A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
Ri Sol Ju, North Korea’s first lady, has been out of the public spotlight for the last seven months. Ri was not seen with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during recent site visits. File Photo by KCNA
North Korean leader is not above purging his family members given his 2013 execution of his uncle Jang Sung-taek
The wife of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public for seven months prompting speculation that she is either pregnant or has fallen out of favour.
Experts monitoring the situation in Pyongyang have suggested Ri Sol-ju, who was introduced as First Lady in 2012, may have fallen out with Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, who is increasingly regarded as the power behind the throne.
Kim Yo-jong was put in charge of North Korea’s Propaganda and Agitation Department last year and is responsible for building up her brother’s cult of personality
WASHINGTON — For much of the summer, the F.B.I. pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the American presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald J. Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead — which they ultimately came to doubt — about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank.
Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F.B.I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump.
Hillary Clinton’s supporters, angry over what they regard as a lack of scrutiny of Mr. Trump by law enforcement officials, pushed for these investigations. In recent days they have also demanded that James B. Comey, the director of the F.B.I., discuss them publicly, as he did last week when he announced that a new batch of emails possibly connected to Mrs. Clinton had been discovered. Read more....
WNU Editor: If Donald Trump had (or has) ties with the Kremlin .... that story would have broken out months ago via through Russian social media and/or through one of Russia's many news outlets. But as I had mentioned in this blog at the beginning of this year .... when I brought up Trump's name to my many family members and friends in Russia .... especially to those who would know if there was a Trump business connection to Russia .... no one knew who he was.
Almost half of all respondents in a recent Russian opinion poll said they feared that the aggravation of relations between Russia and the West caused by the ongoing crisis in Syria could develop into a global military conflict.
The share of those who see the probability of World War Three in the near future as high or very high is now at 48 percent and those who appraise it as low or very low comprise 42 percent of society, the privately-owned public opinion research center Levada reported on Monday. The remaining 10 percent of respondents said they couldn’t give a simple answer to the question. Read more....
More News On A Poll That Reveals Half Of Russia Fearing A World War Because Of Syria
President Barack Obama believes FBI Director James Comey is a man of integrity and is not trying to influence the U.S. presidential election by announcing scrutiny of additional emails linked to Democrat Hillary Clinton's private server, the White House said on Monday.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest also said he has no "independent knowledge" of how Comey had arrived at his decision to make public the FBI email investigation or "what factors were considered" in his decision to discuss the issue publicly.
There’s a well-established playbook for pivoting to guerilla warfare.
Mosul was the first major Iraqi city conquered by the Islamic State during its blitzkrieg in the summer of 2014, and its loss would be a serious blow for a group that claims it will create a pan-Islamic caliphate based in the Middle East. But past insurgencies suggest it is far too early to count the Islamic State out. There’s still plenty of time for it to follow in the footsteps of other successful insurgent groups.
This year certainly hasn’t been kind to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s organization. The Islamic State has lost roughly 50 percent of the territory it once controlled in Iraq, according to U.S. government estimates. In neighboring Syria, the Islamic State has lost roughly a quarter of the territory it once controlled and has been pushed out of key areas along the Syrian-Turkish border, such as Manbij and Jarabulus. The group still retains some territory in Iraq and Syria, particularly along the Euphrates River. But its land is shrinking, its finances are in perilous shape, and its pool of foreign fighters is dwindling and suffering from low morale.
Troops reach outskirts of ISIL-held city for first time since offensive began, as PM warns fighters to surrender or die.
Iraqi special forces stood poised to enter Mosul in an offensive to drive out fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group after sweeping into the last village on the city's eastern edge on Monday.
The troops said they fended off suicide car bombs without losing a soldier.
Armored vehicles drew fire from mortars and small arms as they moved on the village of Bazwaya in an assault that began at dawn, while artillery and air strikes hit ISIL, or ISIS, positions. By evening, the fighting had stopped and units took up positions less than a mile from Mosul's eastern border and about 5 miles (8 kilometres) from the centre, two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq's second-largest city.
* Heavy fighting has been reported in districts claimed by insurgents during an offensive on Friday
* The images, posted online by the Ahrar al-Sham militant group, purports to show a blast on the ground, apparently the result of an airstrike in Aleppo
* Dramatic video footage, taken by a drone, emerged today after the airstrikes and shows the moment a missile strikes
* It is believed at least 10 people were injured in the airstrikes and ground attacks on Saturday
Dramatic video footage, taken by a drone flying over Aleppo, has caught the moment a missile struck the ground, destroying some of the city's buildings.
The video shows a missile coming toward the ground from the left hand side, quickly finding its target with devastating effect.
At least 10 people were injured, including a young girl, after Syrian government forces launched a fresh attack on rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Saturday.
Vladimir Putin will launch a full-scale military assault on the Syrian city of Aleppo as early as this week, according to Western intelligence.
