Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts

Sunday, 10 January 2021

Disruption of power grid in Europe and Pakistan

Massive disruption in the

European power grid

Europe barely missed a blackout on Friday lunchtime. The cause of the network problems could be in Eastern Europe.

Future Zone.

January, 2021

Translated by Google Translate

On Friday afternoon around 2 p.m. there was a brief disruption to the European power grid. As confirmed by the Austrian Power Grid (APG), there was a frequency deviation . The normal frequency of 50 Hz dropped sharply to 49.75 Hz. "A larger supply area must have broken away," explains blackout expert Herbert Saurugg of futurezone. The short-term frequency deviation was around 260 mHz, as also confirmed by Austria Power Grid .

According to Saurugg, who has been dealing with crisis management for years, it is the second worst incident since the power failure in Europe in 2006. At that time, the shutdown of two high-voltage lines in Germany led to a frequency drop. As a result, the power went out in several European countries. Fortunately, this didn't happen on Friday, but it was close.

Synchronized power grid

Usually the European power grid is synchronized to compensate for any fluctuations. If the frequency falls too low, this synchronization will be interrupted automatically. So-called temporary network splitting occurs, in which the interconnected network is split up.

There are a number of many security mechanisms that apply in such a case, explains an APG spokesman for futurezone. In order for the frequency to slip back into the normal range, reserves of several power plants are also activated, also in Austria. That also happened today, said the APG spokesman. After about an hour, the normal state was restored.

Cause possibly in Eastern Europe

"If several such problems come together, it could trigger a blackout," explains Saurugg. The European electricity grid was also affected by strong fluctuations on January 10, 2019 . However, they fell to 49.8 Hz - that was even higher than today's drop. At that time, however, the network did not split up.

The cause of the event is currently being investigated. According to initial reports, the incident could have occurred in south-east Europe. In any case, according to the APG, it was outside Austria.

Pakistan’s national power grid has failed, leaving almost the entire country in the dark. With officials blaming a mysterious “plunge in the frequency,” conspiracy theories quickly proliferated.

"A countrywide blackout has been caused by a sudden plunge in the frequency in the power transmission system," Pakistani power minister Omar Ayub Khan wrote on Twitter, shortly after the country was plunged into darkness before midnight on Saturday.

Pakistanis soon shared pictures of their blacked out cities and towns, with the starry night sky clearly visible above without the usual light pollution.

/https://www.rt.com/news/512042-massive-power-outage-pakistan/

Thursday, 1 October 2020

Indications Pakistan has sent army troops into Azerbaijan to assist with attacking Armenia

Is this turning into another Syria?

Has Pakistan sent army troops

into Azerbaijan to assist with

attacking Armenia?

Hal Turner,

30 September, 2020

Communications intercepts in the region presently in conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, indicate Pakistan has sent army troops into Azerbaijan to assist with attacking Armenia!

The cover communications intercept allegedly went as follows:

Q: You should write to tell us what's going on

A: “How can we write? I don’t have money. We are fine, don’t worry, 7-8 villages were liberated, don’t be afraid”

Q: It seems from Internet you are winning

A: “Yes. I know. I have seen on Instagram that Fizuli, Agdam have been liberated from occupation. Our side says that we have also taken Mrav mountain.

Q: What’s wrong with the internet, why doesn’t it work?”

A: Their (Azerbaijan) ministry has turned it off. As a lot of things happen here, people get in touch with Armenians, that’s why they have turned it off.

Q: Is shooting taking place in the (garbled) region,

A: “on Agdam’s side. They have gathered Pakistani soldiers and have taken them towards Agdam.”

Pakistan is the second country, apart from Turkey, that recognized Azerbaijan’s sovereignty in 1991. Ties between Islamabad, Pakistan and Ankara, Turkey have been strengthened as the latter has been openly supporting Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir issue.

Perhaps, the alleged presence of Pakistani troops points to Islamabad reciprocating Turkey for its support on the Kashmir issue by lending the Pakistani military support in Ankara’s misadventure in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

Ankara has been supportive of Azerbaijan claim on the conflicted region of Armenian-controlled Karabakh. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Armenia for the attack calling to immediately end the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

“Turkey continues to stand with the friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan with all its facilities and heart,” he said. Any imposition or offer other than ending the occupation “will not only be unjust and unlawful but continue to spoil Armenia,” Erdogan added.

Meanwhile, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has confirmed the presence of Turkish personnel, advisers, mercenaries and also their F-16s in the region.

