Looking behind the North Korea cyberattack on Pfizer SPECIAL
By Tim Sandle yesterday in Technology

For a country that allegedly has no cases of COVID-19, it is interesting to see the apparent attack by the state upon the drug company Pfizer with the aim to acquire coronavirus vaccine technology.



North Korean hackers have attempted to break into the computer systems of Pfizer, according to The Washington Post. This was due to a search for information on the COVID-19 vaccine and treatment technology, according to a South Korean lawmaker. Pfizer has not commented on the situation, leaving details vague on when the hack occurred or how successful the hackers might have been.
Looking at the issue for Digital Journal is Rusty Carter, Chief Product Officer of LogRhythm.

Carter says that the issue shows the extent of the threat that rogue states face: “This is a high-profile reminder that espionage is both prevalent and an existential threat to businesses across industries. Within the current global economy, that can include state sponsored activities to extract proprietary and business critical data."

There is also a focus on the healthcare sector, as Carer notes: "No industry is more visible right now than biotech and vaccine development companies, though many others continue to be rich targets due to their profitable industries. This type of espionage and proprietary information loss is a critical threat to organizations worldwide."

In terms of the specific issue, Carter states: "Unfortunately, it is not a surprise that North Korea has attempted to hack a pharmaceutical company like Pfizer in order to obtain important information about the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and treatment technology. Nation-states have been targeting the U.S. for decades, but SolarWinds was a clear escalation. Now, the rules of engagement are set and companies need to be aware that multiple nations, including North Korea, possess similar capabilities and are targeting organizations that hold powerful information, especially as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While it is still unclear how successful these hackers were, it does serve as an important reminder that attacks on healthcare organizations and other critical infrastructure are a very real threat. Organizations must be hyperaware of risks posed by nation-states and not just national hackers and groups."

Cater also considers what the attackers could be doing with these types of data: "Securing proprietary information and assets requires a number of physical and electronic measures, and common to all security and risk management programs is strong detection and response capabilities. Especially in today’s virtual world, detecting and responding to sophisticated network attacks is crucial.”

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/looking-behind-the-north-korea-cyberattack-on-pfizer/article/585686#ixzz6mvjSEfRy

Touchdown: NASA's Perseverance rover ready to search for life on Mars

BY ISSAM AHMED AND LUCIE AUBOURG (AFP) 

After seven months in space, NASA's Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed maneuvers to gently float down to the Martian soil Thursday and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life.

"Touchdown confirmed," said operations lead Swati Mohan at 3:55 pm Eastern Time (2055 GMT), as mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers.

The autonomously guided procedure was in fact completed more than 11 minutes earlier, the length of time it took for radio signals to return to Earth.

Members of NASA's Perseverance rover team react in mission control after receiving confirmation that the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars
Bill INGALLS, NASA/AFP

Shortly after landing, the rover sent back its first black-and-white images, revealing a rocky field at the landing site in the Jezero Crater, just north of the Red Planet's equator.

More images, video of the descent and perhaps the first sounds of Mars ever recorded by microphones are expected in the coming hours as the rover relays data to overhead satellites.

US President Joe Biden hailed the "historic" event.

"Today proved once again that with the power of science and American ingenuity, nothing is beyond the realm of possibility," he tweeted.

NASA's Perseverance rover will attempt to collect 30 rock and soil samples in sealed tubes, to be eventually sent back to Earth sometime in the 2030s for lab analysis

Handout, NASA/AFP/File

Perseverance's prime mission will last just over two years but it is likely to remain operational well beyond that, with its predecessor Curiosity still functioning eight years after landing on the planet, said NASA acting administrator Steve Jurczyk.

"It'll be on Mars for its entire life," he said, adding "these robots tend to be really reliable."

Over the coming years, Perseverance will attempt to collect 30 rock and soil samples in sealed tubes, to be eventually sent back to Earth sometime in the 2030s for lab analysis.

About the size of an SUV, the craft weighs a ton, is equipped with a seven foot- (two meter-) long robotic arm, has 19 cameras, two microphones and a suite of cutting-edge instruments to assist in its scientific goals.

Before it could set out on its lofty quest, it first had to overcome the dreaded "seven minutes of terror" -- the risky entry, descent and landing phase that has scuppered nearly half of all missions to Mars.

