Immigration security

Italy threatens to veto EU budget without changes in immigration policy - Di Maio

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio on Monday threatened to veto the European Union’s seven-year budget plan should the bloc not do more to share the burden of migrant arrivals.

“In Europe the music will change,” Di Maio wrote on Facebook less than two days after the country’s latest clash with Brussels over who should take in migrants rescued at sea.

“There’s no dogma over the approval of the multi-year budget for the next seven years, which they would like to rush to approve before the European elections,” he said. “We won’t let them do it, and if the immigration situation does not change between now and the near future, the veto will be certain.”

The EU is in the process of hammering out its new seven-year budget. Di Maio last week threatened to withhold Italy’s EU contributions if the bloc did not agree to take in rescued migrants that the government had blocked on a ship in the port of Catania, in Sicily.

Military

New Pentagon report details 'massive' Chinese military threat

Aircraft carriers, stealth fighters, anti-satellite weapons, drones, cyber attack technology and a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles are all among a series of Chinese weapons said to present serious concerns for Pentagon leaders and weapons developers, according to DoD’s annual China report.

The Pentagon 2018 report, called “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” details a broad spectrum of risks to include global economic expansion, massive military modernization and breakthrough weapons technology able to threaten US superiority.

While of course the report emerges within the context of a complicated, multi-faceted and stressed US-China relationship which includes growing tensions, military rivalry and some measure of cooperation as well. A recent DoD news report, for instance, was careful to mention China as a potential “adversary,” not “enemy.”

Religion

Letter Accusing Pope Leaves U.S. Catholics in Conflict

In a remarkable break from the usual decorum among the bishops, American Catholic leaders are in open conflict over the explosive allegations from a former Vatican diplomat that Pope Francis knew about, and ignored, accusations of sexual abuse against a now-disgraced American cleric.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, a Pope Francis appointee, said that the pope’s opponents were using the accusations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to advance a larger agenda.

“I do think it’s about limiting the days of this pope, and short of that, neutering his voice or casting ambiguity around him,” Cardinal Tobin said in a phone interview on Monday. “And it’s part of a larger upheaval both within and without the church.”

Some conservative American bishops swiftly came to Archbishop Viganò’s defense. Cardinal Raymond Burke, the ultraconservative former archbishop of St. Louis who is now based in Rome, said that after the truth of Archbishop Viganò’s accusations is established, “then the appropriate sanctions must be applied.”

U.S. elections

After a bummer of a summer, midterm polls are putting smiles on Republican faces

The Republican Party has had a grim August, one filled with indictments, guilty pleas, courtroom convictions, gloomy prognosticators and a potential midterm disaster. So why are some party officials smiling? Polls.

The latest numbers in a handful of Senate races seem to indicate brighter prospects for Republican candidates against Democratic incumbents in the November midterm elections.

In New Jersey, the Republican nominee appears to have trimmed Sen. Robert Menendez’s lead in what seemed to be a long-shot race. In Wisconsin, where a primary just provided clarity on who will be on the ballot, the Republican appears to be rallying behind its pick in the race against Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

In Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott has held the Republican nomination for several months, he appears to have taken a slim but unmistakable lead over longtime incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson.

“I think there’s a disconnect between handicappers in D.C. who just look at the numbers and don’t see what’s happening on the ground and those of us who do see what’s happening on the ground,” Republican National Committee spokesman Rick Gorka said.

Criminal investigation

‘Sleeper’ case could torpedo Mueller report

A little-noticed court case stemming from the apparent murder of a Columbia University professor six decades ago could keep special counsel Robert Mueller from publishing any information about the Trump campaign and Russia that he obtains through a Washington grand jury.

The substance of the case is entirely unrelated to Mueller’s investigation into whether any of President Donald Trump’s associates aided Russia’s efforts to intervene in the 2016 election.

