Yemeni knot

Mattis and Pompeo call for Yemen ceasefire 'within 30 days'

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on all participants in the Yemen civil war to agree to a ceasefire "in the next 30 days," a call that comes amid criticism of US support for the Saudi-led coalition in the conflict.

"Thirty days from now we want to see everybody around a peace table based on a ceasefire, based on a pullback from the border and then based on ceasing dropping of bombs that will permit the (UN) special envoy, Martin Griffiths -- he's very good, he knows what he's doing -- to get them together in Sweden and end this war," Mattis said at an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington.

His call was later echoed by Pompeo, who issued a statement saying, "The United States calls on all parties to support UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen."

"Substantive consultations under the UN Special Envoy must commence this November in a third country," Pompeo added.

Mattis and Pompeo both insisted that the US-backed Saudi-led coalition and the Iranian-aligned Houthis stop their respective aerial and missile attacks.

Information security

Report: How the West’s Research Aids China’s Military

In 2016, Chinese student Huang Xianjun completed his PhD at the University of Manchester, working with the discoverers of graphene, a material with incredible strength, electrical conductivity and flexibility.

Then he returned to China to work on key projects for the People’s Liberation Army.

The European Defense Agency has described graphene as one of the materials with the highest potential for revolutionizing defense capabilities in the next decade.

The agency says graphene is light and flexible but 200 times stronger than steel and its electrical and thermal conductivity is extraordinary. Graphene also has remarkable properties in the so-called signature management field, meaning it can be used to produce radar-absorbent coatings that make military vehicles, planes, submarines or ships almost undetectable. ‘All this makes of graphene an extremely attractive material not only for civil industries but also for military applications in the land, air and maritime domains’, the agency says.

Security clearance

US to halve backlog for security clearances by spring, top official says

The federal government expects to slash a 600,000-case backlog of people waiting for security clearances in half by springtime, the No. 2 official in the U.S. intelligence community said Tuesday.

The backlog is caused in part because the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies have not had common standards, but new uniform standards will reduce the investigations required when employees move agencies or advance in their careers, said Susan M. Gordon, principal deputy at the nation’s Directorate of National Intelligence.

Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, applauded Gordon’s goal, noting that the clearance backlog was itself a threat to national security by hindering recruitment to fill intelligence jobs.

He cited both distrust between agencies and delays in completing clearances, adding that applicants to the CIA can wait a year and a half to be cleared and vetted before starting employment.

Flight security

Lion Air: Why did a brand-new Boeing jet crash 13 minutes after takeoff?

The plane behind Lion Air's crash off Indonesia was one of Boeing's newest and most advanced jets. It was just two months old and with 800 hours under its belt, so experts are baffled as to what exactly caused the 737 MAX 8 to crash.

While no information has been released yet as to why the brand-new plane crashed into the sea 13 minutes after takeoff, FlightRadar24 has published data that shows the plane behaving erratically during takeoff. When a plane would normally be ascending in the first few minutes of flight, the Lion Air jet experienced a 726-foot drop over 21 seconds.

Aviation expert Philip Butterworth-Hayes told CNN that the data was unusual -- especially since takeoffs like this are typically controlled by the plane's automatic systems.

"This doesn't fit an automatic flight profile," Butterworth-Hayes said while studying the data. "Unless, the aircraft was trying to correct itself at the time for a number of reasons."

Weather security

Coastal apocalypse: Luxury yachts, boats destroyed after storm hits Italy (PHOTO, VIDEO)

More than a hundred super yachts, including one belonging to former FM Silvio Berlusconi, and many simpler boats in an Italian port city were wrecked by a storm overnight leaving millions worth in damage.

Local media is defining the landscape around the port of Rapallo in the northern region of Liguria as an “apocalyptic”sight.

Footage captured by Ruptly video news agency shows luxury yachts half-sunk, damaged, or tipping to the side.

They were part of what Italian news agency ANSA said were 180 boats damaged in the storm on Monday, during which waves reached 10 meters high.

