JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
RUSSIA
WITH 3 FIGHTER JETS TESTS NATOS ARTICLE 5.INVADES ESONIAS AIR SPACE FOR
12 MINUTES.WILL NATO COUNTRIES GO AFTER RUSSIA.IS THE QUESTION? WILL
ISRAEL REBUILD THE 3RD TEMPLE.YES IS THE ANSWER.
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)
And here are the
bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or
peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels
land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the
future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq
west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe
23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN
THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE
FUTURE.
Joel 3:2-King James Version (YOU DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN
HALF - YOUR POKING GOD IN THE EYE - GOD SAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A
TOOTH FOR A TOOTH- YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - HALF OF EARTHS
POPULATION 4 BILLION DIE ON EARTH.
2 I will also gather all nations,
and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead
with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have
scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
Israel strikes five towns in south Lebanon.
Beirut,
Lebanon, Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-Israel carried out air strikes on
five towns in southern Lebanon on Thursday shortly after telling people
to flee, Lebanese state media and the Israeli military said.Lebanon's
state-run National News Agency reported a strike on Mais al-Jabal, a
border town ravaged by the war last year between Israel and Hezbollah,
where the health ministry said one person was injured.Strikes also hit
the towns of Debbin, Burj Qalawiya, Al-Shahabiya and Kfar Tibnit, the
roads out of which were full of people fleeing ahead of the attacks, NNA
said.An AFP journalist near Debbin saw clouds of dark smoke rising from
the town after the strikes.Israel has kept up its strikes on southern
Lebanon despite a truce signed in November that ended more than a year
of hostilities and two months of open war with Hezbollah.It has also
maintained troops in five locations in the south of Lebanon it deems
strategic.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks and "the
silence of the countries who had sponsored" the ceasefire, which he said
"encourages further aggression"."The time has come to put an immediate
end to these blatant violations of Lebanon's sovereignty," he said.The
Israeli military said it struck several weapons storage facilities
belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force in southern Lebanon.It said
it would "continue to operate to eliminate any threat" to Israel.The
Israeli military had issued calls telling residents of the five southern
towns to evacuate "immediately", saying it would strike Hezbollah
targets.Ahead of Thursday's strikes, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam
had called for "maximum pressure" on Israel to stop its attacks on his
country.- Hindering Hezbollah disarmament - The latest Israeli strikes
came a day after Hezbollah commemorated a year since Israel blew up
hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members, killing
dozens and wounding thousands.Israel and Hezbollah had already been
engaged in cross-border fighting for nearly a year before the pager
attack, which was one of a series of blows that drastically weakened the
Iran-backed group, formerly Lebanon's most powerful political
force.Under US pressure, Beirut has ordered the Lebanese army to draw up
a plan to disarm Hezbollah in areas near the Israeli border by the end
of the year.Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said last week that Lebanon's
army would fully disarm the Iran-backed group near the border within
three months.But the army, which said Thursday's strikes brought
Israel's ceasefire "violations" to 4,500, said the attacks risk slowing
down Hezbollah's disarmament."These assaults and violations obstruct the
army's deployment in the south, and their continuation will hinder the
implementation of its plan starting from the area south of the Litani
River," the army said in a statement.Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah
said "the renewed Israeli aggression on southern villages will not push
our people to surrender or abandon their land".Hezbollah, which has
rejected Beirut's plan, is currently preparing to commemorate the death
of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on
Beirut's southern suburbs in late September 2024.
Security forces
find several rifles, gun parts near crossing-After deadly attack, IDF
chief halts Gaza aid entering from Jordan; Allenby Crossing shut-Zamir
urges continued strategic-security cooperation with Jordan, vows to
‘draw lessons’ from incident; PM seeks boosted checks on trucks, drivers
after 2 soldiers killed in border attack By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI
Staff Today, 4:58 pm-SEP 19,25
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal
Zamir said Friday that he instructed a halt to the entry of Gaza aid
from Jordan until the investigation into the deadly attack a day earlier
was completed, as the Allenby Crossing between the West Bank and Jordan
was declared shut until further notice.Aid will continue entering the
Gaza Strip via other routes, a military official said, amid the rapidly
expanding Israeli offensive in Gaza City, which has left tens of
thousands of Palestinians fleeing to the south of the Strip.According to
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, since
the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023, nearly 10,000 trucks
of aid, or over 144,000 tons, have been transferred to the Gaza Strip
from Jordan using land crossings with Israel and the West Bank. The
total represents some 7 percent of all aid deliveries.Speaking at the
scene of the attack on Friday, Zamir vowed to “draw lessons” from the
“difficult incident” in which two soldiers were shot and killed by a
Jordanian who had been driving a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid truck.“This
is a serious and difficult incident. We will thoroughly investigate it
and draw lessons from it,” Zamir said during a visit to the border
alongside senior officers, adding: “We must remember that the
strategic-security cooperation with Jordan contributes greatly to the
IDF and must be preserved.”“In recent months, we have established a
dedicated division on the eastern border. We are strengthening and will
continue to strengthen all components of defense on this border,” he
said, referring to the recently formed 96th “Gilad” Division, which is
tasked with the Jordan border.Zamir was joined by COGAT chief Maj. Gen.
Ghassan Alian, Planning Directorate chief, Vice Adm. Eyal Harel, Central
Command chief, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth and officials from the Israel
Airports Authority (IAA) — responsible for the border crossing. Zamir
later met with 96th Division chief Brig. Gen. Oren Simcha and other
officers at a military post in the area, the IDF added.Meanwhile, the
IAA declared on Friday that the Allenby Crossing — the West Bank’s sole
crossing with Jordan — closed until further notice.The northern Jordan
River Crossing has also been closed until further notice. The
Israel-Jordan Rabin Crossing near Eilat was only open to workers, while
the Taba Crossing with Egypt was operating normally, according to the
IAA statement.Simultaneously, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was
reportedly seeking to tighten security at the border crossing, blaming
Jordan for the deadly shooting and stabbing attack, after it was
revealed that the perpetrator was a Jordanian who had been driving a
Gaza-bound humanitarian aid truck.During a security cabinet meeting
Thursday night, the premier told ministers that he wants new security
protocols to be introduced for aid trucks arriving from Jordan, the Kan
public broadcaster reported.“I demand that the drivers pass through
metal detectors from now on, and that the trucks be thoroughly
inspected,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying. “It was Jordan’s
responsibility to prevent the attack, and it didn’t.”The perpetrator of
Thursday’s attack arrived at the crossing from the Jordanian side, upon
which he opened fire at soldiers using a handgun.He then got out of the
truck and, after his gun apparently jammed, stabbed the two soldiers
repeatedly until security guards at the crossing opened fire at him,
killing him on the spot.The slain soldiers were named as: Lt. Col.
(res.) Yitzhak Harosh, 68, a reservist in the Civil Administration from
Jerusalem, and Sgt. Oran Hershko, 20, a liaison officer with foreign
forces in the IDF’s Tevel international cooperation unit, from Tel
Mond.Both victims were responsible for coordinating the entry of Gaza
aid via Jordan.The attack occurred before the truck could be inspected, a
preliminary military investigation found.In a statement later Thursday
evening, the Jordanian foreign ministry announced that the country’s
security services had launched an investigation into “the shooting
incident” on the Israeli side of the border crossing.The foreign
ministry said Jordan “condemned and rejected” the attack “as a violation
of international law, Jordan’s interests and its ability to deliver
humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”The ministry’s statement named the
perpetrator as Abd al-Mutalib al-Qaisi, a 57-year-old who had started
working as a truck driver distributing aid to Gaza just three months
ago.This was not the first instance in which Jordanian nationals have
carried out attacks at Allenby Crossing.In September 2024, three Israeli
men, Yohanan Shchori, Yuri Birnbaum and Adrian Marcelo Podzamczer, were
killed in a terrorist shooting at the Allenby Crossing, carried out by a
Jordanian truck driver.The following month, in October 2024, two
Israelis were wounded in a shooting near the Dead Sea carried out by
terror operatives who had infiltrated from Jordan.Separately on Friday,
authorities announced that police officers and IDF troops located
several assault rifles and gun parts near the Allenby Crossing.In a
joint statement, the Israel Police and military said that during scans
south of the crossing shortly after the attack, forces found a bag with
several guns and parts in it, which were intended to be smuggled into
Israel via the West Bank.Weapon smuggling attempts over the Jordan
border are frequent.Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.
Japan’s
FM pledged not to recognize Palestinian state at UN, Israel says-No
immediate confirmation of decision from Tokyo, amid wave of Western
countries vowing to recognize Palestinian sovereignty at UN summit set
for next week By Nava Freiberg-and ToI Staff Today, 4:02 pm-SEP 19,25
Japan
has decided not to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations
General Assembly next week, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced
Friday.Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya notified Foreign Minister
Gideon Sa’ar over the phone of the country’s decision, according to a
readout from Sa’ar’s office.“The Japanese foreign minister informed
Minister Sa’ar during the conversation that Japan has decided not to
support recognition of a Palestinian state at the upcoming UN General
Assembly,” the readout said.The call was held preceding a UN summit
co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris and set to take place on September 22 in
New York, in which Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are
expected to formally recognize a Palestinian state, although reports
have suggested that the United Kingdom could announce recognition as
early as Friday.During the call, which followed a conversation between
the ministers two weeks prior, Sa’ar “presented Israel’s position” on
its strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar last week.The top diplomats
also discussed the IDF’s operation in Gaza City, the military’s recent
arrest of a terror cell producing rockets to attack Israeli targets, and
other issues, Sa’ar’s office added.There was no immediate Japanese
readout of the call or confirmation of the decision not to recognize a
Palestinian state.Earlier this week, the Asahi newspaper cited unnamed
government sources as saying that Japan will not recognize a Palestinian
state for now, likely to maintain relations with the United States and
to avoid a hardening of Israel’s attitude.Israel has called the planned
recognition of a Palestinian state a “prize for terror,” and last week
rejected a non-binding UN declaration outlining “tangible, time-bound
and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution, without the
involvement of Hamas.“The only beneficiary is Hamas… When terrorists are
the ones cheering, you are not advancing peace; you are advancing
terror,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said. The Foreign Ministry
similarly called it a “disgrace.”Around three-quarters of the 193 UN
member states recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed in 1988 by the
exiled Palestinian leadership.However, after two years of war — sparked
by Hamas’s October 7 massacre — that have ravaged the Gaza Strip, in
addition to expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the stated
desire by Israeli officials to annex the territory, fears have been
growing that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state will
soon become impossible.“We are going to fulfill our promise that there
will be no Palestinian state,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed
earlier this month.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,
meanwhile, may be prevented from visiting New York for the UN summit
after US authorities said they would deny him a visa.
9,000
Israelis sign petition to recognize Palestinian state ahead of UN
summit-Organized by grassroots group Zazim, backed by bereaved families
of October 7 victims, petition calls on world to endorse Palestinian
statehood as only path to peace-By Ariela Karmel-Today, 2:41 pm-SEP
19,25
Close to 9,000 Israelis have signed a petition supporting
the call to recognize a Palestinian state ahead of an upcoming summit
co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France on September 22 in New York, in
which Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are expected to
formally recognize Palestinian statehood.The petition, entitled ‘No to
war — yes to recognition!’ had collected 8,866 as of Friday morning and
was organized by Zazim – Community Action, an Israeli grassroots
movement of Jews and Arabs working together for democracy and
equality.“We are citizens of Israel who are opposed to continuing the
war in Gaza and believe in peace. We call on the nations of the world to
recognize Palestine during the United Nations General Assembly,” the
petition reads.“Recognition is a done deal,” the petition continues. “We
must choose whether we join the world or side with [Prime Minister
Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and Hamas, who
oppose recognition.” (There is no sign that Hamas opposes recognition of
Palestinian statehood, and the terror group is likely to celebrate the
move. It does oppose a two-state solution, support for which is likely
to be included in the recognition announcement.)The petition aims to
“show the world that a large part of Israeli society understands that
recognition of a Palestinian state is also in Israel’s interest,” and to
put pressure on states that have not agreed to recognize a Palestinian
state, such as Germany and the US.Organizers of the petition aim to
present 10,000 signatures of Israelis at the UN General Assembly next
week to “show the world that there is a strong and clear Israeli voice
that opposes a never-ending war and expects international involvement to
end the war and bring peace.”The General Assembly will include a summit
on September 22, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, called a
“High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the
Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution,”
where the majority of states are expected to vote in favor of
Palestinian recognition.The French-Saudi initiative to revive
discussions on the two-state solution and recognition of a Palestinian
state was “a tremendous opportunity,” Raluca Ganea, the Co-Founder and
Executive Director of Zazim, told The Times of Israel.“A political
solution with two states for two peoples, each with sovereignty,
security and peace, is the only alternative on the table,” she said.“The
only other option is eternal war, ‘super Sparta,’ where enemies never
disappear,” she added, referencing Netanyahu’s controversial comments
this week that Israel faces a Spartan path.Ganea said that the majority
of the signatories were Israeli Jews because “Palestinians are afraid to
put their name to such a petition.”Many of the signatories include
members of bereaved families. They include Ayelet Harel, co-CEO of the
Parents Circle-Families Forum for bereaved Palestinian and Israeli
families, whose brother was killed in 1982 during the Lebanon War, and
others who lost loved ones during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023.Among
them are Yotam Kipnis of Zazim, whose parents Lilach and Eviatar were
murdered on Kibbutz Be’eri; Liora Eylon, who survived the Kibbutz Kfar
Aza massacre but whose son was murdered; Maoz Inon, a peace activist
whose parents Bilha and Yakov Inon were killed in Netiv Ha’asara; and
Yonatan Zeigen, whose mother Vivian Silver was murdered on Kibbutz
Be’eri.Since October 7, some bereaved families, particularly from
kibbutzim in the Gaza periphery — the region hardest hit — have sought
to honor their loved ones by pushing for a political solution that
includes recognition of a Palestinian state. For them, the massacre was
not proof that the two-state solution is dead, but rather that its
absence led to the disaster.“October 7 proved that the policy of
‘managing’ the conflict and of strangling every other horizon for the
Palestinians, explodes in our faces every time,” Zeigen said.For Zeigen,
whose mother Vivian was a noted Canadian-Israeli peace activist,
indefinite and perpetual war and destruction for both peoples has proved
fatally ineffective at preventing continued violence.“There is a
fundamental issue here in which two peoples have a shared problem of how
to live together on the same land, in freedom, security and
prosperity,” he said. “The path to a solution is not through military
force, but only when we meet the Palestinians from a starting point of
equality. To do that, we need to end the occupation, annexation and the
conflict in general.”For bereaved families who have signed the petition,
October 7 did not alter their views on the conflict so much as
crystallize them. Inon, a peace activist for over than 20 years, said
the attack did not surprise him.“I knew already that the status quo was
unsustainable and would explode, but I thought it would happen in the
West Bank and not in Gaza,” he said. “The only way to achieve peace and
security is through negotiations, equality and reconciliation. Those who
believe that a wall will bring peace and that war will bring security
are mistaken.”During the shiva for his parents, Inon and his siblings
made a conscious decision to reject revenge.“We do not want to avenge
the death of our parents. It won’t bring them back to life, and it will
only increase the horrors and terror in which we are trapped,” said
Inon. “The path to our own healing, and that of our peoples, cannot be
through bloodshed. It will only be through a process of
reconciliation.”‘A prize for Hamas’The planned recognition of a
Palestinian state has elicited strong condemnation from Israel, which
has called the initiative a “prize for terror.”“The only beneficiary is
Hamas… When terrorists are the ones cheering, you are not advancing
peace; you are advancing terror,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon
said last week.The petition rejects the notion that Palestinian
statehood is a gift to Hamas.“Recognition of a Palestinian state is not a
punishment for Israel, but a step toward a better future of mutual
recognition and security for both peoples. All of the countries [voting
to recognize Palestine] have made it clear that Hamas will not be able
to take part in governing and that all hostages must be released
immediately,” it reads.Seventeen countries, plus the European Union and
the Arab League, have called for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of
Gaza, signing a statement at a previous UN confab in July declaring that
“Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the
Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in
line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian
State.”French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot noted at the time that
the declaration was unprecedented on several fronts. “For the first
time, Arab countries and those in the Middle East condemn Hamas, condemn
October 7, call for the disarmament of Hamas, call for its exclusion
from Palestinian governance, and clearly express their intention to
normalize relations with Israel in the future,” he said in July.The
authors and signatories of the petition, including bereaved family
members, find the suggestion that they would support Hamas absurd.“Our
government is trying to do everything they can to portray those who
support recognition and support the French-Saudi plan as antisemites, as
being against us, as giving a prize to Hamas, and all sorts of things
like that, which are simply not true,” said Ganea.“Smotrich said
multiple times [before October 7] that Hamas is a ‘strategic asset’ for
Israel — [it was] not me and not residents of the [Gaza] envelope,” said
Inon, adding that it was the Israeli government who knew what Hamas was
and decided to pursue a policy of strengthening it in the Strip rather
than the Palestinian Authority and moderate actors.“The establishment of
a Palestinian state will be a reward for moderates, for those who love
life and humanity,” he continued. “It’s just a shame that it’s being
done now after so many lives were sacrificed in vain, for the sake of
land and for extremists on this side and on the other.”Zeigen said that
“a Palestinian state is not a reward for Hamas — it’s exactly what can
dismantle it, because Hamas is an idea that is based on resistance and
unregulated violence,” adding that the cycle of trauma and vengeance
that Israelis and Palestinians are both stuck in will be channeled into
violence so long as there is no “sense or hope of a better
horizon.”However, he also added that beyond the discourse, Palestinian
statehood is not something that Israel has the right to approve or
veto.“Statehood is a basic right. In a world divided into nation-states,
where rights are granted to people as citizens of a state, there is no
justification for [the Palestinian] people not to be equal,” he
said.Signatories of the petition argue that more and more Israelis are,
if not explicitly supportive of Palestinian statehood, receptive to the
idea that military solutions to the conflict have failed.Polls have
shown that a majority of the public has lost trust and faith in the
government and opposes its policy in Gaza.Those who have supported the
petition believe that, in the face of a government that they say does
not feel beholden to the Israeli public, which is not basing government
policy on national interests but on political needs, pressure from the
international community is necessary.“The world forced Israelis and
Palestinians to meet for the first time around the negotiating table in
Madrid in 1991, and it’s time for the world to again force Israelis and
Palestinians to leave the battlefield and enter the negotiating room,”
said Inon.Zeigen said that international calls to recognize a
Palestinian state are “tough love” and “needed.”They also want to
demonstrate to the world that Israelis are not their government.“It is
very, very important to show the world that the Israeli public is not
buying this government propaganda,” said Ganea.The petition shows that
“there are more and more Israelis who believe in the path of diplomacy,
the path of agreements, the path of negotiations,” said Inon.
UN
lets Abbas speak via video after US barred him from attending General
Assembly-Resolution, which passed 145-5, also lets PA leader participate
virtually in Saudi-French two-state solution confab, suggests US move
violates UN Headquarters Agreement By Jacob Magid,ToI Staff and Agencies
Today, 10:03 am-SEP 20,25
The United Nations voted
overwhelmingly Friday to let Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas deliver his speech virtually at next week’s UN General Assembly
after the US banned him and some 80 top PA officials from attending the
high-level New York gathering.The resolution, which expressed concern
and regret about the US decision, was supported by 145 countries, with
six countries abstaining and five, including Israel and the US, voting
against.The PA was also permitted under the resolution to submit a
pre-recorded video or participate via teleconference in a Saudi- and
French-hosted meeting at the General Assembly on Monday about the
two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Several Western
nations have announced ahead of the meeting that they would recognize
Palestinian statehood. In protest of the announcements, the
administration of US President Donald Trump said last month that it
would bar Abbas and other PA officials from attending.The text of the
resolution adopted Friday suggested that the US decision may have
violated the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement — a charge Washington
denies.Under the agreement, the US is generally required to allow access
for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. However, Washington has
said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy
reasons.Speaking before the General Assembly vote Friday, US diplomat
Jonathan Shrier said, “US opposition to this resolution should come as
no surprise.”“The Trump Administration has been clear: we must hold the
PLO and Palestinian Authority accountable for not complying with their
commitments under the Oslo Accords, some of them very basic, and for
undermining the prospects for peace,” said Shrier.The West Bank-based
PA, which was established under the 1993 Oslo Accords, has been accused
by Israel of inciting terrorism through its school curriculum and
through financial support to people linked to terrorist attacks.
