EU RAPID REACTION FORCE

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.2-Landslides and rain kill 67 in Pakistan. 3-The Nation's Weather. 4-Canada records its second-warmest winter. 5-Alberta hospital closed after superbug, sterilization problems. 6-Food recall worries pet owners. 7-Russia nixes excessive Iran sanctions. 8-Rice Presses Hamas to Renounce Violence. 9-Witnessing in Synagogues with the Messianic Prophecies!10-A MESSAGE FROM RABBI ECKSTEIN. 11-Landmark dates for the European Union 12-EU To Include Air, Naval Forces in Battlegroup Concept.

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.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = THU Mar 22 12:00 AM EDT

MAR 21,07
MAP 2.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.8 TONGA
MAP 2.7 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.9 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA

MAR 20,07
MAP 3.6 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.2 SEA OF OKHOTSK
MAP 4.4 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
MAP 5.0 LA RIOJA, ARGENTINA
MAP 4.4 GREECE
MAP 5.3 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
MAP 4.2 CHIAPAS, MEXICO
MAP 4.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
MAP 4.4 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.9 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.9 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.3 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 5.5 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
MAP 2.8 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

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.

Landslides and rain kill 67 in Pakistan by Abu Ahsan MAR 21,07

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AFP) - Relentless rain triggered landslides and roof collapses across northern Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir, leaving at least 67 people dead, officials and reports said Wednesday.

At least 37 survivors of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistani Kashmir were killed when two mudslides swept away their mountainside homes, police spokesman Javed Ahmed told AFP in the regional capital Muzaffarabad.Twenty-seven people, mostly women, died and 16 were injured when a huge landslide hit Doba Syedan village in Kashmir's Jhelum Valley area late Tuesday, police spokesman Javed Ahmed told AFP.Another 10 were killed in a separate landslip at Jabar Daray village in the mountainous Bagh district on Tuesday, Ahmed said.It has been raining here for two days and the landslides happened almost simultaneously. These people were in houses built on terraces on the hillsides and huge landslides buried them, Ahmed said.Police and army teams are in the area trying to remove the debris and recover the bodies. So far two bodies have been recovered in the Jhelum Valley. Efforts being made to recover the others.

Ahmed added: It's very unfortunate. These are the people who were worst hit in the earthquake.

The 7.6-magnitude quake in October 2005 claimed more than 73,000 lives and left 3.3 million homeless in Pakistani Kashmir and northwestern Pakistan. More than 1,000 also died in Indian Kashmir.Authorities later shifted around 55 families to safer places and gave them tents and rations after landslides damaged dozens of homes in the Tariqabad area adjoining Muzaffarabad, district chief Syed Zahoor Gilani said.Landslides and avalanches were also reported in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, and press reports said the nationwide toll excluding Kashmir stood at more than 30.Five members of a family were buried alive when an avalanche hit their home in mountainous Swat district on Tuesday, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said. Five more died when their roof caved in in the same district.Four family members were reported killed in a landslide in the nearby town of Mingora and another seven died when their house collapsed in Malakand district. A house collapse also left three children and women dead in Mardan. Torrential rains and heavy snow also paralysed life in northern Pakistan and traffic was blocked on the main Karakoram Highway linking Pakistan with China.The meteorological department has forecast more rains in Kashmir and northwest Pakistan over the next 36 hours.

The Nation's Weather By WEATHER UNDERGROUND, For The Associated Press
Wed Mar 21, 6:08 AM ET

Rain was expected in much of the nation Wednesday, while clear skies and rising temperatures were forecast for the West. Early morning rain and high-elevation snow was likely to move out of California and the Great Basin and into the Southwest and Southern Rockies.

A warm front moving through the Upper Mississippi Valley and into the Great Lakes was expected to bring rain and thunderstorms from Illinois to Michigan. Showers were possible in New England later in the day.A cold front moving through the Plains was expected to bring rain from Kansas to Wisconsin.Temperatures were forecast to rise into the 60s and 70s in the Plains and the Southeast. The Northeast was expected to rise into the 30s and 40s, while the Upper Midwest was to see temperatures in the 40s, 50s and 60s. The Northwest was expected to reach the 40s and 50s, while California could see temperatures ranging from the 30s to the 70s.Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Tuesday ranged from a low of 21 degrees at Embarrass, Minn., to a high of 91 degrees at Gila Bend, Ariz.