                              Mars Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter
                              Gal ROMA, AFP

The spacecraft carrying Perseverance careened into the Martian atmosphere at 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) per hour, protected by its heat shield, then deployed a supersonic parachute the size of a Little League field, before firing up an eight-engined jetpack.

Finally, it lowered the rover carefully to the ground on a set of cables.


Allen Chen, lead engineer for the landing stage, said a new guidance system called "Terrain Relative Navigation," which uses a special camera to identify surface features and compare them to an onboard map, was key to landing in a rugged region of scientific interest.

"We are in a nice flat spot, the vehicle is only tilted by about 1.2 degrees," he said. "We did successfully find that parking lot, and have a safe rover on the ground."

- Ancient lake -

Scientists believe that around 3.5 billion years ago the crater was home to a river that flowed into a deep lake, depositing sediment in a fan-shaped delta.

Perseverance ended up landing about two kilometers (a mile) southeast of the delta, NASA scientist Ken Farley said, in a geologically significant area.

Scientists believe that around 3.5 billion years ago, the Jezero Crater was home to a river that flowed into a lake, depositing sediment in a fan shape known as a delta
Handout, NASA/AFP/File

Mars was warmer and wetter in its distant past, and while previous exploration has determined the planet was habitable, Perseverance is tasked with determining whether it was actually inhabited.

It will begin drilling its first samples in summer, and along the way it will deploy new instruments to scan for organic matter, map chemical composition and zap rocks with a laser to study the vapor.


Despite the rover's state-of-the-art technology, bringing samples back to Earth remains crucial because of anticipated ambiguities in the specimens it documents.

For example, fossils that arose from ancient microbes may look suspiciously similar to patterns caused by precipitation.

- Flying on another world -

Before getting to the main mission, NASA wants to run several eye-catching experiments.

A full scale model of the experimental Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which will be carried under the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, is displayed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Patrick T. FALLON, AFP

Tucked under Perseverance's belly is a small helicopter drone that will attempt the first powered flight on another planet in a few weeks' time.

Dubbed Ingenuity, it will have to achieve lift in an atmosphere that's one percent the density of Earth's, a demonstration of concept that could revolutionize the way humans explore other planets.

Another experiment involves an instrument that can convert oxygen from Mars's primarily carbon dioxide atmosphere, much like a plant.

The idea is that humans eventually won't need to carry their own oxygen on hypothetical future trips, which is crucial for rocket fuel as well as for breathing.

The rover is only the fifth ever to set its wheels down on Mars. The feat was first accomplished in 1997, and all of them have been American.

The US is also preparing for an eventual human mission to the planet, though planning remains very preliminary.

"Maybe by mid-to-end of the 2030s we can start pushing out of the Earth-Moon system and land astronauts on Mars," said Jurczyk.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/touchdown-nasa-s-perseverance-rover-ready-to-search-for-life-on-mars/article/585723#ixzz6mvcssoJA

NASA Mars rover Perseverance hits 'bullseye' for Thursday landing

An illustration shows NASA's Mars rover Perseverance packed inside its heat shield as it enters the Martian atmosphere for landing on Thursday afternoon. Image courtesy of NASA | License Photo

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- NASA's new Mars rover, Perseverance, traveled through space to the precise location needed to land successfully Thursday at its intended crater on the Red Planet, agency controllers said.

Landing is planned at around 3:55 p.m. EST in Jezero Crater, which is an ancient lakebed the size of California's Lake Tahoe, on the planet's northern hemisphere.

"We are right where we want to be, so we have hit that bullseye," Allen Chen, a NASA lead engineer on the project, said Wednesday during a press briefing from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"That's pretty incredible considering our last maneuver [a course correction] was back in December," Chen said.

RELATED New era of Mars exploration begins as craft nears Red Planet

Weather at Jezero Crater appears to be favorable for a landing, Chen said. There are no signs of Mars' dreaded dust storms that can wreak havoc on machinery.

"There are some clouds that are out there ... but nothing near our general landing site," Chen said. "The skies look very clear."

At midday Wednesday, the spacecraft was 150,000 miles from the Red Planet, and picking up speed as Mars gravity pulled it closer, said Matt Wallace, deputy project manager for the mission.

