JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
TRUMP-US SHOULD TAKE GAZA.MAKE IT A FREEDOM ZONE.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Biometrics has been drafted into the battle between AI fraud and AI defenses-May 10, 2025, 11:09 am EDT | Chris Burt
Biometrics
implementations for public services are expanding in countries around
the world, even as AI-enabled fraud and deepfakes threaten online trust.
Businesses and governments are grappling with a rash of fraud enabled,
supercharged and scaled by AI, from biometric spoof attacks and scaled
fake IDs to phishing bots. The treatment for this global pandemic, by
consensus amongst the professionals, is more AI, as part or parts in a
layered defense.Fake people and real webinars-The layers must include
injection attack detection to spot the delivery of deepfakes created
with GenAI. Mitek Director of Market Strategy and Intelligence Carmel
Maher explained the approach and provided some examples of how AI is
used in payment fraud in a recent webinar hosted by Biometric
Update.Fortunately, AI can also detect both content generated by AI and
content delivered by AI to commit fraud, as AuthenticID and Darwinium
will explain in the next Biometric Update webinar.And the stakes are
high. Sift CMO Armen Najarian argues in a Biometric Update guest post
that declined transactions based on false positives are the hidden cost
of AI-enabled fraud, and offers some advice for the capabilities that
organizations need.The layers and capabilities needed also go beyond AI,
to measures including a fine balance of regulation, as discussed in a
webinar conversation between AuthenticID, Keyless and DuckDuckGoose
executives. The debate, hosted by Peak IDV and the Prism Project, also
raised questions like whether it even makes sense to continue conducting
job interviews online.Fake and real, for good and bad-AI agents further
complicate the situation. With AI agents expected to grow to a $52.6
billion market by 2030, tools like those from ZeroBiometrics, Frontegg
and Anetac for telling humans from non-humans and good bots from bad
ones will be in high demand.World’s attempt to scale its own answer to
the problem of differentiating non-human identities hit another barrier
this week with Kenya’s High Court demanding the company delete all
biometric data collected from Kenyans under a regulator’s
watch.Canadian, Dutch and Danish media outlets appear to be responsible
for the shutdown of the world’s largest non-consensual deepfake
pornography site, Mr. Deepfakes. As usual, those least concerned about
other people’s privacy are highly protective of their own.Meanwhile,
another notorious use of AI, the pervasive surveillance of Xinjiang’s
Uyghurs with tech from Huawei, Hikvision and Dahua has landed them in a
French court.Digital public services now, REAL ID eventually-Gov.uk is
switching from SMS-based verification to passkeys as the UK government
attempts to get its digital public services house in order. Similarly,
governments in Nigeria, Ghana and Somalia each unveiled improvements to
their digital ID systems. All three will be discussed at ID4Africa’s
2025 AGM May 20 to 23, along with the recent advances in digital
transformation for public services by host Ethiopia. Biometric Update
will cover the event from on location in Addis Ababa.The U.S.
government’s new approach to online trust involves deregulation and less
funding for deepfake research, and comments on its AI Action Plan,
including from iProov and Pindrop, reflect concerns with this direction.
If whatever regulatory measures are in place are enforced like this
week’s spoof deadline for REAL ID, other means of protection only take
on greater importance.The USPTO is turning to the private sector, ID.me
specifically, to secure its Patent Center platform.Please tell us about
any podcasts, webinars or other content we should share with the people
in biometrics and the digital identity community either in the comments
below or through social media.
Banks struggle to fight fraud with
AI, reusable ID could help-Insights from Feedzai, Sumsub, Mitek-May 12,
2025, 10:27 am EDT | Masha Borak
The vast majority of
financial institutions – around 90 percent – are leaning on some form of
AI to combat fraud and financial crime. Among them, 30 percent are
using AI for identity verification, according to a new report from
financial crime prevention and behavioral biometrics company Feedzai.The
report, titled 2025 AI Trends in Fraud and Financial Crime Prevention,
delved into the ways banks and other institutions are combating fraud,
including threats posed by generative AI. The insights are based on a
survey of more than 560 anti-fraud professionals working in the
financial industry.While the survey shows a strong adoption of the
technology in the financial industry, AI represents a diverse set of
tools that can be used both for good and bad. The rise of generative AI,
for instance, is fueling the rise of fraud: 60 percent of respondents
said that fraudsters are using the technology for voice cloning scams,
says the report.In addition to digital identity verification, half of
financial institutions are applying AI-powered solutions for scam
detection, while 39 percent of them are using it to zoom in on
transaction fraud. Nearly a third are using AI for automating Anti-Money
Laundering (AML) processes and customer banking journeys.AI is also
proving effective for tackling false positives, with roughly one-third
of respondents witnessing a large reduction of false positives of 40 to
60 percent.Challenges remain, including data privacy and consent,
reducing bias and justifying costs as implementing and maintaining AI
systems can be expensive. Explainable models and interpretability tools
are essential to meet compliance and build trust, the report
adds.Identity verification is getting democratized: Sumsub-The financial
industry has been reimagining digital identity and making finance a
seamless part of people’s lives. A part of this process is the
democratization of identity verification, which represents a shift from
bank-controlled models of the past, speakers said at the Money 20/20
Asia conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, in April.Aside from
representatives from the financial industry, the conference invited
identity verification firms such as Sumsub.Traditional banking identity
models meant that each institution maintains its own Know Your Customer
(KYC) silo, forcing customers to go through unnecessary verification
processes. Today, however, customers can use a secure ID that helps them
get onboarded and access banking services faster, all while maintaining
compliance with regulators, according to trade publication
CDOTrends.Sumsub’s self-sovereign identity (SSI) system, for instance,
allows customers to verify once and use their identity across different
services, all while maintaining control over data, says Sumsub’s Vice
President for APAC, Penny Chai.“The controller is me, you, and everyone
else,” says Chai.Banks are warming up to this type of digital identity,
not just because of convenience but also because of fraud. According to
Sift’s Q1 2025 Digital Trust Index, sectors like fintech and online
marketplaces are seeing high rates of payment fraud attacks, while the
total cost of digital commerce fraud could hit US$107 billion by
2029.Generative AI has been fueling the rise of synthetic identities.
Companies such as Sumsub are using AI to detect them through
multilayered security approaches, including device fingerprinting and
behavioral analysis, adds Chai.In a recent webinar hosted by Biometric
Update, Mitek and Goode Intelligence presented on increasingly popular
attack types in biometric payments, including bust-out fraud and account
takeovers (ATOs). The webinar is available to watch on demand.
Sri
Lanka conducting user and security testing for biometric identity card
project-Plan to integrate the Sri Lanka Unique Digital ID project with
the e-NIC-May 1, 2025, 3:18 pm EDT | Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera
The
user and security testing for Sri Lanka’s Electronic National Identity
Card (e-NIC) project is now ongoing, M.S.P. Suriyapperuma, director
general of the Department of Registration of Persons, told Biometric
Update on Wednesday in Colombo.“Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness
Team (SLCERT) is conducting this testing.” This testing is being
conducted to check the strength of the software, etc, she added.The
Department of Registration of Persons in Sri Lanka has procured 700,000
polycarbonate cards from Thales for its Electronic National Identity
Card (e-NIC) project, which includes biometric features such as
fingerprint, iris, and face recognition details for enhanced security
and efficiency in identification confirmation.The plan is to integrate
the Sri Lanka Unique Digital ID project with the e-NIC, assigning unique
ID numbers, centralizing various types of IDS, and capturing data like
birth certificates and tax identification, Suriyapperuma said.The
project has improved citizens’ access to National ID cards by
establishing 335 departmental ID card units in all Divisional
Secretariats, decentralizing services to provincial levels, and
establishing a Department for Registration of Persons in Battaramulla,
Suriyapperuma said. VPN technology has connected regional and
provincial offices, and 2341 studios have been registered to receive
personal photographs online. Starting October 27, 2017, a polycarbonate
smart card with ICAO photo laser-printed in Sinhala, Tamil, and English
trilingual was issued, Suriyapperuma noted. “The Galle provincial office
also offers one-day service facilities to the public. These efforts aim
to streamline the process of obtaining National ID cards.”An awareness
program was held at the Information and Communication Technology Agency
of Sri Lanka (ICTA) to discuss the e-NIC process and operational aspects
recently, she said, noting that The Registrar Generals Department plans
to complete the e-population registry in Colombo this month, aiming to
create an efficient life events registration system, increase
information sharing with government institutions, and ensure data
accuracy.
Future of AI regulation debated in US; EU worries about AI Act enforcement-May 14, 2025, 1:30 pm EDT | Anthony Kimery
A
sweeping legislative proposal spearheaded by House Energy and Commerce
Committee Chairman, Republican Brett Guthrie, has ignited a contentious
debate about the future of AI regulation in the United States.Tucked
within the Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill is a provision that
would impose a ten-year nationwide moratorium on state and local
enforcement of any laws regulating AI systems. This proposal, if
enacted, would override a growing body of state-level efforts to govern
AI technologies, and could significantly shape the national AI policy
landscape through 2035.The debate over the moratorium is taking place as
international AI governance efforts also struggle with their own
enforcement challenges. In the European Union, the AI Act – the world’s
first comprehensive legal framework for AI – also faces obstacles due to
lack of funding and technical expertise among national regulators.The
language of Guthrie’s bill is explicit. It states, “no state or
political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation
regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence
systems, or automated decision systems during the ten-year period
beginning on the date of the enactment of this act.”The only exceptions
are narrowly tailored to facilitate AI adoption, such as removing
barriers related to licensing or permitting. The effect of such sweeping
preemption would nullify existing AI regulations in states like
Colorado and California, and would prevent any future legislative action
at the state level aimed at curbing the risks associated with AI
deployment.This moratorium has been welcomed by major technology
companies including OpenAI, Meta, and Alphabet. Industry advocates on
the other hand argue that a fragmented patchwork of state regulations
could stifle innovation, impose heavy compliance burdens, and hinder the
United States in its competition with China for AI supremacy.In written
comments to Congress, tech policy experts warned that rushed or overly
broad state laws could consolidate AI development in the hands of only
the largest firms while pushing smaller innovators out of the market.The
proposal has drawn sharp criticism from consumer advocacy
organizations, Democratic lawmakers, and privacy watchdogs.
Representative Jan Schakowsky, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on
Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade called the moratorium “a giant gift
to Big Tech” and warned that it could allow AI companies to circumvent
consumer privacy protections, amplify the spread of deepfakes, and
enable discriminatory profiling practices.“The Republicans’ ten-year ban
on the enforcement of state laws protecting consumers from potential
dangers of new artificial intelligence systems gives Big Tech free reign
to take advantage of children and families,” Schakowsky said. “This ban
will allow AI companies to ignore consumer privacy protections, let
deepfakes spread, and allow companies to profile and deceive consumers
using AI. After stopping comprehensive national privacy from passing
last year, Republicans are going after states and leaving consumers
unprotected online.”Grace Gedye, a policy analyst for Consumer Reports,
said the measure would prevent states from responding to pressing
AI-driven harms, including non-consensual deepfake pornography, biased
hiring systems, and threats to critical infrastructure.California
Privacy Protection Agency Executive Director Tom Kemp also condemned the
proposal, noting that it would derail his agency’s ongoing efforts to
establish rules for automated decision-making systems. Kemp emphasized
that the federal government has historically permitted states to lead on
privacy protections and warned that stripping states of regulatory
authority in the face of rapid technological change would undermine
public trust and safety.The proposed moratorium comes at a time when
states are aggressively moving to regulate AI. Colorado passed the
nation’s first comprehensive AI law in 2024 that requires developers to
implement risk management and transparency protocols. California also
has passed several AI-related laws dealing with consumer protection,
election integrity, and voice cloning, while Utah and Tennessee have
enacted targeted laws on generative AI disclosures and voice
deepfakes.In total, at least 45 states and Puerto Rico have introduced
over 550 AI-related bills since the start of 2025, underscoring both the
perceived urgency and complexity of AI governance.Despite the states’
momentum, the Republican-controlled House is using the budget
reconciliation process to advance its moratorium proposal. Scheduled for
markup on May 13, the House Energy and Commerce Committee aims to
include the provision in its formal contribution to House Continuing
Resolution 14. Guthrie has defended the measure as a means of promoting
American innovation and avoiding premature regulatory fragmentation,
dismissing criticism from Democrats as fearmongering.The reconciliation
process, however, presents its own obstacles. Under the Senate’s Byrd
Rule, provisions in a reconciliation bill must have a direct and
substantial impact on federal revenue or expenditures. Legal experts
question whether a blanket prohibition on state AI regulation meets this
threshold. If not, the provision could be stripped during Senate
review, casting doubt on its long-term viability.Critics of the bill
also raise constitutional concerns. Omer Tene, a partner at the Goodwin
law firm and former privacy scholar, said broad federal moratoriums on
regulation are rare and typically are confined to specific technologies
like drones. He argued that the sweeping nature of the proposed AI
moratorium may violate the Tenth Amendment’s anti-commandeering
doctrine, referencing the Supreme Court’s decision in Murphy v.
NCAA.David Stauss of Husch Blackwell echoed Tene’s concerns, pointing
out that even state laws narrowly focused on AI use in elections,
healthcare, or insurance could be invalidated.One of the more ambiguous
challenges lies in how “artificial intelligence systems” will be defined
under federal law. Some state statutes like Colorado use a broad
definition based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development framework which can include everything from firewalls to
calculators unless explicitly exempted. A federal definition that is too
expansive could inadvertently preempt areas of law not traditionally
associated with AI, such as medical malpractice, product liability, and
even civil rights protections.This definitional ambiguity also extends
to existing state privacy laws that provide consumers with rights to opt
out of automated profiling. Depending on how AI-related terms are
construed in the federal bill, these provisions could be nullified,
eliminating key safeguards currently in place in states like California,
Virginia, and Connecticut.Guthrie’s bill not only seeks to delay state
regulation, it also proposes a $500 million appropriation to the
Department of Commerce to modernize federal IT systems using AI. The
stated goals include improving service delivery, automating threat
detection, and replacing legacy architecture. While this funding may
help advance the government’s own AI capabilities, critics argue that it
does little to address the risks AI poses to consumers and civil rights
in the absence of robust regulatory frameworks.The proposed ten-year
moratorium on state AI regulation is more than a jurisdictional issue.
It is a fundamental clash between two visions for the future of AI
governance. On one side are those who believe centralized federal
oversight is essential to avoid a regulatory labyrinth that could stifle
growth and global competitiveness, and on the other side are lawmakers,
advocates, and regulators who contend that states must be allowed to
respond to the rapid deployment of AI in ways that reflect local values
and protect their residents.As the House Energy and Commerce Committee
debates the measure, its implications extend well beyond the immediate
legislative fight. Whether the moratorium stands or falls will signal
how the U.S. plans to balance innovation with accountability in one of
the most consequential technological domains of the 21st century. If
Congress ultimately sides with preemption, it may also need to fill the
regulatory vacuum with comprehensive federal AI legislation – something
it has so far failed to deliver.In the EU meanwhile, with many member
states already under fiscal strain, some digital policy advisors have
expressed skepticism that the bloc will be able to effectively enforce
the rules of the AI Act in the near term. These implementation hurdles
underscore the practical difficulties of AI oversight even when
comprehensive legislation exists.The AI Act establishes a comprehensive
regulatory framework for AI technologies, including specific provisions
addressing facial recognition systems. The act categorizes AI
applications based on risk levels. Facial recognition technologies,
particularly those used for biometric identification in public spaces,
fall under the “unacceptable risk” category and are generally
prohibited.Specifically, the act bans real-time remote biometric
identification systems such as facial recognition in publicly accessible
areas. However, exceptions exist for law enforcement purposes in
limited scenarios, such as searching for victims of specific crimes,
preventing imminent threats, or identifying suspects of serious
offenses, and these uses require prior judicial
authorization.Additionally, the AI Act prohibits the untargeted scraping
of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage to create or expand
facial recognition databases. This measure aims to protect individuals’
privacy and prevent unauthorized mass surveillance.While the act sets a
high bar for AI regulation, some critics argue that the exceptions for
law enforcement could be exploited, potentially undermining the
protections against mass surveillance. Ongoing debates continue
regarding the balance between security needs and individual privacy
rights in the context of AI technologies
EU seeks feedback on age assurance, child protection under DSA-May 14, 2025, 5:06 pm EDT | Masha Borak
The
EU has issued an official call for feedback for guidelines on
protecting minors online under the Digital Services Act (DSA), including
on age assurance measures that platforms should introduce to limit
children’s exposure to pornography and other age-inappropriate
content.The draft guidelines are open for public feedback until June
10th, 2025, while their publication is expected during the summer.The
recommendations are based on the DSA’s Article 28, which has been at the
center of the European Board for Digital Services age assurance
discussions. The new guidelines, based on the article, are targeted at
all platforms accessible by children, except those from micro- and small
enterprises. They divide all age assurance measures into three
categories: self-declaration; age estimation, which is most commonly
carried out with face biometrics; and age verification.At the same time,
the European Commission is also working on an age assurance app which
will allow online service providers to check whether users are under the
age of 18. A beta version of the white label app is in development from
Deutsche Telekom and Swedish biometrics firm Scytáles and has been made
available on GitHub.“The aim of the project is to develop an EU
harmonised privacy-preserving age verification solution, including a
white-label open-source app by summer 2025,” the Commission says.The
app, however, has already seen criticism from advocacy groups such as
European Digital Rights (EDRi), which claims that age assurance tools
“systematically leak data in ways that threaten the privacy and data
protection rights of children and adults alike.”The app represents an
interim solution until the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet becomes
available by the end of 2026 and is based on the same technology as the
EUDI Wallet.The DSA guidelines offer a risk-based approach that
platforms can tailor to specific services without restricting minors
from their right to participate and express themselves in the online
sphere, according to the Commission.Aside from age assurance measures,
the guidelines also recommend that platforms set children’s accounts as
private by default and adjust their recommendation systems to reduce the
risk of children ending up in rabbit holes of harmful content. Another
suggestion is allowing kids to block and mute users and ensuring they
cannot be added to groups without explicit agreement to prevent
bullying.
