China Makes a
Major Breakthrough in Obtaining Kg-Level
Molybdenum Isotopes
by AtomInfo.RU
The Research Institute of
Physical and Chemical Engineering of Nuclear
Industry/Company (IPCE) of the China National
Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has recently
succeeded in obtaining, for the first time,
kilogram-level molybdenum-100 isotopes with
abundance of 99%. The remarkable achievement was
made through independent research and
development, and marks a major breakthrough in
the independent supply of molybdenum isotope key
material in China. The breakthrough has changed
the situation the country completely relied on
imports of molybdenum isotopes for a long time
and indicates that China has reached the world's
leading level in the field of high-abundance
stable isotope research, making it one of the
few countries that can obtain molybdenum
isotopes in bulk. In order to meet domestic
demand and change the situation of long-term
dependence on imports and insufficient supply of
molybdenum isotope materials, the CNNC
scientific research team, relying on its nearly
30 years of continuous research and development
experiences, have carried out bold innovation,
made breakthroughs in the key technology of
isotope separation, and for the first time
obtained the kilogram-level abundance 99%
molybdenum-100 isotope products, which has
filled the gap in the domestic technical field
and laid a solid foundation for protecting
people's health, promoting scientific and
technological progress, and improving the safety
of nuclear power.
Ex-Russian Spy
Can Sue British Gov't for Revealing Identity,
Court Rules
by IntelNews.org
A former Soviet KBG officer,
who now lives in the United Kingdom under
witness protection, can sue the British state
for revealing his identity to Latvian
authorities, which may have put his life in
danger, a judge has ruled. Boris Karpichkov, 64,
joined the Soviet KGB in 1984, but became a
defector-in-place for Latvian intelligence in
1991, when the Soviet Union disintegrated. He
then allegedly spied on Latvia for one of the
KGB’s successor agencies, the Federal Security
Service, before switching sides again and spying
on Russia for the Latvians. He also claims to
have spied on Russia for French and American
intelligence. In 1998, carrying two suitcases
filled with top-secret Russian government
documents, and using forged passports, he
arrived with his family in Britain, where he has
lived ever since. Shortly after he was granted
asylum, the British government issued Karpichkov
with a new identity to protect him from the
Russian security services. In 2018, Karpichkov
claimed that, despite the British government’s
efforts to protect him, Russian intelligence had
tried to kill him three times since 2006.
Sri Lanka Lets
Chinese Ship Conduct Research Despite Spying
Concerns
by Space
War
Sri Lanka has granted 48 hours
for a Chinese vessel to conduct marine research
off the island's west coast under supervision,
the foreign ministry said Sunday, despite Indian
concerns that it could be a spy ship. Ministry
spokesman Kapila Fonseka said Chinese research
ship Shi Yan 6, which has been in Colombo since
Wednesday, would be allowed to carry out work
for two days starting Monday. Earlier, Sri Lanka
allowed the vessel to enter the main port of
Colombo only for "replenishments" over concerns
raised by neighbouring India that the craft
could be used to spy against them. New Delhi is
suspicious of China's increasing presence in the
Indian Ocean and its influence in Sri Lanka,
which is strategically placed halfway along key
east-west international shipping routes. A
spacecraft-tracking Chinese vessel last year
raised security concerns from India, and Sri
Lanka prohibited it from undertaking any
research activities while in its waters. Another
Chinese research vessel, Yuan Wang 5, which
specialises in spacecraft tracking and which New
Delhi described as a spy ship, visited Sri Lanka
last year. It docked in Hambantota, a port in
Sri Lanka's south under a 99-year lease to the
Chinese company that built it after Colombo was
unable to service a $1.4 billion loan taken for
the project. Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46
billion external debt last year in an
unprecedented economic crisis partly blamed on
Chinese loans used to build white-elephant
infrastructure projects between 2005 and 2015.
China owns 52 percent of Sri Lanka's bilateral
debt, and Beijing's approval is crucial for any
efforts by Colombo to restructure its
outstanding loans.
More Banks Are
Shuttering Branches
by MFI
Miami
The newest trend in banking is
expanding as more banks are shuttering branches.
Fifth Third Bank filed notice with the OCC last
week they are closing 19 brick-and-mortar
locations across the country. Unfortunately,
they are not the only one. The Cincinnati based
bank closed eight branches in Ohio and four in
Michigan. In addition, they closed two in
Kentucky and two in North Carolina. Fifth Third
operates over 1,000 branches in ten states.
Citizens Bank also filed notice with the OCC to
shutter seven branches. In addition to the six
locations it had applied to close the week
prior. However, it also filed to open three
branches in Florida and Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, PNC Bank filed to close three
branches with one in Alabama, one in Illinois
and one in Texas. In total the OCC reports that
firms filed to shut 42 branches under its
jurisdiction between October 15 and 21. These
also included closures from Bank of America,
Wells Fargo and Capital One. Of the seven
branches which Citizens Bank filed to close
three were in New York and three in New Jersey.
In addition to one in Mystic, Connecticut. New
Jersey had seen the highest proportion of bank
closures of any US state between January and
August this year.
Australia:
Former U.S. Marine Aviator Extradited for
Allegedly Training Chinese Pilots
by ABC
The phone rings. Then comes an
automated message highlighting the gravity of
the situation. "You are about to receive a phone
call from a correctional facility. "The
conversation will be recorded and may be
monitored." Daniel Duggan, 54, says "Hello". The
Australian citizen and former US Marine pilot is
calling from his maximum-security cell in New
South Wales. It's the first time he's spoken
publicly. Talking to 7.30 comes with risk. His
words could be used as evidence against him.
He's been in isolation for nine months. "It's
not that I want to speak out or decided to speak
out, but I feel that I've had a very unfair
ability to defend myself," he told 7.30. Mr
Duggan's locked up indefinitely while he fights
extradition to the United States over
allegations he trained Chinese military pilots
more than a decade ago. Mr Duggan's facing
charges of conspiracy, arms trafficking and
money laundering brought by the US government.
He faces up to 65 years in jail if he's found
guilty. The accusations against Mr Duggan stem
from his work between 2010 and 2012 as an
instructor at the Test Flying Academy of South
Africa. His lawyer Bernard Collaery told 7.30 he
believed the charges were politically motivated
amid tensions between the United States and
China. He claimed Australia, as an ally of the
US, had a conflict of interest. The US
indictment alleges Mr Duggan received more than
$182,000 for providing a range of services,
including teaching Chinese pilots how to take
off and land on an aircraft carrier. The
indictment alleges Mr Duggan trained Chinese
military pilots without permission from the US
State Department. He's adamant he taught
civilian test pilots.
Researchers
Find "Backdoor" in Encrypted Police and
Military Radios
by Vice
A group of cybersecurity
researchers has uncovered what they believe is
an intentional backdoor in encrypted radios used
by police, military, and critical infrastructure
entities around the world. The backdoor may have
existed for decades, potentially exposing a
wealth of sensitive information transmitted
across them, according to the researchers. While
the researchers frame their discovery as a
backdoor, the organization responsible for
maintaining the standard pushes back against
that specific term, and says the standard was
designed for export controls which determine the
strength of encryption. The end result, however,
are radios with traffic that can be decrypted
using consumer hardware like an ordinary laptop
in under a minute. The research is the first
public and in-depth analysis of the TErrestrial
Trunked RAdio (TETRA) standard in the more than
20 years the standard has existed. Not all users
of TETRA-powered radios use the specific
encryption algorithim called TEA1 which is
impacted by the backdoor. TEA1 is part of the
TETRA standard approved for export to other
countries. But the researchers also found other,
multiple vulnerabilities across TETRA that could
allow historical decryption of communications
and deanonymization. TETRA-radio users in
general include national police forces and
emergency services in Europe; military
organizations in Africa; and train operators in
North America and critical infrastructure
providers elsewhere.
Japan Looking
at Taiwan's Aid During a Chinese Invasion
by Telegraph
Japan would likely come to
Taiwan’s aid if a Chinese invasion provoked the
same outpouring in international support as for
Ukraine, the country’s minister of state for
defence has said. Questions of whether and how
Tokyo would support Taiwan in the event of an
attack by China have risen up alongside mounting
tensions over the democratic island, which
Beijing claims as its own and has refused to
rule out invading. Japan has pursued a policy of
de facto strategic ambiguity, refusing to
publicly clarify how or if it would respond to a
Taiwan-related contingency. But the Ukraine war
has been a wake-up call to the possibility of a
conflict breaking out on its doorstep, and the
future of Taiwan is now foremost on Tokyo’s
mind. He conceded, however, that Tokyo had not
yet decided what form that support would take.
Officials in Tokyo are acutely aware of the
parallels between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
and Beijing’s increasingly bellicose behaviour
over Taiwan and other islands it claims as its
own. China’s aggressive rearmament under Xi
Jinping has also caused alarm. Tokyo is rushing
to respond, with a 60 per cent hike in military
spending planned over the next five years,
including a radical overhaul of its national
defence strategy. Japan would have to choose
whether to give its approval to Washington, an
ally and its main security partner, while
weighing up the risks of Chinese retaliation
against its own territory and people. Japan
would also have to decide whether to actively
join the fight. It may also seek defence
cooperation with important allies such as the US
and Britain, Mr Ino added.
Companies
Requiring Full-Time In-Office Are Struggling
to Recruit New Employees
by Time
The beginning of 2023 brought
the end of some remote-work policies as Disney,
Starbucks, and Activision Blizzard all said they
would require employees to come into the office
more frequently. Employees complained, and there
was some anecdotal evidence that in-office
mandates were costing those and other companies
good workers, who voted with their feet and went
elsewhere. Now, the proof is getting stronger
that a lack of flexibility can hurt in the long
term. Companies with flexible work policies are
growing more quickly than those that require
people to be in the office full-time, according
to The Flex Index, released July 18, which
collects office requirements on more than 4,500
companies with 30,000 locations and that employ
more than 100 million people globally.
Specifically, in the last year,
companies—regardless of their size—that are
fully flexible added jobs at more than twice the
rate of companies that were full-time in office.
Even companies that offer some level of
flexibility, whether it be two or three days
working from home, have grown more quickly than
those that require full-time in-office. Among
companies that have between 500 and 5,000
employees, for example, structured hybrid
companies (i.e., that require employees to come
in on some specific days, but not on others)
grew headcount 4.6% over the year, while fully
flexible companies of that size grew 4.5%.
Full-time in-office companies of that size grew
only 2.1%, by comparison. But there’s a limit to
what kind of hybrid arrangement employees seem
willing to commit to. Companies that require 1-3
days in the office grew much faster than those
that required four or five, the report found.
Retirees to
Work at McDonald's
by 24/7
Wall ST
Study after study shows that
older Americans have not saved enough for
retirement. Some have not saved any at all. Many
Americans will live into their 80s or beyond.
This means that they will outlive their nest
eggs in many cases. Older Americans will need to
find work. They will have no choice. (This is
what it costs to retire comfortably in each
state.) For most people, more than Social
Security payments are needed to live on. A
typical Social Security payment is under $2,000
a month, and people have to pay taxes on that
and pay for Medicare. That leaves very little
for housing, medicine, food and transportation.
Walk into a McDonald’s, Starbucks or Walmart.
Aside from a modest number of young and
middle-aged people are those over 65. Some are
much older. People can work indefinitely at some
of these retailers. Starbucks, for example, has
no age requirement. McDonald’s partnered with
AARP at one point to find older Americans jobs.
The challenge for older Americans is that, at
some point, many will not be able to work at
retail establishments. That means their
employment options may disappear. Working at
McDonald’s, Starbucks and Walmart usually offers
extremely low compensation. The base salary at
Starbucks is $17 an hour. In short, Americans
are going to have an old age poverty problem
What were supposed to be the golden years, will
turn out to be made out of tin.