Canada records its second-warmest winter Tue Mar 20, 6:17 PM ET

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada basked in the second-warmest winter since it began taking national records in 1948, topped only by last winter, the national weather service said on Tuesday. The winter of 2006-07 was 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, matching a level set in the winter of 1986-87, with nearly all regions of the country experiencing above normal temperatures, Environment Canada said.Precipitation during the winter was slightly less than normal.Temperatures were 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal this winter in northern British Columbia, eastern Yukon and eastern Northwest Territories, according to data posted on Environment Canada's Web site.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Alberta hospital closed after superbug, sterilization problems
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 CBC News

Health officials are reviewing four years of patient records at a rural Alberta hospital after an investigation into a superbug outbreak revealed that hospital equipment wasn't properly sterilized.

Dr. Gerhard Benadé, the region's medical health officer, issued a public health order Friday requiring St. Joseph's General Hospital in Vegreville to halt all admissions and close its sterilization room. The order was not made public until Tuesday.Benadé discovered the sterilization problem while investigating an outbreak among patients of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

Seven patients in the 25-bed hospital east of Edmonton contracted the antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection over a one-month period beginning in mid-January.These are minor infections, usually skin infections, if any symptoms at all, said Dr. Karen Grimsrud, deputy provincial health officer.Grimsrud said the bug is generally spread by health-care workers not washing their hands between patients.

Entirely about patient safety

While investigating the outbreak, Benadé uncovered the unrelated problem of improper sterilization of medical equipment at the hospital.Benadé said it was the first time he had been in the sterilization room since he started his job six years ago, and he made the decision to shut the room down as soon as he saw the problem.He said the risk to patients is low.We want to be transparent with this process.

It is entirely about patient safety. We will err on the side of caution. We will identify every single individual that might potentially be at risk.Health officials are now checking records of patients back to April 2003, including those who had surgeries or emergency room procedures. They are sending letters to those exposed to equipment that was inadequately sterilized and advising them to get tested for HIV, as well as hepatitis B and C.Alberta Health Minister Dave Hancock said although the risk to patients is low, it is prudent to review four years of medical records just in case.What we do know is that patients who have had surgical procedures or treatment in the emergency room at St. Joseph's may be at very low risk of exposure to blood-borne pathogens, he said.

Contaminated with tissue, blood

The emergency room alone sees 14,000 people every year.Grimsrud confirmed that for one biopsy procedure alone — cystoscopy — 80 patients were being contacted.

Scopes used during surgery need to be thoroughly sterilized, but that wasn't happening at St. Joseph's, she said.There's tissue and blood left from the previous patient in that scope if it was not cleaned thoroughly with a brush and scrubbed and then is put into a sterilizer, so the concern was then the scope used on the next patient may still have material in it that can then transmit either HIV, hep B or hep C.Benadé said if blood tests show anyone contracted HIV or any other disease at the hospital, officials will search for patients from even earlier dates.Emergency and acute-care patients at the hospital in east-central Alberta are being sent to other nearby hospitals, and medical equipment requiring sterilization is also being sent to other hospitals.With files from the Canadian Press

Food recall worries pet owners
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 CBC News

Veterinarians and pet food retailers in Cape Breton say they have been swamped with phone calls following a massive recall of dog and cat food.Ten animals have died in the United States and many others have suffered renal failure, prompting one of North America's largest pet-food suppliers to recall dozens of brands of food.
Veterinarians say lethargy and vomiting are signs that animals are sick.(CBC) Jack Warner of Co-op Country Store said his store has been getting calls all day long from worried pet owners, but he has been able to give some of them reassuring news. It doesn't affect the dry food so they shouldn't be concerned, Warner said. Unless they're feeding cans or something, then they have to check the dates, the codes. Ontario-based Menu Foods announced Friday the recall of food sold in cans and pouches, calling it a precautionary move. The products are sold under various brand names, including Iams and Eukanuba, as well as house brands for Sobeys and other
supermarket chains.The investigation is focusing on wheat gluten used at two U.S. plants as the likely source of contamination.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began to investigate after receiving complaints on Feb. 20. When it fed the cuts and gravy product to 40 to 50 cats, seven of the animals died, FDA officials said.Veterinarian Melanie Gunsen said pet owners who fed their cats and dogs any product on the recall list should look for signs of lethargy, vomiting and a lack of appetite in their pets.It depends on the severity of the case, but renal failure itself, if it's extremely severe, is life threatening, Gunsen said.

