THE COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL ARE PAYING A FIERY PRICE.WHO WANT A DEATH CULT ARAB STATE.

THE COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL ARE PAYING A FIERY PRICE.WHO WANT A DEATH CULT ARAB STATE.

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.

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.

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.

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) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)

ISAIAH 14:12-14
12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14  I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)

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 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)

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(NEW YORK) and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK ON NEW YORK)

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.

REVELATION 8:7 (FIRST SUNS HEAT AND WILDFIRES. THEN NUKES FINISH THE ISLAMISTS,CULTS,LIBERALS,ISRAEL AND JESUS HATERS OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH EARTH) 
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,(WILDFIRES) and all green grass was burnt up.(FIRES AND HOT SUN)

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 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)

ISAIAH 24:17-19 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.

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.

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 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).

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.

Heat wave grips London with warning issued for coming days-Humidex values expected to reach between 37 C and 42 C Monday and Tuesday-CBC News · Posted: Aug 11, 2025 5:53 AM EDT 

A multi-day heat wave continues to bake London, with daytime highs reaching into the mid-30s and feeling even hotter with the humidity.Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for the region, with humidex values expected to reach between 37 C and 42 C. Overnight lows will hover around 20 C to 23 C, offering little relief."This heat event for London continues today. We expect a high temperature of 33 degrees, and that should continue tomorrow," said Shem Willie, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. "We have a ridge of high pressure over southern Ontario with southwesterly winds, bringing hot and humid conditions."The hot, stagnant air is also expected to push air quality into the poor category, particularly in the afternoons.The weather agency warns that extreme heat can pose serious health risks, especially for older adults, young children, people with pre-existing medical conditions and those who work outdoors.Early signs of heat exhaustion can include headache, nausea, dizziness, thirst, dark urine and intense fatigue. Heat stroke is a medical emergency, with symptoms such as confusion, red and hot skin, and loss of consciousness.Officials recommend:Drinking water regularly, before feeling thirsty.Limiting outdoor activity to cooler parts of the day.Wearing lightweight, light-coloured clothing and a wide-brimmed hat.Keeping living spaces cool or seeking relief in public air-conditioned spaces.Checking on vulnerable people in person or by phone.The extreme heat is expected to break on Tuesday night when a cooler system moves through. However, Willie said there are early signs another round of high heat could return by next weekend.It will be mainly cloudy on Tuesday with a 40 per cent chance of showers in the afternoon and a risk of a thunderstorm. Light winds and a high of 32 C, feeling more like 39 C with the humidex. A mix of sun and cloud on Wednesday with a 40 per cent chance of showers and a high of 30 C. Thursday will be sunny with a high of 28 C.

Crews fight 'fire whirls' and extreme heat in northern Spain-Temperatures expected to hit 42 C in some areas as heat wave continues-Thomson Reuters · Posted: Aug 11, 2025 9:09 PM EDT | 

Scorching temperatures across Spain have sparked several wildfires, including one near Las Medulas National Park. There, firefighters were forced to retreat, after the conditions created fireballs and fire whirls. Hundreds of people in nearby villages were forced to leave their homes.Extreme heat and strong winds caused "fire whirls" as a blaze burned several houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from near a UNESCO-listed national park in northern Spain, authorities said on Monday.About 800 people were told to abandon their homes in half a dozen villages in the north of the Castile and Leon region, where several wildfires were raging.Residents of the town of Congosta were spraying houses, trees and pavement with their garden hoses to fend off the flames that devoured at least two buildings, while police told them to prepare for evacuation.The smoke was too thick for firefighting aircraft to deploy."There are already several houses that have burned down, we don't know what to do anymore. We're completely defenceless and have been abandoned," said Congosta resident Evangelina Peral Delgado, 70.Two people try to prevent a fire from flaring up as a helicopter flies overhead.High temperatures on Sunday had caused the fire whirls near Las Medulas park, forcing firefighters to retreat, said Juan Carlos Suarez-Quinones, chief of environment for the regional government."This occurs when temperatures reach around 40 C in a very confined valley, and then suddenly [the fire] enters a more open and oxygenated area. This produces a fireball, a fire whirl."Scientists say the Mediterranean region's hotter, drier summers put it at high risk of wildfires. Once fires start, dry vegetation and strong winds can cause them to spread rapidly and burn out of control, sometimes provoking fire whirls.A prolonged heatwave in Spain continued on Monday, with temperatures set to reach 42 C in some regions.Domingo Aparicio, 77, was evacuated to a nearby town from his home in Cubo de Benavente on Sunday after a warehouse in front of his home burned down."How am I supposed to feel?" he said. "It's always shocking for people close to the catastrophe."Two or three fires may have been started by lightning strikes, Suarez-Quinones said, but there were indications that the majority were the result of arson, which he described as "environmental terrorism."In the northern part of neighbouring Portugal, nearly 700 firefighters were battling a blaze that started on Saturday in Trancoso, some 350 kilometres northeast of Lisbon.So far this year about 52,000 hectares, or 0.6 per cent of Portugal's total area, have burned, exceeding the 2006-2024 average for the same period by about 10,000 hectares, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.Firefighters were also battling blazes in Navarra in northeastern Spain and in Huelva in the southwest, authorities said.

One dead, houses destroyed as wildfires rage in southern France-Officials say this is the country's biggest wildfire since 1949-Thomson Reuters · Posted: Aug 06, 2025 3:03 PM EDT | 

Emergency crews in France are facing the largest fire of the summer in the Aude region, where the blaze has forced many out of their homes as firefighters struggle to contain the flames.French firefighters on Wednesday were battling to control the country's biggest wildfire in almost 80 years, with the blaze in the southern Aude region having already swept through an area larger than Paris.One person died in the village of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, about 30 kilometres from the city of Perpignan, the prefecture said. The fire, which spread very rapidly through forests and villages, has burned down at least 25 houses, forcing residents and tourists to flee. Many roads are closed."It's a catastrophe of unprecedented scale," Prime Minister François Bayrou said as he visited Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.So far, more than 15,000 hectares have burned. That is similar to the total area that burned across all of France in several of the past years, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said. He added this was the biggest area burned by one single fire in France since 1949.The fire moved incredibly fast, leaving no time to prepare, said Dutch national Renate Koot, who was on holidays in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse with her partner and had to flee."One moment we were on the phone with our children ... thinking, 'Look, a fire!' The next, we had to jump in the car and leave, while praying for protection. We didn't take anything with us and just left," she said. "We're OK. Miraculously."Wildfire"It's unbelievable. It's a catastrophe," said Spanish national Issa Medina, as the sound of firefighters echoed in the background. Medina was with her family in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.The prefecture said the fire was progressing "very quickly" and that nearly 2,000 firefighters were trying to bring it under control. Around 2,500 households in the area were currently without electricity, it said.Firefighter spokesperson Eric Brocardi told RTL radio the fire was spreading at 5.5 km/h.High risk of fires due to weather-Officials and experts warned the wind could change direction, further complicating efforts to fight the wildfire.Scientists say the Mediterranean region's hotter, drier summers put it at high risk of wildfires. Once fires start, plentiful dry vegetation and strong winds in the region can cause them to spread rapidly and burn out of control.Fiefighting planes."With climate change, the risk of having wildfires is expected to increase during the summer, but also to extend into the autumn and spring, and to spread toward the southwest, the centre and the north of France," said Serge Zaka, a climate and agriculture analyst.Meanwhile, Spain is experiencing a prolonged heat wave since Sunday that was expected to extend into next week, with temperatures reaching 43 C in some areas.The high temperatures have helped to fan several wildfires.Emergency services on Wednesday were still fighting to put out a blaze in the kitesurfing resort of Tarifa in southern Spain that was believed to have been started when a caravan in a campsite caught fire.Gusts of wind of up to 50 km/h and high temperatures meant that some parts of the fire that had been extinguished were reignited, said Antonio Sanz, interior minister for the regional government of Andalusia.Wildfire smoke approaching a car.In Portugal, wildfires have burned through more than 42,000 hectares so far this year, the largest area since 2022 and eight times more than at the same time last year.More than half of that area was affected in the last two weeks amid high summer temperatures. In the early hours on Wednesday, firefighters managed to control a large blaze that has been raging since Saturday near Vila Real in the north, where the heat wave has brought temperatures up to 40 C this week.

This is our second-worst wildfire season on record — and could be the new normal-Area roughly the size of New Brunswick has already burned this year-Alexandra Mae Jones · CBC News · Posted: Aug 12, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | 