“Unfortunately, I have to declare that NATO member Turkey is fully supporting now Azerbaijan through its electronic drones – through cyber-attacks. But it’s not only that. Turkey is supporting Azerbaijan also through their personnel, advisers, mercenaries and also with their F-16s,” he said.

Armenian ambassador to Russia has further claimed that Turkey has sent about 4,000 fighters from Syria, however, Azerbaijan has rejected the claim.

“Rumors of militants from Syria allegedly being redeployed to Azerbaijan is another provocation by the Armenian side and complete nonsense,” an aide to Azerbaijani President Ilhan Aliyev told Reuters.

The tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia soared on Sunday morning when deadly attacks and shelling started in Nagorno-Karabakh. The long-standing dispute took a violent turn and both the sides have blamed each other for the escalation.

According to a statement by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, as many as 2,300 Armenian soldiers have been killed or wounded, and about 130 tanks and other armored vehicles, 200 artillery and rocket systems, 25 air defense systems, six command and observation posts, five ammunition depots and 55 vehicles destroyed since the outbreak of the conflict.

On the other side, Armenia has claimed a total of 790 Azerbaijani servicemen have been killed and as many as 1,900 soldiers injured, said Artsrun Hovhannisyan, a representative of the country’s Defense Ministry, adding that the Armenian army destroyed 137 tanks and armored vehicles, 72 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), seven helicopters and one aircraft of the Azerbaijan army during the battles.

Monday, 31 August 2020

"China and Pakistan enter 'secret deal to expand biowarfare tools: Australian journalist

New Delhi: China and Pakistan may have allegedly entered a “secret three-year deal” to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including running several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax, according to an Australia based investigative journalist Anthony Klan.

“China’s now infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology has signed the covert deal with Pakistan military’s Defense Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), to collaborate research in “emerging infectious diseas ....

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/china-pakistan-enter-secret-deal-to-expand-bio-warfare-tools-says-an-australian-investigative-journalist/articleshow/77164486.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

EXCLUSIVE: China's Wuhan lab operating “covert operations” in Pakistan, handling "anthrax-like" pathogens

the Klaxon,

29 August, 2020

Under the spotlight after Coronavirus savaged the globe, China’s Wuhan lab has now set up operations in Pakistan as part of a broader offensive against India and Western rivals, according to intelligence experts. The secret facility is allegedly handling anthrax-like pathogens which could assist in biological warfare. Anthony Klan reports.

ANTHONY KLAN

EXCLUSIVE

Pakistan and China have entered a secret three-year deal to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including running several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax, according to multiple intelligence sources.

In the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak on Chinese soil, China’s now infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology has signed the covert deal with Pakistan military’s Defense Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), to collaborate research in “emerging infectious diseases” and advance studies on the biological control of transmitted diseases.

According to highly credible intelligence sources, the program is being entirely funded by China and is formally titled the “Collaboration for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Studies on Biological Control of Vector Transmitting Diseases”.

Intelligence sources, including from the Indian subcontinent, have told The Klaxon they have serious concerns about the secret project, which involves China testing biological agents outside its borders in an apparent bid to minimize the “risk of drawing condemnation from the international community”.

“DESTO has been engaged in various dual-use research projects related to anthrax under a covert biological weapons program,” one senior intelligence source said.

The source said China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology had “lent all financial, material and scientific support for the project”.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology has drawn the international spotlight in recent months because the Coronavirus is thought to have originated in Wuhan.

There had been speculation the disease may have emerged from that laboratory, however most experts have since discounted the theory.

The covert China-Pakistan project has conducted “successful soil sampling tests” to isolate Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT), which has a “striking similarity” to Bacillus Anthracis – or anthrax – The Klaxon is told.

“Considering the striking similarity between BT and Bacillus Anthracis, a classified bio-warfare agent, (Pakistan’s) improved know-how in handling the bacteria could enrich a potential offensive biological program,” one source said.

Pakistan had been provided with the reagents for Bacillus Thuringiensis by the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Wuhan lab was providing “extensive training on manipulation of pathogens and bio-informatics” to Pakistani scientists “to help Pakistan develop its own virus collection database”.

“This could help Pakistan enhance its capability of genetic identification of viruses, access to dangerous microorganisms, and use of genomic tools for research and infectious diseases,” an intelligence source told The Klaxon.

The secret project was “detached from supervision of civilian universities or government health departments in Pakistan” and was structured so as to allow “unspecified” future operations.

The agreement “clearly outlines that the cooperation is not necessarily limited to stated objectives” and “new thematic research to monitor potential new diseases can be added by either party”, a source said.

