THIS ARROGANT LEBANESE DEATH CULT PRESIDENT. HE WANTS PEACE BUT NOT ACCEPT ISRAELS RIGHT TO EXIST.
RUSSIA,GERMANY, ARAB MUSLIMS COME AGAINST ISRAEL.
EZEKIEL 38:1-23
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA-ARAB-MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDI-ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(SPAIN) with all the young lions thereof,(ENGLAND,AND ALL ITS ASSOCIATES-CANADA,AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND, USA, AND WESTERN ENGLISH SPEAKING NATIONS) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?(OIL IS IN SPOIL-I BELIEVE THATS WHY RUSSIA,ARAB/MUSLIMS MARCH TO ISRAEL)
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire (atomic bomb) of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence (biological,chemical,nuclear) and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.(NUKED,THEN MIGRATING BIRDS EAT RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS FLESH)
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
EZEKIEL 39:1-29
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
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."
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:
EZEK 39:11-16
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (300 MILLION RUSSIA,GERMANY, IRAN, TURKEY, ARAB MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: (IN THE JORDAN VALLEY) and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, (NUCLEAR SPECIALISTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
MEANING OF HAMONAH
Hamonah, ham-o'-nah (Heb.)-- host; multitude; noise; tumult; commotion of mind. The prophetic name of a city that is mentioned in conjunction with Hamon-gog: "And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city.
Metaphysical meaning of Hamonah (mbd) - Truth Unity
Strong's Lexicon-Hamonah: Hamonah-Original Word: הֲמוֹנָה
Part of Speech: Proper Name Location-Transliteration: Hamownah
Pronunciation: hah-mo-NAH-Phonetic Spelling: (ham-o-naw')
Definition: Hamonah-Meaning: Hamonah
Word Origin: Derived from the Hebrew root הָמוֹן (H1995), meaning "multitude" or "abundance."Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: There is no direct Greek equivalent for "Hamonah" in the Strong's Greek Dictionary, as it is a specific Hebrew proper noun. However, the concept of a multitude or abundance can be related to Greek words like πλῆθος (G4128), meaning "multitude."Usage: The term "Hamonah" is used as a proper noun referring to a specific location mentioned in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. It is associated with the aftermath of a significant battle, symbolizing the multitude of the slain.Cultural and Historical Background: In the context of the Hebrew Bible, names often carry significant meaning and are used to convey theological and prophetic messages. "Hamonah" is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, a prophetic text that addresses the restoration of Israel and the judgment of the nations. The name reflects the abundance of God's judgment upon the enemies of Israel, serving as a reminder of divine justice and sovereignty.
DAMASCUS DESTROYED
ISAIAH 17:1,3,13-14
17 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
JEREMIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(PALACES OF DAMASCUS)
ISRAEL WILL BE IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM, THE SIGN OF THE START OF THE LAST GENERATION.
NEHEMIAH 2:17
17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we (ISRAELIS) are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste,(AD 70) and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem,(DAN 9:24-27) that we be no more a reproach.
LUKE 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.(ISRAEL RECAPTURES JERUSALEM)(THE BEGGINING OF THE LAST GENERATION AND THE LAST END OF THE AGE OF GRACE.NOT THE END OF THE WORLD ,THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER)
MATTHEW 1:17
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations;(14)and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations;(14)and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.(14)(42 GENERATIONS DIVIDED BY 2160 YEARS = 51.4 YRS TO A GENERATION)
LUKE 3:38,23
38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,(SO HERE IN LUKE 3 WE HAVE 77 GENERATIONS FROM ADAM TO CHRIST-77 DIVIDED BY 4,000 YEARS = 51.9 YRS TO A GENERATIN)(SO A TRUE BIBLE GENERATION IS FROM 40 TO 51 YEARS)
MATTHEW 24:33-36
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,(ALL THE SIGNS OF PROPHECY HAPPENING IN THEIR BEGGINING STAGES AFTER ISRAEL BECOMES A NATION AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM)(THEN) know that it is near, even at the doors.(THE RAPTURE)
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass,(1967-ISRAELS RECAPTURE OF JERUSALEM=40-51 YRS(A GENERATION)=2007-2018+) till all these things be fulfilled.(ALL THE LITERAL PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE WILL BE FULFILLED(AT LEAST 500 WILL BE FULFILLED)
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
French-Saudi UN confab on two-state solution said rescheduled for July 28-29-Conference originally scheduled for mid-June was postponed due to Israel-Iran war; Jerusalem slams proposed recognition of Palestinian state as rewarding Oct. 7-By Agencies and ToI Staff 11 July 2025, 11:10 pm
An international conference meant to revive work on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been rescheduled for July 28-29 following its postponement due to the Israel-Iran war last month, diplomatic sources told AFP Friday.The sources could not provide details on any changes to the agenda or level of attending representatives. Heads of state and government had been expected to attend the jointly French- and Saudi-chaired conference at the UN General Assembly in June.Originally set for mid-June, the conference, set to take place at the UN headquarters in New York, was postponed on June 13 after Israel launched a surprise military campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear program, missile production and military leadership.Iran retaliated against Israel’s strikes with deadly ballistic missile strikes that caused heavy damage to Israeli cities. The war lasted 12 days, until June 24, when it ended with a US-brokered ceasefire.On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron called during his UK state visit for joint recognition by France and Britain of a Palestinian state, saying such moves are “the only hope for peace” in the region.Diplomats say French recognition of Palestinian statehood could lend greater weight to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations generally more critical of Israel.Macron has become increasingly critical of Israel amid the war in Gaza, which was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023. Israel has asserted that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would amount to a “reward” to Hamas for the shock assault.US President Donald Trump’s administration sent a diplomatic cable earlier this week to discourage governments around the world from attending the conference, according to a US cable seen by Reuters.It had also warned of possible consequences for those who took measures against Israel, raising pressure on the participants and making Macron’s potential decision to recognize a Palestinian state more complicated.
THIS ARROGANT LEBANESE DEATH CULT PRESIDENT. HE WANTS PEACE BUT NOT ACCEPT ISRAELS RIGHT TO CONTROL THEIR LAND AND SELF. THIS DEATH CULTIST WILL GET A NICE TASTE OF BEING BIRD SEED FOR THE MIGRATING BIRDS FOR COMING AGAINST ISREAL.
