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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's point man on North Korea said Monday there is an "indication" that Pyongyang is preparing for a fourth nuclear test, a day after another Seoul official said a Pyongyang missile test may be in the works.

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told a parliamentary committee Monday that "there is such an indication" of nuclear test preparations at Pyongyang's site in the country's northeast.

South Korean defense officials have said the North completed preparations for a nuclear test at two underground tunnels. The North used one tunnel for its last nuclear test Feb. 12. The second remains unused.

Either a nuclear test or a missile test would escalate tensions that have been rising for weeks on the Korean Peninsula, and would likely invite a new round of U.N. Security Council sanctions over North Korea's nuclear and rocket activity. The U.S. and South Korea have been raising their defense posture, and foreign diplomats were considering a warning from Pyongyang that their safety in North Korea could not be guaranteed beginning Wednesday.

Ryoo made his comment about a nuclear test in answering a lawmaker's question about whether there had been increased personnel and vehicle activities at the North's nuclear test site.

After Ryoo spoke, a ministry official said Pyongyang has been ready to conduct a nuclear test any time it wants. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

North Korea has unleashed a flurry of war threats and provocations over U.N. sanctions for its last nuclear test, and over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills, which the allies say are routine but Pyongyang says is a preparation for a northward invasion.

North Korea's warning to diplomats prompted South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director to say that Pyongyang may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.

During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks — which also include China, Russia and Japan — that it abandoned in 2009.

The roughly two dozen countries with embassies in North Korea appeared to be staying put, for now at least.

Sweden, which looks after U.S. interests in North Korea because Washington and North Korea lack diplomatic relations, and Brazil have no plans to withdraw any diplomats from Pyongyang at this stage, according to their foreign ministries Sunday. Brazil said it is keeping a close eye on the situation but at this time see no reason to change the decision. There has been no advisory that staff at the Egyptian Embassy will leave or suspend their work.

The Pentagon has strengthened missile defenses and made other decisions to combat the potential threat, and postponed a missile test, scheduled for this week in California, to avoid raising tensions further. U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said Sunday that he doesn't believe North Korea will engage in military action soon, "but I can't take the chance that it won't."

Dempsey said the U.S. has been preparing for further provocations or action, "considering the risk that they may choose to do something" on one of two nationally important anniversaries — April 15, the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, and April 25, the creation of the North Korean army.

Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang led South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce Sunday that its chairman had put off a visit to Washington. The U.S. military said its top commander in South Korea had also canceled a trip to Washington.

The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch. His description suggests that the missile could be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).

Amid North Korea's threats and warnings, it has blocked South Korean workers and cargo from entering its Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for the past decade.

North Korea is not forcing South Korean managers to leave the factory complex, and about 500 of them remained at Kaesong on Monday. But the entry ban at the park, the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project, is posing a serious challenge to many of the more than 120 South Korean firms there because they are running out of raw materials and are short on replacement workers. More than a dozen of the companies have stopped their operations in Kaesong.

A high-level North Korean official visited the industrial zone on Monday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. It said that Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, blamed South Korea for making it impossible to operate to zone as usual.

South Korea's finance minister, Hyun Oh-seok, said Monday that it is "quite ridiculous" for North Korea to be closing the border at Kaesong. "North Korea has nothing to gain from this kind of things," he said at a news briefing.

Hyun said the government is looking at ways to help Kaesong firms.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday — without specifically mentioning North Korea — that no one country should be allowed to upset world peace.

"The international community should advocate the vision of comprehensive security and cooperative security, so as to turn the global village into a big stage for common development rather than an arena where gladiators fight each other. And no one should be allowed to throw the region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," Xi said Sunday at the Boao Forum for Asia, a China-sponsored talk shop for the global elite. He said China would work to reduce tensions over regional hotspots.

Seoul and Washington are taking the threats seriously, though they say they have seen no signs thatPyongyang is preparing for a large-scale attack.