U.S. Sues
'Consent Farm' Operator for '"Massive"
Telemarketing Deception
by Reuters
The U.S. government on Monday
sued a New York-based company for allegedly
operating a so-called "massive 'consent farm'
enterprise" to trick nearly 1 million people a
day into providing personal information and
consent to receive telemarketing calls. Fluent
LLC was accused of having since 2011 used
deceptive ads and websites to promise free
rewards, including from familiar brands such as
Amazon and Walmart, that were impossible to
obtain, and interviews for jobs that did not
exist. The Department of Justice and Federal
Trade Commission said Fluent's true purpose was
to sell "leads" to telemarketers that later
inundated consumers with robocalls, texts and
emails about auto warranties, debt reduction,
for-profit education, pain cream, solar energy
and other products and services. According to a
complaint filed in the West Palm Beach, Florida
federal court, tens of millions of people were
deceived, including many on the National
Do-Not-Call Registry, with Fluent in 2018 and
2019 alone generating $93.4 million in revenue
from selling more than 620 million leads. Fluent
operates under such names as Flash Rewards, the
National Consumer Center, The Reward Genius, Up
Rewards, FindDreamJobs, JobsOnDemand and
StartACareerToday, the complaint said.
China Expands
Its Expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic
Regions
by The
Maritime Executive
China has launched additional
expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic as
it seeks to expand its foothold in the polar
regions. Last week, China’s natural resources
authority said that the country is preparing for
its 40th Antarctic expedition. At the same time,
the authority flagged off its 13th Arctic Ocean
mission. “We are continuously improving the
national polar observation and monitoring
network and accelerating the construction of the
fifth Antarctic research station,” said China’s
Minister of Natural Resources Wang Guanghua. In
April, the Chinese Antarctic Scientific
Expedition completed the 39th expedition to
Antarctica. The mission lasted for 163 days from
October 2022 to April, involving 255
researchers. Two research icebreakers, Snow
Dragon and Snow Dragon 2, were used for the
expedition. The researchers focused on impacts
of climate change to the Southern Ocean and
oceanic ecosystem investigations at the South
Pole. Most of the observations and data analysis
was carried out in four of China’s Antarctic
research stations. A fifth one is currently
under construction.
Pakistan:
Construction Begins of China-Supplied Hualong
One Nuclear Plant
by NUCNET
Pakistan has begun construction
of its seventh commercial nuclear power plant,
the China supplied Chasnupp-5 (also known as
Chasma-5). Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and
senior Chinese officials attended a televised
groundbreaking ceremony for the plant in the
central city of Chashma on Friday (14 July).
Press reports said the new plant is estimated to
cost at least $3.5bn (€3.1bn). The plant will
become the third in Pakistan to use China’s
domestically developed Generation III
pressurised water nuclear technology, the
Hualong One or HPR1000. China has already
supplied two Hualong One units for the Kanupp,
or Karachi, nuclear power station, west of the
city of Karachi in southern Pakistan. In April
2022 Kanupp-3 became the world’s fourth Hualong
One unit to achieve commercial status and the
second outside China. A sister unit, Kanupp-2,
began commercial operation in May 2021. China
has supplied every unit in Pakistan’s seven-unit
nuclear fleet.
China Has Begun
Launching Its Own Satellite Internet Network
by Phys.ORG
Since 2019, Elon Musk and
SpaceX have led the charge to create high
broadband satellite internet services. As of May
2023, the Starlink constellation consisted of
more than 4,000 satellites operating in Low
Earth Orbit (LEO) and roughly 1.5 million
subscribers worldwide. Several competitors began
launching constellations years before Starlink
began, and several companies have emerged since.
This includes HughesNet, OneWeb, and Amazon's
Kuiper Systems. But Starlink's latest challenger
could be its most fearsome yet: a company in
China backed by the Beijing government. On
Sunday, July 9, a prototype internet satellite
was launched aboard a Long March 2C carrier
rocket from China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch
Center in Inner Mongolia. The satellite has
since entered a predetermined orbit, where it
will conduct several tests to validate the
broadband satellite technology. The long-term
aim of the project is to create a constellation
of 13,000 satellites code-named "Guo
Wang,"—which loosely translates to "state
network" in Mandarin—reflecting Beijing's vision
for a state-run share of the satellite internet
market. This project was created by China's
State-Owned Assets Supervision and
Administration Commission (SASAC), which
oversees China's largest state-owned enterprises
and is led by Chinese company SatNet. According
to filings issued to the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), the company
intends to create two constellations (GW-A59 and
GW-2) with a coverage of 37.5 to 42.5 GHz
(space-to-Earth) and 47.2 to 51.4 GHz
(Earth-to-space). According to multiple sources,
this constellation is part of a wider effort by
China to stake its claim to the growing
satellite internet market.
Microsoft Lost
Its Keys, and the U.S. Government Got Hacked
by TechCrunch
Microsoft still doesn’t know —
or want to share — how China-backed hackers
stole a key that allowed them to stealthily
break into dozens of email inboxes, including
those belonging to several federal government
agencies. In a blog post Friday, Microsoft said
it was a matter of “ongoing investigation” how
the hackers obtained a Microsoft signing key
that was abused to forge authentication tokens
that allowed the hackers’ access to inboxes as
if they were the rightful owners. Reports say
targets include U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina
Raimondo, U.S. State Department officials and
other organizations not yet publicly revealed.
Microsoft disclosed the incident last Tuesday,
attributing the month-long activity to a newly
discovered espionage group it calls Storm-0558,
which it believes has a strong nexus to China.
U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA said the hacks,
which began in mid-May, included a small number
of government accounts said to be in the single
digits and that the hackers exfiltrated some
unclassified email data. While the U.S.
government has not publicly attributed the
hacks, China’s top foreign ministry spokesperson
denied the allegations on Wednesday. Where China
has used previously unknown vulnerabilities to
individually hack into Microsoft-powered email
servers to steal corporate data, this hacking
group instead went directly to the source by
targeting new and undisclosed vulnerabilities in
Microsoft’s cloud. In its blog post, Microsoft
said the hackers acquired one of its consumer
signing keys, or MSA key, which the company uses
to secure consumer email accounts, like for
accessing Outlook.com. Microsoft said it
initially thought the hackers were forging
authentication tokens using an acquired
enterprise signing key, which are used to secure
corporate and enterprise email accounts. But,
Microsoft found that the hackers were using that
consumer MSA key to forge tokens that allowed
them to break into enterprise inboxes. Microsoft
said this was because of a “validation error in
Microsoft code.” Compounding the key leak and
its misuse was a lack of visibility into the
intrusions by the government departments
themselves. Microsoft is also taking heat for
reserving security logs for the government
accounts with the company’s top-tier package
that may have helped other incident responders
identify malicious activity.
President of
Serbia Orders Suspension of All Arms Exports
by B92
President of Serbia, Aleksandar
Vučić, has decided to suspend the export of
weapons and military equipment for the next 30
days, "Novosti" has learned. As stated by that
newspaper, Vučić made the decision on the basis
of the Law on the President of the Republic and
the Law on the Serbian Armed Forces, and due to
the complication of the security situation in
the country. The decision refers to proposing to
the Government that acts be passed in order to
suspend the export of weapons and military
equipment in the next 30 days. According to the
information of that media, after the expiry of
the specified deadline, the head of state,
together with the National Security Council,
will decide whether there will be an extension.
Also, in the Decision, the President demands
that weapons and military equipment, stored,
produced or in the production phase - in
economic entities on the territory of Serbia,
should be made available to our armed forces and
the Ministry of Defense as a matter of priority.
TSA Deploys
"Voluntary" Facial Recognition Program to 400
More Airports
by TechDirt
Ever since the fall of 2018,
the DHS has been threatening the American public
with increased surveillance on top of the
insults and intrusions TSA officers physically
perform at security checkpoints. The first
inklings of this rollout came in the form of a
Privacy Impact Assessment released by the DHS in
September 2018. The assessment suggested there
wasn’t enough privacy impacted to prevent the
expansion of this program from international
airports (where terrorism might be more of a
threat) to domestic airports and wholly domestic
flights, to ensure all citizens boarding
aircraft were forced to interact with the TSA’s
biometric collection/verification programs. This
was confirmed a month later, when the TSA
announced the expansion of the program to extend
past borders/international airports to cover
PreCheck passengers and, finally, everyone else
who hadn’t decided to opt in or had been forced
to opt in by passing through an international
airport. Despite it being clear for a
half-decade the DHS intends to subject all
travelers to problematic tech, the DHS and TSA
reps continue to pretend this
collection/verification process is still
optional. The TSA would prefer it be far less
optional, since it will allow it to reduce the
number of officers it employs and let machines
do (most of) the work. In fact, the TSA has said
as much publicly. In March of this year, TSA
administrator David Pekoske again noted the
process is still (supposedly) optional, but that
it’s not going to stay that way for long. How
long that will be remains to be seen, but as
Wilfred Chan reports for Fast Company, the
rollout is continuing with hundreds more
airports on the horizon. The TSA is currently
“assessing” the facial recognition program at 25
airports. TSA press secretary Robert Langston
said this small sample size has been an
unmitigated success, with the TSA’s algorithm
reportedly matching people with a 97% success
rate “across demographics.” And the TSA still
maintains the program is optional for travelers.
And yet real world experience seems to indicate
the TSA is just hoping everyone encountering the
scanners believes it isn’t. Others reported
feeling there was no alternative option or that
opting out would subject them to body frisks or
detainment. So, technically optional, but with
plenty of travelers being made to feel engaging
with the TSA’s biometric scanners is the only
real option.
Services,
Researchers Again Warn U.K. Against Mandating
Compromised Encryption
by TechDirt
Pretty much everyone who isn’t
a UK legislator backing the Online Safety Bill
has come out against it. The proposal would give
the UK government much more direct control of
internet communications. Supposedly aimed at
limiting the spread of child sexual abuse
material (CSAM), the proposal would do the
opposite of its moniker by making everyone less
safe when interacting with others via internet
services. While proponents continue to offer up
nonsensical defenses of a bill that would
compromise encryption, if not actually outlaw
it, people who actually know what they’re
talking about have been pointing out the flawed
logic of UK regulators, if not promising to exit
the UK market entirely if the bill is passed. As
the bill heads for another round of votes,
entities that actually want to ensure online
safety continue to speak up against. The group
of critics includes Apple, which knows from
first hand experience the negative side effects
created by demanding broken encryption and/or
client-side scanning. Also speaking up (again),
but probably not being heard (again), are
encrypted communication services WhatsApp and
Signal — both of which have promised to stop
offering their services in the UK if the Online
Safety bill becomes law.
Roadway Bombs
Planted by Drug Cartel in Mexico Kills 6 in
Tlajomulco, Jalisco
by Associated
Press
A drug cartel set off a
coordinated series of seven roadway bombs in
western Mexico that killed four police officers
and two civilians, officials said Wednesday. The
governor of Jalisco state said the explosions
were “a trap” set by the cartel to kill law
enforcement personnel. Luis Méndez, the chief
prosecutor of Jalisco state, said the blasts
late Tuesday in the township of Tlajomulco were
so powerful they left craters in the road,
destroyed at least four vehicles and wounded 14
other people. It appeared to be the first time
that a Mexican cartel killed law enforcement
personnel with improvised explosive devices, or
IEDs, and was the latest example of the
increasingly open, military-style challenge
posed by the country’s drug cartels.
Australia Calls
on China, Solomon Islands to Publish New
Policing Deal
by ABC
News
The Australian government has
called on Solomon Islands and China to
"immediately" publish a new policing plan
between the two countries, saying it is
concerned the deal will invite "regional
contest" in the Pacific. The concern from
Canberra comes on the back of Solomon Islands
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare's visit to
Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Xi
Jinping to discuss the two countries' new
"comprehensive strategic partnership". It is the
second time the two have met, with Mr Sogavare
travelling to China in 2019 after the Pacific
Island nation cut ties with Taiwan and formally
established relations with Beijing. The
relationship between the two countries has been
the cause of major tension in Canberra. And it
triggered more nervousness last year after China
and Solomon Islands formalised a secretive
security pact.
Chinese Vessels
Spotted Near Strategic Reed Bank
by Maritime
Executive
The Philippine military has
reported a "swarm" of Chinese vessels at Iroquis
and Sabina Shoal, raising new concerns about
Chinese intentions in this oil and gas-rich
region of the Philippine exclusive economic zone
(EEZ). According to the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) no less than forty-eight
Chinese fishing vessels have been spotted at
anchor at Iroquois Reef, located south of Reed
Bank in the South China Sea. The surveillance
information and publicly-released photos come
from an aerial patrol conducted on June 30.