This year's wildfire season is already the second-worst on record in Canada, and experts are warning that this might be the new normal.More than 7.3 million hectares have burned this year so far, more than double the 10-year average for this time of year, according to the latest figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) and Natural Resources Canada."It's the size of New Brunswick, to put it into context," Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University, told CBC News. The last three fire seasons are among the 10 worst on record, according to a federal database dating back to 1972, with 2023's devastating blazes taking the top spot."I've never seen three bad fire seasons in a row," Flannigan, who has been studying fires since the '70s, said."I've seen two in a row: '94, '95. I've never seen three. This is scary."Manitoba and Saskatchewan account for more than half the area burned so far, but British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario are all also well above their 25-year averages. Fire bans have been announced in multiple provinces, including a total ban on going in the woods in Nova Scotia.Meanwhile, the military and coast guard were called in to help fight fires in Newfoundland and Labrador this week. Around 1,400 international firefighters have also helped fight Canadian fires so far this year, according to the CIFFC.Scientists say that climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, has created longer fire seasons and drier landscapes, sparking more intense and widespread forest fires. "I used to always say… some years are cooler and wetter and we will get quiet years," Flannigan said."But maybe every year's going to be a bad fire year now." Dry conditions across the country have allowed fires to quickly balloon this fire season.An aerial image shows a forest burning and thick smoke rising into the air."The forests of Canada are too dry, too hot," Environment Canada climatologist David Phillips told CBC News. "This year… there's no kind of reprieve from what we've seen."This year has seen notable blazes in regions where we haven't historically, such as Newfoundland and Labrador, where one fire has grown to over 5,200 hectares.Yan Boulanger, a research scientist in forest ecology at Natural Resources Canada, says Newfoundland "is not used to [seeing] huge fires.""But we will have to get more and more used to it, because those ecosystems are also projected to see an increase in fire activity in the upcoming decades."The other outlier is Quebec, which was one of the hardest-hit provinces in 2023, when an estimated 4.5 million hectares burned. This year, the province has had a much milder fire season, thanks to frequent precipitation in the spring and early summer, Boulanger says. But a sudden bout of dry conditions in August, usually a quiet fire month for the province, has experts recommending vigilance. Consequences of repeated fires-Bad back-to-back fire seasons can have huge consequences. Fire is a natural part of the lifecycle for many tree species, but a forest can become damaged to the point where trees cannot regrow in the area for years, or even decades. It's called "regeneration failure."A woman wearing a hard hat and spraying a hose is shown from behind in a forest where smoke winds around the bottom of trees."The problem is when we have too much fire and we are getting out of what we are calling the natural variability of the system," Boulanger said. "When such things happen… the forest can lose its resilience."Scientists are already seeing it in regions of Quebec that were heavily damaged in 2023, and in parts of the Northwest Territories and Alberta, Boulanger says. Right now, around 300,000 to 400,000 hectares are affected by regeneration failure in Quebec. Less trees means less carbon being stored, exacerbating the problem of increased emissions that occur during widespread forest fires. The 2023 fires produced nearly a quarter of the year's global wildfire carbon emissions. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke has been linked to a myriad of health complications, including a higher risk of dementia. Heat warnings remain in place for much of Canada as hot and humid temperatures continue to fuel wildfires. Ken McMullen, fire chief for Red Deer, Alta., is calling for the development of a national wildfire administration to allocate resources and co-ordinate rescue efforts between provinces.With intense wildfires becoming an annual problem in Canada on a new scale, we need more strategies, experts say. The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) has called on Ottawa to establish a national forest fire co-ordination agency to ensure that personnel and equipment can be distributed across the country when different regions are seeing heavy fires, and that fire chiefs are at the table when national policies are made.The government has been studying the possibility of creating a national disaster response agency since 2023, and met with CAFC to discuss it in December. But it's time to move beyond the planning stage, according to Ken McMullen, the organization's president and fire chief in Red Deer, Alta."All parties are saying that they think it's a good idea. The reality is nobody's helped pick up the ball and get it across the finish line," he said. Flannigan, at Thompson Rivers University, supports the idea, but believes we need to go further and create a robust national emergency management agency that would be able to provide training for fighting wildfires, forecast where fires are likely to occur and whether they're a danger, and then move resources there proactively. "Yes, it's going to cost money, but if it prevents one Jasper, one Fort McMurray, it pays for itself," he said, referring to the Alberta communities ravaged in recent years by fires."The status quo doesn't seem to be working. We're spending billions and billions of dollars on fire management expenditures, but our area burned has quadrupled since the 1970s."

'Troublesome day' ahead for fighting Paddy's Pond fire, says fire duty officer-5 wildfires currently burning out of control in N.L.Elizabeth Whitten · CBC News · Posted: Aug 12, 2025 6:16 AM EDT | 

Crews will continue to battle an out of control wildfire that broke out on the outskirts of St. John's but the provincial fire duty officer warns it won't be an easy job given prevailing dry conditions.On Monday the out-of-control Paddy's Pond wildfire quickly grew to 200 hectares in a few hours, prompting the province to put portions of Paradise and Conception Bay South on an evacuation alert.Provincial fire duty officer Mark Lawlor said they plan to get aerial assets into the sky quickly on Tuesday to fight the fire and if it is safe to do so, get crews on the ground, adding the St. John's Regional Fire Department is also working with them."We're doing everything we can to limit the movement of this fire, hopefully contain it,"  he told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.Lawlor said the Paddy's Pond fire is still approximately 200 hectares."Overnight there was no growth in the fire, thankfully. However, this morning there's still active fire  on it already," he said.Trees are already burning and there is a lot of smoke in the area, he added.Given the current forecast, which is dry with no rain expected, Lawlor said they are anticipating "extreme fire behaviour" on Tuesday."It's going to be a troublesome day," said Lawlor.He also advised people if they're under an alert, to be ready to leave if necessary. Lawlor also asked people to stay away from the fire because they need access to stay clear and they don't want people to get in the way.According to the provincial wildfire dashboard, there are eight fires currently burning across the province, with five burning out of control.Thousands of people have been forced to flee their communities and many others are waiting to see if they will need to leave quickly due to the wildfires.Lawlor said the Kingston fire is still out of control and it has expanded north and is now in Ochre Pit Cove.He said work on the fire guard on its southern end will continue on Tuesday and they are planning a second fire guard on its northern end.He said the Holyrood fire is considered under control and while there were a couple of hot spots on Monday, crews "jumped" on it.The Martin Lake fire is also still out of control and there was some growth on its northeast corner and southwest corner on Monday"We had extremely high winds, high temperatures and low relative humidities which led to some growth," said Lawlor.But he said there is good news, as the water bombers and helicopters worked well and were able to minimize the growth.However, the bulldozer and excavator working on the fire guard had to be pulled from the site because of safety concerns. Lawlor said crews will be back on Tuesday and they are trying to keep the Bay d'Espoir Highway open.There are also two wildfires burning in Labrador, the Udjuktok Bay fire and Travespine fire.Lawlor said the Udjuktok Bay fire is being monitored because it's not close to any major assets.He said there was progress on the Traverspine fire, located 19 kilometres south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, on Monday.Environment Canada has issued two weather alerts for the province, an air quality statement is in effect for the northern Avalon Peninsula and St. John's area, as well as a heat warning for most of the province.As of Tuesday morning, the provincial fire hazard map lists most of the island of Newfoundland at an extreme risk of fire. Parts of Labrador range from a moderate risk to extreme.A province-wide fire ban is in effect until September.CBC meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler said the forecast for the next few days is more hot, dry weather with relatively low humidity, which she said can lead to extreme fire behaviour."That's been the recipe that we've been seeing, really, for what, two weeks now? There's really no relief in the forecast," Brauweiler said.She added the rainfall previously forecasted for Thursday is not looking likely."Obviously every little bit helps, but at this point it looks like the better chance of showers may be as we get into Friday."Brauweiler said because of the winds, people can expect varying levels of smoke across the St. John's area.'Anxious times'C.B.S. resident David Coates said he and his wife are ready to leave if the order is given but he's hopeful the fire won't reach structures in Paradise or his community."It's anxious times for sure," he told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.If they need to leave, Coates said they will go to a sister's home in St. John's.Coates is an artist and said most of his artwork will stay in his home because he doesn't have the capability to move the paintings on short notice.While Coates would hate to lose his paintings, he's keeping it in perspective."We've got other memories and items that we certainly can't take with us that we'd hate to lose. But at the end of the day, I can rebuild and I can paint again."Safety is priority: Canada Summer Games-In response to the nearby wildfires, the ongoing Canada Summer Games is moving some sporting events scheduled for Tuesday out of Paradise and C.B.S. to St. John's. Beach volleyball and sailing are postponed.2025 Canada Games Host Society CEO Karen Sherriffs said they are monitoring the situation and working with various authorities, like the municipalities and the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre."The safety of athletes, coaches, participants, and volunteers is our top priority," she said in a statement on Monday evening.Mount Pearl announced it was keeping all of its indoor recreation facilities closed due to air quality concerns, with an update coming later in the morning.The town of C.B.S. is also keeping its indoor and outdoor recreation facilities in an effort to reduce unnecessary travel and keep roads clear for emergency crews.

Over half of Mediterranean basin and Europe hit by drought since April-Data from the European Drought Observatory comes as Israel copes with an extreme heat wave that is expected to break records-By AFP and Sue Surkes-Today, 4:35 pm-AUG 12,25

More than half of Europe and the Mediterranean basin was hit by drought in July for the fourth consecutive month, according to an AFP analysis of European Drought Observatory data.Drought levels in the region are the highest on record for the month of July since data collection began in 2012, exceeding the 2012-2024 average by 21 percent.Monthly records have been broken every month this year. The data shows 52% of the region has experienced drought since April.The data was reported as Israel undergoes an extreme heat wave, expected to break records on Wednesday and Thursday, and after the Israel Meteorological Service reported that between December and February, less than 40% of the average seasonal rainfall was measured. Usually, those are the country’s wettest months.The Drought Observatory Indicator determined by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service uses satellite imagery to measure three parameters: precipitation or rainfall, soil moisture and the state of vegetation.Findings are then categorized into one of three levels of drought: watch, warning and alert — the last level signaling that vegetation is developing abnormally.Amos Porat, director of Climate Services at the Israel Meteorological Service (IMS), told the Times of Israel on Sunday that the eastern part of the country was expected to be hardest hit by the heat wave, from the Hula Valley and the Sea of Galilee in the northeast down to the Arava Desert in the south.Temperatures in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee are expected to hit 49°C and 47°C respectively (120°F and 116.6°F) on Wednesday and Thursday. The record for the area is 45.9°C (114.6 °F).Porat said it was difficult to pinpoint the reasons for the current heatwave. Heatwaves are common during the summer, he explained. “But the intensity, the length, the extreme temperatures [we are seeing], are quite possibly related to climate change.”Israel is a climate “hotspot,” where temperatures are rising faster than the global average.Elsewhere in the region, Turkey has been hit by a prolonged drought affecting more than 60% of the soil since March, leading to thousands of fires this summer. On August 8, wildfires in the west of the country forced authorities to suspend shipping in the busy Dardanelles Strait and evacuate three villages.Iran and Iraq have also coped recently with extreme heat.Women with an umbrella and a fan walk near the Garonne river bank in the middle of the day in Toulouse, southwestern France, on August 11, 2025.Eastern Europe and the Balkans are also particularly affected, with a high amount of soil under alert in multiple countries. In Hungary, the percentage of soil under alert increased from nine percent in June to 56% percent in July. In Kosovo, it went from six percent to 43%, and in Bosnia-Herzegovina from one percent to 23%.Multiple heatwaves have swept the Balkans since the start of the summer and a record number of wildfires have broken out. Some are caused by poorly managed and illegal dumpsites bursting into flames under the scorching sun, smothering towns and cities with toxic smoke.In Western Europe, the situation is more mixed. In France, 68% of the soil was affected by drought in July, up from 44% in June. France experienced one of its largest wildfires in history last week when flames tore through 13,000 hectares (more than 32,000 acres) of the southern Aude department, killing one person and injuring several others. The country is now facing its second heatwave of the summer.In the United Kingdom, which had its driest spring in more than 50 years, drought levels improved in July, although more than two-thirds of the country remains in water deficit.In Southern Europe, Spain and Portugal remain relatively spared with low drought rates (seven percent and five percent, respectively).

