The
US announced in Tokyo on Saturday it will extend its cyber protection
program to cover Japan, as its Asian ally faces a growing number of
online attacks against its military bases and other key
infrastructure such as the electricity grid.
The
U.S. Senate, in an unusual Sunday session, has started debating
whether to extend its authorization of the country's vast national
security surveillance operation, or let it lapse at midnight as the
current law expires.
Lawmakers
gathered in Washington just hours after the U.S. intelligence chief
warned that global terrorists are looking to take advantage of any
halt in the spying effort.
Data
collected by the Washington Post newspaper suggests that the number
of people shot by US police is twice as high as official figures
claim.
The
paper said that during the first five months of this year, 385 people
- more than two a day - were killed.
Security
forces allegedly discovered weapons parts on trucks belonging to
state intelligence agency in early 2014; Erdogan previously said
shipments only carried humanitarian aid.
Emboldened
by the Tory election victory and the appointment of Amber Rudd as
energy Secretary, writes Ben Lucas, planning applications to frack
have been coming in thick and fast - even in densely populated London
boroughs.
Even
a small earthquake in densely-inhabited London could give rise to
considerable property damage, for example from broken porcelain and
glassware, slipped tiles, falling chimney pots and cracks in masonry
and plaster.
Since
the Conservatives won a majority in the general election just over
three weeks ago, there has been an increase in the number of planning
applications submitted relating to hydraulic fracturing.
This
observation comes after a marked rise in the share price of many
fracking companies since fracking-friendly Amber Rudd was selected as
secretary of state for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Francois
Bugingo, a veteran French-Canadian journalist accused of fabricating
a series of stories over the course of over twenty years, has
admitted to his 'errors of judgment', CBC News has reported.
India
is concerned that Islamic State militants (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)
could get their hands on a nuclear weapon from its regional foe and
fellow nuclear power Pakistan.
Indian
Defense Minister Rao Inderjit voiced the concerns at the sidelines of
the Shangri-La regional security conference in Singapore on Saturday.
ISIS declares war on Shias on Arabian Peninsula – monitoring group
The Saudi division of the Islamic State jihadist group has called on jihadist supporters to clear the Arabian Peninsula of Shia Muslims in an audio recording, according to a US-based monitoring group.
In the 13-minute recording a representative of IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militant group's division in Najd Province, a region in the central Arabian Peninsula, urged supporters to declare war on “enemies of Islam, especially Shiites” on the peninsula’s territory, SITE monitoring group reported on Friday.
The man called Shias “disbelievers and apostates” urging followers to “purify the land” of them. The speaker also made reference to the suicide bombing on May 22 in the town of al-Qadeeh, Qatif province in the east of the country on a Shiite mosque. As the result of the bombing 21 people died and more than 50 were wounded.
Human
Rights Watch has published new evidence alleging the Saudi
Arabian-led coalition in Yemen has been using
internationally-outlawed cluster bombs. The organization says
innocent civilians have been targeted in the raids.
The
New York-based organization visited the Saada province in the north
of Yemen this month in order to compile its report. Human Rights
Watch says it managed to document the use of three types of cluster
munitions in the country.
Unclear
if Leadership Has Votes for Watered-Down Reform Bill
The
USA Freedom Act, an extremely watered down reform bill which some
argue actually expands NSA surveillance capabilities, is coming up
for a hugely important and likely very close vote Sunday, with the
future of the Patriot Act’s Section 215, which the bill renews, in
the balance.
Section
215 expires on Monday, and the USA Freedom Act requires 60 votes to
pass. Last weekend, the Senate managed only 57 votes in favor of it,
but some officials believe that they can come up with the three
additional votes to ensure its passage without debate on amendments.
Fear and loathing of the USA PATRIOT Act
Several
controversial provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire Sunday:
The Obama administration insists that letting the law lapse would
harm US security, while critics counter that it would be a big step
in ending NSA abuses as exposed by Snowden
US B-52 bombers lined up at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam in the western Pacific Ocean.
The United States is preparing for a possible war against China and Russia aimed at preventing the collapse of the Western banking system, an American political commentator and activist says.
The
source was quoted as saying that the U.S. destroyer Ross was moving
along the edge of Russia's territorial waters and heading in their
direction.
"The
crew of the ship acted provocatively and aggressively, which
concerned the operators of monitoring stations and ships of the Black
Sea Fleet," RIA quoted the source as saying.
“Su-24
attack aircraft demonstrated to the American crew readiness to
harshly prevent a violation of the frontier and to defend the
interests of the country."
"Apparently,
the Americans have not forgotten the April 2014 incident when one
Su-24 practically 'blacked out' all of the electronics on board the
newest American destroyer Donald Cook," the source said.
Russia's
Defence Ministry was not immediately available to comment on the
report.
Moscow bans 89 European officials from traveling to Russia
A Russian official said the bans were in response to economic sanctions "unleashed against Russia by some Germany-led countries of the European Union."
Russia banned dozens of European politicians and military leaders from traveling inside its borders in a move the Russian Foreign Ministry characterized as retaliation against economic sanctions, according to officials.
A spokesperson for the European Union on Saturday said several EU politicians had for months been denied entry at the Russian border before Moscow shared a confidential "stop list" that comprised the names of 89 European politicians and military leaders from 17 countries.
Russia’s EU Travel Ban List Hinders Moscow-Brussels Dialogue – Italian FM
Defense: 1.5 Times More Combat Training of Russian Armed Forces in Summer
The intensity of combat training in the Russian Armed Forces will increase 1.5 times in the summer period as compared to the 2015 winter training, the Russian Defense Ministry informs.
BRICS summit in Russia to launch New Development Bank & currency pool – Putin
Russia
expects to launch the $100-billion BRICS New Development Bank along
with a currency reserve pool worth another $100 billion at the July
summit in Ufa, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We
expect to reach agreement in Ufa on the launch of practical
operations of the BRICS Bank and a pool of currency reserves,"
Putin said on Thursday at a ceremony to receive the credentials of
ambassadors of foreign states, TASS reports.
At least 1 civilian killed, 4 injured in Ukrainian army shelling of Donbass – reports
The
Ukrainian hacking group CyberBerkut warns that possible “acts of
information sabotage” may be carried out by US Psychological
Operations specialists against the self-proclaimed republics of
Donbass and the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine and has called
on Ukrainians to be vigilant.
New Zealand’s spy agency forced to apologize for calling Kim Dotcom ‘fatty’
The
Security Intelligence Service of New Zealand (SIS) was forced to
publicly apologize to internet tycoon Kim Dotcom after the
publication of internal emails in which the spies called him a
“fatty” who was never going to get far from the cops on foot.
The
series of embarrassing emails was released after the New Zealand
Weekend Herald newspaper sent a request under freedom of information
laws. The correspondence included a letter in which an SIS staff
member sent an image of Dotcom to others, saying: “This picture of
Dotcom will forever crack me up – what a fatty po po.”
To this Govt I'm not a human being They call me 'fatty po po' Foreigners are a joke to them Stay away from NewZealand http://t.co/RS7Ia9bBeD
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 30, 2015
Migrants to be taken to Myanmar state
An image posted by Myanmar's Ministry of Information on Facebook is reported to show the migrant vessel it intercepted on Friday.
More than 700 migrants found crammed into a fishing boat by Myanmar's navy will be taken to the country's troubled Rakhine state.
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