MTQ News

South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Suh Wook told lawmakers that a KC-330 will head to the United States on Jun. 2 to bring back the Johnson & Johnson (J&J)’s Janssen vaccines. from Asian Defence News https://ift.tt/3c7L92e via IFTTT

  The Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) is issuing a tender for the supply of 110 SAAB Carl Gustav M4 84mm man portable recoiless gun which could find its way to all four parachute battalions and two special forces/commando battalions of the 10th Parachute Brigade (10Bgd Para) and 21st Special Forces Group (21GGK). Already, these Army strategic units have been equipped with various anti armour weapon including the much older and heavier Carl Gustav M2, RPG-7 rocket propelled grenades as well as Nammo M72LAW and Instalaza C90 unguided anti tank launch system.The Carl Gustav is not the only SAAB made defence product that MINDEF had recently procured. The New Generation Light Anti Tank Weapon (NLAW) was also acquired for the use of the paratroopers and commandos. These new procurement could mean that weapons like the Carl Gustav M2 and RPG-7 could now being passed down to other formations especially those from mechanised Infantry battalions.As the tip of the spear, it is importa

Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported on May 29 that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Army 80 Group Army recently demonstrated that its PHL-03 300 mm long-range multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) has the ability to strike maritime targets. from Asian Defence News https://ift.tt/3yPJhoJ via IFTTT

An archival photograph showing a double burial at Jebel Sahaba. Wendorf Archives of the British Museum   New Scientist : Earliest known war was a repeated conflict in Sudan 13,400 years ago   Individuals buried at the prehistoric cemetery Jebel Sahaba in Sudan seem to have experienced violence and trauma at several points during their lives. The discovery may help us understand the prehistory of violence before the origin of farming.  At about 13,400 years old, Jebel Sahaba is one of the earliest sites displaying signs of mass conflict. Violence between communities seems to have become more common once people settled in one place to farm, which had begun happening by about 12,000 years ago. But evidence of organised violence among more mobile communities, like those represented by Jebel Sahaba, is unusual.   Read more ....   WNU Editor: Fighting and warfare is part of human nature. I suspect that we have been fighting in an organized matter way before the above discovered 13,40

Service members lift up their flasks next to a headstone during Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, May 31, 2021. REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy   WNU Editor: The above picture is from this photo-gallery .... America marks Memorial Day holiday still subdued by pandemic (Reuters). from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3yQLIY1 via IFTTT

  AFP: China limits travel in most populous province over Covid-19 cases   Chinese authorities imposed fresh travel limits, cancelled flights and tested thousands of residents in Guangdong Monday after the Indian variant of the coronavirus was reported in the country's most populous province. Travelers leaving Guangzhou -- the capital of the southern province home to 100 million people -- must show negative Covid-19 test results from the past 72 hours, starting from 10:00 pm on Monday, the city said in an announcement late Sunday.  Guangzhou, an industrial hub of nearly 15 million people north of Hong Kong, reported 18 new local cases of the coronavirus on Monday, causing alarm in a country that has largely brought domestic transmission under control.   Read more ....  More News On China Ordering Its First Lock-down Since January   Guangzhou reports 18 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 14 previous asymptomatic patients -- Global Times   Flights cancelled as China sees surge in

A T-72 tank crosses a water obstacle via a floating bridge during a drill involving elements of the 5th Russian Army which are crossing local water bodies at Sergeyevsky Training Ground in the Primorye Territory, Russia. © Sputnik / Vitaliy Ankov  RT: Russia to marshal 20 new military formations, armed with latest weaponry, in response to heightened NATO activity near its borders  Russia has announced that it will revamp and upgrade its military presence along its European borders in response to a reported buildup by the US-led NATO bloc, as well as stepping up the presence of both its navy and warplanes.  Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Monday that more than a dozen new units would be formed in the Western Military District, which covers much of the European portion of Russia, following increased activity in the region.   Read more ....  More News On Russia Building Up Its Military Presence Along its European Borders   Russia to form 20 new military units in west to co

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan (2nd R) attends talks with China's President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 2, 2018. Photo: AFP / Thomas Peter / Pool   Asia Times : Pakistan begs China for power debt forgiveness   Islamabad may decline to pay Chinese banks it owes billions in perceived as onerous take-or-pay power production contracts  PESHAWAR – Pakistan’s debt problems are escalating as liabilities due on China-funded energy projects established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) surpass $31 billion and Beijing declines to restructure $3 billion in liabilities coming due that Islamabad possibly won’t pay.  The debt load, owed largely for the building of independent power producers (IPPs) on take-or-pay power generation contracts, is substantially more than the $19 billion in total invested in the plants, according to reports and industry analysts.  Pakistan is obliged to pay $5.9 billion to the power

