Watchman Newsletter

Large Hadron Collider progress delights researchers

BBC News (Link) - Paul Rincon (November 22, 2009)

Researchers working on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) say they are delighted with the progress made since the machine restarted on Friday.

One official said the collider had done more in a few hours than it did in five days of operations last year.

The LHC is being used to smash together beams of protons in a bid to shed light on the nature of the Universe.

Housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border, it is the world's largest machine.

During the experiment, scientists will search for signs of the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle that is crucial to our current understanding of physics. Although it is predicted to exist, scientists have never found it.

“It's all been pretty positive so far... Now, [the team] is knuckling down to the hard work” | James Gillies, Cern

The machine was heavily damaged when an electrical fault caused a tonne of liquid helium to leak into the tunnel just nine days after it was first launched in September last year.

Herman Van Rompuy: Europe's first president to push for 'Euro tax'

Telegraph UK (Link) - Bruno Waterfield, Justin Stares and Colin Freeman (November 22, 2009)

Within days of taking office in January, the former Belgian prime minister will put his weight behind controversial proposals already floated by the commission's head, José Manuel Barroso, for a new "Euro tax".

He will add credence to Mr. Barroso's plans, to be formally tabled in the New Year, by arguing for a Euro-version of a "Tobin Tax" – a levy on financial transactions already floated by Gordon Brown as a solution to the international banking crisis. It would result in a stream of income direct to Brussels coffers, funding budgets that critics say are already rife with waste and overspending.

Mr. Van Rompuy, 62, who was appointed to the newly-created £320,000-a-year post at last week's special EU summit, set out his stall on direct Euro-taxes during a private speech at a recent meeting of the Bilderberg group of top politicians, bankers and businessmen. The group officially meets in secret, but when selected details of his remarks leaked out, his office was forced to issue a public statement on his behalf.

"The financing of the welfare state, irrespective of the social reform we implement, will require new resources," he said. "The possibility of financial levies at European level needs to be seriously reviewed."

'Fatah officials warn of third Palestinian intifada'

Haaretz (Link) - Jack Khoury (November 21, 2009)

Fatah had made a strategic decision to declare a third intifada against Israel, movement officials told Nazereth-based newspaper Hadith Anas, citing the failed peace talks as the reason for their resolution.

The newspaper report quoted Fatah Central Committee members as saying that the movement wished to implement a decision made during its sixth convention, which assembled last August in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

One of the movement's top officials interviewed by Hadith Anas said the third intifada will have a widespread popular base, adding, however, that unlike the previous popular struggle against Israel, which was sparked in September 2000, the movement will not endorse an armed struggle or the use of firearms.

"We want thousands of Palestinians to demonstrate daily near the settlements of the occupation, carrying out a human siege, and calling for the end of the occupation," one senior official said.

We'll be watching you, Mr Van Rompuy

Telegraph UK (Link) (November 20, 2009)

The new "foreign minister" of Europe is British. According to Gordon Brown, that should make us proud. The reality is that Europe does not need a foreign minister, and the person chosen to fill the post, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, is a Labour peer who has never been elected to a political position in her life. As for the new "President of Europe", the Belgian prime minister Herman Van Rompuy, he was hardly better known until he emerged as a front-runner a few weeks ago.

The phrase "a pair of nonentities" is on many lips, and it is easy to understand why. David Miliband recently called for an EU representative who could stop the traffic; she may be a decent and capable individual, but it is hard to imagine Lady Ashton, former chairman of Hertfordshire Health Authority, stopping the traffic in St Albans, let alone Washington. Until her appointment as Trade Commissioner she had no background in foreign policy. No wonder she was not the first choice to fill this post (which a back-room deal had assigned to a Briton). She was not even the second. Or the third. Mr. Miliband did not want the post; neither did Lord Mandelson, while Geoff Hoon was unacceptable to Brussels. At which point Mr. Brown came up with the name of Cathy Ashton. Such is the transparent process by which the "high representative" of 500 million people was chosen.

