Israeli Pegasus returns to Mexico as concerns grow among dissidents

Researchers at Citizen Lab uncover the phones of Mexican activists and journalists that have been infected by Pegasus, despite the Mexican president having pledged to end the history of spying on opponents.

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.

The mastermind behind this hacking software is none other than the Israeli firm NSO Group.

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/politics/israeli-pegasus-returns-to-mexico-as-concerns-grow-among-dis

Be careful what you post: How Facebook and the US government have united against Americans with the 'wrong' views

Exposed: Social media giant is spying on conservative users and snitching to the feds

It’s been revealed by sources within the US Department of Justice that direct messages sent through Facebook by American users, along with public postings, have been rigorously monitored, and reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) if they express anti-government, anti-authority views, or if they question the legitimacy of the November 2020 presidential election’s outcome.

Witch hunt on the web

Under the terms of a secret collaboration agreement with the FBI, a Facebook staffer has, over the past 19 months, been red-flagging content they consider to be “subversive” and immediately transmitting it to the Bureau’s domestic terrorism operational unit, without the FBI having filed a single subpoena – outside the established US legal process, without probable cause, and in breach of the First Amendment, in other words.

US Psy-Ops exposed: Washington isn't concerned about morals, it's worried about getting caught

Just as shockingly, these intercepted communications were then provided as leads and tips to FBI field offices across the US, which in turn secured subpoenas in order to officially obtain the private conversations that they already possessed, and thus cover up the fact the material had been obtained extra-legally. Facebook invariably complied with these subpoenas, and would send back “gigabytes of data and photos” within an hour, suggesting the content sought was already packaged and awaiting legal confirmation before distribution.

It is uncertain quite how many users were flagged, but it’s abundantly clear a specific type of person was of interest to the FBI - “red-blooded” conservative right-wingers, many of whom supported the right to bear arms. No one connected to Antifa, BLM or any other left-wing group was ever informed on.

It seems not a single Facebook user snitched upon for daring to be possessed of troublesome political opinions was ever arrested, or prosecuted, for their wrongthink, even though some were reportedly subject to covert surveillance and other forms of intrusion and harassment. Their views were consistently found to not translate to criminality or violence - their words were simply brutal condemnations of Biden’s election and presidency, and aggressive calls for protests.

https://www.rt.com/news/563670-big-brother-watches-your-messages/

>>17638492 Mistakes sorry

>US Psy-Ops exposed: Washington isn't concerned about morals, it's worried about getting caught

Pentagon orders urgent review of after its global scheme is compromised

A bombshell Washington Post investigation has revealed that the Pentagon is conducting a “sweeping audit of how it conducts clandestine information warfare,” after a variety of social media accounts, which its operatives used to target foreign audiences in elaborate psychological warfare efforts, were exposed.

The accounts violated platform rules and were eventually busted by researchers and the social networks they weaponized.

US defense policy advisor Colin Kahl is reported to have demanded that every Pentagon division engaged in “psychological operations online” provides a full account of their activities by October, due to high-level concerns that “attempted manipulation of audiences overseas” by the Department of Defense have significantly overstepped the mark.

Those fears were apparently stoked by the release of a landmark report in August by social media analytics firm Graphika, and the Stanford Internet Observatory, which found that over the past five years, hundreds of accounts disseminating pro-Western narratives - such as a recent propaganda blitz that “advanced anti-Russia narratives,” including criticism of the Kremlin’s “imperialist” war in Ukraine - were likely being run by the Pentagon’s Centcom unit.

Centcom is responsible for military operations of every sort across 21 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Central and South Asia. According to Graphika’s report, among the accounts taken down was a fictional Persian-language news outlet that shared content reposted from US state-run propaganda platforms Voice of America Farsi and Radio Free Europe.

One account was found to have posted content claiming that relatives of deceased Afghan refugees had reported bodies of their loved ones being returned from Iran with missing organs. The obvious purpose of the exercise was to prevent Afghans fleeing to the neighboring country. Quite why isn’t clear, although a defense official told the Washington Post that such activity would “absolutely be a violation of doctrine and training practices.”

Strikingly, the newspaper also independently learned that in 2020, Facebook permanently banned fake accounts, created by Centcom to counter claims that COVID19 may have escaped from US biological weapons lab Fort Detrick. In other cases, the accounts even promoted information deemed by fact-checkers to be false.

https://www.rt.com/news/563217-pentagon-psychological-operations-online/

Air pollution particles detected in lungs, brains of fetuses: Study

University professors ask for more in-depth research to discover if even more harm takes place when the particles begin to disperse in the body afterward.

A groundbreaking find has researchers baffled and alarmed, after discovering that fetuses during pregnancy have toxic air pollution particles in the lungs, livers, and brains.

In the most vulnerable stage of human development, the black carbon particles are passed on to the fetus after being inhaled by the mother and transmitted through the bloodstream and placenta that connects to the fetus.

Published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health and conducted with mothers in Scotland and Belgium who identified as non-smoking in places with low air pollution, the research found air pollution particles even in umbilical cord blood and placentas, which, when compared with mothers living in high-level air pollution areas, the concentration of particles was higher.

The 36 fetuses examined in the Scottish part were from normal pregnancies between seven and 20 weeks, and in Belgium, cord blood samples were taken after 60 healthy births. “The findings are especially concerning because this window of exposure is key to organ development,” the scientists said.

