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☆ PGA Tour, LIV golf deal needs close DOJ scrutiny, senators say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Golf - The inaugural LIV Golf Invitational - Centurion Club, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Britain - June 11, 2022 South Africa's Charl Schwartzel of the Stinger team celebrates on the podium after winning The inaugural LIV Golf Invitational REUTERS/Paul Childs/File PhotoWASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden asked the Justice Department to open an antitrust investigation into the planned deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf, saying they believe it would result in a monopoly over professional golf operations. The LIV Golf series is bankrolled by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. The department has been investigating the PGA Tour for trying to keep its players from defecting to LIV. On Monday, Senator Richard Blumenthal asked the PGA Tour and LIV Golf for communications and records on their planned tie-up.

Persons: LIV, Paul Childs, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, LIV Golf, General Merrick Garland, Jonathan Kanter, Richard Blumenthal, Jamal Khashoggi, David Shepardson, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Centurion Club, LIV Golf, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, U.S, Senators, Justice Department, PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Critics, PGA, Washington Post, Thomson Locations: Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Britain, Saudi, U.S, Saudi Arabian

☆ North Korea hackers suspected in new $35 million crypto heist
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —North Korean hackers were likely behind the theft of at least $35 million from a popular cryptocurrency service, multiple crypto-tracking experts told CNN Tuesday. The hackers drained the cryptocurrency accounts of certain customers of Atomic Wallet, an Estonia-based company that claims 5 million users of its software. An independent cryptocurrency tracker known as ZachXBT told CNN that North Korean hackers were very likely responsible. The amount confirmed stolen could rise above $35 million as Atomic Wallet continues to investigate the incident, the analyst said. Thwarting North Korean hacking and money laundering has quickly become a national security priority for the Biden administration.

Persons: ZachXBT, ” ZachXBT, Biden Organizations: New, New York CNN, North, CNN, Korean, Twitter, United Nations, telltale, FBI, cyberattacks, White Locations: New York, Pyongyang, Estonia, London, California, North Korea

☆ Nicaragua dissident Felix Maradiaga and Berta Valle on fighting for justice and family life
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Melissa Mahtani | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Many were accused of treason or involvement in “illicit activities” for having contact with foreign journalists or human rights’ organizations that the Ortega regime views as a threat. He gave me, for example, the name of our international human rights lawyer, Jared Genser, who became my angel through all of this. Both spoke at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in May, where Maradiaga was awarded the 2023 Courage Award. Those Nicaraguans who only are asking for the protection of basic human rights and human dignity. “After all this work that we do as human rights defenders, there’s a private life that also has to be taken care of.

Persons: CNN — It’s, Felix Maradiaga, –, Maradiaga, Berta Valle, Berta, I’m, Washington ’, ”, “, Félix, Daniel Ortega –, Ortega, ” Maradiaga, ‘, ’ Maradiaga, Daniel Ortega, Ned Price, ” Price, Valle, Jared Genser, It’s, he’s, “ It’s, Alejandra, ” Valle, Nicaragua –, I’ve, that’s, Pope Francis, Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Kara, Murza, pic.twitter.com, —, there’s Organizations: CNN, State Department, Nicaraguan, Geneva, Human Rights, Democracy, US State Department, Dulles International Airport, UN, Oslo Freedom, Catholic Church, Central American, National Assembly of Locations: United States, Valle, Nicaragua, Washington, Miami, American, Nicaraguan, Oslo, National Assembly of Nicaragua, China, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Cuba, Afghanistan, Ukraine, “

☆ Iran: Journalists who reported on Mahsa Amini's death stand trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Mostafa Salem | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Two journalists responsible for breaking the story of Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian woman killed after being held in custody by Iran’s morality police last year, stood trial in an Iranian court this week. The two women separately stood trial on Monday and Tuesday in a revolutionary court presided over by notorious judge Abolghasem Salavati, according to Iranian pro-reform outlet SharghDaily. Protesters in downtown Tehran, Iran, after the death Mahsa Amini. Mohammadi, who also stood trial in a separate hearing, was arrested after reporting on Amini’s funeral in September, according to RSF and the UN. Hamedi, Mohammadi and another detained journalist, Narges Mohammadi, were awarded the prestigious 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for outstanding contribution to press freedom.