EU, Japan pledge to strengthen cooperation on digital ID, trust services-May 13, 2025, 11:45 am EDT | Ayang Macdonald
Japan
and the European Union (EU) have discussed ways of bolstering their
digital cooperation in several areas including the development and
implementation of digital identity and trust services.The two partners
reaffirmed their commitment to this objective during their third Digital
Partnership Council attended by top level representatives in Tokyo on
May 12, per a news release.Participants during the meeting agreed that
with the changing global geopolitical realities, it was important for
the two parties to reinforce their digital cooperation as part of
efforts to build security and economic resilience.One of the areas of
focus is digital ID and trust services where they agreed to step up
efforts towards “achieving interoperability and mutual recognition of
academic credentials through digital identity and trust services.”Japan
and the EU have signed an MoU on digital IDs and trust services intended
to facilitate a program labelled “Data Free Flow with Trust” which
entails sharing experience on aspects such as the EU Digital Identity
Wallet and how digital ID can facilitate trade and enable easy access to
important public services.During the third Digital Partnership Council,
data governance was also discussed with the two parties agreeing on the
need for a joint working group that will facilitate improved data
sharing and interoperability.The discussions also explored collaborative
initiatives on other digital transformation engagements like building
critical cybersecurity infrastructure, enhancing digital connecting
through submarine cable projects, building a safe digital governance
platform, as well fostering research for the development of innovative,
safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems.Speaking on the collaboration,
the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and
Democracy at the European Commission, Henna Virkkunen, said: “Today in
Tokyo, we have reinforced the already strong EU-Japan digital
partnership. Deepening our work on core technologies to ensure mutual
competitiveness is now more important than ever. This strategic
partnership holds real economic weight for both the EU and Japan, and I
look forward to advancing it.”Today May 13, the two partners are set to
sign a Letter of Intent on the development of quantum technology.They
look forward to the 4th Digital Partnership Council scheduled for next
year in Brussels.
Oops! UK government says sorry for the mix-up
with wallet announcement-In key meeting with digital ID stakeholders,
Peter Kyle appears to walk back plan-May 14, 2025, 5:14 pm EDT | Joel
R. McConvey
UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and
Technology Peter Kyle has reportedly apologized to the biometrics and
digital identity industry for the “unintended impact” of the
government’s wallet and digital driving licence (DDL) announcement.The
apology comes with a walkback on use cases, and an apparent requirement
that government-issued digital ID will have to be hosted by a digital
identity verification service certified under the Digital Identity and
Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF).In an email sent to Biometric Update,
Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) Executive Director Iain
Corby, who attended a much-anticipated meeting between digital ID trade
groups and government representatives, says Kyle remains “unapologetic
that government would issue credentials such as a DDL, which he argues
(reasonably) the public expects.”“He did say government has no interest
in how the private sector consumes and integrates with those
credentials.”Corby says it appears that users will have to access a
government credential via a digital verification service. “So a DDL
becomes a source document for a trust framework digital ID, not used
directly at the till at Sainsbury’s, for example.”Corby calls it “a
considerable concession” that seems to veer away from the original
Gov.uk digital ID vision, which promised that UK imbibers would be able
to use their government-issued mobile driver’s licenses directly to buy
alcohol at licensed establishments by Christmas 2025.He also notes “a
lot of talk of orchestration providers’ role in the trust framework.”The
Association of Digital Verification Professionals (ADVP) has been
working with AVPA on this file. In a social media post, ADVP chair David
Crack notes that, seven months out from the festive season, retailers
and local authorities remain poorly prepared and unmotivated: “there is
no commercial model or clear regulatory drivers to encourage retailers
to adopt the technology.”
Kenyan MPs want proof of biometric data deletion claim by World-May 14, 2025, 4:44 pm EDT | Ayang Macdonald
Some
members of Kenya’s National Assembly expect to get concrete proof from
the government about full compliance with a court order after World was
told to delete all biometric data it collected from more than 300,000
citizens in the country.Early this month, a High Court in Nairobi ruled
that World’s collection of iris and facial biometrics from Kenyans in
exchange for World tokens, was in violation of the country’s personal
data protection laws.The judge, Justice Roselyne Aburili, said among
other things in the judgement, that World, formerly Worldcoin, failed to
conduct a data protection impact assessment and to register as a data
processor before commencing its operations in Kenya.The judgement
directed that all the data be deleted within a period of seven days,
with the country’s Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait
supervising the process.In the wake of the judgement, the Kenyan
government disclosed that it had received an affidavit from World
claiming all biometric data it collected in the country had actually
been deleted in 2023.However, lawmakers want the government and data
protection oversight bodies to make sure the company has indeed fully
and transparently complied with the court order, The Star
reports.Recently when lawmakers of the Committee on Communication,
Information and Innovation met with officials of the Ministry of
Communications and Digital economy and the Data Protection Commission,
they sought to know if World had already complied with the court order
to delete the data they are holding. They also wanted to get answers on
who exactly is responsible for ensuring the deletion and verifying
it.The MPs were told of World’s claim of having deleted the data two
years ago, but equally got assurances that efforts were underway to
independently verify if the company’s claims are true.World had come
under scrutiny in Kenya, as it has in many other countries, over the
collection of biometric data from citizens, with concerns about privacy
intrusion and data security.It began its operations in Kenya in 2022. In
2023, lawmakers raised serious concerns over its activities, arguing
that they pose serious threat to the country’s sovereignty. At one
point, officials banned its activities, before later allowing them to
resume.Early this year, World reported 10 million signups to its
network.
5 key components of deepfake threat mitigation: Reality
Defender-Effective fraud response playbook essential for all
organizations-May 14, 2025, 3:56 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
When
deepfakes attack, who you gonna call? This is the fundamental question
posed in a new blog from Reality Defender CEO Ben Colman, who says
deepfakes are testing the limits of traditional security incident
response and exposing “a widening gap in preparedness.”To help address
the problem, the deepfake detection firm has published a guide that
provides “a practical framework for building an enterprise-grade
deepfake detection and response plan, tailored for the teams now
responsible for turning awareness into action.”The fraud game has
changed, shifting from a reliance on malware or network intrusion to a
model that exploits trust. “A cloned voice can pass legacy voice
biometric systems,” Colman writes. “A fake video call can impersonate a
company executive with enough accuracy to trigger a wire transfer or
password reset.”“Security leaders already understand that AI-generated
voice and video are being used to impersonate executives, trick
employees into high-risk actions, and bypass biometric systems in real
time. The challenge now isn’t awareness – it’s ownership.”In this case,
ownership means a formal structure for responding to deepfake attacks,
which tend to defy traditional security classifications in the same way
they confound legacy fraud protections.“In most organizations, there is
no playbook for deepfake response,” says Colman. “A fraud analyst may
receive a report of suspicious customer behavior, but lack the tools to
analyze synthetic voice. A SOC analyst may catch an anomaly, but have no
escalation path if a spoofed video is involved. The core issue is
fragmentation. AI fraud doesn’t clearly belong to any one team – so it
falls between them.”Reality Defender’s plan for effective deepfake
response has five core components. Top quality detection is the starting
point. “Without a reliable signal that malicious AI-generated content
is present, there’s nothing to respond to. Detection must go beyond
metadata analysis or surface-level heuristics – it requires real-time
scanning of communication channels to flag manipulation as it
happens.”Triage defines who reviews flagged communications, what
warrants escalation versus dismissal, and other questions. “Ideally,
detection platforms offer confidence scores that inform triage without
overwhelming analysts.”Escalation outlines the chain of custody,
particularly important for impersonation attempts targeting executives,
finance teams, or customer-facing staff.Attribution and forensics allow
teams to verify that a piece of media was manipulated, document evidence
for internal or external review, and integrate that insight into
ongoing fraud or threat intelligence workflows.And communication and
containment kick in when a synthetic attack reaches external
stakeholders such as customers, partners or the public.Coordinating team
roles and responsibilities is key to closing vulnerabilities.
“Establishing clear lines of responsibility across fraud, security,
legal, and communications is critical but often overlooked. Instead of
defaulting to informal escalation paths, organizations should define
response owners by incident type, impersonation target, and
communication channel.”The response plan should be tested and trialed;
“practicing how teams handle a deepfake voice call or a manipulated
executive video helps reveal process gaps before real stakes are
involved.Security awareness also needs an upgrade. “Teams across fraud,
IT and customer support should be exposed to real examples of
AI-manipulated communications to understand their impact – and why human
intuition alone isn’t enough to catch them.”Voice fraud in banking
leads to losses beyond the bottom line-A separate post on fraud
prevention focuses on voice fraud in banking. “Voice fraud is no longer
an emerging risk,” Colman writes. “It’s a proven, high-cost attack
vector now actively impacting financial institutions.”The damage goes
beyond immediate losses. “AI voice attacks force organizations to invest
heavily in crisis management and remediation efforts. This includes
conducting forensic investigations to understand the breach, enhancing
security protocols to prevent future incidents, and managing public
relations to mitigate reputational harm. These activities require
significant time, personnel, and capital.”Hits to customer trust are
another risk, as is running afoul of regulators.To further help
organizations, Colman outlines a “practical framework for calculating
exposure across five key dimensions.” These are authentication surface
area, frequency of high-value transactions, call center and agent
resilience, the ability to detect AI-generated fraud, and regulatory and
compliance sensitivity.“When applied collectively, these five
dimensions allow financial institutions to build a risk-weighted model
of their exposure.”GenAI collaborations beef up detection
capabilities-Colman also offers his thoughts for an interview with
Customer Experience Magazine, highlighting the threat to call centers,
and the role of AI in proactive deepfake defense.“Our AI-powered
detection models can analyse vast amounts of data and identify subtle
anomalies indicative of AI manipulation at scale,” Colman says. “Our
collaborations with generative AI companies also provide us with early
access to their models, allowing us to proactively develop detection
methods.”
US selfie biometrics test RIVR running, chance to dive in for track 2 coming soon-May 14, 2025, 2:52 pm EDT | Chris Burt
The
due date for applications to the second track of the Remote Identity
Validation Rally (RIVR) from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s
Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is set to be announced
soon.The RIVR program was announced in March to replace the Remote
Identity Validation Technology Demonstration (RIVTD) conducted last
year.The final deadline for docker submissions to the Selfie Match to
Document track by biometrics providers that were accepted in April are
due on May 23. Details for the submission were shared in a March
presentation by Yevgeniy Sirotin of the Maryland Test Facility (MdTF),
where the tests will be conducted, and DHS S&T Senior Advisor for
Biometric and Identity Technologies Arun Vemury.The Document Validation
track is planned for the summer of 2025, and evaluations for biometric
presentation attack detection (PAD), or Face Liveness technology, are
expected to be held in the fall. That means the first deadline for track
2 will likely come during June or July.The results of RIVTD provided a
snapshot of the state-of-the-art in remote biometric onboarding
technologies, and helped to inform digital identity guidelines from the
National Institute of Standards and Technology.They showed the maturity
of facial recognition technology relative to document authentication and
liveness detection. Vemury points out in a post to the S&T website
that these technologies “have not had the historical benefit of that
same level of testing and feedback” the U.S. government has dedicated to
face biometrics with programs such as NIST’s FRTE (formerly known as
FRVT).S&T directs tech development towards common benefit-RIVR
represents S&T’s equivalent model for public-private partnerships to
advance technologies that can benefit multiple sectors, and Vemury
anticipates it will yield similar performance improvements to those seen
in recent years in face biometrics.“These technology challenges can
create a level playing field with clear rules and success criteria to
evaluate innovative commercial technology solutions,” he writes.
“Running evaluations like these on a regular basis can help developers
plan and iteratively make improvements. We are working towards
automating the process to make it easier for companies to submit their
technologies for future evaluations and have additional rallies
planned.”Business, the government and the public benefit from greater
transparency about the effectiveness of emerging technologies, and
developers get direction on how to invest their resources.“This model
has been such a success,” Vemury writes, “we plan to expand its use.”
FaceAge
biometric tool assesses how old you look, considers your chances of
survival-Algorithm aims to optimize treatment for cancer patients, but
carries big ethical baggage-May 14, 2025, 2:49 pm EDT | Joel R.
McConvey
New research published in medical journal The Lancet
aims to develop and validate “a deep learning system to estimate
biological age from easily obtainable and low-cost face photographs.”The
machine learning technology, dubbed FaceAge, is intended to be used by
medical professionals to evaluate the physical appearance and biological
age of patients from biometric data, and specifically to analyze signs
of cancer.In other words, it decides how old you look and what that says
about your health – and how long you’re likely to survive.While that
may not sound like an appealing proposition to many (and, indeed, may
sound like a potential ethical nightmare to some), FaceAge can
reportedly predict whether or not cancer patients are likely to survive
treatment, enabling doctors and caregivers to optimize palliative
end-of-life care for terminal cases.“In these patients, clinical
prediction models can help to improve physicians’ decision making as to
whether or not to administer treatment, as well as the appropriate
treatment intensity, both of which are largely a function of a
physician’s impression of overall prognosis, performance status, and
frailty.”The research team, based out of Mass General Brigham in Boston
reports that FaceAge was trained on biometric data from 58,851 presumed
healthy individuals aged 60 years or older: 56 304 individuals from the
IMDb-Wiki dataset (training) and 2547 from the UTKFace dataset (initial
validation). Clinical validation compared data from 6196 patients with
cancer diagnoses from two institutions in the Netherlands and the U.S.
FaceAge estimates in these cancer cohorts were compared with a
non-cancerous reference cohort of 535 individuals.The biometric
diagnostics tool appears to work well enough. “FaceAge showed
significant independent prognostic performance in various cancer types
and stages,” the research says. “We found that, on average, patients
with cancer look approximately 5 years older than their chronological
age and have a statistically higher FaceAge compared with clinical
cohorts of patients without cancer who are treated for conditions that
are benign or precancerous.”“Our results suggest that a deep learning
model can estimate biological age from face photographs and thereby
enhance survival prediction in patients with cancer.”Although doctors
already evaluate whether people with cancer should undergo treatment,
the introduction of biometrics algorithms into the decision-making
process raises troubling questions. The authors recognize the need for
further research using larger cohorts before their idea can be used in
clinical settings. Yet there is little reason to doubt their claim that
“FaceAge could be used to translate a patient’s visual appearance into
objective, quantitative, and clinically valuable measures.”The risk is
that objectivity can be asserted for ideological ends to bring the
technology out of the hospital. As the specter of eugenics pops its
nasty head into current political discussions about autism and public
health, there is potential danger in a technology that makes it easier
for anyone claiming authority to decide who should live or die.As is the
case with all so-called AI, while algorithms may come with good
intentions, they are unlikely, in the end, to be applied exclusively by
the benevolent.
US police tracking people using AI that identifies non-biometric attributes-May 14, 2025, 1:23 pm EDT | Lu-Hai Liang
U.S.
state and local police departments are using an AI model that helps
them evade facial recognition prohibitions.MIT Technology Review reports
on how police forces and universities across the U.S. are using a tool
called Track. Developed by Veritone, the AI model can track people using
attributes like gender, hair color and style, body size, clothing and
accessories.Use of Track is expanding, with federal attorneys at the
Department of Justice having used the tool for criminal investigations
last summer. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes
immigration agencies, along with the Department of Defense make use of
Veritone’s other AI tools, which include facial recognition.On
Veritone’s website, the company advertises Track with the capability to
enable investigators to track individuals and vehicles across videos
without any personally identifiable information (PII). Compliance with
privacy laws is a particular selling point. Veritone CEO Ryan Steelberg
was quoted by Technology Review saying that Track can also track when
faces are obscured or not visible.The tool raises privacy concerns
similar to facial recognition, according to the American Civil Liberties
Union, which discovered Track via MIT Technology Review. The union said
it was the first time it had seen a nonbiometric tracking system used
at scale in the U.S. In an interview, Jon Gacek, Veritone’s general
manager of its public sector business, said Track is not a general
surveillance tool but is intended to speed up the identification of
important parts of videos.Steelberg claimed Track is less than a year
away from being operational on live video feeds. It currently runs only
on recorded video. The CEO said the number of attributes that Track uses
to identify individuals will keep expanding. The majority of Veritone’s
clients are media and entertainment companies but its fastest-growing
segment is the public sector, which currently makes up just six percent
of the Irvine, California-based company’s business.In the U.S. facial
recognition use by police is almost outright forbidden in certain
places, such as in San Francisco and Oakland, California, or curtailed,
with laws in Maine and Montana limiting its use. These laws usually
refer to “biometric data” but attributes such as body size fall into a
grey area since an individual’s body shape is mutable and can vary,
while biometrics are generally immutable, such as iris and face and
fingerprints.Police departments across the U.S. are in various
considerations over biometrics use. The Milwaukee Police Department is
considering engaging biometrics firm Biometrica as a provider in
exchange for access to its database of 2.5 million mugshot photos. In
Ohio, a legal case could have potentially far-reaching consequences for
law enforcement and civil liberties, surfacing legal and ethical
tensions over police use of facial recognition. In Michigan, Detroit
police have been sued after a woman claimed she is the victim of
wrongful arrest prompted by a facial recognition match. Detroit Police
say facial recognition was not used in the case.
Reality Defender, Trust Stamp selected for CyberBoost Catalyse-May 14, 2025, 1:03 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
Reality
Defender is participating in the Singapore Cybersecurity Agency
sponsored CyberBoost Catalyse, “a prestigious program designed to help
innovative cybersecurity startups expand their operations in Singapore,
Asia Pacific, and beyond.”CEO Ben Colman calls the program “a
significant strategic opportunity for Reality Defender” that will
provide “guidance on navigating Singapore’s regulatory landscape,
connections with security leaders and potential end-users, access to
experienced entrepreneurs and investors, support in developing
proof-of-concept collaborations, and strategic advice on international
expansion.”He notes that as a financial hub, Singapore is an ideal place
to pursue deepfake detection, and says “Singapore’s forward-thinking
approach to cybersecurity regulation and its role as a technology
innovator in the region provide the perfect environment for Reality
Defender to extend its impact.”Also included in the CyberBoost Catalyse
is Trust Stamp. In a release from the firm, VP for APAC Ajmir Safi says
“CyberBoost Catalyse marks a key milestone in our global expansion
strategy. Singapore is a world leader in cybersecurity innovation, and
being part of this program enables us to refine our market approach
while building meaningful partnerships across Asia and beyond.”Reusable
ID verification platform SQR participated in the program in October 2024
as one of the first 10 startups selected to join the initiative.
