AROUND THE WORLD THE MISSLES ARE BEING TESTED.

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)

 AROUND THE WORLD THE MISSLES ARE BEING TESTED.


A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.

ISAIAH 23:15-17
15  And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16  Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17  And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.(COULD THIS BE 70 YEARS AFTER ISRAEL BECAME A NATION IN 1948)(IF SO THIS SATANIC ONE WORLD WHORE CHURCH WILL MINGLE TOGETHER BY 2018)(AND NOW ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY AND ALL RELIGIONS ARE MINGLING AS ONE PEACE-LOVE-JOY-GET ALONG RELIGION LEAD BY THE VATICAN RIGHT NOW 4 YEARS FROM THE 70 YEAR TIME WHEN ISRAEL BECAME A NATION).AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM.

REVELATION 13:11-18
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

REVELATION 17:1-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:(THE VATICAN GOES AGAINST A PRIEST MARRING A WOMAN-LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS-AND WHATS AN ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD-HOMOSEXUALITY AND PEDOPHILIA JUST LIKE THIS SCRIPTURE SAYS-FORNICATION IS THE SINGLE HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAVING UNMARRIED FORNICATION OR SEX WITH SINGLES-IN THIS CASE ITS SEX WITH CHILDREN OR PEDOPHILIA)
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen,(1-ASSYRIA,2-EGYPT,3-BABYLON,4-MEDO-PERSIA,5-GREECE) and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS AND JESUS DAY-6-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.(7TH-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY AND THE SHORT SPACE IS-THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS.BUT WILL HAVE ITS MIGHTY WORLD POWER FOR THE FULL 7 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL BE THE BEAST FROM THE EU.AND THE VATICAN POPE WILL BE THE WHORE THAT RIDES THE EUROPEAN UNION TO POWER.AND THE 2 EUROPEAN UNION POWER FREAKS WILL CONTROL AND DECIEVE THE WHOLE EARTH INTO THEIR DESTRUCTION.IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.YOU WILL BE DECIEVED BY THESE TWO.THE WORLD POLITICIAN-THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR.AND THE FALSE PROPHET THAT DEFECTS CHRISTIANITY-THE FALSE VATICAN POPE.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns 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, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.(GOD HIMSELF GIVES THE OK TO NUKE THE VATICAN)
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.(VATICAN)

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS-TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE 2024 LEMAÎTRE CONFERENCE-OF THE VATICAN OBSERVATORY-Hall of Popes-Thursday, 20 June 2024

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, good morning! I greet His Eminence Cardinal Vérgez and Sister Secretary General.  Now women are starting to be in charge here! I offer you a cordial welcome and I thank you for your kind visit. In a special way, I express my gratitude to Brother Guy Consolmagno and to the other members of the community of the Vatican Observatory for their work in promoting this initiative.You are meeting in Castel Gandolfo for the Conference on “Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Space-Time Singularities” organized in honour of Monsignor Georges Lemaître. In the seven years following the last Conference, the scientific contributions of this Belgian priest and cosmologist have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union, which has determined that the well-known Hubble law should properly be renamed the Hubble-Lemaître law.In these days, you have been discussing the latest questions raised by scientific research in cosmology: the differing results obtained in the measurement of the Hubble constant, the puzzling nature of certain cosmological singularities (from the Big Bang to Black Holes) and the very timely issue of gravitational waves.The Church seeks to follow and encourage these discussions, because they stimulate the interest and thinking of men and women in today’s world. The origin of the universe, its ultimate evolution and the deep structure of space and time, raise a number of serious questions about the meaning of life. They also open before our eyes an immense scenario in which it is easy to lose our bearings. In this sense, we can appreciate the relevance of the Psalmist’s exclamation: “When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him? Truly, you have made him little less than a God; with glory and honour you have crowned him” (Ps 8:4-7). Nor can we fail to appreciate the importance of these issues for theology, philosophy, science and the spiritual life.Georges Lemaître was an exemplary priest and scientist. His human and spiritual journey offers a model of life from which all of us can learn.Out of respect for the wishes of his father, Lemaître first studied engineering. He served in the First World War and saw its horrors at first hand. Later, he went on to pursue his priestly and scientific vocation. At first, he tended towards “concordism”, namely the belief that veiled references to scientific truths are present in Sacred Scripture. Greater experience and spiritual maturity led him to realize that science and faith are two distinct and parallel paths, which are not in conflict. Indeed, the two paths prove complementary, inasmuch as, for the believer, science and faith are grounded alike in the absolute truth of God. Lemaître’s journey of faith led him to the awareness that “creation” and “the big bang” are two different realities, and that the God in whom he believed can never be reduced to an object neatly catalogued by human reason. Rather, he is always a Deus absconditus, a “hidden God”, shrouded in mystery and never fully transparent to human reason.Dear friends, I urge you to continue to investigate, with sincerity and humility, the important topics that you are presently discussing. May the freedom and lack of conditioning that you have experienced in this Conference help you to advance in your various fields towards that Truth which is surely a reflection of God’s eternal love. Faith and science can be united in charity, provided that science is put at the service of the men and woman of our time and not misused to harm or even destroy them. I encourage you, then, to press forward to the outer limits of human knowledge. For there, we can come to experience the God of love, who fulfils the deepest yearnings of the human heart.From the heart, I bless you and your work. And I ask you, in turn, please pray for me. Thank you.

GREETINGS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS-TO MANAGING DIRECTORS AND EMPLOYEES OF MAJOR COMPANIES AND BANKS-Saturday, 15 June 2024

I am pleased to welcome all of you, Managing Directors and employees of major companies and banks.The work you are called to carry out is ever more significant, not only in economic but also in social and political life. Large companies are entities which influence the dynamics of international relations. You make decisions, then, that impact thousands and thousands of workers and investors, and you do so increasingly on a global scale. Economic power is intertwined with political power. Indeed, in addition to choices about consumption, savings and production, large companies also affect the fortunes of governments, national and international public policies and the sustainability of development. You experience this reality, because “you are immersed in it”, this is your world. Yet experiencing it is not enough: you must become conscious of it and look at it critically, with discernment, so that you can fully exercise responsibility for the direct and indirect effects of your choices. For today, more than ever, the economy is greater than economics. In this regard, I would like to focus briefly on three challenges, namely, caring for the environment, the poor, and young people.First of all, I urge you to place the environment and the earth at the centre of your attention and responsibility. We are living in a time of serious environmental crisis that depends on many individuals and factors, among which are the economic and business choices of the past and present. It is no longer enough merely to comply with the laws of states, which are proceeding too slowly: we need to innovate by anticipating the future, with courageous and forward-looking choices that can be imitated. The innovation of the entrepreneur nowadays must first and foremost be innovation in caring for our common home.Second: do not forget the poorest and the discarded. A “circular economy” has become a key term, calling for reusing and recycling waste. Yet while we recycle materials and their waste, we have not yet learned – allow me to use the expression – to “recycle” and not discard people and workers, especially the most vulnerable, to whom the culture of waste often applies. It is important that you be wary of a certain “meritocracy” that is used to legitimize the exclusion of the poor, who are judged as undeserving, even to the point of viewing poverty itself as their fault. And let us not settle for merely a little philanthropy, that would be insufficient. The challenge is to include the poor in businesses, to make them resources for the benefit of all. This is possible. I dream of a world in which the discarded can become protagonists of change, yet it seems to me that Jesus has already accomplished that, don’t you think? Third: young people. Young people are often among the poor of our time: poor in resources, opportunities and a future. Paradoxically, this occurs both where there are many of them, yet lacking in means, and where there are fewer and fewer of them – such as in Italy, because children are not being born here – yet with available means. We do not learn any job without “corporate hospitality”, which means generously welcoming young people even when they lack the required experience and skills, for every job is learned only by doing it. I encourage you, then, to be generous, to welcome young people into your businesses, giving them a glimpse of the future so that an entire generation does not lose hope.Dear friends, you have a great and noble responsibility. May the Lord help you exercise it well in order to make courageous choices, in favour of the environment, the poor and young people. This will be a very fruitful investment, also an economic one.  I thank you for what you are doing: you are pioneers, do not be discouraged, but continue to be pioneers.  Please pray for me. I bless all of you, your businesses, your hopes and your work. I bless you all. Thank you.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS-TO COMEDIANS-Clementine Hall-Friday, 14 June 2024

Dear friends,It is my pleasure to welcome all of you, and to express my gratitude to those in the Dicastery for Culture and Education who have organized this meeting. The Prefect told me that in Italy they say that “a smile is good for the blood”. Do they say that?I hold you in high esteem as artists who express yourselves through the language of comedy, humour, and irony. How much wisdom there is in this kind of language! Among all the professionals working in television, cinema, theatre, print media, with songs, and on social media, you are among the most loved, sought after, and popular. Certainly, it is because you are very good at what you do, but there is also another motivation: you have and cultivate the gift of making people laugh.In the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles. You are among the few who have the ability to speak to all types of people, from different generations and cultural backgrounds.In your own way, you unite people, because laughter is contagious. It is easier to laugh together than alone: joy opens us to sharing and is the best antidote to selfishness and individualism. Laughter also helps to break down social barriers, create connections among people, and allows us to express emotions and thoughts, contributing to building a shared culture and creating spaces of freedom. You remind us that homo sapiens is also homo ludens! For playful fun and laughter are central to human life, to express ourselves, to learn, and to give meaning to situations.Your talent is a precious gift. Together with a smile, it spreads peace in our hearts and among others, helping us to overcome difficulties and cope with everyday stress. It helps us find relief in irony and go through life with humour. I like to pray daily – and I have done this for more than forty years – with the words of Saint Thomas More: “Grant me, O Lord, a good sense of humour”.  Do you know this prayer? You should! I charge the Superiors of the Dicastery with making it known to all artists. The prayer is found in footnote 101 of my Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate. “Grant me, O Lord, a good sense of humour”. I ask for this grace for every day because it helps me approach things with the right spirit.You also succeed in bringing about another miracle: you manage to make people smile even while dealing with problems and events, large and small. You denounce abuses of power; you give voice to forgotten situations; you highlight abuses; you point out inappropriate behaviour. You do this without spreading alarm or terror, anxiety or fear, as other types of communication tend to do; you rouse people to think critically by making them laugh and smile. You do this by telling stories of real life, narrating reality from your unique viewpoint; and in this way, you speak to people about problems, large and small.According to the Bible, at the beginning of the world, while everything was being created, divine wisdom practiced your form of art for the benefit of none other than God himself, the first spectator of history. It is described in this way: “I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight,rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited worldand delighting in the sons of men” (Prov 8:30-31). Remember this: when you manage to draw knowing smiles from the lips of even one spectator – what I am going to say now is not a heresy! – you also make God smile.You, dear artists, know how to think and speak humorously in different forms and styles; and in each case the language of humour is suitable for understanding and “feeling” human nature. Humour does not offend, humiliate, or put people down according to their flaws. While communication today often generates conflict, you know how to bring together diverse and sometimes contrary realities. How much we need to learn from you! The laughter of humour is never “against” anyone, but is always inclusive, purposeful, eliciting openness, sympathy, empathy. Be sure to pray to the Lord and ask for a sense of humour.  The Superiors of the Dicastery will make sure that beautiful prayer of Saint Thomas More gets to you.I am reminded of the story in the book of Genesis when God promised Abraham that within a year he would have a son. He and his wife Sarah were old and childless. Sarah listened and laughed inwardly. For, like women, she was curious and was listening inside her tent to what her husband was doing and what he was talking about, perhaps to scold him… She heard that she would have a son within a year and she laughed inwardly. Abraham, with some bitterness, must have done the same. “Why, at my age, don’t joke!” However, Sarah conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that God had set. Then Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me” (Gen 21:6). That is why they named their son Isaac, which means, “he laughs”.Can we laugh at God? Of course, we can, and this is not blasphemy, we can laugh, just as we play and joke with the people we love. The Jewish wisdom and literary tradition is a master in this! It is possible to do this without offending the religious sentiments of believers, especially the poor.Dear friends, may God bless you and your art. Continue to cheer people up, especially those who have the hardest time looking at life with hope. Help us, with a smile, to see reality with its contradictions, and to dream of a better world! With heartfelt sentiments, I bless you; and I ask you, please, to pray for me. Please, with a smile and not against me!Now, before the blessing, I want everyone to hear that beautiful prayer of Saint Thomas More.Luciana Littizzetto:Thank you, first of all, thank you on behalf of myself and all my colleagues.  We always meet only at funerals, but this time, it is a moment of joy. Thank you!Prayer (read by Luciana Littizzetto):“Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.  Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumbling, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called ‘I’. Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke and to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others”. Amen.Pope Francis:I had forgotten that I gave you a blessing, so as a farewell, I wish you a human blessing. I wish you the best. May God accompany you in this very beautiful calling to make people laugh, to be comedians. It is easier to be a tragedian than a comedian, it is easier. Thank you for making people laugh and also thank you for laughing from the heart. May the Lord bless you

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

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)(50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE)
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.

