US LOSING CREDIBILITY IN MIDEAST

1-Earthquakes Shaking Up Garvin County. 2-Moderate earthquake rocks Mexico. 3-Powerful typhoon kills 104 in China. 4-Iran wants 'religious empire' in Middle East: 5-Tornado Hits Marcellus. 6-Palestinians Want Ceasefire with Israel. 7-Spain's Military now Up and Running With Savi Technology's RFID-Based Consignment Management Solution. 8-Israeli Objections to Ceasefire Proposal. 9-Abbas Urged To Dissolve Palestinian Authority. 10-US losing credibility in Mideast.

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Earthquakes Shaking Up Garvin County
Posted: Aug 10, 2006 07:47 PM EDT

In Garvin County, Oklahoma, residents have been rattled recently. The Oklahoma Geological Survey says four earthquakes have been recorded there since Friday. The latest one hit yesterday in Elmore City, where residents say they felt the tremors.

KTEN's Andrea Kurys reports.The latest earthquake was the largest to hit the county, so far. Geologists say the earthquake was a two-point-nine magnitude shaker. Nancy Haley, an Elmore City resident said, I was sitting at my computer and all of a sudden it was just a rumble like, um, distant thunder.Haley thought she might be feeling vibrations caused by heavy artillery at Fort Sill, 55 miles to the west. She said, Then it was just shaking, even the chair I was sitting in was shaking.

All over town, residents reported feeling the earth move. Some say things fell off the walls and shattered. Others say they were shaken awake in the middle of the night. Tammy Wiley said, I was in bed about 4 o'clock in the morning, laying there and the bed just kind of jumped, kind of like it just went 'boom.'Officials say yesterday's quake released 164 times as much energy as the three others recorded earlier this week. According to the Oklahoma Geological Survey, 30 to 60 earthquakes occur each year in Oklahoma, it's just that nobody knows about them. Residents say the news is more interesting than concerning...but the city is prepared, should a natural disaster strike.

Lisa Rollings works at City Hall. She said, We have an evacuation committee that just started in you know, being prepared for these types of things, but I don't think we ever actually put earthquake on the list.And in this small town of less than 800 people, word has traveled fast. Nancy Haley said, My husband went to the coffee shop and everybody there was talking a bout it, did you feel that this morning early and so, yeah, it was the talk of the town. It still is.(Andrea Kurys, KTEN News).

Moderate earthquake rocks Mexico City 3 minutes ago

MEXICO CITY - A moderate earthquake rocked Mexico City on Friday, causing skyscrapers to sway and frightening residents.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.The U.S. Geological Service estimated the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 and was centered in Michoacan, 125 miles southwest of the capital.There were no initial reports of major damage in the city, and electric and telephone service were not interrupted.

Hundreds of Mexico City residents ran into the streets when the quake hit.Radio reports said the city seemed fine. The quake didn't appear to knock out electricity or phone service.The quake was too small and based too far inland to cause a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

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.

Powerful typhoon kills 104 in China By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 47 minutes ago

BEIJING - Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to strike China in 50 years, weakened to a tropical depression Friday but drenched the country's southeast after killing at least 104 people, blacking out cities and wrecking more than 50,000 houses. Another 190 people were missing after Saomai, whose winds peaked at 170 mph, battered areas where more than 1.6 million people were evacuated before it hit late Thursday.Hardest-hit was Wenzhou, a coastal city where at least 81 people were killed and 11 were missing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said Wenzhou suffered $560 million in damage, including more than 18,000 flattened houses.

In Cangnan County on Wenzhou's outskirts, 43 bodies, including those of eight children, were found in the debris of collapsed houses where they sought shelter from the storm, Xinhua said. News photos showed relatives weeping over bodies covered in sheets and quilts.State television showed cars flipped over on rain-slicked streets, fallen trees and broken road signs. Exhausted evacuees sat in public buildings waiting out the storm.Saomai weakened to a tropical depression Friday, and torrential rains were forecast over the weekend across China's south, from coastal Zhejiang and Fujian inland to the poor rural provinces of Jiangxi and
Anhui.Much of that region was still recovering from Tropical Storm Bilis, which killed more than 600 people last month, many of them in mountain villages and other inland areas.

