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Rohingya in Bangladesh will not be forced back to Myanmar

Planned expulsion may not go ahead as Rohingya go into hiding while aid agencies warn return is too dangerous. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled Myanmar, citing rape, murder and arson, will not be forcibly repatriated, Bangladesh’s Rohingya Relief and Repatriation Commissioner has said.

“No one will be forced back to Myanmar” Abul Kalam told Al Jazeera.

Bangladesh is scheduled to send back an initial group of 2,260 Rohingya from 485 families, in line with a bilateral plan agreed by the two governments in October. But the move has been opposed by the United Nations’ refugee agency and aid groups who say the long-persecuted minority cannot be forced back, causing confusion over whether the repatriations would go ahead. “They survived atrocities so it’s natural they fear to go back,” Kalam said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh last year to escape a brutal army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state last year, accusing government soldiers and local Buddhists of massacring families, burning hundreds of villages and carrying out mass gang rape. Myanmar denies the allegations, saying security forces were battling armed rebels.

When asked whether the Rohingya – the majority of whom reside in sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar – would be guaranteed a “safe and dignified” return, Kalam said: “Everything is done as per the agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar. I hope the Myanmar authority will keep their words.”

The terms of the repatriation deal, however, have never been made public.

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People do not want to go back to Myanmar due to safety concerns

The plan to begin returning the Rohingya to Myanmar comes just days after UN investigators warned of an “ongoing genocide” against the largely Muslim minority. Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said beyond mass killings, the conflict included the ostracisation of the population, prevention of births and widespread displacement in camps. Earlier this week, Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, urged Bangladesh to halt the repatriation plan, saying it violated international law. “We are witnessing terror and panic among those Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar who are at imminent risk of being returned to Myanmar against their will,” she said. “Forcibly expelling or returning refugees and asylum seekers to their home country would be a clear violation of the core legal principle of non-refoulement, which forbids repatriation where there are threats of persecution or serious risks to the life and physical integrity or liberty of the individuals.”

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Another sign the ( Afghan ) war is a lost cause

by John Haltiwanger | Source:  Businessinsider

The most elite US-trained forces in Afghanistan suffered an embarrassing defeat to the Taliban in what’s often referred to as the country’s “safest district” over the weekend, yet another sign the war is a lost cause. Early, a company of roughly 50 Afghan special forces commandos was almost entirely destroyed in the rural district of Jaghori, according to a report from The New York Times. Over 30 of the US-trained commandos were killed, The Times said, in a district that is “famous” for how peaceful it is. The US has dedicated a massive amounts of time and resources to training Afghan forces with the ultimate goal of ramping down America’s role in a war it’s been fighting for over 17 years  the longest in US history.

In October, America’s top general in the Middle East, Joseph Votel, expressed his confidence in Afghan security forces in terms of their ability to take on the Taliban. But the Taliban has made major gains over the past year or so, and controls or contests 61% of the country’s districts. Last month, the Taliban took a shot at America’s top general in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, and barely missed. It also managed to wound another US general in the process. During the same incident a powerful Afghan police chief, General Abdul Raziq, was killed.

Beyond the Taliban, the Islamic State also has a foothold in Afghanistan and claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in the capital, Kabul, on Monday that led to at least six deaths and wounded more than 20 people. The US has dedicated nearly two decades, lost over 2,400 soldiers, and spent roughly $900 billion on this disastrous war. America is increasingly finding it difficult to justify the ongoing presence of 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan as the security situation there continues to deteriorate.

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Top US military officer says Taliban ‘are not losing’

Violence ahead of election threatens future

by Jamie Crawford, cnn.com | The top US military officer said Saturday that the Taliban “are not losing” in Afghanistan, and much more needs to be done to bring peace to the war-torn country. “They are not losing right now, I think that is fair to say,” Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said of the Taliban during a discussion at a security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “We used the term stalemate a year ago and, relatively speaking, it has not changed much.”

Dunford said that while there would never be a “military solution” on its own to bring peace to Afghanistan, the United States and its Nato partners are working to leverage military, political and economic pressure to convince the Taliban it is in their interest to negotiate a political solution to the crisis with the government in Kabul. “Without going into detail here, we do believe the Taliban know that at some point they do have to reconcile,” he said. “The key to success is to combine all that pressure to incentivize the Taliban” to negotiate.

