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.
France has informed NATO that it is suspending its involvement in a naval operation in the Mediterranean after the results of a probe into an incident between French and Turkish warships, an official at the Armed Forces ministry said on Wednesday.
The official said in a letter to NATO's Secretary-General that France had made four demands to clarify the role of the Sea Guardian operation, including its cooperation with an EU mission that is enforcing a UN arms embargo to Libya.
Ties between NATO allies France and Turkey have soured in recent weeks over Libya, Northern Syria and drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.
* Referendum will approve changes allowing Putin to run again in 2024 and 2030
* Russian officials issued 'preliminary results' showing 73% backing for the change
* Package of changes will also increase Putin's powers over parliament and courts
Vladimir Putin is clear to stay in power until 2036 after winning a referendum to prolong his rule - in a landslide victory declared before polls had even closed.
Russia's election commission issued 'preliminary results' this afternoon showing Putin on course to win 73 per cent of the vote.
The early announcement was the latest oddity in an election where Putin's victory was seen as a certainty following a massive state propaganda campaign, a prize draw offering cars and apartments to lure voters into taking part and reports of irregular turnout figures in the regions.
A man who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is wrapped in a body bag at the United Memorial Medical Center’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) intensive care unit in Houston, Texas, U.S., June 29, 2020.
The coronavirus pandemic in the US claimed at least 122,000 more lives than would be expected in a normal year, for a rise of 18 percent, says a study released Wednesday.
But this is just a national average, and the excess death rate was particularly high in virus hot spots such as New York City, which buried three times more people than usual and up to seven times as many during the peak of the pandemic, according to a week by week study carried out at Yale University and published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
* Crash occurred Tuesday evening around 11.30pm
* Pictures posted to social media show the fighter jet in flames on the tarmac
* Base officials say the cause of the crash is currently under investigation
A military pilot died in a fighter jet crash at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina.
Base officials confirmed the fatality early Wednesday morning, but did not release the name of the pilot.
The crash occurred on the military base around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday while the pilot was performing a routine training mission in a F-16CM Fighting Falcon assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing.
WNU Editor: There has been a lot of crashes in the past two months. Check list below (list from Task & Purpose)
The Air Force recorded five other mishaps in May and June:
On May 2, an F-15C Eagle from Oregon Air National Guard's 142nd Fighter Wing skidded off the runway while making an emergency landing at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
On May 15, the pilot of an F-22 Raptor from the 43rd Fighter Squadron safely ejected from the aircraft, which crashed near Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
On May 19, an F-35A Lightning II from the 58th Fighter Squadron also crashed while landing at Eglin Air Force Base. The pilot ejected safely.
On June 8, the landing gear of another F-35A Lightning collapsed during a landing at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The pilot was able to safely get out of the aircraft, which was assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing.
Also on June 8, a C-130 overshot the runway at Camp Taji Airbase in Iraq, crashed into a wall, and caught on fire. Four service members aboard the aircraft were injured.
On the 22nd of April, Iran surprised the world by successfully launching the Noor satellite, using a previously unknown Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) which they call Qased.
The US Space Force confirmed that Noor reached orbit, together with a second object, assessed as the spent upper stage.
A detailed analysis of the Qased, based on open sources and using computer simulations to calculate trajectories, shows it has a strong relationship to the Shahab-3 ballistic missile Qasedand the Safir SLV, together with a number of unusual features for an SLV. If SLV compromises were removed, restoring the design optimization for use as a ballistic missile, the Qased can reach Central Europe and parts of Northern Europe, depending on its payload mass.
Analysts have used other evidence to conclude that the transfers were most likely part of an effort to offer payments to Taliban-linked militants to kill American and coalition troops in Afghanistan.
American officials intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account, evidence that supported their conclusion that Russia covertly offered bounties for killing U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.
Though the United States has accused Russia of providing general support to the Taliban before, analysts concluded from other intelligence that the transfers were most likely part of a bounty program that detainees described during interrogations.
Investigators also identified by name numerous Afghans in a network linked to the suspected Russian operation, the officials said — including, two of them added, a man believed to have served as an intermediary for distributing some of the funds and who is now thought to be in Russia.