Earlier overflights confirmed a trend of
increasing numbers of Chinese fishing vessels,
all exhibiting the characteristics of the
Chinese maritime militia: commercial trawlers
loitering in large numbers in a strategic area
without making any efforts at fishing. In
addition, the AFP reports an uptick in Chinese
naval activity at Sabina Shoal, a feature to the
south. Three China Coast Guard (CCG) ships and
two People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
warships regularly loiter there, according to
the AFP. For the AFP, the Chinese presence at
these locations is an "alarming concern." Nearby
Reed Bank is believed to have high oil and gas
potential, but has never been developed, largely
because of Chinese interference in the
Philippine EEZ.
Israel, U.S.
Holding Another Joint Air Drill Apparently
Focused on Iran
by Times
of Israel
The Israeli and American air
forces on Sunday launched a joint drill, the
latest in a series of exercises apparently aimed
at readying the Israel Defense Forces for a
potential strike in Iran. In a statement Monday,
the IDF said the drill, dubbed Juniper Oak,
would include the Israeli Air Force carrying out
airstrikes against “strategic targets in the
depth,” an apparent reference to Iran’s nuclear
facilities. Additionally, the air drills would
simulate “achieving aerial superiority in the
region and cyber defense against a variety of
threats,” the IDF said. During the drill, IAF
fighter jets were to refuel from an American
Boeing KC-46, of which Israel has ordered four
and is expected to receive the first in 2025.
For Israel, the KC-46 aircraft are seen as
necessary to conduct potential major strikes
against targets in Iran, some 2,000 kilometers
(1,200 miles) from Israel and far outside the
normal flight range of Israeli jets.
Ransomware
Criminals Are Dumping Kids' Private Files
Online After School Hacks
by Insurance
Journal
The confidential documents
stolen from schools and dumped online by
ransomware gangs are raw, intimate and graphic.
They describe student sexual assaults,
psychiatric hospitalizations, abusive parents,
truancy — even suicide attempts. “Please do
something,” begged a student in one leaked file,
recalling the trauma of continually bumping into
an ex-abuser at a school in Minneapolis. Other
victims talked about wetting the bed or crying
themselves to sleep. Complete sexual assault
case folios containing these details were among
more than 300,000 files dumped online in March
after the 36,000-student Minneapolis Public
Schools refused to pay a $1 million ransom.
Other exposed data included medical records and
discrimination complaints. Rich in digitized
data, the nation’s schools are prime targets for
far-flung criminal hackers, who are assiduously
locating and scooping up sensitive files. Often
strapped for cash, districts are grossly
ill-equipped not just to defend themselves but
to respond diligently and transparently when
attacked, especially as they struggle to help
kids catch up from the pandemic and grapple with
shrinking budgets. Months after the Minneapolis
attack, administrators have not delivered on
their promise to inform individual victims.
Unlike for hospitals, no federal law exists to
require this notification from schools. The
Associated Press reached families of six
students whose sexual assault case files were
exposed. The message from a reporter was the
first time anyone had alerted them. “Truth is,
they didn’t notify us about anything,” said a
mother whose son’s case file has 80 documents.
China Metal
Curbs, Rare Earths Risks Fuel Hunt for Safe
Sources
by asiafinancial
Beijing’s new export
restrictions on two key chipmaking metals and a
growing risk of similar curbs on the country’s
supply of rare earths has rekindled global
efforts to ‘de-risk’ and reduce reliance on
China. Firms across the globe have been
scrambling to assess the impact on supply chains
from the restrictions China announced this week,
a retaliatory measure to efforts by the US and
its allies Japan and the Netherlands to hobble
Chinese semiconductor and artificial
intelligence (AI) capabilities. Meanwhile, a top
Chinese trade advisor warned the move was “just
a start,” leading analysts to expect similar
measures on exports of rare earths, in which
China accounts for 70% of global mine
production.
China's BYD to
Build Brazilian Electric Vehicle Complex
by ENERGIES
NET
China’s largest EV manufacturer
BYD on 5 July announced that it will build a
production complex for new energy vehicles
(NEVs) in Camacari in Brazil’s northeastern
state Bahia. The complex will comprise three
production facilities — one each for electric
coach and truck chassis, new energy passenger
cars and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery
material. Its designed capacity is 150,000
units/yr for battery electric vehicles (BEVs)
and hybrids. BYD will invest 3bn reals (4.5bn
yuan) to build the complex, which is scheduled
to launch production in the second half of 2024.
The firm signed a letter of intent with the
Bahia state government on 27 October last year
to set up the three production lines. BYD has
been expanding its EV and battery footprint
outside China to take advantage of a
rapidly-evolving global EV market. Its first
overseas production project is in Rayong of
Thailand with a 150,000 units/yr capacity and
the launch is targeted for 2024. BYD sold 10,536
vehicles outside China in June 2023. The company
signed an initial agreement with the Indonesian
government in May as its seeks to explore
potential for greater EV investment between
Indonesia and China. It has also rolled out
electric buses in Bogota, Colombia, as cities in
Latin America push forward to electrify their
bus systems. BYD reported record-high NEV output
and sales in 2022, surpassing US electric
vehicle maker Tesla as the world’s largest EV
producer. BYD’s NEV sales target will exceed 3mn
units in 2023, up from 1.86mn in 2022. It is
also a major battery manufacturer in China,
installing 11.816GWh of power and energy storage
batteries in June, up by 72pc from a year
earlier.
U.S. Has
"Options for Iran's Nuclear Threat," CENTCOM
Air Force Chief Tells 'JPost'
by The
Jerusalem Post
The US regularly updates its
military options for threats from Iran’s
evolving nuclear facilities, US Lt. Gen. and
CENTCOM Air Force Chief Alexus Grynkewich told
The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.
Israel also seeks regularly to gauge how much of
a threat Iran’s nuclear program presents and how
much backing Jerusalem would have from the US if
it needed to confront that threat with
preemptive strikes. The Post asked the AFCENT
chief whether the US military would continue to
be able to potentially handle the threat from
the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite the
construction of a new, deep, underground nuclear
facility at Natanz. “You can assume we are
keeping a very close eye on Iranian facilities
out there, continuing our evaluation of what it
means, what Iran is using it for, what options
we might have for those facilities,” Grynkewich
said. His comments were some of the most
detailed to date – in terms of the US regularly
working on and updating military options –
including with respect to new Iranian moves.
Despite the impressive capabilities of the US
military, Grynkewich was queried about the
possibility that deterrence from Washington was
not working. With respect to the nuclear
program, Grynkewich was adamant: “Every recent
president has said we will not allow Iran to get
a nuclear weapon.” “Our job is to ensure that
Iran does understand we can bring forces in here
quickly to respond to any provocation. There are
plenty of options on the table with respect to
preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
Our job is to ensure that the military options
are well thought out and robust,” the US general
said. One element that Grynkewich has emphasized
in multiple public comments is Task Force 99’s
contribution to stability in the region,
including confronting Iran. He discussed the
role Task Force 99 could have in confronting
Iran and other adversaries in the region. The
AFCENT chief said that the use of drones had
grown exponentially over the past several years,
particularly one-way attack drones. He suggested
that if there were one-way attack drones “or
something else” of which “we could have a fleet
of a very large number of unmanned platforms,
which are relatively inexpensive,” it is
possible that they could be used “to impose
dilemmas on our adversaries.” Questioned about
which kind of drones he was contemplating
tactically, including kamikaze drones,
Grynkewich responded, “It could be a kamikaze
version or it could be a non-kamikaze version.
You know if you send a swarm of several hundred
intelligence surveillance drones and
reconnaissance drones somewhere, your adversary
is going to have to react to it in some way,
either to prevent the collection you’re doing or
to prevent an attack.”
Cyber Insurance
Premiums Surge by 50% as Ransomware Attacks
Increase
by Bloomberg
US cyber insurance premiums
surged 50% in 2022 as increased ransomware
attacks and online commerce drove demand for
coverage. Premiums collected from policies
written by insurers reached $7.2 billion in 2022
and tripled in the past three years, ratings
firm AM Best said in a study released this week.
Ransomware attacks soared last year, pushing
demand for coverage after the pandemic-induced
work-from-home era also made remote workers more
vulnerable to digital attacks. Those attacks
also spurred companies and individuals to adopt
more robust cybersecurity measures. Loss ratios
for standalone and packaged policies settled
down to 43% and 48%, AM Best said, in signs of
life for the industry after incurred losses had
increased in 2020 and 2021. Surplus lines
insurers, which patch unique risks uncovered by
conventional policies, are also gaining
popularity.
India Considers
Lithium Mining Royalty at 3% of LME Price
by Mining.com
India’s federal government
plans to fix the rate of royalty that mining
companies must pay for extracting lithium at 3%
of the prices prevailing at the London Metal
Exchange (LME), two government sources said.
India, which has been exploring ways to secure
supplies of lithium – a critical raw material
used to make electric vehicle batteries – in
February found its first lithium deposits in the
federally administered region of Jammu and
Kashmir. The government is expected to auction
the newly found lithium blocks, with estimated
reserves of 5.9 million tonnes, later this year.
At least a dozen Indian and foreign companies
such as Adani Enterprises, Vedanta Ltd, Reliance
Industries, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Himadri
Chemicals and Korea’s LX International are
likely to take part in the auction, said the
sources, asking not to be named as the
information is not public. India’s plans to
auction its lithium reserve – estimated as the
seventh largest deposit – comes amid a push by
major economies to secure lithium supplies. The
United States, Canada and other countries have
established a new partnership aimed at securing
the supply of critical minerals, including
lithium.
China Navy
Training Ship Visits the Philippines
by AFP
A Chinese navy training vessel
berthed in the Philippines on Wednesday (June
14) for a rare port visit as the two countries
contest reefs and waters in the South China Sea.
Dragon dances and a brass band greeted the
165-metre (542-foot) Qi Jiguang in Manila to
mark its final stop on a Southeast Asian tour
through Vietnam, Thailand and Brunei. "It's a
goodwill visit," Chinese ambassador to the
Philippines Huang Xilian told reporters, without
offering details. Commissioned in 2017, the ship
"conveys the concept of mutual trust concerning
China's peaceful development", read a leaflet
distributed by its crew to visitors. Beijing
claims most of the strategic South China Sea
including waters close to Philippine shores,
ignoring a 2016 international tribunal ruling
that voided its claims. Chinese coastguard or
navy vessels routinely block or shadow
Philippine ships carrying out supply missions to
islands in the disputed sea that host Philippine
garrisons, Manila says. In February, Manila
accused a Chinese ship of shining a
military-grade laser at a Philippine coastguard
boat escorting a supply vessel to the Spratly
Islands. The Qi Jiguang, which is larger than
any Philippine warship or coastguard vessel, is
the first Chinese navy ship to visit the
Philippines since Ferdinand Marcos won the
presidency last year.
American Men
Died of Overdose at 2-3 Times Compared to
Women in 2020-2021
by Medical
Express
Men were significantly more
vulnerable than women to overdose deaths
involving opioid and stimulant drugs in
2020-2021, according to a new study analyzing
death records data from across the United
States. The study found that men had a 2–3 times
greater rate of overdose mortality from opioids
(like fentanyl and heroin) and psychostimulants
(like methamphetamine and cocaine). While it has
been known that men use drugs at higher rates
than women, the researchers found that this
alone does not explain the gap in overdose
deaths, noting that biological, behavioral, and
social factors likely combined to increase the
mortality risk for men. The study, published in
Neuropsychopharmacology, was led by
investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at
Mount Sinai in New York City and the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the
National Institutes of Health. In 2021, nearly
107,000 people died of a drug overdose, largely
driven by potent, illicit fentanyl which now
contaminates the drug supply. Data have
consistently shown that the rate of drug
overdose deaths is significantly higher for men
than women. The higher overdose death rate in
men was observed across the lifespan (ages 15-74
overall) and was consistent across states, even
after accounting for other demographic factors
such as household net worth. In addition, when
the authors analyzed the data by 10-year age
groups, they found that for overdose deaths
involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl, men
had greater rates than women across each group
within the entire 15-74 age range measured in
the study. For the three other drug categories
assessed, men also had greater overdose
mortality rates compared to women across the
lifespan, with few exceptions. Due to limited
data, for heroin, the youngest and oldest age
groups (age ranges 15-24 and 65-74) were
excluded from analysis; for psychostimulants and
cocaine, the oldest age group (age range 65-74)
was excluded from analysis. While researchers
also found that men reported misusing drugs more
than women, the magnitude of difference recorded
for overdose mortality between men and women was
substantially greater than the difference of
reported drug misuse. For example, by comparing
the data from CDC WONDER and NSDUH, the
researchers found that men had a 2.8 greater
rate of cocaine overdose mortality compared to
women, though men only had a 1.9 greater rate of
cocaine misuse compared to women.