Persons: Mahsa Amini, Niloufar, Elaheh, Abolghasem Salavati, Amini, Hamedi, SharghDaily, Mohammad Hossein Ajorloo, Mohammadi, RSF, Narges Mohammadi, Guillermo Cano, ” Zainab Salbi Organizations: CNN, UN, Twitter, UNESCO, “ Locations: Kurdish, Iran, Tehran

☆ Why North Korea’s Princess Will Never Wear Kim Jong-un’s Crown - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Chun Su-Jin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL — For more than six months, Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, has seemingly been giving the world an unprecedented glimpse into his private life. The first set of photos revealed a ponytailed girl in red shoes strolling hand in hand with Mr. Kim around a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile. Later, she’s gazing into his eyes at a celebration for weapons scientists and tenderly patting his shoulder at a military parade. State media has released the daddy-daughter images on over a dozen occasions since November, assuredly choreographed from curls to gloves. Now that the country’s routine missile tests aren’t generating the headlines he craves, Mr. Kim appears to be leveraging his daughter’s global star power.

☆ Drone attacks in Moscow strikes near the heart of Russia's elite
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

On Tuesday morning, a wave of drone strikes hit the Russian capital. An ambulance and firefighting vehicles are parked outside a multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia. Instead, it appeared to strike near the heart of Russia’s political and economic elite. A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia. But it’s clear that the drone strikes are an embarrassment to the Russian military, regardless of how the remotely piloted vehicles were launched.

CNN —Iran has executed three more men over recent protests that have rocked the country, judiciary news outlet Mizan News said on Friday. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaqoubi were executed in Isfahan, Mizan said. The three were accused of carrying out an attack that killed three security officers in Isfahan in November 2022 during anti-government protests. More than half of the executions last year took place after the protests erupted in September. Nationwide protests rocked Iran last fall, as decades of bitterness over the regime’s treatment of women and other issues boiled over after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country’s so-called morality police.

☆ Cyclone Aid Stalled in Myanmar: ‘I Just Hope We Get Help Before We Die.’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Richard C. Paddock | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four days after Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Myanmar, killing hundreds and devastating communities in its path, aid groups seeking to deliver humanitarian assistance remained stymied by the junta on Thursday as survivors faced growing threats of hunger and illness. Aid groups fear that the death toll, estimated by some at more than 450, will only rise as victims of the cyclone face food shortages, disease, a lack of clean water and the loss of their homes. Survivors also face the threat of unexploded land mines that may have moved during the flooding. An estimated 5.4 million people in Myanmar were affected by the storm. Without swift aid, humanitarian experts fear that the number of deaths could climb, as was the case after Cyclone Nargis, the catastrophic 2008 cyclone that struck Myanmar farther to the east and killed more than 135,000.

☆ For Syrian refugees, Assad’s rehabilitation prompts fear of forced return
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

According to a 2022 UNHCR poll of Syrian refugees living in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, only 1.7% said they would return to Syria in the next 12 months. Even before Arab normalization with the Assad regime began, human rights organizations had repeatedly warned that Syrian refugees risked facing forced returns home amid concerns for their safety. Earlier this year, Denmark – which hosts more than 35,000 Syrian refugees – deemed more areas controlled by the Assad regime to be safe for return. “The further normalization goes, the deeper the pressure will be.”Alshogre worries for himself as well as other Syrian refugees. “If I am sent back to Syria, I will be cut into small pieces by the Syrian regime; I won’t make it out of the airport in Damascus.”

☆ Arabs bring Syria's Assad back into fold but want action on drugs trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Maya Gebeily | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Hezbollah, which deployed fighters to Syria to aid Assad's war efforts, has denied any role in the drugs trade. Aided by Iran and Russia, Assad steadily beat back his rebel enemies, some of whom had support from U.S.-allied Arab states that have now restored ties. The United States, United Kingdom and European Union have all placed new sanctions on Damascus in recent weeks over captagon. The United States has said it will not normalize ties with Assad and its sanctions remain in full effect. "I would put ending the captagon trade right at the top alongside the other issues", she said.

☆ Analysis: Arabs bring Syria's Assad back into fold but want action on drugs trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Maya Gebeily | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

While denying any role in the trade, for which Syrian officials and Assad relatives have faced Western sanctions, Damascus has sought leverage from the issue. Hezbollah, which deployed fighters to Syria to aid Assad's war efforts, has denied any role in the drugs trade. Aided by Iran and Russia, Assad steadily beat back his rebel enemies, some of whom had support from U.S.-allied Arab states that have now restored ties. The Syrian source confirmed Riyadh had proposed a sum that would be paid as humanitarian aid, but could not say how much. "I would put ending the captagon trade right at the top alongside the other issues", she said.