An increased rate of miscarriages impeded brain development, and premature births were known to be linked to polluted air inhalation, but this "very worrying" new study exhibits direct evidence of how that is taking place, with researchers adding that pollution could eventually lead to lifetime health effects. Emitted from fossil fuel combustion in vehicles, homes, and factories, the particles cause inflammation in the body due to the chemicals in them.

The research was discussed by Professor Paul Fowler, at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, who said, “We have shown for the first time that black carbon nanoparticles not only get into the first and second trimester placenta but then also find their way into the organs of the developing fetus."

Reiterating that the particles have the facilitated ability to enter the human brain, Fowler expressed worry that it would also be possible for the nanoparticles to interact and toy with the control systems of human fetal organs and cells directly. Fetuses in the womb are easily prone to receive whatever the mother consumes or breathes, and that is proven in one study made in 2017, whereby 850 babies showed signs of drug addiction because of their mother abusing legal or illegal substances such as cocaine, heroin, codeine, marijuana, and alcohol during pregnancy.

An earlier discovery in 2018 may have aided in the breakthrough finding, in which Professor Jonathan Grigg at the Queen Mary University of London, alongside his colleagues, located polluted air particles in placentas. Grigg put his two cents in on the new study, expressing that “the new study is very good – they have shown convincingly that the particles then get into the fetuses. Seeing particles getting into the brain of fetuses raises the stakes because this potentially has lifelong consequences for the child,” adding that further research would still be required as it is not known yet what occurs when the particles release their chemicals in different parts of the body.

Co-author of the research, Professor Tim Nawrot at Hasselt University in Belgium, said, “Air quality regulation should recognize this [air pollution] transfer during gestation and act to protect the most susceptible stages of human development.” He pointed fingers at governments for their responsibility to cut down air pollution, but still urged people to avoid busy roads when it is possible.

A 2019 comprehensive global review deduced that air pollution has intensive damage effects on human organs, as tiny particles have also been found in the blood-brain connection and billions of them have been located in the hearts of youths living in cities. More than 90% of the world’s population resides in areas where air pollution is above World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, and because of that, millions of deaths are caused and continue to rise as climate change worsens as well.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/environment/air-pollution-particles-detected-in-lungs-brains-of-fetuses:

Air pollution particles detected in lungs, brains of fetuses: Study

University professors ask for more in-depth research to discover if even more harm takes place when the particles begin to disperse in the body afterward.

A groundbreaking find has researchers baffled and alarmed, after discovering that fetuses during pregnancy have toxic air pollution particles in the lungs, livers, and brains.

In the most vulnerable stage of human development, the black carbon particles are passed on to the fetus after being inhaled by the mother and transmitted through the bloodstream and placenta that connects to the fetus.

Published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health and conducted with mothers in Scotland and Belgium who identified as non-smoking in places with low air pollution, the research found air pollution particles even in umbilical cord blood and placentas, which, when compared with mothers living in high-level air pollution areas, the concentration of particles was higher.

The 36 fetuses examined in the Scottish part were from normal pregnancies between seven and 20 weeks, and in Belgium, cord blood samples were taken after 60 healthy births. “The findings are especially concerning because this window of exposure is key to organ development,” the scientists said.

An increased rate of miscarriages impeded brain development, and premature births were known to be linked to polluted air inhalation, but this "very worrying" new study exhibits direct evidence of how that is taking place, with researchers adding that pollution could eventually lead to lifetime health effects. Emitted from fossil fuel combustion in vehicles, homes, and factories, the particles cause inflammation in the body due to the chemicals in them.

The research was discussed by Professor Paul Fowler, at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, who said, “We have shown for the first time that black carbon nanoparticles not only get into the first and second trimester placenta but then also find their way into the organs of the developing fetus."

Reiterating that the particles have the facilitated ability to enter the human brain, Fowler expressed worry that it would also be possible for the nanoparticles to interact and toy with the control systems of human fetal organs and cells directly. Fetuses in the womb are easily prone to receive whatever the mother consumes or breathes, and that is proven in one study made in 2017, whereby 850 babies showed signs of drug addiction because of their mother abusing legal or illegal substances such as cocaine, heroin, codeine, marijuana, and alcohol during pregnancy.

An earlier discovery in 2018 may have aided in the breakthrough finding, in which Professor Jonathan Grigg at the Queen Mary University of London, alongside his colleagues, located polluted air particles in placentas. Grigg put his two cents in on the new study, expressing that “the new study is very good – they have shown convincingly that the particles then get into the fetuses. Seeing particles getting into the brain of fetuses raises the stakes because this potentially has lifelong consequences for the child,” adding that further research would still be required as it is not known yet what occurs when the particles release their chemicals in different parts of the body.

Co-author of the research, Professor Tim Nawrot at Hasselt University in Belgium, said, “Air quality regulation should recognize this [air pollution] transfer during gestation and act to protect the most susceptible stages of human development.” He pointed fingers at governments for their responsibility to cut down air pollution, but still urged people to avoid busy roads when it is possible.

A 2019 comprehensive global review deduced that air pollution has intensive damage effects on human organs, as tiny particles have also been found in the blood-brain connection and billions of them have been located in the hearts of youths living in cities. More than 90% of the world’s population resides in areas where air pollution is above World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, and because of that, millions of deaths are caused and continue to rise as climate change worsens as well.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/environment/air-pollution-particles-detected-in-lungs-brains-of-fetuses:

>>17637898

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