666 Mark of The Beast 666

U.S. exercise prepares for Iran attack on the Fifth Fleet (Where is the U.S. in Bible Prophecy?)
Bahrain and the U.S. military have conducted an exercise that envisioned an Iranian assault on the U.S. Fifth Fleet. U.S. Central Command contributed hundreds of troops for the Bahraini exercise on Tuesday, termed one of the largest ever in the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdom. The three-hour exercise, dubbed “Desert Sailor-2007,” was meant to test Bahrain’s response to a disaster and included the Defense Ministry, Health Ministry and Interior Ministry. The ministry contributed the Special Security Forces Command for the drill. Bahrain hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Central Command Naval Forces, responsible for patrolling the Gulf. The U.S. Navy has been building forces in the Gulf and deployed two carrier strike groups in 2007. Several GCC states have been exercising to prepare for an attack by Iran, Middle East Newsline reported. They include Gulf Arab states with a significant U.S. troops, such as Kuwait, Qatar and Oman.

Robot Future Poses Hard Questions (Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies)
Scientists have expressed concern about the use of autonomous decision-making robots, particularly for military use. As they become more common, these machines could also have negative impacts on areas such as surveillance and elderly care, the roboticists warn.
Autonomous robots are able to make decisions without human intervention. At a simple level, these can include robot vacuum cleaners that “decide” for themselves when to move from room to room or to head back to a base station to recharge. Increasingly, autonomous machines are being used in military applications, too. Samsung, for example, has developed a robotic sentry to guard the border between North and South Korea. It is equipped with two cameras and a machine gun. The development and eventual deployment of autonomous robots raised difficult questions, said Professor Alan Winfield of the University of West England. “If an autonomous robot kills someone, whose fault is it?” said Professor Winfield.

‘Antichrist’ Cancels Visit To Guatemala
CBS News - (AP) An American religious leader who calls himself the “Antichrist” canceled a visit to Guatemala after the Central American country barred him as a security risk, saying he provokes conflict with Roman Catholics and evangelicals. Puerto-Rican born

Al-Qaeda ‘planning big British attack’ (A Revived Roman Empire?)
Al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report. Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West. Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”. The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq.

Christians in bull’s-eye in new ‘hate crimes’ plan (Christian Worldview/Issues)
A fast-tracked congressional plan to add special protections for homosexuals to federal law would turn “thoughts, feelings, and beliefs” into criminal offenses and put Christians in the bull’s-eye, according to opponents. “H.R. 1592 is a discriminatory measure that criminalizes thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and has the potential of interfering with religious liberty and freedom of speech,” according to a white paper submitted by Glen Lavy, of the Alliance Defense Fund. “As James Jacobs and Kimberly Potter observed in Hate Crimes, Criminal Law, and Identity Politics, ‘It would appear that the only additional purpose [for enhancing punishment of bias crimes] is to provide extra punishment based on the offender’s politically incorrect opinions and viewpoints,’” said Lavy. The proposal has been endorsed by majority Democrats on the committee, and already has 137 sponsors in the full House, making it possible it could be voted on in a mat ter of days or weeks. “This is a terrible thing, to criminalize thought or emotion or even speech,” Lavy told WND, referring to H.R. 1592, now pending at the committee level in the U.S. House. Democrats there have been turning back amendments that would strip it of its worst provisions, according to an observer. Bishop Harry Jackson, chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, said the plan, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act of 2007, is no more than “a surreptitious attempt by some in Congress to strip the nation of religious freedom and the ability to preach the gospel from our church pulpits.” “It will stamp all over our doctrine and practice of our faith,” he said. “We believe what the Bible says. If you start there we’ve got a major problem.”

RFID used in Amazon research project
Remote tracking of wildlife in the Amazon rainforest has been enabled

Palestinians disavow ‘right of return’ (Israel - God’s Timepiece)
A large and growing number of young Palestinians born abroad have no interest in coming to the Palestinian Authority or Israel, Palestinians in London have told Ynetnews. They expressed anger at Palestinian leaders for continuing to trumpet a “right of return,” a call which is neither desirable nor realistic, the men said, adding that the demand is merely an attempt to force concessions out of Israel during peace talks. Seeking a good standard of living, Palestinians born in Lebanon have left for Europe and North America to escape the state-imposed discrimination placed on them by the Lebanese government which does not grant them citizenship or basic rights, the men say. “Most Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanon are not concerned about returning to Palestine or to Israel because we have been outside of Palestine for 60 years,” Rami Abdel Rahim, a 26 year-old Palestinian living in London, said. “If we returned to the Palestinian territories, we would feel like second class citizens,” he added. “We have different accents. We don’t have any homes in West Bank and Gaza. For us, it will be more desirable to live in Arab countries and Europe,” he explained.

Facts About School Shootings - Know Gangs

Pastors Shift Church Focus from Big to Reproductive (Christian Worldview/Issues)
More than 1,800 church planting beginners and veterans are gathered in Orlando, Fla., at a time when church growth is not just about being big. “It seems like there’s a shift that’s happening on how churches ‘keep score,’” said Dave Ferguson, lead pastor of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Ill. “It’s not just about being big … but it’s also about how do we continue to reproduce (new sites, churches, networks).” The National New Church Conference had first drawn 250 people in Baltimore two years ago. Last year’s conference grew to over 800 church planters and this year, the attendance has more than doubled. And next year, conference organizers plan to call next year’s conference “Exponential” to reach beyond the United States. “Exponential: Moving Beyond Addition” is this year’s theme. Participants of the conference have come from various states and church groups, including the emerging church and mainline denominations, to learn the growing number of church models that have been developed, gain a new vision for church planting, and learn the how-to’s of starting a new church. A recent study by the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research found that 99 percent of church plants survive the first year, 92 percent the second year, 81 percent the third year, and 68 percent the fourth year.

Researchers break Internet speed records (Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies)
A group of researchers led by the University of Tokyo has broken Internet speed records — twice in two days. Operators of the high-speed Internet2 network announced Tuesday that the researchers sent data at 7.67 gigabits per second, using standard communications protocols. The next day, using modified protocols, the team broke the record again by sending data over the same 20,000-mile path at 9.08 Gbps. However, the Internet2 consortium is planning to build a new network with a capacity of 100 Gbps. With the 10-fold increase, a high-quality version of the movie “The Matrix” could be sent in a few seconds rather than half a minute over the current Internet2 and two days over a typical home broadband line.