LEO 14TH TELLS THE MAYOR OF ROME I AM ROMAN.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.(IN 1 HR THE STOCK MARKETS WORLDWIDE WILL CRASH)
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed:(CONFISCATED) their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
MARK OF THE BEAST (engraved microchip in your hand or forehead)
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
3 PART PLAN TO MAKE YOU A PUPPET OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER (ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT CREW)
1-GET PEOPLE ADDICTED TO COMPUTERS.(MICRO-CHIPS INSIDE)
2-PUT COMPUTERS ON YOUR BODY (3D ETC) (MICRO-CHIPS INSIDE)
3-PUT A MICROCHIP INSIDE YOUR BODY. (COMPLETE) (TOTAL MICRO-CHIP CONTROL OF YOU)
I KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA, KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM 5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E (BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO "GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING, -TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα, στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling, Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.) Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary, servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
FAMINE
EZEKIEL 5:16
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
DEUTORONOMY 28:24
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Jeremiah 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
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.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,(LIBERAL GODLESS AIR WAVES) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3-7
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
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.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:3-4
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,(EU WORLD DICTATOR)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.
REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.(SOCIALISM)
13 These have one mind,(SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
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:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)
2 THESSALONIANS 2:9-12
9 Even him,(EU WORLD DICTATOR) 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,(THE FALSE RESURRECTION BY THE WORLD DICTATOR) that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
GENESIS 49:16-17-POSSIBLY A JEW FROM DAN KILLS THE DICTATOR AT MIDPOINT OF TRIB
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) 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,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
THE WORLD DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
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 WORLD DICTATOR) and he that sat on him had a bow;(PEACE) and a crown was given unto him:(WORLD LEADER) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he (FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) 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,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) 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:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) 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 (THE EU DICTATOR) do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI5_pMvLZd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) 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(10 DIVSION REGION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) 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.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT-NEW AGE MOVEMENT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS 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;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) 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,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) 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,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(UNITED NATIONS TROOPS) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
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 WORLD DICTATOR) and he that sat on him had a bow;(PEACE) and a crown was given unto him:(WORLD LEADER) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he (FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) 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,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) 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:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) 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 (THE EU DICTATOR) do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
No one will enter the New World Order... unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.- David Spangler Director of Planetary Initiative United Nations.
What are the ethical issues with microchipping? By Enviroliteracy Team / March 24, 2025
Ethical Minefield: Navigating the Complexities of Microchipping-Microchipping, the implantation of a tiny radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, has become commonplace in the realm of pet care, offering a reliable means of identification and reunion for lost animals. However, the prospect of extending this technology to humans raises a complex web of ethical issues that demand careful consideration. The core ethical concerns with microchipping revolve around privacy violations, autonomy infringement, the potential for coercion and abuse, and the lack of comprehensive regulatory frameworks. Furthermore, the power imbalances it creates, and the uncertainty of long-term effects add layers of complexity to this technology.
The Deep Dive: Key Ethical Concerns-At its heart, the ethical quandary surrounding human microchipping lies in the fundamental tension between potential benefits – such as medical monitoring and increased security – and the risks associated with compromising personal liberties and data security. Let’s unpack some of these critical issues:
Privacy: A Vanishing Right? The prospect of implantable microchips storing personal information such as medical records, financial details, and location data is deeply troubling. This raises significant concerns about privacy violations. The potential for unauthorized access by malicious actors or even government entities represents a significant threat to personal security and confidentiality. Imagine a scenario where a hacker could obtain your complete medical history or track your every movement, all through an implanted chip. This level of vulnerability to data breaches is a major ethical hurdle. The very concept of constant surveillance, even if seemingly for benign purposes, fundamentally erodes individual privacy and the right to a private life.
Autonomy and Bodily Integrity: Who Decides? Autonomy, the right to self-determination, is a cornerstone of ethical considerations. Implantation of a microchip necessarily involves an invasive procedure, regardless of its perceived safety. The questions arise – who decides if someone should be microchipped? Can an individual truly consent to such a procedure if they feel under pressure from employers or other groups? Once implanted, the individual’s control over their personal information is significantly reduced, effectively compromising their bodily autonomy. The decision to implant should be made by the individual, free from any external pressures, and that the individual retains the right to remove or disable such devices if they so choose.
The Specter of Coercion and Abuse-The potential for coercion and abuse is a considerable worry. There’s a genuine risk that microchipping could become mandatory for certain groups of people, such as employees or even school children. This raises serious human rights concerns and could lead to a two-tiered system where those who are chipped have access to privileges denied to those who are not. Even seemingly voluntary programs could carry an element of subtle coercion, such as increased security at the workplace in exchange for implantation. The vulnerability to control by those who control the access to the data and technologies associated with the implanted chip is a grave concern.
Lack of Regulation and Oversight-Current regulations are woefully inadequate to deal with the complexities of human microchipping. The absence of robust regulatory frameworks means there’s no clear oversight concerning data protection, security measures, or even the long-term health impact of these implants. This gap leaves individuals vulnerable to exploitation and potential harm, further escalating the ethical concerns. We need clear standards, oversight, and enforcement to prevent abuse.
Power Dynamics and Social Stratification-Microchipping technology has the potential to exacerbate existing power imbalances in society. Individuals who are chipped by employers may face increased monitoring and control. This could potentially create a new social divide, based on the ability to be monitored and tracked. The very notion of some individuals wielding control over the personal information of others leads to a new form of social hierarchy that requires serious ethical reflection.
The Uncharted Territory: Long-Term Effects-The long-term health effects of implantable microchips are still largely unknown. While current microchips are considered generally safe, research about potential adverse reactions, including tissue reactions, device migration, electromagnetic interference, and even cancer risk remains limited. This lack of comprehensive scientific study raises ethical questions about the responsible development and deployment of this technology. There is a high risk of unforeseen consequences, and it is ethically imperative that there is rigorous long-term study before large-scale implementation.
The Inherent Risks of Hacking-The very nature of microchips that are connected and accessible via technology presents inherent security vulnerabilities. These chips can be hacked. The danger of data breaches leading to identity theft, financial fraud, and other forms of personal exploitation are real and significant. The convenience and efficiency of microchipping may come at a high price in terms of the increased exposure to hacking.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)-Here are some common questions that arise when discussing the ethical aspects of human microchipping.
1. Is microchipping humans similar to microchipping pets? No, while the technology is similar, the ethical considerations are drastically different. Pet microchipping is largely focused on identification for lost animals, while human microchipping raises complex issues of privacy, autonomy, and potential for abuse. Humans have a right to privacy and bodily integrity that animals do not.
2. Can someone be microchipped without their knowledge or consent? No, the process of implanting a microchip is an invasive procedure, and requires the individual’s awareness and consent. However, subtle forms of coercion may undermine the true freedom of consent.
3. Can microchips track a person’s location like a GPS device? Currently, most microchips do not have GPS capabilities. They primarily serve as identification devices. However, the development of GPS-enabled microchips for humans is theoretically possible, and this introduces more significant ethical concerns.
4. What kind of information could be stored on a microchip? Potentially a wide range of personal information, including medical records, financial data, identification information, and biometric data, which raises significant privacy concerns.
5. What are the potential health risks associated with microchip implantation? Potential health risks include adverse tissue reactions, device migration, electromagnetic interference, bleeding, hematoma, and even cancer. More long-term research is needed to fully understand these risks.
6. Is it ethical to mandate microchipping for certain groups of people? No, mandating microchipping raises significant ethical concerns related to autonomy, coercion, and human rights. It is crucial that the decision to be microchipped should be solely up to the individual.
7. Who would control the data on the microchips? This is one of the major concerns: the control of data, especially when it’s placed on a device implanted in an individual, and requires careful consideration and rigorous regulation. The data controllers need to be accountable and transparent. Ownership and access to the data are important issues of autonomy.
8. How can we ensure the security of data on implanted microchips? Robust security protocols, including encryption and regular security audits, are necessary, but even then there is a chance they can be breached. Complete data security is almost impossible, which makes this a high-risk technology.
9. What are the potential benefits of human microchipping? Potential benefits include improved medical monitoring, enhanced security, and streamlined identification. However, these potential benefits must be weighed against ethical risks.
10. What is the role of regulation in human microchipping? Strong regulatory frameworks are crucial to ensure data privacy, security, informed consent, and prevent coercion and abuse. Regulations must be international and adaptable.
11. How can we ensure informed consent for microchipping? Informed consent requires full disclosure of the risks and benefits of microchipping, as well as the ability to withdraw consent at any time. Individuals must be free from coercion and understand the implications of being microchipped.
12. What steps need to be taken before a large-scale use of microchipping? Before any large-scale application, more research is needed, not only on the safety aspects of microchips but also on the social impact and ethical issues. Pilot studies could help determine whether they are truly a viable option.
13. Are there alternatives to microchipping for identification and security? Yes, many alternative technologies exist, including biometric scans, wearable devices, and improved identity verification systems. These alternatives must be explored and improved.
14. Will microchipping be used for tracking employees? The possibility of employers requiring microchips for employees raises significant ethical issues about workplace surveillance and the loss of autonomy.
15. Is there a danger that microchipping could lead to a two-tiered society? Yes, there’s a very real danger that microchipping could create a divide between those who are chipped and those who are not, further exacerbating existing inequalities. We must consider the potential impacts of this technology on social justice.
Conclusion: Proceed with Extreme Caution-The potential of microchipping technology for humans is undeniable. However, the ethical challenges are equally substantial. Proceeding without careful consideration and robust safeguards is a dangerous path. A comprehensive discussion about the risks and benefits is vital. We must prioritize individual liberties, privacy, autonomy and establish clear ethical guidelines to ensure that this technology does not create more problems than it solves. The future of human microchipping depends on our ability to navigate these complex ethical considerations with wisdom and foresight.
Biometrics experience, policy and tools must converge to transform lives-Lessons from ID4Africa 2025-May 24, 2025, 1:26 pm EDT | Chris Burt
Biometrics and technologies for issuing, sharing and delivering services with identity credentials shared the stage with practical, real-world experiences and policy recommendations this week at ID4Africa 2025.Speakers from dozens of African governments, development agencies like the World Bank and UNDP, and biometrics providers from Toppan and Tech5 to FaceTec offered insights and debated how best to handle common challenges.ID4Africa 2025 AGM-The ID4Africa 2025 AGM, held this past week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, appears to have been the largest ID-centric event ever held in the world’s Southern hemisphere.“The acceleration is very promising, but it’s not across the board, and it’s not across all domains,” ID4Africa Executive Chairman Dr. Joseph Atick told Biometric Update in an exclusive sideline interview at the event’s conclusion. “The acceleration is quite a bit in the domain of digital identity. And the reason there’s an urgency is because the world is a small village now; people get online, people are on social media, and they see what digital identity can do for their brothers and sisters in other countries. They knock on the doors of the politicians, and they apply pressure.”Leadership has become sensitized, and what was once more of a top-down mandate has shifted to be more of a popular demand, Atick says.Delegations from countries that are further behind are asking “How do we catch up?”Sharing advances and how they were achieved is an annual theme of the event, and the host country led off the good news reports with a reiterated commitment to race towards universal coverage with the Fayda ID program by 2027 through collaboration. PM Abiy Ahmed leant weight to the opening ceremonies with an address reminding attendees that “the true measure of success is not in the number of systems built, but in the lives transformed.” Watch for Biometric Update’s in-depth interview with NIDP ED Yodahe Zemichael from on-location in the weeks ahead.Benin, Malawi, Mauritania, Tanzania, and Somalia also shared advice and inspiration on ID4Africa 2025 day 1, and later in the day Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya presented their experiences in making ID systems economically sustainable.IN Groupe CEO Agnes Diallo also spoke on day 1, in the wake of winning an €8.5M digital ID contract with Madagascar.Civil registration, however, is too often being pushed aside in the rush to respond to the grass-roots pressure for digital identity, according to Atick. He referred to sobering projections from UNICEF shared during the first day of the program on the pace of civil and birth registration.Decentralization, which becomes more feasible with digital transformation, can help, he believes, but the health sector “has a very important role to play,” if the right institutional arrangements can be made. Health and civil registration have overlapping goals, and people without legal identity may not be able to get the healthcare they need.Civil registration and digital ID can also be twinned for acceleration. Atick says he is advising countries to consider CR, digital ID and services as a “trinity.”“Unless you get these three things working together, your digital identity ecosystem will not work.”Digital public services should be the target, not the issuance of cards, Atick says. And making them useful means moving beyond pilots and PoCs to reach scale.There are reasons to be optimistic that these changes might be in store, though, too. The interest of legislators in facilitating them has exceeded Atick’s expectations he says.ID4Africa has shared IESEF results with lawmakers and other officials, reinforcing the urgency they take from hearing the stories of the continent’s most advanced identity systems.Atick recounts that an ID4Africa Ambassador was flown home to brief the country’s President after the third day of the event.Cracking the capacity challenge-The urgency means that while capacity is building, “you have to do strategic deployment” of that already available to maximize productivity.“At what level do you deploy your capacity? I think deploying it at the source code level is too low. You need to deploy it at the modular level” and with applications, as was seen at the Upanzi Network-organized hackathon.Continual recruitment can help, but the private sector can always poach talent from the public sector, Atick cautions. This is part of the reason that leveraging the private sector is so important. Ghana’s 15-year public-private partnership puts many capacity concerns to rest, Atick says. PPP’s often “smell,” he acknowledges, but NIA ES Kenneth Attafuah told Atick during the event “we’re beyond that stage,” pointing to the prosecution and jail time of his own nephew for failing to uphold the country’s transparency and governance standards.Limited, controlled PPPs can help provide the lift still needed by so many nations to achieve their identity goals, while also leaving room for local providers. AI can also help with productivity, Atick suggests.ID4Africa itself has increased its staff count by only one since 2019, even as the AGM has more than doubled in size, Atick says, by making more efficient use of the capacity it has. The same approach must be taken by country’s catching up on ID.Technical tools can also help, and visible digital seals that can reduce the price of an individual credential to the cost of a piece of paper and ink were one of the technologies in the spotlight during in Addis.Biometric Update reports from ID4Africa 2025-Reporting by Ayang Macdonald, Lu-Hai Liang, and Chris Burt-World Bank demystifies PKI and electronic signatures at ID4Africa 2025-A workshop chaired by World Bank officials Nay Constantine, Tunde Fafunwa and Chris Tullis addressed how electronic signatures enable remote…Procurement integral part of digital ID system design from beginning: UNDP-Experts from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) have advised governments implementing digital ID systems to make procurement an integral…Need for speed in removing barriers to birth registration, ID integration in Africa-Speakers on two panels dedicated to birth registration early on Day 3 of the ongoing ID4Africa 2025 AGM in Addis…‘Digital identity is critical national infrastructure’: ID4Africa 2025-World Bank and European Commission Technical Consultant Adam Cooper examined the global landscape of digital identity adoption, noting that he…Record ID4Africa exhibitors show growth in continent’s digital identity market-Among the new all-time highs in scale set at ID4Africa’s 2025 AGM in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the number of…Ethiopia unveils FaydaPass digital wallet to boost financial inclusion-Ethiopia has launched what it calls the FaydaPass wallet, the latest move in its digital public infrastructure (DPI) program aimed…African Digital Identity Hackathon winners present diverse ideas: ID4Africa 2025-The winners of the African Digital Identity Hackathon, organized by Carnegie Mellon University Africa’s Upanzi Network, took the stage during…Strategies to get the most out of digital identity in focus at ID4Africa 2025-Making digital identity useful is one of the key themes of ID4Africa’s 2025 AGM in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a…Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya reveal revenue generation models from national ID programs-At ID4Africa 2025, a panel of representatives from five African countries deemed advanced in identity spoke on ‘Reimagining Identity Authorities…ID4Africa 2026 AGM will take place in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire-Cote d’Ivoire’s commercial capital, Abidjan, will be the venue of the 2026 edition of ID4Africa’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). The…Leveraging digital ID in the financial sector: ID4Africa panel-Financial inclusion was highlighted as the mother of all digital ID use cases during an early panel discussion on the…African nations making digital ID gains in the face of common challenges-Several countries in Africa are on the right track with their national digital ID projects, but this is not coming…Ethiopia reveals strategy behind digital ID progress as ID4Africa 2025 opens-Ethiopia’s Fayda digital ID program successes were in the spotlight on the first day of ID4Africa 2025 in the country’s…ID4Africa 2025 begins with record numbers, urgency and Ethiopian PM’s address-ID4Africa’s 2025 AGM kicked off today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attended by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali and several…Inclusive digital ID poised for leap forward with QR codes, similar credentials-QR codes have been around for decades, but they and other similar technologies have only recently emerged as digital identity…African speakers at ID4Africa double in reflection of digital ID progress-ID4Africa’s annual general meeting has grown every year, in terms of the size of the program and the number of…ID4Africa announces 2025 Ambassadors Class that reflects growing legal ID impact-A total of 126 diligently chosen personalities from Africa’s identity ecosystem make up the 2025 batch of Ambassadors and deputies…
Reusable digital identity arriving in the nick of time-May 24, 2025, 11:56 am EDT | Chris Burt
Plausible pathways to realizing the full potential and scale of digital identity, notably including reusable IDs and decentralized approaches based on international standards like verifiable credentials, took prominence at this year’s edition of KuppingerCole’s European Identity and Cloud conference. The maturation of these approaches and technologies is just in time to help address imminent crises, according to EIC 2025 presentations and panels of biometrics and digital ID innovators, from AI-powered fraud and phishing to online privacy and even healthcare capacity. The event ran during the second week of May in Berlin.Reports by Masha Borak, Joel R. McConvey and Chris Burt.
