42ND BIRD FLU CASE

1-Eu ready to participate in Mideast peace-keeping force. 2-Eu force shows muscle ahead of Congo elections. 3-World has vested interest in Mideast peace. 4-Pope makes fresh mideast peace call. 5-Iram militias must be eliminated. 6-5.0 Quake in Humbolt California. 7-Earthquakes causing Red Sea to Part. 8-Indonesia confirms 42ND Bird flu death.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

EU ready to participate in Mideast peace-keeping force
By Hannah K. Strange Jul/17/2006

LONDON -- The European Union is ready to take part in an international peace-keeping force to calm hostilities in Israel and Lebanon if such a mission is dispatched, the EU presidency said Monday.I am confident that the European Union and its member states which have been heavily contributing to such missions in the past will stand ready to take part if the conditions are there for such a mission, Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told a news conference in Brussels.The deployment of an international force to help resolve the Middle East crisis was earlier suggested by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and discussed by leaders at the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Our member states have made it clear that they are willing to consider participating in any such mission,said Tuomioja, speaking after a Brussels meeting of EU foreign ministers.However at present this was only an idea, he added.Earlier, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana returned from a fact-finding trip to Lebanon expressing pessimism about the chances of a ceasefire between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces, who have been engaged in a bloody cross-border battle for six days.

As Israeli warplanes continued to pound targets in Lebanon and Hezbollah responded by firing rockets on the Israeli border town of Haifa, Solana said the best that could be hoped for was a de-escalation" of the violence. A cease-fire, while desirable, was in his opinion still out of reach, he told reporters before the Brussels meeting.Solana, who met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora during his visit, said: At this point in time this is something everybody would like to have. But I think we are a little bit far, still far from that situation.He described the situation as very serious, very grave.I think we have to make all the efforts ... to de-escalate the situation and not to enter into a dynamic of action-reaction, he said.

Tuomioja told reporters that any force deployed must be seen as part of a long-term solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.The EU foreign ministers warned that the conflict could ultimately engulf the entire region. In a statement, they urged immediate action to prevent the escalation of the present crisis which now poses a threat to both Israel and Lebanon and to the wider security of the region.They called on Israel to respect Lebanon's territorial integrity and to refrain from "disproportionate" action, while condemning the capture of Israeli soldiers as well as attacks on Israel by Hezbollah and Hamas. The statement also urged the Lebanese government to rein in Hezbollah guerrillas and to restore its sovereignty over the whole of its national territory.

EU force shows muscle ahead of Congo polls
20 Jul 2006 14:18:44 GMT

KINSHASA, July 20 (Reuters) - A European Union military force sent to Congo showed off its firepower and technology on Thursday, saying it was ready to help U.N. peacekeepers maintain security during this month's elections.Soldiers parachuted into their Kinshasa base from helicopters before special forces teams performed a simulated hostage rescue and the force illustrated how it could quickly deploy men and armoured vehicles.Congolese politicians, military personnel, as well as foreign and local media were also shown the unmanned surveillance planes and weaponry the force has as its disposal.

We have tried to show you that we are credible and ready to fulfil our mission, German General Karlheinz Viereck, commander of the EU mission, told the audience after the display at N'Dodo airport.The EU has sent some 1,000 soldiers to the Democratic Republic of Congo, meant to act as a deterrent against anyone disrupting or challenging the result of the elections.The July 30 polls are the cornerstone of peace deals that ended Congo's 1998-2003 war, which has killed some four million people, and are billed as the former Belgian colony's first free and fair elections in over 40 years.

Despite the world's biggest U.N. peacekeeping force, voting will take place amid tension. Thousands of rebels operate in Congo's east, many candidates say the process is unfair and opposition parties are calling for demonstrations and boycotts.At the end of the month, my men will be ready to fulfil their task of securing the elections if there is trouble and the UN cannot deal with it, Viereck added.

