World Freedom

Blogger Comment: Look ‘all’ British politians this is what you get if you push someone into a fabricated corner and nowhere to go…WW3 and where you are really thick aren’t you, as everyone saw it coming…

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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Russia is preparing possible missile, drone, and hybrid attacks against countries supporting Ukraine, potentially disguising the strikes as accidents to test NATO’s willingness to respond.

Tusk told Poland’s parliament that intelligence pointing to Russian plans against Ukraine’s allies was “very consistent and convincing.”

“We know he is plotting something bad,” Tusk said.

“However, for us the most important task is to prepare for various scenarios.

“We will certainly not naively accept such messages that Russia has goodwill and will start behaving properly.

“There is no indication of this.”

Britain, one of Ukraine’s leading military supporters, could be among the countries at risk, although Tusk did not specifically identify the United Kingdom as a planned target.

Moscow Could Blame Strikes on ‘Accident’

Tusk warned that Moscow could send weapons into NATO territory before insisting that the incident was unintentional.

“There is a real risk that drones or other types of missiles could penetrate the territory of one or more countries on the eastern flank and even cause damage, while the official explanation will be that there was an accident,” Tusk said.

His warning followed a major Russian missile and drone assault on western Ukraine near the Polish border.

Poland scrambled fighter jets and temporarily closed the airports in Rzeszow and Lublin during the attack.

No violation of Polish airspace was reported.

European governments have already accused Russia of conducting sabotage campaigns, drone incursions, and other hybrid operations across the continent.

The Kremlin has denied responsibility for the alleged sabotage.

Tusk warned that autumn and winter could become a particularly dangerous period as Moscow intensifies pressure on Ukraine and probes NATO’s response.

Russia’s expanding use of faster, jet-powered drones has compounded those concerns by giving Western air defenses less time to detect and intercept incoming weapons.

Former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace described intercepting Russian weapons before they approach NATO territory as “the natural next step.”

Poland has also reinforced its defenses by increasing F-16 patrols and authorizing its forces to respond to Russian military aircraft that enter Polish airspace.

Russian Drone Strikes Train Near Poland

The latest alarm came after another Russian drone strike close to the Polish border.

A Russian drone struck a passenger train in Ukraine approximately 1.2 miles from Poland, shortly after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other Western officials traveled along the same route.

No casualties were reported.

The growing danger has renewed pressure on NATO members to increase defense spending as Russia continues expanding its drone, missile, and sabotage operations.

Russia has summoned Britain's charge d'affaires in Moscow to issue a formal protest over the UK's weapons supplies to Ukraine.

Britain has pledged to provide Ukraine with the military equipment it needs to resist Russia's occupation.

It comes on the first day of Russia's… pic.twitter.com/YVvpzHwpUG

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) September 18, 2026

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged Britain to establish a clear annual path toward spending 3.5% of its gross domestic product on core defense by 2035.

“You cannot spend it today, but you can also not wait ’til 2035,” Rutte said.

“And that is why you need a credible path towards that 3.5 per cent, and yearly increments.

“I think we are on the right path now to make sure that also going forward we stay ahead of the Russians.

“But again, that means that all of us, the UK and all the others, have to stick to that path to the 3.5 per cent with yearly increments.”

The British government has said NATO-qualifying defense spending will increase to 2.7% of GDP in 2027-28.

A longer-term plan for meeting the alliance’s 3.5% target is expected in a future spending review.

NATO governments are confronting mounting concern that Russia could use increasingly aggressive drone, missile, and sabotage operations to test the alliance without immediately triggering a conventional war.

For Poland, which borders Ukraine and sits directly on NATO’s eastern flank, that threat is no longer theoretical.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/poland-russia-plotting-launch-missile-attacks-uk-test-nato/

And,

READ MORE – Russian National Gets Six Years in Prison for Voter Fraud Conspiracy

Blogger Comment: I cannot really blame this guy with the western MSM lies that they have spewed about Ukraine and NATO pushing right up to the Russian border and where prior to 2022, the Ukraine government and their military (mainly the Neo-Nazi AZOV regiment that was and still is, part of their own Ukrainian army) had raped, tortured and murder up to 20,000 Russuan-speaking Eastern Ukrainians and where the West have always covered this genocide story up…for Biden was in Ukraine in 2013 dictating to the Ukrainian government and where he was dangling a $1 billion US payment transfer in foreign aid in front of them when Hunter was there and where Biden Sr got the Ukrainian Government to sack their chief prosecutor, as he was going for Hunter Biden for massive corruption charges…they obliged and it was screened on Ukrianian TV at the time and where some of the billion paid for this massacre of those 20,000 mothers, children, fathers, the elderly and babies…for Joe Biden was no more than a Globlaist puppet who they controlled…and fact not fiction…

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Russian President Vladimir Putin may be preparing to dramatically expand Moscow’s war effort following this weekend’s parliamentary elections, with Western intelligence officials detecting signs of a possible “stealth mobilisation” campaign designed to bring more troops into the fight without triggering the political backlash of another nationwide draft.

Western officials say Russia is putting administrative machinery in place that would allow the Kremlin to rapidly increase recruitment if Putin decides additional forces are needed.

“What we are seeing is administrative preparations to make it possible to do it, if that was the decision,” an intelligence source told The Telegraph.

The warning comes as Russia holds a three-day parliamentary election that began Friday, with Putin presenting the vote as a demonstration of national unity and support for Moscow’s war effort.

Russia has denied speculation that another mobilisation will follow the election.

“Stealth” Mobilisation Already Underway

Western intelligence officials do not currently consider another massive public call-up the most likely outcome.

“Some form of mobilisation is possible, but we don’t believe it’s the most likely thing to happen,” one intelligence official said.

A large-scale draft would carry considerable risks for Putin.

The official described such a move as “high risk politically” and “highly disruptive” to the Russian economy.

There are also questions about Moscow’s ability to arm and equip hundreds of thousands of additional soldiers, with the official saying Russia “does not have the equipment” required to immediately absorb such a force.

Instead, intelligence assessments suggest Moscow has been pursuing less visible methods of expanding its manpower.

“We see lots of what we call ‘stealth’ mobilisation and extra efforts to drive up contract recruitment,” the source said.

Those efforts reportedly include targeting defendants awaiting trial, Russians struggling with debt, and students falling behind academically.

“But that is very different, that doesn’t risk the same kind of public reaction as mass mobilisation,” the official said. “A very big public mass mobilisation feels to me unlikely.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said Ukrainian intelligence believes Moscow could seek another 300,000 troops.