Court: Comcast
Must Identify Accused BitTorrent Pirate
by TorentFreak
Strike 3 Holdings has been a
familiar name in U.S. federal courts for a while
now. Last year, the adult entertainment company
filed a record-breaking number of lawsuits
against alleged BitTorrent pirates. The company
is keeping up this pace in 2023, averaging
dozens of lawsuits per week. Most of these are
never mentioned in the press and a large number
are settled behind closed doors. Every now and
then, an accused Internet subscriber objects,
but these cases rarely go to trial. According to
some, the lawsuits’ main objective is to collect
settlement payments and default judgments. This
line of reasoning was also brought up by a “John
Doe” defendant whose IP address was targeted in
a recent complaint. The defendant submitted a
motion to quash, hoping to prevent Comcast from
revealing their identity. The accused pirate’s
motion raised questions about the accuracy of
the evidence and whether it can accurately
detect infringers. For example, if a subscriber
has an open wifi network, others including
neighbors might use it as well. The motion to
quash highlighted the Doe defendant’s fears that
exposing their identity could lead to undue
embarrassment and all sorts of related problems.
Specifically, it “would be highly embarrassing
to Defendant, unjustifiably stigmatizing to
Defendant, injurious to Defendant’s character
and reputation, and potentially jeopardizing to
Defendant’s employment.”
Russia Starts
Building Ships for North-South Trade Route to
Iran
by Maritime
Executive
The first block for a new class
of Russian domestic containership that is also
capable of carrying dry bulk cargo was laid down
at the Lotos Shipyard, part of the state-owned
United Shipbuilding Corporation. In addition to
the unique design, the shipbuilding corporation
is reporting the ships will be a key contributor
to Russia’s plans for the North-South
International Transport Corridor and proof that
Russian shipbuilding is proceeding despite the
sanctions. Construction is beginning on the
first of four vessels that will be the lead to
the class. The vessels measure approximately 463
feet in length and have a 55-foot beam and depth
of up to approximately 20 feet giving them the
maximum dimensions to transit the Volga-Don
Canal. The 60-mile long waterway opened in the
1950s makes it possible to sail from Saint
Petersburg to the Caspian Sea. Officials of USC
highlighted the start of the project with the
keel laying on May 4 as evidence of the strength
of Russian shipbuilding. The Lotos Shipyard
where the vessels are being built was one of 28
subsidiaries as well as United Shipbuilding
Corporation designated by the U.S. Department of
State in April 2022 as being part of the Russian
defense establishment. The sanctions implemented
in response to the war in Ukraine prevent U.S.
companies from working with, financing, or
providing supplies to the sanctioned shipyards.
The new vessels are part of an agreement
highlighted by Russia to build trade on the
Caspian Sea. The corridor stretches some 4,500
miles and links to Iran’s railway and road
system. The endpoint is the port of Bandar Abbas
and from there, cargo will also be able to
continue by sea to India. Branches along the
route also make it possible to send cargo to
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.
Germany and
China's COSCO Forge Partnership on Hamburg
Port Amid Criticism
by marine
insight
Germany’s approval of a Chinese
firm’s purchase of a minority stake at a
container terminal at the Port of Hamburg is
expected to boost its role as a crucial
logistics hub for the China-Europe trade,
well-known market watchers reported on Thursday.
The German government declared on Wednesday that
it approved the 24.9% shareholding of COSCO
Shipping Ports Ltd at Container Terminal
Tollerort, now owned by Hamburger Hafen und
Logistik AG, a container terminal operator based
in Germany. HHLA had been urging Germany’s
government to decide since the HHLA and the CSPL
declared the investment agreement in 2021
(September). CSPL is a business unit of China
COSCO Shipping Corp, the country’s greatest
shipping major by both fleet size and market
share. HHLA welcomed the approval and mentioned
that the investment would make the terminal a
preferred handling location for flourishing
trade with China, where freight typically flows
between Europe and Asia will be concentrated,
per its statement issued after the German
government’s announcement. With both HHLA and
CSPL saying that they are going to finalize the
transaction soon, the tie-up will exclusively
support the growth of China and Germany’s trade
in the years ahead, stated Lin Meng, Director of
Modern Supply Chain Research Institute,
associated with the Chinese Academy of
International Trade and Economic Cooperation,
Beijing.
Smartphone
Addiction Among Seniors a Serious and Growing
Problem
by Japan
Today
According to data compiled by
the Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications, more than 80% of
individuals age 60 and over utilize a smartphone
--- nearly as high as the 90% owned by those in
their 20s and 30s. The percentage of smartphone
users among the older segment, moreover, was
higher than those who watch TV (67%) or those
using a personal computer (60%). The activity
having greatest negative influence on the brain
is decline in ability to process information and
cognitive functions, and Dr. Yoshitake is
convinced that overuse of Twitter et al
aggravates these. It's apparent that more
seniors are become addicted to smartphones out
of their increasing sense of isolation as they
grow older. Elderly persons are rapidly
approaching 30% of Japan's total population, and
of these, 17% of the males and 23% of females
are living alone. In an ideal world, smartphones
would serve as an ideal tool for them to engage
with others and sublimate their loneliness and
alienation. Unfortunately, however, excessive
time spent logged onto an SNS have been found to
exacerbate their isolation. When they log onto
Facebook, for example, and constantly read about
the successes and happiness that others appear
to enjoy, their sense of envy may spur
depression and possibly even an early death. It
is not widely known, but Yoshitake points out
that not only does Japan boast the world's
largest number of beds in dedicated mental
hospitals, but the average hospitalization at
such facilities --- around 400 days --- is
considerably longer than in other major nations.
And that figure does not include many others who
are being treated on an outpatient basis.
Beijing Asks
Intel to Set Up China Base Amid U.S. Sanctions
by asia
financial
Beijing has asked US chipmaking
giant Intel to establish a base in China to help
maintain the stability of the global industrial
supply chain, state radio reported on Wednesday.
China’s Vice President Han Zheng told Intel CEO
Pat Gelsinger that multinational companies need
to “overcome difficulties and challenges” to
promote better global cooperation, according to
the report. Gelsinger is attending an Intel
forum in Beijing, state media China Daily
reported, adding that he called China’s role in
the company’s business goals “incredibly
important.” Beijing’s request comes amid a
deepening chip war between China and the US,
which has seen American allies Japan and
Netherlands joining a move to implement export
restrictions on advanced chips and chipmaking
gear. The moves aim to hobble China’s
semiconductor industry and cut the Chinese
military’s access to advanced technology. “China
adheres to the basic state policy of reform and
opening-up,” state media Xinhua quoted Vice
President Zheng as saying. Beijing will
“continue to provide better services to foreign
companies,” he added. “Intel is welcome to stand
committed to the Chinese market and contribute
to promoting China-US economic and trade
cooperation,” Zheng said, according to the
report.
CNNC Unveils
Namibian Engineering Research Center
by AtomInfo.RU
The China National Nuclear
Corporation (CNNC) launched its Namibian
engineering technology R&D center during a
meeting at Rossing Uranium in Namibia on April
1. Rossing Uranium has shown stable business
performance since it was acquired by the CNNC in
2019. Meanwhile, relevant research institutions
of the CNNC have conducted fruitful cooperation
and exchanges with the mining company. Zhang
Jianhua, director of the National Energy
Administration of China, and Cao Shudong,
vice-president of the CNNC, addressed the
meeting.
Berlin
Reviewing Decision to Allow Chinese Investment
in Hamburg Port Terminal
by Maritime
Logistics
Berlin is reviewing its
decision to allow China's Cosco to take a stake
in one of logistics firm HHLA's three terminals
at the Hamburg port, a spokesperson for the
German economy ministry said on Wednesday.
Responding to a question about the reported
classification of Tollerort as critical
infrastructure, the spokesperson said it was
being determined whether and under what
conditions Cosco would be allowed to take a
stake in the terminal named Tollerort. The
German cabinet gave Cosco the go-ahead to take a
24.9% stake in the port in October last year.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave the green
light at the time despite strong pushback within
his three-way coalition amid fears of growing
Chinese influence on the German economy.
New Israeli
Spyware Targets Journalists, Politicians:
Watchdog
by AFP
New Israeli-made spyware
resembling the notorious Pegasus program has
been used to target journalists and opposition
politicians in several countries, a Canadian
watchdog said Tuesday. The spyware and related
exploit or hacking software was created by the
little-known firm QuaDream Ltd, which was
established by a former Israeli military
official and veterans of NSO Group, the creator
of Pegasus, according to Citizen Lab. Citizen
Lab, which studies the abuse of digital
technologies, said it identified at least five
people targeted by QuaDream spyware and exploits
in North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia,
Europe, and the Middle East. "Victims include
journalists, political opposition figures, and
an NGO worker," it said, saying it would not
identify them at the moment. Spyware like
Pegasus has been widely used by governments and
other actors to spy on opponents, media and
activists. The programs can be placed on
computers and cellphones by phishing
communications and backdoor exploits, and can
survey and transmit information on the phone
back to an operator without the user's
knowledge. The White House said in late March
that Pegasus has been used by governments "to
facilitate repression and enable human rights
abuses." Citizen Lab said that, one placed on a
user's phone or computer, QuaDream's spyware can
record audio from a phone call, record external
sounds from a device's microphone, take pictures
from cameras, and search the device's files, all
without the user's knowledge. The spyware can
also generate its own two-factor authentication
codes to enable continual access to the device
owner's cloud accounts. The spyware includes a
self-destruct feature to hide its previous
presence once it is no longer used, Citizen Lab
said. Citizen Lab identified servers in 10
countries that received data from victims'
devices, including Israel, Singapore, Mexico,
the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria. QuaDream
has marketed its spyware and services to
government clients including Singapore, Saudi
Arabia, Mexico, Ghana, Indonesia and Morocco,
Citizen Lab said.
Renminbi's
Share of Trade Finance Doubles Since Start of
Ukraine War
by Financial
Times
The renminbi’s share of trade
finance has more than doubled since the invasion
of Ukraine, analysis by the Financial Times has
found — a surge that analysts say reflects both
greater use of China’s currency to facilitate
trade with Russia and the rising cost of dollar
financing. Trade financing data from Swift, the
international payments and financing platform,
shows that the renminbi’s share by value of the
market had risen from less than 2 per cent in
February 2022 to 4.5 per cent a year later.
Those gains put China’s currency in close
contention with the euro, which accounts for 6
per cent of the total. Both are, however, still
a tiny fraction of the dollar’s share. This
stood at 84.3 per cent in February 2023, down
from 86.8 per cent a year earlier. “This is a
substantial move,” said Mansoor Mohi-uddin,
chief economist at Bank of Singapore. “It’s hard
to think of anything else that could be behind
this step change other than what’s happened with
the war in Ukraine.” The Chinese currency’s
growing share of trade finance — in which
lenders extend credit to facilitate the
cross-border movement of goods — represents a
boon for Beijing in its drive to accelerate
renminbi internationalisation and a stark
challenge to the west, which has sought to use
sanctions to bar major Russian financial
institutions from utilising Swift. “It’s likely
that a lot of this, given the timing, represents
Russian trade [with China] which is done through
intermediaries,” said Arthur Kroeber, founding
partner of China-focused research group Gavekal
Dragonomics. “The fact that Russia itself is cut
off from Swift is perhaps irrelevant.”