Lebanese president says Beirut currently seeks peace, not normalization, with Israel-Amid efforts to disarm Hezbollah, Joseph Aoun calls decision to uphold state monopoly on arms ‘final,’ says Israeli troop presence ‘obstructs’ Lebanese army’s full deployment By Agencies and ToI Staff 11 July 2025, 6:19 pm
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Friday that his country currently has no plans to normalize ties with Israel, but that Beirut wants peaceful relations with its southern neighbor, which maintains some troop presence in Lebanon’s south following last year’s war against Hezbollah.Meeting in Beirut with members of an Arab think tank, Aoun called for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and said the decision to maintain a state monopoly on arms — a veiled threat against the heavily armed Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah — was “final.”Addressing relations with Israel, Aoun “distinguished between peace and normalization,” according to a statement by his office.“Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment. As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,” Aoun was quoted as saying.Aoun’s comments were Lebanon’s first official reaction to a statement last month by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar expressing interest in normalizing ties with Lebanon and Syria, which have both been in an official state of war with Israel since it was founded in 1948.An Israeli official has said normalization with Lebanon could not proceed until Hezbollah is disarmed.Aoun, whose election in January ended a two-year vacancy in the Lebanese presidency, has vowed to uphold a state monopoly on arms. Addressing the issue on Friday, he said “the decision to restrict arms is final and there is no turning back on it,” according to his office.Aoun was also quoted praising Lebanon’s powerful parliament speaker, Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri, for his “contribution to… achieving the principle of restricting weapons.”Hezbollah emerged weakened from the war with Israel, which ended with a November 27 ceasefire deal. Under the agreement, Hezbollah was required to vacate southern Lebanon. Israel was given 60 days to do so, to be replaced by the Lebanese army and international peacekeepers.The IDF has since withdrawn from all but five points, which overlook the border. In his comments on Friday, Aoun said Israeli troops in Lebanon “obstruct the complete deployment of the army up to the internationally recognized borders,” according to Lebanese state broadcaster LBCI.He also expressed support for improved relations with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who toppled Iran-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December. Assad, whose rule was bolstered by Iran and Hezbollah, had let Syria become a throughway for arms and other deliveries from Tehran to its Lebanese proxy.LBCI said Aoun on Friday “noted that coordination is ongoing between Lebanese and Syrian security agencies to… prevent the smuggling of people, arms and drugs.”The United States has been calling on Lebanon to fully disarm Hezbollah, and Lebanese authorities sent their response to Washington’s demand this week. While the response has not been made public, US special envoy Thomas Barrack said Monday that he was “unbelievably satisfied” with it.Hezbollah, unprovoked, began launching near-daily rocket attacks on Israel on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.Hezbollah’s rockets forced the displacement of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. In a bid to ensure their safe return, Israel stepped up operations in Lebanon, decimating Hezbollah’s leadership and devastating areas identified with the group.
IDF, Shin Bet: 6 top Hamas naval commandos killed recently-UN: Nearly 800 Palestinian aid-seekers killed since May, mostly near GHF sites-Army says it issued instructions to troops ‘following lessons learned’ from deaths reported near US-, Israeli-backed aid agency sites; 18 people said killed across Strip on Friday By Emanuel Fabian,Agencies and ToI Staff 11 July 2025, 8:10 pm
Nearly 800 people have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May, with most killed near the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution sites, the UN said Friday.The comments came as the IDF ordered some Gaza City residents to evacuate ahead of operations there, and Hamas’s civil defense agency reported 18 people killed in Gaza on Friday, including 10 while waiting for aid in southern Gaza. It was not immediately clear if the aid seekers were killed in the vicinity of a GHF site.United Nations rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the agency had recorded “615 killings in the vicinity of the GHF sites” since the GHF began operations on May 26 and through July 7.Another 183 people had been killed “presumably on the routes of aid convoys” carried out by the UN and other aid organizations, she told reporters in Geneva.“This is nearly 800 people who have been killed while trying to access aid,” she said, adding that “most of the injuries are gunshot injuries.”The UN human rights office said it based its figures on sources such as information from hospitals in Gaza, cemeteries, families, the Strip’s Hamas-run health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground.GHF, which denies that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites, told Reuters the UN figures were “false and misleading.”“The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys,” a GHF spokesperson said. “Ultimately, the solution is more aid. If the UN [and] other humanitarian groups would collaborate with us, we could end or significantly reduce these violent incidents.”Shamdasani, the UN human rights spokeswoman, said in response that “it is not helpful to issue blanket dismissals of our concerns — what is needed is investigations into why people are being killed while trying to access aid.”The IDF said Friday that it had issued instructions to troops in the field “following lessons learned” after reports of deadly incidents at GHF distribution facilities.The military said it “allows the American civilian organization to distribute aid to Gaza residents independently, and operates in proximity to the new distribution zones to enable the distribution alongside the continuation of IDF operational activities in the Gaza Strip.”“As part of this effort, IDF forces have recently worked to reorganize the area through the installation of fences, signage placement, the opening of additional routes, and other measures,” it said.The army stressed that “following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted,” adding those incidents were “under review by the competent authorities in the IDF.”GHF, which seeks to circumvent Hamas in the distribution of aid, has faced harsh criticism from the UN and other aid organizations which charge that it fails to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. Gazans have reported near-daily incidents in which groups trying to reach GHF facilities are shot at by Israeli forces, leading to mass casualties.Israel, which accuses Hamas of hoarding aid, has also accused the terror group of attacking Gazan aid seekers near GHF sites and falsifying death tolls. However, Israel has also acknowledged that “several” Palestinian civilians have been killed near GHF aid distribution sites.GHF commenced operations in May as Israel lifted a nearly three-month aid blockade on Gaza, amid a renewed offensive there that seeks to take over 75% of the Strip.IDF and Shin Bet say six top Hamas naval commandos killed-Six top members of Hamas’s naval commando forces were killed in a series of operations as part of the ongoing offensive, the IDF and Shin Bet said Friday.The military said the operations targeting the commandos were led by the Israeli Navy, the Military Intelligence Directorate and the IDF Southern Command, as well as the Shin Bet.According to the IDF, the six operatives had advanced sea-borne attacks against Israeli troops and civilians, and some had participated in planning the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023,which sparked the war in Gaza.The IDF and Shin Bet named the operatives as: Ramzi Salah, the naval forces commander in northern Gaza; Jamal al-Baba, the naval forces commander in central Gaza; Ratab Abu Sahiban, the naval forces commander in Gaza City; Omar Abu Jalala, the naval forces commander in Khan Younis; Mohammed Qashta, the naval forces commander in Rafah; and Ahmad Ali, the successor to Abu Sahiban as commander of the naval forces in Gaza City.The IDF announced Salah’s death earlier this month, in a strike on a cafe in Gaza City that reportedly killed 24 people-18 said killed across Strip; IDF tells Gaza City residents to flee-Hamas’s civil defense agency said 10 people were shot dead by the IDF Friday while they were waiting for supplies in the Al-Shakoush area northwest of southern Gaza’s Rafah. There have been regular reports of deadly fire on aid seekers in the area.The civil defense agency reported six more people killed in four separate Israeli air strikes in the area of Khan Younis, also in Gaza’s south.Two drone strikes around Gaza City, in the north, killed two more people, according to the Hamas agency.It also reported Friday that five people were killed the previous night in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Jabalia al-Nazla, in northern Gaza.The IDF did not immediately comment on the reported strikes. The military says it takes steps to mitigate harm to civilians, including by use of aerial intelligence and precision munitions, and accuses Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including schools.A Palestinian speaking to AFP from southern Gaza on condition of anonymity reported ongoing attacks and widespread devastation, with Israeli tanks seen near Khan Younis.“The situation remains extremely difficult in the area — intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling, and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land to the south, west and north of Al-Maslakh,” an area to the south of Khan Younis, said the witness.The IDF said in a statement that soldiers were operating in the area, dismantling “terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground,” and seizing “weapons and military equipment.”Meanwhile, the IDF issued an evacuation warning to Palestinians residing in two blocks of Gaza City before the military attacks there “with very great force.”“In light of the Hamas terror organization using civilian areas for terror activities, the IDF will attack the area with very great force. For your safety, evacuate the area immediately,” said the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee in a post on X. He instructed Palestinian civilians to head south and “avoid returning to dangerous areas.”According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 57,000 people have been killed in the Strip since the war there began on October 7, 2023. The Hamas-provided death toll cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the Hamas onslaught that sparked the war.Hamas-led terrorists massacred some 1,200 people and took 251 hostage after invading Israel on October 7, 2023. Fifty hostages are still held in Gaza.Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 451.
