Prophetic Times

WEEKLY WORLD NEWS UPDATE

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

30 AUGUST 2003

WEST NILE DOUBLES AGAIN IN U.S.

August 28, 2003 The Globe and Mail reports: "West Nile virus activity has again doubled, now affecting more than 1,400 people in the United States, federal officials said Wednesday. Thirty-four states reported a total of 1,442 cases and 21 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Last week, the agency reported 715 cases and 14 deaths. Six of the countries deaths were in Colorado, followed by four in Nebraska.

Colorado and the central United States continue to be the hardest hit. Colorado's 635 human cases lead the country, followed by 204 cases in South Dakota, 190 in Nebraska and 106 in Texas, the CDC said.

The virus is spread to people or animals by bites from mosquitoes that have fed on infected birds. It rarely kills, but about one in 150 people who get it will develop potentially deadly encephalitis or meningitis. Since the virus first entered the country through New York in 1999, late August through September has been its peak season. It infected 4,156 people and killed 284 in 2002 C its largest U.S. outbreak yet.

In Canada, there have been 64 cases but no deaths this year "

U.S. MULLS INTERNATIONAL FORCE FOR PA

August 27, 2003 The Middle East Newsline reports: "The United States has been examining the prospect of organizing an international force to stop the Israeli-Palestinian war.

Officials said both the Bush administration and Congress have quietly discussed an effort to recruit at least one division of combat troops that would patrol the West Bank and Gaza Strip and enforce a Palestinian ceasefire with Israel. They said many in the administration and Congress have concluded that a Palestinian state can not be established without an international force that will impose a ceasefire in the region.

'We're not talking about another U.S. military deployment,' an official said. 'Instead, we're discussing a NATO-type heavily-armed combat force that would be based mostly on troop contributions from Europe. There has been some discussions and positive feedback from some of our European friends.'

Officials said congressional leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, have supported the deployment of U.S. troops in the Palestinian areas as part of an international force. They said NATO and the international community would require at least a pool of 30,000 troops, aircraft and armored platforms to form a credible deterrent against Palestinian insurgency groups that operate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At any one time, about 10,000 troops would patrol the West Bank and Gaza Strip in cooperation with Israel and the Palestinian AuthorityY "

ARMS-GRADE URANIUM REPORTED AT IRAN PLANT

August 27, 2003 Fox News reports: "U.N. inspectors have found traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium at an Iranian nuclear facility, a senior diplomat said Tuesday, citing a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The find heightened concerns that Tehran may be running a secret nuclear weapons program.

Agency inspectors found 'particles' of highly enriched uranium that could be used in a weapons program at the facility at Natanz, said the diplomat, who covers the activities of the U.N. nuclear watchdog and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States has accused Iran of developing a clandestine nuclear weapons program, violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty barring the spread of atomic weapons.

Iran has denied the allegations, insisting its programs are devoted only to generating electricity. Iranian officials did not contest the finding by the IAEA inspectors but said the equipment was already contaminated by traces of enriched uranium when purchased by Tehran.

The diplomat said the report, prepared for a meeting of the U.N. agency's board, underlined the need for further inspections of the Natanz facility and Iran's nuclear programs in general to abolish concerns about the nature of its activities. 'It says that contamination is a possibility,' as Iran claims, he said. 'But there is work to be done to determine the plausibility of this.'Y "

U.S. SUSPECTS IRAQI WMD IN LEBANON'S BEKAA VALLEY

August 26, 2003 The World Tribune reports: "U.S. intelligence suspects Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have finally been located. Unfortunately, getting to them will be nearly impossible for the United States and its allies, because the containers with the strategic materials are not in Iraq.

Instead they are located in Lebanon's heavily-fortified Bekaa Valley, swarming with Iranian and Syrian forces, and Hizbullah and ex-Iraqi agents, Geostrategy-Direct.com will report in Wednesday's new weekly edition.

U.S. intelligence first identified a stream of tractor-trailer trucks moving from Iraq to Syria to Lebanon in January 2003. The significance of this sighting did not register on the CIA at the time. U.S. intelligence sources believe the area contains extended-range Scud-based missiles and parts for chemical and biological warheads.

Mutually-lucrative Iraqi-Syrian arms transactions are nothing new. Firas Tlas, son of Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas, has been the key to Syria's rogue alliance with Iraq. He and Assad made hundreds of millions of dollars selling weapons, oil and drugs to and from Iraq, according to the May 13, 2003 edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com.

The CIA now believes a multi-million dollar deal between Iraq and Syria provided for the hiding and safekeeping of Saddam's strategic weaponsY "

CANADA ARRESTS 19 IN CASE WITH SEPT 11 PARALLELS

August 23, 2003 Reuters reports: A Canadian police arrested 19 men last week in a case that, according to court documents obtained by a newspaper, has eerie parallels to the preparations for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Michele Paradis on Friday confirmed the arrests but declined to offer details.

> We arrested 19 people last Thursday,= Paradis said, adding the operation had involved four police departments from across the Greater Toronto area. > They're all related and it's all part of, what we're alleging, has to do with a group taking advantage of a system -- the immigration system here in Canada.=

The Toronto Star newspaper said the men were arrested after a > pattern of suspicious behavior= which featured one man taking flight lessons that took him directly over an Ontario nuclear power plant. In court documents obtained by the newspaper, the student pilot was described as > unmotivated= and he raised suspicion because he has trained for nearly three years to obtain a commercial pilots license that normally takes only a year. The document also reported that he often brought an unknown male with him as a passenger.

The alleged incidents evoke chilling memories of the Sept. 11 attacks, where the suicide hijackers who flew commer-cial planes into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington took lessons at U.S. flight schools.

The newspaper said two other men were considered suspicious after police found them in April 2002 outside the same nuclear plant, which sits near the shores of Lake Ontario. The document said to requested to be allowed to enter the perimeter in order to go for a walk on the beach.

Police said the detained men, who are from Pakistan, tended to > reside in clusters of 4 or 5= and changed addresses as a group, according to the newspaper.

Paradis said the investigation, called Project Thread, began last February. She referred questions to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which did not immediately return calls seeking more informationY @

L. Jim Tuck, Pastor
UCGIA Oakland, San Jose, Stockton, and Santa Rosa

ljtuc@msn.com