Planned rollout of dental care will miss deadline in Liberals' deal with the NDP

The Canadian Press
Thu, February 1, 2024 



OTTAWA — The New Democrats and Liberals are at odds over the rollout of the new federal dental plan, after the government announced it wouldn't fully expand eligibility until 2025 — contrary to the pact it signed with the NDP.

The dental-care plan will eventually cover all uninsured Canadians with an annual household income under $90,000, and is one of the main pillars of a Liberal deal with the NDP intended to prevent an election before 2025.

The deal calls for the program to be fully implemented by the end of the year, but on Wednesday, the government announced registration wouldn't begin for most adults between the ages of 18 and 65 until next year.

The announcement runs contrary to assurances NDP health critic Don Davies said he received from the health minister just last week.

"I got a clear answer that it would begin before the end of 2024," he said.

Davies said the pact between the two parties is "crystal clear" about when the program is supposed to be implemented.

"So we expect enrolment to begin for everybody this year," he said.

The minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what assurances Davies was given.

So far, more than 400,000 people have begun the enrolment process to join the federal plan, which is set to start accepting claims in May.

Enrolment is now open to people over the age of 72, and will expand in May to people aged 65 and up. People with disabilities and children under the age of 18 will be able to apply in June.

"Everyone else who's eligible can apply online starting in 2025," Seniors Minister Seamus O'Regan said at a Parliament Hill press conference Wednesday.

When asked about the delay, Health Minister Mark Holland said enrolling as many as nine million Canadians to the program is complicated.

"Would I like to get there tomorrow? Yes, but physics and the laws of gravity and reality constrain us, and so our ambition has to be constrained with getting it right," Holland said.

The enrolment process can be a significant barrier to people, especially those who have never received oral-health care before, he said.

That's why the government wants to make it as seamless as possible. Right now, for example, wait times to get through to a government call centre to begin the process are "almost instantaneous," the minister said.

"We have to make sure, as much as we possibly can, that we get it right and that they have a positive experience," he said.

Davies said Sun Life, the private company contracted to administer the plan, can process up to 500,000 enrolment applications per month, and the money for full enrolment has already been budgeted.

"If there's any deviation from the confidence-and-supply agreement, the NDP will take the government to task over it," he pledged.

Holland's office did not respond to further questions before deadline Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

Conservatives get more than $35M in donations during Poilievre's first year as leader

GOT RID OF THE GLASSES MADE HIM A NEW BRAND

The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024 



OTTAWA — The Conservative Party of Canada raised more than $35 million during Pierre Poilievre's first full year as leader — and the federal Liberals brought in less than half that amount.

The party says its 2023 numbers show it couldn't be any clearer that Canadians are looking for change from the current government.

The Tories raised $12 million less in 2022, the year of the leadership race that elected Poilievre.

Filings with Elections Canada show one-third of the Conservatives' fundraising total last year came in during the last three months of the year, which included more than $7 million in December alone.

The Liberal Party of Canada closed out the year raising more than $15 million, with a similar bump in the fourth quarter.

New Democrats raised less than $3 million over the course of the year, and the Bloc Québécois brought in less than $1 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024.

The Canadian Press

Best for world if Netanyahu leaves office 'sooner rather than later': Liberal MP

The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024 



OTTAWA — A Liberal member of Parliament says it would be in the best interests of the Middle East and the world if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves office.

Winnipeg MP Ben Carr says he has major concerns about the Israeli government and he hopes Netanyahu will be, in his words, "gone sooner rather than later."

Carr, who is Jewish, says he does not support politicians on the far right of the spectrum in Israel who display maps of Gaza with Israeli flags.

He made the comments following a conference last weekend in Jerusalem where far-right lawmakers called for renewing Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's national security minister declared it was time to encourage the emigration of Palestinians from the besieged territory — something the Canadian government has firmly opposed.

Governments change, says Carr, and Israel is still an ally that has an important security role to play in the region.

"It's very, very important that we remember that governments come and governments go and our relationships with states are deeper than the relationship that we may have with the current government in power," he said Wednesday.

"My hope is that Netanyahu will be gone sooner rather than later, because I think that's in the best interests of everybody in the region, and I think that's in the best interests of everybody around the world."

Carr also made the point that the Liberal party is a "microcosm of society," and there are various views about the Israel-Hamas conflict within his caucus.

