JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
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(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) 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-2 billion)
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)
Foreign companies around Tianjin blast suspend operations-Associated Press By ERIKA KINETZ-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SHANGHAI (AP) — Foreign companies have suspended operations around the Tianjin port as officials scramble to contain the toxic fallout of last week's deadly chemical explosions, which dealt a blow to northern China's emerging economic hub.Toyota said over half its China production capacity would be offline at least through Wednesday. The company has operations near the blast evacuation zone and said Monday that it had suspended three production lines, which can produce 530,000 vehicles a year.Thousands of Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai and Renault cars, mostly pricey imports, parked on lots near the blast were decimated.The operations of Panasonic, logistics company Singamas Container Holdings and Deere & Co. have also been disrupted.The list of name-brand companies impacted by the blast is a testament to Tianjin's rise, but regulatory and safety lapses at the hazardous goods warehouses that exploded have drawn attention to the sometimes shaky infrastructure China has laid down as it pursues ultra-fast growth.The port lies at the heart of one of China's new free trade zones, designed to draw foreign investment and create an economic hub for China's northeast that could one day rival the Pearl and Yangtze river deltas. The broader Binhai New Area has long been on the radar of Beijing's technocrats, who hope to integrate Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei into a single, thrumming economic powerhouse."This wasn't just an incident in some third-rate city. It was right at the heart of everything," said Chet Scheltema, regional manager at international business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates, who has lived and worked in Tianjin.He said the explosions called attention to deficiencies in China's soft infrastructure of safety standards and emergency preparedness, which are usually overshadowed by China's shiny skyscrapers and impressive roads."There's still a lot to be done that's not immediately obvious," he said. "When you're trying to recruit your CEO and his or her family from the U.S. and they see these kinds of things on TV, or their family and relatives see this, they start to talk and think, should I really be going to China? Are they really the state-of-the-art economy we thought they were?"Airbus built its first assembly line outside of Europe in Tianjin, which turns out four A320 aircraft per month. Spokesman Jacques Rocca said its facilities were unaffected. "We are evaluating what could be the impact in the coming weeks, but it will depend on the capability of the port of Tianjin to recover its activity," he said.The Tianjin Maritime Bureau said Monday that 85 ships had been delayed or canceled, but that port traffic is now normal.Some shipments to Tianjin have been diverted to other regional ports, raising transport costs but minimizing overall economic impact, said Roberto Giannetta, secretary general of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association. "Damage to containers and cargo has been extensive," he said, adding that those losses, difficult to estimate at this early stage, would be borne by insurance companies.Operations at the port are "slowly returning," Giannetta said.Genscape, which monitors commodity and energy markets, has documented normal oil and petrochemical tanker traffic at the port. Fishing boat traffic fell by half the day after the blast, but has now partially rebounded, said Amir Bornaee, an oil analyst at Genscape.Panasonic, which has a product development center 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the blast site, kept its offices closed Monday, out of safety concerns. A spokeswoman said executives were still evaluating whether to open Tuesday.Singamas Container Holdings told the Hong Kong stock exchange Monday that it suspended operations at two depots close to the blast and lost contact with one employee. The company did not anticipate a material impact on business.U.S. farm equipment maker Deere & Co. said it suspended production at its facilities about six kilometers (four miles) from the explosion site. It planned to resume operations later this week after cleanup and inspections.Automakers have been hit because Tianjin is one of China's major ports for car imports. Volkswagen lost around 2,700 vehicles. Renault said 1,500 Koleos SUVs were damaged. Hyundai said it had around 4,000 vehicles, mostly high-end cars, parked at the site.___Associated Press writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong and researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.
North Korea is threatening war against the US using an especially hostile nuclear rhetoric-(Reuters/KCNA)Written by Marc Bain-August 16, 2015
North Korea is once again angrily threatening war against the US and South Korea.In a particularly hostile bit of rhetoric broadcast via the country’s official news agency, a spokesman for the National Defense Committee hinted at the country’s willingness to use nuclear weapons, CNN reported. “The army and people of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] are no longer what they used to be in the past, when they had to counter the US nukes with rifles,” the NDC spokesman said, adding that the country is an “invincible power equipped with both the latest offensive and defensive means unknown to the world, including nuclear deterrence.”US intelligence suggests that a threat against the mainland is especially troubling. In April, Admiral Bill Gortney, the general in charge of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said, “Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 [missile] and shoot it at the homeland.” (Though that doesn’t necessarily mean that they could effectively detonate a warhead.)The threat comes in response to the multinational military exercises the US and South Korea are set to begin on Monday (Aug. 17). Each year, the countries run exercises on the Korean peninsula intended to keep their joint defenses on the ready, and to demonstrate the US commitment to the alliance. North Korea has long condemned them as rehearsal for war, and issues warnings every year that they’ll retaliate.North Korea’s menacing words have come to seem empty, but experts warn it would be a mistake to completely dismiss them.Last week, the Monterey Institute of International Studies released a report detailing how Pyongyang has been steadily building its nuclear-weapons program. Satellite imagery shows that the country is modernizing a facility near a uranium mine, and it may have expanded its known uranium-enrichment facility at Nyongbyon. Since 2006, it has carried out three nuclear test explosions.But it’s quite possible that North Korea still poses its greatest threat to those inside the country. Recently, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has been carrying out a purge of government officials, including top military staff, as he continues to consolidate his power.
Seoul: N. Korea resumes loudspeaker broadcasts amid tension-Associated Press By HYUNG-JIN KIM-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas have resumed cross-border propaganda warfare as North Korea on Monday matched South Korea's loudspeaker campaign with broadcasts of its own that reportedly included criticism of Seoul and praises for Pyongyang.The mutual propaganda attacks mark a further deterioration of relations between the Koreas, who haven't engaged in any serious talks in recent months.Last week, South Korea blamed the North for land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers and resumed propaganda broadcasts for the first time in 11 years in retaliation. North Korea has denied the accusations and threatened to launch strikes on South Korean loudspeakers.North Korea began its own loudspeaker broadcasts Monday on the eastern part of the border, according a South Korean Defense Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules.The official gave no further details. But South Korean public broadcaster KBS, citing an unidentified military official, reported that the North Korean broadcasts mainly included criticism of South Korea and praises for North Korea's political system.The North's broadcasts mark the restoration of inter-Korean propaganda warfare along the border after the two Koreas stopped the practice in 2004 as part of their efforts to ease animosities. Other practices, including leafleting and the operation of frontline billboards, remain suspended, according to Seoul officials.North Korea's action also came as Seoul and Washington launched annual military drills that Pyongyang calls an invasion rehearsal. South Korean and U.S. officials have said that the drills are purely defensive in nature.U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the "routine" exercises were proceeding normally. "We look forward to completing the exercises, as we always do. This is all about proving alliance capability," he told reporters in Washington.South Korea has said the two soldiers wounded from the mine explosion were on a routine patrol at the southern part of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. One of the soldiers lost both legs, while the other lost one leg.South Korean loudspeaker broadcasts, which continued on Monday, were aimed at emphasizing that the mine blast was provocation committed by North Korea and relaying messages about the superiority of Seoul-style democracy as well as world news and weather forecasts, the South Korean Defense Ministry official said.North Korea is intolerant of any outside criticism of its leadership, led by Kim Jong Un. Last year, North Korean troops opened fire after South Korean activists floated balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border. South Korea returned fire, but no casualties were reported.The Koreas' mine-strewn DMZ is the world's most heavily armed border, with hundreds of thousands of combat troops facing each other. It's a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.____Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.