☆ Opinion | In Defense of Nostalgia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The Columbia University professor Mark Lilla, a perspicacious liberal critic of the contemporary right and left, has an essay in the latest issue of Liberties Journal analyzing the appeal and perils of nostalgia. Lilla illustrates this peril with a long discussion of the role that nostalgia and imagined pasts played in the rise and shape and savagery of National Socialism in Germany. The fascists were heirs to Augustan Rome not because of an affinity between their worldviews, but because Augustan Rome had a lot of would-be heirs. And it had all those heirs and imitators because the phenomenon Lilla describes, the redirection of nostalgia for past greatness toward a vision of the future, is an essential part of human civilization-building. Or alternatively, nostalgic rediscoveries are often necessary to humanize and tame the excesses of progress, to maintain continuities that might otherwise be shattered by social or technological shifts.

☆ Opinion | I Wrote a Book About the End of Dictatorships, and It Became a Best Seller in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Alexander Baunov | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Those who remain in Russia have lost the opportunity to engage in an open dialogue on the country’s future. in Moscow, placed copies of “The End of the Regime” right next to “Putin’s Path,” a hagiography devoted to the Russian leader, and a book on Stalin. Most important, the book gives readers a new, more accurate perspective on the country they live in. It is difficult to imagine a defeat along the lines of that suffered by Germany being experienced by a nuclear power such as Russia. Similarly, the collapse of the Soviet regime came about first and foremost because of its sclerotic economic system, which left the population behind the Iron Curtain without food and consumer goods.

☆ These Iranian activists fled for freedom. But the regime still managed to find them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Salma Abdelaziz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“Whatever actions you take against the Islamic Republic, there in France, is a crime,” the man is heard saying. They have done nothing wrong.”Massi Kamari, an Iranian activist living in Paris, says Iranian intelligence threatened to send her family to Tehran's Evin prison if she continued her activism against the regime abroad. I mean these criminals were hired by the Islamic Republic. So, you see the Islamic Republic itself is a criminal organization. “But even the week after I received the call (from Iranian intelligence officials), I was out doing my political work.

☆ North Korean hackers breach software firm in significant cyberattack
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Suspected North Korean hackers infiltrated a software firm that claims hundreds of thousands of customers around the world in a cyberattack that shows Pyongyang’s advanced hacking capabilities, private investigators said Thursday. But it’s the latest evidence that North Korean hackers are pulling out all the stops to break into organizations to steal or spy on them in support of dictator Kim Jong Un’s strategic interests. A recent CNN investigation found a rampant effort by North Korean hackers to steal cryptocurrency and launder it into hard cash that might help fund the regime’s weapon’s programs. Trading Technologies has not been able to verify Mandiant’s findings yet because the company just became aware of the issue last week, a spokesperson for Trading Technologies told CNN on Thursday. “What we do know with certainty is that 3CX is not a vendor or a customer of Trading Technologies,” the Trading Technologies spokesperson said.

At least 133 people, including women and children, were killed after Myanmar’s military junta bombed Kanbalu township in the central Sagaing region on Tuesday, the human rights minister of the ousted shadow National Unity Government Aung Myo Min told CNN. Like much of Sagaing, the area is not under the control of the military junta. I saw flesh on the road.”The eyewitness said he saw dozens of bodies after the attack, including children as young as five. The attacks have killed civilians, including children, and targeted schools, clinics, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. And a military airstrike on a school in Sagaing in September killed at least 13 people, including seven children.

☆ U.S. sanctions Syrian leader Assad's cousins, others over drug trade -Treasury
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It said the trade in captagon was estimated to be a billion-dollar enterprise and the sanctions highlight the role of Lebanese drug traffickers and the Assad family dominance of captagon trafficking, which helped fund the Syrian government. Assad's government denies involvement in drug-making and smuggling and says it is stepping up its campaign to curb the lucrative trade. Also sanctioned were Khalid Qaddour, who the Treasury said was a Syrian businessman and close associate of Bashar al-Assad's brother, the head of the army's Fourth Division. Hassan Daqqou was sentenced in 2021 to seven years in prison in Lebanon on charges of captagon trafficking, according to the same source. Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Daphne Psaledakis and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Trump casts 2024 contest in apocalyptic terms, slams prosecutors
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

“The Biden regime’s weaponization of law enforcement against their political opponents is something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show,” Trump said. Trump depicted the United States as a failed state whose economy was in freefall - a description at odds with the country’s record-low unemployment rate. Several times Trump repeated the false claim that his election loss in 2020 was due to a systemic fraud orchestrated by the Democrats. “Either the Deep State destroys America or we destroy the Deep State,” Trump said. Speaking ahead of Trump’s speech, Matt Schomburg, 45, said he believed the rally was a way to energize his supporters for the 2024 race.

