Hi Everybody,

Awhile back I wrote the article, Signs of The End Times, in which I said that there were so many signs of the last days out there that it was becoming very difficult to even see the road. Well, for the past two weeks as I have been reading the news on various prophetic web sites I have been using the “cut” and “paste” functions to grab a sentence or two from articles that seem to me to be sign posts pointing to the imminent rapture and sudden destruction that we all are looking for. Below is the list that I put together.

In order to keep this list from becoming too long I did not include anything having to do with government conspiracies, the Illuminati, the New World Order, or anything about how the government is building files on every citizen. Likewise, there is nothing here about who the anti-Christ is, or Obama’s credentials (or lack there of), or Niburu, the evil symbology of the Olympics, or dreams and prophecies of floods, fires, famines, earthquakes, etc. In doing so I was able to pare the list down to a mere 11,857 words on 24 typewritten pages (using 12 point Times New Roman font).

The earth and everything in it is screaming at humanity to get ready for something really big that is about to happen. That something is the rapture of the Church and the sudden destruction that will kick off a period of incredible tribulation such as mankind had never seen before. This deafening “screaming” has become so loud, and has been going on for so long, that we have become numb from it. It is coming at us from every conceivable direction. How much longer can it, or will it, continue?

Carl Worline

oaktree3168@aol.com

Signs of the End Times

In First Two Weeks of August

Nature

Earthquakes:

Definite up-tick in the frequency and intensity of earthquakes around the world. Far too many happening to list here, except for really significant ones.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Two strong earthquakes leveled villages and damaged homes in northwestern Iran on Saturday, killing at least 306 people and injuring more than 3,037 others, state TV reported. The US Geological Service measured the quakes at magnitude 6.4 and 6.3.

· 1,000 earthquakes recorded in state of Arizona over a three-year period (August 14, 2012).

· August 14, 2012 – RUSSIA. A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck along a deep region of the sea-floor in the Sea of Okhotsk, between the remote island of Poronaysk and the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka. The earthquake struck at a depth of 625 km or 389 miles below the surface of the ocean floor. It was orginally thought the quake was a twin pair. The USGS posted the 7.7 quake, as two separate 7.3 seismic events and then later corrected the listing.

Two separate geological studies suggest the earthquake hazard in the transboundary region of the Pacific Coast of North America — including southern British Columbia — is significantly greater than previously believed, with both teams of U.S. scientists urging heightened readiness for a future offshore “megathrust” event that could compare with the one that triggered Japan’s catastrophe last year.

Volcanoes:

Dormant volcanoes all over the world are coming back to life, as if awakening from a deep sleep.

· A New Zealand volcano dormant for more than a century has spewed boulders and spread an ash cloud over the centre of the country, disrupting air traffic but causing no other damage or injuries. Mount Tongariro, one of three volcanic peaks in the central North Island, roared into life late on Monday night, as craters on the mountain located in a national park near popular hot springs, exploded with bright flashes and thunderous booms (August 8, 2012).

August 6, 2012 – New Zealand. White Island volcano has erupted, prompting GNS Science to advise visitors to take extra care. The island, located about 50 kilometres off the coast of Whakatane, is an active volcano and a popular tourist spot.

· August 9, 2012 – Colombia. Previously extinct volcano gets raised ‘eruption warning’ level in Colombia- eruption would be first in recorded history. The recent increase in seismic activity under Sotarà volcano prompted INGEOMINAS to raise the alert level from yellow (unrest) to orange (eruption warning) yesterday afternoon (August 9, 2012).

· August 6, 2012 – ICELAND - A mountain which the Icelandic Marine Research Institute (Hafró) discovered on the ocean floor west off the Snæfellsnes peninsula in West Iceland during an expedition earlier this summer may turn out to be a

· Increased unrest and seismic activity reported at Iceland’s massive Askja volcano (August 10, 2012).

August 13, 2012 – WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A swarm of more than 150 earthquakes over two days last month caused a previously dormant volcano to erupt beneath the Pacific Ocean, a scientist said Monday. The eruption of the Havre Volcano, about halfway between New Zealand and Tonga, is believed to have caused a floating island of pumice larger than 4,000 square miles that was encountered by a New Zealand navy ship last week.

· August 13, 2012 – TUPI, SOUTH COTABATO Philippine residents fear the Mt. Matutum volcano is awakening after 100 years.

· August 14, 2012 – TONGA. Tofua volcano erupts, sending ash cloud 3,000 feet above Tonga Islands

Wild weather:

A plague of extreme weather events, from Greenland briefly thawing to the derecho thunderstorms that knocked out power for millions across the Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest has struck this summer.

The number of record low temperatures is only being exceeded by the number of record high temperatures.
Tornadoes are now occurring in strange places all around the world.
Texas recently had 4 feet of hail from a single storm.
Increasingly large hailstones are being reported from thunderstorms all over the world.
A twister that touched down in Colorado's high-country on Saturday, Aug 1, 2012, is estimated to be the second-highest tornado ever recorded in the U.S. by the National Weather Service.

· Washington, D.C., and the northeastern part of the United States experienced one of the most intense periods of heat in its history. One hundred twenty-five (125) million Americans were affected by the heat dome over 32 states. Thirty-two days later, Washington, D.C., and a large part of the northeast coast experienced a 5.8 earthquake. Five days later, there was a $7 billion hurricane.

· August 7, 2012 – AUSTRIA - Storms wreaked havoc in Austria and northern Italy over the weekend, causing landslides that killed two people, authorities said Sunday.

· August 7, 2012 – PHILIPPINES - Shanghai and the nearby coastal province Zhejiang have evacuated 456,000 people as China prepares for its third typhoon in less than a week.

Snow fell on South Africa in an extremely rare snow storm during Hillary Clinton’s visit (August 8, 2012).
August 10, 2012 – CHINA - Typhoon Haikui, the 11^th typhoon of the year, left 4 people dead and forced more than 2.14 million people to be relocated by 4 p.m. Thursday in east China's Shanghai municipality and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. In Shanghai, the typhoon has left 2 dead and affected 361,000 people, the ministry said, adding that 50 houses were destroyed and 700 others damaged. In Jiangsu province, Haikui left one person dead and affected 662,000 people, and it destroyed 600 houses and damaged 2,400 others. The typhoon also affected more than 7 million people in Zhejiang province, with 1.55 million people relocated, and it left one person dead and forced 163,000 others to be evacuated in Anhui province, the ministry said.

· August 8, 2012 - U.S. suffers through hottest July since records were kept in 1895. The July heat wave that wilted crops, shriveled rivers and fueled wildfires officially went into the books Wednesday as the hottest single month on record for the continental United States.

· July 30, 2012 Flooding in Costa Rica has forced evacuations and may be responsible for at least one death, relief workers said Sunday (August 9, 2012).

· KANYARUCHINYA, Congo -- Drenching rain punctuated by frightening bursts of thunder and forked lightning on Wednesday compounded the misery of some 280,000 refugees from Congo's eastern rebellion, whose plight was highlighted by a visit from the U.N. humanitarian chief (August 9, 2012).

Floods:

North Korea says recent floods have killed nearly 170 people and left 400 missing across the country. The official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that after the heaviest rainfall in 39 years floods have displaced about 212,200 people and submerged more than 65,000 hectares (160,000 acres) of farmland between late June and the end of July. The flooding occurred on the heels of a severe drought and renewed concerns about North Korea's ability to feed its people. In June, the United Nations said two-thirds of the country's 24 million people were facing chronic food shortages (August 4, 2012).

