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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) 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
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HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE MAY 31,2011
09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM +119.70
10:30 AM +81.06
11:00 AM +56.58
11:30 AM +64.14
12:00 PM +58.88
12:30 PM +44.43
01:00 PM +52.41
01:30 PM +66.38
02:00 PM +77.12
02:30 PM +68.00
03:00 PM +68.76
03:30 PM +84.43
04:00 PM +128.06 12,569.64
S&P 500 1345.20 +14.09
NASDAQ 2835.30 +38.44
GOLD 1,539.50 -0.40
OIL 102.58 +1.99
TSE 300 13,802.90 -26.80
CDNX 2094.49 -3.49
S&P/TSX/60 789.12 -2.25
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +45 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +1 points at low today.
Dow +119 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,538.00.OIL opens at $103.04 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow +1 points at low today so far.
Dow +121 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow +1 points at low today.
Dow +121 points at high today.
GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,573.50 (NOT AT CLOSE)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
HOLLYWOOD PROMOTE SCAM CARBON TAXES
STOCK RESULTS MON MAY 30,11 - AMERICAN HOLIDAY - CAN RESULTS ONLY
GOLD 1,539.10 +2.80
OIL 100.38 -0.31
TSE 300 13,829.66 +32.10
CDNX 2097.96 -2.71
S&P/TSX/60 791.37 +1.59
Israel's Fischer interested in IMF job
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press – MAY 29,11
JERUSALEM – Israel's central bank chief, Stanley Fischer, is interested in the top job at the International Monetary Fund and has received a number of phone calls in recent days from around the world encouraging him to apply, a person familiar with the banker's thinking told The Associated Press on Sunday.The person said Fischer has not decided whether to pursue the job and has no desire to leave his current post, but would have a hard time saying no to the IMF.If the opportunity comes along, he will take it,said the person.He spoke on condition of anonymity because Fischer is still weighing his options. He said he expects Fischer to make a decision within the next two weeks.Fischer, an internationally respected economist, held the No. 2 position at the IMF during the 1990s and is well acquainted with the workings of the fund.Born in Zambia and educated at the London School of Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he also has held top jobs at the World Bank and at Citigroup Corp.Fischer came to Israel in 2005 to take the post of governor of the Bank of Israel. He has been widely credited with enabling the country to largely escape the global economic crisis. Unemployment in Israel is just over 6 percent, and the real estate sector is booming.Last year, he was appointed to a second five-year term.
Fischer has received phone calls from top IMF officials and officials from major finance ministries around the world encouraging him to seek the post, the person said. He refused to identify the countries or officials.The post has traditionally gone to a European, and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has emerged as the front-runner. Developing nations have argued that someone from another region should be considered.The IMF's last director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, quit this month after he was accused of attempting to rape a New York hotel maid.
Hollywood star Blanchett under fire over carbon tax
– Sun May 29, 5:33 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – Hollywood A-lister Cate Blanchett found herself under fire for fronting a campaign promoting the government's planned carbon tax, with critics saying she is out of touch with ordinary Australians.The wealthy Oscar winner features in a new advert, funded by a coalition of unions and green groups, urging Australians to Say Yes to a tax on carbon.Australians are among the world's worst per capita carbon polluters and Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard has proposed a carbon tax to be levied on major industrial polluters by July 1, 2012.She then plans a full emissions trading scheme in three to five years.But the proposals are not popular, with the conservative opposition saying a tax would damage the economy and drive up the cost of living by making energy far more expensive, bumping up electricity bills.$53 million Hollywood superstar tells Aussie families to pay up, the Sydney Sunday Telegraph blared on its front page, referring to how much Blanchett is worth.Cate Blanchett has proved she is just another morally vain Hollywood star trying to justify her great good fortune by preaching to the rest of us about climate change,the paper said in a comment piece.The Australian Family Association said she was out of touch.
It's nice to have a multi-millionaire who won't be impacted by it telling you how great it is. It's easy for her to advocate it, she's one of the people who can afford to pay it,the association said, according to the newspaper.There are people who have no comfort zone and no room to move.Blanchett made no comment but her co-star in the advert, Australian actor Michael Caton, defended his role.I'm sure people will criticise me but I thought long and hard and I really believe in this, so I'm speaking up for it,he said.Treasurer Wayne Swan said Blanchett was being unfairly targeted.I admire people who speak their views and Cate Blanchett, along with many others, has a strong view that Australia needs to price carbon, he said.It's the responsible thing to do for citizens to speak up.The Climate Institute, an independent research organisation, also defended the actress.There is a serious scare campaign going on,spokesman John Connor told the ABC.So I am not surprised by some of the personal attacks. But what we're trying to do is focus on the policies and the issues and that a range of Australians are well behind this campaign.Earlier this month, a national poll by The Australian newspaper showed 60 percent of voters were opposed to a carbon tax. Only 30 percent of voters supported the plan and 10 percent were undecided.
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.
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
Hurricane and Tropical Storm Names
ContributorNetwork Brad Sylvester – MAY 30,11
Every year we hear about hurricanes and tropical storms named as if they were guests, but for the most part these tropical cyclones are unwanted visitors arriving at our shores. Let's take a look at some of the history behind the naming of tropical storms.
Why do hurricanes get names?
The main purpose of naming tropical storms and hurricanes, says the World Meteorological Organization, is to make it easier to communicate about a particular storm. Using longitude and latitude can be confusing especially for people who don't use geographical coordinates on a regular basis. Using a short common name for these storms makes it easy for everyone to know which hurricane is being discussed. This can be particularly important when issuing warnings in advance of the arrival of a dangerous storm.
When does a storm get named?
Tropical cyclones are named once they achieve tropical storm status with a sustained wind speed of 39 mph, says the National Hurricane Center. After that, each storm system will keep that name even if it strengthens to become a hurricane. In some cases, a tropical storm will weaken again after being named to the point where it wouldn't deserve its own name before strengthening once again to regain named status. These storms, so long as they remain a cohesive system will get the same name back again once they regain strength.
When did hurricanes first get names under the modern system?
The current naming system for Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes started with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States in 1953. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the National Hurricane Center both agree on that point, but they differ in their stories of the earliest examples of naming hurricanes. A phonetic system using terms like Able, Baker, and Charlie, was used in the U.S. for a couple of years before the current system. Before that says the National Hurricane Center, women's names were used from about 1941 to 1950 in the U.S. In 1978, male and female names began to be used, alternating gender with each named storm. Earlier storm names might have been associated with the nearest saint's day, says the NHC, while the WMO suggests they might have been named even more capriciously, such as after the name of a ship that was damaged by the storm.
Who decides what names to use for hurricanes and tropical storms?
The National Hurricane Center in the United States came up with the original lists of names for tropical cyclones that originate in the Atlantic, but currently these lists are maintained and updated by the WMO.
Are names used more than once?
Yes. There are six separate lists of tropical cyclone names reserved for the Atlantic. Each list is used once every six years in rotation so the names used in 2011 will again be used in 2017.
Why are some names removed from the list?
The names of hurricanes that were particularly destructive in terms of either human lives or property damage retired from the list permanently. Although both agencies say this is due to sensitivity for those affected by the storm, as a practical matter, some of these larger storms might still be actively discussed six years later when the same name comes around again leading to some confusion if they were to remain on the list. So far, 76 names have been permanently removed from circulation says the Weather Underground.
What happens if the list of tropical storm names for a given year runs out?
Each year 21 names are allotted to be used for tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic. If there should be more than 21 names required, letters of the Greek alphabet are used beginning with the 22nd named storm of the calendar year.
What are the names for this year's hurricanes?
For 2011, the following names will be used in order as required: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince and Whitney.
Why aren't all of the names common English names?
Tropical cyclones that originate in the Atlantic often affect many different countries, such as those in the Caribbean or Central American. As a result, meteorologists responsible for selecting the names to be used try to use names that represent the people of the entire region.
Ala. town hit by tornadoes bans FEMA trailers
By JAY REEVES, Associated Press – Sun May 29, 3:03 pm ET
CORDOVA, Ala. – James Ruston's house was knocked off its foundation by tornadoes that barreled through town last month and is still uninhabitable. He thought help had finally arrived when a truck pulled up to his property with a mobile home from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Then he got the call: Single-wide mobile homes, like the FEMA one, are illegal in the city of Cordova.The city's refusal to let homeless residents occupy temporary housing provided by FEMA has sparked outrage in this central Alabama town of 2,000, with angry citizens filling a meeting last week and circulating petitions to remove the man many blame for the decision, Mayor Jack Scott.Ruston and many others view the city's decision as heartless, a sign that leaders don't care that some people are barely surviving in the rubble of a blue-collar town.People have to live somewhere. What's it matter if it's in a trailer? asked Felicia Boston, standing on the debris-strewn lot where a friend has lived in a tent since a tornado destroyed his home on April 27.Scott has heard all the complaints, and he isn't apologizing. He said he doesn't want run-down mobile homes parked all over town years from now.I don't feel guilty, he said.I can look anyone in the eye.Located about 35 miles northwest of Birmingham, Cordova was hit by a pair of powerful tornadoes on April 27, the day twisters killed more than 300 people across the Southeast. Officials say 238 died in Alabama, the highest death toll for any state in a spring of violent weather.
An EF-3 twister with winds of at least 140 mph slammed into the town around 5:30 a.m., knocking out power and damaging numerous buildings. An EF-4 with winds around 170 mph struck about 12 hours later, killing four people and cutting a path of destruction a half-mile wide through town.Scores of homes, businesses and city buildings were destroyed or damaged by the time the winds died down. Nearly every red-brick storefront was whacked along Main Street, which is now deserted and blocked by a chain-link fence.Residents whose homes were destroyed assumed they would be able to live in one of the hundreds of long, skinny mobile homes that FEMA is providing as temporary housing for tornado victims. After all, the Cordova Police Department, a pharmacy, a bank and City Hall all have moved into similar trailers since the storm.But the city enacted a law three years ago that bans the type of mobile homes provided by FEMA, called single-wide trailers. Older single-wide mobile homes were grandfathered in under the law and double-wide mobile homes are still allowed, Scott said, but new single-wides aren't allowed and a tornado isn't any reason to change the law, even temporarily.The city's stance prompted an outcry that's not getting any quieter, especially with other cities with similar laws granting waivers. About 200 people attended a community meeting last night where some tried to shout down Scott.There are trailers all over here but (Scott) wants to clean all the trash out. He doesn't like lower-class people,said Harvey Hastings.
The cotton mill, brick plant and coal mine that once made Cordova prosperous shut down years ago, but native Tony Tidwell said leaders seem to believe residents are flush with cash and can afford to build big, new houses to replace the mobile homes and small frame homes that twisters blew away.Let the people have a place to live, he said. To make matters worse, he said, the city is imposing a mean double standard when it refuses to let residents live in FEMA trailers but is using a nearly identical structure for police headquarters.Scott said the city can use small trailers because it's for the common good.It's temporary and we know it's temporary, said the mayor.We're trying to provide services for everyone.Storm victims are supposed to live in FEMA housing for no longer than 18 months after a disaster, yet about 260 campers are still occupied by survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast last more than five years after those storms. The same thing could happen in Cordova if the city bends it rules to help tornado victims, Scott said.
Officials with FEMA have said it's a local issue and they remain ready to offer help to storm victims.We have several options available, and work with each community, to provide the best alternative possible for those who need housing assistance, Michael Byrne, FEMA's federal coordinating officer for Alabama, said in a statement.We stand ready to help.Ruston said he doesn't want to live in a mobile home forever, and he didn't want to leave Cordova to move in with a relative after his FEMA trailer was turned away.Now, he said, it might not be worth going back.If we're going to have a mayor like that I'll just go elsewhere,he said.
Number unaccounted for drops to 40 in Joplin
– Sun May 29, 1:12 pm ET
JOPLIN, Mo. – There are now 40 people who remain unaccounted for a week after a massive tornado hit Joplin.Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the number of unaccounted just dropped to 40 because of the latest deceased whose next-of-kin have been notified. The number had stood at about 100.More than 130 people have been reported killed in the storm that hit Joplin a week ago.The tornado — an EF-5 packing 200 mph winds — injured more than 900 people. Tallying and identifying the dead and the missing has proven a complex and sometimes confusing exercise for authorities and loved ones.President Barack Obama was traveling to Joplin on Sunday to visit with survivors and family members.
Storm Songda churns towards Tokyo
– Sun May 29, 6:02 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Typhoon Songda weakened into a depression as it churned along Japan's Pacific coast on Sunday but was still expected to bring heavy rains to the northeast which was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami.A total of 57 people suffered storm-related injuries on the southern Okinawan islands, police said. Of those, five were seriously hurt.Songda was downgraded to a temperate depression by the Japan Meteorological Agency as it was located off the southern main island of Shikoku at around 3:00 pm (0600 GMT).Moving northeast at a speed of 55 kilometres (35 miles) per hour, it is expected to reach Tokyo and its vicinity at around 9:00 am (0000 GMT) on Monday, said agency official Takeo Tanaka.But it is feared to stimulate the rain front over the Pacific coast of Honshu island, including the disaster-hit areas,he said.Up to about 15 centimetres (six inches) of rainfall was forecast for the northeast region over two days, the agency said.It was not clear whether it would directly hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, more than 200 kilometres northeast of the capital, which was crippled by the March 11 natural disasters.But the typhoon has already brought heavy rain to the Fukushima region, prompting fears that run-off water may wash away radioactive materials from land into the Pacific Ocean.Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been pouring synthetic resins over the complex to prevent radioactive deposits from being swept away by winds or rain.
Ireland may need more EU/IMF cash: minister
By Carmel Crimmins and Angeliki Koutantou – Sun May 29, 10:15 am ET
DUBLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) – Ireland may have to ask for another loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund because it will struggle to return to debt markets to raise funds next year, a government minister said on Sunday.In comments to The Sunday Times newspaper, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar became the first cabinet member to cast doubt in public on Ireland's ability to raise cash on the bond market because of punishing yields demanded by investors.I think it's very unlikely we'll be able to go back next year. I think it might take a bit longer ... 2013 might be possible but who knows? Varadkar was quoted as saying.It would mean a second program (of loans from the EU/IMF),he said.Either an extension of the existing program or a second program. I think that would generally be most people's view.Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told broadcaster RTE that fears of a domino effect from Greece's problems were overblown. The possibility of a Greek default has sent bond yields rocketing for indebted Ireland, Portugal and Spain.It's not a situation that if Greece defaults then there are immediately implications for Ireland,Gilmore said.If Greece defaults there are implications for the wider euro zone and obviously we are part of that.It is wrong to put Ireland in the same basket as Greece.
PRIVATISATION AMBITIONS
Greece's hopes of averting default dimmed over the weekend amid fears the country, whose debt burden stands at around 330 billion euros, may have missed fiscal targets set by its creditors.The IMF has dismissed reports that an international inspection team had found that Greece had missed all its fiscal targets. But the current mission to Athens has stayed far longer than on previous occasions and is locked in talks with the government to get economic reforms on track.Athens' creditors are increasingly focused on the possibility of raising more funds from privatizations and a poll on Sunday showed that an overwhelming majority of Greeks are in favor of selling and developing state assets to raise 50 billion euros.The European Central Bank and the IMF, however, don't believe the privatization program is ambitious enough. ECB board member Juergen Stark said Greece could raise six times more than the 50 billion euros planned from asset sales, echoing earlier views from the IMF.
