N KOREA TESTS SHORT RANGE MISSLES

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-SoCal community rattled by small quake. 3-4.7-magnitude quake shakes Hawaii island. 4-Spain evaluating scale of flood damage. 5-Possible Aztec offerings found in Mexico 6-This Week with Rabbi Eckstein 7-Vietnam confirms human bird flu case 8-Hamas: Islam Will Rule the World, Destroy Israel and the Jews. 9-Fatwa Against Hamas for Having Jewish Characteristics. 10-Sabbath-Sunday Bill Survey Shows Support. 11-Eurozone outracing US on economic growth. 12-Pentagon worries about China weapon test. 13-Iran: no halt to nuclear program. 14-N. Korea test fires short-range missiles.

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 = Sat May 26 9:00 PM EDT

MAY 26,07
MAP 2.7 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.8 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.4 VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION
MAP 5.6 SALTA, ARGENTINA
MAP 5.2 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.3 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 BANDA SEA

MAY 25,07
MAP 3.9 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.3 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 5.2 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.1 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 3.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.7 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.5 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.7 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 3.3 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 CHUKOTKA, RUSSIA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.5 SUMBAWA REGION, INDONESIA

SoCal community rattled by small quake Thu May 24, 3:54 AM ET

DEVORE, Calif. - A light earthquake followed by a slightly stronger aftershock rattled part of Southern California, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey. The initial magnitude 3.8 temblor struck at 11:11 p.m. Wednesday and was centered two miles southeast of Devore, about 50 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.The magnitude 3.9 aftershock hit at 11:15 p.m. in the same area, the U.S.G.S. reported.There have been no reports of structural damage or injuries.

4.7-magnitude quake shakes Hawaii island Thu May 24, 9:01 PM ET

HILO, Hawaii - The largest earthquake to hit a part of Volcanoes National Park in nearly 50 years shook up visitors Thursday, but no injuries or damage were reported, officials said. The earthquake was centered near the Kilauea volcano, on Hawaii's Big Island, where lava flows to the ocean.

The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the temblor was the largest in that area for at least 50 years. Since 1998, only a few earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 4.0 have occurred there, at shallow depths.The park is warning visitors to be careful near Halemaumau Crater, at the summit of Kilauea. The earthquake widened cracks and existing fractures, leading to dangerous conditions near the rim, said Mardie Lane, park spokeswoman.The area is one of the most popular parts of the park and is revered by Native Hawaiians as the home of Pele, goddess of the volcano.

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck in October near the Big Island, causing millions of dollars in damage but no deaths or serious injuries.

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.

Spain evaluating scale of flood damage Fri May 25, 3:05 PM ET

MADRID (AFP) - The Spanish government on Friday said it had agreed a process to calculate the extent of severe flood damage and get emergency aid to the areas worst affected after several days of heavy rain in much of the country. Six regions in south, central including Madrid and southeast Spain were badly hit and the cabinet approved an immediate evaluation of the damage and formulated measures to provide financial aid.

However, First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said it was too early to put a figure on such aid.Spain's agricultural sector has borne the brunt of the damage with flooding swamping 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of vineyards in the central region of Castille-La Mancha.On Friday, agricultural unions estimated some 500,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) of crops had been affected.The rain also caused travel misery for thousands of commuters Wednesday and Thursday with mainline rail services between the capital and the major southeastern cities of Valencia and Murcia interrupted all day while some roads were closed.On the plus side, the rains fell after three years of intensive drought affecting much of the country.

Possible Aztec offerings found in Mexico By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer MAY 25,07

MEXICO CITY - Archaeologists diving into a lake in the crater of a snowcapped volcano found wooden scepters shaped like lightning bolts that match 500-year-old descriptions by Spanish priests and conquerors writing about offerings to the Aztec rain god. The lightning bolts — along with cones of copal incense and obsidian knives — were found during scuba-diving expeditions in one of the twin lakes of the extinct Nevado de Toluca volcano, at more than 13,800 feet above sea level.