Saomai, the Vietnamese name for the planet Venus, was the eighth major storm to hit China during an unusually violent typhoon season. It was dubbed a super typhoon by Chinese forecasters due to its huge size and strong winds.

Deaths were reported in Zhejiang province, where Wenzhou is located, and neighboring Fujian province to the south, where power was knocked out in several cities, state media said.More than 32,000 houses were wrecked in Fujian, Xinhua said. The government didn't immediately say how bad the damage was in Zhejiang outside of Wenzhou.Saomai was the most powerful typhoon to hit China since a storm on Aug. 1, 1956, that had winds up to 145 mph, Xinhua said.

It said that typhoon killed 4,900 people in Zhejiang.It is the strongest typhoon that we have ever seen,Xinhua quoted an unnamed official as saying in Fuding, where at least two people were killed. The government said the city got more than a foot of rain in 12 hours.

Ahead of the storm, about 1 million people were evacuated from flood-prone areas of Zhejiang and 620,000 from Fujian, according to the government.More than 20,000 soldiers and paramilitary police reportedly were mobilized for relief work. The Fujian government said it sent 1,500 tents, 3,000 quilts and 50,000 pieces of clothing to storm survivors.Late Friday, the government announced that it was allocating $21 million in disaster aid to regions hit by Saomai and other recent storms.Last week, Typhoon Prapiroon battered Guangdong province and the Guangxi region on China's southern coast, killing at least 80 people.Even as Saomai moved inland, Chinese forecasters were already closely watching Tropical Storm Bopha, which trailed behind it farther out in the Pacific.

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 wants 'religious empire' in Middle East: Israel Thu Aug 10, 8:44 AM ET

PARIS (AFP) Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres has urged the international community to prevent Iran from imposing a religious empire across the Middle East. The problem, once again, lies with the religious ambitions of the Persians, Peres told French television France 3 Thursday.

That is why many people, even among Arabs, are against Hezbollah and the Iranians. They want to maintain the Middle East as an Arab place, not an Iranian religious empire.The world, including France, needs to do something to stop this dangerous behaviour,he said.Israel accuses Iran and Syria of supporting the Shiite Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and supplying it with arms, notably its arsenal of thousands of rockets, which is being used to shower Israel with attacks every day.The two countries consistently argue that their support for Hezbollah is purely moral.

Tornado Hits Marcellus

The National Weather Service in Binghamton says a tornado touched down in the village of Marcellus around 4 pm. It's estimated that the tornado was an F-0 on the Fujita Damage Scale, the weakest kind of tornado, with winds up to 70 MPH. The estimated width of the Tornado was about 75 yards. Damage was largely to trees which were uprooted and snapped. A portion of a tin roof on a residence was pulled off the building and flipped. A path of the tornado is visible between Orchard Street and Kinderwood Road, with more damage heading southeast of town. One eyewitness says the tornado passed just to the east of Marcellus Park and the went 3 miles ot the Southeast before going out of view. Additional storm damage was noted in the vicinity of South Onondaga where utility crews are repairing power lines and poles on Nichols Road and Hutchings Road.

Palestinians Want Ceasefire with Israel
August 10, 2006

Many adults in the West Bank and Gaza Strip think it is time to reach a truce with Israel, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion. 57.7 per cent of respondents support enacting a ceasefire.In January, Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council election, securing 74 of the 112 seats at stake. Ismail Haniyeh officially took over as prime minister on Mar. 28.

The Israeli government believes Hamas is directly responsible for the deaths of 377 citizens in a variety of attacks, which include dozens of suicide bombings.

On Jun. 28, Israel launched a military operation in response to a joint raid carried out by Palestinian militants on a military post outside of the Gaza Strip, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, and one more, Gilad Shalit, was captured.On Jul. 10, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert ruled out any discussions with the Hamas-led government, saying, I will not release prisoners to trade for Gilad Shalit. I don’t negotiate with Hamas, I did not negotiate with Hamas and I will not negotiate with Hamas.On Aug. 9, London-based Al Hayat reported that the three groups that hold Shalit have demanded the release of 12 Palestinian prisoners—including Fatah member Marwan Barghouti and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader Ahmad Saadat—in exchange for the Israeli soldier.

Polling Data

Do you support or oppose enacting a ceasefire with Israel?

