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)
MERZ PUSHES ABBAS DEATH CULTIST ON ARAB REFORMS IN GAZA.
FINALLY THE EUROPEAN UNION IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING THEIR OWN ARMY.AND IT MUST HAPPEN.
REVELATION 19:16-21
16
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of
Kings, And Lord Of Lords.(JESUS RETURNG TO EARTH LITERALLY ON A WHITE
HORSE WITH THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS 7 YEARS EARLIER)
17 And I saw an
angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all
the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves
together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the
flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of
all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(2ND TIME GOD-JESUS
TELLS THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS TO GET READY TO EAT HUMAN
FLESH.THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN GOD TOLD THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING
BIRDS-TO EAT RUSSIA,GERMAN,ARAB, MUSLIM BODIES FOR 7 MONTHS IN EZEK 38 @
39.
19 And I saw the beast,(E.U WORLD LEADER) and the kings of the
earth, and their armies,(HERE IT SAYS THE E.U WILL HAVE ITS OWN ARMY)
gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, (JESUS)
and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
20 And the beast (E.U
WORLD LEADER) was taken, and with him the false prophet (POPE FRANCIS)
that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had
received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were
filled with their flesh.
Zephaniah 2:1-15
1 Gather together, yes, gather,O shameless nation,
2
before the decree takes effect[a] -before the day passes away like
chaff—before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before
there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord.
3 Seek the
Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands;[b] seek
righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of
the anger of the Lord.
4 For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon
shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to you inhabitants of the
seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against
you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no
inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows[c] for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7
The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of
Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they
shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of
them and restore their fortunes.
8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab
(JORDAN) and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my
people and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I
live,” declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become
like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles
and salt pits, and a waste forever.The remnant of my people shall
plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11
The Lord will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods
of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the
lands of the nations.
12 You also, O Cushites, shall be slain by my sword.
13
And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy
Assyria,(SYRIA) and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like
the desert.
14 Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of
beasts;[d] even the owl and the hedgehog[e] shall lodge in her
capitals; a voice shall hoot in the window; devastation will be on the
threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare.
15 This is the
exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and
there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild
beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.Sa'ar: No
free meals; talks possible if more hostages freed Israel halts aid into
Gaza, citing Hamas refusal to extend first phase of truce
Footnotes-a
-Zephaniah 2:2 Hebrew gives birth, b-Zephaniah 2:3 Or who carry out his
judgment, c-Zephaniah 2:6 Or caves, d-Zephaniah 2:14 Hebrew beasts of
every nation, e-Zephaniah 2:14 The identity of the animals rendered owl
and hedgehog is uncertain
DANIEL 2:37-45
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and
the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made
thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39 And after
thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third
kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And
the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh
in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these,
shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the
feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron,
forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of
the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the
brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known
to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
DANIEL 7:17-26
17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from
all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his
nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet;
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of
the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn
that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was
more stout than his fellows.
21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of
the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole
earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the
ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and
another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words
against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High,
and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his
hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
THE WORLD IN 10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS LEAD BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THE WORLD LEADER, NOT AMERICA.I PREDICT.
THE EUROPEAN UNION AND REVIVED ROMAN WORLD GOVERNMENT
DANIEL 2:31-33,36-43, DAN 7:3-8,17
First From Daniel Chapter 2
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (HEAD OF GOLD) DAN 2:31-32,36-38, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (CHEST & ARMS OF SILVER) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (WAIST & HIPS OF BRONZE) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (2 LEGS OF IRON) DAN 2:33,40, ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) (FEET IRON & CLAY) DAN 2:33,41-43,10 TOES
Now From Daniel Chapter 7
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (LION WITH EAGLES WINGS) DAN 7:4, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (BEAR ON HIND LEGS) DAN 7:5, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (LEOPARD 4 WINGS, 4 HEADS) DAN 7:6, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (HUGE IRON TEETH) DAN 7:7 (10 HORNS), ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) DAN 7:8,19-20,23-25 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS
REV
17:9,12, 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS, 7 HILLS ROME. REV 13:1 BEAST WITH 7 HEADS.
THE E.U LEADER OF WORLD GOVERNMENT DAN 2:40-45, 7:7-8,23-25,27, 8:23,
REV 13:3,7,8,12,14,16
REVELATION 17:10-12
10 And there are
seven kings (7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY) five are fallen, (EGYPT,
ASSYRIA, BABYLON,:MEDO-PERSIAN,GREECE and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS
DAY-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he
cometh,(FUTURE-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE-EUROPEAN UNION TODAY) he must
continue a short space.(7 YEARS OF WORLD DOMINATION-BUT 3 1/2 YEARS OF
NEW WORLD ORDER OR ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS OR REGIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which
have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour
with the beast.
REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS-NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have
received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the
beast.
13 These have one mind,(WORLD SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
We
shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only
question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or
consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February
1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in
1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a
man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection
to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten
to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept
him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
DICK
MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t
look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.
THE CLUB OF ROME FOUNDER AURELIO PECCEI WANTS THE WORLD IN 10 REGIONAL TRADING BLOCKS.
REVELATION 16:1-2
1
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels,
Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the
earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth;
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the
mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16
And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
I KNOW THIS MARK WILL
BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP WHAT THE WORD MARK
SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE
VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS DICTATORS MARK. NOW
LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE.
UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW
AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION
13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION
AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO
IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA, KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE
SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS A BADGE OF SERVITUDE),
OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM 5482 XAPAE CHARAX,
KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A POINT; AKIN TO 1125
THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E (BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR
RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM
1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO "GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE;
FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING, -TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 -
STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα, στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick;
(cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German stechen, English stick, sting, etc.;
Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. According
to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of
their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to
indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even
some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their
gods (cf. Deyling, Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα
τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.) Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in
Galatians 6:17 says he bears branded on his body, are the traces left
there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by
him for the cause of Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and
approved votary, servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on
Galatians, the passage cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian,
Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
HERES WHAT THE WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE (SINCE THERE WILL BE WORLD GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE)-UPDATED VERSION (10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
01 CANADA, U.S.A, MEXICO
02 EUROPEAN UNION,WESTERN EUROPE
03 JAPAN
04 AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, S AFRICA, ISRAEL AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
05 EASTERN EUROPE
06 SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND LATIN AMERICAS
07 NORTH AFRICA, AND MIDEAST (MOSLEMS)
08 CENTRAL AFRICA
09 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
10 CENTRAL ASIA
THE
CLUB OF ROME WANTS A WORLD CHARISMATIC DICTATOR (EITHER RELIGIOUS,
POLITICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL) TO HEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. REV 13:3,7-8,
DAN 7:23-24
WORLD POWERS IN THE END TIME
NORTH - RUSSIA EZEK 38:1-2, 39:1-2
SOUTH - EGYPT DAN 11:42
EAST - CHINA DAN 11:44,REV 16:12
WEST - EUROPEAN UNION DAN 7:23-24 (NOT THE U.S.A)
http://israel7777777.blogspot.ca/2012/03/10-world-trade-blocs-one-world.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2006/09/how-eu-takes-world-control.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2012/05/one-world-religion-crislam.html
FINALLY THE EUROPEAN UNION IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING THEIR OWN ARMY.AND IT MUST HAPPEN.
REVELATION 19:16-21
16
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of
Kings, And Lord Of Lords.(JESUS RETURNG TO EARTH LITERALLY ON A WHITE
HORSE WITH THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS 7 YEARS EARLIER)
17 And I saw an
angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all
the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves
together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the
flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of
all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(2ND TIME GOD-JESUS
TELLS THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS TO GET READY TO EAT HUMAN
FLESH.THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN GOD TOLD THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING
BIRDS-TO EAT RUSSIA,GERMAN,ARAB, MUSLIM BODIES FOR 7 MONTHS IN EZEK 38 @
39.
19 And I saw the beast,(E.U WORLD LEADER) and the kings of the
earth, and their armies,(HERE IT SAYS THE E.U WILL HAVE ITS OWN ARMY)
gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, (JESUS)
and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
20 And the beast (E.U
WORLD LEADER) was taken, and with him the false prophet (POPE FRANCIS)
that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had
received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were
filled with their flesh.
COUNCIL FOR EUROPE ON DEFENCE
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/6d6f889c-e58d-4caa-8f3b-8b93154fe206_en?filename=SAFE%20Regulation.pdf
France’s
national digital ID scaling up after graduating from pilot-France
Identité to serve as country’s EUDI Wallet, to be used in 2026
elections-Dec 5, 2025, 10:20 am EST | Masha Borak
France’s
national digital identity app, France Identité, has enabled the creation
of more than 3.2 million digital IDs, according to new figures.Among
these, approximately 525,000 identities have been fully certified,
meaning that users have completed an in-person verification process at
their local town halls. This means that more than half a million French
digital IDs are ready for the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet,
according to Joerg Lenz, head of marketing at Namirial Group.“France
Identité is moving from pilot to scale,” Lenz wrote on LinkedIn,
following the TRUSTECH Event held in Paris on Wednesday.Namirial is one
of the companies participating in the EUDI Wallet Large-Scale Pilots
POTENTIAL and APTITUDE, alongside France Titres, the National Agency for
Secured Documents, which is in charge of developing the France Identité
project.France Identité has also enabled 6.5 million authentications
through the France Connect platform, which allows citizens to log into
government and private services. In addition, citizens have generated
655,000 digital identity attestations, Lenz says in his breakdown of the
app’s latest figures.The digital ID app has been designated by the
European Commission as the future digital wallet for France. By the end
of 2026, the country plans to open the app to all French residents,
reaching 5 million users.The scheme targets adult French citizens and
allows them to use the digital ID in place of a physical card. It also
enables services such as mobile driving licences (mDLs) and one-time
identity credentials. Under the government’s plan, mobile driving
licenses will be accepted when individuals are stopped by traffic
officers or when renting vehicles.Last week, authorities announced that
France Identité will also be used in the country’s municipal elections,
which will be held from March 15th to 22nd, 2026.“The Ministry of the
Interior has rolled out a fully digital proxy voting system for all
elections, thanks to the France Identité app,” says the announcement.
ASEAN plans to roll out digital business ID to boost cross‑border trade-Dec 5, 2025, 7:34 am EST | Lu-Hai Liang
The
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is preparing to roll out
a regionwide digital business identity system aimed at transforming
cross‑border trade, strengthening trust between companies and
accelerating the region’s digital economy.The initiative, known as the
Unique Business Identification Number (UBIN), is expected to move into
implementation following the adoption of its official roadmap, writes Dr
Le Quang Lan, Director of Market Integration Directorate at the ASEAN
Secretariat, for Bernama.ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn said
digital interconnectedness is now essential economic infrastructure, and
UBIN will help remove long‑standing barriers to doing business across
the region.The system will allow companies to be recognized and verified
in real time across all ASEAN member states, enabling smoother trade
and reducing administrative friction. ASEAN covers all 11 countries in
Southeast Asia, comprising more than 600 million people and is projected
to be the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030 (more on that
below).Nadhir Ashafiq, co-founder of logistics platform The Lorry, said a
unified digital business identity would simplify approvals, company
setup and regulatory processes across ASEAN, particularly for younger
and smaller firms seeking to expand regionally.The UBIN initiative
builds on ASEAN’s broader digital transformation agenda, including the
ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) launched in 2023.
Supported by Australia through the Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative, ASEAN
has spent the past two years developing guidelines and technical
standards for a regionally interoperable business ID system.Under the
UBIN framework, interoperability will be driven by five pillars: secure
data exchange between business registries, decentralized verification
technology, common governance structures, regulatory alignment, and
capacity‑building programmes for member states. A study by Boston
Consulting Group estimates that full implementation could unlock $110
billion to $300 billion in economic value — equivalent to up to a
quarter of DEFA’s projected contribution to ASEAN’s digital
economy.ASEAN officials say the system is designed not only to boost
efficiency but also to promote inclusive growth. Micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) are a major fixture of commerce in ASEAN,
accounting for around 45 percent of ASEAN’s GDP, but only 18 percent are
exporting. But this backbone of ASEAN’s economy stands to benefit from
simplified compliance and verification along with increased trust from
foreign partners.Women‑owned businesses, which are disproportionately
affected by bureaucratic barriers and limited access to finance, are
also expected to gain from improved visibility and credibility through a
recognized digital business ID.The implementation roadmap outlines five
phases, from establishing governance structures to rolling out advanced
use cases such as e‑contracts and secure digital document exchange.
Early applications will include regionwide company search tools and
standardized business information services, enabling firms to quickly
verify potential partners.In the long term, UBIN will support secure
cross‑border exchange of digital documents such as invoices, trade
licences and customs permits, which will reduce fraud risks and cut
costs for MSMEs. Once fully implemented, UBIN is expected to serve as a
regional trust anchor, enabling businesses of all sizes to operate more
confidently and competitively across ASEAN.WEF calls for regulatory
alignment, cybersecurity-Southeast Asia enjoys demographic advantages
and a dynamic business landscape. It has a young population, growing
cities and economies. The World Economic Forum projects ASEAN to become
the world’s fourth‑largest economy by 2030.The region’s digital economy
alone is expected to more than double to $560 billion, creating new jobs
and innovation opportunities. But sustained success, the World Economic
Forum argues, will require coordinated strategy, public‑private
collaboration and a shared commitment to inclusive growth.ASEAN’s
youthful dynamism and desire to leapfrog older technologies confers
advantages. Local innovation is accelerating, such as Malaysia’s YTL AI
Labs developing ILMU, a Bahasa Malaysia large language model designed
for use across business, education and government.Further integration
via harmonized regulations, reduced non‑tariff barriers and initiatives
like the proposed ASEAN Business Entity could strengthen the region’s
position as a global growth engine.Supporting micro, small and
medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) is central to this vision. MSMEs make
up more than 97 percent of ASEAN businesses and 85 percent of its
workforce, yet many struggle to scale due to limited financing,
mentorship and market access.Without digital identities or credit
histories, up to 60 percent report difficulty securing loans. New
partnerships aim to close this gap. In 2024, the Mastercard Impact Fund
committed $5 million to unlock up to $1 billion in Asian Development
Bank financing for MSMEs, demonstrating how targeted private‑sector
investment can catalyze broader credit access.Digitalization offers
another major opportunity. Digital payments in the region are expected
to surpass $1 trillion this year, enabling MSMEs to reach more customers
and stay competitive. Embracing QR codes, digital ID wallets and
contactless payments could enable MSMEs to find more customers and boost
sales.But increased connectivity also heightens exposure to cyber
threats. In this, biometrics and passkeys and digital identity could
offer protections against fraud and scams — a trend playing out in the
likes of Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.The World Economic Forum and
ASEAN‑Business Advisory Council argue that ASEAN can become a global
model for resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth. They argue this
requires businesses and governments to cooperate to strengthen the
foundations of the digital economy.By expanding access to capital,
improving regulatory alignment and bolstering cybersecurity, the region
can ensure economic competitiveness that endures.
Microchip
Unveils First 3 nm PCIe® Gen 6 Switch to Power Modern AI
Infrastructure-Switchtec™ Gen 6 PCIe Fanout Switches deliver extra
bandwidth, low latency and advanced security for high-performance
compute, cloud computing and hyperscale data centers
CHANDLER,
Ariz., October 13, 2025 — As artificial intelligence (AI) workloads and
high-performance computing (HPC) applications continue to drive
unprecedented demand for faster data movement and lower latency,
Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) has introduced its next generation
of Switchtec™ Gen 6 PCIe® Switches. The industry’s first PCIe Gen 6
switches manufactured using a 3 nm process, the Switchtec Gen 6 family
is designed to deliver lower power consumption and support up to 160
lanes for high-density AI system connectivity. Advanced security
features include a hardware root of trust and secure boot, utilizing
post-quantum safe cryptography compliant with the Commercial National
Security Algorithm Suite (CNSA) 2.0.Previous PCIe generations created
bandwidth bottlenecks as data transferred between CPUs, GPUs, memory and
storage, leading to underutilization and wasted compute cycles. PCIe
6.0 doubles the bandwidth of PCIe 5.0 to 64 GT/s (giga transfers per
second) per lane, providing the necessary data pipeline to keep the most
powerful AI accelerators consistently supplied. Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe
switches enable high-speed connectivity between CPUs, GPUs, SoCs, AI
accelerators and storage devices, and are designed to help data center
architects scale to the potential of next generation AI and cloud
infrastructure.“Rapid innovation in the AI era is prompting data center
architectures to move away from traditional designs and shift to a model
where components are organized as a pool of shared resources,” said
Brian McCarson, corporate vice president of Microchip’s data center
solutions business unit. “By expanding our proven Switchtec product line
to PCIe 6.0, we’re enabling this transformation with technology that
facilitates direct communication between critical compute resources and
delivers the most powerful and energy efficient switch we've ever
produced.”By acting as a high-performance interconnect, the switches
allow for simpler, more direct interfaces between GPUs in a server rack,
which is crucial for reducing signal loss and maintaining the low
latency required by AI fabrics. The PCIe 6.0 standard also introduces
Flow Control Unit (FLIT) mode, a lightweight Forward Error Correction
(FEC) system and dynamic resource allocation. These changes make data
transfer more efficient and reliable, especially for small packets which
are common in AI workloads. These updates lead to higher overall
throughput and lower effective latency.Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe switches
feature 20 ports and 10 stacks with each port featuring hot- and
surprise-plug controllers. Switchtec also supports NTB (Non-Transparent
Bridging) to connect and isolate multiple host domains and multicast for
one-to-many data distribution within a single domain. The switches are
designed with advanced error containment and comprehensive diagnostics
and debug capabilities, a wide breadth of I/O interfaces and an
integrated MIPS processor with bifurcation options at x8 and x16. Input
and output reference clocks are based on PCIe stacks with four input
clocks per stack. Visit the website to learn more about Microchip’s full
portfolio of PCIe switches.Development Tools-The Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe
Switch family is supported by Microchip’s ChipLink diagnostic tools,
offering comprehensive debug, diagnostics, configuration and analysis
through an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). ChipLink connects
via in-band PCIe or sideband signals such as UART, TWI and EJTAG,
enabling flexible, efficient monitoring and troubleshooting throughout
design and deployment. The switches are also supported by the
PM61160-KIT Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe Switch Evaluation Kit with multiple
interfaces.Pricing and Availability-Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe switches are
available for sampling to qualified customers. Contact a Microchip sales
representative or authorized worldwide distributor for more
information.Resources-About Microchip-Microchip Technology Inc. is
committed to making innovative design easier through total system
solutions that address critical challenges at the intersection of
emerging technologies and durable end markets. Its easy-to-use
development tools and comprehensive product portfolio support customers
throughout the design process, from concept to completion. Headquartered
in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support
and delivers solutions across the industrial, automotive, consumer,
aerospace and defense, communications and computing markets. For more
information, visit the Microchip website at www.microchip.com.Note: The
Microchip name and logo and the Microchip logo are registered trademarks
of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries.
Switchtec is a trademark of Microchip Technology Inc. in the U.S.A. and
other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property
of their respective companies.
UK tucks biometric bias reports
deep into police facial recognition plan-Cognitec, Idemia join NEC as
algorithm suppliers for police, Home Office-Dec 4, 2025, 3:07 pm EST |
Chris Burt
The UK government pledged on Thursday to increase its
use of facial recognition and biometrics to identify wanted suspects.
