EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Powerful 7.1 quake hits New Zealand's South Island By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10 6:04PM
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck much of New Zealand's South Island early Saturday and caused widespread damage, but there were just two reports of serious injuries. Looters broke into some damaged shops in Christchurch, police said.The quake, which hit 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of the southern city of Christchurch according to the state geological agency GNS Science, shook a wide area, with some residents saying buildings had collapsed and power was severed. No tsunami alert was issued.GNS Science initially reported the quake as magnitude 7.4, but later downgraded it after re-examining quake records. The U.S. Geological Survey, in America, measured the quake at 7.0.Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency four hours after the quake rocked the region, warning people that continuing aftershocks could cause masonry to fall from damaged buildings.The emergency meant parts of the city would be closed off and some buildings closed as unsafe, he said.Minister of Civil Defence John Carter said a state of civil emergency was declared as the quake was a significant disaster, and army troops were on standby to assist.Parker said the sharp, vicious earthquake has caused significant damage in parts of the city ... with walls collapsed that have fallen into the streets.
Chimneys and walls had fallen from older buildings, with roads blocked, traffic lights out and power, gas and water supplies disrupted, he said.The fronts of at least five buildings in the central city have collapsed and rubble is strewn across many roads,Christchurch resident Angela Morgan told The Associated Press.Roads have subsided where water mains have broken and a lot of people evacuated in panic from seaside areas for fear of a tsunami, she said, adding that there is quite significant damage, really, with reports that some people were trapped in damaged houses.Christchurch Hospital said it had treated two men with serious injuries and a number of people with minor injuries.One was hit by a falling chimney and was in serious condition in intensive care, while a second was badly cut by glass, hospital spokeswoman Michele Hider said.Christchurch police reported road damage in parts of the city of 400,000 people, with a series of sharp aftershocks rocking the area. Police officers cordoned off some streets where rubble was strewn about. Video showed parked cars crushed by heaps of fallen bricks, and buckled roads.There is considerable damage in the central city and we've also had reports of looting, just shop windows broken and easy picking of displays, Police Inspector Mike Coleman told New Zealand's National Radio.Police Inspector Alf Stewart told the radio that some people had been arrested for looting.We have some reports of people smashing (storefront) windows and trying to grab some property that is not theirs ... we've got police on the streets and we're dealing with that, he said.Suburban dweller Mark O'Connell said his house was full of smashed glass, food tossed from shelves, with sets of drawers, TVs and computers tipped over.
She was a beauty, we were thrown from wall to wall as we tried to escape down the stairs to get to safety, he told the AP. It was pitch black (with the power cut) and we walked through smashed glass everywhere on the floor.The quake hit at 4:35 a.m. (1635 GMT) shaking thousands of residents awake, New Zealand's National Radio reported. Civil defense agency spokesman David Millar said at least six bridges in the region had been badly damaged, while the historic Empire hotel in the port town of Lyttelton was very unstable and in danger of collapse. Roads, shops and other buildings in rural towns around Christchurch had also suffered damage, with some shop fronts knocked down in the jolt. Inspector Coleman said residents of the city's low-lying eastern suburbs had been advised to be ready to evacuate their properties, after power, gas, sewerage and water systems were cut by the quake. Resident Colleen Simpson said panicked residents ran into the street in their pajamas. Some buildings had collapsed, there was no power, and the mobile telephone network had failed. Oh my God. There is a row of shops completely demolished right in front of me, Simpson told the Stuff news Web site. Another person from Christchurch, Kevin O'Hanlon, said the jolt was extremely powerful.I was awake to go to work and then just heard this massive noise and boom, it was like the house got hit. It just started shaking. I've never felt anything like it,he told the news Web site.Christchurch International Airport was closed after the quake as a precaution, as experts prepared to check the runways and terminal buildings, a spokesman said.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed, based on historical earthquake and tsunami data.New Zealand sits above an area of the Earth's crust where two tectonic plates collide. The country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year — but only about 150 are felt by residents. Fewer than 10 a year do any damage.
Earthquake of 7.1 magnitude hits New Zealand city
By Gyles Beckford - SEPT 3,10
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A major earthquake hit New Zealand's second biggest city Christchurch early on Saturday, bringing down power lines, ripping up roads and wrecking building facades, but authorities reported no deaths.Authorities declared a formal civil defense state of emergency to coordinate recovery operations in the city, which has a population of about 350,000 people, after facades collapsed into streets, crushing cars and blocking roads.Two men suffered serious injuries and police closed off the central business district.The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of 10 kms (6 miles), hitting the South Island city and a large surrounding area of farms at around 4.35 a.m. local time (12:35 p.m. EDT Friday).
There's a lot of damage that I've been able to observe in the central city area, mainly of the old brick and masonry buildings, a number of those have got walls that have fallen into the street, Christchurch mayor Bob Parker told Radio New Zealand.The city's hospital said two men had been admitted with serious injuries, one hit by a falling chimney and the other cut by glass. It had also treated a few other people with broken bones, cuts and grazes.Police said there were several instances of looting, which had been quickly contained. In the suburbs many houses had broken windows, toppled chimneys, cracked walls and items thrown off shelves.
Power was out over a large area of the city and surrounding region as circuit breakers were tripped at substations, but was being progressively restored after safety checks.Water and sewage services were also disrupted, and there were reports of subsidence in some roads.
RURAL EPICENTRE
Officials were checking how severe the damage was in rural areas, closer to the epicenter, west of the city.Ray O'Donnell, owner of a hotel in Darfield, a small farming community around 20 kms (12 miles) west of Christchurch, said large cracks had appeared in rural roads near the epicenter.GNS Science, the New Zealand government seismological agency, revised its reading of the quake to magnitude 7.1 from an original 7.4. The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported it at 7.4 but later revised its figure to 7.0.The city's airport was shut as the runway and facilities were checked, and the railway network and bridges throughout the region were also being checked for damage.The quake was felt as a long rolling motion lasting up to 40 seconds. The area was continuing to feel aftershocks as strong as magnitude 5.2.It was a real rocker, and (we're) still getting aftershocks. (It) felt like the house was flying on a whirlwind, Tessa Hay, who lives around 12 km north of the city, told Reuters.Because the quake occurred inland there was no danger of a tsunami. No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.New Zealand scientists record around 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which around 20 top magnitude 5.0. The last fatal earthquake in the geologically active country, caught between the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates, was in 1968 when an earthquake measuring 7.1 killed three people on the South Island's West Coast.
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.
Earl sideswipes NC, takes aim at New England By BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10
CHATHAM, Mass. – A weakening but still dangerous Hurricane Earl steamed toward the gray-shingled cottages and fishing villages of Cape Cod on Friday, disrupting people's vacations on the unofficial final weekend of the short New England summer.
Packing winds of just 80 mph, the storm swirled up the Eastern Seaboard after sideswiping North Carolina's Outer Banks, where it caused flooding but no injuries and little damage. For the most part, it was expected to swing wide of New York City and Long Island, and much of the rest of the mid-Atlantic region, but pass close by Cape Cod, Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard late Friday night, bringing rain and high winds.Vacationers pulled their boats from the water and canceled Labor Day weekend reservations on Nantucket, the well-to-do resort island and old-time whaling port expected to get the worst of the storm. Shopkeepers boarded up their windows. Swimmers in New England were warned to stay out of the water — or off the beach altogether — because of the danger of getting swept away by high waves.Airlines canceled dozens of flights into New England, and Amtrak suspended train service between New York and Boston.As of Friday afternoon, no large-scale evacuations were ordered for the Cape Cod area, where fishermen and other hardy year-round residents have been dealing with gusty nor'easters for generations.We kind of roll with the punches out here. It's not a huge deal for us, said Scott Thomas, president of the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce.On Cape Cod, Ellen McDonough and a friend waited for one of the last ferries to Nantucket before service was suspended because of the approaching storm. It's not a 3-foot snowstorm. I think us New Englanders are tough, McDonough said. We've had this weekend planned, and no hurricane is going to stop us.
Nantucket Police Chief William Pittman warned island residents against complacency, saying Earl was still a dangerous storm with severe winds.
By midday Friday, Earl had dropped to a Category 1 storm — down from a fearsome Category 4 with 145 mph winds a day earlier. Forecasters said it could weaken to a tropical storm by the time it passed about 50 to 75 miles southeast of Nantucket.As Earl lost steam and veered farther east, the National Hurricane Center reduced the New England areas under a hurricane warning to Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, the elite vacation spot that President Barack Obama left just last weekend.
The National Weather Service was forecasting winds up to 65 mph on Nantucket with gusts up to 85 mph. On Cape Cod, winds up to 45 mph with gusts of up to 60 mph were expected.The last time the Cape was hit directly by a hurricane was 1991, when Bob brought 75 mph gusts that ripped through the region's grassy dunes, snapped trees and tore roofs off the weathered gray homes.Few seemed worried about a repeat Friday in Chatham, a fishing village at Cape Cod's eastern edge where tourists strolled past the bookstores, cafes and ice cream parlors on Main Street. A few stores had put plywood over their windows, including the Ben Franklin Old Fashioned Variety Store. C'mon Earl, we're ready for you, a handwritten note read.Earl was expected to remain more than 150 miles off New Jersey and the eastern tip of New York's Long Island as it made its way north. But it kicked up dangerous riptides up and down the coast. In New Jersey, two young men apparently died earlier this week in the rough surf caused by Earl and the hurricane before it, Danielle.Rain from the outer bands of the hurricane forced a 25-minute delay at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York City.On the Outer Banks, officials had urged some 35,000 visitors and residents to leave the dangerously exposed islands as the storm closed in, but hundreds chose to wait it out in their boarded-up homes.Earl's winds had dropped to 105 mph by the time the storm brushed past the ribbon of islands before dawn, and the storm center got no closer to shore than 85 miles. Hurricane-force winds, which start at 74 mph, apparently did not even reach the Outer Banks, said the National Hurricane Center's chief forecaster, James Franklin.North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said there was no serious damage and urged people to get back out for the Labor Day weekend to have a little fun and spend some money.Nancy Scarborough of Cape Hatteras said she had about a foot of water underneath her home, which is on stilts. Once it goes down, it shouldn't take long to get things back together,she said. In Rhode Island, the popular tourist destination Block Island was expecting gusts as high as 60 mph. Gov. Don Carcieri warned of possible flooding on the mainland, and asked people to stay off the roads, but added: Everything looks like we've dodged this.
Twenty miles out off the Maine coast, lobstermen on Matinicus Island were cautious after getting fooled by Hurricane Bill, which missed the mainland last year but sent tides and rough seas that destroyed their gear. This time, they moved their gear to the safety of deeper water or pulled their traps out altogether. At Maine's Acadia National Park, officials closed most of a road where a 7-year-old girl was swept to her death by a 20-foot wave last year while watching the swells from Bill. Associated Press writers Mike Baker in Buxton, N.C.; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C.; Michelle Smith in Providence, R.I.; David Sharp in Portland, Maine; and Lyle Moran, Denise Lavoie and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.
The document that should stop the Islamic Victory Mosque
By Douglas J. Hagmann
23 August 2010: Racists, Xenophobes and bigots. Those are just a few terms used to describe the opponents of the Islamic center planned near Ground Zero. These characterizations could possibly be avoided, however, by more fact-based protest.
To date, defenders of the center seemed undeterred, despite all that is know about the project front man. Look just a bit deeper.Among the golden nuggets of evidence produced during the trial of the United States vs. The Holy Land Foundation et al is a document that should end any ambiguity concerning the true intent of Feisal ABDUL-RAUF in his quest to construct an Islamic center at Park Place. In fact, it should be cause to reexamine all Islamic centers and mosques that fall within a certain criteria. Cataloged as Exhibit 003-0085 by the U.S. federal government, a document translated from Arabic to English titled An Explanatory Memorandum, On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America details the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.
Feisal ABDUL RAUF is indeed an adherent and promoter of the Muslim Brotherhood’s goals and objectives. Any doubt to his Muslim Brotherhood connections can be quelled by the excellent and timely report by Alyssa A. Lappen, which is required reading for factual insight into ABDUL RAUF’s link to the Muslim brotherhood.Clearly, according to this document, the objective of the Muslim Brotherhood is to convert the U.S. into an Islamic nation through sabotage and subterfuge. It is a handbook to achieve that end. The author painstakingly describes the process of settlement, among others, and further described its meaning and the methods to be employed:The process of settlement is a Civilization-Jihadist Process with all the word means. The Ikhwan* must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions. [Emphasis added].The succinct analysis by Ms. Lappen of point 17 of the document clearly illustrates that [b]uilding Islamic centers equals building military battalions, points from which to later stage the planned destruction of the West.And what better place inside our front lines is there but within the perimeter of destruction at Ground Zero? Ikhwan (Arabic for brothers) was the Islamic religious militia which formed the main military force of the Arabian ruler Ibn Saud.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/27288
Peace, Territory and Jerusalem By Dr. Tim Ball and Judi McLeod Friday, September 3, 2010 CANADA FREE PRESS
It doesn’t require being at the head of the class in Politics 101 to know that meetings in Washington to establish a peace between Israel and Palestine is a desperate and cynical attempt by the Obama administration to divert attention from his collapsing political fortunes at home. Pollsters now openly suggest that Obama may be losing control of not just the House but possibly the Senate come Nov. 2, 2010. As it is said, the eyes of the fool are over the horizon. Like most of the strategy in play by the current administration, the Israel/Palestine peace talks dare people to speak out against them because they are then identified as anti-peace. It should be more about the reality of the situation and the chances of resolution.While the US is orchestrating the current talks between the two parties, the problem requires a global involvement. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US will not impose a settlement because that is the role of the two nations. However, the world must provide a wider role because the region is essential to peace in the Middle East and the world. This is why so much money and behind the scenes support is perpetuating the conflicts. The term Middle East is an anachronism but underscores the problems. What does it mean? Middle of where? East of what? It’s a hangover from previous conflicts and disputes of the British Empire. It is still in use, while similar terms like Far East and Near East have faded from the lexicon because the same nations and issues continue. While the two nations continue their negotiations the world must take actions that provide a wider context for their work and impress upon them the need for peace.
It is unfair to expect them to resolve this without recognition that it is a world problem. It is the focal point of confrontation between east and west, Judeo Christian and Muslim, and the meeting point of the three racial groups, the Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid. The latter is because it is the geologic and geographical pivot point of Europe, Asia and Africa. Among his other roles, President Barack Obama is now the proponent in the folklore that goes What if I throw a party and no one comes? Missing from yesterday’s peace pow wow were Israel’s biggest enemies, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Lebanon and Hamas.You can talk a big game with Direct Talks toward Middle East Peace with players like Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair of Mea Culpa Iran new book fame, Jordan’s King Abdullah 11, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but never force peace by proxy among the ravening missing. The primary objective must be agreement on the territory. Winston Churchill said no conflict was over until territorial disputes were resolved. Current peace talks in Washington cannot overcome millennia of hatred and distrust as long as two nations battle over the same state. Unless the two nations are willing to live together in the same state two separate states is the only solution. A major gesture by the world is needed to speak to the importance of the area and serve as the foundation for a meaningful resolution of the conflicts. At the centre of the conflict is the city of Jerusalem. Some propose a division of the city but that will not work. It’s essential that the UN declare the city international and under their jurisdiction. It is the only truly international city in the world and the centre for too many religions and cultural groups to be apportioned or in the dominant control of one group. Then to do something even more useful the aging UN headquarters in New York should be closed and moved to new quarters in Jerusalem. It is a much more central location for geographic, historic and cultural reasons and places UN diplomats, politicians and bureaucrats in the heart of world conflicts, where they more rightfully belong in the world of Geopolitics. Cynically, one could add that New Yorkers will be happy to see them and their perpetual parking tickets gone. We all know that UN costs are reduced as airfares are dramatically reduced.
Friday, September 03, 2010
SHARIA LAW-THE FACTS
WALID SHOEBAT ON SHARIA KILLERS LAW OF ISLAM-SEPT 1,10 HOUR 2
http://therothshow.com/show-archives/september-2010/
DOUG-LAURIE ON MOSQUE FUNDING-FRI AUG 20,10-HRS 1-2-3
http://therothshow.com/show-archives/august-2010/
LAURIE ON SHARIA-HR 1 SEPT 2,10
http://therothshow.com/show-archives/september-2010/
EXECUTIONS IN SHARIA LAW-VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ssoQZxP38&feature=player_embedded
SHARIA LAW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia
WARNING TO THE WEST
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/August/Islamization-of-Paris-a-Warning-to-the-West/
SHARIAH IN CANADA PART 1-SOMETHING TO FEAR-VIDEO
http://www.nfb.ca/film/sharia_in_canada_part_1
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=54383
SHARIAH IN CANADA PART 2-VIDEO (THE TRUTH MUST BE REVEALED-WOMEN HAVE NO RIGHTS AT ALL IF SHARIAH ENFORCED)
http://www.nfb.ca/film/sharia_in_canada_part_2
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=54384
WOULD CHRISTIANS OR ANYONE LOVE TO BE BEHEADED,HANDS CUT OFF,FEET CUT OFF,MURDERED.WELL THIS IS WHATS IN STORE FOR ALL WERE EVER ISLAM AND SHARIA LAW IS ENFORCED.BE WARNED.ISLAM WANTS WORLD DOMINATION IN WHICH EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE IS JUDGED ,ESPECIALLY WOMENS LIVES.TORTURE AND DEATH IS COMMON PLACE IN SHARIA LAW.
Islam is a Government dictatorship housed in religion By Laurie Roth SEPT 3,10
While much of the country is rolling their eyes regarding the continued push and deceit behind the 100 million dollar mosque at ground zero on New York, Islam marches forth in the US boldly. America as usual gets confused about religious rights while Muslims build Mosques and manipulate toward Sharia control in city after city.The latest CNN Poll shows that nearly 70% of Americans oppose the Mosque at ground zero, yet Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the front man pushing this, continues to charge forward as American tax payers pay for his trips abroad to Muslim countries, talking of the Islamic condition and status back in the US. As Doug Hagmann of Northeast Intelligence Network revealed on my national radio show a few weeks ago, Rauf is about as peaceful and harmless as a den of rattlesnakes. His translated words from several Arabic interviews portray him as a Hamas supporting, Sharia law pushing radical that gets his money tracked back to Saudi Royals, Iran and Muslim Brotherhood channels just to name a few.
Like so many Imams and Islamic leaders he hides behind the peaceful, white beard, statements of Religious rights and lectures us all about working together. Just this week, Whalid Shoebat, a former radical Islamic, Palestinian terrorist shared on my show the further statements of Imam Rauf translated from Arabic. It is clear his goal is for Islam and Sharia law to take over the US. He boldly said in an interview that he does not believe in Religious tolerance or respect for other religions at all, but talks of Islamic domination in society. The bottom line is that the push for the massive ground zero mosque is nothing but the tip of the iceberg. Islam is in the process of taking over all of America and transforming her to an Islamic republic observing Sharia law.The growth of mosques all across the US is aggressive and heavily funded by Saudi Arabia and Iran. In 2001 there were 1,209 mosques in the US and by 2008 there were 6,000. The money behind these mosques comes from the dangerous and activist strain of Islam, Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia. Since 1970 Saudi Arabia has spent 80 billion dollars to promote this radical Islamic message worldwide by funding mosques, schools and radical Wahhabi and Sharia agendas. Not to be outdone, Iran also spends billions to promote its radical version, Shiism. Together they are the double barrel shotgun that is funding their scheme to take over the world, with the US being their most sought after treasure.
Amil Imani of Family Security Matters talks of what goes on traditionally in these mosques. They not only worship Allah and Muhammed but they indoctrinate future terrorists who learn of Jihad, martyrdom and Dar ul Harb (any place not Islamcized yet.) Imani states that Imams and Islamic leaders sent to the US to lead, now in 6000 mosques, are all funded by radical Saudi or Iranian sources with the purpose of taking over America community by community.You think I’m extreme or nutty? Who would have ever thought most of Europe would allow itself to be taken over by Islam? Sadly, they are dying now and looking for a way out? It is almost impossible for Europe now. Will it be impossible for the US as well, the last bastion of freedom, Judeo/Christian values and heritage in the world? Listen to the words of Amil Imani.…Again, Muslims first make their mark by establishing mosques in as many towns and cities as they can. These mosques range from the ostentatious, such as the one in Washington D.C., to the academically-cloaked University Islamic centers, to the innocuous storefront types and even prison chapels. One and all have the same aims: Hold the faithful in line, recruit as many new adherents by any and all means, and indoctrinate one and all in the imperative of Islamic conquest.Yes we must continue to fight any push for a Mosque at ground zero because it is a vicious, arrogant insult to the victims of 9/11 in general, but also and arrogant and continued push of radical Islam hiding behind the poisonous veil of peace and religious rights.
More importantly, why has America not seen this massive growth of Saudi and Iranian backed mosques in the US? Do we not see that this movement has nothing to do at all with Religious rights but is an arrogant and calculated plan to take over, capture and dominate America for Islam? I don’t want to be unfair or hurt people who choose differently in life then me but Islam has continuously revealed that it is really a Government dictatorship package housed in the skeleton of a Religion. We must wake up to the fact that Sharia Law is the cancerous opposite to our treasured constitution and bill of rights. What kind of religion and law values women as half of a man, guides husbands as to how to beat their wives and demands execution for gays, stoning for people caught in adultery and cutting off of limbs for stealing? I’ll tell you what kind? A religion that is pretending to be a religion that is really an intimidating, controlling Dictatorship scheme.America wake up! I want to know what is going on in the 6000 mosques, hiding behind freedom of speech. I think it is high time American authorities stop waxing so polite and intimidated and start tracking what is being said and taught in US mosques and schools, then having the guts and clarity to shut more than a few down. We are a Christian nation land will not be taken over by Islam as Europe is allowing!
Open letter to Ground Zero imam Posted: September 03, 2010
1:00 am Eastern 2010 WND
Dear Feisal Abdul Rauf,
The bottom line is that America wants to know if you are moderate. We have seen another imam before you, Anwar Awlaki, say on NPR and PBS that he condemned terrorism and even advocated for religious dialogue. He vanished and is now being chased by U.S. drones. You, too, seem to have vanished. We have not heard from you and we suspect that the reason you do not answer any questions is because you have great connections that speak in your defense – the president of the most powerful nation on earth, the mayor of the greatest city in our nation and the speaker of the House. We asked them about you and they simply tell us not to be alarmists, that we should judge you by your positive accomplishments. A drawback to this way of thinking can, at times, be akin to ignoring a drop of cyanide in a punch bowl. Remember Awlaki?
Nancy Pelosi insists that you are moderate and that 71 percent of us are: stereotypical, racists, divisive, inflammatory, hateful, Islamophobic, bigoted, ignorant and intolerant. She says that you are all about reconciliation, but I couldn't find your take on converts from Islam to other religions. Would you reconcile with them? You refused to sign a patriotic act to condemn the killing of converts from Islam to Christianity. This should be no problem since the president is a convert from Islam – and after all, he trusts you. Why else would Pelosi send you as an envoy to discuss an American-style Islam and an Islamic democracy in the Middle East? It sure beats the heck out of Obama's oxymoronic capitalistic-socialism and Obamacare. However, I would like to know if your American-style Islamic Shariah would include interest banking since our whole capitalistic system depends on it.
Check out Shoebat's books For God or For Tyranny and God's War on Terror.
It's nice that the Cordoba building will have a swimming pool, lecture hauls, sports centers and bridge-building classes. The name Cordoba was brilliant to promote the golden age of Islam when Christians were honored for accommodating a crescent in place of a cross; at least we all now know that Cordoba Mosque was built during the golden age of Christendom.
But perhaps Americans are being too harsh and are getting back at the wrong Muslims when they say: We do not want them to have anything next to Ground Zero. After all, the only thing you had to do with the 9/11 rubble was to print it on your book cover in Indonesian: Seruan Azan Dari Puing WTC (A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble). Please clarify: Azan (summons for prayer) is only conducted from a minaret – a mosque – not a cultural center.
You have worked tirelessly for peace. All you wanted was: an icon [Cordoba Mosque]. My mother asked me: On God's green earth, there is no other place you can put a mosque except by the 9/11 rubble? And since we rejected the mosque idea, will the pool at your center allow Jews to swim, or were you kidding when you wrote the N.Y Times that Israel will be Judenrein (free of Jews)?
