.
Egypt
17 June 2019 Egypt's ousted president Morsi has collapsed during a court session and died. He was elected following the Arab Spring in 2011, which saw President Mubarak's 30 year rule come to an end. He was a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has since been outlawed. Morsi was serving a life sentence after being convicted of spying for Qatar, and was also given a 20 year sentence over the killing of protesters in December 2012. (Source: Mirror)
Uganda
June 18, 2019 Maduro sells the gold reserves of his country. Part of it has gone through a secret operation in East Africa, a move that defies US sanctions. On two flights in early March, at least 7.4 tonnes of gold worth more than $ 300 million were shipped from Venezuela to a Venezuelan refinery in Uganda. The gold arrived on a Russian charter jet in two shipments at the international airport in Entebbe. The accompanying documents identified the bars, some of which had stamped labels, as Venezuelan central bank property. Flight records show that the voyages were originally carried out in Caracas, Venezuela. The broadcasts reveal a link in a global underground economy many suspect will help Maduro stay in power by circumventing the US-dominated international financial system. Gold sales are one of the government's last financial lifesheets. Between the end of 2017 and February 1, 2019, the central bank sold at least 73.3 tons of gold, with a market value of approximately $ 3 billion, to companies in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. AGR was founded in 2014 by Goetz (54), a Belgian businessman who has been involved in African gold trading for more than three decades. Mr. Goetz say the gold was sent to Goetz Gold in Dubai. (Source: NewsBeezer)
China
17 Jun 2019 Are they affected by religious extremism? 'Two months to learn to make a bed'. 'We would call that brainwashing'. (Source: BBC): https://tinyurl.com/yxjhn9jz
June 13, 2019 China conducted a flight test of its newest strategic submarine-launched underwater intercontinental nuclear missile, the JL-3, with a range of up to 7,400 miles coinciding with the visit to Asia earlier this month by Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan. The missile was launched from a submarine test platform located in the Bohai Sea and flew west to an impact range in western China. The JL-3 is expected to carry multiple, independently targetable reentry vehicles - warheads capable of targeting numerous cities. The June 2 event was the second JL-3 nuclear missile test, the first in 2018 December. (Source: TheWashingtonFreeBeacon)
12 June 2019 Tens of thousands of black-clad demonstrators filled nearby streets and overturned barriers in a fresh rally. They have been surrounding Hong Kong's parliament in protest against a controversial extradition bill. Clashes broke out at 3pm local time - the deadline protesters had given for government to abandon the law. Police fired pepper spray and tear gas to push back against protesters attempting to storm into parliament. Officers used batons, pepper spray, beanbag rounds, rubber bullets, water hoses and tear gas against people. Hong Kong's government has indefinitely delayed the second round of debate on an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial for the first time, after chaotic protests by tens of thousands of people. Hong Kong residents, as well as foreign and Chinese nationals living or traveling through the global financial hub, would all be at risk if they are wanted on the mainland. (Source: Mail)
Israel
June 19, 2019 Israel wrapped up its largest military drill in years today, a four-day exercise with thousands of troops from the army, navy and air force simulating a future war with the militant Lebanese Hezbollah group amid fears that Iran would draw its Shiite proxy into the recent growing tensions in the Persian Gulf. (Source: ABCNews)
Malaysia
June 17, 2019 What happened to missing airplane, a Boeing 777-200ER operated by Malaysia Airlines on March 8, 2014 (Source: TheAtlantic): https://tinyurl.com/yytg5dds
Strait of Hormuz
June 20, 2019 Iran blasted a Navy high-altitude drone, a U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance ISR aircraft, known as a BAMS-Dout - a RQ-4A Global Hawk drone - of the sky over the Strait of Hormuz at a "high-altitude" approximately 34 kilometers from the nearest point of land on the Iranian coast, via surface-to-air missile from a location near Goruk, Iran. Iran claimed the U.S. drone was over Iranian airspace when it was shot down. It's used to spy on Iranian military communications and track shipping in the busy waterways. The drone costs up to $180 million dollars. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said it shot down the drone when it entered Iranian airspace near the Kouhmobarak district in southern Iran's Hormozgan province at 4:05 a.m.. Iran used its air defense system known as Third of Khordad to shoot down the drone - a truck-based missile system that can fire up to 18 miles into the sky. American RQ-4A Global Hawks are stationed at the Al-Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, near the capital, Abu Dhabi. Iranian-backed forces fired cruise missiles yesterday night into Saudi Arabia, hitting a power plant - US officials told. (Source: FoxNews)
