Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence

Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence
Above, a police van believed to be transporting former soldier Daniel Khalife leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Sept. 11, 2023. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 09 October 2024
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Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence

Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence
  • Daniel Khalife is on trial accused of both the break-out and passing information to Iran for cash while posted in the UK and US
  • Details allegedly handed over by Khalife included the names of elite special forces personnel

LONDON: A former British Army soldier allegedly broke out of prison strapped to the underside of a food delivery truck while detained on suspicion of passing secret information to Iranian intelligence, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.
Daniel Khalife, 23, is on trial accused of both the break-out and passing information to Iran for cash while posted in the UK and United States.
Details allegedly handed over by Khalife included the names of elite special forces personnel, a court in southeast London heard.
Jurors were shown a photograph from Khalife’s iPhone of a handwritten list of 15 soldiers he had made, including their service number, rank, initials, surname and unit.
Khalife, who grew up in southwest London with his Iranian mother, joined the army in 2018 aged 16.
Six months after he was posted to the 16th Signal Regiment in Stafford in central England, messages showed he was willing to gather information “to order,” prosecutor Mark Heywood told Woolwich Crown Court.
Nearly two years after signing up, Khalife in August 2020 spent an hour messaging a contact saved as “David Smith,” describing an internal military system which would identify service personnel.
He told his contact that he “won’t leave the military until you tell me to” before adding: “25+ years.”
Khalife allegedly remained in contact with Iranian handlers while posted to Fort Hood in Texas between February and April 2021.
During the posting he took a series of screenshots of systems marked “Secret,” including a password record sheet.
While there he was given the second highest level of NATO security, one below “cosmic top secret,” the jury was told.
Khalife denies the alleged prison escape and a charge of gathering, publishing or communicating information that might be useful to an enemy, namely Iranian intelligence.
He has also pleaded not guilty to gathering information of use to “a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”
The case comes a day after the chief of Britain’s domestic intelligence service, Ken McCallum, said MI5 had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots since January 2022 that presented potentially lethal threats.


Ukraine drone attack sparks fire in Russia’s Bryansk, region’s governor says

Ukraine drone attack sparks fire in Russia’s Bryansk, region’s governor says
Updated 3 sec ago
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Ukraine drone attack sparks fire in Russia’s Bryansk, region’s governor says

Ukraine drone attack sparks fire in Russia’s Bryansk, region’s governor says
  • There was no immediate comment from Ukraine
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian border region of Bryansk has set several non-residential buildings on fire, regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Sunday.
“Emergency services and firefighters are on the site,” Bogomaz wrote on the Telegram messaging app, without providing further detail.
He said earlier on Telegram that Russian air defense systems had destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones over the territory of the region overnight.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has often said its drone attacks on Russian territory are aimed at infrastructure key to Moscow’s war efforts and are in response to Russia’s continued attack on Ukraine’s territory.

Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds

Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds
Updated 24 min 58 sec ago
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Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds

Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds

PORT LOUIS: Mauritius was holding a parliamentary election on Sunday with Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and his main rivals all promising to tackle a cost of living crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Polling centers opened at 7 a.m. (0300 GMT), with small numbers of voters seen moving to check their names in the register before picking their ballots, a Reuters witness said. Voting was expected to end at 1400 GMT.
The country of about 1.3 million people markets itself as a link between Africa and Asia, deriving most of its revenues from a flourishing offshore financial sector, tourism and textiles.
It has forecast 6.5 percent economic growth this year compared with 7.0 percent last year but many voters are not feeling the benefits.
Jugnauth’s Alliance Lepep coalition has promised to raise minimum wages, increase pensions and reduce value-added tax on some basic goods.
It says it will use payments from the UK under an October agreement for Britain to cede the Chagos Islands while retaining the US-UK Diego Garcia air base.
Mauritius also receives aid from China.
“The alliance led by the prime minister is selling the economic prosperity card, with promises of more money to different segments of the population,” said political analyst Subash Gobine.
The opposition is also pledging to increase pensions as well as introduce free transport and Internet services and reduce fuel prices.
It is dominated by the Alliance du Changement coalition led by Navin Ramgoolam and two other parties running in the Linion Reform alliance, whose leaders, Nando Bodha and Roshi Bhadain, plan to alternate as prime minister if they win.
“It is the youths who will make the difference in these elections,” voter David Stafford, 36, said in the capital Port Louis, explaining that people were looking for economic innovation and job opportunities as much as fiscal changes.
Just over a million people are expected to choose lawmakers for the islands’ 62 seats in parliament for the next five years from a list of 68 parties and five political alliances.
Last week, Jugnauth’s government blocked social media platforms until a day after the election, when results are expected, citing national security concerns after conversations between public figures were leaked. It lifted the ban a day later after opposition parties criticized the move.
Whichever party or coalition gets more than half the seats in parliament also wins the prime minister’s post.


Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person

Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person
Updated 10 November 2024
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Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person

Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person
  • The person is receiving treatment in a children’s hospital for H5 avian flu
  • The source of contagion and any possible contacts are being investigated

MONTREAL: A teenager in British Columbia has become the first person in Canada to test positive for bird flu, authorities said Saturday.
This person is receiving treatment in a children’s hospital for H5 avian flu, the provincial health department said.
The source of contagion and any possible contacts are being investigated.
Officials said the infection probably came from a bird or animal.
“This is a rare event,” British Columbia Health Officer Bonnie Henry said.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation to fully understand the source of exposure here in B.C.”
Bird flu is most commonly found in wild birds and poultry, but has more recently been detected in mammals, with an outbreak in cattle seen across the United States this year.
It can occasionally infect humans through close contact or contaminated environments.
Scientists have voiced concern about the growing number of mammals becoming infected by bird flu, even if cases in humans remain rare.
They fear a high rate of transmission could facilitate a mutation of the virus, which could enable it to be passed from one human to another.
In September officials said a person in Missouri became the first in the United States to test positive for bird flu without a known exposure to infected animals.
All previous bird flu cases in the United States have been among farmworkers, including the very first, in 2022.
In the decades since H5 has been found in humans, there have been rare cases where an animal source cannot be identified.
But there has so far not been evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, which would significantly increase the threat level.


Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona

Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona
Updated 10 November 2024
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Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona

Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona
  • CNN and NBC projected Donald Trump had obtained Arizona’s 11 electoral votes
  • Scale and strength of Trump’s comeback sent shockwaves through the defeated Democratic Party

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump won the state of Arizona in this week’s US presidential election, US TV networks projected on Saturday, completing the Republican’s sweep of all seven swing states.
After four days of counting in the southwest state with a large Hispanic population, CNN and NBC projected Trump had obtained its 11 electoral votes as he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
Outgoing President Joe Biden scored a narrow but crucial victory in Arizona in 2020 that condemned Trump to defeat after his first term in office.
The scale and strength of Trump’s comeback, which also saw the real estate tycoon win the popular vote by a margin of around four million votes, has sent shockwaves through the defeated Democratic Party.
The Republicans have already regained control of the Senate and look well set to retain a majority in the House of Representatives thanks to support from white working class voters and a large share of Hispanics.
CNN has called Republican victories for 213 seats in the House, with 218 needed for a majority in the lower chamber.
The networks’ figures show Democrats on 205 seats, although senior party figures are still hoping they can pull off a slim victory that would significantly curtail Trump’s powers.
NBC sees the Republicans with 212 seats so far, and 204 for the Democrats.
The other six swing states won by Trump in the presidential race are Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia.
The latest good news for Trump came as the White House said Biden would meet with the president-elect at the White House on Wednesday.
Trump — who never conceded his 2020 loss — sealed a remarkable comeback to the presidency in the November 5 vote, cementing what is set to be more than a decade of US politics dominated by his hard-line right-wing stance.
This type of meeting between the outgoing and incoming presidents was considered customary, but Trump did not invite Biden for one after making unsubstantiated election fraud claims that culminated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Trump also broke with precedent by skipping Biden’s inauguration, but the White House has said the Democratic president will attend the upcoming ceremony.
Biden’s meeting with Trump will take place in the Oval Office, the White House said Saturday, with the clock ticking down to the ex-president’s return to power.
Trump, the 78-year-old ex-reality TV star, won wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office and warnings from his former chief of staff that he is a fascist.
Exit polls showed that voters’ top concerns remained the economy and inflation that spiked under Biden in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.


Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia

Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia
Updated 10 November 2024
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Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia

Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia
  • Russian advances focus on two cities in Donetsk region
  • North Korean troops prepare to join Russia’s campaign

KYIV: Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow’s invasion as Russian forces advance and North Korean troops prepare to join the Kremlin’s campaign.
Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top US general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors of the more than 2-1/2-year-old war with Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a nightly address that Ukraine’s military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove — a target of Russia’s advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north.
He decried strikes on civilian targets and urged European countries to provide more air defense systems.
Syrskyi, writing on Facebook, said he told General Christopher Cavoli, who heads the US European Command: “The situation remains challenging and shows signs of escalation.
“The enemy, leveraging its numerical advantage, is continuing offensive actions and is focusing its main efforts on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions,” Syrskyi said.
Russian forces, intent on capturing Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, have been regularly capturing new villages as they move toward Pokrovsk.
Ukraine’s general staff, in a late evening report on Saturday, said 40 armed clashes had occurred around villages near Kurakhove.
Both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers on Friday said Russian forces sought to encircle the city.
The United States, Western European countries and Ukraine say that North Korea, which entered a mutual defense pact with Russia in June, has sent troops to its ally.
“We have numerous reports of North Korean soldiers preparing to participate in combat operations alongside Russian Forces,” Syrskyi said.
Zelensky has said 11,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia, specifically in the southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged a large incursion in August.
Both Zelensky and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said this week that North Korean soldiers had already been involved in combat there.
The United States has been by far the biggest contributor of aid and arms to Ukraine, though Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election has raised questions about future policy.
Zelensky was among the first leaders to congratulate Trump after his victory on Tuesday. The Ukrainian president described his telephone conversation with Trump as “wonderful” and said contacts would continue.