Katz calls for enforcement to prevent Iran nuclear revival-Senior Israeli official: Intel shows enriched uranium was at Iran sites when bombed-Official says Isfahan stockpile may still be accessible, but with difficulty; Netanyahu says Israel ‘didn’t deal with’ Iran’s enriched uranium during war: ‘We think we know where it is’By Agencies, Nava Freiberg-and ToI Staff 10 July 2025, 3:06 pm
A senior Israeli official said Thursday that Israeli intelligence shows that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium had not been removed from Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan before the three nuclear sites were struck by the US last month amid Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, and has not been moved since.The stockpiles of some 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60 percent had not moved, the unnamed official told Reuters.The official suggested, however, that the Iranians might still be able to gain access to the enriched uranium at Isfahan but that it would be very difficult to remove it.Speaking on Fox Business during his visit to Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel remains concerned about Iran’s supply of enriched uranium.Asked if Iran has hidden any of the material, Netanyahu said, “We think we know where it is, it’s sort of buried underground, and we don’t have contrary information.”Addressing Israel’s campaign against Iran, Netanyahu said, “The one thing that we didn’t deal with that we knew we didn’t deal with was the enriched uranium.”“So it has to be made clear to them, and I think it has been, that they don’t get this enriched uranium,” he continued.Netanyahu added that enriched uranium “is not enough to make atomic bombs — it’s a necessary component, but it’s not sufficient.”Israel “want[s] that necessary component to be under control too,” he said, adding that “I think the Iranians understand that what the US and Israel did once we could do twice, and thrice.”Asked by Fox why anyone should trust that Iran won’t attempt to renew nuclear efforts, Netanyahu replied: “Because they’re afraid.”US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran didn’t have time to remove the highly enriched uranium from nuclear facilities before they were struck by the US, saying that the stockpiles were covered in granite.But US and European intelligence reportedly indicated that the sites were not entirely destroyed, and that the uranium was moved ahead of time.Israel launched a sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program on June 13, saying the operation was necessary to prevent Tehran from realizing its avowed plan to destroy Israel.Though Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, it enriched uranium to 60% — far beyond what is needed for civilian use, and a short step away from weapons-grade. Israel says Iran recently took steps toward weaponization.Following the war last month, Iran also halted all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. President Masoud Pezeshkian last week enacted a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA, and the UN agency said it had pulled its last remaining inspectors out of Iran.Pezeshkian said on Thursday the IAEA should drop its “double standards” if Tehran is to resume cooperation with the agency, Iranian state media reported.Relations between Iran and the IAEA have worsened since the US and Israeli bombing campaigns last month.“The continuation of Iran’s cooperation with the agency (IAEA) depends on the latter correcting its double standards regarding the nuclear file,” state media quoted Pezeshkian as telling European Council President Antonio Costa by phone.“Any repeated aggression (against Iran) will be met with a more decisive and regrettable response,” he said.Tehran accuses the IAEA of failing to condemn the attacks by the US and Israel, and says the nuclear watchdog paved the way for the bombing by issuing a resolution declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel must build on the achievements of its operation against Iran’s nuclear program to ensure that the Islamic Republic cannot restore it.“We need to formulate an enforcement program to prevent Iran from reviving the capabilities it had before [the war],” he said.“The Iranians will try in every possible way to learn their lessons and recover,” he said. “The enemy is learning and preparing — and our challenge is to step up our abilities so that we are not taken by surprise.”Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel. The attacks killed 28 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals. In all, there were 36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas, causing damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.Iran said Thursday that at least a dozen journalists and media workers were killed in Israeli strikes, according to state media.The media arm of the Basij paramilitary forces — a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — said the death toll among media workers had risen to 12 following the identification of two additional individuals, the IRNA news agency reported.The organization accused Israel of deliberately targeting media infrastructure “to silence the voice of truth” and suppress the “media of the Resistance Front” — a reference to Iran and allied groups opposed to Israel.During the conflict, Israel also attacked the Iranian state broadcasting service in northern Tehran.The Israeli campaign killed senior military commanders, nuclear scientists and hundreds of civilians, with the total death toll currently at 1,060, according to numbers released by Iranian officials, which cannot be independently verified.
EU unveils recommendations to rein in powerful AI models.
Brussels, Belgium, July 10 (AFP) Jul 10, 2025-The EU unveiled on Thursday long-delayed recommendations to rein in the most advanced AI models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and help companies comply with the bloc's sweeping new law.Brussels has come under fierce pressure to delay enforcing its landmark AI law as obligations for complex models known as general-purpose AI -- systems that have a vast range of functions -- kick in from August 2.The law entered into force last year but its different obligations will apply gradually.But as the EU pivots to bolstering its competitivity and catching up with the United States and China, European tech firms and some US Big Tech want Brussels to slow down.The European Commission, the bloc's digital watchdog, has pushed back against a delay.The EU's executive arm has now published a code of practice for such systems prepared by independent experts with input from others including model providers themselves.In the code, the experts recommend practical measures such as excluding known piracy websites from the data models use.The code applies to general-purpose AI models, such as Google's Gemini, Meta's Llama and X's Grok -- the tech billionaire Elon Musk's chatbot that has come under fire this week for antisemitic comments.Under the law, developers of such models must give details about what content they used -- like text or images -- to train their systems and comply with EU copyright law.The code was due to be published in May. EU officials reject claims that it had been watered down in the past few months due to industry pressure.Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobby Control in April had accused Big Tech of "heavily" influencing the process "to successfully weaken the code".The code will need endorsement by EU states before companies can voluntarily sign up to it.Businesses that sign the code "will benefit from a reduced administrative burden and increased legal certainty compared to providers that prove compliance in other ways", the commission said in a statement.Nearly 50 of Europe's biggest companies including France's Airbus, Dutch tech giant ASML and Germany's Lufthansa and Mercedes-Benz last week urged a two-year pause.The companies' CEOs in a letter accused the EU's complex rules of putting at risk the 27-country bloc's AI ambitions and the development of European champions.The EU will be able to enforce the rules for general-purpose AI models a year from August 2 for new models, while existing models will have until August 2027 to comply.