Kim Jang-soo, the national security director, said the North would face "severalfold damages" for any hostilities. Since 2010, when attacks Seoul blames on North Korea killed 50 people, South Korea has vowed to aggressively respond to any future attack.

In recent weeks, the U.S. has followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills.

In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.

North Korea successfully shot a satellite into space in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February. It has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, though many analysts say the North hasn't achieved the technology to manufacture a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S.

___

AP writers Youkyung Lee in Seoul, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Robert Burns in Bagram, Afghanistan and Charles Hutzler in Boao, China, contributed to this report.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/8/2013 10:55:07 AM
	SKorea: 'Indication' NKorea prepping for nuke test By HYUNG-JIN KIM \| Associated Press – 4 hrs ago RELATED CONTENT Play Video Raw: NKorean Leader Kim Jong Un Fires Gun View Photo South Korean army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Monday, April 8, 2013. South Korea’s top security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats’ safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North’s clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's point man on North Korea said Monday there is an "indication" that Pyongyang is preparing for a fourth nuclear test, a day after another Seoul official said a Pyongyang missile test may be in the works. Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told a parliamentary committee Monday that "there is such an indication" of nuclear test preparations at Pyongyang's site in the country's northeast. South Korean defense officials have said the North completed preparations for a nuclear test at two underground tunnels. The North used one tunnel for its last nuclear test Feb. 12. The second remains unused. Either a nuclear test or a missile test would escalate tensions that have been rising for weeks on the Korean Peninsula, and would likely invite a new round of U.N. Security Council sanctions over North Korea's nuclear and rocket activity. The U.S. and South Korea have been raising their defense posture, and foreign diplomats were considering a warning from Pyongyang that their safety in North Korea could not be guaranteed beginning Wednesday. Ryoo made his comment about a nuclear test in answering a lawmaker's question about whether there had been increased personnel and vehicle activities at the North's nuclear test site. After Ryoo spoke, a ministry official said Pyongyang has been ready to conduct a nuclear test any time it wants. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. North Korea has unleashed a flurry of war threats and provocations over U.N. sanctions for its last nuclear test, and over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills, which the allies say are routine but Pyongyang says is a preparation for a northward invasion. North Korea's warning to diplomats prompted South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director to say that Pyongyang may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing. During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks — which also include China, Russia and Japan — that it abandoned in 2009. The roughly two dozen countries with embassies in North Korea appeared to be staying put, for now at least. Sweden, which looks after U.S. interests in North Korea because Washington and North Korea lack diplomatic relations, and Brazil have no plans to withdraw any diplomats from Pyongyang at this stage, according to their foreign ministries Sunday. Brazil said it is keeping a close eye on the situation but at this time see no reason to change the decision. There has been no advisory that staff at the Egyptian Embassy will leave or suspend their work. The Pentagon has strengthened missile defenses and made other decisions to combat the potential threat, and postponed a missile test, scheduled for this week in California, to avoid raising tensions further. U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said Sunday that he doesn't believe North Korea will engage in military action soon, "but I can't take the chance that it won't." Dempsey said the U.S. has been preparing for further provocations or action, "considering the risk that they may choose to do something" on one of two nationally important anniversaries — April 15, the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, and April 25, the creation of the North Korean army. Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang led South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce Sunday that its chairman had put off a visit to Washington. The U.S. military said its top commander in South Korea had also canceled a trip to Washington. The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch. His description suggests that the missile could be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles). Amid North Korea's threats and warnings, it has blocked South Korean workers and cargo from entering its Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for the past decade. North Korea is not forcing South Korean managers to leave the factory complex, and about 500 of them remained at Kaesong on Monday. But the entry ban at the park, the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project, is posing a serious challenge to many of the more than 120 South Korean firms there because they are running out of raw materials and are short on replacement workers. More than a dozen of the companies have stopped their operations in Kaesong. A high-level North Korean official visited the industrial zone on Monday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. It said that Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, blamed South Korea for making it impossible to operate to zone as usual. South Korea's finance minister, Hyun Oh-seok, said Monday that it is "quite ridiculous" for North Korea to be closing the border at Kaesong. "North Korea has nothing to gain from this kind of things," he said at a news briefing. Hyun said the government is looking at ways to help Kaesong firms. Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday — without specifically mentioning North Korea — that no one country should be allowed to upset world peace. "The international community should advocate the vision of comprehensive security and cooperative security, so as to turn the global village into a big stage for common development rather than an arena where gladiators fight each other. And no one should be allowed to throw the region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," Xi said Sunday at the Boao Forum for Asia, a China-sponsored talk shop for the global elite. He said China would work to reduce tensions over regional hotspots. Seoul and Washington are taking the threats seriously, though they say they have seen no signs thatPyongyang is preparing for a large-scale attack. Kim Jang-soo, the national security director, said the North would face "severalfold damages" for any hostilities. Since 2010, when attacks Seoul blames on North Korea killed 50 people, South Korea has vowed to aggressively respond to any future attack. In recent weeks, the U.S. has followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills. In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses. North Korea successfully shot a satellite into space in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February. It has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, though many analysts say the North hasn't achieved the technology to manufacture a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S. ___ AP writers Youkyung Lee in Seoul, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Robert Burns in Bagram, Afghanistan and Charles Hutzler in Boao, China, contributed to this report.
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/8/2013 11:04:11 AM
	Egypt: Top prosecutor urged to step down By HAMZA HENDAWI \| Associated Press – 19 hrs ago Associated Press/Mostafa Elshemy - Tear gas fills downtown as protesters clash with security forces in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters outside the chief prosecutor's office Saturday in central Cairo who were pushing on the building's doors demanding he resign.(AP Photo/Mostafa Elshemy) CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's highest judicial body on Sunday urged the top prosecutor to step down less than five months after the president appointed him, reflecting persistent turmoil in the government's upper reaches that has often been accompanied by violence. The surprise statement came on a day when Egypt's railway services came to a halt because of a strike by train drivers and conductors, and the funeral of four Christians killed in sectarian clashes turned into a rally against President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. A statement by the Supreme Judiciary Council carried by the official MENA news agency urged the prosecutor, Talaat Abdullah, "to express a wish" to return to his previous job as a judge for the sake of the unity of the judiciary. Abdullah's appointment in December set off protests by many judges and fellow prosecutors, who called it illegal. It set off days of protests outside his office in downtown Cairo. The protests forced him to tender his resignation, but then he withdrew it and stayed in office. A court ruling last week annulled the presidential decree appointing Abdullah, but he has continued to carry out his duties. There was no word immediately available from Abdullah on his plans. Removing Abdullah has been a key demand of the mostly liberal and secular opposition. Sunday's call by the council of the judiciary appeared aimed at offering him an honorable exit, a step toward ending a long running crisis within the judiciary over the appointment. Over the past two weeks Abdullah has ordered summons against several media celebrities critical of Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president. They included popular TV satirist Bassem Youssef, who was accused of insulting Morsi and Islam. The satirist was released on bail. Youssef's questioning last week, along with arrest warrants issued earlier by Abdullah's office against five rights activists, brought criticism from the United States. Train drivers and conductors went on strike Sunday to demand better pay in yet another episode in what appears to be an endless series of work stoppages over the past two years. Transport Minister Hatem Abdel-Lateef approved a 10 percent hike in the bonuses routinely given to all railway workers but train drivers and conductors rejected it as too little and went on strike. They are members of a national union grouping all railway workers. Trains stopped running from three key cities — Cairo, the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Tanta