Kremlin-backed hackers spying on Europe, Asia, US: cybersecurity firm
Helsinki (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
Russia has been sponsoring systematic cyberespionage in Europe, the US and Asia for seven years, Finnish data security firm F-Secure claimed in a report published on Thursday.
The report "links a number of state-sponsored cyber attacks to a hacking group engaged in Russian intelligence gathering," F-Secure said in a statement.
The report identified a group of hackers called "the Dukes" ...
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Youths in military uniform march through Warsaw on Soviet invasion anniversary
Warsaw (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
Around 5,000 Polish youths wearing military uniform and carrying Kalashnikov replicas marched through Warsaw Thursday, pledging to come to their country's aid if necessary amid concern over Russian activity in neighbouring Ukraine.
The unprecedented rally took place 76 years to the day after the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland at the start of World War II - just weeks after Nazi German ...
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Netanyahu to visit White House for 'make up' summit
Washington (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
US President Barack Obama will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on November 9 - their first meeting after a deep row over the Iranian nuclear deal.
The fence-mending meeting, announced by the White House on Wednesday, comes as US-Israeli relations are at their lowest point in decades.
Obama and Netanyahu - after years of frosty personal relations --- cl ...
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Japan lawmakers scuffle over controversial security bills
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
Japanese lawmakers scuffled Thursday as they tried - and failed - to stop the security bill that could see the military fight abroad for the first time in decades.
Opposition lawmakers climbed on top of one another as they tried to grab the committee chairman's microphone to prevent him calling a vote on the controversial bills.
In scenes uncommon for Japan's normally sedate parliamen ...
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Inside Cold War Oval Office: CIA releases intel briefs
Washington (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
On October 30, 1962 President John F. Kennedy received a secret CIA briefing on the first results of his diplomatic dance with Nikita Khrushchev to end the Cuban missile crisis.
Now, thanks to a major release of previously classified CIA documents, Cold War historians can read along with him the daily memos he and his successor Lyndon B. Johnson received.
The 1960s were tumultuous years, ...
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Raytheon to gather long-lead components for missile interceptor
Tucson (UPI) Sep 16, 2015 -
Long-lead items for production of 17 SM-3 Block IIA ballistic missile interceptors are to be procured by Raytheon under a U.S. Missile Defense Agency award.
The contract from MDA is worth $87 million, and a follow-on contract for additional parts procurement is ecpected early next year, Raytheon said.
The Standard Missile-3 Block IIA is a defense against intermediate-range ballis ...
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Pentagon: F-35 not yet combat ready
Washington (UPI) Sep 16, 2015 -
Pentagon officials are saying results for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter tests aboard the USS Wasp fell short of expectations.
Initially, the Marine Corps reported the aircraft performed so well, they declared it combat ready - an assessment the Pentagon's top weapons tester shut down.
Pentagon Operational Test and Evaluation Office director Michael Gilmore criticized the tests ...
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U.S. Air Force planning for increased stealth bomber inventory
Palmdale, Calif. (UPI) Sep 15, 2015 -
The U.S. Air Force is planning for an overhaul of its B-2 stealth bombers, including lower fuel costs and increased operational capabilities.
The Air Force is working with contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation in an effort to improve the B-2's readiness and sustainability. Under the contract signed by both parties in April, each jet will undergo a complete restoration process known as ...
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US warns North Korea against nuclear 'provocation'
Washington (AFP) Sept 16, 2015 -
The United States warned Wednesday that North Korea will face "severe consequences" if it continues with what Washington sees as its provocative decision to restart a nuclear reactor.
Pyongyang has said it has restarted the long-mothballed Yongbyon reactor, which is capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium, and has threatened to launch a rocket which US officials see as a test-bed for ba ...
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Air Force promises to disclose bomber development costs
National Harbor, Md. (UPI) Sep 16, 2015 -
The U.S. Air Force promises to disclose development costs for its Long-Range Strike Bomber program, a top official announced Tuesday.
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition Dr. William LaPlante maintains officials are not trying to hide the cost of development, but would rather wait until more operational phases are completed before disclosing an official amount.
"W ...
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Zimbabwe hunter behind Cecil lion killing freed in sable smuggling case
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
Prosecutors have withdrawn new smuggling charges against the professional hunter who helped an American dentist kill Zimbabwe's popular lion Cecil, his lawyer said Thursday.
Theo Bronkhorst, 52, was arrested on Monday in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo after he was linked with an illegal operation to smuggle 29 sable antelope out of the country.
"The state withdrew charges rel ...
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Bulgaria deploying up to 1,000 troops at Turkish border
Sofia (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
Bulgaria began deploying up to 1,000 troops Thursday to buttress its southeastern border with Turkey with hundreds of migrants stranded for a third day on the Turkish side, a senior official said.
"We have triggered a plan for the start of the step-by-step deployment of up to 1,000 troops along the whole Bulgarian-Turkish border (within the next week)," interior ministry chief of staff Georg ...