But if a Washington appeals court set to hear the murder-related case next month sides with the Justice Department and rules that judges don’t have the freedom to release grand jury information that is usually kept secret, it could throw a monkey wrench into any plans Mueller has to issue a public report on his probe’s findings, lawyers following the issue said.

And it might even keep the special counsel from sending a report to Congress, shaking Democrats’ hopes that such a document could provide the impetus for impeachment proceedings against the president.

Health security

State warns medical providers on increased fentanyl in cocaine

Recent reports showing increasing amounts of fentanyl and cocaine - a particularly lethal combination - in the toxicology of those who died from opioid-related overdoses has prompted a clinical advisory's re-issue in the commonwealth to include all medical providers.

The presence of fentanyl in the toxicology of those who died from opioid-related overdoses in the state rose to nearly 90 percent in 2018, according to the latest quarterly report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

In releasing its second 2018 quarterly report Aug. 24, the DPH said it was re-issuing a June clinical advisory because of this as well as the presence of cocaine in the toxicology of some 43 percent of those who died from opioid-related overdose in the first quarter of the year.

National security

‘Most Americans have no idea’: With all eyes on Russia, China spends millions influencing US

China has unleashed a massive multi-pronged propaganda effort across the US, using a combination of money and influence to sway key policy and opinion-makers, says a new Congress-backed report.

Completed at the behest of US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the 39-page report focuses on United Front, an umbrella organization for Beijing’s soft power, which lead author says has dramatically expanded under the rule of Xi Jinping.

“United Front work serves to promote Beijing’s preferred global narrative, pressure individuals living in free and open societies to self-censor and avoid discussing issues unfavorable to the Chinese Communist Party, and harass or undermine groups critical of Beijing’s policies,” states the report.

According to the report, prominent US institutions, such as Johns Hopkins University, and think-tanks like the Atlantic Council, Brookings Institution and the Carter Center are either receiving funding directly from various arms of the Chinese government, or cooperating on projects financed by United Front.

Cybersecurity

“This is now the new normal”: An expert explains why cybersecurity risks aren’t going away

The crazy Trump-centric news cycle has become the new normal in the United States. So has the scenario of constant cybersecurity risks where it seems like there’s a new worrisome development every week, if not daily.

Just last week, Microsoft said it found more evidence of Russian government hacking efforts, including of conservative United States think tanks. Facebook, Twitter, and Google all announced that they took down accounts determined to be part of an Iranian influence campaign.

With the 2018 midterm elections fast approaching, National Security Adviser John Boltonwarned last weekend that he anticipated threats from China and North Korea on top of Russia and Iran. And the problem is hardly contained to the United States: The activities Facebook identified last week out of Iran and Russia were also aimed at the UK, Latin America, and the Middle East.

War on terror


U.S. strike kills ISIS leader in Afghanistan

The leader of ISIS in Afghanistan was killed in an airstrike on Saturday along with 10 other fighters, officials said.

U.S. forces conducted a counter-terrorism strike in Nangarhar province targeting a senior leader of a terrorist group, said a spokesperson for Operation Resolute Support, a NATO-led mission which trains and advises Afghan forces.

Spokesman Lt. Colonel Martin L. O’Donnell referred NBC News to a statement from Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesperson which confirmed that Abu Sayeed Orakzai, Islamic State's leader in Afghanistan, had been killed.

The provincial governor of Nangarhar said Orakzai was the fourth ISIS leader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2017.

The group has developed a stronghold in the province, on Afghanistan's porous eastern border with Pakistan, and become one of the country’s most dangerous militant groups.

The local affiliate of ISIS, sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region that includes Afghanistan, has been active since 2015, fighting the Taliban as well as Afghan and U.S. forces.

Religion

Pope Francis begs the 'Lord's forgiveness' for child abuse 'scandal and betrayal'

Pope Francis has described the impact of abuse committed by members of the Church in Ireland as an “open wound,” in his address to pilgrims in Knock.