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Taliban control of Afghanistan on the rise, US inspector says

While Dunford said recent elections in Afghanistan were “largely successful” and noted the importance of next year’s presidential election there, he added, “I think we are a long way,” from being able to say that point of reconciliation with the Taliban has been reached. As part of the administration’s strategy to bring about a political resolution to the 17-year war, President Donald Trump announced an increase in US troops last year that brought the total number in the country to about 14,000. Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad was recently named the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation and has traveled repeatedly to the region for discussions with national governments and the Taliban to try to jump-start a dialogue.

But progress toward ending the decades-long conflict has proven elusive.

Earlier this month, the US government’s ombudsman for the American effort in Afghanistan issued a report that said the Taliban have strengthened their grip on the country over the past three years, with the Afghan government in Kabul controlling only about 56% of the country — down from 72% in 2015.  And Afghan security forces who took the lead from the US in 2014 on efforts to secure the country are still suffering a high number of casualties in their battle against the Taliban. Defense Secretary James Mattis told an audience in Washington last month that Afghan forces had sustained “over a thousand dead and wounded” in August and September in their effort to protect Afghan parliamentary elections in October. “They stayed in the field fighting, and the Taliban has been prevented from what they said they were going to do, which was to take and hold districts and provincial centers, and also disrupt an election that they were unable to disrupt,” Mattis said.

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Afghan forces suffer record casualties as Kabul’s control ‘ebbs away’

By :  Ben Farmer, ISLAMABAD

casualties among Afghan forces are at their highest level ever and the Kabul government is losing control of a growing part of the country, according to the latest stark assessment by a US congressional watchdog. The update on the 17-year-long Afghan campaign says the Western-backed government has control or influence in a little over half the country as it battles a buoyant Taliban-led insurgency. A summer of heavy militant attacks has seen the number of Afghan army and police deaths rise to record levels, raising fears the toll is unsustainable. The review, by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), comes after a summer of bitter losses for the government and American attempts to talk to the Taliban.

SIGAR found the Afghan government controlled or influenced 56 per cent of the country’s 407 districts.

The figure marks a slight drop over the previous quarter and is the lowest since the watchdog began measuring government control three years ago. Afghan officials have refused to publish death tolls for their forces, but the report said the average casualty measure over the summer was “the greatest it has ever been during like periods”.

Afghan troops faced days of heavy fighting in August to retake the city of Ghazni CREDIT: REUTERS

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At least 50 killed in Kabul suicide blast targeting clerics at Eid-i-Miladun Nabi gathering

(21 Nov.) At least 72 people were wounded in the blast, health ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh said, which targeted religious scholars and leaders inside a wedding hall where hundreds had gathered to mark the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)  one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar. Religious studies lecturer Mohammad Hanif said verses of the Quran were being recited when there was a deafening explosion followed by “chaos” inside the packed hall. A manager of the multi-storey Uranus Wedding Palace, which also hosts political and religious functions, told AFP the suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of the gathering of around 1,000 people.

The Taliban condemned the attack in a WhatsApp message.

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Suicide blast at Afghanistan mosque kills at least 26 gathered to pray

KABUL | 23-11-2018 (Reuters) – A suicide blast at a mosque in an army base in eastern Afghanistan on Friday killed at least 26 people and wounded 50, security officials in the area said, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility. One security official said the victims had gathered for Friday prayers at the mosque in the Ismail Khel district of Khost province. KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide blast at a mosque in an army base in eastern Afghanistan on Friday killed at least 26 people and wounded 50, security officials in the area said, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility. One security official said the victims had gathered for Friday prayers at the mosque in the Ismail Khel district of Khost province.

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Israeli sources admit Hamas possesses game-changing missiles

November 12, 2018. (AFP )

An Israeli website known for its close links to the regime’s military intelligence services has admitted that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas is now possessing “game-changing” missiles that could hit targets in Israel with considerable ease and precision. The Debka file said in a report on Saturday that its sources had identified the type of modern missiles used by Hamas in recent attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories that inflicted considerable damage and casualties on the regime and forced the Israeli government to accept a ceasefire with the Palestinians. It said the missiles were of the 333mm-caliber type and had a medium range of 11 kilometers. The report added that the missiles were capable of destroying Israel’s “artillery emplacements, Iron Dome batteries, armored force concentrations  whether over ground or in trenches, as well as combat engineering equipment and command centers”.