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 32:18-29 (NOTICE ALL THE COUNTRIES LAND PROMISED ISRAEL BY GOD ARE IN THE JORDAN VALLEY BURIED)
18 “Son of man, wail for the multitudes of Egypt, and consign her and the daughters of the mighty nations to the depths of the earth with those who descend to the Pit:
19 Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be placed with the uncircumcised! (IN HELL FIRES)
20 They will fall among those slain by the sword. The sword is appointed! Let them drag her away along with all her multitudes.
21 Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’
22 Assyria (SYRIA) is there with her whole company; her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword.
23 Her graves are set in the depths of the Pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who once spread terror in the land of the living.
24 Elam (IRAN) is there with all her multitudes around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who went down uncircumcised to the earth below, who once spread their terror in the land of the living. They bear their disgrace with those who descend to the Pit.
25 Among the slain they prepare a resting place for Elam with all her hordes, with her graves all around her. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword, although their terror was once spread in the land of the living. They bear their disgrace with those who descend to the Pit. They are placed among the slain.
26 Meshech and Tubal (RUSSIA) are there with all their multitudes, with their graves all around them. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword, because they spread their terror in the land of the living.
27 They do not lie down with the fallen warriors of old, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were placed under their heads, whose shields rested on their bones, although the terror of the mighty was once in the land of the living.
28 But you too will be shattered and lie down among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.
29 Edom (JORDAN) is there, and all her kings and princes, who despite their might are laid among those slain by the sword. They lie down with the uncircumcised, with those who descend to the Pit.THIS IS RIGHT FROM 93:

SECOND ANGEL: MIDDLE EAST
Then I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting.The second angel said: "Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the way to Iran."I saw those countries in a few split seconds."All of Turkey and those [inaudible] countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another."I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries. I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood. I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard these words:"Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come." The angel said, "The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God."I saw fires rising to heaven.The angel said: "This is the final judgment. My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Water shall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those countries."The angel showed me that the United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.

PSALMS 83:1-8 (GODS LAND PROMISED TO ISRAEL)
1 O God, do not remain silent;do not turn a deaf ear,do not stand aloof, O God.
2 See how your enemies growl,  how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they (ARAB,MUSLIMS) conspire against your people;they plot against those you cherish.(ISRAELIS)
4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
5 With one mind they plot together;(TREATIES) they form an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom (JORDAN)  and the Ishmaelites, (EGYPTIAN ARABS SO CALLED PALESTIANS) of Moab (JORDAN) and the Hagrites,(EGYPT)
7 Byblos,(HEZBOLLOH) Ammon (JORDAN) and Amalek,(SYRIAN ARABS IN THE SINAI) Philistia,(ARABS) with the people of Tyre (LEBANON).
8 Even Assyria (SYRIA) has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants.

PM: Israel nearing elimination of ‘Hamas’s terror army’IDF tells Gazans to evacuate some Khan Younis neighborhoods in wake of rocket attack-Signaling fresh offensive, army publishes list of areas in southern Gaza city whose residents should leave for their safety; troops find, destroy major Islamic Jihad rocket factoryBy Emanuel Fabian,ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 3:42 am-JUN 02,24

The Israeli military on Monday called on Palestinians in eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis to evacuate the area and head toward the designated “humanitarian zone,” likely preceding a renewed ground offensive in the southern Gaza city.The Israel Defense Forces pulled out of Khan Younis in April after operating there for four months, similar to its withdrawal from the northern Gaza Strip earlier in the campaign against Hamas. The IDF has since returned to those areas to carry out smaller, localized operations, and looks set to repeat this in the southern city.Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, published a list of the zones that need to be evacuated alongside the announcement, including the Khan Younis suburbs of al-Qarara and Bani Suheila, the Abasan neighborhoods, the town of Khuza’a, and several other areas.The move came after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group fired a barrage of at least 20 rockets from the Khan Younis area at Israeli border communities, in the largest volley in at least seven months.“Fear and extreme anxiety have gripped people after the evacuation order,” said Bani Suhaila resident Ahmad Najjar. “There is a large displacement of residents.”UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said “it just shows yet again, that no place is safe in Gaza, more efforts need to be made to protect civilians.”“It’s another stop in this deadly circle of movement that the population in Gaza has to undergo on a regular basis,” added the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.Further south in the city of Rafah, Islamic Jihad’s largest rocket manufacturing site found to date was located and demolished, the military said.The IDF said troops of the Commando Brigade, 401st Armored Brigade, and elite Yahalom combat engineering unit raided an Islamic Jihad compound and underground site in Rafah’s northwestern Tel Sultan neighborhood, where they found a subterranean facility used by the Hamas ally to manufacture rocket parts and long-range rockets.According to the IDF, the facility was used to build hundreds of projectiles in recent years.During the raid on the site, the IDF said the commandos and elite combat engineers battled gunmen above and below ground, killing several operatives using drones and guided missiles.In central Gaza, the military said troops recently located and destroyed a kilometer-long tunnel in the Netzarim Corridor area where the IDF controls an East-West strip that divides the territory in two.The IDF said the tunnel — located by troops serving under the 99th Division — included several branching paths that were used by terror operatives to move around the area.The tunnel was blown up by troops of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.Also in the Netzarim Corridor, the 99th Division’s forces — the Alexandroni Reserve Infantry Brigade and 8th Reserve Armored Brigade — killed dozens of gunmen and destroyed more than 100 sites belonging to terror groups in the past two months — since being deployed there — according to the military.The IDF said the sites included weapon depots, observation posts, rocket launching sites and tunnels.The army also said a recent airstrike was carried out against a mosque that was used by gunmen as a staging ground, and that it identified secondary blasts following the attack, indicating the site was used to store weapons.The Netzarim Corridor, built around a road south of Gaza City, enables the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza while allowing Israel to control access to the north for Palestinians seeking to return after fleeing south. It also enables Israel to coordinate deliveries of humanitarian aid directly to northern Gaza.‘A yes, but’As mediators attempt to jumpstart talks for a hostage deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Hamas’s June response to the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal can “most charitably be described as ‘a yes, but,’” with the terror group “trying to impose new conditions, moving the line, actually coming back on positions that it had already agreed to and trying to get more.”International mediators have been trying to reach a deal that would secure freedom for the hostages and some form of ceasefire, however gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on how permanent the lull in fighting would be.“We’ve been in an intense effort with the Egyptians, with the Qataris to see if we can close the gaps that Hamas created,” Blinken said during an on-stage interview at the Brookings Institution, acknowledging that ultimately it is up to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to decide whether the war will continue.Blinken said that recently, “the Israelis talk about a significant downshifting of their operations in Gaza. That remains to be seen.”“When this conflict ends, it cannot and must not end with a vacuum in Gaza. It has to end in a way that makes sure that there are clear, coherent, achievable plans for Gaza’s governance, security and reconstruction,” Blinken continued.“The post-conflict plans are critical because if we get to a moment where the conflict really does shift dramatically at home — [hopefully]… via a ceasefire — if we’re not ready, if the region’s not ready, then you’re going to have a vacuum, and vacuums tend to get filled by bad things before they get filled with good things.“We know that there are three things that are unacceptable for Gaza’s future: an Israeli occupation; Hamas perpetuating its leadership; or chaos, anarchy, lawlessness — which is what we’re seeing in big parts of Gaza today.“We’ve told the Israelis that we expected them to develop their own plans, their own ideas. We’ve not seen enough of that from Israel,” Blinken lamented.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile asserted Monday that Israel was “progressing toward the end of the phase of eliminating Hamas’s terror army.”“There will be a continuation in order to strike the remnants,” Netanyahu told students from the National Defense College, pledging that Israel will achieve all its war aims.But even as Netanyahu declared that Israel is close to eliminating Hamas’s military capabilities, a lawmaker in his own party claimed the months-long offensive in Gaza has yielded few results.Speaking to the Knesset Channel, Likud MK Amit Halevi said, “The results in Gaza are very bad, they’re very poor. The IDF has barely made any strategic achievement in the Gaza Strip.”Halevi said the responsibility for this failure lies with the military as well as the government, though he mainly elaborated on the army’s portion.“The government set goals — the elimination of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities — and the IDF brought a plan that can’t fulfill these goals,” he said, urging IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi to “rethink and bring forward a different plan.”He argued the same approach will not work in countering the threat posed by Hezbollah, arguing that Israel should delay the start of a potential full-on offensive in Lebanon to ensure its success.The war in Gaza was started by Hamas’s October 7 attack, in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized 251 hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy the Gaza-ruling terror group and free the hostages.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says close to 38,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.319 troops have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 42 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.One more person is listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Hezbollah member killed as IDF strikes in Lebanon after latest rocket fire at north-Projectile hits home in largely evacuated border town; Gantz tells European envoys that if Lebanese government doesn’t rein in Iran-backed terror group, the country will soon pay-By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 2:32 am-JUN 2ND,24

