue-Chung Siu, 25, got up early to be at work at his family's bagel store in Philadelphia by 5:30 a.m. Thursday. He said his normal 30 minute commute from Bensalem turned into an hour and 45 minutes because of detours and poorly plowed roads.He recalled the record-breaking blizzard of January 1996.I was a little kid, so I had a lot of fun, Siu said. Now, it's like half-fun, half-hassle.D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said it would take another 24 hours to see a lot of normal government operations.Then we have a nice, long weekend and the city should be back on its feet by Tuesday, he told CBS' The Early Show.Fenty has come under growing criticism for the city's snow removal efforts and for still not having cleared snow from the previous storm.He said the city has spent at least double its normal budget on snow removal and expects to ask the federal government for help.The storm had halted flights throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, but by Thursday morning flights began to arrive at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., and Reagan National Airport also reopened. Both of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport's two main runways reopened, but officials warned that flight cancellations would continue because of the storm. One primary runway was open at Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday morning, and all three New York area airports were up and running, although many flights remained canceled. Newark Liberty International Airport was packed with passengers stranded by the storm, and others just trying to make needed connections. Among them was Lorraine Martinez of El Centro, Calif., part of a 49-member church group — mostly senior citizens — who had traveled to Israel to tour historic religious sites.

They arrived in Newark around 4 a.m. Thursday and had expected to depart for San Diego on a Continental Airlines flight about seven hours later. The carrier instead told them they may not be able to get a flight out until Monday. We're still waiting, and their trying to accommodate us, but nothing (so far), Martinez said, noting that many group members were running short on prescription medications. She also said many could not afford to pay for hotels if they're forced to stay in the New York-Newark area through the weekend. As of Wednesday, Baltimore had 72.3 inches so far this winter, the Washington area had 54.9 inches and Philadelphia had 70.3 inches. The previous records for snowiest winters were 62.5 inches in Baltimore in 1995-96; 54.4 inches in Washington in 1898-99; and 65.5 inches in Philadelphia in 1995-96. Electric crews in New Jersey were working to restore power to more than 40,000 homes and businesses that lost electricity. More than 70,000 utility customers in Pennsylvania were without power. Some never got it back after the last storm. More than 11,000 customers in Virginia were still in the dark. In West Virginia, 800 National Guardsmen were helping to clean up after the state's latest winter storm. The storm has been blamed for at least nine deaths, including a man killed in a pileup on Interstate 80 in central Pennsylvania. But the news wasn't all bad. Washington has not had a homicide in a week. Ski areas were doing brisk business, when people could get to them. And private contractors were making money plowing driveways and parking lots. Associated Press writers Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia; Ula Ilnytzky, Kiley Armstrong and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Brett Zongker, Brian Bakst, Sarah Brumfield and Ann Sanner in Washington; Sarah Karush in Alexandria, Va.; Alex Dominguez in Baltimore; Kathleen Miller in Arlington, Va.; Ben Nuckols in Bel Air, Md.; Dan Nephin in Bentleyville, Pa.; Samantha Henry in Newark; and David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Md., contributed to this report.

Epic snow removal costing W.Va. $1 million a day
FEB 11,10

CHARLESTON, W.Va, – West Virginia is spending about $1 million a day to clear snow after two epic blizzards hit the East Coast.The state Division of Highways says the costs had totaled $43 million as of Monday, before the second storm struck. At $1 million a day, the costs would be edging closer to the total budget for snow removal this winter of $54 million.Division spokesman Brent Walker said Thursday that expenses include not only salt and equipment, but also overtime for drivers working 12- to 16-hour days and payment to private contractors.If snow removal costs exceed $54 million — a possibility with another 6-8 weeks of winter weather ahead — funds in other areas will have to be cut. Walker said that could mean cutbacks in maintenance, paving and mowing in the spring and summer.

Haiti quake toll rises to 217,000 by Andrew Beatty and M.J. Smith – Thu Feb 11, 12:52 am ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Haiti raised the death toll from last month's quake to more than 217,000, while the focus turned to providing shelter for the homeless before heavy rains and hurricane season come.There are people who put forth the figure of 230,000, but we have counted a bit more than 217,000. These are verified figures, Interior Minister Paul Bien-Aime said.The government also declared a day of mourning for Friday to mark one month since the quake struck, bringing death and destruction on an unprecedented scale to the desperately poor Caribbean nation.There are around 1.2 million people without shelter, David Pappiat of the British Red Cross told a summit in Montreal attended by Red Cross and Red Crescent delegations from 23 countries and two international bodies.We're trying to set up shelters that can withstand the coming rainy season, the hurricane season, and that can last three to five years, said Haitian Red Cross president Michael Amedee Gedeon.The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has deployed some 600 people to Haiti to help with relief efforts.Related article: Haiti still reeling after horrific quakeShelter is a huge issue,agreed Lewis Lucke, US coordinator for relief and recovery in Haiti, speaking in Port-au-Prince.

Nothing really compares in terms of (this) monumental challenge, for right now and for the coming weeks before the rainy season and months before the hurricane season, he said.Lucke said relief workers aimed to supply everyone with plastic sheeting by May 1, the nominal start of the rainy season.The relief effort received a boost from private donors, whom the United Nations said had given more money than the single biggest national donor, the United States.Individuals and businesses were said on Wednesday to have given 118 million dollars to help quake victims since the disaster, more than the 115 million donated by the US government.Related article: Downtown Port-au-Prince, home to the homeless.Still, massive problems loom, and the security situation in the makeshift camps and across Port-au-Prince remained precarious.More than 50 looters besieged a quake-hit supermarket Wednesday, just hours after a fresh part of it collapsed as contractors searched for the remains of those buried by the January 12 quake.Half a dozen shots were fired as owners tried to disperse the mob -- some of whom were armed with knifes -- as people raided the supermarket's underground depot, making off with toy cars, garden chairs and other goods.On Tuesday night rescue workers spent around six hours trying to dig out another group of looters believed trapped in a five-story supermarket when its roof fell in, bringing slabs of tangled steel and concrete down on top of them.Although the coordination of the massive international aid effort has improved beyond recognition from the chaotic early days after the quake, one month on relief still fails to reach some of those most in need.Related article: WHO halts free drug delivery

I know that the world is helping us and many nations are sending us food and medicine, said 40-year-old Clotilde Muratus.We need help and we will need help for a long time, but unfortunately we haven't yet seen that we are receiving much help, she told AFP as she watched with resignation a UN food distribution she could not access. Meanwhile, 10 US Baptist missionaries charged with kidnapping 33 children after the earthquake appeared together in court again Wednesday, along with some of the children's parents. Judge Bernard Saint-Vil interrogated the American church group members separately on Monday and Tuesday, and is speaking to some of the parents this week. The 10 Americans from the New Life Children's Refuge have claimed they harbored no ill-intent in taking a busload of children they thought were orphans across the border into the Dominican Republic. But some of the children's parents have said they had reached a deal to give away their kids. Johnny Antoine, 33, the father of a 10-month-old child he entrusted to the group of missionaries, said he wanted to see the Americans freed. Antoine said he had willingly given his child over because his house had collapsed and he had little means to care for the infant. He said he spoke to the missionaries' leader, Laura Silsby. She said she came to Haiti to help me, he said, adding he had hoped his child would be returned to him later after receiving care and schooling. A US diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Americans had been receiving regular consular visits.

OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Heatwave roasts Rio, kills 32 in southern Brazil
Wed Feb 10, 4:14 pm ET

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – The worst heatwave to hit Rio de Janeiro in 50 years turned the city into a pre-Carnival furnace Wednesday, and killed 32 elderly people further south, officials said.According to the Inmet national weather service, recorded temperatures in Rio were well above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees) -- and felt more like above 50 degrees.The heatwave in Rio is seen as historic. February right now is the hottest month for the past 50 years, meteorologist Giovanni Dolif told the O Globo daily.On Monday and Tuesday, the scalding conditions proved deadly for 32 elderly residents in Santos, a city close to Sao Paulo and 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of Rio.Half of them succumbed in their homes and the other half died as they sought help in clinics, a spokeswoman for the city's health service told AFP.

The heatwave made Rio the hottest place on the planet on Tuesday, save for Ada, a town in eastern Ghana, according to data from the World Meteorological Organization.
Rio's recorded temperature that day was 46.3 degrees Celsius -- less than even the Sahara desert, which came in at a milder 33 degrees.Dolif said being in Rio was worse than being in a dry desert because seaside humidity gave the temperature a suffocating boost, making it feel much higher.El Nino, the phenomenon in which unusually hot Pacific Ocean waters disrupt weather patterns, was blamed for the heatwave by preventing the formation of clouds.Rio's heatwave was forecast to continue into the weekend, when the city's famous four-day Carnival starts.Sapped residents in the city have taken to going to the beaches at night to seek a respite from the heat.Doctors were recommending cold showers and lots of liquids to mitigate the risks of heat exhaustion and dehydration.

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

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

Stocks climb after EU pledges support for Greece By STEPHEN BERNARD and TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writers – FEB 11,10

NEW YORK – Stock indexes rose after European leaders pledged to help Greece with its growing debt crisis.Greece's debt problems have been spooking global markets for weeks, and hopes that a rescue was on the way helped lead stocks higher in the U.S. and Europe over the past three days.The Labor Department's report that first-time claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week was also supporting the market.Expectations had been building that a Thursday summit of European leaders would produce a solution for the problem, but the verbal commitment that emerged to provide unspecified help to Greece later only partly assuaged investors' concerns. European officials are not expected to disclose specifics of the plan until early next week.We're close to weathering the Greece situation, said Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments.Greece's fiscal crisis has been undermining confidence in Europe's shared currency, the euro, which fell again against the dollar after the anticlimactic summit in Europe.Fiscal problems at other weak European economies including Portugal and Spain have also been weakening faith in the euro, which is shared by 16 countries but has no central fiscal authority. Runaway deficit spending in weaker states like Greece has tested the market's faith in the euro countries to keep their budgets under control.In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 78.15, or 0.8 percent, to 10,116.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.80, or 0.7 percent, to 1,075.93, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 25.39, or 1.2 percent, to 2,173.26.

Bond prices fell after weak demand at a government auction of 30-year Treasury notes. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.76 percent from 3.69 percent late Wednesday.The dollar was mixed other major currencies. The euro fell on the possibility of a bailout for Greece. Gold rose.Crude oil rose 77 cents to $75.29 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.The Labor Department said the number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell by 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 440,000, the lowest level in a month. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting claims to fall to 465,000.The sharp drop came after claims rose in four of the previous five weeks. The recent increase in claims put investors on edge about whether an economic recovery would be sustainable. High unemployment is one of the biggest obstacles to a rebound.Two other reports scheduled to be released Thursday were postponed because of two major snowstorms that have shut down the federal government in recent days. The Commerce Department will delay, at least for one day, reports on monthly retail sales and business inventories.In corporate news, the utility company FirstEnergy said it is buying rival power provider Allegheny Energy for about $4.7 billion in stock. It will also assume about $3.8 billion in debt.Allegheny jumped $2.45, or 11.7 percent, to $23.47, while FirstEnergy fell $2.07, or 5 percent, to $39.39.Stocks fell modestly Wednesday, erasing steep early morning losses as investors became more comfortable with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's plan to unwind stimulus measures the central bank launched to support the economy.

Bernanke said the Fed will likely start to tighten credit by increasing the interest rate it pays on deposits with the central bank. The Dow ended the day down 20 points after recovering from a loss of nearly 100 points. More than two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 500.9 million shares compared with 477.1 million traded at the same point Wednesday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.14, or 0.9 percent, to 600.96.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.6 percent, and France's CAC-40 lost 0.5 percent. Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday.

Euro under pressure after EU deal on Greece
FEB 11,10

LONDON (AFP) – The European single currency fell against the dollar on Thursday as traders fretted about a lack of detail in a European Union deal to help debt-troubled Greece, dealers said.At about 1543 GMT, the euro fell to 1.3628 dollars, compared with 1.3732 dollars late in New York on Wednesday.It seems now that the EU has made a decision to help Greece -- but just what that help entails is still a mystery, said analyst James Hughes at financial spread-betting firm CMC Markets.

European leaders pledged solidarity to debt-stricken Greece on Thursday but held back from offering an immediate cash bailout.Billions of euros needed to rescue Athens will first and foremost have to come from further slashing of its own spending, in return for which eurozone members should be ready to safeguard financial stability in the eurozone area as a whole, according to EU president Herman Van Rompuy.Markets were anticipating strong supportive action to avert growing fears that the debt contagion could hit the entire euro area.Van Rompuy, chairing his first European Union summit, announced a deal after two hours of intense negotiations in Brussels centred on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.In recent weeks, the euro has been rocked by mounting concerns about rocky public finances in the eurozone -- particularly in peripheral members Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain.Last Friday, the single currency had tumbled to 1.3586 dollars -- which was the lowest level since May 20, 2009.

Van Rompuy: Eurozone will bail out Greece if needed
ANDREW WILLIS Today FEB 11,2010 @ 14:13 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union has formally stated what has been discussed in private for weeks: a bailout for Greece will be available if needed. The announcement is designed to calm market jitters that have recently wreaked havoc on stocks and bonds in a number of weaker peripheral eurozone members. The EU's new permanent president Herman Van Rompuy made the statement on the steps of the Bibliotheque Solvay, and old library in a central Brussels park where EU leaders are meeting for an informal summit on economic issues on Thursday (11 February).Euro area member states will take determined and co-ordinated action if needed to safeguard financial stability in the euro area as a whole,he said. The former Belgian politician also stressed that no aid would be immediately forthcoming, however.The Greek government has not requested any financial support,he said. Flanked by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, Mr Van Rompuy said the EU fully supported the efforts of the Greek government in implementing a long list of austerity measures outlined in a plan last month. We call on the Greek government to implement all these measures in a rigorous and determined way,said Mr Van Rompuy. Athens intends to reduce its budget deficit by four percent this year after it reached 12.7 of GDP in 2009.

The commission is set to closely monitor Greece's implementation of the tough measures that led to strikes on Wednesday around the country. The European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will also play a role in the tough surveillance.The commission will closely monitor the Greek implementation in liaison with the ECB, and will propose necessary additional measures, drawing on the expertise of the IMF,said Mr Van Rompuy.

France and Germany to announce Greek rescue plan
ANDREW WILLIS Today FEB 11,10 @ 09:29 CET

France and Germany are set to pledge their solidarity with Greece on Thursday (11 February), in a sign to investors that the embattled Greek state will not be allowed to default on debt obligations. Despite a detailed plan from Athens last month setting out spending cuts and revenue raising measures, market doubts over the health of Greek public finances have grown in recent weeks, weighing heavily on Greek stocks and causing bond yields to shoot up. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are set to make the announcement at a joint press conference after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.The declaration is unlikely to contain many details however, after a video-conference of EU finance ministers on Wednesday failed to agree on the components of a rescue package.

Subsequent telephone calls between Paris and Berlin also failed to finalise a plan, with Germany reportedly sceptical about signing up to a Greek bailout without further assurances from Athens. Eurozone and EU finance minister meetings next week could be tasked with fleshing out details. The initiative by leaders of Europe's two largest economies could merge into an EU-wide plan, said French sources close to Mr Sarkozy, reports Le Monde. The idea is that there be a strong Franco-Geman engagement, something which doesn't prevent a subsequent decision by the 27,said the source.The problem is that amongst the 27 there is also Greece, Portugal, Spain, which are currently being attacked. It would be odd if these countries financed a Greek rescue plan,the contact added.Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou lunched in Paris with Mr Sarkozy on Wednesday. Before the meeting, Mr Sarkozy spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the Elysee presidential palace.Among the options being considered to help Greece are bilateral loans, the creation of credit lines, or government guarantees to underwrite Greek bond issues, say diplomats.

