World economy roiled by simultaneous shocks

October 4, 2022

THE STAR – The world economy is showing signs of a rapid downshift as it contends with a series of shocks – some of them self-inflicted by policymakers – increasing the likelihood of another global recession and the danger of major financial disruptions.

“We’re living through a period of elevated risk,” former United States (US) Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers told Wall Street Week with David Westin on Bloomberg Television, for whom he is a paid contributor.

“In the same way that people became anxious in August of 2007, I think this is a moment when there should be increased anxiety.”

At the heart of the strain: The fallout from the most aggressive hiking of interest rates since the 1980s.

Having failed to foresee the surge in inflation to multi-decade highs, the Federal Reserve (Fed) and most peers are now lifting rates at speed in a bid to restore price stability and their own credibility.

Evidence of the impact – and of the blow to consumers’ purchasing power from soaring prices – is mounting quickly.

In the past several days, Nike Inc reported a surging stockpile of unsold product, FedEx Corp shocked with a warning on delivery volumes and key chipmaker South Korea saw the first drop in semiconductor output in four years as demand retreats.

Apple Inc is backing off plans to boost output of its new iPhones, Bloomberg reported. The turn is coming even before the full thrust of monetary tightening is felt.

The Fed and many counterparts are pledging to keep going with steep rate hikes as they attempt to rebuild credibility.

Quantitative tightening programmes, where central banks remove liquidity by shrinking bond portfolios, are also just getting going. Inflation data showcase the need for, as Fed vice-chairman Lael Brainard put it on Friday, “avoiding pulling back prematurely” on tightening.

She spoke shortly after the Fed’s preferred measure of prices jumped more than forecast.

Earlier, data showed eurozone inflation has punched into double-digits.

Layered on top of continuing reverberations from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the spreading economic gloom is sowing fear in financial markets, creating its own worrying dynamic.

A rapidly appreciating dollar, supercharged by the Fed, may help cool US inflation, but it drives it up elsewhere by weakening other currencies – pressuring authorities to restrain their own economies.

“The global economy is in the eye of a new storm,” Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday after lifting rates again.

Prospects for a second global recession so soon after the 2020 downturn triggered by the pandemic were hardly apparent a year ago.

But Europe’s Russian-induced energy crisis, and China’s deepening property slump and continued zero-Covid approach weren’t part of the consensus outlook.

Not all is dark, with US job-market resilience a notable feature. But the plans by Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc for the first reduction in headcount ever illustrate how that may still change.

And Britain’s experience in recent days showcases how investors are in a mood to punish policymakers pursuing approaches deemed unsustainable.

Journalist Percival Mabasa shot dead during an ambush

The radio host had been a prominent critic of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines

Kilusang Mayo Uno, together with journalists and rights defenders, held an indignation rally at the Boy Scout Circle in Quezon City to denounce the brazen killing of veteran journalist Percival Mabasa, popularly known as Percy Lapid.

Twitter/ @abarcacharie

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Reuters   |   Manila   |   Published 05.10.22, 

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A news radio host who had been a prominent critic of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines was fatally shot in his car during an ambush near his home, the authorities said on Tuesday.

The journalist, Percival Mabasa, was killed on Monday night outside the capital, Manila, by two men on motorcycles who later escaped, said Brigadier General Roderick Augustus Alba, a spokesman for Philippine National Police. The shooting occurred in the suburb of Las Pinas, outside the gated community where Mabasa lived.

A manhunt was underway on Tuesday as the authorities investigated the killing, Alba said. 

Mabasa was the second journalist to be killed in the country since President Marcos, the son of the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, took office in late June after a polarising election, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

Last month, the radio broadcaster Renato “Rey” Blanco was stabbed to death in central Philippines, hundreds of miles south of the capital. A suspect in that case later surrendered to the police, but no charges have been filed.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened journalists who documented his violent anti-drug campaign with physical violence.

At least 23 journalists were killed during his six-year presidency.

Mabasa, known as Percy Lapid to his followers, had accused top Philippine officials of corruption in the hard-hitting radio programme that he hosted for years in Manila.

Among his targets were Duterte’s anti-drug campaign and perceived attempts by supporters of the Marcos family to distort history by portraying the elder Marcos, who died in 1989, as a victim of his political enemies. 

