1-Israel under fire Day 12. 2-Irans Ahmadineijad tells Israel to pack up and go. 3-US,BRITIAN slammed for pro Israel stand. 3-Israeli troops march farther into Lebanon. 5-Peretz oks Nato force in Lebanon.
ISRAEL UNDER FIRE
23 JULY - DAY TWELVE
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Some 17 people were wounded Saturday, two of them seriously, as waves of Katyusha strikes - more than 160 rockets - struck targets across the north of Israel.
Ten rockets land in Haifa Sunday morning, killing two people and wounding several others. Two children hurt in Katyusha rocket strike on Carmiel Sunday morning; more rockets fired at the Upper Galilee, Acre, Tiberias and Kiryat Shmona during Sunday.
Some 37 Israelis have been killed (including soldiers) since the beginning of fighting in the north.
Hospitals in Israel have treated 1,293 people who were injured in rocket attacks since the fighting on the country's northern border began 12 days ago. 19 people are still hospitalized across the country in serious condition. Another 37 people sustained moderate wounds and 325 were lightly injured. The number of people who suffered from shock stands at 875.
OPEN LETTER TO AHMADINEJAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AWWW MURDERER AHMADINEJAD DO I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU. ISRAEL WILL OWN THE MIDEAST SHORTLY, THANKS TO THE ALMIGHTY GOD OF ISRAEL. SO YOU BETTER GET YOUR CAMEL AND MOVE ON. SINCERILY STAN L BOWMAN JR.
Iran's Ahmadinejad tells Israel to pack up and go Sun Jul 23, 7:25 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Sunday told arch-foe Israel to pack up and move somewhere outside the Middle East. I advise them to pack up and move out of the region before being caught in the fire they have started in Lebanon, said Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called for the Jewish state to be relocated elsewhere on the planet, the state news agency IRNA reported Sunday.Iran refuses to recognise Israel and opposes any two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ahmadinejad has in the past called for Israel to be wiped off the map or relocated as far away as Alaska.
Israel launched its offensive in Lebanon on July 12 after Shiite Hezbollah militiamen captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in attacks on the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Jewish state is also continuing with its attacks on the Gaza Strip, with the aim of retrieving a soldier snatched by Palestinian militants and stopping rocket fire.Zionists have launched their own destruction by attacking Lebanon, Ahmadinejad added, while accusing Britain and the United States of being accomplices in this regime's crimes.Iran, like Syria, has been accused of financing and arming Hezbollah but has always maintained it only gives moral support.On Saturday, Ahmadinejad lobbied Muslims to be more active in seeking an end to Israel's continuing assault on Gaza and Lebanon.In a show of support, scores of young Iranian boys and girls staged a support demonstration opposite the Lebanese embassy in Tehran carrying Lebanese flag and pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
EZEKIEL 38:13-19
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDI ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(SPAIN) with all the young lions thereof,(UK,USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA ETC) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil?(RUSSIA) hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?(FROM ISRAELIS)
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(DIRECTLY NORTH OF JERUSALEM IS RUSSIA) thou, and many people with thee,(ARABS, MUSLIM NATIONS) all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath (NUCLEAR WEAPONS,PLAGUES AND HAIL ) have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking (EARTH QUAKE) in the land of Israel;
US, Britain slammed for pro-Israel stand
Web posted at: 7/24/2006 3:1:4,Source ::: AFP
PARIS • Growing calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East exposed an international rift yesterday with Britain and the United States refusing to back the appeals despite 10 days of fierce fighting. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday led the calls for a swift end to the conflict, which has so far claimed more than 330 lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee. At least 33 Israelis have been killed. France reiterated its appeal yesterday, while the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican communion accused London and Washington of being out of touch with popular opinion. In his strongly-worded address to the UN Security Council, Annan called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, blaming both sides for the violence. He proposed a settlement plan under which Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia would release two captured Israeli soldiers and halt attacks on Israel, while the international community would send a stabilisation force to the region.
Washington and London have so far refused to join other nations in demanding that Israel end its aerial bombardment on Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip, where 106 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have died on a separate front. Instead they have repeatedly called for restraint on both sides. The US ambassador to the UN John Bolton voiced scepticism that a ceasefire would be effective, suggesting any peace deal should be part of a “long-term cessation of hostilities that is part of a comprehensive change in the region. He also mooted the difficulties of conducting a ceasefire with a group of terrorists. Israel, whose bombing campaign has overwhelming popular support among its people according to a newspaper poll there, yesterday conditioned a halt to fighting on the disarmament and dismantling of Hezbollah. It ruled out an immediate ceasefire but indicated it was willing to negotiate a solution with the UN and Washington.
For its part, Hezbollah rejected Annan’s plan, saying only an unconditional ceasefire followed by indirect negotations on a prisoner swap would be acceptable. In Britain, which has been accused of slavishly following the United States in foreign policy matters, the government said it did want the crisis to end as soon as possible. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman said Britain supported the UN and had proposed the stabilisation force, but he said calling for a unilateral ceasefire was unlikely to have any long-term effect on peace in the region. This is not going to end so long as Hezbollah is firing rockets into Israel, so long as soldiers are kidnapped and not released,he added. Meanwhile, France—whose relations with the United States were strained after Paris’ opposition to military action against Iraq in 2003 — highlighted the strong views of those calling for a ceasefire. Speaking on French radio RMC Info, Defence Minister Michele Alliot Marie accused the White House of “blocking the workings of the United Nations Security Council.
Asked whether Washington was deliberately allowing Israel to pursue its offensive against Hezbollah, she said: There is no doubt an element of that in the analysis one can make of their position.In Beirut, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste Blazy warned of a catastrophe in Lebanon if fighting continued, while President Jacques Chirac urged the European Union to mobilise a peace mission to secure a ceasefire. Chirac also spoke with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero by telephone on Thursday, while media said Zapatero had also spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A Madrid government spokesman said Spain condemned unreservedly the disproportionality of the armed Israeli response and the terrorist acts of Hamas and Hezbollah, calling for an immediate cessation of all armed Israeli aggression. The spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, urged a diplomatic solution to the conflict, saying of London and Washington: They need to change their minds.I think here we really have to ask whether the governments of some Western countries are catching up with the consciences of their own people,he told BBC radio.
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(JACOBS NAME WAS CHANGED TO ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
1 KINGS 18:31
31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
ROMANS 11:26
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Israeli Troops Forge Farther into Lebanon
By Ken Ellingwood, Times Staff Writer
6:26 PM PDT, July 22, 2006
AVIVIM, Israel -- To a steady clap of artillery fire, columns of Israeli tanks and troops roared deeper into southern Lebanon on Saturday, battling to control a strategic hilltop village that the Israelis said was a Hezbollah stronghold.As tens of thousands of Lebanese fled the southern tier of their country over precarious, bombed-out roads, Israeli warplanes blasted communications towers in central and northern Lebanon, and struck the southern port city of Sidon for the first time. By late afternoon, Hezbollah had unleashed 90 rockets into Israel, striking Kiryat Shmona in the northern Galilee and Nahariya and the Haifa area along Israel's northern coast.In its most extensive incursion to date, the Israeli army punched through the border near this northern Israeli community and pushed at least 2 1/2 miles into Lebanon, commanders at the scene said, carving out a swath six miles wide that encompassed a dozen or more frontier Lebanese villages.
We are going there to kill them, to find them in bunkers and tunnels,Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, the commander of the army's Galilee division, told reporters. This takes time and required patience. This is war.By nightfall, Israeli commanders said paratroopers and soldiers from the elite Golani infantry brigade were in control of the village of Maroun al-Ras, a strategically valuable highpoint, after bombarding the parched valley below with artillery fire much of the day. This area had been the scene of intense fighting earlier in the week and is considered by the Israelis to be a launching pad for Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel's northern towns.In nearby Marwaheen, another Lebanese village, soldiers uncovered a large cache of antitank missiles, launchers and assorted weaponry, ground forces commander Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz said.
