The military court garrison in Beni-Butembo (North-Kivu) sentenced police officer Ombeni Mongisa Eric on Monday, 13 July 2020 to life, for murder of citizen movement activist Freddy Muhindo on May 21th.

The military court garrison in Beni-Butembo (North-Kivu) sentenced police officer Ombeni Mongisa Eric on Monday, 13 July 2020 to life, for murder of citizen movement activist Freddy Muhindo on May 21th.
He is required to pay, jointly with the Republic, a fine of US$ 100 for damages to the civil party.
This chief police officer was found guilty of the death of Lucha militant killed with a bullet in the head during a demonstration in Kalinda, Mulekera municipality against insecurity in Beni.
Several militants and family members of the missing have followed the trial open for over a month.
′′ We have a sense of relief because we see justice is doing its work. We also ask that whoever killed Obadi (November 2019) be prosecuted and sentenced. We also ask that the police commander be prosecuted because the murderer was under his command ", says Stéphanie Mbafumoja, member of the Lucha.
The convicted prisoner who claims his innocence accused the PNC commander in Beni, Colonel François Kabeya of hiding the true author of the death of the Lucha activist.

Chinese scientists have created coronavirus-resistant transgenic mice that can be used to test vaccines and drugs against COVID-19

In late March, China kicked off the first phase of clinical trials to test the safety and effectiveness of its newly developed vaccine for the coronavirus.
Chinese scientists have created coronavirus-resistant transgenic mice that can be used to test vaccines and drugs against COVID-19 , Mi Jidong, chief executive of the Beijing-based biotechnology company SinoGene, said on Friday.
He explained that ordinary animals are immune to the corona, so using the methods of cloning and editing the genome makes it possible for scientists to transplant the human gene (hACE2) into genetically modified creatures.
Mi said that this is done “in order to infect the animal participating in the experiment and test the effectiveness of vaccines or drugs”.
According to him, the genetically engineered mice for testing a COVID-19 vaccine were created on 23 June as part of a joint project involving SinoGene, SPF Beijing Biotechnology, and several other companies.
SinoGene, in turn, pointed out that "the use of hACE2 mice in relevant studies may significantly increase the effectiveness and success rate of preclinical drug testing”, including one pertaining to COVID-19.
The company also signalled a readiness to boost the process of making transgenic mice in order to support research work aimed at combating the coronavirus.

Mi’s remarks come after China in June refuted accusations of being behind attempts to sabotage COVID-19 vaccine development in western countries, asking Rick Scott, a US senator who made such claims, to show proof.
“Well, if he does have such evidence, just show it to us. No need to be shy", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, adding that vaccine development was not a race between China and the United States, "but one between mankind and the virus".
The spokesperson recalled Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge that after being developed and deployed, China's COVID-19 vaccine “will be made a global public good”.
“This will be China's contribution to enhancing vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries", Hua pointed out.
Clinical trials of the first vaccine developed in China began in mid-March, with 108 volunteers taking part in the tests. The vaccine was developed by China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences in cooperation with the biotech firm CanSino Bio.
The trials followed the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March after the disease, which originated in China's Wuhan last December, shifted to Europe and beyond. As of Thursday, there have been more than 11.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, with more than 545,000 fatalities, according to the WHO’s latest estimates .
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A writer is my friend who is a Russian virology student.

South Korea received upgrades of it's spy aircraft from USA at $250m

At the begging of this ended weekend,US State Department approved a tentative sale of services and equipment needed to upgrade the South Korean Peace Krypton reconnaissance aircraft for $250 million, the Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release.
“Included are Ground System Modernization (GSM) and sustainment of Prime Mission Equipment (PME); Field Service Representatives (FSR); minor modifications and upgrades; Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS); spares and repair and return of parts; publications and technical documentation… and other related elements of logistics and program support”, the release said on Friday. “The estimated total program cost is $250 million”.
The proposed sale will improve Seoul’s capability to meet current and future threats by supporting the operation of its fleet of Peace Krypton aircraft and enabling continued Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance interoperability with the United States, the release added.
South Korea's Peace Krypton reconnaissance aircraft system is a militarized version of Raytheon's Hawker 800XP, reclassified as an RC-800 Hawker, a mid-size, twin-jet corporate aircraft that has been refurbished into a tactical and intelligence platform.
The RC-800's primary mission is to conduct both geospatial and signals intelligence. They are located at the Seoul Air Force base.
In March, the country paid almost $200 million to Lockheed Martin to upgrade its 32 F-16 aircraft to purchase Mode 5 Identification Friend or Foe and Link 16 Tactical Datalink.