Raonsecure’s decentralized digital ID reach expands in Japan, reaches new markets-May 14, 2025, 12:17 pm EDT | Lu-Hai Liang
Raonsecure’s
biometric authentication service TouchEn OnePass for financial
services, fintechs and educational institutions in Japan has surpassed 7
million monthly active users.CEO Lee Soon-hyung says the company plans
to expand its market reach into more Asian countries and North America,
ChosunBiz reports.And Raonsecure is also branching out in its home
market of South Korea, signing a memorandum of understanding with pet
tech provider Uyeon Company to issue and verify digital IDs for pets.
The partners’ intention is to build a system for issuing and verifying
digital ID cards to pets based on Raonsecure’s blockchain-based OmniOne
digital ID, according to another report by ChosunBiz. The OmniOne Badge
service will be used to issue badges to pets.Uyeon offers a Dr. Clooney
platform for pet owners to register and authenticate their pet’s
identity. It can be used for pet-related services in the financial
sector, public sector and healthcare.“Through the agreement with Uyeon
Company, we have expanded the application range of blockchain-based
digital ID technology from people to include the identity verification
of animals,” says Park Jong-moon, head of Raonsecure’s service business
division. “We will continue to expand the digital ID-based ecosystem and
lead innovations in certification and credentialing throughout
society.”South Koreans are also increasingly interested in decentralized
digital ID since the disastrous SK Telecom hack, which forced
businesses to stop allowing self-certification services from mobile
phones on the telecom’s network, TechM reports. The article notes
Raonsecure and Parrameta as Korean leaders in the field.Partnership
opens ME market-Raonsecure also inked an agreement with Qatar-based
conglomerate Al Fardan Corporation to bring next-generation digital
identity to the Middle East at the World IT Show 2025 in Seoul.The
partnership brings the South Korean company’s mobile-based decentralized
digital ID and biometric authentication services for zero-trust
security frameworks to one of the world’s fastest-growing markets,
according to a joint announcement.“Our collaboration with Al Fardan
Corporation is a launchpad for a smarter, safer Middle East,” says
Raonsecure Director of Global Business Sean SangYoup Lee. “Together,
we’re enabling organizations to rethink digital trust and build secure,
user-centric ecosystems.”
Uganda urges massive student
participation in upcoming national ID enrollment drive-May 14, 2025,
11:06 am EDT | Ayang Macdonald
Uganda’s National
Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) used a recent school
debate event to encourage the massive participation of young people in
the national ID card registration campaign scheduled to start on May
27.The debate, which brought together participations from 20 schools
across the country, was organized recently by NIRA in collaboration with
the Debate Society of Uganda and the Ministry of Education and
Sports.The objective was to emphasize the importance of the national
identification system, and to encourage students who have attained the
age of 16 to take part in the planned enrollment drive, according to PML
Daily.Participants crossed views on topics related to the national ID
program and its role in enabling youth, and Ugandans in general, fully
enjoy their fundamental human rights. Key aspects of the debate focussed
on whether a national ID card should be a requirement for admission
into school, and whether replacement ID cards should be issued free of
charge.At the closing ceremony of the school debate, NIRA’s Executive
Director, Rosemary Kisembo, explained the critical nature of the
national ID especially for young people, describing it as “the gateway
to education, healthcare, employment, and full participation in our
nation’s growth.”“We urge every young person, parent, and guardian to
take this exercise seriously as we prepare for this historic
enrollment,” PML Daily quoted Kisembo as saying. She added that a
majority of the expected 18.2 million new ID enrollments will be by the
youth as figures mentioned during the debate indicate that about 70
percent of Ugandans below 17 do not have national ID cards.The State
Minister for Internal Affairs, Gen David Muhoozi, used the opportunity
to reiterate the willingness of the government to put in place an
effective national ID system that meets the aspirations of Ugandans. He
called on the youth to take advantage of the exercise when it starts,
and enroll for their national ID cards. Muhoozi beseeched the youth to
be “ambassadors” of the national ID enrollment campaign, describing it
as a vital activity for the country’s strategic national planning.The
NIRA schools debate is part of the curriculum of the Ministry of
Education and Sports.
Data is ammo in biometric authentication’s
arms race with AI fraud: EIC 2025 panel-Keyless, iProov and EmpowerID
execs hash out the implications-May 13, 2025, 3:07 pm EDT | Chris
Burt
On the internet, nobody knows if your dog can skateboard.
KuppingerCole Lead Analyst Paul Fisher introduced viral videos of skater
pooches as an example of the untrustworthiness of online data at the
beginning of an EIC 2025 panel discussion on how biometric
authentication can be adapted to the era of deepfakes. The somewhat
surprising outcome of the discussion may be that Fisher should watch
more skateboarding videos.The panel was part of KuppingerCole’s European
Identity and Cloud Conference (EIC ) 2025, on last week in Berlin.With
biometric injection attacks and fakes sophisticated enough to perform
liveness “challenges,” how can organizations establish or maintain trust
in their users?EmpowerID Founder and CEO Patrick Parker emphasizes the
importance of continuous identity verification and authentication. This
could be carried out by an AI agent that acts as a personal
assistant.“No-one will know you better than that agent. So that agent
could be a continuous identity verification actor, which is constantly
measuring your behaviour, because it knows you better than anyone
else.”It could detect issues in real-time and trigger challenges. It
could use open standards to intervene in a session.Face still has a
place, mostly as a convenience factor, Parker suggests.iProov Chief
Innovation Officer Joe Palmer disagrees with this position, arguing that
in the AI arms race, the entity with the most data moves ahead. His
company has half a billion records of good authentications, which is
more examples than attackers will be able to find of successful fakes,
“they have to generate this themselves. So, this informational asymmetry
is key in maintaining the security.”AI will increase speed and scale,
however.“That’s great, because guess what: we get all of the data they
send us” to examine for anomalies and signs of fraud. He suggests that
“if you’re ahead, you can stay ahead,” but this also implies a problem
for new market entrants.A behavioral biometrics layer, as referred to by
Parker, plays an important complementary role, Keyless Product Director
Tobin Broadfoot says, though like face, it can no longer be solely
relied on. It could be one of a hundred signals though.Keystroke
biometrics are still pretty close to state of the art in privileged
access management (PAM), Fisher notes, where passwords are still
commonplace. Change is already underway, however. Martin Kuppinger
forecast the end of the password for around 2040 at the beginning of the
conference.The biometrics and other tools are maturing to the point
where they can be plugged into various systems, Palmer says, noting the
November integration of additional factors from third-party digital
identity providers with Entra through OpenID Connect.How the continued
maturation plays out remains to be seen, and the discussion returned
several times to issues created by AI agents. The panelists predicted
that in five years, the human IT workforce will be much smaller, that
humans and human-centricity will still be important for the identity
industry, and that the majority of people will own a decentralized
digital identity.
Hsiao-Chun Wu’s wearable biometric
authentication via PPG wins NSF grant-Tech used to measure heart rate
presents cheap option for continuous authentication-May 13, 2025, 2:21
pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
A release from Louisiana State
University (LSU)’s College of Engineering says electrical and computer
engineering professor Hsiao-Chun Wu is the recipient of a $245,631 grant
from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Published through the
IEEE, Wu’s research examines “novel robust continuous time-efficient
biometric profiling and authentication using multispectral
photoplethysmography.”That’s a highly technical way of saying that Wu is
exploring biometric authentication using the kind of simple wearable
device often used to measure heart rate.Photoplethysmogram (PPG)
technology measures volumetric blood-flow changes in the peripheral
circulation. Apple has previously explored using PPG in its AirPods.Per
the abstract, “because PPG signals are very easy to acquire, compared to
other biometrics (fingerprints, iris/retina, etc.), especially by
low-cost wearable electronic devices, they are widely adopted to measure
heart rates.” Wu proposes to develop “a novel robust PPG based
authentication system, which is capable of continuously authenticating
the user instead of one-time authentication as carried out by the
conventional techniques.”Imagine a patch, ring, thimble or other
wearable device capable of “continuously sensing a wide range of
physiological signals for use in biometric authentication and health
monitoring.” In Wu’s model, authentication is not an isolated event but a
consistent state.“As society sees increasing use of digitally
interconnected devices and systems, the need for secure and
user-friendly authentication methods is more critical than ever,” Wu
says. “Existing methods, such as passwords, fingerprints, and facial
recognition are incompatible with wearable technologies.”By using
physiological signals to enable continuous time-efficient
authentication, Wu hopes to not so much erase the seams as to shift the
focus to how the whole outfit looks when it’s on.Wu’s team is set to
create “advanced interdisciplinary learning opportunities” at LSU and
Michigan Technological University to engage undergraduate and graduate
students in “cutting-edge research across electrical engineering,
biomedical engineering, signal processing, machine learning, intelligent
systems and data science.”Meanwhile, he says “we have already built the
hardware prototype successfully for real-time training data collection
and real-time authentication.” Per the abstract, the equal-error-rate at
the authentication stage reaches 5.5 percent and the identification
accuracy reaches 98 percent at the identification stage.Previous
research into photoplethysmography as a tool for authentication against
deepfakes has found that video deepfakes with digitally altered faces
retain the effect of heartbeat. In other words, generative AI is now
good enough to fool heart rate and blood flow detectors on video.In
2022, in a profile of a project to detect deepfakes with heart rate
estimation, Biometric Update editor in chief Chris Burt wrote that, “if
deepfake production techniques start to take into account physiological
data related to heart rate or blood flow, the technique will become less
effective.”For video, that moment seems to have arrived. But if Wu’s
technology takes off, we may end up wearing human-authenticating devices
on our person constantly, like jewelry.The professor appears to have
slid in under the wire: the Trump administration has cut nearly 1400
grants from the NSF worth nearly $1 billion, and promises in its new
budget to cut its funding by 55 percent.This week marks the 75th
anniversary of its founding on May 10, 1950.
Israel seeks funding
for plan to require facial recognition in exchange for food in
Gaza-Proposal would see food aid restricted to a few distribution
centers in the south-May 13, 2025, 12:30 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
Israel’s
cabinet has approved a controversial plan to reorganize and put new
limits on the distribution of food aid in Gaza – including a requirement
to perform facial recognition. But for now, its requests for funding
from foreign countries have gone unheeded.In a podcast from NPR,
journalist Daniel Estrin describes the proposed system: “Palestinians
would be coming to these places, registered and screened through facial
recognition technology. They’d pick up parcels for their family.”Israel
is claiming the operation is an attempt to isolate aid from Hamas. But,
Estrin says, “an Israeli official tells us it’s actually part of a
bigger strategy to get Palestinian civilians to move en masse to a
smaller, more consolidated area of Gaza so that the military can expand
the territory that it’s taking over in Gaza.”Israel has been phasing in
biometric technology for border control in the West Bank since 2024. Its
military has deployed facial recognition in Gaza using technology from
Corsight and Google Photos, according to the New York Times. There are
no details on which company would deploy facial recognition for use on
those seeking food.The United Nations has condemned the plan, which
involves consolidating food aid at “four to 10 designated aid centers in
southern Gaza,” as an attempt to use aid as bait.A release quotes UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder, who says the plan to
move food distribution to the south and to require facial recognition
tech “contravenes basic humanitarian principles” and appears designed to
“reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic.”The
Gaza Strip has been under a complete aid blockade for more than two
months. A memo obtained by The Times of Israel, written by the
Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) acknowledges that
civilians in Gaza are currently “enduring extreme deprivation.” The
consolidation of food is expected to have the capacity to feed only 60
percent of Gaza’s remaining population, raising the risk of mass
starvation.While Israel hopes to push ahead with the plan as part of its
larger push to ethnically cleanse certain areas of Gaza and occupy it,
it may have a hard time finding a financier. According to the Times, the
UAE rejected a request to bankroll the biometrics-for-food plan.Last
week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinian
population of Gaza “would be moved, for its own protection.”
iProov stacks up border biometrics wins with Orlando airport deployment announced-May 12, 2025, 4:35 pm EDT | Masha Borak
iProov
is supplying its face biometrics to Orlando International Airport
(MCO), which serves nearly 58 million passengers a year, for passenger
identity verification.The Enhanced Passenger Processing (EPP) initiative
will be used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to reduce
processing times for American passengers arriving on international
flights, Lance Lyttle, CEO of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
(GOAA), announced last week. The GOAA, which manages Orlando
International Airport, selected iProov to verify the identities of U.S.
citizens by matching them with passport images stored in the CBP
database.“Technology is driving the way for more efficient passenger
operations,” says Lyttle. “MCO saw an increase of more than 800,000
international arrivals in 2024 than in 2023, many of them U.S. citizens
who would benefit from this program.”The processing system is completely
automated, while participation in the program is voluntary. The
Enhanced Passenger Processing will kick off on select flights. Full
deployment is expected in the summer, MCO said in a release.The
announcement comes as U.S. airports face increasing debates over the use
of facial recognition. Last week, the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties
Oversight Board (PCLOB) released a report on the Transportation
Security Administration’s (TSA) use of facial recognition, warning of
transparency failures, unclear consent practices and risks of mission
creep.Lawmakers have been pushing for legislation establishing human ID
checks as the default verification method at TSA checkpoints, making
facial recognition an opt-in alternative. The law also promises to
restrict storing and repurposing biometric data collected by the
agency.Despite increasing regulatory hurdles, biometric-enabled travel
is expected to grow. iProov, for instance, has been introducing its face
biometrics tech in other travel hubs and border crossings, including
the UK and the EU.The London-headquartered identity verification firm
participated in the UK Home Office trials in maritime ports alongside
four other vendors. The company tested capturing high-quality facial
images of people within vehicles and linking their identity with the
vehicle they are traveling in. The trials took place between December
2024 and February 2025 and were designed to enhance security and
efficiency as the country prepares for the introduction of the EU
Entry-Exit System later this year.iProov is also one of the companies
behind the pre-registration app Travel to Europe, which was launched to
streamline EES entry processes.
Cake is Vietnam’s first digital bank to pass iBeta Level 2 PAD test-May 12, 2025, 11:49 am EDT | Lu-Hai Liang
Cake
Digital Bank has become the first digital-only bank in Southeast Asia
to pass iBeta’s test for detecting sophisticated face biometric
presentation attacks under the ISO standard.Vietnam’s Cake Digital Bank
and its Cake by VPBank Face Authen — a face biometric and anti-spoofing
solution — was found to be in compliance with a Level 2 test based on
the ISO 30107-3 Biometric Presentation Attack Detection (PAD)
Standard.“Achieving the highest international ISO standard for facial
biometrics with a solution developed entirely in-house by our Vietnamese
engineering team is a remarkable milestone for Cake,” said Nguyễn Hữu
Quang, CEO of Cake Digital Bank.Developed in-house by Cake’s team of
engineers, Cake Face Authen uses Passive Liveness Detection to verify a
user’s identity. In testing with presentation attacks, iBeta found both
the Attack Presentation Classification Error Rate (APCER) and the Bona
Fide Presentation Classification Error Rate (BPCER) was zero percent,
according to the announcement.Currently, more than 15 million people in
Vietnam use Cake Face Authen and the technology aligns with stringent
security requirements from the State Bank of Vietnam, which since July
2024 has mandated financial institutions to implement end-to-end
biometric verification for digital transactions.Vietnamese digital banks
including Techcombank and Vietcombank have quickly integrated facial
recognition to comply with the mandate.Cake is one of only five banking,
financial services and insurance organizations in Vietnam to be
compliant with ISO 30107-3 for face biometrics to iBeta’s Level 2. The
company passed a Level 1 assessment from iBeta last July. Cake was also
an early adopter of the FIDO2 passwordless authentication standard.iBeta
was among the independent testing labs that provided feedback on the
role of PAD testing in assessing biometric liveness detection
technologies for the 2025 Face Liveness Market Analysis & Buyer’s
Guide from Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence.
With Trump's second term, Big Tech embraces US exceptionalism-by AFP Staff Writers.
