China's state-run digital identification system will protect internet users from online companies, fraudsters, and criminals that wish to access their information. Instead, it will give it all to the government.China has already implemented a "real-name registration" system for the better part of a decade that allows companies to know exactly who is shopping, playing video games, or commenting on their platforms.Now, the communist government is looking to completely invert that system and is claiming it wants to give the power of privacy back to the citizen.'Truly feel "security is within reach" while enjoying convenience.'The National Online Identity Authentication app is to "protect the information security of citizens," the government says, and what better way to do that than hand over all of one's data to the CCP in one convenient place.In order to apply for the unique internet identification number — essentially a username made up of letters and numbers — Chinese nationals will need to provide a trove of documents.According to the Library of Congress, this includes resident ID cards, passport (if residing overseas), travel passes, and/or permanent resident ID cards for foreigners. The Washington Post reported that registration also includes a face scan.In exchange, the users will get their own login credentials and a "network identity authentication certificate that carries the network number and non-clear-text identity information of a natural person."Chinese companies will be forced to comply too.RELATED: Chinese nationals on student visas allegedly ripped off elderly Americans in nasty scheme The Chinese government explained that while the new online ID remains voluntary, any internet service provider or website may not request real user information (unless required by law) from those using the government-issued credentials.Service providers must also ensure that users who use the authentication method have the same level of access to services as those who use their real names.Therefore, when shopping online or visiting social media sites, companies will simply see a digital ID, making the user effectively anonymous to the online world, except for government assets.China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, described the new program as a "protective shield" that allows the masses to "truly feel 'security is within reach' while enjoying convenience."The Cyberspace Administration of China added that the ID system helps to "support the healthy and orderly development of the digital economy."RELATED: China's 35 million incels face bleak future of state-run AI 'romance' — are American men next? Photo by Cheng Xin/Getty ImagesChina's "Great Firewall" already filters internet traffic coming into the country while simultaneously blocking certain content — such as Western social media sites, for example — from its populace.According to Newsweek, a 2017 cybersecurity law required Chinese internet users to use their real names in order to access certain digital services, like e-commerce sites and video sharing platforms.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A Texas man who went to the media to denounce racist vandalism at his home was arrested by police for allegedly burning down the home and killing two people, including one of his relatives.An unsealed federal indictment detailed the charges against Mario Raynard Roberson, who had blamed racial hatred for vandalism at his Huntsville home in 2023. Later, that home burned to the ground, leading many to blame racism and call for a federal investigation.'People are being terrible because of the hatred in their heart.'That federal investigation has led to numerous charges against Roberson, including one that carries a sentence of life in prison.Roberson went to the media when racist vandalism was spray-painted onto his home after a heated neighborhood association meeting where members voted to ban the use of homes as short-term rentals in May 2023. He claimed that someone at the meeting had threatened him."People are being terrible because of the hatred in their heart," said Roberson at the time.The graffiti read, "We don't like your kind," and ended with a racial epithet. Roberson, who was described as black in a KTRK-TV report, said he would not leave the neighborhood and would stand up to the alleged racism instead.At the time Roberson also claimed that someone fired a gunshot at him through a window in his house, narrowly missing him.'Racism, power-hungriness, money has gotten us to this place.'Only one month later in June, the home burned to the ground.Two people were killed in the home, and a witness said that the witness had seen a man running out of the home while fully engulfed in flames before stripping his clothes and driving away.Roberson again blamed racism."Racism, power-hungriness, money has gotten us to this place," Roberson said to KTRK at the time.That led to some organizations demanding that the Department of Justice investigate the incidents. In a June 2023 KRIV-TV report, a spokesperson from CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says that the group demanded that the FBI open an investigation into the matter as a possible hate crime.RELATED: Democrat who blamed GOP and Trump for 'Hinduphobic' messages has been arrested by Texas Rangers for alleged race hoax Roberson was arrested in Nov. 2023, as previously reported by Blaze News, after an investigation pointed to him as the arsonist. On Thursday, a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Texas said that the man had been indicted on July 1 on 12 counts related to the fire.Prosecutors said that Roberson hired three men, one of whom was a relative, to commit the arson so that he could make an insurance claim on his property with State Farm Insurance. However, something went wrong, and two of the three alleged arsonists died in the flames, prosecutors believe.According to KTRK, police found the man who had driven away from the house fire after he crashed his truck into a ditch. Police body-camera video obtained by the station showed that he told police he was brought out for an insurance scam. "I'm telling you. I'm from Houston. This dude, he told me to bring him out here to Huntsville," the man reportedly said. "He said somebody wants to do a numbers job on a house."Police said a "numbers job" refers to insurance scams."Whoever is doing it, he knows the man with the house," said the man. "A numbers job or something. That's all I know."Roberson denied the claims, but KTRK said it also found several civil lawsuits against him, mostly related to money.The most serious charge Roberson faces is conspiracy to commit arson against a property used in interstate or foreign commerce resulting in death, which carries a sentence of life in prison.RELATED: Biracial woman said four white males lit her on fire in racist attack — prosecutors found no evidence that it happened Roberson also faces charges ranging from wire fraud to conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to violate the Travel Act.“The defendant is alleged to have orchestrated a scheme to collect an insurance payout through a purported racially motivated arson, which led to two deaths,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “Now that he is in federal custody, he will answer these charges and, if found guilty, be held accountable for the death of these two men.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

While preparing for property development, archaeologists happened upon an ancient Roman road right beneath one of Manchester's busiest streets that could date as far back as the first century C.E. The post Archaeologists Just Uncovered A Well-Preserved Roman Road Mere Inches Beneath The Center Of Manchester appeared first on All That's Interesting.

