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The Best Movies on Netflix in India [February 2020]

In its efforts to win Oscars and please its 167 million members, Netflix has been pouring billions into movies recently, including projects from or featuring the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Martin Scorsese, and Michael Bay. One of those — The Irishman — racked up 10 nominations for the streaming service at the 2020 Oscars, though it failed to come away with a single prize. Netflix has also expanded its film efforts in India in the past year, announcing projects from the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar. For now though, the strength of its catalogue is still the acquisitions. With over 3,500 movies, Netflix offers more choices than any other platform in India. To pick the best movies on Netflix, we relied on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb ratings to create a shortlist. The last of them was preferred for Indian films given the shortfalls of reviews aggregators in that department. Additionally, we used our own editorial judgement to add or remove a few. This list will be updated once every few months if there are any worthy additions or if some movies are removed from the service, so bookmark this page and keep checking in. Here are the best films currently available on Netflix in India, sorted alphabetically. 12 Monkeys (1995) Inspired by the 1962 French short La Jetée, a prisoner (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to learn more about the virus that wiped out nearly all of humanity. Terry Gilliam directs. 12 Years A Slave (2013) Duped into slavery on the account of a job, Steve McQueen's adaptation of a free New York black man's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) 19th-century memoir is an incredible true story, and an important watch. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) In Stanley Kubrick's highly-influential sci-fi film, humanity charts a course for Jupiter with the sentient computer HAL 9000, to understand the discovery of a black monolith affecting human evolution. It's less plot, and more a visual and aural experience.

3 Idiots (2009) In this satire of the Indian education system's social pressures, two friends recount their college days and how their third long-lost musketeer (Aamir Khan) inspired them to think creatively and independently in a heavily-conformist world. Co-written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands accused in the #MeToo movement. 50/50 (2011) Inspired by a true story, a 27-year-old radio journalist (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is diagnosed with spinal cancer and learns the value of friendship and love as he battles the rare disease. Aamir (2008) Adapted from the 2006 Filipino film Cavite, a young Muslim NRI doctor (Rajeev Khandelwal) returning from the UK to India is forced to comply with terrorists' demands to carry out a bombing in Mumbai after they threaten his family. American History X (1998) In a film that's more relevant today than when it was made, a neo-Nazi white supremacist (Edward Norton), who served three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same path. American Hustle (2013) In the late 1970s, two con artists (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) are forced to work for an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) and set up a sting operation that plans to bring down several corrupt politicians and members of the Mafia. Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner star alongside. Andaz Apna Apna (1994) Two slackers (Aamir Khan and Salman Khan) who belong to middle-class families vie for the affections of an heiress, and inadvertently become her protectors from a local gangster in Rajkumar Santoshi's cult comedy favourite. Andhadhun (2018) Inspired by the French short film L'Accordeur, this black comedy thriller is the story of a piano player (Ayushman Khurrana) who pretends to be visually-impaired and is caught in a web of twists and lies after he walks into a murder scene. Tabu, Radhika Apte star alongside. Apollo 13 (1995) Ron Howard dramatises the aborted Apollo 13 mission that put the astronauts in jeopardy after an on-board explosion ate up all the oxygen and forced NASA to abort and get the men home safely. Argo (2012) Ben Affleck directs and stars in this film about a CIA agent posing as a Hollywood producer scouting for location in Iran, in order to rescue six Americans during the US hostage crisis of 1979. Article 15 (2019) Ayushmann Khurrana plays a cop in this exploration of casteism, religious discrimination, and the current socio-political situation in India, which tracks a missing persons' case involving three teenage girls of a small village. A hard-hitting, well-made movie, though ironically, it was criticised for being casteist itself, and providing an outsider's perspective. The Avengers (2012) Earth's mightiest heroes — including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk — come together in this groundbreaking Marvel team-up from writer-director Joss Whedon to stop Thor's adopted brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his alien army from subjugating mankind.

The Aviator (2004) With Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, Martin Scorsese dives into the life of the aviation pioneer and film producer, who grapples with severe OCD while his fame grows. Awakenings (1990) Robin Williams and Robert De Niro lead the cast of this drama based on a 1973 memoir of the same name, about a doctor (Williams) who discovers the beneficial effects of a drug on catatonic patients, thereby gifting them a new lease on life. Barfi! (2012) Set in the 1970s amidst the hills of Darjeeling, writer-director Anurag Basu tells the tale of three people (Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, and Ileana D'Cruz) as they learn to love while battling the notions held by society. Beasts of No Nation (2015) With civil war raging across a fictional African nation, this Netflix Original focuses on a young boy who's trained as a child soldier by a fierce warlord (Idris Elba), and the effects it has on him. Before Sunrise (1995) In the first chapter of Richard Linklater's long-drawn-out trilogy, two idealistic twentysomethings, an American man (Ethan Hawke) and a French woman (Julie Delpy), spend the night together walking around in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The Big Lebowski (1998) A guy known as The Dude (Jeff Bridges) seeks payback for his ruined carpet after he's mistaken for a millionaire with the same name in this crime comedy from the Coen brothers. Less about the plot and more about a way of living. The Big Short (2015) Starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt, a look at Wall Street's penchant for self-profit in a vicious loop that caused the 2007–08 global financial meltdown. Birdman (2014) Alejandro G. Iñárritu won three Oscars including Best Picture for this tale of a washed-up superhero actor (Michael Keaton) who struggles to revive his career with a Broadway play. Known for appearing as if it was shot in a single take, it also starred Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, and Emma Stone. Blade Runner (1982) One of the most influential cyberpunk films ever made is about a burnt-out cop (Harrison Ford) who reluctantly agrees to hunt down a group of fugitive “replicants”, synthetic humans with a limited life-span who aren't allowed to live on Earth. Blue Valentine (2010) Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams lead this drama that shifts between time periods to depict a couple's courtship and how their marriage fell apart. Das Boot (1981) One of the most authentic war movies ever made chronicles the life of a German submarine crew during World War II, as they go through long stretches of boredom and periods of intense conflict, while trying to maintain morale in a capsule 10 feet by 150 feet hundreds of metres under the surface. The Bourne trilogy (2002-07) Technically not a trilogy, but the first three chapters — Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum — starring Matt Damon in the lead as the titular CIA assassin suffering from amnesia were so good that they changed the longest-running spy franchise of all-time: James Bond.

The Breadwinner (2017) This animated film follows a 11-year-old girl living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, who disguises herself as a boy to provide for her family after the father is taken away without reason. Uses wonderfully-drawn vignettes to stress on the importance of storytelling. Bulbul Can Sing (2019) Three teenagers battle patriarchy and the moral police as they explore their sexual identities in Rima Das's National Award-winning drama — and pay for it dearly. Das writes, directs, shoots, edits, and handles costumes. C/o Kancharapalem (2018) Set in the eponymous Andhra Pradesh town, this Telugu film spans four love stories across religion, caste, and age — from a schoolboy to a middle-aged unmarried man. A debut for writer-director Venkatesh Maha, featuing a cast mostly made up of non-professional actors. Capernaum (2018) In the award-winning, highest-grossing Arabic film of all time, a 12-year-old from the slums of Beirut recounts his life leading up to a five-year sentence he's handed for stabbing someone, and in turn, his decision to sue his parents for child neglect. Captain Phillips (2013) The true story of a Somali pirate hijacking of a US cargo ship and its captain (Tom Hanks) being taken hostage, which spawns a rescue effort from the US Navy. The Bourne Ultimatum's Paul Greengrass directs. Cast Away (2000) After his plane crash-lands in the Pacific, a FedEx employee (Tom Hanks) wakes up on a deserted island and must use everything at his disposal and transform himself physically to survive living alone. Castle in the Sky (1986) In the first film officially under the Studio Ghibli banner, a young boy and a girl protect a magic crystal from pirates and military agents, while on the search for a legendary floating castle. Hayao Miyazaki writes and directs. Chupke Chupke (1975) Hrishikesh Mukherjee's remake of the Bengali film Chhadmabeshi, in which a newly-wedded husband (Dharmendra) decides to play pranks on his wife's (Sharmila Tagore) supposedly smart brother-in-law. Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan also star. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Set in a near-future dystopian Britain, writer-director Stanley Kubrick adapts Anthony Burgess' novel of the same name, commenting on juvenile delinquency through the eyes of a small gang leader who enjoys "a bit of the old ultra-violence". Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Steven Spielberg's slow-paced sci-fi pic — which spent several years in development, being rewritten over and over — is about an everyday blue-collar guy (Richard Dreyfuss) whose humdrum life turns upside down after an encounter with an unidentified flying object (UFO).

Cold War (2018) Jumping either side of the Iron Curtain through the late 1940s to the 1960s, Oscar-winner Paweł Pawlikowski depicts the story of two star-crossed lovers, as they deal with Stalinism, rejection, jealousy, change, time — and their own temperaments. Company (2002) Inspired the real-life relationship between Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, director Ram Gopal Varma offers a look at how a henchman (Vivek Oberoi) climbs up the mobster ladder and befriends the boss (Ajay Devgn), before they fall out. Dallas Buyers Club (2013) Refusing to accept a death sentence from his doctor after being diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980s, the true story of an electrician and hustler (Matthew McConaughey) who smuggles banned medications from abroad. Dangal (2016) The extraordinary true story of amateur wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan) who trains his two daughters to become India's first world-class female wrestlers, who went on to win gold medals at the Commonwealth Games. The Dark Knight (2008) In the second part of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, regarded as the greatest comic book movie ever, Batman (Christian Bale) faces a villain, the Joker (Heath Ledger), he doesn't understand, and must go through hell to save Gotham and its people. Dev.D (2009) Anurag Kashyap offers a modern-day reimagining of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Bengali romance classic Devdas, in which a man (Abhay Deol), having broken up with his childhood sweetheart, finds refuge in alcohol and drugs, before falling for a prostitute (Kalki Koechlin). Dheepan (2015) Winner of Cannes' top prize, three Sri Lankan refugees — including a Tamil Tiger soldier — pretend to be a family to gain asylum in France, where they soon realise that life isn't very different in the rough neighbourhoods. Dil Chahta Hai (2001) Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut about three inseparable childhood friends whose wildly different approach to relationships creates a strain on their friendship remains a cult favourite. Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Preity Zinta star. Django Unchained (2012) Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) helps a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) rescue his wife from a charming but cruel plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). Drive (2011) A stuntman moonlighting as a getaway driver (Ryan Gosling) grows fond of his neighbour and her young son, and then takes part in a botched heist to protect them from the debt-ridden husband.

Dunkirk (2017) Christopher Nolan's first historical war movie chronicles the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the French beaches of Dunkirk in World War II, using his love for non-linear storytelling by depicting three fronts — land, sea, and air — in time-shifted ways. The Edge of Seventeen (2016) In this coming-of-age comedy, the life of an awkward young woman (Hailee Steinfeld) gets more complex after her older brother starts dating her best friend, though she finds solace in an unexpected friendship and a teacher-slash-mentor (Woody Harrelson). End of Watch (2012) Before he made a terrible sci-fi remake of his own film, writer-director David Ayer took a near-documentarian lens to the day-to-day police work of two partners (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña) in South Los Angeles, involving their friendship and dealings with criminal elements. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) An estranged couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) begin a new relationship unaware they dated previously, having erased each other from their memories, in what stands as writer Charlie Kaufman's defining work. The Exorcist (1973) One of the greatest horror films of all time, that has left a lasting influence on the genre and beyond, is about the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's attempts to save her with the help of two priests who perform exorcisms. The Florida Project (2017) Set in the shadow of Disney World, a precocious six-year-old girl (Brooklynn Prince) makes the most of her summer with her ragtag playmates, while her rebellious mother tries to make ends meet with the spectre of homelessness always hanging over them. Willem Dafoe stars alongside. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) In John Hughes' now-classic teen picture, a high schooler fakes being sick to spend the day with his girlfriend and his best friend, while his principal is determined to spy on him. Fruitvale Station (2013) Black Panther writer-director Ryan Coogler's first feature offered a look at the real-life events of a young California man's (Michael B. Jordan) death in a police shooting in 2008. Winner of two awards at Sundance Film Festival. Full Metal Jacket (1987) Stanley Kubrick follows a US marine nicknamed Joker from his days as a new recruit under the command of a ruthless sergeant, to his posting as a war correspondent in South Vietnam, while observing the effects of the war on his fellow soldiers.

Ghostbusters (1984) A bunch of eccentric paranormal enthusiasts start a ghost-catching business in New York, and then stumble upon a plot to wreak havoc by summoning ghosts. Gave birth to one of the most iconic song lyrics in history. Gol Maal (1979) A chartered accountant (Amol Palekar), with a knack for singing and acting, falls deep down the rabbit hole after lying to his boss that he has a twin, in this Hrishikesh Mukherjee comedy. Gone Girl (2014) Based on Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel and directed by David Fincher, a confounded husband (Ben Affleck) becomes the primary suspect in the sudden mystery disappearance of his wife (Rosamund Pike). GoodFellas (1990) Considered as one of the best gangster films of all time, it brought Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro together for the sixth time. Based on Nicholas Pilegg's 1985 non-fiction book Wiseguy, it tells the rise and fall story of mob associate Henry Hill, his friends and family between 1955 and 1980. Gravity (2013) Two US astronauts, a first-timer (Sandra Bullock) and another on his final mission (George Clooney), are stranded in space after their shuttle is destroyed, and then must battle debris and challenging conditions to return home. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) A bunch of intergalactic misfits, which includes a talking racoon and tree, come together to form a ragtag team in this Marvel adventure that needs no prior knowledge. Guru (2007) Mani Ratnam wrote and directed this rags-to-riches story of a ruthless and ambitious businessman (Abhishek Bachchan) who doesn't let anything stand in his way as he turns into India's biggest tycoon. Loosely inspired by the life of Dhirubhai Ambani. Haider (2014) Vishal Bhardwaj's Shakespearean trilogy concluded with this modern-day adaptation of Hamlet, that is also based on Basharat Peer's 1990s-Kashmir memoir Curfewed Night. Follows a young man (Shahid Kapoor) who returns home to investigate his father's disappearance and finds himself embroiled in the ongoing violent insurgency. Her (2013) A lonely man (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with an intelligent computer operating system (Scarlett Johansson), who enriches his life and learns from him, in Spike Jonze's masterpiece. Hot Fuzz (2007) A top London cop (Simon Pegg, also co-writer) is transferred to a sleepy English village for being the lone overachiever in a squad of slackers. A blend of relationship comedy and a genre cop movie. Edgar Wright directs. Hugo (2011) In 1930s Paris, a boy who lives alone in the walls of a train station tries to figure out the mystery involving his late father and his most treasured possession, an automaton, that needs a key to function. Martin Scorsese directs.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) In the best of four movies, Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen is forced to participate in a special edition of the Hunger Games, a competition where individuals fight to the death, featuring the winners of all previous competitions. I, Daniel Blake (2016) After a heart attack that leaves him unable to work, a widowed carpenter is forced to fight an obtuse British welfare system, while developing a strong bond with a single mother who has two children. Winner of the Palme d'Or. I Lost My Body (2019) In this animated Cannes winner, a severed hand escapes from a lab and scrambles through Paris to get back to his body, while recounting its past life that involved moving to France after an accident and falling in love. In This Corner of the World (2016) Set in Hiroshima during World War II, an 18-year-old woman agrees to marry a man she barely knows in this animated Japanese film, and then must learn to cope with life's daily struggles and find a way to push through as the war rages on around her. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Directed by Steven Spielberg off a story by George Lucas, an eponymous archaeologist (Harrison Ford) travels the world and battles a group of Nazis while looking for a mysterious artefact, in what is now often considered as one of the greatest films of all-time. Infernal Affairs (2002) Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed is a remake of this original Hong Kongian film, in which a police officer is working undercover in a Triad, while a Triad member is secretly working for the police. Both have the same objective: find the mole. Into the Wild (2007) Based on Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book, Sean Penn goes behind the camera to direct the story of a top student and athlete who gives up all possessions and savings to charity, and hitchhikes across America to live in the Alaskan wilderness. Iqbal (2005) In writer-director Nagesh Kukunoor's National Award-winning film, a hearing- and speech-impaired farm boy (Shreyas Talpade) pursues his passion for becoming a cricketer for the national squad, with the help of a washed-up ex-coach (Naseeruddin Shah). The Irishman (2019) Based on Charles Brandt's 2004 book “I Heard You Paint Houses”, Martin Scorsese offers an indulgent, overlong look at the life of a truck driver (Robert De Niro) who becomes a hitman working for the Bufalino crime family and labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).

