Tag: All Regions

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 a peace deal with Israel in 1994. Meanwhile, Bolivia said on Tuesday it had broken diplomatic ties with Israel because…

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 data, including credit card information, personally identifiable information (PII), and social security numbers (SSNs). In a startling revelation, Bloomberg reported…

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. “We tell the world don’t leave cancer patients to a certain death due to the hospital being 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 of media consolidation rules. In absolutely every instance telecoms like AT&T and Comcast claimed these efforts would boost broadband deployment…

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 43 Chinese aircraft and 7 naval vessels were detected around the island in a 24-hour period leading up to 6:00…

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, the actors breached internal tracking codes and government employee survey links issued by agencies. Through File Transfer Software The cybercriminals…

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 Kabul, an enclave of the historically oppressed Shiite Hazara community, according to police.   Police were still investigating the cause…

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 countries should designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. It’s a position that we’ve made clear a number of times….

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 most recent bomb being added to the military’s arsenal. The Pentagon said the decision to build this weapon was made…

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 has vowed to crush the ruling Hamas militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago. Explosions…

Mexico’s Acapulco grows desperate for help after Hurricane Otis ravaged the area

ACAPULCO, Mexico — As a bright, hot sun filled Acapulco in the days following the furious arrival of Hurricane Otis, it revealed a city utterly transformed by destruction. The Category 5 storm slammed into the Pacific coast early Wednesday, killing at least 27 people, with at least four still missing, according to Mexican officials. Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, pledged unlimited resources and thousands of troops. But residents and tourists in the city of 1 million people say they’ve…

Sam Bankman-Fried denies taking denies $10bn customer funds theft in testimony at fraud trial

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried began testifying at his fraud trial on Friday, saying the innovative business he hoped would move the cryptocurrency ecosystem forward ended up doing the opposite and hurting customers. The onetime cryptocurrency golden boy lost his businesses and his reputation as a pioneering entrepreneur in an emerging facet of finance when a rush of customers withdrew their money last year, exposing that billions of dollars were missing. Bankman-Fried, 31, acknowledged some of his failures early in his…

Lockdown in Maine as search for mass shooter continues

NEW DELHI: Residents of Maine had to remain locked inside their homes for the second consecutive night as law enforcement agencies launched an extensive search for Robert Card, the man believed to be responsible for the worst mass shooting in the state’s history which claimed 18 lives at a bowling alley and a bar. According to an AP report, much of Thursday’s efforts centered on a property owned by one of Card’s relatives in rural Bowdoin, where numerous heavily armed…

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 the future 950th Spectrum Warfare Group, which will further assess the USAF’s combat readiness and effectiveness in electronic warfare. Two…

Pakistan International Airlines on verge of shutdown as 537 flights cancelled in 11 days due to the unavailability of fuel

ISLAMABAD (PAKISTAN): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is on the verge of a shutdown as it cancelled over 500 flights in the past 11 days due to the unavailability of fuel, ARY News reported. ARY News is a Pakistani news channel. PIA is facing its worst crisis in history as Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has cut its fuel supply over unpaid dues. The move forced the airline to cancel 537 flights since October 13. On Thursday, as many as 49 domestic…

Water Crisis in Iran: A Looming Environmental Disaster

Iran is currently grappling with a severe water crisis, a situation clearly underscored by the United Nations’ water status and conditions index. The crisis is most pronounced in the central plateau of Iran, where an absolute water shortage is unfolding. Regime officials have often attributed this crisis to factors like low rainfall and excessive water consumption. However, the Majlis Research Center has emphasized that mismanagement has played a pivotal role in exacerbating the situation. The parliament’s research arm has also…