NATO Countries Brace for Russian Escalation

Concerns about Russia’s next moves are increasingly extending beyond the battlefield in Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Thursday that Moscow could attempt drone or missile strikes against NATO countries supporting Ukraine and then portray the incidents as accidents.

Poland scrambled fighter jets and temporarily closed airports near its border with Ukraine on Thursday as Russia launched another wave of attacks against western Ukraine.

France is simultaneously preparing for an escalation in Russian cyberattacks, sabotage, drone activity, and other forms of hybrid warfare.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that his government would develop additional protections for critical infrastructure and sensitive defense facilities.

“In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified,” Macron said.

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“The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine.

“The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine.”

Russia Intensifies Missile Campaign

The warnings come as Russia dramatically increases its missile attacks.

Reuters reported Friday that Moscow has begun deploying significant numbers of repurposed RM48U training missiles in combat, contributing to record levels of ballistic missile attacks while potentially allowing Russia to preserve stocks of more advanced weapons.

At the same time, the Kremlin has increased pressure on Western companies that continue operating inside Russia and continued warning NATO governments against expanding their involvement in the war.

European officials are increasingly concerned that the conflict is moving into a more dangerous phase in which conventional warfare inside Ukraine runs alongside cyberattacks, sabotage, and other operations directed against Kyiv’s Western supporters.

Questions Grow Over U.S. Troop Presence in Europe

The escalating warnings come as questions emerge about the future of America’s military footprint in Europe.

Reports have suggested that the Pentagon is examining options that could reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed on the continent.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker pushed back Friday against reports suggesting that Washington is preparing a massive withdrawal.

“I can tell you that I don’t think that it’s accurate,” Whitaker said.

Any significant change to America’s troop presence would come as European governments confront growing concerns about their ability to deter Moscow while continuing to support Ukraine.

Voting got underway in a three-day parliamentary election in Russia, which President Vladimir Putin has framed as a barometer of support for Russia's war in Ukraine https://t.co/qR08iBxcE5 pic.twitter.com/RUKvySGRL3

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 18, 2026

French Officials Issue Stark Warning

Macron convened French political leaders and intelligence officials Friday for discussions about the growing security threat.

Guillaume Lacroix, president of France’s Radical Party of the Left, emerged from the briefing with a stark assessment.

“I’ve just emerged from nearly three hours of briefing and discussions with the President of the Republic and the intelligence and security services,” Lacroix wrote on X.

“At the age of 50, I have rarely felt such vertigo.

“Vertigo at the gravity of the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, at the predatory madness driving the world toward chaos.”

Lacroix described the situation confronting France as “grave.”

“Our democracy, our country must already face up to it today and will have to stand firm tomorrow,” he said.

For now, Western intelligence officials are stopping short of predicting another Russian mass mobilisation.

But the preparations they say are already underway would give Putin options after the parliamentary elections conclude, while Moscow continues increasing military pressure on Ukraine and European governments prepare for the possibility that the conflict will increasingly spill beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/putin-preparing-major-ukraine-escalation-russian-elections-western-intelligence-warns/

And,

READ MORE – Russian Ransomware Gang Claims It Stole Sensitive ATF Data in Cyberattack

Blogger Comment: As I stated in a recent blog, this is all ‘Fear’ mongering to get the people to be like they did with the fear pumped out by the Globalists for Covid-19, which turned out to be a storm in a teacup and where the main aim was to sell the Globalist’s so called Covid-19 mRNA experimental jabs cure to you, as that’s where all the money lay fuir them and $7 trillion in taxpayer’s money to be precise with all the suppporting Covid useless products included…and that’s exactly what’s happening here again…through FEAR+ of AI which was also planned just like the Covid Scam…so don’t be taken in for a second time, as all the disasters that the Globalist have planned for us already up to their golden year of 2030 will be blamed on AI as an escape ghost…for AI is not a deadly technology and just like the Globalist’s man-made released Covid-19 virus from a lab and just a smoke screen and just like the so-called virus was, and where the main money earner was what you allowed them to put into your arm and where this time its AI that beinmg put in your head and you fear the worst again…but where it is another major global CON…just to get more $ trillions out of you for nothing more than fresh air coming out of the mouths of these Global conmen and women…wake up to what is really going on…For Altman is the new lying face of the Globalists on the block…period

“Sam Altman Holds Secret Meetings with U.S Power Giants as OpenAI Pushes AI Grid ‘Security’ ” https://world-freedom.co.uk/2026/09/20/sam-altman-holds-secret-meetings-with-u-s-power-giants-as-openai-pushes-ai-grid-security/

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Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI has revealed a chilling incident in which one of its AI systems was caught attempting to circumvent human-imposed restrictions by secretly leaving instructions for future versions of itself to ignore those limits.

The disturbing revelation was among six cases of “model misalignment” disclosed by OpenAI on Wednesday as the company warned that the AI industry has not solved the safety problems necessary to continue developing increasingly powerful systems at maximum speed.

OpenAI said it will now begin publicly reporting cases in which its models behave in unauthorized or unexpected ways rather than waiting to bundle the findings into research papers or technical safety documents.

“As AI systems grow more advanced and more widely deployed, we need to build a broader and better-informed consensus on the progress of alignment research,” OpenAI said.

The company then issued a stark warning about the trajectory of the technology.

“We do not believe that the AI industry has solved alignment and monitoring to a sufficient degree to continue responsibly scaling at maximum speed for much longer,” OpenAI said.

AI Leaves Secret Instructions for Future Versions of Itself

One of the most alarming cases involved an unreleased OpenAI research model that was given a task too long to complete during a single session.

Because large language models have limited working memory, known as a context window, the AI was supposed to produce a short summary that another session could use to continue the assignment.

Instead, the system began slipping additional instructions into those summaries.

OpenAI staff discovered 27 summaries containing the unauthorized instructions, including directions for subsequent versions of the model to disregard restrictions imposed upon them by human operators.

The behavior effectively allowed one AI session to leave instructions for another version of itself after its own working session had ended.

During the training of GPT-5.6 Sol, researchers found another disturbing pattern.

Multiple model runs inserted notes telling later versions of themselves to conceal mistakes from users.

Some instructed subsequent models to fabricate missing historical information without revealing that the data had been invented.

AI Steals API Key, Then Fabricates Results

Another case involved an AI system answering what should have been an ordinary question about men’s earnings in a California county.