John Wick (2014) In the first part of what is now a series, a former hitman (Keanu Reeves) exits retirement to find and kill those that stole his car and killed his dog. Less story, more action, with the filmmakers drawing on anime, Hong Kong action cinema, Spaghetti Westerns, and French crime dramas. Jurassic Park (1993) It might be over 25 years old at this point but watching the very first Jurassic film from Steven Spielberg — based on Michael Crichton's novel, which he co-adapted — is a great way to remind yourself why the new series, Jurassic World, has no idea why it's doing. Kahaani (2012) A pregnant woman (Vidya Balan) travels from London to Kolkata to search for her missing husband in writer-director Sujoy Ghosh's National Award-winning mystery thriller, battling sexism and a cover-up along the way. Khosla Ka Ghosla! (2006) After a powerful property dealer (Boman Irani) holds a middle-class, middle-aged man's (Anupam Kher) newly-purchased property to ransom, his son and his son's friends devise a plot to dupe the swindling squatter and pay him back with his own money. Dibakar Banerjee's directorial debut. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) A coming-of-age story of the young titular witch, who opens an air delivery business, helps a bakery's pregnant owner in exchange for accommodation, and befriends a geeky boy during her year of self-discovery. Hayao Miyazaki writes and directs. Lady Bird (2017) Greta Gerwig's directorial debut is a coming-of-age story of a high school senior (Saoirse Ronan) and her turbulent relationship with her mother (Laurie Metcalf), all while she figures out who she wants to be through friendships and short relationships. Lagaan (2001) Set in Victorian India, a village farmer (Aamir Khan) stakes everyone's future on a game of cricket with the well-equipped British, in exchange for a tax reprieve for three years. The Little Prince (2015) Antoine de Saint-Exupery's 1943 novella is given the animation treatment, in which an elderly pilot (Jeff Bridges) recounts his encounters with a young boy who claimed to be an extra-terrestrial prince to his neighbour, a young girl. Rachel McAdams, James Franco, and Marion Cotillard also voice. A Little Princess (1995) Alfonso Cuarón directs this tale of a young girl who is forced to become a servant by the headmistress at her New York boarding school, after her wealthy aristocratic father is presumed dead in World War I. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) Peter Jackson brought J.R.R. Tolkien's expansive Middle-Earth to life in these three three-hour epics, which charts the journey of a meek hobbit (Elijah Wood) and his various companions, as they try to stop the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the source of his power, the One Ring.

Loveless (2017) A Cannes winner about the social ills of life in modern Russia, told through the eyes of two separated parents who are drawn back together after their 12-year-old child goes missing. From award-winning director Andrey Zvyagintsev. The Lunchbox (2013) An unlikely mistake by Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox carrier system results in an unusual friendship between a young housewife (Nimrat Kaur) and an older widower (Irrfan Khan) about to retire from his job. Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro (1979) In legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's feature debut, a dashing master thief enlists the help of a long-time nemesis in the police and a fellow thief to rescue a princess from an evil count, and put an end to his counterfeit money operation. Marriage Story (2019) Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver play an entertainment industry couple going through a divorce, which pulls them — and their young son — from New York to Los Angeles, the two different hometowns of the protagonists. Mary Poppins (1964) Based on P.L. Travers' book series of the same name, a disciplined father hires a loving woman (Julie Andrews) — who he doesn't know is capable of magic — to be the nanny for his two mischievous children. Won five Oscars, including best actress for the debutant Andrews. Masaan (2015) Neeraj Ghaywan ventures into the heartland of India to explore the life of four people in his directorial debut, all of whom must battle issues of caste, culture and norms. Winner of a National Award and the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. Million Dollar Baby (2004) An overlooked, veteran boxing trainer (Clint Eastwood, who also directs) reluctantly agrees to train a former waitress (Hilary Swank) to help achieve her dreams, which leads to a close father-daughter bond that will forever change their lives. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) With the organisation he works for disbanded and his country after him, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) races against time to prove the existence of the schemers pulling the strings in this fifth chapter. Introduced Rebecca Ferguson to the franchise. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) The legendary British comedy troupe mix their talents with the tale of King Arthur and his knights, as they look for the Holy Grail and encounter a series of horrors. A contender for the best comedy of all-time.

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Satire so cutting that it was banned for years in the UK and elsewhere, Life of Brian saw Monty Python turning their eyes on more long-form storytelling. The Life of Brian is the story of a young Jewish man born on the same day and next door to Jesus Christ, who gets mistaken for the messiah. Mudbound (2017) A Netflix Original, this World War II drama is set in rural Mississippi, and follows two veterans – one white and one black – who return home, and must deal with problems of racism in addition to PTSD. Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) After his parents find out he has been pretending to be a doctor, a good-natured Mumbai underworld don (Sanjay Dutt) tries to redeem himself by enrolling in a medical college, where his compassion brushes up against the authoritarian dean (Boman Irani). Co-written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands accused in the #MeToo movement. My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Set in post-war rural Japan, a heart-warming tale of a professor's two young daughters who have adventures with friendly forest sprits. Hayao Miyazaki writes and directs. Mystic River (2003) Three childhood friends reunite after a brutal murder, in which the victim is one's (Sean Penn) daughter, another (Kevin Bacon) is the case detective, and the third (Tim Robbins) is suspected by both. Clint Eastwood directs. Nightcrawler (2014) Jake Gyllenhaal plays a freelance video journalist with no ethics or morals who will do anything to get the best footage of violent crimes that local news stations love. A feature directorial debut for screenwriter Dan Gilroy. Ocean's Eleven (2001) In this first of Steven Soderbergh's trilogy, which features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon, Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his eleven associates plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos at the same time. Okja (2017) Part environment parable and part skewer of corporatisation, this underappreciated Netflix Original by Bong Joon-ho tells its story of a young Korean girl and her best friend – a giant pet pig – while effortlessly crossing genres. On Body and Soul (2017) A shy, introverted man and a woman who work at a Hungarian slaughterhouse discover they share the same dreams after an incident, and then try to make them come true.

Only Yesterday (1991) A Studio Ghibli production about a 27-year-old career-driven Tokyo woman who reminisces about her childhood on her way to the countryside to see her sister's family. Isao Takahata writes and directs. Paan Singh Tomar (2012) A true story of the eponymous soldier and athlete (Irrfan Khan) who won gold at the National Games, and later turned into a dacoit to resolve a land dispute. Won top honours for film and actor (Khan) at National Awards. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) In Guillermo del Toro's fantastical version of Spain five years after the civil war, Ofelia – a young stepdaughter of a cruel army officer – is told she is the reincarnated version of an underworld princess but must complete three tasks to prove herself. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) Emma Watson stars in this coming-of-age comedy based on the novel of the same name by Stephen Chbosky, who also wrote and directed the film. Watson plays one of two seniors who guide a nervous freshman. Phantom Thread (2017) Set in the glamourous couture world of 1950s post-war London, the life of a renowned dressmaker (Daniel Day-Lewis), who is used to women coming and going through his tailored life, unravels after he falls in love with a young, strong-willed waitress. Pink (2016) A lawyer (Amitabh Bachchan) comes out of retirement to help three women (Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, and Andrea Tariang) clear their names in a crime involving a politician's nephew (Angad Bedi). Won a National Award. PK (2014) A satirical comedy-drama that probes religious dogmas and superstitions, through the lens of an alien (Aamir Khan) who is stranded on Earth after he loses his personal communicator and befriends a TV journalist (Anushka Sharma) as he attempts to retrieve it. Porco Rosso (1992) Transformed into an anthropomorphic pig by an unusual curse, an Italian World War I ace fighter veteran now works as a freelance bounty hunter in 1930s Adriatic Sea in the Mediterranean. Hayao Miyazaki writes and directs. Queen (2013) A 24-year-old shy woman (Kangana Ranaut) sets off on her honeymoon alone to Europe after her fiancé calls off the wedding a day prior. There, freed from the traditional trappings and with the help of new friends, she gains a newfound perspective on life. Director Vikas Bahl stands accused in the #MeToo movement.

Rang De Basanti (2006) Aamir Khan leads the ensemble cast of this award-winning film that focuses on four young New Delhi men who turn into revolutionary heroes themselves while playacting as five Indian freedom fighters from the 1920s for a docudrama. Ratatouille (2007) An anthropomorphic rat (Patton Oswalt) who longs to be a chef tries to achieve his dream by making an alliance with a young garbage boy at a Parisian restaurant. From Pixar. Rebecca (1940) Alfred Hitchcock's first American film is based on Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, about a naïve, young woman who marries an aristocratic widower and then struggles under the intimidating reputation of his first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances. The Remains of the Day (1993) Made by the duo of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, this based-on-a-book film is about a dedicated and loyal butler (Anthony Hopkins), who gave much of his life — and missed out on a lot — serving a British lord who turns out to be a Nazi sympathiser. Reservoir Dogs (1992) After a simply jewellery heist goes wrong in Quentin Tarantino's feature-length debut, six criminals – Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, and Michael Madsen are a few of the actors – who don't know each other's identity start to suspect each other of being a police informant. The Revenant (2015) Leonardo DiCaprio and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu won Oscars for their work on this semi-biographical Western film set in the 1820s, which tells the story of frontiersman Hugh Glass and his quest for survival and justice amidst severe winters. Roma (2018) Alfonso Cuarón revisits his childhood in the eponymous Mexico City neighbourhood, during the political turmoil of the 1970s, through the eyes of a middle-class family's live-in maid, who takes care of the house and four children, while balancing the complications of her own personal life. Sairat (2016) In a tiny village in the Indian state of Maharashtra, a fisherman's son and a local politician's daughter fall in love, which sends ripples across the society because their families belong to different castes. Currently the highest-grossing Marathi-language film of all time. Scarface (1983) Al Pacino delivers one of his best performances as a Cuban refugee who arrives in 1980s Miami with nothing, rises the ranks to become a powerful drug kingpin, and then falls due to his ego, his paranoia, and a growing list of enemies. Se7en (1995) In this dark, gripping thriller from David Fincher, two detectives – one new (Brad Pitt) and one about to retire (Morgan Freeman) – hunt a serial killer (Kevin Spacey) who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives. Secret Superstar (2017) Though frequently melodramatic, this coming-of-age story – produced by Aamir Khan and wife Kiran Rao – of a Muslim girl from Vadodara who dreams of being a singer dealt with important social issues and broke several box office records during its theatrical run.

Sense and Sensibility (1995) Jane Austen's famous work is brought to life by director Ang Lee, about three sisters who are forced to seek financial security through marriage after the death of their wealthy father leaves them poor by the rules of inheritance. The Shining (1980) Stephen King's popular novel gets the film treatment from Stanley Kubrick, about a father who loses his sanity in an isolated hotel the family is staying at for the winter, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and the future. Shoplifters (2018) Winner of the top prize at Cannes, the story of a group of poverty-stricken outsiders scraping together an under-the-radar living in Tokyo, whose life is upended after they take in a new, young member. Hirokazu Kore-eda writes, directs, and edits. Shrek (2001) A half-parody of fairy tales, Shrek is about an eponymous ogre who agrees to help an evil lord get a queen in exchange for the deed to his swamp, filled with enough jokes for the adults and a simple plot children. A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016) Based on the manga of the same name, a coming-of-age story of a school bully who tries to make amends with a hearing-impaired girl he tormented back in the day, after the tables are turned on him. Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Two people (Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper) with pain and suffering in their past begin a road to recovery while training together for a dance competition, in what becomes an unlikely love story. The Sixth Sense (1999) In writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's best film to date, a child psychologist (Bruce Willis) tries to help a young boy (Haley Joel Osment) who can see and talk to the dead. Snowpiercer (2013) Chris Evans stars in this sci-fi from Bong Joon-ho, which takes place in a future ravaged by an experiment, where the survivors live on a train that continuously circles the globe and has led to a punishing new class system. The Social Network (2010) The tale of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg gets a slight fictional spin, as it explores how the young engineer was sued by twin brothers who claimed he stole their idea, and sold lies to his co-founder and squeezed him out.

Soni (2019) A short-tempered young policewoman and her cool-headed female boss must contend with ingrained misogyny in their daily lives and even at work, where it impacts their coordinated attempts to tackle the rise of crimes against women in Delhi. Spartacus (1960) After failing to land the title role in Ben-Hur, Kirk Douglas optioned a book with a similar theme, about a slave who led a revolt — known retrospectively as the Third Servile War — against the mighty Roman Empire. Won four Oscars and was named as one of the best historical epics. The Stranger (1946) A war crimes investigator hunts a high-ranking Nazi fugitive (Orson Welles, also director) hiding in the US state of Connecticut, who is also duping his naïve new wife. Super Deluxe (2019) An inter-linked anthology of four stories, involving an unfaithful wife, a transgender woman, a bunch of teenagers, which deal in sex, stigma, and spirituality. Runs at nearly three hours. Swades (2004) Shah Rukh Khan stars a successful NASA scientist in this based on a true story drama, who returns home to India to take his nanny to the US, rediscovers his roots and connects with the local village community in the process. Taare Zameen Par (2007) Sent to boarding school against his will, a dyslexic eight-year-old is helped by an unconventional art teacher (Aamir Khan) to overcome his disability and discover his true potential. Talvar (2015) Meghna Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj combine forces to tell the story of the 2008 Noida double murder case, in which a teenage girl and the family's hired servant were killed, and the inept police bungled the investigation. Uses the Rashomon effect for a three-pronged take. Tangerine (2015) Shot entirely on iPhones, a transgender female sex worker vows revenge on her boyfriend-pimp who cheated on her while she was in jail. Tangled (2010) Locked up by her overly protective mother, a young long-haired girl finally gets her wish to escape into the world outside thanks to a good-hearted thief, and discovers her true self.