Speaking in the Co Mayo village this morning, he said that: “None of us can fail to be moved by the stories of young people who suffered abuse, were robbed of their innocence and left scarred by painful memories.

“This open wound challenges us to be firm and decisive in the pursuit of truth and justice,” he said.

“I beg the Lord’s forgiveness for these sins and for the scandal and betrayal felt by so may others in God’s family,” he said.

“I ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for the healing of the survivors and to confirm every member of our Christian family in the resolve never again to permit these situations to occur,” he said.

Military

German military turns to under 18s to boost recruitment

According to a Trendence Institut www.trendence.com survey of 20,000 school students across the country, the military is now considered Germany's third most attractive employer, behind sportswear maker Adidas and the police in first place.

Overall, the army spent about 35 million euros ($40 million) on recruitment last year, more than double its spending in 2011, the year compulsory military service ended, annual parliament reports about the Bundeswehr showed.

“The Bundeswehr today is a volunteer army ... Therefore, it must approach young people to win them over,” a spokeswoman for the personnel management department at the Bundeswehr said.

Defense

The U.S. Military's Biggest Problem Isn't Russia or China

Currently, America taunts China by taking needless risks, provokes Russia with military operations on their border that in no way improves our own security, extends military guarantees to small countries that could drag us into a war we should never fight, and engages in active combat operations in scores of countries where no U.S. security interests are at stake. Urgent, substantive, and immediate reform in the way we conduct U.S. policy is necessary. I joined the U.S. Army in the mid-1980s and retired in 2015. During that time, I fought in high-intensity tank-on-tank battles, classic counterinsurgency, trained foreign-military forces, and served during the Cold War. I am also an avid student of military history. I have visited scores of battlefields throughout Europe, Russia, Asia, and the Middle East, and studied battles and wars going back to 400 B.C. One common theme I witnessed is that great powers frequently fell because they came to believe they could not be defeated.

Border security

US Customs and Border Protection to Test Blockchain Shipment Tracking System

One of the largest law enforcement agencies in the U.S., Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will launch a live test of a blockchain-based shipment tracking system, tech news and media agency GSN reports August 24.

In the upcoming test, the CBP will reportedly combine two separate systems: the CPB’s legacy application and a blockchain-powered platform developed by the agency’s parent body — and the country’s primary border control organization — the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The test results will determine how the distributed ledger technology (DLT) is able to enhance the verification process of certificates of origin from the partners of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central America Free Trade Agreement, as well as reduce the time-consuming procedure of the resubmission of shipping data.

While testing, the agency also intends to establish standards of interaction between different blockchains in order to ensure that all firms and software will be easily connected to customs without the need for additional customization.

Arms trade

America's Guns: Secret Pipeline to Syria

It's well known that the United States exports billions of dollars' worth of arms and ammunition to its allies. What isn't as widely understood is that many of the guns it supplies to "partner forces" fighting wars in the Middle East - particularly to rebels in Syria - are Soviet-style munitions such as RPGs and Kalashnikovs which are obtained from manufacturers in Bulgaria, Serbia and other Eastern European countries.

There are many reasons for this, of which the most obvious are that fighters in the region have long been familiar with these types of weapons and would rather use them than anything else, and they are relatively easy to obtain. Another reason is that providing guns which can't easily be traced back to the US puts a politically convenient degree of separation between the US and those to whom the arms go - even when the supplies have been sanctioned at the highest level.

Nevertheless, the process still necessarily involves complicated procurement and supply routes, and a less than diligent application of the "rules" that are theoretically supposed to constrain the international sale and movement of guns into such a volatile environment - embargos, sanctions, "end-user" certification and so on.

Nuclear smuggling

Decoding the truth behind Pakistan’s A-bomb

In February 2004, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, AQ Khan, confessed on television he had been running a nuclear smuggling ring. Hassan Abbas, then part of Islamabad’s anti-corruption investigation body, was asked to investigate. He abandoned the effort as being beyond his organisation’s paygrade, though not before gaining some access to scientists involved in Pakistan’s nuclear programme. That experience, plus a careful reading of the existing literature, is brought together in an interesting but inevitably incomplete volume.

