The Air Force shows off its new microwave pulse weapon

The Air Force has reportedly picked Lockheed Martin's long-range Joint Air-to-Surface Missile to carry a new "superweapon' - a pulse-generated beam weapon capable of destroying electronics and computers from miles away.

Major Gen. Thomas Masiello of the the Air Force Research Laboratory says the technology, known as CHAMP — for Counter-electronics High-powered microwave Advanced Missile Project — can destroy electronic equipment with bursts of high-power microwave energy, Flight Global reports.

The technology will be "miniaturized" to fit the Lockheed missile, Flight Global reports.

This revolutionary development in weaponry, right out of a Star Trek episode, could radically change warfare, experts say, as the new revelations may spark a new arms race for such technology.

"That's an operational system already in our tactical air force, and that is really what will make us more operationally relevant," Masiello said at a science and technology exposition at the Pentagon earlier this month, Flight Global reports.

"Both the major commands and the combatant commands are very interested in that weapon system. It's a non-kinetic effect."

"We're not quite up to the place where the Star Trek and Star Wars movies are, but this is definitely an advancement in technology to be able to give us an opportunity to something we couldn't do before," said lead test engineer Peter Finlay.

According to Foxtrot Alpha, the super-high-tech system will be a "first day of war" standoff weapon.

"The capability is real ... and the technology can be available today," Masiello says, according to Foxtrot Alpha.

The Daily Mail reports that in 2012 Boeing successfully tested the weapon on a one-hour flight during which it knocked out the computers of an entire military compound. The test was over the Utah Test and Training Range, the newspaper reports.

The test was so successful even the camera recording it was disabled, the newspaper reports.

Keith Coleman, Champ program manager for Boeing's prototype arm Phantom Works, claims the technology marked "a new era in modern warfare."

"In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy's electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive," he said during the initial test, the Daily Mail reports.

But there are also fears the project could trigger a strong reaction from U.S. competitors like China and Russia.

"Should the [United States] be known to have developed such a technology to the production stage, it would drive others to try to act similarly," according to Trevor Taylor of the Royal United Services Institute, the Daily Mail reports.

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'Bigger and badder': US volunteers head to fight Islamic State

© RT

    

A group of US volunteers is headed to the Philippines on a contract to fight groups allied with the Islamic State. One counterinsurgency specialist wonders if their enthusiasm will make up for the lack of logistics, weapons and training.

Those in the group have day jobs and regular lives but feel the need to help people endangered by militants who have pledged loyalty to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), a group in southern Florida told Maria Finoshina.

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They are led by Suleiman Yousef, a professional martial artist and firearms instructor who said he once trained with the mercenary outfit Blackwater. A Muslim himself, Yousef is no stranger to fighting Islamic militants. A tattoo on his neck proclaims, "Cut here."

"They're hurting kids, they're hurting innocent people," he says. "And they're saying it's in the name of Islam. It doesn't work that way."

© RT
Suleiman Yousef with RT's Maria Finoshina.

    

Yousef and his teammates did not wish to reveal who hired them, but said they were paid "overhead." Asked about their destination, he explains that the Philippines may not be in the headlines but that people there still had a problem with IS-affiliated fighters.

"There's always a bigger and badder person. Right now we're going to be that bigger and badder person," he says. "We need to do what we can with what we know, and do it for the greater good."

Though the Florida group has access to customized infantry weapons, US Marine Corps veteran-turned-military-scholar Jake Diliberto told it was a bad idea for people to go off to fight the IS on their own. Americans who seek to fight terrorists overseas would be better off enlisting in the military, he said, or joining mercenary and contractor outfits the likes of Blackwater.

"Those that choose to go independently actually have a tendency to create more havoc and more problems in the conflict zone than an organized military or defensive contracting company," said Diliberto, a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Volunteers are driven partly by empathy for the victims shown on the TV screens and partly by fear and anxiety that the violence taking place overseas could come home to America, Diliberto explained. "There is a need by some sort of more zealous, defensive Americans to protect their homeland against this kind of perceived threat," he said.

"For the most part, ISIS isn't interested in attacking the US," Diliberto added. "They are interested in Raqqa, they are interested in northern Iraq. They are not interested in coming to New York City or Topeka, Kansas."

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3-yr-old among 3 injured after sloth bear attack in India

Sloth bear

    

A sloth bear mauled three people in separate attacks near village Morwai under Saoli range on Thursday morning. Two of them, including a three-year-old boy, sustained critical injuries in the attack and have been admitted to civil hospital here. Forest department has launched intensive search operation to locate the violent bear and have issued warning in the villages around.