Ehud Barak
Deletes Tweet on Israel's Nuclear Weapons
by Arutz
Sheva
Former Prime Minister Ehud
Barak has deleted the problematic tweet he
published on Tuesday, in which he revealed that
Israel possesses nuclear weapons. Israel has
long maintained a policy of ambiguity on the
nuclear issue. In the tweet, Barak sought to
describe the concerns among Western countries
over the government’s proposed judicial reform
and wrote, "It sounds weird to us. But in
Israelis' conversations with diplomatic
officials in the West, their deep concern
emerges about the possibility that, if the coup
d'état in Israel succeeds, a messianic
dictatorship will be established in the heart of
the Middle East, possessing nuclear weapons, and
which fanatically wishes for a confrontation
with Islam centered on the Temple Mount. In
their eyes - it's really scary. It's not going
to happen. Have a happy holiday." Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich was shocked by Barak's
words and claimed that he was echoing lies in
order to harm the State of Israel. "This
delusional and irresponsible man, along with
Yair Lapid and several hundred other BDS
activists from the left, have been traveling the
world in recent weeks, making contact with
foreign government officials, Jewish leaders,
and economic agents, selling this abominable
lie, sowing terror, and mobilizing everyone to
harm the foreign relations and the economy of
the State of Israel," said Smotrich.
South Africa
says Contentious Chinese Ship Is for Research,
"Not Surveillance"
by Bloomberg
A Chinese ship — capable of
tracking rocket and spacecraft launches — that
docked at a South African port is a research
vehicle and not a surveillance vessel, the
African nation’s port operator said. The Yuan
Wang 5 was in Durban port for refueling, fresh
water and replenishments, South Africa’s
Transnet National Ports Authority said in an
emailed response on Thursday. Its presence has
previously raised concern in India, China’s
geopolitical rival, which in August objected to
the ship’s visit to Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port.
The vessel’s berthing comes less than two months
after South Africa drew the ire of Western
nations by holding naval exercises with China
and Russia and may add to fears that Africa’s
most industrialized economy is moving closer to
the two countries. That’s even as the bulk of
its total trade is with Western nations. The
ports operator isn’t aware of the objective of
the vessel’s mission in South African waters
because it “doesn’t have a mandate to request
such information,” it said. Those details are
gathered during a security clearance process
that’s facilitated by the authorities, including
the Department of Transport, before a ship
enters the port limits, Transnet said. The
Department of Transport didn’t immediately
respond to queries.
Zurich Exits
Insurance Climate Alliance
by Bloomberg
Zurich Insurance Group AG is
leaving a coalition of major insurers that have
committed to reach net-zero emissions, the
second high profile exit from the group in a
matter of days. The Swiss insurer said in a
statement that it’s withdrawing from the
Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, which is a sub-unit
of the larger Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net
Zero. The move comes after Munich Re said Friday
it also will exit the group, which was convened
by the United Nations in 2021 and has about 30
members. Zurich’s departure will raise further
questions about the workability of voluntary
industry associations targeting emissions
reductions. While GFANZ, as the biggest finance
sector initiative with sub-groups covering
insurance to banking, has raised the awareness
among senior executives about the need to
address climate change, some members have
complained it adds an administrative burden and
may expose them to legal risks.
Two-Fifths of
IT Professionals Told to Keep Data Breaches
Quiet
by infosecurity
Over two-fifths (42%) of IT
professionals have been told to keep a security
breach under wraps, potentially inflaming
regulatory compliance risk, according to a new
study from Bitdefender. The security vendor
polled 400 IT professionals, from IT junior
managers to CISOs across various industry
sectors, in organizations with over 1000
employees. The resulting report, Bitdefender
2023 Cybersecurity Assessment, found that over
half (52%) had suffered a data breach or leak
over the previous 12 months, rising to 75% in
the US. The US also topped the list in terms of
the share of respondents who claimed they’d been
told to keep a breach secret (71%). In all other
countries surveyed (France, Italy, Germany,
Spain and the UK), the figure was under the
global average. Separately, nearly a third (30%)
of respondents said they kept a breach to
themselves even though they knew it should be
reported. The figure once again was much higher
in the US (55%).
China's
Intensifying Nuclear-Armed Submarine Patrols
Add Complexity for U.S., Allies
by Reuters
China is for the first time
keeping at least one nuclear-armed ballistic
missile submarine constantly at sea, according
to a Pentagon report - adding pressure on the
United States and its allies as they try to
counter Beijing's growing military. The
assessment of China's military said China's
fleet of six Jin-class ballistic missile
submarines were operating "near-continuous"
patrols from Hainan Island into the South China
Sea. Equipped with a new, longer-range ballistic
missile, they can hit the continental United
States, analysts say. The note in the 174-page
report drew little attention when it was
released in late November, but shows crucial
improvements in Chinese capabilities, according
to four regional military attaches familiar with
naval operations and five other security
analysts. Even as the AUKUS deal will see
Australia field its first nuclear-powered
submarines over the next two decades, the
constant Chinese ballistic missile patrols at
sea pile strain on the resources of the United
States and its allies as they intensify Cold
War-style deployments. The new patrols imply
improvements in many areas, including logistics,
command and control, and weapons. They also show
how China starting to operate its ballistic
missile submarines in much the same way the
United States, Russia, Britain and France have
for decades, military attaches, former
submariners and security analysts say. Their
"deterrence patrols" allow them to threaten a
nuclear counterattack even if land-based
missiles and systems are destroyed. Under
classic nuclear doctrine, that deters an
adversary from launching an initial strike. The
Chinese subs are now being equipped with a
third-generation missile, the JL-3, General
Anthony Cotton, the commander of the US
Strategic Command, told a congressional hearing
in March. With an estimated range of more than
10,000 kilometres (6,214 miles) and carrying
multiple warheads, the JL-3 allows China to
reach the continental United States from Chinese
coastal waters for the first time, the Pentagon
report notes. Previous reports had said the JL-3
was not expected to be deployed until China
launched its next-generation Type-096 submarines
in coming years. The Chinese defence ministry
did not respond to a request for comment on the
Pentagon report and its submarine deployments.
The Pentagon did not comment on its earlier
assessments or whether the Chinese deployments
posed an operational challenge.
As Japan Ages,
Young Indonesians Train to Fill Caregiver Jobs
by Reuters
A labour attache at the
Japanese embassy in Jakarta, estimates only
about 130,000 of the 340,000 special skilled job
vacancies in Japan have been filled. Japan is
one of the world's most rapidly ageing
societies, with people who are 65 or older now
accounting for 28% of the population, according
to UN data. Births in Japan fell to fewer than
800,000 for the first time last year, according
to official data, as Japan's working-age
population shrinks. Hiroki Sasaki, labour
attache at the Japanese embassy in Jakarta,
estimates only about 130,000 of the 340,000
special skilled job vacancies in Japan have been
filled. A foreign workforce, therefore, is
becoming increasingly necessary, he said. As of
December 2022, there were more than 16,000
Indonesians working under Japan's special
skilled worker scheme, the second-highest number
behind Vietnam.
How the U.S.
Came to Use Spyware It Was Trying to Kill
by The
New York Times
The secret contract was
finalized on Nov. 8, 2021, a deal between a
company that has acted as a front for the United
States government and the American affiliate of
a notorious Israeli hacking firm. Under the
arrangement, the Israeli firm, NSO Group, gave
the U.S. government access to one of its most
powerful weapons — a geolocation tool that can
covertly track mobile phones around the world
without the phone user’s knowledge or consent.
If the veiled nature of the deal was unusual —
it was signed for the front company by a
businessman using a fake name — the timing was
extraordinary. Only five days earlier, the Biden
administration had announced it was taking
action against NSO, whose hacking tools for
years had been abused by governments around the
world to spy on political dissidents, human
rights activists and journalists. The White
House placed NSO on a Commerce Department
blacklist, declaring the company a national
security threat and sending the message that
American companies should stop doing business
with it. The secret contract — which The New
York Times is disclosing for the first time —
violates the Biden administration’s public
policy, and still appears to be active. The
contract, reviewed by The Times, stated that the
“United States government” would be the ultimate
user of the tool, although it is unclear which
government agency authorized the deal and might
be using the spyware. It specifically allowed
the government to test, evaluate, and even
deploy the spyware against targets of its choice
in Mexico. Asked about the contract, White House
officials said it was news to them.
China Boosts
South Pacific Influence with Solomons Port
Deal
by AFP
A state-backed Chinese company
has won a contract to develop a key port in
Solomon Islands, a major victory in Beijing's
quest to gain a strategic toe-hold in the South
Pacific. Solomon Islands' government on Tuesday
announced that the China Civil Engineering
Construction Corporation had been chosen to lead
a $170 million project to develop the
international port in the capital Honiara. The
Solomons have become the unlikely epicentre of a
diplomatic tussle between China and the United
States, after it signed a secret security pact
with Beijing in 2022. Both China and Solomon
Islands denied the pact would lead to the
establishment of a permanent Chinese naval base,
but the details of the agreement have never been
revealed. Major infrastructure projects in the
sprawling South Pacific archipelago are
increasingly reliant on Chinese investment,
notably the construction of a new stadium for
the upcoming Pacific Games in Honiara. The
Chinese company won a $7 million contract in
2020 to build a new terminal at Munda
International Airport in Solomon Islands'
Western Province, according to government
contract notices.
Cost Estimates
for Repairs to HMS Prince of Wales Skyrocket
by Maritime
Executive
The UK’s troubled plagued
aircraft carrier the HMS Prince of Wales is the
focus of a new controversy after The Times
[London] published a report at the end of last
week contending the problems were known before
the Royal Navy took delivery and that taxpayers
will now have to pay for the repairs to the
vessel. The carrier remains in a dry dock in
Scotland with her return to service being
delayed till late spring with the Ministry of
Defense having also launched an investigation
into the carrier and its issues. Costing an
estimated £3.2 billion ($4 billion) to build,
the carrier which was the most expensive warship
ever built for Britain was delivered to the
Royal Navy in December 2019. Reports indicate
that the vessel has spent more time undergoing
repairs since her delivery than in service as
the Royal Navy sought to complete her
commissioning and preparation for active duty.
In August 2022, she was set to begin one of her
highest-profile duties since delivery with a
tour that was to cross the Atlantic for joint
exercises with the U.S. Navy. Shortly after
departure from Portsmouth, however, the carrier
was forced to anchor and it was later determined
that a coupling had failed on her starboard
shaft causing significant damage to the shaft
and propeller, with superficial damage to the
rudder. The British tabloids are highlighting
new accusations that the delivery of the carrier
may have been rushed to suit political purposes
and that there may have been an awareness of
potential problems with the shafts. They are
alleging that reports show that issues were
identified with the shafts but that it was
decided to take delivery regardless of the
potential for failure. They contend that the
carrier’s problems stem from a misalignment of
the shafts during construction. Ministry of
Defense investigators are said to be looking
into who knew about the potential problems and
when they were first identified as a concern.
They also want to know if the issue was ignored
or who made the decision not to highlight the
issues up the chain of command.
Rogue ChatGPT
Extension FakeGPT Hijacked Facebook Accounts
by Security
Affairs
Guardio’s security team
uncovered a new variant of a malicious Chat-GPT
Chrome Extension that was already downloaded by
thousands a day. The version employed in a
recent campaign is based on a legitimate
open-source project, threat actors added
malicious code to steal Facebook accounts. The
legitimate extension is named “ChatGPT for
Google” and allows the integration of ChatGPT on
search results. The new malicious Chrome
Extension is distributed since March 14, 2023,
through sponsored Google search results and
uploaded to the official Chrome Store. Experts
noticed that it was first uploaded to the Chrome
Web Store on February 14, 2023. According to the
researchers, it is able to steal Facebook
session cookies and compromise accounts in
masses. Netizens searching for “Chat GPT 4”
because interested in testing the new algorithm
of the latest version of the popular chatbot,
end up clicking on a sponsored search result.
The link redirects victims to a landing page
offering the ChatGPT extension from the official
Chrome Store. The extension will give users
access to ChatGPT from the search results, but
will also compromise their Facebook account.
Once the victim installed the extension, the
malicious code uses the OnInstalled handler
function to steal Facebook session cookies. Then
attackers use stolen cookies to log in to the
victim’s Facebook account and take over it.