The catastrophe, which will reportedly cost millions to fix, started unraveling when the port’s dam collapsed due to the merciless weather. It caused dozens of yachts and small to medium-sized boats to wash ashore. It is understood one of the yachts that sank in the Mediterranean waters belonged to the family of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Once the 6.5-meter-high dam surrendered, the battering weather caused the boats to lose their moorings. What followed was the yachts inevitably drifting to the shore one by one while hundreds of startled residents watched in shock.

“It’s impressive to see the yachts’ silhouettes strutting the darkness just as they’re bound to crash,” a witness said. Twenty-one people who had been trapped in the dam were saved by firefighters.

Environmental security

Scientists are terrified that Brazil's new president will destroy the 'lungs of the planet'

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's far-right presidential candidate, swept the polls on Sunday to win the election.

"Brazilians are exhausted by corruption, by rising violence, by an economy that just hasn't improved," and Bolsonaro has made a lot of promises to fix those things, according to Peter Prengaman, The Associated Press' Brazil news director.

Bolsonaro, who has been called the "Trump of the Tropics" and has a history of making anti-gay, misogynistic, violent, and racist comments, is also taking aim at the country's environmental policies. And scientists across the globe are worried.

As Brazil's president, Bolsonaro will control nearly two-thirds of the Amazon, the largest tropical rainforest on Earth. He has argued that too many environmentally protected areas are hampering the country's development.

Economic security

How much power does Saudi Arabia wield over the global economy?

Up until Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing on October 2, the Saudis were on a charm offensive - building brand new megacities, investing in tech start-ups and letting women drive.

The world's biggest oil exporter did everything it could to convince the world it was serious about change, and investor confidence was growing. This plan for the future was the brainchild of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who was feted as a reformer.

But then Khashoggi was killed and now Saudi Arabia and its crown prince are facing international scrutiny. At an investment conference this week the crown prince rejected any idea his economic ambitions would be curtailed. But as things stand Saudi Arabia's greatest strength, oil, is also its greatest weakness.

So, how seriously should the world take Saudi threats to curtail oil output and how much influence does it really have over the global economy?

Saudi oil is "actually quite important, particularly in the short-run," according to Chris Garcia, CEO of Vicar Financial and former deputy director of the US Department of Commerce under US President Donald Trump. "This is why when we look at some of the potential retaliation tactics that the Saudis have threatened, we have to take them seriously." 

Financial safety

Morgan Stanley breaks with rest of Street, thinks October sell-off is 'morphing' into a bear market

Morgan Stanley disagrees with the rest of Wall Street: The bank's top strategists are gearing up for a much longer bear market while others are betting the sell-off is short-lived.

"The rolling bear market continues to make progress and there is growing evidence that it is morphing into a proper cyclical bear market in the context of a secular bull," wrote Michael Wilson, the bank's chief equity strategist. "We think the evidence is building and the message from Mr. Market is clear: the consensus outlook for earnings growth is too rosy next year."

Strategists on Wall Street refer to bear markets that are shorter in duration as "cyclical."

Morgan Stanley is concerned that actions by the Federal Reserve and other central banks are drying up liquidity more than most market participants predicted, putting stocks in a precarious position. The Fed, which influences the financial markets by adjusting the overnight lending rate, has hiked interest rates three times this year and is widely expected to do so again in December.

Outer space

US Air Force's Mysterious X-37B Space Plane Passes 400-Day Mark

The US Air Force's unmanned X-37B space plane has passed its 400-day mark, inching its way toward setting a new flight duration record for the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) mission.

The spacecraft, the fifth of its kind, was initially rocketed into orbit on September 7, 2017, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, according to Space.com. All previous OTV missions established new flight records, with the fourth spacecraft spending 718 days in orbit.

Though details of the space plane are kept on a need-to-know basis by officials, it has been reported that the craft is carrying in its payload an Advanced Structurally-Embedded Thermal Spreader.

In August, the space plane was spotted by Marco Langbroek, a Netherlands-based satellite tracker. Langbroek previously told Space.com that X-37B was flying at a very low altitude, somewhere between 193 and 202 miles up.

