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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports
COVID-19 Pandemic News

Current Operations

• Iraq clears protest barriers after massive anti-US rallies Press TV 25 Jan 2020 -- Iraqi security forces have cleared concrete blocks from main protest sites in Baghdad and Basra, which a group of rioters had used to disrupt normal life.
• Iraqi Protest Camps Burned and Broken, but Not Beaten VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- As Baghdad darkened Friday evening, teenage boys carrying shields made of barrels cut in half charged into a growing crowd. Riot police were moving forward across a bridge, pushing back protesters with gunfire and tear gas. Smoke from burning tires curled into the night.
• 34 U.S. troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after Iran's attack People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- Thirty-four U.S. troops had been diagnosed with concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of the Iranian missile attack on U.S. military base in Iraq earlier this month, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Defense Policy / Programs

• HSC-5 Returns from Deployment NNS 25 Jan 2020 -- Sailors assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Five (HSC-5) the "Nightdippers" returned from deployment on Jan. 24 following their nearly ten-month deployment as part of Carrier Air Wing Seven (CVW-7) assigned aboard the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).
• Crew Safe After U.S. Navy Helicopter Goes Down in Philippine Sea NNS 25 Jan 2020 -- Five aircrew were rescued after their MH-60S helicopter went down in the Philippine Sea Jan. 25. Three were transported by a Japanese helicopter to Naval Hospital Okinawa for evaluation.
• Vietnam Explores Increasing Foreign Military Cooperation to Resist China VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- Vietnam indicates in a recent defense white paper it will pursue stronger military ties abroad as China challenges its maritime sovereignty claims, and analysts expect that to mean more exercises with Western-leaning foreign powers and brisker purchases of foreign weapons.
• U.S. delivers MD-530F helicopters to Kenya Defense Force AFRICOM 25 Jan 2020 -- The U.S. delivered six MD-530F Cayuse Warrior helicopters to the Kenya Army's Joint Helicopter Command at Embakasi Barracks during a handover ceremony Jan. 23.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• Turkey urges more support from Europe to assist displaced Syrians People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged European countries on Friday to take on their share of providing support for displaced Syrians.
• Syrian Army Liberates 3 Villages in Idlib Province, Combating Militants in Aleppo – Reports Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- Syrian government troops have liberated three villages in the northern province of Idlib, and are also fighting militants in the province of Aleppo, media reported.
• Libyan state oil firm says output down 75% due to blockade imposed by Haftar's militia Press TV 25 Jan 2020 -- Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) says its oil production has plunged by 75 percent since forces loyal to the country's military strongman Khalifa Haftar laid siege to oil fields a week ago.
• Myanmar army shells Rohingya village, kills two women Press TV 25 Jan 2020 -- Myanmar troops have shelled a Rohingya village, killing two women, one pregnant, and injuring seven people, only two days after the UN's highest court ordered the country to protect the minority.
• UN Urges Calm After Deadly Attack in Disputed Abyei Border Area Between Sudan and South Sudan VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- The United Nations is condemning the deadly attack on a village in the disputed oil-rich area of Abyei between Sudan and South Sudan Wednesday. It is calling for calm in the wake of the attack by armed gunmen, which left dozens dead and scores injured.
• India Restores Some Internet in Kashmir After Nearly Six Months VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- Nearly six months after India imposed a communications blackout in Indian Kashmir, internet services were partially restored on Saturday, but the region's seven million residents will still have no access to social media.

News Reports

• Trump's Lawyers Defend Him at Senate Impeachment Trial VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- U.S. President Donald Trump's legal team gave opening statements Saturday in the Senate after House managers wrapped up three days of arguments in Trump's historic impeachment trial.
• Schiff to Senate Republicans: 'You know you can't trust' Trump Press TV 25 Jan 2020 -- US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lead House impeachment manager, has said that President Donald Trump must be removed from office because "you know you can't trust" him "to do what's right for this country."
• Funny Money Or Savvy Investing? Critics Want Answers About Source Of Russian PM's Wealth RFE/RL 25 Jan 2020 -- It is a notorious Russian comedy that has been playing now for decades.
• Kremlin Denies Top Aide Surkov Stepping Down RFE/RL 25 Jan 2020 -- The Kremlin has denied reports that a longtime key aide to President Vladimir Putin is stepping down.
• Iran can enrich uranium at any level: AEOI official Press TV 25 Jan 2020 -- A senior official at Iran's nuclear organization (AEOI) says the country is capable of enriching uranium up to whatever level of purity, and would do so if required to.
• Zarif Says Iran Jailed Person Who Downed Ukrainian Passenger Plane Over Tehran Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- The Iranian man who shot down the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 passenger plane near Tehran's airport is in prison, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.
• 9th Anniversary of Egypt's Revolution Marked Without Fanfare VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- The anniversary of Egypt's January 25 revolution, which swept veteran Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011, is being observed in a fairly low-key manner. Most Egyptians were given that day off and the government celebrated the role of the country's police in maintaining order.
• Lukashenka Accuses Moscow Of Pressuring Belarus Into Russian Merger RFE/RL 25 Jan 2020 -- Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has accused Moscow of pressuring his country to merge with Russia and he vowed he would never let it happen.