Israeli officials insisted they were not mounting a full-scale invasion of Lebanon, a move that would mirror the first steps of what became a traumatic, 18-year-long occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000. Instead, officials said the incursions into Lebanese territory, which began on a smaller scale earlier in the week, would be pinpoint search-and-destroy missions against the Shiite militia that has lobbed hundreds of rockets at northern Israel in recent weeks and taken two Israeli soldiers hostage.The ground action followed Israel's mobilization of thousands of reserve troops and two days of warnings to Lebanese to clear out of their homes in the section of the country south of the Litani River -- all hints of heavier, prolonged combat.Lebanese by the thousands packed themselves into cars and trucks and attempted to flee north, over crowded, bombed-splintered roads choked with dust and chaos. Exhausted and angry, families said they did not know where they would go, only that they could not remain in villages that have become hungry, wrecked wastelands.
I'm very sad to be leaving my home,said Hassan Shehab, a 45-year-old tailor who was stuck in traffic on a single-lane dirt road that leads toward Beirut from the southern seaside city of Tyre. Shehab's rear window was covered by a photograph of Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah; he flicked the ashes from his cigarette with angry jerks of his arm.Israel wants to kill all of us,he said bitterly. They want this country.By midday Saturday, 14 bomb-battered bodies were delivered to the Tyre hospital from surrounding villages, and 30,000 evacuees were crammed into basements, schools and the lawns outside a beach resort.Lebanese and U.N. officials warned of a humanitarian crisis, estimating that at least 700,000 people have been displaced, 360 Lebanese civilians killed and more than 1,000 wounded since Israel launched its attacks a week and a half ago.The ground fighting so far has centered on the ridge where Maroun al-Ras sits, and where Israeli forces encountered stiff resistance. The area is seen as significant because its hilltop location and sweeping views to the east and west make it easier to aim at a range of targets in the Israeli plains below. Six Israeli commandos have been killed here in the last week of combat.
On Saturday, columns of five or six Israeli tanks and bulldozers could be seen advancing up the stony slope to Maroun al-Ras. There was still little sign of any massive movements of troops in the region.The procession into southern Lebanon was punctuated by blasts of Israeli artillery from Israel's side of the border, followed moments later by columns of pale gray dust in and around Maroun al-Ras as the shells landed. The Israeli convoys advanced past a U.N. outpost toward the village. One convoy stopped halfway up the hill. A second convoy skirted the ridge to the west behind a veil of dust as artillery shells slammed into the arid hillside, each time sending up a thunderous report and a fresh cloud.Army officials said the incursions would be limited in scale, aimed at pushing Hezbollah from the border, where the Shiite militants have dug in with reinforced outposts and tunnels during the six years since Israel withdrew in May 2000.
Soldiers who have taken part in the fighting on the Lebanese side of the border described a formidable, if small-scale, Hezbollah army armed with sophisticated weaponry and protected by a network of hardened underground bunkers and tunnels.One tank commander said groups of a dozen or so Israeli tanks, along with about 300 soldiers, had been moving in and out of Lebanese territory near Maroun al-Ras for days.Israeli armored crews ran into heavy fire from anti-tank missiles that were of high quality and advanced technology, said Cmdr. Siman Tov, a tank officer who is deputy commander of the armored brigade responsibility for covering Israel's northern border.Hezbollah has prepared for six years for this day. It is obvious to us,said Tov, a lanky 26-year-old wearing a buzz cut, wrap-around sunglasses and the standard green coveralls of tank crews.Tov said Maroun al-Ras had been defended by 50 to 100 Hezbollah fighters. Israeli forces had killed as many as 30 of them, he said.
Tov said the weapons stockpiled by Hezbollah were far more advanced than those employed by Palestinian fighters he had encountered during tank incursions in the Gaza Strip before Israel's withdrawal last summer. Israel launched a fresh incursion in Gaza last month after militants crossed the border and abducted a soldier.Although public opinion polls have suggested the Israeli public overwhelmingly backs the government's war aims, the prospect of ground operations might undermine some of that support. Peace protesters turned out for a small demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday for the first time since the start of the offensive.We do not believe in this war,said activist Adi Dagan. We do not believe that military force can impose a new order in Lebanon. ... We all want to get rid of Hezbollah, but this is not the right way.
Times staff writers Megan K. Stack in Tyre, Lebanon, Laura King in Jerusalem and Tracy Wilkinson in Rome contributed to this report.
DANIEL 7:23-25
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; 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.(THIS EU POLITICIAN COMES FROM THE OCCULT)
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.
Peretz OKs NATO Force in South Lebanon
By Hana Levi Julian(ARUTZ-7 INN)
Defense Minister Amir Peretz approved the use of NATO forces in south Lebanon Sunday morning in a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.The German foreign minister was first on a list of several who were scheduled to meet with government officials today as they work to open a political front alongside the current military operation.Due to the weakness of the Lebanese army, we support the deployment in south Lebanon of a multi-national force with broad authority,said Peretz. The Defense Minister told reporters after the meeting that the force would be comprised of NATO soldiers.Peretz told Steinmeier that Israel was willing to consider diplomatic options in an effort to end the Re-Engagement War. However, he said, military goals would not be sacrificed in the process.
We are continuing military operations but also intend to create as broad a diplomatic operation as possible,he said.We definitely see a combination of the existing military activity and a complimentary international operation.Peretz warned, however, that international politics would not stay Israel’s military hand before the terrorist threat from Hizbullah was eliminated. The objectives that we set will be met,he said bluntly. French Foreign Minister Phillipe Douste-Blazy and British Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Dr. Kim Howells were also both expected in Jerusalem later in the day. Douste-Blazy met on Sunday morning with city officials in Haifa, just before air raid sirens again began their call to residents to enter shelters and safe rooms. Two people were killed and twelve more were injured in the attack, one critically. The French foreign minister had barely left the city before the Katyushas began to rain down.
Other foreign ministers and diplomats are expected to come to Jerusalem within the week to carry on talks aimed at finding a solution to the murderous rocket attacks into the north of Israel and the bloody counter-terrorism efforts in south Lebanon.
Government officials in Jerusalem are currently expected to maintain the stance that ending the Re-Engagement War will depend primarily on the Lebanese, as well as on others who support Hizbullah in its bid to destroy the Jewish state.
Monday, July 24, 2006
THANK YOU GOD GAYS POSPONE
1-Power outage in NY affects some 500,000 2-Scorching heatwave in B.C. 3-Forest fires sweep Spain. 4-Anthrax case discovered in Kerala. 5-50 die in Malaria outbreak in Kenya. 6-Gaypride pospone Gay Parade due to war (Praise GOD for That).7-Another 6.2 Quake in Indonesia Sulawesi triggers Tsunami warnings.
REVELATION 16:10-11
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Power outage in New York City affects some 100,000 people Sat Jul 22, 4:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - Some 100,000 people remained without electricity in New York City for the sixth consecutive day after a heat wave and thunderstorms knocked out the power supply.The local utility, Con Edison, struggled to fix the problem and to explain the persistent disruptions to the power supply mainly in the borough of Queens.Con Edison estimates that 25,000 customers in the area are without power,the utility said in a statement.City authorities said the figure referred to households, apartment buildings and businesses and that as many as 100,000 people had been affected amid sweltering heat.Con Edison will be working around the clock, through the weekend, to restore all customers,the company said. City authorities said thunderstorms had hampered the repair effort.
With temperatures reaching up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Farenheit) and soaring humidity, the elderly and the ill were most at risk without use of elevators, refrigerators, air conditioners and other appliances.City authorities have launched an emergency response, deploying additional police, firefighters, sanitation trucks and assistance from other municipal agencies.Con Edison has come under fierce criticism over its failure to report the scale of the problem for several days. Initially, the company said only some 1,200 customers were affected.Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Con Edison should have informed the city government about the extent of the power outage earlier, but avoided heaping criticism on the company.The most important thing -- make sure nobody dies or gets hurt and then help Con Ed to get it back up, he said. Our job is not to vilify them. Our job is to help Con Ed to get the services back up.
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.
Scorching heat wave in B.C. may last several days
Updated Sat. Jul. 22 2006 11:35 PM ET,CTV.ca News Staff
Forecasters say it could be days before southern and central British Columbia get any relief from the scorching heat wave that's gripping the province. The high for the Okanagan Valley and Fraser Canyon will range between 38 C and 41 C until at least Tuesday, forecasters from Environment Canada have predicted. Kamloops set a record high Friday when the mercury hit 39 C. Port Alberni reached 37 C, Abbotsford 36 C, and even the usually-temperate Victoria hit 32 C. On Saturday it was 39 C in Grand Forks - that's 11 degrees higher than the usual temperature for this time of year. In Chilliwack, a hardware store reported running low on supplies of air-conditioners and stand-up fans, while other stores had completely sold out.