  Reuters: Peru revises pandemic death toll, now worst in the world per capita   LIMA (Reuters) -Peru on Monday almost tripled its official COVID-19 death toll to 180,764, following a government review, making it the country with the worst death rate per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University data.  Peru has been among the hardest hit Latin America countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, with its hospitals overcrowded with patients and demand for oxygen outstripping availability.  Experts had long warned that the true death toll was being under-counted in official statistics.  The government said it will now update its death count, which stood at 69,342 as of Sunday, in part because of a lack of testing that made it difficult to confirm whether a person had died due to the virus or some other cause.   Read more ....   WNU Editor: Here is an easy prediction. When this is all over, Peru will not be the only country revising Covid-19 death totals.  More News On Peru Rev

The IAEA suspects Iran has been boosting uranium enrichment since April, dampening hopes of salvaging the JCPOA   RFE: UN's Nuclear Watchdog Says Iran Has Failed To Explain Uranium Traces   The UN's nuclear watchdog agency said on May 31 that Iran has failed to explain traces of uranium found at several undeclared sites and that it continues to breach enrichment limits spelled out in the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.  The news, outlined in two separate reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), could complicate talks currently underway in Vienna to revive the deal.  One report by IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said that Tehran has failed to provide “the necessary explanation for the presence of the nuclear material particles at any of the three locations where the agency has conducted complementary accesses [inspections]."   Read more ....  More News On The UN's Nuclear Watchdog Saying Iran Has Failed To Explain Uranium Traces F

China has been accused of fiddling statistics and distorting its role in the early days of the spread (Image: REUTERS)   Daily Mail: Is 'Patient Su' Covid's Patient Zero? IAN BIRRELL, who's led the way in exposing Beijing's lies, reveals how a woman aged 61 was diagnosed with virus THREE weeks before China admits that it even existed   * Mistake by Chinese official may have disclosed details of early Covid case  * Error shows the woman, 61, lived about a mile from a coronavirus research lab  * She was also close to a stop for the high-speed rail line that spread the virus  A mistake by a leading Chinese official may have disclosed the name, address and details about one of the first people suspected of being infected with Covid-19 in Wuhan, three weeks before Beijing authorities claim they detected the initial case.  The astonishing error, revealed in a screen-grab sent to a Chinese medical journal, shows that the 61-year-old woman, known as ‘Patient Su’, li

   CBC: Benjamin Netanyahu is on cusp of being ousted, but don't write his political obituary just yet   Coalition deal between rivals must still be approved in parliament, and Israeli PM has proven resilient  A flurry of promises, backroom deal-making and last-minute shifts in political allegiance marked what seems to be the final days of Benjamin Netanyahu's long tenure as prime minister of Israel.  When the dust settled, Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu's former defence minister and chief of staff, appeared poised to emerge as prime minister, leading an unlikely coalition that spans the breadth of the Israeli political spectrum — from hawkish right-wing parties to centrists and left-wing activists.   Read more ....   WNU Editor: The media narrative for the entire weekend was that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's days were numbered.  Maybe so. But not today.  More News On The Efforts To Replace Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu  Israel's Lapid says 'many ob

The U.S. Department of Defense announced on May 28 that MD Helicopter Inc., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $14,500,000 modification to contract W58RGZ-17-C-0038 to provide contractor logistics support for the Afghanistan Air Force fleet of armed MD 530F rotary wing aircraft. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona; Kabul, Afghanistan; and Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2021. Read full news at this link... An Afghan Air Force MD-530 at Kandahar Air Wing, Afghanistan. (Picture source: Wikipedia/U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Jared J. Duhon) Read more... from World Defence News https://ift.tt/3wLCJFK via IFTTT

Hensoldt is presenting its new TRML-4D multi-function air surveillance and target acquisition radar. It is Hensoldt’s latest member of the C-Band (NATO G-Band) ground-based air defense radar family. Read full news at this link... TRML- 4D multi-function air surveillance and target acquisition radar (Picture source: Hensoldt) Read more... from World Defence News https://ift.tt/3fCTX2B via IFTTT