Nuclear security

Outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown has a new job: preventing nuclear war

Brown has been actively involved in trying to manage that risk. He was sharply critical of President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 1987 arms control treaty prohibiting certain kinds of nuclear missiles. He is on the board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonpartisan nonprofit that works to mitigate nuclear war risks, and he met this month with US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to discuss global security threats.

“When humankind has in its hands the technology to absolutely destroy all of civilization there is nothing so important it ought to prevent dialogue and deep discussion,” he told the Associated Press. “We still ought to realize that ending civilization is a bigger problem than any of the other problems we have with Russia.”

Communication security

Iranian official: President Rouhani's cellphone tapped 'recently'

An Iranian military official has revealed that President Hassan Rouhani's mobile phone was tapped "recently", without providing details on who was behind it or what information was obtained.

The semi-official ISNA news agency on Monday quoted General Gholam Reza Jalali as saying that Rouhani's phone would be replaced with a more secure device.

Jalali, who is the head of a military unit charged with combatting sabotage, did not specify when exactly the tapping occurred.

Iran moved to boost its cyber capabilities in 2011 after the Stuxnet computer virus destroyed thousands of centrifuges involved in its contested nuclear programme.

Criminal investigation

Khashoggi BOMBSHELL: Britain 'KNEW of kidnap plot and BEGGED Saudi Arabia to abort plans'

MURDERED journalist Jamal Khashoggi was about to disclose details of Saudi Arabia’s use of chemical weapons in Yemen, sources close to him said last night. The revelations come as separate intelligence sources disclosed that Britain had first been made aware of a plot a full three weeks before he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Intercepts by GCHQ of internal communications by the kingdom’s General Intelligence Directorate revealed orders by a “member of the royal circle” to abduct the troublesome journalist and take him back to Saudi Arabia.

The orders, intelligence sources say, did not emanate directly from de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and it is not known if he was aware of them.

Though they commanded that Khashoggi should be abducted and taken back to Riyadh, they “left the door open” for other actions should the journalist prove to be troublesome, sources said.

Last week Saudi Arabia’s Attorney General confirmed that the murder had been premeditated  - in contrast to initial official explanations that Khashoggi had been killed after a fight broke out.

Food security

China successfully harvests saltwater rice that could feed another 80 million people

Chinese scientists have harvested alkali-resistant ‘sea rice’ planted in east China’s Shandong Province, marking initial success of an ambitious plan to boost the country’s rice production and feed an additional 80 million people.

The new type of rice, successfully harvested by a group of scientists in the seaside city of Qingdao, eastern China, was revealed a year ago. Sea rice that is able to grow in tidal flats or saline-alkali land was developed by crossbreeding different varieties of rice.

“If there are natural disasters, as China has a large population, it's difficult to rely on importing food from abroad as there are logistical barriers. If the Chinese go hungry because of crop failures caused by natural disasters, there will be social unrest and destabilizing factors for the world,” Deputy Director of Qingdao Sea Rice R&D Centre Guodong Zhang told RT's Ruptly video news agency.

According to the scientist, turning barren land into fertile farmland will enable China to feed the entire country and will therefore be beneficial to peace and stability.

“Wheat and rice are the staple food of the Chinese people, and 60 percent of them depend on rice,” he said.

Road security

Weed behind the wheel: Stoned drivers now more common in US than drunk ones

Stoned driving is on the rise in the US, with a new study showing that THC – the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis – is now the most commonly detected intoxicating substance in American drivers.

Following the legalization of cannabis in some states, Americans are getting higher than ever before, with an estimated 15 billion hours under the influence of cannabis each year. A newly released paper, ‘Driving While Stoned: Issues and Policy Options’ reports that the number of people driving while high is therefore likely to increase… and the science behind accurate drug testing for cannabis products is yet to catch up.

The paper calls on stoned driving to be made a traffic offence, adding that the government should invest in messages that highlight the dangers and risks of marijuana on the motorway, as many users believe that THC does not have an impact on driving ability.