US lawmakers quick to criticize China on currency drop-Associated Press By MATTHEW PENNINGTON-August 13, 2015 11:03 AM-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers have been quick to condemn the sudden drop in the value of Chinese currency as damaging for American businesses and workers, reviving an issue that was once one of the biggest sources of tension between the two world powers.Yet the initial response from the Obama administration officials has been mild, even positive. They say Beijing has indicated it is taking steps toward a market-determined exchange rate - something that even China's biggest critics in Washington have been demanding for years.While China's currency policy has been a perennial sore spot in the relationship, it has dropped in the pecking order of priority concerns during President Barack Obama's tenure, as the yuan has appreciated significantly against the U.S. dollar since 2010.China's territorial ambitions in the seas of East Asia and alleged cyber spying on a massive scale against U.S. government and businesses are likely to dominate the agenda when Chinese President Xi Jinping make his first state visit to the United States in September.But a continued drop in the value of yuan against the dollar could become an issue of growing contention and give ammunition to critics of China and fuel long-running resentment over the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Asia's largest economy, which totaled $343.1 billion last year."The key thing will be, does the currency begin to move in a variety of directions and show market-oriented volatility? If it does, that will undercut arguments that this is a one-way move to promote exports and manipulate the currency," said Scott Kennedy, director of Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank."That will make things easier when Xi Jinping visits," Kennedy said. But he added that if the yuan drops considerably more and it leads to a big increase in Chinese exports, "then it will give genuine ammunition and justification for those who are critical."The initial reaction from U.S. lawmakers to the depreciation, particularly Democrats, has been swift and negative. The yuan's 1.9 percent devaluation Tuesday against the U.S. dollar was its biggest one-day fall in a decade. By Thursday, the yuan had fallen by a total of 2.9 percent for the week."When China doesn't play by the rules it costs Pennsylvania jobs," said Sen. Bob Casey, referring to the traditionally industrial state he represents."For years, China has rigged the rules and played games with its currency," said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. "Rather than changing their ways, the Chinese government seems to be doubling down."Beijing said the yuan's decline was a one-time event and part of changes aimed at making the tightly controlled currency more market-oriented. On Thursday, the central bank tried to ease fears of more big declines, saying yuan was close to "market levels."Until now, the central bank set the yuan's value each day based on a basket of currencies that is believed to be dominated by the U.S. dollar. That meant the yuan rose with the dollar over the past year, hurting Chinese exporters and raising the threat of politically dangerous job losses.But Nicholas Lardy, an expert on China's economy at the Peterson Institute, said it was "preposterous" to suggest that China has suddenly taken the move to stoke growth in an economy that has been weakening for three years. He said it would take at least a double digit depreciation in currency value for it to have an impact on growth, and it would take six months or so to be felt, even if it dropped by that margin.He said China's move was primarily motivated by its desire to enter the basket of currencies used to set the value of the International Monetary Fund in-house currency, called Special Drawing Rights. The other currencies are the dollar, the euro, the yen and the British pound.China's action came a week after a report by IMF staff last week showed a mixed performance of the yuan on meeting key financial norms, recommending that China wait until at least October 2016 to join.The U.S. Treasury Department's reaction Tuesday to the depreciation was measured."China has indicated that the changes announced today are another step in its move to a more market-determined exchange rate. We will continue to monitor how these changes are implemented and continue to press China on the pace of its reforms," the department said in a statement.Lardy characterized the U.S. Treasury's reaction to China's depreciation as "modestly positive" as it waits to see how things evolve and make a definitive judgment. He said congressional criticism was inevitable."Some will continue to rail at China whatever happens. That's been the history," he said.John Frisbie, president of the US-China Business Council, which advocates for American businesses, said its membership is typically more concerned about the impact of China's economic slowdown, rising costs, regulatory restrictions and intellectual property theft than currency.He stressed the importance of China undertaking further economic and financial reforms before it can have a fully convertible currency and market-driven exchange rate. Otherwise, he said it risks capital flight, which could lead to a lower exchange rate.
No serious security threat seen at U.S. nuclear site: U.S. official-Reuters-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - A bomb-sniffing dog at the Savannah River nuclear site over-reacted when it halted a delivery truck and caused security to put the facility in lockdown, and there does not appear to be a serious security threat, a U.S. government official said on Monday.The dog barked at a truck that services vending machines at the site in South Carolina, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The facility, which was put in lockdown for a "potential security event" following the alarm, purifies highly enriched uranium, and is part of the Department of Energy's nuclear arm."The truck still has to be fully checked out," said the official, adding that it did not seem that there was a serious security breach.A DoE spokeswoman at Savannah River said the plant was still in lockdown, meaning no one was allowed to enter, but employees were free to leave for the day."The event was declared after electronic and canine scans of a vendor delivery truck indicated a possibility of explosive residue on the truck," the Savannah River Site said in a statement on its Facebook page."Site barricades are currently closed to incoming traffic," an earlier post said, also issued by the DoE. "There is no indication of a consequence beyond the Savannah River Site boundaries."Law enforcement agencies from South Carolina and Georgia were called and are on the scene, the site said.The Savannah River Site placed its H Area on a "phase II" security alert, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. The H Area is where highly enriched uranium is blended down to produce low enriched uranium for use in commercial reactors."All personnel should remain in their offices or labs and standby for further instructions via the Site public address system or instruction via email," the memo said.The government-run site was constructed in the 1950s to produce basic materials for nuclear weapons, according to a DoE website, and produced one third of U.S. weapons grade plutonium from 1953 to 1988.Two of the Savannah River Site's 5 reactors have been deactivated. It now blends down enriched uranium for use in commercial reactors. It also is used to store spent fuel. About 36 million gallons of radioactive liquid are stored there in 49 underground tanks.(Reporting by Emily Stephenson, Robert Gibbons and Timothy Gardner; writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Sandra Maler and Bill Rigby)
Tuesday, 27 April 2010-Chinese Spying in the United States-Written by Alex Newman-new american
China spiesA secret FBI videotape showing the transfer of classified military documents to a communist Chinese agent was released in February to the world, providing a brief peek at the shadowy world of espionage against America. Pentagon analyst Gregg Bergersen with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency is shown receiving a wad of bills and telling People’s Republic of China spy Tai Shen Kuo that he’s “very reticent” to let him have the information “because it’s all classified.”The documents included sensitive material about weapons sales to Taiwan — a U.S. ally, which the communist regime considers a breakaway province to be conquered eventually — and details of a communications system. Bergersen told Kuo: “You can take all the notes you want … but if it ever fell into the wrong hands … then I would be fired for sure. I’d go to jail because I violated all the rules.” He was eventually convicted and sentenced to five years, while Kuo received a 15-year sentence. The investigation also identified other sources who were providing secrets about American space and naval technology to the PRC.In February, another Chinese spy was sentenced to 15 years in jail for stealing sensitive secrets from his former employers — Boeing and Rockwell International — and passing them to the communist regime. Engineer Dongfan “Greg” Chung reportedly gave up trade secrets about American space shuttles, military aircraft, and even the Delta IV rocket. Though Chung was 73 years old, the judge said he handed out the possible life sentence as a message to the Chinese government: “Stop sending your spies here.”Chung was reportedly aided in his crimes by Chi Mak, a former defense-contractor engineer. Mak was convicted of conspiring to pass sensitive military technology to the PRC, including information on Navy ships, nuclear submarines, and more. “We will never know the full extent of the damage that Mr. Mak has done to our national security,” wrote the judge, who sentenced Mak to 24 years. His family later pled guilty to related criminal charges.These are just a few of the more recently convicted PRC spies operating in the United States. The FBI has arrested dozens of Chinese on American soil in recent years for involvement in espionage operations on behalf of the communist regime. And according to various reports, there are close to 500 similar investigations ongoing. The problem is indeed enormous.-Extent and Methods of Spying-Of course, the Chinese government vehemently denies that it is engaged in espionage. “Some people have always favored making up Chinese spy stories for sensationalism,” PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu told reporters after the sentencing of Dongfan “Greg” Chung for espionage.Other communist officials claim that the accusations of spying are designed to “defame China.” Peng Bo with the “Internet Bureau” of the Chinese Information Office denied involvement in recent cyber attacks blamed on the regime: “The government has never supported or been involved in cyber attacks, and it will never do so,” he told the state-run Xinhua, adding that the charges were “sheer nonsense” and “groundless.” But nobody really believes that, not any more than they believe Chairman Mao was an “agrarian reformer.”French author Roger Faligot, who has written dozens of espionage-related books, including The Chinese Secret Services From Mao to the Olympic Games, claims there are some two million Chinese spies working with the communist state’s security apparatus. The regime has countless agencies engaged in intelligence gathering, including the Ministry of State Security; various military intelligence agencies; multiple industrial, political, and economic espionage departments; and more.Hiding behind “diplomatic immunity” and using blackmail, bribery, special privileges, strategic “business” partnerships, cyber attacks, and a wide array of other methods, China’s spies have been extremely successful in their efforts.“The Chinese are the biggest problem we have with respect to the level of effort that they’re devoting against us versus the level of attention we are giving to them,” former U.S. counterintelligence chief Michelle Van Cleave told CBS, explaining that it was impossible to know the true magnitude of the problem. And she isn’t the only concerned American official.In its 2007 annual report to Congress on the military power of the PRC, the Department of Defense explained that Chinese espionage is a critical threat. “Several high profile legal cases highlight China’s efforts to obtain sensitive U.S. technologies (e.g., missile, imaging, semiconductor, and submarine) illegally by targeting well-placed scientists and businessmen,” explained the report. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have rated China’s aggressive and wide-ranging espionage as the leading threat to U.S. technology. Since 2000, ICE has initiated more than 400 investigations involving the illicit export of U.S. arms and technologies to China.”American military and government-related intelligence is one of the top priorities for Chinese intelligence services. Fengzhi Li, a former spy recruiter for the communist regime who defected and is now seeking asylum in the United States, told CBS’ 60 Minutes that “without a doubt,” China’s Ministry of State Security dedicates most of its efforts to spying on America.Chinese espionage against the U.S. military goes back a long way, too. It has even been aided in recent decades by some top American officials, including a former U.S. President. Bill Clinton helped the hostile communist government access some of the most sensitive American military technology while covering up various crimes for the regime and its agents. As documented in the February 15, 1999 “Chinagate: Treason in the White House” issue of The New American, Clinton’s collaboration was secured in exchange for massive unlawful campaign contributions.“ President Clinton promised to restrain those who ordered the Tiananmen Square massacre, but he has now allowed these men whose hands are stained with the blood of martyrs of freedom into the highest reaches of our military defenses, and made available to them significant portions of our advanced military technology,” wrote former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Thomas Moorer.Chinese espionage against the U.S. government and armed forces has been so successful that it may seem there cannot be a whole lot left for the regime to steal. A late-1990s congressional committee found that the Chinese regime already possessed vast amounts of America’s most sensitive military information, including the designs of American thermonuclear weapons.But military and government secrets aren’t the only things the regime is seeking. Economic espionage has become a huge drain on the American economy. “The Cold War isn’t over, it has just moved into a new arena: the global marketplace,” notes the FBI on its website. The agency estimates that “every year billions of U.S. dollars are lost to foreign competitors who deliberately target economic intelligence in flourishing U.S. industries and technologies, and who cull intelligence out of shelved technologies by exploiting open source and classified information known as trade secrets.” Current estimates on the cost of economic espionage to U.S. businesses are difficult to find, but FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Detroit Economic Club in 2003 that “theft of trade secrets and critical technologies — what we call economic espionage — costs our nation upwards of $250 billion a year.” And China is the main problem.The examples of Chinese economic espionage aren’t new either. From spying on American firms in Silicon Valley to stealing proprietary software from foreign firms in China, the regime does it all. Some analysts, like cyber-security expert Alan Paller of the SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute, claim that every foreign company with operations in China has probably had its computer networks compromised by the communist government.Earlier this year, the family-owned American software firm Cybersitter initiated a federal lawsuit against the PRC and two contractors for stealing its proprietary anti-pornography software. The regime used it to censor the Internet in China. “I don’t think I have ever seen such clear-cut stealing,” said an attorney for the company. The estimated damages to Cybersitter: over $2 billion.Then there is the spying on dissidents. Owing to the totalitarian nature of the Chinese regime, countless people have fled the country. But it turns out they aren’t safe no matter where they go. Fengzhi Li, the former Chinese intelligence officer who defected and is seeking asylum in the United States, told a news conference last year after speaking before Congress that the communist government spies on spiritual groups, dissidents, and “aggrieved poor people” overseas.Former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, who was based in Australia and also recently defected, told New Tang Dynasty Television about some of the methods used by the communist regime to control Chinese populations abroad in order to further communist aims. These include setting up “fake” umbrella organizations to create the illusion that all Chinese living outside China think like the Chinese Communist Party. He said officials would send students and other spies to Chinese human-rights demonstrations to act as agents provocateurs and compile lists of who attended.“Basically, the Chinese student organization in every school is under [Chinese Communist Party] control, other than the ones started by individuals with views that disagree with the CCP’s,” he said. “Their operation funds mostly come from the education department of the consulate, and meetings are held on consulate grounds. The representatives and the chair persons in the student organizations are appointed by the consulate.” Many of the groups’ websites even openly acknowledge the connection.In his tenure as a high-level Chinese diplomat in Australia, Yonglin spent much of his time keeping tabs on Falun Gong practitioners and waging a propaganda war against them. He revealed that there was a 1,000-member-strong Chinese spy network operating in the country.Indeed, the regime expends a great deal of effort spying on Chinese dissidents in Europe as well. In early March, a Swedish court convicted Babur Maihesuti of aggravated illegal espionage against members of the persecuted Chinese-minority Uighur community exiled in Sweden. According to the court, he gathered information regarding the travel habits, health, refugee status, and political inclination of Uighurs and transferred it to the communist regime.One of the most serious espionage threats from the Chinese government is found on college campuses, according to experts, officials, and defectors. There are an estimated 150,000 Chinese students studying at American universities, according to Time magazine. And according to officials, the institutions are a prime target for spies seeking sensitive technological information. Of course, not all Chinese students in America are here to spy or steal information. Many of them are here in search of a better life away from the pervasive thumb of communist authoritarianism. But not all of them. According to a survey by China’s official news organ, 81 percent of Chinese students in America plan to return home after receiving their U.S. education.“Everything that’s needed for a modern industrial military state is leaving here, and going there,” University of Michigan aerospace engineering professor Bill Kauffman explained in a video interview with investigative reporter Vince Wade about the problem.-Ultimate Goals-So what are the aims of the communist regime’s espionage activities? Different experts interviewed by The New American for this story expressed various opinions, but none of the theories are good.“The Chinese are assembling a comprehensive ‘map’ of the U.S. government and economy while simultaneously looting our high technology for their own industrial and economic purposes,” explained Charles Viar, a former U.S. counterintelligence official and the chair of the Center for Intelligence Studies. The goal, he said, is “to achieve international hegemony — peacefully, if possible. At minimal military cost if not.”“The Chinese are moving forward with building an aircraft carrier, they’re establishing ports all over, and advanced missile systems and satellite systems,” said Roger Canfield, Ph.D., author of several books on the Chinese regime and its espionage operations, including China’s Trojan Horses: Red Chinese Soldiers, Sailors, Students, Scientists and Spies Occupy America’s Homeland. He told The New American that the long-term goal was military modernization on a scale that would someday be able to challenge American power.Chinese dissidents who have experienced the regime’s brutality are acutely aware of the possibilities for danger. “The Communist Party wants to survive, and it will steal for survival — it’s self-interest,” explained Samuel Zhou, the executive vice president of New Tang Dynasty Television and a native-born Chinese who emigrated to America after the Tiananmen Square massacre. In an interview with The New American, he explained: “They need to grow the economy to defend themselves from the mass[es] … so they need economic information. And then there’s Taiwan of course.... Whether they have the power to conquer the world — that’s still far away. But they do want to have at least this kind of control — they want to control others, and once they have this information, they have ways to manipulate people.... I don’t want to make a prediction now, but communism is communism — they have no principles. If they can kill tens of millions of their own people, what could they do to the world? It’s kind of obvious.”Former Canadian Minister of Parliament David Kilgour, also a former Minister of State for the Asia-Pacific region, put it bluntly. “There’s absolutely no doubt that their long term goal is world domination and to put the United States — as much as they can — out of business, and to become the world’s superpower,” he told The New American. “They want to run the whole planet.”And indeed, the communist government has given good indications of their way of thinking. Top Chinese military officials have openly discussed destroying American cities with nuclear weapons, especially if the United States intervenes militarily on behalf of Taiwan. “If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said Chinese Major General Zhu Chenghu in a speech. “We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course, the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”-What It All Means-Most of the analysts who discussed with The New American the effectiveness of law enforcement and counterintelligence agreed that the U.S. government was not doing enough to counter the threat. “American counterespionage — the FBI — has been largely ineffective against the Chinese and, indeed, the Chinese have twice managed to suborn FBI agents deployed against them (using sexual lures),” said Charles Viar of the Center for Intelligence Studies in an e-mail to The New American.In its recommendations to Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission suggested an assessment of export control enforcement and counterintelligence efforts, and possibly providing more funding for operations to prevent illicit technology transfer to the regime or its industrial espionage programs. It also recommended a review of American military and intelligence computer networks.Some of the methods suggested by experts interviewed for this story include properly vetting Chinese students aiming to study in American universities, tightening export controls on sensitive technology, and actively enforcing the restrictions, among others proposals. Increasing resources to counterespionage programs would help, too.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
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.
1.5 MILLION ACRES BURNED IN AMERICA.
Some B.C. residents can relax as crews make progress corralling two wildfires-The Canadian PressBy The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – aug 17,15-yahoonews
KELOWNA, B.C. - Crews are making good progress on a pair of wildfires burning in the south Okanagan near Oliver, B.C., south of Penticton.The BC Wildfire Service says the Testalinden fire, burning seven kilometres south of Oliver, is now 40 per cent contained and has not destroyed any homes.It has charred 16 square kilometres of bush, and about 80 crew members, four pieces of heavy equipment and seven helicopters are working to build guards around the remaining flanks.The three-square-kilometre Wilson Mountain wildfire just north of Osoyoos is estimated to be 70 per cent contained, and evacuation orders issued for nearby homes have been downgraded to evacuation alerts.The 37-square-kilometre Rock Creek blaze remains uncontained and there is no end in sight for the evacuation orders that have forced hundreds of people from their homes, east of Osoyoos, near the U.S. border.Officials confirm that blaze, which is suspected to have been caused by humans, has destroyed 30 homes but no one has been hurt. (CKFR)Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelled Wilson Mountain.