☆ ‘The Hard Road Out’ Review: A Prison Break Across Borders
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Melanie Kirkpatrick | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Thanks to the testimonies of North Koreans who have escaped their prison of a homeland in the past 25 years, the world is aware of the Kim-family regime’s atrocities against its own people. It is quite another to read personal accounts. “The Hard Road Out” by Jihyun Park and Seh-lynn Chai is the latest in a series of searing memoirs by North Koreans who beat the odds and reached safety in free countries. Ms. Park and her South Korean co-author relate Ms. Park’s awful story in clear-eyed, unsentimental prose. It is a gripping read.

☆ North Korean Parade Puts Missile Production Prowess on Display
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Dasl Yoon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

North Korea has never showcased that many nuclear missiles at one time. The Wednesday parade suggested North Korea was expanding its stockpile of nuclear missiles that threaten the U.S. and its allies’ missile defense systems. North Korea has been developing solid-fueled ICBMs that require less preparation time to launch. North Korean state media didn’t report on any remarks by Mr. Kim, who has skipped speeches at previous military parades. “The main objective of Wednesday’s military parade is to show North Korea’s growing missile capability to strike the U.S. mainland,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.

☆ Iran Grants Amnesty, Reduces Prison Sentences for Some Protesters
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( David S. Cloud | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei granted amnesty for some of those arrested in antigovernment demonstrations. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei granted amnesty and reduced prison sentences on Sunday to a “significant number” of protesters arrested in antigovernment demonstrations, Iranian state media said, highlighting the regime’s shifting tactics after a lethal crackdown that has recently quieted street demonstrations in many parts of the country. The move, part of a wider amnesty ahead of the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, covers protesters who have asked the government for forgiveness, but it excludes anyone accused of violent crimes, arson or having contact with foreign intelligence services, Iran’s official judiciary news service Mizan reported.

REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File PhotoWASHINGTON/BRUSSELS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The West on Monday stepped up pressure on Iran over its crackdown on protests as the United States, European Union and United Kingdom imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran. 'BRUTAL REPRESSION'The European Union imposed sanctions on more than 30 Iranian officials and organizations, including units of the Revolutionary Guards, blaming them for a "brutal" crackdown on protesters and other human rights abuses. Those sanctions targeted units and senior officials of the IRGC across Iran, including in Sunni-populated areas where the state crackdown has been intense, a list published in the EU's Official Journal showed. Britain also imposed sanctions on more Iranian individuals and entities on Monday over the country's "brutal repression" of its people. Britain has now imposed 50 new sanctions against Iran since Amini's death, the foreign office said.

☆ U.S. slaps sanctions on Iran officials over protest crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Daphne Psaledakis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A woman chats during a protest against gender-based violence in Iran, in front of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in San Francisco, California, U.S., November 30, 2022. REUTERS/Amy OsborneWASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Iranian officials on Wednesday, including the prosecutor general and key military officials, stepping up pressure on Tehran over its crackdown on protests. The move is the latest Washington response to the Iranian crackdown on unrest after the death of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in September. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on Mohammad Montazeri, Iran’s prosecutor general, accusing him of directing courts in September to issue harsh sentences to many arrested during protests. Washington also imposed sanctions on two senior officials of Iran’s Basij Resistance Forces, a militia affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards that has been widely deployed during the crackdown, and two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials.

Hacking and repressionAfter Nika went missing, her aunt and other protesters told CNN that her popular Instagram and Telegram accounts had been disabled. On October 12, two of Nika’s friends noticed her Telegram account briefly back online, they told CNN. As with Negin’s case, the reactivation of Nika’s accounts raises questions about whether Iranian authorities were responsible for accessing her social media profiles, allegedly to phish other protesters or compromise her after her death. “Usually what happens is, they do the target phone number, then they send a login request to Telegram,” Rashidi told CNN. However, references in Iranian state media indicate authorities did access Nika’s Instagram account and direct messages, stating they had permission from the judiciary to access them.

☆ U.S. Sanctions Russia’s Rosbank, Subsidiaries of VTB
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( David Smagalla | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. government has sanctioned Russian lender Rosbank and has expanded sanctions against VTB, one of the country’s largest banks, in a move to further limit the Russian government’s efforts to fund its war in Ukraine. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday announced sanctions against 17 subsidiaries of VTB, building on sanctions placed on the parent company in February, after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Treasury cited the importance of Rosbank to the Russian government, given that the lender is considered a “systemically important credit institution” in the country. The U.S. sanctions follow similar sanctions of Rosbank by the U.K. and Canada earlier this year. Nornickel wasn’t included in the State Department’s sanctions package.

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