Prophetic Times

WEEKLY WORLD NEWS UPDATE

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

26 JULY 2003

JERUSALEM TOUTED AS WORLD'S CAPITAL

July 24, 2003 WorldNetDaily.com reports: "Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres, a former Israeli prime minister, is proposing Jerusalem be declared the capital of the world as a way of getting around competing Israeli and Arab claims to the city.

According to his spokesman, Yoram Dori, the dovish leader of Israel's opposition Labor Party suggested putting the important religious shrines in Jerusalem under United Nations stewardship. He said the holy sites in Jerusalem's walled Old City could be declared a 'world capital.'

The Maariv daily said Peres raised the idea Monday with visiting Russian officials. The 'world capital' idea appeared to be largely symbolic. According to Maariv, Peres proposed that the U.N. secretary-general be declared mayor, in which capacity he would appoint Jewish and Arab deputy mayors to administer the two sides' intertwined neighborhoods. Kofi Annan is the current secretary-general of the U.N.

The United Nations has in the past taken a position on Jerusalem, one of the most intractable issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Under a 1947 General Assembly resolution partitioning British mandatory Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, the city was to be internationalized, belonging to neither sideY "

MORE STARS 'THAN GRAINS OF SAND'

July 23, 2003 The London Daily Telegraph reports: "There are 10 times more stars in the night sky than grains of sand in the world's deserts and beaches, scientists say. Astronomers have worked out that there are 70 thousand million million million - or seven followed by 22 zeros - stars visible from the Earth through telescopes. The total is said to be the most accurate estimate yet of the number of stars.

Dr Simon Driver, who led the study at the Australian National University, said: 'Even for a professional astronomer used to dealing in monster numbers, this is mind boggling.'

Without a telescope it is only possible to see around 5,000 stars from the darkest places of the Earth, and just 100 in the middle of a large city.

Rather than count the stars one by one, Dr Driver and colleagues from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, St Andrews University and the University of New South Wales, counted all the galaxies in one small region of the universe close to the Earth.

By measuring the brightness of each galaxy, the team were able to estimate how many stars it contained and extrapolated for the entire night skyY "

ISRAELIS WANT PRESSURE ON IRAN NUKE PLANS

July 22, 2003 The Associated Press reports: "Israeli officials urged the United States and Europe on Monday to pressure Iran to stop its alleged nuclear weapons programs after Tehran inaugurated a missile capable of hitting Israel.

Iran on Sunday equipped its elite revolutionary guards with the locally produced Shahab-3 missile, which can reach Israel and U.S. forces stationed in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The unveiling of the missile fanned fears in Israel that Iran was developing technology that could eventually e used to attack the Jewish state with nuclear weapons.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told European Union foreign ministers in Brussels that Iran's nuclear program was threatening world stability and warned the new missile could also reach Europe. 'The EU should take a key role in the last efforts to prevent them from having this ability,' he said.

A senior Israeli official in Jerusalem said that while the missile itself was not an imminent threat, its development showed Iran intends to expand its military capabilities in the region.

Israel, which has long-range missile capability and is believed to have nuclear weapons, is not defenseless against missile attack. Israel and the United States have spent at least $2 billion developing the Arrow anti-missile system - one of the few systems capable of intercepting and destroying a missile at high altitude.

European Union foreign ministers, meanwhile, urged Iran to dispel doubts about its nuclear ambitions by allowing the U.N. atomic agency to carry out more intrusive, short-notice inspections of its nuclear facilitiesY "

IRAN DELIVERS SHIHAB-3 TO MILITARY

July 22, 2003 The Middle East Newsline reports: "Iran has delivered what officials said are the first Shihab-3 missiles to the military. Officials said the air force of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps formally received three Shihab-3 intermediate-range missiles on Sunday. The missiles were displayed during a parade attended by Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and broadcast live on state television.

'The IRGC air force also took delivery of Shihab-3 long-range missile from the Defense Ministry on the occasion of the Supreme Leader's inspection,' the official Islamic Republic News Agency said. 'The Supreme Leader lauded the achievements of the IRGC air force as 'surprising.''

Iran successfully tested its Shihab-3 missile in late June. Officials said the test led to a decision to begin delivery of the missile to Iran's militaryY "

MIDEAST PEACE WIDENS TO EU, EGYPT

July 21, 2003 The Associated Press reports: "The diplomatic drive for progress on a Mideast peace plan widened Monday when the Palestinian Prime Minister headed to Egypt for talks and the European Union hosted the Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers in Brussels. The discussions follow a summit on Sunday between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas that yielded no breakthroughs, shifting focus on the leaders' upcoming trips to Washington to meet with President Bush. Sharon was also expected to address parliament later Monday.

A temporary cease-fire declared by main Palestinian militant groups on June 29 has greatly reduced violence, but progress on the U.S.-backed 'road map' peace plan has been thwarted by an Israeli-Palestinian standoff over conditions for moving ahead.

The Palestinians are pushing for a mass release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, further Israeli withdrawals from West Bank towns and other steps. The Israelis say they cannot move on those demands until the Palestinians begin disarming militant groups responsible for attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis.

Abbas was to head to Egypt on Monday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak, to be followed by a visit to King Abdullah II in Jordan, most likely on Wednesday. The trip will lead to Washington, where Abbas is to meet Bush at the White House on Friday. Sharon is scheduled to meet separately with Bush on July 29Y "

NORTH KOREA SAID TO MOVE ARMS TOWARD SOUTH

July 20, 2003 The Associated Press reports: "North Korea has moved heavy artillery closer to the tense border with South Korea, and last year deployed more missiles that are capable of reaching Japan, South Korea said.

The report came amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts led by China to seek a peaceful resolution to a standoff over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons. For decades, North Korea has deployed much of its conventional military force close to the border, and would be capable of inflicting devastation on Seoul in the early stages of any conflict.

However, the South Korean military did not alter its alert posture in response to the report on the North Korean artillery and missiles, indicating that a major escalation of tension was not imminent. Armies on both sides of the border have been in a high state of vigilance since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea 'has increased the threat on South Korea's capital by moving forward 170mm and 240mm long-range artillery,' the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a policy report Friday. It did not say when the redeployment occurred, nor how many guns were shifted.

North Korea's artillery and rocket launchers could quickly shower thousands of shells on Seoul, only 37 miles south of the border. Yet most residents of Seoul have grown up with the threat and there was no sense of alarm in the capital..."

Compiled by L. Jim Tuck, Pastor
ljtuc@msn.com

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