In recent weeks, Mabasa had criticised the current Marcos government for what he said was corruption involving anomalies in sugar imports through a state agency.

The President’s executive secretary, Vic Rodriguez, resigned last month after the backlash generated by Mabasa’s reporting. 

Radio journalist Percival Mabasa shot and killed in the Philippines

 Police officers gather in front of the Commission on Human Rights ahead of a protest denouncing the proclamation of the new Philippine president in Manila, Philippines, on May 25, 2022. Percival Mabasa, a broadcaster known as Percy Lapid who criticized the president and other politicians, was killed by unknown assailants on his way to work in October. (Reuters/Lisa Marie David)

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Frankfurt, Germany, October 4, 2022–Philippine authorities must launch a swift and thorough investigation into the killing of radio commentator Percival Mabasa and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

Mabasa–better known as Percy Lapid–was gunned down inside his vehicle by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants in Las Piñas City on the night of Monday, October 3, according to the national police and news reports. He was on his way to work at the time, his brother Roy Mabasa said on Facebook.

Percival Mabasa, host of the “Lapid Fire” program on the DWBL 1242 radio station, had been a prominent critic of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte in his commentaries and YouTube broadcasts, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

“The killing of radio journalist Percival Mabasa once again shows the Philippines remains one of the most dangerous places for journalists,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. must end the culture of impunity that surrounds the killing of Filipino journalists. This cannot continue as business as usual.”

The Presidential Task Force for Media Security, a government body composed of law enforcement agencies including the national police, said in a statement on its Facebook page that it would presume Mabasa’s killing to be “work related” while investigating, though it was too early to establish the exact motive.

CPJ emailed Marcos Jr.’s office and the task force for comment but did not receive an immediate reply.

Mabasa was the second journalist killed since Marcos Jr. took office on June 30, the NUJP said. The first case was radio broadcaster Rey Blanco, who was stabbed to death on September 18 in the central province of Negros Oriental, according to the union. CPJ is investigating Blanco’s killing to determine whether it was work-related.

In May, CPJ wrote to the office of then President-elect Marcos Jr., urging him to protect journalists in the Southeast Asian country and restore the Philippines’ once-proud standing as a regional bastion of press freedom.

The Philippines ranked seventh on CPJ’s 2021 Impunity Index, a measure of countries worldwide where journalists are murdered and the perpetrators go free.

CPJ

Measuring Hurricane Ian's Toll On Florida's 'Forgotten' Neighborhoods

By Rod Nickel
10/04/22 

Hubert and Betty Toney stand inside their home, which roof was torn off by Hurricane Ian, allowing water to pour into it, in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S., October 3, 2022.

Betty and Hubert Toney have lost count of all the hurricanes they've lived through since moving into their house in the modest Dunbar neighborhood of Fort Myers, Florida, in 1958.

But they had never before experienced anything like Ian. The powerful Category 4 hurricane sheared the roof off the Toneys' green flat-top home, leaving the interior exposed to the torrential rain.

"I guess it really took a beating," said Betty Toney, 81, of the house where she and Hubert raised their two children, as well as a dozen nieces and nephews.

She shuddered to think of the cost of repairs. The Toneys, like many of their neighbors in the low-income, mainly African-American neighborhood, do not have insurance to cover hurricane damage. It's either too expensive or, in the Toneys' case, insurance companies refused to cover their house.

Their experience is common. Studies have repeatedly shown that low-income residents are less likely to carry insurance, even as their properties are often more susceptible to damage. Low-income residents are also typically more vulnerable to a disaster's economic shock and less able to move to a safer area.

In the aftermath of Ian's destructive assault on Florida, which caused at least 103 deaths statewide, much of the attention has focused on affluent enclaves along Florida's west coast, such as Sanibel Island.

A destination for vacationers and retirees dotted with large beachfront homes, Sanibel suffered overwhelming damage in the storm, and residents there and in other coastal communities face a daunting task in rebuilding and recovering.

The damage was less severe in lower-income neighborhoods further inland, yet flooding and high winds still dealt a heavy blow in places like Dunbar - one that many residents can ill afford.