A hacked server containing USA's law enforcement & intelligence bodies information was seized by Germany police and may soon be accessible to the whole world

Acting at the behest of the US government, German authorities seized a computer server hosting a vast cache of files from scores of US federal, state and local law enforcement agencies obtained in a Houston data breach,
Associated Press has revealed .
The server was used by data transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets, an information clearing house akin to WikiLeaks, and the content shed light on US police practices, among other things.
The data, some of which dated back to 1996, included emails, audio and video files, and police and FBI intelligence reports. DDoSecrets founder Emma Best said the information, dubbed hailed from over 200 agencies, and had been stripped of references to sexual assault cases and crimes involving and affecting children, but names, phone numbers and emails of police officers weren’t redacted.
Best alleges DDoSecrets obtained the data from an individual who sympathized with nationwide protests against police killings of unarmed black Americans, and some of the files offered insights into the police response to those protests. The documents came to light via the breach of Houston web-design company Netsential’s servers, which hosts portals for law enforcement agencies and “fusion centers,” state-specific operations created after 9/11 to facilitate the sharing of threat intelligence with local and state police and private-sector partners.
While hacking into computers and stealing data is a federal crime, US courts have consistently ruled journalists can publish stolen documents, as long as they’re not involved in their theft.
Best said the files show “a lot of things that are entirely legal and normal and horrifying”, including police surveillance and intelligence of dubious origin, and none were classified.
Brendan McQuade, criminology professor at the University of Southern Maine who’s viewed the documents, told Associated Press the document dump helped expose the US’ “overdeveloped police intelligence apparatus”, and didn’t include high-level intelligence – but nonetheless provided a window into the relationship between law enforcement at all levels. He suggested the FBI doesn’t want the information in the public domain as it could “add more fuel to the protests” against police brutality and racism in policing that have raged in the wake of the murder by George Floyd by Minneapolis Police.
Best said the files remain yet publicly accessible via more complicated means, such as BitTorrent and Tor, and her organization is rebuilding its infrastructure for public access – “all they cost us is time,” she said defiantly.
Shortly after DDoSecrets posted the data, Twitter permanently suspended the organization’s account for publishing links and images on the social network, citing a controversial platform ban on posting hacked material.
One US law enforcement agency affected by the breach was the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. Its director, Judy Bradshaw, told Associated Press the breach revealed names of students in academy courses and their drivers licenses, but no financial information, and Netsential had scores of clients in law enforcement, where it was a strong niche provider.
DDoSecrets was created in late 2018, and has since worked on various investigations with established media organizations, including German newsmagazine Der Spiegel and US news organization McClatchy. Previous DDoSecrets releases have included data on offshore Bahamas accounts used as tax havens , files hacked from Chilean police and data from a British provider of offshore financial services that has drawn comparisons to the infamous 2016 Panama Papers leak.
The prosecutor’s office in Zwickau, a German city near the Czech border, told Associated Press in an emailed statement the server was confiscated 3rd July in the town of Falkenstein, following a request from US authorities – but it was up to German authorities whether to hand the server over to their Washington counterparts.

