JUDGEMENT ON ROSH HASHANA ALREADY

GOD IS GIVING THE WORLD A WARNING OF WHATS TO COME ALREADY ON DAY 1 OF THE JEWISH NEW YEAR ROSH HASHANA INDONESIA HAD AN 8.2 QUAKE AND TSUNAMI (SMALL).

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.

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.

Quake triggers tsunami in Indonesia By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer SEPT 13,07

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A massive earthquake struck Indonesia on Wednesday, triggering a tsunami in the town of Padang and warnings for much of the Indian Ocean region, authorities said. The quake caused tall buildings to sway in at least four countries. A wave of up to 9 feet was reported to have hit Padang about 20 minutes after the quake, said Suhardjono, an official with Indonesia's meteorological agency, who goes by only one name.Communication has been difficult since then, he said.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also reported that a small tsunami hit Padang.Residents in Bengkulu — the Sumatran town closest to the epicenter, where at least one building was demolished — said the quake triggered panic and that people ran inland.Everyone is running out of their houses in every direction, according to Wati Said, who spoke by cell phone standing outside her house. We think our neighborhood is high enough. God willing, if the water comes, it will not touch us here.Communication is cut, we can't call out, she added. I don't know how you contacted us. Everyone is afraid.

The temblor could also be felt in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, 375 miles away, where office workers streamed down the stairwells of tall, swaying buildings.Some people in high-rises in neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand also felt the quake.The U.S. Geological Survey said the underwater quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 and hit at about 6:10 p.m. (7:10 a.m. EDT). It was centered 80 miles southwest of Sumatra island at a depth of 18.6 miles.Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said, warning that waves could hit Indonesia and Australia within an hour, and Sri Lanka and India within three hours.It lifted the alert for Indonesia about two hours later.

In India, officials said nothing was felt in the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, some of which are just 150 miles north of Sumatra.The Indian government issued a tsunami alert for the islands, and officials were telling local authorities to take precautions on the far-flung islands, said Dharam Pal, the regional relief commissioner.Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Sumatra island and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.

Rosh HaShana 5768 SEPT 12 6 PM

One of the most remarkable aspects of the holiday of Rosh HaShana is its universality. On this day the future of Israel and of the entire world will be determined. Although it is invariably referred to as the Jewish New Year, this description is inaccurate and misleading in the same way that referring to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem as the Jewish Temple totally misses the mark. Both are expressions of G-d’s love and concern for the entire world.On Rosh HaShana, all of creation passes before G-d in judgment. Every individual as well as every nation; kings and commoners, princes and paupers. For all are the descendants of Adam, the first man, and Rosh HaShana is his birthday – the anniversary of his creation. This judgment is the world’s birthday party. Were you expecting balloons and party games? As opposed to the secular notion of a birthday bash characterized by wild abandonment, a celebration of me – this birthday celebration reflects the most central concept in the entire Torah – personal responsibility and integrity. The challenge of choice that awaits us every moment of our lives. The acceptance of personal responsibility, the Torah teaches, is the true measure of a man – and G-d practices what He preaches. On the very day that he brought humanity into the world, on the very day that He breathed life into man, He reviews each one of man’s children, to determine exactly how that breath is being used. For Isaiah the prophet tells us that there is only one reason that G-d brought forth all of creation: Everyone that is called by My name, and whom I created for My glory, I formed him, yea I made him (Is. 43:7). And now, on Rosh HaShana, G-d seeks to determine whether we as individuals and nations are aiding that process, and adding to His glory, or holding back His goal.

A lot of people want to be king. The lesson of Rosh HaShana, simply put, is that there is no room for two kings in this world. To be a loyal subject requires total commitment: And you shall love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (Deut. 6). Each of us must make a determination and tell the truth:

Have we been true subjects of the King? Or have we been worshipping ourselves?

G-d looks for the good in all of us. He seeks to bestow His benevolence on man. But ultimately, life is about the choices we continue to make at every moment. It’s all up to us, as the sages of Israel teach: Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for the fear of Heaven. G-d tells us that He would really appreciate it if we would make the right choices: See, I have placed before you today the life and the good, and the death and the evil, that which I command you today, to love the L-rd, your G-d, to walk in His ways, to observe His commandments... I call upon heaven and earth to bear witness against you, I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse, and you shall choose life, so that you will live... (Deut. 30). Ultimately, all G-d can do is hope for the best. It really is up to us. On Rosh HaShana, He seeks to validate the world, to assure Himself that it really was worthwhile to create man after all – whom I created for My glory.We live in a bold new world, one that requires us to make bold choices. The first choice is to choose life. It is not the Holy One, blessed be He, who will write us into the book of life, or, Heaven forbid, the opposite – it is we ourselves who make the choice, through our actions, and write our own names into the book of our choice.