The pledge came as part of a massive and poorly-communicated information
dump that reveals UK law enforcement is using face biometrics
algorithms from Cognitec and Idemia, and a vague plan to overhaul the
body responsible for biometrics oversight.Proposed changes to the way UK
police use facial recognition and other biometrics include more
frequent use of the technology, but also possible police access to civil
government databases like those used for passports and driver’s
licenses.Home Office announced the proposal, along with a 10-week
consultation on a “legal framework for using facial recognition in law
enforcement,” which takes in forensic (or retrospective) facial
recognition, operator-initiated facial recognition (like in body cams)
and live facial recognition.The proposal also includes the creation of a
new oversight and regulatory body for “police use of biometrics, facial
recognition and similar technologies.” Home Office will gather views on
what responsibilities this regulatory should have during the
consultation.Home Office says the consultation will consider the
benefits of facial recognition, what safeguards are needed for it and
“similar technologies which are likely to follow.” How the technologies
should be used, privacy protections and proportionality will be
addressed. The consultation opened Thursday and closes February 12,
2026.Crime and Policing Minister Sarah Jones described facial
recognition as “the biggest breakthrough for catching criminals since
DNA matching.”In response, Big Brother Watch Director Silkie Carlo said:
“Facial recognition is indeed a powerful technology much like DNA, but
we would never accept DNA checkpoints across our high streets and nor
should we accept widespread face recognition checkpoints, treating us
all like criminals in a constant line up.”The announcement notes that
Home Office spent £12.6 million on facial recognition last year,
including £2.8 million on live facial recognition deployed in
fixed-location pilots and vans. Another £6.6 million is budgeted for a
further rollout this year, including £3.9 million for a national face
matching service.Home Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed in July that the
Home Office was working on a governance framework for police use of live
facial recognition.Questions as proposal-The consultation paper says
that while the government has determined a legal framework is already in
place for police to use facial recognition, it is insufficient for
police “confidence to use it at a significantly greater scale” or to
give the public confidence that its use is responsible and according to
clear rules.It asks 17 questions about which technologies and
organizations the new framework should apply to, what factors should be
considered in assessing privacy impacts, what purpose the technologies
should be allowed for and who should be responsible for authorizing the
use of the biometric technologies.Home Office also asks if police should
be allowed to search public records like the government’s passport and
driver’s license databases. Currently, they have to ask the Home Office
to do so on their behalf, and the request has to meet a standard set of
criteria.Carlo from Big Brother Watch says the consultation is long
overdue but that if the government was going to take the consultation
seriously, it would halt police use of facial recognition pending its
outcome instead of allocating funds for a program expansion.Biometrics
Commissioner role change-To oversee the expanded system, Home Office
proposes the creation of a regulatory and oversight body which would
“encompass and build upon the existing roles of the” BSCC and Forensic
Science Regulator for England and Wales.What this means for the
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner role is unclear.
University of Stirling Professor William Webster was appointed BSCC
effective November 1 after the biometrics role was left vacant for just
under a year and the surveillance camera role continuously since last
August.The role is mentioned only once in the announcement, by Former
Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Neil Basu.“The live facial
recognition system was, but no longer is, discriminatory but it will
still require proper legal safeguards and oversight by the surveillance
commissioner,” Basu says.The consultation plan points out that the BSCC,
the Information Commissioner, HMICFRS, Equality and Human Rights
Commission, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct all currently
play parts in overseeing police use of facial recognition, and argues
the arrangement is inefficient.“We believe that a structural change
would make oversight more effective and propose creating a ‘one stop
shop’ serving a common group of stakeholders with similar concerns and
need for clarity.”It describes a new role strikingly similar to the old
one:“We envisage giving this body the necessary powers to provide
assurance that law enforcement use of biometric technologies is legal,
responsible, and necessary. These powers could include setting standards
to assure scientific validity, issuing codes of practice and
investigating instances where a technology has been misused, hacked or
accessed without authorisation.”Cognitec and Idemia facial recognition
evaluated by NPLThe government also asks how bias and discrimination
should be prevented.Home Office provides links to a new guide and
factsheet on police use of facial recognition, and a survey on public
support for facial recognition. It also links to newly-published tests
on facial recognition carried out by the UK’s National Physical
Laboratory. The new test by NPL were conducted with similar but updated
methodology to the tests of NEC’s NeoFace in 2023 for London’s
Metropolitan Police.Cognitec’s FaceVACS DBScan ID v5.5 returns a correct
match in more than 99 percent of searches at the operational setting
used by UK police when a true match is in the gallery, according to NPL.
The assessment found statistically significant variance in the
performance of Cognitec’s algorithm at a face-match threshold of 0.8
between genders, skin color and older and younger subjects.The Idemia
MBSS FR algorithm used by Home Office and intended for use in the new
national facial matching service was found to have “no significant
demographic variation in performance,” with a true positive
identification rate (TPIR) of 100 percent and a false positive
identification rate (FPIR) of 0 percent for all groups at face-match
thresholds between 3052 and 3981.The Cognitec algorithm was contracted
by Home Office for police to use with the Police National Database
(PND), while Idemia’s algorithm is for Home Office’s own use and the
proposed national service. NEC’s algorithm is still used by UK police
for live (or “real-time”) facial recognition.
How commercial
surveillance tools became essential to FBI investigations-Clearview AI,
Babel Street, and ZeroFox sit at the center of the bureau’s
investigative workflow-Dec 5, 2025, 3:52 pm EST | Anthony Kimery
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has come to rely on Clearview AI,
Babel Street, and ZeroFox to support its open-source intelligence
(OSINT) operations – three tools a federal watchdog said are “capable of
collecting … sensitive data” on people.While the FBI has long used
publicly available information to supplement traditional investigative
methods, these systems have transformed its OSINT into a continuous,
data-driven capability that can identify individuals, map networks, and
monitor broad swaths of online activity with unprecedented speed.A
series of disclosures in recent years, including a November 2025 report
from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) on the
FBI’s growing use of OSINT, confirm that the three platforms sit at the
center of the FBI’s investigative workflow, even as it has withheld most
operational details from public view.The PCLOB report says “the FBI
determined it could not decontrol certain information, including about
its use of … Clearview AI, ZeroFox, and Babel Street …”As a result, the
unclassified report contains only high-level descriptions of the tools
and the privacy safeguards that surround them, while the operational
specifics – including how often the platforms are used, in what kinds of
investigations, and under what internal criteria – are confined to a
classified annex accessible only to the White House, FBI leadership, and
congressional intelligence committees.This withheld section underscores
how central and sensitive the FBI’s OSINT capabilities have become,
even as they remain largely shielded from outside scrutiny.This lack of
transparency takes on special importance given that “the collection and
use of open-source information poses some risk to privacy and civil
liberties, especially when aggregated with other information that may
reveal sensitive personal information,” PCLOB concluded.The report’s
release by Beth A. Williams, a Republican and Trump-appointed member of
the board, added an unexpected layer of significance.PCLOB is structured
to be bipartisan, but it is unusual for a Trump nominee to preside over
the release of a document that underscores gaps in transparency around
federal surveillance tools, particularly in a political climate where
the administration has attempted to remove Democratic PCLOB members and
tighten control over oversight bodies.Williams’s role in issuing the
report lent it credibility across the political spectrum and underscored
the degree to which PCLOB, despite recent turmoil, continues to
function with a measure of institutional independence.The PCLOB report
says, “commercial tools [used by the FBI] consolidate substantial
amounts of open-source information, enabling users to more efficiently
conduct searches by bypassing the need to visit individual websites and
conduct manual searches.”The report noted that “these tools also filter
vast amounts of open-source information, thereby limiting the amount of
information that must be reviewed.”Clearview AI anchors the bureau’s
identity-resolution layer. The company’s database, built from billions
of images scraped from social media platforms and public websites,
allows law enforcement users to upload a photograph and receive possible
matches tied to names, accounts, and online histories.The FBI has not
publicly described its use of Clearview, but PCLOB confirmed that it
reviewed the FBI’s use of the tool in detail and that the bureau
declined to decontrol any portion of that review for public release.The
inclusion of Clearview in the classified annex strongly implies active
deployment and reflects how facial recognition-enabled OSINT has become
both routine and operationally sensitive.For FBI agents, the technology
allows a face captured in surveillance footage, a livestream, a protest
image, or a social media screenshot to be converted into a set of
potential identities within minutes.Babel Street’s platforms help the
FBI to determine what they are doing and how they are connected online.
Through its Babel X product, the bureau has access to a system that
ingests data from social networks, blogs, forums, messaging platforms,
news outlets, and other parts of the public web, applying translation
tools, geospatial filtering, entity extraction, and trend
analysis.Procurement records show that the FBI acquired approximately
5,000 Babel X licenses, indicating bureau-wide adoption across field
offices, headquarters units, and joint task forces.PCLOB identified
Babel Street as one of the FBI’s more comprehensive OSINT systems and
cited it as subject to additional safeguards and audit logging because
of the sensitivity of the information it can retrieve.“The FBI reported
that its employees may directly access and enter search terms into
commercial tools” like Babel Street, but that with tools like ZeroFox
“the FBI provides its search terms to the commercial tool provider who
conducts searches on behalf of the FBI.While the PCLOB’s public report
does not describe specific FBI techniques, the platform’s documented
capabilities support functions ranging from targeted research to ongoing
monitoring of online discussions, emerging narratives, and geotagged
activity relevant to bureau investigations.ZeroFox fills a distinct but
complementary role. Originally marketed as a cybersecurity and brand
protection product, ZeroFox has expanded into a broad external threat
intelligence service that scans social media platforms, the surface web,
and, according to the company’s own documentation, parts of the deep
and dark web for indicators of harm.PCLOB confirmed that it reviewed the
FBI’s ZeroFox Privacy Threshold Analysis, placing it in the same
category of enhanced sensitivity tools as Babel Street.Although the
public report offers few specifics, ZeroFox’s documented capabilities
align with likely FBI use cases, including protection of agents and
facilities, detection of impersonation schemes involving federal
branding, monitoring of threat activity that bridges online and physical
spaces, and identification of coordinated malicious campaigns.Taken
together, the three OSINT systems allow the FBI to conduct open-source
investigations that go far beyond manual review of public posts.
Clearview provides rapid biometric identification. Babel Street
structures and analyzes vast quantities of public and commercially
acquired data. And ZeroFox monitors the broader online environment for
threats directed at bureau personnel, facilities, or operations.As a
combined capability, they enable investigators to move from an
unidentified face or online alias to a detailed portrait of a person’s
digital activity and associations, often in near real time.The PCLOB
report underscores the extent of this integration. It noted that the FBI
“often relies on such information … in early stages of counterterrorism
investigations” and that three sensitive tools were subject to
heightened safeguards.At the same time, the FBI declined to release even
high-level public descriptions of how Clearview, Babel Street, and
ZeroFox are used in practice. This refusal illustrates both how central
the tools have become and how sensitive their deployment is
considered.It also leaves unresolved questions about the role of
commercial data, the handling of First Amendment protected activity, the
accuracy of algorithmic outputs, and the sufficiency of internal
oversight.What is clear from the available evidence is that commercial
surveillance technology now shapes the FBI’s OSINT capabilities at least
as much as traditional investigative technique.And “as access to
aggregated open-source information continues to evolve,” PCLOB
cautioned, “the FBI will need to continually evaluate the privacy and
civil liberties impacts of new tools and datasets.”
Alaska seeks major AI overhaul of state services through myAlaska mobile app-Dec 5, 2025, 3:30 pm EST | Anthony Kimery
Alaska
is exploring a sweeping redesign of its statewide digital services
platform, issuing a Request for Information (RFI) that signals one of
the most ambitious state-level deployments of artificial intelligence to
date.The RFI, released November 25 by the Department of
Administration’s Office of Information Technology, outlines plans to
embed “agentic AI” into the existing myAlaska mobile application,
transforming the platform from a basic services portal into an automated
system capable of completing complex transactions, managing user
workflows, and interacting directly with legacy state systems.The
myAlaska app currently serves as a single-entry point for a broad range
of government services, from applying for Alaska Permanent Fund
dividends to accessing DMV records and retirement benefits. The new
proposal would dramatically expand that functionality.In the first
phase, the state is considering the integration of autonomous AI modules
capable of carrying out multi-step government processes on behalf of
users, provided users give explicit consent.These modules would also be
designed to generate proactive reminders, deliver personalized service
recommendations, retrieve and fill forms dynamically, check eligibility
for state programs, and learn from previous user interactions to improve
future performance.According to the RFI, the intent is to create an
AI-driven interface that not only responds to user requests but
anticipates them, reducing friction across dozens of government
touchpoints.These AI functions would need to connect with existing state
infrastructure, many parts of which rely on older digital systems.To
accommodate this, the state is asking vendors to describe approaches for
secure communication between the app’s AI modules and legacy platforms,
including the orchestration of data workflows and fulfillment processes
that span multiple agencies.The RFI emphasizes security, privacy, and
compliance throughout, calling for adherence to relevant National
Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines, strong user-consent
controls, robust auditing, explainability features, and
incident-response protocols for potential misuse or data breaches.Alaska
is also requiring adversarial testing to examine vulnerabilities such
as hallucination, manipulation, or unauthorized data access – issues
that have become central to public-sector AI deployments nationwide.A
second phase of the enhancement plan envisions a broader expansion of
the app’s capabilities, including the integration of a digital “smart
wallet” that could store or present credentials such as driver’s
licenses, hunting and fishing permits, and professional
certifications.The wallet may also support digital payments or prepaid
balances if vendors can guarantee compliance with PCI DSS standards.The
state is simultaneously seeking full voice navigation throughout the
application, allowing users to complete forms, access services, and move
through menus using natural language commands.The RFI notes that all
voice features must meet federal accessibility standards, including WCAG
2.1 and Section 508, which is part of a 1998 amendment to the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which requires all federal electronic content
to be accessible.Biometric features are also under consideration.
Alaska proposes to expand identity verification within the app by
supporting facial recognition or fingerprint authentication through
native Apple and Android APIs.These additions would have to integrate
cleanly with the existing Azure B2C identity platform and operate
alongside single sign-on and multi-factor authentication mechanisms
already in use across state systems.The plan also calls for an in-app
survey tool designed to capture user feedback and analytics more
systematically, and for full multilingual support, allowing users to
switch between languages within the interface.One of the more structural
changes contemplated in the RFI concerns the app’s user interface.
Vendors are asked to redesign the experience so the system can scale to
roughly 300 digital services, an order-of-magnitude increase that would
require a more sophisticated discovery and navigation model.To support
this, the state is also seeking improvements to the app’s existing AI
chatbot, including architectural reviews and updated lifecycle
designs.The state is not requesting bids at this stage. Instead, it is
gathering input on cost, timelines, risks, and implementation approaches
from companies experienced in mobile development, digital wallets,
biometric authentication, voice interfaces, and large-scale
personalization systems.All responses are due by December 8, at 2:00
p.m. Alaska Standard Time.The RFI warns that entities that respond
inadequately may be excluded from participating in any future
procurement, and it includes special provisions tied to Administrative
Order 352 concerning businesses’ positions on boycotts of Israel.If
Alaska moves forward, the upgrades could position myAlaska as one of the
most advanced state-run digital service platforms in the country,
capable not only of housing government functions but autonomously
carrying them out.The next stage will depend on the proposals vendors
submit over the coming weeks, which will determine whether the state
issues a full solicitation early next year.
African digital ID
systems need better governance by stronger independent bodies:
Researchers-Dec 5, 2025, 1:38 pm EST | Chris Burt
Digital ID
systems backed by biometrics are being imposed on Africans, preventing
millions from receiving essential services they are entitled to,
according to a new report from the UK-based Institute of Development
Studies (IDS).The report “Digital-ID in Africa: Assessing progress and
challenges to date” looks at 10 countries; Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi,
Namibia, Senegal, and Tunisia. It uses the Evaluation Framework for
Digital Identity developed in 2019 by the India-based Centre for
Internet and Society. The CIS and Research ICT Africa applied the
Framework to the digital ID systems being deployed across Africa in
2021.Researchers carried out 15 diagnostic tests to assess the legal
foundations, human rights implications and risk considerations of
digital identity systems.Sophisticated legal frameworks that protect
human rights are in place in some African nations, the researchers
found, but gaps and failings effect even those with adequate laws in
place. As argued in other analysis, African governments must enable
strong, independent governance of digital identity systems to realize
their benefits while protecting human rights.“Translating legal
provisions into tangible benefits also requires that adequate resources
and expertise are dedicated to independent oversight and redress
mechanisms to correct mistakes and errors that inevitably occur and
demand prompt and adequate attention,” the report authors write.Common
concerns around inadequate data privacy, particularly for biometrics,
mission creep and exclusion are reflected in observations about all of
the countries examined, though to varying degrees.The researchers
conclude that “Africa’s biometric-ID systems blocking citizens from
rights and services,” an outcome difficult to avoid given their
observation that “Digital-ID systems in Africa emerged from colonial
tools of control and post-independence mechanisms of power
consolidation, and are now digitised infrastructures that increasingly
serve government and corporate interests.”“To address these gaps,” they
argue, “African countries must shift from rhetorical commitment to
practical governance: adopting clear, enforceable protections;
empowering independent regulators; and ensuring inclusive participation
by those most affected.”
No pints with digital ID or porn from
Belize for UK revelers this Christmas-Kyle’s age check promise falls
flat as cask ale while Ofcom slaps fines on adult network-Dec 5, 2025,
3:15 pm EST | Joel R. McConvey
UK drinkers raising a glass to
former Technology Secretary Peter Kyle this Christmas would best honour
him with a glass of milk. The Department of Science, Innovation and
Technology has reportedly confirmed to licensees that the changes to the
Mandatory Licensing Conditions won’t be ready in time to make good on
Kyle’s promise, made in December 2024, that digital ID would be an
option for age verification in UK pubs by the yuletide. A post on
LinkedIn from the Age Verification Provider’s Association (AVPA) says
the change has been delayed to 2026, “subject to Parliamentary
timeline.” “When we joked that Peter Kyle didn’t say which Christmas,”
says AVPA, “we should have penciled in 2027.” Ofcom hammers away at
noncompliant porn sitesMore adept at keeping promises is UK regulator
Ofcom, which enforces the Online Safety Act. An announcement from Ofcom
says it has fined AVS Group Ltd, a Belize-based operator of 18 adult
content websites, for violating the OSA’s age verification requirement.
The company now faces a fine of 1 million pounds, plus an extra 50,000
for failing to respond to requests for information. “While AVS has
implemented what it refers to as age verification, we do not consider it
to be highly effective,” Ofcom says. “AVS must now implement highly
effective age assurance within 72 hours of today’s decision, or face a
daily penalty of £1,000 per day.” The regulator has faced outcry from
major porn providers that have complied with the law, only to see their
traffic nosedive as users seek alternatives. Aylo, which owns Pornhub,
has called for a level playing field – in effect, a push to crack down
on noncompliant sites that may be sucking its traffic. AVPA also
supports a fair application of the laws. On LinkedIn, it says “the
success of this new regulatory regime rests on Ofcom ensuring there is a
level playing field, so high-profile sites do not face an existential
loss of custom to smaller sites not yet brought into line by the
regulator.” Geography can’t be a factor, either: “it must also apply to
sites regardless of their geographical location, which is why the
court-ordered ISP blocks, payment disruptions, or search result removals
need to be deployed swiftly, in the absence of compliance.”Need a
lifeline? Call a friend-AVPA speculates that, since AVS has been
unresponsive and is based in Belize, it may be “the first opportunity to
apply real teeth of the Online Safety Act where Ofcom has the power to
require the withdrawal of critical business services from non-compliant
sites.” But, it adds, “HM King Charles III is the Head of State of
Belize which is a member of the Commonwealth, so some investigatory
cooperation may be achievable.”