FOUR-MONTH MISSION

The EU force has a four-month mission, starting the first day of voting, but will only intervene if the Congolese police and army, as well as the U.N. are unable to control violence.Some 33 presidential candidates and nearly 10,000 parliamentary candidates will contest the polls, which are costing the international community over $400 million and are the most complicated the U.N. has ever helped organise.Commanders have been reluctant to give details on what sort of operations the European soldiers would carry out, stressing however, that they were not in Congo to support any candidate and would do more than just evacuate expatriates.

During the demonstration, French and Portuguese special forces teams simulated a rescue mission, roping down from helicopters to free hostages in a bus before airlifting them to safety.A Hercules C130 transport plane then flew in soldiers and armoured trucks, showing how the EU could deploy men equipment across the vast country, which is the size of Western Europe, at short notice.

Meanwhile, Belgian surveillance drones and an array of sniper rifles, machine guns and mortars were put on display.The EU has a reserve force of 1,200 soldiers stationed in nearby Gabon but, with only one company of combat troops in Kinshasa, analysts say a successful mission would be one that does not have to act.Some Congolese, however, believe the international community is tacitly backing incumbent President Joseph Kabila while others fear the Europeans have come ready to fight a war.Don't speak about war, Viereck told local journalists. We have just showed a few options for dissuasion.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

2 THESSALIANS 2:3-12
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

DANIEL 11:23-24,39
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse(EU PRESIDENT LEADER OF PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he(EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

World has vested interest in Mideast peace

The world's most volatile area is living up to its reputation with a new round of bloody violence, and we're reminded that the latest armed conflict isn't so much between states as it is between Israel and anti-Israeli insurgents of all stripes. It's helpful to identify the players in this latest crisis. Your scorecard should read: Israel vs. Hamas, a Palestinian group, and Hezbollah, a well-armed and trained Lebanese Shiite militia. Both are coached by Iran and Syria. The game plan: Extremists basically want the Israeli state wiped from the face of the Earth. Israel is just as determined that won't happen.

Of the two groups, Hezbollah is currently the biggest threat to peace and stability with its attacks across the southern Lebanon border into Israel and development of a missile arsenal. The latest fighting began June 25 when Hamas-linked militants in the Gaza Strip carried out a cross-border attack on a military outpost in Israel, killing two soldiers and capturing one. Hezbollah guerrillas followed in July with an attack on a military patrol on the border in northern Israel, killing three soldiers and capturing two.

Israel retaliated immediately with a ferocity that has become the trademark of a nation that has fought for survival and right to exist since it was created in 1948 by a United Nations resolution. Israeli forces have pounded Lebanon, both on the ground and in the air. They also want the captured Israeli soldiers returned before there's any talk of cease-fire or truce. And they demand that no more missiles be rained on Israeli cities. With assistance from Syria and Iran, the well-armed Hezbollah militia has become stronger in southern Lebanon, as that country's fledgling attempt at democracy, Mideast style, bumbles along. A United Nations Security Council resolution in 2004 led to withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, but its accompanying call for disarming militant guerrillas has gone unheeded.

Now President Bush is rightly concerned that the instability caused by the Hezbollah attacks will cause some in Lebanon to invite Syria back into the nation. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is active on the diplomatic front in dealing with the crisis, thinks the 2004 resolution must be fully implemented, Hezbollah disarmed and a Lebanese army deployed to the border — along with a strong peacekeeping operation. Such an operation must be international in makeup, with healthy representation from other Muslim nations in the Middle East. To their credit, leaders in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt have expressed their displeasure with the Hezbollah attacks they fear could lead to war on a much broader scale.

The United States is already stretched too thin in the Middle East, where we are viewed by many in the world community as an automatic, blind backer of Israel. While we can be involved in a search for a diplomatic solution, an end to military hostilities must be brokered on a larger stage, such as the United Nations, again with considerable representation from other Mideast countries. That would help give the effort the credibility it must have. The current upheaval will continue until Lebanon has a viable government that can deal with internal strife, much the same kind of challenge now facing Iraq's newly elected leaders. Otherwise, insurgency and civil war are virtually inevitable.