Following the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, Israel’s Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich has vowed to topple the PA and take over the
West Bank.In addition to permitting Abbas to speak remotely, the
193-member UN General Assembly agreed on Friday — by consensus, without a
vote — that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de
facto ruler, could appear via video at the conference on the two-state
solution on Monday.Leaders have been allowed to address the UN General
Assembly virtually in the past several years, particularly during and in
the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.However, the general rule is
that speeches are to be given in person, which is apparently why the
General Assembly deemed it necessary to adopt a resolution making an
exception for Abbas to speak virtually this year.
ExclusiveSource
involved: Israel, PA, Saudis engaging constructively-Revealed: Tony
Blair’s US-backed proposal for ending the Gaza war and replacing
Hamas-After receiving Trump’s blessing, the former British PM has been
rallying international stakeholders to form a transitional authority to
govern the Strip before it gets handed over to the PA-By Jacob Magid 18
September 2025, 9:48 am
US President Donald Trump has authorized
Tony Blair to rally regional and international stakeholders around the
former UK prime minister’s proposal to establish a postwar transitional
body to govern the Gaza Strip until it can be handed over to the
Palestinian Authority, four sources familiar with the matter told The
Times of Israel.Blair began crafting the proposal in the early months of
the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group, envisioning it as a
plan for the so-called “day after.” But in recent months, the proposal
has also evolved into a plan for effectively ending the war, as the
Trump administration has reached the conclusion that agreement from
major stakeholders regarding the body that will replace Hamas in Gaza is
essential for securing a permanent ceasefire and hostage release deal, a
US official and a second source familiar with the matter said.While
Blair’s involvement in postwar Gaza planning has been previously
revealed, along with his participation in an August 27 White House
policy session on the matter, details of his proposal have not been
publicized to date.Not a displacement plan-The proposal — a developed
draft of which was obtained and authenticated by The Times of Israel —
envisions the establishment of the Gaza International Transitional
Authority (GITA) along with a series of subordinate structures.Previous
reporting has linked Blair to efforts aimed at displacing Palestinians
from Gaza or at building a “Trump Riviera” in the Strip, but the former
British premier’s actual proposal makes no mention of those ideas and
even envisions the establishment of a “Property Rights Preservation
Unit,” aimed at ensuring that any voluntary departure of Gazans does not
compromise their right to return to the enclave or retain property
ownership.“We do not have a plan to move the Gazan population out of
Gaza. Gaza is for Gazans,” said a source involved in discussions on the
Blair plan.Other plans presented to the Trump administration by parties
with ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confidant Strategic
Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and by certain individuals involved in the
establishment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as well as
members of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), did promote the idea of
facilitating or encouraging the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians
from Gaza.But Trump — who first gave legitimacy to the concept of
“voluntary migration” in February when he announced his plan to take
over Gaza and permanently relocate the Strip’s entire population — has
since distanced himself from the idea, and during the August 27 White
House policy session made clear that he was going with Blair’s plan
instead, the US official said.The US official noted that Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich is apparently unaware of that decision, having
declared on Wednesday that the Gaza Strip is a potential real estate
“bonanza” and that he was in talks with Washington on how to carve up
the coastal enclave after the war.The Kushner connection-The August 27
meeting was organized by the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner,
who served as senior adviser during Trump’s first term and has remained
engaged on Middle East issues during his second term, regularly advising
US special envoy Steve Witkoff.Like Kushner in his time, Witkoff has
been handed a variety of portfolios. The current special envoy has hired
limited support staff, though, and Kushner has been helping with the
Gaza day-after planning, as it is increasingly seen as critical for
securing a war-ending hostage release deal.This spring, Kushner
commissioned the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) — which
was already engaged on the issue thanks to the former UK prime
minister’s ties with Israeli, PA and Arab leaders — to come up with a
postwar plan, the US official said.Blair began regular engagement with
Trump officials, keeping them abreast of his progress as he met with
leaders throughout the region and began ironing out details of his plan,
the source familiar with discussions said.Not enough PA involvement for
Ramallah, but too much for Jerusalem-The former UK premier met PA
President Mahmoud Abbas in July, thanks to Gulf pressure on Ramallah to
engage with the initiative, an Arab diplomat said.While the PA has
expressed its desire to directly oversee the postwar governing body in
Gaza and Blair’s plan falls short of that goal, the source familiar with
the discussions said Ramallah has “engaged constructively.”Blair’s
proposal envisions the PA undergoing significant reforms and limits
Ramallah’s involvement in GITA largely to matters of coordination.
Still, the PA is explicitly mentioned throughout the plan, which
envisions “the eventual unifying of all the Palestinian territory under
the PA.”Though that is a development Netanyahu has fought fiercely to
prevent, the source familiar with discussions said that Israel has
engaged constructively with Blair’s effort.The Arab diplomat expressed a
little more skepticism, however, claiming that Netanyahu has a history
of dispatching Dermer to engage on such sensitive matters, then
thwarting them before they can materialize in order to keep his
coalition, including its far-right flank, intact.Doha strike derails
effort to get ‘Johnny’ on board-Still, Trump was impressed by Blair’s
initiative and told him to get “Johnny” on board, the US official said,
recalling the moniker Trump used to refer to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman during the August 27 White House meeting.The US views Saudi
Arabia as one of the most critical players when it comes to postwar
reconstruction, with enough sway to get the rest of the region on
board.While Trump gave Blair his blessing, he also gave him a two-week
window to secure regional support for the plan, the US official
said.That deadline has since expired, but the time period was one the
president has announced somewhat regularly without sticking to it.During
that period, Blair was also hobbled by the US issuing visa bans against
senior PA officials. That decision led to delays in some of the British
premier’s meetings with Gulf officials who didn’t want to be seen as
endorsing the administration’s decision by immediately meeting with an
effective Trump envoy right afterward, the Arab diplomat said.Still more
damaging to Blair’s effort was Israel’s September 9 strike against
Hamas leaders in Doha, the source familiar with discussions said.The
former British premier had been engaging Egypt and Qatar about coaxing
the terror group not to stand in the way of the plan, the source said,
adding that while Blair’s effort was temporarily derailed by the Israeli
strike, engagement has since resumed.‘We don’t have weeks. We have
days’The Doha strike also highlighted what may be one of the main
obstacles Blair faces in trying to sell his plan to Israel.While
Netanyahu says the strike was aimed at sending a message to Hamas’s
leadership — even those involved in hostage negotiations — conveying
that Israel will settle scores with all of them, an apparent goal of
Blair’s plan is to neutralize the terror group through nonmilitary
means.Alongside establishing an alternative to Hamas through GITA, the
plan also explicitly refers to the concept of “disarmament,
demobilization, and reintegration” or DDR.US Secretary of State Marco
Rubio may have been referring to that very idea when he said during a
press conference with Netanyahu in Jerusalem that “Hamas can no longer
continue to exist as an armed element,” as opposed to asserting that the
terror group should not exist at all, which has been the Israeli prime
minister’s framing.In the meantime, the Arab diplomat said that Blair
also faces an uphill battle getting Riyadh and other regional
stakeholders on board, as they are conditioning their support on the
plan containing the creation of an irreversible pathway to a future
Palestinian state — an idea long abhorred by Netanyahu and his far-right
coalition partners.The aforementioned pathway is one of a list of
principles that Arab stakeholders are demanding be folded into any plan
they’re being asked to bankroll, the Arab diplomat said.Still, the
source involved in discussions said that Blair has made inroads with
regional stakeholders and is racing to advance his plan within a short
time frame.“We don’t have months or weeks. We have days,” the source
said.What’s in the plan-Blair’s proposal envisions GITA being
established by a UN Security Council resolution.-GITA will serve as the
“supreme political and legal authority for Gaza during the transitional
period,” the developed draft of the plan obtained by The Times of Israel
states.GITA will have a board made up of seven to 10 members, which
will include “at least one qualified Palestinian representative
(potentially from the business or security sector),” a senior UN
official, leading international figures with executive or financial
experience, and a “strong representation of Muslim members” to boost
regional legitimacy and cultural credibility.An organizational chart
featured in former UK prime minister Tony Blair’s plan to establish a
Gaza International Transitional Authority that was obtained by The Times
of Israel in September 2025.The board will be tasked with “issu[ing]
binding decisions, approv[ing] legislation and appointments and
provid[ing] strategic direction,” while reporting back to the UN
Security Council.The chair of the board will be appointed by
international consensus and receive the endorsement of the UN Security
Council. The chair will lead GITA’s external engagement and diplomacy
and set the political direction of the body while closely coordinating
with the PA, the document says.The GITA board chair will have a
supporting staff of up to 25 people who will serve on the “strategic
secretariat.”The plan also envisions the creation of an Executive
Protection Unit “staffed by elite personnel from Arab and international
contributors” to protect the GITA leadership.An “Executive Secretariat”
will sit below GITA and serve as the latter’s administrative hub and
implementation arm, while directly overseeing the Palestinian Executive
Authority (PEA).The latter body is what has often been referred to as
the committee of independent Palestinian technocrats who will be
responsible for administering Gaza after the war.PA
coordination-Reporting to the Executive Secretariat will be a group of
five commissioners who will supervise key areas of Gaza governance:
humanitarian affairs, reconstruction, legislation and legal affairs,
security, and PA coordination.Notably, the plan states that the
commissioner overseeing humanitarian affairs will be responsible for
coordinating with humanitarian agencies, including the Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation, which some Arab stakeholders have been demanding be
dismantled.As for the PA coordination commissioner, the plan envisions
the aim of their office being to “ensure that the decisions of GITA and
those of the PA are, so far as possible, aligned and consistent with the
eventual unifying of all the Palestinian territory under the PA.”The
commissioner will also “track PA reform efforts in coordination with
international donors, financial institutions and Arab partners engaged
in Palestinian institutional development.”The source involved in the
discussions stressed that the reforms that the Blair plan expects of the
PA “are not cosmetic,” and that part of the reason there’s not a set
timeline for GITA to hand over authority of Gaza to the PA is that the
process is “performance-based.”Still, the source clarified that the
timeline will be several years, “not ten.”The plan envisions the
establishment of the Gaza Investment Promotion and Economic Development
Authority to secure investments for GITA and Gaza’s reconstruction. It
will be a “commercially driven authority, led by business professionals
and tasked with generating investable projects with real financial
returns.”A separate body will be established to secure and distribute
government grants.Also reporting to GITA and its Executive Secretariat
will be the Palestinian Executive Authority, which will interface more
directly with Palestinians by delivering services “through a
nonpartisan, professional administration.”The PEA will be headed by a
CEO formally appointed by the GITA board and will be responsible for
overseeing a series of technocratic ministries, including health,
education, finance, infrastructure, judicial affairs and welfare.Also
reporting to the PEA will be Gaza municipalities, which will be
responsible for delivering services at the local level; a Gaza civil
police force of “nationally recruited, professionally vetted, and
nonpartisan” officers tasked with maintaining public order and
protecting civilians; a judicial board chaired by an Arab jurist who
will supervise Gaza’s courts and public prosecution office; and the
aforementioned “Property Rights Preservation Unit.”Preventing Hamas’s
resurgence-Backing the civil police force will be the “International
Stabilization Force (ISF) — an internationally mandated, multinational
security force established to provide strategic stability and
operational protection in Gaza during the transitional period.”“It
ensures border integrity, deters armed group resurgence, protects
humanitarian and reconstruction operations, and supports local law
enforcement through coordination — not substitution,” the plan states.In
an apparent reference to its task of combating remnants of Hamas, the
plan says the ISF will “conduct targeted operations to prevent the
resurgence of armed groups, disrupt weapons smuggling and neutralize
asymmetric threats to public order and institutional functions.”In an
annex on GITA’s costs, the plan explains that the budget will expand
each year as the new governing body gradually phases into operations
throughout the entire Strip.The first year’s budget is placed at $90
million, the second year at $135 million and the third year at $164
million. The figures don’t include the costs of the ISF and humanitarian
aid, though, and the source familiar with the discussions said the
estimates were conservative.How to end the war-While Blair’s isn’t the
only plan for the postwar management of Gaza, it appears to be the lone
proposal that has secured US backing. Still, the source involved in the
discussions acknowledged that it can’t be considered a US plan until
Trump publicly says so.The document has also gone through a few rounds
of edits since it was obtained by The Times of Israel, as Blair
continues to receive feedback from stakeholders, the source said.“The
way to end the war is to [get regional stakeholders to] agree on
principles for how Gaza will be governed afterward in a manner that
Hamas is not involved and not armed and unable to regain power,” the
source said.“This can only happen if there is a new governing structure
in Gaza with a serious security force from the international community.
This cannot be the PA in the beginning. The PA will be a partner.
They’ll be consulted and coordinated with, but they won’t be the ones
managing Gaza on day one. This will happen later on after they reform,”
the source added.Blair’s office declined to comment on the record for
this story.
Interview'Their vision of the Third Temple has
globalized' What do the Third Temple movement and Noahide laws have in
common? A far-right vision-In her new book ‘Messianic Zionism in the
Digital Age,’ Rachel Z. Feldman documents a growing fringe movement to
hasten the messiah’s coming – and its incendiary geopolitical
implications By Rich Tenorio-Today, 7:59 am-SEP 20,25
When
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir delivered a
provocative speech on August 3 calling for not just the destruction of
Hamas, but the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the voluntary emigration
of Palestinians from the enclave, it wasn’t just what he said that
raised eyebrows, but where he said it.The video, posted on Ben Gvir’s X
account on Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning over the ancient
destruction of the First and Second Temples, showed the far-right member
of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet standing dressed in a
white shirt and dark blazer in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem.The mosque is built on a site venerated by Muslims and Jews
alike. Jews know it as the Temple Mount, the site of the two biblical
Temples, and where, according to Jewish eschatology, a Third Temple will
rise to usher in a messianic era. Muslims call it the Haram al-Sharif,
or Noble Sanctuary, and consider it the third-holiest site in Islam,
where Muhammad ascended to heaven.The Temple Mount was captured by
Israel in the Six Day War, but in a subsequent deal, control was
restored to a Jordanian waqf, or Islamic religious trust.In a
controversial but longstanding arrangement known as the “status quo,”
Muslims are allowed by the Waqf to worship at Al-Aqsa; Jews can visit
but not pray there.On Tisha B’Av, Ben Gvir led a group in prayer at the
site — an unprecedented act of public worship by a government minister
condemned by Jordan as “an unacceptable provocation and a reprehensible
escalation.”While Jewish activists going to the Temple Mount is not a
new phenomenon, it’s an increasing one. Many religious nationalists are
dismissing geopolitics as well as the traditional Orthodox approach of
waiting for the messianic era before setting foot on the holiest of
Jewish sites. These activists wish to actively pave the way for the
Third Temple by reestablishing a Jewish presence on the Temple
Mount.Outside of Israel, some are using the internet to bring about what
they see as another prerequisite for the messianic era: They are
helping tens of thousands of non-Jews across the world transition from
Christianity to a community called the Children of Noah, Bnei Noah, or
Noahides. This community is built on adherence to the Seven Noahide Laws
of the Hebrew Bible. It’s debated whether to call Noahidism a religion
or not.Dartmouth College religious studies professor Rachel Z. Feldman
documents these developments in a new book, “Messianic Zionism in the
Digital Age: Jews, Noahides, and the Third Temple Imaginary.”“It’s not a
book about geopolitics but sight lines on the ground,” Feldman told The
Times of Israel. “I tried to enter the daily lives of Temple activists
and Noahides, see [things] from their perspective, to understand how
their vision of the Third Temple globalized.”Asked in a follow-up email
for comment on Ben Gvir’s visit and prayer on the Temple Mount, she
replied: “The status quo has definitely changed. I have watched this
play out slowly since I started my research in [2012]. There are Jewish
groups praying openly every day now, so what Ben Gvir did is not
exceptional in that regard.”“Regardless,” she added, “I think his act
should force us to reflect on how the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa has been used
by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to obtain political goals. The
Temple/Al Aqsa is the most potent messianic and political symbol at the
heart of the conflict, capable of morally justifying and sacralizing
violence.”A wartime messianic boom-According to the author, Third Temple
activism has grown in intensity since the October 7, 2023, Hamas
onslaught on Israel and subsequent Israeli war on Hamas in the Gaza
Strip. She cites phenomena such as social media memes interweaving the
Third Temple and the war, and instances of Israel Defense Forces members
spray-painting Third Temple graffiti onto Palestinian homes in
Gaza.“Some Temple activists took a really hard-line militant stance,”
she said, “that October 7 was definite proof that Israel should move
forward and annex the Temple Mount.”Some Temple activists took a really
hard-line militant stance that October 7 was definite proof that Israel
should move forward and annex the Temple Mount’Feldman wrote the book’s
conclusion during the previous conflict between Israel and Hamas in
2021. By that point, she had conducted research in far-flung locations,
from Texas to Israel to the Philippines. And she had tracked how Third
Temple activism had migrated from the fringe to mainstream Israeli
religious nationalism over recent decades.“We can say that generally,
the Orthodox world has a passive messianic approach. You should not
physically try to move the messianic era along through practical
action,” Feldman said of the mainstream belief that the messiah will
only arrive when the Jewish people reach a certain spiritual
threshold.“Where Temple activists diverge,” she said, “goes back to
Rabbi [Avraham Isaac] Kook, one of the founding thinkers of religious
Zionism: One can take physical acts to manifest the messianic timeline —
renew animal sacrifices and the priesthood, bring Jews to the Temple
Mount.”Feldman noted that while Kook did not call for such acts, his
present-day followers see them validated by his early 20th-century
vision of practical political steps to reestablish a sovereign Jewish
nation in the Holy Land.As for today’s activists’ vision of Israel in
the messianic age, she said, it will be “essentially a theocratic state
that operates according to Torah law.”Working from the margins towards
the center-One measuring stick of popular acceptance of Temple activism
has been the changing location of the Temple Institute, an NGO
advocating for a Third Temple.Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel —
who was a member of the paratrooper brigade that captured the Temple
Mount in the Six Day War — the institute was originally located in a
back alley of the Old City of Jerusalem. Today, it occupies a much more
prominent space across from the Western Wall. There are other
barometers: The formation of a Temple lobby in the Knesset in 2016 and
the 50,000 to 60,000 Jews who visit the Temple Mount each year.As part
of her fieldwork, the author went to the Temple Mount with an all-female
activist group called Women for the Temple. They were confronted by
members of a Palestinian women’s group, the Murabitat, formed to defend
the site from Jewish encroachment. The book describes the ensuing
scene.“On the one hand, these [Jewish] activists were going up to have
this deep, meaningful, spiritual experience,” Feldman said. “Yet two
seconds in, they were surrounded by armed guards and protests from the
Muslims.”The book presents a comprehensive look at the Temple activist
movement. Predominantly Ashkenazi and male in leadership, its “foot
soldiers” are often female and/or Mizrahim, or Jews of Middle Eastern
descent — who have historically faced forms of racism and socioeconomic
disadvantages in the nascent Jewish state.The movement has co-opted the
protest language of the left: Activists claim that the Israeli
government’s allowing Muslim but not Jewish worship on the Temple Mount
is tantamount to apartheid, and they frame their push for Jewish prayer
on the site as a civil rights struggle.‘There was a desire on their part
not to be seen as crazy, and their internal logic represented’“I made
it clear I was not an ideological supporter of the Temple movement,”
Feldman said. “Some interlocutors tried to convince me. They were not
successful.”Yet, she added, “a sense of respect was established between
us. There was a desire on their part not to be seen as crazy, and their
internal logic represented, which I took seriously as an
anthropologist.”A Noahide endgame-By that time, Feldman had also found
links between Orthodox rabbis in the Temple movement and Noahides across
the globe. Rabbis such as the Temple Institute’s Ariel, and Oury Cherki
of the Brit Olam World Noahide Center, were reaching out to Noahides —
and to Christians interested in becoming Noahides. The Temple Institute
found an eager audience in the American Southwest; it was at the
institute’s 25th anniversary gala in Dallas in 2012 that Feldman first
learned about Noahides from attendees who wore cowboy boots and Stars of
David. Meanwhile, Brit Olam created downloadable resources on its
website, including a Noahide prayer book and a declaration to uphold the
Seven Noahide Laws, which cover issues such as rejection of idolatry,
establishing a justice system, and refraining from sexual immorality and
theft.‘In some places I traveled, some rural parts of the Philippines
and Mexico, I was the first Jewish person they had ever met in
person’Eventually, Feldman wished to learn about Noahidism from Noahides
themselves. She became particularly interested in communities in former
Spanish colonies.“In some places I traveled,” she said, “some rural
parts of the Philippines and Mexico, I was the first Jewish person they
had ever met in person. They were tuning into Jewish media all day,
listening to hours of rabbis on YouTube, maybe even exchanging digital
questions with rabbis … But there was no interchange with a Jewish
person, in person.”In the Philippines, Feldman went to a Noahide wedding
on the island of Cebu. The bride and groom each referenced the Seven
Noahide Laws in their vows. Feldman was a welcome guest, enjoying
mangoes, pineapple and coconuts while getting asked by multiple
congregation members to bless them.“Many Noahides in [former] Spanish
and Portuguese colonies … share similar life histories,” Feldman said.