Deepfakes are testing the limits of American governance-May 23, 2025, 4:15 pm EDT | Anthony Kimery
Under the looming omnipresence of AI, the United States finds itself at a crossroads in determining how best to regulate the rise of synthetic media which now threatens everything from personal privacy to national security.At the heart of this debate lies a provision quietly inserted into the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s budget reconciliation bill that proposes a ten-year moratorium on all state and local regulations of AI systems, including AI-generated content like deepfakes. This moratorium, if enacted, would prohibit states and local jurisdictions from passing or enforcing laws that govern AI models or decision-making systems.The justification for the Republican-backed moratorium is grounded in the desire to prevent a patchwork of inconsistent laws across states and to foster uniform federal oversight. Yet, the consequences of such a sweeping federal preemption of AI regulation could be catastrophic at a time when deepfake technology is proliferating with unprecedented speed and ferocity.According to a 2025 report by Sumsub, deepfake incidents have increased by an astounding 245 percent year over year. This spike is not merely statistical, it is impacting lives, institutions, and economies in real terms. Twenty-six percent of executives surveyed reported that their financial or accounting departments had been targeted by deepfake-powered fraud in the past year alone. The technology’s accessibility and affordability have accelerated its abuse, enabling malicious actors to generate persuasive real-time fake voices, images, and videos with minimal expertise.Meanwhile, legislative responses have struggled to keep pace. Most existing laws address deepfakes only after harm is done, placing the burden on victims to detect and respond to violations that are often invisible until it is too late. At the same time, national regulatory inertia contrasts sharply with more proactive efforts at the state level.In the past two years, over 120 deepfake-related laws have been introduced or enacted by states, covering everything from nonconsensual sexual imagery to political disinformation. California passed eight bills addressing synthetic media in a single month. Tennessee and Iowa have criminalized sexually explicit AI-generated content, while New Jersey recently implemented fines of up to $30,000 for malicious deepfake creation.These state laws represent not only legislative innovation, but also a clear public mandate to secure digital spaces against deception. Removing the states from this equation risks halting the only meaningful progress the U.S. has made in regulating deepfakes.“We’re in a very dangerous time, and we’re playing defense on everything that we do,” said Josh Lowenthal, a California state Democrat legislator.“Any comprehensive preemption of state and local regulation creates potential security gaps that may leave citizens and organizations vulnerable to emerging threats, wrote Reality Defender Co-Founder and CEO Ben Colman. “The collaborative development of balanced regulatory frameworks – alongside technological solutions – represents the most promising path toward an AI landscape that fosters both innovation and trust.”The reality on the ground though reinforces the urgency of immediate interventions, state lawmakers and privacy rights advocates argue. In April, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning about a widespread smishing and vishing campaign that leveraged AI-generated voice and text messages to impersonate senior U.S. officials. The attackers used these messages to lure victims into secondary platforms, ultimately stealing login credentials or soliciting money.“Synthetic identity and credit washing fraud have hit another record high and are showing no signs of slowing down, according to a new report by TransUnion,” the Information Security Media Group said Friday, adding that because of “synthetic identity frauds to AI-enhanced insurance scams and global malware takedowns, today’s fraud landscape demands vigilance across every sector and system.”These tactics mirror similar schemes that are occurring in the private sector where companies like Arup and Ferrari have suffered millions of dollars in losses due to AI-powered fraud. What used to be the stuff of science fiction is now a daily operational threat, one that blends seamlessly into communications networks and exploits every gap in existing regulatory frameworks that were not designed to address deepfakes.Despite this, the federal government under the Trump administration has charted a course that prioritizes deregulation over security. The administration’s AI Action Plan, shaped by more than 10,000 public comments and led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, touts American innovation as its centerpiece. Yet beneath the rhetoric lies a systematic dismantling of safeguards.Over $328 million in National Science Foundation grants related to disinformation, biometric security, and AI risk modeling have been eliminated, including funds that supported election security and deepfake detection. The administration has also framed efforts to counter deepfake content as threats to free speech, a position that conflates content moderation with ideological censorship.The executive order driving this deregulatory push accused the previous administration of suppressing free expression by supporting AI transparency initiatives, an accusation that isn’t grounded in fact. The consequences of this posture are already visible. A case in Pennsylvania highlights the stakes. A police officer caught with AI-generated sexual images of minors could not be charged due to the absence of relevant laws at the time. Only after a new ban took effect could the state bring charges in a separate case involving a similar crime.In Iowa, prosecutors struggled to pursue justice in a case involving high school students who circulated deepfake nudes of classmates. Cross-border legal challenges and lack of cooperation from overseas app developers complicated efforts, revealing a gap in international enforcement capabilities.Meanwhile, courts are beginning to see lawsuits challenging the very laws meant to regulate deepfakes, with one California statute paused by a federal judge who argued it was too blunt an instrument. Opponents claim these laws infringe upon satire and parody, particularly in political contexts. Plaintiffs include conservative content creators and platforms like Rumble and X, which argue that deepfake laws inhibit expression and innovation.However, opposition to regulation cannot ignore the immense risk that is posed by unchecked synthetic media. Deepfake impersonations are no longer limited to satire or adult content. They have been used to deceive senators into meetings with fake foreign officials, to simulate CEO voices in fraudulent WhatsApp messages, and to manipulate video footage in politically volatile environments.Pindrop, a company specializing in voice authentication, reported a 683 percent increase in deepfake audio attacks in 2024, and says it sees up to seven synthetic voice scams per day targeting major financial institutions. The challenge is not just determining who someone is, but whether they are real. That is the level of existential verification the U.S. must now address.Despite the growing crisis, federal policy continues to trail behind the needs of industry, law enforcement, and civil society. Comments submitted to the administration’s AI Action Plan make clear that synthetic media is not a fringe issue, but rather it is a central threat to economic and social trust.Organizations like iProov and the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group, have called for federal investment in liveness verification, real-time detection systems, and biometric authentication standards. Their message was unequivocal: without a national infrastructure for verifying reality, AI adoption will falter under the weight of mistrust.Yet, the Trump administration has offered no comprehensive roadmap for how to mitigate these risks. It instead has repealed Biden-era AI regulatory Executive Orders and policies and has focused on eliminating “barriers to innovation” rather than constructing safeguards for security. This vision of American leadership in AI, based solely on deregulation and private sector agility, is blind to the structural vulnerabilities that unequivocally have been exposed by dangerous and damaging AI-generated deepfakes.Innovation without trust is unsustainable. If Americans cannot believe what they see, hear, or read, they will not engage with the technologies that produce these outputs, no matter how efficient, intelligent, or economically beneficial they may be.The argument that AI regulation must be careful not to stifle creativity or economic growth is valid, but the solution is not to halt regulation entirely; it is to construct it wisely. And that means a federal regulatory framework that distinguishes between high-risk and low-risk AI use cases, encourages industry cooperation, and includes a sunset clause allowing states to act when the federal government does not.It also means restoring federal funding for detection and verification research, mandating provenance markers in AI-generated content, and launching public education initiatives to improve media literacy.The U.S. cannot afford to treat deepfakes as merely a legal curiosity or a civil liberties debate. They are tools of fraud, manipulation, and digital sabotage. The growing consensus among industry experts, public officials, and cybersecurity organizations is that synthetic media must be regulated. Proactively, proportionately, and without ideological distortion. The choice is not between freedom and regulation, it is between chaos and coherence.A ten-year moratorium on state action devoid of federal substitution invites regulatory paralysis at the precise moment when decisive action is most needed. Deepfakes do not pause for policy debates. They evolve, proliferate, and destabilize. The longer the government delays, the more difficult it will be to restore public trust and reign in harmful synthetic media.In the end, a credible AI strategy must prioritize trust as its first principle. Trust is not a luxury of governance, it is the foundation upon which innovation, economic growth, and civic engagement are built. Without it, the American AI project will not lead the world. It will lose itself in illusion.
Leidos wins $130M FBI contract to support CJIS biometric services program-May 23, 2025, 4:57 pm EDT | Anthony Kimery
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has awarded Leidos a five-and-a-half year $129.7 million contract to support its Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division’s Fingerprint Analysis Support Team (FAST) Biometric Services program.The contract marks a significant development in the FBI’s efforts to modernize and enhance its biometric identification capabilities and further solidifies Leidos’ position as a critical partner in advancing federal law enforcement technology infrastructure. In April, Fusion Technology won a CJIS $159.8 million five-year Agility with SAFe Teams Law Enforcement Support Services contract.“In early 2016, Leidos presented CJIS with a solution to build more collaboration between the Leidos development team and the CJIS test, verification, and validation (TVV) teams by incorporating agile methodology and development operations concepts into the software build rhythm,” Leidos has said. “After operating as a single sprint team for nearly two years, the Leidos development and maintenance team and CJIS TVV team built a strong working relationship.”Since 2018, CJIS has worked with Leidos to develop and incrementally integrate the Next Generation Identification (NGI), a state-of-the-art biometric identification system that the FBI uses in concert with state, local, federal, and tribal authorities. NGI provides the criminal justice community with the world’s largest and most efficient electronic repository of biometric and criminal history information. NGI introduced multiple features including the Repository for Individuals of Special Concerns and Rap Back, which allows authorized users access to notifications of any criminal activity reported on individuals holding positions of public trust.Leidos also designed, developed, and deployed the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the fingerprint matching component of the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).The CJIS Division, based in Clarksburg, West Virginia, operates the FBI’s primary biometric databases which form the backbone of U.S. criminal identification processes, supporting not only the FBI but also state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation.As threats become more complex and the volume of biometric data expands, the FBI has prioritized modernization of its systems to ensure accurate, rapid, and reliable identification. The Leidos FAST Biometric Services contract is central to that goal.Administered through the General Services Administration’s Multiple Award Schedule and awarded under NAICS code 541519 (Other Computer Related Services), the contract obligates an initial $21.3 million. It follows a competitive procurement in which Leidos emerged as the winning bidder among two competitors. The unique award ID and associated entity identifier indicate the project’s formal administrative tracking, but the operational and strategic dimensions reveal a much broader transformation underway within CJIS.The FAST program represents an evolution in how the FBI handles biometric services. Under this initiative, Leidos is tasked with enhancing the processing and analysis of fingerprint data and integrating more sophisticated biometric workflows. This includes ensuring 24/7 operational continuity, providing real-time system support, and contributing to the next-generation automation and accuracy of biometric identification.FAST Biometric Services plays a vital role in supporting the FBI’s mission beyond domestic criminal justice. CJIS data is used in terrorism investigations, national security vetting, and international criminal justice cooperation. The systems Leidos will help maintain and improve is also plugged into Interpol databases, border security systems, and critical infrastructure protection frameworks.The contract tends to reflect Leidos’ strategic emphasis on aligning its technological capabilities with national security imperatives. With a longstanding history in supporting intelligence and defense agencies, Leidos has been at the forefront of delivering biometric services to agencies such as the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Its work under the FAST program will extend those capabilities further into the justice and law enforcement domain, helping the FBI stay ahead of both traditional and emerging threats.More broadly, the Leidos-CJIS partnership through FAST reveals the increasing dependence of U.S. law enforcement agencies on private-sector integrators to manage mission-critical identification systems. This outsourcing trend is particularly notable in biometrics, where the rapid evolution of technology often outpaces the government’s internal capacity to keep up.
Move in House to block state AI laws draws bipartisan fire; Senate support questionable-May 23, 2025, 4:02 pm EDT | Anthony Kimery
The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a sweeping budget reconciliation package that includes a controversial provision that would impose a ten-year federal moratorium on state and local regulation of AI. The measure has ignited a backlash of opposition from state governments, civil organizations, and members of the Senate, casting doubt on its future.Embedded within the massive 1,116-page bill, Section 43201(c) explicitly prohibits any state or political subdivision from enforcing laws or regulations concerning AI models, systems, or automated decision-making tools for a decade following the bill’s enactment. Proponents, primarily House Republicans, argue that this moratorium aims to prevent a fragmented regulatory landscape, thereby fostering innovation and maintaining U.S. competitiveness in AI development.Critics, however, contend that the provision would nullify over 60 existing state laws addressing issues like algorithmic discrimination, AI-generated deepfakes, and consumer protections. They warn that, in the absence of comprehensive federal AI legislation, this moratorium could leave consumers vulnerable to unchecked AI-related harms.The moratorium faces mounting bipartisan resistance from state officials and advocacy groups. A coalition of 40 state attorneys general, including Republicans from Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Utah, and Virginia, urged Congress to reject the measure, emphasizing the importance of state authority in protecting residents from emerging AI threats.In California, a bipartisan group of 35 lawmakers, including three Republicans, expressed concern that the moratorium would undermine state efforts to regulate AI-related harms such as deepfake scams and AI-generated child pornography. Similarly, more than 140 organizations – including unions, civil rights groups, and academic institutions – have warned that the provision could lead to “unfettered abuse” of AI technologies that compromise civil rights and privacy protections.The bill’s prospects in the Senate are uncertain. While Republicans hold a narrow majority in the Senate, some GOP senators have voiced reservations. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn criticized the moratorium for potentially overriding state laws like Tennessee’s ELVIS Act, which was designed to protect against AI impersonations. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley also has expressed concerns about the provision’s implications.“Our task is to protect our citizens and ensure that we don’t cede U.S. AI leadership,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, the Florida Republican who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. “Heavy-handed regulations may ensure that the next great American company never makes it. If we fail in this task, we risk ceding American leadership in AI to China, which is close on our heels.”Bilirakis pointed to the European Union AI Act that was approved by the EU in May 2024. He and opponents of state AI regulation assert that such measures stifle innovation. And stifling perceived innovation is something the Trump administration has worked to prevent, whether legitimate or not.Republican Rep. Rep. John Joyce said the EU AI act is “overly complex and restrictive,” and compared it to state-level laws in the United States. “Just since January,” he bemoaned, “there have been over 1,000 AI bills introduced across the United States. These measures vary widely in their definitions, in their requirements, their enforcement mechanisms, and in their scope. These emerging patchworks of regulations are creating confusion and inconsistency.”“Let’s be honest about what’s really being argued here, that any regulation, Federal or state will slow innovation – that’s the real claim the majority seems to be making, and I believe it’s a false choice, I believe balance is possible,” said Rep. Kevin Mullin, a Democrat. “Let states continue innovating and leading where appropriate, especially in protecting democracy.”“The stakes are so high, this technology is moving so fast – three months is a long time, ten years is an infinity,” said Rep. Yvette D. Clarke. “I want to urge my Republican colleagues to stand up for their constituents. They’re doing this in the wrong order. First pass essential national protections then deal with preemption. We are here to work with you. This is a common goal.”Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte, who chaired the previous Congress’s task force on AI, said “no one wants this to be ten years … “It really hurts my heart that it’s being painted in such a divisive, partisan issue, because I don’t think it is.”Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, a AI-focused research organization said AI-related state laws [are] working at a time when there are minimal federal laws in place … while we’re learning of the social implications of unregulated AI innovation. Why … treat these companies with kid gloves at a moment when they need more scrutiny, not less, is what should be in focus today, and we don’t have ten years to wait.”Additionally, the inclusion of the AI moratorium in a budget reconciliation bill raises procedural questions. Under the Senate’s Byrd Rule, provisions deemed extraneous to budgetary concerns can be removed from reconciliation bills. Given that the AI moratorium may not have a direct budgetary impact, it could be subject to removal during Senate deliberations, and likely will be, forcing a showdown between Senate and House conferees.A Republican aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity acknowledged that the bill’s architects are “still squaring away” some of the concerns raised under the Byrd rule, but said, “We have a lot of support,” including in the Senate and from Trump. Whether that translates to enough support in the Senate remains to be seen.The AI moratorium’s future hinges on Senate negotiations and potential amendments. Given the bipartisan opposition and procedural hurdles, the provision is likely to be revised or removed entirely.
Spike in first party fraud could presage raging storm of generative AI-LexisNexis Risk Solutions predicts ‘imminent arrival’ of wave of global AI fraud attacks-May 23, 2025, 3:32 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
The latest version of LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ annual Cybercrime Report shows what a release calls “a significant swing in the composition of global fraud attacks,” with first-party fraud taking the global lead in representing 36 percent of all reported fraud in 2024.First-party fraud involves people using their own identity to misrepresent or give false information for personal or financial gain. Loan applications, credit card charge disputes and claiming ordered goods were not delivered all count.As such, says Stephen Topliss, vice president of fraud and identity for LexisNexis Risk Solutions, consumers are now emerging as “the single largest source of human-initiated fraud.”While account takeover (ATO) fraud fueled by phishing and smishing activity accounts for a further 27 percent of global reported fraud, and scams, including authorized push payment (APP) fraud, represent 11 percent of cases, first-party fraud is now the biggie.“The change in composition of attacks presents a significant challenge for fraud prevention, since detecting first party fraud requires a subtly different approach from detecting scams or account takeovers,” Topliss says. “Organizations can’t afford to be complacent, however – there were more than three billion brute-force automated account takeover attacks detected last year alone and scams remain a global problem. It is vital for organizations to have models tuned to detect these varied forms of fraud.”Fraud shows signs of an overall flattening. Regionally, attack rates fell in both EMEA countries and LATAM.But the report speaks of “underlying signs of a coming storm powered by AI.”“Ongoing concern about fraudsters using generative AI has, so far, been limited to a relatively small number of well-reported cases that have required a fair amount of planning and sophistication (and human intervention),” it says. “We do expect AI-powered fraud to grow and evolve; we’re already detecting more frequent usage in new account origination attempts to defeat less-robust document authentication checks.”Topliss says we are at a tipping point. “While many organizations have improved their defenses over the past few years, we also know that cybercriminals are embracing new innovative, AI-enhanced capabilities and we will likely see these extensively tested and executed over the coming months. Our analysis of attacks over a longer multi-year period shows that significant attacks often come in waves and this latest set of figures could indicate the imminent arrival of the next, AI-enabled wave of global attacks.”Sift releases trio of new AI features for fraud prevention-Sift has announced new large language model (LLM) capabilities in its fraud and risk platform. A release says ActivityIQ “leverages generative AI to better identify and surface account takeover (ATO) fraud patterns that might otherwise go undetected” and summarize them for analysts. The feature builds on Sift’s previously announced Activity Analyzer, which Sift announced earlier this year.Sift is also releasing FIBR In-Console as part of its Fraud Industry Benchmarking Resource for fraud KPI measuring. This allows customers to “directly compare their own key fraud metrics, including payment fraud attack, manual review, general chargeback, and fraudulent chargeback rates against their industry peers.”Finally, Sift has released automatic chargeback labeling, which “creates a feedback loop for Sift’s payment fraud prevention solution by automatically updating machine learning models with chargeback outcomes.”“The fraud ‘attack surface’ demands both intelligence and efficiency from risk operations teams, all while maintaining great consumer experience,” says Swift Chief Product and Technology Officer Raviv Levi. “With our latest innovations, Sift customers can more easily establish and maintain identity trust by benchmarking their fraud KPIs against industry peers and with AI-generated insights to prevent ATO.”Vidos to explore Authorized Push Payment attacks for digital sandbox-Vidos has been selected to participate in the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Digital Sandbox programme. A blog post says its participation will focus on “leveraging digital identity verification technology to combat authorized push payment (APP) fraud for banks, payment processors, and merchants.In particular, Vidos aims to combat purchase scams, invoice and mandate scams, CEO fraud, and general impersonation scams.“Purchase scams have become particularly problematic,” it says, “accounting for 67 percent of all APP cases in 2023 with losses of £85.9 million (US$116M). These scams exploit specific verification weaknesses that directly impact financial firms.”By looking at seller verification integration, transaction validation architecture and cryptographic methods for financial firms to verify critical transaction details without exposing excess personal data, Vidos aims to give financial firms stronger fraud prevention capabilities while maintaining transaction efficiency and customer experience.“APP fraud devastates victims, and we’re focused on practical ways to stop it,” says Tim Boeckmann, CEO of Vidos. “Robust digital identity can protect people and businesses from scams without adding friction to payment processes – creating value for financial firms while reducing their liability exposure.”The firm points out that “under the new UK APP Fraud Reimbursement Model, both sending and receiving firms face equal financial liability for fraud losses.” As such, “digital identity verification isn’t just a security enhancement – it’s becoming an essential component of sustainable financial operations as regulatory requirements evolve.”Sumsub takes fight against fraudemic to Singapore for first WTF summit-Sumsub is launching its inaugural flagship event. A release says the What The Fraud Summit (WTF Summit), a “visionary summit to beat the global fraudemic,” will take place at Andaz Singapore from November 19 to 20, 2025. Experts and industry leaders from fraud prevention, compliance, financial crime, regulation, and product innovation will gather to discuss AI-driven security, regulatory shifts, digital resilience and trust in identity.“With the rapidly growing fraud risks across the globe, we recognized a critical need for a dedicated platform for industry leaders, regulators and fraud experts to have bold conversations and exchange actionable insights to beat the global fraudemic,” says Andrew Sever, Co-founder and CEO of Sumsub. “By launching the WTF Summit in APAC, we aim to fill the gap in discussions surrounding the multifaceted nature of fraud prevention in the region. Our goal is to collaborate with top minds to craft holistic strategies to create a safer digital future for everyone.”Speakers listed for the event will represent organizations including Flywire, Green Link Digital Bank, Peak IDV, and more.While the main summit on November 20 will cover AI fraud, digital Identity, compliance and crypto, on the 19th Sumsub will host expert-led workshops with certifications in three specialized modules: modern scams and deepfakes, smart and compliant onboarding, and AML investigations and case management.
Digital ID, payments providers are trying to solve eIDAS ambiguities-May 23, 2025, 3:28 pm EDT | Masha Borak
The EU has been busy building a regulatory foundation for its European Digital Identity (EUDI), which will be offered to all Europeans by the end of 2026. Despite this, questions on legal intricacies remain, including for payment service providers (PSPs). This is despite payments being considered to be among the top use cases for EUDI Wallets.The Dutch Payments Association has now published an assessment on the impact of the EUDI Wallet on payment processes. The paper, published by its eIDAS 2.0 Taskforce, focuses on payments for natural persons who are holders of an EUDI wallet and provides industry guidance to help payment providers navigate ambiguities.“The regulation requires designated private service providers – including those in the payments sector – to integrate and accept EUDIWs,” says the organization. “However, while the legal text is final, a conclusive interpretation of the scope of acceptance and impact on payments remains unclear.”The EUDI Wallet’s legal foundation includes the eIDAS 2.0 regulation, which has already entered into force, and Implementing Acts, which provide technical and legal specifications. eIDAS introduces a requirement for relying parties to accept the EUDI Wallet for processes that involve Strong User Authentication (SUA). However, more clarity is needed from lawmakers regarding Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements, according to the analysis.Currently, it seems impossible for payment service providers to accept the EUDI Wallet for two-factor authentication (2FA) security processes while also adhering to the Strong Authentication Requirements (SCA) prescribed by the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and its SCA Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), the organization says.The paper also hopes to help payment service providers differentiate between compliance rules set by eIDAS and optional rules. According to eIDAS 2.0 regulation, payment service providers do not have to accept electronic signatures or ‘electronic attestations of attributes’ (EAAs). PSPs are also not required to issue EAAs.The document doesn’t delve into issues such as managing fraud or KYC for onboarding.eIDAS discussed at EIC2025-The complexities of the eIDAS 2.0 regulation were also a part of discussions at the European Identity and Cloud Conference (EIC) 2025, held earlier this month in Berlin.Andreas Freitag, co-CEO of Swiss eID company Procivis, explained how governments can align eIDAS 2.0 with existing electronic identification (eID) and Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) frameworks.The implementation timeline for eIDAS2 is tight, with a deadline set for the end of 2026. This creates interoperability challenges across EU member states, as each country applies the regulation with its own specific interpretations, he says.An additional problem is that the regulation allows for flexibility in interpretation, which can result in inconsistent implementation, with each country introducing its own nuances. Despite this, countries should first establish infrastructure for eIDAS2, allowing the private sector to follow, he says.Freitag’s experience in introducing digital identity comes from Procivis’ projects. The company is a part of Orell Füssli, a Swiss banknotes printing company. The firm was selected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for its Silicon Valley Innovation Program to provide privacy-preserving and interoperable wallets and verifiers for DHS. This has allowed a Swiss citizen in the U.S. to receive a permanent resident card using her Swiss E-ID.Procivis also helped the City of Zug integrate digital employee certificates for teachers into the eZug app.Boris Goranov, CEO of digital ID technology developer Ubiqu, focused on the EU Wallet Architecture Reference Framework and explained the tasks of Certificate Authority, Personal Identifiable Data (PID) and Qualified Electronic Attestations of Attributes (QEAA) issuers as well as Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) providers.Goranov also presented his company’s remote secure element that can be remotely attached to a wallet with a direct connection.“It’s compliant, it’s scalable, it’s inclusive, and we get a new capability that we need in this ecosystem – recovery, “ says Goranov.
