Watchman Newsletter

New data: Mega-quake could strike near Seattle

Mercury News (Link) (August 15, 2009)

Using sophisticated seismometers and GPS devices, scientists have been able to track minute movements along two massive tectonic plates colliding 25 miles or so underneath Washington state's Puget Sound basin. Their early findings suggest that a mega-earthquake could strike closer to the Seattle-Tacoma area, home to some 3.6 million people, than was thought earlier.

The deep tremors, which humans can't feel, occur routinely every 15 months or so and can continue for more than two weeks before they die back to undetectable levels.

The instruments are detecting an inch or two of movement — known as "episodic tremor and slip" — as the Juan de Fuca plate grinds and sinks beneath the North American plate.

Closer to the surface, the two plates are locked together. When they snap, scientists say, it could produce a massive 9.0 or greater earthquake and a tsunami.

By comparison, the largest earthquake ever recorded was 9.5, in Chile in 1960. The largest in North America was the 9.2 Great Alaska earthquake in 1964, which spawned a tsunami that struck the Northwest coast.

Colorado Town Goes Contactless

RFID Journal (Link) - Claire Swedberg (August 14, 2009)

In La Junta, Colo., local consumers have begun to refer to their payment transactions as "Blinging." The term comes from a new contactless payment application provided by California payments network startup Bling Nation, in conjunction with The State Bank and Viaero Wireless, a provider of cell-phone service to rural communities in Colorado and Nebraska. The application enables a consumer to employ an adhesive RFID label attached to his or her mobile phone, to pay for local purchases at approximately 60 area merchants. The transaction cost is deducted from the customer's bank account, and a receipt and account balance update are sent as a text message to the individual's phone, all in a matter of seconds.

The system has been in place since early June 2009. To date, about 35 percent of The State Bank's La Junta clients have begun using the Bling/State Bank sticker, which contains a passive 13.56 MHz RFID tag compliant with Near-Field Communication (NFC) standards, to pay for purchases, while approximately 90 percent of local retailers have signed on with Bling payment devices installed at the point of sale (POS). Three other communities in California and Colorado will soon be Blinging, with merchants at two of the sites already installing the POS devices.

Another strong quake strikes Japan

Gulf News (Link) (August 13, 2009)

A strong offshore earthquake jolted central Japan, including Tokyo, on Thursday, just two days after a powerful tremor left one person dead and 120 injured.

The 6.7-magnitude quake struck at 07:49 am in the Pacific Ocean, some 325 kilometres southeast of the capital, according to the US Geological Survey.

The Japanese meteorological agency did not issue a tsunami warning, and no immediate damage was reported.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck central Japan on Tuesday, damaging nearly 5,200 buildings and a section of the arterial road linking Tokyo with the western city of Osaka.

Around 20 percent of the world's most powerful earthquakes strike Japan, which is located at the intersection of several tectonic plates.

Japanese rescuers and troops also continued searching for 10 people still missing after Typhoon Etau brought torrential rains to western Japan earlier this week, which left at least 19 people dead in landslides and floods.

Turkey And Russia: Old Rivals, New Partners

The Economist (Link) (August 13, 2009)

Through the long Ottoman era, Turks and Russians fought many bloody wars. In modern times Turkey guarded NATO’s southern flank against Soviet mischief. “The Russians are treacherous” is a popular Turkish adage. But one would hardly have guessed it as the two countries’ prime ministers, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, splashily signed a raft of agreements in a ceremony in Ankara on August 6th.

“Treacherous” was in fact the word some applied to the deal with Russia’s Gazprom to use Turkish territorial waters in the Black Sea for a gas pipeline to Europe. The planned South Stream pipeline will bypass Ukraine, through which 80% of Russia’s gas exports to Europe now flow. Russia has repeatedly turned off the taps in disputes with Ukraine, leaving millions of Europeans in the cold. To reduce dependence on Russia, the European Union has long promoted a pipeline to the Caspian, Nabucco, which Turkey also signed up for in July. So whose side is it on?

The answer is simple: Turkey’s. Sitting at the crossroads of the energy-rich Middle East and the former Soviet Union, Turkey has unique leverage as a transit hub for gas. And it is unabashedly using the energy card to promote its membership of the EU. This requires co-operation with Russia. In exchange for backing South Stream, Turkey won Russian support for an oil pipeline from the Black Sea port of Samsun to the Ceyhan terminal on the Mediterranean. It is also said to have cajoled Russia into lowering the price for a nuclear-power station. Nabucco and South Stream are not rivals, they are complementary, insists Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu.

UK jobless total climbs to 2.4m

BBC News (Link) (August 12, 2009)

The number of people out of work in the UK has risen to its highest level since 1995, official figures have shown.

Unemployment increased by 220,000 to 2,435,000 in the three months to June, taking the jobless rate to 7.8%.

Claims for unemployment benefit were the highest in 12 years, increasing by 24,900 in July to 1.58 million.

Average earnings, excluding bonuses, grew at their slowest rate since records began in 2001, the Office for National Statistics said.