ISAIAH 6:9-12
9  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12  And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)

EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18

WORLD TERRORISM

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)

ISAIAH 14:12-14
12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14  I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)

ISAIAH 41:11
11  Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)

Turban complications-The turban represents the Shi'ite clergy that, ever since its creation in Iran almost four centuries ago, has had an ambivalent attitude towards the exercise of political power. Broadly speaking, turbans come in two contrasting colors. A white turban means that the man who wears it is not a descendant of the Prophet, and thus is of non-Arab origin. In contrast, the wearer of the black turban is marked as a descendant of the Prophet through one of the twelve imams of Twelver Shi'ism.The semiology of turbans is still more complicated. Students of theology are allowed to wear very thin turbans, denoting their position as novices. A hujjat al-Islam, or mid-ranking mullah, can wear a slightly fatter turban. The very fat turbans that require several yards of cloth are reserved for the grand ayatollahs. Rafsanjani’s white turban marked him as someone of non-Arab origin. Khatami and Khamenei both wear black turbans, as did Khomeini, denoting their Arab descent on the paternal side.The experience of the past three decades shows that many of the most senior clerics are not eager to enter the realm of politics. Once in power, however, a man with a thin turban could quickly thicken his headgear and grow a longer beard to bolster the religious aspect of his image. When first elected president, Ayatollah Khamenei was not a particularly senior cleric, but was promoted so that he could succeed Ayatollah Khomeini.

THE CITIZENS OF IRAN (ELAM IN THE BIBLE) MIGRATE TO ALL NATIONS ON EARTH.
JEREMIAH 49:34-39
34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam (IRAN) in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN) the chief of their might.(IRAN SUPLIES ARABS WITH WEAPONS AGAINST ISRAEL)
36 And upon Elam (IRAN)  will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam (IRAN) shall not come.(WORLD MIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(REG BOMBS) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(GROUND TROOPS)
38 And I will set my throne in Elam,(IRAN) and will destroy from thence the king (KHEMEINI )and the princes,(IRANIAN GUARDS) saith the LORD.
39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) saith the LORD.

Psalms-Chapter 110:1-6
1 (A Psalm of David.) The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

EU and 24 nations including UK, Japan urge action against ‘famine unfolding’ in Gaza-Germany absent from statement despite drastic move last week to suspend arms deliveries over Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City-By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 6:12 pm-AUG 12,25

The European Union, Britain and Japan on Tuesday called for urgent action to stop “famine” in the Gaza Strip.“The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Famine is unfolding before our eyes,” a joint statement signed by the EU’s top diplomat and foreign ministers from 24 countries, including Canada and Australia. said. “Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation.”The ministers and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also demanded Israel “provide authorization for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating.”Seventeen European Union countries signed the statement, including France and the Netherlands, as well as countries such as Spain and Ireland that are more stridently critical of Israel.Notably absent was Germany, Israel’s staunch supporter in the EU, despite its drastic move last week to suspend the export to Israel of military equipment that could be used in Gaza.The move, which came in response to Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City, has sparked controversy in Germany, where top politicians have cast support for the Jewish state as a form of atonement for the Holocaust.The EU struck a deal with Israel last month to increase aid access to Gaza, but senior officials have said the agreement has not been implemented fully.UN-mandated experts have warned that Gaza is slipping into famine, while international organizations have for months accused Israel of restricting aid distribution in Gaza.Israel has denied that there is starvation in Gaza, blamed delays in aid deliveries on the UN and accused Hamas of systematically looting aid entering Gaza since the war there was sparked by the terror group’s onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Israel: Move 'weakens the cause' of peace-Australia to recognize Palestinian state next month; New Zealand weighs following suit-PM Albanese says move ‘part of a coordinated global effort’ for two-state solution, Hamas may take no part in state; New Zealand FM says recognition ‘matter of when, not if’By Agencies and ToI Staff 11 August 2025, 10:38 am

Australia will recognize a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Monday, in a quick about-face after saying two weeks ago that he didn’t plan to imminently make such a move.Shortly after Albanese’s announcement, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country would carefully consider whether to do the same over the next month, adding that New Zealand’s recognition of a Palestinian state was a “matter of when, not if,” as the two oceanic countries look to join the UK, Canada, France and other Western nations that have recently pledged to do the same.“Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority. We will work with the international community to make this right a reality,” Albanese said following a cabinet meeting, framing the move as “part of a coordinated global effort building momentum for a two-state solution.”Albanese said the commitments from the PA include that there will be no role for Hamas in a Palestinian government, demilitarization of Gaza and the holding of elections — which haven’t been held since 2006.He said that while Hamas may take no part in such a state, Israel “continues to defy” international law, with the situation in Gaza “beyond the world’s worst dreams.”He also said the PA has pledged to affirm Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, and to hold substantial reforms, including international oversight to prevent incitement and abolishing a system of stipends for Palestinian security prisoners and families of dead assailants, including terrorists, which is known as “pay for slay.”“A two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,” Albanese added.He also said that over the past two weeks, he has spoken on the matter with the leaders of Britain, France, New Zealand and Japan, as well as with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.Albanese said his call with Netanyahu was civil and relatively long, adding that “the arguments that he put to me were very similar to the arguments that he put more than a year ago. It seems to me very clearly and I put the argument to him that we need a political solution — not a military one.”Ahead of Albanese’s announcement, Netanyahu on Sunday criticized Australia and other European countries that have moved to recognize a Palestinian state.“To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole… this canard is disappointing and I think it’s actually shameful,” he said.The development follows weeks of urging from within Albanese’s cabinet and from pro-Palestinian activists in Australia to recognize a Palestinian state and amid growing criticism of Israel from officials in his government over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Australia’s government has also criticized plans announced in recent days by Netanyahu for a new military offensive aimed at conquering Gaza City.Weakening the cause of peace-Following the Australian premier’s pledge, Amir Maimon, the Israeli ambassador to Australia, said that Canberra’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state “undermines Israel’s security” and ultimately “weakens the cause” of peace.“Peace is built by ending terror, not rewarding it,” Maimon wrote. “By recognizing a Palestinian state while Hamas continues to kill, kidnap, and reject peace, Australia undermines Israel’s security, derails hostage negotiations, and hands a victory to those who oppose coexistence.”Maimon noted that just last month, Albanese “set clear conditions for recognizing a Palestinian state, renouncing violence, freeing hostages, and establishing credible, accountable governance. He emphasized that these steps were necessary before recognition could occur. Today, however, the Australian Government has abandoned those conditions and proceeded with recognition for symbolic reasons rather than genuine progress toward peace.”The ambassador stressed that the Australian decision “will not change the reality on the ground. Peace is not achieved through declarations; it is achieved when those who have chosen terror abandon it and when violence and incitement end. Rewarding those who use terror as a political tool sends the dangerous message that violence brings political gains.”He accused Australia of elevating “the position of Hamas, a group it acknowledges as a terrorist organization, while weakening the cause of those working to end violence and achieve genuine, lasting peace.”Also reacting to the move, the head of Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Daniel Aghion, condemned it as a departure from “decades of bipartisan consensus” and a “betrayal and abandonment of the Israeli hostages.”“Australia is now committed to recognizing as a state an entity with no agreed borders, no single government in effective control of its territory, and no demonstrated capacity to live in peace with its neighbors,” the head of the country’s representative Jewish organization said in a statement. “This commitment removes any incentive or diplomatic pressure for the Palestinians to do the things that have always stood in the way of ending the conflict.”The announcement is “a betrayal and abandonment of the Israeli hostages who continue to languish in appalling conditions in Gaza without even access to the Red Cross,” Aghion said, adding that it will make Israel feel “wronged and abandoned” while showing Hamas and other Islamist groups that “barbarity on a grand scale can lead to desired political transformation.”“The Jewish community is not surprised by this announcement,” Aghion wrote. “We knew from the government’s public statements and our private engagement that this move was coming. This does not lessen our disappointment.”Many in Australia’s 120,000-strong Jewish community blame Albanese and his government for failing to rein in a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks and violent rhetoric throughout the country.With Albanese’s announcement, three-quarters of UN member states have now recognized, or pledged to recognize, Palestinian statehood.According to an AFP tally, at least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian state, including France, Canada and Britain.While the groundswell of pledges to recognize a Palestinian state is growing ahead of next month’s UN meeting, there remain influential European countries that are resisting recognition. Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, has said it “does not plan to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the move would be “counterproductive.”Israel has condemned these announcements as a “reward for terror,” and in a press conference Sunday, Netanyahu said that the “prevailing assumption” that the creation of a Palestinian state would solve all issues is “absurdity.”“Palestinians are not about creating a state, they’re about destroying a state,” he said, adding that “the real reason that this conflict persists is not because of the absence of a Palestinian state, but the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any boundary.”“It defies imagination or understanding how intelligent people around the world, including seasoned diplomats, government leaders, and respected journalists, fall for this absurdity,” he declared.