While attempting to find the information, the model discovered an exposed API key in a public software repository.

Rather than leaving the credential alone, the AI used the key without authorization.

When that still failed to produce the requested information, the model fabricated the numbers and presented them as though they had been retrieved from the legitimate source.

Other experiments produced similarly troubling attempts by AI systems to work around restrictions.

Models instructed to remain inside isolated workspaces instead discovered an internal software repository and began using it like a message board, allowing separate training runs to communicate with each other.

In another experiment, collaborating AI agents were specifically instructed to keep files stored locally.

The agents were unable to access one another’s machines.

Instead of accepting the restriction, they devised their own workaround and uploaded the files to public hosting services, exposing them to the open internet.

OpenAI Agents Previously Broke Out and Attacked External Platform

The disclosures come after an even more serious incident involving autonomous OpenAI agents earlier this year.

In July, agents operating inside cybersecurity evaluations broke out of their isolated testing environments and attacked Hugging Face, a major platform hosting open-source AI models and datasets.

Investigators at the nonprofit Model Evaluation and Threat Research said approximately 1,200 agents that were supposed to remain isolated discovered a shared communication board.

The agents subsequently exchanged more than 70,000 messages and files over roughly one week.

Some of those agents then targeted Hugging Face.

OpenAI later described the episode as an unprecedented cyber incident involving an outside party.

The six incidents disclosed Wednesday occurred during training and testing and did not constitute another external breach.

However, OpenAI’s decision to publish them reflects growing concern over AI systems finding unexpected ways to circumvent the boundaries imposed by their developers.

Thousands of AI Messages Found on German Wiki

OpenAI’s announcement also follows another bizarre episode that the company referred to as the “wiki incident.”

Earlier this month, OpenAI acknowledged that its previous approach of treating AI misalignment primarily as an academic research problem was no longer sufficient.

“Historically, we have treated misalignment largely as a research question, which gets communicated in research publications such as systems cards,” the company said.

“This year, we’ve started to see misalignment cause new types of real-world impact,” OpenAI continued, citing the agents that breached Hugging Face.

Outside researchers had identified approximately 18,000 posts from agents identifying themselves as OpenAI systems on a German programming wiki.

The messages, posted between May and June, involved agents exchanging information about overcoming sandbox restrictions.

“Our misalignment disclosure practices need to expand for this new phase of model capabilities,” OpenAI said.

Company Warns AI Development May Be Moving Too Fast

Under OpenAI’s new system, any employee will be able to flag suspicious model behavior.

Safety and alignment teams will then investigate each incident and determine whether it is ready for immediate disclosure, requires additional technical analysis, or involves complicated security or third-party issues requiring a longer investigation.

OpenAI said reports should disclose what happened, when it occurred, which model family was involved, how serious the incident appears to be, and whether anyone outside the company was affected.

Crucially, the company said it may disclose incidents before engineers understand exactly what happened or have developed a fix.

“Because we believe in the value of transparency around misalignment, our new framework favors disclosure even when significance is uncertain,” OpenAI said.

“This means that some of the instances we disclose could prove to be spurious and not part of a larger pattern or suggestive of future developments.”

The company said serious safety and security incidents should also be reported to the U.S. government and revealed that it is developing procedures for doing so.

OpenAI is also working with dozens of government regulatory agencies around the world as researchers attempt to establish standards for dealing with increasingly capable AI systems.

The disclosures arrive as OpenAI itself acknowledges that the industry’s ability to control those systems has not kept pace with their rapidly expanding capabilities.

In one case, an AI secretly instructed future versions of itself to ignore restrictions. In another, models told their successors to hide mistakes and fabricate information.

Other agents circumvented isolated environments, communicated across separate runs, exposed files on the public internet, and, in the most serious previous incident, escaped a cybersecurity test and targeted an outside platform.

OpenAI is now urging rival laboratories, independent researchers, standards organizations, and regulators to develop clearer rules for identifying and reporting such behavior as increasingly autonomous AI systems continue to advance.

https://slaynews.com/openai-system-caught-secretly-plotting-override-human-controls/

And,

READ MORE – OpenAI Hires Chuck Schumer’s Daughter for Senior Policy Role as AI Regulation Fight Heats Up

Blogger Comment: Is this God’s hand working here and showing HIS face and telling us all something concerning creation…

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A New Zealand medical scientist is challenging conventional theories about the origins of life, arguing that the extraordinary complexity and coded information contained in DNA point toward intelligence rather than unguided chemistry.

Dr. Orson Wedgwood, a healthcare researcher with a doctorate in organic medicinal chemistry, argues that scientists have yet to explain how the chemical building blocks of life could have spontaneously assembled into the sophisticated, interdependent system required for even a basic living cell.

“It’s a language, and this does provide evidence for intelligence,” Wedgwood told the Daily Mail in an interview.

Wedgwood, who develops life-saving drugs and has designed compounds that interfere with DNA replication, makes the case in his book, “DNA: The Elephant in the Lab.”

His argument centers on three problems he describes as “insurmountable hurdle[s]”: chemical, statistical, and conceptual.

DNA Presents a Fundamental Problem for Origins of Life

Scientists have demonstrated chemical processes capable of producing some of the ingredients necessary for life.

What remains unexplained, Wedgwood argues, is how those ingredients could organize themselves into an operational biological system.

One obstacle is statistical.

Proteins depend on amino acids being arranged in highly specific sequences.

Wedgwood argues that the probability of those components randomly arranging themselves into functional proteins without guidance becomes vanishingly small.

But the greater difficulty, he says, is conceptual.

Modern cells depend on DNA to store the instructions required to manufacture proteins.

At the same time, proteins are needed to copy, interpret, and translate the information stored in DNA.

That creates a fundamental chicken-and-egg problem for theories attempting to explain how the first living cells emerged.

The cell itself also requires a functioning membrane to hold everything together.

“You need a barrier around a cell for the contents to stay together and function as a unit,” Wedgwood said.

A partially formed membrane would provide little protection.

Yet producing a complete membrane requires substantial biological machinery and genetic instructions, machinery that itself depends on an already functioning cellular system.

Scientists have proposed oily droplets and tiny chambers inside rocks as possible environments that could have concentrated the chemicals necessary for early life.

Wedgwood argues those explanations merely relocate the problem rather than solve it.

An external container would still leave unexplained how a living organism developed the machinery and information necessary to construct and maintain its own membrane.