RELATED Mars rover mission could drive research for decades to come

The rover's spacecraft is in such good health that "Perseverance could land itself, already, without any more help from us here," Wallace said.

Still, the control room is keeping a close on the interplanetary journey, he said.

"We have to hit an entry corridor that's really just a handful of kilometers across after traveling hundreds of millions of miles to Mars," he said.

RELATED Perseverance rover begins approach to Mars atmosphere

"Our batteries are now topped up at 100% state of charge, we have tested out our engines and our guidance sensors. They are ready to go."

Perseverance is NASA's fifth rover mission to Mars. Multiple landers also have explored the planet starting with Viking 1 in 1976.

Perseverance, which was launched from Florida in July, has more science equipment packed on board than any other rover, Wallace said.

Experiments include a helicopter that will fly on another planet for the first time, a chamber to create oxygen from the thin Mars atmosphere and a rock drill that will leave samples on the surface for future missions to collect for a planned return to Earth.

"We have to land safely on Mars, and that is always a challenging feat for us," Wallace said. "It is one of the most difficult maneuvers that we do in space. ... You know, almost 50% of the spacecraft that had been sent to the surface of Mars failed."

Exploration of Mars through history


Members of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover team watch in mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as the first images arrive moments after the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars, on February 18. Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA | License Photo


upi.com/7076345

India's glacier disaster highlights Himalayan dangers
BY JALEES ANDRABI (AFP)




Long before this month's deadly flash flood in a remote Indian Himalayan valley, Kundan Singh Rana knew that all the construction work in the fragile region would one day mean disaster.

"The rivers, mountains and trees are like our gods and any sacrilege will have consequences," Rana told AFP in his village, overlooking the hydroelectric project that was obliterated by what was believed to be a glacier collapse on February 7.


"The Rishi Ganga river and our mountains have been scarred beyond repair by human greed. This flood is God's retribution," the 43-year-old farmer said.

Scientists may not share his belief in divine punishment, but they agree that the blame for this latest disaster which killed 60 people and left 150 others missing lies largely with human activity.

Kundan Singh Rana said he knew unchecked development in the Indian Himalayan valley would one day mean disaster

Sajjad HUSSAIN, AFP

The anthropogenic impact includes the shrinking of glaciers in the Himalayas, one of the regions hardest hit by global warming.

The recent disaster is thought by experts to have been caused by a chunk of glacier 15 football fields long and five across breaking off, bringing with it part of a rock face.


This dammed up a small river high in the mountains until the mass of backed-up water broke through with awesome ferocity and speed.

The roaring deluge of water, rocks and soil hurtled down a V-shaped valley, sweeping away homes, roads and bridges as well as around 200 people, many of whom have still not been found almost two weeks on.

- Climate change and development -

The latest catastrophe "is clearly a fallout of climate change and in itself a tell-tale of our future", H.C. Nainwal, one of the several glaciologists who visited the site, told AFP.

In the Indian Himalayas, some 10,000 glaciers are receding at a rate of 100 to 200 feet (30 to 60 metres) per decade.

In the Indian Himalayas, construction work is having a devastating toll on the fragile region

Sajjad HUSSAIN, AFP

The runoff can form glacial lakes which can then burst their banks in spectacular and destructive fashion.

The other factor can be heard in the regular thuds of dynamite ringing through the valleys of Uttarakhand state, where the recent flood struck.

Some of this explosive activity is for new roads to beef up the disputed border with China following last year's clash that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

A roaring deluge of water swept away around 200 people in India's Uttarakhand state on February 7

Sajjad HUSSAIN, AFP

An 800-kilometre (500-mile) highway is also being built to connect four religious sites -- a pet project of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But the biggest problem is the construction of hydroelectric plants across the vast network of Himalayan rivers, part of India's drive to boost renewable energy.

 

Following a devastating 2013 flood in India's Uttarakhand state, scientists recommended no more hydro plants be built in the area

Sajjad HUSSAIN, AFP

Over 75 small and large power projects are operational in Uttarakhand and dozens more are planned -- many without proper attention to the potential risks, experts say.

- No trust in the government -

Experts say that these projects make other devastating flash floods more likely, while also increasing the risk of landslides.

The dangers were plain to see in 2013 when a flash flood killed 6,000 people in Uttarakhand and devastated the region.