Some Eurosceptics are comforting themselves with the thought that it is better to have "minnows" in these two posts than charismatic attention-seekers. Mr. Van Rompuy and Lady Ashton are, at heart, local politicians who have been dragged into the limelight. The former was reluctant to take the job of prime minister of Belgium, let alone one that makes him sound like the president of a continent. These functionaries will not exceed their job descriptions, the argument goes. Mr. Van Rompuy will be a slightly harassed chairman of the European Council rather than a chief executive with delusions of grandeur; Lady Ashton will co-ordinate rather than determine European foreign policy. So, unedifying though the past few weeks have been, we have not laid the foundations of a superstate.

11 people missing including police officer as hundreds are rescued from rising floods

Mail Online (Link) (November 20, 2009) Pictures at original link

Rescuers were desperately searching for a missing police officer today after floods caused a bridge to collapse as parts of northern Britain suffered the heaviest day of rain since records began.

The incident occurred as the rising River Derwent caused the Northside bridge to topple in the early hours of this morning in Workington, Cumbria - the worst hit region of the country.

Police said that 11 people were still unaccounted for as Environment Secretary Hilary Benn described the storms as 'a one-in-a-thousand-year flood.'

More than 200 people in the county who were trapped in their homes by flood waters have been rescued by emergency services after torrential rain caused rivers to burst their banks.

But many more are still stuck and the rescue mission is ongoing as more torrential rain was predicted to fall. Emergency services were searching 10 properties in Cockermouth they had not been able to reach previously.

Many people were forced to break through the roofs of their houses to escape the chaos.

California Was Among States With Record Unemployment

Bloomberg (Link) - Courtney Schlisserman (November 20, 2009)

California, Delaware, South Carolina and Florida registered record rates of unemployment in October as weakness in the labor market stretches from coast to coast and limits the economic recovery.

Joblessness rose in 29 U.S. states last month compared with 22 in September, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Michigan had the highest jobless rate at 15.1 percent, followed by Nevada at 13 percent and Rhode Island at 12.9 percent.

The national rate last month reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, weighing on consumer spending that accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Nov. 17 that joblessness “likely will decline only slowly,” a reason policy makers will keep interest rates near zero to ensure growth is sustained.

“We’ve had a surprisingly sharp jump in the jobless rate,” said Richard DeKaser, president of Woodley Park Research in Washington. “Businesses have truly been doing an extraordinary job of wringing out productivity from the labor force.”

Evolution to be compulsory subject in primary schools

Times Online UK (Link) - Greg Hurst (November 20, 2009)

Evolution is to become a compulsory subject for study in all state primary schools. The Government announced yesterday that Darwin’s theory of how life evolved through natural selection would be a legal requirement in science teaching from September 2011, although it will be left to schools to decide how this is done.

The move, which was welcomed by scientists, comes despite a drive to slim down the national curriculum for primary schools and leave teachers greater discretion over what to teach.

British history will also become, for the first time, an explicit part of the curriculum that primary schools must teach, although it makes no reference to which kings, battles, periods or events should be taught.

Church and other faith schools within the state system will have to educate their pupils about the theory of evolution, although officials said it could be taught in a context that reflected a school’s ethos, in a similar way to compulsory sex education for children aged under 15.

EU chooses unknowns for new top jobs

EU Observer (Link) - Honor Mahony (November 19, 2009)

EU leaders have chosen Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy to be the first president of the European Council, while UK trade commissioner Catherine Ashton will become the bloc's foreign policy chief.

Welcoming the decision on Thursday evening (19 November), Swedish leader Fredrik Reinfeldt said: "What we were seeking were people to create continuity" and "to be the voice and face of Europe throughout the world."

Mr Van Rompuy, from the centre-right political family, is a trained economist and has been running Belgium for less than a year. He writes Haiku (Japanese verse) and is known for his low-key style, which includes a line in self-deprecatory humour and caravan holidays.

He came to prominence after Germany and France a few weeks ago agreed between themselves to promote him. Several diplomats subsequently suggested that his short term in office stood to his advantage as he has had no time to make enemies among other EU leaders.

The presidency decision - nominating a person from a small country with no international profile - confirms the speculation of recent weeks that the majority of member states wanted to choose a person whose main role will be that of an internal fixer, rather than someone who can open doors in Washington and Moscow.