On Rosh HaShana, we are presented with the opportunity to transcend our personal confines, and become united as subjects of the King, as man’s descendants should be thus collectively validating the purpose of creation.The Holy Temple, too, is an aspect of the wholeness and collective healing of mankind. It is designed to reflect the light of the Divine Presence into a world of deception. The images we perceive, chase after, and obsess about throughout the frail days of our lives are only optical illusions. Real vision only comes about when our eyes our enlightened by the resting of the Divine Presence in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.On the eve of Rosh HaShana, we extend heartfelt blessings for a New Year of peace, health, prosperity and joy. May G-d look upon us and say: Yes. This is what I had in mind.May our lives validate the chance He took on us, and with our integrity and responsibility, may we inscribe ourselves in the Book of Life.

Rabbi Chaim Richman

THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
www.templeinstitute.org

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.

Putin names surprise nominee for PM By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer
SEPT 12,07

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin dismissed his long-serving prime minister Wednesday and nominated little-known Cabinet official Victor Zubkov to replace him in a surprise move that could put Zubkov in the running to replace Putin next year.
The nomination of Zubkov, who currently oversees the government's fight against money-laundering, appeared to have caught much of the Russian political elite off-guard.Putin had been expected to announce in December whom he would back to run for president next year — and Russia's two first deputy prime ministers — former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and gas giant Gazprom board chairman Dmitry Medvedev — were widely considered to be the leading contenders.After dismissing Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov — triggering the government's automatic dissolution — Putin explained the shakeup was required to prepare the country for forthcoming elections. Legislative elections are to be held Dec. 2, and presidential elections are expected three months later.

State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov backed the 65-year-old Zubkov's nomination, saying his life path and professional activities in various fields undoubtedly allow him to lead the Cabinet of the Russian Federation.He said the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, could vote on the nomination as early as Friday.Zubkov's position in the Cabinet was relatively obscure; the Financial Monitoring Service he headed is an arm of the Finance Ministry that investigated money-laundering.Zubkov also served under Putin when the two worked in the city administration of St. Petersburg in the early 1990s. Putin has regularly tapped former colleagues from St. Petersburg to head top posts in the government.Putin is wildly popular among Russians, having brought stability and relative prosperity after the often chaotic presidency of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. As a result, whoever is nominated for the presidency by Putin is expected to win easily.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Oil extends rise above $78 a barrel By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press Writer SEPT 12,07

Oil prices extended their rise above $78 a barrel Wednesday after finishing at a record close the previous session as a production increase from OPEC failed to calm market concerns about the availability of supplies for winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Light, sweet crude for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 19 cents $78.42 in electronic trading by afternoon in Europe. It had risen 74 cents Tuesday to settle at $78.23 a barrel — 2 cents higher than the previous record close on July 31.That came after an announced increase in output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries did not reassure markets about the ability of producers to meet strong demand in the final quarter of the year, analysts said.October Brent crude gained 10 cents at US$76.39 a barrel on the ICE futures in London.

The supply and demand balance, though, was slightly muddied when the Paris-based International Energy Agency lowered its world oil demand growth forecast for this year on Wednesday to 1.7 percent from 1.8 percent a month ago, and for next year to 2.4 percent from 2.5 percent.The energy watchdog cited a mix of downward economic revisions, high energy prices and mild weather for cutting its growth outlook for this year by 100,000 barrels a day to 85.9 million barrels a day, and for next year by 70,000 barrels a day to 88 million barrels a day.The IEA also said it is as yet unlikely that oil demand in the U.S. and key emerging economies will fall dramatically following the subprime crisis that has roiled global financial markets in recent weeks.The short-term weaker demand picture also saw the agency cut its implied need for oil from OPEC in the coming two quarters by 300,000 barrels a day, to 32.8 million barrels a day and 32.1 million barrels a day, respectively.

OPEC, which produces about 40 percent of the world's oil, announced its decision to boost output by 500,000 barrels a day starting Nov. 1 at a meeting Tuesday.The cartel's new output target is 27.2 million barrels a day. That effectively acknowledges the estimated 900,000 barrels OPEC already was pumping over its former target of 25.8 million barrels a day.Investors had already priced in OPEC's increase, and many were looking for a larger production boost, analysts said.Half a million barrels a day is not nothing; the question on the market's mind is: Is it enough? said Tobin Gorey, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.There's a view that final quarter demand will be quite strong, Gorey said. In the end it's going to come down to how cold the Northern winter is.

Traders were also eyeing the release later Wednesday of U.S. government data on petroleum inventories. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, expect the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration to say crude oil inventories fell 2.7 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 7.Gasoline inventories likely fell 500,000 barrels last week, while refinery utilization fell 0.1 percentage points to 92 percent of capacity, the survey showed. Inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose 1.4 million barrels, the analysts predicted.Heating oil futures rose 0.05 cent to $2.1832 a gallon on the Nymex, while gasoline prices dropped 1.09 cents to $1.9702 a gallon. Natural gas futures gained 15.3 cents to $6.087 per 1,000 cubic feet.Associated Press Writer Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report.