India received apache attack helicopters amidst increase tensions with china

India has urged its military equipment suppliers to expedite the delivery of weapons systems, as tensions along the 4,057 km Line of Actual Control have escalated since April. The US, France and Russia have agreed to supply military systems within three months once an order is placed, say government sources.
Boeing, which had been contracted to produce Apaches for the Indian Air Force, has announced that all five of the multi-role helicopters have been delivered.
The attack helicopter, in addition to its enhanced ability to shoot 'fire and forget' anti-tank guided missiles, air-to-air missiles, rockets and other ammunition, is also versatile in conducting network-centric aerial combat due to its modern electronic warfare system.
“We’re happy to have completed delivery of the 22 AH 64-E Apache and 15 Chinook helicopters to India,” the company said on Friday. The five helicopters have been delivered in one consignment to the Indian Air Force (IAF) at Hindon air base, near the national capital Delhi. Earlier in March, Boeing handed over the last five of 15 CH-47F (I) Chinook heavy-lift helicopters it had contracted to sell India.
“With this delivery of military helicopters, we continue to nurture this partnership and are fully committed to working closely with India’s defence forces to deliver the right value and capabilities to meet their operational needs,” Surendra Ahuja, managing director, Boeing Defence India said in a statement.
Boeing has delivered nearly 2,500 Apache helicopters to 16 nations to date, including the US, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Greece, Japan, India, Singapore, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
The American-made helicopters feature two high-performance turboshaft engines and a maximum cruise speed of 284 kilometres per hour. The Apache can carry a maximum of 16 Hellfire missiles, giving it unprecedented firepower.
Last September, the IAF inducted eight Apache helicopters at Pathankot airbase to guard the nation's border with Pakistan.
India finalised its order with Boeing for the production, training and support of 22 AH-64E Apache and 15 CH-47F(I) Chinook helicopters in September 2015. Earlier this year, India and the US signed a contract for the acquisition of six Apaches for the Indian Army during American President Donald Trump’s visit to New Delhi.
The Indian defence ministry has also urged countries like Russia, France and Israel to expedite contractual deliveries of military equipment they'd agreed to undertake in the past. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, during his visit to Moscow in June, confirmed that Russia will supply some of the weapon systems to India at an early date.
Indian government sources confirmed that the Quick Reaction surface-to-air missile system will be delivered to India by the Russian firm at an early date. Later this month, the first batch of Rafale fighter jets will also arrive to be deployed along the Chinese border.
India and China have been engaged in a bitter border stand-off in several places, and there diplomatic efforts underway to diffuse the tension amid the withdrawal of troops by the two sides in Ladakh region.

Israel creates a multirole sophisticated new special forces unit amidst numerous threats.

The new unit is expected to take part in the IDF's so-called "war-between-war" campaign against Iran amid ongoing tensions between Tel Aviv and Tehran.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has unveiled a new squadron that will unite all IAF special forces under one command.
In a press release on Sunday,
the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that the 7th Aerial Special Forces Wing “was formed as part of an overall process of strengthening as well as streamlining and improving operational effectiveness of the [IAF] units […] to respond to changing and growing threats in various arenas”.
The new squadron will include the IAF elite commando unit Shaldag as well as the search-and-rescue Unit 669 and the Frontal Landing Unit.
Speaking at an unveiling ceremony, IAF chief Amikam Norkin, for his part, underscored that the new wing will make IAF special forces “more effective in battle, more influential in our aerial superiority, and more a part of all the processes and scenarios taking place in the air force”.
“We are moving now to a new era in the history of the Aerial Special Forces Wing — we are standing on the shoulders of our predecessors, who were courageous and took action — and now we are leading the way”, Norkin added.
Netanyahu Believes IDF Currently 'the Only Army in the World' Prepared to Fight Iran
Interestingly, the new unit is expected to be under the command of an officer who would only be identified by his rank and first Hebrew initial of his name, namely, Col. "Ayin".
The unveiling of the 7th Aerial Special Forces Wing came after reports that the new squadron may take part in the IDF’s so-called “war-between-war” campaign against Iran amid ongoing tensions between Tel Aviv and Tehran.
Israel has repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of supporting “terrorist” groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas , and of waging proxy wars in countries such as Syria which could pose a threat to the Jewish state’s security. Iran, which refuses to recognise Israel’s right to exist, denies the accusations, saying that there are only Iranian advisers in Syria.

Civil society in mahagi to carry on a protest against the use and popularity of Ugandan currency on 18/7/2020

According to our leaks last evening and our recent Reports on the same issue,the civil society in mahagi was planning to call upon the whole population into a protest to denounce the use and popularity of ugandan currency in this part of DRC!!Some groups of people are not happy that the ugandan currency has taken over the DRC franc in this area.. Whispers and some credible information reveal and confirm that such protest match will take place this coming weekend!!I call upon all Ugandan business men in DRC to be extra cautious for they may be aroused by such members of the society and have to prepare and be soft in way that it may not result into an assault on them.They must be deligent and extra cautious in business deals with them.
This announcement is contained in a letter addressed to the administrator of the Mahagi territory, on Saturday July 11, 2020. Civil society remains formal in the face of the use of Ugandan currency.
The objective remains to challenge the Central and Provincial governments to finally put Ugandan shilling out of Congolese soil, especially in Mahagi.
For this citizen structure, foreign currencies are "one of the causes of the socioeconomic underdevelopment of the population of the Mahagi territory which faces the uncontrolled exchange rate even by the service of the economy, in violation of article 176 paragraph 2 of the constitution of the DRC "wrote Jean-Marie Anican.
The march, planned for Saturday July 18, 2020, will start from the west entrance of the rural commune of Mahagi to a discussion at the territorial office, where a memo will be filed with the territorial authority.
This move by Mahagi’s civil society, criticizing the use of Ugandan currency in this part of Ituri,has been done several times.As of now the current exchange rate in mahagi is as follows:Officially this morning 1 US dollar was worth 1925.99 Congolese Franc and 3687.67 Ugandan Shillings.