Mexican
Government Seizes U.S.-Owned Marine Terminal
Near Cancun
by Maritime
Executive
An American construction
materials company says that the Mexican military
has seized a privately-owned rock quarry and
port facility near Playa del Carmen, on the
Yucatan Peninsula. Alabama-based Vulcan
Materials Company has run a limestone quarry in
the Mexican state of Quintana Roo for more than
30 years, supplying crushed rock for cement
manufacturing on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The port
is operated by Sac-Tun, a local subsidiary of
Vulcan. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador has tussled with the operator for more
than a year, calling on Vulcan to convert the
limestone quarry into a tourist park and
claiming that the operation has caused
environmental damage. He is also believed to
have an interest in Vulcan's marine terminal for
the quarry, which is the only dock in the region
capable of handling rock shipments for
construction of the gigantic Maya Train rail
line project - a controversial piece of
Obrador's development program. Obrador has been
pushing to accelerate the line's construction,
and the train relies on imported rock. Obrador's
administration ordered Vulcan to shut down its
underwater quarrying operations at the site in
May 2022, citing environmental concerns - an
order which Vulcan believes to be illegal under
Mexican law. The government then suspended
Vulcan's customs permit for exports, which had
just been renewed two months earlier. These two
"arbitrary and illegal" interventions forced the
facility to shut down. Vulcan had an agreement
with Mexican cement maker Cemex to allow it to
use the quarry's marine loading terminal, but
that contract ended on December 31, and Vulcan
asked Cemex to renegotiate. In ongoing
litigation, Vulcan obtained a court injunction
prohibiting Cemex or the Mexican government from
taking over the facility; however, according to
Vulcan, Cemex representatives returned with the
Mexican armed forces and seized the property on
March 14. Gate camera footage appeared to
capture clear video imagery of government troops
accompanying workers in Cemex-branded company
pickup trucks as they entered the complex.
FCC Implements
New STIR/SHAKEN and Robocall Mitigation Rules
by CommLawBlog
At the FCC Commissioners’
meeting on March 16, the FCC imposed new
STIR/SHAKEN and robocall mitigation requirements
on all providers, including intermediate
providers and regardless of their STIR/SHAKEN
implementation status. All providers are now
required to take “reasonable steps” to mitigate
illegal robocall traffic and must submit a
certification and mitigation plan to the
Commission’s Robocall Mitigation Database. The
deadline to comply with the new “reasonable
steps” mitigation standard is 60 days following
Federal Register publication of these new rules.
The certification and mitigation plan must be
filed by the later of: (1) 30 days following
publication in the Federal Register of notice of
approval by the Office of Management and Budget
(“OMB”); or (2) any deadline set by the Wireline
Competition Bureau through Public Notice. Any
updates to this filing must be filed with the
Robocall Mitigation Database within 10 business
days of any change to the information previously
submitted. Within 90 days after the deadline to
file certifications and mitigation plans with
the Robocall Mitigation Database, downstream
providers will be required to block traffic from
any intermediate provider or originating
provider that has not yet filed a certification
with the Robocall Mitigation Database.
Importantly, the FCC set a maximum fine of
$23,727 per call for violations of this
mandatory blocking requirement. By December 31,
2023, the new rules also require the first
intermediate provider in the path of an
unauthenticated Session Initiation Protocol
(“SIP”) call to authenticate the call using
STIR/SHAKEN when the intermediate provider
receives the unauthenticated SIP call directly
from the originating provider.
Hackers Claim
to Have Breached T-Mobile More Than 100 Times
Last Year
by techdirt
Back in January, it was noted
that T-Mobile had recently revealed it had been
hacked eight times over the last five years. But
a new report by security expert Brian Krebs
suggests it could be far worse than that.
According to Krebs, hackers are making a
compelling case that they’ve managed to
compromise the wireless giant’s network and
internal systems 100 times in just 2022 alone.
T-Mobile’s problems have been twofold. One, the
company has been repeatedly busted for
over-collecting and selling sensitive U.S.
consumer location data. Two, the company has
repeatedly failed to stop SIM hijackers from
porting user identities out from under their
feet (often with T-Mobile employee help), then
robbing them blind. The wild thing is none of
this is really new. T-Mobile has been fined
numerous times for these behaviors, but like
most U.S. regulatory fines, they’re a tiny
fraction of the money made (or saved) from
over-collecting and monetizing user data or
cutting corners on security practices. It’s a
modest cost of business that’s quickly factored
in… and promptly ignored. T-Mobile routinely
proclaims that it’s dedicated to learning from
its failures, but it continues to not only fight
the belated, modest wrist slap fines from
agencies like the FCC, but it keeps expanding
the scope of the data it collects.
Japanese
Cabinet Approves Law to Allow Nuclear Reactor
Operation Beyond 60 Years
by NUCNET
The Japanese cabinet has
approved legislation which will allow commercial
nuclear power plants to operate longer as part
of plans for a nuclear power comeback to tackle
greenhouse gas emissions and energy security
concerns. Under the new rules, Tokyo will
abolish the current 60-year operating limit for
reactors and introduce a new system in which
additional operating extensions can granted
every 10 years after 30 years of service, with
no maximum limit specified. The move is a major
step away from the current 40-year operating
limit with a possible one-time extension of up
to 20 years. The rules were introduced as part
of stricter safety standards adopted after the
2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant accident.
Last month, the government’s plans received the
backing of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority.
In December 2022, Japan adopted a new energy
policy promoting greater use of nuclear power as
it seeks to ensure a stable power supply amid
global fuel shortages and to reduce carbon
emissions. The government adopted a plan last
month to maximise the use of nuclear energy,
including accelerating restarts of halted
reactors, prolonging the operational life of
aging plants and development of next-generation
reactors to replace those designated for
decommissioning.
Turkish Imports
of Russian Oil Hit Four-Month High in February
by Reuters
Amid an embargo on Russian
seaborne crude to the European Union,
NATO-member Turkey’s imports of Urals crude from
Russia hit a four-month high in February thanks
to resumption of purchases by Azerbaijan-owned
STAR refinery in Turkey, Reuters reports
exclusively. Citing Refinitiv Eikon ship
tracking data, Reuters reports that Turkey
imported 860,000 tonnes of Urals crude in
February, compared to 620,000 tonnes in January
and 370,000 tonnes in December. In February,
300,000 tonnes of Urals crude went into the STAR
refinery, which had halted imports of Russian
oil for a month in late December. This is still
far from the peaks of 2022, however. Reuters
notes that Turkey was importing up to 1.4
million tonnes of Urals crude per month between
August and October, half of which fed the STAR
refinery. These rising numbers will positively
impact Russia’s oil revenues and its spending on
the invasion of Ukraine, despite a $60 price cap
placed on Russian oil by the G7. Reuters reports
that this month should see Russia experience an
increase in oil export revenues due to solid
demand and declining freight rates. This setup
could see Urals near the $60 price cap on
Russian oil implemented by the G7.
China's
Factories See Fastest Growth Spurt in a Decade
by asia
financial
China’s manufacturing activity
appears to have bounced back strongly, with data
for February showing it expanded at the fastest
pace in a decade. Official figures released on
Wednesday were higher than expected with
production rising finally after the lifting of
Covid restrictions in early December. The
manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI)
shot up to 52.6 from 50.1 in January, according
to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, above
the 50-point mark that separates expansion and
contraction in activity. The figure far exceeded
an analyst forecast of 50.5 and was the highest
reading since April 2012. China’s manufacturing
sector had been under pressure this year with
factory-gate prices falling in January, data
last month showed, due to still cautious
domestic consumption and uncertain foreign
demand. Manufacturing companies have also seen
surging purchasing prices in steel and related
downstream industries, the NBS said.
Western
Decline: Most Young Men Are Single. Most Young
Women Are Not
by The
Hill
More than 60 percent of young
men are single, nearly twice the rate of
unattached young women, signaling a larger
breakdown in the social, romantic and sexual
life of the American male. Men in their 20s are
more likely than women in their 20s to be
romantically uninvolved, sexually dormant,
friendless and lonely. They stand at the
vanguard of an epidemic of declining marriage,
sexuality and relationships that afflicts all of
young America. “We’re in a crisis of
connection,” said Niobe Way, a psychology
professor and founder of the Project for the
Advancement of Our Common Humanity at New York
University. “Disconnection from ourselves and
disconnection from eachother. And it’s getting
worse.” "Scholars say the new era of gender
parity has reshaped relationship dynamics,
empowering young women and, in many cases,
removing young men from the equation. “Women
don’t need to be in long-term relationships.
They don’t need to be married. They’d rather go
to brunch with friends than have a horrible
date,” said Greg Matos, a couple and family
psychologist in Los Angeles, who recently penned
a viral article titled “What’s Behind the Rise
of Lonely, Single Men.” As of 2022, Pew Research
Center found, 30 percent of U.S. adults are
neither married, living with a partner nor
engaged in a committed relationship. Nearly half
of all young adults are single: 34 percent of
women, and a whopping 63 percent of men.
Not surprisingly, the decline in relationships
marches astride with a decline in sex. The share
of sexually active Americans stands at a 30-year
low. Around 30 percent of young men reported in
2019 that they had no sex in the past year,
compared to about 20 percent of young women.
Only half of single men are actively seeking
relationships or even casual dates, according to
Pew. That figure is declining.
Netanyahu Said
to Huddle Repeatedly with Military Brass Over
Possible Attack on Iran
by Times
of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu reportedly held a series of secret
high-level meetings with top military officials
aimed at upping preparations for a possible
confrontation with Iran. The report, which was
not attributed to any source, included few other
details about the discussions, and may itself be
designed to telegraph the seriousness of Israeli
threats to resort to military action in order to
shut down Iran’s suspected drive toward a
nuclear weapon, which Netanyahu has described as
an existential threat. The report said the
result of the meetings — that Israel will act
alone if the international community does not
step in — had been shared with US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken, US National Security
Adviser Jake Sullivan and French President
Emmanuel Macron. Netanyahu on Tuesday night
repeated his stance that the international
community needed to back its promises to thwart
Iran’s nuclear ambitions with serious threats to
take military action or by actually putting
bombers in the air. Israel reportedly came close
to carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear
facilities on multiple occasions under previous
Netanyahu governments. Former prime minister and
defense minister Ehud Barak said that Netanyahu
aborted plans in both 2010 and 2011 to strike
Iran, having been dissuaded by the IDF chief of
staff at the time and by ministerial colleagues.
Barak also said there were plans in 2012 for a
similar strike, but the operation was
called off because Israel was conducting a
military exercise with the US at the time and
Netanyahu did not want to draw the American
military into a war with Iran.
Senior Boeing
Official in Israel to Push Sale of Advanced
F-15 Jets for Iran Strike
by Times
of Israel
The chief of the Boeing
aircraft manufacturer’s defense wing was in
Israel on Sunday and Monday to advance the
supply of new, long-awaited refueling planes and
fighter jets for the Israeli Air Force looking
to boost its capabilities to strike Iran.
Speaking to reporters at the Boeing Israel
offices in Tel Aviv, Ted Colbert, the Boeing
Defense, Space and Security President and CEO
said the company would be supplying Israel with
25 F-15IA fighter jets — the Israeli variant of
the advanced F-15EX — with options for 25 more.
The military is looking to both add to and
upgrade its existing fleet of F-15s, which can
carry the kind of heavy weapons Israel would
need to penetrate Iran’s nuclear sites, most of
which are buried deep underground. Colbert said
the payload capability of the F-15EX is
“unmatchable,” and combined with the range of
the KC-46 refueling planes, it would “support
the long arm of Israel.” There is no timeline
yet, but the earliest Israel would likely
receive the new jets would be in 2028. Israel is
expected to push for faster delivery. Colbert
said Boeing was working “as fast as it can” to
supply the aircraft to Israel as soon as
possible. If the deal goes through and Israel
returns to purchasing F-15s, it would mark the
first Boeing fighter jet acquisition by the
Israeli Air Force in two decades. In the years
since, Israel has bought 100 F-16s and another
50 F-35 stealth jets from Boeing’s chief
competitor, Lockheed Martin. The first of four
KC-46 tankers, which Israel would need in order
to conduct a strike in Iran, is still scheduled
to be delivered in 2025. Israel has asked that
this date be moved up — which would require the
US to give up its spot in line to receive planes
from Boeing — but Washington has thus far
rejected the request. For Israel, the aircraft
are seen as necessary to conduct potential major
strikes against targets in Iran, some 2,000
kilometers (1,200 miles) from Israel and far
outside the normal flight range of Israeli jets.
