Israel's 'Iron Dome' contractors reportedly hacked by China

'The Week' 
Three of the defense contractors who built Israel's "Iron Dome," a shield that protects Israel from missiles, have been hacked by China, according to cybersecurity firm Cyber Engineering Services, Inc. (CyberESI).

Krebs on Security reports that "huge quantities" of documents about the Iron Dome's technology were stolen, and more than 700 files in all were compromised. The attacks are reported to have occurred between October 2011 and August 2012, but they had not been publicized prior to this week.
The hackers, who are allegedly members of the China-based "Comment Crew," got into the networks of Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. According to Krebs on Security, "most of the information was intellectual property pertaining to Arrow III missiles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), ballistic rockets, and other technical documents in the same fields of study." The technology used in these documents was created by Boeing, among other contractors, for U.S. weapons.
The Iron Dome "has intercepted about a fifth of more than 2,000 rockets militants have fired at Israel during the current conflict,"Reuters reports, so the consequences of leaked information about the dome's security could be dire.
"The Chinese have been doing that to all defense contractors in the West, so if this really happened, we are not alone," Uzi Rubin, former head of missile defense at Israel's Defense Ministry, told Reuters. "If the Chinese really did it, maybe we shall see a Chinese 'Iron Dome' in the future."

15 suspected Eritrean illegal immigrants arrested at M4 services near Reading, England

By Get Reading 
Police arrested 10 men and two women, and three males believed to be minors were taken into social services care
A group of 15 suspected illegal immigrants from the African nation of Eritrea were arrested at the M4 services near Reading.
Police arrested 10 men and two women, aged between 22 and 29, at the services on Friday, July 25.
Four of the men and both women remain in custody pending questioning by immigration officers. The other six men have been placed on immigration bail while their cases are progressed.
Three males, believed to be minors, were taken into social services care after being age assessed.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We work closely with police to tackle illegal immigration.
“Where someone is found to have no legal right to remain in the UK we will take action to remove them.”



Eritrea is located on the horn of Africa, north of Ethiopia and south west of the Red Sea, with a population of around 5.6 million.

Why is Obama hosting African dictators?

By Dula Abdu 
About to become a lame duck President, Obama is holding a roundtable discussion on Africa with African leaders. I guess better late than never. It is scheduled to be held on August 5-6 in Washington, D.C. Many of the African leaders bring lots of baggage of crony capitalism, anti-Gay legislation, corruption, abuse of human rights, simply absolute lack of rule of law.
For example, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and his party have been in power for the last 23 years, and their legacy is dreadful, as Ethiopia is ranked the second poorest and second sickest country in the world, where over 70% of the population goes hungry on daily basis. The primary reason for the dreadful situation is government control of the economy.
Like North Korea, the regime controls everything, spies on everybody, at the village level as well as via the Internet, even though less than 1% of the people have Internet access. Like North Korea, the state controls all the land, telecommunication, Internet, mining, banking, and major industries directly or through cronies.
In Ethiopia, like in North Korea, there is no freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, no free or fair election, no property rights, and simply no rule of law when it comes to the majority of the citizens. The ruling party representing less than 6% of the population like the old Apartheid regime rules through its private and ethnic army and cronies.
African leaders democrats, and dictators like Mr. Desalegn are coming to the USA under the invitation of President Obama for a roundtable discussion on Africa. It would have been more natural to invite only those countries respecting and applying democratic principles. Furthermore, winning and dinning with African dictators will mean nothing unless President Obama has a concrete plan and he can make it stick.

For example, he can propose a Marshall Plan for Africa like the way Truman did for Europe. He can prompt African leaders to spend less on the military, because the armies are primarily used to keep the one party dictatorship, and spend more on education, 

technology, and economic development. Adopt a common language, privatize the economy, end corruption, respect human and property rights, rule of law, and form a stronger economic and political union.

Raging ethnic and religious tension are primarily fueled by lack of hope and oppression. The primary culprit for the hopeless situation, the dictators thrive and survive with U.S. support and largesse. Some will go by the wayside without massive Western aid. This gives President Obama tremendous leverage to promote democratic and economic reform in the continent. For example, the rabid anti-Muslim and anti-homosexual government of Ethiopia lead by Mr. Desalegn was forced last March by Washington to rescind an anti-homosexual legislation ( Homosexuality-non pardonable) that he orchestrated through his rubber-stamped parliament.
The Ethiopian regime pretended for long for things that it is not in order to earn respect and foreign aid. The Ethiopian regime spends huge sums of money to make sure the West does not notice the cruel and evil system and to portray the regime incorrectly anti-terrorist and democratic.
Azusa Pacific University Board unanimously withdrew a plan to award an honorary degree to Mr. Desalegn on July 31 because of gross human rights violations by his regime (university-withdraws-honor). In 2003, Texas Southern University canceled a planned event with an Ethiopian government delegation for similar reason.
President Obama can rise to the challenge if he dared too. Pushing democratic values and free market economic development strategies are critical. President Truman provided a lifeline to a devastated Europe and created strong democratic allies for the U.S. The total cost for the Marshall Plan from 1948-1952 was $13.3 billion. President Obama has the option to embark on a similar, bold political and economic agenda for Africa, while opening a huge market three times that of Europe for American businesses.
The blogger, Dula Abdu, can be reached at dula06@gmail.com (article was adopted from previous articles from similar topics).

Hailemariam Desalegn got “F” for Communication

by Abebe Gellaw

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a critical commentary on the incompetence of the accidental Prime Minister of Ethiopia. However, some apologists of the tyrannical TPLF regime shouted that my commentary on Puppet Hailemariam Desalegn (PHD) was an unsubstantiated attack against the ceremonial PM.

As a follow-up, Addis Voice has produced a well-substantiated parody that exposes PHD’s incompetence and confusion in collaboration with American language and communications expert, J Davidson. Mr. Davidson has analysed publicly available speeches of PHD, the frequent errors he makes and the messages he tries hard to convey to the world in English.

“After considering a number of criteria, I have to give him a big F in communication skills,” he said.

It is very evident that the TPLF regime is facing deep leadership crisis. After PHD, the regime remains leaderless. Puppet Hailemariam Desalegn (PHD) is only following the orders of his dozens of TPLF bosses rather than leading the pack.

Despite being propped up by three deputy Prime Ministers and a dozen of “advisers” like Bereket Simon and Abay Tsehaye that pull the strings of control on him behind the scene, PHD is still fragile and weak. His incompetence, shallowness, opportunism and confusion is too evident to miss whenever he appears in public.

There is a big difference between a puppet and a leader. Unlike puppets, leaders are not made. Because leadership requires exceptionally inherent qualities, it is said that leaders are rather born, not made. Real leaders that can command respect and admiration have exceptional communication prowess. As the American author and presidential speechwriter said: “The art of communication is the language of leadership.”

“If I were him, I would certainly use an interpreter. He certainly has no command of the English language, which is obviously an international language. Instead of expressing himself clearly, he is miscommunicating with the world,” he said.

Addis Voice invite you to watch the video and judge for yourself. Ethiopia is being led by incompetent demagogues under the leadership of a clueless puppet. The TPLF regime is a total joke.