Local stores have taken the foods off their shelves and are offering refunds.

Russia nixes excessive Iran sanctions By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer MAR 21,07

MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday it will not support excessive sanctions against its economic partner Iran, as the U.N. Security Council drew closer to a vote on a new, harsher set of measures intended to push Tehran to freeze its nuclear program. Ambassadors from the 15 Security Council nations held informal discussions at Britain's U.N. Mission in New York ahead of a meeting later Wednesday to discuss possible changes to the draft resolution.Germany and the five veto-wielding permanent council nations — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — agreed on the modest package of new sanctions Thursday to step up pressure on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to produce nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow will not support excessive sanctions against Iran, and added that the draft resolution has been softened at Moscow's behest.

Lavrov also denied claims that Moscow had told Iran it would not deliver nuclear fuel for the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran unless Tehran complies with U.N. demands.

There is no link whatsoever between the U.N. resolution ... and the implementation of the Bushehr project, he told lawmakers in the lower parliament house.The proposed new sanctions in the draft resolution would ban Iranian arms exports and freeze the assets of 28 additional individuals and organizations involved in the country's nuclear and missile programs — about a third linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.The package also calls for voluntary restrictions on travel by the individuals subject to sanctions, on arms sales to Iran, and on new financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.Lavrov said an earlier, tougher version of the draft resolution that included broader restrictions on officials' travel and a ban on credits to Iran had been softened on Russia's advice. We ... have agreed to influence Iran by gradually applying proportionate pressure, Lavrov said.

At Russia's insistence, neither the existing Security Council resolution nor the draft being discussed makes any mention of Bushehr. Lavrov said the Bushehr contract is in line with all international agreements aimed at preventing nuclear weapons proliferation.European and U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks said Tuesday that Moscow had bluntly told Tehran it would not ship fuel for Bushehr until Tehran freezes its uranium enrichment program, as demanded by the U.N. Security Council.Lavrov dismissed the claims as an unscrupulous trick.It's not the first time that we are seeing such an unscrupulous approach aimed at driving a wedge between us and Iran, he said.Russia has said fuel for Bushehr would not be supplied this month, as had been planned earlier, because of alleged Iranian payment delays that prompted Moscow to indefinitely postpone the Bushehr reactor's launch, which had been set for September. Russian officials also said that the number of workers at Bushehr had dwindled due to the funding shortage.

Iran angrily denied falling behind in payments and accused Russia of caving in to U.S. pressure to take a tougher line on Tehran. Iranian state television on Tuesday described Russia as an unreliable partner, adding: It is clear that Russia has stopped construction of this plant under pressure and for political reasons.On Wednesday, Lavrov repeated Russia's assertions that Iran had dragged its feet on payments for Bushehr.Regrettably, our Iranian colleagues aren't telling the truth when they blame Russia for the financial problems which have emerged. Financial problems do exist, but they are linked to the Iranian side breaching an earlier-agreed schedule of payments, he said.

Rice Presses Hamas to Renounce Violence
By David Gollust Washington 19 March 2007

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday the new Palestinian unity government should unequivocally renounce violence to gain international recognition and enter peace talks with Israel.

Rice conferred with top European Union officials on the new Palestinian cabinet, whose leader has called for continued resistance against Israel. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.The Bush administration is taking a somewhat more conciliatory approach to the new Palestinian government, saying it will have contacts with non-Hamas members of the cabinet.But it is standing by its insistence that a Palestinian government must recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements if it is to expect international aid and be part of a regional peace process.Condoleezza Rice (l) and Javier Solana at the State Department in Washington, DC The formation of the new Palestinian government was a key issue in a day-long dialogue here by Secretary Rice and key officials of the European Union, including chief diplomat Javier Solana.

Solana expressed seeming eagerness by the Europeans to work with the new government, saying he hoped it would at least incrementally accept peacemaking terms of the international Middle East Quartet, which includes the EU, Russia and the United Nations as well as the United States.In the meantime, Solana suggested the actions of the unity government are more important that its rhetoric: We would like to continue working with the Palestinian people, said Javier Solana.