Torrential rains turn hills into waterfalls in India – 10 dead and 53 missing (August 4, 2012).
Tropical storm Florence joins Ernesto in the Atlantic Ocean (August 4, 2012).

· China evacuated 867,000 people after tropical storms Saola and Damrey hit coastal regions, bringing strong winds and rainstorms, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the Ministry of Civil Affairs (August 4, 2012).

August 6, 2012 – MANILA - More than 45 people died and six others missing due to Typhoon Saola in the northern region of Philippines, reported on Monday the National Center for Disaster Prevention. A tropical storm inched across northern Taiwan on Thursday after dumping as much as five feet of rain that has flooded farmland, swollen rivers and paralyzed life on much of the densely populated island of 23 million people. Saola weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm by late afternoon, but its slow movement and continuing heavy rains raised the prospect of devastating flooding in areas that have absorbed more than 58 inches of rain since Tuesday. The rains and flooding caused further serious damage to 74 roads, 7, 000 homes and the evacuation of about 200, 000 people still housed in improvised centers, according to the press.

Famines:

The world’s food supply is under attack from every imaginable source.
North Korea is suffering incredibly severe famine.

· Up to 3 million Syrians are likely to need food, crop and livestock aid in the next 12 months as the conflict raging in their country has prevented farmers harvesting crops, UN agencies said on Thursday. The World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said about 1.5 million people need urgent and immediate food aid and close to a million require crop and livestock assistance. One in three rural residents would need help, they said.

· The extreme flash drought -- meaning it came on unexpectedly and isn't letting up -- is decimating Arkansas' cattle industry. Without grass to graze on, owners are having to dip into their winter hay if they have it, or pay $70 per bail of hay that in good times would cost $40.

US Drought Affecting Global Food Security. The United States is the leading producer of corn and soybeans – two commodities that developing countries rely on. However, over the past two months, prices have risen sharply as the U.S. experiences its worst drought since the 1950s. More than half the United States is experiencing the dual problems of too little rain and temperatures that are too high.
Deadly Drought and wild fires destroy Russian harvest (Jul 30, 2012).
As you read this, nearly half of all corn crops in the United States are in "poor" or "very poor" condition (August 10, 2012).

Droughts:

The amount of fresh water is decreasing all over the earth.

· The largest natural disaster in American history just went from bad to worse. Sweltering heat and persistent drought has ravaged crops to such extremes this summer that tens of thousands of farmers and ranchers are on the verge of financial ruin. The situation is so dire that it has prompted the US Department of Agriculture to declare more than half of America a disaster area. More than half of all U.S. counties – 1,584 in 32 states – have been designated primary disaster areas this growing season, the vast majority of them mired in a drought that’s considered the worst in decades.

· The Mississippi river is drying up and some shipping companies are worried that the drought of 1988 may be repeated, a time when the river dried up so much that barge traffic came to a standstill.

· The Euphrates is drying up. Strangled by the water policies of Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey and Syria, a two-year drought, and years of misuse by Iraq and its farmers, the river is significantly smaller than it was just a few years ago. The shrinking of the Euphrates, a river so critical to the birth of civilization that the Book of Revelation prophesied it’s drying up as a sign of the end times, has decimated farms along its banks, has left fishermen impoverished, and had depleted riverside towns as farmers flee to cities looking for work.

· As you read this, the United States is experiencing the worst drought it has seen since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. This is truly a historic drought. We have never seen anything like this in modern times in the United States. (August 10, 2012).

· The world is depleting underground water reserves faster than they can be replenished due to over-exploitation, according to scientists in Canada and the Netherlands. The research suggests about 1.7 billion people, mostly in Asia, are living in areas where underground water reserves and the ecosystems that rely on them are under threat, they said (August 12, 2012).

Mass die-offs off animals:

Mass animal die-offs were major news for awhile, but they have become so common that they are not even reported on the prophetic web sites any longer.
August 6, 2012 – IOWA - Thousands of fish are dying in the central U.S. as the hot, dry summer dries up rivers and causes water temperatures to climb in some spots to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius). About 40,000 shovelnose sturgeon were killed in Iowa last week as water temperatures reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 Celsius). Nebraska fishery officials said they've seen thousands of dead sturgeon, catfish, carp, and other species in the Lower Platte River, including the endangered pallid sturgeon. And biologists in Illinois said the hot weather has killed tens of thousands of large- and smallmouth bass and channel catfish and is threatening the population of the greater redhorse fish, a state-endangered species. So many fish died in one Illinois lake that the carcasses clogged an intake screen near a power plant, lowering water levels to the point that the station had to shut down one of its generators.

· South Korea: Over 830,000 Farm Animals Die, Hot Weather Blamed. Over 830,000 farm animals, including 786,000 chickens, have perished in the heat wave that continued to scorch the country for the past three weeks, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries. The dead animals include 41,000 ducks and over 300 pigs. Such damages are often caused by power outages that can halt the ventilation and cooling systems at the farms, South Korean media reports said. The number of animals killed may actually be greater, pending on a more thorough survey (August 8, 2012).

· Hundreds of cormorants, pelicans, gulls, herons and egrets are dead on two lakes in west-central and southern Minnesota, most likely the result of a virus that strikes wild birds every other summer. As of last week, DNR officials had discovered 700 cormorants, 100 pelicans and smaller numbers of the other birds dead and diseased at Pigeon Lake (August 8, 2012).

· North Carolina: Large Numbers Of Dead Fish And Clams Reported In Neuse River, ‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It’. Someone had reported to Blake on Monday that the dead fish consisted of flounder, croaker, menhaden and blue crab. Blake was investigating a huge clam kill Monday in the Neuse River in Kinston that he thought could be associated with what was killing the fish.

Massachusetts: Large Fish Kill Litters Banks Of The Quinnipiac River In New Haven. Dozens of dead fish littered the Quinnipiac River banks near Front Street, coating the area in a thick, fishy scent, providing a feast for sea gulls and leaving some fishermen scratching their heads (August 8, 2012).

· More than 10,000 earthworms found dead in a parking lot of 250m2 North Japan, In Komatsu city Ishikawa, more than 10,000 earthworms found dead in a parking lot. Ishikawa prefecture is facing Japan / Korea Sea. Mr. Kobayashi is living near the parking lot. He comments he found earthworms dead in the evening of 8/5/2012.

· August 14, 2012 – GALVESTON, TX. Hundreds of thousands of dead fish ashore near Galveston, Texas, in massive fish kill. Hundreds of thousands of dead fish have washed up on the beach in Galveston, where crews went to work Monday to remove the dead fish.

· Dozens of Dead Birds Fall From the Sky in NJ. Residents in a Cumberland County community were left wondering Tuesday morning what caused dozens of birds to drop dead from the sky. Residents along Peach Drive in Millville found at least 80 birds -- mostly red-winged blackbirds -- on the ground dead having fallen from trees and the sky. One neighbor even said he saw the birds falling out of the air.

