This is why Trump has been too unfriendly to Huawei company

The Trump administration has long maintained that Chinese tech giant Huawei poses a threat to the national security of its allies and thus should not be granted access to their 5G networks. These warnings, however, have not stopped Great Britain from allowing Huawei to participate in building its next-generation infrastructure across the country.
US officials claim that Huawei has a secret capability to extract data from mobile networks globally through “back door” mechanisms that have been used for more than ten years, The Wall Street Journal first revealed. According to their report, this information remained highly classified until Washington decided to share the intelligence with its Western allies, including the UK and Germany, last year.
Some officials, including US National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien, maintain the US has evidence and can prove to its allies that Huawei can secretly retrieve “sensitive and personal” information in wireless 5G networks if granted access to the building of the necessary infrastructure.
“This is alarming because Chinese companies, by law, must comply with directives of the Chinese Communist Party”, O’Brien said on Tuesday, as quoted by The New York Times. “Strategically, we see a company that can use its position in the market to advance the aims of the Chinese Communist Party”.
According to US officials, the Chinese company has long had access to the “back doors” initially designed for use by law enforcement officials, but has been able to use them even without the knowledge or permission of national operators in countries where it has built its systems. Huawei officials have denied all these allegations.
The news comes after several American officials, including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and a number of other high-ranking representatives of the Trump administration travelled to London throughout January to warn its transatlantic partner about the dangers Huawei could pose to UK national security if allowed to take part in the building of its 5G infrastructure.
Despite the warnings, Boris Johnson’s government still
allowed the Chinese company into Britain’s 5G networks, although in a limited capacity. Germany is also currently deciding on whether to work with the world’s leading 5G provider and according to reports, Berlin is inclined to grant Huawei access to its next-generation networks, despite Washington’s concerns.
So far, the Trump administration has maintained that it did not need to present any evidence about Huawei posing a threat to its allies and has just repeatedly argued that Huawei was required by Chinese law to provide Beijing with access to all of its data and information upon request. In May 2019, Washington blacklisted Huawei and 68 of its subsidiaries from working with American companies and called upon its allies to follow suit.
Both Beijing and Huawei officials have denied the accusations that the company has ever spied or intends to spy on foreign corporations and countries on behalf of the Chinese government.

What with the much thought of UK cabinet reshaffle

The structural reshuffle has been on everyone’s lips since Johnson’s overwhelming win in December, but the scale of it has been played down following speculation of a much wider Cabinet transformation after the general election.
Boris Johnson is expected to add the finishing touches to his updated Cabinet on Thursday, with sources cited by The Telegraph insisting it will be no “revolution” in terms of scale. The reshuffle will reportedly see a number of Remainers promoted at Leavers’ expense, like Geoffrey Cox, Andrea Leadsom, and Theresa Villiers.
For instance, Remain-supporting Chloe Smith has reportedly been tipped for a wider role as Minister for the Union at the Cabinet Office, while Oliver Dowden is expected to run the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport department.
Michael Gove, the Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster, is believed, per the British edition, to be in general control of post-Brexit trade talks with the EU at a reshuffled Cabinet Office.
Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers, is also expected to be sacked, with Home Secretary Priti Patel purportedly remaining the only member of the Cabinet who consistently voted against Theresa May's Brexit deal.
Devoted Brexiteers including Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, and Commons’ Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, all backed her deal at the so-called third Meaningful Vote stage last March."The labels of 'Leave' and 'Remain' were binned as soon as we got Brexit done - no one mentions them now", one source was cited by The Telegraph as saying.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Ms Leadsom, the Business Secretary, are both tipped to quit their roles, Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, has strengthened her position after she was repeatedly mentioned and quoted by Johnson in his trade speech last week.
The Cabinet reshuffle has been rumoured ever since Johnson won by a landslide in the 12 December general vote.
As the UK braces for stiff trade talks during its 11-month transition period, Michael Gove instructed businesses to prepare for “inevitable” border checks.
He insisted there is no way they can be avoided, as the UK is facing a “significant change", and stressed the country has enough time to handle it.

The new capability of Emotet trojan highlights the fact that one should always secure their device with a strong password.