“DESTO has been engaged in various dual-use research projects related to anthrax under a covert biological weapons program”

One security expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Klaxon that India and key western intelligence agencies viewed China’s involvement in the project as being “driven chiefly by its agenda to engage Pakistan against India”.

“China’s keen interest in the project is driven chiefly by its agenda to engage Pakistan against India and to conduct potentially dangerous experiments on foreign soil, without subjecting its own land and people to risk,” the expert said.

The plan was part of a move by Beijing to “designate Pakistan a destination for hazardous bio chemical research” while “evading use of its own territory for such activities”, which “stand the risk of drawing criticism and condemnation from the international community”.

One example was a proposal to test a Coronavirus vaccine, made by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm, on Pakistani citizens.

The China-Pakistan biological project had already undertaken experiments on the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV), sources said.

CCHFV is a rapid-onset fever virus that causes death in about 25% of cases and is similar to the Ebola virus.

CCHFV is categorised as a “class-4” microorganism – the highest possible risk category.

Class-4 microorganisms, which also include the Ebola, Marburg and Lassa viruses, are those which can kill humans, can easily travel from one person to another and for which there are no known treatments or vaccines.

Pakistan is allegedly carrying out tests on CCHFV in laboratories which are not equipped to handle Bio-Safety Level-4 diseases.

“Under these circumstances, concerns over manipulation of class 4 pathogens (and the associated) bio-safety issues cannot be overlooked,” an intelligence expert told The Klaxon.

Biological weapons have traditionally been unwieldy as they spread easily and are difficult to target at specific populations.

However the threat of biological warfare has grown considerably in recent years, and experts have warned China is heavily involved in DNA research that could potentially enable a biological weapon to specifically target - or conversely to be ineffective against - people of specific races.

While theories of Coronavirus emerging from the Wuhan Institute of Virology have been largely dismissed by experts, serious concerns have been raised about the safety standards at the Wuhan lab more generally.

In particular, there are concerns the lab is not equipped to handle class-4 diseases, despite claiming to be class-4 compliant.

Intelligence sources told The Klaxon there were concerns the Wuhan Institute of Virology had also established the Institute of Medical Biology in Kunming, in China’s southern Yunnan province.

There were concerns the Kunming facility, which is controlled by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, was also handling class-4 diseases without proper protections, sources said.

Monday, 10 February 2020

Plagues of locusts from India down to east Africa

A state of emergency declared

in Pakistan to tackle the biggest locust attack in decades.

The unprecedented locust swarms now stretch from India all the way down to Kenya in East Africa

Blue broken line showing the incredible number of countries suffering from the locust plagues

the Big Wobble,

2 February, 2020

A state of emergency was declared in Pakistan to tackle the biggest locust attack in decades. The insects are destroying crops in Punjab province. The Punjab province in Pakistan is the main region for agricultural production. Prime Minister Imran Khan approved a National Action Plan (NAP) that requires a sum of Rs 7.3 billion to overcome the crisis. Minister for National Food Security Khusro Bakhtiar informed the National Assembly about the gravity of the situation. Khan ordered the formation of a high-level committee to be headed by Bakhtiar to take decisions at the federal level for the elimination of insects. He has directed the authorities concerned to take immediate measures on the basis of damage of ripened crops.

Southwest Asia and the Red Sea area also affected

Numerous desert locust swarms have been breeding in India, Iran and Pakistan since June 2019. And some have migrated to southern Iran where recent heavy rains have nurtured a breeding ground that could generate swarms in the spring. Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen are also seeing substantial breeding activity that could see locust bands expand into swarms in the coming months, FAO added. The agency concluded that it stands ready to leverage its expertise and facilitate a coordinated response. UN

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are dealing with desert locust swarms of “unprecedented size and destructive potential” that could spill over into more countries in East Africa, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Monday. Destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of crops, the outbreak is impacting the region’s food insecurity. The UN agency urged for a collective campaign to deal with the crisis, concerned over the risk that the swarms spill over into more countries in East Africa, “if efforts to deal with the voracious pest are not scaled up across the region”. South Sudan and Uganda are not currently affected but are at risk.

Shocking pictures show the scale of the worst outbreak of desert locusts in Kenya in 70 years as hundreds of millions of the insects leave helpless farmer heartbroken.

The creatures have invaded the East African country from Somalia and Ethiopia, destroying farmland and threatening an already vulnerable region with devastating hunger.

Ndunda Makanga, who spent hours Friday trying to chase the locusts from his farm, said: 'Even cows are wondering what is happening. Corn, sorghum, cowpeas, they have eaten everything.'

When rains arrive in March and bring new vegetation across much of the region, the numbers of the fast-breeding locusts could grow 500 times before drier weather in June curbs their spread, the United Nations says.