Army troops mobilized to help fight Western wildfires-Reuters By Laura Zuckerman-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The U.S. Army began deploying 200 soldiers on Monday to reinforce civilian firefighters stretched thin by scores of large wildfires roaring across several Western states, marking the first such mobilization of active-duty military personnel in nine years.The troops from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, are to be organized into 10 firefighting crews of 20 each, all of whom will be sent to a single fire that has yet to be determined, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.Fire managers requested the mobilization, the first of its kind since 2006, as civilian crews from federal, state and local agencies struggled to contain many of the large wildfires that have charred more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of the West amid a heat wave gripping the drought-parched region. Among the areas hardest hit was northern Idaho, where an elderly evacuee was killed and at least 50 homes were destroyed by a cluster of fires that have raged along the Clearwater River in and around the Nez Perce Indian Reservation since last week.The so-called Clearwater Complex of fires has charred more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of timber and brush and prompted the evacuation of more than 100 homes from the vicinity of the logging towns of Orofino and Kamiah, authorities said. An elderly woman died on Friday night or early Saturday as flames hemmed in Kamiah on three sides, according to Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings. Cheryl Wissler, 70, was trying to secure her backyard chickens before fleeing with her husband when she fell and hit her head, Giddings said. An autopsy was planned. Giddings said authorities, firefighters and residents have been taxed by multiple fires burning across an 8,500-square-mile (22,000-sq-km) county intersected by steep canyons and mountain forests crowded with pine and fir trees. "There are very limited resources and fires everywhere," he said. Ryan Greendeer, a spokesman for fire managers overseeing the Clearwater Complex, said that for the third day on Monday the team's requests for reinforcements of ground crews and aircraft had been returned with the initials "UTF," for "unable to fill.""Because of the fire activity around the entire region, our resources are stretched very, very thin," he said. "Each incident is having to make do with what is available, not what's needed."The Clearwater was one of 14 major wildfires burning across Idaho and one of about 95 tallied in seven Western states, the bulk of them in Washington, Oregon, Montana and California, the Interagency Fire Center said.Little if any containment had been achieved for at least half of those blazes as of Monday, the agency reported, citing breezy conditions and unusually high temperatures persisting across much of the West.About a dozen major fires burning in Oregon alone have scorched some 470 square miles (1,217 sq km) and left at least 1,000 residents under evacuation.In one of the fiercest of those conflagrations, hundreds of people were ordered from homes over the weekend in central Oregon, where a cluster of wildfires dubbed the Canyon Creek Complex destroyed 26 dwellings and continued to threaten hundreds of other structures, authorities said.(Additional reporting by Courtney Sherwood from Portland, Oregon; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Sandra Maler)
U.S. Western wildfires stretch resources thin-Reuters By Laura Zuckerman-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Dozens of large wildfires roared largely unchecked across several Western states on Monday, stretching resources thin for agencies struggling to contain the flames amid a heat wave gripping the drought-parched region.Among the areas hardest hit was northern Idaho, where an elderly evacuee was killed and at least 50 homes were destroyed by a cluster of fires that have raged along the Clearwater River in and around the Nez Perce Indian Reservation since last week.The so-called Clearwater Complex of fires has charred more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of timber and brush and prompted the evacuation of more than 100 homes from the vicinity of the logging towns of Orofino and Kamiah, authorities said. An elderly woman died on Friday night or early Saturday as flames hemmed in Kamiah on three sides, according to Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings. Cheryl Wissler, 70, was trying to secure her backyard chickens before fleeing with her husband when she fell and hit her head, Giddings said. An autopsy was planned. Giddings said authorities, firefighters and residents have been taxed by multiple fires burning across an 8,500-square-mile (22,000-sq-km) county intersected by steep canyons and mountain forests crowded with pine and fir trees. "There are very limited resources and fires everywhere," he said. Ryan Greendeer, a spokesman for fire managers overseeing the Clearwater Complex, said that for the third day on Monday the team's requests for reinforcements of ground crews and aircraft had been returned with the initials "UTF," for "unable to fill." "Because of the fire activity around the entire region, our resources are stretched very, very thin," he said. "Each incident is having to make do with what is available, not what's needed."The Clearwater was one of 14 major wildfires burning across Idaho and one of 80 tallied in seven Western states, the bulk of them in Washington, Oregon, Montana and California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.Little if any containment had been achieved for at least half of those blazes as of Monday, the agency reported, citing breezy conditions and unusually high temperatures persisting across much of the West.About a dozen major fires burning in Oregon alone have scorched some 470 square miles (1,217 sq km) and left at least 1,000 residents under evacuation.In one of the fiercest of those conflagrations, hundreds of people were ordered from homes over the weekend in central Oregon, where a cluster of wildfires dubbed the Canyon Creek Complex destroyed 26 dwellings and continued to threaten hundreds of other structures, authorities said.Evacuations also were prompted by a fire near Baker City in eastern Oregon that has blackened nearly 97,000 acres (39,255 hectares) and from a 20,000-acre (8,000-hectare) blaze between Baker City and Canyon Creek. Fire operations chief Marvin Vetter said strained resources had left the fire crews short-staffed on the smaller blaze.(Additional reporting by Courtney Sherwood from Portland, Oregon; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Sandra Maler)
EARTHQUAKES
ISAIAH 42:15
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
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,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Magnitude 4.0 earthquake jolts San Francisco Bay Area-Reuters-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The San Francisco Bay Area was rattled by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake on Monday morning, the United States Geological Survey reported, although there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.The earthquake, near Piedmont some 13 miles east of San Francisco, struck around 7 a.m. local time, according to the USGS. The quake produced several seconds of moderate shaking in neighboring Oakland, according to a Reuters witness.The Oakland Police Department said on its Twitter account that calls had flooded in after the tremor, but no one was reported to have been hurt or injured. Officials in nearby Berkeley also said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.Still, the shaking prompted a widespread reaction around the Bay Area. #Earthquake was trending on Twitter with many people tweeting out reactions, and local television news anchors jumped at the shaking while broadcasting live.California, which sits along a series of seismic faults, is forecast to experience a much more powerful earthquake at some point, but scientists do not know when it might come or how strong it might measure.(Reporting by Jim Christie and Curtis Skinner in Oakland and Lisa Lambert in Washington; Editing by Susan Heavey)
1 Day, Magnitude 2.5+ Worldwide
34 earthquakes - DownloadUpdated: 2015-08-17 22:27:53 UTCShowing event times using UTC34 earthquakes in map area
2.6 13km SW of Westwood, California 2015-08-17 20:18:41 UTC 0.1 km
3.1 42km SW of Talkeetna, Alaska 2015-08-17 16:35:12 UTC 56.0 km
5.6 174km NNW of Kilmia, Yemen 2015-08-17 16:16:59 UTC 10.0 km
4.8 299km NE of Raoul Island, New Zealand 2015-08-17 15:58:31 UTC 10.0 km
4.8 58km SSE of Bitung, Indonesia 2015-08-17 14:43:34 UTC 70.4 km
5.7 237km NE of Farallon de Pajaros, Northern Mariana Islands 2015-08-17 14:42:31 UTC 2.6 km
4.0 1km N of Piedmont, California 2015-08-17 13:49:17 UTC 4.8 km
3.1 50km ENE of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 13:34:32 UTC 34.0 km
3.2 112km NNW of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 12:35:06 UTC 33.0 km
3.4 111km NNW of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 12:35:06 UTC 35.0 km
3.1 12km N of Seminole, Oklahoma 2015-08-17 11:53:56 UTC 3.4 km
4.5 124km NE of Iquique, Chile 2015-08-17 11:51:46 UTC 108.3 km
5.1 10km NNE of Nishinoomote, Japan 2015-08-17 11:40:36 UTC 25.6 km
3.4 115km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 08:55:20 UTC 57.0 km
3.0 119km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 08:42:46 UTC 32.0 km
2.5 70km SSW of King Salmon, Alaska 2015-08-17 08:03:55 UTC 12.2 km
4.4 190km W of Tofino, Canada 2015-08-17 07:58:33 UTC 20.0 km
4.8 39km E of Santiago, Philippines 2015-08-17 07:44:30 UTC 76.5 km
3.8 66km WSW of Rosarito, B.C., MX 2015-08-17 07:39:10 UTC 25.9 km
3.3 120km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 07:29:57 UTC 46.0 km
4.6 40km ESE of Saparua, Indonesia 2015-08-17 07:17:19 UTC 50.4 km
2.6 19km SSE of Ridgemark, California 2015-08-17 07:05:28 UTC 6.3 km
2.6 1km SSE of Bishop, California 2015-08-17 06:17:25 UTC 12.3 km
3.0 109km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 06:08:21 UTC 37.0 km
3.1 50km NE of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 06:03:58 UTC 14.0 km
3.1 113km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 05:47:18 UTC 27.0 km
3.2 42km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 05:33:06 UTC 52.0 km
3.3 107km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 02:56:00 UTC 61.0 km
4.4 10km N of Farkhor, Tajikistan 2015-08-17 02:24:09 UTC 7.4 km
3.1 17km NNW of Isabela, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 02:18:04 UTC 78.0 km
