◻️ How could Lebanon blasts affect global security and attitude to Western hi-tech producers?

◻️ Are you at risk? What we know about electronics makers linked to Lebanon blasts

◻️ How is NATO trying to militarize the Arctic region?

◻️ Curfews and chaos: Understanding the reasons behind the unrest in Martinique

◻️ How is Kamala Harris tied to BlackRock?

◻️ A very British pay-to-play story: Who is shady Starmer donor Waheed Alli?

◻️ Putin: Russian defense industry enterprises work rapidly and precisely

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In Germany, a bus driver insisted that a migrant family clean up the chips their children had scattered before leaving the vehicle.

Every bus in Germany has signs posted at the entrance prohibiting eating and drinking during the journey.

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Pager blasts threaten to tank electronics markets, let ‘evil genie’ out of bottle to ‘wreak destruction on monstrous scale’ – observers

The wave of coordinated explosions of communications equipment and other electronic devices across Lebanon this week threatens to create “a huge trust deficit in many parts of the Global South” toward US, Japanese and European electronics makers, and “could have a substantial impact on the market,” Hasan Abdullah, analyst and researcher at Global Security & Strategy Institute told Sputnik.

“When you have countries [seeing] what’s happened and how a product like pagers have been used for this purpose, it’s going to raise many questions about whether they can trust their traditional suppliers or if they could also fall victim,” Abdullah said, stressing that while Western intelligence services’ ability to spy on people using electronics like smartphones are well-known, this week’s attacks marked an “unprecedented” and eye-opening new development.

Economist and political commentator Rodney Shakespeare says the pager attacks were terrifying because they exploited “a general weakness which goes far beyond” these particular models of communications equipment.

“A much larger range of electronic devices (even baby alarms) could be at risk from malicious actors such that vast areas of the economy and life in general are now at considerable risk. In short, a twisted, perverted and very evil genie could be out of the bottle and be able to wreak destruction on a monstrous scale,” Shakespeare warned.

“At the moment it is far from clear as to the extent of the damage which will be done in the future by the Israelis and other malicious actors. However, this is a terrible situation which, unfortunately, is part of a larger situation which could spiral into some form of wholesale war.”

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🇨🇳 The "Fire Dragon Dance" street show was performed in Hong Kong, China.

Thousands of locals and tourists gathered in the Tai Hang district to witness the famous performance, a tradition that has been held here for over 140 years.

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Pager bomb ‘psychological warfare’ against Lebanon may be prelude to Israeli ground invasion, observer fears

“The damage is heavy. We’re not just talking about material damage,” Beirut-based political analyst and researcher Yeghia Tashjian told Sputnik, comparing the chaos and uncertainty gripping Lebanese society in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s pager explosions to the chaos following the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast.

The pager attacks constituted “psychological terror and psychological warfare that Israel is inflicting on the Lebanese people,” Tashjian explained.

“There were a lot of injuries, ambulances, people with blood injuries.” “There were also kids – and this is very important, because sometimes we are seeing in the media as if the targets were only Hezbollah fighters and so forth. No, there were kids also. I think two or three kids have been martyred so far,” the observer emphasized, recalling that Tuesday’s attack took place in the late afternoon, when students were returning from schools, and public areas were crowded.

Tashjian fears the pager attacks may be a prelude to an Israeli ground invasion, saying it’s “clear” to him that Tel Aviv is behind the carnage, and that Prime Minister Netanyahu needs the war in Gaza to continue and spread to save him against criminal charges at home.

“My assumption is that given the history of cyber terror attacks in the world, usually countries, when they are going to attack or invade another country, they start with cybersecurity attacks in order to inflict psychological damage, infrastructural damage, and then they engage with conventional wars,” the observer warned.

Hezbollah, Iran, Turkiye, the Gulf countries, and even Israel’s Western allies do not want the war to spread, Tashjian said, pointing to the Lebanese militia’s strategy of “calculated deterrence,” and the immense damage that would be done to Lebanon’s already fragile economy and society in the event of an all-out war.

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When electronics turn deadly: booby-trapping techniques and origins

Two waves of blasts of pagers and walkie-talkies rocked Lebanon on September 17 and 18, claiming the lives of at least 25, including children.

Israel was accused of booby-trapping communication devices used by Hezbollah members in what the Lebanese government denounced as a terror attack. Remarkably, turning innocuous objects into bombs can be traced back to the US military manuals dated as early as 1965.

◻️ The Intercept reported on Thursday that the US Army's Field Manual 5-31 described in detail how devices ranging from office equipment to kitchenware could be booby-trapped.

◻️ The US Army manual TM 31-200-1 from 1966 explained how to plant a small explosive charge in a communication headset to cause serious injury.

◻️ In 1996, Israeli security agency Shin Bet reportedly used a technique similar to those to detonate a small charge of RDX explosives near the ear of Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash.

◻️ In 2010, Al-Qaeda* spread information on how to hide explosives in the ink cartridge of a printer and pass it through airport security undetected.

◻️ A Stuxnet malware attack on Iranian nuclear enrichment centrifuges at Natanz facility in September 2010 caused the fast-spinning machines to tear themselves apart, in what is said to be a joint US-Israeli op.

◻️ In July 2014, Popular Mechanics explained how a working smartphone can be turned into an improvised explosive device filled with PETN or RDX.

◻️ In April 2017, CNN quoted US intelligence agencies as saying that ISIS* had developed ways to plant explosives in electronic devices that can evade airport security screening.