On May 28, the U.S. DoD published (written by David Vergun) information about the fiscal year 2022 Defense Department budget request that includes the largest-ever research, development, test and evaluation request — $112 billion, which is a 5.1% increase over fiscal 2021. It also includes $27.7 billion for nuclear triad modernization. The budget totals $752.9 billion. It includes $37.9 billion for the Department of Energy and other agencies. It reflects a 1.6% increase from the fiscal 2021 enacted budget. Read full news at this link... U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Pentagon, May 5, 2021 (Picture source: U.S. DoD) Read more... from World Defence News https://ift.tt/2RPcBeB via IFTTT

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VIDEO: In India the coronavirus has killed 160,000 in eight weeks, overwhelmed hospitals and shut many businesses. Experts warn that another crisis is looming, with rising levels of hunger among poor Indians already reeling from a first lockdown last year. pic.twitter.com/1hlHY8oYrQ — AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 30, 2021 183 countries have mass-vaccination programmes underway, and about 1.8bn doses have been administered so far. Our global covid-19 data tracker is updated around the clock with the latest figures https://t.co/lOMZDty1Hl — The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 31, 2021 Last year, 27 scientists condemned "conspiracy theories" suggesting that Covid-19 didn't have a natural origin. Now some support a fuller probe of a Chinese lab. https://t.co/PQZjbdf2Fx — The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 31, 2021 Indianapolis 500 welcomes 135,000 joyful fans in the largest sports event in the world since the pandemic began. by @apgelston https://t.co/9w34RYLXXx

HMS Portland had not left harbour since 2018 and has only been at sea for 41 days in the last four yearsCredit: PA:Press Association   The SUN: HIGH & DRY Royal Navy’s most powerful warships spend year stuck in port with maintenance problems   TWO of the Royal Navy’s most powerful warships have spent the past year stuck in port with maintenance problems, defence chiefs have admitted.  The £1billion Type 45 destroyers have been docked in Portsmouth while Russia steps up its hostile presence around British waters.  HMS Daring has not spent a single day at sea since 2017, when it sailed for a total of just 85 days. Its 8,000-ton sister ship HMS Duncan was also confined to Portsmouth for the whole of 2020.  Navy chiefs discovered problems with the engines of the six Type 45 destroyers in 2016 but it has taken taken years to solve the issue.   Read more ....   WNU Editor: This is a sobering stat .... Latest MoD figures show all six destroyers spent a total of 339 days at se

Sunlit Transit The Coast Guard cutters Maui and Robert Goldman travel in the Persian Gulf, May 24, 2021. from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3c86Jnk via IFTTT

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Warzone/The Drive: Plan To Buy 145 B-21 Raider Bombers Gets Endorsement From Biden Air Force Nominee   The Air Force wants to acquire a B-21 fleet that is nearly seven times bigger than its current B-2 stealth bomber force.  Frank Kendall, President Joe Biden's nominee to become the next Secretary of the Air Force, says he supports the service's current position that it needs to acquire at least 145 stealthy B-21 Raiders in the coming years. These aircraft, work on which is steadily progressing, are set to supplant its existing B-2 Spirit stealth bomber fleet, which comprises just 21 jets, in total, not all of which are available for combat operations, as well as its aging B-1Bs.  Kendall, who has worked in the halls of the U.S. government in the past, including for a time as Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, made his remarks about the B-21 fleet during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 25, 2021. Th

Enough is enough. We won’t let our military fall to woke ideology. We have just launched a whistleblower webpage where you can submit your story. Your complaint will be legally protected, and go to my office and @SenTomCotton . https://t.co/4FstasB7Tm — Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) May 28, 2021 Zero Hedge/Epoch Times: "We Are Going To Expose You": Crenshaw, Cotton Create Military Whistleblower Site To Combat 'Woke Ideology'   Two GOP lawmakers this week launched a campaign calling on whistleblowers in the military to come forward with their experiences in training programs that promote critical race theory or “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”    “We won’t let our military fall to woke ideology,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a former Navy SEAL, wrote in a tweet on Friday while linking to a website where informants can submit their accounts.     “With written permission, we will anonymously publish egregious complaints on social media and tell the coun