World Bank demystifies PKI and electronic signatures at ID4Africa 2025-May 23, 2025, 11:00 am EDT | Chris Burt
A workshop chaired by World Bank officials Nay Constantine, Tunde Fafunwa and Chris Tullis addressed how electronic signatures enable remote transactions, their differences form “digital signatures” and common misconceptions.The World Bank’s ID4D initiative also took the opportunity to distribute policy notes on public key infrastructure and electronic signatures.The workshop began by emphasizing the necessity of remote services such as opening a bank account and school enrollment, using the example of a person who has recently moved to a country where electronic signatures are not legally recognized. It then proceeded a review of how e-signatures, digital signatures and public key infrastructure fit together.Signatures perform identification, attribution, endorsement and integrity functions, says Tullis. Electronic signatures and digital signatures are in a simple sense synonymous, but the former carries a legal meaning, whereas the latter is a technological concept.ICAO provides an example of cross-border trust and recognition, based on the trust framework supported by the public key directory (PKD), a technical standard (ICAO 9303) and the legal basis of the Chicago Convention. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) provides a legal foundation for recognition of electronic signatures. And the AfCTA supports mutual recognition between member states.A comment and question from a Brazilian delegate about the need for both digital and electronic signatures for transactions in the country in certain circumstances highlighted what Tullis calls “the curse of partial digitalization.”It also demonstrated the incremental increase in South-South knowledge exchange which ID4Africa has fostered since its inception.Four myths were addressed during the workshop: that PKI is needed to establish an electronic signature system; that electronic signatures must always be implemented to the highest possible level of assurance; that electronic signatures are relevant only for high-income countries; and that each country’s digital signature system must be operated by the government.On the third point, Benin and Togo began providing digitally signed COVID vaccination certificates during the pandemic, despite relatively low digital maturity, an official from Benin told the packed conference hall.Adam Cooper, technical consultant for the World Bank and European Commission, noted there are three types of e-signatures with different levels of trust. Qualified electronic signatures (QES) are highest, but for most transactions, are unnecessary, Cooper explained. For example, Docusign uses the equivalent of an advanced, or medium-risk e-signature, for tax returns. Ukraine’s Dia uses the national ID and face biometrics to establish advanced electronic signatures, which can be used for a wide range of transactions.A practical roadmap was shared by an official from Ghana’s NITA based on his country’s experience, including its PPP for e-signature certification authority (CA) operation and integration with the national digital identity.Idakto CSO Yann Bouan represented the industry on a panel discussing how electronic signatures can empower individuals.While the identity verification that binds individuals to their electronic signatures remains a crucial element, e-signatures themselves are a crucial means for governments to deliver remote service capabilities to people.
Rwanda launching digital identity, biometrics enrollment with $8.5M budget-May 23, 2025, 10:29 am EDT | Chris Burt
The government of Rwanda is investing 12.2 billion Rwandan francs (approximately US$8.5 million) in the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year to advance the rollout of the nation’s digital identity program, including fingerprint and iris biometrics enrollment.Minister of ICT and Innovation Paula Ingabire told a Parliamentary Committee that the full cost of setting up the Single Digital Identification System (SDIS) is anticipated to be Rwf54.2 billion (US$38 million), The New Times reports.In the previous fiscal year, Rwf5.3 billion (US$3.7 million) was allocated to begin the project, but tenders for the project were delayed.Now, the government is in the process of finalizing contracts with bidders, and expects to begin carrying out the coming year’s work by the end of June. The delays were attributed to procurement challenges which have since been resolved, according to ICT Ministry Permanent Secretary Yves Iradukunda.SDIS is intended to ease access to public services, financial services, mobile account registration and other services.The next step includes establishing infrastructure and launching the national registration and biometrics enrollment campaign, and is expected to begin next month.The first phase of the project was feasibility studies, which have already been completed. A pre-enrollment system to process and digitize civil registry data is in development. So is the core ID system, while procurement documents have been issued and bidders are currently submitting proposals.Biometric registration centers will be set up across Rwanda, and all identities verified and deduplicated with an automated biometric information system (ABIS). The ABIS will also back real-time authentication and ID card printing, according to the report.Rwanda’s RISA also accepted bids for an automated multi-modal and modular biometric authentication system (AMBAS) up until a May 7.The finished system will include a public key infrastructure (PKI) to secure the digital identities.A national communication plan will soon begin to apprise the public of the system’s importance and how to register.
Make procurement integral part of digital ID system design from beginning: UNDP-May 23, 2025, 10:11 am EDT | Ayang Macdonald
Experts from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) have advised governments implementing digital ID systems to make procurement an integral part of the systems’ design from the very beginning.It shouldn’t be an afterthought, they insisted, as they shared thoughts in one workshop chaired by the UN agency on the final day of ID4Africa 2025.The workshop which had as theme “Procurement strategies for digital identity: Build, buy and beyond,” was one of five others of the day tackling different themes as the Addis Ababa event came to a close.Speakers shared deep insights based on the UNDP’s Digital Governance, Innovation and Transformation (DGIT) initiative, with the aim of having governments design procurement models that balance innovation with cost control, ensuring vendor engagement through competitive and transparent processes, and responsibly integrating emerging technologies such as AI if they meet defined needs. DGIT is an initiative launched by the UNDP aimed at integrating knowledge and competencies across technical, policy, and procurement domains in relation to digital transformation projects.Specifically, the speakers categorized procurement across three stages, namely upstream (planning), midstream (execution), and downstream (sustainability), and discussed how success can be achieved in each of the phases.“What kind of solution do you need for your digital ID system?” Victor Margall, governance procurement lead in the UNDP procurement office, asked rhetorically. “There is no straight forward answer to this”, he said, noting that procurement should be particular to each case because it is not a one-size-fits all affair. “Every single case has its own self needs and its own set of instruments which can be utilized.”Informed decision-making-One of the things they advised governments and other procuring institutions to do is to undertake proper research in order to understand the various technologies that exist in the market, before picking the ones that fit the purpose of the identity systems they are building.“The first important thing is to have an objective and a perfect professional and technical assessment of needs, and what’s available in the market. Avoid overdependence on one single technology. It is a risk, especially for those that have not been around for a very long time,” Margall advised.He added that “procurement decisions define what the ID system will look like, how it’s built, and what it will deliver.”“Early involvement of procurement in the process ensures better decision-making. Procurement clarifies scope, defines roles and responsibilities, sets evaluation criteria, outlines delivery models, and structures milestones and contractual obligations.”He also shared steps by which procuring institutions can gain knowledge about what’s available from the industry side in order to inform the sourcing process, while also considering open standards and interfaces. “You have to have an open mind when doing this”, he cautioned. “You don’t have to be biased.”They also encouraged procuring entities to pay particular attention to strategic sourcing structuring and to be flexible in their thinking and actions throughout the process because “early misalignment will definitely lead to downstream failure.”“It’s important to take a lot of time in writing the tender document in order to get the requirements right. If you don’t get the requirements right, you are going to regret afterwards. Procurement has to be a cycle, from the start to the end of the project, and its renewal,” Chahine Hamila, eGov senior advisor and technologist at UNDP, emphasized. He also mentioned the issue of sovereignty, noting that it is important for the buyer to have some high level of control over the product they are purchasing.Guarding against vendor lock-in-The speakers also made the point about avoiding vendor lock-in, but while meticulously following the processes and customization exigencies that open-source systems which they intend to adopt require. They also shared some sustainability considerations that need to be incorporated into procurement and contracting processes for digital identity systems, highlighting the importance of procurement for human capital development.“Sustainability is at the core of the procurement cycle,” Margall said, citing some tips which include things like having a full appreciation of the total cost of ownership and lifecycle costs of the solution being procured.The challenges and risks of AI in digital ID solutions were also explored, with the speakers pointing out what procuring institutions should be aware when making decisions.Finally, the speakers cautioned that because procurement is a strategic policy tool for digital ID implementation, decision making about it must be informed, hybrid models must be intentional and well planned, innovation must be futureproofed, sustainability must unavoidably be thought about, a plan for research and development must be clearly outlined, and collaboration should be considered to leverage the procurement process.Practical procurement advice was also a feature during a session at last year’s ID4Affica event in Cape Town.
Clearview AI data harvesting not protected speech, says California appeals court-May 23, 2025, 9:35 am EDT | Joel R. McConvey
Clearview AI continues to slog through a quagmire of legal issues in the U.S., UK and Canada. In California, an appeals court has denied the facial recognition company’s appeal to reverse a trial court decision allowing privacy claims against it to proceed.A three-justice panel of the First District California Court of Appeal ruled that Clearview AI’s creation of a searchable biometric database of millions of Californians’ data to provide to law enforcement is not covered under California’s anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) statute, which restricts “lawsuits brought primarily to chill the exercise of speech and petition rights” – i.e., suits intended to stifle constitutionally protected activities.Clearview claims lawsuits against it ignore rules around protected speech. The company says it simply sorts face photos and presents the results to police, activity that is protected under free speech laws that litigation is trying to stifle. Its legal defense argues that the company “is not extracting information from which you can recreate someone’s face or invade their privacy.”The plaintiffs say collecting face biometrics for analysis and storage without express consent is an invasion of privacy in itself; their claims “‘rest on Clearview’s collection, analysis, and storage of their likenesses and identifying information for profit,’ regardless of who Clearview’s customers are and the purposes for which they use its service.”Per the court decision, “plaintiffs do not appear to dispute that the app’s delivery of search results to law enforcement agencies can be considered an exercise of Clearview’s right of free speech, but they argue that ‘incidental speech at the endpoint of the process for some customers is a tail that cannot wag the dog of Clearview’s unlawful biometric harvesting and maintenance conduct.’”The court’s decision in favor of the plaintiffs effectively says Clearview is not covered by SLAPP and is not working in the public interest – and is therefore not protected. “Clearview is a for-profit corporation, and whatever investigative purposes its government customers may have, Clearview’s purpose in offering a facial recognition service is a commercial one, with its customer base defined by a consent judgment entered in the settlement of litigation. Moreover, Clearview delivers its search results in confidence, expressly prohibiting any public disclosure of them, including later use in court. These factors weigh against a conclusion that its speech is in connection with an issue of public interest.”“Clearview is neither reporting a crime nor asking the government to do anything. It does not articulate any particular interest in being heard. For these reasons, were we to reach the merits, we would find that Clearview’s furnishing of photos and webpage URLs to government entities that subscribe to its service does not qualify for protection.”Alberta judge denies Clearview appeal based on public availability exception-Clearview has earned its reputation as a controversial company with outright blocks in many countries. In Canada, an Alberta provincial court recently denied Clearview’s constitutional challenge to privacy regulations.A report from the Canadian Press notes that the company has not operated in Alberta (or the rest of Canada) since 2021, when a group of privacy commissioners issued an order for Clearview AI to stop operating in the country.Ironically, in looking at Clearview’s application for a judicial review and a ruling on the constitutionality of Alberta’s personal information protection legislation, the judge found that some parts of Alberta’s legislation are unconstitutional.But that doesn’t help Clearview, which will not be operating in Alberta anytime soon, despite its argument that social media images constitute publicly available information.Alberta has a “substantial interest in protecting personal information from being used in a facial recognition database,” says Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby. “Since people likely don’t expect their social media posts to wind up in a ‘potentially harmful’ database.”But the judge also says “the commissioner’s decision to take enforcement action against Clearview and not others who collect, use and disclose personal information publicly available on the internet suggests that some collection, use and disclosure of personal information publicly available on the internet is not problematic.” He advises amending the language of the public availability exception on which Clearview based its case.Clearview heads back to court in UK-A reckoning may be coming in the UK, as well. Next month, Clearview AI will head to court to fight the UK data authority’s appeal, following the biometric face-matching service’s victory in its own 2023 appeal against a 7.5 million pound fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office for breaching data protection law – and a ban on operations.The hearing has been scheduled for June 9 to 11, according to MLex.
Need for speed in removing barriers to birth registration, ID integration in Africa-Risk of missing the 2030 target of legal identity for all, ID4Africa speakers warn-May 22, 2025, 7:59 pm EDT | Ayang Macdonald
Speakers on two panels dedicated to birth registration early on Day 3 of the ongoing ID4Africa 2025 AGM in Addis Ababa were convergent in their views about the urgency in clearing away the barriers still standing in the way of effective birth registration on the continent.In one of the panels that looked at continental progress in Africa and the policies driving it, speakers noted that the birth registration figures in sub-Saharan Africa do not sit well with the goals of the SDG 16.9 target and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 which both call for legal identity for everyone by 2030.Referencing the latest UNICEF global birth registration report, the institution’s Africa regional Child Protection advisor, Nankali Maksud, regretted that Africa still accounts for at least 90 million unregistered children in the world, with the continent’s birth registration rate standing at just 51 percent. The Eastern Africa region, she said, tails the continent with the lowest registration figures.Serious concerns that must be addressed-“Globally, more than half of unregistered children live in Sub-Saharan Africa. And this figure will grow if we don’t change course. Eastern Africa, in particular, is home to 43 million unregistered children,” she said.This, she opined, “is not the worst picture, but it does mean that nearly half of our children remain unregistered, which is a very serious concern we must address.”According to Maksud, there’s been some progress in birth registration but with less speed than is required, meaning that African countries must accelerate their pace because “every strong national ID system is based on birth registration.”“It’s true there’s been steady progress in birth registration in Africa in the past 15 years, but the question is how fast are countries doing that?” she asked.“Unless we accelerate, the number of unregistered children in Sub-Saharan Africa could exceed 100 million after 2030. We need systems that respond to the pace at which children are born. If birth registration is a child’s first form of national ID, then we must do everything we can to ensure every child in Africa is registered,” she appealed.She warned of the risk of Africa missing the 2030 target of universal birth registration and legal identity for all, but said even if that happens, governments must make sure they “at least align with Agenda 2063” of the African Union.“But really, if we’re committed to Africa and to our children, we must aim to meet these goals sooner rather than later. The real issue is the pace. We’re on the right path, but not moving fast enough,” she said, emphasizing that “we must also explore opportunities to link birth registration with national ID systems and aim for full coverage, not just for today’s children, but for those of the future.”Above all, she also remarked that countries must also aim to make the birth registration process inclusive by addressing gaps having to do with “unregistered migrant children or those with disabilities.”Legal reforms, effective implementation-Taking the cue from Maksud, her colleague from UNICEF, Bhaskar Mishra, equally painted a grim picture, which he said can however be reversed if countries take their responsibility up front, and engage in the kind of reforms that are necessary to get their civil registration systems working more effectively.Among other things, he called on countries to pay more attention to legal reforms, decentralize birth registration services and implement last-mile measures for countries with huge populations in difficult-to-reach communities.“Given the legality of civil registration processes, removing discrimination in law, policy, and practice should be a non-negotiable priority and the foundation of other strategies to reach the entire population, everyone, everywhere,” Mishra said.“Legal identity leads to legal equality. It is a key pillar of the ‘leaving no one behind’ agenda. We need to pay more attention to legal reforms and, more specifically, to their implementation on the ground, particularly in addressing instances of de facto discrimination,” he advised.He mentioned some figures, stating: “More than 20 countries in Africa have under-5 birth registration rates between 75 and 99 percent, and therefore require last-mile strategies to reach 100 percent. Some of them like South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, and Ghana have been hovering in this range for several years, so they need to step up their game.”Country experiences-In the second panel, four countries shared their specific experiences in birth registration. Civil registration representatives from the governments of Senegal, Chad, Mali, and Sierra Leone, explained the efforts they are currently engaged in with regard to digitizing their civil registration systems and linking them with health facilities to ease registration of children at the time of their birth.Senegal talked of efforts to decentralize birth registration process, Chad noted its efforts to take the birth registration activity to hospitals and other health facilities, Mali outlined its efforts to facilitate the process in local councils and remote communities without health facilities as well as the expansion of civil registration centres, while Sierra Leone said is legal reforms and interoperability efforts which are helping the country address issues and reduce gaps.All presentations showed several challenges still bedevil birth registration in many African countries, but as Mishra and Nankali advised, it is time for these nations to quickly go back to the basics, and ensure that every child is registered at birth or immediately after, and not later than the legally permissible window.Removing barriers to civil registration-ID integration-Two other related panels later in the afternoon discussed the importance of integrating civil registration and national ID systems as one of the ways of accelerating the attainment of expected results. At least five countries, namely Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Uganda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea, all shared their specific country experiences on efforts they are deploying to remove barriers to civil registration-ID integration, and how this can boost birth and death registration.These factors include integrating information systems and databases, simplifying administrative procedures, ensuring effective involving of all stakeholders, and facilitating access to birth and death registration services, all of them of course driven by strong political will and good governance frameworks.Another panel later in the day gave updates about the ACSA initiative which has been developed to with the aim of expediting the development of digitized civil registration systems in Africa.It is an initiative which is owned and led by African countries put in place to ensure that civil registration can effectively support development objectives and improve people’s lives. Discussion participants had the opportunity to share views on creating norms to guide the digitization of civil registration systems under the ACSA framework.
Agentic AI shaping strategies and plans across sectors as AI agents swarm-Believers say AI agents are the future – but are planning for challenges and mishaps-May 22, 2025, 7:14 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
The current moment would have us believe that AI agents are about to become our co-workers, personal assistants, pocket buddies and therapists. The tech and business worlds are preparing for an influx of agentic AI that is promising to transform industries. There is certainly a lot of air in the AI bubble – but can AI agents deliver on everything their developers claim?Vouched launches directory to sort good AI agents from bad-In identity verification circles, the acronym party is about to get a bit more crowded. Seattle’s Vouched assumes you know your customer, and probably your businesses – and that you follow corresponding KYC/KYB compliance regulations. But what about those who are neither customer nor business? How can you know which AI agents to trust? Some might invoke the 1990s sci-fi TV series, The X-Files, and its advice to “trust no one.” Vouched, however, says it can sort the good from the bad. It calls its new free, open KnowThat.ai Agent Reputation Directory – i.e., a Know Your Agent (KYA) reference – part of its “groundbreaking solution designed to address the critical gap in identity and trust for autonomous software agents.”A release says Know That AI allows users to verify agent identities and review reputation data, with a core focus on fraud prevention and digital trust. It is a “community-driven system,” wherein Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers can “report on the behavior of software agents (good or bad) to lead to a community-driven assessment of that agent’s trustworthiness.”Vouched is also pushing an identity extension to the MCP: the so-called MCP-I specification. A primer on the MCP-I specification puts forth the argument that “MCP is terrific, but one big thing is missing: strong identity.”“Without a robust identity model, agents can’t truly act autonomously or securely,” says the post. “The MCP-I (I for Identity) specification addresses this gap – introducing a practical, interoperable approach to agentic identity.”Vouched also offers its turnkey SaaS Vouched MCP Identity Server, which provides easy-to-integrate APIs and SDKs for enterprises and developers to embed strong identity verification into agent systems.While the Agent Reputation Directory and MCP-I specification are open and free to the public, the MCP Identity Server is available as a commercial offering.“Thinking through strong identity in advance is critical to building an agentic future that works,” says Peter Horadan, CEO of Vouched. “In some ways we’ve seen this movie before. For example, when our industry designed email, they never anticipated that there would be bad email senders. As a result, we’re still dealing with spam problems 50 years later. We can’t make the same mistake as we build software agents. The work we have released today solves these problems.”Microsoft Entra Agent ID extends IAM capabilities to AI agents-Microsoft believes the workforce of the future is the so-called “Frontier Firm” – “a new type of organization characterized by on-demand intelligence and a workforce where humans and agents work in tandem.” A blog post quotes Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index, which says “we expect every organization will be on their journey to becoming a Frontier Firm within the next two to five years.”This scenario is only feasible, says Microsoft, if it is “grounded in security” – not, indeed, job security for human workers, but rather a “Zero Trust foundation to protect the workforce and a new generation of Frontier Firms.”Securing the agentic workforce will take work, since pesky media feeds can be easily hijacked by deepfake injection attacks and other malicious forms of AI-assisted fraud. “The number of password cyberattacks has increased to approximately 7,000 password attacks per second, and identity-based cyberattacks now account for nearly 80 percent of breaches,” Microsoft says.“Identity is the new perimeter and Microsoft Entra, with more than 900 million monthly active users today, plays a pivotal role in securing all identities in the agentic era.”The megafirm’s new Microsoft Entra Agent ID is here to help. The product “extends identity management and access capabilities to AI agents,” automatically assigning AI agents created within Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry identities in a Microsoft Entra directory – “analogous to etching a unique VIN into every new car and registering it before it leaves the factory.”Microsoft Entra Agent ID will be integrated with the ServiceNow AI Platform and the Workday Agent System of Record, to allow for “automated provisioning of identities for future digital employees.”To handle the half-human, half-bot workforce, Microsoft has also extended its Microsoft Purview data security and compliance controls to any custom-built AI app with the native software development kit (SDK).“This means that AI agents can now inherently benefit from Microsoft Purview’s robust data security and compliance capabilities. Developers can leverage these controls to help reduce the risk of their AI applications oversharing or leaking data, and to support compliance efforts, while security teams gain visibility into AI risks and mitigations.”Lastly, Microsoft Defender now integrates “AI security posture management recommendations and runtime threat protection alerts directly into Azure AI Foundry” for more efficient response.AI agents will start using tools in 2025: Descope-“There are a lot of talks about AI,” says Meir Wahnon of authentication firm Descope, in a talk about AI for KuppingerCole’s European Identity and Cloud (EIC) Conference, exploring identity challenges in the agentic era.An early slide outlining definitions tells us that AI agents are ushering in a new definition of the word “tools,” which he calls “one of the big changes that’s happening this year around agentic AI, giving the ability to LLMs to actually do and act with permission on behalf of the user, interact with permission on behalf of the user, interact with third-party APIs,” and so on.Tools aside, what are the challenges for agentic AI? “The biggest one is security,” he says. But interoperability and scale are also hurdles, and making the leap from concept to production is no easy feat: “less than two fifths of AI projects have successfully transitioned to production.”Wahnon says we must agree on an interoperable identity infrastructure for the agentic era now, not later. The age of plain old bots is over, and it has already become much harder to distinguish between AI agents and real humans online.The potential for awkward situations to arise at the hands of AI agents is high. Wahnon imagines a scenario in which an AI agent asked to book a vacation decides to splurge on an unaffordable hotel. Mitigation strategies are necessary, including comprehensive identity validation frameworks.He argues for a “new agentic auth paradigm” that is standards-based, offers granular control and is interoperable. Wahnon offers his own take on MCP architecture, which he says is “changing all the time,” as well as the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol.‘Universal basic AI’ a necessity for every Canadian: Tapscott-Agentic AI also gets a boost in an opinion piece for Canada’s Globe and Mail. Don Tapscott, co-founder of Blockchain Research Institute, chancellor emeritus of Trent University and author of the forthcoming book, You to the Power of Two: Human Potential in the Age of Identic AI, argues that political and business leaders in Canada “must build a more resilient, independent economy” that is “fit for the digital age.”Tapscott says the meaning of infrastructure has fundamentally shifted toward digitization and data: “Canada needs digital public infrastructure,” he writes. The pillars are digital identity and, of course, AI.“The first foundational layer is a self-sovereign digital identity for every Canadian. This isn’t about centralized, government-issued IDs that spark fears of surveillance. It’s about giving individuals control over their own data. Powered by blockchain and AI, such a system would let Canadians manage their digital information securely and in a decentralized way.”And, says Tapscott, “by decade’s end, millions of Canadians – especially professionals – will use AI agents to manage tasks, make decisions and augment their capabilities. These ‘identic’ agents will be digital extensions of ourselves, trained on our data and able to act as roles such as work assistants, private doctors, life mentors and financial planners.”But, Tapscott also envisions a world in which AI increases social gaps. “Those with intelligent agents will be superpowered; those without will fall behind,” he says. “A small class of enhanced individuals could dominate productivity, creativity and influence. If only a minority of Canadians are equipped to thrive in the digital economy, we will never close our productivity gap.”Another element, he says, is public infrastructure for digital commerce – “public rails for digital transactions.”In the end, Tapscott is among those convinced that agentic AI is an inevitable, inextricable part of our future as humans, and that those who ignore it will be left behind. He frames his argument in terms of productivity, competitiveness and indeed survival: “every citizen, regardless of income, must have a trusted, safe and capable AI agent, and the know-how to manage it.And yet his vision for a “universal basic AI” is not, in the end, all that different from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s latest promise to deliver an LLM that can fit in your pocket and be with you always – like an omniscient god, or perhaps a pesky leech.