More missing children than
transparency in UK police live facial recognition watchlists-Dec 5,
2025, 12:13 pm EST | Masha Borak
Police in the UK have
included hundreds of minors on its facial recognition surveillance
watchlist, including children under the age of 12. The discovery is
sparking concern among civil rights organizations and lawmakers,
including England’s Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza.Individuals
under the age of 18 have been featured at least 1,600 times on live
facial recognition (LFR) systems used by six police forces across the
country, according to a new investigation published this week by rights
group Liberty and The Times.The figure could be much higher as some
forces, including the London Metropolitan Police, were unable to provide
the full numbers. As the UK’s largest police force, the Met Police has
conducted hundreds of LFR deployments since 2022.A total of four police
forces have confirmed they include minors in facial recognition
watchlists and provided relevant data.Commissioner de Souza said she is
“deeply concerned” that police forces are including minors in LFR
watchlists.“It raises serious questions about why this is needed and how
it is being used,” she says. “The police’s duty to protect the public
must not come at the expense of the protection of vulnerable children
who need care and support.”Both Conservative and Labour Party Members of
the UK Parliament (MPs) argue that limits on the technology should be
introduced in light of the revelation, while campaigners have called for
greater protection of children’s privacy.“It is appalling to find
police using this invasive technology on children, who are particularly
vulnerable to the privacy and safeguarding risks that live facial
recognition carries,” Green Party MP Siân Berry told The Times.UK police
push back-The investigation comes amid plans to expand the use of LFR
and set a legal foundation for its use across 43 regional police forces
and the British Transport Police.Police deployments of LRF are currently
conducted by mounting a camera on top of a van, which scans crowds at
public areas, matching faces to individuals on police watchlists of
suspects and missing persons. If there is no match, the facial image is
automatically deleted.The UK government wants the technology to become a
permanent fixture: Instead of just mounting cameras on vans, fixed
cameras would be placed to monitor crowds, including at train
stations.People can be included on a facial recognition watchlist for
various reasons, including being wanted by the police or by courts,
being reported missing or being a victim of a crime, according to the
College of Policing, a professional body for UK police.“The reality is
that there are some serious crimes committed by offenders under the age
of 18 … We will also be using the technology to help find high-risk
missing people, of which a significant proportion reported to us are
under 18,” says a spokesperson for Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Constabulary.According to data from 2023-2024, 65 percent of all missing
persons were minors, former prison governor Ian Acheson explains in an
opinion piece in The Spectator.“Many of these children abscond from care
homes and are at acute risk from sexual and criminal exploitation,”
says Acheson, who is currently the director of Community Safety at the
UK Home Office.Young people are also sometimes offenders and can inflict
extreme harm, he adds. Among 53,000 offenses involving knives, 18
percent involved juveniles, according to data from 2024 ending in March.
Young people are also engaged in antisocial behavior as well as theft,
intimidation and vandalism, he argues.“In this sense, the systems should
make no discrimination in terms of age,” says Acheson.The police,
however, must do more to regulate deployments of facial recognition,
including its use on minors, he adds.LFR needs clear regulation-Police
are currently required to “specifically identify and document” the
inclusion of minors’ images on LFR watchlists, according to the College
of Policing. Different police forces, however, interpret this
requirement in different ways and there is no unified approach to
documenting children on watchlists.Some police forces include specific
numbers of minors on watchlists and others don’t, while none provide
reasons for the minors’ inclusion.“Police must ensure deployments comply
with the law, protect children’s privacy, and have a clear rationale
for including any individual on a watchlist,” says the Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO). “At the same time, data protection should
not become a barrier to safeguarding children, careful consideration is
needed to balance both.”Community Safety Director Acheson notes that
traditional policing methods are unable to cope with the volume of
crimes. But while the expansion of LFR surveillance systems is
necessary, the safeguards for their use are insufficient.“New bespoke
legislation is probably required with national standards and
parliamentary scrutiny built in to ensure LFR is strictly confined to
combatting criminality on intelligence and facts, not forecasts,” he
says.Earlier this week, the Home Office announced a proposal for a
“legal framework for using facial recognition in law enforcement.” The
framework includes both live and retrospective facial recognition as
well as operator-initiated facial recognition (OIFR).The proposal also
includes the creation of a new oversight and regulatory body for “police
use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.” The
consultation will last 10 weeks.
FIDO Alliance broadens scope
with new digital credentials work, deployments-Passkey champion makes
updates, shifts focus to support world of wallets, digital ID-Dec 5,
2025, 11:26 am EST | Joel R. McConvey
The FIDO Alliance is
leveling up. Several announcements show the passwordless-focused
organization evolving, as it expands beyond its initial push for
passkeys to engage with the wider identity ecosystem.After dropping
hints on the Biometric Update Podcast, the FIDO Alliance today announced
the launch of a new digital credentials initiative, to be carried out
by a new Digital Credentials Working Group (DCWG). The company’s
announcement calls it an expansion of the FIDO Alliance’s mission to
accelerate the adoption of verifiable digital credentials and identity
wallets. Work will focus on three foundational workstreams: wallet
certification, specification development and usability and relying party
enablement.The digital credentials pivot will be among the projects on
the agenda at the newly announced Authenticate APAC 2026 event in
Singapore next year, billed as “the first time the industry’s only
conference dedicated to digital identity and phishing-resistant
authentication will be held in the Asia-Pacific region.” Also on the
bill are a new metadata service, a new deployment in the Japanese mobile
banking sector, and a new adaptable FIDO authentication product from
Fingerprint Cards.Updated metadata service gives RPs new ways to verify
authenticator compliance-The FIDO Alliance has updated its FIDO Metadata
Service (MDS), which helps ensure organizations have the information
necessary to successfully validate authenticators. In a blog, the
organization says that “to support the continued evolution of the FIDO
ecosystem, we have released an update to the MDS that provides new tools
for relying parties (RPs) to verify authenticator compliance, improve
interoperability and life cycle management, while enhancing the user
experience.”Specific updates include enforcement of a standardized
security policy, so relying parties can “ensure the correct level of
FIPS compliance by verifying that authenticators meet their exact
security criteria before granting access.” Streamlined cross-provider
integration means RPs can “dynamically discover and retrieve detailed
information about the passkey provider’s Credential Exchange (CX)
definitions.” There is a new “retired” authenticator status value, to
“accurately reflect MDS entries that are no longer actively supported or
recommended for use.The MDS version check “cuts processing times by
introducing localCopySerial, a new parameter that can be specified to
only return metadata if a new version of the MDS BLOB is available.”FIDO
has also launched a new Convenience Metadata Service, which simplifies
UX for passkeys so it’s consistent across platforms. “This includes
standardized, user-friendly names for passkey providers, and
high-quality logos for RPs to use in user interfaces and presentation
layers.”Both the updated FIDO MDS and the new Convenience Metadata
Service are now live.Japanese banks look to FIDO as regulations shift-A
FIDO member company has a new deployment in Japan, where Sumitomo Mitsui
Trust Bank (SuMiTB) has selected OneSpan to enhance mobile banking
security. GlobalData says the move introduces OneSpan’s cloud-based FIDO
authentication product to the Japanese mobile banking sector, following
on-premises deployments in the country.OneSpan CEO Victor Limongelli
says his firm’s selection “not only underscores OneSpan’s leadership and
credibility in Japan’s rapidly evolving FIDO market but also
demonstrates our ability to deliver enterprise-scale, phishing-resistant
authentication that meets the highest regulatory standards.”SuMiTB
plans to extend FIDO’s use to mobile banking transactions in part to
address losses of hundreds of millions of yen from phishing-related
fraud and account takeover, and in part to align with evolving
regulations from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), which has
proposed requiring financial institutions to use phishing-resistant
authentication methods.Authenticate APAC brings conference to Asia for
first time-The Authenticate APAC 2026 event will run from June 4-5, 2026
in Singapore. The FIDO Association intends for it to serve as a
“regional hub for education, collaboration and innovation,” as the
region gains influence on the cybersecurity landscape and momentum on
government digital identity initiatives and commercial passkey
deployments.“The FIDO Authenticate conference has become the defining
event for the authentication community, and we are proud to extend this
platform to the Asia-Pacific region,” says Andrew Shikiar, CEO of the
FIDO Alliance. “There is tremendous innovation happening across APAC,
and this event will provide a dedicated space for local and global
leaders to collaborate and help build the future of a secure,
user-friendly and interoperable internet.”
LexisNexis upgrades IDVerse biometric platform for higher accuracy in fewer steps-Dec 5, 2025, 11:25 am EST | Masha Borak
Biometric
anti-fraud platform IDVerse, acquired by LexisNexis Risk Solutions
earlier this year, is getting an upgrade. Its new owner has also
announced it would integrate the platform within its software suite,
allowing clients to simplify fraud protection.IDVerse provides user
onboarding through selfie biometrics, detecting sophisticated fraud such
as deepfakes, synthetic identities and forged documents. The upgrade
will allow the platform to increase its identity verification accuracy
and simplify the verification process with fewer steps, LexisNexis
explains in the announcement.“We integrate innovative deepfake defenses
and a more intuitive user experience, so organizations gain stronger
protection without adding barriers for legitimate users,” says Kimberly
Sutherland, global head of fraud and identity at LexisNexis Risk
Solutions.The company also plans to offer organizations a single API
that will combine services such as identity fraud controls, digital
identity profiling, device risk detection, risk pattern analysis, and
suspicious behavior monitoring.“The integration of IDVerse into the
Dynamic Decision Platform provides unified orchestration and a
360-degree view of identity risk,” the company says.The identity
verification product is geared towards organizations working in
financial services, gaming, retail, telecommunications and more, all of
which require robust anti-fraud solutions. In its annual Cybercrime
Report, LexisNexis warns that companies need to prepare for the “coming
storm powered by AI.”But the company is also working with the government
sector: Earlier this year, LexisNexis was found to be working with a
police force in the U.S. state of Virginia.IDVerse, on the other hand,
became one of the companies chosen to participate in Australia’s federal
government trial of digital identity for property rentals last month.
The firm has previously participated in Australia’s Age Assurance
Technology Trial.
Fingerprint Cards AllKey Ultra FIDO aims to simplify token adoption-Dec 5, 2025, 11:24 am EST | Joel R. McConvey
Fingerprint
Cards AB (FPC) and jNet Secure have launched a new FIDO product, the
FPC AllKey Ultra FIDO – a “tiny biometric module that anyone can build
on.” A release says the latest iteration of the AllKey Ultra biometric
access control product, is designed primarily for “small and large
product companies that want to enter the FIDO token market but lack the
in-house hardware, biometric, or security engineering resources to
develop a compliant solution themselves.”Delivered as a
System-In-Package (SiP) and billed as a turnkey solution, FPC AllKey
Ultra FIDO allows product companies to quickly and easily create their
own customized FIDO hardware authenticators. The Secure Element,
firmware and FIDO stack are already integrated and validated, meaning
the time needed for development cycles can be cut dramatically.The tool
is fully FIDO2 CTAP 2.3 compliant, supports on-device biometric
verification, and can ship pre-loaded as a FIDO USB authenticator. Its
compact design enables slim and small token form factors to unlock novel
industrial design possibilities.Adam Philpott, CEO of FPC, says
organizations are racing to deploy phishing-resistant FIDO tokens, but
integration can be complex and time-consuming. AllKey Ultra FIDO “solves
that problem by delivering a fully integrated biometric FIDO solution,
built with our partner jNet, that gets customers to market faster while
maintaining the strongest levels of security.”According to Mikhail
Friedland, CEO of jNet Secure, since the secure SiP and its applet
framework are fully programmable, “FIDO is just the first chapter.”“The
same module can evolve into enterprise badges, digital wallets or
entirely new categories of devices. With this kind of platform, our
customers’ imagination is the real design constraint.”
IBM joins
growing verifiable digital credentials marketplace-Turing Space
integrates IOTA-Dec 5, 2025, 10:16 am EST | Chris Burt
IBM has
launched standards-based software that allows organizations to issue
and verify secure, interoperable digital credentials and Turing Space is
working with IOTA as positioning for the emerging verifiable digital
credentials market intensifies. Verifiable digital credentials are
increasingly an essential component of digital public infrastructure,
SpruceID Founder and CEO Wayne Chang argued in a presentation at the
recent NAPHSIS Identity & Security Conference.A LinkedIn post from
IBM announcing its Verify Digital Credentials software argues that they
help businesses limit the likelihood of and damage from data
breaches.The software utilizes open standards including ISO/IEC 18013-5
(commonly associated with mobile driver’s licenses or mDLs), IETF
SD-JWT, OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance (OID4VCI) and OpenID
for Verifiable Presentations (OID4VP). The result is that the
credentials can be stored in user’s preferred device location, without
reliance on centralized databases and with support for selective
disclosure to protect data privacy.The technology is scalable, IBM says,
and suitable for post-secondary academic credentials, photo ID cards or
passports, health credentials, citizenship or permanent resident cards,
motor vehicle registration certificates and employments records.The
initial launch of IBM Verify Digital Credentials is as a containerized
solution, which the company says makes it easy to deploy to public or
private clouds, on-premises infrastructure or hybrid environments.Turing
Space turns to IOTA DLT for faster verification-Decentralized digital
identity provider Turing Space has joined the IOTA Business Innovation
Program to explore using IOTA’s blockchain infrastructure.The company is
aiming to reduce the time and cost of verifications with its Turing
Certs by 80 and 50 percent, respectively, according to a blog post from
IOTA.IOTA says its native identity framework supports decentralized
identifiers (DIDs) for simple integration important to multi-chain
architecture.“IOTA’s low-cost transaction fee model, combined with
sponsored transactions, allows us to deliver a better experience for end
users while scaling credential issuance affordably for large-scale
enterprise,” says Turing Space Co-founder and CTO Henry Hang.
Ethiopia aims for Africa’s best digital payments network by 2035-Dec 5, 2025, 6:27 am EST | Ayang Macdonald
Ethiopia
has unveiled a strategic roadmap which aims to enable the country set
up one of the leading digital payment networks on the continent in the
next 10 years.The country’s national interoperable digital payments
platform EthSwitch recently signed a 15-year plan with partner Genesis
Analytics to realize this ambition.EthSwitch is a national switch owned
by public and private banks in Ethiopia. Genesis Analytics is an
economic and development consulting firm headquartered in Johannesburg,
South Africa.In an announcement on its Facebook page, the EthSwitch
stated that the “strategy will focus on expanding digital financial
products, improving service delivery for both existing and emerging
customer groups, and strengthening the company’s role in driving
innovation within the digital finance ecosystem.”It added that as part
of the agreement, a detailed assessment of EthSwitch’s current
infrastructure will be carried out by Genesis Analytics to identify
strengths, gaps, and opportunities for growth, and the outcome “will
guide the design and implementation of a future-ready national digital
payment system.”Strategic deal with Mastercard-As part of its
partnership expansion efforts and payments infrastructure boost,
EthSwitch also recently signed a partnership agreement with Mastercard
in Addis Ababa.According to the terms of the deal, EthSwitch will be
connected to the Mastercard network through the Mastercard Interface
Point (MIP) and Mastercard’s global payment gateway services (MPGS), the
company announced.The partnership is expected to “advance Ethiopia’s
digital payment ecosystem and deepen its connection to the global
financial network,” and also make it possible for businesses in the
country to accept international payments while significantly expanding
opportunities for cross-border trade.“This collaboration will allow
Ethiopian banks to issue co-branded prepaid hard currency cards that
offer global acceptance at ATMs, POS terminals, and online merchants,
dramatically enhancing payment convenience for consumers and supporting
the country’s transition to a cash-lite economy,” said
EthSwitch.EthSwitch’s interoperable digital payments infrastructure
exemplifies what a digital payments expert suggested as one sure way to
strengthen Africa’s digital payments landscape, in an interview with
Biometric Update in September.
Next Biometrics supports payment authentication in Vietnam-Dec 5, 2025, 5:17 am EST | Ayang Macdonald
Next
Biometrics has received a substantial production order for its
fingerprint sensors from a system integrator in Vietnam.The sensors will
be integrated into a biometric authentication system for digital
payments in that country, the company said an announcement. It will also
be deployed for other digital Know Your Customer (eKYC)
transactions.Senior Vice President, Head of Sales, South-East Asia at
Next Biometrics, Joshua Chiu, said of the order: “The Vietnamese ID
market is primed for rapid growth as government policy continues to
drive demand for trusted authentication and KYC processes.”The company
described the mass production order as “modest” but noted that yearly
demand for the sensor could hit 10,000 by next year.Next also recently
announced the supply of its flagship sensor to customers in Nigeria and
Sri Lanka to drive financial inclusion with secure biometric
authentication.
Pandemic surveillance – how AI will police the
next global health crisis-Dec 4, 2025, 2:31 pm EST-Fraser Sampson By
Professor Fraser Sampson, former UK Biometrics & Surveillance Camera
Commissioner
Fears about AI-enabled biometric tools like facial
recognition are often fuelled by what one legal researcher called
omniveillance – the ability to watch all of us, all of the time. There’s
another term for something that covers the entire population and it’s
very topical again in the UK.Since 2019, the word ‘pandemic’ has marked
the moment when the latest variant of the corona virus was detected but
the adjective comes from the Greek pan demos meaning ‘across all
people’. The sheer breadth and scale of the threat affected all the
people and called for a pan demic response. Despite all the fictional
portents, the policing scenario demanding the greatest level of
surveillance saturation for the past 50 years came, not from crime and
disorder, but from disease. Severe restrictions on movement and basic
social interaction led to extensive surveillance and use of policing
powers like stop and search and the issuing of criminal penalties.In its
first ‘module’ report, the UK COVID-19 inquiry has concluded that
preparedness was inadequate, risk assessment flawed and lessons from
previous civil emergencies had not been fully learned. There are several
policing and law enforcement lessons we can learn from this one.The
global exigencies of the COVID-19 pandemic required temporary, emergency
measures some of which involved segregation, restriction on movement,
assembly and attendance at school, as well as the ban on public worship.