A Greek paper reported on Sunday that the government was considering setting up a Spanish-style bad bank to clean up its lenders' accounts from toxic Greek bonds and make them more attractive to potential buyers.Athens is in a race against time to secure political consensus on fiscal reforms before the EU and the IMF will free up more cash to plug funding gaps in the next two years.Ireland, meanwhile, wants to tap investors for funding in 2012 before its 85 billion euros EU-IMF bailout runs out the following year.But investors believe Ireland will be unable to return to the market and instead will have to tap the European Union's permanent rescue fund in 2013, which might require some restructuring of privately held sovereign debt.
Reflecting this medium-term risk, Ireland's two-year and five-year paper are yielding close to 12 percent, more than its 10-year bonds on the secondary market.
Some 50 billion euros of the existing EU-IMF bailout has been earmarked for sovereign funding requirements with the remainder set aside to prop up the country's ailing banks.Earlier this month, the IMF said whatever was left over after recapitalizing the banks could be channeled to the sovereign if there was a delay in returning to markets.At the end of March, the Irish government said the banks needed 24 billion euros to bulletproof their balance sheets but Dublin hopes some five billion euros can be raised from imposing losses on junior bondholders and asset sales, meaning that 19 billion euros of the 35 billion would be tapped.
EU, IMF expected to judge Greece as protests swell
By Angeliki Koutantou – MAY 29,11
ATHENS (Reuters) – European and IMF officials are expected to deliver their verdict this week on Greece's faltering drive to bring its budget deficit under control, but ordinary Greeks have warned that their patience is running thin.Tens of thousands packed a central Athens square on Sunday in a non-partisan protest to denounce the nation's entire ruling class, but they also directed their anger at the International Monetary Fund and its demands for yet more austerity.Black-hooded youths have been battling police since last year, when the government launched austerity measures under the terms of a 110 billion euro ($157.5 billion) rescue for Greece organized by the IMF and European Union.But the Greeks who took Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek parliament, on Sunday were a different kind of protesters.They were families, ranging from the elderly to children, who had no class wars to wage.Prompted by Facebook rather than opposition parties or unions, they vented at Greek politicians and foreign lenders.We should take responsibility for our own lives,read one banner.Despite a party atmosphere, the crowd at Sunday's rally -- the biggest in a series of nightly demonstrations on the square for the past five days -- booed, whistled and chanted Thieves! Thieves as they pointed at the parliament building.Protesters acknowledged they had been inspired by similar rallies in Spain, which also faces budget and debt problems.Before the Syntagma Square rallies began, some Spanish protesters had accused ordinary Greeks of being too passive.But on Sunday Ifigenia Argyrou, a 57-year-old insurance consultant, said all that had changed.People were indignant but they needed a motivation to express that. The Spanish people gave us that motivation,she told Reuters.We are not sleeping, we are awake. The IMF should get out. There are other solutions without them.Police put Sunday's crowd at 30,000 although the protesters, who have few formal leaders and are prompted by Facebook, say official figures usually underestimate the size of demonstrations by a wide margin.
MEETING Canceled
Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou had been due to rally his party on Monday behind yet deeper austerity to win new international aid. But his PASOK canceled the executive council meeting on Sunday without a detailed explanation.Papandreou has already failed to win backing from the opposition to adopt fresh austerity steps, more economic reforms and faster sales of state assets, as demanded by the EU and IMF.With the team of EU and IMF officials in Athens expected to complete its review of Greek finances soon, Papandreou also needs to prevent fatigue from spreading to his own socialist party as its popularity declines.Papandreou's PASOK has a comfortable majority in parliament but one weekend opinion poll showed it had lost its lead for the first time since it won elections in 2009.Greeks are angry about they impunity of politicians they hold responsible for the crisis, as well as the dire state of the economy and waves of austerity demanded under international bailout.Under that plan, Greece was supposed to resume borrowing on financial markets next year but that now seems increasingly unlikely, so the EU is preparing a new aid plan that would meet Greece's funding needs in 2012 and 2013.In return, the EU wants Athens to impose yet more austerity and reform, including privatizations. The officials are checking Greece's fiscal progress to approve a 12 billion euro aid tranche -- the fifth under the current bailout -- and possibly new funding the country needs to avoid debt default.German weekly magazine Spiegel fanned fears over the weekend Greece might not get the money, saying the country might have missed all fiscal targets set by its lenders.Both Greece and the IMF denied the report [ID:nLDE74R09I] [ID:nLDE74S01N], while Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou was upbeat on the budget negotiations.We expect that they will conclude successfully in the next few days,he said in a statement.Pressure continues to pile on the socialist government with the EU commission's top economics official Olli Rehn saying time was running out for Greece to secure political agreement on an economic adjustment programme to exit a debt crisis.(Editing by David Stamp and Maria Golovnina)
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).
E. coli cucumbers may be in Austria, Hungary By KAREL JANICEK and VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press – Sun May 29, 1:20 pm ET
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Spanish vegetables suspected of contamination with a potentially deadly bacteria are being recalled from stores in Austria and the Czech Republic to prevent the spread of a deadly outbreak, officials said Sunday.The death toll from the bacteria rose to at least 10 people, and hundreds across Europe have been sickened.Czech authorities said 120 organic Spanish cucumbers were being pulled off shelves while their counterparts in neighboring Austria announced that small amounts of cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and eggplants, were being removed from 33 stores.The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety said it was informed by a European Union warning system that two German companies had issued an immediate recall and sales ban of cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants they had delivered in to stores in the Alpine republic. The agency said that some of the vegetables may have been sold and urged consumers to throw them away.The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said cucumbers from a contaminated shipment also went to Hungary and Luxembourg. There were no immediate reports of illness there.The cucumbers transited Germany, where health officials said Sunday one more person had succumbed to the bacteria, raising the death toll from nine to 10. The number of people infected also went up over the weekend, with at least 467 cases of intestinal infection in the northern city of Hamburg alone, including 91 cases of the more severe hemolytic uremic syndrome, Hamburg health official Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks told German news agency DAPD on Sunday. HUS is a rare complication arising from infection associated with the E. coli bacterium.
An exact number of infections in Germany was not available, but local papers estimated that around 1,000 people had fallen ill with the intestinal infection across the country by Sunday.German Health Minister Ilse Aigner reiterated her warning not to eat any cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and other leaf salads.As long as experts in Germany and Spain have not succeeded in finding the cause of the infection without a doubt, these general warnings for vegetables stay in place, Aigner told German weekly Bild am Sonntag.Austrian Health Ministry spokesman Fabian Fusseis said two German tourists have tested positive for enterohaemorrhagic E.coli, also known as EHEC, without HUS complications. But it is still unclear if the cases are linked to the outbreak in their homeland, he added.Swedish health officials say 36 cases of the bacterial infection have been reported in Sweden and that 13 had developed HUS. In Denmark, 11 people have been infected, including five with HUS.
Britain's Health Protection Agency, meanwhile, said England so far has seen three cases of E. coli in German nationals — two with HUS.The Food Standards Agency said there is no evidence any of the effected organic cucumbers have been distributed to the U.K. but that it is monitoring the situation closely.By Friday, Swiss authorities had recorded one case of enterohaemorrhagic E.coli: a woman who returned from a trip to northern Germany where she had eaten from a salad buffet.A spokesman for the European Union said Sunday that two greenhouses in Spain that were identified as the source of the contaminated cucumbers had ceased activities. The water and soil there are being analyzed to see whether they were the problem or the contamination occurred elsewhere, said Frederic Vincent, the spokesman.The results of the tests are expected Tuesday or Wednesday, he said.
The EU notified member states Friday of the source of the outbreak, which has affected primarily the Hamburg area of Germany and, to a lesser extent, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, according to Vincent. He added that the EU had also warned the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Luxembourg about contaminated vegetables that had been sent from Spain through Germany, though he noted it was unclear if the warning was limited to cucumbers.It is up to the individual member states to decide what action to take, Vincent said. The EU has warned people who have recently visited Germany to consult doctors if they experience bloody diarrhea.The Spanish government has said two companies from southern Andalucia that produce cucumbers were being investigated in connection with the deadly bacterial outbreak.Spain's health minister, Leire Pajin, said Friday that the regional government of Andalucia, in coordination with national authorities and counterparts in Germany and the EU, had put in place measures to reassure consumers that it was safe to eat fresh fruit and vegetables.We have to make it very clear that there is not a single person in Spain that at this moment has been affected by this bacteria,said Pajin.Oleksyn reported from Vienna. Don Melvin in Brussels, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Harold Heckle in Madrid, Malin Rising in Stockholm and Frank Jordans in Geneva also contributed.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Eleven killed in wider Syria military push: lawyer
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis – MAY 29,11
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian forces killed at least 11 civilians and wounded scores Sunday, a prominent human rights campaigner said, in a widening military push into central Syria to quell protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.Tanks, supported by troops, fired heavy machineguns in the towns of Talbiseh and Rastan and several villages near the city of Homs, residents said.They are the latest population centres to come under army assault since a military crackdown to crush dissent against Assad's autocratic rule began at the end of last month in southern Syria, the cradle of the 10-week uprising.The killings occurred in and around the towns of Talbiseh and Rastan in rural Homs, human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouna said by telephone from Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said earlier it had the names of eight civilians killed.Soldiers are now all over Talbiseh. They are breaking into houses and arresting people, one resident in the town of 60,000 said in a telephone interview. The sound of bullets echoed in the background.
The official state news agency said four members of the security forces were killed in Talbiseh while chasing armed terrorist groups... to detain them and present them to justice.Talbiseh is 10 km (6 miles) north of Homs, Syria's third largest city, where tanks shelled a main neighborhood earlier this month.Troops have been occupying the main square in Homs to prevent scenes similar to when tens of thousands demonstrated in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen to press for reform.Witness reports of violence in Syria, as well as official accounts, are difficult to verify independently because the government barred most international media from the country not long after the start of the unrest in March.Another witness in Rastan, further to the north, said the town's main clinic was full of wounded people and there was no way to get them to a hospital because of heavy tank fire.This is pure revenge,said the witness, a lawyer who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Thousands of protesters in Rastan Friday demanded the removal of Assad in one of the largest demonstrations in the region since the uprising against the government erupted in southern Syria on March 18.Rastan, a relatively prosperous town in an agricultural region, is on the main northern highway from Damascus to Syria's second city Aleppo.The lawyer said Internet, water, electricity, land lines and most mobile telephone links had been cut, a step commonly used by the military before they storm urban centres.
PROTESTERS DEFY ARMY ASSAULTS
Protests in Syria have continued despite the increasing force used to crush demonstrations that began with calls for political freedom and an end to corruption but are now urging the removal of Assad.The president has responded to the growing protests, the biggest challenge to his rule, by intensifying a military crackdown that has killed hundreds.The 45-year old leader has lifted emergency law and promised reforms but the opponents say there has been no change in Syria where the ruling Baath Party has banned all opposition and political freedoms since 1963.Rights groups estimate at least 1,000 civilians have been killed by security forces, the army and gunmen loyal to Assad in the past 10 weeks. They said 10,000 people have been arrested, with beatings and torture commonplace.Authorities blame armed groups, Islamists and foreign agents for the violence and say at least 120 soldiers and police officers have been killed. Activists say secret police killed scores of soldiers for refusing to fire at civilians.In the eastern town of Deir al-Zor, protesters staged a night-time rally Sunday, a day after at least one man was hurt when security forces opened fired to disperse a demonstration that had went through the night, witnesses said.I was hearing the bullets and the protesters chanting the people want the overthrow of the regime at the same time, one witness, a resident of the city, said by telephone Saturday.Demonstrations have been held nightly in Deir al-Zor and other cities and towns to circumvent heavy security which has intensified in recent weeks after street demonstrations grew in numbers and tanks were deployed in and around urban centres.Human rights campaigners said a night-time rally took place Saturday in the town of Binish in the northwestern province of Idlib in protest against arrests Friday, when the biggest demonstrations typically occur after weekly prayers.The Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said security forces shot dead 12 demonstrators Friday during protests in 91 locations across Syria.The authorities are still pursuing the calculated course of using excessive violence and live ammunition to confront mass demonstrations,the organization said in a statement.(Editing by Matthew Jones)
Yemen leader accused of allowing Islamist takeover
By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press – MAY 29,11
SANAA, Yemen – Hundreds of Islamic militants cemented control over a town in southern Yemen on Sunday, even seizing army tanks, military officials said, while breakaway army units encouraged other military forces to switch their loyalties and join the uprising.The growing number of defections in the military posed the most serious threat yet to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade grip on his country.A leader of the breakaway forces, Maj. Gen. Abdullah Ali Elewa, appealed to other units to join.Stand side by side with the courageous armed forces, Republican Guards and security officers who endorsed the peaceful popular youthful revolution and announced their support to stand up to the tyrants and corrupt, and unjust,he said.Elewa, a former defense minister, was one of nine military officers who signed the statement, named Statement Number One in the style of a military regime, though the officers are not in power. The group included leaders of four of Yemen's five military divisions.
Saleh labeled them traitors and war mongers.We understand the demands of the youth revolution, but we ask them first to get rid of those corrupt, agent and traitor elements who defected from the military, Saleh said in a statement.Late Sunday, several explosions were heard in the capital Sanaa. Their origin was not known.Also, witnesses in the southern city of Taiz said security forces attacked protesters camped out in the central square with rifles and water cannon in an attempt to clear the area. Doctors said 150 people were taken to hospitals with injuries. In an earlier clash in Taiz, six protesters were killed, activists and doctors said.
Throughout the three months of protests against his 33-year rule, Saleh has repeatedly argued that the terror group would overrun the impoverished corner of the Arabian peninsula if he falls.
Critics say he's bluffing.
He wants to ... confirm his false claims that if he gives up power, the homeland will be destroyed, Elewa said.Hundreds of Islamic militants stormed Zinjibar, a small town of more than 20,000 people near the shores of the Gulf of Aden, on Friday, seizing a number of banks and government offices.Military officials said the militants extended their control starting late Saturday night, capturing six army tanks and several armored cars after the governor, the security chief and the commander of a local army brigade withdrew.Other army units clashed with the militants around the town Sunday, shelling it from the outskirts and forcing terrified residents to flee or cower in their homes.Medical and military officials said eight civilians and 18 soldiers have been killed since Saturday. Scores more have been injured.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Ali Dahmis, a political analyst in the town, said officials who supported Saleh fled early, making it easier for militants to stream in.Col. Abdullah al-Badawi, who defected from Saleh's regime and led his men to fight the Islamists, claimed the militants were in fact supporters of Saleh.We will chase the mujahideen, the supporters of President Saleh, and will never allow them to have a foothold in Abyan, he said, referring to the province of which Zinjibar is the capital.Elewa, said Saleh sought to spread fear that Yemen without him will become another Somalia.Saleh's political opponents and experts on Yemeni affairs discount such fears, though the estimated 300 fighters of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula could exploit the growing turmoil to operate more freely in remote parts of the country.