The construction of more dams and roads in India's fragile Himalayan region will be "fought tooth and nail", said Surinder Singh

Sajjad HUSSAIN, AFP

In its wake, India's top court appointed a scientific committee that recommended no more hydro plants be built in the area -- advice which is being ignored.

Locals in the area -- home to a famous 1970s campaign to protect trees -- say that they have seen none of the promised economic benefits of the development and that their concerns have been ignored.

They launched a campaign in 2019 and petitioned a court over illegal sand mining and the dumping of muck in the Rishi Ganga river that they said was contributing to landslides and floods.

But deforestation for infrastructure projects, sand mining and quarrying continues.

"We used to trust the government and believed that it was working for our welfare but that's not the case," Surinder Singh, 55, told AFP.

"Any dam or road that threatens our lives and the mountains will be fought tooth and nail."


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/india-s-glacier-disaster-highlights-himalayan-dangers/article/585736#ixzz6mvYUHdT3

 

Dozens of whales die stranded on Indonesian beach

By AFP     

Forty-six small whales stranded on a beach in Indonesia have died, after rescue efforts succeeded in saving three others, local officials said Friday.

Starting Thursday, at least 49 short-finned pilot whales arrived at a beach on Madura Island in northern Java, authorities said in a statement.

Large crowds gathered as a rescue operation was launched, with volunteers using tarpaulins or just their bare hands to try to push the pod back out to sea.

Curious onlookers took pictures and touched the whales, while others tried to splash water on them.

Authorities said that officials had taken samples of the carcasses for further investigation into the cause of death

Juni Kriswanto, AFP

In the end, only three of the animals survived.

"The live whales had to be released together as they live in a group," said East Java governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa in the statement.

Parawansa said that officials had taken samples of the carcasses for further investigation into the cause of death.

He added that the corpses, which measure from three to five metres each, would be buried on the beach at low tide.

Offshore cross-currents in the area pose a danger to whales, as they can get caught between reefs close to land.

Pollution, abandoned nets and floating plastic waste are also dangers for marine animals.

Large crowds gathered as rescuers tried to push the whales back out to sea, but in the end only three were saved

Juni Kriswanto, AFP

In July last year, 10 pilot whales were found dead near Kupang, a town in East Nusa Tenggara province.

In 2018, a sperm whale was found dead in Indonesia with more than 100 plastic cups and 25 plastic bags in its stomach, raising concerns about the Southeast Asian archipelago's massive marine rubbish prob

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/dozens-of-whales-die-stranded-on-indonesian-beach/article/585751#ixzz6mvbOXle3

VULCAN PORN

Indonesia volcano erupts, spews red-hot lava

By AFP     6 hours ago in Environment

Indonesia's Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted on Friday, belching out fiery red lava.

The volcano, close to Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta on Java island, had already spewed lava almost two dozen times over the two last days and caused hundreds of minor volcanic quakes, according to a report by Indonesia's geological agency.

"This morning, lava avalanches were observed seven times," the agency said, with the lava travelling up to 700 metres to the southwest.

However, an official warning over the status of the volcano was unchanged at its second highest level, where it has remained since November last year.

Nearby residents were told to avoid the area within a five-kilometre radius of the crater and were warned about the lava as well as airborne volcanic material.

Last month, the volcano spewed huge clouds of smoke and ash that billowed down its sides.

Mount Merapi's last major eruption in 2010 killed more than 300 people and forced the evacuation of around 280,000 residents from surrounding areas.

That was its most powerful eruption since 1930, when around 1,300 people were killed, while another explosion in 1994 took about 60 lives.

The Southeast Asian archipelago nation has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/indonesia-volcano-erupts-spews-red-hot-lava/article/585735#ixzz6mvXM2jE6

'Violence unacceptable' Spain PM says as rapper protests rage

BY DANIEL SILVA AND HAZEL WARD (AFP)

Spain's government will confront all forms of violence, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Friday following a third night of violent protests over the jailing of a rapper for controversial tweets.

"Democracy never, ever justifies violence," the Socialist leader said in his first public condemnation of the unrest which began on Tuesday and has been applauded by his junior coalition partner, the hard-left Podemos.

Spain's conservative opposition had lambasted the premier for not publicly condemning the violence, calling on him to break with Podemos over its support for the demonstrators.