We are not going to let the Palestinian people down, and we hope very much to follow in great detail the facts, the deeds that this government behaves. It's much more important what they do that what they say at this point in time.Secretary Rice however, seized on the declaration by the new government's prime minister Ismail Haniyeh - a holdover from the previous Hamas-led government - reaffirming the Palestinian's right to resistance against Israeli occupation:I'm not going to try and interpret what the right of resistance means, said Condoleezza Rice. But I'll tell you, it doesn't sound very good to me when one talks about all forms of resistance. So I would put the question to the Palestinian government and to its prime minister. Do you mean the right of resistance by violence? And let's get an answer.

The comments here came as the military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack Monday that wounded an Israeli civilian near the border with the Gaza strip, the first such act since the unity government took office Saturday. Israel denounced the attack, saying it showed the new coalition was flouting the will of the international community, while the State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack called the incident clearly disturbing and unacceptable. Earlier McCormack confirmed that unlike the U.S. political boycott of the previous Hamas-led Palestinian government, the United States is prepared to talk to non-Hamas members of the new cabinet.He mentioned in particular the new finance minister, Salam Fayyad of the mainstream Fatah party, a U.S. educated economist with whom the United States had close ties before the Hamas election victory early last year.Rice also discussed the new Palestinian government in a telephone conference call Monday with other principals of the Quartet. A formal Quartet statement is expected Tuesday, which McCormack said would reaffirm a collective ban on direct aid to the Palestinian government unless it met all its terms for dialogue. Rice is due to begin another mission to the Middle East at the end of this week that will include separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and talks in Cairo with foreign ministers of moderate Arab states.

Witnessing in Synagogues with the Messianic Prophecies! MAR 21,07

Now, please take a journey with me into a synagogue near Jerusalem. It was mid-afternoon, and I crossed the street and walked up the stairs of the Sephardic synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

I heard men praying from inside the synagogue, and as I opened the door, I was greeted with the smiles of three young men in their mid-twenties who all said to me at the same time Shalom. They were full-time students of the Talmud/Torah (Bible and commentaries).

They ushered me in, and one of the young men handed me a prayer shawl, so that I could lay Tefillin (put on Phylacteries and say some traditional prayers). I agreed as it would allow me to spend time with them, and meet the other men in the synagogue. The small synagogue was lively, with about 30 men studying and debating the Scriptures. There was one class of about eight men being taught by a rabbi, but the rest of the men were studying one on one with another study partner. Some of the men were in their late teens and twenties, some were middle-aged, and some were in their 70s and 80s. These are Jewish men who are zealous for the Lord as they study and debate the Talmud (Mishna and Gemara which are commentaries on the Bible) everyday for about eight hours.

There are tens of thousands of men in Israel who study the Scriptures full-time. God has preserved His Chosen People over the centuries and He has His hand on Israel. His people are still the People of the Book as they have preserved His Word and continue to cry out to Him, and study His Scriptures. The problem is that they have missed their Messiah! They search the Scriptures because they have a love for the Word but they have been told the lie that Jesus is not the Messiah. The prophecies in the Bible are ignored and discounted and the Talmud states that Jesus is not the Messiah. So with all the zeal and love for the Lord, these Orthodox Jewish men and the Jewish people in Israel will perish for eternity, because they do not know His Son. And that's why it is urgent that we provide them with a Messianic Prophecy Bible. As the prophet Hosea wrote: My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6

I love being in the synagogues with my people. I know that many of them hunger for truth but no one is taking the Gospel to them. I put on the Tefellin and then the three men started asking me questions as they introduced themselves to me. Shalom, I'm Ilan, and I'm Menachem, they each said.

Please come and study the Scriptures with us.We looked over some of the passages in the Talmud together and then they introduced me to Avraham, who is studying to be a rabbi. Avraham showed me the passages he was reading in the Talmud, but I wanted to engage him in Messianic Prophecies. I asked him to read the Messianic Prophecy in Daniel 9:26, which explains the timeframe of 70 x 7 weeks before the Messiah takes away the sins of Israel and is cut off. Avraham needed to get the book of Daniel from the bookshelf, so we walked over to the other side of the synagogue where the head rabbi was teaching his eight students.In Judaism we have the Bible as one complete book, but we also have each book of the Prophets as separate books. So, Avraham pulled out the book of Daniel from the bookcase shelf and opened it up to chapter 9, verse 26 reading the Messianic Prophecy!