Scientists must still conduct tests to determine the age of the findings, but the writings after the Spanish conquest in 1521 have led them to believe the offerings were left in the frigid lake west of Mexico City more than 500 years ago.

Lightning bolt scepters were used by Aztec priests when they were doing rites associated with the god Tlaloc, said Johan Reinhard, an anthropologist and explorer-in-residence for National Geographic Society who took part in more dives Thursday at the Lake of the Moon. We think it is pretty clear that the Aztecs considered this one of the more important places of Tlaloc.The research, which also involves the volcano's Lake of the Sun, is being led by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Stanislaw Iwaniszewski, an archaeology professor at the institute, said Aztec iconography often associates Tlaloc with lightning bolts.They were left in the lake to bring rain storms, Iwaniszewski said. Copal incense was burned to form clouds, and sharp spines from the maguey cactus which does not grow at that altitude indicated worshippers brought them there to draw blood from themselves as part of the sacrifice.Luis Alberto Martos, the institute's director of archaeological studies, said other artifacts found in the clear 32-degree waters of the lake indicate the ritual may have started about 100 B.C. long before the Aztecas settled in the area in 1325.

This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
May 25, 2007

Dear Friend of The Fellowship,

Yesterday began the observance of the Jewish festival of Shavuot, a holiday with dual significance.

The Bible states, From the day after the Sabbath … count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord(Leviticus 23:15-16) Thus, on Shavuot, which falls fifty days after Passover, Jews commemorate the time, in ancient days, when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the holy Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God.The second event commemorated on Shavuot is the giving of the Torah (the first five books of what Christians call the Old Testament) to Moses on Mount Sinai. God’s law, as expressed in the Torah, is the source of the unique character, faith and destiny of the Jewish people.

It also forms the moral foundation of Western civilization and its institutions, which makes it of critical importance not just for Jews, but for Christians and indeed the entire world.

There is an added historical dimension to Shavuot this year. As I discussed last week, Israel has just marked the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. Shavuot that year fell just six days after the Holy City was reclaimed, and on that holiday thousands of grateful Jewish pilgrims were able to see the holy sites they had so long been denied access to. One Israeli
magazine described the extraordinary scene on Shavuot, 1967:For the first time since the Dispersion in the year 70 C.E. a pilgrimage numbering two hundred thousand persons moved under the Flag of Israel through the streets of King David’s City to the last surviving relic of the Second Temple. Every section of the population was represented, kibbutz members and soldiers in tallitot (prayer shawls) rubbing shoulders with ultra-orthodox rabbis. Mothers came with children in prams, and old men trudged steeply up Mount Zion, supported by youngsters on either side, to see the Wall of the Temple before the end of their days … Some wept, but most faces were wreathed in smiles.Every year now on Shavuot people from all over Jerusalem stream to the Western Wall in early morning to pray at a sunrise service. It is a fitting way to observe this significant Jewish festival, to honor their biblical commitment, and to give thanks to God for the gift of his Law.

Today, I ask you to please say a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray that the Jewish people will always be able to celebrate the festival of Shavuot in Jerusalem, the holiest city of all Judaism and the capital of the sovereign Jewish State. And, if you have not already, please respond to our action alert by signing our petition in support of the resolutions pending in the House and Senate requiring the U.S. to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

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

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)

Vietnam confirms human bird flu case MAY 25,07

HANOI (AFP) - Health officials in Vietnam on Friday confirmed a farmer has been infected with the deadly bird flu virus, the first human case in the country since late 2005. Two recent tests for the 30-year-old man from Vinh Phuc province showed that he was positive to the H5N1 virus, said a doctor from the National Institute of Epidemiology in Hanoi who refused to be named.State-run Vietnam News Agency also quoted deputy head of the ministry's Preventive Healthcare department Nguyen Van Binh confirming the test results.The ministry of health has not directly confirmed the case and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was still waiting for confirmation from its own laboratory tests.The man, who is in critical condition in a Hanoi hospital, helped slaughter chickens for a wedding about a month ago from a neighbouring farm, where several birds later died.