I loved your romantic example on how to dialogue with Christians and Jews: Deal with them as one courts a girl; stop thinking like a typical Muslim. Then you can engage. Just what is a typical Muslim? Did you use this romantic technique with Bloomberg?
In one news report, you were dumbfounded that Many American blogs print that Muslims want a Caliphate.This is like Arabs thinking that Saudi Arabia is Judenrein. Absurd, isn't it?
I never knew that your Shariah was different from Anwar Awlaki's; just how many Shariahs are there? You say that Shariah is compatible with the U.S. Constitution – just to make sure, I compiled three questions. And just to assure you of my genuine intentions, I will not include typical ignorant stereotype questions about the funding for this noble Cordoba peace center or ask inflammatory questions regarding Caliphate, beheadings, killing of converts, amputation of limbs or lashings for certain sins and infractions. I will keep it strictly civil:
Will marriage between Jewish men with Muslim women be protected by American Shariah law? (Yes, No) Will inheritance be distributed equally to males as well as females under American Shariah law? (Yes, No) Will the sale of mosque properties be allowed to include setting up places of worship for other faiths? (Yes, No)
Finally, I was delighted that you now reconciled with Christians when you stated: We all worship the same God.So I salute you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, my Lord and yours. Right? With best regards, Walid Shoebat
Walid Shoebat is the author of For God or For Tyranny and God's War on Terror. For interviews call 720-935-2826.
Islamization of Paris a Warning to the WestBy Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. ReporterFriday, September 03, 2010RSS
PARIS - Friday in Paris. A hidden camera shows streets blocked by huge crowds of Muslim worshippers and enforced by a private security force.This is all illegal in France: the public worship, the blocked streets, and the private security. But the police have been ordered not to intervene. It shows that even though some in the French government want to get tough with Muslims and ban the burqa, other parts of the French government continue to give Islam a privileged status. An ordinary French citizen who has been watching the Islamization of Paris decided that the world needed to see what was happening to his city. He used a hidden camera to start posting videos on YouTube. His life has been threatened and so he uses the alias of Maxime Lepante.
Lepante's View
His camera shows that Muslims are blocking the streets with barriers. They are praying on the ground. And the inhabitants of this district cannot leave their homes, nor go into their homes during those prayers.The Muslims taking over those streets do not have any authorization. They do not go to the police headquarters, so it's completely illegal, he says.The Muslims in the street have been granted unofficial rights that no Christian group is likely to get under France's Laicite', or secularism law. It says people have the right to share any belief they want, any religion,Lepante explained. But they have to practice at home or in the mosque, synagogues, churches and so on.Some say Muslims must pray in the street because they need a larger mosque. But Lepante has observed cars coming from other parts of Paris, and he believes it is a weekly display of growing Muslim power. They are coming there to show that they can take over some French streets to show that they can conquer a part of the French territory,he said.
France's Islamic Future?
If France faces an Islamic future, a Russian author has already written about it. The novel is called The Mosque of Notre Dame, 2048, a bestseller in Russia, not in France. French publisher Jean Robin said the French media ignored the book because it was politically incorrect.Islam is seen as the religion of the poor people, so you can't say to the poor people, You're wrong, otherwise, you're a fascist, Robin explained. The book lays out a dark future when France has become a Muslim nation, and the famous cathedral has been turned into a mosque. Whether that plot is farfetched depends on whom you ask. Muslims are said to be no more than 10 percent of the French population, although no one knows for sure because French law prohibits population counts by religion. But the Muslim birthrate is significantly higher than for the native French. Some Muslim men practice polygamy, with each extra wife having children and collecting a welfare check.The problem of Islam is more than a problem of numbers, said French philosopher Radu Stoenescu, an Islamic expert who debates Muslim leaders on French TV. The problem is one of principles. It's an open question. Is Islam an ideology or just a creed? It doesn't matter how many there are, he aded. The problem is the people who follow Islam; they're somehow in a political party, which has a political agenda, which means basically implementing Sharia and building an Islamic state.
In Denial or Fed Up
From the 1980s until recently, criticizing or opposing Islam was considered a social taboo, and so the government and media effectively helped Islam spread throughout France. We were expecting Islam to adapt to France and it is France adapting to Islam, Robin said. About the burqa controversy, one French Muslim man told a reporter that Europeans should respect Muslim dress. One Parisian woman wearing a headscarf said the veil is in the Koran and we only submit to God and nobody else.But even if many government elites are in France are in denial over Islam, the people in the streets increasingly are not. Some have become fed up with what they see as the growing Islamization of France.They've started staging pork and wine aperitifs, or cocktail parties in the street. They're patriotic demonstrations meant to strike back against Islam. Another national demonstration is planned for Saturday, Sept. 4.
A Warning to the West
The French parliament is expected to debate the burqa law in September. Jean-Francois Cope, president of the Union for a Popular Movement political party, has a warning for the West and for America.We cannot accept the development of such practice because it's not compatible with the life in a modern society, you see, he said. And this question is not only a French question. You will all have to face this challenge.For more insight on the slide toward a post-Christian Western society, check out Dale Hurd's blog Hurd on the Web.
Sharia Law's brutal punishments
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 01:39PM
Woman being prepared for stoning in the Middle East In stone-age Northern Iraq, just a fortnight ago, a rabble of cursing, violent men bursts into a house and drags out a terrified Kurdish 17-year-old girl. Her screams and pleas for mercy fill the air which only fuels on the frenzy of the crowd. They tie her hands behind her back and bury her up to her chest in a crude pit dug in the ground outside the village limits. Her heart beating frantically, her screams turn into sobbing as she realizes that there will be no mercy today. Around her in the crowd, she sees relatives amongst the twisted faces. Uncle Ahmed who used to bring her sweets. Surely he'll help her. She calls to him. He bends to select the rocks with the other men. The instructions for a stoning are very specific; the rocks must not be so small as not to cause damage but not so big as to kill too quickly. The men find the most jagged rocks they can and the first ones pound her face, breasts and shoulders. Her cries die out as the first blood and spittle spray from the girl's upper body. Her agony lasts for 30 minutes. This is the punishment inflicted on a young Kurdish girl, a non-Muslim this month for being away from home for the night with her boyfriend, a Muslim. She had originally been given shelter in the home of a Yezidi tribal leader. His home was stormed to seize the victim and carry out this inhuman punishment. Believing that the girl, a Yezedi had been murdered by her family for converting to Islam to please her boyfriend, the enraged Muslims then stormed the Yezedi community to take revenge. I quote:
This stoning, incidently, led to the massacre of 23 Yezedis by Muslims who believed Du'a was murdered for converting to Islam.I could not watch the video but I have fleshed out the story from research I've done on other eye-witness reports of stonings in the Middle East. The video clip of an eye-witness of this particular stoning and further details can be found here It's unknown how many women are being stoned in the Middle East. This site believes that there are several in Iran waiting for stoning to be carried out now, while this site gives further details of more stonings and some other gruesome death sentences being carried out. It's time that this barbaric culture puts an end to stoning, hanging, amputation, flogging and all other barbaric tortures being carried out in the name of Sharia Law. And while this goes on across the planet, Sharia Law seeps in under our own front doors! Cross-posted at RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION
SHARIA LAW & DISCUSSION
http://www.shariah.net/sharia-punishments/
sharia punishments
By Khurram Murad August 9, 2005
Punishments have always been considered an integral part of the concept of justice. Indeed, a common man would find it hard to think of justice as something very different or separate from rewarding or punishing people according to how well or badly they observe the body of the mutual rights and obligations in their society. But if the concept of punishment is universal, the controversies surrounding it are nonetheless intense. We shall now look at some basic Islamic principles concerning punishments.
Basic Principles
Each human being is responsible for his or her actions. This simple truth provides the whole basis for the justification of punishment; for to fulfill the purpose of this creation, mankind has been granted the freedom to choose and act and the moral sense to distinguish between right and wrong. Responsibility goes with knowledge and freedom. Punishment cannot, therefore, be meted out to one person for another person’s actions, for acts intended but not performed, or for acts done under duress or while not of sound mind. Everyone must be equal before the law and their guilt must be established by the due process of justice.
Proportional Justice
It is important to note that there is no concept in Islam of the punishment being exactly and justly proportional to the crime. Absolute and truly proportional justice would require the exact and complete evaluation of such complex factors as intentions and motives, the surrounding circumstances, and the causes and repercussions factors which human judges must consider but cannot evaluate fully and which only God, in the new moral order to be set up in the life after death, can measure. Islamic punishments are not, therefore, to be judged on the scales of proportional and full retribution. They are, however, laid down by the One who is infinitely merciful and wise, and are, therefore, more suitable for the particular crimes than anything that can be prescribed by any human legislature or judge.
Part of a Whole
Most importantly, punishments are only a part of a vastly larger, integrated whole. They can neither be properly understood nor successfully or justifiably implemented in isolation. First, law is not the main, or even major, vehicle in the total framework for the reinforcement of morality; it is the individuals belief, the individuals God-consciousness and taqwa that inherent and innate quality which makes one want to refrain from what displeases God and do what pleases Him. Second, justice is a positive ideal which permeates and dominates the entire life of the community it is not merely an institutionalized means of inflicting punishment. Third, and consequently, a whole environment is established where to do right is encouraged, facilitated, and found easy, while to do wrong is discouraged, inhibited, and found difficult. All men and women are enjoined, as their foremost duty, to aid, exhort, and commend each other to do good and to avoid evil.
Functional Nature
Penalties in Islam are more of a functional nature, to regulate and deter. God has laid down a body of mutual rights and obligations that are the true embodiment of justice. He has also laid down certain boundaries and limits to be observed and maintained for this very purpose. If people and nations desire to move in peace and safety on the highways of life, they must stick to the traffic lanes demarcated for them and observe all the signposts erected along their routes. If they do not, they not only put themselves in danger, but endanger others. They, therefore, naturally make themselves liable to penalties not in vengeful retribution, but to regulate the orderly exchanges in a persons life in accordance with justice.
It is a significant contribution of Islam that these penalties are called hudud (boundaries) and not punishments: they are liabilities incurred as a result of crossing the boundaries set by God. An important consequence of these hudud having been laid down by God and not by man, is that it is beyond human authority to reduce or supersede them out of a sense of mercy greater than that of God; nor can a tyrant or autocrat add to them out of a greater sense of strict justice. For no one can be more merciful or wiser or more just than God Himself.
Another important function that these punishments serve is educative, thus preventive and deterrent. The Qurân alludes to this aspect when it describes them as exemplary punishment from God (Al-Maidah 5:38). Punishments are thus designed to keep the sense of justice alive in the community by a public repudiation of the acts violating the limits set by God. They are expected to build up in the society a deep feeling of abhorrence for transgression against fellow human beings, and therefore against God, a transgression which, according to the Quran, is the root cause of all disorders and corruption in human life.
Retribution Qisaas
Apart from punishments for transgressions like extramarital sex, theft, libel, and drinking, the Qur’an also provides for the principle of qisaas or retribution. When a person causes physical injury or harm to a fellow human being, Islam gives the injured party the right of equal requital—the well known principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.� This procedure is persistently labeled by critics as primitive and uncivilized. In the Islamic view of history, it is worth pointing out, what is primitive has never been necessarily uncivilized. The first man was given all necessary knowledge and guidance, and though he may have been technologically backward compared to the twentieth century, he definitely was not humanly backward. Uncivilized is what a person thinks and does in deviating from the divine order.
In the eyes of the Quran, (in retribution (qisaas) lies life for you.) (Al-Baqarah 2:179) The reasons are obvious. First, the right of retribution belongs to individuals, not society or the state; this simple shift in responsibility results in a profound and far reaching change in the whole system of implementing justice. The state does not have to intervene every time two human beings are involved in a dispute. Thus, instead of starting an irreversible process of trial and punishment, it leaves the ground open for settlement between individuals, without interference by impersonal bureaucratic machinery, though under no circumstances can the individual take the law into his or her own hands.
The injured person, in turn, may forgo the right to retribution by forgiving, or may agree to accept a monetary or token recompense instead. The Quran, in fact, highly recommends the act of forgiving. Thus, under qisaas, punishment is avoidable without burdening the executive or judiciary with the dilemma of whether to exercise mercy. As against a court, which must act according to law once a case is brought before it, an individual is free to act as he or she wishes. Justice has to be blind, but an individual may take circumstances into account, and suspend judgment in the hope of being forgiven by God in the Hereafter. Very few realize that the principle of qisaas even allows capital punishment to be avoided.
Mercy and Leniency
Having prescribed punishments and imposed strict and meticulous, though not impossible, conditions of evidence, Islam has built in a whole range of principles and precepts which reflect not a frenzied desire to flog and stone but a compassionate urge to avoid and eschew. Islam does not allow either the state or individuals to spy upon people unless well founded suspicion exists that a crime is being committed or a fellow human beings rights or interests are in jeopardy. Nor is it obligatory to report every crime. Where possible, settlements outside court are preferred. The punishment is swiftly over; the guilty person and his or her family do not have to live with the kind of lengthy public stigma that they would have had to endure in the case of a prison sentence at the end of a trial. The imposition of divinely prescribed hudud enhances, not diminishes, the individuals dignity and stature in society and before God.
Alleged Cruelty
As to the alleged cruelty of physical penalties, one wonders if to deprive a person of his or her freedom (the most precious and valuable possession), the right to act and continue to make moral choices, the right to live with a family (to work for and support them) is not more cruel. Indeed, a prison term can inflict untold misery on innocent people whose lives are intertwined with the life of the prisoner. Prison becomes a school for hardening criminal behavior and a breeding ground for recidivism. Why should it be considered more cruel for a person found drug trafficking to be given ten lashes than to be sent to languish in prison for, say, ten years.
Reform Syndrome
Why does Islam want to punish and not reform? The question is fallacious, for in Islam, every institution of society is value-oriented and owes a responsibility towards the moral development of every person from the cradle to the grave. Reform is, therefore, a pre-crime responsibility and not a post-crime syndrome and nightmare. Islam makes every effort to ensure that inducement to commit crime is minimal. Once the crime is committed, the best place for reform is in the family and in the society where a criminal is to live after punishment, not in a prison where every inmate is a criminal; unless, of course, a society considers itself to be more corrupt and less competent to effect reform than a jail! Against this, the “modern, enlightened� approach is to provide every inducement to crime by building a society based on conspicuous consumption; to make society, education, and every other institution “value free� and then to try to reform a criminal by segregating the person and keeping him or her in a prison.
Procedural Justice
Sentences in Islam are certainly harsh, but still more strict and severe are the procedures laid down to be observed before a person may be convicted. These procedures are modeled on the paradigm of the Day of Judgment, when even God, though He is All-knowing, and Just, will not punish a person unless He establishes that persons guilt.To let nine criminals go free is preferable to convicting one innocent man,? said the Prophet.
Q&A: Sharia law explained
By Dominic Casciani
Home affairs reporter, BBC News
Mosques: Some hold Sharia courts (THE NY MOSQUE WILL)
Lord Phillips, the most senior judge in England and Wales, has said that principles of sharia law could play a role in some parts of the legal system. But how does the sharia system work and fit into society?
What is Sharia?
Sharia law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both the Koran, as the word of God, the example of the life of the prophet Muhammad, and fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars.But Sharia differs in one very important and significant way to the legal traditions of the Western world: it governs, or at least informs, every aspect of the life of a Muslim.
What does it cover?
Western law confines itself largely to matters relating to crime, contract, civil relationships and individual rights.Sharia is however concerned with more. Sharia rulings have been developed to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to God's wishes.
What does this mean in practice?
All sorts of things in daily life. For example, many young Muslims ask themselves what they should do if colleagues invite them to the pub after work or college. Many people would of course make up their own mind about the appropriate course of action. But others may turn to a Sharia scholar for advice.So Sharia covers a lot of very mundane and banal daily issues where observant Muslims want to ensure they act within the legal framework of their faith.
So how are rulings made?
Like any legal system, Sharia is complex and its practice is entirely reliant on the quality and training of experts.There are different schools of thought, which consequently lead to different rulings.Scholars spend decades studying the law and, as with Western law, an expert on one aspect of Sharia is by no means the authority on another.Islamic jurists issue guidance and rulings. Guidance that is considered a formal legal ruling is called a Fatwa.
Do people go to court?
Sharia courts exist in both the Muslim world and in the Western world.In parts of the Muslim world the criminal courts and their punishments are of course drawn from the rules of Sharia.In the West, Muslim communities have established Sharia courts to largely deal with family or business disputes.The internet has become a popular way of seeking a ruling with scholars. Some of the guidance to Muslims in the west which has been considered most outlandish has come from these sources, particularly where the scholar has no knowledge of the realities of western life.
Why is Sharia mentioned in the same breath as public executions?
Of all the issues around Islamic law, this remains the most controversial in Western eyes - and its presentation the most infuriating for Muslims.
Tariq Ramadan: Called for moratorium on death penalty
Muslims say the Western world misrepresents Sharia by focusing on beheadings in Saudi Arabia and other gruesome punishments. The equivalent, they say, would be a debate about the history of Western law focused on America's electric chair. Some modern Muslim scholars say that while Sharia includes provisions for capital and corporal punishment, getting to that stage is in fact quite difficult.The most famous Muslim thinker in Europe, Tariq Ramadan, has called for a moratorium on these penalties in the Muslim world.He argues that the conditions under which such penalties would be legal are almost impossible to re-establish in today's world.
But Muslims can be executed for converting?
Apostasy, or leaving the faith, is a very controversial issue in the Muslim world and the majority of scholars believe it is punishable by death.But a minority of Muslim thinkers, particularly those engaged with Western societies, argue that the reality of the modern world means the punishment should be left to God - and that Islam itself is not threatened by apostasy. The Koran itself declares there is no compulsion in religion. Egypt's most senior cleric has faced a storm in the Middle East after floating some of these ideas but the debate may well continue for many generations to come.
So what kind of Sharia are we talking about in the UK?
The key issues are family law, finance and business. In practice many Muslims do turn to Sharia guidance for many of these day-to-day matters, particularly family disputes.
And how does this work in practice?
Muslims are increasingly looking to the example of Jewish communities which have long-established religious community courts.These courts are legally recognised in English law as a means for warring parties to agree to arbitration. The law sees this as a practical way of helping people to resolve their differences in their own way, without clogging up the local courts.
But what about incorporating Sharia into British law?
In two important areas British law has incorporated religious legal considerations. British food regulations allow meat to be slaughtered according to Jewish and Islamic practices - a touchstone issue for both communities. Secondly, the Treasury has approved Sharia-compliant financial products such as mortgages and investments. Islam forbids interest on the basis that it is money unjustly earned. These products are said by supporters to meet the needs of modern life in a way that fits the faith. Has any western nation allowed Sharia to be used in full? Not at all. Canada is widely reported to have come close - leading to protests in 2005. But in reality the proposals were little different from the existing religious arbitration rules here in the UK. Experts considered establishing Sharia-related family courts to ease the burden on civil courts - but said these would have to observe the basic human rights guarantees of Canadian law.
What about Sharia and women?
Some Muslim women in Britain are concerned about how their rights are protected. Take marriage for example.Muslims only consider themselves truly married once they have conducted the Islamic ceremony, known as the nikah. In some cases, this means that there is a cultural view that the British civil ceremony, which enforces legal rights under the law, is not important.Some mosques are aware of this issue and now demand to see a marriage certificate as a condition of the nikah. Others do not. Many women want Muslim leaders to do more to ensure their rights are protected under British law.
Does Sharia allow men to instantly divorce wives?
There is an idea that men merely have to say the Arabic for divorce three times (known as the triple talaq) and that is sufficient - and there are some men who think they have this right. In practice, not only do texts show Muhammad disagreed but today, where Sharia courts are properly run, the words are merely a symbolic part of a rigorous process. Marriage is a contract in Islam. Scholars expect three-month cooling-off periods, dialogue, arbitration and counselling. However, Talaq is a very complicated area of Sharia law with conflicting views - see internet links for one example.
So women have reservations about Sharia?
Some Muslim women in the West would be worried about protection of their rights in Sharia courts where there is discrimination against them because of patriarchal and cultural control in their communities.This does not mean that they are necessarily opposed to Sharia - only there are concerns about the fairness of its application. It's fair to say that many leading Muslim women are more concerned about how existing British equality measures and human rights laws can be used to improve their position and voice in society.
Islam: Governing Under Sharia (aka shariah, shari'a)
Author: Lauren Vriens March 23, 2009 COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATONS
http://www.cfr.org/publication/8034/islam.html
Introduction
Sharia, or Islamic law, influences the legal code in most Muslim countries. A movement to allow sharia to govern personal status law, a set of regulations that pertain to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody, is even expanding into the West. There are so many varying interpretations of what sharia actually means that in some places it can be incorporated into political systems relatively easily, says Steven A. Cook, CFR senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies. Sharia's influence on both personal status law and criminal law is highly controversial, though. Some interpretations are used to justify cruel punishments such as amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress, and independence. The debate is growing as to whether sharia can coexist with secularism, democracy, or even modernity.
What is Sharia?
Also meaning path in Arabic, sharia guides all aspects of Muslim life including daily routines, familial and religious obligations, and financial dealings. It is derived primarily from the Quran and the Sunna--the sayings, practices, and teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. Precedents and analogy applied by Muslim scholars are used to address new issues. The consensus of the Muslim community also plays a role in defining this theological manual.Sharia developed several hundred years after the Prophet Mohammed's death in 632 CE as the Islamic empire expanded to the edge of North Africa in the West and to China in the East. Since the Prophet Mohammed was considered the most pious of all believers, his life and ways became a model for all other Muslims and were collected by scholars into what is known as the hadith. As each locality tried to reconcile local customs and Islam, hadith literature grew and developed into distinct schools of Islamic thought: the Sunni schools, Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanafi; and the Shiite school, Ja'fari. Named after the scholars that inspired them, they differ in the weight each applies to the sources from which sharia is derived, the Quran, hadith, Islamic scholars, and consensus of the community. The Hanbali school, known for following the most Orthodox form of Islam, is embraced in Saudi Arabia and by the Taliban. The Hanafi school, known for being the most liberal and the most focused on reason and analogy, is dominant among Sunnis in Central Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, India, China, Turkey, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. The Maliki school is dominant in North Africa and the Shafi'i school in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Yemen. Shia Muslims follow the Ja'fari school, most notably in Shia-dominant Iran. The distinctions have more impact on the legal systems in each country, however, than on individual Muslims, as many do not adhere to one school in their personal lives.
Controversy: Punishment and Equality under Sharia
Marriage and divorce are the most significant aspects of sharia, but criminal law is the most controversial. In sharia, there are categories of offenses: those that are prescribed a specific punishment in the Quran, known as hadd punishments, those that fall under a judge's discretion, and those resolved through a tit-for-tat measure (ie., blood money paid to the family of a murder victim). There are five hadd crimes: unlawful sexual intercourse (sex outside of marriage and adultery), false accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse, wine drinking (sometimes extended to include all alcohol drinking), theft, and highway robbery. Punishments for hadd offenses--flogging, stoning, amputation, exile, or execution--get a significant amount of media attention when they occur. These sentences are not often prescribed, however. In reality, most Muslim countries do not use traditional classical Islamic punishments, says Ali Mazrui of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies in a Voice of America interview. These punishments remain on the books in some countries but lesser penalties are often considered sufficient.Despite official reluctance to use hadd punishments, vigilante justice still takes place. Honor killings, murders committed in retaliation for bringing dishonor on one's family, are a worldwide problem. While precise statistics are scarce, the UN estimates thousands of women are killed annually in the name of family honor (National Geographic). Other practices that are woven into the sharia debate, such as female genital mutilation, adolescent marriages, polygamy, and gender-biased inheritance rules, elicit as much controversy. There is significant debate over what the Quran sanctions and what practices were pulled from local customs and predate Islam. Those that seek to eliminate or at least modify these controversial practices cite the religious tenet of tajdid. The concept is one of renewal, where Islamic society must be reformed constantly to keep it in its purest form. "With the passage of time and changing circumstances since traditional classical jurisprudence was founded, people's problems have changed and conversely, there must be new thought to address these changes and events,says Dr. Abdul Fatah Idris, head of the comparative jurisprudence department at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Though many scholars share this line of thought, there are those who consider the purest form of Islam to be the one practiced in the seventh century.
