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News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF / OND / OEF / OIR / OFS Casualty Update 18 Aug 2016 [PDF]
• Military Strikes Target ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq AFPS 19 Aug 2016 -- U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
• DoD: Syrian Regime Airstrikes Near Hasakah Put Coalition Forces at Risk AFPS 19 Aug 2016 -- U.S. planes were scrambled yesterday over northeastern Syria after two Syrian air force SU-24 attack planes conducted strikes near Hasakah while coalition forces were conducting operations there as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, Defense Department spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said today.
• Afghan Government Forces Fail to Wrestle Kunduz Province From Taliban Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- Afghanistan's government forces failed to maintain control over most of the northern Kunduz province amid growing Taliban presence in the area, a Kunduz provincial council member said.

Defense Policy / Programs

• USS Louisiana Collision at Sea NNS 19 Aug 2016 -- The ballistic-missile submarine USS Louisiana (SSBN 743) and a U.S. Navy Offshore Support Vessel collided while conducting routine operations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the coast of Washington state on August 18, 2016.
• Navy to Christen Expeditionary Fast Transport Yuma DoD 19 Aug 2016 -- The Navy will christen its newest Expeditionary Fast Transport, USNS Yuma (EPF 8), Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, during a 10 a.m. EDT ceremony, in Mobile, Alabama.
• Marines wrap up Exercise Koolendong 2016 with live fire gas attack USMC News 19 Aug 2016 -- As the dust settled after thousands of rounds of ammunition were shot at targets on the foggy morning of August 18, 2016, Marines celebrated the end of the two week long Exercise Koolendong.
• Pacific Partnership 2016 Arrives in Indonesia NNS 19 Aug 2016 -- Pacific Partnership 2016, embarked aboard hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) arrived in Padang, Indonesia, Aug. 18 for the final mission stop of 2016.
• ESG 7 Commander Visits Bonhomme Richard ESG Ships, Landing Craft During 31st MEU Onload NNS 19 Aug 2016 -- Rear Adm. Marc H. Dalton, commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 7, visited ships of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (BHRESG) over a two-day period while the ships conducted onload of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Aug. 18-19.
• Statement of Cooperation Signing in Australia Aims to Advance Biofuels Development NNS 19 Aug 2016 -- A statement of cooperation between the U.S. Navy and the northeastern state of Queensland was the culmination of a week of Great Green Fleet events in Australia to promote the Navy's energy efficiency and alternative energy initiatives.
• Southern Partnership Station 2016 Doctors Fight Against Zika in Honduras NNS 19 Aug 2016 -- Seven U.S. Navy medical personnel, deployed in support of Southern Partnership Station 2016 (SPS-16) partnered with the Honduran health workers of Operation Blessing to provide preventive medicine education and combat the Zika virus.
• Greener Each Day, Ike Lights the Way NNS 19 Aug 2016 -- The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike) is on its way to a brighter and more energy efficient future. In an effort to go green and make itself the radiant jewel of the Great Green Fleet (GGF) Initiative, Ike has begun the great task of upgrading the 38-year-old Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to LED lighting systems.
• Russia's Aircraft Carrier to Be Repaired by October Before Syria Deployment Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- Repair works of Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier will be completed before the end of September, a Russian defense industry source told RIA Novosti on Friday.
• New Polish Tank Anders Unlikely to Become 'Killer' of Russian Armata Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- Recently Russian media reported that in the near future Poland is planning to seriously bolster the combat capabilities of its armed forces, including the increase in military equipment and weapons.
• Manila Gets First of 10 Patrol Vessels Paid for by Japan as China Rises Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- On Thursday, the Philippines received one of 10 promised Japanese-funded patrol vessels, paid for by an assistance loan aimed at helping the country expand its nautical capacity while in the midst of a territorial conflict with Beijing over the South China Sea.
• Nation's next generation of missiles to be highly flexible People's Daily 19 Aug 2016 -- China's next-generation cruise missiles will be developed based on a modular design, allowing them to be tailor-made for specific combat situations, and will have a high level of artificial intelligence, according to a senior missile designer.
• China set to boslter military support for Syria: Media Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- Media outlets and political analysts view a recent visit by a top Chinese military officer to Syria as a show of support for the Damascus government, which is engaged in heavy anti-terror battles with the help of its allies, including Russia and Iran.
• China holds naval drill in Sea of Japan Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- China has conducted a "routine" naval drill in the Sea of Japan with the participation of missile-equipped warships, a Chinese military publication says.
• Secrets Behind New Chinese Cruise Missiles Revealed Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- The new generation of Chinese cruise missiles will be created using modular construction technology, according to the director of the main department of development of the Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) Wang Changqing.
• Indian Air Force's Most Lethal Fighter Jet Lands Just 100 km From China Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- Pasighat Advanced Landing Ground is a strategic asset and will be one of the operating bases under the Eastern Air Command capable of operating all types of aircraft and helicopters.
• Japan Plans Fighter Drone Development Amid Massive Army Upgrade Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- Japan's massive armed forces upgrade will include the development of an unmanned jet fighter drone.
• Japanese Defense Ministry to Seek Record-High $52Bln Budget in 2017 Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- Japan's Defense Ministry will make a record-high 2017 budget proposal of 5.17 trillion yen ($51.7 billion) in a bid to ensure better protection from perceived threats coming from China and North Korea, local media reported Friday.
• Denmark Agrees to Participate in Removing Chemical Weapons From Libya Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- The Danish parliament approved Friday the governmental proposal for the country to participate in a UN-backed international maritime operation to remove chemical weapons from Libya.