Angry demonstrations first erupted Tuesday night after police detained rapper Pablo Hasel, 32, who was holed up in a university in Catalonia to avoid going to jail in a case that has raised concerns about free speech in Spain.

"Violence is an attack on democracy. Consequently, the Spanish government will confront any kind of violence," Sanchez said.

"In a full democracy -- which Spain is -- the use of any kind of violence is unacceptable. There is no exception to this rule," he added, in reference to remarks by Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias who said Hasel's jailing raised questions about Spain's democracy.

About 100 people have been arrested since the protests began, including 16 overnight in Barcelona and the eastern city of Valencia, and scores have been injured, including a young woman who lost an eye after being hit by a foam round fired by police on Tuesday.

ANTIFA SFX, A COUPLE GARBAGE CANS BURNING AT NIGHT 

AND IT APPEARS TO FOX NEWS AS MASS RIOTS IN THE CITY

Angry demonstrations first erupted on February 16 after police detained rapper Pablo Hasel Josep LAGO, AFP

Many police officers have also been injured as protesters have hurled rocks and paving stones at them, while also torching barricades, rubbish bins and street furniture.

Although most of the protests started in Catalonia, where the rapper is from, they have spread to other cities including Madrid where another rally is to take place on Saturday.

- Backing the 'anti-fascists' -

The clashes have exposed a stark divide in Spain's leftwing coalition with Podemos MP Pablo Echenique tweeting support for the protesters as the violence raged Wednesday night.

"All my support to the young anti-fascists who are demanding justice and freedom of expression in the streets," he wrote, triggering a flood of condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Podemos emerged from the anti-austerity "Indignados" protest movement that occupied squares across Spain in 2011, with the party saying the Hasel case highlighted Spain's "democratic shortcomings".

But Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said defending democracy should never involve violence.

"Any expression of violence arises from a violent character. Peaceful people don't carry out acts of violence.. and within a democracy, no rights are expressed through violence," he told reporters.

Although the government said last week it would seek to make free speech laws less restrictive, the move does not affect Hasel's jailing, and Podemos said it would request a pardon for him.

Known for his hard-left views, Hasel was handed a nine-month sentence over tweets glorifying terrorism and videos inciting violence, with the court saying freedom of expression could not be used "as a 'blank cheque' to praise the perpetrators of terrorism".

He was also fined about 30,000 euros ($36,000) for insults, libel and slander for tweets likening former king Juan Carlos I to a mafia boss and accusing police of torturing and killing demonstrators and migrants.

Catalan students unions have called for a strike and a protest Friday over the rapper's arrest.


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/violence-unacceptable-spain-pm-says-as-rapper-protests-rage/article/585752#ixzz6mvSw0vD4

UK
#Uber Supreme Court decision: Union hails ‘historic’ ruling that Uber drivers are workers

By Brian Farmer, Alan Jones and Sian Harrison
Friday, 19th February 2021

Supreme Court justices ruled on the latest round of a long-running fight between Uber operating companies and drivers on Friday.

Lawyers say the ruling means Uber drivers will be entitled to workers’ rights such as holiday pay, and will have implications for the gig economy.

Uber operating companies, who said drivers were contractors not workers, appealed to the Supreme Court after losing three earlier rounds of the fight.

But justices unanimously dismissed Uber’s appeal.

A law firm enlisted by the GMB union to represent Uber drivers says drivers will be entitled to compensation for lost pay.

A GMB spokesman said officials would now consult with Uber driver members over forthcoming compensation claims.

Mick Rix, GMB National Officer, said: “This has been a gruelling four-year legal battle for our members – but it’s ended in a historic win.

Supreme Court justices ruled on the latest round of a long-running fight between Uber operating companies and drivers on Friday.

“The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of three previous courts, backing up what GMB has said all along; Uber drivers are workers and entitled to breaks, holiday pay and minimum wage.

“Uber must now stop wasting time and money pursuing lost legal causes and do what’s right by the drivers who prop up its empire.”

An employment tribunal ruled in 2016 that Uber drivers were workers, and were entitled to workers’ rights.

That ruling was upheld by an employment appeal tribunal, and by Court of Appeal judges.


Lawyers representing Uber operating companies told Supreme Court justices that the employment tribunal ruling was wrong.

