• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

MILITARY VIDEO GAMES NFL Senate approves Biomutant a cool Tebow making strides Wormuth as Army’s title that could use in shift to tight end 1st female secretary combat improvements with Jacksonville Page 5 Page 14 Page 24 GOP blocks bipartisan probe of deadly Jan. 6 riot at Capitol ›› Page 6 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 30A ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SATURDAY,MAY 29, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas Biden is pressured to protect Afghans who worked with American forces BY CAROLINE SIMON CQ-Roll Call WASHINGTON — Pressure is building on the Biden administra- tion to secure the safety of Af- ghans who worked with the U.S. military and whose lives will like- ly be at risk when the U.S. with- draws in the coming weeks. “With only six to eight weeks left before potential full with- drawal, it’s really time for action,” Elizabeth Neumann, former as- sistant secretary for counterter- rorism and threat prevention at the Department of Homeland Se- curity, said in a media call Thurs- day. A day earlier, she and other for- mer national security officials urged the Biden administration in a letter to “swiftly devise an evac- uation strategy” for Afghan na- tionals and their families ahead of ‘NATO is ready’ the September withdrawal dead- line. Neumann noted that some es- timates have the withdrawal done by July. PHOTOS BY ANA BRIGIDA/AP Afghans employed by the U.S. A ship is seen off the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth as it participates in the NATO Steadfast Defender 2021 exercise off the government can apply for protec- coast of Portugal on Thursday. The war games aim to simulate the 30-nation organization’s response to an attack on one of its members. tion in the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Visa program, but the processing for the program is no- As Russia tensions simmer, alliance conducts massive war games toriously slow and more than 18,000 Afghans are currently on BY LORNE COOK RELATED the wait list. Associated Press The law requires visa applica- ABOARD HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH — As US tells Russia it will not tions to be processed within nine tensions with Russia simmer, thousands of months, but current wait times NATO troops, several warships and dozens of rejoin arms control pact stretch for years. aircraft are taking part in military exercises Page 3 Lawmakers on both sides of the stretching across the Atlantic, through Europe aisle have been sounding the and into the Black Sea region. Russia that their partners will ride to the res- alarm for weeks. On Tuesday, 33 The war games, dubbed Steadfast Defender cue should they come under attack. SEE AFGHANS ON PAGE 4 21, are aimed at simulating the 30-nation mil- Russia’s decision last month to send thou- itary organization’s response to an attack on sands of troops to the border area with Ukraine RELATED any one of its members. It will test NATO’s has raised concern at the military alliance, ability to deploy troops from America and keep which launched one of its biggest ever defense Austin says Afghan supply lines open. spending initiatives after Russian troops an- Already in recent years, the United States nexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. drawdown ‘slightly and its allies have deployed troops and equip- British crew members on the HMS Queen Top NATO brass insist that the military ex- ment in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland Elizabeth participate in Steadfast Defender ahead’ of schedule to try to reassure those members neighboring 2021 off the coast of Portugal on Thursday. SEE NATO ON PAGE 3 Page 4 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Saturday, May 29, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER SolarWinds hackers target 150 orgs with phishing EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1115.45 Associated Press ian and human rights work, Mi- ers to “target government agen- Switzerland (Franc) 0.9008 Euro costs (May 31) $1.19 Thailand (Baht) 31.26 BOSTON — The state-backed crosoft Vice President Tom Burt cies involved in foreign policy as Dollar buys (May 31) 0.8013 Turkey (NewLira) 8.5802 British pound (May 31) $1.38 Russian cyber spies behind the said in a blog post late Thursday. part of intelligence gathering ef- Japanese yen (May 31) 106.00 (Military exchange rates are those available SolarWinds hacking campaign The cybersecurity firm Volexi- forts.” South Korean won (May 31) 1089.