Hamas: Terrorism to Eliminate Israel is a 'Principle'

Israel National News (Link) - Nissan Ratzlav-Katz (November 19, 2009)

In an interview published Thursday in the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, a Hamas spokesman said that the jihadist movement is loyal to "Palestinian principles" in its policy of terrorism against the Jews until Israel ceases to exist.

Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas claimed earlier this month that Hamas had agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesman in Lebanon and close associate of powerful Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal, rejected the idea, however.

Hamas, Hamdan explained, has never agreed and will never agree to any recognition of Israel's legitimacy as a sovereign state. An agreement to temporary borders contradicts this position, as it would constitute acceptance of Jewish sovereignty over the pre-1967 borders of Israel, he added.

The Last Days Apostasy of the Church - Part 1

Bible Prophecy Today (Link) - Andy Woods (November 19, 2009)

Many other topics would be more pleasant to write about rather than the last days apostasy of the church. It would be far easier to talk about the positive topic of God’s love rather than something as negative as apostasy. Yet, this subject must be broached since it is part of God’s message in the Bible. In fact, this series will contend that it is impossible to understand God’s plan for the end times without understanding what Scripture reveals about the last days apostasy of the church.

Let’s begin with a definition of apostasy. The English word apostasy is derived from two Greek words. The first word is the preposition apo, which means “away from.” The second word is the verb histēmi, which means, “to stand.” Thus, apostasy means, “to stand away from.” Apostasy refers to a departure from known or previously embraced truth. The subject of apostasy has little to do with the condition of the unsaved world, which has always rejected divine truth and therefore has nothing from which to depart. Rather, apostasy pertains to the spiritual temperature within God’s church. While some might think that apostasy relates to some external factor such as whether the economy is up or down, the subject of biblical apostasy relates to internal church conditions.

Because comprehension of what Scripture reveals concerning apostasy is critical toward completely understanding God’s end-time program, this series will develop several general characteristics of apostasy. They include the following: apostasy is a sign of the last days, is warned against repeatedly in the New Testament, impacts every major doctrine, is internal, knows no limits in terms of who becomes involved in it, can happen quickly, is satanically energized, is destructive, makes life difficult for the man of God, and can be guarded against.

Javier Solana Resigning From Top EU Foreign Job

Huliq News (Link) - Armen Hareyan (November 19, 2009) Video

As the EU leaders start their summit to select top three jobs Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs is stepping down. He says he is a convinced European and after being on the position for 15 years he thinks the position has to change as EU is turning a new chapter ahead of very exciting changes.

This man has been the face of the EU for about about 15 years. Solana says he will work for the same European ideals from a different position. He will give advise to the new EU top foreign minister, but not in public, rather in private, sharing his experience.

Evil Times and Weak Leaders

Israel National News (Link) - Tamar Yonah (November 18, 2009)

The world has been spinning on path towards the redemption without our even being aware of it. We are so involved in our daily routines and family obligations, that we tend to live in microscopic worlds not bothering to take a step back out of the circle and examining what is happening on a larger scale. We are headed towards a 'Centralized One World Government' whether we like it or not.

Now, we can take it in stride and say that it is all for the best, as anyway, when the Messiah comes, the whole world will be united anyway, and this is just a step in that direction, albeit under the wrong idea of unity. What I am saying is, that when the world is united under the Moshiach (Messiah), it will be united under G-d, The Almighty, The Creator, and not united under the god of trade, security and prosperity promises, or the god of money. We are told that unity is good, but it depends what people unite under. People can unite under a swastika, a red backed hammer and sickle, ...or under G-d. So it DOES depend on what people choose to come together for. A New World Order, or a One World Government, or the new 'Trans-Nationalism' (hear this show I just did with John Loeffler) being touted today as the enlightened and sexy thing to do, is a recipe for disaster because essentially, we are united under evil.

Israel: The Inscrutable Enigma

The Friends of Israel (Link) - Elwood McQuaid (November 18, 2009)

Mark Twain, the famous American author, humorist, narrator, and social observer, had great personal problems with the religionists of his day and many other aspects of the world he occupied in the 1800s.

