https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-pegasus-returns-to-mexico-as-concerns-grow-among-dis

Israeli Pegasus returns to Mexico as concerns grow among dissidents

Despite the Mexican government's pledges claiming it will cease exploiting the contentious Pegasus spyware, an investigation on Sunday discovered that at least three human rights investigators' phones in Mexico had been breached by Israeli NSO's spyware Pegasus.

Manuel Lopez Obrador, who assumed office in 2018, swore to quit using the technology after a scandal emerged over its usage under his predecessor's presidency.

What is Pegasus? How does it function?

As a spyware, Pegasus, which has the capability to infect billions of phones running either iOS or Android operating systems, silently infiltrates your phone, takes hold of your data, and turns your device into a 24/7 surveillance unit.

It can copy all your messages, harvest your photos, and record your calls. It might even infiltrate your camera and microphone and secretly film you and eavesdrop on your conversations. It can also potentially pinpoint your location, anytime, anywhere.

For governments and spying agencies, the software is quite the dream come true, but for dissidents, journalists, and the general populace, Pegasus is a nightmare.

Mexico, Pegasus, and human rights activists

Two journalists and a human rights activist's phones were examined by researchers at Citizen Lab, a digital watchdog group at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. They discovered that the smartphones had been infected with Pegasus in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

The three victims documented human rights violations allegedly committed by the Mexican armed forces and disclosed their findings in a report published by the Mexican group for digital rights advocacy known as R3D.

Requests for a response from the defense ministry and Lopez Obrador's team were not immediately fulfilled.

Unfolding since 2017

In 2021, Lopez Obrador declared that Mexico had "no longer any relation" with Mexico and at the time, Mexico's chief of financial crimes asserted that the government had not entered into any agreements with the firms that provided the software.

Citizen Lab had previously discovered the usage of the Pegasus spyware by the Mexican government during the administration of former President Enrique Pena Nieto in 2017. This raised concerns about the lengths to which government agents and officials would go in order to monitor activists, journalists, and politicians, especially those who were critical of the administration.

The future of Pegasus in Mexico

The new findings by Citizen Lab call for questioning Mexico's current president's intentions and allegations with regard to Pegasus. In other words, it raised questions as to whether or not Obrador has lived up to his pledge to put an end to a history of spying on opponents in Mexico.

Furthermore, as a result of the most recent discoveries, concerns regarding the difficulties faced by journalists and human rights advocates in a nation where they have frequently come under assault, grow.

Citizen Lab findings

According to Citizen Lab and R3D, Pegasus targeted activist Raymundo Ramos in August and September 2020. Ramos assisted victims of alleged military violations in the hostile northern border state of Tamaulipas.

Earlier, during an interview with Reuters, Ramos had noted that he has expected that the government was spying on him for a long time now. Since he knew of the findings, Ramos said he had been taking stricter measures to protect his privacy. That included having more in-person conversations and leaving his mobile phone in a separate location.

"I am on high alert," Ramos told Reuters, "This isn't just any hacker … Someone has set their sights on you."

In October and November of 2019 as well as in December of 2020, Pegasus targeted journalist Ricardo Raphael's phone, according to the findings. Raphael is a journalist for the news agencies Proceso and Milenio. He is also a host on channel ADN40.

They also discovered one infected phone in 2021 belonging to a journalist at the Animal Politico news agency. The journalist preferred to remain anonymous.

A victim of Pegasus

Pegasus has also been used as a tool for murder. According to The Guardian, Cecilio Pineda Birto, a 38-year-old freelance reporter in Mexico, was shot dead on March 2, 2017. Prior to the incident, Pineda had received a number of anonymous death threats. At about the same time, his mobile phone number was selected as a possible target for surveillance by a Mexican client of the NSO Group spyware company. His attackers knew exactly where to find him, although his exact whereabouts were known to no one.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/economics/rich-nations-solution-for-inflation-is-a-poor-countrys-probl

Rich nation's solution for inflation is a poor country's problem: UN

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has warned in its annual trade and development report released on October 3rd that the methods used by the wealthy nations to fend off inflation, such as skyrocketing interest rates, would actually wear on the developing and poorest of nations through a distressing global recession.

Moves to swell interest rates by major central banks, like The Bank of England and The US Federal Reserve, in response to rising prices were dubbed an “imprudent gamble” that the UN body said would need a "course correction" to avoid stacking up debt, health emergencies, and the prevailing climate crisis on developing nations as a result of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The Central Bank of Turkey raised the estimates for consumer prices to 60.4% by the end of the year 2022. Furthermore, amid the highest inflation rate hitting Sweden since 1991 of 9.0 recorded in August, the central bank of Sweden announced in September an interest rate hike of 1 percentage point, the biggest since 1993.

