Category: International Conflict

About 100,000 industrial control systems (ICS) were found on the public web, exposed to attackers probing them for vulnerabilities and at risk of unauthorized access. Among them are power grids, traffic light systems, security and water systems. Exposed ICSs include units (sensors, actuators, switches, building management systems, and automatic tank gauges) for critical infrastructure systems. Cybersecurity company BitSight alerted of the threat after identifying the problem in multiple sectors and impacting many Fortune 1000 companies in 96 countries. Bitsight told BleepingComputer…

Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones during a concerted nighttime attack by Kyiv’s forces on border regions, the country’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday, as uncertainty grew over Ukraine’s future access to weapons and ammunition from its Western allies. The drone attack appeared to be Kyiv’s largest single cross-border drone assault reported by Moscow since it launched its invasion 20 months ago. There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties. Ukraine is pressing on with a slow-moving…

Occupied Jerusalem, SANA- The Israeli occupation forces stormed several areas of the West Bank and arrested a number of Palestinians, while others were injured. Israeli settlers raided Jaloud village, south of Nablus under the protection of occupation forces as they opened fire and threw toxic gas bombs at the Palestinians, causing the injury of two of them and dozens sustained cases of suffocation, Wafa News Agency said. The occupation forces stormed Beita town, south of Nablus, and al-Fawwar camp, south…

Occupied Jerusalem, SANA-A Palestinian fisherman was injured on Sunday in an Israeli naval attack on fishermen off the shores of the besieged Gaza Strip. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the Israeli navy opened fire on the fishing boats off the shores of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, causing the injury of a fisherman. On Saturday, two Palestinian fishermen were shot by the occupation forces off the Sudanese area of the northern Strip. Bushra Dabin

OTTAWA — Canadian Sikhs are grateful to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for giving voice to their fears and standing up to India at the risk of a severe backlash from New Delhi, which he said could be linked to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader. The Indian government considered Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was shot to death in June in British Columbia, a terrorist because of his advocacy for Khalistan, an independent Sikh state. India forcefully…

Unintended Consequences We’ve spilled a great deal of ink discussing the GDPR and its failures and unintended consequences. The European data privacy law that was ostensibly built to protect the data of private citizens, but which was also expected to result in heavy fines for primarily American internet companies, has mostly failed to do either. While the larger American internet players have the money and resources to navigate GDPR just fine, smaller companies or innovative startups can’t. The end result…

Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson
Today, the United States is designating a network linked to the U.S.-designated Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).  This network–comprised of five entities and two individuals based in Iran, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates–has been procuring sensitive parts for Iran’s one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program.
Iran is supplying Russia with arms, including Shahed-136 UAVs, to support Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine.  One of the servomotors procured by the network designated today was recovered in the remnants of a Russia-operated Shahed-136 that was recently shot down in Ukraine.
The United States is determined to take actions against those supporting Russia’s war machine, particularly the provision of weapons that target Ukraine’s people and civil infrastructure.
For more information on today’s action, please see the Department of the Treasury’s press release .

The US Department of Justice has stepped up its probe into Credit Suisse Group and UBS Group over suspected compliance failures that allowed Russian clients to evade sanctions, according to people familiar with the situation. What began as a series of subpoenas sent to a range of banks early this year has developed into a full-scale investigation focusing on Credit Suisse, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about an ongoing inquiry. The DOJ has briefed US-based lawyers for…

International travelers wait to have their passports checked at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, 2014. The new agreement to allow visa-free U.S. entry to Israeli tourists and businesspeople requires Israel to end bans and restrictions on Palestinian Americans and other Arab Americans traveling to Israel. TEL AVIV, Israel — The State Department says it will allow Israeli tourists and businesspeople to enter the U.S. without visas, as part of an agreement that requires Israel to end bans and restrictions on…

Occupied Jerusalem, SANA- The Israeli occupation forces arrested 15 Palestinians on Wednesday in different areas in the West Bank. Wafa News Agency reported that the occupation forces stormed at dawn on Wednesday Beit Daqo town and al-Issawiya village in occupied Jerusalem and arrested eight Palestinians, and five others in Nablus city, including three brothers and two young men from Tubas city in the West Bank, after raiding and searching their houses. On Tuesday, the occupation forces arrested 10 Palestinians in…

New York, SANA-Syria demanded the lifting of the coercive measures imposed on it and on a number of countries, as it is considered economic terrorism. Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, head of the Syrian delegation to the 78th session of the UNSC said that the world is witnessing serious challenges, foremost of which is fueling devastating conflicts in several regions, the continued occupation and the spread of terrorism, which requires cooperation among member states to build a new multipolar world order. He…

Major international governments have signed multibillion-dollar legal contracts with drug companies in order to secure access to covid-19 vaccines. But the drug companies and governments have refused to divulge details, saying the information is “commercial in confidence.” In 2021, we got our first peek at contracts between Pfizer and various international countries after they were leaked to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and US consumer group Public Citizen. “The contracts offer a rare glimpse into the power one pharmaceutical corporation has gained to silence…

Yaroslav Hunka was hailed as a “war hero” last week in Canada’s parliament, where he received a standing ovation. A Polish government minister has launched a bid to extradite Yaroslav Hunka, the 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian man who fought in a German-Nazi division during World War Two and last week received a standing ovation in Canada’s parliament. “In view of the scandalous events in the Canadian parliament, which involved honouring, in the presence of President Zelensky, a member of the criminal Nazi…

Occupied Jerusalem, SANA- The Israeli occupation forces arrested on Tuesday at dawn four Palestinians, east of Ramallah city in the West Bank. Wafa News Agency stated the occupation troops stormed Silwad town, east of the city and they arrested four Palestinians young men. On Monday, three Palestinians were arrested in Beit Hanina, north of occupied Jerusalem. Rafah al-Allouni

Poland has escalated its rhetoric against Ukraine beyond a trade dispute over grain, with President Andrzej Duda comparing the war-torn country to a drowning person clinging to their rescuer and endangering their life. “Ukraine is behaving like a drowning person clinging to anything available,” Duda told Polish journalists in New York on Tuesday. “A drowning person is extremely dangerous, capable of pulling you down to the depths . . . simply drown the rescuer.” The president’s unflattering remarks came after Poland led a coalition…

  BEIJING – In the gloom of China’s economy, one area of business is booming: cosmetics. After enduring nearly three years of mandatory masks and frequent lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, many Chinese consumers, wary of big-ticket purchases like apartments, are now splurging on lipstick, perfume, moisturisers and other personal care products. But cosmetics companies from France, Japan, South Korea and the United States, which have invested heavily in China, are missing out on a lot of the action. As…