World News News - Page 7

A hydraulic issue is believed to have caused the plane to careen off the runway and crash.

At about 1:30 pm EDT (5:30 pm UTC) on Thursday, April 7th, a DHL Boeing 757-2A cargo plane attempted an emergency landing at Costa Rica's San Jose Juan Santamaria International Airport, according to initial reports. Footage shows the plane touching down before turning sharply, deviating off the runway, and crashing into a nearby ditch.

"A few minutes ago at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (Costa Rica), a #DHL Boeing 757 Freighter made an emergency landing. Last report between pilots and control tower, indicates failure in the hydraulic system," wrote Aviacion Guayaquil in a translated tweet.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced its targeting Russian "botnets", while also warning the Kremlin that it doesn't matter "how far you sail your yachts".

The announcement of a Russian botnet being brought down happened on Wednesday and came from US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who said that the DOJ and assisting government agencies such as Homeland Security, and the FBI had dismantled a botnet created by the Sandworm hacker group, which had ties to Russia's military and intelligence agency.

The group of hackers created a system that distributed malware called "Cyclops Blink" to thousands of networking devices that WatchGuard Technologies and ASUSTek Computer constructed. Notably, the group that was tasked with bringing the operation down was able to hack into the botnet's main system and take control of all infected devices.

Western countries have been slapping Russia and its most wealthy individuals with sanctions that have resulted in million-dollar assets being seized by authorities.

It was only earlier this week that Spanish authorities seized a massive $120 million superyacht through US sanctions imposed on Russian oligarch businessman Viktor Vekselberg. Now, an exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has spoken out about the sanctions imposed on Russia and its elite individuals and if they have impeded Russian President Vladimir Putin's motivation on invading Ukraine.

According to Khodorkovsky, who is the former CEO of Russian oil giant Yukos, the sanctions from the West won't be enough to stop Putin's invasion into Ukraine, and instead, there needs to be a "consistent policy of force". Notably, Khodorkovsky said that the oligarchs that have had sanctions thrown at them are "just Putin's footmen" and that "Putin has said from the very beginning that this war includes them." The exiled oligarch also called on the US to make a "moral statement" if it wants to be a "moral leader."

A recent report from Allied Market Research estimates that the global nuclear bombs and missiles market will grow significantly over the decade.

The analysis notes that in 2020, the global market for these weapons was valued at $72.64 billion. By 2030, it is projected to reach $126.34 billion, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4% from 2021 to 2030. Weapons carried by aircraft bombers are projected to see the biggest market increase, followed by submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

"Delayed gathering and establishment of treaties to limit nuclear expansion and increase in tension across the globe have supported the market. The major factor hampering business opportunities within the nuclear bombs and missiles market is a temporary reallocation of budgets due to COVID-19," the analysts wrote.

Ukraine intelligence that pies given to Russian soldiers by local Ukrainians have killed at least two Russian troops and have injured 28 more.

Kyiv pies.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defence Intelligence announced on Saturday that local residents of the Izium district that's located in the Kharkiv region, have "treated" Russian soldiers with poisoned pies. "As a result, two occupiers died at once, another 28 were taken to the intensive care unit. Their current state is being clarified."

A US defense official has revealed that the US secretly tested a powerful hypersonic missile in mid-March and kept it a secret from Russia to avoid escalating tensions.

US Air Force B-52 bomber.

According to a report from CNN, the defense officials familiar with the matter said that the US tested the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) from a B-52 bomber at a location on the West Coast of the US. The HAWC missile is designed to compress incoming air that is then mixed with hydrocarbon fuel and ignited. The ignited missile is then propelled forward at even greater speeds than it was already traveling, reaching up to five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).

The video shows a Russian Mi-28 helicopter being shot down in Ukraine on April 1st, 2022.

The video appears to show the use of the Starstreak high-velocity missile system, which was confirmed by the U.K. Ministry of Defence to The London Times. The helicopter is struck by three projectiles, characteristic of the payload fired by the Starstreak missile system. Starstreak is a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) developed by Thales Air Defense and has been in use since 1997.

Starstreak has a range of four miles (6.4 kilometers) and can fire missiles that reach velocities exceeding Mach 4, making it the fastest short-distance missile on Earth. The missile carries two motors, the first of which burns out before exiting the tube it is fired from to protect the operator, while the second ignites once the missile travels approximately 13 feet (4 meters).

A US satellite company has captured a haunting aerial image of a mass grave site in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

Photographed on March 31.

The satellite images were captured by Maxar Technologies' WorldView-3 satellite, which has photographed several locations across Ukraine and even showed Russia's military advancement towards Kyiv. Now, the Worldview-3 satellite has been used to photograph on March 31, a newly created makeshift graveyard built on the grounds of the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints.

Reports have alleged that Russian forces are using landmines to target soldiers in Ukraine.

Landmines are currently prohibited in combat under the United Nations Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, otherwise known as the Ottawa Treaty. The convention was instated in 1997, with over 150 countries signing on, including Ukraine. However, Russia was not one of them.

The landmine in use by Russia is the POM-3 "Medallion" landmine, a supposedly "smart" landmine that can only target soldiers and not civilians. Their restricted targeting is allegedly due to specialized seismic sensors used to activate them. Members of a non-governmental organization (NGO) known as the Ukrainian Deminers Association have located mines in Ukraine that are known to be in Russia's arsenal.

The Kremlin has reportedly decided to pull Russian forces out of the Chernobyl region, likely due to radiation threats.

According to the Ukrainian state agency, which manages the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Russian soldiers are being transported by bus to the Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel. The soldiers are being taken from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone after becoming "irradiated," according to Yaroslav Yemelianenko, the CEO of Chornobyl Tour.

"There are rules for dealing with this area. They are mandatory because radiation is physics - it works without regard to status or shoulder straps. With minimal intelligence in command or soldiers, these consequences could have been avoided," Yemelianenko wrote on Facebook.