(Worthy News) – A newly formed tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea could strengthen into a hurricane and move north into the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend, the National Hurricane Center has said.
Tropical Depression 16 is currently around 200 miles southeast of the Nicaragua and Honduras border.
It is forecast to strengthen as it moves over warmer waters and could bring tropical storm conditions and heavy rainfall to both countries into Thursday. [ Source: Sky (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – A newly formed tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea could strengthen into a hurricane and move north into the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend, the National Hurricane Center has said.
Tropical Depression 16 is currently around 200 miles southeast of the Nicaragua and Honduras border.
It is forecast to strengthen as it moves over warmer waters and could bring tropical storm conditions and heavy rainfall to both countries into Thursday. [ Source: Sky (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation on Wednesday that would overhaul aspects of the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program in an effort to install additional privacy protections.
The bill, which will be formally introduced as soon as Thursday, is likely to revive debate in Washington over the balance between security and privacy, amid concerns among some lawmakers in both parties that the U.S. government may be too eager to spy on its own citizens.
The legislation, written by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, is seen by civil liberties groups as the best chance in Congress to reform the law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, before its expiration on Dec. 31. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – Russia is quietly boosting economic support for North Korea to try to stymie any US-led push to oust Kim Jong Un as Moscow fears his fall would sap its regional clout and allow US troops to deploy on Russia’s eastern border.
Though Moscow wants to try to improve battered US-Russia relations in the increasingly slim hope of relief from Western sanctions over Ukraine, it remains strongly opposed to what it sees as Washington’s meddling in other countries’ affairs, according to Russian diplomats and analysts familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking.
Russia is already angry about a build-up of US-led NATO forces on its western borders in Europe and does not want any replication on its Asian flank, the sources added. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday vowed to take “decisive action” against leaders in Iraqi Kurdistan over last week’s historic independence referendum vote.
“As far as we are concerned, Iraq is one single country. We do not accept any geographical changes,” Mr. Rouhani said during a joint press conference with Mr. Erdogan in Tehran. The Turkish president was in Iran as part of a diplomatic visit focusing on the regional response to the Kurdish referendum vote in Iraq.
Mr. Erdogan called the Sept. 25 vote, which could pave the way for members of the Kurdish Regional Government to secede from Iraq over the next two years, “an illegitimate referendum” threatening regional stability in the Middle East. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – U.S. officials said three U.S. Army special operations commandos were killed Wednesday and two others were wounded when they came under fire in southwest Niger.
The officials said the two wounded were taken to Niamey, the capital, and are in stable condition. The officials were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the commandos, who were Green Berets, were likely attacked by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb militants. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – Facebook estimates 10 million Americans saw the advertisements that Russian groups purchased to try to influence the presidential election last year, but analysts said that undersells the reach of the ads, which may have been seen by as many as 70 million.
That kind of reach is stunning given the relatively modest budget of $100,000 spent by Russian trolls linked to the ads. The Russian-linked groups spent less than $3 on about half of the ads and never spent more than $1,000 on a single ad, Facebook said.
“The impact is vasty disproportionate to the amount spent,” said Benjamin G. Edelman, who teaches the economics of online markets at Harvard Business School. “That is what makes this such a brilliant, if not terrible, tactic.” [ Source (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – People who repeatedly view terrorist content online could face up to 15 years behind bars in a move designed to tighten the laws tackling radicalisation the home secretary, Amber Rudd, is to announce on Tuesday.
A new maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment will also apply to terrorists who publish information about members of the armed forces, police and intelligence services for the purposes of preparing acts of terrorism.
“I want to make sure those who view despicable terrorist content online, including jihadi websites, far-right propaganda and bomb-making instructions, face the full force of the law,” said Rudd. “There is currently a gap in the law around material [that] is viewed or streamed from the internet without being permanently downloaded. [ Source: UK Guardian (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – The Trump administration has come under fire for joining with Iraq and Saudia Arabia on voting against a UN resolution condemning the death penalty for gay sex.
Human rights advocates and LGBT activists have condemned the US government as it became one of just 13 countries, including China, to refuse to condemn the “imposition of the death penalty as a sanction for specific forms of conduct, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations”.
That resolution passed by a vote of 27 in favor, 13 voted against it and 7 abstentions. [ Source: UK Telegraph (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – Russia-financed Facebook ads turned over to congressional panels show that Democratic strongholds like California, New York and Maryland were targeted along with the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, according to a Republican official on the House Intelligence Committee.
The broad range of issues addressed in the ads, including the Black Lives Matter movement, is prompting some members of the House and Senate intelligence panels to conclude that Russia was aiming more to sow distrust among Americans than to help a particular candidate.
“We have not come to any determination on any collusion or Russia’s preferences” in the outcome of the U.S. election, Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. The theme, he added, was “to create chaos at every level.” [ Source: Bloomberg (Read More…) ]