In light of the growing uncertainty regarding a
return by Iran to the 2015 nuclear deal with
Western powers, the past two years have seen the
IDF ramp up efforts to prepare a credible
military threat against Tehran’s nuclear sites.
Latin America
Looks to Capitalize on Soaring Lithium Demand
by Oxford
Business Group
With the success of the energy
transition closely tied to the ability to store
solar and wind power, battery manufacturers are
zeroing in on Latin America’s so-called lithium
triangle of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. These
three countries alone contain 52m, or 53%, of
the 98m tonnes of global lithium reserves,
according to the US Geological Survey. In late
January Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited
Argentina and Chile to secure lithium supply for
carmakers Mercedes-Benz Group and Volkswagen to
produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Germany
reached a memorandum of understanding with
Argentina for increased supply and plans to
offer Chile a deal that is reportedly more
favourable than its current arrangement with
China. Days before Chancellor Scholz’s trip,
Chinese firms Contemporary Amperex Technology,
its subsidiary Brunp Recycling and the mining
company CMOC signed a $1bn agreement with
Bolivia’s state-owned mining company Yacimientos
de Litio Bolivianos to explore for lithium in
the country, which has the largest identified
lithium reserves in the world, at 21m tonnes.
Perhaps the most important precondition for
refined lithium supply for batteries is
processing. China has long held a dominant
position in this regard, accounting for nearly
60% of global refining capacity in 2022, albeit
down from a 65% share in 2021. Most Latin
American lithium carbonate already finds its way
to China for processing. Of Chile’s exports in
November 2022, some $455m – or 66% of the total
– went to China, with 13% going to South Korea
and 10% to Japan. Two weeks ago German carmaker
BMW announced it will construct an $800m plant
in the state of San Luis Potosi, with more than
half of the investment going towards building a
new high-voltage battery assembly plant. Tesla
is expected to make a similar announcement in
the near future to build a battery and car
manufacturing plant in Mexico, according to
Marcelo Ebrard, the country’s foreign affairs
minister.
U.S. Container
Imports See Biggest Drop in Over a Decade
by gCaptain
Container imports into the U.S.
saw their biggest decline in more than a decade
last month. In his latest ports report, industry
veteran John McCown said inbound containers at
the ten largest U.S. ports declined 17.9% year
over year in January, marking the highest
monthly decline since the 2008 financial crisis.
January now marks seven straight months of
expanding year over year declines. Granted, the
first half of last year set multiple monthly
records as the pandemic-driven imports surge
continued in the first six months of 2022 before
dropping off. West Coast ports once again the
biggest declines in January, down 23.5%
year-over-year, as potential labor unrest
continues to strain on volumes. For comparison,
East and Gulf Coast ports showed only a 12.6%
decline in January.
China's Taking
Control of LNG as Global Demand Booms
by Bloomberg
A rush by China to sign new
long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) deals
promises to give the nation even more control
over the global market at a time when
competition for cargoes is booming. Chinese
companies are sealing the most LNG purchase
agreements of any nation and increasingly are
becoming the sector’s key import intermediary.
The Chinese buyers are reselling many of the
cargoes to the highest bidders in Europe and
Asia, effectively taking charge over a hefty
chunk of supply. Firms based in China account
for roughly 15% of all contracts that’ll begin
delivering LNG supply through 2027, according to
an analysis of BloombergNEF data. That trend is
set to increase as the companies seek to lock in
more long-term agreements, which will
effectively give their traders control over the
fuel for decades. From copper to rare earths,
China is expanding its influence over
commodities that are vital to both the nation’s
economy and the world’s transition away from the
dirtiest fossil fuels. China has become one of
the world’s top LNG importers nearly overnight
amid a push from Beijing to ensure energy
security. The Asian nation’s position in the
market could be a double-edged sword: China can
provide stability during periods of global
shortages, but it could withhold supply and
drive up prices if the needs at home must be
met.
Taliban to Turn
Ex-Military Bases into Special Economic Zones
by BBC
Afghanistan's Taliban
government says it will turn some former foreign
military bases into economic zones for
businesses. Afghanistan has faced a deepening
economic and humanitarian crisis since the
Taliban regained control of the country in
August 2021. Afghanistan is estimated to be
sitting on natural resources - including natural
gas, copper and rare earths - worth more than
$1tn (£831.5bn). However, much of those reserves
remain untapped due to decades of turmoil in the
country. In August 2021, the last US military
flight left Kabul airport, marking the end of a
20-year presence in Afghanistan and America's
longest war. Since the withdrawal of foreign
military forces Afghanistan's finances have
since been hit by a number of other major
issues. Sanctions have been placed on members of
the government, the central bank's overseas
assets have been frozen, and most foreign aid -
which previously supported its economy - has
been suspended. Earlier this year, the Taliban
said it planned to sign a contract with a
Chinese firm to drill for oil in northern
Afghanistan. The 25-year deal underscores
China's economic involvement in the region.
Launched by Xi Jinping in 2013, the initiative
provides financing for emerging countries to
build infrastructure like ports, roads and
bridges.
Iran Unveils
Underground Airbase Tasked with Responding to
Israeli Attack
by The
Times of Israel
Iran unveiled what it said was
its first underground air force base on Tuesday,
with the head of the Islamic Republic’s military
saying the site would be among those used to
launch a response to any potential strikes by
Israel or others. “Any attack on Iran from our
enemies, including Israel, will see a response
from our many air force bases including Eagle
44,” Iran’s armed forces’ Chief of Staff
Mohammad Bagheri told IRNA, according to the
Reuters news agency. IRNA said the Eagle 44 site
was one of Iran’s most important military
facilities, and would be home to fighter jets
equipped with long-range cruise missiles. The
location of the base was not disclosed as part
of attempts by Iran to put key military and
nuclear facilities out of the way of potential
strikes. Israel is suspected of launching a
series of attacks on Iran, including an assault
on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that
damaged its centrifuges.
Getty Images
Lawsuit says 'Stability AI' Misused Photos to
Train AI
by Reuters
Stock photo provider Getty
Images has sued artificial intelligence company
Stability AI Inc, accusing it in a lawsuit made
public on Monday of misusing more than 12
million Getty photos to train its Stable
Diffusion AI image-generation system. The
lawsuit, filed in Delaware federal court,
follows a separate Getty case against Stability
in the United Kingdom and a related class-action
complaint filed by artists in California against
Stability and other companies in the
fast-growing field of generative AI. Getty
declined to comment on the Delaware lawsuit.
Representatives for Stability did not
immediately respond to a request. Seattle-based
Getty accused Stability of copying millions of
its photos without a license and using them to
train Stable Diffusion to generate more accurate
depictions based on user prompts.
French Strikes
Halt Fuel Shipments from Refineries and a Fuel
Depot
by Reuters
A nationwide strike in France
over a proposed pension reform interrupted on
Tuesday the shipment of fuels from refineries
and a fuel depot of TotalEnergies, the French
supermajor told Reuters. Workers and employees
in various sectors, including the energy sector,
civil servants, and teachers, have been staging
strikes for weeks to protest against President
Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement
age. Workers at the oil refineries at Donges and
Feyzin, operated by TotalEnergies, are on strike
today, a representative of the Force Ouvriere
trade union told Reuters. Workers at the fuel
depot Flandres have also joined the massive
industrial action in France, the official added.
This is not the first time that fuel deliveries
have been disrupted by strikes this year. Two
weeks ago, the strike in France halted wholesale
fuel deliveries from three refineries operated
by TotalEnergies on the first day of a series of
planned nationwide strikes in many sectors. The
Donges, Normandy, and Feyzin refineries of
TotalEnergies stopped the wholesale supply of
gasoline and diesel, while the refinery at
Feyzin had to reduce processing rates to a
minimum on January 19. TotalEnergies and the
French unit of ExxonMobil hold most of the
refining capacity in France. The strikes against
Macron’s unpopular pension reform are expected
to continue.
Creation of
Largest U.S. Lithium Mine Draws Closer Despite
Protest Over Land Use
by ARS
Technica
Construction will reportedly
soon begin on a mine that’s expected to become
the United States’ largest source of lithium.
This mine is viewed as critical to Joe Biden’s
$2 trillion clean energy plan by powering the
nation’s increased production of electric
vehicles. A US district judge denied the
majority of legal challenges raised by
environmentalists, ranchers, and indigenous
tribes, upholding that the federal government’s
decision to approve the Thacker Pass mine in
2020 was largely not made in error. However,
chief judge Miranda Du did agree with one of the
protesters' claims, ordering the US Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) to complete a fresh review
to determine if Lithium Americas Corp has the
right to deposit waste rock on 1,300 acres of
public land that the mining project wants to use
as a waste site. Because this waste site may not
contain valuable minerals, there’s a possibility
that this land may not be validly claimed as a
waste site under current US mining laws, Du
wrote in the order. A mining law from 1872
requires that mining projects must validate all
claims to public lands before gaining federal
approval, and that means Lithium Americas must
now provide evidence that valuable minerals have
been found on the proposed Thacker Pass waste
site to resume the project.
Global Copper Shortage Now
Developing in 2023
by CNBC
A copper deficit is set to
inundate global markets throughout 2023 — and
one analyst predicts the shortfall could
potentially extend throughout the rest of the
decade. The world is currently facing a global
copper shortage, fueled by increasingly
challenging supply streams in South America and
higher demand pressures. Copper is a leading
pulse check for economic health due to its
incorporation in various uses such as electrical
equipment and industrial machinery. A copper
squeeze could be an indicator that global
inflationary pressures will worsen, and
subsequently compel central banks to maintain
their hawkish stance for longer. Peru has been
rocked by protests since former President Pedro
Castillo was ousted in December in an
impeachment trial. The South American nation
accounts for 10% of the global copper supply.
Glencore announced Jan. 20 it was suspending
operations in its Antapaccay copper mine located
in Peru, after protesters looted and set fire to
its premises. Additionally, Chile — the world’s
largest copper producer which accounts for 27%
of global supply — recorded a year-on-year
decline of 7% in November. The reopening of
China and growth in the automotive and energy
transition industry have stoked demand for the
red metal, putting further strain on copper
resources.
Mediterranean
Ship-to-Ship Loadings of Russian Oil Hit
Record in January
by Reuters
Ship-to-ship (STS) loadings of
Russian Urals blend crude oil hit a record high
in January in the Mediterranean as traders moved
cargos onto larger vessels to make long-haul
shipments to Asia more cost effective, Refinitiv
Eikon data showed. Since the European Union
banned purchases of Russian sea-borne oil in
December over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, the
bulk of Russian oil has been diverted to
Asia. STS operations involve the transfer
of cargo in international waters from smaller to
larger vessels, improving the profitability of
long-haul trips. According to Refinitiv Eikon
and Reuters calculations, STS volumes in the
Mediterranean for deliveries to Asia jumped
eight-fold in January from December to a
record-high of 1.7 million tonnes. The data also
showed that some 1 million tonnes of Urals blend
were loaded via STS operations in January near
the Spanish port of Ceuta in the Strait of
Gibraltar. Some 600,000 tonnes were loaded near
the Greek port of Kalamata. All the cargoes were
delivered to Asia, mainly to India, where at
least 800,000 tonnes of Urals were expected to
arrive from January’s operations.
U.S. Companies
in Taiwan Make Contingency Plans Amid Tensions
with China
by Reuters
Almost half of companies
surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce
(AmCham) in Taiwan are revising or plan to
revise their business continuity plans amid
tensions with China, while a growing number
reported being impacted by those strains. In a
survey released on Tuesday, which took place
between Nov. 15 and Dec. 16, AmCham Taiwan said
33% of respondents said their operations had
been "significantly disrupted" by the increase
in tensions, compared with 17% when it did a
flash survey in August right after China began
war games. AmCham Taiwan, which said that 214 of
its 437 members responded to the December
survey, said one-third of companies reported
being disrupted by elevated concern or policy
changes from their global headquarters, followed
by increased shipping, insurance, or financial
costs and staff anxiety.
