The Parachute Airborne Division of the Libyan National Army, led by Marshal Haftar, conducted a parachute landing operation in the vicinity of the Kalinga Mountains, near the Chad border.

This occurred after the Chadian Air Force struck gatherings of Chadian opposition forces on Libyan territory.

🇺🇸 States where, in 2020, over 10% of the population identifies their ethnicity as “American”.

📎 Jeff

🇺🇸👶 “The Coasts are dying, the Anglo-Saxon Southerner and the Germanic Midwesterner are the future.”

📎 Swamp Ghost

🌑🇯🇵 Japan next to shoot for moon after Russia and India missions

Japan will be the latest country to aim for the moon this weekend, just days after a Russian spacecraft collided with the lunar surface and India’s Chandrayaan-3 landed near its south pole.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) H2-A rocket is scheduled to take off on Sunday morning from Tanegashima Space Centre in southern Japan.

Success could provide the thrust JAXA badly needs to begin rebuilding its battered reputation after a series of costly setbacks over the past year. They include several launch failures that derailed both the introduction of a next-generation rocket and the agency’s first attempt to launch commercial satellites.

#Japan

@asianomics

🇯🇵🇨🇳 Japan scrambles jets to monitor Chinese bombers

Japan's defense ministry on Friday said it scrambled jet fighters to monitor two Chinese air force bombers flying between Okinawa and Miyako islands in the morning.

The Chinese H-6 bombers were spotted flying through the strait between southwest Japan's Okinawa and Miyako islands, the ministry said. Okinawa is home to one of the major US military bases in Asia-Pacific.

This may be a part of the drills, that China conducted today.

#Japan #China

@asianomics

🇯🇵 Japan begins releasing Fukushima treated radioactive water into sea

Japan started discharging treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.

The water discharge commenced around 1 p.m. Japanese time.

The water will be diluted with seawater to one-40th of the concentration permitted under Japanese safety standards before being discharged via an underwater tunnel 1 kilometer from the plant.

#Japan

@asianomics

🇺🇸🇯🇵 US reaffirms support for Japan's release of treated water

The United States reaffirmed its support for the release of treated radioactive water from Japan's destroyed nuclear power plant in Fukushima, calling it safe and transparent.

Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the Department of State, also said the US is happy with the level of transparency Japan has shown in the lead up to the release.

The statement, however, comes amid concerns and opposition from Japan's neighboring countries, as well as its own fishing population, that the release of treated water into the Pacific Ocean may have a long-term, irreversible impact on the environment and people.

#USA #Japan

@asianomics

🇸🇦 🇨🇳 💵 U.S. pressures Saudi Arabia to sell oil in dollars, not Chinese yuan, amid Israel negotiations

The United States is negotiating behind the scenes with Saudi Arabia, pressuring the country to keep selling its oil in dollars.

Washington is concerned that Riyadh may price its crude in other currencies, particularly China’s renminbi.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top three oil producers. Since the 1970s, Riyadh has agreed to sell its crude in dollars, helping maintain the greenback’s hegemonic status as the global reserve currency.

https://mronline.org/2023/08/14/u-s-pressures-saudi-arabia-to-sell-oil-in-dollars-not-chinese-yuan-amid-israel-negotiations/

🛢 🇸🇦 🇺🇳 Saudi Arabia’s ARAMCO is being investigated by the United Nations for possible human rights violations tied to fossil-fuel induced climate change.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-25/aramco-targeted-in-un-human-rights-probe-tied-to-climate-change

https://archive.ph/j3Rv3

🇺🇸🇳🇬🇬🇭🇹🇩 US Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee is visiting Nigeria, Ghana and Chad from 25–29 August 2023.

The primary issues to be discussed with authorities in each country will be the ongoing crises in neighboring Niger and Sudan.

🇳🇬 ISWAP has claimed an attack yesterday on the "apostate" Nigerian Army near Wajiroko in Borno state.

The group claims to have attacked using an IED and various firearms, damaging a military vehicle and killing numerous soldiers.

🇳🇪 The territorial communes (mayors, etc.) of Niger issued a declaration today in Niamey in support of the CNSP, calling for ECOWAS to lift the sanctions it has imposed on the country.