Thales Data Threat Report warns that mad scramble to embrace AI comes with risk-Organizations rushing in to AI integration as post-quantum threat creeps closer-May 22, 2025, 5:37 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
In an online talk about AI, Eric Hanselman, chief analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research, offers a tour of key findings from the global edition of the Thales 2025 Data Threat Report.The report is based on a survey of more than 3,100 IT and security professionals in 20 countries across 15 industries, and looks at the expanded impacts of AI, the post-quantum security shift, and progress on the question of data sovereignty.“We hear so much about AI, there are so many challenges in so many different aspects,” Hanselman says. “But in data security, this really is a fundamental focus – and has to be, in order to drive AI functionality.”“We need to be able to address the delivery of data at scale to be able to feed AI and to be able to allow organizations to truly realize the promise that AI offers.”The pace of change is jarring for the security sector and beyond, as digital transformation occurs en masse. Thales says nearly 70 percent of organizations view the rapid pace of AI development, and generative AI in particular, as the leading security concern related to its adoption, followed by lack of integrity (64 percent) and trustworthiness (57 percent). Seventy-three percent of organizations are investing in “AI-specific security tools” with either new or existing budgets.Malware attacks and phishing remain key problems, although data breaches are down.‘Data ingestion engine the likes of which we haven’t seen before’But AI has created such a kerfuffle that it has generated its own whirlwind of problems. According to a release on the study, “while most respondents said rapid adoption of GenAI is their top security concern, respondents in the more advanced stages of AI adoption aren’t waiting to fully secure their systems or optimize their tech stacks before forging ahead. Because the drive to achieve rapid transformation often outweighs efforts to strengthen organizational readiness, these organizations may be inadvertently creating their own biggest security vulnerabilities.”As Hanselman puts it, “many enterprises are deploying GenAI faster than they can fully understand their application architectures, compounded by the rapid spread of SaaS tools embedding GenAI capabilities, adding layers of complexity and risk.”Data classification is a particular problem, as organizations struggle to manage the masses of data within their environment. Of course, Hanselman says, in order to be able to secure data, you have to be able to classify it.“If we put that in the lens of AI, this becomes a doubly difficult challenge. Because the push to AI gives ua a data ingestion engine the likes of which we haven’t seen before. And the temptation to feed data into that AI environment without the corresponding ability to classify that data means that we’re picking up a significant amount of risk.”Cloud assets are the biggest attack target – not just cloud-based infrastructure, but also credential-theft-based attacks. “It puts additional focus on making sure that the protections we have on cloud are going to be sufficient to manage this.”Hanselman also addresses compliance, and why it matters beyond the wagging fingers of regulators. “There is good correlation with compliance performance and breach history – and this is a trend that continues this year. If you’re passing audits, you are much less likely to be breached.”Concerns about quantum threat, cryptoagility ‘continuing to evolve’When it comes to security for post-quantum computing (PQC), the message is the opposite: “the clock is ticking on post-quantum readiness.”The top threat cited is future encryption compromise – or “the risk that quantum computers could eventually break current or future encryption algorithms, exposing data once considered secure.” Hanselman calls these “harvest now, decrypt later” capabilities.Todd Moore, global vice president of data security products at Thales, says “it’s encouraging that three out of five organizations are already prototyping new ciphers, but deployment timelines are tight and falling behind could leave critical data exposed. Even with clear timelines for transitioning to PQC algorithms, the pace of encryption change has been slower than expected due to a mix of legacy systems, complexity, and the challenge of balancing innovation with security.”Hanselman says “now that we’ve got a new set of approved NIST quantum-resistant ciphers, organizations should be starting to put those into their environments.”
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
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,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) 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,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
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.
EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7 And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9 I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
EARTHQUAKES
EZEKIEL 37:7,11-14
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.(POSSIBLE QUAKE BRINGS ISRAEL BACK TO LIFE-SO NOISE AND SHAKING-QUAKES WILL ALSO DESTROY ISRAELS ENEMIES)
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.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
FAMINE
EZEKIEL 5:16
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
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.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
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.
JAMES 1:11
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
The Hebrew noun accurately translated “oven” refers to a “baking oven” as distinct from a kiln or smelting furnace—both of which burn much hotter. (The Hebrew nouns for “kiln” or for “smelting furnace” are more likely to appear in contexts of God's wrath or judgment.)
21 They have roused me to jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with their idols. In my turn I shall rouse them to jealousy with a non-people, I shall exasperate them with a stupid nation.
22 Yes, a fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour the earth and all its produce, it will set fire to the footings of the mountains.
23 I shall hurl disasters on them, on them I shall use up all my arrows.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,(LIBERAL GODLESS AIR WAVES) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:(GODLESS)
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950-Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
JUDGEMENT-WE ALL(EVERYONE) STAND IN FRONT OF GOD TO GIVE ACCOUNT
JOHN 14:3
3 And if I (JESUS OUR JEWISH MESSIAH) go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
MATTHEW 24:33
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,(IN THERE BEGGINING STAGES-NOT FINAL STAGES) know that it is near, even at the doors.
LUKE 21:32
32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:10
10 For we must all (MEANS EVERYONE EVER BORN ON EARTH FROM ADAM-EVE ON) appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.(THIS IS THE CHRISTIANS IN FRONT OF JESUS)
LUKEWARM CHURCHES
REVELATION 3:15-19
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I(GOD) will spue (VOMIT) thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent
Two dead in Australia after torrential rain ravages rural towns-Major flooding hit towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, with some regions facing further heavy rainfall through Thursday.May 22, 2025, 5:26 AM EDT-By Reuters
SYDNEY — Flash flooding on Australia’s southeast coast has killed two people and cut off towns, isolating tens of thousands of residents, as officials warned Thursday that more downpours were expected over the next 24 hours.Major flooding hit several rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia‘s most populous state, with most of the Mid North Coast region facing further heavy rainfall through Thursday.Police said the body of a 63-year-old man was found in a flooded home near Taree, more than 186 miles north of Sydney, while another body believed to be that of a missing man in his 30s had been discovered in floodwaters on the Mid North Coast.“We’re bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours. This natural disaster has been terrible for this community,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said during a media briefing.“There’s 140 flood warnings, 50,000 people are in the range where they have been asked to prepare to evacuate and could be isolated, and there’s been 9,500 properties in the direct vicinity. So, we’re far from out of the woods here.”Police Force shows a police helicopter rescue in flooded areas near the NSW town of Taree.Two men and one woman have been reported missing in separate incidents, authorities said earlier.More than 100 schools were closed on Thursday, while thousands of properties remained without power.Cundletown in the Mid North Coast has been entirely cut off by floods, said Nicole Sammut, a nurse caring for 67 elderly residents at an aged care home, which is also being used as a shelter by emergency teams.“I came to work on Tuesday and haven’t left,” Sammut told Reuters.“We are up on a hill but behind us is all water. We are isolated. I’ve never seen the water this high.”The Manning River in nearby Taree had exceeded a 100-year-old flood record, emergency authorities said.Sherinah Peck was evacuated at 2 a.m. on Wednesday (12 p.m. Tuesday ET) from her farmhouse on the river, but her belongings were swept away, with some furniture later washing up on the coast.As she searched Old Bar beach on Thursday, strewn with debris and dead and lost livestock, for a treasured bicycle that belonged to her late mother, Peck was knocked over by a cow and injured, she said.“The cow was distressed — a wave came. I had to scramble up the sand,” she told Reuters.A slow-moving coastal trough has dumped about four months of rain over the past two days, cutting off entire towns and stranding residents on roofs and the second floors of their homes, as rescuers struggle to access the area by boat or air.Minns apologized to people who had to wait for several hours for rescue crews, but assured that efforts had been ramped up with 2,500 emergency services personnel being deployed.Twenty-two people had been rescued by helicopter, including 18 winched from flooded homes and roads, and four rescued from a bridge, NSW Police said. The helicopters have been directing more boat rescues.Australia‘s Bureau of Meteorology forecast that some areas could receive up to 8 inches of rain through Friday, triggering life-threatening flash flooding, before the weather system is expected to weaken and track south toward Sydney.
Severe thunderstorms in the South and Plains threaten Memorial Day weekend travel-A spike in travel was recorded by the Transportation Security Administration this weekend, with over three million travelers screened on Friday.-AAA projects over 45 million travelers Memorial Day weekend-May 24, 2025, 1:38 PM EDT-By Mirna Alsharif and Christine Rapp
Severe weather may put a damper on Memorial Day weekend travel plans for millions across the South, Plains and Mississippi Valley.Around 13 million people from Texas to Alabama on Saturday are in the risk area, including Memphis, Tennessee; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Birmingham, Alabama; and Oklahoma City and Tulsa in Oklahoma. Very large hail and damaging wind are the primary expectation this weekend, though a tornado or two cannot be ruled out.On Saturday, a cluster of thunderstorms was impacting parts of southeast Oklahoma, northeast Texas and Arkansas, where a Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains until 4 p.m. E.T. Storms in this region will be capable of producing 70 mph winds and up to 2-inch hail.In Missouri, 1 to 3 inches of rainfall was reported as of 2 p.m., with some areas receiving over 5 inches.Conditions have become more favorable for a few tornadoes Saturday afternoon, especially over central Oklahoma. Storms will linger into the overnight hours.By Sunday, 15 million in the same vicinity are under the risk for severe weather. Memphis, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Birmingham are included in that risk for very large hail, damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes. The strongest storms are expected to target parts of the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.A Slight Risk for severe weather will remain over parts of Texas for Memorial Day, impacting nine million in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and bringing the same risks as the preceding days.This setup will also bring the risk for flash flooding to the region, with four million in parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas under Flood Alerts through Monday. Total rainfall accumulation will range from 4 to 6 inches with localized amounts ranging from 8 to 10 inches.Memorial Day Forecast-Rainy weather will impact the heart of the country for the holiday on Monday, with spotty showers stretching from the Dakotas to the Gulf and Southeast. A severe storm or two is anticipated over parts of the Lone Star State.As a result of the cloudy and wet weather, temperatures across the Plains and Mid-Atlantic on Monday will range from the 50s to 70s, about 10 to 20 degrees below average. A mix of sun and clouds will impact the Northeast, while the West stays sunny and mild.A spike in travel was recorded by the Transportation Security Administration this weekend, with over three million travelers screened on Friday. Friday was the third busiest travel day of all time, according to the TSA.Around three million people are expected to travel over this weekend, with airport authorities and airlines encouraging passengers to arrive to airports at least two hours in advance.
Mirna Alsharif-Mirna Alsharif is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
Heavy storms, tornadoes and 'tennis ball-sized hail' to hit the southern Plains-At least four suspected tornadoes barreled through Oklahoma and Nebraska on Monday evening, according to a preliminary National Weather Service report.May 20, 2025, 7:17 AM EDT / Updated May 20, 2025, 1:26 PM EDT-By Patrick Smith and Kathryn Prociv
Stormy weather Tuesday is expected to bring severe thunderstorms, flash flooding, potentially strong tornadoes and hurricane-force winds to the southern Plains and several Southeastern states.An enhanced warning covered almost all of Tennessee and Kentucky, affecting 13.6 million people, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.Isolated "tennis ball-sized" hail is possible in some places, and tornadoes could reach speeds of 95 mph, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center said.Another 23 million people are at a slight risk of severe weather, from Indianapolis to Atlanta.Memphis, Knoxville and Nashville in Tennessee; Lexington, Louisville and Paducah in Kentucky; Birmingham, Alabama; Indianapolis; Atlanta; and St. Louis are among the cities in the risk zone Tuesday. Twenty-eight people were confirmed dead following extreme weather over the weekend in the Lower Midwest and the South. More than 127,000 energy customers were without power Tuesday morning, including 48,000 in Missouri, according to PowerOutage.us.According to preliminary National Weather Service reports, at least five suspected tornadoes barreled through Oklahoma and Nebraska on Monday evening. However, there have so far been no reports of injuries or deaths.Since Thursday, there have been 115 tornadoes across the country, the second-most ever at this stage of the year.According to the National Weather Service field office in Boulder, two Colorado tornadoes in Bennett and the Elkhorn neighborhood were rated EF2 (111 to 135 mph).Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on X that while some storms may move through the area overnight, "the largest risk begins tomorrow in Western Kentucky at 11 a.m. CT, 12 noon ET." He told MSNBC on Monday that a tornado that hit the city of Somerset measured either EF3 or EF4, the second-highest rating."Where it hit directly, there’s nothing left of the homes but a 2-foot pile of rubble," Beshear said.He announced plans to evacuate parts of London and Somerset on Tuesday night, starting at 6 p.m., because of strong winds and resulting debris. Beshear did not specify which communities would be evacuated but said police will inform those in the areas to leave.Beshear added that he hopes to allow people to return home by 11 p.m., but he said the evacuation may be extended based on weather conditions.Drone photography of the area showed utter devastation and barely standing homes. Trailers were being set up in a nearby park to house displaced families.Officials said Monday that the cost to repair damage from a tornado Friday in St. Louis was estimated at more than $1 billion.On Wednesday, the risk for severe weather is much lower; however, some gusty thunderstorms may affect the mid-Atlantic and Southeast coasts.
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements (NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
JESUS SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3 PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD IS NOT MOCKED.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
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.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
JOEL 3:2 (YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF (HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION KILLED AS A RESULT)
02-I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
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:(CHLORES GREEN) 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,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
NAHUM 3:13
13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
DR DOCTORION-ANGEL OF THE MIDEAST
"The angel showed me that the United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.
FIRST ANGEL: ASIA
But the angel said: "Millions will die in China and in India. Nation will be against nation, brother against brother. Asians will fight each other. Nuclear weapons shall be used, killing millions."Twice I heard the words, "Catastrophic! Catastrophic!"Then the angel said, "Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world."I was trembling while the angel was speaking.
SECOND ANGEL: MIDDLE EAST
Then I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting.The second angel said: "Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the way to Iran."I saw those countries in a few split seconds."All of Turkey and those [inaudible] countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another."I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries. I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood. I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard these words:"Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come."
Latest round of US-Iran nuclear talks ends in Rome-by AFP Staff Writers.
Rome (AFP) May 23, 2025-Iran's foreign minister described nuclear talks with the United States as "complicated", following the conclusion of a fifth round of discussions in Rome on Friday.The talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during President Donald Trump's first term.Since returning to office, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of military action if diplomacy fails.Iran wants a new deal that would ease the sanctions which have battered its economy."The negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings," Iranian Foreign Minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi said, as the Oman-mediated talks concluded.A senior US official nonetheless described the talks as "constructive" and said the two sides agreed to meet again."The discussions were both direct and indirect, and lasted over two hours. The talks continue to be constructive -- we made further progress, but there is still work to be done," the official said.Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had said on X, that the fifth round concluded "with some but not conclusive progress", adding that he hoped "the remaining issues" would be clarified in the coming days.Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had earlier said that chief US negotiator Steve Witkoff had left the talks "due to his flight schedule".The fourth round of talks, in the Omani capital Muscat, ended with a public spat over enrichment.Witkoff said Washington "could not authorise even one percent" enrichment -- a position Tehran called a red line, citing its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.- 'Fundamental differences' -Ahead of Friday's talks, Araghchi said "fundamental differences" remained with the United States, while adding that Tehran was open to its nuclear sites undergoing more inspections."We will not have an agreement at all" if the United States wants to prevent Iran from enriching uranium, he said.The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the October expiry of the 2015 accord.The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aimed to allay Western suspicions that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has consistently denied.In return for curbs on its nuclear programme, Iran had received relief from international sanctions. But the accord was torpedoed in 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions.A year later, Iran responded by ramping up its nuclear activities.It is now enriching uranium to 60 percent -- far above the deal's 3.67 percent cap but below, though close to, the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear warhead.- 'It's quite simple' -Analysts in Tehran said Iran was unlikely to back down."It's quite simple; if the US expects Iran to halt nuclear enrichment, then there can't be a deal," said Mohammad Marandi, a political scientist who was once an adviser on the nuclear issue.The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says the country's nuclear industry employs 17,000 people, similar to other countries where uranium is enriched for civilian use."The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Brazil and Japan enrich (uranium) without possessing nuclear weapons," its spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said.Iran's enmity with Israel, whose main backer is the United States, has been a constant backdrop to the talks.In a letter to the United Nations, Araghchi wrote: "We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the US government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility."The warning came after CNN, citing unnamed US officials, reported Israel was making preparations to carry out such a strike.The White House said Trump had a "productive discussion" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about Iran and the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington.- 'Irreversible' -Friday's talks take place before an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna in June during which Iran's nuclear activities will be reviewed.The 2015 deal provides for the possibility of UN sanctions being reimposed through a mechanism called "snapback" if Iran fails to fulfil its commitments.The agreement's three European parties -- Britain, France and Germany -- have warned they will trigger the mechanism if the continent's security is threatened.Araghchi said such a move would have "consequences -- not only the end of Europe's role in the agreement, but also an escalation of tensions that could become irreversible".
Russia strikes Kyiv after first stage of major prisoner swap-By Florent VERGNES, Daria ANDRIIEVSKA.
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) May 24, 2025-A massive Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv Saturday wounded at least 15 people, just as Russia and Ukraine were in the middle of a major prisoner swap.Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 14 ballistic missiles and 250 attack drones overnight, adding that it downed six missiles and 245 drones.Kyiv was "the main target of the enemy attack", the air force said in a statement."With each such attack, the world becomes more certain that the cause of prolonging the war lies in Moscow," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X."Only additional sanctions targeting key sectors of the Russian economy will force Moscow to cease fire," he said.Kyiv city officials reported fires and fallen debris in several parts of the Ukrainian capital, after AFP journalists heard explosions overnight.The police said 15 people were injured in Kyiv itself and two more in the surrounding region.Officials said five civilians were killed by Russian strikes in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.The Russian military meanwhile said Ukraine had targeted it with 788 drones and missiles since Tuesday.Dozens of drones targeting Moscow have been shot down over the past week.The attack on Kyiv came hours after Russia and Ukraine completed the first stage of a prisoner exchange agreed at talks last week in Istanbul which, if completed, would be the biggest swap since the start of the conflict.Both sides received 390 people in the first stage and are expected to exchange 1,000 each in total.Russia has signalled it will send Ukraine its terms for a peace settlement after the swap, which is set to continue over the weekend -- without saying what those terms would be.- 'First stage' -The two enemies have held regular prisoner swaps since Russia launched its 2022 offensive -- but none have been on this scale.An AFP reporter saw some of the formerly captive Ukrainian soldiers arrive at a hospital in the northern Chernigiv region, emaciated but smiling and waving to crowds waiting outside.After they stepped off the bus, tearful relatives rushed to embrace the soldiers while others held pictures of their loved ones, hoping to find out if they had been seen in captivity.Many of the soldiers were draped in bright yellow and blue Ukrainian flags."The first stage of the '1,000-for-1,000' exchange agreement has been carried out," Zelensky said.Russia said it had received 270 Russian troops and 120 civilians, including some from parts of its Kursk region captured and held by Kyiv for months.The two sides have not yet revealed the identities of those exchanged.US President Donald Trump earlier congratulated the two countries for the swap."This could lead to something big???" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.Trump's efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe's biggest conflict since World War II have so far been unsuccessful, despite his pledge to rapidly end the fighting.One of the soldiers formerly held captive, 58-year-old Viktor Syvak, told AFP it was hard to put words to his emotional homecoming.Captured in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, he had been held for 37 months and 12 days."I didn't expect such a welcome. It's impossible to describe. I can't put it into words. It's very joyful," he said.- Diplomatic push -After more than three years of fighting, thousands of POWs are held in both countries.Russia is believed to have the larger share, with the number of Ukrainian captives held by Moscow estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000.Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stepped up a gear in recent weeks, but the Kremlin has shown no sign it has walked back its maximalist demands for ending the fighting.Russian President Vladimir Putin has defied European pressure for a full and unconditional truce in Ukraine, pressing on with its offensive, which has left tens of thousands dead.bur-dt/jhb
North Korea fires multiple unidentified cruise missiles: Seoul military-by AFP Staff Writers.
