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Great Britain
10 August 2019 Blackouts were reported in London and the South East yesterday, as well as Midlands and the North East. The chaos was caused by a gas-fired power station and a wind farm both going off-line yesterday afternoon. At 4.58pm the gas fired power station at Little Barford, Bedfordshire, failed causing a major loss of supply to the National Grid. At 5pm the Hornsea Offshore wind farm in the North Sea, was knocked offline. The national Grid tried to increase power to the network from other generators but were forced to suspend supplies to protect the network. Despite the power loss only lasting 15 minutes, the impact of the blackout is still impacting travel arrangements this morning. (Source: DailyMail)
6 August 2019 The UK will join a US-led mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after a British-flagged tanker was seized by Iran. The new policy marks a U-turn from an agreement with EU powers under Theresa May's government, in which the UK would put together a European force to do the job. From Europe only France has a force in the region, comprised of a single frigate. (Source: DailyMail)
4 August 2019 Ovarian grafting - a surgical procedure, which is being offered privately to any British woman up to the age of 40. Women can delay the menopause by up to 20 years with a new 30-minute operation that tricks their biological clocks into thinking they are much younger than they are. The surgical procedure, devised at the Birmingham-based private company ProFam (Protecting Family and Menopause), run by Professor Fishel, an IVF pioneer whose work led to the birth of Brown, the sister of the first test-tube baby, sees tissue from the ovaries, thawed, and then transplanted back into the armpit. Whenever the patient wants, they can be thawed and reinserted through the armpit. When the ovarian tissue starts to function it produces hormones that prevent menopause from happening. It costs between £3,000 and £7,000 for the removal and storage of ovarian tissue, plus a further £4,000 for when it is transplanted back in. (Source: DailyMail)
Románia
2019. VIII. 5. Elutasította az Európai Labdarúgó Szövetség (UEFA) fegyelmi és etikai bizottsága a Budapest Honvéd óvását, és érvényben hagyta a pályán elért eredményt, vagyis nem zárta ki a román Craoiva-t az augusztus 1.-i, botrányba fulladt Európa Liga-selejtezőn történtek miatt. Az óvás tárgyát képző jelenet, vagyis a bíró megdobása a hosszabbítás 119. percében történt, és így nem volt érdemi befolyással a végeredményre. A mérkőzés 0-0-ra végződött, de a tizenegyes-párbaj a Craiova továbbjutását eredményezte, és később az UEFA is ezt az eredményt hagyta érvényben. A kirívó incidens a 120. percben történt: miközben a játékosok egymással kakaskodtak, a játékvezető közvetlen közelében felrobbant egy pályára bedobott hanggránát. Több mint fél órát állt a játék, majd jöhettek a tizenegyesek, a negyedik játékvezető felügyelete mellett. A történtekért az UEFA 60 ezer euro-ra és három zárt kapus mérkőzésre büntette a román csapatot. (Forrás: Index)
Russia
9 August 2019 It is not known what kind of explosion, the volume, or scale. The 3M22 Zircon is an anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile developed by Russia which can also be used to attack land targets. Testing on the Zircon began in 2012 and by 2017, the scramjet missile was reported to have hit eight times the speed of sound. The Zircon - or Tsirkon - with its Mach 8 missile has been identified as Putin's weapon of choice to wipe out American cities in the event of nuclear war. The Nyonoksa accident yesterday was believed to have been caused by the explosion of a liquid-propellant rocket engine and subsequent fire believed to have been on a vessel, possible a barge. It remains unclear how radiation would have been leaked from such an explosion. Two died and six men were injured during the explosion to test a new type of engine on a naval vessel. An 'emergency situation' arose. Some of the wounded military men were moved to a hospital in Arkhangelsk before their reported transfer to Moscow where they are due to be treated at the Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Centre. In local hospitals people were recommended to drink half a glass of milk with 44 drops of iodine for adults and 22 drops for children under 14. (Source: DailyMail)
8 Aug 2019 An explosion at a ballistic missile testing facility in Russia has killed two people and started a radiation leak. A further four people are said to have been injured. The military unit where the fire occurred is located in the village of Nenoksa, near Arkhangelsk, where ballistic missiles are tested for the Russian Navy. Regional authorities later admitted there had been a "short-term" spike in radiation levels after the explosion. (Source: TheSun)
Sweden
8 August 2019 Shameplane.com, is spreading the Swedish-born concept of "flygskam", or "flight shame which aims to calculate how much Arctic sea ice melt a traveler's flight causes. Adopting environmentally conscious behaviors such as eschewing meat or living car-free for a year will cut the estimate for a New York-Beijing trip by about a fifth through emissions reduction, according to Shameplane. (Source: Reuters)
