The need for a new edition of Moscow’s doctrine on information security is the result of foreign states intensifying their efforts in information and psychological operations to affect Russia’s internal affairs, their bias against Russia, and cyber-attacks against its key infrastructure, the document says.
One of the main aspects that affects information security is the build-up in “capacities to influence information infrastructure by a number of countries in pursuit of military objectives.”The doctrine states that the limitless flow of information has a negative impact on international security, as it can be employed to pursue geopolitical and military goals, thus favoring organized crime, extremists, and terrorists.
Notably, intelligence agencies of certain countries launch information and psychological operations to destabilize societies in various regions, thus undermining sovereignty and the territorial integrity of other states. These operations, coupled with the widespread use of information technologies, may involve faith- and ethnicity-based organizations, as well as human rights groups.
In turn, terrorist and extremist groups make use of psychological operations to stir up ethnic and religious discord, intensify tensions in societies, propagate extreme views, and recruit new followers.
Russia and its allies are not immune to these threats, the doctrine stresses, as certain states deliberately use various information technologies to undermine Russia’s political and social stability, as well as territorial integrity.
This alarming trend is also seen in the increasing bias against Russian policies in foreign media, while Russian journalists working abroad are subject to “blatant discrimination,” facing numerous obstacles in the course of their work.In the meantime, the doctrine notes, Russian government agencies, scientific centers, and military industries are being targeted by foreign intelligence services by means of electronic and cyber surveillance.
The Russian population, particularly the youth, is affected by these information and psychological operations, which aim to “erode the spiritual and moral values inherent in the Russian people.”
To counter threats and challenges in the information environment, Russia will build “strategic deterrents” and step up efforts to “prevent armed conflicts that stem from the use of IT,” as well as neutralize psychological operations targeting “historical foundations and patriotic values.”
The doctrine also instructs government agencies to counter “extremist ideologies, xenophobia, and ethnic exceptionalism”which could undermine Russia’s sovereignty and stability.
Russia will also strengthen critical information infrastructure to protect against cyber and computer network attacks.
Looking to catch up on some psalms on the road? You'll probably have to bring your own Bible. (iStock)
Hotel nightstands across the U.S. are starting to empty out.
According to a new study by hospitality analytics group STR, the percentage of hotels that offer religious materials in rooms has dropped by almost half in the last decade-- from 95 percent of in 2006 to just 48 percent this year.
“It’s because the religious books don’t fit the personality of the brands,” Marriott spokeswoman Felicia Farrar McLemore told the Los Angeles Times when speaking about two brand property openings in Los Angeles this year.
Marriot International recently decided against supplying religious materials at its Moxy and Edition hotel brands, which are geared toward millennials.
But the decision to shy away from supplying the religious texts is multi-faceted.
According to some industry experts, hotels are trying to appeal to younger American travelers who tend to be less religious than their parents. The casual Bible placement has also declined to avoid offending guests of other faiths, say industry experts.
And there’s a pragmatic issue at play. Many newer hotel brands install shelves rather than nightstands with drawers next to the bed, displacing the religious materials' previously discreet home.
STR officials did note that only 2,600 of the more than 8,000 hotels surveyed in their study answered the question about religious materials in the rooms. Still, some religious officials say the decline is notable.
“The decline of religious materials in hotels, as cited in the survey, is reflective of increasing secularism and independence in the world,” said Jeff Pack, the Director of Communications for Gideon International, the nonprofit group that distributes Bibles in hotels across the country to the Time.
“This has resulted in an erosion of spiritual awareness."
The trend toward removing religious materials from hotel rooms has not affected at least one big notable brand. Rooms in the tew Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. come equipped with a Gideon Bible in the nightstand. The property also keeps several other religious texts on hand available upon request.
The trend of removing Bibles from hotel rooms is also affecting properties overseas.
Travelodge hotels in Britain removed Bibles from their rooms in 2014 “in order not to discriminate against any religion,” the company said. And Wyndham Hotel Group, Travelodge’s parent group, said that there’s no requirement to stock Bibles in any of its 15 global hotel brands.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) fired back at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who called President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Dr. Benjamin Carson as secretary of housing & urban development "disconcerting" and "disturbing".
"Why didn't she say that about Barack Obama," Huckabee asked, noting that Obama had never been an executive or had any extensive business experience.