COVID-19 Pandemic News

• Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation report - 05 WHO 25 January 2020
• Wuhan pneumonia a wake-up call for basic Chinese research People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- Science magazine published an article entitled "China's Missed Chance" in July 2003, arguing China lost an opportunity to show "growing scientific prowess" due to the lack of swift medical measures to bring SARS under control. Some 17 years later, does China have enough scientific strength to cope with the Wuhan pneumonia confidently and efficiently?
• Chinese vice premier urges transparency in battle against coronavirus People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan has called for transparency and a sense of urgency in the "tough battle" against the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan City, central China's Hubei Province.
• Report: China's Xi Holds Politburo Meeting to Address 'Grave Situation' With Coronavirus VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping called a politburo meeting Saturday to discuss ways to contain the deadly coronavirus, declaring the country is facing a "grave situation," state television reported. The meeting took place as the new virus stopped all Lunar New Year celebrations for tens of millions of Chinese.
• UN heath agency: Time is now to 'act as one' in fighting infectious coronavirus UN News 25 Jan 2020 -- Following confirmed cases of the Novel coronavirus in Europe, the United Nations health agency released a statement on the need for the international community to work together as one to combat the infectious disease.
• Live Animal Markets Worldwide Can Spawn Diseases, Experts Say VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- The virus that has caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of illnesses worldwide emerged from a market in Wuhan, China, that sold live food animals, including some animals caught in the wild, according to Chinese authorities.
• Concerns Grow About Coronavirus Challenge VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has earned the praise of U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed 41 people and sickened more than 1,200. The disease has spread to about 15 countries, including the United States, France and Canada.
• Coronavirus Outbreak Raises Health, Economic Concerns in Asia VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- Southeast Asia's proximity to China and dependence on that nation for a major share of its economy is raising concerns that the coronavirus outbreak that started there will not only have health impacts but harm the region's economies.
• Scared, Angry and Locked Down, Wuhan Residents Speak Up VOA 25 Jan 2020 -- Wuhan enjoys a reputation as a transport and manufacturing hub at the confluence of the Han and Yangtze rivers. Often compared to Chicago in the United States, Wuhan is best known today as the center of an outbreak of a deadly coronavirus, the first city locked down by Chinese authorities intent on containing the spreading pneumonia-like illness. Here are comments from Wuhan residents collected by VOA's Mandarin Service. The names used are those chosen by the speakers.
• Taiwan extends highest travel warning to Hubei over epidemic CNA 25 Jan 2020 -- Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control on Saturday extended its highest travel warning to China's Hubei province due to concerns over a coronavirus epidemic that originated in the provincial capital of Wuhan.
• Tours to China halted amid deadly virus outbreak CNA 25 Jan 2020 -- Taiwan's Tourism Bureau has notified travel agencies to suspend their tours to China after Beijing ordered a halt to inbound and outbound group tours amid the outbreak of a deadly respiratory virus in that country.
• China motivates to help Wuhan fight deadly pneumonia Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- China is motivating itself and striving to support Wuhan, the epicenter of novel pneumonia, reflecting the advantages of the country's socialist system, which had also occurred in previous national campaigns in overcoming huge crises.
• China's Wuhan to build another SARS treatment-model hospital Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- Wuhan, the center of a coronavirus outbreak in central China, will build a second SARS treatment-model makeshift hospital and put it into use in half a month, local authorities said Saturday.
• China beefs up novel coronavirus prevention with temperature screening at more railway stations Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- Temperature screening checkpoints have been set up in 387 Chinese railway stations by Saturday morning as local railway authority strengthened prevention measures to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
• Coronavirus cases rise to at least 1355; death toll hits 41 Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- Chinese health authorities announced that at least 1, 355 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) had been reported in the country as of 5:40 pm Beijing time on Saturday.
• China steps up public transport coronavirus quarantine Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- China has ramped up quarantine measures on public transport by demanding the immediate isolation and transfer to the nearest observation stations of coronavirus infected patients on board.
• China sends military medics to Wuhan Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- China has sent 450 military medical staff, including professionals who have experience in the fight against SARS or Ebola, to the novel coronavirus hardest-hit city of Wuhan.
• Palace Museum, Great Wall, Shanghai Disneyland closed over virus concern Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- The Palace Museum, Juyongguan section of Great Wall, and Shanghai Disneyland shut its doors today, the first day of Spring Festival, due to concerns over the novel coronavirus.
• CPC leadership meets to discuss novel coronavirus prevention, control People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Saturday held a meeting on the prevention and control of the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.