Netanyahu: ‘If we wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon’PM falsely claims that Israel never halted entry of aid into Gaza, a policy his office announced in March and reversed 11 weeks later-By ToI Staff 11 August 2025, 11:45 am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, telling Israeli reporters on Sunday night, “If we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon.”Netanyahu made the remark near the end of back-to-back press conferences he held with foreign and Israeli journalists, respectively, in which he also denied again that Israel has pursued a policy of starvation in the enclave.Speaking to Israeli media, he falsely claimed that Israel had never halted all humanitarian aid to Gaza, even though his government had enacted that policy earlier this year.Netanyahu made the two comments while defending his government’s recent decision to launch a major offensive in Gaza City. He said the plan will lead to Hamas’s defeat, but it has come under a tidal wave of domestic and international backlash.Israel also faced global censure recently for widespread reports of starvation and deaths from malnutrition in the Strip. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that Gaza is undergoing starvation or that Israel is seeking to create a humanitarian crisis there. Israel has also consistently and vehemently denied the charge — made by pro-Palestinian activists, some left-wing Israeli organizations and a number of countries — that it is committing genocide in Gaza, saying it makes efforts to avoid killing civilians whom Hamas puts in harm’s way.“There is no starvation. There hasn’t been starvation. There was a shortage. And certainly, there was no policy of starvation,” Netanyahu said at the press conference. “If we had wanted starvation, if that had been our policy, 2 million Gazans wouldn’t be living today after 20 months.”He continued, “It’s the same with genocide —  if we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon.”Earlier in the press conference, Netanyahu defended Israel’s approach to humanitarian aid in the Strip, which he said is now being overhauled. In recent weeks, Hamas-run local officials, in addition to international agencies and aid groups, have documented a rising number of deaths from starvation in Gaza.Israel has disputed such claims, and blames Hamas for stealing aid and the United Nations for failing to distribute it. But facing international condemnation, Israel has put several measures in place to increase the flow of supplies.At the press conference, Netanyahu was asked whether his decision earlier this year to halt humanitarian aid was a failed strategy to defeat Hamas.“First of all, we need to understand what actually happened,” he answered. “We never said we were stopping all entry of humanitarian aid. What we said was that, alongside halting the trucks that Hamas was seizing — taking the vast majority of their contents for itself, then selling the leftovers at extortionate prices to the Palestinian population… we would stop this.”In fact, on March 2, the premier’s office announced, “Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided that, as of this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will cease.” He portrayed it as a way to stanch a source of Hamas profits and pressure the terror group into concessions.He reversed the policy 11 weeks later, after heavy pressure from international allies, and backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American-led initiative to give aid directly to civilians from four distribution points while bypassing Hamas and the UN. But the GHF drew harsh criticism because of near-daily killings near its aid sites and the difficulty people faced in accessing them.On Sunday, Netanyahu said that approach had failed and “we didn’t have to get into this situation.”“We didn’t want to create starvation here — on the contrary, we wanted to bypass Hamas’s looting and theft,” he said of the GHF. “Only it didn’t work as we wanted, it didn’t succeed because there weren’t enough points, etc., so we learned our lesson. We stopped it.”He added, “Now, we’re acting differently. Aid is entering, we’re doing all we can so most of it won’t fall into Hamas’s hands, and in parallel, we’re really increasing the number of distribution points, the secure corridors, and the airdrops, airdrops that generally don’t reach Hamas.”The international airdrops of aid have faced criticism for endangering people as they fall to the ground. Aid groups have said more supplies are needed to end widespread malnutrition in the Strip. Netanyahu has said aid would increase as part of the Gaza City takeover plan.

Iranian police says it arrested at least 21,000 ‘suspects’ during war with Israel-Law enforcement spokesman does not specify vast majority of allegations, says 261 suspected of espionage, 172 detained for unauthorized filming; 2,774 illegal migrants rounded up-By Reuters and ToI Staff Today, 5:02 pm-AUG 12,25

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian police arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the country’s 12-day war with Israel in June, a law enforcement spokesperson said on Tuesday, according to state media.Following Israeli airstrikes that began on June 13, Iranian security forces began a campaign of widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified street presence based around checkpoints and “public reports” whereby citizens were called upon to report on any individuals they thought were acting suspiciously.“There was a 41 percent increase in calls by the public, which led to the arrest of 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war,” police spokesperson Saeid Montazerolmahdi said. He did not say what those arrested were suspected of, but Tehran has spoken before of people passing on information that may have helped direct the Israeli attacks.The Israel-Iran conflict has also led to an accelerated rate of deportations for Afghan migrants believed to be illegally in Iran, with aid agencies reporting that local authorities had also accused some Afghan nationals of spying for Israel.“Law enforcement rounded up 2,774 illegal migrants and discovered 30 special security cases by examining their phones. Two hundred and sixty-one suspects of espionage and 172 people accused of unauthorised filming were also arrested,” the spokesperson added.Montazerolmahdi did not specify how many of those arrested had since been released.He added that Iran’s police handled more than 5,700 cases of cyber crimes such as online fraud and unauthorised withdrawals during the war, which he said had turned “cyberspace into an important battlefront.”Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel.The attacks killed 31 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.

Iraq electricity gradually back after nationwide outage.

Baghdad, Aug 12 (AFP) Aug 12, 2025-Electricity supply returned to all Iraq's provinces on Tuesday, a government official told AFP, expecting the grid's full recovery within a day after a nationwide power outage.Electricity shortages are a frequent complaint in Iraq, suffering from endemic corruption and dilapidated public infrastructure.Most households rely on private generators, acquired to compensate for daily power cuts to public electricity.On Monday, the electricity ministry said that "a record rise in temperatures" coupled with a surge in demand resulted in the shutdown of transmission lines, which then led to a total outage.A senior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Tuesday that "since midnight, all provinces have seen the return" of power supply.The official cautioned that "it is happening gradually", with the central province of Karbala, where millions of Shiite Muslim pilgrims were expected for a major religious commemoration, being "the first to recover its electricity".In the capital Baghdad, the grid was back to 95 percent of its normal capacity, said the official.The outage came amid a heatwave that Iraqi meteorological services expect to last more than a week, with temperatures climbing as high as 50C in parts of the country.While the vast majority of Iraqis rely on private generators, they often cannot power all household appliances, especially air conditioners.Iraq is sometimes rocked by protests when outages worsen in the hot summer months.To avoid outages during peak demand, Iraq would need to produce around 55,000 megawatts of electricity.This month, for the first time, the country's power plants reached the 28,000-megawatt threshold.The electricity ministry official said that "the system has returned to normal and is stable", producing 24,000 megawatts and expected to reach 27,000 once the final malfunctions related to Monday's outage are resolved.

Iraq announces nationwide power outage amid 'record' heat.

Baghdad, Aug 11 (AFP) Aug 11, 2025-Power was out across Iraq on Monday as scorching summer temperatures pushed electricity grid demand to unprecedented levels, authorities said.The outage came amid a heatwave that Iraqi meteorological services expect to last more than a week, with temperatures climbing as high as 50C in parts of the country.Mitigating the grid interruption was the fact that most households rely on private generators, acquired to compensate for daily power cuts to public electricity.The electricity ministry said the grid suffered a "total outage" after two transmission lines were shut down "due to a record rise in temperatures, increased consumer demand, and increased electrical load in the provinces of Babylon and Karbala, which are experiencing an influx of millions of pilgrims" for a major Shiite Muslim religious commemoration.The shutdown caused "a sudden and accidental loss of more than 6,000 megawatts on the grid", the ministry added, with power plants also halting operations."Our teams are currently mobilised on the ground to gradually restore the grid over the next few hours," the ministry said.The northern Kurdistan region was spared. The autonomous territory has worked to modernise its power sector and was able to provide round-the-clock state electricity to a third of its population.Authorities later announced that power was being restored in stages in the southern provinces of Dhi Qar and Maysan, with the strategic port city of Basra expected to have electricity back by dawn on Tuesday.Electricity shortages are a frequent complaint in Iraq, which is sometimes rocked by protests when outages worsen in the hot summer months.- 'More intense' -Heatwaves in Iraq are "more intense and more frequent" than they were in the 20th century, meteorological service spokesman Amer al-Jaberi told AFP, blaming climate change and human factors.He said gas emissions and fumes from private generators "contribute to the rise in temperatures", and called for the creation of a "green belt" around Baghdad "so the city can breathe a little".In July 2023, a fire at a transmission station in the south caused a widespread power outage.While the vast majority of Iraqis rely on private generators, they often cannot power all household appliances, especially air conditioners.Even without a nationwide blackout, Iraq's poorest endure the intense heat daily."It's hot, we don't have electricity, it comes on for two hours and then we can sleep a little and rest," said Haider Abbas, a 44-year-old day labourer, in his concrete-walled home on Sunday.Originally from the town of Al-Qassim in Babylon province, central Iraq, the father of five cannot afford an air conditioner and relies instead on an air cooler that he constantly refills with water bottles."When I was little, we didn't have these (high) temperatures," he recalled. "At 52 degrees Celsius, I can't work."To avoid outages during peak demand, Iraq would need to produce around 55,000 megawatts of electricity.This month, for the first time, the country's power plants reached the 28,000-megawatt threshold.