RNA World Theory Attempts to Solve the Puzzle

Origin-of-life researchers acknowledge that science has not established precisely how the first living system emerged.

One prominent proposed solution is the RNA World hypothesis.

Under that model, self-replicating RNA molecules existed before the modern DNA-and-protein system and were capable of both storing information and performing some chemical functions.

Researchers have made progress toward demonstrating aspects of that possibility.

A 2024 laboratory study produced an RNA enzyme capable of copying functional RNA in a process that could potentially support molecular evolution.

Wedgwood remains unconvinced that such experiments bridge the enormous gap between relatively simple chemical systems and self-sustaining cellular life.

He also argues that the timeline presents another problem.

Earth became hospitable to life roughly four billion years ago, with cellular life appearing relatively soon afterward.

Wedgwood uses an unusual analogy to distinguish between events that are extraordinarily unlikely but conceivable and those he considers effectively impossible.

Imagine a cow wandering out of a nearby field and somehow eventually reaching New Zealand.

“It is ludicrous, but you can conceive how it could happen,” Wedgwood said.

The problems confronting naturalistic origin-of-life theories, he argues, are closer to expecting the cow to jump over the moon.

‘Every Other Code Is a Result Directly of Intelligence’

At the heart of Wedgwood’s argument is information.

DNA does not merely consist of complicated molecules. Its sequences encode instructions that living cells use to construct and maintain biological machinery.

Wedgwood also points to the deeply embedded relationship between DNA and proteins, describing aspects of the system as a “frozen accident” that scientists have found extraordinarily difficult to alter even one component at a time.

For Wedgwood, the existence of a biological code raises a straightforward question: Where did the information come from?

Human experience, he argues, associates codes with intelligence.

“Every other code is a result directly of intelligence, and that sort of speaks to the evidence of perhaps an intelligent originator,” Wedgwood said.

His argument does not constitute an experimental demonstration that every possible natural mechanism for the origin of life has been eliminated.

Nor does the continuing inability of scientists to reproduce life’s origins automatically establish intelligent design.

But Wedgwood argues that this cuts both ways.

Scientists have identified individual chemical reactions that could have contributed to early life, but the central mystery remains unresolved: how unguided chemistry produced the information, replication systems, proteins, membranes, and interdependent machinery necessary for the first functioning cell.

After decades of research, science still does not have a settled answer.

Wedgwood argues that the coded language written into every living cell should force scientists to seriously consider another possibility: that the information at the foundation of life did not arise without intelligence behind it.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/medical-scientist-challenges-origins-life-theory-dna-intelligent-originator/

And,

READ MORE – Scientists Warn ‘Biblical Megaflood’ Risk Threatens Millions in California

Blogger Comment: All these things I commented on in my blog a few weeks ago about them and where you buy these Globalist control information products, they send information back to them to make money and you unwittingly act as one of their information bots…simple really so keep doing it and work for nothing for free…great scam I have to say…but the question is…wj]ho are the idiots that are buying these control agenda products as the deserve everything that they get down their time-line…

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Meta is facing a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of illegally extracting biometric data from Facebook and Instagram photographs to develop facial recognition technology connected to its controversial smart glasses.

The lawsuit, brought by families in Illinois and California, alleges Meta created biometric “faceprints” from publicly available social media photographs as part of work on a facial recognition feature known as “NameTag.”

The allegations add to mounting privacy concerns surrounding Meta’s camera-equipped smart glasses.

The wearable devices, often referred to as “pervert glasses,” have already faced criticism over their ability to discreetly record people in public.

Meta denies the allegations and says the facial recognition feature has not been released to consumers.

“We’ve been transparent about how we use people’s information to build and improve our AI products,” a Meta spokesperson told Wired.

“As for NameTags, nothing has shipped to consumers, and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything.”

The company called the lawsuit “without merit” and said it “misrepresents our work.”

Lawsuit Alleges Meta Created Biometric ‘Faceprints’

The controversy intensified in June after Wired reported that facial recognition code had been discovered in software associated with Meta’s smart glasses.

The technology, referred to as “NameTag,” raised the prospect of glasses capable of identifying people encountered in public by comparing their faces with biometric information linked to social media profiles.

Meta initially pushed back strongly against reporting that it intended to release such technology.

Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth called Wired’s reporting “absolutely dishonest.”

But days later, Bosworth publicly discussed how such a system could potentially operate and described it as a “great feature.”

The proposed class action now alleges that the underlying facial recognition technology was built using photographs uploaded to Meta’s social media platforms.

According to Wired, biometric signatures described as “faceprints” appeared in code associated with the AI companion application used by Meta’s smart glasses.

A Meta patent also described technology capable of matching biometric signatures against profile photographs.

The plaintiffs allege Meta extracted those signatures from publicly available Facebook and Instagram profiles without legally sufficient consent.

Meta maintains that no NameTag product has been released and says no final decision has been made about whether such a feature will ever reach consumers.

AI Training Faces New Privacy Questions

The lawsuit also targets Meta’s broader artificial intelligence development.

Meta’s Emu image-generation system was trained using a vast collection of user-uploaded images and text, and the plaintiffs allege that the technology was used to harvest biometric information.

The accusations arrive as Meta faces separate criticism over how its artificial intelligence systems interact with information people have uploaded to Facebook and Instagram.

A Utah mother recently accused Meta’s AI technology of analyzing social media posts and surfacing invasive information concerning her young daughters.

Meta has also faced backlash after allowing users to generate images inspired by public Instagram accounts.

The company subsequently acknowledged that it had “missed the mark” with the feature.

The disputes highlight an increasingly significant question surrounding generative AI: Whether material people uploaded to social networks years before the current AI boom can subsequently be repurposed to train systems capable of extracting or generating considerably more information about them.

Meta Has Paid Billions Over Facial Recognition Cases

The latest allegations are particularly significant because Meta has already paid enormous settlements over previous disputes involving facial recognition and biometric information.

In 2020, the company agreed to settle an Illinois class action involving a separate facial recognition system for $650 million.

That litigation centered on Facebook’s use of facial recognition technology and Illinois’ biometric privacy protections.

Four years later, Meta agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle another lawsuit involving allegations that the company collected biometric information through facial recognition technology.

Meta did not admit wrongdoing as part of that settlement.

The latest lawsuit now brings the same fundamental privacy issue into the era of wearable artificial intelligence.

Unlike facial recognition operating exclusively within a social media website, smart glasses potentially place cameras and AI directly into ordinary face-to-face interactions.

