Flowerbud News

Category: Foreign

  • Security: U.S. lawmaker wants Russia’s FaceApp probed

    Security: U.S. lawmaker wants Russia’s FaceApp probed

    U.S. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called on the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a national security and privacy investigation into FaceApp, a face-editing photo app developed in Russia.

    The viral smartphone application, which has seen a new surge of popularity due to a filter that ages photos of users’ faces, requires “full and irrevocable access to their personal photos and data.

    This could pose “national security and privacy risks for millions of U.S. citizens,” Schumer said in his letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and FTC Chairman Joe Simons.

    The Democratic National Committee also sent out an alert to the party’s 2020 presidential candidates on Wednesday warning them against using the app, pointing to its Russian provenance.

    In the email, seen by Reuters and first reported by CNN, DNC security chief Bob Lord also urged Democratic presidential campaigns to delete the app immediately if they or their staff had already used it.

    There is no evidence that FaceApp provides user data to the Russian government.

    Democrats have invested heavily in bolstering party cyber defenses after U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russia used hacking as part of an effort to boost support for President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. Russia has repeatedly denied those claims.

    FaceApp, which was developed by Wireless Lab, a company based in St. Petersburg, says on its website that it has over 80 million active users. Its CEO, Yaroslav Goncharov, used to be an executive at Yandex, widely known as “Russia’s Google.”

    The app, which was launched in 2017, made headlines in 2018 when it removed its ‘ethnicity filters’ after users condemned them as racist.

    More recently, it has faced scrutiny from the public over issues such as not clearly communicating that the app uploads images to the cloud rather than processing them locally on a user’s device.

    It is not clear how the artificial intelligence application retains the data of users or how users may ensure the deletion of their data after usage, Schumer said in the letter.

    Schumer said the photo editing app’s location in Russia raises questions about how FaceApp lets third parties, including foreign governments, have access to the data of American citizens.

    In a statement cited by media outlets, FaceApp has denied selling or sharing user data with third parties.

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  • Sanctions against Saudi Arabia possible – France

    Sanctions against Saudi Arabia possible – France

    France doesn’t rule out any sanction against Saudi Arabia if its authorities
    are found to have been involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi,
    Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday.

    France has called on Saudi Arabia to establish the truth about the case — having already changed its story
    several times — identify those behind the killing and punish them.

    “So long as those who are responsible and the circumstances around the killing are not made public,
    released and evaluated, we will go on demanding the truth,” Le Drian told RTL radio.

    “So far we don’t have it.”

    “We’ll take the necessary measures against those who are responsible,” Le Drian said.

    Le Drian added that France didn’t rule out any sanctions against Saudi Arabia, which is a large buyer of
    French armaments, luxury products and many other exports.

    The death of Khashoggi – a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Salman – has sparked global outrage and pitched the world’s top oil exporter into a period of crisis.

    Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and has not been seen since.

    His body has not been found.

    Saudi Arabia has admitted he was killed in what it described as a botched rendition attempt.

    Western countries have grown increasingly critical of Saudi Arabia over the case, as well as Saudi’s
    pursuit of its war in Yemen.

    Germany has said it will stop arm sales to Riyadh.

    Le Drian said Germany acted too early. “I think we must wait for the investigation to find the culprits,” he said.

    He downplayed the importance of weapon sales to Saudi Arabia for the French economy, saying they represented only 7 percent of the France’s overall weapon exports.

    “We are not dependent on Saudi Arabia on that matter,” he said.(Reuters/NAN)

  • Pakistan Judges who issued Aasia verdict are devoted Muslims – CJP

    The judges who issued the verdict in the Aasia Bibi cases have their love for Prophet (PBUH) like any other devotee, the top judge said on Thursday.

    The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted Aasia Bibi – a Christian woman accused of blasphemy in 2010 and sentenced to death – and set aside an earlier judgment passed by a lower court.

    “Many judges recite durood-e-shareef as they sit in their chambers,” Justice Nisar said. “Our faith stands incomplete without our faith in the Prophet (PBUH).”

