The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations today left a “chilling” briefing about the danger posed by Iraq’s Mosul Dam and called on the international community to realize the “magnitude of the problem and the importance of readiness to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.”

The briefing from geotechnical experts said the dam, already described nearly a decade ago as the “most dangerous dam in the world,” now faces a “serious and unprecedented risk of catastrophic failure with little warning."

Iraq contracts Italian firm to fix imperilled Mosu …Play video

The Mosul Dam lies approximately 30 miles north of Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul and has been a danger ever since it was constructed in the mid-1980s on unstable foundation. But officials fear that in recent years the problem has gotten much worse as the terror group ISIS was able to temporarily take control of the dam and may have interfered with the constant, massive grouting operation that is necessary to keep the dam functional -- though an Iraqi official told ABC News in 2014 that the work continued, even under ISIS control.

In a worst case scenario, should the dam breach, it could send a flood wave several stories high into Mosul and inundate cities with devastating effect as far down the Tigris as Baghdad, more than 200 miles away, according to a 2007 warning letter from top U.S. officials to the Iraqi government and contemporary estimates by experts.

“While important steps have been taken to address a potential breach, the dam could still fail,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said today in a written statement. “In the event of a breach, there is the potential in some places for a flood wave up to 14 meters [46 feet] high that could sweep up everything in its path, including people, cars, unexploded ordnance, waste and other hazardous material, further endangering massive population centers that lie in the flood path... We all must intensify our efforts to ensure that urgently-needed repair work is undertaken as soon as possible and that people across Iraq understand the risks and the best evacuation routes.”

Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a “security message” that noted that while officials did not have “specific information that indicates when a breach might occur,” it advised Americans in the potential danger zone to have an evacuation plan ready.

The day after the security message was sent out, an Italian company, Trevi, announced that it had agreed to intervene and fix the dam for $300 million, but it won’t be easy.

“These are huge and very sophisticated repairs. It’s not like going to Home Depot and grabbing some paint and caulk,” a geotechnical expert, who previously worked on the dam, told ABC News.

The expert said he foresaw a few months before meaningful repairs would begin. In the meantime, as to when the dam could fail, he said, it “could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be 10 years-time.”

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North Korea says country has miniaturised nuclear warhead (video)

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, as South Korean and U.S. forces conducted massive war games.

The North also announced it had scrapped all agreements with the South on commercial exchange projects and would "liquidate" South Korean assets left behind in its territory.

North Korea has a large stockpile of short-range missiles and is developing long-range and intercontinental missiles as well. Thursday's missiles flew about 500 km (300 miles) into the sea, off the east coast city of Wonsan and probably were part of the Soviet-developed Scud series, South Korea's defense ministry said.

Japan, within range of the longer-range variant of Scud missiles or the upgraded Rodong missiles, lodged a protest through the North Korean embassy in Beijing, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said on Thursday the U.S. Defense Department was aware of the reports of the missile launches. "We are monitoring the situation closely," he said.

North Korea often fires short-range missiles when tensions rise on the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang gets particularly upset about the annual U.S.-South Korea drills, which it says are preparations for an invasion.

The U.S. and South Korea remain technically at war with the North because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armed truce instead of a peace agreement.

Around 17,000 U.S. military personnel are participating alongside some 300,000 South Korean troops in what South Korea's Defense Ministry has called the "largest-ever" joint military exercises.

North Korea on Sunday warned it would make a "pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strike" in response to the exercises.

"LIQUIDATING" ASSETS

After Thursday's missile launches, North Korea announced it would "liquidate" South Korean assets left behind in the Kaesong industrial zone and in the Mount Kumgang tourist zone.

South Korea protested the move as "totally unacceptable" but did not say what it could do to recover the assets that it valued in excess of 1.4 trillion won ($1.17 billion).

SLIDESHOW – >>>

Mount Kumgang was the first major inter-Korean cooperation project. Thousands of South Koreans visited the resort between 1998 and 2008. Seoul ended the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who wandered into a restricted area.

North Korea is also livid about stepped-up United Nations sanctions adopted last week following its recent nuclear test and long-range missile launch.

South Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday's missile launches again violated a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions and it would refer the matter to the Council's sanctions committee mandated to enforce the resolutions.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei described the situation on the Korean peninsula as "complex and sensitive."

"All sides should stop their provocative words and deeds to avoid a further rise in tensions," he said.

MINIATURIZED WARHEADS

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles, state media reported on Wednesday, and called on his military to be prepared to mount pre-emptive attacks against the United States and South Korea.

It was his first direct comment on the technology needed to deploy nuclear missiles. North Korean state media released photographs they said showed Kim Jong Un inspecting a spherical miniaturized warhead. State media have previously made that claim, which has been widely questioned and never independently verified.

South Korea's defense ministry said it did not believe the North had successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead or deployed a functioning intercontinental ballistic missile.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby declined on Wednesday to comment on Kim's claim to have miniaturized nuclear warheads and accused him of "provocative rhetoric."

"I'd say the young man needs to pay more attention to the North Korean people and taking care of them, than in pursuing these sorts of reckless capabilities," Kirby said.