Earnings excluding bonuses rose at an annual rate of 2.5% in the three months to June, down from 2.6% in the three months to May. Those in manufacturing only averaged pay increases of 1.1%, while the public sector saw an average rise of 3.7%.

Average earnings including bonuses also rose by 2.5%, but this was up from the previous rate of 2.3%.

BBC employment correspondent Martin Shankleman says the figures confirm that unemployment continues to rise remorselessly, with no early respite.

Our correspondent adds that the full impact of joblessness among those who recently left school or college and are now looking for work is not reflected in these figures and has yet to be felt.

SATURN EQUINOX PICTURE: Mystery Object Pierces a Ring

National Geographic (Link) - Ker Than (August 11, 2009)

A mystery object that punched through one of Saturn's thin outer rings created a glittering spray of ice crystals and pulled some material along in its wake, as seen in this rare image recently released by NASA's Cassini orbiter.

The puncture, which Cassini snapped on June 11, is among the many marvels that have been revealed in the weeks leading up to Saturn's equinox, which happens today.

Equinoxes occur at the point in a planet's orbit when the sun shines directly on the planet's equator. Earth has two equinoxes each year, one in spring and another in autumn.

Because of Saturn's comparatively long orbit around the sun, the ringed planet has an equinox just once every 15 Earth years.

This celestial alignment lowers the angle at which sunlight strikes Saturn, causing objects higher or lower than the ring plane to cast long shadows—and offering scientists a completely new look at the gas giant and its rings.

Muslim radicals behead Christian orphan workers

WorldNet Daily (Link) - Bob Unruh (August 11, 2009)

Four Christians working in Somalia to provide services to orphans have been executed by beheading by al-Qaida-linked interests who told their families that is the penalty for apostasy.

The report on the outrage comes from International Christian Concern, which said the executions took place sometime after the kidnapping of the Christians July 27, but it only discovered the tragedy recently.

The organization identified the Christian orphanage workers as Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma'ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi and Maaddey Diil. They had been kidnapped in the coastal Somalian town of Merca, about 50 miles from Mogadishu.

According to ICC, al-Shabaab, an Islamic extremist organization, claimed responsibility and said the Christians were killed when they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus.

Powerful 6.4 and 7.6 quakes strike Japan, India

Breitbart (Link) - AFP (August 10, 2009)

Powerful earthquakes just over 10 minutes apart rattled Japan and India Tuesday, triggering panic on fears of a tsunami in the Andaman Islands and injuring dozens of people southwest of Tokyo.

The unrelated quakes struck in the early hours, shutting down bullet train services in the affected region of Japan and provoking a landslide with the nation already braced for more damage from Typhoon Etau.

At least 43 people were injured, mostly by falling objects, with two in a serious condition, said a Shizuoka prefecture official. A nuclear power plant went into automatic shutdown but no incidents were registered.

In an address on Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Shizuoka governor Heita Kawakatsu urged the public to "remain level-headed and gather correct information we provide through TV programmes."

The Japanese tremor registered a strong 6.4 while the quake off the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean was a huge 7.6, according to the US Geological Survey.

Kremlin bill on using army abroad

BBC News (Link) (August 10, 2009)

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has introduced a bill to parliament that would allow the country's armed forces to intervene beyond Russia's borders.

The bill would allow Russian troops to be used abroad "to rebuff or prevent an aggression against another state" or "protect Russian citizens abroad".

Mr Medvedev said the bill was linked to last year's war with Georgia over South Ossetia, Russia's Interfax reports.

HAGELIN: Assaulted By Sex-Ed

The Washington Times (Link) (August 10, 2009)

Much of what is being taught to our young girls and boys in sex-education classes is too graphic and vulgar to be quoted in the newspaper.

For that, you can blame Planned Parenthood, Advocates for Youth, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). The content of sex-education programs is dominated by these groups, which instruct our children on how to perform sexual acts, including homosexuality and sadomasochism. Their materials promote a radical political agenda, are highly pornographic, encourage our children to be sexually active and are largely devoid of biological and medical information.

To fully grasp the problem, read Dr. Miriam Grossman's new book, "You're Teaching My Child What?" It is a shocking and maddening expose of how our children are being brainwashed by perverted and immoral sex propagandists.

Do I sound like an alarmist? Read the book, scan through your own child's sex-ed materials, and then let's talk. You'll probably become an "alarmist," too.

Here are just two of the hundreds of carefully documented facts from Dr. Grossman's book: When exposing Planned Parenthood's timetable of when kids should be taught what, she writes, "They instruct parents to tell 5-year-olds about intercourse, though explaining orgasm can wait until he's finished kindergarten." And for sadomasochism? Educators often send teen girls to a Web site that says, "Though it may seem painful, those involved find the pleasure outweighs the pain."

Execution in NKorea will further embolden believers

One News Now (Link) (August 10, 2009)

A ministry that assists the persecuted Church worldwide is trying to put pressure on North Korea's communist government, after a Christian was executed there for distributing the Bible.