Several rockets fired from Lebanon landed in Israel on Monday, setting off sirens in the north of the country and causing damage, but no injuries.Amid the continued Hezbollah attacks that have pushed the two countries to the brink of war, the Israel Defense Forces carried out numerous strikes in Lebanon, with the Iran-backed terror group later announcing the death of one of its members.Former war cabinet member Benny Gantz meanwhile warned European ambassadors that if the government in Beirut doesn’t restrain Hezbollah, all of Lebanon would soon pay.Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war there.After several hours of calm Monday morning, aside from a false alarm overnight, a number of rockets hit Israel in the afternoon. One struck the northern border town of Metula, the military said.There were no reports of injuries, with Metula having largely been evacuated. According to Hebrew media reports, the rocket hit an unoccupied home, with no sirens activated to warn of the attack.Rocket sirens were also heard in the town of Kiryat Shmona and at least seven rockets hit areas in the north during the afternoon. Five rockets were fired at the northern community of Maayan Baruch, setting off sirens. The IDF said the rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries.Earlier, one rocket was fired at Dovev, setting off a siren there and another was fired at Ramot Naftali, setting off sirens. According to the IDF, both rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries.The IDF announced a series of strikes in southern Lebanon throughout the day, including on buildings in Aitaroun and Ayta ash-Shab where Hezbollah operatives were gathered. Fighter jets also bombed additional buildings the army said was used by the terror group and other Hezbollah infrastructure in Markaba, Houla and Kafr Kila.In the morning, the IDF said it carried out an airstrike against a group of Hezbollah operatives spotted entering a building used by the terror group in southern Lebanon’s Blida.The Hezbollah members were identified by artillery forces of the 91st “Galilee” Regional Division, and a short while later, a fighter jet struck the building, the IDF said.In missions overnight, the IDF said it struck other Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. The targets included buildings used by the terror group in Kafr Kila and other infrastructure in Houla, Biyyada, and Rab al-Thalathine, according to the military.In a statement Monday evening, Hezbollah declared the death of a member killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives killed in Israeli strikes. He was named as Hamza Shour, from the coastal city of Tyre.Lebanon to ‘soon enough start feeling’ war-While IDF operations have focused on Hezbollah, Gantz warned the European ambassadors that the Lebanese state could be in the crosshairs if it doesn’t stop the terror organization’s attacks.“There is a state over there and it has a government,” said Gantz at briefing organized by ELNET, the European Leadership Network, “and it cannot hold the stick from both sides unless it wants to break it on its own knee.”“If we have to break it, then we’ll do so,” continued the National Unity party leader and former IDF chief of staff. “So far Lebanon has not paid the price of this war, and soon enough they are going to start feeling it. They need to make sure Hezbollah stops. Hezbollah needs to decide whether it’s an Iranian branch or a Lebanese organization and pay the price for what comes with this.”Amid policy clashes with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz last month pulled his party out of the emergency government his party joined following Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack, which sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and the cross-border skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israel.Gantz told the ambassadors that Israel cannot allow Hezbollah to be in a position to carry out an attack similar to the Hamas-led onslaught, during which 3,000 Palestinian terrorists burst into southern Israel from Gaza and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while taking 251 as hostages.He blamed Iran, which also backs Hamas, as the “cornerstone of all these matters and the regional instability.Gantz’s remarks came after the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Committee, a group of militia factions, vowed to increase attacks on Israel if tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon escalate into all-out war, the Al Mayadeen outlet reported Sunday.The pro-Hezbollah Lebanese outlet also said that the committee threatened Washington, saying that in the case of war between Israel and Hezbollah, US interests in Iraq and across the Middle East would become a legitimate target.Iran-backed militias in Iraq have claimed a number of drone attacks on the southern city of Eilat in the last several months.Hezbollah has also increasingly used drones, with several launched Sunday from Lebanon at Israel. The IDF said that one explosive-laden drone struck the Merom Golan area, injuring 18 troops. One of the soldiers was seriously wounded, and the rest were listed in good condition.The terror group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted an Israeli military site in the area in response to IDF strikes against it earlier in the day.‘Effectively lost sovereignty’Also Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel “has effectively lost sovereignty in the northern quadrant of its country because people don’t feel safe to go to their homes.”In an on-stage interview at the Brookings Institution, Blinken reiterated his belief that Israel does not want a war in Lebanon, but admitted “they may well be prepared to engage in one if necessary — from their perspective — to protect their interests.”According to Blinken, neither Hezbollah or Lebanon want a war that would engulf the latter, nor does Iran because it would prefer to save the terror group for a scenario in which it has a direct conflict with Israel.“On the one hand, no one actually wants a war. On the other hand, you have momentum that may be leading in that direction in which we are determined to try to arrest,” Blinken said.He asserted that the US has been working tirelessly to broker an agreement that would include “making sure that forces… are pulled back so that they can’t endanger people every single day” — an apparent recognition of Israel’s demand that Hezbollah retreat north of the Litani River, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the border.Blinken also argued that securing a ceasefire in Gaza was the best way to end attacks by both Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.So far, the skirmishes on the northern border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 15 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.Hezbollah has named 357 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 65 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.Israel has warned that it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border, with tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes in the north due to the rocket and drone attacks, and has warned that, should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.While the political leadership has not yet made a decision on launching an offensive in Lebanon and turning the Gaza Strip into the secondary front, the IDF has said it continues to target Hezbollah commanders who were behind attacks on Israel.Jacob Magid, Times of Israel and agencies staff contributed to this report.

THE ONLY THING I WOULD LET THE ARABS DO IN GAZA NOW THAT ISRAEL CONTROLS IT. IS FOR THE DEATH CULT TO SHOE SHINE ALL THE IDF AND NETANYAHUS SHOES. INSTEAD OF THROWING ROCKS AND SHOES AT PEOPLE. AY DEATH CULT ISLAM.

Netanyahu privately showing openness to PA involvement in post-war Gaza — officials-Premier still publicly opposes Palestinian Authority rule over enclave, but his office no longer rejects role for lower-level PA employees in managing Strip once fighting ends-By Jacob Magid-Today, 1:28 am-JUL 2,24

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in recent weeks has privately been walking back its opposition to the involvement of individuals linked to the Palestinian Authority in managing Gaza after the war against Hamas, three officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.The development comes after Netanyahu’s office for months directed the security establishment to not include the PA in any of its plans for the post-war management of Gaza, according to two Israeli officials who said the order significantly hampered efforts to craft realistic proposals for what has become known as “the day after.”Publicly, Netanyahu continues to reject the idea of PA rule over the Gaza Strip, telling Channel 14 last week that he will not allow a Palestinian state to be established in the coastal territory while stating he’s “not prepared to give [Gaza] to the PA.”Instead, Netanyahu told the right-wing network that he would like to establish a “civil administration — if possible with local Palestinians and hopefully with support from countries in the region.”Privately, however, Netanyahu’s top aides have concluded that individuals with links to the PA are the only viable option Israel has if it wants to rely on “local Palestinians” to manage civilian affairs in Gaza after the war, two Israeli and one US official confirmed over the past week.“‘Local Palestinians’ is code for PA-affiliated individuals,” an Israeli security official said.Two Israeli officials explained the individuals in question are Gazans on the PA’s payroll who managed civilian affairs in the Strip until Hamas’s violent takeover in 2007, and are now being vetted by Israel.A second Israeli official said Netanyahu’s office has begun to differentiate between the PA leadership led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who has yet to publicly condemn Hamas’s October 7 onslaught that started the war, and “lower level” Palestinian Authority employees who are part of already-established institutions in Gaza that are better suited to run the enclave’s administrative affairs.The likelihood that Abbas would authorize these officials and institutions to manage Gaza without an Israeli commitment to establish a political horizon that leads to a two-state solution remains exceedingly low. The same goes for the involvement of neighboring Arab countries in the post-war governance or securing of Gaza, given that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and others have conditioned their assistance on a viable path to a two-state solution.The second Israeli official explained that Netanyahu’s opposition to handing control of Gaza to the “current PA” remains in place, but that he could be more flexible if Ramallah implements significant reforms to better address incitement and terrorism in the West Bank.However, two sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel in March that Netanyahu’s office was dragging its feet in getting on board with a major revamp of the PA, which would include an end to the welfare payments it doles out to families of Palestinian terror convicts based on the length of their prison sentences — a policy criticized as “pay-to-slay.”The White House has for months sought to receive a nod of approval from Israel before the proposed reform of the PA is rolled out, worried that Jerusalem’s rejection of the plan could lead Republicans and some Democrats in Congress to follow suit, thereby undercutting the effort’s legitimacy in Washington, the sources said.Pressed for comment on this story, a spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office referred The Times of Israel to the premier’s public comments regarding the PA.Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged not to replace Gaza’s “Hamastan with Fatahstan” — a reference to the Abbas-led party that dominates the Palestine Liberation Organization.The premier’s far-right governing partners, whose support he needs to maintain his coalition, are significantly more hostile toward PA, pursuing steps to bring about its collapse despite repeated warnings from the Israeli security establishment.Netanyahu, however, opposes such an outcome — at least in the short term, with his office last week seeming to have leaked remarks he made during a cabinet meeting last week in which he noted Ramallah’s “considerable advantages” for Israel and warned that “the collapse of the PA is not in Israel’s interest at this time.”On Monday, the Financial Times reported that the IDF is set to roll out a pilot program creating “humanitarian bubbles” for Gazan civilians unaffiliated with Hamas in two northern Gaza cities.The scheme would see aspects of Gaza’s control handed to Ramallah and moderate Arab states, the report said, appearing to further confirm Israel’s willingness to work with the PA, despite repeated public statements to the contrary. However, the plan has been met with skepticism by anonymous former officials and others familiar with the plans who spoke with FT.The report came less than a week after National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told a conference that Israel’s plan for the “day after” Hamas would start to be implemented in northern Gaza in the coming days.

Soldier killed, another seriously hurt by roadside bomb in West Bank’s Nur Shams-Two Palestinians killed during attempt to extract troops from refugee camp near Tulkarem, including woman reportedly hit by shrapnel when gunmen set off unexploded missile-By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 12:16 am-JULY 2,24

An Israeli soldier was killed and another was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb during a counterterrorism raid in the West Bank on Monday morning, the military said.The slain soldier was named by the Israel Defense Forces as Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto, 22, from Pardes Hanna-Karkur. Two Palestinians were also killed during attempts to evacuate the two from the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem.The two soldiers were inside a Panther armored personnel carrier when the bomb exploded. Geto was the driver, and the seriously wounded soldier is a commander in the Duvdevan commando unit.According to an initial IDF probe, the vehicle was waiting in an area of Nur Shams where explosive devices were not believed by the army to have been planted. Other Duvdevan troops had disembarked from the APC to carry out operations on foot.Armed groups in the West Bank frequently plant improvised explosive devices under roads to attack Israeli forces carrying out arrest raids. The military regularly rips up roads with armored bulldozers as a precautionary measure before entering with lighter-armed vehicles.In this case, the army did not rip up the road where the APC was waiting.The bomb was believed by the IDF to have been improvised, using dozens of kilograms of explosive material. The APC was disabled by the large blast, and later towed out of Nur Shams.The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.While trying to extract the two soldiers, the IDF attempted to carry out a drone strike against a group of gunmen in the area, though the missile did not explode, the probe found.Later, several gunmen attempted to tamper with the missile, setting it off. The explosion killed a Palestinian woman who was standing nearby, according to the military probe.Separately, Duvdevan troops shot dead a Palestinian gunman who tried to open fire on the forces, the IDF said.The Palestinian Authority health ministry confirmed that a woman and a teenager had been killed. Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, named the slain Palestinians as Nisreen Khaled Damiri, 47, and Muhammad Ali Sarhan, 15.Wafa reported that the woman was hit by shrapnel from the drone missile, and the teenager was shot in the head.The incident came days after a similar attack in the Jenin area, in which a soldier was killed and 16 others were hurt when Islamic Jihad operatives detonated bombs against army vehicles during a raid.Tensions have been high in the West Bank amid the war in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7 when thousands of Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel under a barrage of rockets fired at population centers all over the country. They brutally killed some 1,200 people, amid instances of torture and rape, and seized 251 hostages.Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,200 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,750 affiliated with Hamas.According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 540 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed during raids or terrorists carrying out attacks.During the same period, 21 Israelis, including security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank, including in Monday’s incident.