The new capability of Emotet trojan highlights the fact that one should always secure their device with a strong password.
Initially identified in 2014, Emotet is a banking trojan that has been used in various malicious campaigns in the past for gaining financial data. An example is of 2017 when it infected Mcafee’s ClickProtect service to trick users by making them download a legitimate-looking Word document which in actuality contained the malware.
Now, it is back albeit with a new way to spread its infection. Featuring a new WiFi module; the trojan now focuses on compromising machines on the same WiFi network. Simply put: Emotet trojan can now spread through nearby wireless networks if the networks use insecure passwords.
To carry the entire operation out, it firstly uses wlanAPI.dll
calls to find wireless networks surrounding it excluding the current computer system it has infected.
Commenting on the reason wlanAPI.dll calls are used, researchers at BinaryDefence state that,
Once it finds such a network, it would connect to it automatically and by using brute-force techniques if it is password protected. Therefore, it searches for Windows-based devices and tries to find its way into user accounts through brute-forcing once again. If successful, it proceeds by adding malicious files for different purposes.
The first one is named “service.exe” which installs an additional service by the name of “Windows Defender System Service.” This helps the attacker maintain access to the system and in a very unsuspicious way indeed in the eyes of a layman.
An interesting thing here is that “although the connection to the server uses port 443, which is normally used for Transport Layer Security (TLS) encrypted communications, the connection is unencrypted HTTP.”

The new capability of Emotet trojan highlights the fact that one should always secure their device with a strong password.
Initially identified in 2014, Emotet is a banking trojan that has been used in various malicious campaigns in the past for gaining financial data. An example is of 2017 when it infected Mcafee’s ClickProtect service to trick users by making them download a legitimate-looking Word document which in actuality contained the malware.
Now, it is back albeit with a new way to spread its infection. Featuring a new WiFi module; the trojan now focuses on compromising machines on the same WiFi network. Simply put: Emotet trojan can now spread through nearby wireless networks if the networks use insecure passwords.
To carry the entire operation out, it firstly uses wlanAPI.dll
calls to find wireless networks surrounding it excluding the current computer system it has infected.
See: Hackers using Coronavirus emergency to spread Emotet malware
Commenting on the reason wlanAPI.dll calls are used, researchers at BinaryDefence state that,
Once it finds such a network, it would connect to it automatically and by using brute-force techniques if it is password protected. Therefore, it searches for Windows-based devices and tries to find its way into user accounts through brute-forcing once again. If successful, it proceeds by adding malicious files for different purposes.
The first one is named “service.exe” which installs an additional service by the name of “Windows Defender System Service.” This helps the attacker maintain access to the system and in a very unsuspicious way indeed in the eyes of a layman.
An interesting thing here is that “although the connection to the server uses port 443, which is normally used for Transport Layer Security (TLS) encrypted communications, the connection is unencrypted HTTP.”
Second is “worm.exe” with a timestamp of ” 04/16/2018 ” and containing a hard-coded IP address to its C2 server. Explaining this, BinaryDefence states how “this hints that this Wi-Fi spreading behavior has been running unnoticed for close to two years. This may be in part due to how infrequently the binary is dropped.”
A reason that could be attributed to it not being discovered despite the more-than-1-year-old timestamp is that when analyzed on a virtual machine, it does not show any spreading behavior without a WiFi card.
To sum up, both of these help the malware gain access to computers in such a way, particularly those that use weak passwords as brute-forcing them would become much easier this way too. These can then be used for hurting the victim through various ways such as data theft and even ransomware. Hence, we would recommend a range of precautions to guard against such attacks:
1. Add passwords to your user accounts even if you do not share your computer system with someone else. This at least gives you a shot to fight anyone trying to get in through such methods.
2. Use strong passwords, one that particularly could withstand a large number of attempts per second, a trillion if you’re an Edward Snowden fan and live near the NSA.
3. Try to monitor the processes running on your computer to see for suspicious ones. This could be easily done using Window’s in-built task manager.
4. Install a good anti-malware software that could also help in network monitoring and recognize “patterns that identify the malware message content.”
5. Last but not least avoid using public Wi-Fi spots.
Second is “worm.exe” with a timestamp of ” 04/16/2018 ” and containing a hard-coded IP address to its C2 server. Explaining this, BinaryDefence states how “this hints that this Wi-Fi spreading behavior has been running unnoticed for close to two years. This may be in part due to how infrequently the binary is dropped.”