European Court of Justice
August 9, 2019 ould it trigger American anti-boycott laws? A legal dispute began after France passed a law mandating that products made in the West Bank territory of Israel be labeled as coming from an "Israeli colony," a label not applied to any other products across the globe. The term "Israeli colony" is not legally required to be applied under EU law and was seen as overly burdensome by Israeli business leaders. Following the French decision, the Israeli Psagot winery filed a lawsuit alleging unlawful discrimination against Jewish companies. That lawsuit eventually made its way to Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice. That court now appears poised to affirm the advocate general's opinion mandating that Israeli goods be labeled in a fashion that opponents say is unfair and anti-Semitic in nature. (Source: TheWashingtonFreeBeacon)
European Union
6 August 2019 Citizens' Initiative for National Regions in a nutshell recorded at the 70th Congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities at Dunaszerdahely - southern Slovakia, on 15 June 2019 /video/ (Source: AttilaDabis / Youtube): https://tinyurl.com/u223qwn
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Africa
August 7, 2018 West African slavery lives on. Over 40 million people are estimated to be trapped in forced labor, forced marriages or other forms of sexual exploitation, according to the United Nations. Africa has the highest prevalence of slavery, with more than seven victims for every 1,000 people, according to a 2017 report by human rights group Walk Free Foundation and the International Labour Office. The report defines slavery as “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.” Trafficking of sex workers, many of them tricked into thinking they will get employment doing something else, is one of the most widespread and abusive forms of modern-day slavery. The intended final destination of people smuggled across Africa is often Europe, but few make it that far. Many are jailed or sold as indentured laborers when they get to Libya. Some are even sold on slave markets a chilling echo of the trans-Saharan slave trade of centuries past. (Source: Reuters)
China
August 8, 2019 Stocking up on everything? Have already passed U.S. relations with China the point of no return? It’s gearing up for a prolonged trade conflict with the US. In recent days the fact that China is completely cutting off U.S. agricultural imports has made headlines all over the globe, but at the same time China is dramatically increasing the amount of food that it is importing from the rest of the world. With China officially pulling out of buying U.S. agricultural products, American farmers are losing one of their biggest customers. It could be a devastating blow in an already tough year for crops and commodity prices. It may also dent U.S. gross domestic product and hurt companies like Deere, whose business is directly tied to farming in the Heartland. Sales have already been lower this crop year because of the existing tariffs. Last month China had decided to substantially increase wheat imports from the Russian region of Kurgan and soybean imports from all parts of Russia. China is also hoarding gold. It bought nearly 10 tons of gold in July. July was the eighth month in a row in which the Chinese increased their reserves. (Source: TheEndoftheAmericanDream)
August 7, 2019 It's likely not the most effective tool available. China is the American government's biggest creditor. Beijing could trigger a panic in bond markets by dumping some of the $1.1 trillion in US Treasuries that it owns. By releasing a flood of US Treasuries, the price would collapse, sending yields (or interest rates) soaring and causing American borrowing costs to rocket. If China really wants to rattle the United States, the thinking goes, it could trash the value of US Treasuries by pushing them into the market. That would cause yields to spike. And since Treasury yields serve as a benchmark for business and consumer credit, the price of corporate debt, mortgages and auto loans would then rise, putting the brakes on US economic growth. The dollar could also suffer as alarm spreads. If China weaponizes Treasury holdings, that sends a very alarming message to global investors. China will try to engineer a controlled fall in the yuan in coming months, allowing it to soak up some of the pressure on the economy without sparking an exodus of capital from the country. China has few alternative places to park its $3.1 trillion in foreign reserves. German and Japanese bonds would typically be an option, but they offer zero return at best. A 1.63% yield on 10-year US government debt looks much better than the 0.59% negative return on the equivalent German bonds, which hit another record low today. That means effectively paying the German government for the privilege of lending to it. (Source: CNN)