“It is not launched from stationary batteries, but from any combat 4×4 vehicle or jeep, each of which carries two rockets,” said the report, adding that the main advantage of the missiles was its mobility which allowed Hamas to fire them from any area in the Gaza Strip without Israeli radars noticing them. The report came days after Israelis signed into a ceasefire with Hamas after a barrage of resistance missile attacks on southern occupied territories killed one and injured more than 80 Israelis.

  Recent Israeli covert operation in Gaza has alerted Tel Aviv to the possibility that Hamas is inching toward acquiring deterrent capability similar to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Hamas fired 460 missiles at Israel and its leader Yahya Sinwar later threatened that Hamas has the missile capability to strike at Tel Aviv. DebkaFile, which is linked to Israeli military intelligence now admits that Hamas possesses “game-changing” missiles. With Russia checkmating Israel on Syrian chessboard and Hezbollah ensuring Israel never again dares to attack Lebanon, if Hamas acquires deterrent power, it will dramatically shift the strategic balance against Israel. Much depends on alchemy of next Israeli govt that takes shape after forthcoming snap elections: Will it be another right-wing govt or an ultra-right wing govt?

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A ‘Legacy of Terror’: ISIS Left More than 200 Mass Graves in Iraq

By Falih Hassan and Rod Nordland | Nov. 6, 2018

BAGHDAD  More than 200 mass graves holding as many as 12,000 bodies have been found in areas of Iraq that were once controlled by the Islamic State, the United Nations said. The findings were highlighted in a joint report by the United Nations mission to Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which called the sites a “legacy of terror.”

Is this a surprise? In a way, no. The United Nations has previously estimated that 30,000 civilians were killed by the Islamic State from 2014 to 2017  “a number that should be considered an absolute minimum.” But many of those victims were found and buried by their families. That so many thousands are in the 202 mass graves identified so far is shocking  and only 28 of those graves have been thoroughly exhumed so far.

Where are the graves, and what are they like? Most are in the four provinces of northern and western Iraq where the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate acted as the government: Anbar, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Nineveh, which includes Mosul, the largest city once controlled by the extremists. They range from small burial sites with eight bodies, to massive pits believed to hold thousands. The biggest is believed to be the Khasfa Sinkhole near Mosul.

The report also noted that Iraqi bureaucracy made it difficult for people to find missing relatives because information was not held in a centralized way. “Their families have the right to know what happened to their loved ones,” Ms. Bachelet said. Investigators recommended setting up a nationwide databank, similar to those set up in Bosnia and Rwanda.

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7 dead in attack on bus carrying Coptic Christians in Egypt

November 2, 2018 | Mourners expressed grief and anger as they left Prince Tadros church in the city of Minya, where the bodies of six victims lay in white coffins. The Islamic State (IS) group earlier said it was behind the attack, the latest in a series by extremists on Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority. Egypt’s Copts, who make up most of the Muslim-majority country’s Christian minority, have in the past accused the authorities of making only token gestures to protect them from such attacks – including one at the same spot which left 28 dead in May 2017. Friday’s attack on two buses near the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor in Minya also left at least seven others wounded – including children, according to reports.

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Deadly attack in Somalia 39 Killed Wounded 40 ‘Bodies were everywhere’

Fri. 9th Nov.2018| Two car bombs exploded near the Sahafi Hotel and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Friday afternoon, before a third bomb, placed in a three-wheeled “tuk-tuk”, exploded on a busy street near the hotel. According to the police, a group of gunmen then tried to access the hotel but were killed by armed guards. “We have confirmed 39 civilians died and 40 others were injured in yesterday’s blasts,” Mohamed Hussein, a police officer in the city told the Reuters news agency. “The death toll may rise because some people are still missing”.                 Al-Shabab claims responsibility

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French President calls for ‘true European army’ to defend against Russia, US, China

EURACTIV.com with AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Tuesday (6 November) for a “real European army” to allow the bloc to defend itself against Russia and even the United States, a hugely sensitive idea amongst EU nations which jealously guard their defence. Macron, who has pushed for a joint European Union military force since his arrival in power, said Europe needed to be less dependent on American might, not least after US President Donald Trump announced he was pulling out of a Cold War-era nuclear treaty. “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States,” Macron told Europe 1 in his first radio interview since becoming president in May 2017.

