[ Washington Post ] Navy nuclear engineer and his wife charged with trying to share submarine secrets with a foreign country

A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged with repeatedly trying to pass secrets about U.S. nuclear submarines to a foreign country, in an alleged espionage plot discovered by the FBI, according to court document The court papers say that in December 2020, an FBI official received a package that had been sent…

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China hit by flood again, 3rd time this year.

Dykes of the Yellow River breached, causing the 3rd flood of 2021 for China. Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, that are in the Yellow River basin are hit by severe flooding. More than 120,000 people had been evacuated thus far just in Shanxi alone. It is said to be the largest flood in nearly 40 years…

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Dutch frigate, HNLMS Evertsen’s voyage so far as part of the UK Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21); will arrive in Singapore on 10 October 2021

The Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen will arrive in Singapore tomorrow (10 October 2021) in their first deployment of a Royal Dutch Navy vessel to the region under the Indo-Pacific Guidelines, announced by Netherland in late 2020. HNLMS Evertsen is part of the Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) deployment led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the…

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[ Intelligencer ] U.S. Troops Have Reportedly Been in Taiwan for Over a Year

According to the Wall Street Journal, a small contingent American troops have been deployed in Taiwan for over a year, involving a special-operations unit of around two dozen and supporting Marines. U.S. officials told the Journal that the troops are working with local maritime forces on training missions involving small boats. DPA Notes: Curious that USA would actually…

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[ Forbes ] It’s Official: After A 75-Year Gap, The Japanese Navy Has An Aircraft Carrier

On Sunday, a pair of U.S. Marine Corps F-35B jump jets from the Japan-based Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 landed on, then launched from, the Japanese carrier JS Izumo. The proof-of-concept comes just months after the 813-foot Izumo, which the Japanese built as a helicopter carrier, completed the first of two rounds of modification—so far costing around…

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[ TIME ] China, Isolated From the World, Is Now the Last Major Country Still Pursuing a ‘Zero COVID’ Strategy

Now, with the rise of the delta variant and the proliferation of vaccines, only one is still holding fast to that goal of eliminating Covid-19: China. With New Zealand preparing to shift away from the zero-tolerance strategy, China’s isolation is complete, raising the stakes on how long it can stick to a playbook that requires closed borders,…

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[ AsiaOne / Straits Times ] Singapore inks deal for Merck antiviral pill to treat Covid-19 and its variants

The Republic has inked a supply and purchase agreement for an antiviral pill to treat Covid-19 that is said to be effective against all known variants of the virus, including the Delta variant. The drug was developed by pharmaceutical firm Merck in the United States and Canada, together with Miami-based Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Merck is known as…

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[ NBC ] Lawmakers in Japan elect Fumio Kishida as new prime minister

Japan’s parliament on Monday elected Fumio Kishida, a former moderate turned hawk, as prime minister. He’ll face an economy battered by the pandemic, security threats from China and North Korea and leadership of a political party whose popularity is sagging ahead of a fast-approaching crucial national election. With his party and its coalition partner holding a…

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Entire Facebook Network is Down for 8 hours

At around 11.45pm Singapore Time (GMT+8), the entire Facebook network went offline. This includes all the most popular/used apps like Facebook app, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. It was only until around 45mins later where the official twitter account for the respective apps started announcing that their apps are having issue. Despite the term used…

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