They said drivers did not “undertake to work” for Uber but were “independent, third party contractors”.

But lawyers representing drivers said the tribunal was entitled to conclude that drivers were working.

Justices unanimously ruled against Uber.

“It can be seen that the transportation service performed by drivers and offered to passengers through the Uber app is very tightly defined and controlled by Uber,” said one Justice, Lord Leggatt, in Friday’s ruling.

“The employment tribunal was, in my view, entitled to conclude that, by logging onto the Uber app in London, a claimant driver came within the definition of a ‘worker’ by entering into a contract.

“I think it clear that the employment tribunal was entitled to find that the claimant drivers were workers.”

Exclusive | TikTok continues negotiations with Washington on sale of US assets, legal cases put on hold


White House calls a report that the sale had been shelved indefinitely because of a review by the Biden administration ‘not accurate’

Discussions with the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the US continue, a person familiar with the negotiations says

Jodi Xu Klein in United States
Published: 3:27am, 11 Feb, 2021

Talks to sell the US assets of the Chinese video app TikTok are continuing, despite a report that the new Biden administration had shelved the discussions pending a review. Illustration: Reuters

Despite the change in US administrations, TikTok is continuing negotiations with the federal government about a potential sale of its American operations and how to address national security concerns, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The popular video-sharing app, owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has engaged in talks for months with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), an inter-agency entity led by the Treasury Department, after a review over how the app shares the data it amasses about its users.

Then-president Donald Trump first raised those national security concerns last summer and maintained a campaign for ByteDance to sell off TikTok’s US operations. The American tech giant Oracle Corp and retailer Walmart have been in talks with ByteDance for months to finalise a deal for these assets.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the sale to these buyers had been shelved indefinitely as the result of a Biden administration review.

Oracle reaches deal to become TikTok’s ‘technology partner’, after Microsoft offer is rejected

But the discussions with CFIUS are continuing with little change under President
Joe Biden’s administration, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is not public.

Also on Wednesday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, denied any planned TikTok review, saying it was “not accurate to suggest there is a new proactive step by the Biden White House” concerning TikTok.

There is “no timetable for review of TikTok or other issues related to Chinese tech companies,” Psaki said. Reports about the TikTok sale being cancelled may be a “conflation of two ongoing processes” – the CFIUS negotiations and the lawsuits now pending in courts, she said.

The Biden administration asked a federal appeal court on Wednesday to put on hold the legal battle it inherited with TikTok, according to a Justice Department court filing.

How ByteDance’s US TikTok operations ended up in limbo
9 Dec 2020


The Justice Department said the administration “has begun a review of certain recently issued agency actions” including the prohibitions in the TikTok appeal case. If approved, the government will provide updates on the case every 60 days.

As to the CFIUS process related to the sale, talks may drag on as discussions are fluid regarding how much of the company American buyers should own in order to address the data security issues, said the person.

CFIUS has said that American companies needed to own more than 50 per cent of TikTok’s US operations. Options may include adding the existing stakes owned by American hedge fund investors into the total to reach the threshold.

Walmart and TikTok declined to comment on the sale negotiations. Representatives at Oracle and the Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Stop offering ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat, Washington urges US tech companies

Sale negotiations have been choppy as judges in multiple lawsuits ruled against Trump’s proposed bans on national security grounds, saying the executive actions were unconstitutional. The cases are pending in appeal courts after federal judges Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia and Carl Nichols in Washington ruled in favour of TikTok and its users in three separate cases.

The court reprieves have allowed TikTok to dodge the bans, which were set to take effect in stages in September and November, and threw into question whether the assets sale would still be necessary.

While the executive actions were halted, a separate review continues as CFIUS examines the national security implications of TikTok’s 2017 Musical.ly purchase.

In early November, ByteDance said it had submitted four proposals to address US security concerns, including creating a new entity owned by Oracle, Walmart and existing US investors that would be responsible for handling TikTok’s US user data and content moderation.

The pace of the negotiation slowed significantly after the presidential election. After twice extending the deadline for the sale to December 4, the US let the final deadline slide without further extensions, although talks between the companies and government officials have not ended.