In the zip code that includes Dunbar, the median income is $38,000, and nearly a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line. The median income in Sanibel, which is 98% white, is $93,000, according to U.S. census data.


Hubert Toney, 86, still works as a part-time salesman to make ends meet, and Betty cleans houses. But they say they'll manage somehow to rebuild a house that's full of memories for them. "It means everything, really," Hubert Toney said.

The first order of business was to cover the roof. Toney spent part of Monday trying to reach the Federal Emergency Management Agency to install a tarp.

Nearby in Dunbar, Howard Dillard, 48, watched the wind rip off his roof and usher in the rain.

"It was very scary - heartbreaking," he said.

The kitchen of the house that he rents now has two heaps of soggy drywall - what's left from the ceiling that collapsed during the storm.

His landlord has insurance to repair the house, but Dillard is still sleeping in it, rain or not. Dillard, who works in a cement plant, figures he'll have to come up with $2,000 to replace his wrecked furniture and belongings.

Despite the struggles, the community is slowly recovering, said Pastor Raymond Davis of the neighborhood's New Life Hope Assembly Church, noting that crews have swiftly removed fallen palm trees that blocked roads and restored power for some.

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"It's going to take some time and assistance," he said. "These are working-class people. It'll be difficult."

While Davis said he believes emergency response agencies took action quickly, his godmother, Mary Isaac, 83, thinks they have been slow - a familiar feeling for some in Dunbar.

The hurricane uprooted her Japanese plum tree, tossed her metal shed across the street and crushed her sunroom. She says officials have not shown up to distribute food and water, as they have in other districts.


"I call us 'the forgotten enclave'," Isaac said. "I know everybody needs help, but it seems we are the last people to get anything."

Rescuers flock to save parrots stranded by Ian

Associated Press

(5 Oct 2022) A menagerie of parrots has been rescued from a Pine Island bird sanctuary after its owners refused to evacuate without them in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. (Oct. 5) (AP Video/Robert Bumsted)

How cryptocurrency intensifies the clash of global powers

Adam Au, Michael MaizelsOctober 05, 2022 

In August, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury made it illegal for entities to trade cryptocurrency through a platform known as Tornado Cash. The U.S. government accused the platform of laundering more than US$7 billion in virtual currencies.

Tornado Cash is what is known as a ‘virtual currency mixer’ that operates on blockchain and facilitates anonymous transactions by obfuscating the parties’ origin, destination, and identities. Tornado processes and mixes a multiplicity of transactions before transmission. While Tornado’s purpose is to facilitate legitimate privacy—without such mixers, all cryptocurrencies’ transactions are trackable on the blockchain—these platforms form an ideal tool to launder illicit gains from heists, ransoms, drug transactions and more.

The saga has sparked contentious debate over political encroachment on privacy. Within the United States, Congressmen such as Republican Tom Emmer have called the sanctions unconstitutional, with the negative consequences of blunting open-source development and innovation in general. Internationally, protests broke out after the Dutch police arrested Tornado developer Alexey Pertsev on charges amounting to little more than his involvement in building a tool that had been used by others for wrongdoing.

While the unfolding of this drama between the United States and Europe has captured most of the attention, a little noticed, Hong Kong-based subplot offers an intriguing look into the future of such controversies playing out on the international stage. After the announcement of sanctions, virtually all major cryptocurrency entities voluntarily over-complied with OFAC—black-listing all digital wallets that had ever interacted with Tornado. The lone exception of note was a virtual coin issuer Tether, a subsidiary of a Hong Kong domiciled company.

Importantly, Tether has been at pains to emphasize that it is not seeking to actively countermand OFAC. The company’s statement claims that they “are in almost daily contact with key law enforcement officers” but have “not been contacted…with a request to freeze the addresses sanctioned by OFAC.” While we should be careful not to read into Tether’s refractory rhetoric, its pushback is nevertheless notable on the international stage.

Indeed, one of the key premises of cryptocurrencies transactions is their inherently international nature. All cryptocurrencies may be thought of as file formats for digital money in the same way that JPG, a digital image compression technology, makes it possible to share digital photos or PDF, a portable document format, to digital documents. Cryptocurrencies differ from other current e-payment systems in that it is the currency itself that is digitally rendered, not just the mode of transmission. And unlike other existing e-payment systems, which are heavily regulated by local laws, crypto-transactions can fly across international borders as frictionless as emailing files.