Aug 4, 2019 Abandoned hopes for a trade deal with the US? China, which has historically controlled its currency, the yuan, allowed it to fall to its lowest level against the dollar in more than a decade. The onshore yuan broke above 7 per U.S. dollar and traded at 7.05. Trump later accused China of manipulating its currency. China has asked state-owned companies to suspend U.S. agricultural imports, despite an agreement in June with Trump to resume purchases of U.S. farm products. These moves come after Trump announced last week the U.S. would impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. The tariff will take effect on Sept. 1. European shares fell broadly. The Stoxx 600 index slid 2.3%. The German Dax dropped 1.8% while the French CAC 40 pulled back 2.2%. (Source: CNBC)
08 04 19 One Child Nation is a stark reminder that America isn’t the only country where a woman’s right to control her body has been under siege. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and premiering in select theaters on August 9 courtesy of Amazon, directors Wang and Zhang’s heartrending documentary examines their native China’s one-child policy, which functioned as a systematic attack on its female population—and which resulted in collateral damage on an international scale. In effect from 1979 to 2015, China’s policy placed strict guidelines on reproduction in order to curb population growth, which Wang’s mother proclaims (parroting the Communist Party line) might otherwise have led to famine and potential cannibalism. Urban citizens were limited to a single child, while rural inhabitants were, in the mid-1980s, granted the opportunity to have a second kid. The law outlined strict punishment for non-compliance: the destruction of homes, forfeiture of property and valuables, and steep fines. Those who suffered those penalties, however, got off easy, since local Family Planning Officials—empowered by the Nationalist Party—also had the authority to abduct women, tie them up, and force them to undergo sterilizations and abortions as late as 8-9 months into their pregnancies. As the filmmakers detail in a series of stunning conversations with residents of Wang’s hometown (and similar provinces), those procedures often entailed murdering infants after they’d been born. Artist Peng Wang presents photos of discarded fetuses he found in trash dumps, wrapped in yellow “medical waste” bags, as well as one deceased newborn that he kept in a formaldehyde-filled jar. Even in a doc rife with horror stories, these images are difficult to shake, underlining the unthinkably callous consequences of a strategy that the Chinese government proclaimed would double everyone’s standard of living. (Source: DalyBeast)
August 3, 2019 The party will allow no challenge to its rule. Beijing is prepping for a massacre in Hong Kong: time for the West to put human rights ahead of free trade. After eight weeks of huge Hong Kong street protests against Beijing’s rule, the People’s Republic is massing police and soldiers just across the border. Message: If the protesters don’t quit, a bloodbath is coming. Beijing has also started denouncing the protests as the work of American provocateurs. That’s so the regime can paint its Tiananmen Square-style crackdown as a battle against “foreign influence,” not a smashing of Chinese people who decided all on their own that they’d rather be free. Christian churches are smashed and worshippers jailed; Xi has even bullied Rome into letting him choose Catholic bishops in China. Re-education camps house 1 million Uighers in a province teeming with hi-tech surveillance. Twelve million other Muslims suffer stepped-up repression and systematic abuses, notes Human Rights Watch. Buddhists deemed members of the Falun Gong movement pack prisons that provide involuntary “organ donors.” And Hong Kong’s promised “high degree of autonomy” has become a joke. The mainland has even begun to databank its residents’ biometrics (DNA, fingerprints, voice samples, etc.), the obvious basis for eventual Big Brother surveillance. In the long run, America doesn’t win by trading freely with a nation run by monsters. (Source: TheNewYorkPost)
India
05/08/2019 India's government today announced plans to revoke the special status of Kashmir. Since last year, Kashmir has been ruled by the Indian federal government, after Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew from a coalition there with a regional party. On 2 August local Indian officials issued an alert over possible militant attacks by Pakistan-based groups. Indian tourists, pilgrims and workers left the region in a panic over the weekend. Indian authorities also issued a notice for Srinagar city saying there "shall be no movement of (the) public and all educational institutions shall also remain closed" until further orders. Today's announcement came hours after authorities suspended telephone services and placed state leaders under house arrest. The clampdown began in the early hours of Monday. India's decision to revoke Kashmir's special status led to protests all over Pakistan. (Source: EuroNews)
Saudi Arabia
