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Mayotte
30 November 2018 Just before 9.30am on Sunday 11 November, a series of unusual seismic pulses rippled around the world almost undetected. The waves rang for over 20 minutes, emanating about 15 miles off the shores of Mayotte - a tiny island in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Africa. From here, they reverberated across Africa, setting off geological sensors in Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. They crossed the Atlantic, and were picked up in Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and even Hawaii nearly 11,000 miles away. In a typical earthquake, the rapid crash of a tectonic plate movement sends out what is known as a “wave train”, composed of several types of waves moving at different speeds from the epicentre of the quake. Seismographs measure the fastest waves first (the primary or P waves), which arrive in an abrupt cluster, then the secondary (S waves), and finally, rumbling along later, come slower low-frequency surface waves. In a powerful quake, these can move across the surface of the planet several times. The wave pattern seen on 11 November resembled these slow-moving waveforms usually seen following large earthquakes - only, in this case, there had not been a perceptible earthquake. The mystery waveform from Mayotte was a crisp zigzag, which repeated after steady 17-second intervals. Mayotte, an inhabited French island, was formed as a result of volcanic eruptions around 4,000 years ago, but since then, the area has largely remained volcanically inactive. However, since May last year, the island nation has been rocked by hundreds of earthquakes, all of which have emanated offshore and the largest of which measured 5.8 on the Richter scale. The island is believed to be moving about two inches southeast each year. GPS measurements of Mayotte’s slow movements indicate a magma body measuring about a third of a cubic mile is pushing through the subsurface, and this could be the source of the weird waves. (Source: TheIndependent)
Nigeria
September 14, 2018 Nigeria's sex trafficking curse /video/ (Source: Reuters): https://tinyurl.com/y98y8uel
Australia
22 November 2018 A giant dust storm has blanketed communities across south-east Australia, turning skies orange and raising concerns about air quality. The problem has been exacerbated by a drought that has affected the entire state of NSW since August. (Source: BBC)
China
November 29, 2018 The Chinese military appears to be mirroring. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force, or PLAAF, tends to copy, while China’s missile and space programs are more frequent innovators. The Project Air Force team at Rand Corp. describes an emerging Chinese air force that aims to rival the United States' own, both technologically and strategically, often by mirroring U.S. military capabilities and doctrine. The PLA efforts in the military aerospace sector focus on fielding of specific capabilities in sufficient quantities to deter the United States from entering a conflict; the PLA would vastly prefer deterrence over actual combat operations. Unlike the U.S. military, China’s strategic missile forces act as their own service. China’s power projection strategy appears to be built around the development of precision-strike ballistic and cruise missiles, supplemented by a dense web of surface-to-air missiles and advanced fighter jets. China’s space efforts have focused on signals intelligence-gathering and espionage satellites; the use of space to support its economic development and soft power; and the development of space-denial [i.e., anti-satellite] capabilities. More recently, China has begun to copy the U.S. Air Force on its aerial lift and refueling. Until a few years ago, China did not have any political need to project power over great distances. That could be changing as the country shifts to protect investments in Africa and play a larger role abroad. (Source: AirForceTimes): https://tinyurl.com/yazbur7k
(TheRandCorp-report (1917): https://tinyurl.com/y6ujkcv5
November 26, 2018 Statement by Concerned Scholars on China’s Mass Detention of Turkic Minorities. The Chinese state is engaged in the mass detention of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Muslim minorities in their homelands in the Central Asian borderlands of Northwest China. Researchers estimate that around one million people have been detained without trial. In the camps, these detainees, most of whom are Uyghur, are subjected to deeply invasive forms of surveillance and psychological stress as they are forced to abandon their native language, religious beliefs and cultural practices. Outside of the camps, more than 10 million Turkic Muslim minorities in the region are subjected to a dense network of surveillance systems, checkpoints, and interpersonal monitoring which severely limit all forms of personal freedom. Reports