• Multiple countries take measures to contain novel coronavirus People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- Multiple countries have rolled out measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus that caused an outbreak in Wuhan, a city in central China.
• Malaysia confirms 3 cases of novel coronavirus People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- Malaysian authorities said on Saturday that first three cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed in the southern Johor state bordering Singapore.
• 1,230 medical workers to assist Wuhan amid coronavirus epidemic PLA Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- The National Health Commission has set up six medical teams with a total of 1,230 personnel to assist in the response to the novel coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province on Saturday.
• Reinforcements sent to virus-hit city on holiday eve PLA Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- On Friday night, the eve of the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year that features family reunions, medical staff from three military medical universities and their affiliated hospitals of the People's Liberation Army were headed to Wuhan to fight the pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus there.
• Iran says suspected coronavirus case tested negative Press TV 25 Jan 2020 -- Iranian health authorities have dismissed reports that a new coronavirus outbreak that began in China and infected thousands of people, including some in other parts of the world, has spread to the country.
• Canada Registers First Case of Wuhan Coronavirus - Reports Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- An outbreak of previously unknown pneumonia was initially registered in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, and since then, it has spread to several countries in the Asia-Pacific region and even reached the United States and Europe.
• Death Toll From Coronavirus in China Reaches 56, Over 300 New Cases Registered – Report Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- An outbreak of previously unknown pneumonia, later identified to be caused by a new strain of coronavirus, was registered in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, in late December.
• Three Doctors Infected With New Coronavirus in Beijing – Reports Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- Three medics in Beijing have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus strain, as the number of confirmed cases in China continues to rise, the Chinese People's Daily (Renmin Ribao) newspaper reports.
• US to Begin Evacuating Citizens From Coronavirus Epicentre Wuhan on Sunday – Reports Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- United States authorities will organise a charter flight on Sunday to evacuate citizens from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of an outbreak of a new form of coronavirus that has already claimed the lives of 41 people, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing a source familiar with the operation.
• China's Virus-Hit City of Wuhan to Get Goods Supplies Via 24/7 'Green Corridors' - Reports Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- China's Commerce Ministry has created a special mechanism of "green corridors" to ensure direct supplies of basic goods to the central city of Wuhan, which has been on lockdown over a deadly coronavirus outbreak, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.
• China reports 1,287 confirmed cases of new coronavirus pneumonia, 41 deaths Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- Chinese health authorities announced on Saturday that 1, 287 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) had been reported in 29 provincial-level regions in the country by the end of Friday.
• Confirmed cases of new coronavirus pneumonia rise to 5 in Hong Kong Global Times 25 Jan 2020 -- Hong Kong has reported three more cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to five.
• China reports 1,287 confirmed cases of new coronavirus pneumonia, 41 deaths People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- Chinese health authorities announced Saturday that 1,287 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), including 237 in critical conditions, had been reported in the country by the end of Friday.
• China sends military medics to Wuhan People's Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- China has sent 450 military medical staff, including professionals who have experience in the fight against SARS or Ebola, to the novel coronavirus hardest-hit city of Wuhan.
• PLA logistics support troops join nation's fight against new coronavirus pneumonia PLA Daily 25 Jan 2020 -- The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force (JLSF) held a teleconference on Wednesday to study and implement the important instructions of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Military Commission (CMC) and CMC Chairman Xi Jinping, make comprehensive deployment of prevention and control work of the pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
• China's Virus Toll Surges As France, Australia Report First Cases RFE/RL 25 Jan 2020 -- The death toll and infected rate from the Wuhan coronavirus in China has increased dramatically, while the first cases have been reported in countries as widespread as France and Australia, leading health authorities around the globe scrambling to prevent a pandemic.
• Malaysia Confirms Three Cases of Coronavirus - Health Minister Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- The deadly coronavirus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, and later spread to several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, while cases of infection have also been registered in the United States and France.
• Doctor Dies From Coronavirus in China's Hubei Province - Reports Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- An outbreak of previously unknown pneumonia originated in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei province, and has so far claimed the lives of at least 41 Chinese citizens.
• First Confirmed Case of Coronavirus Registered in Australia - Health Officials Sputnik 25 Jan 2020 -- An unknown type of pneumonia, later identified as a new strain of coronavirus, originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, in late December and since then, has reached several other countries.