October 7 victims sue Iran, Syria, North Korea for billions in US court-More than 125 plaintiffs claim that all three countries provided Palestinian terror group with financial, military and tactical support it needed to carry out devastating assault-By Agencies and ToI Staff 1 July 2024, 10:41 pm

NEW YORK — Victims of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sued Iran, Syria, and North Korea on Monday, saying their governments supplied the terrorists with money, weapons, and know-how needed to carry out the assault that precipitated Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks at least $4 billion in damages for “a coordination of extrajudicial killings, hostage-takings, and related horrors for which the defendants provided material support and resources.”“While nothing will ever undo the unbearable pain Hamas caused our family or the brutal losses we’ve suffered, we hope this case will bring some sense of justice,” plaintiff Nahar Neta, whose American-born mother Adrienne Neta was killed on October 7, said in a statement.Filed by the Anti-Defamation League, it is the largest case against foreign countries in connection with the attack, and the first backed by a Jewish organization, the ADL said in a press release.Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the allegations, while Syria and North Korea did not respond.The United States has deemed Iran, Syria, and North Korea to be state sponsors of terrorism, and Washington has designated Hamas as what is known as a “specially designated global terrorist.”Because such countries rarely abide by court rulings against them in the United States, if the lawsuit’s plaintiffs are successful, they could seek compensation from a fund created by Congress that allows American victims of terrorism to receive payouts. The money comes from seized assets, fines, or other penalties leveled against those who, for example, do business with a state sponsor of terrorism.The lawsuit draws on previous court findings, reports from US and other government agencies, and statements over some years by Hamas, Iranian, and Syrian officials about their ties. The complaint also points to indications that Hamas fighters used North Korean weapons in the October 7 attack.But the suit does not provide specific evidence that Tehran, Damascus, or Pyongyang knew in advance about the assault. It accuses the three countries of providing weapons, technology, and financial support necessary for the attack to occur.Iran has denied knowing about the October 7 attack ahead of time, though officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have praised the assault.Iran has armed Hamas as a counter to Israel, which the Islamic Republic has long viewed as its regional archenemy.In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that 500 Palestinian terrorists underwent “specialized combat training” in Iran weeks before the group’s murderous onslaught against Israel. In January, Israel released a video of a captured member of the Hamas-allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group saying he was trained in Iran, arriving there after a stopover in Syria.In the years since the collapse of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war of attacks on land and at sea. Those attacks exploded into the open after an apparent Israeli attack targeting what Iran said was an embassy annex in Damascus, Syria, during the Israel-Hamas war, which sparked Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel in April.Neighboring Syria has relied on Iranian support to keep embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in power during a grinding civil war that began with the 2011 Arab Spring protests. Like Iran, Syria also offered public support for Hamas after the October 7 attack.North Korea denies that it arms Hamas. However, a terrorist video and weapons seized by Israel show Hamas fighters likely fired North Korean weapons during the October 7 attackSouth Korean officials, two experts on North Korean arms, and an Associated Press analysis of weapons captured on the battlefield by Israel point toward Hamas using Pyongyang’s F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon that fighters typically use against armored vehicles.The lawsuit specifically cites the use of the F-7 grenade in the attack as a sign of Pyongyang’s involvement.“Through this case, we will be able to prove what occurred, who the victims were, who the perpetrators were — and it will not just create a record in real time, but for all of history,” said one of the attorneys, James Pasch of the ADL. The rights advocacy group frequently speaks out against antisemitism and extremism.“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of antisemitism and terror – along with Syria and North Korea, they must be held responsible for their roles in the largest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust,” ADL Chief Executive Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 during the October 7 attack. Israel responded with a military offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas and free the hostages.The lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 125 plaintiffs, including the estates and relatives of people who were killed, plus people who were physically and/or emotionally injured. All are related to, or are themselves, US citizens.Under US law, foreign governments can be held liable, in some circumstances, for deaths or injuries caused by acts of terrorism or by providing material support or resources for them.The 1976 statute cited in the lawsuit, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, is a frequent tool for American plaintiffs seeking to hold foreign governments accountable. In one example, a federal judge in Washington ordered North Korea in 2018 to pay $500 million in a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died shortly after being released from that country.People held as prisoners by Iran in the past have successfully sued the Islamic Republic in US federal court, seeking money earlier frozen by the US.The new lawsuit joins a growing list of Israel-Hamas war-related cases in US courts.Last week, for example, Israelis who were taken hostage or lost loved ones during Hamas’s October 7 attack sued the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians for $1 billion, claiming it has helped finance the terrorists by paying agency staffers in US dollars and thereby funneling them to money-changers in Gaza who allegedly give a cut to Hamas.It also said UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, let Hamas use its facilities for weapons storage, and allowed tunnels and command centers to be built under its sites.The agency, known as UNRWA, has denied that it knowingly aided Hamas or any other terror group.Chicago-based law firm MM-Law LLC and New York firm Amini LLC filed the suit against UNRWA in the Southern District of New York on behalf of 101 victims or their families.Israel has also accused UNRWA, the largest employer in the Palestinian territories, of turning a blind eye to Hamas activities and employees of actively aiding terror groups.

Israel to reportedly try creating Hamas-free ‘bubble’ zones in northern Gaza-Financial Times reports IDF pilot will begin in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, US could train Palestinian Gaza security force in Jordan or West Bank-By ToI Staff 1 July 2024, 8:30 pm

An Israeli military pilot to create “humanitarian enclaves” for Gazan civilians unaffiliated with Hamas is reportedly set to be rolled out in two northern Gaza cities, though some officials are skeptical the plan will point the way to a new reality in the battered enclave.The plan to carve out Hamas-free “bubbles,” where local Palestinians would slowly take over aid distribution responsibilities, will initially be implemented in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, the Financial Times reported on Monday.The scheme, which would dovetail with a post-war plan to hand aspects of control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority and moderate Arab states, has reportedly been met with skepticism by anonymous former officials and others familiar with the plans.Under the pilot, which will also be implemented in the northwestern Beit Lahia neighborhood of Atatra, Israeli forces would retain security duties for the time being, while Palestinians would gradually take over civil governance, according to the report, which cited six people with knowledge of the plan.If the model is successful in the north, Israel would begin creating more enclaves in the south, laying a foundation for a replacement for Hamas governing the Strip.Aid will enter from the Western Erez crossing created during the ongoing war against Hamas.The Prime Minister’s Office and the IDF did not respond to requests for comment from The Times of Israel.Some of those familiar with the plan downplayed its chances of success to the Financial Times, telling the outlet that Israel “already tried” a similar method in various parts of central and northern Gaza with local Palestinian clans.They said that Israel has been working to identify potential non-Hamas local leadership since November, but has been unsuccessful.“They were all either beaten up or killed by Hamas,” a former Israeli official familiar with postwar planning was quoted saying.In January and February, Israeli defense officials proposed using local clans as a stopgap solution for aid distribution, after a series of deadly incidents involving convoys rushed by mobs of hungry and desperate Palestinians or taken over by armed Hamas members. It is unclear to what extent the idea was ever implemented.At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials laid out a series of plans to hand varying levels of administrative control of some areas in Gaza to local clans free of Hamas influence after the war ended, though experts doubted its viability at the time.The issue has gained increased urgency in recent weeks as Israel nears the end of its nine-month offensive in Gaza aimed at eliminating Hamas following the devastating October 7 onslaught of southern Israel.Israel is “progressing toward the end of the phase of eliminating Hamas’s terror army,” Netanyahu said Monday.The former official who spoke to the Financial Times noted the humanitarian enclaves are one part of a much larger three-tier postwar plan that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Israeli security establishment have been pushing.That plan aims to involve a broad international coalition, including the Palestinian Authority and moderate Arab states, which would diplomatically and financially take charge of postwar Gaza. Members of that coalition would effectively govern the humanitarian bubbles.Other individuals familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times that there are plans to train former PA personnel in Jordan and the West Bank to take over security responsibilities in the Hamas-free pockets. PA intelligence chief Mahed Faraj has already identified several thousand potential recruits, said the paper, which said the force would be trained under US Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel.Those schemes are opposed by members of Netanyahu’s circle who are resistant to any postwar plan that involve the PA, officials said.On Tuesday, National Security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said the plan for the “day after” Hamas would start to be implemented in northern Gaza in the coming days.He said that the IDF plan has “been sharpened” in recent weeks, and that “we will see a practical expression of this plan” shortly.Israel invaded northern Gaza in late October, telling Palestinians there to flee south, and has largely prevented Palestinians from returning to the north of the enclave as it seeks to keep Hamas from regrouping in areas it already conquered.Aid deliveries in Gaza, and particularly to those who remained in the north of the Strip, have been a constant challenge, leading to what human rights figures say are dire conditions in the enclave. Doug Strope, with the US Agency for International Development, said last week that securing the aid deliveries was a major issue, with truck drivers getting caught in crossfire or having their cargo seized by marauding groups.Scenes of desperate people randomly grabbing what they can off the trucks and the reported “gang-like activity,” in which looting has become “more organized and systemic,” are undermining aid efforts, he said.On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel and the US were pushing competing visions for post-Hamas Gaza, and that planning was being held up by Netanyahu’s refusal to seriously consider the issue until the offensive against Hamas ends.Israel Ziv, a retired major general involved in creating the bubble plan, told the Journal that Palestinians who denounce Hamas would be given the right to live in one of the enclaves and reconstruct homes there.Ziv added that over time the PA could be brought in to administer the area, and Hamas could also take part in administration if it releases the hostages it currently holds and disarms its military wing. However, Netanyahu has largely rejected allowing the PA to administer the Strip, and has vowed the total annihilation of Hamas.A separate plan, envisioned by the right-wing Misgav think tank, calls for a long-term Israeli military occupation of Gaza, at least until three-quarters of the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been eliminated. According to the report, the IDF estimates it has killed or captured about half of Hamas’s fighting force. Only once that objective is accomplished would the administration of the enclave by a separate force be feasible, the think tank said.That proposal, which was submitted to Netanyahu by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, would see northern Gaza remaining without reconstruction. Its residents, who have mostly evacuated to the southern part of the Strip, would not be allowed to return, at least until Hamas’s tunnel network is destroyed.While the Misgav plan also calls for humanitarian areas in which aid could be distributed, the proposal does not endorse giving locals administrative responsibilities.The plan’s creators reportedly believe the military occupation of Gaza will last between one and five years.The Wall Street Journal presented a third plan, spearheaded by an unnamed former head of Israeli intelligence, which calls for Israel to collaborate with the US and Arab countries to create a new Palestinian governing body that would work with Israel to fight terrorism. As a compromise between Arab states’ demand that their participation in a day-after plan be conditioned upon an Israeli commitment to a Palestinian state and Netanyahu’s refusal to make such a commitment, the plan calls for discussions on that issue to begin five years after the war.A fourth plan, devised by the Washington-based Wilson Center, calls for a US-led international police force to administer Gaza without requiring Israel to commit to achieving Palestinian statehood. Eventually, the police force would hand over administrative duties to an undefined Palestinian body.Robert Silverman, a former US diplomat in Iraq who co-authored that plan, said that despite amending the proposal to fit Israeli demands, it was halted at the Prime Minister’s Office.“[Netanyahu] believes we finish the war first and then plan the postwar,” Silverman told The Wall Street Journal. “All the people who have done this before say that’s a huge mistake.A fifth plan written by Israeli academics, and reportedly seen by Netanyahu, seeks to draw on historical precedents of rebuilding war zones, like post-World War II Germany and Japan, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan following the US occupation there.The document seen by The Wall Street Journal acknowledges the complexities in deradicalizing the education system in Gaza and finding new leadership, and therefore called for the proposal to be implemented as soon as possible.

Poll: Over 1 in 10 US Jews feel mistreated, 60% uncomfortable being openly Jewish-Gallup surveys verify feelings of insecurity experienced by many American Jews, including rising number who believe antisemitism to be ‘very serious problem’By Ron Kampeas 1 July 2024, 9:50 pm

JTA — More than one in 10 American Jewish adults say they were frequently “treated poorly or harassed” due to their religion over the past year, according to a new Gallup poll.An additional 25 percent said such treatment happened occasionally. A majority of American Jews, 60%, said they feel uncomfortable sharing their religious affiliation, far more than the 25% of Americans overall who said the same.In addition, close to half of all Americans view antisemitism as a “very serious problem,” according to a separate Gallup poll, more than five times the proportion of respondents who said so the last time the polling firm asked the same question more than two decades ago.The poll about harassment confirmed recent surveys by the American Jewish Committee and others of increased insecurity among American Jews. Gallup asked, “How often in the past year were you treated poorly or harassed because of your religion?”The 11% of Jews who said they had faced frequent harassment was more than any other religious group asked, though Gallup said its survey sample did not include enough Muslim respondents to report their responses. It did not give a sample size or margin of error for the sample of Jewish respondents it asked.Among Americans overall, the survey found that 2% said they were frequently harassed and 8% said they were occasionally harassed. Asked whether harassment and poor treatment had increased over the last year, 46% of Jews said it had, as opposed to 10% of Americans overall.The Jewish responses came from self-administered online surveys conducted in May by 1,588 Jewish adults in Gallup’s survey panel. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.Following Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel, which launched the current war in Gaza, there have been widespread reports by law enforcement and communal watchdogs of a sharp spike in antisemitism. In a survey taken last fall by the AJC, largely after October 7, 25% of American Jews reported experiencing an antisemitic incident of some kind in 2023.In the Gallup poll on antisemitism in the United States, American adults overall were asked the same question they were in 2003: “Do you think that antisemitism, or prejudice against Jewish people, is currently — a very serious problem, somewhat of a problem, not much of a problem or not a problem at all — in the United States?”This year’s poll found that 49% of respondents say that it is a very serious problem, while 32% say it is somewhat of a problem — meaning a total of 81% believe it is a problem. Ten percent say it is not much of a problem while 8% say it is not a problem at all.The poll of 1,024 US adults was conducted by phone in May. It had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.Those numbers align in part with a poll of Americans taken in February by the Pew Research Center. That poll found that 82% of Americans said there was either a lot or some discrimination against Jews in society, though only 40% said there was a lot of discrimination.In 2003, the last time Gallup asked the question, 9% said they believed antisemitism was a serious problem while 48% said it was somewhat of a problem, a total of 57%. At the time, a total of 39% believed it was not or was not much of a problem. Gallup had asked the question in 2003, the firm said, to measure sentiment as Sen. Joe Lieberman mounted an ultimately unsuccessful presidential campaign.For the first time, Gallup also asked the same question about discrimination against Muslims, and Americans seemed somewhat less concerned about Islamophobia. One-third of Americans say that prejudice against Muslims is a serious problem, according to the poll, while another 41% see it as somewhat of a problem, with a total of 74% seeing it as a problem.

