Our picksAmmonium Nitrate Explosions | U.S. Neo-Nazis Regroup | Easy Deepfakes, and more

Published 6 August 2020

·  Trump Still Defers to Putin, Even as He Dismisses U.S. Intelligence and the Allies

·  A Look at Some Deadly Explosions Involving Ammonium Nitrate

·  Ammonium Nitrate: Fertilizer Behind Many Industrial Accidents

·  Foreign Threats Loom Ahead of U.S. Presidential Election

·  Hackers Broke into Real News Sites to Plant Fake Stories

·  Cheap, Easy Deepfakes Are Getting Closer to the Real Thing

·  Neo-Nazi Terror Group Atomwaffen Division Re-Emerges Under New Name

·  Former Clients of Acting Homeland Security Chief Chad Wolf Received Millions in Department Contracts

·  Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Chief Warns New Attack on London Is “Likely” after Lockdown

Trump Still Defers to Putin, Even as He Dismisses U.S. Intelligence and the Allies (David E. Sanger, New York Times)
On the eve of accepting the Republican nomination for president four years ago, Donald J. Trump declared that he would pull out of NATO if American allies did not pay more for their defense, waving away the thought that it would play into the hands of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has spent his career trying to dismantle the Western alliance.
Asked about his deference to the Kremlin leader, Mr. Trump responded, “He’s been complimentary of me.”
This week, as his renomination nears, Mr. Trump announced that he was pulling a third of American troops from Germany. He declared in recent days that he had never raised with Mr. Putin, during a recent phone conversation, American intelligence indicating that Russia was paying a bounty to the Taliban for the killing of American soldiers in Afghanistan, because he distrusted the information from his own intelligence agencies. Nor has he issued warnings about what price, if any, Mr. Putin would pay for seeking to influence the 2020 election or pushing disinformation about the coronavirus. American intelligence agencies say Russia is trying both.
Say this about Mr. Trump’s approach to Moscow: It has been consistent.

A Look at Some Deadly Explosions Involving Ammonium Nitrate (Associated Press / VOA)
The investigation into an explosion in the harbor of Lebanon’s port city of Beirut is focusing on how 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical used in fertilizers, came to be stored at the facility for six years, and why nothing was done about it. The explosion Tuesday blasted a crater into the port and hit the city like a freight train, killing more than 100 people and injuring thousands. Buildings were damaged for miles around the city. Here is a list of some other recent deadly explosions involving ammonium nitrate.