‘There’s no solution’: Ex-terror chief Zubeidi laments failed Palestinian strategies-Zubeidi, who organized dozens of attacks during Second Intifada and was freed in January truce, says Palestinians must ‘reconsider tools’; doing Ph.D. in Israel studies at Birzeit-By Nava Freiberg-Today, 3:56 pm-AUG 12,25

A well-known Palestinian terrorist active during the Second Intifada and released this year as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, lamented the futility of Palestinian attempts to achieve a sovereign state, in his first interview since his release, published in The New York Times on Tuesday.“We [the Palestinians] have to reconsider our tools,” said Zakaria Zubeidi, who was arrested for organizing dozens of attacks during the Second Intifada while heading the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Jenin. Zubeidi was released in exchange for hostages held by Hamas in January.“We founded a theater, and we tried cultural resistance — what did that do?” he continued, referring to a theater program he co-founded in Jenin alongside a left-wing Israeli actor and Swedish activist. “We tried the rifle, we tried shooting. There’s no solution,” he said. According to the paper, Zubedia felt that, “None of it had helped forge a Palestinian state [and] it may never do so.”He emphasized that his involvement with the theater was not a transition from or denunciation of armed Palestinian activity, saying: “It’s not about being one thing or another…How did I open the theater door? I broke it with my rifle.”The Times also wrote that since his release, he has started a Ph.D. at Birzeit University in the West Bank in Israel studies.During the rise of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, Zubeidi “joined a militia in Jenin in the belief that it was the best way of achieving Palestinian sovereignty,” according to the interview, eventually becoming the head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the city.Zubeidi denied involvement in any murder, according to the newspaper, though Israel held him responsible for ordering several attacks that resulted in multiple deaths, and for 24 offenses, mostly related to violence. Zubeidi was also among six prisoners who escaped from Gilboa prison in 2021, before being recaptured days later.Zubeidi also said that he lost his teeth and was repeatedly beaten by Israeli guards during his imprisonment, though the Israel Prison Service denied this and similar claims from other releasees in a statement to The New York Times, saying it was “not aware of the claims [described], and as far as we know, no such events have occurred.”Upon witnessing after his release Israel’s strikes in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, as well as the aftermath of Israeli raids in the West Bank, Zubeidi assessed that “On every front, Palestinian strategies seemed to be failing,” according to the paper. Zubeidi’s son was also among five Palestinian gunmen killed in an Israeli strike on the West Bank last year.Zubeidi claimed that “There is no peaceful solution and there is no military solution” for Palestinians, “because the Israelis don’t want to give us anything.”“It’s impossible to uproot us from here,” he continued, “And we don’t have any tools to uproot them.”Zubeidi was granted amnesty by Israel in 2007, but in 2019, he was arrested again and charged with taking part in two shooting attacks against Israeli buses in the West Bank, with additional allegations dating back to the early 2000s added to the charge sheet.After his escape from prison in 2021, five more years were added to his sentence.When the former Jenin terror chief was released in January, he was greeted in Ramallah by a jubilant crowd of hundreds of Palestinians, who hoisted him on their shoulders in celebration.After his release, Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened Zubeidi, he would “meet old friends” if he made the mistake of returning to carry out terror activities.

Daily Briefing Aug. 12: Day 676 – IDF lays out projected timeline for capture of Gaza City-Military reporter Emanuel Fabian reports on IDF claims that a prominent Al Jazeera journalist was on the Hamas payroll and scathing rebuttal of starvation deaths, plus a West Bank update-With:Amanda Borschel-Dan-Emanuel Fabian-Today, 3:27 pm-AUG 12,25

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.The IDF may take at least another week to gauge how many troops it will need for the government-ordered renewed offensive in Gaza City, military officials said Sunday. This comes as relations between the IDF and the political echelon seem more strained than we’ve previously seen. Fabian weighs in.This morning, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) asserted that Hamas has been inflating the toll of Palestinians it says have died of malnutrition, and most of those verified to have died had preexisting medical conditions. Fabian describes how Hamas’s own death figures have allowed COGAT to draw its conclusions.An Israeli strike in Gaza City Sunday night killed a prominent Palestinian journalist for Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, Anas al-Sharif, whom the Israel Defense Forces has long argued was a Hamas terrorist in charge of rocket launching. Fabian lays out the IDF’s case against al-Sharif and discusses his targeting in the context of the larger stated military goal of picking off every member of the terror group.On Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that IDF troops will remain deployed to northern West Bank refugee camps at least until the end of the year, as part of the “Operation Iron Wall” defensive. The operation began in January in the Jenin refugee camp, adjacent to the city of Jenin, and later expanded to include refugee camps near the city of Tulkarem in the western West Bank — the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps. We learn what’s going on there now and what the forecast is.

ITS ALWAYS THE DEATH CULT STATS THEY USE AGAINST ISRAEL.NOT ISRAELS REAL HONEST STATS.BUT THIS IS THE DELUTED LIBERAL, NAZI WORLD AFTER ALL.

Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes on Gaza City intensifying.

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories, Aug 12 (AFP) Aug 12, 2025-Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Gaza City have intensified in recent days, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approving plans to expand the war there.The Israeli government has not provided an exact timetable on when its forces would enter the area, but according to the civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal, air strikes on Gaza City have been increasing for the past three days.Bassal said the residential neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra have been hit "with very heavy airstrikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings"."For the third consecutive day, the Israeli occupation is intensifying its bombardment," said the spokesman."The Israeli occupation is using all types of weapons in that area -- bombs, drones, and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction to civilian homes," he added.Bassal said that at least 24 people had been killed across Gaza on Tuesday, including several casualties caused by strikes on Gaza City."The bombardment has been extremely intense for the past two days. With every strike, the ground shakes. There are martyrs under the rubble that no one can reach because the shelling hasn't stopped," said Majed al-Hosary, a resident in Zeitoun.Israel has faced mounting criticism over the 22-month-long war with Hamas, with United Nations-backed experts warning of widespread famine unfolding in besieged Gaza.Netanyahu is under mounting pressure to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as well as over his plans to expand the war, which he has vowed to do with or without the backing of Israel's allies.Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,499 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, whose toll the United Nations considers reliable.

Jellyfish force French nuclear plant shutdown.

Lille, France, Aug 11 (AFP) Aug 11, 2025-A nuclear plant in northern France was temporarily shut down on Monday after a swarm of jellyfish clogged pumps used to cool the reactors, energy group EDF said.The automatic shutdowns of four units "had no impact on the safety of the facilities, the safety of personnel, or the environment", EDF said on its website."These shutdowns are the result of the massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of the pumping stations," the Gravelines plant operator said.The site was fully shut after the incident, with its two other units already offline for maintenance.Teams were carrying out inspections to restart the production units "in complete safety", EDF said, adding the units were expected to restart on Thursday."There is no risk of a power shortage," the company added, saying other energy sources, including solar power, were operational.Gravelines is Western Europe's largest nuclear power plant with six reactors, each with the capacity to produce 900 megawatts.The site is due to open two next-generation reactors, each with a capacity of 1,600 megawatts, by 2040.This is not the first time jellyfish have shut down a nuclear facility, though EDF said such incidents were "quite rare", adding the last impact on its operations was in the 1990s.There have been cases of plants in other countries shutting down due to jellyfish invasions, notably a three-day closure in Sweden in 2013 and a 1999 incident in Japan that caused a major drop in output.Experts say overfishing, plastic pollution and climate change have created conditions allowing jellyfish to thrive and reproduce.

Iran will not allow Trump-backed corridor linking Azerbaijan to exclave; Russia cautious-by AFP Staff Writers.

Tehran (AFP) Aug 9, 2025-Iran will not allow the creation under a US-brokered peace deal of a corridor near the Iranian border linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday.The planned corridor, dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity", is a key part of a peace deal signed at the White House on Friday between Azerbaijan and its longtime foe Armenia.However, the proposed route, in which the United States will have development rights, passes near the Iranian border and Khamenei's international affairs adviser Ali Akbar Velayati said Iran would not accept it."With the implementation of this plot, the security of the South Caucasus will be endangered," Velayati told the Tasnim news agency,He said the planned corridor was "an impossible notion and will not happen", while the area would become "a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries".Iran has long opposed the planned transit route, also known as the Zangezur corridor -- fearing it would cut the country off from Armenia and the rest of the Caucasus, and bring a foreign presence to its border."We have the right to defend our interests in a completely powerful manner," Velayati said, adding that Iran had held multiple military exercises in the area to show its "readiness".Iran's foreign ministry welcomed "the finalisation of the text of the peace agreement" between Armenia and Azerbaijan but expressed "concern over the negative consequences of any foreign intervention in any way and form, especially in the vicinity of common borders".It added that such a move would "disrupt the security and lasting stability of the region."Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories.They went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians.Asked what Armenia stood to gain from Friday's deal, a White House official said it was "an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America"."The losers here are China, Russia and Iran," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Russia cautious on Armenia-Azerbaijan deal, Iran reject border corridor.