The conflict began with a Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people. Militants took some 250 others hostage, and the Israeli government says it believes at least 100 of them are still being held in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-controlled territory has been under constant bombardment since the attack, with health authorities there saying the death toll has surpassed 26,000.

Throughout the conflict, a handful of Liberal MPs, including Carr, have been vocal about their opinions on Canadian government policy — and not always aligned with it.

"It makes sense that these conversations are happening and I don't think that it's a source of negativity or division," Carr said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024.

The Canadian Press

Modi's party set to bring contentious common civil laws in India through states

Krishn Kaushik, Rupam Jain and Saurabh Sharma
Updated Wed, January 31, 2024 



Muslim women are seen during a mass marriage ceremony, in which, 51 Muslim couples took their wedding vows, in Mumbai

By Krishn Kaushik, Rupam Jain and Saurabh Sharma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian state ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is set to introduce contentious new common personal laws that will apply across religions next week, a template other state officials say they will look to follow.

Currently, India's Hindus, Muslims, Christians and large tribal populations can follow their own personal laws and customs, or an optional secular code, for marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance.

Framing a national common law has been one of the three core, decades-old promises of Modi's Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). It has fulfilled the other two: building a fiercely contested grand Hindu temple, and removing the autonomy of the Muslim-majority region of Jammu and Kashmir.

The northern state of Uttarakhand, nestled in the Himalayan foothills, is expected to unveil a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill next week, officials said.

The move comes ahead of Modi's bid to win a rare third term in general elections to be held by May, and may further help consolidate the Hindu vote, analysts say.

The UCC is a divisive issue, as many minority Muslims who criticise the BJP for its hardline Hindu-first image see it as interference with centuries-old Islamic practices, including polygamy and instant divorce, which was outlawed by the federal government in 2019.

Calling the UCC a "trial balloon" ahead of the elections, federal lawmaker and a prominent Muslim voice Asaduddin Owaisi said Hindu nationalists professed to like non-uniformity, except when it came to Muslims.

Although no draft of the UCC has been presented, BJP leaders have said it primarily has to do with modernising Muslim personal laws.

A committee set up in Uttarakhand in 2022 to draft the code will submit its work to the state government on Friday. It is likely be presented to the state's legislative body next week, two officials said.

"Several state governments across India are looking at whether a uniform civil code could be implemented," Nalin Kohli, a national BJP spokesperson said. "The systematic process to get uniform civil code in several states has begun."

Uttarakhand's chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said on social media platform X that his ministers would study the draft and "start the process to make it into a bill and then an act".

Modi's government ended special privileges enjoyed by Kashmir in August 2019 and earlier this month unveiled a grand temple to Hindu deity Ram replacing a Mughal-era mosque razed by radical Hindu groups in 1992.

Personal laws can be legislated by both federal and state governments, and other BJP-ruled states have said they could use the Uttarakhand UCC draft as a template.

Earlier this month, BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister of Assam state, said: "I am waiting to see the UCC bill of Uttarakhand and once that is done, we will bring the same legislation" with some modifications.

A committee appointed by Sarma last year is also expected to submit a draft bill to ban polygamy in the state next week.

Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters that "wherever the BJP is (in power) the possibility of bringing UCC has been and will always be there", adding it will introduced "at the right time".

(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik and Rupam Jain in New Delhi, Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow, Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, and Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneshwar; writing by Krishn Kaushik; editing by Lincoln Feast and Christian Schmollinger.)

EU Breaks Deadlock on €50 Billion for Ukraine After Orban Caves

Alberto Nardelli, Jan Bratanic and Ellen Milligan
Thu, February 1, 2024 



(Bloomberg) -- European Union leaders clinched a deal on a €50 billion ($54 billion) financial aid package for Ukraine after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban caved to their demands and lifted his veto.

The agreement proves “that we stand by Ukraine and I think it will be an encouragement for the US also to do their fair share,” Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said after the meeting in Brussels as US funding remains stalled in Congress.

As part of the accord, the member states agreed to debate the implementation of the Ukraine aid package every year and, “if needed,” the commission, the bloc’s executive body, could be asked to propose a review in two years. Orban’s demand for a veto was dropped.

