Our Fridges Are Too Smart

A story of a woman named Carol who was terrified by her refrigerator went viral last year. She bought a smart fridge, and Samsung displayed ads on its screen. One ad for a new television show said, “We’re sorry we upset you, Carol.” Carol was so startled and disturbed by her fridge’s apparent attempt to communicate with her that she checked herself into a mental institution.

[BRIEF]

• The fridge and the ad were real, but the owner with the same name was not. Someone made up the story as a joke.

I was reminded of the story after reading about the tens of millions of euros of food ruined by a mass cyberattack on fridges of French supermarkets yesterday.

Someone hacked the fridges in over 400 supermarkets across France and cranked the temperature past 120 degrees Fahrenheit. All the food had to be thrown out.

• There’s clearly profit and convenience in putting our fridges online, but danger too.

It’s only the latest example of the wide variety of targets available for a hacker. Attackers have remotely:

• Shut down the “jugular” of America’s oil pipeline network
• Stopped work at beef and pork slaughtering plants, including 20 percent of slaughtering capacity in the U.S.
• Repeatedly probed and cataloged vulnerabilities in the U.S. electrical grid

The massive number of network-connected devices provides all kinds of wacky ways for hackers to strike. In 2017, for example, a casino was hacked via an Internet-connected thermostat in its lobby aquarium.

Imagine the potential fallout of a major attack by a hostile power on far more consequential but just as vulnerable infrastructure or military systems. The power goes out—for weeks. Food production halts. Gas stations run empty. So do supermarkets. Practically overnight, the nation would be brought to its knees.

Ezekiel 4 describes a yearlong siege against modern Israel. It supplies graphic detail about the barbarity to which men are reduced by starvation. The Bible doesn’t say so directly, but cyberattacks could certainly contribute to this siege.

• In ancient times, armies would lay siege to cities, cutting them off from external supplies, including food and water. In an upcoming siege, America’s enemies are sure to reach through the walls with cyberattacks to disrupt society and weaken the country.

After the siege will come an outright military attack. Here again, cyberwarfare will likely play a significant role. Ezekiel 7:14 warns, “They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.”

“It seems everybody is expecting our people to go into battle, but the greatest tragedy imaginable occurs!” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote. “Nobody goes to battle—even though the trumpet is blown! Will it be because of a computer terrorist?” (Trumpet, January 1995).

From fridges to fish tanks to nuclear-armed stealth fighters, the potential for destruction in our high-tech, highly fragile world is huge. We are in the last days of man’s society, but after it has fallen apart, God will build a new world.

Party Coleader Resignation Weakens German Government

Bärbel Bas resigned as coleader of the Social Democratic Party (spd) and labor and social affairs minister of Germany yesterday. This weakens and could even end the nation’s governing coalition, which consists of the spd with the Christian Democratic Union and the cdu’s sister party, the Christian Social Union.

• Bas cited the death of her stepdaughter and “public attacks” from members of the cdu as she grieved.
• She has been replaced as labor and social affairs minister by Alexander Schweitzer.

This resignation exacerbates Germany’s ongoing political instability and further pushes its leaders and people to look for a strong, autocratic leader who seems more stable.

• Bas’s replacement as spd coleader will be decided by the party in the coming months. The party’s other coleader, Lars Klingbeil, stated yesterday that “the entire spd leadership team will stand for election” at a party conference planned for December or January.

Germany’s coalition was weak from the start, when the conservative cdu-csu joined the liberal spd in May. Among the cdu-csu and spd’s fundamental disagreements are disputes over proposed pension reforms.

• Germany’s Spiegel wrote yesterday that the “mood” in the coalition “is reminiscent of the end time” of the so-called traffic light coalition of the red spd, yellow Free Democratic Party and green Alliance 90 parties, which failed in November 2024 after just three years.

The current coalition might not last two years.

• The cdu is suffering losses in state elections, including a historic defeat by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland last month in Saxony-Anhalt.
• The spd is also unpopular. Last month, only 11 percent of voters said they would vote for it if national elections were called soon.

Both parties know that breaking up the coalition not only removes them from governing but also opens the door for the AfD to gain more power.