'We must act immediately,' said David Phiri of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, as donors huddled in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, a three-hour drive away.

About $54million is needed to step up aerial pesticide spraying, the only effective way to combat them, the UN says.

That will not be easy, especially in Somalia, where parts of the country are in the grip of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group.
The rose-coloured locusts turn whole trees pink, clinging to branches before taking off in clouds. Children have been seen waving blankets or plucking at branches to shake the locusts free.

One woman, Kanini Ndunda, batted at them with a shovel.

Even a small swarm of the insects can consume enough food for 35,000 people in a single day, said Jens Laerke of the UN humanitarian office in Geneva.

Farmers are afraid to let their cattle out for grazing and their crops of millet, sorghum and maize are vulnerable, but there is little they can do.

About 70,000 hectares - 172,973 acres - of land in Kenya are already infested.

'This one, ai! This is huge,' said Kipkoech Tale, a migratory pest control specialist with the agriculture ministry.

'I'm talking about over 20 swarms that we have sprayed. We still have more. And more are coming.'

A single swarm can contain up to 150million locusts per square kilometer of farmland, an area the size of almost 250 football fields, regional authorities say.

One especially large swarm in northeastern Kenya measured 37 miles long by 25 miles wide.

Kenya needs more spraying equipment to supplement the four planes now flying, Tale said. Ethiopia also has four.

They also need a steady supply of pesticides, said Francis Kitoo, deputy director of agriculture in southeastern Kenya's Kitui county.

'The locals are really scared because they can consume everything,' Kitoo said. 'I've never seen such a big number.'

The locusts eat the fodder for animals, a crucial source of livelihood for families who now worry how they will pay for expenses like school fees, he said.

'They will lay eggs and start another generation,' he said.

A changing climate has contributed to 'exceptional' breeding conditions, said Nairobi-based climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker.

Migrating with the wind, the locusts can cover up to 93 miles in a single day. They look like tiny aircraft lazily moving across the sky.

They are now heading towards Uganda and fragile South Sudan, where almost half the country faces hunger as it emerges from civil war. Uganda has not had such an outbreak since the 1960s and is already on alert.

The locusts also are moving steadily toward Ethiopia's Rift Valley, the breadbasket for Africa's second-most populous country, the UN says.

'The situation is very bad but farmers are fighting it in the traditional way,' said Buni Orissa, a resident of Ethiopia's Sidama region.

'The locusts love cabbage and beans. This may threaten the shaky food security in the region.'

Even before this outbreak, nearly 20million people faced high levels of food insecurity across the East African region long challenged by periodic droughts and floods.

As exasperated farmers look for more help in fighting one of history's most persistent pests, the FAO's Locust Watch offers little consolation.

'Although giant nets, flamethrowers, lasers and huge vacuums have been proposed in the past, these are not in use for locust control,' the U.N. agency says. 'People and birds often eat locusts but usually not enough to significantly reduce population levels over large areas.'

Still, it offered recipes. One suggested seasoning in Uganda is chopped onion and curry powder. Then fry.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7928787/Shocking-pictures-reveal-incredible-scale-Kenyan-locust-plague.html

Sunday, 3 November 2019

Protests in Pakistan

‘Gorbachev of Pakistan must go!’ Radical opposition cleric gives ‘puppet’ PM Khan 2 days to resign amid massive protest (VIDEOS)

RT,
2 November, 2019

Hardline Islamist cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman has presented Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan with a two-day ultimatum, demanding his resignation and threatening continued demonstrations against the Khan government.

Addressing a crowd of anti-government protesters in Islamabad on Friday – many from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Party – Rehman stated “the Gorbachev of Pakistan must go,” calling Khran a traitor and a puppet.

We give him two days to resign, otherwise, we will decide about the future.

Leaving Lahore on Wednesday and reaching Pakistan’s capital the next day, the demonstrations have largely targeted the Prime Minister, insisting his previous election win was not legitimate, and now hopes to oust him from power.

“The elections of July 25 were fraud elections. We neither accept the results nor the government that came into power after those elections,” Rehman said. “We gave this government one year but now we cannot give them any more time.”

Khan himself appears to have kept a cool head over the protests so far, vowing to keep the demonstrators supplied with food as long as they remained in the capital to express their discontent peacefully, but assured the leaders of the march that their actions would not win concessions from the government.

“Gone are the days when one used to use Islam to gain power,” Khan told a rally in Gilgit-Baltistan. “This is a new Pakistan. Sit however long you want. When your food runs out, we will send more. But we will not give you an NRO [National Reconciliation Ordinance].”

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