“We will not protect Europeans unless we decide to have a true European army.”

Macron has spearheaded the creation of a nine-country European force, independent from NATO, that could rapidly mount a joint military operation, evacuate civilians from a war zone, or provide aid after a natural disaster. The nine countries’ defence ministers are set to meet for the first time in Paris to start thrashing out details of how the force will operate. Finland is set to become the tenth country involved in the project, according to a source close to the talks.

Touchy subject : The wider EU is due to vastly expand its defence budget starting in 2021, allocating some €13 billion over seven years to research and develop new equipment. Under an initiative known as PESCO, 25 EU countries have also pledged to better coordinate their defence spending and potentially their operations. But talk of an “EU army”, an idea floated by European federalists for years, remains a deeply touchy subject amongst member states anxious to defend their sovereignty.

A French source said Macron was speaking about more closely coordinated defence rather than a truly supranational military spanning the continent. The president “used the strong image of a ‘European army’ as a reminder” of the need for closer defence ties, the source said.

‘Very insulting’, says US President Trump on Macron’s call for European Army to counter threat by US, Russia and China. United States President said that the suggestion of his French counterpart Emannuel Macron that Europe should build its own army was “very insulting”, asserting that Europe should first pay its “fair share” to NATO.

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Relentless California wildfires leave 82 dead, almost 700 unaccounted for

The Camp Fire in Northern California : The Camp Fire ignited Nov. 8 near Pulga, a tiny community in Butte County nestled in the Plumas National Forest. The blaze exploded as strong winds fanned the flames southwest, enveloping the town of Paradise, a bucolic community of 27,000 people in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The fire has virtually decimated the entire town. Melissa Schuster, a Paradise town council member, said her house was among those leveled by the Camp Fire. “Our entire five-member council is homeless,” Schuster said in a Nov. 13 interview on ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast. “All of our houses have been destroyed.”

The Camp Fire had burned more than 149,000 acres, and destroyed nearly 13,000 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Thom Porter, chief of strategic planning for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the body count is expected to climb higher as search crews continue sifting through the destruction. “It is by far the most deadly single fire in California history and it’s going to get worse, unfortunately,” Porter said of the Camp Fire.

The Woolsey Fire in Southern California: The Woolsey Fire  ignited Nov. 8 near the city of Simi Valley in Ventura County and rapidly spread south to Los Angeles County. The wind-driven flames jumped the 101 Freeway before sweeping through the celebrity enclaves of Malibu and Calabasas. The Woolsey Fire, which has torched a total of 96,949 acres in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, was up to 88 percent containment by Saturday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.

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California Shooting Kills 12 at Country Music Bar 

Thursday, 8 Nov 2018 | Thousand Oaks: Ex-Marine Ian David Long identified as suspect,A US Marine Corps veteran with suspected mental health issues killed 12 people in a busy bar in California, including a policeman. All the victims were shot dead inside the bar in the suburb of Thousand Oaks at around midnight (local time), including the officer who had been called to the scene, Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters. The suspected gunman was also shot dead by police, Sheriff Dean added.

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EU leaders endorses Brexit deal with UK

After a year and a half of arduous negotiations, the 27 leaders took barely half an hour to rubber-stamp a 600-page treaty setting terms for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union on March 29 and a 26-page declaration outlining ambitions for a future free trade relationship. President of the European Council Donald Tusk announced the agreement on Twitter. “EU27 has endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relations,” he said. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said now that the first phase was done, the UK and the EU needed to work for “an ambitious and unprecedented partnership”.

“We will remain allies, partners and friends … now is the time for everybody to take their responsibility – everybody,” he said.  President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, meanwhile, said the sign-off on the agreement marked a “sad day” but backed May to steer the deal through parliament when it is put to a vote next month. “I believe that the British government will succeed in securing the backing of the British parliament,” Juncker said, declining to comment on what might happen if May fails. “I would vote in favour of this deal because this is the best deal possible for Britain,” he added.

