World News: West concerned over Russia-launched Iranian satellite

 

West concerned over Russia-launched Iranian satellite

US officials are concerned that the satellite will provide Iran with advanced capabilities to monitor Israel and other targets, and that it will help Russia’s war on Ukraine, says the Washington Post

By Mandi Kogosowsk, Israel Defense, 08/10/2022

https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/55430

                             Photo: REUTERS – EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect

Russia launched an Iranian satellite into orbit from southern Kazakhstan yesterday (Tuesday), and the latter has already obtained initial data including telemetry measurements, received by ground stations of the Iranian Space Agency.

Iranian news agency IRNA and Russian news agency TASS reported that the satellite, Khayyam (named after the Persian poet and philosopher Omar Khayyam from the 11th century), was launched atop a Russian Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Baikonur spaceport.

“The Iranian satellite is designed to conduct scientific research, test inter-satellite communications channels technology, measure the level of electromagnetic radiation, carry out Earth’s remote probing and environmental monitoring,” says the official TASS announcement.

Of course, the West finds it hard to believe that Iran’s goals are that innocent. Last week, the Washington Post reported concerns by US officials over the Moscow-Tehran cooperation, who are worried that this satellite will help Russia in Ukraine and also provide Iran with new, advanced capabilities to monitor Israel and other targets in the Middle East.

Russia launches Iranian satellite 'to spy on Ukraine'

The newspaper quoted anonymous Western intelligence officials who claimed that Russia plans to use the satellite “for months or longer” to aid its war efforts in Ukraine.

Tehran, however, has rejected such claims. In a statement released this Sunday, the Iranian Space Agency said the satellite will be fully controlled by Iranian experts and technicians “from the first day” of its launch. 

“No other country will have access to such information, and rumors about using satellite images for another country's military purposes are false,” the agency added, as published in the Tehran Times.

As Russia becomes increasingly isolated from the West, cooperation between Moscow and Tehran is expanding. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iran on his first international trip since the start of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, and met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Both countries have recently signed documents to expand cooperation in the fields of communications and information technology. In May, the Iran-Russia Joint Technology Center was established at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University with the aim of “implementing joint projects and developing bilateral technological cooperation.”

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Drunk Hit & Run Driver Plows into Family of 5 Visiting UK, Kills Cambridge Physicist & Dad

(the Perp shown above)

'Drunk hit-and-run driver', 30, is charged with causing deaths of Cambridge physicist, 40, and her 78-year-old father when Alfa Romeo ploughed into family-of-five

• A man has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, drink driving
• Black Alpha Romeo ploughed into the family-of-five at 9.30pm on Wednesday 
• Local said that the family were on holiday from Israel in Ramsgate, Kent 

A man has been charged with killing two people while drink driving after a mother and her father were killed when a supercar ploughed into a family of five in Ramsgate.  

Cambridge physicist Noga Hirshfeld died after the nightmare crash outside a multi-storey car park in Kent on Wednesday at around 9.35pm. Her father Yoram Hirshfeld, believed to be 78, also died of his injuries from the crash.

A schoolgirl of primary school age also suffered serious injuries and was taken to a London hospital for treatment.

A man in his 40s and a boy of primary school age also sustained minor injuries. Police have confirmed that the family were not local to the area. 

Nitesh Bissendary, 30, from Manston, Kent has been charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. 

He has also been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision, drink driving and failing to provide a sample for analysis. He is due to appear at Margate Magistrates Court on Saturday August 13. 

Marc-Pierre Campos, 56, who owns Marc-Pierre's Kitchen, a restaurant near the crash site said the images of the incident will stay with him for the rest of his life.

He said: 'There was a big loud bang and a crash and then customers and my staff went rushing down and started shouting for someone to call the emergency services.

'I called them and they asked which service do you need and I said we need all three.

'A fire brigade was needed to pull the car off the woman. And it was clear the police need to be involved too.

'That image will stay with me for the rest of my life.'

Cambridge physicist Noga Hirshfeld died after an Alfa Romeo ploughed into her family of five outside the multi-storey car park in Ramsgate, Kent

Yoram Hirshfeld (pictured), believed to be 78, was also killed after being injured in the crash last night when a black Alfa Romeo crashed into the family

The mother was killed alongside her father when a supercar ploughed into her Israeli family of five in Ramsgate, Kent

The nightmare unfolded outside the multi-storey car park in Leopold Street on Wednesday at around 9.35pm when a black Alfa Romeo crashed into them as they stood at the side of the road

Anastasiya, 42, who didn't want to give her second name, said: 'It was a big crash. A car was driving down the road while people were waiting for the bus. 

'I was there just after it happened and called the ambulance and the police and they came really quickly. They arrived around 10pm.

'The police have told us the family were from Israel.'

Anastasiya, who has lived in Ramsgate for five years and works nearby the crash site, said she saw the fire brigade lifting the car off a woman before medics tried to resuscitate her with CPR.

She said: 'The mum was under the car and the fire brigade used a fork lift to get her out.

'They then did CPR on her but she had no chance of surviving.

'They tried but she was already dead.'

A former student of Yoram Hirshfeld paid tribute to him after his death, saying he was someone who 'radiated so much kindness'.

Amnon Eden, 54, from Essex, was taught mathematics at university by Mr Hirshfeld 25 years ago. He said: 'His teaching was legendary. He knew how to explain complex math at the highest order in a way that even I, not a mathematician, and dyslexic to boot, could understand.' 

He said he was sorry that his former professor died in 'such a tragic and unnecessary manner'. 

Amnon added: 'Yoram deserves an obituary for being the greatest teacher and a brilliant mathematician.

'I’ve lived in five countries (Israel, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and the UK) and worked with thousands of people… (but) Yoram was special.'

