WHO Warns Ebola Outbreak May Be Far Larger

American Samaritan’s Purse Worker With Ebola Flown To Germany As WHO Warns Outbreak May Be Far Larger

Stefan J. Bos

 An American aid worker with the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse who contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has arrived in Germany for treatment, the health ministry in Berlin said Monday, amid warnings that the potentially deadly disease is spreading much faster than official figures suggest.

The American patient reportedly landed in Frankfurt overnight and was transferred to the city’s University Hospital, just weeks after another Ebola-infected U.S. citizen was successfully treated in Germany, officials said.

Evangelist Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, said the patient was “doing well.”

The patient, identified by Samaritan’s Purse as a man in his 60s, served as a warehouse manager in the DRC rather than directly treating Ebola patients. The organization said he became infected while supporting its humanitarian operations in the outbreak zone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the aid worker had been serving in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, the epicenter of the country’s 17th Ebola outbreak, declared in mid-May. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the patient received clinical care before being safely transferred to Germany for continued treatment.

German officials stressed that the patient poses no danger to the public or other hospital patients, adding that Germany was asked to assist because of its internationally recognized expertise in treating Ebola and the shorter flight time from central Africa.

Another American infected during the current outbreak was treated in Berlin earlier this year and recovered after about two weeks in isolation.

However, hundreds of other patients have died, and the WHO warned Tuesday that the outbreak could be two to four times larger than official figures indicate.

Although authorities have confirmed nearly 2,000 infections and more than 700 deaths, WHO emergencies director Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu said many cases remain undetected.

“The scale of the outbreak is at least two to four times the number of cases that we have found,” he told reporters in Geneva after returning from the DRC.

He added that the current epidemic is already the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record and the fastest-growing ever documented in Africa over a comparable period.

More....

The Rise Of Physical AI

The Rise Of Physical AI Changes Everything

 PNW STAFF

For years, the artificial intelligence revolution lived almost entirely on our screens.

AI wrote emails, answered questions, generated artwork, and powered chatbots. It was impressive, but it still felt like software—a tool we interacted with through keyboards and smartphones.

That era is ending.

This week alone offered three remarkable glimpses into what comes next. At BMW's South Carolina manufacturing plant, a humanoid robot is now working alongside employees on the production line, handling parts and adapting to changing tasks with remarkable precision. 

In Switzerland, researchers unveiled a humanoid robot capable of instantly transforming its face into convincing digital likenesses of Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, and others while maintaining natural conversation and eye contact. 

Meanwhile, a New York school district announced that students returning this fall will find a lifelike humanoid robot named "Sally" helping teach AI and robotics classes while serving as an intelligent tutor long after the school day ends.

Viewed separately, each story is fascinating.

Viewed together, they reveal something much larger.

Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to computers.

It is acquiring a body.

That changes everything.

The Next Technological Revolution

The first wave of AI transformed information.

The second wave is transforming the physical world.

For decades, industrial robots lived behind safety cages performing the same repetitive movement thousands of times a day. They were powerful, but they weren't intelligent.

Today's "physical AI" is fundamentally different.

These machines can see.

Learn.

Adapt.

Navigate unfamiliar environments.

Hold conversations.

Recognize faces.

Remember previous interactions.

Respond naturally.

Soon they won't simply build our cars—they'll work beside us, care for aging parents, stock warehouses, patrol military bases, greet hotel guests, assist doctors, teach students, and eventually become familiar fixtures inside millions of homes.

More...

'Shocking' Election Vulnerabilities Including 278,000 Fraudulent Voters

Trump Reveals 'Shocking' Election Vulnerabilities Including 278,000 Fraudulent Voters

TYLER DURDEN

Update (2110ET): Trump has released several major election-related findings: 

