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French President Macron "Was Not A Target", Says Pegasus Maker NSO

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="French President Macron 'Was Not A Target', Says Pegasus Maker NSO" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-04/11394ivo_emmanuel-macron-reuters_625x300_01_April_21.jpg" title="French President Macron 'Was Not A Target', Says Pegasus Maker NSO" /></div>
Reports had said French President Emmanuel Macron was among potential Pegasus spyware targets. (File)
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Herzliya:
An official at Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group said Wednesday that the firm's controversial Pegasus spyware tool was not used to target <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/french-president-emmanuel-macron-among-potential-pegasus-spyware-targets-report-2491003" target="_self">French President Emmanuel Macron.</a>
The comments came as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged Israel to suspend exports of the spying technology after heads of state -- including Macron -- and scores of journalists and rights activists featured on a list of alleged targets selected for potential surveillance.
We can "specifically come out and say for sure that the president of France, Macron, was not a target," Chaim Gelfand, chief compliance officer at NSO Group, told the i24 News television network.
But he also alluded to "some cases brought up that we are not so comfortable with", noting that in such circumstances the firm "usually approaches the customer and has a whole long discussion... to try to understand what were his legitimate reasons, if any, to use the system."
Gelfand's comments were broadcast on the same day that RSF head Christophe Deloire called on Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett "to impose an immediate moratorium on surveillance technology exports, until a protective regulatory framework has been established".
Deloire's call came after a list was leaked of some 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been chosen by clients of NSO Group. The numbers purportedly included those of Macron, and 13 other heads of state.
Pegasus can hack into mobile phones without a user knowing, enabling clients to read every message, track a user's location and tap into the phone's camera and microphone.
Contracts with 45 countries
NSO has contracts with 45 countries, and says Israel's defence ministry must approve its deals. The company does not identify its customers.
However, rights group Amnesty International and the Paris-based organisation Forbidden Stories that obtained the list, said NSO's government clients include Bahrain, India, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia.
Reporting by media outlets including The Guardian, Le Monde and The Washington Post found that nearly 200 journalists from organisations including AFP were on the list.
"Enabling governments to install spyware that is used in practice to monitor hundreds of journalists and their sources throughout the world poses a major democratic problem," Deloire said.
Spokespeople for Bennett and Defence Minister Benny Gantz did not respond to questions from AFP on Wednesday.
NSO, a giant of Israeli tech, is based in Herzliya north of Tel Aviv, and has 850 employees.
Its CEO Shalev Hulio, 39, denied in an interview with Israel's 103FM radio on Tuesday that his company was engaged in mass surveillance.
He said NSO had "no connection" to the list of thousands of phone numbers.
On Wednesday, Bennett touted Israeli technological prowess at a cyber conference in Tel Aviv.
"Of every $100 invested in cyber defence across the world, $41 of those were invested in Israeli cyber defence firms," he said.
"We as a government, we as a nation, have to defend ourselves," Bennett added.
He suggested global interest in Israeli technology remained robust, saying "dozens of countries" signed memorandums to obtain Israeli tools that defend against cyber attacks.
A further statement on Wednesday by NSO claimed that the firm was a victim of a "vicious and slanderous campaign", and that it would no longer respond to media questions.
"Any claim that a name in the list is necessarily related to a Pegasus target or Pegasus potential target is erroneous and false," it said.
"NSO is a technology company. We do not operate the system, nor do we have access to the data of our customers, yet they are obligated to provide us with such information under investigations," the company added.
On Tuesday, Gantz said Israel approves export of technology only to governments "exclusively for the purposes of preventing and investigating crime and terrorism".
He said Israel is "studying" recent publications on the subject.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/french-president-emmanuel-macron-was-not-a-target-says-israels-pegasus-maker-nso-2491902">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/french-president-emmanuel-macron-was-not-a-target-says-israels-pegasus-maker-nso-2491902</a>

news world French President Macron "Was Not A Target", Says Pegasus Maker NSO

Reports had said French President Emmanuel Macron was among potential Pegasus spyware targets. (File) Herzliya: An official at Israeli ...