Support
57.7%

Oppose
38.4%

No reply
3.9%

Source: Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO)
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, conducted from Jul. 22 to Jul. 29, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.,Archive Search,Over 12,000 Polls,Search the Angus Reid Global Scan Polls & Research archive.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(EU) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

Spain's Military now Up and Running With Savi Technology's RFID-Based Consignment Management Solution
By: PR Newswire,Aug. 10, 2006 10:23 AM,Digg This!

SUNNYVALE, California, August 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Spanish Armed Forces (SAF) active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network and software platform is ready to interoperate with compatible RFID networks deployed by NATO and other military
allies.

The RFID networks provided by Savi Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation [NYSE: LMT], now enable SAF and NATO to automatically track and manage national and multi-national, joint force consignments as they are transported through each other's supply chains worldwide. The platform uses the Savi Consignment Management Solution (CMS) and includes Savi's data-rich, active RFID tags, fixed readers and handheld reader kits.

Last year the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) initiated use of an interoperable RFID backbone when it upgraded to Savi CMS for its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) supply chain.

We're delighted that the Savi CMS solution is up and running, and we are eager to further test the system, and to collaborate on tracking consignments through compatible networks such as NATO's,said Col. Enrique Porras, technical director of SAF's Logistic Resources Tracking System Program. The timely and accurate information from the Savi CMS solution will improve our ability to efficiently and effectively deliver supplies to our soldiers deployed in the field, and to collaborate closely with allies during more complex joint-force operations.

Porras continued. Savi Technology, a leading provider of RFID supply chain solutions for commercial, defense and civilian agencies, also has extended active RFID networks and support software for the U.S. Department of Defense, United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, Australian Defence Forces, and the Danish Ministry of Defence.

As more defense organizations implement and upgrade RFID networks using the Savi CMS, there will be a multiplier effect in terms of efficiencies, economies of scale, reduced supply losses and improved service deliveries in the field,said Bruce Jacquemard, managing director of Savi's International Public Sector.

Savi CMS is a complete, integrated solution that bridges the visibility gaps of consignments as they move through military supply chains. Savi CMS also provides exception-based management alerts; real-time tracking of assets and their contents as well as monitoring of environmental conditions inside the container. Savi's RFID solutions have been implemented in more than 2,000 locations in over 50 countries: Savi networks track approximately 35,000 consignments a day. Savi Technology www.savi.com.

Savi Technology
Mark Nelson, +1-408-743-8866 mnelson@savi.com, Lockheed Martin www.lockheedmartin.com
Published Aug. 10, 2006 SYS-CON Media.

Israeli Objections to Ceasefire Proposal
By Hillel Fendel and Hana Levi Julian(INN)

Former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom of the Likud has stinging criticism of the ceasefire plan being formulated in the United Nations. He calls it a disgrace and a historic tragedy.Shalom, who served as Foreign Minister under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for nearly three years until early this year, said that the proposal under consideration by the Security Council mortgages the country's future and would be a weeping for generations. Lebanon, too, has objections, which may cause another delay in the Council vote. Lebanon feels that the Shab'a Farms area, which it still demands from Israel, is not significantly mentioned, nor does it like the fact that the international peacekeeping force would be empowered to open fire. Lebanon also insists that Israel withdraw entirely from south Lebanese territory before any ceasefire is carried out.

Israel initially objected to the ceasefire proposal for its lack of a clause requiring Hizbullah to disarm prior to a ceasefire. Nonetheless, Jerusalem appears willing to accept the proposal. Israel has rejected a Russian proposal to hold a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, says it would only give Hizbullah time to regroup and recover. We think this is a bad idea. Speaking with Voice of Israel Radio on Friday morning, Minister Shalom said if the UN proposal is accepted, Israel's position would be worse than it was at the beginning of the war: It does not call for a large multi-national force in southern Lebanon, Hizbullah would not be disarmed, and a parallel is made between our abducted soldiers and murderous Lebanese terrorists held by Israel such as Samir Kuntar.It could even be, Shalom said, that Syria might conclude that it can get the Golan Heights back by sending over some missiles to Israel.

Shalom's party colleague, former Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Yuval Shteinitz, took an even stronger stance. If Israel accepts this shameful ceasefire, Shteinitz said Friday morning, the government must resign and new elections must be held.