There are two schools of thought regarding AQ Khan, Abbas writes. One argues that Khan’s covert nuclear deals with various international undesirables were rogue operations. Proponents of this theory “contend there is scant evidence to support the allegation of state authorisation”. Unsurprisingly this represents the conclusion of all official investigations into Khan’s activities. The other school argues Khan exploited the spaces created by conflict between different Pakistani state bodies over the A-bomb, co-opting specific policy-makers at different times. After delivering the bomb to Pakistan, Khan simply gamed the system.

Arms smuggling

German arms-maker accused of gun smuggling

Colombia’s decades-long civil war may be over, but the fallout is just reaching Germany today. Prosecutors in the northern German city of Kiel confirmed this week that they will press charges against five executives with Sig Sauer, a German arms manufacturer. They are expected to face charges of breaking German arms export controls by selling tens of thousands of handguns to the South American country in the last decade.

The accused include senior executives and export managers, according to spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office. Prosecution documents seen by the German broadcaster NDR allege the company illegally shipped 36,628 handguns to Colombia’s national police, via an initial shipment to a sister company in the US.

Sig Sauer is alleged to have made false statements on export license applications between 2009 and 2012, leading government officials to believe the guns were destined for the American marketplace. Yet prosecutors say the German executives had to know the true destination: Only German-made handguns could have met the specifications that its US subsidiary had brokered with Colombian police.

People smuggling

At least 2.5 million migrants were smuggled in 2016, first UN global study shows

Migrant smuggling occurred in all parts of the world, generated an income of up to $7 billion – equivalent to the amount the United States or the European Union spent on humanitarian aid that year – according to the UN agency that fights drugs and crime.

“This transnational crime preys on the most vulnerable of the vulnerable,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, UNODC Director of Policy Analysis and Public Affairs.

“It’s a global crime that requires global action, including improved regional and international cooperation and national criminal justice responses,” he added.

The study describes 30 major smuggling routes worldwide and finds that demand for smuggling services is particularly high among refugees who, for lack of other means, may need to use people-smugglers to reach a safe destination fleeing their countries of origin.

Data suggests that many smuggling routes include unaccompanied or separated children, who might be particularly vulnerable to deception and abuse by smugglers and others.

According to the UN migration agency IOM, smuggling results in thousands of deaths each year.

International security

Is the U.S. Prepping to Airstrike Iran?

This time it’s Iran, not Iraq, of course. But as 2018 closes, the U.S. is nearing the twenty-year anniversary of an oft-forgotten event in history: Bill Clinton’s airstrikes on Saddam Hussein’s regime in December 1998. The 42nd president explained the strikes , which killed over one thousand of Saddam’s Republican Guard, from the Oval Office: their mission was “to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs” but also “its military capacity to threaten its neighbors.” Their purpose was “to protect the national interest of the United States, and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world.”  

As I’ve previously pointed out, the Trump administration officially maintains its policy is to seek change in the Iranian regime’s behavior, not necessarily change in the regime itself. But top hawks flying in the president’s orbit disagree. Ali Safavi of the National Council for Resistance of Iran (NCRI), associated with the MEK, has told me: “We welcome the call for the Iranian regime’s change of behavior at home and abroad as that would lead to its definite demise.”

Health security

We’re failing in the opioid crisis. A new study shows a more serious approach would save lives.

The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history — on track to kill more people over the next decade than currently live in entire American cities like Miami or Baltimore.

A new study, published in the American Journal of Public Health on Thursday by Stanford researchers Allison Pitt, Keith Humphreys, and Margaret Brandeau, tries to parse out how America can reduce the death toll. Using a mathematical model, the study brings together research and expert opinions to calculate the epidemic’s death toll and how different policy ideas can stem the toll.