French, German and EU officials repeatedly denied last month that a bailout was being considered. Not to be outdone by the Franco-German initiative, the Visegrad group comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are also set to hold a pre-summit meeting.Mr Sarkozy has previously questioned the purpose of the now regular reunions. A diplomat from one of the Visegrad countries said the meeting was called by the current chair, Hungary. There are plenty of top level meetings in various formats before each summit. There is no rule against it, the diplomat told EUobserver. Initially scheduled to take place at 10.00am local time, Thursday's EU summit, which will take place in an old library in a central Brussels park, has been set back two hours by EU permanent president Herman Van Rompuy due to a snowfall.

Oil rises for 4th day on demand forecast By Chris Kahn, Ap Energy Writer – FEB 11,10

NEW YORK – Crude prices continued to rise this week as a European energy watchdog said global oil demand will grow this year, more than previously expected.Benchmark crude for March delivery on Thursday added 69 cents at $75.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude increased 62 cents to $73.16 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.The Paris-based International Energy Agency pushed its estimate for global oil demand slightly higher Thursday, saying that consumption in developing nations will increase. The IEA revised its 2010 demand forecast from 85.3 million barrels daily to 85.5 million barrels.However, the agency said that oil demand in North America has virtually stalled as a result of the sharp economic recession, cheaper energy alternatives (natural gas and coal) and behavioral changes (notably the smaller size and greater efficiency of new vehicles sold).Meanwhile, the Labor Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 440,000. The report raised hopes that the economy may add jobs soon and increase demand for oil and gasoline.Oil continued to rise even after a blizzard dumped more than a foot of snow along parts of the East Coast. The weather grounded thousands of commercial flights and forced motorists in numerous cities to work from home.Wednesday's storm smothered Baltimore in over 19 inches, Washington in 10 inches and 16 inches in Philadelphia. New York City was covered with 10 to 16 inches.The storm forced Continental to cancel at least 900 flights on Wednesday. United and Southwest canceled 600 apiece and American scrubbed hundreds of flights as well.

Gasoline prices continued to fall Thursday, dropping a half-cent overnight to a new national average of $2.636 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular unleaded is now 11.5 cents cheaper than last month, but it's still 69.6 cents more expensive than the same time last year.In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil rose 1.86 cents to $1.9655 a gallon, and gasoline added less than a penny to $1.9313 a gallon. Natural gas gained 3.7 cents to $5.329 per 1,000 cubic feet.Associated Press writers David Koenig in Dallas, Mae Anderson in New York, Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

EU regional assembly elects first female president
VALENTINA POP Today FEB 11,10 @ 09:10 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU's regional assembly elected Italian Euro-federalist Mercedes Bresso as its first female president, who pledged to raise the profile of the little-known institution.We will no longer just ask that regional and local authorities are taken into consideration, Ms Bresso said in a speech following her election on Wednesday (10 February) in Brussels by the Committee of the Regions (CoR).We will not just be the yes-man. We will enter the political debate with substantial proposals and we will not – if it is required - shy away from political controversy,she added.A young institution among EU's consultative bodies, CoR was established in 1994 and has so far carried out its work relatively unnoticed under the discreet chairmanship of a Belgian centre-right politician – Luc Van den Brande.

Ms Bresso's ambitions in raising the visibility of her institution rely on some recently acquired powers following the entry into force of EU's new legal framework, the Lisbon Treaty: It can now take the EU commission to court if it issues legislative proposals which are actually the competence of national, regional or local authorities.The three decision-making institutions of the EU – the parliament, commission and council of ministers – are also now bound to consult the Committee of the Regions in several new policy areas, such as energy and climate change.A former Socialist MEP and president of Italy's north-western region of Piedmont, the 65-year old described herself as an old-school Euro-federalist, believing in strong EU institutions and community funding. During her five-year mandate, Ms Bresso said she would staunchly oppose a re-nationalisation of regional policy, meaning less EU funds for the bloc's poorest regions.The issue has already come up last fall, in a leaked paper of the EU commission, as it was brainstorming where to get the money for instance for the new diplomatic service which will be set up in the coming years. Since agriculture and regional policy are currently the biggest slices of the EU pie, any future discussions on the reformed budget are likely to touch again on the issue.Ms Bresso also signaled interest in citizen-born legislative proposals, another novelty of the Lisbon Treaty.Drawing from their vast experience regarding citizens' initiatives in our member states, regions and cities will play a role in initiating, federating and carrying forward European citizens' initiatives. This will make Europe more transparent, democratic and diverse,she argued.Her interest in putting ordinary people at the centre of EU policy making was shared by Spanish minister for regional policy, Manuel Chaves, representing the rotating EU presidency. He said Madrid was looking at several initiatives aimed at developing people's rights and freedoms and gender equality.

Ripples of discontent as MEPs reject US bank data deal
VALENTINA POP Today FEB 11,10 @ 14:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Parliament on Thursday (11 February) rejected a bank data deal with the US that would have allowed American investigators to track European transactions in the search for terrorist funding. The US qualified the vote as a serious setback to EU-US counter-terrorism co-operation. The deal was rejected by a large majority: 378 MEPs voted in favour of scrapping the agreement, with 196 against and 31 abstentions.EU lawmakers called for a better deal, which should include tougher data protection measures, despite warnings from Washington, the European Commission and the Spanish EU presidency that the rejection of the interim agreement would lead to a security gap for US and European citizens alike.The interim agreement had been in force since 1 February pending the consent of Parliament, which has gained new powers in the field after EU's new legal framework, the Lisbon Treaty, came into force. It would have been in force only for a maximum of nine months, in which a more wide-ranging final agreement was to be negotiated.

The proposed interim agreement is simply a bad deal. The rule of law is important and currently our laws are being broken and under this agreement they would continue to be broken. Parliament should not be complicit in this, said Liberal Dutch MEP Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who drafted the report in favour of scrapping the deal.
The US expressed its disappointment over the decision of the European Parliament, after having urged MEPs to postpone the vote so that those who were new to the issue could have a more informed opinion over the data protection measures included in the package.The outcome is a serious setback to US-EU counter-terrorist co-operation. We are now evaluating the options we have on how to proceed further from here, a spokesperson for the US mission to Brussels told EUobserver.In past days, Washington deployed intense diplomatic efforts to try to change the minds of MEPs, especially after a key committee last week recommended the rejection of the deal. After calling top EU officials on the phone, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton wrote a letter together with treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, in which they stressed the importance of the pact. If the legislature rejects it, this would jeopardize a valuable and carefully constructed counter-terrorism programme of importance to countries affected by terrorism around the world,the letter, seen by EUobserver, says.

The interim deal was put together by the Swedish EU presidency last year to help the US out of legal loophole, as the main company dealing with international bank transactions, Swift, was about to re-configure its database structure, no longer keeping information on European transactions on US soil.Swift became embroiled in a scandal back in 2006 when news broke that the US was secretly using information on European transactions as part of the War on terror launched by the Bush administration following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.The Belgian-based company had subsequently pledged to re-configure its architecture, so that it would no longer keep European data on US soil, which was automatically accessible to American investigators. But EU governments and the commission, as well as a minority of MEPs, are convinced that the programme has been useful to countering terrorist attacks.This is a serious setback in the fight against terrorism as the agreement has supplied vital leads against those terrorists responsible for planning or committing attacks against EU citizens,a spokesperson for the British government said on Thursday.European diplomats raised concerns that the US would now walk away from negotiating an agreement with the EU and go for bilateral deals with member states, which would lower the standards for data protection.I'd like to know how MEPs think they have improved things by voting against this agreement. It's only by negotiating directly with the US that we've secured the stronger data safeguards that the parliament wanted. Now the US can walk away, ignore any concerns we have and stop providing the vital leads we need to help to prevent terrorist attacks,one EU diplomat told this website.

On the commission side, officials received the news with regret.Following today's vote in the European Parliament, we will have now to reflect together with our US partners on the possible negotiation of a new agreement,home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in a statement.Her colleague in charge of justice and fundamental rights, Viviane Reding, added that: EU-US relations are critical of the freedom and security of our citizens. This is why we will work with our US partners to ensure that the new Swift agreement will at the end be able to receive the consent of the European Parliament.

Commissioner favours EU rules on body scanners
VALENTINA POP Today FEB 11,10 @ 09:25 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The EU commission will produce a report on the impact of body scanners on health, privacy and security in April, transport commissioner Siim Kallas told MEPs on Wednesday. The safety and security of passengers is the major priority for me as transport commissioner,Mr Kallas said on his first day in office, during a debate with MEPs on the use of body scanning technology in airports. The report will form the basis for a decision on introducing EU-wide rules on their use.

Mr Kallas argued that after the attempted terrorist attack on a US flight on Christmas Day, which departed from Amsterdam, the reality of the threat to civil aviation was obvious. But questions on how much added value the introduction of stricter and more privacy-intruding measures brings were also justified. The Netherlands and UK have introduced full body scanners in their airports and other countries are also looking into this possibility. The European Parliament in 2008 rejected a proposal from the commission which would have set out common rules for an EU-wide roll out of the technology. Back then, they equated the existing technology to a virtual strip search.I intend to present to you in April a report on imaging technology and its use at EU airports. This report will address the questions raised in the EP resolution from 2008. We need to look at these questions seriously, Mr Kallas said.He added that Europe should make up its mind if these concerns are better addressed at national or EU level. To my mind, an EU framework would be better. I say this based on our experience of a common approach since 9/11 [the terrorist attacks on US soil in 2001], and with a view to the efficiency of the single market for aviation. An EU framework guarantees uniform standards, in relation both to security and to respect for individual rights,he argued.The Estonian commissioner underlined, however, that body scanners are no universal panacea and that fighting terrorism needs several and co-ordinated measures – intelligence, profiling, search methods and international co-operation.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a popular Indian actor has accused London airport authorities of allowing scanned images to be reprinted and circulated. Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan said he autographed his own revealing scan, after a female security staff printed it. Heathrow officials strongly denied the allegations and said the story was completely made up. Last week, UK transport secretary Lord Adonis said that the images which are captured by body scanners are immediately deleted after the passenger has gone through.

Internet Censorship Protest Shuts Down Australian Government Websites
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Thursday, February 11, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG--42sjAvA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUTuCRN0isw&feature=player_embedded

Hackers protesting government censorship of the Internet have shut down several Australian government websites in a demonstration against the announcement that filters would be imposed to block access to websites deemed offensive by the authorities.The campaign was launched by the anti-Scientology group Anonymous in response to plans to implement a mandatory and wide-ranging internet filter modeled on that of the Communist Chinese government.This is not the first time the group has attacked government websites, having launched a similar stunt last September.The main government website, www.australia.gov.au, and parliament’s www.aph.gov.au were both affected along with the sites for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, reports AFP.No one messes with our access to perfectly legal (or illegal) content for any reason, said a statement released by the group.

The Australian government attacked the campaign as not a legitimate form of political statement.Despite the Australian government promising that the Internet filter would only be used to block access to child pornography and other illegal websites, the watchdog group Electronic Frontiers Australia warned that the law will also allow the government to block any website it desires under vague definitions.In March 2009, the Wikileaks website published a leaked secret list of sites slated to be blocked by Australia’s state-sponsored parental filter.The list revealed that blacklisted sites included online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even a Queensland dentist.The filter will even block web-based games deemed unsuitable for anyone over the age of fifteen, according to the Australian government.Calls to mandate Internet users to obtain licenses, in other words government permission, before they can post to the web have grown in recent weeks, with top Microsoft executive Craig Mundie insisting at the recent Davos Economic Forum that the Internet should be policed.Within days, Time Magazine enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon to back Mundie’s proposal, as authorities push for a system even more stifling than in Communist China, where only people who have been approved by the authorities would be allowed to express free speech.

ISPs across the world, including in supposed democratic countries like the UK, the US and New Zealand, have periodically blocked access to Alex Jones’ websites without justification and only restored access after a barrage of complaints.As we have highlighted before, although the merits of hacking as a form of protest can be debated, what seems certain to happen is that governments will launch a false flag cyber attack which will cause a major catastrophe that can then be blamed on the free Internet, acting as a pretext to tighten the screws on plans for centralized regulation and censorship which are already in place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU4RjI9ZhKA&feature=player_embedded
State Department Admits: Detroit Christmas Bomber Was Deliberately Allowed to Keep US Entry Visa, Board His Flight Webster G. Tarpley Infowars.com
February 11, 2010
http://www.infowars.com/state-department-admits-detroit-christmas-bomber-was-deliberately-allowed-to-keep-us-entry-visa-board-his-flight/

The Detroit Christmas bomber was deliberately and intentionally allowed to keep his US entry visa as the result of a national security override issued by an as yet unknown US intelligence or law-enforcement agency with the goal of blocking the State Department’s planned revocation of that visa. This is the result of hearings held on January 27 before the House Homeland Security Committee, and in particular of the testimony of Patrick F. Kennedy, Undersecretary of State for Management. The rickety US government official version of the December 25 Detroit underwear bomber incident, which has been jerry-built over the past month and a half, has now totally collapsed, and key elements of the terrorism-spawning rogue network inside US agencies and departments are unusually vulnerable to a determined campaign of exposure.These developments decisively confirm the analysis offered by the present writer in a Dec. 28, 2009 television interview on Russia Today.1 On that occasion, my estimate was that Mutallab was a protected patsy being used by rogue elements of the US intelligence community for the deliberate and intentional creation of a high profile incident with the goal of obtaining a large-scale political effect. On January 4, Richard Wolffe reported on the MSNBC Countdown program that the Obama White House was investigating whether the Detroit Christmas incident had been intentionally created by an intelligence network with an alternative agenda.2 It was in this report that Wolffe posed the alternative of cock-up or conspiracy.3 Unfortunately, Obama opted for the screw-up version on January 5.

Based on what was already known a few days after this incident, it was clear that normal screening and surveillance procedures had been scrapped and aborted in order to allow the youthful patsy Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria to board his flight from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Detroit. Mutallab’s father, a rich, well known, and reputable Nigerian banker had gone to the US Embassy in his country and formally warned a State Department official as well as a CIA representative that his son was in Yemen and in all probability consorting with terrorists. Under normal circumstances, this report alone would have been more than enough to get Mutallab’s US visa revoked in the same way he had already been denied entry to Great Britain. He also would normally have been placed on the no-fly list, thus setting up two insuperable obstacles to getting on his Detroit bound flight and winging off to produce an incident which caused several weeks of public hysteria in this country, completely with demands for body scanners in airports. In addition, the US intelligence community had reports that a Nigerian was training with the purported Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. Obama had called a December 22 meeting with top CIA, FBI, and DHS officials because of reports of a terrorist attack looming during the Christmas holiday.The January 27 hearings of the House Homeland Security Committee were also addressed by Michael Leiter, the AWOL Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, along with Jane Holl Lute, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, who was sent in place of HHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, who boycotted the hearings. But the important testimony came from Kennedy, whose responsibilities include Consular Services, and therefore visas. In his opening statement, Kennedy offered a tortured circumlocution to describe what had happened. Attempting to head off the question of why the State Department had not revoke Mutallab’s visa, Kennedy stated: Continue reading State Department Admits: Detroit Christmas Bomber Was Deliberately Allowed to Keep US Entry Visa, Board His Flight.

A crisis of sovereignty as well as debt By Patience Wheatcroft
The European Union is in need of a new economic strategy.W S J

The veracity of that statement might seem indisputable, as various EU countries, led by Greece, struggle to avoid being crushed by their accumulated debts. But in the surreal bureaucratic thinking of the EU, the reason it needs a new economic strategy has as much to do with the fact that its previous one is nearing its expiry date as any desperate need to deal with the current crisis. In March 2000, the EU set out its strategy for the next decade. It wasn't unambitious. In fact, it showed an heroic determination to ignore what was going on elsewhere in the world, for at the heart of the economic policy was a new strategic goal: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.It seems almost cruel now to revisit the document which explained how this was to be achieved. There was to be an emphasis on modernizing the European social model, investing in people and combating social exclusion and a drive to improve the quality and sustainability of public finances.Such was the blinkered, Eurocentric vision of the world that it hadn't focused on the challenges rising from China and India. The latter Monday said its growth was now steaming ahead at 7.2% a year, a level of dynamism EU countries couldn't dream of emulating. It seems unlikely that, when they meet in Brussels on Thursday for a special economic summit, the EU's leaders will devote much time to assessing just how far short they have fallen of the targets they set in 2000. Neither are they likely to want to dwell on the reasons for such abject failure. The concise explanation though is that talking is easy, doing is much harder. Europe's leaders continue to utter grand pronouncements. This weekend, they were doing so in the suitably chilly environment of Iqaluit, Canada's Inuit capital, at a meeting of G-7 finance ministers.

