Prophetic Times

WEEKLY WORLD NEWS UPDATE

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

04 JANUARY 2003

QATAR, U.S. SIGN NEW MILITARY ACCORD

Jan 2, 2003The Middle East Newsline reports: "Qatar and the United States have signed an accord to formally expand their military cooperation and maintain a U.S. military presence in the emirate for up to 20 years. The accord was signed during the recent visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld and Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jaber represented their countries in the signing of an agreement that is meant to expand defense and military cooperation.

Details of the cooperation accord, which took about a year to draft, were not disclosed. But officials said it focused on long-term U.S. deployment in Qatar, the use of the emirate's military bases and the prospect of U.S. arms sales. The United States has about 5,000 soldiers in Qatar"

CALL FOR SINGLE CURRENCY VOTE THIS YEAR

Jan 2, 2003 The Scotsman reports: "Tony Blair came under pressure yesterday from supporters of the single currency to commit himself to holding a referendum this year on Britain joining the euro. Amid signs of growing doubt in Downing Street about the economic consequences of British entry, euro enthusiasts urged him not to squander a unique opportunity.

Keith Vaz, the former Europe minister, said the government should set the date of 14 September - the same day on which Sweden will go to the polls to decide whether it should join the single currency.

Another Europhile, the Labour peer Lord Haskins, said Mr. Blair would have 'some difficulty' in rejecting the economic logic of joining the currency when he came to make the assessment of the five economic tests in June. 'Compared with 1997, when there were a lot of differences in the way Britain’s economy was behaving, now our economic cycle is very much in line with the rest of the European markets. It’s much easier to satisfy the economic conditions now than four years ago. 'It is going to be much more difficult for us to satisfy inward investors and to satisfy our political colleagues in Europe if we duck it this year,' he said.

Supporters of Britain joining the single currency have been buoyed by an opinion poll which showed the majority of people - 74 per cent - wanted a vote on single currency membership to be held this year. The poll showed 54 per cent were opposed to scrapping the pound"

NORTH KOREA VOWS TO FIGHT U.S. INVASION

Jan 1, 2003  Fox News reports: " Just hours after the last two U.N.-certified nuclear inspectors left the country, North Korea raised the stakes in its standoff with the United States Tuesday, stating that war was likely but that invading American troops would be wiped out 'to the last man.'

South of the DMZ, both South Korea's president and president-elect urged negotiations to ease the deepening crisis over Pyongyang's resumed nuclear program, and said economic sanctions being considered by Washington might not work.

In Moscow, North Korea's ambassador to Russia said that the U.S. had threatened his country 'with a pre-emptive nuclear strike,' the Interfax news agency reported. 'These conditions also make it impossible for us to abide by the [nuclear nonproliferation] treaty,' Ambassador Pak Ui Chun said, 'whose main provision bans nuclear powers from using nuclear weapons against countries that do not have them.'

Pyongyang's main newspaper was no less strident. 'The U.S. is stepping up preparations for a war against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], persistently turning aside the latter's constructive proposal for concluding a nonaggression treaty,' said Rodong Sinmun. 'If the enemy invades even an inch of the inviolable territory of the DPRK, the people's army and people of the DPRK will wipe out the aggressors to the last man.' "

IRAQ TRANSFERS LONG-RANGE ROCKETS TO SYRIAN BORDER

Dec 31, 2002 The World Tribune reports: "Iraq has transferred several shipments of long-range rockets to the Syrian border over the past month. Israeli intelligence sources said the rockets are intended for Hizbullah in Lebanon as part of preparations for a massive strike against Israel.

The sources said the regime of President Saddam Hussein relayed rockets with a range of 150 kilometers to Syria, which controls the flow of weapons to the Iranian-backed Hizbullah.

The rockets, the production of which are not banned by the United Nations, represents the longest-range weapons meant for Hizbullah, Middle East Newsline reported. Until now, Iran and Syria have transferred to Hizbullah rockets with a range of between 70 and 100 kilometers.

The sources said Iraq has been holding contacts with Hizbullah in an effort to persuade the Lebanese-based organization to launch a massive attack on the eve of any U.S.-led war against Baghdad. They said Hizbullah has refrained from any commitments.

The Iraqi rockets were sent to the Syrian border over the last month, the sources said. They said they did not know whether the rockets have been received and absorbed by Hizbullah or kept by Iranian or Syrian officials responsible for the organization.

The Israeli Ha'aretz daily reported that Syria has been helping Iraq in trying to find weapons to defend against any U.S.-led attack. The newspaper said Damascus has imported a range of weapons components and attempted to find medium-range Scud missiles for the Saddam regime"

U.S. SUSPECTS IRAQ HIDES SCIENTISTS

Dec 31, 2002 The Washington Times reports: "Iraq is hiding at least two weapons scientists in Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, U.S. intelligence officials have told The Washington Times. The intelligence officials also said there are signs that Iraq's military forces recently moved chemical and biological weapons materials to underground storage areas unknown to arms inspectors from the United Nations.

'They've moved the scientists to two palaces,' said an intelligence official familiar with internal U.S. government reports on Iraq sent to senior officials last week. Intelligence reports about the scientists support the Bush administration's conclusion that Iraq is violating the terms of the latest U.N. resolution requiring Baghdad to cooperate fully with weapons inspections.

The Iraqis are hiding the scientists apparently to prevent the arms inspectors from questioning them, the officials said. The two scientists were not identified by name. The officials said one is believed to be involved in Iraq's covert nuclear arms program and that the second is a specialist in chemical and biological weapons…"

IRAN TO UNLEASH TERRORISTS IN RESPONSE TO IRAQ ATTACK

Dec 31, 2002 WorldNetDaily.com reports: "U.S. military and intelligence sources expect Iran to launch major terrorist attacks against Western targets in anticipation of or in response to a U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

All Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, which is increasingly seen as more potent and more dangerous than Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network by many U.S. analysts, will be unleashed simultaneously on U.S. and allied targets around the world, according to WorldNetDaily intelligence sources. Complicating the detection and prevention of such attacks, those sources say, is a breakdown in the National Security Agency's ability to collect information on activities in Iran.

While some officials in Washington have downplayed Shiite Iran's interest in 'defending' Sunni Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the motivation for Tehran goes beyond the theological or an interest in preserving the current Baghdad regime, say the intelligence sources. For more than a decade, Iran and Iraq have backed many of the same anti-U.S. terror groups, including al-Qaida, because of their mutual interest in keeping U.S. military forces out of the Persian Gulf. Tehran is also wary U.S. forces might seek to destabilize its government, which is increasingly losing popular support."

Compiled by L. Jim Tuck, Pastor

ljtuc@msn.com

UCGIA, Oakland, San Jose, & Santa Rosa, California