in the Nile Delta — bringing to a halt most services around the nation. Thousands of angry passengers crowded train stations. Video footage aired by several TV networks showed deserted platforms and motionless, empty trains. The labor unrest that followed the 2011 toppling of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak has deepened Egypt's economic woes as well as the political schism pitting President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist allies against the mostly secular and liberal opposition. Also Sunday, hundreds of angry Egyptian Christians gathered at the main Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo for the funeral of four Christians killed in weekend clashes with Muslims. A fifth person, a Muslim, died in the Saturday violence in the town of Khosoos north of Cairo. Denouncing Morsi, the mourners on Sunday chanted "Leave!" and "This is our country, we will not leave." Women wearing mourning black joined the chants, while clergymen sat silently before the service began. Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's estimated 90 million people. They have long complained of discrimination. The presidency and Muslim Brotherhood condemned the violence. The strike and the Christian uproar followed a night of clashes on Saturday in downtown Cairo between police and opposition supporters outside the city's main courthouse. Police used tear gas to disperse a rock-throwing crowd of some 3,000 protesters who also threw firebombs at the building, tried to storm it and blocked nearby roads. Prosecutor Abdullah's office is in the compound. The protests were part of demonstrations across much of the country to mark the fifth anniversary of the birth of the April 6th Youth Movement. The group, which played a key role in the 2011 uprising against Mubarak, backed Morsi in election run-offs last June but has since turned against him. April 6, like other opposition groups, accuses the Egyptian leader of acting like his autocratic predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, and of not having an inclusive political process. The Muslim Brotherhood party says Morsi should be challenged at the ballot box, not in street protests.CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's highest judicial body on Sunday urged the top prosecutor to step down less than five months after the president appointed him, reflecting persistent turmoil in the government's upper reaches that has often been accompanied by violence. The surprise statement came on a day when Egypt's railway services came to a halt because of a strike by train drivers and conductors, and the funeral of four Christians killed in sectarian clashes turned into a rally against President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. A statement by the Supreme Judiciary Council carried by the official MENA news agency urged the prosecutor, Talaat Abdullah, "to express a wish" to return to his previous job as a judge for the sake of the unity of the judiciary. Abdullah's appointment in December set off protests by many judges and fellow prosecutors, who called it illegal. It set off days of protests outside his office in downtown Cairo. The protests forced him to tender his resignation, but then he withdrew it and stayed in office. A court ruling last week annulled the presidential decree appointing Abdullah, but he has continued to carry out his duties. There was no word immediately available from Abdullah on his plans. Removing Abdullah has been a key demand of the mostly liberal and secular opposition. Sunday's call by the council of the judiciary appeared aimed at offering him an honorable exit, a step toward ending a long running crisis within the judiciary over the appointment. Over the past two weeks Abdullah has ordered summons against several media celebrities critical of Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president. They included popular TV satirist Bassem Youssef, who was accused of insulting Morsi and Islam. The satirist was released on bail. Youssef's questioning last week, along with arrest warrants issued earlier by Abdullah's office against five rights activists, brought criticism from the United States. Train drivers and conductors went on strike Sunday to demand better pay in yet another episode in what appears to be an endless series of work stoppages over the past two years. Transport Minister Hatem Abdel-Lateef approved a 10 percent hike in the bonuses routinely given to all railway workers but train drivers and conductors rejected it as too little and went on strike. They are members of a national union grouping all railway workers. Trains stopped running from three key cities — Cairo, the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Tanta in the Nile Delta — bringing to a halt most services around the nation. Thousands of angry passengers crowded train stations. Video footage aired by several TV networks showed deserted platforms and motionless, empty trains. The labor unrest that followed the 2011 toppling of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak has deepened Egypt's economic woes as well as the political schism pitting President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist allies against the mostly secular and liberal opposition. Also Sunday, hundreds of angry Egyptian Christians gathered at the main Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo for the funeral of four Christians killed in weekend clashes with Muslims. A fifth person, a Muslim, died in the Saturday violence in the town of Khosoos north of Cairo. Denouncing Morsi, the mourners on Sunday chanted "Leave!" and "This is our country, we will not leave." Women wearing mourning black joined the chants, while clergymen sat silently before the service began. Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's estimated 90 million people. They have long complained of discrimination. The presidency and Muslim Brotherhood condemned the violence. The strike and the Christian uproar followed a night of clashes on Saturday in downtown Cairo between police and opposition supporters outside the city's main courthouse. Police used tear gas to disperse a rock-throwing crowd of some 3,000 protesters who also threw firebombs at the building, tried to storm it and blocked nearby roads. Prosecutor Abdullah's office is in the compound. The protests were part of demonstrations across much of the country to mark the fifth anniversary of the birth of the April 6th Youth Movement. The group, which played a key role in the 2011 uprising against Mubarak, backed Morsi in election run-offs last June but has since turned against him. April 6, like other opposition groups, accuses the Egyptian leader of acting like his autocratic predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, and of not having an inclusive political process. The Muslim Brotherhood party says Morsi should be challenged at the ballot box, not in street protests.
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/8/2013 11:06:58 AM
	Christian mourners, mob, police clash in Egypt By AYA BATRAWY \| Associated Press – 17 hrs ago Associated Press/Mostafa Elshemy - Tear gas fills downtown as protesters clash with security forces in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, April 6, 2013. Police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters outside the chief prosecutor's office Saturday in central Cairo who were pushing on the building's doors demanding he resign.(AP Photo/Mostafa Elshemy) CAIRO (AP) — A mob threw rocks and fired birdshot Sunday at several hundred Christians marching in a protest against Egypt's Islamist government after the funeral of four Christians killed insectarian clashes over the weekend. The Christians were chanting slogans against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, just as several thousand did earlier during the funeral service nearby in the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo. The attacking mob, described by witnesses as residents of the area, forced the marchers to take shelter inside the sprawling cathedral complex. They also showered the protesters with rocks from the roofs of nearby buildings, according to witness Ibrahim el-Shareef. Mohammed Sultan, director of Egypt's national ambulance services, said at least 17 people were wounded in the clashes. Riot police later arrived, firing tear gas at the Christians and the mob. Several tear gas canisters landed inside the cathedral's grounds, causing a panic among women and children who attended the funeral. Video footage aired live on the private ONTV network showed young men on the roof of a building adjacent to the cathedral firing handguns in toward the compound. The four Christians, along with a Muslim, were killed in clashes on Saturday in a town north of Cairo. Inside the cathedral, several thousand mourners chanted slogans against Morsi, calling on the Egyptian leader to step down. They shouted "Leave!" and "This is our country, we will not leave." Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's estimated 90 million people. They have long complained of discrimination. Attacks against Christians have increased since the ouster two years ago of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/8/2013 11:08:39 AM
	Al-Qaida leader urges Muslims to unite in struggle By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF \| Associated Press – 19 hrs ago Associated Press/IntelCenter, File - FILE -- In this undated file frame grab from video provided by IntelCenter, an American private terrorist threat analysis company, shows Al-Qaida's leader Ayman Al-Zawahri in a still image from a web posting by al-Qaida's media arm, as-Sahab, Wednesday July 27, 2011. Al-Qaida's leader has urged Muslims in Arab Spring countries to unite to institute an Islamic state, while warning France that its intervention in Mali will be bogged down, in a 103-minute audio message posted on militant websites late Saturday, April 6, 2013. In the recording, al-Zawahri urged Muslims to liberate their lands, apply Islamic law, halt the plundering of Muslim wealth, support rebellious Muslims and oppressed people worldwide, and establish the Islamic Caliphate, or religious state. (AP Photo/IntelCenter, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS PICTURE. NO SALES MANDATORY CREDIT, INTELCENTER CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida's leader has urged Muslims in Arab Spring countries to unite to institute an Islamic state, while warning France that its intervention in Mali will be bogged down. "I warn France that it will meet in Mali, with God's permission, the same fate America met in Iraq and Afghanistan," Ayman Al-Zawahri said in a 103-minute audio message posted on militant websites late Saturday. France launched a military operation in Mali last January after being asked to intervene by the country's interim president. Since then, French and Malian troops have liberated main towns in the north, but remnants of an al-Qaida cell remain active there in some of the