ISRAEL US READY FOR IRAN SYRIA

1-Moderate quake shakes southern Panama. 2-Atlantic tropical depression strengthens. 3-Authorities launch rescue in flooded Kashmir as 12 killed. 4-Hurricane remnants drench Mexico's Baja. 5-Delegation to world religious assembly returns. 6-Migrants keep coming as EU seeks new border plans. 7-Lebanese Security Is the Pretext for the Naval Babel around Lebanon’s Shores.

EARTHQUAKES

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.

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

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Moderate quake shakes southern Panama Sun Sep 3, 7:51 PM ET

PANAMA CITY, Panama - A moderate earthquake shook Panama's southern Darien province on the Colombian border Sunday but caused no injuries or damages, civil defense officials said. The magnitude-5.3 quake was felt strongly in the Panamanian town of Meteti, 124 miles east of the capital, after hitting early Sunday, the country's Civil Protection Director Roberto Velasquez said.

The epicenter was located close to the Panamanian town of Jaque, 31 miles from the Colombian border.

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;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
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.

Atlantic tropical depression strengthens 21 minutes ago

MIAMI - A tropical depression brewing over the open Atlantic was nearing tropical storm strength Monday morning, forecasters said.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the depression had sustained winds near 35 mph, 4 mph shy of becoming a tropical storm and the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.It was centered about 1,235 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and moving northwest at near 12 mph, a path forecasters said they expected to continue for the next day, according to the National Hurricane Center.The depression would be named Florence if it reaches tropical storm strength. Forecasters said it could become a tropical storm later Monday or Tuesday.It comes on the heels of Tropical Storm Ernesto, which was briefly the season's first Atlantic hurricane.

Ernesto's hit the U.S. mainland at tropical storm strength, first moving over Florida, then swinging out to sea before hitting the Carolinas just short of hurricane strength. The storm and its remnants wreaked havoc along the East Coast, tearing down tree limbs and power lines and flooding low-lying areas and roads.About 8,000 homes and business in Connecticut were still without power Saturday morning because of the storm. In New York's Westchester County, just north of New York City, 19,000 customers were without power, and residents of Yonkers were advised to boil water because of a power outage at a reservoir.

Last year's Atlantic storm season set a record with 28 named storms and 15 hurricanes, including Katrina, which devastated the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts.The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season hasn't been as rough as many forecasters initially feared. Forecaster William Gray downgraded his expectations for the season on Friday to five hurricanes, a slightly below-average season. The National Hurricane Center lowered its Atlantic storms forecast in August to between seven and nine hurricanes.

Authorities launch rescue in flooded Kashmir as 12 killed Mon Sep 4, 7:43 AM ET

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - Twelve people died from heavy monsoon rains lashing the summer capital region of Indian Kashmir as rescuers tried to reach thousands trapped by flood waters. Highways and roads were closed as rivers swelled above danger levels, submerging low-lying areas in Srinagar and the surrounding valley and forcing schools and businesses to shut, a police spokesman said.A mother and her two children were killed in a house collapse in (southern) Udhampur district, while another woman died in Reasi when a cow shed collapsed, the spokesman said.

Two middle-aged men were washed away by gushing waters in southern Anantnag district, the spokesman added.Late Saturday a family of six were killed in a house collapse just south of Srinagar.Soldiers and police late Sunday rescued around 1,150 people from marooned villages in Pulwama district, an army spokesman said, adding that efforts in other areas were underway to bring people to safety.We are using boats to ferry supplies to residents of over 100 villages, and evacuate sick to hospitals,spokesman Hemant Joneja said.In all over 150 villages have been marooned, affecting a population of more than 15,000.The school buildings will be used by the people displaced by the floods wherever required, the region's flood control minister Dilawar Mir said, as the weather department warned of more rains.

It is likely to rain in the next 24 hours, with heavy to very heavy spells of rain at some places,L.C. Ram, the head of Kashmir meteorology department, told AFP.Indian Kashmir is still coping with last October's devastating earthquake that left about 1,300 people dead and thousands homeless.In August, monsoon rains that sweep India from June to September caused flooding in four states. Hundreds were killed and more than 10 million people were affected.The rains are nonetheless crucial for India's agriculture sector, whose output is important for the country's economy.

Hurricane remnants drench Mexico's Baja By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mon Sep 4, 7:05 AM ET

LA PAZ, Mexico - Rains from the remnants of Hurricane John soaked the northern half of Mexico's arid Baja California peninsula on Monday and threatened to cause flooding in the southwestern United States. The storm, which was downgraded to a tropical depression Sunday, had dumped up to 20 inches of rain in isolated areas of the peninsula and was expected to drop as many as 3 inches in desert areas from southern California to west Texas in the next few days, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

John was a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph when it struck near the southern tip of Baja on Friday, but officials reported no deaths and minor damage.

The area hardest hit was La Paz, the capital of Baja California del Sur state. On Sunday, President Vicente Fox toured the city, noting the downed power lines, flood streets, and roofless tin houses.Fortunately there is no human loss and the impact (in terms of damage) is relatively modest,Fox said as he pledged to help residents whose homes had been affected.A total of 160 houses on the peninsula lost their roofs and four houses collapsed, officials said. More than 1,100 people remained in government shelters by Sunday. Mexico's health secretary was sending in officials to protect the state against dengue fever and other waterborne diseases.