Uganda people defense forces airforce airlifts pesticides to fight the locusts

UPDF airforce has airlifted pesticides to fight the locusts

US soldiers have already started withdrawing from 15 Iraqi military bases and leaving the country,

US soldiers have already started withdrawing from 15 Iraqi military bases and leaving the country, member of the parliamentary Security and Defence Commission, Ali al-Qameni, was quoted as saying by the daily Baghdad Today.

The lawmaker reportedly added that Washington is still insisting on building up forces in the Ayn al-Asad and Erbil military bases, but noted that the Iraqi Parliament opposes this notion.

© AP PHOTO / ALI ABDUL HASSAN

U.S. Soldiers and journalists stand near a crater caused by Iranian bombing at Ain al-Asad air base, in Anbar, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020

Iraqi lawmakers voted for a non-binding motion to end all foreign military deployments in the country, including the American contingent, on 5 January following a US airstrike that killed major Iranian General, Qasem Soleimani, without discussing or clearing the operation with the country's authorities. The general was visiting the country to pass on the suggestion for normalising relations to Saudi Arabia, with which Tehran currently has no diplomatic ties.  

Washington's reaction to the news was mixed: while the US State Department said it was not intending to negotiate the withdrawal of forces, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated three days later that the two countries would discuss the reduction of American troops in Iraq. Additionally, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper revealed that American troops will not be stationed in in Iraq "interminably", but failed to clarify when they will leave.

© AP PHOTO / MARK WILSON, POOL

Will They Stay? US General Says Troops to Remain in Middle East for 'Quite a While'

The US also defended the actions that led to Soleimani's killing on 3 January and resulted in an escalation of tensions with Iran and the latter's retaliatory missile strikes on bases hosting American forces in Iraq. Washington believes that the airstrike was legitimate, while Iraqi lawmakers disagreed.

Twenty-seven foreigners in China have been infected with the coronavirus, two of them have diede

Since a new strain of coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December of 2019, it has spread to over 25 countries across the globe.

As of 10 February, twenty-seven foreigners in China have been infected with the coronavirus, two of them have died, the country's foreign ministry said. 

An American died on 6 February and a Japanese individual died on 8 February, ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a daily news briefing in Beijing.

He added that three people have been discharged from the hospital.

An outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new strain of coronavirus started in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December and has since spread to more than 25 countries around the world.

© REUTERS / ALY SONG

A member of staff outside the Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai, China

The death toll from the new coronavirus in China currently stands at 908 people with more than 40,000 other confirmed cases.  

In late January, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency.

Trump approved the sale of a multi billion anti ship missile to Australia

The Trump administration has approved the sale of 200 anti-ship missiles to Australia for $990 million, the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a press release.
"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Australia of up to 200 AGM-158C, Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) and related equipment for an estimated cost of $990 million", the release said on Friday.
The sale will also include up to eleven ATM-158C LRASM Telemetry systems, DATM-158C LRASM, Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM-158C LRASM) and other equipment, with Lockheed Martin being the prime contractor, the DSCA said.
The Trump administration has been expanding its military cooperation with Australia and Japan in the Indo-Pacific region.

NATO general complained about Russian kosmos satellite claiming it is spying on their military intelligence satellites

