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☆ Dollar set for fourth monthly drop as Fed meeting looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SINGAPORE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The dollar was eyeing a fourth monthly loss on Tuesday as investors reckon a peak in U.S. interest rates could swing into view as soon as this week's Federal Reserve meeting. The U.S. dollar index is down 1.3% for January so far, though it rose 0.3% to 102.19 overnight. The Japanese yen fell 0.4% overnight but is set for its third monthly gain as markets anticipate shifts in monetary policy. Sterling and the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars also made overnight losses but are set for monthly gains. Interest-rate futures indicate market expectations for a 25 basis point (bp) hike from the Federal Reserve to take the Fed funds rate window to 4.5%-4.75%.

☆ Ukraine's battlefields look like World War I but with a new and terrifying addition that leaves troops with almost nowhere to hide
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The conflict in Ukraine has emerged as the first major war involving drone use on both sides. By the late 1990s, Predator drones were being used by the US and NATO for reconnaissance missions in the Kosovo War. Ukraine has in many ways emerged as a guinea pig for drone warfare. Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesLater in the war, Russia began launching swarms of Iranian-made Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones, striking targets across Ukraine. Drones have significantly shortened the so-called kill chain, Cancian explained, helping troops swiftly locate targets and provide coordinates for artillery.

☆ A Russian ship that's been off the coast of Hawaii for weeks is believed to be gathering intelligence, the US Coast Guard says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The US Coast Guard said Wednesday it is monitoring a Russian ship near Hawaii. The Coast Guard said the ship is believed to be gathering intelligence. "The Coast Guard operates in accordance with international laws of the sea to ensure all nations can do the same without fear or contest. The Coast Guard said it was coordinating with the Department of Defense to provide updates on the movement of the foreign ships. In May, the US Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring a Russian vessel near Hawaii.

☆ Yen perched near 7-month high as BOJ decision looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A bundle of Japanese 10,000 yen banknotes on a tray arranged at a branch of Resona Bank Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan. The dollar drifted up from multi-month lows on Tuesday, while the yen was perched near seven-month highs as investors held their breath for a potential policy shift at the Bank of Japan. The yen rose 3% against the dollar last week, and one-week implied volatility for dollar/yen is at its highest since March 2020. "The yen would explode higher, Japanese government bond yields would explode higher and global yields would go higher," he said. The New Zealand dollar held at $0.6394.

☆ Yen perched near 7-month high as BOJ looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The dollar drifted off multi-month lows on Tuesday, while the yen was perched near seven-month highs as investors held their breath for a potential policy shift at the Bank of Japan. The euro reached a nine-month high on Monday at $1.0874, but was last loitering around $1.0830. The yen rose 3% against the dollar last week, and one-week implied volatility for dollar/yen is at its highest since March 2020. "The yen would explode higher, Japanese government bond yields would explode higher and global yields would go higher," he said. The New Zealand dollar held at $0.6394.

☆ Dollar stands firm while traders await CPI
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. dollar was steady elsewhere, loitering just above a seven-month low on the euro at $1.0737 in the lead-up to U.S. inflation data due on Thursday. The dollar was steady at 132.23 Japanese yen and $1.2161 per British pound . U.S. government bond yields, which have been attracting investors to the dollar, fell overnight and upbeat sentiment in equities lifted stockmarkets. "Another downward surprise to the core CPI would cement the deceleration trend," Commonwealth Bank of Australia strategist Joe Capurso said. The Singapore dollar has scaled 19-month highs this week and the Thai baht nine-month tops in anticipation of tourism picking up as China's borders open.

☆ Taiwan's remote islands are on the frontline with China — sometimes only a few hundred yards from Chinese troops
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Taiwan is roughly 100 miles from mainland China, but some Taiwanese islands are much closer. Taiwan's outlying islands would stand little chance against China, but they wouldn't be easy to take. While celebrated, this year's anniversary was also a reminder of Taiwan's islands' growing vulnerability to Chinese attack. Taiwan's islands are much easier to reach. Tourists watch a Chinese military helicopter fly over Pingtan Island, one of mainland China's closest points to Taiwan, on August 4.