The agreement was salvaged in a morning gathering Orban had with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to people familiar with the meeting. Leaders at the extraordinary summit — some of whom accused Orban of “blackmail” — had braced for a deadlock after weeks of negotiations produced no result.

The moment is crucial for Ukraine, which has warned that its coffers are emptying as it grapples with a shortage of weapons to fend off the Russian military campaign. Kyiv is still awaiting more than $60 billion in assistance from the US, yet to be backed by Congress.

“We negotiated a review mechanism that guarantees that the money will be used rationally,” Orban said in a Facebook video after the agreement was reached. He also hailed the positive market reaction to the deal.

Thursday’s breakthrough avoided a messy split within the EU, papering over mounting concern that Western support for Kyiv is splintering. It also marks a significant boost for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The bloc’s leaders said the breakthrough should send a signal to Washington, where funds proposed by President Joe Biden are being held up over a fight with Republican lawmakers.

“The American president is a truly good friend and ally who’s trying to get approval in Congress,” Scholz told reporters after the meeting. “I hope that today’s message will help him to have it a bit easier at home for his agenda.”

Hungary’s forint gained 0.2% against the euro, reversing a drop earlier in the session. Ukraine’s international bonds were the top gainers across emerging-market dollar debt Thursday, with the Ukrainian dollar note due in Sept. 2034 up more than 1 cent on the dollar to 24.2 after the deal.

The agreement hinged on Orban, who angered his counterparts in the 27-member bloc by stonewalling a pillar of Europe’s security strategy aimed at containing Russian President Vladimir Putin. EU leaders made little effort to veil their frustration at the 60-year-old Hungarian leader.

“Viktor definitely wants to be the center of attention every time we’re here, but it shouldn’t be like this,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters earlier Thursday. “I don’t want to use the word ‘blackmail,’ but I don’t know a better word.”

Ukraine’s weapons inventories are diminishing as Russia’s invasion heads into a third year. Reports from the frontlines suggest Ukraine is struggling to hold Russian forces back, while an ugly dispute has broken out between Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and his commander-in-chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi — heightening the sense of crisis in Kyiv.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov sent a sharp warning to his EU counterparts this week that his country’s forces are now out-gunned three to one by the Russians. In a letter seen by Bloomberg, he added that Kyiv needs at least 6,000 artillery rounds daily, but is unable to shoot more than 2,000 shells along a 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front.

The EU is still withholding two-thirds of the more than €30 billion in EU funding for Hungary on rule-of-law and graft concerns. Continued obstructionism also threatened to jeopardize Hungary’s rotating EU presidency from July and potentially scupper the bloc’s agenda in the second half.

Adding to the tense atmosphere inside the EU’s summit are protests by farmers, who staged a demonstration nearby — with Brussels’ city center full of tractors parked near EU institutions — to protest the bloc’s green policies and trade liberalization measures.

Some of the protests, which have spread across Europe over the past months, have been supported by organizations with ties to Orban.

--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina, Ewa Krukowska, Max Ramsay, Maria Tadeo, Katharina Rosskopf, Andras Gergely, Piotr Skolimowski, Natalia Ojewska, Milda Seputyte, Natalia Drozdiak, Jorge Valero, Samy Adghirni, Stephanie Bodoni and Zoltan Simon.

(Updates with comments encouraging US to move on funding, Ukrainian bonds, from second paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Biden appears to have found a workaround to the GOP Ukraine aid block — routing weapons via Greece

Tom Porter
Wed, January 31, 2024 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures as he thanks MPs after his virtual address to the Greek Parliament in Athens on April 7, 2022.LOUISA GOULIAMAKI

Joe Biden is sending weapons to Greece, which is then sending its own to Ukraine.


Greece is reported to have missile-defense systems vital for Ukraine.


Republicans in Congress are blocking a large Ukraine aid bill.

Joe Biden appears to have found a way around the Republican Party's blockade of Ukraine aid using a little-known presidential power.

In a letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, reported by Greek media, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US would send Greece a batch of weapons and equipment free of charge under the Excess Defense Articles law.

The rule states that the US president can authorize the transfer of weapons deemed to be surplus to US requirements to other countries for little or no money.

Under the deal, the US will send Greece two C-130H aircraft, 60 Bradley armored fighting vehicles, 10 engines for P-3 patrol planes, three Protector-class ships, and a consignment of transport trucks. That's in addition to selling Greece a fleet of 40 F-35 fighter jets for $8 billion.