He was, however, fascinated by the Jewish people. To him, they were both an enigma and an inspiration. His description, in his book Innocents Abroad, of the Holy Land’s topography chronicled the land’s barrenness and apparent hopelessness and was a moving landmark in the Jewish people’s progression across the face of history and the Middle East.

His observations of the area as a sterile wasteland fit only for the habitation of “owls and jackals” had an almost mystic quality, much like the explanation once given of the melancholy strains of Jewish, minor-key music.

“It’s as though, in the music of the Jewish people, that just beneath the pathos there is a joyful ebullience about to burst through.”

'IAEA inspects site outside Damascus'

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (November 17, 2009)

Following Monday's report that the IAEA had discovered processed uranium at three separate Syrian sites, UN inspectors on Tuesday conducted an emergency visit to a smaller site outside Damascus, Channel 10 reported.

According to Monday's report, IAEA inspectors had discovered enriched uranium in three sites besides Dir Azur, where IAF jets destroyed an alleged reactor in September 2007.

These findings have led the UN nuclear watchdog to suspect that Syria has uranium stockpiles.

The main cause for suspicion was the discovery of nuclear material traces near a small research nuclear reactor outside Damascus, the TV channel said Monday.

When the evidence was presented to the Syrians, they failed to provide convincing explanations, senior IAEA officials were quoted as saying.

Agency inspectors who visited the Dir Azur site after the 2007 bombing found highly processed plutonium, so the uranium traces may indicate Syria's nuclear program was more advanced than was previously assessed.

Javier Solana: I am not yet ready for retirement

Interfax (Link) (November 17, 2009)

Question: The Lisbon Treaty is going to enter into force very soon now. What is in your opinion the decisive importance of this document? If its benefit so evident - why this long and difficult process of ratification?

Answer: An European Union with 27 Member States cannot work the same way as an EU with fifteen Member States, like we were only five years ago. The Lisbon Treaty will from December 1 allow the EU to work in a much more efficient and coherent manner. There were indeed some obstacles in the ratification process. Taking decisions with 27 Member States is not an easy thing and the Lisbon Treaty will precisely improve the decision making process. I am very happy that the treaty has been ratified. This is a very important moment for the EU.

Q.: Evaluating the past decade, what kind of authority, what kind of powers were you short of as High Representative (HR), what new levers is getting your successor under the Lisbon Treaty?

A.: Let me say that I am very proud of what the EU has achieved on the international scene in the last decade. This year we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Over that period of time, we have deployed 23 EU missions or operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia to help solving difficult crisis and to contribute to stabilization in tension areas.

Under the Lisbon Treaty, the High Representative will have under his authority tools that were - up to now - under the responsibility of different parts of the EU. It will be much easier for my successor to use the full range of EU tools that are adequate for each specific situation. The incoming HR will also have the support of an External Action Service that we are now putting in place and that will be among the biggest diplomatic services in the world. With this new setup, I am confident that the EU will be a in a better position to work with its partners on the international scene, for a more stable, more prosperous and safer world.

'If PA Declares State, Israel Will Annex Settlements'

Israel National News (Link) - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (November 16, 2009)

A government minister publicly advised the Palestinian Authority on Monday that if it unilaterally declares a new Arab state, Israel may annex parts of Judea and Samaria. Unlike eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria remain under military rule, although all Jewish residents have the same basic rights as other Israelis.

"If the Palestinians take such a unilateral line, Israel should also consider ... passing a law to annex some of the settlements," Environment Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) said on Voice of Israel government radio.

In the video, please click here to view the video, Cabinet Minister Dr. Uzi Landau (Israel Our Home) and MK Danny Danon (Likud) take a similarly hard line. Landau blames Netanyahu's "generosity" in accepting the "two state solution" - albeit with a demilitarized PA state - for the situation, and believes that the PA threats for a unilateral declaration of a state are a result of the concessional declarations and the building freeze in Judea and Samaria.

MK Danon says that Israel must not settle for annexing settlement blocs, but must rather annex Judea and Samaria in their entirety, except for Arab cities.

Italian Foreign Minister Proposes EU Army

The Trumpet (Link) (November 16, 2009)

Europe needs to create a common army now that the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview with the Times.