Analysis'French Jews are being sacrificed first. Who will be next?'Macron’s implicit endorsement of ‘antisemitic,’ ‘pro-Hamas’ far left shocks French Jews-Defeats for French president’s party in the first round of the parliamentary elections prompt a controversial alliance against the far right – and, potentially, Jewish emigration-By Canaan Lidor 1 July 2024, 5:03 pm

Only two years ago French President Emmanuel Macron received the unreserved endorsement of major Jewish community groups, which regarded his centrist policies and party as the best available bulwark against political radicalism.But now, many French Jews feel betrayed by Macron, who last week announced snap parliamentary elections that backfired and boosted the far right. And then following his party’s trouncing in the first stage of the elections on Sunday, he proceeded to implicitly endorse a party with a far-left antisemitism problem to counteract the nationalists’ ascent.Macron, who will remain president regardless of the parliamentary electoral results, “just endorsed a party controlled by pro-Hamas” forces, Yohann Taieb, a French-Jewish journalist, wrote on X on Monday. The Jewish groups that endorsed him were “being taken for a ride,” Taieb added.This sentiment, shared by many French Jews, stems from a series of unusual choices by Macron throughout one of the most tumultuous political episodes in France’s recent history.It began with the European Parliament elections of June 9, in which the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella won the largest share of the vote (32%). In a move that stunned the nation, Macron declared an early election to the French parliament to curb the far right’s ascent by uniting its rivals behind his centrist Renaissance party.This tactic is failing spectacularly in the local parliamentary elections, whose first round was held Sunday and whose second and final one is scheduled for July 7. Not only did the far right secure a whopping 34% in Sunday’s snap elections, but Macron’s party also lost its claim to be the main alternative to the far right.That distinction went to the New Popular Front, a coalition that was hastily established for the elections through a union between the center-left Socialist Party and the far-left France Unbowed party, or LFI, of Jean-Luc Melenchon, a communist who many French Jews claim is an antisemite. The New Popular Front received 28% of the vote in the parliamentary elections, leaving Macron’s party in distant third place with only 20%.This alliance means that in many constituencies, both far-right and far-left politicians will be arriving at the second round of the parliamentary elections with better prospects of winning than those of the ruling party’s candidate. In some constituencies, that party failed to make it to the second round altogether as it did not pass the 12.5% threshold.Changing of the guard-The second round determines the makeup of the lower house of France’s parliament, which has 577 seats. The president is elected separately and is not facing the prospect of being unseated. However, significant gains by the far left and the far right, which both have extremely hostile attitudes to Macron and his party, would likely severely limit his ability to lead legislation and carry out some policies.In constituencies where Macron’s Renaissance failed to make it to the second round, the party endorsed any candidate – including far-left ones — who is not from the far-right National Rally, as per a speech that Prime Minister Gabriel Attal made Sunday.“Our objective is clear: prevent National Rally from obtaining in the second round an absolute majority” that would give the party control of the lower house of parliament, Attal said of the second round. LFI agreed to drop out of races where Renaissance had better chances of besting the far right, and Renaissance agreed to do the same for any candidate with “republican values,” Attal said, using a formulation that is widely understood to exclude the National Rally, but is also used in the media against LFI.Attal criticized LFI in his speech. He told his listeners that the New Popular Front “will not have an absolute majority,” and that “the presence of the LFI, which has been largely rejected by the citizens of France, prevents it [the New Popular Front] from being a credible alternative.”Many French Jews do not share Macron’s apparent preference for the far left over the far right. The CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities has declared a “neither nor” policy, as it called it, rejecting equally politicians from either extreme. And prominent French Jews, including critics of the far right, said they would nonetheless vote for it to block from power the far left, which they consider worse.Under Marine Le Pen, the National Rally has attempted to rehabilitate the public image it had under the antisemitic and xenophobic party founder, Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is Marine’s father. Focusing on limiting immigration and cracking down on radical Islam, Marine Le Pen has vowed to be French Jews’ “shield” against antisemitism even as she asked them to make “sacrifices” in the fight against radical Islam. One sacrifice she asked was the wearing of traditional head coverings such as kippot in public, which she views as collateral damage in her fight to ban Muslim religious symbols.Meanwhile, the hard left under Jean-Luc Melenchon has placed the Palestinian cause on its banner: One of the party’s most prominent figures, Rima Hassan, is a French-Palestinian lawyer who has called Hamas’s October 7 onslaught a “legitimate action.” Hassan, who was not on the ballot, stood next to Melenchon during his concluding speech of the first round. She was wearing a keffiyeh, in what many observers interpreted as a signal to Muslim voters that Melenchon’s party was their political home.Melenchon in a 2017 speech said Jews were an aggressive minority that lectures the rest of the country, which he suggested was “the opposite” of what French society was about. He has disputed claims that this was an antisemitic statement.The scent of betrayal-The implicit endorsement by Macron’s party of Melenchon’s party felt like a betrayal for some French Jews.”For Macron, it’s about doing everything to stay in power,” Yael-July Nahon, a French-Jewish author, wrote on X Monday. “French Jews are being sacrificed first. Who will be next?”To Ariel Kandel, the CEO of an association that facilitates immigration to Israel by Jews, or aliyah, from France, the first round was “another step” toward a wave of aliyah by thousands, he told The Times of Israel.Antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed in France since October 7, when Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 Israelis and abducted 251. Some 38,000 Palestinians have died as a result of the ongoing military campaign that Israel launched to dismantle Hamas and retrieve hostages, according to unverifiable figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Amid the growing death toll, mass protests against Israel are held regularly in France and beyond and are widely believed to be inspiring attacks on Jews there.“Whether the far right grows, or the far left, or both, it means life in France is changing for the worse for French Jews,” Kandel said.About 50,000 French Jews have made aliyah over the past decade, more than double the tally of the previous one. But France has a robust welfare system and offers a relatively high quality of life that is helping to keep at home another 50,000 who are considering leaving as the political climate darkens around them, Kandel said.“To bring them here, the [Israeli] government will need to take some steps,” including offering to cover a year’s rent; facilitating recognition of academic and professional degrees, and offering longer school days comparable to those customary in France.“Look, French Jews are going to come in greater numbers following October 7,” Kandel said, citing Jewish Agency projections that speak of some 3,200 newcomers this year — a threefold increase over 2023.“The steps our government takes to absorb this movement will determine whether it will be a trickle or a flood,” Kandel added.

20 rockets fired from Gaza in largest barrage in months; soldier killed in Rafah-No injuries or damage caused in attack claimed by Islamic Jihad on border communities; infantryman slain in Rafah named as Sgt. Ori Itzchak Hadad, 21-By Emanuel Fabian-1 July 2024, 12:10 pm

An Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Monday morning, the military said, as Palestinian terrorists in the Strip launched at least 20 rockets at Israeli border communities, marking the largest barrage in at least seven months.The slain troop was named as Sgt. Ori Itzchak Hadad, 21, of the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, from Beersheba.Another nine soldiers of the battalion were wounded, one of them seriously, in the same incident. According to an initial military probe, the soldiers were hit by an explosion in a booby-trapped building.Hadad’s death brought the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas and in operations on the Gaza border to 319.The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor was also killed in the Strip.Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility for the major rocket barrage on Israeli communities bordering the Gaza Strip on Monday morning.According to the Israel Defense Forces, the barrage of at least 20 rockets was launched from the Khan Younis area in the southern Gaza Strip, where the military had previously operated.The Iron Dome air defense system shot down some of the rockets, while others impacted in southern Israel, the IDF said.Troops were shelling the launch sites with artillery, it added.Local authorities said there were no injuries or damage in the attack.Sirens sounded in Ein Hashlosha, Kissufim, Nirim, Sufa, Sde Avraham, Dekel, Yated, Holit, and Nir Oz. Many communities close to the Gaza border are evacuated.The last large barrage launched from Gaza, of at least 25 rockets, was launched at the southern Israeli city of Netivot in January. In May, Hamas fired 10 rockets from southern Gaza’s Rafah at central Israel.The Monday attack came after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted during a visit to Rafah a day earlier that the Hamas terror group was unable to recover from the pressure applied by Israeli operations and, choked off from its weapons supply, is a broken force running out of time.In a prelude to its offensive in Rafah, the IDF captured the adjacent Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt and uncovered 25 smuggling tunnels along the boundary, believed key conduits Hamas used to smuggle weapons into the Strip.On Monday, the IDF said it carried out a drone strike against an operative who launched an anti-tank projectile at troops in Rafah.Heavy fighting, meanwhile, has shifted north, where the army on Thursday launched a fresh operation in Shejaiya, after identifying Hamas fighters regrouping in the eastern Gaza City neighborhood.Dozens of terror operatives were killed in a series of airstrikes in Shejaiya over the past day, the military said Monday.The IDF said troops under the 98th Division killed several more gunmen in close-quarters combat in Shejaiya, and located weaponry during raids.The dozens of sites struck by aircraft in Shejaiya over the past day included weapon manufacturing a storage sites, the military said.Battles were also ongoing in the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, where the army has established a base of operations meant to maintain security control over the territory and halt Hamas movement between the southern and northern parts of the Strip.The IDF said it carried out a strike against an operative who launched a rocket at troops in the corridor on Sunday.The war erupted on October 7 when Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive cross-border attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251 people as hostages to Gaza.Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas, topple its Gaza regime, and free the hostages.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 37,500 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.

The Telegraph-Terror threat level at US military’s European bases is ‘highest in 10 years’James Jackson-Mon, July 1, 2024 at 2:30 PM EDT

Four US military bases in Europe have raised their threat level amid “likely” terrorist action.Three bases in Germany, including the US European command headquarters in Stuttgart, and one in Italy were put on the second-highest threat level, codenamed “Charlie”, on Sunday.A US official told CNN they had not seen a threat level this high “in at least 10 years” and that it usually indicated that the military had detected an “active-reliable threat”.A Charlie-level threat comes into force when “an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely”, according to the US army’s website.The Ramstein air base, a hub for American support for Ukraine, and a further base in Rhineland-Palatinate also raised threat levels. The two bases together form the largest overseas US military community.Stuttgart is set to host the quarter-final match between Germany and Spain at Euro 2024 on Friday. German authorities brought in an additional 580 international police officers to support the 22,000 German officers on duty daily, amid warnings that Germany could face Moscow-style terrorist attacks during the football championship.Nancy Faeser, Germany’s interior minister, said ahead of the tournament: “We are preparing ourselves for all conceivable dangers: from Islamist terror to violent criminals and hooligans.”She warned in mid-June that Germany is “in the crosshairs of jihadist organisations, in particular Isis and Isis-K”.Isis-K is the Afghanistan-based wing of the Islamic State terrorist group. It claimed responsibility for the massacre at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall in March and is suspected of planning terrorist attacks in Cologne over Christmas.The head of domestic intelligence also warned that the group could send operatives to Europe disguised as Ukrainian refugees.France also raised its threat level warning this month ahead of a possible attack on the Paris Olympics.The United States European Command refused to comment on specific threats for security reasons, but in a statement on Sunday it said it was “constantly assessing a variety of factors that play into the safety of the US military community abroad. As part of that effort, we often take additional steps to ensure the safety of our service members”.About 52 Fighter Wing airmen at the Spangdahlem air base, also in western Germany, were prohibited from wearing their uniforms off base and told to commute in civilian clothing, the Stars and Stripes military news site reported.Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.