This is the first human infection since November 2005 in Vietnam, which was one of the countries hardest hit by the virus with 42 human fatalities between 2003 and November 2005.

The virus has remained endemic to wild and domestic bird populations, and struck again this month with several outbreaks of the H5N1 strain in eight provinces killing thousands of unvaccinated ducks and some chickens.Bird flu outbreaks have now been reported in provinces from the far north of the country to the Mekong river delta in the south, according to the latest online report from the national animal health department.Vietnam says it has vaccinated more than 120 million poultry in 60 provinces in efforts to combat the virus.The News newspaper quoted Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as criticising on Thursday local authorities for their lack of responsibility in monitoring the situation.

He also urged them to apply all possible measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic to both poultry and humans.The WHO representative in Vietnam, Hans Troedsson, said the new developments were not surprising.The virus was pushed back by the measures Vietnam has taken, with the mass vaccinations and cullings, he said, but it has never been eradicated.However, the Vietnamese authorities are doing the right things, he said, adding the situation was not alarming.

According to World Health Organisations figures, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected at least 306 people worldwide and killed about 185 of them, mostly in southeast Asia.

Hamas: Islam Will Rule the World, Destroy Israel and the Jews
by Hana Levi Julian MAY 25,07 (INN)

The Hamas terrorist organization is conducting a simultaneous battle against Israel and its coalition partner, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Fatah faction, but not without a higher purpose. According to the Palestinian Media Watch, the Hamas charter specifically mandates the murder of Jews in compliance with what it believes is Divine will. Violence and terror, which Hamas refers to as resistance, are considered legitimate tools to be used for this purpose. Hamas has worked hard to promote this ideology and to train the current and future generations toward this end, using a Mickey Mouse-like character to teach the precepts to PA Arab children and other TV and radio programs to reach the adults. The PA population has, for the most part, responded enthusiastically to this campaign. Others who are frightened by the fanaticism and culture of murder are doing their best to flee. Branch offices of foreign ministries from various Arab countries report they have been besieged with tens of thousands of applications by PA Arabs who are desperate to take their families out of the madness.

Islamic clerics, meanwhile, exhort them to remain, resorting even to religious legal rulings that it is forbidden to leave the Palestinian Authority territories and abandon what they insist is their land. It is clear that Hamas has no intention of ever recognizing the State of Israels right to exist. Nor does it intend to end its terrorism, regardless of international mandates to do so. We will liberate Palestine, all of Palestine... Palestine will not be liberated by negotiations, committees and decisions. It will only be liberated by the rifle and the al-Kassam [rocket -ed.]. Therefore, prepare yourselves, declared Hamas spokesman Dr. Ismail Radwan in an April interview with the Hamas-controlled Al-Risalah newspaper.

Ultimately, states former Foreign Minister and Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar in a March interview with the Arabic Al-Ayyam newspaper, Our position is the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine. This is the final and strategic solution for us. Anyone who denies it must check his faith and his Islam.

Fatwa Against Hamas for Having Jewish Characteristics
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz (INN) MAY 25,07

A Muslim cleric, apparently from the Palestinian Authority, has released a fatwa (religious ruling) permitting the killing of members of the Hamas terrorist organization. In support of his position, the heretofore unknown sheikh declared Hamas to have Jewish characteristics, but added that the Jews have more mercy on the Arabs than Hamas. You should kill them cold-bloodedly. Sheikh Al-Hiran The fatwa and accompanying argumentation appeared in two articles, one in the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan and the other published on the website of the Fatah terrorist organization, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. According to a report and translation of the articles provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the Islamic cleric, identified as Sheikh Shaker Al-Hiran, labeled Hamas Khawarij. This term is a reference to a group of Muslims that rebelled against the leadership of seventh-century Islam.