Washington considers the group to be the biggest terrorist threat to the U.S. It has been linked to the December 2009 attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner and the plot to put U.S.-addressed parcel bombs onto air cargo flights.It is not clear if the militants who seized Zinjibar were linked to al-Qaida. Yemen is home to numerous other Islamic extremist groups.Islamist militants also took over the nearby town of Jaar at the end of March, and there were similar accusations then that the government purposely stood aside.The United States, which once considered Saleh a necessary ally in fighting Yemen's active al-Qaida branch, has turned its back on the ruler, calling for him to transfer power peacefully.Saleh has clung to power despite daily protests, a wave of defections by army officers and political and tribal allies, and international condemnation of a crackdown that has killed more than 150 protesters.Saleh has refused to sign a U.S.-backed proposal by Yemen's powerful Gulf Arab neighbors to step down in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
With diplomatic efforts stalled, the political crisis gave way to serious street battles last week between Saleh's forces and armed men loyal to the country's most powerful tribal leader, who has turned against the president.The clashes killed 124 people and raised fears of a civil war before the two sides reached a cease-fire over the weekend. Armed tribesmen who had occupied government buildings began withdrawing Sunday in observance of the cease-fire.In another sign of Saleh's eroding support, a brigade of the powerful Republican Guard announced its defection to the opposition Sunday.Activist Abdul-Rahman Ahmed said a letter from Brig. Gen. Ibrahim al-Jayfi, commander of the Guard's Ninth Brigade, was read to thousands of protesters in the provincial capital of Damar, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Sanaa.The head of Yemen's most powerful tribal confederation has called on the Guard to help topple Saleh.A larger crumbling of support within the Guard appeared unlikely because it is commanded by one of the president's sons.
Israel braces for border clashes in coming days
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press – Sun May 29, 2:59 pm ET
JERUSALEM – The Israeli military is preparing for the possibility of violent protests along its borders in the coming days, aiming to avoid a repeat of deadly unrest that erupted earlier this month, a senior military official told The Associated Press on Sunday.Facebook-organized activists have called for demonstrations next weekend in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war, in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip east Jerusalem and Golan Heights.The official said the army also is planning to counter possible unrest in the West Bank in September after an expected U.N. vote to recognize Palestinian independence.The official said the army hopes to avoid civilian casualties but would set red lines for the demonstrations. That means Israel will not allow demonstrators to burst across the borders during the coming week's protests — as they did on the Syria-Israel border on May 15 — or to enter Jewish settlements in the West Bank in September.He said Israel will not react to nonviolent demonstrations, including large gatherings near the settlements, but that it would be forced to take action in life-threatening situations.On May 15, the day on which Palestinians mourn the anniversary of Israel's founding, hundreds of demonstrators in Syria broke through the frontier and entered the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, while in Lebanon, large crowds converged on the border. Some 14 protesters were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers, who were caught off guard by the attempts to breach the borders.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity under military guidelines, said the army will be much better prepared this time around. Larger numbers of troops will be deployed, he said, and they will be equipped with crowd-control tools such as rubber bullets and water cannons.With peace talks frozen, Palestinian activists have begun to talk about holding large, nonviolent protests throughout the West Bank after a U.N. vote in September.The official said Israel is not expecting large-scale violence at that time, but he warned it wouldn't take much to trigger an outbreak in fighting.Unfortunately, we have seen lots of demonstrations turn violent,he said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOjFA5-BplM&feature=player_embedded
Corporate Media Attacks Alex Jones, Defends TSA Perverts Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com May 29, 2011
Following a successful rally on the capitol in Austin last week to protest a decision by lawmakers to back down on a bill to stop TSA molestation, apologists for a tyrannical state are coming out of the woodwork in defense of goons sticking their hands down the pants of six year old kids.One such apologist is Bud Kennedy, who writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. According to Kennedy, the protest was all about showboat Alex Jones and had nothing to do with perverts in blue latex gloves fondling the breasts of pregnant women.Kennedy is apparently unable to get his facts straight. He says Jones is a SiriusXM radio talk show host and that is how he raised awareness about this pivotal issue. In fact, Jones made his call to meet at the capitol in downtown Austin over local terrestrial radio, shortwave, micro-radio and the internet, where he dominates in the talk radio arena.But Kennedy’s inability to report reality is secondary. What’s really disgusting is his support for the state and its pathological insistence it must grab the testicles of children in order to supposedly stop terrorism by a shadowy group with links to intelligence agencies.
For the real deal on the protest last week, see Jones’ report below.Kennedy’s not alone in challenging critics of the TSA abusers. Gary Scharrer, writing for The Houston Chronicle, also attempted to make reasonable protest against federal tyranny out to be the ravings of crackpots.
Here’s Kennedy’s article, posted on Saturday:Bud Kennedy Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Crazy session of Texas Legislature just gets crazier
As if there weren’t already enough showboats in the Texas Legislature, the radio talkers landed last week.First, bizarro satellite radio host Alex Jones led a madcap march on the Capitol. About 100 of Jones’ listeners descended on the Senate, calling senators cowards and federal pimps for not passing a bill to outlaw close pat-downs at airports.Tea Party Republicans somehow persuaded this Washington-bashing Legislature to pass a bill essentially making it a misdemeanor for airport security officers to pat anyone’s crotch or shirt.With the Senate poised to vote, San Antonio-based U.S. Attorney John Murphy warned lawmakers by letter Tuesday that the security agency would cancel any flight or series of flights without close searches.
In other words -- no pat-downs, then no flights to Texas.On Wednesday, in the middle of a Capitol workday, Jones invited SiriusXM listeners to gather and led them through the halls chanting,Criminal! Treason! Each senator is an enemy of the Republic and the Republic of Texas! he shouted in a Texas Tribune video.After forced pat-downs,next is the forced inoculations and the federal blood draws, Jones said. It's a battle plan.Jones has been doing the same show in Austin for 20 years, first on public-access cable TV with leaflets about black helicopters and global conspiracies. First crusading for a Branch Davidians memorial, then blaming the U.S. for 9-11, he has grown into a satellite and shortwave crank.Alex is fascinating because he has gathered a large audience through new media,said Michael Harrison, the executive of Massachusetts-based Talkers magazine.Jones will headline the magazine's talk radio convention next month in New York.
A lot of what he says has some sense behind it, Harrison said.And some of it can be interpreted as crazy. But he knows how to draw an audience.The same could be said for state Sen. Dan Patrick, a former TV sports anchor turned religious conservative radio showman.Patrick carried the no-pat-down bill in the Senate. He accused Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of killing the bill through an elaborate political ploy.With Dewhurst considered a leading contender for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat, Patrick took a potshot: Someone who will not stand up to the federal government -- you have to ask yourself is that the kind of person that we need in the U.S. Senate.
The next day, we found out why Patrick was grandstanding. He said he's also interested in running for Senate.Instead of telling Texans first, though, he declared his interest on national radio to Washington-based talker Laura Ingraham.
Anything for a show.Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Twitter @budkennedy 817-390-7538 Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/05/28/3111653/crazy-session-of-texas-legislature.html#ixzz1NmtIgnIt
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Israel's Fischer interested in IMF job
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press – MAY 29,11
JERUSALEM – Israel's central bank chief, Stanley Fischer, is interested in the top job at the International Monetary Fund and has received a number of phone calls in recent days from around the world encouraging him to apply, a person familiar with the banker's thinking told The Associated Press on Sunday.The person said Fischer has not decided whether to pursue the job and has no desire to leave his current post, but would have a hard time saying no to the IMF.If the opportunity comes along, he will take it,said the person.He spoke on condition of anonymity because Fischer is still weighing his options. He said he expects Fischer to make a decision within the next two weeks.Fischer, an internationally respected economist, held the No. 2 position at the IMF during the 1990s and is well acquainted with the workings of the fund.Born in Zambia and educated at the London School of Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he also has held top jobs at the World Bank and at Citigroup Corp.Fischer came to Israel in 2005 to take the post of governor of the Bank of Israel. He has been widely credited with enabling the country to largely escape the global economic crisis. Unemployment in Israel is just over 6 percent, and the real estate sector is booming.Last year, he was appointed to a second five-year term.
Fischer has received phone calls from top IMF officials and officials from major finance ministries around the world encouraging him to seek the post, the person said. He refused to identify the countries or officials.The post has traditionally gone to a European, and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has emerged as the front-runner. Developing nations have argued that someone from another region should be considered.The IMF's last director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, quit this month after he was accused of attempting to rape a New York hotel maid.
Hollywood star Blanchett under fire over carbon tax
– Sun May 29, 5:33 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – Hollywood A-lister Cate Blanchett found herself under fire for fronting a campaign promoting the government's planned carbon tax, with critics saying she is out of touch with ordinary Australians.The wealthy Oscar winner features in a new advert, funded by a coalition of unions and green groups, urging Australians to Say Yes to a tax on carbon.Australians are among the world's worst per capita carbon polluters and Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard has proposed a carbon tax to be levied on major industrial polluters by July 1, 2012.She then plans a full emissions trading scheme in three to five years.But the proposals are not popular, with the conservative opposition saying a tax would damage the economy and drive up the cost of living by making energy far more expensive, bumping up electricity bills.$53 million Hollywood superstar tells Aussie families to pay up, the Sydney Sunday Telegraph blared on its front page, referring to how much Blanchett is worth.Cate Blanchett has proved she is just another morally vain Hollywood star trying to justify her great good fortune by preaching to the rest of us about climate change,the paper said in a comment piece.The Australian Family Association said she was out of touch.
It's nice to have a multi-millionaire who won't be impacted by it telling you how great it is. It's easy for her to advocate it, she's one of the people who can afford to pay it,the association said, according to the newspaper.There are people who have no comfort zone and no room to move.Blanchett made no comment but her co-star in the advert, Australian actor Michael Caton, defended his role.I'm sure people will criticise me but I thought long and hard and I really believe in this, so I'm speaking up for it,he said.Treasurer Wayne Swan said Blanchett was being unfairly targeted.I admire people who speak their views and Cate Blanchett, along with many others, has a strong view that Australia needs to price carbon, he said.It's the responsible thing to do for citizens to speak up.The Climate Institute, an independent research organisation, also defended the actress.There is a serious scare campaign going on,spokesman John Connor told the ABC.So I am not surprised by some of the personal attacks. But what we're trying to do is focus on the policies and the issues and that a range of Australians are well behind this campaign.Earlier this month, a national poll by The Australian newspaper showed 60 percent of voters were opposed to a carbon tax. Only 30 percent of voters supported the plan and 10 percent were undecided.
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.
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
Hurricane and Tropical Storm Names
ContributorNetwork Brad Sylvester – MAY 30,11
Every year we hear about hurricanes and tropical storms named as if they were guests, but for the most part these tropical cyclones are unwanted visitors arriving at our shores. Let's take a look at some of the history behind the naming of tropical storms.
Why do hurricanes get names?
The main purpose of naming tropical storms and hurricanes, says the World Meteorological Organization, is to make it easier to communicate about a particular storm. Using longitude and latitude can be confusing especially for people who don't use geographical coordinates on a regular basis. Using a short common name for these storms makes it easy for everyone to know which hurricane is being discussed. This can be particularly important when issuing warnings in advance of the arrival of a dangerous storm.
When does a storm get named?
Tropical cyclones are named once they achieve tropical storm status with a sustained wind speed of 39 mph, says the National Hurricane Center. After that, each storm system will keep that name even if it strengthens to become a hurricane. In some cases, a tropical storm will weaken again after being named to the point where it wouldn't deserve its own name before strengthening once again to regain named status. These storms, so long as they remain a cohesive system will get the same name back again once they regain strength.
When did hurricanes first get names under the modern system?
The current naming system for Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes started with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States in 1953. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the National Hurricane Center both agree on that point, but they differ in their stories of the earliest examples of naming hurricanes. A phonetic system using terms like Able, Baker, and Charlie, was used in the U.S. for a couple of years before the current system. Before that says the National Hurricane Center, women's names were used from about 1941 to 1950 in the U.S. In 1978, male and female names began to be used, alternating gender with each named storm. Earlier storm names might have been associated with the nearest saint's day, says the NHC, while the WMO suggests they might have been named even more capriciously, such as after the name of a ship that was damaged by the storm.
Who decides what names to use for hurricanes and tropical storms?
The National Hurricane Center in the United States came up with the original lists of names for tropical cyclones that originate in the Atlantic, but currently these lists are maintained and updated by the WMO.
Are names used more than once?
Yes. There are six separate lists of tropical cyclone names reserved for the Atlantic. Each list is used once every six years in rotation so the names used in 2011 will again be used in 2017.
Why are some names removed from the list?
The names of hurricanes that were particularly destructive in terms of either human lives or property damage retired from the list permanently. Although both agencies say this is due to sensitivity for those affected by the storm, as a practical matter, some of these larger storms might still be actively discussed six years later when the same name comes around again leading to some confusion if they were to remain on the list. So far, 76 names have been permanently removed from circulation says the Weather Underground.
What happens if the list of tropical storm names for a given year runs out?
Each year 21 names are allotted to be used for tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic. If there should be more than 21 names required, letters of the Greek alphabet are used beginning with the 22nd named storm of the calendar year.
What are the names for this year's hurricanes?
For 2011, the following names will be used in order as required: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince and Whitney.
Why aren't all of the names common English names?
Tropical cyclones that originate in the Atlantic often affect many different countries, such as those in the Caribbean or Central American. As a result, meteorologists responsible for selecting the names to be used try to use names that represent the people of the entire region.
Ala. town hit by tornadoes bans FEMA trailers
By JAY REEVES, Associated Press – Sun May 29, 3:03 pm ET
CORDOVA, Ala. – James Ruston's house was knocked off its foundation by tornadoes that barreled through town last month and is still uninhabitable. He thought help had finally arrived when a truck pulled up to his property with a mobile home from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Then he got the call: Single-wide mobile homes, like the FEMA one, are illegal in the city of Cordova.The city's refusal to let homeless residents occupy temporary housing provided by FEMA has sparked outrage in this central Alabama town of 2,000, with angry citizens filling a meeting last week and circulating petitions to remove the man many blame for the decision, Mayor Jack Scott.Ruston and many others view the city's decision as heartless, a sign that leaders don't care that some people are barely surviving in the rubble of a blue-collar town.People have to live somewhere. What's it matter if it's in a trailer? asked Felicia Boston, standing on the debris-strewn lot where a friend has lived in a tent since a tornado destroyed his home on April 27.Scott has heard all the complaints, and he isn't apologizing. He said he doesn't want run-down mobile homes parked all over town years from now.I don't feel guilty, he said.I can look anyone in the eye.Located about 35 miles northwest of Birmingham, Cordova was hit by a pair of powerful tornadoes on April 27, the day twisters killed more than 300 people across the Southeast. Officials say 238 died in Alabama, the highest death toll for any state in a spring of violent weather.