from eyewitnesses have noted malnourishment and severe psychological distress among the detainees, and some report detainees being forcibly given psychiatric drugs. In some cases, shoelaces and belts are confiscated, due to the prevalence of self-harm and suicide. Those who do not fully participate in political reeducation are often subjected to beatings, solitary confinement, and forms of religious and psychological violation. There have been numerous reports of deaths in the centers, particularly among the elderly and infirm, but also of younger people who were in good health when they were taken. While there are frequent reports of more people entering the camps, there are very few reports of those being released. China’s present signature foreign policy initiative is the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) that seeks to connect the PRC economically to the rest of the Eurasian continent through large infrastructure projects that will stimulate international trade. The western and south-western components of the BRI require the XUAR to serve as a transportation and commercial hub to trade routes and pipelines that will join China with Central and South Asia, the Middle East, and the entirety of Europe. As a result, the XUAR has become a very important strategic region for China, and the state views its indigenous populations as an obstacle to developing its vision for this future critical center of international commercial networks. China has defended its mass incarceration of Turkic Muslims on the basis of counter-terrorism. However, it is also apparent that China is both seeking to embed its Xinjiang-focused policies in counter-terrorism cooperation with international partners and to export the methods and technologies that have underpinned its “surveillance state” in Xinjiang. We call on states and institutions to introduce legislation joining Germany and Sweden in granting expedited asylum to Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic Muslim minorities from China and a blanket refusal to deport Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims to China. (Source: ConcernedScholarsBlog): https://tinyurl.com/ybtv352a
November 25, 2018 According to Chinese medical documents posted online this month, a team at the Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, has been recruiting couples in an effort to create the first gene-edited babies. They planned to eliminate a gene called CCR5 in hopes of rendering the offspring resistant to HIV, smallpox, and cholera. One couple in the trial gave birth to twin girls this month. The claim that China has already made genetically altered humans comes just as the world’s leading experts are jetting into Hong Kong for the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing. The technology is ethically charged because changes to an embryo would be inherited by future generations and could eventually affect the entire gene pool. Data on the Chinese trial site indicate that one of the fetuses is a “mosaic” of cells that had been edited in different ways. Currently, using a genetically engineered embryo to establish a pregnancy would be illegal in much of Europe and prohibited in the United States. It is also prohibited in China under a 2003 ministerial guidance to IVF clinics. It is not clear if He got special permission or disregarded the guidance, which may not have the force of law. (Source: TechologyReview)
24 November 2018 Uninvited, more than one million Han Chinese people have reportedly moved into the homes of Uighur Muslim families to report on whether they display Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs. The informants, who describe themselves as "relatives" of the families they are staying with, are said to have received specific instructions on how to get them to let their guard down. As devout Muslims would refuse cigarettes and alcohol. this is seen as one way of finding out whether they were extreme. Had a Uighur host just greeted a neighbour in Arabic with the words ‘Assalamu Alaykum’? That would need to go in the notebook. (Source: Independent)
November 23, 2018 Does the government spend more time snooping on what adults are doing in their private lives than punishing actual criminals? China is hoping to create a nation of porn bounty hunters. The country, which regards all kinds of pornography as illegal, has just doubled the reward for reporting illegal publishing to 600,000 yuan (US$86,500). The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications - a government body tasked with cleaning up China’s web - last week issued New Measures for Rewarding Reporting on Eradicating Pornography and Illegal Content, which will become effective December 1. But porn isn’t the only kind of content under fire. China has a habit of censoring content that doesn’t please its government. The regulations also upped fines for online and offline content that “endangers ideological security, cultural security, physical and mental health of minors” to a maximum of 50,000 yuan (US$7,200). How much danger they could be in was illustrated this week with the sentencing of Chinese erotic writer Tianyi to 10.5 years in prison over gay scenes depicted in her novel. The Chaoyang Masses, a 140,000-strong group of senior citizen informers in Beijing, even has its own app. They are often jokingly referred to as the “world’s fifth intelligence agency”, after the CIA, KGB, MI6, and Mossad. (Source: AbacusNews)