People are looking hard for something to find to keep cool, Kerry MacDonald, manager of Fortin's Home Hardware, told The Canadian Press. MacDonald added that because the store is air conditioned, people are shopping here longer. The heat has also boosted the forest fire rating to extreme in some places in the B.C. Interior, while the air quality in some centres is getting worse.
Meanwhile, emergency crews are on high alert amid fears the hot, dry weather could spark forest fires. Fire information officer Radha Fisher said no blazes erupted Saturday, likely because of a band on back-yard and industrial burning. But she warned the threat of fires still exists.
Things have calmed down, we're still in a lull, she said. However, we are looking forward to some pretty active behaviour given the forecast. Earlier in July, dry weather and lightning proved a lethal combination, prompting an early start to the forest fire season with 550 fires recorded. Many farmers have also been affected by the hot, dry weather, which has severely damaged crops. We're going to see crops be about 50 per cent of the average, B.C. Cattlemen's Association's Danielle Cuthbertson told CTV Vancouver on Friday.However, B.C. Hydro is confident that the electrical grid will be able to handle the increased demand. Elisha Moreno of B.C. Hydro said "British Columbians are very energy conscious and don't use as many air conditioners as people in Central Canada or California.Meanwhile, a heat wave that has taken hold across much of the United States is being blamed for at least 20 deaths.
The hottest temperature ever recorded in B.C. was 44.4 C, which was recorded in 1941 in Lytton and Lillooet. With files from The Canadian Press
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
The Sunday Times July 23, 2006
Directions: Forest fires sweep Spain
Forest fires broke out across Spain last week, with blazes burning out of control across the scorched peninsula. As brief thunderstorms brought only temporary relief to the drought-stricken country, forest fires were reported in Mallorca, Catalonia, La Coruña, Caceres, Badajoz and Valencia. The majority of the fires were burning in remote areas of Galicia, around La Coruña, in the country’s northwest, where firefighters said that strong winds and extreme heat were hampering attempts to bring them under control. As the heat wave continues, six provinces have been placed on alert by authorities, with the elderly and parents with young children warned to take extra precautions against the heat. In addition, water levels have reached record lows. Worst affected is the River Segura valley, in Murcia, southeast Spain, where reservoirs are currently holding just 15% of their capacity.
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.
Anthrax case confirmed in Kerala
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Posted online: Saturday, July 22, 2006 at 1601 hours IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 22: With the death of two cows due to anthrax being confirmed from Koothattukulam in Ernakulam district, the Kerala government has taken preventive measures to contain the spread of the disease. Tests conducted on the samples collected from of the carcasses of one the cows which died a few days back had confirmed that the cause of the death was Anthrax, sources in the Animal Husbandary department said. The tests were conducted at the Avian Diseases Diagnostic Regional Laboratory at Thiruvalla. A special team of veterinary doctors was monitoring the vaccination programme in the area to prevent the spread of the disease to other places, Director of Animal Husbandary department, Dr Vijayakumar, said. Stating that there was no need to panic, official sources said the situation was well under control. The Animal Husbandry department was fully equipped with adequate vaccines and medicines to contain the spread of the disease, the sources said.
July 22, 2006, 12 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds ago.By ANDnetwork .com
The death toll due to malaria outbreak in West Pokot District, Kenya, has risen to 50.By Osinde Obare
Dr Shadrack Kemei, the area Medical Officer of Health has expressed fear that the figure could be higher as there was no record of those who might have died at home.The figure is from the records we have collected from the hospitals, many could have died at home before they could seek treatment,Kemei told Kapenguria MP Samuel Moroto and doctors from Nairobi during a tour of Kapenguria Town.The disease, which broke out last January, has caused devastating effects among the locals, who rely on relief supplies. According to figures made available by Kemei, the disease claimed four lives in January, five in February, six in March, seven in April, 14 in May, nine in June and five, so far, this month.The doctors, led by Dr Ruth Rapuoda from Division of Malaria Control, are in the district to assess the situation. Rapuoda said the Ministry of Health was concerned and measures had been put in place to contain the disease.
The ministry is aware that the malaria epidemic has cost lives, but preventive measures have been taken, said Rapuoda. Measures that the ministry has come up with include a new drug, Coartem, to replace the sulphur-based anti-malaria drugs, spraying homes with insecticide and community mobilisation. She said malaria patients were not responding to sulphur-based anti-malaria drugs such as Fansider.The ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, she said, had trained District Health Management teams in malaria-prone districts. Kemei attributed the outbreak to the onset of short rains and ignorance among the locals.He said hundreds of people were unable to access treatment on time because they live in remotes areas.He said the most affected areas are the lowlands, Chepareria, Kongalai, Kepenguria and Kacheliba.Kemei said about 14 000 people have sought malaria treatment at Kapenguria District Hospital since June with local dispensaries registering between 100 and 200 malaria patients a day.
THANK YOU GOD FOR POSPONING AND GETTING RID (HOPEFULLY) OF SODOMITES IN JERUSALEM.ROMANS 1:22-28
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence(AIDS,VDS ETC) of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Gay group postpones WorldPride amid war talk
The writing does now appear to be on the wall for WorldPride as Israel looks set to be caught up in a war with Lebanon Jewish columnist inciting homophobia 22-July-2006.Marc Shoffman
The Jerusalem WorldPride parade has been postponed until after the war.The organisers of the event, Jerusalem Open House (JOH), announced last night that the rally will no longer take place due to the demands it would be making on security which is currently caught up in escalating tension in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.A JOH statement said: “This is not the time for celebrations.
The parade, which requires extensive security, will not take place due to the situation. A JOH spokesman told PinkNews.co.uk: The week of events will go ahead, from 6-12 August, but will be toned down to suit the situation in Israel.All the conferences and congresses will go ahead as usual and there will also be some form of demonstration in favour of pluralism in Jerusalem.JOH Director Hagai Elad told Israeli news website, Ynetnews.com, We are determined to fight for our right to march in Jerusalem this year.We will not succumb to the violent incitement against our community and against all the proponents of democracy in Jerusalem. The situation may appease some sections of Israel's Orthodox Jewish community and politicians who have protested against the march and in some cases offered rewards for killing a gay person.
Over 2000 leaflets were distributed in Jerusalem, reading; During this parade, 300,000 corrupt animals are anticipated to march through the holy city of Jerusalem, waiting avidly for the chance to put themselves on display before our children and our sacred Torah. They will try as hard as they can to defile as many of our innocent children as they can.Israel’s Chief Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar wrote to Pope Benedict XVI asking for his condemnation, he said: We ask your Excellency to issue an emotional, strong, and unequivocal call against this horrible phenomenon, in the hope that the amalgamation of protests being voiced by religious leaders... will prevent the wilful wrongdoers to damage and corrupt the ways of humanity.An Arab member of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), Ibrahim Sarsur, said: If gays will dare approach the Temple Mount during the parade, they will do so over our dead bodies.
Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch of the ultra-orthodox Beth Din (religious court) said: "This parade poses a real threat to the citizens of Israel.Israel has called up reserve army forces, and warned Lebanese citizens to leave, as it steps up its campaign of targeting Hezbollah militants who kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and are firing rockets into nearby cities such as Haifa.Meanwhile the United Nations is warning of a humanitarian disaster and The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the region tomorrow.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, North American co-chair of WorldPride said: I am fully committed to attending all WorldPride programs and events, traveling with dozens of my congregation members to Jerusalem with pride and anticipation next week. Now, more than ever, it is important that we demonstrate the values of WorldPride in Jerusalem a city like no other, a distinctive global symbol.
Sadly, that symbol has been hijacked to propagate fundamentalism, segregation, and conflict. WorldPride will be held in Jerusalem to reclaim the symbol that Jerusalem is, for what it was originally all about: tolerance, openness, and respect for all human beings regardless of sexual orientation, religion, gender identity, or nationality.
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.
Indonesian quake triggers tsunami warning 16 minutes ago
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.Indonesian officials recorded the quake at a magnitude of 6.6 and said it had the potential to cause a tsunami. One governor on the island ordered a coastal evacuation, but it was unclear whether the message got through to residents.The quake struck 67 miles south of Gorontalo in northern Sulawesi, according to the survey. It was felt across parts of Sulawesi, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.