According to Timothy Geithner, the U.S. secretary of Treasury:The European authorities gave us a very comprehensive review of the program now in place to address the challenges faced by the Greek economy.If Mr. Geithner was truly reassured by what he heard, then either he must be gullible in the extreme, which wouldn't be ideal, given the job he holds, or he was told rather more than the rest of the world has heard. The markets are making it very clear that they are anything but sanguine over Greece's ability to cope with its plight unaided. Opinion polls show the majority of Greeks approve the austerity measures the government has announced, but a looming general strike this week indicates that individuals' approval is theoretical and doesn't apply to measures that will hit them personally. Hence the conviction that some sort of bailout for the country will prove to be essential.As the finance ministers sledded away from their conference, a less positive view of the proceedings came from the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. The G-7 is fundamentally useless, declared Simon Johnson. He added: The G-7 countries are completely asleep at the wheel.While Mr. Geithner may have been persuaded that the Greek situation was controllable, Mr. Johnson recognized what the markets fear. There's a very serious crisis inside the euro zone, he said. Greece is only the worst of the offenders against economic probity and it may not be the only country to require a bailout. The euro, which not so long ago harbored grandiose dreams of being a reserve currency, now looks sickly.

It was never going to be easy to make a single currency work for so many diverse countries with very different economic models. A central bank setting interest rates in a vacuum, while constituent governments have control over fiscal and economic policy, always looked flawed. That is why the economic policy set down in 2000 talked of the need to pursue fiscal consolidation.This was, you see, the work of the Lisbon European Council. It was the talk of closer integration of the various EU countries which caused such angst among those who argued that the EU should be limited in its ambitions, a single market but not a single political entity. Yet the problems now enveloping the bloc will give impetus to those who still want to pursue the latter model. Spain has already indicated that it will use Thursday's meeting to call for a more unified EU. Spain took over the rotating presidency of the EU at the beginning of this year. The country's prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said last week that he believed the economic plan for the next ten years should involve a move to a single economic policy for the EU, covering spending, investment and tax policies. The Lisbon Treaty allows more coordination. We should make sure to give the Commission new powers, he said, a view apparently endorsed by France's President Nicholas Sarkozy. Having remained outside the single currency, Britain will be on the sidelines of such a debate. Many in the country were dubious about the implications of the Lisbon Treaty and its eventual acceptance by the government without a referendum was a cause of some controversy. But if the stronger countries in the euro zone are going to have to come to the aid of the weaker ones, then they may rightly feel that they need to have more input into how those countries are run. Assurances from the Greek premier that he will put his house in order may not be enough to persuade Germany that sufficient change will be wrought. This crisis isn't just about sovereign debt; it could end up being about sovereignty itself.

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).

GLOBALIZATION IS KILLING THE GLOBE
http://www.infowars.com/globalization-is-killing-the-globe-return-to-local-economies/

China threatens world health by unleashing waves of superbugs -China's reckless use of antibiotics in the health system and agricultural production is unleashing an explosion of drug resistant superbugs that endanger global health, according to leading scientists.By Peter Foster in Beijing 6:25PM GMT 05 Feb 2010

Data from Chinese hospitals shows a very frightening picture of high-level antibiotic resistance Photo: PHOTOSHOT Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats and the country's farmers excessive dependence on the drugs has tainted the food chain. Studies in China show a frightening increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also know as MRSA . There are warnings that new strains of antibiotic-resistant bugs will spread quickly through international air travel and internation food sourcing.Hospital bacteria such as MRSA becoming resistant to disinfectants.We have a lot of data from Chinese hospitals and it shows a very frightening picture of high-level antibiotic resistance,said Dr Andreas Heddini of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control.Doctors are daily finding there is nothing they can do, even third and fourth-line antibiotics are not working.There is a real risk that globally we will return to a pre-antibiotic era of medicine, where we face a situation where a number of medical treatment options would no longer be there. What happens in China matters for the rest of the world.

Particular alarm has been raised by resistance rates of MRSA in Chinese hospitals, which has more than doubled from 30 per cent to 70 per cent, according to Professor Xiao Yonghong of the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at Beijing University. Last year researchers found a new strain of MRSA in Chinese pigs imported into Hong Kong and called for urgent new studies into its potential to infect humans after an infection of the new strain was confirmed in Guangzhou, where many of the pigs were farmed.A Beijing-based health expert with access to unpublished surveys showed that the situation in China was actually worse earlier studies had indicated.The Chinese Ministry of Health has all the data, the expert warned,but they seem unable or unwilling to believe it. The situation has global implications and is highly disturbing.The Chinese Ministry of Health failed to respond to requests for an interview or information by phone, email and fax over a three-day period.New prescription guidelines to restrict antibiotic use being issued by the Chinese Ministry of Health in 2004.The guidelines are not being followed effectively, added Professor Xiao, over just the last five years, for example, our studies show the rate antibiotic-resistant E.coli has quadrupled from 10 per cent to 40 per cent.

Public health experts say the rampant over-use of antibiotics in China is primarily caused by China's under-funded healthcare system where hospitals derive up to half of their operating income from selling drugs. In some cities, such as Chongqing, almost half of all drugs sold are antibiotics.In Chinese hospitals our data shows that 60 per cent of in-patients are being prescribed antibiotics compared with the WHO guideline of 30 per cent, added Professor Xiao who also heads China's National Antibiotic Resistance Investigation Network.China's State Food and Drug Administration bans the sale of antibiotics without prescription but a survey by the The Daily Telegraph found the drugs were still easily obtainable over-the-counter.

Three out of five chemists agreed to sell antibiotics after a cursory consultation with the patient who complained of a sore throat.At one outlet a pharmacist handed over a course of the second-generation antibiotic, Cefuroxime Axetil, with minimal hesitation.Asked if the sale could get her into trouble she said that the pharmacy would get a doctor to write the prescription later to cover their sales records. She added that even doctors from the nearby Capital Institute of Pediatrics came to buy antibiotics without prescription.When the surveillance is strict, we won't risk selling antibiotics, Ms Zhang added. Asked to elaborate, she explained,For example during the 2008 Olympic Games period, we didn't sell them.

China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.
Chris Buckley BEIJING Tue Feb 9, 2010 12:00pm

Members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force Aviation stand at attention during a training session at the 60th National Day Parade Village in the outskirts of Beijing, September 15, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Joe Chan
BEIJING (Reuters) - Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

World

The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency.The interviews with Major Generals Zhu Chenghu and Luo Yuan and Senior Colonel Ke Chunqiao appeared in the issue published on Monday.The People's Liberation Army (PLA) plays no role in setting policy for China's foreign exchange holdings. Officials in charge of that area have given no sign of any moves to sell U.S. Treasury bonds over the weapons sales, a move that could alarm markets and damage the value of China's own holdings.While far from representing fixed government policy, the open demands for retaliation by the PLA officers underscored the domestic pressures on Beijing to deliver on its threats to punish the Obama administration over the arms sales.Our retaliation should not be restricted to merely military matters, and we should adopt a strategic package of counter-punches covering politics, military affairs, diplomacy and economics to treat both the symptoms and root cause of this disease, said Luo Yuan, a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences.Just like two people rowing a boat, if the United States first throws the strokes into chaos, then so must we.Luo said Beijing could attack by oblique means and stealthy feints to make its point in Washington.

For example, we could sanction them using economic means, such as dumping some U.S. government bonds,Luo said.The warnings from the PLA come after weeks of strains between Washington and Beijing, who have also been at odds over Internet controls and hacking, trade and currency quarrels, and President Barack Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader reviled by China as a separatist.

MILITARY SPENDING BOOST

Chinese has blasted the United States over the planned $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan unveiled in late January, saying it will sanction U.S. firms that sell weapons to the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a breakaway province of China.China is likely to unveil its official military budget for 2010 next month, when the Communist Party-controlled national parliament meets for its annual session.
The PLA officers suggested that budget should mirror China's ire toward Washington.
Clearly propose that due to the threat in the Taiwan Sea, we are increasing military spending, said Luo.Last year, the government set the official military budget at 480.7 billion yuan ($70.4 billion), a 14.9 percent rise on the one in 2008, continuing a nearly unbroken succession of double-digit increases over more than two decades.The fresh U.S. arms sales threatened Chinese military installations on the mainland coast facing Taiwan, and this gives us no choice but to increase defense spending and adjust (military) deployments, said Zhu Chenghu, a major general at China's National Defence University in Beijing.In 2005, Zhu stirred controversy by suggesting China could use nuclear weapons if the United States intervened militarily in a conflict over Taiwan.The United States switched official recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979. But the Taiwan Relations Act, passed the same year, guarantees Taiwan a continued supply of defensive weapons.China has the world's biggest pile of foreign currency reserves, much of it held in U.S. treasury debt. China held $798.9 billion in U.S. Treasuries at end-October.But any attempt to use that stake against Washington would probably maul the value of China's own dollar-denominated assets.China has condemned previous arms sales, but has taken little action in response to them. But Luo said the country's growing strength meant that time has passed.China's attitude and actions over U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan will be increasingly tough, the magazine cited him as saying.That is inevitable with rising national strength.(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

http://www.prisonplanet.com/ferguson-and-faber-sovereign-debt-crisis-will-spread-world-wide-u-s-debt-is-unsafe.html

Ahmedinajad: We’ve Upgraded Our Enriched Uranium
by Hillel Fendel FEB 11,10

(IsraelNN.com) The US Defense Secretary says sanctions on Iran are only weeks away, and Russia hints it will join in as well. In honor of the 31st anniversary of the Islamic takeover in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad continues to provoke the West, saying his country is proceeding quickly towards nuclear power. Only two days after the announcement that Iran had begun stepping up its enrichment program of uranium from 3.5% purity to 20%, Ahmedinajad told a crowd of tens of thousands that the deed is already done. He said that the 20% uranium has already been delivered to the scientists working on producing nuclear power.

Ahmedinejad: We're Not Afraid of You
The dictator said, though, that Iran does not plan to produce nuclear weapons. “If we wanted to make a bomb, we would announce this,he said.Our nation has the courage to say what it means, and we’re not afraid of you [the West].Uranium enriched to a 90% level of purity is necessary for nuclear weapons. Experts say that if Iran can enrich uranium to 20%, it could theoretically proceed and reach the 90% level. The Iranian dictator, whose forces fired at anti-government protestors earlier in the day, said his government has the ability to enrich uranium even to 80%, but we won’t do it, because we don’t need it.The West doesn’t entirely believe Ahmedinajad, and international sanctions against Iran appear to be closer than ever. U.S. President Obama said that Iran is headed towards nuclear arms, and that sanctions are apparently the next step. He insisted that the door for negotiations is still open, however.Russia, too, has implied that sanctions will have to be imposed on Iran, and said that the Western fears of Iranian nuclear weapons are justified. China, however, still objects to sanctions, though less vocally than in the past; its veto on the UN Security Council could thwart the plan to impose them.

Israel Under Threat Again
Meanwhile, Iranian media also reported on Thursday that in a talk with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Ahmedinajad said that should Israel use military force in the region, it must be destroyed.If the Zionist regime makes the same mistakes and initiates a military mission, the Iranian is said to have told the Syrian by phone, there will be an obligation to fight it with the maximum force in order to put an end to it once and for all. He said that Iran has trustworthy information that Israel is planning such a mission.

Legal Forum: Don't Help Hamas Change Money to Pay Smugglers
by Gil Ronen FEB 11,10

(IsraelNN.com) The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel has learned that the Hamas leadership in Gaza recently asked Israel to help it change NIS 500 million into dollars or dinars in Ramallah. The Forum added that according to the report it received, the reason Hamas needs the money is that smugglers who operate between Gaza and Egypt refuse to be paid with shekels.The Legal Forum turned to the Attorney General, Yehudah Weinstein, and requested that the government refrain from changing Hamas' money.The smugglers whom Hamas wishes to pay with the money busy themselves with bringing in weapons and ammunition that are intended for terror actions, the Forum noted.The Forum added: It was just this week that missiles from Gaza hit Israel. Israel's intelligence agencies have informed the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and government ministers of the smugglers' activity. Agreeing to the request for changing the money would – on the face of it – constitute an act of assistance to terror, and a clear infringement of the law that forbids funding of terror activities. Therefore we ask that you instruct the Prime Minister and Defense Minister to give instructions not to change these funds.The Forum added that in spite of the Law against Funding of Terror that forbids the transfer of goods to a terror entity, the High Court has dismissed the Forum's motions regarding the transfer of funds that are supposed to pay the salaries of Palestinian Authority employees in Gaza. These funds continue to be transported by the truckload into Gaza, although there is no certainty that the money does not reach terror organizations.

Time Magazine Digging Up Trouble in Jerusalem
by Hana Levi Julian FEB 11,10

(IsraelNN.com) The United States-based Time Magazine complained this week that the archaeological activities of the City of David Foundation, also known as Ir David or Elad, are making life difficult for President Barack Obama.Specifically, on a political level,wrote Time's Jerusalem bureau chief Tim McGirk,it complicates efforts by the White House to enable both Palestinians and Israelis to share Jerusalem as their respective capitals, a key demand of the Palestinians.The article, which claimed the willful jumbling of science and faith is threatening Jerusalem's precarious spiritual balance,essentially accuses the City of David Foundation, which McGirk refers to as a right-wing Jewish settler organization,of hijacking Israel's political agenda. It also implies the organization is forcing Muslims to accept the Jewish truth of Biblical historical statements through archaeological discoveries.But the claim doesn't stick. Those parts of Jerusalem that were restored to the city in the 1967 Six Day War, which took place more than 40 years ago, have long since been annexed. Their status, and that of the city itself, is not negotiable, according to Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Regev told Israel National News in an interview earlier this month that there was no intention to divide the capital, now or in the future. The prime minster's position is clear and unchanged. Jerusalem is the united capital of Israel and will remain such in the future, he said.Time did note that the City of David Foundation has the support of the Israeli government at city and national levels as well as the backing of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), which monitors all archaeological activity. However, it failed to point out that the City of David, known as Silwan in Arabic, has only been an Arab village since the 1930s. Some 60 percent of the land is Jewish-owned, including a number of acres purchased by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild in the early 20th century, prior to the appearance of the Arab villagers.

McGirk also omitted the fact that Jewish families lived in Shiloah (its Hebrew name) as early as 1882. The Jewish residents were literally driven from their homes by Arab attackers in the late 1920's.During the city administrations of then-Mayors Teddy Kollek (1965-1993) and Ehud Olmert (1993-2003), some 88 illegal Arab structures were built in the area, which is zoned as a public green area marked for preservation and development of parks and tourism. The illegal buildings have since been marked for demolition by the administration of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

SEX SINS

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

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

SINS OF PEOPLE

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 TIMOTHY 1:9
9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

DECIEVERS WAXING WORSE AND WORSE.