9 August 2019 More than 2 million pilgrims were gathered in the holy city of Mecca today, on Friday to perform initial rites of the hajj, an Islamic pilgrimage that takes the faithful along a path traversed by the Prophet Muhammad some 1,400 years ago. (Source: ABCNews)
Australia
6 August 2019 Dominion, an Australian documentary released in 2018, uses drone footage and hidden cameras to film farms. The documentary was deliberately filmed to inspire a new generation of more militant vegans to target farms, farming and meat production. Delforce, the director of animal rights documentary Dominion, runs the group Aussie Farms, which protests across Australia. Aussie Farms controversial interactive map names and shames farmers and reveals their addresses, phone numbers and even photos. (Source: DailyMail)
United States
10 August 2019 Billionaire pedophile Epstein, 66, kills himself in his Manhattan jail cell, 24 hours after files in his case were unsealed and two weeks after he was placed on suicide watch ahead of his sex trafficking trial. Epstein was arrested on July 6 on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking, and was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center without bail. The explosive documents included claims from Epstein's alleged 'sex slave' that she was required to have intercourse with a number of powerful men. The financier - who once boasted high-profile friends including Prince Andrew and President Clinton - was arrested on July 6, accused of arranging to have sex with dozens of underage girls at his residences in New York City and Florida between 2002 and 2005. (Source: DailyMal)
08 09 19 Epstein accuser names powerful men in alleged sex ring. In newly unsealed documents, Giuffre claims that Epstein and Maxwell kept her as underage sex slave, trafficked her to politicians, princes, and a high-flying financier, among others. She claimed in depositions in 2016 that Maxwell directed her to have sex with former New Mexico Gov. Richardson, Britain’s Prince Andrew (whom she has accused before), wealthy financier Dubin, former senator Mitchell, Army counterintelligence officer, the former Democratic leader of the Senate and Clinton’s Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (and later President Obama’s envoy to the Middle East), now-deceased MIT cognitive scientist and “father of AI” Minsky, modeling agent Brunel, whose MC2 agency reps Campbell and other models, Harvard law professor Dershowitz, as well as “another prince,” a Spanish "foreign president," a well-known prime minsiter" and the owner of a “large hotel chain” in France. Epstein allegedly invested $1 million in Brunel’s agency MC2, which victims’ lawyers say was used to import young girls from around the world for Epstein and his pals. In a separate exchange, Giuffre testifies, "They instructed me to go to Mitchell, Brunel, Richardson, who also served as President Clinton’s Energy Secretary and UN Ambassador in the late ’90s, another prince that I don't know his name. A guy that owns a hotel, a really large hotel chain, I can't remember which hotel it was. Minksy." The men named by Giuffre are all friends or acquaintances of Epstein who moved within his world of power and influence. The most high-profile man to be accused by Giuffre is, of course, Britain's Prince Andrew, who liked to suck her toes, who flew on Epstein’s plane and vacationed with him in Thailand, met the financer through Maxwell. Andrew is known as “Randy Andy” in the British press for his penchant for partying. Giuffre also said Andrew participated in an orgy with underage girls on Epstein’s so-called “pedophile island.” In 2007, another young woman named Sjoberg told that Andrew had groped her at a party at Epstein’s mansion. Sjoberg repeated those claims in a videotaped deposition included in the just-unsealed court documents. Maxwell’s job, Sjoberg said, was “to find other girls that would perform massages for him and herself.” Epstein also allegedly told Sjoberg “he needed to have three orgasms a day. It was biological, like eating.” Figueroa, Epstein's former bodyguard, testified that Giuffre told him about threesomes with herself, Maxwell, and Epstein involving “strap-ons,” and claimed that Epstein wanted Giuffre to have sex with Prince Andrew, Maxwell, and “all the other girls.” Giuffre filed against Maxwell the British publishing heiress a lawsuit, whom Giuffre says was Epstein’s madam. She says Maxwell recruited her into Epstein’s sordid world after spotting her at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach and offering her a chance to learn massage. At the time, Giuffre was only 16 years old. None of the men named in the deposition have been charged with a crime or even sued in civil court in connection with the Epstein case. On July 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the summary judgment materials in Giuffre’s 2015 lawsuit to be unsealed - with the first documents released to the public today. Epstein, who has a “little black book” of contacts is currently facing sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges in New York. He pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court and is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. (Source: TheDailyBeast)
