On 12 December, Ramstein Air Base in Germany, America's central European military facility, a alert went of and
alerted its staff to a "real-world missile launch in the European theater" only to later assess the incident as "part of a training exercise" without providing any details as to what prompted the alarm.
According to several US defense officials cited by CNN, a Russian military exercise is believed to have recently triggered a ballistic missile launch alarm' at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Computerized alarm updates were issued by staff at the base and in the surrounding areas on 12 December, with a missile warning also being sounded at Ramstein via a loudspeaker system.
An all-clear was issued after a brief spell of alarm, according to the officials, whose initial assessment was that the incident might have been caused when a launch was detected by highly classified US intelligence satellites.
Satellites detected the infrared trail of ballistic missiles determined, according to the sources cited, that four intercontinental missiles had been tested on Saturday from a submerged Russian submarine in the western Okhotsk Sea off Russia.
Without directly referencing the Russian launch of rockets, the US Air Force Europe-Army Africa statement reads: "No US aircraft or pilots were scrambled.
The missile launch was determined to be part of a regional training exercise and within minutes the control centre again followed proper procedures and provided updated notifications. We consistently and routinely monitor for any threats to our forces and our allies."
An official was quoted as confirming that Russian military officials had released a standard 'notice to airmen' warning of imminent military action in the specified area, covering the time when the incident occurred.
When the incident first occurred at the base, the command of the hub released a statement to the military community in the region on its Facebook page stating that the Ramstein Air Base Command Post was informed of a "real-world missile launch at the European theatre"
through a warning notification system. It added that 'proper procedure' had been carried out and that 'accurate notices' had been given to staff in the Military Community of Kaiserslautern.
The missile launch was rapidly assessed as part of a training exercise and not a KMC area threat." No details were released at the time as to what was thought to have caused the warning.
Nevertheless the incident was concerning because there was always the potential for miscalculation, a quoted US defense official noted. No remarks or official statements have been issued from Russian military officials.
Due to the ongoing trade dispute between Australia and China and the Sars-CoV 19 pandemic, a group of Indian sailors who have been stranded in Chinese territorial waters
have called for a "intervention" from the Indian government. Indian sailors make up a sizeable proportion of the world's merchant navy crews, as documented by Maritime Union of India (MUI). "We have been stuck here for a year now. We can't get medical treatment, we can't go out.
Our supplies are already running out," Gaurav Singh, a second officer aboard MV Anastasia, says in a video put up by Change.Org on Wednesday.
In contrast to countries like Great Britain, Germany does not exclude the Chinese with 5G across the board. But now the cabinet has agreed on stricter rules for foreign network equipment suppliers.
The federal government has been arguing for two years, now there is a draft law, the cabinet is supposed to get it underway on Wednesday. In contrast to countries like Great Britain and Sweden, Germany does not exclude Chinese companies across the board.
But Berlin, too, subjects the use of companies to strict rules. This is a problem for the German network operators: they have made themselves heavily dependent on #Huawei over the past few years. In the radio network of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica,
Corona tests for travelers returning from risk areas with high numbers of infections abroad are no longer free as of today. The entitlement introduced in the summer has expired.
So far, vacationers have been able to get tested for free in order to shorten the mandatory quarantine when they return to Germany. Now the regulations are being tightened further.
Anyone who makes an "avoidable trip" to risk areas will no longer receive compensation for loss of earnings for the time of the quarantine. Exceptions are "exceptional circumstances" such as the birth of one's own children or the death of close relatives.
According to a media report, a medical director in Germany has confirmed for the first time that doctors in his clinic are faced with deciding which corona patients to help and which not. For t-online he confirmed it,
Dr. Mathias Mengel, Medical Director of the Klinikum Oberlausitzer Bergland gGmbH, said that the hospital in Zittau in Saxony had to be triaged several times. There weren't enough ventilation beds available, Mengel told the portal.
"In the past few days we have been in the situation several times that we had to decide who gets oxygen and who doesn't." Attempts are being made to transfer the patient for whom there is no care to another clinic.
The number of reported coronavirus infections in Germany has risen to 1,370,045. As can be seen from the information from the state authorities that I have evaluated, 21,948 new cases were added. That is 3990 more than last Tuesday.
The number of infection-related deaths rose 777 to 23,106. The previous high since the beginning of the pandemic was recorded on December 8th with 568 deaths. Around 341,400 people are currently infected.
In their daily reports, six federal states recorded four-digit increases, with four states even having more than 3000 new cases: Nordrhein-Westfalen (4083 new cases) ahead of Bayern (3763), Baden-Württemberg (3295) and Sachsen (3167) Hessen (1418)