Jon Snow's oldest and closest pal from the Night's Watch is officially our MVP for the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere. Cersei's extremely relatable disappointment over not getting her elephants made her a strong challenger, but a proper MVP should change the game.
He did it in such an endearingly Sam-like way, too. The boy had every reason to be ranting and raging at Jon in the minutes after learning — from his pal's lover, no less — that Randyll and Dickon Tarly, his father and brother, respectively, had refused their new queen and met untimely ends. Read more...
Last year we had #Beychella. This year, it's #Arichella.
Ariana Grande wowed festival goers — and livestream viewers — with her closing set at Coachella week one. After some major teasing on Twitter, on Sunday night the pop star finally revealed one of her special musical guests: *NSYNC.
The popular boy band of the late 90s and early aughts joined Grande to sing their hit "Tearin' Up My Heart."
"I've been rehearsing my whole motherfucking life for this moment," Ariana says before they all start singing the iconic bop in unison.
Notably, the band's former frontman Justin Timberlake couldn't make it, as he is finishing his own tour. But that didn't stop the rest of the band from living their best life and giving it their all with Miss Grande, who sang Timberlake's parts in his absence. Read more...
Samsung's much-hyped Galaxy Fold finally arrives on April 26, but some lucky tech reporters have already held it, folded and unfolded the screen, and — despite some concerns with The Crease — many of the first impressions are positive, even with the phone's massive price tag.
In her brief hands-on time with the Galaxy Fold, CNET's Jessica Delcourt said the foldable phone's "4.6-inch display feels kind of small," but also praised how apps quickly transitioned from the outside display and the larger 7.3-inch interior screen. Read more...
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones: Season 8, Episode 1
I think we can all admit that Bran Stark's storyline has always been a little more than lackluster on Game of Thrones. Sure he has weird bird powers that allow him to know everyone's secrets, but you know what else that makes him? An absolute creep.
In the pilot of the series, way back in 2011, you may remember Jaime Lannister pushing Bran out of a tower window and causing him to be in the wheelchair he is today. Well, Sunday's episode brought the reunion of Bran and Jaime which created the most interesting plot point in Bran's story line in several years. Read more...
You might think that this week is all about Game of Thrones, or Easter, but you'd be wrong. This week is World VPN Week, and that should take precedence over everything else. Don't you agree?
To celebrate this prestigious week, IPVanish is offering one year of its service for just £2.47 a month, with another year thrown in for free. This deal is only available to new customers and comes with a seven-day money-back guarantee and around the clock live chat support.
As much as this is a fantastic deal, it wouldn't mean anything if IPVanish was offering a substandard service. When it comes to selecting a VPN, you need a trustworthy option that can stand up to the threats associated with ISPs, public WiFi networks, and malicious third parties. Thankfully, IPVanish is just that, offering a safe haven for all your browsing needs. Read more...
It's about time we started to take control of our own destiny. Our planet is in big trouble for a whole range of reasons. But there's also many ways we can individually make an effort to turn the tide.
Waste is one of the major problems we are facing globally, and single-use plastic is arguably the biggest culprit. We've all seen the images of plastics polluting the oceans and damaging the habitats of species around the world. It really needs to stop. Read more...
Easter is great for a number of reasons. Quite often, your family will come together and enjoy a tasty meal, which is nice and wholesome. You'll probably also stuff your face with chocolate, which isn't wholesome but nobody can say anything, because it's Easter.
Besides all the eating, Easter is also a great time to get your teeth into some sales, with many retailers posting deals at this time of year.
If you are in the market for cyber security solutions, then Easter is the perfect time to secure a deal. You can now pick up McAfee Total Protection 2019 for a whole year for just £26.99 in McAfee's Easter Sale. This would usually cost £89.99, meaning you save over £60 on the list price. Read more...
With a lot of sales or individual offers, the best prices don't stick around for long, and this makes sense, because the retailers don't want everyone securing the extra low prices. When you spot a great deal, you can't hesitate. You just need to trust your instinct and go for it.
That's the situation with Kaspersky Lab's current deal on its range of home security products. You can save 50 percent by using the code SAVE50 when you get to the shopping cart. The thing is, this deal expires at midnight on April 15, so you really do need to go for it if you don't want to miss out. Read more...
Spring is a time for rebirth, renewal — and lots and lots of chocolate.
Now, Uber is getting in on the action. The company announced it will offer free samples of chocolate Easter egg candies starting Monday during rides in select cities. Cargo, the exclusive in-car vendor for Uber, will be offering riders free Reese's Peanut Butter eggs and Cadbury Creme eggs, specifically.
Here's the full list of cities that will offer free chocolate eggs in Uber rides:
New York City
Chicago
Boston
Washington, D.C.
Baltimore
Minneapolis
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Atlanta
Miami
Dallas
Cargo, the company that partnered with Uber to supply chocolates for this promotional event, is part of a burgeoning business model where vendors sell snacks, drinks, and other essentials such as headphones and phone chargers in ride-hailing cars. You purchase items through an app, then the driver hands you the goods. Read more...
Good morning! Let's start the week on a high, with incredible savings on storage devices, home security products, robot vacuums, gaming goods, and many more. The one that stands out the most is the Dell XPS desktop, packed with an Intel Core i7-8700 processor and 16GB of RAM for only $699.99 after AFF300XPS coupon code. Usually, any desktop with an i7 processor and 16GB of RAM will set you back around $870, so you're saving $170 off with this deal.