“They were born into Catholic families. As they grew up, they started
questioning the divinity of the church and moved to
Protestantism.“Within Protestantism, they started to explore more and
more Hebrew Roots Christianity, which emphasizes the Hebrew Bible. The
closer they started to read the Hebrew Bible, the more they got into
Judaism — which led them to question the divinity of Jesus.”For many,
this path led not to a Jewish conversion, but to Noahidism — which,
Feldman explained, was due to geographical, financial and logistical
reasons.She noted that many would-be converts in the Philippines sought
an Orthodox conversion, but faced barriers. For example, an Orthodox
community in Manila that welcomes converts is located in an expensive
neighborhood, making it hard for villagers from other islands to
relocate.Becoming a Noahide can bring complications of its own.‘After
rejecting Jesus, they’re in a kind of no man’s land in terms of
religious identity’“After rejecting Jesus, they’re in a kind of no man’s
land in terms of religious identity,” Feldman said. “Becoming Noahide
gives them a status under Jewish law… The problem for them is that most
people are not satisfied with just having a legal status as a religious
identity.”“From an Orthodox rabbinic perspective, Noahidism is a legal
status, defining who is a God-fearing and non-idolatrous gentile, not a
religion,” she added. “Some [Noahides] are content with that… The
majority of people I interviewed in the Philippines and in Latin America
are yearning for something more.”In the book’s conclusion, Feldman
contemplates what that “something more” could mean.“Even as digital
channels extend forms of rabbinic authority to new locales,” she writes,
“the Noahide faith might eventually upend barriers to Jewish conversion
in the Global South as Noahides speak back to rabbinic centers of power
and exert their own influence on the Orthodox Jewish world.”As for the
Third Temple, Feldman raises provocative questions in the final pages,
inspired by the 18th-century kabbalist, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.“What
might an alternative political theology of the Third Temple look like?”
she asks. “Could ancient Jewish notions of the entire world as a ‘Third
Temple’ motivate a radical ecological ethics or a greater concern for
global wealth disparities? Maybe the Third Temple is already nascent
inside of us, in our untapped abilities to build a truly sustainable and
equitable planetary Temple home.”
Pakistan says its nuclear
program available to Saudi Arabia under defense pact-Comments come after
two nations sign mutual defense deal largely seen as a signal to
Jerusalem in the wake of Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar By AP
and ToI Staff Today, 12:42 pm-SEP 20,25
DUBAI, United Arab
Emirates — Pakistan’s defense minister says his nation’s nuclear
program “will be made available” to Saudi Arabia if needed under the
countries’ new defense pact, marking the first specific acknowledgment
that Islamabad had put the kingdom under its nuclear umbrella.Defense
Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s comments underline the importance of
the pact struck this week between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which have
had military ties for decades.The move is seen by analysts as a signal
to Israel, long believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed
nation. It comes after Israel’s attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar
last week killed six people and sparked new concerns among Gulf Arab
nations about their safety as the Israel-Hamas war devastated the Gaza
Strip and set the region on edge.Minister’s remarks touch on the nuclear
program-Speaking to Geo TV in an interview late Thursday night, Asif
made the comments while answering a question on whether “the deterrence
that Pakistan gets from nuclear weapons” will be made available to Saudi
Arabia.“Let me make one point clear about Pakistan’s nuclear
capability: that capability was established long ago when we conducted
tests. Since then, we have forces trained for the battlefield,” Asif
said.“What we have, and the capabilities we possess, will be made
available to (Saudi Arabia) according to this agreement,” he added.The
two countries signed a defense deal Wednesday declaring that an attack
on one nation would be an attack on both.The International Atomic Energy
Agency, with which both nations have monitoring agreements, did not
immediately respond to a request for comment over the Pakistani defense
minister’s remarks.Asif criticized Israel in the interview for not fully
disclosing its suspected nuclear weapons program to the IAEA.Israel is
not a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons (NPT) and maintains a policy of ambiguity, neither confirming,
not denying that it has nuclear weapons.The pact comes after Israel’s
attack in Qatar-Israel has not commented on the two nations’ defense
pact. Pakistan has long been hostile to Israel and pro-Palestinian, but
has not been directly involved in any war against it.And while neither
nation has diplomatic ties to Israel, American officials had sought to
mediate a diplomatic recognition deal involving Saudi Arabia before
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people and
saw another 251 taken hostage, sparking the war.Saudi Arabia had said it
was willing to sign a normalization deal with Israel conditional on the
establishment of a Palestinian state.Israel has no conflict with Saudi
Arabia, which also has a long, tense rivalry with Iran.“We have not
named any country whose attack would automatically trigger a retaliatory
response. Neither has Saudi Arabia named any country, nor have we,”
Asif said in the interview. “This is an umbrella arrangement offered to
one another by both sides: if there is aggression against either party —
from any side — it will be jointly defended, and the aggression will be
met with a response.”The deal came a week after the attack on a
gathering of Hamas leaders in Doha as Gulf Arab countries weigh how to
defend themselves. Israeli strikes since October 7, 2023, have stretched
across Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Syria and
Yemen.Following the Hamas massacre, Iranian proxies including the
Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen began firing
missiles into Israel and carrying out attacks.Israel’s attack on Iran
targeted its nuclear and missile program along with senior military
leaders and nuclear scientists. The US also carried out strikes on
nuclear sites.The pact also comes after most the serious military
confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals, India and Pakistan, in
decades, erupted in May, including missile and drone strikes. The
fighting was triggered by the mass shooting of tourists the previous
month in Kashmir that India blamed on Pakistan.Asked if others could
join the pact, the minister added: “I can say the door is not closed to
others.”That idea was repeated by Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq
Dar.“It is premature to say anything, but after this development, other
countries have also expressed a desire for similar arrangements,” Dar
told reporters in London in televised remarks.“Such things follow due
process. Even with Saudi Arabia, it took several months to finalize,” he
said, indicating the deal was in the works before Israel’s strike in
Qatar.Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have longstanding ties-Saudi Arabia has
long been linked to Pakistan’s nuclear program. Retired Pakistani Brig.
Gen. Feroz Hassan Khan has said Saudi Arabia provided “generous
financial support to Pakistan that enabled the nuclear program to
continue, especially when the country was under sanctions.” Pakistan
faced US sanctions for years over its pursuit of the bomb, and saw new
ones imposed over its ballistic missile work at the end of the Biden
administration.Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons program to counter
India’s atomic bombs. India is believed to have an estimated 172
nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170, according to the US-published
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.Pakistan’s Shaheen 3 ballistic missile,
believed to be able to carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, has
a maximum range of 2,750 kilometers (1,700 miles) — making it capable
of reaching Israel.
Estonia says 3 Russian fighter jets violated
airspace for 12 minutes in ‘brazen’ incursion-Russian MiGs intercepted
by Italian F-35s; Incident comes after NATO planes downed Russian drones
over Poland and heightened fears that the war in Ukraine could spill
over By Geir Moulson and andrew wilks Today, 11:01 am-SEP 20,25
AP
— Estonia summoned a Russian diplomat to protest after three Russian
fighter aircraft entered its airspace without permission Friday and
stayed there for 12 minutes, the Foreign Ministry said. It happened just
over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland and
heightened fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over.Foreign
Minister Margus Tsahkna said Russia violated Estonian airspace four
times this year “but today’s incursion, involving three fighter aircraft
entering our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen.”Estonian Defense
Minister Hanno Pevkur also said the government had decided “to start
consultations among the allies” under NATO’s Article 4, he wrote on X,
after Russian jets “violated our airspace yet again.”The North Atlantic
Council, NATO’s principal political decision-making body, is due to
convene early next week to discuss the incident in more detail, NATO
spokesperson Allison Hart said Friday.Article 4, the shortest of the
NATO treaty’s 14 articles, states that: “The Parties will consult
together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial
integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is
threatened.”US President Donald Trump told reporters he will soon be
briefed by aides on the reported incursion. “I don’t love it,” he said,
adding, “I don’t like when that happens. It could be big trouble, but
I’ll let you know later.”Russian officials did not immediately
comment.European governments rattled-Russia’s violation of Poland’s
airspace was the most serious cross-border incident into a NATO member
country since the war in Ukraine began with Russia’s all-out invasion in
February 2022. Other alliance countries have reported similar
incursions and drone crashes on their territory.The developments have
increasingly rattled European governments as US-led efforts to stop the
war in Ukraine have come to nothing.The European Union’s foreign policy
chief Kaja Kallas called Friday’s incursion “an extremely dangerous
provocation” that “further escalates tensions in the region.”“On our
side, we see that we must show no weakness because weakness is something
that invites Russia to do more,” she said. “They are increasingly more
dangerous — not only to Ukraine, but also to all the countries around
Russia.”Estonia, along with fellow Baltic states Lithuania and Latvia
and neighboring Poland, are staunch supporters of Ukraine.Italian F-35
fighter jets respond to Russian incursion-The Russian MIG-31 fighters
entered Estonian airspace in the area of Vaindloo Island, a small island
located in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, the Estonian military
said in a separate statement.The aircraft did not have flight plans and
their transponders were turned off, the statement said, nor were the
aircraft in two-way radio communication with Estonian air traffic
services.Italian Air Force F-35 fighter jets, currently deployed as part
of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission, responded to the incident,
according to the statement.In a post on social media, Hart described the
incident as “another example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO’s
ability to respond.”NATO fighter jets scramble hundreds of times most
years to intercept aircraft, many of them Russian warplanes in northwest
Europe flying too close to the airspace of its member countries, but
it’s rarer for planes to cross the boundary.Dozens of NATO jets are on
round-the-clock alert across Europe to respond to incidents such as
unannounced military flights or civilian planes losing communication
with air traffic controllers.Separately, Maj. Taavi Karotamm,
spokesperson for the Estonian Defense Forces, told The Associated Press
the Russian planes flew parallel to the Estonian border from east to
west and did not head toward the capital, Tallinn.Karotamm said the
reason for the border violation is unknown, but added that it may have
been to “shift the focus of NATO and its members on to defending itself,
rather than bolstering Ukrainian defense.““Russia’s increasingly
extensive testing of boundaries and growing aggressiveness must be met
with a swift increase in political and economic pressure,” Tsakhna, the
foreign minister, said.The Russian charge d’affaires was summoned and
given a protest note, a ministry statement said.British spy chief says
‘no evidence’ Putin wants peace-Earlier Friday, the head of Britain’s
foreign intelligence agency said there is “absolutely no evidence” that
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in
Ukraine.Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6
as it is more commonly known, said Putin was “stringing us along.”“He
seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal. But he
cannot succeed,” Moore said. “Bluntly, Putin has bitten off more than he
can chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he — and
many others — underestimated the Ukrainians.”The war has continued
unabated in the three years since Russia invaded its neighbor. Ukraine
has accepted proposals for a ceasefire and a summit meeting, but Moscow
has demurred.Trump said Thursday during a state visit to the United
Kingdom that Putin “has really let me down” in peace efforts.Putin is
‘mortgaging the future’ of Russia-Moore was speaking at the British
consulate in Istanbul after five years as head of MI6. He leaves the
post at the end of September. The agency will then get its first female
chief.Moore said the invasion had strengthened Ukrainian national
identity and accelerated its westward trajectory, as well as pushing
Sweden and Finland to join NATO.“Putin has sought to convince the world
that Russian victory is inevitable. But he lies. He lies to the world.
He lies to his people. Perhaps he even lies to himself,” Moore told a
news conference.He said that Putin was “mortgaging his country’s future
for his own personal legacy and a distorted version of history” and the
war was “accelerating this decline.”Analysts say Putin believes he can
outlast the political commitment of Ukraine’s Western partners and win a
protracted war of attrition by wearing down Ukraine’s smaller army with
sheer weight of numbers.Ukraine, meanwhile, is racing to expand its
defense cooperation with other countries and secure billions of dollars
of investment in its domestic weapons industry.MI6 unveils dark web
portal-The spy chief was speaking as MI6 unveiled a dark web portal to
allow potential intelligence providers to contact the service. Dubbed
“Silent Courier,” the secure messaging platform aims to recruit new
spies for the UK, including in Russia.“To those men and women in Russia
who have truths to share and the courage to share them, I invite you to
contact MI6,” Moore said.Not just Russians but “anyone, anywhere in the
world” would be able to use the portal to offer sensitive information on
terrorism or “hostile intelligence activity,” he said.
Trump
suggests ‘very close’ to 40 hostages dead, Gaza fighting might free
captives-Israel reportedly pushes back on latest Trump remark
contradicting official Israeli figures that insist 20 of the 48
remaining hostages are alive By ToI Staff Today, 1:39 pm-SEP 20,25
US
President Donald Trump said Friday that “very close” to 40 of the 48
remaining hostages in Gaza were likely dead, and that rather than being
endangered, they “might also be freed” as a result of the IDF operation
to take over Gaza City.Trump has repeatedly put hostage families on edge
by citing figures that clashed with Israel’s official assessment that
20 hostages were still alive. He said again Friday that “probably 20”
are alive but the true figure “might be” fewer.Seeking to again dispel
the families’ concern, an Israeli official familiar with the matter said
Israel’s assessment hadn’t changed, according to the Kan public
broadcaster.“Any other number being tossed about, even by the president
of the United States, is false and misleading,” the unnamed source was
quoted as saying. Israeli officials have repeatedly said they have no
new information indicating further deaths.Trump’s press conference came
after the IDF said Friday that it would use “unprecedented force” in
Gaza City and assessed that almost half of the city’s roughly 1 million
residents had heeded the military’s call to flee south.UN and
humanitarian groups have warned that the Gaza City operation would
deepen the humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and the IDF has reportedly
warned against the offensive, saying it would endanger soldiers and
hostages. Hostage families and former captives have also slammed the
operation.Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office before he signed a
pair of executive orders on Friday, Trump was asked by a reporter to
address the hostages’ and families’ appeals that the president “force a
ceasefire… [because] they’re worried that the hostages who are still
there are more at risk” if the fighting continues.“They might be,” Trump
replied, adding: “Maybe they’ll be free because… [in] war a lot of
strange things happen, a lot of results take place that you never think
were going to happen.”“We have 32 dead people… maybe more, 38, but
between 32 and 38 that were dead, mostly young people,” he said, adding
that he has spoken to parents of slain hostages who were desperate to
return the bodies of their loved ones “almost as though [they] were
alive.”“It’s very terrible,” he said. “We have very close to 40 bodies
that are included in the whole thing, but we have 20, probably 20 that
are living. It might be a little bit less.”Trump appeared to attribute
the hostages’ deaths to conditions in Hamas’s underground tunnels, where
many captives were being held.“Look, young people don’t die — they just
don’t die,” said Trump. “They can take a lot, but a lot of people died
in these horrible tunnels. They’re mostly in the tunnels.”Trump was next
asked about the report by an independent UN commission this week that
accused Israel of genocide in Gaza — a charge Israel denies. In
response, he said a genocide had taken place when Hamas invaded Israel
on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.“I haven’t seen that. I’m
looking at it,” said Trump of the UN report.“But did anybody commit
genocide on October 7?” Trump continued. “That was genocide at the
highest level. That was murder, genocide, you could call it whatever you
want. But little babies were chopped in half. Arms were cut off people,
heads were cut off people. That’s genocide also, I guess.”Earlier in
the press conference, Trump said people “are forgetting” the massacre.
The president was responding to a question about whether he would “study
any red lines” to potentially put on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine as he
prepares to address the UN General Assembly this coming week for the
first time since returning to the White House in January.“We have a long
time to go before I go up and speak at the UN, because every day is a
long time when it comes to Gaza, when it comes to Israel and the Middle
East,” he said.“You can’t forget October 7, either,” he said. “People
are forgetting October 7, they forget it too quickly. That was one of
the worst days in world history… You can’t forget that. I don’t forget
that.”Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 47 of the 251 hostages
abducted by Hamas-led terrorists in the October 7 onslaught, as well as
the remains of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014. Of the 48
remaining captives, at least 26 are confirmed dead by the IDF.Twenty are
believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of
two others, Israeli officials have said.
Cyberattack disrupts
check-in systems at major European airports-Attack affects automatic
check-ins, causing delays and having a ‘large impact’ on flight
schedules at airports including in Brussels, Berlin and London By AP
Today, 1:28 pm-SEP 20,25
BRUSSELS (AP) — A cyberattack targeting
check-in and boarding systems has disrupted air traffic and caused
delays at several of Europe’s major airports, officials said
Saturday.Brussels airport reported that the attack means that only
manual check-in and boarding was possible there, and the incident was
having a “large impact” on flight schedules.“There was a cyberattack on
Friday night 19 September against the service provider for the check-in
and boarding systems affecting several European airports including
Brussels Airport,” it said in a statement.Authorities at Berlin’s
Brandenburg Airport said a service provider for passenger handling
systems was attacked on Friday evening, prompting airport operators to
cut off connections to the systems.London Heathrow Airport, Europe’s
busiest, said “a technical issue” affected a service provider for
check-in and boarding systems.“Collins Aerospace, which provides
check-in and boarding systems for several airlines across multiple
airports globally, is experiencing a technical issue that may cause
delays for departing passengers,” Heathrow said in a statement.The
airports advised travelers to check their flight status and apologized
for any inconvenience.Formed in 2018, Collins is a US aviation and
defense technology company and a subsidiary of RTX Corp., which was
formerly Raytheon Technologies.Collins provides the technology that
allows passengers to check themselves in, print boarding passes and bag
tags, and dispatch their own luggage, all from a kiosk.Collins said it
was “aware of a cyber-related disruption” to its MUSE (Multi-User System
Environment) software at “select airports” but that manual check-in
operations could still be used.“We are actively working to resolve the
issue and restore full functionality to our customers as quickly as
possible,” it said in a statement. “The impact is limited to electronic
customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual
check-in operations.”The impact was felt only at some airports: the
Roissy, Orly and Le Bourget airports in the Paris area reported no
disruptions.
Italian port blocks 'explosives' shipment to Israel.