Stopping people doing things that for the past half a century had been
cherished constitutional freedoms was never going to be straightforward
and an effective police response required a high level of vigilance over
the entire population. This was a period of literal pan demic
surveillance in both senses of the term, watching everyone to constrain a
global disease. But even viewed against the scale of the emergency, the
extraordinary powers for policing were seen by some as unacceptably
broad in their scope and discriminatory in their execution. Using
surveillance capability like drones and automated number plate
recognition (ANPR), local police forces became agencies of health
enforcement. A surge in citizen stops, chaotic communication and – in a
move away from the Peelian principles – the overzealous issuing of
on-the-spot fines, led to allegations that the response undermined the
British model of policing by consent.Some lawyers will say that this is
just another question for proportionality – pandemic threats warrant pan
demic solutions – but does every global emergency threatening the lives
of millions justify near total state surveillance? Many scientists have
testified to the immediate and irreversible threat to humanity from
global warming and climate change. If that’s not pan demos I don’t know
what is, but does it mean local government emission zone surveillance
can be as extensive and intrusive as that for COVID-19? When its purpose
is to avoid the death of our planet, what would a dis-proportionate use
of AI-enabled surveillance look like?The inquiry noted how tackling the
spread of the virus across the population relied on the enlistment of
the population and suggests more volunteers will need to be ‘engaged’ in
future crisis responses. This will bring some interesting surveillance
issues. As I’ve noted, public space surveillance is no longer about
where the police put their cameras, it’s about what they do with the
data from everyone’s cameras. Since 2019, there’s been a big uplift in
both domestic surveillance capability and our willingness to put it at
the disposal of the police in an emergency. We are tracking everything
from pets to golf balls, cheaply and reliably and if citizens make the
content of their private devices available, why wouldn’t the police use
it to save lives? How could they decide which data to ignore? In
tackling future health crises, our aggregated surveillance capability
will be a powerful community asset. But self-surveillance is far more
intrusive than anything the police operate directly and the lines around
processing our personal data are much more restrictive for law
enforcement than those constraining what we do domestically. When
lending our fine location apps watching our children and smart device
captures from doorbells and dashcams to reinforce the mass surveillance
capability of the state, we enter a very grey area, legally and
societally.The inquiry recommends a new UK-wide approach to the
development of better systems of data collection and sharing. Advances
in biometrics and surveillance have put our capability and capacity to
prepare for, respond to and recover from global crises beyond even what
was available only six years ago; at the same time, this has created
dependencies and vulnerabilities on a similar scale. At times of
universal threat, pragmatism rules – switching off the constitutional
firewall is easy, but can all the AI watchdogs be put back in the kennel
once the emergency has passed? Levitsky and Ziblatt observe that during
security crises, “citizens are more likely to tolerate and even support
authoritarian measures – especially when they fear for their own
safety.” Next time, AI-enabled capabilities combing databases and
combining results with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) information,
vehicle telemetrics and Frankenstein CCTV cameras will give governments a
formidable weapon to discharge their overarching duty – to keep their
people safe. But it will be crucial to ensure that any pan demic
response is transient and used only to the extent necessary to counter
the pandemic threat. Who will we trust to monitor and enforce that? We
have probably not witnessed the last global-level infection and the next
one will be monitored by AI-enabled technology. The coalescence of two
critical features – the need to monitor the entire population and the
technological ability to achieve it – makes it a practical certainty. In
preparing for it, we should start modelling the realities of pan demic
surveillance now.
NEC takes a stake in PopID, Tencent and Wink
biometrics integrated with POS terminals-Payments companies, device
makers and cloud providers roll out retail biometric payments-Dec 4,
2025, 1:53 pm EST | Lu-Hai Liang
Major technology firms and
payment providers are racing to replace cards and phones with face, palm
and voice biometrics. Payments companies, device makers and cloud
providers are rolling out face and palm‑based systems at retail chains,
cafés, stadiums and transport hubs in Asia and North America, as
identity‑based transactions move to larger-scale deployments.NEC invests
in PopID, integrates face biometrics-Japan’s NEC has taken a stake in
U.S. payments startup PopID as it looks to expand the use of its facial
recognition technology in North America, where PopID’s platform is
already deployed in more than 1,000 restaurants and retail locations.The
investment was made through the NEC Orchestrating Future Fund, the
company’s corporate venture arm. NEC did not disclose the size of its
stake or the amount invested, but the deal follows PopID’s Series C
funding round in May 2025, which included Verifone, Visa, PayPal,
Commerce Ventures and Chipotle’s venture arm, Cultivate Next.The new
capital is expected to support the rollout of Verifone biometric payment
terminals compatible with PopID across the U.S. “PopID’s advanced
payment service contributes to the global adoption of face
authentication payments and aligns with NEC’s vision of creating
flexible, resilient, and sustainable societies,” said NEC’s Shigeko
Wada, Corporate SVP.PopID allows customers to pay by scanning their face
biometrics at checkout after registering a photo and linking a bank
account or card via the PopID app. The company says the system offers a
faster, touch‑free alternative to traditional payments.It also supports
direct bank transfers, enabling users without credit cards to make
purchases. For merchants, PopID’s transaction fees are around one‑third
of typical credit‑card charges.“We are excited to work with NEC, a
global leader in biometric authentication technology, to bring the full
biometric experience — from entry to payments — to stadiums and theme
parks around the world,” said John Miller, PopID CEO and chairman of the
Cali Group.The company has grown rapidly, signing up quick‑service
chains including Whataburger and Steak ’n Shake. PopID currently uses
facial recognition supplied by a U.S. vendor but plans to integrate
NEC’s technology, which has repeatedly ranked first for accuracy in
tests by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.NEC
said the partnership will help accelerate the adoption of biometric
payments globally by combining its authentication technology with
PopID’s expanding merchant network. The company’s facial recognition
systems are already used in more than 50 countries.The deal underscores
NEC’s push to position face biometrics as a mainstream payment method.
In Japan, NEC partnered with Stripe to enable in-store face payments
through the Stripe Reader S700 payment terminal.NEC also piloted its
biometric payments system at Expo 2025 in Osaka from April to October in
what was the largest deployment of facial recognition in Japan for
in-store payments and entrance authentication.OpenSys trials Tencent
palm biometric payments in early pilot-OpenSys Technologies has unveiled
a prototype palm‑recognition payment system as the Malaysian firm
explores biometric alternatives to cards and smartphones.Called
“PalmWav” the system is being tested in a controlled pilot and is
designed to work with the country’s existing payment infrastructure,
including PayNet’s MyDebit network. The company demonstrated the
technology internally this week, giving employees and selected partners
an early look before wider public trials.Two cafés — Kom.Fi in Kuala
Lumpur and Bread Maison in Petaling Jaya — served as initial pilot
sites, where customers could make purchases by waving a hand over a
reader. PalmWav uses Tencent Cloud’s AI‑based biometrics to generate an
encrypted “palm signature” that verifies a user’s identity within
seconds.Users enroll through a mobile app and complete a one‑time
registration at participating merchants. Once registered, payments can
be made without a phone, card or wallet. The system incorporates
end‑to‑end encryption, tokenisation and real‑time fraud monitoring,
according to the company.“By combining Tencent Cloud’s biometrics
expertise with our deep understanding of Malaysia’s payments landscape,
this prototype showcases a new easy to make transactions simpler, safer,
and more intuitive,” said Wong Siew Pooi, co-CEO of OpenSys
Technologies.OpenSys says the prototype is intended to test how palm
biometrics could streamline payments by reducing friction at checkout.
The company highlights potential benefits for consumers and for
merchants, such as shorter queues and hands‑free payments that can
integrate with loyalty programs.Previously, Tencent partnered with Visa
on the introduction of its palm recognition technology for digital
payments in international markets, starting with a pilot programme in
Singapore. Mastercard integrated palm biometrics into its biometric
checkout program and Amazon has fully deployed its palm-scanning
technology, Amazon One, across all Whole Foods stores in the
U.S.Tencent-operated WeChat launched its Palm Pay system across
convenience stores and various retail outlets in China. The Chinese tech
giant is also considering bringing its palm biometrics to Thailand,
while rival Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Group is pushing palm biometric
payments with its Alipay PL1 product.Users must register their palm and
vein biometrics with Alipay and connect them with their payment account
to use the PL1 device. At shops using the PL1 device, customers then
simply hold their palm over the sensor to verify and approve
transactions.Meanwhile, OpenSys plans to continue evaluating palm‑based
payments across different sectors as it assesses potential real‑world
applications in Malaysia’s digital economy.PAX partners with Wink to
bring biometric checkout to POS-PAX Technology has formed a strategic
partnership with Wink to integrate multimodal biometric authentication
into PAX’s Android payment terminals, enabling customers to pay using
face, palm or voice biometrics instead of cards or phones.The
collaboration will link PAX’s payment hardware with Wink’s AI‑driven
identity platform through semi‑integration with PAX’s BroadPOS app. The
companies say the combined system will allow merchants to offer faster,
hands-free checkout while adding an additional layer of fraud
protection. Wink’s payment platform supports real‑time transaction
processing across major global acquirers.“PAX has long set the standard
for secure, high-performance payment terminals,” says Deepak Jain, CEO
and founder of Wink. Jain spoke with the Biometric Update Podcast on the
confluence of payments, biometrics and identity.“Together, we’re
pairing their trusted hardware with Wink’s multimodal biometric identity
platform to deliver a new era of frictionless, identity-powered
payments,” Jain continued.Wink’s technology uses algorithms ranked
highly by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST), along with tokenized identity data, PCI‑compliant infrastructure
and real‑time liveness detection. The company says acquirers, ISOs and
merchants will be able to activate biometric authentication on existing
PAX terminals without additional hardware.“By working with Wink to bring
their functionality to our Android payment devices, the point-of-sale
becomes more than a payment terminal — it becomes an identity-enabled
commerce platform,” says Clint Jones, chief revenue officer of PAX
Technology. “This isn’t just a feature, it’s a fundamental shift
representing the future of checkout, one that prioritizes security,
speed, and personalization.”The biometric features will be available
across PAX’s full terminal range, including countertop devices, mobile
units, PIN pads and unattended kiosks. The companies expect the
technology to support use cases in retail, quick‑service restaurants,
hospitality, transport and events.Consumers who enrol once with a
participating merchant or provider can be recognized at any Wink‑enabled
PAX terminal, allowing loyalty accounts, age verification and payments
to be linked to a single biometric identity.Wink merged with Phoenix
Managed Networks, a global payment technology and services provider,
earlier this year.
Firms dive head first into agentic AI
governance frameworks, dashboard options-Way to manage identity of AI
agents becomes headlining problem of late 2025-Dec 4, 2025, 1:52 pm EST
| Joel R. McConvey
ServiceNow has announced its intent to
acquire identity security company Veza, in a move that a release says
will extend the identity security capabilities of ServiceNow’s security
and risk portfolios, and give it a foothold in the race to provide tools
to govern agentic AI.The company has put identity security at the core
of its security operations, and says Veza’s contributions will bolster
its exposure management, incident response and integrated risk
management capabilities.Veza’s patented Access Graph maps and analyzes
access relationships across human, machine and AI identities, providing
an end-to-end access visibility and risk control platform for identity
and access management, including access reviews, access requests, and an
access hub. This sort of toolkit has become increasingly important (and
prominent in startup discussions) as agentic AI supposedly takes over a
large swath of transactions that were previously exclusive to
humans.Amit Zavery, president, chief operating officer, and chief
product officer at ServiceNow, says that “in the era of agentic AI,
every identity – human, AI agent, or machine – is a force for enterprise
impact.” But, “it’s only when you have continuous visibility into each
identity’s permissions that you can trust it. By combining Veza’s
industry-first Access Graph with ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower and
agentic workflows, we can give customers a true single pane of glass,
with control of every identity in their organization.”Tarun Thakur, CEO
of Veza, says the product was built to make identity security
transparent, scalable, and effective for every organization, to help
customers “embrace AI with more confidence.”The transaction is subject
to standard regulatory approvals and closing conditions.BeyondTrust,
Ping Identity bundle up in AWS Marketplace-BeyondTrust and Ping Identity
have made a joint product, the BeyondTrust + Ping Identity Unified
Identity Security solution, available as a package in AWS Marketplace.A
release says the bundled products streamline procurement and “address
critical challenges facing modern enterprises today, including
fragmented identity systems, inconsistent governance across hybrid and
multi-cloud environments, and the operational friction caused by
managing identity use cases across separate tools and separate
purchases.”“By offering the BeyondTrust + Ping Identity Unified Identity
Security solutions in AWS Marketplace, we’re making it easier for
customers to transform their integrated identity security strategy,”
says David Manks, vice president of strategic alliances at BeyondTrust.
“The ability to deliver the identity services through a single solution
helps our customers strengthen their identity security and Zero Trust
initiatives, and scale identity and privilege governance across hybrid
and multi-cloud environments, while simplifying procurement and
deployment.”While AWS provides one account and one point of contact for
the multi-product suite, customers “maintain the flexibility to
negotiate custom pricing and terms with private offers for each product
and service. “Saviynt launches agentic identity product, sets up shop in
Dubai-Saviynt has new regional headquarters in Dubai and a new
strategic partnership with StarLink, one of the Middle East and Africa’s
largest specialist cybersecurity distributors. The expansion comes as
the firm launches new AI-driven capabilities to accelerate and simplify
application onboarding, enabling all apps to be managed from a single,
unified identity security platform, and extending Identity Security
Posture Management (ISPM) to include every identity, human and
otherwise.A press release says Saviynt will locally host its converged
Identity Cloud platform in Dubai to “help customers meet data residency
requirements and strengthen support for regulated industries including
banking, energy, government, and telecommunications.”The Middle East is a
ballooning market for cloud computing, and rapid scaling means an
inundation of new identities, both human and agentic – all of which need
to be managed, authenticated and generally kept on task.“Enterprises
across the Middle East are adding thousands of new identities every
month, yet many still rely on manual access reviews and fragmented
tools,” says Todd Rotger, chief revenue officer at Saviynt. “That gap is
exactly where attackers thrive. Our investment in the region is focused
on helping customers close it and maintain control before risk becomes
breach.”Saviynt, which is based in the U.S., continues to pursue growth
across the Middle East, Africa and APAC, including new offices and
leadership in Singapore, as well as fresh faces across Europe. Its
current focus aligns with market trends: its new Agentic AI Onboarding
for Applications tool offers a single platform for governance of hybrid
identity and access management.Per a release, the product’s capabilities
include Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) that provides
simplified discovery, prioritized risk insights, and integrated access
maps enriched with signals from leading security solutions like
CrowdStrike; and ISPM for Non-Human Identities (NHI), which lists their
access policies and detected violations.Sachin Nayyar, Chief Executive
Officer at Saviynt, says “our latest AI innovations ensure that every
identity is governed with the same rigor, context and automation. With
agentic AI onboarding and comprehensive identity security posture
management across all identities, we’re enabling organizations to stay
secure, compliant and prepared for what’s next.”
Vatican backs replacement for China underground bishop.
Vatican
City, Dec 5 (AFP) Dec 05, 2025-The Vatican announced Friday the
ordination of a new bishop in China to replace a clergyman who had been
arrested several times during decades operating without Beijing's
approval.Pope Leo XIV appointed Francis Li Jianlin to replace Joseph
Zhang Weizhu under a controversial deal with China on the appointment of
bishops, the Vatican statement said.It said Zhang Weizhu had
resigned.According to Catholic newspaper The Tablet, Li Jianlin was one
of two people "elected" bishops by Chinese authorities unilaterally in
the week after Pope Francis's death in April.The Vatican is unable to
ratify appointments of bishops during the power vacuum caused by the
death of a pope.The appointment in the city of Xinxiang in the northern
Henan province was "particularly contentious" because the Vatican had
recognised Zhang Weizhu as the legitimate bishop of the diocese, The
Tablet said.Zhang Weizhu is a member of the "underground" Chinese
Catholic Church, which is not recognised by the Chinese government.He
was detained most recently in May 2021 and remains in custody without
trial, according to the US Commission on International Religious
Freedom.The Vatican gave no details of his whereabouts.The Vatican and
China do not have formal diplomatic relations because the Holy See
recognises Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own
territory.However, they agreed in a historic deal in 2018 to let both
sides have a say in the naming of bishops in China, home to about 12
million Catholics.
Softbank's Son says super AI could make humans like fish, win Nobel Prize.
Seoul,
Dec 5 (AFP) Dec 05, 2025-SoftBank CEO and AI investor Masayoshi Son
said Friday that advanced artificial intelligence could surpass humans
to the extent that "we become fish" and could even win the Nobel Prize
in Literature.Meeting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Seoul,
Son, whose SoftBank is a major backer of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, described
a future in which an advanced AI surpasses humans by a magnitude of
10,000."The difference between the human brain and the... goldfish in
the pot -- the difference is 10,000 times," he said."But it's going to
be different -- we will become fish, they (the AI) become like humans,"
he said."They will be 10,000 times smarter than us," he told President
Lee, who has vowed to turn South Korea into an AI powerhouse.Son
compared the relationship between this artificial super intelligence
(ASI) and humankind to relations between human beings and their pets."We
try to make them happy... we try to live in peace with them," he
said."We don't need to eat them... ASI does not eat protein. They don't
need to eat us -- don't worry."Lee responded laughing that he was "a bit
concerned now".He asked Son whether ASI could win a Nobel Prize in
Literature, won last year by South Korean author Han Kang."I do not
believe this is a desirable situation," Lee said."I think it will," Son
replied.ASI has been described as a hypothetical scenario when AI
overtakes humans.Scientists still consider it a long way off, but say a
crucial first step -- artificial general intelligence (AGI), which would
outperform humans across most tasks -- could arrive within a decade.Lee
said last month that Seoul would triple spending on AI next year -- a
move "aimed at propelling South Korea into the ranks of the world's top
three AI powers" behind the United States and China.Also on Friday,
Lee's office said South Korea would partner with Arm, SoftBank's British
semiconductor design unit, to train 1,400 chip professionals.The
initiative would provide help in "strengthening areas where South
Korea's semiconductor industry is relatively weak," said presidential
policy adviser Kim Yong-beom.
Shortly before heading to Israel,
Merz pushes Abbas on Palestinian Authority reforms-German chancellor
urges PA president to carry out ‘urgently needed reforms’ so West
Bank-based body can ‘play a constructive role’ in post-war Gaza,
spokesman says-By AFP and ToI Staff 6 December 2025, 3:42 pm
German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for reforms of the Palestinian
Authority in a phone call with its leader Mahmoud Abbas early Saturday,
hours before taking off for Israel.Speaking from Berlin, Merz urged
Abbas to push through “urgently necessary reforms” at the Palestinian
Authority so that the organization could “play a constructive role in a
post-war order,” according to German government spokesman Stefan
Kornelius.Merz also underscored German support for US President Donald
Trump’s peace plan for Gaza and “welcomed the Palestinian Authority’s
cooperative attitude” toward the deal in the call, the spokesman said.In
addition, Merz reiterated Germany’s position that a two-state solution
remains the ultimate way to achieve peace and security for Israelis and
Palestinians, according to the spokesman.Trump’s comprehensive plan,
whose first phase formed the basis of the October 9 truce-hostage deal,
says a reformed PA can take control of Gaza from international forces.
The deal suggests that, as a demilitarized Gaza rebuilds and the PA
“faithfully” carries out the unspecified reforms, Palestinian statehood
could be possible.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected
Palestinian statehood and a role for the PA in Gaza’s post-war
governance. Israel accuses the PA of support for terrorism in its school
curriculum and through payments to families of Palestinian prisoners.In
a statement on the phone call Saturday, Abbas’s office said the PA
president thanked Merz for supporting the two-state solution.Abbas also
briefed Merz on how the PA has been “reforming and modernizing school
curricula according to UNESCO standards… abolishing the law on prisoner
payments and preparing to hold general elections as soon as the war ends
and the appropriate conditions are met,” the statement said.In
addition, according to the statement, Abbas said municipal PA elections
were scheduled for April 16, and a transitional constitution was in the
works, “enshrining the principle of one state, one law and one
legitimate armed force” — apparently a reference to the disarmament of
Hamas, which seized control over Gaza from the PA in 2007.Merz’s call
with Abbas came hours before the chancellor, whose country is a major
supplier of arms to Israel, was scheduled to leave Berlin late Saturday
morning for an overnight visit to Israel.After a brief stop in Jordan,
where Merz is scheduled to meet with the Jordanian King Abdullah II,
Merz is expected to arrive in Jerusalem for meetings with top Israeli
leaders, including Netanyahu.Merz also plans to visit the Yad Vashem
Holocaust memorial in Israel.Germany has supported Israel amid the war
in Gaza sparked by the Hamas invasion of southern Israel on October 7,
2023. Merz, who took office in May, partially suspended arms sales to
Israel in August over its decision to conquer Gaza City. Berlin
announced last month that it would lift the partial embargo following
the Gaza ceasefire deal.