Washington
(AFP) May 15, 2025-Big tech companies are increasingly waving the US
flag in Washington where President Donald Trump is back in charge,
pushing his America First agenda.Leading this performance of nationalism
are Meta, OpenAI and, more predictably, Palantir, the AI defense
company founded by Peter Thiel, the conservative tech billionaire who
has played a major role in Silicon Valley's rightward shift.But the
full-throated call to defend the nation -- often paired with warnings
about communist China or Europe's regulation -- raises concerns about
alienating international partners who represent a significant portion of
big tech's business.In the defense industry, US companies have
historically balanced pro-American positioning with patriotic discretion
to attract international business.But Trump and Vice President JD Vance
routinely denigrate close allies, all while promoting a nationalist
agenda that many US companies feel little choice but to endorse.While
Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Arab states largely escape Trump's ire,
they are investing billions in US AI projects and building their own
ventures with White House backing.Perhaps most surprising is ChatGPT
maker OpenAI's embrace of American exceptionalism.The company now
actively lobbies for US tech to become the global platform for
generative AI, has adjusted policies to allow defense contracts, and is
helping build AI for the Pentagon in partnership with drone maker
Anduril, another Thiel-connected company."I don't want to live in Europe
either," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told a Senate panel on US AI dominance
last week."I think America is just an incredible and special thing, and
it will not only be the place where the AI revolution happens, but all
the revolutions after."Meta has similarly swung to the right since
Trump's return.CEO Mark Zuckerberg appointed a prominent Republican
lobbyist to lead public policy, who regularly criticizes European
regulations and aligns Meta's positions with conservative viewpoints.The
company has also touted AI models like its own as "essential for the US
to win the AI race against China and ensure American AI dominance."The
most vocal proponent is likely Palantir, whose market valuation has
soared based on expectations that its technology will transform
security, surveillance and defense.Tech "is more of a metier or an art
form than a science. And all the artists are in America," said Palantir
CEO Alex Karp at Washington's Hill and Valley tech conference earlier
this month.Palantir executives largely believe this can only be achieved
through overwhelming American military and technological dominance,
ensuring global peace through a Pax Americana."AI is scary (and) can be
abused" by great powers, "which is why we have to win this in America,"
Karp stated.- 'Tightrope' -Professor Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell
University's Tech Policy Institute, notes that defense technology
companies like Palantir must balance US allegiance with respect for
national sovereignty abroad."It's a diplomatic tightrope. When the
political rhetoric becomes too parochial or polarizing-especially tied
to specific administrations-it risks undermining" US companies' appeal
overseas, she explained.Trump's nationalism is pressuring companies to
adopt patriotic positions that Silicon Valley traditionally avoided, but
this "can create friction abroad, especially in Europe, where concerns
about sovereignty, data localization, and technological dependence are
growing," Kreps added.Taking a more measured approach is Microsoft, the
50-year-old tech giant that-like rivals Google and Amazon Web
Services-serves both the US government and foreign markets where
American nationalism might deter potential customers.For decades,
co-chairman and president Brad Smith has navigated this complex terrain,
aligning with Washington's political climate while reassuring global
customers of Microsoft's trustworthiness. While co-founder Bill Gates,
who now serves as an advisor to Microsoft, spoke out against Trump's
tariffs this week, Smith walks the line more carefully."We need to
remember that as a country, only four and a half percent of the world's
people live in the United States," Smith told the same Senate panel
where OpenAI's Altman advocated for US leadership in AI.The risks extend
beyond lost sales opportunities.Microsoft's business, like all US tech
giants, depends on agreements allowing transatlantic data
flows-arrangements repeatedly challenged in EU courts.Professor Susan
Ariel Aaronson of George Washington University warns these arrangements
are precarious."American AI will not be successful if it is not trusted.
And how do you build trust? You don't become the world's disrupter,"
she told AFP.
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
Flags
lowered to half-mast at Manitoba Legislature after 2 killed in
wildfires raging in province-As of Thursday, there are 21 fires burning
in the province-CBC News · Posted: May 15, 2025 9:35 AM EDT |
Flags
have been lowered to half-mast at the Manitoba Legislative Building to
honour two people who died after being trapped by an out-of-control
wildfire in the rural municipality of Lac du Bonnet.Premier Wab Kinew,
who offered condolences to the family, friends and community members of
the victims, called the move "a small gesture towards the sympathies
that we feel and how this latest turn in this year's wildfire situation
hits on a different emotional level.""The news of this loss of life
changes what was an emergency into a tragedy," he said at a Thursday
morning news conference.The RCMP received a report Tuesday that people
were stranded in the area, but first responders couldn't reach them
because of the extreme conditions. The bodies of a man and a woman were
recovered by police on Wednesday morning.Kinew urged people heading into
the May long weekend — traditionally the unofficial start to summer and
camping season — to listen to evacuation orders and stay out of areas
where emergency crews are working.Whiteshell Provincial Park south and
east of Lac du Bonnet, where there are many cottages and campsites, is
closed to the public as of 9 a.m. Thursday, and until at least May
21.Kinew said a state of emergency will be declared for that area later
Thursday morning."So this May long weekend is going to be challenging in
Manitoba. Not only are we dealing with wildfires in the east, where we
could use a lot of rain to help us out, we're also dealing with an
overland flood warning in western Manitoba as a result of too much
precipitation potentially coming in that part of the province," Kinew
said.Loren Schinkel, reeve of the RM of Lac du Bonnet, saw videos taken
by public works and hydro employees of the Grausdin Point area, "and
frankly, it's devastating, it's heart wrenching," he said
Thursday."We've lost 28 dwellings in that area and it goes without
saying the loss of life. You can't really describe it in words. I just
want them to know that we're all suffering with them. At the end of the
day, we are one big family here."The area received a bit of rain
overnight into Thursday but not nearly enough, Schinkel said. But, he
said, "if the wind stays down, we're in good fortune."An estimated 800
to 1,000 people have been forced from their homes in the rural
municipality, but Schinkel is optimistic some good news is coming."We're
hoping there's going to be some modifications today in the evacuation
orders. I haven't spoken with emergency measures yet, but I think
there'll be some movement today."As of Thursday, there are 21 fires
burning in the province, with a total of 80 recorded so far this season,
said Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister for the Conservation
Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service.That's nearly double the
20-year average for fires by this time of the year, which is 48.A live
map shows perimeters for the RM of Lac Du Bonnet fire and others in the
area:With files from Cory Funk
Another challenging day' fighting
Manitoba's wildfires with not enough rain on the way, officials
say-Public urged to stay away from areas where first responders
working-Darren Bernhardt · CBC News · Posted: May 14, 2025 12:22 PM EDT
Hot
weather, dry conditions and very windy days have caused multiple fires
to erupt in Manitoba, forcing people out of their homes and burning
buildings — and forecast rain is not enough to help much, fire officials
say.There are 24 active fires, six of them requiring significant
response, said Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister for the
Manitoba Emergency Management Organization."This is an extremely dynamic
time for us," she said at a briefing on Wednesday afternoon."The
message that we want to send out to Manitobans today is that if you do
not need to be in the parks and if you do not need to be in the areas
where first responders need to access, we are asking you to stay
away."Six states of emergency have been declared and five provincial
parks, three local authorities, three northern communities and 24
cottage subdivisions have issued mandatory evacuation orders.The primary
concern right now is around Lac du Bonnet and Nopiming Provincial Park,
in southeastern Manitoba, said Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy
minister for the Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire
Service."There has been some mention of precipitation in the forecast.
However, we are not seeing the forecasted amounts anywhere where we'd
need them to be to extinguish the fires or make any appreciable
difference in what those fires are doing," she said."So we are going to
be having another challenging day, in terms of being able to fight these
fires we have and address any new fires that may start."Manitobans
urged to stay out of provincial parks as fires burn-A couple of days of
rain to soak the ground and to heighten humidity levels is needed, along
with some lower temperatures, Hayward said. But storms bringing rain
could also bring lightning, which is a concern, she added.Tackling the
current situation has been a test, said Hayward."We're not seeing a
typical fire season anymore. Typically we wouldn't be seeing this level
of activity happening until later on in the summer," she said.Usually
there would be a short grass fire season before things greened up,
followed by "a little bit of a break before the forest fires started,"
she said."But we are seeing that our seasons are starting a lot
earlier," with forest firefighting starting "probably a month earlier
than historically we would be used to."Drone grounds water
bomber-Another unexpected issue authorities have encountered is the
interference of drones.According to a provincial spokesperson, a water
bomber working in the Wendigo Beach area of the rural municipality of
Lac du Bonnet had to be grounded when a drone flew into the airspace.The
situation prompted an angry warning from the RM's emergency
co-ordinator."The flying of drones in an area where water bombers are
working is extremely irresponsible and dangerous for the firefighters
who are attempting to put a stop to the spread of the fire," stated a
message on the co-ordinator's Facebook page."Anyone caught flying a
drone in our evacuation area will be referred to the RCMP for charges."A
water bomber flies through fire smoke above trees-The RM of Lac du
Bonnet fire is about 3,000 hectares and the Nopiming one is 100,000
hectares, but the RM is getting the most attention for a couple of
reasons, Hayward said.The priority given to fires is based on the value
of infrastructure at risk and on fire behaviour, she said."What we saw
with the fire at Nopiming yesterday was extremely volatile fire
behaviour [so] that it wasn't even safe to be [going in to fight]. So
the decision was made to focus on Lac du Bonnet, where it was safer for
us to respond and there was obviously a public safety risk that we
wanted to address."Between 800 and 1,000 people have been forced to
leave that area, RM of Lac du Bonnet Reeve Loren Schinkel said.The
Nopiming fire has burned about 5,000 hectares in the rural municipality
of Alexander (which abuts the park boundary), where there are also
evacuations, Mayor Jack Brisco said.Anyone in the rural municipality who
needs a place to stay should contact the evacuation centre in
St-Georges, Brisco said. About 300 people have registered as evacuees
with the rural municipality, which is southwest of the Nopiming fire and
north of the Lac du Bonnet fire."Just be safe. If you are in an
evacuation area, don't hesitate to get out right now."A woman wearing a
black dress stands in front of an open trunk with a family portrait
inside.Krista Diduck and her family were asked to pack their belongings
and leave their home in the RM of Alexander on Tuesday evening. With
highways closed, she and her three children had to drive past the
wildfire. "You could see orange on the tops of the trees and just
billowing smoke," she said."It's really scary.… You see this stuff on
the news and [think] it doesn't really apply to you, because it's not
you. But when it happens, it really shows you if you're prepared or
not." Diduck's father, who left home with her, has been living in the
area for about 50 years, and this is the first time he has been ordered
to evacuate due to a wildfire, she said."It's hard not knowing what's
going to happen next," said Diduck.Fire near U.S. border-Near the
U.S.-Manitoba border, pockets in the RM of Piney have also been
evacuated.A wildfire in the rural municipality, roughly 115 kilometres
southeast of Winnipeg, has grown "substantially," burning up to 7,000
hectares, a news release said Wednesday.The fire stretches roughly 7.5
kilometres along Highway 203 near the town of Badger. The news release
said the wildfire had reached railway tracks at Carrick but had not
jumped them.So far, at least two buildings have been lost to the fire,
the release said. The fire has forced residents living on the south side
of Whitemouth Lake Road, near the towns of Carrick, St. Labre and
Florez, from Road 65 E. to 68 E., out of their homes.Late Wednesday the
townsite of Woodridge was also ordered to be evacuated, with crews going
around and notifying residents.The original reception centre for
evacuees was in Woodridge but has since been changed to the Piney
Community Centre on Highway 89 in Piney.Meanwhile, a fire near The Pas
and Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northwestern Manitoba is still considered
out of control at more than 42,000 hectares, but "really good progress
in gaining control" is being made and there are no significant concerns,
Hayward said.And the fire near the Manitoba border at Ingolf, Ont., is
20,000 hectares. The province is keeping an eye on that should it move
into Manitoba.Information on fires is listed on the province's online
Fireview map.For those near the fires but not in evacuation zones, "we
want you to stay alert, we want you to monitor for communication from
the local authority, and we want you to follow their direction," the
Manitoba Emergency Management Organization's Stevens said, because
things can quickly change.She could not provide any information on how
many buildings have been lost during this wave of fires, because "at
this time our focus really is on the response phase."Manitoba Hydro
announced Wednesday that it is shutting down its Slave Falls and Pointe
du Bois generating stations and evacuating them due to the fire
situation.Both stations are located on the Winnipeg River, and the Lac
du Bonnet fire is threatening to cut off road access to the facilities,
Hydro said in a news release.
An early-season heat wave will
bring record temperatures to the Southwest and Texas-A 'heat dome' will
trap hot air and cause some areas to reach temperatures of more than 100
degrees Fahrenheit.May 14, 2025, 9:11 AM EDT-By Denise Chow
An
early-season heat wave is set to bake huge swaths of the country this
week, with record or near-record high temperatures expected across the
northern and the southern Plains, the Southwest and much of central and
southern Texas.Temperatures will reach the 90s in North Dakota, South
Dakota and Minnesota on Monday, with some areas potentially seeing highs
in the triple digits, according to the National Weather
Service.Beginning Tuesday, the hottest conditions will be found in
Texas, where temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher will be
common for much of the state, the agency said.“Expect record breaking
heat across much of central and southern Texas through mid-week,” the
weather service said Monday in its short-range forecast.In a series of
posts on X, the weather service office in San Antonio warned that many
people will not be acclimated to such extreme heat so early in the year,
increasing the risk of heat-related illness and death.“Temperatures are
forecast to surge above 100 Tuesday, and some places could approach 110
midweek. Ensure you have access to cooling and plentiful hydration
before the heat arrives,” the office wrote on X.As the week progresses,
heat will build in the central and the southern Plains and expand
through the Southeast and into Florida.Cities that could set new daily
temperature records this week include Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and
Houston in Texas; Oklahoma City; Shreveport, Louisiana; Charleston,
South Carolina; and Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Orlando in Florida.The
unseasonably hot temperatures are caused by a strong high-pressure
ridge parked over much of the country and centered over Texas. These
kinds of “heat domes” essentially trap hot air over a region, sometimes
driving up temperatures for days on end.Southern California saw record
highs over the weekend, with temperatures peaking at 103 in downtown Los
Angeles, breaking a record of 99 set in 1988, according to the weather
service.Climate change is increasing the frequency, duration and
intensity of heat waves around the world, studies have shown. Scientists
are anticipating a hot summer again this year, after two consecutive
years (2023 and 2024) that shattered global temperature records.The
back-to-back broken records are part of an alarming warming trend that
has long been predicted by climate change models.
The planet’s
10 hottest years since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade,
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.updated
May 14, 2025, 11:04 AM EDTBy Marlene Lenthang
Flooding continues
to inundate parts of the East Coast Wednesday, one day after high
waters swept away a 12-year-old boy in Virginia, prompted water rescues,
and led to school evacuations.Heavy rain hit Pennsylvania down to North
Carolina on Tuesday, causing rivers and creeks to overflow, turning
streets into rivers, and toppling trees that blocked traffic in the
Washington D.C. area. In Virginia, a 12-year-old boy went missing after
he was swept into floodwaters from a creek in Albemarle County,
Virginia.A deceased individual believed to be the missing child, Jordan
Sims, was located at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, Albemarle County Fire
Rescue said. The body has been transported to the medical examiner’s
office in Richmond for positive identification. “This is a heartbreaking
outcome, and our hearts are with the Sims’ family and loved ones,”
Albemarle County Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston said. “We are
incredibly grateful to our local and regional partners who supported
this search effort with urgency, professionalism, and care.”In Allegany
County, Maryland, George's Creek Elementary School and Westernport
Elementary were evacuated Tuesday.Westernport Elementary saw water
breach the second floor of the school, prompting water rescues for 150
students and 50 teachers. It took 15 trips for the rescue boats to
safely evacuate the school, Allegany County Emergency Services said.The
worst flooding impacted areas west of Washington D.C., and Reagan
National Airport clocked 1.5 inches of rain Tuesday, NBC Washington
reported. Showers and a few thunderstorms will develop Wednesday across
the mid-Atlantic region this afternoon into the evening, and will push
off to the east on Thursday, the national weather service office
forecast. Flooding in Cresaptown, Md-All ll Allegany County Public
Schools will be closed Wednesday due to severe flooding and no virtual
learning will take place. Flood warnings are in effect through 11 a.m.
Wednesday for Allegany County, Maryland to Mineral County, West
Virginia, with small streams flooding due to excessive rainfall.
Warnings are also in place in West Virginia for the city of Winchesters,
and Clarke and Frederick Counties, and in Virginia for a spate of
counties.“Floodwaters are still working down some larger streams and
rivers this morning. Be prepared for road closures, and turn around if
you encounter high water,” the national weather service office of
Baltimore-Washington warned this morning.
AND ITS NOT CLIMATE CHANGE ITS THE SUN HEATING UP AS A JUDGEMENT AGAINST UNREPENTANT GODLESS SINNERS.
Smoke
from climate-fueled wildfires contributed to thousands of U.S. deaths,
study says-Researchers found that over 15 years, climate change
contributed to about 15,000 deaths from exposure to particulate matter
from wildfires.Houses destroyed by the fire.May 8, 2025, 10:00 AM EDT /
Source: The Associated Press
Wildfires driven by climate change
contribute to as many as thousands of annual deaths and billions of
dollars in economic costs from wildfire smoke in the United States,
according to a new study.The paper, published Friday in the journal
Nature Communications Earth & Environment, found that from 2006 to
2020, climate change contributed to about 15,000 deaths from exposure to
small particulate matter from wildfires and cost about $160 billion.
The annual range of deaths was 130 to 5,100, the study showed, with the
highest in states such as Oregon and California.“We’re seeing a lot more
of these wildfire smoke events,” said Nicholas Nassikas, a study author
and a physician and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. So
he and multidisciplinary team of researchers wanted to know: “What does
it really mean in a changing environment for things like mortality,
which is kind of the worst possible health outcome?”Lisa Thompson, a
professor at Emory University who studies air pollution and climate
change and was not involved in the paper, said it is one of the first
studies she has seen to isolate the effect of climate change on
mortality. Looking at the impacts across time and space also made it
unique, she said.The paper’s researchers focused on deaths linked to
exposure to fine particulate matter, or PM2.5 — the main concern from
wildfire smoke.These particles can lodge deep into lungs and trigger
coughing and itchy eyes with short-term exposure. But longer term they
can make existing health problems worse and lead to a range of chronic
and deadly health issues. Children, pregnant people, the elderly and
outdoor workers are among the most vulnerable. The Health Effects
Institute estimated the pollutant caused 4 million deaths
worldwide.Evidence is emerging that PM2.5 from wildfire smoke is more
toxic than other pollution sources. When wildfires encroach into cities,
burning cars and other toxics-containing materials, it adds to the
danger.Numerous studies have tied human-caused climate change — caused
by the burning of coal, oil and gas — to a growth in fires in North
America. Global warming is increasing drought, especially in the West,
and other extreme weather. Drier conditions suck moisture from plants,
which act as fuel for fires. When drier vegetation and seasons are mixed
with hotter temperatures, that increases the frequency, extent and
severity of wildfires and the smoke they spew.Findings dismaying but not
surprising, scholar says-Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography
and environment at Syracuse University, said he was “dismayed” by the
findings but not surprised.“(T)hese numbers are really significant. I
think there’s a tendency for people outside of the areas actually
burning to see increasing fires as a distant inconvenience … This study
drives home how far-reaching the impacts are,” said Bendix in an email.
