IRAN PLANNING TO STRIKE ISRAEL

1-Srong Quake jolts Southern Iran. 2-China storm toll jumps to 482. 3-Tropical storm beryl weakens. 4-Montreal storms cause blackouts 2nd time this week. 5-Hot wild weather sparks fires,flash floods in Los Angeles. 6-Record heatwave sweeps through Europe. 7-Iran planning to strike Israel. 8-Rice strategy for lebanon Peace.

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.

Strong quake jolts southern Iran 1 hour, 31 minutes ago

TEHRAN (AFP) - A strong earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted southern Iran, state television has reported. No casualties have been reported from the quake, which struck at 3:16 am (1146 GMT) with the epicentre outside the town of Shahr-e Babak in Kerman province.The earthquake hit an uninhabited area in the desert so there has been no damage,a local official identified only by his last name as Shojai told ISNA news agency.Iran suffers frequent earthquakes. The worst in recent times razed the southeastern town of Bam, Kerman province, in December 2003, killing 31,000 people.

In March this year, a powerful earthquake hit western Iran, killing at least 70 people and leaving thousands homeless.In February 2005, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale killed more than 600 in Zarand.

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

China storm toll jumps to 482 - 39 minutes ago

BEIJING (AFP) - China's official death toll from rainstorms and flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Bilis has spiked dramatically to 482, state media has said. The sudden rise from 228 came after authorities revised the number of deaths in the central province of Hunan to 346, compared with 92 previously, the Xinhua news agency reported.There was no immediate explanation for the sudden increase in Hunan's death toll, and no immediate claim of a cover-up.However, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued an urgent notice warning local governments to be honest about disaster tolls.Data related to natural disasters should absolute not be covered up, the notice said. If cover-ups do happen, local governments should hold the responsible people to account.

The Hunan figure could yet rise significantly, as provincial authorities warned 89 people were still missing and unaccounted for.A total of 33 counties and six cities across Hunan have been hit by rainstorms, floods, landslides and mudflows, affecting 7.3 million people. The province has evacuated 800,000 people from dangerous places.The Hunan city of Zixing was unusually heavily hit, with 197 dead and 69 missing, according to Xinhua.There was no immediate explanation for the extremely large toll in Zixing, although the area appears to have a somewhat exposed geography.The city is located next to a major river, Dongjiang, as well as the Dongjiang reservoir.Tropical Storm Bilis, which also claimed lives in the Philippines and Taiwan, has left a path of death and destruction since making landfall in China a week ago.

Preliminary statistics showed 63 were confirmed dead in the southern province of Guangdong, along with 30 in the southern region of Guangxi, and 43 in southeastern Fujian province, according to Xinhua.Nationwide, the heavy rains and floods have caused 212,000 houses to collapse and damaged another 287,000, while forcing the evacuation of nearly three million.Heavy rain and severe floods have also destroyed sections of many highways and railways in southern China.China's flood season from June to August usually sees overflowing rivers and mountain torrents, often causing deadly landslides.By Wednesday the tropical storm was dying down and moving to Guizhou and Yunnan provinces in the southwest.More typhoons or tropical rainstorms are expected to hit China this year, partly due to the warm ocean current in the northwestern Pacific and high temperatures in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, meteorologists have warned.

Tropical storm Beryl weakens By Richard C. Lewis
59 minutes ago

NARRAGANSETT, Rhode Island (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl, the second of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, whipped up chest-high waves as it blew over Nantucket island on Friday before weakening and heading out to sea. Beryl hit the southeastern Massachusetts island at about 3 a.m. (0700 GMT) with winds of up to 44 mph (71 kph), before encountering colder air over the Atlantic Ocean and dissipating into a milder storm, the National Weather Service said.Beryl felt like a mild Nor'easter, with wind gusts and heavy rain, said locals in Nantucket, a historic whaling port and upscale resort area.It wasn't a storm, really,said Sophia Orr of Island Coffee, a bakery and cafe on Nantucket's Steamboat Wharf.

