Tag: All Regions

National Defence News release July 3, 2023 – Ottawa – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces Today, the ships’ companies of His Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Shawinigan and Summerside depart their homeport of Halifax, N.S., to join Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) on Operation REASSURANCE. The contribution of two Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV) to SNMCMG1 demonstrates Canada’s ongoing commitment to NATO’s high readiness continuous at-sea presence, and the Royal Canadian Navy’s leadership on the world stage…

Monday, 03 July 2023 5:02 PM Turkish authorities say they have uncovered and disrupted a vast “ghost” Mossad spy network centered in Istanbul, following months of surveillance. The substantial efforts by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) exposed 56 operatives allegedly spying on non-Turkish citizens in Turkey in the service of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper reported on Monday. MIT and the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Istanbul Police Department also managed to arrest seven of the suspected…

US Department of State Press Statement Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson July 3, 2023 The United States condemns the Hong Kong Police Force’s issuance of an international bounty for information leading to the arrest of eight pro-democracy activists who no longer live in Hong Kong. The extraterritorial application of the Beijing-imposed National Security Law is a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world. We call on the Hong Kong government to immediately…

State Department advisory removes concerns about COVID lockdowns but warns of rise in ‘wrongful detentions.’ Alex Willemyns for RFA 2023.07.03 — Americans should reconsider any travel to China due to “arbitrary enforcement of local law,” “exit bans” and “wrongful detentions,” the U.S. State Department says in an updated travel advisory. The update, which is dated Friday, removes concerns about COVID lockdowns but warns of “exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process under…

The United States said Monday that ally Israel had a right to “defend its people” against Islamist militants but called for protection of civilians after a major, deadly raid in the occupied West Bank. “We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups,” a State Department spokesperson said. “It is imperative to take all possible precautions to prevent the loss of civilian lives,” the spokesperson added. The United States, Israel’s…

James S. Crown On Sunday, James S. Crown died in an unusual single-car accident, reportedly on a motorsport racetrack at a “member-owned country club” in Aspen, Colorado. The Pitkin County Coroner’s Office said in a statement that “The official cause of death is pending autopsy, although multiple blunt force trauma is evident.” The Sheriff’s Office indicated that the earliest new information would be made available to the public is next week. In August of last year, Wall Street On Parade made a…

Microsoft has denied the claims of the so-called hacktivists “Anonymous Sudan” that they breached the company’s servers and stole credentials for 30 million customer accounts. Anonymous Sudan is known for debilitating distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Western entities in recent months. The group has confirmed their affiliation with pro-Russian hacktivists like Killnet. Last month, Microsoft admitted that Anonymous Sudan was responsible for service disruptions and outages at the beginning of June that impacting several of its services, including Azure, Outlook, and…

Steve Li Kwai-wah, Hong Kong’s national security department superintendent, speaks during a press conference to issue arrest warrants for eight activists, in Hong Kong on Monday. Joyce Zhou/Reuters TAIPEI, Taiwan — Hong Kong has issued arrest warrants for eight exiled activists and lawyers, accusing them of violating China’s national security law — and offering a hefty bounty for their capture. Among the eight people Hong Kong’s national security police say are wanted for “collusion with foreign forces” are activist and…

Sweden’s data protection watchdog has issued a couple of fines in relation to exports of European users’ data via Google Analytics which it found breach the bloc’s privacy rulebook owing to risks posed by US government surveillance. It has also warned other companies against use of Google’s tool. The fines — just over $1.1 million for Swedish telco Tele2 and less than $30k for local online retailer CDON — are notable as they are the first such fines following a…

LONDON – Kyiv has placed British consumer goods giant Unilever on Ukraine’s “International Sponsors of War” list, claiming Monday it continues to profit from operations in Russia, triggering demonstrations in London. “The National Agency on Corruption Prevention has added British company Unilever onto its list of ‘International Sponsors of War’,” a statement said. This was owing to its “presence in the Russian Federation and its significant taxes to the Russian state budget, thereby supporting the aggressor’s economy and contributing to…

  Editor’s note: This report contains discussion of suicide. Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net. The number of suicides across the active-duty military increased from 75 in the first quarter of 2022 to 94 in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Defense Suicide Prevention Office. The Pentagon’s office on prevention said to be wary of extrapolating and interpreting the…

China’s defense minister said on Monday he hoped to expand naval cooperation with Russia, in the highest-level public talks between military officials from the two countries since a failed mutiny in Russia last month. Li Shangfu spoke in Beijing with Nikolai Yevmenov, head of the Russian navy, and said he hoped both countries could “strengthen communication at all levels,” according to a readout from the Chinese defense ministry. He also said the two should “regularly organize joint exercises, joint cruises, and joint military…

Climate change threatens to deliver a “truly terrifying” dystopian future of hunger and suffering, the United Nations’ human rights chief warned Monday. Volker Turk slammed world leaders for only thinking of the short term while dealing with the climate crisis. Turk told a UN Human Rights Council debate on the right to food that extreme weather events were wiping out crops, herds and ecosystems, making it impossible for communities to rebuild and support themselves. “More than 828 million people faced…

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian forces have destroyed a Ukrainian Starlink satellite communication station and a drone control center near Artemovsk (Bakhmut), a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik. “… the artillery of the group [of Russian forces] destroyed a Starlink communication station, a control center for unmanned aerial vehicles together with a Leleka-100 drone, a communication center and a pickup truck with an infantry group,” the spokesperson said. In addition, Russian forces have repelled an attack by a Ukrainian assault…

Canada’s banking regulator is cautioning that lenders and borrowers are overly reliant on lengthening mortgage amortizations to help the latter cope with higher interest rates and surging costs. In an exclusive interview with The Globe and Mail on Friday, Peter Routledge, the head of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), said that borrowers with mortgages in which payments are not high enough to cover the interest portion of the loan could experience a “shock” in significantly higher…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved a plan to use phosphogypsum, a radioactive waste material, in “demonstration projects.” Here, signs block a roadway in Boca Raton during a construction project in 2021. Florida is another step closer to paving its roads with phosphogypsum — a radioactive waste material from the fertilizer industry — after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill into law Thursday. Conservation groups had urged DeSantis to veto the bill, saying phosphogypsum would hurt water quality and…