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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/7/2013 5:41:40 PM
	Millions Left Without Money As UK Bank’s System Crashes Posted by Stephen Cook on March 7, 2013 Customers complained that they could not withdraw money from cash points and their cards were declined when they attempted to pay over the counter Photo: ALAMY Millions Left Without Money as RBS Systems Crash Stephen: I wonder if any other banking systems suffer a similar fate in the days ahead (which may indicate this is some sort of financial system re-set) or if this is a one-off. Whatever the cause, millions of people in the UK had no access to THEIR money… Up to 17.5 million RBS banking group customers were left without their money last night as the bank’s systems crashed. By Hayley Dixon, The Telegraph UK – March 7, 2013 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/rbs/9914242/Millions-left-without-money-as-RBS-systems-crash.html Customers complained that they could not withdraw money from cash points and their cards were declined when they attempted to pay over the counter Photo: ALAMY The group, which owns Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and the Bank of Ulster, apologised to its customers amid reports that they were unable to access their accounts or withdraw money. The crash comes just months after a computer meltdown that left millions of customers unable to withdraw cash. People claimed that they had been left stranded, hungry and embarrassed as they were unable to access their own money and had their cards declined. RBS and its subsidiaries NatWest and the Bank of Ulster issued apologies via Twitter after customers reported problems with cash machines and cards being declined, accessing their accounts online and via telephone. A statement tweeted by accounts run by all three banks said: “We are aware of the problems our customers are having and apologise, we will provide more information as soon as we have it.” Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS, which is 80% state-owned, was forced to apologise last June after millions of customers were left unable to view an up-to-date balance, move money or pay bills for days after a software update. The three banks had to extend opening hours to assist customers. A month later more than 700,000 customers were affected by a “human error” that saw some accounts debited twice Customers took to twitter last night to vent their frustration, with NatWest becoming one of the top topics on the social networking site just over an hour after problems were first reported at around 10pm. One user, Sharri Morris, tweeted: “Natwest, you left me with no dinner tonight, and left me walking home in the rain! I’d like some compensation please! Another, Mark Hillman, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, wrote: “Natwest whole system is down! No ATM’s, no online banking and cards WILL be declined. Just found that out the hard way. Pls RT.” RBS was not immediately available for comment on what was causing the problem A NatWest customer services adviser said that online and telephone banking, cash withdrawals and payments had been affected for most of the UK’s customers, according to the BBC. The RBS group has around 17.5 million customers. Many said that they were considering moving to another bank in light of the most recent fiasco. Rich Stones ‏asked: “How many chances are #natwest customers gonna give them?”
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/7/2013 5:43:06 PM
	Belgian Finance Minister Quits Over Banking Dispute Posted by sage on March 7, 2013 Belgium’s Finance Minister Steven Vanackere Belgian Finance Minister Quits Over Banking Dispute sage: Another government official resigning amid allegations, this time of favouritism. Belgium is yet one more country struggling to maintain an austerity package in these tough times before NESARA By Robert-Jan Bartunek and Ben Deighton, Reuters – March 5, 2013 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/05/us-belgium-financeminister (Reuters) – Belgium’s finance minister resigned on Tuesday and his party hurriedly appointed a lawyer and university professor to succeed him ahead of imminent talks on further austerity savings. Belgium only emerged at the end of 2011 from 18 months of political paralysis which saw its bond yields shoot to euro-era highs as investors worried about its ability to rein in deficits and tackle a debt burden approaching 100 percent of output. Steven Vanackere’s departure follows a dispute over a favorable interest rate paid to a labor union linked to his Flemish Christian Democrats party by state-owned bank Belfius, the former retail banking arm of bailed-out Franco-Belgian group Dexia. Lawmakers have questioned in parliament whether the finance minister knew about the terms of the loan. “Through my political inspiration, which is rooted … in the Christian Democratic workers movement, some can’t imagine me doing my duty as a finance minister in an impartial way, even though the allegations cannot be firmed up at all,” Vanackere told a news conference on Tuesday. The Flemish Christian Democrats, which retained the post, later appointed Koen Geens, a partner with a law firm and a professor of company and financial law at the University of Leuven, as Vanackere’s successor. Geens, who also studied at Harvard, coordinated efforts to produce Belgium’s company code in 2001. He was also chief of staff of the premier of the Dutch region of Flanders from July 2007 to March 2009, when the financial crisis forced state bailouts of Belgian banks. The 55-year-old is also a director at BNP Paribas Fortis. Geens will have little warm-up before the government starts negotiations this month on adjusting its austerity program. Belgium cut its budget deficit to about 3 percent of gross domestic product in 2012 from 3.7 percent in 2011, with 14.5 billion euros of savings, including plans to raise the effective retirement age. It aims to trim the deficit further, to 2.15 percent of GDP, with a 3.4 billion euro savings package agreed. But with the plan based on growth of 0.7 percent and the central bank forecasting stagnation this year, a further 2 billion euros in savings is likely to be needed. Vanackere became finance minister in December 2011, having served as foreign minister for two years.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/7/2013 9:56:11 PM
	UN approves new sanctions against North Korea By EDITH M. LEDERER and HYUNG-JIN KIM \| Associated Press – 2 hrs 40 mins ago Associated Press/Bebeto Matthews - Members of the United Nations Security Council vote for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, during a meeting at U.N. headquarters Thursday, March 7, 2013. The unanimous vote by the U.N.'s most powerful body sparked a furious Pyongyang to threaten a nuclear strike against the United States. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, and a furious Pyongyangthreatened a nuclear strike against the United States. The sanctions drafted by North Korea's closest ally, China, and the United States send a powerful message that the international community condemns Pyongyang's ballistic missile and nuclear tests — and repeated violations of Security Council resolutions. "Adoption of the resolution itself is not enough," China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong said. "We want to see full implementation of the resolution." Li also urged calm and a resumption of the stalled six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. "The top priority now is to defuse the tensions, bring down heat ... bring the situation back on the track of diplomacy, on negotiations," Li said. North Korea's nuclear test in February was the first since the country's young new leader, Kim Jong Un, took charge amid questions of whether he would steer the country on a different course. The North's threats sharpened Thursday with the first reference to a preemptive nuclear attack. Immediately before the vote, an unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for "a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors" because Washington is "set to light a fuse for a nuclear war." The statement was carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which issued no immediate comment after the Security Council vote. In Pyongyang, Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told a crowd of tens of thousands that North Korea is ready to fire long-range nuclear-armed missiles at Washington, which "will be engulfed in a sea of fire." The White House responded by saying the U.S. is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korea ballistic missile attack. Although North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs and pre-emptive strikes, it is not thought to