A tropical storm warning was lifted across southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, although the storm may cause higher tides than normal.Beryl brought up to 3 inches of rain off the coast and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, but the center of Nantucket received only with about half an inch (1.3 cm) of rain, Bill Simpson of the National Weather Service in Massachusetts said.At 5 a.m. (0900 GMT), the storm system was moving northeast at about 21 mph (33 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.Beryl drew dozens of surfers to Rhode Island's popular Narragansett Bay beaches.The waves were better, so I was excited. You caught a few and they were great,surfer Mark Osman, 30, said.Locals on Cape Cod, a popular summer holiday destination, said Beryl caused barely a ripple. It's weakened a lot, said Pat Smith of Riverview Bait & Tackle in South Yarmouth on Cape Cod. It's actually fairly decent out.

Beryl's likely path would take its remnants over or near the Canadian province of Nova Scotia by late Friday or Saturday.Forecasters expect a busy June 1-November 30 Atlantic hurricane season this year, with up to 17 tropical storms.Last year saw a record 28 tropical storms, 15 of which strengthened into hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph). Among them was Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, killed more than 1,300 people and became the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

The first tropical storm of the 2006 season, Alberto, came harmlessly ashore in the Florida Panhandle on June 13.(Additional reporting by Chris Wilson in Washington and Jason Szep in Boston)

Montreal storm causes blackouts 2nd time this week
Last Updated: Friday, July 21, 2006 | 9:42 AM ET CBC News

Thunderstorms that hit the island of Montreal for the second time this week have left about 30,000 homes without power Friday morning.Following Thursday's storm, Hydro-Québec reported 11,000 clients in Dollard des Ormeaux and Pierrefonds, another 11,000 in Côte-St-Luc, and thousands of others in Lachine, Laval and Lasalle have no power.The utility was trying to restore downed electrical lines, but didn't know when power would be back up.This storm arrived only a short time after Hydro-Québec restored power to the homes of virtually all the 100,000 customers affected by a storm that swept across Quebec on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Hot Wild Weather Sparks Wildfires and Flash Floods
Associated Press ,July 21, 2006, 6:53 AM PDT

Lightning-laced thunderstorms rolled through fire-scorched wilderness east of Los Angeles on Thursday, igniting a half-dozen new blazes but failing to bring heavy rains that could help douse the flames.Lightning torched a Joshua tree around 1:30 p.m. in Joshua Tree National Park, sparking a wildfire that quickly burned 100 acres and temporarily threatened dozens of homes in Yucca Valley, said Capt. Marc DeRosier of the California Department of Forestry.The blaze came as close as a mile to the homes before winds blowing in a southeasterly direction turned the flames back to the park, DeRosier said.Quite a few residents had voluntarily evacuated,he said. About 200 firefighters aided by two helicopters and six air tankers quickly got a handle of the northwest portion of the fire that was threatening homes. They were working to set a line around the blaze, which could grow up to 500 acres, DeRosier said.

An afternoon storm cell unleashed heavy rain in some areas of the San Bernardino Mountains but less than a tenth of an inch in burned areas, said Philip Gonsalves, a National Weather Service forecaster in San Diego.The storms moved out in a few hours without bringing additional rain, but could resume on Friday, he said.Severe thunderstorms also formed in the desert of north Los Angeles County and flash flooding began there in the late afternoon, said Los Angeles County Fire spokesman German Aguilera. There were no requests for water rescues, he said.Flash flood watches were also posted to the northwest in the mountains of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.Farther south, a 400-acre grass fire in a remote area of southeastern San Diego County was 80 percent contained and firefighters expected to fully surround it by evening. A campfire was suspected as the cause.