November 21, 2018 China’s plan to judge each of its 1.3 billion people based on their social behavior is moving a step closer to reality, with Beijing set to adopt a lifelong points program by 2021 that assigns personalized ratings for each resident. The capital city will pool data from several departments to reward and punish some 22 million citizens based on their actions and reputations by the end of 2020. Those with better so-called social credit will get “green channel” benefits while those who violate laws will find life more difficult. The Beijing project will improve blacklist systems so that those deemed untrustworthy will be unable to move even a single step. More than a dozen cities are moving ahead with similar programs. Hangzhou rolled out its personal credit system earlier this year, rewarding “pro-social behaviors” such as volunteer work and blood donations while punishing those who violate traffic laws and charge under-the-table fees. By the end of May, people with bad credit in China have been blocked from booking more than 11 million flights and 4 million high-speed train trips. According to the Beijing government’s plan, different agencies will link databases to get a more detailed picture of every resident’s interactions across a swathe of services. The proposal calls for agencies including tourism bodies, business regulators and transit authorities to work together. The tracking of individual behavior in China has become easier as economic life moves online, with apps such as Tencent’s WeChat and Ant Financial’s Alipay a central node for making payments, getting loans and organizing transport. Accounts are generally linked to mobile phone numbers, which in turn require government IDs. As rules forcing social networks and internet providers to remove anonymity get increasingly enforced and facial recognition systems become more popular with policing bodies, authorities are likely to find everyone from internet dissenters to train-fare skippers easier to catch - and punish - than ever before. (Source: Bloomberg)
India
21 November 2018 An American tourist Chau, 27, had taken a boat ride with local fishermen before venturing alone in a canoe to the remote North Sentinel Island where the indigenous people live cut off completely from the outside world. He was killed by arrows shot by protected tribesmen living in one of the world's most isolated regions tucked in India's Andaman islands. The tribals were tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body. The North Sentinel island is out of bounds even to the Indian navy in a bid to protect its reclusive inhabitants who number only about 150. (Source: France24)
Iraq
November 30, 2018 Cost estimates for rebuilding and stabilizing Iraq have ranged from $20 billion to $88 billion. Security cooperation alone will be not able to prevent a resurgence from the islamic State. The real challenges lie in addressing the risk factors, including corruption, a youth bulge, income inequality, high populations of displaced persons, and the cost and speed of reconstruction in areas destroyed by the fight against the islamic state. A failure to address these factors will surely give the islamic state the opening to recruit new members and foster an ongoing insurgency. The United States should support the reinstatement of joint ISF-Peshmerga patrols in disputed regions. The Kurdish Peshmerga have their own sectarian and tribal issues that must be resolved before redeploying to disputed regions to conduct joint patrols with the ISF. The Barzani-led Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Talabani-led Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) each have their own Peshmerga forces - known as Unit 80 and Unit 70, respectively - which do not share unified command and control structures. Efforts have been initiated to create a third “unified” Peshmerga command that will integrate the units under a Ministry of Peshmerga. This unified command may serve as an example of a Kurdish Peshmerga force that could work with the ISF to secure Kirkuk and the surrounding regions. (Source: CenterforStrategicandInternationalStudies): https://tinyurl.com/y7aabt7h
Sodom
