News for February 1, 2006

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IRANIAN PRESIDENT—LOOKING FOR MAHDI TO APPEAR SOON (January 25, 2006) - If you have followed our ministry since the early 1990s, you are aware of the teaching of the coming Islamic Mahdi. According to the Shiite branch of the Islamic religion the 12th Imam disappeared as a child in AD 941.

Most Shiites believe he has been supernaturally preserved somewhere in the Middle East , either in Saudi Arabia or Iraq , and will re-emerge at the end of days. They contend that he will unite the Islamic world in the end of days, and three things will happen:

He will lead an Islamic revival in which the Jews will be destroyed.

• Christians will forsake their belief in the Trinity.
• And Christians will acknowledge that Jesus is not the Son of God.

For centuries this Islamic tradition was whispered, mostly among the faithful, in the area of the Middle East . Since the re-establishment of the modern nation of Israel , however, the belief and teaching about the importance of the Mahdi is stronger than at any other time in modern history. more...

Bush: US would defend Israel against Iran (February 1, 2006) - President George W. Bush vowed on Wednesday the United States would defend Israel militarily if needed against Iran and denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for “menacing talk” against Israel. In a Reuters interview aboard Air Force One en route to Nashville, Bush also said he saw a “very good chance” the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency would refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. “I am concerned about a person that, one, tries to rewrite the history of the Holocaust, and two, has made it clear that his intentions are to destroy Israel,” Bush said. “Israel is a solid ally of the United States, we will rise to Israel’s defense if need be. So this kind of menacing talk is disturbing. It’s not only disturbing to the United States, it’s disturbing for other countries in the world as well,” he added. Asked if he meant the United States would rise to Israel’s defense militarily, Bush said: “You bet, we’ll defend Israel.” Ahmadinejad has prompted international condemnation for anti-Israel rhetoric in recent weeks, including saying it should be wiped off the map, and also calling into question the Holocaust. more...

Magnitude-5.1 Quake Shakes Tokyo (February 1, 2006) - A magnitude-5.1 earthquake shook central Japan on Wednesday, but there was no danger of a tsunami, the Meteorological Agency said. The quake was centered in northwestern Chiba prefecture just west of Tokyo, according to the agency. It was powerful enough to sway buildings in Tokyo, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damages.

Russia-China visit to Iran no form of pressure - official (February 1, 2006) - The Wednesday visit of high-ranking Russia and Chinese diplomats to Tehran cannot be viewed as a form of pressure on Iran over its controversial nuclear programs, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Mikhail Kamynin said a sovereign state could not be subjected to pressure, and added that the diplomats were making the trip to inform the Iranian leadership about the results of talks in the British capital and to express “the concern of the international community once again.” Representatives of five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) and Germany gathered in London Monday and agreed to refer the Iranian nuclear file to the Security Council. They also decided that the UN Security Council would refrain from taking any potential measures against Iran before an official report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, in March. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that the key agreement was that the UN Security Council would not yet make any decision on Iran, but would be kept informed about the issue after a two-day emergency IAEA session starting Thursday. Several countries have accused Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program but the Islamic Republic insists that it only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. more...

6.2-Magnitude Quake Strikes Off Indonesia (February 1, 2006) - A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra Island early Wednesday, the Hong Kong Observatory said. There was no reports of damage or injuries, and the quake did not trigger a destructive tsunami. The tremor was centered in seas to the west of northern Sumatra, about 170 miles south Banda Aceh, the observatory said. It comes after a major, 7.7-magnitude quake in eastern Indonesia on Saturday. Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra Island, was the hardest hit by the December 2004 magnitude 9 quake and subsequent tsunami that killed or left missing more than 216,000 people in a dozen countries - most of them in Aceh. Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Hamas asks Israel for help (February 1, 2006) - In what may be the first attempt by Hamas to negotiate indirectly with the Jewish state since it won last week’s Palestinian elections, the terror group has asked Egypt to petition Israel and European countries to allow its overall leader Khaled Meshaal to enter Gaza, a top Hamas official told WorldNetDaily. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas is presenting Meshaal – responsible for directing dozens of suicide bombings and shooting attacks – as a “moderating influence” on the terror group who is capable of restraining “hardline elements.” Meshaal currently operates from Syria, where he runs the organization and grants interviews to the media. He was named the most senior figure in the terror group after the assassination in March 2004 of Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin, as well as the elimination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz Rantisi a month later. Israel attempted to assassinate Meshaal in 1997. On Monday, Meshaal met in Damascus with Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, asking him to negotiate with Israel and the Europeans his smooth passage from the Sinai desert into Gaza through the Rafah Crossing, the terminal at the Egypt-Gaza border, the Hamas official said. After a deal brokered in November by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Rafah crossing now is controlled jointly by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. It is partially manned by a rotating team of European inspectors. more...