An EF-3 twister with winds of at least 140 mph slammed into the town around 5:30 a.m., knocking out power and damaging numerous buildings. An EF-4 with winds around 170 mph struck about 12 hours later, killing four people and cutting a path of destruction a half-mile wide through town.Scores of homes, businesses and city buildings were destroyed or damaged by the time the winds died down. Nearly every red-brick storefront was whacked along Main Street, which is now deserted and blocked by a chain-link fence.Residents whose homes were destroyed assumed they would be able to live in one of the hundreds of long, skinny mobile homes that FEMA is providing as temporary housing for tornado victims. After all, the Cordova Police Department, a pharmacy, a bank and City Hall all have moved into similar trailers since the storm.But the city enacted a law three years ago that bans the type of mobile homes provided by FEMA, called single-wide trailers. Older single-wide mobile homes were grandfathered in under the law and double-wide mobile homes are still allowed, Scott said, but new single-wides aren't allowed and a tornado isn't any reason to change the law, even temporarily.The city's stance prompted an outcry that's not getting any quieter, especially with other cities with similar laws granting waivers. About 200 people attended a community meeting last night where some tried to shout down Scott.There are trailers all over here but (Scott) wants to clean all the trash out. He doesn't like lower-class people,said Harvey Hastings.
The cotton mill, brick plant and coal mine that once made Cordova prosperous shut down years ago, but native Tony Tidwell said leaders seem to believe residents are flush with cash and can afford to build big, new houses to replace the mobile homes and small frame homes that twisters blew away.Let the people have a place to live, he said. To make matters worse, he said, the city is imposing a mean double standard when it refuses to let residents live in FEMA trailers but is using a nearly identical structure for police headquarters.Scott said the city can use small trailers because it's for the common good.It's temporary and we know it's temporary, said the mayor.We're trying to provide services for everyone.Storm victims are supposed to live in FEMA housing for no longer than 18 months after a disaster, yet about 260 campers are still occupied by survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast last more than five years after those storms. The same thing could happen in Cordova if the city bends it rules to help tornado victims, Scott said.
Officials with FEMA have said it's a local issue and they remain ready to offer help to storm victims.We have several options available, and work with each community, to provide the best alternative possible for those who need housing assistance, Michael Byrne, FEMA's federal coordinating officer for Alabama, said in a statement.We stand ready to help.Ruston said he doesn't want to live in a mobile home forever, and he didn't want to leave Cordova to move in with a relative after his FEMA trailer was turned away.Now, he said, it might not be worth going back.If we're going to have a mayor like that I'll just go elsewhere,he said.
Number unaccounted for drops to 40 in Joplin
– Sun May 29, 1:12 pm ET
JOPLIN, Mo. – There are now 40 people who remain unaccounted for a week after a massive tornado hit Joplin.Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the number of unaccounted just dropped to 40 because of the latest deceased whose next-of-kin have been notified. The number had stood at about 100.More than 130 people have been reported killed in the storm that hit Joplin a week ago.The tornado — an EF-5 packing 200 mph winds — injured more than 900 people. Tallying and identifying the dead and the missing has proven a complex and sometimes confusing exercise for authorities and loved ones.President Barack Obama was traveling to Joplin on Sunday to visit with survivors and family members.
Storm Songda churns towards Tokyo
– Sun May 29, 6:02 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Typhoon Songda weakened into a depression as it churned along Japan's Pacific coast on Sunday but was still expected to bring heavy rains to the northeast which was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami.A total of 57 people suffered storm-related injuries on the southern Okinawan islands, police said. Of those, five were seriously hurt.Songda was downgraded to a temperate depression by the Japan Meteorological Agency as it was located off the southern main island of Shikoku at around 3:00 pm (0600 GMT).Moving northeast at a speed of 55 kilometres (35 miles) per hour, it is expected to reach Tokyo and its vicinity at around 9:00 am (0000 GMT) on Monday, said agency official Takeo Tanaka.But it is feared to stimulate the rain front over the Pacific coast of Honshu island, including the disaster-hit areas,he said.Up to about 15 centimetres (six inches) of rainfall was forecast for the northeast region over two days, the agency said.It was not clear whether it would directly hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, more than 200 kilometres northeast of the capital, which was crippled by the March 11 natural disasters.But the typhoon has already brought heavy rain to the Fukushima region, prompting fears that run-off water may wash away radioactive materials from land into the Pacific Ocean.Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been pouring synthetic resins over the complex to prevent radioactive deposits from being swept away by winds or rain.
Ireland may need more EU/IMF cash: minister
By Carmel Crimmins and Angeliki Koutantou – Sun May 29, 10:15 am ET
DUBLIN/ATHENS (Reuters) – Ireland may have to ask for another loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund because it will struggle to return to debt markets to raise funds next year, a government minister said on Sunday.In comments to The Sunday Times newspaper, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar became the first cabinet member to cast doubt in public on Ireland's ability to raise cash on the bond market because of punishing yields demanded by investors.I think it's very unlikely we'll be able to go back next year. I think it might take a bit longer ... 2013 might be possible but who knows? Varadkar was quoted as saying.It would mean a second program (of loans from the EU/IMF),he said.Either an extension of the existing program or a second program. I think that would generally be most people's view.Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told broadcaster RTE that fears of a domino effect from Greece's problems were overblown. The possibility of a Greek default has sent bond yields rocketing for indebted Ireland, Portugal and Spain.It's not a situation that if Greece defaults then there are immediately implications for Ireland,Gilmore said.If Greece defaults there are implications for the wider euro zone and obviously we are part of that.It is wrong to put Ireland in the same basket as Greece.
PRIVATISATION AMBITIONS
Greece's hopes of averting default dimmed over the weekend amid fears the country, whose debt burden stands at around 330 billion euros, may have missed fiscal targets set by its creditors.The IMF has dismissed reports that an international inspection team had found that Greece had missed all its fiscal targets. But the current mission to Athens has stayed far longer than on previous occasions and is locked in talks with the government to get economic reforms on track.Athens' creditors are increasingly focused on the possibility of raising more funds from privatizations and a poll on Sunday showed that an overwhelming majority of Greeks are in favor of selling and developing state assets to raise 50 billion euros.The European Central Bank and the IMF, however, don't believe the privatization program is ambitious enough. ECB board member Juergen Stark said Greece could raise six times more than the 50 billion euros planned from asset sales, echoing earlier views from the IMF.
A Greek paper reported on Sunday that the government was considering setting up a Spanish-style bad bank to clean up its lenders' accounts from toxic Greek bonds and make them more attractive to potential buyers.Athens is in a race against time to secure political consensus on fiscal reforms before the EU and the IMF will free up more cash to plug funding gaps in the next two years.Ireland, meanwhile, wants to tap investors for funding in 2012 before its 85 billion euros EU-IMF bailout runs out the following year.But investors believe Ireland will be unable to return to the market and instead will have to tap the European Union's permanent rescue fund in 2013, which might require some restructuring of privately held sovereign debt.
Reflecting this medium-term risk, Ireland's two-year and five-year paper are yielding close to 12 percent, more than its 10-year bonds on the secondary market.
Some 50 billion euros of the existing EU-IMF bailout has been earmarked for sovereign funding requirements with the remainder set aside to prop up the country's ailing banks.Earlier this month, the IMF said whatever was left over after recapitalizing the banks could be channeled to the sovereign if there was a delay in returning to markets.At the end of March, the Irish government said the banks needed 24 billion euros to bulletproof their balance sheets but Dublin hopes some five billion euros can be raised from imposing losses on junior bondholders and asset sales, meaning that 19 billion euros of the 35 billion would be tapped.
EU, IMF expected to judge Greece as protests swell
By Angeliki Koutantou – MAY 29,11
ATHENS (Reuters) – European and IMF officials are expected to deliver their verdict this week on Greece's faltering drive to bring its budget deficit under control, but ordinary Greeks have warned that their patience is running thin.Tens of thousands packed a central Athens square on Sunday in a non-partisan protest to denounce the nation's entire ruling class, but they also directed their anger at the International Monetary Fund and its demands for yet more austerity.Black-hooded youths have been battling police since last year, when the government launched austerity measures under the terms of a 110 billion euro ($157.5 billion) rescue for Greece organized by the IMF and European Union.But the Greeks who took Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek parliament, on Sunday were a different kind of protesters.They were families, ranging from the elderly to children, who had no class wars to wage.Prompted by Facebook rather than opposition parties or unions, they vented at Greek politicians and foreign lenders.We should take responsibility for our own lives,read one banner.Despite a party atmosphere, the crowd at Sunday's rally -- the biggest in a series of nightly demonstrations on the square for the past five days -- booed, whistled and chanted Thieves! Thieves as they pointed at the parliament building.Protesters acknowledged they had been inspired by similar rallies in Spain, which also faces budget and debt problems.Before the Syntagma Square rallies began, some Spanish protesters had accused ordinary Greeks of being too passive.But on Sunday Ifigenia Argyrou, a 57-year-old insurance consultant, said all that had changed.People were indignant but they needed a motivation to express that. The Spanish people gave us that motivation,she told Reuters.We are not sleeping, we are awake. The IMF should get out. There are other solutions without them.Police put Sunday's crowd at 30,000 although the protesters, who have few formal leaders and are prompted by Facebook, say official figures usually underestimate the size of demonstrations by a wide margin.
MEETING Canceled
Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou had been due to rally his party on Monday behind yet deeper austerity to win new international aid. But his PASOK canceled the executive council meeting on Sunday without a detailed explanation.Papandreou has already failed to win backing from the opposition to adopt fresh austerity steps, more economic reforms and faster sales of state assets, as demanded by the EU and IMF.With the team of EU and IMF officials in Athens expected to complete its review of Greek finances soon, Papandreou also needs to prevent fatigue from spreading to his own socialist party as its popularity declines.Papandreou's PASOK has a comfortable majority in parliament but one weekend opinion poll showed it had lost its lead for the first time since it won elections in 2009.Greeks are angry about they impunity of politicians they hold responsible for the crisis, as well as the dire state of the economy and waves of austerity demanded under international bailout.Under that plan, Greece was supposed to resume borrowing on financial markets next year but that now seems increasingly unlikely, so the EU is preparing a new aid plan that would meet Greece's funding needs in 2012 and 2013.In return, the EU wants Athens to impose yet more austerity and reform, including privatizations. The officials are checking Greece's fiscal progress to approve a 12 billion euro aid tranche -- the fifth under the current bailout -- and possibly new funding the country needs to avoid debt default.German weekly magazine Spiegel fanned fears over the weekend Greece might not get the money, saying the country might have missed all fiscal targets set by its lenders.Both Greece and the IMF denied the report [ID:nLDE74R09I] [ID:nLDE74S01N], while Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou was upbeat on the budget negotiations.We expect that they will conclude successfully in the next few days,he said in a statement.Pressure continues to pile on the socialist government with the EU commission's top economics official Olli Rehn saying time was running out for Greece to secure political agreement on an economic adjustment programme to exit a debt crisis.(Editing by David Stamp and Maria Golovnina)
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).
E. coli cucumbers may be in Austria, Hungary By KAREL JANICEK and VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press – Sun May 29, 1:20 pm ET
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Spanish vegetables suspected of contamination with a potentially deadly bacteria are being recalled from stores in Austria and the Czech Republic to prevent the spread of a deadly outbreak, officials said Sunday.The death toll from the bacteria rose to at least 10 people, and hundreds across Europe have been sickened.Czech authorities said 120 organic Spanish cucumbers were being pulled off shelves while their counterparts in neighboring Austria announced that small amounts of cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and eggplants, were being removed from 33 stores.The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety said it was informed by a European Union warning system that two German companies had issued an immediate recall and sales ban of cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants they had delivered in to stores in the Alpine republic. The agency said that some of the vegetables may have been sold and urged consumers to throw them away.The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said cucumbers from a contaminated shipment also went to Hungary and Luxembourg. There were no immediate reports of illness there.The cucumbers transited Germany, where health officials said Sunday one more person had succumbed to the bacteria, raising the death toll from nine to 10. The number of people infected also went up over the weekend, with at least 467 cases of intestinal infection in the northern city of Hamburg alone, including 91 cases of the more severe hemolytic uremic syndrome, Hamburg health official Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks told German news agency DAPD on Sunday. HUS is a rare complication arising from infection associated with the E. coli bacterium.
An exact number of infections in Germany was not available, but local papers estimated that around 1,000 people had fallen ill with the intestinal infection across the country by Sunday.German Health Minister Ilse Aigner reiterated her warning not to eat any cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and other leaf salads.As long as experts in Germany and Spain have not succeeded in finding the cause of the infection without a doubt, these general warnings for vegetables stay in place, Aigner told German weekly Bild am Sonntag.Austrian Health Ministry spokesman Fabian Fusseis said two German tourists have tested positive for enterohaemorrhagic E.coli, also known as EHEC, without HUS complications. But it is still unclear if the cases are linked to the outbreak in their homeland, he added.Swedish health officials say 36 cases of the bacterial infection have been reported in Sweden and that 13 had developed HUS. In Denmark, 11 people have been infected, including five with HUS.
Britain's Health Protection Agency, meanwhile, said England so far has seen three cases of E. coli in German nationals — two with HUS.The Food Standards Agency said there is no evidence any of the effected organic cucumbers have been distributed to the U.K. but that it is monitoring the situation closely.By Friday, Swiss authorities had recorded one case of enterohaemorrhagic E.coli: a woman who returned from a trip to northern Germany where she had eaten from a salad buffet.A spokesman for the European Union said Sunday that two greenhouses in Spain that were identified as the source of the contaminated cucumbers had ceased activities. The water and soil there are being analyzed to see whether they were the problem or the contamination occurred elsewhere, said Frederic Vincent, the spokesman.The results of the tests are expected Tuesday or Wednesday, he said.
The EU notified member states Friday of the source of the outbreak, which has affected primarily the Hamburg area of Germany and, to a lesser extent, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, according to Vincent. He added that the EU had also warned the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Luxembourg about contaminated vegetables that had been sent from Spain through Germany, though he noted it was unclear if the warning was limited to cucumbers.It is up to the individual member states to decide what action to take, Vincent said. The EU has warned people who have recently visited Germany to consult doctors if they experience bloody diarrhea.The Spanish government has said two companies from southern Andalucia that produce cucumbers were being investigated in connection with the deadly bacterial outbreak.Spain's health minister, Leire Pajin, said Friday that the regional government of Andalucia, in coordination with national authorities and counterparts in Germany and the EU, had put in place measures to reassure consumers that it was safe to eat fresh fruit and vegetables.We have to make it very clear that there is not a single person in Spain that at this moment has been affected by this bacteria,said Pajin.Oleksyn reported from Vienna. Don Melvin in Brussels, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Harold Heckle in Madrid, Malin Rising in Stockholm and Frank Jordans in Geneva also contributed.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Eleven killed in wider Syria military push: lawyer
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis – MAY 29,11
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian forces killed at least 11 civilians and wounded scores Sunday, a prominent human rights campaigner said, in a widening military push into central Syria to quell protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.Tanks, supported by troops, fired heavy machineguns in the towns of Talbiseh and Rastan and several villages near the city of Homs, residents said.They are the latest population centres to come under army assault since a military crackdown to crush dissent against Assad's autocratic rule began at the end of last month in southern Syria, the cradle of the 10-week uprising.The killings occurred in and around the towns of Talbiseh and Rastan in rural Homs, human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouna said by telephone from Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said earlier it had the names of eight civilians killed.Soldiers are now all over Talbiseh. They are breaking into houses and arresting people, one resident in the town of 60,000 said in a telephone interview. The sound of bullets echoed in the background.