5.2 145km E of Chichi-shima, Japan 2015-08-17 00:45:42 UTC 7.4 km
4.2 11km ESE of Ometepec, Mexico 2015-08-17 00:36:40 UTC 31.6 km
2.5 20km SSW of Atka, Alaska 2015-08-17 00:27:02 UTC 208.4 km
3.6 5km NE of San Rafael del Yuma, Dominican Republic 2015-08-16 23:24:10 UTC 85.0 km
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
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(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) 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-2 billion)
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)
Foreign companies around Tianjin blast suspend operations-Associated Press By ERIKA KINETZ-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SHANGHAI (AP) — Foreign companies have suspended operations around the Tianjin port as officials scramble to contain the toxic fallout of last week's deadly chemical explosions, which dealt a blow to northern China's emerging economic hub.Toyota said over half its China production capacity would be offline at least through Wednesday. The company has operations near the blast evacuation zone and said Monday that it had suspended three production lines, which can produce 530,000 vehicles a year.Thousands of Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai and Renault cars, mostly pricey imports, parked on lots near the blast were decimated.The operations of Panasonic, logistics company Singamas Container Holdings and Deere & Co. have also been disrupted.The list of name-brand companies impacted by the blast is a testament to Tianjin's rise, but regulatory and safety lapses at the hazardous goods warehouses that exploded have drawn attention to the sometimes shaky infrastructure China has laid down as it pursues ultra-fast growth.The port lies at the heart of one of China's new free trade zones, designed to draw foreign investment and create an economic hub for China's northeast that could one day rival the Pearl and Yangtze river deltas. The broader Binhai New Area has long been on the radar of Beijing's technocrats, who hope to integrate Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei into a single, thrumming economic powerhouse."This wasn't just an incident in some third-rate city. It was right at the heart of everything," said Chet Scheltema, regional manager at international business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates, who has lived and worked in Tianjin.He said the explosions called attention to deficiencies in China's soft infrastructure of safety standards and emergency preparedness, which are usually overshadowed by China's shiny skyscrapers and impressive roads."There's still a lot to be done that's not immediately obvious," he said. "When you're trying to recruit your CEO and his or her family from the U.S. and they see these kinds of things on TV, or their family and relatives see this, they start to talk and think, should I really be going to China? Are they really the state-of-the-art economy we thought they were?"Airbus built its first assembly line outside of Europe in Tianjin, which turns out four A320 aircraft per month. Spokesman Jacques Rocca said its facilities were unaffected. "We are evaluating what could be the impact in the coming weeks, but it will depend on the capability of the port of Tianjin to recover its activity," he said.The Tianjin Maritime Bureau said Monday that 85 ships had been delayed or canceled, but that port traffic is now normal.Some shipments to Tianjin have been diverted to other regional ports, raising transport costs but minimizing overall economic impact, said Roberto Giannetta, secretary general of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association. "Damage to containers and cargo has been extensive," he said, adding that those losses, difficult to estimate at this early stage, would be borne by insurance companies.Operations at the port are "slowly returning," Giannetta said.Genscape, which monitors commodity and energy markets, has documented normal oil and petrochemical tanker traffic at the port. Fishing boat traffic fell by half the day after the blast, but has now partially rebounded, said Amir Bornaee, an oil analyst at Genscape.Panasonic, which has a product development center 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the blast site, kept its offices closed Monday, out of safety concerns. A spokeswoman said executives were still evaluating whether to open Tuesday.Singamas Container Holdings told the Hong Kong stock exchange Monday that it suspended operations at two depots close to the blast and lost contact with one employee. The company did not anticipate a material impact on business.U.S. farm equipment maker Deere & Co. said it suspended production at its facilities about six kilometers (four miles) from the explosion site. It planned to resume operations later this week after cleanup and inspections.Automakers have been hit because Tianjin is one of China's major ports for car imports. Volkswagen lost around 2,700 vehicles. Renault said 1,500 Koleos SUVs were damaged. Hyundai said it had around 4,000 vehicles, mostly high-end cars, parked at the site.___Associated Press writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong and researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.
North Korea is threatening war against the US using an especially hostile nuclear rhetoric-(Reuters/KCNA)Written by Marc Bain-August 16, 2015
North Korea is once again angrily threatening war against the US and South Korea.In a particularly hostile bit of rhetoric broadcast via the country’s official news agency, a spokesman for the National Defense Committee hinted at the country’s willingness to use nuclear weapons, CNN reported. “The army and people of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] are no longer what they used to be in the past, when they had to counter the US nukes with rifles,” the NDC spokesman said, adding that the country is an “invincible power equipped with both the latest offensive and defensive means unknown to the world, including nuclear deterrence.”US intelligence suggests that a threat against the mainland is especially troubling. In April, Admiral Bill Gortney, the general in charge of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said, “Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 [missile] and shoot it at the homeland.” (Though that doesn’t necessarily mean that they could effectively detonate a warhead.)The threat comes in response to the multinational military exercises the US and South Korea are set to begin on Monday (Aug. 17). Each year, the countries run exercises on the Korean peninsula intended to keep their joint defenses on the ready, and to demonstrate the US commitment to the alliance. North Korea has long condemned them as rehearsal for war, and issues warnings every year that they’ll retaliate.North Korea’s menacing words have come to seem empty, but experts warn it would be a mistake to completely dismiss them.Last week, the Monterey Institute of International Studies released a report detailing how Pyongyang has been steadily building its nuclear-weapons program. Satellite imagery shows that the country is modernizing a facility near a uranium mine, and it may have expanded its known uranium-enrichment facility at Nyongbyon. Since 2006, it has carried out three nuclear test explosions.But it’s quite possible that North Korea still poses its greatest threat to those inside the country. Recently, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has been carrying out a purge of government officials, including top military staff, as he continues to consolidate his power.
Seoul: N. Korea resumes loudspeaker broadcasts amid tension-Associated Press By HYUNG-JIN KIM-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas have resumed cross-border propaganda warfare as North Korea on Monday matched South Korea's loudspeaker campaign with broadcasts of its own that reportedly included criticism of Seoul and praises for Pyongyang.The mutual propaganda attacks mark a further deterioration of relations between the Koreas, who haven't engaged in any serious talks in recent months.Last week, South Korea blamed the North for land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers and resumed propaganda broadcasts for the first time in 11 years in retaliation. North Korea has denied the accusations and threatened to launch strikes on South Korean loudspeakers.North Korea began its own loudspeaker broadcasts Monday on the eastern part of the border, according a South Korean Defense Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules.The official gave no further details. But South Korean public broadcaster KBS, citing an unidentified military official, reported that the North Korean broadcasts mainly included criticism of South Korea and praises for North Korea's political system.The North's broadcasts mark the restoration of inter-Korean propaganda warfare along the border after the two Koreas stopped the practice in 2004 as part of their efforts to ease animosities. Other practices, including leafleting and the operation of frontline billboards, remain suspended, according to Seoul officials.North Korea's action also came as Seoul and Washington launched annual military drills that Pyongyang calls an invasion rehearsal. South Korean and U.S. officials have said that the drills are purely defensive in nature.U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the "routine" exercises were proceeding normally. "We look forward to completing the exercises, as we always do. This is all about proving alliance capability," he told reporters in Washington.South Korea has said the two soldiers wounded from the mine explosion were on a routine patrol at the southern part of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. One of the soldiers lost both legs, while the other lost one leg.South Korean loudspeaker broadcasts, which continued on Monday, were aimed at emphasizing that the mine blast was provocation committed by North Korea and relaying messages about the superiority of Seoul-style democracy as well as world news and weather forecasts, the South Korean Defense Ministry official said.North Korea is intolerant of any outside criticism of its leadership, led by Kim Jong Un. Last year, North Korean troops opened fire after South Korean activists floated balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border. South Korea returned fire, but no casualties were reported.The Koreas' mine-strewn DMZ is the world's most heavily armed border, with hundreds of thousands of combat troops facing each other. It's a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.____Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.