The chimera-like status of cryptocurrencies—they are both software programs and exchangeable currencies—has opened up a tangle of regulatory and political issues. While privacy is a core feature of this invention, yet outside of the porous network, such lofty ideal carries little weight. Notably, standard international regimes for governing data such as Europe’s stringent General Data Protection Regulation and other anti-money laundering and Know-Your-Customer protocols proceed from opposing premises: default privacy settings keep personal information safe from bad actors, while financial disclosure laws limit criminal exposure. Most major cryptocurrency exchanges today already force their users to comply with identity checks. To answer the clarion call for greater oversight, even traditional financial institutions only permit cryptocurrency investment through regulated fund managers. It is a state of play that stimulates the rise of workaround entities like Tornado, which sought to bring default privacy expectations under the auspices of blockchain technology. But they nevertheless brought a legal hammer down on themselves for doing so.

Moreover, the OFAC sanctions against a tool represented a notable departure from the past, when such sanctions would be aimed exclusively at criminal groups or nation states sponsoring them. Key to the workings not only of Tornado Cash but virtually every other major cryptocurrency application is “smart contract”—a simple open-source program that facilitates payment autonomously. But embedding smart contracts directly into the currency itself has catalyzed a florescence of platforms that capitalize on the possibilities of monetary exchange that is itself programmable and composable like software.

OFAC’s targeting of the developers of Tornado’s smart contracts is quite remarkable then. Censuring the creators of passive technological tools can be seen as crowding out innovation. A smart contract can be put to good or bad uses like any other technology. By stripping away privacy rights indiscriminately without due process, the OFAC sanctions have effectively knocked down the tentpoles that have been upholding this automated tool.

When used effectively, crypto mixers like Tornado Cash can open doors for convenient international transactions with better privacy in the age of hyper-surveillance. Legitimate use cases for crypto mixers include transactions that demand heightened secrecy to sidestep international conflicts. For example, Ethereum Russian co-founder Vitalik Buterin tweeted that he used the protocol to support pro-Ukrainian war efforts.

And this is where the importance of this inherently global backdrop begins to come into focus. While Hong Kong has long profited from its status as an innovation hub straddling the worlds of East and West, the United States and China have become increasingly willing to confront one another over the domains of technology. Controversies spanning TikTok and Huawei have caught up numerous other businesses in the crossfire—to choose just one example, local bank HSBC was mired in breakup talks which may have been catalyzed by its involvement with Huawei instigated by the Trump administration.

The quandary confronted by HSBC might just be a tip of an iceberg. The fact that in many ways cryptocurrency is created to avoid bureaucratic meddling only adds to the complication. One must ask how and in what way will Hong Kong-affiliated persons or entities dealing in decentralized currency respond to extraterritorial influence such as the United States. The quiet defiance of Tether then may represent the opening of the next chapter—a world in which the borderless promise of cryptocurrencies represents both a threat and opportunity for the established geopolitical order.

-- Contact us at english@hkej.com

ADAM AU, MICHAEL MAIZELS

Adam Au is a lawyer based in Hong Kong. Michael Maizels, PhD is the Head of Research at Abra

 and an affiliate at the metaLAB.

Gone but not forgotten: Dozens gather in Saskatoon to honour lives of MMIWG


"The police and justice system has killed us one too many times. When will it stop?"

Tue, October 4, 2022

Debbie Gallagher, second from right, stands besides loved ones at a vigil in Saskatoon Tuesday for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Gallagher's stepdaughter went missing about two years ago. (Courtney Markewich/CBC - image credit)

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

Dozens of people gathered in Saskatoon for an annual vigil on Tuesday, one of hundreds held across the country to honour the lives of Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people who are missing or have been murdered.

"We are all just broken and shattered and we are trying to get through it every day," said Debbie Gallagher, stepmother of Megan Gallagher, a 30-year-old Métis woman who went missing about two years ago.

Oct. 4 marks the National Day of Action for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning) people who've been harmed by violence.