The transfer was first reported by Forbes, citing Greek media reports.

But as a condition of the transfer, Blinken said, Greece should explore ways of providing weapons from its own arsenal to Ukraine, with Greek daily Kathimerini reporting that Greek military leaders have privately agreed to do so.

"We continue to be interested in the defense capabilities that Greece could transfer or sell to Ukraine," Blinken writes, and dangled the prospect of new, lucrative weapons deals if Athens agrees.

"If these capabilities are of interest to Ukraine, and pending an assessment of their status and value by the US government, we can explore opportunities for possible additional Foreign Armed Forces Financing of up to $200 million for Greece."

According to the report, Greece has weapons such as the S-300 missile-defense systems and Hawk surface-to-air missiles that would prove valuable to Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Kurt Volker, a former US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, wrote for the European Center for Policy Analysis recently that the Excess Defense Articles law was one of a number of tools available to Biden to keep weapons to Ukraine flowing.

But, said Volker, "none of these are ideal," and the best way to get Ukraine the support it requires is to pass a new Ukraine aid bill.

"These improvisations will not produce enough equipment or money to sustain Ukraine's war effort," noted Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, of the Excess Defense Articles law and related measures, though can help plug equipment shortages.

To deal comes as Republicans in the House of Representatives continue to block a $66 billion aid package to Ukraine, amid partisan squabbling over linked border security measures.

The value of weapons that can be transferred under the Excess Defense Articles law is capped at $500 million.

According to reports, Ukraine is running low on vital supplies of ammunition and equipment as it battles a Russian offensive.

NOBODY MORE IGNORANT

Sen. Tom Cotton Repeatedly Asks Singaporean CEO If He's A Chinese Communist

Lydia O'Connor
Wed, January 31, 2024


Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) repeatedly implied at a Senate hearing Wednesday that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has ties to the Chinese Communist party, forcing Chew to remind Cotton over and over again that he’s not Chinese.

“You said today, as you often say, that you live in Singapore. Of what nation are you a citizen?” Cotton asked Chew at the committee hearing on children’s online safety. When Chew replied that he’s a Singaporean citizen, Cotton continued to press him on his nationality.

“Are you a citizen of any other nation?” Cotton asked. “Have you ever applied for Chinese citizenship?” Chew once again replied no to both questions.

“Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?” Cotton asked.

A visibly frustrated Chew responded firmly: “Senator, I’m Singaporean. No.”

But Cotton wouldn’t let up. “Have you ever been associated or affiliated with Chinese Communist Party?” he asked.

Chew replied: “No, senator. Again, I’m Singaporean.”



Neither China nor Singapore allow dual citizenship.

Cotton then repeatedly grilled Chew on Chinese geopolitics, including China’s treatment of the Uyghur ethnic group and whether he thought Chinese President Xi Jinping was a dictator. Chew said he was there to talk about TikTok.

Cotton has repeatedly been accused of anti-Asian racism in recent years. In 2020, he suggested that Chinese students be should be banned from studying in the United States out of concern they might be spies ― a sentiment that critics said was rooted in racial profiling and xenophobia.

Throughout 2020, he also repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus,” all while the U.S. saw a stunning rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The following year, he made a head-scratching remark saying that a statement from the White House advocating ending systemic racism in the U.S. was “approved by the Communist Party of China.”



Singapore Maps & Facts - World Atlas

Shou Zi Chew, CEO of ByteDance-owned TikTok, had to confront claims about ties to China in the U.S. Senate: ‘Senator, I’m Singaporean’

Lionel Lim
Thu, February 1, 2024

Alex Wong—Getty Images
TikTok was one of several social media companies present at Wednesday's U.S. Senate hearing on online safety for children. But CEO Shou Zi Chew had to face a barrage of questions on a different topic: his nationality.

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) decided to probe TikTok's Singaporean CEO, Shou Zi Chew, on his nationality. Cotton asked the TikTok CEO if he had any citizenships besides Singapore, what passports he held, the nationality of his wife and children, and plans for future citizenship.

After Cotton asked Chew whether he was a member of the Chinese Communist Party, the TikTok CEO responded with an exasperated "Senator, I'm Singaporean. No."