US lawmakers quick to criticize China on currency drop-Associated Press By MATTHEW PENNINGTON-August 13, 2015 11:03 AM-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers have been quick to condemn the sudden drop in the value of Chinese currency as damaging for American businesses and workers, reviving an issue that was once one of the biggest sources of tension between the two world powers.Yet the initial response from the Obama administration officials has been mild, even positive. They say Beijing has indicated it is taking steps toward a market-determined exchange rate - something that even China's biggest critics in Washington have been demanding for years.While China's currency policy has been a perennial sore spot in the relationship, it has dropped in the pecking order of priority concerns during President Barack Obama's tenure, as the yuan has appreciated significantly against the U.S. dollar since 2010.China's territorial ambitions in the seas of East Asia and alleged cyber spying on a massive scale against U.S. government and businesses are likely to dominate the agenda when Chinese President Xi Jinping make his first state visit to the United States in September.But a continued drop in the value of yuan against the dollar could become an issue of growing contention and give ammunition to critics of China and fuel long-running resentment over the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Asia's largest economy, which totaled $343.1 billion last year."The key thing will be, does the currency begin to move in a variety of directions and show market-oriented volatility? If it does, that will undercut arguments that this is a one-way move to promote exports and manipulate the currency," said Scott Kennedy, director of Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank."That will make things easier when Xi Jinping visits," Kennedy said. But he added that if the yuan drops considerably more and it leads to a big increase in Chinese exports, "then it will give genuine ammunition and justification for those who are critical."The initial reaction from U.S. lawmakers to the depreciation, particularly Democrats, has been swift and negative. The yuan's 1.9 percent devaluation Tuesday against the U.S. dollar was its biggest one-day fall in a decade. By Thursday, the yuan had fallen by a total of 2.9 percent for the week."When China doesn't play by the rules it costs Pennsylvania jobs," said Sen. Bob Casey, referring to the traditionally industrial state he represents."For years, China has rigged the rules and played games with its currency," said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. "Rather than changing their ways, the Chinese government seems to be doubling down."Beijing said the yuan's decline was a one-time event and part of changes aimed at making the tightly controlled currency more market-oriented. On Thursday, the central bank tried to ease fears of more big declines, saying yuan was close to "market levels."Until now, the central bank set the yuan's value each day based on a basket of currencies that is believed to be dominated by the U.S. dollar. That meant the yuan rose with the dollar over the past year, hurting Chinese exporters and raising the threat of politically dangerous job losses.But Nicholas Lardy, an expert on China's economy at the Peterson Institute, said it was "preposterous" to suggest that China has suddenly taken the move to stoke growth in an economy that has been weakening for three years. He said it would take at least a double digit depreciation in currency value for it to have an impact on growth, and it would take six months or so to be felt, even if it dropped by that margin.He said China's move was primarily motivated by its desire to enter the basket of currencies used to set the value of the International Monetary Fund in-house currency, called Special Drawing Rights. The other currencies are the dollar, the euro, the yen and the British pound.China's action came a week after a report by IMF staff last week showed a mixed performance of the yuan on meeting key financial norms, recommending that China wait until at least October 2016 to join.The U.S. Treasury Department's reaction Tuesday to the depreciation was measured."China has indicated that the changes announced today are another step in its move to a more market-determined exchange rate. We will continue to monitor how these changes are implemented and continue to press China on the pace of its reforms," the department said in a statement.Lardy characterized the U.S. Treasury's reaction to China's depreciation as "modestly positive" as it waits to see how things evolve and make a definitive judgment. He said congressional criticism was inevitable."Some will continue to rail at China whatever happens. That's been the history," he said.John Frisbie, president of the US-China Business Council, which advocates for American businesses, said its membership is typically more concerned about the impact of China's economic slowdown, rising costs, regulatory restrictions and intellectual property theft than currency.He stressed the importance of China undertaking further economic and financial reforms before it can have a fully convertible currency and market-driven exchange rate. Otherwise, he said it risks capital flight, which could lead to a lower exchange rate.
No serious security threat seen at U.S. nuclear site: U.S. official-Reuters-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - A bomb-sniffing dog at the Savannah River nuclear site over-reacted when it halted a delivery truck and caused security to put the facility in lockdown, and there does not appear to be a serious security threat, a U.S. government official said on Monday.The dog barked at a truck that services vending machines at the site in South Carolina, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The facility, which was put in lockdown for a "potential security event" following the alarm, purifies highly enriched uranium, and is part of the Department of Energy's nuclear arm."The truck still has to be fully checked out," said the official, adding that it did not seem that there was a serious security breach.A DoE spokeswoman at Savannah River said the plant was still in lockdown, meaning no one was allowed to enter, but employees were free to leave for the day."The event was declared after electronic and canine scans of a vendor delivery truck indicated a possibility of explosive residue on the truck," the Savannah River Site said in a statement on its Facebook page."Site barricades are currently closed to incoming traffic," an earlier post said, also issued by the DoE. "There is no indication of a consequence beyond the Savannah River Site boundaries."Law enforcement agencies from South Carolina and Georgia were called and are on the scene, the site said.The Savannah River Site placed its H Area on a "phase II" security alert, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. The H Area is where highly enriched uranium is blended down to produce low enriched uranium for use in commercial reactors."All personnel should remain in their offices or labs and standby for further instructions via the Site public address system or instruction via email," the memo said.The government-run site was constructed in the 1950s to produce basic materials for nuclear weapons, according to a DoE website, and produced one third of U.S. weapons grade plutonium from 1953 to 1988.Two of the Savannah River Site's 5 reactors have been deactivated. It now blends down enriched uranium for use in commercial reactors. It also is used to store spent fuel. About 36 million gallons of radioactive liquid are stored there in 49 underground tanks.(Reporting by Emily Stephenson, Robert Gibbons and Timothy Gardner; writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Sandra Maler and Bill Rigby)
Tuesday, 27 April 2010-Chinese Spying in the United States-Written by Alex Newman-new american
China spiesA secret FBI videotape showing the transfer of classified military documents to a communist Chinese agent was released in February to the world, providing a brief peek at the shadowy world of espionage against America. Pentagon analyst Gregg Bergersen with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency is shown receiving a wad of bills and telling People’s Republic of China spy Tai Shen Kuo that he’s “very reticent” to let him have the information “because it’s all classified.”The documents included sensitive material about weapons sales to Taiwan — a U.S. ally, which the communist regime considers a breakaway province to be conquered eventually — and details of a communications system. Bergersen told Kuo: “You can take all the notes you want … but if it ever fell into the wrong hands … then I would be fired for sure. I’d go to jail because I violated all the rules.” He was eventually convicted and sentenced to five years, while Kuo received a 15-year sentence. The investigation also identified other sources who were providing secrets about American space and naval technology to the PRC.In February, another Chinese spy was sentenced to 15 years in jail for stealing sensitive secrets from his former employers — Boeing and Rockwell International — and passing them to the communist regime. Engineer Dongfan “Greg” Chung reportedly gave up trade secrets about American space shuttles, military aircraft, and even the Delta IV rocket. Though Chung was 73 years old, the judge said he handed out the possible life sentence as a message to the Chinese government: “Stop sending your spies here.”Chung was reportedly aided in his crimes by Chi Mak, a former defense-contractor engineer. Mak was convicted of conspiring to pass sensitive military technology to the PRC, including information on Navy ships, nuclear submarines, and more. “We will never know the full extent of the damage that Mr. Mak has done to our national security,” wrote the judge, who sentenced Mak to 24 years. His family later pled guilty to related criminal charges.These are just a few of the more recently convicted PRC spies operating in the United States. The FBI has arrested dozens of Chinese on American soil in recent years for involvement in espionage operations on behalf of the communist regime. And according to various reports, there are close to 500 similar investigations ongoing. The problem is indeed enormous.-Extent and Methods of Spying-Of course, the Chinese government vehemently denies that it is engaged in espionage. “Some people have always favored making up Chinese spy stories for sensationalism,” PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu told reporters after the sentencing of Dongfan “Greg” Chung for espionage.Other communist officials claim that the accusations of spying are designed to “defame China.” Peng Bo with the “Internet Bureau” of the Chinese Information Office denied involvement in recent cyber attacks blamed on the regime: “The government has never supported or been involved in cyber attacks, and it will never do so,” he told the state-run Xinhua, adding that the charges were “sheer nonsense” and “groundless.” But nobody really believes that, not any more than they believe Chairman Mao was an “agrarian reformer.”French author Roger Faligot, who has written dozens of espionage-related books, including The Chinese Secret Services From Mao to the Olympic Games, claims there are some two million Chinese spies working with the communist state’s security apparatus. The regime has countless agencies engaged in intelligence gathering, including the Ministry of State Security; various military intelligence agencies; multiple industrial, political, and economic espionage departments; and more.Hiding behind “diplomatic immunity” and using blackmail, bribery, special privileges, strategic “business” partnerships, cyber attacks, and a wide array of other methods, China’s spies have been extremely successful in their efforts.“The Chinese are the biggest problem we have with respect to the level of effort that they’re devoting against us versus the level of attention we are giving to them,” former U.S. counterintelligence chief Michelle Van Cleave told CBS, explaining that it was impossible to know the true magnitude of the problem. And she isn’t the only concerned American official.In its 2007 annual report to Congress on the military power of the PRC, the Department of Defense explained that Chinese espionage is a critical threat. “Several high profile legal cases highlight China’s efforts to obtain sensitive U.S. technologies (e.g., missile, imaging, semiconductor, and submarine) illegally by targeting well-placed scientists and businessmen,” explained the report. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have rated China’s aggressive and wide-ranging espionage as the leading threat to U.S. technology. Since 2000, ICE has initiated more than 400 investigations involving the illicit export of U.S. arms and technologies to China.”American military and government-related intelligence is one of the top priorities for Chinese intelligence services. Fengzhi Li, a former spy recruiter for the communist regime who defected and is now seeking asylum in the United States, told CBS’ 60 Minutes that “without a doubt,” China’s Ministry of State Security dedicates most of its efforts to spying on America.Chinese espionage against the U.S. military goes back a long way, too. It has even been aided in recent decades by some top American officials, including a former U.S. President. Bill Clinton helped the hostile communist government access some of the most sensitive American military technology while covering up various crimes for the regime and its agents. As documented in the February 15, 1999 “Chinagate: Treason in the White House” issue of The New American, Clinton’s collaboration was secured in exchange for massive unlawful campaign contributions.“ President Clinton promised to restrain those who ordered the Tiananmen Square massacre, but he has now allowed these men whose hands are stained with the blood of martyrs of freedom into the highest reaches of our military defenses, and made available to them significant portions of our advanced military technology,” wrote former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Thomas Moorer.Chinese espionage against the U.S. government and armed forces has been so successful that it may seem there cannot be a whole lot left for the regime to steal. A late-1990s congressional committee found that the Chinese regime already possessed vast amounts of America’s most sensitive military information, including the designs of American thermonuclear weapons.But military and government secrets aren’t the only things the regime is seeking. Economic espionage has become a huge drain on the American economy. “The Cold War isn’t over, it has just moved into a new arena: the global marketplace,” notes the FBI on its website. The agency estimates that “every year billions of U.S. dollars are lost to foreign competitors who deliberately target economic intelligence in flourishing U.S. industries and technologies, and who cull intelligence out of shelved technologies by exploiting open source and classified information known as trade secrets.” Current estimates on the cost of economic espionage to U.S. businesses are difficult to find, but FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Detroit Economic Club in 2003 that “theft of trade secrets and critical technologies — what we call economic espionage — costs our nation upwards of $250 billion a year.” And China is the main problem.The examples of Chinese economic espionage aren’t new either. From spying on American firms in Silicon Valley to stealing proprietary software from foreign firms in China, the regime does it all. Some analysts, like cyber-security expert Alan Paller of the SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute, claim that every foreign company with operations in China has probably had its computer networks compromised by the communist government.Earlier this year, the family-owned American software firm Cybersitter initiated a federal lawsuit against the PRC and two contractors for stealing its proprietary anti-pornography software. The regime used it to censor the Internet in China. “I don’t think I have ever seen such clear-cut stealing,” said an attorney for the company. The estimated damages to Cybersitter: over $2 billion.Then there is the spying on dissidents. Owing to the totalitarian nature of the Chinese regime, countless people have fled the country. But it turns out they aren’t safe no matter where they go. Fengzhi Li, the former Chinese intelligence officer who defected and is seeking asylum in the United States, told a news conference last year after speaking before Congress that the communist government spies on spiritual groups, dissidents, and “aggrieved poor people” overseas.Former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, who was based in Australia and also recently defected, told New Tang Dynasty Television about some of the methods used by the communist regime to control Chinese populations abroad in order to further communist aims. These include setting up “fake” umbrella organizations to create the illusion that all Chinese living outside China think like the Chinese Communist Party. He said officials would send students and other spies to Chinese human-rights demonstrations to act as agents provocateurs and compile lists of who attended.“Basically, the Chinese student organization in every school is under [Chinese Communist Party] control, other than the ones started by individuals with views that disagree with the CCP’s,” he said. “Their operation funds mostly come from the education department of the consulate, and meetings are held on consulate grounds. The representatives and the chair persons in the student organizations are appointed by the consulate.” Many of the groups’ websites even openly acknowledge the connection.In his tenure as a high-level Chinese diplomat in Australia, Yonglin spent much of his time keeping tabs on Falun Gong practitioners and waging a propaganda war against them. He revealed that there was a 1,000-member-strong Chinese spy network operating in the country.Indeed, the regime expends a great deal of effort spying on Chinese dissidents in Europe as well. In early March, a Swedish court convicted Babur Maihesuti of aggravated illegal espionage against members of the persecuted Chinese-minority Uighur community exiled in Sweden. According to the court, he gathered information regarding the travel habits, health, refugee status, and political inclination of Uighurs and transferred it to the communist regime.One of the most serious espionage threats from the Chinese government is found on college campuses, according to experts, officials, and defectors. There are an estimated 150,000 Chinese students studying at American universities, according to Time magazine. And according to officials, the institutions are a prime target for spies seeking sensitive technological information. Of course, not all Chinese students in America are here to spy or steal information. Many of them are here in search of a better life away from the pervasive thumb of communist authoritarianism. But not all of them. According to a survey by China’s official news organ, 81 percent of Chinese students in America plan to return home after receiving their U.S. education.“Everything that’s needed for a modern industrial military state is leaving here, and going there,” University of Michigan aerospace engineering professor Bill Kauffman explained in a video interview with investigative reporter Vince Wade about the problem.-Ultimate Goals-So what are the aims of the communist regime’s espionage activities? Different experts interviewed by The New American for this story expressed various opinions, but none of the theories are good.“The Chinese are assembling a comprehensive ‘map’ of the U.S. government and economy while simultaneously looting our high technology for their own industrial and economic purposes,” explained Charles Viar, a former U.S. counterintelligence official and the chair of the Center for Intelligence Studies. The goal, he said, is “to achieve international hegemony — peacefully, if possible. At minimal military cost if not.”“The Chinese are moving forward with building an aircraft carrier, they’re establishing ports all over, and advanced missile systems and satellite systems,” said Roger Canfield, Ph.D., author of several books on the Chinese regime and its espionage operations, including China’s Trojan Horses: Red Chinese Soldiers, Sailors, Students, Scientists and Spies Occupy America’s Homeland. He told The New American that the long-term goal was military modernization on a scale that would someday be able to challenge American power.Chinese dissidents who have experienced the regime’s brutality are acutely aware of the possibilities for danger. “The Communist Party wants to survive, and it will steal for survival — it’s self-interest,” explained Samuel Zhou, the executive vice president of New Tang Dynasty Television and a native-born Chinese who emigrated to America after the Tiananmen Square massacre. In an interview with The New American, he explained: “They need to grow the economy to defend themselves from the mass[es] … so they need economic information. And then there’s Taiwan of course.... Whether they have the power to conquer the world — that’s still far away. But they do want to have at least this kind of control — they want to control others, and once they have this information, they have ways to manipulate people.... I don’t want to make a prediction now, but communism is communism — they have no principles. If they can kill tens of millions of their own people, what could they do to the world? It’s kind of obvious.”Former Canadian Minister of Parliament David Kilgour, also a former Minister of State for the Asia-Pacific region, put it bluntly. “There’s absolutely no doubt that their long term goal is world domination and to put the United States — as much as they can — out of business, and to become the world’s superpower,” he told The New American. “They want to run the whole planet.”And indeed, the communist government has given good indications of their way of thinking. Top Chinese military officials have openly discussed destroying American cities with nuclear weapons, especially if the United States intervenes militarily on behalf of Taiwan. “If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said Chinese Major General Zhu Chenghu in a speech. “We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course, the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”-What It All Means-Most of the analysts who discussed with The New American the effectiveness of law enforcement and counterintelligence agreed that the U.S. government was not doing enough to counter the threat. “American counterespionage — the FBI — has been largely ineffective against the Chinese and, indeed, the Chinese have twice managed to suborn FBI agents deployed against them (using sexual lures),” said Charles Viar of the Center for Intelligence Studies in an e-mail to The New American.In its recommendations to Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission suggested an assessment of export control enforcement and counterintelligence efforts, and possibly providing more funding for operations to prevent illicit technology transfer to the regime or its industrial espionage programs. It also recommended a review of American military and intelligence computer networks.Some of the methods suggested by experts interviewed for this story include properly vetting Chinese students aiming to study in American universities, tightening export controls on sensitive technology, and actively enforcing the restrictions, among others proposals. Increasing resources to counterespionage programs would help, too.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
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.
1.5 MILLION ACRES BURNED IN AMERICA.
Some B.C. residents can relax as crews make progress corralling two wildfires-The Canadian PressBy The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – aug 17,15-yahoonews
KELOWNA, B.C. - Crews are making good progress on a pair of wildfires burning in the south Okanagan near Oliver, B.C., south of Penticton.The BC Wildfire Service says the Testalinden fire, burning seven kilometres south of Oliver, is now 40 per cent contained and has not destroyed any homes.It has charred 16 square kilometres of bush, and about 80 crew members, four pieces of heavy equipment and seven helicopters are working to build guards around the remaining flanks.The three-square-kilometre Wilson Mountain wildfire just north of Osoyoos is estimated to be 70 per cent contained, and evacuation orders issued for nearby homes have been downgraded to evacuation alerts.The 37-square-kilometre Rock Creek blaze remains uncontained and there is no end in sight for the evacuation orders that have forced hundreds of people from their homes, east of Osoyoos, near the U.S. border.Officials confirm that blaze, which is suspected to have been caused by humans, has destroyed 30 homes but no one has been hurt. (CKFR)Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelled Wilson Mountain.