The official state news agency said four members of the security forces were killed in Talbiseh while chasing armed terrorist groups... to detain them and present them to justice.Talbiseh is 10 km (6 miles) north of Homs, Syria's third largest city, where tanks shelled a main neighborhood earlier this month.Troops have been occupying the main square in Homs to prevent scenes similar to when tens of thousands demonstrated in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen to press for reform.Witness reports of violence in Syria, as well as official accounts, are difficult to verify independently because the government barred most international media from the country not long after the start of the unrest in March.Another witness in Rastan, further to the north, said the town's main clinic was full of wounded people and there was no way to get them to a hospital because of heavy tank fire.This is pure revenge,said the witness, a lawyer who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Thousands of protesters in Rastan Friday demanded the removal of Assad in one of the largest demonstrations in the region since the uprising against the government erupted in southern Syria on March 18.Rastan, a relatively prosperous town in an agricultural region, is on the main northern highway from Damascus to Syria's second city Aleppo.The lawyer said Internet, water, electricity, land lines and most mobile telephone links had been cut, a step commonly used by the military before they storm urban centres.
PROTESTERS DEFY ARMY ASSAULTS
Protests in Syria have continued despite the increasing force used to crush demonstrations that began with calls for political freedom and an end to corruption but are now urging the removal of Assad.The president has responded to the growing protests, the biggest challenge to his rule, by intensifying a military crackdown that has killed hundreds.The 45-year old leader has lifted emergency law and promised reforms but the opponents say there has been no change in Syria where the ruling Baath Party has banned all opposition and political freedoms since 1963.Rights groups estimate at least 1,000 civilians have been killed by security forces, the army and gunmen loyal to Assad in the past 10 weeks. They said 10,000 people have been arrested, with beatings and torture commonplace.Authorities blame armed groups, Islamists and foreign agents for the violence and say at least 120 soldiers and police officers have been killed. Activists say secret police killed scores of soldiers for refusing to fire at civilians.In the eastern town of Deir al-Zor, protesters staged a night-time rally Sunday, a day after at least one man was hurt when security forces opened fired to disperse a demonstration that had went through the night, witnesses said.I was hearing the bullets and the protesters chanting the people want the overthrow of the regime at the same time, one witness, a resident of the city, said by telephone Saturday.Demonstrations have been held nightly in Deir al-Zor and other cities and towns to circumvent heavy security which has intensified in recent weeks after street demonstrations grew in numbers and tanks were deployed in and around urban centres.Human rights campaigners said a night-time rally took place Saturday in the town of Binish in the northwestern province of Idlib in protest against arrests Friday, when the biggest demonstrations typically occur after weekly prayers.The Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said security forces shot dead 12 demonstrators Friday during protests in 91 locations across Syria.The authorities are still pursuing the calculated course of using excessive violence and live ammunition to confront mass demonstrations,the organization said in a statement.(Editing by Matthew Jones)
Yemen leader accused of allowing Islamist takeover
By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press – MAY 29,11
SANAA, Yemen – Hundreds of Islamic militants cemented control over a town in southern Yemen on Sunday, even seizing army tanks, military officials said, while breakaway army units encouraged other military forces to switch their loyalties and join the uprising.The growing number of defections in the military posed the most serious threat yet to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade grip on his country.A leader of the breakaway forces, Maj. Gen. Abdullah Ali Elewa, appealed to other units to join.Stand side by side with the courageous armed forces, Republican Guards and security officers who endorsed the peaceful popular youthful revolution and announced their support to stand up to the tyrants and corrupt, and unjust,he said.Elewa, a former defense minister, was one of nine military officers who signed the statement, named Statement Number One in the style of a military regime, though the officers are not in power. The group included leaders of four of Yemen's five military divisions.
Saleh labeled them traitors and war mongers.We understand the demands of the youth revolution, but we ask them first to get rid of those corrupt, agent and traitor elements who defected from the military, Saleh said in a statement.Late Sunday, several explosions were heard in the capital Sanaa. Their origin was not known.Also, witnesses in the southern city of Taiz said security forces attacked protesters camped out in the central square with rifles and water cannon in an attempt to clear the area. Doctors said 150 people were taken to hospitals with injuries. In an earlier clash in Taiz, six protesters were killed, activists and doctors said.
Throughout the three months of protests against his 33-year rule, Saleh has repeatedly argued that the terror group would overrun the impoverished corner of the Arabian peninsula if he falls.
Critics say he's bluffing.
He wants to ... confirm his false claims that if he gives up power, the homeland will be destroyed, Elewa said.Hundreds of Islamic militants stormed Zinjibar, a small town of more than 20,000 people near the shores of the Gulf of Aden, on Friday, seizing a number of banks and government offices.Military officials said the militants extended their control starting late Saturday night, capturing six army tanks and several armored cars after the governor, the security chief and the commander of a local army brigade withdrew.Other army units clashed with the militants around the town Sunday, shelling it from the outskirts and forcing terrified residents to flee or cower in their homes.Medical and military officials said eight civilians and 18 soldiers have been killed since Saturday. Scores more have been injured.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Ali Dahmis, a political analyst in the town, said officials who supported Saleh fled early, making it easier for militants to stream in.Col. Abdullah al-Badawi, who defected from Saleh's regime and led his men to fight the Islamists, claimed the militants were in fact supporters of Saleh.We will chase the mujahideen, the supporters of President Saleh, and will never allow them to have a foothold in Abyan, he said, referring to the province of which Zinjibar is the capital.Elewa, said Saleh sought to spread fear that Yemen without him will become another Somalia.Saleh's political opponents and experts on Yemeni affairs discount such fears, though the estimated 300 fighters of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula could exploit the growing turmoil to operate more freely in remote parts of the country.
Washington considers the group to be the biggest terrorist threat to the U.S. It has been linked to the December 2009 attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner and the plot to put U.S.-addressed parcel bombs onto air cargo flights.It is not clear if the militants who seized Zinjibar were linked to al-Qaida. Yemen is home to numerous other Islamic extremist groups.Islamist militants also took over the nearby town of Jaar at the end of March, and there were similar accusations then that the government purposely stood aside.The United States, which once considered Saleh a necessary ally in fighting Yemen's active al-Qaida branch, has turned its back on the ruler, calling for him to transfer power peacefully.Saleh has clung to power despite daily protests, a wave of defections by army officers and political and tribal allies, and international condemnation of a crackdown that has killed more than 150 protesters.Saleh has refused to sign a U.S.-backed proposal by Yemen's powerful Gulf Arab neighbors to step down in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
With diplomatic efforts stalled, the political crisis gave way to serious street battles last week between Saleh's forces and armed men loyal to the country's most powerful tribal leader, who has turned against the president.The clashes killed 124 people and raised fears of a civil war before the two sides reached a cease-fire over the weekend. Armed tribesmen who had occupied government buildings began withdrawing Sunday in observance of the cease-fire.In another sign of Saleh's eroding support, a brigade of the powerful Republican Guard announced its defection to the opposition Sunday.Activist Abdul-Rahman Ahmed said a letter from Brig. Gen. Ibrahim al-Jayfi, commander of the Guard's Ninth Brigade, was read to thousands of protesters in the provincial capital of Damar, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Sanaa.The head of Yemen's most powerful tribal confederation has called on the Guard to help topple Saleh.A larger crumbling of support within the Guard appeared unlikely because it is commanded by one of the president's sons.
Israel braces for border clashes in coming days
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press – Sun May 29, 2:59 pm ET
JERUSALEM – The Israeli military is preparing for the possibility of violent protests along its borders in the coming days, aiming to avoid a repeat of deadly unrest that erupted earlier this month, a senior military official told The Associated Press on Sunday.Facebook-organized activists have called for demonstrations next weekend in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war, in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip east Jerusalem and Golan Heights.The official said the army also is planning to counter possible unrest in the West Bank in September after an expected U.N. vote to recognize Palestinian independence.The official said the army hopes to avoid civilian casualties but would set red lines for the demonstrations. That means Israel will not allow demonstrators to burst across the borders during the coming week's protests — as they did on the Syria-Israel border on May 15 — or to enter Jewish settlements in the West Bank in September.He said Israel will not react to nonviolent demonstrations, including large gatherings near the settlements, but that it would be forced to take action in life-threatening situations.On May 15, the day on which Palestinians mourn the anniversary of Israel's founding, hundreds of demonstrators in Syria broke through the frontier and entered the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, while in Lebanon, large crowds converged on the border. Some 14 protesters were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers, who were caught off guard by the attempts to breach the borders.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity under military guidelines, said the army will be much better prepared this time around. Larger numbers of troops will be deployed, he said, and they will be equipped with crowd-control tools such as rubber bullets and water cannons.With peace talks frozen, Palestinian activists have begun to talk about holding large, nonviolent protests throughout the West Bank after a U.N. vote in September.The official said Israel is not expecting large-scale violence at that time, but he warned it wouldn't take much to trigger an outbreak in fighting.Unfortunately, we have seen lots of demonstrations turn violent,he said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOjFA5-BplM&feature=player_embedded
Corporate Media Attacks Alex Jones, Defends TSA Perverts Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com May 29, 2011
Following a successful rally on the capitol in Austin last week to protest a decision by lawmakers to back down on a bill to stop TSA molestation, apologists for a tyrannical state are coming out of the woodwork in defense of goons sticking their hands down the pants of six year old kids.One such apologist is Bud Kennedy, who writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. According to Kennedy, the protest was all about showboat Alex Jones and had nothing to do with perverts in blue latex gloves fondling the breasts of pregnant women.Kennedy is apparently unable to get his facts straight. He says Jones is a SiriusXM radio talk show host and that is how he raised awareness about this pivotal issue. In fact, Jones made his call to meet at the capitol in downtown Austin over local terrestrial radio, shortwave, micro-radio and the internet, where he dominates in the talk radio arena.But Kennedy’s inability to report reality is secondary. What’s really disgusting is his support for the state and its pathological insistence it must grab the testicles of children in order to supposedly stop terrorism by a shadowy group with links to intelligence agencies.
For the real deal on the protest last week, see Jones’ report below.Kennedy’s not alone in challenging critics of the TSA abusers. Gary Scharrer, writing for The Houston Chronicle, also attempted to make reasonable protest against federal tyranny out to be the ravings of crackpots.
Here’s Kennedy’s article, posted on Saturday:Bud Kennedy Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Crazy session of Texas Legislature just gets crazier
As if there weren’t already enough showboats in the Texas Legislature, the radio talkers landed last week.First, bizarro satellite radio host Alex Jones led a madcap march on the Capitol. About 100 of Jones’ listeners descended on the Senate, calling senators cowards and federal pimps for not passing a bill to outlaw close pat-downs at airports.Tea Party Republicans somehow persuaded this Washington-bashing Legislature to pass a bill essentially making it a misdemeanor for airport security officers to pat anyone’s crotch or shirt.With the Senate poised to vote, San Antonio-based U.S. Attorney John Murphy warned lawmakers by letter Tuesday that the security agency would cancel any flight or series of flights without close searches.
In other words -- no pat-downs, then no flights to Texas.On Wednesday, in the middle of a Capitol workday, Jones invited SiriusXM listeners to gather and led them through the halls chanting,Criminal! Treason! Each senator is an enemy of the Republic and the Republic of Texas! he shouted in a Texas Tribune video.After forced pat-downs,next is the forced inoculations and the federal blood draws, Jones said. It's a battle plan.Jones has been doing the same show in Austin for 20 years, first on public-access cable TV with leaflets about black helicopters and global conspiracies. First crusading for a Branch Davidians memorial, then blaming the U.S. for 9-11, he has grown into a satellite and shortwave crank.Alex is fascinating because he has gathered a large audience through new media,said Michael Harrison, the executive of Massachusetts-based Talkers magazine.Jones will headline the magazine's talk radio convention next month in New York.
A lot of what he says has some sense behind it, Harrison said.And some of it can be interpreted as crazy. But he knows how to draw an audience.The same could be said for state Sen. Dan Patrick, a former TV sports anchor turned religious conservative radio showman.Patrick carried the no-pat-down bill in the Senate. He accused Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of killing the bill through an elaborate political ploy.With Dewhurst considered a leading contender for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat, Patrick took a potshot: Someone who will not stand up to the federal government -- you have to ask yourself is that the kind of person that we need in the U.S. Senate.
The next day, we found out why Patrick was grandstanding. He said he's also interested in running for Senate.Instead of telling Texans first, though, he declared his interest on national radio to Washington-based talker Laura Ingraham.
Anything for a show.Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Twitter @budkennedy 817-390-7538 Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/05/28/3111653/crazy-session-of-texas-legislature.html#ixzz1NmtIgnIt
Sunday, May 29, 2011
EU WILLING TO WORK WITH HAMAS-FATAH
THIS GOVERNMENT HACK ON MY COMPUTER IT SEEMS LIKE THERES 2 SCREENS ON MY COMPUTER.THE ONE SCREEN COMES UP AND WHEN I SIGN IN A BOX COMES UP SAYING I CAN NOT SIGN IN ON THIS PROFILE.WHATEVER THAT MEANS I DON'T HAVE A CLUE.THERE DESTROYING MY COMPUTER FOR THE 6TH TIME NOW.I'M JUST LUCKY I CAN EVEN GET THESE STORIES ON TODAY.THE PERSECUSSION AGAINST ME IS ON BIGTIME.CHRISTIANS IM TRYING TO DOCUMENT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO MY COMPUTER SO USE WILL KNOW WHEN THE GOVERNMENTS ARE HACKING INTO YOUR COMPUTER TO DESTROY YOUR SITE FOR SPEAKING TRUTH.AND WHAT USE CAN EXPECT YOUR COMPUTER WILL BE DOING.THE HATERS CAN'T STAND SCRIPTURES BEING PUT IN THERE FACES.THEY ELIMINATE YOU FROM THE INTERNET FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THAT FRAUD ILLEGEL ALIEN BARRY SOETORO AKA BARACK (MUSLIM)HUSEIN OBAMA.THEY CAN EASILY DESTROY SOMEBODY LIKE ME WHO HAS NO MONEY AND WHO HAS TO DO EVERYTHING ON HIS OWN TO GET TRUTH OUT.ITS BEEN LIKE THIS EVER SINCE 2005 WHEN I WAS INSPIRED TO START THESE PROPHECY FULFILLED SITES.
Israel Thanks Canada for Defense at G8 Summit
by Chana Ya'ar MAY 29,11
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman made sure to pick up the phone and call his counterpart in Ottawa this weekend to thank him for Canada's stance at the G8 summit last week.Lieberman told John Baird, who recently came into the post, that Canada is a true friend of Israel.Israel's foreign minister added that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been correct in his reading of the situation to know that the 1967-1949 Armistice lines are incompatible with the demographic realities in the Jewish State – and are indefensible as borders.Harper blocked the G8 from issuing statements with any mention of the recommendation, stated by U.S. President Barack Obama in his Middle Eastern policy speech a week prior.Although G8 leaders called for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the group's final communique issued Friday in Deauville, France, the 1967 lines were not included.A day later, the Arab League issued its own communique, stating it would support the Palestinian Authority's refusal to return to any negotiations.
