Author: Defenceline Webdesk

Chinese hackers impersonated a former senior White House technology official, a former State Department economist and a senior Anthropic employee in attempts to break into the cloud accounts of artificial intelligence policy experts, according to findings from cybersecurity company Proofpoint released Thursday.The campaigns targeted researchers at think tanks, universities and law firms, using invitations to advise on AI policy and export controls to start conversations. Once recipients responded, the attackers sent links designed to steal their Microsoft login credentials, per the findings.Among those impersonated were Lynne Parker, a former principal deputy director of the White House Office of Science and…

A few bags of chips and sweets line the modest storefront of Salvacion Ramos’ home in the Batasan neighborhood on the outskirts of Manila. At 68, she has turned the front of her house into a small convenience store to help pay for the education of her grandson, who has been in her care since her daughter’s death. It was on that same doorstep one night in February 2017 that Cristeta Ramos was shot once in the back and three times in the head by four plainclothes police officers. “She died in my arms. I didn’t even get to say…

Kazakhstan is mourning the deaths of 14 servicemen who were lost during a military drill. The tragedy took place on September 24 during the 2026 Caspian Defense exercise in southwestern Kazakhstan. The episode has led to the dismissal of the defense minister, while five officials are being investigated for negligence in relation to the case. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Defense, a total of 17 servicemen were swept out to sea during one of the naval exercises due to a sudden deterioration in weather in the area, including strong winds. While rescue teams did manage to save three servicemen,…

On August 14, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah warned New Delhi of a potential Gen Z protest in the restive Himalayan region, while cataloguing the lieutenant governor’s endless attritions against his government – most recently the stalling on a reservation report that seeks to redress grievances over the open-merit category. On September 2, Abdullah’s Cabinet ministers descended onto Srinagar’s streets. Placards in hands, which named in bold, black letters the Narendra Modi regime’s repeated political incursions in Kashmir, they marched toward the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu-nationalist party Modi heads.  The demonstration was scuppered within…

The general debate of the 81st U.N. General Assembly closed this week, and the Central Asian speeches put the region’s balancing act on full display. As the world moves toward multipolarity, the five Central Asian states find themselves in a tight spot. They must manage relations with the two leading global powers, the United States and China, while preserving their ties with Russia, with which they share deep historical, economic, and political bonds. Three weeks before the debate opened, Kyrgyzstan hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) 25th-anniversary summit on August 31 and September 1. Four of the five Central Asian…

On February 28, the Iran-U.S. war began. Despite ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran at the time, Israel and the U.S. launched a barrage of attacks, and Iran retaliated across a wide area, including Israel and the Gulf region. In the Strait of Hormuz, attacks on commercial vessels, heightened vigilance against mines and drones, traffic control measures, and a U.S. maritime blockade of Iran combined to impose severe constraints on shipping routes that are vital to global energy transportation. Even in late September, traffic through the strait had not returned to prewar levels, and the crisis had yet…

As India hosted the BRICS summit in New Delhi in September 2026, a familiar question returned: does the grouping produce anything beyond summit statements? The New Development Bank (NDB) offers the clearest evidence in the affirmative. India first proposed the bank at an earlier BRICS summit in New Delhi in 2012, and its 2026 chairship of BRICS brought that idea full circle.  Judging a development bank is not simple; big announcements matter less than the money that actually reaches projects. The NDB’s record can thus be evaluated on three broad counts. The first is how much it has lent and…

WASHINGTON — Virginia-based startup Overview Energy has been contracted by the Pentagon’s Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund (OECIF) to demonstrate a key enabling technology for beaming solar energy to users on Earth, according to a company announcement. Under the contract, Overview will design, build and test the homing beacon for the company’s satellite-based solar energy system, which converts the Sun’s radiation to near-infrared light to safely transmit power to terrestrial power plants, the Sept. 30 announcement said. “Ground crews install the beacon at solar receiver sites, enabling Overview satellites to locate the site, lock on, and beam power with high…

At last week’s summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping, the White House described the United States and China as World War II allies who “fought side by side to win the war.” It was a small phrase with a large omission. The government that represented China during the war, and fought alongside the United States against Japan, was the Republic of China (ROC). The government Xi leads – the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – did not exist until 1949, four years after Japan’s surrender. By collapsing the two into a single, unbroken “China,” the…

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has obligated about $142 billion of the reconciliation funding allotted to it in last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” leaving about 7 percent of the total pot susceptible to across-the-board spending cuts, a source familiar with the matter told Breaking Defense. Another source, a defense official, confirmed that only 93 percent of the total amount had been obligated ahead of fiscal 2027, which started today, but could not provide further details about what funding lines remained unspent.  The party-line reconciliation bill passed by Republicans last year included about $152 billion in defense spending, with billions for…