Crews busily worked Sunday to restore electricity and phone service and remove fallen electricity poles in La Paz, still covered in a layer of sand and grit. Residents dragged trees from their yards and bulldozers cleared debris from roads.He told us he's going to help us repair our houses,said housewife Francisca Maldonado after meeting Fox.

John, which was expected to dissipate later Monday, initially was forecast to slam into the resort area of Los Cabos on the southern tip of Baja. But forecasters said a high-pressure ridge was weaker than expected and allowed the storm to keep traveling north up the peninsula.Meanwhile, tropical depression Kristy churned in the Pacific Ocean far from land, the hurricane center said. The forecast called for Kristy to lose steam over the next few days as it moves over cooler waters.
On the Net:http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Delegation to world religious assembly returns
www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-01 23:44:04

Jia Qinglin (R), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, meets with the delegation to the Eighth World Conference of Religions for Peace in Beijing, capital of China, on Aug. 21, 2006. The conference was held in Kyoto of Japan from Aug. 26 to 29. (Xinhua Photo)

BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese delegation has returned from the Eighth World Conference of Religions for Peace held in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, sources said Friday. During the conference, the delegation from the Peace Committee of Chinese Religious Circles discussed with world religious leaders global violence and called for active measures to jointly tackle poverty and regional conflict. Before their departure, top political advisor Jia Qinglin met with the delegation, which was composed of members from the Peace Committee of Chinese Religious Circles. The theme of the conference coincided with the pursuit of peace and harmony of Chinese religious groups, so the delegation should attend as peace envoys of Chinese religious circles and the Chinese people, said Jia, who is chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

He hoped the delegation would raise awareness of Chinese culture and freedom of religious belief at the conference. The Religions for Peace conference is the world's largest and most diverse multi-religious assembly. The first conference was held in Kyoto in 1970, and has been hosted on a different continent every five years About 500 religious leaders and 1,500 representatives of international organizations and civil groups from 100 countries and regions attended this year's conference from Aug. 26 to 29.

A working plan was established at the meeting, urging all religious bodies to oppose the misrepresentation of religion as an excuse for violence. Enditem,Editor: Luan Shanglin

DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)

Migrants keep coming as EU seeks new border plans
04.09.2006 - 09:54 CET | By Helena Spongenberg

The Canary Islands have been hit by its biggest wave of illegal immigrants over the weekend, as European countries seek solutions to stop the flow of people from the African continent to the southern borders of the EU.At least 14 vessels carrying over 1,500 people arrived at the coasts of the Canary Islands on Saturday and Sunday from Sub-Saharan Africa.Spanish deputy prime minister Maria Fernandez de la Vega announced on Friday (1 September) that prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has put immigration at the forefront of a meeting of southern EU states in Madrid later this month to seek a joint response to the crisis.

The interior and defence ministers of the countries are set to talk about issues such as coastal surveillance, rescue operations and repatriation, and have a proposal ready for a summit of the 25 EU leaders in December.Spain has asked the EU and the UN to assist it with the immigrant situation. Last week, Ms Fernandez de la Vega travelled to Finland, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, and to Brussels to lobby support for more EU-wide efforts to fight illegal immigration and for an extension of current efforts by the EU border patrol agency, Frontex.

Earlier this month, the EU launched its first joint border patrol aimed at stopping the illegal immigrants coming to the Canary Islands from Africa.The Canary Islands mission, dubbed Hera II, is expected to last nine weeks and is covered by an EU budget of €3.2 million, with Spain co-financing the project.After meeting with Ms Fernandez de la Vega, EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini said he would head a top-level working group to help come up with a European model on illegal immigration.Along with Mr Frattini, the five commissioners responsible for development, foreign affairs, EU regions, social policy and education policy will be on the team to tackle the problem from as many angles as possible.

Meanwhile, an EU strategic committee on immigration, frontiers and asylum with 120 experts from 30 European countries will meet on Sunday (10 September) in Finland for a three day meeting to discuss the Finnish EU presidency's proposal for a new strategy on ways to monitor the EU's external borders.Besides the member states, experts will come from accession countries Bulgaria and Romania as well as neighbouring Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.More than 20,000 African migrants have been intercepted so far this year in and on the Spanish coasts, and the number for August alone exceeds that for all of last year, according to Spanish authorities.

Migrants who survive the risky voyage across rough waters and make it to Spanish territory are kept in holding centres. Authorities then have 40 days in which to repatriate or release them. The immigrants are either sent back to their country of origin or to the country from which they set sail, if Spain has repatriation accords with that country.Malta, Italy and Greece have similar problems with scores of desperate Africans seeking better standards of living in Europe.Home affairs ministers from Malta, Italy and Libya will meet in Valetta this week to discuss the problem.