• Mass declassification event - The White House just released previously classified Intelligence Community assessments and reports on election infrastructure spanning January 2020 through June 2026.
• Adversary capability finding - A quoted IC assessment states Russia, China, Iran, North Korea "at a minimum," plus non-state groups, have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure.
• Weakest-link identification - Centralized data repositories (voter registration databases, pollbooks, official election websites) are assessed as the systems most vulnerable to exploitation and disruption.
• Venezuela proof-of-concept - CIA reporting allegedly detailed a Maduro-regime plot to digitally rig Venezuela's 2020 elections using methods that could alter vote totals undetectably "even with an audit."
• China's 220 million voter files - The PRC allegedly acquired 220 million U.S. voter files beginning in the 2020 cycle - framed as the largest election-data compromise in history - and assigned a dedicated data exploitation unit to it.
• Alleged intelligence cover-up - The document claims IC officials ("Deep State") suppressed knowledge of the China compromise from both the President and the public, despite the IC discovering it in 2020 across 18 states.
• Michigan registration fraud files - FBI documents allegedly show canvassers for a Democrat GOTV operation in Muskegon admitted forging registrations, registering nonexistent people, and receiving gift cards tied to application volume after a 2020 Michigan State Police raid.
• Enforcement directive - The release asserts the Biden DOJ slow-walked the Michigan case for years; FBI Director Patel is now directed to complete the investigation and pursue prosecutions with DOJ.
• 278,000 noncitizen registrants - A DHS review of voter rolls and public records allegedly identified ~278,000 noncitizens registered for federal elections, with the White House asserting the true number is higher because Democrat-led states withheld their files.
• Policy endgame and rolling campaign - The four pillars converge into an argument for Voter ID, proof of citizenship, and curtailing mail ballots, with a mailing list promising "new findings, new filings, and next steps" - signaling a serialized release-and-enforcement campaign rather than a one-time disclosure.

The White House has published election integrity findings built around four pillars, accompanying a presidential address and a declassification of Intelligence Community assessments spanning January 2020 through June 2026. The pillars: 

(1) IC findings that Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and non-state actors have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure, with centralized data repositories - registration databases, pollbooks, election websites - assessed as most vulnerable; 

(2) an alleged CIA-reported Maduro-regime plot to digitally rig Venezuela's 2020 elections using methods undetectable "even with an audit," offered as proof-of-concept that electronic vote manipulation is possible; 

(3) China's alleged acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files beginning in 2020 - framed as history's largest election-data compromise, complete with a dedicated exploitation unit - which the document claims "Deep State" intelligence officials concealed from both the President and the public; and 

(4) FBI files on a 2020 Muskegon, Michigan raid of a Democrat GOTV operation where canvassers allegedly admitted forging registrations for pay, a case the Biden DOJ purportedly slow-walked and which FBI Director Patel is now directed to investigate and prosecute. 

A DHS review claiming roughly 278,000 noncitizens on federal voter rolls rounds out the disclosures.

US expands Iran strikes, hitting airport, bridges and communications tower

US expands Iran strikes, hitting airport, bridges and communications tower

Itamar Eichner

The United States informed Israel that it intends to expand its strikes against Iran to include infrastructure and energy facilities, as the U.S. military launched another wave of attacks Thursday night against the Iranian regime. The latest strikes, carried out for a fifth consecutive night, targeted an airport, bridges and a communications tower, according to Iranian media reports.

Despite the escalation, Israeli officials assess that Iran does not currently want to fire at Israel and risk drawing the IDF into the confrontation. Jerusalem, however, views that assessment as far from certain and is preparing for the possibility of an Iranian attack. “We are ready, and if they make that mistake, they will pay a heavy price. Let them come,” an Israeli official said.

Iran has publicly threatened to broaden its attacks if the United States further intensifies its campaign. Tehran has so far targeted Gulf states and American military bases across the Middle East. Iranian launches were reported toward Jordan and Kuwait, where authorities said 32 drones were intercepted Thursday. Tasnim news agency reported that U.S. forces struck a communications tower in the port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz, while a separate report said seven people were wounded in the strike.

U.S. fighter jets later attacked Iranshahr Airport in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, according to Iranian media. Explosions were also reported in Bandar Khamir and Kohurestan district. Several bridges were hit, including one intended to maintain the road connection between Bandar Abbas and Shiraz, and electricity supplies were disrupted in parts of Kohurestan. Iranian media reported that one person was killed and eight others wounded in one of the strikes in Hormozgan province, while two civilians were reportedly wounded in a U.S. attack on a railway station in Bandar Abbas.

Iran’s Fars news agency said the attacks damaged both the Kohurestan Bridge and the Giriyeh Bridge. “Two people were killed and four were wounded in these attacks,” the agency reported. “The Bandar Abbas-Khamir-Lar road is completely blocked, and the Keshar-Kohurestan road is also blocked.”

At the same time, U.S. Central Command said Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit boarded the oil tanker Wen Yao in the Gulf of Oman to verify that it was complying with the U.S. maritime blockade on Iran. CENTCOM said three commercial vessels attempting to breach the blockade had so far been diverted, another vessel had been disabled after failing to obey instructions and one had been inspected. The military said the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters remained open to maritime traffic, except for vessels attempting to violate the blockade.