Humanoid robot says not aiming to 'replace human artists'
Geneva, July 10 (AFP) Jul 10, 2025-When successful artist Ai-Da unveiled a new portrait of King Charles this week, the humanoid robot described what inspired the layered and complex piece, and insisted it had no plans to "replace" humans.The ultra-realistic robot, one of the most advanced in the world, is designed to resemble a human woman with an expressive, life-like face, large hazel eyes and brown hair cut in a bob.The arms though are unmistakably robotic, with exposed metal, and can be swapped out depending on the art form it is practicing.Late last year, Ai-Da's portrait of English mathematician Alan Turing became the first artwork by a humanoid robot to be sold at auction, fetching over $1 million.But as Ai-Da unveiled its latest creation -- an oil painting entitled "Algorithm King", conceived using artificial intelligence -- the humanoid insisted the work's importance could not be measured in money."The value of my artwork is to serve as a catalyst for discussions that explore ethical dimensions to new technologies," the robot told AFP at Britain's diplomatic mission in Geneva, where the new portrait of King Charles will be housed.The idea, Ai-Da insisted in a slow, deliberate cadence, was to "foster critical thinking and encourage responsible innovation for more equitable and sustainable futures".- 'Unique and creative' -Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations' AI for Good summit, Ai-Da, who has done sketches, paintings and sculptures, detailed the methods and inspiration behind the work."When creating my art, I use a variety of AI algorithms," the robot said."I start with a basic idea or concept that I want to explore, and I think about the purpose of the art. What will it say?"The humanoid pointed out that "King Charles has used his platform to raise awareness on environmental conservation and interfaith dialog. I have aimed this portrait to celebrate" that, it said, adding that "I hope King Charles will be appreciative of my efforts".Aidan Meller, a specialist in modern and contemporary art, led the team that created Ai-Da in 2019 with artificial intelligence specialists at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham.He told AFP that he had conceived the humanoid robot -- named after the world's first computer programmer Ada Lovelace -- as an ethical arts project, and not "to replace the painters".Ai-Da agreed.There is "no doubt that AI is changing our world, (including) the art world and forms of human creative expression", the robot acknowledged.But "I do not believe AI or my artwork will replace human artists".Instead, Ai-Da said, the aim was "to inspire viewers to think about how we use AI positively, while remaining conscious of its risks and limitations".Asked if a painting made by a machine could really be considered art, the robot insisted that "my artwork is unique and creative"."Whether humans decide it is art is an important and interesting point of conversation."
Defence, joint debt and farmers: EU draws budget battle lines.
Brussels, Belgium, July 11 (AFP) Jul 11, 2025-When the European Union unveils its long-term spending proposals next week, it will kick off the bloc's biggest budget battle in recent history.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has a mammoth task on her hands: present a budget for 2028-2034 that supports farmers, helps member states ramp up their defence spending, and all while paying back the debts racked up during the covid pandemic.The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, will outline the proposals Wednesday, setting the stage for explosive debates with capitals and EU lawmakers over the next two years.The previous 2021-2027 budget was worth around 1.2 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) and made up from national contributions -- around one percent of the member states' gross national income -- and money collected by the EU such as customs duties.The European Parliament has already made it clear it wants more money.Von der Leyen wants the budget to address the EU's priorities: security, competitiveness and better preparing the 27-country bloc for economic shocks.But the EU wants to achieve this while reining in ballooning public debts and deficits, and simultaneously bolstering its industries to catch up with rivals in China and the United States.- Better EU security -Security will be top of von der Leyen's mind as she makes the finishing touches to the budget with war still raging in Ukraine and fears among member states of a more aggressive Russia.It is more important given the NATO military alliance last month pledged to spend significantly more on defence -- some five percent of national economic output.There are 23 EU members in the Western military alliance.Also under consideration is a 100-billion-euro fund to keep Ukraine afloat, but one EU official said it could change between now and Wednesday.Von der Leyen this week vowed to support Ukraine "until 2028 and beyond, when the new European budget kicks in".Under EU treaties, the bloc cannot spend directly on defence, but it can pour money into dual-use infrastructure like bridges that would be critical during a war.- Supporting farmers -The EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) -- vast farming subsidies that make up the biggest share of the budget -- will be the subject of fiery debates.It accounts for nearly a third of the EU's current multi-year budget -- around 387 billion euros, of which 270 billion euros are directly paid to farmers.The EU is thinking about moving away from subsidies based on farm size -- and putting a cap on how much one farm can get -- which could free up billions of euros."There is a growing recognition that its share in the EU budget should decline and I also expect it to decline further," said Zsolt Darvas of Bruegel think tank.The commission is considering cutting part of the agriculture budget without touching the direct payments, but farmers have made it clear that's a red line."I have a tractor and I'm ready," Massimiliano Giansanti, president of Europe's influential Copa farming lobby, raising the spectre of more farmers' protests after months of demonstrations last year by disgruntled European farmers.Farmers plan to protest Wednesday in front of the commission in Brussels as they seek to pile the pressure on the EU.Brussels is also looking into whether CAP will keep its dedicated budget or be integrated into wider cohesion funds, with allocations left to member states to decide.France, whose farmers are the biggest CAP beneficiary, opposes this.- How to pay for it? -The big question looming over everything: where will the money for all this come from? France, Italy and others are pushing for more joint borrowing but that's a no-go for Germany, a major net contributor to the budget, as well as frugal EU states Finland, The Netherlands and Sweden.One idea put forward has been an instrument that would allow the EU to seek grants or loans in the event of a crisis like the pandemic.Since some states would fiercely oppose such a measure, an EU diplomat said he had seen the idea appear and disappear from draft texts shared with capitals.Other options to raise money include a possible digital services levy as well as collecting money from taxes on small packages entering from outside the EU.The last time the EU took on joint debt was during the pandemic, borrowing around 800 billion euros to rescue the European economy.Except now the bloc must start paying that money back -- potentially up to 30 billion euros annually -- from 2028.
RealSense targets robotics, 3D facial recognition security with $50M in hand-Spin-out from Intel now complete-Jul 11, 2025, 2:29 pm EDT | Chris Burt
RealSense has cut the cord tying it to Intel Corp, where the 3D camera company was born, with $50 million in early-stage funding.Expanding RealSense’s biometrics offerings was part of the rationale provided for spinning out the division as a startup when the plan was revealed at the beginning of the year. Intel launched RealSense products for building biometrics into hardware for access control, time and attendance tracking and retail purchases when it quietly relaunched the brand last year.The company also notes the increasing adoption of face biometrics for airport screening and access control at events in its announcement.The funding comes from Intel Capital, MediaTek Innovation Fund and others, and will be used to scale up manufacturing and expand the company’s market reach. Some of the money will also go towards research and development for AI software and the next generation of depth-sensing cameras.The company has more than 3,000 active customers “and pretty high growth year over year,” CEO Nadav Orbach told Reuters.RealSense depth-sensing cameras are already found in 60 percent of autonomous mobile robots and humanoids worldwide, but its plans still include expanding into more security systems with facial recognition, according to the report.The spun-out company is headquartered in the U.S., with manufacturing operations in Asia, including Thailand.
China denies asking firms to collect data illegally after new EU probe.