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for August 19, 2016

Other Conflicts

• 19 August 2016 - Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General United Nations 19 Aug 2016
• 'We cannot and will not leave anyone behind,' says UN chief on World Humanitarian Day UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- With a record 130 million people worldwide now dependent on humanitarian assistance, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that though solutions to the crises that plunged these people into such desperate hardship are neither simple nor quick, "there are things we can all do – today, and every day. We can show compassion, we can raise our voices against injustice, and we can work for change."
• Bracing for a Long Road in the South China Sea Dispute VOA 19 Aug 2016 -- This week Chinese state media reported that Beijing is hoping to finalize next year a long-stalled code of conduct for the South China Sea, which could lessen territorial tensions among countries in the region. The official China Daily reported that diplomats representing China and member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) approved a new hotline for maritime emergencies and vowed to complete a draft of the code of conduct by the middle of next year.
• Incessant Saudi airstrikes kill 11 in Yemen Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- Nearly a dozen civilians, including two children, have been killed and several others injured when Saudi military aircraft mounted a raft of fresh airstrikes on various residential areas in crisis-plagued Yemen.
• Yemen forces cut off Saudi supply line Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- Yemen's Ansarullah fighters and allied army units have cut off the main supply route used by invading Saudi Arabian forces between the Aden and Ta'izz provinces in the impoverished country's southwest.
• MSF leaving Yemen after Saudi airstrikes on hospitals Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced that it is evacuating its staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen, saying it cannot get assurances that its hospitals will not be bombed again by Saudi warplanes.
• Russia says ready to support UN proposal for 48-hours ceasefire in Syria's Aleppo People's Daily 19 Aug 2016 -- The United Nations' Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Thursday night he was informed that Russia was ready to support his proposal of a 48-hour ceasefire in order to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian city of Aleppo.
• Photo of boy pulled from rubble reminder of 'unimaginable horrors' Syrian children face - UNICEF UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- The heart breaking photograph of Omran Daqneesh, the little boy sitting alone in an ambulance with his face and body covered in blood and dirt after being pulled from a destroyed building has reminded the world, yet again, of the unimaginable horrors that Syrian children face every day, a spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said today.
• Syrian Kurdish City Becomes Flashpoint as US Scrambles Aircraft to Protect Coalition Troops VOA 19 Aug 2016 -- A city in northeastern Syria has become a flashpoint in the country's civil war as Syrian warplanes attacked Kurdish forces Thursday, and the United States responded by sending in its own aircraft to protect U.S. coalition forces in the area.
• Iraqi forces retake town in Anbar province from Daesh Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- Iraqi government forces have flushed Daesh Takfiri terrorists out of a town in the western province of Anbar, in the latest of a series of victories against the terror group in the past few months.
• 26 more slain in fresh Daesh atrocities against Iraqi civilians Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- More than two dozen Iraqi civilians have lost their lives and scores of others sustained injuries as members of the Takfiri Daesh militant group continue perpetrating crimes against humanity in various parts of the conflict-stricken Arab country.
• Russia 'conducting drill in Crimea' amid tensions with Kiev Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- Russian military forces are engaged in naval and logistical exercises in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry says.
• Putin Criticizes Ukraine At Crimea Security Council Meeting RFE/RL 19 Aug 2016 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has chaired a session of the Security Council in Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
• South Sudan rebel leader safe in neighboring DR Congo: UN Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- South Sudan's rebel leader and former first vice president Riek Machar has fled to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations says.
• Nigeria's military gains against Boko Haram uncover vast humanitarian needs - UN UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- The United Nations refugee agency said today that it is increasingly alarmed at the unfolding situation in north-east Nigeria where the advancing military campaign against Boko Haram has exposed "catastrophic" levels of suffering among a population outside humanitarian reach over months or years.
• Humanitarian Crisis Grips Northeast Nigeria, UN Agency Says VOA 19 Aug 2016 -- A catastrophic humanitarian situation is unfolding in northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamists have displaced nearly 2 million people since 2013, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
• UN disappointed about delay in Somalia elections Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- The UN Security Council has expressed regret about the delay in Somalia's elections, urging the government to hold the parliamentary and presidential votes on the new dates without further postponement.
• Security Council expresses 'regret' over postponed electoral process in Somalia UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- The United Nations Security Council today expressed regret over a postponed timeline for this year's parliamentary and presidential elections in Somalia, calling on all stakeholders to follow the revised 2016 electoral calendar "without further delay."

