Good Morning. Venezuela's National Assembly has unanimously approved a law claiming the Essequibo region, which constitutes about two-thirds of Guyana's territory, as Venezuela's 24th state.

This move follows a referendum where 95% of Venezuelan voters reportedly supported the claim. Guyana has condemned this as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The dispute, intensified by oil discoveries in Essequibo, is currently under International Court of Justice litigation, which Venezuela does not recognize.

THE BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT

Attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow Kills 137 People

Gunfire tore through Crocus City Hall, Moscow, Russia, leaving as many as 137 people dead, as was counted at the time of this report. Three children were counted among the dead.

Video footage taken from the scene shows people scrambling to take cover as gun shots and screams echoed through the building.

In the hours to follow, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the mass killing.

A Symphony of Death: Gunmen clothed in camouflage stormed the stage of the popular concert center and opened fire on the venue, which houses a music hall and a shopping mall.

Bombs Away: In addition to opening fire with guns, the killers threw a grenade and an incendiary bomb, which set fire to the building. Smoke was seen billowing high into the air as the attack unfolded.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY & DIPLOMACY

Counterterrorism

• The United States has committed an additional $22 million to assist Mozambique in combating Islamist militants in the insurgent-affected, oil-rich Cabo Delgado.

• The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an ambush near Teguey in Niger's Tillaberi region, asserting it killed 30 soldiers, though Niger's defense ministry reported 23 fatalities and 17 injuries.

• An Israeli airstrike near Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in northeastern Lebanon, wounded at least three people early Sunday, according to local officials. This latest strike, reported by Baalbek's mayor on X, follows a series of recent attacks in the area.

• Somalia's government announced the arrest of 16 individuals linked to the March 14 attack on a Mogadishu hotel, including the alleged mastermind who facilitated vehicle smuggling for al-Shabab militants.

• Three armed men attacked a police station in Yerevan, Armenia, using hand grenades, injuring two attackers and leading to their hospitalization, while a third was detained after a brief standoff.

Military & Defense

• A Russian cruise missile targeting western Ukraine inadvertently crossed into Polish territory, leading Poland to activate defense measures and allied aviation to safeguard its airspace.

• Chinese coast guard ships, supported by a military helicopter, failed to prevent Philippine vessels carrying scientists from conducting research at Sandy Cay in the South China Sea.

• The U.S. military targeted three underground facilities used by Yemen's Houthis, amid continued rebel attacks on Red Sea shipping. CENTCOM also reported destroying four Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and noted the launch of four anti-ship ballistic missiles by the Houthis towards the Red Sea.

• An overnight drone attack in Russia’s Samara region ignited a fire at a major oil refinery, marking another strike against Russia's fuel industry. In Belgorod, drone and air attacks damaged several districts and an apartment building, leading to the death of a man and collapsing balconies, as reported by Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

• A photo released in March 2024 unveils the baseline design of the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) KJ-600, bearing a grey color scheme and features similar to the U.S. Navy's E-2 Hawkeye. The twin-turboprop KJ-600, developed by Xi'an Aircraft Company and undergoing flight trials since 2020, is designed with a spacious fuselage for a crew of four to six and a large radar dome.

Cybersecurity

• United Kingdom Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is set to inform parliament about Chinese cyberattacks reportedly targeting a group of British politicians. Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, including notable figures such as ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and SNP MP Stewart McDonald, have been briefed on the issue by parliament’s director of security, Alison Giles.

• Chinese spies leveraged critical bugs in F5 and ConnectWise technology to infiltrate US defense organizations, UK government bodies, and hundreds of other groups, Mandiant reports. The exploitation targeted high-severity vulnerabilities, with moderate confidence attributing the attacks to the group identified as UNC5174.

• AcidRain, a wiper malware linked to Russian military intelligence, was deployed in a widespread cyber-attack on Viasat’s KA-SAT satellites in Ukraine in May 2022. The attack disabled KA-SAT modems in Ukraine and led to further disruptions across Europe during the Russian invasion.

• Russian state-backed hackers are suspected of being behind attacks that disrupted operations of four small Ukrainian internet providers for over a week, with the group Solntsepek claiming responsibility. Ukrainian officials, referencing evidence and tracking by the SSSCIP, link these attacks to UAC-0165, a subgroup of Sandworm, associated with Russia's GRU and previously involved in a major cyberattack on Kyivstar in 2023.

Counterintelligence & Espionage

• Influencer Baba Banaras, a self-proclaimed defense enthusiast from Pakistan, falsely claimed on X that the Taliban announced a military invasion of Pakistan, fooling his over 44,000 followers with a fabricated statement from Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. The fake announcement detailed an ongoing operation with captured Pakistani posts and significant damage to a Pakistani Army brigade headquarters.

• The Kremlin's cyber operatives, known as Cozy Bear, targeted German political parties with a phishing campaign using dinner party invitation emails to spread WINELOADER backdoor malware for network and data access, Mandiant reports. This strategy aims for long-term infiltration of the parties' systems, according to the Google-affiliated security company.

• Pakistan's Navy has reportedly acquired a Chinese-built spy ship, Rizwan, identified through satellite imagery and described as an "offshore supply ship" by MarineTraffic, according to analyst Damien Symon. The vessel, acquired quietly last year from China, was observed during a June 2023 stopover in Jakarta, Indonesia.

• A review of New Zealand's spy agency recommended auditing any operations conducted on behalf of foreign countries, following an inquiry into the hosting of a foreign signals intelligence system. The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security reported that the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) hosted a system deployed by a foreign agency, participating in a broader intelligence program.

Transnational Organized Crime

• Lebanese authorities rearrested suspected French drug dealer Abdel Karim Touil at the prosecutor general's request, days after his initial release on bail, with his detention taking place at the Justice Palace in Beirut. France is anticipated to request Touil's extradition, with a meeting between French and Lebanese judicial officials expected soon to facilitate the handover.

• Romanian and Spanish authorities arrested nine individuals involved in a fraudulent holiday rental scheme, cheating over a thousand victims out of millions of euros through non-existent online rental services, including accommodations and holiday packages. The operation, based in Romania but primarily targeting victims in Spain, highlighted the international scope of their deceptive practices.

• Greek authorities seized over three tons of pregabalin, a prescription nerve pain medication, impounding a UK-registered yacht at the port of Lavrio near Athens. The coast guard discovered 3.75 million Nervigesic capsules, an Indian brand of pregabalin, packaged in 500 boxes on the yacht.

• Zhao Fugang, a well-known businessman in Fiji and advocate for China's Pacific interests, is suspected by Australian agencies of being a senior organized crime leader. Despite the suspicions, Fugang has not been charged with any crime.
  

• In Sinaloa state, Mexico, authorities rescued 42 hostages, including 18 children, from criminal groups, with over 600 special forces deployed to enhance security. Governor Rubén Rocha mentioned an ongoing operation to find 24 more kidnapped individuals, with mass kidnappings affecting at least three families in the La Noria region.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The Pentagon has learned how to use targeted ads to detect its threat targets including and Vladimir Putin.

The Greatest Info Gathering Campaign Ever: Mike Yeagley, the man who taught United States intelligence agencies how to make the most of the ad tech ecosystem has described the use of ads to find targets as the “greatest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man.”

A Gay Dating App Paves the Way: Yeagely noted the holes in “careless” design around Grindr, a dating app at the center of gay culture, that made the user data of millions vulnerable, Wired reported. This mass exposure of leaky data led Yeagely to create a presentation for the U.S. government, guiding the government in understanding how this data was harvested. Yeagely went on to use Grindr’s data to make maps around government buildings where Grindr users spent their time.

In other news…

📚️ Researchers move toward next-generation solar cells, formed from semiconductors made out of perovskite. These newly engineered solar cells could lead to lower-cost and more efficient solar systems for powering a variety of solar-fueled appliances, engines, and devices.

🔑 Hackers taking part in the “hacker summer camp” events held in Las Vegas have discovered a method to open any of 3 Million Hotel keycard locks within seconds. The company which is behind the brand of hotel door locks, Saflok, offered a solution that may reportedly take up to years to reach some hotels.

🤖 High drama signaled from the world of AI startup development as Stability AI’s CEO resigned from the company to reportedly pursue decentralized AI. The CEO’s departure has been attributed to the company’s pursuit of commercialized AI and follows a series of other high-profile departures in the company, a fact that bodies ill for the entity, Forbes analysts wrote.

DEALS & FUNDING

The United States House of Representatives has passed a $825 billion defense bill that will be used to finance ships, planes, ground combat vehicles, and AI development.

Race Against the Clock: Congress was in haste to pass the defense bill ahead of a looming government shutdown.

Maxing Out Production: The new funding aims to “max out” the production of defense capabilities for critical munitions across the branches of the U.S. military.

Space Force Budget Cuts: Space Force received a budget reduced by $1 billion from what it had requested.

In other news…

🤑 1991 Ventures out of London has become one of a growing list of venture capital firms to aim at boosting Ukrainian startups development. The firm will seek to back startups led by Ukrainians both within their war-torn country of origin and abroad.

🟦 The security firm BlueFlag has raised $11.5 million in its seed funding round, which was led by Maverick Ventures and Ten Eleven Ventures, officially emerging from stealth mode. BlueFlag provides multi-layered defense by offering protection throughout the software development life cycle.

💱 A $3 billion deal has been struck between the United Kingdom and Australia that significantly advances Australia’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines. The deal announcement follows one day after the two nations announced they had signed a defense and security pact.