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It lies just beneath the surface—literally and figuratively. A rusting American Liberty ship, broken-backed and quietly corroding off the coast of Kent and Essex, barely three miles from Sheerness. To many in the southeast of England, the name Richard Montgomery is familiar, even faintly iconic. Its skeletal masts still protrude from the Thames Estuary at low tide like a warning, or a forgotten monument. But beneath those masts lies something altogether more sobering: over 1,400 tons of unexploded ordnance. The wreck is a wartime time capsule that, by all reasonable estimates, has the potential to unleash the largest non-nuclear explosion on British soil since the Second World War.Richard Clements explains. The wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery. Source: Christine Matthews, available here. The story of the SS Richard Montgomery has never truly gone away. Locals have lived in its shadow for decades. Teenagers are warned off from daring swims. Journalists periodically revisit it. The government monitors it. Yet in recent months, the Richard Montgomery has once again found its way into headlines. With new sonar scans, rising concerns over corrosion, and questions about how long inaction can remain the official policy, this long-silent threat has begun to murmur again. A Wartime Wreck with a Dangerous CargoThe SS Richard Montgomery was built in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1943—one of over 2,700 Liberty ships constructed at speed to fuel the Allied war effort. She arrived in the Thames Estuary in August 1944, destined to join a larger convoy headed for Cherbourg, where her cargo—thousands of tons of munitions—was to support operations in liberated France. At the time, the estuary’s Great Nore Anchorage near Sheerness served as a gathering point for vessels awaiting safe passage.While anchored there, the Montgomery’s mooring reportedly dragged or failed, and the vessel drifted onto a shallow sandbank known as Sheerness Middle Sand. Grounded and listing, the ship’s structural integrity was compromised. Efforts to refloat her proved unsuccessful. Salvage teams began offloading the munitions, but before the operation could be completed, the ship’s hull split amidships.An estimated 6,000 tons of ordnance had been on board. Roughly half was safely removed. The remainder—some 1,400 tons by official estimates—remains inside the forward holds to this day. The cargo includes high explosive bombs, anti-tank devices, and aerial munitions, many of which have become unstable with time. A wartime manifest is believed to exist, though details have often been redacted in public summaries. Over the years, surveys have confirmed the presence of explosive material, but exact specifications are rarely disclosed in full.The wreck was declared a dangerous site, and further salvage was ruled out for fear that disturbing the remaining cargo could trigger an explosion. Instead, the area was marked with buoys, designated an exclusion zone, and subjected to regular monitoring—a policy that has continued into the 21st century. Living with the RiskFor most residents of coastal Kent and Essex, the Richard Montgomery is less a mystery than a fact of life—an ever-present silhouette on the horizon. Its masts, protruding from the water like the ribs of a fossilized beast, have been visible for generations. Schoolchildren grow up hearing about it. Locals give it a wide berth. And yet, for something that holds such destructive potential, it remains curiously normalized.Signs near the shoreline warn of exclusion zones. Maritime charts mark the wreck with bright symbols. Navigation buoys flash their silent signals to passing vessels. But on land, conversation about the ship is often casual. It has become, over time, one of those shared local oddities—like a long-standing crack in the pavement or a tree that leans the wrong way. Everyone knows it’s there. Most choose not to think about it too much.The British government has kept a close, if quiet, eye on the wreck. Annual surveys by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency check for structural shifts. A Department for Transport report in 2022 reiterated that the risk of explosion remains low so long as the site is left undisturbed. But concerns do resurface. In 2020, the Ministry of Defence released footage from a sonar scan showing the ship’s hull deteriorating, fueling public speculation.There have been no shortage of ideas over the years—from controlled detonation to encasing the wreck in concrete. None have gained traction. Each option, it seems, carries greater risk than simply leaving it alone. Successive governments have opted for cautious monitoring rather than intervention, a decision often criticized as kicking the can down the road. Yet the wreck persists, and so does the uneasy status quo.For those who live nearby, this balance between familiarity and latent danger is strangely British in character. Not quite forgotten, not quite feared, the Richard Montgomery remains part of the local backdrop. As one long-time resident in Sheerness once quipped to a reporter, “If it hasn’t gone up by now, it probably won’t—will it?” Back in the HeadlinesAfter decades of relative obscurity, the Richard Montgomery has once again captured national attention. In early June 2025, Kent Online confirmed new flight restrictions imposed over the wreck—pilots are now prohibited from flying below 13,100 feet within a one-nautical-mile radius, following expert advice aimed at further reducing risk. This no-fly rule, in effect until further notice, applies to all aircraft except emergency or coastguard flights.The news wasn’t confined to regional outlets. National broadcasters followed with commentary on