2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

MORE SIN SIGNS

EPHESIANS 5:5-8
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

HOMOSEXUALS.(SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUP)

GENESIS 19:5
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men (2 ANGELS) which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.(HAVE HOMO SEX WITH THEM:THATS HOW PERVERTED SODOM AND GOMORRAH WAS)

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

ON CAPITOL HILL-Obama czar's homo-genda proposed for U.S. schools Congressional legislation called a sexual revolutionary's dream February 10, 2010
11:08 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh 2010 WorldNetDaily

A homosexual congressman from Colorado has proposed a law critics say would give controversial federal school safety czar Kevin Jennings – a longtime homosexual-rights advocate – almost unlimited authority to mandate indoctrination in public schools at taxpayer expense. It doesn't get much more fascist than this! It's a sexual revolutionary's dream, wrote Linda Harvey of Mission America. Under the legislation by Democrat Rep. Jared Polis, Jennings can create pro-homosexual programs and policies to their hearts' delight, Harvey wrote. Jennings founded the Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network and now heads the office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the Department of Education.Polis' proposal would provide special protections for students who claim they are discriminated against because of their perceived sexual orientation. The bill would call down the wrath of the federal government on offenders by classifying actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity alongside race, color, sex, disability or national origin as factors on which protections are based. In a statement announcing his proposal, H.R. 4530, Polis said, Every student has the right to an education free from harassment and violence. This bill will protect the individual freedoms of our students and enshrine the values of equality and opportunity in our classrooms.But it actually won't, according to an analysis by Harvey. Instead, she said it will allow Jennings a virtual open door to set up whatever pro-homosexual programs he would choose.

Learn what a top shrink says is troubling leftists, in The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness! While I have no hard evidence, it's got Kevin Jennings' fingerprints all over it,Harvey said. His safe and drug free schools plan can take full advantage by creating new rules schools would have to follow.

Polis declined to return telephone and e-mail requests for comment. If a school receives federal funds from one of these agencies or any other, it is subject to the new rules that agency devises to conform to this bill, Harvey explained.And states can be held liable for violations, so state governments will have incentives to put pressure for compliance on local schools.The goal should be protecting all students for all reasons, not just those involved in certain special-status behaviors, Harvey wrote. WND has reported how Jennings is president of the board of the Tectonic Theater Project, which created The Laramie Project, a play about the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming homosexual Matthew Shepard that condemns traditional biblical views on homosexuality as hateful and bigoted. It was last May when, WND broke the news of Jennings' federal appointment to oversee safety in the nation's public schools after he had boasted of using the theme to promote homosexuality and other alternative sexual lifestyles to students.

Find out how corruption is packaged, perfumed and marketed to us as good and wholesome. The culture-war classic The Marketing of Evil is now available as a 4-disc AUDIOBOOK – read by the author, David Kupelian! Multiple WND messages left with the U.S. Department of Education and Jennings' office have not been returned. WND has reported Jennings founded the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, his influence over a conference for teachers and children that included instruction in various homosexual acts such as fisting, multiple efforts at the congressional level to have him removed, his responsiveness when a porn publisher asked for his help in writing a book, his financial sponsorship of radical homosexual art and his membership in the sometimes-violent radical Act Up homosexual organization. The sexually graphic books the Jennings-founded GLSEN recommends for children also have been the subject of reports. When Polis announced his plan, which has been endorsed by several dozen other members of Congress, he said the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) would protect students with alternative sexual lifestyles. Every day innocent students fall victim to relentless harassment and discrimination from teachers, staff, and fellow students based on their sexual orientation, said Polis. These actions not only hurt our students and our schools but, left unchecked, can also lead to life-threatening violence.Harvey, however, said there's simply an absence of data to back up such sweeping statements. The purpose of this bill is not what is being stated, but is quite simply to mandate in public schools one acceptable viewpoint on the issue of homosexuality, using purported violence or harassment as the rationale, and the power of the feds as the hammer, Harvey said.

The goal is to silence those who may warn about or object to student expression of homosexuality or gender confusion. Such warnings might literally save a child’s life.
She said ultimately, if the law is adopted and the resulting rules are as expected, the only safe schools in the nation would be where there is no dissent about the promotion of homosexuality. The phony concept of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered identity is the shaky foundation of this bill. Are certain kids different types of humans? No. There is no science to back up the existence of a gay gene or anything like it, and it is very harmful to label and stereotype young people with questionable lifestyles and high-risk behaviors, Harvey warned. She continued,There is no constitutional right to homosexual behavior or cross-dressing as stated in this bill. Some see a right to privacy in the Constitution, which is not one of its amendments. But even that wouldn't cover what's being proposed. This bill is an attempt at installing a very public declaration and public affirmation of verifiably high risk practices and, if engaged in at all, private matters.She also explained the claims of equal protection under the 14th Amendment simply don't apply. Polis' bill claims students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have been and are subjected to pervasive discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, and have been deprived of equal educational opportunities, in schools in every part of our nation.

Not so, explained Harvey.

All students have equal protection now, just not for highly questionable behavior. Would students who are obese have the right to proclaim this a right under equal protection' so that any school nutrition programs would then become discrimination'? These are behaviors, not simply viewpoints, she said. Polis proposes that every federal department or agency that distributes money to any educational program must implement the provisions. He calls for courts to award equitable relief, compensatory damages, costs of the action, and remedial action to those who claim they are victims of discrimination. He also provides that states, also, could be sued, creating an incentive for state bureaucracies to implement and enforce federal provisions. A similar plan has been pending in Congress for federal agencies' employment already. Columnist Robert Knight wrote about what he described as the gay quota bill.It turns private sin into a public right and brings the force of government against morality itself. Any such law is a violation of our unalienable rights as proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence. To put it more simply, a statute that directly contradicts God's moral law is illegitimate, he wrote. The federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act remains pending. Knight said it falsely equates a changeable condition (sexual desire) with race and ethnicity.WND Columnist Janet Porter noted President Obama's White House web site has endorsed the concept:

President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy.Mass Resistance has launched a petition to have Jennings removed, as has GrassrootsNation. At the Washington Times, a series of editorials addressed worries over Jennings' influence on children. Teaching children sexual techniques is simply not appropriate. Unfortunately, it is part of a consistent pattern by some homosexual activists to promote underage homosexuality while pretending that their mission is simply to promote tolerance for so-called alternative lifestyles, the newspaper said. It is outrageous that someone involved in this scandal is being paid by the taxpayers to serve in a high-powered position at the Education Department, of all places. At some point, [Education Secretary Arne] Duncan, Mr. Jennings, Obama administration spokesmen and the president himself are going to have to start answering questions about all this. Refusing to do so won't make the issue go away.

Huge rally and protests mark Iran revolution By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer – FEB 11,10

TEHRAN, Iran – Hundreds of thousands of Iranians massed Thursday in central Tehran to mark the anniversary of the revolution that created the country's Islamic republic, while a heavy security force fanned out across the city and moved quickly to snuff out opposition counterprotests.Police clashed with protesters in several sites around Tehran, firing tear gas to disperse them and paintballs to mark them for arrest. Gangs of hard-liners also attacked senior opposition figures as they tried to attend the rallies — including the wife of the head of the reform movement.

Plainclothes Basiji militiamen beat 65-year-old Zahra Rahnavard with clubs on her head and back until her supporters formed a human ring around her and whisked her away, according to the Web site of her husband, Mir Hossein Mousavi.The celebrations marking the revolution's 31st anniversary were an opportunity for Iran's clerical regime to tout its power in the face of the opposition movement, which has managed to keep up periodic street protests since the disputed June presidential elections despite a fierce crackdown.The opposition turnout was dwarfed by the huge crowd at the state-run celebrations. Many were bused in to central Azadi, or Freedom, Square to hear an address by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who proclaimed a new success in Iran's uranium enrichment program and dismissed new U.S. sanctions.And the massive security clampdown appeared to succeed in preventing protesters from converging into a cohesive demonstrations. Large numbers of riot police, members of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij militiamen, some on motorcycles, deployed in back streets near key squares and major avenues in the capital to move against protesters.

Opposition Web sites spoke of groups of protesters in the hundreds, compared to much larger crowds in past demonstrations.One protester told The Associated Press she had tried to join the demonstrations but soon left in disappointment. There were 300 of us, maximum 500. Against 10,000 people, she told an AP reporter outside Iran. She said there were few clashes.It means they won and we lost. They defeated us. They were able to gather so many people, she said. But this doesn't mean we have been defeated for good. It's a defeat for now, today. We need time to regroup.Another protester insisted the opposition had come out in significant numbers, but the problem was that we were not able to gather in one place because they (security forces) were very violent.Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by authorities, who have jailed protesters for talking to foreign media.

Authorities banned foreign media in Iran from covering the pro-reform protests, while allowing them to cover the official anniversary ceremonies, including Ahmadinejad's speech, but there is a ban on covering opposition protests. Tehran residents also reported Internet speeds dropping dramatically and e-mail services such as Gmail being blocked in a common government tactic to foil opposition attempts to organize.Thousands upon thousands marched along the city's broad avenues toward Azadi Square to celebrate the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to footage on state TV. There, the massive crowds waved Iranian flags and carried pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic state, and his successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.State buses ferried many to the square. State media touted the turnout as a show of support for the government — though to an extent, celebrations for the revolution cross partisan lines, and many Iranians who oppose Ahmadinejad but support the clerical leadership turn out annually. Among those attending was influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an opposition supporter.In his nationally televised address in the square, Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, 20 percent — and boasted that Iranian scientists are capable of going even further, to 80 percent. But we don't ... because we don't need it, he said.A day after Washington announced new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad vowed the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks.He repeated Iran's stance that it is not building a nuclear weapon and does not intend to do so, adding, If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it.Iran's move to further enrich uranium — from around 3 percent purity to 20 percent — has drawn sharp criticism from the United States and its allies, which accuse Tehran of seeking to develop a nuclear bomb. Uranium enriched to 90 percent can be used to build a warhead.

Ahmadinejad made no mention in his speech of Iran's political turmoil.

For days ahead of the anniversary celebrations, anti-government Web sites and blogs have called for a major turnout in counterprotests. Groups of opposition protesters gathered Thursday in several locations around Tehran, wearing green clothes and waving green balloons — the opposition's signature color. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse a group of protesters who were trying to march toward Azadi Square as they chanted death to the dictator, the opposition Web site Kaleme said, reporting an unknown number of arrests. Police and Basijis on motorbikes swept toward central Tehran, where protesters and security forces clashed in several locations, it reported. The heaviest violence appeared to be in Sadeqieh Square, about a half-mile (one kilometer) from the anniversary rally, where riot police fired paint-filled balls at hundreds of protesters chanting opposition slogans, witnesses said. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from authorities. The assault on Mousavi's wife took place in the square, and government supporters also blocked Mousavi himself from joining the protests, his Web site said. Hard-liners also attacked the convoy of another senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, as he headed to the square, his son Hossein Karroubi told The Associated Press. The attackers smashed the windows of his car, forcing him to turn back from joining the protests, he said. Security forces also briefly detained Khomeini's granddaughter and her husband, who are both senior pro-reform politicians, according to the couple's son, Ali. The granddaughter, Zahra Eshraghi, and her husband Mohammad Reza Khatami, who is the brother of a former pro-reform president, were held for less than an hour before being released, their son told the AP.

The opposition claims that Ahmadinejad's victory in the June 12 election was fraudulent and that the true winner was pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets against the government in the weeks after the vote, prompting a massive wave of arrests. Nevertheless, the opposition has succeeded in continuing to hold regular protests, often timing them to coincide with days of important political or religious significance in attempts to embarrass authorities. The tone of the rallies has shifted from outrage over Ahmadinejad's re-election to wider calls against the entire Islamic system, including Khamenei.

Tensions have mounted further since the last large-scale marches, in late December, which brought the most violent battles with security riots in months. At least eight people were killed in clashes between protesters and police, and security forces have intensified arrests in the weeks since. In January, two people who were put on trial alongside opposition politicians and protesters were executed for allegedly plotting to overthrow the state. Authorities have announced that 10 other opposition supporters have also been sentenced to death — a move many believe was aimed at intimidating protesters. AP correspondent Scheherezade Faramarzi in Beirut and Ali Akbar Dareini in Dubai contributed to this report.

ONCE AGAIN THE MUSLIM NATIONS ARE HOT HEADED ABOUT WESTERN VALUES.

No Valentine's: Saudi religious police see red By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI, Associated Press Writer – FEB 11,10

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The Saudi religious police launched Thursday a nationwide crackdown on stores selling items that are red or in any other way allude to the banned celebrations of Valentine's Day, a Saudi official said.Members of the feared religious police were inspecting shops for red roses, heart-shaped products or gifts wrapped in red, and ordering storeowners to get rid of them, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Red-colored or heart-shaped items are legal at other times of the year, but as Feb. 14 nears they become contraband in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom bans celebration of Western holidays such as Valentine's Day, named after a Christian saint said to have been martyred by the Romans in the 3rd Century.Most shops in Riyadh's upscale neighborhoods have removed all red items from their shelves. A statement by the religious police, informally known as the muttawa, was published in Saudi newspapers, warning shop owners against any violations.Those who don't comply will be punished, the statement said, without spelling out what measures would befall the offenders.The Valentine's Day prohibition is in line with Saudi's strict Wahhabi school of Islam that the kingdom has followed for more than a century. The birthplace of Islam also bans several Muslim holidays except the two most important ones because it considers them religious innovations that Islam doesn't sanction.

Even birthdays and Mother's Day are frowned on by the religious establishment, although people almost never get punished for celebrating them.Many Saudis, who still want to mark the popular Valentine's, do their shopping weeks before the holiday.Each year, the religious police mobilize ahead of Feb. 14 and descend on gift and flower shops, confiscating all red items, including flowers.Attitudes toward Valentine's Day vary across the Arab world, with devout Muslims opposing the holiday as a Western celebration of romantic love that corrupts Muslim youth.The Egyptian capital, Cairo, is a sharp contrast to the Saudi restrictions, with shops and restaurants going overboard in red ribbon and heart decorations.Dubai, a conservative Muslim city-state with a Western outlook, is every year taken over by a Valentine craze. Luxury hotels are draped in red, offering romantic dinner specials. Malls and cafes are decorated with giant hearts and flower shops offer promotional deals on roses and fancy bouquets.Apparently prompted by the Saudi ban, a group in the Philippines advocating the welfare of Filipino overseas workers — a million of whom work in Saudi Arabia and another million elsewhere in the Middle East — cautioned its countrymen to celebrate Valentine's Day only in private and refrain from publicly greeting anyone with Happy Valentine's across the region.

We are urging fellow Filipinos in the Middle East, especially lovers, just to celebrate their Valentine's Day secretly and with utmost care, said John Leonard Monterona of the Migrante group.He said the group advised against carrying anything that is red, including toys, hearts, and flowers, or even wearing red dresses or T-shirts. Instead, he urged Filipinos to visit Internet cafes to chat with their loved ones, give them a call or send text messages.Associated Press Writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila, Philippines, and Barbara Surk in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

Israel rerouting barrier near West Bank village By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 11, 8:14 am ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Opponents of Israel's contentious separation barrier in the West Bank scored a long-awaited victory Thursday when the government began rerouting the enclosure to eat up less of a Palestinian village that has become a symbol of anti-wall protests and the site of frequent clashes.The move comes 2 1/2 years after Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the barrier must be moved to ease the hardship of Palestinians in the village of Bilin. Some Palestinians welcomed the development but stressed it fell far short of their demand to dismantle the entire enclosure.Weekly protests near Bilin have become a symbol of the Palestinians' struggle against the barrier's encroachment on West Bank land, which they claim for their future state. Six protesters have been killed and dozens injured in clashes with Israeli forces over it.Bulldozers were on site Thursday and tracks for the new route were being laid down. Anti-barrier activist Khatib Abu Rahmeh said the Israeli military informed village officials that the new route would return 346 acres (140 hectares) of farmland to the village and adjacent communities.Once the new route is built, the section of barrier currently standing around Bilin will be removed, Abu Rahmeh said. It's a victory for our struggle, but still a small victory until we achieve the big one: Removing the wall, he said.