REVELATION 16:10-11
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Power outage in New York City affects some 100,000 people Sat Jul 22, 4:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - Some 100,000 people remained without electricity in New York City for the sixth consecutive day after a heat wave and thunderstorms knocked out the power supply.The local utility, Con Edison, struggled to fix the problem and to explain the persistent disruptions to the power supply mainly in the borough of Queens.Con Edison estimates that 25,000 customers in the area are without power,the utility said in a statement.City authorities said the figure referred to households, apartment buildings and businesses and that as many as 100,000 people had been affected amid sweltering heat.Con Edison will be working around the clock, through the weekend, to restore all customers,the company said. City authorities said thunderstorms had hampered the repair effort.
With temperatures reaching up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Farenheit) and soaring humidity, the elderly and the ill were most at risk without use of elevators, refrigerators, air conditioners and other appliances.City authorities have launched an emergency response, deploying additional police, firefighters, sanitation trucks and assistance from other municipal agencies.Con Edison has come under fierce criticism over its failure to report the scale of the problem for several days. Initially, the company said only some 1,200 customers were affected.Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Con Edison should have informed the city government about the extent of the power outage earlier, but avoided heaping criticism on the company.The most important thing -- make sure nobody dies or gets hurt and then help Con Ed to get it back up, he said. Our job is not to vilify them. Our job is to help Con Ed to get the services back up.
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.
Scorching heat wave in B.C. may last several days
Updated Sat. Jul. 22 2006 11:35 PM ET,CTV.ca News Staff
Forecasters say it could be days before southern and central British Columbia get any relief from the scorching heat wave that's gripping the province. The high for the Okanagan Valley and Fraser Canyon will range between 38 C and 41 C until at least Tuesday, forecasters from Environment Canada have predicted. Kamloops set a record high Friday when the mercury hit 39 C. Port Alberni reached 37 C, Abbotsford 36 C, and even the usually-temperate Victoria hit 32 C. On Saturday it was 39 C in Grand Forks - that's 11 degrees higher than the usual temperature for this time of year. In Chilliwack, a hardware store reported running low on supplies of air-conditioners and stand-up fans, while other stores had completely sold out.
People are looking hard for something to find to keep cool, Kerry MacDonald, manager of Fortin's Home Hardware, told The Canadian Press. MacDonald added that because the store is air conditioned, people are shopping here longer. The heat has also boosted the forest fire rating to extreme in some places in the B.C. Interior, while the air quality in some centres is getting worse.
Meanwhile, emergency crews are on high alert amid fears the hot, dry weather could spark forest fires. Fire information officer Radha Fisher said no blazes erupted Saturday, likely because of a band on back-yard and industrial burning. But she warned the threat of fires still exists.
Things have calmed down, we're still in a lull, she said. However, we are looking forward to some pretty active behaviour given the forecast. Earlier in July, dry weather and lightning proved a lethal combination, prompting an early start to the forest fire season with 550 fires recorded. Many farmers have also been affected by the hot, dry weather, which has severely damaged crops. We're going to see crops be about 50 per cent of the average, B.C. Cattlemen's Association's Danielle Cuthbertson told CTV Vancouver on Friday.However, B.C. Hydro is confident that the electrical grid will be able to handle the increased demand. Elisha Moreno of B.C. Hydro said "British Columbians are very energy conscious and don't use as many air conditioners as people in Central Canada or California.Meanwhile, a heat wave that has taken hold across much of the United States is being blamed for at least 20 deaths.
The hottest temperature ever recorded in B.C. was 44.4 C, which was recorded in 1941 in Lytton and Lillooet. With files from The Canadian Press
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
The Sunday Times July 23, 2006
Directions: Forest fires sweep Spain
Forest fires broke out across Spain last week, with blazes burning out of control across the scorched peninsula. As brief thunderstorms brought only temporary relief to the drought-stricken country, forest fires were reported in Mallorca, Catalonia, La Coruña, Caceres, Badajoz and Valencia. The majority of the fires were burning in remote areas of Galicia, around La Coruña, in the country’s northwest, where firefighters said that strong winds and extreme heat were hampering attempts to bring them under control. As the heat wave continues, six provinces have been placed on alert by authorities, with the elderly and parents with young children warned to take extra precautions against the heat. In addition, water levels have reached record lows. Worst affected is the River Segura valley, in Murcia, southeast Spain, where reservoirs are currently holding just 15% of their capacity.
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.
Anthrax case confirmed in Kerala
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Posted online: Saturday, July 22, 2006 at 1601 hours IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 22: With the death of two cows due to anthrax being confirmed from Koothattukulam in Ernakulam district, the Kerala government has taken preventive measures to contain the spread of the disease. Tests conducted on the samples collected from of the carcasses of one the cows which died a few days back had confirmed that the cause of the death was Anthrax, sources in the Animal Husbandary department said. The tests were conducted at the Avian Diseases Diagnostic Regional Laboratory at Thiruvalla. A special team of veterinary doctors was monitoring the vaccination programme in the area to prevent the spread of the disease to other places, Director of Animal Husbandary department, Dr Vijayakumar, said. Stating that there was no need to panic, official sources said the situation was well under control. The Animal Husbandry department was fully equipped with adequate vaccines and medicines to contain the spread of the disease, the sources said.
July 22, 2006, 12 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds ago.By ANDnetwork .com
The death toll due to malaria outbreak in West Pokot District, Kenya, has risen to 50.By Osinde Obare
Dr Shadrack Kemei, the area Medical Officer of Health has expressed fear that the figure could be higher as there was no record of those who might have died at home.The figure is from the records we have collected from the hospitals, many could have died at home before they could seek treatment,Kemei told Kapenguria MP Samuel Moroto and doctors from Nairobi during a tour of Kapenguria Town.The disease, which broke out last January, has caused devastating effects among the locals, who rely on relief supplies. According to figures made available by Kemei, the disease claimed four lives in January, five in February, six in March, seven in April, 14 in May, nine in June and five, so far, this month.The doctors, led by Dr Ruth Rapuoda from Division of Malaria Control, are in the district to assess the situation. Rapuoda said the Ministry of Health was concerned and measures had been put in place to contain the disease.
The ministry is aware that the malaria epidemic has cost lives, but preventive measures have been taken, said Rapuoda. Measures that the ministry has come up with include a new drug, Coartem, to replace the sulphur-based anti-malaria drugs, spraying homes with insecticide and community mobilisation. She said malaria patients were not responding to sulphur-based anti-malaria drugs such as Fansider.The ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, she said, had trained District Health Management teams in malaria-prone districts. Kemei attributed the outbreak to the onset of short rains and ignorance among the locals.He said hundreds of people were unable to access treatment on time because they live in remotes areas.He said the most affected areas are the lowlands, Chepareria, Kongalai, Kepenguria and Kacheliba.Kemei said about 14 000 people have sought malaria treatment at Kapenguria District Hospital since June with local dispensaries registering between 100 and 200 malaria patients a day.
THANK YOU GOD FOR POSPONING AND GETTING RID (HOPEFULLY) OF SODOMITES IN JERUSALEM.ROMANS 1:22-28
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence(AIDS,VDS ETC) of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Gay group postpones WorldPride amid war talk
The writing does now appear to be on the wall for WorldPride as Israel looks set to be caught up in a war with Lebanon Jewish columnist inciting homophobia 22-July-2006.Marc Shoffman
The Jerusalem WorldPride parade has been postponed until after the war.The organisers of the event, Jerusalem Open House (JOH), announced last night that the rally will no longer take place due to the demands it would be making on security which is currently caught up in escalating tension in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.A JOH statement said: “This is not the time for celebrations.
The parade, which requires extensive security, will not take place due to the situation. A JOH spokesman told PinkNews.co.uk: The week of events will go ahead, from 6-12 August, but will be toned down to suit the situation in Israel.All the conferences and congresses will go ahead as usual and there will also be some form of demonstration in favour of pluralism in Jerusalem.JOH Director Hagai Elad told Israeli news website, Ynetnews.com, We are determined to fight for our right to march in Jerusalem this year.We will not succumb to the violent incitement against our community and against all the proponents of democracy in Jerusalem. The situation may appease some sections of Israel's Orthodox Jewish community and politicians who have protested against the march and in some cases offered rewards for killing a gay person.