23 11 2018 Archaeologists from Trinity Southwest University, a Christian higher educational institution in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have claimed civilisation in the Dead Sea region home to the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed 3,700 years ago following a meteor explosion in the atmosphere. That cities and settlements in the Jordan Valley’s Middle Ghor region, where up to 65,000 people lived around that time, were obliterated with a powerful wave of heat, wind and tiny particles. Waves also pushed salty water from the Dead Sea, which devastated the agricultural soil from once-fertile fields. (Source: Sputnik)
Törökország
2018. XI. 26. Ellehetetlenítésre hivatkozva felhagy törökországi tevékenységével Soros Nyílt Társadalom Alapítványa és a lehető leghamarabb „jogi jelenlétének felszámolását” kérelmezi a bíróságon. A Nyílt Társadalom Alapítványt 2008. augusztus 20-án jegyezték be Törökországban. A Sabah című legfőbb török kormánypárti napilap ma azt írta, hogy Soros 2011 és 2017 között 13,5 millió dollárt utalt át az Anadolu Kültürnek, amelyből két alkalommal egyenként 500 ezer dollárt a 2013. május végén kezdődő Gezi parki tüntetések előtt 12 nappal, továbbá a tiltakozások tartama alatt. A Taksim téri tüntetések 2013-ban a szomszédos Gezi park átépítése elleni tiltakozással kezdődtek, amely csakhamar kormányellenes megmozdulássá nőtte ki magát, miután a rendőrség erőszakkal próbálta feloszlatni a parkban tüntető tömeget. A Taksim téren és környékén tüntetők egyebek közt Erdogan akkori török miniszterelnök, a mostani államfő távozását követelték, mert szerintük tekintélyuralmi rendszert épített ki, és növelni akarta az iszlám szerepét a világi berendezkedésű országban. (Forrás: Mandiner)
Panama
29 Nov 2019 They’ve come for the canal, An escalating trade war between China and the US has highlighted Panama’s strategic importance as a pinch-point of world commerce. This weekend, the Chinese premier, Xi arrives in Panama for a visit aimed at cementing ties with the Central American nation. Negotiations for a free trade agreement between China and Panama are at an advanced stage; Panamanian officials say the country can benefit from its growing role as a regional logistics hub, build its exports to China and protect local farmers. “We will become the gateway for Chinese goods into Latin America,” the trade minister, Arosemena, told. Chinese companies are involved in a project to build a rival interoceanic canal through Nicaragua and investigated the option of a “dry canal” railroad linking Colombia’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts. (Source: TheGuardian)
United States
November 27, 2018 General Motors will close three assembly plants by the end of 2019, it said Monday, including Detroit-Hamtramck, Lordstown in Ohio and Oshawa in Ontario. The Hamtramck plant makes the Chevrolet Volt and Impala, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse. Those vehicles and other cars made at the targeted facilities will be terminated. More than 6,800 jobs are at stake. In addition to the production cuts, GM said it will reduce its North American white-collar workforce by about 8,000. The company said it would save $6 billion by the end of 2020. (Source: USAToday)
November 22, 2018 In a new paper published in the journal Science, researchers suggest that the best way to protect genetic information might be for all Americans to deposit their data in a universal, nationwide DNA database. The paper is being published by Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Center for Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings, a major center for the study of genetic privacy. In the U.S., state and federal databases hold the genetic data of more than 16.5 million people who have been arrested or convicted of a crime. Other public and private databases could grant access to the genetic details of millions more with court permission. The genetic information of many more people could be indirectly exposed. Police can currently peer into open-source databases without a judge’s permission. (Source: Bloomberg)
November 21, 2018 New tool to unlock cellphones Two major companies produce devices that can hack passcodes and phone security systems. One is from the company Cellebrite. Another firm, Grayshift, has a model called the Gray Key. The device is about the size of a small tablet computer with USB connections to plug in a cellphone. Bypassing the passcode may take hours or days, allowing the phone data to be downloaded. The maker of the IPhone, Apple, already has responded to the use of the hacking machines. The company has changed the software for its newest phones to block the Cellebrite and Gray Key devices from bypassing the user’s passcode. One of them, from Grayshift, costs $15,000 for limited usage. Another model runs $30,000 and can be used to unlock an unlimited number of phones. Apple’s latest block of the device only applies to the newest phones. The Cellebrite and Gray Key devices can still bypass the passcode on older phones. (Source: whio)