Among other affronts, the Fatah-backed sheikh declared, Hamas is willing to ally itself with non-Muslims and to battle co-religionists. Al-Hiran then said that Hamas-backed scholars should be confronted about the activities of their organization. If the scholars say that what they [Hamas members] do is prohibited, then you should kill them cold-bloodedly, [and you will] be rewarded by Allah for ridding Muslims of their influence and evil. Jews have more mercy towards our nation than [Hamas]. If the scholars The article is titled The Common Characteristics of Hamas and the Jews.
say that their conduct is permitted, then kill their scholars.... They are all the same.

In his article entitled The Common Characteristics of Hamas and the Jews, Al-Hiran wrote that the Islamist group has Jewish characteristics. For the PA sheikh, this means hypocrisy and a lack of trustworthiness, including breaking agreements reached with the Fatah leadership of the PA. MEMRI analysts noted, The articles triggered condemnation, such as a statement by Palestinian Authority Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, who labeled Al-Hiran's articles as a clear call for fitna (civil strife). In particular, MEMRI reported that the article comparing Hamas to the Jews triggered harsh reactions and prompted online messages from readers questioning Al-Hiran's existence.

Sabbath-Sunday Bill Survey Shows Support
by Hillel Fendel (INN) MAY 25,07

MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP) has announced the findings of a poll showing a 56% support rate for his proposed legislation making Sunday a day of rest and allowing some public transportation and entertainment on the Sabbath. Orlev's bill would change the official approach to Sabbath as the country's day of rest. Though businesses and government offices would continue to be closed, places of entertainment would be permitted to open - and public transportation, now banned in most cities on the Sabbath, would be available for that purpose. The bill stipulates that such transportation and entertainment would be carried out with maximum sensitivity to the religious public. A survey commissioned by Orlev finds that 56% of the public support his initiative, while 30% object. The poll was carried out by Brain Base (Maagar Mochot) Institute, headed by Prof. Yitzchak Katz.

Orlev's bill, which he proposed last week, also calls for a second day of rest during the week - Sunday - during which businesses and offices would be closed. This would enable Sabbath observant families to spend more time together, Orlev explains. Work hours lost to Sunday would be made up largely by increasing the workday on Mondays through Fridays from 8 to 9 hours. The survey divides the respondents into religious categories, such as secular, hareidi-religious, etc.

However, it lumps together the religious-Zionist public with those who consider themselves traditional, i.e., minimally observant. The poll finds that 64% of this joint sector supports the new bill. The two groups were combined in the poll, despite the expectation that the two would not have similar views of the issue. Other findings of the poll show, in fact, that support for the bill increases as
level of religious observance decreases. For instance, 64% of the secular public supports the bill, compared to only 6% of the hareidi-religious public. Asked to explain, Orlev's spokesman Moshe Inbar told Arutz-7 that the breakdown was determined by the pollster, in consultation with me. Inbar said that lumping the two sectors together is in keeping with the NRP's new policy of opening its gates to the traditional community. Arutz-7: But information is missing from the poll, in that we do not know how many of the mainstream NRP voters - the religious-Zionist public - supports this bill.

In response, Inbar first suggested that you can commission your own poll, but then added, You can extrapolate from the other findings...Orlev said his bill was formulated with the help of leading religious-Zionist rabbis, and does not openly permit activities that are forbidden by the Torah, but rather does not mention them.MK Yitzchak Levy of the National Union party said the bill paves the way for further deterioration in the character of the Sabbath in the State of Israel. The National Union and the NRP joined forces for the last national election, merging into one electoral list.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS)

Eurozone outracing US on economic growth
24.05.2007 - 17:20 CET | By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The eurozone will in 2007 take over from the US as the driver of world economic growth, according to Paris-based think tank the OECD, with a strong performance by Germany giving Europe the edge.