Public security

Hate crime charges filed in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left 11 dead

Federal prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against a Pennsylvania man who authorities say stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue and opened fire, killing 11 people.
Robert Bowers, 46, of suburban Baldwin, surrendered to authorities after Saturday morning's shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. It's believed he made anti-Semitic statements during the shooting and targeted Jews in posts on social media that are a focus of the investigation, according to a federal law enforcement official.
Bowers faces 29 charges in all in a rampage that left the historic Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, and the rest of the nation stunned. The attack was believed to be the deadliest on the Jewish community in US history, the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement.
"These incidents usually occur in other cities," Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters Saturday afternoon. "Today, the nightmare has hit home in the city of Pittsburgh."
Bowers is charged with 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder and multiple counts of two hate crimes: obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death and obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer, authorities said, citing a criminal complaint, which is sealed.

Drills

NATO's biggest military exercise in years just started, but Russia may be more worried about 2 countries that aren't members of the alliance

Trident Juncture officially started Thursday, with some 50,000 troops from all 29 NATO members and Sweden and Finland preparing for drills on land, sea, and in the air from the Baltic Sea to Iceland. As a NATO Article 5 exercise, Trident Juncture "will simulate NATO's collective response to an armed attack against one ally," the organization's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said this month. "And it will exercise our ability to reinforce our troops from Europe and across the Atlantic." NATO has increased deployments and readiness in Europe since Russia's 2014 incursion in Ukraine, as countries there have grown wary of their larger neighbor. Stoltenberg has said the exercise will be "fictitious but realistic." But Russia has still taken exception.

Intel gathering

A Former CIA Chief Explains How Spies Use Disguises

Ever wondered exactly what goes into building a proper disguise for spies, like real undercover operatives, not ones in the movies? WIRED recently got together with a former CIA chief to discuss just that for a new episode of Masterminds.

During the segment former Chief of Disguise for the CIA, Jonna Mendez, delves into what it takes to completely transform a person’s appearance. We quickly learn that there are many layers to a convincing disguise, going beyond that of simply altering hair and skin.

Mendez details how to change the shape of someone’s face and even their voice, disclosing that the CIA generally opts to age their operatives. Also, she notes that it is fairly easy to disguise a woman as a man, but almost impossible to accomplish the opposite.

Forensics

Single fingerprint, misspellings pointed FBI to mail bombs suspect

A single fingerprint and several misspelled words were among some of the clues that pointed the FBI to a Florida man who was charged Friday with mailing homemade bombs to prominent Democrats, The Washington Post reported.

Cesar Sayoc Jr., a supporter of President Trump, was arrested Friday in connection with a series of 13 suspicious packages and pipe bombs that were sent to high-profile Democrats including former President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Joe Biden, among others.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a press conference following Sayoc's arrest that investigators were able to find a fingerprint on the envelope of a bomb sent to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

The fingerprint marked a breakthrough for investigators, who were able to gather Sayoc’s cellphone records and track his surveillance in Florida, an official told The Post.

Public security

Suspicious packages could be ‘Russian operation,’ says MSNBC host

It took less than 48 hours for the US mainstream media to go from blaming President Donald Trump for a series of suspicious packages sent to leading Democrats and CNN to blaming - who else? - Russia.

US authorities are still hunting for the person or persons responsible for ten or so packages containing what appeared to be pipe bombs - none of which have actually exploded - that were sent to CNN and prominent Democrats over the past two days.

For much of Thursday night’s Meet the Press Daily show on MSNBC, host Chuck Todd and his guests followed the narrative adopted by most media outlets, blaming what they described as Trump’s incendiary rhetoric against the press. Then Todd went there.

Cybersecurity

Scientists Worldwide Are Getting Serious About Quantum Internet

It takes little more than logging on to see the flaws in today’s internet—mainly, how easy it is to steal or intercept data. One future solution for these problems could be an upgrade that relies on the latest advances in the science of subatomic particles: a quantum internet.