Rome,
Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-Local officials in Italy said Thursday that
they had blocked a shipment of "explosives" to Israel to protest its
Gaza offensive.The move was made by the city hall of Ravenna, the
Adriatic port controlled by the centre-left Democratic Party -- an
opposition group against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing
government."Thanks to courageous dockers, we were informed last night of
the scheduled arrival today of two containers to the Ravenna port"
listed as explosives, Mayor Alessandro Barattoni said in a
statement.Ravenna along with provincial leaders and the regional
Emilia-Romagna government are shareholders in the port, which allowed
them to block the shipment."You must choose a side, and Emilia-Romagna
and Ravenna know perfectly which: the one of innocent victims and
hostages, and not the one of criminal governments and terrorist
organisations," the regional leaders said in a statement.There was no
immediate comment from Italy's national government, whose leader Meloni
has expressed "deep concern" over Israel's plan to take control of Gaza
City.Israel's latest offensive in the Palestinian territory has sparked
international outrage after nearly two years of war, with the Gaza City
area gripped by a UN-declared famine.The war was sparked by the October
2023 attack by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,219
people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official
figures.Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 65,141 people,
also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health
ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
China defence minister slams 'hegemonic logic' at Beijing forum.
Beijing,
Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun denounced
"hegemonic logic and acts of bullying" during remarks Thursday at a
Beijing forum that were full of thinly veiled references to the United
States.Organisers say about 1,800 representatives from 100 countries,
including political, military and academic leaders, are gathering in
Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum, considered China's answer to the annual
Shangri-La meeting in Singapore.The three-day event comes as China
presents itself as a mediator of fraught global issues including ongoing
wars in Ukraine and Gaza.Addressing attendees at the opening ceremony
on Thursday, Dong warned of "new threats and challenges" now facing
world peace."While the themes of the times -- peace and development --
remain unchanged, the clouds of a Cold War mentality, hegemonism and
protectionism have not lifted," he said."Historical memory must serve as
a constant warning to recognise and oppose hegemonic logic and acts of
bullying that are disguised in a new form."The comments were a subtle
reference to the United States, China's primary competitor in recent
years across a wide range of economic and geopolitical arenas.Dong's
remarks come two weeks after a grand military parade in Tiananmen Square
to commemorate China's 1945 victory over a Japanese invasion, which
left millions dead.The parade saw China unveil a host of new weapons,
including advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles, drones and laser
technology.In attendance were several leaders that have long been at
odds with Western governments, including Russia's Vladimir Putin and
North Korea's Kim Jong Un.- Maritime disputes -Dong's remarks also
touched on China's protection of maritime interests -- a topic that
ruffles feathers in the region and beyond.Several countries are
currently ensnared in longstanding disputes with Beijing over
sovereignty in the contested South China Sea.Recent months have seen a
series of confrontations between China and close US ally the Philippines
in the crucial waterway.Beijing claims almost all of the area despite
an international ruling that the assertion has no basis."The so-called
freedom of navigation advocated by certain countries outside the region
and the so-called international arbitration advocated by certain
claimants blatantly challenge the fundamental norms of international
relations," Dong said.He added that China's safeguarding of "territorial
sovereignty and maritime rights and interests... is a firm defence of
the post-war order and international rule of law".The Philippines said
this week that one person was injured when a water cannon attack by a
China Coast Guard vessel shattered a window on the bridge of a fisheries
bureau ship near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.The defence
forum comes with anticipation growing over a potential meeting between
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.Dong held a
video call this week with US counterpart Pete Hegseth, which covered
various thorny topics including the South China Sea and Taiwan.China
considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory and has not excluded
the use of force to take it.Washington is the democratic island's main
arms supplier and is committed to its defence.The Pentagon said the
talks were "candid and constructive", with Hegseth and Dong agreeing to
further discussions.
U.S. defense in free fall-by Harlan Ullman.
Washington
DC (UPI) Sep 17, 2025-Make no mistake. Despite allocating nearly $1
trillion for the Pentagon next year and the presence of a motivated
military and civilian workforce, the department is in free fall. How can
this be? After all, the United States is supposed to have the most
powerful military in the world armed with the best weapons.Suspend
disbelief and consider the reasons for this assessment. First, for 20
years, the Pentagon was engaged in waging endless wars that could not be
won by military force alone.Nation building in Afghanistan and imposing
a democracy in Iraq after invading to destroy non-existent weapons of
mass destruction squandered trillions of dollars and countless amounts
of blood, not only American.Worse, these diversions allowed adversaries
and enemies to evolve. Today, the combination of China, Russia, Iraq and
North Korea, plus non-government actors, poses challenges and dangers
that the United States and its allies have not been able to confront or
contain effectively.Second, for a decade or more, the Defense Department
has operated under a continuing resolution because Congress has been
incapable of passing a budget on time. In business terms, that cuts
buying power by 10% to 15% a year. And it makes long-range planning
impossible, further deteriorating the effectiveness and efficiency in
operating the Pentagon.Third, the Pentagon is infected with a costs
cancer. Uncontrolled annual real cost growth, above inflation, is 5-7% a
year for every item -- from people to pencils to precision
weapons.About half that goes to covering people in general. Even though
recruitment is strong, services are offering early retirement and early
buyouts to reduce personnel costs for senior people. The reality is that
on the current course, at the end of the Trump administration in 2029,
the forces will be quantitatively smaller in number.The first Columbia
class ballistic missile nuclear submarine will cost close to $20
billion, even though follow-ons are hoped to be less expensive. Tariffs
will raise the price of F35's to about $130 million while upgrades are
being delayed due to costs. And the Marines' follow-on landing ships
that steam at a stately 14 knots and carry about 50 Leathernecks will
run several hundreds of millions of dollars.Added to this is the cost of
nuclear modernization and Golden Done, which is a missile and air
defense system to protect the nation. The B-21 Raider bomber and the
Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile are experiencing huge cost
overruns and time delays. All this is a precursor of a looming fiscal
crisis.Then, there is turmoil in the Pentagon with the firing or
dismissal of senior officers without just cause. The Black former
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; two female service chiefs and
several dozen other flags have become casualties. Since outside,
non-military "influencers" have apparently been responsible for these
ousters, many officers fear that even the tiniest political or
ideological misstep can end a 30-year or 35-year career.The
administration is set to release the latest National Defense Strategy.
The current document, which perhaps should be renamed the National War
Strategy, given the renaming of the Pentagon, is about the aims of
containing/competing, deterring, and if war comes, defeating a range of
enemies topped by China and Russia. No one has defined what competing
means or how it is to be measured.And who has been deterred? Russia has
invaded Ukraine twice. China has not been retained in expanding its
influence, economy and military power. The military parade last week in
Beijing was quite a show of the Chinese military that the great Chinese
war philosopher Sun Tzu would appreciate.About winning a war, any
conflict among these powers could escalate to the use of thermonuclear
weapons. A thermonuclear weapon is 1,000 times more powerful than the
bombs dropped on Japan. As serious leaders agree, thermonuclear war must
not be fought and cannot be won.If war is contained to non-nuclear
forces, it could be a long conflict. But the U.S. defense industrial
base is incapable of supporting a long war. Spending trillions of
dollars will take years or decades to have effect in upgrading that
base.What to do? The answer is simple. The United States needs a
serious, non-partisan and no-holds-barred evaluation of the state of the
Department of Defense now and over the next decade. With that as a
start point, an effective, affordable and executable strategy and force
structure can follow. But not taking action is a clear and present
danger to the nation.Harlan Ullman is UPI's Arnaud de Borchgrave
Distinguished Columnist, senior adviser at Washington's Atlantic
Council, chairman of a private company and principal author of the
doctrine of shock and awe. His next book, co-written with Field Marshal
The Lord David Richards, former U.K. chief of defense and due out next
year, is Who Thinks Best Wins: Preventing Strategic Catastrophe. The
writer can be reached on X @harlankullman.
US again vetoes UN Security Council Gaza ceasefire call.
United
Nations, United States, Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-The United States on
Thursday again wielded its veto and thwarted a UN Security Council call
for a ceasefire in Gaza, shielding its ally Israel from meaningful
diplomatic pressure.The 14 other members of the Council backed the
resolution, initiated in August in response to the UN's official
declaration of famine after nearly two years of Israel's war on Hamas in
the Palestinian territory.The vote came as Israeli tanks and jets
pounded Gaza City, the target of a major new ground offensive, forcing
Palestinians to flee south.The resolution text seen by AFP had demanded
"an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected
by all parties" as well as the immediate and unconditional release of
hostages.The United States has repeatedly rejected that approach
multiple times, most recently in June when it used its veto to back
Israel."Let this resolution send a clear message, a message that the
Security Council is not turning its back on starving civilians, on the
hostages and the demand for a ceasefire," Denmark's UN ambassador
Christina Lassen said ahead of the vote."A generation risks being lost
not only to war -- but to hunger and despair. Meanwhile Israel has
expanded its military operation in Gaza City, further deepening the
suffering of civilians as a result."It is this catastrophic situation,
this humanitarian and human failure that has compelled us to act
today."Pakistan's ambassador Asim Ahmad called the veto a "dark moment
in this chamber.""The world is watching. The cries of children should
pierce our hearts," he said.- 'Genocide' accusation -The previous US
veto sparked an unusual show of anger from the 14 other members of the
council, who are increasingly vocal in their frustration over their
apparent inability to pressure Israel to stop the suffering of Gaza's
inhabitants.For the first time Tuesday, a UN-mandated international
investigative commission gave its independent analysis, accusing Israel
of committing "genocide" in Gaza since October 2023 with the intent to
"destroy" the Palestinians.The issue will be central to next week's
annual UN summit in New York.Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon,
condemned the resolution, saying that "for some members of the Council,
this is a performance. For Israel, this is a daily reality. The proposal
was presented without condemnation of Hamas, without condemnation of
the October 7 massacre."Danon sparred repeatedly with Algeria's
ambassador Amar Bendjama who asked Palestinian people to "forgive us
because this Council could not save your children...our sincere efforts,
shattered against the wall of rejection."
UN Security Council votes on reimposing Iran nuclear sanctions.
United
Nations, United States, Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-The United Nations
Security Council will vote Friday on reimposing deep economic sanctions
on Iran over its resurgent nuclear program.Britain, France and Germany
-- signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action intended to
stop Tehran obtaining nuclear weapons -- allege that Iran has broken its
promises under that 2015 treaty.Diplomatic sources expect that the
resolution will not have the nine votes needed to uphold the status quo
-- in which sanctions remain lifted -- and as such the punishment will
be reimposed.French President Emmanuel Macron said he expected
international sanctions against Iran to be reinstated by the end of the
month, in an excerpt from an Israeli television interview broadcast
Thursday."The latest news we had from the Iranians are not serious," he
said.In a letter to the UN in mid-August, the "European Three" slammed
Iran as having breached several JCPOA commitments, including building up
a uranium stock to more than 40 times the level permitted under the
deal.Despite a flurry of diplomatic talks between the European powers
and Tehran, the Western trio insisted there was no concrete
progress.Russia and China, which oppose the reinstatement of sanctions,
would need to secure nine votes from the 15 members of the Council --
which diplomatic sources say may prove impossible."Algeria and Pakistan
may support Russia and China in backing the resolution, but I think
other members are likely to oppose it or abstain, so the Europeans and
US will not have to use their veto," said International Crisis Group
analyst Richard Gowan.The vote could result in the imposition of
sanctions as early as next week -- although the UN's annual high-level
meeting which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will attend could
present opportunities for last-ditch negotiations."The Council still has
time to greenlight a further resolution extending the suspension of
sanctions -- if Iran and the Europeans reach a last-minute bargain,"
Gowan said.- Last minute bargain? -The hard-won 2015 deal has been left
in tatters ever since the United States, during Donald Trump's first
presidency, walked away from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on
Iran.Western powers and Israel have long accused Tehran of seeking to
acquire nuclear weapons, a claim Iran denies.Following the US
withdrawal, Tehran gradually broke away from its commitments under the
agreement and began stepping up its nuclear activities, with tensions
high since the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.The war also
derailed Tehran's nuclear negotiations with the United States and
prompted Iran to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, with inspectors of
the Vienna-based UN body leaving the country shortly after.During his
previous term, Trump attempted to trigger the so-called "snapback
clause" to reimpose sanctions in 2020, but failed due to his country's
unilateral withdrawal two years earlier.While European powers have for
years launched repeated efforts to revive the 2015 deal through
negotiations and said they "have unambiguous legal grounds" to trigger
the clause, Iran does not share their view.Iran has threatened to
withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the snapback
is triggered.
Costs of Russian, Chinese cyberattacks on German firms on rise: report.
Berlin,
Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-Cyberattacks and sabotage, mainly from
Russia and China, have caused record damages for German firms this year,
the domestic spy service and a business group warned Thursday.The costs
of such attacks topped 289 billion euros ($342 billion) in 2025, up
eight percent on last year, said the corporate survey on attacks such as
data theft, industrial espionage and sabotage."Increasingly the trail
leads to Russia and China," said the report presented by the BfV
domestic intelligence agency and the Bitkom federation of digital
businesses."Foreign intelligence agencies are increasingly targeting the
German economy," BfV vice president Sinan Selen told a press
conference.Selen -- who is set to soon take over at the helm of the BfV
-- said hostile foreign intelligence agencies were "becoming more
professional, aggressive and agile".He said Chinese attacks are
primarily "economic espionage" to gain technological advantages, while
Russia's consist mainly of "sabotage" and spreading
"disinformation".Selen said state actors had been identified as being
behind the attacks by 28 percent of the businesses concerned, as opposed
to 20 percent last year.Speaking alongside Selen, Bitkom president Ralf
Wintergerst said attacks saw a "disproportionate rise when compared to
German economic growth", which has been flatlining since 2023.Out of the
1,002 businesses surveyed for the report, 87 percent said they had been
targeted by such an attack, compared to 81 percent the year
before.While last year 39 percent of firms said they had been targeted
by Russia, this year that number rose to 46 percent, with the same
number reporting an attack from China.The most effective method remained
cyberattacks, often carried out with "ransomware", the overall cost of
which has reached a new record high of 202 billion euros.Selen gave the
example of Kremlin-affiliated hackers known as Laundry Bear or Void
Blizzard, which act against German political and economic targets.Bitkom
advised companies to devote 20 percent of their IT budgets to defending
against these attacks.Selen said he was "very happy" that Chancellor
Friedrich Merz's government was "accentuating and strengthening" the
role of the intelligence community in this area.
Anti-drone firms line up to sell battle-tested tech in Taiwan.
Taipei,
Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-Anti-drone technology battle-tested in
Ukraine is on display at a Taiwanese defence expo that opened Thursday,
as arms makers seek to cash in on the island's efforts to protect itself
against a potential Chinese attack.Taiwan has boosted defence spending
in recent years and acquired smaller and more nimble weaponry, including
drones, to enable its military to wage asymmetric warfare against its
more powerful foe.But increasing Russian drone attacks on Ukraine have
fanned concerns in Taiwan about how the democratic island would fend off
swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles in any conflict with China.Taiwan's
defence ministry is seeking up to US$33 billion in special funding to
upgrade its military capabilities, including investing in anti-drone
technology, a senior lawmaker told AFP last week.Counter-drone firms at
the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition told AFP they
hoped to snatch a share of the market."We'd love to penetrate the
Taiwanese market," said Eloi Delort of French AI start-up Alta Ares,
whose software has been used against Russian drones in Ukraine."I think
Taiwan is facing many threats here and they could use our technology
either to defend against drones or to do military surveillance," Delort
told AFP.Taiwanese anti-drone company Tron Future Tech, whose AI systems
are used in Taiwan and Ukraine, has seen demand for its technology soar
as drones have become critical in warfare."It's huge. It's crazy," said
Misha Lu, a staff specialist at the company."Anti-drone business has
contributed to more than half of our revenue and... our company has
expanded from 50 people to more than 300 people in only two years," Lu
said.Tron can produce more than 100 anti-drone systems a month in Taiwan
and is expanding production while also considering manufacturing them
in Europe and the United States, Lu said.British military equipment
maker BAE Systems said Taiwan's defence ministry had expressed interest
in its anti-drone Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System."Everyone's
worried about (drone) swarms, right?" Jonathan Lau, a regional director
in the company's electronic systems business, told AFP.Having cheap
counter-drones would be key for Taiwan in any conflict, Rupert
Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, told
reporters this week."Sending up F-16s to fire million-dollar missiles at
a $10,000 drone is not sustainable," he said."That is a significant
challenge that Taiwan has to deal with."Taiwan has ramped up military
spending over the past decade and is building up its defence industry to
make more equipment and ammunition on the island.But Taipei is under US
pressure to do more.President Lai Ching-te's government announced last
month plans to boost its 2026 defence budget to NT$949.5 billion, or
more than three percent of gross domestic product.It aims to increase
spending to five percent of GDP by 2030.Taiwan was likely to spend a
minimum of between US$50 billion and US$60 billion procuring military
equipment and ammunition over the next four years, Hammond-Chambers
said."About a third of which will go domestic," he said."About
two-thirds will go international, most of which will go to the US."
Germany, Spain want deal to end European jet impasse by year-end.
Madrid,
Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-Germany and Spain aim to reach a deal this
year on Europe's troubled Future Combat Air System (FCAS) fighter jet
project, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday after talks with
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.Launched in 2017 to replace
France's Rafale jets and the Eurofighter planes used by Germany and
Spain, the FCAS project is being jointly developed by the three
countries.But disputes over leadership and sharing the industrial
workload have stalled work between French planemaker Dassault Aviation
and Airbus, the European aerospace group that is representing German and
Spanish interests."We share the same view: the current situation is not
satisfactory, we are not making progress on this project," Merz told a
news conference during a visit to Madrid.Sanchez echoed Merz's concerns
while emphasising Spain's commitment to the project."Hopefully we can
get it moving sooner rather than later, and of course the commitment of
the Spanish government is total," he said.Representatives of Germany,
France and Spain are to meet in Berlin in October to try to unlock
differences over the project, which aims to enhance the continent's
defence autonomy.clp-al/ds/js
As media declines, gory Kirk video spreads on 'unrestrained' social sites.
Washington,
Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2025-Traditional news outlets were cautious not
to broadcast the moment Charlie Kirk was assassinated, but it mattered
little in the age of declining media influence.Within minutes, millions
of people -- including children -- watched the graphic footage auto-play
across social media platforms.The amplification of the video showing
the American conservative activist's final moments at a university in
Utah underscores how major tech firms are falling short in enforcing
content moderation amid rising political violence and deepening
polarization in the United States.Most newspapers and television
networks -- longtime gatekeepers with editorial guidelines to shield
audiences from graphic content -- chose not to show the moment Charlie
Kirk was shot dead. Instead, many outlets focused on the calm leading up
to the attack and the chaos that followed.That discretion was largely
absent on social media, a fragmented digital landscape shaped by
smartphones and instant uploads where graphic footage showing Kirk's
body recoiling and blood pouring from a wound spread rapidly.The
footage, which mostly lacked content warnings, was instantly accessible
online and often auto-played before viewers had a chance to consent or
look away."Journalists draw lines for a reason. We know how trauma seeps
in through a screen. We know that immediacy without context is its own
kind of harm," said Ren LaForme, from the nonprofit media institute
Poynter."Social media has no such restraint. It promises unfiltered
access, but without guarantees of truth and without protection from
harm. The cork is off the bottle, and everything spills out: real or
fabricated, searing or false."- 'Shocked and dismayed' -The graphic
visuals also flooded children's devices and social media feeds, sparking
anxiety among parents and prompting bipartisan calls from lawmakers for
tech companies to take swift action."Last week, countless children
witnessed the assassination on the portable devices they carry
everywhere, in addition to a murder on public transportation, reports of
mass shootings and school gun violence," Titania Jordan, from the
parental controls app Bark, told AFP."Childhood was never meant to
include graphic violence or murder. Parents are rightly shocked and
dismayed," she said, while advising families to log off social media and
make room for "real-time conversations as kids process what they've
seen."The virality of Kirk's video -- alongside the amplification of
extreme posts glorifying his death -- comes as many platforms scale back
content moderation and, in some cases, eliminate human fact-checkers
and moderators even as their algorithms reward engagement."The way
algorithms have flooded our timelines with posts celebrating Charlie
Kirk's horrifying assassination is a damning indictment of the way
social media works," Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the watchdog Center
for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), told AFP."It lays bare how
platforms are designed to reward extreme emotion over empathy or
integrity."- 'Whims of algorithms' -Posts on Elon Musk's platform X that
celebrated Kirk's assassination racked up 52 million views, according
to CCDH's research -- evidence that "policy enforcement is not just
broken but has been abandoned," Ahmed said.The posts violated X's
guidelines, which allow users to post graphic imagery only "if it is
properly labeled" and forbids material explicity "glorifying or
expressing desire for violence."The trend comes as surveys show that
traditional media is battling record low public trust, and a growing
number of Americans, especially young adults, get their news from
platforms such as TikTok."At a time when more Americans are tuning out
credible news for social media, it's worth remembering that they're
leaving behind not just reporting, but the discipline of restraint,"
said LaForme."Journalistic restraint still matters. Someone has to
decide what should be witnessed and what scars can be spared."Peter
Adams, senior vice president of research and design at the News Literacy
Project, said the widespread exposure to Kirk's assassination video --
which could cause vicarious trauma -- offers an opportunity for people
to reassess their relationship with social media."These platforms are
hyper-addicting because they are personalized, giving everyone little
tailor-made hits of dopamine," Adams told AFP."We all have a
responsibility to ourselves not to hand our consciousness over to the
whims of algorithms designed to keep us scrolling, regardless of what it
might cost us."ac/jgc
U.S. and Saudis conduct Middle East's largest counter-drone exercise by Mike Heuer.