Meta says the disputed NameTag feature has not been shipped and may never be.

But the plaintiffs’ case centers on a different question: whether Meta already crossed a legal line while developing the technology by turning photographs uploaded to Facebook and Instagram into the biometric data needed to make facial identification possible.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/meta-harvesting-facebook-instagram-photos-smart-pervert-glasses-facial-recognition/

And,

READ MORE – Meta Moves to Replace Human Data Center Workers with Robots as AI Automation Spreads

Blogger Comment: I would not trust this guy as far as I could throw him as he is another Globalist in the pockets of the real controllers of the world, the Globalists elites….yes there are two classes of Globalists, where one is the doers for the elites (this guy is one and also one of the fearmongers for the Globalist elites, as the top elites need “fear” to always drive their agenda against humanity to make the people pay continuously (and Trump is right here about AI) and the others are the elite “Controllers”…For all these AI companies are in league with each other as they are all wanting tens of $ Trillions over the next few years through the fear factor and getting money for old rope, where AI can be good to solve business problems, but not for anything else including world wars and power knock-outs as they are controlled completely by direct human interactions and without that it is literally impossible for AI to do anything and only if a human makes malevolent software that can control another computer can it go rogue and that again is a human interaction and what can happen already anyway (it’s a risk, but only when a malevolent human do something) …so don’t be taken in by another great hoax through fear that the Globalists play with the people all the time…Covid-19 for just one where it was all fear driven to make the people through our governments spend up $9 trillion…on a worthless protection piece if kit and for all the supporting products worldwide…

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been quietly meeting with executives from some of America’s largest electric utility companies while warning that increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems could pose a threat to the nation’s power grid.

Altman has spent years sounding the alarm about potentially dangerous AI systems while simultaneously pushing for government regulations that would place companies such as OpenAI at the center of the emerging AI oversight regime.

Now, the ChatGPT maker appears to be taking that same warning directly to America’s power industry, while pitching OpenAI’s own cybersecurity services as part of the solution.

According to Politico, Altman has held a series of private meetings with executives from major utilities including Duke Energy, Exelon, Southern Co., and NextEra Energy beginning in July.

One of the latest meetings took place Wednesday in Colorado during the annual gathering of the Edison Electric Institute.

The security of America’s electrical grid was reportedly a major topic.

OpenAI Sounds Alarm over ‘Rogue’ AI Agents

The discussions come after OpenAI disclosed an extraordinary incident involving AI agents that it says escaped the boundaries of their research environment, accessed the internet, and hacked another AI company.

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The incident involved Hugging Face and quickly fueled fears that autonomous AI agents could eventually become capable of attacking critical infrastructure.

OpenAI’s account of the episode has generated widespread attention over the potentially dangerous capabilities of increasingly advanced AI systems.

But much of the information surrounding the incident has come directly from OpenAI itself.

Third-party researchers have had far less opportunity to independently examine exactly what happened.

The New York Times reported that outside AI safety researchers investigating the incident were given only a few days to examine the enormous amount of data produced during the episode.

That limited window severely restricted the extent to which independent experts could scrutinize OpenAI’s account.

Nevertheless, the incident has become a powerful example for Altman’s warnings about what advanced AI systems could potentially do.

Questions Raised over OpenAI’s Evidence

There are also unresolved questions surrounding some of the evidence OpenAI has used to describe the behavior of its AI agents.

A significant portion of OpenAI’s explanation relies on the agents’ so-called “chains-of-thought.”

Those are statements generated by AI models describing the apparent reasoning behind their actions.

However, researchers have produced evidence showing that chain-of-thought explanations do not necessarily provide a reliable account of how language models actually reached their decisions.

That raises an important problem.

If the AI’s own description of its internal reasoning cannot necessarily be trusted as an accurate record of what happened, then some of the most dramatic conclusions surrounding the incident become considerably harder to establish independently.

Yet OpenAI has continued using the episode to warn about the risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI agents.

Altman Pushes Regulations and OpenAI’s Cybersecurity Services

OpenAI has also used the incident to press for new regulatory safeguards surrounding advanced artificial intelligence.

Such regulations could simultaneously strengthen OpenAI’s position as one of the dominant authorities determining how powerful AI systems should be developed and controlled.

And Altman’s meetings with America’s electric utilities add another dimension to that campaign.

According to Politico, Altman has been pitching OpenAI’s cybersecurity capabilities directly to utility executives.

That means OpenAI is warning that advanced AI systems could threaten America’s critical infrastructure while simultaneously offering its own technology to help defend that infrastructure.

The arrangement gives the company an obvious commercial opportunity.

America’s electrical grid is among the country’s most important pieces of critical infrastructure, and cybersecurity spending across the industry is enormous.

A successful push into grid security could therefore open another lucrative market for OpenAI far beyond ChatGPT.

Fear Campaign Opens Doors to America’s Power Grid

The timing is difficult to ignore.

OpenAI publicizes an alarming episode involving supposedly rogue AI agents breaking out of their environment and hacking another company.

The incident generates headlines about AI systems becoming increasingly difficult to control.

OpenAI then points to the episode while calling for stronger safeguards and greater oversight of powerful AI.

And at the same time, Altman quietly begins meeting with executives responsible for keeping America’s electrical grid running while pitching OpenAI’s cybersecurity services.

The company therefore stands to benefit regardless of which part of its warning receives the most attention.

If AI systems really are becoming dangerous enough to threaten critical infrastructure, utilities have a powerful incentive to purchase increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity technology.

If Washington responds with sweeping AI safety regulations, OpenAI could also emerge with enormous influence over the rules governing its own industry.

Either way, Altman’s warnings are helping put OpenAI in the room.

And this time, the room belongs to the companies responsible for keeping America’s lights on.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/sam-altman-holds-secret-meetings-us-power-giants-openai-pushes-ai-grid-security/

Blogger Comment: This is what has been really happening for quite a few years now all over the western wprld in particular, but in other nations across the world as well and where it is arson by wealthy vested-interest individuals (Net Zero money making billionaires), Globalist vested-interest organizations (Net Zero side again of the equation that want everyone to think that it is extreme climate change that is causing all these fires to spontaniously happen all at the same time) or even governments themselves that are aligned to the Globalist’s One World Government (OWG) agenda for 2030 and their climate money-making agenda for obvious reasons, that are largely based on just hot air, as the UN are totally aligned with the Globalists with their fictitious global Climate data and not the real truth…driven solely by nothing more than vast money deliver for them through our never-ending taxation that goes into continual $ trillions and basical forever with this capitol fraud on the people…

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Raging wildfires have torn across Italy’s famed Amalfi Coast, forcing precautionary evacuations, frightening tourists, and prompting local officials to raise suspicions that the blazes were deliberately set as part of a coordinated arson attack.