Huckabee asked why Carson, a renowned former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, could solve issues in "one of the most complex systems on the planet" but not handle the responsibilities of HUD.
"Someone can live or die at the slightest move of his hand," Huckabee said.
He also noted Carson's personal experience growing up poor in Michigan, where his mother worked three jobs to keep her family off of government assistance.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
A new report shows that people in many of Germany's big cities have less purchasing power than those living in the countryside.
Poverty is not just a question of how much money an individual makes, but also what he or she can actually buy with it. That's a point stressed in a new report the Cologne Institute for Economic Research released on Monday.
Researchers looked into relative income poverty, defined as earning less than 60 percent of the median income. They also calculated the purchasing power residents have in different regions and cities in Germany.
According to their findings, income poverty is more prevalent in Germany's eastern states. However, purchasing power poverty is a problem in many big cities in western Germany due to higher overall prices on goods.
The average rent is also higher in urban areas. In the small city of Bautzen in the eastern German state of Saxony, a 60 square-meter (646 square-feet) apartment costs roughly 310 euros ($329) per month, according to the German Rent Index. By contrast, an apartment the same size would cost an average of 580 euros ($618) per month in Cologne, Germany's fourth-biggest city.
The report's co-author, Christoph Schröder, explained that to calculate the purchasing power, they looked at the prices of a "big basket full of goods" including groceries, rent and expenses like the entrance fee to a public swimming pool or the cost of a bus ticket.
"In big western cities like Dusseldorf or Cologne, the price for this basket is about 10 percent higher than the German average," Schröder, the institute's poverty expert, said to DW. "But people in the city don't generally earn more money than people in the country, or at least not enough more."
He also estimated that prices in eastern Germany were around 5 percent lower than average. Researchers at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research believe looking at purchasing power is more informative than looking solely at income levels when it comes to finding out where many people are struggling with poverty.
The results of the institute's research reveal that purchasing power poverty is especially prevalent in the northern German cities of Bremerhaven and Bremen and the western German cities of Gelsenkirchen, Cologne and Duisburg. In Cologne for example, 26.2 percent of people are considered poor based on their low purchasing power.
Higher poverty rate among migrants
Even without looking at the higher prices, cities are disadvantaged. Their populations have a higher percentage of individuals with a high poverty risk, like single parents, immigrants and unemployed persons. Nearly 35 percent of city dwellers are migrants, compared to 22 percent in the countryside. For unemployed persons, the city-country divide stands at 7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.
In the big western German city of Frankfurt, for example, 74 percent of households have at least one person who belongs to one of these at-risk groups. The German average lies at around 50 percent, Schröder says.
The poverty expert explains that the poverty rate among migrants is higher than among German nationals because of the language barrier and the fact that degrees from their home countries often aren't recognized in Germany, making it difficult for them to find well-paid jobs.
Fighting poverty with education and integration
The institute's researchers offer a number of suggestions on how to combat poverty in general. They believe education is a big factor.
"We need to start providing a better education to children when they are very young," Schröder said. "There should be full-day programs for kids younger than school-age. That's not only good for children from families where German isn't the first language, but also for single parents who are then free to find better-paying jobs."
Other suggestions include language classes and initiatives that help migrants get their degrees recognized. The report's authors also want to work on the purchasing power side of things by decreasing the price for rent. They want fewer restrictions and more room for apartment buildings in the urban landscape, so that rent would be lower.
The passing of Jayaram Jayalalitha, one of India's most flamboyant and controversial politicians, leaves a void that will be felt for a long time in both her home state, Tamil Nadu, and in the Indian political scene.
The leader of Tamil Nadu state and former actress who played a powerful goddess on screen was all too human and yet her followers deified her as a divine being.
She inspired a cult following, and adoring followers often called her "Adi parashakti" - which means the ultimate powerful goddess in Tamil.
She was one of India's most charismatic and enigmatic personalities, single-handedly holding her own in the masculine world of Tamil politics and effectively breaking a more than 30-year-old culture of male dominance.
Successful actress
While there have been several female leaders across Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, Jayalalitha came from a different background.
Other female premiers, like Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Sheikh Hasina and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, all came from political families.
Jayalalitha, on the other hand, came from a middle-class family, where her mother was a small-time actress.