Sharia vs. Secularism
In a 2007 University of Maryland poll (PDF), more than 60 percent of the populations in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, and Indonesia responded that democracy was a good way to govern their respective countries, while at the same time, an average of 71 percent agreed with requiring strict application of [sharia] law in every Islamic country.Whether democracy and Islam can coexist is a topic of heated debate. Some Islamists argue democracy is a purely Western concept imposed on Muslim countries. Others feel Islam necessitates a democratic system and that democracy has a basis in the Quran since mutual consultation among the people is commended (42:38 Quran). John L. Esposito and John O. Voll explain the debate in a 2001 article in the journal Humanities.
Noah Feldman, CFR adjunct senior fellow, writes in a 2008 New York Times Magazine article that the full incorporation of Islamic law is viewed as creating a path to just and legitimate government in much of the Muslim world.It places duplicitous rulers alongside their constituents under the rule of God. For many Muslims today, living in corrupt autocracies, the call for [sharia] is not a call for sexism, obscurantism or savage punishment but for an Islamic version of what the West considers its most prized principle of political justice: the rule of law,Feldman argues.On the other hand, some Muslim scholars say that secular government is the best way to observe sharia. Enforcing a [sharia] through coercive power of the state negates its religious nature, because Muslims would be observing the law of the state and not freely performing their religious obligation as Muslims, says Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, a professor of law at Emory University and author of a book on the future of sharia. Opinions on the best balance of Islamic law and secular law vary, but sharia has been incorporated into political systems in three general ways:
-Dual Legal System. Many majority Muslim countries have a dual system in which the government is secular but Muslims can choose to bring familial and financial disputes to sharia courts. The exact jurisdiction of these courts varies from country to country, but usually includes marriage, divorce, inheritance, and guardianship. Examples can be seen in Nigeria and Kenya, which have sharia courts that rule on family law for Muslims. A variation exists in Tanzania, where civil courts apply sharia or secular law according to the religious backgrounds of the defendants. Several countries, including Lebanon and Indonesia, have mixed jurisdiction courts based on residual colonial legal systems and supplemented with sharia. Ahmad Nizar Hamzeh of the American University of Beirut says only Qatar has an official dual legal system where Adlia courts, or civil courts, are independent of the sharia system and legislate secular laws. Western countries are also exploring the idea of allowing Muslims to apply Islamic law in familial and financial disputes. In late 2008, Britain officially allowed sharia tribunals (NYT) governing marriage, divorce, and inheritance to make legally binding decisions if both parties agreed. The new system is in line with separate mediation allowed for Anglican and Jewish communities in England. Criminal law remains under the gavel of the existing legal system. There is no reason why principles of sharia law, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation,Britain's top judge, Lord Nicholas Phillips, said in a July 2008 speech (PDF). Supporters of this initiative, such as the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, argue that it would help maintain social cohesion (BBC) in European societies increasingly divided by religion. However, some research suggests the process to be discriminatory toward women (BBC). Other analysts suggest the system has led to grey areas. Britain's Muslims come from all over the world, Ishtiaq Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Council for Mosques in England, told the BBC, noting that this makes it hard to discern at times where the rulings of the sharia finish and long-held cultural practices start.
-Government under God. In those Muslim countries where Islam is the official religion listed in the constitution, sharia is declared to be a source, or the source, of the laws. Examples include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates, where the governments derive their legitimacy from Islam. In Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq, among others, it is also forbidden to enact legislation that is antithetical to Islam. Saudi Arabia employs one of the strictest interpretations of sharia. Women are not allowed to drive, are under the guardianship of male relatives at all times, and must be completely covered in public. Elsewhere, governments are much more lenient, as in the United Arab Emirates, where alcohol is tolerated. Non-Muslims are not expected to obey sharia and in most countries, they are the jurisdiction of special committees and adjunct courts under the control of the government.
-Completely Secular. Muslim countries where the government is declared to be secular in the constitution include Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Chad, Somalia, and Senegal. Islamist parties run for office occasionally in these countries and sharia often influences local customs. Popular Islamist groups are often viewed as a threat by existing governments. As in Azerbaijan in the 1990s, secularism is sometimes upheld by severe government crackdowns on Islamist groups and political parties. Similar clashes have occurred in Turkey. Under the suspicion that the majority party, the Islamist Justice and Development Party, was trying to establish sharia, Turkey's chief prosecutor petitioned the constitutional court (Economist) in March 2008 to bar the party from politics altogether. One of the politicians indicted, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Newsweek, Turkey has achieved what people said could never be achieved--a balance between Islam, democracy, secularism and modernity.Secular Muslim countries are a minority, however, and the popularity of Islamist political parties are narrowing the gap between religion and state.
Modern Economies and Sharia.Growing at an estimated 15 percent annually, Islamic banking and finance is a worldwide industry that modifies modern business practices to conform to the rules of sharia. Central to this field is riba, the charging or payment of interest, banned under Islamic law. Clever twists on standard financial products like credit cards, savings accounts, mortgages, loans, and even trust funds bypass the interest business model. A 2008 report by the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions estimates the Islamic banking industry to stand at $442 billion. Even big name banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, and Deutsche Bank are developing Islamic banking sectors to cater to the demand. The industry is small in comparison to the global market, but may grow as some non-Muslims are turning to sharia-compliant services. Some of the ethically minded are also switching over to sharia-compliant investments. Businesses are required to avoid transactions related to forbidden things, such as weapons, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography and pork, and investors are guaranteed that their money won't end up financing those industries. Governments are also looking to get a piece of the pie: Malaysia is the largest issuer of sharia-compliant bonds and Indonesia launched its own in January 2009.
http://therothshow.com/show-archives/september-2010/
DOUG-LAURIE ON MOSQUE FUNDING-FRI AUG 20,10-HRS 1-2-3
http://therothshow.com/show-archives/august-2010/
LAURIE ON SHARIA-HR 1 SEPT 2,10
http://therothshow.com/show-archives/september-2010/
EXECUTIONS IN SHARIA LAW-VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ssoQZxP38&feature=player_embedded
SHARIA LAW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia
WARNING TO THE WEST
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/August/Islamization-of-Paris-a-Warning-to-the-West/
SHARIAH IN CANADA PART 1-SOMETHING TO FEAR-VIDEO
http://www.nfb.ca/film/sharia_in_canada_part_1
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=54383
SHARIAH IN CANADA PART 2-VIDEO (THE TRUTH MUST BE REVEALED-WOMEN HAVE NO RIGHTS AT ALL IF SHARIAH ENFORCED)
http://www.nfb.ca/film/sharia_in_canada_part_2
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=54384
WOULD CHRISTIANS OR ANYONE LOVE TO BE BEHEADED,HANDS CUT OFF,FEET CUT OFF,MURDERED.WELL THIS IS WHATS IN STORE FOR ALL WERE EVER ISLAM AND SHARIA LAW IS ENFORCED.BE WARNED.ISLAM WANTS WORLD DOMINATION IN WHICH EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE IS JUDGED ,ESPECIALLY WOMENS LIVES.TORTURE AND DEATH IS COMMON PLACE IN SHARIA LAW.
Islam is a Government dictatorship housed in religion By Laurie Roth SEPT 3,10
While much of the country is rolling their eyes regarding the continued push and deceit behind the 100 million dollar mosque at ground zero on New York, Islam marches forth in the US boldly. America as usual gets confused about religious rights while Muslims build Mosques and manipulate toward Sharia control in city after city.The latest CNN Poll shows that nearly 70% of Americans oppose the Mosque at ground zero, yet Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the front man pushing this, continues to charge forward as American tax payers pay for his trips abroad to Muslim countries, talking of the Islamic condition and status back in the US. As Doug Hagmann of Northeast Intelligence Network revealed on my national radio show a few weeks ago, Rauf is about as peaceful and harmless as a den of rattlesnakes. His translated words from several Arabic interviews portray him as a Hamas supporting, Sharia law pushing radical that gets his money tracked back to Saudi Royals, Iran and Muslim Brotherhood channels just to name a few.
Like so many Imams and Islamic leaders he hides behind the peaceful, white beard, statements of Religious rights and lectures us all about working together. Just this week, Whalid Shoebat, a former radical Islamic, Palestinian terrorist shared on my show the further statements of Imam Rauf translated from Arabic. It is clear his goal is for Islam and Sharia law to take over the US. He boldly said in an interview that he does not believe in Religious tolerance or respect for other religions at all, but talks of Islamic domination in society. The bottom line is that the push for the massive ground zero mosque is nothing but the tip of the iceberg. Islam is in the process of taking over all of America and transforming her to an Islamic republic observing Sharia law.The growth of mosques all across the US is aggressive and heavily funded by Saudi Arabia and Iran. In 2001 there were 1,209 mosques in the US and by 2008 there were 6,000. The money behind these mosques comes from the dangerous and activist strain of Islam, Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia. Since 1970 Saudi Arabia has spent 80 billion dollars to promote this radical Islamic message worldwide by funding mosques, schools and radical Wahhabi and Sharia agendas. Not to be outdone, Iran also spends billions to promote its radical version, Shiism. Together they are the double barrel shotgun that is funding their scheme to take over the world, with the US being their most sought after treasure.
Amil Imani of Family Security Matters talks of what goes on traditionally in these mosques. They not only worship Allah and Muhammed but they indoctrinate future terrorists who learn of Jihad, martyrdom and Dar ul Harb (any place not Islamcized yet.) Imani states that Imams and Islamic leaders sent to the US to lead, now in 6000 mosques, are all funded by radical Saudi or Iranian sources with the purpose of taking over America community by community.You think I’m extreme or nutty? Who would have ever thought most of Europe would allow itself to be taken over by Islam? Sadly, they are dying now and looking for a way out? It is almost impossible for Europe now. Will it be impossible for the US as well, the last bastion of freedom, Judeo/Christian values and heritage in the world? Listen to the words of Amil Imani.…Again, Muslims first make their mark by establishing mosques in as many towns and cities as they can. These mosques range from the ostentatious, such as the one in Washington D.C., to the academically-cloaked University Islamic centers, to the innocuous storefront types and even prison chapels. One and all have the same aims: Hold the faithful in line, recruit as many new adherents by any and all means, and indoctrinate one and all in the imperative of Islamic conquest.Yes we must continue to fight any push for a Mosque at ground zero because it is a vicious, arrogant insult to the victims of 9/11 in general, but also and arrogant and continued push of radical Islam hiding behind the poisonous veil of peace and religious rights.
More importantly, why has America not seen this massive growth of Saudi and Iranian backed mosques in the US? Do we not see that this movement has nothing to do at all with Religious rights but is an arrogant and calculated plan to take over, capture and dominate America for Islam? I don’t want to be unfair or hurt people who choose differently in life then me but Islam has continuously revealed that it is really a Government dictatorship package housed in the skeleton of a Religion. We must wake up to the fact that Sharia Law is the cancerous opposite to our treasured constitution and bill of rights. What kind of religion and law values women as half of a man, guides husbands as to how to beat their wives and demands execution for gays, stoning for people caught in adultery and cutting off of limbs for stealing? I’ll tell you what kind? A religion that is pretending to be a religion that is really an intimidating, controlling Dictatorship scheme.America wake up! I want to know what is going on in the 6000 mosques, hiding behind freedom of speech. I think it is high time American authorities stop waxing so polite and intimidated and start tracking what is being said and taught in US mosques and schools, then having the guts and clarity to shut more than a few down. We are a Christian nation land will not be taken over by Islam as Europe is allowing!
Open letter to Ground Zero imam Posted: September 03, 2010
1:00 am Eastern 2010 WND
Dear Feisal Abdul Rauf,
The bottom line is that America wants to know if you are moderate. We have seen another imam before you, Anwar Awlaki, say on NPR and PBS that he condemned terrorism and even advocated for religious dialogue. He vanished and is now being chased by U.S. drones. You, too, seem to have vanished. We have not heard from you and we suspect that the reason you do not answer any questions is because you have great connections that speak in your defense – the president of the most powerful nation on earth, the mayor of the greatest city in our nation and the speaker of the House. We asked them about you and they simply tell us not to be alarmists, that we should judge you by your positive accomplishments. A drawback to this way of thinking can, at times, be akin to ignoring a drop of cyanide in a punch bowl. Remember Awlaki?
Nancy Pelosi insists that you are moderate and that 71 percent of us are: stereotypical, racists, divisive, inflammatory, hateful, Islamophobic, bigoted, ignorant and intolerant. She says that you are all about reconciliation, but I couldn't find your take on converts from Islam to other religions. Would you reconcile with them? You refused to sign a patriotic act to condemn the killing of converts from Islam to Christianity. This should be no problem since the president is a convert from Islam – and after all, he trusts you. Why else would Pelosi send you as an envoy to discuss an American-style Islam and an Islamic democracy in the Middle East? It sure beats the heck out of Obama's oxymoronic capitalistic-socialism and Obamacare. However, I would like to know if your American-style Islamic Shariah would include interest banking since our whole capitalistic system depends on it.
Check out Shoebat's books For God or For Tyranny and God's War on Terror.
It's nice that the Cordoba building will have a swimming pool, lecture hauls, sports centers and bridge-building classes. The name Cordoba was brilliant to promote the golden age of Islam when Christians were honored for accommodating a crescent in place of a cross; at least we all now know that Cordoba Mosque was built during the golden age of Christendom.
But perhaps Americans are being too harsh and are getting back at the wrong Muslims when they say: We do not want them to have anything next to Ground Zero. After all, the only thing you had to do with the 9/11 rubble was to print it on your book cover in Indonesian: Seruan Azan Dari Puing WTC (A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble). Please clarify: Azan (summons for prayer) is only conducted from a minaret – a mosque – not a cultural center.
You have worked tirelessly for peace. All you wanted was: an icon [Cordoba Mosque]. My mother asked me: On God's green earth, there is no other place you can put a mosque except by the 9/11 rubble? And since we rejected the mosque idea, will the pool at your center allow Jews to swim, or were you kidding when you wrote the N.Y Times that Israel will be Judenrein (free of Jews)?
I loved your romantic example on how to dialogue with Christians and Jews: Deal with them as one courts a girl; stop thinking like a typical Muslim. Then you can engage. Just what is a typical Muslim? Did you use this romantic technique with Bloomberg?
In one news report, you were dumbfounded that Many American blogs print that Muslims want a Caliphate.This is like Arabs thinking that Saudi Arabia is Judenrein. Absurd, isn't it?
I never knew that your Shariah was different from Anwar Awlaki's; just how many Shariahs are there? You say that Shariah is compatible with the U.S. Constitution – just to make sure, I compiled three questions. And just to assure you of my genuine intentions, I will not include typical ignorant stereotype questions about the funding for this noble Cordoba peace center or ask inflammatory questions regarding Caliphate, beheadings, killing of converts, amputation of limbs or lashings for certain sins and infractions. I will keep it strictly civil:
Will marriage between Jewish men with Muslim women be protected by American Shariah law? (Yes, No) Will inheritance be distributed equally to males as well as females under American Shariah law? (Yes, No) Will the sale of mosque properties be allowed to include setting up places of worship for other faiths? (Yes, No)
Finally, I was delighted that you now reconciled with Christians when you stated: We all worship the same God.So I salute you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, my Lord and yours. Right? With best regards, Walid Shoebat
Walid Shoebat is the author of For God or For Tyranny and God's War on Terror. For interviews call 720-935-2826.
Islamization of Paris a Warning to the WestBy Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. ReporterFriday, September 03, 2010RSS
PARIS - Friday in Paris. A hidden camera shows streets blocked by huge crowds of Muslim worshippers and enforced by a private security force.This is all illegal in France: the public worship, the blocked streets, and the private security. But the police have been ordered not to intervene. It shows that even though some in the French government want to get tough with Muslims and ban the burqa, other parts of the French government continue to give Islam a privileged status. An ordinary French citizen who has been watching the Islamization of Paris decided that the world needed to see what was happening to his city. He used a hidden camera to start posting videos on YouTube. His life has been threatened and so he uses the alias of Maxime Lepante.
Lepante's View
His camera shows that Muslims are blocking the streets with barriers. They are praying on the ground. And the inhabitants of this district cannot leave their homes, nor go into their homes during those prayers.The Muslims taking over those streets do not have any authorization. They do not go to the police headquarters, so it's completely illegal, he says.The Muslims in the street have been granted unofficial rights that no Christian group is likely to get under France's Laicite', or secularism law. It says people have the right to share any belief they want, any religion,Lepante explained. But they have to practice at home or in the mosque, synagogues, churches and so on.Some say Muslims must pray in the street because they need a larger mosque. But Lepante has observed cars coming from other parts of Paris, and he believes it is a weekly display of growing Muslim power. They are coming there to show that they can take over some French streets to show that they can conquer a part of the French territory,he said.
France's Islamic Future?
If France faces an Islamic future, a Russian author has already written about it. The novel is called The Mosque of Notre Dame, 2048, a bestseller in Russia, not in France. French publisher Jean Robin said the French media ignored the book because it was politically incorrect.Islam is seen as the religion of the poor people, so you can't say to the poor people, You're wrong, otherwise, you're a fascist, Robin explained. The book lays out a dark future when France has become a Muslim nation, and the famous cathedral has been turned into a mosque. Whether that plot is farfetched depends on whom you ask. Muslims are said to be no more than 10 percent of the French population, although no one knows for sure because French law prohibits population counts by religion. But the Muslim birthrate is significantly higher than for the native French. Some Muslim men practice polygamy, with each extra wife having children and collecting a welfare check.The problem of Islam is more than a problem of numbers, said French philosopher Radu Stoenescu, an Islamic expert who debates Muslim leaders on French TV. The problem is one of principles. It's an open question. Is Islam an ideology or just a creed? It doesn't matter how many there are, he aded. The problem is the people who follow Islam; they're somehow in a political party, which has a political agenda, which means basically implementing Sharia and building an Islamic state.
In Denial or Fed Up
From the 1980s until recently, criticizing or opposing Islam was considered a social taboo, and so the government and media effectively helped Islam spread throughout France. We were expecting Islam to adapt to France and it is France adapting to Islam, Robin said. About the burqa controversy, one French Muslim man told a reporter that Europeans should respect Muslim dress. One Parisian woman wearing a headscarf said the veil is in the Koran and we only submit to God and nobody else.But even if many government elites are in France are in denial over Islam, the people in the streets increasingly are not. Some have become fed up with what they see as the growing Islamization of France.They've started staging pork and wine aperitifs, or cocktail parties in the street. They're patriotic demonstrations meant to strike back against Islam. Another national demonstration is planned for Saturday, Sept. 4.
A Warning to the West
The French parliament is expected to debate the burqa law in September. Jean-Francois Cope, president of the Union for a Popular Movement political party, has a warning for the West and for America.We cannot accept the development of such practice because it's not compatible with the life in a modern society, you see, he said. And this question is not only a French question. You will all have to face this challenge.For more insight on the slide toward a post-Christian Western society, check out Dale Hurd's blog Hurd on the Web.
Sharia Law's brutal punishments
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 01:39PM
Woman being prepared for stoning in the Middle East In stone-age Northern Iraq, just a fortnight ago, a rabble of cursing, violent men bursts into a house and drags out a terrified Kurdish 17-year-old girl. Her screams and pleas for mercy fill the air which only fuels on the frenzy of the crowd. They tie her hands behind her back and bury her up to her chest in a crude pit dug in the ground outside the village limits. Her heart beating frantically, her screams turn into sobbing as she realizes that there will be no mercy today. Around her in the crowd, she sees relatives amongst the twisted faces. Uncle Ahmed who used to bring her sweets. Surely he'll help her. She calls to him. He bends to select the rocks with the other men. The instructions for a stoning are very specific; the rocks must not be so small as not to cause damage but not so big as to kill too quickly. The men find the most jagged rocks they can and the first ones pound her face, breasts and shoulders. Her cries die out as the first blood and spittle spray from the girl's upper body. Her agony lasts for 30 minutes. This is the punishment inflicted on a young Kurdish girl, a non-Muslim this month for being away from home for the night with her boyfriend, a Muslim. She had originally been given shelter in the home of a Yezidi tribal leader. His home was stormed to seize the victim and carry out this inhuman punishment. Believing that the girl, a Yezedi had been murdered by her family for converting to Islam to please her boyfriend, the enraged Muslims then stormed the Yezedi community to take revenge. I quote:
This stoning, incidently, led to the massacre of 23 Yezedis by Muslims who believed Du'a was murdered for converting to Islam.I could not watch the video but I have fleshed out the story from research I've done on other eye-witness reports of stonings in the Middle East. The video clip of an eye-witness of this particular stoning and further details can be found here It's unknown how many women are being stoned in the Middle East. This site believes that there are several in Iran waiting for stoning to be carried out now, while this site gives further details of more stonings and some other gruesome death sentences being carried out. It's time that this barbaric culture puts an end to stoning, hanging, amputation, flogging and all other barbaric tortures being carried out in the name of Sharia Law. And while this goes on across the planet, Sharia Law seeps in under our own front doors! Cross-posted at RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION
SHARIA LAW & DISCUSSION
http://www.shariah.net/sharia-punishments/
sharia punishments
By Khurram Murad August 9, 2005
Punishments have always been considered an integral part of the concept of justice. Indeed, a common man would find it hard to think of justice as something very different or separate from rewarding or punishing people according to how well or badly they observe the body of the mutual rights and obligations in their society. But if the concept of punishment is universal, the controversies surrounding it are nonetheless intense. We shall now look at some basic Islamic principles concerning punishments.
Basic Principles
Each human being is responsible for his or her actions. This simple truth provides the whole basis for the justification of punishment; for to fulfill the purpose of this creation, mankind has been granted the freedom to choose and act and the moral sense to distinguish between right and wrong. Responsibility goes with knowledge and freedom. Punishment cannot, therefore, be meted out to one person for another person’s actions, for acts intended but not performed, or for acts done under duress or while not of sound mind. Everyone must be equal before the law and their guilt must be established by the due process of justice.
Proportional Justice
It is important to note that there is no concept in Islam of the punishment being exactly and justly proportional to the crime. Absolute and truly proportional justice would require the exact and complete evaluation of such complex factors as intentions and motives, the surrounding circumstances, and the causes and repercussions factors which human judges must consider but cannot evaluate fully and which only God, in the new moral order to be set up in the life after death, can measure. Islamic punishments are not, therefore, to be judged on the scales of proportional and full retribution. They are, however, laid down by the One who is infinitely merciful and wise, and are, therefore, more suitable for the particular crimes than anything that can be prescribed by any human legislature or judge.
Part of a Whole
Most importantly, punishments are only a part of a vastly larger, integrated whole. They can neither be properly understood nor successfully or justifiably implemented in isolation. First, law is not the main, or even major, vehicle in the total framework for the reinforcement of morality; it is the individuals belief, the individuals God-consciousness and taqwa that inherent and innate quality which makes one want to refrain from what displeases God and do what pleases Him. Second, justice is a positive ideal which permeates and dominates the entire life of the community it is not merely an institutionalized means of inflicting punishment. Third, and consequently, a whole environment is established where to do right is encouraged, facilitated, and found easy, while to do wrong is discouraged, inhibited, and found difficult. All men and women are enjoined, as their foremost duty, to aid, exhort, and commend each other to do good and to avoid evil.
Functional Nature
Penalties in Islam are more of a functional nature, to regulate and deter. God has laid down a body of mutual rights and obligations that are the true embodiment of justice. He has also laid down certain boundaries and limits to be observed and maintained for this very purpose. If people and nations desire to move in peace and safety on the highways of life, they must stick to the traffic lanes demarcated for them and observe all the signposts erected along their routes. If they do not, they not only put themselves in danger, but endanger others. They, therefore, naturally make themselves liable to penalties not in vengeful retribution, but to regulate the orderly exchanges in a persons life in accordance with justice.
It is a significant contribution of Islam that these penalties are called hudud (boundaries) and not punishments: they are liabilities incurred as a result of crossing the boundaries set by God. An important consequence of these hudud having been laid down by God and not by man, is that it is beyond human authority to reduce or supersede them out of a sense of mercy greater than that of God; nor can a tyrant or autocrat add to them out of a greater sense of strict justice. For no one can be more merciful or wiser or more just than God Himself.
Another important function that these punishments serve is educative, thus preventive and deterrent. The Qurân alludes to this aspect when it describes them as exemplary punishment from God (Al-Maidah 5:38). Punishments are thus designed to keep the sense of justice alive in the community by a public repudiation of the acts violating the limits set by God. They are expected to build up in the society a deep feeling of abhorrence for transgression against fellow human beings, and therefore against God, a transgression which, according to the Quran, is the root cause of all disorders and corruption in human life.