Shteinitz took issue with the fact that the new proposal would replace Resolution 1559 of two years ago, which calls for the Lebanese Army to take over southern Lebanon from Hizbullah:The fact that Israel is willing to significantly erode 1559, and even give Hizbullah a territorial achievement in the form of half of Israel's Mt. Hermon (Shab'a) will be understood as a clear victory for Hizbullah. This will invite a difficult war of rockets and commandos from Syria in the near future.If this is an existential war, as [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert said, then the results of it are dangerous to Israel's existence,Shteinitz concluded.

On the other hand, the left-wing peace forces are pleading with the government to accept the ceasefire proposal. Meretz MK Zahava Gal'on said, It is in Israel's interest to accept this plan and to thus end the warfare. Israel must take advantage of the agreement being formed to call for the inclusion of Syria in the negotiations, and to thus turn it into an entity with which we can reach a
diplomatic agreement.A diplomatic agreement with Syria, almost by definition, would entail ceding the Golan Heights to that country.

Abbas Urged To Dissolve Palestinian Authority
August 11, 2006 7:15 a.m. EST,Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Correspondent

Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - In apparent pressure tactic on Israel, PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is being urged by senior members of the Palestinian leadership to dissolve the Palestinian Authority.A spokesman for PLO Foreign Minister Farouq Kaddoumi, who sees himself, and not Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, as the true foreign representative of the Palestinians, said the move should be considered in order to force Israel to withdraw its forces to positions held before September 2000, release frozen tax revenues and free jailed members of the Hamas leadership. It would also have the effect of undoing the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement, better known as the Oslo Accords.

Said Kaddoumi aide Ghassan al-Masri to The Jerusalem Post, It's inconceivable that the Palestinians should pay the cost of their occupation by Israel. Why shouldn't Israel, in its capacity as an occupation force, bear the expenses of our education, health and social welfare systems? Why should it be an inexpensive occupation for Israel? The Oslo Accords were signed precisely to give the Palestinians an opportunity to make a better life for themselves. But their leadership has by and large chosen to continue fighting Israel instead, culminating in the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000. Things got worse for the Palestinians in January of this year when they overwhelmingly chose the Hamas terrorist organization to lead them, resulting in Israel freezing the transfer of desperately needed funds and, more recently, arresting the bulk of Hamas lawmakers.

Said PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in an address to a truncated gathering of legislators Wednesday, In light of the Israeli measures against our government, I believe that we will have to start looking into the possibility of dismantling the Palestinian Authority.Despite belonging to the rival Fatah and Hamas factions, Kaddoumi, who lives in exile in Tunisia, and Haniyeh agree that Israel's destruction remains the Palestinians' ultimate goal.

US losing credibility in Mideast From correspondents in Cairo
August 11, 2006

EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak said the United States and the West were losing credibility in the Middle East because they were dragging their feet on a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

In an interview with the Egyptian magazine October, released today, Mr Mubarak also said it would be impossible to implement quickly a UN resolution which requires Hezbollah to disarm - one of the steps Israel and the United States want to see in a political settlement of the month-old conflict.

He dismissed Washington's talk of a new Middle East, saying it ignored what he called the real problem - the collapse of attempts at peace between Israelis and Palestinians.Foot-dragging on a ceasefire and the continuation of the Israeli aggression detract from the credibility of the United States and the West in the region,Mr Mubarak said.

The United States has not moved to a sufficient extent and with the necessary speed to contain the situation,he said.Washington has said it takes time to negotiate lasting security arrangements for south Lebanon. Analysts and diplomats say the United States has been trying to give Israel more time to damage Hezbollah and claim military success. Israel and the United States want the Lebanese army, backed by international forces, to move into south Lebanon and supervise the disarmament of Hezbollah - one of the steps envisaged in UN Security Council resolution 1559 of 2004. Mr Mubarak said: Long months have passed without full implementation of resolution 1559.

It is inconceivable that what was not achieved in past years and months could be achieved in the midst of the current crisis and within a few weeks. That will not happen by diktats contained in UN Security Council resolutions which lack balance, but by taking into account Lebanese realities and concerns,he said.Regarding the new Middle East concept promoted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice early in the fighting, Mr Mubarak said: To talk about the 'new Middle East' or, before that, the Greater Middle East, ignores the real problem in the region, which is the suspension of the peace process. That leads to a rise in feelings of despair, frustration and extremism,he said.