Takeover of Egypt part of Hamas’ plan? (February 1, 2006) - Following Hamas’ victory by a large margin in last week’s Palestinian parliamentary elections, experts watching the terror group closely tell WND it has been aligning itself more than ever with its hard-line Islamic counterpart in Egypt and point to worrying signs the new Palestinian powerbrokers might have designs for an eventual Egyptian takeover. Sources close to the group say a major Egyptian opposition figure has been serving the past year as spiritual leader of Hamas. “If I were Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, I would look with great concern at the Hamas ascension to power in the territories. This has very dangerous implications for the Egyptian regime,” Reuven Erlich, director of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel’s Center for Special Studies, told WND. Hamas was founded in 1987 as a military offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks to create an Islamic theocracy throughout the Middle East and ultimately around the world. Although ideologically connected to the Brotherhood, Hamas’ stated goal is mostly focused on the destruction of Israel by “armed struggle.” Still, Hamas leaders have long maintained anti-Western attitudes and have talked about the need for secular Arab states to be replaced with Islamic regimes. Egypt is the second-largest recipient of United States financial aid in the Middle East. It signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979. The U.S. calls Mubarak’s government moderate and maintains Egypt is an important strategic ally. more...

Iran Said to Have Nuclear Warhead Plans (February 1, 2006) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said in a report Tuesday that Iran obtained documents and drawings on the black market that serve no other purpose than to make an atomic warhead. Tehran warned of an “end of diplomacy” if plans to refer it to the U.N. Security Council are carried out. The report by the agency, ahead of a meeting of its 35-member board Thursday, also confirmed information recently provided by diplomats familiar with the Iran probe that Tehran has not started small-scale uranium enrichment since announcing it would earlier this month. Nevertheless, the findings added to pressure to refer Tehran to the Security Council within days. Such a move, Iran said, would lead to a halt in surprise U.N. inspections beginning Saturday and prompt it to resume frozen nuclear activities. “If it happens, the government will be required under the law to end the suspension of all nuclear activities it has voluntarily halted,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said late Tuesday, speaking on Iranian television. The four-page report also criticized Iran for refusing to provide interviews with at least one nuclear scientist linked to the military and dismissing requests for information on “tests related to high explosives and the design of a missile re-entry vehicle, all of which could have a military nuclear dimension.” more...

Standard & Poor’s Specialists Predict Global Economic Armageddon (February 1, 2006) - Specialists believe that the US will lose almost 45% of its euro in the near future Experts of Standard & Poor’s forecast a global economic collapse. The collapse will be caused with the demise of the US dollar rate against the European currency by more than 30 percent. The dollar, specialists say, may lose almost 45 percent of its current value against the euro. However, it is obvious that even a 30 percent reduction will affect the international economy greatly. Standard & Poor’s (SP) ties the possible decline of the American currency with the imminent rise of the European economy and the payment shortage of the USA, which made up 6.4 percent of the nation’s GDP last year ($790 billion). SP analysts emphasize the restricted growth of the USA’s GDP, which has been behind the level of ten percent for quite a while. US assets - securities and real estate - successfully compensate the 6.5 percent payment shortage of the GDP at present. The assets enjoy very good demands on the market: the growth of their cost outstrips the growing volume of the payment deficit. SP specialists believe, however, that the cost of the above-mentioned assets has been increasing for a very long time. This process is expected to stop sooner or later, SP analysts say. If it happens, the issue of the US dollar stability will surface immediately. The global economic collapse will follow shortly after that. more...

January Rarity: Thunderstorms Rumble Across State (February 1, 2006) - Trying to recall the last time warm temperatures and moisture sent severe thunderstorms rumbling through Nebraska in January, National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Chermok couldn’t.

“I don’t recall in the last 20 years or so having any severe thunderstorms in January in Nebraska,” he said. “It’s a very unusual event.”

“Usually,” he explained, “they don’t make it this far north,” noting that type of low pressure in January usually means a snowstorm.

“This time, it pulled up enough warmth and moisture to generate thunderstorms.”

Add the weather elements of thunder, lighting and small hail and Lincoln got its first dose of spring weather in the middle of winter. more...

Putin Boasts of New Missile’s Capability (February 1, 2006) - President Vladimir Putin boasted Tuesday that Russia has new missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system and said he had briefed the French president on their capabilities. “Russia has tested missile systems that no one in the world has,” Putin said. “These missile systems don’t represent a response to a missile defense system, but it doesn’t matter to them whether that exists or not. They are hypersonic and capable of changing their flight path.” Putin said the new missiles were capable of carrying nuclear warheads. He wouldn’t say whether the Russian military already had commissioned any such missiles. Putin said he had shown the working principles of the missile system to French President Jacques Chirac during a visit to a Russian military facility. “He knows what I’m talking about,” Putin said. In April 2004, Chirac became the first Western leader to visit Russia’s top-secret Titov space control center, which controls all of its satellites and is involved in launching its intercontinental ballistic missiles. Putin said the new missiles were capable of changing both altitude and direction, making it impossible for an enemy to intercept them since “a missile defense system is designed to counter missiles moving along a ballistic trajectory.” more...