Seoul (AFP) May 22, 2025-North Korea fired "multiple unidentified cruise missiles" on Thursday, Seoul's military said, hours after Pyongyang announced that a major accident occurred at a launch ceremony for its new naval destroyer.The missiles were detected near North Korea's South Hamgyong province after being "fired toward the East Sea", South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
South Korea says concerned by China's 'no-sail zone' in overlapping waters-by AFP Staff Writers.
Seoul (AFP) May 24, 2025-South Korea has voiced concerns to China over its establishment of a "no-sail zone" in a shared area of the Yellow Sea, Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday.The US outlet Newsweek reported Wednesday that China had barred ships from entering certain parts of the Yellow Sea, located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula.According to Newsweek, a regional branch of China's Maritime Safety Administration declared the no-sail zone in parts of the sea's Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) -- a shared area where the two countries' exclusive economic zones overlap -- until May 27.The MSA did not provide a reason, according to Newsweek, but South Korean media reported it was for "military training purposes", citing the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency.Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday that both countries were allowed to conduct military drills in the shared zone, but that "China's establishment of a no-sail zone within the PMZ that excessively restricts freedom of navigation raises concerns".Accordingly, Seoul has "conveyed such concerns to the Chinese side through diplomatic channels", it added.The ministry also noted it was coordinating with other agencies, including the defence ministry, to "assess whether China's recent measure is in accordance with international maritime law".According to Newsweek, Beijing has also installed three structures which it claims are "aquaculture facilities".Some South Korean media outlets have suggested that these actions within the PMZ could be "grey zone" tactics, deliberately ambiguous moves aimed at expanding China's maritime jurisdiction.
Growing Arctic military presence worries Finland's reindeer herders-By Anna KORKMAN.
Rovaniemi, Finland (AFP) May 24, 2025-A fighter jet roaring through the grey sky breaks the tranquillity of a boreal forest in northern Finland, one more sign of a growing military presence that is challenging the ability of reindeer herders to exercise their livelihood."Military activity has increased massively here since Finland joined NATO," reindeer herder Kyosti Uutela said on a tour in Rovajarvi, the largest artillery practice range in western Europe, on a day when no ground exercises were underway.Located 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Russian border, Rovajarvi covers an area of 1,070 square kilometres on land that also makes up part of the reindeer husbandry district that Uutela heads.Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, dropped decades of military non-alignment to join NATO in 2023 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.And in 2024, a defence cooperation agreement between the United States and Finland came into force."Training activities and exercises have increased since the beginning of the war in Ukraine" because of the worsened security situation, the Finnish Defence Forces told AFP in a statement."This is naturally also reflected in Rovajarvi," it said, saying the firing range provided unique training possibilities for international troops thanks to its size, terrain and seasonal changes.Last year, Finland participated in 103 military exercises at home and abroad, up from 89 in 2023.- 'Radical increase' -Ascending a small hill where the forest has been clear-cut and trenches dug for training purposes, Uutela said the spot "had been lost" as a grazing ground."The use of heavy army tanks and the presence of thousands of soldiers in the forest destroy the lichen pastures," Uutela said, referring to the reindeer's main source of food."Reindeer will not be able to live here anymore," he said.Finland has 4,305 reindeer owners and around 184,000 reindeer, living in 57 reindeer husbandry districts that cover 36 percent of the country's total area.A part of them belong to the indigenous Sami population that lives in Sapmi, which straddles northern regions of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia.The non-Sami people such as Uutela who also practise reindeer husbandry include herders living near the Rovajarvi range, outside the Sapmi homeland.Full-time herders sell reindeer meat, pelts and handicrafts as their main source of income, and husbandry has been an integral part of the indigenous Sami culture for generations.Riikka Poropudas, another herder in Rovajarvi, said the military presence in the area had increased "radically" since Finland's NATO accession, forcing herders to feed their reindeer in fenced areas more often than before.Finland's Defence Forces said the needs of reindeer husbandry were "taken into account in the planning of exercises, for example in terms of the times and locations", adding that they were in daily contact with Rovajarvi herders.But Poropudas worries that a large live-fire and combat exercise involving around 6,500 soldiers from Finland, Sweden and Britain this month would disturb her reindeer.The calving season is at its busiest in mid-May."The activities stress both female reindeer and newborn calves, and drive them away from their natural pastures," she said.- Indigenous rights -Tuomas Aslak Juuso, acting president of the Sami parliament in Finland, said climate change and land use changes -- including the militarisation of the Arctic -- posed special challenges for the roughly 1,200 Sami reindeer herders in Finland."Our way of reindeer husbandry depends fully on the herding model and the reindeer being able to graze freely on natural pasture lands," he said.But the effects of climate change on winter conditions already mean that herders increasingly have to provide their reindeer with supplementary feed "in order to avoid mass deaths".A large international military exercise conducted in Finnish Sapmi in 2023 had been "quite a negative experience for the Sami people", Juuso said."The local reindeer herders had not been informed beforehand, grazing conditions for that spring were damaged and tractors damaged the lichen cover, which may never grow back," he said."When these things are planned, there should be early consultation with the Sami and responsibility for damage and harm."
Uganda 'suspends' military cooperation with Germany: army.
Nairobi, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2025-Uganda has "suspended" all military cooperation with Germany, its army spokesperson said Sunday, claiming the German ambassador is "engaged in subversive activities" in the east African country.The escalation follows another army statement on Friday, which alleged some European diplomatic missions had been supporting "negative and traitorous groups" opposed to the government, also singling out German ambassador Mathias Schauer.It also comes as Uganda faces increasing international condemnation over its treatment of the opposition."The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) has with immediate effect suspended all ongoing defence and military cooperation activities with the Federal Republic of Germany," said army spokesman Chris Magezi on X.Magezi said the move was in response to "credible intelligence reports that current German Ambassador to Uganda His Excellency Mathias Schauer is actively engaged in subversive activities in the country".Magezi said that the suspension will "remain in force until the full resolution of the matter of the Ambassador's involvement with hostile pseudo political-military forces operating in the country against the Ugandan government".He did not give further details, but confirmed to AFP that "the decision has been taken".The German embassy in Uganda has not publicly commented.Human rights groups say Uganda has accelerated its crackdown on opponents and dissidents as they prepare for presidential elections in the next seven months.The president's son and heir-apparent, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has frequently threatened members of the opposition, recently claiming to have abducted the bodyguard of the country's main opposition leader and to be torturing him in his basement.Local media reported on a recent meeting between European diplomats, including Schauer, and President Yoweri Museveni's brother.During the meeting, Schauer reportedly criticised the colourful social media posts frequently made by Kainerugaba, who is also the head of the Ugandan army.It is unclear at this stage what impact the move to suspend military cooperation might have.Germany and Uganda have long-standing ties, with the German embassy characterising the relationship as one of "stability and trust" on its website.Schauer has served as the European nation's ambassador since 2020.Bilateral trade between the two last year was worth roughly $335 million, according to the German embassy, noting that Uganda mainly imported "machinery and chemical products".
Indonesia, China agree to bolster ties ahead of ASEAN summit.
Jakarta, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2025-Chinese Premier Li Qiang warned on Sunday that the rise of "unilateralism and protectionism" could threaten the global economic and trade order, as he reaffirmed Beijing's ties with Jakarta on Sunday during his visit to Indonesia ahead of a regional summit in Kuala Lumpur."Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise globally, posing a serious threat to international economic and trade order," Li told Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday, according to Xinhua state news agency."In the face of these risks, unity and cooperation are the only viable path forward."Beijing and Jakarta are key economic allies, with Chinese companies pouring capital into extracting Indonesian natural resources in recent years, particularly in the nickel sector.But the two countries' disputed claims into the strategic waterways of the South China Sea and its nearby territories have weighed on their relationship in recent years.Li said Beijing was keen to further advance cooperation with Southeast Asia's largest economy."China is ready to work with Indonesia and other developing countries to... uphold multilateralism and free trade, and advance a multipolar world and inclusive globalisation," Li said.Prabowo also lauded Indonesia's "close and good" friendship with China."Indonesia is ready to create a safe and prosperous region. Indonesia is ready to strengthen cooperation with China for us to create a peaceful region, which is safe for all," the Indonesian leader said.Prabowo and Li oversaw the signings of several agreements, pledging closer cooperation in areas including economic development and finance.The presidential palace later announced that eight other agreements were signed in sectors covering tourism, health, investment and media.The Chinese premier is headed next to Malaysia for an ASEAN summit between members of the 10-country bloc, China and oil-producing countries.Prabowo had visited Beijing last year, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping told him that he hoped for a "new chapter" in bilateral relations.The two countries have in the past sparred verbally over disputed claims in the South China Sea -- which China claims almost entirely.Beijing has for years sought to expand its presence in the contested waters, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim has no legal basis.Chinese vessels have occasionally entered Indonesia-claimed areas of the North Natuna Sea at the southern edge of the South China Sea, drawing protests from Jakarta.In October, Indonesia said it drove Chinese coast guard ships from contested waters in the South China Sea on three separate occasions.
12 killed as Russia pummels Ukraine with biggest ever drone attack.
Kyiv, Ukraine, May 25 (AFP) May-Russia launched a record number of drones against Ukraine and killed 12 people across the country, officials said on Sunday, even as Kyiv and Moscow completed their biggest prisoner exchange since the start of the war.Ukraine's emergency services described a night of "terror" as Russia launched a second straight night of massive air strikes, including on the capital Kyiv.The attacks came even as the two countries completed their biggest prisoner swap since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with 1,000 captured soldiers and civilian prisoners exchanged by each side.The death toll from the latest Russian strikes included two children, aged eight and 12, and a 17-year-old, killed in the northwestern region of Zhytomyr, officials said.Their school named the dead children as Roman, Tamara and Stanislav in a post on Facebook, saying: "Their memory will always be with us. We will never forgive"."Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media."The silence of America, the silence of others around the world only encourages Putin," he said, adding: "Sanctions will certainly help."The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called for "the strongest international pressure on Russia to stop this war"."Last night's attacks again show Russia bent on more suffering and the annihilation of Ukraine. Devastating to see children among innocent victims harmed and killed," she said on social media.The renewed strikes came after Russia launched 14 ballistic missiles and 250 drones overnight Friday to Saturday, which wounded 15, according to Ukrainian officials.Ukraine's military said on Sunday it had shot down a total of 45 Russian missiles and 266 attack drones overnight.Air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said a total of 298 drones were launched, adding that this was "the highest number ever".Four people were also reported dead in Ukraine's western Khmelnytskyi region, four in the Kyiv region, and one in Mykolaiv in the south.Emergency services said 16 people were also injured in the Kyiv region, including three children, in the "massive night attack"."We saw the whole street was on fire," a 65-year-old retired woman, Tetiana Iankovska, told AFP in Markhalivka village just southwest of Kyiv.Another retiree who survived the strikes, Oleskandr, 64, said he had no faith in talks around a ceasefire."We don't need talks, but weapons, a lot of weapons to stop them (the Russians). Because Russia understands only force, nothing else," he said.Russia meanwhile said its strikes were aimed at Ukraine's "military-industrial complex" and said it had brought down 110 Ukrainian drones.Flights at Moscow airports were disrupted because of temporary closures due to Ukrainian drone activity but no injuries were reported, officials said.- Major prisoner exchange -Russia also said Sunday it had exchanged another 303 Ukrainian prisoners of war for the same number of Russian soldiers held by Kyiv -- the last phase of the prisoner swap agreed during talks between the two sides in Istanbul on May 16.Russia and Ukraine had over three days "carried out the exchange of 1,000 people for 1,000 people", the defence ministry said.Zelensky confirmed the swap was complete.Both sides received 390 people in the first stage on Friday and 307 in the second stage on Saturday.- Diplomatic push -US President Donald Trump on Friday congratulated the two countries for the swap."This could lead to something big," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.Trump's efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe's biggest conflict since World War II have so far been unsuccessful, despite his pledge to rapidly end the fighting.An AFP reporter saw some of the formerly captive Ukrainian soldiers arrive at a hospital in the northern Chernigiv region, emaciated but smiling and waving to crowds waiting outside."It's simply crazy. Crazy feelings," 31-year-old Konstantin Steblev, a soldier, told AFP Friday as he stepped back onto Ukrainian soil after three years in captivity.One of the soldiers formerly held captive, 58-year-old Viktor Syvak, told AFP it was hard to express his emotional homecoming.Captured in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, he had been held for 37 months and 12 days."It's impossible to describe. I can't put it into words. It's very joyful," he said.
Pakistan, India extend airspace ban on each other.
Karachi, May 23 (AFP) May 23, 2025-Pakistan and India's aviation authorities said on Friday they would extend an airspace ban on each other's airlines, after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades.It comes a month after the deadly April 22 attack on Indian tourists in Kashmir, which sparked a four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan.More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire until a ceasefire was announced on May 10.Pakistan had closed its airspace to Indian aircraft on April 24, while India took a similar measure days later, with the ban to last until May 23."No flight operated by Indian airlines or operators will be allowed to use Pakistani airspace," Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement, adding that the ban had been extended until early morning on June 24."This ban will also apply to Indian military aircraft."India's Ministry of Civil Aviation returned in kind, saying it "extends (Notice to Airmen) for Pakistan flights for one month", until June 23.Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both countries, which have fought multiple wars over the Himalayan territory since their 1947 independence from Britain.Pakistan's decision to close its airspace to carriers from its neighbour has seen journeys from India to Central Asia, Europe and North America take up to two hours longer.And the extra flying time may eventually make flights more expensive.Indian government data shows that when Islamabad closed its airspace in 2019 -- after New Delhi hit it with airstrikes in response to an attack in Kashmir -- domestic airlines saw a financial cost of nearly 5.5 billion rupees ($64.3 million) during the nearly five-month-long shutdown.
Air raid sirens in Jerusalem as army says intercepts Yemen missile.
Jerusalem, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2025-The Israeli army said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Sunday, shortly after air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem, according to AFP journalists."Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted," the army said in a statement.Israel's rescue service, the Magen David Adom (MDA), said there were no reports of injuries related to the launch.Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels later claimed the attack, saying the projectile had targeted Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv.The Israeli military reported shooting down two missiles launched from Yemen on Thursday, with the MDA reporting at least one person injured while seeking shelter from the first.The Yemeni group has repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel.The rebels, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians, paused their attacks during a two-month Gaza ceasefire that ended in March, but resumed them after Israel restarted its campaign in coastal territory.The Huthis recently warned they would impose a "naval blockade" on the Israeli port of Haifa after the country's military intensified its offensive in Gaza.
Turkey, PKK must both change for peace: former militant.
Diyarbakir, Turkey, May 25 (AFP)-"When you try and explain peace to people, there is a very serious lack of trust," said Yuksel Genc, a former fighter with the PKK, which recently ended its decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state.Talking over a glass of tea in a square in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, this 50-year-old former fighter with long auburn curls is worried about how the nascent rapprochement between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will play out."The guerillas are sincere, but they don't think the state is," said Genc, her words briefly interrupted by the roar of a fighter jet flying overhead."They think the government does not trust them."For years, she was a fighter with the Kurdish rebel group, which on May 12 said it would disarm and disband, ending a four-decade armed struggle against the Turkish state that cost more than 40,000 lives.The historic move came in response to an appeal by its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan, arrested in 1999 and serving life in solitary ever since on a prison island near Istanbul.Genc herself joined the militants in 1995 when she was a 20-year-old university student in Istanbul."At that time, many Kurdish villages were being burnt down, and we were constantly hearing about villages being evacuated, people being displaced and unsolved murders," she said.She described it as "a time of terrible repression"."You felt trapped, as if there was no other way than to join the guerrillas," she said.- After arrest, Ocalan urged calm -Four years later, after years in exile, Ocalan was snatched by Turkish commandos in a Hollywood-style operation in Nairobi."Ocalan's capture provoked a deep sense of rage among the guerrillas, who feared it would mean the Kurdish cause would be destroyed," she said.But it was Ocalan himself who called for calm and insisted it was time for the Kurdish question to be resolved democratically. He urged his followers to go to Turkey, hand over their weapons and seek dialogue."He thought our arrival would symbolise (the PKK's) goodwill, and persuade the state to negotiate."Genc was part of the first so-called "groups for peace and a democratic solution" -- a group of three women and five men who arrived in Turkey on October 1, 1999 on what they knew would be a "sacrificial" mission.After a long march through the mountains, they arrived in the southeastern village of Semdinli under the watchful eye of "thousands" of Turkish soldiers huddled behind rocks.Handing over their weapons, they were transferred to the city of Van 200 kilometres (140 miles) to the north where they were arrested.Genc spent the next nearly six years behind bars."For us, these peace groups were a mission," she said. "The solution had to come through dialogue."- 'Peace work has a cost' -After getting out, she continued to struggle for Kurdish rights, swapping her gun for a pen to become a journalist and researcher for the Sosyo Politik think tank.Even so, her writing earned her another three-and-a-half years behind bars."Working for peace in Turkey has a cost," she said with a shrug.When Recep Tayyip Erdogan became prime minister in 2003, there was hope for a new breakthrough. But several attempts to reach an agreement went nowhere -- until now."Like in 1999, the PKK is moving towards a non-violent struggle," she said."But laying down arms is not the end of the story. It is preparing to become a political organisation."Resolving the decades-long conflict requires a change on both sides however, said Genc."It essentially involves a mutual transformation," she argued."It is impossible for the state to stick with its old ways without transforming, while trying to resolve a problem as old and divisive as the Kurdish question."- 'Ocean of insecurity' -Despite the recent opening, Genc does not speak of hope."Life has taught us to be realistic: years of experience have generated an ocean of insecurity," she said."(PKK fighters) have shown their courage by saying they will lay down their weapons without being defeated. But they haven't seen any concrete results."So far, the government, which initiated the process last autumn, has not taken any steps nor made any promises, she pointed out."Why haven't the sick prisoners been released? And those who have served their sentences -- why aren't they benefiting from the climate of peace?"And Ocalan, she said, was still being held in solitary despite promises of a change in his situation.The number of people jailed for being PKK members or close to the group has never been revealed by the Turkish authorities."The fact that Ocalan is still not in a position to be able to lead this process towards a democratic solution is a major drawback from the militants' point of view," she said."Even our daily life remains totally shaped by security constraints across the region with the presence of the army, the roadblocks -- all that has to change."
Japan shows off futuristic 'railgun' at defence expo-by AFP Staff Writers.