    The top judge went on to add that “we are ready to even lay down our lives for the sanctity of the Prophet (PBUH).”

    Review petition filed against Aasia Bibi’s acquittal

    The top judge observed that it is just the responsibility of the courts but also the state to deliver justice. He said that no one can tolerate the desecration of the Prophet (PBUH).

    “How could the court announce a sentence in the Aasia Bibi case if the charges of blasphemy had not been established, Justice Nisar said, and advised the masses to read the verdict.

    Earlier today, a review petition was filed in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of blasphemy accused Aasia Bibi as the Punjab government’s spokesperson says that according to his information the protest sit-ins by politico-religious groups might be called off tonight.

    Federal Minister for Interior Fawad Chaudhry confirmed that talks with the protesters were ongoing, but warned that anyone challenging the writ of the state will be dealt with strictly.

  • Jacob Zuma to face corruption inquiry

    South Africa’s Zuma to face corruption inquiry

    Former South African president Jacob Zuma will be questioned at a public inquiry into state graft on Monday, a dramatic fall from grace for a politician who has cast a long shadow over the country’s politics for the past decade.

    Zuma, ousted by the governing African National Congress (ANC) in February 2018, will be asked to respond to allegations that he allowed cronies to plunder state resources and influence senior government appointments during his nine years in power.

    He has consistently denied wrongdoing, saying the allegations against him are politically motivated. His lawyer said in a letter to the inquiry last month that Zuma believed it was prejudiced against him.

    Zuma is expected to give evidence from Monday to Friday, testimony that will be broadcast live on South African television to millions of viewers.

    It is a rare example of an African leader being brought to book soon after losing power.

    Zuma, 77, has also been in court on several occasions over the past year to answer corruption charges linked to a deal to buy military hardware for the armed forces in the 1990s.

    He set up the corruption inquiry in his final weeks in office under pressure from rivals in the ANC, including his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, who feared scandals surrounding Zuma could tarnish the party’s reputation indelibly.

    Zuma had avoided establishing the inquiry since a 2016 report by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, the public protector, instructed him to do so to investigate allegations that three Gupta brothers had been able to influence ministerial appointments and had won state contracts improperly.

    The Gupta family, business friends of Zuma, denied the accusations and left South Africa around the time that Zuma was ousted.

    Ramaphosa, Zuma’s former deputy, has made sweeping personnel changes in government and state-owned companies as part of an effort to curb corruption and revive the stagnant economy.However, he has been hampered by the lingering influence that Zuma and his allies exert over the ANC’s top decision-making bodies, as well as by the scale of the problems he inherited.

    The inquiry, headed by South Africa’s deputy chief justice, Raymond Zondo, held its first hearing in August and is due to finish next year.

    Reuters

  • Iranian boats harass British tanker, warship steps in

    Iranian boats harass British tanker, warship steps in

    Five boats believed to belong to Iranian Revolutionary Guards approached a British oil tanker in the Gulf on Wednesday and asked it to stop in Iranian waters close by, but withdrew after a British warship warned them, U.S. officials said.

    Britain’s Ministry of Defence had no immediate comment.

    The incident occurred almost a week after British Royal Marines boarded an Iranian tanker, Grace 1, off Gibraltar and seized it on suspicion that it was breaking sanctions by taking oil to Syria.

    Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Britain would face “consequences” over the seizure of the Iranian tanker.

    Tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies have risen sharply since Washington stepped up economic sanctions against Iran and moved to bring the country’s oil exports to zero as part of a “maximum pressure” policy to make Iran halt actions that it said undermined regional security.

    Iran has responded to the sanctions by starting to breach limits put on its nuclear activities under a 2015 deal with world powers.

    Several oil tankers were attacked in waters near Iran’s southern coast in May and June, for which the United States blamed Iran. Tehran denied any involvement.

    Last month, Iran shot down a U.S. drone near the Strait of Hormuz, prompting President Donald Trump to order retaliatory air strikes, only to call them off.