In message sent via Lebanese outlet,
Israeli envoy to US calls for peace with Beirut-In video outreach,
Yechiel Leiter envisages ‘Abraham Accords 2.0,’ says Beirut has been
‘raped’ by Iran, states Israel has no territorial aims in Lebanon: ‘We
want Lebanon to be secure’By ToI Staff 6 December 2025, 4:12 pm
In
a recorded message published Friday by English-language Lebanese outlet
This is Beirut, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter addressed
Lebanese citizens, telling them: “We want very much to pursue peace with
you.”The video outreach came as Israeli and Lebanese officials held the
first direct talks in decades, even as Israel has ramped up strikes on
Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in what it says are responses to repeated
violations from the Iran-baked terror group, a year after the two sides
agreed to halt the conflict that smoldered into full-scale war in
southern Lebanon last fall.In his message — billed by the Lebanese
outlet as an exclusive interview, but with only Leiter seen in the shot,
and speaking to camera — the ambassador, who is close to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, emphasized that Israel’s concerns are solely
security-related, saying, “We have no issues with your territory. We
have issues only with our security… When we’re threatened, we have to
respond.”Continuing, the Israeli envoy said that Lebanon has been “raped
by foreigners,” such as Iran, which has been “pumping money into an
organization which has really robbed you of your peace,” referring to
Tehran’s backing of Hezbollah.Looking ahead, he said he envisions
potential bilateral economic and tourism ties, with “Israelis visiting
Beirut” and “Lebanese visiting Jerusalem.”He compared the possibilities
for Israeli-Lebanese relations to the Abraham Accords signed with the
UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, adding, “I think we can clearly move into
Abraham Accords 2.0… We have to expand the broad relationship of
moderation within the Middle East.”But “you can’t move forward,” he
continued, “if there is civil war, if there is a foreign influence which
is compromising the peace and harmony within the country.”“If there is
peace, and we have an agreement over the border,” then Lebanese people
can move towards a better future, he added.“But because we had missiles
raining down on our civilians,” he continued, “we had to move 70,000
people out of their homes for a year. This was very traumatic for the
entire country.”Hezbollah began firing into Israel on October 8, 2023, a
day after the Hamas massacre in southern Israel, forcing an evacuation
of civilians from Israel’s northern border.“We can’t go back to a
situation where we send men, women and children back to their homes and
then we have to remove them again because Hezbollah decides they’re
going to start firing missiles at us again,” Leiter said.“We have no
territorial designs in Lebanon,” he insisted. “We want Lebanon to be
secure.”Touting recent talks between Israeli and Lebanese
representatives in Naqoura, the first direct talks between the two
countries in decades, Leiter said that he believes that if the two sides
“sit together and do business,” then the issues between them can be
solved.While the meeting was a major step, the two sides gave different
accounts of its content. Ahead of the sit-down, the Prime Minister’s
Office called it “an initial attempt to create a basis for a
relationship and economic cooperation between Israel and
Lebanon.”However, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam contradicted
this, stressing that his country was “far from” diplomatic normalization
or economic relations with Israel.A second meeting is scheduled for
later this month.Amid the new talks, tensions in Lebanon have ratcheted
up in recent weeks. The IDF accuses Hezbollah of violating the November
2024 ceasefire and has intensified its strikes against terror group
targets, including killing its chief of staff in a rare strike in Beirut
last month.Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to
vacate southern Lebanon, while Israel was given 60 days to do so. The
IDF later withdrew from all but five posts along the border with
Lebanon, citing the incomplete dismantling of Hezbollah’s infrastructure
in the country’s south.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began a day
after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, with Hezbollah
firing rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel’s response
operation, which included bombardment and a ground operation last year,
has severely weakened Hezbollah.
Last hostage's family demands
his body before phase 2 of truce-Qatari PM: Gaza truce can’t be
considered ceasefire until Israel leaves the Strip-Also speaking at Doha
Forum, Turkish foreign minister says disarmament of Hamas should only
come after deployment of international force, which Egypt urges ‘as soon
as possible’By Jacob Magid,Agencies and ToI Staff 6 December 2025, 5:01
pm
DOHA — Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al
Thani said Saturday that Doha does not consider the current situation in
Gaza to be a ceasefire, arguing that this would require an Israeli
withdrawal from the entirety of the enclave.Al Thani’s comments were
made during a panel discussion at the Doha Forum, and were later echoed
by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who laid out Ankara’s vision
for a successful implementation of the second phase of US President
Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which the US is looking to begin in the
coming weeks.“We are at the critical moment,” Al Thani said about the
Gaza peace process.“What we have just done is a pause. We cannot
consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless
there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, there is stability
back in Gaza [and] people can go in and out, which is not the case
today,” he maintained.At the start of the truce on October 10, Israel
withdrew its forces to a newly drawn Yellow Line that roughly divides
the Gaza Strip into eastern and western halves. While Israel was
supposed to allow the reopening of the Rafah Border Crossing, it held
off on doing so for well over a month, arguing that Hamas must release
the remaining deceased hostages in Gaza. The body of a slain police
officer Ran Gvili is still held in the Strip.“The first phase of the
hostage deal is still not completed, while Rani hasn’t returned home. We
demand that Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump pressure Hamas
and Islamic Jihad to return Rani home immediately! We can’t move to the
second phase of the deal without Rani here,” Gvili’s family said in a
statement Saturday evening that was carried by Hebrew-language media
outlets.Earlier this week, Israel said it would allow the Rafah crossing
to reopen in one direction, for the transit of Palestinians out of
Gaza, but Egypt has rejected this framework, insisting that Palestinians
be allowed to enter the Strip as well.Al Thani said the mediating
countries Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and the US are “getting together in order
to force the way forward for the next phase.”A US official told The
Times of Israel on Thursday that Washington is aiming to announce a
transition to the second phase — which will see the operationalization
of a technocratic Palestinian government and International Stabilization
Force overseen by a Board of Peace headed by US President Donald Trump —
in the next two weeks or so.But Al Thani clarified that Qatar also
views phase two as “temporary because at the end of the day, if we are
just resolving what happened in Gaza… it’s not enough. There is a root
for this conflict.”“This conflict is not only about Gaza, but also the
West Bank. It’s about the rights of the Palestinians for their state,”
the Qatari premier continued. “We are hoping that we can work together
with the US administration to achieve this vision.”Al Thani credited the
Trump administration for its determination in the Gaza ceasefire talks,
arguing that Washington’s willingness to speak directly with Hamas was
what helped secure “breakthroughs” needed for the agreement in
October.Asked about opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
coalition partners to elements of the Trump peace plan that include a
potential pathway to a future Palestinian state, the Qatari prime
minister said the US role will be critical in ensuring that Israel
adheres to the deal’s terms.Pressed on Qatar’s hosting of Hamas’s
leaders, Al Thani claimed this open channel with the terror group was
critical for reaching every one of the ceasefire and hostage release
deals throughout the Gaza war.He argued that many of Qatar’s most vocal
critics come from countries that rely on Doha’s mediation efforts, in an
apparent reference to Israel, where many government officials have
knocked the Gulf country over its longstanding support for Hamas.“Qatar
provides a platform for those parties to talk. It doesn’t mean that we
are taking one side or the other. Our role is to make sure that the
dialogue is ongoing and the dialogue is coming out with a positive
outcome… that ends conflicts,” Al Thani said.Turkey urges ‘realistic’
expectations for ISF-Also speaking at the Doha Forum, Turkey’s top
diplomat Hakan Fidan stated that “we should be realistic” about what to
expect from the International Stabilization Force the Trump
administration is hoping to stand up at the beginning of 2026.“When we
define the mission of the ISF, we should be realistic and nuanced in
expecting certain things from ISF because there are realities in the
field,” Fidan said.The Turkish foreign minister did not get into
specifics, but appeared to be referring to assertions by Israel that the
ISF play an active role in the disarmament of Hamas — a demand that is
said to concern many countries considering contributing troops to the
force due to fears of clashes with Hamas operatives or of finding
themselves in the middle of fighting between Palestinian terror groups
and Israeli forces.While Turkey — one of the ceasefire mediators — has
privately offered to contribute troops to the ISF, Israel has been
adamant that it will not allow such a development, as Ankara has been
one of the world’s leading critics of Jerusalem since the start of the
war and is a leading backer of Hamas. Asked at the Doha Forum whether
Turkey is prepared to contribute to the ISF, Fidan avoided answering
directly but says that his country “is ready and willing to do whatever
it takes for us to contribute to ongoing peace.”Fidan then indicated
that negotiations on standing up of the ISF are still in their early
stages, with many key questions left unanswered.“There is a big
discussion taking place [on] how to form [the ISF], what [will be] the
specific mission statements and what will be the rules of engagement,”
he said, adding that the list of contributing countries is still not
final, along with the command structure.“Our first objective in
deploying the ISF is to separate Palestinians from the Israelis on [the]
borderline. This will be our main objective. Then we can address the
other remaining issues,” Fidan continued, apparently referring to the
Gaza border, as opposed to the Yellow Line, which was the demarcation
set up as part of the October 10 ceasefire that leaves Israel in control
of the eastern half of Gaza.He noted that the ISF will work alongside a
vetted and trained Palestinian police force, along with a Palestinian
governing body, which will be overseen by the Board of Peace, headed by
Trump. “All these organs supposedly will work together in a synchronized
manner.”After the panel discussion, Fidan told Reuters that a credible
Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, trained police force
should be in place to allow Hamas to disarm, claiming the terrorist
organization is prepared to hand over governance of the enclave. While
Hamas has expressed openness to handing over power to a technocratic
government, it has refused to hand over its weapons as required by
Trump’s plan.In an interview on the sidelines of the event, Fidan said
that without those initial steps, expecting Hamas to disarm in the first
phase of the ceasefire deal is neither “realistic nor doable.”He said
the proposed police force would exclude Hamas members and would be
backed by an international stabilization force, and that Washington is
pressing Israel over Turkey’s bid to join the force.Fidan warned that
failure by the international community to advance the ceasefire plan to
its next stage would amount to a “huge failure” for the world and for
Washington, noting that Trump has personally led the push.Egyptian FM:
ISF should begin ‘as soon as possible’Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr
Abdelatty also spoke in Doha, urging the rapid deployment of the ISF and
the implementation of the ceasefire’s second phase.“As for the
International Stabilization Force, we need to deploy this force as soon
as possible on the ground because one party, which is Israel, is every
day violating the ceasefire… so we need monitors,” the minister said.He
also said the Rafah crossing “is not going to be a gateway for
displacement. It’s only for flooding Gaza with humanitarian and medical
care.”Israel announced on Wednesday that it will reopen the Rafah
crossing in the coming days for the exit of Palestinians from the Gaza
Strip to Egypt, though Cairo denied it was coordinating with Jerusalem
on renewing operations at the facility.Reacting to the move, the foreign
ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates “expressed their deep concern
regarding the statements issued by the Israeli side concerning the
opening of the Rafah Border Crossing in one direction with the aim of
transferring residents of the Gaza Strip to” Egypt, they said in a joint
statement.The ministers voiced “their absolute rejection of any
attempts to expel the Palestinian people from their land” and said they
were against “compelling any resident of the Gaza Strip to leave,”
urging for the crossing to be opened in both directions.
Exclusive'We
tried to give Israel what it needed, not what it wanted'The day after
that never came: How time ran out on Blinken’s plan for postwar Gaza-Top
Biden diplomat’s proposal sought to end the war while reviving the
Saudi normalization talks derailed on Oct. 7. But he couldn’t get it
finalized, and Trump now faces many of the same obstacles-By Jacob
Magid-5 December 2025, 3:27 pm
WASHINGTON — Had the world not
been turned upside down, Antony Blinken would have been in Israel on
October 10, 2023. Had Hamas terrorists not shaken the Middle East and
pulverized plans for its future, the US secretary of state would have
flown from Israel to Saudi Arabia a few days later as part of a
multi-stop tour aimed at bridging some of the final gaps between the two
countries on long-elusive normalization, a deal that could have been as
positively transformative as the Hamas massacre and ensuing war were
devastatingly destructive.For months ahead of the scheduled trip, the US
had been hard at work crafting a document with Saudi Arabia, laying out
what Israel would need to do in exchange for Riyadh joining the Abraham
Accords, namely a series of relatively minor concessions meant to
assuage Palestinian aspirations for statehood. Blinken planned to bring
that document to Jerusalem for approval, two senior Biden officials told
The Times of Israel.Israel was aware of where things stood and was
comfortable enough with the modest steps discussed by Washington and
Riyadh for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to draft a normalization
agreement with Saudi Arabia, according to the two former US officials
and a current Israeli official.Blinken did end up making it to Israel
that week, but under very different circumstances, as then-US president
Joe Biden’s administration rallied to support the Jewish state following
the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7 that cut down some 1,200
people and saw 251 more taken hostage into Gaza.Documents uncovered by
the IDF from Gaza during the war revealed that one of the motivations of
Hamas’s leaders in launching the attack was scuttling the US effort to
broker that brewing normalization deal between Israel and Saudi
Arabia.To a great extent, the terror group succeeded. The Biden
administration’s normalization push was shelved in favor of, first,
providing Israel with the military and diplomatic support needed to
restore deterrence against Iran and its proxies, and second, working to
secure an end to the war through a hostage release deal.Many leading
figures in the administration saw freeing the abductees as the key to
ending the war and accordingly concentrated their attention on the
indirect hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which largely
ran through Qatar and Egypt. But Blinken grew to believe that setting up
the security and governing bodies to help administer Gaza the “day
after” the war was no less critical.“Israel needed the confidence to
know that [its] security would not be threatened by withdrawing from
Gaza, and Hamas needed the confidence to know that the war would end if
it gave up the remaining hostages,” said a senior Biden aide, who was
one of 10 government officials and well-placed regional sources
interviewed for this story.That logic was the basis for a “Transitional
Mission” that Blinken worked to establish, which would steer the Strip
after the war. The initiative, as laid out in a 14-point plan that would
have been part of the ceasefire agreement, was aimed at “support[ing]
the provision of governance, security and humanitarian assistance for
Gaza” after the war, according to a never-before-reported US government
document outlining the plan, which was obtained and verified by The
Times of Israel.The proposed mission was to involve civilian and
military personnel, funding and other contributions from a handful of
foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, whose involvement Blinken
hoped would provide an opening to revive the stalled normalization
negotiations.To ensure strong Arab support, the proposal characterized
the initiative as a “first step toward establishing an independent and
sovereign Palestinian state.” That made the idea a hard sell to
Jerusalem, but Blinken believed the prospect of Saudi normalization
could be enough of a carrot to overcome Israel’s likely objections.The
result was a precarious house of cards, but one that Blinken thought
could lay the foundation for not just a temporary halt in hostilities,
but a durable, lasting peace and a truly transformed region.The US held
months of talks to advance the plan and Saudi normalization, but neither
got off the ground by the time Biden left office in January 2025. A
ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was brokered during the waning hours
of the previous administration, helped by critical pressure from the
incoming Trump team. But Israel still wasn’t interested in discussing
postwar arrangements of the kind Blinken sought to finalize, and the
Trump administration backed Jerusalem’s decision to resume the war in
March.Seven months later, Israelis celebrated the return of all 20 of
the final living hostages, and Gazans breathed a cautious sigh of relief
for the end of fighting as both sides agreed to a new ceasefire crafted
by the Trump administration.Trump built momentum for that agreement by
rallying the international community around a broader 20-point plan for
long-term peace in Gaza. He got Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
publicly endorse it, and US officials claim that Hamas leaders also
backed its terms during a private, high-stakes meeting on the eve of the
ceasefire’s signing.“Now you have peace,” Trump declared from the
Knesset on October 13.His 20-point plan includes elements that appear
strikingly similar to those drawn up by Blinken, but crucially, it omits
or softens much of the language Israel would have had the most trouble
agreeing to.Today, attempts to advance Trump’s plan beyond its initial
ceasefire stage appear stuck, as do negotiations aimed at reshaping the
wider Middle East, and despite the president’s triumphant declarations,
peace, or anything resembling it, may still be far off.Blinken’s
efforts, many of which are revealed here for the first time, offer a
telling window into some of the challenges facing the Trump
administration as it seeks to advance initiatives for the postwar
management of Gaza and expansion of the Abraham Accords.From Tokyo to
Cairo-Before there was a 20-point plan, or a 14-point plan, or a
Transitional Mission, there were the Tokyo Principles, unveiled by
Blinken at a G7 conference in Japan just one month after the October 7
attack.They comprised five red lines and three affirmative principles
regarding the future of Gaza, and served as the foundation for Blinken’s
day-after plan.The five “nos” were:No forced displacement of
Palestinians-No Israeli reoccupation of Gaza-No reduction of Gaza’s
territory-No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism-No attempt to
blockade or besiege Gaza-There were also three “musts” for the US in its
day-after planning:Palestinian voices must be at the center of postwar
Gaza governance-Gaza and the West Bank must be unified under the
Palestinian Authority-A sustained mechanism for reconstruction must be
established alongside a pathway to a two-state solution.Notably, some of
these principles — such as opposition to the forced displacement of
Gazans — were included in the plan that Trump unveiled nearly two years
later. Both Democratic and Republican administrations apparently
recognized that adhering to such fundamentals would be essential in
securing international support.But with war raging, not everyone shared
the US’s determination to plot Gaza’s future in the months immediately
following the October 7 attack.In Israel, Netanyahu avoided any
day-after planning altogether for months, insisting that his focus was
on defeating Hamas. Ignoring the issue allowed Netanyahu to skirt
far-right coalition partners pushing plans to permanently occupy Gaza
and re-establish settlements. While the premier said he opposed such
ideas, he also had little interest in entertaining more internationally
palatable schemes that risked collapsing his government.Arab allies were
also initially “less than enthusiastic” about getting involved in
day-after planning, said a senior Biden official, amid concerns that
Israel’s avoidance of the issue was a show of support for the
far-right’s plans.Blinken declined to comment to The Times of Israel on
the record about his efforts to end the war and plan for Gaza’s
future.The Arab approach did “gradually and grudgingly” shift, according
to the senior Biden official. In an initial move toward practical
post-war planning, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi proposed to
American officials in January 2024 that his country send troops to help
secure the Strip after an anticipated Israeli withdrawal.He raised the
idea during a one-on-one Cairo meeting with Blinken, appending two asks —
that the Egyptian troops be joined by American soldiers and that the
force also be deployed in the West Bank, where Palestinians have come
under near-daily attacks by settler extremists.Regarding the latter
request, Blinken said it was something that Israel would never allow.