© Provided by Washington Examiner   NYPost: Biden received funds from top Russia lobbyist before Nord Stream 2 giveaway   President Biden and his allies raked in campaign cash from a top Russia lobbyist in 2020, just months before his administration’s decision to scrap sanctions on a controversial firm building a Russian oil pipeline to Germany.  Richard Burt, a managing partner at McLarty Associates and a former US ambassador to Germany during the Reagan administration, ponied up $4,000 for Joe Biden in October 2020 and dropped another $10,000 in the lefty-aligned political action committee Unite The County in March 2020, FEC records show.  In addition to violating Biden’s own campaign pledge not to take lobbyist cash, the money from Burt is particularly noteworthy as he is currently directly engaged in lobbying activities for Nord Stream 2 AG.   Read more ....   Update #1: Biden received funds from top Russia lobbyist before Nord Stream 2 giveaway (FOX News) Update #2: Bi

  The Guardian: Israeli opposition figures reach deal aimed at ousting Netanyahu   Far-right politician Naftali Bennett says he has agreed to a deal with Yair Lapid to forge a coalition government   The far-right Israeli politician Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid have agreed to forge a coalition government that would oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his 12 straight years in power.  “It’s my intention to do my utmost in order to form a national unity government along with my friend Yair Lapid, so that, God willing, together we can save the country from a tailspin and return Israel to its course,” said Bennett, a former settler leader and religious nationalist, in a televised address.   Read more ....   WNU Editor: Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu has responded to the formation of this new coalition .... Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu fires back at coalition effort to oust him: 'Fraud of the century' (FOX News).  More News On Israeli Oppos

ABC's Jon Karl on Wuhan lab leak theory: "I think a lot of people have egg on their face....Some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them." pic.twitter.com/69Hrd25B9y — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 30, 2021 WNU Editor: I expect more media admissions in the coming days and weeks.  I have also discovered that many are now more openly talking about this theory than in the past. Was listening to a podcast this afternoon, and the host admitted that since President Biden started to talk about it, he now feels confident that he can talk about it without fear that Facebook and Twitter may cancel him out. from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3iaCHDz via IFTTT

In this Feb. 24 photo, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian speaks during a daily briefing at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Beijing. © Andy Wong/AP   Washington Post: As U.S. calls for focus on covid origins, China repeats speculation about U.S. military base   China reacted angrily to the Biden administration’s calls for a harder investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, by accusing the United States of hypocrisy and suggesting it needed to open its own biological laboratories to international inspection. Speaking at a media briefing in Beijing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said that President Biden’s call for more scrutiny of the still-disputed origins of coronavirus was politically motivated and showed that the United States “does not care about facts and truth, nor is it interested in serious scientific origin tracing.”   Read more ....   Update: China counters Biden's Covid origins lab probe ... by calling for a US la

  Daily Mail: President Putin and Belarus leader Lukashenko 'agree loan deal' during a yacht tour in Sochi amid international uproar over the hijacking of Ryanair flight to detain dissident journalist   * Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko went on a yacht tour in Sochi today  * Russia will move ahead with a second £352million loan to Belarus next month  * Lukashenko ordered hijacking of Ryanair plane as it crossed Belarusian airspace  * Dissident blogger Roman Protasevich and girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested  Vladimir Putin and Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko have 'agreed a loan deal' during a yacht tour in Sochi amid international uproar over the hijacking of a Ryanair flight to detain a dissident journalist.  The Russian President and Mr Lukashenko held a second day of talks - as well as a yacht tour - in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Saturday.  The former-Soviet superpower will move ahead with a second £352million loan to Belarus next

  FOX News: Biden sends Xi, Putin warning while remembering son Beau, fallen troops in Memorial Day speech   President Biden sent a warning to the presidents of China and Russia during his Memorial Day address on Sunday.  "I had a long conversation for two hours recently with [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping], making it clear to him we could do nothing but speak out for human rights around the world because that's who we are," Biden said. "I'll be meeting with [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin in a couple weeks in Geneva making it clear that we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights."   Read more ....   Update #1: Biden pays tribute to late son Beau during Memorial Day remarks in Delaware as he vows to tell Putin US will 'not stand by and let him abuse human rights' (Daily Mail)   Update #2: 'This is a hard day for us': Biden honors son Beau in Memorial Day remarks on anniversary of his death (USA Today)   WNU Edito