Makuhari, Japan (AFP) May 22, 2025-As Japan's biggest defence exhibition kicked off this week, visitors got a close-up look at a model of its futuristic "railgun" that its makers hope will be able to shoot down hypersonic missiles.Instead of gunpowder, railgun technology uses electromagnetic energy to fire a projectile along a set of rails at ultra-high velocity.The round will then in theory destroy the target, which could be an enemy ship, drone or incoming ballistic missile, solely with its vast kinetic energy.Other countries, including the United States, China, France and Germany, are also developing the technology, but Japan's navy last year claimed a world first by test-firing a railgun on a ship."A railgun is a gun of the future that fires bullets with electrical energy, unlike conventional artillery," an official from the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) within Japan's Ministry of Defence told AFP."It is expected that threats that can only be dealt with by railguns will emerge in the future," said the official, who did not want to be named.The three-day DSEI Japan Conference defence fair, which began on Wednesday, comes as Japan adopts a more assertive defence policy and looks to sell more military equipment to other countries.In particular, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Germany's Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS) are competing for a major contract to supply the Australian navy with new warships.Winning the multi-billion-dollar Project Sea 3000 contract to supply Australia with Mogami-class frigates would be Japan's largest postwar military export order, according to Japanese media.ap-stu/lb
IDF aims to capture 75% of Gaza Strip in 2 months in new offensive against Hamas-Palestinians to be pushed into three small zones, as new aid delivery mechanism set to start Monday; military says no change to collateral damage policy in airstrikes By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 8:00 pm-MAY 25,25
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that it aims to occupy 75 percent of the Gaza Strip’s territory within two months as part of its new offensive against the Hamas terror group.Israel on March 18 resumed its attacks against Hamas with a surprise wave of airstrikes, ending a two-month ceasefire. The IDF has since deployed five divisions to the Strip — amounting to tens of thousands of troops — and is poised to launch a wide-scale ground offensive aimed at defeating Hamas’s military wing and its civil rule in Gaza, should the terror group not agree to release the hostages it is holding.When the major ground offensive is launched, the Palestinian population will be pushed into three small zones in Gaza: a new “safer zone” in the Mawasi area on the southern Strip’s coast, where Israel previously declared a “humanitarian zone”; a strip of land in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat, where the IDF has not operated with ground forces; and the center of Gaza City, to which many Palestinians returned during the ceasefire earlier this year.According to the IDF’s current estimates, some 700,000 Palestinians are residing in the Mawasi area, 300,000-350,000 are in central Gaza, and around one million are in Gaza City.This means that Gaza’s 2 million population will be pushed into an area amounting to just 25% of the Strip when the IDF launches its expanded ground operation.The IDF will then capture, clear of Hamas infrastructure, raze most buildings, and hold for the foreseeable future the rest of Gaza, including all of Rafah, Khan Younis, and the towns north of Gaza City.According to the IDF’s plans, which were seen by The Times of Israel, it should take just two months to capture 75% of Gaza from the moment the operation goes ahead. Currently, the military is in control of about 40% of the Strip’s territory.Military officials have said that the IDF is shifting its focus away from trying to eliminate as many terror operatives as possible — which had been the focus from the beginning of the war — and instead is centering on capturing territory and destroying Hamas’s infrastructure.The terror group constructed in Gaza an estimated 900 kilometers (559 miles) of tunnels, yet so far, only 25% of them have been destroyed, according to the military. The IDF has argued that its main focus has been on Hamas’s attack tunnels and those used as command centers or for weapons manufacturing — the majority of which have been destroyed — rather than the numerous tunnels that the terror group uses to move around the Strip.The army believes that Hamas can indeed be defeated by destroying its military wing — including all of its infrastructure — along with targeting its civil rule, capturing the territory, and preventing it from controlling the humanitarian aid entering Gaza.Defeating Hamas would enable the release of the remaining 58 hostages the terror group is holding — just 20 of whom are believed to be alive — the IDF has argued.Still, Israeli political officials have not held any meaningful discussion on who would run Gaza “the day after” Hamas.On Sunday, during a visit to Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said the fighting against Hamas was “not an endless war.”“We are intensifying our activity in accordance with the orderly plan. Hamas is under tremendous pressure; it has lost most of its assets and its command and control,” Zamir said during a tour of Khan Younis with Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor.The IDF has said that the aid entering Gaza before the collapse of the ceasefire was being used by Hamas to stay in power. Much of the aid would be captured by the terror group, and it would either use the consignments of supplies itself or sell them to the population at increased prices, to pay for the salaries of its operatives and to recruit more members.Hamas has been struggling to pay salaries in the past few months, according to the IDF, since Israel halted the entry of aid on March 2, after the first phase of the latest ceasefire and hostage release deal concluded.A new humanitarian aid delivery mechanism is set to start operations on Monday morning, though it has come under criticism and skepticism from aid groups.The IDF has helped set up four aid distribution hubs in Gaza for the mechanism, which will be operated entirely by a private American security company, while the military provides the outer layer of security.Three of the sites are in the Rafah area, which will serve those in Mawasi and possibly also those in central Gaza; and a fourth site is in the Netzarim Corridor area of central Gaza, for Palestinians in Gaza City or those in the northern portion of central Gaza.A representative of a Palestinian family will come to the distribution hub and collect a five-day supply of food from the American company. The IDF expects that each hub can serve 300,000 people per week. Aid trucks carrying supplies for hospitals and flour for bakeries would continue to be sent into Gaza for the time being.No change in collateral damage policy, IDF says-The military said Sunday that since the resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip, it had struck over 2,900 targets, killing at least 800 terror operatives, among them some 50 senior officials and mid-level commanders, and over a dozen terrorists who participated in the October 7 onslaught.The numbers refer to terror operatives whose deaths have been confirmed by name and ID number, though the military estimates that many more have been killed.Hamas claims that over 3,785 Palestinians have been killed in that time. The figure has not been verified and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.The IDF said there have been no recent changes to its airstrike policy, including what sort of collateral damage and how many civilian casualties are permissible during operations in Gaza.According to the IDF, there has also been no change to the amount of collateral damage in strikes in practice, and the combatant-to-civilian deaths ratio has remained relatively the same throughout the war, with two to three civilians killed for every dead Hamas terror operative.The military said that it is working to minimize the number of civilian casualties, and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on Octobe
IDF chief Zamir, in Gaza, says battle against Hamas ‘not an endless war’-Maj. Gen. David Zini, Netanyahu’s pick to be next Shin Bet chief, had reportedly told military colleagues he’s ‘against hostage deals. This is an eternal war.’By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 7:50 pm-MAY 25,25
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Sunday, during a visit to the Gaza Strip, that the fighting against the Hamas terror group there is “not an endless war.”“We are intensifying our activity in accordance with the orderly plan. Hamas is under tremendous pressure; it has lost most of its assets and its command and control,” Zamir said during a tour of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, alongside Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor.“We will activate all of our tools so that we can return the hostages home, defeat Hamas, and dismantle its rule,” he continued, according to an Israel Defense Forces statement.“This is not an endless war,” he said, “we will act to shorten it per the fulfillment of its objectives.”“We seek to achieve a decisive victory, and we will do so with determination, thoroughness, and while ensuring the safety of our forces,” Zamir added.Zamir’s remark came after it was reported on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nominee for Shin Bet head, Maj. Gen. David Zini, had told colleagues in the military: “I’m against hostage deals. This is an eternal war.Zamir dismissed Zini from the military on Friday, after the latter held talks with Netanyahu behind the IDF chief of staff’s back — though the military later said that Zini “was not dismissed from the IDF,” but rather “agreed that he would retire.”Channel 12 reported Saturday that Zini criticized Zamir’s predecessor Herzi Halevi several months ago over his stance on the hostage issue, saying, “You prioritize the return of the hostages over destroying Hamas.”Alongside that comment, the network reported that several senior military sources, speaking off the record, said they heard that Zini has made repeated comments against deals for the return of the hostages.Netanyahu on Sunday denied allegations that last year, he refused to appoint Zini as his military secretary due to him being “too messianic.”It is still uncertain whether Zini will ultimately be appointed Shin Bet chief, owing to the legal problems over Netanyahu’s involvement in the process, following the High Court of Justice’s determination that he had a conflict of interest in firing the security agency’s outgoing head, Ronen Bar.Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
Capital braces for skirmishes ahead of nationalist Flag March-National religious youth set to throng the Old City’s Muslim Quarter in annual Jerusalem Day parade to the Western Wall-By Charlie Summers Today, 6:32 pm-MAY 25,25
Police were gearing up for friction ahead of the annual Jerusalem Day Flag March on Monday, which will see thousands of national religious Israelis parade through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter toward the Western Wall.Thousands of officers and border guards will be deployed in Jerusalem on the holiday, which marks the reunification of the city in the 1967 Six Day War.Extremist Jewish youth attending the Flag March have been known to harass and beat Palestinians during the procession, especially as it enters the Old City through the Muslim Quarter’s Damascus Gate.Flag March organizer Meir Indor told The Times of Israel that the procession will be led by families of terror attack victims alongside members of the hawkish Tikva Forum, a group of hostages’ family members who believe that only continuing the war will free their loved ones.He said that several government ministers will give speeches before the march kicks off, but declined to name them.Last year’s Flag March opened with a speech from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir outside the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem. Organizers handed out stickers — soon plastered throughout the Old City — depicting the far-right leader holding an Israeli flag with the slogan: “Flying the flag with power.”Revelers will march under the slogan “from victory to victory,” Indor added, linking Israel’s past triumph in the Six Day War to the ongoing offensive in Gaza.The parade will take its usual route, with marchers setting out from the Jerusalem Great Synagogue at around 4 p.m, continuing into the Old City via Damascus Gate, and ending at the Western Wall.An alternative route for women will begin on Bezalel Street and skirt the Muslim Quarter, snaking around the perimeter of the Old City’s southern wall.To make way for the marchers, police will close several roads to traffic, including the main thoroughfare between West and East Jerusalem.Police said in a Sunday afternoon statement that they would “work to prevent all forms of violence or provocation.” They further called on participants and the wider public to “refrain from physical or verbal violence, and allow the event to proceed peacefully and lawfully.”Last year’s march saw several attacks on Palestinians and journalists by marchers, who chanted anti-Arab refrains and plastered stickers on shuttered shops supporting the ideology of the late ultranationalist rabbi Meir Kahane and calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.Officers arrested 18 people for violent offenses over the course of the day.In addition to the crowds of national religious youth expected to parade through the Old City, a cadre of left-wing activists with the organization Standing Together will show up as part of a “humanitarian guard” attempting to ward off any violence from marchers and police.The initiative was first launched last year with around 20 people. This year, organizer Suf Patishi expects the initiative to draw at least 50 volunteer activists early Monday morning to Jerusalem, where they will don purple vests and attempt to de-escalate potentially violent situations.Also on the morning of the march, volunteers with the Tag Meir coexistence group will hand out flowers to Palestinian shopkeepers and residents of the Old City.The yearly “Flower March” aims to express “hope and the desire for a shared future” between Israelis and Palestinians, the group said in a statement.Also slated to take place in parallel with the Flag March is the alternative “Yellow Flags March” in support of a hostage deal, organized by several hostage and anti-government activist groups, chief among them the Jerusalem-based Safeguarding our Shared Home.The march will take place entirely in West Jerusalem, beginning at 5 p.m. outside the Israel Museum and culminating outside the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Activists from the Safeguarding our Shared Home also plan to hand out flyers to national religious youth ahead of their march into the Old City, urging them to refrain from violence and restore the event to its former values of “unity and mutual respect.”Eyal Gur, one of the movement’s activists, said the group will hand out the flyers out of “deep love for Jerusalem and genuine care for the youth marching through it.”Last week, the organization sent out a letter to national religious movements and schools bringing students to the event, warning against violent behavior amid widespread concern that the march has increasingly come to represent a “sectarian show of force” against Muslim, Christian and Armenian residents of the Old City.
Rights group accuses Qatar of decades of ‘intimidation’ against Baha’i minority-Human Rights Watch says discrimination and abuse has gone on for decades, posing a threat to existence of community in the Gulf state-By AFP Today, 2:44 pm-MAY 25,25
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Human Rights Watch on Sunday accused Qatar of discriminating against the Baha’i religious minority, citing arbitrary detentions and warning of a threat to the community’s survival in the Gulf state.“The Baha’i community of Qatar has endured decades of government discrimination and intimidation, and authorities have consistently ignored community leaders’ repeated efforts to engage the government in dialogue and seek redress,” said Michael Page, HRW’s deputy Middle East director.“This state-sponsored discrimination poses a threat to the very existence of the Baha’i community of Qatar,” he said in a statement.The Baha’i faith, whose global headquarters is in Israel, claims more than seven million followers worldwide.It is based on the teachings of Bahaullah, who was born in Iran in 1817 and is considered the prophet and founder of their monotheistic faith.Between 2003 and 2025, Qatar “deported as many as 14 members of the group for no apparent reason other than individuals belonging to the Baha’i faith,” HRW said.It cited the case of an Iranian Baha’i born in Qatar who was forced to leave in March 2025 under threat of expulsion for “disrupting public order,” without a written explanation.The New York-based rights group also mentioned Remy Rowhani, arrested and detained on April 28 over posts from an X account linked to the Baha’i community, under Qatar’s cybercrime law.Rowhani, chair of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Qatar, had already been released in January 2025 after serving a one-month prison sentence, HRW added.The group said Baha’is had also faced job rejections and the denial of official documents.
NYT: US-registered Gaza aid group is ‘brainchild’ of Israelis, its funding is unclear-Gaza Humanitarian Foundation formed by businessmen, reservists with links to government; Haaretz: Key Israeli defense bodies bypassed in selection of security firm as contractor-By ToI Staff Today, 1:32 pm-MAY 25,25,25
A Gaza aid delivery project described as neutral and run by American contractors was conceived by several Israelis, including businessmen with close links to the government, raising concerns over transparency and neutrality, The New York Times reported Saturday.The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is a US- and Israel-backed aid organization that was established to manage a new model for distributing humanitarian aid in the Strip in a manner that does not allow its diversion by Hamas.It was built in close coordination with Israel amid mounting mistrust between Jerusalem and UN-backed aid groups that have been operating in the Strip to date, but the organization and US officials have maintained that it is an independent and neutral body.However, the NYT report revealed that the project wasn’t simply built in coordination with Israel, but is “an Israeli brainchild.”The idea was first proposed in late 2023 at “private meetings of like-minded officials, military officers and business people with close ties to the Israeli government” who believed the government lacked a long-term Gaza strategy, the report said.The report posited that the “project’s genesis” occurred when “hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians rejoined the military as reservists, many of them reaching positions of influence,” following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks.This created “a huge cohort of Israelis with one foot in the military and another in civilian life, blurring the boundary between the two worlds.”The group’s central idea was to bypass traditional aid channels like the UN by hiring private contractors to distribute aid in pockets of Gaza under Israeli control, thus weakening Hamas’s grip without formally assuming responsibility for Gaza’s civilian population.Key players in the new plan included venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, who was not in the military, Yotam HaCohen, a strategic consultant who joined the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and later became an aide to the prime minister’s military secretary Brig. Gen. Roman Gofman, and Liran Tancman, a tech investor also affiliated with COGAT.By early 2024, Israeli officials had begun promoting Philip F. Reilly, a former senior CIA officer who trained Contra fighters in Nicaragua and served as CIA station chief in Kabul, as their preferred contractor.Reilly confirmed to the newspaper that he met with Eisenberg and Tancman and began discussing Gaza aid with Israeli civilians that year.Reilly’s S.R.S. security firm began operating in Gaza in January 2025, screening Palestinian cars for weapons during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.According to a separate Haaretz report published Sunday, S.R.S entered Gaza without any prior security clearance from the Shin Bet as is the procedure. Gofman reportedly handpicked S.R.S. in a secretive process that bypassed standard procedures and excluded key defense bodies, including the Shin Bet, the IDF, and the Defense Ministry.Sources told the outlet that the process appeared pre-decided in favor of Reilly’s company and that the Prime Minister’s Office, especially Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a key Netanyahu confidant, played a central role in pushing it forward.Businessman Shlomi Fogel, also a Netanyahu confidant, was also named in connection but has denied involvement.Many within the defense establishment suspect personal and financial motives may be driving the operation, given the lack of transparency and the exclusion of official oversight bodies, Haaretz reported.Unclear origins, mysterious funding-Another key revelation of The New York Times report was that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was registered in the US, not Switzerland, as previously believed.Two entities – GHF and the private security firm S.R.S. – were registered in November 2024 by associates of Reilly.GHF, led by Jake Wood, will supposedly raise funds and hire S.R.S. to secure food distribution. Though Wood said the two groups now operate independently, they were registered by the same US lawyer and shared a spokeswoman until recently.Adding to the confusion, at least two other organizations named Gaza Humanitarian Foundation exist—one registered in the US and another in Switzerland. A spokesman for Wood’s foundation clarified that the Delaware-based GHF, established in February 2025, is connected to their operation.Meanwhile, TRIAL International, a Swiss NGO, has asked Swiss authorities to investigate the Geneva-based GHF to determine if it complied with Swiss law and international humanitarian standards. The group filed two submissions on May 20 and 21, calling for regulatory scrutiny of the foundation’s activities.It’s also unclear who is funding the GHF, which claims to have more than $100 million in commitments from a foreign government donor but has not named the donor.Wood said it received a small amount of seed money from unnamed non-Israeli businessmen. The foundation said in a statement that a Western European country had donated over $100 million but declined to name the country, according to the Times.The foundation published a 14-page document detailing their distribution plan, including the names of those leading the project. Two American companies, Safe Reach Solutions (S.R.S.) and UG Solutions, were selected to serve as on-site contractors.Israel says it must take control of aid distribution, arguing that Hamas and other terrorists siphon off supplies and that some aid organizations have been infiltrated by terror groups. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to terrorists, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution.Aid groups have been pushing back on the GHF and Israel’s plans to take over the handling of food aid, saying it could forcibly displace large numbers of Palestinians by pushing them toward the distribution hubs and that the foundation can’t meet the needs of the Palestinians in Gaza.Israel had blocked food, fuel, medicine, and all other supplies from entering Gaza since early March, only lifting the blockade last week to allow limited numbers of aid trucks to enter, amid a worsening humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians there.Experts have warned of a high risk of famine, and even the United States, a staunch ally, has voiced concerns over the hunger crisis.The war broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251. Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 58 hostages.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.Tal Schneider contributed to this report.
39 ballistic missiles launched since late March-IDF intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen, in third attack in four days-Sirens sound in Jerusalem area, southern West Bank settlements and communities near Red Sea, sending hundreds of thousands to shelters; no injuries or damage reported-By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 12:05 pm-MAY 25,25
A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses, the military said Sunday, in what has recently become an almost daily occurrence.Sirens had sounded in the Jerusalem area, southern West Bank settlements, and communities near the Dead Sea. Preceding the sirens by about five minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. A chunk of the missile landed in the South Hebron Hills area of the West Bank.It was the third attack in four days, and the fifth since last Sunday.Earlier this month, a Houthi missile slipped through air defenses and hit the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport, injuring six people, none of them seriously.A slew of international carriers promptly halted services to Israel, though some have since said they will resume operations.Israel responded to that attack with strikes on Sanaa airport, causing an estimated $500 million worth of damage. On Saturday, some flights to the Yemeni airport resumed.The Israeli Air Force has also struck the Houthi-controlled Hodeida and Salif ports in Yemen in response to the Iran-backed group’s repeated attacks on Israel. The Houthis vowed to respond and have since continued their missile attacks on Israel.The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and general maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre.The Houthis held their fire when a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas in January 2025.By that point, they had fired over 40 ballistic missiles and dozens of attack drones and cruise missiles at Israel, including one that killed a civilian and wounded several others in Tel Aviv in July, prompting Israel’s first strike in Yemen.Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 39 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.
After controversy, Yair Golan says Israel ‘certainly does not’ kill Gaza babies ‘as a hobby’After backlash, left-wing leader says he was expressing his fear that extremist government members would like to do so; ‘Is this the Israel we want? I genuinely ask myself that’By ToI Staff Today, 5:05 am-MAY 25,25
Democrats party chairman Yair Golan on Saturday further walked back comments in which he appeared to accuse Israel of killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby,” saying he did not, in fact, believe Israel had done so, but rather was expressing his fear that extremist politicians in the government sought to.During a Channel 12 interview, Golan, a former deputy IDF chief, was asked whether he believed Israel has killed any babies in Gaza for sport, and replied, “Certainly not.”“I wasn’t speaking about the military at all. I didn’t say that,” Golan said.In the Tuesday interview that caused a political firestorm, the retired general told Kan that “Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country. A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the aim of expelling populations.”Golan stressed later that same day that he had not been criticizing the army but rather the government, but his statement on Saturday was his most forceful yet.During his Channel 12 interview, Golan held up a paper with quotes by far-right ministers and politicians who had called at various points to “destroy” and “erase” Gaza.“I said something simple: that it’s unacceptable that we’re resuming fighting in Gaza, and that the political goals set for the IDF, which unfortunately are not goals connected to Israel’s national security at all… are shaped by people with such a worldview.”He added: “I don’t recall these people ever being asked to apologize for anything. Is this the Israel we want? I genuinely ask myself that.”Golan was asked about comments he himself made in October 2023, days after the October 7 attack, when he suggested that all aid to Gaza must be cut off. “We need to tell them, listen, until these [hostages] are released, as far as we care you can starve to death — it’s completely legitimate,” Golan said then.Confronted with that quote, Golan asserted on Saturday he had not called to starve Gazans but rather to pressure Hamas.At any rate, he argued, “What may have been the right move on October 13th… as an opening act for war, is not the right step after 20 months of fighting.”Golan said he believed the latest military escalation in Gaza was “entirely unnecessary” and that the goals of the war were now political. “Speaking as a military man, Hamas, from a military standpoint — by every accepted military standard in the world — has been militarily defeated. What needs to be done now, at this very moment, is something very simple: end the fighting, release all the hostages in one go, and create a governing alternative to Hamas.”Though long a controversial figure, Golan, 63, emerged as a brief consensus hero in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when he headed to the front lines and personally helped rescue partygoers fleeing the attack on the Nova music festival.This week, however, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Golan wouild be permanently barred from reserve duty, wearing a military uniform and entering army bases, calling Golan’s Gaza remarks a “blood libel” that will “serve enemies of Israel to keep persecuting IDF troops around the world,” including pursuing legal action against them. The minister also expressed support for draft legislation that would empower him to strip officers’ ranks over “such statements and conduct.”Asked to respond on Saturday, Golan said: “Good thing I didn’t ask Katz for permission to put on my uniform on October 7. That day, we did what needed to be done — in a place where the Israeli government completely failed.”Golan asserted that “the defense minister has no authority to prevent me from entering bases. When I’ll need to enter bases, I’ll show my general’s ID. I assume they’ll let me in. Thirty-eight years of service won’t be discarded because of the cheap populism of someone trying to exploit the situation.”