Over 2000 leaflets were distributed in Jerusalem, reading; During this parade, 300,000 corrupt animals are anticipated to march through the holy city of Jerusalem, waiting avidly for the chance to put themselves on display before our children and our sacred Torah. They will try as hard as they can to defile as many of our innocent children as they can.Israel’s Chief Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar wrote to Pope Benedict XVI asking for his condemnation, he said: We ask your Excellency to issue an emotional, strong, and unequivocal call against this horrible phenomenon, in the hope that the amalgamation of protests being voiced by religious leaders... will prevent the wilful wrongdoers to damage and corrupt the ways of humanity.An Arab member of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), Ibrahim Sarsur, said: If gays will dare approach the Temple Mount during the parade, they will do so over our dead bodies.
Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch of the ultra-orthodox Beth Din (religious court) said: "This parade poses a real threat to the citizens of Israel.Israel has called up reserve army forces, and warned Lebanese citizens to leave, as it steps up its campaign of targeting Hezbollah militants who kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and are firing rockets into nearby cities such as Haifa.Meanwhile the United Nations is warning of a humanitarian disaster and The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the region tomorrow.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, North American co-chair of WorldPride said: I am fully committed to attending all WorldPride programs and events, traveling with dozens of my congregation members to Jerusalem with pride and anticipation next week. Now, more than ever, it is important that we demonstrate the values of WorldPride in Jerusalem a city like no other, a distinctive global symbol.
Sadly, that symbol has been hijacked to propagate fundamentalism, segregation, and conflict. WorldPride will be held in Jerusalem to reclaim the symbol that Jerusalem is, for what it was originally all about: tolerance, openness, and respect for all human beings regardless of sexual orientation, religion, gender identity, or nationality.
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.
Indonesian quake triggers tsunami warning 16 minutes ago
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.Indonesian officials recorded the quake at a magnitude of 6.6 and said it had the potential to cause a tsunami. One governor on the island ordered a coastal evacuation, but it was unclear whether the message got through to residents.The quake struck 67 miles south of Gorontalo in northern Sulawesi, according to the survey. It was felt across parts of Sulawesi, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
3000 COME HOME TO ISRAEL
1-Quake hits Southwestern China. 2-Death toll in Indonesia Tsunami rises to 659. 3-Coverup claims as death toll in China storms kill 530. 4-Israelis mass on Lebanese border. 5-World media wavers in support of Israel. 6-3000 Americans move to Israel.
THANK YOU GOD FOR THE $1000.00 BLESSING KING JESUS, I GIVE YOU ALL THE PRAISE AND GLORY FOR IT.
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.
Quake hits southwestern China, kills 19 By ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
BEIJING - A magnitude-5.1 earthquake hit a mountainous area in southwestern China on Saturday, killing at least 19 people and injuring 60 as it toppled homes and set off landslides. The earthquake struck at 9:10 a.m. in Yanjin county in Yunnan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.Chinese television showed roads in Yanjin blocked by landslides, a car crushed under fallen rocks and several single-story homes with tiled roofs that had completely collapsed. Villagers were huddled under umbrellas and makeshift tents to keep away from the sun.
Liu Tengfei, a high school student from the Yanjin town of Dousha, was at a friend's house when the temblor hit.The house was shaking and then a clock on the wall fell down and broke, so we ran out, Liu said by telephone. He said many buildings were badly cracked and officials had ordered people to sleep outdoors Saturday night.A Dousha official, Chen Hua, said at least five aftershocks followed the earthquake.A Yanjin county official who would only give his surname, Xiao, said rescuers had confirmed 16 dead and 60 injured in Yanjin. Xiao said 100 houses were destroyed in the county and about 1,000 damaged.Xinhua said 500 tents, 1,000 quilts and 500 blankets had been sent to the area.A man named Shen with the Zhaotong Seismological Bureau said three people were reported dead in nearby Daguan county. He had no figure for the number of injured.Yanjin is 1,100 miles southwest of Beijing and has a population of 350,000.
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.
Death toll from Indonesia tsunami hits 659 Sat Jul 22, 7:17 AM ET
PANGANDARAN, Indonesia - The death toll from the Indonesian tsunami earlier this week rose to 659 after emergency workers reached a previously inaccessible area along Java island's southern coast, the government said Saturday. Drajat Santosa, an official at the government's National Disaster Management Coordinating Board, said nearly 100 bodies were found in a part of Ciamis district that had been cut off by a broken bridge.The toll climbed to 659 with 330 others missing, he said. Previously, the government said 547 had been killed.
A powerful earthquake on Monday sent towering waves crashing into a 110-mile stretch of Java's southern coast, destroying scores of houses, restaurants and hotels. Cars, motorbikes and boats were left mangled amid fishing nets, furniture and other debris.
Cover-up claims as China storm toll leaps to 530 by Peter Harmsen
1 hour, 1 minute ago
BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese officials were warned against cover-ups on after the death toll from a tropical storm more than doubled overnight. A week after Bilis made landfall, the official number of people killed in gales and floods was given at 530, up from 228 reported just a day earlier, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency Saturday.Officials who try to hide the death toll will be punished,the agency said, citing the government of Hunan, the central province that bore the brunt of the destruction brought about by Bilis.Hunan on Friday revised the province's number of fatalities dramatically upwards to 346, compared with 92 previously, with some evidence the difference was partly to be blamed on cover-ups.
Pingshi town, one of the worst affected areas, had only reported 39 dead and missing, but a TV team had found the actual number to be three times as large, the China Daily newspaper said Saturday.The statistics shocked me, too,said Zhao Baojun, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs in charge of gathering data about casualties from Bilis.The ministry has sent an investigative team to Hunan, and also issued a notice warning against hiding the true extent of the damage.Those who are responsible for covering up the death toll and the number of missing people will be held accountable,the notice said, according to the China Daily.
Chinese officials at the local level are known to often instinctively cover up bad news, for fear of being punished.In the case of natural disasters, that fear may be exacerbated if preparations for emergencies turn out to have been inadequate.Luo Xiwu, deputy head of the Communist Party in the region which includes Pingshi, said officials may have been too busy saving lives to count the number of casualties.The officials did not shift their work focus from rescue and relief to death toll head-count and damage investigation until the rainstorms stopped and the floods receded, Luo told Xinhua.The breakdown of communication and traffic systems made it very hard for the local civil affairs department to collect information on death and damage.Zhan Xiao'an, director of Hunan provincial flood control headquarters, told Xinhua the power supply in some flooded areas had not been resumed.
A preference among Hunan farmers to live near rivers and mountains was partly to blame for the large death toll in the province, Zhan said.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 106 were confirmed dead in the southern province of Guangdong, according to Xinhua. This figure included 36 more fatalities reported on Saturday, and another seven late in the day.Some 77 were still missing there, Xinhua said. It also reported 35 dead in the southern region of Guangxi, an increase of five from the day before, and 43 in southeastern Fujian province. 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.
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Israelis mass on Lebanese border
Israel has massed soldiers and tanks on the border with Lebanon and called up thousands of reserve troops, in a possible prelude to a ground offensive.Planes dropped leaflets on southern Lebanon warning any civilians to leave. Israeli soldiers are already fighting Hezbollah inside Lebanon, but the army chief of staff said any incursion into the country would be limited in scope. The United Nations humanitarian chief Jan Egeland is due to arrive in Beirut to assess the crisis on the ground. Mr Egeland has warned the situation is deteriorating by the hour, with half a million people needing assistance - a number, he said, which was likely to grow dramatically.He is expected to call on Israel to guarantee safe passage by land, sea and air for humanitarian supplies.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is travelling to the Middle East on Sunday, as is German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, who helped broker a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah in 2004. The latest crisis was triggered by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants on 12 July.
Fierce clashes
On the 11th day of the air campaign against Lebanon, Israel continued its assault, saying it was targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and command posts, along with roads linking Lebanon to Syria. It hit at least two communications and TV transmission towers - one in the Kesrwan mountains, east of Beirut, and in Terbol in northern Lebanon. There was no word on casualties.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets into northern Israel
The Israeli air force says it has hit 70 targets in Lebanon since Friday night, and 1,800 targets over the course of the campaign.