Several lightning strikes burned Joshua trees and dead timber in the Mojave Desert and the San Bernardino Mountains, but most of those fires were only a few acres in size, said Robin Prince of the U.S. Department of Forestry.In the San Bernardino National Forest, about 200 firefighters working the vast Heart-Millard complex of fires were pulled off the lines and ordered to safer areas.

Two concerns, lightning and flash flooding ... it just wasn't worth it. The fire wasn't doing anything anyway ... this fire hasn't moved in like four or five days,said Rich Phelps of the U.S. Forest Service.

DeRosier said lightning and thunderstorms were occurring unusually early in the high desert. The weather pattern typically occurs in late August and early September.When you combine this type of weather with the dry conditions that normally exist in the desert, plus the strong winds, you're looking at a long fire season,DeRosier said.The 24,695-acre Heart-Millard complex, equal to 38 square miles, was 60 percent contained. Ignited by lightning on July 9, it was burning in craggy canyonlands about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. For nearly a week, the fire has been holding at a few miles southeast of Big Bear and other resort towns.Firefighters continued to be released from the adjoining Sawtooth fire, which was contained earlier this week. Sprawling over 61,700 acres, or 96 square miles, it destroyed 58 houses and mobile homes, caused 17 injuries and killed a Pioneertown man when it swept through the Mojave Desert after being ignited by lightning July 9.

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Record heatwave sweeps through Europe
21 July 2006 04:22

Countries across Europe were sweltering under a prolonged heatwave on Friday with at least 23 people reported dead from the heat in France and Spain as temperatures soared to record levels.More than 20 people have died in France as a result of the heatwave that has been affecting the country for one week, the government's Institute of Health Oversight announced on Friday.The victims include 10 people between the ages of 80 and 94, four workers who succumbed to the heat on the job, two people engaging in sports activities and an adolescent of 15 years of age.In addition, police in the western French city of Nantes said a 53-year-old man collapsed and died on Tuesday because of the heat while walking to his home.Earlier on Friday, the French weather service Meteo France placed 25 departments, or regions, on orange alert the second-highest level until Sunday because temperatures in the designated areas were expected to climb above 33 degrees Celsius, and up to 38 degrees in some localities.

In August 2003, about 15 000 people, most of them elderly, died in France during a two-week heatwave.The current heatwave in Britain is costing the economy £168-million a day in lost productivity, according to press reports on Friday.The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) calculated that, when temperatures soar to 32 degrees -- the average so far this week -- productivity dives by 29%.Changes in spending patterns would lead to a loss of £5,8-million, while an extra £3-million a day spent on drinks, including beer and wine, is wiped out by lost retail sales.According to the Daily Mail on Friday, £3,9-million were lost through staff arriving late because trains were delayed in the heat due to speed restrictions, or because people preferred to travel outside peak hours.People think that there is a lot more spending when it's sunny because they are buying ice creams and beer and lots of other things to keep them cool, but this is offset by much bigger losses elsewhere,CEBR economist Jaspreet Sehmi said.

Temperatures in southern Britain reached a peak of 36,5 degrees on Tuesday -- the hottest for July since records began in 1911.
Almost all the major Underground (Tube) lines through London suffered long delays Thursday as communication systems failed in the heat, leaving millions stranded.

Temperatures on the trains reached 47 degrees.

As temperatures in the upper 20s, coupled with extreme humidity, continued in large parts of southern and central Britain, the island of Lewis in the Western Isles off the coast of Scotland recorded a cool 13 degrees and overcast skies.

Record temperatures

Czech meteorologists said Friday's clear-sky temperatures in Prague could top the city's record for a third day in a row. The mercury reached a new high on Wednesday, and Thursday's temperature of 35,3 degrees broke a record in place since 1865.In the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, Meteomedia weather service measured the country's hottest temperature this year: 38,9 degrees in the town of Bernburg.The stifling heatwave that has been gripping northern Europe reached Italy on Friday, with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees in many parts of the country.Weathermen said temperatures are set to rise further on Saturday, prompting officials to raise alarm levels.Farmers' group Coldiretti said the dry weather has already caused hundreds of millions of euros in damages to agriculture, particularly in the north-east.