Chew referred several times to his national service—the mandatory two years usually spent serving in the Southeast Asian country's military—in his responses to Cotton. Singapore does not allow for dual citizenship.

In his prepared remarks, Chew said TikTok will invest over $2 billion in trust and safety efforts this year. He noted that TikTok prevents users from directly messaging anyone under 16, and bars content from underage users from being downloaded or recommended to strangers. Chew also revealed that the average age of a TikTok user in the U.S. is over 30.
China connections

Chew has faced questions about his, and TikTok's, alleged ties to China before. In a Congressional hearing last year, lawmakers grilled Chew about the potential threat TikTok posed to U.S. national security. In that instance, Chew claimed that ByteDance was not an agent of China nor any other country.

TikTok, which is owned by Chinese social media giant ByteDance, has found itself entangled in the wider geopolitical battle between Beijing and Washington. The social media app is dogged by fears that user data might end up in the hands of Chinese authorities, or that TikTok's recommendations could be influenced by Beijing.

TikTok has tried to distance itself from its Chinese parent company, setting up offices in Los Angeles and Singapore. The social media company also has "Project Texas", a $1.5 billion project that will house U.S. user data and protect it from unauthorized foreign access. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok employees still transfer U.S. data to TikTok's Chinese parent; Chew disputed the article's accuracy on Wednesday.

Later on Wednesday, Cotton defended his line of questioning on Fox News. “Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party," he claimed.

Singapore has an ethnic Chinese majority, but the country's government tries to emphasize a multi-racial identity. Singaporean leaders have long maintained their wish to preserve ties with both the U.S. and China, with deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong saying last May that the country wants to "stay friends with both sides."

The Southeast Asian country has attracted interest from Chinese businesses hoping to avoid tensions between Washington and Beijing, as well as wealthy Chinese individuals hoping to park their fortunes outside of China.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Cotton defends pressing TikTok CEO on ties to Chinese Communist Party

Tara Suter
THE HILL
Wed, January 31, 2024


Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) defended pressing TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

“Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party,” Cotton said on Fox News’s “The Story With Martha MacCallum” Wednesday. “So, Mr. Chew has a lot to answer for, for what his app is doing in America and why it’s doing it.”

Chew, alongside other social media heads Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Discord CEO Jason Citron, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis” Wednesday.

At one point during the hearing, Cotton asked Chew if he has “ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.”

“Senator, I’m Singaporean, no,” Chew said.

“Have you ever been associated with or affiliated with the Chinese Community Party?” Cotton asked.

“No, senator, again, I’m Singaporean,” Chew said.

TikTok has faced scrutiny from both sides of the aisle for its China-based parent company ByteDance and its links to the Chinese government. In an attempt to calm fears from lawmakers about these links, the platform developed Project Texas to wall off U.S. user data from the parent company. Yet, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that people who work on Project Texas have occasionally faced requests to share data with different portions of the company or ByteDance.

Chew also faced pressure from other lawmakers like Republican Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz during the hearing over the company’s connections with China. Cornyn pushed Chew on the report, but the CEO challenged it and said “there are many things about the article that are inaccurate.”

Journalists, lawyers and activists hacked with Pegasus spyware in Jordan, forensic probe finds

Thu, February 1, 2024 



Israeli-made Pegasus spyware was used in Jordan to hack the cellphones of at least 30 people, including journalists, lawyers, human rights and political activists, the digital rights group Access Now said Thursday.

The hacking with spyware made by Israel's NSO Group occurred from 2019 until last September, Access Now said in its report. It did not accuse Jordan's government of the hacking.

One of the targets was Human Rights Watch's deputy director for the region, Adam Coogle, who said in an interview that it was difficult to imagine who other than Jordan's government would be interested in hacking those who were targeted.

The Jordanian government had no immediate comment on Thursday's report.

In a 2022 report detailing a much smaller group of Pegasus victims in Jordan, digital sleuths at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab identified two operators of the spyware it said may have been agents of the Jordanian government. A year earlier, Axios reported on negotiations between Jordan's government and NSO Group.

“We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the use of Pegasus spyware in Jordan, and that the true number of victims is likely much higher,” Access Now said. Its Middle East and North Africa director, Marwa Fatafta, said at least 30 of 35 known targeted individuals were successfully hacked.