The 13-state strong European currency union will see 2.7 percent GDP growth this year compared to 2.1 percent in the US, the OECD predicted in a report out Thursday (24 May). Last year the euro states lagged 0.5 percent behind the US. Europe [is] taking over the baton from the United States, OECD chief economist Jean-Philippe Cotis said. A vibrant German-led recovery has remained on track...[and] the so-far lagging Italian economy has been sharing in the upswing.The bounce-back stems from a gradual increase in household and corporate spending, as well as robust exports. Falling unemployment - from 7.8 percent last year to 7.1 percent this year - is another noticeable bright spot, the study says. By contrast, US results are being held back by problems in the housing market, which is suffering from an excess of supply. But the OECD predicts a progressive return to economic normality that should see America again nose ahead of the eurozone in 2008.

The European upswing could spell good news for political projects, such as Germany's attempt to revive the EU constitution - at the time of the EU's 50th birthday in March, some analysts said stagnating economies had contributed to euroscepticism in recent years.

But the European picture is not entirely rosy: unemployment still remains much higher than in the US; inflation risks are likely to see the European Central Bank hike rates again this year and an ageing population is increasing pressure on the public purse. The balance of risks to inflation is towards the upside, the OECD says, recommending another 0.5 percent increase in the cost of borrowing in two tranches of 0.25 percent by the end of the year. Looking at the economic dangers of ageing, the think tank forecasts that Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain will all be spending over 10 percent of their GDP on pensions and geriatric health care by 2050.

2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL

REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

Pentagon worries about China weapon test By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer MAY 25,07

WASHINGTON - China is improving its capacity for launching surprise military attacks along its border areas, reflecting its view that preemption is necessary when confronting a more powerful enemy, the Pentagon said Friday. In its annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments, the Pentagon also said China's recent success at destroying a satellite in low-Earth orbit is a threat to the interests of all space-faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight.In a section titled Is China Developing a Preemptive Strategy? the report cited as evidence the fact that the People's Liberation Army has been acquiring long-endurance submarines, unmanned combat aircraft, additional precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, and long-distance military communications systems.Attempting to capture the essence of China's strategy, the report quoted former supreme leader Deng Xiaoping's guidance, known as the 24-character maxim, which says in part, hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile.

It suggests both a short-term desire to downplay China's capabilities and avoid confrontation, and a long-term strategy to build up China's power to maximize options for the future, the Pentagon report said.

Peter Rodman, who until early this year was the Pentagon's top Asia policy official, said in an interview Friday that there is reason for concern that China's long-range aim is to revise the existing balance of power in the world, but they are patient and they are just doing this quietly; they think long term.Rodman added that because U.S. officials are carefully and closely monitoring China's growing military strength and sophistication, We can handle this, we're no slouches ourselves at maintaining our capability. Rodman is now a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

The report said China's near-term focus is on preparing for a military crisis in the Taiwan Strait, where it continues to emplace more short-range ballistic missiles.However, analysis of China's military acquisitions and strategic thinking suggests Beijing is also generating capabilities for other regional contingencies, such as conflict over resources or territory, the report said.Chinese military training that focuses on no-notice, long-range air strikes could also indicate planning for preemptive military options in advance of regional crises, the report said.The Pentagon highlighted its concern about Beijing's anti-satellite test in which a missile was used to destroy one of China's old weather satellites in low-Earth polar orbit; the January test was China's first.The test put at risk the assets of all space-faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight due to the creation of an unprecedented amount of debris, the report said, adding that this is an important expansion of China's pursuit of weaponry and strategies that are designed to deny U.S. forces access to areas in Asia.

Rodman said the Bush administration knew in advance that China planned to conduct the January test but it chose not to address it with the Chinese because U.S. officials were convinced Beijing would go ahead with it regardless.The anti-satellite capability demonstrated in the test is only one element of a multidimensional program to develop a capability to deny other nations access to outer space, the Pentagon asserted.China has purchased UHF-band satellite communications jammers and is developing other technologies and concepts for weapons with anti-satellite missions, the report said.