We need a moral revolution’: Social scientist Robert Putnam on fixing a fractured society-In Israel to accept an award from the Jonathan Sacks Institute, the Harvard professor and author reflects on polarization, pluralism and his friendship with the late UK chief rabbi-By Ariela Karmel Today, 5:08 am
Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since renowned Harvard professor and social scientist Robert D. Putnam wrote “Bowling Alone,” his seminal work on American societal fracture.“Somebody once called me an Old Testament prophet with data,” said Putnam. “But all I did was diagnose a problem. If I knew how to fix the problem, I would have preached it.”Putnam is even more dismayed by what he sees today, not just in the United States but across the democratic world: a society more isolated, polarized and fragmented than when he first published his landmark diagnosis of civic decline.“Things have only gotten worse,” the 83-year-old scholar told The Times of Israel in an interview while on a recent visit to Israel, his first in over a decade. “I thought people might read the book and go join a bowling league. I was wrong. Social capital, trust, informal networks — all have declined.”Putnam, who served as dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School and advised presidents from both parties, was in Israel to receive the inaugural Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Jonathan Sacks Institute at Bar-Ilan University. The honor is a poignant one as Sacks, the beloved late UK chief rabbi and philosopher, was a friend and kindred spirit.“We both used the term social capital,” Putnam recalled, using the expression for the networks that help people achieve personal and collective goals.“We came from different religious traditions, but we shared a communitarian worldview — that people flourish better in connection with one another than in isolation,” he said.Over a long and wide-ranging conversation, Putnam reflected on the state of American democracy, antisemitism, and the enduring legacy of his late friend.Putnam’s Israel itinerary included speaking engagements, personal reunions with longtime friends and colleagues at Israeli universities, and a visit to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, a focal point for demonstrations calling for a negotiated deal to end the ongoing Gaza War and see the return of the 58 Israeli hostages currently being held by Hamas.“We only stayed 20 minutes. Standing that long was hard for us,” Putnam said with a smile.Putnam is hesitant to comment on Israeli domestic politics but said that he is a general advocate of peaceful protest.“I think collective protest is generally more productive than individuals stewing in despair,” he said.Putnam speaks from experience. A fierce critic of US President Donald Trump, he described how he and his neighbors in Cambridge, Massachusetts, stage weekly anti-Trump protests outside their apartment complex.For Putnam, who came of age during the civil rights era, civic engagement is an essential part of maintaining democracy and not, as some critics in Israel and the US argue, a threat to it.“When people attacked civil rights protestors in the 1960s, they claimed they were disrupting solidarity. Of course they were — and they should have. They were disrupting something evil: segregation.”Putnam worries not about too much protest, but too little.“If I’m worried about anything in America, it’s that way too many young people are not protesting. They’re really upset, but they’re saying, ‘This isn’t my society,’” he said. “That’s much worse.”Charting collapse, calling for community-Putnam’s 2000 book “Bowling Alone” became a cultural touchstone, identifying a broad decline in American civic life: less trust in neighbors, fewer memberships in associations, declining religious participation, and increasing isolation. Its core insight — that social ties aren’t simply better for an individual’s health and quality of life but are crucial for maintaining societal health and democracy — has only gained traction since.Unfortunately, so has the crisis it described: low social capital and high social isolation, while trust and informal connections have trended downward.“Trump didn’t cause the problem — he was a response to social isolation and a symptom of the problem I diagnosed,” said Putnam.“Steve Bannon even said that he read my book, which identified growing social isolation when they were trying to get Trump elected, and figured that was the way to win,” Putnam added frustratedly. “It turned out we were both right — the best predictor of who votes for Trump is low social capital.”That weaponization of social division, Putnam argued, has been compounded by the erosion of equal opportunity. He remained unsparing in his critique of what he calls America’s “hereditary upper class,” where college access — and thus opportunity — is increasingly determined by family background.“I was a hick from Ohio. The most important thing that ever happened to me was that I got a scholarship to Swarthmore, and that changed everything. I’m a creation of higher education,” he said. “Today, the most important driver of inequality in America isn’t race — it’s whether your parents went to college.”That observation became central to his 2015 book “Our Kids,” which tracked declining upward mobility in small-town America. But Putnam still sees education — particularly public higher education — as a way out.“Many people think that the problem is elite universities like Harvard, but they have generous financial aid. What changed was that public universities — where most American kids used to be educated for free — began charging money. The political system chose to defund public education, that’s what changed,” he said.A meeting of minds-If structural inequality darkens Putnam’s view of today’s America, his memory of Sacks offers a bright counterpoint — a reminder of what moral leadership and human connection can still look like.He lit up as he recalled their first meeting on a 2010 visit to Sacks’s home in London during a book tour for “American Grace,” a book Putnam co-authored with political science professor David E. Campbell about religion and tolerance in American life.“We had a warm, personal conversation,” Putnam said, noting that though he converted to Judaism with a Reform rabbi (“which technically didn’t count by Orthodox standards”), he felt embraced by Sacks.Putnam remembers Sacks pulling a Judaic text from his library and inscribing it for Putnam’s grandson, who was about to have a bar mitzvah in a Pittsburgh synagogue led by a rabbi who was, as Putnam put it, “not only not Orthodox, he wasn’t even Reform.”“[Sacks] was such a tolerant and generous person,” he said. “He held a very firm belief that people had to be open to people of differing religious and political faiths.”That same spirit of pluralism animates much of Putnam’s work — and informs his sharpest criticisms of the current political moment.He expressed deep dismay at the antisemitic rhetoric increasingly tolerated, and even promoted, in US political discourse.“We’re in a very odd moment in America,” he said. “The people accusing Harvard of being antisemitic are themselves harboring serious antisemites.”While noting that many of Harvard’s leaders and faculty are Jewish — including its former president Lawrence Bacow — Putnam insisted that “some of these attacks are not about protecting Jews. They’re about attacking Jews, from within and without.”When asked what Sacks might have made of the current moment, Putnam paused.“He believed deeply in tolerance,” he said. “But I think he would have been intolerant of intolerance. There’s a line.”One of Putnam’s most cited findings in “American Grace” is that Americans who are both religious and connected to people of other faiths tend to be the most tolerant.“It’s not about being secular,” he explained. “It’s about having meaningful relationships across differences.”That, Putnam believes, is a lesson not just for interfaith understanding but for rebuilding democratic societies more broadly — and especially for those inheriting the damage.“They didn’t cause the problems America faces today. My generation did. The baby boomers and those before us are the ones who allowed America to become unequal, polarized, and self-centered,” he said, adding that, unfair as it is, the burden of fixing those problems will not fall on his generation.“Of course it’s unfair. It’s unfair that I benefited from a world in which the US won World War II — something done by my father’s generation. There’s no justice in that. And there’s no justice in the fact that this new generation is stuck with the mess we left behind. But the truth is, only they can fix it,” he said.HaTikva-Despite his frustration and disappointment with the world today, Putnam remains not optimistic, but hopeful.“I want young people to get off their duffs, to get out there and join other people, to recognize that they have a moral obligation to one another,” he said. “We need a moral revolution — to love our neighbors as ourselves, darn it! That’s the fundamental issue.”Putnam concluded the interview by recalling the story of Frances Perkins, who as a young woman in 1911, was in New York City when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire broke out, killing 146 garment workers, many of them young Jewish immigrant women.“She was having tea when she heard the screaming and saw the smoke. She ran outside and saw these women leaping from windows to their deaths,” he said. “Perkins had a moral epiphany that she was her brother’s keeper, that she had to love her neighbors, even if they were very different from her.”Perkins demanded to be made fire commissioner and went on to become the first woman to serve in a US Cabinet and the architect of Social Security, under then-president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.“We need another generation like that, and I believe we can have one,” said Putnam.“Rabbi Sacks made a powerful distinction between optimism and hope: optimism is passive, it’s just believing things will get better, but hope is active. It means saying, ‘I believe things can get better, and I’m going to do my damnedest to make them better,’” he said. “I don’t know if I’m optimistic. But I am hopeful.”
US homeland security chief to visit Israel for memorial for slain embassy staffers-Kristi Noem set to land Monday morning to accompany FM Sa’ar at ceremony for Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim in Jerusalem-By Nava Freiberg and ToI Staff Today, 8:07 pm-MAY 25,25
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is expected to arrive in Israel on Sunday to attend a memorial service for the victims of last week’s shooting attack on two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC.Noem will participate in Monday morning’s ceremony alongside Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in honor of the murdered embassy employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, after which a tree will be planted in the young couple’s memory, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.Sa’ar and Noem will also meet privately, before delivering joint statements together with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the ministry said.Lischinsky and Milgrim were killed Wednesday night while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, when a gunman approached the two and fired a handgun. The suspect shouted, “Free Palestine” as he was being arrested. He has since been charged with two counts of first degree murder.The two victims were employees at the Israeli embassy in Washington.Noem, the former governor of North Dakota and staunch ally of US President Donald Trump, said following Wednesday’s shooting that Lischinsky and Milgrim were “senselessly killed,” and vowed that the US “will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.”Monday’s memorial service for the two victims will be held at the Foreign Ministry building in Jerusalem starting at 8:30 a.m.Lischinsky’s funeral was held Sunday evening in Moshav Beit Zayit, near Jerusalem, and was closed to the press at the family’s request.Milgrim’s funeral will be held on Tuesday at Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, Kansas, according to her family.
AIRPLANES
ISAIAH 31:5
5 As birds flying,(PLANES) so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem;(WITH PLANES) defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.(NUKE OR BOMB ISRAELS ENEMIES)
AUTOMOBILES
NAHUM 2:3-4
3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots(AUTOMOBILES) shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation,(LIGHTS) and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
4 The chariots shall rage in the streets,(DRIVE FAST) they shall justle(ACCIDENTS) one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.(LIGHTS AND FAST)
Sudden and heartbreaking loss’: Four Walkerton teen students, school staff member killed in crash near London, Ont.The female students and male staff member from a Walkerton school were returning from a sports event when their SUV collided with a transport truck.May 24, 2025-By Elissa MendesStaff Reporter, and Anastasia BlosserStaff Reporter
Four high school-aged students and a school staff member were killed in a multi-vehicle collision involving a transport trailer near London, Ont. on Friday.The five — four teen girls and a 33-year-old man — were from Walkerton District Community School, a kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Walkerton, Ont. and were returning from a sports event, according to a statement from Bluewater District School Board. Police responded to 4:30 p.m. crash at Thorndale Road and Cobble Hills Road, Ontario Provincial Police said in a news release.An SUV collided with a transport truck, which then collided with another SUV, investigators said.Two 17-year-old girls and a 16-year-old girl in the first SUV died at the scene. The fifth passenger, another 16-year-old girl, was airlifted to hospital where she was pronounced dead.A man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, where he was later pronounced dead, officers said.The driver and passenger of the second SUV, as well as the transport truck driver, sustained minor injuries, police added.Bluewater District School Board said the fatal collision is a devastating loss for the school and the Walkerton community, located about 180 kilometres northwest of Toronto.“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families directly impacted, as they deal with unimaginable grief and sadness through this sudden and heartbreaking loss,” the school board’s statement says.“At this incredibly difficult time, we are supporting and respecting the privacy of the grieving families. We are unable to provide further details on the incident or identities of the individuals involved,” the statement reads. It also said a tragedy response team and mental health staff and would be supporting the school’s staff and students through a “very painful time” in the days and weeks ahead.In local Facebook groups, community members expressed their grief and shock about the tragedy, and have started a campaign to leave a pair of running shoes on front porches with a light on. Premier Doug Ford said he was “devastated” to hear about the collision. “My thoughts are with the families and loved ones grieving this terrible loss,” he wrote in a post on X.Paul Calandra, Ontario’s education minister, said he was “deeply saddened to hear about the tragic loss of four students and a teacher in the crash.”“My thoughts are with their families, friends, and school community during this difficult time. We are all mourning this terrible loss,” he wrote in a post on X.The intersection where the crash occurred was closed for several hours, and the collision is under investigation, the OPP said.“To the good Samaritans who stopped to provide assistance, thank you,” OPP Const. Ed Sanchuk said in a video posted on X, adding he extends his “deepest and sincerest condolences” to the family and friends of the deceased.Anyone with information is being asked to contact the police at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).With files from Canadian Press.
Trump signs orders to boost US nuclear energy.
Washington, May 23 (AFP)-President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders Friday to boost nuclear energy in the United States, including by rolling back regulatory processes on a still divisive technology."We're signing tremendous executive orders today that really will make us the real power in this industry," Trump told reporters as he penned the four orders in the Oval Office.Trump's orders aim to speed up the building of new reactors and to boost domestic mining and enriching of uranium, with the United States relying on imports for most of the crucial fuel.The US president said the focus would be on building smaller reactors, such as those required by tech and artificial intelligence companies that have huge energy needs.The orders will also overhaul the US nuclear watchdog so that it pushes through decisions on building new reactors within 18 months, amid reports that the White House found the regulator too risk averse.Trump denied that speeding up the regulation process could compromise nuclear safety."We're going to get it very fast and very safe," Trump said. "It's time for nuclear and we're going to do it very big."The move comes with growing interest in nuclear energy in the United States, despite being expensive to build and still politically sensitive in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster."President Trump is taking truly historic action to usher in the American nuclear renaissance," Michael Kratsios, Director for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told reporters earlier.- 'Energy emergency' -A senior White House official said the administration hopes to "test and deploy" new reactors before the end of Trump's second term in January 2029.Trump's order "fundamentally rehauls" the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which grants permission for new reactors, by "lowering regulatory burdens and shortening the licensing timeline."Republican Trump declared an "energy emergency" on his first day back in office to expand drilling for oil and gas and to roll back Democratic predecessor Joe Biden's climate policies,But he is now also looking at nuclear to meet growing demand.Much of the demand is fueled by US tech giants, with some including Amazon, Microsoft and Google having recently signed deals for nuclear power as they seek carbon-free electricity sources.Two US energy companies are also preparing to bring nuclear stations back online, including Three Mile Island -- the site in 1979 of the worst commercial nuclear power accident in US history.Trump's drive to boost mining and enrichment also reflects the fact that the United States imports most of the uranium that is needed to fuel nuclear power stations.The US imported most from Canada, Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan in 2023 but in 2024 it banned uranium imports from Russia over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.Nuclear power has been undergoing a resurgence in recent years as countries look for carbon-free energy and confront rising prices, fueled by the war in Ukraine.It suffered a major downturn after Fukushima when a huge tsunami caused a meltdown at a Japanese power station, with Germany in particular turning its back on nuclear.
Iraq's water reserves lowest in 80 years: official.
Baghdad, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2025-Iraq's water reserves are at their lowest in 80 years after a dry rainy season, a government official said Sunday, as its share from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers shrinks.Water is a major issue in the country of 46 million people undergoing a serious environmental crisis because of climate change, drought, rising temperatures and declining rainfall.Authorities also blame upstream dams built in neighbouring Iran and Turkey for dramatically lowering the flow of the once-mighty Tigris and Euphrates, which have irrigated Iraq for millennia."The summer season should begin with at least 18 billion cubic meters... yet we only have about 10 billion cubic meters," water resources ministry spokesperson Khaled Shamal told AFP."Last year our strategic reserves were better. It was double what we have now," Shamal said."We haven't seen such a low reserve in 80 years," he added, saying this was mostly due to the reduced flow from the two rivers.Iraq currently receives less than 40 percent of its share from the Tigris and Euphrates, according to Shamal.He said sparse rainfall this winter and low water levels from melting snow has worsened the situation in Iraq, considered by the United Nations to be one of the five countries most vulnerable to some impacts of climate change.Water shortages have forced many farmers in Iraq to abandon the land, and authorities have drastically reduced farming activity to ensure sufficient supplies of drinking water.Agricultural planning in Iraq always depends on water, and this year it aims to preserve "green spaces and productive areas" amounting to more than 1.5 million Iraqi dunams (375,000 hectares), said Shamal.Last year, authorities allowed farmers to cultivate 2.5 million dunams of corn, rice, and orchards, according to the water ministry.Water has been a source of tension between Iraq and Turkey, which has urged Baghdad to adopt efficient water management plans.In 2024, Iraq and Turkey signed a 10-year "framework agreement", mostly to invest in projects to ensure better water resources management.
FALSE POPE OF THE VATICAN
ISAIAH 23:15-17
15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.(COULD THIS BE 70 YEARS AFTER ISRAEL BECAME A NATION IN 1948)(IF SO THIS SATANIC ONE WORLD WHORE CHURCH WILL MINGLE TOGETHER BY 2018)(AND NOW ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY AND ALL RELIGIONS ARE MINGLING AS ONE PEACE-LOVE-JOY-GET ALONG RELIGION LEAD BY THE VATICAN RIGHT NOW 4 YEARS FROM THE 70 YEAR TIME WHEN ISRAEL BECAME A NATION).AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 13:11-18
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 17:1-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:(VATICAN)
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.(THATS PEDOPHELIA-FORNICATION IS SINGLES HAVING SEX OUT SIDE OF MARRIAGE)(AND SINCE PREISTS CAN NOT MARRY IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS FALSE CHURCH GOES AGAINST THE BIBLE.THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BECOMES A HOMOSEXUAL HAVEN OF PEDOPHILIAS FACTORY).
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:(THE VATICAN GOES AGAINST A PRIEST MARRING A WOMAN-LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS-AND WHATS AN ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD-HOMOSEXUALITY AND PEDOPHILIA JUST LIKE THIS SCRIPTURE SAYS-FORNICATION IS THE SINGLE HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAVING UNMARRIED FORNICATION OR SEX WITH SINGLES-IN THIS CASE ITS SEX WITH CHILDREN OR PEDOPHILIA)
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen,(1-ASSYRIA,2-EGYPT,3-BABYLON,4-MEDO-PERSIA,5-GREECE) and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS AND JESUS DAY-6-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.(7TH-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY AND THE SHORT SPACE IS-THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS.BUT WILL HAVE ITS MIGHTY WORLD POWER FOR THE FULL 7 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL BE THE BEAST FROM THE EU.AND THE VATICAN POPE WILL BE THE WHORE THAT RIDES THE EUROPEAN UNION TO POWER.AND THE 2 EUROPEAN UNION POWER FREAKS WILL CONTROL AND DECIEVE THE WHOLE EARTH INTO THEIR DESTRUCTION.IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.YOU WILL BE DECIEVED BY THESE TWO.THE WORLD POLITICIAN-THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR.AND THE FALSE PROPHET THAT DEFECTS CHRISTIANITY-THE FALSE VATICAN POPE.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.(GOD HIMSELF GIVES THE OK TO NUKE THE VATICAN)
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.(VATICAN)
HOW THE FALSE POPE IS ELECTED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj3Qnr_30Z4
POPE FRANCIS SISTER (PEDOPHILIA WAY WORSE THEN THOUGHT) (CARDINAL MATEO TERESCO-THE NEXT COVERUP POPE OF PEDOPHILIA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usFshfmBPmY
FALSE POPE LEO 14TH 2012 INTERVIEW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXVkJ5TQi1s
POPE 14TH WILL BE WORSE THAN FRANCIS.
https://banned.video/watch?id=681cf97a22a2c8ae0e09b5d0
J.D NEVER KISSED THE POPES RING BECAUSE HE WORSHIPS JESUS NOT NO CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR TO THE LAKE OF FIRE.