Russia, Germany "Satisfied" With Progress Of Nord Stream-2 Pipeline

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Russia, Germany 'Satisfied' With Progress Of Nord Stream-2 Pipeline" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-09/tv7t4kug_-nord-stream-2-pipeline_625x300_03_September_20.jpg" title="Russia, Germany 'Satisfied' With Progress Of Nord Stream-2 Pipeline" /></div>
The nearly finished 10-billion-euro pipeline is set to double Russian gas supplies to Germany. (File)
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Moscow:
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed their satisfaction with the near completion of the controversial Nord Stream-2 pipeline during phone talks.
"The leaders are satisfied with the construction of Nord Stream-2 nearing completion," the Kremlin said in a statement after the talks.
During the phone call, Putin praised Germany's "commitment" to the project, the Kremlin said, stressing that it is "purely commercial" and aimed at strengthening the energy security of Germany and the European Union.
Earlier Wednesday the United States announced it had reached an agreement with Germany on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would threaten Russia with sanctions and seek to extend the transit of gas through Ukraine.
The nearly finished 10-billion-euro ($12-billion) pipeline is set to double Russian gas supplies to Germany, Europe's largest economy.
But the project has been fiercely opposed by the United States and several European countries which argue that it will increase energy dependence on Russia and Moscow's geopolitical clout.
The pipeline bypasses Ukraine's gas infrastructure, depriving the nation of around a billion euros annually in transit fees and, Kiev fears, removing a key check on potential Russian aggression in the region.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Putin and Merkel had discussed a possible extension of a gas transit agreement between Moscow and Kiev.
"The Russian president and the German Chancellor touched upon a possibility of extending an agreement between Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz on the transit of gas through Ukrainian territory beyond 2024," the Kremlin said without giving any other details.
Victoria Nuland, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said that Germany had agreed to work alongside the United States to press Russia to extend by 10 years a transit agreement through Ukraine that is due to expire at the end of 2024.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/russia-germany-satisfied-with-progress-of-nord-stream-2-pipeline-construction-2491891">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/russia-germany-satisfied-with-progress-of-nord-stream-2-pipeline-construction-2491891</a>

news world Russia, Germany "Satisfied" With Progress Of Nord Stream-2 Pipeline

The nearly finished 10-billion-euro pipeline is set to double Russian gas supplies to Germany. (File) Moscow: The Kremlin said Wednesda...

Taliban Seem To Have "Strategic Momentum" In Afghanistan: Top US Official

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Taliban Seem To Have 'Strategic Momentum' In Afghanistan: Top US Official" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/865bndcg_taliban-afghanistan-afp_625x300_15_July_21.jpg" title="Taliban Seem To Have 'Strategic Momentum' In Afghanistan: Top US Official" /></div>
The Taliban now controls about half of Afghanistan's roughly 400 districts. (File)
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Washington:
The Taliban appear to have the "strategic momentum" in their sweeping offensives across Afghanistan, but their victory is far from assured, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff General Mark Milley said Wednesday.
Nearly 20 years after the US toppled the Taliban regime in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and with the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces all but complete, the resurgent militants now control about half of Afghanistan's roughly 400 districts.
But they have none of the country's densely populated main cities, Milley told a press conference.
With the militants putting pressure on around half of the country's provincial capitals, Afghan troops are "consolidating their forces" to protect those major urban centers, he added.
"They're taking an approach to protect the population, and most of the population lives in the provincial capitals and capital city of Kabul," Milley said.
"A Taliban automatic military takeover is not a foregone conclusion."
The Taliban are surging across Afghanistan, snapping up territory, seizing border crossings and encircling cities.
Their success has tested the morale of the Afghan army, already battered by years of shockingly high casualties and, more recently, the decision by US-led international troops to leave.
Though the Afghan army has been trained by international forces, and estimates show it vastly outnumbers the Taliban's ranks, Milley said numbers are not all it takes to win a war.
"The two most important combat multipliers actually are will and leadership. And this is going to be a test now of the will and leadership of the Afghan people, the Afghan security forces and the government of Afghanistan," he said.
US President Joe Biden has also said that a Taliban takeover is "not inevitable."
But earlier this month he also warned that Afghans must come together against the insurgents, and admitted that it was "highly unlikely" that one unified government would end up controlling the entire country.
End game "not yet written"
Milley's comments came hours after the Taliban said Wednesday they would fight only to defend themselves over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, but stopped short of declaring a formal ceasefire.
In recent years, the militants have declared a pause in fighting with government forces over Islamic holidays, offering a brief respite to Afghans who can visit family in relative safety.
Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said over the weekend that he "strenuously favors" a political settlement to end the war with the government in Kabul.
But the hardline Islamist movement's push to capitalize on the last stages of the international withdrawal has left many Afghans sceptical.
President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday that the Taliban had proved "they have no will and intention for peace," with negotiations between the two warring sides achieving little.
More than a dozen diplomatic missions in Kabul this week called for "an urgent end" to the Taliban's current offensive, saying it was at odds with claims they want to secure a political deal to end the conflict.
Afghan civilians, who have long taken the brunt of the fighting since 2001, are also watching the Taliban advance in fear.
Many -- especially women and minorities -- stand to lose hard-won rights and freedoms if the militants return to any form of power.
Even if Kabul can hold them off, among the scenarios that civilians face is the prospect of a protracted and bloody civil war and the possibility of the country fracturing along ethnic lines.
It was the chaos of the civil war in the 1990s that helped usher the Taliban to power.
Milley said the chance of a negotiated political settlement is "still out there."
"There's a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover or possibility of any number of other scenarios -- breakdowns, warlordism, all kinds of other scenarios out there," he said.
"We're monitoring very closely. I don't think the end game is yet written."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/taliban-seem-to-have-strategic-momentum-in-afghanistan-top-us-official-2491890">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/taliban-seem-to-have-strategic-momentum-in-afghanistan-top-us-official-2491890</a>

news world Taliban Seem To Have "Strategic Momentum" In Afghanistan: Top US Official