Wild fires:

Colorado just had its worst ever wildfire.
Wildfires burned out of control on Friday in Oklahoma, destroying homes and shutting down highways in a state that has suffered 18 straight days of 100-plus degree temperatures and persistent drought. Emergency officials counted 11 different wildfires around the state, with at least 65 homes destroyed in parched areas north and south of Oklahoma City and south of Tulsa. Oklahoma joins several states that have been plagued by wildfires this summer, including Colorado, Arkansas and Nebraska.
“Russia continues to battle massive Siberia wildfires” by Staff Writers Moscow (AFP) July 31, 2012 Several regions in Siberia are battling massive wildfires that have left cities shrouded in smog after a heat wave, an environmental group said on Monday. "More and more burns every year," said the head of the forest program.
As you read this, 38 major wildfires are ripping across the central and western United States (August 10, 2012).

· Muslim fifth column of arsonists threaten West Jerusalem (August 10, 2012).

· Plumas wildfire grows to nearly 47 square miles. Strong winds and low humidity have helped a wildfire burning in Northern California's Plumas National Forest expand to nearly 47 square miles. Officials say the Chips Fire - burning since July 29 - consumed an additional 15 square miles after jumping fire lines late Friday and early Saturday (August 11, 2012).

Residents evacuate as hundreds of firefighters battle California wildfires (August 12, 2012).
Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands which forced the Firefighters are battling a forest fire on La evacuation of nearly 1,000 people by ferry overnight (August 12, 2012).
August 14, 2012 – WASHINGTON –62 wildfires blaze through Western U.S. states: fanned by strong winds and searing temps. Whipped by high winds, a wildfire in central Washington state has scorched 26,500 acres and destroyed at least 60 homes, officials said Tuesday. The fire raging near Cle Elum is one of several devastating Western states this week. Colorado paid the price earlier this summer. Now, new wildfires are burning through sagebrush, grass and beetle-killed lodgepole pines in California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Idaho. In all, 62 fires, including 16 new large fires, were burning as of Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service reported. They have destroyed dozens of homes and are threatening many more.

Pestilence and disease:

The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in western Uganda has risen to 16 after two more people died of the disease (Aug 2, 2012).

· Authorities say tularemia (rabbit fever) has been found among wild rabbits in the Dewey area of northern Arizona. Commonly known as ‘rabbit fever,’ tularemia is caused by a germ carried by animals- especially rodents, rabbits and hares.

A new strain of avian flu that jumped from birds to mammals is responsible for the death of more than 160 seals off the New England coast last year, scientists announced Tuesday, July 31, 2012.

· Aug. 3, 2012 -- With 16 new human cases in the last three weeks -- 12 in the last week alone -- an outbreak of a variant strain of swine flu is giving CDC officials the jitters. What worries officials is that the new flu, officially called variant type A H3N2 or H3N2v, carries the M gene from the human H1N1 pandemic flu bug. This gene makes it easier for flu bugs to infect humans and spread among them.

· The United States is experiencing its biggest spike in West Nile virus since 2004, with 241 cases of the disease reported nationwide this year so far, including four deaths, health officials said. Of the 42 states that have reported infections in people, birds or mosquitoes, 80% of them have been in Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma, the CDC said in a statement.

Australian researchers have discovered a new bat virus they describe as a close relative to the hendra virus. They say the new virus could help shed light on how Hendra and related Nipah viruses cause disease and death in animals and humans. Hendra is able to infect horses and, in seven known cases, people have caught the infection from horses. Four of them died as a result.
Scientists have found cancerous lesions on the scales of about 15 percent of the coral trout in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which is located under the largest hole in the ozone layer.

· Eight million chickens have been slaughtered in Mexico and another 66 million have been vaccinated in an ongoing effort to contain a bird flu outbreak that began in June in the western state of Jalisco. A national health emergency was declared at the beginning of July, prompting the prices of both eggs and chickens to skyrocket, AFP reported. The western state of Jalisco produces around 11 percent of the country’s poultry meat and 50 percent of its eggs, Reuters reported in July.

July 31, 2012 3:30 Seal flu could pose a new threat to human health, scientists have warned (August 9, 2012).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, there's been a five-fold increase of cases of a new strain of swine flu that spreads from pigs to people.

· Anthrax May Have Killed 50 Cattle On Colorado Ranch: Dept. Of Agriculture Investigation Finds First Anthrax Case In 31 Years (August 9, 2012).

· Zimbabwe's government has this week come under more pressure to urgently deal with the ongoing threat of typhoid, which continues to affect hundreds of people across the country. Most recently a fresh outbreak of typhoid has been reported in Chitungwiza and in parts of Harare, and at least 112 cases have been reported (August 10, 2012).

West Nile virus prompts public health emergency in Dallas County, Texas (August 11, 2012).
West Nile virus spreads faster. West Nile virus is spreading faster than it has in years, and the pace of the mosquito-borne disease is getting worse, health officials report.
ISLAMABAD: The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the recent outbreak of measles and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), commonly known as Congo fever, in some parts of the country (August 12, 2012).

· August 14, 2012 – BEIJING. Armyworm outbreak threatens China grain output. The armyworm outbreak in China's key grain producing areas has posed a major threat to the corn and rice crops this year, authorities said Tuesday. The agriculture ministry has warned the local governments to heed to its pest control advice to ensure grain security, the China Daily reported. “We haven't seen such a pest plague in so many places in almost a decade,” a spokesman for the ministry's crop production department said.

Other signs in nature:

Strange sounds are being heard all over the earth.
The Sea of Azov, between Russia and Ukraine, turns blood red and smells like blood (July 2012).

· Heavy salt deposits turns lake blood red in Southern France (August 10, 2012).

Beirut River in Lebanon turns blood read.

· A vast "raft" of volcanic rocks covering 10,000 sq miles (26,000 sq km) of ocean has been spotted by a New Zealand military aircraft. A naval ship was forced to change course in order to avoid the cluster of buoyant rocks, located 1,000 miles off the New Zealand coast (August 11, 2012). Lieutenant Tim Oscar told the AFP news agency: "As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell. "The [top of the] rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant white colour. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," the officer said.

The Heavens

Signs in the sun:

· We are experiencing a definite increase in strong solar flares. Experts say the sun is reaching a peak in its 10-year activity cycle, putting the Earth at greater risk from solar storms. These things may be very rare but when they happen, the consequences can be catastrophic." Solar storms are increasingly being put on national risk registers used for disaster planning, alongside other events like tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. (August 6, 2012).

Signs in the moon:

Many people are having rapture dream that involve 2 moons. Dr. Owuor’s prophecy of a new planet and moons appearing.

Signs in the stars:

There are a lot of things going on in the stars lately.

Religious Signs

Christianity:

According to the prophecy of Saint Malachi, the Bishop of Armagh, who was summoned to Rome in 1139 AD by Pope Innocent II. While there he had a vision in which God revealed the 112 future popes, including the last pope, who will come to power and witness the destruction of Rome. Our current pope, Benedict XVI, is pope number 111.

· More Communist Party members in the Peoples Republic of China are attending church, according to the U.S. State Department’s latest report on International Religious Freedom. “Although CCP members are required to be atheists and generally are discouraged from participating in religious activities, their attendance at official church services in Guangdong Province was reportedly growing, as authorities increasingly chose to turn a blind eye to their attendance,” the report stated.

Persecution of the Church:

· Officials for Steubenville, Ohio, were quick to back down when atheists threatened to sue over a cross in the city logo (August 3, 2012).

· Reports today of two women arrested in China and beaten to death in custody for distributing Bibles (August 3, 2012).