Instead, the Arab League will back a bid by the PA to appeal directly to the United Nations for recognition of a new Arab country called Palestine in Gaza, Judea and Samaria with much of Jerusalem as its capital – including many areas where Jews currently live and work.The peace process follow up committee at the Doha meeting in Qatar said it would request membership for the State of Palestine at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York in September. Qatar is set to chair that meeting, according to the current rotation.As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pointed out in his speech to the U.S. Congress last week, there are more than half a million Israelis, most of whom are Jewish, living in the areas claimed by the PA.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Ashton goes against US and Israel on Hamas
ANDREW RETTMAN 25.05.2011 @ 17:40 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton has indicated the bloc is willing to work with the new Palestinian unity government despite US and Israeli opposition.Ashton made the announcement in a press briefing in Brussels on Wednesday (25 May) about the EU's reaction to the Arab spring.I understand President Abbas' desire to move forward on reconciliation. We have all argued there needs to be a reconciliation and with caution we are moving to try and support his efforts. I say caution because we understand it needs to be based on principles of non-violence,she said, referring to Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas.Abbas' Fatah faction reached a unity pact with Hamas, a militant group that is registered as a terrorist entity by the EU, earlier this month. Hamas has said it is unwilling to change its charter, which calls for the obliteration of Israel, but is prepared to hold back on armed resistance for the time being.Ashton's open stance towards the unity government stands in opposition to the US and Israel.US President Barack Obama in a speech on the Arab spring on 19 May said: How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognise your right to exist? Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu one day before Ashton's statement told the US Congress: Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by the Palestinian version of Al Qaeda [Hamas]. So I say to President Abbas: Tear up your pact with Hamas! His speech made a solitary and negative reference to the EU's role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Commenting on Hamas attacks following the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from Gaza in 2005, he noted: The European observers in Gaza evaporated overnight.The Palestinian unity agreement comes as a prelude to Palestinian plans to seek full recognition of statehood from the UN general assembly in September, crossing another red line for the Israeli-US alliance.
For her part, Ashton indicated she will not try to steer EU countries' decision-making on the subject. But she noted that the main reason for the Palestinian move is the deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian talks.It will be up to individual countries in the general assembly that make their decision. But the challenge is that there is no alternative process going forward at the same time, she said on Wednesday.The EU high representative has on several occasions pointed to Israeli settlement building on Palestinian land as the main impediment to talks.I re-iterate that the EU considers that settlement activities in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law, undermine trust between the parties and constitute an obstacle to peace, she said on 6 April after Israel gave settlers permission to build 942 new housing units.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144576
Arab League Goes for Broke, Officially Abandons Talks
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu MAY 29,11
The Arab League has snubbed U.S. President Barack Obama and officially abandoned the path of negotiations with Israel for creating a Palestinian Authority state and will ask the United Nations to do so.The 23-member League, which includes the Palestinian Authority, said on Saturday in Qatar that it backs PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' strategy for the United Nations to recognize the PA as a country based on its unilateral demands that it wants Israel to accept before negotiations.The League held out the option of not turning to the United Nations if Israel shows it is ready to accept a Palestinian Authority state based on the Saudi Initiative of 2002, which includes the immigration to Israel of several million Arabs living in foreign countries, which have refused to grant them citizenship and a turning the 1949 indefensible Armistice lines into borders..Turning to the United Nations is a direct dismissal of President Obama’s insistence last week that it is not practical to ask the UN to recognize the Palestinian Authority as an independent country.The president said,I strongly believe that for the Palestinians to take the United Nations route rather than the path of sitting down and talking with the Israelis is a mistake.
In an interview with the BBC, he pointed out that it is not practical for the PA to be recognized by the United Nations.Hamas still hasn't recognized Israel's right to exist and renounce violence, or recognize that negotiations are the right path for solving this problem,he said.And it's very difficult for Israel in a realistic way to say we're going to sit across the table from somebody who denies our right to exist. And so that's an issue that the Palestinians are going to have to resolve.
Earlier last week, President Obama disappointed the Arab world by not directly talking about the issues of the status of Jerusalem and the issue of foreign Arabs that Abbas wants to flood Israel. The president said Israel and the Palestinian Authority should discuss the two issues after agreeing on the boundaries of a proposed PA state.In these circumstances, it seems better to me that we freeze discussion of the peace process until there is a partner ready for peace, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, who chaired the Arab League meting in Doha.The sound path is going through the United Nations and political struggle,Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, told Reuters. I believe that negotiations have become futile in light of all of these nos. What will you negotiate on?(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Egypt permanently opens Gaza border crossing
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press – Sat May 28, 9:08 am ET
RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egypt lifted a four-year-old blockade on the Gaza Strip's main link to the outside world Saturday, bringing relief to the crowded territory's 1.5 million Palestinians but deepening a rift with Israel since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.The Egyptian move will allow thousands of Gazans to move freely in and out of the area — heightening Israeli fears that militants and weapons could easily reach its doorstep.Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after the Islamic militant Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. The closure, which also included tight Israeli restrictions at its cargo crossings with Gaza and a naval blockade, was meant to weaken Hamas, but it also fueled an economic crisis in the densely populated territory.Hundreds of Gazans gathered early Saturday as the first bus load of passengers crossed the border at 9 a.m. Two Egyptian officers stood guard next to a large Egyptian flag atop the border gate as the vehicle rumbled through.Rami Arafat, 52, was among the earliest arrivals. He said he hoped to catch a flight out of Cairo on Sunday to Algeria for his daughter's wedding.
All we need is to travel like humans, be treated with dignity, and feel like any other citizens of the world who can travel in and out freely, Arafat said. He said he believed the relaxing of travel restrictions will guarantee more support from all Arabs and Palestinians for the new Egyptian regime.Nearby, 28-year-old Khaled Halaweh said he was headed to Egypt to study for a master's degree in engineering at Alexandria University.The closure did not affect only the travel of passengers or the flowing of goods. Our brains and our thoughts were under blockade, said Halaweh, who said he hadn't been out of Gaza for seven years.Until Saturday, the Rafah border terminal had functioned at a limited capacity. Only certain classes of people, such as students, businessmen or medical patients, were eligible to travel and the crossing was often subject to closures, leading to huge backlogs that forced people to wait for months.Under the new system, most restrictions are being lifted, and a much larger number of Palestinians are expected to be able to cross each day.
Inside the border terminal Saturday, the atmosphere was orderly, as Hamas police called up passengers one by one to register their travel documents.After 5 1/2 hours of operation, terminal officials said 340 people had crossed from Gaza into Egypt. None were forced to return, a departure from the past when Egypt had rejected passengers found to be on blacklists. Another 150 people crossed from Egypt into Gaza.Today is a cornerstone for a new era that we hope will pave the road to ending the siege and blockade on Gaza, said Hatem Awideh, director general of the Hamas border authority in Gaza. We hope this facilitation by our Egyptian brothers will improve travel and will allow everyone to leave Gaza.One after another buses crossed Rafah, pulling blue carts behind them with luggage piled high. Inside the terminal, many waited with high hopes.One woman, who gave her name as Aisha, said she was headed for a long overdue medical checkup in Cairo. She underwent surgery for blocked arteries at a Cairo hospital in October, but Egyptian authorities had prevented her from returning for checkups because a distant relative was caught — and killed — operating a smuggling tunnel on the Gaza-Egypt border. During the four-year blockade, a thriving smuggling business has grown along the border.Salama Baraka, head of police at the Rafah terminal on the Gaza side, said travel has been limited to about 300 passengers a day under the old system. He said it was unclear how many people would pass through Saturday, but that officials hoped to get about three days' worth of people, or roughly 900, across.About 100 Hamas supporters marched with Palestinian and Egyptian flags outside the border terminal in a gesture of gratitude to Egypt.This courageous step by Egypt reflects the deep historic relations between the Palestinian and Egyptian nations, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri.We hope this will be a step in the long process to end the blockade imposed on Gaza.
The new system will not resolve Gazans' travel woes completely.While Egypt has dropped its restrictions on who can travel, bureaucratic obstacles remain. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 will have to apply for Egyptian visas, a process that can take weeks. Women, children and older men need easier-to-obtain travel permits, which can be obtained in several days.Israel, which controls Gaza's cargo crossings, allows most consumer goods into Gaza, but it still restricts exports as well as the entry of much-needed construction materials, saying they could be used by militants. Israel also enforces a naval blockade aimed at weapons smuggling.Israeli and American officials have expressed concerns that Hamas will exploit the opening to bring weapons and fighters into Gaza. In January 2008, masked militants blew open the Rafah border wall, allowing thousands of people to pour in and out of Egypt.
Egyptian officials say they have security measures in place to keep weapons from crossing through Rafah.Hamas has long used tunnels to get arms into Gaza. Gaza militants now have military-grade rockets that have hit cities in southern Israel.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official, told Channel 2 TV Friday that Israel's primary concern is that military training personnel could cross to instruct Hamas fighters.One trainer who tells them how to set up the rockets and how to use them is equal to a large quantity of weapons, Gilad said.Egypt's decision to open the border is also meant to boost an Egyptian-mediated unity deal between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. Hamas has governed Gaza since routing Fatah forces in 2007, leaving the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in control only of the West Bank.Last month, the Egyptian regime brokered a reconciliation deal. With details still being worked out, Hamas will be in charge of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, but Egypt coordinated the opening with the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, said Yaser Afnan, Egypt's ambassador in the West Bank.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Netanyahu Rallies around United Jerusalem
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu MAY 29,11
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, feeling the political winds in his favor, told the Cabinet Sunday that a unified Jerusalem is the heart of the country and added that the government is committed to building in all parts of the city.The Cabinet is expected to approve on Sunday NIS 290 million ($83 million) to strengthen the city’s economy, with most of the money to be allocated for tourism and biotech research and development.Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments at a special Cabinet meeting in the Old City came two days before the eve of Jerusalem Unification Day, which falls on Thursday night, celebrating 44 years since all of the capital was restored to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan, without United Nations authorization, occupied the southern, northern and eastern neighborhoods, where more than 250,000 Jews now live.
The Obama administration has labeled the neighborhoods as illegitimate settlements, backing the Palestinian Authority claim that they should be under its sovereignty in any future PA state.Prime Minister Netanyahu repeated to Cabinet ministers what he told members of Congress last week, when he re-declared the principle of an eternal and united Jerusalem.However, the government never has stated which areas of Jerusalem, if any, would be ceded to the Palestinian Authority in a final status plan for its becoming an independent country. Several Arab-populated areas of the city are situated beyond the security barrier, and the Palestinian Authority unofficially operates in several neighborhoods.U.S.President Barack Obama declared in his 2008 campaign said that Jerusalem is Israel’s united and eternal capital but quickly backtracked after howls from the Palestinian Authority. He later explained that he meant the city never again will be divided by barbed wire fences, which Jordan placed after the War for Independence in 1949.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Arab League chief backs U.N. path for Palestinians
By Ali Sawafta – Sat May 28, 8:39 am ET
DOHA (Reuters) – The head of the Arab League said on Saturday the Palestinians should seek U.N. recognition for their statehood in September because negotiations with Israel have proven futile.The sound path is going to the United Nations and political struggle, Amr Moussa told Reuters.He was speaking in Doha, where Arab League member states were to meet later on Saturday to discuss Palestinian options in the wake of major policy speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Moussa said a vision presented by Netanyahu in a speech to the U.S. Congress this week had amounted to a series of no's.I believe that negotiations have become futile in light of all of these no's. What will you negotiate on? Moussa said, referring to the Netanyahu speech which the Palestinians said put more obstacles in the path of the moribund peace process.Netanyahu said he was willing to make concessions for peace but repeated terms long rejected by the Palestinians, including an insistence that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state and accept Israel keeping settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Doha for the meeting of the Arab League's peace process committee, said this week he would seek U.N. recognition for Palestinian statehood if there was no breakthrough in the peace process by September.
The Palestinians currently have the status of U.N. observers without voting rights, but are hoping that at September's General Assembly they can persuade other nations to accept them as a sovereign member.Both Netanyahu and Obama have criticized the move, and although U.S. opposition means the Palestinians have very little chance of success, the Israelis fear the maneuvering will leave them looking increasingly vulnerable on the diplomatic front.U.S.-brokered talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down last September in a dispute over continued Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.In a bid to break the deadlock, Obama said in a major policy speech last week that a future Palestinian state should be based on the borders as they existed on the eve of the 1967 Middle East, with land swaps mutually agreed with Israel.Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in that war.Netanyahu immediately rejected Obama's proposal saying it would leave Israel with indefensible borders. Abbas described the idea as a foundation with which we can deal positively.(Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Police crack down on Spanish anti-austerity camp
LEIGH PHILLIPS 27.05.2011 @ 18:37 CET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geg_6Xoy04s&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw3lElRNw9E&feature=player_embedded
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Police launched a morning crackdown on anti-austerity protesters camped out in the main square in the Catalan city of Barcelona on Friday (27 May).According to eyewitnesses, riot police moved in to Placa de Catalunya between 7 and 8 am, firing rubber bullets, tear gas and baton-charging the protesters. Footage from the encampment shows police attacking peaceful demonstrators without prior provocation.Some two individuals were arrested, with 46 injured and five admitted to hospital.Protestors describing themselves as los indignados, or the indignant ones - after the best-selling 2010 book Indignez-vous! (published in English as Time for Outrage) by 94-year-old celebrated French resistance fighter Frederic Hessel - have occupied the plaza in the Catalan capital since 15 May to display their indignation at the soaring levels of unemployment, political corruption and a system they say benefits the wealthy at the expense of others.The encampment had grown to include its own infrastructure, with cooking facilities, soundsystems and even bookshops.The police said that it was necessary to remove the encampment for sanitary reasons and to prevent unrest ahead of the Champions' League final football match between Manchester and Barcelona in Wembley on Saturday.However, while the authorities were initially successful in clearing the area, protesters issued an appeal over social networks for people to come to the square to defend the camp. According to those present, the police were quickly outnumbered and the square has been retaken by protesters with a renewed sense of anger.
The police were quite brutal. People were sitting down and the police just batoned them, but many more of us arrived, with Twitter, Facebook, text messages calling people to Placa Catalunya,Oscar Reyes, one of the campers, told EUobserver.Whether they planned to or not, the police have retreated for now,he added.I think the police don't know what to do. They did manage to clear the square, but then they let people back and now there's a genuine felling of, well, indignation.The Indignados have begun to rebuild the camp, and plans are afoot to spread the movement to different neighbourhoods across the city.Meanwhile the so-called Indignant movement, which rapidly spread to Greece, was readying its third night of protests across the Hellenic republic.Similar protests in Dublin and Cork in solidarity with the Spanish campers have also been announced for 2pm on Saturday.
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-10 WORLD REGIONS) 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).