November 21, 2018 The federal government will release a major climate change report – Volume II of the National Climate Assessment – on Black Friday, typically one of the slowest news days of the year. Volume II is expected to detail a range of current and future climate change impacts and again warn that the Earth is warming, humans are the cause, and the already serious impacts – such as the current California wildfires – are only going to get worse, The report is also slated to contain a new chapter focusing exclusively on the U.S. Caribbean territories such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Volume I of the report was released a year ago. It outlined the current understanding of the science behind climate change and was described as the largest, most comprehensive U.S.-focused report ever produced about our warming world. As first mandated by Congress in the late 1980s, the assessment is prepared every four years by the nation's top scientists from 13 agencies. It's meant as a reference for the president, Congress and the public. (Source: USAToday)
Nov. 21, 2018 Aerial footage shows traffic gridlock on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles as the Thanksgiving travel rush begins. /video/ (Source: CNN): https://tinyurl.com/ybnuvekq
Space
November 30, 2018 The Rokot/Briz-KM launch vehicle blasted off from Pad 3 at Site 133 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Western Russia at just before 5:30 PM local time on Nov. 30, 2018. At approximately 7:12 PM, the three Rodnik communications satellites had deployed into their assigned orbits. Russia has named the trio of satellites Kosmos-2530, Kosmos-2531, and Kosmos-2532. Information on Space-Track.org, a U.S. government website that publicly releases data on space launches from the CSpoC and NORAD, listed Objects A through E as resulting from the launch from Plesetsk. This would include the three satellites and the upper stage, but the fifth object is unexplained. It is possible that the upper stage simply fragmented into multiple pieces that were large enough for the U.S. military to track independently. Three of the objects – A through C – have essentially same perigee, the point in their orbit at which they are nearest to the Earth. The other two objects – D and E – share a different general perigee. On May 23, 2014, another Rokot/Briz-KM launch vehicle put three Rodnik communications satellites into orbit. Again, the U.S. military tracked five objects, with Object E, in that case, turning out to be an inspector satellite known as Kosmos-2499. The perigees and other data for the five objects are extremely similar in both cases. If this new Object E turns out to be another inspector satellite, the Russians will have now launched at least five of these that we know about. Russia launched the first three – Kosmos-2491, Kosmos-2499, and Kosmos-2504 – between 2014 and 2015. In June 2017, the Russians put a fourth such satellite into orbit known as Kosmos-2519. To make matters more confusing, that satellite subsequently deployed another one, Kosmos-2521 in August 2017. A third subsatellite, Kosmos-2523, subsequently appeared from this cluster two months later. These three small satellites are typically treated as a single system. Orbital inspectors could double as orbital spies or weapons. The craft are, by definition, capable of precise maneuvering to get close to the object of interest, have cameras, and may have small manipulator arms to help with their work. This would just as easily allow them to gather intelligence on foreign satellites or possibly disable or destroy them. They might even carry their own electronic warfare suites or other systems to blind or jam their targets. Their diminutive size could make them hard to track, especially if they hid next to their target, lying in wait, or blended in with the extensive amount of "space junk" floating about the Earth's atmosphere. The Russians have an active and multi-faceted anti-satellite weapons program, emergence of a new, air-launched anti-satellite interceptor and a specially modified MiG-31 Foxhound fighter jet to carry it. Russia also has ground-based interceptors that could engage satellites and claims to be working on airborne laser systems that may be able to blind or damage the optics on spy and early-warning satellites. (Source: TheDrive): https://tinyurl.com/ya93oskt
November 30, 2018 Debut demonstration of the International Space Station’s new AI-powered robot, CIMON, the free-floating device is the first interactive flight companion to take part in an ISS mission. The $6 million, basketball-sized robot was built by Airbus under a contract awarded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). /video/ (Source: gizmodo): https://tinyurl.com/yc4zrnmh
November 27, 2018 After seven months of traveling through space, the NASA InSight mission using Seismic Investigations has landed on Mars. (Source: CNN)
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