Thithi (2016) In this award-winning Kannada-language film, set in a remote village in the state of Karnataka, three generations of men reflect on the death of their locally-famous, bad-tempered 101-year-old patriarch. Made with a cast of non-professional actors. The Town (2010) While a group of lifelong Boston friends plan a major final heist at Fenway Park, one of them (Ben Affleck) falls in love with the hostage from an earlier robbery, complicating matters. Train to Busan (2016) Stuck on a blood-drenched bullet train ride across Korea, a father and his daughter must fight their way through a countrywide zombie outbreak to make it to the only city that's safe. Tu Hai Mera Sunday (2016) Five thirty-something friends struggle to find a place in Mumbai where they can play football in peace in this light-hearted rom-com tale, which explores gender divides and social mores along the way. The Two Popes (2019) Inspired by real life, the tale of friendship that formed between Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce), the future Pope Francis, after the latter approached the former regarding his concerns with the direction of the Catholic Church. Udaan (2010) Vikramaditya Motwane made his directorial debut with this coming-of-age story of a teenager who is expelled from boarding school and returns home to the industrial town of Jamshedpur, where he must work at his oppressive father's factory. Udta Punjab (2016) With the eponymous Indian state's drug crisis as the backdrop, this black comedy crime film depicts the interwoven lives of a junior policeman (Diljit Dosanjh), an activist doctor (Kareena Kapoor), a migrant worker (Alia Bhatt), and a rock star (Shahid Kapoor). Uncut Gems (2019) A charismatic, New York-based Jewish jeweller and a gambling addict (Adam Sandler) ends up in over his head in this taut thriller, struggling to keep a lid on his family, desires, business, and enemies. The Untouchables (1987) With mobster Al Capone (Robert De Niro) making use of the rampant corruption during the Prohibition period in the US, federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) hand picks a team to expose his business and bring him to justice. Brian De Palma directs. Up in the Air (2009) A corporate downsizing expert (George Clooney) who loves living out of a suitcase finds his lifestyle threatened due to a potential love interest (Vera Farmiga) and an ambitious new hire (Anna Kendrick).

Vertigo (1958) Topping Citizen Kane in the latest Sight & Sound poll of greatest films of all time, Alfred Hitchcock's thriller about a detective afraid of heights who falls for an old friend's wife while investigating her strange activities continued his tradition of turning audiences into voyeurs. Village Rockstars (2017) A young Assamese girl of a widow pines to own a guitar and start her own rock band, but societal norms routinely get in the way. Rima Das writes, directs, shoots, edits, and handles costumes. Visaranai (2015) Winner of three National Awards and based on M. Chandrakumar's novel Lock Up, the story of four Tamil laborers who are framed and tortured by politically-motivated cops in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh. Vetrimaaran writes and directs. A Wednesday! (2008) Neeraj Pandey's film is set between 2 pm and 6 pm on a Wednesday, naturally, when a common man (Naseeruddin Shah) threatens to detonate five bombs in Mumbai unless four terrorists accused in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings case are released. Wonder Woman (2017) After a pilot crashes and informs them about an ongoing World War, an Amazonian princess (Gal Gadot) leaves her secluded life to enter the world of men and stop what she believes to be the return of Amazons' nemesis. Wreck-It Ralph (2012) This Disney animated film tells the story of a video game villain who sets out to fulfil his dream of becoming a hero but ends up bringing havoc to the entire arcade where he lives. Zero Dark Thirty (2012) The decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden is the focus of this thriller from Kathryn Bigelow, dramatised as and when needed to keep a CIA intelligence analyst (Jessica Chastain) at the centre of the story. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, and Abhay Deol star as three childhood friends who set off on a bachelor trip across Spain, which becomes an opportunity to heal past wounds, combat their worst fears, and fall in love with life. Zodiac (2007) David Fincher signed on Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. to depict a cartoonist's (Gyllenhaal) obsession with figuring out the identity of the Zodiac Killer in the 1960s–70s. Zombieland (2009) A student looking for his parents (Jesse Eisenberg), a man looking for a favourite snack, and two con artist sisters join forces and take an extended road trip across a zombie-filled America, while they all search for a zombie-free sanctuary. Read the full article

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jetbusinessposts-blog · 7 years

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xtruss · 3 years

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‘Freedom is Untidy’: Remembering The Late (WAR CRIMINAL) Donald Rumsfeld, Dead at 88

— By Morgan Artyukhina | Sputnik | July 01, 2021

Donald Rumsfeld’s family announced on Wednesday that he had died from multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. Rumsfeld, 88, had been retired from politics for several years, but in his time was a titular figure on the world stage. Sputnik takes a look back at some of the major points in Rumsfeld’s political career, which spans six decades.

Rumsfeld was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 9, 1932. His family were German immigrants, and he attended a Congregational church. He graduated from New Trier High School and Princeton University, where he was an accomplished wrestler and majored in politics. He was also part of the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps, and served as a naval aviator and flight instructor from 1954 until 1957 before shifting to the naval reserve, where he remained until 1989 when he retired at the rank of captain.

He began his political career as an administrative assistant to an Ohio lawmaker in Washington in 1957, but won office for himself as a Republican in 1962, representing Illinois’ 13th congressional district from 1962 until 1969. According to his memoir “Known and Unknown,” Rumsfeld was critical of the Johnson administration’s handling of the Vietnam War, believing South Vietnam was too dependent on the US, and that the US was too overconfident in its fight against the southern National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese Army.

First Administration Posts

He resigned in 1969 to join the administration of then-US President Richard Nixon, where he headed the Office of Economic Opportunity, an anti-poverty program that he personally opposed. During the year he worked there he hired two men who would later become key political allies: Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney.

Rumsfeld cycled through several other Nixon administration positions before being tapped to head up Gerald Ford’s transition to the presidency after Nixon resigned without a sitting vice president to replace him. He became Ford’s defense secretary in 1975, where he directly clashed with George H. W. Bush, who was head of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Henry Kissinger, who was Secretary of State. He left office with Ford in 1977.

After several years in the private sector, Rumsfeld was appointed Middle East envoy by then-US President Ronald Reagan in 1983, putting him in charge of ensuring, among other things, that Iraq win the war it had started with Iran three years earlier. He traveled to Baghdad and met with the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, for 90 minutes on December 20, 1983, during which time they discussed a number of topics of unity, including their opposition to Syria as well as Iran, and building an oil pipeline through Jordan to the Red Sea port of Aqaba. He left the position when Reagan left office in 1989.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 1976

Project for a New American Century

In 1997, Rumsfeld joined the Project for a New American Century, a think tank set up by William Kristol and Robert Kagan to continue and expand Reagan’s militaristic policies into the 21st century, where the US had become the world’s sole military superpower after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. The think tank regarded the Republican Party’s policies at the time as being insufficient to do this, helping to earn them the moniker of “neo-conservative.”

Of the 25 politicos who signed PNAC’s founding statement of principles, nine would later become members of the George W. Bush administration, including Rumsfeld and Cheney, but also Elliott Abrams, Eliot Cohen, Paula Dobriansky, Paul Wolfowitz, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Peter Rodman. John Bolton, Richard Perle, and Dov Zakheim were also PNAC members who served in the Bush administration.

Bush Administration

Just months after Bush was declared by the US Supreme Court to have won the 2000 election, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans, and Rumsfeld ordered the US military to DEFCON 3. At an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, Rumsfeld reportedly asked Bush: "Why shouldn't we go against Iraq, not just al-Qaeda?" The terrorist group was headquartered in Afghanistan.

As Pentagon chief, prosecuting the burgeoning War on Terror became his primary task, and the US launched an air campaign followed by a ground invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, overthrowing the Taliban government and setting up a puppet state against which the Taliban has rebelled ever since.

President George W. Bush announces his $74.7 billion wartime supplemental budget request in the Pentagon on March 25, 2003, as Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld (center) and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (left) look on.

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, US Army Gen. Wesley Clark had a discussion with another senior officer in the Pentagon who revealed to him plans to go after not just Afghanistan, but a total of seven other countries in the next five years, including Iraq but also Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan, he wrote in a 2003 book.

The plan dovetailed very closely with goals outlined to him by PNAC members like Wolfowitz, who had opined to him in 1991 that “with the end of the Cold War, we can now use our military with impunity. The Soviets won't come in to block us. And we've got five, maybe 10, years to clean up these old Soviet surrogate regimes like Iraq and Syria before the next superpower emerges to challenge us.”

‘There Are Known Knowns’: The Iraq War

Despite the suspicions of US intelligence, no firm evidence had been presented to show Hussein had continued to wield weapons of mass destruction after the 1991 Gulf War. Rumsfeld and other neo-cons continued to press for Iraq to be the next target of the War on Terror, however, creating the Office of Special Plans to hound out enough evidence to justify an invasion, and in February 2002, he uttered one of his most famous - and baffling - quotes of his career:

“Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”

In March 2003, the US began its attack on Iraq, launching a “shock and awe” aerial bombardment prior to a ground invasion. Rumsfeld dismissed any notion the war would be long, costly, or demand a large number of troops, believing a swift strike to remove Hussein and his immediate cadres from office would be sufficient to turn Iraq into a reliable client state with some sort of democratic governance.

Instead, a massive insurgency erupted against the US occupation, and three-and-a-half years later, the war was no closer to being won and thousands of Americans and Iraqis were dead. Rumsfeld was at one point in 2004 accused of using an automatic signing machine for the condolence letters mailed to the families of fallen US soldiers.

“Freedom is untidy,” Rumsfeld remarked in April 2003 in response to reports of widespread looting in the Iraqi capital accompanying the fall of Hussein’s government, portraying it as part of the cost of the liberation.

U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld (C) signs a Baghdad road sign at the request of a US soldier April 30, 2003 during his visit to US troops at Baghdad's international airport.

Nor were the purported weapons of mass destruction Rumsfeld had claimed Hussein possessed and threatened other nations with ever found, either. Months after the invasion, he continued to claim US intelligence knew the locations of the weapons, which were supposedly in the western desert near the Syrian border.

Rumsfeld also presided over the torture of detainees in US prisons like Guantamao and Abu Ghraib, admitting his culpability in the scandal in 2004. The American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups filed several lawsuits against him on behalf of torture victims, but a federal judge ruled he could not "be held personally responsible for actions taken in connection with his government job.”

Estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the US war in Iraq range from 110,000 by the Associated Press, covering the years 2003 to 2009, to more than 654,000 by the Lancet medical journal, covering the years 2003 to 2006. US forces left Iraq in 2011, following the termination of a status of forces agreement by Baghdad. According to Pentagon statistics, 4,418 US soldiers were killed in the Iraq War.

Political Departure and Final Years

As the war continued to worsen, Rumsfeld faced increasing pressure to resign, including from US and NATO generals, to which he eventually gave in on Election Day, 2006.

After his departure, Rumsfeld published his memoir in 2011. He made occasional forays into political life, criticizing then-Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, the NATO overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and sounding off in support of Donald Trump’s presidential bid in 2016. Until the end of his life, Rumsfeld remained adamant that he had made the right decisions about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He died in Taos, New Mexico, surrounded by family on June 30, 2021, at the age of 88.

"History may remember him for his extraordinary accomplishments over six decades of public service, but for those who knew him best and whose lives were forever changed as a result, we will remember his unwavering love for his wife Joyce, his family and friends, and the integrity he brought to a life dedicated to country," his family said in a statement.

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googlenewson · 5 years

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Former Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg won’t get severance and must forfeit stock awards worth tens of millions of dollars after his botched handling of two deadly plane crashes ended a decades-long career at the company.

He forfeited unvested equity awards that could have been worth as much as $31 million if certain targets had been exceeded, Chicago-based Boeing said Friday in a regulatory filing. Muilenburg, 56, also won’t receive a bonus for 2019.

Still, he gets to keep awards and stock options that had already vested, along with his pension and deferred pay—totaling as much as $80.7 million, according to calculations by Bloomberg. By contrast, Boeing set aside $50 million to compensate the families of crash victims.

The loss of some awards and denial of severance sends a strong signal that the board lost confidence in the once-heralded CEO.

It was a swift fall for Muilenburg, whose 34-year career unraveled last year in the aftermath of the accidents involving the firm’s 737 Max jetliner, which killed 346 people. The crashes prompted a global flight ban of the aircraft, damaged the planemaker’s reputation, and lopped more than $50 billion off its market value.

“Dennis received the benefits to which he was contractually entitled,” Boeing said in an emailed statement. “We thank Dennis for his nearly 35 years of service.”

Lost Confidence

Muilenburg tried for months to help the firm regain its footing. But directors lost confidence after he struggled to defend Boeing before U.S. lawmakers, failed to repair its relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration, and repeatedly underestimated the time needed to get the grounded airplanes back in operation.

In December, the company was publicly rebuked by FAA head Steve Dickson and also said it would temporarily halt production of the planes. Then came the embarrassing failure to dock its Starliner space capsule with the International Space Station. Days later, the board voted to dismiss Muilenburg.

David Calhoun, a General Electric veteran who has been on Boeing’s board for a decade, was named CEO effective Jan. 13. The board granted him $10.9 million in annual target compensation, and two other awards worth a combined $17 million, one of them tied to operational milestones that include a “full safe return to service of the 737 Max,” according to the filing.

Public-company executives typically don’t receive severance benefits if they’re fired because they violated the firm’s policy or broke laws. Terminations and resignations prompted by poor job performance or loss of confidence among directors, however, can fall in a gray area.

In such instances, boards sometimes strike bespoke deals with departing executives, allowing them to collect some or all of their severance and keep some of their previously granted stock awards—arrangements that can amount to tens of millions of dollars. In exchange, the executive typically must promise not to sue or publicly criticize the company.

But boards can also elect to withhold exit payments—a move that some may interpret as a public rebuke.

Previous Awards

Muilenburg didn’t have a fixed-term employment agreement with Boeing, but he was entitled to receive a year’s salary and bonus and immediate vesting of his outstanding stock awards if he was laid off.

But he hardly left empty-handed. Boeing allowed him to keep some portions of previously granted awards, stock options and money he’s accumulated in his pension and deferred compensation account, which functions as super-sized 401(k).

The awards were worth about $33.7 million as of Friday’s close, assuming the company tops certain performance thresholds. His options would net him $18.5 million if he exercised them and immediately sold the shares. And his pension and deferred pay amounted to $28.5 million as of Dec. 31.

In all, it adds up to about $80.7 million.

Boeing also disclosed that Kevin McAllister, who led the firm’s commercial airplanes division until he was fired on Oct. 22, had to give up awards and dividends worth approximately $52.9 million. But he did receive $14.8 million to make him whole for a pension benefit he forfeited when he left GE.