☆ Striking video appears to show Ukrainian suicide drones destroying a column of Russian armored vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ukraine shared footage it says shows several Russian armored vehicles being taken out. It appears to include footage from the view of "suicide" drones just before they hit the vehicles. The video, shared Tuesday, includes airborne footage that approaches the armored vehicles at speed before crashing into them and abruptly cutting out. That footage appears to be taken from the perspective of loitering munitions, otherwise known as suicide drones, as they are destroyed in the attack. Both the Ukrainian and Russian side have made extensive use of suicide drones, with Iran-made Shahed-136 drones powering much of Russia's bombardment of civilian areas and energy infrastructure.

☆ Ukraine official urges 'liquidation' of Iranian weapons factories
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Dec 24 (Reuters) - A top Ukrainian presidential aide called for the "liquidation" of Iranian factories making drones and missiles, as well as the arrest of their suppliers, as Kyiv accused Tehran of planning to supply more weapons to Russia. Writing on Twitter on Saturday, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Iran "blatantly humiliates the institution of international sanctions", before calling for the destruction of Iranian weapon factories in response. Kyiv has accused Tehran of supplying 1700 Shahed-136 loitering munitions to Moscow, which it says have been used to hit targets in Ukraine since September. Ukraine's espionage chief said in an interview released on Friday that Russia had already launched around 540 of the drones at military and energy targets in Ukraine. Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A Patriot missile battery from the US could create new headaches for Russia in Ukraine and throw a wrench into its terror campaign
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ukraine is reportedly slated to receive a US-made Patriot missile defense battery. The US is poised to send Ukraine a Patriot missile defense battery that is already stationed overseas. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project, it is the primary air and missile defense system that the US has in its arsenal. Patriot missile defense system at Schwesing military airport in Germany on March 17, 2022. A NATO Patriot air defense missile system stands at Slovakia's Sliac air base on April 27, 2022.

☆ Special Report: In France, minority communities decry a surge in police fines
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Layli Foroudi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +18 min

Hassan Bouchouf received fines on more than two dozen occasions, according to the town’s fine data. The Essonne police department didn’t respond to questions about the fines received by Assam and Bouchouf. After learning of the April 2020 fines, Assam verbally confronted Dumas on the street later that same month, according to both men and a witness. That prompted a review by the prosecutor’s office, which found that police had issued fines to Assam remotely, that person said. The watchdog is investigating about 10 complaints alleging improper police fines, mostly from Paris, according to a person familiar with the matter.

☆ Russia appears to have run out of the deadly Iranian-made drones it's been using to terrorize Ukraine, Western officials say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia appears to be out of Iranian-made drones, Western officials said Tuesday. US officials had warned over the summer that Iran was preparing to send drones to Russia, and then the weapons first saw battlefield action in early September. A Russian drone, considered by Ukrainian authorities to be an Iranian-made Shahed-136, over Kyiv on October 17, 2022. These 440-pound weapons are relatively slow, fly at low altitudes, and carry a small explosive payload, according to Western intelligence. It's not immediately clear how many Iranian-made drones Russia had in it's arsenal.

☆ Russia is tearing through its munitions stockpiles faster than it can refill them, top US intel chief says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia is rapidly expending its stockpiles of munitions, the top US intelligence official said. In dealing with limited precision munitions, Russia has turned to Iran and North Korea for support. Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday that Russia is burning through its munitions stockpiles "quite quickly," though she did not elaborate on any precise figures. "And of course, we've indicated that their precision munitions are running out much faster. These kamikaze drones, as they have been called, are cheaper than precision munitions, making them a suitable though less destructive supplement as Russia's stockpiles run low.