It also is improving its ability to identify and track satellites, a prerequisite for effective, precise physical attacks, the report added.The report was presented to Congress on Friday, just days before Defense Secretary Robert Gates travels to Singapore to address an international conference on Asian security issues, where China is likely to be a key topic.In previewing the report's release, Gates told
reporters on Thursday that some of China's new capabilities are of concern to the United States but he did not provide details.We wish that there were greater transparency, that they would talk more about what their intentions are, what their strategies are, Gates said. It would be nice to hear firsthand from the Chinese how they view some of these things.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO
MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame
burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Iran: no halt to nuclear program By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 24, 11:00 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ruled out even a brief halt in Iran's nuclear program, saying Thursday it would hand a victory to the country's enemies and undercut the Islamic state's goal of becoming a world power. Ahmadinejad's latest salvo apparently aimed at Washington and Western allies ollowed Wednesday's report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that said Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment program in defiance of U.N. demands for a suspension. The finding could set the stage for a third round of Security Council sanctions.The enemy wants Iran to surrender so it won't have any say in the world, Ahmadinejad told a gathering of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. If we stop for a while, they (Iran's enemies) will achieve their goals.

Iran insists its nuclear program seeks only to develop energy, and has touted it as a sign of technological prowess. The United States and allies contend Iran is secretly aiming to develop nuclear arms.But there are international divisions on how to handle the standoff.The current rumblings have reached Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, after he suggested that Iran be allowed to keep some elements of its uranium enrichment program.

The United States has lodged a complaint against ElBaradei, and Britain and France are expected to follow suit, said diplomats familiar with proceedings at the Vienna-based agency. The diplomats demanded anonymity because their information was confidential.The United States and others worry that ElBaradei's comments could undermine efforts to pressure Iran into scrapping the program.In Washington, President Bush said Thursday he would work with allies to beef up sanctions on Iran.

He told a Rose Garden news conference that Iran's leaders continue to be defiant as to the demands of the free world.Bush's remarks came against a mixed backdrop: new tensions but also groundbreaking diplomatic overtures.

The Pentagon has moved two aircraft carriers and seven other ships into the Persian Gulf in a show of force. Iran, meanwhile, has detained at least two prominent American-Iranian citizens On Monday, however, U.S. and Iranian diplomats are scheduled to hold direct talks in Baghdad on efforts to stabilize Iraq. The meeting offers a very rare one-on-one diplomatic forum between the nations, which broke off formal relations after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.The agenda of the talks is limited to Iraqi affairs and should not spill over into the nuclear impasse. But it hangs over any interplay between Iran and the United States.Ahmadinejad again drove home Iran's message. He said opponents of Iran's nuclear program want to hit at the source of the (Iranian) regime's progress in attempting to thwart Iran's exploitation of peaceful nuclear technology.The Security Council has demanded Iran suspend enrichment because it can produce both reactor fuel and — at higher levels weapons-grade material. The council first imposed sanctions on Iran on Dec. 23 for rejecting its demands, then modestly increased them in March.

Experts from the United States and five other powers plan to meet within the week to consider the next steps after ElBaradei's report Wednesday. The talks will focus on how to bring Iran back to negotiations and what the Security Council could do if Tehran doesn't budge, said China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Liu Zhenmin.ElBaradei said Thursday that Iran can only be kept away from nuclear arms through a comprehensive dialogue.One way to do that, rather than to continue the rhetoric, is to ... sit down together, he said in Luxembourg, while also agreeing with U.S. intelligence estimates that Iran is three to eight years from being able to make nuclear arms.

ElBaradei's report detailed the expansion of Iran's enrichment program and for the first time noted that the agency's knowledge of Iran's nuclear activities is shrinking. Tehran's has blocked inspections of a heavy water reactor under construction at Arak and facilities linked to it. Once completed, the Arak complex will produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei has said he feels it is too late to force Iran to abandon enrichment and has argued instead for implementing inspection safeguards to prevent an expansion of the program. But U.S. , French and British diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency are apparently concerned ElBaradei's statements could exacerbate their divisions with the other two permanent Security Council members, Russia and China. Both nations have watered down previous measures against Tehran over its nuclear
defiance.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin urged Iran to take a constructive approach to the nuclear dispute and called on other nations to step up diplomatic efforts with the aim of producing a balanced approach.Russia has close economic and political ties with Tehran and, over objections from the United States and others, is helping to build the country's first nuclear power plant. Iran's top nuclear inspector, Ali Larijani, defended Iran's imposing limits on IAEA inspections.