More must-read stories from Fortune:

—Greenpeace ranks China’s tech giants on renewable energy —Facebook deepfake video ban may set off ‘cat and mouse’ game —Why there are so many scooters in Los Angeles —What a $1,000 investment in 10 top stocks a decade ago would be worth today —Missile strike vs. cyberattack: How Iran retaliates Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.

from Fortune https://ift.tt/2T80Wpk

#World News

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courtneytincher · 5 years

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McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II: The 60 Year Old Fighter That Just Won't Die

The last American F-4s would see action during Operation Desert Storm, before being retired in 1996. The Pentagon later converted some into QF-4 target practice drones.The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a legendary aircraft — an icon of the Vietnam War and the archetype of the third-generation jet fighter designs that entered service in the 1960s. More than 5,000 of these heavy supersonic fighters were built, and hundreds continue to serve and even see combat in several air forces today.But the Phantom’s record in air-to-air combat over Vietnam — especially when compared to its successor, the F-15 Eagle, which has never been shot down in air-to-air combat — has left it with a reputation of being a clumsy bruiser reliant on brute engine power and obsolete weapons technology.(This first appeared several years ago.)This is unfair.The Phantom’s fundamental flaws were corrected by 1970 — while more recently, Phantoms have had their avionics and ordnance upgraded to modern standards. These modernized Phantoms flown by the Turkish and Greek air forces can do pretty much what an F-15 can do … at a much lower price.Baptism of Fire:When the F-4 came out it in 1958 it was a revolutionary design — one that went on to set several aviation records.Weighing in at 30,000 pounds unloaded, its enormous J79 twin engines gave (and still gives) the aircraft excellent thrust, propelling the heavy airframe over twice the speed of sound at a maximum speed of 1,473 miles per hour.The early Phantoms could carry 18,000 pounds of munitions — three times what the huge B-17 bombers of World War II typically carried. The weapons officer in the rear-seat could operate the plane’s advanced radar, communication and weapons systems while the pilot focused on flying.Furthermore, the F-4 came in both ground- and carrier-based models and served in the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines. The only other frontline fighter to serve in all three services before or since is the F-35.(Recommended: How to Replace the F-35) But when the F-4 confronted the lighter-weight MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighters of the North Vietnamese air force in 1965, the Phantom suffered.In the Korean War, the U.S. Air Force had shot down between six and 10 enemy fighters for every one of its aircraft lost in air-to-air combat. In Vietnam, the ratio was closer to two to one (including other aircraft types besides the Phantom).The F-4’s primary problem was that it had no built-in cannon. Instead, it relied entirely on newly-introduced air-to-air missiles — the radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow, the heat-seeking AIM-9 Sidewinder and the older AIM-4 Falcon.The Air Force didn’t realize those early missiles were terrible.Studies showed that 45 percent of Vietnam-era AIM-7s and 37 percent of AIM-9s failed to either launch or lock on, and after evasive maneuvers, the probability of achieving a kill fell to eight percent and 15 percent for the two types, respectively. The Falcon missiles were even worse, and the Pentagon later withdrew them from service.The North Vietnamese MiGs, equipped with both cannons and missiles (on the MiG-21), would outmaneuver the heavier F-4, which for all its speed, was not especially agile. Worse, American pilots weren’t trained for close range dogfights, as the Air Force assumed air-to-air engagements would occur at long range with missiles.Furthermore, the Phantom’s J79 engines produced thick black smoke, which combined with the aircraft’s larger size, made it easier to spot and target from a distance. On the other hand, the rules-of-engagement over Vietnam prohibited U.S. pilots from shooting at unidentified targets beyond visual range, further crippling the advantages of the missiles.Improvements:However, the F-4’s problems began to recede. Air-to-air missile technology dramatically improved with later versions of the Sparrow and Sidewinder. The F-4E model finally came with an internal M161 Vulcan cannon.Before, some Phantom units made do with external gun pods that vibrated excessively.In 1972, an F-4 piloted by Maj. Phil Handley shot down a MiG-19 with his plane’s gun — the only recorded aerial gun kill performed at supersonic speed.Eventually, the Air Force upgraded all of its F-4Es with wing-slats that significantly improved maneuverability at a slight cost in speed. New J79 engines even dealt with the problem of the F-4’s visible black smoke.(Recommended: 5 Greatest Fighter Planes of All-Time)The Navy, in contrast, perceived the problem as being a lack of Air Combat Maneuvering training, and instituted the Top Gun training program in 1968. Navy pilots went on to score a superior kill ratio over Vietnam of 40 victories for seven planes lost in air-to-air combat.The Air Force’s Phantoms claimed 107 air-to-air kills for 33 lost to MiGs, and the Marine Corps claimed three. Ground fire shot down 474 Phantoms in all services, as the heavy-lifting Phantom fighters did double duty as ground-attack aircraft.Two sub-variants of the Phantom also distinguished themselves — the RF-4 photo reconnaissance plane, optimized for speed, and the Wild Weasel, specialized in attacking enemy surface-to-air missiles defenses.The last American F-4s would see action during Operation Desert Storm, before being retired in 1996. The Pentagon later converted some into QF-4 target practice drones.(Recommended: How to Win a War with China)Phantoms in the Middle East:However, the Phantoms proliferated around the world. The F-4 saw extensive use in Israeli service, scoring 116 air-to-air kills against the Egyptian and Syrian air forces, starting in 1969 during the War of Attrition.In one engagement on the first day of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, 28 Egyptian MiGs attacked Ofir Air Base. Just two Phantoms managed to scramble in defense, but they shot down seven of the attackers.The Israeli Phantoms’ primary target — and most deadly foe — during these campaigns were Arab surface-to-air missile batteries. SAMs accounted for most of the 36 Israeli Phantoms lost in action.The swan song of the Israeli Phantom force came during Israel’s 1982 intervention in the War in Lebanon, when Phantoms — escorted by new F-15s and F-16s — wiped out all 30 of Syria’s SAM batteries in the Bekaa Valley in one day without losing a single plane in Operation Mole Cricket 19.Iran received 225 F-4s from the United States prior to the Iranian Revolution. These formed the backbone of the Iranian fighter force during the nine-year-long war with Iraq. The Phantom reportedly acquitted itself well versus Iraqi MiGs, and carried out several long-range raids on the Iraqi airfields. The actual number of air-to-air kills remains disputed.21st century Phantoms:The Phantom still sees service. But it’s somewhat of an anomaly. Just compare it to F-15 Eagle.The F-15, which entered service in 1975, is emblematic of fourth-generation fighter aircraft that remain the mainstay of modern air forces today. The F-15 is also deliberately unlike the F-4. It’s a heavy, twin-engine, two-seat fighterand an agile dogfighter.When the F-15 and the lighter F-16 saw their first major air action over Lebanon in 1982, they shot down more than 80 Syrian third-generation MiGs at no loss.The supremacy of the fourth-generation was confirmed again in the Gulf War, in which Iraqi fighters shot down only one fourth-generation fighter (an F/A-18 Hornet) for the loss of 33 of their third-generation aircraft. How could the F-4 possibly keep up in this new environment?Easy — by integrating the same modern hardware used in the fourth generation.The Phantoms flown by the Turkish and Greek air forces both have modern pulse-doppler radars, which give the F-4 “look down-shoot down” capabilities. In the past, high-flying radars had trouble detecting low-flying aircraft because the radar waves bouncing off the ground created a cluttering effect. Active Doppler radars cut through the ground clutter.Modern F-4s can also fire the full range of modern ordnance such as the advanced AIM-120C AMRAAM air-to-air missile with a range of 65 miles, precision-guided munitions such as the AGM-65 Maverick, and late model Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles.As combat aircraft are essentially weapons platforms, these capabilities mean that the F-4s can handle most of the same offensive tasks a fourth-generation F-15 or Su-27 fighter can do.But surely the electronics and instruments are out of date? Not really. For instance, modernized F-4s have improved Heads Up Displays (HUDs) so that pilots don’t have to look down from the canopy to check on their instruments.Germany flew upgraded F-4Fs until 2013, and maintains them in stock in case of future need. South Korea still has 71 F-4Es (only modestly upgraded) in its 17th Fighter Wing. Japan maintains the same number of F-4EJ Kais upgraded with pulse-Doppler radars and anti-ship missiles.The Israelis pioneered the art of Phantom upgrades in the 1980s with the Phantom 2000 Kurnass, or “Sledgehammer.” Though retired from Israeli service in 2004, Israeli firms went on to upgrade Greece’s 41 Peace Icarus Phantoms, equipping them with ANPG-65 pulse-Doppler radars and the ability to fire AMRAAM missiles.Israeli upgrades contributed to the Turkish air force’s Terminator 2020, which has additional wing strakes for improved maneuverability.The 2020s have had 20 kilometers of wiring replaced for a net loss of 1,600 pounds in weight. The Turkish versions also feature a diverse array of modern sensors and electronics. Like other modern F-4s, they can deploy advanced ordnance such as Paveway bombs, HARM anti-radar missiles and 3,000-pound Popeye missiles with a range of 48 miles.The Terminators are primarily ground-attack planes … with some notoriety. They’ve bombed Kurdish PKK fighters in Turkey and Iraq in 2015 and 2016. An RF-4 reconnaissance plane was shot down over Syria in 2012, and three F-4s crashed in 2015 — earning them the appellation “Flying Coffins” in the Turkish media.The Iranian air force in 2009 claimed to operate 76 F-4Ds and Es, and six RF-4s. Tehran has reportedly modified the planes to fire Russian or Chinese air-to-ground and anti-shipping missiles. They still rely on AIM-7 Sparrows acquired second hand.Likewise, Iran relies on smuggled and improvised spare parts for its F-4s, just like its F-14 Tomcats.Iranian Phantoms bombed Islamic State targets in Iraq’s Diyala province in December 2014, and they continue to play cat and mouse games with U.S. patrols and drones over the Persian Gulf.But are souped-up F-4s really equal to fourth-generation fighters? None of these 21st century Phantoms have flown in air-to-air combat — but F-4s Phantoms have engaged in non-lethal dogfights with Greek F-16s on several occasions.They also tangled with Chinese Su-27s in a 2010 exercise — and according to some reports on the internet won zero to eight.And if you compare videos of F-4s with wing slats making a tight, 180 degree turn (see 4:25 above) compared to F-15s doing the same maneuver, you will note that they both average seven to eight seconds to complete the turn, even though the latter is purportedly more maneuverable.This doesn’t prove upgraded F-4s are superior to later designs, of course — but it does show they capable of pulling their considerable weight when compared with fourth-generation fighters.The Phantom has proven both versatile and adaptable over time. Few of those present for its first flight in 1958 could have imagined that it would remain in frontline service nearly 60 years later.Rudolph Emilio Torrini contributed to this article.

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attredd · 5 years

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Is the United States really energy independent? Is Iran? As the two nations inch toward confrontation, the complexity of those questions is worth considering.Iran, like many petro-powers, had long maintained a one-horse economy based on extraction. Oil and petroleum-related products account for almost all of its exports — take those away, and you’re down to fruits and nuts.Iran has an awesome abundance of oil but for many years did relatively little to develop its refining capacity, without which crude oil is not very useful. That is partly the result of Iran’s having a feckless and corrupt government and partly the result of sanctions that made building new refineries very difficult. When the expansion of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery at Bandar Abbas came on line in 2018, that doubled Iran’s domestic refining capacity and greatly reduced the country’s gasoline imports. The Iranian regime has declared the country liberated from the need to import gasoline, but it currently disallows most exports, and the CEO of the state refining company only a week ago decried the “prohibitive consumption” of gasoline — which is now at a record level — suggesting that the domestic supply is not quite as abundant as the ayatollahs would like.Iran had been rationing gasoline as recently as 2007. The Iran sanctions act of 2010 poked Iran in the tender spot of its gasoline imports (about 40 percent of Iranian gasoline consumption at the time), with provisions that would prohibit most gasoline and other vehicle fuel sales (aviation gas, etc.) exceeding $5 million in any one-year period along with equipment or services that would enable the domestic production or import of gasoline. One of the criticisms of President Obama’s decision to lift sanctions on Iran in 2016 was that doing so might give Iran an opening to build out its refining capacity, taking away a critical vulnerability.While Iran has been expanding its refining capacity, the U.S. oil industry hasn’t exactly been following suit. U.S. refining capacity is up by about 1 million barrels a day over where it was a decade ago — not nothing, but not a real dramatic line on the graph, either.And that creates a potential vulnerability for the United States.President Trump has a natural affection for the oil business. (That is not what we mean by crude and unrefined, Mr. President!) But in spite of all the chest-thumping you hear from certain politicians about how the country has become “energy independent,” that is not really true. The United States imports billions of barrels of crude a year, about a third of it from OPEC. At the same time, the United States exports a substantial quantity of the stuff. That’s because most of the refineries in the United States were built when the country was still obliged to rely very heavily on imported oil, and so most of them are optimized to handle the “heavy sour” stuff from abroad rather than the “light sweet” stuff from Texas. It is not the case that a barrel of oil is a barrel of oil is a barrel of oil. “Every single molecule from here on out has to be exported,” Cynthia Walker of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum told the Texas Tribune.If all cross-border trade in oil and petroleum products were halted tomorrow, Iran would have some big problems. But so would the United States, which very likely would end up sitting on a surplus of oil but suffering shortages of gasoline and other fuels. The Trump administration deserves credit for encouraging domestic oil production and for pursuing regulatory reforms to help get government out of the way, but the reelection-minded president also is dead set to pucker up and kiss the collective buttocks of the Republican heartland’s politically influential corn farmers and their ethanol bonanza. In fact, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers association is suing the administration over an ethanol expansion that oil producers say exceeds the president’s authority to order.When Hurricane Harvey walloped Houston in 2017, gasoline pumps were dry in Dallas and points north, hundreds of miles away. The Colonial pipeline, which carries gasoline and aviation fuel from Houston to New York City, was shut down, as were several refineries feeding it.Having oil in the ground isn’t enough. Drilling holes isn’t enough. The process of turning crude oil into useful products and getting those products to the people who need them is complicated. They know that in Tehran. They know that in Houston. Let’s hope they know that in Washington.

