Category: International Conflict

Dangerous encounter between a Chinese jet fighter and a Canadian helicopter over the South China Sea

Halifax, Canada — A dangerous encounter between a Chinese jet fighter and a Canadian helicopter over the South China Sea has called attention to Canada’s heightened interest in the Western Pacific, including participation in patrols through the disputed Taiwan Strait. In the October 29 incident, first reported by CNN, a helicopter was flying off the deck of the frigate HMCS Ottawa…

US Nuclear Submarine in Middle East for ‘Deterrence’: Pentagon

  A US nuclear-powered Ohio-class submarine is in the Middle East to help prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a broader conflict, the Pentagon said Monday.   The US Central Command posted a picture of the submarine the day before on social media platform X that appeared to show it transiting Egypt’s Suez Canal. It is “now in the…

US sanctions Russian Ekaterina Zhdanova, who they say laundered money for Ryuk ransomware affiliate

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova for laundering millions in cryptocurrency for various individuals, including ransomware actors. Zhdanova used her expertise in cryptocurrency and blockchain networks to move money through various platforms such as Garantex (sanctioned in April 2022 for aiding the Hydra Market) to evade “Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism” (AML/CFT) controls. A report…

Israel bombs entrance of Gaza’s biggest hospital, ‘Slaying Men, Women, Children’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s thinly veiled call to “go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” is being taken literally. ]Netanyahu declaring invasion: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible” 1…

China sends 43 aircraft, 7 ships close to Taiwan

TAIPEI: Taiwan said on Wednesday that China sent 43 military aircraft and seven ships near the self-ruled island, the latest sign that Beijing plans no let-up in its campaign of harassment, threats and intimidation. Taiwan’s defenceministry said 37 of the aircraft had crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, which China no longer recognises as an informal divider between…

Jordan, key US ally, recalls its envoy from Israel in protest over the “humanitarian catastrophe”

Jordan, a key US ally, said Wednesday it has recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s ambassador to remain out of the country in protest over the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. Jordan’s deputy PM said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel “stopping its war on Gaza … and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing.” Jordan signed…

Unprecedented Cyber Breach via MOVEit Software Rattles Multiple Sectors

In a devastating cyberattack that unfolded over three days in May 2023, numerous victims fell prey to a large-scale intrusion. The attackers exploited a vulnerability in MOVEit, a managed file transfer software, sending shockwaves across various sectors. Government agencies, airlines, educational institutions, financial organizations, and healthcare providers found themselves in the crosshairs of this breach. The attackers absconded with sensitive…

Gaza’s only cancer hospital goes out of service – health officials

DUBAI: The only cancer treatment hospital in the Gaza Strip has gone out of service after it ran out of fuel, health officials said on Wednesday. The director of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital told a press conference aired by Al-Jazeera TV that the hospital, which mainly treats cancer patients, had used up its fuel and was now out of service….

Telecom Sector Sees Major Layoffs Despite Historic Stretch Of Tax Breaks, Regulatory Favors

The Trump era was very, very good to the country’s giant telecom monopolies. Trump officials doled out billions in tax breaks (AT&T nabbed $42 billion alone) and billions more in poorly tracked subsidies. It also approved anticompetitive mergers without even reading the details, and handed out all manner of regulator favors like the dismantling of net neutrality or the elimination…

Taiwan detects 43 Chinese warplanes around island

More than 40 Chinese warplanes were detected around Taiwan in a day, the self-ruled island’s defence ministry said on Wednesday. Beijing claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory to be seized one day, by force if necessary, and has ratcheted up military and diplomatic pressures on the island this year. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said in a daily statement that…

Russian Hackers Accessed 632,000 Emails From Pentagon, Other Agencies: Report

Hackers have accessed approximately 632,000 emails from the Department of Defense and other federal agencies this year, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed. The report detailed a large-scale cyberattack in May 2023 in which emails from US government offices, private sectors, airlines, and academic entities were accessed by a suspected Russian group called “CL0P.” Alongside electronic personal data,…

Islamic State Group Claims Deadly Blast in Kabul

The Islamic State jihadist group claimed on its Telegram channel Friday that it was behind a blast at a sports club that killed four people in the Afghan capital the night before. The Sunni Muslim extremist group said it had used a parcel bomb that “IS fighters placed in a room where Shiites gather.” The explosion occurred Thursday evening at a commercial center in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of…

The US Imperative to Blacklist the IRGC as a Terrorist Organization 

[…] ‘The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘Mail Online,’ disclosed that following the Hamas attack on Israel, the United States urged Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). On October 21, 2023, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported, quoting Matthew Miller, the official spokesperson of the US State Department: “We absolutely think that other…

US to build new nuclear gravity bomb

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department on Friday announced the government is moving forward with developing a new version of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb. The bomb, designated B61-13, would have a yield similar to the B61-7 and replace some of those older gravity bombs, the Pentagon said in its announcement. The B61-7′s yield is higher than the B61-12, the…

Israeli air and ground strikes intensify in Gaza; internet collapse cuts territory off from outside

DEIR AL-BALAH: Internet and phone services collapsed in the Gaza Strip under intensified Israeli bombardment Friday night, largely cutting off its 2.3 million people from the outside world and each other, as Israel’s military said it was “expanding” ground operations in the besieged territory. The military’s announcement signaled it was moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, where it…

US Air Force Launches Two Electronic Warfare Detachments

The US Air Force (USAF) has launched two new detachments at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia to bolster the force’s electronic warfare capability. Detachments from the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing (SWW) and the 87th Electronic Warfare Squadron (EWS) will be tasked with responding to electronic threats by developing new countermeasures. The launch is part of the standup process for…