In Brief...World News Review: Australia Now a "Prime Target"
Australia is a key target in a new wave of attacks being planned by al Qaeda.
Australia is a key target in a new wave of attacks being planned by al Qaeda, with Australian intelligence agencies warning that the Bali investigation had caught only the "footsoldiers" in a global terror network. An Australian official said that key people are still out there and they are dangerous.
Recent intelligence reports suggest that al Qaeda has advanced plans for strikes that involve a series of linked attacks in Australia, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
Based on the new information, the Australian government made its dramatic revelation about credible evidence of a possible terrorist attack within the next few months. It indicates that Australia and its interests abroad are now primary targets—along with the United States and Israel—of al Qaeda and its regional subsidiary, Jemaah Islamiah.
The alert is believed to have been based on information from regional telecommunications surveillance and supporting intelligence by the United States and Britain.
That warning has been strengthened by the most recent audiotape, attributed to Osama bin Laden, which declared: "We had warned Australia about its participation in Afghanistan. It ignored the warning until it woke up to the sound of explosions in Bali."
"The information is generic but it is sufficiently credible to give us real concerns," a senior regional security official said. "There are even time frames being talked about.
"There is significant activity being monitored internationally and there is a possibility of groups and individuals linking up. It's not just a regional thing."
—Source: The Sydney Morning Herald.
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: December 2002
Course Content
Jim Tuck
Jim has been in the ministry over 40 years serving fifteen congregations. He and his wife, Joan, started their service to God's church in Pennsylvania in 1974. Both are graduates of Ambassador University. Over the years they served other churches in Alabama, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, California, and currently serve the Phoenix congregations in Arizona, as well as the Hawaii Islands. He has had the opportunity to speak in a number of congregations in international areas of the world. They have traveled to Zambia and Malawi to conduct leadership seminars In addition, they enjoy working with the youth of the church and have served in youth camps for many years.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