Just last week, three scientists from the renowned QuTech center at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) revealed a roadmap for how this quantum internet should develop. They also plan to connect four cities with a quantum link by 2020, reports MIT Tech Review. And today, University of Chicago scientists announced that they plan to set up a quantum link across a 30-mile distance. Scientists are really getting serious about this quantum internet idea.

“I think it’s useful to have a vision if you want to put something into the real world,” Stephanie Wehner, a professor in quantum information at TU Delft and roadmap co-author, told Gizmodo. “We hoped to offer guidelines for people who want to implement these networks in the real world.”

Weapons

A never-before-seen Russian missile is identified as an anti-satellite weapon and will be ready for warfare by 2022

A never-before-seen missile photographed last month on a Russian MiG-31 interceptor is believed to be a mock-up of an anti-satellite weapon that will be ready for warfare by 2022, three sources with direct knowledge of a U.S. intelligence report say.

The Russian anti-satellite weapon, which is attached to a space launch vehicle, is expected to target communication and imagery satellites in low Earth orbit, according to one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. For reference, the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope travel in low Earth orbit.

Images of the mysterious missile on a modified Russian MiG-31, a supersonic near-space interceptor, appeared in mid-September.

Initial testing of the mock system began in September and is slated to run through Wednesday, according to one of the sources. The tests, which are referred to as a "captive carry tests," are designed to evaluate the mock weapon during flight, according to the source.

Public security

'Explosive devices' sent to Clinton, Obama, CNN

At least four suspicious packages were sent to top Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and CNN's New York offices, authorities said on Wednesday.

All the packages were intercepted, and there were no reports of injuries.  

US Secret Service said it recovered a single package addressed to Clinton in Westchester, a suburb north of Manhattan late on Tuesday.

A second package, addressed to Obama, was found early on Wednesday in Washington, DC.

"The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such," the Secret Service said in a statement.

"The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them," it said.

Immigration security

Migrant caravan: What happens if it reaches the U.S. border?

The caravan of more than 7,000 Central American migrants continues its journey in spite of exhaustion, heat, hunger and opposition from Mexican border police. But if the thousands of migrants reach the U.S. border, a new world of problems could await them.

This is the largest known caravan of migrants to head toward the U.S. border under the Trump administration. It's unclear how many of the migrants hope to ultimately enter the U.S. or exactly what would happen upon their arrival. But the administration's severe policies so far on immigration — along with President Trump's threats to stop the caravan — give an idea of what the migrants can expect.

Their arrival at the border would only begin another arduous journey, one that seems unlikely to end with many of them obtaining asylum.

How the U.S. government would likely respond

For the best idea of what the U.S. government would do, consider what happened when a caravan of about 1,500 Central American migrants reached the U.S.-Mexico border in April 2018.

Of those 1,500, only about 250 legally remain in the U.S. pending an immigration hearing, according to Pueblos sin Fronteras, a humanitarian aid organization for migrants. Only three have been granted asylum. Some of the other migrants who arrived were kept in detention or deported.

Financial safety

Rand Clifford: The Federal Reserve Caused the Great Depression

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan tells some truth about accountability:

“First of all, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and that means basically that, there is no other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take.”  (1)

True—except the “agency of government” part. The Fed is a private, for-profit corporation ultimately owned by eight elite banking families:

1. Rothschild’s of London and Berlin
2. Lazard Brothers of Paris
3. Israel Moses Seaf of Italy
4. Kuhn, Loeb & Co. of Germany and New York
5. Warburg & Company of Hamburg, Germany
6. Lehman Brothers of New York
7. Goldman, Sachs of New York
8. Rockefeller Brothers of New York

Greenspan’s use of “agency of government” is simply more window dressing floating the illusion that our government has some kind of control over the Fed; same as Chairman and Board of Governors being appointed by the President and Congress. Illusory.

The only control over the Fed is exercised by it’s owners. Hard to imagine a greater enemy of American prosperity than the Fed, and it’s ultimate controllers.

The most dangerous thing any POTUS could do is threaten the Fed’s entitlement, as history confirms via assassinated Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy—they all attacked that Rosthschild central bank entitlement.