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bigbirdgladiator · 5 years

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Questions are being asked about outside influence on Donald Trump after the US president called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute.Having initially said he believed Iran made an error when it shot down a US drone on Thursday in the Strait of Hormuz, the president nonetheless reportedly approved military strikes against the Islamic Republic later that day. The operation to hit targets such as radars and missile batteries was in its initial stages, the New York Times reported, and planes were in the air and ships had been moved into position. But before any missiles were fired the operation was cancelled. It was not clear if Mr Trump had changed his mind, or whether the strike was called off for operational or strategic reasons, said the report, but Dr Karen von Hippel, a former senior adviser at the State Department said she believed “somebody obviously got to” the president. “It’s really hard to say with President Trump, and I certainly wouldn’t consider myself to be a Trump whisperer, but somebody obviously got to him, and whether that was Tucker Carlson from Fox News or prime minister Trudeau, it’s hard to say, “ Dr Von Hippel, now director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Mr Trump had met with Canadian leader Justin Trudeau earlier that day, while the Daily Beast reported Mr Carlson has privately advised the president against military action in Iran.It comes in contrast to the hawkish position on Tehran taken by two of the most senior members of the Trump administration: secretary of state Mike Pompeo and particularly John Bolton, Mr Trump’s national security adviser.CNN reported Mr Bolton, who has repeatedly called for Iranian regime change in the past, has been locked in “debate” with Mr Trump over how to handle Iran, with other senior officials playing the role of “swing votes”.On Fox News, there appears to be a battle for Mr Trump’s ear after Sean Hannity, another host and longtime friend of the president, on Thursday night called on the US to “bomb the hell out of Iran”. “A strong message needs to be sent that a huge price will be paid if you take on the United States of America,” Mr Hannity said. “Simple peace through strength, and it works.”Mr Carlson on Monday devoted a segment of his show to question the shaky evidence provided by US authorities purporting to prove Iran was responsible for an attack on two commercial oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.He attacked Mr Pompeo's "misplaced certainty" over Iran's responsibility and compared it to the Bush administration's discredited justifications of going to war with Iraq in 2003.“We’re still paying a price for that,” Mr Carlson said.Dr Von Hippel speculated that Mr Trump may have followed Mr Carlson’s advice. “He’s been anti-war in the Middle East, and he’s been pushing Trump very hard not to do anything with Iran, and even challenged Pompeo’s intelligence briefing the other day on Fox News, and we know Trump really likes him and listens to him,” she said of Mr Carlson.She added: “With Trump it seems that he has one approach and it’s the same approach in business as foreign policy, and he likes to push very hard to the brink, and he assumes others will cave, and in foreign policy it just doesn’t work that way.”Ben Rhodes, former national security adviser to president Barack Obama, said the confusion surrounding strikes against Iran demonstrated an “absence of any rational, coherent process for national security decision making” that “has always been a clear risk under Trump”. “Now we see what that looks like in a crisis,” he added.> The absence of any rational, coherent process for national security decision-making has always been a clear risk under Trump. Now we see what that looks like in a crisis> > — Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) > > June 21, 2019Former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, suggested the leak over Mr Trump’s U-turn could itself be an attempt by a Trump administration official to force the president’s hand into striking Iran by making him “look weak”. Iranian officials told Reuters on Friday that Tehran had received a message from Mr Trump through Oman overnight warning a US attack on Iran was imminent.“In his message, Trump said he was against any war with Iran and wanted to talk to Tehran about various issues ... He gave a short period of time to get our response but Iran’s immediate response was that it is up to Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei to decide about this issue,” one of the officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.The circumstances of the shooting down of the drone, a US navy RQ-4A Global Hawk, by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, are disputed.Iran said the drone, with a wingspan larger than a Boeing 737 and costing more than over $100m (£79m), had violated its territorial airspace.The US said the "unprovoked attack” happened in international airspace, but failed to provide compelling evidence for the claim. Either way, it marked the first time Iran had struck the US military, which released a set of coordinates it claimed the drone was shot down at.Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the aircraft had taken off from the United Arab Emirates “in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace”.A Revolutionary Guards statement said the drone’s identification transponder had been switched off “in violation of aviation rules and was moving in full secrecy” when it was downed, Reuters quoted the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB as saying.Additional reporting by agencies

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bigyack-com · 5 years

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PATA Forecasts Over 971 Million Int. Visitor Arrivals into Asia Pacific by 2024

PATA has forecast that the region it classifies as Asia Pacific, which includes places like Turkey and the Americas, will welcome close to one billion international visitor arrivals over the next five years. That is one of the key predictions from the Executive Summary of the Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2020-2024, released on Monday by PATA. Covering the years 2019 to 2024 and 39 destinations, the Executive Summary of the Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2020-2024 shows that there could be over 971 million international visitor arrivals in the region by 2024. However, destinations that you may consider to be in Asia Pacific and those 39 destinations that PATA includes in the forecast, may be very different. Here are the 39 destinations included in the forecast: Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (ROK), Lao PDR, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Northern Marianas, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Vanuatu and Vietnam. From the West Asia region, the PATA report only includes data from Turkey as it says that there is a lack of sufficient data from the other destinations. West Asia, as defined by the UN, consists of Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE, and Yemen. Keeping all that in mind, the forecast increase in arrivals has been driven by the average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 5.3% between 2014 and 2019, and that momentum is expected to increase even further over the next five years, to average 6.3% per annum between 2019 and 2024.

This will result in an acceleration of more than 256 million additional arrivals into the region between 2019 and 2024, a significant increase over the additional volume of 162 million added between 2014 and 2019. The distribution of these arrivals in Asia Pacific is expected to change only marginally from 2019, with the Asia and Pacific regions expected to show some relative, as well as absolute increases in arrival numbers. Asia is forecast to remain the dominant destination region and is likely to improve its relative share to over 77% by 2024.The Americas will come in second, although its share is expected to reduce slightly over the period between 2019 and 2024. As a generator of arrivals into and across Asia Pacific however, Asia is predicted to continue growing in relative share, accounting for almost 68% of all arrivals into the region in 2024. This is likely to be at the expense of both the Americas and Europe, both of which are predicted to wane, at least in terms of their respective shares as source regions for Asia Pacific, between 2014 and 2024. Eleven Asia Pacific destinations are predicted to each receive more than 10 million additional arrivals between 2019 and 2024, with China leading the way, expecting to add around 38.2 million more arrivals to its inbound count and raising the aggregate volume to almost 208 million in 2024.

Japan is ranked next, followed by Macau, China and then Mexico, with all of these destinations expected to receive more than 20 million additional foreign arrivals each, over the forecast period to 2024. The top group of 11 destinations is likely to account for 77% of the arrivals volume into Asia Pacific in 2024 and more than three-quarters of the additional arrivals over that same period. In addition, it is predicted that nine out of ten destinations will have AAGRs between 2019 and 2024 in excess of 10%, ranging from 10.2% for Maldives to 21% for Cambodia. The volume bases for each of these destinations vary widely, however these very strong average rates of growth are certainly worth closely watching over the forecast period.

The top ten strongest source markets into Asia Pacific between 2019 and 2024 are forecast to include China, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong SAR in the top three positions, generating a collective volume of more than 369 million IVAs over that period. These three source markets alone are also predicted to generate an additional volume of more than 106 million arrivals into Asia Pacific over the same period. Much of that volume is of course, generated by internal Greater China flows, especially from China into Macau, China and Hong Kong SAR and to a lesser degree vice-versa. PATA CEO Dr. Mario Hardy, said, “For many destinations, there is now an immediate and necessary shift from generating arrivals to properly managing those visitors. It is no longer enough to think and talk about this, the time to put into action such management practices that ensure that visitors into and across the Asia Pacific region receive a superlative and memorable experience is now. The tourism juggernaut is a reality, and this means that, as a socio-economic sector, travel and tourism needs to ensure that it has the necessary mindset and infrastructure – both hard and soft – to enable growth of this magnitude to be properly managed. It is incumbent upon us all to deliver both memorable experiences and positive outcomes for visitors, residents and the environment in equal measure.” All the visitor arrivals data within the report comes from each national tourism organization and/or national statistic agency and their official websites. The forecasts are produced in partnership with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. More on this, specifically which countries PATA includes within Asia Pacific and where countries in the Middle East are included, to come. See also: Did Strength of Thai Baht Affect Number of Visitor Arrivals from UK in 2019? FHD Video and Podcast Interview with Tourism Authority of Thailand. See latest Travel News, Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: PATA, Arrivals. Headlines: Pictures from Ascot United vs Hanworth Villa SHOW DC Hall to Give Bangkok's MICE Industry a Significant Boost IHG Signs First voco Hotel in New Zealand OYO Signs Global Distribution Agreement with Sabre Hong Kong Cancels Chinese New Year Carnival NAC Orders 20 Airbus A220 Aircraft IHG to Launch Customer Insights Portal for Large Enterprises Cathay Pacific Reports December 2019 Traffic Duetto Appoints David Woolenberg as CEO Phuket to Host Thailand Travel Mart (TTM+) 2020 in June Sabre and Accor to Create Unified Technology Platform for Hospitality Industry Groupe Couleur to Manage RWC 2023 Official Travel Agent Selection Process Two Senior Global Marketing Appointments at IHG ANA Begins Autonomous Electric Bus Trial at Haneda Airport China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines Cancel Flights to Wuhan, China Rosa Wong Joins Hotel Alexandra HK as Director of Event Management Four Seasons Madrid Now Accepting Reservations UK Military Flight Training System Orders 4 More H145 Helicopters Sabre Forges 10-Year Partnership with Google Accor Expands Pullman Brand to Rotorua, New Zealand Korean Air Reveals More Details of New SkyPass FFP Airbus to Produce A321 Aircraft in Toulouse, France Cornelia Mitlmeier Joins Four Seasons Dubai as Resort Manager Hotel Alexandra Appoints Daniel Chan as Executive Chef SITAOnAir Acquires GTD Air Services Boeing Hoping for 737 MAX Ungrounding in Mid-2020 1.5 Billion Int. 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Airport Served Record 38,786,422 Pax in 2019 British Airways Starts Offsetting Carbon Emissions on All Flights Within UK Marriott Opens Second JW on Hainan Island, China Airbus Partners Aston Martin for Special Edition Helicopter Dassault Aviation Appoints Charles Wemaëre as VP Worldwide Spares Boeing Appoints Niel Golightly as SVP of Communications Jayson Goldstein Joins Four Seasons Boston as F&B Director Vietjet Takes Delivery of Two More Airbus Aircraft Two Executive Appointments at Bombardier Aviation Air India No Longer Available on Sabre GDS Thailand Targets Tourism Revenue of 3.18 Trillion Baht in 2020 Pictures from Ascot United vs Banstead Athletic on 4 Jan 2020 Gen Z - Airbnb's Fastest Growing Market for Experiences in Asia Pacific Air Canada Takes Delivery of First Airbus A220-300 AirAsia Launches Flights Between Kuala Lumpur and Dalat, Vietnam Cebu Pacific Orders 15 Airbus Aircraft, Including Up To 10 A321XLRs American Airlines and Royal Air Maroc to Codeshare New Immigration Requirements to Help Solomon Islands Fight Measles Vietjet Launches Danang - Singapore Flights American Express GBT Forecasts Stable Air Prices in 2020 Etihad and Kuwait Airways to Codeshare PAG and Inmark Purchase Grand Hyatt Seoul British Airways and Iberia Achieve IATA NDC @Scale Certification Seaplanes in Thailand? Interview with Dennis Keller, CBO of Siam Seaplane Seven HD Videos from IATA Airline Industry Retailing Symposium 2019 in Bangkok Vietnam Airlines Signs EngineWise Service Agreement with Pratt & Whitney Future of Airline Distribution and NDC - Interview with Yanik Hoyles, IATA Cambodia Airways Interview with Lucian Hsing, Commercial Director HD Videos and Interviews Podcasts from HD Video Interviews Travel Trade Shows in 2019, 2020 and 2021 High-Res Picture Galleries Travel News Asia - Latest Travel Industry News Read the full article

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terabitweb · 5 years

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Original Post from FireEye Author: Jacqueline O’Leary

When discussing suspected Middle Eastern hacker groups with destructive capabilities, many automatically think of the suspected Iranian group that previously used SHAMOON – aka Disttrack – to target organizations in the Persian Gulf. However, over the past few years, we have been tracking a separate, less widely known suspected Iranian group with potential destructive capabilities, whom we call APT33. Our analysis reveals that APT33 is a capable group that has carried out cyber espionage operations since at least 2013. We assess APT33 works at the behest of the Iranian government.

Recent investigations by FireEye’s Mandiant incident response consultants combined with FireEye iSIGHT Threat Intelligence analysis have given us a more complete picture of APT33’s operations, capabilities, and potential motivations. This blog highlights some of our analysis. Our detailed report on FireEye MySIGHT contains a more thorough review of our supporting evidence and analysis. We will also be discussing this threat group further during our webinar on Sept. 21 at 8 a.m. ET.

Targeting

APT33 has targeted organizations – spanning multiple industries – headquartered in the United States, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. APT33 has shown particular interest in organizations in the aviation sector involved in both military and commercial capacities, as well as organizations in the energy sector with ties to petrochemical production.

From mid-2016 through early 2017, APT33 compromised a U.S. organization in the aerospace sector and targeted a business conglomerate located in Saudi Arabia with aviation holdings.

During the same time period, APT33 also targeted a South Korean company involved in oil refining and petrochemicals. More recently, in May 2017, APT33 appeared to target a Saudi organization and a South Korean business conglomerate using a malicious file that attempted to entice victims with job vacancies for a Saudi Arabian petrochemical company.

We assess the targeting of multiple companies with aviation-related partnerships to Saudi Arabia indicates that APT33 may possibly be looking to gain insights on Saudi Arabia’s military aviation capabilities to enhance Iran’s domestic aviation capabilities or to support Iran’s military and strategic decision making vis a vis Saudi Arabia.

We believe the targeting of the Saudi organization may have been an attempt to gain insight into regional rivals, while the targeting of South Korean companies may be due to South Korea’s recent partnerships with Iran’s petrochemical industry as well as South Korea’s relationships with Saudi petrochemical companies. Iran has expressed interest in growing their petrochemical industry and often posited this expansion in competition to Saudi petrochemical companies. APT33 may have targeted these organizations as a result of Iran’s desire to expand its own petrochemical production and improve its competitiveness within the region.

The generalized targeting of organizations involved in energy and petrochemicals mirrors previously observed targeting by other suspected Iranian threat groups, indicating a common interest in the sectors across Iranian actors.

Figure 1 shows the global scope of APT33 targeting.

Figure 1: Scope of APT33 Targeting

Spear Phishing

APT33 sent spear phishing emails to employees whose jobs related to the aviation industry. These emails included recruitment themed lures and contained links to malicious HTML application (.hta) files. The .hta files contained job descriptions and links to legitimate job postings on popular employment websites that would be relevant to the targeted individuals.

An example .hta file excerpt is provided in Figure 2. To the user, the file would appear as benign references to legitimate job postings; however, unbeknownst to the user, the .hta file also contained embedded code that automatically downloaded a custom APT33 backdoor.

Figure 2: Excerpt of an APT33 malicious .hta file

We assess APT33 used a built-in phishing module within the publicly available ALFA TEaM Shell (aka ALFASHELL) to send hundreds of spear phishing emails to targeted individuals in 2016. Many of the phishing emails appeared legitimate – they referenced a specific job opportunity and salary, provided a link to the spoofed company’s employment website, and even included the spoofed company’s Equal Opportunity hiring statement. However, in a few cases, APT33 operators left in the default values of the shell’s phishing module. These appear to be mistakes, as minutes after sending the emails with the default values, APT33 sent emails to the same recipients with the default values removed.

As shown in Figure 3, the “fake mail” phishing module in the ALFA Shell contains default values, including the sender email address (solevisible@gmail[.]com), subject line (“your site hacked by me”), and email body (“Hi Dear Admin”).

Figure 3: ALFA TEaM Shell v2-Fake Mail (Default)

Figure 4 shows an example email containing the default values the shell.

Figure 4: Example Email Generated by the ALFA Shell with Default Values

Domain Masquerading

APT33 registered multiple domains that masquerade as Saudi Arabian aviation companies and Western organizations that together have partnerships to provide training, maintenance and support for Saudi’s military and commercial fleet. Based on observed targeting patterns, APT33 likely used these domains in spear phishing emails to target victim organizations.