    The U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Wednesday’s incident happened as British Heritage was at the northern entrance of the Strait of Hormuz.

    “The Royal Navy HMS Montrose, which was also there, pointed it guns at the boats and warned them over radio, at which point they dispersed,” one of the officials said.

  • Journalist death: UN, U.S. expresses shock at Saudi confirmation

    Journalist death: UN, U.S. expresses shock at Saudi confirmation

    Journalist
    By Prudence Arobani
    The United Nations and the United States have expressed shock at Saudi Arabia’s confirmation that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside its Consulate in Istanbul after a fight.

    In a statement released by his Spokesperson in New York, the UN Secretary-General, Anthonio Guterres said that he was “deeply troubled” by the Saudi Arabia’s confirmation.

    After weeks of denials, Saudi Arabia has for the first time confirmed that Khashoggi was killed in a “fistfight” inside its consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

    A tweet posted by the Saudi Foreign Ministry on Friday stated that the missing Saudi journalist, a columnist with the Washington Post newspaper, was killed, claims reportedly echoed on Saudi State Television and news agency.

    The tweet said that “discussions that took place with the citizen Jamal Khashoggi during his presence in the Consulate of the Kingdom in Istanbul…did not go as required and escalated negatively which led to a fight…which aggregated the situation and led to his death.”

    The Secretary-General said he was “deeply troubled by the confirmation of the death of Jamal Khashoggi and extends his condolences to Mr Khashoggi’s family and friends”.

    Guterres stressed the need for a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Khashoggi’s death and full accountability for those responsible.

    Saudi public prosecutor also announced on state television that a primary investigation into high-profile journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance had confirmed he was dead.

    The public prosecutor said: “The discussions between Jamal Khashoggi and those he met at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul … devolved into a fistfight, leading to his death.

    “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses deep regret at the painful developments that have taken place in this case and affirms the commitment of the authorities in the Kingdom to bring the facts to the attention of the public and to hold accountable all those involved”.

    Guterres’s comments were the latest in a chorus of concern and condemnation over Khashoggi’s disappearance from UN officials and independent UN human rights experts.

    Over the last few days, statements regarding the Khashoggi disappearance had been released by the offices of UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, the Chair of the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, Bernard Duhaime, and the Chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, Dante Pesce.

    Earlier, White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Washington acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s announcement and was “closely” following the developments.

    “We will continue to closely follow the international investigations into this tragic incident and advocate for justice that is timely, transparent, and in accordance with all due process.

    “We are saddened to hear confirmation of Mr Khashoggi’s death, and we offer our deepest condolences to his family, fiancee, and friends,” Sanders said.

    U.S. President Donald Trump at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona that Saudi Arabia’s explanation for how Khashoggi was killed was credible, adding that what happened at the consulate is “unacceptable”.

    Trump said Khashoggi’s death was a “horrible event” that has not gone “unnoticed” but noted that the announcement on the circumstances of the journalist’s death was a “good first step”.

    “Saudi Arabia has been a great ally, but what happened is unacceptable,” Trump said, adding he prefers that any sanctions against Riyadh does not include cancelling big defence orders.

    The Saudi government said it arrested 18 Saudis as a result of the initial investigation and fired five top officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri.

    Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, went missing on Oct. 2 after entering the consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents needed for his upcoming marriage.

    Saudi officials had previously denied Khashoggi had been killed and dismembered inside the diplomatic facility, insisting the journalist left the consulate before disappearing.

     

  • Startup brings vehicle trackers with preventive checks

    KARACHI:      Another budding startup – ‘Internet of Things and Automation’ (IoTA) – incubated by the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) has kicked off in Pakistan by offering cost-effective and plug-and-play vehicle trackers. These trackers provide internal information of vehicles and tracks the behaviour of drivers, making it feasible for organisations with a large fleet.

    Using technology: Punjab excise dept to launch automated registration cards

    Startup founders Rabia Javed and Mohammad Musa Mazhar initiated the startup in July 2017 and unlike conventional trackers, its product is installed with lots of circuitry and requires technical knowledge.