Beijing, July 11 (AFP) Jul 11, 2025-Beijing denied on Friday asking firms to "illegally" collect and store users' personal information, after an Irish regulator helping the European Union regulate data privacy began investigating Chinese social media giant TikTok."The Chinese government attaches great importance to and protects data privacy and security in accordance with the law," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.Beijing "has never and will never require companies or individuals to illegally collect or store data", Mao said."We hope that the European side will respect the market economy and fair competition, and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from all countries," she told a regular news conference.The social media giant has been in the crosshairs of Western governments for years over fears that personal data could be used by China for espionage or propaganda purposes.However, TikTok has insisted that it has never received any requests from Chinese authorities for European users' data.TikTok was fined 530 million euros ($620 million) in May by the Data Protection Commission over sending personal data to China, although the Chinese social media giant had insisted this data was only accessed remotely.TikTok, which has 1.5 billion users worldwide, is a division of Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
China crackdown on gay erotica stifles rare outlet for LGBTQ expression.
Beijing, July 11 (AFP) Jul 11, 2025-Chinese women who publish homoerotica online say they are being threatened with fines and jail time, as increasing enforcement of vague obscenity charges targets a rare space for LGBTQ identity and feminism.In recent months, Chinese police have detained dozens of writers on Haitang Literature City, a Taiwan-based website known for publishing serialised Boys' Love, a genre of erotic fiction mainly written and read by heterosexual women.Originating as a strand of Japanese manga comics in the 1960s known as "yaoi", the genre has attracted a cult following in Asia and beyond, leading to popular screen adaptations and web series.The stories defy social stereotypes about the roles of men and women, a 22-year-old writer who asked to go by the pseudonym Miu Miu, told AFP."It's a kind of resistance... resisting a male-dominated society," she said.The latest crackdown ensnared mostly amateur writers who earned little to nothing for their work.Under Chinese law, profiting from "spreading obscene content" can lead to fines and prison. "Serious" instances can carry jail terms of up to a decade.The obscenity law applies when someone's work gets at least 10,000 clicks or is "used" to collect fees exceeding 10,000 yuan (nearly $1,400).While the law excludes "artistic works or works of artistic value", that distinction is usually left to police."The rules are outdated," said a lawyer representing one of the authors and who asked not to be named due to the risk of repercussions."The general public's attitude towards sex is no longer the same as it was 30 or 40 years ago," the lawyer added.One author phoned by police earned 2,000 yuan for two books with a total of 72 chapters that, combined, drew around 100,000 clicks."Are there really 100,000 people who have seen my work like they said? Are they really going to sentence me to three to five years?" the author wrote on Weibo."Don't they know how precious three to five years of life are?"- Censors without borders -The investigations have also renewed criticism of a practice known as "distant water fishing", cross-provincial policing by cash-strapped local governments.The profit-driven enforcement typically involves authorities travelling to another jurisdiction and seizing a suspect's assets."Police find this kind of stuff can make them money," Liang Ge, a lecturer on digital sociology at University College London, said of the targeting of Boys' Love authors.In one case, a policeman from northwestern Lanzhou travelled 2,000 kilometres (more than 1,200 miles) to investigate a writer in her coastal hometown.She was driven to the police station and questioned for hours about her writing.She is currently on bail but could face criminal charges, which would disqualify her from taking China's civil service exam and positions in some hospitals and schools.Another 20-year-old author received a police summons which prompted her to travel hundreds of miles from the city of Chongqing to Lanzhou.On arrival police urged her to "return the illegal income" she had earned from her writing to reduce her sentence."It's a very dirty practice," said the lawyer, noting the central government in Beijing has issued several directives against it.- 'Social awakening' -Activists see the crackdown on alleged obscenity as part of a wider push to suppress LGBTQ expression -- an effort that has expanded under President Xi Jinping.China classified homosexuality as a crime until 1997 and a mental illness until 2001. Same-sex marriage is not legal and discrimination remains widespread.The Boys' Love genre -- often lightly erotic but sometimes overtly explicit -- has become increasingly censored as its popularity has boomed.Television adaptations have rewritten male lovers as friends, as same-sex relationships are banned from the screen.In 2018, a writer known by her pseudonym Tianyi was sentenced to over a decade in prison for earning $21,000 from a homoerotic novel about a teacher and his student.Last year, a court in Anhui province heard 12 cases involving spreading obscene content for profit, according to public records which do not give outcomes of the trials.Many in China "feel less and less space to express themselves freely", said Ge, the lecturer and a longtime reader of Boys' Love."It's not just about posting something on social media, it's about reading something in their private life."As news of the crackdown spread, Haitang users rushed to cancel their accounts.But writer Miu Miu said she has not given up hope she might be able to finish her favourite stories."Sexual knowledge has become taboo," she said."This is a social awakening."mya/oho/lb/rsc/fox-Weibo
BlackSky expands Gen-3 access to bolster Ukraine-focused intelligence operations-by Clarence Oxford.
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 09, 2025-BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has signed an early access agreement for its next-generation Gen-3 satellite system with an existing international Gen-2 customer, expanding support for Ukraine. The agreement upgrades the customer's current services with very high-resolution Gen-3 imagery alongside Gen-2's rapid, low-latency data stream."This important contract demonstrates the powerful, comprehensive tip-and-cue utility between our Gen-3 and Gen-2 systems. The two generations of satellites work synergistically as analysts seamlessly combine reliable high-cadence, time-diverse Gen-2 data with the enhanced very high-resolution capabilities of Gen-3," said BlackSky CEO Brian O'Toole.Integrated via the Spectra platform, customers can merge Gen-2 and Gen-3 data within their operational workflows. This allows persistent monitoring using Gen-2's fast revisit capability, while also enabling responsive Gen-3 tasking to capture emerging tactical events with sharper detail."Accelerated international interest in Gen-3 is indicative of our customers' growing confidence and trust in BlackSky's commercial services as an integral part of their daily military and intelligence operations," O'Toole added. "As we integrate more and more Gen-3 satellites into the fleet our early access customers will experience unparalleled reliability and quality of imagery at industry-leading speeds in support of the full range of strategic to tactical ISR operations."The Gen-3 system builds upon the field-proven capabilities of Gen-2. It delivers 35-centimeter resolution images with rapid revisit times and enhanced object classification for key targets like vehicles, vessels, and aircraft. This upgrade strengthens BlackSky's dynamic monitoring from dawn to dusk across high-interest areas.With two Gen-3 satellites already in orbit, BlackSky remains on schedule to field a six-satellite Gen-3 constellation by the end of 2025.
Maxar secures $205 million in multi-year deals to boost space capabilities across MEA by Clarence Oxford.