☆ China's 'social credit' system ranks citizens and punishes them with throttled internet speeds and flight bans if the Communist Party deems them untrustworthy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Katie Canales | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Since China doesn't have a central social credit system, many local government agencies have been experimenting with what the system could look like. But the plan is for the social credit system to eventually be mandatory and unified across the nation, with each person given their own unique code used to measure their social credit score in real-time, per Wired. In fact, a national social credit system is currently being proposed. Companies will also be at risk if China passes on its Establishment of the Social Credit System law. Citizens with good social credit can also get discounts on energy bills, rent things without deposits, and get better interest rates at banks.

☆ US Navy finds the same kind of Iranian suicide drone Russia has been using against Ukraine was used to attack a tanker
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The US Navy identified the drone as a Shahed-136, which Russia has been using to attack Ukrainian cities. The tanker, Pacific Zircon, came under attack in the evening on November 15. The next day, US Navy explosive ordnance technicians boarded the wounded tanker to collect debris and inspect the damage. The one-way UAV attack tore a 30-inch-wide hole in the outer hull on the starboard side of the ship’s stern, just below the main deck. Meanwhile, last week's Shahed-136 attack is the second time this month that US Navy forces have reported Iranian influence in waters near the Middle East.

☆ Sledgehammer execution of Russian mercenary who defected to Ukraine shown on video
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - A video purportedly showing the sledgehammer execution of a former Russian mercenary who switched sides to back Ukraine was circulated on Russian social media on Sunday, with pro-Russian bloggers saying it was revenge for his alleged treachery. In an unverified video distributed on Telegram channels which Russian media said were linked to the Wagner mercenary group, the man identified himself as Yevgenny Nuzhin, 55, and said he had changed sides to "fight against the Russians". Wagner group, originally staffed by veterans of the Russian armed forces, has fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine, among other countries. Wagner has been recruiting convicts in Russian jails in recent months, according to a video which showed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, speaking to convicts in a Russian jail. Asked to comment on the execution video, Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, said in remarks released by his spokeswoman that the video should be called "A dog receives a dog's death."

☆ The US is sending 40 more boats to join Ukraine's growing 'river navy'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Peter Suciu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The US is sending Ukraine more riverine patrol boats in an aid package announced this month. The 40 boats in the latest package will join the 18 boats that the US supplied to Kyiv in June. The aid assistance package hasn't detailed the type of riverine boats that will be sent, but six from the previous batch were made by Louisiana-based Metal Shark. Those are now reportedly operating in the Black Sea. Ukraine defiantThe US supplied 10 34-foot Dauntless Sea Ark patrol boats, like those seen above, to Ukraine in June.

☆ After 40 years of safe skies, US special operators have to worry about threats from above, SOCOM commander says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

AP Photo/Efrem LukatskyUkraine's military claims to have shot down over 1,000 Russian drones, but unmanned aerial systems continue to proliferate. Ukraine is also using its fair share of unmanned aerial systems. Special operators vs. dronesA member of the Iraqi federal police with a destroyed drone used by ISIS in Mosul in March 2017. "But now with everything from quad-copters that very small up to very large unmanned aerial vehicles, we won't always have that luxury." DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty ImagesGenerally, US special operators can take out unmanned aerial systems in two ways.

☆ Brace for 'mass attacks' on energy network, Zelenskyy says; Ukraine at risk of running out of air defenses, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine is at risk of running out of air defense weapons and needs the West's urgent help to defend against a tide of cheap Iranian-supplied drones that are targeting its energy infrastructure, according to analysts at the defense and security think tank RUSI. "Further Western support is needed to ensure that Kyiv can counter Moscow's updated approach to the air war in Ukraine," RUSI's defense analysts Justin Bronk, Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds said in a new report Monday, noting Russia's increased use in recent months of cheap Iranian Shahed-136 drones to disable Ukraine's energy networks. Previously, they noted, "Russia's attempts at strategic air attack have been limited to expensive cruise and ballistic missile barrages at a much more limited scale. These failed to achieve strategically decisive damage during the first seven months of the invasion." "However, the latest iteration is a more focused and sustainable bombardment of the Ukrainian electricity grid, blending hundreds of cheap Iranian-supplied Shahed-136 loitering munitions against substations with continued use of cruise and ballistic missiles against larger targets," they said.