The European Union predicted the drought would cause a 9% drop in the production of grain, with maize and barley harvests also likely to suffer.The Po, Italy's largest river, shrunk to its lowest level to date due to a prolonged lack of rain.Several Spanish regions also issued heat warnings to residents as temperatures are expected to top 40 degrees in some places over the next few days.
A 32-year-old man became the third person to die of heat-related health problems this summer. He died of a heat stroke on Thursday after working out of doors near Caceres in the south-west.

Crime wave

Meanwhile, back in northern Europe, the current heatwave in Denmark has triggered a wave of thefts as many thieves take advantage of doors and windows left open by house owners sweltering in the heat, reports said on Friday.We see a clear rise in house thefts during the summer period compared to other seasons," police spokesperson Steffen Hedemann of the Nykobing Falster police told commercial broadcaster TV2 Ost.Another trend has been a rise in people engaging in public sex on beaches. Complaints have, for instance, been filed with police in Ishoj, about 20km south of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Some bathers have been upset over the activities at the unofficial nudist beach, which often attract onlookers.Open-air sex can in some circumstances be illegal and be punished by a four-year jail term, police said, although statistics suggest most offenders are fined.

Similar complaints have also surfaced at some beaches in southern Sweden.

A spokesperson for the Danish Naturist Association said that while they favour public nudity, open-air sex can be a problem. "It has to be done in a place where it doesn't offend anybody,Kim Bindesboll Andersen told Ritzau news agency.Denmark has allowed people to bathe in the nude at public beaches since the 1970s, provided consideration is made to other visitors.Austrian climate expert for the WWF Markus Niedermair said on Friday the current Europe-wide heatwave is man-made and not a natural phenomenon.We're experiencing a climate change caused by humankind, Niedermair said as Friday midday temperatures in Austria reached 36 degrees. Too high levels of carbon dioxide emitted round the world are to blame, he said.Eight of the 10 warmest years on record occurred between 1996 and 2006. Since 1970, the average temperature in Vienna has gone up by 1,2 degrees, Niedermair told the newspaper Der Standard.

In Austria, the ambulance services reported 10% more calls since the heatwave started.In the Pinzgau region of the province of Salzburg, a forest fire was brought under control after three days. Another fire in the area of Gmunden in northern Austria, meanwhile, spread to an area of 70 000 square metres. -- Sapa-dpa SMS 'mg' to 31883 to surf M&G Online breaking news on your cellphone via GPRS or 3G at only R10 a month plus WAP charges (SA users only)

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
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.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
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:
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines(PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

Iran planning to strike Israel?
Hizb'allah assault meant to swamp Israeli defenses
By Ryan Jones,July 21, 2006

Tehran ordered the current Hizb'allah rocket assault on Israel in order to swamp Israeli defenses and open the door for an Iranian missile strike on Israel's population centers, wrote a group of Iranian exiles in a full-page ad published in Wednesday's Washington Times.The Azadegan Foundation, led by former Iranian diplomat Assad Homayoun, warned that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intends to use weapons of mass destruction against the Jewish state.We have know for some four years that Iran's clerical leadership has, mostly through Syria and with active participation from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, been pouring thousands of Zalzal-2 and Fajr rockets and missiles into HizbAllah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) units in Lebanon's Beqa'a Valley, for use against Israel.

Now they are being used. And, clearly, this is only the beginning. They are the mass barrages meant to swamp regional defenses so that Iran's strategic Shahab-3 ballistic missiles and other weapons can deliver WMD against Israel and other targets in the region.Adding to the growing sense of concern is the fact that Ahmadinejad earlier this week announced to Muslims throughout the region that a great day of rejoicing would soon be upon them.If Iran's aim is to divert Israel's missile defense systems away from its densely populated central regions, it appears to be working.World Tribune reported Wednesday that Israel is urgently pooling its missile defense assets to defend against the Hizb'allah threat in the north.