Retribution Qisaas
Apart from punishments for transgressions like extramarital sex, theft, libel, and drinking, the Qur’an also provides for the principle of qisaas or retribution. When a person causes physical injury or harm to a fellow human being, Islam gives the injured party the right of equal requital—the well known principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.� This procedure is persistently labeled by critics as primitive and uncivilized. In the Islamic view of history, it is worth pointing out, what is primitive has never been necessarily uncivilized. The first man was given all necessary knowledge and guidance, and though he may have been technologically backward compared to the twentieth century, he definitely was not humanly backward. Uncivilized is what a person thinks and does in deviating from the divine order.
In the eyes of the Quran, (in retribution (qisaas) lies life for you.) (Al-Baqarah 2:179) The reasons are obvious. First, the right of retribution belongs to individuals, not society or the state; this simple shift in responsibility results in a profound and far reaching change in the whole system of implementing justice. The state does not have to intervene every time two human beings are involved in a dispute. Thus, instead of starting an irreversible process of trial and punishment, it leaves the ground open for settlement between individuals, without interference by impersonal bureaucratic machinery, though under no circumstances can the individual take the law into his or her own hands.
The injured person, in turn, may forgo the right to retribution by forgiving, or may agree to accept a monetary or token recompense instead. The Quran, in fact, highly recommends the act of forgiving. Thus, under qisaas, punishment is avoidable without burdening the executive or judiciary with the dilemma of whether to exercise mercy. As against a court, which must act according to law once a case is brought before it, an individual is free to act as he or she wishes. Justice has to be blind, but an individual may take circumstances into account, and suspend judgment in the hope of being forgiven by God in the Hereafter. Very few realize that the principle of qisaas even allows capital punishment to be avoided.
Mercy and Leniency
Having prescribed punishments and imposed strict and meticulous, though not impossible, conditions of evidence, Islam has built in a whole range of principles and precepts which reflect not a frenzied desire to flog and stone but a compassionate urge to avoid and eschew. Islam does not allow either the state or individuals to spy upon people unless well founded suspicion exists that a crime is being committed or a fellow human beings rights or interests are in jeopardy. Nor is it obligatory to report every crime. Where possible, settlements outside court are preferred. The punishment is swiftly over; the guilty person and his or her family do not have to live with the kind of lengthy public stigma that they would have had to endure in the case of a prison sentence at the end of a trial. The imposition of divinely prescribed hudud enhances, not diminishes, the individuals dignity and stature in society and before God.
Alleged Cruelty
As to the alleged cruelty of physical penalties, one wonders if to deprive a person of his or her freedom (the most precious and valuable possession), the right to act and continue to make moral choices, the right to live with a family (to work for and support them) is not more cruel. Indeed, a prison term can inflict untold misery on innocent people whose lives are intertwined with the life of the prisoner. Prison becomes a school for hardening criminal behavior and a breeding ground for recidivism. Why should it be considered more cruel for a person found drug trafficking to be given ten lashes than to be sent to languish in prison for, say, ten years.
Reform Syndrome
Why does Islam want to punish and not reform? The question is fallacious, for in Islam, every institution of society is value-oriented and owes a responsibility towards the moral development of every person from the cradle to the grave. Reform is, therefore, a pre-crime responsibility and not a post-crime syndrome and nightmare. Islam makes every effort to ensure that inducement to commit crime is minimal. Once the crime is committed, the best place for reform is in the family and in the society where a criminal is to live after punishment, not in a prison where every inmate is a criminal; unless, of course, a society considers itself to be more corrupt and less competent to effect reform than a jail! Against this, the “modern, enlightened� approach is to provide every inducement to crime by building a society based on conspicuous consumption; to make society, education, and every other institution “value free� and then to try to reform a criminal by segregating the person and keeping him or her in a prison.
Procedural Justice
Sentences in Islam are certainly harsh, but still more strict and severe are the procedures laid down to be observed before a person may be convicted. These procedures are modeled on the paradigm of the Day of Judgment, when even God, though He is All-knowing, and Just, will not punish a person unless He establishes that persons guilt.To let nine criminals go free is preferable to convicting one innocent man,? said the Prophet.
Q&A: Sharia law explained
By Dominic Casciani
Home affairs reporter, BBC News
Mosques: Some hold Sharia courts (THE NY MOSQUE WILL)
Lord Phillips, the most senior judge in England and Wales, has said that principles of sharia law could play a role in some parts of the legal system. But how does the sharia system work and fit into society?
What is Sharia?
Sharia law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both the Koran, as the word of God, the example of the life of the prophet Muhammad, and fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars.But Sharia differs in one very important and significant way to the legal traditions of the Western world: it governs, or at least informs, every aspect of the life of a Muslim.
What does it cover?
Western law confines itself largely to matters relating to crime, contract, civil relationships and individual rights.Sharia is however concerned with more. Sharia rulings have been developed to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to God's wishes.
What does this mean in practice?
All sorts of things in daily life. For example, many young Muslims ask themselves what they should do if colleagues invite them to the pub after work or college. Many people would of course make up their own mind about the appropriate course of action. But others may turn to a Sharia scholar for advice.So Sharia covers a lot of very mundane and banal daily issues where observant Muslims want to ensure they act within the legal framework of their faith.
So how are rulings made?
Like any legal system, Sharia is complex and its practice is entirely reliant on the quality and training of experts.There are different schools of thought, which consequently lead to different rulings.Scholars spend decades studying the law and, as with Western law, an expert on one aspect of Sharia is by no means the authority on another.Islamic jurists issue guidance and rulings. Guidance that is considered a formal legal ruling is called a Fatwa.
Do people go to court?
Sharia courts exist in both the Muslim world and in the Western world.In parts of the Muslim world the criminal courts and their punishments are of course drawn from the rules of Sharia.In the West, Muslim communities have established Sharia courts to largely deal with family or business disputes.The internet has become a popular way of seeking a ruling with scholars. Some of the guidance to Muslims in the west which has been considered most outlandish has come from these sources, particularly where the scholar has no knowledge of the realities of western life.
Why is Sharia mentioned in the same breath as public executions?
Of all the issues around Islamic law, this remains the most controversial in Western eyes - and its presentation the most infuriating for Muslims.
Tariq Ramadan: Called for moratorium on death penalty
Muslims say the Western world misrepresents Sharia by focusing on beheadings in Saudi Arabia and other gruesome punishments. The equivalent, they say, would be a debate about the history of Western law focused on America's electric chair. Some modern Muslim scholars say that while Sharia includes provisions for capital and corporal punishment, getting to that stage is in fact quite difficult.The most famous Muslim thinker in Europe, Tariq Ramadan, has called for a moratorium on these penalties in the Muslim world.He argues that the conditions under which such penalties would be legal are almost impossible to re-establish in today's world.
But Muslims can be executed for converting?
Apostasy, or leaving the faith, is a very controversial issue in the Muslim world and the majority of scholars believe it is punishable by death.But a minority of Muslim thinkers, particularly those engaged with Western societies, argue that the reality of the modern world means the punishment should be left to God - and that Islam itself is not threatened by apostasy. The Koran itself declares there is no compulsion in religion. Egypt's most senior cleric has faced a storm in the Middle East after floating some of these ideas but the debate may well continue for many generations to come.
So what kind of Sharia are we talking about in the UK?
The key issues are family law, finance and business. In practice many Muslims do turn to Sharia guidance for many of these day-to-day matters, particularly family disputes.
And how does this work in practice?
Muslims are increasingly looking to the example of Jewish communities which have long-established religious community courts.These courts are legally recognised in English law as a means for warring parties to agree to arbitration. The law sees this as a practical way of helping people to resolve their differences in their own way, without clogging up the local courts.
But what about incorporating Sharia into British law?
In two important areas British law has incorporated religious legal considerations. British food regulations allow meat to be slaughtered according to Jewish and Islamic practices - a touchstone issue for both communities. Secondly, the Treasury has approved Sharia-compliant financial products such as mortgages and investments. Islam forbids interest on the basis that it is money unjustly earned. These products are said by supporters to meet the needs of modern life in a way that fits the faith. Has any western nation allowed Sharia to be used in full? Not at all. Canada is widely reported to have come close - leading to protests in 2005. But in reality the proposals were little different from the existing religious arbitration rules here in the UK. Experts considered establishing Sharia-related family courts to ease the burden on civil courts - but said these would have to observe the basic human rights guarantees of Canadian law.
What about Sharia and women?
Some Muslim women in Britain are concerned about how their rights are protected. Take marriage for example.Muslims only consider themselves truly married once they have conducted the Islamic ceremony, known as the nikah. In some cases, this means that there is a cultural view that the British civil ceremony, which enforces legal rights under the law, is not important.Some mosques are aware of this issue and now demand to see a marriage certificate as a condition of the nikah. Others do not. Many women want Muslim leaders to do more to ensure their rights are protected under British law.
Does Sharia allow men to instantly divorce wives?
There is an idea that men merely have to say the Arabic for divorce three times (known as the triple talaq) and that is sufficient - and there are some men who think they have this right. In practice, not only do texts show Muhammad disagreed but today, where Sharia courts are properly run, the words are merely a symbolic part of a rigorous process. Marriage is a contract in Islam. Scholars expect three-month cooling-off periods, dialogue, arbitration and counselling. However, Talaq is a very complicated area of Sharia law with conflicting views - see internet links for one example.
So women have reservations about Sharia?
Some Muslim women in the West would be worried about protection of their rights in Sharia courts where there is discrimination against them because of patriarchal and cultural control in their communities.This does not mean that they are necessarily opposed to Sharia - only there are concerns about the fairness of its application. It's fair to say that many leading Muslim women are more concerned about how existing British equality measures and human rights laws can be used to improve their position and voice in society.
Islam: Governing Under Sharia (aka shariah, shari'a)
Author: Lauren Vriens March 23, 2009 COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATONS
http://www.cfr.org/publication/8034/islam.html
Introduction
Sharia, or Islamic law, influences the legal code in most Muslim countries. A movement to allow sharia to govern personal status law, a set of regulations that pertain to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody, is even expanding into the West. There are so many varying interpretations of what sharia actually means that in some places it can be incorporated into political systems relatively easily, says Steven A. Cook, CFR senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies. Sharia's influence on both personal status law and criminal law is highly controversial, though. Some interpretations are used to justify cruel punishments such as amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress, and independence. The debate is growing as to whether sharia can coexist with secularism, democracy, or even modernity.
What is Sharia?
Also meaning path in Arabic, sharia guides all aspects of Muslim life including daily routines, familial and religious obligations, and financial dealings. It is derived primarily from the Quran and the Sunna--the sayings, practices, and teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. Precedents and analogy applied by Muslim scholars are used to address new issues. The consensus of the Muslim community also plays a role in defining this theological manual.Sharia developed several hundred years after the Prophet Mohammed's death in 632 CE as the Islamic empire expanded to the edge of North Africa in the West and to China in the East. Since the Prophet Mohammed was considered the most pious of all believers, his life and ways became a model for all other Muslims and were collected by scholars into what is known as the hadith. As each locality tried to reconcile local customs and Islam, hadith literature grew and developed into distinct schools of Islamic thought: the Sunni schools, Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanafi; and the Shiite school, Ja'fari. Named after the scholars that inspired them, they differ in the weight each applies to the sources from which sharia is derived, the Quran, hadith, Islamic scholars, and consensus of the community. The Hanbali school, known for following the most Orthodox form of Islam, is embraced in Saudi Arabia and by the Taliban. The Hanafi school, known for being the most liberal and the most focused on reason and analogy, is dominant among Sunnis in Central Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, India, China, Turkey, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. The Maliki school is dominant in North Africa and the Shafi'i school in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Yemen. Shia Muslims follow the Ja'fari school, most notably in Shia-dominant Iran. The distinctions have more impact on the legal systems in each country, however, than on individual Muslims, as many do not adhere to one school in their personal lives.
Controversy: Punishment and Equality under Sharia
Marriage and divorce are the most significant aspects of sharia, but criminal law is the most controversial. In sharia, there are categories of offenses: those that are prescribed a specific punishment in the Quran, known as hadd punishments, those that fall under a judge's discretion, and those resolved through a tit-for-tat measure (ie., blood money paid to the family of a murder victim). There are five hadd crimes: unlawful sexual intercourse (sex outside of marriage and adultery), false accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse, wine drinking (sometimes extended to include all alcohol drinking), theft, and highway robbery. Punishments for hadd offenses--flogging, stoning, amputation, exile, or execution--get a significant amount of media attention when they occur. These sentences are not often prescribed, however. In reality, most Muslim countries do not use traditional classical Islamic punishments, says Ali Mazrui of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies in a Voice of America interview. These punishments remain on the books in some countries but lesser penalties are often considered sufficient.Despite official reluctance to use hadd punishments, vigilante justice still takes place. Honor killings, murders committed in retaliation for bringing dishonor on one's family, are a worldwide problem. While precise statistics are scarce, the UN estimates thousands of women are killed annually in the name of family honor (National Geographic). Other practices that are woven into the sharia debate, such as female genital mutilation, adolescent marriages, polygamy, and gender-biased inheritance rules, elicit as much controversy. There is significant debate over what the Quran sanctions and what practices were pulled from local customs and predate Islam. Those that seek to eliminate or at least modify these controversial practices cite the religious tenet of tajdid. The concept is one of renewal, where Islamic society must be reformed constantly to keep it in its purest form. "With the passage of time and changing circumstances since traditional classical jurisprudence was founded, people's problems have changed and conversely, there must be new thought to address these changes and events,says Dr. Abdul Fatah Idris, head of the comparative jurisprudence department at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Though many scholars share this line of thought, there are those who consider the purest form of Islam to be the one practiced in the seventh century.
Sharia vs. Secularism
In a 2007 University of Maryland poll (PDF), more than 60 percent of the populations in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, and Indonesia responded that democracy was a good way to govern their respective countries, while at the same time, an average of 71 percent agreed with requiring strict application of [sharia] law in every Islamic country.Whether democracy and Islam can coexist is a topic of heated debate. Some Islamists argue democracy is a purely Western concept imposed on Muslim countries. Others feel Islam necessitates a democratic system and that democracy has a basis in the Quran since mutual consultation among the people is commended (42:38 Quran). John L. Esposito and John O. Voll explain the debate in a 2001 article in the journal Humanities.
Noah Feldman, CFR adjunct senior fellow, writes in a 2008 New York Times Magazine article that the full incorporation of Islamic law is viewed as creating a path to just and legitimate government in much of the Muslim world.It places duplicitous rulers alongside their constituents under the rule of God. For many Muslims today, living in corrupt autocracies, the call for [sharia] is not a call for sexism, obscurantism or savage punishment but for an Islamic version of what the West considers its most prized principle of political justice: the rule of law,Feldman argues.On the other hand, some Muslim scholars say that secular government is the best way to observe sharia. Enforcing a [sharia] through coercive power of the state negates its religious nature, because Muslims would be observing the law of the state and not freely performing their religious obligation as Muslims, says Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, a professor of law at Emory University and author of a book on the future of sharia. Opinions on the best balance of Islamic law and secular law vary, but sharia has been incorporated into political systems in three general ways:
-Dual Legal System. Many majority Muslim countries have a dual system in which the government is secular but Muslims can choose to bring familial and financial disputes to sharia courts. The exact jurisdiction of these courts varies from country to country, but usually includes marriage, divorce, inheritance, and guardianship. Examples can be seen in Nigeria and Kenya, which have sharia courts that rule on family law for Muslims. A variation exists in Tanzania, where civil courts apply sharia or secular law according to the religious backgrounds of the defendants. Several countries, including Lebanon and Indonesia, have mixed jurisdiction courts based on residual colonial legal systems and supplemented with sharia. Ahmad Nizar Hamzeh of the American University of Beirut says only Qatar has an official dual legal system where Adlia courts, or civil courts, are independent of the sharia system and legislate secular laws. Western countries are also exploring the idea of allowing Muslims to apply Islamic law in familial and financial disputes. In late 2008, Britain officially allowed sharia tribunals (NYT) governing marriage, divorce, and inheritance to make legally binding decisions if both parties agreed. The new system is in line with separate mediation allowed for Anglican and Jewish communities in England. Criminal law remains under the gavel of the existing legal system. There is no reason why principles of sharia law, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation,Britain's top judge, Lord Nicholas Phillips, said in a July 2008 speech (PDF). Supporters of this initiative, such as the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, argue that it would help maintain social cohesion (BBC) in European societies increasingly divided by religion. However, some research suggests the process to be discriminatory toward women (BBC). Other analysts suggest the system has led to grey areas. Britain's Muslims come from all over the world, Ishtiaq Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Council for Mosques in England, told the BBC, noting that this makes it hard to discern at times where the rulings of the sharia finish and long-held cultural practices start.
-Government under God. In those Muslim countries where Islam is the official religion listed in the constitution, sharia is declared to be a source, or the source, of the laws. Examples include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates, where the governments derive their legitimacy from Islam. In Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq, among others, it is also forbidden to enact legislation that is antithetical to Islam. Saudi Arabia employs one of the strictest interpretations of sharia. Women are not allowed to drive, are under the guardianship of male relatives at all times, and must be completely covered in public. Elsewhere, governments are much more lenient, as in the United Arab Emirates, where alcohol is tolerated. Non-Muslims are not expected to obey sharia and in most countries, they are the jurisdiction of special committees and adjunct courts under the control of the government.
-Completely Secular. Muslim countries where the government is declared to be secular in the constitution include Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Chad, Somalia, and Senegal. Islamist parties run for office occasionally in these countries and sharia often influences local customs. Popular Islamist groups are often viewed as a threat by existing governments. As in Azerbaijan in the 1990s, secularism is sometimes upheld by severe government crackdowns on Islamist groups and political parties. Similar clashes have occurred in Turkey. Under the suspicion that the majority party, the Islamist Justice and Development Party, was trying to establish sharia, Turkey's chief prosecutor petitioned the constitutional court (Economist) in March 2008 to bar the party from politics altogether. One of the politicians indicted, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Newsweek, Turkey has achieved what people said could never be achieved--a balance between Islam, democracy, secularism and modernity.Secular Muslim countries are a minority, however, and the popularity of Islamist political parties are narrowing the gap between religion and state.
Modern Economies and Sharia.Growing at an estimated 15 percent annually, Islamic banking and finance is a worldwide industry that modifies modern business practices to conform to the rules of sharia. Central to this field is riba, the charging or payment of interest, banned under Islamic law. Clever twists on standard financial products like credit cards, savings accounts, mortgages, loans, and even trust funds bypass the interest business model. A 2008 report by the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions estimates the Islamic banking industry to stand at $442 billion. Even big name banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, and Deutsche Bank are developing Islamic banking sectors to cater to the demand. The industry is small in comparison to the global market, but may grow as some non-Muslims are turning to sharia-compliant services. Some of the ethically minded are also switching over to sharia-compliant investments. Businesses are required to avoid transactions related to forbidden things, such as weapons, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography and pork, and investors are guaranteed that their money won't end up financing those industries. Governments are also looking to get a piece of the pie: Malaysia is the largest issuer of sharia-compliant bonds and Indonesia launched its own in January 2009.
HURRICANE SWIPES NORTH CAROLINA
Heavy in dollars, China warns of depreciation By Zhou Xin And Simon Rabinovitch – Thu Sep 2, 11:26 pm ET
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Friday offered a rare glimpse into its foreign exchange reserves, confirming that they are overwhelmingly allocated in dollars, while a central banker said the mountain of cash could face depreciation risks.The Chinese government's currency reserves, the world's largest such stockpile at $2.45 trillion, are held roughly in line with what was described as the global average: 65 percent in dollars, 26 percent in euros, 5 percent in pounds and 3 percent in yen.The report in the China Securities Journal, an official newspaper, cited unnamed reserve managers.The allocation of Chinese foreign exchange reserves is considered to be a state secret, but analysts have long estimated that about two-thirds are invested in dollar assets.Separately, Hu Xiaolian, a vice governor with the People's Bank of China, warned that depreciation loomed as a risk for foreign exchange reserves held by developing counties.Once a reserve currency's value becomes unstable, there will be quite large depreciation risks for assets, she wrote in an article that appeared in the latest issue of China Finance, a Chinese-language magazine published under the central bank.She reiterated China's long-standing discomfort with a global financial system dominated by a single currency in the dollar.The outbreak and spread of the global financial crisis has highlighted the inherent deficiencies and systemic risks in the current international currency system, she said.A diversified international currency system will be more conducive to international economic and financial stability, she added.To that end, developing countries must speed up reform of their financial markets, and China would work to promote greater cross-border use of the yuan, she said.
DIVERSIFICATION
There have been signs in recent months that Beijing has stepped up the pace of diversification of its foreign exchange reserves away from dollar assets.Chinese net buying of Japanese debt has surpassed 1.7 trillion yen this year, far surpassing its record of 255.7 billion yen in 2005.China has also raised holdings of South Korean bonds by 2.48 trillion won ($2.11 billion) in the first seven months of this year from 1.87 trillion won at the end of last year. However, Chinese investors only started buying South Korean bonds in the middle of 2009.At the same time, China has slightly cut back its vast holdings of U.S. Treasuries, from $894.8 billion at the start of the year to $843.7 billion in June, according to the most recent data. China remains the biggest single holder of U.S. government debt.But analysts have also warned against reading too much into the apparent shifts in the flow of cash from China. Like any investor with commercial interests in mind, Beijing has shown a readiness to shift its strategy depending on what it sees as good buys at the time.
The China Securities Journal laid out the prospects for a shift back to the dollar in the near term.It is unlikely that China will increase purchases of Japanese bonds in the coming months because the yen might weaken at any time, the newspaper said.
China is very likely to increase purchases of U.S. Treasuries in September. The possibility for China to buy more Korean bonds can't be ruled out, it added. (Editing by Ken Wills)
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
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI SEP 03,2010
09:30 AM +1.44
10:00 AM +69.25
10:30 AM +63.80
11:00 AM +56.38
11:30 AM +70.01
12:00 PM +73.19
12:30 PM +71.68
01:00 PM +91.33
01:30 PM +100.25
02:00 PM +107.78
02:30 PM +107.25
03:00 PM +91.20
03:30 PM +103.69
04:00 PM +127.83 10,447.93
S&P 500 1104.51 +14.41
NASDAQ 2233.75 +33.74
GOLD 1,249.20 -4.20
OIL 74.41 -0.61
TSE 300 12,144.90 +33.80
CDNX 1565.96 +34.73
S&P/TSX/60 708.03 +1.99
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +90 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -0.08 points at low today.
Dow +130 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,243.40.OIL opens at $75.04 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.08 points at low today so far.
Dow +130 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.08 points at low today.
Dow +130 points at high today.
GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,266.90 (NOT AT CLOSE)
Rallies in Israel, US for Shooting Victims
by Maayana Miskin SEPT 3,10
Hundreds of Jewish residents of the Hevron region marched Friday to the scene of the fatal terrorist attack in which four residents of Beit Chaggai were shot and murdered. A rally was held at the scene, at which rabbis from the region addressed the crowd.Following the terrible desecration of G-d's name caused by the attack on Jews as they travelled through our land, we will all go out and march to strengthen our faith and our presence in the land, organizers of the march said as they set out.