He wasn’t involved in the study.The study’s authors drew on modeled and
existing data to reach their findings. First, they sought to understand
how much area burned by wildfires was attributable to climate change.
They did that by analyzing the real climate conditions — heat and rain,
for instance — when wildfires erupted from 2006 to 2020, and compared
that to a scenario where weather measurements would be different without
climate change.From there, they estimated the levels of PM2.5 from
wildfire smoke tied to climate change using the same approach. Lastly,
integrating the current understanding of how particulate matter affects
mortality based on published research, they quantified the number of
deaths related to PM2.5 from wildfires and calculated their economic
impact.This framework showed that of 164,000 deaths related to
wildfire-PM2.5 exposure from 2006 to 2020, 10% were attributable to
climate change. The mortalities were 30% to 50% higher in some western
states and counties.Questions about the study’s conclusions-Marshall
Burke, global environmental policy professor at Stanford University,
said the evidence linking climate change to burned areas was “rock
solid,” but the subsequent steps were harder.“Linking burned area to
smoke is trickier because you never know exactly which way the wind’s
going to blow,” he said, and he wondered how the death estimates
compared to fatalities tied to general air pollution.Still, their
approach was sensible and reasonable, Burke said.Johns Hopkins
University lecturer in climate and energy policy Patrick Brown said he
had some concerns about the study. One was conceptual. The study
acknowledges the power non-climate drivers have on wildfires, but it
doesn’t give them proper weight, he said in an email.Brown, who was not
involved in the study, worries decision-makers could wrongly conclude
that mitigating planet-warming carbon emissions is the only solution.
“Yet in many regions, the more immediate life‑saving action may be fuel
breaks, prescribed burns, ignition‑source regulation, public health
efforts, etc.,” he said.Land management practices such as prescribed
burns can reduce wildfire fuel, Nassikas said. But ultimately, the study
notes, the problem of deaths from wildfire smoke will only get worse
without the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.“Part of the study is
raising awareness,” he said. “And then once we kind of understand that …
now what are the interventions that we can deploy at a personal level,
at a community level, and then obviously at a larger level across the
country and across the world?”
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."
Five European defence ministers to meet in Rome on Friday-by AFP Staff Writers.
Rome
(AFP) May 12, 2025-Defence ministers from five major European military
powers will meet in Italy on Friday to discuss support for Ukraine, the
host country said.Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto will host his
counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Poland, his ministry said
Monday in a statement.The announcement came after Ukrainian leader
Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready for direct talks with his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin in Istanbul on Thursday.US President Donald
Trump said Monday he was "thinking" about flying to Turkey for the talks
but Russia did not indicate whether Putin would take part.Aside from
Ukraine, the European ministers will also discuss ways to strengthen
European defence -- a priority for them following Russia's invasion of
Ukraine in 2022.The five will hold a joint press conference at the end
of their meeting at 1245 GMT on Friday, the Italian statement said.Kyiv
and its European allies called on Saturday for a 30-day ceasefire
starting Monday -- calling it a prerequisite for direct peace talks
between the two countries.Moscow rejected their call on Monday, despite
threats of "massive sanctions" in case of refusal.Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov said during his daily briefing that "the language of
ultimatums is unacceptable to Russia".He later said that Moscow wanted
"serious" negotiations to achieve peace in the conflict, which has left
tens of thousands of people dead.
NATO chief seeks defence spending at 5% of GDP by 2032: Dutch PM.
The
Hague (AFP) May 9, 2025 - NATO chief Mark Rutte wants member countries
to agree at a summit in June to reach five percent of GDP on
defence-related spending by 2032, Dutch premier Dick Schoof said
Friday.US President Donald Trump has demanded that NATO allies ramp up
their military spending to five percent of GDP, a level that not even
the United States currently hits.Schoof said Rutte had written to NATO's
32 member countries calling for them to reach 3.5 percent of GDP on
"hard military spending" and 1.5 percent of GDP on "related spending
such as infrastructure, cybersecurity and other things" over the next
seven years.Trump is piling the pressure on Europe and Canada to ratchet
up NATO's spending target at a summit in The Hague next month.Foreign
ministers from alliance countries are expected to tackle the matter at
an informal gathering in Antalya, Turkey, next week.Rutte on Friday
refused to confirm the figures being debated but said "internal
discussions" were taking place within NATO.Diplomats within NATO,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposal circulated last
week envisioned increasing direct military spending by 0.2 percent each
year to 2032.They said the discussions were at an early stage and there
were no clear signs yet that there would be consensus for the
figures.The parameters of what could be included in the 1.5 percent of
loosely related defence spending were still to be defined, they said."It
makes no sense to argue about abstract GDP percentages now. What is
crucial is that we continuously expand our efforts over the next few
years," Germany's new chancellor Friedrich Merz said during a visit to
NATO's headquarters in Brussels on Friday.Merz said that for Germany,
every increase of one percent of GDP represented 45 billion euros ($50
billion).- Trump threatens -Trump has long accused Washington's allies
of underspending on their defence and taking advantage of US largesse.He
has also threatened not to protect countries that do not spend enough
on their military in his eyes.European countries have ramped up their
defence spending since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but Rutte
says they must go considerably higher to ward off Moscow.Last year 22 of
NATO's 32 allies hit its current spending target of two percent of GDP
on their militaries.A string of countries such as Italy, Spain, Canada
and Belgium that still lag below that level have pledged to reach it in
2025.The United States last year spent 3.19 percent of its GDP on
defence, behind eastern flank countries Poland, Estonia and Lithuania
close to Russia.But Washington remains by far the biggest military
spender in NATO in absolute terms, accounting for 64 percent of all
defence expenditure last year.In a bid to help European countries
bolster their spending, the EU has proposed loosening budget rules and
establishing a 150-billion-euro defence fund.
Germany aims to have Europe's 'strongest conventional army': Merz-by AFP Staff Writers.
Berlin
(AFP) May 14, 2025-German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged Wednesday
to build up "the strongest conventional army in Europe" as the continent
faces a hostile Russia while the Ukraine war rages on."This is
appropriate for Europe's most populous and economically powerful
country," Merz told parliament. "Our friends and partners also expect
this from us. Indeed, they practically demand it."In his first major
address to the Bundestag since his government was inaugurated last week,
Merz vowed to "provide all financial means necessary" for the
long-underfunded defence forces.Germany, with its dark World War II
history, has long been reluctant to spend big on its military and
funding dropped off sharply after the Cold War as European countries
relied on NATO heavyweight the United States for security.US President
Donald Trump has demanded that Germany and other allies spend more on
common defence and thrown into doubt Washington's future commitment to
the transatlantic military alliance.Merz has pledged a greater
diplomatic and security role for Berlin in Europe at a time of high
geopolitical tensions.He warned Wednesday that "anyone who seriously
believes that Russia would be satisfied with a victory over Ukraine or
with the annexation of parts of the country is mistaken".His government
has already cleared the way for a spending "bazooka" worth hundreds of
billions of euros in extra funding for defence and infrastructure by
getting a fiscal plan passed by the previous parliament."Strengthening
the Bundeswehr (armed forces) is our top priority," Merz said. "The
German government will provide all the financial resources the
Bundeswehr needs to become Europe's strongest conventional
army.""Strength deters aggressors, while weakness invites aggression,"
he added.He also emphasised continued support for Ukraine but also said
that "we are not a party to war, and we don't want to become one".-
'Strong together' -"Our goal is a Germany and a Europe that are so
strong together that we never have to use our weapons," Merz said. "To
achieve this, we will have to assume more responsibility within NATO and
the EU."For now, the challenges are huge. In recent years, Germany's
Bundeswehr has been mocked for equipment failures, including helicopters
that cannot fly and rifles that do not shoot straight.Russia's
full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago jolted the
centre-left former chancellor Olaf Scholz into action.He announced 100
billion euros ($112 billion) in extra defence spending, which has
allowed Germany to meet the NATO target of two percent of GDP.But much
remains to be done, and the parliamentary commissioner for the armed
forces, Eva Hoegl, recently warned that the military still had "too
little of everything".Major orders have been placed, including for new
German-built submarines, but they will take years to build and
deliver.Germany halted military conscription under chancellor Angela
Merkel, but Merz said steps would be taken to rebuild troop strength."We
will create a new, attractive voluntary military service," he
said."There are many young people in our country who want to take
responsibility for Germany, its defence capability, and its security. We
want to and we will promote this."Defence Minister Boris Pistorius
later suggested in parliament that the recruitment drive may not stay
voluntary."We have agreed that we will initially rely on voluntary
participation, creating a military service that is initially based on
voluntary participation and is intended to encourage young people to
serve their country," he said."And I say quite deliberately and
honestly, the emphasis is on 'initially' in case we cannot recruit
enough volunteers."
India and Pakistan trade accusations of nuclear arsenal mismanagement.
Srinagar,
India, May 15 (AFP) May 15, 2025-India and Pakistan accused each other
Thursday of failing to control their nuclear weapons, calling on the
world to monitor their neighbour's arsenal just days after their most
serious military confrontation in two decades.Indian Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh said Pakistan's nuclear arsenal should be under the
surveillance of the UN's atomic energy agency, while Islamabad said the
international community should investigate a "black market" in India.The
latest conflict between India and Pakistan had sparked global concerns
that it could spiral into a full-blown war before a ceasefire was
brokered on Saturday."I wanted to raise this question for the world: are
nuclear weapons safe in the hands of a rogue and irresponsible nation?"
Singh told troops at a base in Indian-administered Kashmir."I believe
that Pakistan's atomic weapons should be brought under the surveillance
of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," Singh added.Hours
later, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the IAEA should
instead probe "the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents
involving nuclear and radioactive material in India"."These incidents
also suggest the existence of a black market for sensitive, dual-use
materials inside India," he added.But on Thursday, Dar announced there
had been "military to military communications" and both sides had agreed
to extend a ceasefire until Sunday, May 18.- Ceasefire -Fighting began
when India launched strikes on May 7 against what it called "terrorist
camps" in Pakistan following an April attack in Indian-administered
Kashmir which killed 26 people.New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing
the militants it claimed were behind the attack -- the deadliest on
civilians in Kashmir in decades. Pakistan denies the charge.Four days of
intense drone, missile and artillery exchanges ensued, leaving nearly
70 people, including dozens of civilians, dead on both sides.Both India
and Pakistan are nuclear powers and members of the IAEA, which regulates
the use of nuclear weapons.Pakistani ministers have repeatedly said the
nuclear option was not on the table and that the country's nuclear
governmental body was not summoned at any point during the recent
conflict.Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told
reporters on Sunday that escalating conflict between the nuclear rivals
was "inconceivable and sheer stupidity"."That conflict can lead to the
peril of 1.6 billion people, so in reality there is no space for war
between India and Pakistan," Chaudhry said.- Restraint calls -Fearing
further escalation, global leaders had urged restraint from the
arch-enemies with US President Donald Trump announcing the surprise
truce.The ceasefire has held since the weekend, following initial claims
of violations from both sides.But Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif, in a call with UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, expressed
"concerns over the continued provocative and inflammatory remarks by
Indian leadership, as a threat to the fragile regional peace".India's
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Thursday that a key
water treaty, which governs river water critical to parched Pakistan for
consumption and agriculture, would remain suspended "cross-border
terrorism by Pakistan is credibly and irrevocably stopped".His
counterpart in Pakistan, Ishaq Dar responded calling the treaty "a no-go
area"."The treaty can't be amended, nor can it be terminated by any
party unless both agree," he told parliament.Militants have stepped up
operations on the Indian side of Kashmir since 2019, when Modi's Hindu
nationalist government revoked the region's limited autonomy and imposed
direct rule from New Delhi.Police in Indian-administered Kashmir
meanwhile said they killed three suspected militants on Thursday in the
town of Tral, in Pulwama district south of Srinagar, the region's main
city.Police also said three other suspected militants died in a gun
battle with soldiers on Tuesday in the southern Kashmir
valley.Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and
Pakistan, which have fought several wars over the territory since their
1947 independence from British rule.
China says ready to 'expand practical cooperation' with Russian army-by AFP Staff Writers.
Beijing
(AFP) May 15, 2025-China said Thursday it was ready to "expand
practical cooperation" with the Russian army, after President Xi
Jinping's recent visit to Moscow for a lavish World War II Victory Day
parade.The two countries have drawn closer in recent years, including
since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Xi's trip
to Russia last week drew ire from Kyiv's allies, who have accused
Beijing of giving Moscow economic and political cover to wage a war of
aggression.Beijing says it is a neutral party to the conflict and has
made indefatigable efforts for peace.On Thursday, in response to a
question linked to Xi's visit asking how China would promote
military-to-military ties with Russia, the defence ministry said the
relationship was "operating at a high level"."The Chinese military
stands ready to work with the Russian side to further deepen strategic
mutual trust, step up strategic communication, and expand practical
cooperation," defence ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said in a response
posted to social media platform WeChat.The moves would "enrich the
content of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of
coordination for a new era", Jiang said.He added that they would also
"contribute to maintaining and strengthening global strategic
stability".After a lengthy meeting with President Vladimir Putin on his
trip, Xi said China's ties with Russia brought "positive energy" to a
turbulent world.He added that both nations stood firm against "hegemonic
bullying" -- an apparent swipe at the United States.Putin, for his
part, told reporters he and Xi had held "traditionally warm, friendly"
talks and addressed the Chinese leader as his "dear friend".
Cambodia, China begin largest-ever military drills-by AFP Staff Writers.
Phnom
Penh (AFP) May 14, 2025-Cambodia and China on Wednesday began their
largest-ever joint military exercises, involving advanced Chinese
military hardware including artillery, warships and robot battle
dogs.Cambodia has long been a staunch ally of China, receiving billions
of dollars in investments, and Washington has voiced concerns that
Beijing is using a Cambodian naval base it renovated on Gulf of Thailand
to expand its influence in the region.Nearly 900 Chinese military
personnel and more than 1,300 Cambodian soldiers are taking part in the
drills that will last until May 28, the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces
(RCAF) said in a statement.The drills will feature advanced Chinese
military hardware, including armoured vehicles, helicopters, warships,
reconnaissance drones and robot battle dogs, the statement said.It said
the annual exercises were to "develop deeper ties and cooperation"
between the two armies."The exercises are bigger than last year in term
of both personnel and equipment," RCAF spokesman Thong Solimo told
AFP.He said a large Chinese naval vessel, the Changbai Shan, docked at
Cambodia's Beijing-renovated Ream Naval Base on Monday with the military
equipment for the drills.Cambodian political analyst Ou Virak told AFP
that "China does want to flex its muscle" and to send a message that
"it's a superpower" through the exercises, dubbed Golden
Dragon."Definitely China is trying to... grow its influence within the
region," he said."Beyond just flexing the muscle, it needs to build
confidence amongst its partners to say to the partners that China is
growing, China is expanding, China is also getting stronger, both in
size but also in technological advancement, as well as military might,"
Ou Virak added.Cambodia is also expected to receive two warships from
China.The first Golden Dragon drills were held in 2016, and in early
2017 Cambodia scrapped a similar joint exercise -- "Angkor Sentinel" --
which had been held for the preceding seven years with US forces.The
drills follow a two-day visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to
Cambodia in April to deepen ties between the two countries.
Time 'to put pressure on Putin': UK defence minister.
Berlin,
May 15 (AFP) May 15, 2025-UK defence minister John Healey said on
Thursday that Ukraine's allies "need to act" and "put pressure on
Putin", amid uncertainty over highly anticipated talks between Russia
and Ukraine in Turkey.Russia's President Vladimir Putin has so far
swerved the talks in Istanbul, the first direct negotiations aiming to
end the war in Ukraine since 2022.Speaking after a meeting with his
German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin, Healey urged further
sanctions on Russia, adding: "We need to put pressure on Putin that
helps bring him to the negotiating table.""We are ready to do that as
leading European nations," he said, pointing to commitments made by the
leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland on a visit to Kyiv last
week."There is no victory in sight for Putin in Ukraine," Healey said,
adding: "Now is the time for him... to negotiate and to put an end to
this fighting."Pistorius agreed that "Putin has the power to end the
war, he could travel to Istanbul and negotiate, he could order a
ceasefire".He said that he had noticed "a change in tone" from US
officials in reaction to Russia's latest moves but cautioned that "we
will have to wait to see if this is sustainable and what consequences it
has".
Kazakhstan denies reports Russia to leave Baikonur spaceport.by AFP Staff Writers.
Astana,
Kazakhstan (AFP) May 15, 2025-Kazakhstan said Thursday there were no
talks on Russia giving up its lease on the Baikonur spaceport before it
runs out in 2050, amid reports Moscow is looking to ditch the ageing
cosmodrome.The spaceport is used by Russia to send astronauts to the
International Space Station (ISS).But Moscow has signalled it aims to
pull out of the ISS -- one of the rare projects where Russian
cooperation continues with Western countries -- as early as 2028.That
has put the status of Baikonur at risk, with Kazakh media reporting that
Russia could give up renting the facility sometime between 2026 and
2028."The question of early termination of the lease, or transfer of the
city of Baikonur to the full control of the Kazakh side, is not being
considered at this time," the Kazakh aerospace industry ministry told
AFP.Russia is looking to accelerate the development of other spaceports
located on its own territory, including the more modern Vostochny
Cosmodrome in its Far East.Moscow has not commented on any possible
withdrawal.Baikonur was set-up in the 1950s and has a pivotal place in
the Soviet Union's space history.Yuri Gagarin -- the first man in space
-- blasted off from there in 1961, as did Valentina Tereshkova in 1963,
becoming the first woman to be sent into orbit.Moscow pays Kazakhstan
$115 million a year for the site.The current lease is set to run until
2050.A modernisation project launched in 2004 to refresh the ageing
facility is behind schedule due to a lack of funding and uncertainty
over its future following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the
ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Trump says getting close to deal to avoid Iran military action.