Fun fact did you know it’s harder to make choices at the end of the day. So if you're looking to snap up some great deals, but you only browse during the evening. Why not switch it up and browse while you're eating your breakfast or traveling to work. Read more...
It's all anyone is talking about. It's dominating the headlines. It's the biggest event of the year. No, we're not talking about the final season of Game of Thrones. We're talking about the Amazon Spring Sale, which ends at midnight on April 15.
We have lined up the best deals from the last day of savings, including discounted Apple iPhones, Samsung smartphones, Sennheiser headphones, Amazon devices, and more. You can pick up great deals on all the top brands. Just don't leave it too late, because the curtain comes down at midnight.
These are the best deals from across the internet for April 15. Read more...
His latest deep dive is proof of this. In his video for Last Week Tonightwith John Oliver, he tears into drug manufacturers and distributors for their role in the U.S. opioid crisis — an epidemic fuelled by fentanyl, OxyContin, and heroin.
Though he's covered the topic before, Oliver chose to tackle it again because statistics show an alarming number of people are dying from opioid addictionAccording to figures from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there were over 72,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017.
As Oliver points out, there's a dearth of literally any video footage of OxyContin billionaire Richard Sackler talking — so he enlisted the help of Michael Keaton to well and truly eviscerate the man. Read more...
Young people have a lot more life to live, but if we don't address climate change, the planet they live on will look nothing like it does today. The good news is, a number of young people are putting up a fight.
At the United Nations' New York City headquarters, Mashable spoke to Noura Berrouba and Alexandria Villaseñor, two young activists who are working to make the world a better, greener place. Berrouba, 25, serves on the governing body of the European Youth Parliament, a program that helps young people engage with crucial political and cultural issues in their regionVillaseñor, 13, skipped school multiple Fridays in a row to strike outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, inspired by Greta Thunberg's #FridaysForFuture movement. Read more...
Warning: Contains positively mountainous Game of Thrones spoilers.
Jon Snow's parentage, Arya's sneakery — all that stuff is interesting, but frankly it's all a mere distraction from the main question on every true Game of Thrones fan's lips: When the sweet hell are we going to get Cleganebowl?
I'm not going to go into detail about Cleganebowl here, but if you're not caught up you can read this handy explainer.
In a nutshell, it's the much-anticipated showdown between The Hound and The Mountain, which fans have been yearning for ever since we found out good old Sandor isn't actually dead after all. Read more...
Yep, Chrissy got kicked out of John's viewing party because she "talked too much." Ever resourceful, however, Chrissy picked the lock and let herself back in, as demonstrated in this video she posted to Twitter:
The fun and games didn't stop there. Chrissy still had questions. Like: "What's the deal with Jon Snow?" I mean, she has a point. Read more...
As we ditch cable in favor of streaming services, the ways in which we watch shows and movies are changing too. And while we can't deny the superior viewing experience that 4K Ultra HD televisions bring, streaming content through our mobile phones is unquestionably far more convenient. We can't exactly haul around 64-inch screens everywhere we go, can we?
Earlier this month, police in suburban Oregon responded to a 911 call from two men who reported that a burglar was locked inside the bathroom of their Beaverton-area home. Upon arriving at the scene, the officers heard banging noises coming from inside the room and assumed the intruder was trying to escape through a window. So, with their guns pointed and a canine unit at the ready, they burst through the door... only to find a disoriented little Roomba bumping itself against the shower door.
Unfortunately, few housebreaking cases end on such a high (or hilarious) note: According to the FBI's most recent Crime in the U.S. report, burglars cost their victims an estimated $3.4 billion in total property losses in 2017, with each incident costing its victim(s) a whopping $2,416 on average. And that's on top of the emotional distress one suffers when a rando breaks into your home. Read more...
Warning: Contains dragonglass-filled spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 1.
Okay, deep breaths.
So there may not have been much in the way of battles or deaths, but the first episode of the final Game of Thrones season still had plenty to discuss.
One question, that's been something of a theme for the show's past couple of seasons, is this: What exactly is Arya up to?
Well, one thing that was clear from her reunion with Gendry is that she's obviously preparing herself for the coming war. And she doesn't want to go into it empty-handed. Read more...
Think Tesla's done messing with its car prices? Think again.
Days after the company's announcement of Model 3 lineup and price changes, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that the "price of the Tesla Full Self-Driving option will increase substantially over time."
In a subsequent tweet, Musk said these changes will start on May 1. And answering a comment which asked whether the price increase will be to the tune of "a few thousand dollars" or "something like +$3,000," Musk said it would be "something like that." Read more...
Coachella is sure to provide huge moments, and this one involves every parent's favourite song, "Baby Shark."
Jauz, real name Sam Vogel, performed at the festival on Saturday and debuted his remix of the highly, highly popular kids' song in front of a large crowd during the daytime.
As you'll see and hear, the remix mostly adds a bassline to "Baby Shark," before launching into a breakdown, which samples the song's chorus, before eventually building into the melody of Darude's classic dance track "Sandstorm." Read more...
Warning: Spoilers for Game of Thrones: Season 8, Episode 1 below
When you play the game of thrones, you win... or you get roasted Ned Umber-style. (RIP teeny, tiny boy.)
Game of Thrones: Season 8 has only just begun, but Twitter users are already launching their red-hot, post-premiere roasts and takes.
From Bran sitting in a courtyard all night to Cersei missing out on those elephants, here are some of the funniest Twitter reactions to the Thrones premiere heard round the world.
On that very Harry Potter-esque dragon riding scene
*** Warning: Spoilers ahead for Season 8 of Game of Thrones ***
The final season of Game of Thrones was always going to be the end for someone.
In the teaser for the second episode of Season 8, there looks to be trouble ahead for Jaime Lannister, who features prominently alongside Daenerys Targaryen.
"When I was a child, my brother would tell me a bedtime story about the man who murdered our father," Daenerys opens in the teaser.
"Of all the things we would do to that man." Read more...
Jon's BFF-slash-true brother Samwell Tarly had a rough episode, learning that Daenerys executed his father and brother just after gleefully being introduced to her by Jorah Mormont.
Disillusioned with the dragon queen, Sam runs into Bran (but he's not really Bran, idk if you've heard, he's the ~*~*~Three-Eyed Raven~*~*~), who says that only Sam can tell Jon the truth. This is not an enviable position, which is probably why Sam literally hides in the crypts, but Jon catches him and then there's nothing to do but have the awkward convo. Read more...
It certainly hasn't been forgotten at this year's Coachella, with the pyramid stage from the iconic performance finding new life as an installation on the festival's grounds.
The first woman of color to headline the festival, the singer reunited with other members of Destiny's Child for the two-hour performance, which also featured appearances by her husband Jay-Z and her sister Solange.
Beyoncé atop her pyramid during the 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival.
Image: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella Read more...
In the lead-up to the premiere of Game of Thrones' final season, the show's cast and crew have been understandably getting nostalgic.
That includes the Mother of Dragons herself, Emilia Clarke, who on Sunday posted an adorable Instagram shoutout to her green screen baby dragon, ahead of the first episode of Season 8.
"Me and my baby (dragon) (Drogon) just very excited for you all to see #season8gameofthrones which if I’m not mistaken begins....now," she captioned the post, which shows Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen cuddling up to what will eventually be rendered as her beloved Drogon. Read more...
Feel like you might be ready to lead? Maybe you’re thinking about starting an MBA but need some inspiration before you make your move? Look no further than your screen. Yep, as usual, pop culture is here to save the day.
These fearless film and television characters are guaranteed to inspire your inner leadership skills whether you’re planning on managing a team, dreaming of being your own boss or you’re simply looking for a competitive edge in your career.
Miranda Priestly
With her scathing commentary and unbelievably high expectations, Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, might be one of the silver screen’s most feared (and revered) bosses. Read more...
Ever since Arya Stark made her kill list and topped it off with Cersei Lannister’s name, theirs is the face-off I’ve been waiting for. The two haven't shared a scene since early Season 1 but their stories have intertwined in grievous ways.
Arya has managed to knock off a few names off her list, including Walder Frey and Meryn Trant, but Cersei remains the one big profile name on it.
Game of Thrones Season 8 will bring about lots of reunions, some emotional and some awkward. The one we deserve the most is Arya vs. Cersei, especially if it means the former will kill the latter. Read more...
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced Friday that the international tournament for people with disabilities would be getting its first video game, The Pegasus Dream Tour. The new game has some serious weight behind it; it's being created by JP Games, the new independent studio founded by Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata. The Paralympics game will be his new team's first since Tabata went indie.
"This is not just an ordinary video game about sports," Tabata said. "JP Games is going to represent fully the wonders that are unique to Paralympic sports in this brand-new role-playing game." Read more...
Here's the TL;DR most of you are waiting for: it feels much more stable and polished than I expected going in, but there is still some work to be done on the software.
How an art picker and a gallerist, plus a couple of restoration experts, alongside a handful of scholars and museum directors, not to mention two auction houses, a Russian oligarch and the Saudi crown prince turned a $1,000 bet into a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci.
On "Last Week Tonight" last night, Oliver revisited the opioid crisis. Shining a light on the reprehensible actions of the president of Purdue Pharma Richard Sackler, Oliver invited celebrities who have played infamous drug kingpins to read some of Sackler's e-mails.
The original PlayStation had a piracy problem, and various different strategies were deployed against pesky pirates — but Insomniac Games may have come up with the most devious anti-piracy measure of them all.
"From the outside looking in it looked like the perfect life. I grew up in Florida and on a boat in the Bahamas with my parents and twin brother, but I always felt empty inside and sad. I didn't really fit in."
You can protect your Apple AirPods on the go and get rid of excess energy with this ZenPod Leather Fidget Spinning Case — it snugly holds your charging case and fits easily your pocket. Plus lucky new owners of AirPods 2 can still charge their case wirelessly.
Anxiety about tech dependence — how social media is rewiring brains and worsening lives, or how tech companies are building monopolies and spying on users — is as old as the iPhone itself. A new book by artist and author Jenny Odell suggests a radically simple solution.
The tech giant records people's locations worldwide. Now, investigators are using it to find suspects and witnesses near crimes, running the risk of snaring the innocent.
You wouldn't want a news cycle to pass without something to read about Michael Avenatti and lord knows he wouldn't either. Because he cares, and because he's apparently been on an IRS watch list for a decade that will never happen.
The regular season and the playoffs exist in perfect harmony; one sets the terms and raises hypotheses, the other confirms or denies them in sometimes brutal fashion.
There are few places less equipped to host a fashion show than the Harry S. Truman Building, a squat, brutalist-lite rectangle that houses the US Department of State.
Their lives intersected only briefly at the end of a dark alley: A meditation coach clutching a glittery iPhone and a Minneapolis police officer sitting in the passenger seat of a black-and-white Ford Explorer.
Although I recognize the utility of listening to non-distracting study music, I nonetheless find it disheartening to see art being reconfigured, over and over again, as a tool for productivity — and then, when the work is finally done, as a tool for coming down from the work.
In Groote Schuur Hospital on December 3 1967, South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first human heart transplant and became an overnight celebrity.
The Kerch bridge connects Russia and Europe. Dozens of ships navigating around it have been sent false location data by the Russians. Google Maps / VMorozoff - Wikimapia, CC
* The Russians are hacking the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) on a mass scale in order to confuse thousands of ships and airplanes about where they are, according to a study by Centre for Advanced Defense (C4AD). * Law enforcement, shipping, airlines, power stations, your phone, and anything else dependent on GPS time and location synchronization, are vulnerable to GNSS hacking. * All of Britain's critical infrastructure is dependent on GNSS and GPS, according to a report commissioned by the UK Space Agency. * Russian president Putin's summer dacha is protected by a GNSS spoofing array that helps create a no-fly zone over his vast Italian-style mansion. * GNSS jamming equipment costs $300.
On May 15, 2018, under a sunny sky, Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a bright orange truck in a convoy of construction vehicles for the opening of the Kerch Bridge from Russia to Crimea. At 11 miles long, it is now the longest bridge in either Europe or Russia.
As Putin drove across the bridge, something weird happened. The satellite navigation systems in the control rooms of more than 24 ships anchored nearby suddenly started displaying false information about their location. Their GPS systems told their captains they were anchored more than 65 kilometres away — on land, at the Anapa Airport.
Russia's Southern Military District (SMD) is conducting a series of high-profile combat exercises in defiance of NATO's Operation Sea Shield 2019, the latest in an ongoing cycle of military escalation in the Black Sea region.
Russia's Southern Military District (SMD) is conducting a series of high-profile combat exercises in defiance of NATO's Operation Sea Shield 2019, the latest in an ongoing cycle of military escalation in the Black Sea region.
The initial exercise involved escort and interception drills with the Tu-160 heavy bomber and Su-27SM fighter: "Fighters of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Southern Military District escorted Tupolev-160 "white swan" strategic bombers and practiced interception of air targets," reported the SMD press office.
French President Emmanuel Macron will go on television on Monday evening to announce a series of policy changes based on the feedback received over two months of public consultations triggered by the "yellow vest" revolt https://t.co/m6po46HMMS
MiG-21 of Haftar's LNA shot down by GNA forces over Tripoli. Unclear if it's one of the Egypt-donated examples.
MANPADS used were two SA-7 with improvised rechargeable batteries, one hit, one did not. However there was a large amount of HMG fire too. pic.twitter.com/jiOc0MvmUL
— Cᴀʟɪʙʀᴇ OÊ™sᴄᴜʀᴀ (@CalibreObscura) April 14, 2019
A military officer is carried by the crowd as demonstrators chant slogans and carry their national flags, after Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir was detained by the armed forces, outside the Defense Ministry in Khartoum, April 11. REUTERS/Stringer
WNU Editor: The above picture is from this photo-gallery .... Photos of the week (Reuters).
It's a long and complex process, but it is doable.
A new video shows the intricate process involved in deactivating a nuclear-tipped missile. The video by the Outrider Foundation explains step-by-step how to break down a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, from disassembling and disposing of the rocket side to the nuclear weapon payload itself.
Introduced in the early 1970s, the Minuteman III forms the land-based component of the United States nuclear triad (nukes launches from the air and the sea for the other two legs). Four hundred Minuteman IIIs are based in hardened concrete silos across the Western states, manned by Air Force launch crews. The Minuteman III's exact payload is a secret but believed to be a single Mk. 21 reentry vehicles with a single 300- to 475-kiloton thermonuclear warhead.
Attorney General William Barr told congressional lawmakers on April 10 that he is investigating both the "genesis" and "the conduct of intelligence activities directed at the Trump campaign" during the 2016 elections.
Barr said he plans to "pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on," such as investigations conducted by Congress, and by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
Longtime critics of President Donald Trump were quick to dismiss Barr's comments. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) went as far as to claim that Barr was "perpetuating conspiracy theories," and CNN tried to write Barr's statements off by saying he didn't "provide evidence."
These are the same people who have lied to the American public for more than two years by claiming that Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 elections.
WNU Editor: The GCHQ connection is disturbing if true. My gut is also telling me that President Trump already knows the entire story on what happened. As to the big question .... what did President Obama know (and when), I am willing to bet it is answer that we will never know.
U.S. soldiers deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve prepare for helicopter exfiltration during an aerial response force exercise in Iraq, Dec. 31, 2018.
Great power competition has been the primary driver of the Pentagon over the past few years, but the Defense Department doesn't get to pick the next war.
It is more likely that the U.S. military will be drawn into another conflict against an insurgent or proxy force, than it will end up fighting naval battles in the South China Sea or halting Russian armor in the Fulda Gap.
"While you're going to have the larger force-on-force kind of engagements, at the same time, there's going to be action in 'gray zone' ... the space in between war and peace," said retired Col. Frank Sobchak, co-author of the long-delayed Iraq War Study and a former Army Special Forces officer.
VALENCIA, Venezuela (Reuters) - The latest power outage kicked off another tough week for factory owner Antonello Lorusso in the city of Valencia, once Venezuela's industrial hub.
For the past month, unprecedented nationwide blackouts have paralyzed the factory and the rest of the country, cutting off power, water and cell service to millions of Venezuelans.
Lorusso's packaging plant, Distribuidora Marina, had already struggled through years of hyperinflation, vanishing client orders and an exodus of employees.
Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker says that Americans would be "less safe" if illegal immigrants were released from locked detention centers into migrant-friendly American cities - a plan which President Trump has threatened to explore.
When asked by Face the Nation's Margaret Brennan whether Trump's threat was an empty one, or if he was simply trying to create friction, Booker replied: "You say 'friction' -- I say he's trying to pit Americans against each other and make us less safe."
WNU Editor: I cannot help but feel that rhetoric aside, these politicians really do not want these migrants in their community. And just like that .... President Trump got the entire Democrat party to admit that sanctuary cities are not safe.
Ronald Reagan and Marvel helped create the famous action figure, and Star Wars held it back.
If you're under 30, your most prominent associations with G.I. Joe might be Channing Tatum or the Rock. Joe, though, has been around since 1964.
At the time of his debut, Joe mirrored the culture of the nation—just like Barbie did in 1959. Joe was a role model to generations of children and a boon to Hasbro, the toy company who produced him. But he was also in a constant struggle.
Here's how G.I. Joe got started, and how the action figure (a term coined for Joe to avoid the word "doll") maintained its relevance for half a century.
* Volunteers from Australian Red Cross spent six weeks watching the last seven seasons of Game Of Thrones * They decided evil Ramsay Bolton committed the most number of war crimes with 17 - most notably for torture * But they also put Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow high for war crimes, such as for using child soldiers
With thousands of deadly White Walkers and even the good guys often murdering without cause, it may seem an impossible task to decide who is the worst war criminal in Game Of Thrones.
But volunteers from the Australian Red Cross spent six weeks watching the franchise and have compiled a list of the characters who could be prosecuted for war crimes - and Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow make a surprise appearance high up the list.
"The next major conflict may be won or lost in space," Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said at a symposium on space in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday. "We must confront reality. Weapons are currently deployed by our competitors that can attack our assets in space."
Shanahan, making the case for President Trump's Space Force proposal, said both Russia and China have already weaponized space with the intent to put American satellites at risk in the event of conflict.
Shanahan singled out China, which has emerged as a major space rival in recent years, for its development of weapons that can jam or destroy U.S. surveillance, communications, and navigation satellites.
The U.S.'s new W76-2 nuclear warhead is a smaller version of the much more powerful W76-1. They are launched on the same kind of missile. Petty Officer 1st Class Ronald Gutridge/DVIDS
At a Russian base on the Baltic Sea, construction is underway to house a new generation of nuclear-capable missiles.
Tentlike structures have popped up to shelter the mobile missile system, known as Iskander, which is capable of firing weapons with both conventional and nuclear warheads. Recent satellite imagery of the territory, known as Kaliningrad, also shows that old buildings on the base are being demolished.
"It really looks like the base is getting a pretty comprehensive overhaul," says Jeffrey Lewis, a scholar at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey who has been analyzing the satellite imagery taken by San Francisco-based company Planet. "Right now, it's just a big construction site."
WNU Editor: During the Cold War the view was that if tactical weapons were used, it would then be quickly followed by strategic nuclear weapons being used on a massive scale. This is why the current talk about the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons on a limited basis is dangerous. A limited nuclear war between two major nuclear powers cannot be maintained. It will quickly spiral out of control, and all within 24 hours.
The Syrian media reported the attack attributed to Israel near an army base controlled by Iranian forces. A number of buildings were destroyed and two soldiers were killed.
Israel attacked Syrian targets near Hama on Saturday, killing two Iranians and destroying several buildings, Syrian media and foreign accounts reported.
The outlets said the Israel Air Force carried out the assault from Lebanese airspace. The jets reportedly targeted an Iranian-controlled military base, which has been attacked several times. Social media posts recorded multiple missiles being fired at the base.
A major blow to the Trump administration's strategy to contain Iranian power
RIYADH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Egypt has pulled out of the U.S. effort to forge an "Arab NATO" with key Arab allies, according to four sources familiar with the decision, in a blow to the Trump administration's strategy to contain Iranian power.
Egypt conveyed its decision to the United States and other participants in the proposed Middle East Strategic Alliance, or MESA, ahead of a meeting held Sunday in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, one source said.
Cairo did not send a delegation to the meeting, the latest gathering held to advance the U.S.-led effort to bind Sunni Muslim Arab allies into a security, political and economic pact to counter Shi'ite Iran, the source said.
WNU Editor: This announcement is happening a day after Egyptian President Al Sisi met President Trump at the White House. I guess the U.S. was not willing to accommodate Egypt's conditions for joining such a group. As for Iran, this is a huge win .... Iran welcomes Egypt's reported withdrawal from 'Arab NATO' plan (Al Jazeera).
More News On Egypt Withdrawing From The U.S. Effort To Form An 'Arab Nato'
A sailor stands guard as an oil tanker makes its way toward Bahrain during a joint U.S.-U.K. anti-mine exercise in the Arabian Sea in September. (Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)
Congress is making clear Trump does not have the authority for military action.
When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration would designate a branch of Iran's military as a foreign terrorist organization Monday, he said, "The Trump administration is simply recognizing a basic reality."
But critics say they are concerned that it may also be part of an effort to bend reality enough to provide legal justification for armed conflict with Iran.
"I am troubled that the administration can't unequivocally say that you haven't been given power. I can tell you explicitly, you have not been given power or authority by Congress to have war with Iran," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Pompeo on Wednesday.
WNU Editor: I do not see the U.S. launching a unilateral strike against Iran. Sanctions are already having an impact, and a U.S. military strike will be used by Tehran to divert attention away from the economic hardships that most Iranians are now going through. I think the U.S. is more worried that Iran may do something provocative as sanctions continue (like blocking the Straits of Hormuz), and that the U.S. may have to respond to protect themselves and/or their allies. Hence the reports and concerns that the administration is now making sure that they have the legal authority to respond.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko arrived at Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv for a presidential election debate even though his challenger, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he will only agree to spar with Poroshenko at the stadium five days later.
Poroshenko is to face Zelenskiy in Ukraine's presidential runoff on April 21. Zelenskiy won the first round earlier this month by a large margin, and most, if not all, opinion polls put him well out in front of the incumbent ahead of the final vote.
Both candidates have agreed to hold a debate, but disagreed on the date.
Zelenskiy insists the debate take place on April 19 while Poroshenko wants it held on April 14.
WNU Editor: This debate was more of a rally for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. What I am surprised is that (according to media reports in Kiev), only a thousand Poroshenko supporters showed up. Challenger Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be having his rally at the same spot on April 19. I am willing to bet that far more people are going to show up for him over those who showed up today for President Poroshenko. As for my prediction on the outcome of Ukraine's Presidential runoff on April 21. It still holds .... Challenger Volodymyr Zelenskiy will win in a landslide.
Head of eastern parliament says LNA forces will press offensive on Libyan capital as Sisi meets with Haftar in Cairo.
Forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar are set to move in on Libya's capital, Tripoli, on Sunday, the head of the country's self-proclaimed eastern parliament said.
Haftar announced an attack against Tripoli on April 4 to capture the capital and the entire west of Libya from the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.
"We need to get rid of militias and terrorist groups," Aguila Saleh, head of the House of Representatives allied to Haftar, said on Saturday, using a reference eastern officials often make to describe forces allied to the Tripoli government.
The demonstrations have their own local characteristics, but there are several parallels.
A photograph has been floating around on social media recently featuring six Arab leaders at a summit meeting in 2010, all with red X marks on them. The first four, from left to right, were deposed during the Arab Spring in 2011: Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh, Libya's Muammar Qaddafi, and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.
The two on the far right—Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Sudan's Omar al-Bashir—lasted longer, but it appears their day, too, has come.
WNU Editor: Both countries neighbour Libya, a country that is still mired in civil war since the overthrow of Libyan dictator Qaddafi. If that does not make everyone aware on the need to refrain from violence and factionalism, the continuing carnage in Libya should do just that.
Polls open in Finland's general election in which the Social Democratic Party appears set to topple the centre-right government after four years of spending cuts, with the far-right predicted to make large gainshttps://t.co/NJpfKZTpQfpic.twitter.com/92GObNTufO
For the first time, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket launched with a customer's payload on board. It's also the first time Elon Musk's space company landed all three boosters after launch. https://t.co/6omTTdg1tRpic.twitter.com/WeZQwHQDv4
TIGER WOODS' sensational win at this year's Master's saw the legendary golfer break down in a flood of emotion as his children rushed to his side, but where was their mother, Woods' ex-wife Elin Nordegren?
Vladimir Putin is warning the West that the biggest beast in his fearsome military arsenal – known as Satan-2 – is close to deployment. Other deadly new-generation weapons – the Kinzhal hypersonic missile and the Peresvet laser system – have been put on "combat duty" already, he claimed.
The Russian leader is expected to travel to his country’s far eastern region, near the North Korean border, on his way to Beijing for meetings on China’s Belt and Road Initiative on Apr. 26 and 27, according to Yonhap.
“Chances are fairly high that a summit between Russia and North Korea could take place around that time,” a source told Yonhap.
Russian lawmakers cited by Reuters have previously indicated that there are plans in place for Kim to visit Russia this spring or summer.
Top officials from both countries have met in recent months, fueling speculation that the rendezvous may be taking place sooner rather than later. Kim Chang Son, who is Kim’s de-facto chief of staff, visited Mosow and Vladivostock in March, and Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev visited Pyongyang earlier this month, according to Yonhap.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has confirmed that a summit will take place.
Kim Jong Un has met with with several world leaders since taking office in 2011, including China’s Xi Jinping, South Korea’s Moon Jae-in, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Local media reports say a Canadian man has died after the cable of a zipline he was traveling on snapped in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand — the latest accident to befall the popular Flight of the Gibbon tourist attraction.
According to the Bangkok Post, the man was identified as 25-year-old Spencer Charles, who was vacationing in Thailand.
Local officials in Mae-on district told the Post that the accident happened late on Saturday morning when a cable reportedly disconnected shortly after Charles was released from the start of the zipline, causing him to fall more than 300 feet to the creek below.
In 2016 three Israeli tourists, including a seven-year-old boy, were injured after a mid-air collision at the same attraction sent them plunging. One of the tourists reportedly required intensive care and the attraction was suspended following the incident.