I asked Avraham, Who do you think this Scripture is speaking about? I'm not sure, this is a complicated subject, Avraham replied. Avraham agreed that it was speaking about the Messiah, but he was never told about any prophecies, and that all of this was new for him. I told him about the Messianic Prophecy Bible that we are producing and he said that he would be willing to look at it, and that he was interested in studying these Scriptures.

All three of them, Avraham, Ilan, and Menachem said that they have been taught that the Messiah will come from the line of King David, and that Jesus was NOT the promised Messiah. However they did not know anything about the other 30 main prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. Sometimes I think to myself, Lord, these people study all day long. I know they believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but why don't they know you? And I continually hear the Lord say to me, Because no one is taking the Gospel to them.The Apostle Paul (Rabbi Shaul) writes in Romans 10:14, How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

Can you or I imagine what life would be like if we were never given a Bible, or if we did not know the Lord? Let's us not be complacent, we must take our responsibility of reaching God's Chosen People in a very serious way. Every 4 minutes a Jewish person dies (passes from this life into eternity - 99% of them without God)!

In the time that it took you to read this letter, about 7 Jewish people have passed away. Esther saved the Jewish people in Iran (Persia), but with your financial support you can save lives for eternity. During the holiday of Purim, it is a biblical Jewish custom to give gifts to those who are in need, so please make the biggest gift you can today for the Messianic Prophecy Bible Project. I know the Lord will bless and reward you. It is so important for you to make the best gift you can today, so that we can get Lubavitchers and all Jews, a copy of the Messianic Prophecy Bible when it is completed. They will see that Yeshua is the Real Messiah spoken of in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and have eternal life!

DONATE HERE http://messianicbible.com/donate.asp

With all my brotherly love in Messiah Yeshua,
Zev Isaacs
Founder

P.S. Because of your financial support, you are being a part of Prophecy that will be fulfilled. Jewish people like Avraham, Ilan and Menachem will have the opportunity to say Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai - Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord.

A MESSAGE FROM RABBI ECKSTEIN

Dear Stan,

I cannot imagine a time when your prayers and support for Israel have been more needed than they are today. The Jewish State—and, indeed, Jewish people around the world—are going through a period of great suffering and uncertainty that does not promise to end any time soon.

Around the world—from the former Soviet Union, to Europe, to South America—a rising tide of anti-Semitism has put Jews on alert. In Israel, the threat of attack from Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups remains a daily reality, and the possibility of a nuclear Iran looms ever larger. Meanwhile, poverty in Israel continues to rise. A recent report showed that the number of poor in Israel rose by 100,000 last year to a staggering 1.6 million people—including one in three Israel children. The harsh reality of these problems is indeed sobering. But I want to focus on something hopeful—the staunch support of Israel by Fellowship partners like you, who give so generously to our lifesaving programs. Every day, I am heartened to think of your commitment to supporting Israel through our On Wings of Eagles, Guardians of Israel, and Isaiah 58 programs—programs that touch literally thousands of Israelis and Jews worldwide every day.

On Wings of Eagles—Supporting Prophetic Return of Jews to the Holy Land

On Wings of Eagles continues to assist needy Jews in making aliyah (immigrating to Israel). They come from all over the world—Russia, Argentina, Europe, India, and elsewhere—to escape rising anti-Semitism and extreme poverty, and to realize their lifelong dream of living in their biblical homeland. And when they arrive in the Holy Land, On Wings of Eagles provides them with klitah (resettlement) assistance to help them become full, productive citizens of their new home. Through your gifts, The Fellowship helps fulfill the prophecies that promise to gather the Jewish exiles from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:12).

Isaiah 58—Extending a Lifesaving Hand to Needy Jews in the former Soviet Union

In the former Soviet Union (FSU), hundreds of thousands of Jews live in desperate poverty. Many elderly who have survived both the Holocaust and years of oppressive communist rule now live on meager government pensions, and often must make the heartbreaking choice between buying food or medicine. But with your help, Isaiah 58 is able to provide suffering Jews in the FSU with nutritious food, medicine, and other critical needs such as blankets and heating.

Guardians of Israel—Turning despair into hope for suffering Israelis

Israel continues to struggle with poverty and the continued threat of war and terrorist attack.