Israeli defense officials confirmed preliminary work was being done but did not provide details. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the rerouting before it was officially confirmed.Also Thursday, an Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian militant and wounded another in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it struck militants who were about to attack Israel.The Israeli-Gaza border has been relatively quite since last winter's war ended with an unwritten cease-fire in the coastal strip, though occasional exchanges of fire still erupt.Israel began building the West Bank separation barrier in 2002 after a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Some 575 acres (232 hectares) — more than half of Bilin's land — were confiscated to build a barrier loop around the expanding Jewish settlement of Modiin Ilit, cutting off villagers from their fields.Protesters have gathered every Friday in the village for the past five years. Soldiers have fired tear gas, stun grenades, and live rounds to disperse them, saying the protests are illegal and that the harsh tactics are a response to rock-throwing and violent rioting.Hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and foreign demonstrators have been injured, and one Palestinian protester has been killed in clashes with Israeli forces. Five other Palestinians have been killed in demonstrations against the barrier in the nearby village of Naalin.Soldiers also have been injured, including one who lost an eye.In late 2007, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the government to modify the route through Bilin, dismissing its argument that the current route was necessary to protect residents of the Jewish settlement. The judges ordered the government to come up with a new route in a reasonable period of time.Dozens of court cases like the Bilin appeal have held up construction of the barrier, or forced rerouting of completed sections. Once finished, the barrier is expected to be a 430-mile-long (690 kilometers) route of towering cement slabs, electronic fencing, trenches and patrol roads.In a number of instances, the high court has ruled in favor of easing hardships caused to Palestinians and moving the route closer to the cease-fire line at the end of the 1948-49 war that followed Israel's creation.

STOCK RESULTS FEB 10,2010

PROVERBS 14:31,33-34
31 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
33 Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.
34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

PSALMS 33:10-12
10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

I AGREE WITH GREG FROM FOX NEWS.RPT:MANY OBAMA SUPPORTERS URGE HIM TO FIRE TOP ADVISORS.

GETTING RID OF GODLESS ADVISORS!

Robert Gates(Press Secretary),David Axelrod(Advisor),Valerie Jarrett(Advisor),Rahm Emanuel(W.H Chief of Staff)and all his czars and NWO NUTCASES.

THESE 4 ARE DUBBED THE MEAN TEAM.3 OF THE 4 COME FROM CHICAGO POLITICS.THEY DON'T ADMIT MISTAKES,THEY DON'T LISTEN TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.THEY CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR GODLESS CAUSES.THESE ARE RUNNING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AS WELL AS AMERICA INTO A DITCH OF GODLESSNESS.OBAMA IS THE GODLESS POWER HUNGRY LEADER OF THIS BUNCH,SO WHAT AND WHOELSE CAN YOU EXPECT TO RUN A GODLESS ADMINISTRATION,AND ALL HIS GODLESS CZARS AND NEW AGE,NEW WORLD ORDER NUTCASES.

THEY JUST NEVER STOP THIS CLIMATE CHANGE SCAM.

New federal climate change agency forming By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer – Mon Feb 8, 12:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting.Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.Whether we like it or not, climate change represents a real threat, Locke said Monday at a news conference.Lubchenco added, Climate change is real, it's happening now.She said climate information is vital to the wind power industry, coastal community planning, fishermen and fishery managers, farmers and public health officials.NOAA recently reported that the decade of 2000-2009 was the warmest on record worldwide; the previous warmest decade was the 1990s. Most atmospheric scientists believe that warming is largely due to human actions, adding gases to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

Researchers and leaders from around the world met last month in Denmark to discuss ways to reduce climate-warming emissions, and a follow-up session is planned for later this year in Mexico.More and more people are asking for more and more information about climate and how it's going to affect them, Lubchenco explained. So officials decided to combine climate operations into a single unit.Portions of the Weather Service that have been studying climate, as well as offices from some other NOAA agencies, will be transferred to the new NOAA Climate Service.The new agency will initially be led by Thomas Karl, director of the current National Climatic Data Center. The Climate Service will be headquartered in Washington and will have six regional directors across the country.Lubchenco also announced a new NOAA climate portal on the Internet to collect a vast array of climatic data from NOAA and other sources. It will be one-stop shopping into a world of climate information,she said.

Creation of the Climate Service requires a series of steps, including congressional committee approval. But if all goes well, it should be finished by the end of the year, officials said.In recent years, a widespread private weather forecasting industry has grown up around the National Weather Service, and Lubchenco said she anticipates growth of private climate-related business around the new agency.While most people notice the weather from day to day or week to week, climate looks at both the averages and extremes of weather over longer periods of time. And understanding both weather and climate, and their changes, are vital to much of the world's economic activity ranging from farming to travel to energy use and production and even food shipments and disease prevention.Atmospheric scientists have long joked that climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. But greenhouse warming is changing what can be expected from climate, and researchers are seeking to understand and anticipate the impacts of that change.On the Net:
NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

THOSE PEACEFUL NEW AGE ENVIROMENTAL (NUTCASES)CLAIM PEACE AND LOVE,WHILE DESTROYING JAPANESE PROPERTY.HOW HYPICRITICAL IS THIS CLIMATE CHANGE,NEW AGE ENVIROMENTAL(IST)MOVEMENT.

Activists ambush Japanese whalers in Antarctic seas
Tue Feb 9, 5:48 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Anti-whaling activists said Tuesday they had exchanged water cannon fire with Japanese fishermen after ambushing them in Antarctic waters.The Sea Shepherd group, which has been pursuing the fishing fleet since December, said its Steve Irwin ship waited behind an iceberg before surprising Japan's Nisshin Maru whaling boat.As the Steve Irwin passed by the Nisshin Maru, the factory ship turned on their water cannons and were surprised when the Steve Irwin responded with a more powerful water cannon that had a couple of the whalers diving for the bridge doors as the frigid water struck their bridge wing deck, the group said in a statement.

Monday's clash came just two days after Sea Shepherd accused the Japanese of deliberately ramming its Bob Barker vessel and leaving a metre (three-foot) -long gash in its stern.Last month, the group's futuristic Ady Gil powerboat was sliced in two and sank after a collision with one of the Japanese ships.The activists claim to have saved the lives of hundreds of whales by harassing the annual hunt, which kills the animals using a loophole in an international moratorium which allows lethal research.It does not matter where they go, east or west along the Antarctic Coast, said Steve Irwin First Officer Locky MacLean.We intend to stick to their rear like glue and we will not allow a single whale to be loaded onto the decks of that foul floating abattoir.Australia and New Zealand have called for restraint from both sides with the activists deploying laser-like devices and stink bombs, and the Japanese fleet operating military-style acoustic weapons.

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 WED FEB 10,2010

09:30 AM -1.89
10:00 AM -38.55
10:30 AM -86.61
11:00 AM -55.31
11:30 AM -49.66
12:00 PM -34.31
12:30 PM -4.16
01:00 PM -10.43
01:30 PM +18.13
02:00 PM +5.97
02:30 PM -13.91
03:00 PM -9.45
03:30 PM -15.23
04:00 PM -20.26 10,038.40

S&P 500 1068.13 -2.39

NASDAQ 2147.87 -3.00

GOLD 1,073.40 -4.80

OIL 74.42 +0.67

TSE 300 11,286.30 +12.10

CDNX 1476.78 +2.25

S&P/TSX/60 660.93 +1.15

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -4 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -93 points at low today.
Dow +30 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,072.80.OIL opens at $73.53 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -93 points at low today so far.
Dow +30 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -93 points at low today.
Dow +30 points at high today.

CRUDE OIL (INVENTORIES ARE LATE - FRIDAY THIS WEEK 11AM)
GASOLINE
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES
REFINERY UTILIZATION

2ND SNOW STORM HITS AMERICA

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

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

DON'T TELL ANYONE USE WERE NOT WARNED,I HAVE BEEN WARNING PEOPLE FOR YEARS THE EU WILL CONTROL THE WORLD ECONOMICALLY.GOD TOLD US IN HIS WORD,PEOPLE ARE SKEPTICS OR NON BELIEVERS OR JUST GODLESS ABOUT THE BIBLE OR ANYTHING IN IT,THATS WHY THEY REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT UNTILL NOW WHEN GOD IS BRINGING PROPHECY TO PASS.THEN THEY WILL BE FORCED TO BELIEVE IT WHEN IT HAPPENS IN FRONT OF THEIR BLIND EYES AND DEAF EARS.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 EU President Seeking to Consolidate Economic Power (Dog Bites Man Alert)

On the one hand, as we noted in an earlier post, EU president Herman Van Rompuy has made no bones about his view that the EU needs to have more clout in economic affairs. Per the Telegraph:Herman Van Rompuy, the EU’s new president, has submitted a text calling for the creation of an economic government that shifts responsibility for economic planning from national authorities to the EU level

But the Independent has a story up, EU President’s secret bid for economic power, that makes this effort sound more like a land grab:The new President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, is using the financial crisis sweeping the eurozone to launch an audacious grab for power over national budgets, leaked documents reveal.
The Independent has seen a secret annexe to the letter being sent by Mr Van Rompuy to European Union heads of government inviting them to the summit to be held tomorrow in Brussels. In an early and muscular assertion of authority over national governments and over the EU Commission, the Van Rompuy note states: Members of the European Council are responsible for the economic strategy in their government. They should do the same at EU level. Whether it is called co-ordination of policies or economic government, only the European Council is capable of delivering and sustaining a common European strategy for more growth and more jobs.Mr Van Rompuy states that the crisis has revealed our weaknesses, adding: Budgetary plans, structural reform programmes and climate change reporting should be presented simultaneously to the Commission [his italics]. This will provide a comprehensive overview.How one reads this could easily devolve into those one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter debates. On the one hand, the pragmatists assert that there is a great deal to be gained by having the EU become more cohesive and successful, and national sovereignity will inevitably have to be compromised. On the other, this very move has been deferred as long as humanely possible precisely because it was politically unpalatable. Now to have it take place, with the first act in some member states being an austerity regime….this is not a great way to make the medicine go down. And recall the after-effect of IMF austerity regimes in Asia after its 1997 crisis. It wasn’t just the client states that resolved never never to have anything to do with the IMF, but even mere bystanders like China came to the same conclusion, that it was necessary to build up big foreign exchange reserved to avoid what befell Indonesia and Thailand. Admittedly, an austerity regime for Greece (and the other members of Club Med) may not be as draconian, but Greece is also in much closer proximity to countries that will not be put on a short leash, which could stir even more resentment. And of course, the fact that this story was leaked, with the hope of making waves, also says there will be a great deal of tough discussion and (hopefully) compromise before any deal can be reached.

More from the Independent:An EU source explained: It has become clear to everyone that this economic crisis can’t be solved by individual member states, such as Germany helping out Greece. What we need is the same kind of mechanism that we have now imposed on Greece in order to monitor and survey eurozone countries. So the idea is to put all European economies under surveillance. You can expect some important decisions to be taken this week.In a highly unusual move, the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, has broken off from a meeting of central bank governors in Sydney to return to Europe…The concern being felt in the highest circles of the EU about the contagion sweeping through Greece, Spain and Portugal is also clearly displayed in Mr Van Rompuy’s confidential note: The crisis has revealed our weaknesses. Our structural growth rate is too low to create new jobs and to sustain our social systems.Referring to the fact that the EU has no way to resolve a budgetary crisis that affects other members states, Mr Van Rompuy goes on: Recent developments in the euro area highlight the urgent need to strengthen our economic governance. In our intertwined economies, our reforms must be co-ordinated to maximise their effect.The financial crisis comes as the EU’s three presidents jockey for position. Mr Van Rompuy is permanent President of the European Council (the job once thought tailor-made for Tony Blair), while the Spanish premier, José Zapatero, is the President of the Council of the European Union and José Manuel Barroso is President of the European Commission. President Barack Obama recently snubbed a proposed spring EU-US summit out of frustration at having to deal with the confusing troika.

The summit will be held away from the usual redoubts of the Euro bureaucracy, in Brussels’ Solvay library. Van Rompuy wanted to create a far more intimate atmosphere without an army of advisers, a source said. There are a lot of tensions between member states right now, which he is why he decided to get them to talk in an open, friendly setting, starting with aperitifs. The idea is to have a proper brainstorming session and hear everyone’s thoughts.Yves here. This is an important juncture. Even though the subtext is that there needs to be some sort of EU deal for Greece and its Club Med confreres, it isn’t just getting to a deal, but the quality of the arrangement that matters for the long term.

Germany preparing to bail out Greece
ANDREW WILLIS Today FEB 10,10 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Clear signs emerged on Tuesday (9 February) that Germany and other eurozone members are considering a bailout plan for Greece.Reports suggest financial support is likely to come in the form of guarantees or bilateral loans, with EU leaders set to discuss the exact details when they meet for an informal summit on economic issues in Brussels on Thursday. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told officials in Berlin on Monday that he had concluded there was no alternative to a rescue plan, reports the Wall Street Journal citing an anonymous source. The Financial Times quotes German officials as saying that the steep decline in the euro and pressure on bond prices has forced Berlin to take a significant step to deal with the Greek debt crisis. Recent weeks have seen Greece come under tremendous pressure from financial markets due to doubts over the Greek administration's capacity to push through tough austerity measures, leading to fears of a possible sovereign default and contagion to other eurozone members. Athens will face a major test on Wednesday with Greek public sector workers set to strike over the government's spending cut plans. The protests are set to cause grounded flights, shut government offices and schools and limited hospital operations.

Bailout method?

The European Investment Bank, the main provider of long-term EU loans, ended all speculation on Tuesday that it might become involved in a Greek bailout. The EIB's mission and statute do not allow for bailouts in terms of budget deficits or balance of payments support to individual member-states, Philippe Maystadt, the EIB president, said in a statement.News that European Central Bank chief, Jean-Claude Trichet, will be flying back from Australia for Thursday's summit helped to lift markets on Tuesday, although eurozone rules also prevent the central bank from bailing out national governments. Non-eurozone members Sweden and the UK have suggested that the International Monetary Fund is best placed to supply financial support to Greece, although EU officials have widely rejected this method. We don't need to call in the IMF, EU economic commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the European parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. Another option is the creation of a special bailout fund.When Europe was created, they created solidarity funds for new entrants, but not for the euro members. This is what is needed now,said economist Joseph Stiglitz, currently advising the Greek government, on British television on Tuesday evening.A final decision on the plan may not come this week but Germany is thought to favour guarantees as the most efficient way to prevent the spread of the debt crisis.

Moral hazard

Whatever the final option, eurozone politicians will be keen to avoid a situation of moral hazard whereby chronic overspenders like Greece appear to be getting off easy.
Mr Almunia told MEPs he hoped leaders at Thursday's summit would offer clear support for Greece in exchange for clear commitment [from the Greek authorities] that they will meet their responsibilities. You don't get support for free, he stressed.
Taxpayers in Germany and other eurozone members involved in the Greek rescue plan will essentially take on the risk involved in providing Greece with guarantees or a large bilateral loan. However, policy makers appear decided that the risks associated with taking no action are far greater. As well as preventing a possible default, a resolution to Greece's problems would help calm investor concerns over the health of public finances in Portugal and Spain. German and French banks also have considerable exposure to the Greek economy, including billions of euros in loans to private individuals and companies.

Barroso urges new wave of optimism in Europe
ANDREW RETTMAN 09.02.2010 @ 18:02 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Tuesday (9 February) celebrated EU enlargement and the single currency as the bloc's main achievements in the face of crisis-related gloom in Europe.Speaking to reporters in Strasbourg following the EU parliament's endorsement of his new team of 26 commissioners, the Portuguese politician attacked the intellectual glamour of euro-pessimism in the bloc.I believe Europe is a force for good, for our citizens and for the world, said Mr Barroso (Photo: EUobserver.com)I think that's one of the most damaging things we have in Europe: Europeans are always saying Europe is not good enough ...Some people like it. I don't like it. I believe Europe is a force for good, for our citizens and for the world, he said. We have reasons to be proud. We have extended the freedom of space and democracy to the whole continent, almost the whole continent,he went on.Europe today is much stronger than when we were six, or nine, or 12.The commission chief brought up the example of Iceland amid speculation that some struggling eurozone members, such as Spain or Greece, might be better off if they had kept their own currencies.Ordinary people [in Iceland] were going to the ATMs [cash machines] and they could not get their money. They could not use their credit cards. This happened to ordinary citizens, because they were not protected by the euro, he said. The remarks were delivered by a visibly tired and at times distracted Mr Barroso, who at the press event twice suppressed a yawn and took time out to read messages on his phone. Commenting on a new institutional pact with the EU parliament, which gives MEPs the authority to call for individual commissioners to resign and to ask the executive to consider new legislation, he drew a line in the sand.Of course I would have to give it serious consideration. Having said this, the final decision to replace a commissioner is, and will remain, in the hands of the commission president, Mr Barosso said.

