Partial Media News & Editorials
Central Italy, August 24 — The 6.2 magnitude earthquake registered in Italy early Wednesday in city of Norcia at deapth of 10km. The later aftershock registered 5.2 magnitude.
Current dead are at 120 with additional wounded possibly in hundreds. Many people still trapped under rubble. The situation is ongoing.
Our hearts and prayers with the victims.
Read full story at TheLOCAL
Beijing, August 23 — Within five years China is planning to send its latest probe/rover to Mars. The difficulties associated with such a mission are considerable as expected, “the challenges we face are unprecedented” says Zhang Rongqiao, chief architect of the Mars mission.
Mars rover Curiosity has been on Mars since August 6, 2012. Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers were on Mars since 2004. Matt Damon a brief stint circa 2015.
Read the full article at Xinhuanet
Turkey, August 23 — Islamic State war in Syria is spilling into Turkey. During fighting in Syrian town of Jarablus two shells have managed to hit a nearby town of Karkamis in Turkey.
Local police advising residents to move out of the city for safety. Turkish military forces are amassing on the border for a possible preparation for an offensive operation.
“We do not want Daesh to exist in Iraq and Syria,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. [Daesh is another name for ISIS/ISIL]. Pledging additional aid and support to get the ISIS out of the region, reports DW.com.
Read the full article at DW.
Nigeria, August 23 — In the latest air strikes by the Nigerian Air Force against terrorist group Boko Haram resulted in a possible fatal wounding of Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau.
Nigerian military spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said “Their leader, so-called ‘Abubakar Shekau’, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders,” who continued to confirm three of Boko Haram commanders also dead in the strikes, Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman.
The strikes occurred in Sambisa Forest in Borno State at northeast of Nigeria on Friday.
Read full article at AlJazeera
United States, August 22 — As much as additional 15,000 emails are under scrutiny by the US State Department which were undisclosed by Ms. Hillary Clinton.
Some of the new emails are shedding light as to precisely how the donors to the Clinton Foundation were able to gain access to then Secretary of State and other staff.
“A sports executive who was a major donor to the Clinton Foundation and whose firm paid Bill Clinton millions of dollars in consulting fees wanted help getting a visa for a British soccer player with a criminal past.” – writes WashingtonPost.
This is potentially alarming conflict of interest in terms of security of the State. Under the Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information Section 2(a) subsections 8 and 9, “the potential for pressure, coercion, exploitation, or duress; and (9) the likelihood of continuation or recurrence” sections come to mind.
Read the full article at WashingtonPost.com
Read the “Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information” at US Department of State.
Germany, August 22 — German car manufacturer Volkswagen has apparently stopped production amid key supplier disagreements. DW reports as many as 30 thousand people are affected.
Supplier of cast gearbox components ES Automobilguss and supplier of seat covers Cartrim which both belong to the Prevent supply group stopped their deliveries to VW alleging “unfair business practices”.
The diesel version of Volkwagen’s 2016 cars are still stop-ordered in the US.
Read full article at DW.com a short video is also available here.
A student who wanted to wear her niqab (a veil that covers entire face but the eyes) to school in northern German city of Osnabruck was denied by the local court reports DW.
This is related to our previous article on Germany considering outright ban on burqas in public places.
The struggle between cultural freedoms, acceptance and respecting of hosting nations by assimilation continues.
Read the full article at DW.com
Russia, August 22 — Russia’s newest Beriev A-100 AWACS (airborne early warning and control) aircraft is scheduled for test flight next March with “maiden flight by 2018”.
The new Russian Air Force A-100 is said to be able to detect enemy targets at ranges exceeding 600km (372.8 miles).
Conjectures & Speculations
This is fairly significant because these system are likely to be able to tie in with the current S-400 (NATO SA-21 Growler) anti-air systems. The 40N6 missiles on SA-21 Growler have operational range of 400km (248.5 miles).
These AWACS could also tie in with the newest Russian hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles (3M22 Zircon) with reported range of 400km (248.5 miles) with speeds at 5-6x the speed of sound. These newest generation of anti-ship missiles are scheduled for serial production sometime in 2018 according to TASS state agency.
Read the full article about Briev A-100 at RT.com
Read the full article about 3M22 Zircon anti-ship cruise missile at TASS.ru
Russia, August 18 — Prosecutors in Russia have labeled the International Republican Institute NGO lead by US Senator John McCain as “undesirable organization” reports RT, continuing further to ban group’s operations in Russia including any communications between the group and Russian citizens. The article cites “threat to the foundations of Russia’s constitutional order and state security” as main reasons without elaborating further.
Read the full article at RT.com.
Turkey, August 21 — “There are strong indications that the attack was carried out by ISIL. A suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 blew himself up. We know that ISIL has been trying to gain ground in Gaziantep for a while now,” President Erdogan.
This is the latest development after yesterday’s suicide attack at a wedding party in Turkey where 51 were killed and 69 wounded (exact casualty figures vary slightly between sources).
Only the darkest, most evil force will use children as bombs. In this modern world there is absolutely nothing more evil than such acts of terror. Unbelievable.
Read the full article at hurriyetdailynews.com