Last month, a Purdue University graduate student specializing in astrodynamics reported that Russia’s Kosmos-2542 satellite had begun shadowing USA-245, an American reconnaissance satellite. Kosmos-2542’s mystery mission quickly sparked hysteria among the US media, with some observers suggesting it could be preparing to “attack” its US counterpart.
Russian and Chinese satellites maneuvering near Western powers’ satellites in space are a threat to the NATO alliance, Allied Command Transformation Commander Gen. Andre Lanata has said.
“Of course, it is a threat to our allies,” Lanata said , speaking to The Washington Examiner. “Until now, space was considered by everybody as a safe haven. It’s not the case anymore,” he added.
According to the commander, the danger posed by Russia and China in this area is “a key question,” and NATO “need[s] to be sure that we give to our forces this space asset support.” Lanata clarified that NATO as an organization would not “own any space assets,” and that it was not the bloc’s responsibility “to take specific measures to protect such or such national assets.” The problem will have to be addressed by the bloc’s individual members, he indicated.
Recently, US media have reported on the activities of Russian inspector satellite Kosmos-2542, indicating that the satellite was stalking USA-245, a spy satellite used by American intelligence agencies. According to amateur satellite observer and Purdue graduate student Michael Thompson, the Russian spacecraft has come to within 150 and 300 km of its US counterpart, and viewed it from various angles. The researcher avoided jumping to any conclusions, saying that although Kosmos-2542’s behaviour might seem suspicious, he could not prove any malign intent.
However, US media rushed to alarming conclusions, suggesting the Russian satellite’s behaviour may be “some kind of preparation for an attack,” and that Kosmos-2542 may actually be a “killer satellite”
getting ready to ram or shoot lasers at USA-245.
Kosmos-2542 was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in November 2019, with the stated mission of inspecting the condition of other Russian satellites orbiting the planet.
Last month, observers reported that the Kosmos-2491, another Russian satellite capable of maneuvering and inspecting other satellites in orbit, appeared to have broken up. Amateur observers suggested that that satellite, believed to have been dead for several years, may have deliberately self-destructed .
Russia isn’t the only country thought to engage in clandestine inspections of foreign satellites in orbit. In 2019, the Secure World Foundation reported that the US used its own secretive ‘Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program’ to approach and inspect Russian, Chinese, Pakistani and Nigerian satellites, both civilian and military.
In late 2019, President Trump formally ordered the Pentagon to establish Space Force, the sixth branch of the US armed forces. Observers have expressed fears that the force’s creation could lead to the militarization of space.

Iran has unsuccessfully launched it fourth satellite, called Zafar ("Victory" in Farsi), into orbit on 9 February. It was preceded by two unsuccessful launch attempts in 2019 and is expected to be followed by the delivery of four more satellites.
The launch, however, was denounced by the US, which claims the carrier rocket can be used to deliver nuclear warheads and that the whole project was cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

Iranian flag fluttering in front of Iran's Safir Omid rocket, which is capable of carrying a satellite into orbit, before it's launch in a space station at an undisclosed location in the Islamic republic
Tehran denies that the rocket carrier is intended for military use, indicating that the satellite's mission will be to take ground photos and collect data needed to study earthquakes and deal with other natural disasters. Iran has also long denied pursuing the goal of producing nuclear weapons, insisting that their use
goes against Islam . The Islamic Republic's authorities have also repeatedly pointed out that its nuclear sites are monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

© AP PHOTO / DONALD J. TRUMP TWITTER ACCOUNT
Image of Iran's Rocket Failure Tweeted by Trump Claimed to be Taken by US Top-Secretive Spy Satellite
The US and Israel, however, have refused to retract their accusations. Instead, in 2018 the Trump Administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, which had limited the country's nuclear programme's development, and imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The imposition of sanctions has led Tehran to stop adhering to the deal's provisions, almost two years after Trump first called the accord's existence into question.

The Russian Defence Ministry stated on 7 February that a civilian Airbus-320 with 172 passengers on board was nearly destroyed amid Israeli airstrikes near Damascus in the early hours of 6 February.
An Airbus-320 has been captured on video when landing at the Russian-operated Hmeymim Airbase in northwestern Syria while trying to avoid Israeli shelling.
Russian TV channel Zvezda has published camera recordings at the Hmeymim Airbase, showing how the Airbus-320 successfully lands , and after the end of the strikes, takes off again in the direction of Damascus International Airport.
On 6 February, four Israeli F-16 fighters fired eight air-to-surface missiles in the suburbs of Damascus, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
The Syrian air defence systems that were on alert responded to the attack while a civilian Airbus-320 with 172 passengers was almost caught in the cross-fire. The plane managed to leave the area and successfully land at Russia’s Hmeymim base, the closest alternative airfield.
Syrian diplomats slammed Israel for "taking advantage of the fact that Syria is busily engaged in its war against the terrorist groups in Idlib, and taking cover behind civilian flights, with complete disregard for the lives of civilians".
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have declined to comment on the situation .
Russia and Syria have already accused the Israeli air force of using other aircraft as a shield and putting the lives of innocent people at risk. In September 2018, the Russian military held Israel responsible for an Il-20 plane crash in Syria , which claimed the lives of 15 Russian servicemen. The plane was accidentally downed by a missile launched via Syria's air defence system at Israeli F-16 jets that were carrying out airstrikes in Latakia Province.