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For the tens of thousands of spectators who cheered on Russia's spectacular military show on Monday, this was as much about looking to the past -- as preparing for the future.

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The awesome parade comes at a time when Russia's military is perhaps more powerful than at any time since the Cold War.

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Over the past decade, billions have been spent modernizing and retraining a lumbering fighting force inherited from the Soviet Union.
Huge investments have been made in a new generation of nuclear missiles, tanks, and fighter jets. Even the military's uniforms have been given a slick new makeover.
The centerpiece is Russia's vast nuclear arsenal, recently updated with intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to counter the U.S. missile shield.
It also has world-class anti-aircraft systems and fighter jets recently deployed, with devastating effect, to Syria.

Wie die amtliche chinesische Nachrichtenagentur Xinhua verkündete, hat der Direktor der chinesischen Energiebehörde, Nur Bekri, während eines dreitägigen Besuchs in Khartum ein Rahmenabkommen zum Bau des ersten Atomkraftwerks in dem nordostafrikanischen Land unterzeichnet. Ein Akw. Im Sudan. Unglaublich.

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Als Sudans Regierung unlängst die Subventionen für Benzin kappte, gab es Revolten. Und Stromausfälle vereiteln – wie fast überall von Botswana bis Ägypten – eine stetige wirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Da kommen die Chinesen wie gerufen.
Sie wollen ab 2021 im Sudan ihre heimische Entwicklung, Modell „Hualong 1“, auf den Sand bauen und bis 2027 ans Netz bringen. Es wäre das erste Mal im Ausland. Ein Referenzprojekt. Geplant sind zwei Druckwasserreaktoren mit je 600 Megawatt. Das entspricht der Leistung mittlerweile abgeschalteter deutscher Akw der 1960er Jahre.

Encased in spacesuit-like gear needed to protect them from the world’s deadliest viruses, four scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stepped into their lab’s decontamination chamber where a shower of chemicals was supposed to kill anything on them and make it safe for them to exit into an adjacent changing room.

But the shower wouldn’t start, and warning lights appeared as a cascading series of safety systems began to fail inside one of the world’s most advanced biosafety level 4 labs. That's highest level of containment and security, reserved for work with deadly Ebola and smallpox viruses and other pathogens that lack vaccines or reliable treatments.

The gasket seal around the exit door to the changing room deflated to the point that the scientists could see light coming in. And as they held that door shut and started an emergency chemical deluge, things got even worse.

The shower’s door back into the infectious disease lab “forcefully” burst open again and again – and they couldn’t even hold it shut. Meanwhile, air pressure alarms were blinking and monitors displayed the lab as “red,” according to records of the February 2009 incident recently obtained by USA TODAY under a Freedom of Information Act. The CDC took 3 ½ years to fulfill the request.

The records release comes as the CDC has faced two congressional hearings since a series of high-profile lab incidents in 2014 with anthrax, Ebola and a deadly strain of avian flu, and amid mounting concerns in Congress about the effectiveness of lab regulation and whether a lack of transparency keeps serious lab safety problems hidden from the public.

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“Overall, the incident shows that failures — even cascading, compounding, catastrophic failures of BSL-4 biocontainment labs occur,” said Ebright, who has testified before Congress about CDC safety issues. “And the attempted cover-up within the CDC makes it clear that the CDC cannot be relied upon to police its own, much less other institutions.”

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After the four scientists called for help, building engineers were able to operate the chemical shower manually, allowing for a safe exit from the lab, the CDC said. The failures were traced to a software error in the lab’s operating system and it was fixed the same day.

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Most of these released records — which focus on airflow engineering issues in labs — involve a 2012 incident that USA TODAY reported four years ago based on documents obtained from sources. The issue involved air from inside a potentially contaminated lab briefly blowing outward into a “clean” corridor where a group of visitors weren’t wearing any protective gear. Among other incidents revealed in the records:

In 2011, a worker feeding animals in an enhanced biosafety level 3 lab used for studies on dangerous strains of avian flu, was unable to shower out of the lab after a construction contractor mistakenly closed the wrong water valve in a service tunnel. Not knowing when the water would come back on, the worker removed her protective equipment, put on a clean protective suit and left the lab without taking a shower. "I escorted her through the service tunnel to building (redacted) where she signed into our (redacted) select agent laboratory. She disposed of the tyvek suit in a biohazard bag, placed her scrubs in the laundry bin, and took a personal shower.” The CDC told USA TODAY that because the potential for any exposure was considered low risk, a medical evaluation was not required.
In 2008 an unvaccinated repair worker was potentially exposed to an undisclosed pathogen when a door containing contaminated items unexpectedly opened in a malfunctioning device, called an autoclave, that is used to sterilize equipment and other items. The infectious materials inside the device included bedding from infected mice and used laundry. While a report of the incident said that any material that may have escaped through the clean-side door that opened "was likely to be drawn upward toward the exhaust," the worker was told to shower and his clothes, shoes, wallet, watch and other personal items were disinfected. He was escorted to the clinic for evaluation. The report notes that the autoclave "was installed backwards during building construction" and that as a result, the manual override controls for doors are reversed "which ultimately resulted in the incident."

Building 18, which opened in 2005 has had a series of significant issues over the years.

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Read all the records released by CDC in response to USA TODAY's 2012 Freedom of Information Act requests here and here.

Putin sagte am Mittwoch vor den Abgeordneten der Duma in Moskau, die Militärallianz erhöhe ihre „aggressive Rhetorik und ihre aggressiven Aktionen in der Nähe unserer Grenzen“. Im Gegenzug sei daher auch Russland gezwungen, seine Militärkapazitäten zu erhöhen.

Der russische Staatschef äußerte sich am 75. Jahrestag des Überfalls von Nazi-Deutschland auf die Sowjetunion und zog dabei Parallelen zur Geschichte, um die heutige Lage zu beschreiben. Der Westen weise Angebote aus Moskau zum gemeinsamen Kampf gegen den „internationalen Terrorismus“ zurück – so wie er einst die Warnungen der Sowjetunion vor Adolf Hitler ignoriert habe.

The Giant Meteor 2016 movement, also known as Sweet Meteor O' Death or #SMOD16, began as a joke by those unhappy with their presidential choices. The Twitter account now boasts more than 20,000 followers. You can even get a bumper sticker. "Ready to Make an Impact, Tough on Putin & Iran," the bio reads. "I'll probably destroy all Earthly life."

Well, at least it's upfront about it.

So in the poll, 43% said they would vote for Clinton, 38% for Trump and 13% would break for the giant meteor.

Seven percent were undecided.

Gibt es zwischen dem Putschversuch und der folgenden Verhaftungswelle einen Zusammenhang? Einiges spricht für die These, dass hohe Offiziere Erdogans Säuberung in Militär und Justiz zuvorkommen wollten.

Die Nachrichtenagentur Reuters berichtet unter Berufung auf Militärkreise, dass Erdoğans Flugzeug Freitagnacht auf dem Weg nach Istanbul von mindestens zwei F16-Kampfjets der Putschisten bedrängt wurde.

"Sie hatten das Flugzeug und zwei andere F16-Kampfjets, die es begleiteten, anvisiert", zitiert Reuters einen ehemaligen Offizier. "Warum sie nicht gefeuert haben, ist ein Rätsel." Die Angaben wurden laut der Nachrichtenagentur von einem hochrangigen türkischen Beamten bestätigt. Eine weitere Quelle habe allgemeiner bestätigt, dass Erdoğans Maschine "Probleme in der Luft" hatte.

Erdoğan war zu dieser Zeit – auf dem Höhepunkt des Putsches – auf dem Weg von seinem Urlaubsort Marmaris nach Istanbul. Auch in Marmaris soll er den Putschisten nur knapp entgangen sein. Orte, an denen er sich kurz zuvor aufgehalten hatte, seien bombardiert worden. Kurz nachdem Erdoğan sein Hotel verlassen habe, hätten sich dort rund 25 Soldaten aus Hubschraubern abgeseilt und geschossen, berichtete CNN Türk.