An anxious world awaits new developments to end the bloodshed and violence of the current upheaval, in which innocent civilians once again are paying the heaviest price. In the short haul, a cease-fire is critical. The long-range answer to co-existence in that troubled world spot remains a more daunting challenge, but one that to be viable requires active participation of moderate Mideast governments that reject radical insurgency groups.
* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins and Bill Lee.

Pope makes fresh Mideast peace call
Urges believers to pray on Sunday for an end to conflict

(ANSA) - Vatican City, July 20 - Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday issued a fresh appeal for an end to the latest conflict in the Middle East, proclaiming next Sunday a day of prayers for peace .

The pope issued a statement saying that Sunday would be a special day of prayer and penitence for believers of all faiths in the hope of an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon .We must implore God for the precious gift of peace, he said .The Lebanese have the right to see their country's sovereignty respected, the Israelis have the right to live in peace in their state and the Palestinians have the right to their own free and sovereign state,the German-born pontiff said .The 79-year-old pope also urged aid organisations to help the people hit by this ruthless conflict .

Humanitarian corridors must immediately be established to bring aid to the suffering populations, he said. He called for the opening of reasonable and responsible negotiations to end objective situations of injustice existing in the region .It was the pope's second appeal for peace in four days .On Sunday, he condemned the conflict, saying there could be no justification for the terrorist acts nor the reprisals, particularly when there are tragic consequences for civilians .The pope stressed that history had shown no good would come of such conflicts .Israeli warplanes pounded Lebanon for the ninth consecutive day on Thursday in response to a deadly incursion into Israeli territory last week by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah .Hezbollah, which is based in southern Lebanon and has the backing of Syria and Iran, has retaliated with rocket attacks against Israel .

The conflict has so far killed at least 305 people in Lebanon and 29 in Israel .Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a televised address on Wednesday that more than 500,000 people had been displaced by the war and appealed for international help .
© Copyright ANSA.,2006-07-20 14:24

PSALMS 83:3-5
3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

EZEKIEL 38:5-6
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.

Iran's militias must be eliminated
Jul. 20, 2006 12:00 AM

Bishara Bahbah's article in Sunday's Viewpoints, Israel, Palestinians stray from road to peace, makes some positive suggestions for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without addressing the confounding detail of eliminating militias of the kind Hamas and Hezbollah operate that are armed by Iran and Syria.Iran has cast a big shadow over the violence by aiding Hezbollah with advanced missiles. This interference pushes Teheran to the head of the line of priorities that Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates must deal with in order to protect their own peace and stability.

The existence of these militias has made Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora impotent to conduct negotiations on behalf of their respective countries. They could sign the peace documents, but they can't control the militias armed by Iran and Syria.President Bush has the opportunity to build an anti-Iran/Syria coalition of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE that could help with the transition from the militias to new national armies reconstituted under civilian authority in Lebanon and Palestine. - Harvey Karchmer, Scottsdale

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

5.0 quake hits off Humboldt
By George Kelly,CONTRA COSTA TIMES

North Coast residents woke to a 5.0 earthquake this morning, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.A magnitude 5.0 quake hit at 4:41 a.m. It was centered about 40 miles south-southwest of Eureka and about 200 miles northwest of Sacramento at a depth of about 13 miles, according to a United States Geological Survey preliminary report.It was felt as far north as parts of McKinleyville and as far south as Willits.

Scientists: Earthquakes causing Red Sea to part
Arabian tectonic plate and African plate are moving away from each other
Updated: 2:08 p.m. ET July 19, 2006

The Red Sea is parting again, but this time Moses doesn’t have a hand in it. Satellite images show that the Arabian tectonic plate and the African plate are moving away from each other, stretching the Earth's crust and widening the southern end of the Red Sea, scientists reported in this week's issue of journal Nature. Last September, a series of earthquakes started splitting the planet's surface along a 37-mile section of the East African Rift in Afar, Ethiopia. Over a period of three weeks, the crust on the sides of the rift moved apart by 26 feet and magma (molten rock)—enough to fill a football stadium more than 2,000 times—was injected along a vertical crack, forming a new crust. We think that the crust and mantle melt slowly at depths greater than 10 kilometers [6 miles], where it is hotter, forming magma,said Tim J Wright, study co-author, a Royal Society University Research Fellow. This magma rises through the crust because it is less dense than the surrounding rock.