Army troops mobilized to help fight Western wildfires-Reuters By Laura Zuckerman-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The U.S. Army began deploying 200 soldiers on Monday to reinforce civilian firefighters stretched thin by scores of large wildfires roaring across several Western states, marking the first such mobilization of active-duty military personnel in nine years.The troops from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, are to be organized into 10 firefighting crews of 20 each, all of whom will be sent to a single fire that has yet to be determined, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.Fire managers requested the mobilization, the first of its kind since 2006, as civilian crews from federal, state and local agencies struggled to contain many of the large wildfires that have charred more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of the West amid a heat wave gripping the drought-parched region. Among the areas hardest hit was northern Idaho, where an elderly evacuee was killed and at least 50 homes were destroyed by a cluster of fires that have raged along the Clearwater River in and around the Nez Perce Indian Reservation since last week.The so-called Clearwater Complex of fires has charred more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of timber and brush and prompted the evacuation of more than 100 homes from the vicinity of the logging towns of Orofino and Kamiah, authorities said. An elderly woman died on Friday night or early Saturday as flames hemmed in Kamiah on three sides, according to Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings. Cheryl Wissler, 70, was trying to secure her backyard chickens before fleeing with her husband when she fell and hit her head, Giddings said. An autopsy was planned. Giddings said authorities, firefighters and residents have been taxed by multiple fires burning across an 8,500-square-mile (22,000-sq-km) county intersected by steep canyons and mountain forests crowded with pine and fir trees. "There are very limited resources and fires everywhere," he said. Ryan Greendeer, a spokesman for fire managers overseeing the Clearwater Complex, said that for the third day on Monday the team's requests for reinforcements of ground crews and aircraft had been returned with the initials "UTF," for "unable to fill.""Because of the fire activity around the entire region, our resources are stretched very, very thin," he said. "Each incident is having to make do with what is available, not what's needed."The Clearwater was one of 14 major wildfires burning across Idaho and one of about 95 tallied in seven Western states, the bulk of them in Washington, Oregon, Montana and California, the Interagency Fire Center said.Little if any containment had been achieved for at least half of those blazes as of Monday, the agency reported, citing breezy conditions and unusually high temperatures persisting across much of the West.About a dozen major fires burning in Oregon alone have scorched some 470 square miles (1,217 sq km) and left at least 1,000 residents under evacuation.In one of the fiercest of those conflagrations, hundreds of people were ordered from homes over the weekend in central Oregon, where a cluster of wildfires dubbed the Canyon Creek Complex destroyed 26 dwellings and continued to threaten hundreds of other structures, authorities said.(Additional reporting by Courtney Sherwood from Portland, Oregon; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Sandra Maler)
U.S. Western wildfires stretch resources thin-Reuters By Laura Zuckerman-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Dozens of large wildfires roared largely unchecked across several Western states on Monday, stretching resources thin for agencies struggling to contain the flames amid a heat wave gripping the drought-parched region.Among the areas hardest hit was northern Idaho, where an elderly evacuee was killed and at least 50 homes were destroyed by a cluster of fires that have raged along the Clearwater River in and around the Nez Perce Indian Reservation since last week.The so-called Clearwater Complex of fires has charred more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of timber and brush and prompted the evacuation of more than 100 homes from the vicinity of the logging towns of Orofino and Kamiah, authorities said. An elderly woman died on Friday night or early Saturday as flames hemmed in Kamiah on three sides, according to Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings. Cheryl Wissler, 70, was trying to secure her backyard chickens before fleeing with her husband when she fell and hit her head, Giddings said. An autopsy was planned. Giddings said authorities, firefighters and residents have been taxed by multiple fires burning across an 8,500-square-mile (22,000-sq-km) county intersected by steep canyons and mountain forests crowded with pine and fir trees. "There are very limited resources and fires everywhere," he said. Ryan Greendeer, a spokesman for fire managers overseeing the Clearwater Complex, said that for the third day on Monday the team's requests for reinforcements of ground crews and aircraft had been returned with the initials "UTF," for "unable to fill." "Because of the fire activity around the entire region, our resources are stretched very, very thin," he said. "Each incident is having to make do with what is available, not what's needed."The Clearwater was one of 14 major wildfires burning across Idaho and one of 80 tallied in seven Western states, the bulk of them in Washington, Oregon, Montana and California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.Little if any containment had been achieved for at least half of those blazes as of Monday, the agency reported, citing breezy conditions and unusually high temperatures persisting across much of the West.About a dozen major fires burning in Oregon alone have scorched some 470 square miles (1,217 sq km) and left at least 1,000 residents under evacuation.In one of the fiercest of those conflagrations, hundreds of people were ordered from homes over the weekend in central Oregon, where a cluster of wildfires dubbed the Canyon Creek Complex destroyed 26 dwellings and continued to threaten hundreds of other structures, authorities said.Evacuations also were prompted by a fire near Baker City in eastern Oregon that has blackened nearly 97,000 acres (39,255 hectares) and from a 20,000-acre (8,000-hectare) blaze between Baker City and Canyon Creek. Fire operations chief Marvin Vetter said strained resources had left the fire crews short-staffed on the smaller blaze.(Additional reporting by Courtney Sherwood from Portland, Oregon; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Sandra Maler)
EARTHQUAKES
ISAIAH 42:15
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
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,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Magnitude 4.0 earthquake jolts San Francisco Bay Area-Reuters-AUG 17,15-YAHOONEWS
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The San Francisco Bay Area was rattled by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake on Monday morning, the United States Geological Survey reported, although there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.The earthquake, near Piedmont some 13 miles east of San Francisco, struck around 7 a.m. local time, according to the USGS. The quake produced several seconds of moderate shaking in neighboring Oakland, according to a Reuters witness.The Oakland Police Department said on its Twitter account that calls had flooded in after the tremor, but no one was reported to have been hurt or injured. Officials in nearby Berkeley also said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.Still, the shaking prompted a widespread reaction around the Bay Area. #Earthquake was trending on Twitter with many people tweeting out reactions, and local television news anchors jumped at the shaking while broadcasting live.California, which sits along a series of seismic faults, is forecast to experience a much more powerful earthquake at some point, but scientists do not know when it might come or how strong it might measure.(Reporting by Jim Christie and Curtis Skinner in Oakland and Lisa Lambert in Washington; Editing by Susan Heavey)
1 Day, Magnitude 2.5+ Worldwide
34 earthquakes - DownloadUpdated: 2015-08-17 22:27:53 UTCShowing event times using UTC34 earthquakes in map area
2.6 13km SW of Westwood, California 2015-08-17 20:18:41 UTC 0.1 km
3.1 42km SW of Talkeetna, Alaska 2015-08-17 16:35:12 UTC 56.0 km
5.6 174km NNW of Kilmia, Yemen 2015-08-17 16:16:59 UTC 10.0 km
4.8 299km NE of Raoul Island, New Zealand 2015-08-17 15:58:31 UTC 10.0 km
4.8 58km SSE of Bitung, Indonesia 2015-08-17 14:43:34 UTC 70.4 km
5.7 237km NE of Farallon de Pajaros, Northern Mariana Islands 2015-08-17 14:42:31 UTC 2.6 km
4.0 1km N of Piedmont, California 2015-08-17 13:49:17 UTC 4.8 km
3.1 50km ENE of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 13:34:32 UTC 34.0 km
3.2 112km NNW of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 12:35:06 UTC 33.0 km
3.4 111km NNW of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 12:35:06 UTC 35.0 km
3.1 12km N of Seminole, Oklahoma 2015-08-17 11:53:56 UTC 3.4 km
4.5 124km NE of Iquique, Chile 2015-08-17 11:51:46 UTC 108.3 km
5.1 10km NNE of Nishinoomote, Japan 2015-08-17 11:40:36 UTC 25.6 km
3.4 115km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 08:55:20 UTC 57.0 km
3.0 119km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 08:42:46 UTC 32.0 km
2.5 70km SSW of King Salmon, Alaska 2015-08-17 08:03:55 UTC 12.2 km
4.4 190km W of Tofino, Canada 2015-08-17 07:58:33 UTC 20.0 km
4.8 39km E of Santiago, Philippines 2015-08-17 07:44:30 UTC 76.5 km
3.8 66km WSW of Rosarito, B.C., MX 2015-08-17 07:39:10 UTC 25.9 km
3.3 120km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 07:29:57 UTC 46.0 km
4.6 40km ESE of Saparua, Indonesia 2015-08-17 07:17:19 UTC 50.4 km
2.6 19km SSE of Ridgemark, California 2015-08-17 07:05:28 UTC 6.3 km
2.6 1km SSE of Bishop, California 2015-08-17 06:17:25 UTC 12.3 km
3.0 109km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 06:08:21 UTC 37.0 km
3.1 50km NE of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-17 06:03:58 UTC 14.0 km
3.1 113km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 05:47:18 UTC 27.0 km
3.2 42km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 05:33:06 UTC 52.0 km
3.3 107km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 02:56:00 UTC 61.0 km
4.4 10km N of Farkhor, Tajikistan 2015-08-17 02:24:09 UTC 7.4 km
3.1 17km NNW of Isabela, Puerto Rico 2015-08-17 02:18:04 UTC 78.0 km
5.2 145km E of Chichi-shima, Japan 2015-08-17 00:45:42 UTC 7.4 km
4.2 11km ESE of Ometepec, Mexico 2015-08-17 00:36:40 UTC 31.6 km
2.5 20km SSW of Atka, Alaska 2015-08-17 00:27:02 UTC 208.4 km
3.6 5km NE of San Rafael del Yuma, Dominican Republic 2015-08-16 23:24:10 UTC 85.0 km