As per reports, Mul and Saoli tehsil witnessed thunderstorm on Wednesday night. Patruji Ghote had taken his three-year-old son Swaraj to collect mangoes fallen in their farm after the thunderstorm in the morning. While Ghote was collecting mangoes, the bear attacked his son Swaraj who was eating mango under the tree some distance away. The beast ripped his throat with its sharp nails before his father could rescue him from its clutches.

"The bear attacked two more persons in separate farms while heading towards the forest. Mahadev Jharkar, who was attacked after Swaraj in nearby farm, sustained critical injuries. The bear also attacked other farmer Chandu Jharkar in his farm some distance away, but he escaped with minor scratches," said RFO, Saoli range, MP Rathod.

A team of foresters, led by RFO Rathod, immediately rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to Mul subdistrict hospital. Critically injured Swaraj and Jharkar were shifted to Chandrapur civil hospital as their condition deteriorated. Sources claimed that Swaraj was given seven stitches on his throat to patch his wound. Jharkar, who had suffered multiple injuries, required 120 stitches to sew all his wounds.

RFO Rathod said they have launched search operation to locate the problem bear. He suspected that the bear had come to the farm lured by the fallen mangoes. Forest officers have warned the villagers against venturing alone in their farms till the whereabouts of violent bear is located.

Kin of the injured were given an ex-gratia of Rs2000 each, while forest department would bear the entire cost of their treatment. CCF, Chandrapur, Sanjay Thakre and DFO, Chandrapur forest division, SS Patil visited the spot and took stock of the situation.

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Vietnam signs free trade deal with Russia-led EEU economic block

© RIA Novosti/Ekaterina Shtukina
May 29, 2015. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (right) during a meeting with Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung on the sidelines of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council summit in Burabay, Kazakhstan.

    

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Vietnam have signed a free trade zone agreement. It became the first international document on creating a free trade zone between the EEU and a third party.

The prime ministers of Russia and Vietnam Dmitry Medvedev and Nguyen Tan Dunghave also signed an agreement for Vietnam to provide Russian investors and service distributors with the most favorable treatment.

The EEU will sign free trade zone agreements with other countries, Medvedev said after signing the agreement with Vietnam.

"Around 40 states have opted for holding talks on concluding this kind of agreements on a free trade zone with EEU, and of course we will be thinking this through as carefully as possible, so that those agreements are useful to our countries," Medvedev said.

The free trade zone will save exporters from the EEU about $40-60 million in the first year of its operations, according to the documents prepared for the signing ceremony, TASS reports.

"At the end of transitional periods, the positive effects from lifting customs duties may reach around $55 million-$60 million a year," the documents added.

Vietnamese companies, in turn, can expect savings of up to $5 million-$10 million a year.

This was the first such agreement with foreign countries for all EEU members, said Andrei Slepnev, minister of trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) in an interview with reporters.

"This shows that we are in a trend of world trade processes. If all today's world initiatives are implemented, in five or six years up to 60 percent, or, as some experts believe, even up to 80 percent of all world trade will be carried out in a free trade regime compared to 25 percent nowadays," he said.

Thus, the WTO becomes a necessary but still insufficient condition, as most world trade will go through free trade zones, he said.

"It's a totally new challenge. We had been in the process of joining the WTO for 18 years, but now I understand that our export ambitions can only be realized if we will fit the concept of a new international trade model," Slepnev added.

A free trade agreement with Vietnam will enter into force 60 days after it's ratified in accordance with national legislation in all EEU countries and in Vietnam. Slepnev said he hoped all the countries would ratify the agreement during the autumn session.

The deal to establish the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) was signed by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014 in Astana. The EEU, which came into effect on January 1, 2015, is designed to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce on its territory. The EEU currently comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. Ratification procedures are currently under way for Kyrgyzstan to join the trade bloc.

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Volcanic activity intensifies at Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra

© @endrolewa / twitter
Pyroclastic flow at Sinabung yesterday at 18:20

    

Monitoring officials have warned residents to remain alert as Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra continues with intense volcanic activity. A local chief reported that ongoing eruptions had taken a mental toll on residents, with two people being sent to mental institutions.

The volcano erupted twice early on Wednesday, at 1:21 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., and sent hot clouds southward.