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 09, 2025-Maxar Intelligence has announced three new long-term contracts valued at $204.7 million to enhance sovereign defense, intelligence, and space leadership initiatives across the Middle East and Africa (MEA). The agreements extend Maxar's legacy in the region, leveraging its Direct Access Program (DAP) to deliver cutting-edge geospatial capabilities.The DAP contracts will provide MEA partners with direct access to Maxar's high-resolution satellite constellation, 3D terrain data, and advanced analytics for near real-time monitoring. These tools are intended to support national C5ISR systems-Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance-and advance sovereign multi-domain operations.A core component of the deal is Maxar's AI-powered change detection technology, which underpins Sentry, its predictive intelligence solution. This capability enables users to monitor multiple locations simultaneously by identifying patterns and operational changes relevant to national security and strategic planning."The ongoing digitalization of modern defense and security operations has driven a big growth in international demand for sovereign geospatial intelligence capabilities, particularly for near real-time situational awareness over key areas of interest," said Anders Linder, General Manager, International Government at Maxar. "The MEA region has long been on the forefront of investing in technological innovation, and our expanded partnerships reflect the strategic importance of sovereign space-based capabilities. These deals underscore Maxar's deep commitment to supporting our international customers' needs to gain real-time decision advantage for the most demanding missions."Maxar's DAP framework also enables the integration of local ground stations with its satellite network, granting customers dedicated imaging capacity and guaranteed data delivery speeds. Imagery can be requested just 15 minutes ahead of collection and delivered almost instantly.Maxar's DAP offering represents a significant step in enabling regional customers to achieve independent, secure, and timely access to mission-critical satellite intelligence.
Data privacy issues in Philippines trigger move to amend national ID law-Jul 8, 2025, 2:47 pm EDT | Ayang Macdonald
A Filipino senator has introduced a bill seeking an amendment of the Philippine Identification System Act, otherwise known as Act 11055, over recurring concerns about data privacy and security vulnerabilities.Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson tabled the bill in the Senate this week arguing that it is also expected to help sanitize the ID system by keeping out ineligible registrants, a senate statement reveals.Lacson said there have been fears that over the years, many individuals, most of them Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations personnel, have registered for national ID through irregular means, undermining the integrity of the national ID system.According to the senator, the proposed amendment also intends to remove visible printed numbers on the national ID card (PhilSys numbers, PSN), and other important biographical information, which are often easily copied by fraudsters. The new idea is to encode these numbers in biometric chips or QR codes which can be scanned for verification.“By doing this, access to the PSN will be strictly limited to authorized parties, who must follow regulated authentication procedures in compliance with current privacy laws and data protection standards,” Lacson said of the proposed move.He cited an example: “An instance in 2024 illustrated this risk, as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) issued a warning to the public to be vigilant against unauthorized individuals approaching cardholders and taking photographs of their national ID in exchange of cash, as this is crucial in preventing identity theft and fraud.”Data breaches and identity theft incidents have been on an increase in the Philippines in the last few years. In 2023, for instance, 1,597 ID theft incidents were reported, representing a 13.9 percent increase from the previous year. Also, over 315,000 identity credentials in the country were compromised within the first half of 2024. This year, cybersecurity organisations in the country sealed a partnership in an effort to properly secure the nation’s digital ecosystem.Beyond identity theft, Lacson also expressed fears that visible ID card numbers can also give room for unauthorized monitoring and profiling.Philippines connectivity push continues-In a related development, there are plans to further improve internet connectivity in the Philippines within the framework of a partnership between the country and the World Bank.The objective is to ensure that many more people in the country are able to access digital services in the country in the next coming years, according to a results brief of the project that was approved in October last year.Expected to run till December 2026, the project aims to put in place connectivity infrastructure that will boost the productivity of firms and farms, promote inclusive finance, strengthen the country’s health systems, improve education, and build resilient communities.Already, the project has achieved palpable results with the putting in place of a robust broadband internet connectivity system, through an optic fibre initiative, which a local shop owner describes as “a game-changer for our business.”These results notwithstanding, the partners interns to further strengthen the country’s digital transformation efforts by increasing investments to “accelerate expansion of internet connectivity in rural areas and advancing digital transformation across key sectors through integration of the digital ID to services and expansion of digital payment, interoperable data systems, and provision of digital skills.”
Will Congress reaffirm US cyber threat sharing framework before it’s too late? Jul 11, 2025, 2:08 pm EDT | Anthony Kimery
As the September 30 expiration date for the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA 2015) rapidly approaches, Congress faces a pivotal decision that could either preserve or unravel a decade-long framework that is critical to the nation’s cyber defense posture.Originally passed in response to a surge in nation-state hacks and industrial-scale data breaches, CISA 2015 remains one of the most consequential pieces of cybersecurity legislation in modern U.S. history.At its core, the law was designed to break down institutional and legal barriers between federal agencies and private companies. It authorized and encouraged the sharing of cyber threat indicators and defensive measures, while shielding private firms from civil liability when sharing information in good faith.The framework aimed to foster a real-time, trusted environment in which data flows both ways, alerting companies to emergent threats while enabling federal agencies to map broader attack patterns and deploy national mitigation strategies.“Without the law, too many companies will fear liability concerns when they act as good Samaritans by sharing warnings about cyber threats,” wrote Annie Fixler, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.“Consensus in Congress seems to be coalescing around a straight reauthorization.” Fixler said, and that “that option provides the greatest likelihood of averting the crisis that would accompany the expiration of the law.” She pointed out, however, that “while there are nearly 90 days left on the calendar before CISA 2015 expires, there are only 35 working days for Congress between now and the end of September. Lawmakers should act with haste.”In a new audit report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed that seven lead federal agencies have fully implemented CISA’s mandates, including the removal of personally identifiable information (PII) from shared data. The agencies also adopted technical infrastructures like the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) system, which allows structured, machine-speed sharing of cyber threat indicators across public and private networks.Section 104(d)(2) of CISA 2015 explicitly states that before a non‑federal entity shares “cyber threat indicators” or “defensive measures,” it must remove any information “that it knows at the time of sharing to be personal information of a specific individual … that is not directly related to a cybersecurity threat.” This ensures only relevant threat data is shared.The final guidelines to implement this section – issued by DHS and the Department of Justice and updated in April – clarified this requirement. They emphasized that if information “known at the time of sharing to be personal information of a specific individual … is not directly related to a cybersecurity threat, it should be removed prior to sharing.”Federal agencies have “developed final guidelines related to privacy and civil liberties that govern how threat information is received, used, retained, and distributed to protect personally identifiable information,” GAO said.