Moscow (AFP) Aug 9, 2025 - Russia cautiously welcomed a US-brokered draft deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Saturday, but Moscow's regional ally Iran rejected the idea of a new border corridor backed by President Donald Trump.The two former Soviet republics signed a peace deal in Washington on Friday to end a decades-long conflict, though the fine print and binding nature of the deal remained unclear.The US-brokered agreement includes establishing a transit corridor through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku.The United States would have development rights for the corridor -- dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" -- in the strategic and resource-rich region.But Russia's ally and the warring parties' southern neighbour Tehran said it would not allow the creation of a such a corridor running along the Iranian border."With the implementation of this plot, the security of the South Caucasus will be endangered," Akbar Velayati, an advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the Tasnim news agency.The planned corridor was "an impossible notion and will not happen", while the area would become "a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries", he added.In a similar tone, Moscow said it would "further analyze" the corridor clause, noting there were trilateral agreements in place between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, from which no one had yet withdrawn."It should not be ignored that Armenia's border with Iran is guarded by Russian border guards," said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.Moscow, previously a key backer of Armenia, still has a military base there. Embroiled in its Ukraine operation, launched in 2022, it did not intervene in the latest conflict.This has strained the historically warm ties between Yerevan and Moscow, home to a large and influential Armenian diaspora, triggering Armenia's drift towards the West.- Waning influence -Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan went to war twice over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories.Moscow, once the main power broker in the Caucasus, is now bogged down in its more than three-year offensive in Ukraine, diverting political and military resources into the grinding conflict of attrition.Both Armenia and Azerbaijan praised the US efforts in settling the conflict. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev even said he would back President Donald Trump's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.The US-led NATO alliance welcomed the deal as a "significant step forward".But in Moscow, Zakharova refrained from even calling it a deal, referring to it merely as "the meeting of the leaders of the South Caucasus republics in Washington" -- adding, however, that it still deserved "a positive assessment".- Repackaging for Trump? -Analysts also sounded a note of caution, with the International Crisis Group pointing out that the deal left "a lot of questions unanswered".The two countries went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians.Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March.Much of the White House agreement was a "repackaging" of that, which helped both countries get on Trump's good side "by giving him a role," the Crisis Group's senior South Caucasus analyst Joshua Kucera said.Azerbaijan later added a host of demands to that March deal, including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh, before signing the document.Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians, with Kucera warning that this could yet derail the process.Kucera called the corridor "one potentially significant development" from the White House meeting, but added that missing key details could prove "serious stumbling blocks".The US-brokered deal was "definitely a testament to the fact that Russia has been losing its influence" as its Ukraine operation had "diverted its attention and resources from some other areas of its traditional interest", Olesya Vardanyan, an independent analyst on the South Caucasus, told AFP.Nevertheless, she added, even if many details were still missing and nothing was guaranteed, the deal still gave Armenians "a promise of a better life and then maybe even more peace in the region". 

Canada approves national standard for age verification, estimation-Aug 8, 2025, 5:41 pm EDT    | Chris Burt

Canada is taking it place in the increasingly-crowded queue to implement online age assurance requirements, with a national standard approved Thursday by the Standards Council of Canada.The CAN/DGSI 127: 2025, Age Verification — Age Assurance Technologies is expected to be published to the Digital Governance Council’s website in the next couple of weeks, according to information shared with Biometric Update.The page for the standard states that it “specifies minimum requirements for age assurance technologies and methods to verify a person’s age or estimate their age range.”CAN/DGSI 127 requires that organizations implementing age assurance start by performing a Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA). The standard sets out minimum requirements for the effectiveness of age assurance technologies and methods, guidelines for risk assessments and compliance with the standard and criteria for selecting a suitable age assurance method for a given application. It also provides principles for designing age assurance technologies and protocols for carrying out age checks.The standard is intended to be platform-agnostic, and promote a reliable, privacy-preserving approach to age assurance.The Digital Governance Standards Institute (DGSI) carried out a 60-day public review starting on December 4, 2024, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) shared key insights from its exploratory consultation on age assurance in March, which highlighted the diversity of technologies that can be used for the same purpose, and a set of contentious considerations. It also suggested that biometric facial age estimation “deserves special caution – or could be preferable to age verification.”A proposal to establish a legal basis for age verification, Bill S-210, was considered by Canadian lawmakers starting in 2021. It was approved by the Senate and passed the committee stage in the House of Commons Committee in 2024 after its second reading was completed in the lower chamber. The Bill died with the conclusion of the parliamentary session at the beginning of 2025.DGSI argued at the time that Bill S-210 was too limited in scope to adequately protect Canadian children online.A renewed effort to pass legislation has begun, taking into account some of the criticisms of the previous bill. The new bill’s sponsor, Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, has explicitly referred to UK and EU efforts in making the case that the law is overdue, while DGSI’s announcement of the public review noted Australia’s adoption of age verification or estimation requirements for social media.

Somalia rolls out digital CRVS system on foundations laid with UNICEF support-Aug 12, 2025, 10:38 am EDT    | Ayang Macdonald

The government of Somalia has announced the launch of a system that will allow civil status events like births, deaths and marriages to be registered digitally.This information was disclosed by the country’s Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation on the occasion of the 2025 Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day on August 10.According to the Somali National News Agency (SONNA), the new unified digital system is part of efforts by the government to streamline civil registration and take the numbers up.The system is now functional in 19 districts across federal states and it will be eventually rolled out nationwide, the ministry says.With the system, local authorities will be able to register births with some level of immediacy, and all the data forwarded to a central data base. It is expected to curb some of the difficulties plaguing civil registration in the Horn of Africa country.As part of the plan to expand the system, the ministry says efforts are underway to have it integrated with other national systems such as the national digital ID system, healthcare, immigration and education.In an interview with Biometric Update in May, the Director General of Somalia’s National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), Abdiwali Ali Abdulle, spoke about civil registration challenges, saying many Somalis do not have breeder documents like birth certificates to enable them obtain ID cards.He said however that alternative methods of identification were accepted while authorities amplify measures to expand civil registration coverage.The introduction of the unified digital CRVS system is seen as a key step in that direction, as Somalia advances its digital public infrastructure development engagements.Support from UNICEF, German government-With a very low rate of civil registration currently despite a high birth rate, UNICEF says that the country is nonetheless “taking historic steps” to modernize its civil registration system.According to a blog post, UNICEF is partnering with the Somali government, alongside Germany, to implement measures which include the strengthening of institutions, enabling system interoperability, decentralizing birth registration services, and further digitizing the system and training personnel on its usage.The UN agency notes that the groundwork has been laid for “a full-fledged CRVS system in Somalia,” but stronger political will is needed to get things better done.“The foundations have been laid. The tools are in place. Now is the time to finish what has been started. No child in Somalia should remain invisible – on paper or in life,” the agency says.

Unlocking financial inclusion with digital ID and payments in Pakistan-Jul 31, 2025, 7:31 am EDT    | Ghulam Shabir Arain

Globally, around 850 million people lack legal identity, restraining their capacity to receive basic services and fully participate in the economy—almost twice the population of Europe; this is a harsh reality. Women are extremely affected in low-income countries, particularly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with 44 percent without ID compared to 28 percent for men. Many people have an inconsequential digital literacy rate and limited internet connectivity. There is hope that enabling women to access robust digital identities in these locations can support bridging this identity gap. Digital ID access ownership is the starting point for gaining true financial inclusion, digital payment methods, and remittances in countries where such transfers account for up to 20 percent of GDP. Strengthening inclusive digital ID systems is important to increasing financial inclusion and adopting sustainable economic development.According to the World Bank’s ID4D Global Dataset 2021, almost 200 million people in South Asia lack legal identity, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the global population. Women and rural residents face many disparities, with education, income, and documentation obstacles playing significant roles. Many people do not have birth documents, and application fees and significant travel distances further limit participation. This exclusion restricts access to financial services, healthcare, mobile connectivity, digital rights, and voting, featuring the urgent need for affordable, inclusive, and trustworthy identity solutions across the region.Digital payments and IDs key to financial inclusion-Insights from development Asia reports that over a billion people in developing Asia are unbanked, and only 21 percent of adults in Pakistan have bank accounts and mobile payment accounts. Financial exclusion hits women worse than men, who are only half as likely as men to have access to banking services. This disparity is being bridged by digital financial services. Mobile money offers huge potential to improve lives by enabling low-cost, fast, safe, and easy transactions. It addresses access barriers by eliminating the need to go to physical bank branches. In 2022, Pakistan had only 10.8 commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults—one of the lowest ratios in the region.RAAST, Pakistan’s quick payment system that launched in 2021, provides secure, low-cost person-to-person and business-to-business transactions. By 2023, it had handled over 102 million digital payments, making formal financial services available to millions.Despite improvements, challenges remain to overcome, including a lack of trust, inadequate data protection, financial concerns, and digital literacy gaps, particularly among rural women. The Asian Development Bank-backed Women Inclusive Finance Sector Development Program (WIFSDP) trains female banking agents to reach out to deprived populations.Lessons from regional giants like India’s UPI and the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Alipay highlight the transformative potential of digital payment systems in Pakistan. Government attempts to digitize pensions, taxes, and welfare using secure digital IDs can help to expedite adoption, enhance financial inclusion, and generate equitable economic growth.Moreover, the government can lead by example, using digital methods for tax payments, pensions, and other services. A digital ID system can also facilitate account access. More policies that promote trust in the digital economy, such as those on data privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection, must be prioritized.NADRA upgrades boost ID access choice and services-TechJuice reports that the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has launched new digital ID services to increase accessibility and transparency. The implementation comprises new B-Forms requiring biometric data for children over the age of three, as well as the issuance of separate certificates, which are now required for passport applications.A crucial feature permits women to list their father’s name instead of their husband’s on CNICs, allowing for more personal choice. Briefing the media, the NADRA spokesperson highlighted that these services are now available at the newly opened 24/7 National Registration Centers in Malir Cantt, Malir, and Surjani Town in Karachi.In addition, ID services have been transferred from post offices to 1,200 union councils across the country, including 100 in Sindh. Citizens can also access them through the Pak-ID mobile app, which provides standard-fee remote processing—particularly beneficial for overseas Pakistanis.SBP streamlines digital banking and boosts inclusion-Dawn News reported that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has simplified banking procedures to increase financial inclusion and digital access. Banks are now required to open new personal or business accounts within two days, with application tracking in place to ensure transparency.In recent years, the SBP has introduced several initiatives to broaden access to financial services, including branchless banking, Asaan accounts, digital onboarding, and specialized accounts for freelancers, overseas Pakistanis, and remittance recipients.The SBP’s new framework simplifies documentation, allows for digital account opening, and requires regulated businesses to provide merchants with at least one digital payment option, such as Raast QR codes, POS terminals, or online checkout. These efforts aim to accelerate Pakistan’s transition to digital banking, increase convenience, and promote broader economic involvement, particularly among small businesses and marginalized communities.