The Sinabung observation station recorded at least 87 tectonic quakes and lava flow from 12 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Observation station staff member Deri Alhidayat said the volcanic intensity over the past few days had shown a significant increase, evident from the tectonic quakes occurring thus far.

"Tectonic shock waves have been detected almost every day. As many as 20 tectonic and volcanic quakes have taken place today alone," said Deri on Wednesday.

He added the eruptions were expected to continue for a long time. He urged residents living around the mountain to raise their awareness until the government issued an official announcement on the volcano's status.

Residents in Karo regency, especially those living around the volcano, are said to be depressed as the volcano has continued to erupt for almost five years with no sign of stopping.

Pelin Sembiring, the chief of Guru Kinayan village, which is also affected by the eruption, said many residents had suffered from depression from the impacts of the eruptions.

Two of his residents had to be treated at the Simalingkar mental hospital in Medan, North Sumatra, for severe depression as all their belongings had been destroyed and their farms, which they relied upon as a source of income, had been damaged by volcanic ash and pyroclastic flows.

"Many residents are mentally depressed because they couldn't stand facing the impacts of the eruption disaster which prevails up until now," said Pelin.

Pelin also complained about a lack of government attention for victims, who have to fend for themselves to survive.

© Leo Kennedy Adam / twitter
Small pyroclastic flow at Sinabung 21 May

    

"It has already been nine months since we, from seven relocated villages, have not received living allowances," said Pelin, adding the last time they had received living allowances was in August 2014. Each of the victims was supposed to receive Rp 6,000 (50 US cents) in addition to 0.4 kilograms of rice daily.

North Sumatra provincial council deputy speaker Ruben Tarigan, a Karo community figure, expressed concern over the lack of attention from the government.

"This year, the North Sumatra provincial administration only earmarked Rp 1.5 billion to deal with eruption victims," said Ruben.

Karo Regent Terkelin Brahmana said the budget for disaster mitigation this year was smaller compared to last year.

"Last year, the Karo regency administration allocated Rp 12 billion to deal with eruption victims, but the amount dropped to Rp 3 billion this year," said Terkelin.

Terkelin acknowledged that the budget for eruption victims was smaller this year, but would increase next year.

Terkelin said he and Vice Governor Erry Nuradi met with National Disaster Mitigation Agency officials a few days ago in Jakarta and discussed victim handling. In the meeting, Terkelin said, he submitted a budget of Rp 6.9 trillion to the central government for the overall management of the Mt. Sinabung eruption disaster.

Since an eruption in September 2013, Mt. Sinabung has never entirely stopped its activity. Thousands of residents moved away at that time, only returning home last month after the volcano showed decreased activity. The eruptions have killed at least 17 people and destroyed thousands of houses and hectares of farmland.

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South Front Crisis News 28-29 May 2015: Iraqis kill 20 ISIL fighters, ISIL kills 4 ISIL commanders, Al Qaeda orders fighters not to attack West

    

Iraqi army forces backed by fighters from the Popular Mobilization units have engaged Islamic State militants in the country's western province of Anbar, killing more than three dozen of them in the process. A provincial security sources report 37 ISIS militants were killed as Iraqi forces struck their positions in the district of al-Harariyat as well as the city of Fallujah, located roughly 69 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad. Earlier, On April 11, Islamic State executed four of its own senior commanders in Iraq's northern province of Salahuddin on the grounds that they had fled clashes with Iraqi government forces.

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The leader of al-Nusra Front — the al Qaeda-affiliate group in Syria — insisted on Wednesday that he is under orders from the organization's central leadership not to attack Western interests in Syria, but rather focus on toppling President Bashar al-Assad. "The orders from Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri are we should not attack the West from Syria" Abu Mohammad al-Golani said, speaking in a television interview with the Al Jazeera Arabic-language network. Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor by training, is the current leader of al Qaeda therefore one of the most powerful terroristic organizations in the world bluntly stated its allegiance to the United States in the region. Wow!

The United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned China Wednesday to stop its buildup of man-made islands in the South China Sea and vowed that the U.S. military would continue to patrol international waters and airspace in the region. China asserts sovereignty over 80 percent of the sea and has been staking its claims by building large artificial islands. The United States and its Asian allies have vigorously opposed China's territorial moves. Apparently, with no one backing down, the impasse has raised the specter of a localized military conflict. On the one hand, US is trying to establish own power in the South China Sea region. On the other hand US rejects the idea of any nation claiming a sphere of influence, Vice President Joe Biden told a Washington think tank the Brookings Institution on Wednesday. Thus, the Biden denied rights on independent policy-making of any state if it state wasn't the United States.