August 8, 2019 The Amnesty International travel advisory for the country of the United States of America calls on people worldwide to exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan when traveling throughout the USA. The Travel Advisory is issued in light of ongoing high levels of gun violence in the country. (Source: AmnestyInternational)
August 8, 2019 Particularly absurd. Hollywood actress Arquette apologized for being “born white,” saying she felt “shame”. Her apology for being “born white,” something over which she had zero control. Should all Muslims apologize for terrorism committed by lone individuals? Should all black people apologize for gang crime committed by criminals? The numbers for 2019 show that white people committed 29 per cent of mass shootings in America, with black people responsible for 51 per cent. (Source: InfoWars)
August 07 2019 Myers, AccuWeather Founder and CEO: "Although average temperatures have been higher in recent years, there is no evidence so far that extreme heat waves are becoming more common because of climate change, especially when you consider how many heat waves occurred historically compared to recent history." Here is a fact rarely, if ever, mentioned: 26 of the 50 states set their all-time high temperature records during the 1930s that still stand (some have since been tied). And an additional 11 state all-time high temperature records were set before 1930 and only two states have all-time record high temperatures that were set in the 21st century (South Dakota and South Carolina). So 37 of the 50 states have an all-time high temperature record not exceeded for more than 75 years. Given these numbers and the decreased frequency of days of 100 degrees or higher, it cannot be said that either the frequency or magnitude of heat waves are more common today." (Source: AcuWeather): https://tinyurl.com/y4244ffd
Aug 6, 2019 Research on dangerous pathogens has been suspended at an Army lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found biosafety lapses there, the Frederick News-Post reported August 2. A spokesperson for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) tells the newspaper that no disease-causing materials have been found outside authorized areas at the site. According to its website, USAMRIID has been the US Department of Defense’s lead laboratory for medical biological defense research since 1969. The News-Post reports that the facility has both level 3 and level 4 biosafety labs and has worked on pathogens such as Ebola, Yersinia pestis (plague), and Francisella tularensis (tularemia). Those pathogens are among those considered “select agents and toxins” by the Department of Health and Human Services, which only allows authorized labs to work on them. The spokesperson, Vander Linden, tells the News-Post that she cannot say when research on the select agents would restart. (Source: TheScientist)
Aug. 5, 2019 Deadly germ research is shut down at Army Lab over safety concerns. Problems with disposal of dangerous materials led the government to suspend research involving dangerous microbes like the Ebola virus at the military’s prominent, leading biodefense center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to issue a “cease and desist order” last month to halt the research at Fort Detrick because the center did not have “sufficient systems in place to decontaminate wastewater” from its highest-security labs. In the statement, the C.D.C. cited “national security reasons” as the rationale for not releasing information about its decision. The institute is a biodefense center that studies germs and toxins that could be used to threaten the military or public health, and also investigates disease outbreaks. It carries out research projects for government agencies, universities and drug companies, which pay for the work. It has about 900 employees. “Research is currently on hold,” the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, in Fort Detrick, Md., said in a statement on Friday. There has been no threat to public health, no injuries to employees and no leaks of dangerous material outside the laboratory. The shutdown affects a significant portion of the research normally conducted there and is likely to last months, Vander Linden, a spokeswoman, said. The problems date back to May 2018, when storms flooded and ruined a decades-old steam sterilization plant that the institute had been using to treat wastewater from its labs, Ms. Vander Linden said. The damage halted research for months, until the institute developed a new decontamination system using chemicals. The new system required changes in certain procedures in the laboratories. During an inspection in June, the C.D.C. found that the new procedures were not being followed consistently. Inspectors also found mechanical problems with the chemical-based decontamination system, as well as leaks, Ms. Vander Linden said, though she added that the leaks were