On various occasions she described herself as a prim, convent-bred girl who had dreamt of a world of academic and legal studies with an interest in English theatre.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionActor and director MG Ramachandran was Jayalalitha's mentor, and inducted her into the movies
She topped her state in her school-leaving exams and was awarded a scholarship to college studies. However, to tide over her family's financial crisis, she began to act instead.
Actor and late Tamil Nadu chief minister MG Ramachandran was Jayalalitha's mentor, and inducted her into the movies.
She acted in more than 140 films from the 1960s. She was a successful actress of her time, paired with the top heroes of all south Indian languages.
Challenging norms
Her ability to speak English, considered a social marker, and ability to sing marked her skills in the movie business.
And, even in her acting career, Jayalalitha was not afraid to challenge established norms.
A common trope in films of the time was that of the "spoilt shrew tamed by the hero". But Jayalalitha soon tired of that stereotype - and eventually started playing independent women who resisted traditional roles for women.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionJayalalitha met Hillary Clinton when the latter visited Tamil Nadu in 2011
Fame and success came at a cost, though - there was intense tabloid interest in her private life, while her heartbreaks were fodder for local Tamil magazines.
She came under similar scrutiny when she became a politician.
After a lull in her career she was inducted into the regional AIADMK party as its propaganda secretary. Her maiden public address in 1982 on the power of women struck a chord with many.
Earning enemies
Jayalalitha's estrangement with her brother and family, and the fact that a companion, the wife of a small time video shop businessman, was arrested for alleged involvement in corruption scandals, added more fodder to the media and rivals hungry for her downfall.
Her loneliness and lack of family were often held up as a personality flaws by her rivals.
Critics also accused her of corruption, suppressing political rivals ruthlessly, and establishing a corrupt inner circle.
The midnight arrest of her political rivals, and her withdrawal of support to the ruling federal BJP government led by Prime Minister Vajpayee in 1999, earned her enemies among political parties across India, including her own party leaders, and the media.
Jayalalitha even earned the nickname "Imelda Marcos of India" thanks to her cult of personality and the excesses she exhibited in her first term of office as chief minister of Tamil Nadu in the 1990s.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionJayalalitha was very popular among women
And eyebrows were raised when she arranged a controversial wedding for her foster son, featuring 10 dining halls and extravagant decorations, in 1995 while she was chief minister. She disowned her foster son a year later.
Her supporters defended her from corruption allegations, saying she was no more corrupt than the male politicians of her time and was only playing a game they were all too familiar with.
Outspoken
While her rivals showcased their party's ideologies and fostered their dynastic brand of politics, Jayalalitha's lone persona as a single woman was held up for ridicule.
Jayalalitha was outspoken, saying she was proud to be a woman, an upper-caste Brahmin and a Hindu - in a state where politicians espoused the rationalistic credo of their parties and decried Brahminism and religion.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionJayalalitha led her party to power in Tamil Nadu in MayImage copyrightAFPImage captionJayalalitha cultivated a cult of personality
But the last decade of her tenure as chief minister was marked by efforts to reshape her image into that of a benign and benevolent mother figure.
Gone were the personal excesses of silks and diamonds.
They were replaced with a sober dress code: given to belief in astrology too she began to wear dark colours, especially plain green and blue and maroon.
Uncertain future
She successfully built up a near-indelible personality cult through welfare schemes - and the inexpensive food and water products, branded "Amma" after her nickname, mother, that were provided to the poor.
Subsidies made up more than a third of Tamil Nadu's revenue spending, and the policies endeared her to women and children.
Tamil Nadu also became the first state in India to allow government hospitals to perform medical procedures on transgender people to help them fight infections.
Jayaalalitha spent a lot of time in court, facing multiple corruption allegations.
But, following each arrest, she eventually emerged unscathed.
Jayalalitha's passing leaves her party, one of the oldest regional parties in India, in a shambles.
But she will also be remembered as a woman who stood up and created her own narrative - both in the film world, and in politics.
The necessity for a new edition of Russia’s doctrine on information security is the result of foreign states intensifying their efforts in information and psychological strategies to affect the internal affairs of other sovereign countries and destabilize them, the document says.
The doctrine states that the limitless flow of information has a negative impact on international security, as it can be employed to pursue geopolitical and military goals, thus favoring organized crime, extremists, and terrorists.
One of the main aspects that affects information security is the build-up in “capacities to influence information infrastructure by a number of countries in pursuit of military objectives.”
Notably, intelligence agencies of certain countries launch information and psychological operations to destabilize societies in various regions, thus undermining sovereignty and the territorial integrity of other states. These operations, coupled with the widespread use of information technologies, may involve faith- and ethnicity-based organizations, as well as human rights groups.
In turn, terrorist and extremist groups make use of psychological operations to stir up ethnic and religious discord, intensify tensions in societies, propagate extreme views, and recruit new followers.
Russia and its allies are not immune to these threats, the doctrine stresses, as certain states deliberately use various information technologies to undermine Russia’s political and social stability, as well as territorial integrity.
In the meantime, the doctrine notes, Russian government agencies, scientific centers, and military industries are being targeted by foreign intelligence services by means of electronic and cyber surveillance.
This alarming trend is also seen in the increasing bias against Russian policies in foreign media, while Russian journalists working abroad are subject to “blatant discrimination,” facing numerous obstacles in the course of their work.
The Russian population, particularly the youth, is affected by these information and psychological operations, which aim to “erode the spiritual and moral values inherent in the Russian people.”
At least 11 people were killed when a massive fire ripped through a four-star hotel in Karachi early Monday.
Reportedly, 70 people suffered injuries in the blaze, which started in Regent Plaza hotel’s kitchen.
According to initial reports, fire started in the hotel’s kitchen and made its way up, trapping guests and staff. Firefighters and rescue officials arrived at the scene and contained the fire within three hours.
The injured were immediately shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Officials at the hospital stated that of the 70 injured, 30 are in critical condition.
Located at Shara-e-Faisal, the hotel had foreign, as well as local guests who were affected by the fire.
Head of emergency at Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital, Dr Semi Jamali said some foreigners were among those being treated for burns. Three women and two doctors were among those died in the incident.
Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar also arrived at the scene. He said there was no emergency exit in the building.
At least six Pakistani sailors have reportedly been killed after a Saudi airstrike targeted their boat off the Yemeni coast.
The Saudi jets targeted a boat carrying 12 Pakistani sailors off Mukha coast in the Yemeni province of Ta’izz on Sunday, Yemen’s Saba news agency said.
According to the report, the other six sailors are still unaccounted for.
The deadly strike comes as the Riyadh regime continues its brutal military campaign against neighboring Yemen, which was launched in March 2015 to reinstall the former Yemeni government.
Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi has ordered a major assault on the country’s Red Sea coast against Houthi Ansarullah fighters and allied army forces, which have been defending the nation against a deadly Saudi offensive.
Reports said on Sunday that Saudi warplanes had intensified their air raids on the province of Ta’izz, which has witnessed heavy fighting on the ground between pro-Hadi militants and Yemeni armed forces in recent days.
Meanwhile, a child was killed as Saudi fighter jets bombed residential buildings in the province of Sa’ada.
The girl’s father and two of her brothers were also injured in the attack, which targeted the province’s district of Razih.
In the same province, another airstrike hit the Baqim district and left a Yemeni woman dead and two children wounded.
The Saudi military aggression has left at least 11,400 civilians dead, according to the latest tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.
The need for a new edition of Moscow’s doctrine on information security is the result of foreign states intensifying their efforts in information and psychological operations to affect Russia’s internal affairs, their bias against Russia, and cyber-attacks against its key infrastructure, the document says.
One of the main aspects that affects information security is the build-up in “capacities to influence information infrastructure by a number of countries in pursuit of military objectives.”The doctrine states that the limitless flow of information has a negative impact on international security, as it can be employed to pursue geopolitical and military goals, thus favoring organized crime, extremists, and terrorists.
Notably, intelligence agencies of certain countries launch information and psychological operations to destabilize societies in various regions, thus undermining sovereignty and the territorial integrity of other states. These operations, coupled with the widespread use of information technologies, may involve faith- and ethnicity-based organizations, as well as human rights groups.
In turn, terrorist and extremist groups make use of psychological operations to stir up ethnic and religious discord, intensify tensions in societies, propagate extreme views, and recruit new followers.