Abu
Dhabi, May 15 (AFP) May 15, 2025-US President Donald Trump said
Thursday a deal was close on Iran's nuclear programme that would avert
military action, sending oil prices tumbling, as he boasted of raising
"trillions of dollars" on a Gulf tour.He made the remarks in Qatar
before flying on to the United Arab Emirates for the third and final leg
of the tour that began in Saudi Arabia.Trump has said the tour has
resulted in trillions of dollars in deals and is hoping to secure more
billion-dollar business agreements in the UAE -- which has sought to
become a hub for technology and artificial intelligence."We're not going
to be making any nuclear dust in Iran," Trump said earlier in Doha."I
think we're getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do
this," he said, referring to military action.Oil prices plunged more
than three percent following his remarks, on rising hopes for a nuclear
deal that could see Iranian exports return to the market.Iran has held
four rounds of talks with the Trump administration, which has sought to
avert threatened military action by Israel while keeping up its "maximum
pressure" campaign."You probably read today the story about Iran. It's
sort of agreed to the terms," Trump said.The US president did not
specify which remarks he was referring to, but an adviser to Iran's
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, told NBC News that
Tehran would give up its stocks of highly enriched uranium as part of a
deal in which Washington lifts sanctions.Trump said Iran should "say a
big thank you" to Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who had
pressed the US leader to avoid military action against his country's
giant neighbour.- Abu Dhabi -In Abu Dhabi, Trump was welcomed by
children waving UAE and US flags, with women performing a traditional
dance that involves moving their heads from side to side to make their
hair "dance".Afterwards, he toured the opulent Sheikh Zayed mosque --
the country's largest, with its giant white columns and high walls
adorned with golden moulding -- alongside President Sheikh Mohamed bin
Zayed, who greeted him at the airport.English-language Emirati newspaper
The National has reported that the US and UAE are working on announcing
an AI and tech partnership during Trump's visit.The UAE is betting on
artificial intelligence to help diversify its oil-reliant economy.But
these ambitions hinge on access to advanced US technologies, including
AI chips that were under restricted export -- which the UAE president's
brother and spy chief Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed reportedly lobbied for
during a Washington visit in March.Two days ago, Trump rescinded further
controls on AI chips, which were imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden
to make it harder for China to access advanced technology.Trump
estimated his "record" tour would raise between $3.5 trillion and $4
trillion.The president hailed what he said was a record $200 billion
deal for Boeing aircraft from flag-carrier Qatar Airways.Saudi Arabia
promised its own $600 billion in investment, including one of the
largest-ever purchases of US weapons.- Gulf largesse -The Gulf leaders'
largesse has also stirred controversy, with Qatar offering Trump a
luxury aircraft ahead of his visit for presidential and then personal
use, in what Trump's Democratic opponents charged was blatant
corruption.Trump has made no mention of human rights during his tour.His
predecessor Joe Biden had initially vowed to shun Saudi Arabia's Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman over US intelligence findings that he ordered
the gruesome murder in 2018 of Jamal Khashoggi -- a Saudi dissident
writer who lived in the United States.Trump instead hailed the crown
prince, who is Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, as a visionary due to the
kingdom's rapid economic investments.The president also acceded to a key
request of the crown prince in announcing the lifting of sanctions on
Syria following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December.He met in
Riyadh with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the first encounter
between leaders of the two nations in 25 years.Sharaa -- a former
jihadist once on the US wanted list -- appeared in a suit and was
complimented by Trump as a "young, attractive guy".aue-aya/ds/kir
Paradigm shift': Germany says to meet Trump's NATO spending target.
Berlin,
May 15 (AFP) May 15, 2025-Germany's new government surprised NATO
allies on Thursday by putting forward plans to boost defence spending,
to meet a target of five percent of GDP demanded by US President Donald
Trump.Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul made the pledge a day after
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in office for just over a week, said
his coalition government intends to have "the strongest conventional
army in Europe".NATO chief Mark Rutte has floated a plan for members to
hit the five-percent goal by spending 3.5 percent of GDP on military
spending and 1.5 percent on other security measures such as
infrastructure and cyber defence.Wadephul, speaking at a NATO meeting in
Turkey, pointed to Rutte's proposal to reach "the five percent that
President Trump demanded" and declared that "we follow him there".In
Berlin, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil struck a more cautious note,
saying that "we will spend more on security, but how much that will be
we will see in the agreement reached at the NATO summit" to take place
next month in The Hague.Roderich Kiesewetter, a former senior German
military officer and a politician in Merz's CDU party, called the
announced move a "paradigm shift", in an interview with the Bild
daily.He added that "it won't happen overnight, but it has to
happen".The goal sounds ambitious, given the dire state of the German
armed forces which have been plagued by shortages of key weapons systems
and face trouble recruiting new troops.Germany, with its dark World War
II history, has long been reluctant to spend big on defence. Funding
dropped off sharply after the Cold War as European countries relied on
NATO heavyweight the United States for security.Decades of lower
military spending has reduced Germany's number of battle tanks and
howitzers from the thousands to the hundreds.- 'Epochal shift' -In
recent years, Germany's armed forces were mocked for equipment failures
when they deployed in Afghanistan and Mali. Those included helicopters
that couldn't fly and rifles that did not shoot straight.The army,
hoping to boost troop strength to 203,000 by 2031, fell short of its
incremental target last year by more than 20,000, despite a social media
campaign.The military has "too little of everything" -- from air
defences and drones to satellites and AI capabilities -- the
parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, Eva Hoegl, warned in
March.Trump has long claimed NATO partners are not paying their fair
share. Germany only just hit the alliance's target last year of spending
two percent of GDP on defence.Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine led
then-chancellor Olaf Scholz to announce 100 billion euros ($110 billion)
in extra defence spending.Major orders placed include new submarines
and F-35 fighter jets -- but they will take years to be delivered.Now
Merz has signalled an even bigger shift, warning of the threat from a
hostile Russia.- 'Collective madness' -For Germany, spending five
percent of GDP would equate to more than 200 billion euros per year -- a
figure previously deemed unrealistic.But Merz's coalition has secured
major financial firepower: an easing of debt rules and approval for
hundreds of billions in extra funding for defence and
infrastructure.Merz told Die Zeit weekly that spending big on defence --
especially for European-made systems -- should be seen as a stimulus
for the recession-hit economy."If we want to strengthen our defence
capabilities, we must gradually reduce our dependence on the US," he
said.The CEO of German defence giant Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, said
that, after stepping up capacity in recent years, "we can deliver".A
lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) that embraces
Moscow-friendly policies, Peter Boehringer, called the five-percent
target "completely absurd".Criticism also came from Ralf Stegner of the
SPD, the junior coalition partner in Merz's government.Stegner told the
Handelsblatt daily that, in a conflict-torn world, "disarmament is the
order of the day... not an arms race".Spending "billions on weapons that
reduce the world to rubble and ashes and then billions for the
reconstruction of Gaza, Ukraine and Aleppo, that is collective madness,"
he said.bur/fz/sr/rmb
WHILE TURKEY YAPS ABOUT HIS DEATH CULT DICTATORSHIP. A 5.2 EARTHQUAKE ROCKED TURKEY.
Turkey says to continue anti-PKK operations until 'region cleared'by AFP Staff Writers.
Ankara
(AFP) May 15, 2025-Turkey's military will continue acting against PKK
militants in regions where they are present until it is "certain" the
threat is removed following the Kurdish group's decision to disband, the
defence ministry said Thursday, in a nod to its presence notably in
Iraq.The military will "continue to act in the regions used by the
separatist PKK terrorist organisation with determination until it is
certain the region is cleared and will no longer pose a threat to
Turkey", a ministry spokesman said in a briefing.He referred
specifically to "land search and scan activities, the detection and
destruction of caves, shelters, mines and hand-made explosives".His
remarks came three days after the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
announced its dissolution and the end of its four-decade insurgency that
cost more than 40,000 lives.According to a ministry source, "nothing
has changed" for Turkish troops following the PKK's
announcement."Although the terror organisation has decided to disband,
we need to be careful (about provocations)... by those within the (PKK)
who are unhappy with the decision," the source added."If the disbanding
is implemented concretely, we will return to our cleaning activities
without conducting an operation to prevent these areas from being used
by terrorist organisations again," he said, without elaborating
further.Blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its
Western allies, the PKK operates rear bases in Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan region, where Turkey also maintains military bases and often
carries out air and ground operations against the Kurdish militants.The
PKK is also present in Syria, where Turkey has military bases in the
north and has since 2016 carried out several ground operations to force
the militants away from its border.The source said Turkey's MIT
intelligence service would establish a mechanism for "monitoring the
disarmament" that would be done in coordination with the security forces
in Iraq and Syria."It is not possible for the Turkish armed forces to
perform this task since it is in other countries," he said."We will
provide support if needed, we have bases there. Our presence (in Iraq
and Syria) will continue until we are sure of security."The source also
said there would be no involvement of third parties in the disarmament
process."There will definitely be no UN or third parties. The problems
in our region should be solved by the regional countries," he said.The
weapons handover will be overseen by Turkish intelligence officials at
locations in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, who are expected to register the
arms and the identity of the fighters in coordination with the Syrian
and Iraqi authorities, Turkish media reports said."Our intelligence
service will follow the process meticulously to ensure the promises are
kept," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
400 flee to Thailand as Myanmar rebels strike junta base-by AFP Staff Writers.
Bangkok
(AFP) May 15, 2025-More than 400 Myanmar people fled across the Thai
border on Thursday as ethnic minority armed groups bombarded a junta
base with drones, the kingdom's armed forces said.Myanmar's military
sparked a civil war, seizing power in a 2021 coup and now battling an
array of pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority armed groups which
have long been active in the country's fringes.Much of the fighting has
focused on control of border crossings where combatants can fill their
war chests by running lucrative toll gates controlling trade and
smuggling routes.Thailand's military said the Karen National Liberation
Army and the Karen National Defence Organisation "used unmanned aerial
drones to launch a bombing attack" on a junta border base around 4:45 am
(2145 GMT Wednesday)."414 displaced people from Myanmar fled across to
the Thai side", near Mae La in Tak province, around 250 miles (400
kilometres) northwest of Bangkok, a statement said.They have been housed
in a nearby temple and monastery while Thai troops have stepped up
border patrols, the statement added.Armed organisations recruiting from
the Karen ethnic group have been active for decades and have emerged as
key challengers to the junta holding control over border crossings with
Thailand.Myanmar's civil war has caused huge waves of population
displacement, with 81,000 refugees or asylum seekers from the country
currently living in Thailand, according to United Nations figures.
Space
Nuclear Power Corporation Joins Forces with USSF and University of
Michigan for Advanced Nuclear Propulsion-by Clarence Oxford.
Los
Angeles CA (SPX) May 15, 2025-Space Nuclear Power Corporation
(SpaceNukes) has been selected as a commercial partner to develop
advanced fission reactor technology for the Space Power and Propulsion
for Agility, Responsiveness and Resilience (SPAR) Institute. The SPAR
Institute, led by the University of Michigan, is part of the US Space
Force's Space Strategic Technology Institute 3 for Advanced Space Power
and Propulsion.Central to this collaboration is the development of
Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) systems, which integrate a nuclear
reactor power source with electric propulsion to enable "Maneuver
Without Regret" capabilities. NEP systems are significantly more
efficient than traditional chemical propulsion, offering 5 to 25 times
more thrust per unit mass, reducing the risk of running out of
propellant during complex maneuvers.SpaceNukes stands out as the only US
company with recent experience in designing, building, and testing an
innovative reactor concept. In 2018, the company's Kilopower reactor
power system was successfully demonstrated during the KRUSTY test,
showcasing a ready-to-fly technology capable of supporting missions on
the Moon, Mars, and deep space.As part of this effort, SpaceNukes is
collaborating with University of Michigan students and faculty to
develop 2nd-generation reactor technologies. These next-generation
reactors offer significant improvements, including higher reactor and
radiator temperatures, resulting in lighter, more compact systems that
provide greater agility and reduced detectability, making them highly
suitable for both civilian and defense applications.
General Atomics tests advanced nuclear thermal propulsion fuel at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center-by Clarence Oxford.
Los
Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 21, 2025-General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems
(GA-EMS) announced a major step forward in nuclear thermal propulsion
(NTP) technology with successful testing of its reactor fuel at NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). This progress supports the
development of rapid and flexible cislunar transportation and deep space
missions, including human exploration of Mars. The collaborative effort
with NASA aims to validate GA-EMS's unique nuclear fuel design under
conditions expected in space."The recent testing results represent a
critical milestone in the successful demonstration of fuel design for
NTP reactors," said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. "Fuel must
survive extremely high temperatures and the hot hydrogen gas environment
that an NTP reactor operating in space would typically encounter. We're
very encouraged by the positive test results proving the fuel can
survive these operational conditions, moving us closer to realizing the
potential of safe, reliable nuclear thermal propulsion for cislunar and
deep space missions."The tests conducted at NASA MSFC in Huntsville, AL,
subjected the nuclear fuel to rigorous conditions. Hot hydrogen was
flowed through the fuel samples, and six thermal cycles were performed,
each reaching a peak temperature of 2600 K (4220 F). During these
cycles, the samples were held at the peak temperature for 20 minutes to
demonstrate the effectiveness of shielding the material from degradation
and erosion caused by the extreme environment. Additional tests
evaluated protective material features, providing further insights into
enhancing performance under reactor-like conditions."To the best of our
knowledge, we are the first company to use the compact fuel element
environmental test (CFEET) facility at NASA MSFC to successfully test
and demonstrate the survivability of fuel after thermal cycling in
hydrogen representative temperatures and ramp rates," said Dr. Christina
Back, vice president of GA-EMS Nuclear Technologies and Materials.
"We've also conducted tests in a non-hydrogen environment at our GA-EMS
laboratory, which confirmed the fuel performed exceptionally well at
temperatures up to 3000 K. This capability would enable the NTP system
to be two-to-three times more efficient than conventional chemical
rocket engines. We are excited to continue our collaboration with NASA
as we mature and test the fuel to meet the performance requirements for
future cislunar and Mars mission architectures."The testing is part of a
contract managed by Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) at the Idaho
National Laboratory (INL).
Transforming Small Satellites with Advanced Wireless Chip for Enhanced Connectivity by Riko Seibo.
Tokyo,
Japan (SPX) May 14, 2025-Small satellites, typically weighing between
10 and 100 kilograms, are playing a crucial role in advancing global
connectivity through satellite constellations. However, these compact
satellites often face limitations in managing communication beams, which
are essential for transmitting and receiving signals across vast
distances.Communication beams are electromagnetic waves that can exhibit
either right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) or left-hand circular
polarization (LHCP), depending on the rotation direction of their
electric fields. While bulkier satellites can handle both polarization
types, smaller satellites have traditionally been constrained to single
polarization, restricting their communication versatility and overall
capacity.To address this, a research team led by Associate Professor
Atsushi Shirane at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, now integrated
into the Institute of Science Tokyo, has developed an innovative Ka-band
wireless chip capable of independently managing both RHCP and LHCP
signals. This breakthrough, achieved in collaboration with Axelspace,
Japan, was presented at the 2025 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits
Conference (ISSCC) held from February 16-20, 2025, at the San Francisco
Marriott Marquis in California."Conventional satellite communication
receivers often struggle to handle both RHCP and LHCP beams
independently," explains Dr. Shirane. "To overcome this, we designed a
switch-type quadrature-hybrid within a wireless chip that can pick up
both left-hand and right-hand circularly polarized signals."A
quadrature-hybrid is a critical component that splits incoming signals
into two paths, introducing a slight delay in one path to create a
90-degree phase difference. This capability enables the chip to
differentiate between left- and right-spinning signals, significantly
enhancing its ability to handle diverse communication
requirements.Moreover, this novel chip doubles the number of
controllable beams, boosting overall communication capacity and
flexibility-a critical advantage as satellite networks aim to provide
broadband connectivity to underserved and remote regions.An additional
benefit is that the chip is manufactured using complementary
metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, known for its efficiency,
low power consumption, and compact size, making it cost-effective and
scalable for large-scale satellite deployments."Our receiver chip works
in the Ka-band frequency, known for its high-speed data transfer,"
emphasizes Dr. Shirane. "In fact, it's the very same frequency band
harnessed by cutting-edge satellite networks like SpaceX's
Starlink!"Tests conducted with a prototype satellite-mounted
communication device confirmed the chip's ability to handle both
polarization types effectively, maintaining the necessary performance
metrics for modern satellite communication systems.This technology
represents a significant advancement in satellite communication, with
the potential to transform the industry by making global connectivity
more efficient, affordable, and widely accessible.