Washington
DC (UPI) Sep 17, 2025-U.S. and Saudi forces engaged in the Middle
East's largest live-fire exercise to counter unmanned drones and other
aerial munitions through improved detection and tracking.Newly placed
U.S. Central Command leader Adm. Brad Cooper and Gen. Fayyadh bin Hamed
Raqed Al-Ruwalli, chief of the general staff for the Royal Saudi Armed
Forces, oversaw the exercises at the Red Sands Integrated
Experimentation Center in northeastern Saudi Arabia."Threats posed by
the proliferation of advanced drones are a pressing challenge," Cooper
said Wednesday in a news release."Working shoulder-to-shoulder with
regional partners to innovate and adapt is more critical than ever," he
added.Iran and its proxies have launched thousands of one-way attack
drones and missiles that have injured and killed civilians and disrupted
maritime traffic, while destabilizing the Middle East, the CentCom
release said.The counter-drone exercise started on Sept. 7 and lasted
for several days while using more than 300 personnel fielding 20
counter-unmanned aerial systems at Saudi Arabia's Shamal-2 range."Red
Sands brought together U.S., Saudi and industry capabilities and
expertise to identify 'best in breed' systems for detecting, tracking
and eliminating modern aerial drone threats," Cooper said.Such systems
included the body-worn Signal Hunter passive radio frequency and
geolocation device and the Buffer Passive Acoustic Detection System,
both of which rapidly detect simulated air threats.Counter-measures used
included the Vanguard system, which CentCom describes as a "scalable
firing solution for eliminating drone swarms."Also used were
ground-based counter-unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare options
and rotary and fixed-wing aircraft that detect, track and engage aerial
threats.Troops also used shoulder-fired Drone Defeat Rounds containing
720 tungsten pellets fired from a 12-gauge shotgun.The exercise was the
fourth conducted between the United States and Saudi militaries since
2023.The September exercise occurred after several months of rapid
prototyping and development of arms and systems used in prior exercises.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact by Darryl Coote.
Washington
DC (UPI) Sep 18, 2025-Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have signed a mutual
defense agreement, deepening their decades-long security partnership as
tensions in the region heighten following Israel's attack on Qatar last
week.The agreement was signed during Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad
Shehbaz Sharif's visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday."This
agreement, which reflects the shared commitment of both nations to
enhance their security and to achieving security and peace in the region
and the world, aims to develop aspects of defense cooperation between
the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any
aggression," the two countries said in a joint statement."The agreement
states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an
aggression against both."Both countries said the agreement builds on
their nearly eight decades of partnership that is based "on the bond of
brotherhood and Islamic solidarity" as well as strategic interests.The
agreement was signed after Israel launched an attack targeting senior
Hamas leadership in Qatar's capital of Doha.The move set off alarm bells
throughout the Middle East, and threatened to undermine the trust of
Gulf nations in the United States as not only be a reliable ally but a
security guarantor.During a summit on Monday in Doha, Arab and Islamic
leaders came together in a sign of solidarity with Qatar.It also comes
several months following a four-day armed conflict between India and
Pakistan.India said Thursday it was aware of the agreement."We will
study the implications of this development for our national security as
well as for regional and global stability," Shri Randhir Jaiswal, a
spokesman for India's foreign ministry, said in a statement."The
government remains committed to protecting India's national interests
and ensuring comprehensive national security in all domains."
Denmark to buy European-made air defence against Russia threat by AFP Staff Writers.
Copenhagen
(AFP) Sept 12, 2025-Denmark will invest some 58 billion kroner ($9.1
billion) in European-made air and missile defence systems, its defence
ministry said Friday, citing lessons from Russia's war in
Ukraine.Rearmament has become a government priority under Social
Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the wake of Russia's
invasion of Ukraine."The current security policy situation means that
ground-based air defence is an absolute top priority in the development
of the armed forces," Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a
statement."Experience from Ukraine shows that ground-based air defence
plays a crucial role in protecting the civilian population, among
others, against Russian air attacks," the minister added.The ministry
said the French-Italian SAMP/T system would be procured to cover
long-range needs.For medium-range need a choice would be made between
"one or more systems" of the Norwegian NASAMS, the German IRIS-T, and
the French VL MICA.A total of eight systems, each comprising of a number
of fire units, would be purchased and the first was expected to be
operational as early as 2025.The total cost related to the procurement
was estimated at 58 billion kroner, which would need to be approved by
Denmark's parliament.In June, Denmark decided to urgently procure
medium-range air defence that would deliver results as quickly as
possible.Based on recommendations from the military, a decision had now
been made to buy both long-range and medium-range systems, with the
urgently procured medium-range system being part of it, the ministry
said.In a press conference, officials stressed that this investment does
not imply a rejection of American systems."The speed of delivery was
decisive here, and delivery timelines are longer for the Patriot
system," Per Pugholm, director of the Danish Ministry of Defence
Acquisition and Logistics Organisation, told reporters.
North Korea declares nuclear statehood 'permanently enshrined'by AFP Staff Writers.
Seoul
(AFP) Sept 15, 2025-North Korea said its status as a nuclear-armed
state is "permanently enshrined" in its law and "irreversible", state
media reported Monday, condemning the United States for demanding its
denuclearisation."Recently, at a meeting of the International Atomic
Energy Agency's Board of Governors, the US once again committed a grave
political provocation by branding our possession of nuclear weapons as
illegal and clamouring about denuclearisation," the North's UN mission
said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News
Agency.The status of North Korea "as a nuclear-armed state, enshrined
permanently in the nation's supreme and fundamental law, has become
irreversible", the statement said, noting the country has not had
"official relations" with the nuclear watchdog for more than 30
years.The IAEA has "neither the legal authority nor the moral
justification to interfere in the internal affairs of a nuclear-armed
state that exists outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty", it
said.North Korea withdrew from the IAEA in 1994 after a standoff over
nuclear inspections, claiming the agency was being used by Washington to
infringe on its sovereignty.Pyongyang will "firmly oppose and reject
any attempt to alter the current status of the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, and, as a responsible nuclear-armed state", the
statement added, using the official name of North Korea.The statement
follows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visit to weapons research
facilities last week, where he said Pyongyang "would put forward the
policy of simultaneously pushing forward the building of nuclear forces
and conventional armed forces."Since a failed summit with the United
States in 2019 on denuclearisation, North Korea has repeatedly said it
will never give up its nuclear weapons.
AI agents prompt new
approaches to identity and access management-Funding flows in for firms
automating systems for human, agentic coexistence-Sep 19, 2025, 7:07 am
EDT | Joel R. McConvey
What AI agents, their hour come round
at last, skitter around the workplace in a widening gyre? And what must
be done with the crumbling ruins of legacy identity and access
management (IAM) systems, with the barbarians of fraud at the gates? As
agentic AI automates workflows, firms are staring down a decision of
epic proportions: stay the course and crumble before the agentic deluge –
or be reborn in passionate intensity (and automated algorithmic
monitoring and management). A series of investments, product
developments and discussions showcases how the issue has everyone waxing
agentic.Fabrix nets funding to advance ‘AI-ready identity fabric
graph’Fabrix Security, identity and access management startup based in
Tel Aviv, has emerged from stealth with 8 million dollars in seed
funding for its AI-native identity security platform. A release says the
seed funding is led by Norwest, Merlin Ventures and Jibe Ventures, and
will be used for additional product development as well as sales and
marketing.Fabrix aims to enable enterprises to easily manage and secure
both human and non-human identities (such as bots, API keys, service
accounts and AI agents), to “enforce least privilege and reduce the
attack surface, without compromising business velocity.”Company CEO Raz
Rotenberg says IAM problems have been around for decades, but identity
sprawl has made them worse. “Both human and non-human identities are
growing exponentially. At this scale, traditional IAM systems that rely
on manual processes can’t achieve their main objectives.”Fabrix
incorporates AI agents specifically created and trained to master IAM
tasks. Power the release, it uses “agentless connectors to gather
identity and permission data, creating an AI-ready identity fabric
graph.”“AI agents then operate on this graph to automate tasks,
integrate with IAM workflows, and proactively enforce least privilege
access.”Unlike traditional IAM systems that rely on manual processes,
AI-native IAM adapts permissions based on runtime usage and uses large
language models (LLMs) to “discover, understand, and optimize every
aspect of identity and access across both human and non-human
identities.”Scalekit gets $5.5 million in seed round-Scalekit is also
developing IAM systems that have to verify AI agents and their
permissions, and has released an authentication stack purpose-built for
agentic apps. In tandem, the firm announced a 5.5 million dollar seed
round led by Together Fund and Z47, with angel backing from Adam Frankl,
Oliver Jay, Jagadeesh Kunda, and others, according to a
release.Scalekit secures both incoming authentication for Model Context
Protocol (MCP) servers and outgoing agent actions to third-party tools,
such as Gmail, Slack, HubSpot and Notion.“For years, software focused on
blocking bots. Now business apps must let authenticated agents in and
decide exactly what data they can read or write,” says Satya
Devarakonda, co-founder and CEO. “Scalekit sits at that intersection of
verifying every agent’s identity and enforcing precise, least-privilege
access through a single drop-in toolkit.”Ravi Madabhushi, co-founder and
CTO, adds that “after scaling auth for 50,000 businesses at Freshworks,
we saw the next challenge coming: agent identities that live in code,
not in user directories. Scalekit delivers short-lived scoped tokens and
plug-in tooling that make agentic workflows secure.”SecureAuth says
call is coming from inside the IAM system-A release from SecureAuth
reaches into the identity and access metaphor grab-bag to warn that, in
the words of SecureAuth CEO Joseph Dhanapal, “attackers are no longer
rattling the doorknob; they’re already inside the lobby before most
defenses notice.”New data in the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations
Report shows that generative‑AI tools can automate attacks like
credential stuffing, session hijacking and real-time phishing on an
unprecedented scale; it cites compromised credentials in 68 percent of
breaches.SecureAuth CPO Brook Lovatt says “organizations can reduce
exposure by evaluating device, behavior and network signals throughout
every user session, introducing additional verification when risk rises
and tying session length to real‑time assurance levels.”Lovatt’s three
guiding principles for safer CIAM in 2025 are “continuous risk scoring
that checks context at every step, dynamic just‑in‑time friction that
surfaces extra challenges only when risk increases, and session‑aware
authorization that adjusts privileges and expiration in real time.”Look
on my code, ye mighty, and upgrade: IAM 3.0 rewrites the book-An article
in Identity Fusion takes a different approach to raising the red flag,
asking us to spare a moment of silence for IAM 2.0 – “a system built for
the age of web logins, badges and human employees as the center of the
security universe.” It now belongs beside mainframes, client-server and
firewalls in the museum of security measures past.“Monuments become
ruins,” says the author, channeling his inner Shelley. “And IAM 2.0 is
already crumbling, because the world it was built for no longer
exists.”We now find ourselves in a world of APIs talking to APIs, bots
spawning bots, and “agentic AI weaving decisions across systems with no
pause for coffee, no need for rest.”And what lumbering beast shall rise
to stand where IAM 2.0 once stood, pitted now against a horde of
tireless algorithmic boots? That would be IAM 3.0, which the author
specifies is not a product, but a paradigm shift, grounded in three
principles: Autonomous Identity, Contextual Access and Modular,
Orchestrated Fabric.“IAM 3.0 requires a cultural leap: continuous trust,
continuous monitoring, continuous response. It’s less like filing
paperwork and more like running a security operations center.”“Polishing
the old guard won’t save us. Password resets, MFA widgets, and
monolithic platforms can’t hold back a tide of APIs, bots, and AI agents
that already outnumber us. IAM 3.0 isn’t a patch. It’s a rewrite.”Ping
Identity wants to help establish foundations of agent trust-Ping
Identity also has a new AI product for managing trust in agentic AI. A
release says the new AI framework is “designed to close the trust gap
created by the rise of AI agents, along with AI-powered assistants that
boost administrator productivity.”The goal, says the company, is to help
enterprises reduce risk, maintain oversight and establish the
foundations of agent trust, including “verifying identity, managing
access and governing agent lifecycles.”Peter Barker, Chief Product
Officer at Ping Identity, says we can no longer implicitly trust what we
see, hear, or receive digitally. “As AI becomes more embedded in the
enterprise, humans and AI agents must work together seamlessly – with
security and verification at the forefront.”By securing AI agents,
simplifying access control, and streamlining workflows, Ping Identity is
“establishing identity as the foundation of enterprise trust in the AI
era, ensuring innovation can scale without sacrificing security or
experience.”‘You need to know who they are and what they are allowed to
do’The Agentic AI revolution also gets coverage in a panel discussion
featuring Itamar Apelblat of Token Security with guest speakers Geoff
Cairns of Forrester and Jonathan Jaffe, CISO of Lemonade. The trio
discusses what happens when machines act for themselves, and “the urgent
need for an identity-first security approach for ensuring a strong
agentic AI security posture without impacting innovation and
agility.”“When AI agents are granted credentials, call upon APIs, or
operate across cloud environments, you need to know who they are and
what they are allowed to do, and be aware if something goes wrong.”
New CBP rule paves the way for nationwide biometric exit system-Sep 15, 2025, 2:54 pm EDT | Anthony Kimery
U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has taken a decisive step toward
making facial recognition a standard part of leaving the country by
advancing an interim final rule that sheds the “pilot program”
restraints that have governed exit biometrics for the past decade.The
White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs cleared the
CBP measure on Monday.Current rules allow CBP to require certain
noncitizens to provide biometrics at entry, but on departure the
authority has been limited to small-scale pilot programs at land
crossings and at no more than 15 air and sea ports.To establish a full
legal foundation for CBP to operate a comprehensive biometric entry–exit
system, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is revising its
regulations to eliminate those pilot program references and port
restrictions.The revisions also authorize CBP to photograph all
noncitizens upon entry or departure, a shift intended to make identity
verification more efficient, accurate, and secure using facial
recognition technology.The agency’s move formalizes what has been
building in practice at airports and sea ports since 2015, which is a
technology-backed, photograph-based identity check that matches a
traveler’s live face to government-held gallery images at the moment of
departure.CBP’s rule completes a regulatory arc that dates to the
post-9/11 mandate for a biometric entry/exit system, but that until now
has been constrained by the law’s own scaffolding. CBP has been
signaling for years that it would rewrite those limits to create a
comprehensive legal framework for biometric exit checks wherever
deployed.The interim final rule deletes the pilot caps and port
restrictions so the agency can require photographs from non-U.S.
citizens at exit as a matter of standard operating procedure.The
technical backbone is CBP’s Traveler Verification Service (TVS), a
cloud-based biometric matching system that compares a live image
captured at a gate, jet bridge, cruise terminal, or inspection booth to a
curated gallery assembled from passport, visa, and flight data.When the
match succeeds, the system returns a “clear” to the airline or CBP
officer; when it fails, the traveler undergoes manual document
inspection.CBP has been expanding this architecture through a voluntary
Facial Comparison for Advance Passenger Information System (APIS)
Compliance Test, renewed in March for two more years, which allows
airlines and cruise lines to use TVS to help meet their Advance
Passenger Information System obligations while the government hones
accuracy and workflows.The test – now slated to run through February
2027 – has effectively served as an on-ramp for carriers ahead of a
binding rule. Although the interim final rule’s text was not publicly
posted at press time, CBP’s own materials foreshadow its contours.The
agency’s biometrics privacy policy states that images of U.S. citizens
captured in the entry/exit process are not enrolled and are retained
“for no more than 12 hours” for continuity-of-operations needs, while
“in-scope” non-citizens may be verified against DHS identity
systems.Those assurances, reflected in CBP tear sheets handed out at
airports, have become the standard defense against criticism that facial
recognition will quietly build dossiers on citizens. The rule’s
preamble is expected to recite those limitations and cross-reference
existing privacy documentation.In practice, CBP has already moved beyond
proof-of-concept. A string of Federal Register notices and privacy
assessments over the past decade documents the progression from
fingerprint pilots and small-scale departure tests in 2015 to today’s
facial-comparison deployments.The agency has also laid groundwork on the
privacy-compliance side. A November 2018 Privacy Impact Assessment for
TVS described a short-term purge of photos from the cloud matching layer
and detailed transfers to other DHS systems for non-citizens.More
recently, CBP posted updated Privacy Threshold Analyses (PTA) for its
Simplified Arrival program, including an “overarching” PTA published
this month that tie facial comparison to moments where travelers already
must present themselves for inspection.A separate, redacted PTA details
how CBP is testing facial verification in vehicle lanes at land ports,
including use of RFID-enabled documents and license-plate readers to
assemble the traveler’s record at the booth.These documents, while not
binding in the way a regulation is, will inevitably be cited as evidence
that the program’s privacy guardrails are in place.For travelers, the
most immediate change will be consistency. At many international gates,
the camera has been there for years; at others, airlines still rely on
manual checks.The interim final rule gives CBP the authority to make
photography at exit standard for non-citizens wherever the hardware
exists and to lean on carrier integrations that are already live under
the APIS test.The agency says U.S. citizens retain the option to opt out
and undergo manual document review, a practice noted by the
Congressional Research Service and repeated in CBP’s public messaging,
though the opt-out’s visibility will be closely watched by privacy
advocates.The policy rationale remains the same as it was when DHS first
moved to expand exit biometrics: more reliable overstay accounting,
reduced impostor risk, and the ability to flag known or suspected
threats before they board departing planes or ships.After years of
congressional prodding to complete the entry/exit system, the
administrative pieces are finally aligning with the technology that CBP
and its partners have fielded.Yet, the legal and civil-liberties
questions that dogged the 2020 DHS proposal have not disappeared. That
notice, which contemplated photographing “all aliens” upon entry and/or
departure, sparked blowback over scope, proportionality, and the
potential for “mission creep” into broader law-enforcement use.The
interim final rule is expected to revive longstanding legal debates,
including whether photographing every departing noncitizen is truly
necessary and appropriately limited to immigration purposes, how
frequently U.S. citizens are swept up in the process, what the error
rates look like across different demographic groups, and what remedies
are available to travelers when the system fails to match them
correctly.CBP’s privacy filings for Simplified Arrival-Vehicle indicate
the agency is pairing facial verification with license-plate readers and
RFID-enabled documents to present a unified traveler view to the
officer, a data fusion that raises distinct accuracy and privacy
concerns.If the interim final rule removes the legal ceiling on exit
biometrics, the speed at which those vehicle-lane pilots become policy
will be a test of both CBP’s engineering and its risk
management.Industry, meanwhile, has few illusions about the direction of
travel. Carriers have already woven TVS into boarding operations under
the APIS test, and CBP’s outreach has framed facial comparison as a way
to satisfy government data requirements with fewer manual touches.For
airports and cruise terminals, the interim rule offers regulatory
clarity to justify investments in cameras, networking, and signage,
while for some travelers it will cement the impression that face scans
are no longer experimental but routine.Still, the larger fight over data
retention and information sharing remains unsettled. CBP insists that
photographs of U.S. citizens are deleted within 12 hours and never
enrolled, yet far less is known about how long records tied to
noncitizens remain in DHS systems or how frequently those identity files
are accessed for purposes beyond immigration enforcement.A 2024 CBP
Privacy Impact Assessment update for internal e3 Photo Service hints at
expanding access to historical photos and fingerprints for CBP users, a
reminder that once images exist inside DHS, the question becomes not
only how they are captured, but who can see them and why.The timing of
CBP’s action intersects with broader shifts in immigration control. The
administration has tightened several processes this year, including a
separate interim rule on civil penalties and evolving proposals on
nonimmigrant admission periods. While those measures are distinct, they
contribute to a policy climate in which automation, surveillance, and
expedited enforcement are taking firmer legal root.