News Reports

• California Woman Sentenced to 50 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Illegally Export Fighter Jet Engines and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to China US Dept. of Justice 19 Aug 2016-- Wenxia Man, aka Wency Man, 45, of San Diego, was sentenced today to 50 months in prison for conspiring to export and cause the export of fighter jet engines, an unmanned aerial vehicle – commonly known as a drone – and related technical data to the People's Republic of China in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.
• Bulk Data Interception is of 'Vital Utility' to UK Intelligence, Security Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- London considers bulk interception of data to be extremely important for security and intelligence, according to a report.
• Zarif: Joint Commission to discuss US disloyalty to JCPOA IRNA 19 Aug 2016 -- Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Joint Commission will hold a session in near future to discuss US disloyalty to the nuclear deal known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
• US strategies in Mideast have failed, Iran defense minister says Press TV 19 Aug 2016 -- Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan says the Middle East and the entire world are grappling with the consequences of the US interventionist policies, stressing that Washington's strategies have failed in the region.
• Republicans Slam Obama on Cash Payments to Iran VOA 19 Aug 2016 -- Republicans are sharply criticizing the Obama administration over Thursday's revelation that the United States used a cash payment of $400 million to Iran as leverage to ensure the release of a group of American prisoners being held by Tehran.
• Turkey Asks India to Monitor Gulen Supporters Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- Turkish Foreign Minister has asked India to monitor US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen's supporters in India and shut down Gluen-linked organizations, sources in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs told Sputnik on Friday.
• UN experts press Turkey to adhere to human rights obligations despite state of emergency UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- United Nations human rights experts today urged Turkey to uphold its obligations under international human rights law despite the attempted mid-July coup and during the subsequent state of emergency.
• South Korean Warmongers Hell-bent on Arms Build-up KCNA 19 Aug 2016 -- The south Korean puppet warmongers are stepping up the arms build-up for preemptive attack on the DPRK with the U.S. backing.
• US, South Korea must take blame for North's new nuclear move People's Daily 19 Aug 2016 -- North Korea's Atomic Energy Institute on Wednesday claimed that it has reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods removed from a graphite-moderated reactor in a written interview with Japan's Kyodo News.
• North Korea Threatens South Korea Over 'Provocative' War Games Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- North Korea has reacted with fury as the US and South Korea conduct their largest ever military drills along the highly volatile border on the Korean Peninsula.
• North Korean Diplomat Deemed Missing in Moscow Defects to South Korea Sputnik 19 Aug 2016 -- A North Korean diplomat who had been considered missing in Moscow since last month, defected to South Korea, media reported Friday, citing a well-informed source.