G8: Greece must do more to sort out debt problems
LEIGH PHILLIPS 27.05.2011 @ 09:24 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Group of Eight leading industrial economies has warned Greece to do more to resolve its current debt issues.Meeting in Deauville, France, on Thursday (26 May) the leaders of the G8 countries put the Greek situation and the eurozone crisis under the microscope, according to the Japanese delegation, worried that the ongoing problems in Europe are hitting the world's economic recovery.Many leaders pointed out that Europe's debt problem, the price hikes of oil, food and commodities, and the overheating of emerging economies are among factors that put downwards pressure on the global economy,said Japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary, Tetsuro Fukuyama, briefing journalists on the state of discussions.Especially on Greece's debt problem, many leaders expressed the view that it is important that Greece further works on its fiscal reform and it should work with the IMF on this issue, he said.American delegates reportedly demanded a discussion of the weak standing of the euro and how this could hurt US exports. One of the brightest spots in the American recovery is a return to growth in its manufacturing sector largely on the back of a weaker dollar. A sliding euro could undermine this success.Speaking to reporters at the meeting, EU Council President Herman van Rompuy said that Europe would not let the euro fall.Regarding a possible restructuring of the Greek debt, we will do our utmost not to face a default, not to face a credit event,he said.We will do everything we can to maintain financial stability of Eurozone.We trust Greece will take all necessary measures and all necessary reforms to reach the fiscal goals that have been decided upon, he continued.
He also said that the EU countries in the G8, Britain, France, Italy and Germany, were not there to negotiate with the US over a second Greek bail-out.Without Washington's support, the IMF could not involve itself in a second rescue of Greece, a position that may be in doubt.Already on Thursday, the chair of the eurogroup of nations, Jean-Claude Juncker, hinted that Greece may not see delivery of its latest tranche of bail-out cash if the latest review by inspectors of its budgeting does not deliver a passing grade.I'm not the spokesman of the International Monetary Fund, but the rules say they can only disburse if there is a financing guarantee for the 12-month period, he said, speaking in Luxembourg.He added that he feared Greece may not ace this test.I don't think that the troika [inspectors from the EU, ECB and IMF] will come to the conclusion that this is given, he said.He added that the EU would not be able to pick up the slack should the IMF not sign off.The expectation of the IMF is that the Europeans would step in for the IMF and take upon themselves the IMF's portion of the financing ... That won't work. We are looking very carefully at what the IMF does, and if they don't say a new tranche in loans should go the Greeks, then we won't either.The EU members of the G8 are expected to issue a statement in Deauville commiting themselves to resolving the eurozone crisis.
Report: EU banks held billions in Libyan assets
ANDREW WILLIS 27.05.2011 @ 09:22 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European banks are among the list of firms to have managed billions of euros worths of assets belonging to the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) in recent years, Libya's sovereign wealth fund closely linked to dictator Colonel Gaddafi.A report leaked to the campaign group Global Witness this month, and seen by this website, appears to detail the location of $53 billion (€38bn) of Libyan state assets on 30 June 2010.Several top EU banks are listed as among those happy to profit off Libyan state oil revenues, with French bank Societe Generale holding $1.8 billion of LIA money in three funds.HSBC held $293 million on deposit across various accounts, with a further $275 million stashed in an HSBC hedge fund, according to the report.Private equity funds belonging to the Royal Bank of Scotland managed $110 million, while $182 million was held in accounts and funds run by US investment bank Goldman Sachs.The EU has since imposed sanctions and frozen LIA assets following Libya's popular uprising this year and the wave of violence directed by Gaddafi towards rebels and civilians, but the banks still refuse to confirm they are holding the funds, says Global Witness.It is completely absurd that banks like HSBC and Goldman Sachs can hide behind customer confidentiality in a case like this, the group's director, Charmian Gooch, said.These are state accounts, so the customer is effectively the Libyan people and these banks are withholding vital information from them.The Gaddafi family has significant personal control over the state funds invested in the Libyan Investment Authority, stresses the campaign group, with the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court recently saying: Gaddafi makes no distinction between his personal assets and the resources of the country.Leaders of the G8 club of rich nations discussed Libya and the country's dictator during a summit in Deauville, France, on Thursday (26 May).
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Gaddafi to step down, declaring that all options are open. He added:We are not saying that Gaddafi needs to be exiled. He must leave power and the quicker he does it, the greater his choice.In Brussels, Libya's EU ambassador Hadeiba Hadi on Thursday defected along with his staff to join the struggle for greater democracy, the decision coming some weeks after other Libyan diplomats around the world decided to switch sides.After more than four months of the blood-letting of our people, my colleagues and myself at the Libyan popular bureau in Brussels find ourselves obliged to announce our decision to no longer represent the regime, Hadi said in a statement, reports AFP.
North Africa revolutions spotlight EU policy further south ANDREW WILLIS 28.05.2011 @ 08:32 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The recent wave of pro-democracy revolutions in north Africa and the implications for EU relations with the wider continent are among the thorny topics set to dominate an EU-Africa meeting next week.Sub-Saharan Africa still counts a number of repressive leaders amongst its ranks, while discussions on conflict resolution in Libya could also prove divisive. The African Union favours a ceasefire in its member state, while European airplanes are among those actively bombing military targets near Tripoli and elsewhere in the country.The two-day meeting in Brussels (31 May - 1 June) will take place between members of the European Commission and the African Union (AU) Commission, with AU chairman Jean Ping among the eight senior African officials scheduled to visit the European capital.Despite recent alterations to the EU's neighbourhood policy, under which funding for recipient north African and east European states will become increasingly tied to reforms, an equivalent tightening is less evident for sub-Saharan Africa.We are shaping a new policy ... but the question of repressive regimes is not as simple as saying now you don't get any more money, Klaus Rudischhauser, director for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries with the commission told journalists at a briefing on Friday (27 May).Things are a little bit more complex but they are on the agenda.European development commissioner Andris Piebalgs is scheduled to publish a communication this autumn, outlining new orientations for the bloc's development policy, including aid criteria for countries with governance problems.The aim of our development policy is poverty reduction. That means finding a way to do something for people on the ground, without doing too much to support the government of which we may not approve, Rudischhauser said.He also noted that the EU has been largely responsible for tackling the humanitarian crisis caused by the Libyan conflict, and pointed to divisions within the African Union itself:As strongly as it acts when there is a coup d'etat, excluding governments which have an unconstitutional change of government ... Libya remains a member of the African Union.Other key African developments are expected to appear on the agenda, including the recent installment of Alassane Ouattara as president of the Ivory Coast and Sudan's imminent division into two states.
A series of thematic sessions will precede a plenary session between the two colleges, with a meeting on security set to address issues of drugs trafficking and maritime piracy. Economic growth, regional integration, the Millennium Development Goals, climate change, agriculture and food security are also set to be discussed in the thematic meetings.The subject of mineral exploitation has been added to the list of debates, with a recent EU raw materials communication underlying Europe's determination to secure sufficient access of supply.At the same time, NGOs and some MEPs are pressing the EU to introduce new rules to stamp out 'conflict minerals' from entering Europe, with the control of lucrative mining businesses in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo widely reported to be fueling the region's ongoing bloody conflict, born out the Rwandan genocide of 1994.The United States is in the process of introducing a system of 'due diligence' reporting for companies listed on American stock exchanges, under which firms must ensure minerals such as tin, tungsten and tantalum are sourced from de-militarized mines.The EU is considering this issue but has nothing planned for the moment, a source indicated to this website on the due diligence issue.They also confirmed that an assessment over the need for EU special envoys could see the region's representative in the African Great Lake's region being scrapped.There is a process of review underway at the moment. EU delegations under the external action service can do a lot of the work formerly carried out by special envoys,said the official.
Israel Thanks Canada for Defense at G8 Summit
by Chana Ya'ar MAY 29,11
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman made sure to pick up the phone and call his counterpart in Ottawa this weekend to thank him for Canada's stance at the G8 summit last week.Lieberman told John Baird, who recently came into the post, that Canada is a true friend of Israel.Israel's foreign minister added that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been correct in his reading of the situation to know that the 1967-1949 Armistice lines are incompatible with the demographic realities in the Jewish State – and are indefensible as borders.Harper blocked the G8 from issuing statements with any mention of the recommendation, stated by U.S. President Barack Obama in his Middle Eastern policy speech a week prior.Although G8 leaders called for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the group's final communique issued Friday in Deauville, France, the 1967 lines were not included.A day later, the Arab League issued its own communique, stating it would support the Palestinian Authority's refusal to return to any negotiations.
Instead, the Arab League will back a bid by the PA to appeal directly to the United Nations for recognition of a new Arab country called Palestine in Gaza, Judea and Samaria with much of Jerusalem as its capital – including many areas where Jews currently live and work.The peace process follow up committee at the Doha meeting in Qatar said it would request membership for the State of Palestine at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York in September. Qatar is set to chair that meeting, according to the current rotation.As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pointed out in his speech to the U.S. Congress last week, there are more than half a million Israelis, most of whom are Jewish, living in the areas claimed by the PA.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Ashton goes against US and Israel on Hamas
ANDREW RETTMAN 25.05.2011 @ 17:40 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton has indicated the bloc is willing to work with the new Palestinian unity government despite US and Israeli opposition.Ashton made the announcement in a press briefing in Brussels on Wednesday (25 May) about the EU's reaction to the Arab spring.I understand President Abbas' desire to move forward on reconciliation. We have all argued there needs to be a reconciliation and with caution we are moving to try and support his efforts. I say caution because we understand it needs to be based on principles of non-violence,she said, referring to Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas.Abbas' Fatah faction reached a unity pact with Hamas, a militant group that is registered as a terrorist entity by the EU, earlier this month. Hamas has said it is unwilling to change its charter, which calls for the obliteration of Israel, but is prepared to hold back on armed resistance for the time being.Ashton's open stance towards the unity government stands in opposition to the US and Israel.US President Barack Obama in a speech on the Arab spring on 19 May said: How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognise your right to exist? Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu one day before Ashton's statement told the US Congress: Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by the Palestinian version of Al Qaeda [Hamas]. So I say to President Abbas: Tear up your pact with Hamas! His speech made a solitary and negative reference to the EU's role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Commenting on Hamas attacks following the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from Gaza in 2005, he noted: The European observers in Gaza evaporated overnight.The Palestinian unity agreement comes as a prelude to Palestinian plans to seek full recognition of statehood from the UN general assembly in September, crossing another red line for the Israeli-US alliance.
For her part, Ashton indicated she will not try to steer EU countries' decision-making on the subject. But she noted that the main reason for the Palestinian move is the deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian talks.It will be up to individual countries in the general assembly that make their decision. But the challenge is that there is no alternative process going forward at the same time, she said on Wednesday.The EU high representative has on several occasions pointed to Israeli settlement building on Palestinian land as the main impediment to talks.I re-iterate that the EU considers that settlement activities in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law, undermine trust between the parties and constitute an obstacle to peace, she said on 6 April after Israel gave settlers permission to build 942 new housing units.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144576
Arab League Goes for Broke, Officially Abandons Talks
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu MAY 29,11
The Arab League has snubbed U.S. President Barack Obama and officially abandoned the path of negotiations with Israel for creating a Palestinian Authority state and will ask the United Nations to do so.The 23-member League, which includes the Palestinian Authority, said on Saturday in Qatar that it backs PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' strategy for the United Nations to recognize the PA as a country based on its unilateral demands that it wants Israel to accept before negotiations.The League held out the option of not turning to the United Nations if Israel shows it is ready to accept a Palestinian Authority state based on the Saudi Initiative of 2002, which includes the immigration to Israel of several million Arabs living in foreign countries, which have refused to grant them citizenship and a turning the 1949 indefensible Armistice lines into borders..Turning to the United Nations is a direct dismissal of President Obama’s insistence last week that it is not practical to ask the UN to recognize the Palestinian Authority as an independent country.The president said,I strongly believe that for the Palestinians to take the United Nations route rather than the path of sitting down and talking with the Israelis is a mistake.
In an interview with the BBC, he pointed out that it is not practical for the PA to be recognized by the United Nations.Hamas still hasn't recognized Israel's right to exist and renounce violence, or recognize that negotiations are the right path for solving this problem,he said.And it's very difficult for Israel in a realistic way to say we're going to sit across the table from somebody who denies our right to exist. And so that's an issue that the Palestinians are going to have to resolve.
Earlier last week, President Obama disappointed the Arab world by not directly talking about the issues of the status of Jerusalem and the issue of foreign Arabs that Abbas wants to flood Israel. The president said Israel and the Palestinian Authority should discuss the two issues after agreeing on the boundaries of a proposed PA state.In these circumstances, it seems better to me that we freeze discussion of the peace process until there is a partner ready for peace, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, who chaired the Arab League meting in Doha.The sound path is going through the United Nations and political struggle,Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, told Reuters. I believe that negotiations have become futile in light of all of these nos. What will you negotiate on?(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Egypt permanently opens Gaza border crossing
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press – Sat May 28, 9:08 am ET
RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egypt lifted a four-year-old blockade on the Gaza Strip's main link to the outside world Saturday, bringing relief to the crowded territory's 1.5 million Palestinians but deepening a rift with Israel since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.The Egyptian move will allow thousands of Gazans to move freely in and out of the area — heightening Israeli fears that militants and weapons could easily reach its doorstep.Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after the Islamic militant Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. The closure, which also included tight Israeli restrictions at its cargo crossings with Gaza and a naval blockade, was meant to weaken Hamas, but it also fueled an economic crisis in the densely populated territory.Hundreds of Gazans gathered early Saturday as the first bus load of passengers crossed the border at 9 a.m. Two Egyptian officers stood guard next to a large Egyptian flag atop the border gate as the vehicle rumbled through.Rami Arafat, 52, was among the earliest arrivals. He said he hoped to catch a flight out of Cairo on Sunday to Algeria for his daughter's wedding.
All we need is to travel like humans, be treated with dignity, and feel like any other citizens of the world who can travel in and out freely, Arafat said. He said he believed the relaxing of travel restrictions will guarantee more support from all Arabs and Palestinians for the new Egyptian regime.Nearby, 28-year-old Khaled Halaweh said he was headed to Egypt to study for a master's degree in engineering at Alexandria University.The closure did not affect only the travel of passengers or the flowing of goods. Our brains and our thoughts were under blockade, said Halaweh, who said he hadn't been out of Gaza for seven years.Until Saturday, the Rafah border terminal had functioned at a limited capacity. Only certain classes of people, such as students, businessmen or medical patients, were eligible to travel and the crossing was often subject to closures, leading to huge backlogs that forced people to wait for months.Under the new system, most restrictions are being lifted, and a much larger number of Palestinians are expected to be able to cross each day.
Inside the border terminal Saturday, the atmosphere was orderly, as Hamas police called up passengers one by one to register their travel documents.After 5 1/2 hours of operation, terminal officials said 340 people had crossed from Gaza into Egypt. None were forced to return, a departure from the past when Egypt had rejected passengers found to be on blacklists. Another 150 people crossed from Egypt into Gaza.Today is a cornerstone for a new era that we hope will pave the road to ending the siege and blockade on Gaza, said Hatem Awideh, director general of the Hamas border authority in Gaza. We hope this facilitation by our Egyptian brothers will improve travel and will allow everyone to leave Gaza.One after another buses crossed Rafah, pulling blue carts behind them with luggage piled high. Inside the terminal, many waited with high hopes.One woman, who gave her name as Aisha, said she was headed for a long overdue medical checkup in Cairo. She underwent surgery for blocked arteries at a Cairo hospital in October, but Egyptian authorities had prevented her from returning for checkups because a distant relative was caught — and killed — operating a smuggling tunnel on the Gaza-Egypt border. During the four-year blockade, a thriving smuggling business has grown along the border.Salama Baraka, head of police at the Rafah terminal on the Gaza side, said travel has been limited to about 300 passengers a day under the old system. He said it was unclear how many people would pass through Saturday, but that officials hoped to get about three days' worth of people, or roughly 900, across.About 100 Hamas supporters marched with Palestinian and Egyptian flags outside the border terminal in a gesture of gratitude to Egypt.This courageous step by Egypt reflects the deep historic relations between the Palestinian and Egyptian nations, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri.We hope this will be a step in the long process to end the blockade imposed on Gaza.
