ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

As hackers continue to rampage through closely guarded information systems and databases with monotonous regularity, there is a tempting new target for cyberattacks: the world’s nuclear facilities. A warning has already been sounded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has urged the world community to intensify efforts to protect nuclear facilities from possible attacks. Pointing out the nuclear industry was not immune to such attacks, IAEA DirectorGeneral Yukiya Amano says there should be a serious attempt at protecting nuclear and radioactive material – since “reports of actual or attempted cyberattacks are now virtually a daily occurrence.” The United States, whose defence networks at the Pentagon and also its intelligence agencies have already been compromised by hackers largely from Russia and China, is increasingly concerned about possible cyberattacks by terrorist organisations – specifically the Islamic State (IS) with its heavy and sophisticated presence on ...

PressTV An American anti-war activist and journalist says that the THAAD missile deployment in South Korea proposed by the United States, is part of a US plan to launch a nuclear “first strike” attack on Russia or China.” Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday, after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the United States will go ahead with the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea despite Chinese complaints. The US and South Korea began official discussions last month on possible deployment of the THAAD system to combat the alleged threat of North Korea’s missiles. “US Secretary of War Ashton Carter claims that the THAAD deployment in South Korea has nothing to do with China, but in fact he is lying trough his teeth. It has everything to do with China. North Korea is not a threat,” Gagnon said. “In fact missile launched ...

The Egyptian government has handed over the ownership of disputed Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia amid strong objection from several former officials as well as the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptian cabinet announced in a statement released on Saturday that both islands fall within the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia as codified in the maritime border agreement signed between Cairo and Riyadh the previous day. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail inked the border demarcation accord with the Saudi side in the presence of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in the Federal Presidential Palace, eastern Cairo. The agreement is going to be presented to the parliament for ratification. Analysts, dissidents question legitimacy of agreement Meanwhile, legal experts and opposition figures in Egypt have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the agreement on the two strategic islands, arguing that relinquishing authority over Egyp...

The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group is planning to carry out attacks in Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution says, stressing that security situation in the country is "very serious." Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the office, which is also known as the BfV, was quoted by the Welt am Sonntag paper on Sunday that Daesh terrorists, which are mainly active in Syria and Iraq, are planning to carry out raids against Germany and its interests. Maassen, however, said that he knew of no concrete plot to strike, adding, "At the moment, we don't have any knowledge of any concrete terrorist attack plans in Germany." On April 5, Daesh released a video claiming that it may launch more attacks in European countries in the wake of the Brussels bombings of March and the Paris attacks of November 2015. The group named London, Berlin and Rome as possible targets. The BfV chief said the propaganda video was aimed at persuading Daesh sympathizers to c...

Belgrade airport security service has discovered two Hellfire missiles on an Air Serbia passenger flight heading from Lebanon to the US. The munitions, packed in wooden crates, were found by bomb-sniffing dogs. Serbian officials are investigating the incident, a source at the prosecutor's office told Reuters on Monday. Air Serbia has said it is helping with the probe. The shipment was accompanied by proper documentation and would have passed unnoticed, but for the dogs which sniffed out the explosives, local media reported. "Experts are determining whether the missiles were equipped with live or training warheads ... They were packed in proper transportation crates and supplied with paperwork which is also being scrutinised," a source close to the investigation told Reuters. According to the same source, the Lebanese and US authorities were aware of the shipment and ensured that the missiles posed no threat to the public. The rockets arrived on an Air Serbia flight from...

The Iraqi military has released a video displaying the combat deployment of a CH-4B drone which the country recently bought from China. Baghdad has been diversifying its arms supply to decrease its reliance on American producers. The Caihong (Rainbow) 4B drone flew from the al-Kut Air Base southeast of Baghdad and shot an AR-1 laser-guided anti-tank missile at an Islamic State target, according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry. The first-ever Iraqi combat drone mission was supervised by Defense Minister Khaled-al-Obeidi. Iraq purchased a number of Chinese combat drones in early 2015, with photos of the robotic aircraft already in Iraq surfacing since at least March. The CH-4B is a dual reconnaissance/combat UAV with a range of 5,000 km, according to producer, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The drone is similar to the US-made MQ-9 Reaper can carry a payload of up to 350kg carried on six pads. Its designated weapons include Lan Jian 7 (Blue Arrow 7) laser-gu...

Police in the Austrian town of Korneuburg have detained an Afghan man in his 20s for allegedly intimidating a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual relations – an ordeal that lasted three months for the teenager. "The accused did not use any violence, but he did threaten her and scared her into doing what he wanted," said a police spokesman, as cited by Austrian newspaper Kurier. The man, who reportedly was still living in a refugee shelter at the time of the crime, encountered the girl online in early January. The ensuing pen-friendship took a serious turn and the two eventually met in person in a wooded area, where they reportedly had sex. According to the police, the girl was too frightened to tell anybody about the events and stayed silent for three months, during which time the suspect repeatedly coerced her into having intercourse. "Over the course of three months the asylum seeker repeatedly sexually abused the schoolgirl,"added the police spokesman. After t...

BEIT JALA, Palestine: Israel began construction on a controversial part of its separation barrier in the occupied West Bank Thursday, near a Palestinian Christian town, an AFP journalist reported. Cranes began lifting eight-meter(yard)-high blocks into place near Beit Jala, south of Jerusalem and close to Bethlehem, a photographer witnessed. This part of the wall could cut Palestinians from their olive groves. Nicola Khamis, mayor of Beit Jala, condemned what he saw as a land grab. "This land is for our families, our children," he said by phone from the bridge next to the construction site. The Israeli army referred questions to the defence ministry, which did not immediately respond. Residents of Beit Jala fear the construction of the wall may lead to the expansion of the nearby Israeli settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo. Khamis said they hoped to battle the wall's construction, with emergency strategy meetings planned, but he conceded they had no further appeals within th...