• Editorial: China-US relations not to be affected by aggressive speeches in US presidential election People's Daily 19 Aug 2016 -- Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the respective Republican and Democratic nominees for U.S. president, are now deep into the election season. While a number of factors differentiate this election from previous campaigns, one aspect that remains the same is how prominently China has featured in debates and election speeches.
• Chinese, Burmese Leaders Look to Strengthen Ties VOA 19 Aug 2016 -- Myanmar's leader, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, met with Chinese president Xi Jinping Friday to discuss the future of relations between the two countries.
• Former Soviet Citizens Mull Failed Hard-line Coup, a Quarter Century Later VOA 19 Aug 2016 -- Twenty-five years ago, on August 19, 1991, a hard-line group calling itself the State Committee for the State of Emergency (known by its Russian acronym GKChP) announced that it was removing the Soviet Union's reformist president, Mikhail Gorbachev, from power and taking control of the country.
• Report: Trump Aide Did Not Disclose Lobbying For Ukraine's Yanukovych RFE/RL 19 Aug 2016 -- The Associated Press (AP) said it has obtained e-mails showing that a company run by Donald Trump's campaign chairman lobbied for Ukraine's Russian-backed president and did not meet legal requirements that it disclose those activities.
• Ukraine Shows Evidence Of Secret Payments Allegedly Made To Trump Aide RFE/RL 19 Aug 2016 -- Ukrainian authorities have published excerpts from secret accounting ledgers of former President Viktor Yanukovych's political party documenting more than $12.7 million in under-the-table payments that were earmarked for Paul Manafort, who chaired U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign until his resignation on August 19.
• UN rights office urges Ethiopia to ensure independent probe of reported violations in Oromia region UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- Voicing concern over serious human rights violations in the Oromia and Amhara regions of Ethiopia earlier this month, the United Nations human rights chief today urged the Government to ensure access for independent observers to affected areas and to work towards opening up political and democratic reforms.
• Concerned by curbs on free expression in Thailand, UN rights office calls for 'prompt return to civilian rule' UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- The United Nations human rights arm today expressed concern about the mounting constraints on the democratic space in Thailand – calling for a prompt return to civilian rule.
• INTERVIEW: Funding to prevent cholera is crucial to advance development in Haiti - UNICEF's Marc Vincent UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- Earlier today, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke about how the UN system is actively working to develop a package that would provide material assistance and support to those Haitians most directly affected by the outbreak of cholera in the Caribbean nation.
• Citing UN's moral responsibility, Ban pledges support to Haiti in overcoming cholera epidemic UN News 19 Aug 2016 -- Noting that a United States federal appeals court has upheld the United Nations' immunity from a damage claim filed on behalf cholera victims in Haiti, the Organization today said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deeply regrets the "terrible suffering" of the Haitian people and that the UN has a moral responsibility to the support the victims and the country in overcoming the epidemic.
• Ghana Opens Valves at Second Offshore Oil Field VOA 19 Aug 2016 -- Ghana's president John Mahama officially opened the valves Thursday at the country's second offshore field. But there is noticeably less buzz about the project than when Ghana first entered commercial oil production in 2010.