Rice outlines strategy for Lebanon peace By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer Fri Jul 21, 2:43 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ruled out a quick false promise cease-fire in the Middle East Friday and defended her decision not to meet with either Syrian or Hezbollah leaders in her upcoming visit to the region. Syria knows what it needs to do and Hezbollah is the source of the problem, Rice said at the State Department as she previewed her trip, which begins on Sunday with a first stop in Israel.Rice said she would work with allies to help create conditions for stability and lasting peace.

Asked why she didn't go earlier and engage in quick-hit diplomacy to try to end the death and destruction that has gripped both Lebanon and northern Israel, she replied, I could have gotten on a plane and rushed over and started shuttling and it wouldn't have been clear what I was shuttling to do.Hezbollah extremists are trying to strangle it in its crib, Rice said of the Lebanese government, which has been a less potent force in the fractured country than the politically savvy and well-armed Hezbollah guerrillas.The crisis started last week when Hezbollah, an Islamic militant group that operates in southern Lebanon, captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel retaliated by carrying out bombing across Lebanon and slapping a naval blockade on the country. Hezbollah fired hundreds of missiles into Israel.

Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to Washington, told The Associated Press that Israel would not rule out an eventual international stabilization force. But he said Israel was determined to first take out Hezbollah's command and control centers and weapons stockpiles.He described it as a mop up operation, and said that Israel had no desire to repeat its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000.They overplayed their hand, they miscalculated, Ayalon said of Hezbollah, which is supported by both Syria and Iran.This is a war not of our choosing, he said.In her briefing for reporters on her trip, Rice said the United States was committed to ending the bloodshed, but didn't want to do it before certain conditions were met.The United States has said all along that Hezbollah must first turn over the two Israeli soldiers and stop firing missiles into Israel.We do seek an end to the current violence, we seek it urgently. We also seek to address the root causes of that violence, she said. A cease-fire would be a false promise if it simply returns us to the status quo.Rice said that it was important to deal with the root cause of the violence, echoing what has been the U.S. position since last week.

President Bush, asked what he hopes Rice will achieve on her trip, said he would discuss it with her when he returns to the White House on Sunday. He was speaking at a restaurant in Aurora, Colo., as he met with 10 members of the military who recently returned from Iraq.Announcing plans earlier for a Sunday meeting that Bush and Rice will have with Saudi officials, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the idea was "to provide the president and Dr. Rice a chance to continue to strategize with a key partner in the region on a diplomatic solution that will address the root causes of violence and terror in the region.Bush and Rice will meet at the White House Sunday with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, chief of the Saudi National Security Council.The plans emerged following two days of meetings in New York with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and envoys he sent to the region this week. Although Annan called Thursday for an immediate cease-fire, that is opposed by the United States. The Bush administration says the United States and the U.N. agree on the wider diplomatic goals for the region.

The United States has resisted international pressure to lean on its ally Israel to halt the fighting. Rice was likely try to point the way to a relatively quick cease-fire, but not an immediate one.Rice was flying first to Israel, then Rome. In Rome, she will meet with European foreign ministers, officials from Lebanon and representatives from Arab nations that have been unusually critical of Hezbollah.Rice's mission would be the first U.S. diplomatic effort on the ground since the Israeli onslaught against Lebanon began.

Annan outlined the basic terms of a proposed cease-fire and the longer-range goals to remove the Hezbollah threat in southern Lebanon in a speech on Thursday. Hezbollah exerts political control over southern Lebanon, overshadowing the weak democratic central government in Beirut. The U.N. and U.S. plan for long-term stability would give international help to the Beirut government to expel Hezbollah and install its own Army troops.Israel called up reserve troops Friday and warned civilians to flee southern Lebanon as it prepared for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone.