Síntesis informativa - 30 de abril 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
ISIS’ Mysterious Leader Is Not Dead, New Video Shows
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Five years ago, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi mounted the pulpit of a mosque in Iraq to declare himself the head of a rapidly expanding terrorist organization.
Since then, his group, the Islamic State, has transfixed the world with its apocalyptic violence while he has remained a mystery. Spottings were rare. Rumors swirled that he was wounded or dead. The United States put $25 million on his head and still failed to find him.
On Monday, he reappeared, leaning on a cushion with an assault rifle at his side, in a video seeking to rally his followers after the loss of the group’s territory in Iraq and Syria and its execution of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in years, on Easter in Sri Lanka.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/world/middleeast/isis-baghdadi-video.html
MS-13 Gang Put Fake Body in Car, Then Detonated a Bomb When Police Came
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — A street gang in El Salvador put a fake body in an abandoned car to lure police into a car-bomb attack, wounding two officers Monday, in the latest in a round of killings of police and soldiers in the country.
The authorities said suspected gang members wrapped a mannequin in blankets inside a car and then detonated explosives in the vehicle when police arrived to investigate what they thought was a body at a soccer field on the outskirts of San Salvador, the capital.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/world/americas/el-salvador-ms-13-gang.html
U.N. Issues Urgent Warning on the Growing Peril of Drug-Resistant Infections
With more and more common medications losing their ability to fight dangerous infections, and few new drugs in the pipeline, the world is facing an imminent crisis that could lead to millions of deaths, a surge in global poverty and an even wider gap between rich and poor countries, the United Nations warned in a report on Monday.
Drug-resistant infections already claim 700,000 lives a year, including 230,000 deaths from drug-resistant tuberculosis, the report said. The rampant overuse of antibiotics and antifungal medicines in humans, livestock and agriculture is accelerating a crisis that is poorly understood by the public and largely ignored by world leaders. Without concerted action, a United Nations panel said, resistant infections could kill 10 million people annually by 2050 and trigger an economic slowdown to rival the global financial crisis of 2008.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/health/un-drug-resistance-antibiotics.html
Trump Pushes to Designate Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Group
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is pushing to issue an order that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, bringing the weight of American sanctions against a storied and influential Islamist political movement with millions of members across the Middle East, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The White House directed national security and diplomatic officials to find a way to place sanctions on the group after a White House visit on April 9 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, for whom the Brotherhood represents a source of political opposition. In a private meeting without reporters and photographers, Mr. el-Sisi urged Mr. Trump to take that step and join Egypt in branding the movement a terrorist organization.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/us/politics/trump-muslim-brotherhood.html
THE GUARDIAN
Isis leader Baghdadi appears in video for first time in five years
The appearance is only Baghdadi’s second on video, and comes weeks after the remnants of Isis were ousted from their last organised stronghold in the eastern Syrian desert. Looking heavier than when he proclaimed the existence of the now-collapsed caliphate in mid-2014, Baghdadi blames its demise on the “savagery” of Christians.
After the video emerged, the US said it would track down and defeat surviving Isis leaders. The US-led coalition will fight across the world to “ensure an enduring defeat of these terrorists and that any leaders who remain are delivered the justice that they deserve”, a state department spokesman said.
Russia’s great firewall: is it meant to keep information in – or out?
Earlier this year, US officials briefed reporters on an extraordinary operation: they claimed to have launched an offensive cyber-attack against Russia to protect the integrity of the country’s midterm elections.
Government hackers from US Cyber Command had pre-emptively cut off the internet to a St Petersburg office building that houses the Internet Research Agency, better known as Russia’s troll factory, to prevent the spread of misinformation on election day in November 2018, US newspapers reported.
News of the attack, which was never confirmed by Russian officials, did not cause much surprise in Moscow. For years, global connectivity has been portrayed as a dangerous vulnerability in the escalating conflict between Russia and the west.
Earlier this month, Russian lawmakers followed up on Putin’s recommendations, passing a bill codifying the country’s most ambitious attempt yet to wrangle control over Russia’s segment of the internet and its connection to the rest of the world.
The “sovereign internet” bill, which was tabled by lawmakers close to the country’s FSB security service, would require telecoms operators to closely monitor all internet traffic using filtering technology and also create the framework for an “on/off” switch that could allow Russia to cut itself off from the global internet in case of attack.
RUSSIA TODAY
Venezuela’s Maduro says military commanders have ‘total loyalty’ amid coup attempt
All military commanders of Venezuela are loyal to the government, President Nicolas Maduro assured amid an attempted military coup, declared by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Maduro, who is considered an ‘usurper’ by his challenger, said that he had spoken to all senior military officers of the country’s armed forces, who assured him of their “total loyalty to the constitution and to the homeland.” He called on his supporters to mobilize in the face of the latest attempt by Guaido to seize power in Caracas.
Earlier on Tuesday, Guaido posted a video filmed near an air base in Caracas, calling for decisive action against the Maduro government. Standing behind him were several people in military uniforms – apparently meant to be a living testament to the support of the army. The opposition leader has been struggling to win over the troops for months since declaring himself ‘interim president’ in January.
https://www.rt.com/news/457913-venezuelas-maduro-military-loyal/
Bolton calls on Venezuelan military to ‘protect the constitution’ by backing Guaido coup attempt
US National Security Advisor John Bolton called on Venezuela’s military to side with Washington protégé Juan Guaido, after the opposition leader declared a military coup in Caracas on Tuesday.
Bolton, one of the leading US figures in the operation to topple the Venezuelan government, called on Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino to side with Guaido, claiming this would protect Venezuela’s constitution.
https://www.rt.com/news/457909-bolton-tweets-venezuela-coup/
F-35 project is bound to COLLAPSE without Turkey – Erdogan
The F-35 fighter jet project is doomed to fail if Washington keeps blocking the delivery of the promised aircraft to Turkey over its refusal to back out of an arms deal with Russia, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Speaking at a defense expo in Istanbul on Tuesday, Erdogan blasted Washington for applying “injustice and pressure”against its ally Turkey over the beleaguered F-35 deal. The US blocked the delivery of the jets to Ankara, saying that the planes will not be shipped unless the country scraps its contract to buy the S-400 air defense missile systems from Russia. The US politicians argued that getting arms from Moscow undermines the security of NATO.
https://www.rt.com/news/457890-erdogan-f35-project-comments/
B-2 bomber cockpit shown FROM INSIDE for first time in air refueling VIDEO
The highly secretive US strategic bomber, the B-2 Spirit, has become a bit less of a mystery after the US military allowed footage to be recorded from inside its cabin for a new multimedia project.
The video was shot by radio host and film producer Jeff Bolton for an upcoming documentary. It shows an in-air refueling of a B-2 stealth bomber as viewed both from outside and inside the aircraft’s second pilot seat.
The B-2 Spirit long-range bomber, distinctive for its unusual ‘flying wing’ hull, has been operational since 1997. A total of 21 aircraft were produced and one was lost in an accident in 2009.
https://www.rt.com/news/457884-b2-bomber-cockpit-video/
‘Too much money invested in war’: US defense industry drives global military spending spree
Global military expenditures reached their peak in 2018, and the driving force behind this increase is the growing appetite of the US military-industrial complex rather than real threats, analysts say.
The world spent $1.8 trillion on its military in 2018, the latest report by the acclaimed Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The US and its NATO allies – the self-proclaimed defenders of freedom and democracy – account for more than half of this whopping amount. Washington’s other close friend Saudi Arabia is the third largest military spender, coming ahead of India.
Meanwhile, the US and its allies grossly outspend all the nations they perceive as alleged threats. The US expenditures alone accounted for 36 percent of global defense spending while exceeding the expenditures of the next eight largest-spending countries combined in 2018. NATO’s total military spending accounted for 53 percent of the global defense expenditures.
https://www.rt.com/news/457868-us-global-military-spending-increase/