The magma collects in magma chambers at depths of 3 to 5 kilometers [1.9 to 3 miles] where the density is the same as the crustal rocks, Wright explained. Slowly, the pressure has been building up in these chambers until last September when it finally cracked, breaking the crust along a vertical crack. The magma was then injected into this crack.The intrusion of magma into the gap, rather than the cracking of the crust, is responsible for segmentation of continental drifts. This is the first rifting episode to have occurred since 1970 and the largest single rip in the Earth's continental crust during the satellite-monitoring era. We knew about the steady rifting process in Afar, as Arabia moves away from Africa across the rift, Wright said. And we knew that occasionally the strain that builds up slowly over centuries is released suddenly in rifting episodes. We did not know how big the deformation could be.

Slow drift

For the past 30 million years Africa and Arabia have been going through a rifting process, the same one that formed the Red Sea. In this amount of time, the 186-mile- wide Afar depression formed. The ground is continually moving—much more rapidly now than before the rifting episode, Wright told LiveScience. On average, the two sides move apart at about 2 centimeters per year [0.8 inches per year]. But, as this event demonstrates, the motion is episodic and jerky. This poses considerable hazard to the local inhabitants, which is higher for the next few years.This latest split, added to the long-term rifting process, which is tearing the northeast of Ethiopia and Eritrea from the rest of Africa, could eventually create a huge new sea. Although such processes could take millions of years to occur, this event has given scientists an unprecedented opportunity to monitor the rupture in real time.
© 2006 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

REVElATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Indonesia confirms 42nd human bird flu death
By Fitri Wulandari

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An international test has confirmed a 44-year-old Indonesian fried chicken vendor who died earlier this month had bird flu, a senior health ministry official said on Thursday. The man, from east Jakarta, died on July 12. His death brought to 42 the number of Indonesians killed by the bird flu virus. The populous southeast Asian country has recorded more human deaths from the disease this year than any other country. A chicken trader waits for customers at the local market in Jakarta July 16, 2006. An international test has confirmed a 44-year-old Indonesian man who died this month had bird flu, a senior health ministry official said on Thursday. (REUTERS/Crack Palinggi) The man was confirmed to have bird flu by the Hong Kong laboratory. There were dead chickens around him, but chickens around his neighbourhood tested negative for bird flu, I Nyoman Kandun, director-general of communicable disease control at the Health Ministry, told Reuters.

Contact with sick or dead poultry is the usual mode of transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus, which is endemic in nearly all of the country's 33 provinces. He had contact with chicken every day when preparing fried chicken. All his family members have tested negative for bird flu,said Runizar Ruesin, the head of the health ministry's Bird Flu Information Centre. While Indonesia has sophisticated laboratories, bird flu tests still need to be confirmed by World Health Organisation-affiliated testing centres, usually in Hong Kong or the United States. Human cases of bird flu have been rising steadily in Indonesia since its first known outbreak in poultry in late 2003. Earlier this month, a three-year-old girl died of the virus. Worldwide, the disease has killed at least 132 people since it re-emerged in east Asia in 2003.

Vietnam has also recorded 42 deaths but has managed to bring the disease under control. Its last human death occurred in 2005.
Indonesia has been criticised for not doing enough to stamp out H5N1, which still remains essentially an animal disease but experts fear could spark a pandemic if it mutates into a form that can pass easily among people. The agriculture ministry said earlier this month Indonesia's death rate from bird flu was worsening, possibly due to limited vaccination of poultry. The government has so far shied away from mass culling, citing lack of funds and impracticality in a country with millions of backyard fowl. Vaccination is the preferred method to prevent the spread of bird flu among poultry. Copyright © 2005 Reuters