Biden Wants to Celebrate; COVID Doesn’T Take Holiday
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NBA PLAYOFFS FACES MILITARY Bucks beat Hawks David Harbour gets ‘Quiet warrior’ LaCamera in 6, reach Finals for into hairy situations takes over command of 1st time since 1974 with ‘Black Widow’ USFK as Abrams retires Page 24 Page 18 Page 3 Taliban capture northern districts from fleeing Afghan troops ›› Page 4 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 56 ©SS 2021 MONDAY,JULY 5, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas VIRUS OUTBREAK Biden wants to celebrate; COVID doesn’t take holiday BY ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON — After nearly six months in office, grappling with a pandemic every step of that way, President Joe Biden was de- termined to party. “This is a holiday weekend,” Bi- den declared Friday as he parried journalists’ “negative” questions about the ongoing U.S. troop with- drawal from Afghanistan, “I’m going to be celebrating it.” Biden wants Americans to cele- brate too, after enduring 16 months of disruption in the pan- U.S. NAVY/AP photos demic and more than 605,000 An electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher is pictured in 2012 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division test facility in deaths. The White House encour- Dahlgren, Va. After putting more than a decade and $500 million into development, the Navy has cut funding for the futuristic weapon. aged gatherings and fireworks displays all around the country to mark — as though ripped from a Hollywood script — the nation’s “independence” from the virus. And there is much to cheer: Cases and deaths from COVID-19 Navy pulls plug on railgun are at or near record lows since the outbreak began, thanks to the robust U.S. vaccination program. Businesses and restaurants are Futuristic, electromagnetic weapon ditched as service open, hiring is picking up and travel is getting closer to pre-pan- looks toward hypersonic missiles for its next-gen needs demic levels. Still, it’s hardly a “Mission Ac- BY DAVID SHARP ing for railgun research from its latest budget complished” moment. More than Associated Press proposal. 200 Americans still die each day BATH, Maine — The U.S. Navy pulled the “The railgun is, for the moment, dead,” said from COVID-19, a more infectious plug, for now, on a futuristic weapon that fires Matthew Caris, a defense analyst at Avascent variant of the virus is spreading projectiles at up to seven times the speed of Group, a consulting firm. rapidly at home and abroad, and sound using electricity. The removal of funding suggests the Navy SEE HOLIDAY ON PAGE 7 The Navy spent more than a decade devel- saw both challenges in implementing the tech- oping the electromagnetic railgun and once nology as well as shortcomings in the projec- A high-speed camera captures the first RELATED considered putting them on the stealthy new tiles’ range compared to hypersonic missiles, full-energy shots from an electromagnetic Military population Zumwalt-class destroyers built at Maine’s he said. launcher at the Dahlgren test facility in 2012. Bath Iron Works. The Navy’s decision to pause research at The railgun’s use of electricity rather than overseas outpacing But the Defense Department is turning its year’s end frees up resources for hypersonic gunpowder as a propellant promised great attention to hypersonic missiles to keep up dollar savings, but there were concerns about US in vaccinaton rate with China and Russia, and the Navy cut fund- SEE PLUG ON PAGE 4 weapon’s range and durability. Page 5 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Monday, July 5, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER Ransomware attack leaves companies scrambling EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1,131.86 Associated Press seya could be one of the broadest “If it is either with the knowledge Switzerland (Franc) .9205 Euro costs (July 5) $1.16 Thailand (Baht) 32.06 Businesses around the world ransomware attacks on record. of and or a consequence of Russia, Dollar buys (July 5) 0.8229 Turkey (New Lira) 8.6915 British pound (July 5) $1.34 rushed Saturday to contain a ran- It follows a scourge of headline- then I told Putin we will respond,” Japanese yen (July 5) 109.00 (Military exchange rates are those available somware attack that paralyzed their grabbing attacks over recent Biden said. “We’re not certain. The South Korean won (July 5) 1,106.