The Fellowship's Guardians of Israel program responds to this desperate situation through initiatives that ease the suffering of needy Israelis, providing them with food, housing, medical care, clothing, and other essentials. At the same time, it comforts and provides for the future of those whose lives have been devastated by terror, funds war relief and rebuilding efforts, and addresses a host of other emergency needs for people who have nowhere else to turn. Every day I thank God for our Guardians of Israel partners. I cannot imagine how Israel could come through her current trials without them—through their generous gifts, they are truly acting as the 'watchmen on the walls' of Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:6).

Please make an online donation to Guardians of Israel and help turn despair into hope!https://secure2.convio.net/ifcj/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=9082&s_subsrc
=E7CMAD13&S_SILAS1=text1&JServSessionIdr004=jdr6gypgl3.
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We are only able to respond to these and countless other needs in Israel because of support from generous friends like you who have taken to heart the biblical words, whoever is kind to the needy honors God (Proverbs 14:31). Today, I ask you to give generously to The Fellowship program that most speaks to your heart. On behalf of Israelis and Jewish people everywhere, struggling to survive against what, at times, seems like insurmountable odds, I thank you for your kind heart and willingness to bless the Jewish people with your prayers and support.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

Landmark dates for the European Union
21.03.2007 - 09:23 CET | By Honor Mahony

After World War II – French economist Jean Monnet develops his plans to ease tensions between France and Germany as they square up over control of the steel-and coal-rich Ruhr region.

1950 – French foreign minister Robert Schuman makes his seminal declaration on France and Germany setting up a common coal and steel community, harnessing them together economically so that another war would become not merely unthinkable but materially impossible.

1951 – The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is established by the Treaty of Paris. Six countries – Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – are members.

1955 – The Messina declaration by the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in 1955 was a statement of intention to create the European economic community. It paved the way for the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

1957 – The six members of the ECSC sign the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

1958 – The principles of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are set by the Stresa conference and come into force in 1962.

1963 – Non! French President Charles De Gaulle vetoes British membership, saying he believes the country is not committed enough to European integration.

1967 – ECSC, EEC and Euratom merge to form the European Community (EC).

1973 – The UK, Ireland and Denmark join the European Community. Norway votes against joining.

1979 – Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) is formed, linking the German mark, French and Belgian francs, Dutch guilder, Danish crown, Irish punt and Italian lira within narrow bands.

1981 – Greece joins the European Community (10th member).

1985 – Jacques Delors becomes president of the European Commission. His close ties with the leaders of France and Germany made it one of the most dynamic times for the bloc.

1986 – Spain and Portugal join the European Community. The European Flag – blue background with 12 golden stars – is unveiled.

1987 – Single European Act comes into force. It set 1992 as the goal for achieving a common market.

1990 – After the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of communist rule, the new democracies of central and eastern Europe express a wish to join the European Community.

1991 – The Maastricht treaty on Economic and Monetary Union is signed. The European Community becomes the European Union. It paves the way to monetary union, introduces the idea of European citizenship, allowing voting in municipal elections in any member state. It also introduces the so-called three pillars of the European Union (the European Communities pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Justice and Home Affairs pillar).

1993 – The Maastricht Treaty comes into force – having been only narrowly approved in France and only after a second referendum in Denmark which secured a monetary union opt-out.

1995 – Austria, Sweden and Finland join the EU. Norway again votes no to joining the bloc (1994). France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and the Benelux countries are the first to drop internal border controls as part of the Schengen Agreement. Ireland and the UK remain outside the open borders agreement.

1997 – EU leaders agree to open entry talks with six candidates: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus. Five other ex-communist states - Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania - are told they must make more progress before opening negotiations.

1997 – Amsterdam Treaty creates the post of EU High Representative for foreign and security policy, opens the way to more co-operation in justice and home affairs as well as the possibility, under strict conditions, for member states to go ahead and cooperate further if they want.

1999 – The EU agrees to start accession talks with Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Malta. It also agrees to recognise Turkey as an applicant country.

2000 – An acrimonious summit in France agrees the Nice Treaty on institutional reforms to prepare the bloc for enlargement – but even before the ink was dry, it was generally agreed that it would only be a stopgap treaty with further EU reform needed. It goes into force in 2003 after having first been rejected, then accepted, by Ireland.

2002 – The euro becomes the currency in 12 countries – Denmark, Sweden and the UK keep their national currencies.

2004 – Ten new member states – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Malta and Cyprus – join the EU. The EU constitution is signed, it introduces an EU foreign minister, gives the European Parliament more power and changes the EU decision-making system.

2005 – The EU constitution is rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums – putting the document into political limbo.

