Airports turn to fingerprinting, biometrics for security
Salt Lake Tribune reports, "Fingerprinting was chosen as the easiest to use following 1 1/2 years of testing biometric measures including eye scans and mapping hand forms..." :: Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-18).

Credit Cards Enter the Micropayment Game
AP reports, "If your image of a typical video-game arcade customer is a teenager emptying quarter-filled pockets into a machine to do battle with space aliens, think again. Today's high-tech games increasingly appeal to an older set. And soon those customers will be able to use credit or debit cards as a payment option." :: Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-18).

Report: Warming May Lower Rice Yield
AP reports, "Global warming could mean bad news for one of the world's most important crops, rice. Increased nighttime temperatures were associated with significant declines in crop yield at the International Rice Research Institute Farm in the Philippines, according to a report in Monday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." :: Fear for the Future (Luke 21:11).

Minister: Iran Won't Stop Nuclear Program
AP reports, "Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Wednesday rejected international pressure to halt his country's work on centrifuges for its nuclear program." :: Rumors of War (Matthew 24:6), Persia (Ezekiel 38:5).

Floods Hit Guam As Typhoon Strikes Area
AP reports, "The Northern Mariana Islands were under a typhoon warning Monday as Tropical Storm Tingting was upgraded to typhoon status. As the storm moved through the region, it dumped record-breaking rains, causing flooding and mudslides on neighboring Guam." :: Fearsome Events (Luke 21:11).

Palestinians Fire Rockets As Sharon Visits
AP reports, "Palestinian militants rocketed this Israeli border town Tuesday during a visit by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, underscoring Israel's helplessness in stopping the crude projectiles launched from the Gaza Strip."

Children, Pregnant Women Face Great Risks As Famine Approaches
OneWorld reports, "With the paucity of humanitarian response and the onset of seasonal water-borne diseases, relief agents are warning that pregnant women and children under five in refugee camps may not survive the on-coming famine." :: Famine (Matthew 24:7).

Israel Fires Missiles at Gaza After Blast
From the AP, Israel strikes back at Palestinian terrorists.

Report: 5 Israeli Troops Killed in Blast
AP reports, "Palestinian militants set off a huge explosion at an Israeli army outpost in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, collapsing a concrete building. Paramedics reported at least 30 casualties, and Arab satellite stations said at least five Israeli soldiers were killed...In a call to The Associated Press, Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility."

Intel chief: Palestinians still want Israel destroyed
WND reports, "After three years of watching their society be ripped apart by launching the Intifada, the Palestinian people and their leadership still maintain the goal of destroying Israel, according to an assessment released yesterday by Israel's Military Intelligence research chief." :: Battle for Jerusalem (Ezekiel 38:8; Zechariah 12; Luke 21:20).

Calif. Combats West Nile With Pesticides
AP reports, "Workers sprayed pesticides Friday in a neighborhood where five family members contracted West Nile virus, hoping to control an outbreak that has spread to heavily populated Southern California...The disease first appeared in the United States in 1999 in New York and has since expanded westward. It has killed more than 560 people in the past five years." :: Pestilence (Luke 21:11).

Japan ponders biometric screening of visitors
ZDNet reports, "Japan will consider using unique biological data about individuals such as fingerprints and facial features to tighten immigration controls..." :: Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-18).

HIV/AIDS Striking Young Women More
AP reports, "HIV/AIDS is increasingly striking young women, including married women previously thought to be at low risk of contracting the disease, a U.N. official warned Thursday." :: Pestilence (Luke 21:11)

N. Korea Threatens to Test Nuclear Weapon
AP reports, "North Korea told the United States on Thursday that it would test a nuclear weapon unless Washington accepted Pyongyang's proposal for a freeze on its atomic program, a senior administration official said." :: Rumors of War (Matthew 24:6).

U.S. Launches Airstrike in Fallujah
AP reports, "The U.S. military launched its third airstrike in a week Friday in Fallujah, using precision weapons to destroy a suspected safehouse for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network." :: Wars and Rumors of War (Matthew 24:6).

A Crowning at the Capital Creates a Stir
The New York Times reports, "As a shining symbol of democracy, the United States capital is not ordinarily a place where coronations occur. So news that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the eccentric and exceedingly wealthy Korean-born businessman, donned a crown in a Senate office building and declared himself the Messiah while members of Congress watched is causing a bit of a stir." :: False Christs (Matthew 24:4).

MEMRI: Incitement to Jihad on Saudi Government-Controlled TV
I quote:

These channels include shows with leading Saudi religious figures, professors, members of the royal family, government leaders and intellectuals. Constant themes within Saudi television shows include: calls for the annihilation of Christians and Jews, rampant anti-Americanism and antisemitism, support for Jihad, incitement against U.S. troops in Iraq, and the coming Islamic conquest of the U.S.

Submitted for your War and Rumor of War files.

Health Officials Fear New Mosquito Disease
AP reports, "As if West Nile virus wasn't bad enough, now U.S. health officials are on the lookout for another mosquito-borne disease, fearing it could become a permanent part of the American landscape if it entered the country. Rift Valley fever, which originated in Africa and hasn't been seen outside that continent in three years, is the only disease at the top of both human health and agriculture lists of dangerous diseases." :: Pestilence (Luke 21:11).

Vatican Condemns China's Arrest of Bishop
AP reports, "The Vatican condemned on Wednesday recent arrests of Catholic bishops in China, calling them a violation of religious freedom." :: Believers Persecuted (Matthew 24:8).

Panel Urges Japan on Human Cloning
AP reports, "A government panel on Wednesday said it will recommend that Japan permit the limited cloning of human embryos for scientific research, an official said Wednesday." :: Fear for the Future (Luke 21:26).