The commission head also urged MEPs to vote in favour of sharing EU bank data with US counter-terrorism agents in a crunch decision to be taken by parliament at noon on Thursday.He said deputies will in future be granted easier access to classified parts of international agreements on which [they] enjoy the right of consent.I hope this reassurance paves the path to a positive vote,he said.

China officially tops Germany as world's No.1 exporter
ANDREW WILLIS 09.02.2010 @ 17:18 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Official data released from Germany on Tuesday (9 February) confirmed that China has stripped Europe's largest economy of its top exporter title. Data released by the German Federal Statistics Office showed the country's exports fell by 18.4 percent in 2009 when compared to the previous year, hitting a dollar equivalent of $1.121 trillion. China's exports for 2009 totaled $1.202 trillion.Despite the drop, which represents the greatest year-on-year decline for Germany since 1950, the news of China's takeover was not greeted with great alarm by German economists.This is something that was expected. Everyone agrees that China's currency is undervalued, but still it was only a matter of time, Gernot Nerb, head of the industry department with the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich, told this website. The official figures also showed a strong export recovery in the fourth quarter of the year, helping to pull Germany out of its recession and providing a silver lining to the more gloomy annual data.With more than 60 percent of Germany's exports going to other EU countries, concerns have been raised that the bloc's forecast low rates of growth in the coming years could prose a problem for Germany's export model.

There is some concern but we are mainly exporting investment goods, and you can not postpone investment for ever, said Mr Nerb, conceding that investment levels will probably not pick up before 2011-12 however. A breakdown of the German figures shows exports to the EU were down 19.1 percent year-on-year, with sales to faster-growing regions of Asia and South America faring little better and falling 17.1 percent.
German imports also declined rapidly in 2009 as result of the financial crisis, dropping fell by 17.2 percent.

EU too slow to act over Greece, say MEPs
ANDREW WILLIS 09.02.2010 @ 17:49 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A number of senior MEPs have criticised the European Commission for acting too slowly in tackling the problem of Greece's budget deficit and rising debt levels. Speaking after the European legislature officially approved a new commission for the next five years, Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt said Europe had committed a strategical error in not intervening earlier in the Aegean country.
The European Central Bank and the commission should have responded from the start with a package for Greece and then we needn't have gone through what we have seen in the last few weeks,he said. Recent weeks have seen growing market doubts over Athens' ability to claw back its deficit and debt levels, leading concerned investors to demand higher bond yields as they weigh up the possibility of a potential debt default. Greece's budget deficit hit 12.7 percent last year, with its debt-to-GDP ratio forecast to exceed 120 percent in 2010. Centre-right EPP Group vice-chairwoman, Corien Wortmann-Kool MEP, said she supported the commission's current strategy of closely monitoring Greece's timetable of austerity measures, but said it had come months late.Outgoing economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia, flanked by his successor Olli Rehn, defended the commission's actions however.

I don't know how Mr Verhofstadt defines late, but I don't remember him turning to the commission very quickly when Belgium was in trouble, he said of the former Belgian prime minister. Mr Almunia pointed to the difficulties in obtaining accurate statistics on the state of Greece's economy and the change of government last autumn as slowing factors, and said little had been possible until Athens presented its stability programme on 15 January. The Greek programme set outs a list of spending cuts and revenue-raising measures, as the country seeks to bring its budget deficit to below three percent by 2012.

Spain pushes for common strategy on electric cars
VALENTINA POP Today FEB 10,10 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU industry ministers on Tuesday (9 February) discussed plans to establish a common strategy for electric cars, a pet project of the Spanish EU presidency. Following the informal talks in the northern Spanish city of San Sebastian, the country's industry minister Miguel Sebastian said it was not an exaggeration to say that the electric vehicle has been born today in Europe, and that it has done so under the Spanish presidency.Obviously there are lots of questions ...issues of legal security, validation, the safety of the vehicles themselves ...and cost, he admitted, however.As national plans vary throughout Europe and use differing technologies, not always compatible, Spain is pushing for the EU commission to come up with a common strategy in May. The Spanish minister cited Germany's support for the plan.Madrid also wants the electric car included in the bloc's economic strategy for the next ten years, the so-called 2020 Agenda, as it would boost its ailing auto sector, stem soaring unemployment rates and use the renewable energy produced domestically. The EU would compete against already established electric car manufacturers in Japan, China and the United States.It is good for people's pockets, good for European income and employment, good for Europe as a whole, and it will be good for the planet from an environmental perspective, the Spanish minister said.

But his view was not shared by several green groups issuing a report on Monday in which they warned that electric cars alone could actually increase carbon emissions unless they were backed by smart power grids.The report, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Transport & Environment, says that existing EU legislation on car emissions is flawed because it allows manufacturers to use sales of electric vehicles to offset the continued production of high gas-consuming cars. Increasing sales of electric cars to 10 percent of the total could lead to a 20 percent increase in both oil consumption and CO2 emissions in the EU car sector, the groups warn.About 400 grams of carbon dioxide are emitted on average for every kilowatt-hour of electricity in the EU, but this can more than double if coal is used, says the report.The answer, in their view, is to integrate electric cars with a smart electricity network, which would charge vehicles only when there was an abundance of green power from sources such as wind farms. But smart power networks are still in their early phase, despite EU pledges to develop them further.Just as every car sold today has to have an odometer to show how far it has driven, every electric car needs a smart meter to show how much electricity has been used and better still, whether or not that electricity came from a renewable source, Nusa Urbancic from Transport & Environment said in a statement. Simply plugging electric cars in like kettles would leave consumers and electricity suppliers in confusion and chaos, Ms Urbancic argued.It's up to the EU to ensure that all new cars sold in Europe are fitted with this kind of technology,she added.

Likud MK: Livni's Vote Shows She Wants to Surrender Golan
by Gil Ronen FEB 10,10

(IsraelNN.com) Ophir Akunis, who heads the Likud party's media responses team, accused Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima) Wednesday of having a hidden agenda as regards the fate of the Golan Heights, after Livni voted against a bill submitted by MK Eli Aflalo (Kadima).The bill, which the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading, would grant tax benefits to residents of the Golan Heights. The bill was supported by Knesset members from the coalition and also by several Kadima members, despite Livni's opinion against it.Sources in Kadima criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for refusing to accept Kadima's suggestion to postpone the vote on Golan instead of bringing it up today, when there is still some tension with Syria over recent statements by Israeli and Syrian leaders.Likud Whip Ze'ev Elkin saw meaning in the splitting of the Kadima vote: Time and again, Kadima proves that it has no clear and coherent stand on any question or subject – not about the Golan, nor about other subjects. Even if formally, Kadima has not yet split, de facto it is behaving like two factions, with two heads and two ideologies,Elkin said.

Arabs Attack Christian Evangelists in Samaria
by Hillel Fendel FEB 10,10

(IsraelNN.com) Five Christian volunteers were lightly wounded by Arab rock-throwers in the fields of the Jewish town of Har Brachah in the Shomron; the town’s security officer was detained after he shot in the air.The five injured volunteers were part of a group of American Christians who arrived in Har Brachah in Samaria to help the Jewish residents work their fields. The incident occurred on Tuesday, and they were back working the fields on Wednesday.The chief security officer of the Jewish town of Har Brachah arrived on the scene and when he saw the attack in progress, he fired in the air. The attackers, from the nearby Arab village Irak Burin, then dispersed – but later complained to the police that one of their number had been shot in the shoulder.The police summoned the security officer for questioning and later released him. They also confiscated his weapon, but returned it late Wednesday morning.

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.

Snoverkill slams eastern US by Stephanie Griffith – Wed Feb 10, 8:28 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A second major snowstorm in less than a week struck the eastern United States Wednesday, paralyzing travel for millions, shutting down the US capital, and forcing school closures from Virginia to New York.The National Weather Service forecast that the storm, dubbed Snoverkill by the local media, would dump up to 14 inches (36 centimeters) of fresh snow on the mid-Atlantic region.This comes on top of the three feet (91 cm) of snow from the weekend's powerful blizzard, much of which remains on the ground.Federal government offices in the US capital closed Wednesday for the third straight day -- a first since 1996 -- while local schools prepared to remain closed until next week.Even in New York city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered schools closed, only the second time to do so since 2004 according to local media.The NWS issued a blizzard warning for the Washington-Baltimore area starting at 10 am (1500 GMT) and lasting nine hours and warned of heavy snowfall and winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour (32 to 48 kilometers per hour).Blowing and drifting snow will reduce visibility to a quarter of a mile or less at times, producing blizzard conditions, the NWS said in its 0845 GMT advisory.This will lead to whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel, the advisory read.It also issued a rare blizzard warning for New York city, to remain in effect until early Thursday morning.The snow may mix with rain and sleet at times on Wednesday, but will otherwise be heavy at times during the day.By late Wednesday the NWS forecast between eight and 13 inches of snow for New York.

Thousands of homes were still without power in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area after Friday and Saturday's massive snowfall dubbed Snowmageddon.Strong winds expected to accompany the second storm could also mean further power outages across the region.Snow-weary residents have since scrambled to get a sense of normalcy, digging out, stocking up on depleted groceries and clearing their streets from fallen trees and branches.But even before the storm hit, many secondary roadways remained treacherous, with piles of snow and near-invisible black ice.Harried commuters in the mid-Atlantic states struggled to dig out buried cars and trundle to work Tuesday on icy roads, while subway users in the US capital suffered long waits despite the relaunch of suspended above ground services.But just hours after the first new flurries began to fall, Metro said subway service would be limited to underground only stations until Thursday, while transit officials canceled bus and shuttle service.Most of the 230,000 federal employees in the Washington DC area were off work, costing an estimated 100 million dollars a day in lost productivity. Some government offices including the White House, parts of Congress and some agencies however remained operational. A quarter of Washington DC's snow plows were being repaired after being operated without stop since Friday, CNN reported. Washington, Virginia and Maryland all declared emergencies, allowing them to mobilize the National Guard to help cope with the unusually severe winter wallop. No flights were expected to take off from Washington's Reagan National and Dulles International airports on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said.

Airlines operating out of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Chicago also reported cancellations and delays. The government-owned rail corporation Amtrak said it would operate limited service along its money-making Northeast corridor on Wednesday. In addition to snow, the rail service was also battling downed trees and power lines. Jennifer Ganem, stuck at home in the Maryland suburbs with four children under the age of 10, said her family had been particularly challenged by a weekend power outage that kept them in the dark for almost two days. Ganem said news of another blast of snow was a real downer, even for her children who usually look forward to sledding and snow days off from school. My daughter actually said to me this morning, OK, I'm done with winter now, she said. That's a bad sign when you've got 20 more inches of snow coming.

Snow, wind batter East Coast in big 2nd storm By Jeremy Pelofsky – Wed Feb 10, 8:27 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The second major snowstorm in less than a week lashed the East Coast from Washington to New York on Wednesday, forcing federal and local government agencies, the United Nations and schools to close.Cities across the Northeast ground to a halt as the National Weather Service predicted blizzard conditions up the coast with up to 16 inches in New York City, up to 22 inches in Philadelphia and 12 inches in Washington.Hundreds of flights were canceled in the three cities and airlines relaxed ticket policies to allow passengers to change their plans without penalty, moves that could cloud the outlook for an industry already hard hit by the battered economy.The United Nations said its New York headquarters would be closed on Wednesday due to the storm.While government offices in Washington were also closed for the third straight day -- at a cost of some $100 million in lost productivity per day -- President Barack Obama was trying to maintain his schedule with a meeting with black leaders to discuss the economy and jobs.The House of Representatives canceled votes for the week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate would not be in session on Wednesday but would resume work on Thursday. He said he doubted the Senate would have any votes this week. Many congressional hearings were also called off.

LIMITED AMTRAK SERVICE

Amtrak passenger rail service warned of limited service along its lucrative Northeast corridor. Among the flights canceled were US Airways' shuttle service between New York, Boston and Washington.State offices in five major Pennsylvania cities were ordered closed, and Maryland and Massachusetts government offices were shut down, with only emergency and essential personnel required to report for duty.
Forecasters said the storm, which has been dubbed Snoverkill and Snomageddon 2.0, would be packing strong winds that could cause additional power outages in a region already reeling from a major weekend snowstorm.Approximately 5,500 customers were without power in the Baltimore and Washington areas, according to the area's three main electric companies, Pepco, Dominion and Constellation Energy Group's BG&E.The storm comes as residents were still trying to dig out from weekend snowfalls of 18 to 32 inches from Washington to southern New Jersey. Some struggled to restock refrigerators and clear fallen trees ahead of the new storm.Schools were closed across much of the region, and many canceled classes for the rest of the week.The bus system in the Washington said it would not operate on Wednesday. The metropolitan area's subway was only operating the underground section of its system.

I love it. I can handle one more round,said government lawyer David Kaplan, 50, as he shoveled snow off his roof on Tuesday in Takoma Park, Maryland, just outside Washington. He spent the past few days sledding and building a luge run in his yard.
But Kaplan also said he spent a fair amount of time shoveling his driveway and roof. It's hard work and I hope never to do it again, he said.(Additional reporting by David Alexander, Tim Ryan, Diane Bartz in Takoma Park, Kyle Peterson, Meredith Davis and Jerry Biezsk in Chicago; Editing by Will Dunham and Vicki Allen)

Calif. storm sputters but LA evacuations continue
FEB 10,10

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. – Evacuations are still in effect for more than 500 foothill homes in Southern California even though the storm that spawned them is petering out.Authorities say the threat of a mudslide remains in La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Acton and two canyons in the Angeles National Forest.No major mud flows were reported from Tuesday's storm, which dumped at least an inch of rain in the area.The communities are below slopes burned bare in wildfires. A mudslide last weekend damaged 43 homes in La Canada Flintridge.The National Weather Service says the area will be mostly sunny for about the next seven days.However, a couple of inches of snow could fall at higher mountain elevations and in the Antelope Valley. Winter storm warnings are effect until 10 a.m. Wednesday.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (AP) — The latest Pacific storm that brought heavy rain, hail and snow to Southern California is heading east, but the mudslide threat is not over for communities below wildfire-scarred mountains.More than 500 homes in La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Acton and two canyons in the Angeles National Forest were under evacuation orders for the second time in a week Tuesday, only three days after a sudden downpour took them by surprise and sent mud and boulders slamming into homes and cars. The evacuations are expected to remain in place through at least Wednesday morning, Los Angeles County fire Inspector Matt Lavesque said. The weather also kept several roads in the San Gabriel Mountains area closed or restricted early Wednesday.The National Weather Service said at least an inch of rain fell on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains during the day. Snow levels were expected to drop to as low as 2,500 feet overnight, bringing another round of winter to mountain passes and Southern California ski resorts.