And while he told Sissi that it was highly unlikely that US boots would
be placed on the ground in Gaza, the secretary of state said Washington
was prepared to help with the command of an international force, the
senior Biden official recalled to The Times of Israel.The Pentagon,
through the US Army’s Central Command, was subsequently instructed to
prepare to establish such a hub in Egypt.With Sissi leaning into the
idea of sending troops, Blinken had an easier time approaching other
countries about doing the same, the senior Biden official
said.Washington was particularly interested in getting the United Arab
Emirates on board with the plan, due to Abu Dhabi’s productive
relationship with Israel, along with Qatar, which the US thought would
be critical in securing guarantees from Hamas not to sabotage the
plan.Ultimately, the US secured varying commitments from roughly half a
dozen Arab partners to take part in the post-war management of Gaza, two
senior Biden officials said.Saudi Arabia agreed to finance the
Transitional Mission initiative, while the UAE and Qatar agreed to
donate both funds and troops, according to the senior Biden officials
and three Arab diplomats. However, each country had its own
conditions-Egypt, Jordan and Morocco each gave the US verbal assurances
that they would contribute troops to an interim multinational force for
Gaza that would help secure Gaza, roughly parallel to the International
Security Force that wound up being included in Trump’s plan.Saudi Arabia
agreed to finance the Transitional Mission initiative, while the UAE
and Qatar agreed to donate both funds and troops, according to the
senior Biden officials and three Arab diplomats.However, each country
had its own conditions, which were largely centered around receiving a
formal invitation from the PA to avoid accusations that they were
entering Gaza as foreign occupiers. The Arab countries were also intent
on chaperoning Ramallah through a comprehensive reform process so that
it could be equipped to eventually replace the Transitional Mission,
reunifying Gaza and the West Bank under a single Palestinian governing
body and thereby reestablishing a pathway to a Palestinian state
alongside Israel, the officials said.In addition to the core group of
Arab states, a variety of “third countries” also offered to take part in
the mission if it came together, including Italy, Spain and Indonesia,
the two senior Biden officials said.But the former US officials admitted
that the troop commitments were not ironclad and that countries wanted
to see the war end first or for Israel to accept their conditions
regarding a pathway to Palestinian statehood before they moved
forward.The UAE committed in principle to contribute troops to the
postwar international Gaza force, but when conversations turned to exact
numbers, Abu Dhabi got “skittish,” one of the senior Biden officials
recalled.Blinken’s plan envisioned the multinational force operating as
an arm of the Transitional Mission responsible for “administer[ing]
border crossings and facilitat[ing] safe and secure delivery of
humanitarian assistance,” according to the draft obtained by The Times
of Israel.Day-to-day policing of Gaza was to be left in the hands of the
PA’s security forces, and the scheme envisioned the US and its Arab
allies ‘vetting, recruiting, training and equipping’
personnel-Day-to-day policing was to be left in the hands of the PA’s
security forces, and the scheme envisioned the US and its Arab allies
“vetting, recruiting, training and equipping” personnel. Over the last
year of Biden’s term, hundreds of police recruits were sent to Egypt and
Jordan for training at military bases, US and Arab officials said.The
US plan didn’t task the international force with disarming Hamas, and in
fact disarmament is not explicitly required in the 14-point proposal
that eventually emerged from the talks.However, participating countries
were expected to sign a “Statement of Purpose” declaring, “Groups that
espouse the use of violence or commit terrorist attacks against
civilians cannot govern or dictate Gaza’s future. All terrorist
organizations and armed groups must disarm and renounce violence. A
disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration mechanism will facilitate
this process in Gaza.”Senior Biden officials believed that the presence
of the internationally backed Transitional Mission would at the very
least marginalize Hamas politically in the eyes of Palestinians, thereby
giving the terror group less legitimacy to continue holding on to its
weapons-The document didn’t get into specifics on how that disarmament
process would unfold, and the senior Biden officials acknowledged that
depriving Hamas of its weapons would have been a major hurdle, leaving
open the possibility that, as Israel withdrew, the Transitional Mission
could wind up vying with Hamas for control of the Strip.But the senior
Biden officials believed that the presence of the internationally backed
Transitional Mission would at the very least marginalize Hamas
politically in the eyes of Palestinians, thereby giving the terror group
less legitimacy to continue holding on to its weapons.Wanted: An
’empowered’ PA premier-While troop contributions from Arab allies
weren’t as firm, funding commitments were concrete enough for the US to
put specific figures in writing when the plan was drafted in the fall of
2024.The 14-point plan for the Transitional Mission stated that
“Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will each contribute 10 million
USD monthly (40 million USD in total) to operationalize a fund that
will provide the PA in Ramallah with predictable, direct, monthly
budgetary support during the transitional period and to support its
reform efforts.”To further ease the PA’s financial situation, the plan
stated that Israel would be required to release the several billion
dollars in Palestinian clearance revenues that it has been withholding
from the PA over the years.Meanwhile, countries participating in the
plan would establish a trust to raise funds for Gaza’s recovery, and
that money would “be channeled through a reformed PA,” the plan
stated.Blinken’s plan required the PA to govern transparently and fight
corruption, while also implementing reforms of its education and welfare
systems.These improvements were designed, at least in part, to address
Israel’s fervent opposition to granting the PA any role in Gaza in
addition to long-held international concern regarding credible
allegations of corruption and financial malfeasance in
Ramallah.Blinken’s plan also required PA President Mahmoud Abbas to
appoint a “new, credible, independent, and empowered PM who will reform
and revitalize the PA.”This was a notable stipulation, given that Abbas
only months earlier had appointed Mohammed Mustafa — an economist who
held senior positions in the World Bank — as premier in a step aimed at
addressing international reform demands.
A close confidant of
Abbas, Mustafa was not a satisfactory choice for the UAE, which
conditioned its involvement in the Transitional Mission on his
replacement, the senior Biden officials said.While some in the Biden
administration felt that the UAE demand to replace Mustafa was more
about elevating an Emirati ally than it was about reforming the PA, the
US agreed to include the condition in its plan for the Transitional
Mission.However, it carefully crafted the clause’s wording to stipulate
that the appointment of a new prime minister be made “in conjunction”
with the PA’s invitation to countries to join the initiative, rather
than making it a prerequisite.It also leveraged the UAE’s desire to see
Mustafa replaced in order to secure a more solid commitment from the
Emiratis, conditioning Mustafa’s departure on Abu Dhabi actively
contributing to the postwar management of Gaza, the two senior Biden
officials said.The Blair project-The Biden administration didn’t want to
ignore the Emirati concerns entirely, though, because the UAE was
playing a central role in setting up facets of the Transitional Mission
that would deal with the governance of postwar Gaza.By the summer of
2024, Netanyahu had quietly lifted his ban on postwar planning and
dispatched his closest adviser, then-strategic affairs minister Ron
Dermer, to hold talks with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed on
the matter, building on the goodwill that Jerusalem had established with
Abu Dhabi since the two countries normalized relations in 2020.That
channel quietly made progress, thanks in no small part to the assistance
of former British prime minister Tony Blair, who used his extensive
contacts in the region to craft a plan for the creation of a temporary
governing committee that would administer Gaza after the war, similar to
the Board of Peace laid out in the subsequent Trump plan, in which
Blair also played a part.Blair looped the Biden administration in on the
Israeli-Emirati talks, as both countries recognized that the US would
be needed to move them forward. While Blinken had discussed postwar
governing mechanisms for Gaza with Arab and Palestinian counterparts as
part of his efforts to build the Transitional Mission, the Blair-backed
Israeli-Emirati channel was more developed by the fall of 2024.Blinken
organized a meeting with Dermer and bin Zayed on the sidelines of the UN
General Assembly in September 2024 to formalize that channel and to
eventually turn its main ideas — along with the feedback he was getting
elsewhere in the region — into what became the 14-point plan for the
establishment of a Transitional Mission for the postwar governance,
security and reconstruction of Gaza.The plan also included many of the
ideas pushed by Dermer in his talks with bin Zayed, including the need
to limit the role of the PA in post-war Gaza until it has undergone
significant reforms.This did not sit well with Ramallah, which wanted to
do more than just invite foreign troops and personnel to run postwar
Gaza on its behalf.Some officials in Jerusalem mockingly branded
Blinken’s proposal the ‘Mr. Potato Head Plan’ because they felt he was
trying to adopt ideas from various stakeholders in a way that didn’t fit
realities on the ground, an Israeli official said-But the plan also
contained elements in support of Palestinian statehood that were liable
to draw Israeli objections.While the 14 points were largely focused on
Gaza, they also included a requirement for Israel to “refrain from
taking measures in the West Bank [that] would impede or imperil the
achievement of a just, comprehensive, realistic, and enduring solution
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”And the Statement of Purpose
attached to the 14-point plan included a commitment from partner
countries to a two-state solution “on the basis of the June 4, 1967
lines with mutually agreed swaps and a just and agreed solution for
Palestinian refugees.”Washington understood that these stipulations
would be fiercely opposed by Jerusalem, particularly after the October 7
attack caused Israeli faith in Palestinian independence to further
plummet. However, the US deemed them essential both for securing the
participation of partner countries in the Transitional Mission and also
for ensuring that the cycle of violence would end.The Biden
administration sought to sell the plan as something that Israel needed,
even if it wasn’t what it wanted-The Biden administration sought to sell
the plan as something that Israel needed, even if it wasn’t what it
wanted.“Israel needed to make sure that October 7 wasn’t going to happen
again, and that’s what we were going to ensure by being behind the
[Transitional Mission’s multinational] force,” said one of the senior
Biden officials, reiterating Washington’s preparedness to take part in
the command of the foreign troops, even if American boots would not be
on the ground in Gaza.Israel wasn’t impressed, and some officials in
Jerusalem mockingly branded Blinken’s proposal the “Mr. Potato Head
Plan” because they felt the secretary of state was trying to adopt ideas
from various stakeholders in a manner that didn’t fit realities on the
ground, an Israeli official said.Riyadh raises its price-But Washington
was still looking to sweeten the deal for Israel, and the Biden official
said the US likely would have also signed a secret “side letter” with
Jerusalem, giving the latter a green light to intervene militarily in
Gaza “under extreme circumstances.”Another selling point for Israel was
supposed to be the Transitional Mission’s inclusion of Saudi Arabia,
necessarily expanding Israel’s cooperation with Riyadh and potentially
reviving the Abraham Accords.“The possibility of normalization between
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states and Israel, with concrete progress
toward a two-state solution, is a promising avenue to achieving peace,
security, and regional integration that will benefit all,” read the US
plan’s Statement of Purpose.While the October 7 onslaught froze the
normalization effort, by January 2024, bin Salman told Blinken he was
prepared to resume discussions on the topic.But this time, the crown
prince asked for more concrete measures from Israel toward the
establishment of a Palestinian state, the two senior Biden officials
said.Previously, the Saudis had entertained relatively moderate steps
from Israel as part of the normalization deal. These included a proposal
for Israel to give the PA control over additional West Bank territory
by changing parts of Israeli-controlled Area C to Area B, where the PA
has limited authority, and parts of Area B to Area A, which is under
Palestinian security control and governance.‘Our plan — especially if
[Harris] won the the election — was to confront Bibi with a choice:
Either end the war and create a path to a two-state solution and Saudi
normalization or reject what we saw as the only path to longterm
security and regional integration’Now, Riyadh was demanding the launch
of a time-bound, irreversible process to establish a Palestinian state,
officials from multiple countries told The Times of Israel.The upped
demand had less to do with bin Salman’s personal attachment to the
Palestinians and more to do with what he told interlocutors was his fear
of ending up like Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president assassinated in
1981 after making peace with Israel, one of the Biden officials said.The
Saudi foreign ministry, which typically refrains from interacting with
Israeli press, did not respond to requests for comment.Regardless, the
Biden administration saw an opportunity to broker a normalization
agreement in 2024, believing that a Democratic president would have an
easier time securing the support of two-thirds of the Senate, which
would be needed to ratify the side-deal defense treaties that Riyadh was
also seeking in exchange for joining the Abraham Accords.By coupling
the Transitional Mission with the Saudi normalization push, “the
underlying concept was to present the Israeli government with what they
needed to end the war in Gaza along with a way to achieve the dream of
recognition by all of its key neighbors,” said James P. Rubin, who was
Blinken’s point man in the State Department on Gaza day after
planning.“We tried to put all of these things together in a package that
would be attractive to the Israeli government and in the process defeat
the ideology of Hamas by enshrining a two-state solution, which its
founding charter opposes,” Rubin, a former assistant secretary of state
in the Clinton Administration, told The Times of Israel.The US
recognized that this was a long shot, as it would have required
Netanyahu to part ways with his far-right coalition partners. However,
Biden officials still noticed him “leaning in” when they raised the
topic, leading them to believe that it wasn’t an impossible task.Still,
it was going to require convincing the Israeli premier that the
consequence of not picking up the baton with the plan being put together
would be endless war and increasing global isolation.“Our plan —
especially if [then-US vice president Kamala Harris] won the [November
2024 presidential] election, but ideally before that — was to confront
Bibi with a choice: Either end the war and create a path to a two-state
solution and Saudi normalization, or reject what we saw as the only path
to longterm security and regional integration,” said one of the senior
Biden officials.Things fall apart-But the war in Gaza dragged on through
the fall, Harris lost to Trump and whatever leverage the Biden
administration had over regional stakeholders “evaporated,” the former
senior US official said.Blinken’s State Department also didn’t have the
full backing of the White House, which prioritized the talks on the
“phase one” initial ceasefire and hostage release deal over the “phase
two” negotiations regarding the postwar management of Gaza, one of the
former US officials said. Accordingly, the White House chafed at efforts
to publicly corner Israel regarding day-after planning when doing so
could risk emboldening Hamas in the ceasefire negotiations.The
prevailing opinion in the Biden administration was that the US couldn’t
fully challenge Israel, the PA or Arab allies to truly commit to the US
day-after plan while the war was still ongoing.Unable to see his own
plan to fruition, Blinken was satisfied with giving a speech during his
final week as secretary of state in which he laid out the contours of
his vision for the postwar management of Gaza.“From the outset, we
recognized that we couldn’t afford to wait until a ceasefire to plan for
what would follow it,” he said in those remarks. “For many months,
we’ve been working intensively with our partners to develop a detailed
post-conflict plan that would allow Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza,
prevent Hamas from filling back in, and provide for Gaza’s governance,
security, and reconstruction — drawing on the principles that I
originally set out in Tokyo. We will hand off that plan to the Trump
administration to carry forward.”Similar plans, different problems-While
Trump initially entertained a different day-after approach, declaring
in February that the US would take over Gaza, clear the territory of its
Palestinians and create a“Riviera of the Middle East,” he eventually
settled on a plan that was very similar to Blinken’s.This likely had to
do with the decision to bring Blair back into the fold, with the former
British premier working closely with Trump’s top adviser Jared
Kushner.The Trump administration refashioned the governance aspects of
the Transitional Mission into a Board of Peace, and the multinational
force became the International Stabilization Force (ISF). Both bodies
were enshrined in a US-championed resolution adopted by the UN Security
Council last month — something also envisioned by Blinken’s plan.The
Blinken idea of a CENTCOM-led ceasefire monitoring hub was also adopted
by the Trump administration, albeit in the southern Israeli town of
Kiryat Gat, rather than in Egypt’s El-Arish.The fact that Trump managed
to secure support for his 20-point initiative from both Israel and Arab
allies in September, two weeks before an actual ceasefire was agreed on,
could point to the wisdom of Blinken’s prioritization of post-war
planning rather than the wider Biden administration’s approach of
largely decoupling it from a ceasefire and hostage release.But Trump’s
plan also contains key differences that skirt Israeli objections that
could have doomed the Blinken proposal but were seen as key to ensuring
Gaza’s post-war future.While both plans envisioned an eventual transfer
of Gaza governance to a reformed PA, Trump’s offers Ramallah virtually
no role in the interim, whereas Blinken’s sought to involve the PA in
the process from the get-go. As Blinken found, without PA buy-in, Arab
commitments are likely to remain in the realm of words, rather than
actions.Indeed, while the Security Council has backed the creation of a
Board of Peace and ISF, countries have yet to step forward with troop
contributions, despite whatever verbal commitments may have been made to
the Trump administration before the UN resolution was adopted.Both
plans also use language regarding a pathway to Palestinian statehood,
though Trump’s presents it only as a possibility, as opposed to
Blinken’s proposal, where it was a requirement — albeit one that would
lay the groundwork for Israel’s integration into the Middle East.The
softened statehood language and the icing out of the PA offered Trump an
easier way to bring Israel on board without having to resort to
ultimatums. But the shortcut may have also dampened Arab and
international enthusiasm for investing in Gaza’s future. The 20-point
plan is currently half realized, even though Trump insists that phase
two is imminent.For now, at least, hopes for a reborn Gaza are at risk
of fading amid fears of a return to war. And realizing the dream of
Saudi normalization no longer seems within reach, as it did on October
6, 2023.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22
And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED)
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE)
those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID
HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory.
EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9
I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy
destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not
known.
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his
vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every
living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6
For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion)
have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them
blood to drink; for they are worthy.
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the
light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC
GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall
be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE
SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the
stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE
WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for
fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Radiation Fog: A
643-Kilometer Belt Of Mist Lingers Over California's Central Valley-The
soggy foothills of the Central Valley in California have been
overtaken.Tom Hale-Senior Journalist byLaura Simmons.
A giant
blanket of radiation fog has smothered California’s Central Valley for
several days and is expected to linger for days more. But fear not, the
fog has nothing to do with nuclear meltdowns or the splitting of
atoms.What is radiation fog? Radiation fog is a perfectly normal type of
fog that’s most common when things get chilly in the fall and winter.
It develops on clear, calm nights when the ground cools rapidly,
chilling the air just above it. Once that air reaches saturation,
moisture condenses into millions of tiny droplets, creating a thick mist
that hangs in the air. It’s called radiation fog because it forms
through radiational cooling, not because it contains ionizing
radiation.Each fall and winter in parts of California, a special form of
radiation fog can linger for days or weeks at a time, known as tule
fog. It’s the result of cool, moist air from the Pacific close to the
surface. This creates high humidity, especially after recent heavy rain,
which provides plenty of moisture to fuel the fog and help it
persist.Tule fog in California’s Central Valley-This is exactly what’s
been happening over the past week in the Central Valley of California.
Following a downpour of heavy rain in late November, the region's damp
valleys have been invaded by a cloak of fog. Trapped in the low-lying
terrain with no strong winds or weather systems to stir it up, the fog
is expected to linger for several days.The National Weather Service
(NWS) forecast said on Thursday, December 4, that there’s a large
outgrowth of the Tule Fog across the Central Valley. It started to
emerge last week in late November and is due to hang around for some
time. “Expect another round of Tule Fog impacts tonight into Friday
morning, mainly across the interior Bay Area with potential impacts in
the North Bay valleys,” reads the NWS forecast.Satellite images show it
hovering over the Central Valley, like a big, fluffy, white sausage. The
patch of tule fog covers a vast area, nearly 643 kilometers (400 miles)
long, stretching from Bakersfield to north of Sacramento, near Red
Bluff and Redding, according to the Washington Post.Back on the ground,
tule fog can reduce visibility to as little as 3 meters (10 feet) in
severe conditions, making driving extraordinarily difficult. In
response, several NWS offices have issued Dense Fog Advisories, warning
motorists to use extra caution and consider delaying their journey if
possible.Indeed, the seasonal fog has been known to cause tragic
incidents on the highways. In November 2007, tule fog was responsible
for a massive 108-car pile-up on the Northbound California State Route
99 near Fresno, killing two people. It isn’t all negative news, however,
as tule fog plays an important role in California’s agriculture. The
blanket of cool, moist air helps crops such as almonds, pistachios,
cherries, apricots, and peaches to enter and stay in their necessary
winter dormant period. This cold-induced dormancy allows the plants to
save energy and produce buds and flowers properly in the spring.Many
farmers and scientists are worried that the Central Valley is undergoing
a significant dip in wintertime fog based on year-on-year statistics,
but this week's weather shows that it’s still part of the region’s
seasonal rhythm.