Citizen Lab confirmed all but five of the infections, with 21 victims asking to remain anonymous, citing the risk of reprisal. The rest were identified by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International's Security Lab, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

NSO Group says it only sells to vetted intelligence and law enforcement agencies — and only for use against terrorists and serious criminals. But cybersecurity researchers who have tracked the spyware's use in 45 countries have documented dozens of cases of politically motivated abuse of the spyware — from Mexico and Thailand to Poland and Saudi Arabia.

An NSO Group spokesperson said the company would not confirm or deny its clients' identities. NSO Group says it vets customers and investigates any report its spyware has been abused.

The U.S. government was unpersuaded and blacklisted the NSO Group in November 2021, when iPhone maker Apple Inc. sued it, calling its employees “amoral 21st century mercenaries who have created highly sophisticated cyber-surveillance machinery that invites routine and flagrant abuse.”

Those targeted in Jordan include Human Rights Watch's senior researcher for Jordan and Syria, Hiba Zayadin. Both she and Coogle had received threat notifications from Apple on Aug. 29 that state-sponsored attackers had attempted to compromise their iPhones.

Coogle's local, personal iPhone was successfully hacked in October 2022, he said, just two weeks after the human rights group published a report documenting the persecution and harassment of citizens organizing peaceful political dissent.

After that, Coogle activated “Lockdown Mode," on the iPhone, which Apple recommends for users at high risk.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement Thursday that it had contacted NSO Group about the attacks and specifically asked it to investigate the hack of Coogle’s device “but has received no substantive response to these inquiries.”

Jordanian human rights lawyer Hala Ahed — known for defending women's and workers rights and prisoners of conscience — was also targeted at least twice by Pegasus, successfully in March 2021 then unsuccessfully in February 2023, Access Now said.

About half of those found to have been targeted by Pegasus in Jordan — 16 in all — were journalists or media workers, the report said.

One veteran Palestinian-American journalist and columnist, Dauod Kuttab, was hacked with Pegasus three times between February 2022 and September 2023.

Along the way, he said, he's learned important lessons about not clicking on links in messages purporting to be from legitimate contacts, which is how one of the Pegasus hacks snared him.

Kuttab refused to speculate about who might have targeted him.

“I always assume that somebody is listening to my conversations,” he said, as getting surveilled “comes with the territory” when you are journalist in the Middle East.

But Kuttab does worry about his sources being compromised by hacks — and the violation of his privacy.

"Regardless of who did it, it's not right to intervene into my personal, family privacy and my professional privacy.”

___

This story has been corrected to say that Access Now says the hacking occurred from 2019 until last September, not from early 2020 until last November.

Frank Bajak, The Associated Press

Canada braces for possible wave of business bankruptcies

Thu, February 1, 2024

The financial district of Toronto

By Promit Mukherjee

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Thousands of Canadian small businesses face the risk of bankruptcy after the government ended pandemic-era support last month with the economy slowing at a time of high interest rates.

Small firms that employ fewer than 100 people are critical to the Canadian economy as they give jobs to almost two-thirds of the country's 12 million private workers. A spike in bankruptcies, which jumped 38% in the first 11 months of 2023, would weigh on economic growth, lobby groups and economists warn.

Last month, small businesses faced a deadline to repay interest-free loans of C$60,000 ($44,676) made available to each of them during the pandemic. Of the 900,000 who had taken the government support, a fifth have not yet repaid their loans, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), a small-business lobby group, estimates a quarter missed the deadline.

Katherine Cuplinskas, a spokesperson for the finance minister said in an emailed response to a Reuters question that the Department of Finance did not expect there will be a negative impact on the economy on account of repayment of the loans given as support during the pandemic. She said loan recipients have long had full information on timelines and have been able to plan accordingly.

There were about 1.2 million small businesses with employees in Canada in 2021 and contributing over a third to the country's gross domestic product, according to the latest official data.

"There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of businesses that remain viable, but will not be able to outrun their debt," Dan Kelly, CFIB president, told Reuters, adding many debts could only be repaid by borrowing at a higher interest rate from banks.

Of those who repaid, CFIB estimates that about 225,000 took out a bank loan to do so, at a time when interest rates in the country are at 22-year high.

Those who did not get a loan but missed the deadline must make regular payments for two years at 5% annual interest.

"We do anticipate... a rise in insolvencies over the next six months or so," Stephen Tapp, chief economist at the Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview.