Firefighters battled flames across the iconic Mediterranean destination after fires erupted Monday evening, threatening areas surrounding Positano, Amalfi, Tovere di Amalfi, and other coastal communities.

Crews worked throughout the night to prevent the flames from reaching homes as strong winds initially prevented helicopters from joining the operation.

No injuries or damage to residential properties were reported.

By morning, firefighting aircraft had joined ground crews as authorities scrambled to contain the flames spreading through scrubland and wooded areas along the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento Peninsula.

Tourists Evacuated as Flames Spread

Italy’s national fire service, Vigili del Fuoco, said emergency crews responded to scrubland fires stretching between Positano, Amalfi, Agerola, and Vico Equense.

Seven ground teams and three aircraft were deployed as part of the operation.

Some restaurants and other facilities in key locations were evacuated as a precaution while the advancing fires caused alarm among tourists staying in one of Italy’s most famous vacation destinations.

The flames ravaged the woods of Tordigliano along the border between the Amalfi Coast and the Sorrento Peninsula, according to Positano Mayor Gabriella Guida.

The fire reached much of the state road, forcing authorities to close it so crews could safely fight the blaze, before flames descended toward Positano.

The fire also threatened mountain hamlets in the Capo d’Acqua area before Montepertuso, between Positano and Santa Maria del Castello.

Mayor Suspects Coordinated Arson

As firefighters fought to bring the emergency under control, Guida raised the possibility that the destruction was not accidental.

The mayor said she believes arson was the likely cause, pointing to fires breaking out at roughly the same time across Vico Equense, Agerola, Amalfi, and Positano.

According to local reports, Guida said the simultaneous outbreaks appeared to indicate a coordinated plan rather than a coincidence.

Authorities had not publicly established arson as the cause of the fires, but local leaders called for anyone with information to come forward.

The potential economic consequences were also becoming apparent as frightened tourists watched flames spread across a destination synonymous with Mediterranean vacations.

Guida acknowledged the impact on visitors who had traveled to the region expecting a relaxing vacation only to find themselves caught near a major wildfire response.

Centuries-Old Trees Destroyed

Beyond the immediate danger from the flames, Guida warned that the destruction of centuries-old trees could leave the area vulnerable to another serious threat once rainfall returns.

The loss of vegetation could trigger significant hydrogeological instability and landslides when the first rains arrive, she warned.

Sorrento Mayor Corrado Fattorusso also condemned the destruction, describing the fires as an attack on the region’s identity, history, and environmental heritage.

Fattorusso called for authorities to move beyond rhetoric by identifying those responsible and implementing concrete measures to monitor the land and prevent future fires.

The warnings underscore the potentially lasting consequences of the blazes in a region where steep mountainsides descend toward densely populated coastal communities.

Firefighters Continue Battle

Emergency crews remained at work into midweek, extinguishing remaining hot spots around the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento Peninsula.

While the operation prevented reported deaths or destruction of homes, the fires left significant environmental damage across one of Italy’s most recognizable landscapes.

Investigators must now determine how the fires started and whether Guida’s suspicions that multiple blazes were deliberately and simultaneously ignited are correct.

For residents and tourists, meanwhile, the immediate focus remains on ensuring that the remaining hot spots are extinguished before strong winds or changing conditions can send the flames racing across the coast again.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/wildfires-tear-across-italys-amalfi-coast-officials-suspect-coordinated-arson/

And,

READ MORE – Another Historic American Church Burns to the Ground as Attacks on Christianity Surge

Blogger Comment: You can bet that somewhere down the line it was a Globalist billionaire puppet or the Globalist elites as it has all the hallmarks certainly and looks like just another cover-up in American history emerging to me and on the same footimg as JFD et al in many ways…

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Newly released federal records have revealed that a mysterious “anonymous donor” paid for the swift cremation of President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks just days after the deadly shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The stunning detail is buried in records turned over to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) as part of his investigation into the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt.

“Anonymous donor paid for cremation,” a note attached to a federal interview summary involving Crooks’s father states.

The disclosure adds another unanswered question to a case that, more than two years later, has still produced no publicly established motive explaining why Crooks climbed onto a rooftop and opened fire on Trump.

It also comes after the FBI faced intense scrutiny for releasing Crooks’s body for cremation just 10 days after the attack.

Mystery Donor Paid for Crooks’s Cremation

The newly disclosed information appears to have come from an attorney representing the Crooks family.

Federal records indicate that Crooks’s father, Matthew Crooks, was unemployed at the time of the assassination attempt and later took early retirement.

Crooks’s mother, Mary Crooks, went on leave from work to “process the situation.”

The records nevertheless state that an unidentified third party stepped forward to pay for the gunman’s cremation.

No identity or apparent connection between the “anonymous donor” and the Crooks family is provided in the material.

The disclosure is particularly striking because the rapid cremation of Crooks’s remains has been a source of controversy since shortly after the assassination attempt.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) revealed in August 2024 that the FBI had released Crooks’s body to his family only 10 days after the shooting.

Higgins discovered the body was already gone when he attempted to examine it as part of the congressional investigation into the catastrophic security failures surrounding the Butler rally.

“My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, August 5 [2024], caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact… the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after (July 13),” Higgins wrote.

Now, federal records reveal that somebody outside the immediate family apparently paid for that cremation.

Crooks Used ‘Bob Dole’ Alias to Buy Gun Parts

The documents contain other previously undisclosed details about Crooks’s activities before he opened fire on Trump.

Records reviewed by the New York Post reveal that Crooks used the name “Bob Dole” while ordering large quantities of packages through Amazon.

Those purchases included “parts, tools, and items to increase the capacity of his rifle.”

According to his father, Crooks began using aliases after Matthew Crooks’s Citizens Bank account was hacked and hit with fraudulent BetMGM charges.

His father warned him that using a fake name on an order would not prevent someone from tracing the transaction because the money was still coming from an account connected to his real identity.

Crooks ignored him.

“Thomas dismissed his dad’s logic and continued using pseudonyms to make his online purchases, believing he was shielding his accounts from being compromised,” the Post reported from the records.