within the lab and not to the outside world. The suspended research involves certain toxins, along with germs called select agents, which the government has determined have “the potential to pose a severe threat to public, animal or plant health or to animal or plant products.” There are 67 select agents and toxins; examples include the organisms that cause Ebola, smallpox, anthrax and plague, and the poison ricin. Although many projects are on hold, Ms. Vander Linden said scientists and other employees are continuing to work, just not on select agents. She said many were worried about not being able meet deadlines for their projects. In 2009, research at the institute in Fort Detrick was suspended because it was storing pathogens not listed in its database. The army institute also employed Ivins, a microbiologist who was a leading suspect - but who was never charged - in the anthrax mailings in 2001 that killed five people. Dr. Ivins died in 2008, apparently by suicide. Missteps have occurred at other government laboratories, including those at the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health. The government requires any organization that wants to handle select agents to pass a background check, register, follow safety and security procedures, and undergo inspections through a program run by the C.D.C. and the United States Department of Agriculture. As of 2017, 263 laboratories - government, academic, commercial or private - had registered with the program. The institute at Fort Detrick was part of the select agent program until its registration was suspended last month. Dr. Ebright, a molecular biologist and bioweapons expert at Rutgers University, said that problems with the institute’s new chemical-based decontamination process might mean it would have to go back to a heat-based system “which, if it requires constructing a new steam sterilization plant, could entail very long delays and very high costs.” (Source: TheNewYorkTimes)
Aug 4, 2019 Cascading terrorism. Crusius, 21, of Texas, posted the diatribe to an anonymous extremist message board railed against immigrants in Texas and pushed talking points about preserving European identity in America. The attack left at least 20 dead and 26 injured. The writing presented itself as a low-cost, low preparation model for deadly attacks and envisioned the actions as part of a larger ideological war. The note cites the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shooter, an anti-immigrant white supremacist who left 51 dead in March, as an inspiration. The Christchurch shooter also linked to a livestream of his attack on Facebook, and posted that link to 8chan. Anonymous online sites have become go-to sites for mass shooters to deposit their statements of purpose before embarking on mass murder. One month after the Christchurch shooter, a copycat who killed one person at a San Diego synagogue, also left a note on 4chan, a sister site to 8chan. (Source: NBCNews)
August 3, 2019 Walmart shooter manifesto (Source: DrudgeReport): https://tinyurl.com/yyt5s77c
Fri 2 Aug 2019 The US military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons. Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois. Travelling in the stratosphere at altitudes of up to 65,000ft, the balloons are intended to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”, according to a filing made on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, an aerospace and defence company. The balloons are carrying hi-tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather. The tests received an FCC license to operate from mid-July until September, following similar flights licensed last year. Michel, the co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in New York, said, “What this new technology proposes is to watch everything at once. Sometimes it’s referred to as ‘combat TiVo’ because when an event happens somewhere in the surveilled area, you can potentially rewind the tape to see exactly what occurred, and rewind even further to see who was involved and where they came from.” The tests have been commissioned by the US Southern Command (Southcom), which is responsible for disaster response, intelligence operations and security cooperation in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Southcom is a joint effort by the US army, navy, air force and other forces, and one of its key roles is identifying and intercepting drug shipments headed for the United States. For many years, Sierra Nevada has supplied Southcom with light aircraft packed with millions of dollars’ worth of sensors, which then flew over Mexico, Colombia, Panama and the Caribbean sea. But planes require expensive crews and can only fly for a few hours at a time. In a report to the Senate armed services committee this February, Southcom’s commander, Admiral Faller, wrote: “While improving efficiency, we still only successfully interdicted about six percent of known drug movements [in 2018].” The new balloons promise a cheap surveillance platform that could follow multiple cars and boats for extended periods. And because