Defense
officials see military crackdown on West Bank terror as limited -
analysis-The latest attack at Peduel shows that even in areas where the
IDF has been most aggressive in the West Bank, there will always be gaps
that security forces cannot cover.By YONAH JEREMY BOB-MAY 15, 2025
17:54
The terrorist attack on Wednesday near Peduel in the
Binyamin Region of the West Bank highlighted a point that senior IDF and
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officials, former and current, have
made throughout the war: Crackdowns can reduce terrorism temporarily,
but to sustain calm and security, there also must be positive
incentives.What the positive incentives should be is an extensive
debate.Some defense officials favor merely bringing back all or most of
the 210,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank who were employed
before the Israel-Hamas War.Others support this but also believe that
Israel needs to be making larger strategic offers to the Palestinian
Authority regarding the future, building in new uninhabited areas of the
West Bank, or providing greater aspects of autonomy in various
political or economic areas.None of these ideas are under consideration
by the current government.Since the war started, the number of
Palestinian workers approved to cross into Israeli parts of the West
Bank or inside the Green Line are about 10,000 or fewer.Some officials
believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would support increasing
the number of Palestinian workers but fears that doing so would lead
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to topple his coalition.Arguments
against returning Palestinian workers-The arguments against returning
the workers are that, after the October 7 massacre, virtually all
Palestinians are potential suspected terrorists or spies for future
invasions.This is based on the fallacy that it was the 18,000 Gazan
workers who mapped out Israel’s military bases and vulnerabilities on
the Gaza border who enabled Hamas to invade Israel so
effectively.However, the IDF and Shin Bet probes disclosed in late
February and early March this year that this was not true.Rather,
infuriatingly, Hamas managed to piece together all of the precise
locations of Israeli military bases and classified portions within those
bases based on social media.Soldiers working at those bases took photos
of themselves next to classified installations and posted them for
years without anyone cracking down on that practice until October 7.The
IDF and Shin Bet found all the information Hamas needed to carry out its
precise invasion posted on easily accessible social media.What’s more,
all of the evidence from both before and after October 7 indicates that
the number of Palestinian workers able to enter Israeli parts of the
West Bank or within the Green Line who then turn to terrorism is
minuscule.Most Palestinians who perpetrate terrorist attacks either do
so in West Bank areas where Jews and Palestinians are mixed or simply
break through the West Bank barrier, which remains vulnerable and
unpoliced in many areas.The other fallacy is that allowing West Bank
Palestinian workers to return would be a victory for Hamas.The PA
controls the West Bank, not Hamas.Returning workers would not empower
Hamas, but the PA-Returning the workers would not empower Hamas; it
would help the PA, which is far from being a trusted ally of Israel but
is nowhere near as dangerous or destabilizing as Hamas.Such a move might
not even empower the PA, but at least it could restore some of its
ability to control terrorist elements of its population.Arguments that
returning the workers would show that Israel had learned nothing from
October 7 also obfuscate that the Jewish state has already changed the
face of the region.Most of Gaza has been destroyed, more than 20,000
Hamas terrorists have been eliminated, and as reported by the Hamas-run
Gaza Health Ministry, about another 30,000 Palestinian civilians – used
as human shields – have been killed.Hezbollah has been decapitated,
including losing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of its heavy
weaponry – and the IDF holds five outposts in Lebanese territory.Syrian
military elements that could threaten Israel have been bombed, and
Israel now controls a huge new buffer zone in Syria.Iran has been
defanged of many of the elements in its ability to threaten Israel, and
the IDF is finally building a more serious fence on the border with
Jordan to block Tehran from smuggling weapons to Palestinian terrorists
in the West Bank.After all of these changes, no one in the Middle East
is going to think Israel has gone soft because it shows mild openness to
positive incentives on one of the seven fronts.According to defense
sources, there is essentially no demonstrable or data-based downside to
increasing Palestinian workers, and its only impact would be to reduce
the motivation of normative people to radicalize and join terrorist
groups.None of this means that Israel can sit on its laurels, however,
and it will need heavily increased volumes of troops on the borders and a
proactive and preemptive-strike strategy against border threats for
years if not decades.And virtually all of the defense officials who
favor increasing Palestinian workers are on board with the more
aggressive Israeli policy in the West Bank, including more airstrikes,
tanks, and D-9 bulldozers, which have made parts of Jenin and Tulkarm
look more like blown-up Gaza.These strategies have reduced terrorism in
Samaria over the recent period.Nevertheless, some of the terrorists have
merely shifted to the Hebron area, which had been one of the quieter
regions for much of this war.There will always be holes that security
forces cannot cover-Additionally, the latest attack at Peduel shows that
even in areas where the IDF has cracked down the hardest and been more
aggressive in the West Bank than ever before, there will always be holes
that the security forces cannot cover.Making a bigger diplomatic move
in the West Bank is more complex and controversial, but there are plenty
of ways that defense sources believe Israel could give temporary
economic, land, and political incentives in certain quiet areas, which
could be withdrawn if those areas stopped being quiet.For 19 months, the
government has ignored the virtually unanimous recommendation of the
security forces to return more West Bank Palestinian workers, and it has
been unwilling to even entertain any positive diplomatic
incentives.Over that time, the IDF has used force, force, and more force
as its strategy, and it has sometimes achieved impressive shifts
because of that.There are, however, limits to how long military
crackdowns can maintain strategic achievements and quiet.When will the
government’s answer not just be to kill the latest terrorist who killed
another Israeli, but to try out some of the defense establishment’s
positive incentive ideas, while maintaining its harsher than ever
military pressure?
Three suspects arrested after illegal animals
found in West Bank village-Over the past month, an undercover
investigation was conducted by the Modi’in Illit police station and the
Nature and Parks Authority’s unit combating illegal hunting.By JERUSALEM
POST STAFF-MAY 15, 2025 17:35
Dozens of protected animal species
were seized in the Palestinian village of Beit Sira by West Bank
police, the Nature and Parks Authority, and the IDF on Thursday, Israel
Police shared in a statement on X/Twitter. Three suspects were arrested,
according to the police.Over the past month, an undercover
investigation was conducted by the Modi’in Illit police station and the
Nature and Parks Authority’s unit combating illegal hunting. The probe
focused on a suspect from Beit Sira who was illegally raising various
protected animals.The operation became public yesterday when
investigators and police raided the suspect’s compound and home, and
dozens of animals were discovered. Native and exotic species found-The
search uncovered green monkeys, Israeli gazelles, deer antelopes,
African hornbills, hyenas, porcupines, ground squirrels, swamp deer,
deer, pheasants, and partridges.Some of the animals found were native to
the Land of Israel, while others were exotic species.All seized
wildlife are wild species whose trade and possession without permits are
prohibited, police stated.The animals were safely transported for
further examination to the Israeli Monkey Sanctuary, the Wildlife
Hospital at Ramat Gan Safari, and other facilities.Alongside the
animals, two M16 airsoft rifles and illegal bird-hunting equipment were
seized, including a mist net that contained the bodies of birds trapped
and found dead.The three suspects—a father and two sons—were taken in
for a joint investigation by the Nature and Parks Authority and the
Israel Police on charges of possession of protected wildlife, illegal
trade, harm, and illegal hunting.
IDF conducts multi-location
strikes in Gaza Strip-The IDF said it is operating at several sites in
Gaza, mainly around the European Hospital, where the IDF attempted to
assassinate Hamas head Mohammed Sinwar.By AVI ASHKENAZI , JERUSALEM POST
STAFF-MAY 15, 2025 15:10
The IAF conducted airstrikes across the
Gaza Strip throughout the day, including in Jabalya and eastern Khan
Yunis, as well as other locations, Army Radio reported on Thursday
afternoon.Gazan reports cited by Army Radio claimed that over 115 Gazans
had been killed since Thursday morning.In the Al Tuba Mosque in
Jabalya, 15 people were reportedly killed. Concurrently, the IDF carried
out heavy artillery shelling and air strikes in the town of Khuza'a,
east of Khan Yunis. Gazan sources reported numerous casualties in a
strike on a residential building on Al-Fahm Street in eastern Khan
Yunis. Also east of Khan Yunis, in the town of Bani Suhaila, the
military reportedly struck several residential buildings, also in the
area of Deir al-Balah, and on Al-Wahda Street in central Gaza City.A
residential building in Jabalya al-Balad in the northern Strip was also
struck, along with reported attacks in the Al-Salateen neighborhood in
Beit Lahia and the Jabalya area.According to eyewitnesses, the Nasser
Medical Center has been filled with the wounded and the deceased, while
the medical system in the Strip is struggling with a severe shortage of
medical supplies.Those wounded from the various attacks were also
evacuated to the Indonesian Hospital and the Al-Ma’mouni Hospital in
Gaza City, with some of the casualties described as being in moderate to
serious condition.The IDF said it is operating at several sites in
Gaza. The main site is around the European Hospital, the area where the
IDF attempted to assassinate Hamas head Mohammed Sinwar, who was in a
tunnel at the time.The Israeli air force is reportedly preventing Hamas
terrorists from approaching the tunnel in an effort to rescue
survivors.Troops in northern Gaza replaced with reservists The IDF
earlier announced that the 16th Brigade in northern Gaza was being
replaced with reservist forces after it had completed its operations
there.In cooperation with Yahalom troops, the soldiers destroyed
hundreds of meters of underground bunkers containing weapons and
military equipment. In total, the troops destroyed over 600 sites used
by Hamas terrorists. Over the last two days, the Israeli air force
struck over 130 targets throughout Gaza, including surface-to-surface
rocket launchers, terrorist cells, military structures, and operational
apartments. In southern Gaza, the IDF killed several terrorists and
dismantled sites from which Hamas terrorists operated, and destroyed
weapons.In northern Gaza, troops dismantled a booby-trapped structure
and a compound used by terrorists to ambush IDF troops operating in the
area. Last week, the IDF killed Hamas terrorist Jasser Hussain Ali
Shamieh in Gaza City, the military announced. He was responsible for
Hamas fundraising and previously served as a battalion commander in
Hamas's Gaza Brigade.The funds he raised were used for the reinforcement
of the terror group's military wing and for salary payments.
IDF
seizes arms during counterterrorism operation in Tammun, Tubas, West
Bank-IDF forces are continuing the search for the terrorist responsible,
the military added.By AMIR BOHBOT, LIRAN HARONI, JERUSALEM POST
STAFF-MAY 15, 2025 08:26
Members of the IDF's undercover Duvdevan
Unit killed five and arrested one terrorist in Tammun as part of the
hunt for the terrorist responsible for killing Tzeela Gez, the military
confirmed.IDF forces are continuing the search for the terrorist
responsible, the military added.The IDF also fired shoulder-mounted
rockets towards a building where terrorists had barricaded themselves
inside, the military stated.During searches, the IDF found three M-16
rifles and four vests.Simultaneously, Border Police special forces
arrested three armed terrorists in Tubas and seized six M16 rifles, a
pistol, a grenade, and additional combat equipment, the military
added.Further, explosive charges were found in the building where
terrorists were hiding, the military confirmed.An unidentified security
source told Walla that the terrorist knew the area well, planned the
escape in advance, and may have acted with assistance from
others.Searches are being carried out using personnel deployed to the
area overnight, in parallel with proactive roadblocks and checking
suspects, an IDF spokesperson added.Protection of the settlements in the
area has also been increased, reports noted, adding that similar
activity is being carried out in other villages in the northern West
Bank to rule out the possibility that the terrorist fled there.What
happened in the terror attack? This follows a pregnant woman being
killed in a terror attack in the West Bank on Wednesday night.The victim
was later identified as 30-year-old Tzeela Gez, who was on her way to
deliver her fourth child.
Interfaith dialogue in Berlin takes
place in fluent Arabic-The landmark event, led by Sharaka and the
Abraham Accords Institute, gathered religious leaders to promote
tolerance and took place exclusively in Arabic-By OHAD MERLIN-MAY 15,
2025 16:46
An interfaith dialogue featuring religious leaders
from diverse backgrounds took place in Berlin this week, and it was
exclusively in Arabic. The event was led by Sharaka in cooperation with
the Abraham Accords Institute, both of which deemed the conference a
“landmark Interfaith Dialogue” conference.The unique gathering convened
religious leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa to
promote mutual understanding, tolerance, and respectful dialogue across
faiths, the organizers said.The seminar featured a group of
Arabic-speaking rabbis alongside religious leaders from Morocco, the
United Arab Emirates, and other countries in the region, who engaged in
meaningful conversations aimed at building bridges and deepening
interfaith cooperation.The schedule included various religious lectures,
a tour of Berlin that included synagogues and mosques, and the
opportunity to meet with diverse political leaders at the German
Bundestag.It also featured a joint spiritual session, including dhikr, a
form of worship in which prayers are repeatedly recited for the purpose
of remembering God, and which stems from teachings of Islamic
mysticism; and a hitvaadut, a gathering with songs and stories, which
stems from Jewish hassidic teachings.Among the participants were Imam
Hassen Chalghoumi, a Tunisian-born Muslim cleric who leads a community
near Paris and who has become a salient voice in the fight against
antisemitism; Saudi-born Islamic theologian Dr. Mouhanad Khorchide;
Rabbi Elhanan Miller from Jerusalem, founder of the People of the Book
initiative; and Sheik Younnes Amsha, member of the higher authority of
religious Druze leaders in Israel.A message of religious
coexistence-Amsha also serves as director of the Forum for Religious
Leaders and took part in the interfaith dialogue with the authorization
of Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze
Council.During a speech he gave at the event, he emphasized the
responsibility of religious leaders to spread a message of dialogue to
their respective communities and to use their places of prayer and
community centers to promote the ideals of love, mutual respect, and
harmony.Amsha spoke about the importance of protecting minority rights
around the world and specifically those of the Druze, Alawite, and
Christians in Syria.At the conclusion, Younnes said: “We pray that peace
will prevail throughout the world, and that we will always meet on the
basis of the values of love and harmony. Not every fall is an end –
because the falling of rain is the beginning of a beginning.”Sharaka
founder and chairman Amit Deri said: “Sharaka is honored to bring
together moderates from across the region for this important four-day
seminar. Our mission is to foster interfaith understanding and
strengthen meaningful connections among diverse communities. This
initiative reflects our unwavering commitment to building bridges across
the region. Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, this has been our
mission, and we remain as dedicated as ever to expanding that mission,
both within the scope of the Accords and beyond.”Chalghoumi, the Muslim
cleric, said: “By participating in an interfaith conference in Berlin
alongside Muslim and Jewish leaders to take collective action against
antisemitism – a scourge that is eating away at Europe and affects too
many young Muslims – in this city marked by history, tragic yet full of
hope, we aim to rekindle the spirit of the Abraham Accords, rebuild
mutual respect, and develop concrete solutions to confront hatred.”
Targeting
China-Iran ties: US sanctions Iran's ballistic missile program -
analysis-This is the latest group of sanctions that seek to go after the
Iran-China nexus and how organizations, companies or individuals are
involved in working for Iran’s interests in China.By SETH J.
FRANTZMAN-MAY 15, 2025 09:40
The US is “imposing sanctions on
China- and Iran-based entities and individuals that support Iran’s
ballistic missile program,” the US Department of State reported
yesterday.This is the latest group of sanctions that seek to go after
the Iran-China nexus and how organizations, companies, or individuals
are involved in working for Iran’s interests in China. The decision
comes amid Iran-US talks.Iran has been nonplussed by these sanctions. On
April 29, the US also said it was “sanctioning six entities and six
individuals based in Iran and China for their role in a network
procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients on behalf of Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”On April 1, the US said it was
“today sanctioning six entities and two individuals based in Iran, the
UAE, and China that have been involved in the procurement of key
components on behalf of entities connected to Iran’s UAV and ballistic
missile programs.”In addition, on March 20, the US said it was
“sanctioning Huaying Huizhou Daya Bay Petrochemical Terminal Storage, an
oil terminal in China, for buying and storing Iranian crude oil from a
sanctioned vessel.”The US has thereby systematically cracked down on
Iran-China trade in recent months.The most recent decision focuses on
“entities and individuals primarily based in China and Hong Kong for
their support to Iran’s ballistic missile program.”“Iran remains heavily
reliant on China to conduct its malign activities in the Middle East,”
the State Department said. “This is another example of how the CCP and
China-based companies provide key economic and technical support to Iran
and its proxies, driving regional instability and threatening US
partners and allies.”The report added that “these entities and
individuals are supporting Iran’s efforts to indigenize the
manufacturing of carbon fiber for use in Iran’s ballistic missile
program. These entities and individuals support the supply of carbon
fiber, its precursors, and carbon fiber manufacturing equipment to the
various Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sub-organizations that
oversee this effort, including US-designated IRGC Aerospace Force
Research and Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization (IRGC ASF RSSJO) and
IRGC Research and Self Sufficiency Jehad Organization (IRGC RSSJO).”What
is the "Maximum pressure" campaign on Iran?This is part of the US
“maximum pressure” campaign on Iran. The US is laser-focused on the
threat of the ballistic-missile program and other aspects of Iran’s
trade with China that benefit things such as the drone program in
Iran.“The United States will use all available means, including
sanctions on entities based in third countries, to expose and disrupt
Iran’s schemes to procure equipment and items supporting its ballistic
missile program, which destabilizes the Middle East and beyond,” the
State Department statement said.These are important moves. Iran is
already concerned that a deal is not possible with the US.It doesn’t
appear the US would want to go back on these sanctions after having
rolled them out. Iran will have to decide how to proceed in its talks
with the US.
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's,
arrested while protesting US policy on Gaza-While Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
was delivering a testimony, Cohen reportedly shouted: "Congress sent the
bombs that kill children in Gaza and pays for it with cuts to
Medicaid."By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, REUTERS-MAY 15, 2025 01:56
Ben
Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, was arrested
Wednesday after interrupting a Senate hearing to protest the United
States' policy on Gaza, according to American media reports.While Robert
F. Kennedy Jr. was delivering a testimony, Cohen reportedly shouted:
"Congress sent the bombs that kill children in Gaza and pays for it with
cuts to Medicaid."Cohen was escorted out by Capitol Police and arrested
following the interruption. He has reportedly since been charged with
the misdemeanor offense of Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding."I
told Congress they're killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and
they're paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US. This
was the authorities' response," Cohen wrote on X/Twitter with footage of
the incident.In the video, Cohen claimed Israel had starved Gaza for 79
days, and the US needed to enable food to enter the enclave.Cohen was
one of seven protesters escorted from the building, according to NBC
News.Outside the meeting, Cohen held a conference with Rashida Tlaib, an
American politician embroiled in numerous antisemitism.controversies.