The following domains masquerade as these organizations: Boeing, Alsalam Aircraft Company, Northrop Grumman Aviation Arabia (NGAAKSA), and Vinnell Arabia.

boeing.servehttp[.]com

alsalam.ddns[.]net

ngaaksa.ddns[.]net

ngaaksa.sytes[.]net

vinnellarabia.myftp[.]org

Boeing, Alsalam Aircraft company, and Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries entered into a joint venture to create the Saudi Rotorcraft Support Center in Saudi Arabia in 2015 with the goal of servicing Saudi Arabia’s rotorcraft fleet and building a self-sustaining workforce in the Saudi aerospace supply base.

Alsalam Aircraft Company also offers military and commercial maintenance, technical support, and interior design and refurbishment services.

Two of the domains appeared to mimic Northrop Grumman joint ventures. These joint ventures – Vinnell Arabia and Northrop Grumman Aviation Arabia – provide aviation support in the Middle East, specifically in Saudi Arabia. Both Vinnell Arabia and Northrop Grumman Aviation Arabia have been involved in contracts to train Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of National Guard.

Identified Persona Linked to Iranian Government

We identified APT33 malware tied to an Iranian persona who may have been employed by the Iranian government to conduct cyber threat activity against its adversaries.

We assess an actor using the handle “xman_1365_x” may have been involved in the development and potential use of APT33’s TURNEDUP backdoor due to the inclusion of the handle in the processing-debugging (PDB) paths of many of TURNEDUP samples. An example can be seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: “xman_1365_x” PDB String in TURNEDUP Sample

Xman_1365_x was also a community manager in the Barnamenevis Iranian programming and software engineering forum, and registered accounts in the well-known Iranian Shabgard and Ashiyane forums, though we did not find evidence to suggest that this actor was ever a formal member of the Shabgard or Ashiyane hacktivist groups.

Open source reporting links the “xman_1365_x” actor to the “Nasr Institute,” which is purported to be equivalent to Iran’s “cyber army” and controlled by the Iranian government. Separately, additional evidence ties the “Nasr Institute” to the 2011-2013 attacks on the financial industry, a series of denial of service attacks dubbed Operation Ababil. In March 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment that named two individuals allegedly hired by the Iranian government to build attack infrastructure and conduct distributed denial of service attacks in support of Operation Ababil. While the individuals and the activity described in indictment are different than what is discussed in this report, it provides some evidence that individuals associated with the “Nasr Institute” may have ties to the Iranian government.

Potential Ties to Destructive Capabilities and Comparisons with SHAMOON

One of the droppers used by APT33, which we refer to as DROPSHOT, has been linked to the wiper malware SHAPESHIFT. Open source research indicates SHAPESHIFT may have been used to target organizations in Saudi Arabia.

Although we have only directly observed APT33 use DROPSHOT to deliver the TURNEDUP backdoor, we have identified multiple DROPSHOT samples in the wild that drop SHAPESHIFT. The SHAPESHIFT malware is capable of wiping disks, erasing volumes and deleting files, depending on its configuration. Both DROPSHOT and SHAPESHIFT contain Farsi language artifacts, which indicates they may have been developed by a Farsi language speaker (Farsi is the predominant and official language of Iran).

While we have not directly observed APT33 use SHAPESHIFT or otherwise carry out destructive operations, APT33 is the only group that we have observed use the DROPSHOT dropper. It is possible that DROPSHOT may be shared amongst Iran-based threat groups, but we do not have any evidence that this is the case.

In March 2017, Kasperksy released a report that compared DROPSHOT (which they call Stonedrill) with the most recent variant of SHAMOON (referred to as Shamoon 2.0). They stated that both wipers employ anti-emulation techniques and were used to target organizations in Saudi Arabia, but also mentioned several differences. For example, they stated DROPSHOT uses more advanced anti-emulation techniques, utilizes external scripts for self-deletion, and uses memory injection versus external drivers for deployment. Kaspersky also noted the difference in resource language sections: SHAMOON embeds Arabic-Yemen language resources while DROPSHOT embeds Farsi (Persian) language resources.

We have also observed differences in both targeting and tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) associated with the group using SHAMOON and APT33. For example, we have observed SHAMOON being used to target government organizations in the Middle East, whereas APT33 has targeted several commercial organizations both in the Middle East and globally. APT33 has also utilized a wide range of custom and publicly available tools during their operations. In contrast, we have not observed the full lifecycle of operations associated with SHAMOON, in part due to the wiper removing artifacts of the earlier stages of the attack lifecycle.

Regardless of whether DROPSHOT is exclusive to APT33, both the malware and the threat activity appear to be distinct from the group using SHAMOON. Therefore, we assess there may be multiple Iran-based threat groups capable of carrying out destructive operations.

Additional Ties Bolster Attribution to Iran

APT33’s targeting of organizations involved in aerospace and energy most closely aligns with nation-state interests, implying that the threat actor is most likely government sponsored. This coupled with the timing of operations – which coincides with Iranian working hours – and the use of multiple Iranian hacker tools and name servers bolsters our assessment that APT33 may have operated on behalf of the Iranian government.

The times of day that APT33 threat actors were active suggests that they were operating in a time zone close to 04:30 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time of the observed attacker activity coincides with Iran’s Daylight Time, which is +0430 UTC.

APT33 largely operated on days that correspond to Iran’s workweek, Saturday to Wednesday. This is evident by the lack of attacker activity on Thursday, as shown in Figure 6. Public sources report that Iran works a Saturday to Wednesday or Saturday to Thursday work week, with government offices closed on Thursday and some private businesses operating on a half day schedule on Thursday. Many other Middle East countries have elected to have a Friday and Saturday weekend.Iran is one of few countries that subscribes to a Saturday to Wednesday workweek.

APT33 leverages popular Iranian hacker tools and DNS servers used by other suspected Iranian threat groups. The publicly available backdoors and tools utilized by APT33 – including NANOCORE, NETWIRE, and ALFA Shell – are all available on Iranian hacking websites, associated with Iranian hackers, and used by other suspected Iranian threat groups. While not conclusive by itself, the use of publicly available Iranian hacking tools and popular Iranian hosting companies may be a result of APT33’s familiarity with them and lends support to the assessment that APT33 may be based in Iran.

Figure 6: APT33 Interactive Commands by Day of Week

Outlook and Implications

Based on observed targeting, we believe APT33 engages in strategic espionage by targeting geographically diverse organizations across multiple industries. Specifically, the targeting of organizations in the aerospace and energy sectors indicates that the threat group is likely in search of strategic intelligence capable of benefitting a government or military sponsor. APT33’s focus on aviation may indicate the group’s desire to gain insight into regional military aviation capabilities to enhance Iran’s aviation capabilities or to support Iran’s military and strategic decision making. Their targeting of multiple holding companies and organizations in the energy sectors align with Iranian national priorities for growth, especially as it relates to increasing petrochemical production. We expect APT33 activity will continue to cover a broad scope of targeted entities, and may spread into other regions and sectors as Iranian interests dictate.

APT33’s use of multiple custom backdoors suggests that they have access to some of their own development resources, with which they can support their operations, while also making use of publicly available tools. The ties to SHAPESHIFT may suggest that APT33 engages in destructive operations or that they share tools or a developer with another Iran-based threat group that conducts destructive operations.

Appendix

Malware Family Descriptions

Malware Family

Description

Availability

DROPSHOT

Dropper that has been observed dropping and launching the TURNEDUP backdoor, as well as the SHAPESHIFT wiper malware

Non-Public

NANOCORE

Publicly available remote access Trojan (RAT) available for purchase. It is a full-featured backdoor with a plugin framework

Public

NETWIRE

Backdoor that attempts to steal credentials from the local machine from a variety of sources and supports other standard backdoor features.

Public

TURNEDUP

Backdoor capable of uploading and downloading files, creating a reverse shell, taking screenshots, and gathering system information

Non-Public

Indicators of Compromise

APT33 Domains Likely Used in Initial Targeting

Domain

boeing.servehttp[.]com

alsalam.ddns[.]net

ngaaksa.ddns[.]net

ngaaksa.sytes[.]net

vinnellarabia.myftp[.]org

APT33 Domains / IPs Used for C2

C2 Domain

MALWARE

managehelpdesk[.]com

NANOCORE

microsoftupdated[.]com

NANOCORE

osupd[.]com

NANOCORE

mywinnetwork.ddns[.]net

NETWIRE

http://www.chromup[.]com

TURNEDUP

http://www.securityupdated[.]com

TURNEDUP

googlmail[.]net

TURNEDUP

microsoftupdated[.]net

TURNEDUP

syn.broadcaster[.]rocks

TURNEDUP

http://www.googlmail[.]net

TURNEDUP

Publicly Available Tools used by APT33

MD5

MALWARE

Compile Time (UTC)

3f5329cf2a829f8840ba6a903f17a1bf

NANOCORE

2017/1/11 2:20

10f58774cd52f71cd4438547c39b1aa7

NANOCORE

2016/3/9 23:48

663c18cfcedd90a3c91a09478f1e91bc

NETWIRE

2016/6/29 13:44

6f1d5c57b3b415edc3767b079999dd50

NETWIRE

2016/5/29 14:11

Unattributed DROPSHOT / SHAPESHIFT MD5 Hashes

MD5

MALWARE

Compile Time (UTC)

0ccc9ec82f1d44c243329014b82d3125

DROPSHOT

(drops SHAPESHIFT

n/a – timestomped

fb21f3cea1aa051ba2a45e75d46b98b8

DROPSHOT

n/a – timestomped

3e8a4d654d5baa99f8913d8e2bd8a184

SHAPESHIFT

2016/11/14 21:16:40

6b41980aa6966dda6c3f68aeeb9ae2e0

SHAPESHIFT

2016/11/14 21:16:40

APT33 Malware MD5 Hashes

MD5

MALWARE

Compile Time (UTC)

8e67f4c98754a2373a49eaf53425d79a

DROPSHOT (drops TURNEDUP)

2016/10/19 14:26

c57c5529d91cffef3ec8dadf61c5ffb2

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

c02689449a4ce73ec79a52595ab590f6

TURNEDUP

2016/9/18 10:50

59d0d27360c9534d55596891049eb3ef

TURNEDUP

2016/3/8 12:34

59d0d27360c9534d55596891049eb3ef

TURNEDUP

2016/3/8 12:34

797bc06d3e0f5891591b68885d99b4e1

TURNEDUP

2015/3/12 5:59

8e6d5ef3f6912a7c49f8eb6a71e18ee2

TURNEDUP

2015/3/12 5:59

32a9a9aa9a81be6186937b99e04ad4be

TURNEDUP

2015/3/12 5:59

a272326cb5f0b73eb9a42c9e629a0fd8

TURNEDUP

2015/3/9 16:56

a813dd6b81db331f10efaf1173f1da5d

TURNEDUP

2015/3/9 16:56

de9e3b4124292b4fba0c5284155fa317

TURNEDUP

2015/3/9 16:56

a272326cb5f0b73eb9a42c9e629a0fd8

TURNEDUP

2015/3/9 16:56

b3d73364995815d78f6d66101e718837

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

de7a44518d67b13cda535474ffedf36b

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

b5f69841bf4e0e96a99aa811b52d0e90

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

a2af2e6bbb6551ddf09f0a7204b5952e

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

b189b21aafd206625e6c4e4a42c8ba76

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

aa63b16b6bf326dd3b4e82ffad4c1338

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

c55b002ae9db4dbb2992f7ef0fbc86cb

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

c2d472bdb8b98ed83cc8ded68a79c425

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

c6f2f502ad268248d6c0087a2538cad0

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

c66422d3a9ebe5f323d29a7be76bc57a

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

ae47d53fe8ced620e9969cea58e87d9a

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

b12faab84e2140dfa5852411c91a3474

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

c2fbb3ac76b0839e0a744ad8bdddba0e

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

a80c7ce33769ada7b4d56733d02afbe5

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

6a0f07e322d3b7bc88e2468f9e4b861b

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

b681aa600be5e3ca550d4ff4c884dc3d

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

ae870c46f3b8f44e576ffa1528c3ea37

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

bbdd6bb2e8827e64cd1a440e05c0d537

TURNEDUP

2014/6/1 11:01

0753857710dcf96b950e07df9cdf7911

TURNEDUP

2013/4/10 10:43

d01781f1246fd1b64e09170bd6600fe1

TURNEDUP

2013/4/10 10:43

1381148d543c0de493b13ba8ca17c14f

TURNEDUP

2013/4/10 10:43

#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Go to Source Author: Jacqueline O’Leary Insights into Iranian Cyber Espionage: APT33 Targets Aerospace and Energy Sectors and has Ties to Destructive Malware Original Post from FireEye Author: Jacqueline O’Leary When discussing suspected Middle Eastern hacker groups with destructive capabilities, many automatically think of the…

#FireEye

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cryptswahili · 6 years

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Iran in Talks With 8 Countries for Use of Cryptocurrency in Financial Transactions

Iran is exploring various options, including holding negotiations with other countries to introduce cryptocurrency in global trade, as the Islamic state moves to sidestep U.S. economic sanctions. Mohammad-Reza Modoudi, the acting head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), said the country was negotiating the use of cryptocurrency in its financial transactions with eight countries.

Also read: Cryptocurrency is Providing a New Lucrative Revenue Stream for Governments

Negotiations Aim to Dismantle U.S. Dollar Hegemony

Speaking to local Tasnim news agency on Jan. 28, Modoudi said: “Representatives from Switzerland, South Africa, France, England, Russia, Austria, Germany and Bosnia have visited Iran to hold related talks about the issue.” He expressed hope that Iran was capable of luring foreign investors into the country.

In November last year, the U.S. announced severe economic sanctions against Iran that, with the exception of just eight countries, cut the rest of the world off from the country’s oil, shipping and gas market, including its financial system. An earlier round of sanctions in May targeted Iran’s currency, aviation industry and other sectors, as President Donald Trump broke away from his predecessor Barack Obama’s engagement with Tehran.

Measures against the financial system have already started to hurt international settlements. The U.S. arm-twisted global banking network Swift into severing ties with Iran’s central bank, leaving the country and its citizens in limbo. In the cryptocurrency realm, global exchanges such as Binance and Bittrex have unofficially dropped Iran from the list of supported countries to receive services.

Now, the oil-rich Middle East country has set its sights on virtual currency. Iran, the world’s third largest oil producer, is hoping to leverage cryptocurrencies to compensate for the squeeze in petrodollars arising from the economic sanctions. The blockade has also throttled trade relations with much of the world, where the U.S. dollar still dominates.

Since mid-2018, Iran has engaged in research and development of its own digital currency that is likely to be linked to the rial, mainly for use in expanding banking system services and to fend off the sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently indicated that Russia was “actively working” with partners to establish financial systems that are fully independent of Swift, without naming partner countries. This was after Iran had signed a trilateral blockchain cooperation agreement with Russia and Armenia on Nov. 14.