US bases in Europe urge vigilance and security due to present threats-Tara Copp- Mon, July 1, 2024 at 11:49 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has raised the security protection measures it is taking at its bases throughout Europe, asking service members to be more vigilant and keep a lower profile due to a combination of threats it is seeing across the region.U.S. European Command said in a statement Sunday that a “variety of factors play into the safety of U.S. military community abroad.”Increasing the threat level to “Charlie” is the result of a combination of events occurring across Europe, including elections in France and the U.K., the upcoming Olympics and other major sporting events, and the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details. But they said they were not aware of any specific threat.Force protection Charlie is the second-highest security level for service members and is instituted “when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating that some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely.”Raising the threat level to Charlie means additional security measures will be in place at U.S. military installations, but it’s up to each commander’s discretion to determine what those measures are. It also means service members and their families who are living in each community should be more aware of their surroundings and maintain a lower profile, one of the officials said.

Putin hints Russia to start making previously banned missiles--Putin hints Russia to start making previously banned missiles-by AFP Staff Writers.

Moscow (AFP) June 28, 2024-Russia should start producing previously banned midrange missiles, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, as Moscow warned the United States that drone reconnaissance flights over the Black Sea risked a "direct" military clash.The call to bolster Russia's military arsenal came days after Moscow angrily blamed Washington for a Ukrainian strike on the annexed Crimean peninsula that it says used US-supplied ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster munitions, killing four.Russia has pledged a tough response to what it calls increased US involvement in the conflict.In a televised address to his top security officials, Putin said Russia needed to start manufacturing missiles that were previously banned under a now-defunct Cold War treaty.He said the US had recently sent midrange missiles -- able to strike targets at a distance of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (300-3,400 miles) -- to Denmark for training exercises."We need to react to this and make decisions about what we should do next in this area. It seems that we need to start producing these strike systems," Putin said."And then, based on the reality of the actual situation, make decisions about where to deploy them for our security," he said.Such missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, were previously banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, but Washington terminated the deal in 2019, blaming Russia for not complying with its terms.At the time, Putin said Russia would stick to a production moratorium.- 'Direct confrontation' -Russia has repeatedly warned Washington and the West they risk becoming "direct participants" in the Ukraine conflict by supplying Kyiv with weapons.Earlier this week, Moscow summoned US ambassador Lynne Tracy to warn of "consequences" after it alleged the United States had programmed and provided data for the missiles that targeted Crimea, the Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.US officials have rejected the accusations and said Ukraine makes its own military decisions.Russia's defence ministry said Friday that it had "observed an increased frequency of US strategic unmanned aerial vehicle flights over the waters of the Black Sea" that surrounds Crimea.It said the drones were "carrying out reconnaissance" to help Kyiv use Western-supplied weapons on Russian targets.Such actions "increase the risk of a direct confrontation" between NATO and Russia, it said, adding that the military would prepare an unspecified "operational response".The United States routinely carries out drone flights over the Black Sea, which it says are conducted in neutral airspace and in accordance with international law.Adding to tensions, a Ukrainian drone struck a petrol depot in central Russia early Friday, authorities said, the latest in a series of targeted strikes by Kyiv on Russia's energy infrastructure.- Russian advances -In Ukraine, where Moscow has made creeping gains across the front lines this year, Russian troops captured the village of Rozdolivka, around 20 kilometres north of Bakhmut, according to the Russian defence ministry.Ukraine has suffered months of ammunition shortages, hampering its ability to defend itself on the battlefield, but on Friday soldiers said the situation was improving."It's become better over the past month and it keeps getting better, at least for 155mm calibre artillery shells," a Ukrainian sergeant using the call sign "Luntik" told AFP.He said his unit was previously allowed to fire only "six shells every 24 hours", but that was now "up to 40 per day".Russian shelling near the front line in the east and northeast killed at least five people in the Donetsk region, authorities said.In Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, where Moscow launched a major ground assault in May, Russian shelling in the morning killed a 56-year-old woman in a border village, the interior ministry said.One person was killed and five wounded in an early evening rocket strike on an apartment block in Dnipro, the interior ministry said, adding that people were still trapped under the rubble.A Russian rocket attack injured eight in another strike on a residential building in the Kharkiv region, the local governor said.- Peace plan -With no let-up in the fighting, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he was drawing up a "comprehensive plan" for how Kyiv believes the conflict should end.No public talks are ongoing between Ukraine and Russia, and based on public statements the two sides appear as far apart as ever over the terms of a potential peace settlement.But Zelensky is pushing on the diplomatic front to rally support for Ukraine's position, after an international summit in Switzerland earlier this month."It is very important for us to show a plan to end the war that will be supported by the majority of the world," Zelensky said Friday, adding that it should be ready in the coming months.

Chinese rocket takes off during test, causing local fire-Screen grab of Local footage of the accident posted to Chinese social media.by Simon Mansfield.

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jul 01, 2024-Beijing: Space Pioneer, a Chinese aerospace company, experienced an accidental rocket launch during a developmental test in Gongyi, central China.Beijing Tianbing Technology Co, also known as Space Pioneer, reported that the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket detached from the launch pad during a structural failure test. Initial investigations revealed no casualties, according to the company's statement on its official WeChat account.Debris from the rocket stage landed within a designated "safe area," causing a local fire, as stated by the Gongyi Emergency Management Bureau. The fire has been extinguished with no injuries reported.The Tianlong-3 (Sky Dragon 3) is a two-stage reusable rocket currently under development by Space Pioneer. This incident is notable as it is rare for a rocket under development to unexpectedly leave its test site and crash.Space Pioneer clarified that the first stage of the Tianlong-3 ignited successfully during a hot test but detached due to structural failure, landing 1.5 kilometers away in a hilly region.A rocket typically consists of several stages, with the first stage igniting at launch and propelling the rocket upwards. Once the fuel is exhausted, the first stage falls away, allowing the second stage to ignite and continue propulsion. Some rockets include a third stage.The performance of the Tianlong-3 is said to be comparable to SpaceX's Falcon 9, another two-stage rocket. In April 2023, Space Pioneer made history by launching the Tianlong-2, a kerosene-oxygen rocket, becoming the first private Chinese company to send a liquid-propellant rocket into space.Since private investment in the Chinese space industry was permitted in 2014, numerous commercial space companies have emerged. While some focus on satellite production, others, like Space Pioneer, aim to develop reusable rockets to reduce mission costs.Test sites for these companies are often located along China's coastlines for safety reasons, though some, including Space Pioneer's Gongyi test center, are situated inland. Gongyi is a city with a population of 800,000 in Henan province.

US targets petrol tankers over Iran nuclear 'escalation'.

Washington, June 27 (AFP) Jun 27, 2024-The United States on Thursday announced sanctions against shipping companies for transporting Iranian oil, saying it was a response to Tehran's nuclear "escalation," on the eve of presidential elections in the Islamic republic."Over the past month, Iran has announced steps to further expand its nuclear program in ways that have no credible peaceful purpose," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.He said the United States was imposing the sanctions "in response to these continued nuclear escalations," saying, "We remain committed to never letting Iran obtain a nuclear weapon, and we are prepared to use all elements of national power to ensure that outcome."The State Department announced sanctions on three shipping companies, all based in the United Arab Emirates, for allegedly transporting Iranian oil as well as 11 associated vessels.The sanctions block any assets of the companies in the United States and criminalize US transactions with them.The United States already has a sweeping unilateral ban on other countries buying Iranian oil, imposed by former president Donald Trump when he withdrew from a nuclear deal.President Joe Biden's administration initially said it would restore the 2015 deal but gave up after exhaustive negotiations with Tehran, major protests inside Iran and, more recently, tension over Iran's support for Palestinian militants Hamas.The UN nuclear watchdog said earlier this month that Iran is further expanding its nuclear capacities, with Tehran informing the agency that it was installing more cascades at enrichment facilities.Iran's cleric-led government denies seeking a nuclear weapon. Iran on Friday holds elections for president after conservative Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash.

North Korea says tested missile capable of carrying super-large warhead.

Seoul, July 2 (AFP) Jul 02, 2024North Korea successfully tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a super-large warhead, state media said Tuesday, with analysts suggesting the weapon could be nuclear-capable.Pyongyang's state media claimed it had successfully launched the Hwasongpho-11Da-4.5 missile, which it said was capable of carrying a 4.5 ton-class super-large warhead."The test-fire was conducted with a missile tipped with a simulated heavy warhead to verify flight stability and hit accuracy at the maximum range of 500 kilometres (310 miles) and the minimum range of 90 kilometres," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.It added that it would test fire the missile again this month "to verify flight characteristics, hit accuracy and explosion power of super-large warhead at the medium range of 250 kilometres".But Seoul's military said Pyongyang's claims of a successful test were likely a "lie", pointing to the fact that one of the missiles appeared to have failed in the early stages of flight.That missile's trajectory suggested a possible mid-air explosion over North Korea, the military has said, which could have led to debris falling on the country."It is extremely rare for test launches to be conducted inland, and the claim that they succeeded in such a launch is likely to be false," Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung-jun told reporters Tuesday.A super-large warhead, along with a spy military satellite and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, was among the advanced weapons that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop at a party congress in 2021.In the KCNA report, the weapon was "described as a 'super-large warhead', deliberately omitting the word 'nuclear'", Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul."But since it is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, it can be considered a nuclear weapon," he told AFP.- 'Fatal consequences' -The Monday test launches took place after Kim's regime denounced the latest joint military exercises by Seoul, Tokyo and Washington as an "Asian version of NATO" and warned of "fatal consequences".Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash.Pyongyang says those missiles are in retaliation for balloons loaded with anti-regime propaganda leaflets sent northwards by activists in the South.In response to the North's repeated launches, South Korea has fully suspended a tension-reducing military treaty. It also briefly resumed propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts.On Tuesday, South Korea's military said it had resumed live-fire exercises at artillery ranges near the border with the North.At front-line ranges within five kilometres of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) that runs through the middle of the DMZ separating the two Koreas, South Korean troops fired around 140 rounds using the K9 and K105A1 self-propelled howitzers, it added.Last week, South Korea's Marine Corps also resumed live-fire exercises on islands near the western inter-Korean border, the first such exercises since the 2018 tension-reducing military deal with the North was fully suspended in June.South Korea has also grown anxious over the North's warming relations with its isolated neighbour Russia.North Korea is accused of breaching arms control measures by supplying weapons to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit with Kim in Pyongyang last month in a show of unity.

N. Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles, one fails-by AFP Staff Writers.