broader safety concerns, describing the wreck as “a forgotten time bomb” in one headline. Security experts noted that the estuary’s proximity to major shipping lanes—used by LNG carriers and container ships—heightens concerns not only of accidental detonation but also of potential sabotage.Despite the growing attention, subsequent government statements have maintained a cautious posture. The Department for Transport confirmed that structural deterioration is ongoing, but insisted the risk remains low provided the site remains undisturbed. Meanwhile, maritime exclusion zones are still enforced and the wreck continues to be monitored by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Managing a Legacy: Proposals and PrecautionsOver the decades, a variety of solutions have been considered for the Richard Montgomery. Options have ranged from full ordnance removal to structural reinforcement or burial in concrete. However, none have been pursued—primarily because the danger of disturbing the wreck is considered greater than leaving it alone.The Maritime & Coastguard Agency, the Department for Transport, and the Ministry of Defence have stuck to a policy of passive containment. The site is clearly marked and monitored, with exclusion zones for shipping and—as of June 2025—a no‑fly zone prohibiting aircraft below 13,100 feet within a one‑nautical‑mile radius.The remaining cargo, estimated at around 1,400 tons of high explosives including bombs of various sizes and white phosphorus smoke devices, remains buried in the forward holds beneath silt and collapsed steel. As long as the wreck remains undisturbed, the official assessment describes the threat as low, though not negligible.While public imagination often oscillates between a catastrophic detonation and a safe cleanup, reality demands nuance. These wrecks are treated more like dormant geological faults—stable under current conditions but potentially volatile if tampered with. Lessons from the Deep: The SS Kielce CaseA comparable cautionary example comes from the English Channel, with the Polish freighter SS Kielce. The Kielce sank in 1946, carrying munitions when it collided with another ship off Folkestone. The wreck settled in some 90 feet of water—well over twice the depth of the Richard Montgomery, which lies at approximately 50 feet.In 1967, efforts to dismantle the Kielce ended badly. The Folkestone Salvage Company placed demolition charges on the hull and inadvertently detonated remaining munitions. The blast created a crater in the seabed over 150 feet long, 67 feet wide, and 20 feet deep. It registered as a magnitude 4.5 seismic event—detected across Europe and North America—and shattered windows and roofs in Folkestone, several miles away.It is worth noting that despite its deeper waters and lower explosive payload, the Kielce explosion still caused significant damage. In contrast, the Richard Montgomery sits in shallower water—its masts still visible above the low tide—and holds far more ordnance. Its proximity to densely populated areas and strategic infrastructure such as Sheerness docks and Thames shipping lanes makes its situation uniquely sensitive.The Kielce disaster remains a sobering historical precedent. It underlines the unpredictable dangers of attempting salvage operations on munitions-laden wrecks, and supports the reasoning behind official efforts to keep the Montgomery undisturbed. Conclusion – Between Memory and ResponsibilityThe SS Richard Montgomery is more than a rusting wreck—it is a persistent testament to wartime legacies and the decisions we make to contain them. Its silhouetted masts serve as a stark reminder that beneath the Thames isn’t just history, but latent danger.The Kielce incident teaches us that intervention—even cautious, professional intervention—can have unintended consequences. That wreck lay deeper and held fewer explosives than the Montgomery, yet when disturbed, its blast shook communities and created seismic ripples around the world.The Thames wreck lies closer to shore, holding much more volatile material. It is not merely passive decay; it is a hazard managed by surveillance, exclusion zones, and measured restraint. While erosion and rust continue their slow work, the official approach remains surveillance—not removal.In the end, the Richard Montgomery reveals much about our relationship with the past. It sits—watched, measured, contained—but unresolved. An explosive time capsule in shallow water, it tests the limits of prudence. As history recedes into memory, this wreck stands as a powerful symbol of the care and caution we must exercise in the aftermath of war. Did you find that piece interesting? If so, join us for free by clicking here.  ReferencesDaily Express. “Warning over UK ‘Time Bomb’ Ship Loaded with 1,400 Tons of Explosives.” Daily Express Online, June 2025. Department for Transport. Annual Report on the Condition of the SS Richard Montgomery Wreck Site. London: UK Government Publications, 2022.Kent Online. “New No-Fly Zone Introduced over Richard Montgomery Wreck.” KentOnline, June 4, 2025. Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Wreck Monitoring Report: SS Richard Montgomery, 2023.Smith, Roger. “The Kielce Explosion of 1967: Lessons from a Wartime Wreck.” Maritime Historical Review, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1998.BBC News Archive. “Underwater Blast Rocks Channel: Wreck Detonates during Salvage.” BBC News, July 1967.Folkestone Salvage Company Records. “Case File: SS Kielce,” National Archives Reference FS/1967/072.

U.S. businesses told the Federal Reserve in June and early July that the loss of immigrant labor is adding to their struggles with the effects of fast-changing trade policies as the Trump administration's economic strategies began gaining traction.