Jodi Xu Klein
 is Deputy Bureau Chief, North America at the Post. Klein is an award-winning business journalist with 20 years of experience. She joined the Post in 2017 following a decade covering finance and business for The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg in New York. She was part of the Time Magazine reporting team that won the Henry R. Luce Award for the China Sars coverage.

  

 

China's Global Times says preliminary talks to list TikTok on the NYSE

 Wed 17 Feb 2021 01:24:46 GMT

Author: Eamonn Sheridan | Category:  News

The GT citing unnamed media sources:

A big turn around in fortunes for TikTok. It was not long ago they were at the cutting edge of US-China tensions. 

Biden shields Israel as JNF plans more colonial settlements


Tamara Nassar ELECTRONIC INFATADA  15 February 2021
A view of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the occupied West Bank, which the Jewish National Fund aims to expand even further. 

Mosab ShawerAPA images

Israel’s Jewish National Fund is reportedly planning to purchase privately owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank to expand Jewish-only settlements.

The organization’s leadership approved the proposal on Sunday, which was reported in Israeli media days earlier.

The board of directors is expected to make a final decision after Israel’s general election in March.

The JNF proposal reportedly prioritizes expansion of settlements in the Jordan Valley, occupied Jerusalem, the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the southern West Bank and in the South Hebron Hills area.

According to Israeli media, the group will not be constructing new settlements but expanding already existing ones.

“Expansion” of existing settlements – often far beyond their original boundaries – is a ruse Israel has long used in an effort to minimize international criticism of its colonization of Palestinian land.

Moreover, “land purchases” by Israeli settlement organizations in the West Bank are frequently fraudulent.

While the JNF’s move is being portrayed as a “major policy change” in Israeli media, it is consistent with its historical agenda.

Since its inception in 1901 by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement to colonize Palestine, the JNF had one fundamental objective: to acquire Palestinian land for the exclusive use of Jews.
Stolen land

The organization helped ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their lands to build Jewish-only colonies.

The JNF purports to own roughly 15 percent of land in present-day Israel. This land is reserved for exclusive use by Jews, even though much of it was stolen from Palestinians.

The JNF often attempts to greenwash its colonization of Palestinian land as environmental stewardship.

It notoriously plants forests over the ruins of Palestinian villages to erase their presence.

Because of its role in ethnic cleansing and racism, activists around the world have been campaigning to have the JNF stripped of its charitable status, which it uses to raise tax-deductible donations.

Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported that the JNF’s latest move was pushed by the Israeli settlement lobby.

Settler leaders aim to more than double the number of Jewish settlers from roughly 400,000 to one million in Area C – the 60 percent of the occupied West Bank that remains under complete Israeli military rule.

The JNF has always worked to colonize land throughout historic Palestine – both in Israel as it was established in 1948 and the territories it occupied in 1967 – whether directly or through front groups.

In response to an article by Israeli daily Haaretz, the JNF said it has “been operating throughout the years, and still does so, in a transparent manner, in all parts of the Land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria.”

Judea and Samaria is the name Israel uses for the occupied West Bank in order to manufacture a pseudo-biblical claim to Palestinian land.

All of Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Syria’s Golan Heights, are illegal under international law and are considered a war crime.

In response to the JNF’s plans, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the US administration believes “it is critical to refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and that undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution.”
Biden administration stands by Trump policy

While this may appear more critical than the Trump administration, it represents no substantive change.

When pressed by journalists, Price pointedly refused to call Israel’s settlements illegal – as US administrations had historically done for decades even if they took no action to stop them.

Instead, Price stood by the Trump administration’s November 2019 policy change declaring that the settlements do not violate international law.

The Biden administration appears no less determined than Trump to shield Israel from the consequences of its actions.

After the International Criminal Court ruling earlier this month clearing the way for an investigation of Israeli war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including settlement construction, the Biden administration minced no words about its opposition to such an investigation.

Israel has meanwhile continued demolishing Palestinian homes and structures at an accelerated rate.

In recent months, Israeli forces destroyed and seized structures from the occupied West Bank community of Khirbet Humsa multiple times.

Israel demolished and seized more than 60 structures in the community and forcibly displaced 175 people – more than half of them children – during February, according to UN documentation.

This is all part of Israel’s long-term effort to forcibly change the demographics in the area – ethnic cleansing – and ensure a Jewish majority in preparation for annexation.