The Taliban now controls about half of Afghanistan's roughly 400 districts. (File) Washington: The Taliban appear to have the ...

NASA's Perseverance Rover Preparing To Take First Mars Rock Samples

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="NASA's Perseverance Rover Preparing To Take First Mars Rock Samples" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-02/tillik4o_perseverance-rover-on-mars-afp_625x300_20_February_21.jpg" title="NASA's Perseverance Rover Preparing To Take First Mars Rock Samples" /></div>
The Perseverance Mars rover landed on the Red Planet on February 18. (File)
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Washington:
The Perseverance Mars rover is preparing to collect its first rock sample from the site of an ancient lake bed, as its mission to search for signs of past life begins in earnest, NASA said Wednesday.
The milestone is expected to take place within two weeks in a scientifically interesting region of the Jezero Crater called the "Cratered Floor Fractured Rough."
"When Neil Armstrong took the first sample from the Sea of Tranquility 52 years ago, he began a process that would rewrite what humanity knew about the Moon," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters.
"I have every expectation that Perseverance's first sample from Jezero Crater, and those that come after, will do the same for Mars."
Perseverance landed on the Red Planet on February 18, and over the summer moved about a kilometer to the south of its landing site, project scientist Ken Farley told reporters.
"Now we're looking at environments that are much further in the past -- billions of years in the past," he said in a briefing.
The team believes the crater was once home to an ancient lake that filled and drew down multiple times, potentially creating the conditions necessary for life.
Analyzing samples will reveal clues about the rocks' chemical and mineral composition -- revealing things like whether they were formed by volcanoes or are sedimentary in origin.
In addition to filling gaps in scientists' geologic understanding of the region, the rover will also scour for possible signs of ancient microbes.
First, Perseverance will deploy its 7-foot (two-meter) long robotic arm to determine precisely where to take its sample.
The rover will then use an abrasion tool to scrape off the rock's top layer, exposing unweathered surfaces.
These will be analyzed by Perseverance's turret-mounted scientific instruments to determine chemical and mineral composition, and look for organic matter.
One of the instruments, called SuperCam, will fire a laser at the rock and then take readings of the resulting plume.
Farley said that a small cliff that harbored fine-layered rocks might have been formed from lake muds, and "those are very good places to look for biosignatures," though it will be a few more months before Perseverance reaches that outcrop.
Each rock Perseverance analyzes will have an untouched geologic "twin" which the rover will scoop up, seal and store under its belly.
Eventually, NASA is planning a return mission with the European Space Agency to collect the stored samples and return them for lab analysis on Earth, sometime in the 2030s.
Only then will scientists be able to say with greater confidence whether they truly found signs of ancient life forms.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nasas-perseverance-rover-preparing-to-take-first-mars-rock-samples-2491889">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nasas-perseverance-rover-preparing-to-take-first-mars-rock-samples-2491889</a>

news world NASA's Perseverance Rover Preparing To Take First Mars Rock Samples

The Perseverance Mars rover landed on the Red Planet on February 18. (File) Washington: The Perseverance Mars rover is preparing to col...