The Conference Board of Canada (CBC), an independent think tank, forecasts that consumer spending in 2024 on a per capita basis is expected to slump further from what was already seen last year.

CBC estimates first quarter corporate profits to nearly half to C$104.5 billion from a year ago, and the rest of the year will also be weaker than 2023 with companies hit by higher costs and drop in sales.

"Warren Buffett says when the tide goes out you see who is swimming naked," CBC's chief economist Pedro Antunes said. With the government support receding, the small businesses will be the ones exposed, he added.

($1 = 1.3430 Canadian dollars)

(This story has been refiled to remove a duplicate quote from the spokesperson in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, editing by Steve Scherer and David Gregorio)

China has nudged Japan aside as No. 1 auto exporter, Japanese data show


The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024

TOKYO (AP) — Data from a Japanese auto industry association show that China overtook Japan as the world’s largest vehicle exporter last year.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association reported Japan exported 4.42 million vehicles in 2023, up 16% from a year earlier, while domestic auto sales totaled nearly 4.78 million vehicles.

According to figures released earlier by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China exported 4.91 million vehicles last year. That was nearly 58% more than the year before. Much of the increase was driven by shipments of electric and hybrid vehicles.

Japan’s car exports totaled 4.2 million in 2022. It had held the role as top exporter since 2017.

Overall, auto sales in Japan have been mostly on the decline since 2000.

Toyota and other Japanese makers, including those making trucks and buses grouped in JAMA, have been developing EVs, but they also invest in hybrids, fuel cells and other types of powertrains.

The Associated Press

Climate activist Greta Thunberg goes on trial in London for blocking oil and gas conference

The Canadian Press
Thu, February 1, 2024 



LONDON (AP) — Climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke defiantly about her mission outside court Thursday on the first day of her trial for refusing to leave a protest that blocked the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year.

Thunberg, 21, was among more than two dozen protesters arrested on Oct. 17 after preventing access to a hotel during the Energy Intelligence Forum, attended by some of the industry’s top executives.

“Even though we are the ones standing here ... climate, environmental and human rights activists all over the world are being prosecuted, sometimes convicted, and given legal penalties for acting in line with science," she said. “We must remember who the real enemy is. What are we defending? Who are our laws meant to protect?”

The Swedish environmentalist, who inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts to fight climate change, and four other protesters are in the middle of a two-day trial in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on a charge of breaching a section of the Public Order Act that allows police to impose limits on public assemblies. She and four Fossil Free London protesters have pleaded not guilty.

Thunberg and other climate protesters have accused fossil fuel companies of deliberately slowing the global energy transition to renewables in order to make more profit. They also oppose the U.K. government’s recent approval of drilling for oil in the North Sea, off the coast of Scotland.

Thunberg sat in court in a black T-shirt and black pants, taking notes as a police officer testified about efforts to disperse demonstrators who had blocked several exits and entrances for hours outside the luxury InterContinental Hotel in central London.

“It seemed like a very deliberate attempt ... to prevent access to the hotel for most delegates and the guests,” Superintendent Matthew Cox said. “People were really restricted from having access to the hotel.”

Cox said protesters were lighting colorful flares and drummers were creating a deafening din outside the hotel as some demonstrators sat on the ground and others rappelled from the roof of the hotel. When officers began arresting people, other protesters quickly took their places, leading to a “perpetual cycle” that found police running out of officers to make arrests.

The protest had gone on for about five hours when police issued an order for demonstrators to move to an adjacent street, Cox said.

Thunberg was outside the front entrance of the hotel when she was given a final warning she would be arrested if she didn't comply, prosecutor Luke Staton said. She said she intended to stay where she was.

If convicted, the protesters could receive fines of up to 2,500 pounds ($3,170).

Outside the courthouse before the trial began, protesters held signs saying “Make Polluters Pay,” and “Climate protest is not a crime.”

Thunberg rose to prominence after staging weekly protests outside the Swedish Parliament starting in 2018.

Last summer, she was fined by a Swedish court for disobeying police and blocking traffic during an environmental protest at an oil facility. She had already been fined for the same offense previously in Sweden.

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Associated Press journalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this report.

Follow AP's coverage of climate and environmental issues: https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment

Brian Melley, The Associated Press