What will happen to Germany’s current governing coalition is uncertain, but the nation’s years-long political instability is certain to produce a strongman who will take over the nation and the Continent, as prophesied in your Bible.

Was the FlyDubai Terrorist Radicalized in Australia?

The Omani national who tried to mass murder about 150 Israelis and about 30 other people on September 29 is accused of being radicalized at an Australian mosque.

• First officer Hamam al-Hammami stabbed the captain with the cockpit’s crash ax and then tried to dive Flight 1073 into the Saudi Arabian desert before passengers stopped him. Hammami lived in Australia in the 2010s, and investigators are reportedly examining this period as the start of his radicalization process.

Hammami’s “drift toward extremism and terrorism” occurred while studying at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology between 2015 and 2017, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, the United Arab Emirates’ attorney general, said on Friday.

• The U.A.E. says that while Hammami was in Melbourne, he developed connections to “My Center,” also known as the “Multicultural Youth Center,” which also functions as a mosque.
• Hammami apparently knew the center’s leader, Samir Mohtadi, who has been a controversial figure for decades. Mohtadi has promoted material that encourages wife abuse and has been accused of referring to Jews as “bloodsucking humans” and of calling on Allah to “cast terror into the hearts of the Zionists.”

After the Islamist Bondi Beach massacre of Jews in 2025, many Australians realized one of their “multicultural” factions possesses a strong, insidious and violent culture of anti-Semitism. This has been fueled by large-scale immigration from the Muslim world.

“Australia is a land historically detached from sectarian violence, from the Levant and from the plight of the Jewish people,” the Trumpet’s Australia correspondent, Callum Wood, wrote in the February issue. “Yet a strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism has surged in recent years. Left unchecked, and in some ways endorsed, the hatred inexorably led to the Bondi massacre.”

• This latest news indicates that Australia’s plague of anti-Semitism could cost more lives. Muslims living in Australia can inspire attacks on Jews not only in Australia but also far beyond.

Behold how local problems can become global issues. Australia’s anti-Semitism is serious and deserves rigorous examination, even months after the country is supposedly finding closure after the Bondi massacre. This trend is explained in detail in “Australia’s Undercurrent of Anti-Semitism.”

IN OTHER NEWS

China helps Russia mass-produce satellites to guide drones: China is supplying Russia with electronic components that will enable it to mass-produce satellites for its Rassvet constellation, Kyodo News reported yesterday. Currently, communication limitations largely confine Russian drone operations to areas near the front lines. But Rassvet is expected to enable Russian operators to control drones over much greater distances, extending their reach and increasing their lethality against Ukrainian targets. As Russia and China deepen their military cooperation, they are building an alliance that biblical prophecy says will reshape the geopolitical landscape.

American NATO general deepens doubts over U.S. commitments to Europe: nato Supreme Allied Commander of Europe Alexus Grynkewich stated yesterday at the Warsaw Security Forum, “Ultimately, it will be a political decision” as to whether American troops would help Europe fight off a Russian attack. This deepens doubts regarding American promises to protect Europe and will contribute to the rise of a European superpower, led by Germany, as described in the Bible.

German Air Force practices nuclear deployment with NATO: Three German Air Force Tornado fighter jets will participate in nato’s “Steadfast Noon” military exercises in Italy, which begin today. The annual two-week exercise, which will likely involve around 70 aircraft and 2,000 personnel from 17 nations, tests and refines nuclear deterrence capabilities. Training German planes to use such weapons is a deadly mistake, as both history and Bible prophecy warn.

Ethiopian conflict becoming regional war? Fears are growing that Ethiopia’s renewed civil war will become a wider conflict in the Red Sea region. Last week, geo-located footage showed Eritrean troops in the Tigray region, and Ethiopia began targeting the troops with drone strikes. This news came just after an October 4 meeting of leaders from Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia, in which these nations agreed in their first-ever four-way meeting to coordinate a military response should the war progress to Eritrea’s border. Conflict monitors have reported Ethiopian troops probing Eritrean territory. In addition to the tension in a region near one of the world’s most important waterways, this conflict is also giving Egypt the opportunity to exert more leadership over Ethiopia, as described in specific Bible prophecies.