· Thousands of Christians have fled their homes in Syria where news emerged recently that intelligence agencies run dozens of torture centers where detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and have fingernails torn out.

· A human rights organization is issuing an alarm over the number of Christians who have been locked up in Eritrea, where government officials have given them the ultimatum, “Renounce your faith or stay in prison.” Citing data from the U.S. State Department, International Christian Concern says Christians have been arrested and held without charge, and conditions are deteriorating. Christian Sources report more than 3,000 have been put behind bars, the report said (August 4, 2012).

· An American pastor remained jailed in "prison camp-like conditions" Sunday, August 5, for holding an unauthorized Bible study meeting at his home in the U.S. state of Arizona amid concerns about a possible "North Korean-style" crackdown in the country, his lawyer and activists said. Pastor Michael Salman of the state capital Phoenix is serving his 60-day sentence in Tent City Jail, a prison compound in Maricopa County, Arizona, equated by his defense lawyer as similar to the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention camp. “This is where you would put Osama bin Laden, not Michael Salman,” said Rutherford Institute founder and attorney John Whitehead in remarks distributed by advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC). “The temperature there has been around 140 degrees, and there is no air conditioning. They’re [living] in tents. They have stun fences…barbed wire…large German shepherds walking the perimeter, armed guards and facial recognition software so that the prisoners are studied all the time,” he added. Salman was sentenced to 60 days in jail, three years probation and received a $12,180 fine for “the crime” of unauthorized worship, his wife, Suzanne, told reporters earlier.

· Christians Told “If You Don’t Leave…You Will All Die”: Christians Flee Egyptian Town After Deadly Riot. Dahshour’s entire Christian community – as many as 100 families some estimate – fled to nearby towns in the violence earlier this week. The flock’s priest, cloaked in a white sheet to hide him, was taken out in a police van. At least 16 homes and properties of Christians were pillaged and some torched and a church damaged (August 6, 2012).

· BERLIN – Saudi Arabia deported 35 Ethiopian Christians last week after incarcerating them for over seven months for praying in advance of the Christmas season in December 2011, according to Christian media outlets and NGOs. International Christian Concern wrote on its website that “Saudi Arabia deported the last of the 35 Ethiopian Christians who were detained for holding an all-night prayer vigil. Saudi security officials assaulted, harassed and pressured the Christians to convert to Islam during their incarceration.” (August 6, 2012).

· Sunday, August 5, 2012 - Islamic Appeal Court Upholds Six Year Prison Term for Imprisoned Christian.

· At least 19 people have been killed in a gun attack on a church in central Nigeria, officials say. Gunmen stormed the church near the city of Okene in Kogi state and fired on worshippers, they say. The pastor was among those killed when the assailants fired Kalashnikov assault rifles, the officials add (August 7, 2012).

· Atheists Demand That MA Public School Band Stop Performing ‘God Bless America’. The Wayland School District in Wayland, Massachusetts, is pushing back against an atheist group’s claim that a high school band playing “God Bless America” is somehow an unconstitutional act.

· Atheists in Columbus, Georgia, forced the city to remove a flower bed shaped like a cross (August 8, 2012).

· ‘Jesus Saves’: Group Threatens Lawsuit Over Church’s 26-Foot Cross Placed on Public Land in Indiana. Crosses on public property have a way of creating angst among secularists. In Rhode Island, atheists are fighting a World War I and II memorial that includes the religious symbol. Then, there’s the Mt. Soledad War Memorial in San Diego — yet another target for those embracing non-belief. The latest dispute, though, is taking place in Dugger, Indiana, where a 26-foot cross that has the message “Jesus Saves” on it has become ground zero in the debate surrounding the First Amendment.

· Eleven Pakistani Christian student nurses were allegedly deliberately poisoned with mercury on Sunday, July 29, 2012, at the Civil Hospital in Karachi. According to one of the affected nurses, a colleague had made the tea for them and after 10pm they immediately fell ill after drinking it. The nurses were taken to the Civil Hospital’s emergency ward and sent back after treatment. They developed complications the next morning and had to be taken to the hospital again. Three student nurses were in very critical situation two went in ICU and one is on ventilator rest five is now in general ward. All the student nurses were Christians.

· Iran’s court of appeals upheld last week a six-year prison term imposed on Farshid Fat’hi for practicing Christianity. Iran’s mullah establishment has ramped up its incarceration of Christian pastors and activists. The Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN) cited on its website Friday a report from the Tehran-based, Persian-language Haran News Agency that Christian activist and House Church organizer Fat’hi was sentenced to a six-year prison term, based on charges of “acting against national security through membership of the Christian organization Ilam, collection of funds and propaganda against the Islamic Regime by helping spread Christianity in the country.” According to FCNN, Fat’hi converted to Christianity and was one of a high number of Christian activists arrested by the security agencies of the Islamic Republic during Christmas 2010 (August 9, 2012).

· Egypt’s Jihad Organizations Call for Christian Genocide. According to today’s issue of El Fegr, “Elements of terrorist, jihadi organizations distributed leaflets today inciting for the killing of Copts in Suez, Ismailia, and Upper Egypt, promising them [Copts] a tragic end if they do not return to the truth.” An image of a copy of the letter appears on El Fegr’s website. Titled “An Urgent and Important Notice,” it begins by calling on “all brothers and sisters” to “kill or physically attack the enemies of the religion of Allah—the Christians in all of Egypt’s provinces, the slaves of the Cross, Allah’s curse upon them…” It proceeds to promise a monetary reward for whoever helps “achieve Allah’s rights against his enemies.” (August 14, 2012).

Other Religions

New Age people who practice remote viewing say they cannot see past 2012.
Jews now have a red heifer for the first time since the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The ashes of a red heifer that is without blemish and is ritually pure must be used to purify a future Temple.
The Sioux have a legend which the Cheyenne people also believe has great meaning. The legend tells the story that one day Mother Earth came to every village in the Sioux nation, healing all the people of their diseases and sickness. The people begged her to stay, but she said she had to leave. However, before she left she also made the prediction that someday the Creator Himself would return to renew the earth, healing all who are sick and bringing peace and harmony. When Mother Earth left, a vision of a white buffalo appeared in her place. It was predicted by Mother Earth that someday white buffaloes would be born to signal the nearness of the Creator’s return. A white buffalo was born on the National Bison range in 1933, and twelve more white buffalo were born between 1939 and 1973. Another white buffalo was born in Janesville, Wisconsin on August 20, 1994, and in 1996 four more white buffalo calves were born. As a result many Sioux people today believe that the end of the world is coming very soon.
A white buffalo was born on a farm in Connecticut in June 2012. The birth of a white buffalo is so rare that it is considered to be a historic event. Experts believe that the birth rate is 1 in 10 million. Indians consider a white buffalo to be the most sacred thing imaginable and to be akin to the Second Coming. The words buffalo and bison are often used interchangeably, but the North American version is properly called bison and its distant cousins in Asia and Africa are buffaloes.
The Eskimo prophet Maniilaq, who lived in the 1800’s, said that a white buffalo would be born to the Sioux people when Jesus would return. Just this year there was a white buffalo born in North Dakota. Many Indians are now making pilgrimage to see this white buffalo. Maniilaq actually received a revelation of “the Son of God” and not just the Great Intelligence. Maniilaq prophesied many things to the Eskimo people, including things about the end times.
Maniilaq said a whale would surface in Ambler in the end days. Last summer 3 Beluga whales surfaced in Ambler some 350 miles inland from the ocean.
About 100 years ago the Caribou stopped their age-old migration route on the Seward Peninsula. Maniilaq was laughed to scorn for suggesting the caribou would not migrate where they always had. Maniilaq said when the Caribou come back to their age old migration route on the Seward Peninsula that is when Jesus would return. The caribou have not been seen on those migration routes for approximately 100 years. This winter over 900,000 of the caribou were seen migrating back across their historic Seward Peninsula migration route.
Just before the return of the Son there would be 2 Winters. We know that Nuclear Winter is one of the horrible results of strategic nuclear war. Maniilaq said that his great-grandson would fly in the boats with fire in their tails. He said that his great-grandson would see the end of days and return of the Son. Maniilaq’s great-grandson is now 79. The great-grandson now says that very soon now 2 Winters.
Also, on the video, one old timer said that Maniilaq revealed that the return of Jesus would be late in the lifetime of his great-grandson, or shortly thereafter, she was not sure.
An old timer revealed that Maniilaq could only see so far in the future and no further. However, the end of what he could see, the end of days, reportedly frightened and greatly disturbed him.
Rabbi Wolfson: Disaster, Redemption May be Near. Rav Moshe Wolfson of Brooklyn has held an emergency gathering in his community and called upon the members to be strong in Torah and prayer so that the Jewish people will survive the time of tension with Iran. "We believe that G-d will perform miracles for us, it is possible that the time of Redemption (geula) has come and we must prepare for Redemption (August 6, 2012).

· Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law (August 7, 2012).

BAHAWALNAGAR: A father along with his two sons axed his wife and daughters among four people to death in the name of honor and injured three others in Bahawalnagar, police said. According to DSP Bahawalnagar Muhammad Farooq, the father along with two sons axed his wife and daughters to death on the suspicion of their relations with neighbors (August 7, 2012).

· Atheism on the Rise in Asian and European Nations, Poll Finds. A recent poll that surveyed over 51,000 people across 57 countries reveals that atheism is on the rise globally by almost 10 percent, with several Asian and European nations experiencing the most growth (August 10, 2012)

Islam

· Pakistan: Muslim cleric says, “When the Jews are wiped out, then the world would be purified and the sun of peace would begin to rise on the entire world”

· Violence frequently flares between Egypt’s Muslim majority and its Coptic Christian minority.

The belief of a returning Mahdi, or 12th imam, is a defining doctrine within the most populous group of Shiites known as Ithna Ashari, or “Twelvers.” In addition to Iran’s supreme leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also belongs to this influential group. According to Twelver theology, the Mahdi’s return will be precipitated by planet-engulfing wars, the likes of which will destroy one third of the world’s population, and another third as a result of widespread hunger, disease and social unrest. Finally, the destruction will be capped with the annihilation of the Jewish State and the killing of all infidels, after which the seed of Islam will be planted in the four corners of the Earth. Here in the West, most people mistakenly ignore this theology and the depth of commitment Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and their followers have to it. This is to our own peril. Twelvers don’t just believe the Mahdi will soon return: They consider it a personal responsibility to create the apocalyptic conditions that will surround his return. Frankly, ushering in the Mahdi is the guiding principle of Iran’s foreign policy!

· Former Ohio-based Muslim cleric: People worldwide "thirst for the blood of the Jews". Sultan has previously said that "every Muslim who meets a Zionist is entitled to kill him." He is the former imam of the Ohio mosque attended by the famous convert from Islam to Christianity, Rifqa Bary, and her parents.

· Christians in the community of Gaza in Palestine are protesting this week over what they describe as kidnappings and forced conversations of some former believers to Islam (August 8, 2012).

· Tunisia: Ruling Islamic supremacist party files bill to criminalize blasphemy. The death knell for the freedom of speech in "Arab Spring" Tunisia -- from the group that said it wasn't going to implement Sharia (August 11, 2012).

· The MB creed is: "Allah is our objective; the Quran is our law, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations."

· 670 million Muslims expect Mahdi in their lifetime. Two-thirds of a billion Muslimsexpect the Mahdi – the last Islamic imam they believe will come and rule the world – to arrive in their lifetimes, according to a new Pew Research poll. The survey by Pew Research notes that in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, “half or more Muslims believe they will live to see the return of the Mahdi. This expectation is most widespread in Afghanistan (83 percent), Iraq (72 percent), Tunisia (67 percent) and Malaysia (62 percent).

Immorality

The Democratic Party is set to include a pro-gay-marriage plank in their party convention platform, according to a Democratic source
In recent months, JC Penney’s advertising has promoted homosexuality – both through print ads and the selection of lesbian comedian Ellen DeGeneres as the company’s spokesperson. Not to be outdone, Target’s ad promoting its wedding registry depicts two men holding hands, standing nose-to-nose. They are accompanied by the slogan, “Be yourself, together. Build a Target wedding gift registry as unique as the two of you.” (August 3, 2012).
Proponents of California’s Proposition 8 have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule a decision reached by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that deemed the measure unconstitutional. In June, the Ninth Circuit refused to review a decision that overturned Proposition 8 (August 3, 2012).
(Chicago Phoenix) The Civil Rights Agenda, a local LGBT rights advocacy group, filed multiple complaints with the Illinois Department of Human Rights Thursday, alleging that the Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A restaurant chain’s “intolerant corporate culture” violates Illinois law and a provision in the state’s Human Rights Act (August 3, 2012).
Amid pressure from Democratic lawmakers, Homeland Security officials reiterated Friday that a foreigner’s longstanding homosexual relationship with a U.S. citizen could help stave off the threat of deportation. Friday’s statement, which builds on comments Homeland Security officials made last summer, came three days after 84 lawmakers demanded the agency put its position in writing to help protect same-sex couples from deportation (August 4, 2012).

· Presidential Proclamation — Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month — May 31, 2011. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

The United States military recently proclaimed the month of June to be Gay Appreciation Month and have held GLBT appreciation days. They even allowed US servicemen to march in uniform in a gay pride parade in San Diego.

· National Same-Sex Kiss Day at Chick-Fil-A elicited some major smooching around the country. On Friday, same sex couples and allies showed their support for marriage equality at the fast food restaurant that has become embroiled in controversy after its President and COO, Dan Cathy, came out against gay marriage based, supposedly, on his Christian values:

· Gay Protesters Harass, Mock Homeless Man Reading Bible at Chick Fil-A (August 6, 2012).

· Four thousand people marched in the 10th annual Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade in the capital on Thursday, August 2, 2012, waving rainbow flags of all shapes and sizes in the nonviolent protest. In contrast to past years, there were no haredim standing along the way, protesting the parade.

· Obama's LGBT pride month, the final elimination of "don't ask, don't tell" was followed by Washington and the Northeast coasts' record-breaking heat, a record-size earthquake and a major $7 billion hurricane in 38 days in 2011.

Obama, during a White House LGBT Pride event, declared that he has done more for LGBT than the previous 43 US presidents combined, including taking the final major step toward ending 'don't ask, don't tell.'

· Bill Koenig has observed an apparent connection and corresponding pattern with Obama's strong commitment to his LGBT agenda and other record-breaking U.S. heat and drought events [as mentioned in 2011] and now 2012.