Seoul (AFP) July 1, 2024-North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles but one launch failed, South Korea's military said Monday, a day after Pyongyang warned of "fatal consequences" following major joint exercises in the South.South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military had detected two launches, the first at 5:05 am (2005 GMT) and the second around 10 minutes later."The short-range ballistic missile launched at around 05:05 flew approximately 600 km (372 miles)," it said, adding the second one travelled 120 km.JCS spokesperson Lee Sung-jun said the second missile appeared to fly abnormally in an early stage of flight, adding that if it had exploded in mid-air, its trajectory indicates debris could have landed over North Korea.Seoul's military has "strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for further launches", JCS said in a statement.North Korea is accused of breaching arms control measures by supplying weapons to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit with leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in June in a show of unity.The JCS's Lee declined to comment when asked whether the North's latest launch could have been a test of missiles intended for delivery to Russia.The launch also comes after Pyongyang on Sunday denounced joint military exercises by South Korea, Japan and the United States, calling them an "Asian version of NATO" and warning of "fatal consequences".The three-day "Freedom Edge" drills, which ran from Thursday to Saturday last week, included preparation in ballistic missile and air defences, anti-submarine warfare and defensive cyber training.They also involved Washington's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, Tokyo's guided-missile destroyer JS Atago and Seoul's KF-16 fighter jet.Pyongyang has always decried similar combined exercises as rehearsals for an invasion, but Seoul defended the latest exercises, saying they were a continuation of defensive drills held regularly for years.- Testing, testing -Last week, North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a multiple warhead missile, but the South said that launch ended in a mid-air explosion.Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash.Pyongyang says those missives are in retaliation for balloons loaded with anti-regime propaganda leaflets sent northwards by activists in the South.In response to the North's repeated launches, South Korea has fully suspended a tension-reducing military treaty. It also briefly resumed propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts, and conducted live-fire drills near the border.North Korea is also currently holding a major party meeting, which was opened by leader Kim, state media said Saturday."In both North Korean politics and military policy, the best defence is often a good offence," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul."These missile launches are likely the Kim regime's way of compensating for recent failed tests, aiming to impress a domestic audience during ruling party meetings.""Pyongyang is also determined not to appear weak while South Korea conducts defence exercises with Japan and the United States."

N. Korea says successfully tested multiple-warhead missile-by AFP Staff Writers.

Seoul (AFP) June 27, 2024-North Korea successfully tested its multiple-warhead missile capability, state media said Thursday, as dozens more trash-laden balloons sent by Pyongyang landed in the South.Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash it says are in retaliation to similar missives sent northwards by activists in the South.The balloons briefly forced Incheon Airport, Seoul's major hub, to close on Wednesday and, in response to the successive launches, South Korea has fully suspended a tension-reducing military treaty and re-started propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts and live-fire drills near the border.North Korea claimed it had "successfully conducted the separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads", the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Thursday.The "separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets" during the test carried out on Wednesday, it said."The test is aimed at securing the MIRV capability," KCNA added, referring to multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle technology -- the ability to fire multiple warheads on a single ballistic missile.South Korea's military had said the North's test on Wednesday appeared to be of a hypersonic missile, but that the launch ended in a mid-air explosion.More smoke than usual appeared to emanate from the missile, raising the possibility of combustion issues, a South Korean military official said, adding it may have been powered by solid propellants.According to KCNA, the test "was carried out by use of the first-stage engine of an intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile within a 170-200 kilometre (105 to 124-mile) radius"."The effectiveness of a decoy separated from the missile was also verified by anti-air radar," it said.Acquiring multiple-warhead missile technology is an ultimate goal for nations seeking ICBM-level missiles to carry nuclear warheads, said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.It appears the North is "testing such technology step by step over the long haul", he told AFP."They appear to be making technological advancements in the early development stages of multiple-warhead missiles."The United States and Seoul have repeatedly accused North Korea of providing ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.Russia's President Vladimir Putin was in Pyongyang last week for a high-profile state visit that underscored his growing ties with leader Kim Jong Un.The pair signed a "breakthrough" agreement that included a pledge to come to each other's aid if attacked.South Korea, which said last week it would "reconsider" a longstanding policy that bars it from supplying arms directly to Ukraine, announced Thursday it will impose unilateral sanctions against four Russian ships and eight North Korean individuals over arms shipments and oil transfers between the two countries.- Balloon blitz -North Korea has floated hundreds of trash-carrying balloons southward for three consecutive days in a tit-for-tat propaganda campaign.Seoul's military said around 70 balloons had landed by Thursday morning, mainly in northern Gyeonggi province and the Seoul area, with the contents found not to be hazardous."The payload is about 10 kilograms (22 pounds), so there is a risk if the balloons descend rapidly," it said, adding the military was ready to respond.South Korea's Marine Corps resumed live-fire exercises on islands near the western inter-Korean border on Wednesday, the first such exercises since the 2018 tension-reducing military deal with the North was fully suspended this month.South Korea and the United States also staged joint air drills Wednesday involving around 30 aircraft, including Washington's advanced stealth fighter jet the F-22 Raptor.President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a US aircraft carrier on Tuesday that arrived in South Korea for joint trilateral military drills this week aimed at countering North Korean threats.The drills, which run from Thursday to Saturday, involve Washington's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Tokyo's guided-missile destroyer JS Atago, and Seoul's KF-16 fighter jets, among other assets.Pyongyang has routinely criticised such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.

Digital identity to boost security and efficiency in finance across the globe-Examining innovations in Africa, Japan and the UK-Jun 28, 2024, 4:19 pm EDT | Abigail Opiah

In an era where digital transformation is reshaping industries, digital identity is emerging as a cornerstone for the financial sector, promising enhanced security, efficiency, and inclusivity. From Africa to Japan and the UK, innovations in digital identity are driving significant changes in open finance and banking.Open finance integration in Africa-In Africa, the integration of digital identity systems is seen as pivotal in deepening the reach and impact of open finance. According to recent reports, leveraging digital identity can facilitate greater financial inclusion by providing secure and verifiable means for individuals to access financial services. This is particularly crucial in regions where traditional identification systems are limited or unreliable.The Guardian highlights how digital identity can streamline processes such as customer onboarding and verification, reducing barriers to entry for millions of unbanked individuals. By ensuring that financial services can verify the identities of users quickly and accurately, digital identity can help mitigate fraud and increase trust in digital financial transactions. This, in turn, can drive the adoption of open finance models, which promote data sharing across financial institutions to foster innovation and improve customer experiences.Japan’s collaborative approach-In Japan, the nation’s three largest banks — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group — are collaborating on a digital identity initiative using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). As reported by Nikkei, the initiative aims to create an interoperable digital identity framework that can enhance security and streamline services across the financial ecosystem.DLT, commonly known as blockchain technology, aims to ensure that digital identities are securely recorded and easily verifiable, reducing the risk of identity theft and fraud. This collaboration not only underscores the importance of secure digital identity solutions in maintaining the integrity of financial transactions but also highlights how such innovations can be scaled across different institutions and potentially different countries.UK push for decentralized identity in open bankingIn the UK, the adoption of decentralized identity systems is viewed as a critical enabler for the continued evolution of open banking. TechUK emphasizes that decentralized identity can provide individuals with greater control over their personal data, allowing them to share verified identity attributes with financial service providers without relying on a central authority.This approach aligns with the principles of open banking, which aims to democratize financial services by making data more accessible and actionable.Global implications-The global push towards integrating digital identity in finance is poised to transform the sector in the future. In Africa, it promises to bring millions into the formal financial system, driving economic growth and inclusion. In technologically advanced economies like Japan and the UK, digital identity is set to enhance security, streamline operations, and foster innovation.However, the journey towards widespread adoption is not without challenges. Ensuring interoperability, maintaining privacy, and achieving regulatory compliance are critical hurdles that need to be addressed.

Many factors make good digital ID planning and procurement-Practical advice in heavy demand at ID4Africa 2024-Jul 1, 2024, 2:27 pm EDT| Abigail Opiah

The journey to a secure identity usually begins with understanding an organization’s unique needs. With cyber threats evolving rapidly and data breaches becoming more sophisticated, reports of organizations implementing robust digital identity tools to protect sensitive information and ensure secure access, is also on the rise.A session at the ID4Africa 2024 conference co-chaired by Dr. Sarah Lister, head of governance at UNDP, and Victor Margall von Hegyeshalmy, electoral/ID procurement lead at UNDP Procurement Services Unit focused on the practical aspects of eID and eGovernance digital tools. Lister tells Biometric Update that it is evident that many countries are currently planning or already designing and implementing digital ID and eGovernance systems.“There is also a huge interest and dynamism in the industry around these technologies. And there is a significant thirst for support on issues of procurement,” she adds.This “creates many opportunities but also risks and challenges. It is fundamental to have a well-balanced, well-informed and objective assessment on each case, starting with the needs and how to optimally address them. Factors that become critical may include medium and long term sustainability of the offerings, overall and hidden costs – search for the true ‘best value for money’, ensuring ownership by the beneficiary, and progressive capacity building and progressive introduction of technology.”It was highlighted in the session that decisions to make or buy digital identity and governance systems must also consider all the above and further technological aspects, as each involve significantly different pros and cons, she continues.Associated risks-According to the session, analyzing past security incidents and potential threat vectors can help in selecting an identity tool that addresses specific vulnerabilities. This proactive approach minimizes the risk of future breaches. Once the needs are identified, the next step is procuring technology that aligns with those needs. This phase involves meticulous research and evaluation of available options.Margall von Hegyeshalmy notes that risks can materialize at any stage of the overall process and may come from very different angles and/or actors involved.“In procurement, we use models and procedures geared towards risk identification and mitigation, including of course all  parts of contract implementation,” Margall von Hegyeshalmy adds.“But risks go beyond that, and we must also look into aspects and potential risks relating to the further future and the resilience of the technologies and solutions chosen. The more advanced a country is in implementing a system, the more costly it may be to address design defects or even change to another system to address challenges in the future, so we need to take great care in every step towards designing and deploying a national identity solution.”The session also delved into the risks associated with deploying national identity systems and how to mitigate them. Margall von Hegyeshalmy highlighted the importance of a holistic approach to risk management, which encompasses the entire lifecycle of the solution from procurement to long-term resilience.The presentation at ID4Africa identified a number of risks and potential mitigation measures. This includes ensuring early and consistent involvement of relevant objective experts, for comprehensive and in depth analysis and advice from start to end. Additionally, it also includes seeking and conducting relevant business processes analysis, as technology alone will likely not be the answer to procedural issues, according to Lister.Assessing technical capacities at the government and seeking to build those in line with the technical complexity of the system (hence, progressive approaches are practical), and ensuring steps taken are consistent and avoid back and forth, are both additional mitigation measures.“Focus on needs and results; ensure ownership and tools are handed over to; consider total cost of ownership including maintenance; consider present and future use including scalability, interoperability, ensure open standards; and consider special contractual modalities and clauses for software/systems development,” Lister concludes.

Don’t take national ID cards as collateral for loans, Uganda govt warns again-Jul 1, 2024, 2:01 pm EDT| Ayang Macdonald

Uganda’s Minister of Information, Communications Technology and National Guidance, Chris Baryomunsi, has warned that the practice of money lenders asking for the national ID cards of borrowers as collateral is illegal and must be discontinued forthwith.This is the second time the government is sending out this warning in a little over a year. The police made a similar call in April last year.The communication minister briefed the press on this issue recently in Kampala, according to an X Thread by the Uganda Media Center, the government’s official communications platform.The government is discouraging the practice, arguing that it deprives citizens in such a situation of the possibility of accessing importance services that require proof of identity.In the course of the briefing, Baryomunsi said the call falls in line with a recent decision of Cabinet and directives from the Attorney General’s Office.The cabinet resolution noted that it is “illegal and unlawful” for anyone to require a borrower to bring their ID card, and called on those keeping people’s ID to return them immediately.“This is an instruction that all money lenders, all the institutions that lend money should not be holding people’s IDs. And if they are holding them, please return them and negotiate afresh the kind of collateral that person should be able to deposit,” some points in the thread read. He said all those who shall defy this new call and continue to keep people’s ID cards will be identified and prosecuted in line with the regulations in force.Baryomunsi also addressed the issue of fraud related to digital lending services, and informed the public that the government was at work with relevant partners in the sector to implement safeguards against online criminals who want to reap where they didn’t sow.Already, the government is implementing one measure as part of efforts to fight digital payments fraud. A recent directive from the Bank of Uganda requires that all digital financial transactions of $260 and above must be done using a government-issued ID.Meanwhile, a Forbes article, suggests refugees who are financially excluded in Uganda for want of ID cards, are now turning to bitcoins for financial transactions. A government-issued ID card is required for account opening in Uganda.A Bitcoin Innovation Hub in Kamapala is empowering refugees and asylum seekers through a program that equips them with skills to earn bitcoins and use them to purchase their basic needs, the article indicates.Uganda is due to begin a mass registration exercise for national ID cards this month.