Why JD Vance Didn’t Kiss Pope Leo’s Ring — and What It Says About His Faith and Politics-Jonathan Liedl News-May 23, 2025
ANALYSIS: The vice president has articulated a vision of Catholic statesmanship robustly influenced by Church teaching. But is it shaping his actions — or just his rhetoric? When JD Vance met Pope Leo XIV on May 18, he didn’t kiss the Fisherman’s Ring that had been placed on the new Pope’s right ring finger just hours earlier.Not because Vance, as a Catholic, didn’t want to make the traditional gesture of reverence for the Petrine office. But because Vance, as vice president of the United States, felt like he shouldn’t.“Some of the protocols about how I respond to the Holy Father were much different than how I might respond to the Holy Father, or how you might respond to the Holy Father, purely in your capacity as a citizen,” Vance told the Catholic journalist Ross Douthat, during a lengthy podcast interview released May 21 but conducted while both were in Rome for Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass. “So, no sign of disrespect, but it’s important to observe the protocols of the country that I love and that I’m representing and that I serve as vice president of — the United States.”The insight was one of several that Vance shared during the hour-long conversation, shedding new light on how the vice president understands the relationship between his Catholic faith and his political office — but leaving questions unanswered about whether he’s offering a new approach or just a different version of the same Catholic statesmanship that’s been the status quo for decades.Vance’s Middle Way-Vance described the ring-kiss episode as an illustration of the tension he sometimes feels between his Catholic faith and his political office; between being a son of the Church, and, as it were, being the right-hand man of President Donald Trump.It’s a tension that Vance still seems to be trying to figure out — with implications for matters far greater than how he decides to greet the new pope.At the heart of it all is a perennial question of how a Catholic statesman, particularly one in a pluralistic society like the United States, should or should not apply the moral doctrines of the Catholic Church to the social and political challenges his country faces.Catholic politicians and theorists long before Vance have attempted to tackle this question, with a variety of answers. Former New York governor Mario Cuomo famously introduced a distinction between his private faith and public policy actions, one that Catholic public servants have used since to create distance between themselves and Church teaching on everything from economics to abortion.On the other end of things, proponents of a view known as integralism have argued that Catholic politicians should be effectively subordinate to the Church, given that the salvation of souls is the ultimate common good.Vance rejects both these views. In his conversation with Douthat, he criticized those who treat “religion” and “policy” as “two totally separate matters,” similar to how he has previously dismissed the idea that Catholic politicians “can ignore [clergy] when it comes to matters of public policy.” But Vance also made clear, in the same vein as John F. Kennedy, that he doesn’t think being a Catholic statesman is reducible to just doing “everything the Holy Father tells me to do.”“I think that would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution,” Vance said.Instead, Vance proposed a sort of via media — one that calls for combining acceptance of the Church’s teaching and deference to her leaders with the responsibility of an elected official to discern how best to apply them in their social and legal context.“It’s not that you follow commandments,” he told Douthat. “It’s also not that you just disregard these things or say: Well, I know what this guy thinks, but I have to make a prudential judgment differently. I think it’s that you make a prudential judgment informed very much by the Church’s teachings as reflected by these leaders.”The Vance approach is something different than the Catholic statesmanship of someone like former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who once said her faith has “nothing to do with the bishops,” a seeming dismissal of the Church’s teaching authority.For instance, if Vance had used Pelosi’s logic to defend his own support for restrictive immigration policies and mass deportation, which some have argued are contrary to the Church’s related teaching, he would have simply denied or evaded the doctrine in question, as Pelosi did with Church teaching on abortion.Instead, he affirmed it. In addition to citing the duty of states to enforce their borders, Vance also underscored the need to “respect the rights of migrants, the dignity of migrants,” adding that “there are obligations that we have to people who in some ways are fleeing violence, or at least fleeing poverty.”“You have to be able to hold two ideas in your head at the same time,” said Vance, who later noted the need to enforce immigration law “consistent with the Catholic Church’s moral dictates.”A Question of Consistency-Even the fact that Vance, who once authored a 6,000-word essay on how the Church’s social teaching helped lead him to become Catholic, agreed to an hour-long interview with Douthat is an indication that he’s at least committed to thinking through how his faith should inform his political positions in an ongoing way.In addition to the New York Times columnist’s ad extra role as a sort of conservative Christian liaison to liberal America, the 45-year-old Douthat also has a reputation as an influential, above-the-fray assessor of major developments in U.S. Catholic intellectual and political life. Vance’s willingness to be interviewed by Douthat, knowing that nuanced questions about faith and politics were likely coming, shows that he takes such questions seriously — or at least wants to appear that way.As he told Douthat when the journalist asked the vice president how his faith informed his politics, “It would be easier to ask what does your faith not cause you to think about.”“It just kind of necessarily informs how I live my life,” said Vance.At the same time, while Vance has presented a model of a Catholic statesman that sees the Church’s influence as more robust than, say, Cuomo or Pelosi, it’s worth considering how consistent his political actions have been with the vision he’s articulated.On immigration, for instance, while Vance spoke of the need to treat undocumented immigrants “humanely” even while enforcing the law, his administration is widely seen to have failed this standard in a variety of ways, from rescinding a longstanding ban on conducting immigration raids at churches to producing social media content dehumanizing deportees. And when Douthat pushed Vance on concerns that the Trump administration is setting up a deportation infrastructure without adequate regard to due process and basic legal protections, Vance conceded the legitimacy of the concerns without acknowledging any need for remediation.In these instances, it’s not necessarily the case that Vance is openly advocating for something contrary to the Church’s moral teaching. Nor is it clear that he is morally required to speak out — at least publicly — against injustices carried out by the administration he is a part of. But by not doing so, he certainly gives the appearance of acquiescing to them.Something similar could be said on a topic Douthat didn’t press Vance on: his pro-life commitments. With Trump widely expected to soon release a plan for how to expand access to IVF, a process condemned by the Church, will Vance again remain silent? Or even more problematically, will he publicly give his okay, as he did regarding the availability of the abortion pill when angling to be Trump’s VP pick last summer? AI and Beyond-Finally, while Vance spoke about AI and the Church, how he incorporates relevant teaching to the regulation of the technology remains a mystery — and will be perhaps the most consequential element of his relationship with Pope Leo, who has signaled that addressing the challenges of AI is a top priority of his papacy.Vance has previously dismissed concerns that AI will lead to mass unemployment by arguing that it will enhance, not supplant, human labor. But in his interview with Douthat, he acknowledged that he worries about the impact of the technology on “pretty much everything noneconomic” — including human relationships and national defense. The vice president said he had talked with the Holy Father about these matters, and that providing guidance on the issue would be one of “the most profound and positive things” the new pope could do.“The American government is not equipped to provide moral leadership, at least full-scale moral leadership, in the wake of all the changes that are going to come along with AI,” he said. “I think the Church is.”But it’s not clear what Vance means by this and how it relates to his administration’s policies.Did he mean he is eagerly awaiting guidance from the Church on how to morally manage the disruptive technology? The Church has already offered some guidance on the ethical use of AI in a January 2025 note from the Vatican’s doctrinal and education offices. It called for public authorities to regulate AI for the sake of the common good — but Vance has repeatedly called for deregulating the technology, at least insofar as U.S. businesses are concerned.Did Vance’s appeal to Pope Leo’s guidance mean to suggest that it’s not the U.S. government’s role to regulate AI based upon sound moral principles? If so, his suggestion would be inconsistent not only with the Church’s understanding of the role of government, but also his own. As Vance told Douthat, he has no problem regulating the market more widely for the sake of American families. Does the same principle apply to AI and its possible social harms?Or was Vance referring to a need for the Church to play a leading role in developing some sort of globally agreed-upon framework for ethical AI use — a kind of Geneva Convention for digital technology? If so, it’s not clear that his boss would even sign on, given Trump’s withdrawal of the U.S. from several international agreements related to everything from world health to environmental protection.Vance can appeal to Pope Leo to provide moral guidance on AI. But what it means for the policies that Vance advances remains unclear.Jury Still Out-In a nutshell, the same uncertainty characterizes Vance’s overall performance as a Catholic statesman. After all, he’s been in office for only 125 days, and the vice presidency is a uniquely high-profile but hamstrung office.There can be little doubt that Vance talks about Catholic teaching and politics in a way that seems distinct from the Pelosis and Bidens before him. But it remains to be seen if he does anything truly different.Does he represent a new kind of Catholic politician, one who seriously applies the breadth of the Church’s moral teachings to his policy decisions? Or is he a continuation of the longstanding practice of Catholic politicians picking and choosing aspects of the Church’s teaching that align with their partisan commitments, just presented in a new rhetorical package? Vance may not have kissed the Pope’s ring. But what matters more is whether he’ll fully embrace the Church’s teaching in the execution of his office — or merely pay it lip service.
Leo XIV Tells Mayor of Rome: ‘Today I Can Say That Through You and With You, I Am Roman’
Before various civil and military officials, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the spiritual and social dimensions of his episcopal mission, before taking possession of St. John Lateran.May 25, 2025“Today I can say that through you and with you, I am Roman.” With these words, Pope Leo XIV addressed the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, who greeted him just minutes before he made his way to the Basilica of St. John Lateran to take possession of his chair as Bishop of Rome. The armored Volkswagen SUV transporting the Pope departed from the Vatican around 4:00 p.m. and headed for the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, where he was scheduled to be installed as Bishop of Rome after celebrating Mass at 5:00 p.m.Before arriving at the basilica — the first major Christian house of worship built in Rome after Emperor Constantine legalized religious freedom in A.D. 313 — the official vehicle stopped at Piazza dell’Aracoeli at the foot of the Capitoline Hill steps, where the main entrance to the Palazzo Senatorio, the seat of Rome's municipal government, is located. There, Gualtieri welcomed the Pope. “Shortly after the election,” Leo XIV recalled, “I told the brothers and sisters gathered in St. Peter’s Square that I am with them a Christian and for them a bishop; today, in a special way, I can say that through you and with you, I am Roman,” he said, drawing a great ovation from those present.Before various civil and military officials, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the spiritual and social dimensions of his episcopal mission: “As I officially begin my ministry as shepherd of this diocese, I feel the serious yet passionate responsibility to serve all its members, with the faith of the people of God and the common good of society foremost in my heart.”He also stressed his commitment to collaboration with local administrative institutions: “We are collaborators, each within our own institutional sphere.”Pope Leo XIV spoke of the historic mission of the Catholic Church in the Italian capital and highlighted how, for two millennia, the Church has lived out its apostolic mission in Rome “by proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and committing itself to charity.”“Educating the young, helping those who suffer, caring for the marginalized, and nurturing the arts are expressions of our commitment to human dignity — one we must uphold at all times, especially toward the little ones, the weak, and the poor,” he added. Speaking about the Jubilee of Hope inaugurated by his predecessor Pope Francis, Pope Leo voiced his gratitude for “the commitment of the city administration, for which I express my heartfelt thanks.” Finally, before giving the apostolic blessing to those present, Pope Leo XIV shared his hope that Rome — “unparalleled in the richness of its historical and artistic heritage” — may always also be distinguished by “those values of humanity and civilization that draw their life force from the Gospel.” Walking Together Toward a More Just, Sustainable City-Before Pope Leo spoke, the mayor thanked him for renewing the tradition of the meeting at Piazza dell’Aracoeli, saying the gesture was yet another sign of the Holy Father’s “affection” for the Italian capital. Gualtieri described it as “a reaffirmation of the deep bond between Rome and the universal dimension of the Church.” The last pope to take part in this greeting was Paul VI, who met with the then-Mayor Glauco Della Porta. In 1978, the gesture was meant to be repeated, but John Paul I died a month after his election and never made the official visit to Rome’s city hall.Gualtieri emphasized that this bond has nourished the city for centuries with “culture, ethical values, and shared responsibility, especially in building peace — the highest calling of Rome.” He expressed gratitude for Pope Leo XIV’s first words calling for an end to war across the world. Gualtieri also highlighted the Jubilee of Hope as an opportunity to transform the city and said Rome was especially preparing to welcome thousands of young people for the upcoming Youth Jubilee. Rome, he said, is committed to “being a more just, sustainable, and inclusive city, with special attention to the peripheries and the most vulnerable.”Acknowledging “the value of collaboration with the Church,” particularly with local parish projects aimed at dignifying the lives of all citizens, including migrants and the poor, the mayor expressed his hope for the city and the pope to work together for “a new politics, new relationships between peoples, and a more humane social model.” Finally, Gualtieri declared: “We are happy that Rome is now your city,” and he assured the Pope that the capital will be “a loyal ally in your pastoral mission.”
Cardinal Goh Says He Expects Clarity in Teaching From Pope Leo XIV-Cardinal Goh also addressed the issue of the traditional liturgy.May 23, 2025
In an interview with the Daily Compass portal on Thursday, Cardinal William Goh, the archbishop of Singapore, said he hopes for greater doctrinal clarity from Pope Leo XIV.“If we are not clear about what the Church teaches, it is very difficult to work together in unity. Although both the so-called ‘left’ and ‘right’ of the Church are interested in promoting the mission of evangelization, there has been an internal division on certain issues such as marriage, LGBTQ+ rights, and transgender rights. These issues have divided the Church because, at a certain point, it became unclear what is right.”The cardinal said that as an Augustinian, Pope Leo has “a solid foundation in the tradition and spirituality of St. Augustine.”“At the same time,” Cardinal Goh, who was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2022, said that Pope Leo “has worked in Peru and is familiar with situations of poverty and suffering. He also spent several years in Rome and is therefore familiar with the challenges facing the Curia. Having been prior general of his order, he has already demonstrated his leadership qualities. In his first public appearances, he was sober and cautious in what he said and did.”He continued: “He seems to me to be a man who is aware that a pope’s statements are taken seriously, which is why he is cautious and prudent. This is to be welcomed because it means people won’t be confused. I believe he will be able to clarify doctrine and prevent the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ from fighting each other. He will not be ambiguous and will not leave the interpretation of his words open to individual interpretation.”According to the website, Cardinal Goh said about Pope Francis: “I believe that the least pleasant aspect of his pontificate was that his teachings appeared ambiguous in his attempt to reach everyone in terms of doctrine and morality.” Cardinal Goh also addressed the issue of the traditional liturgy. “I personally believe there is no reason to discourage people who prefer the Tridentine Mass,” the cardinal said. “They are not doing anything wrong or sinful. Of course, the unity of the Church must be preserved, but we already have different rites, such as the Syro-Malabar Rite. We can accept different forms of celebrating the Eucharist, so we should not suppress those who prefer the Tridentine Rite.”Ultimately, he said, “it is not the rite or the form of celebration that matters” but rather “whether one encounters God deeply.”Cardinal Goh said he does not celebrate in the traditional form, “but I’m not against those who celebrate it. In my country, there’s a small group of about 300 people, mostly young professionals. Sometimes I ask them, ‘Why do you prefer this celebration?’ They reply that they find it more thoughtful and contemplative and that it brings them closer to God. Why should I discourage them?”He continued: “If they reject the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, that would of course be a completely different matter, and they should be disciplined. But they don’t, and therefore I don’t think we should discriminate against them. After all, this is the Mass that has been celebrated for hundreds of years, isn’t it?”This week, the cardinal told EWTN News that he believes Pope Leo XIV will build a greater unity within the Church.This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-langauage news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Pope Leo XIV Thanks Pontifical Mission Societies for Devotion to Communion, Universality
According to Monsignor Roger Landry, head of the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, who was present at the meeting, the Holy Father warmly encouraged national directors to continue to promote World Mission Sunday.May 22, 2025
Pope Leo XIV delivered an address to the Pontifical Mission Societies on Thursday thanking its members for living the Church’s call to evangelize to all nations with a spirit of communion and universality in union with the pope.Approximately 120 national directors connected to the Vatican’s four missionary bodies — the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of the Holy Childhood, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, and the Missionary Union — and 20 members of the Dicastery for Evangelization met with the Holy Father on the first day of their general assembly taking place in Rome from May 22–28.“As societies committed to sharing in the missionary mandate of the pope and the college of bishops, you are called to cultivate and further promote within your members the vision of the Church as the communion of believers, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to enter into the perfect communion and harmony of the blessed Trinity,” the Pontiff said to those present at the morning meeting.“This dimension of our Christian life and mission is close to my heart and is reflected in the words of St. Augustine that I chose for my episcopal service and now for my papal ministry: ‘In Illo uno unum’ — Christ is our savior and in him we are one, a family of God, beyond the rich variety of our languages, cultures, and experiences,” he added.Describing apsotolic zeal as “more urgent in our own day,” Pope Leo said the Gospel message of love, reconciliation, and grace through Jesus Christ is needed in a world “wounded” by war and injustice.“In this sense, the Church herself, in all her members, is increasingly called to be ‘a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word … and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity,” he said, echoing words from his homily given during his May 18 inauguration Mass.Asking his listeners to be inspired and renewed in their vocation to “be a leaven of missionary zeal within the people of God,” the Holy Father reiterated the message of his predecessor to be “missionaries of hope among all peoples,” especially in light of the 2025 Jubilee Year.“In the words of Pope Francis, ‘The Lord has overcome the world and its constant conflict “by making peace through the blood of his cross,”’” Pope Leo said, citing Evangelii Gaudium. “Hence we see the importance of fostering a spirit of missionary discipleship in all the baptized and a sense of the urgency of bringing Christ to all people.”According to Monsignor Roger Landry, head of the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, who was present at the meeting, the Holy Father warmly encouraged national directors to continue to promote World Mission Sunday, celebrated on the second-to-last Sunday of October, and ensure their outreach programs are driven by a “universality that flows from a sense of communion.”“He doesn’t want us to exclude anybody,” Msgr. Landry told CNA on Thursday. “Like Pope Francis before him, he was getting us to focus on the peripheries — those who are not yet close to us and those who are not united with us.”After speaking about the beauty of having representatives from over 120 countries come together “as equals” before the Holy Father at the meeting, Landry said each person present received rosary beads from Pope Leo that were blessed by Pope Francis before he died.“There was a sense of continuity as he was giving us Pope Francis’ rosary beads,” he said.
Synod Undersecretary: Leo XIV ‘Doesn’t Govern From His Office, He Goes Out to Meet People’-The key to synodality, Bishop Marín emphasized, is not ideological or political but theological and ecclesial.Spanish Augustinian Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín and Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV.May 22, 2025
The undersecretary of the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the Spanish Augustinian Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, is among those who have collaborated most closely with Pope Leo XIV.In 2008, Marín moved to Rome because the then-prior general of the Augustinians asked him to take charge of the order’s archives. The past 17 years of association allow him to make a clear prognosis of what Pope Leo’s pontificate will be like.“He’s not a person who governs from his office; he goes out to meet people,” the bishop told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. He also noted that Pope Leo XIV is a son of the Second Vatican Council: “He embraces its theological development, above all, the ecclesiology of the constitution Lumen Gentium, which is a point of reference for synodality, although the term does not appear in it.”The then-Cardinal Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — actively participated in all phases of the Synod on Synodality, a signature project of Pope Francis launched three years ago that aimed to make the Church more coherent and participatory, and less clerical. This is an approach that the pope “holds very dear,” since “Augustinian spirituality is very synodal,” as are “our style and structures,” Marín emphasized.“The Augustinian charism very much fosters communion, fraternal life. It’s our most distinctive feature. We Augustinians are also a mendicant order that doesn’t have a pyramidal structure like the monastic structures do, but rather a much more horizontal one. We are governed by the prior, a ‘primus inter pares’ [first among equals]. And our chapter is very participatory: Decisions are made among all the friars,” he explained.The key to synodality, Bishop Marín emphasized, is not ideological or political but theological and ecclesial: “Pope Leo XIV is synodal because the Church is synodal. To realize this, it’s enough to know sacred Scripture, patristics, Church history, canon law … It’s the life of the Church, which becomes experience and witness.”In 1985, Prevost, then a priest, was sent to Peru to work in the Chulucanas mission. After a brief return to Chicago in 1987, he returned to Peru in 1988, specifically to Trujillo, where he served as a teacher and formator. While there, he was elected prior provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago in 1998 and, in 2001, prior general of the Augustinian order, a position he held until 2013.“The Church has required him to make big changes in his life, but he has always trusted in what God asked of him at each moment, with total availability to the Lord and great love for the Church,” Bishop Marín commented.In October 2013, Prevost returned to Chicago to serve again as master of the professed and vicar provincial, a role he held until Nov. 3, 2014, when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo, making him a bishop and assigning him the titular diocese of Sufar, until he was appointed bishop of Chiclayo the following year.Pope Leo XIV loves to drive-Marín visited him in Chiclayo, and together they toured the coastal city by car: “Prevost loves to drive, and I was able to see the affection the people had for Padre Roberto, my bishop, as they called him.”The prelate described him above all as “a simple, genuine, authentic person, somewhat reserved, but one who greatly values fraternity” and highlighted his great “sensitivity to social justice, to the poorest, the most needy, and the oppressed.”“He has great inner balance. He is a profound, serene, precise, thoughtful, and prayerful man. He’s not given to improvisation,” the undersecretary summarized, also highlighting his ability to work as part of a team.“He will exercise global leadership, and his voice will be greatly taken into account,” he added. The 12 years he served as prior general of the Augustinians, from 2001 to 2013 — the order is present in 47 countries — gave him a vision of the universal Church that also demonstrated his abilities. “During those years, he visited all the communities in the order, some several times, and embraced cultural diversity. He has a panoramic view of the universal Church; he knows it well,” the prelate explained.Continuity with Francis-In January 2023, Pope Francis appointed him to head the Dicastery for Bishops, one of the most important departments of the Roman Curia, from which the future leadership of the Church is drawn. “He had his full confidence. They had known each other since Prevost was prior general and [then-Jorge] Bergoglio was archbishop of Buenos Aires,” he recounted, recalling a pivotal episode in their relationship.“Pope Francis had just been elected, and Prevost, who was ending his term as prior general, asked him, without much hope, to preside over the opening Mass of the general chapter of the Augustinians in St. Augustine Basilica in Rome. And he accepted. It was historic. Never before had a pope presided over the opening Eucharist of the general chapter of the Order of St. Augustine,” he noted.In any case, Bishop Marín made it clear that Pope Leo XIV will not be a “Francis clone,” although “there will be continuity in many aspects.” The new pope is, above all, a man of profound interior life. He possesses a solid spirituality, forged through prayer, which is also reflected in his apostolate and his understanding of ecclesial leadership. “Communion with Christ,” the prelate said, “leads us not only as priests but also all Christians to feel responsible for the Church. Each with a different vocation, but all co-responsible and interconnected to proclaim the risen Christ and bear witness to him in today’s world.”For Bishop Marín, the election of this Augustinian as the successor of Peter has immense value: “It’s a blessing from God. An extraordinary gift not only for the order but for the universal Church. As you get to know Pope Leo XIV, you will see what a gift the Lord has given us, you will get to know his qualities. He is the right person for the right time.”According to the undersecretary, the spirituality of the order to which the man who now sits on the chair of Peter belongs is based on four pillars: community life, interior life, integration into the world, and availability to the needs of the Church. “The Church is like a family, the family of God, which, in love, integrates unity and diversity. I believe it is crucial to strengthen communion,” he emphasized after warning against empty activism.“Furthermore, if we don’t cultivate the interior life, we’re not offering anything. We have to bear witness to Christ, to communicate him to the world. And we can only bear witness to Christ if we know him from experience. Because the risen Christ is a living person.” Marín concluded by recalling that Pope Leo XIV’s first words in his greeting to the people of God were those of the risen Christ: “Peace be with you all.”
Sunday, May 25, 2025
LEO 14TH TELLS THE MAYOR OF ROME I AM ROMAN.
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