Thick tule fog returned to California’s Central
Valley this fall. Here’s what caused it-By Anthony Edwards, Newsroom
MeteorologistDec 2, 2025-Tule fog blankets the Central Valley on Monday
morning. The radiation fog forms during periods of light winds after
fall and winter rainstorms.
Sacramento just endured its longest
stretch of autumn fog in years as a stubborn pattern created ideal
conditions for low clouds and cold weather in the Central Valley.The
Sacramento office of the National Weather Service issued nine dense fog
advisories in November, the most it has issued in a month this early in
the wet season since at least 2005. Fog advisories are issued only when
visibility drops below a quarter of a mile. Sunshine finally emerged
Monday, but the pattern favorable for patchy fog was expected to linger
for another week or two.Locally referred to as tule fog but
scientifically known as radiation fog, the misty mass is prevalent in
the Central Valley and parts of the Bay Area during periods of light
winds after wet weather, especially in winter. November weather this
year provided the perfect ingredients for thick tule fog. Mid-month
storms dropped several inches of rain in Walnut Creek, Sacramento,
Fresno and other valley areas. A dry spell quickly followed as a
high-pressure system expanded over California and resulted in calm
winds, trapping moisture from the recent rains near the ground.During
long late fall and winter nights, there is plenty of time for heat to
escape to space, allowing the air to cool. As the temperature drops, it
approaches the dew point. When the temperature matches the dew point,
the air reaches saturation, causing water vapor to condense to visible
fog droplets.Although the recent foggy spell was memorable compared to
recent years, tule fog was much more dangerous in the 20th century.
Longtime valley residents recount stories of the fog so thick they
couldn’t see across the street. Multi-vehicle crashes were a
life-threatening hazard on highways during the foggiest days.The decline
in thick fog since the 1980s is attributed largely to falling levels of
air pollution, according to scientists at UC Berkeley. Microscopic
particles from vehicular emissions provide the seed that cloud droplets
need to form, but the number of those particles has declined in recent
decades as air pollution regulations were enacted.The cleaner air
doesn’t prevent fog from forming, but it does kick off a feedback
loop.With fewer seeds to latch on to, low clouds aren’t as thick and
allow more sunshine to filter through. In turn, the ground warms up and
evaporates the landscape, which is less favorable for future fog
development.Without as much fog, Central Valley crops are feeling the
effects. Fruit and nut trees need sufficiently cold winters to achieve
adequate rest before the next growing season. The declining fog and
warming temperatures have unfavorable effects on crops.Widespread fog
was forecast to continue in the San Joaquin Valley through the first
week of December. Drier winds in Northern California were expected to
bring afternoon clearing to the Sacramento Valley and the Bay Area after
periods of patchy morning fog.
Police close all roads in and out
of Eilat as flooding intensifies-Several highways closed as storms
batter Arava and Negev desert regions, effectively cutting off southern
resort city from the rest of Israel; airbase damaged by the harsh
weather By ToI Staff 6 December 2025, 5:57 pm
Eilat was cut off
from the rest of the country Saturday due to flooding, with police
closing all highway access to the southern resort city as heavy rains
continued to batter the region.The storms began Friday night and
continued unabated into Saturday, causing major floods throughout
southern Israel, where the desert landscape is especially susceptible to
severe weather and flash floods.Flooding along several sections of
Route 90, the main highway that passes through southern Israel’s Arava
region, forced the full closure of the city’s northern exit, police said
Saturday afternoon.Earlier in the day, Routes 12 and 40 — the only
other main roads connecting Eilat to the rest of the country — were also
closed amid flash flood warnings.Videos posted to social media showed
hundreds of cars backed up along Route 90, as thousands tried to return
home from weekend trips to Eilat.With all three highways blocked,
authorities urged drivers to exercise patience and follow police
instructions, adding that updates will continue to be issued through
media channels.The Israel Meteorological Society also issued flash-flood
warnings in the Judean Desert, Dead Sea and eastern Negev regions.Due
to the harsh weather conditions, the military reported damage to
“infrastructure and communication systems” at the Ovda Airbase in the
Negev.The base is used by the Israeli Air Force for training, and it
also houses the Border Defense Corps’ school.“There is no impact on
operational readiness,” the Israel Defense Forces said, adding that
commanders are “conducting damage assessments to ensure a quick and safe
response to the malfunctions.”The stormy weather was expected to
continue through Saturday evening, with clearer skies forecasted for
Sunday and the early part of next week.
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
(NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD
HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY
NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
JESUS
SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3
PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD
IS NOT MOCKED.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven,
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I
will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about
thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in
fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I
shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their
destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase
the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I
send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED
THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and
they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through
thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have
spoken it.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out
from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to
him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully
ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and
gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of
the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the
horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200
MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold,
the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens
behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination,
and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I
know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather
all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS
COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more
cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed
one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For
the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of
her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his
fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the
fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are
open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed
like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that
are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be
visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the
people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume
away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and
their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)
and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM
ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD
PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that
day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they
shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand
shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN
WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say
to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour
every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall
not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be
burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor
their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath;
but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for
he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC
BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water
thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of
the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD
DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM
NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a
great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is
done.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with
sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE
DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Arms makers see record revenues as global tensions fuel demand By Johannes LEDEL.
Stockholm
(AFP) Dec 05, 2025-Sales by the world's top 100 arms makers reached a
record $679 billion last year, as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza boosted
demand, researchers said Monday, but production issues hampered
deliveries.The figure was 5.9 percent higher than the year before, and,
over the 2015-2024 period, revenues for the top 100 arms makers have
risen 26 percent according to a report by the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)."Last year global arms revenues reached
the highest level ever recorded by SIPRI as producers capitalised on
high demand," Lorenzo Scarazzato, researcher with the SIPRI Military
Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said in a statement.Jade
Guiberteau Ricard, a researcher for the same programme, explained to AFP
that "it's mostly driven by Europe," although "all areas have increased
except for Asia and Oceania".Ricard said the increased demand in Europe
was tied to the war in Ukraine and "the threat perception of Russia by
European states".According to SIPRI, demand from Ukraine as well as from
countries militarily supporting it and which need to replenish
stockpiles helped drive demand.Ricard added that many European countries
are also now looking to expand and modernise their own militaries,
"which will present a new source of demand".- Supply woes -The United
States is home to 39 of the world's top 100 arms makers, including the
top three: Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies) and
Northrop Grumman.US arms makers saw their combined revenues rise 3.8
percent to reach $334 billion in 2024, nearly half of the world's
total.At the same time, the authors of the report noted that budget
overruns and delays plague several key US-led programmes, like the F-35
fighter jet and the Columbia-class submarine.The 26 of the top 100 arms
maker which are based in Europe saw aggregate revenues grow by 13
percent to $151 billion.Czech company Czechoslovak Group saw revenue
spike by 193 percent -- the sharpest increase of all the top 100 --
reaching $3.6 billion.The company benefitted from the Czech Ammunition
Initiative which provides artillery shells for Ukraine.But European arms
makers are also facing difficulties in responding to the increased
demand, with SIPRI noting that sourcing materials looks to become more
challenging.The authors noted that Airbus and France's Safran sourced
half of their titanium from Russia before 2022 and have had to find new
suppliers.Chinese export restrictions on critical minerals have led
companies -- such as France's Thales and Germany's Rheinmetall -- to
warn of higher costs as they restructure supply chains.Two Russian arms
makers are also among the top 100, Rostec and United Shipbuilding
Corporation, and they saw combined revenue rise by 23 percent to $31.2
billion, despite a shortfall of components due to international
sanctions, as domestic demand more than compensated for falling
exports.The report also noted that the Russian arms industry is
struggling to find enough skilled labour "to support the projected rates
of production needed to sustain Russia's war aims".- Israeli weapons
still popular -The Asia and Oceania region was the only region to see
the overall revenues of the 23 companies based there go down -- their
combined revenues dropped 1.2 percent to $130 billion.But the authors
stressed that the picture across Asia was varied and the overall drop
was the result of by a larger drop among Chinese arms makers."A host of
corruption allegations in Chinese arms procurement led to major arms
contracts being postponed or cancelled in 2024," Nan Tian, Director of
SIPRI's Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said in a
statement.Tian added that the drop deepened "uncertainty" around China's
efforts to modernise its military.In contrast, Japanese and South
Korean weapons makers saw their revenues increase, also driven by
European demand.Meanwhile, nine of the top 100 arms companies were based
in the Middle East, with combined revenues of $31 billion.The three
Israeli arms companies in the ranking accounted for more than half of
that, as their combined revenues grew by 16 percent to $16.2
billion.SIPRI researcher Zubaida Karim noted in a statement that "the
growing backlash over Israel's actions in Gaza seems to have had little
impact on interest in Israeli weapons".jll/rmb
Milei welcomes Argentina's first F-16 fighter jets.
Río
Cuarto, Argentina, Dec 6 (AFP) Dec 06, 2025-President Javier Milei on
Saturday hailed the arrival of Argentina's first six F-16 jets purchased
from Denmark, describing them as "guardian angels" that will strengthen
the South American country's armed forces.The US-built aircraft are
among the 24 used supersonic fighters bought last year from Copenhagen
for roughly $300 million, an exchange Milei's government described at
the time as Argentina's most important military acquisition in 50
years."After a long wait, I finally have behind me the first six F-16
fighter jets," Milei said on the tarmac of a military base in Rio
Cuarto, some 600 kilometers (373 miles) west of Buenos Aires."Thanks to
this significant investment, we will considerably strengthen our air
force."Following a ceremony, Milei boarded one of the F-16 Fighting
Falcons -- which had flown low over Argentina's capital before landing
in Rio Cuarto -- and was seen smiling in the cockpit next to his sister
Karina Milei, who serves as general secretary of the presidency, and
Defense Minister Luis Petri."Hundreds of thousands of Argentines were
able to look up and see their guardian angels in the sky for the first
time," the president said.When the sale was announced in April 2024,
Argentina's defense ministry said the modernized Danish F-16s would form
"the backbone of Argentina's air defense system."They replace
Argentina's French Mirage jets, the last of which were retired in 2017
after four decades of service.The US administration of President Donald
Trump, a Milei ally, approved the transfer of F-16s.The US Embassy in
Buenos Aires said in a statement Saturday that Argentina's jet
acquisition marks "a major step in the country's efforts to modernize
its air capabilities and deepen defense cooperation with the United
States."It said the delivery was the first of four batches, with six
additional aircraft to be delivered to Argentina each December through
2028.
France probes mystery drone flight over nuclear sub base.
Brest,
France, Dec 5 (AFP) Dec 05, 2025-The French military used jammers as
several suspected drones flew over a closely guarded base housing
nuclear ballistic submarines, prosecutors said Friday.It was the latest
in a series of mysterious drone flights over airports and sensitive
military and industrial sites across Europe.Three-and-a-half years into
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there is growing concern that such
disruption could be part of hybrid war tactics by Moscow against the
European Union, which has backed Kyiv.No drones were shot down and no
pilots were identified during the flyover Thursday evening at the
submarine base on Ile Longue, a peninsula off the Brittany coast in
northwestern France, prosecutors said as they opened an
investigation."No link with foreign interference" has been established
at this stage, said prosecutor Frederic Teillet.The investigation had to
"confirm whether or not these were drones" and determine "the type and
number of devices," he added.One source close to the case told AFP that
five drones had been detected above the base at around 1830 GMT
Thursday.An anti-drone and search operation was launched, and the marine
battalion, which protects the base, fired several anti-drone shots, the
source added."The marines fired a jammer, not a firearm," said
Teillet.The Ile Longue base is home to France's four ballistic missile
submarines -- Le Triomphant, Le Temeraire, Le Vigilant and Le
Terrible.At least one is permanently at sea to ensure nuclear
deterrence.- 'Intended to cause concern' -"Sensitive infrastructure was
not threatened," Guillaume Le Rasle, spokesman for the maritime
prefecture, told AFP.Speaking earlier in the day, he said that it was
"too early to determine" the origin of the drones, adding however that
the flights had been "intended to cause concern among the
population".Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin told French broadcaster
TF1 that any overflight of a military base was prohibited in
France.Praising the response of the military personnel at the base, she
added: "A complaint has been filed, an investigation is underway, and it
is this investigation that will determine what this overflight was all
about."France and the United Kingdom are the only European countries
other than Russia with nuclear weapons.France has maintained a sea-based
nuclear deterrent force since 1971. Its ballistic missile submarines
are equipped with M51 strategic missiles with multiple nuclear
warheads.The Ile Longue base is a closely guarded site, employing 2,000
people including 1,500 civilians. It is protected by 120 maritime police
officers in coordination with marines.Drone flights are prohibited over
the Crozon peninsula which includes Ile Longue in order to protect the
military infrastructure located there.However, drone flights in the
restricted area are not unprecedented, said Le Rasle.aag-cl-as/jj
18 killed in central Myanmar airstrike.
Tabayin,
Myanmar, Dec 6 (AFP) Dec 06, 2025-Eighteen people were killed in an
airstrike on a town in central Myanmar, according to a local official, a
rescue worker and two residents who spoke to AFP on Saturday.Myanmar
has been rocked by civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021
coup, and its battles with numerous anti-coup fighters have brought
frequent airstrikes that often kill civilians.Two bombs were dropped on
Tabayin township in Sagaing region on Friday evening, with one hitting a
busy teashop, according to a local administration official.He told AFP
that 18 people were killed and 20 were wounded in the attacks."Deaths
were high at the teashop as it was crowded time," he said. All of the
sources who spoke to AFP requested anonymity for their protection.A
rescue worker who arrived on the scene 15 minutes after the strike said
seven people were killed on the spot and 11 others died later at
hospital.The teashop -- a traditional social hub in Myanmar -- and
around a dozen houses nearby were "totally destroyed", he said.A
survivor said he was watching a televised boxing match in the teashop
when the bomb hit."As soon as I heard aircraft fly over, I got my body
to the ground," he said, adding that the sound from the blast was
deafening."I saw a big fire over my head... I was lucky, I returned home
after that."A junta spokesman did not answer a call from an AFP
reporter.Funerals for those killed were held on Saturday, with some
victims' faces covered by towels as they had been rendered
unrecognisable, a local resident said."I feel very sad because I knew
some of them very well," she said.A junta airstrike in Sagaing in May
killed 22 people, including 20 children, despite a purported ceasefire
called after a devastating earthquake hit Myanmar.
Taiwan says China deploys warships in 'military operations'.
Taipei,
Dec 5 (AFP) Dec 05, 2025-Taiwan said Friday that China had deployed
warships for "military operations" stretching hundreds of kilometres
from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea, posing a "threat" to the
region.Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory,
neither confirmed nor denied the manoeuvres.Taiwan's defence ministry
and other security agencies were monitoring China's activities and had a
"complete grasp of the situation", Presidential Office spokeswoman
Karen Kuo told reporters.She did not say how many Chinese ships were
involved in the deployment, but a security source told AFP the number
was "significant". The source spoke on condition of anonymity because
they were not authorised to speak to the media.The operations were not
limited to the Taiwan Strait, but extended from the southern Yellow Sea,
to the East China Sea near the disputed Diaoyu Islands and on into the
South China Sea and even the Western Pacific, Kuo said."This indeed
poses a threat and impact on the Indo-Pacific and the entire region,"
she said.Taiwan urged China to "exercise restraint", Kuo said, adding:
"We are also confident that we can handle this matter well."Neither
China's armed forces nor state media have announced any increased
military activity in the region where Taiwan said Chinese ships had been
detected.Beijing's defence ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said Friday
that the navy's training on the high seas complies with international
law and "is not directed at any specific country or target".He was
responding to a question about a Chinese naval flotilla that reportedly
may be heading towards Australia.A spokesman for China's foreign
ministry said Beijing "has consistently followed a defensive policy" and
urged "relevant parties" not to "overreact or... engage in groundless
hype".China has refused to rule out using force to take Taiwan, and also
contentiously claims nearly all of the South China Sea.Taiwan's
intelligence chief Tsai Ming-yen said Wednesday that October to December
was the "peak season" for China's "annual evaluation exercises".There
was a possibility that China's ruling Communist Party could turn
seemingly routine military activities into drills targeting Taiwan, Tsai
warned.Taiwan's defence ministry reported at 7:00 pm (1100 GMT) that it
had detected 24 Chinese military aircraft near Taiwan since 2:22 pm,
including 19 that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait to
participate in a joint combat patrol with navy ships.Last December,
Taiwan said about 90 Chinese warships and coast guard vessels took part
in vast exercises including simulating attacks on foreign ships and
practising blockading sea routes in Beijing's biggest maritime drills in
years.Beijing did not confirm the drills at that time.The United States
has long been Taiwan's most important security backer and biggest
supplier of arms.But President Donald Trump's administration signalled a
potential shift in that policy on Friday, saying in a strategy document
that its Asian allies Japan and South Korea should take on more of the
burden of defending the region.
In Russia's shadow, Norway to buy two submarines and missiles.
Oslo,
Dec 5 (AFP) Dec 05, 2025-Norway is to buy two more German-made
submarines along with long-range missiles as the country bordering
Russia bolsters its defences, the government announced Friday."Norway is
a coastal and maritime nation, and submarines are absolutely essential
to the defence of our country. We are seeing an increase in the activity
of Russian forces in the North Atlantic and the Barents Sea," Defence
Minister Tore Sandvik said in a statement announcing the multi-billion
dollar purchases.Norway has a 198-kilometre (123-mile) land border with
Russia, which is fighting a protracted war in Ukraine, as well as a
maritime border in the Barents Sea.The government had already ordered
four submarines from German firm Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems in 2021 and
the first of those is to be delivered in 2029, the ministry said in the
statement."As NATO's 'eyes and ears' in the North, this requires a
greater capacity to show our presence, to monitor and to deter in our
immediate vicinity. In this context, submarines are absolutely
indispensable," Sandvik added.The government proposed increasing the
defence budget by 46 billion krone ($4.5 billion) because the cost of
submarines and their arms systems had increased.In a separate statement,
the defence ministry said 19 billion krone would be spent on missiles
able to reach targets up to 500 kilometres (300 miles) away.The ministry
did not say which missiles would be bought but the NTB news agency said
the US Himars system, South Korea's Chunmoo missiles and a system made
by Germany's KNDS group were being considered.
THIS
IS A PILE OF DUNG. BUT IF THESE ARAB TERRORIST WERE KILLING JEWS AND
CLAIMING THEIR BEING STARVED. I WOULD GIVE THESE TERRORIST THE INSTANT
DEATH PENALTY. THESE TERRORIST WANNA DIE FOR THEIR ALLAH MOON GOD SATAN.
I WOULD SUPPLY THEIR WISH. I'D HAVE A PIT OF FIVE LIONS. I'D POUR PIGS
BLOOD ALL OVER THE TERRORIST. THEN I WOULD ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE GET
UP BESIDE THE WELL LIKE PEN OF LIONS. I WOULD HIP CHECK THE ARAB WITH
HIS LEGS AN ARMS TIED. DOWN INTO THE LIONS DEN AND SAY OOPS.YOU CAN GO
WITH ALLAH SLASH SATAN YOUR MOON GOD.RIGHT TO HELL FIRE.