After a flag-raising ceremony at Saskatoon city hall and jingle-dress dancing, drummers led a smudge walk to the Saskatoon Police Service headquarters where the Red Star Woman statue stands — a monument dedicated to the missing and murdered.

Afterwards, people went inside, sharing bannock and memories of their taken loved ones.

Among the speakers at the event was Faith Bosse, whose mother, Daleen Bosse, was reported missing in 2004.

"I lost the one person that was supposed to be here to guide me through life. You never seem to understand why these things happened," Faith said as she wiped away tears.

She was only seven years old when she last saw her mother, a 25-year-old University of Saskatchewan student.

Daleen's body wasn't found until 2008. That was also the year that police were able to get her killer to reveal he was responsible for the woman's death.

Faith talked about the importance of kinship and supporting one another.

"I don't want another child to feel the way I did," she said.

Courtney Markewich/CBC

Debbie Gallagher said her family is feeling immense pain and trauma. Last week, investigators found human remains that could be linked to Megan. Eight people are now facing charges in connection with her disappearance.

Megan's sister, Lindsey Bishop, is currently walking across Canada to spread awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Debbie said the federal government needs to take immediate action and implement the 231 calls for justice from the final 2019 report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls — a sentiment that Faith Bosse echoed.

"The police and justice system has killed us one too many times. When will it stop?" Faith asked.

URBAN FIRST NATIONS

Toronto to allow Indigenous people to have sacred fires at 3 city parks

Tue, October 4, 2022 

The City of Toronto has opened three designated sites for First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to hold sacred fires. The new sites are located at Norwood Park, Allan Gardens and Christie Pits Park. Four more sites are planned. (CBC - image credit)

The City of Toronto has designated three city parks as places where Indigenous people can have sacred fires.

On Tuesday, the city held a special ceremony to open the spaces. The three sites are Norwood Park, Allan Gardens and Christie Pits Park. Four more sites are planned. The sites can be booked for free.

Elder Blu Waters, a designated facilitator for the sacred fire site at Norwood Park, said the ceremonies are an important part of Indigenous culture and connect Indigenous people to the spirit world, the natural world and to one another.

"That sacred fire opens that doorway between us here walking on our Mother Earth and those of us in the Sky world," she told the gathering.

She said Indigenous people have been asking for decades for access to land. She added that they need access to spaces without interference.

According to the city, the sites are part of its reconciliation action plan, which it says builds on its existing commitments to and relationships with Indigenous people. The spaces will increase access to land for ceremonial purposes, the city says.

Sacred fires part of 'inherited rights,' elder says

The sites will be used by Indigenous people to perform ceremonies, including honouring those who have passed on to the spirit world, to celebrate the seasons four times a year and to mark community milestones.

"There were many hands involved in this. There were many hours of planning, of consultation and different nations coming together," Blu Water said.

"These are our inherited rights as Indigenous people to have these fires."

CBC

Toronto Fire Services has inspected the sites and will do so annually. It said it will also ensure fire safety while recognizing the right of Indigenous people to hold open air burning for spiritual purposes.

The city will provide firewood, chairs, fire bowls, ash bins and signage. Community members are expected to have their own firekeeper, medicines, matches and kindling.

Toronto's Indigenous Affairs Office worked with Toronto Fire Services, after consultation with local Indigenous communities, to create the spaces.

Fires used for 'wellness, healing and gatherings'

In a news release on Tuesday, the city said: "Since time immemorial, Indigenous Peoples have used Sacred Fires for wellness, healing and gatherings. Just as some people gather in churches, temples, mosques or synagogues, Indigenous ceremonies happen on the land.

"Fire is a sacred gift from the Creator, as well as a doorway of communication with the Spirit world, ancestors and Creation and is an important part of many ceremonies."

Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg expressed thanks at the opening ceremony for the invitation to take part.

"This is really important to us," Pegg said. "We are deeply honoured to have been invited to take part in the ceremony today and we consider a very sincere privilege to be here with you today."

Selina Young, director of the city's Indigenous Affairs Office, said the designation of the sites is an "important step of many" by the city in its relationship with Indigenous people.

"The creation of designated Sacred Fire sites is a step forwards in building stronger relationships with Indigenous community members and meeting their needs," Young said.