Israeli soldiers are continuing some ground incursions into Lebanon, and are currently occupying one Lebanese village, Maroun al-Ras, but have withdrawn from another, Marwahin. They have met fierce resistance at Maroun al-Ras, with six soldiers killed over the last three days. Between two and 10 Israelis are said to have been injured in northern Israeli towns, as rockets continue to be fired over the border.The BBC's Martin Asser is travelling south on the main road between Beirut and Tyre, close to the Israeli border.
He passed hundreds of cars heading north, packed with families fleeing from the area where the Israelis dropped leaflets on Friday.
Many cars were flying white flags to show they were civilians.
The exodus has created a huge traffic jam outside Tyre, which is preventing some Lebanese entering the town to rescue family and friends, our correspondent adds.Meanwhile the Israeli army has insisted a large-scale invasion is not imminent, despite the thousands of reservists who have been called up. It said raids across the border would continue, targeting Hezbollah bunkers and tunnels that could not be destroyed from the air.
No occupation
Marcus Shef, a spokesman for Israeli Defence Force, told the BBC: We have no intention whatsoever of occupying Lebanon, we came out of Lebanon in 2000, without the intention of going back into Lebanon.
World Media Wavers in Support of Israel
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (ARUTZ-7 INN)www.israelnationalnews.com
American newspapers have almost unanimously backed Israel's retaliation against Hizbullah. Some say Israel is doing what Bush should have done, but Europe and Asia want a withdrawal. Canadian and Australian dailies also have sided with Israel. Most British newspapers followed a tepid anti-Israel line, noting understanding of Israel's concerns. The Times of London expressed sympathy for Israel's reaction, but added, It would not be in Israels interests to regard the moral high ground from which it set out nine days ago as a free hand to act without regard to the world around it....Now, easing the bombardment unilaterally rather than waiting for US pressure to do so would earn the Israeli Prime Minister wider respect.The Daily Telegraph refrained from criticizing Israel but concluded that only diplomacy and a surrender of all of Judea and Samaria will allow peace in the Middle East. Indonesian, Indian, and other Asian newspapers sided with the Arab claim that Israel is an aggressor and must retreat.
Israel's only major forthright editorial support came from the United States, Canada and Australia.The ChicagoSun-Times wrote, Israel must rigorously defend its right to exist,and the Detroit News News concluded, Ultimately, Israel has the right do whats necessary to protect its people.The Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch criticized those who denounced Israel's reaction as disproportionate and declared, If anything, Israel has acted with remarkable restraint.The Augusta, Georgia Chronicle asked if the critics of disproportionate reaction would say the same thing if the United States were responding to rocket attacks on its sovereign territory.It called the civilian toll in Lebanon reasonable. Israel is "completely justified," according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel , and USA Today noted that it was difficult for Israel to calculate its response.The Washington Post, which traditionally leans to the left, backed Israel but expressed reservations concerning its stance if the current rate of civilian casualties and damage continues.
A major California newspaper took a swipe at the American president. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the Bush administrations response has been to stay out of Israels way, save for a few benign statements about a need for restraint. The world cant afford to wait. In Canada, the Edmonton Sun reminded readers that Canadians were part of a United Nations peace-keeping force on the Israeli-Lebanese border and that the problem, sadly, remains Lebanon's.The Toronto Globe & Mail praised Prime Minister's Stephen Harper's for saying what he thought in his forthright support for Israel.In Australia, support for Israel was also noted. The outrage about the accidental wartime deaths of Lebanese children seems to far outweigh that felt for Israeli youth deliberately targeted by suicide bombers in calculated acts of murder. Likewise in the occupied territories,according to The Australian. However, it advised Israeli supporters "to calmly deploy an arsenal of facts instead of relying on emotions to convince opponents.The assumption of many in the media that there is something suspicious about a democracy that fights, rather than appeases its enemies, makes it easy for the ignorant and the anti-Semitic to paint Israel as an aggressor, it said in an editorial.
The China Post hedged and simply wrote that all sides should seek a cease-fire while backing American demands that Hizbullah terrorists release two IDF soldiers they kidnapped last week.
NOTICE VERY CLOSELY ARABS, PALESTINIANS AND MUSLIMS. WHAT THIS READING SAYS!!!!!!!!!!
EZEKIEL 36:24-28
24 For I (GOD) will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries,(ISRAELIS) and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
From the burning of ISRAELIS by Hitler , comes this Ezekiel 37. From the dry bones of death to the poor Israelis, GOD gave Israel the LAND never to be GIVEN UP AGAIN. GOD PLANTED ISRAEL IN THEIR LAND (ARABS) NOT ISMAELS LAND. No matter what Israel goes through there will always be Israelis on the LAND and JERUSALEM will eventually become the WORLD CAPITAL AFTER TRIALS.
EZEKIEL 37:1-28
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
3,000 Americans emigrate to Israel
As rockets fly, planeloads of Jews arrive in Middle East
Posted: 9:00 p.m. Eastern,By Alex Traiman,© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
TEL AVIV – As rockets slam into Israel and Israeli reprisals force Lebanese to flee the border region and parts of Beirut, more than 3,000 American citizens are leaving the comfort and security of the United States to make war-torn Israel their home. What is the best answer to Hezbollah? asked former Israeli prime minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu during a welcome address to the new citizens. You are the answer to Hezbollah. More than 250 new immigrants arrived yesterday at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport to add to the rapidly growing Jewish population in Israel. The planeload was the second of seven flights scheduled for this summer and the first arrival since the outbreak of violence with Lebanon. The flights are arranged by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a private organization that provides financial incentives and social services to new immigrants from North America. Yesterday's planeload was the 17th since Nefesh B'Nefesh began chartering flights for immigrants in 2002.
The act of immigrating to Israel is called Aliyah, meaning to ascend, in Hebrew. Once they arrive in Israel, new citizens are referred to as olim, meaning pilgrims.Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to immigrants yesterday Yehoshua Fass, director of Nefesh B'Nefesh and a former pulpit rabbi in Boca Raton, Fla., called the flight the ultimate solidarity mission. Leading up to yesterday's flight, thousands of American citizens were fleeing the region back to the U.S. Israel's national airline carrier, El Al, has added extra flights to New York to accommodate those seeking to escape the violence. Since the conflict began last week, more than 1,000 rockets, mostly Katyushas, have been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, killing 18 civilians and injuring scores of others. Lebanese Internal Security Forces say more than 250 civilians have been killed during Israeli air strikes, with hundreds more wounded.
While the conflict began months after the incoming flights of new Israeli citizens were arranged, the immigrants and the dignitaries who welcomed them repeatedly pointed out the symbolism of arriving in Israel during a war. You are making Israel stronger,said Netanyahu. Aliyah is the lifeline of Israel. Israel is the only homeland for the Jewish people, and the Jewish people must fight for its place in it. Referring to Israel's chances of victory in the war against Hamas and Hezbollah, Netanyahu stated in his address, We have won, we have prevailed. We have built cities, we built industry, we have built infrastructure.
Immigrants welcomed to Israel
We are a very powerful country. We are applying only a fraction of our power,Netanyahu added. Following the speech, Netanyahu commented on the continued threat of rockets raining on northern Israeli cities from Lebanon. We must stop the rockets to protect these olim,Netanyahu told WND. At a farewell ceremony for the emigrating American citizens in New York's John F. Kennedy international airport, Israel's consul general in New York, stated, The fact that you are making Aliyah at this point in time is a vote of confidence and security in the state of Israel and the victory over terrorism. While many of the new Israelis are moving to locations out of range of Katyusha rockets from the north and Qassam rockets from the south, several are moving to cities recently bombarded, including Haifa and Ashkelon.Yet despite the rocket threat, most of the new residents offered statements of confidence regarding their personal and, now, national security.
Sammy Capuano, who arrived on the flight with his wife Shiri and their six-month-old son from Aventura, Fla., told WND that despite the ongoing violence, it's a feeling of relief to be in Israel.God could have put Israel in Texas or the Bahamas,Capuano said. But God put us here amongst our enemies to teach us that our security comes from one source: from following God's commandments.
Nachum Kligman was one of hundreds of guests ushering the arrival of immigrants at Ben Gurion Airport. He was there with his family to welcome his parents on their Aliyah. Kligman himself made Aliyah on Nefesh B'Nefesh's inaugural flight in July 2002.