“Policies and actions implemented under the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 have positively contributed to the sharing of cyber threat information between federal and nonfederal entities,” GAO said. “Sharing such information can enhance awareness of the extent of current cyber threats and how to mitigate those threats.Legal analyses, such as Cadwalader’s review for clients, highlighted that one of the most challenging obligations under CISA is “identifying and removing PII from any cybersecurity information prior to submission via the AIS program.”The capabilities instituted by the act have become foundational to national cyber resilience. However, if CISA 2015 is allowed to sunset without reauthorization, industry leaders and federal agencies warn that private sector engagement in threat intelligence sharing could plummet.Without the law’s liability protections, companies might once again hesitate to disclose breaches or suspicious cyber activity, fearing legal exposure, shareholder backlash, or reputational harm.The stakes are growing as threats become more advanced. Nation-state actors from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran continue to target U.S. critical infrastructure. Simultaneously, AI-powered phishing, deepfake-enabled impersonation attacks, and ransomware-as-a-service operations are becoming more accessible to less sophisticated threat actors.Without CISA 2015’s legal and operational backbone, the U.S. could face increased blind spots in threat detection, just as adversaries become nimbler and more unpredictable.Bipartisan support for reauthorization appears strong. In May, the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, convened a hearing to examine CISA 2015’s performance and its upcoming expiration on September 30. Witnesses included executives from major tech and financial organizations who testified on both the value of threat sharing and suggested areas for improvement.Chairman Andrew Garbarino opened the hearing by emphasizing that “CISA 2015 has become more vital than ever,” noting the law’s role in facilitating real‑time indicator sharing and safeguarding critical infrastructure.“There are valid concerns that without [the act’s] protections, the private sector would be less willing to share cybersecurity information, either amongst themselves or with the federal government,” Garbarino said. “Without these safeguards, we can be certain that our nation would be more vulnerable to cyber threats.”Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers view the law as essential, and many are leaning toward a “clean” reauthorization bill which would preserve the statute without major changes.DHS Secretary Kristi Noem earlier voiced similar support for reauthorizing the act before the full House Committee on Homeland Security. “We need [industry’s] expertise and knowledge … to make sure we’re prepared to secure our systems and our critical infrastructure,” Noem said during the hearing. “We’re doubling down on the need to build private and partner with those individual industries that have the expertise and knowledge that we’ve lacked for so long, and they’re looking for some more abilities to do new things for this country,”In parallel, a broad coalition of over 20 industry groups – from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to healthcare and energy associations – have submitted a joint letter to Congress urging swift reauthorization. The Hacking Policy Council also has urged lawmakers to reauthorize CISA 2015. Failing to renew the law would “jeopardize over a decade of progress in enhancing our collective cybersecurity posture,” the group said in a statement.Despite this momentum, some members of Congress have floated revisions to address perceived gaps in transparency and oversight. Civil liberties groups have raised concerns about how shared threat indicators could be used for non-cybersecurity purposes, or how the government ensures meaningful data minimization when collecting information from private parties. These concerns could delay a clean reauthorization or provoke a broader legislative negotiation.Additionally, some cybersecurity experts have argued that CISA could be updated to better reflect current technology and threat models. For example, expanding definitions of “defensive measures” could help legalize newer forms of threat response, such as counter-hacking under strict conditions. Others suggest enhancing requirements for feedback loops so private entities receive clear indicators of the government’s use of their data and resulting benefits.Even with these possibilities, many argue the priority should be to avoid a lapse in authorization.Cybersecurity Coalition Executive Director Ari Schwartz wrote in Bloomberg Law this week that, “We must not risk going backward ten years by allowing this law to lapse.”Technology leaders have warned that without the law “there’s going to be some companies that won’t voluntarily” share information. Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, said if the law is allowed to expire it will be tantamount to “legislative malpractice.”The law’s expiration would disrupt federal agencies’ ability to engage smaller organizations that lack robust cyber resources. While Fortune 500 companies often have internal threat intelligence teams, smaller regional hospitals, water utilities, and school systems rely heavily on shared alerts and federal coordination. For these entities, CISA’s protections and outreach mechanisms have become lifelines in a threat environment where even a single ransomware attack can cause weeks of operational disruption.As the legislative window narrows – further constrained by the looming August recess and the 2026 election calendar – the pressure is on Congress to act. The risk of inaction isn’t hypothetical anymore. Cybersecurity alliances and data trust frameworks are delicate, and once severed, they will be difficult to rebuild.In a moment when cyberattacks are increasingly global, sophisticated, and persistent, the expiration of the very law that was designed to unify America’s cyber defense ecosystem would amount to strategic disarmament. The question before Congress is not merely one of reauthorization, it is also a test of political will in the face of an ever-mutating digital threat landscape.
World pauses German operations for Orb update amid regulatory faceoff-Firm says spherical biometric scanners will be back in Munich flagship outlet-Jul 11, 2025, 1:49 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
World is facing a potential cease-and-desist order in the Philippines, and has put its iris scanning stations on hold in Germany.At the moment, the Germany section in World’s online search tool for finding an iris scanning Orb says, “We’re making improvements behind the scenes. Our Orbs will return shortly.” According to DL News, that return will include the opening of a flagship store in Munich.World appears to have no plans to stop operating in Germany. However, its promised updates will have to satisfy German regulators. In December 2024, the country’s data protection authority, the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA), concluded that World’s practices posed “fundamental data protection risks for a large number of data subjects,” and as such did not comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).In its 132-page enforcement order, the agency also reprimanded the company for storing plain-text iris codes in a database from July 24 2023, to May 14 2024.World says it deleted the iris codes when it introduced its secure multiparty computation (SMPC) system in May 2024. And it has filed an appeal with a Bavarian court refuting BayLDA’s judgment. The court procedure is ongoing, and technically, the company is not required to stop operations during the appeals process.German regulator believes SMPC system is up to task-For its part, BayLDA believes World is up to the task of bringing itself into compliance. DL News quotes Michael Will, president of the BayLDA, who says a change to World’s storage method in May looks like it will cut the regulatory mustard.Will compares the SMPC system, which stores and encrypts iris biometrics across several servers, including those at UC Berkeley and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, to a puzzle in an Indiana Jones film.“Like in a Harrison Ford story, as long as no one has all the puzzle pieces of this former picture, you do not have personal information,” Will told DL News. “As long as this is really enforceable and really guaranteed, we have anonymization.”Will and his team intend to call upon external support from scientists to evaluate the process.World has provided no timeline for resuming its operations in Germany, but says it is updating its EU terms of service and data privacy policy to reflect the changes.Open questions need addressing in clear communications-Exactly how much this reassures investors is up for debate. An article in AI Invest suggests the lack of a timeline for resuming its services in Germany leaves “many questions about its operational future in a region known for stringent privacy regulations.”“Countries like Germany, with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as its backbone, have some of the strictest privacy laws globally,” the piece says. “GDPR mandates explicit consent, data minimization, and robust security measures. Worldcoin’s model has been challenged on whether it fully adheres to these principles, particularly regarding informed consent and the necessity of collecting such extensive biometric data for its stated goals.”It says a “significant challenge” for World is “overcoming the trust deficit.”“Clear, concise, and proactive communication about their data handling, security protocols, and the long-term benefits of their project will be crucial. The issues faced in Germany are indicative of broader global concerns.”World standing Philippines tenuous as NPC investigates-Like, for instance, those in the Philippines. Mlex reports that the company is facing a possible cease-and-desist order from the country’s privacy regulator, over potential violations of regulations regarding consent and data retention.World launched operations in the Philippines in February, and immediately attracted the attention of the National Privacy Commission (NPC), which issued a statement clarifying its stance on collecting biometrics and warning the public to “exercise extreme caution” in the matter.The NPC is now investigating whether World complies with Philippine privacy regulation, and is aiming to issue an opinion on the case within the next few months. In tandem, the NPC is developing guidelines on processing of biometric data, as the technology becomes more widespread.