Alleged ADF rebels continue to terrorise and plunder Irumu territory in Ituri. They killed another 6 (six) civilians during an incursion on Sunday July 12, 2020, reports local civil society.
Reliable sources reveal that this new attack by these armed men was reported on the border between the chiefdoms of Walese Vonkutu and Banyali-Tchabi, precisely in the village of Abendi.
A rebel attack which intervenes only two days after another, last Thursday July 10, 2020, in this region of Irumu (Bahema Boga and Bahema Mitego), where 3 people were killed, 20 others kidnapped alongside an important number of cattle and goods taken.
On Saturday July 11, 2020, spokesman for the DRC Armed Forces in Ituri, Lt. Jules Ngongo, said that everything was under army control in this part of Irumu.
So far, security sources have not yet spoken out regarding this attack. In the meantime, the local force notes a massive displacement of civilians.

ADF kills 2 civilians in Mangazi located near the center of Mamove in the territory of Beni (North Kivu) in the night of Friday 10-saturday 11 July ,2020

2 people were killed by the presumed ADF rebels the night of Friday to this Saturday July 11, 2020 in the village Mangazi located near the center of Mamove in the territory of Beni (North Kivu).In and about rumours circulating with this area is that ADF may or has established a new base within the neigbouring forests.
According to the president of Mamove civil society, who confirmed the information , the incident took place the night of Friday to this Saturday, July 11.
He indicates that the results state of two burned motorcycles,houses then burnt down and people carried away by the attackers during this incursion.
Kinos Katuo also informs that this assessment is still provisional. he said that searches had been started to find other bodies among the missing civilians.
Following this incursion several inhabitants began to leave this part of the territory of Beni where the population lives in to panic.

Fallen Self-Proclaimed General Muissa escaped with 25 NDC militiamen including 8 that already had been neutralized by the army of DRC

′′ At the moment he is the gentleman (muissa) escaped with 25 elements, 8 of which have already been neutralized by the FARDC who are in operation throughout this area ", said Major N ' djike Kaiko, talking about operations Sokola 2 in a statement of operations command made on Friday, July 10, 2020.
This man is believed be to be a creation by general kabarebe and was given guns and ammunition by Gahizi,the main aim was to fight FDLR ,it alleged that he would kill innocent civilians and parade their bodies for photo shots claiming they were bodies of FDLR.He has been operating in Lukueti, Kahanga, Bibwe, Mpati, Luhanga, Bulende, Mweso, Kalembe and all districts of northern lubero but as of now he has lost all of these territories and more attacks on him by FARDC are in high gear.He last held a conference with journalist from Goma and Rwanda at mweso on 24/05/2020 where claimed that FDLR Kilimanjaro will be finished by his militiamen in only two months.
The command of the operational sector Sokola 2 North-Kivu which, in the same statement  noted the declaration of the rebel movement Nduma Defense Of Congo-Renové (NDC-R), to cease hostilities and the willingness to go to FARDC ′′ the earliest time possible ".
The army welcomed the manifested will displayed by the elements of this armed group to lay down arms and leave the bush, this after this group decided to impeach its commander in chief, self-proclaimed general Muissa Shimiray . we
Through the spokesperson for operations Sokola 2, the armed group invited this armed group to realize its will to surrender to the army.
′′ In order for this manifested will to remain just a simple declaration, the Sokola 2 North-Kivu operational sector is waiting for another strong signal from the Nduma Defense Of Congo movement, it is, among other things, to lay down arms and surrender the most early possible at the FARDC ", said Major Guillaume Ndjike.
The commander of this operational sector has instructed all commanders of the units deployed in the field, to receive all NDC-R elements wishing to surrender and treat them humanely.
As a reminder, after the NDC-R split, violent fighting broke out between the militia and the Congolese army. The record of these clashes reports 8 rebels killed and others escaped with impeached commander Muissa Shimiray.