Friday, December 15, 2023

China cyber army 'hacked dozens of critical US services' as war fears surge

 
"Hackers affiliated with China's People's Liberation Army have infiltrated critical services in the United States in an effort to wreak chaos in the country's logistical systems, US officials and industry security officials have said. The computer systems of around two dozen critical entities have been burrowed into in the past year. A water utility in Hawaii, a major West Coast port and at least one oil and gas pipeline were among the victims. The hackers also reportedly tried to break into the operator of Texas's power grid, which operates independently from the rest of the country's electrical systems. A number of entities outside the US, including electric utilities, are also said to have been targeted by the hackers." DailyExpress

British Fleet's Daring Intercept: Chases off Russian Sub at Cork Harbour

"Although the submarine did not violate any international laws because it was only a few miles over the 12-mile limit, military sources have reported that incidents of this kind are becoming more frequent around the
Irish coast. This follows the news that the British Navy is so thin that it lacks the tools necessary to identify possible underwater threats." TheHill

Israeli military mistakenly kills 3 hostages in Gaza

"The Israeli military killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza after they were “mistakenly identified … as a threat,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said it was not clear if the hostages had escaped their captors or were abandoned. The shooting occurred in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of central Gaza City, he said." AP

Ukraine’s air defense forces destroy 14 enemy kamikaze drones overnight

"Russian forces attacked Ukraine with Shahed combat UAVs from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk district (Krasnodar Krai - Russia). Mobile fire groups of the Air Force and Defense Forces of Ukraine shot down all 14 enemy drones over Mykolaiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi and Poltava regions." Ukrin

Explosion rock Russian city of Kursk

"Roman Starovoit, governor of Kursk Oblast in Russia, has reported that Russian air defense had downed four UAVs in the sky above Kursk." UV

One Killed, 26 Injured After Local Politician Throws Grenades at Ukrainian Council Meeting

"A local government deputy set off a series of grenades at a council meeting in western Ukraine, killing at least one and leaving several in critical condition among 26 injured.
A handful of grenades were thrown into a local government meeting at Keretsky in Transcarpathia (Zakarpattia) on Friday morning, a region in the west of the nation far from the front lines. Ukrainian government media outlet Ukrinform relays that 26 people were injured, six of them “gravely”, and one person was killed. As an animated discussion continues the man interjects, shouting at the officers sitting at the head table while pulling the grenades out of his coat pocket. As the video shows, even as he pulls the pins and throws the grenades into the middle of the floor nobody present appears to react until after a series of blasts which tears the room apart. Ukrainian media states the man who threw the grenades was himself a deputy, or local politician, and that he was among the wounded." Breitbart

400,000 Ukrainians Killed In Action Explains A Whole Lot

"Estimates of Ukrainians killed in action (KIA) just over 400,000. Unsurprisingly, since the war began, the United States and its allies have unswervingly pushed the narrative that Russia is incurring far more casualties than Ukraine. This casualty narrative was critical to maintaining any plausibility that Ukraine could defeat a country that has four to five times more men of military age and that was recently rated as having the world’s most powerful military. Hence, given the need to maintain the plausibility of a Ukrainian victory, it isn't surprising that NATO intelligence asserted that the battle of Bakhmut saw Russia losing at least five soldiers KIA for every one of Ukraine’s.
However, since the fall of Bakhmut to Russia, the failure of the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive, and signs that Ukraine’s military is nearing collapse, we're no longer hearing about five-to-one casualty rates. Still, the most recent estimates from United States and British officials claim that Russia has suffered 120,000 KIA." ZH