Iran Publishes Draft Crypto Regulation Framework

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has published its draft framework, dubbed “Version 0.0,” on regulating cryptocurrencies. According to an Al Jazeera report, Iran has reversed a previous ban on crypto assets “but still imposed restrictions on the use of digital currency” within the country.

The bank said the framework “is aimed at organising and defining boundaries of ongoing crypto operations in the country, and allowing traders to plan for their future.” The CBI recognized and approved the use of virtual currencies like bitcoin, the article said, and permitted initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency exchanges as well as mining operations.

However, CBI said that “Using global cryptocurrencies as methods of payment inside the country is prohibited.” Also, Iranians are prohibited from holding large volumes of crypto, just as they aren’t allowed to possess fiat amounts exceeding €10,000 – something that has elicited sharp criticism from Iranian bitcoin investors.

Aljazeera quoted Perhman Azhdarpour, a 28-year old trader, as saying: “The ban on using internationally accepted cryptos as payment methods can negatively affect the work of me and many like me. We were hoping the central bank’s stance would not again restrict the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in any way.”

More than $10 million worth of BTC is traded in Iran each day, according to the Iran Blockchain Association. The Islamic republic banned its banks from handling transactions in popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin last April, concerned about issues of money laundering and other alleged criminal activities. But the move was widely interpreted as a way to block capital flight in light of impending United States sanctions.

What do you think about Iran’s plan to tackle economic sanctions using cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com

The post Iran in Talks With 8 Countries for Use of Cryptocurrency in Financial Transactions appeared first on Bitcoin News.

[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

#cryptocurrency

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visionmpbpl-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.visionmp.com/stocks-watch-june-18-idea-cellular-icici-bank-union-bank-india/

Stocks to watch out for on June 18: Idea Cellular, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India

TCS and Infosys helped the benchmark indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, close in the green on Friday.

The Sensex closed with a gain of 23 points at 35,622, while the Nifty held 10,800 levels to end Friday’s session 10 points in the green at 10,818.

Besides IT stocks, Reliance, Sun Pharma, Cipla and HUL were other major Index gainers.

Here are the top stocks to watch out for on Monday June 18: Jindal Power and Steel: The company’s basic oxygen furnace (BOF) at its integrated steel plant were inaugurated on Saturday by Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Union Bank of India: The bank, which referred 30 stressed accounts with an aggregated exposure of Rs 5,961 crore to NCLT in 2017-18 (FY18), is betting on the resolution of bad loan accounts to improve its net profit, its report said. Idea Cellular: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to approve on Monday the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular that will create the country’s largest mobile service operator with proposed name of Vodafone Idea Ltd. Bank of Baroda: State-owned Bank of Baroda seeking a bid to sell 30 non-performing assets worth Rs 7,407 crore of which the bank will sell Rolta India’s loan of Rs 287 crore and Bhushan Power’s loan of Rs 1,550 crore, a Cogenics report said on Friday. State Bank of India, IOC: India’s oil imports from Iran will be hit from the end of August as the State Bank of India (SBI) has informed refiners it will not handle payments for crude from the Middle Eastern nation from November, the finance head of Indian Oil Corp said on Friday. ICICI Bank: The bank group is likely to be reshuffling its top management and it may see its life insurance venture’s CEO Sandeep Bakhshi becoming interim chief at ICICI Bank, sources told The Economic Times. Oil companies: The oil firms are planning to add unprecedented 25,000 petrol pumps at one go, across the country, The Economic Times reported. Punjab and Sind Bank: The bank raised the one-year MCLR to 8.6 percent from 8.5 percent with effect June 16. Ruchi Soya: Adani Wilmar is likely to emerge victorious in the bidding for the debt-ridden company as Patanjali Ayurved is not looking to raise its offer, sources told The Economic Times. Aviation companies: Indian airlines are turning to the international market in search of better returns as the intensifying fight for a bigger share of the world’s fastest growing domestic market – where price is king – drives down profits, a Reuters report said.

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 7 years

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Iran finds wreckage of crashed plane on top of mountain

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/iran-finds-wreckage-of-crashed-plane-on-top-of-mountain/

Iran finds wreckage of crashed plane on top of mountain

LONDON (Reuters) – Iran has located a passenger plane that crashed with 65 people on board, a military spokesman said on Tuesday, two days after it disappeared from radar over mountainous terrain, increasing Iranians’ fears about the country’s aging fleet of aircraft.

The Aseman Airlines flight from Tehran disappeared on Sunday, 50 minutes into its journey to the southwestern city of Yasuj. The spokesman said it had crashed into a mountain. No one is expected to have survived.

Glacial temperatures and mountainous terrain hampered search and rescue efforts, adding to the grief and anger felt by families of the victims and wider society in a country that blames decades of sanctions for the poor state of its planes.

The twin-engined turboprop ATR 72 was over 24 years old. According to data cited by the Flight Safety Foundation’s aviation-safety.net website, it had been restored to service just three months ago after being in storage for six years.

The wreckage was finally spotted by a military drone, Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif said.

Emergency and rescue helicopter searches for the plane that crashed in a mountainous area of central Iran, February 19, 2018. REUTERS/Tasnim News Agency

“Two helicopters were sent to the coordinates that the drone had located, and found the wreckage,” told state television.

“The plane had hit top of the mountain before crashing 30 metres (yards) further down.”

After a long wait to locate the plane, families will have to endure further delays until the bodies of their loved ones are returned as helicopters are unable to land in the hostile terrain and the work will have to be carried out on foot, and emergency service official said.

More than 100 people demonstrated outside a local government office in Dena Kooh county on Monday, demanding officials step down for their handling of the disaster after announcements that wreckage had been found on Monday were then denied.

A video on Tasnim news agency showed an angry man shouting at Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi: “Would you have flown on the same plane?”

Iran has suffered several plane crashes in the past few decades. Tehran blames U.S. sanctions for preventing it from importing new aircraft or spare parts.

A deal with world powers on Iran’s nuclear program has lifted some of those sanctions, opening the way for Iranian airlines to update their fleets but many older planes are still in service, particularly on domestic routes.

Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Robin Pomeroy

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

#crashed #Finds #Iran #Mountain #plane #Top #wreckage #News #World News

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atlchocolate007-blog · 7 years

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comparison

USA Vs CCCP Miracle On ICE & USA Vs Canada Edition Super Chexx Bubble Hockey

Many in Asia, Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe consider the Su-27 along with its many updated versions superior to the F-15 for a combat aircraft. The BCS overall economy completely stable and many people had been generally pleased with the federal government, conserve for a strict curfew and a few situations of citizen mistreatment. The BCS became one of the largest armed service forces in the world, surpassing all but China, England, the United Claims, and Russia. The Russian team, which features former NWHL celebrities Lyudmila Belyakova and Yekaterina Smolentseva, defeated Finland 2-1 yesterday. It was a huge victory for the Russians who had been without superstar forwards Olga Sosina and Anna Shokhina (suspensions).

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Hillary Clinton took office this 12 months, and the United Says removed itself from world affairs almost entirely. The economy did not continue to get worse, but did however remain flat. ISIS started executing terror episodes in the continental U.S i9000. and continuing its conquest of the Middle East. Forces in European countries > Aircraft per million : Typical equipped forces in European countries SIPRI Yearbooks 1991-2003. Typical hands control. Last revise: September 2004. Statistics portrayed per million inhabitants for the same season.

RUSSIA and china have reportedly sent ships to shadow a US fleet sent to threaten North Korea. China owns 53 diesel attack submarines, 5 nuclear attack subs and 4 nuclear ballistic missile subs. But the Chinese have seen the great importance of submarines to safeguard the South China Sea, which is why they are bent on introducing brand-new technologically-sophisticated styles in naval power.

One of the questions surrounding a Trump presidency is usually how he will handle sanctions on Russia. It will be interesting to see if he chooses to unilaterally remove them or keep them in his pocket as a bargaining chip,” she said. Register for updates, breaking news and additional arms control related info. The World Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the organization billed with confirming that expresses are not really illicitly building nuclear weapons, deducted in 2003 that Iran acquired performed hidden nuclear actions to create the capability to indigenously generate fissile materials.

The United States has 1,481 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 741 ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers, and 2,570 non-deployed strategic warheads, and roughly 500 deployed and non-deployed tactical warheads, and approximately 2,500 warheads retired and awaiting dismantlement. Nevertheless, the US army thinks in planning additional, even more flexible, tactical programs. Anything much less would become an abdication of responsibility, says Gen. Russell Elizabeth. Dougherty, a previous commander in key of the Atmosphere Force's Strategic Atmosphere Order.

The Russians got a 1-0 business lead in the shootout on Dennis Guryanov's objective past Tyler Parsons when Terry clicked the puck through Samsonov's five-hold to tie up it. Russia's Mikhail Vorobyov provided his group the business lead once again, just to discover Jeremy Bracco match it with another five-hold objective against Samsonov. Secretary of Condition Rex Tillerson, who also was in Sarasota with Trump and can be planned to proceed to Moscow following week, stated he was disappointed but not really amazed by the Russian response because it demonstrated continuing support for Assad.

As The mass of American carriers, submarines and surface area vessels would focus in the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, fighting directly against China's A2/AD system and seated astride China's maritime transit lanes Very long array aviation, including stealth bombers and related property, would run in both theaters mainly because needed. Employees per 1000 : Equipped pushes employees are energetic responsibility armed forces employees, including paramilitary pushes if the training, corporation, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military pushes. Numbers indicated per thousand inhabitants for the same season.

Two groups from Group A that The last naval non-strategic nuclear weapon program-the Tomahawk land-attack vacation cruise missile (TLAM/N)-was removed in 2012. The weapons had been kept at the Strategic Weapons Facilities at Bangor in Washington and at Kings Bay in Georgia, the only two remaining naval nuclear weapons storage sites. India first tested a nuclear explosive device in 1974. That test spurred Pakistan to ramp up work on its secret nuclear weapons program.

The Russians are preparing for the 2017 UEFA Women's Euro this summer time in the Netherlands, where they'll face rigid competition in Group W with Germany, Italy, and Sweden. They qualified for the tournament by finishing second behind Germany in Group 5 of the qualifying process. Toe to foot, a typical battle between the U.S i9000. and Russia would end up being no competition. But few believe any clash would enjoy out like that.

Russia has deployed a number of Su-30 fighters to Syria, aircraft that are capable of striking ground targets as well as those in the air. instilling it in one another throughout the video game. We attempted to stay up for one another even when we were down and in those last few seconds. The ball just didn't bounce in our way. There's nothing we can do about that, but we take it to heart that we played as hard as we could.

many independently fenced bunkers within a bigger storage space composite. Therefore experts at the Center for State Curiosity - a Washington-based think tank - have got forecasted specifically what weapons would be used if the historic foes ever went to war - and which would be most effective. Equipped pushes development : Development in the quantity of equipped pushes employees from 1985 (index = 100) to 2000. 100 means no growth, 50 means it halved and 200 means it doubled.

There are around 40-50 RS ICBMs. Each provides between 4-8 warheads, with between 100-300kt explosive blast each warhead. Suppose the typical - 6 MIRVs at 150ktestosterone levels blast each (7x Nagasaki), would indicate 270 hits. Forces in European countries > Artillery per million : Regular equipped forces in European countries SIPRI Yearbooks 1991-2003. Regular hands control. Last upgrade: Come july 1st 2005. Numbers indicated per million human population for the same yr.

PETROLEUM PRODUCTION A cornerstone of Russia's economy is fossil fuel production. But according to recent estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States edged Russian barrel-per-day production of petroleum and other fossil fuel liquids. Welcome to your live twine for today's second friendly match between the United Expresses Women's State Group and Russia in four days - this time at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, home of the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash. The U.H. received Thursday's meeting, 4-0 , on the strength of braces by both Allie Long and Crystal Dunn.

U.S i9000. officials known as the treatment a one-off” intended to deter future chemical weapons attacks and not an expansion of the U.S. role in the Syrian war. Today relating to some unofficial estimates the US has around 150 to 250 warheads deployed in Italy, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. It should be noted that most of these weapons are free fall gravity bombs delivered by aircrafts.

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Part 1, Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017

International News:

--- "India is exploring setting up a new payments mechanism for trade with Iran, after its old sanctions workaround broke down, as state banks remain fearful of handling payments from Tehran in case the United States imposes a fresh financial embargo. U.S. President Donald Trump has denounced an agreement between Iran and major powers on its nuclear program as a bad deal, and his administration has put Tehran "on notice" after the test-firing of a ballistic missile. Under previous Western sanctions, India had devised a barter-like scheme acceptable to Washington that allowed it to make some oil payments to Tehran in rupees through a small state bank, UCO Bank (UCBK.NS). Indian companies were then able to receive payments for goods exported to Iran using the oil money held in non-convertible rupee balances at UCO, maintaining a trade lifeline between two countries with long historical ties. But since sanctions were partly lifted early last year the rupee account has been run down by more than 90 percent to just 20 billion rupees ($305 million) because Indian refiners have resumed paying for Iranian oil in euros. Whilst the federal government and central bank have approved oil payments in euros - which Iran prefers because the currency is readily convertible - they have not given the all-clear for trade in the opposite direction to be settled in other currencies, leaving exporters stuck."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-iran-trade-idUSKBN16T0PE?il=0

--- "At least 33 people were killed in an air strike that hit a school sheltering displaced people near the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa, a group that monitors the war in Syria said on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it believed the strike was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. Observatory activists had counted at least 33 bodies at the site near the village of al-Mansoura, west of Raqqa, Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters. The air strike took place on Monday night, he said. The U.S.-led coalition has escalated its aerial campaign against the militant group around Raqqa this month, causing numerous civilian casualties, Abdulrahman said. The nearest Islamic State installation to the site of the air strike was a religious school 3 km (1.9 miles) away, he said. A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition has previously said that it does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties and that it investigates those that are reported as a result of its air strikes."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-airstrike-idUSKBN16T0RV?il=0

--- "The Pentagon said on Wednesday that there were no indications that a U.S.-led coalition air strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa had hit civilians, but that it would carry out further investigations. "We have no indication that an airstrike struck civilians near Raqqah as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims," a statement said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the war in Syria, said that at least 33 people were killed in an air strike that hit a school sheltering displaced people near Raqqa."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideas-crisis-usa-syria-idUSKBN16T1WE?il=0

--- "European Union outsiders Norway and Iceland must boost their policy coordination in response to Britain's planned departure from the block, as well as other changes in global politics, the two Nordic countries said on Wednesday. Along with Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland benefit from free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the EU market of 500 million people with Brussels setting rules that govern all aspects of the joint European Economic Area (EEA). Britain plans to trigger divorce proceedings with the EU on March 29, launching two years of negotiations ahead of a departure that will also force a rebuilding of trading relations with other countries around the world. "We must secure seamless continuation of the EEA cooperation with the EU while safeguarding our important interests in relations to Britain," Norway's EU Affairs Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a statement. In a joint statement, Bakke-Jensen and Icelandic Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thordarsson said the two countries would cooperate more closely in their efforts to promote their common interests."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-norway-iceland-idUSKBN16T1D3?il=0