It is a “necessary objective to have a European army,” said Frattini. “Europe could deploy a joint naval fleet or air force in the Mediterranean: Why not?” he said. “We could say, look, one group of nations is ready at once, and leave the door open for others to join, as with the euro.” He said that the Lisbon Treaty allows “that if some countries want to enter into reinforced cooperation between themselves they can do so.”

“Take Afghanistan,” he said. “At present President Obama asks Poland, or Italy, or Great Britain for more troops. If there were a European army, he would have a ‘toolbox’ to draw from. He might need 30 airplanes: He would be able to ask if the European army was in a position to provide them.”

At the moment, Frattini said, “every country duplicates its forces, each of us puts armored cars, men, tanks, planes, into Afghanistan. If there were a European army, Italy could send planes, France could send tanks, Britain could send armored cars, and in this way we would optimize the use of our resources. Perhaps we won’t get there immediately, but that is the idea of a European army.”

EU foreign minister has 'impossible' task ahead

EU Observer (Link) - Honor Mahony (November 16, 2009)

The tasks of the proposed new EU foreign minister look relatively clear-cut and powerful on paper but analysts and politicians in Brussels suggest the person will need to be superhuman to manage all that is foreseen under the Lisbon Treaty.

Formally known as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the beefed-up position puts foreign policy clout and the financial means to implement it into the hands of one person.

Until now, the two strands have been split between the foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and the EU external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero Waldner.

The set-up proposed under the EU's new institutional rules, due to come into place on 1 December, says the foreign minister will chair the monthly meetings of his national counterparts, be a vice-president of the European Commission, and run the nascent diplomatic service.

Jews raise millions to be ready for coming of the Messiah

The Sydney Morning Herald (Link) - Jason Koutsoukis (November 14, 2009)

Yehuda Glick is a 44-year-old American-born Jew who spends most of every day preparing for the arrival of the Messiah in Jerusalem.

Since he became the executive director of the Temple Institute, Mr. Glick's main task has been to supervise the manufacture of the utensils the high priests will need when the day arrives.

Crowns and other instruments made of solid gold fill glass cases in the Temple Institute museum in Jerusalem's Old City.

Other artifacts include an array of copper urns, trumpets made of silver and garments to be worn by the High Priest, woven from golden thread.

Musical instruments, including hand-made harps and lyres, lie ready to be brought to life upon the Messiah's appearance.

So, when can we expect this momentous event? ''That is a very good question,'' Mr. Glick told the Herald.

''All that we know is that we are now living in the age of miracles and all of those miracles are predicted in the Book as happening on the eve of the end of days. It could well be tomorrow, but it might be another 100 years, or even 400 years.''

Germany leads eurozone out of recession

Times Online (Link) - Francesca Steele (November 13, 2009)

The eurozone has emerged from recession in the third quarter, boosted by strong growth in Germany, leaving Britain languishing in its longest downturn in history.

The eurozone, comprising the 16 countries that use the euro, reported that gross domestic product (GDP) — a key measure of economic health — grew by 0.4 per cent in the three months to September. The 27-nation European Union, home to half a billion people, also reported growth of 0.2 per cent in the third quarter.

Germany, the zone’s biggest economy, confirmed its recovery, after exiting recession in the second quarter, when it said that GDP increased by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter. France also underlined its recovery, with 0.3 per cent growth.

However, the rate of growth for Europe’s two largest economies was not as high as expected. Economists had forecast that Germany would grow by about 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, and France by 0.6 per cent.

Britain remains the only leading economy still in recession after America joined Germany, France, Japan and China in exiting the downturn.

Eight million have no job (and don't even want one)

Daily Mail (Link) - Becky Barrow (November 12, 2009)

The number of people who do not have a job - and are not bothering to look for one - has soared to its highest since records began in 1971.

A record 7.9million - one in five people of working age - are ' economically inactive'. That is more than the entire population of Greater London.

Tories called the figures from the Office for National Statistics ' shocking' and said they exposed an ' alarming trend'. Theresa May, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: 'A culture of worklessness has become rife in pockets of Brown's Britain.

'It is shocking that one in five people of working age is economically inactive and that five million people have never worked under this government.

'Labour's decision to duck the real challenge of welfare reform over the past decade has fuelled this alarming trend.'