Taiwan
Deploying Minelayers in Preparation for
Chinese Amphibious Assault
by Eurasian
Times
Incidentally, Taiwan is
purchasing Volcano mines from the United States.
It is also buying M977A4 HEMTT 10-ton cargo
trucks worth 180 million dollars that the mine
deployment system will be mounted on. These are
anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. The Volcano
mine system can deploy 960
anti-personnel/anti-tank mines in an area 1,100
meters long by 120 meters wide, and it can be
deployed by truck or helicopter. The prime
contractors for sale are Northrop Grumman and
Oshkosh Corporation, the manufacturers of
munitions and trucks. In the Indo-Pacific
region, South Korea is the other country whose
forces use the Volcano mine system for their
operations against potential invaders from North
Korea. The US sale of Volcano is intended to
strengthen Taiwan’s capacity for “asymmetric
warfare” in the face of rising tensions with
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and
has threatened to take the island by force if
necessary. Incidentally, last year, Taiwan
commissioned its Navy’s First and Second Mining
Operations Squadrons, which operate ships that
automatically sow large numbers of small but
powerful mines at high speed without divers.
This was a significant development for two
reasons. The mines to be used by these squadrons
are believed to be the improved versions of Mk 6
Mod 15 that Taiwan had acquired from the United
States. It is said that there have been at least
15 variants of the Mk 6 since its introduction
more than a century ago (1917), with the inert
Mk 6 Mod 15 being the training mine that has
been pictured aboard a minelayer during the
Taiwan Navy’s mine-loading exercise last year.
First Fighters
Land Aboard India's First Homegrown Aircraft
Carrier
by The
Drive
In a first-of-its-kind event,
an Indian-made fighter jet has landed aboard an
Indian-made aircraft carrier — the new INS
Vikrant, which began at-sea trials back in
August 2021, as you can read more about here,
and which was commissioned last September. While
today’s arrival of the HAL Light Combat Aircraft
(LCA) Navy version on the deck of the carrier is
a significant moment for the Indian Navy and the
country at large, hopes of fielding a production
version of the jet have now been superseded by a
highly ambitious plan for a Twin Engine Deck
Based Fighter, or TEDBF, and plans for another
new carrier are well advanced. All these carrier
fighter developments are also in process to
provide the air wing for India’s next carrier,
the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 2, or IAC-2,
which will be named INS Vishal, and which is
planned to be significantly bigger than the
Vikrant, at around 65,000 tons, compared to
40,000 tons for the earlier warship.
Iran Suffers
UAV Strike After Israel, U.S. Simulate Attack
on Islamic Republic
by Fox
News
An explosion at an Iranian
military facility Saturday evening, which
authorities said was the result of a drone
strike, comes just days after the United States
and Israel conducted joint military drills in
the region. Details on the Isfahan attack, which
happened Saturday, remain scarce and the Iranian
Defense Ministry did not reveal whom it
suspected to have carried out the attack. It
comes after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a
massive military drill in Israel earlier this
week. The Israelis have deployed more than 1,000
soldiers and officers, six ships, and a
significant number of aircraft, including
F-35Is, F-16s, F-15s, G550 reconnaissance
aircraft, B707 refueling aircraft, UAVs and
helicopters. Israel is suspected of launching
attacks on Iran, including an April 2021 assault
on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that
damaged its centrifuges. In 2020, Iran also
blamed Israel for a sophisticated attack that
killed its top military nuclear scientist.
Israeli officials rarely acknowledge military
operations and deny any official involvement.
Bed Bath &
Beyond Warns of Possible Bankruptcy
by Axios
Bed Bath & Beyond — whose
20% coupons, towel towers and wedding registry
have been a staple of the American shopping
landscape — warned Thursday that its dismal
performance threatens the company's future.
Driving the news: The beleaguered retailer said
in a public filing that it faces "substantial
doubt" about its ability to continue operating
on its own — and that it could file for
bankruptcy protection. Why it matters: Bed Bath
& Beyond still had some 32,000 employees and
955 stores as of last summer. That included the
company's other properties: buybuy Baby and
Harmon. State of play: Bed Bath & Beyond has
been distressed for years, having failed to
reinvent itself in the digital age despite
efforts to declutter its stores and remake its
coupon strategy. The retailer said Thursday that
it expects to report a 33% sales decline in the
quarter that ended Nov. 26, "driven by lower
customer traffic and reduced levels of inventory
availability, among other factors." The company
also said it expects to report a net loss of
$386 million, up from $276 million a year
earlier.
Scotland Police
Rename Pedophiles as "Minor Attracted People"
at Direction of E.U.
by European
Conservative
After facing sharp criticism
for referring to pedophiles as “minor-attracted
people”—a label used to normalize sex abuse
against children—in a high-level report,
Scottish police have stated that they did so at
the direction of the European Union. Scottish
Police Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, in his
year-end report which provides an overall
assessment of policing performance for the
annum, said that the force had been working to
support a European project whose stated primary
objective is to “avoid the victimization of
children by engaging Minor-Attracted People
(MAPs) and provide them with the necessary
support, treatment and guidance to help prevent
criminal activities.” Following intense publish
backlash, with many suggesting the police were
attempting to normalize sex crimes against
children, a police spokesman claimed that the
phrase “minor-attracted people” was not commonly
used to describe pedophiles, and explained that
the annual report’s reference to MAPs had to do
with the police force’s involvement with the
European Union’s Horizon Europe
Project—Prevention of Child Sexual Exploitation.
Taiwan's
Anti-Ship Missile Program Sends Instrument to
China by Mistake
by Maritime
Executive
Taiwan's missile development
institute has come in for criticism after it
sent a measurement device used for antiship
missile production out for repairs - and it
ended up in mainland China. Taiwan's National
Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology
(NCSIST) designs and builds the nation's
antiship missiles, including the heavyweight
Hsiung-Feng III (Brave Wind III). On its
production line for the Hsiung-Feng III, the
NCSIST uses a precision theodolite to take
measurements of the missile, the launcher and
other elements related to missile setup and
testing. The device of choice is built by a
Swiss manufacturer and is commonly employed in
aerospace, shipbuilding and other manufacturing
industries for the precise measurement of large
objects. NCSIST purchased two theodolites in
2021. While the units were still under warranty,
the institute decided to send them back to the
Taiwanese distributor for factory service. The
data cards containing measurement information
were removed, and the equipment was shipped to
Switzerland for repairs. The theodolites came
back in good working order some months later.
However, the device's repairs were actually
carried out somewhere else - a regional service
hub in Qingdao, China. When the delivery of two
antiship missile test instruments to the
mainland was discovered, it came as unwelcome
news for Taiwanese security officials: any
accidental release of data on the Hsiung-Feng
III's systems and capabilities could allow China
to engineer better defenses.
Japan to Use
Self-Defense Forces to Guard Nuclear Power
Plants
by Nikkei
The Japanese government will
task the country's Self-Defense Forces with
protecting critical infrastructure, such as
nuclear power plants, as it plans to respond
immediately if civilian facilities become the
target of an attack. According to people
familiar with the government's thinking,
authorities will revise the SDF's operating
policy, which is currently limited to responding
to emergencies, and conduct peacetime drills
with the police and Japan Coast Guard in
municipalities where the SDF is located to
practice intercepting missiles. In Japan's
National Security Strategy, which was approved
by the cabinet in December, the government
states that measures to ensure the safety of
critical facilities will be taken, not only in
the event of an armed attack but in the run-up
to a crisis that does not lead to such an
attack.
Netanyahu Warns
Iran Deal Still Possible, Vows to Revert to
"Openly" Opposing It
by Times
of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would change
Israel’s strategy toward countering Iranian
nuclear ambitions, promising to bring the fight
back to the court of public opinion. Speaking at
a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that it was
still a “possibility” that Western powers would
resuscitate efforts to sign a nuclear deal with
Iran and that he would apply public pressure to
prevent it. The most recently discussed nuclear
agreement with Iran was panned as a “bad deal”
by Israel’s previous government and security
establishment, because it would release billions
of dollars to Tehran without guaranteeing a real
curb to its nuclear ambitions. Israel has long
vowed it will act to ensure Iran does not obtain
nuclear weapons.
Google Paying
Indiana $20 Million to Resolve Privacy Suit
by Insurance
Journal
Google will pay Indiana $20
million to resolve the state’s lawsuit against
the technology giant over allegedly deceptive
location tracking practices, state Attorney
General Todd Rokita announced. Rokitas filed a
separate lawsuit against Google when
negotiations between the company and a coalition
of state attorneys general stalled, he said.
Those states agreed to a $391.5 million
settlement with the company in November. As a
result of the separate lawsuit, Indiana received
about twice as much money as it would have under
the deal with the 40 states in the coalition,
Rokita said in his announcement. States began
investigating after a 2018 Associated Press
story that found that Google continued to track
people’s location data even after they opted out
of such tracking by disabling a feature the
company called “location history.” Google did
not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the deal
with Indiana. Indiana’s lawsuit alleged Google
uses location data to build detailed user
profiles and target ads. It alleged that the
company has deceived and misled users about its
practices since at least 2014. Rokita said he
sued Google because even a limited amount of
location data can expose a person’s identity and
routines. Such data can be used to infer
personal details such as political or religious
affiliation, income, health status or
participation in support groups, as well as
major life events such as marriage and the birth
of children, he said.
U.K.
Cost-of-Living Payments: Three Installments
Totaling £900 Confirmed
by BBC
Eight million people receiving
benefits and on low incomes will receive their
£900 cost-of-living payments in three
instalments, the government has said. The first
payment of £301 will be made in the spring, with
a second of £300 in the autumn and a final £299
instalment in the spring of 2024. Exact dates
are yet to be finalised, but ministers said the
money would help households with high energy
bills. A £400 discount for all energy billpayers
looks set to end by April. Charities have called
on the government to do more to protect
vulnerable households from soaring costs,
claiming that support had not improved for those
already struggling. The government also
confirmed that a £150 cost-of-living payment
would automatically go to those with
disabilities during the summer, and a further
£300 payment would be paid to pensioners during
the winter of 2023-24. Cost-of-living payments
have provided additional support for more
vulnerable households, or those with higher
energy costs, since the summer. The government
also set a cap on the unit price of energy for
households, which means the typical household
pays £2,500 a year. This will rise to £3,000 a
year when the cap is reset in April. However,
the universal £400 discount, which is being paid
in monthly instalments over this winter is not
expected to be continued.
Japan's
Business Owners Can't Find Successors as Young
Dwindle
by New
York Times
Hidekazu Yokoyama has spent
three decades building a thriving logistics
business on Japan’s snowy northern island of
Hokkaido, an area that provides much of the
country’s milk. Last year, he decided to give it
all away. It was a radical solution for a
problem that has become increasingly common in
Japan, the world’s grayest society. As the
country’s birthrate has plummeted and its
population has grown older, the average age of
business owners has risen to around 62. Nearly
60 percent of the country’s businesses report
that they have no plan for what comes next.
While Mr. Yokoyama, 73, felt too old to carry on
much longer, quitting wasn’t an option: Too many
farmers had come to depend on his company. “I
definitely couldn’t abandon the business,” he
said. But his children weren’t interested in
running it. Neither were his employees. And few
potential owners wanted to move to the remote,
frozen north. So he placed a notice with a
service that helps small-business owners in
far-flung locales find someone to take over. The
advertised sale price: zero yen. Mr. Yokoyama’s
struggle symbolizes one of the most potentially
devastating economic impacts of Japan’s aging
society. It is inevitable that many small- and
medium-size companies will go out of business as
the population shrinks, but policymakers fear
that the country could be hit by a surge in
closures as aging owners retire en masse. In an
apocalyptic 2019 presentation, Japan’s trade
ministry projected that by 2025, around 630,000
profitable businesses could close up shop,
costing the economy $165 billion and as many as
6.5 million jobs. Economic growth is already
anemic, and the Japanese authorities have sprung
into action in hopes of averting a catastrophe.
Government offices have embarked on public
relations campaigns to educate aging owners
about options for continuing their businesses
beyond their retirements and have set up service
centers to help them find buyers. To sweeten the
pot, the authorities have introduced large
subsidies and tax breaks for new owners.
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