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Ayodhya again

In an interview in the late 1990s to a weekly magazine, the progenitor of the Ram Temple as a socio-political movement symbolising cultural nationalism, LK Advani, was honest enough to share his concern that the lumpen element which had attached itself to the movement was a cause of serious worry for him as the head of the BJP. The burden of his song, as it were, was that while he was proud of having played a role in bringing the Ram Temple and allied issues to the forefront of national discourse to expose the ‘pseudo-secularism’ of the Congress and Leftist parties, which had reached its apogee with the overturning of the Shah Bano verdict by a Congress-majority Parliament in the previous decade, the virulence and violence which accompanied the agitation were unacceptable. The current BJP leadership, however, in perpetual election mode, seems to have no such qualms. That is a tragedy not just for the country but also for the big tent contours of the Ram Temple movement its original vocaliser sought to bestow upon it. For the party itself, it is a moment of truth.

Yes, the Supreme Court could have expedited the hearing of the appeal preferred by the Muslim parties against the Allahabad High Court judgement but, in its wisdom, it did not. The BJP may not like it, but it has to either lump it or bring in a law/ordinance to build a Ram Temple at the Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya and seeing where that takes it. As far as political strategy goes, that is the bottomline and everything else is just smoke and mirrors. There is no place for a discourse of hate-mongering and the  till now  verbal violence which is increasingly prevalent on the ground and threatens to spill into the kind of confrontation and conflagration India can ill afford. Of course, the BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena and many others, whether individuals or organisations, have an unalienable right to agitate for a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. They also have a right  and given their passionate support for the demand over the decades  and duty to try and fashion a mass movement on the issue. Responsibility for ensuring the movement is non-violent and intimidation has no place in it also rests on the BJP leadership just like it did with Advani two decades ago.

On the evidence of the results of the mobilisation over the past few months, though, the traction of the 1980s and 1990s is missing. In fact, even the last time the Sangh and its affiliates attempted to up the ante on the Ram Temple in 2002, they were not very successful. This time around, too, the response has been far from electrifying. Which leaves us with the only conclusion it is possible to draw  the BJP is focussing on Ayodhya, especially in Uttar Pradesh, to try and counter the effect of a putative Opposition grand alliance in that State and is not averse to seeing if Lord Ram helps it consolidate its support base and deflect public attention from its performance in the ongoing Assembly polls in five States.

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Soon after India’s ATAGS shoots the longest range, a US gun beats it

Ajai Shukla  |  New Delhi

The ATAGS’ all-electric drive operates all its gun controls, ammunition handling, opening and closing the breech, and ramming the round into the chamber. This makes firing faster and easier. Last September, the Kalyani Group and Tata Power (Strategic Engineering Division) claimed world records by firing their in-development artillery guns to a distance of over 47 km. Their Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) comfortably surpassed the maximum ranges of 40-45 km, currently achieved by similar 155-millimetre, 52-calibre guns in service worldwide. However, a new American artillery gun is comfortably surpassing ATAGS. Also known by an acronym, the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) has achieved a mind-boggling range of 62 km. That doubles the range of the gun…  Beijing ( Indian Express )

Russia & India sign deal on 4 frigates construction and navy transfer

20 Nov, 2018 : RT NEWS

Moscow and New Delhi sealed a deal on four Russian guided-missile frigates for the Indian Navy. The two warships will be built in Russia’s Kaliningrad region, and two more are to be constructed on a shipyard in India’s Goa. The major deal consists of two separate contracts, with one signed on Tuesday and another one concluded last month, Russian media reported, citing defense officials. In total, India will get four Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates. The ships are designed to strike all types of enemy vessels, as well as submarines. They are equipped with the newest Russian 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missiles, which saw action hitting militants’ targets in Syria, and may host attack helicopters.

Chairman and Managing Director of the Goa Shipyard, Shekhar Mital said that the contract for the two ships constructed in Goa is worth $500 million, and the vessels will be ready in 2026-2027. Earlier reports suggested that the whole deal, together with the two frigates built in Russia, will amount to $2.2 billion.

The two nations have enjoyed strong military ties since the Soviet times. The Indian Navy has bought numerous Russian warships over the years, including its sole aircraft carrier ‘INS Vikramaditya’, a former Soviet-era project, which underwent a thorough modernization in Russia. India already operates six Russian-built Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates. The first pack of three ships was delivered in early 2000s, and the second pack came in 2012-2013.