Public
defender reports Palestinian inmates suffering ‘severe hunger’ in
Israeli jails-As prison population has swelled beyond capacity, Public
Defender’s Office says most detainees are held in tiny, unsanitary
cells; guards said to often beat security prisoners By Charlie Summers-6
December 2025, 11:29 pm
Palestinian security prisoners have been
held in increasingly dire conditions since October 2023, with many
suffering from severe hunger, according to an audit published this week
by the Public Defender’s Office.Inmates who met with agency
representatives reported “drastic weight loss and signs of
malnutrition,” the audit said. It added that inspectors witnessed that
many of the prisoners were very thin, “in some cases to an extreme
degree.”The report, which addresses the treatment of detainees suspected
of criminal and security offenses, attests to worsening detention
conditions for both sets of inmates as Israel’s prison population has
soared since the outbreak of the two-year war with Hamas, sparked by the
terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack.Security prisoners have been
subject to particularly harsh treatment, according to the audit, which
said these detainees are given meager food rations, beaten regularly by
guards and held in unsanitary conditions that have allowed diseases to
spread quickly in crowded, tiny cells.Inspectors in the Public
Defender’s Office who authored the report examined 43 total detention
facilities in 2023 and 2024, including 27 under the supervision of the
Israel Prison Service, 12 police station holding cells and four
courthouse holding cells.Human rights groups in both Israel and abroad
have been sounding alarm bells about worsening prison conditions for the
past several years; however, the audit from the Public Defender’s
Office marked a rare instance in which an Israeli government body
reported on the worsening situation.National Security Minister Itamar
Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Prison Service in his role, has
publicly boasted about harsh measures implemented against security
detainees on his watch, telling a Knesset committee in October that he
is proud that jails “have turned into a nightmare for
terrorists.”Scabies, scant food and routine beatings-Soon after the
outbreak of the war, IPS issued an order to limit — if not cancel
entirely — so-called “routine activities” that take place during
peacetime in facilities holding security prisoners.Unlike standard
criminal prisoners, security prisoners are in custody for committing
“security offenses,” which can range from deadly terror attacks to
publishing what Israel deems incendiary content online.In practice, the
October 16, 2023, order barred Palestinian security inmates from making
phone calls, meeting with family or Red Cross representatives, leaving
their cells except for one hour each day, and holding onto personal
items, such as books or family photos.The restrictions apply to all
security prisoners, including minors, “regardless of the severity of
their actions or their personal circumstances,” the audit noted.The
prison service also put together a special, reduced food menu in
military prisons that provides significantly smaller portions than those
of criminal detainees. In practice, inspectors found that the actual
meals served to security prisoners were even more scant than those in
the reduced menu, and at times contained food unfit for consumption,
such as uncooked rice and rotten vegetables.Inspectors — who visited the
Ramon, Megiddo, Ayalon, Shatta, Eshel and Ketziot military prisons —
were repeatedly informed of a “severe feeling of hunger” among the
detainees, and found that in some facilities there was even limited
access to drinking water.In September, the High Court ordered the
government to provide security prisoners with enough food to “ensure a
basic existence.” However, it appears that not much has changed, as
rights groups continue to push the Prison Service to provide inmates
with proper nutrition.Detainees also reported “routine” violence by
guards towards prisoners. Such beatings typically occur during cell
searches or while transporting prisoners between wings, to court
hearings, or to receive external medical care, according to the report.
In some cases, fear of beatings dissuaded prisoners from seeking medical
attention, only exacerbating the dire medical conditions.Inspectors
also found that scabies, a contagious skin infection caused by small
mites that burrow into the skin, was widespread among security inmates
and, during certain periods, “developed into an epidemic within these
facilities.”The infestation was able to spread all the more quickly due
to overcrowded cells, as Israel’s prison population soars far above the
prison system’s official capacity.‘Unprecedented’ overcrowding
crisis-Soon after the war’s outset, the Knesset approved emergency
provisions that have allowed the Prison Service to hold inmates of all
kinds in overcrowded cells, sometimes without a bed to sleep on.Israel
saw a massive leap in its detained population over the past two years,
which has turned prison overcrowding into an “unprecedented crisis,” the
Public Defender’s Office wrote.Many prisoners, both criminal and
security detainees, are held in cramped, crowded cells and made to sleep
on the floor for lack of beds. Sometimes, prisoners were driven to
sleep on the floor despite empty beds, due to a pervasive bedbug
problem, inspectors found during several visits to criminal wings.Before
the outbreak of the war, Israel had already exceeded the prison
system’s capacity of 14,500 detainees, and on October 6, 2023, was
holding 16,353 prisoners. Within two months, the prisoner population
jumped by 3,000 people, and by the end of 2024, the Prison Service had
23,000 prisoners in custody.More recent data from September 2025,
published by the Knesset Research and Information Center, put the total
figure at 24,715 — among them 11,115 security prisoners.While 35% of
criminal detainees are held in a living space less than 3 square meters
(32 square feet), over 90% of security detainees are held in such
conditions, despite a 2018 High Court ruling stipulating that no less
than 4.5 square meters (48 square feet) should be allocated to an
individual prisoner.As prisons overflow, some suspects have been made to
stay in police station holding cells for days or weeks on end, even
though the facilities are unequipped to handle detainees for prolonged
periods.During a visit to the Bat Yam police station, inspectors
encountered detainees who had been held for 10 days, without so much as a
change of clothes. They slept on the ground, without any mattresses,
towels or toothbrushes.Similar stories arose in the Jaffa, Mesubim and
Glilot stations, in which detainees were held in their cells for days on
end in the same clothes, with no means to maintain basic hygiene.
Palestinian
speeding car toward troops in Hebron killed, as is passerby; soldier
lightly hurt-Paratroopers targeted while operating near a checkpoint in
flashpoint West Bank city, less than a week after ramming attack in the
area that lightly wounded soldier By Emanuel Fabian-6 December 2025,
10:35 pmUpdated at 11:33 pm
A Palestinian was shot dead by IDF
soldiers on Saturday after accelerating in a vehicle toward the troops,
Paratroopers Brigade soldiers who were operating near a checkpoint in
the West Bank city of Hebron.An uninvolved Palestinian civilian who was
passing by was also shot dead by the soldiers amid the incident.The army
initially said that both of the Palestinians killed were in the
accelerating car, but later issued another statement saying that, after a
preliminary investigation, it was determined that only one of them was
in the car, and the other was uninvolved.First responders said one
soldier was lightly hurt in the incident.Last Monday, another soldier
was lightly wounded in a car-ramming attack near Hebron. The assailant
was killed during a subsequent attempt to arrest him. Hours later, two
soldiers were lightly wounded in a stabbing attack near the northern
West Bank settlement of Ateret. That attacker, too, was shot
dead.Violence in the West Bank has surged since Hamas’s attack on Israel
in October 2023. According to the Palestinian Authority, over 1,000
Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since then.
The IDF has said that most of those killed were gunmen, rioters clashing
with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.During the same period,
63 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror
attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the
security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian
cities in the West Bank.Attacks by settler extremists have also risen
sharply. The IDF has recorded more than 752 incidents of settler
violence in the West Bank since the start of the year, surpassing the
675 incidents recorded in 2024.
Disarming Hezbollah 'a Lebanese
demand,' says top diplomat-Hezbollah won’t give up its weapons without a
decision from Iran — Lebanese FM-Youssef Rajji says terror group is
‘rebuilding itself in many ways’ and seeking to ‘regain its power
internally,’ confirms speaking about disarmament with his Iranian
counterpart-By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff 6 December 2025, 8:01 pm
Iran
will have the final say on whether or not its Lebanese proxy terror
group Hezbollah agrees to disarm, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef
Rajji told the Saudi Al Arabiya news outlet in an interview published
Saturday.Rajji said he has brought the issue up with his Iranian
counterpart Abbas Araghchi, and that disarmament remains a key demand of
the Lebanese government as it tries to maintain the fragile calm
brought about by a ceasefire agreement with Israel last November.Under
the terms of the ceasefire, which ended the October 2023-November 2024
conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group was to
be disarmed and allow the Lebanese Armed Forces to deploy fully across
the country. This has not yet happened, however, and Lebanon is under
increasing pressure to speed up the process or risk a renewed Israeli
military operation.“Hezbollah won’t hand over its weapons without an
Iranian decision,” Rajji told Al Arabiya. “Right now [Hezbollah] is
concerned with preserving itself and regaining power.”He said Hezbollah
started work on “rebuilding itself in many ways,” including financially,
and was trying to “regain its power internally,” after being severely
weakened by its year-long conflict with Israel.To this end, Rajji said,
he was disappointed that Hezbollah did not believe disarmament to be in
the interest of the Lebanese public, and indeed in its own interest as a
political party.“The credibility of the state today depends on the
extent to which it extends its authority over all Lebanese territory and
confines the weapons of all armed groups to the legitimate security
forces in its own territory, and with weapons exclusively in its hands,”
he said, as “only then will the international community take us
seriously.”“Disarming Hezbollah and dismantling its military structure
are a Lebanese demand, regardless of the international demand,” he
stressed, likely referring to pressure from the US and Israel to force
Hezbollah to give up its weapons.Contrary to Hezbollah’s claims, its
weapons have failed to “support Gaza, liberate Jerusalem or defend
Lebanon” from Israeli attacks, said Rajji, explaining why the Lebanese
government was eager to see it disarm.He told the outlet that the
Lebanese Armed Forces were determined to seize all Hezbollah weapons in
southern Lebanon by the end of the year, before widening its operations
to disarm the terror group in areas further north at the start of
2026.Hezbollah “provokes the government every day with the talk by its
chief, Sheikh Naim Qassem, about rearming,” said Rajji, a day after
Qassem accused Beirut of giving Israel a “free concession” by
dispatching a civilian rather than a military envoy to attend the first
direct talks with Israel in decades on Wednesday.The meeting at the UN
peacekeeping forces’ headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon, was held under
the auspices of the “Cessation of Hostilities Implementation Mechanism” —
made up of US, UNIFIL, Israeli, French, and Lebanese officials — which
is aimed at pushing forward with the November 2024 ceasefire.Israel was
represented at the meeting by the National Security Council Deputy
Director for Foreign Policy Uri Resnick, while Lebanon was represented
by former ambassador to the US Simon Karam.Acknowledging the unexpected
choice to send a civilian representative rather than a military one,
Rajji told Al Arabiya that he hoped doing so was a “positive step” which
could “spare Lebanon a large-scale military operation by
Israel.”Israeli and US officials have warned that the IDF could embark
on a major operation if the Lebanese government fails to make progress
in disarming Hezbollah.Unnamed Israeli officials have described the
meeting as productive, saying that representatives of both countries had
agreed to come to the follow-up sit-down with proposals for promoting
economic cooperation in areas such as agriculture, technology,
transportation and infrastructure.Lebanon’s portrayal of the meeting
differed somewhat, with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam rejecting
the possibility of economic cooperation before normalization — which
Lebanon has conditioned on the creation of a Palestinian state.“Lebanon
is very far from signing a peace deal with Israel,” Rajji likewise told
Al Arabiya, adding that Karam was holding talks with Israel only on
“military issues” such as an end to Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon
and the withdrawal of the IDF from there.And it was too soon to tell
whether Rajji’s hope of avoiding a renewed Israeli military campaign was
realistic, as on Thursday, the day after the meeting, the IDF launched a
wave of airstrikes against what it said were Hezbollah weapons depots
in southern Lebanon.Tensions in Lebanon have ratcheted up in recent
weeks. The IDF accuses Hezbollah of violating the November 2024
ceasefire and has intensified its strikes against terror group targets,
including killing its chief of staff in a rare strike in Beirut last
month.Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to vacate
southern Lebanon, while Israel was given 60 days to do so. The IDF
later withdrew from all but five posts along the border with Lebanon,
citing the incomplete dismantling of Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the
country’s south.In addition to hundreds of airstrikes amid the
ceasefire, the military said, ground troops have conducted over 1,200
raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon, mostly in areas
surrounding the five “strategic” border posts, to prevent Hezbollah from
restoring its capabilities.The operations included demolishing terror
infrastructure, thwarting Hezbollah intelligence collection efforts, and
other activities to damage the terror group’s capabilities, the army
said. During the raids, troops located numerous weapons,
rocket-launching sites, and other buildings used by Hezbollah, the army
added.Israel invaded Lebanon in September 2024 in a bid to secure the
return home of some 60,000 residents displaced by Hezbollah’s near-daily
attacks on northern Israel starting October 8, 2023 — a day after
fellow Iran-backed group Hamas invaded southern Israel, sparking the war
in Gaza.
Syria’s Sharaa slams Israel for ‘exporting’ conflict to
region to hide Gaza ‘massacres’President who ousted Assad says Israel
‘in a fight against ghosts’ as he decries IDF operations in Syria,
acknowledges ‘atrocities’ committed against minority groups in Sweida By
Jacob Magid-6 December 2025, 6:58 pm
DOHA, Qatar — Syrian
President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday accused Israel of “exporting
crises” to other countries around the region in order to distract from
its “horrifying massacres” in Gaza.Sharaa’s comments, which were perhaps
his sharpest against Israel since becoming Syria’s leader a year ago,
were made during the annual Doha Forum hosted in the Qatari capital and
followed several other regional leaders who also spoke about the war in
Gaza.“Israel… tries to run away from the horrifying massacres committed
in Gaza, and it does so by attempting to export crises,” Sharaa said
during an onstage interview.“Israel has become a country that is in a
fight against ghosts,” he claimed, saying that Israel uses the guise of
security concerns and the need to prevent another October 7 massacre to
justify every action it takes, even though no such correlation
exists.“Since we arrived in Damascus, we sent positive messages
regarding regional peace and stability… and that we are not interested
in being a country that exports conflict, including to Israel,” Sharaa
continued, referring to his jihadist group’s toppling of the Assad
regime last year.“But in return, Israel has met us with extreme
violence,” Sharaa said, highlighting the deadly Israeli raid on
terrorists in the southern Syrian town of Beit Jinn last month.“Syria
has suffered massive violations of our airspace, and we’ve been victim
of over 1000 airstrikes and over 400 incursions,” he said.Sharaa
reiterated his call for Israel to withdraw from the Golan territories in
southern Syria that it has occupied since December, after Assad fled,
with Jerusalem wary of the new Syrian leader’s past as an al-Qaeda
commander and citing fears the area would fall into the wrong hands.He
expressed his support for the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel,
adding that tampering with it “and seeking other agreements such as a
demilitarized zone… could lead us to a dangerous place.”Israel’s actions
in the country recently drew stern comments from US President Donald
Trump, who warned earlier in the week against destabilizing Syria and
its new leadership, days after IDF soldiers battled gunmen in the
country’s south.“It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and
true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will
interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State,” Trump said,
adding that he is “very satisfied” with the country’s performance under
Sharaa.Turning to issues within his own country, Sharaa acknowledged
“atrocities” that have been committed against minorities in the Sweida
region but insisted that Syria is a country governed by the rule of law,
which will hold those responsible accountable.Some of Israel’s military
intervention in Syria has been with the declared aim of protecting
members of the Druze minority, notably during the violence in Sweida
this summer that pitted Sunni Muslim Bedouin fighters and government
forces against Druze fighters.Along with the violence in Sweida, which a
war monitor reported left over 2,000 dead, including hundreds of Druze
civilians, some government forces or their allies have been implicated
in other outbreaks of sectarian violence, including the Alawite
community massacres in March that are estimated to have killed more than
1,700 people.Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this
report.
Abu Shabab said beaten to death over Israel
collaboration-Anti-Hamas militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab killed in
‘internal clash’ in Gaza-Separately, commander of Hamas’s East Rafah
Battalion, his deputy, and two other terror operatives killed by Israeli
forces on Sunday after emerging from tunnels in southern Gaza, IDF
confirms By Emanuel Fabian-4 December 2025, 6:55 pm
Anti-Hamas
militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab was killed Thursday, Israeli defense
sources said, in what they described as an “internal clash” — i.e., not
with Hamas — in the southern Gaza Strip.Abu Shabab was taken to a
hospital in Israel, where he died of his wounds, according to the
sources.The Ynet news site cited a “senior source within the militia,”
who said a fight broke out between families and groups within the
militia, which deteriorated until shots were fired, at which point Abu
Shabab was killed. Ynet later cited an Israeli security official as
saying he was beaten to death as part of an argument over collaborating
with Israel.However, there was no official comment from the militia or
Israeli authorities as of Thursday afternoon.Abu Shabab, a Bedouin
tribal leader based in Israeli-held Rafah in southern Gaza, had led the
most prominent of several small anti-Hamas groups that emerged in Gaza
during the war.Hamas branded him a collaborator and ordered its fighters
to kill or capture him.Abu Shabab’s group has denied being backed by
Israel.The group has continued to operate in areas controlled by Israeli
forces since a US-backed ceasefire was reached in October.Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in June that Israel had armed
anti-Hamas clans, though Israel has announced few details of the policy
since then.Abu Shabab’s group posted a video on November 18 showing
dozens of fighters receiving orders from his deputy to launch a security
sweep to “clear Rafah of terror,” an apparent reference to Hamas
fighters believed to be holed up there.Hamas battalion commander, 3
other operatives killed by IDF-The Israel Defense Forces said on
Thursday that security forces have killed more than 40 Hamas operatives
in that area, including, it officially confirmed, the commander of
Hamas’s East Rafah Battalion, his deputy, and two other terror
operatives, who were all killed on Sunday.The four were spotted emerging
from the tunnels in eastern Rafah. According to the military, the four
operatives were killed by troops and the Israeli Air Force.The IDF said
that following a review of intelligence, it could officially confirm
that Mohammad Bawab, the East Rafah Battalion commander; Ismail Abu
Labda, the deputy battalion commander; Tawfiq Salem, a company
commander; and Abdullah Hamad, the son of a senior Hamas official, were
the four operatives killed.Bawab and Abu Labda were responsible for
planning the battalion’s invasion of southern Israel during the October
7, 2023, onslaught, the military says.Hamad, the son of senior Hamas
official Ghazi Hamad, served as a security officer in Bawab’s team,
according to the army.Operative crosses ceasefire line, hit by troops –
IDF-Troops of the 7th Armored Brigade stationed in southern Gaza opened
fire Thursday on a Palestinian terror operative who crossed the
so-called Yellow Line that divides Gaza as part of the ceasefire
agreement, the military said.The IDF said the operative posed “an
immediate threat” to the soldiers.“The troops opened fire on the
terrorists to remove the threat, and a hit was identified,” the military
said.The developments came as Israel confirmed that the remains of
Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai farmer whom terrorists kidnapped from Israel
on October 7, 2023, had been returned to Israel, leaving only one
hostage’s body — that of police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili — held in
the Strip.In the next stage of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan,
Israel is meant to withdraw further from the Strip, alongside the
establishment of a transitional authority to govern Gaza, the deployment
of a multinational security force meant to take over from the Israeli
military, the disarmament of Hamas, and the start of
reconstruction.Hamas has so far refused to agree on the matter of
demilitarization. Israel insists the Strip must be demilitarized before
Trump’s plan can advance. However, the US leader said Wednesday that
phase two is “going to happen pretty soon,” saying the process — which
has seen near-daily, deadly violence — is “going along well.”Agencies
and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