The Russian President plans to exploit a political hiatus in Washington during the presidential election and its aftermath to secure a decisive victory in the rebel-held east of the city by the middle of January for his ally President Bashar al-Assad.
Moscow’s only aircraft carrier, which is travelling to a strike position in the eastern Mediterranean, will be used to enhance Russian firepower over Aleppo in support of the Syrian regime, according to the intelligence assessment.
The anticipated onslaught could be devastating for more than 250,000 men, women and children still living in the rebel enclave in Syria’s biggest city.
Rebel offensive to cross into city's east eases as regime forces fight back, and amid UN concern over civilian deaths.
A rebel assault to break the siege of Syria's Aleppo slowed on Monday amid fierce resistance from regime forces, as the UN said it was "appalled" by opposition fire on civilians.
Rebels launched a major assault on Friday, backed by car bombs and salvos of rockets, to break through government lines and reach the 250,000 people besieged in the city's east.
Aleppo has been hit by some of the worst violence in Syria's five-year conflict, turning the once-bustling economic hub into a divided and bombed-out symbol of the brutal war.
Since Friday, opposition factions have amassed on Aleppo's western outskirts in a bid to end the regime's three-month encirclement of the city's eastern districts.
Iranian pilgrims pray as they gather outside the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines in Kerbala, southwest of Baghdad, September 11, 2016. Alaa Al-Marjani / Reuters
As the embattled country wages war on ISIS in the north, its future may be decided by clerics in the south.
KARBALA, Iraq—The inner sanctum of the Imam Hussein Shrine shines day and night, illuminated by jeweled chandeliers. Their light is reflected in the mirrored domes of the roof, and gleams across the gold-framed marble walls. At the center of the shrine, a stream of pilgrims presses against the gilded grating that surrounds the sarcophagus of Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad. In 680 AD, Imam Hussein was killed in the Battle of Karbala fighting the forces of the Umayyad caliph, his death cementing Sunni political dominance across the Islamic world. The battle was the point of no return in the schism between Sunni and Shia Islam, becoming the basis for the Shiites’ distinct rituals and identity, at the center of which is Hussein’s sacrifice.
WNU Editor: The Iraqi government has failed the Iraqi people .... and in this vacuum comes the clerics. Will these clerics do a better job .... at the moment .... that is something that many Shiite Iraqis are now hoping for.
Bazwaya, Iraq (CNN)It is across the ghostly silence and dense dust of the berms between ISIS' Mosul and advancing Iraqi special forces that the final chapter of ISIS' extinction in Iraq will play out.
Yet at dusk on Saturday, the 2 kilometers between the US-trained Golden Division and the medieval world of the so-called caliphate suddenly were aflame with the loathing and terror of the world's war on ISIS.
Tracer rounds flashed across the horizon; the sparks and thud of countless explosions rocked the tiny village of Bazwaya, split in two by the closing stages of this battle. Ferocious and constant, it came closer and closer to the Iraqi base where we filmed from a rooftop.
By the end of the fearsome exchange -- which fell silent after heavy artillery flew over our heads -- a staggering 14 Iraqi soldiers were dead, some of the worst losses sustained by the unit.
POONCH: An army soldier was on Monday killed and two women were injured when Pakistani troops targeted Indian posts and villages using small arms and mortar shells along the Line of Control (LoC) in the twin frontier districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu & Kashmir.
"Ceasefire violations in Rajouri sector are being retaliated with massive fire assault. One army soldier was martyred," a spokesman of the Army's Northern Command said.
Two women have also been injured, one of them seriously, in the firing in Poonch sector.
"Two women have been injured. One of them seriously and has been shifted to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC) Jammu," Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Poonch JS Johar said.
WNU Editor: I have lost count in just the past month on how many ceasefire violations have occurred between Pakistan and India in Kashmir. This dispute is not going away.
A flag with the picture of Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan is seen during the Democracy and Martyrs Rally, organized by him and supported by ruling AK Party (AKP), oppositions Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), to protest against last month's failed military coup attempt, in Istanbul, Turkey, August 7, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
* Turkey detains editor-in-chief of opposition paper Cumhuriyet
* More than 110,000 state employees have been fired or detained
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed efforts to root out opposition to his rule since July’s failed coup, with officials arresting the top editor of a major paper and firing more than 1,200 professors.
Police detained Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu and prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 12 other executives, writers and cartoonists at the daily on suspicion of assisting both Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Erdogan accuses of masterminding the attempted overthrow, and the outlawed Kurdish rebel group PKK.