The year before, an American woman and a Chinese woman, crashed into each other while riding the zipline and were hospitalized.
According to a Post report of 2017, the husband of the Chinese woman claimed in a statement to a Thai court that there was no first aid kit available on the site at the time of the accident, while the American woman suffered brain trauma and lost vision in one eye as a result.
The Flight of the Gibbon bills itself as “a chance to encounter wild gibbons in their natural habitat” by ziplining through “the ancient Thai rainforest.” It says it has “the highest international safety standards” and “fully trained staff” it calls “Sky Rangers.”
It was founded in 2007 by New Zealander David Allardice, according to its website, and operates zipline attractions in Chiang Mai and in the Thai capital Bangkok.
The company has accepted full responsibility for the accident, said an official cited by the Post, and an investigation is underway.
(TOKYO) — The operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has begun removing fuel from a cooling pool at one of three reactors that melted down in the 2011 disaster, a milestone in the decades-long process to decommission the plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday that workers started removing the first of 566 used and unused fuel units stored in the pool at Unit 3. The fuel units in the pool located high up in reactor buildings are intact despite the disaster, but the pools are not enclosed so removing the units to safer ground is crucial to avoid disaster in case of another major quake.
TEPCO says the removal at Unit 3 would take two years, followed by the two other reactors.
The step comes ahead of the real challenge of removing melted fuel from inside the reactors, but details of how that might be done are still largely unknown. Removing the fuel in the cooling pools was delayed five years by mishaps, high radiation and radioactive debris from an explosion that occurred at the time of the reactor meltdown, underscoring the difficulties that remain.
Workers are remotely operating a crane built underneath a jelly roll-shaped roof cover to raise the fuel from a storage rack in the pool and place it into a protective cask. The whole process occurs underwater to prevent radiation leaks. Each cask will be filled with seven fuel units, then lifted from the pool and lowered to a truck that will transport the cask to a safer cooling pool elsewhere at the plant.
The work is carried out remotely from a control room about 500 meters away because of still-high radiation levels inside the reactor building that houses the pool.
Robotic probes have photographed and detected traces of damaged nuclear fuel in all three reactors that had meltdowns, but the exact location and other details of the melted fuel are largely unknown.
In February, a remote-controlled robot with tongs removed pebbles of nuclear debris from the Unit 2 reactor but was unable to remove larger chunks, indicating a robot would need to be developed that can break the chunks into smaller pieces. Toshiba Corp.’s energy systems unit, which developed the robot, said the findings were key to determining the proper equipment and technologies needed to remove the melted fuel, the most challenging part of the decommissioning expected to take decades.
TEPCO and government officials plan to determine methods for removing the melted fuel from each of the three damaged reactors later this year so they can begin the process in 2021.
(ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia) — Far from the din of Washington, Ivanka Trump toured businesses run by women in Ethiopia on Sunday while promoting a White House global economic program for women.
President Donald Trump’s daughter and senior adviser visited a coffee shop and textile company in Addis Ababa. It was her first stop in Africa on a four-day trip to Ethiopia and Ivory Coast on behalf of a White House project intended to boost 50 million women in developing countries by 2025.
Aiming to offer assistance and learn about the struggles of women in business, she took part in a traditional coffee ceremony, visited with weavers and announced new financial support for businesses.
“Investing in women is smart development policy and it’s smart business,” Trump said, sitting in Dumerso Coffee, a dimly lighted space with a woven ceiling, tile floor and colorful paintings. Alongside were women who work in the industry.
This is Ivanka Trump’s first visit to Africa since the president launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. It’s a program she hopes will outlast an administration better known for “America First” isolationism.
She has drawn praise for taking on this project and for making the trip. But thousands of miles from Washington, she is sure to be shadowed by her father’s efforts to cut international aid, as well as his past disparaging comments about Africa.
Ivanka Trump arrived in Ethiopia early Sunday, flying commercial. At the textile and craft manufacturer Muya, she was greeted by dancers and chatted with women seated at colorful looms. She said she was pleased to begin in the country with Africa’s second-highest population.
“Ethiopia’s success is Africa’s success,” she said.
Ivanka Trump was accompanied by Mark Green, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and David Bohigian, the acting president of the Overseas Private Investment Corp., which provides loans, loan guarantees and political risk insurance, funding projects that stretch across continents and industries.
At the coffee shop they announced a loan, issued by a local women-focused bank and backed by USAID, for a coffee business owned by women. At Muya, they announced additional OPIC financing.
Later in the trip, she plans to meet with Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. In Ivory Coast, she will visit a cocoa farm and participate in a meeting on economic opportunities for women in West Africa. That gathering is part of the World Bank’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, a program that Ivanka Trump pushed the bank to introduce.
She will be joined in Ivory Coast by a U.S. congressional delegation that will include U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of the White House.
Reaction to the visit reflected the contradictions of Ivanka Trump’s role.
Activist Marakie Tesfaye, who founded a group in Ethiopia for women, welcomed the attention. “I think she’s coming genuinely to empower women and it’s good that she’s coming because she will push forward our agenda,” she said.
Ethiopian journalist Sisay Woubshet was more skeptical, citing Donald Trump’s past comments. “I don’t think people will have a good feeling about his daughter’s visit this time around to promote her global initiative towards women.”
For Ivanka Trump, those challenges come with the territory.
