Within weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the average price for a gallon of gasoline reached its highest point in American history—a range where it has largely remained as the economic isolation of one of the world’s largest petroleum exporters looks to persist for months, if not years.
Ninety-one percent of American households own a car, meaning that almost everyone will feel the sting of elevated fuel prices when they fill up their tanks for the foreseeable future. However, the roughly 2 million owners of electric vehicles (EVs) will be spared the pain at the pump.
An oil shock of the magnitude not seen since the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo has sent Google searches related to EVs surging by 300 percent in the last few months. Thirty-six percent of Americans now say they plan to buy or lease an EV or are seriously considering doing so. The time is ripe to electrify American roads.
Increasing the ownership and production of EVs presents a strategic opportunity to not only insulate the public from price spikes in oil, but also boost the clean manufacturing workforce and decarbonize the transportation sector—the largest source of CO2 emissions in the United States. READ MORE...
North Korea has conducted what is thought to be its biggest missile launch since 2017.
The weapon was apparently an intermediate range missile which reached an altitude of 2,000km before coming down in the Sea of Japan.
Japan, South Korea and the US have all condemned the launch, the seventh test this month.
The UN prohibits North Korea from ballistic and nuclear weapons tests, and has imposed strict sanctions.
But the East Asian state regularly defies the ban, and leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to bolster his country's defences.
Experts suggest multiple reasons lie behind the spate of launches, including political signalling of strength to global and regional powers, a desire by Kim Jong-un to pressure the US back into long-stalled nuclear talks and also the practical need to test out new engineering and military command systems.
The timing is also seen as significant, coming just before the Winter Olympics in China, and ahead of the South Korean presidential election in March.
And the tests have also surged as the faltering North Korean economy struggles under US-led sanctions, pandemic-related difficulties and decades of mismanagement.
South Korea reported that the launch took place at 07:52 local time on Sunday (22:52 GMT) off North Korea's east coast.
Japanese and South Korean officials estimated that the missile reached an altitude of 2,000km (1240 miles) and flew for 30 minutes to a distance of 800km (500 miles).
The United States called on North Korea to "refrain from further destabilising acts". READ MORE...
The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that revenge for Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death will come for the United States from "within" the country itself.
Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Forces, was killed in a Jan. 3, 2020, U.S. strike in Baghdad, days after Iranian-backed militia supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, head of Iran’s elite Quds force, gives a speech during a ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of senior Iranian military commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. attack, in Tehran, Jan. 1, 2021. (Reuters)
Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, who replaced Soleimani, spoke during the second anniversary of Soleimani’s death, which Iran has labeled as "martyrdom." Ghaani underscored the republic’s dedication to avenging the general’s death, saying that the "ground for the hard revenge" will come from "within" the homes of Americans. "We do not need to be present as supervisors everywhere, wherever is necessary we take revenge against Americans by the help of people on their side and within their own homes without our presence," Ghaani said, according to Tasnim News.
Iran's Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. attack in Baghdad in January 2020.
He urged the United States to "deal" with those involved in Soleimani’s "assassination" itself before the "children of the Resistance Front" need to take matters into their own hands. "This revenge has begun," Ghaani added. "Americans will be uprooted from the region." The Tasnim News Agency is a private agency owned by the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, which claims to defend "the Islamic Revolution against negative media propaganda campaign and providing … readers with realities on the ground about Iran and Islam."
Chinese scientists have made a startling claim about its hypersonic weapons program after a series of tests it carried out last year. In what could be termed as a modern-day arms race, China has moved with unprecedented speed to acquire and upgrade its hypersonic capabilities.
Chinese scientists have claimed that they have produced next-generation hypersonic weapons with infrared homing advancements that the US military may not have until 2025.
According to the researchers, heat-seeking capabilities allow Chinese hypersonic missiles to home in on practically any target with remarkable accuracy and speed, including stealth aircraft, ships, and even moving vehicles on the street.
This could cause widespread concern in the United States when viewed alongside the claims made by a Chinese military expert.
According to South China Morning Post, a Chinese military expert had earlier said that “a ground-to-air hypersonic missile could catch up and destroy an F-22 (Raptor) in seconds if it fired a missile or dropped a bomb from short range”.
Additionally, according to the US Air Force, heat-seeking missiles have shot down around 90% of all aircraft lost during the 1980s, and stealth fighters like the F-22 could be potential targets since their coating materials heat up easily in flight.
The F-22 Raptor is not only a lethal American fighter but also an important part of the Global Strike Task Force which is responsible for fielding combat-ready forces for nuclear deterrence and global strike operations.
The susceptibility of this aircraft to be tracked and shot by heat-seeking missiles makes the Chinese claim about its hypersonic missiles all the more significant and could send shock waves in the United States.
A hypersonic missile’s ability to search for, identify, and lock on to a target based on its heat signature when flying at low altitudes where the air is thicker could revolutionize conventional warfare, according to Chinese researchers from the National University of Defence Technology’s hypersonic infrared homing program. READ MORE...