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Stocks flat after Tuesday's big gains By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer
SEPT 12,07

NEW YORK - Stocks tottered in search of a direction Wednesday as investors had little news to help them extend the previous session's sharp gains. Many investors were adjusting their positions while they waited to see what the Federal Reserve will do next Tuesday, when the central bank meets to discuss interest rates. A lowering of the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point is widely expected.

Trading has been marked by sharp volatility in recent weeks as investors search for a sense of the economy's strength amid an ongoing housing slump and credit market problems.The Dow Jones industrial average fell 7.80, or 0.06 percent, to 13,300.59 after rising 180 points on Tuesday.Broader stock indexes were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.44, or 0.03 percent, to 1,471.05, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.83, or 0.11 percent, to 2,600.30.Bond prices rose as investors stockpiled secure government issues. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, dipped to 4.34 percent from 4.37 percent late Tuesday.On Tuesday, the market rallied as investors grew more optimistic about a rate cut. But overseas equity markets didn't follow suit on Wednesday.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.50 percent amid political uncertainty after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Wednesday he will resign, ending a troubled year-old government that has suffered damaging scandals.In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.36 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.26 percent, and France's CAC-40 lost 0.01 percent.Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar continued its slide against the euro, hitting a record low early before clawing back some ground. The dollar was also weaker against the yen, but higher versus the pound. Gold prices rose.Commodity prices in several markets hovered at record highs on Wednesday ahead of the weekly U.S. inventory report. Oil prices fell 3 cents to $78.20 a barrel, after closing at a record $78.23 Tuesday. Wheat prices finished just shy of $9 a bushel on Tuesday — an all-time peak — up from about $5 a bushel in May.In corporate news, Texas Instruments Inc., world's largest maker of chips used in cellular phones, fell 62 cents to $35.11 after offering a third-quarter outlook late Tuesday that fell below Street expectations.

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.

Israel believes N. Korea selling nuke material to Syria Wed Sep 12, 5:11 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Israel recently carried out reconnaissance flights over Syria, taking pictures of possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials believed might have been supplied with material from North Korea, The New York Times reported Thursday. A US administration official said Israeli officials believed that North Korea might be unloading some of its nuclear material on Syria, the Times reported.
The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left, the unidentified official was quoted as saying.A US defense official confirmed Tuesday that Israel carried out an air strike well inside Syria last week, apparently to send Damascus a message not to rearm Hezbollah in Lebanon.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not know the target of the strike, which was conducted Thursday, but said the US military believed it was to send a message to the Syrians.The Israelis are trying to tell the Syrians: Don't support a resurgence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.Israel fought a devastating 34-day war in July and August 2006 against Hezbollah, whose missile firepower and use of sophisticated weaponry surprised the Israelis.

Blair calls for expanding Palestinian forces By Adel Abu Nimeh
SEPT 12,07

JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) - Middle East envoy Tony Blair, seeking to bolster Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking efforts, said on Wednesday it was critical to expand the capabilities of Palestinian security forces. Israel is reluctant to set a strict timetable for any peace moves after a U.S.-sponsored conference without more guarantees that Palestinian forces can prevent attacks on Israel if the Jewish state eases or ends its occupation of the West Bank.The debate over deadlines comes amid signs of progress this week in talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over the outlines of an agreement that would be presented at the conference, to be held near Washington as early as November 15, or later that month.Israeli officials said Olmert would be open to rough timelines as long as the Israeli steps are tied to reciprocal moves by the Palestinians on matters like disarming militants, as called for under the long-stalled U.S. roadmap peace plan.After touring a Palestinian police training facility in the West Bank city of Jericho, Blair told reporters: We've got to try to build the capability of the Palestinian forces.

This training facility is a really important part of that so we've got to give it every support, the former British prime minister said after watching recruits quell a mock riot.The public comments were Blair's first since arriving in the region last week on his second visit as special envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.The United States has stepped up efforts to bolster Abbas's forces since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

TIMELINES

Palestinian officials see timelines as a way of pressuring Israel to take difficult steps that would help them sell any agreement to the Palestinian public.Israeli officials caution that setting dates that risk not being met only raise frustration on both sides.These are negotiations and, in the end, you compromise, said an official close to Olmert.Olmert and Abbas agreed on Monday to appoint negotiating teams to try to narrow differences over final-status issues like borders, the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.There has been progress. Both sides know they need success and they need a document, said another senior Israeli official familiar with the deliberations.But the official added that the conference was one step in a very long process.A major sticking point, the official said, was over Abbas's call for deadlines for implementing any agreements.They want a tight and strict schedule for implementation, the Israeli official said. Naturally we can't commit to a tight and strict schedule.An Israeli Foreign Ministry official said Israel wanted any timetables to be performance-based.A timeline that ignores performance is not effective and when you don't meet a specific target date it can only create more problems and frustration, the official said. We believe that artificial timelines have been just that. We're very much supportive of the sort of timelines in the roadmap, which means its a performance-based process.(Additional reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem and Wafa Amr in Ramallah)