Terrorism and War

FBI Director Christopher Wray; CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats arrive with other U.S. intelligence community officials to testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on "worldwide threats" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

CLICK HERE - STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD - WORLDWIDE THREAT ASSESSMENT of the US INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY - January 29, 2019 (42 page .PDF report)

reuters.com - by Patricia Zengerle, Doina Chiacu - January 29, 2019

China and Russia pose the biggest risks to the United States, and are more aligned than they have been in decades as they target the 2020 presidential election and American institutions to expand their global reach, U.S. intelligence officials told senators on Tuesday.

The spy chiefs broke with President Donald Trump in their assessments of the threats posed by North Korea, Iran and Syria. But they outlined a clear and imminent danger from China, whose practices in trade and technology anger the U.S. president.

The Aquarius is operated by MSF and SOS Méditerranée Photograph: Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images

Prosecutors allege garments on Aquarius should have been labelled as ‘toxic waste’

theguardian.com - by Lorenzo Tondo - November 20, 2018

Italian authorities have ordered the seizure of the migrant rescue ship Aquarius after claiming that discarded clothes worn by the migrants on their voyage from Libya to Italy could have been contaminated by HIV, meningitis and tuberculosis . . .

 . . . “Clothing categorically is not, and has never been, an HIV transmission risk,” said Deborah Gold, chief executive of the National AIDS Trust.

“This would have stood out as ridiculous even amongst the misinformation of the 1980s, never mind in 2018. Migrants and people seeking asylum have historically been attacked using myths about HIV and infectious conditions, and we condemn this both for its stigmatising of people living with HIV and of migrants fleeing hardship.”

CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE - YEMEN: Surge in suspected cholera cases in Hodeidah

reliefweb.int - Save the Children - October 1, 2018

Save the Children’s health centres report 170 per cent spike in suspected cases.

Malnutrition, displacement and attacks on water supplies could spark a new wave of the disease nationwide.

100,000 severely malnourished children at risk in Hodeidah.

SANAA, October 2 – Suspected cholera cases have almost tripled in Yemen’s coastal Hodeidah region since fighting escalated in June.

Health facilities supported by Save the Children across the governorate recorded a 170 per cent increase in the number of suspected cholera cases, from 497 in June to 1,342 in August.

The spike is in line with national data that also shows a steady increase of suspected cholera cases across Yemen. 30 per cent of all suspected cases are children under five years old, according to the World Health Organization.

A B-6K strategic bomber aircraft of the Chinese Air Force is seen before the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, October 25, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

CLICK HERE - U.S. - Defense Intelligence Agency - Statement for the Record: Worldwide Threat Assessment - March 6, 2018

reuters.com - by Idrees Ali - August 16, 2018

China’s military has expanded its bomber operations in recent years while “likely training for strikes” against the United States and its allies, a Pentagon report released on Thursday said.

The assessment, which comes at a time of heightened U.S.-China tensions over trade, was contained in an annual report that highlighted China’s efforts to increase its global influence, with defense spending that the Pentagon estimates exceeded $190 billion in 2017.