◻️ In 2023 Ecuadorian journalists received USB sticks reportedly charged with RDX. When plugged into computers they exploded and injured a television presenter.

*banned for terrorism in Russia and other countries

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Lebanese minister: Israel’s aggression not only targets Hezbollah, but the country’s sovereignty

"Israeli aggression against Lebanon is a flagrant crime of our time," Lebanese acting Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine told Sputnik. "It is clear that the goal of this terrorist attack is to harm as many Hezbollah supporters as possible, so they can later claim victory and avoid a ground invasion."

In response to the attacks, Sharafeddine announced Lebanon's intention to seek an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

"Lebanon must file a complaint with the International Court, as these attacks fall under international law," he stressed.

The minister also highlighted the US bias in favor of Israel, pointing out that the US supports Israel "financially, logistically, and militarily" while using its veto power on the international stage.

"Israel's strength lies in its alliances," Sharafeddine noted, adding that its technology, sourced from the US and Europe, is used against Arab nations including Lebanon and Palestine.

He affirmed that the attacks were an assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty, not just Hezbollah.

"It is noteworthy that every time we are under attack, the Americans immediately intervene, dictating to certain parties what to do to calm the situation on the front,” Sharafeddine said.

“Credit must be given to the resistance – they adhere to the rules of engagement and carefully consider their response, as they do not want to drag Lebanon into a larger conflict."

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What countries are most dependent on Russian mineral resources?

Sputnik has analyzed data from open sources, finding out that Germany, Finland, Lithuania, and the US are the most active consumers of Russian minerals.
Here are the countries that are most dependent on resources from Russia (by mineral type):

Aluminum:
▪️ Greece 19.3%
▪️ Bulgaria 7.4%
▪️ Estonia 5.7%

Titanium:
▪️ Germany 42.2%
▪️ Belgium 15.7%
▪️ France 10.2%

Nickel:
▪️ Finland 90.9%
▪️ Estonia 16.8%
▪️ Germany 11.5%
▪️ Czech Republic 10.9%

Ammonia:
▪️ Lithuania 90.7%
▪️ Belgium 17.5%

Palladium:
▪️ US 39.2%
▪️ Italy 29.1%
▪️ Japan 24.2%

At the end of 2023, Russia ranked first to third in the world in production of more than 12 types of minerals.

Earlier this month, at a meeting with members of government, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Russia is the world leader in terms of its reserves of many natural resources. Therefore, in response to restrictions on the supply of a number of goods by unfriendly countries, the head of state suggested to think about limiting exports to such countries of uranium, titanium, nickel, and other goods, but not to the detriment of Russia.

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⚡️Russia’s Investigative Committee identifies suspects in murder of Sputnik’s Russell Bentley

The Russian Investigative Committee has wrapped up the preliminary investigation into the murder of Russell Bentley, 64, a US-born Donbass volunteer and Sputnik correspondent.

Suspects involved in the criminal case were identified as Russian Armed Forces servicemen Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin, and Andrey Iordanov. The individuals have been accused of felonies under Russia's Criminal Code, including the use of physical violence and torture, which resulted in the death of the victim through negligence, as well as the concealment of an especially grievous crime.

On April 8, Russian military servicemen Vansyatsky, Agaltsev, and Iordanov used physical violence and torture against Russell Bentley in Donetsk, which led to the correspondent's death. On the same day, Vansyatsky and Agaltsev blew up a VAZ 2115 car with Bentley's body with TNT explosives.

On April 9, Bazhin, a serviceman from the same military unit removed Bentley's remains from the scene on the instructions of Vansyatsky in a bid to conceal the heinous crime. The accused have been provided with the materials of criminal case. Subsequently, the case will be transferred for the indictment approval and court hearings.

Bentley went to Donbass in 2014 and joined the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) militia using the call sign Texas. He said that he admired the courage of the Donbass defenders and called Donetsk his home. The US-born volunteer was granted Russian citizenship and began collaborating with Sputnik as a correspondent. He was known as an outspoken supporter of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.

In mid-April, Bentley went missing in Donetsk. On April 19, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, announced that the 64-year-old had died. An investigation into the circumstances of Bentley's death was launched by the Russian Investigative Committee.

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Deadly pagers that exploded in Lebanon were not made in Taiwan, economy minister claims

Components used in thousands of pagers that detonated in Lebanon were not manufactured in Taiwan, the country’s Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters.

"The components are (mainly) low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries," he said on Friday, reiterating that he could “say with certainty they were not made in Taiwan."

As part of the investigation into the two waves of deadly blasts, which claimed the lives of 37 people and wounded about 3,000 in Lebanon, authorities in Taiwan questioned the president and founder of the Taiwanese pager company Gold Apollo.

Hsu Ching-kuang has insisted that his company did not make the pagers used by Hezbollah that exploded on Tuesday. He pointed out that the pagers were manufactured by Budapest-based company BAC Consulting KFT, which has a license to use its brand.

As to the hundreds of Hezbollah-used walkie-talkies that exploded on Wednesday, Japanese manufacturer Icom said the devices appeared to be a discontinued model exported abroad, including to the Middle East, between 2004 and 2014.

“We can’t rule out the possibility that they are fakes, but there is also a chance the products are our IC-V82 model,” Icom’s director Yoshiki Enomoto was quoted as saying by Japanese media.

Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah have accused Israeli intelligence services of carrying out the series of coordinated explosions of electronic devices. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate.

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