Dozens of young participants took the opportunity to dismantle pipes that were attached to Israeli water lines by Palestinian Authority Arabs in an attempt to siphon water destined for Jewish towns. PA Arab towns in the region have their own water supply, but water thieves actively target Jews in the region nonetheless.Jews in Los Angeles plan to rally Friday in memory of the shooting victims as well. The rally is organized by the Jewish Defense Force, a pro-Israel group that has previously rallied in support of Israeli counter-terror operations.On Thursday, hundreds of residents of Beit Chaggai and the greater Hevron region took part in building a new residential home in Beit Chaggai, in memory of those slain by terrorists two days earlier. The construction was carried out despite a government-ordered Judea and Samaria building freeze.Har Hevron regional council head Tzviki Bar-Chai spoke at the construction site, saying, We are here to tell those who seek to destroy us that in place of bloodshed, we will increase life. That is the Zionist response to terrorism, to the wickedness of those who get up each morning and plot to murder us.This is how Tel Chai, Kiryat Shemonah, Mishmar Hashiva and Yad Hashlosha were built, he added, naming Israeli towns dedicated to the memory of victims of Arab terrorism.On Tuesday, PA terrorists opened fire on Jews from Beit Chaggai as they drove on a nearby road. After forcing the car to a stop, the terrorists approached the vehicle and shot their victims at close range, murdering four and wounding two more. The victims were Yitzchak and Talia Imes, Kokhava Even-Chaim, and Avishai Schindler. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
NY Demo: Peace, Peace, but There Is No Peace
by Fern Sidman, INN NY Correspondent SEPT 3,10
Dozens of Jewish supporters of Israel gathered across the street from the Israeli Consulate in New York City, on Thursday evening, September 2nd, to call upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to just say no to demands for more concessions from Israel that will continue to endanger the lives of Jews throughout Israel. Organized by Helen Freedman of Americans For A Safe Israel, the demonstration came at the end of the first round of direct peace talks between Prime Minister Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama at the White House.US Middle East envoy George Mitchell along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Abbas and Netanyahu met for 90 minutes, with the two leaders pledging to work together to maintain security and reiterating their goal of a two-state solution. The three-way meeting was long and productive, Mr Mitchell said, adding the leaders pledged to work in good faith and with seriousness of purpose. He said Mr. Netanyahu and Mr Abbas then went off on their own for a one-on-one meeting, which may be designed to build trust between the two leaders. There were no notetakers or translators in either of the meetings.The US sponsored peace talks come on the heels of the heinous murder of four Jews in the Hebron region on August 31st. Talya and Yitzchok Imas, Kochava Even-Chaim and Avishai Shindler were gunned down in cold blood by Hamas terrorists at the Bani Naim junction just south of Hebron. This was followed by yet another drive-by shooting on Route 60 between the Rimonim Junction and the Jewish community of Kochav HaShachar in the Binyamin region of Samaria that left Rabbi Moshe Moreno and his wife Shira moderately wounded. A Fatah cell calling itself the Al-Namir cells of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack as did Hamas.
It's all very well for the Quartet led by President Obama to decide that peace must come to the Israeli-Arab situation within the next year, but what are the Arabs saying? And what are they doing? Where is the control of anti-Israel terror and incitement, said AFSI coordinator Helen Freedman. Hold aloft Israeli flags and signs saying, No Negotiations With Terrorists: Just Say No, Bibi: Trust in Hashem, Not Them and No Palestinian State, the demonstrators braved the oppressive 97 degree New York City heat as they chanted, Jewish blood is not cheap and They kill and we build.
We need a president that understands the ideology of radical Islam declared Madeline Brooks, the Manhattan chapter head of ACT for America, as she addressed the demonstrators. These four innocent Jews were tragically murdered because there were no security checkpoints and that was ordered at the behest of President Obama. We need to seize the moment to educate our fellow citizens about the pernicious nature of jihad, she said.Also addressing the gathering was New York radio personality and long time Jewish activist, Charlie Bernhaut who said, If you want to see a real terrorist up close, just look at Mahmoud Abbas. His links with Palestinian terrorist organizations are numerous and legendary. He is a Holocaust denier and rabid Jew hater. Clearly, the creation of a Palestinian state will represent an existential threat to Israel's survival because it will become a terrorist state under the leadership of Hamas.Susan Kone, a GOP candidate for the congressional seat in New York's 8th district said, There is never a justification for the intentional murder of innocents and my deepest sympathies go to the families of the four Jews who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. These purported peace talks in Washington should not be taking place at this juncture because Israel cannot make peace with those whose ideology is predicated on wanton murder.Why can't we have a prime minister of Israel who is proud of being a Jew and who has a sense of honor?, said Rabbi David Algaze of Forest Hills, Queens. Who even entertains the notion of proposing territorial compromise and the division of the holy city of Jerusalem when four precious Jewish lives have been snuffed out? he continued. Concluding on a sober note, he intoned, No appeasements, no negotiations, no peace with those who seek our destruction and no to charades orchestrated by Washington.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
More Israel-PA Talks in Two Weeks
by Maayana Miskin SEPT 3,10
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every two weeks to continue negotiations for the creation of a PA state. The next meeting will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on September 14and 15.United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell plan to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh talks.Netanyahu and Abbas met Thursday to begin U.S.-backed direct negotiations. The two held a closed-door meeting lasting two hours. According to Mitchell, the two agreed to come to an agreement within a year.Prior to the meeting, both spoke at a news conference with U.S. President Obama, Jordan's King Abdullah, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Netanyahu called for a secure and durable peace, adding, We don't seek a brief interlude between two wars. We don't seek a temporary respite between outbursts of terror. We seek a peace that will end the conflict between us once and for all.
Creating peace will mean an historic compromise, he said. Netanyahu warned against a peace deal that does not guarantee security. We left Lebanon, and we got terror. We left Gaza, and we got terror once again. We want to ensure that territory we'll concede will not be turned into a third Iranian-sponsored terror enclave aimed at the heart of Israel – and may I add, also aimed at every one of us sitting on this stage, he said.Netanyahu has spoken of territorial compromise and said that reaching a deal would require painful concessions from both sides. He has not ruled out the possibility of a national referendum on any proposed accord with the PA.His speech and that of Abbas promoted peace, but appeared to indicate possible points of contention. While Netanyahu spoke of security and of the need to fight terrorism, Abbas called again on Israel to freeze construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu has said that the current Judea and Samaria construction freeze will not be extended after it ends on September 26.Abbas also mentioned the release of all our prisoners as a vital part of a peace deal. Thousands of PA Arabs convicted of terrorism are imprisoned in Israel, including many convicted of murder. The PA has a minister, Issa Karake, whose job it is to support the prisoners and their families, and the PA provides its prisoners – including terrorist killers – with monthly stipends.It is time to end the occupation that started in 1967... The Palestinian people who insist on the rights and freedom and independence are most in need for justice, security, and peace, because they are the victim, the ones that were harmed the most from this violence, Abbas stated.As talks continue, Abbas will need to contend with serious opposition from within the PA. Several minority PA parties have opposed negotiations with Israel, as has Hamas, which won a majority in the PA parliament in the last elections. As Abbas and Netanyahu met Thursday, Hamas posted threats on its website, saying it plans to carry out terrorist attacks in major Israeli cities as well as in Judea and Samaria.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Hamas among intractable issues in Mideast talks By IBRAHIM BARZAK AND JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writers – Thu Sep 2, 4:06 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.But Hamas let it be known with its bullets that it would not be left out of the equation — the militants killed four Israelis and wounded two others in a pair of attacks on the eve of the new talks.The bloodshed was a reminder that Hamas is now on the list of intractable issues that have stymied decades of Mideast negotiations. There can be no peace without Hamas, but there is no solution so far for bringing the Iranian-backed group into the process.The attacks were meant to tell (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas he is not the one who decides the fate of the Palestinians, declared Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, adding that the group deserves a place in national decision-making because it won parliamentary elections in 2006.Hamas will never agree to be ignored and isolated, and it can reshuffle the cards, he said.
Hamas is firmly in control of the Gaza Strip, one of the two territories that are supposed to be part of a future Palestinian state. It wields virtual veto power over any agreement and has given no indication it would be willing to accept a deal with Israel reached by Abbas, who runs a rival government in the West Bank.The more moderate Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for the first peace talks in two years, hosted by President Barack Obama.Abbas and Netanyahu are far apart on issues that have eluded a solution for decades, including the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and the most explosive issue, the competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.But if they can somehow work out these differences, Hamas would be needed to implement any deal. The Palestinians seek the West Bank and Gaza — located on opposite sides of Israel — for their future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.For now, the Palestinians appear to be unified on one issue: There can be no peace that leaves the 1.5 million people of Gaza out.Abbas has rejected any suggestion of a partial solution granting independence only to the West Bank and its 2.4 million Palestinians. This would be perceived by the Palestinian public as a massive sellout and sign of weakness. Hamas would paint Abbas as a traitor.Any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people. It only commits Abbas himself, said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.Abbas has repeatedly said he will present any peace deal to a national referendum, a vote that would include the people of Gaza. A vote in favor of peace would put heavy pressure on Hamas to accept the will of the Palestinian people.So if Abbas will not go it alone, the quandary is how to bring Hamas into the fold.
Hamas, founded two decades ago as a Palestinian offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly played the role of spoiler in Mideast peace efforts over the years.A series of Hamas suicide bombings in the mid-1990s helped derail peace negotiations at the time. The group also killed hundreds of Israelis during the second Palestinian uprising last decade — a time of heavy fighting in which Israel killed Hamas' spiritual leader and dozens of other top commanders. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians also died in the fighting.When Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas stepped up rocket attacks on southern Israel, helping fuel years of violence. After the 2006 election, a unity government formed with Abbas' Fatah movement collapsed into civil war, resulting in Hamas' takeover of Gaza the following year.In fiery speeches ahead of the launch of peace talks, Hamas leaders repeatedly rejected compromise with Israel and condemned Abbas for seeking peace.
Yet behind the public rhetoric, the enigmatic group has also shown itself to be remarkably pragmatic. In its short-lived power-sharing agreement with Abbas, it agreed to let the moderate president handle negotiations with Israel, as long as he presented any deal to a national referendum. While refusing to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, Hamas has largely honored a cease-fire since a devastating Israeli military offensive ended early last year. Hamas forces have even blocked smaller militant groups from staging attacks, and this week, commanders ordered their forces to hold fire when Israeli tanks were conducting exercises along the Gaza border. Hamas leaders frequently speak of long-term truces with Israel that could last decades.Hamas is also eager to win legitimacy in the Arab world. The reaction of key Arab players — including Syria, which hosts Hamas headquarters in Damascus, as well as Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and Egypt — could greatly influence Hamas' behavior.Beyond condemnations of this week's shootings, neither Israeli, American or Palestinian officials in Abbas' delegation have said much about Hamas, reflecting the international community's inability to find a way to work with the Islamic militants.Abbas condemned the attacks by the Islamic militants and his forces have arrested more than 250 Hamas activists in the West Bank.Asked about Hamas on Thursday, White House Mideast envoy George Mitchell said: We do not expect Hamas to play a role in this immediate process.He added, however, that the U.S. would welcome Hamas' full participation if it complies with the basic requirements of democracy and nonviolence that are a prerequisite to engage in these serious types of discussions.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor agreed the Islamic militants have no role to play for now. Hamas does not fit into the process, he said, adding that although the sides hope to reach an agreement in a year, implementing it would have to be gradual.Very efficient measures will be needed by all parties involved before an eventual peace agreement can be extended to Gaza, he said.In a series of interviews with The Associated Press, top Hamas officials voiced great skepticism over the new peace talks, but signaled they have no intention of scuttling the negotiations, at least for now.You want to go? OK, go. We have no objection, said Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, referring to Thursday's gathering in Washington. He confidently predicted the talks would fail, saying Abbas is wasting time.Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Palestinians have been torn between two governments.Hamas now has tens of thousands of armed fighters in Gaza and a sizable arsenal of rockets and mortar shells at its disposal. Neither a three-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza nor Israel's fierce military offensive last year put a dent in Hamas' control.
Israel and the international community shun Hamas as a terrorist group and would have to make a tough decision to engage with the militants. The group has long coveted international recognition. But it has refused to accept international calls to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist.Our resistance is continuous, Zahar said.Barzak reported from Gaza City and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
SERVING ISRAEL IN TEXAS
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139474
GIANT MEZUZA IN ISRAEL
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139469
Reaching Out to the Needy on Rosh Hashanah
by Maayana Miskin SEPT 3,10
A variety of Israeli organizations are working overtime this week and next to provide all families, including the needy, with a festive Rosh Hashanah.The Hazon Yeshaya organization plans to provide food packages to 12,000 families, in addition to giving premade meals to many more who cannot cook food for themselves. In order to get the packages out before the holiday, which begins next Wednesday night, the group is getting help from teams of volunteers.A heterogeneous group will donate its time to the project. Among the volunteers are IDF soldiers, yeshiva students, Birthright Israel participants, and employees from the Jerusalem court system.The packages include special Rosh Hashanah foods such as honey, honey cake and grape juice as well as fruits and vegetables and other basics. Hazon Yeshaya was founded by Abraham Israel, a wealthy businessman who himself experienced poverty and hunger as a child, after he and his family were forced from their homes in Egypt because they were Jewish.
Many other groups plan to help the poor over the holidays as well. Yad Eliezer plans to distribute 12,000 food packages, and to support widows and orphans in particular through a special fund. The Ohr Meir & Bracha Terror Victims Support Center will distribute holiday food to hundreds of families devastated by terrorism. The Jaffa Institute in the Tel Aviv area will include gift certificates to grocery stores along with its usual packages of staple foods for the needy, allowing recipients to buy meat and dairy products in honor of the holidays.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Deal reached on pan-European financial supervisors
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today SEPT 3,10 @ 07:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After months of tough negotiations, the three sides of the EU triangle came to agreement on Thursday on the creation of financial supervisors intended to put an end to economic crises such as those of the last three years before they appear. The European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU member states reached a political deal to set up a European Systemic Risk Board and three separate agencies to monitor securities, banks and insurance companies.
Internal market commissioner Frenchman Michel Barnier called the deal a crucial milestone.With the new supervisory bodies, the bloc will have the control tower and the radar screens needed to identify risks, the tools to better control financial players and the means to act fast, in a co-ordinated way, he said.The deal reached by representatives of the three sides of the European triangle must still be approved by finance ministers of the member states, who are expected to give the go-ahead next Tuesday, and the full sitting of the European Parliament, who are likely to themselves sign off later this month.
The heart of the fight had been between the increasingly self-confident parliament who feared a weak set of agencies would not have the power to correct dangers ahead, and member states, particularly Britain, who feared a loss of sovereignty in one of the most critical areas for a national government.In the end, a compromise has delivered to member states the ability to appeal the decisions of the new bodies, something fiercely resisted by MEPs.Another sore point was whether the president of the European Central Bank - the chief banker for the eurozone but not for all member states - should head up the new systemic risk board.The deal reached on Thursday will indeed make the current ECB chief, Jean-Claude Trichet the boss at the new board, but only for five years, after which a new head would be negotiated once more.
In a major victory for the national capitals, it is they who will have the critical hand on the alarm bell. The member states are to be the ones to declare that there is an emergency on the cards, not the European Commission or the parliament.
Additionally, direct oversight of companies will not be performed by the new agencies, a task to be left with national supervisors. The new agencies are to only co-ordinate actions.Finally, the parliament was also dealt a defeat in its attempt to have a unified headquarters for the four bodies. Instead of all being based in Frankfurt, they will now be located in London, Paris and the home of the ECB.The legislation bringing all of this into affect will be reviewed in three years.
Russia optimistic on EU visa-free travel
ANDREW RETTMAN Today SEPT 3,10 @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Poland supports Russia's bid for visa-free travel with the EU. But the Polish position is more complicated than he suggests. Speaking to the press after a special meeting with Polish ambassadors and his Polish counterpart, Radek Sikorski, in Warsaw on Thursday (2 September), Mr Lavrov said Poland backs Russia's draft proposal on dropping EU visa requirements: We hope for a quick and positive response from Brussels. The Polish side has confirmed that it will support this draft.His remarks were circulated by Russia's top news agencies, such as Ria Novosti, Russia Today and Itar-Tass, under bold headlines such as Poland vows to back Russia-EU visa free travel.For his part, Mr Sikorski did not correct Mr Lavrov at the press event. But his own statement on the subject was much more cautious.Referring to a separate plan to simplify visa rules but only for people living in Russia's EU exclave of Kaliningrad, the Polish diplomat said: It would be an argument for the more conservative structures in the countries of the European Union, which are mostly the interior ministers, that if our neighbours have respected current simplifications, they would also respect further liberalistion.Political will is one thing and fulfilling technical conditions is another thing, he added.
Warsaw is happy to move ahead on visa-free travel with Russia but only if the EU at the same time promises to in future lift visas for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as well.Poland set out its conditions in the run-up to the EU-Russia summit in May amid concerns that a Russia-only move would send the wrong diplomatic signals to the EU's other post-Soviet neighbours. A source close to Mr Sikorski told EUobserver after the Lavrov meeting that nothing has changed.The situation with other EU countries makes it even less likely that Brussels will give Mr Lavrov a quick and positive response in the coming months.Former Communist EU countries share Poland's views about promising to lift visas for the whole eastern flank at the same time. But many old EU members are hostile due to domestic debates about immigration. Southern EU countries also oppose it because it could harm relations by excluding the EU's southern neighbours. Meanwhile, the EU institutions are not keen on making visa promises to Russia due to its sometimes shoddy treatment of visiting EU nationals and its general lack of respect for rule of law. Brussels is also concerned that if it gives way on visas now, it will lose a bargaining chip in negotiations on energy security in a new EU-Russia strategic partnership treaty.
Sikorski knows very well he can make promises on this to Russia if he wants to, because there is plenty of resistance to it in the EU, a contact in the institutions said.
Russia optimistic on EU visa-free travel
ANDREW RETTMAN Today SEPT 3,10 @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Poland supports Russia's bid for visa-free travel with the EU. But the Polish position is more complicated than he suggests. Speaking to the press after a special meeting with Polish ambassadors and his Polish counterpart, Radek Sikorski, in Warsaw on Thursday (2 September), Mr Lavrov said Poland backs Russia's draft proposal on dropping EU visa requirements: We hope for a quick and positive response from Brussels. The Polish side has confirmed that it will support this draft.His remarks were circulated by Russia's top news agencies, such as Ria Novosti, Russia Today and Itar-Tass, under bold headlines such as Poland vows to back Russia-EU visa free travel.For his part, Mr Sikorski did not correct Mr Lavrov at the press event. But his own statement on the subject was much more cautious.Referring to a separate plan to simplify visa rules but only for people living in Russia's EU exclave of Kaliningrad, the Polish diplomat said: It would be an argument for the more conservative structures in the countries of the European Union, which are mostly the interior ministers, that if our neighbours have respected current simplifications, they would also respect further liberalistion.Political will is one thing and fulfilling technical conditions is another thing, he added.Warsaw is happy to move ahead on visa-free travel with Russia but only if the EU at the same time promises to in future lift visas for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as well. Poland set out its conditions in the run-up to the EU-Russia summit in May amid concerns that a Russia-only move would send the wrong diplomatic signals to the EU's other post-Soviet neighbours. A source close to Mr Sikorski told EUobserver after the Lavrov meeting that nothing has changed.
The situation with other EU countries makes it even less likely that Brussels will give Mr Lavrov a quick and positive response in the coming months.Former Communist EU countries share Poland's views about promising to lift visas for the whole eastern flank at the same time. But many old EU members are hostile due to domestic debates about immigration. Southern EU countries also oppose it because it could harm relations by excluding the EU's southern neighbours. Meanwhile, the EU institutions are not keen on making visa promises to Russia due to its sometimes shoddy treatment of visiting EU nationals and its general lack of respect for rule of law. Brussels is also concerned that if it gives way on visas now, it will lose a bargaining chip in negotiations on energy security in a new EU-Russia strategic partnership treaty.Sikorski knows very well he can make promises on this to Russia if he wants to, because there is plenty of resistance to it in the EU, a contact in the institutions said.
Trichet: Too early to declare victory over crisis
MATEJ HRUSKA 02.09.2010 @ 17:42 CET
Despite raising its GDP expectation for this and next year, the European Central Bank decided at its meeting on Thursday (2 September) to keep the benchmark interest rate at one percent for the 16th consecutive month and to continue with unlimited lending until the end of the year.The ECB raised its growth forecast for 2010 and 2011 after a better than expected second quarter performance from the euro area. The EU's statistical office reported on Thursday in its first estimate that GDP went up by 1.0 percent in both the 16-nation euro area and the EU27 in the second quarter of 2010.According to the updated ECB estimates, annual real GDP growth will range between 1.4 percent and 1.8 percent in 2010 and between 0.5 percent and 2.3 percent in 2011. A June forecast estimated GDP would rise 1 percent this year and 1.2 percent in 2011.Despite the positive GDP growth expectations, the ECB will keep offering banks unlimited one-week and one-month loans to raise their liquidity until at least 18 January 2011. Previously, the ECB had committed to lend banks unlimited cash until at least mid-October.Looking ahead, the recovery should proceed at a moderate pace with uncertainty still prevailing, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet told reporters at during a news conference in Frankfurt.We have to remain cautious and prudent - we don't declare victory, he said, adding that monetary policy will do all that is needed to maintain price stability in the euro area over the medium term.
The decision to extend full allotment to liquidity operations until the beginning of next year is welcome as tensions remain in the banking sector, Marie Diron, Chief Economist for the Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast, wrote in a note to clients, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.Many banks continue to face difficult access to funds, which leads to tight credit conditions for the real economy, Ms Diron added.
According to Carsten Brzeski, senior economist with ING bank in Brussels, it is mainly banks at the eurozone's periphery that depend on low ECB interest rates and unlimited lending.On the one hand, stress tests in July showed banks in core eurozone countries are in rather good shape and may not really need it, but banks from southern Europe rely on money from the ECB,he told this website.Core countries are also showing a trend toward more sustainable economic development, Mr Brzeski said, while southern states still need to reform their banking systems and economies. However, neither the eurozone nor the US should face double-dip recession in the coming year.
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.
Hurricane Earl brushes North Carolina by Paul Richards – Fri Sep 3, 3:42 am ET
KITTY HAWK, North Carolina (AFP) – Hurricane Earl bore down on North Carolina early Friday, promising to lash a vast stretch of the US East Coast with tropical storm force winds, heavy rain and dangerous surf.Coastal residents huddled at home after tens of thousands fled the strongest Atlantic storm of 2010, which was expected to produce major swells along much of the eastern seaboard during the day, send waters surging up to five feet (1.5 meters) and dump up to six inches (15 centimeters) of rain.Although Earl was earlier downgraded to a category two storm, it was set to bring destructive winds and heavy rains to North Carolina's coast before moving north, reaching Canada's Nova Scotia by early Saturday.Weather watchers said Earl was the most powerful hurricane to threaten the US Northeast and New England since 1991, when Hurricane Bob caused deadly damage.For vacationers, the forecast track up-ended plans for a final few care-free days at the beach before the end of summer for the Labor Day holiday weekend that draws millions to East Coast beaches.At 2:00 am (0600 GMT), the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm's sustained winds had dipped to near 105 miles (170 kilometers) per hour, but warned it was still a major hurricane expected to pass near North Carolina's Outer Banks, skimming Massachusetts by the evening.
The huge storm several hundred miles across was heading north at around 18 miles (30 km) per hour. It was located about 85 miles (140 km) east-southeast of Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks -- a narrow band of North Carolina barrier islands.With the Miami-based center predicting hurricane strength winds as far as 70 miles (110 km) from the eye of the storm, coastal North Carolina residents were battening down and tourists were scattering inland.It's a serious storm, and we need to treat it like a serious storm, said North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue.This is a day of action, warned Craig Fugate, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).People need to be rapidly completing their preparedness in the Carolina's Outer Banks, and for other folks along the East Coast they really need to focus today on what they are going to do when the storm gets there.FEMA said 400,000 liters (105,670 gallons) of water and 300,000 meals were being allocated to a support center at a military base in North Carolina in preparation for the storm.While some storm-hardened residents were ignoring evacuation orders, hardware store manager Chris Davidson said he planned to drive with his wife and two children about 100 miles (160 km) inland, where his mother lives.It seems like more people are taking it more seriously than in the past, Davidson told AFP.A hurricane warning was extended across coastal Massachusetts, including the popular retreat areas of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, while the Canadian Hurricane Centre issued a hurricane watch for parts of Nova Scotia.Tropical storm warnings meanwhile were issued for points all along the US East Coast, as President Barack Obama signed disaster declarations for North Carolina and Massachusetts, ordering federal assistance to support response efforts.This is a large system that impacts well away from the center, and time will be running out for people that had not got ready, Fugate warned.Davidson said vacationers were lamenting the premature end of their summer, while local business owners bemoaned lost revenue they had been counting on.
It'll definitely hurt the local economy, he said. This was a big weekend for the hotels, restaurants and other businesses -- although for us, it could give us additional business once the storm is over, depending on how bad it is.Forecasters were also closely tracking the path of Tropical Storm Fiona about 360 miles (580 km) south of Bermuda, with wind speeds of up to 50 miles (85 km) per hour. It was expected to rake over the island chain beginning late Friday or early Saturday. Gaston, the fourth tropical storm to form in the Atlantic over the past two weeks, weakened Thursday to a tropical depression, the NHC said, much to the relief of aid officials worried it would plow directly over Haiti, still recovering from January's massive earthquake.