Israeli officials say two developments could bring Israel back into the fighting: a direct Iranian attack on Israel or a U.S. request for Israel to join the strikes. Neither has happened, and the confrontation between Washington and Tehran remains limited despite the intensified campaign. Mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Qatar said they were working to restart negotiations and noted that neither side had announced its withdrawal from the memorandum of understanding reached between Washington and Tehran. They said freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz remained the central issue in the talks.

More...

US Launches 6th Consecutive Night Of Strikes On Iran Amid Threats Of "Infrastructure For Infrastructure" War

US Launches 6th Consecutive Night Of Strikes On Iran Amid Threats Of "Infrastructure For Infrastructure" War

TYLER DURDEN

The Pentagon has announced that a sixth night of airstrikes on Iran have commenced: "At 2 p.m. ET today, U.S. forces began conducting a new wave of strikes against Iran for the sixth consecutive night to further degrade Iranian military capabilities," US Central Command stated on X.

Some latest developments from the region on Iran's retaliation:

• Iranian strikes targeted a number of vital facilities in Kuwait, the Reuters news agency reports, citing the country’s defence ministry. The strikes resulted in material damage, it added.
• The US Embassy in Baghdad has advised US citizens in Iraq to be on alert following a drone attack on Erbil on Wednesday.
• Dubai has warned of “necessary measures” against any media publishing false news after Reuters reported sounds of explosions in the city center of the UAE’s financial hub.

Thursday's strikes appear to be focused further north in Iran, also after earlier reports of having forcibly turned back another tanker accused of seeking to bypass the US naval blockade.

So far amid what is approaching one week of renewed US air raids, Iranian officials say the attacks have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others.

Ironically, Karoline Leavitt was gone a couple months for maternity leave and she just returned this afternoon to give pretty much the same Iran press briefing as before she left...

CNN reports, citing state media: "Three explosions have been heard in western Bandar Abbas, a major port city on the southern coast of the country, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) reported Thursday evening local time."

Since the prior day's handover of American detainee Dena Karari back to the US, which President Trump said he "appreciated" as a rare "gesture of goodwill" from Iran, Washington's bombs over the Islamic Republic appear to have ceased or slowed, for now at least.

But that doesn't mean Iran's retaliatory missiles and drones on America's Gulf allies have halted. On Thursday, Kuwait has announced its air defenses continue to be active, confronting inbound assaults by "hostile drones".

"The General Staff of the Army notes that any explosion sounds heard are the result of air defense systems intercepting the hostile attacks," the Kuwaiti military said in a statement, blasting "the sinful Iranian aggression." It added: "Everyone is requested to adhere to the security and safety instructions issued by the competent authorities."

After five consecutive days of US attack waves, the Iranian military has yet to show signs of backing off its assertions of 'control' over the Strait of Hormuz, and its military has newly warned that the energy transit waterway is an "unbreakable red line" which it will enforce.

On Wednesday President Trump warned that if Iran doesn't come back to the negotiating table - while relinquishing control of Hormuz - that by next week strikes will expand to include civic and energy infrastructure, such as bridges.

Tehran has in turn counter-threatened to destroy "all infrastructure throughout the region" if Trump acts on this threat to attack Iran's vital infrastructure cites.

New: “Infrastructure for Infrastructure” - Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Joint HQ Colonel Ibrahim Zolfaghari:

To review of the events of the prior 24 hours:

• The US military says it launched another wave of strikes on Iran with Iranian media reporting explosions on Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas and Chabahar.
• The US military also says it “disabled” an oil tanker attempting to sail towards an Iranian port in the Strait of Hormuz by firing Hellfire missiles.
• Iran says it carried out retaliatory attacks targeting US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

As for the situation of global shipping through the Strait, Kpler has recorded that merely 13 merchant ships transited the waterway on Wednesday, including eight that departed the Persian Gulf and five having entered.

Among those, only one - a bulk carrier entering the Gulf - used the US-approved route for safe passage, which hugs the Omani coast. Iran has been busy boasting that a huge array of companies and countries have sought to negotiate passage with Tehran on its terms of late.

This has settled into a waiting game amid dangerous escalatory tit-for-tat strikes, with each seeking to outlast in terms of absorbing pain.