Lebanese Security Is the Pretext for the Naval Babel around Lebanon’s Shores DEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report
September 4, 2006, 11:37 AM (GMT+02:00)

The extraordinary buildup of European naval and military strength in and around Lebanon’s shores is way out of proportion for the task the European contingents of expanded UNIFIL have undertaken: to create a buffer between Israel and Hizballah. Close investigation by DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources discloses that Lebanese security and peacemaking is not the object of the exercise. It is linked to the general anticipation of a military clash between the United States and Israel, on one side, and Iran and possibly Syria on the other, some time from now until November

This expectation has brought together the greatest sea and air armada Europe has ever assembled at any point on earth since World War II: two carriers with 75 fighter-bombers, spy planes and helicopters on their decks; 15 warships of various types – 7 French, 5 Italian, 2-3 Green, 3-5 German, and five American; thousands of Marines – French, Italian and German, as well as 1,800 US Marines. It is improbably billed as support for a mere 7,000 European soldiers who are deployed in Lebanon to prevent the dwindling Israeli force of 4-5,000 soldiers and some 15-16,000 Hizballah militiamen from coming to blows as well as for humanitarian odd jobs.

A Western military expert remarked to DEBKAfile that the European naval forces cruising off Lebanese shores are roughly ten times as much as the UNIFIL contingents require as cover, especially when UNIFIL’s duties are strictly non-combat. After all, none of the UN contingents will be engaged in disarming Hizballah or blocking the flow of weapons incoming from Syria and Iran. So, if not for Lebanon, what is this fine array of naval power really there for?

First, according to our military sources, the European participants feel the need of a strong naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean to prevent a possible Iranian-US-Israeli war igniting an Iranian long-range Shahab missile attack on Europe; second, as a deterrent to dissuade Syria and Hizballah from opening a second front against American and Israel from their eastern Mediterranean coasts. Numbers alone do not do justice to the immense operational capabilities and firepower amassed opposite Lebanon. Take first the three fleet flagships. From France’s nuclear-powered 38,000-ton Charles De Gaulle carrier (see insignia), 40 Rafale M fighter craft whose range is 3,340 km can take off at intervals of 30 seconds. The ship also carries three E-2C Hawkeye surveillance craft. The combat control center of the French carrier can handle 2,000 simultaneous targets. The carrier leads a task fore of 7 warships carrying 2,800 French Marines.Charles De Gaulle s also a floating logistics center operating water desalination plants for 15,000 men and enough food to feed an army for 90 days.

The USS Mount Whitney (the tallest snowcapped peak in the United States), has the most sophisticated command and control suite in the world. Like the French Charles De Gaulle , it exercises command over a task force of 1,800 sailors, Marines, Air force medical and other personnel serving aboard the USS Barry, the USS Trenton , HSV Swift and USNS Kanawha . Available to the fleet commander, US Vice Admiral J. Boomer Stufflebeem, formally titled commander of Joint Task Force Lebanon, is the uniquely advanced C41 command and intelligence system through which he can flash intelligence data to every American commander at any point between the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf and Iran. USS Mount Whitney communications are described as unsurpassed for the the secure transmission of data from any point to any other point in the world through HF, UHF,VHF, SHF and EHF.

The third carrier joining the other two is the Italian aircraft-helicopter carrier Garibaldi , which has launch pads for vertical takeoff by 16 AV-8B Harrier fighter-bombers or 18 Sikorsky SH-3D Seak King sea-choppers (or Italian Agusta Bell AB212 helicopters), designed to attack submarines and missile ships. Military experts estimate that the Garibaldi currently carries 10 fighter planes and 6 helicopters. The new European naval concentration tops up the forces which permanently crowd the eastern Mediterranean: the Italian-based American Sixth Fleet, some 15 small Israeli missile ships and half a dozen submarines and the NATO fleet of Canadian, British, Dutch, German, Spanish, Greek and Turkish warships. They are on patrol against al Qaeda (which is estimated to deploy 45 small freighters in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean). The British have permanent air and sea bases in Cyprus.

This vast force’s main weakness, according to DEBKAfile’s military sources, is that it lacks a single unified command. A sudden flare-up in Lebanon, Syria or Iran could throw the entire force into confusion.

On paper, it has three commanders:

1. French General Alain Pellegrini is the commander of the expanded UNIFIL ground, naval and air force in Lebanon. In February 2007, he hands over to an Italian general who leads the largest of the European contingents of 3,000 men. It is hard to see France agreeing to place its prestigious Charles De Gaulle flagship under non-French command.

2. The American forces opposite Lebanese shores are under direct US command. Since the October 1993 debacle of an American peace force under the UN flag in Somalia, Washington has never again placed its military under UN command. (There is no American contingent in the UNIFIL ground force either.) In other words, USS Mount Whitney , while serving the European fleets as their operational and intelligence nerve center will stay under the sole command of Vice Admiral Stufflebeem in all possible contingencies.

3. Similarly, the NATO fleet will remain under NATO command, and Israel’s air and naval units will take their orders from Israeli Navy Headquarters in Haifa and the General Staff in Tel Aviv. The naval Babel piling up in the eastern Mediterranean may therefore find itself at cross purposes when action is needed in an armed conflict. Iran, Syria and Hizballah could be counting on this weakness as a tactical asset in their favor.