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden return to the White House after a trip to Camp David, in Washington, March 21, 2021. REUTERS/Erin Scott   CNN: For Biden, the White House is 'a Monday-through-Friday kind of place'   (CNN)Beginning in 1973, when he was a United States Senator from Delaware, Joe Biden had a ritual: nearly every evening he would hop a train back to Wilmington after his work day on Capitol Hill, spending most nights and weekends at the place he considered home, 100 miles from Washington.  Doing so earned him the nickname "Amtrak Joe," and in 2011, the Wilmington depot was renamed the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station. In all, he took more than 8,000 of those roundtrips during his 36 years in the Senate and, though less frequently, his eight years as vice president, no small feat for a busy politician.  Turns out old habits die hard.  Since taking office four months ago, the President has spent more weekends away from the White House

June 20, 2016: A Chinese fleet participates in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) multinational naval exercises with US warships in west Pacific Ocean. /Xinhua Photo   Gordon G. Chang, Gatestone Institute: Coming Soon: China's Navy Patrolling Off New York   * Chinese planners are not only thinking of the continent [Africa], they are also eyeing islands in the Atlantic, specifically Terceira, one of the Azores.  * On that island, part of Portugal, there is a port and, of even greater interest, Air Base No. 4. Better known as Lajes Field, the facility is jointly operated by the U.S. Air Force and its Portuguese counterpart.  * If China controlled the base, the Atlantic would no longer be secure.... Chinese planes could patrol the northern and central portions of the Atlantic and thereby cut air and sea traffic between the U.S. and Europe. Beijing would also be able to deny access to the nearby Mediterranean Sea.  * Pentagon budget cutters have been scaling back activities at Laje

US security agencies are keep a close eye on two Iranian naval vessels that may be headed toward Venezuela. The former oil tanker, Makran, is one of two ships currently sailing south along the east coast of Africa  Daily Mail: US security agencies are monitoring TWO Iranian warships 'heading towards Venezuela' amid fears they could be used to intimidate Washington   * Two Iranian warships are headed south along the east coast of Africa  * It's unclear where they are headed, but US security experts believe they may be traveling toward Venezuela  * Iran and Venezuela have become close allies in the past decade; both have been heavily sanctioned by the US  * Venezuela is located just 1,500 miles from mainland America, and Iranian warships in the region may intimidate Washington  US security agencies are keep a close eye on two Iranian warships that may be headed toward Venezuela.  An Iranian frigate and a former oil tanker known as the Makran are currently sailing sou

Her post included a candid photo of herself smiling with the caption: 'Enjoy the long weekend'    Daily Mail : 'Enjoy the long weekend': Kamala Harris is slammed for smiling tone deaf Memorial Day tweet that doesn't acknowledge fallen soldiers    * Kamala Harris' post included a candid photo of herself smiling with the caption: 'Enjoy the long weekend'   * The tweet came ahead of Memorial Day without mentioning fallen soldiers   * It also came hours after she praised Midshipman Sydney Barber -the first black woman to serve as Brigade Commander at the U.S. Naval Academy * Harris also spoke at the U.S. Naval Academy's graduation and commissioning ceremony on Friday  * During that speech, she called the United States military 'the best, the bravest, and the most brilliant'  * Air National Guard Lt. Colonel Adam Kinzinger blasted her tweet as 'tone deaf'  * Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that even her seven-year-old son 'under

FILE PHOTO: A ballistic missile target launches from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii, September 12, 2018 © Ryan Keith / Missile Defense Agency via DVIDS   Daily Mail (Reuters) : US fails to intercept medium-range ballistic missile test target   * The MDA, an agency under the Department of Defense, routinely conducts missile defense tests  A U.S. warship failed to intercept a medium-range ballistic missile test target on Saturday, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.   'The objective of the test was to demonstrate the capability of a ballistic missile defense-configured Aegis ship to detect, track, engage and intercept a medium-range ballistic missile target' with a salvo of two Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) Dual II missiles, the agency said in a statement.   Read more ....  More News On The Recent U.S. Missile Test Failure   Missile Defense Test Fails off Kauai Following Appearance by Russian Spy Ship -- Military.com/The Honolulu Star-

  France 24: Macron threatens to pull troops from Mali if ‘radical Islamism’ takes hold   President Emmanuel Macron warned in comments published Sunday that France will pull its troops out of Mali if it lurches towards radical Islamism following the second coup in nine months.  France has around 5,100 troops in the region under its so-called Barkhane operation which spans five countries in the Sahel -- Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.  The mission, headquartered in Chad, was launched after France intervened to fend off a jihadist advance in Mali in 2013.   Read more ....   Update #1: Macron threatens to withdraw French troops from Mali (BBC)   Update #2: Macron warns of Mali withdrawal as coup leader summoned to Ecowas summit (RFI)   WNU Editor : Mali's coup leader is heading to Ghana for emergency talks .... Mali coup leader heads to Ghana for ECOWAS crisis talks (Al Jazeera). from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3uAfAES via IFTTT