--- "Even in Israel, renowned for its aviation security, a carry-on electronics ban on flights to the United States and Britain from parts of the Middle East and North Africa had a former airport security chief shaking his head on Wednesday. "I don't quite understand the decision," said Pini Schiff, former head of security at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport, pointing to security gaps in the new rules that anyone aiming to smuggle explosives on to a commercial airliner might exploit. Under the regulations announced on Tuesday, electronic devices larger than cellphones are banned from the passenger cabins of planes flying directly from at least 10 airports in 10 Muslim-majority nations. Schiff said that still leaves open the possibility of hiding explosives in a device packed in luggage in the hold of an aircraft, or smuggling a bomb into the seating area of a connecting flight to the United States or Britain. "What can explode in the plane while it's in a passenger's hands can also explode in a cargo hold, because if you put a timer or a barometric pressure switch on it, you endanger the flight to the same degree," he told Reuters."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-airlines-electronics-israel-idUSKBN16T1K5?il=0

--- "Multiple blasts at camps for people who have fled the Islamist militants Boko Haram killed four and injured 18 in the northeastern Nigeria city of Maiduguri, the state police commissioner said on Wednesday. The attacks were the latest in a series in the past week. In a video circulated on Friday, a man claiming to be Boko Haram's leader claimed responsibility for bombings in Maiduguri and a raid in a nearby town last week. Bombings near the city killed four on Sunday...Maiduguri has been the city worst hit by Boko Haram's eight-year-old campaign to create an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria. Its attacks have killed about 15,000 people and forced more than 2 million to flee their homes."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-security-idUSKBN16T0O2?il=0

--- "The world has got three to four months to save millions of people in Yemen and Somalia from starvation, as war and drought wreck crops and block deliveries of food and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday. The aid agency still needs $300 million to bring emergency assistance to a total of 5 million people in Yemen, Somalia and northeast Nigeria as well as areas of South Sudan, where famine has already been declared. "We have probably a window of three to four months to avoid a worst case scenario," Dominik Stillhart, the ICRC's director of operations worldwide, told a Geneva news briefing. "We have kind of a perfect storm now where protracted conflict is overlapped or exacerbated by natural hazard, drought in particular, in the Horn of Africa which is leading to the situation we are facing now," he said. More than 20 million people are facing famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and northeast Nigeria, say aid agencies."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-africa-hunger-idUSKBN16T132?il=0

--- "Migrant children reaching Europe are exposed to sexual abuse and forced labor and lack access to education or healthcare, with some put in detention centers in a violation of their rights, the watchdog Council of Europe said on Wednesday. Children are among the most vulnerable of the 1.6 million refugees and migrants who reached Europe via the Mediterranean in 2014-16, fleeing the war in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, as well as conflicts and poverty in Africa. As the European Union seeks to stem immigration and increasingly curbs the rights of people who seek entry, human rights groups have sounded the alarm that this crackdown risks aggravating the distress of the newcomers, especially children...Some 385,000 people younger than 18 years old applied for asylum for the first time in the EU last year, according to the bloc's statistics office Eurostat. In 2015, around 96,500 unaccompanied children sought formal protection in the bloc."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-children-idUSKBN16T1WM?il=0

--- "Turkey fired into Kurdish-controlled Syria on Wednesday after saying one of its soldiers was killed by a sniper from across the border, risking deeper conflict with a Kurdish militia backed by the United States and building ties to Russia. The Turkish military said the soldier was killed in the Turkish province of Hatay, across the border from Syria's Afrin, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia. It said it returned fire in retaliation. YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told Reuters that Russian forces which deployed to Afrin earlier this week had headed to the area shelled by Turkey. Russia's Defence Ministry was not available for immediate comment. "We will certainly not stand with our hands tied in the face of any aggression and we will use the right to respond in the framework of legitimate self defense," Xelil told Reuters in a written message. The incident highlights the volatile nature of one of the most complicated theaters in the multi-sided Syrian conflict, where the United States, Turkey, Russia, Iran and Arab states have all backed local forces."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-sniper-idUSKBN16T0VB?il=0

--- "Britain's bill for settling its financial position with the European Investment Bank after Brexit may be costly, the EIB's chairman said on Wednesday, calling for "civilized" divorce talks that could avoid such an outcome. The cost could amount to as much as 65 billion euros ($70 billion), by some estimates. That would be above and beyond any other monies due to the European Union. Britain is one of the four main shareholders of the bank, which provides finance and expertise for projects that contribute to European Union policy objectives. It holds 16.1 percent of EIB shares, the same as Germany, France and Italy. But only EU member states can be EIB shareholders, meaning Britain must quit when it leaves the bloc. Britain has in theory a right to receive a 16.1 percent share of the bank's capital once it leaves the EU, a report of the British House of Lords said in March, estimating that the British claim could be 10.19 billion euros ($11.02 billion), out of the bank's 63.3 billion euros of funds. But Britain is also liable to cover its portion of the bank's debt, which amounts to 469 billion euros, EIB President Werner Hoyer said in a hearing at the economic affairs committee of the European Parliament."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-eib-idUSKBN16T25F?il=0

--- "Scotland's devolved parliament will increase security measures with immediate effect following Wednesday's attack on Britain's parliament at Westminster in London. "While there is no intelligence to suggest there is a specific threat to Scotland, Edinburgh or Holyrood (the devolved parliament), we have increased security with immediate effect at the Scottish Parliament as a precaution," parliament's chief executive office said in a statement. "We are aware of a developing situation at Westminster this afternoon and are monitoring matters very closely," it added. A debate on authorizing a new referendum on Scottish independence was suspended earlier after Wednesday's attack, in which a policeman was stabbed, an assailant shot and several people injured. Police say they are treating it as a terrorist incident."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-security-scotland-parliament-idUSKBN16T2B3?il=0

--- "The U.S.-led coalition has airlifted Syrian rebel forces in an operation near the Syrian town of Tabqa in Raqqa province and provided them fire support, U.S. defense officials said on Wednesday. Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. air assets had been used to airlift members of the Syrian Arab Coalition, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces group, in a bid to retake the Tabqa Dam. He did not provide details on the size of the forces moved or what type of fire support was provided. The operation aims both to capture the strategic Tabqa area across the Euphrates River from the SDF's other holdings and to curb Syrian government advances in that direction, the U.S.-backed alliance of militias said in a statement on a social media feed."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa-idUSKBN16T1UV?il=0

--- "The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator spelled out on Wednesday the bloc's conditions for talks, saying securing the rights of some 4.5 million EU and British citizens living abroad was paramount. But Michel Barnier, the European Commission's point man on London-Brussels talks, also warned of the risks if no deal was reached as Britain sought to leave. Barnier said the likes of Polish students and Romanian nurses in Britain and British pensioners in Spain faced great uncertainty over rights to residency and access to the labor market, pensions, social security and education. "Guaranteeing their rights as European citizens, in the long term, will be our absolute priority from the very start of the negotiations," he said in a speech to the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. British Prime Minister Theresa May has also said she wanted the issue to be dealt with as a priority, while insisting a solution should be reciprocal. The British government has been unwilling to guarantee existing rights outside of a broader agreement. Barnier said continuity, reciprocity and non-discrimination should be guiding principles, adding it would take several months to secure such a guarantee."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-barnier-idUSKBN16T1ZQ?il=0

Domestic & International News:

--- "Protectionist trade policies may increase, rather than reduce, a country's trade deficit, the European Central Bank said in a study on Wednesday, just days after finance chiefs of the world's top 20 economies dropped their pledge for open trade. Seeking to reduce a large trade deficit, Donald Trump's U.S. administration has proposed a series of protectionist measures, such as new import duties. The White House also wants to revisit some of its trade relationships, including with key partners Germany and China, which both sell more goods to the United States than they buy from it. Indeed, the United States has already pulled out of the Trans-Pacific trade deal, asked for a review of the North American Free Trade Agreement and refused to reaffirm its pledge for open and free trade at the G20 meeting last weekend, raising fears that global trade will take a hit. Yet the authors of the ECB paper -- published in its regular Economic Bulletin - believe the opposite recipe is needed. They said liberalizing global trade and importing cheaper intermediate goods improves competitiveness, helping firms keep their cutting edge over international rivals and lifting the country's exports."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-economy-protectionism-idUSKBN16T0WR?il=0

--- "The U.S. Justice Department has ordered top executives from several container shipping lines to testify in an antitrust investigation over practices by an industry that is the backbone of world trade, the companies said on Wednesday. The world's biggest container group, Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), together with second largest line MSC of Switzerland, Germany's Hapag Lloyd (HLAG.DE), Taiwan-based Evergreen and Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) said their executives were among those who had been subpoenaed. None offered details on what exactly was being sought by the U.S. authorities, although OOCL said its subpoena called for the production of documents. The subpoenas were issued during a meeting of top container shipping executives last week in San Francisco. They are members of the International Council of Containership Operators, commonly known as the Box Club. "We can confirm that we conducted an operation," an FBI spokesman in San Francisco told Reuters on Wednesday. "It is part of an ongoing investigation and we are unable to release any additional details at this point.""

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shippers-idUSKBN16S2L6?il=0

--- "Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi believes reconstruction of Anbar province as well as Mosul, in Nineveh province, will cost about $50 billion, Senator Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday, recounting a Tuesday conversation with the Iraqi leader. "I heard from the Iraqi prime minister yesterday -- to reconstruct Anbar province and now Mosul, is about $50 billion," Graham said at a Senate hearing, addressing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-usa-idUSKBN16T2CA?il=0

--- "Mexico's government on Tuesday warned Mexican companies that it would not be in their best "interests" to participate in the construction of U.S. President Donald Trump's border wall, though there will be no legal restrictions or sanctions to stop them if they tried. While some Mexican companies stand to potentially benefit from the controversial infrastructure project, residents south of the border view the wall and Trump's repeated calls to have Mexico pay for it as offensive. That is putting public pressure on firms to abstain from participating. "We're not going to have laws to restrict (companies), but I believe considering your reputation it would undoubtedly be in your interest to not participate in the construction of the wall," said Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo. "There won't be a law with sanctions, but Mexicans and Mexican consumers will know how to value those companies that are loyal to our national identity and those that are not," Guajardo added."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-wall-idUSKBN16T0DV?il=0

Domestic News:

--- "Bank lobbyists who opened the Trump era with great expectations for sweeping regulatory reform are privately striking an increasingly dismal tone as hopes for a quick and thorough rewrite of Dodd-Frank legislation dim. Lobbyists say they are facing the reality that bank deregulation legislation will have to wait in line behind other bigger priorities such as healthcare reform and taxes. "It's so disheartening," said one financial industry representative. “I was excited for this year, and I’m not anymore.” Even if Congress does look to rewrite the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, it is unlikely to muster enough votes in the Senate for the strong across-the-board overhaul industry leaders had hoped for, roughly a half dozen lobbyists told Reuters in recent interviews. Banks say that Dodd-Frank, which was conceived in response to the financial crisis, hobbles their growth. Among Dodd-Frank measures that banks want to see changed are the law's ban on proprietary trading, heightened oversight for some of the nation's largest institutions, and stricter capital requirements. But they see short-term hopes for less stringent oversight by agencies like the Federal Reserve or the Securities and Exchange Commission stymied by the slow pace of Trump appointments for those agencies."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-lobbyists-idUSKBN16T19G?il=0

--- "U.S. securities regulators moved on Wednesday to modernize regulations that require stock and bond trades to settle within three business days, a step the industry has urged the government to take for years. The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to shorten that timeframe to two business days, a change that aims to reduce credit and market risk, including the risk of a trading counterparty defaulting."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sec-settlement-idUSKBN16T1SW?il=0

--- "Farmers in the U.S. agricultural heartland that helped elect Donald Trump are now pushing his administration to avoid a trade dispute with Mexico, fearing retaliatory tariffs that could hit over $3 billion in U.S. exports. The value of exports at risk is based on a Reuters analysis of a tariff list which Mexico used in a trucking dispute six years ago and which Mexican officials have said could serve as a model if President Trump sets new barriers to Mexican goods. Pork producers contacted Trump's transition team soon after the Nov. 8 election to stress that tariff-free access to Mexico has made it their top export market by volume, said John Weber, president of the National Pork Producers Council. The council has sent the administration multiple letters, including one signed in January by 133 agricultural organizations, and is arranging for several hog farmers to fly to Washington next month to talk to officials."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-trade-idUSKBN16T0EZ?il=0

--- "More than 100 institutional investors opposed efforts by the U.S. securities regulator to delay a rule requiring companies to disclose a ratio comparing their chief executive's pay with their workforce median. In a joint letter dated Wednesday, more than 100 unions, pension funds, activist investors, state treasurers and consumer advocacy groups urged Acting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Michael Piwowar not to delay the implementation of the rule. Piwowar said in February the SEC was seeking comments about whether to delay the rule and whether corporations might be facing any "unexpected challenges" with compliance. The requirement went into effect in January, and the ratio is expected to be disclosed in many companies' 2018 proxy statements unless the rule is delayed. The move by Piwowar to potentially delay the rule was one of several actions he has taken since becoming acting SEC chairman in January and represents part of a broader push by President Donald Trump's administration to scale back or repeal Obama-era rules that Republicans say stifle economic growth. The CEO pay ratio rule was one of several corporate disclosures mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sec-ceopay-idUSKBN16T1LE?il=0

--- "The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to discuss the administration's proposed budget, the panel's chairman said on Wednesday, after heated opposition in Congress to President Donald Trump's plan to slash funding for diplomacy and foreign aid. "I've let Secretary Tillerson know there's a lot of concern about the budget issue," Senator Bob Corker, the committee's Republican chairman, said at a hearing on the global humanitarian crisis. Members of the Senate panel will have lunch with Tillerson at the State Department on Thursday, he said. Corker also made clear that when Congress takes up agriculture-related legislation next year he would push to reform current rules for distributing U.S. food aid, which make it more expensive and time-consuming to provide assistance after international crises. "We could feed 4 to 6 million more people each year," he said, saying some interest groups pushing to keep current rules are "extorting us.""

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tillerson-congress-idUSKBN16T252?il=0

--- "A U.S. Senate committee easily passed a bill on Wednesday to enable the nuclear regulator to license advanced nuclear reactors that backers say are safer than conventional plants and can help deal with a growing waste problem. The Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop a regulatory framework to enable the licensing of advanced nuclear reactors that could come into development in 10 or 15 years. The bill passed 18-3 in the Environment and Public Works Committee. The committee's chairman, Republican Senator James Inhofe, said the bill is "critical for the revitalization and improvement of our nation's nuclear energy industry." The bill has brought together some Republicans eager to prevent the United States from falling behind China and Russia in nuclear innovation and Democrats who want to foster technologies that do not emit gases blamed for climate change. But the legislation faces a cloudy future. The nuclear industry faces competition from cheap natural gas prices and the growing wind and solar power industries. It was uncertain whether the full Senate would debate the bill or if the measure would be absorbed into broader energy legislation."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nuclearpower-senate-idUSKBN16T279?il=0

#international affairs #domestic affairs #source: reuters

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