Humanitarian aid to re-enter Gaza Strip-A US-backed humanitarian
organization said on Wednesday that it would launch operations in Gaza
by the end of May and has asked Israel to allow aid to start flowing
into the enclave now under existing procedures until it is set up.No
humanitarian aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global
hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation, a
quarter of the enclave's population. Since the war in Gaza began in
October 2023, aid deliveries have been handled by international aid
groups and UN organizations.The newly created Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation will instead distribute aid in Gaza from so-called secure
distribution sites, but said Israel's current plan to only allow a few
such sites in southern Gaza needs to be scaled up to include the
North."GHF emphasizes that a successful humanitarian response must
eventually include the entire civilian population in Gaza," the
foundation's executive director, Jake Wood, wrote in a letter to the
Israeli government."GHF respectfully requests that Israeli Defense
Forces (IDF) identify and deconflict sufficient locations in northern
Gaza capable of hosting GHF-operated secure distribution sites that can
be made operational within thirty days," he wrote.He asked Israel to
facilitate the flow of enough aid "using existing modalities" until
GHF's distribution infrastructure is fully operational, saying this is
essential to "alleviate the ongoing humanitarian pressure, as well as
decrease the pressure on the distribution sites during our first days of
operation."US security firm UG Solutions and US-based Safe Reach
Solutions, which does logistics and planning, would be involved in the
foundation's operations, said a source familiar with the plans, speaking
on condition of anonymity.Following the GHF announcement, the
International Committee of the Red Cross said concerns about aid
distribution remained."Humanitarian aid should not be politicized nor
militarized. The level of need among civilians in Gaza right now is
overwhelming, and aid needs to be allowed to enter immediately and
without impediment," said ICRC spokesperson Steve Dorsey.Israel has
accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the Palestinian militant group
denies, and is blocking humanitarian deliveries until Hamas releases all
remaining hostages.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said earlier on
Wednesday that Israel endorsed what he called "the American
humanitarian plan." Israel's mission to the UN did not immediately
respond to a request for comment on Wood's letter.
PM Netanyahu
accuses Macron of standing with Hamas, European leaders slam Israel
actions in Gaza-Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Spanish Prime
Minister Pedro Sanchez both heavily criticized Israel's actions in the
Gaza Strip.By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF-MAY 14, 2025 15:08
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused French President Emmanuel Macron on
Wednesday of standing with Hamas after Macron said Israel's policy in
Gaza was "shameful.""Macron has once again chosen to side with a
murderous Islamist terrorist organization and echo its false propaganda,
while accusing Israel of blood libels," the prime minister wrote in a
statement."Instead of supporting the Western democratic camp fighting
Islamist terror groups and calling for the release of the hostages,
Macron is once again demanding that Israel surrender and reward
terrorism."Netanyahu added Israel was sticking to its war aims of
securing the release of its hostages, defeating Hamas, and ensuring Gaza
poses no threat to Israel.Additionally, Defense Minister Israel Katz
asserted that "President Macron should not preach morality to us.""It is
expected that someone who calls himself a friend of Israel would stand
by Israel in its war against the murderous terrorist organization Hamas
and the Iranian axis of evil that seeks to destroy the State of
Israel—rather than try to deny it the right to self-defense," he wrote
in a statement on X/Twitter. He added that the IDF "operates with a
level of morality that is unmatched, under difficult and complex
circumstances—certainly far more than anything France has done in its
past wars."Italian, Spanish PM criticize Israel's actions in Gaza-After
Macron's comments, other European leaders weighed in on the Israeli
government's policy in Gaza. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said
that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has become increasingly
"dramatic and unjustifiable.""Over the past months I have spoken with
Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu on several occasions, and the
conversations have often been difficult," Meloni told a question time
session in the Italian lower house of parliament on Wednesday."I have
always recalled the urgency of finding a way to end the hostilities and
respect international law and international humanitarian law. A request
that I renew today," Meloni said.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
accused Israel of genocide in Gaza in a statement on Wednesday.“We will
not engage in trade with a country committing genocide,” he said.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.
Gazans say over 100
killed since morning; IDF reports hitting dozens of terror targets-Army
says man who raised funds for Hamas military operations killed in an
airstrike last week-By Emanuel Fabian,Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 7:13
pm-MAY 15
A Hamas operative responsible for raising funds for
the terror group’s military wing was killed in an Israeli airstrike last
week, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet announced Thursday, as the
military pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes it said hit numerous
terror targets.Palestinian media reported that bombings had killed at
least 115 Palestinians, citing medical sources. The figures could not be
independently verified and did not differentiate between civilians and
combatants.The IDF said it had struck over 130 terror targets in the
Strip over the past 48 hours. The targets included rocket launchers,
cells of operatives, and buildings used by terror groups to plan attacks
on forces, the military said.Ground troops also killed several
operatives and destroyed Hamas infrastructure in both northern and
southern Gaza, the IDF added.According to the military, fundraiser
Jasser Hussein Ali Shamieh “was responsible for the transfer of tens of
millions of dollars to Hamas’s military wing.”“These funds were used to
build up the force of the military wing, pay Hamas terrorist salaries
and fund the terror organization,” the IDF said, adding that the money
also “enabled the continuation of fighting and the sustainability of
Hamas’s brigades in northern Gaza.”Shamieh himself previously served as a
battalion commander in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, the military said.In
recent days, the IDF has been gearing up for a planned major offensive
in the Gaza Strip, which officials said would be launched if no hostage
deal is reached with Hamas by the end of US President Donald Trump’s
visit to the region on Friday.Hamas said in a statement that Israel was
making a “desperate attempt to negotiate under the cover of fire” as
indirect ceasefire talks continue through Trump envoys and Qatari and
Egyptian mediators in Doha, Reuters reported.Amir Selha, a 43-year-old
Palestinian from north Gaza, told AFP Thursday morning he heard “intense
Israeli shelling all night.”“Tank shells are striking around the clock,
and the area is packed with people and tents,” he said.He added that in
the early morning, Israeli army drones dropped leaflets in his
neighborhood, warning residents to move south.Most Gazans have been
displaced at least once during 19 months of war between Israel and
Hamas.Israel carried out the latest strikes on the day Palestinians
commemorate the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, the Arabic term used for the
exodus and expulsion of some 700,000 Palestinians during Israel’s War of
Independence against invading Arab armies in 1948.With most of the 2.3
million people in Gaza internally displaced, some residents of the tiny
enclave say suffering is greater now than at that time.“What we are
experiencing now is even worse than the Nakba of 1948,” Ahmed Hamad, a
Palestinian in Gaza City who has been displaced multiple times, told
Reuters.“The truth is, we live in a constant state of violence and
displacement. Wherever we go, we face attacks. Death surrounds us
everywhere.”The war in Gaza began with the Hamas assault on October 7,
2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to
kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.Palestinian health
officials told Reuters the Israeli attacks had escalated since Trump
started his visit on Tuesday to the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar
and the United Arab Emirates, which many Palestinians had hoped he would
use to push for a truce.The latest strikes follow attacks on Gaza on
Wednesday that killed at least 80 people, Hamas health officials
claimed.The IDF on Tuesday carried out a massive airstrike targeting an
underground command compound below the European Hospital where Hamas’s
leader in Gaza, Muhammad Sinwar, was believed to be sheltering. The IDF
has since bombed the area several times, in an apparent attempt to
prevent anyone from approaching the tunnel beneath the medical center.
The IDF has not yet confirmed whether Sinwar, the younger brother of
former Hamas leader and October 7 terror mastermind Yahya Sinwar, was
killed in the strike.Over 52,000 people have been killed in the Strip
since the start of the war, according to the Hamas health ministry’s
unverifiable tally.
Trump: US should take Gaza, ‘make it a
freedom zone’; Oct. 7 ‘one of worst days in history’US president, in
Qatar, says Hamas ‘is going to have to be dealt with’; terror group says
Israel is not serious on hostage talks-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today,
4:55 pm
Continuing his Middle East trip, US President Donald
Trump said Thursday that October 7, 2023, was “one of the worst days in
the history of the world, not only in this region.”In comments at a
meeting of business leaders in Doha, the US president said the Hamas-led
assault on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, was
“one of the worst, most atrocious attacks anyone has ever seen.”More
than 5,000 terrorists burst into the south of the country on that day,
rampaging murderously through border communities and abducting 251
people to Gaza, where 57 hostages remain in captivity. Terrorists
slaughtered families as they huddled in their homes and massacred
hundreds of people at an outdoor music festival.Israel responded with a
military campaign to destroy Hamas, topple its regime, and free the
hostages.Hamas, Trump said, is “going to have to be dealt with.”The
president then went on to talk about his vision for the future of Gaza,
which has been largely devastated by the ongoing war.“We’re working very
hard in Gaza. Gaza has been a territory of death and destruction,”
Trump said, but added that the US would get involved.“I have aerial
shots where, I mean, there’s practically no building standing. It’s not
like you’re trying to save something. There’s no building. People are
living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not
acceptable,” he said of the Palestinian territory.He said he wanted the
United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”: “I have
concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone.
Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” he
said. “I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a
freedom zone.”The president’s meaning was not immediately clear. Trump
has in the past talked of the US taking over Gaza to make it into a
Riviera.“We’re working very hard in Gaza. Gaza has been a territory of
death and destruction,” he added.Little has come so far of the latest
indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, led by Trump’s envoys
and Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha.Hamas says it is ready to
free all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza in return for an
end to the war, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers interim
truces, saying the war can only end once Hamas is no longer in control
of Gaza. Previous short ceasefires that saw batches of hostages released
also had Israel releasing thousands of Palestinian security prisoners,
including some convicted of murdering Israelis.“At a time when mediators
are exerting intensive efforts to put the negotiation back on the right
track, the Zionist occupation responds to those efforts by military
pressure on innocent civilians,” the Hamas terror group said in a
statement Thursday.“Netanyahu wants an open-ended war and he doesn’t
care about the fate of his hostages,” it said.Trump also said, “We are
dealing with Hamas and Iran and the Houthis, and that was I think, very
successful.”He was referring to US strikes on the Iran-backed Yemeni
group that has been launching missiles and drones at Israel and
attacking shipping lanes in the Red Sea in support of Gaza. After two
months of intensive US airstrikes, Washington earlier this month reached
a ceasefire with the Houthis, who agreed to stop targeting American
ships in the vital shipping route but have continued to fire missiles at
Israel.Israel’s air defense systems have stopped most of the Houthi
attacks, but some missiles and drones have slipped through. Last week, a
missile landed within the territory of Ben Gurion Airport, causing most
foreign airlines to suspend flights to the country. Israel responded
with strikes that destroyed significant Houthi infrastructure.The
Houthis say they will only stop if there is an end to the war in Gaza.
Another round of mediated talks for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal
began in Doha on Wednesday.However, Qatar’s prime minister told CNN in
an interview that Israel’s attacks in Gaza this week send a signal that
it is not interested in negotiating a ceasefire.Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani said a US-backed humanitarian aid distribution plan
for Gaza was unnecessary, stressing the United Nations should be
allowed to deliver aid to the war-torn enclave.A Palestinian official
close to the talks said, “No breakthrough has been reached in the Doha
talks so far because of Israel’s insistence on pursuing the
war.”Palestinian health officials say the Israeli attacks have escalated
since Trump started a visit on Tuesday to the Gulf states of Saudi
Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which many Palestinians had
hoped he would use to push for a truce.Airstrikes on Tuesday targeted an
underground command compound below the European Hospital where Hamas
leader Muhammad Sinwar was believed to be sheltering. The IDF has not
yet confirmed whether Sinwar, the younger brother of former Hamas leader
and October 7 terror mastermind Yahya Sinwar, was killed in the
strike.Hamas authorities claimed that strikes killed over 100 people on
Thursday and at least 80 on Wednesday. The tolls cannot be verified and
do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
UN finds
Russia responsible for Malaysian plane downing that killed 298-Malaysian
Airlines Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur on July
17, 2014, and was shot down over eastern Ukraine.By REUTERS-MAY 13, 2025
10:16
The UN aviation council on Monday ruled that Russia was
responsible for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine that
killed all 298 passengers and crew, including 196 Dutch citizens and 38
Australian citizens or residents, the Dutch and Australian governments
said in separate statements.Both governments said the Council of the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would, in the coming
weeks, consider what form of reparation was in order.Malaysian Airlines
Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014,
and was shot down over eastern Ukraine as fighting raged between
pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.In November 2022, Dutch
judges convicted two Russian men and a Ukrainian man in absentia of
murder for their role in the attack. Moscow called the ruling
"scandalous" and said it would not extradite its citizens.The ICAO,
which is based in Montreal, did not immediately respond to a request for
comment. The case was launched in 2022 by Australia and the
Netherlands."The decision is an important step towards establishing the
truth and achieving justice and accountability for all victims of Flight
MH17, and their families and loved ones," Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar
Veldkamp said in a statement."This decision also sends a clear message
to the international community: states cannot violate international law
with impunity."Demands for Russia to investigate the incident and
discuss reparations-The Netherlands and Australia want the ICAO Council
to order Russia to enter into negotiations over reparations, he
added.Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her government welcomed
the decision and urged ICAO to move swiftly to determine remedies."We
call upon Russia to finally face up to its responsibility for this
horrific act of violence and make reparations for its egregious conduct,
as required under international law," Wong said in a statement.ICAO
lacks regulatory power but holds moral suasion and sets global aviation
standards overwhelmingly adopted by its 193-member states.
Experts
reveal theories of what really happened to flight MH370-An expert has
weighed in on one of the most baffling details regarding the shocking
disappearance of doomed flight MH370.Aisyah Llewellyn-March 23, 2025 -
11:33AM
Former airline pilot criticises delay to new MH370
search-Former airline pilot Byron Bailey has criticised the delay in
resuming the search for MH370 a decade after it vanished.It has been 11
years since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 signed off from Malaysian air
traffic control with the now-infamous words: “Good night Malaysia three
seven zero” as the Boeing 777 crossed into Vietnamese airspace.The
plane, which was travelling from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing in
China carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew on March 8, 2014, was never
heard from again.Two minutes after that final message from the plane’s
Malaysian pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the aircraft vanished from radar
screens.Despite the plane “going dark”, Malaysian military aircraft
trackers were still able to follow MH370, and noticed the plane suddenly
turn sharply to the left, crossing back into Malaysian airspace before
flying another seven hours into the middle of the Indian Ocean where it
is presumed to have run out of fuel and crashed.A number of searches
were launched following the disappearance of Flight MH370, including by
Australia, which searched for three years covering 120 square kilometres
of the southern Indian Ocean in a desperate bid to find the plane and
passengers, which included eight Australians.In 2017, however, the
Australian authorities called off the search.“Despite every effort using
the best science available, cutting edge technology, as well as
modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best
in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate
the aircraft,” authorities said at the time.“The decision to suspend the
underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness.”Now,
11 years later, a new search has been launched in the hopes of finally
locating MH370 and the 239 people aboard by the British maritime
exploration firm Ocean Infinity.Malaysian transport Minister Anthony
Loke recently said that the Malaysian government is in the process of
signing a contract with Ocean-Infinity and that Malaysia welcomed “the
proactiveness of Ocean Infinity to deploy their ships”.What happened to
MH370? Richard Godfrey, the author of the website www.mh370search.com
and a retired aerospace engineer, told news.com.au that there have been
nearly 150 books written about MH370, each with their own theories.“The
various theories range from the bizarre, like MH370 was taken by aliens,
to the conspiratorial, like there was a plot involving several
governments and secret service agents,” Mr Godfrey said.“There are the
sinister, like MH370 was taken by the Chinese, the Russians or the
Americans. The protective, that it could not possibly have been the
Captain as he was such a nice person, and the clairvoyant who had a
vision and saw MH370.”He added that there were also unhelpful theories
by members of the public claiming to have spotted MH370 on Google Earth,
and documentaries that mixed different and confusing theories
together.One well-discussed theory is that the US military either shot
down MH370 or that it landed on Diego Garcia – an island in the British
Indian Ocean Territory used by the US and the United Kingdom as a
military base.This theory suggests that the US believed that the plane
had been hijacked by terrorists and presented a security risk, although
experts have roundly debunked this as the plane did not have enough fuel
to fly near Diego Garcia and there is no credible evidence that it was
either hijacked or shot down.Another hijacking theory is that the plane
was flown to Kazakhstan on the orders of Russian president Vladimir
Putin, although flight data shows MH370 turning in the opposite
direction away from Kazakhstan towards the Indian Ocean.In addition to
the theory that aliens could have been involved, there has also been
speculation that the plane was swallowed by a black hole.“I only deal
with scientific research based on hard data and evidence,” Mr Godfrey
said.“We know from Boeing how far and how long a Boeing 777 can fly and
how long it can stay in the air. We know from Malaysia Airlines
engineering exactly how much fuel was on board and what the fuel
efficiency of both engines on the actual aircraft was.”Mr Godfrey also
said that there was a wealth of comprehensive data to draw from
regarding the flight’s path and performance, including Automatic
Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) data, radar data and Aircraft
Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) data.“We [also]
know from the Inmarsat satellite data that the aircraft continued to fly
for seven hours 37 minutes into the Southern Indian Ocean until fuel
exhaustion,” he said.He added that, from 43 items of floating debris
that have been recovered from around the Indian Ocean, it was clear that
MH370 crashed.“We know from the drift analysis, where the floating
debris most probably originated and the general crash area [ …] When all
these facts align, then you have a good case,” he said.One of the
theories most embraced by experts has been that Pilot Shah, or perhaps
co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, deliberately turned off the plane’s tracking
devices before manually taking control of the aircraft and flying until
it ran out of fuel as part of a murder-suicide plot.When police raided
Shah’s home in Malaysia, they found a flight simulator system which
showed that he had flown a simulated route into the middle of the Indian
Ocean which was similar to the flight path of MH370 – although there
was no suicide note found and no suggestion from anyone who knew Shah
that he had any reason to plan such a diabolical act.Alvin Lie, the head
of the Indonesian Air Transport Service Users Association, told
news.com.au the case was baffling in the modern age.“From a
technological standpoint, it doesn’t make sense and it is not logical
with all the technology available nowadays. It is easy to track a plane,
even if its own tracking device has been disabled,” he said.“What is
even more odd, is that it flew from Malaysia into Vietnamese airspace
and then back into Malaysia and the border with Indonesia, and then went
missing.“In the Southeast Asian region we have a technology superpower
which is Singapore.”Lie said that, when other flights had crashed in the
region, such as Adam Air Flight 574 which plunged into the Makassar
Strait in Indonesia on January 1, 2007, killing all 102 people aboard,
the Singaporean authorities had been able to locate it almost
immediately using their air tracking data.“I don’t have any theories
about the plane, and I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it is very odd
that a plane as big as that can vanish without a trace,” he said.Aisyah
Llewellyn is a freelance journalist based in Indonesia.
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