Some flooding on NC Outer Banks as Earl passes By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10
BUXTON, N.C. – First light reveals some flooding on the narrow vacation islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks after Hurricane Earl passed in the night.One to two feet of water covered roadways in the community of Buxton on Cape Hatteras early Friday, pushing loose debris around including plywood, boards, a gas station ice cooler and a trash bin.Several miles away, Nancy Scarborough of Hatteras also said she had about a foot of water underneath her stilted home.Mark Van Sciver from the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center said teams were moving out to assess damage. No injuries have been reported.Earl's center passed east of Cape Hatteras early Friday with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. It was on track for the Northeast coast.
BP oil spill costs hit $8 billion as ends rig probe
By Tom Bergin - SEPT 3,10
LONDON (Reuters) – BP Plc said the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had risen to $8 billion as the oil giant prepared to release the findings of an internal probe into the causes of the disaster.BP published figures on Friday which showed that since it capped the well on July 15, it had spent around $90 million/day, in line with the spend rate while the well was gushing over 60,000 barrels per day into the sea.Analysts had expected that BP's costs would fall off sharply after the well was sealed for good by drilling a relief well into the base of the blown out well and pumping it full of concrete.However, a successful effort to install a temporary cap on the well delayed work on the relief well, which BP said on Friday was now likely to be completed in Mid September.After this, the armada of rigs and ships, some of which cost $1 million a day to operate, working at the drill site can be stood down.Until it's killed for good, you can't move the kit away, one BP source said.However, BP also indicated that there had been no major uptick in the amount of money being handed out to those affected by the spill, under the new independent compensation system, established in a deal with the White House.
On average, since August 23, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, a $20 billion fund headed by former government pay Czar Ken Feinberg, paid out around $3.5 million per day, broadly in line with the amount paid before BP handed over responsibility for administering claims.Some investors had feared Feinberg could take a more generous approach to paying out damages.BP shares traded up 0.2 percent at 393 pence at 0847 GMT, compared to a 0.4 percent rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index.
INTERNAL PROBE FINDINGS
BP is also preparing to issue a report on the findings of an internal probe into events on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which exploded and sunk, leading to the oil spill.BP declined to say when the report will be concluded or published but insiders said it could be released as early as next week.The investigation was led by BP's head of safety and operations, Mark Bly.BP said Bly was acting in an independent capacity, seeking the truth, rather than aiming to bolster the company's position in legal disputes with the government and the other parties involved in the accident.U.S. politicians have already criticized the terms of the BP probe as being too marrow.Some media reports citing leaks of parts of the probe say lower level employees will be blamed for making mistakes that contributed to the blast.This could be seen as an attempt by BP to deflect criticism of top management and company culture -- something BP was accused of doing after a blast at its Texas City refinery in 2005, which killed 15 workers. Shortly after the blast BP sacked junior employees for breaking company operating procedures which it said contributed to the deaths. A later investigation by safety regulator the Chemical Safety Board blamed more institutional flaws including BP's culture of cost cutting. BP critics in Washington will also check the report to see if Donald Vidrine, BP's company man or senior representative, on the rig, which was owned and operated by drilling contractor Transocean, contributed to the report. Vidrine has declined at least twice to appear before a Coast Guard-Interior Department panel investigating the disaster, citing medical complaints, so any contribution from him could be interpreted negatively on Capitol Hill. (Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Erica Billingham and Hans Peters)
Typhoon kills 5 South Koreans By Sangwon Yoon, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 2, 10:02 pm ET
SEOUL, South Korea – The death toll from Typhoon Kompasu, which battered the Korean peninsula with strong winds and heavy rains, rose to five in South Korea, an official said Friday.The typhoon struck Seoul the day before, toppling trees, streetlights and scaffolding in what was called the strongest storm to hit the capital area in 15 years.Powerful gusts knocked over power lines, cutting off electricity to tens of thousands of homes and forcing airports to cancel or delay more than 60 international flights, the National Emergency Management Agency said.
Authorities later resumed service on flights, Seoul subway lines and five railway routes, emergency officials said.Streets in Seoul were littered with tree branches. Some parked cars were wrecked by construction scaffolding knocked over by the storm.
An 80-year-old man died after being hit by a roof tile and a 37-year-old businessman was killed by a falling tree branch on his way to work. Three other people were also killed in similar typhoon-related incidents later Thursday, NEMA official Shin Seok-soon said Friday.Elementary and middle schools in the capital were ordered to delay the start of classes by two hours, while all public and private kindergartens were closed Thursday, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said.The storm caused at least 10 billion won ($8.3 million) in damage to a sports stadium in Incheon, west of Seoul, stadium officials said.Power was out at more than 60,000 homes along South Korea's west coast before being back on in nearly all residences, officials said.
Kompasu, the Japanese word for compass, landed on Ganghwa Island, about 40 miles (70 kilometers) west of Seoul before leaving the Korean peninsula on Thursday, said officials.The typhoon also caused torrential rains and heavy gusts throughout North Korea, the country's state media reported. It didn't say whether there were any fatalities or provide damage estimates.Last month, floods swamped farmland, houses and public buildings in North Korea's northwestern city of Sinuiju and adjacent areas and displaced more than 23,000 people, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.Earlier this week, South Korea's Red Cross offered North Korea relief aid worth 10 billion won.
Hurricane Alley Heats Up with Stormy Threesome
livescience.com – Thu Sep 2, 4:50 pm ET
Three swirling storms are roaring across the Atlantic with nervous East Coast residents keeping a close eye on the conveyor belt of tropical activity as hurricane season enters its busiest time. Hurricane Earl is bearing down on the Carolinas and has strengthened into a Category 4 storm, with maximum winds of 145 mph (235 kph), according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Category 3 storms or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane strength are classified as major hurricanes. [In Images: Hurricane Hunters Flying into Earl.] Tropical Storms Fiona and Gaston are following in Earl's wake, with winds about one-third as strong.
Late August through September is the busiest time of the Atlantic storm season, which explains why three tropical storms in a row are spinning north over the Atlantic Ocean. All the necessary ingredients to cook up a storm are present. The triple threat was created by a swath of the Atlantic Ocean's warmest water, stretching along the equator and well north of it, from Africa all the way to the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists refer to this as hurricane alley.
Out of Africa
Most hurricanes that hit the United States begin either in the Caribbean or the Atlantic. Many of the worst storms start as seedlings coming off the coast of Africa, as all three of the current storms did. Low-pressure systems move westward off the west coast of Africa, where they encounter the warm waters of the tropical Atlantic, which serve to drive the convective engines that power these forces of nature. Storms that form in this way are called Cape Verde-type storms, as they form near the Cape Verde Islands. The warm waters of hurricane alley can sustain a storm all the way from its seedling stage in Africa to monster hurricane slamming into the U.S. coast.Ocean waters must be at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.5 Celsius) down to a depth of at least 150 feet (50 meters) to properly spawn a storm, scientists estimate. Ocean waters are typically at their warmest at the tail end of the Northern Hemisphere summer, when the sun's rays have been beating down on them for months. (This time lag is similar to the one that makes mid-afternoon the warmest time of the day instead of noon, when the sun's rays are most direct on the ground.)
Developing power
If conditions in the atmosphere are favorable and the waters are warm enough, a tropical depression (an unorganized system with winds of less than 38 mph, or 62 kph) develops into a tropical storm (winds of less than 73 mph or 118 kph), then finally forms a hurricane, which is not unlike a giant swirling mass of thunderstorms. Hurricanes always rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.
When a hurricane moves over a swath of water, however, it cools the ocean, so another hurricane on the same path may find less favorable conditions because its supply of fuel - the warm waters - have been used up. Likewise, as a storm races toward the Northeastern United States, as Earl is expected to do, it moves over cooler water and tends to weaken rapidly. Yet storms also tend to pick up speed as they head north, and can, in rare cases, reach forward speeds of 55 mph (90 kph) by the time they near Long Island, N.Y. This forward speed is added to the internal wind speed on the right side of a storm, and it can take a Category 1 storm and effectively make it a Category 4 in a narrow region of the storm. Such powerful and deadly storms have, on rare occasion, slammed into the New York region and the Northeast.Upon landfall, the top sustained winds, those that last a minute or longer, can drop rapidly due to a dampening effect caused by rough terrain - bushes, trees and houses. But a corresponding increase in brief gusts sort of makes up for this, danger-wise. The gusts are enhanced by turbulence caused by the rough terrain, bringing faster winds to the surface in bursts that last a few seconds.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH(BECAUSE OF SIN AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Indonesian volcano spews new burst of ash By Binsar Bakkara, Associated Press Writer – SEPT 3,10
TANAH KARO, Indonesia – An Indonesian volcano that was quiet for four centuries shot a new, powerful burst of hot ash more than 10,000 feet (three kilometers) in the air Friday, sending frightened residents fleeing to safety for the second time this week.
The tremor from the eruption — the strongest so far — could be felt five miles (eight kilometers) away.This was a big one! said 37-year-old Anto Sembiring, who abandoned his coffee shop not far from the crater's mouth to join hundreds of others near Mount Sinabung's base. We all ran as fast as we could ... Everyone was panicking.The eruption of Mount Sinabung on Sunday and Monday — which caught many scientists off guard — forced 30,000 people living along its fertile slopes in North Sumatra province to evacuate to cramped emergency shelters in nearby towns.Many started returning to their mountainside homes as activity started to wane, saying they wanted to tend to their vegetable farms and rice fields and to reopen small businesses.A new alert was issued several hours before Friday's blast.Some people trudged back down the slopes, carrying blankets, clothes and food, but others insisted on staying, even after the new explosion, which caused the entire mountain to shake for five minutes.We're not going anywhere, said Razia Barimbing, who was among 50 men refusing to budge, saying they had to protect abandoned villages a few miles (kilometers) from the crater's mouth against looters.
It's so sad to see this, said the 35-year-old farmer, pointing to the white dust blanketing houses, gardens and even livestock. We just want this to be over, so we can pull our lives back together, and get our children back in school.The air was thick with the smell of sulfur and, despite a soft drizzle, heavy smoke limited visibility to just a few yards (meters). Some small domestic hopper flights had to be diverted, according to Bambang Ervan, the transportation ministry's spokesman.
International air travel was unaffected.Mount Sinabung had last erupted in 1600, and government vulcanologists acknowledged they had made no efforts before the mountain started rumbling last week to sample gases or look out for rising magma or other signs of seismic activity.They were too busy with more than 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a seismically charged region because of its location on the so-called Ring of Fire — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.They said from now on they will be watching it very closely.It's still going off, even now , said Surono, who heads the nation's volcano alert center. You can't see it because of the heavy fog around the crater, but according to our seismic recorder, there are still small eruptions.There are fears that current activity could foreshadow a much more destructive explosion in a few weeks or months, though it is possible, too, that the mountain will go back to sleep after letting off steam.The archipelagic nation has recorded some of the largest eruptions in history.The 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora buried the inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock, killing an estimated 88,000 people.
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa could be heard 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away and blackened skies region-wide for months. At least 36,000 people were killed in the blast and the tsunami that followed.Associated Press Writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.
Brazil oil firm Petrobras plans $65 billion stock sale
By Brian Ellsworth - SEPT 3,10
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian state oil company Petrobras will sell up to $64.5 billion in new stock -- one of the largest in capital markets history -- to raise funds for the world's biggest oil exploration investment plan.The company will offer 1.59 billion new preferred shares (PETR4.SA) and 2.17 billion new common shares (PETR3.SA), Petrobras said in a statement published in Valor Economico newspaper, for an operation that includes a $43 billion state-backed oil-for-shares swap.At Thursday's closing price for the stocks, the company would raise 67.8 billion reais ($39.2 billion) from the sale of common shares and another 43.8 billion reais ($25.4 billion) from the preferred shares, making it one of the world's largest- ever stock offerings.Petrobras expects to begin bookbuilding September 3, and price the share sale on September 23.The plan has become the financial cornerstone of the company's $224 billion five-year investment plan meant to turn Brazil into a major oil exporter by tapping oil buried deep under the ocean floor in a region known as the subsalt.The company faces skepticism by investors who have questioned the high price for the oil reserves to be used in the state-backed oil-for-shares swap arrangement, which has sparked fears Petrobras may be overpaying for the assets and diluting shares.Under the terms of the $43 billion oil-for-shares swap, Petrobras said on Wednesday it agreed to exchange part of the stock to be issued for development rights to 5 billion barrels of offshore oil at a price of $8.51 per barrel -- far above the $5 to $6 per barrel that markets saw as fair.
The swap will endow Petrobras' assets with valuable oil reserves.The segment of the share sale outside the oil-for-share swap is primarily targeted at non-government and minority shareholders, who will provide the only cash in the operation.Their participation will be crucial for Petrobras to shore up its balance sheet, which has been stretched by heavy borrowing to finance its ambitious offshore plans.Government leaders have also said they plan to boost the state's participation in the company's capital to around 40 percent current levels near 30 percent, which has left some investors nervous about greater state sway in the company.Analysts said the large size of the share swap with respect to the entire operation -- authorized by shareholders for up to $85 billion -- shows the government expects it will be able to pick up a considerable number of shares not subscribed by private investors.
Petrobras' preferred shares, its most widely traded class of stock, closed at 27.60 reais on Thursday while common shares closed at 31.24 reais.
INVESTOR INTEREST
But some investors say those concerns have already been priced into the shares, and that the company is still a compelling investment given its unique access to quality oil reserves in a world that is quickly running out of them.I think people are going to be surprised by the number of investors that subscribe, said Marc Fogassa, a managing partner at Hedgefort Capital Management which owns shares in Petrobras.
Following months of uncertainty over the plan that pushed the stock down by as much as 25 percent from the start of the year, progress advancing the issue has heartened some shareholders.The worst of the slaughter is behind us, said Marcio Macedo, who oversees about $40 million in assets at Humaita Investimentos in Sao Paulo. The stock's value is now attractive.He added that many investors spent the last several months selling or shorting Petrobras to go long in other sectors such as Brazilian banks or retail, and he expected many would take advantage of this offer to get back into the company. Oil for the exchange will come from at least six fields in the subsalt region, most of which are adjacent to major offshore discoveries such as Franco and Tupi finds.(Additional reporting by Elzio Barreto, Editing by W Simon )
POISONED WATERS
REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Feds launch investigation of Gulf platform fire By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10
WASHINGTON – The agency that oversees offshore drilling will investigate the fire on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.Thursday's fire came less than five months after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 people and spurred the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history.This time no one was killed and the Coast Guard said no crude was leaking.Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, says his agency will work with the Coast Guard to investigate the fire. The oil platform is owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy Inc.
Latest Gulf oil rig problem differs from BP spill By ALAN SAYRE, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10
NEW ORLEANS – Stark differences exist between the oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico and the blast that led to the massive BP spill. Most notably, no one was killed and no crude was gushing into the water, but the distinctions don't end there.
Even though the Mariner Energy-owned platform that erupted in flames Thursday was just 200 miles west of the site of the spill, everything from the structures to the operations to the safety devices were different.Yet, when word spread of the latest mishap, Gulf Coast residents could only think of the three-month BP spill that began after the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers.It's unbelievable, said Sophie Esch, 28, a graduate student at Tulane who is from Berlin, Germany. They should finally stop drilling in the Gulf. They should shut down all the drilling out there and not give permission to do any more. They've shown that it's just unsafe.The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast, but hours later said crews were unable to find any spill. The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the fire.Workers who were pulled from the water told rescuers that there was a blast on board, but Mariner's Patrick Cassidy said he considered what happened a fire, not an explosion.
Platforms are vastly different from oil rigs like BP's Deepwater Horizon. They are usually brought in after wells are already drilled and sealed.A production platform is much more stable, said Andy Radford, an API expert on offshore oil drilling. On a drilling rig, you're actually drilling the well. You're cutting. You're pumping mud down the hole. You have a lot more activity on a drilling rig.In contrast, platforms are usually placed atop stable wells where the oil is flowing at a predictable pressure, he said. A majority of platforms in the Gulf do not require crews on board.
Many platforms, especially those in shallower water, stand on legs that are drilled into the sea floor. Like a giant octopus, they spread numerous pipelines and can tap into many wells at once.The Deepwater Horizon was drilling a well a mile beneath the sea, which made trying to plug it after it blew out an incredible challenge, with BP trying techniques never tested. The platform was operating in 340 feet of water in a shallow area of the Gulf known as a major source of gas.Responding to any oil spill in such shallow spots would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles to access equipment on the sea floor.Platforms do not have blowout preventers like deep water rigs that are supposed to shut down wells if there is problem. But they are usually equipped with a series of redundant valves that can shut off oil and gas at different points along the pipeline.Mariner Energy officials said there were seven active production wells on its platform, and they were shut down shortly before the fire broke out. The Coast Guard said they would continue to monitor the platform to make sure no leaks.Houston-based Mariner Energy said it did not know what caused the fire. The platform was still intact and a small portion appears burned, Cassidy said. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the company told him the fire began in 100 barrels of light oil condensate.Photos showed at least five ships floating near the platform. Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery, an image similar to when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, Crews decided to let that blaze burn itself out, and the rig sank into the Gulf two days after the blast.On the Mariner Energy platform, the fire was out less than 12 hours.A Homeland Security update obtained by The Associated Press said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil. All 13 workers aboard the platform were found huddled together, holding hands and all wearing life jackets when they were rescued from the water. A captain of the Crystal Clear, a 110-foot boat that rescued them, said his craft was 25 miles away when it received a distress call. When Capt. Dan Shaw arrived at the scene, the workers had been in the water for two hours and were thirsty and tired.We gave them soda and water, anything they wanted to drink, Shaw said. They were just glad to be on board with us.Shaw said workers told him the blast was so sudden that they did not have time to get into lifeboats. They did not mention what might have caused it.They just said there was an explosion, there was a fire, Shaw said. It happened very quick.Crew members were flown to a hospital and released by early Thursday evening.
Environmental groups and some lawmakers said the newest problem showed the dangers of offshore drilling, and urged the Obama administration to extend a temporary ban on deepwater drilling to shallow water.How many accidents are needed and how much environmental and economic damage must we suffer before we act to contain and control the source of the danger: offshore drilling? said Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.Mike Gravitz, oceans advocate for Environment America, said President Barack Obama should need no further wake-up call to permanently ban new drilling.There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the America's domestic oil, forming the backbone of the country's petroleum industry. Numerous platforms were damaged during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The storms broke pipelines, and oil spilled into the Gulf. But the platforms successfully kept major spills from happening, Radford said.Those safety valves did their job, he said.
Industry representatives sought to what happened Thursday and distance it from the well blowout in April.We have on these platforms on any given year roughly 100 fires, said Allen Verret, executive director of the Offshore Operators Committee.
Associated Press writers Harry R. Weber, Michael Kunzelman and Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans, Chris Kahn in New York, Eileen Sullivan, Matthew Daly, Gerry Bodlander and Dina Capiello in Washington, Garance Burke in Fresno, Calif., and researcher Monika Mathur in New York contributed to this report.
IMF to give Pakistan $450 mln in flood aid
By Paul Eckert – Thu Sep 2, 8:06 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid and disburse funds in September to help the country's economy cope with the devastation, the head of the IMF said on Thursday.Severe flooding in Pakistan has destroyed cropland and livestock and displaced millions of people, causing damage the government has estimated at $43 billion, or almost one quarter of the South Asian nation's 2009 GDP.The IMF ... will be the first agency likely to disperse very rapidly money which is absolutely needed, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told reporters after a week of discussions with Pakistani officials. The most important thing is to keep the Pakistani economy .. on track.(For a slideshow: Children of the flood, click http://in.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=INRTR2HTZZ)
Talks with a delegation led by Pakistan's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on the terms of an $11 billion IMF loan program left him satisfied with the country's commitment to reforms, the IMF chief said.Under the 2008 IMF loan program, Islamabad pledged to implement tax and energy sector reforms and give full autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan.What is important is what was decided by the government to do to improve the economic situation, especially in the tax sector but in other fields also, said Strauss-Kahn.What I heard from the authorities is that they really want to move on with the program, he said.Shaikh said Islamabad remained committed to loan terms, including fiscal authority and tax reforms.Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said IMF faith in its reform commitments could help boost international solace and confidence in the country's economic prospects and fiscal discipline despite the flood calamity.We expect the markets to respond positively and we also expect other donors in a more aggressive manner now that they know Pakistan is going to continue with economic reforms, he told Reuters in an interview.Describing the flood damages as manifold worse than the (2005) tsunami, the Haitian earthquake and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, Haqqani appealed to Washington to take steps to allow Pakistan to export more textiles to the U.S. market under special low-tariff programs.One program, the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones" trade package that allows tariff goods for certain Pakistani garments, remains stalled in the U.S. Senate and faces opposition from some American textile groups.Because of the magnitude of the impact of the floods, as well as the fact that Pakistan is a front-line state in the global war against terrorism, there is a case to be made that Pakistan needs to be given that preferential access, said the ambassador.(Editing by Andrew Hay)
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; 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.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Iran says to strike Israel nuclear site if attacked
SEPT 3,10
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran would retaliate by striking Israel's nuclear facility if Israel attacked its nuclear activities, armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi said on Friday.Our developed weapons can hit any part of the Zionist regime (Israel) ... We hope not to be forced to attack their nuclear facility, Firouzabadi told the semi-official Mehr news agency.Iran does not recognize Israel, which it calls the Zionist regime. Israel regards Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a live broadcast at Tehran University marking the annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, told Israel to leave Iran alone.I want to say that not only the Zionists, but even their masters are smaller than to lay a finger on the Iranian nation and its rights, he said.Israel, believed to be the only nuclear-armed Middle East state, has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end a dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions.The West suspects the Islamic Republic is covertly trying to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran denies this.(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Tim Pearce)
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Friday offered a rare glimpse into its foreign exchange reserves, confirming that they are overwhelmingly allocated in dollars, while a central banker said the mountain of cash could face depreciation risks.The Chinese government's currency reserves, the world's largest such stockpile at $2.45 trillion, are held roughly in line with what was described as the global average: 65 percent in dollars, 26 percent in euros, 5 percent in pounds and 3 percent in yen.The report in the China Securities Journal, an official newspaper, cited unnamed reserve managers.The allocation of Chinese foreign exchange reserves is considered to be a state secret, but analysts have long estimated that about two-thirds are invested in dollar assets.Separately, Hu Xiaolian, a vice governor with the People's Bank of China, warned that depreciation loomed as a risk for foreign exchange reserves held by developing counties.Once a reserve currency's value becomes unstable, there will be quite large depreciation risks for assets, she wrote in an article that appeared in the latest issue of China Finance, a Chinese-language magazine published under the central bank.She reiterated China's long-standing discomfort with a global financial system dominated by a single currency in the dollar.The outbreak and spread of the global financial crisis has highlighted the inherent deficiencies and systemic risks in the current international currency system, she said.A diversified international currency system will be more conducive to international economic and financial stability, she added.To that end, developing countries must speed up reform of their financial markets, and China would work to promote greater cross-border use of the yuan, she said.
DIVERSIFICATION
There have been signs in recent months that Beijing has stepped up the pace of diversification of its foreign exchange reserves away from dollar assets.Chinese net buying of Japanese debt has surpassed 1.7 trillion yen this year, far surpassing its record of 255.7 billion yen in 2005.China has also raised holdings of South Korean bonds by 2.48 trillion won ($2.11 billion) in the first seven months of this year from 1.87 trillion won at the end of last year. However, Chinese investors only started buying South Korean bonds in the middle of 2009.At the same time, China has slightly cut back its vast holdings of U.S. Treasuries, from $894.8 billion at the start of the year to $843.7 billion in June, according to the most recent data. China remains the biggest single holder of U.S. government debt.But analysts have also warned against reading too much into the apparent shifts in the flow of cash from China. Like any investor with commercial interests in mind, Beijing has shown a readiness to shift its strategy depending on what it sees as good buys at the time.
The China Securities Journal laid out the prospects for a shift back to the dollar in the near term.It is unlikely that China will increase purchases of Japanese bonds in the coming months because the yen might weaken at any time, the newspaper said.