June 13, 2019 Oil futures rallied today, as an attack on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz raised fears of a potential disruption to the global flow of oil. Yesterday's fall came after a report showing U.S. crude inventories climbed for a second week in a row. U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo accused Iran of orchestrating a series of attacks on tankers in an effort to get the U.S. ease up on sanctions. Two ships were damaged in today's attacks. The region has been the site of other attacks. On May 14, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are fighting Saudi Arabia, claimed responsibility for armed-drone attacks that halted pumping at a key Saudi oil pipeline. A day ahead of that incident, the Saudis said two of their tankers had been damaged in a sabotage attack. The U.S. has been blaming Iran for those attacks. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut its forecast for growth in world oil demand this year to 1.14 million barrels a day, from a May estimate of 1.21 million barrels. In its monthly report, OPEC said the revision largely reflected sluggish demand data from developed countries that make up the OPEC. (Source: MarketWatch)
United States
19 Jun 2019 The Pentagon believes using nuclear weapons could “create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability”, according to a new nuclear doctrine adopted by the US joint chiefs of staff last week. The document, entitled Nuclear Operations, was published on 11 June, and was the first such doctrine paper for 14 years. Arms control experts say it marks a shift in US military thinking towards the idea of fighting and winning a nuclear war – which they believe is a highly dangerous mindset. (Source: TheGuardian): https://tinyurl.com/y4khdm2r
June 19, 2019 Amazon Web Services’ GovCloud US-East and US-West regions are data centers specifically built by the company to house some of the government’s most restricted information. The Homeland Security Department is looking to upgrade the software called the Automated Biometric Identification System, or IDENT, it uses to analyze biometric data on hundreds of millions of people around the globe, and it plans to store that information in Amazon’s cloud. The system links fingerprint, iris and face data to biographic information. Homeland Security is in the process of replacing IDENT with the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology System, or HART. The new system will include the same biometric recognition features as its predecessor, and potentially additional tools that could identify individuals based on DNA, palm prints, scars, physical markings and tattoos. The agency shares biometric data and technology with the Defense Department and the FBI, which can access some 640 million photos for its own facial recognition operations. Officials also said they can tap into the State Department’s Consular Consolidated Database - which contained nearly 500 million passport, visa and expat records as of 2016 - as well as the databases of “several foreign governments as well as state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement agencies.” (Source: NextGov)
June 17, 2019 The war hawks are back. Who wants a U.S. war with Iran? Primarily the same people who goaded us into wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, and who oppose every effort of Trump’s to extricate us from those wars. Should they succeed in Iran, it is hard to see how we will ever be able to extricate our country from this blood-soaked region that holds no vital strategic interest save oil, and America, thanks to fracking, has become independent of that. (Source: wnd)
June 16, 2019 President Trump late today ramped up his attacks against The New York Times, accusing the newspaper of committing "a virtual act of Treason" over its report about the U.S. increasing cyberattacks on Russia's electric power grid. (Source: TheHIll)
June 16, 2019 Deployment of American computer code inside Russia’s grid and other targets after years of public warnings from the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. that Russia has inserted malware that could sabotage American power plants, oil and gas pipelines, or water supplies in any future conflict with the United States. The new authorities were granted separately by the White House and Congress last year to United States Cyber Command, the arm of the Pentagon that runs the military’s offensive and defensive operations in the online world. Since at least 2012, the United States has put reconnaissance probes into the control systems of the Russian electric grid. Mr. Trump issued new authorities to Cyber Command last summer, in a still-classified document known as National Security Presidential Memoranda 13, giving General Nakasone far more leeway to conduct offensive online operations without receiving presidential approval. New legal authorities are slipped into the military authorization bill passed by Congress last summer. Under the law, the actions of the routine conduct of “clandestine military activity” in cyberspace, to “deter, safeguard or defend against attacks or malicious cyberactivities against the United States can now be authorized by the defense secretary without special presidential approval. In a previous post, General Nakasone had been deeply involved in designing an operation code-named Nitro Zeus that amounted to a war plan to unplug Iran if the United States entered into hostilities with the country. (Source: msn / TheNewYorkTimes): https://tinyurl.com/yydbxwb5
June 12, 2019 For the first time in the history of the United States, the federal government has spent more than $3 trillion in the first eight months of the fiscal year. The record $3,013,541,000,000 that the federal government spent in October through May of fiscal 2019 was $181,157,920,000 more than the previous record of $2,832,383,080,000 (in constant May 2019 dollars) that the federal government spent in October through May of fiscal 2009. Even with the second highest tax revenues ever collected in the first eight months of the fiscal year, the federal government still ran a deficit for those eight months of $738,639,000,000. Department of Health and Human Services cost the most money, accounting for $834,346,000,000 in federal spending in the first eight months of the fiscal year. The Social Security Administration cost the second most, accounting for $730,000,000,000 in federal spending during the period. The Department of Defense was third, accounting for $439,289,000,000 in federal spending. (Source: CNSNews)
