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NewsScope for December 6, 1999 by WolfStar The Battle in Seattle Following a week of protests and chaos in Seattle’s streets, WTO talks collapsed without an agenda last Friday. For the first time, trade representatives from third world countries complained about backroom deals cut without their input, joining the collective concerns of those clamoring outside. The trade negotiations repeatedly tripped up on the issue of transparency, which astrologically is Pluto’s main fear. Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld, prefers to operate in secret and with only the most powerful players. On the day that the Sun, which brings light into all the dark places, formed its conjunction with Pluto, the WTO sessions began disintegrating. NewsScope correspondent Bruce Meland was on the front lines last week (pictures), and noticed how different the national and local media were portraying the situation. Virtually all the network media were touting the benefits of free trade, and bemoaning the city where “the animals were in charge of the zoo.” U.S. national media are all owned by transnational corporations which stand to benefit from the WTO power structure. Televised live, local media from Portland and Seattle openly chastised the WTO leaders for trying to have secret negotiations in the Northwest where the people have a long tradition of open democratic participation. The Sun-Pluto conjunction represents a landmark from which all future WTO negotiations must accommodate. Unless it confines its meetings to police states, the WTO will be facing emboldened populations wherever it goes. Sixth House Benefits from Jupiter While we can hope that the Mars passage through Aquarius doesn’t create too much turmoil this month, Jupiter meanwhile is in a very fortunate place, at least in the U.S. horoscope. Jupiter is now, and over the next few weeks in its most powerful phase, as it heads toward a full stop on December 20 before turning direct. In the Scorpio Rising U.S. horoscope,* Jupiter is bringing its benefits to sixth house affairs, which includes health and labor. Over the last week several major news stories touted extraordinary breakthroughs in health research, including the mapping of the entire 22nd gene by the Humane Genome Project, and the development of a miracle pill which promises to cure leukemia. In the jobs department, the latest unemployment figures stand at a remarkably low 4.1 percent, the lowest rate in 30 years. The news of this number triggered a stunning Wall Street rally, pushing stocks to record highs. Transiting Jupiter’s current position bestows tremendous public confidence because of its exact sextile to the U.S. Moon, symbolizing the nation’s people. The economy is soaring, and consumer bullishness is making this holiday season another record-breaker. The sixth house of labor includes unions. The WTO talks last week centered around the issue of workers’ rights in the international trade negotiations. Jupiter promotes open discussions, and from now on the WTO meetings will be open to public scrutiny and debate. The unions were the most well-organized protest group in Seattle, and their collective voice was heard, thanks to Jupiter. Billionaire Edmond Safra Targeted by Russian Mafia In 1998 the FBI received a report from the secretive banking empire, Republic New York, that a vast Russian money laundering operation was being funneled through the Bank of New York. Last Friday billionaire Edmond Safra, the CEO of Republic, died in a fire at his Monaco penthouse set by two knife-welding intruders. Widespread speculation suggests that he was targeted by the Russian mafia. Safra was born on August 6, 1932 with the Sun in the executive sign of Leo (in Beirut, Lebanon). Although we don’t have an exact birth time, a few astrological clues point to the likelihood that he would accumulate phenomenal wealth. Jupiter, the planet of affluence, is magnified by its fortunate conjunction with the first magnitude star Regulus. Then, Jupiter is given great luck and phenomenal prosperity by its beneficial trine to Uranus in independent Aries, and family assistance by a sextile to Mars and Venus in Cancer. Safra joined the family banking business at age 16, continuing a tradition that led back to financing the Ottoman Empire’s caravan trade. By 1983 Safra had turned a $1 million start-up bank into an international banking empire which he sold to American Express for $550 million. Safra’s Sun has been under major dynamic tension from this year’s ongoing Saturn-Uranus square. Following many months of tough negotiations, he finally agreed only two weeks earlier to sell his Republic Bank for $9.9 billion. Transiting Uranus was exactly opposite his Sun when he died last week. On the morning he died the Sun and Pluto were conjunct in Sagittarius, spotlighting the secretive career of an international banker.
* For more on the Scorpio Rising horoscope, visit http://www.homestead.com/politicalastrology/scorpio.html
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