China is very likely to increase purchases of U.S. Treasuries in September. The possibility for China to buy more Korean bonds can't be ruled out, it added. (Editing by Ken Wills)
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
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI SEP 03,2010
09:30 AM +1.44
10:00 AM +69.25
10:30 AM +63.80
11:00 AM +56.38
11:30 AM +70.01
12:00 PM +73.19
12:30 PM +71.68
01:00 PM +91.33
01:30 PM +100.25
02:00 PM +107.78
02:30 PM +107.25
03:00 PM +91.20
03:30 PM +103.69
04:00 PM +127.83 10,447.93
S&P 500 1104.51 +14.41
NASDAQ 2233.75 +33.74
GOLD 1,249.20 -4.20
OIL 74.41 -0.61
TSE 300 12,144.90 +33.80
CDNX 1565.96 +34.73
S&P/TSX/60 708.03 +1.99
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +90 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -0.08 points at low today.
Dow +130 points at high today so far.
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AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -0.08 points at low today so far.
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WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
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Dow +130 points at high today.
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Rallies in Israel, US for Shooting Victims
by Maayana Miskin SEPT 3,10
Hundreds of Jewish residents of the Hevron region marched Friday to the scene of the fatal terrorist attack in which four residents of Beit Chaggai were shot and murdered. A rally was held at the scene, at which rabbis from the region addressed the crowd.Following the terrible desecration of G-d's name caused by the attack on Jews as they travelled through our land, we will all go out and march to strengthen our faith and our presence in the land, organizers of the march said as they set out.
Dozens of young participants took the opportunity to dismantle pipes that were attached to Israeli water lines by Palestinian Authority Arabs in an attempt to siphon water destined for Jewish towns. PA Arab towns in the region have their own water supply, but water thieves actively target Jews in the region nonetheless.Jews in Los Angeles plan to rally Friday in memory of the shooting victims as well. The rally is organized by the Jewish Defense Force, a pro-Israel group that has previously rallied in support of Israeli counter-terror operations.On Thursday, hundreds of residents of Beit Chaggai and the greater Hevron region took part in building a new residential home in Beit Chaggai, in memory of those slain by terrorists two days earlier. The construction was carried out despite a government-ordered Judea and Samaria building freeze.Har Hevron regional council head Tzviki Bar-Chai spoke at the construction site, saying, We are here to tell those who seek to destroy us that in place of bloodshed, we will increase life. That is the Zionist response to terrorism, to the wickedness of those who get up each morning and plot to murder us.This is how Tel Chai, Kiryat Shemonah, Mishmar Hashiva and Yad Hashlosha were built, he added, naming Israeli towns dedicated to the memory of victims of Arab terrorism.On Tuesday, PA terrorists opened fire on Jews from Beit Chaggai as they drove on a nearby road. After forcing the car to a stop, the terrorists approached the vehicle and shot their victims at close range, murdering four and wounding two more. The victims were Yitzchak and Talia Imes, Kokhava Even-Chaim, and Avishai Schindler. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
NY Demo: Peace, Peace, but There Is No Peace
by Fern Sidman, INN NY Correspondent SEPT 3,10
Dozens of Jewish supporters of Israel gathered across the street from the Israeli Consulate in New York City, on Thursday evening, September 2nd, to call upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to just say no to demands for more concessions from Israel that will continue to endanger the lives of Jews throughout Israel. Organized by Helen Freedman of Americans For A Safe Israel, the demonstration came at the end of the first round of direct peace talks between Prime Minister Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama at the White House.US Middle East envoy George Mitchell along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Abbas and Netanyahu met for 90 minutes, with the two leaders pledging to work together to maintain security and reiterating their goal of a two-state solution. The three-way meeting was long and productive, Mr Mitchell said, adding the leaders pledged to work in good faith and with seriousness of purpose. He said Mr. Netanyahu and Mr Abbas then went off on their own for a one-on-one meeting, which may be designed to build trust between the two leaders. There were no notetakers or translators in either of the meetings.The US sponsored peace talks come on the heels of the heinous murder of four Jews in the Hebron region on August 31st. Talya and Yitzchok Imas, Kochava Even-Chaim and Avishai Shindler were gunned down in cold blood by Hamas terrorists at the Bani Naim junction just south of Hebron. This was followed by yet another drive-by shooting on Route 60 between the Rimonim Junction and the Jewish community of Kochav HaShachar in the Binyamin region of Samaria that left Rabbi Moshe Moreno and his wife Shira moderately wounded. A Fatah cell calling itself the Al-Namir cells of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack as did Hamas.
It's all very well for the Quartet led by President Obama to decide that peace must come to the Israeli-Arab situation within the next year, but what are the Arabs saying? And what are they doing? Where is the control of anti-Israel terror and incitement, said AFSI coordinator Helen Freedman. Hold aloft Israeli flags and signs saying, No Negotiations With Terrorists: Just Say No, Bibi: Trust in Hashem, Not Them and No Palestinian State, the demonstrators braved the oppressive 97 degree New York City heat as they chanted, Jewish blood is not cheap and They kill and we build.
We need a president that understands the ideology of radical Islam declared Madeline Brooks, the Manhattan chapter head of ACT for America, as she addressed the demonstrators. These four innocent Jews were tragically murdered because there were no security checkpoints and that was ordered at the behest of President Obama. We need to seize the moment to educate our fellow citizens about the pernicious nature of jihad, she said.Also addressing the gathering was New York radio personality and long time Jewish activist, Charlie Bernhaut who said, If you want to see a real terrorist up close, just look at Mahmoud Abbas. His links with Palestinian terrorist organizations are numerous and legendary. He is a Holocaust denier and rabid Jew hater. Clearly, the creation of a Palestinian state will represent an existential threat to Israel's survival because it will become a terrorist state under the leadership of Hamas.Susan Kone, a GOP candidate for the congressional seat in New York's 8th district said, There is never a justification for the intentional murder of innocents and my deepest sympathies go to the families of the four Jews who were murdered by Hamas terrorists. These purported peace talks in Washington should not be taking place at this juncture because Israel cannot make peace with those whose ideology is predicated on wanton murder.Why can't we have a prime minister of Israel who is proud of being a Jew and who has a sense of honor?, said Rabbi David Algaze of Forest Hills, Queens. Who even entertains the notion of proposing territorial compromise and the division of the holy city of Jerusalem when four precious Jewish lives have been snuffed out? he continued. Concluding on a sober note, he intoned, No appeasements, no negotiations, no peace with those who seek our destruction and no to charades orchestrated by Washington.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
More Israel-PA Talks in Two Weeks
by Maayana Miskin SEPT 3,10
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every two weeks to continue negotiations for the creation of a PA state. The next meeting will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on September 14and 15.United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell plan to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh talks.Netanyahu and Abbas met Thursday to begin U.S.-backed direct negotiations. The two held a closed-door meeting lasting two hours. According to Mitchell, the two agreed to come to an agreement within a year.Prior to the meeting, both spoke at a news conference with U.S. President Obama, Jordan's King Abdullah, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Netanyahu called for a secure and durable peace, adding, We don't seek a brief interlude between two wars. We don't seek a temporary respite between outbursts of terror. We seek a peace that will end the conflict between us once and for all.
Creating peace will mean an historic compromise, he said. Netanyahu warned against a peace deal that does not guarantee security. We left Lebanon, and we got terror. We left Gaza, and we got terror once again. We want to ensure that territory we'll concede will not be turned into a third Iranian-sponsored terror enclave aimed at the heart of Israel – and may I add, also aimed at every one of us sitting on this stage, he said.Netanyahu has spoken of territorial compromise and said that reaching a deal would require painful concessions from both sides. He has not ruled out the possibility of a national referendum on any proposed accord with the PA.His speech and that of Abbas promoted peace, but appeared to indicate possible points of contention. While Netanyahu spoke of security and of the need to fight terrorism, Abbas called again on Israel to freeze construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu has said that the current Judea and Samaria construction freeze will not be extended after it ends on September 26.Abbas also mentioned the release of all our prisoners as a vital part of a peace deal. Thousands of PA Arabs convicted of terrorism are imprisoned in Israel, including many convicted of murder. The PA has a minister, Issa Karake, whose job it is to support the prisoners and their families, and the PA provides its prisoners – including terrorist killers – with monthly stipends.It is time to end the occupation that started in 1967... The Palestinian people who insist on the rights and freedom and independence are most in need for justice, security, and peace, because they are the victim, the ones that were harmed the most from this violence, Abbas stated.As talks continue, Abbas will need to contend with serious opposition from within the PA. Several minority PA parties have opposed negotiations with Israel, as has Hamas, which won a majority in the PA parliament in the last elections. As Abbas and Netanyahu met Thursday, Hamas posted threats on its website, saying it plans to carry out terrorist attacks in major Israeli cities as well as in Judea and Samaria.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Hamas among intractable issues in Mideast talks By IBRAHIM BARZAK AND JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writers – Thu Sep 2, 4:06 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.But Hamas let it be known with its bullets that it would not be left out of the equation — the militants killed four Israelis and wounded two others in a pair of attacks on the eve of the new talks.The bloodshed was a reminder that Hamas is now on the list of intractable issues that have stymied decades of Mideast negotiations. There can be no peace without Hamas, but there is no solution so far for bringing the Iranian-backed group into the process.The attacks were meant to tell (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas he is not the one who decides the fate of the Palestinians, declared Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, adding that the group deserves a place in national decision-making because it won parliamentary elections in 2006.Hamas will never agree to be ignored and isolated, and it can reshuffle the cards, he said.
Hamas is firmly in control of the Gaza Strip, one of the two territories that are supposed to be part of a future Palestinian state. It wields virtual veto power over any agreement and has given no indication it would be willing to accept a deal with Israel reached by Abbas, who runs a rival government in the West Bank.The more moderate Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for the first peace talks in two years, hosted by President Barack Obama.Abbas and Netanyahu are far apart on issues that have eluded a solution for decades, including the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and the most explosive issue, the competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.But if they can somehow work out these differences, Hamas would be needed to implement any deal. The Palestinians seek the West Bank and Gaza — located on opposite sides of Israel — for their future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.For now, the Palestinians appear to be unified on one issue: There can be no peace that leaves the 1.5 million people of Gaza out.Abbas has rejected any suggestion of a partial solution granting independence only to the West Bank and its 2.4 million Palestinians. This would be perceived by the Palestinian public as a massive sellout and sign of weakness. Hamas would paint Abbas as a traitor.Any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people. It only commits Abbas himself, said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.Abbas has repeatedly said he will present any peace deal to a national referendum, a vote that would include the people of Gaza. A vote in favor of peace would put heavy pressure on Hamas to accept the will of the Palestinian people.So if Abbas will not go it alone, the quandary is how to bring Hamas into the fold.
Hamas, founded two decades ago as a Palestinian offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly played the role of spoiler in Mideast peace efforts over the years.A series of Hamas suicide bombings in the mid-1990s helped derail peace negotiations at the time. The group also killed hundreds of Israelis during the second Palestinian uprising last decade — a time of heavy fighting in which Israel killed Hamas' spiritual leader and dozens of other top commanders. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians also died in the fighting.When Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas stepped up rocket attacks on southern Israel, helping fuel years of violence. After the 2006 election, a unity government formed with Abbas' Fatah movement collapsed into civil war, resulting in Hamas' takeover of Gaza the following year.In fiery speeches ahead of the launch of peace talks, Hamas leaders repeatedly rejected compromise with Israel and condemned Abbas for seeking peace.
Yet behind the public rhetoric, the enigmatic group has also shown itself to be remarkably pragmatic. In its short-lived power-sharing agreement with Abbas, it agreed to let the moderate president handle negotiations with Israel, as long as he presented any deal to a national referendum. While refusing to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, Hamas has largely honored a cease-fire since a devastating Israeli military offensive ended early last year. Hamas forces have even blocked smaller militant groups from staging attacks, and this week, commanders ordered their forces to hold fire when Israeli tanks were conducting exercises along the Gaza border. Hamas leaders frequently speak of long-term truces with Israel that could last decades.Hamas is also eager to win legitimacy in the Arab world. The reaction of key Arab players — including Syria, which hosts Hamas headquarters in Damascus, as well as Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and Egypt — could greatly influence Hamas' behavior.Beyond condemnations of this week's shootings, neither Israeli, American or Palestinian officials in Abbas' delegation have said much about Hamas, reflecting the international community's inability to find a way to work with the Islamic militants.Abbas condemned the attacks by the Islamic militants and his forces have arrested more than 250 Hamas activists in the West Bank.Asked about Hamas on Thursday, White House Mideast envoy George Mitchell said: We do not expect Hamas to play a role in this immediate process.He added, however, that the U.S. would welcome Hamas' full participation if it complies with the basic requirements of democracy and nonviolence that are a prerequisite to engage in these serious types of discussions.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor agreed the Islamic militants have no role to play for now. Hamas does not fit into the process, he said, adding that although the sides hope to reach an agreement in a year, implementing it would have to be gradual.Very efficient measures will be needed by all parties involved before an eventual peace agreement can be extended to Gaza, he said.In a series of interviews with The Associated Press, top Hamas officials voiced great skepticism over the new peace talks, but signaled they have no intention of scuttling the negotiations, at least for now.You want to go? OK, go. We have no objection, said Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, referring to Thursday's gathering in Washington. He confidently predicted the talks would fail, saying Abbas is wasting time.Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Palestinians have been torn between two governments.Hamas now has tens of thousands of armed fighters in Gaza and a sizable arsenal of rockets and mortar shells at its disposal. Neither a three-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza nor Israel's fierce military offensive last year put a dent in Hamas' control.
Israel and the international community shun Hamas as a terrorist group and would have to make a tough decision to engage with the militants. The group has long coveted international recognition. But it has refused to accept international calls to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist.Our resistance is continuous, Zahar said.Barzak reported from Gaza City and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
SERVING ISRAEL IN TEXAS
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139474
GIANT MEZUZA IN ISRAEL
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/139469
Reaching Out to the Needy on Rosh Hashanah
by Maayana Miskin SEPT 3,10
A variety of Israeli organizations are working overtime this week and next to provide all families, including the needy, with a festive Rosh Hashanah.The Hazon Yeshaya organization plans to provide food packages to 12,000 families, in addition to giving premade meals to many more who cannot cook food for themselves. In order to get the packages out before the holiday, which begins next Wednesday night, the group is getting help from teams of volunteers.A heterogeneous group will donate its time to the project. Among the volunteers are IDF soldiers, yeshiva students, Birthright Israel participants, and employees from the Jerusalem court system.The packages include special Rosh Hashanah foods such as honey, honey cake and grape juice as well as fruits and vegetables and other basics. Hazon Yeshaya was founded by Abraham Israel, a wealthy businessman who himself experienced poverty and hunger as a child, after he and his family were forced from their homes in Egypt because they were Jewish.
Many other groups plan to help the poor over the holidays as well. Yad Eliezer plans to distribute 12,000 food packages, and to support widows and orphans in particular through a special fund. The Ohr Meir & Bracha Terror Victims Support Center will distribute holiday food to hundreds of families devastated by terrorism. The Jaffa Institute in the Tel Aviv area will include gift certificates to grocery stores along with its usual packages of staple foods for the needy, allowing recipients to buy meat and dairy products in honor of the holidays.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Deal reached on pan-European financial supervisors
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today SEPT 3,10 @ 07:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After months of tough negotiations, the three sides of the EU triangle came to agreement on Thursday on the creation of financial supervisors intended to put an end to economic crises such as those of the last three years before they appear. The European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU member states reached a political deal to set up a European Systemic Risk Board and three separate agencies to monitor securities, banks and insurance companies.
Internal market commissioner Frenchman Michel Barnier called the deal a crucial milestone.With the new supervisory bodies, the bloc will have the control tower and the radar screens needed to identify risks, the tools to better control financial players and the means to act fast, in a co-ordinated way, he said.The deal reached by representatives of the three sides of the European triangle must still be approved by finance ministers of the member states, who are expected to give the go-ahead next Tuesday, and the full sitting of the European Parliament, who are likely to themselves sign off later this month.
The heart of the fight had been between the increasingly self-confident parliament who feared a weak set of agencies would not have the power to correct dangers ahead, and member states, particularly Britain, who feared a loss of sovereignty in one of the most critical areas for a national government.In the end, a compromise has delivered to member states the ability to appeal the decisions of the new bodies, something fiercely resisted by MEPs.Another sore point was whether the president of the European Central Bank - the chief banker for the eurozone but not for all member states - should head up the new systemic risk board.The deal reached on Thursday will indeed make the current ECB chief, Jean-Claude Trichet the boss at the new board, but only for five years, after which a new head would be negotiated once more.
In a major victory for the national capitals, it is they who will have the critical hand on the alarm bell. The member states are to be the ones to declare that there is an emergency on the cards, not the European Commission or the parliament.
Additionally, direct oversight of companies will not be performed by the new agencies, a task to be left with national supervisors. The new agencies are to only co-ordinate actions.Finally, the parliament was also dealt a defeat in its attempt to have a unified headquarters for the four bodies. Instead of all being based in Frankfurt, they will now be located in London, Paris and the home of the ECB.The legislation bringing all of this into affect will be reviewed in three years.
Russia optimistic on EU visa-free travel
ANDREW RETTMAN Today SEPT 3,10 @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Poland supports Russia's bid for visa-free travel with the EU. But the Polish position is more complicated than he suggests. Speaking to the press after a special meeting with Polish ambassadors and his Polish counterpart, Radek Sikorski, in Warsaw on Thursday (2 September), Mr Lavrov said Poland backs Russia's draft proposal on dropping EU visa requirements: We hope for a quick and positive response from Brussels. The Polish side has confirmed that it will support this draft.His remarks were circulated by Russia's top news agencies, such as Ria Novosti, Russia Today and Itar-Tass, under bold headlines such as Poland vows to back Russia-EU visa free travel.For his part, Mr Sikorski did not correct Mr Lavrov at the press event. But his own statement on the subject was much more cautious.Referring to a separate plan to simplify visa rules but only for people living in Russia's EU exclave of Kaliningrad, the Polish diplomat said: It would be an argument for the more conservative structures in the countries of the European Union, which are mostly the interior ministers, that if our neighbours have respected current simplifications, they would also respect further liberalistion.Political will is one thing and fulfilling technical conditions is another thing, he added.
Warsaw is happy to move ahead on visa-free travel with Russia but only if the EU at the same time promises to in future lift visas for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as well.Poland set out its conditions in the run-up to the EU-Russia summit in May amid concerns that a Russia-only move would send the wrong diplomatic signals to the EU's other post-Soviet neighbours. A source close to Mr Sikorski told EUobserver after the Lavrov meeting that nothing has changed.The situation with other EU countries makes it even less likely that Brussels will give Mr Lavrov a quick and positive response in the coming months.Former Communist EU countries share Poland's views about promising to lift visas for the whole eastern flank at the same time. But many old EU members are hostile due to domestic debates about immigration. Southern EU countries also oppose it because it could harm relations by excluding the EU's southern neighbours. Meanwhile, the EU institutions are not keen on making visa promises to Russia due to its sometimes shoddy treatment of visiting EU nationals and its general lack of respect for rule of law. Brussels is also concerned that if it gives way on visas now, it will lose a bargaining chip in negotiations on energy security in a new EU-Russia strategic partnership treaty.
Sikorski knows very well he can make promises on this to Russia if he wants to, because there is plenty of resistance to it in the EU, a contact in the institutions said.
Russia optimistic on EU visa-free travel
ANDREW RETTMAN Today SEPT 3,10 @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Poland supports Russia's bid for visa-free travel with the EU. But the Polish position is more complicated than he suggests. Speaking to the press after a special meeting with Polish ambassadors and his Polish counterpart, Radek Sikorski, in Warsaw on Thursday (2 September), Mr Lavrov said Poland backs Russia's draft proposal on dropping EU visa requirements: We hope for a quick and positive response from Brussels. The Polish side has confirmed that it will support this draft.His remarks were circulated by Russia's top news agencies, such as Ria Novosti, Russia Today and Itar-Tass, under bold headlines such as Poland vows to back Russia-EU visa free travel.For his part, Mr Sikorski did not correct Mr Lavrov at the press event. But his own statement on the subject was much more cautious.Referring to a separate plan to simplify visa rules but only for people living in Russia's EU exclave of Kaliningrad, the Polish diplomat said: It would be an argument for the more conservative structures in the countries of the European Union, which are mostly the interior ministers, that if our neighbours have respected current simplifications, they would also respect further liberalistion.Political will is one thing and fulfilling technical conditions is another thing, he added.Warsaw is happy to move ahead on visa-free travel with Russia but only if the EU at the same time promises to in future lift visas for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as well. Poland set out its conditions in the run-up to the EU-Russia summit in May amid concerns that a Russia-only move would send the wrong diplomatic signals to the EU's other post-Soviet neighbours. A source close to Mr Sikorski told EUobserver after the Lavrov meeting that nothing has changed.
The situation with other EU countries makes it even less likely that Brussels will give Mr Lavrov a quick and positive response in the coming months.Former Communist EU countries share Poland's views about promising to lift visas for the whole eastern flank at the same time. But many old EU members are hostile due to domestic debates about immigration. Southern EU countries also oppose it because it could harm relations by excluding the EU's southern neighbours. Meanwhile, the EU institutions are not keen on making visa promises to Russia due to its sometimes shoddy treatment of visiting EU nationals and its general lack of respect for rule of law. Brussels is also concerned that if it gives way on visas now, it will lose a bargaining chip in negotiations on energy security in a new EU-Russia strategic partnership treaty.Sikorski knows very well he can make promises on this to Russia if he wants to, because there is plenty of resistance to it in the EU, a contact in the institutions said.
Trichet: Too early to declare victory over crisis
MATEJ HRUSKA 02.09.2010 @ 17:42 CET
Despite raising its GDP expectation for this and next year, the European Central Bank decided at its meeting on Thursday (2 September) to keep the benchmark interest rate at one percent for the 16th consecutive month and to continue with unlimited lending until the end of the year.The ECB raised its growth forecast for 2010 and 2011 after a better than expected second quarter performance from the euro area. The EU's statistical office reported on Thursday in its first estimate that GDP went up by 1.0 percent in both the 16-nation euro area and the EU27 in the second quarter of 2010.According to the updated ECB estimates, annual real GDP growth will range between 1.4 percent and 1.8 percent in 2010 and between 0.5 percent and 2.3 percent in 2011. A June forecast estimated GDP would rise 1 percent this year and 1.2 percent in 2011.Despite the positive GDP growth expectations, the ECB will keep offering banks unlimited one-week and one-month loans to raise their liquidity until at least 18 January 2011. Previously, the ECB had committed to lend banks unlimited cash until at least mid-October.Looking ahead, the recovery should proceed at a moderate pace with uncertainty still prevailing, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet told reporters at during a news conference in Frankfurt.We have to remain cautious and prudent - we don't declare victory, he said, adding that monetary policy will do all that is needed to maintain price stability in the euro area over the medium term.
The decision to extend full allotment to liquidity operations until the beginning of next year is welcome as tensions remain in the banking sector, Marie Diron, Chief Economist for the Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast, wrote in a note to clients, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.Many banks continue to face difficult access to funds, which leads to tight credit conditions for the real economy, Ms Diron added.
According to Carsten Brzeski, senior economist with ING bank in Brussels, it is mainly banks at the eurozone's periphery that depend on low ECB interest rates and unlimited lending.On the one hand, stress tests in July showed banks in core eurozone countries are in rather good shape and may not really need it, but banks from southern Europe rely on money from the ECB,he told this website.Core countries are also showing a trend toward more sustainable economic development, Mr Brzeski said, while southern states still need to reform their banking systems and economies. However, neither the eurozone nor the US should face double-dip recession in the coming year.
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.
Hurricane Earl brushes North Carolina by Paul Richards – Fri Sep 3, 3:42 am ET
KITTY HAWK, North Carolina (AFP) – Hurricane Earl bore down on North Carolina early Friday, promising to lash a vast stretch of the US East Coast with tropical storm force winds, heavy rain and dangerous surf.Coastal residents huddled at home after tens of thousands fled the strongest Atlantic storm of 2010, which was expected to produce major swells along much of the eastern seaboard during the day, send waters surging up to five feet (1.5 meters) and dump up to six inches (15 centimeters) of rain.Although Earl was earlier downgraded to a category two storm, it was set to bring destructive winds and heavy rains to North Carolina's coast before moving north, reaching Canada's Nova Scotia by early Saturday.Weather watchers said Earl was the most powerful hurricane to threaten the US Northeast and New England since 1991, when Hurricane Bob caused deadly damage.For vacationers, the forecast track up-ended plans for a final few care-free days at the beach before the end of summer for the Labor Day holiday weekend that draws millions to East Coast beaches.At 2:00 am (0600 GMT), the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm's sustained winds had dipped to near 105 miles (170 kilometers) per hour, but warned it was still a major hurricane expected to pass near North Carolina's Outer Banks, skimming Massachusetts by the evening.