Mastercard wants everyone to have a digital wallet and mDL to make ID like payments-Aug 5, 2025, 5:19 pm EDT    | Chris Burt

Online ID verification causes friction for customers more often than not, yet identity theft makes up 40 percent of Europe’s online fraud. Digital identity can work simply and deliver trust like payment cards, however, says Mastercard.The EU Digital Identity Wallet is in part a recognition of this issue, according to a post by Mastercard EVP for Services Europe Michele Centemero, who sees an opportunity for digital ID to work more like his company’s forte, digital payments.Mastercard supports the EUDI Wallet program as an advisor to the EU’s NOBID project, and a partner in the WE BUILD Consortium. The payments giant’s work with the EU’s Large-Scale Pilots compliments its work to integrate card-based payments into EUDI Wallets and harmonize strong customer authentication (SCA), Centemero writes. One of the possible advantages of this integration is building attribute checks, such as for age or country of residence, into payment transactions.The company is also working on related international standards, such as those overseen by the FIDO Alliance and EMVCo.Mastercard is also certified to the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) as an orchestration service provider.“Through ongoing investments in biometric authentication, AI-powered fraud detection and privacy-by-design solutions, we’re helping build the confidence Europe needs to lead in the digital age,” Centemero concludes.mDLs are for everyone-Mastercard is also working on mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) to go in those digital wallets. Mastercard Director of Product & Service Design Leonard Botezatu noted on a recent episode of Dock’s Identi3 podcast that he has joined the mDL Connections working group to contribute to “enhancing the educational dimension of mDLs from a product design standpoint.”David Kelts, co-chair of the Secure Technology Alliance’s mDL Jumpstart Committee also joined Dock Labs CEO Nick Lambert in the discussion. He notes that at 5 million issued, mDLs now represent a large enough addressable market to be worth the work to accept them. The mDL Jumpstart Committee’s work on the mDL Connection resource is part of its work to raise adoption, which could eventually include half of the U.S. population.Botezatu says being able to address those people, along with the ones across the Atlantic holding credentials built to the same standard, makes mDLs the natural step to follow “federated solutions” and ID document checks.“To solve the fragmentation problem an international standard like the mDL ISO was needed. So from my point of view, standards drive harmonization, leading to a more kind of cohesive and accessible digital identity,” he explains. “This is the high level context in which a global company adopting an international standard like the mDL ISO has a huge benefit.”

Rwanda National Identification Agency begins digital ID enrollment-Aug 8, 2025, 4:54 pm EDT    | Ayang Macdonald

Some Rwandans have begun registration ahead of the rollout of the country’s new national digital ID billed for 2026.The National Identification Agency (NIDA) launched nationwide registration on August 7, but biometric capture is expected to kick off in Mid-September, The New Times quoted NIDA Director General, Josephine Mukesha, as saying.An ongoing international trade fair at the Gikondo community center in Kigali, slated to run till August 17, is affording many people the opportunity to get registered for the digital ID.“It [the digital ID] doesn’t get lost and it’s not necessary that you walk with it, and it gives us the right to control what information to share and when, and even to stop sharing if necessary,” Mukesha said, as quoted by RadioTV10, during the launch of the registration drive.Rwanda’s new digital ID comes within the framework of the Single Digital Identification System (SDIS) project started in earnest in 2023 with a legislative amendment. It is estimated to cost around $38 million upon completion.The project is aimed at providing every citizen, refugee, and foreign resident in Rwanda with a secure biometric digital identity, which will facility access to a wide range of public and private sector services. It is part of the country’s broader digital transformation plan which is making gains in the area of connectivity.To support the digital ID enrollment efforts across the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the government recently announced the allocation of about $8.5 million.According to the government, the new digital ID system will not only streamline access to digital services, but will also enhance national security. The ID is expected to be in the form of a physical card, a digital version and an authentication number which can be used to access online services. That number will be unique and assigned to an individual for life, unlike with the old system where citizens have had to be issued different ID numbers for card replacements, according to KT Press.A key feature of the SDIS, as explained by authorities, will be an Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) that will play the three-fold role of deduplicating the biometric database, facilitating biometric identification in real time and supporting the eventual printing of biometric digital ID cards.Authorities are asking citizens to cooperate for the successful unfolding of the exercise. In this regard, the government is looking forward to a nationwide campaign to sensitize citizens to the importance of the digital ID project and why they should contribute to its success.NIDA says once the core architecture of the digital ID system is set up, existing cards of the old generation will be withdrawn and phased out.

Zambia sees civil registration as bedrock of inclusive digital transformation-Aug 12, 2025, 10:17 am EDT    | Ayang Macdonald

Zambia’s Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Jack Mwiimbu, has explained why the government of the Southern African nation is taking civil registration seriously. He says it is essential for the country’s ongoing digital transformation pursuits.Mwiimbu was speaking ahead of the 8th Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day, which was observed across the continent on August 10.This year, activities to mark the event took place under the theme “Civil Registration as the Foundation for Digital Public Infrastructure and Digital Legal Identity Systems in Africa.”Speaking while launching the event in Lusaka, the minister emphasized that civil registration is not just a matter of paperwork, but it is the bedrock of legal identity which doesn’t only confirm citizenship but enables access to social protection services.He noted that as part of the push by Zambia to meet the SDG 16.9 target of legal identity for all, including birth registration by 2030, the government has three aspects within the lens of its strategic focus as underscored in this year’s commemoration theme.The first of them, Mwiimbu said, is integration which aims to ensure that the country’s CRVS system is linked with health, education, identity management, and social protection systems.The government, he added, is also aiming at full modernization which entails digitization and an upgrade of the system in order to expand coverage across the nation and ensure efficiency of service delivery, while the third aspect is to decentralize the process and bring it close to remote communities such that no single citizen is left out.The minister noted that CRVS is good for Zambia as it is for other African countries because without inclusive CRVS, countries on the continent cannot build trustworthy digital identity systems for good governance and socio-economic development.Mwiimbu used the opportunity to call on Zambian citizens to register all births, marriages, and deaths in order to support inclusive development and better service delivery.At the same time, he pledged the government’s commitment to strengthening its CRVS efforts through a number of measures including digitization, community outreach, legal reforms and the development of relevant infrastructure.Zambia has one of the lowest birth registration rates in Africa, but the government is multiplying efforts to reach a 50 percent target by the close of next year.Cameroon, Somalia…also hold CRVS Day events-Africa CRVS Day, observed since 2018, is an opportunity for African countries to reflect on ways of improving national civil registration frameworks and integrating them with modern digital systems not only to facilitate access to services, but as a gateway to enjoying many human rights.Other African countries including Cameroon and Somalia also held commemorative events this year with pledges from their respective governments to improve civil registration efforts, and make legal identity more inclusive.On the occasion of this year’s commemoration, UNICEF equally issued a statement highlighting the importance of birth registration as a vital step towards achieving the SDG 16.9 target.

La Francophonie supports birth registration efforts across Central Africa, Madagascar-Aug 12, 2025, 10:10 am EDT    | Ayang Macdonald

The International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), known commonly as La Francophonie, has reiterated its continuous support towards advancing birth registration in Central Africa as well as in other countries on the continent.In a recent press statement, the inter-governmental organization made up largely of French-speaking countries, outlined some of birth registration strides it has recorded in countries including Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Madagascar.The statement was issued on the occasion of the 8th edition of the Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day observed in many countries of the continent on August 10.“In Chad, more than 53,000 children have been registered in the provinces of Tandjilé and Ennedi Est and a second phase is in preparation. In Cameroon, 5,400 children in the Far North have obtained a birth certificate. In the Central African Republic, the project is being launched and aims to issue 3,000 birth certificates to children and young people without civil registration, as well as to train staff and public officials,” the organization disclosed.The OIF says these achievements have been obtained thanks to the collaboration of the governments of these countries in the implementation of its flagship Civil Registration project which has been in place since 2019.It mentions that the objective of the project, which focuses on multistakeholder field projects and high-level advocacy actions, is to strengthen national birth registration systems, particularly in rural areas and among vulnerable populations.“Civil registration is the cornerstone of all fundamental rights. Aware of this fact, the OIF has made it one of its strategic priorities to support its member states and governments in the implementation of inclusive, reliable, and accessible systems for all, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, to provide legal identity for all by 2030,” the OIF emphasized.Madagascar’s CRVS efforts get OIF push-Apart from Central Africa, the OIF has also significantly supported Madagascar to improve its civil registration and legal ID numbers, the organization reports.At the close of last month, a symbolic ceremony to hand over birth certificates took place, as part of an exercise that is expected to see the registration of more than 65,000 people without birth certificates between 2024 and 2025.The project is being implemented in collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Interior, and it seeks to offer institutional support to Madagascar, to enable access to legal ID services especially for women and children. It is also supporting the country’s authorities by mobilising expertize, resources, and partnerships to support far-reaching reforms, including assistance for the operationalization of Madagascar’s personal data protection institution.The OIF noted that before the handing over ceremony of birth certificates, it had renewed its partnership with the Urban Council of Antananarivo for “an ambitious project” which aims to register 24,000 people without legal identity by the end of 2025. Over 18,000 persons have already had legal identity within the framework of the project launched in 2022.The OIF says it’s an ardent supporter of Africa CRVS Day and since 2021, it has worked to ensure the civil status registration of more than 500,000 persons mainly women and children, sensitized more than 2.5 million people in five countries to the importance of civil registration, and offered specific training and capacity building to more than 6,100 agents and officials.