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger computer networks, a situation months that have been a source of initial thinking was it was not the many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain (Dinar) .3771 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur complicated in the United States by diplomatic tension between U.S. Russian government.” Britain (Pound) 1.3837 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2318 your local military banking facility. Commercial offices lightly staffed at the start of President Joe Biden and Russian Cybersecurity experts say the China (Yuan) 6.4730 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.2656 the Fourth of July holiday weekend. President Vladimir Putin over REvil gang, a major Russian-speak- Egypt (Pound) 15.6697 when buying currency. All figures are foreign It’s not yet known how many orga- whether Russia has become a safe ing ransomware syndicate, appears Euro .8426 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7659 pound, which is represented in dollarsto nizations have been hit by demands haven for cybercriminal gangs. to be behind the attack that targeted Hungary (Forint) 296.43 pound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2715 that they pay a ransom in order to Biden said Saturday thathe didn’t the software company Kaseya, us- Japan (Yen) 111.06 INTEREST RATES get their systems working again. yet know for certain who was re- ing its network-management pack- Kuwait (Dinar) .3013 Norway (Krone) 8.5915 Prime rate 3.25 But some cybersecurity research- sponsible, but suggested that the age as a conduit to spread the ran- Philippines (Peso) 49.16 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.80 Federal funds market rate 0.09 ers predicted the attack targeting U.S. would respond if Russia was somware through cloud-service Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7505 3month bill 0.05 customers of software supplier Ka- found to have anything to do with it. providers. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3466 30year bond 2.05 WEATHER OUTLOOK MONDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST MONDAY IN EUROPE TUESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 69/65 Kabul 81/69 Seoul 85/67 Baghdad 105/77 Osan Tokyo Kandahar Drawsko 84/70 76/50 101/72 Mildenhall/ Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 72/60 76/73 68/57 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 77/74 109/88 Zagan Sasebo 93/88 Brussels Ramstein 72/58 78/75 Guam 63/58 67/58 85/82 Riyadh Lajes, 108/81 Doha Azores Stuttgart 104/87 70/67 68/58 Pápa Aviano/ 78/65 Vicenza 79/59 Naples 86/72 Okinawa Morón 81/78 100/68 Sigonella Djibouti Rota 94/66 The weather is provided by the 80/62 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 98/88 82/75 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Classified .................... 13 Comics .........................16 Crossword ................... 16 Faces .......................... 18 Opinion ........................ 14 Sports .................... 19-24 Monday, July 5, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 PACIFIC New commander takes reins of USFK BY DAVID CHOI tional leader with more than 36 Stars and Stripes years of combat and command ex- CAMP HUMPHREYS, South perience.” Korea — Gen. Paul LaCamera, de- “If it is humanly possible to take scribed by Defense Secretary what [Abrams] has accomplished Lloyd Austin as a “quiet warrior” here and improve upon it,” Austin who “drives results,” has taken said, “there’s only one officer that command of U.S. Forces Korea, I know who can do it. And that’s United Nations Command and Paul LaCamera.” Combined Forces Command. Challenges ahead “Our alliance — forged in blood Prior to leading USARPAC, the in the crucible of the Korean War West Point graduate was at the — has been the bedrock of peace helm of Combined Joint Task and stability on the Korean Penin- Force-Operation Inherent Re- sula for more than 70 years,” La- solve, the campaign against the Is- Camera said during a Friday cere- lamic State in Iraq and Syria. Gen. Robert Abrams led U.S. mony at Barker Field that includ- He’s now tasked with keeping Forces Korea, United Nations ed video remarks from Austin and approximately 28,500 U.S. service Command and Combined Forces flyovers by A-10 Warthogs and members equipped and trained as Command since November F-16 Fighting Falcons. North Korea’s advancing nuclear 2018. “I look forward to us getting to- development continues to threat- gether in the true spirit of one en the United States and its allies. in the region may get us in trou- team, to strengthen our alliance Efforts to eliminate that threat ble,” he told lawmakers. “I think PHOTOS BY U.S. FORCES KOREA and to propel it to even great have been on hold since February they play a role in both the North Gen. Paul LaCamera speaks after taking the reins of U.S. Forces heights,” LaCamera, who previ- 2019, when, during a second sum- and South. China uses all the ele- Korea from Gen. Robert Abrams at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, ously commanded U.S. Army Pa- mit between North Korean leader ments of national power: diplo- on Friday. cific, told an audience that includ- Kim Jong Un and then-President matic, information, military, eco- ed the head of Indo-Pacific Com- Donald Trump, the two sides nomic.” coronavirus infection among an lot of sacrifice and commitment,” mand, Adm.