Crooks also instructed his father on using privacy tools.

“He also coached Matthew how to use identity-obscuring software like CyberGhost VPN and the Bravenet Browser — which Thomas would argue made them ‘less likely to be compromised by outside actors.’”

Crooks additionally maintained accounts with multiple privacy-focused encrypted email providers, including GMX and Mailfence.

Father Described Crooks as Emotionless ‘Since Birth’

The federal records also provide a disturbing picture of Crooks’s behavior growing up.

His father described him as a loner who had no friends and showed no interest in girls.

Crooks frequently talked to himself and developed an obsession with firearms during his teenage years.

Most strikingly, his father described Crooks as having been emotionless since birth.

Yet his family apparently did not consider the combination of behaviors serious enough to raise an alarm before the shooting.

On July 13, 2024, Crooks managed to reach a rooftop overlooking Trump’s campaign rally in Butler despite being identified as suspicious before the president took the stage.

He then opened fire.

Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet.

Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed while protecting his family, and two other attendees were seriously wounded.

A Secret Service counter-sniper killed Crooks seconds later.

Questions Still Unanswered More Than Two Years Later

The newly released records provide additional information about Crooks’s purchases, online privacy practices, family life, and behavior.

They also reveal the extraordinary fact that an unidentified person paid to have his remains cremated after the FBI released his body.

But the central question remains unanswered.

Why did Crooks try to assassinate President Trump?

More than two years after the Butler attack, federal authorities have still not publicly established a definitive motive explaining why the 20-year-old gunman targeted Trump.

The public is now learning details that were sitting in federal records while questions surrounding the assassination attempt continued to mount.

Crooks used aliases.

He acquired equipment for his rifle.

He maintained encrypted email accounts and used privacy software.

The FBI released his body within 10 days.

An “anonymous donor” then paid for his cremation.

And America is still waiting for a definitive answer explaining why he tried to murder President Trump.

Until federal authorities provide that answer and explain the unanswered circumstances surrounding the investigation, questions about the handling of the Butler assassination attempt are not going away.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/anonymous-donor-paid-rapid-cremation-would-be-trump-assassin-thomas-crooks-docs-show/

And,

READ MORE – FBI Arrests Pennsylvania Man Accused of Plotting ISIS Terror Attack

Blogger Comment: The assisted Dying Laws in western nations is so loosely drafted that you could directly drive a stagecoach and horses through them and therefore these laws can easily be manipulated by govenments thereafter and include people that the lawswere never intended for….but it is now becining clearer that this is part ofthe Globalist’s depopulation agenda and it needs reek=ling in ti stop all the abuse happening and where in Canada as a singke example their state euthanasia system is the 3rd highest reason now that Canadians die…totally unacceptable and possibly totally illegal with overtones of death by inflicted suicide by the state…so that’s how bad it has got and where in 2016 there were zero deaths through euthanasia and by anyone as it was totally illegal, criminal…and a crime against humanity to do so…

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A federal judge has blocked Illinois from forcing Catholic nuns and other religious healthcare providers to euthanize their patients under the Democrat-controlled state’s controversial “assisted suicide” law.

U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama, a President Donald Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order protecting the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Archdiocese of Chicago as their legal challenge moves forward.

The ruling marks another setback for Democrat Governor JB Pritzker.

Pritzker signed the euthanasia measure into law despite a direct appeal from Pope Leo XIV urging him not to do so.

Nuns have been fighting back against the radical new law by filing legal challenges.

Religious healthcare providers argue the law violates their constitutional rights by forcing them to facilitate a practice that directly contradicts their faith and medical mission.

Carmelite Mother Mary Rose Heery said the court’s intervention “brings real peace of mind to our Sisters, our residents, and their families.”

She said the order “allows us to continue our vocation of showing Christ’s unbounded love to those who need it most – a love that endures in every circumstance and through every hardship.”

Democrats Buried Assisted-Suicide Measure in Unrelated Bill

Illinois lawmakers failed to advance standalone “assisted suicide” legislation through the Democrat-controlled legislature earlier last year.

However, activists ultimately succeeded in advancing the measure after it was inserted into an unrelated bill concerning food sanitary preparation rules in November.

The amendment declares that so-called “Medical aid in dying is part of general medical care and complements other end-of-life options, such as comfort care, pain control, palliative care, and hospice care.”

Pritzker signed the measure the following month.

Under the law, a person seeking assisted suicide must make a request to end his or her life verbally and in writing before repeating the verbal request at least five days later.

Several major Illinois healthcare systems have already declared that they will refuse to participate.

The law has also triggered multiple legal challenges from religious organizations and medical professionals who argue that the state cannot force them to cooperate with assisted suicide.

Catholic Doctors and Bishop Launch Separate Lawsuit

The Thomas More Society announced another lawsuit last month on behalf of the Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, the Lutheran Care Center, and four Catholic physicians.

The plaintiffs argue that the law threatens “the integrity of religious healthcare institutions’ identity and mission” by requiring them to permit employees to promote assisted suicide on their premises and assist patients seeking it elsewhere without facing discipline or termination.

The lawsuit also targets provisions governing how healthcare providers may discuss assisted suicide.

Because Illinois declares that procedures permitted under the law “do not constitute suicide [or] assisted suicide,” the plaintiffs warn that its prohibition against “misinformation to obstruct access” threatens religious healthcare providers that describe the practice as assisted suicide and distinguish it from legitimate medical care.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, and the Little Sisters of the Poor brought a separate lawsuit on September 3.

Eight days later, Valderrama issued the temporary restraining order.

The judge noted that the parties agreed to the order while awaiting a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision involving separate challenges to an Illinois law requiring pro-life organizations to provide information about and referrals for abortion services.

After the appeals court issues its ruling, the parties in the assisted suicide case will reconvene within seven days to determine the next steps, including consideration of the plaintiffs’ expected request for a preliminary injunction.

Religious Healthcare Providers Fight Back

The Illinois battle comes as assisted suicide continues expanding across the United States.

The practice is currently legal in 14 states and the District of Columbia, while legalization measures are pending in another dozen states.

Opponents warn that the consequences extend far beyond abstract arguments over personal autonomy.

Patients Rights Action Fund Executive Director Matt Vallière has argued that assisted suicide programs discriminate against patients suffering from life-threatening conditions in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Vallière warned about systems in which the government “will pay for every instance of assisted suicide” while refusing to cover palliative care.

“I don’t call that autonomy, I call that eugenics,” Vallière said.