Tributes laid next to the damaged wall after the fatal crash, where people have laid flowers and written messages to the family after the fatal car crash at Ramsgate Harbour where Cambridge physicist Noga Hirshfeld and her father, Yoram Hirshfeld, believed to be 78, were killed

The scene outside a multi-storey car park in Ramsgate, where a man aged in his 80s and a woman in her 30s died after a black Alfa Romeo collided with five pedestrians on Wednesday night

A man pours water on the pavement where 2 people died and a child was injured after a car crash the night before

The family were understood to have been sat on a bench when the tragedy happened

The twisted metal and broken brickwork gave an indication of the force of which the car had hit after it went off the road

The area the car struck appears to be visible in the damaged bricks to the left of the bench

A cleaning van is parked at the scene where two people died and a child injured in Ramsgate

 This morning an area of the street where the crash took place has been taped off.

A wall opposite the entrance to a multi-storey car park has been damaged and a road sign knocked to the floor.

A bench has also been removed in the wake of the accident.

Mayor of Ramsgate Cllr Raushan Ara, who has a business nearby, said her heart goes out to the family.

Reacting to the tragedy, she said: 'It's so sad. I was frightened last night [Wednesday] because there so many police cars and ambulances - and the fire engines were going up and down until 11pm.'

Cllr Ara added that the incident reinforces the need for 'speed controls' in the town, reducing the limit to 20mph.

She added: 'We have been fighting for this for many years.'

A man has been arrested after two people were killed and a schoolgirl left seriously injured

It unfolded outside the multi-storey car park in Leopold Street on Wednesday at around 9.35pm

Buried Alive: Bungling Burglar Rescued: Tried to Burrow Into Rome Bank, Tunnel Collapsed

Bungling 'robber' has to be rescued after he was buried underground in a collapsed tunnel while his gang was trying to burrow 20ft into a bank in Rome

• The rescue operation took eight hours after the tunnel near Vatican City collapsed 
• Emergency services gave the man liquid food and an oxygen cylinder to help him breathe 
• He was taken out of the tunnel alive on a stretcher with critical injuries to hospital
• It is believed the man and his four accomplices dug the tunnel to get to a bank vault nearby

A suspected robber had to be rescued after he was buried underground in a collapsed tunnel near the Vatican while his gang was trying to burrow 20ft into a bank.

The man was freed after eight hours, with firefighters digging him out from under Via Innocenzo XI in Rome after the asphalt gave way. 

It is believed that the man and his four accomplices were preparing to rob a bank vault nearby and dug the tunnel, which began near an empty shop, to reach it. 

According to Italian media, one of his four alleged accomplices, who managed to escape the collapsed tunnel, alerted emergency services-and firefighters then heard a voice from under the rubble.

Rescuers using mechanical diggers then dug a parallel hole to free the man during the long recovery operation while he cried out, 'Help, I beg you to get me out'.

He was given liquid food and an oxygen cylinder to help him breathe, eventually pulled out alive, while a large crowd cheered.

The man was then taken to hospital, where he remains, with critical, but non life-threatening injuries. 

The man was rescued in an operation that took eight hours. He was given liquid food and an oxygen cylinder to help him breathe, eventually pulled out alive, pictured,

Rescuers, pictured, dug a parallel hole to free the man during the long recovery operation while he cried out, 'Help, I beg you to get me out'

The man was then taken to hospital with critical, but non life-threatening injuries. Pictured: The large rescue operation to free the man 

Pictured: A map showing the location of the tunnel in the centre of Rome, near Vatican City. It began near a shuttered shop 

Residents watched on as the rescue happened. One resident said that they had no suspicion anyone was digging a hole and there were no noises either. Pictured: The team working to rescue the man 

Behind the police cordon and the digger was a huge watching crowd who followed the rescue until it was completed, pictured 

A resident called Michelle who lives in the same building said:  'We all thought that the people there were renovating the place. So, we had no suspicion and we did not hear noises either.' 

A police spokesman said that two people from Naples and two from Rome had been arrested for resisting a public official and damage to public property. 

They added:  'We are still investigating. We do not exclude that they are thieves; it is one of the theories.'

A digger and tent is seen in Rome as the rescue operation to get the man out unfolded (pictured). Police have not ruled out the fact that the hole could have been dug to carry out a robbery

Pictured: The tunnel which the suspected bank robber was rescued from. It began underneath an empty shop which was shuttered and said to have been recently rented

A large group of emergency services gathered to help with the rescue effort, pictured. Those suspected to be in the gang were arrested 

An oxygen cylinder, which was used along with liquid food for the man is seen as firefighters worked to get him out of the tunnel, pictured 

Although police have not confirmed the men were digging for a robbery, Italian media have reported that it is likely that the men were. This is because Ferrogosto is coming up in Italy, where many leave the city. They believe the men were taking advantage of the empty city to do the robbery. Pictured: The scene in Rome 

But Italian media has noted that the tunnel was found ahead of the August 15 long weekend when Rome is empty as residents traditionally leave town for Ferragosto and reported that the hole was likely dug for a bank robbery. 

Corriere della Sera daily wrote: 'The hole gang' while La Stampa said: 'They dig a tunnel to rob a bank, and one of them is buried underground.' 

And police told local media that the man had previous robbery convictions, along with the four other gang members. 

The suspected would-be bank robbers all have previous convictions for robbery. Pictured: The equipment used for the rescue including diggers and ropes 

The man's accomplices escaped the collapsed tunnel but he was stuck and had to be freed. Pictured: The swathe of police and emergency services in Rome 

Diggers were used as part of the complex operation to free the man. A huge pile of earth is seen next to the emergency services, pictured