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China, India reach important consensus on boundary issues

CHENGDU, Nov. 24 (Source: Xinhuaa) — Senior officials of China and India had reached some important consensus on boundary issues during a meeting, said a press release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.  The 21st round of talks between Chinese and Indian special representatives on boundary issues was co-chaired by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province. Both sides agreed to continuously promote the process of special representatives talks in line with the important consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on properly resolving border issues and developing China-India relations, to reach a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solutions as soon as possible, said the press release. The two sides will jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas before a final settlement of the boundary issues, said the press release.

Both sides agreed to implement the consensus of the two countries’ leaders to all levels of personnel, including front-line troops, and further improve the construction of trust measures in border areas, while strengthening the communication and coordination of the two countries’ departments involved in border issues.

Both sides shared the view that border trade and people-to-people exchange should be expanded step by step, to consolidate the public opinion foundation of border areas’ friendly cooperation and create a good atmosphere for border negotiations and the development of bilateral relations. On bilateral ties, the press release said the two sides took the view that China-India relations had witnessed comprehensively positive progress and stepped into a new development stage after an informal meeting of Xi and Modi in Wuhan in April. The two sides will continuously strengthen strategic communication, lift political mutual trust and expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields to usher in a new level on the China-India Closer Developmental Partnership, it said.

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China, Myanmar sign port deal after years of negotiations

Source:Global Times : Thursday 8 Nov. 2018 | China and Myanmar signed an agreement  to move forward a multi-billion dollar deep sea port project in Kyaukpyu, a strategic town along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, after negotiations dragged for years due to financing and other issues. At a ceremony in the Myanmar capital of Nay Pyi Taw, the Chinese consortium led by State-owned conglomerate Citic Group signed the framework agreement with the Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone Management Committee on the development of the deep-sea port. Under the framework agreement, China will fund 70 percent of the investment for the project and Myanmar will pitch in the remaining 30 percent. The initial phase of the project will include two berths with a total investment of $1.3 billion, according to the agreement. A joint venture will be set up to construct and operate the port.

The Kyaukpyu project is estimated to bring 100,000 jobs to the local community and will contribute as much as $15 billion in tax revenue to Myanmar. Once completed, the port will have an annual gross output of $3.2 billion.

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Former US President George HW Bush, Dead at age 94

Fri. 30 Nov. 2018 : In the wake of his death, everyone is sharing this touching handwritten note penned by former president

Social media users are sharing a touching handwritten note former US president George H.W. Bush penned to Bill Clinton, who defeated him after one term in 1992.In the gracious message, dated Jan 20, 1993, Mr Bush wrote: “When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too.

“I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described.

“There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I’m not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.

“You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.

“Your success is now our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.”

George Herbert Walker Bush (June 12, 1924 – November 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Prior to assuming the presidency, Bush served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. As a member of the Republican Party, he had previously been a U.S. Representative, Ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence. During his career in public service, he was known simply as George Bush; from 2001 until his death, he was often referred to as “George H. W. Bush”, “Bush 41”, or “George Bush Sr.” to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.

Bush died on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94 years, 171 days. At the time of his death, he was the longest-lived president in American history.

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NASA’s InSight lander has touched down on Mars

After seven months of traveling through space, the NASA InSight mission has landed on Mars. A few minutes after landing, InSight sent the official “beep” to NASA to signal that it was alive and well, including a photo of the Martian surface where it landed. The landing was watched around the world and even broadcast live on the Nasdaq Stock Market tower in New York City’s Times Square.

NASA flight controllers announced that the spacecraft InSight touched down shortly before 7am on Tuesday 20th Nov 2018, after a perilous supersonic descent through the red Martian skies, to explore the planet’s interior.

It’s the first spacecraft built to explore the deep interior of another world, carrying instruments to detect planetary heat and seismic rumblings never measured anywhere but earth.

Mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, erupted in laughter, applause, hugs and tears as soon as the lander touched down.