First, a shocking number: 510,000. That’s a rough estimate of how many people will die over the next decade due to opioid-related causes, which include overdoses and other causes of death tied to opioids, such as HIV infections from sharing syringes. But the researchers caution that the number, as with other estimates in the study, are fuzzy and subject to change — given that this is, after all, trying to predict the future.

Robots

Using 'killer robots' in war would breach international law, advocates say

Fully autonomous weapons would breach international law if used in a theater of war, advocates say, claiming there is a “moral imperative” to ban robots that are programmed to kill.

As the U.S., China and Russia push to become leaders in weapons powered by artificial intelligence, longstanding calls for a ban on killer robots, which experts fear could lead to all-out, highly destructive warfare, have grown.

A new report published by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic claims that such autonomous weapons would violate the Martens Clause—a provision of humanitarian law that's widely accepted worldwide.

Intel gathering

Kremlin Sources Go Quiet, Leaving C.I.A. in the Dark About Putin’s Plans for Midterms

In 2016, American intelligence agencies delivered urgent and explicit warnings about Russia’s intentions to try to tip the American presidential election — and a detailed assessment of the operation afterward — thanks in large part to informants close to President Vladimir V. Putin and in the Kremlin who provided crucial details.

But two years later, the vital Kremlin informants have largely gone silent, leaving the C.I.A. and other spy agencies in the dark about precisely what Mr. Putin’s intentions are for November’s midterm elections, according to American officials familiar with the intelligence.

The officials do not believe the sources have been compromised or killed. Instead, they have concluded they have gone to ground amid more aggressive counterintelligence by Moscow, including efforts to kill spies, like the poisoning in March in Britain of a former Russian intelligence officer that utilized a rare Russian-made nerve agent.

Immigration security

Italian prosecutors to question Salvini on migration standoff

The EU has hit back at a threat by Italy’s populist government to halt its budget payments to Brussels amid a row over a rescue ship carrying refugees and migrants, as prosecutors from Sicily travel to Rome to question the far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, about the illegal detention of those onboard.

The investigation, conducted by the prosecutor of Agrigento, was launched against “unknowns”. Sources said Salvini risked coming under investigation because he was responsible for the disembarkation ban.

Italy is facing a violation of the article 5 of the European convention on human rights. Under its terms, asylum seekers detained for more than 48 hours should be immediately released and should be given the opportunity to apply for a refugee status.

Innovations  & technologies

4 Military Innovations That Will Change the Way We Live

Spend time speaking with foot soldiers, and you’ll eventually hear about lugging an overstuffed backpack for miles in terrible weather through rough terrain. But the age‑old problem of overburdened troops is deadly serious: An army on the move can be dangerously slowed and weakened by strain injuries or just by soldiers struggling under their loads.

So the minds at DARPA threw down this gauntlet to the scientific community: Build some kind of wearable contraption that would help combatants transport their burdens. It needed to be thin and supple enough to fit under battle uniforms and equipment.

To come up with a solution, Ignacio Galiana, PhD, and his researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering immersed themselves in studying a simple act we take for granted: walking. They scrutinized the leg muscles’ perfectly timed bursts of energy to understand how a walker might get a little assist. “What we learned,” says Galiana, “is that small changes in timing—just a few milliseconds—could make a difference between assisting and hindering someone.”

Electronic surveillance

DC Airport First In Nation to Catch Suspected Imposter Using Facial Biometrics

A D.C.-area airport’s brand new facial recognition program caught an alleged imposter trying to enter the country on a false passport, the first such detection at an airport using facial biometrics, according to a Customs and Border Protection release.

CBP officials at Washington Dulles International Airport Wednesday said the newly implemented facial biometric program identified a 26-year-old Congolese man attempting to enter the U.S. using a French passport.