· The recent period of record heat increased at the time of the first ever Gay Appreciation Day at the Pentagon of Tuesday, June 26 (not officially endorsed) and wildfires were at the fence line of the Air Force Academy due to drought conditions at the end of June, the month he officially acknowledged as LGBT Pride Month. June is also the month Obama declares "LGBT Pride Month" each year with a big event at the White House towards the latter month.

· Hand of Judgment?: Obama declares June LGBT Pride Month, June 1; Gay Pride event at Pentagon Tuesday, June 26; record heat begins on Wednesday, June 27; Supreme Court defies Constitution in Obamacare decision, June 28; 'Super Derecho' leaves 700-mile swath of devastation from Illinois to Washington, June 29; more than 3,000 heat records broken in the past week; and Washington, D.C., sets all-time record in nine days from June 28 – July 6.

· Over a hundred demonstrators rode bicycles and motorbikes through Vietnam’s capital Hanoi in the first-ever gay pride parade in the communist state, the local media reported on Sunday, August 4, 2012. Until recently, Vietnam considered homosexuality as a "social evil" along with drug addiction and prostitution. In a surprise move last month, Justice Minister Ha Hung Cuong said it might well be time to consider changes in the law on marriage and the family to recognize same sex marriages.

· The liberal media has been acting like Chick-fil-A is the most evil company on planet earth, but the outrage never extends to Arab countries that kill people for just simply declaring themselves to be gay. Several mayors have made it clear that the restaurants are not welcome in their cities.

· Mitt Romney Comes Out in Support of Homosexual Boy Scout Leaders, Members. Romney still stands by his beliefs that homosexual men should be able to serve in the organization. As previously reported, last month, the Boy Scouts of America issued a statement reaffirming its policy prohibiting open homosexuals from joining the organization (August 8, 2012).

· The nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group has announced that it will be spending $1 million in the four states holding marriage ballot initiatives this year. The $1 million will be split evenly between Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, through the Human Rights Campaign’s special ballot measure PAC. (August 9, 2012).

JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi officials say they have relented on a ban on same-sex commitment ceremonies at a state-owned museum and are processing a permit for two women. The Southern Poverty Law Center sent a letter to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson in July, threatening to sue if officials didn't allow 20-year-old Ceara Sturgis and her partner, 19-year-old Emily Key, to hold a ceremony. The museum had blocked the ceremonies based on a 2009 opinion by Attorney General Jim Hood that said it could because gay marriage is illegal in the state. Hyde-Smith says a new letter from Hood says the ceremonies can't be refused (August 10, 2012).

· Army general is military's first openly gay flag officer. The U.S. military has its first openly gay flag officer with the promotion of Tammy Smith to the rank of Army brigadier general on Friday. Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith. Smith received her stars in a private ceremony at the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, according to a press release from the Service Members Legal Defense Network, an organization promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in the U.S. military. Friday was also the first day she publicly acknowledged her sexuality (August 11, 2012).

· Obama appoints 'gay' man under secretary of USAF. Former board member of 'Gay' & Lesbian Victory Fund responsible for 333,000 on active duty (August 12, 2012).

· PRAGUE, Aug. 13, 2012. 2nd Prague Pride festival of homosexual starts. The 2nd Prague Pride festival of homosexual which started here on Monday will see a higher number of participants than last year's event, organizers said here in Prague. This year's Prague Pride festival will include a pride parade in the centre of the city on Saturday. In 2011, about 8000 people joined the Pride Parade, but Walek said he believed the number this year would be even higher.

Overall Increase in the Intensity of Evil

Nine birds, including an endangered swift parrot, had their heads smashed in or ripped off and more than 60 animals were missing on Saturday after vandals went on the rampage at an Australian zoo. "Either they have just caught them and banged their heads or pulled their heads off, it's a pretty sick thing to see," Warren told ABC Television (August 4, 2012).
A lone gunman in Colorado opens fire in a crowded movie theater killing as many as possible and then cannot remember what he did, or why. The result was 12 dead and 59 injured.
Sikhs living in the United States have expressed their shock and fear after a shooting at a temple in Wisconsin on Sunday, August 5, 2012, which left seven people dead.
Multiple “zombie” attacks where naked growling people attack and eat other living people.
A mother gouges out her son’s eyes in a Satanic ritual.
People deliberately starting forest fires and brush fires for no apparent reason, that kill others and destroy homes.
Air Canada says a passenger found what appears to be a sewing needle in a catered sandwich on board a flight from Victoria, British Columbia, to Toronto. Dutch police said earlier in July they were investigating how needles got into six sandwiches on Delta Air Lines flights from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, Seattle and Atlanta. Passengers discovered four of them (August 4, 2012).
The city of Chicago, Illinois, is now home to 100,000 gang members, which have gone absolutely berserk as they are driven by demonic influence to inflict unconscionable levels of violence.

· Since 1973, the Democrat Party and every single person who has voted Democrat have murdered 54,559,615 MILLION innocent human beings and counting since Roe v. Wade (that as of January 23, 2012). We’re talking about a level of homicide that is NINE TIMES WORSE than Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust.

· TEHRAN (FNA)- Terrorists in Syria hanged a small Shiite child after killing all his family members in Damascus, human rights activists in Iraq unveiled on Monday, August 6, 2012.

· A Roman Catholic priest in Kansas City pleaded guilty Thursday to producing child pornography in a federal case that also led to charges against the diocese bishop for failing to report suspected child abuse, and prosecutors said they would recommend that he be sentenced to life in prison.

· Abortionist calls murdering “ugly black babies” a service. Pro-life Christian group confronting an abortion doctor. The doctor says his abortions save taxpayers money, prevent shootings like the one in Colorado, and rid the world of “ugly black babies.” (August 9, 2012).

· As the euro zone debt crisis deepens and austerity measures take their toll across Europe, the number of young children and babies abandoned across the region has increased, according to local charities. The rise in the abandonment of infants across Europe is most visible in the spread of “baby hatches” or “boxes” across Europe, where unwanted infants are left anonymously. The phenomenon was previously more prevalent among immigrants, but it is becoming more widespread among financially desperate members of the local population. In those countries where hatches are illegal, the number of infants abandoned in hospitals, clinics and churches has also risen, raising concerns among European charities, the UN and the European Commission that austerity measures and increasing social deprivation are the catalyst for the rise in child abandonment.

· Recent livestock mutilations have Gunnison area ranchers shaken and on the alert for more strange attacks on cattle and horses. In recent weeks, a horse was shot and had its head skinned at the LeValley Ranch property, which is part of the Esty Ranch holdings about eight miles east of Gunnison. The horse also had its tongue and anus removed. Less than two months ago, a prize heifer in the same heavily traveled area just off of Colorado 50 and Colorado 114 had its tongues, lips and anus removed. "To me it looks like a ritualistic issue. Either that, or they are high on drugs. There is just no logical explanation for it," said Esty Ranch owner Mike Clarke. Two other incidents took place on other ranches in that vicinity in May and July. (August 10, 2012).