Showers were expected through Wednesday morning, with clearing expected in most areas by afternoon, forecasters said.Backhoes and dump trucks hurried to clear out the basins designed to steer debris and mud into channels and away from homes.About 60 to 70 percent of the residents ordered to evacuate complied, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.They know what's at stake, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Bob Furman, as he took a lap along the mud-crusted streets to clear out stragglers.They've been through this before.Officials asked residents to move their vehicles and put away trash cans. During Saturday's storm, the mud tossed parked cars into each other like bumper cars.Sheriff's deputies went door to door, urging people to leave; those who refused signed waivers acknowledging they were aware of the risk.Maureen Kindred said she was remaining in her home with her son to fight back the mud, as she did over the weekend.We literally fought it, she said, taking a break from shoveling mud from in front of her house before it could block the drain on her porch.We fought it with buckets and mops and spades and we dug a canal. We did everything we could to keep water from entering the house, and we succeeded.

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.

Rare earthquake rattles northern Ill.; no damage
FEB 10,10

CHICAGO – A small pre-dawn earthquake has hit northern Illinois, startling residents as far away as Michigan and Iowa, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported.The U.S. Geological Survey says the 3.8-magnitude earthquake hit about 45 miles northwest of Chicago at 4 a.m. Wednesday. Scientists say the epicenter was southwest of the village of Gilberts in Kane County.The USGS initially reported the magnitude as 4.3 but later downgraded it. USGS geophysicist Amy Vaughan says such quakes are rare in northern Illinois.She says residents in Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan also reported feeling the quake.In Kane County, sheriff's dispatchers were overwhelmed with calls, and several residential and business alarms were triggered. But spokesman Lt. Pat Gengler says no injuries or damage have been reported.On the Net:U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov/

Quake shakes southern Mexico, felt in capital
Mon Feb 8, 9:08 pm ET

OAXACA, Mexico – A magnitude 5.7-earthquake shook southern Mexico near the Oaxaca coast Monday, setting off evacuation alarms and swaying buildings as far away as Mexico City.The quake was centered 35 miles (55 kilometers) north of the fishing and resort town of Puerto Angel, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Program.It struck at 6:47 p.m. local time and was felt 280 miles (455 kilometers) away in Mexico City.Oaxaca state's civil protection agency said it had received no reports of damage or injury.Here in Puerto Angel is was pretty quick. There wasn't enough time to go out into the street, said Florencia Peliconi, manager of the seaside Hotel Villa Serena Florencia.She saw no damage to buildings.It was more noise (than shaking). Like a truck was coming,she said.In the state capital of Oaxaca, 65 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of the quake center, the tremor set off earthquake evacuation alarms, sending people streaming out of shops and stores.The alarms are designed to go off in earthquakes above magnitude 5.0.(This version CORRECTS name of USGS Earthquake Hazards Program.)

Bernanke outlines plan for pulling in stimulus aid By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer – FEB 10,10

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke began Wednesday to outline the central bank's strategy for reeling in stimulus money once the economic recovery is more firmly rooted.Bernanke said the Fed will likely start to tighten credit by boosting the interest rate it pays banks on money they leave at the central bank. Doing so would raise rates tied to commercial banks' prime rate and affect many consumer loans. Companies and ordinary Americans would pay more to borrow.But in prepared remarks to a House committee, Bernanke indicated the Fed is still months away from raising rates or draining most of the stimulus money it injected to rescue the financial system. He said the recovery still needs support from record-low interest rates.The Fed chief used his remarks to explain how the central bank will try to withdraw the stimulus money without tipping the economy back into recession.

Using the rate it pays on banks' excess reserves to affect credit would be a new strategy for the Fed. Since the 1980's, its main lever to tighten or loosen credit has been the federal funds rate. That rate is now at a record low near zero.The rate paid on banks' excess reserves is 0.25 percent. Boosting that rate would give banks an incentive to keep money parked at the Fed, rather than lend it.It also would cause the funds rate to rise, economists say. Adjusting the interest paid on banks' excess reserves helps stabilize the funds rate when the financial system is awash in cash, as it is now.Paying interest on the reserves is a relatively new tool for the Fed, having been authorized by a 2008 law. Many foreign central banks rely on it. The Fed started paying interest on the reserves at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008.In his prepared remarks to the House Financial Services Committee, Bernanke lays out his most extensive details to date on the Fed's exit strategy from record-low rates and economic stimulus.Under the threat of a major snowstorm, the panel postponed its hearing scheduled for Wednesday. The hearing was intended to review the Fed's plans for withdrawing its emergency supports. Bernanke chose to release the prepared testimony.Deciding when and how to remove all the stimulus is the biggest challenge for Bernanke in his second term, which started last week. Reeling in the stimulus too soon risks short-circuiting the recovery. That could send unemployment up.Yet the Fed keeps its stimulus measures in place for too long, they could help unleash inflation.Bernanke repeated the Fed's pledge to hold rates at record lows for an extended period. Economists think that means for at least six more months. But Bernanke cautioned that the Fed eventually will need to raise rates to ease inflationary pressures.

Even before the Fed raises the rate paid on banks' excess reserves, it could raise the rate it charges banks for emergency loans, Bernanke said. That rate, called the discount rate, is 0.50 percent. An increase in the discount rate wouldn't affect interest rates charged to consumers and businesses. But Bernanke said it would help normalize the Fed's interest rate policy now that the worst of the financial crisis has passed.He said he expected the Fed to consider a modest increase to the discount rate. Such a move would not raise rates for households and businesses and would not signal any change in interest-rate policy, Bernanke said.The Fed is still weighing the order of steps it can take to reel in the stimulus.Under one scenario, the Fed would first use its tools to drain money from the financial system. Then it would start pushing up rates throughout the economy by boosting the rate paid on banks' excess reserves, Bernanke said.But if a faster exit is needed, the Fed could raise the rate on reserves even as it's using its other tools to pull money from the financial system. The Fed is fine-tuning one tool to withdraw money: By selling securities from its portfolio with an agreement to buy them back later. Those operations are called reverse repurchase agreements. And the Fed is moving ahead on a proposal to let banks to set up the equivalent of certificates of deposit at the central bank. This, too, would help the Fed mop up money pumped into the economy and prevent inflation from flaring later. Together, those two operations — reverse repos and the CD-like deposit accounts — would let the Fed drain hundreds of billions of dollars of reserves from the banking system quite quickly, should it choose to do so,Bernanke said. Bernanke said he doesn't expect the Fed to sell any of its securities anytime soon.

To fight the financial crises, the Fed pumped so much money into the economy for lending programs that its balance sheet swelled to $2.2 trillion — more than double the pre-crisis level. The Fed will need to mop up that money to prevent inflation later. Bernanke said another economic support program aimed at driving down mortgage rates and bolstering the housing market is on track to end in March. By then, the Fed will have finished buying $1.25 trillion in mortgage securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It will also have finished buying $175 billion in debt from the mortgage giants.But the Fed hasn't ruled out continuing to buy mortgage securities after then to support the economy.

Oil falls on Bernanke stimulus exit plan By DEBORAH JIAN LEE, Associated Press Writer – FEB 10,10

NEW YORK – Energy prices fell as the dollar rose after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke mapped out a plan for pulling in government stimulus money when the economy recovers.Bernanke said the Fed will probably start to tighten credit by raising interest rates, although that could be months away.On this word from Bernanke the dollar went up and brought crude prices down, said PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn.We live and die by (his) every word and syllable.Benchmark crude for March delivery fell 60 cents to $73.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A stronger dollar makes crude more expensive for investors holding other currencies.Energy prices were also knocked back by concern about European debt and bearish crude inventory numbers, Flynn said.U.S. crude stocks jumped 7.2 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday, suggesting weak consumer demand for fuels like gasoline and heating oil. Analysts expected an increase of 2 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The weekly petroleum inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration, scheduled for release Wednesday, was delayed until Friday as a big winter storm kept government offices closed.Without the government numbers, right now the American Petroleum Institute is gospel,said Flynn. (The delay) puts uncertainty in the market place and investors may wait until Friday to make a major decision on buying or selling.Retail gasoline prices fell 0.003 cents overnight to a national average of $2.641 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Prices are 10.6 cents lower than a month ago, but still 71.3 cents higher than year-ago levels.The trend overall for gasoline demand is definitely still very weak, said Flynn. In part, the fresh blanket of snow is keeping drivers off the road, but deeper economic problems will keep their cars parked even after the snowy weather passes.In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil fell 1.67 cents to $1.9212 a gallon, and gasoline was down 2.64 cents at $1.9026 a gallon. Natural gas slid 1.6 cents to $5.274 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude dropped 68 cents to $71.45 on the ICE futures exchange.
Associated Press writer Chun Han Wong in Singapore and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary contributed to this report.

Euro zone holds intensive talks on Greek rescue By Matthias Sobolewski and Renee Maltezou – FEB 10,10

BERLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) – Euro zone countries held intensive talks on Wednesday on a possible rescue for Greece, whose debt crisis has shaken the entire currency union, as civil servants staged the first big strike against Athens' austerity plans.
Financial markets gave Greece some respite as investors hoped that other European governments would help Athens to head off a possible default on its debt repayments.

Finance ministers of the 16 countries that share the common European currency scheduled a video conference for Wednesday to discuss the issue, a European Commission spokesman said.However, EU law offers no clear procedure for staging the first bailout of a euro zone country in the currency's 11-year history.One possibility was for individual countries to offer bilateral aid and Germany, one of the few whose finances are in anything like a fit state to do so, might take a leading role. This could sidestep rules which restrict financial rescues at an EU or euro zone level.In Berlin, sources in the coalition government said a deal on which countries would help Greece, and by how much, could be reached on the sidelines of an EU leaders' summit on Thursday.Athens needs to borrow about 53 billion euros ($73 billion) this year to cover a huge budget deficit and refinance debt which is coming due. But investors have taken fright over the risks involved in buying Greek bonds, and the government could slide toward default if they boycott future debt auctions.

Germany and France would probably bear the lion's share of any aid, since Italy and Spain, the other two big economies in the euro zone, are themselves under financial pressure.So far, officials across European capitals seem to have decided little apart from the likely need to offer a financial lifeline to the Greek government, which is sitting on a debts forecast to hit 294 billion euros this year.In Berlin talks were under way both within the center-right coalition and with other euro zone governments.It has not yet been conclusively decided, said one person who attended a meeting with German conservatives and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.At the moment, various ideas are being discussed about what could be done,said the source.

Greece accounts for only a small percentage of euro zone output. But news that its budget deficit had spiraled to 12.7 percent of gross domestic product last year, more than twice the announced level, dented investors' confidence across the currency union and beyond.Talk of a bailout lifted the world stocks and the euro. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 1.3 percent, the Athens benchmark was up 4.8 percent and Greek bank shares surged 8 percent.Investors also regained a little faith in Greek government bonds, which they have sold heavily in recent weeks. The yield on 10-year government bonds was 276 basis point higher than on the German equivalent, the narrowest in three weeks, and way below the recent high of around 400 basis points.

PAPANDREOU SEEKS SUPPORT

In Athens, striking civil servants grounded flights and shut many schools and offices in a foretaste of the resistance the Socialist government faces to a wage freeze, pay cuts for higher public sector earners, tax rises and a later retirement age.Riot police briefly fired teargas demonstrators who tried to break a security cordon but the protests were mostly peaceful. Some Greeks seemed willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt despite the harsh austerity plans.Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou held talks in Paris to seek support from the second biggest euro zone economy for his drive to slash a huge budget deficit, although a French source said there was no agreement yet on aid. We are ready to take any measures in order to make this sure and guaranteed that we reach this goal, Papandreou said, speaking at the Elysee Palace, adding that his government's deficit-cutting plan would be implemented in every detail.Rating agencies and EU policymakers have said Greece, which is prone to violent street protests, will not get support for free and urged the government to be firm. Credit ratings agency Moody's said partial implementation of Greece's budgetary reforms would risk the country's debt being downgraded to Baa1. Private and public sector unions plan another show of strength with a general strike on February 24.

EYES ON EU SUMMIT

EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday with European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet may well issue a statement on Greece's financial crisis, an EU source said. Any financial assistance would likely be tied to strict conditions, but the nature and scale of a rescue remain unclear, partly because a treaty prohibition on EU bail-outs for euro zone members complicates the task. Economists at the Bruegel economic think-tank estimated Greece's needs in a range of 12-24 billion euros. The Wall Street Journal said Berlin was considering taking a lead role with other EU partners in offering Greece and other highly indebted euro zone countries loan guarantees in an effort to calm market fears of a default. A bilateral German bailout could involve a state-owned German bank, like the KfW, buying Greek government bonds, a German member of the European Parliament said on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers in Berlin, Marcin Grajewski and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Anna Willard and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris and Emilia Sithole and Dominic Lau in London; writing by Paul Taylor and David Stamp, editing by Mike Peacock)

Putin says Baltic Sea gas pipeline will be safe By MATTI HUUHTANEN, Associated Press Writer – FEB 10,10

HELSINKI – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday downplayed environmental concerns about a planned gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, saying it would be a safe and reliable energy link for Europe.At a regional summit of Baltic Sea nations, Putin expressed surprise at the emotional response to the Nord Stream pipeline, which would carry 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas annually between Russia and Germany.Environmentalists and some government officials worry that the construction could lead to toxins and weapons being stirred up from the seabed in one of the world's most polluted seas.It's serious. We are worried about the dioxins and other poisons on the seabed," Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told reporters earlier Wednesday. We expect our scientists to get full information about it all.But Putin said the German-Russian joint venture had spent more than euro100 million ($135 million) on researching environmental impacts, making it the largest such study in the region.Some of the work was abstract and not practical, but we thought it would be better to be absolutely sure about the total absence of environmental risk, Putin said.We believe the Nord Stream pipeline will be absolutely safe and reliable and a good supplier of natural gas to Europe and make our (area) more stable.

Nord Stream, which plans to start construction this spring, has approvals from Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Germany but is still awaiting a Finnish permit from local environmental agencies. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said that decision was expected in upcoming days and hinted it would be positive.If there is an ecological risk, I wouldn't believe it would get permission from any country, Vanhanen said.Some 400 experts and participants attended the Helsinki meeting, including presidents and government representatives from Russia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The area around the Baltic Sea is home to more than 90 million people.The Baltic Sea has been subjected to decades of nutrient deposits, toxic dumping, oil spills, weapons and untreated sewage. Experts say it's particularly vulnerable to environmental changes because it has only a narrow outlet to the Atlantic Ocean.Putin pledged to reduce sewage deposits, saying his country would build water treatment plants in the Baltic Sea port of Kaliningrad. Sweden's Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren pledged to double his country's contribution to the Baltic Sea Action Plan to euro9 million ($12million).Organizers said 150 commitments have been made by schools, non-governmental organizations, cities, private foundations, government departments and corporations. They include company funds for treatment of sewage, agricultural producers pledging to cut nutrient deposits, and colleges and schools promoting awareness of the maritime environment.The chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, Jorma Ollila, said the company would provide expertise on oil spills, especially in winter conditions, and Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen said the city would allow cruise ships in the region to discharge their waste water into the Helsinki sewage system without charge.Sampsa Vilhunen, spokesman for the Worldwide Fund for Nature in Finland, welcomed the pledges but added they are not enough, nowhere near big enough.

Byzantine-era street uncovered in Jerusalem By SHIRA RUBIN, Associated Press Writer – FEB 10,10

JERUSALEM – With the help of an ancient mosaic map, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday they have unearthed a section of an old stone-flagged street in Jerusalem that provides important new evidence about the city's commercial life 1,500 years ago.The 20-foot (6-meter) section of street passes from the west into the center of Jerusalem's Old City, and stands upon a large cistern that supplied water to the city's 30,000 to 40,000 residents. Pottery, coins and bronze weights used to measure precious metals from Byzantine times also were found.The discovery conforms to the layout of the city depicted in a famous 6th-century mosaic map discovered more than 100 years ago in a Jordanian church, said excavation director Ofer Sion.The map has long been used as a guide to understanding the shape of the city from the 4th to 6th centuries, and the direction of the street is new evidence the map is correct, he said.Jerusalem during this time had become a Roman city named Aelia Capitolina, with Jews barred from entering after their revolt against their Roman overlords in 132 A.D. It became a major center for the emerging Christian religion.The Byzantine Empire evolved out of the eastern half of the Roman Empire when the western part succumbed to barbarian invasions and ruled over much of the Middle East until the Arab conquests of the 7th century.