It launched May 5. InSight will spend two years investigating the interior where the building blocks below the planet’s surface recorded its history. To reach Mars, InSight cruised 301,223,981 miles through space, followed by two cube satellites. The suitcase-size spacecraft, called MarCO, are the first cube satellites to fly into deep space. MarCO shared data about InSight when it entered the Martian atmosphere for the landing.

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US Military Could Lose Potential Conflict Against Russia, China- ‘Report’

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States has lost its military advantage to such a degree that it could potentially lose a future war with Russia or China, a new report to the US Congress warned. “The US military could suffer unacceptably high casualties and loss of major capital assets in its next conflict. It might struggle to win, or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia,” said the report prepared by the National Defence Strategy Commission, a bipartisan panel of experts created by Congress. The commission warned that if the United States did not act swiftly to remedy the situation, the consequences would be “grave and lasting.”

The report warned of the increasing threat from not only major powers such as Russia and China, but also other countries such as Iran and North Korea. “Those countries have developed more advanced weapons and creatively employed asymmetric tactics,” it said. In addition, the US faces an intensifying threat from transnational terrorist organizations, particularly radical jihadist groups. “Around the world, the proliferation of advanced technology is allowing more actors to contest US military power in more threatening ways,” the report said.

The commission endorsed the National Defense Strategy (NDS) submitted by President Donald Trump’s administration in January 2018, which has sought to revamp the US military to counter growing threats from Russia and China. But the report also warned that the United States is not moving quickly enough or investing enough money to put Trump’s strategy into practice.

The 12-member National Defense Strategy Commission was created by Congress through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. The commission, chaired by former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman and former US Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead, is charged with reviewing the current national defence strategy to assess any potential risks.

The body is tasked with making its recommendations to the president, secretary of defence and Congress. The report was submitted to Congress on Tuesday 13th Nov. 2018.

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Iran to send 3 satellites to space

Iran BANDAR ABBAS (29 No. 2018)   ‘The satellites are Iran-made and will be put on different orbits,’ said Brigadier-General Qassem Taqizadeh in the ceremony marking joining of two vessels to the Iranian Navy. Speaking on the country’s deterrence power, he said, ‘Iran has been able to make a surface-to-surface precision missile with the range of 2,000 kilometers.’

He added that Iran uses the scholars of the Defense Ministry, universities and knowledge-based companies for making different equipment. He also said that the new equipment developed by Iran was used against Daesh (ISIS).

Iran’s deputy defense minister added that the country has gained very complicated achievements in cruise and anti-ship industries, some of which are superior to those of the West. Saying that in the cartography organization, a very advanced system is designed, he added that the production line of Kowsar fighter has opened. ‘We plan to be the superior power in aviation. We have developed various superior technologies in drones; we can now find, recognize, and target drones.’

‘Very advanced radars are produced as well.’

General Taqizadeh said that on verge of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, February 11, several new achievements will be unveiled. Saying that Iran will never start a war, but if it is invaded, we will counter the enemy fiercely, the general added that Iran’s presence in the international waters is a symbol of complete readiness and repels regional and extra-regional threats.

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World’s largest brain-like supercomputer switched on for first time

Sunday, 11 November 2018 | PTI | London

The world’s largest supercomputer designed to work in the same way as the human brain has been switched on for the first time.

The newly formed million-processor-core Spiking Neural Network Architecture (SpiNNaker) machine is capable of completing more than 200 million million actions per second, with each of its chips having 100 million transistors. To reach this point it has taken £15 million in funding, 20 years in conception and over 10 years in construction, with the initial build starting way back in 2006, according to a statement. The Spinnaker machine, designed and built in The University of Manchester in the UK, can model more biological neurons in real time than any other machine on the planet.

Biological neurons are basic brain cells present in the nervous system that communicate primarily by emitting ‘spikes’ of pure electro-chemical energy. Neuromorphic computing uses large scale computer systems containing electronic circuits to mimic these spikes in a machine. Spinnaker is unique because, unlike traditional computers, it does not communicate by sending large amounts of information from point A to B via a standard network. Instead it mimics the massively parallel communication architecture of the brain, sending billions of small amounts of information simultaneously to thousands of different destinations. “SpiNNaker completely re-thinks the way conventional computers work. We’ve essentially created a machine that works more like a brain than a traditional computer, which is extremely exciting,” said Steve Furber, who conceived the initial idea for such a computer.

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