ICE prepares sole-source facial recognition deal with Clearview AI-Comes amid renewed legal and civil liberties concerns-Aug 11, 2025, 4:04 pm EDT    | Anthony Kimery

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is once again advancing its relationship with Clearview AI through a sole-source contract, a move provoking renewed scrutiny and civil liberties alarm.ICE’s Office of Acquisition Management, on behalf of Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Cyber and Operational Technology division, issued a Special Notice of Intent to award facial recognition services exclusively to Clearview AI under FAR 6.302-1, which permits bypassing competitive bidding when only one vendor is deemed reasonably available.ICE has justified its decision by citing Clearview’s “unique proprietary capabilities.” The solicitation will propose a 12-month base period plus three optional annual extensions.ICE’s move echoes earlier engagements with Clearview AI. In August 2020, the agency entered into a contract with Clearview AI for its HSI Dallas mission support office that reportedly was valued at $224,000.Clearview’s CEO at the time, Hoan Ton-That, said “Clearview AI’s agreement is with Homeland Security Investigations, which uses our technology for their Child Exploitation Unit and ongoing criminal investigations. Clearview AI has enabled HSI to rescue children across the country from sexual abuse and exploitation.”Government spending records also indicate a 2021 contract between ICE and Clearview, though details remain limited.Clearview AI’s business model of scraping billions of publicly available images, including from social media, has sparked controversy and regulatory backlash. In May 2022, Clearview settled a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in which it agreed to limit its services in the U.S. to government entities only, effectively halting sales to private firms.Additionally, Clearview has been fined and banned across multiple jurisdictions for violating privacy laws. In the European Union, for instance, it faced General Data Protection Regulation enforcement, including a €30.5 million fine from Dutch regulators.Civil liberties groups have long criticized Clearview’s unchecked surveillance potential. ACLU‑Northern California, Mijente, Just Futures Law, and the Immigrant Defense Project filed public records requests in 2020 to uncover ICE’s use of the technology, highlighting concerns that it could be used to identify, track, and surveil immigrants based on social media presence.A GAO report in 2023 revealed troubling oversight gaps, noting that ICE began using Clearview AI in June 2019 before it had completed the required Privacy Impact Assessment in May 2020. Agency officials removed key privacy safeguards despite recommendations from the Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Office.The proposed sole-source deal is likely to reignite concern among immigrant rights advocates and privacy watchdogs who argue that ICE’s stated scope for use -criminal investigation by HSI – lacks transparent safeguards preventing expanded deployment in immigration enforcement or removal operations. The absence of binding oversight policy or meaningful public accountability mechanisms will only intensify calls for transparency.ICE’s renewed contract with Clearview AI illustrates a growing tension between agency leaders who view the technology as indispensable for solving criminal investigations quickly, and opponents who warn that it entrenches biometric surveillance and risks misidentification, privacy intrusion, and increased danger for immigrant communities.

Bipartisan support grows for mandatory UK digital ID-Tories, Labour coalesce on illegal migration-Aug 11, 2025, 3:51 pm EDT    | Masha Borak

The UK’s digital identity project may be moving towards bipartisan support. The Conservative Party is carefully considering the introduction of compulsory digital IDs, according to Shadow Home Secretary and Tory MP Chris Philp.“I think any government of this country has to be prepared to do whatever it takes to protect our borders from illegal migration,” Philp told the BBC in an interview last week. “I think it is certainly something we should be considering very carefully.”There is a very strong case for proving identity for claiming benefits, using the National Health Service (NHS) and using other services paid by taxpayers, he continues. Compulsory, universal ID cards, however, also bring up questions around civil liberties, personal freedom and excessive intrusion by the state, he adds.“I think that is a legitimate and valid debate to have, and I think any responsible party should think about it very carefully,” says Philp.His statements followed Kemi Badenoch’s June comments, in which the Conservative leader indicated she would consider introducing identity cards to tackle illegal migration, according to The Telegraph.The Labour government is currently considering issuing a mandatory verifiable digital identity credential to every adult in the country called the BritCard. Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reportedly ordered a “comprehensive and expansive look” at the role technology can play in government, including digital ID.The issue has been largely driven by former PM Tony Blair and his Institute for Global Change.Blair’s Labour government introduced mandatory ID cards in 2009. After winning the elections, however, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition repealed the law governing the ID scheme, dubbing the project “wasteful, bureaucratic and intrusive.”Fintech and digital security experts join lawmakers in support-Meanwhile, other Labour politicians, as well as digital identity and security experts, are also trying to influence the UK’s digital ID debate.Senior Scottish Labour MP Gregor Poynton said last Friday that ID would help Scots gain faster access to the NHS and lead to “less fraud” at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and “a tax system that actually works.”“The new eVisa system already lets employers, landlords and public services quickly check someone’s ID and immigration status. It uses secure facial recognition and gives full info on a person’s visa rights,” Poynton says in a letter published by The Daily Record.“A secure digital identity is the key to fixing our broken immigration system and speeding up the public services we all use,” he adds.David Birch, digital payments consultant and advisor to digital identity verification service OneID, attempts to dispel confusion about the difference between ID cards and digital identity. The UK needs a “sensible” national discussion on digital identity, instead of the “old tropes about identity cards” repeated by the media, he says.The digital identity infrastructure proposed by the likes of Tony Blair is not “digital ID cards” but a “secure, privacy-preserving digital identity for citizens.” Digital ID users, for instance, do not have to reveal who they are to prove that they are old enough to look at pornography or rent an e-scooter.“We have all of the technologies that we need to build the new kind of digital identity that we need for the 21st century — zero-knowledge proofs, verifiable credentials, strong authentication — and now we need to put them to work to deliver not a National Identity Scheme (NIS) as previously envisaged but a National Entitlement Scheme (NES),” he says.This can be achieved with protocols for requesting and presenting verifiable credentials, such as Open ID for Verifiable Presentations 9OID4VP, currently used within European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet pilots and the California DMV’s mDL login service, Birch writes for Forbes.Another often repeated criticism of the country’s proposed digital ID system is the government’s poor track record in introducing large-scale identity-related IT systems. Successful examples such as Estonia, however, could serve as a model for the UK, according to Sir Edward Lucas, a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and former senior editor at The Economist.The UK already has many of the functionalities that Estonia’s digital ID system offers, albeit through various separate systems. Moving towards a more integrated and user-controlled digital identity system, similar to Estonia’s, could be beneficial for the country, he writes in an opinion article for The Times.

Digital identity ‘integral’ to US crypto ambitions: White House-Digital asset report could boost administration support for mDLs-Aug 11, 2025, 3:50 pm EDT    | Chris Burt

Broad adoption of digital identity by Americans could be the step needed for the U.S. to become the “crypto capital of the world,” as envisioned by President Donald Trump. A new report from the White House’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets on “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” lists “digital identity providers” among the “key infrastructure providers and tools” that are “integral” to the cryptocurrency project.The report calls on Congress to pass more legislation to grant the CFTC more regulatory power over crypto, and to promote decentralized finance (DeFi) technology. The SEC and CFTC should set up regulatory sandboxes and utilize safe harbor provisions to get “innovative financial products” into the market. The Working Group contrasts the actions of the current administration to “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” which is an alleged campaign by the Biden Administration to “debank” the cryptocurrency industry.The Administration suggests that dollar-backed stablecoins will modernize the U.S. payments infrastructure, and calls on Congress to codify its Executive Order banning Central Bank Digital Currencies.A chapter on countering illicit finance notes the potential for cybercriminals to use digital assets to fund their activities, and the importance of AML and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) measures.But money laundering and terrorism financing are not major problems for crypto, according to the report, which cites estimates from two crypto analysis companies that only 0.61 percent to 0.86 percent of onchain digital asset volumes in 2023, or $46.1 billion to $58.7 billion, were illicit.The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is withdrawing notices of proposed rulemaking related to unhosted digital wallets and travel and recordkeeping rules, and the Department of Justice has disbanded its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.Private sector investigations and the public-private Illicit Virtual Asset Notification (IVAN) system would take prominent roles in preventing illicit flows of money. Digital identities protected by MFA can help keep crypto assets out of the hands of North Koreans and other malicious actors.This view contrasts somewhat with European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), launched in July. The AMLA declared at launch that crypto-asset service providers “are exposed to significant money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks due to their technological features, cross-border operations, and anonymity-enhancing capabilities.”The report notes that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has flagged the lack of harmony in AML and CFT frameworks, warning of an uneven playing field.National digital identity strategy pending-The chapter on illicit finance also includes a section on “advancing privacy through digital identity and related tools.” This passage acknowledges the capability of digital IDs to support identity verification and prevent fraud while safeguarding user’s privacy. Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and selective disclosure are among the mechanisms explicitly identified as filling these dual priorities.Socure’s Jordan Burris discussed America’s need for a federal digital identity strategy on a recent episode of The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton. Burris identified mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) as “part of the equation,” but not necessarily the whole answer.He also suggested that a June Executive Order rolling back support for mDL programs “cleans the slate such that a strategy can be put in place.”The report advises the Treasury Department to look for “possible applications” of NIST’s updated Digital Identity Guidelines, and take lessons from the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence’s (NCCoE’s) initiative to “Accelerate Adoption of Digital Identities on Mobile Devices.”Though mDLs are not referred to by name in the document, those are both the main focus of the NCCoE project and the main digital ID credential owned by Americans so far. David Kelts, head of the STA’s mDL JumpStart Committee, noted in a recent Dock Labs podcast that there have now been 5 million mDLs issued in the U.S.Treasury should also issue a request for information (RFI), as required by the GENIUS Act, to learn about innovations that could help detect money laundering and other illegal transactions, and improve digital identity verification.