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­ launched a spear-phishing assault ty, which also tracked the cam- The hackers gained access to many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3769 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­ on U.S. and foreign government paign but has less visibility into USAID’s account at Constant Con- Britain (Pound) 1.4153 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2082 your local military banking facility. Commercial agencies and think tanks this week email systems than Microsoft, tact, an email marketing service, China(Yuan) 6.3714 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.1134 using an email marketing account said in a post that relatively low Microsoft said. The authentic- Egypt (Pound) 15.6602 when buying currency. All figures are foreign of the U.S. Agency for Internation- detection rates of the phishing looking phishing emails dated Euro 0.8220 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7617 pound, which is represented in dollars­to­ al Development, Microsoft said. emails suggest the attacker was May 25 purport to contain new in- Hungary (Forint) 286.20 pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2507 The effort targeted about 3,000 “likely having some success in formation on 2020 election fraud Japan (Yen) 110.02 INTEREST RATES email accounts at more than 150 breaching targets.” claims and include a link to mal- Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3010 Norway (Krone) 8.3433 Prime rate 3.25 different organizations, at least a Burt said the campaign ap- ware that allows the hackers to Philippines (Peso) 47.80 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.69 Federal funds market rate 0.09 quarter of them involved in inter- peared to be a continuation of mul- “achieve persistent access to com- Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7502 3­month bill 0.02 national development, humanitar- tiple efforts by the Russian hack- promised machines.” Singapore (Dollar) 1.3239 30­year bond 2.29 WEATHER OUTLOOK SATURDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SATURDAY IN EUROPE SUNDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 58/55 Kabul Seoul 85/53 74/52 Baghdad 107/71 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 74/52 71/61 98/62 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 59/47 67/61 65/48 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 67/61 Brussels Zagan Sasebo 106/84 95/88 Ramstein 56/44 73/60 Guam 66/50 62/41 83/81 Riyadh Lajes, Azores Stuttgart 108/80 Doha Pápa 111/82 63/60 63/46 Aviano/ 64/49 Vicenza 67/52 Naples 75/59 Okinawa Morón 78/74 91/59 Sigonella Rota 72/59 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 80/57 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 95/80 71/65 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Comics/Crossword .......17 Health & Fitness.......... 15 Movies ................... 12-13 Opinion ........................ 16 Sports .................... 19-24 Video Games ............. 14 Saturday, May 29, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY US tells Russia it won’t rejoin key arms pact BY MATTHEW LEE As a presidential candidate, Biden Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei recent actions with respect to Uk- policy of going it alone and aban- Associated Press had criticized Trump’s withdraw- Ryabkov of the U.S. decision not to raine, is not that of a partner com- doning American leadership,” WASHINGTON— The Biden al as “short-sighted.” return to the 1992 Open Skies mitted to confidence-building.” then-candidate Biden said in May administration informed Russia Thursday’s decision means only Treaty. The officials were not au- The announcement precedes a 2020. on Thursday that it will not rejoin one major arms control treaty be- thorized to discuss the matter meeting between President Joe The Open Skies Treaty was in- a key arms control pact, even as tween the nuclear powers — the publicly and spoke on condition of Biden and Russian President Vla- tended to build trust between Rus- the two sides prepare for a summit New START treaty — will remain anonymity. The State Department dimir Putin on June 16 in Geneva. sia and the West by allowing the next month between their leaders, in place. Trump had done nothing later announced the move. They will seek common ground accord’s more than three dozen the State Department said. to extend New START, which “The United States regrets that amid a sharp deterioration in ties signatories to conduct reconnais- U.S. officials said Deputy Secre- would have expired earlier this the Treaty on Open Skies has been that have sunk relations to their sance flights over each other’s ter- tary of State Wendy Sherman told year, but after taking office, the undermined by Russia’s viola- lowest point in decades. Yet, Bi- ritories to collect information the Russians that the administra- Biden administration moved tions,” the department said. “In den, who had supported the treaty about military forces and activ- tion had decided not to reenter the quickly to extend it for five years concluding its review of the treaty, as a senator, had been highly crit- ities.

Load more

  24

Copy Link