20/04/2012

                      Struggle for Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:3; Luke 21:20)

Hamas Won't Honor Peace Accords With Israel

A senior Hamas leader on Thursday said that if the terror group came to power in a future 'Palestinian state,' it would not abide by any previous peace agreements with Israel.Moussa Abu Marzouk, the Hamas politburo's number-two, says any potential deal, even if ratified in a popular referendum, would be considered to be merely a hudna, or temporary truce agreement.

                      Damascus, Syria (Isaiah 17:1-3)

Syrian troops shell central city of Homs

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops shelled a rebel-held neighborhood and sent reinforcements to border areas as the opposition called for fresh protests Friday after the United Nations accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of failing to honor a peace plan that went into effect a week ago. The latest violence came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Thursday for the U.N. Security Council to adopt an arms embargo and other tough measures against Syria during a meeting in Paris of Western and Arab diplomats.

                   Babylon, Iraq (Jeremiah 50:9, 13) (Jeremiah 51:6, 29, 37, 55, 64) (Revelation 18)

Qaeda claims Iraq attacks that killed 38

Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said on Friday that it carried out a wave of attacks across the country that killed 38 people, in a statement on jihadist website Honein."A part of the security and military efforts of the Islamic State mobilised for a new wave and... another bloody Thursday on the heads of the apostates, and in simultaneous operations targeted the security and military, and government centres and leadership," it said.

                  Magog Invasion – Iran, Russia (Ezekiel 38-39)

 Barak to Panetta: What is your bottom line for Iran?

Notwithstanding the hugs and personal friendship, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived in Washington Thursday April 19 to tax his host, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, with tough questions about the administration’s dialogue with Iran. They followed the lines of, “What’s going on? Is there a deal? Don’t tell me what you have settled with the Iranians, just your minimal demands, your bottom line.”



Wars and rumors of war: Iran army ready for action on disputed Gulf island 

April 19, 2012 – IRAN – Iran’s ground forces commander warned that should diplomacy fail, the military is ready for action over a disputed Gulf island controlled by Iran but also claimed by the United Arab Emirates, state TV reported Thursday. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said Iranian forces are capable of confronting any offender against Iran’s sovereignty over the strategic Abu Musa Island in the Persian Gulf. It was the first time an Iranian military commander commented on the issue since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week visited Abu Musa.

                     The Rise of the East

Attention: China - India Testing Long Range Agni V Missile

India's Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO) successively tested the new Agni V long-range ballistic missile. It has a range of 3500 km, a radius that provides the capability to strike the Chinese heartland, as well as the extremely hypothetical option of hitting Eastern and Central Europe and most of Russia.

      Famines, Drought, Floods, Earthquakes & Pestilences (Matthew 24:7-8) (Luke 21:11; 25) (Rev 6:5-8)

Vietnam's new war: Incurable mystery virus kills 19 kids to date

Hanoi has asked the World Health Organization for help to cure a virulent disease affecting children. Symptoms include blistering on hands, feet and mouths accompanied by high fever and eventual organ failure.­Nineteen children died from the illness in 2011 alone. The virus spreads through direct contact with an infected person’s oral discharges or saliva, the fluid from burst blisters or the stool of infected persons.

Ecuador’s Reventador volcano unleashes column of steam and ash
 

April 20, 2012 – ECUADOR- Reventador continues to be mildly active with ongoing weak to moderate steam and ash emissions. The Instituto Geofísico reports a 2 km high column of steam and ash rising from Reventador volcano on 18 April. The ash cloud moved to the NW. IG characterizes the actual activity level (visual and seismic activity) of Reventador “moderate.” No major changes have been observed at the volcano in recent days. –Volcano Discovery


Earthquake swarm on Iran-Iraq border continues

April 20, 2012 – IRAN – 5.1 and 5.0 earthquakes are the latest in a swarm of about six earthquakes that have erupted along the convergent plate boundaries between the Arabian and Eurasian plate. The swarm is about 528 km (328 miles) SW of TEHRAN, Iran. The epicenter of the earthquakes is located on the convergent boundary where the two tectonic plates are colliding along the border of Iraq and Iran in what’s known as the Alpide Belt. Three moderate earthquakes have erupted along the epicenter in less than 20 hours.




Sudan declares war on South Sudan: Will this draw in East Africa, and China? 

April 19, 2012 – AFRICA - After South Sudan seizes Heglig oil fields, which both countries claim, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir declares war. How can the international community prevent a regional conflict? Although relations between the two countries started out well, hostilities had been brewing almost from the very beginning, over how the two countries would share revenues from the sale of oil – most of which is now within South Sudan’s territory,

Activity intensifies at Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano: 19 million could be affected by an eruption

 April 19, 2012 – MEXICO - The Popocatepetl volcano is making movement and threatening to erupt, causing Mexican officials to raise the alert level from yellow phase three to yellow phase two. The volcano has already begun spewing red-hot bits of rock, and its opening has expanded. These are signs that the volcano, still quite active, could soon erupt. In a statement by Mexico’s National Center for Disaster Prevention, the volcano could produce “moderate exhalations, some with ash, sporadic low to moderate explosions with likely burning fragments, and flaming magma within the crater