The Royal Air Force Menwith Hill is an air force station in England that contains an elaborate satellite ground station. It is also a communications intercept and missile warning site. It has been referred to as the largest electronic monitoring station on Earth.
Menwith Hill houses many satellites owned and operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office.
Radiation Zone
Due to the health risk imposed by traveling to the radiation-affected zone, travel to Chornobyl is highly restricted. The Exclusion Zone includes a 19-mile circle around the site of the accident which is virtually a ghost town. Despite most residents fleeing, there are still 300 residents who chose to stay. Many of their houses are marked with a sign "Owners of this house live here." What's even more, wildlife has become vast here due to the lack of human occupation and in many places, the forests have filled out.
If you’re brave enough (and crazy enough) to risk it, you can take a guided tour of Chornobyl and the surrounding towns for a short time frame, and even stay in the one hotel in the area. Even then, you’re still vulnerable to radiation as you near the epicenter of the explosion and with that, health risks like cancer. Ukrainian officials estimate that the Exclusion Zone won’t be safe for human residency for another 20,000 years. So, don’t be expecting to relocate to the area anytime soon.
Bank of England Vaults
The Bank of England is one of the most powerful institutions in the United Kingdom due to its sheer size, responsibilities, and holdings. The institution holds the power to set interest rates and issue banknotes in the British currency. The central bank is also one of the largest holders of gold in the world, holding gold reserves of the UK as well as 30 other countries. They are stored in vaults that are spread over two floors.
The huge underground floor space is bigger than the third-tallest building in the city, Tower 42. and takes three-feet-long keys to open it. They hold 5,134 tonnes of gold which is estimated to have a market value of £200 billion. The value suggests that the vault could hold as much as 3% of the world's gold mined throughout human history.
Global Spy Network?
Activists have spoken out against the activities taking place at the station, stating that they are undemocratic and invasive because of such programs as the ECHELON Interception System – a system that leaks into private and commercial communications.
In 1999, the BBC released a report that the Australian Government confirmed the existence of a global spying network that can intercept any communication on Earth with the USA and Britain being the chief protagonists. They also confirmed the connection between Menwith Hill to the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland. Despite the claims made, both the U.S. and Britain continue to deny that the spy network exists.
Moscow Metro-2
Metro-2 is the informal name for the apparent secret underground metro system which runs in parallel to the public Moscow Metro but exceeds it in length. The system was purportedly built, or at least started, during the time of Joseph Stalin’s rule and was given the code name D-6 by the KGB.
The Russian government is unwilling to comment on the existence of Metro-2.