☆ Ukraine in danger of running out of air defenses as Russia launches relentless drone attacks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

However, the Iranian government acknowledged for the first time Saturday that it had sent a number of drones to Russia, but insisted this was before Russia invaded Ukraine. The U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley rejected that claim, saying Tehran supplied drones to Russia in the summer. He also warned that Russia needed Iranian missiles for a "possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure." For its part, Ukraine continues to plead for more air defense weapons to help it combat Russian drone and missile attacks. RUSI's analysts agree that Ukraine requires urgent assistance to ensure that "Kyiv can counter Moscow's updated approach to the air war in Ukraine."

☆ America's next main battle tank may be a slimmed-down, high-tech version of the iconic Abrams
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The US military has fielded the Abrams tank for more than 40 years. General Dynamics, which builds the Abrams, recently unveiled an updated version of the M1. The diet M1General Dynamics' AbramsX tank. US soldiers do maintenance on an Abrams tank in Germany in August 2017. "If you keep the armor protection at a very minimal level, that's how we achieve the 60 tons," Reese said.

☆ Iran appears to be using Chinese knock-offs of Western parts to build suicide drones for Russia's war in Ukraine, researchers find
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Iran appears to be using Chinese knock-offs of Western hardware in its suicide drones. According to a new report from the Institute for Science and International Security, these weapons appear to be built using Chinese parts that are based on Western designs. Iran has also designed its own parts that are based on these knock-off Chinese parts. And this Chinese engine is based on a British design. It's also unknown when specific Chinese parts arrived in Iran.

☆ Investigators found Western parts in the Iranian drones Russia has been using to wage war in Ukraine and terrorize its cities
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russian forces have recently been using Iranian-made suicide drones to terrorize Ukrainian cities. Investigators inspecting downed drones have found US and European parts inside of them, The Wall Street Journal reported. Both Russia and Iran have denied the use of such weapons, despite evidence from the West. Iranian-made drones used by Russian forces include the Shahed-136, Shahed-129, Shahed-191, and Qods Mohajer-6. Both Russia and Iran have denied the use of Shahed-136 drones in Ukraine, despite accusations and evidence from Western governments and their intelligence agencies.

☆ EXCLUSIVE At least half of Ukraine's thermal power capacity hit by Russian strikes - minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Max Hunder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Firefighters work to put out a fire in a thermal power plant, damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 18, 2022. I can tell you that it's... at least half of thermal generation capacity, even more," Galushchenko said, when asked about the scale of the damage. Earlier this week towns and cities restricted power supplies and limited electricity use this week so energy companies could repair power facilities hit by a wave of Russian air strikes. He said he saw no signs of progress towards a deal involving Russia, Ukraine and the U.N. nuclear watchdog on resolving the situation at the plant, Europe's biggest nuclear power station. Russian forces have occupied the plant in southern Ukraine since shortly after Moscow's invasion but it is still operated by its Ukrainian staff.

☆ Russia sent people to Iran to learn how to use the suicide drones it's now using to terrorize Ukrainian cities far from the front, US says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian officials previously traveled to Iran to learn how to use suicide drones, the US said this week. This was before Iranian military personnel came to Crimea to train Russian troops, an official said. Russian forces have used Iranian-made suicide drones to terrorize Ukrainian cities in recent weeks. "We assess that Iranian personnel, Iranian military personnel, were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations." Both Moscow and Tehran have denied the use of Iranian-made suicide drones in Ukraine, despite mounting evidence and accusations from Western governments and intelligence agencies.

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