· Sharia in action in France: Muslim woman lifts veil because of the heat, husband breaks her jaw. A man violently struck his wife last Thursday because she removed her veil. The courts have just sentenced him to 2 years, including 6 months without remission. The young 24-year-old woman and her husband were on holiday in Marseilles. When they were leaving a supermarket, the wife, no longer able to bear the heat, lifted her veil back up. Her husband found the sight of her naked neck intolerable and punched her several times until her nose was broken.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Friday August 10, 2012. Hunt continues for witch doctor who allegedly killed four children. According to neighbors, the sorcerer, assisted by his brother, persuaded the victims' mother that the children were possessed by a demon and said he could rid their souls of the devil. The witch doctor and his brother reportedly went on to beat the children repeatedly, in steps they said were necessary to expel the demon, and the youngsters are believed to have died from the blows.

Wars and Rumors of War

Syria takes chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction out of permanent storage and moves them to strategic locations during their civil war.
“On July 27, just before Friday prayers, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei summoned top Iranian military chiefs for what he called ‘their last war council.’‘We’ll be at war within weeks,’ he told the gathering, debkafile’s exclusive Iranian and intelligence sources disclose.
A Chinese destroyer sailed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea, Egyptian daily Al-Shuruk reported on Sunday (August 2, 2012).

· Iranian president says “horrible Zionist current” has been managing world affairs for 400 years, adds that liberating Palestine would solve all world problems. Ahmadinejad contended that the ultimate goal of world forces should be the annihilation of Israel. “Anyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the way for world justice and freedom.” (August 3, 2012).

On July 27, just before Friday prayers, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei summoned top Iranian military chiefs for what he called “their last war council.” “We’ll be at war within weeks,” he told the gathering, debkafile’s exclusive Iranian and intelligence sources disclose.
Russian, Western and Arab forces were piling up on Syrian borders Wednesday, July 25, 2012, bringing closer a war confrontation which could spur the Assad regime into making good on its threat to use chemical weapons against “external aggression.”
Israel will act “decisively and without hesitation or restraint” if Syria transfers any chemical weapons to the terrorist organization Hezbollah, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman declares. Liberman also said Syria’s transfer of chemical weapons to Hezbollah would be a “justification for war.” (July 25, 2012).
Syria threatened Monday to unleash its chemical and biological weapons if the country faces a foreign attack, a desperate warning from a regime that has failed to crush a powerful and strengthening rebellion (July 24, 2012).
Two Russian strategic nuclear bombers entered the US air defense zone near the Pacific coast on Wednesday and were met by US interceptor jets, defense officials told the Free Beacon. It was the second time Moscow dispatched nuclear-capable bombers into the 200-mile zone surrounding US territory in the past two weeks. An earlier intrusion by two Tu-95 Bear H bombers took place near Alaska as part of arctic war games that a Russian military spokesman said included simulated attacks on “enemy” air defenses and strategic facilities (July 9, 2012).

· China's state-run media ramped up condemnation of the United States on Monday over tensions in the South China Sea, with the Communist Party's top newspaper telling Washington to "Shut up" (August 6, 2012).

The number of Syrians who have sought refuge in Turkey after fleeing the ongoing violence in Syria has reached 50,000, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay announced on Sunday, but the amount of money Turkey has spent on the refugee camps remains ambiguous (August 6, 2012).
A breakaway group of Muslim rebels armed with chainsaws and guns launched simultaneous attacks across 11 towns in the southern Philippines Monday, leading to clashes with troops (August 6, 2012).

· Barak: A nuclear Iran is taking shape before us. Time for decisions is short (August 9, 2012).

Hezbollah MP Walid Sakariya told Lebanese television this week that the nuclear weapon Iran is allegedly developing is intended to annihilate Israel. In a segment recorded and translated by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute), Sakariya, also a retired general, told his interviewer on Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV Tuesday that should Iran acquire a nuclear weapon it would serve Syrian as well as Iranian interests, namely the eradication of the Jewish state (August 10, 2012).

· Iran to trigger first nuke very soon. New intelligence reveals Iranian military nuclear program advancing faster than previously thought. Western diplomat and Israeli officials who asked not to be named say U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Israel share same intelligence information, agree that assessment.’ New intelligence information obtained by Israel and four Western countries indicates that Iran has made greater progress on developing components for its nuclear weapons program than the West had previously realized, according to Western diplomats and Israeli officials who are closely involved in efforts to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb (August 10, 2012).

France has prepared a contingency plan to evacuate its citizens from Israel, La Tribune has learned. According to diplomatic sources, a plan to evacuate the 200,000 French nationals living in Israel has been drafted to prepare for the eventuality of conflict between Iran and Israel (August 11, 2012).

· US message to Israel:” Don't rely on us to finish the job in Iran.” The US would not necessarily join in were Israel to launch a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program, an unnamed source in the Obama Administration told Israel’s Channel 2 News on Monday (August 14, 2014).

August 14, 2012 – RUSSIA. Russian attack submarine sailed in Gulf of Mexico undetected for weeks, U.S. officials say. A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. It is only the second time since 2009 that a Russian attack submarine has patrolled so close to U.S. shores. The stealth underwater incursion in the Gulf took place at the same time Russian strategic bombers made incursions into restricted U.S. airspace near Alaska and California in June and July, and highlights a growing military assertiveness by Moscow.

· Israel steps up war rhetoric against Iran. The Israeli press is giving signs that the country might be preparing for a war with Iran, but analysts remain sceptical (August 14, 2012).

· Russian Warships Head to Mediterranean. A Russian joint naval flotilla has arrived in the Mediterranean after missing a planned visit to a Russian Black Sea port, a defense ministry source said on Monday (August 14, 2012).

Syria plans for “Strong Possibility” of NATO action. Israel could be drawn into conflict (August 14, 2012).

World Political Situation

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government.
Saudi backed regime forces in Bahrain have once again attacked anti-government demonstrators staging protest rallies in several towns and villages in the Persina Gulf sheikdom (August 3, 2012).
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan resigned as international peace envoy for Syria, underlining the impotence of mediation efforts in the 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad (August 3, 2012).

· The Muslim Brotherhood has established its own militia inside Syria as the country's rebels fracture between radical Islamists and their rivals, commanders and gun-runners have told The Daily Telegraph (August 4, 2012)..

Counterterrorism Bureau advises Israelis to leave Sinai based on intelligence that terrorist groups are actively planning to perpetrate attacks, especially abductions, against Israeli tourists • Israelis planning trips advised to postpone or cancel (August 4, 2012).
The British ambassador to Israel said international support for the Jewish state is declining among those in the political mainstream, driven by settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and the continued blockade of Gaza, the Guardian reported on Friday (August 4, 2012).
In a statement, President Obama commemorated the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, calling it a time to "cherish family, friends, and neighbors, and to help those in need."
Syria's prime minister defected and fled to neighboring Jordan, a Jordanian official and a rebel spokesman said Monday, evidence that the cracks in President Bashar's Assad's regime have reached the highest echelons of government (August 6, 2012).

· Syria: refugee crisis looms as 50,000 flee to Turkey. The total number of the refugees was 50,227 as of Thursday after more than 5,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey this week, the country's Disaster and Emergency Administration said in a statement posted on its website. A Turkish foreign ministry official at the border told AFP some 2,300 Syrians including low-ranking military defectors fled to Turkey in the last 24 hours.

Diplomats blast 'forced transfer' of Palestinians. An Israeli plan to evict eight Palestinian villages in the south Mount Hebron area to make way for army training zones was condemned by a delegation of European Union diplomats Wednesday as a "forced transfer of ... people contrary to Israel's obligations as the occupying power."