Central Banks worldwide have been battling against high inflation rates, as factors such as rising energy prices and Covid residual imbalances have been pressing the economies with no signs of relief in the short-term.

The report further challenged the idea of a monetary shock being required by central bankers, by stating that the shock of inflation was fueled by the ballooning of prices for energy, food, and friction in global trade as opposed to excess demand for goods and services.

Even the steps taken to counteract the inflationary consequences, which included windfall taxes and anti-trust measures, could have still taken place without the need to put poorer countries at the forefront and as a shield.

Approximately $3.6 trillion of future income for developing countries, excluding China, is anticipated to face a cut as interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve, per the UN body's statement. Countries such as Zambia, Suriname, and Sri Lanka that were already exhibiting a hefty debt weight are now among those suffering the most of the inflation, and those like Pakistan are being hit with bigger threats of economic instability due to climate shocks.

Richard Kozul-Wright, the head of the team that authored the report, said: “The real problem facing policymakers is not an inflation crisis caused by too much money chasing too few goods but a distributional crisis with too many firms paying too high dividends, too many people struggling from pay cheque to pay cheque and too many governments surviving from bond payment to bond payment".

The dollar value against other currencies showed a rapid rise as it exerted pressure on developing nations on pricing imported goods and the cost of servicing debts.

Rebeca Grynspan, the secretary-general of UNCTAD, said: “There’s still time to step back from the edge of recession,” said “We have the tools to calm inflation and support all vulnerable groups. This is a matter of policy choices and political will. But the current course of action is hurting the most vulnerable, especially in developing countries, and risks tipping the world into a global recession.”

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/contempt-case-against-ex-pm-khan-dropped

Contempt case against ex-PM Khan dropped

Charges that were held against Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan were dropped today by a court in Islamabad, his attorney said, thus easing him of a contempt case and the threat of his disqualification from politics.

Khan submitted his apology in person last month after he was charged with contempt of court for delivering a speech on August 20 in which he allegedly threatened Judge Zeba Chaudhry and senior Islamabad police officials for arresting and torturing his aide Shahbaz Gill.

Khan and his legal team made it clear in the five-page long letter that his remarks made no reference to a threat.

Under Pakistani law, a conviction may cause a politician to lose qualification from elections and assumption of official positions for five years and more.

His attorney, Faisal Chaudhry, said on Monday, "Imran Khan extended his apology in honor and respect for the judiciary, and the court today reciprocated by discharging the case against him."

Prior to the dropping of the charges, the police did not dispatch an arrest team while Khan had an arrest warrant.

Given his wide base of popular support, the dispatch of an arrest team would have inevitably caused havoc within the nation.

Khan is seen by his supporters as a "red line" that must never be crossed.

Since his ousting from power following a vote of no-confidence last April, Imran Khan has actively organized a series of popular anti-government demonstrations and faced a slew of charges along with other members of his political party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The country's rulers have a history of using the police and courts to silence political opponents, and Premier Sharif has several pending cases brought against him while he was in opposition.

>>17630682

22 is incredibly symbolic. the connections are mind blowing.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-media:-maritime-deal-united-lebanese-divided-israeli

Israeli media: Maritime deal united Lebanese, divided Israelis

On Monday, Israeli media reported that "Lebanon is united over the maritime agreement, and "Israel" is divided."

In the details, the Israeli channel KAN said that "a country suffering from conflict and is politically divided, such as Lebanon, appears more united than Israel with regard to everything related to the issue of the dispute on the maritime borders."

The Israeli channel commented on the speech of the caretaker Prime Minister in Lebanon, Najib Mikati, in which he said that "the agreement is acceptable to us, but we will convey some observations to the American mediator," noting that "there is a basic consensus that the settlement proposal on the part of the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, is accepted by the Lebanese side."

The interviewer on KAN then asked, "Why is this important? Because "Israel" appears contrary to what it should be?"

The response was that "it is true that a senior (Israeli) political source said yesterday that Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Security Minister Benny Gantz agreed to Hochstein's proposal, but there are a number of question marks, not only about the crystallized agreement and how it will be ratified but also within the government and inside the cabinet."

