March 28, 2024

US, Canada Bolster Haiti’s Security

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

Canada and the United States have sent “security equipment” including tactical and armored vehicles, to the Haitian National Police to help the country tackle a political, economic, and security crisis, reports Al Jazeera. Haiti PM Ariel Henry asked the international community for military assistance to quell growing violence, gang shootouts, and looting. UN chief Antonio Guterres called for the immediate deployment of a special armed force. Canada and the US, in a joint statement, announced the arrival Oct. 15 of the equipment to the Haitian National Police.

US teens are the fastest growing group to die in the ongoing opioid crisis, reports BBC. More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, the vast majority adults, but the fastest growing group to die of overdoses were teenagers. The US has an overdose death rate 20 times the global average. And even though fewer teens are using drugs, the synthetic opiate fentanyl is killing more US teens than ever. The overdose rate among school-aged children in the US doubled between 2019 and 2020 and then rose a further 20% last year.

The Navy says it does not yet have a timeline for when it will be able to fully repair a broken 36-inch water main at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI, leaving the 93,000 people who depend on its water system to continue conservation measures and keep boiling their household water until further notice, reports Stars and Stripes. KHON reported Monday evening that Navy officials said repairs to the broken water main at JBPHH are still at least a week out. Nearby homes, schools and businesses are impacted by low water pressure and a boil water warning.

The Pentagon is exploring communications options for Ukraine amid fears that the vital satellite internet system Starlink could be pulled from the battlefield, reports Stars and Stripes. The Pentagon is in talks with SpaceX, which operates Starlink, and is also discussing partnerships with other satellite communication companies. SpaceX has indicated it could stop funding Starlink due to mounting costs.

‘Assault carrier’ tests explore how best Marines’ F-35Bs can operate with Navy flatops, reports USNI. F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters spent several months aboard USS Tripoli experimenting with the “assault carrier” concept, which allows for one day F-35Bs aboard and the next day MV-22s.

The decade-old VA burn pit registry is failing to track veterans’ illnesses or help them get care, reports Military Times. Although more than 300,000 vets have registered since 2014, the data collected does not serve the purpose of tracking the illnesses or delivering care, according to members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee analyzing the registry. Health experts recommend major changes.

The US is sending $725 million more in military aid to Ukraine, reports Military Times.

The Hill says that the ongoing US support to Ukraine could prompt Russian cyber escalation in the US midterm elections. With Russia facing setbacks, continuing to face setbacks in its war against Ukraine, experts warn Russian President Vladimir Putin may escalate his cyber operations as retaliation.

Ukraine owes much to US weapons, planning, and intelligence help, and the US Army is learning how to move intelligence much faster from satellites to ground units, reports Defense News.

Canopy CEO Davis Bell calls over-employment ‘new form of theft and deception’ after firing two engineers secretly working multiple full-time jobs at once, reports Business Insider. In a viral Linkedin post, Bell explained why he fired two engineers for secretly working two full-time jobs and says the backlash he received mischaracterized the situation.

Vaccines to treat cancer are possible by 2030, say BioNTech founders. The Guardian reports, the husband and wife team behind one of the most successful Covid vaccines of the pandemic, Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, announced breakthroughs have fueled their optimism for cancer vaccines in the coming years. Prof Türeci has described how the mRNA technology at the heart of BioNTech’s Covid vaccine could be repurposed so that it primed the immune system to attack cancer cells instead of invading coronaviruses.

 

 

The George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group went under NATO command on Friday as part of the Neptune Strike 2022 exercise series, reports USNI News.

The Marine Corps halts surf use of its new amphibious combat vehicles after another mishap, reports Military Times. An armored, eight-wheeled vehicle rolled over in surf during training last week at the Marines Assault Amphibian School at Camp Pendleton, CA. The three crew members weren’t injured. This is the second restriction on use of amphibious combat vehicles this year, the first lifted just last month. Open water operations were halted July 19 when, during another training exercise, one vehicle rolled and another disabled in unusually high surf.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew of four astronauts safely splashed down in the Atlantic, reports gCaptain. The Dragon spacecraft returned Friday, splashing down off the coast of Jacksonville, FL, completing the agency’s fourth commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti returned to Earth after 170 days in orbit.

The US Coast Guard seized $29M of narcotics in Gulf of Oman, reports Navy Times. The cutter Charles Moulthrope seized the narcotics just weeks after confiscating roughly $85 million in heroin in the same waters. The Navy’s ramped up presence in the 5th Fleet in the past year has resulted in significantly more weapons and illicit drug seizures.

A Marine is the  Guinness world champ in burpees per minute, reports Marine Times. SGT Nahla Beard, an air traffic control supervisor at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, has become the first woman to complete 27 chest-to-ground burpees in one minute.  To smash the Guinness World Record required Beard to splay her arms to the side while her chest was on the ground.

E. coli found in carrier Abraham Lincoln’s water, reports Navy Times. It was found in the potable water aboard the aircraft carrier last month, but Navy officials said no medical symptoms have arisen to suggest  that was the cause of the ship’s drinking water becoming cloudy and smelly a few weeks ago.

Two grounded C-130H planes are  back in air, the rest ‘will take some time, reports Defense News. Much of the Air Force’s C-130H fleet, including variants, was grounded late last month when engine tests after depot maintenance discovered cracks in a few older propeller assemblies. Inspecting all aircraft, establishing and completing the proper fix are technically and logistically complicated, slowing the process.

The Veteran ‘s Administration adds another six months to health record deployment pause, reports FCW. The VA had hoped to resume deployments in January, after years of recurring problems including system slowness, unexpected downtime, problems with scheduling and referrals and other issues, but the rollout remains on pause until June 2023.”

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