A South Korean Army K-1 tank moves during the annual exercise with their U.S. counterparts in Paju, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, March 10, 2016. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said, a likely show of anger at continuing springtime war games by rivals Washington and Seoul and another ratcheting up of hostility on the already anxious Korean Peninsula. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

The Pentagon said this week it had not seen North Korea demonstrate a capability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead. But Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Wednesday the department was working on U.S. ballistic missile defenses to be prepared.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 but its claim to have set off a miniaturized hydrogen bomb last month has been disputed by the U.S. and South Korean governments and many experts, who said the blast was too small to back it up.

($1=1,201.1800 won)

(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo and David Brunnstrom and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Clarence Fernandez and Jeffrey Benkoe)

The NHS's Gender Identity Disorder Service treated 1,013 children, between April and December last year, a freedom of information request by The Sun revealed.

In 2010, just 97 cases were recorded.

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, based in London, is the only clinic in the U.K. that provides such treatment. But as demand for the treatment increases, the Trust may seek to offer treatment in their Leeds, Brighton and Exeter clinics.

Hormone Blockers

At the clinic those under 18 years of age and their families are given counselling and, in some instances, hormone-blocking treatments.

Appearing on Sky News last year, Christian Concern's Campaigns Director Andrew Marsh said: "we need to engage with the underlying issues" of gender identity and "address the psychological and mental issues with compassion and care."

In January, national "gender identity" group Mermaids claimed there were as many as 80 primary school age children a year expressing a desire to "change" their gender.

Often Temporary

But studies strongly suggest that feelings of gender confusion in young children are often temporary.

According to the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Paul McHugh, 70 to 80 percent of children tracked at both Vanderbilt University and the London's Portman Clinic, who had expressed transgender feelings, "spontaneously lost those feelings."

'God-Given Identity'

Echoing the thoughts of Dr. McHugh Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said:

"When children express confusion like this, we need to be affirming their God-given identity and helping them to understand their birth gender. It is clear from this group's comments that many children are simply following the lead of others, without truly understanding the implications.

"If we allow this trend to grow unchecked, we could see many children making decisions they could regret later on."

A new FBI initiative based on Britain’s “anti-terror” mass surveillance program instructs high schools across America to inform on students who express “anti-government” and “anarchist” political beliefs.

“High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support for their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of targeted violence within our borders. High schools must remain vigilant in educating their students about catalysts that drive violent extremism and the potential consequences of embracing extremist belief,” states an unclassified document released in January by the FBI’s Office of Partner Engagement, the agency’s primary liaison for the law enforcement community.

The document claims public school educators “are in a unique position to affect change, impart affirmative messaging, or facilitate intervention activities,” including informing on students. It calls for “observing and assessing concerning behaviors and communications” of students “embracing extremist ideologies.”

In addition to “designated foreign terrorist organizations,” the FBI program targets “domestic violent extremism movements,” including anti-government groups.

According to the FBI “some adults embrace domestic violent extremist ideologies [and] their beliefs can permeate family norms, oftentimes influencing their children. This dynamic fosters biases leading to hatred and intolerance, and drives the need for action.”

Conflating Sovereign Citizens and Constitutionalists

The FBI and federal and local law enforcement groups categorize many libertarian, constitutionalist and other groups and individuals as “sovereign citizens.”

According to an FBI counterterrorism analysis, sovereign citizens “may refer to themselves as ‘constitutionalists’ or ‘freemen,’ which is not necessarily a connection to a specific group, but, rather, an indication that they are free from government control.”

The FBI considers the Redemption Theory (the abandonment of the gold standard in favor of fiat currency), emancipation “from the responsibilities of being a U.S. citizen, including paying taxes,” and “conspiracy theories,” including the formation of global government and a police state, as indicators of extremist or sovereign citizen ideology.

A National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) report produced by the Office of University Programs, Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security in 2014 lists sovereign citizens as the primary domestic terror threat in the United States, followed by Islamic jihadists, “militia/patriot” and “extreme anti-tax” groups.

The document attempts to persuade law enforcement that sovereign citizens are a direct threat to them. “Such changing perceptions about what is a serious terrorist threat is an important finding because identifying and prioritizing a threat is akin to hitting a moving target and evolves as new intelligence, data, and events develop,” the START report argues.

The FBI high school informer network initiative is part of a larger effort “identifying and prioritizing” supposed threats.

Informant Culture

The FBI initiative—the latest manifestation of the “see something, say something” surveillance matrix—further engenders a government informant culture that shares a parallel with East Germany’s “Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter” or informal collaborator culture.

This Stasi network served as a primary instrument of repression in communist East Germany. The government forged partnerships with business, state institutions and social organizations. It is estimated that the Stasi had an informal collaborator or informant network exceeding 624,000 people (in 1989, at the height of Stasi power, the population of East Germany was 16.5 million).

Former intelligence professionals are well aware the United States is well on its way to becoming a totalitarian high-tech surveillance state that will soon rival the East German variant.

In January 2015 a delegation of Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence—which included ex-officers from the NSA, CIA and British MI5—visited the Stasi museum in Berlin.

“As the former intelligence officers-turned-whistleblowers walked among the well-preserved offices and conference rooms of a former totalitarian state’s internal spy apparatus,” writes Elizabeth Murray, who served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East in the National Intelligence Council, “the sense of deja vu and irony of what the United States of America has become was clearly not lost on any of them.”