The man, traveling from Sao Paulo, Brazil on Tuesday, went through the new international entry system at Dulles Airport, which brings travelers directly to a CBP officer for document inspection. While the documents are being scanned, a biometric camera analyzes the passenger’s face and compares it against records associated with the passport or other travel documents.

In this instance, the system flagged the man as a mismatch for the passport on record and he was removed for additional screening. At that time, officers said he became “visibly nervous” and an authentic ID card showing he was a citizen of the Republic of Congo was found in his shoe.

Health security

A dangerous parasitic illness spread by bugs that bite people's faces at night is spreading in the US, doctors warn

The name "kissing bug" doesn't quite communicate the danger of the infection that insects with that moniker can spread.

These bloodsucking bugs, called triatomine bugs, spread a parasitic illness called Chagas disease. Left untreated, Chagas causes serious cardiac or intestinal complications in about 30% of patients, according to the CDC. These complications can lead to heart failure and sudden death.

Because many people don't show signs of infection, medical researchers have described Chagas as a "silent killer."

Chagas has typically been found in Central and South America, but the disease is becoming more common in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan, according to a recent statement from American Heart Association (AHA) and the Inter-American Society of Cardiology. The groups warn that doctors outside Latin America must become more aware of the disease so they can recognize, treat, and control it.

Religion

It’s too late. Not even Pope Francis can resurrect Catholic Ireland

hen Jorge Mario Bergoglio chose the name Francis for his papacy, he was asking Catholics to make a connection to the medieval religious revolutionary Francis of Assisi. Early in his spiritual pilgrimage, the original Francis heard the icon of the crucified Christ in the Italian church of San Damiano speak to him. It said“Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins.”

 How dare the pope ask ordinary Catholics to atone for child abuse?

Joanna Moorhead

 

Read more

When the pope arrives in Ireland this weekend, he will find a Catholic church not just falling to ruin, but in some respects beyond repair. He will be greeted with joy by the faithful, but few, even among them, will expect him to be able to fix an institution that has been shaken to its very foundations.

On the face of it, it is strange to think that, when Francis touches down on Irish soil, it will be only the second time a serving pope has visited the island. But popes didn’t visit Ireland because they didn’t have to.

Science

Mysterious Aurora-Like Lights Above Canada Continue to Confuse Scientists

New research into a strange atmospheric effect known as STEVE has failed to associate its enigmatic lights with aurora, pointing to the presence of an entirely new type of atmospheric phenomenon.

Scientists started to look into these strange lights just a few years ago after people began to post images to a Facebook group called the Alberta Aurora Chasers. These lights have the outward appearance of conventional auroras, but instead of vast sheets blanketing the night sky, these lights are narrow in scope, appearing as colorful ribbons. The phenomenon was given a silly name, STEVE, or Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, but the presence of these lights is now the subject of serious scientific scrutiny.

The latest research, published this week in Geophysical Research Letters, shows that STEVE, as an atmospheric process, is distinct from auroras. Unsatisfied with the placeholder name, the researchers, led by Bea Gallardo-Lacourt from the University of Calgary, have proposed the term “skyglow” to describe the previously undocumented phenomenon.

Weapons

IDF unveils new Merkava IV Barak tank

The Merkava Mark IV tank, currently used by the IDF's Armored Corps, is undergoing a series of improvements that will be seen on the battlefield in three years in the form of its successor tank—the Merkava Mark IV Barak.

The new tank will include advanced technology systems that are expected to make it more lethal, faster and more secure than the current Merkava Mark-4.

It will also be kitted with an artificial intelligence system that includes a smart task computer to integrate the various tasks being carried out by the tank’s systems.

The mission computer will be responsible for receiving all data from the operational network and tank systems, analyzing the information, and bringing it to the attention of the commander in accordance with the urgency and relevance of the information.

"In this way, the computer will reduce the burden on the crew members, improve the reliability of the system, pinpoint targets and improve the chances of hitting them," the IDF explained. “The Barak tank will also come with an improved cannon and commander’s gun sight."