"Through collaboration, together we can reduce barriers to accessing ceremony and ensure that the inherent rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples are respected."

SELF-EXPROPRIATION

Depositors storm 4 Lebanese banks, demanding their own money

EVERYBODY DOWN ON THE GROUND AND NOBODY WILL GET HURT  

JOHN DILLENGER


Tue, October 4, 2022 



BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese depositors, including a retired police officer, stormed at least four banks in the cash-strapped country Tuesday after banks ended a weeklong closure and partially reopened.

As the tiny Mediterranean nation's crippling economic crisis continues to worsen, a growing number of Lebanese depositors have opted to break into banks and forcefully withdraw their trapped savings. Lebanon's cash-strapped banks have imposed informal limits on cash withdrawals. The break-ins reflect growing public anger toward the banks and the authorities who have struggled to reform the country's corrupt and battered economy.

Three-quarters of the population has plunged into poverty in an economic crisis that the World Bank describes as one of the worst in over a century. Meanwhile, the Lebanese pound has lost 90% of its value against the dollar, making it difficult for millions across the country to cope with skyrocketing prices.

Ali al-Sahli, a retired officer who served in Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, raided a BLC Bank branch in the eastern town of Chtaura, demanding $24,000 in trapped savings to transfer to his son, who owes rent and tuition fees in Ukraine.

“Count the money, before one of you dies,” al-Sahli said in a video he recorded with one hand while waving a gun in the other.

According to Depositors’ Outcry, a protest group, al-Sahli said he had offered to sell his kidney to fund his son’s expenses after the bank for months blocked him from transferring money. With his son owing months of rent and tuition, the retired officer reached out to the protest group for help.

In the video he filmed on his cellphone, al-Sahli waved a handgun, threatening to shoot, if bank employees didn’t oblige. Employees struggled to calm him down, as protesters from the depositors group and bystanders watched from outside.

Al-Sahli was unable to retrieve any of his money, and security forces arrested him.

In the southern city of Tyre, Ali Hodroj broke into a Byblos Bank branch, demanding about $40,000 of his trapped savings to pay outstanding loans. He held a handgun and fired a warning shot, as security forces encircled the area. Hodroj retrieved about $9,000 in Lebanese pounds, following negotiations, with the head of a depositors advocacy group mediating.

Hassan Moghnieh, head of the Association of Depositors in Lebanon, told The Associated Press that Hodroj's family retrieved the money before he turned himself in to police outside the branch.

In Hazmieh near the Lebanese capital, former Lebanese Ambassador to Turkey Georges Siam entered an Intercontinental Bank of Lebanon demanding some of his locked savings. The branch staff shuttered its doors while Siam continued to negotiate with management.

And in the northern city of Tripoli, workers from the Qadisha Electricity Co. broke into a local First National Bank branch protesting banks deducting fees from their delayed salary payments. The Lebanese Army arrived at the site in Tripoli and patrolled the area.

Some depositors' protest groups, including the Depositors' Outcry, have supported the break-ins and vowed to continue doing so.

“We're sending a message to the banks that their security measures won't stop the depositors, because these depositors are all struggling,” Depositors' Outcry media coordinator Moussa Agassi told the AP. “We're trying to tell the bank owners to try to find a solution, and beefing up security measures isn't going to keep them safe.”

The general public has commended the angry depositors, some even hailing them as heroes, most notably Sally Hafez, who stormed a Beirut bank branch with a fake pistol and gasoline canister to take some $13,000 to fund her 23- year-old sister's cancer treatment. Siam was among those who praised her. “We need more of that,” he said in a tweet last month. “The lady is a hero. God bless her.”

The banks, however, have condemned the heists, and urged the Lebanese government to provide security personnel.

The Association of Banks in Lebanon in a statement Tuesday said the government is primarily responsible for the financial crisis, and that the banks have been unjust targets. The banks in the statement urged the government to swiftly enact reforms and reach an agreement with The International Monetary Fund for a bailout program.

The ABL in late September shuttered for one week after at least seven depositors stormed into branches and forcefully took their trapped savings that month, citing security concerns. The banks last week partially reopened a handful of branches, only welcoming commercial clients with appointments into their premises.