Vietnam’s new digital ID law mandating biometrics use goes live July 1-Jun 26, 2024, 10:49 am EDT| Abigail Opiah

Vietnam is set to implement the Law on Identity in less than a week, marking a shift from the previous 2014 Law on Citizen Identification, which was last revised in 2020. This new legislation aims to enhance the efficiency of administrative procedures, facilitate the provision of online public services, drive socio-economic development, and establish a digital citizen identification system. From July 1, iris biometric details will be collected with fingerprints and facial images when citizens apply for an ID card, SGGP reports.The Identity Law introduces several key changes, including the mandatory collection of biometric information for citizens applying for ID cards. A clause in the law mandates that assigned state agencies will collect identification data, including facial images, fingerprints, and irises, from applicants. The move is designed to bolster the security and accuracy of identity verification processes.The introduction of this law is expected to have widespread implications across various sectors, particularly in banking, which is at the forefront of Vietnam’s digital transformation. With 87 percent of adults in Vietnam holding at least one bank account, according to VOV World, and 95 percent of transactions being processed digitally by many banks, the integration of advanced biometric data into identity verification processes is poised to further streamline digital banking services and enhance customer security.The government envisions that the new Identity Law will not only simplify administrative processes but also pave the way for more robust digital public services. This legislation aligns with Vietnam’s broader goals of accelerating digital transformation and fostering a secure, efficient digital economy.The Law on Identity encompasses several key provisions designed to achieve its objectives including the establishment of a centralized national database that stores the biometric and personal information of all citizens, and provision for the creation of digital identities that citizens can use for online transactions and interactions with government services.All citizens are required to register for the national ID card, with specific provisions for newborns, migrants, and those without prior documentation.Vietnam is also introducing new banking regulations that require biometric authentication for transactions of 10 million Vietnamese dong (approximately US$393) at once or VND 20 million ($785) in a day. But many people have struggled to complete the remote process due to problems scanning the NFC chips in ID cards or matching their selfie biometrics, VietNamnet reports.

Clearview facial recognition searches double, database reaches 50B images-Jun 26, 2024, 2:09 pm EDT| Chris Burt

The number of facial recognition searches performed with Clearview AI by law enforcement officials has doubled over the past year, reaching 2 million. The company’s database of facial images for biometric comparison has also grown, reaching 50 billion in total, Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That told Biometric Update in an email.The database reached 40 billion images in November of last year, and Ton-That told the BBC that the company had been used for one million searches as of last March.The company has been steadily expanding its portfolio of law enforcement clients, with a trial by Ecuador’s International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and a dedicated Latin American sales team, and its focus on U.S. law enforcement yielding inclusion on the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace to sell its facial recognition to defense sector customers.Clearview has also appointed several new executives, with Jai-Sun Lee joining as chief revenue officer, Jonathan Maroko taking the chief financial officer role and Amos Kyler the new chief technology officer.Lee held several roles with Dataminr over a stint last nearly 9 years, most recently as VP of Platform Partnerships. Maroko was most recently interim CFO at Faraday Future, and has served as external CFO for various companies. Kyler was promoted to the CTO role after serving as Clearview’s head of engineering for the past three years.The hirings and search growth signal a different trajectory than that suggested by attorneys when Clearview settled a consolidated class action by giving up a 23 percent stake, which plaintiffs said was preferable to bankrupting the company with legal fees on the way to a trial. The value of that stake appears to be rising.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) 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)

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(BIOLOGICAL/CHEMICAL/NUCLEAR) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

GET READY COCKROACH ISLAMIC SUPPORTING SCHOOLS IN AMERICA. THIS HURRICANE IS THE WORLDS HISTORY AS THE QUICKEST CATEGORY 4 FIERCE DISTROYER IN HISTORY. USE BETTER HOPE IT DOESN;T ANNIALATE AN AMERICAN CITY.

After Beryl strengthens to a Category 5, hurricane warning goes into effect in Jamaica-Hurricane Beryl is expected to produce rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches.ByDaniel Peck-July 2, 2024, 12:17 AM

Hurricane Beryl, now a Category 4 storm, threatens several Caribbean nations.After Hurricane Beryl strengthened to a Category 5 while over the ocean, a Hurricane warning is now in effect for Jamaica, according to the National Hurricane Center.Hurricane Beryl is expected to produce rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches across portions of Jamaica on Wednesday, with isolated amounts of up to 12 inches possible. This could trigger flash flooding in vulnerable areas.The outer bands of Beryl could impact southern portions of the Dominican Republic and Haiti beginning late Tuesday into Wednesday, potentially causing 2 to 6 inches of rain in these areas.Sea surface temperatures in the eastern Caribbean Sea, where Beryl is currently located, are running warmer than average for this time of the year, more in line with where they would be at the peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season rather than early July. This is providing ample fuel for Beryl's extreme intensification.The latest forecast calls for little change in strength overnight, with a gradual weakening trend commencing on Tuesday as the storm sweeps west-northwestward across the Caribbean Sea.Beryl will continue to track across the Caribbean Sea throughout the week, closing in on Jamaica on Wednesday, likely weakening to a Category 2 storm by then. The center and worst impacts will likely pass south of the island; however, the latest forecast now has the center of the storm passing a little closer to Jamaica, so more intense rain, wind and storm surge impacts will be possible on the current track.A weakening trend will continue through the rest of the week as Beryl sweeps across the Caribbean Sea and encounters less favorable atmospheric conditions.Beryl will then take aim at Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula by the end of the week. The current forecast calls for a second landfall sometime on Friday along the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Beyond that, the system will likely move into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche, continuing to weaken, while taking aim at parts of eastern Mexico next weekend as a tropical storm.Unfortunately, the same general area of eastern Mexico will likely now see impacts from all three of the first named storms of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season. After being hit by Alberto and just recently by Tropical Storm Chris over the past 24 hours, Beryl will likely bring at least some impacts to the same region by later in the upcoming weekend.

B.C. heat wave shatters Canadian record for highest temperature ever recorded-Previous record high temperature for the country was set in Saskatchewan in July 1937-Maryse Zeidler · CBC News ·Last Updated: June 28, 2021

UPDATE, June 28, 2021: 'Prolonged, dangerous and historic' heat wave bakes much of Western Canada.A B.C. heat wave is shattering temperature records and meteorologists expect the weather to get even hotter over the next couple of days. Lytton, B.C., broke the record Sunday afternoon for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada with a measurement of 46.6 C, according to Environment Canada. The previous record high temperature for the country was 45 C, set in Saskatchewan in July 1937.Environment Canada first said the new record in Lytton on Sunday was 46.1 C, but later revised that to 46.6 C.Other notable highs include the Fraser Valley, which broke 40 C at Cultus Lake for the first time Saturday.In the Cache Creek area, temperatures soared to 42.5 C Saturday, and Lillooet set a new record at 43.1 C.Temperatures in the Pemberton Valley are so high an evacuation order has been issued because of rising river levels caused by snowmelt. Heat peak on Monday-CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe says the worst is yet to come. Forecasters expect the Lower Mainland to reach temperatures as high as 45 C on Monday, when the heat wave is expected to peak. Wagstaffe says Abbotsford, in the Fraser Valley, will be the city to watch on Monday as the humidex will make it feel as hot as 50 C. Lytton, B.C., broke the record Sunday afternoon for the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada with a measurement of 46.6 C.Environment Canada meteorologist Derek Lee expects more records to be broken Monday, including in Lytton, where the community could break its own Canada-wide record."So you thought yesterday was hot out? Tomorrow might be even hotter," Lee said. "I know a lot of people probably aren't prepared for the heat, but we still have a few more days to go."Joseph Shea, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, says an early heat wave in June may have a long-term impact on glaciers."One of the things an early heat wave is going to do is reduce the amount of the snowpack and make it much more vulnerable to melt this summer, but also in subsequent summers," he said Monday to Carolina de Ryk, the host of CBC's Daybreak North."As you melt away the first layer, then you expose the ice," he went on. "But with a really intense heat wave, you're going to melt that away too, and really reduce the ability of these glaciers to withstand heat." School closures-By late Sunday afternoon, several school districts across the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island announced that schools would close for at least Monday."The heat that we are experiencing is unprecedented and with this in mind, the District has put plans in place to ensure the health and safety of staff and students," said a letter from Vancouver School Board Superintendent Suzanne Hoffman.The heat is forecast to shift eastward on Tuesday, although temperatures in the Interior will remain over 40 C. Wagstaffe says a provincewide cool down isn't expected until at least July 6. B.C.'s West Coast neighbours across the border are also experiencing record-breaking temperatures.On Saturday, Portland, Ore., hit 42.2 C. The U.S. National Weather Service says it will get as hot as 44.4 C there on Sunday and Monday. Air quality advisory in effect for parts of B.C.'s Lower MainlandThe "heat dome" that has settled in the Pacific Northwest has made its way to Alberta, where temperatures reached the low 30s on Sunday. Temperatures will likely peak near 40 C in some parts of southern Alberta mid-week, Environment Canada said.Parts of Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories are also expected to see high temperatures associated with the heat wave.Cooling centres open-Municipalities and districts across the province have opened cooling centres for those who don't have air conditioning. The City of Vancouver has several open at community centres across the city.
A man heads into a cooling centre set up by the City of Vancouver to help people stay cool during extreme heat.The City of Abbotsford said its cooling centres would run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on days when the temperature exceeds 32 C or 30 C for consecutive days.  

Flash flooding in B.C. Interior affects at least 20 homes, emergency officials say-Todd Coyne-CTVNewsVancouver.ca Journalist-Published July 1, 2024 4:05 p.m. EDT

At least 20 homes have been affected by flash flooding in the British Columbia Interior amid heavy rains that forced the overnight closure of the Trans-Canada Highway near Kamloops.The Thompson-Nicola Regional District activated its emergency operations centre Monday for residents affected by the flooding in the community of Savona, west of Kamloops.The regional district said no injuries or damage to critical infrastructure had been reported, but officials are working with residents of at least 20 homes that were affected by floodwaters.The Interior Health authority said in a statement posted to social media around at Monday that Savona-area residents were reporting sewage smells around their homes following the flooding.The health authority says floodwaters should always be considered contaminated and should be avoided as a result. Interior Health says anyone whose household plumbing or septic field is slow to drain or smells of sewage should contact an authorized repairperson to deal with the issue.Trans-Canada Highway closure-The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure closed a section of the Trans-Canada Highway through Savona in both directions Sunday night due to the flooding.The highway and nearby access roads were fully reopened overnight, however the ministry warned drivers that speed reductions would be in place while road crews work to mitigate damage to the highway.With additional rain in the forecast for the region, the ministry told CTV News in a statement the highway could again be shut down "immediately, if needed." Videos posted to social media showed floodwaters running downhill across the highway prior to the closure.The ministry said highway repairs and cleanup are expected to take several days, and travellers should expect to see road workers and traffic control personnel in the area.Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the Interior region Sunday afternoon, warning the looming storm could produce large hail, damaging winds, flash flooding and torrential rainfall.The severe weather watch remained in place through Monday.The regional district urges residents in the area to subscribe to the local emergency alert notification system(opens in a new tab) for the latest updates on the flooding.Anyone whose property was damaged by flooding in the Thompson-Nicola region is advised to call the emergency operations centre at 250-377-7188.