have mastered the ability to produce a warhead small enough to put on a missile capable of reaching the U.S. It is believed to have enough nuclear fuel, however, for several crude nuclear devices. The United States has long been concerned that North Korea could eventually pose a missile threat to U.S. territory. The Defense Department first began to operate a ground-based missile defense system in late 2004 with such a potential threat in mind. "Taken together, these sanctions will bite, and bite hard," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said after the vote. "North Korea must wake up from its delusion of becoming a ... nuclear weapons state and make the right choice," said South Korea's U.N. Ambassador Kim Sook said. "It can either take the right path toward a bright future and prosperity, or it can take a bad road toward further and deeper isolation and eventual self-destruction." Tensions have escalated following a rocket launch by Pyongyang in December and its third nuclear test on Feb. 12. Both acts defied three Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from testing or using nuclear or ballistic missile technology and from importing or exporting material for these programs. The new sanctions resolution is the fourth against North Korea since its first nuclear test in 2006. It condemns the latest nuclear test "in the strongest terms" for violating and flagrantly disregarding council resolutions. It bans further ballistic missile launches, nuclear tests "or any other provocation" and demands that North Korea return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It condemns all of North Korea's ongoing nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment. But the resolution also stresses the council's commitment "to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution" to North Korea's nuclear program and urges a resumption of six-party talks. The success of new sanctions could depend on enforcement by China, where most of the companies and banks that North Korea is believed to work with are based. The resolution strengthens inspections of suspicious cargo heading to and from the country and calls on states to step up "vigilance" of possible illegal activity by North Korean diplomats. In a measure targeted at the reclusive nation's ruling elite, the resolution bans all nations from exporting expensive jewelry, yachts, luxury automobiles and racing cars to the North. All countries would now be required to freeze financial transactions or services that could contribute to North Korea's nuclear or missile programs. The resolution identifies three individuals, one corporation and one organization that will be added to the U.N. sanctions list. The targets include top officials at a company that is the country's primary arms dealer and main exporter of ballistic missile-related equipment, and a national organization responsible for research and development of missiles and probably nuclear weapons. To get around financial sanctions, North Koreans have been carrying around large suitcases filled with cash to move illicit funds. The resolution expresses concern that these bulk cash transfers may be used to evade sanctions. The resolution also bans all countries from providing public financial support for trade deals, such as granting export credits, guarantees or insurance, if the assistance could contribute to the North's nuclear or missile programs. It includes what a senior diplomat called unprecedented new travel sanctions that would require countries to expel agents working for sanctioned North Korean companies. The resolution also requires states to inspect suspect cargo on their territory and prevent any vessel that refuses an inspection from entering their ports. And a new aviation measure calls on states to deny aircraft permission to take off, land or fly over their territory if illicit cargo is suspected to be aboard. ___ Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Peter J. Spielmann at the United Nations, Robert Burns in Washington and Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/7/2013 9:57:57 PM
	More gun laws = fewer deaths, 50-state study says States with more gun laws have fewer gun deaths, study says but which ones work is uncertain By Lindsey Tanner, AP Medical Writer \| Associated Press – 7 hrs ago Associated Press - FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009 file photo, two guns lie at the scene where five people were shot and two suspects were taken into custody in a shooting incident that happened along the Mardi Gras parade route in New Orleans. States with the most gun control laws have the fewest gun-related deaths, according to a study published Wednesday, March 6, 2013 in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The study suggests sheer quantity of measures might make a difference. States with the fewest laws and most deaths included Louisiana, Alaska, Kentucky and Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) CHICAGO (AP) -- States with the most gun control laws have the fewest gun-related deaths, according to a study that suggests sheer quantity of measures might make a difference. But the research leaves many questions unanswered and won't settle the debate over how policymakers should respond to recent high-profile acts of gun violence. In the dozen or so states with the most gun control-related laws, far fewer people were shot to death or killed themselves with guns than in the states with the fewest laws, the study found. Overall, states with the most laws had a 42 percent lower gun death rate than states with the least number of laws. The results are based on an analysis of 2007-2010 gun-related homicides and suicides from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers also used data on gun controlmeasures in all 50 states compiled by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a well-known gun control advocacy group. They compared states by dividing them into four equal-sized groups according to the number of gun laws. The results were published online Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine. More than 30,000 people nationwide die from guns every year nationwide, and there's evidence that gun-related violent crime rates have increased since 2008, a journal editorial noted. During the four-years studied, there were nearly 122,000 gun deaths, 60 percent of them suicides. "Our motivation was really to understand what are the interventions that can be done to reduce firearm mortality," said Dr. Eric Fleegler, the study's lead author and an emergency department pediatrician and researcher at Boston Children's Hospital. He said his study suggests but doesn't prove that gun laws — or something else — led to fewer gun deaths. Fleegler is also among hundreds of doctors who have signed a petition urging President Barack Obama and Congress to pass gun safety legislation, a campaign organized by the advocacy group Doctors for America. Gun rights advocates have argued that strict gun laws have failed to curb high murder rates in some cities, including Chicago and Washington, D.C. Fleegler said his study didn't examine city-level laws, while gun control advocates have said local laws aren't as effective when neighboring states have lax laws. Previous research on the effectiveness of gun laws has had mixed results, and it's a "very challenging" area to study, said Dr. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center For Gun Policy. He was not involved in the current study. The strongest kind of research would require comparisons between states that have dissimilar gun laws but otherwise are nearly identical, "but there isn't a super nice twin for New Jersey," for example, a state with strict gun laws, Webster noted. Fleegler said his study's conclusions took into account factors also linked with gun violence, including poverty, education levels and race, which vary among the states. The average annual gun death rate ranged from almost 3 per 100,000 in Hawaii to 18 per 100,000 in Louisiana. Hawaii had 16 gun laws, and along with New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts was among states with the most laws and fewest deaths. States with the fewest laws and most deaths included Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana and Oklahoma. But there were outliers: South Dakota, for example, had just two guns laws but few deaths. Editorial author Dr. Garen Wintemute, director the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, said the study doesn't answer which laws, if any, work. Wintemute said it's likely that gun control measures are more readily enacted in states with few gun owners — a factor that might have more influence on gun deaths than the number of laws. ___ AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel

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61587

Lima

RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?

3/7/2013 10:00:19 PM

Gun Background Checks Remain Wildly Popular Even As Talks In Senate Stall

By Tom Kludt | TPM – 3 hrs ago

Gun Background Checks Remain Wildly Popular Even As Talks In Senate Stall

More evidence emerged Thursday to show that expandedbackground checks on gun purchases remain enormously popular with the public, even as legislation on them appears to be losing traction in the Senate.

The latest poll from Quinnipiac University showed a staggering 88 percent of registered voters nationwide -- including 85 percent of voters with guns in their households -- support background checks for all gun buyers.

Those findings are hardly a new development. Polls conducted since the December massacre in Newtown, Conn., have shown background checks to be perhaps the most popular gun policy proposal under consideration.

A CBS News poll released last month showed 91 percent supporting universal background checks.Quinnipiac's previous national poll conducted in late January and early February found 92 percent of voters in favor a law requiring background checks for all firearms purchases. In January, Gallupshowed support for universal background checks at 91 percent.

Support is similarly widespread for background checks on private gun sales -- the largest dispute between the two parties on the issue and the biggest obstacle to making the proposal a legislative reality. The inaugural Pew Research Center/USA Today poll last month showed 83 percent of respondents in favor of making private gun purchases and sales at gun shows subject to background checks. A Fox News poll in January found 91 percent of registered voters backing background checks for purchases at gun shows and private sales.

The timing of Quinnipiac's latest poll is notable in that it came a day after a bipartisan Senate bill to expand background checks appeared to be crumbling, with talks between Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) falling through on Wednesday. Sens. Joe Macnhin (D-WV) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) issued a joint statement saying they "cannot support" Schumer's bill, but insisted they will continue to seek "a commonsense compromise."

With those talks hitting a roadblock, Schumer diverged from the compromise, saying he would go it alone and reintroduce a bill requiring background checks on both private and commercial purchases in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week.

Gun control proponents, meanwhile, continued to apply pressure on lawmakers to pass the proposal that had been considered the best bet to earn congressional approval. The Michael Bloomberg-led group Mayors Against Illegal Guns on Thursday released comprehensive poll results detailing the overwhelming support for universal background checks in various states and congressional districts.

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)