Perth Airport
in Australia and Auckland Airport in New Zealand have revealed
ambitious plans to improve airport travel by automating the departure
process with face biometrics and check-in kiosks.
Perth Airport
is looking to create the first fully automated biometric departure
process in Australia using technology from Amadeus. The air travel hub
will add almost 100 new biometric check-in kiosks and replace nearly 40
traditional check-in counters with biometric bag drop units made by the
travel technology provider.Amadeus has been working with the airport
since 2015. The duo started experimenting with biometrics through a
series of trials in 2022.“Using platform technology and security
measures like tokenization, airports can create digital representations
of a passenger’s data,” says Sarah Samuel, the company’s senior vice
president for AirOps in the APAC region. “Once that’s achieved, all it
takes is a couple of seconds to perform a facial scan to validate the
passenger at bag drop or boarding.”Amadeus recently announced deals with
airports in Malaysia, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. The company reported
new customers across all business lines in the first half of this year,
and major research and development investments. Its subsidiary
Vision-Box is also contributing with an agreement announced during H1
2025 to provide biometrics for Miami’s massive new cruise terminal.
Auckland Airport upgrade features biometric tech-New Zealand’s Auckland
Airport (AKL) is also undergoing a major update that will see it
future-proofed for biometric processing, including facial recognition
and digital travel credentials.The facility plans to replace 60
traditional check-in desks with self-service kiosks and automated bag
drops over the next four years. The technology has already been rolled
out in one check-in zone, replacing 30 desks with 36 kiosks and 22 bag
drops, according to its announcement.“Building on ePassports, this
technology allows for a more streamlined, faster authorisation at
processing points such as check-in, border transitions and aircraft
boarding,” says Auckland Airport Chief Executive Carrie
Hurihanganui.Meeting the demand for digital travel-As initiatives like
those being undertaken at Auckland and Perth demonstrate, the demand for
digital travel isn’t just an ambition – it’s already happening. The
infrastructure is emerging and the industry is building toward
scale.Face biometrics are replacing airline check-ins and boarding
passes globally. Biometric systems are operational in more than 70
airports, streamlining passenger flows and enhancing security. According
to IATA’s 2024 Global Passenger Survey nearly half of passengers have
already used biometric ID at the airport, of those, 84% were satisfied
with the experience and 73% say they’d prefer biometrics over
traditional passports and boarding passes in future.
Zambia’s digital govt efforts yield fruits as GWAN initiative reaches rural areas-Sep 19, 2025, 5:02 am EDT | Ayang Macdonald
The
Government Wide Area Network (GWAN) project launched by the Zambian
government early this year, through the Smart Zambia Initiative, is
reportedly strengthening the country’s digital government push.GWAN,
which is part of the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project (DZAP) funded
by the World Bank, seeks to enhance digital service delivery and trigger
a shift away from the longstanding analogue and paper-based way of
accessing services from government institutions.The government recently
started a pilot of the GWAN in Luapula Province, a predominantly rural
area of the country, TechAfrica News reports.The GWAN system is
introducing novelties including a biometric system which has proven
useful in eliminating duplication of data records and other costly
administrative errors.The initiative has also brought about smart
systems which are helping local people easily access health services,
and farmers to receive inputs in a timely manner, thereby increasing
their productivity.As pilots continue in rural communities of the
country, the government has stated its plans to extend the full service
to all 116 local authorities to facilitate communication and
collaboration among connected government agencies, the outlet writes in
another report.Recently, Smart Zambia announced some major achievements
recorded following the rollout of the GWAN. These include, among other
things, the Constituency Development Fund Management Information System
to enhance transparency and accountability in public services, a Cash
for Work Management Information System to optimize a temporary
employment management program, and the establishment of a village
e-Register system.In a bid to support the project, some ICT equipment
was recently also handed to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development for onward distribution to the districts.The GWAN initiative
aligns with the broader objectives of Zambia’s digital transformation
project, whose major aim is to transform governance, facilitate the
delivery of public services, and improve the wellbeing of citizens.As
the country advances its digital transformation agenda, digital security
remains a priority. As such, the government has been leading an
awareness campaign against digital fraud.This comes in the wake of
statistics showing that about 80 percent of Zambians suffered one form
of digital fraud in 2024, a majority of which were mobile money
scams.The ongoing campaign involves government agencies, telecom service
providers, as well as providers of digital financial services.There are
also plans to disseminate the digital fraud awareness campaign messages
through mass media platforms, in what has been described as a
continuous initiative to ensure the safety and security of digital
Zambia.
Logistics has a unique compliance challenge; digital ID can help: Trustd CEO-Sep 18, 2025, 6:11 pm EDT | Chris Burt
For
the logistics industry, identity checks are frequent, and the stakes
are high. That makes the ability to tie ID document and selfie
biometrics-based identity verification to data sources like business
registries crucial, Trustd CEO Lyall Cresswell tells Biometric Update in
an interview.The company uses biometrics and cryptographic binding to
ensure “the bearer is the owner” of a litany of credentials required to
ensure safety and regulatory compliance.Cresswell founded the company
based on his experience with 25 year-old freight tech platform TEG.TEG
provides a digital platform for logistics and road transport management,
and introduced its mobile app back in 2004. It is used by brokers and
the full range of carriers, Cresswell explains, from the big names in
road transport familiar from highway, through the mid market, to the
“massive, massive long tail” of smaller trucking operations.TEG’s
platform handles orders, proof of delivery, scanning, photography,
invoicing, payments and settlements, and provides integration with a
range of applications, including vehicle tracking.“Your introducing
thousands of parties that transact with one another,” Cresswell says.
“It all becomes quite onerous to deal with the overhead of onboarding,
compliance, even just setting them up with accounting.”It was when Lyall
saw biometric onboarding for a UK neobank around 2018 that the idea for
Trustd was born. Like neobanks, Trustd works with remote partners
through the internet.KY-everything-Logistics operations entail
confirming the business placing the order (KYB) as well as identity
verification for the individual. But it also requires confirmation of
their authorization for the specific job, and then “you’ve got a whole
collateral of certification and qualifications” on top of that,
Cresswell explains.That means businesses need to be able to check
qualifications with granular detail. There is insurance, certifications
(such as to handle dangerous goods) and licenses, all with expiry dates.
A driver could pick up penalty points on their license for a traffic
infraction between one delivery and the next, and lose a required
qualification.“We wanted to be able to manage all of the different
documentation that goes not just to support the business entity, but
also the certification, for example insurances, every type of business
in our industry has different types of insurances which you can be
expected to have,” Creswell says.Trustd announced a partnership with
logistics industry insurance provider Business Choice Direct (BCD) on
Wednesday to launch what the partners say is the first use of verifiable
insurance credentials in the sector.Dangerous goods handling on its own
is complex. Cresswell notes that there are different requirements for
different shipment volumes, and the person requesting the shipment of
dangerous goods also must have qualifications. “You can see how you
start to end up with a much more comprehensive understanding of exactly
who you’re dealing with,” he notes.Ten thousand businesses now ensure
their compliance with the many security requirements and regulations
impacting logistics through Trustd. TEG and Trustd are now
comprehensively integrated, Creswell says, “but that’s simply a kind of
template for any platform that has that similar requirement.”Businesses
in the UK can carry out Right to Work checks with Trustd, following its
DIATF certification earlier this year. These checks are increasingly
common in logistics workflows, Cresswell says, and again, can be more
complicated than apparent, as an owner-operator can be several people,
for instance.Given the application, Cresswell is not worried about
potential market changes like the introduction of a GOV.UK mobile
driver’s license (mDL).“If you’ve already got an mDL, brilliant. And as
long as, as an accredited identity services provider, we can accept
that, great! I’ll consume that. Because that just takes one piece of
friction out of the journey.”In the meantime, Trustd uses technology
from GBG and other vendors to perform IDV.It was a painful process to
find and integrate biometrics and digital identity proofing partners in
the early days of Trustd’s development. “The APIs at that point were
very limited or non-existent,” Cresswell recalls. The company had to
cycle through several providers along the way to its current
technology.Persistent identity and dynamic status-Cresswell recently
gave several lectures for business classes in London, and was surprised
at the very low awareness of digital identity he found. Because of this,
he thinks “anything which really brings it into everyday uses and
common parlance can be helpful.”While a persistent digital identity is
one key to the Trustd platform, delegated authority is dynamic, so
Trustd must be too. Delegated authority changes variously – some
deliveries are the same every time, some drivers interact with different
businesses and people every day.The same goes for the dynamism of
qualification. The BCD integration announcement notes that nearly 30
percent of insurance policies are cancelled per month, so manual
paperwork checks may not ensure current compliance.And the same driver
may make deliveries in different jurisdictions, with different rules.
Turstd has customers in the EU and U.S., and Cresswell notes the
intricacies of different levels of disclosure about business data in
each state.So even as the Trustd’s technology stack stabilizes, the
complexity it must handle always increases. Cresswell is keeping abreast
of developments with eIDAS 2.0, for instance.Because whoever and
wherever deliveries occur, Cresswell says, “I want to know, at the end
of the day, who’s carrying my freight.”
Italian data watchdog
suspends Milan airport’s biometric boarding system-Ethiopian Airlines
makes deal with SITA, Manila airport collaborates with Collins-Sep 18,
2025, 4:59 pm EDT | Masha Borak
The FaceBoarding facial
recognition service, used for identifying passengers at automated border
control gates, was suspended at Milan Linate Airport after a
notification from the Italian Data Protection Authority (GPDP).The
voluntary service launched by SEA Milan Airports allowed travelers to
register through a kiosk or an app and pass through security checks and
boarding with a face scan.According to the authority, although SEA
claimed that the biometric template remains stored exclusively on the
user’s smartphone, the templates were actually stored in the company’s
own centralized system. The Digital Travel Credential in SEA’s app only
held information from the identity document and selfie image submitted
by the users.The company also did not adopt encryption measures to
protect the biometric template. The FaceBoarding system allows storing
biometric templates for up to 12 months if a user agrees to its
“long-term program. The option, however, puts the biometric data at high
risk of data breaches, GPDP says in its release.SEA says that it is
compliant with relevant regulations and is actively collaborating with
the data authority to clarify all aspects of data
processing.FaceBoarding was developed in collaboration with the French
National School of Civil Aviation (École nationale de l’aviation, ENAC)
and the Italian State Police. The biometric processing system was
provided by Thales, while Dormakaba developed its e-gates.Last year, SEA
said it was exploring opportunities for introducing its biometric
technology to access parking lots and VIP lounges and for shopping. The
company also started offering bag-drop through FaceBoarding with plans
for expanding the technology to other airports.Ethiopian Airlines makes
deal with SITA, Manila airport collaborates with Collins-In other
airport biometrics news, SITA has signed a new Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Ethiopian Airlines to improve the passenger
experience. This includes introducing technologies such as biometric
identification systems and automated baggage handling, designed to
streamline boarding processes.SITA says that the collaboration will tap
startups, technology providers, business accelerators, and industry
partners to identify key challenges. The technological upgrades will
especially benefit Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, one of the
busiest airports in East Africa.“Africa is experiencing unprecedented
growth in air travel just as passengers’ expectations are being reshaped
by rapid advances in digital technology,” says Selim Bouri, SITA
president for Middle East and Africa.“Hubs like Addis Ababa’s Bole
International Airport need to provide a frictionless passenger journey
so airlines can optimize flight schedules and deliver smooth, memorable
trips.”Ethiopian Airlines also recently presented its plans for the
Bishoftu International Airport (BIA).The groundbreaking ceremony for a
new mega airport is scheduled to be held in early December, according to
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew.In the Philippines, Ninoy
Aquino International Airport (NAIA), also known as Manila International
Airport (MIA), has also announced a facial recognition system for
travelers.The system is being developed in collaboration with U.S.-based
Collins Aerospace and will allow passengers to scan their faces for
check-in and boarding.NAIA is the main gateway for travelers to the
Philippines and has recorded 51.7 million passengers until September
2025.
Daon, Pixel in image quality pole positions as paused NIST
biometric tests resume-Fraunhofer IGD remains atop QAA 1% removal
category-Sep 18, 2025, 2:17 pm EDT | Chris Burt
Biometric
image quality analysis algorithms are getting better at predicting when
facial recognition will fail, according to evaluations by America’s
technology testing authority, but gradually. Some of the best on the
market were submitted for evaluation by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology several years ago-Assessments of algorithms for
face and iris biometrics matching and sample quality analysis by NIST
resumed operation earlier in September after a hiatus of just over a
month. The FATE Quality Specific Image Defect Detection (SIDD)
evaluation assesses the effectiveness of facial image quality assessment
algorithms (QAAs). It was put on hiatus from early August to September
8, along with the FRTE and IREX evaluations, to update NIST’s computing
infrastructure and biometric datasets.With the entry-to-visa dataset,
Daon scored the lowest in both false non-match rate (FNMR) and
efficiency among entry images after the removal of the five percent with
the lowest quality scores.Other submissions to FATE Quality this year
are from Guangzhou, China-based Pixel Solutions, listed as “Pixelall”
(with submissions in March and July), Mobbeel Solutions and
Innovatrics.Pixel Solutions had the lowest FNMR and the highest
efficiency with the kiosk-to-entry dataset.An algorithm submitted by
Fraunhofer IGD in December had the best results by FNMR and efficiency
with the entry-to-visa dataset with the bottom 1 percent of images by
quality removed.Notably, algorithms submitted in 2022 by Intema and
Idemia, and in 2023 by secunet remain amongst the top five in multiple
categories, underlining the uneven extent of recent gains.“Quality
assessment is critical to delivering reliable biometric capabilities,”
says Michael Peirce, chief scientist at Daon. “Our algorithms identify
subtle quality indicators that directly translate to better outcomes for
our customers’ identity processes. By filtering out problematic images
upfront, organizations achieve higher accuracy rates while reducing
false rejections that frustrate legitimate users.”
Contactable secures $13.5M to scale up digital ID offering across Africa-Sep 18, 2025, 2:11 pm EDT | Ayang Macdonald
South
African integrated identity platform Contactable says it has raised
$13.5 million in financing to expand its onboarding and digital KYC
offering as well as its new technologies to more markets across the
African continent.The Centurion-based digital ID and eKYC provider said
in an announcement posted on its LinkedIn account that the funds were
raised in a round led by Venture Capitalworks, together with
co-investors such as Fireball Capital, Ke Nako Capital and Mavovo.With
the new funding, Contactable hopes to further contribute in
strengthening Africa’s digital ID infrastructure through its support for
trusted enterprise solutions in sectors including finance, telecoms,
insurance, retail, motor finance and payments.Particularly, the company
says it intends to pursue innovations in Ultimate Beneficial Ownership,
AI, self-sovereign identity and payments integration.The firm describes
its platforms as “a single point of integration for customer onboarding,
identity verification, fraud reduction and compliance – enabling
businesses to manage the entire digital lifecycle securely and
seamlessly.”CEO and founder of Contactable Shaun Strydom said the new
capital drives their mission further in terms of democratizing digital
identity across Africa.“This investment is an exciting development for
Contactable. It allows us to strengthen our platform and expand with our
customers, while continuing to build the digital identity
infrastructure that supports Africa’s growing digital economy,” said
Strydom.He added that “partnering with Venture Capitalworks also
supports the business to scale effectively, ensuring we are better
positioned to unlock growth opportunities across the
continent.”“Contactable operates at the nexus of technology, regulation,
and inclusion. This partnership with Venture Capitalworks will allow us
to deepen our customer partnerships, extend our reach into underserved
markets and enhance our ability to deliver secure, trusted digital
identity solutions where they are needed most,” the CEO added.Brent
Shahim, Managing Partner at Venture Capitalworks, which led the
fundraise, said the investor believes in the potential of digital
identity in opening up economic opportunities in Africa.“Digital
identity is at the heart of financial inclusion and digital
transformation. Our strategy is to partner with proven leaders like
Shaun and his team, bringing, beyond capital, the operational commitment
to accelerate their growth.”“We could not have done this without our
co-investors who are also LP’s in our fund. They supported our vision
for the business and together we are a formidable capital partnership,”
he added, in appreciation of the co-investors in the deal.Contactable
has been joining forces with other solution providers including Regula
and ID Secure to combat fraud in Africa.Founded in 2012, the company
believes its technology is crucial in accelerating the growth of
Africa’s digital ID market which is estimated to reach $3.4 billion by
2028.
Australia’s OAIC rules on Kmart’s use of facial
recognition, says consent must have ‘high bar’Sep 18, 2025, 1:37 pm EDT
| Masha Borak
Australia’s privacy watchdog has reached its
second ruling on using facial recognition technology in retail. On
Thursday, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
concluded that department store chain Kmart breached the country’s
privacy laws by collecting customers’ biometric data through its FRT
system, designed to identify people committing refund fraud.The ruling
follows a similar decision on hardware retailer Bunnings. In October
2024, the watchdog ruled that the chain store breached citizens’ privacy
by collecting information through CCTV cameras equipped with facial
recognition, introduced to cross-check individuals against a database of
customers flagged for abusive behavior.In a statement clarifying the
Kmart decision, Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind noted that in both
cases, the retailers failed to comply with the Australian Privacy Act
and its requirement to obtain consent from individuals to collect, use,
or disclose their personal information, particularly sensitive
information.The decisions, however, do not mean that there is no proper
place for surveillance technologies in public spaces, she adds.“It may
be tempting to suggest that my successive determinations amount to an
effective ban on the use of this technology,” says Commissioner Kind.