winds often travel in different directions at different altitudes, the balloons can usually hover over a given area simply by ascending or descending. The rival balloon operator World View recently announced that it had carried out multi-week test missions in which its own stratospheric balloons were able to hover over a five-mile-diameter area for six and a half hours, and larger areas for days at a time. “The very nature of [these balloons] is that they can operate for weeks and months,” said Hartman, the CEO of World View. “The challenge is how to harness the stratospheric winds to be able to create a persistent station-keeping capability for customers.” Raven Aerostar, the company that is supplying the balloons for Southcom’s tests and launching them from its facility in South Dakota, told that it has had balloons remain aloft for nearly a month. Raven also makes balloons for the Alphabet subsidiary Loon, which uses them to help deliver internet and cellphone service from the stratosphere. Southcom’s balloons are carrying small, satellite-like vehicles housing sophisticated sensors and communication gear. One of those sensors is a synthetic aperture radar intended to detect every car or boat in motion on a 25-mile swath beneath the balloon. The balloons also have advanced mesh networking technologies that allow them to communicate with one another, share data and pass it to receivers on the ground below. The FCC filing notes that this networking includes video information. That suggests that the balloons might also carry a Sierra Nevada video capture system called Gorgon Stare. This wide-area surveillance system comprises nine cameras capable of recording panoramic images across an entire city simultaneously. While Gorgon Stare is usually deployed on drones, Michel said that the US army has used tethered spy blimps in Afghanistan, and that US Customs and Border Protection has experimented with low-altitude balloons along the Mexico border. But surveillance from stratospheric balloons is relatively new, said Michel, author of Eyes in the Sky, a recent book on wide area surveillance. “The trade-off is that depending on the area and the system, you may get lower-resolution images.” Balloons are also subject to fewer restrictions and regulations than drones. None of the parties involved would say whether the midwest vehicle data would be deleted, stored or passed on to other federal or local agencies. The Southcom surveillance tests are probably just the tip of the iceberg. Wickersham, the vice-president of Raven Aerostar, told that it has also been working with Sierra Nevada and the Pentagon’s research arm Darpa on a “highly sophisticated and challenging development around the stratosphere”. This refers to the agency’s Adaptable Lighter-Than-Air (Alta) program, an ongoing effort to perfect stratospheric balloon navigation which has included multiple launches across the country, Wickersham said. World View is currently preparing for its next surveillance flight, and Sierra Nevada’s tests in the midwest continue. (Source: TheGuardian)
1 August 2019 The aircraft, ship and truck-mounted devices are being developed as part of a military initiative called the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. The scientists plan to use a phenomenon of physics called the Laser-Induced Plasma formation to make the laser a reality. They fire a powerful laser that creates a ball of plasma. Then, a second laser works to oscillate the plasma creating sound waves. These intense laser bursts can then perfectly mimic human language, chief scientist Law told. The technology could be ready for battle in just five years. A video shared to publicise the Pentagon project shows the weapon saying 'Stop or we’ll be forced to fire upon you.' These laser-grams will soon be able to beam hundreds of miles away. The weapons could be similar to China's ZKZM-500 gun, which can "instantly carbonise" human skin and tissues, set a person on fire and make them feel "pain beyond endurance". The Russian Navy is now testing a sinister new weapon that makes enemies hallucinate and throw up by dazzling them. The 5P-42 Filin, a futuristic dazzler-type device, can cause troops to miss their targets by blinding them. (Source: TheSun)
1 Aug 2019 Researchers from the University of California, Berekely have developed a tiny robot that measures just 3cm by 1.5cm, and weighs less than 0.07 grams. The robotic cockroach can comfortably cope with being stamped by a 60kg adult. The researchers used of flexible Piezoelectric materials - special materials that expand or contract when an electric voltage is applied. They also added a front leg so that, as the material bends and straightens under an electric field, the device is propelled forwards in a ‘leapfrogging’ motion. this allows the tiny robot to scuttle along the ground at a speed of 20 body lengths every second. They are small enough to squeeze into places where dogs or humans can’t fit. (Source: Mirror)
United Nations