Netanyahu: "Agreement is illegal, we won’t be obligated by it"

Earlier, former Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that Lapid is shamefully surrendering to the threats of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

According to Netanyahu, should the agreement with Lebanon be signed, Hezbollah would be "receiving Israel’s sovereign territory and a gas field worth billions of dollars" without any parliamentary debate and referendum.

"Lapid has no mandate to give sovereign territory and sovereign assets that belong to all of us to an enemy state," Netanyahu said.

The former Israeli PM reiterated that the agreement with Lebanon "is illegal and we won’t be obligated by it," in the event of returning to power after the November 1 election.

In response, Lapid tweeted that "I understand that it pains you that you didn’t succeed in achieving an agreement, but that is no reason to join Nasrallah’s propaganda campaign."

Lapid said that Netanyahu "hasn’t seen the agreement," claiming that it gives "Israel" "100% of its security needs, 100% of the Karish reserve, and even some of the profits from the Lebanon reserve."

Two days ago, a Lebanese source concerned with the demarcation negotiations confirmed to Al Mayadeen that "Lebanon obtained, in the written proposal it received from the Americans, all its demands," adding that "Lebanon has not and will not give Israel any security zone that it previously demanded."

This comes after Lebanon received the written response from the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, regarding the demarcation of its southern maritime borders, through the American ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea.

On his part, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also touched on the issue of the Lebanese maritime borders, saying that the importance of what is happening today is there is a written text from the mediating party that the President, Parliament Speaker, and the Prime Minister have received.

In turn, Israeli media said that the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, "succeeded in the battle of awareness in the negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders."

>>17630709

Chuckles.

Nope. Sorry, it's only 22.

Everything else rotates around that, even the 17.

Unlock the mystery of the 22.

You will understand the rest.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/bus-stops-in-florence-lay-bare-israels-apartheid-system

Bus stops in Florence lay bare “Israel’s” apartheid system

Passers-by at bus stops in Florence, Italy, have recently noticed out-of-the-ordinary advertisements. Neither the adverts aim to inform passersby about a brand or offering, nor persuade them to buy a product.

The adverts simply aim to open the world’s eye to an obvious but widely ignored fact: “Israel” is an occupier which established an apartheid system that has lasted since 1948.

This campaign was launched in Florence, Italy by a diverse group of local associations, political parties, and private citizens who share their outrage at the inhumane system of discrimination and oppression imposed on Palestinians, as well as the indifference of Western political institutions to this crime against humanity.

In a statement, the Florence’s Network for Palestine said, “We were inspired by a similar campaign carried out by anonymous activists in London”, adding that “the message was powerful in its simplicity: a dictionary entry defining the concept of apartheid, mentioning its application in South Africa's past and Israel's present.”

“The system of discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds enacted by Israel involves all Palestinians in various forms: the refugees who have been denied their right to return, Palestinians living under direct Israeli military control in the West Bank or under siege in Gaza, and even that minority who have been granted Israeli citizenship but are subject to a long list of discriminatory laws and practices,” the statement read.

The statement hinted that “Palestinian activists have been claiming for decades that this system of oppression constitutes a crime of apartheid. It took a long time for human rights groups in Israel and the West to become fully aware of this”.

“But over the past two years something has changed: one after another, leading human rights organizations have published extensive reports that, on solid legal grounds, conclude that Israel is responsible for the crime of apartheid “from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea”,” it highlighted.

The organization referred to Amnesty International which finally released an awaited 211-page report last February, whose release "Israel" had fought against, which asserted once and for all that the Israeli regime is forcing a system of apartheid on Palestinians.

Amnesty said the Israeli system is founded on "segregation, dispossession and exclusion", which amount to crimes against humanity, and its findings were documented in a report that shows the Israeli seizure of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcibly displacing people, and denying them citizenship.

This is the second report by an international rights group to accuse "Israel" of enforcing an apartheid system, the first being Human Rights Watch whose report was released in April 2021. As per Israeli tradition, it accused Amnesty of anti-semitism.

What is apartheid?

The report also defined apartheid and showed it to be a violation of public international law and a crime against humanity under international criminal law.

As "Israel" has an institutionalized regime "of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another" and has an intention to maintain that system, it is classified as an apartheid regime and must be held accountable as such by world governments.

"Israeli authorities have enjoyed impunity for too long. The international failure to hold Israel to account means Palestinians are still suffering every single day. It’s time to speak up, to stand with Palestinians and tell Israel that we will not tolerate apartheid," the report said.

>>17630723

This is the best ever.

>>17630820

>>17630843

>>17630820

The music is about to stop because of a BOOM.