  Daily Mail: Now Vietnam detects a new hybrid of Indian AND UK Covid variants that spreads quickly by air   * Vietnam health minister said the country has discovered new variant of Covid-19  * The virus is believed to be a hybrid of strains first found in both India and the UK * Nguyen Thanh Long said tests suggest the strain spreads more easily through air  * He did not specify how many cases had been identified with the new Covid strain  Vietnam has discovered a new variant of Covid-19 that is a hybrid of the Indian and UK strains, health officials confirmed on Saturday.  Scientists in Vietnam examined the genetic makeup of the virus that had infected recent patients and found the new variant, according to health minister Nguyen Thanh Long.  Long, who is a doctor, said laboratory tests suggest that the new strain, which is a combination of the Indian and British variants, may spread more easily by air than other versions of the virus.   Read more ....  WNU Editor: Viet

Zero Hedge: US Embassies Worldwide Are Flying BLM Flags This Week   US embassies and consulates across the globe this week flew Black Lives Matter (BLM) flags after being authorized and encouraged to do so for the first time ever in a memo by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It's now expected to be a regular practice, particularly in instances of race-related events or memorials.  Just ahead of the May 25 one-year anniversary of George Floyd's death, a State Department memo was sent to all diplomatic staff worldwide saying that it "supports the use of the term 'Black Lives Matter' in messaging content". It further encouraged speeches and commemorative events related to diplomatic engagements on the anniversary "and beyond". Subsequently on Tuesday BLM flags were photographed flying at various US diplomatic compounds across the globe, stretching from east Asia to Greece to Spain and Latin America.   Read more ....   WNU Editor : Displaying a

US OC-135B Open Skies surveillance plane, pictured at RAF Mildenhall in February 2010 © Flickr/Airwolfhound   NBC: U.S. tells Russia it won't rejoin arms control pact that was 'undermined by Russian violations'   WASHINGTON — The United States has told Russia it will not rejoin an arms control agreement that allows member countries to conduct surveillance flights over each others' territory, accusing Moscow of violating the accord.  The decision not to re-enter the Open Skies Treaty came only weeks before a planned summit between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.  The U.S. move leaves only one major arms control agreement in place between the two nuclear-armed powers, the New START treaty. Biden has agreed to extend that accord another five years.   Read more ....  Update #1: US tells Russia it won’t rejoin Open Skies arms control pact (Military Times/AP)   Update #2: Biden administration won't seek to rejoin Open Skies

U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, demonstrate advanced basing capabilities as part of Exercise Noble Fury. The Marines rapidly inserted via an air assault, defeated simulated adversary forces, secured the airfield, and established defensive positions around the island (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Josue Marquez)   Asia Times: US Marines, Taiwan could repel invasion: study   INDSR researcher says Taiwan military capabilities would complement US Marine operations  As the US Marines face their biggest reorganization in 100 years, shifting from a second land army to smaller amphibious units stationed strategically, a new study suggests that Taiwan could play an important role in that transformation, in the case of a conflict with China, Taiwan News reported.  Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) cybersecurity researcher Hsieh Pei-hsueh presented an analysis in the think tank’s biweekly report, examining the US Marines’ prese

Weekend Reads: • AP Investigation: Myanmar's junta using bodies to terrorize. • Roaring '20s visions beckon as pandemic ebbs. • Deep-rooted racism permeates U.S. military. • Who's an astronaut as private spaceflight picks up speed? More @AP coverage: https://t.co/6hQuVXTNss — The Associated Press (@AP) May 29, 2021 Vietnam has discovered a new coronavirus variant that’s a hybrid of strains first found in India and the U.K. The Vietnamese health minister said the new variant could be responsible for a recent surge in the country. https://t.co/VPXU70Mu9P — The Associated Press (@AP) May 29, 2021 Vietnam business hub Ho Chi Minh City to enact social distancing https://t.co/neRpQ3HJiO pic.twitter.com/Oq52gKwV9o — Reuters (@Reuters) May 30, 2021 Israeli opposition inch closer to deal to oust Netanyahu https://t.co/vdBjX1akwl — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 30, 2021 Bashar al-Assad won the election in Syria by a 95.1 percent majority. How? Watch the sol