Kligman is not concerned about the threat to his safety in Israel, citing the terror threat as a primary component of his decision to move to Israel.
We made Aliyah in response to 9-11,he said. "When 9-11 happened, that is when I knew it was time to move to Israel. God was sending me a message.Exactly one year to the day after the largest terror attack in U.S. history, Kligman and his wife welcomed the birth of a baby boy, Moshe Shlomo. "We heard God's message in 2001, and He rewarded us in 2002. Two additional immigrant flights are arriving from France next week, and a third European flight is departing Great Britain in August. The flights are coordinated in conjunction with the Jewish Agency for Israel, a non-governmental agency focused on bringing Jews to live in Israel from around the world, on behalf of the state. Bringing one million additional Jews to Israel was one of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's primary stated goals. Shlomo Riskin, rabbi of Israel's Efrata community, made Aliyah from the U.S. 20 years ago. His community has been a popular landing ground for many Americans, including several on yesterday's flight who have left the comforts of America for a new home in Israel.
During the welcome ceremony, Riskin told the new immigrants, If Israel was Disneyland, we would come for fun, in the sun. But this is the motherland, and we will come when our mother needs us. Riskin added, "Israel is the safest place in the world for Jews.
THANK YOU GOD FOR THE $1000.00 BLESSING KING JESUS, I GIVE YOU ALL THE PRAISE AND GLORY FOR IT.
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.
Quake hits southwestern China, kills 19 By ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
BEIJING - A magnitude-5.1 earthquake hit a mountainous area in southwestern China on Saturday, killing at least 19 people and injuring 60 as it toppled homes and set off landslides. The earthquake struck at 9:10 a.m. in Yanjin county in Yunnan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.Chinese television showed roads in Yanjin blocked by landslides, a car crushed under fallen rocks and several single-story homes with tiled roofs that had completely collapsed. Villagers were huddled under umbrellas and makeshift tents to keep away from the sun.
Liu Tengfei, a high school student from the Yanjin town of Dousha, was at a friend's house when the temblor hit.The house was shaking and then a clock on the wall fell down and broke, so we ran out, Liu said by telephone. He said many buildings were badly cracked and officials had ordered people to sleep outdoors Saturday night.A Dousha official, Chen Hua, said at least five aftershocks followed the earthquake.A Yanjin county official who would only give his surname, Xiao, said rescuers had confirmed 16 dead and 60 injured in Yanjin. Xiao said 100 houses were destroyed in the county and about 1,000 damaged.Xinhua said 500 tents, 1,000 quilts and 500 blankets had been sent to the area.A man named Shen with the Zhaotong Seismological Bureau said three people were reported dead in nearby Daguan county. He had no figure for the number of injured.Yanjin is 1,100 miles southwest of Beijing and has a population of 350,000.
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.
Death toll from Indonesia tsunami hits 659 Sat Jul 22, 7:17 AM ET
PANGANDARAN, Indonesia - The death toll from the Indonesian tsunami earlier this week rose to 659 after emergency workers reached a previously inaccessible area along Java island's southern coast, the government said Saturday. Drajat Santosa, an official at the government's National Disaster Management Coordinating Board, said nearly 100 bodies were found in a part of Ciamis district that had been cut off by a broken bridge.The toll climbed to 659 with 330 others missing, he said. Previously, the government said 547 had been killed.
A powerful earthquake on Monday sent towering waves crashing into a 110-mile stretch of Java's southern coast, destroying scores of houses, restaurants and hotels. Cars, motorbikes and boats were left mangled amid fishing nets, furniture and other debris.
Cover-up claims as China storm toll leaps to 530 by Peter Harmsen
1 hour, 1 minute ago
BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese officials were warned against cover-ups on after the death toll from a tropical storm more than doubled overnight. A week after Bilis made landfall, the official number of people killed in gales and floods was given at 530, up from 228 reported just a day earlier, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency Saturday.Officials who try to hide the death toll will be punished,the agency said, citing the government of Hunan, the central province that bore the brunt of the destruction brought about by Bilis.Hunan on Friday revised the province's number of fatalities dramatically upwards to 346, compared with 92 previously, with some evidence the difference was partly to be blamed on cover-ups.
Pingshi town, one of the worst affected areas, had only reported 39 dead and missing, but a TV team had found the actual number to be three times as large, the China Daily newspaper said Saturday.The statistics shocked me, too,said Zhao Baojun, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs in charge of gathering data about casualties from Bilis.The ministry has sent an investigative team to Hunan, and also issued a notice warning against hiding the true extent of the damage.Those who are responsible for covering up the death toll and the number of missing people will be held accountable,the notice said, according to the China Daily.
Chinese officials at the local level are known to often instinctively cover up bad news, for fear of being punished.In the case of natural disasters, that fear may be exacerbated if preparations for emergencies turn out to have been inadequate.Luo Xiwu, deputy head of the Communist Party in the region which includes Pingshi, said officials may have been too busy saving lives to count the number of casualties.The officials did not shift their work focus from rescue and relief to death toll head-count and damage investigation until the rainstorms stopped and the floods receded, Luo told Xinhua.The breakdown of communication and traffic systems made it very hard for the local civil affairs department to collect information on death and damage.Zhan Xiao'an, director of Hunan provincial flood control headquarters, told Xinhua the power supply in some flooded areas had not been resumed.
A preference among Hunan farmers to live near rivers and mountains was partly to blame for the large death toll in the province, Zhan said.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 106 were confirmed dead in the southern province of Guangdong, according to Xinhua. This figure included 36 more fatalities reported on Saturday, and another seven late in the day.Some 77 were still missing there, Xinhua said. It also reported 35 dead in the southern region of Guangxi, an increase of five from the day before, and 43 in southeastern Fujian province. 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.
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Israelis mass on Lebanese border
Israel has massed soldiers and tanks on the border with Lebanon and called up thousands of reserve troops, in a possible prelude to a ground offensive.Planes dropped leaflets on southern Lebanon warning any civilians to leave. Israeli soldiers are already fighting Hezbollah inside Lebanon, but the army chief of staff said any incursion into the country would be limited in scope. The United Nations humanitarian chief Jan Egeland is due to arrive in Beirut to assess the crisis on the ground. Mr Egeland has warned the situation is deteriorating by the hour, with half a million people needing assistance - a number, he said, which was likely to grow dramatically.He is expected to call on Israel to guarantee safe passage by land, sea and air for humanitarian supplies.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is travelling to the Middle East on Sunday, as is German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, who helped broker a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah in 2004. The latest crisis was triggered by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants on 12 July.
Fierce clashes
On the 11th day of the air campaign against Lebanon, Israel continued its assault, saying it was targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and command posts, along with roads linking Lebanon to Syria. It hit at least two communications and TV transmission towers - one in the Kesrwan mountains, east of Beirut, and in Terbol in northern Lebanon. There was no word on casualties.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets into northern Israel
The Israeli air force says it has hit 70 targets in Lebanon since Friday night, and 1,800 targets over the course of the campaign.
Israeli soldiers are continuing some ground incursions into Lebanon, and are currently occupying one Lebanese village, Maroun al-Ras, but have withdrawn from another, Marwahin. They have met fierce resistance at Maroun al-Ras, with six soldiers killed over the last three days. Between two and 10 Israelis are said to have been injured in northern Israeli towns, as rockets continue to be fired over the border.The BBC's Martin Asser is travelling south on the main road between Beirut and Tyre, close to the Israeli border.
He passed hundreds of cars heading north, packed with families fleeing from the area where the Israelis dropped leaflets on Friday.
Many cars were flying white flags to show they were civilians.
The exodus has created a huge traffic jam outside Tyre, which is preventing some Lebanese entering the town to rescue family and friends, our correspondent adds.Meanwhile the Israeli army has insisted a large-scale invasion is not imminent, despite the thousands of reservists who have been called up. It said raids across the border would continue, targeting Hezbollah bunkers and tunnels that could not be destroyed from the air.
No occupation
Marcus Shef, a spokesman for Israeli Defence Force, told the BBC: We have no intention whatsoever of occupying Lebanon, we came out of Lebanon in 2000, without the intention of going back into Lebanon.