· Scandinavian activist groups are launching an aid ship destined for Gaza on Tuesday, hoping to challenge the Israeli blockade and draw international attention to the conflict in a move reminiscent of the 2010 “Freedom Flotilla”, organizers said. “We have the same goal as the previous flotillas, to put an end to the blockade of Gaza by challenging the Israeli navy,” said Torstein Dahle, the leader of the Norwegian section of the activist group “Ship to Gaza”. (August 9, 2012).

· Saudi Arabia has threatened to shoot down any Israeli aircraft over its airspace en route to or from Iran, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Thursday (August 9, 2012).

· India will soon launch its first home-built nuclear submarine, capable of firing ballistic missiles, as the country escalates an arms race with China and Pakistan (August 9, 2012).

· August 14, 2012 – PARIS, FR. Riots engulf troubled district of northern France. Months of tension between police and young people in a troubled district of northern France exploded on Tuesday, with dozens of youths facing off against riot officers in a night of violence. Sixteen officers were injured, a pre-school and public gym was torched, and at least three passing drivers in Amiens were dragged from their cars (August 14, 2012).

· Homeland Security finishing acquisition of millions of rounds of high-powered ammo. The Department of Homeland Security is rushing to finish the acquisition of 750 million rounds of high-power ammunition that has already raised many eyebrows. In one week, the DHS should start expecting an arsenal that will make some armies jealous. Fears that federal authorities are preparing for mass civil unrest have increased after it was revealed that the Department of Homeland Security is planning to buy a further 750 million rounds of ammo in addition to the 450 million rounds of hollow point bullets already purchased earlier this year (August 14, 2012).

· National Weather Service Follows DHS In Huge Ammo Purchase. A solicitation which appears on the FedBizOpps website asks for 16,000 rounds of .40 S&W jacketed hollow point (JHP) bullets, noted for their strength, to be delivered to locations in Ellsworth, Maine, and New Bedford, Mass. A further 6,000 rounds of S&W JHP will be sent to Wall, New Jersey, with another 24,000 rounds of the same bullets heading to the weather station in St. Petersburg, Florida.

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A number of Palestinians say they are stranded abroad because Egypt has denied them transit visas to return to Gaza. Palestinians in Lebanon, Turkey, Libya and Kenya have contacted Ma'an, saying they were refused Egyptian visas. Gaza residents can only enter or leave the enclave via the Rafah crossing on Egypt's border due to Israel's blockade of Gaza's other borders and sea port (August 14, 2012).

World Economic Situation

Major banks all over Europe and the rest of the world are teetering on insolvency.
Greece and Spain are experiencing depression-like conditions, while much of the rest of the world is sliding into recession.
Flow of credit is freezing up all over the planet.
The unemployment rate in Spain is at 24.6 percent (July 2012).
Morgan Stanley is projecting that the unemployment rate in Greece will exceed 25 percent in 2013 (July 2102).
August 6, 2012 – ROME - The big news this morning is coming from an interview Italy's Mario Monti gave to German magazine Der Spiegel, in which he warned that growing Italian resentment against Germany risks the break-up of not just the eurozone but the European Union itself.
The Bank of England has cut its growth forecast to close to zero from about 0.8% predicted in May, as the double-dip recession intensifies. The quarterly inflation report indicated no growth for 2012, compared with 2% predicted a year ago. The data had fuelled anticipation for an interest rate cut, but Governor Sir Mervyn King dismissed calls for a reduction in the near term. He said recovery hopes had consistently been dashed (August 8, 2012).

United States Economic Situation

The U.S. Postal Service is bracing for a first-ever default on billions in payments due to the Treasury, adding to widening uncertainty about the mail agency's solvency as first-class letters plummet and Congress deadlocks on ways to stem the red ink.
San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday citing more than $1 billion of debts and making it the third California city to seek protection from creditors.
The United States has, reportedly, borrowed over one-fourth of all the money in the world and cannot possibly pay the interest on such a loan, much less being able to repay it.
One out of every seven Americans are now receiving food stamps, and the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA, is on a mission to increase participation in their program as much as possible. A new campaign has begun in which Americans are urged to swallow their pride and sign up to receive benefits from their "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program" or SNAP.

· The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service on Thursday reported losses of $57 million per day in the last quarter and warned it will miss another payment due to the U.S. Treasury, just one week after its first-ever default on a payment for future retiree health benefits. From April to June, losses totaled $5.2 billion, up $2.1 billion from the same period last year.

August 13, 2012. Washington DC: U.S. to lose $25 billion on auto bailout. The Treasury Department says in a new report the government expects to lose more than $25 billion on the $85 billion auto bailout. That's 15 percent higher than its previous forecast. In a monthly report sent to Congress on Friday, the Obama administration boosted its forecast of expected losses by more than $3.3 billion to almost $25.1 billion, up from $21.7 billion in the last quarterly update. The report may still underestimate the losses.

· Gas prices surge across USA, now top $4 in California (August 14, 2012).

Other

Power grid failure in India leaves up to 700 million without electrical power. That is approximately one-tenth of the world’s population (August 1, 2012).
A 2012 doomsday group is charging $5,000 for admission to a survival bunker in the northern NSW hills. The group's website, which features poems from 16th Century prophetess Mother Shipton, has had more than 28,500 hits as 2012 paranoia mounts.
Prolonged and widespread power outages in most of Pakistan’s cities during scorching summer heat has triggered violent protests in most areas of the country (August 9, 2012).
Massive outages and Power-cuts cripple Grand Cayman Island. A massive power outage in Grand Cayman, has crippled the entire island Wednesday. Businesses across Grand Cayman were forced to draw operations to a halt due to the loss of electricity, with many telling their employees to stay home (August 9, 2012).
The world's biggest ever blackout brings half of India to a standstill, as a catastrophic power outage left 670 million people without electricity. This is close to one-tenth of the world’s population (August 12, 2012).

· President Barack Obama will celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan by hosting an iftar (ifta) dinner Friday night at the White House. The iftar is the meal that breaks the day of fasting, when Muslim families and communities eat together after sunset.

Vast volcanic 'raft' found in Pacific, near New Zealand. A vast "raft" of volcanic rocks covering 10,000 sq miles (26,000 sq km) of ocean has been spotted by a New Zealand military aircraft. A naval ship was forced to change course in order to avoid the cluster of buoyant rocks, located 1,000 miles off the New Zealand coast (August 11, 2012).
New York City has opened nine new shelters in the last two months in efforts to handle the city's rapidly growing homeless population, officials said. The city recorded 43,731 homeless people in shelters this week, which is up 18 percent from the 37,143 at the same time last year, The New York Times reported (August 12, 2012).
August 14, 2012 – LOUISIANA - A nearly 400-foot deep sinkhole in Louisiana has swallowed all of the trees in its area and enacted a mandatory evacuation order for about 150 residences for fear of potential radiation and explosions. The 400-square-foot gaping hole is in Assumption Parish, La., about 50 miles south of Baton Rouge. The sinkhole sits in the middle of a heavily wooded space where it has consumed all of the soaring cypress trees that had been there.
August 14, 2012 – JAPAN, Radiation crisis: ‘Severe abnormalities’ found in Fukushima butterflies. Exposure to radioactive material released into the environment has caused mutations in butterflies found in Japan, a study suggests. Scientists found an increase in leg, antennae and wing shape mutations among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident. The link between the mutations and the radioactive material was shown by laboratory experiments, they report.