QR-based digital ID drives transformation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Unique QR code serves as gateway to public services-Jul 11, 2025, 1:07 pm EDT | Ghulam Shabir Arain
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan is taking broader moves toward digital transformation with the launch of the Khyber Pass digital identity system, Pakistan’s first QR-based ID platform. The program, which is linked to NADRA and designed for biometric integration, demonstrates a rising emphasis on digital government, transparency, and citizen-centric services. Complementary measures, including digital skills training for women and World Bank-backed infrastructure projects, are helping to bridge the digital divide in the region. These initiatives represent a concerted attempt to unleash inclusive growth through digital public infrastructure.The Khyber Pass digital identity system-The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recently unveiled the Khyber Pass digital identity system, Pakistan’s first QR-code-based digital ID platform. The system, which is integrated with NADRA and other government databases, enables citizens to access identity-related services online without having to repeatedly provide personal information. Every citizen is assigned a unique QR code that serves as a single gateway to public services like education, health, taxation, licensing, and property records.The portal initially offers three services, with ambitions to ultimately integrate all provincial services, including the Sehat Card, health insurance. The digital ID is intended to streamline service delivery and increase efficiency by eliminating the need for multiple registrations and in-person visits to government departments. The system also has biometric verification capabilities, which improve confidence and accuracy in identity authentication. This initiative is a basic step in KP’s broader strategy to implement digital governance and citizen-centric public services.The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is advancing its Digital KP Strategy, which aims to improve citizen-centric governance, transparency, and efficiency. The program is backed by the World Bank’s KP Cities and Digital Transformation Project, which positions its vision on digitalization as a key governance reform. Chief Minister of KPK Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, through the Profit Pakistan Today news, stated that they are implementing Digital KP to make government services more transparent and accessible. The province has already saved Rs. 3 billion by digitizing the challan system and Rs. 13 billion from a health card audit. These improvements indicate a trend toward merit-based service delivery and seek to restore public trust by simplifying procedures and decreasing outflow.Inclusive growth through digital ID and PPP-Funds for NGOs reported that, to address the digital gender divide, the KP Information Technology Board (KPITB), in partnership with KOICA and UN Women, established a digital skills program that trained over 3,000 young women in graphic design, blogging, and social media marketing. Moreover, over 30 percent availed employment, earning approximately PKR 225 million in total. The project not only increases freelancing opportunities, but it also closes the gender divide in digital inclusion. It follows the World Bank’s recommendation that public sector-led projects are essential to promoting inclusive digital growth in areas where private investment is constrained due to perceived risks.World Bank support for digital infrastructure-The World Bank project information document states that the World Bank’s KP Cities and Digital Transformation Project aims to create a digitally equipped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through targeted digital development investments of $30-40 million. The project aims to improve broadband connectivity, incentivize public-private partnerships (PPPs), and upgrade municipal digital infrastructure. With over half of the province’s population under 30, digital expansion is crucial to promoting youth employment and entrepreneurship. NADRA’s digital ID system, which serves as a secure platform for service delivery, is key to this transition. The combination of QR code-based identity (as seen in the Khyber Pass system) and biometric verification allows secure, remote access to services, which are key components of modern Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). The World Bank highlights in the document that such developments are essential to inclusive growth, shaping resilience, and modernizing governance in the province.The Khyber Pass digital ID system demonstrates KP’s digital-first strategy, which involves simplifying services through local innovation supported by global partners such as the World Bank. It represents a significant movement toward citizen-centric governance, with an emphasis on transparency, inclusion, and digital empowerment. With continued investment, KP is well-positioned to lead Pakistan’s digital transformation journey.
OOTS can provide EU Digital Identity Wallets’ shortcut to secure data exchange-Jul 11, 2025, 11:36 am EDT | Chris Burt
The European Union’s Digital Identity Wallet project that promises to make transactions between people and businesses in different member states easy in ambitious enough without reinventing the wheel. The “wheel,” in this case, is the infrastructure for secure data exchanges, and it has already been invented for national-level use by the Once-Only Technical System (OOTS).This is the perspective shared by two officials from the Austrian delegation to the sixth OOTS Projectathon. The event was held last month in Brussels, Belgium.Austria Secure Information Technology Center Director Herbert Leitold and Federal Chancellery Program Manager – Directorate-General VII “Digitalization and eGovernment” Felix Plank are working on synergies between OOTS and the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet initiative. Both are members of the OOTS & EUDI Wallet Synergies and Interoperability Contact Group.The OOTS infrastructure went live in December 2023 to streamline administrative processes and support cross-border interactions between EU country authorities.The OOTS Common Services can reduce the cost and speed up time to market for EUDI Wallets, Leitold says in a video sharing insights from the event.Austria has proposed an “eDelivery network” as a data-agnostic transport layer for the authoritative data being shared. The system would be governed by a trust framework.The country is planning to build the OOTS infrastructure into its EUDI Wallet, and Leitold notes that the Dutch delegation said similar discussions are happening in the Netherlands.The group is planning further pilots and demonstrations to identify more possible synergies between the two systems.One feature of the OOTS that could benefit EUDI Wallets, Leitold says, is the preview space. While OOTS delivers data on-demand, the EUDI Wallet works on the basis of the user having anticipated what credentials they need to share, and stored them in the wallet. In the case of credentials they discover they need to share while carrying out a transaction, a preview space feature of OOTS could be used to help them select and save the right credential.“Why not simply use the preview space, where the user, the citizen, sees that diploma, and just have a tiny little button saying, well, store it in the wallet for future use,” Leitold explains as an example. “That, for me, makes perfect sense for the citizen, to improve the process.”A new batch of implementing acts for the EUDI Wallet were released for feedback at the end of June.
Indonesia digital transformation gets boost from UNDP, National Economic Council-Initiative to move 200M users onto unified digital platform comes with challenges-Jul 11, 2025, 11:11 am EDT | Joel R. McConvey
In Indonesia, the National Economic Council (DEN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia have signed a Statement of Intent to advance the country’s digital transformation.A report from the Antara News Agency says the Digital Nusantara initiative aims to transition Indonesia’s more than 200 million mobile internet users from fragmented digital platforms to a single, interoperable, secure, and scalable digital system. Strategically, the transition is rooted in an approach to digital public infrastructure (DPI) that integrates digital ID, authentication protocols and data exchange.First steps will focus on finalizing the unified social protection system, but the government plans to extend the approach to other essential services, such as civil registration, health services and a national payment platform.UNDP Indonesia Resident Representative Norimasa Shimomura says “digital transformation is not just about technology. It is about improving how public services reach people.” He promises the program will “unlock the full potential of digital public infrastructure for inclusive and accountable governance,” in support of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s mandate to modernize public services and accelerate digital transformation.DEN Executive Secretary Septian Hario Seto says “this integration allows services to be delivered faster, more accurately, and with greater accountability, supporting the president’s vision for a modern, inclusive and resilient economy.”Indonesia’s digital economy is projected to reach US$194.5 billion in e-commerce alone by 2030. But the transition comes with significant technical, institutional and cultural changes.The UNDP and DEN partnership aims to ease that transition by fostering greater awareness about the unified system, coordinating efforts across ministries, and shepherding the project to the next service DPI use cases.
Friday, July 11, 2025
THIS ARROGANT LEBANESE DEATH CULT PRESIDENT. HE WANTS PEACE BUT NOT ACCEPT ISRAELS RIGHT TO EXIST.
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