“However, that is incorrect; the Privacy Act is
technology-neutral.”Privacy Act must retain high bar for consent:
OAIC-In its Thursday statement, the OIAC also addressed criticism from
retail organizations, which highlighted uncertainty around consent and
exemptions in the Privacy Act.The agency states that the primary focus
of both the Kmart and Bunning rulings was to clarify the threshold for
obtaining a consent exception.During the investigation, both chain
stores cited exceptions to the Privacy Act’s consent requirement as
their legal ground for deploying FRT. The exceptions, known as
“permitted general situations” (PGS), allow organizations to collect
sensitive information in certain situations, including addressing
unlawful activity or serious misconduct or preventing serious threats to
the life, health, or safety of an individual.“The effect of this
determination is, I hope, to further clarify the threshold for reliance
on the exemptions in the Privacy Act in relation to the need to gain
consent for the collection of sensitive information,” she says. “It is a
high bar that must be cleared, and for good reason.”Retailers strike
back-Despite the OAIC decision, it may not be game over for retailers –
at least some of them.In November last year, Bunnings released shocking
footage showing its staff being abused at work, which supports its
claims that facial recognition systems are necessary for
security.Following the release, a poll conducted by news.com.au revealed
that 78 percent of nearly 11,000 respondents supported the company’s
use of its facial recognition program, calling it an “important tool” to
keep its team and customers safe.Earlier this year, Bunnings launched
an appeal to OAIC’s decision, claiming that it’s “unreasonable or
impracticable” for it to obtain individuals’ consent to collect facial
recognition data. The appeal is currently being assessed by the
Administrative Review Tribunal.Kmart’s case, however, could see a
different fate.During its investigation, launched in 2022, OAIC found
that the retailer used the facial recognition system to record the faces
of each person entering one of its 28 retail stores, including everyone
attempting to refund items at their refund counter. The deployment
lasted from June 2020 and July 2022.The Privacy Commissioner concluded
that the indiscriminately and disproportionately collected biometric
information of every individual who entered a store and that there were
less intrusive methods to address refund fraud.Deploying the facial
recognition system also had limited utility, according to the
Commissioner.“I do not consider that the respondent (Kmart) could have
reasonably believed that the benefits of the FRT system in addressing
refund fraud proportionately outweighed the impact on individuals’
privacy,” says Kind.
Arsenal for deepfakes and injection attacks
continues to grow-New tools and tactics are rewriting the fraud
prevention playbook-Sep 18, 2025, 1:31 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
Developers
of generative AI like to promise endless possibilities, but at the
moment, the tech has seemingly gotten just good enough to make deepfake
fraud extremely easy. Indeed, while Meta’s would-be AI innovations fail
some very public tests, the means to create synthetic media that looks
and sounds enough like a real person to commit biometric identity fraud
is accelerating – as illustrated by recent news from iProov, Regula and
Reality Defender.iProov discovers new deepfake injection tool for
iOS-It’s one thing to sound the alarm about deepfakes and injection
attacks, but actually finding and identifying the weapons is another.
This is what makes iProov’s latest discovery so intriguing. In a new
blog, the UK biometrics firm says it has uncovered a “highly specialized
tool designed to perform advanced video injection attacks,” which works
on modified iOS 15 devices.“The tool is deployed via jailbroken iOS 15
or later devices and is engineered to bypass weak biometric verification
systems – and crucially, to exploit identity verification processes
that lack biometric safeguards altogether.” This, says iProov, signals
“a shift toward more programmatic and scalable attack methods,” and
marks a significant escalation in identity fraud.And the plot is even
thicker: iProov says the tool has “Chinese origins,” which makes the
appearance of a sophisticated new injection attack tool “a matter of
national security interest.”Andrew Newell, Chief Scientific Officer at
iProov, says “the tool’s suspected origin is especially concerning and
proves that it is essential to use a liveness detection capability that
can rapidly adapt.”The iOS video injection attack tool relies on hacked
phones that have had native Apple security restrictions removed. The
attacker uses a Remote Presentation Transfer Mechanism (RPTM) server to
connect their computer to the compromised iOS device. The tool is then
ready to inject deepfake content directly into the device’s video
stream.“These can include face swaps, where a victim’s face is
superimposed over another video, or motion re-enactments, where a static
image is animated using another person’s movements,” says iProov’s
post. The process completely bypasses the physical camera by fooling the
streaming application into believing the fraudulent video is a genuine
feed.All it takes then is for an injected deepfake to pass identity
verification, opening the door to identity theft and fraud.“To combat
these advanced threats, organizations need multilayered cybersecurity
controls informed by real-world threat intelligence,” says Newell. The
company believes the best protection simultaneously confirms identity
verification, liveness detection, a real-time passive challenge-response
interaction “to ensure the verification is happening live and is not a
replay attack,” and combining advanced technologies with human
expertise.Regula says identity spoofing, deepfakes top fraud threats in
UAE-New survey data from Regula shows the United Arab Emirates facing
maturing fraud threats, often in the form of impersonation attacks –
which, says the firm, now affect more organizations than traditional
threats like forged documents or synthetic identities.A release says
Regula’s survey shows identity spoofing, wherein criminals use photos,
replays and screen images to impersonate legitimate users, has already
hit 36 percent of UAE businesses, while deepfakes have impacted 35
percent. That makes impersonation attacks the UAE’s most common fraud
tactic.Traditional fraud methods have not gone away. But, according to
Regula’s Chief Technology Officer Ihar Kliashchou, “the key shift is
that fraudsters are no longer breaking in through the back door –
they’re walking straight through the front.”Kliashchou says the
verification step itself has become the primary target. “Criminals
create fake but ‘clean’ identities that look legitimate from day one,
making downstream fraud detection nearly powerless. Onboarding is now
the battleground.”For traditional fraud methods, 28 percent of
organizations report document fraud such as counterfeit and altered IDs,
27 percent report seeing synthetic identity fraud, and 30 percent say
social engineering and human manipulation remain threats. Thirty-four
percent report biometric fraud in the form of fake or stolen biometrics,
including face morphing and masks.Regula says the UAE’s rapid digital
transformation and heavy reliance on remote onboarding and biometric
checks have reshaped its fraud landscape.“To protect customers and
comply with regulatory expectations, UAE’s businesses need layered
defenses that combine flexible identity workflow orchestration with the
ability to adapt to business needs and evolving threats. By uniting
multi-layered verification with a liveness-first strategy, businesses
can build strong, lasting protection against increasingly sophisticated
fraud.”Regula plans to release a complete survey analysis later this
monthReality Defender says deepfake arms race is lopsided-Reality
Defender has long sounded alarms about the evolving deepfake threat. A
blog from CTO Alex Lisle explores how “what began as a niche research
curiosity (on Reddit, of all places) has evolved into a sophisticated
threat ecosystem where bad actors leverage increasingly powerful
generative AI tools to impersonate and defraud at scale.”The traditional
fraud prevention playbook, Lisle says, now belongs in the trash, given
how quickly generative AI techniques are developing. “Unlike
conventional threats that evolve incrementally, deepfake technology
advances in quantum leaps. When a new model like Sora or Imagen 3
launches, threat actors gain access to capabilities that can bypass
detection systems built for yesterday’s technology overnight.”The story
is not new, but remains urgent: fraudsters stay two steps ahead of
organizations trying to defend themselves, leading to consequences
ranging from financial losses to national security threats. The answer,
says Lisle, is to build in “predictive resilience” by future-proofing
your technology as much as possible.For Reality Defender, that means
staying on top of the latest research, and working together with
generative AI companies like ElevenLabs and Respeecher to build
responsible deployment frameworks – ensuring that as new capabilities
launch, detection mechanisms evolve in parallel. While regulations are
starting to come into play with legislation like the EU’s AI Act, Lisle
says that compliance can’t be the only driver: “Organizations that wait
for regulatory mandates will find themselves perpetually behind the
curve.”“The deepfake arms race isn’t slowing down, but we can change the
rules of engagement. By building detection that evolves faster than the
threats it faces, we can restore trust in digital communications and
protect the foundations of human interaction in an AI-powered
world.”Behavioral Signals launches voice deepfake detection
tool-Behavioral Signals has launched a deepfake speech detection
offering, which a release says “identifies synthetic voice with or
without prior knowledge of the speaker” by combining signal analysis
with “emotion and behavioral intelligence.”Technically, it monitors
“vocal micro features” along with prosody, rhythm, timing and behavioral
consistency – which it claims amounts to emotional analysis in
detecting audio deepfakes.Rana Gujral, CEO of Behavioral Signals, says
voice is the most human interface, and is rapidly becoming the most
exploited. “Our approach brings behavioral truth into the detection loop
so organizations can know not only what was said but whether a real
human actually said it.”The product comes as an API and a forensic user
interface with options for cloud, on-premises and edge cases. It works
in two operating modes, either for detection or voice matching against
an existing sample. It works across “many languages” and is “explainable
by design.”FARx gets UK government funding for ‘AI fused-biometrics’
tech UK startup FARx, which bills itself as “the world’s first and only
AI fused-biometrics company,” has secured 250 million pounds (about 339
million dollars) of seed investment through the UK government’s Seed
Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), which gives tax relief to investors
who fund small, early-stage startups.According to a press release,
“FARx’s next-generation multi-factor authentication technology fuses,
for the first time in history, speaker, speech and face recognition.” A
patented proprietary machine learning algorithm adapts to each user,
“detecting subtle biometric shifts such as emotion, tone, or behavioural
anomalies that could signal a threat.”“In addition, it captures
biometric data from suspected fraudsters, matching them against internal
or shared databases to track repeat offenders, and flag suspicious
activity.”The company, which claims a pre-money valuation (PMV) of 4
million pounds (about 5.4 million dollars), says it will use the funding
to accelerate R&D and continue to bring its technology to market.
Clive Summerfield, CEO of FARx, calls the investment through SEIS “an
enabler that will help us roll out FARx across a wider range of
applications and industries, while delivering strong returns for our
investors.”
Inspector General finds CBP let migrants enter US with fake ID documents-Sep 18, 2025, 12:46 pm EDT | Anthony Kimery
A
new report by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) inspector
general (IG) says Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is failing to
consistently detect, document, and act on the use of fraudulent
immigration and identity documents at U.S. borders – shortcomings the
watchdog warns could allow criminals or national-security threats to
slip through.The audit found unclear training requirements, technology
gaps in vehicle lanes at land ports, and spotty case documentation that
together undermine CBP’s front-line defenses against impostors and
forged papers.The Office of Inspector General reviewed a targeted sample
of 60 immigration cases from fiscal years 2022 through early 2024 in
which migrants were suspected of using fraudulent documents.Although
such individuals are generally inadmissible and subject to detention and
removal, 47 of the 60 – nearly 78 percent – were ultimately allowed to
enter the United States; six were removed, four were detained pending
further action, and three were admitted after CBP resolved concerns
about the documents.The IG also found that nearly half of the
immigration A-files it examined – 28 of 60 – were missing readily
available information about the suspected document fraud, limiting what
immigration adjudicators and government lawyers could see when making
decisions.An Alien File is the comprehensive, unique file containing all
official U.S. immigration and naturalization records for an individual,
identified by a unique A-Number.The audit report situates its findings
in a well-documented historical risk. As the 9/11 Commission observed,
terrorist operatives have long treated travel documents “as important as
weapons,” exploiting forged or altered passports and IDs to move
undetected. The inspector general says CBP’s uneven training, equipment
limitations, and inconsistent evidentiary practices create similar
vulnerabilities today.The audit’s principal finding is not that CBP
lacks tools, but that the agency has not built a reliable, recurring
regimen to keep officers and agents proficient or to ensure the tools
are available where they matter most.Officers assigned to ports of
entry, Border Patrol agents operating between ports, and Office of Air
and Marine operations teams all receive some initial instruction on
impostor detection and document security features, but the IG found
there is no clearly mandated, agency-wide requirement for periodic
refresher training.This despite evolving fraud tactics and a sprawling
patchwork of genuine documents with holograms, color-shifting inks, and
other features that require practiced inspection.In fact, when CBP’s
Fraudulent Document Analysis Unit (FDAU) and a field office tried to
make two refresher courses “mandatory,” they did so without the proper
level of approval, so the courses never showed up as required in CBP’s
training system and many officers never took them.Border Patrol and Air
and Marine personnel told auditors they had not received refresher
training in years and wanted more.Technology gaps complicate the
picture, particularly at land ports. CBP has extensively deployed facial
comparison for pedestrians and in airport environments, but the IG said
the agency still lacks a viable, fully implemented solution to capture
biometric images from people in vehicles moving through land-border car
lanes.That means officers often rely on manual, eyes-only checks against
photos on travel documents, an approach the IG said “potentially”
limits both efficiency and effectiveness.Auditors who visited the
Nogales, Arizona port of entry observed a case in which a person using
fraudulent papers passed primary inspection in a vehicle lane and was
only flagged later during a secondary procedure.These findings echo the
watchdog’s June 2024 report on screening and vetting which found DHS did
not have technology in place to perform biometric matching for
travelers arriving in vehicles at land ports and used inconsistent
inspection practices across locations.That recommendation remains open,
the IG noted.The IG also documented basic breakdowns in chain-of-custody
and intelligence sharing. CBP policy requires that fraudulent travel
and identity documents seized by officers or agents be removed from
circulation and sent to the FDAU within 14 days, or at minimum
photographed and transmitted if the physical item cannot be shipped.In
23 of the 60 cases the IG reviewed, the fraudulent document selected for
review never reached the FDAU. During site visits to stations and ports
in San Diego and Tucson sectors, auditors found bins and drawers with
counterfeit IDs that had not been forwarded. In some instances, agents
said they had returned seized fraudulent documents to the individuals,
who were then likely released into the country.After the IG reminded
local offices of the policy, officials said they would comply going
forward. The IG warned that failing to centralize those artifacts
deprives CBP of trend analysis and training material, and risks the
fakes being reused for illicit travel, financial fraud, or identity
crimes.Beyond the 60-case sample, the IG’s audit offers broader context
on the scale of the problem. From fiscal years 2022 through 2024,
officers at ports of entry and Border Patrol agents identified 7,754
fraudulent documents, including fake or altered passports, birth
certificates, driver’s licenses, and Social Security cards. The Office
of Field Operations accounted for 6,056 of those and Border Patrol for
1,698. In fiscal 2024 alone, CBP reported more than 2.9 million
encounters at and between ports of entry.The audit also details a
data-access dispute. The report says CBP denied the inspector general
direct, read-only access to the BorderStat reporting tool and the
Automated Criminal/Customs and Immigration Data Integration System
(ACADIS) training database, opting instead to provide extracts. ACADIS
maintains records of CBP officers’ training completion and personnel
information.While the IG said the data were sufficiently complete and
reliable for the audit, the denial underscores persistent frictions over
internal oversight access to operational systems.Some of the report’s
most sensitive findings involve what happens after fraud is suspected.
In the cases reviewed, individuals were sometimes paroled or released
into the interior despite apparent inadmissibility based on fraudulent
documents.The agency noted that officers and agents must weigh available
detention space, prosecutorial guidance from U.S. attorneys,
humanitarian parole rules, and asylum protocols that can lead to release
even when fraud is suspected, especially if a person claims fear of
return and receives a “credible fear” finding from an asylum
officer.CBP, for its part, concurred with all five of the IG’s
recommendations and said it has already closed three. The open items
focus on making fraudulent-document training mandatory annually and
enforcing the requirement that seized fraudulent documents flow to the
FDAU.CBP has pledged to mandate the updated FDAU web-based course for
relevant personnel by January 30, 2026, and Border Patrol has committed
to annual requirements for agents.CBP also enhanced its e3 processing
module on June 2 so that when agents check the “fraudulent document”
box, a narrative auto-populates on Form I-213 and cross-references the
Form I-44 seizure report, ensuring the fraud allegation lands in the
A-file that immigration judges and government attorneys see.On February
28, Border Patrol adopted a broader charging posture emphasizing use of
every available federal, state, and local offense to strengthen cases,
including crimes tied to document fraud.
Republican senator
targets overseas facial recognition site over ICE doxing-Critics warn of
prosecutorial overreach in efforts to shield US law enforcement-Sep 18,
2025, 10:34 am EDT | Anthony Kimery
When Republican Sen.
Marsha Blackburn, a stalwart supporter of Donald Trump, sent a sharply
worded letter Wednesday to Giorgi Gobronidze, the CEO of PimEyes, it was
not simply an inquiry about how one of the world’s most controversial
facial recognition companies operates. It was also a signal of her
broader legislative strategy.PimEyes, is owned by EMEARobotics, a
corporation based in Dubai. Gobronidze is the owner and CEO of
EMEARobotics and PimEyes and is based in Tbilisi, Georgia.Blackburn is
working to bring to bear public and political pressure against
technologies that can expose federal law enforcement officers to online
harassment while also advancing a bill that would criminalize the
publication of those officers’ names when tied to obstructing official
operations.The two initiatives intersect at a moment when the
proliferation of open-access face-search tools has made it easier than
ever for activists to pierce anonymity, with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) agents their principal targets of late.As the Trump
administration has accelerated its crackdown on undocumented immigrants –
which at times has swept up U.S. citizens, Green Card holders, and
immigrants waiting to have their cases adjudicated – it not surprisingly
has spurred a wave of digital resistance.Blackburn’s letter to
Gobronidze, cites recent reports that activists have used PimEyes to
identify ICE personnel. The senator’s language is not merely cautionary,
it is also accusatory, painting a picture of a platform that has failed
to police its own rules and is being weaponized in ways that endanger
U.S. officers and their families. At least that is Blackburn’s
position.“PimEyes has purported that this technology can assist in
public safety by locating dangerous offenders. This, in the carefully
trained hands of law enforcement, is true. However, a publicly
accessible digital library of individuals’ lives and likenesses in the
wrong hands poses unthinkable risks,” Blackburn said.PimEyes advertises
its services as available for “personal use only,” but Blackburn pressed
the company in her letter to explain how that restriction is enforced
when its features appear to lend themselves to abuse.Blackburn says
sites like “ICE List,” run by Dutch activist Dominick Skinner, have
already leveraged publicly available images and commercial search tools
to compile databases of officers’ names, partial photographs, and in
some cases links to their social media. The professional social media
site LinkedIn has been found to be a good source for photographs of many
government officials, as well as contact information.Similarly,
commercial data brokers who sell access to databases of Americans’
personally identifiable information have also come under congressional
scrutiny following the fatal shooting of two Minnesota state lawmakers
whose home addresses and other identifying information was obtained from
online personal information websites.What was once a difficult and
resource-intensive task of connecting a blurred or partially masked face
to a real-world identity has, Blackburn argues, been dramatically
simplified by PimEyes’ technology.The dangers of public facial
recognition systems were revealed last year when two Harvard students
converted Meta’s smart glasses into a device that automatically captures
people’s faces and runs them through face biometric search engines,
allowing them to find people’s names, phone numbers, home addresses and
more in under two minutes.Within a month of the incident, PimeEyes
received 53 queries for API integration. During the whole previous year,
it received only seven. As of June, PimEyes blocked more than 150
accounts for violating the company’s Terms of Service. The accounts were
identified by analyzing search patterns.The questions she posed to the
company reveal her underlying concern that the platform’s design all but
invites misuse. She asked the company’s CEO whether PimEyes knows of
activist groups or other organizations using its services to “publicly
shame” or endanger U.S. officers; whether the firm has any practical
enforcement mechanism to prevent users from uploading photos of others
without consent; and how it ensures that the “personal use” restriction
is anything more than boilerplate in its terms of service.Blackburn
zeroed in on PimEyes features like its paid “Open Plus” alerts which
notify subscribers when new images of a target appear online, and the
ability to trace search results back to original source websites.
Together, she warned, these features could facilitate stalking,
trafficking, or harassment campaigns.Her letter also highlighted
PimEyes’ opt-out process, which requires individuals to upload
government identification to have their images removed. Blackburn
suggested that this mechanism perversely obligates people to hand over
even more sensitive personal data in exchange for an uncertain measure
of privacy.Gobronidze told Biometric Update earlier this year that the
company receives approximately 390 photo deletion requests per day and
in the first half of this year it handled nearly 582,000 takedown
requests, with 58 percent successfully deleted.PimEyes has also
introduced safeguards against misuse and requires users to confirm they
are of legal age and have a legal right to perform a search. Since June,
PimEyes has blocked more than 150 accounts for violating the company’s
Terms of Service.By Blackburn’s account, PimEyes has democratized
capabilities that once belonged only to intelligence agencies, and the
effect has been to blur the line between accountability and
harassment.The senator has given the company until September 24 to
respond in full to her questions.Her push did not arise in a vacuum. It
is tightly linked to legislation she introduced earlier this summer, the
Protecting Law Enforcement from Doxxing Act, which seeks to make it a
federal crime to publish the name of a federal law enforcement officer
when done with the intent to obstruct an investigation or immigration
operation.The bill would amend 18 U.S.C. §1510, the federal obstruction
statute, to explicitly cover immigration enforcement operations.