vast, rural areas. In the recording, al-Zawahri urged Muslims to liberate their lands from oppressive regimes and foreign troops, apply Islamic law, halt the plundering of Muslim wealth, support rebellious Muslimsand oppressed people worldwide, and establish the Islamic Caliphate, or religious state. The audio was produced by al-Qaida's media arm, As-Sahab, and was presented alongside video footage showing Iranian revolutionary guards captured in Syria, and other events in the Middle East. The al-Qaida leader praised the mujahedeen, or holy warriors, in Syria, urging them to step up their fight against the regime of President Bashar Assad. But he also warned them against letting the country fall under the influence of the United States, the Arab League, the United Nations and Israel should they gain control of it. "(They) want to steal your sacrifices and your jihad to give them to their supporters in Washington, Moscow and Tel Aviv." Al-Zawahri also lashed out against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Iran for their support of Assad, saying that "the true faces of Iran and Hezbollah have been exposed, and their ugly reality has appeared in the field of holy war in Syria." He called The Syrian government a "criminal secular" regime. Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian, criticized the country's ruling Muslim Brotherhood for a weak response to the country's poverty, saying "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Have the Islamic movements provided better education, health or transportation?" He also attacked the country's new constitution, drawn up by the Brotherhood and other Islamic movements, for not being religious enough. The charter, he said, approved by referendum last December, fell short of promises made by the Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that is the country's most powerful political force. He objected to the fact that the current constitution designates Islamic law, or Sharia, only as "the main source" of legislation, rather than the "sole source." Al-Zawahri's previous message, in which he urged Muslims to join Somali militants, was in November.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/8/2013 11:10:14 AM
	Portugal premier to give speech on economy crisis Portugal's premier to address nation after court ruling places government finances in trouble Associated Press – 20 hrs ago Associated Press - Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, center, gestures beside the Secretary of State to the Portugal's Prime Minister Carlos Moedas, left, and Portugal's Solidarity and Social Security Pedro Mota, during a fortnightly debate in the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon, Friday, April 5, 2013. Portugal's Constitutional Court has ruled that some of the unpopular pay cuts in this year's state budget are unlawful, denying the government about 1.4 billion euros (US dlrs 1.8 billion) of predicted revenue. The court's decision Friday delivers a setback to the austerity strategy agreed between the government and foreign creditors who lent Portugal 78 billion euros (US dlrs 101.5 billion) in a bailout two years ago. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- Portugal's prime minister said he will address the nation Sunday over a crisis triggered when the country's highest court ruled some of the unpopular pay cuts in this year's budget are unlawful, depriving the government of about 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of expected revenue. Pedro Passos Coelho will speak after his government said in a statement that the position taken by the Constitutional Court "places the country in serious difficulties in meeting obligations to which it is committed internationally and also the budgetary goals it must meet." Passos Coelho met with President Anibal Cavaco Silva late Saturday after holding an emergency Cabinet meeting. The government accepted the judges' decision, "but disagreed with it," government spokesman Luis Marques Guedes said. He said the ruling carries risks which Portuguese citizens should be made aware of. The court's decision Friday delivered a setback to the austerity strategy agreed between the government and foreign creditors who lent Portugal 78 billion euros ($101.5 billion) in a bailout two years ago. The ruling, delivered by a panel of 13 judges, said budget measures which cut holiday pay forgovernment workers and pensioners, and other austerity cutbacks which reduce unemployment and sickness benefits, were unconstitutional. The court's reasoning was that the measures singled out public workers and pensioners and hence were contrary to equality guarantees written into Portugal's constitution. Private sector workers aren't subject to the measures. Esteban Gonzalez Pons of neighboring Spain's ruling Popular Party was at pains to say that "Spain is not in the situation as Portugal," because austerity efforts had been distributed more evenly and "everyone has had to make sacrifices." Spain's main trade unions in January lodged an appeal before the Constitutional Court to similar cutbacks ushered through parliament by the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. ___ Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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SKorea: 'Indication' NKorea prepping for nuke test

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Portugal's premier to address nation after court ruling places government finances in trouble

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