He said Iran had entered voluntarily into the agreement allowing the inspections at Arak, and so it has right to revise that decision to bar the inspections. Larijani and Javier Solana, the EU's top foreign policy official, are to meet May 31 to explore whether there's room to resume negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Also Thursday, Ahmadinejad — known for his 2005 comment that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map — criticized Israel for its attacks on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

If you think that by bombing and assassinating Palestinian leaders you are preparing ground for new attacks on Lebanon in the summer, I am telling you that you are seriously wrong, Ahmadinejad said. Ocean of nations of the region will get angry and will cut the root of the Zionist regime from its stem.

Israeli experts have been talking for months about the possibility of another war with Lebanon in the summer; officials have denied planning such a conflict. After the inconclusive outcome of last summer's war, when Hezbollah guerrillas fired almost 4,000 rockets at Israel, the Israelis are seen as unlikely to launch another one unless they felt they could emerge clearly victorious.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Ahmadinejad funds, trains and arms the most extreme anti-peace elements in the region if there is any real threat to regional security it comes from an expansionist fundamentalist Iran. Associated Press writers Terence Hunt in Washington, George Jahn in Vienna and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

N. Korea test fires short-range missiles By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer MAY 26,07

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea test fired several short-range guided missiles Friday into the sea that separates it from Japan, South Korean officials and media reports said.

Analysts and media reports said the North's test was in response to South Korea's launch of its first destroyer equipped with high-tech Aegis radar technology developed by the U.S. South Korea is now one of only five countries armed with the technology, which will make it easier to track and shoot down North Korean aircraft and missiles. This shows North Korea, whose navy is rather small, is extremely alarmed, said Toshimitsu Shigemura, an expert on North Korean issues at Japan's Waseda University.South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the missile launches.

The short-range missile launches are believed to be part of a routine exercise that North Korea has conducted annually on the east and the west coasts in the past, the statement said.The missiles were fired from the communist country's east coast into the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula, a Joint Chiefs official said on condition of anonymity, citing official protocol.Japan's public broadcaster and other media, citing Japanese and U.S. sources, reported the missiles were surface-to-ship. Japan's Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the reports.North Korea's missile program has been a constant concern to the region, along with its pursuit of nuclear weapons.The hard-line regime test-fired a series of missiles in July last year, including its latest long-range model, known abroad as the Taepodong-2, which experts believe could reach parts of the United States. The North rattled the world again in October by conducting its first-ever test of a nuclear device. However, experts believe it does not have a bomb design advanced
enough to be placed on a missile.

In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the United States sees the test as a routine exercise that they do from time to time. U.S. officials, eager to make progress on a nuclear disarmament accord with the North that has been stalled over a financial dispute, have been hesitant to criticize Pyongyang.European Union officials said they were concerned North Korea's short-range missile tests posed a further risk to stability in Asia and urged the isolated nation to seek dialogue to
ease tensions with its neighbors.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the tests extremely regrettable, but added: We do not consider (the missile firing) as a serious threat to Japan's national security.South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified Unification Ministry official as saying the tests would not strain ties because they were apparently part of regular exercises. North and South Korea are planning Cabinet level talks on reconciliation efforts next week in Seoul.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the missiles were shorter-range, and were not North Korea's existing Rodong or Taepodong I ballistic missiles.Kyodo News agency said the missiles were launched from Hamgyong Namdo on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and are considered modified silkworm or miniaturized Scuds with a range of 60-125 miles.Mobile missile carriers, communication equipment and personnel were seen in the area before the launch, but they left after the missiles were fired, Kyodo said.Last month, North Korea displayed a newly developed ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam during a military parade, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official familiar with an analysis of U.S. satellite images.Associate Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo.