IRAN UNVEILS FIRST ALLEGED HYPERSONIC MISSILE
Iran has revealed its first hypersonic missile which can outpace missile defence systems and that will apparently give it a military edge against the West and the surrounding region, Iranian state media has announced. At an unveiling ceremony today in the capital, Tehran, which was attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ‘Fattah’ missile was presented and was visible to the public. According to IRGC aerospace chief, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Fattah missile “cannot be destroyed by any other missile due to how it moves in different directions and at different altitudes”. With the name of the missile – translating roughly to “the opener” or “conqueror” – having been chosen by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, the Fattah is able to travel at a speed of around Mach 12-13 (5,145 metres or 16,880 feet per second) and possesses a range of 1,400 kilometres (870 miles). It also has a moveable secondary nozzle and solid propellants that enable high manoeuvrability, and with the reported ability to move at over 10 times the speed of sound – far more than other hypersonic missiles – it can avoid destruction by defence systems currently known to exist, unlike ballistic missiles and can, instead, detonate those same systems.
SAUDI TO ESTABLISH CYBERSECURITY INSTITUTE
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on June 7 issued a royal decree to establish a new institute for the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF) in Riyadh, the Saudi Gazette reported. The Royal Decree stipulated that the GCF Institute must be financially and administratively independent, non-profit, as well as having full capacity to achieve its goals and manage its affairs under the supervision of its own Board of Trustees. State-run Saudi news agency (SPA) said the Saudi experience in cybersecurity has achieved several gains locally, regionally and globally, becoming a successful and pioneering model that is recognised internationally. According to SPA, the kingdom ranked second in the world in the cybersecurity index, according to the United Nations, as well as in the annual report on global competitiveness for the year 2022. Saudi Arabia has a national authority specialised in cybersecurity, which holds regular exhibitions with government agencies to raise awareness.
TURKIYE WOMAN CHEF BRINGS ‘GASTRONOMY’S NOBEL’ TO TURKIYE
Ebru Baybara Demir has won the Basque Culinary World Prize (BCWP) 2023, often dubbed as the “Nobel Prize of gastronomy”, becoming the first Turkish woman chef to bring the prestigious award to Turkiye. “Ebru Baybara Demir is the BSWP 2023 winner. For her contribution from gastronomy to cultural integration, social development and biodiversity, being involved in initiatives that address from the migratory crisis in the region,” the BCWP, now its 8th edition, said on Twitter. The global annual award, co-founded by the Basque autonomous government in Spain and the Basque Culinary Centre in 2016, is dedicated to chefs who have led a positive change through gastronomy. The winner gets the chance to allocate €100,000 ($108,000) to an initiative of choice that “expresses the transformative power of gastronomy”. “Hailing from Turkiye, the country that hosts most Syrian refugees, this great chef uses gastronomy as a tool for integration,” the BCWP said. “In the many initiatives in which she is part of, Baybara Demir empowers women from both countries and dismantles prejudices by highlighting the richness of the exchange of cultures.”