Day: April 17, 2026

In the video shared overnight, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, a group with ties to Iran, said it was going to attack the embassy with drones carrying dangerous substances. London Metropolitan Police closed off the Kensington Gardens area across from the embassy and are investigating “a number of discarded items,” News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

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“While we can confirm that the embassy has not been attacked, we are carrying out urgent enquiries to determine the authenticity of the video and to identify any potential link between it and the items discarded in Kensington Gardens,” the Met said in a statement. “We will provide further updates when we are able to.”

London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service’s hazardous area response team were also on the scene earlier in the day.

The police said there is not believed to be any increased risk to public safety but people are urged to avoid the area.

“We wish to clarify that all embassy staff are safe and that the embassy was not attacked,” a spokesperson from the Embassy of Israel said in a statement.

Matt Jukes, deputy commissioner of the Met, said police are working with security teams in response to “speculation about an incident at the Israeli Embassy” on Wednesday.

“Separately we are aware of speculation about an incident at the Israeli Embassy in London yesterday,” he said. “There has been no incident at that location but we can confirm we have been liaising with security teams there in relation to their security.”

The post Police shut down Kensington Gardens in London amid drone scare​ appeared first on azeritimes.com.

The overhaul, announced at an event in San Francisco, comes as concerns mount across the tech industry over bots, deepfakes and AI agents impersonating humans online, a trend World is explicitly targeting with a broader push into authentication, payments and internet services, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

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Altman’s other major project is OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT and tools using the large language model AI platform.

World’s system relies on its custom-built “Orb” devices to establish what it calls proof-of-humanity. To obtain a World ID, users must visit an Orb in person, where the device scans their face and iris to generate a unique cryptographic code representing that individual.

The images are deleted after processing, according to the company, and only anonymized fragments of the code are sent across a distributed network to confirm the person has not previously registered. The result is a credential that can prove someone is a unique human online without revealing their identity or personal data. Some critics, however, have flagged the use of biometric scanning via the Orb as a controversial aspect of the system.

At the core of the update is a redesigned architecture intended to improve privacy, security and usability. New features include account-based identity, multi-key support, recovery mechanisms, which give capabilities typically expected in large-scale security systems.
“World 4.0 is powerful, scalable and open,” senior executive Daniel Shorr said at the event. “In the age of AI, being human will be incredibly valuable and the internet will want to know you’re human,” he added.

The company is also introducing a dedicated World ID app, currently in beta, which will allow users to manage credentials and authenticate across platforms. The app reflects a broader ambition to make proof-of-human identity as seamless as logging into a social media account.

Alongside the protocol update, World detailed a slate of integrations aimed at embedding its identity layer across consumer platforms.

On the consumer side, the company is expanding partnerships with platforms like Tinder, where users can display a “verified human” badge, and rolling out “Concert Kit,” a tool designed to help artists reserve tickets for verified individuals to combat scalper bots.

Gaming and online communities are another focus, with partnerships involving Razer and Mythical Games, while Reddit has signaled it is exploring similar identity tools for bot detection.

Enterprise use cases are also central to the rollout. World said it is working with Zoom on a feature called “Deep Face,” which verifies that a meeting participant is a real human rather than a deepfake, and with Docusign to incorporate proof-of-human checks into digital agreements.

In addition, World is rolling out new tooling, including “AgentKit,” to allow developers to attach credentials that prove there are humans to agents, which will be needed for sensitive actions and enable agent-based commerce tied to verified individuals.
The company is working with firms including Okta, Vercel and Browserbase on these capabilities, which aim to establish a trust layer for automated workflows without requiring personal data.

‘World ID is on the way to being a real human network for the internet,” said Sam Altman, the co-founder of World, at an event marking the announcement in San Francisco.

The post Sam Altman’s World project upgrades to fight deepfakes and bots​ appeared first on azeritimes.com.

It said on X that all transit requires its permission, that civilian vessels are allowed to pass only through Iran’s designated route and that military vessels are still prohibited from transiting, News.Az reports, citing CNN.

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It described the list of conditions as a “new order,” saying it is in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.

Its statement includes some details that Iran’s foreign minister didn’t mention when he declared on X earlier that passage during the ceasefire was “completely open” for all commercial vessels on a previously announced route.

The post IRGC Navy outlines conditions for crossing the Strait of Hormuz​ appeared first on azeritimes.com.