Violators could face penalties of up to five years in prison.Blackburn
argued that the measure is necessary to fill a gap in existing law.
While statutes already criminalize publishing home addresses or phone
numbers of federal officers with intent to threaten or incite violence,
they do not explicitly criminalize making names public with obstructive
intent.The introduction of the bill was accompanied by a public clash
with local officials. Blackburn pointed to an incident in Nashville in
which the city’s mayor allegedly published ICE agents’ names following a
joint enforcement action. She called the disclosure reckless, formally
requested U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the mayor, and
presented her bill as a corrective measure.“This is about protecting the
men and women who risk their lives to keep our communities safe,” she
said at the time. “Publishing their names with the intent of obstructing
their work crosses a line that endangers national security.”Together,
her letter to PimEyes and her legislation form a two-track strategy. One
avenue pressures a specific vendor whose business model illustrates the
larger problem of open-access facial recognition; the other seeks a
statutory backstop to criminalize what she characterizes as obstructive
doxing.Both reflect a growing tension in the U.S. between the
transparency demanded by activists and journalists and the secrecy
sought by agencies that argue anonymity is essential for officer
safety.The debate, however, is fraught with constitutional stakes. Civil
liberties advocates warn that Blackburn’s legislation risks chilling
lawful speech and undermining press freedoms. They point out that
federal law enforcement officers are public officials, often operating
in public spaces, and that the public has a legitimate interest in
knowing who is exercising coercive government power.Critics have
characterized the bill as an attempt to create a “secret police,” where
government agents can act without public accountability. The First
Amendment, they argue, protects the publication of truthful information
about government officials, and any carve-out that criminalizes
disclosure of names, even with an intent element, sets a dangerous
precedent.Blackburn and her supporters counter that the legislation is
narrowly tailored. It does not forbid the press from reporting on
officers, they say, nor does it criminalize every instance of naming a
federal agent. The offense is triggered only when prosecutors can prove
that the disclosure was made “with the intent to obstruct” an
investigation or operation.In practice, this means that journalists
writing about misconduct would not face liability, but activists
publishing names to disrupt an ICE raid might. Still, the evidentiary
line between public accountability and obstruction is thin, and
opponents believe it invites prosecutorial overreach.The conflict over
PimEyes only sharpens this tension. On the one hand, the company’s
defenders say that face-search tools democratize access to information
and can empower ordinary people to protect themselves.On the other hand,
critics emphasize that these same tools allow bad actors to identify
individuals against their will, stripping away anonymity in ways that
can lead to harassment or violence.Blackburn’s letter underscores the
risks to law enforcement, but the broader societal stakes encompass
stalking victims, political dissidents, and anyone whose image can be
scraped from the web.The “ICE List” project illustrates both sides of
the coin. Its organizers claim they are engaged in legitimate activism,
exposing officers who they believe are complicit in human rights
violations at the border. By publishing names and social profiles, they
argue, they are holding power to account.Federal officials and lawmakers
like Blackburn see the site differently. They see it as a database that
paints targets on the backs of officers and their families.Blackburn’s
initiative also places her at odds with other lawmakers who have called
for greater transparency. Senator Cory Booker, for example, has pressed
for requirements that officers keep their faces visible and their
identities clear during public arrests, arguing that accountability
depends on knowing who is exercising government power.Such proposals
pull in the opposite direction from Blackburn’s, highlighting the
unresolved question of how much anonymity government law enforcement
officers are entitled to in a democratic society.The PimEyes controversy
fits into a larger policy debate about regulating commercial facial
recognition. While some states, such as Illinois and California, have
imposed strict biometric privacy laws, federal regulation remains
fragmented. Companies like PimEyes operate in a gray zone, where their
services can be used for both benign personal searches and harmful
surveillance.Further, it is not clear those state laws apply to PimEyes:
Gobronidze tells Biometric Update that subjects are identified not
through biometric data matching but through precise photographic
similarity analysis. And an attorney representing Illinois residents
unsuccessfully attempted to serve the company notice of a BIPA suit for
two years, searching for company representatives in Georgia, Dubai and
Belize, according to NPR.For its part, PimEyes is expanding its
portfolio with the introduction of a service that will allow users to
search for faces in billions of online videos.Blackburn’s letter
suggests a potential appetite in Congress to scrutinize the design
choices of these platforms, particularly features like automated alerts
and reverse-linking that facilitate tracking.For now, Blackburn’s focus
remains on ICE officers and the activists who target them. By tying
PimEyes to her legislation, she has created a narrative that links the
technological vulnerabilities of facial recognition with the legal gaps
she believes her bill will close.
Somalia kicks off mass digital ID registration drive-Sep 18, 2025, 10:25 am EDT | Ayang Macdonald
The
Somali government has since last month been conducting a mass
registration pilot for its national digital ID in the districts of
Shangani and Boondheer.The move is part of efforts to increase adoption
as the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) says it
plans to expand the registration drive to Mogadishu where it hopes to
register all 3.5 million inhabitants of the city, according to a World
Bank blog.From Mogagishu, the exercise will also be extended to the
Benadir region as the ID authority pushes ahead with its objective of
registering 15 million citizens for the digital ID by 2029.NIRA used
this year’s ID Day on September 16 to offer identity services, including
registering citizens.The federal government is also said to be training
staff to be deployed to the districts to help with registration of
citizens.The blog quotes a domestic worker Miss Jijo who confessed to
the importance of the Somali national ID, saying it will help her open
and manage her own bank account, something she has not been able to do
for lack of an ID.Many Somalis are said to be fully aware of the
benefits of having an ID card, and are likely to go for with increasing
awareness campaigns by the ID authority. The blog article references a
World Bank survey conducted early this year which found that many
citizens see the ID as “a tool for empowerment, one that can open doors
to greater opportunities such as access to public and private sector
services and even formal employment.”One Somali who hopes to register
for an ID was quoted as saying: “The Somali ID will allow me to open my
bank account. Right now, I am using a family member’s account for
financial transactions, which is not ideal. Once I get my ID, I will be
able to manage my finances independently.”The Somalia ID program is
funded by the World Bank and it aims to provide every citizen with a
government-issued identity which can facilitate access to public
services and also drive financial inclusion in the country.It is
expected that the mass registration efforts will pull in more citizens
to register for the digital ID, especially as the government is
increasing use cases for the credential.The ID has been made a
requirement to access a number of services, from opening a bank account,
getting transport documentation like driver’s licenses, to completing
passport applications and domestic travel.
Next, Idex Biometrics
win volume fingerprint sensor orders amid steps to change course-A
private placement and a product pivot revealed-Sep 18, 2025, 10:06 am
EDT | Chris Burt
An OEM distributor in China has placed a mass
production order of fingerprint sensors from Next Biometrics to use for
in biometric banking applications.The order for Basalt FAP 20 sensors
follows an initial engagement with the unnamed partner to provide
biometrics for China ID products. That initial engagement, announced in
the third fiscal quarter of 2024, noted the sensors will be used for
customer authentication.Next says it is targeting annual volumes under
the deal that will bring in 0.8 million Norwegian kroner (approximately
US$81,000). Deliveries are expected to start during this quarter.The
company has also completed another private placement, issuing 4.7
million new shares at a subscription price of NOK 4.25 each, to raise
NOK 20 million ($2 million).The private placement was announced on
August 20, as part of a report of tumultuous earnings, but the terms
were revised due to the company’s share price falling below the
subscription price. Free warrants redeemable for an additional share at
NOK 3.90 were added to each share subscription.Next stock was trading
below NOK 3.00 on the Oslo Stock Exchange Thursday afternoon.The company
also closed private placements for $10.5 million in 2021 and $5.5
million in 2023.When the private placement was announced, Next said the
funds would be used for “general corporate purposes.”Idex’ product pivot
to biometrics payment and physical access-DigAware, a product division
of U.S.-based strategy consultancy Emnovate has ordered 45,000
fingerprint sensors from Idex Biometrics.Idex and DigAware announced a
deal to collaborate on a card-based biometric physical access control
solution in January. The sensor supply deal positions DigAware to scale
its access control business in America ahead of a planned global
expansion, according to the company announcement.“Our investment in this
market is driven by the rapidly growing demand for secure access
control and improve safety within our target markets,” says DigAware
Founder and CEO Robin Bienfait. “Throughout the development process, we
have been impressed by the speed and accuracy of the Idex sensor and
biometric matching software, as well as the outstanding support from the
Idex team.”But Idex is in the midst of pivoting from supplying
components for biometric solutions to operating as “a fully-fledged
product company,” as CEO and CFO Anders Storbråten puts it.The company
announced the launch of a new portfolio of products for biometric
payments and access control last week, along with a redesigned website.
Idex wants to address the markets for Zero Trust security and fraud
detection in digital payments, and says it signed multiple partnerships
during the third quarter targeting commercial launches this calendar
year.“Our new product portfolio positions us at the forefront of the
global shift toward passwordless authentication,” Storbråten says.“This
shift significantly strengthens our value proposition, expands our
addressable market, and enhances our ability to scale recurring
revenue,” he adds.Idex also recently disclosed that the second tranche
of its private placement that raised $3 million in July ended up being
made up of 4,359,315 shares, which were lent to the company by
Storbråten. The company has now returned the borrowed shares, and the
company’s CEO and CFO and close relations now hold 20.3 percent of the
total.
GLEIF integrates IOTA’s blockchain infrastructure for trusted digital trade-Sep 18, 2025, 6:03 am EDT | Ayang Macdonald
The
Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and the IOTA
Foundation have entered into a partnership that aims to make it easier
and safer for businesses to prove who they are when involved in
international trade transactions.According to an announcement, the
partnership will look into how the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and
verifiable LEI (vLEI) can bring secure, verifiable digital identity to
global supply chains.The partnership means that GLEIF will integrate its
system of unique and verifiable IDs for companies, with the IOTA’s
distributed ledger technology which is a secure and decentralized way to
record and share data.The system will be part of the IOTA’s Trade
Worldwide Information Network (TWIN), a decentralized trade
infrastructure that facilitates real-time and verifiable data sharing
beyond borders.Per the deal, both partners intend to build a kind of
blockchain-based digital passport for companies that works across
borders to ensure that international trade is faster, safer, and more
inclusive through interoperable systems.There is an initial proof of
concept for the system, and it’s exploring how organizations can “easily
establish their digital identity in either of the LEI or IOTA
ecosystems, and also reuse it across both, to create instant, on-chain
trust for businesses participating in global supply chains, the
announcement explains.”With the system, firms involved in international
trade will be able to instantly prove their identity online and customs
checks, supply chain processes, and cross-border payments will be
faster, more transparent, and less prone to fraud. In the same vein,
smaller businesses could make the most of the system by getting easier
access to global trade partners and even funding.“GLEIF and the IOTA
Foundation share a common belief that organizational identity and
verification is the key to making global trade more efficient,
transparent, and inclusive – and that this can best be realized through
decentralized, open-source infrastructures,” GLEIF CEO, Alexandre Kech,
said of the partnership.“By examining the potential to connect
complementary ecosystems and combine our experience and expertise in the
development and application of verifiable credentials, this
collaboration marks an important step towards the digitalization of
global trade,” he added.The Co-Founder and Chairman of the IOTA
Foundation, Dominik Schiener, said with the integration, they can
“deliver verifiable organizational identities directly into supply chain
processes.”“This will help streamline compliance, reduce friction, and
unlock new opportunities for businesses of all sizes to participate in
global commerce,” he remarked.The IOTA Foundation announced the alpha
release of its decentralized identity framework in March, and is part of
its push to ensure an increased level of trust online.
NIST
relaunches 1-to-N fingerprint biometrics matching evaluations-Initial
submissions from Tech5, Innovatrics show gains after 13 years off-Sep
17, 2025, 6:12 pm EDT | Chris Burt
The U.S. National Institute
of Standards and Technology has relaunched its evaluation of
performance capabilities of one-to-many fingerprint biometric
identification algorithms after a 13 year hiatus.NIST has renamed the
Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation (FpVTE) as the Friction Ridge
Image and Features (FRIF) Technology Evaluation Exemplar One-to-Many
(E1N).The only submissions to the relaunched evaluation so far are from
Tech5 and Innovatrics.NIST uses the submitted algorithms to match
biometrics from three datasets for the evaluation. Class A is made up of
index fingers only, Class B consists of 4-4-2 or “identification flat”
captures, and Class C includes all ten fingers.Tech5 was found to have a
false non-identification rate (FNIR) of 0.001 at a false positive
identification rate (FPIR) of 0.001 or lower in matches against the 1.6
million images in Class A, and a Rank-1 FNIR of 0.0004. The best results
so far for all pairings in Class C are Tech5’s. The company currently
sits first for both operational thresholds and Rank-1 FNIR in
plain-plain (0.0018 and 0.0042), plain-rolled (0.0006 and 0.0037) and
rolled-rolled (0.0003 and 0.0034). The company’s algorithm also
performed well in template creation speed and footprint.At FPIR 0.001 or
lower, Innovatrics scored FNIRs of 0.0160, 0.0120, 0.0022 and 0.0011
respectively for left slaps, right slaps, left and right slaps together
and identification flats. At Rank-1 FNIR was 0.0092, 0.0027, 0.0010 and
0.0005.The FpVTE, back in 2012, included submissions from “afis team,”
NEC, id3, 3M Cogent, Sonda, Morpho, Neurotechnology, Tiger IT, Decatur
Industries, Papillon, Innovatrics, BIO-key, Dermalog, SPEX, Aware,
HiSign, ID Solutions and AA Technology.“This evaluation was highly
needed, because the previous similar 1:N fingerprint NIST testing was
conducted 13 years ago under FpVTE,” says Tech5 CRO Ameya Bhagwat. “The
end customers are looking at these tests as a reference when selecting
large-scale ABIS (Automated Biometric Identification System) platforms
for their projects in civil identity, foundational identity, elections,
passport systems and the like. We at TECH5 are very proud that this
fingerprint algorithm, that is used in the T5-OmniMatch ABIS platform,
shows the best results.”NIST notes that the evaluation is of template
creation and search algorithms used with an automated biometric
identification system (ABIS), and does not evaluate ABISs themselves.
For
many American Jews, High Holidays will be a mix of anxiety and
determination-Rabbis across US contend with diverse opinions and
security fears following series of attacks on Jewish and Israeli
targets: ‘There’s no doubt this is a very precarious moment’By David
Crary Today, 9:47 am-SEP 20,25
AP — For Jewish congregations
across the United States, the upcoming High Holidays — always a
compelling mix of celebration and repentance — will be more charged than
usual this year.Rabbis say many of their congregants are worried by a
surge of antisemitism, including two deadly attacks in the spring, yet
are all the more determined to worship together in the coming
days.“There’s no doubt this is a very precarious moment,” said Rabbi
Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “People are
feeling unsettled and vulnerable and also feeling that the High Holidays
could not matter more.”At Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Los
Angeles, Rabbi Erez Sherman said his diverse congregation seems eager
to gather side by side.“Obviously, security is of utmost concern,”
Sherman said. “It’s led to people saying I want to be here. I want to be
in these pews. And I want to walk out with a proud Jewish identity as
well.”Similar sentiments came from Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice
president at the Orthodox Union.“Our precious country’s atmosphere is
currently hate-filled, making this a difficult time for all Americans
and certainly for the Jewish community,” he said via email. “Rather than
discourage high holiday attendance, this will motivate our community to
come together and fill our synagogues with the prayers.”The High
Holidays begin this year on September 22 with Rosh Hashana — the Jewish
New Year — and continue through Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which
ends at nightfall on October 2.Attacks put Jewish Americans on edge-The
recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has put
Americans nationwide on edge. For Jewish Americans, there was a stretch
earlier this year that violently dramatized the threat of
antisemitism.In April, during Passover, the home of Pennsylvania’s
Jewish governor, Josh Shapiro, was firebombed. In May, two Israeli
Embassy staffers were fatally shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum in
Washington.On June 1, an attacker threw Molotov cocktails at people in
Boulder, Colorado, rallying to demand the release of Israeli hostages in
Gaza; one of those wounded in the attack — an 82-year-old woman — died
of her injuries on June 25.Those attacks occurred as monitoring groups
and security experts were reporting an unprecedented surge in the number
of antisemitic incidents and anti-Jewish threats in the US since the
beginning of the Gaza war, which was sparked when Hamas invaded Israel
on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251
hostages.Leaders of several major Jewish organizations held a briefing
Wednesday on Capitol Hill to press their case for more federal funding
to help bolster security at Jewish institutions.“This is a domestic
terrorism crisis,” said Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of Jewish
Federations of North America. “We need to be on a war footing to
respond.”In Houston, Rabbi David Lyon of Congregation Beth Israel, used
dire language in an email to The Associated Press.“There is nothing
similar to other recent years,” he wrote of the specter of antisemitism.
“This is calculated, organized and funded hate.”Worshipping alongside
others with differing views Like many US rabbis, Lyon serves a
politically divided community with diverse opinions.“In a Jewish
setting, where there is nothing close to a Pope or a bishop, we exercise
free will and autonomy,” he wrote. “In my congregations, we hear from
the left and the right but the role of the rabbis is to locate us on a
mutual path of Torah-based values that cherish human life, dignity,
peace.”At Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, Sherman and his wife, Nicole
Guzik, serve jointly as senior rabbis.They try to avoid broaching
politics from the pulpit, but they schedule events at the synagogue
designed so congregants will hear from people with diverse views.One
recent guest was Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, founder of Realign for Palestine —
a project seeking “a new policy framework for rejuvenated pro-Palestine
advocacy.”“I could not be more proud of our congregation,” Guzik said.
“They’re willing to listen to viewpoints to which they did not fully
agree.”Sinai Temple also has a mental health center, staffed by a social
worker, to support congregants affected by antisemitism.“We want to
acknowledge that people are scared and yet at the same time they don’t
want to sit at home and hide their Judaism,” Guzik said.Finding ways to
protect worshippers-Rick Jacobs, the Reform Judaism leader, said that
for US rabbis in general, “There’s a real sense of an impossible moment,
given the rise of deadly antisemitism and the wars that won’t end.”“The
security measures that congregations have to upgrade to is just
overwhelming,” he added. “The feeling of being in community — we
desperately need that. But you don’t want to tell people something
that’s false, like ′Don’t worry.′”These days, most synagogues employ a
layered strategy of security — guards, cameras and various systems for
controlling access to events through ticketing, registration or other
forms of vetting, according to Jewish security experts.The Secure
Community Network, which provides safety advice to Jewish institutions
throughout North America, highlighted the issue of synagogue security
earlier this month in a report titled “Weapons at Worship.” The network
has reported that firearms sales are surging among US Jews.The report’s
primary recommendation: If a house of worship is going to allow
individuals to carry firearms, it should do so through an organized and
well-trained security team, acting in coordination with law enforcement.
The report recommended prohibiting individuals from carrying firearms
in their personal capacity outside the structure of such a team.SCN’s
previous reports advise that if a congregation determines that armed
security will be a part of its plan, employing uniformed police officers
is the best option.Michael Masters, the SCN’s national director and
CEO, said the Jewish people have survived for centuries “in unique and
challenging threat environments.”“This moment, though, for Jews in the
diaspora and especially in the US does feel different,” he told the AP.
“The Jewish community and others have to be concerned about their
physical safety and security just to practice their religion.”Temple
Bethel in Augusta, Maine, is one of many congregations following that
advice. Rabbi Erica Asch, in the temple’s newsletter, said a uniformed,
off-duty police officer would be present outside the synagogue during
High Holidays services and events.“This year, I’ve heard from many of
you that are feeling particularly unmoored, concerned and worried,” Asch
wrote in the newsletter. “So during the High Holidays, I’ll be focusing
on how to find our footing in a world that seems uncertain, and how to
follow our own moral compass no matter what may come our way.”Times of
Israel staff contributed to this report.
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