08 August 2019 High-level report commissioned by the United Nations. The special report on climate and land by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes plant-based diets as a major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change - and includes a policy recommendation to reduce meat consumption. By 2050, dietary changes could free millions of square kilometres of land, and reduce global CO2 emissions by up to eight billion tonnes per year, relative to business as usual. More than 100 experts compiled the report in recent months, around half of whom hail from developing countries. The IPCC’s next special report, about the ocean and ice sheets in a changing climate, is due next month. Governments from across the world will consider the IPCC’s latest findings at a UN climate summit next month in New York. (Source: Nature)
Globalization
August 9, 2019 Volcano forecasts could soon be a reality. Researchers developed an artificial neural network, a type of AI, to automatically detect large deformation events, a sign that magma is moving underground. The neural network could compare two photos from different days and spot any changes. As of now, all MOUNTS data is freely accessible online for any researchers to tap into. The next step for MOUNTS is to use AI to combine the data from gas emissions, temperature increases, and ground deformations to see if such integration can create better predictions. (Source: NationalGeographic): https://tinyurl.com/y6fqkwac
August 8, 2019 Antivirus maker ESET has discovered a new Windows malware strain that uses infected computers to send out spam campaigns. However, one of this malware's most peculiar features is a hidden function that records the victim's desktop when the user visits an adult website. Named Varenyky, the malware emerged in May this year, and has only been active in France, ESET said. ESET researchers said the malware includes code that watches windows titles for the word "sexe" and then, using the FFmpeg library, records the user's screen. In theory, this function should trigger when a user visits a sex-related site in their browser. The recorded video is then sent to the malware's command and control server, located on the Tor network. What the malware does with these videos is unknown. The Varenyky malware also includes another hidden feature that extracts usernames and passwords from the victim's browser and email client, which it also sends to its Tor-based command and control server. If it would ever need to extort a user, it would know exactly where it needs to send that recording. (Source: zdnet)
Moon
07/08/2019 Microscopic Earthlings known as tardigrades likely survived a crash landing on the lunar surface by Israel's Beresheet probe in April. The Arch Mission Foundation non-profit is dedicated to spreading backups of human knowledge and Earth's biology throughout the Solar System, a quest it likens to the creation of an "Encyclopedia Galactica" as a gift to the future. The tardigrades were stored inside a "Lunar Library," a nanotechnology device that resembles a DVD and contains 30-million-page archive of human history viewable under microscopes, as well as human DNA. It doesn't represent the first genetic code or life forms to be left behind on the barren celestial body. That distinction belongs to the DNA and microbes contained in the almost 100 bags of feces and urine left behind by American astronauts during the Apollo lunar landings from 1969-1972. Also known as water bears or moss piglets, tardigrades can live in water or on land, and are capable of surviving temperatures as high as 150 degrees Celsius and as low as minus 272 degrees Celsius albeit for a few minutes. The grub-like, eight-legged animals can come back from being dried out to a lifeless husk for decades, and withstand near-zero pressure in outer space as well as the crushing depths of the Mariana Trench, as well radiation at levels a thousand times greater than lethal levels for humans. (Source: France24)
Space
August 7, 2019 Zzombie radio signals. Distant, dead planets stripped down to their cores by the stars they orbit still broadcast their presence to the cosmos. When certain stars reach the end of their lifespan they can expand into a red giant that burns all nearby planets to a crisp, leaving just orbiting metallic cores. The huge star then sheds its own outer layers, transforming into a dimming remnant called a white dwarf. The magnetic field between a white dwarf and the lingering core corpses of orbiting former planets can form a circuit that emits radio waves, which can be picked up by radio telescopes here on Earth. (Source: cnet)
August 1, 2019 The Parker Solar Probe had delivered 22GB of data after its second encounter with the Sun finished up on May 6. Parker's four instruments are able to measure particles in the Sun's atmosphere, its magnetic fields, the solar wind and how electrons, protons and ions are spilling out of the hot ball of plasma. Its closest approach will come on Sept. 1. On Dec. 26, it will fly by Venus for the second time, gathering speed as it prepares to cozy up to the Sun in an even closer orbit. (Source: cnet)
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