The rise in the number of refugees in the Ukrainian conflict is resulting in one of the world's "worst humanitarian crisis" today, the UN has confirmed. The latest statistics from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees show that some 857,000 Ukrainians have sought asylum in neighboring countries, mainly Russia. That is an increase of about 23,000 people in the last two weeks. Meanwhile, Kiev's military forces are continuing to shell residential area of Donbass. Ukrainian forces violated ceasefire with artillery, battle-tanks and mortars during last 24 hours only according to the official information of Defence Ministry of Lugansk People's Republic.

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Shades of 2008: Stocks plunging just as they did before the last financial crisis

    

Have you heard of the saying "sell in May and go away"? Traditionally, the period from May through October has been a time of weakness for stocks. In fact, on average stocks hit their lowest point of the year on October 27th. And most people don't remember this, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average actually began plunging right at this time of the year just prior to the financial crisis of 2008. Most people do remember the huge stock crash that happened in the fall of that year, but the market actually started to slide in May. Throughout the first four and a half months of 2008, stocks moved up and down in a fairly narrow range, and the Dow closed at a short-term peak of 13,028.16 on May 19th. From there it was all downhill for the rest of the year. So will a similar thing happen in 2015 as we approach the next great financial crisis? Since March 20th, the Dow Jones Transportation Average has already fallen by almost 800 points. So will the Dow Jones Industrial Average soon follow? Well, only time will tell, but the Dow was down 190 points on Tuesday. Signs of trouble are popping up all over the place, and the "smart money" is getting out while the getting is good.

The chart that I have posted below shows how the Dow Jones Industrial Average performed during 2008. As you can see, stocks began plummeting long before the financial crisis in the fall. From May 19th through early July, the Dow fell by about 2,000 points. Should we expect to see a similar pattern this summer?...

    

Like I stated earlier in this article, red flags and warning signs are starting to pop up all over the place. The following are just a few of the trouble signs that we have seen this week...

-On Tuesday, the VIX (a closely watched measure of market volatility) jumped by the highest percentage that we have seen so far in 2015. As I have explained so often before, markets tend to go up in calm markets and they tend to go down in volatile markets. So the fact that volatility is on the rise is not a good sign.

-The U.S. dollar index is surging again. In fact, we just witnessed the largest seven day rise in the U.S. dollar index since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. This is another indication that big trouble is ahead. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled "Guess What Happened The Last Time The U.S. Dollar Skyrocketed In Value Like This?..."

-Thanks to the ongoing Greek crisis, the euro is falling again. It just hit a fresh one-month low, and if I am right it is going to go quite a bit lower as the European financial crisis intensifies.

-In the U.S., orders for durable goods have fallen year over year for four months in a row. When orders for durable goods start going negative for a few months, it is usually a signal that we are entering a recession.

-After rebounding a little bit, the price of crude oil is falling again. It just hit a new one-month low, and the number of oil rigs in operation has declined for 24 weeks in a row. Once again, this is highly reminiscent of what happened back in 2008.

-Unfortunately, it isn't just oil that is declining. A whole host of other commodity prices are going down right now as well. This happened just prior to the financial crisis of 2008, and it is a sign that we are heading into a deflationary economic slowdown.

The reason why I talk so much about what happened the last time around is that we should be able to learn from it.

Looking back, there were so many warning signs leading up to the financial crisis of 2008 but most people totally missed them. Now, so many of those exact same signs are appearing once again, but they are being ignored.

Only this time the global financial system is in far worse shape than it was back in 2008. Debt levels all over the planet have absolutely exploded over the past seven years, and the debt to GDP ratio for the entire world is now up to a mind blowing 286 percent. In the United States, our national debt has approximately doubled since just prior to the last recession, and at this point it is mathematically impossible to pay it off. We are in the midst of the greatest stock market bubble of all time, the greatest bond bubble of all time (76 trillion dollars) and the greatest derivatives bubble of all time. Anyone that cannot see the trouble that is approaching is willingly blind.

In the western world, we have extremely short attention spans and we suffer deeply from something called "normalcy bias." The following is how "normalcy bias" is defined by Wikipedia...

The normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations.

The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.

That is such a perfect description of what is happening in the western world today. But just because things have always been a certain way in our past does not mean that they will continue to be that way in the future. A great economic storm is rapidly approaching, and the signs of the times are all around us.

Hopefully more people will start listening to the warnings, because we have almost run out of time to prepare.

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