    IoTA’s trackers provide live tracking, including odometer preview, average fuel consumption, mileage and maintenance information, driving behaviour alerts, battery information, coolant temperature, engine diagnostic, fuel/mileage data analysis, internal car alarms, trip records and simulated video of trips etc.

    “Market was full of various trackers; we wanted to introduce a tracker which would be equipped with preventive and detective checks, available at low cost,” said CEO Mazhar, who was previously associated with Telenor as a network energy manager, when he decided to enter the uncharted waters of technology in Pakistan.

    The startup claims to offer its first product in almost half the price than the ones available at the commercial level while the annual subscription is said to be available at a price about seven times lower than the currently present trackers in the market.

    The company at its nascent level has witnessed 20% growth on a month-on-month basis since January 2018, said the co-founder.

    The multipurpose tracker is compatible with 2007 or latest model vehicles, which have the electronic fuel Injection (EFI) system and allows the device to connect with all types of sensors to gather information about the vehicle.

    Pakistan undergoing transformation towards digital domains: experts

    IoTA Pakistan plans to collaborate with automotive companies to produce autonomous vehicles by putting these as built-in features in every vehicle.

    Presently, 80% of the company’s customer base comprises general consumers, which were attracted via social media marketing campaigns. However, as part of their future plans, they aim to reach out to bigger fleet companies, car rentals, distributors, logistics, transport and car original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)-based companies.“Currently, our business-to-business (B2B) subscribers range from 10-15 clients, which are growing continuously,” said the 30-year-old Mazhar.

    The founders said their system is based on artificial intelligence (AI), which will help evolve their product and it will also help them make new data-related applications.

    In the second phase, IoTA Pakistan has plans to modify the tracker through artificial intelligence, for example if there is a pothole ahead, the vehicle will automatically apply brakes.

    Or if there is congestion on the route of the car, then through the help of Google maps, it will alarm the driver so that he could take another route and avoid traffic jams.

    Helping Hand: IDB offers science, technology fund

    The tracker can help improve the traffic system of Pakistan through the data it will generate while observing drivers’ behaviour. In case, a vehicle meets an accident the system will be able to send alarm to a nearby police station, hospital and rescue workers.

    Such systems in vehicles are already present in the market but they are complicated and expensive, Mazhar said. “We are offering indigenous software solutions, which offer much cheaper solutions for autonomous vehicles.”

    Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2018.

    Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

  • Is Saudi Arabia “taking over” Pakistan?

    By Muhammad Yamin

    Unfortunately, just like the calls against the CPEC having a colonial agenda, now there are calls that the Saudis are getting involved for having a colonial agenda in Pakistan. PHOTO: TWITTER/ PTI OFFICIAL

    Earlier this year, when the election campaign in Pakistan was running at fever pitch, I found myself listening to an old classic by The Who. The song was Won’t Get Fooled Again and the line that got me pondering was “meet the old boss, same as the new boss”. I shuddered when I heard this line while watching parties push their candidates. It was literal horse-trading as politicians scrambled to capture the number of seats required to secure the government for themselves.

    We are barely a few months into the new government and people are already questioning and debating the current government’s decisions. For example, take the matter of the Saudi government pledging to set up an oil refinery in Gwadar.

    Pakistan’s economy is in dire straits, there is no question about it. Government after government has saddled the country with insurmountable debts. There is no transparency in how much we owe to whom. Even the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), while beneficial, is becoming a black-box of where and how it is being implemented. The difference is, CPEC is largely being driven by the Chinese therefore there is some visibility, be it by the optics of motorways popping up all over Pakistan, the increasing presence of Chinese in Pakistan or even by the daily supplements about CPEC projects in national newspapers.