Lebanon meanwhile has been struggling to restructure its financial sector and economy to reach an agreement with The International Monetary Fund for a bailout. The IMF has criticized Lebanese officials for their slow progress.

Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press

Seattle woman gets probation for massive Capital One hack


Tue, October 4, 2022 at 8:10 p.m.·2 min read

SEATTLE (AP) — A former Seattle tech worker convicted of several charges related to a massive hack of Capital One bank and other companies in 2019 was sentenced Tuesday to time served and five years of probation.

U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik said sentencing former Amazon software engineer Paige Thompson to time in prison would have been particularly difficult on her “because of her mental health and transgender status,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said his office was “very disappointed” with the sentencing decision, adding prosecutors had asked for Thompson to serve seven years in prison.

“This is not what justice looks like,” Brown said in the statement.

In June, a Seattle jury found her guilty of wire fraud, unauthorized access to a protected computer and damaging a protected computer. The jury acquitted her of other charges, including access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Thompson, 37, obtained the personal information of over 100 million people — a data breach that prompted Capital One to reach a $190 million settlement with affected customers.

The Treasury Department fined the company $80 million for failing to protect the data.

Thompson’s attorneys argued at trial that she struggled with mental health issues, never intended to profit from the data she obtained, and said in court papers “there is no credible or direct evidence that a single person’s identity was misused.”

Federal prosecutors said she didn’t just steal the data, but also planted software on servers she unlawfully accessed to steal computing power to mine cryptocurrency.

“Ms. Thompson’s hacking and theft of information of 100 million people did more than $250 million in damage to companies and individuals,” Brown said. “Her cybercrimes created anxiety for millions of people who are justifiably concerned about their private information. This conduct deserves a more significant sanction.”

Thompson was arrested in July 2019 and remained in Jail until November of that year, The Seattle Times reported. The amount of restitution Thompson will have to pay victims will be determined at a December hearing.

The Associated Press

CEO of election software firm held on ID info theft charges

Tue, October 4, 2022 



LOS ANGELES (AP) — The founder and CEO of a software company targeted by election deniers was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing data on hundreds of Los Angeles County poll workers.

Konnech Corporation's Eugene Yu, 51, was arrested in Meridian Township in Michigan and held on suspicion of theft of personal identifying information, while computer hard drives and other “digital evidence" were seized by investigators from the county district attorney's office, according to the office.

Local prosecutors will seek his extradition to California.

“We are continuing to ascertain the details of what we believe to be Mr. Yu’s wrongful detention by LA County authorities," Konnech said in a statement that ended: “Any LA County poll worker data that Konnech may have possessed was provided to it by LA County, and therefore could not have been ‘stolen' as suggested."

Konnech is a small company based in East Lansing, Michigan. In 2020, it won a five-year, $2.9 million contract with LA County for software to track election worker schedules, training, payroll,and communications, according to the county registrar-recorder/county clerk, Dean C. Logan.

Konnech was required to keep the data in the United States and only provide access to citizens and permanent residents but instead stored it on servers in the People’s Republic of China, the DA’s office said.

The DA's office didn't specify what specific information allegedly was taken. But officials said it only involved poll workers, not voting machines or vote counts and didn't alter election results.

“But security in all aspects of any election is essential so that we all have full faith in the integrity of the election process,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

“With the mid-term General Election 35 days away, our focus remains on ensuring the administration of this election is not disrupted,” said a statement from Dean C. Logan, the LA County registrar-recorder/county clerk.

There wasn't any evidence that any election worker was bribed or extorted and an investigation was pending into whether any of the data went into inappropriate hands, the DA's office said.

Konnech previously said that all the data for its American customers were stored on servers in the United States, the New York Times reported Monday.

The paper reported that Konnech and Yu, who was born in China, became the target of claims by election conspiracy theorists that the company had secret ties to the Chinese Communist Party and had supplied information on 2 million poll workers.

There wasn't any evidence to support those claims, but Yu received threats and went into hiding, the paper said.

Konnech also has contracts with Allen County, Indiana, and DeKalb County in Georgia, the Times said.

On its website, Konnech said it currently has 32 clients in North America.

The Associated Press