World Media Wavers in Support of Israel
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (ARUTZ-7 INN)www.israelnationalnews.com
American newspapers have almost unanimously backed Israel's retaliation against Hizbullah. Some say Israel is doing what Bush should have done, but Europe and Asia want a withdrawal. Canadian and Australian dailies also have sided with Israel. Most British newspapers followed a tepid anti-Israel line, noting understanding of Israel's concerns. The Times of London expressed sympathy for Israel's reaction, but added, It would not be in Israels interests to regard the moral high ground from which it set out nine days ago as a free hand to act without regard to the world around it....Now, easing the bombardment unilaterally rather than waiting for US pressure to do so would earn the Israeli Prime Minister wider respect.The Daily Telegraph refrained from criticizing Israel but concluded that only diplomacy and a surrender of all of Judea and Samaria will allow peace in the Middle East. Indonesian, Indian, and other Asian newspapers sided with the Arab claim that Israel is an aggressor and must retreat.
Israel's only major forthright editorial support came from the United States, Canada and Australia.The ChicagoSun-Times wrote, Israel must rigorously defend its right to exist,and the Detroit News News concluded, Ultimately, Israel has the right do whats necessary to protect its people.The Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch criticized those who denounced Israel's reaction as disproportionate and declared, If anything, Israel has acted with remarkable restraint.The Augusta, Georgia Chronicle asked if the critics of disproportionate reaction would say the same thing if the United States were responding to rocket attacks on its sovereign territory.It called the civilian toll in Lebanon reasonable. Israel is "completely justified," according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel , and USA Today noted that it was difficult for Israel to calculate its response.The Washington Post, which traditionally leans to the left, backed Israel but expressed reservations concerning its stance if the current rate of civilian casualties and damage continues.
A major California newspaper took a swipe at the American president. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the Bush administrations response has been to stay out of Israels way, save for a few benign statements about a need for restraint. The world cant afford to wait. In Canada, the Edmonton Sun reminded readers that Canadians were part of a United Nations peace-keeping force on the Israeli-Lebanese border and that the problem, sadly, remains Lebanon's.The Toronto Globe & Mail praised Prime Minister's Stephen Harper's for saying what he thought in his forthright support for Israel.In Australia, support for Israel was also noted. The outrage about the accidental wartime deaths of Lebanese children seems to far outweigh that felt for Israeli youth deliberately targeted by suicide bombers in calculated acts of murder. Likewise in the occupied territories,according to The Australian. However, it advised Israeli supporters "to calmly deploy an arsenal of facts instead of relying on emotions to convince opponents.The assumption of many in the media that there is something suspicious about a democracy that fights, rather than appeases its enemies, makes it easy for the ignorant and the anti-Semitic to paint Israel as an aggressor, it said in an editorial.
The China Post hedged and simply wrote that all sides should seek a cease-fire while backing American demands that Hizbullah terrorists release two IDF soldiers they kidnapped last week.
NOTICE VERY CLOSELY ARABS, PALESTINIANS AND MUSLIMS. WHAT THIS READING SAYS!!!!!!!!!!
EZEKIEL 36:24-28
24 For I (GOD) will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries,(ISRAELIS) and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
From the burning of ISRAELIS by Hitler , comes this Ezekiel 37. From the dry bones of death to the poor Israelis, GOD gave Israel the LAND never to be GIVEN UP AGAIN. GOD PLANTED ISRAEL IN THEIR LAND (ARABS) NOT ISMAELS LAND. No matter what Israel goes through there will always be Israelis on the LAND and JERUSALEM will eventually become the WORLD CAPITAL AFTER TRIALS.
EZEKIEL 37:1-28
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
3,000 Americans emigrate to Israel
As rockets fly, planeloads of Jews arrive in Middle East
Posted: 9:00 p.m. Eastern,By Alex Traiman,© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
TEL AVIV – As rockets slam into Israel and Israeli reprisals force Lebanese to flee the border region and parts of Beirut, more than 3,000 American citizens are leaving the comfort and security of the United States to make war-torn Israel their home. What is the best answer to Hezbollah? asked former Israeli prime minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu during a welcome address to the new citizens. You are the answer to Hezbollah. More than 250 new immigrants arrived yesterday at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport to add to the rapidly growing Jewish population in Israel. The planeload was the second of seven flights scheduled for this summer and the first arrival since the outbreak of violence with Lebanon. The flights are arranged by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a private organization that provides financial incentives and social services to new immigrants from North America. Yesterday's planeload was the 17th since Nefesh B'Nefesh began chartering flights for immigrants in 2002.
The act of immigrating to Israel is called Aliyah, meaning to ascend, in Hebrew. Once they arrive in Israel, new citizens are referred to as olim, meaning pilgrims.Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to immigrants yesterday Yehoshua Fass, director of Nefesh B'Nefesh and a former pulpit rabbi in Boca Raton, Fla., called the flight the ultimate solidarity mission. Leading up to yesterday's flight, thousands of American citizens were fleeing the region back to the U.S. Israel's national airline carrier, El Al, has added extra flights to New York to accommodate those seeking to escape the violence. Since the conflict began last week, more than 1,000 rockets, mostly Katyushas, have been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, killing 18 civilians and injuring scores of others. Lebanese Internal Security Forces say more than 250 civilians have been killed during Israeli air strikes, with hundreds more wounded.
While the conflict began months after the incoming flights of new Israeli citizens were arranged, the immigrants and the dignitaries who welcomed them repeatedly pointed out the symbolism of arriving in Israel during a war. You are making Israel stronger,said Netanyahu. Aliyah is the lifeline of Israel. Israel is the only homeland for the Jewish people, and the Jewish people must fight for its place in it. Referring to Israel's chances of victory in the war against Hamas and Hezbollah, Netanyahu stated in his address, We have won, we have prevailed. We have built cities, we built industry, we have built infrastructure.
Immigrants welcomed to Israel
We are a very powerful country. We are applying only a fraction of our power,Netanyahu added. Following the speech, Netanyahu commented on the continued threat of rockets raining on northern Israeli cities from Lebanon. We must stop the rockets to protect these olim,Netanyahu told WND. At a farewell ceremony for the emigrating American citizens in New York's John F. Kennedy international airport, Israel's consul general in New York, stated, The fact that you are making Aliyah at this point in time is a vote of confidence and security in the state of Israel and the victory over terrorism. While many of the new Israelis are moving to locations out of range of Katyusha rockets from the north and Qassam rockets from the south, several are moving to cities recently bombarded, including Haifa and Ashkelon.Yet despite the rocket threat, most of the new residents offered statements of confidence regarding their personal and, now, national security.
Sammy Capuano, who arrived on the flight with his wife Shiri and their six-month-old son from Aventura, Fla., told WND that despite the ongoing violence, it's a feeling of relief to be in Israel.God could have put Israel in Texas or the Bahamas,Capuano said. But God put us here amongst our enemies to teach us that our security comes from one source: from following God's commandments.
Nachum Kligman was one of hundreds of guests ushering the arrival of immigrants at Ben Gurion Airport. He was there with his family to welcome his parents on their Aliyah. Kligman himself made Aliyah on Nefesh B'Nefesh's inaugural flight in July 2002.
Kligman is not concerned about the threat to his safety in Israel, citing the terror threat as a primary component of his decision to move to Israel.
We made Aliyah in response to 9-11,he said. "When 9-11 happened, that is when I knew it was time to move to Israel. God was sending me a message.Exactly one year to the day after the largest terror attack in U.S. history, Kligman and his wife welcomed the birth of a baby boy, Moshe Shlomo. "We heard God's message in 2001, and He rewarded us in 2002. Two additional immigrant flights are arriving from France next week, and a third European flight is departing Great Britain in August. The flights are coordinated in conjunction with the Jewish Agency for Israel, a non-governmental agency focused on bringing Jews to live in Israel from around the world, on behalf of the state. Bringing one million additional Jews to Israel was one of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's primary stated goals. Shlomo Riskin, rabbi of Israel's Efrata community, made Aliyah from the U.S. 20 years ago. His community has been a popular landing ground for many Americans, including several on yesterday's flight who have left the comforts of America for a new home in Israel.
During the welcome ceremony, Riskin told the new immigrants, If Israel was Disneyland, we would come for fun, in the sun. But this is the motherland, and we will come when our mother needs us. Riskin added, "Israel is the safest place in the world for Jews.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
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.
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.
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
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
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