11 June 2019 Nuclear operations. This publication provides fundamental principles and guidance to plan, execute, and assess nuclear operations. Law of War. The law of war governs the use of nuclear weapons, just as it governs the use of conventional weapons. For example, nuclear weapons must be directed against military objectives. In addition, attacks using nuclear weapons must not be conducted when the expected incidental harm to civilians is excessive compared to the military advantage expected to be gained. US policy on the use of nuclear weapons complies with all law of war requirements. CCDRs, and other subordinate commanders responsible for the conduct of nuclear operations, must ensure their staff judge advocate is involved in nuclear operations planning and targeting processes. Joint forces provide flexibility and employment options that allow the US to provide effective deterrence and, if necessary, execute missions against the spectrum of potential targets. Flexibility allows the President to engage the enemy with the capability of escalating or de-escalating a conflict. Flexibility, such as that offered by long-range bombers and dual-capable fighter aircraft, is important because deterrent credibility hinges on having a convincing capability to execute a variety of nuclear and non-nuclear options. Furthermore, nuclear-capable aircraft offer the greatest degree of flexibility in the triad because they can be a highly visible sign of resolve and, once ordered to conduct a nuclear strike, are recallable. The application of tailored responses to an enemy’s provocation affords greater control over the possible escalation of conflict. Conflict may require responsive strikes against emerging high-priority, time-sensitive targets Continuously on alert, ICBMs provide the most responsive leg of the triad. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/y32d3vun )
Argentina
June 17, 2019 The lights were back today across Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay after a huge blackout that affected tens of millions people, but authorities remained in the dark about the cause of the grid collapse and continued to calculate the economic damage. The blackout originated at an electricity transmission point between the power stations at Argentina’s Yacyretá dam and Salto Grande in the country’s northeast when the system was getting too much power. The collapse began yesterday, at about 7 a.m. Sunday, with Argentina’s population of 44 million and residents of neighboring Uruguay and some parts of Paraguay waking up to Father’s Day in the dark. Several Argentine provinces had elections for governor yesterday, which proceeded with voters using their phone screens and built-in flashlights to illuminate their ballots. (Source: AP)
Globalization
June 19, 2019 The paradox of Europe. Trust in vaccines - one of the world's most effective and widely-used medical products - is highest in poorer countries but weaker in wealthier ones where scepticism has allowed major outbreaks of diseases such as measles to persist in the United States, the Philippines and Ukraine. While most parents do choose to vaccinate their children, varying levels of confidence expose vulnerabilities in some countries to potential disease outbreaks. But to achieve "herd immunity" to protect whole populations, immunisation coverage rates must generally be above 90% or 95%, and vaccine mistrust can quickly reduce that protection. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, false rumours about polio vaccines being part of a Western plot have in recent years hampered global efforts to wipe out the crippling disease. 6% of parents worldwide - equivalent to 188 million - say their children are unvaccinated. The highest totals were in China at 9%, Austria at 8% and Japan at 7%. Three-quarters of the world's people trust doctors and nurses more than anyone else for health advice, and that in most parts of the world, more education and greater trust in health systems, governments and scientists is a also sign of higher vaccine confidence. In some high-income regions, however, confidence is weaker. Only 72% of people in North America and 73% in Northern Europe agree that vaccines are safe. In Eastern Europe it is just 50%. In poorer regions, trust levels tend to be much higher, with 95% in South Asia and 92% in Eastern Africa feeling confident that vaccines are safe and effective. (Source: Reuters)
18 Jun 2019 Another step towards total control of data and users. Facebook unveils its most invasive and dangerous form of surveillance yet’ with launch of Libra cryptocurrency. It wants to attract 100 businesses in time for launch, which it is aiming for the first half of 2020. Users will be able to send money to each other initially, at low to no cost, the social network said. Every transaction is recorded in a public ledger, or 'blockchain'. Crypto cash is created by mining which involves solving difficult maths problems using computer processors. Coins can be traded anonymously, which makes them a popular way of funding illegal activities. (Source: TheSun)
Moon
June 11, 2019 Mass 5 times the size of Hawaii found under moon crater. The gigantic pile of metal may have been deposited by a powerful asteroid strike. The remains of the asteroid could be buried beneath the SouthPole-Aitken basin – a crater that measures approximately 1,553 miles across and eight miles deep. (Source: DailyStar)
.