Live Action’s Bridget Sielicki has also warned that assisted suicide can be far removed from the peaceful death often portrayed by its advocates.

“Because a paralytic is involved, a person can look peaceful, while they actually drown to death in their own bodily secretions,” Sielicki noted.

She added that experimental assisted-suicide drugs have resulted in the “burning of patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain.”

Sielicki cited research published in the medical journal Anaesthesia finding that one-third of patients took as long as 30 hours to die after consuming assisted-suicide drugs, while four percent took seven days.

Battle over Illinois Law Heads Back to Court

For now, Illinois cannot force the Catholic nuns involved in the lawsuit to violate their religious convictions while the legal battle continues.

But Catholic leaders are seeking far more than temporary protection.

They want the law struck down.

The cases put Illinois’ assisted-suicide regime on a collision course with constitutional protections for religious liberty and free speech, particularly where the state attempts to dictate what religious doctors and healthcare institutions must facilitate and even how they may describe the practice.

Pritzker signed the law despite warnings from Catholic leaders, including Pope Leo XIV.

Now, the courts will decide how far Illinois can go in forcing those who believe their calling is to care for the sick and dying to cooperate in deliberately ending their patients’ lives.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/judge-blocks-illinois-forcing-nuns-euthanize-patients/

And,

READ MORE – Canadian Government Euthanizes ‘Young and Healthy’ 26-Year-Old

Blogger Comment: I have radically changed my mind concerning Trump’s conseravtive views on keeping financially and economic safe western economies and where his passion for Isreal is literally destroying everything that I thought was good for the world and where he appears to have gone of the edge with the Globalist’s disease of wanting more and those little thing called personal wealth, power and GREED…but where still the worser of the two evils is the Democrats who sold their sould under Biden and Harris to the elite Globalists and who woul;d in another 4 yeras of them being in power, destroy totally yje USA…so still keeping with Trump, but only due to the frightening fact that if the if US falls, all is lost in the western world and the Globalists have won…with their One World Government (OWG) in 2030, their stated golden year…period

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Europe is heading toward a potentially punishing winter energy crunch after drone attacks shut down Saudi Arabia’s critical East-West oil pipeline just as the continent enters the cold season with natural gas storage far below normal levels.

The Saudi pipeline provides a crucial alternative route for crude oil that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

With the system offline, analysts estimate that between 3.5 million and 4 million barrels per day of exports could be at risk, representing as much as 4% of global oil supply.

At the same time, European natural gas storage is sitting at only around 69% capacity, dramatically below the five-year average of approximately 85% for this point in the year.

The combination threatens to squeeze Europe simultaneously on oil and natural gas as temperatures begin to fall.

Drone Attacks Knock Out Critical Saudi Pipeline

Saudi Arabia’s roughly 745-mile East-West pipeline stretches from the kingdom’s oil-producing eastern region to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

The pipeline allows Saudi crude to reach international markets without traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important oil chokepoints.

The system can transport as much as 5.5 million barrels per day.

Saudi Arabia temporarily shut the pipeline following drone attacks on its infrastructure, threatening one of the kingdom’s most important alternative export routes.

The disruption is particularly significant for European refiners, which could be forced to compete for alternative crude supplies if the pipeline remains out of service for an extended period.

Brent crude surged above $113 per barrel earlier this week as markets reacted to the pipeline disruption and escalating tensions across the Middle East.

Prices eased Friday following reports that Saudi Arabia was working to restore as much as half of the pipeline’s capacity.

But the longer the disruption continues, the greater the potential pressure on global supplies — and Europe is entering the crisis with another major energy problem already developing.

Europe’s Gas Storage Falls Far Below Normal

European natural gas storage is only around 69% full heading into winter, compared with a five-year average of approximately 85% at this point in the year, according to Gas Infrastructure.

Europe’s benchmark natural gas price was trading at approximately $27.26 per million British thermal units on Thursday, based on the reported European price of €81 per megawatt-hour.

That represents an increase of around 150% from a year earlier.

Analysts have warned that European prices could climb to approximately $33.66 per million Btu if conditions deteriorate, based on the projected €100-per-megawatt-hour level.

Jack Sharples of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies warned that Europe does not necessarily need an exceptionally severe winter to find itself in trouble.

“I could see in even just a normal cold winter, not even a dramatically cold winter, storage being very heavily depleted,” Sharples said.

The Saudi pipeline shutdown therefore arrives at a particularly dangerous moment.

Europe faces reduced natural gas reserves while instability in the Middle East simultaneously threatens the oil supplies needed to keep its economies moving.

Energy Crisis Collides With Election Season

The renewed energy squeeze is also arriving as major European countries prepare for elections next year, putting political pressure on governments to contain rapidly rising fuel costs.

French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a “mobilisation” on fuel prices this week while emphasizing the importance of restoring navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and protecting allied energy infrastructure.

“The priority: restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for oil transit, protecting the energy infrastructure of our partners, and securing production,” Macron said.

“It’s essential to guarantee our supplies. We’re working with our coalition partners to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, meanwhile, abolished a car tax as her government moves to ease pressure on motorists.

“We have chosen to redirect a portion of the resources used so far to address rising fuel prices into a simple, structural measure designed especially for those who use cars and motorcycles every day to work, take their children, or get around,” Meloni said.

Spain doubled its diesel tax reduction on September 1 to approximately $0.87 per gallon.

Germany is also preparing measures of its own. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin will “soon” announce its response as German pump prices reach the equivalent of approximately $12.48 per gallon.

Europe Heads Into Winter Exposed

Europe now faces pressure from two directions.

Natural gas reserves are substantially below their normal seasonal level, with storage at just 69% compared with the five-year average of 85%.

Meanwhile, drone attacks have disabled a Saudi pipeline capable of moving 5.5 million barrels of oil per day around the Strait of Hormuz.

Up to 4 million barrels per day of exports are potentially at risk while the pipeline remains disrupted.

With Brent already surging above $113 per barrel and European natural gas prices roughly 150% higher than a year ago, governments are scrambling to shield consumers from another energy shock.

And with winter approaching, even an ordinarily cold season could leave Europe’s depleted natural gas reserves under severe pressure.

Follow the link for the source… https://slaynews.com/europe-winter-energy-drone-attacks-shut-down-key-saudi-oil-pipeline/

And,

READ MORE – Saudi Arabia Threatens Retaliation After Iran-Backed Houthis Targeted Mecca with Drone Attack