She has spent two years promoting a family-friendly agenda in an administration focused on hard-line immigration tactics and protectionist trade policies.
To questions about international aid spending, she has said the administration strives to be generous in a “fiscally responsible way,” and has argued that investing in her project, which builds on previous White House efforts, is a way to promote security in developing countries.
The new global women’s initiative involves the U.S. State Department, the U.S. National Security Council and other American agencies. It aims to assist women in developing countries with job training, financial support and legal or regulatory reforms.
Money for the effort will come through USAID, which initially set up a $50 million fund using dollars already budgeted. The president’s 2020 budget proposal requests an additional $100 million for the initiative, which will also be supported by programs across the government as well as private investment.
Experts praised the government-wide approach, which will incorporate new and existing programs, though some stressed that it was early in the process. The investment comes as the president is proposing cuts to foreign aid, and as the administration is expanding a ban on U.S. aid to groups that promote or provide abortions.
“The part of the proposal which is around looking at laws — that is a good thing to focus on,” said Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, referencing the initiative’s support for changing laws, regulations and customs that create barriers preventing women from fully participating in the workforce.
But he said the abortion-related ban could have a negative economic impact. “I think one of the most powerful tools for women’s economic empowerment is the ability to choose when and how many children they have,” Kenny said.
Daniel Runde of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Ivanka Trump was strategically building on the work of past administrations. He called her an effective “goodwill ambassador” for the issues and a smart emissary to send to Africa.
Hillary Clinton, as U.S. secretary of state, “provided high-level attention to these issues,” said Runde, who previously worked for USAID and is an informal adviser to the administration on development policy. “Ivanka Trump is playing a similar role to the role that Secretary Clinton played.”
(CAIRO) — Organizers of the protests in Sudan that forced long-ruling President Omar al-Bashir from office are calling on the military to “immediately and unconditionally” hand power to a transitional civilian government that would rule for four years.
The political parties and movements behind the four months of protests said in a joint statement late Saturday that they will remain in the streets until their demands are met. They said the handover to civilian rule would be the “first step toward the fall of the regime.”
The army has appointed a military council that it says will rule for two years or less while elections are being organized. The council met with a delegation of protest organizers on Saturday.
Omer el-Digair, leader of the opposition Sudanese Congress Party, told the protests outside the military headquarters in Khartoum after Saturday’s meeting that the atmosphere was “positive.”
“We demanded restructuring the current security apparatus,” he said. “We do not need a security apparatus that detains people and shuts off newspapers.”
The military overthrew al-Bashir on Thursday, ending his nearly 30-year reign and placing him under house arrest in the capital, Khartoum. The protesters fear that the military, which is dominated by al-Bashir appointees, will cling to power or select one of its own to succeed him.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates meanwhile issued statements in support of Sudan’s transitional military council.
Saudi Arabia said it “stands by the Sudanese people” and called on all Sudanese “to give priority to the national interest” of their country. The UAE called on the Sudanese “to work for protecting legitimacy and ensuring a peaceful transfer of power.”
Saudi King Salman ordered an unspecified package of aid for Sudan that includes petroleum products, wheat and medicine.
In separate statements issued late Saturday, Saudi Arabia and the UAE specifically expressed support for Sudan’s transitional council formed by the military. The UAE said it welcomed the swearing-in of Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan on Friday as head of that council.
Burhan assumed leadership of the military council the day after al-Bashir’s ouster after protesters objected to its being led by Gen. Awad ibn Ouf, who was seen as being too close to al-Bashir.
In remarks broadcast on state TV, Burhan said Saturday the council has invited “all spectrums of Sudanese people for dialogue.”
He said he was lifting the nighttime curfew imposed Thursday, which was to last for a month, and declared the immediate release of all those detained and tried during the wave of unrest that began in December.
Al-Bashir imposed a state of emergency in February, banning unauthorized public gatherings and granting sweeping powers to the police in an effort to quash the protests. Dozens of people were killed in clashes between police and protesters, and hundreds were tried before emergency courts.
The protesters have modeled their movement on the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 that swept leaders from power in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. They have incorporated many of its slogans, and established a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum earlier this month.
Those uprisings left a mixed legacy, with only Tunisia emerging as a democracy. In Egypt, the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013 and authorities have since cracked down hard on dissent. Yemen slid into civil war, and Libya is on the verge of another major conflict as militias fight for control of the capital, Tripoli.
(CAIRO) — More than 120 people have been killed since a Libyan military commander launched an assault on the capital 10 days ago, igniting clashes with rival militias, the U.N. health agency said Sunday.
The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, launched a surprise offensive against Tripoli on April 5 and is battling rival militias loosely affiliated with a weak U.N.-backed government.
The World Health Organization said 121 people have been killed in the fighting and another 561 have been wounded. It did not specify whether they were fighters or civilians.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 13,500 people have been displaced, and that “significant numbers of civilians” remain stuck in areas where the fighting has escalated.
U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame said a school was bombed in the town of Ain Zara, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of Tripoli, without saying who was responsible. Both sides have carried our airstrikes in the town, and a spokesman for the Libyan National Army said it has stepped up airstrikes on its rivals in the past two days.
Hifter has vowed to unify the country after years of chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. He has led previous campaigns against Islamic militants and other rivals in eastern Libya, and has received support from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia and France.
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi met with Hifter in Cairo on Sunday, the presidency said, without providing further details.
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