"I Pump But I Don't Dump": Elon Musk On Bitcoin, Other Cryptocurrencies

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'I Pump But I Don't Dump': Elon Musk On Bitcoin, Other Cryptocurrencies" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-05/37930geg_elon-musk_625x300_21_May_21.jpg" title="'I Pump But I Don't Dump': Elon Musk On Bitcoin, Other Cryptocurrencies" /></div>
Tesla founder Elon Musk said he would like to see bitcoin succeed. (File)
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Washington:
Tesla founder Elon Musk said Wednesday he personally has invested in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies but that he does not manipulate or "dump" the digital currencies.
In a wide-ranging online panel discussion that included Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey, Musk said he believes in cryptocurrencies as a way to "increase the power of the individual in relation to government," and that he has invested in ethereum and dogecoin in addition to bitcoin.
Musk said he loses money when the value of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies declines but that he has not been selling despite the volatility.
"I pump but I don't dump," he told the forum sponsored by the Crypto Council for Innovation.
"I would like to see bitcoin succeed."
Musk said he expected that Tesla would resume auto sales in bitcoin which he suspended over concerns about high energy use for "mining" of the cryptocurrency.
"Tesla's mission is accelerating the advent of sustainable energy," he said.
"We can't be the company that does that and also not do appropriate diligence on the energy usage... now the it looks like bitcoin is shifting a lot more towards renewables."
Dorsey, whose Square digital payments firm recently announced plans for a bitcoin wallet, said he is a staunch believer in the currency as a way to reduce transaction costs and improve people's lives.
He said he sees bitcoin as a "native currency" for the internet that allows more people to easily make cross-border payments and supports different online business models.
For Twitter, he said, bitcoin "creates so many different business models" which could for example reduce its dependence on advertising.
"We can't just see this as an asset that we own and an investment vehicle is something that has the potential to change everything and make the lives of everyone was kind of better in some small, maybe marginal way," he said.
"My hope is that it creates world peace."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musk-on-bitcoin-other-cryptocurrencies-i-pump-but-i-dont-dump-2491887">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musk-on-bitcoin-other-cryptocurrencies-i-pump-but-i-dont-dump-2491887</a>

news world "I Pump But I Don't Dump": Elon Musk On Bitcoin, Other Cryptocurrencies

Tesla founder Elon Musk said he would like to see bitcoin succeed. (File) Washington: Tesla founder Elon Musk said Wednesday he persona...

UK City Council Suggests Local Cake Might be Racist Because it Contains Sugar

Reports circulating Tuesday reveal that the Pentagon is working with a contractor to track web searches that it describes as indicators of “white supremacy,” citing the phrase “the truth about black lives matter” as one example.
Reports from <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/06/us-troops-base-less-likely-seek-extremist-content-americans-general-study-finds/174949/">Defense One</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/pentagon-moonshot-black-lives-matter">Fox News</a> state that the Pentagon is working with a UK-based company called Moonshot CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) to uncover networks of domestic extremists within the military.
Moonshot regularly works with the notorious ADL, and has ties to former President Obama, as well as the SPLC and George Soros’ Open Foundation, according to the reports.
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ADL and Moonshot’s research on online white supremacy culminated in the report, “White Supremacy Search Trends in the United States.” Find out more here: <a href="https://t.co/zPCXZYcKtX">https://t.co/zPCXZYcKtX</a> 
Consider donating to ADL so we can continue to collaborate successfully: <a href="https://t.co/508JwtYZSC">https://t.co/508JwtYZSC</a>
— ADL Washington DC (@ADL_WashDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ADL_WashDC/status/1416759666277851145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Moonshot suggests that searching for the “truth about BLM” indicates a belief “that the BLM movement has nefarious motives,” which “is a disinformation narrative perpetuated by White supremacist groups to weaponize anti-BLM sentiment.”
The company further states that while the search phrase initially appears “innocuous,” it isn’t because the phrase has been used to suggest the BLM movement “is in line with the burning and looting of Antifa.”
“These sources echo White supremacist disinformation narratives alleging that BLM protesters are trying to ‘overthrow the republic’ and ‘harm American citizens in a Marxist coup,’ as a means of delegitimizing it,” the Moonshot research states.
So labelling BLM Marxist means you are an extremist, even though the organisation’s own website displays objectives are unequivocally in line with neo-Marxism, and its founders have <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/">described themselves</a> as ‘trained Marxists’.
Appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show Tuesday night, Vince Coglianese, the editorial director of The Daily Caller discussed the Moonshot contract with the Pentagon, and noted that there is a sustained move within the Biden government to label everything as domestic extremism.
“It’s completely out of control,” Coglianese said, noting “Asking questions, now extremism. Free inquiry, now extremism. It’s getting worse.”
Watch:
“Biden has gone much farther than any other president, however, to politicize every federal agency. And that includes, terrifyingly, the military,” Carlson said, adding “Biden has directed the defense department, the department that is supposed to work on keeping us safe from foreign threats, to instead turns its attention on American citizens.”
“Notice he never defined white supremacy,” Carlson said, adding “No one ever has. There is no actual definition for it. So it can apply to everyone who didn’t vote for Joe Biden. That’s why it is terrifying, that’s why you should resist it.”
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2021/07/21/uk-city-council-suggests-local-cake-might-be-racist-because-it-contains-sugar/">https://summit.news/2021/07/21/uk-city-council-suggests-local-cake-might-be-racist-because-it-contains-sugar/</a>

revolution summit UK City Council Suggests Local Cake Might be Racist Because it Contains Sugar

Reports circulating Tuesday reveal that the Pentagon is working with a contractor to track web searches that it describes as indicators of “...