Activists in South Korea reported recently that communist officials in North Korea publicly executed a 33-year-old mother of three. Ri Hyon Ok, according to The Associated Press, was also accused of spying for South Korea and the U.S. and organizing dissidents. Following her execution, Ri's parents, husband, and children were sent to a political prison camp in the northeastern section of the communist country.

Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, says the execution signals a major change in the crackdown on religion in North Korea. He believes the house church movement will be strengthened by the senseless murder.

"There's a really opposite and equal reaction to this that means more Bibles will probably go in as a result of this. Christians will be evermore strengthened in their faith, as unbelievable as that sounds," he admits. "The more you persecute Christians, the more Christianity thrives."

According to Jacobson, communist officials believe Christianity poses a true threat to the North Korean regime.

Deadly storms sweep eastern Asia

BBC News (Link) (August 10, 2009)

Two strong storms across the Pacific region have left scores of people dead or missing.

At least 10 people have been killed in Japan in flash floods generated by the approaching tropical storm Etau.

Meanwhile Typhoon Morakot hit mainland China on Sunday, killing at least one child and prompting almost a million people to flee from coastal areas.

It has already passed over Taiwan, killing at least 12 people and causing the worst flooding in five decades.

Taiwan's National Disaster Relief Centre said it believed about 100 people were trapped in a landslide that hit the mountain village of Shiao Lin on Sunday morning.

Typhoons and tropical storms are frequent in the region between July and September.

Iran leaders pave way for messianic 'Mahdi'

WorldNet Daily (Link) (August 10, 2009)

Iran last week held a multi-day conference, bringing together politicians, mullahs, students – Shiite and Sunni alike – to plot what can be done on this earthly plane to hasten the coming of the anointed one, a messianic, endtimes personage known as the Mahdi.

It wasn't a conference covered by the western press.

But Joel Richardson, author of the new book, "The Islamic Antichrist," reported today on the conference, which have been held for the last five years – all in a bid to lay the groundwork for an apocalyptic vision of the day Muslims will rule the world.

"For the past five years, the Iranian religious and political leaders have annually gathered together for two days in the city of Qom for what is called 'The International Conference of Mahdism Doctrine,' sponsored by the Bright Future Institute," explains Richardson in a WND commentary today. "The purpose of the Bright Future Institute, according to their website, is 'to introduce Imam Mahdi to the world' and 'to pave the ground for his reappearance.' After attending last year's conference, Dr. Timothy Furnish, in an article entitled 'the Importance of Being Mahdist,' featured in the Weekly Standard, also cited President Ahmadinejad describing the purpose of the conference as helping to 'bring all of humanity to the knowledge of the true savior of mankind, Imam al-Mahdi.'"

Strong earthquake shakes Tokyo area

Yahoo! News (Link) - AP (August 9, 2009)

A strong earthquake shook Japan's capital and surrounding areas Sunday, halting trains and a professional baseball game, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

There was no threat of a tsunami from the quake, which was centered at a depth of 188 miles (303 kilometers) in the Izu islands off the eastern coast of Japan, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The USGS measured the quake at magnitude 7.1, while the Japan Meteorological Agency put it at 6.9.

Report: 1/5 of EU will be Muslim by 2050

YNet News (Link) (August 9, 2009)

Telegraph says findings led to allegations that policy-makers failing to confront widespread challenges of 'demographic time bomb'.

Rising levels of immigration from Muslim countries and low birth rates among Europe's indigenous population means that by 2050 the total population of the 27 EU countries will be 20% Muslim, according to forecasts cited by the London-based Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

Data gathered by the Telegraph indicate that Britain, Spain and Holland will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time.

Last year the figure stood at 5%, the London-based daily reported.

66 Percent of Jews: Our Sovereignty in Jerusalem is Indisputable

Israel National News (Link) (August 9, 2009)

66 percent of Israeli Jews believe that Jerusalem in its entirety is Israel’s capital and that Israel’s right to build anywhere within the city is undisputable.

27 percent of those polled opposed this position and the rest did not know.

The War and Peace Index poll found that 53 percent of the Jewish public judged the government’s foreign policy favorably, while 33 percent viewed it negatively. A majority among the voters for all parties except Labor and Meretz hold this view.

In Obama we trust?

The researchers from the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research estimated that Israelis’ support for the government was influenced by the perception that the U.S. administration under Barack Obama is not objective in the Middle East dispute but rather pro-“Palestinian”.

However, there is more trust in Obama now than there was two months ago, immediately after he gave his speech “to the Muslim world” in Cairo. Forty-six percent of Israeli Jews believe that Obama is biased in favor of the “Palestinian” side, down from 55 percent in June.

Thirty-one percent say he is neutral, down from 34 percent in June, and seven percent say he is pro-Israel, a number that is unchanged since the previous poll.

When asked if Obama can be trusted to take Israeli interests into account and to safeguard them in his diplomatic efforts, 38 percent said yes and 60 percent said no. In June, only 26 percent trusted Obama and 68 percent did not.