    The new government, like all the previous governments, has realised that to make any sort of headway, they need spending power. Unfortunately, they have also realised that Pakistan has next to nothing in its national coffers and is running on air. As such, we saw the finance teams running around to our allies in the global community looking for funds to sustain the country. During these efforts, Saudi Arabia stepped up to the plate and pledged to help Pakistan by agreeing to set up an oil refinery in Gwadar. The eventual goal of this oil refinery is to lower Pakistan’s crude oil bill by allowing it to refine oil within its borders.

    Beijing welcomed this development. Nobody wants to put in labour and effort without getting paid. Unfortunately, just like the calls against the CPEC having a colonial agenda, now there are calls that the Saudis are getting involved for having a colonial agenda in Pakistan.

    The only brush with colonialism that South Asia has had was when we were ruled by the British. That came about because the British gradually increased their military presence in India under the guise of protecting their business interests. They also sweet-talked their way into being the most trusted advisors of the ruling royalty. This virtually gave them the opportunity to influence policy decisions.

    But will the situation unfold the same way for Pakistan? It is highly doubtful that it would and there are many reasons why that is so.

    Firstly, there is the matter of business interest. Yes, the Saudis seem to be increasing their business interest in the country. That is how the global economy runs. Countries that have remained isolated from international business such as North Korea are poor and downtrodden. As far as security and protecting their business interest goes, the Pakistani Army provides ample security to internationally set up projects, no need for anyone to bring in their own forces.

    Secondly, there is the case of being beholden to Saudi debt. We are already in too deep when it comes to CPEC projects. The fear is we will end up spending years in paying off the cost of this refinery. However, this is still better than an outright loan from Saudi Arabia. By setting up a multi-billion dollar refinery, the Saudi’s are paying for a piece of infrastructure instead of providing a cash handout. This is also better because a cash handout comes with conditions such as setting up a more Saudi Wahabi agenda in our basic education system.

    Thirdly, Saudis are fighting their own economic battles. The Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman has embarked on a modernisation initiative where he is trying to open Saudi Arabia for business. While the campaigning for this venture has been slick and glossy, it leaves the Kingdom with much less capital to invest into other countries. In addition, Saudi Arabia is still neck deep in funding conflict in Syria and isolating Qatar. This has spooked many of the investors that had expressed interest in the Crown Prince’s liberalisation vision and pulled back their investment.

    Fourthly, a country is taken over when foreign powers seep into policy-making positions. I believe that the current crop of leaders in Pakistan are too new to be perceived as puppets of foreign governments. Even previous governments, while being a bit partial to some governments, cannot be categorised as puppets. Puppets could be countries like Saudi Arabia as a puppet of the US or Syria being a puppet of Russia.

    Lastly, Pakistan is not in a condition to be taken over. Our economy is a mess, our population is uneducated, our infrastructure is dilapidated and our politics is trapped in a feudal mindset. Fixing Pakistan is not an overnight task and neither is it for the fainthearted. There are too many problems and too many road blocks. Why would Saudi Arabia take over such a daunting challenge?

    At the end of the day, it is not easy to ‘take over’ a country. Gone are the days when a country could roll into another country with tanks blazing. There are too many alliances and non-government monitoring agencies that serve as diplomatic barriers to outright war. With Pakistan, there is the additional spectre of nuclear weapons. Anybody wishing to take over Pakistan needs to be twice as careful. Pakistan needs to gets its economy in order though, otherwise it will continue to slide deeper and deeper into unsustainable debt and remain at the mercy of foreign powers.

    Culled from The Tribune Express

  • Turkey yet to share information on Khashoggi case with any country – foreign minister

    Turkey has not yet shared any information with any country from its probe into the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the foreign minister said on Tuesday.

    He said this hours before President Tayyip Erdogan was due to reveal what he has said were details in the case.

    Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comment in a televised interview with the state-run media  agency. Cavusoglu also said that Turkey is ready to cooperate with any international investigation into Khashoggi’s killing.

    Authorities have been investigating Khashoggi’s disappearance after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2.

    After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia at the weekend said the journalist had been killed at the consulate.

    Erdogan has said that he would share the information of the investigation in a speech on Tuesday. (Reuters/NAN)