The raids came after the government shut down more than a dozen news outlets, most of them Kurdish, and tightened anti-terrorism laws under emergency powers granted after the botched July 15 putsch. Erdogan told a crowd of supporters in the capital Ankara on Saturday that he’ll sign a law reinstating the death penalty for crimes including treason as soon as parliament passes it. Also on Saturday, the U.S. ordered families of employees at its Istanbul complex to leave, citing increased risk of terrorist attacks.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (R) is shown the way by Chinese President Xi Jinping before a signing ceremony held in Beijing, China, October 20, 2016. Reuters/Ng Han Guan/Pool
China said on Monday the situation at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea "has not changed and will not change", after the Philippines said Chinese vessels that blocked the area for four years had stopped harassing its fishermen.
Philippine security officials on Sunday said China had scaled down its maritime presence at the shoal since President Rodrigo Duterte's return from a visit to Beijing aimed at patching-up ties and courting investment.
The disputed territory is significant not only for fishing, but for the broader balance of power in the South China Sea, and the circumstances behind China's apparent softening of its position are not clear.
Donna Brazile, the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, appeared to have leaked a question to Hillary Clinton's campaign in advance of a CNN Democratic primary debate in March, hacked emails published by WikiLeaks on Monday suggested.
"One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash," Brazile emailed John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, and Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director.
Brazile added: "Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint."
WNU Editor: To begin .... Bernie Sanders supporters should be fuming. This U.S. Presidential election is going to be known as the one where corruption within the political process and within the media have finally been exposed. Bottom line .... this has damaged the American political scene .... and I have no idea on how long it is going to take to be repair it. In the meantime .... everyone around the world is watching .... How the world views the US elections, from Israel to North Korea (The Guardian).
An U.S. Navy picture shows what appears to be a Russian Sukhoi SU-24 attack aircraft flying over the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. U.S. Navy via Reuters
MIDDLE EAST— A U.S. military aircraft had a close call with a Russian military fighter jet earlier this month over Syria as tensions between America and Moscow continue to escalate.
According to the general in charge of the air war over Iraq and Syria, Russian military aircraft intercept U.S. military planes nearly every week.
Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigian, the commander of U.S. Air Force Central Command, described the October 17 incident as "middle of the night, probably somewhere around midnight."
* British forces are going on fewer key missions with American counterparts
* Fear of prosecution means they checking and double checking orders
* Americans are impatient over delays but Brits are too worried after hearing of prosecution against their colleagues over 2003 mission in Iraq
Britain's Special Forces are being left behind by their American counterparts on key missions against Islamic State terrorists, because they are so scared of being prosecuted.
According to the Sunday Express, British forces are feeling increasingly reticent about missions after several SAS officers were told they are being investigated over operations in Iraq.
A source told the Sunday paper: 'The Americans are seeing a reticence that did not exist before. We have always stayed within the box, but we used to work things out as we went along.
Northrop Grumman Corp., which won the contract last year to build the new B-21 “Raider” bomber for the Air Force, reported solid sales and profits in its latest quarterly earnings report and predicted more growth opportunities in its defense forecast as the Pentagon rebuilds.
In a report last week and in a conference call with analysts, Northrop CEO and President Wes Bush said the firm would be a major player in the current competition with Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. to build what the Air Force is now calling the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent to replace the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.
In the third-quarter, Northrop reported sales of $6.2 billion, a 3-percent increase over third quarter 2015, while earnings rose to $602 million from $516 million, Reuters reported. “Our third quarter results demonstrate that we continue to build a strong foundation for profitable growth over the long term,” Bush said.
Bell Helicopter's planned V-247 Vigilant unmanned, single-engine armed tiltrotor platform may be a candidate for the Marine Corps' plan for a mega-drone. (Illustration courtesy Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron)
The Marine Corps is in the hunt for a mega-drone that can take off and land vertically and deploy aboard ship — all while carrying a serious amount of firepower.
The service is asking a lot as it develops its MUX platform, short for Marine air-ground task force unmanned expeditionary capabilities, with plans to reach initial operational capability by 2026.
The Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon “Dog” Davis, said Wednesday at the Unmanned Systems Defense conference in Arlington, Virginia, that this future platform — a Group 5, the largest class of military drone — will be equipped to fight from sea as well as land.
To refuel the F-22 and F-35 deep in enemy territory, the Air Force is going to need something a little less obvious on a radar screen.
The U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command recently announced the "KC-Z" program intended to develop a next-generation tanker aircraft—one that could fly into dangerous airspace to support strike fighters like the F-22 and F-35—by 2035. Lockheed Martin was the first to answer the call for ideas, and that company recently released design information about a hybrid wing-body aircraft with short take-off and landing capabilities, according to Aviation Week.
Although the new tanker wouldn't have a high level of stealth, the low profile of a blended wing-body airframe would naturally produce a smaller radar cross-section than current tankers. (The KC-10 Extender and KC-135 Stratotanker, and even the KC-36 Pegasus that is currently under development, all have large-body designs similar to commercial airliners.) Lockheed is also considering embedding the engines within the airframe to keep the KC-Z as stealthy as possible to avoid radar detection, surface-to-air missiles, and other anti-aircraft weapons.