The huge storm several hundred miles across was heading north at around 18 miles (30 km) per hour. It was located about 85 miles (140 km) east-southeast of Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks -- a narrow band of North Carolina barrier islands.With the Miami-based center predicting hurricane strength winds as far as 70 miles (110 km) from the eye of the storm, coastal North Carolina residents were battening down and tourists were scattering inland.It's a serious storm, and we need to treat it like a serious storm, said North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue.This is a day of action, warned Craig Fugate, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).People need to be rapidly completing their preparedness in the Carolina's Outer Banks, and for other folks along the East Coast they really need to focus today on what they are going to do when the storm gets there.FEMA said 400,000 liters (105,670 gallons) of water and 300,000 meals were being allocated to a support center at a military base in North Carolina in preparation for the storm.While some storm-hardened residents were ignoring evacuation orders, hardware store manager Chris Davidson said he planned to drive with his wife and two children about 100 miles (160 km) inland, where his mother lives.It seems like more people are taking it more seriously than in the past, Davidson told AFP.A hurricane warning was extended across coastal Massachusetts, including the popular retreat areas of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, while the Canadian Hurricane Centre issued a hurricane watch for parts of Nova Scotia.Tropical storm warnings meanwhile were issued for points all along the US East Coast, as President Barack Obama signed disaster declarations for North Carolina and Massachusetts, ordering federal assistance to support response efforts.This is a large system that impacts well away from the center, and time will be running out for people that had not got ready, Fugate warned.Davidson said vacationers were lamenting the premature end of their summer, while local business owners bemoaned lost revenue they had been counting on.
It'll definitely hurt the local economy, he said. This was a big weekend for the hotels, restaurants and other businesses -- although for us, it could give us additional business once the storm is over, depending on how bad it is.Forecasters were also closely tracking the path of Tropical Storm Fiona about 360 miles (580 km) south of Bermuda, with wind speeds of up to 50 miles (85 km) per hour. It was expected to rake over the island chain beginning late Friday or early Saturday. Gaston, the fourth tropical storm to form in the Atlantic over the past two weeks, weakened Thursday to a tropical depression, the NHC said, much to the relief of aid officials worried it would plow directly over Haiti, still recovering from January's massive earthquake.
Some flooding on NC Outer Banks as Earl passes By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10
BUXTON, N.C. – First light reveals some flooding on the narrow vacation islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks after Hurricane Earl passed in the night.One to two feet of water covered roadways in the community of Buxton on Cape Hatteras early Friday, pushing loose debris around including plywood, boards, a gas station ice cooler and a trash bin.Several miles away, Nancy Scarborough of Hatteras also said she had about a foot of water underneath her stilted home.Mark Van Sciver from the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center said teams were moving out to assess damage. No injuries have been reported.Earl's center passed east of Cape Hatteras early Friday with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. It was on track for the Northeast coast.
BP oil spill costs hit $8 billion as ends rig probe
By Tom Bergin - SEPT 3,10
LONDON (Reuters) – BP Plc said the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had risen to $8 billion as the oil giant prepared to release the findings of an internal probe into the causes of the disaster.BP published figures on Friday which showed that since it capped the well on July 15, it had spent around $90 million/day, in line with the spend rate while the well was gushing over 60,000 barrels per day into the sea.Analysts had expected that BP's costs would fall off sharply after the well was sealed for good by drilling a relief well into the base of the blown out well and pumping it full of concrete.However, a successful effort to install a temporary cap on the well delayed work on the relief well, which BP said on Friday was now likely to be completed in Mid September.After this, the armada of rigs and ships, some of which cost $1 million a day to operate, working at the drill site can be stood down.Until it's killed for good, you can't move the kit away, one BP source said.However, BP also indicated that there had been no major uptick in the amount of money being handed out to those affected by the spill, under the new independent compensation system, established in a deal with the White House.
On average, since August 23, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, a $20 billion fund headed by former government pay Czar Ken Feinberg, paid out around $3.5 million per day, broadly in line with the amount paid before BP handed over responsibility for administering claims.Some investors had feared Feinberg could take a more generous approach to paying out damages.BP shares traded up 0.2 percent at 393 pence at 0847 GMT, compared to a 0.4 percent rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index.
INTERNAL PROBE FINDINGS
BP is also preparing to issue a report on the findings of an internal probe into events on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which exploded and sunk, leading to the oil spill.BP declined to say when the report will be concluded or published but insiders said it could be released as early as next week.The investigation was led by BP's head of safety and operations, Mark Bly.BP said Bly was acting in an independent capacity, seeking the truth, rather than aiming to bolster the company's position in legal disputes with the government and the other parties involved in the accident.U.S. politicians have already criticized the terms of the BP probe as being too marrow.Some media reports citing leaks of parts of the probe say lower level employees will be blamed for making mistakes that contributed to the blast.This could be seen as an attempt by BP to deflect criticism of top management and company culture -- something BP was accused of doing after a blast at its Texas City refinery in 2005, which killed 15 workers. Shortly after the blast BP sacked junior employees for breaking company operating procedures which it said contributed to the deaths. A later investigation by safety regulator the Chemical Safety Board blamed more institutional flaws including BP's culture of cost cutting. BP critics in Washington will also check the report to see if Donald Vidrine, BP's company man or senior representative, on the rig, which was owned and operated by drilling contractor Transocean, contributed to the report. Vidrine has declined at least twice to appear before a Coast Guard-Interior Department panel investigating the disaster, citing medical complaints, so any contribution from him could be interpreted negatively on Capitol Hill. (Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Erica Billingham and Hans Peters)
Typhoon kills 5 South Koreans By Sangwon Yoon, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 2, 10:02 pm ET
SEOUL, South Korea – The death toll from Typhoon Kompasu, which battered the Korean peninsula with strong winds and heavy rains, rose to five in South Korea, an official said Friday.The typhoon struck Seoul the day before, toppling trees, streetlights and scaffolding in what was called the strongest storm to hit the capital area in 15 years.Powerful gusts knocked over power lines, cutting off electricity to tens of thousands of homes and forcing airports to cancel or delay more than 60 international flights, the National Emergency Management Agency said.
Authorities later resumed service on flights, Seoul subway lines and five railway routes, emergency officials said.Streets in Seoul were littered with tree branches. Some parked cars were wrecked by construction scaffolding knocked over by the storm.
An 80-year-old man died after being hit by a roof tile and a 37-year-old businessman was killed by a falling tree branch on his way to work. Three other people were also killed in similar typhoon-related incidents later Thursday, NEMA official Shin Seok-soon said Friday.Elementary and middle schools in the capital were ordered to delay the start of classes by two hours, while all public and private kindergartens were closed Thursday, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said.The storm caused at least 10 billion won ($8.3 million) in damage to a sports stadium in Incheon, west of Seoul, stadium officials said.Power was out at more than 60,000 homes along South Korea's west coast before being back on in nearly all residences, officials said.
Kompasu, the Japanese word for compass, landed on Ganghwa Island, about 40 miles (70 kilometers) west of Seoul before leaving the Korean peninsula on Thursday, said officials.The typhoon also caused torrential rains and heavy gusts throughout North Korea, the country's state media reported. It didn't say whether there were any fatalities or provide damage estimates.Last month, floods swamped farmland, houses and public buildings in North Korea's northwestern city of Sinuiju and adjacent areas and displaced more than 23,000 people, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.Earlier this week, South Korea's Red Cross offered North Korea relief aid worth 10 billion won.
Hurricane Alley Heats Up with Stormy Threesome
livescience.com – Thu Sep 2, 4:50 pm ET
Three swirling storms are roaring across the Atlantic with nervous East Coast residents keeping a close eye on the conveyor belt of tropical activity as hurricane season enters its busiest time. Hurricane Earl is bearing down on the Carolinas and has strengthened into a Category 4 storm, with maximum winds of 145 mph (235 kph), according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Category 3 storms or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane strength are classified as major hurricanes. [In Images: Hurricane Hunters Flying into Earl.] Tropical Storms Fiona and Gaston are following in Earl's wake, with winds about one-third as strong.
Late August through September is the busiest time of the Atlantic storm season, which explains why three tropical storms in a row are spinning north over the Atlantic Ocean. All the necessary ingredients to cook up a storm are present. The triple threat was created by a swath of the Atlantic Ocean's warmest water, stretching along the equator and well north of it, from Africa all the way to the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists refer to this as hurricane alley.
Out of Africa
Most hurricanes that hit the United States begin either in the Caribbean or the Atlantic. Many of the worst storms start as seedlings coming off the coast of Africa, as all three of the current storms did. Low-pressure systems move westward off the west coast of Africa, where they encounter the warm waters of the tropical Atlantic, which serve to drive the convective engines that power these forces of nature. Storms that form in this way are called Cape Verde-type storms, as they form near the Cape Verde Islands. The warm waters of hurricane alley can sustain a storm all the way from its seedling stage in Africa to monster hurricane slamming into the U.S. coast.Ocean waters must be at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.5 Celsius) down to a depth of at least 150 feet (50 meters) to properly spawn a storm, scientists estimate. Ocean waters are typically at their warmest at the tail end of the Northern Hemisphere summer, when the sun's rays have been beating down on them for months. (This time lag is similar to the one that makes mid-afternoon the warmest time of the day instead of noon, when the sun's rays are most direct on the ground.)
Developing power
If conditions in the atmosphere are favorable and the waters are warm enough, a tropical depression (an unorganized system with winds of less than 38 mph, or 62 kph) develops into a tropical storm (winds of less than 73 mph or 118 kph), then finally forms a hurricane, which is not unlike a giant swirling mass of thunderstorms. Hurricanes always rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.
When a hurricane moves over a swath of water, however, it cools the ocean, so another hurricane on the same path may find less favorable conditions because its supply of fuel - the warm waters - have been used up. Likewise, as a storm races toward the Northeastern United States, as Earl is expected to do, it moves over cooler water and tends to weaken rapidly. Yet storms also tend to pick up speed as they head north, and can, in rare cases, reach forward speeds of 55 mph (90 kph) by the time they near Long Island, N.Y. This forward speed is added to the internal wind speed on the right side of a storm, and it can take a Category 1 storm and effectively make it a Category 4 in a narrow region of the storm. Such powerful and deadly storms have, on rare occasion, slammed into the New York region and the Northeast.Upon landfall, the top sustained winds, those that last a minute or longer, can drop rapidly due to a dampening effect caused by rough terrain - bushes, trees and houses. But a corresponding increase in brief gusts sort of makes up for this, danger-wise. The gusts are enhanced by turbulence caused by the rough terrain, bringing faster winds to the surface in bursts that last a few seconds.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH(BECAUSE OF SIN AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Indonesian volcano spews new burst of ash By Binsar Bakkara, Associated Press Writer – SEPT 3,10
TANAH KARO, Indonesia – An Indonesian volcano that was quiet for four centuries shot a new, powerful burst of hot ash more than 10,000 feet (three kilometers) in the air Friday, sending frightened residents fleeing to safety for the second time this week.
The tremor from the eruption — the strongest so far — could be felt five miles (eight kilometers) away.This was a big one! said 37-year-old Anto Sembiring, who abandoned his coffee shop not far from the crater's mouth to join hundreds of others near Mount Sinabung's base. We all ran as fast as we could ... Everyone was panicking.The eruption of Mount Sinabung on Sunday and Monday — which caught many scientists off guard — forced 30,000 people living along its fertile slopes in North Sumatra province to evacuate to cramped emergency shelters in nearby towns.Many started returning to their mountainside homes as activity started to wane, saying they wanted to tend to their vegetable farms and rice fields and to reopen small businesses.A new alert was issued several hours before Friday's blast.Some people trudged back down the slopes, carrying blankets, clothes and food, but others insisted on staying, even after the new explosion, which caused the entire mountain to shake for five minutes.We're not going anywhere, said Razia Barimbing, who was among 50 men refusing to budge, saying they had to protect abandoned villages a few miles (kilometers) from the crater's mouth against looters.
It's so sad to see this, said the 35-year-old farmer, pointing to the white dust blanketing houses, gardens and even livestock. We just want this to be over, so we can pull our lives back together, and get our children back in school.The air was thick with the smell of sulfur and, despite a soft drizzle, heavy smoke limited visibility to just a few yards (meters). Some small domestic hopper flights had to be diverted, according to Bambang Ervan, the transportation ministry's spokesman.
International air travel was unaffected.Mount Sinabung had last erupted in 1600, and government vulcanologists acknowledged they had made no efforts before the mountain started rumbling last week to sample gases or look out for rising magma or other signs of seismic activity.They were too busy with more than 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a seismically charged region because of its location on the so-called Ring of Fire — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.They said from now on they will be watching it very closely.It's still going off, even now , said Surono, who heads the nation's volcano alert center. You can't see it because of the heavy fog around the crater, but according to our seismic recorder, there are still small eruptions.There are fears that current activity could foreshadow a much more destructive explosion in a few weeks or months, though it is possible, too, that the mountain will go back to sleep after letting off steam.The archipelagic nation has recorded some of the largest eruptions in history.The 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora buried the inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock, killing an estimated 88,000 people.
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa could be heard 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away and blackened skies region-wide for months. At least 36,000 people were killed in the blast and the tsunami that followed.Associated Press Writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.
Brazil oil firm Petrobras plans $65 billion stock sale
By Brian Ellsworth - SEPT 3,10
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian state oil company Petrobras will sell up to $64.5 billion in new stock -- one of the largest in capital markets history -- to raise funds for the world's biggest oil exploration investment plan.The company will offer 1.59 billion new preferred shares (PETR4.SA) and 2.17 billion new common shares (PETR3.SA), Petrobras said in a statement published in Valor Economico newspaper, for an operation that includes a $43 billion state-backed oil-for-shares swap.At Thursday's closing price for the stocks, the company would raise 67.8 billion reais ($39.2 billion) from the sale of common shares and another 43.8 billion reais ($25.4 billion) from the preferred shares, making it one of the world's largest- ever stock offerings.Petrobras expects to begin bookbuilding September 3, and price the share sale on September 23.The plan has become the financial cornerstone of the company's $224 billion five-year investment plan meant to turn Brazil into a major oil exporter by tapping oil buried deep under the ocean floor in a region known as the subsalt.The company faces skepticism by investors who have questioned the high price for the oil reserves to be used in the state-backed oil-for-shares swap arrangement, which has sparked fears Petrobras may be overpaying for the assets and diluting shares.Under the terms of the $43 billion oil-for-shares swap, Petrobras said on Wednesday it agreed to exchange part of the stock to be issued for development rights to 5 billion barrels of offshore oil at a price of $8.51 per barrel -- far above the $5 to $6 per barrel that markets saw as fair.
The swap will endow Petrobras' assets with valuable oil reserves.The segment of the share sale outside the oil-for-share swap is primarily targeted at non-government and minority shareholders, who will provide the only cash in the operation.Their participation will be crucial for Petrobras to shore up its balance sheet, which has been stretched by heavy borrowing to finance its ambitious offshore plans.Government leaders have also said they plan to boost the state's participation in the company's capital to around 40 percent current levels near 30 percent, which has left some investors nervous about greater state sway in the company.Analysts said the large size of the share swap with respect to the entire operation -- authorized by shareholders for up to $85 billion -- shows the government expects it will be able to pick up a considerable number of shares not subscribed by private investors.
Petrobras' preferred shares, its most widely traded class of stock, closed at 27.60 reais on Thursday while common shares closed at 31.24 reais.
INVESTOR INTEREST
But some investors say those concerns have already been priced into the shares, and that the company is still a compelling investment given its unique access to quality oil reserves in a world that is quickly running out of them.I think people are going to be surprised by the number of investors that subscribe, said Marc Fogassa, a managing partner at Hedgefort Capital Management which owns shares in Petrobras.
Following months of uncertainty over the plan that pushed the stock down by as much as 25 percent from the start of the year, progress advancing the issue has heartened some shareholders.The worst of the slaughter is behind us, said Marcio Macedo, who oversees about $40 million in assets at Humaita Investimentos in Sao Paulo. The stock's value is now attractive.He added that many investors spent the last several months selling or shorting Petrobras to go long in other sectors such as Brazilian banks or retail, and he expected many would take advantage of this offer to get back into the company. Oil for the exchange will come from at least six fields in the subsalt region, most of which are adjacent to major offshore discoveries such as Franco and Tupi finds.(Additional reporting by Elzio Barreto, Editing by W Simon )
POISONED WATERS
REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Feds launch investigation of Gulf platform fire By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10
WASHINGTON – The agency that oversees offshore drilling will investigate the fire on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.Thursday's fire came less than five months after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 people and spurred the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history.This time no one was killed and the Coast Guard said no crude was leaking.Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, says his agency will work with the Coast Guard to investigate the fire. The oil platform is owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy Inc.
Latest Gulf oil rig problem differs from BP spill By ALAN SAYRE, Associated Press Writer - SEPT 3,10
NEW ORLEANS – Stark differences exist between the oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico and the blast that led to the massive BP spill. Most notably, no one was killed and no crude was gushing into the water, but the distinctions don't end there.
Even though the Mariner Energy-owned platform that erupted in flames Thursday was just 200 miles west of the site of the spill, everything from the structures to the operations to the safety devices were different.Yet, when word spread of the latest mishap, Gulf Coast residents could only think of the three-month BP spill that began after the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers.It's unbelievable, said Sophie Esch, 28, a graduate student at Tulane who is from Berlin, Germany. They should finally stop drilling in the Gulf. They should shut down all the drilling out there and not give permission to do any more. They've shown that it's just unsafe.The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast, but hours later said crews were unable to find any spill. The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the fire.Workers who were pulled from the water told rescuers that there was a blast on board, but Mariner's Patrick Cassidy said he considered what happened a fire, not an explosion.
Platforms are vastly different from oil rigs like BP's Deepwater Horizon. They are usually brought in after wells are already drilled and sealed.A production platform is much more stable, said Andy Radford, an API expert on offshore oil drilling. On a drilling rig, you're actually drilling the well. You're cutting. You're pumping mud down the hole. You have a lot more activity on a drilling rig.In contrast, platforms are usually placed atop stable wells where the oil is flowing at a predictable pressure, he said. A majority of platforms in the Gulf do not require crews on board.
Many platforms, especially those in shallower water, stand on legs that are drilled into the sea floor. Like a giant octopus, they spread numerous pipelines and can tap into many wells at once.The Deepwater Horizon was drilling a well a mile beneath the sea, which made trying to plug it after it blew out an incredible challenge, with BP trying techniques never tested. The platform was operating in 340 feet of water in a shallow area of the Gulf known as a major source of gas.Responding to any oil spill in such shallow spots would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles to access equipment on the sea floor.Platforms do not have blowout preventers like deep water rigs that are supposed to shut down wells if there is problem. But they are usually equipped with a series of redundant valves that can shut off oil and gas at different points along the pipeline.Mariner Energy officials said there were seven active production wells on its platform, and they were shut down shortly before the fire broke out. The Coast Guard said they would continue to monitor the platform to make sure no leaks.Houston-based Mariner Energy said it did not know what caused the fire. The platform was still intact and a small portion appears burned, Cassidy said. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the company told him the fire began in 100 barrels of light oil condensate.Photos showed at least five ships floating near the platform. Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery, an image similar to when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, Crews decided to let that blaze burn itself out, and the rig sank into the Gulf two days after the blast.On the Mariner Energy platform, the fire was out less than 12 hours.A Homeland Security update obtained by The Associated Press said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil. All 13 workers aboard the platform were found huddled together, holding hands and all wearing life jackets when they were rescued from the water. A captain of the Crystal Clear, a 110-foot boat that rescued them, said his craft was 25 miles away when it received a distress call. When Capt. Dan Shaw arrived at the scene, the workers had been in the water for two hours and were thirsty and tired.We gave them soda and water, anything they wanted to drink, Shaw said. They were just glad to be on board with us.Shaw said workers told him the blast was so sudden that they did not have time to get into lifeboats. They did not mention what might have caused it.They just said there was an explosion, there was a fire, Shaw said. It happened very quick.Crew members were flown to a hospital and released by early Thursday evening.
Environmental groups and some lawmakers said the newest problem showed the dangers of offshore drilling, and urged the Obama administration to extend a temporary ban on deepwater drilling to shallow water.How many accidents are needed and how much environmental and economic damage must we suffer before we act to contain and control the source of the danger: offshore drilling? said Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat.Mike Gravitz, oceans advocate for Environment America, said President Barack Obama should need no further wake-up call to permanently ban new drilling.There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the America's domestic oil, forming the backbone of the country's petroleum industry. Numerous platforms were damaged during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The storms broke pipelines, and oil spilled into the Gulf. But the platforms successfully kept major spills from happening, Radford said.Those safety valves did their job, he said.
Industry representatives sought to what happened Thursday and distance it from the well blowout in April.We have on these platforms on any given year roughly 100 fires, said Allen Verret, executive director of the Offshore Operators Committee.
Associated Press writers Harry R. Weber, Michael Kunzelman and Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans, Chris Kahn in New York, Eileen Sullivan, Matthew Daly, Gerry Bodlander and Dina Capiello in Washington, Garance Burke in Fresno, Calif., and researcher Monika Mathur in New York contributed to this report.
IMF to give Pakistan $450 mln in flood aid
By Paul Eckert – Thu Sep 2, 8:06 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid and disburse funds in September to help the country's economy cope with the devastation, the head of the IMF said on Thursday.Severe flooding in Pakistan has destroyed cropland and livestock and displaced millions of people, causing damage the government has estimated at $43 billion, or almost one quarter of the South Asian nation's 2009 GDP.The IMF ... will be the first agency likely to disperse very rapidly money which is absolutely needed, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told reporters after a week of discussions with Pakistani officials. The most important thing is to keep the Pakistani economy .. on track.(For a slideshow: Children of the flood, click http://in.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=INRTR2HTZZ)
Talks with a delegation led by Pakistan's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on the terms of an $11 billion IMF loan program left him satisfied with the country's commitment to reforms, the IMF chief said.Under the 2008 IMF loan program, Islamabad pledged to implement tax and energy sector reforms and give full autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan.What is important is what was decided by the government to do to improve the economic situation, especially in the tax sector but in other fields also, said Strauss-Kahn.What I heard from the authorities is that they really want to move on with the program, he said.Shaikh said Islamabad remained committed to loan terms, including fiscal authority and tax reforms.Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said IMF faith in its reform commitments could help boost international solace and confidence in the country's economic prospects and fiscal discipline despite the flood calamity.We expect the markets to respond positively and we also expect other donors in a more aggressive manner now that they know Pakistan is going to continue with economic reforms, he told Reuters in an interview.Describing the flood damages as manifold worse than the (2005) tsunami, the Haitian earthquake and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, Haqqani appealed to Washington to take steps to allow Pakistan to export more textiles to the U.S. market under special low-tariff programs.One program, the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones" trade package that allows tariff goods for certain Pakistani garments, remains stalled in the U.S. Senate and faces opposition from some American textile groups.Because of the magnitude of the impact of the floods, as well as the fact that Pakistan is a front-line state in the global war against terrorism, there is a case to be made that Pakistan needs to be given that preferential access, said the ambassador.(Editing by Andrew Hay)
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; 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.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Iran says to strike Israel nuclear site if attacked
SEPT 3,10
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran would retaliate by striking Israel's nuclear facility if Israel attacked its nuclear activities, armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi said on Friday.Our developed weapons can hit any part of the Zionist regime (Israel) ... We hope not to be forced to attack their nuclear facility, Firouzabadi told the semi-official Mehr news agency.Iran does not recognize Israel, which it calls the Zionist regime. Israel regards Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a live broadcast at Tehran University marking the annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, told Israel to leave Iran alone.I want to say that not only the Zionists, but even their masters are smaller than to lay a finger on the Iranian nation and its rights, he said.Israel, believed to be the only nuclear-armed Middle East state, has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end a dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions.The West suspects the Islamic Republic is covertly trying to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran denies this.(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Tim Pearce)
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