2005 – The EU opens membership talks with both Croatia – expected to join in 2009/10 - and Turkey - not expected to join for a decade.

2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU. Slovenia becomes the 13th member state to take on the single currency.

2007 and beyond – negotiations on a new-look EU treaty are still under way. The name constitution is likely to be dropped however, proving too much to swallow for several countries.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: 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 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

EU To Include Air, Naval Forces in Battlegroup Concept
By BROOKS TIGNER, ZEEBRUGGE, Belgium MAR 19,07

The European Union will extend its rapid-reaction battlegroup concept — currently applied only to land forces — to Europe’s air and naval forces by the end of this year, according to EU officials and military planners.Unlike the union’s growing number of stand-by, multination army battlegroups, however, there will be no permanent air or naval battlegroups awaiting deployment, they said. Instead, dispersed air and naval forces would be ready to assemble at a moment’s notice, though the coordination tools to enable that have yet to be developed.

How the 27 EU nations might quickly pull together naval assets at sea to form a so-called maritime task group (MTG) to support a joint operation was demonstrated during a one-day naval exercise March 12 off the coast of this Belgian port. It was the first test-case for applying the battlegroup concept to a mixture of air and naval elements.The exercise involved five ships — a frigate and combat support vessel from Germany, and three combat frigates from Belgium, France and the Netherlands — as well as French and German fighter aircraft and helicopters. It revolved around the kind of multidimension scenario for which the European Union is tailoring its rapid-reaction forces: crisis management, peacekeeping and humanitarian aid. In this case, the scenario involved maritime interdiction and evacuation of EU nationals from shore to ship.

The exercise was observed by diplomats and high-ranking military officials from all 27 EU nations from the deck of a German combat support frigate, the FGS Frankfurt am Main, at the invitation of the union’s German presidency. Berlin holds the post until July, when Portugal takes over.

There is a strong political will across the EU to further develop the battlegroup concept by including air and naval components, said Clemens von Goetze, Germany’s ambassador to the European Union.

This has been a very useful day for observing how these elements can strengthen the EU’s security and defense policies.How To Call Upon the Assets?

Not surprisingly, the carefully planned exercise was deemed a success. But the task now facing EU and national military planners is to define how to draw on air and naval rapid-response assets when actually needed.Though European capitals have designated hundreds of ships for potential use during EU-led missions, their navies are so stretched that I’m sure most would not want a standing or permanent maritime battlegroup force, a German naval officer said. This is what we need clarified:

Will an EU maritime battlegroup be something permanent or more temporary and flexibly put together?

We do face a challenge here, Henri Bentegéat, French chairman of the union’s Military Committee of national chiefs of defense, told reporters after the exercise. There is difficulty in putting air and naval forces on [permanent] stand-by status. We have concluded we cannot do this, so we are trying to find different formulas for creating MTGs based on available assets [at any given moment], he said.

We’ll be looking at measures to develop forces at any time without mandatory stand-by elements.The key to any such rapid assembly of naval or air elements will be awareness of their whereabouts at a given moment. Bentegéat said this requires creation of a new database that would be constantly updated with information from national naval authorities. This will take time, however, as it won’t be ready before 2010.

No Conflict With NATO

Bentegéat said the union’s battlegroup concept goals have been agreed with NATO counterparts to avoid duplication and to boost efficiency. Referring to NATO’s standby rapid-reaction force that combines land, air, sea and special force units into one package, he said, We are not going to duplicate the NATO Response Force, adding that all our navies use the same operating standards as NATO, so there won’t be any interoperability problems either.Asked about who would pay the operating costs of air-naval units, which can be expensive to deploy, the French official said, We will rely on the same costing principle as at NATO: Costs fall where they may. As for implications for the European Union’s so-called Athena fund, which reimburses national capitals for common overhead costs of EU military and security missions, he said, I don’t foresee any need to increase this fund.

Meanwhile, EU and national military planners aim to have a rapid-reaction concept for air assets defined by the summer, followed by one for maritime assets before the end of 2007.

Bentegéat said the EU battlegroup concept has done more good for the nations than all the previous capability planning by national capitals of the last six years. It has boosted interoperability, deployability and sustainability across the EU and brought positive benefits to all member states, and especially the small ones.The various capability groups handed over their work last year to the European Defense Agency, which works closely with the EU Military Committee. E-mail:
btigner@defensenews.com.