In the news:

There are several interesting stories today - a couple may deserve separate postings, depending on how long this gets:

China now owns $1.16 trillion of U.S. debt

China, the biggest buyer of U.S. Treasury securities, owns a lot more than previously estimated.
In an annual revision of the figures, the Treasury Department said Monday that China's holdings totaled $1.16 trillion at the end of December. That was an increase of 30 percent from an estimate the government made two weeks ago.

Iran trying to buy nuclear missile parts from Norway

Iran has been trying without success to obtain Norwegian missile technology for possible use in delivering nuclear weapons, Norway's security chief said on
Monday.

Janne Kristiansen, general director of the Norwegian Police Security Service, told Reuters Iran had approached small Norwegian companies that sell "special components that can ... be used in weapons of mass destruction, for building missiles".

U.S. weighs hit-and-run raids to disable Qaddafi's air capability

The US is repositioning its naval and air forces around Libya, Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan stated Monday, Feb. 28, indicating possible military steps to break the standoff between Muammar Qaddafi's army and rebel forces in the fighting for control of the towns commanding the roads to the capital Tripoli where Qaddafi is barricaded.

The Pentagon spokesman's indeed remarked that there are "various contingency plans" for the North African country where Muammar Qaddafi's forces and rebels in the east "remain locked in a tense standoff."

Most military observers interpreted his remark as referring to potential US military intervention in Libya to break the stalemate. It was strengthened by the imminent redeployment off the Libyan coast of USS Enterprise from the Red Sea and the amphibious USS Kearsarge, which has a fleet of helicopters and about 1,800 Marines aboard.

This (below) comes from Joel Rosenberg:

Bible Prophecy and the Future of Libya

This is an interesting article - just a few quotes:

In Ezekiel 38-39, we learn that Libya is one of the nations that joins the Russian-Iranian alliance against Israel in “the last days.” In this prophecy, Ezekiel uses the name “Put.”

The first century historian Flavius Josephus wrote in his famous book, The Antiquities of the Jews, that “Put” or “Phut” is “ancient Libyos.” Ancient Libyos, we know, certainly included the territory of the modern nation state we refer to today as Libya, but also included Algeria and possibly Tunisia.

In Daniel 11, we learn that Libya is one of the countries that will be under the control and direction of the Antichrist in “the last days.”

That said, Bible prophecy also tells us the government and many of the people of Libya will be engaged in great evil in the End of Days.

Israeli warns of risk of Islamist takeover in Arab world

Democratic uprisings that have already unseated long-standing autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt and are threatening to topple Moamer Gaddafi in Libya may be taken over by Islamist groups, an Israeli government official said Tuesday.

'The fear is that they will be highjacked, (following the) the model of Iran, the model of Hamas in Gaza, the model of Hezbollah in Lebanon,' Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, said during a visit to Brussels.

Israel's deputy foreign minister said Israel would have no qualms with dealing with an Egyptian government supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, as long as the party renounced its radicalism.

'For us it is not a matter of titles, it is a matter of policies, and if the policies are peaceful policies, I think that we will welcome any Egyptian representative,' Ayalon said.