A staunchly Christian empire based in Constantinople, now Istanbul, it valued Jerusalem as a key Christian religious center and invested heavily into the city, which became a destination for thousands of pilgrims every year.This street was the center during the most (commercially) successful period in the history of (ancient) Jerusalem, Sion said.It is wonderful that (today's street) actually preserved the route of the noisy street from 1,500 years ago.Working from the historic map, archaeologists three months ago uncovered the section of the wide, white stone street 14 feet (4.5 meters) below the current street level.Archaeologists have already excavated another ancient street in Jerusalem from that time known as the Cardo, which ran north to south and hosted many shops along its pillared length. Sion said the newly found street included a sidewalk and row of columns.The map, uncovered in 1894 on the floor of a Byzantine-era church in Madaba, Jordan, shows the locations of major streets and the Christian sites in the city, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where the faithful believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.Once restoration work is completed, within the next few weeks, the segment of street will be covered because of heavy pedestrian traffic, Sion said. It has yet to be decided if the site will be available for viewing.The Israel Antiquities Authority undertook the project in response to a municipal plan to build an electric cable system on the site. In a land where every shovel might unearth something ancient, Israeli law requires the authority to inspect construction zones for ruins before work begins.

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

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.

Stiff wind delays NASA launch of solar observatory By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer – FEB 10,10

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Gusty wind has forced NASA to delay the launch of its newest solar observatory.An unmanned Atlas V rocket was supposed to blast off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday morning with the Solar Dynamics Observatory. NASA put off the launch for an hour, hoping the wind would ease. But the rocket's systems sensed a wind overload and shut everything down, with just three minutes and 59 seconds left in the countdown.NASA says it will try again Thursday to send up the observatory. It's the most advanced probe ever built to study the sun. Scientists want to better understand the violent solar activity that causes communication and power disruptions on Earth.On the Net:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main/index.html

India successfully tests nuclear-capable missile By MUNEEZA NAQVI, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 7, 7:39 am ET

NEW DELHI – India again successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable missile Sunday that can hit targets across much of Asia and the Middle East, a defense ministry press release said.It was the fourth test of the Agni III missile, the statement added. The first attempt in 2006 failed, but the last two tests were successful.The Agni III missile tested for the full range, hit the target with pinpoint accuracy and met all the mission objectives, the press release added.India's current arsenal of missiles is largely intended for confronting archrival Pakistan. The Agni III, in contrast, is India's longest-range missile, designed to reach 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) — putting China's major cities well into range, as well as Middle Eastern targets.India's homegrown missile arsenal already includes the short-range Prithvi ballistic missile, the medium-range Akash, the anti-tank Nag and the supersonic Brahmos missile, developed jointly with Russia.The missile was launched from Wheeler Island off the eastern state of Orissa on Sunday morning.The test appeared unlikely to significantly raise tensions in the region.Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan usually notify each other ahead of such missile launches, in keeping with an agreement between the two nations. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.The two sides began talks aimed at resolving their differences over the Himalayan region of Kashmir and other disputes in 2004. India put the peace process on hold soon after terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, which India blamed on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.India recently offered to restart peace talks, though Pakistan has yet to formally accept.

India announces long-range nuclear-capable missile test by Pratap Chakravarty – FEB 10,10

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India will test a nuclear-capable missile with a range of over 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) within a year, its top military scientist said Wednesday, risking a rise in regional tensions.The next series of missiles is Agni-V, which has left the drawing board and is moving toward the first flight trial within the year, the country's chief military scientist, V.K. Saraswat, told a news conference in New Delhi.India's current longest-range nuclear-capable missile, Agni-III, can travel a maximum of 3,500 kilometres and is now ready for use by the military, Saraswat said.The missile system will be fully inducted into the armed forces, Saraswat said.It is the full deterrence that the country needs.The Indian-built Agni-III -- Agni means fire in Sanskrit -- was first tested in 2006 and brings major Chinese cities such as Shanghai within striking distance, defence analysts say.

India kicked off its guided missile project in 1983 and has developed an array of weapons systems, including the Prithvi, which means earth and Agni-I, which is meant for possible use against neighbouring Pakistan.Nuclear-armed Pakistan, with which India has fought three wars since their partition and independence six decades ago, has said India's missile development programme could trigger a new arms race in the region.India, which fought a brief, bloody war with China in 1962, has unresolved border issues with its giant neighbour.The Agni-III is a real mobile system and hence it has a strategic advantage, Saraswat said.Avinash Chander, who heads India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, said both Agni-III and Agni-V would be able to carry 1.5-ton conventional or nuclear warheads.The government scientists said Agni-III was declared operational after three flight tests and numerous computer-simulated trials.The most recent test was held Sunday, when the missile was fired from Wheeler Island, off the coast of the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

Chander said the Agni-III, which he called a 100-percent indigenous system, hit its target with pinpoint accuracy and met all mission objectives.This is the weapon which provides us a platform with an anti-satellite capability, Chander added, referring to India's quest to develop a missile system which can target orbiting satellites.India has said it may develop an intercontinental ballistic missile but Saraswat said Indian scientists were not engaged in developing such a project at the moment.Global consultancy KPMG said India is among the top 10 military spenders with an annual defence budget last year of 1,420 billion rupees (31.55 billion dollars).

Israeli soldier stabbed to death in West Bank By TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press Writer – FEB 10,10

JERUSALEM – A knife-wielding Palestinian assailant attacked an idle Israeli military jeep near a West Bank checkpoint on Wednesday, killing a soldier inside the vehicle in what has become a rare case of violence in the territory, the military said.The soldier, who was the lone occupant in the jeep, was waiting at a traffic light when the attacker reached through the window and stabbed him, the Israeli army said. As the wounded soldier tried to drive away, the vehicle spun out of control and flipped over after the driver lost consciousness.The suspect tried to flee but was quickly apprehended. His identity was not immediately clear.Such attacks were once commonplace in the West Bank, but have become relatively rare in recent years, as Palestinian forces have increased security over parts of the territory.Wednesday's attack comes during a time of heightened tensions between Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, under U.S. pressure, has declared a slowdown in construction in West Bank settlements.In another gesture to the Palestinians, Netanyahu also has reduced the number of military checkpoints in the West Bank — drawing accusations from settlers that he is threatening their security.Settler spokesman Yishai Hollender said Netanyahu's policies were again costing us in blood.In December, gunmen shot to death a resident of a Jewish settlement driving on a road in the West Bank.The removal of the checkpoints has helped ease the movement of Palestinians throughout parts of the West Bank. But Israel remains apprehensive about yielding security responsibilities to the Palestinians after years of violence.

Iran says nuclear fuel swap remains an option
Wed Feb 10, 5:27 am ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A top Iranian official says a nuclear fuel swap with the West proposed under a U.N.-drafted plan remains an option.The late Tuesday comment by Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's nuclear chief and a vice president, came hours after Iran began enriching uranium to about 20 percent over objections from the U.S. and its allies who fear the process could be used to make nuclear weapons.On Wednesday, Salehi was quoted by state TV as saying the enriching process was moving forward smoothly.Under the U.N. plan, Iran would send its stockpiled, low-enriched uranium abroad for processing into fuel rods to power a research reactor thus denying Iran the ability to enrich those stocks to higher levels needed for making warheads.

Regional leaders working on miracle for ailing Baltic Sea
by Laura Vinha – FEB 10,10

HELSINKI (AFP) – Leaders from Baltic region countries pledged urgent action to generate the miracle needed to save one of the world's most polluted seas at a summit in Helsinki Wednesday.Over-fished, polluted by agricultural nutrient discharge and uncared for, the Baltic is so toxic Greenpeace says pregnant women should not eat its fish.We don't expect any miracles, but serious work by all of us which may make a miracle, said Finland's President Tarja Halonen, who co-hosted the summit with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) foundation.The summit brought together national leadership from 11 countries with a Baltic Sea coast or located in its vicinity -- Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Norway.Increasing maritime traffic, over-fishing and eutrophication -- the overconcentration of nutrients caused by sewage and agricultural run-off carrying fertilizers into the sea -- are key threats to be tackled.Actions are needed to make the Baltic Sea healthy, and we have to address these problems by taking care of our national economies and the economies of our neighbours, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, adding the sea had always united the countries in the region.His country received praise from participants for its actions to improve waste water treatment in the coastal city of Saint Petersburg.But most of the meeting focused on the work that lies ahead to save the Baltic, a shallow, semi-enclosed marine environment which is particularly vulnerable to pollution.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said 40,000 tonnes of chemical weapons polluted the Baltic, and called for help from the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and NATO to clean the sea of all weapons.Numerous ships sunk in World War II also litter the bottom of the brackish body of water, which measures some 450,000 square kilometres (174,000 square miles}, said Finland's Halonen.Some 90 million people live in countries either bordering the Baltic Sea or with major river tributaries, and Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said 15 percent of the world's cargo traffic already passes through the Baltic.Increasing shipping heightens the risks of oil and chemical spills, and Stoltenberg called for sustainable growth to secure the environmental and economic future of the region.Regional leaders confirmed their countries' commitment to reducing the phosphorus and nitrogen flows that have caused eutrophication, and Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak said his country would invest eight billion euros (11 billion dollars) in improving the treatment of waste water.Researchers say Baltic marine life is being decimated and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) argues only radical measures and a ban on eel fishing could save the species in the Baltic.The summit also brought together a range of companies and foundations, which had made pledges for measures to save the Baltic ahead of the Helsinki meeting.Pre-summit commitments include business innovations to recycle nutrients from waste-water and technology to improve communications between vessels and local authorities to enhance safety.In a speech, Finland's Vanhanen reminded participants of the action that must now be taken.The most important day is tomorrow, when we start implementing our commitments, he said.

Doctor says vendor may have been in rubble 27 days By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 10, 8:39 am ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The tale seems dubious: that a rice vendor survived 27 days trapped under the rubble of a flea market following Haiti's devastating earthquake.
Skeptical health workers said no one could live that long without water and the last confirmed survivor found was a 16-year-old girl removed from rubble 15 days after the Jan. 12 quake. The only sources for the story were the two Haitian men who showed up at a clinic carrying the vendor, dehydrated and malnourished with rail-thin legs.But then the patient became lucid enough to tell his tale Tuesday. And while his account has not been independently verified, doctors now say the 28-year-old man could have survived on water and possibly some fruit beneath the rubble.

The man — identified as Evans Monsigrace — told doctors he had just finished selling rice for the day at a downtown Port-au-Prince flea market when the quake hit. He said he didn't suffer any major injuries and was trapped on his side in an area where food and drink vendors were selling their goods.Based on that (his story), we believe him, said Dr. Dushyantha Jayaweera, a physician at the University of Miami Medishare field hospital where hundreds of patients have been treated since the quake.The story began when two men first took the vendor to a Salvation Army medical center in Port-au-Prince on Monday, saying he had been trapped since the earthquake. He was later moved to the University of Miami hospital because of his critical condition.He came in delirious, asking to die, said Nery Ynclan, a University of Miami media officer in Haiti, noting that Creole translators were at the field hospital.Ynclan said the rice vendor was in stable condition Tuesday and being treated for dehydration and malnutrition. He was nibbling on chocolate, she said.

Someone could not survive 28 days without water, Ynclan said.You can go nine weeks without food.Doctors have said that disaster survivors may be able to sustain themselves with a water supply and without medical attention for up to two weeks
Jayaweera said the man originally claimed he had not had any water or food. The man, however, had normal kidney function with heart palpitations, suggesting he at least had drank something but not enough to avoid getting dehydrated, the doctor said.

Still, doctors at the field hospital and at a Salvation Army medical center had no way to confirm the story.A videotape shot by Michael Andrew, an Arizona-based freelance photographer and a volunteer at the Salvation Army medical center, shows doctors on Monday trying without success to insert a needle into the man's arm to give him fluid. Doctors there then referred the man to the field hospital at the airport, Andrew told The Associated Press.The Salvation Army, in a brief posting on its Web site, said the two men, whom it didn't identify, found the man in the debris of the market Monday. But Andrew said Tuesday it wasn't clear whether others had provided food and water to the man and that many details of the case had yet to be learned.It also wasn't known why teams of international search and rescue workers were not alerted to the man's reported circumstances in the wrecked market.The man's mother, who was at the field hospital, told workers that people clearing rubble downtown discovered him and alerted his brothers.The Haiti quake killed 230,000 people, the Haitian government said Tuesday.

Haiti parents testify they gave kids to Americans By KIRSTEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer – Tue Feb 9, 11:46 pm ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Parents of some of the children who 10 U.S. missionaries tried to take out of Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake told a judge Tuesday that they freely handed over their kids, the Americans' lawyer said.The parents' testimony means no law was broken and we can't talk any more about trafficking of human beings,attorney Aviol Fleurant told reporters.He said he was confident the judge will dismiss the case.Nine of the Americans, most from an Idaho church group, have now been interviewed by the judge, who is to decide whether they will stand trial. The judge did not speak with reporters.Flaurent said the Americans would be back in court Wednesday. One of them, Jim Allen of Amarillo, Texas, was represented by a separate lawyer Tuesday.The Americans were charged with kidnapping and criminal association last week for trying to take 33 children into the neighboring Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without proper documentation.The Baptist missionaries say they were heading to a Dominican orphanage following Haiti's devastating quake, and had only good intentions.Their leader, Laura Silsby of Meridian, Idaho, told The Associated Press the day after their arrest that the children were obtained from orphanages and distant relatives.However, the parents of some of the children told the AP last week that they turned their youngsters over to the group. The parents said did so willingly after the missionaries promised the kids would be educated and relatives could visit them.

Silsby was the only American not to appear in court Tuesday.The lawyer who represented the missionaries until last week said that Silsby deceived the rest of the group about having proper paperwork and that everyone but her should go free.
The Americans' original Haitian lawyer was fired late Friday. The Dominican attorney who had hired him claimed the Haitian attempted to bribe the detainees' way out of jail without their knowledge. The Haitian lawyer denied that.

Canada seeks to appeal Vancouver drug site decision
Tue Feb 9, 3:57 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will ask the Supreme Court to overturn a lower-court decision that allowed North America's only sanctioned drug-injection site to remain open in Vancouver despite the federal government's objections.Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said on Tuesday he would ask the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to appeal last month's British Columbia appeals court decision, which said addicts needed Vancouver's Insite facility as a medical service.The previous Liberal government had granted Insite an exemption from federal drug laws, allowing it to operate on a medical trial basis since 2003.The facility, which permits addicts to inject their own illegal drugs under supervised conditions, has become the focus of a battle between the current federal Conservative government, which wants to close it, and local health officials, who say it saves lives.When it comes to combating drugs, we want to get people off drugs, Nicholson told reporters, adding that the case would be argued on grounds of the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments.Insite's supporters say it helps addicts reduce overdose deaths and gives drug users better access to services to help end their addictions.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Frank McGurty)

STOCK RESULTS FEB 9,2010

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 TUE FEB 09,2010

09:30 AM +2.58
10:00 AM +128.56
10:30 AM +143.22
11:00 AM +111.10
11:30 AM +87.75
12:00 PM +162.34
12:30 PM +208.97
01:00 PM +181.53
01:30 PM +176.40
02:00 PM +185.31
02:30 PM +173.75
03:00 PM +165.89
03:30 PM +194.31
04:00 PM +150.25 10,058.64

S&P 500 1070.52 +13.78

NASDAQ 2150.87 +24.82

GOLD 1,078.90 +12.70

OIL 73.89 +2.20

TSE 300 11,274.20 +158.90

CDNX 1474.53 +13.93

S&P/TSX/60 659.78 +9.99

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +100 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -0.22 points at low today.
Dow +227 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,074.60.OIL opens at $72.67 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.22 points at low today so far.
Dow +227 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.22 points at low today.
Dow +227 points at high today.