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Burkina on the brink amid coup led by ex-dictator's ally
Ouagadougou (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
An army general closely linked to toppled strongman Blaise Compaore took the lead in a Burkina Faso coup Thursday, with at least one person killed and scores injured in protests.
The latest unrest to hit the landlocked west African nation came just weeks ahead of presidential and legislative elections, slated for October 11, aimed at restoring democracy after Compaore was forced out late las ...
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Diplomacy is child's play for China's underage welcome party
Beijing (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
She is only 10, but Dai Jingya has already come face to face with more heads of state than most people will in their lifetimes. She has rubbed shoulders with Chinese President Xi Jinping four times, and greeted the leaders of Singapore, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Denmark.
Dai is one of a group of children culled from Beijing schools to welcome the constant stream of foreign dignitaries coming ...
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Chile quake kills 10, one million evacuated
Illapel, Chile (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
A million people were evacuated in Chile after an 8.3-magnitude quake struck offshore in the Pacific, killing at least 10 people and triggering tsunami waves along its northern coast.
Wednesday night's earthquake was the sixth most powerful in the history of geologically volatile Chile and the strongest anywhere in the world this year, officials said.
Buildings swayed as far away as in B ...
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This year's flu vaccine better than last year: US
Washington (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
US health officials vowed Thursday that this year's vaccine against influenza is better than last year's, which packed little punch against the most common strain of the virus.
Everyone over the age of six months is urged to get the annual flu vaccine in order to prevent serious illness and death, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press conference in the US capital ...
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EU to set out negotiating stand for Paris climate summit
Brussels (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
The European Union is due Friday to formally set out its negotiating stand for the UN climate summit in Paris, including committing to 40 percent greenhouse gas emission cuts over 1990 levels.
The environment ministers from the 28-nation EU will meet in Brussels to set out their "vision for the architecture" of a global deal in the French capital where heads of state and government are to me ...
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Hunter-gatherers were enjoying oatmeal 30,000 years ago
Florence, Italy (UPI) Sep 17, 2015 -
Sorry paleo dieters, cavemen weren't exclusively meat eaters. They liked their grains too.
Researchers in Italy say they've identified the earliest evidence of food processing in Europe, a stone that was used to grind oats and other grains.
The small brown stone, rounded on one end from its use as a combination pestle and grinder, was unearthed in southern Italy in 1989 - found ...
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Relentless battle for California firefighters
Lake County, United States (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
For two days straight, with barely time for sleep, Ron Earls and his team of firefighters battled a monster blaze this week that spread out of control in a small California town.
"We were out here for almost 50 hours," Earls told AFP, standing amid still-smoldering ruins of homes consumed by the flames in Middletown, in Lake County.
"The adrenaline kicks in and you are not that tired," a ...
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Nauru bans transhipping after 'illegal' Taiwan fishing
Sydney (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
The tiny Pacific nation of Nauru on Thursday banned transhipping outside its ports in a bid to tackle lucrative fishing "black" trade, after a Taiwanese ship was found allegedly illegally trawling for tuna and carrying shark fins.
Transhipping - or transferring cargo from one vessel to another - is believed to be one of the methods facilitating illegal fishing on the high seas, which fall ...
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Southeast Asia's haze: what's behind the annual outbreaks?
Jakarta (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
Southeast Asia has been enveloped in choking haze from agricultural fires in Indonesia over the past fortnight, prompting flight cancellations, closing schools and raising fears this weekend's glitzy Formula One night race in Singapore could be affected.
The haze is a regular occurrence, with the region wheezing through outbreaks every year during the dry season. Here are some questions and ...
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August breaks heat records across globe: US
Miami (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
Last month was the hottest August in modern history, in the latest sign of an unusually warm year across the world's land and sea surfaces, US government scientists said Thursday.
Record-breaking warmth was seen across much of South America and parts of Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The most scorching Aug ...
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Several dead as severe floods hit Sierra Leone capital
Freetown (AFP) Sept 17, 2015 -
At least nine people were killed and thousands made homeless in severe floods Thursday as Sierra Leone was buffeted by torrential rain, with authorities warning of more potentially deadly storms on the horizon.
Residents described how floodwater destroyed their homes, swept away household goods and damaged vehicles as the capital Freetown - an overcrowded city of 1.2 million strung between ...
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Land degradation costs trillions of dollars
New York NY (SPX) Sep 16, 2015 -
To better inform the tradeoffs involved in land use choices around the world, experts have assessed the value of ecosystem services provided by land resources such as food, poverty reduction, clean water, climate and disease regulation and nutrients cycling.
Their report estimates the value of ecosystem services worldwide forfeited due to land degradation at a staggering US $6.3 trillion t ...
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Acidic ocean will bend the mermaid's wineglass
Seattle WA (SPX) Sep 16, 2015 -
New research from the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories shows that a more acidic ocean can weaken the protective shell of a delicate alga. The findings, published Sept. 9 in the journal Biology Letters, come at a time when global climate change may increase ocean acidification.
The creature in question is Acetabularia acetabulum, commonly called the mermaid's wineglass. ...
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