WNU Editor: The general purpose of this blog is to post the breaking news stories of the day, and to give my opinion on it. But I feel like I am repeating history when it comes to the New York Times. When the New York Times led the story on the Russia-Trump collusion narrative for almost three years, using anonymous sources to back their reporting, regular readers of this blog know that I was always skeptical and critical of their conclusions. That is why I was not surprised when we learned earlier this year that the entire Russian-Trump collusion story was false. Or to put it bluntly .... a lie. Flash forward to today. The New York Times is now using anonymous sources to claim that money was transferred from Russia to the Taliban via through the informal “hawala” system that operates in countries like Afghanistan. Right there that does not make sense. The "hawala" system is the most informal banking system in the world that stays away from normal banking paperwork and documentation. It is based on trust, and its very nature makes it impossible to track and monitor. Even the NSA, which monitors this type of activity, is now saying that there is no truth to this story .... NSA Differed From CIA, Others on Russia Bounty Intelligence (WSJ). In the past I would always side with a news organization and its reporting .... no more now when it comes to the New York Times and their use of anonymous sources. They have lied in the past with their use of anonymous sources, and my gut tells me that they are lying now. Never forget that this is a Presidential election year in the U.S.. Everything that is now being reported, and what is not being reported, is based on that.
Update: Three years ago I would have sneered and laughed at President Trump for saying this (see tweet below). I am not laughing anymore. He is (I am sad to say) probably right.
The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!
“No corroborating evidence to back reports.” Department of Defense. Do people still not understand that this is all a made up Fake News Media Hoax started to slander me & the Republican Party. I was never briefed because any info that they may have had did not rise to that level
— EU Data News Hub🇪🇺 (@EUDataNewsHub) July 1, 2020
Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas as protesters took to the streets in defiance of sweeping security legislation introduced by China that critics say is aimed at snuffing out dissent https://t.co/sYalpaWPCrpic.twitter.com/gOziTNyw0D
France is suspending its involvement in a NATO naval operation off Libya’s coast after a standoff with a Turkish ship and amid growing tensions within the military alliance over Libya. https://t.co/5GDFe562vz
The inscriptions, located between 'Finger 4' and 'Finger 5' measure approximately 81 metres in length and 25 metres in breadth and are large enough to be clearly spotted by passing imagery satellites.
In a claim to disputed territory, Chinese forces in the contested Fingers region of Ladakh's Pangong Lake have inscribed a massive Mandarin symbol and map of China onto the ground they occupy.
The inscriptions, located between 'Finger 4' and 'Finger 5' measure approximately 81 metres in length and 25 metres in breadth and are large enough to be clearly spotted by passing imagery satellites. Earlier this week, Wang Hajiang, the overall commander of Chinese forces in Tibet was photographed repainting the character of 'China' in a frontier position along the India-China boundary.
Moscow (AFP) - North Korea's fury over anti-Pyongyang leaflets launched from the South is driven by "dirty, insulting" depictions of leader Kim Jong Un's spouse, Russia's top envoy in the reclusive country has said.
In recent weeks Pyongyang has issued a series of vitriolic condemnations over anti-North leaflets which defectors based in the South send across the militarised border -- usually attached to balloons or floated in bottles.
The campaigns have long been a point of contention between the two Koreas, but this time, Pyongyang upped the pressure, blowing up a liaison office and threatening military measures.
One of the most recent launches -- carried out on May 31 -- had included provocative imagery of the North's First Lady Ri Sol Ju, sparking "serious outrage" in Pyongyang, according to Russian ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora.
Russia is a key ally of the isolated North and Matsegora is one of the longest serving ambassadors in Pyongyang.
WNU Editor: Alexander Matsegora has been Russia's ambassador to Pyongyang for five years, and a lower level diplomat based in the country for even longer. I am sure he has a very good pulse on the country. His recent comment on who is #2 in North Korea is interesting .... Russia Has 'No Reason' To Think Kim Jong Un's Sister to Lead North Korea (Newsweek). Kim jong Un's sister Kim Yo-jong will never say she is #2 in the country after her brother. She does not have to because everyone knows that she is.
I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.