The new system will not resolve Gazans' travel woes completely.While Egypt has dropped its restrictions on who can travel, bureaucratic obstacles remain. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 will have to apply for Egyptian visas, a process that can take weeks. Women, children and older men need easier-to-obtain travel permits, which can be obtained in several days.Israel, which controls Gaza's cargo crossings, allows most consumer goods into Gaza, but it still restricts exports as well as the entry of much-needed construction materials, saying they could be used by militants. Israel also enforces a naval blockade aimed at weapons smuggling.Israeli and American officials have expressed concerns that Hamas will exploit the opening to bring weapons and fighters into Gaza. In January 2008, masked militants blew open the Rafah border wall, allowing thousands of people to pour in and out of Egypt.
Egyptian officials say they have security measures in place to keep weapons from crossing through Rafah.Hamas has long used tunnels to get arms into Gaza. Gaza militants now have military-grade rockets that have hit cities in southern Israel.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official, told Channel 2 TV Friday that Israel's primary concern is that military training personnel could cross to instruct Hamas fighters.One trainer who tells them how to set up the rockets and how to use them is equal to a large quantity of weapons, Gilad said.Egypt's decision to open the border is also meant to boost an Egyptian-mediated unity deal between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. Hamas has governed Gaza since routing Fatah forces in 2007, leaving the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in control only of the West Bank.Last month, the Egyptian regime brokered a reconciliation deal. With details still being worked out, Hamas will be in charge of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, but Egypt coordinated the opening with the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, said Yaser Afnan, Egypt's ambassador in the West Bank.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Netanyahu Rallies around United Jerusalem
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu MAY 29,11
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, feeling the political winds in his favor, told the Cabinet Sunday that a unified Jerusalem is the heart of the country and added that the government is committed to building in all parts of the city.The Cabinet is expected to approve on Sunday NIS 290 million ($83 million) to strengthen the city’s economy, with most of the money to be allocated for tourism and biotech research and development.Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments at a special Cabinet meeting in the Old City came two days before the eve of Jerusalem Unification Day, which falls on Thursday night, celebrating 44 years since all of the capital was restored to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan, without United Nations authorization, occupied the southern, northern and eastern neighborhoods, where more than 250,000 Jews now live.
The Obama administration has labeled the neighborhoods as illegitimate settlements, backing the Palestinian Authority claim that they should be under its sovereignty in any future PA state.Prime Minister Netanyahu repeated to Cabinet ministers what he told members of Congress last week, when he re-declared the principle of an eternal and united Jerusalem.However, the government never has stated which areas of Jerusalem, if any, would be ceded to the Palestinian Authority in a final status plan for its becoming an independent country. Several Arab-populated areas of the city are situated beyond the security barrier, and the Palestinian Authority unofficially operates in several neighborhoods.U.S.President Barack Obama declared in his 2008 campaign said that Jerusalem is Israel’s united and eternal capital but quickly backtracked after howls from the Palestinian Authority. He later explained that he meant the city never again will be divided by barbed wire fences, which Jordan placed after the War for Independence in 1949.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Arab League chief backs U.N. path for Palestinians
By Ali Sawafta – Sat May 28, 8:39 am ET
DOHA (Reuters) – The head of the Arab League said on Saturday the Palestinians should seek U.N. recognition for their statehood in September because negotiations with Israel have proven futile.The sound path is going to the United Nations and political struggle, Amr Moussa told Reuters.He was speaking in Doha, where Arab League member states were to meet later on Saturday to discuss Palestinian options in the wake of major policy speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Moussa said a vision presented by Netanyahu in a speech to the U.S. Congress this week had amounted to a series of no's.I believe that negotiations have become futile in light of all of these no's. What will you negotiate on? Moussa said, referring to the Netanyahu speech which the Palestinians said put more obstacles in the path of the moribund peace process.Netanyahu said he was willing to make concessions for peace but repeated terms long rejected by the Palestinians, including an insistence that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state and accept Israel keeping settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Doha for the meeting of the Arab League's peace process committee, said this week he would seek U.N. recognition for Palestinian statehood if there was no breakthrough in the peace process by September.
The Palestinians currently have the status of U.N. observers without voting rights, but are hoping that at September's General Assembly they can persuade other nations to accept them as a sovereign member.Both Netanyahu and Obama have criticized the move, and although U.S. opposition means the Palestinians have very little chance of success, the Israelis fear the maneuvering will leave them looking increasingly vulnerable on the diplomatic front.U.S.-brokered talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down last September in a dispute over continued Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.In a bid to break the deadlock, Obama said in a major policy speech last week that a future Palestinian state should be based on the borders as they existed on the eve of the 1967 Middle East, with land swaps mutually agreed with Israel.Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in that war.Netanyahu immediately rejected Obama's proposal saying it would leave Israel with indefensible borders. Abbas described the idea as a foundation with which we can deal positively.(Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Police crack down on Spanish anti-austerity camp
LEIGH PHILLIPS 27.05.2011 @ 18:37 CET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geg_6Xoy04s&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw3lElRNw9E&feature=player_embedded
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Police launched a morning crackdown on anti-austerity protesters camped out in the main square in the Catalan city of Barcelona on Friday (27 May).According to eyewitnesses, riot police moved in to Placa de Catalunya between 7 and 8 am, firing rubber bullets, tear gas and baton-charging the protesters. Footage from the encampment shows police attacking peaceful demonstrators without prior provocation.Some two individuals were arrested, with 46 injured and five admitted to hospital.Protestors describing themselves as los indignados, or the indignant ones - after the best-selling 2010 book Indignez-vous! (published in English as Time for Outrage) by 94-year-old celebrated French resistance fighter Frederic Hessel - have occupied the plaza in the Catalan capital since 15 May to display their indignation at the soaring levels of unemployment, political corruption and a system they say benefits the wealthy at the expense of others.The encampment had grown to include its own infrastructure, with cooking facilities, soundsystems and even bookshops.The police said that it was necessary to remove the encampment for sanitary reasons and to prevent unrest ahead of the Champions' League final football match between Manchester and Barcelona in Wembley on Saturday.However, while the authorities were initially successful in clearing the area, protesters issued an appeal over social networks for people to come to the square to defend the camp. According to those present, the police were quickly outnumbered and the square has been retaken by protesters with a renewed sense of anger.
The police were quite brutal. People were sitting down and the police just batoned them, but many more of us arrived, with Twitter, Facebook, text messages calling people to Placa Catalunya,Oscar Reyes, one of the campers, told EUobserver.Whether they planned to or not, the police have retreated for now,he added.I think the police don't know what to do. They did manage to clear the square, but then they let people back and now there's a genuine felling of, well, indignation.The Indignados have begun to rebuild the camp, and plans are afoot to spread the movement to different neighbourhoods across the city.Meanwhile the so-called Indignant movement, which rapidly spread to Greece, was readying its third night of protests across the Hellenic republic.Similar protests in Dublin and Cork in solidarity with the Spanish campers have also been announced for 2pm on Saturday.
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-10 WORLD REGIONS) 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).
G8: Greece must do more to sort out debt problems
LEIGH PHILLIPS 27.05.2011 @ 09:24 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Group of Eight leading industrial economies has warned Greece to do more to resolve its current debt issues.Meeting in Deauville, France, on Thursday (26 May) the leaders of the G8 countries put the Greek situation and the eurozone crisis under the microscope, according to the Japanese delegation, worried that the ongoing problems in Europe are hitting the world's economic recovery.Many leaders pointed out that Europe's debt problem, the price hikes of oil, food and commodities, and the overheating of emerging economies are among factors that put downwards pressure on the global economy,said Japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary, Tetsuro Fukuyama, briefing journalists on the state of discussions.Especially on Greece's debt problem, many leaders expressed the view that it is important that Greece further works on its fiscal reform and it should work with the IMF on this issue, he said.American delegates reportedly demanded a discussion of the weak standing of the euro and how this could hurt US exports. One of the brightest spots in the American recovery is a return to growth in its manufacturing sector largely on the back of a weaker dollar. A sliding euro could undermine this success.Speaking to reporters at the meeting, EU Council President Herman van Rompuy said that Europe would not let the euro fall.Regarding a possible restructuring of the Greek debt, we will do our utmost not to face a default, not to face a credit event,he said.We will do everything we can to maintain financial stability of Eurozone.We trust Greece will take all necessary measures and all necessary reforms to reach the fiscal goals that have been decided upon, he continued.
He also said that the EU countries in the G8, Britain, France, Italy and Germany, were not there to negotiate with the US over a second Greek bail-out.Without Washington's support, the IMF could not involve itself in a second rescue of Greece, a position that may be in doubt.Already on Thursday, the chair of the eurogroup of nations, Jean-Claude Juncker, hinted that Greece may not see delivery of its latest tranche of bail-out cash if the latest review by inspectors of its budgeting does not deliver a passing grade.I'm not the spokesman of the International Monetary Fund, but the rules say they can only disburse if there is a financing guarantee for the 12-month period, he said, speaking in Luxembourg.He added that he feared Greece may not ace this test.I don't think that the troika [inspectors from the EU, ECB and IMF] will come to the conclusion that this is given, he said.He added that the EU would not be able to pick up the slack should the IMF not sign off.The expectation of the IMF is that the Europeans would step in for the IMF and take upon themselves the IMF's portion of the financing ... That won't work. We are looking very carefully at what the IMF does, and if they don't say a new tranche in loans should go the Greeks, then we won't either.The EU members of the G8 are expected to issue a statement in Deauville commiting themselves to resolving the eurozone crisis.
Report: EU banks held billions in Libyan assets
ANDREW WILLIS 27.05.2011 @ 09:22 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European banks are among the list of firms to have managed billions of euros worths of assets belonging to the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) in recent years, Libya's sovereign wealth fund closely linked to dictator Colonel Gaddafi.A report leaked to the campaign group Global Witness this month, and seen by this website, appears to detail the location of $53 billion (€38bn) of Libyan state assets on 30 June 2010.Several top EU banks are listed as among those happy to profit off Libyan state oil revenues, with French bank Societe Generale holding $1.8 billion of LIA money in three funds.HSBC held $293 million on deposit across various accounts, with a further $275 million stashed in an HSBC hedge fund, according to the report.Private equity funds belonging to the Royal Bank of Scotland managed $110 million, while $182 million was held in accounts and funds run by US investment bank Goldman Sachs.The EU has since imposed sanctions and frozen LIA assets following Libya's popular uprising this year and the wave of violence directed by Gaddafi towards rebels and civilians, but the banks still refuse to confirm they are holding the funds, says Global Witness.It is completely absurd that banks like HSBC and Goldman Sachs can hide behind customer confidentiality in a case like this, the group's director, Charmian Gooch, said.These are state accounts, so the customer is effectively the Libyan people and these banks are withholding vital information from them.The Gaddafi family has significant personal control over the state funds invested in the Libyan Investment Authority, stresses the campaign group, with the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court recently saying: Gaddafi makes no distinction between his personal assets and the resources of the country.Leaders of the G8 club of rich nations discussed Libya and the country's dictator during a summit in Deauville, France, on Thursday (26 May).
French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Gaddafi to step down, declaring that all options are open. He added:We are not saying that Gaddafi needs to be exiled. He must leave power and the quicker he does it, the greater his choice.In Brussels, Libya's EU ambassador Hadeiba Hadi on Thursday defected along with his staff to join the struggle for greater democracy, the decision coming some weeks after other Libyan diplomats around the world decided to switch sides.After more than four months of the blood-letting of our people, my colleagues and myself at the Libyan popular bureau in Brussels find ourselves obliged to announce our decision to no longer represent the regime, Hadi said in a statement, reports AFP.
North Africa revolutions spotlight EU policy further south ANDREW WILLIS 28.05.2011 @ 08:32 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The recent wave of pro-democracy revolutions in north Africa and the implications for EU relations with the wider continent are among the thorny topics set to dominate an EU-Africa meeting next week.Sub-Saharan Africa still counts a number of repressive leaders amongst its ranks, while discussions on conflict resolution in Libya could also prove divisive. The African Union favours a ceasefire in its member state, while European airplanes are among those actively bombing military targets near Tripoli and elsewhere in the country.The two-day meeting in Brussels (31 May - 1 June) will take place between members of the European Commission and the African Union (AU) Commission, with AU chairman Jean Ping among the eight senior African officials scheduled to visit the European capital.Despite recent alterations to the EU's neighbourhood policy, under which funding for recipient north African and east European states will become increasingly tied to reforms, an equivalent tightening is less evident for sub-Saharan Africa.We are shaping a new policy ... but the question of repressive regimes is not as simple as saying now you don't get any more money, Klaus Rudischhauser, director for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries with the commission told journalists at a briefing on Friday (27 May).Things are a little bit more complex but they are on the agenda.European development commissioner Andris Piebalgs is scheduled to publish a communication this autumn, outlining new orientations for the bloc's development policy, including aid criteria for countries with governance problems.The aim of our development policy is poverty reduction. That means finding a way to do something for people on the ground, without doing too much to support the government of which we may not approve, Rudischhauser said.He also noted that the EU has been largely responsible for tackling the humanitarian crisis caused by the Libyan conflict, and pointed to divisions within the African Union itself:As strongly as it acts when there is a coup d'etat, excluding governments which have an unconstitutional change of government ... Libya remains a member of the African Union.Other key African developments are expected to appear on the agenda, including the recent installment of Alassane Ouattara as president of the Ivory Coast and Sudan's imminent division into two states.
A series of thematic sessions will precede a plenary session between the two colleges, with a meeting on security set to address issues of drugs trafficking and maritime piracy. Economic growth, regional integration, the Millennium Development Goals, climate change, agriculture and food security are also set to be discussed in the thematic meetings.The subject of mineral exploitation has been added to the list of debates, with a recent EU raw materials communication underlying Europe's determination to secure sufficient access of supply.At the same time, NGOs and some MEPs are pressing the EU to introduce new rules to stamp out 'conflict minerals' from entering Europe, with the control of lucrative mining businesses in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo widely reported to be fueling the region's ongoing bloody conflict, born out the Rwandan genocide of 1994.The United States is in the process of introducing a system of 'due diligence' reporting for companies listed on American stock exchanges, under which firms must ensure minerals such as tin, tungsten and tantalum are sourced from de-militarized mines.The EU is considering this issue but has nothing planned for the moment, a source indicated to this website on the due diligence issue.They also confirmed that an assessment over the need for EU special envoys could see the region's representative in the African Great Lake's region being scrapped.There is a process of review underway at the moment. EU delegations under the external action service can do a lot of the work formerly carried out by special envoys,said the official.
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