Friday, December 27

Tag: national security

A Refusenik in a Country at War
27Oct By adminNo Comments
World

A Refusenik in a Country at War

‘Avital! Avital! Avital!” Natan Sharansky calls out his wife’s name in quick and anxious succession, the last time in a loud bellow. Minutes into our interview by Zoom from his house in Jerusalem, he’s worried his grandchildren haven’t had lunch. “Because of the war, everybody is crazy,” he says. “My son-in-law is in the war, so all the grandkids are here”—eight in total, ranging in age from 1 to 13, the children of his daughters, Hannah and Rachel. “It’s a good time to fuel yourself on family love.” An Israeli politician and human-rights advocate, Mr. Sharansky was once the best-known refusenik—a name for Soviet Jews who were denied permission to emigrate to Israel. In February 1986, he became “the first political prisoner released by Mikhail Gorbachev.” He served as a cabinet minister i...
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Fake placenames with anti-Israel messages flood Google Maps’ depiction of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt
25Oct By adminNo Comments
Technology

Fake placenames with anti-Israel messages flood Google Maps’ depiction of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt

CNN  —  When Google Maps users navigated to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, they might have seen placenames that included, “F**k Israel,” and “May god curse Israel’s Jerusalem.” Cyber activists appeared to have targeted the service to post anti-Israel messages, likely by taking advantage of a feature on Google Maps that allows people to create and contribute information about businesses and landmarks that appear on the service. CNN found dozens of anti-Israel placenames created in Arabic and English, including one in Arabic that read, “Palestine is free, may god forgive us.” There is no evidence that any Google systems were breached or compromised as part of ...
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A Powerful Tool US Spies Misused to Stalk Women Faces Its Potential Demise
24Oct By adminNo Comments
Technology

A Powerful Tool US Spies Misused to Stalk Women Faces Its Potential Demise

A federal law authorizing a vast amount of the United States military’s foreign intelligence collection is set to expire in two months, pulling the plug on history’s most prolific eavesdropping operation and the primary means by which US spies intercept the private communications of people deemed threatening, or simply interesting, by the US government—the world’s foremost surveillant.The US National Security Agency (NSA) relies heavily on the statute, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, when compelling the cooperation of communications giants that oversee huge swaths of the world’s internet traffic, intercepting hundreds of millions of phone calls and email messages each year, and eavesdropping on the personal conversations of targeted foreign individuals and anyone...
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The Unmaking of the Republican Majority
19Oct By adminNo Comments
Business

The Unmaking of the Republican Majority

The Republican calamity continues. As I write, the House is still without a speaker more than two weeks after Kevin McCarthy was deposed by Rep. Matt Gaetz’s band of political arsonists. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan hasn’t yet persuaded, cajoled, enticed or threatened his way to 217 votes. He may not get there.It will be ironic if Mr. Jordan wins: The founder of the House GOP’s Freedom Caucus must then become the unifier in chief. A man who during 16 years in Congress has never passed a bill would have to become a master legislator. A politician who gained power by bullying others would have to learn to persuade and energize them. He would find quickly that making demands in Washington has limits—as does anyone stuck with the speaker’s job.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights ...
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AI chip exports: US escalates tech battle by cutting China off from more semiconductors
18Oct By adminNo Comments
Technology

AI chip exports: US escalates tech battle by cutting China off from more semiconductors

Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Hong Kong/Washington CNN  —  The Biden administration is reducing the types of semiconductors that American companies will be able to sell to China, citing the desire to close loopholes in existing regulations announced last year. On Tuesday, the US Commerce Department unveiled new rules that further tighten a sweeping set of export controls first introduced in October 2022. The updated rules “will increase effectiveness of our controls and further shut off pathways to evade our restrictions,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a st...
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